Design Thoughts: War is Chaos

If a game does not have a little luck or randomness in it to produce a little chaos, then something is wrong.  Lots of games scale such things as morale, unit cohesion, suppression and even casualties.  Some of the methods used are exercises in bean counting.  That is hardly chaotic!

Morale is often taken care of by a random roll of the die.  A failure could mean that the unit’s morale status slips by one level or it could mean it simply routs off the board.  This is a fine enough method but seems predictable in the sense that the player unnaturally manages his luck with the actual level of morale of the unit.  Most generals in real life will only see that a unit is having some sort of difficulty and is, perhaps, ready to crack under pressure.   Games like On to Richmond, Fire and Fury and even the fantasy game Age of Might and Steel use a random roll for the actual effect of morale.  This is usually done when the unit is in close proximity of the enemy or has suffered losses from enemy action.  The results can run the gamut from revenge to rout, all in one roll.  There are modifiers that make a rout unlikely (or impossible) for a relatively fresh unit.  The effect, though, is that the commander no longer can manage the morale of a unit by simply counting beans.

You can manage suppression in a modern game with the same mechanism.  A unit might have to hunker down, advance slowly or even retreat.  Two Hour Wargames Chain Reaction system does this very thing.  Again, it adds a lot of chaos and unpredictability while adding LESS detail.  Who said more detail is more realistic anyway?

1/72 Scale Painting Tutorial

INTRODUCTION

So you want to get into miniature gaming but you don’t want to spend a lot of money. Well, have I got a deal for you. That deal is 1/72 scale plastic miniatures. In recent years, with the escalating cost of metal, plastics have become more and more viable for wargame figures. Often called “true 25s”, these figures typically stand about 24mm tall from the sole of the foot to the top of the head. So why buy plastic figures?

1. Very inexpensive. On the average, you could buy one 28mm figure ($1.50) or three 15mm figures (50 cents each) or seven to eight 1/72 scale figures (21 cents each).
2. Better visual impact. 1/72 scale figures are larger and give a better feel for skirmish gaming. They are small enough to paint easily but still look great on the game table.

OK. So you are probably thinking that this is too good to be true. There must be a down side. There is.

1. Plastic figures are hard to handle when it comes to assembly and prepping. These figures are usually made out of a kind of plastic called Polyethylene. Paint and glue just won’t stick to this kind of plastic. Fortunately, there are some special primers and glues that alleviate these problems.
2. Choices can be limited. If we equate the 1/72 scale plastic figure industry to a life span, I would say it is an adolescent. There are lots of choices out there but some of the ranges are conspicuously missing. Only recently, for instance, has anyone bothered to make Fantasy Figures. Caesar Miniatures has a rather nice range now.
3. Quantity of purchase. You have to purchase in somewhat sizable numbers. Boxes typically come with 48 infantry or 12 cavalry. Perfect for massed battle games but not so much for skirmish games.

So have I scared you off? If not, read on!

PREPPING AND TOOLS

This is my first serious foray into the world of 1/72 scale plastic figures. I have not painted these figures in a long time (perhaps since 1975!) and even then it was only to get the faces and belts painted on. Back then, we were always bummed about how our hard work would flake off after a few days. It was a very real problem with figures made of polyethylene plastic.

Today, there are several new tools and methods for getting around the problems associated with plastic figures. So before we begin the prepping process, lets discuss what tools to use and what tools not to use.

1. Sprue cutter. You will need a sprue cutting to remove the figures from the sprues. I have a pair from Games Workshop. They are a little bit expensive at about $20 but they only need to be purchased once.
2. Hobby Knife. Often called an X-acto knife, this item is nothing more than a surgeons scalpel. I use a straight triangle blade not a curved one. This is important. The narrow point is useful for getting into the hard to reach places of the figure. The knife will be used to remove the mold lines and excess flash.
3. Primer. This is a special kind of paint that is used to prep a surface to receive regular paint. I use Valspar plastic primer. It is clear so I also use a white primer. Mine comes from Armory. There are plenty of brands to choose from. You only need regular primer it if your plastic primer is clear. Krylon also makes a white plastic primer. I could not find it in my area but you may have better luck.
4. Plastic Glue. I found, in the United States, that the only plastic glue that can be used on Polyethylene plastic is Loctite All Plastic Super Glue. It is essentially a primer stick and a glue tube. You primer both surfaces to be glued ith the primer stick. Then you apply glue to one of the surfaces and hold together for 15 seconds. I’ve had good luck with this product.

You will not need a file. This is a common tool that is used on metal and even hard plastic figures. They are not good for the softer plastic figures though. Filing soft plastic figures will only shred the surface and cause more harm than good. It is best to avoid files.

Now it is time to prepare the figures to be painted.

First, I cut the figures off of the sprue. I’ll be painting one sprue of figures at a time so I don’t get bored from repetition.

Next the figure needs a bath. That’s right. Some hot soapy water is needed to remove the mold release agent. I soaked my figures for about an hour and then rinsed them under cold water for 5 minutes.

The figures need to have the mold lines and flash cut away. If you see any mold lines or flash, simply and gently scrape the lines off with the hobby knife.

Then I added a 20mm square base to each figure and glued on any shields that needed to be attached. The plastic glue does work equally well on metal surfaces with plastic.

Now I am ready to prime. I sprayed on the Valspar primer first making sure every surface was covered. This requires turning the figures on the sides to get underneath. After the Valspar primer dries, I prime again with Armory white primer. I let the figures dry overnight.

So far the primer and paint bends with the soft plastic and none of the paint cracks. The plastic primer is holding. So far so good.

PAINTING

Now that we have cleaned and primed the model, we are almost ready to paint!

Before we start, here are a couple of basics.

None of the painting techniques I do is really difficult. If things are not exactly perfect and straight, don’t worry. You are usually looking at a model from 3 feet away or more. You won’t notice the imperfections.

I will be using a base color, a shade color and a highlight color on all parts of the miniature.

Base colors are the general color of the object being painted. You need only cover the whole object with the base color. Pretty simple really.

The shade color is either a darker version of the base color or a premixed color from a paint system like GW, Vallejo, Foundry, Armory, Reaper or others. The idea is to paint the color into the folds of fabric or low points of the model to help bring out the detail.

The highlight color is the opposite of a shade color. It is lighter than the base color. The idea is to dry brush on or paint it on the high points of the folds and details. This will really make the detail “pop”.

For small objects like faces, I will usually paint the whole thing a shade color and build it up with a base color followed by a highlight color. For larger items such as cloaks or tunics, I will paint a base color first, then paint in the shade color and dry brush on the highlight color. If the highlight does not come out strong enough, I will the paint on the highlight (not dry brush) in small areas to make it even stronger.

Dry brushing is a technique where you dip a brush in a highlight color and wipe as much of it off as you can. Then you gently paint the high points of the object in question. I usually wipe the brush bristles by pulling them out of a paper towel over and over. I do this 10 times. That will remove most of the paint. Make sure you are using an old brush. I use a flat brush about 5-7mm wide for this technique.

Watering paints down helps with the flow. Sometimes, you might need a couple of coats to cover the area with thinned paint but usually the results are worth it.

Well…enough theory! Lets get painting!

First I will paint the face. I use GW paints. For the face I used Dwarf Flesh for the shade, Bronzed Flesh for the base color and Elf Flesh for the highlight. Given the small size of the model, I might have been better served using dark flesh for the base to bring out the detail of the face. Then I could have used Bronzed Flesh and Elf Flesh to do the raised surfaces.

Next I will do the tunic. As this is a Roman officer, the tunic should be Dark Red. I used Scab Red for the shadow, Red Gore for the base and Blood Red for the highlight. Why oh why does GW have to be so violent with their names?

For the cloak, I decided to make it a rather common color. I used Bubonic Brown for the base color. For the shadow I used Snake Bite leather. For the highlight I used Bleached Bone.

Now it is time to color the leggings and shield face. I used bleached bone and skull white for a highlight. I figured since they are such flat surfaces, no shade color is needed.

Next, I will do all the metal pieces. I used Chaos Black to blacken the metal and Bolt Gun Metal to make the iron pieces a dark silver color. I used Shining Gold to hit the frame of the Spangle Helm, the belt end and the hilt of the sword. I was careful to let some of the black show through to dark line the more regular edges of the equipment.

Finally, I used Snake Bite Leather for a base color of the shoes and Bubonic Brown for a highlight. Again, not so much in the way of detail here but I could use a line of Scorched Brown to liven up the belt.

At this point I have a completed figure. I added a couple of interesting features. First, I added a white stripe to the hem of the Officer’s tunic. It was a simple thing to do but adds some character. Next, I added a cross to his shield. Not just any cross but a form of the Chi-Rho, which is a Latin Christian cross, a popular shield device in the Roman military of the time. I used Blood Red, Chaos Black and Skull White. The black is painted on first giving the general shape of the device. I used the Skull White as a primer to paint red. This gives a nice bright shield device.

Now it is time to finish the base of the figure. I used medium strength dry wall compound (plaster) that I had left over from a home project…that’s still not done. I mixed some brown craft paint with the compound and spread it on the base. After the compound is dry, I painted the figure’s base the same brown color as I mixed in with the plaster. I then glued on some pea gravel and static grass using a little PVA glue.

Finally, I sealed the figure with Krylon Crystal Clear followed later by Krylon Matte Finish. Once this was dry, I dry brushed some Golden Yellow on the grass to make it a little less boring.

SOME LESSONS LEARNED

I am using 1/72 scale figures for two reasons. First, they are inexpensive. Each figure costs less than a 15mm figure by half or more. Second, the visual impact on the table is almost as nice as the more expensive 28mm counterparts. However, several things I do to paint 28mm figures just don’t translate well to 1/72 scale figures.

Highlighting and shading generally work with 1/72 scale figures but some of the smaller objects on the figure require a stronger/darker shade color. With the example figure in this article, the detail colors on the face just don’t pop out as well as they should. I might try experimenting with dark flesh as the shade instead.

There is a technique for quick shading with a product called magic wash. It is something that you can make yourself. The stock, depending on who you talk to, is made up of a small amount of Future floor polish and water. I mixed mine with 1 part Future to 4 parts water. Others will swear by a 1 to 1 ratio. Both seem to work well. Then you mix about 10-15 drops of stock to 1 drop of paint or ink. Then paint this over your figure and, hopefully, the ink will seep down into the details of the figure leaving the high points light. You can do this over a figure painted in only base colors with good results. I use this method on my 15mm armies when I want to get a lot of figures painted in a relatively short time. I paint a base color on all parts and finish it all off with a wash.

I have not tried this method on 1/72 scale figures as I don’t think there would be a lot of benefit. Plastic figures in this scale tend to have soft detail and the ink make not flow correctly into the cracks and crevices. I may experiment at some point but for right now, I will stick to highlighting and shading.

IN CONCLUSION

I have found that 1/72 scale figures are very easy to paint. With very little effort, I was able to paint a very inexpensive figure with a durable paint job. These figures will be a nice addition to any body’s gaming table. So if you are on a budget and want miniatures for your games, perhaps 1/72 scale figures are for you.

ABOUT OUR SUBJECT

According to Phil Barker, Romans of the Late Empire wore off-white tunics and trousers of undyed wool, usually brown, off-white or gray. This soldier is an officer. Barker believes officers should have red tunics, white trousers and mustard brown cloak. This officer is probably a line officer of some renown. He wears a spangle helm with gold fittings. This is a symbol of his wealth or a gift from the King whom he serves for heroic deeds. Barker also believes that the plume should be red. I thought that might make the figure look a bit boring so I left it white.

This figure is from HaT Industries Late Roman Medium Infantry set.

Ancients D6 Version 2 Now Online

Version 2 of the rules are now online.

Added:

• Barrage phase for the attacker to soften up the enemy before he charges with his melee troops
• Clarified several of the unit abilities
• Cleaned up some wording in the rules
• Added rules for breaking of contact and evading charges

The rules can be found here.  As usual, the game and lists are free!

The fantasy supplement is beta.  Feel free to send your comments in.

More to come…

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.