On the Horizon

I will be posting the latest edition to the rules in the next week or so.  Included are some minor but significant changes.  It’s like being bald but with hair.

• Behemoth has been broken out into Terror and Behemoth.  They now function more logically.
• No more extra hits.  It got too confusing.  Now, each stand is rated for the amount of figures it represents.  An elephant, for example, will represent 3 figures.
• Vehicle rules are a little more concise.  You may get a free turn at the end of each move.  You may not flank march.
• Units will be able to wheel up to 90 degrees, make a right or left face or about face.  This makes them more consistent with groups.

There are probably other changes too but I can’t think of them. As soon as I do the re-write on the design notes, I will post them.

Army lists will get an overhaul as well.  I have tweaked the points system and have made some changes to the army lists, both in format and content.  Stay tuned.  They will be up in a week or so as well.

Fantasy Supplement Posted

I’ve just posted the fantasy supplement and Lists to the Ancients D6 page.  If you have some old HoTT armies lying around and want to try something new, download them and give them a whirl.  The units are a bit more expensive than the Ancient counterparts so I recommend 400 points for a standard game with 1 general, 1 captain, a hero of some sort and a spell caster.  Costs of the special characters have not been added to the rules yet so here they are…

Level 1 caster is 10 points.  Level 2 caster is 25 points.  Each level after that costs 25 points.  Max level is level 5

All other heroic character types cost 25 points each.

Enjoy!

Ancients D6 – New Rules Revision

The core rules have had some minor revisions.  Spear and Pike troops can now take dice away from the enemy’s melee total rather than adding to their own.  John Hills suggested that it might be better since a unit does not fight better just because it carries a long pole weapon.  Rather, it should disadvantage an enemy formation armed with weapons with a lesser reach.

Spears cause a -1 penalty to all mounted attackers.

Pikes cause a -1 penalty to all non-pike infantry attackers and -2 penalty to all mounted attackers. 

These penalties assume that the formation is being attacked solely from the front.

Arcane Warfare Excel Review

Overview

Arcane Warfare Excel (AWE) is a massed combat game by Jerboa Games. It comes in a zipped file that contains a rule book (40 pages) an army list book (36 lists 222BC to 450AD) and a quick reference sheet (2 pages). The cost is quite inexpensive at $3. Upon completing the transaction, the zip file is e-mailed to your account within a few hours.

Troop Types

All of the basic unit types you might expect are represented in the game including cavalry, pike, spear, blade (edge), elephants, archers, throwers and more. Unit type match-ups can modify the kill number if that unit wins a combat.

Most unit types are further classified with a unit weight. These are light, medium or heavy. Unit weight determines the amount of combat dice rolled.

Units can be further modified with special traits such as berserk, elite, veteran, stubborn or raw. These classifications modify the outcome dice of a unit.

As you can see, there are a lot of options in the game to make many different types of units, thus making each army truly unique.

Equipment needed

The game can be played with any sized figures from 6mm up to 28mm figures. This review will assume 15mm figures for simplicity. Each base has a frontage of 40mm with a depth of 20mm for infantry and 40mm for cavalry. Each base has 2-4 figures per base depending on the troop type and weight. You will need about 35 bases per army which amounts to about 100 figures per side. You will also need a 3′X4′ terrain board about six 6-sided dice (D6) and a metric ruler.

Scale

The ground scale is 25 paces per centimeter. Each base represents 250-750 men. Time is not fully defined bout the author states that the battle represents 6-18 hours of real time. Of course, it won’t actually take that long to play! A game should last about 2-2.5 hours for a standard game.

Turn Sequence Explained

Initiative Phase

1 die is rolled for each general on the board (usually 3 per army). This represents the order in which each general will activate and give orders.

Activation Phase

During the Activation phase, players will activate generals in initiative order. This is a shared process. The general with the highest initiative goes first, followed by the next until all generals on both sides have been activated.

Melee Phase

After the activation phase, perform melees for all units in melee contact.

End Phase

In the end phase, determine if victory conditions are fulfilled or if the army morale of one army has dropped to zero.

Core Mechanics

Command

AWE uses command points to activate other units or groups. There is a menu of options for using command points. A command point is required when activating a unit or group for movement and shooting. It usually takes 1 command point to perform an action but may take more depending on the situation. Commanders are activated based on an initiative roll. They may give commands to any unit so long as they have commands to do so.

Movement

Units or groups may be ordered to move. Units can freely move about. Turning costs a certain amount of movement for units. For example, units may right face for the cost of 100p and then move the remainder of their movement in any direction.

To move as a group, the units comprising the group in question must be a valid “Phalanx”. A phalanx is defined as a group of homogeneous units facing in the same direction and sharing a common edge. Phalanxes may be termed “Fighting Phalanxes” if they also are aligned on a common frontage. Phalanxes are restricted in movement. They may move straight forward or wheel. They may also drift sideways so long as the move 50p forward first.

General Combat Mechanics

Each unit is rated as light, medium or heavy. Each side rolls a number of dice based on the rating of their unit. Light gets 1 die, medium gets 2 dice and heavy gets 3 dice. These dice can be modified up or down based on the combat situation. More ranks and greater number of troops can add dice to your total. Compare the highest pare (attacker and defender) of dice. The highest die is the winner. If it is a tie, compare the next highest die until one or both sides run out of dice. If all dice are a tie, then the combat is a draw. In the event that one side has more dice than the other, the side with the lower number of dice loses and recoils with no loses.

For the actual combat outcome, compare the higher die to the lower die. The difference is the kill number for the winner. Roll a number of dice equal to the number of stands in contact with the enemy. Each die that is lower than or equal to the kill number causes a one-stand loss to the enemy. The enemy may strike back in melee with half of his remaining stands in contact. His kill number is always 1.

Shooting

Individual units or phalanxes can shoot. Phalanxes may shoot 2 stands deep. The enemy does not get to strike back. There are dice modifiers for shooting depth and numbers of shooters.

Melee

Melees are accomplished by individual units or fighting phalanxes. Enemies may strike back. Loser recoils whether they take losses or not. There are dice modifiers for phalanx depth, numbers of stands and flanking.

Morale

There is no unit morale per se in AWE. However, there is something called a “flop test”. This happens if a unit cannot retreat after combat. In the event that a unit cannot retreat, a D6 is rolled. On a 1-4, the unit halts and is OK. On a 5+, the unit panics and is removed from the game.

Another form of morale is the army morale. This is 30% of your troops in stands (round up). If you lose at least 30% of your army, you lose the game. If both players lose 30% of their army in the same turn, then the army morale is boosted to 40%.

Final Thoughts

AWE is a quick system. There is a decent amount of detail, but not so much that you feel overwhelmed. This leaves the players to make more tactical decisions and less game decisions.

The game flows well and quickly. There is little downtime for players since game turns are interactive throughout. Combat is quick and leaves the players with a believable result. Groups of units are not static. You can break apart and assemble groups at a whim. This leaves you with the flexibility to perform such maneuvers as with the unknown Tribune and 20 maniples and Cynoscephalae.

Interaction between units seem to work well.  Pikes, for instance, can fight with extra ranks so they will win melees more often.  However, they tend to not get any outcome modifiers so they end up pushing back the enemy more than killing them.  Edge troops, such as Roman legionares, get a bonus on outcomes against infantry so they will have a greater chance of a kill when they win a combat.  Warbands get 50% more outcome dice when they win a combat but don’t get to fight back if they lose.  As you can see, some attention was payed to unit match-ups. 

On the downside, reserves are not so important. There is little in the way of line interchange other than skirmishers being able to pass through lines. The only way to feed reserves into a fight is to wait until the enemy opens a hole. It is impossible to replicate the Roman line relief drill that is so prominent during the Republican period. While the author represents Hastati, Princepes and Triari, it might have been better to represent them as ubiquitous Legionares and assume they represent the three heavy infantry types in an abstract fashion.

As a final thought, the rules are clearly written and I had only a couple of game related questions. The author was very helpful in getting them answered in a timely manner, usually the same day. He provides support for all of his ancient wargame products at his yahoo group.

Arcane Warfare Excel

By Jerboa

Published by Jerboa Wargames

Purchase Link http://www.dnir.net/JerboaNet/AWr/AWE.htm

Yahoo Group http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/ArcaneWarfare/join

Fantasy Supplement on the Horizon for AD6!

Drew and I have the bug.  We’ve finally started in again on designing the Fantasy supplement for Ancients D6.  Features of the rules include:

• New fantasy character types.  These will not replace the usual General or Captain but will be in addition to those leaders.  They will include such things as spell casters, heroes, rangers, paladins and more.
• A magic system.  We’ve already developed a magic system to aid your army on the road to victory.  The system is designed to give you and edge but not take over the entire game.
• New army lists.  We will have a bunch of new army lists to represent some of the more old school mainstream armies of fantasy literature.  Elves, Dwarves, Orcs, Goblins, Humans will be among them.
• New units to represent monsters, spirits and more.

The draft rules are currently located in the files section of the group.  You can join up and check them out there.  They will be published to the web sometime in August.

Ancients D6 has gone A Viking!

Greetings!  The Early Medieval Lists are here!  Well….HERE anyway.  The lists include:

• Normans
• Anglo-Saxons
• Anglo-Danes
• Vikings
• Welsh
• Pre-Feudal Scots

A few rules tweaks and corrections are coming soon…

Song of Arthur and Merlin figures in 1/72 scale

Pictured here are my first sets of figures form Song of Arthur and Merlin.  The figures all have a good Dark Age Britain look.  The unarmored Roman infantry is by HaT.  The armored Roman infantry and the Germanic Warriors are both by MiniArt.  HaT clearly makes fine figures.  MiniArt has some molding issues and the detail is not as good as it could be.  All of the figures, otherwise, fit the semi-historical Arthurian legend pretty well.

These figures exceeded my expectations. The detail is good and the quality is very nice. Very little clean-up was required.

These figures were OK. The figures themselves are a bit larger than the HaT figures. The detail is a little soft and there was a fair amount of clean-up to be done. The look is otherwise really good.

These figures match the size of the Germanic Warriors pretty well but the detail is pretty vague. There was a large amount of cleanup to be done.

 Now that I have these figures, Newline Designs has announced that they will be producing a set of Late Roman figures and another of Goths in 1/72 scale.  As I am not completely satisfied with the MiniArt products, I will be looking at the Newline figures to see if they will work with HaT figures.

More lists in the group.

I’ve added Anglo-Saxons and Anglo-Danes to the Early Medieval List.  I’ve also added a Generic High Medieval list to the group.  This list contains a menu of units that can be used to form your own list for the middle and later portions of the Medieval period.  It is not all inclusive yet but I hope to add more unit types soon.  For the High Medieval Lists, I would suggest 450 points, but still 1 captain and 1 general for a small game as some of the units get to be quite expensive.  A retinue Longbowman, for instance, is 53 point!

Once I feel these lists are “correct”, I will post them here as well.  If you want to get a sneak peek, join the group and have a look.

John

Some Minor Tweaks

After the play tests last night, it has come to light that cavalry are a bit weak on defense.  When doubling up on a unit, the defending player could choose which of the two attacking units to concentrate on.I’ve changed the rules to spread the casualties among the two units.

I’ve also changed the  requirements for shooting from the 2nd rank.  Now, if a formation moves, the 2nd rank may not shoot in the next shooting phase.

Finally, the first two Early medieval lists are in the groups file section.  These are the Normans and Vikings of course.  If you want a sneak peak, join up and have a look.  They will be posted to the blog within the month as well, once some testing has been done.

John

Vikings vs Normans Battle Report

This battle was a classic example of how warbands can be spectacular in battle.  Along with the pictures and descriptions, I will take you through some of the game mechanics of Ancients D6.

The Vikings win the initiative and are the attacker. They setup first. On the left is a group of 3 Hirdmen supported by 3 Bondi. The center Hirdman is the General's body guard. The Normans setup with all 3 Knight units on the left flanked to the right by a Levy Spear unit supported by a Crossbow unit and a Levy Spear unit supported by another Levy Spear unit. On the right is 3 Retainer units and the extreme right is 2 Skirmish bow units.

At the beginning of each game, the players roll to see who will attack and who will defend.  The low roller is the defender.  He sets out the terrain and then the attacker chooses which of the 4 sides he will setup on.

The lines close in. The Vikings and the Normans both elect to move as quickly as they can while preserving their line order.

Early on, the only thing to do is advance.  Each unit gets a move and may take another move if given an order.  It is often advisable to to advance in no more than 3 groups of troops.  That way you ensure that everyone gets to move at top speed.

The Normans and Vikings exchange shots. In the woods, the Skirmishers fight it out with the Bondi Archers. Both the Bondi and the skirmishers take a hit. The skirmish unit in the front fails the morale check and falls back a base depth disrupted.

Missile fire occurs after movement.  The closest enemy unit in range is the target.  For each un-hit figure on the shooting unit, the attacker gets to roll 1 die.  Each 5+ result is a hit on the enemy.  The enemy gets to roll 1 die for each hit.  For each die that is equal or greater than the enemy armor, 1 hit is negated.  In the woods, the two archer units close.  As they are less than 1″ apart, they may shoot.  The Vikings are the phasing player so the Normans shoot first-defensive shooting.  They would normally roll 4 dice.  However, the target is in cover.  That’s -1 die per stand shooting.  So the Normans shoot with 2 dice.  They do score a hit.  The Bondi Archers roll 1 die but need a 6 to save.  They take a hit.  The Viking player needs to make a morale check for the Bondi.  There are two surviving figures so that is 2 dice.  There are no other modifiers.  They need to get 1 success (4+) to pass and do.  They then return fire and also score a hit on the Normans.    The Norman skirmishers only have 1 figure and fail their morale check.  They fall back a base depth and are disrupted until their next rally phase when they may attempt to rally.

The Normans hold back on the left and charge with the retainers. They overpower the Bondi on the right while the Bondi on the left is well supported and puts up a fight. The Captain would be swept away with his unit of Retainers.

Here is a full round.  The Normans try to rally their skirmishers but fail.  However, the back skirmish unit can still move and passes through the front skirmish unit to shoot at the Bondi.  They hold back with their Knight and Spear units.  They want the Crossbow unit to try and soften up the Hirdmen.  The Retainers decide to charge the Bondi and line up so all three units are in contact with the two Bondi.

The Viking gets to shoot in the missile phase first.  The Bondi Archer in the woods fires with 1 effective die but fails to hit.  The skirmisher fires with 1 effective die and hits.  The Bondi fails the Morale check and falls back disrupted.  The Bondi archer in the center manages to get 2 hits on the center retainer but the captain is not hit.   The Norman Crossbowmen fire in the center unit of Hirdmen.  As these units are being supported by another formed unit, they are a massed target.  The Crossbowmen shoot with one extra die.  The score 1 hit.  Had they scored 2 or more, the hits would have been distributed evenly between the front and back units.

The two melees are in the center.  The Norman player elects to fight on the right with 2 retainers against 1 Bondi.  Before combat starts a fear check has to be made as the Norman cavalry all have fear and the Bondi do not.  The Viking player rolls 1 die for every un hit figure in the unit.  If he gets at least 2 successes, there is no effect 1 success causes 1 hit and no successes causes 2 hits.  In the melee there would normally be a base of 6 dice but 1 unit has taken 2 hits so we start with 4 dice.  Each unit gets +1 charging so that’s 6 dice.  They score 4 casualties so the front unit is destroyed and the back unit takes 1 hit.  The return shot is 3 dice and they manage the 1 hit necessary to kill the Retainer.  A leader death check is made and the Norman Captain is killed.  The other combat saw the Norman retainer score two hits but get wiped out itself.

The Hirdmen charge home. They decide to line up equally with the Normans to help negate the tremendous fighting ability 2 cavalry units can give.

The Hirdmen decide not to wait around and charge home.  They line up on the Norman so as to overpower the units before the flank units can react.

It's all over. The Norman cavalry could not fend off the Viking Hirdmen. Many hits were rolled and this proved to be too much for the Norman Knights. Worse yet, the General fell in battle.

The end was quick and painful for the Normans.  They were slowly eking out a victory only to see their army vaporize.  There are two tweaks left to do.  In a combat where 1 unit is meleeing 2 or more units the way it works now is the defending player chooses a unit to fight and all hits go on that unit.  This makes cavalry pretty week.  I am going to try even distribution similar to shooting against a massed target.  The defender will choose a primary melee target and tally casualties as normal.  The casualties will be distributed evenly between the enemies in contact but the odd hit will go to the primary.  Flanking units will get hit last.