‘Have Pike, Will Travel’ is a game of conflicts between small mercenary companies in the treacherous world of Europe around the turn of the 15th. Century. You task is to raise a company of determined soldiers and outfight your opponents in an attempt to achieve the aims of your employers. Every time you play the game you will earn the chance to expand or improve your company but first you have to outbid your rivals for the best paid jobs offered by the employers then you have to win the game in order to collect your wages You can expand your war coffers not only by fulfilling your mission but also by looting the bodies of your dead enemies, by plundering the peasants or just plain theft. But it is not all plain sailing; you will have to cope with treachery, assassination attempts, desertion and all the other little joys of life so common in the Europe of the late middle ages and the Renaissance.

Games can be set in any period or location from the late 100 years War through the Wars of the Roses, the Swiss – Burgundian wars, the Granadan war of the late Reconquista, the Italian Wars and right up to the Thirty Years war. While we have western Europe chiefly in mind rules for the use of horse archers are also included so that those who wish a flavour of the East can also use the rules. Artillery is not included except as an excuse for a besieged garrison to mount sorties against particularly annoying cannons that disturb their siesta. The rules are also suitable for Solo play or for all players to be on the "same" side, including as they do a full set of rules for programmed opponents. If you do not wish to use the extended campaign rules then the combat rules can equally well be used for one off games.They work on a straight forward percentage system. They are easy to learn and to use.They do however, provide for different levels of experience and training as well as tactical circumstances.

As your Band fights it gains experience as well as pay. You can hire more troops between games - funds permitting - and charge more for your services. The improvement in your men’s experience of course makes them more effective in future battles. The book not only contains the rules themselves and a full explanation of the "campaign" system for improving your band of mercenaries but also a four player introductory scenario to get you started.

These rules are unlike any other set of Rennaissance rules of which we are aware. They offer an alternative to large battles and we believe they capture the flavour and uncertainties of a mercenary’s life. They provide rules for an entertaining game (or set of games) which are a little unusual.

The rules are available from Redoubt Enterprises or their local stockists.