The authors of In Her Majesty’s Name pulp fiction rules released a second edition of their rules back in 2021. The original rules were released as part of the Osprey blue book war-game series. The new version is an independent release done directly by the authors.
The old rules had follow on supplemental released from Osprey over a few years. The new version combines all those supplements (except Gothic) into one book. They have also moved to a to a hardback full size product. Without the Osprey restrictions, the new rules do not have the page count limitations. This means they are more complete in their descriptions overall. With the consolidations, all the tables of weapons, armor, talents and powers are complete. Basically, this means everything is easier to find, as you do not have to scroll through multiple books.
The Rules
The overall rules are mostly the same as the original version. There are a few (in my opinion positive) changes that do have an impact on play. They are laid out logically, starting with a section for each step in game play, which is followed by equipment/powers, standard companies, scenarios and campaign considerations. With the exception on the standard companies (just due to the sheer number of companies that are included), most sections are short and easy to review.
The rules start by going though the individual figure characteristics. This is the heart of the game, as once you understand these, you pretty much understand the game. Nothing much is changed here. You still have the movement, shooting values, fight values, leadership modifiers, armor and finally pluck values. In addition, it covers the general rules for talents and mystical powers. Most stats are self explanatory (e.g moving, shooting and fighting). The pluck value is kind of the lynch pin of the system. This represents the ability of the figure to save from being hit, take special actions, get up and even get healed (when someone has the medic talent or heal mystical power). These values are all modified in different ways during game play.
ext, we get into game play. The rules start with how initiative is resolved using a D10 (the D10 is used as the die for everything in the rules). Once order is determined each turn (high roll goes first), each player moves a figure, with the lower rolling player going next, until all players have moved a figure. Players then cycle through until all figures have taken a move action. Most figures have a standard move of six inches, with a run value of an additional three inches. This is a change from the earlier rules, as run actions are reduced. Movement can still be effected by a speed modifier, should the character have a speed talent.
Just like movement, shooting is done in initiative order. This could mean that a character is knocked out before they can shoot themselves! Shooting is straight forward. The shooting player has to meet or exceed the target character’s armor value. These start at seven and can go much higher, depending on how much encumbrance a character has (based on the type of armor they are wearing). In reality, most figures will have a value of between seven and nine). The shooting figure adds their shooting value to a D10 to get a hit. The shooting value is modified by the modifier for the weapon being used and a few shooting modifiers covering movement and volley fire. Once a hit is made, the defender must roll above their pluck to ignore the hit. Ties result in the figure being knocked down. Failures take the figure out of the game. One of the big changes here is that shooting into groups of figures is very different. In the new system, the player shoots into the crowd and randomized which figure is potentially hit. This is much cleaner than the old system and a solid change.
Melee is performed the same way as shooting. The difference being the characters must be in contact and the modifiers (outnumbering, knocked down and mobbing up). As with shooting, the attacking payer rolls to hit against the target armor value and the defender then must roll above their pluck to brush off the attack. Easy, peasy, lemon squeezy!
The next section then gets into more detail about plush rolls. When to use them and what the results are. As mentioned, in combat a tie results in the character being knocked down (it takes a successful pluck in the following movement phases to get back up), passing means no effect and failures result in the character being taken out of the game. Pluck checks are also used to trigger some mystical powers and medic abilities. It is not in the rules, but players can also use pluck checks to perform functions in individual scenarios designed by the player (e.g. reading an ancient tablet, disarming a mine, etc).
The next section goes over heroics. This is a new concept that is brought into the game. It is based on the character having the heroic trait. Generally, this is reserved for the leaders and second in command of most companies. In theory, players could pay to give it to all of their characters or none at all. It does a few things. First, when a heroic character is taken out, they get to perform one last action (if they have not gone already). These include performing an attack (one last shot or swing), a pithy remark (the could award victory points) or an “other” action (e.g throwing a weapon to another character or maybe running to the feet of the nearest medic!). This adds a little more fluff. The most important heroic ability is to start the game with re-rolls or to collect additional re-rolls during the game. This could give a character an extra chance to make a successful shooting attack or re-roll a poor pluck check. This makes the heroes much more survivable in this addition. Nothing was more frustrating in the old edition than rolling an untimely one on a defensive pluck roll and loosing your leader at the beginning of the game! This rule allows heroes to be much more heroic. I think this might be the best change in this version.
We then get to the end of the game play rules with the rules for determining victory in the scenario. Basically, this includes how you calculate victory points and campaign considerations. Generally speaking, victory points are based on the character, master, vehicle, animal costs divided by ten. These are added to any special scenario objective points collects. The highest total determines the victor. You can also determine if characters are captured or improved, if using them in a campaign.
After the core rules are covered, the book gets into set up and terrain. The basic cover rules are about the same, but with some more detail and better explanations. I think they could have covered moving through windows and locked doors, but that is still up to the individual scenario designer. There are sections that cover dangerous terrain and active terrain (moving vehicles, mudslides, etc.) and a section on traps (pits, booby traps, etc). All these hazards follow the same mechanic of having to roll against one of three danger ratings, not to trigger them. This means that all characters have an equal chance of setting them off. There are some character traits that can offset this or provide modifiers though. They have introduced the ability to damage and destroy structures, which adds some flavor. The big add is the new rules for wind state and sea state. This allows game masters to bring these conditions into a scenario. The later adds much more when considering games that are based on the water (e.g. fighting on a large tanker or sail ship).
Once we get through the rules for playing the game, we get to the meat of the characters. The armory section covers all the weapons and armors available for individual characters. While the game is designed with victorian era steam punk in mind, you can actually cover a very wide period of time by using the equipment options (crusades castle adventure anyone?). The grenade rules have been simplified and there are much more complete rules for using various types of direct fire artillery. There is even reference to dropping bombs from aircraft! That gets us to the standard equipment listings (things like lanterns and rocket packs). The section then gets into a pretty exhaustive section on the use or and different types of vehicles. The next subsection covers various types of walkers. This is the longest subsection in the armory. These have been re-written and substantially added to from the earlier version. I have actually never used these before, so I cannot say if they are an improvement or not. I can say, they give the game master no shortage of options.
We carry on into the menagerie chapter. Her you will fins listings for all kinds of animals. They have consolidated all the earlier listings, like the other sections. Not too much to say here, just you should be covered if you want creatures in your games.
We get to the talent sections of the rules. Talents are natural abilities that your character has. This is a complete list of all the special abilities you can build on your characters or those that are available in standard characters already in the book. Like the armory, each is listed in alphabetical order and includes their rules. Another consolidation effort was done here. There are a few new items and some of the old broken items have been removed. A number of talents have also had their rules changed, so check these out if you already have older character cards.
The mystical powers covers special, maybe even magic, abilities. Pretty much everything I said about traits applies to mystical powers. The one noticeable change here though, is that they have streamlined the points. Instead of each having its own variable points amount, they have moved to two categories. The first is lesser powers that cost five points and the other greater powers that cost ten points.
Now, we get to the companies chapter. The chapter starts with the point system used in the game for building characters and companies. There are have been a lot of changes here, so old players will need to re-cost their custom companies. It is still a little complex, as each level, stat, ability and add on must be costed. With that said, there is a cost calculator spreadsheet on the Ministry of Gentlemanly Warfare website that is available for free to help you with that. For those not so brave, the book provides over twenty pre-made companies to choose from. These give multiple choices of characters and include various options to tailer the lists to your figure collection or taste. A number of these companies are also available from North Star Miniatures, if you just want to keep it simple. All the company listings make this the longest chapters in the book.
The next section covers scenarios and tabletop set ups. This is much more filled out than the earlier books. It starts with fifteen standard scenarios to choose from. These range from simple straight up fights to daring escapes (and everything in between). Complications covers those things that make like a little more difficult and add more flavor. This includes things like weather conditions, armed mobs, fires and traps. A nice add to this section is some instructs for setting up your tabletops. This covers 38 different landscapes and the considerations for each. Putting all this together, the players have an almost inexhaustible combination of adventures that they can set up, just using these rules. Probably the only limitation is your terrain collection!
Finally, we finish up with a campaign chapter. As my player base is vary variable and changing, I have never used this in the old rules, so I cannot say to much about this section. Looking them over, it seems this section is more aspirational and is designed to help players think through how they can change their companies as they complete adventures. It goes over things like have a narrative and hints on effects. There is a sample campaign chart at the end that probably is what most people interested in short campaigns might use.
Summary
In closing I would say that if you like the original version of In Her Majesty’s Name, you will love this version. The authors have successfully consolidated most of their earlier books into an easy to reference book. The table of contents is complete and can act as a solid index. The options and upgrades in the rules are quite exhaustive. The only thing I think is missing, is a random events table (I will be resurrecting my own). This is a minor quibble though. In the end, if you are looking for a pulp set of rules that are streamlined, but still give you plenty of flavor, this might be the set for you.
- Manteuffel