Tuesday 15 July 2014

Where can I buy Chris Peers rulesets?

Hi Chaps,

I was wondering if any of you knew where to buy some of Chris Peers rule books? I particularly want to buy "At Close Quarters" and "Contemptible Little Armies" but would also like to get hold of "Ever Victorious Armies".

I had all these rule sets previously and I had the older versions at my in laws in Thailand for emergency reading when on holiday but on my last visit they were gone!!

It seems Mr Peers has gone off the war gaming radar which is sad because I always found his rules to be excellent....much better than "Force on Force" which is very disappointing. Any help tracking these books down would be appreciated...I have tried ebay to no avail...

Keep war gaming!

11 comments:

  1. Caliver Books has At Close Quarters and Contemptible Little Armies. My understanding is that Ever Victorious Armies is now out of print.
    http://www.caliverbooks.com/searchcat.php?words=chris+peers&price=&period=

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  2. I think Brigade Games in the US has the rights to EVA.

    http://brigadegames.3dcartstores.com/Ever-Victorious-Armies-19th-Century-Warfare_p_1644.html

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  3. I know that North Star had some:
    http://www.northstarfigures.com/list.php?man=47

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  4. Nick at Northstar used to have them but they've gone from the site.
    Give them a call, he's probably got some tucked away in the corner of the warehouse.
    Failing that Caliver is your best bet I think.

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  5. Thanks chaps, I will track them all down as this is becoming a challenge...Mr Peers should have a website or something...(I am grumbling now!).

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  6. SUCCESS! Caliver books had "At Close Quarters" in stock...ordered one a few minutes ago....happy days! Thank you all TWD you are a star!

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  7. I don't think Mr. Peers has gone off the gaming radar - Osprey is publishing a new set of rules by Mr. Peers:

    http://www.ospreypublishing.com/store/On-the-Seven-Seas_9781472801401

    It has been frustrating that while so many companies and authors these days are pretty accessible through forums that they host themselves or facebook or Yahoo groups that the authors regularly answer questions on (Savage Worlds, Iron Ivan Games, Ganesha Games, Ambush Alley Games - to name a few that I've played and had questions quickly and clearly answered by the author through the internet), Mr. Peers has been, as far as I am aware completely inaccessible. At the heart of his books there are some great games - but they have always seemed to me like some simple "club rules" that someone just tried to write down the basic mechanics and publish of without clearly defining some basic stuff assuming that all other clubs and gamers play games in the exact same way leaving giant holes in the rules wide open for some pretty weird interpretations...

    Now I'm not suggesting that all other games are better written or more clearly defined but... well... For example of Force on Force - which you mentioned - is not the most clearly written set of rules and just reading the rules I had a lot of questions - but Ambush Alley games has a website with FAQs - that are updated as new questions and situations that they hadn't thought of - and when the FAQ didn't clearly explain a situation that came up in a game that I played, I could ask a question on their forum and Shawn Carpenter himself would usually answer the question himself within 24 hours.

    When we were puzzling things out for Contemptible Little Armies we could only go on TMP or the Yahoo group and try and puzzle it out with other players - who often had widely different interpretations...

    The third edition of CLA is still available through the publisher Rattrap Productions.

    http://www.rattrapproductions.com/product-category/sinister-laboratories-books/

    I have not picked up this edition. The publisher at least haunts a few forums (he's answered questions about it on the Lead Adventure Forum).

    Anyway, I hope At Close Quarters works out for you and that we'll see some AARs here on your blog at some point - I've often wondered how it would play.

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    1. Thanks for your reply and information Tim. I have to agree with you that the Ambush Alley forum etc are very user friendly although I have never used them myself-I have spent hours reading other peoples questions.

      As for Mr Peers rules you are right again, they seem to take an old fashioned approach to gaming but this suits me as I play solo. On the rare occasion that others have played along many questions did arise due to their interpretation of the rules.

      I will try the Lead adventure forum for information as I have not visited it for some time. It is also encouraging that Osprey are publishing Mr Peers rules as I have a couple of Osprey sets and they are of a very good quality.

      Thanks for the links I will be sure to check them out and I will be posting some after action reports....unfortunately the games will be in 20mm due to cost...

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  8. I like his Darkest Africa rules but his casualty rates are very high!

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  9. You can order Ever-Victorious here:
    http://brigadegames.3dcartstores.com/Ever-Victorious-Armies-19th-Century-Warfare_p_1644.html

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  10. Thanks Robert I will purchase a copy. I miss those rules.

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