The Bayonet & Musket Battles series is GMT's follow-up to the extremely popular Musket & Pike series showing the movement of European warfare from tactical systems based on shock to a modern reliance on firepower. Volume 1 will be Banish All Their Fears covering the battles of Neerwinden 1693 and Blenheim 1704.

• Neerwinden July 29 1693 War of the League of Augsburg. Outnumbered and thoroughly out-maneuvered by the French army under the Duke of Luxembourg British King William III refuses to retreat his Allied army over the river to his rear and instead elects to defend a stout breastwork line strongly anchored on fortified villages. Luxembourg has the cream of the French army at his command and sees an opportunity to break the enemy defenses and possibly destroy the Allied army.
• Blenheim August 13 1704 War of the Spanish Succession. Facing defeat in Spain northern Italy and along the Rhine the Duke of Marlborough leads his Allied army deep into Bavaria and threatens to remove that key French ally from the war. The French respond by sending an army under Marshal Tallard that links up with the Bavarians under Elector Max Emmanuel and stands to face Marlborough near the village of Blenheim on the banks of the Danube.

Larger armies and the primacy of firepower mean significant changes for the familiar Musket & Pike game system:

• Larger armies. Brigades became the primary battlefield maneuver element and while retaining foot battalions and horse regiments as our unit scale we've made brigades paramount. Shifting brigades between wings and committing them into action to take advantage of enemy mistakes was the essence of victory for the great commanders of the age and we've built that into the game.
• Supremacy of firepower. Combat has been streamlined and simplified so that most unit combats are now resolved in 1 - 2 die rolls with decisive results. Players will soon learn the importance of creating and using fresh reserves to bolster their shot-up frontline battalions.

• Solid map and OOB research. Nothing new here the consistently high level of historical research that went into maps and OOB's in the Musket & Pike series continues.

Components:

• 1 X Rulebook
• 1 x Playbook
• 1 x Two-sided 34x22 map
• 5 x Two-sided ¾ inch counter sheets
• 1 x Two-sided 11x17 Command Display
• 2 x Two-sided 11x17 Player Aid Cards
• 1 x Single-sided 8.5x11 Time Card
• 2 x 10 Sided Dice