The Turn

Each turn is broken down into phases.  each player will complete the current phase before play moves on.

1. Initiative is when the first player is determined.  Instead of a competitive roll, a single die is rolled.  If a 5+ is rolled, the defender is the first player.  Otherwise, the attacker is the first player.
2. Movement is when all of the units of the game are moved.  The first player completes his moves followed by the second player.
3. Shooting is when missile combat is performed.  This is not in initiative order but rather, each turn, the person holding the initiative token decides which missile combat is done first.
4. Melee is when all melee combats are resolved.  Again, the person holding the initiative token decides which order the melee combats are resolved.
5. Morale is when broken units (those that have taken 50% or more casualties) are removed from play.  Players also will determine if an army has broken or not.

At the end of the turn, the initiative token is passed to the other player.  This will allow him to determine which combats will be resolved first in the coming turn.

Movement

In Antiquity, units may move up to their movement allowance.  They may turn freely measuring from the center front of the unit.  If they make a turn greater than 90 degrees, the unit takes a penalty of -1″.  Terrain can slow or block unit movement and retreats.  As mentioned already, units must be in a valid formation.  A player may not voluntarily leave a unit in an illegal formation.  If a unit is disrupted because some of its stands were pushed back during melee, that unit must spend movement to bring those stands back into formation.  This is a simple and clever way to enforce the effects of disorder.

Combat

Whether it is missile or melee, combat is resolved in the same fashion.  Each unit has a defense number.  This number can be modified up or down depending on the situation.  This is the number that the attacker must obtain with each die to hit that unit.  Each successful hit drives the target stand back 1 base depth.  If the stand takes a number of hits equal to or greater than the Hit stat, that stand is eliminated.  If the stand is not destroyed, the hits are forgiven at the end of the phase. extra hits can be caused if that stand is in contact with an enemy stand to the flank or rear per normal hit inflicted.

Melee is slightly different as both sides compare hits.  The difference is the amount of hits inflicted on the loser.  The winner can also pursue.  For each successful pursuit, one extra hit is inflicted.  For instance, if the loser has to retreat twice, the winner can opt to pursue up to two times.  He rolls a die per pursuit.  each 4+ counts as a success.

Flank attacks make it easier to hit the target unit and increase the number of hits on that unit.  There are also rules for supporting ranks and overlapping unit.

Morale

Morale is a simple phase.  First determine which units rout.  These are the ones that have taken 50% or more casualties.

Special Rules

There are all sorts of special abilities to make each type of unit fight differently.  Pila makes the enemy unit defend at a penalty if the attacker moves into contact.  Pikes (Sarissa) allows up to two extra ranks of troops to support in a combat while the spear allows one rank.  Things like that.  The special rules do add some character to each unit type.

Heroic Rules

These rules do not only deal with Heroes but also some special units such as elephants, chariots and extra cavalry abilities.  As well, there is rules for weather.  All are pretty simple and are what you think they are!

The Heroes themselves are regular unit stands with a Hero attached.  They fight as the normal stand but also have another stat called Renown.  Renown is used to psyche out other units in regular combat.  It can be used to boost yoru own fight ability or to lower the enemy defense.  It also can be used in duels.

Duels are the heroic aspect of the game.  At any time, you can call out an enemy hero if he is within 1 move of your heroic stand.  The duel is fought in three phases.  First is the shooting which bother Heroes cast javelins or shoot bows at each other.  Then comes the clash which both heroes slash at each other.  Finally, if neither hero has been killed, there is the grapple.  One side or the other will win on a competitive die roll.  This roll can be modified based on the number of wounds taken in the first two segments of the duel.  Duels are not mandatory.  If one player decides not to duel, his renown goes down by one.

Other Stuff

There are 9 scenarios to play with the rules.  These are very basic but should provide a quick and enjoyable game within the context of the game.  As well, there are special abilities that can be applied to each hero.

Impressions

I can’t help but conjure up images of Immortal or 300 hen reading through the rules for Heroes (not really a bad thing).  the basic combat rules seem straight forward enough and look very solid.  The game clearly is a beer and pretzels type of game with a veneer of Ancient combat on top.  Sort of WAB meets DBA in a more rigid environment.

There are some problems with typos and grammatical errors but at no point was I unable to determine what the author was trying to say.  The author would do well to have the rules proofed by a third party and re-release the game in a more pristine format.  But what the heck.  $5 for a PDF?  Worth the price if you like them simple.  There is a lot to love here even if it is a bit of a guilty pleasure.

You can pick up your copy of Antiquity here as a PDF or here as a book, both from LuLu.com.

The Book

Impetus comes as a spiral bound book printed in full color on heavy stock paper.  The book is 50 pages long and has numerous photos for inspiration and diagrams that help to illustrate how the game is played.  There are army lists at the end of the book and there is a points system published online.  There are also several supplement book which provide more army lists as well as campaigns and historical backgrounds.

Setup

In general two armies broken up into a number of commands is required to play Impetus.  This will usually be 100 + figures when using 15mm figures in the suggested base sizes.  I used DBA stands to represent units and use the smallest scales (1U=1cm).  The game played fine.

Before the battle can commence, the players will go through the setup routine to set out terrain.  This is a very simple but effective process.  Players will each throw 2 dice.  High roller is the attacker.  The defender will place 2-4 pieces of terrain.  The attacker will then have the option to move or remove 1 piece of terrain.  There is a chance for a built up area (village) and a river.  The defender will throw 1 die for each.  If a 5+ comes up, that terrain piece is also available in the mix.  Like I said, simple but effective.

The Rules

Impetus has an unusual turn order.  As stated before, each army is broken into a number of commands, usually 2-4.  Each command has a general with a leadership modifier based on how effective the general is.  Each player nominates a commander to move, rolls 2 dice and compares the results.  The high roller must move.  The player moves, shoots and melees with all units in that command.  Once he is done, both players nominate another command to move.  Once all commands have moved, a new turn begins in the same fashion.

Movement

A player nominates a unit or group of units to move.  The units may move straight ahead or wheel.  They may do both but risk disordering the unit or group.  The first move or wheel is ‘free’.  Each subsequent move or wheel the player rolls a die and compares to the discipline number for the unit.  If it is less than that number, the unit is disordered and may not move again.  Each move increases the chance of failure by 1.  Commanders can influence the discipline roll if they are part of the unit or group making the roll.

There are some reaction moves that can be done if a unit enters the zone of control (5U in front of the inactive players unit).  For instance, if a unit makes a move not directly at the enemy unit, the enemy could take a shoot of opportunity.   As well, a unit could be placed on opportunity and be allowed to interrupt the enemy with an opportunity charge or a shot of opportunity.

When charged, light cavalry and skirmish infantry may evade away from the charger 1 move.  Pretty standard stuff.

Combat

All combat in Impetus and Basic Impetus is done using the same game mechanic.  Each unit is rated with a ‘Basic Unit Value’ or ‘VBU’.  This number will range from as low as 2 to as many as 8.  The higher the number the better.  To this are added tactical and support bonuses for other units and situations as well as the impetus value (I) if the unit is charging and is fresh (has not taken any hits).  An attack invloves rolling dice equal to the modified VBU.  For each ’6′ or pair of ’5s’ rolled, one hit is registered.   The player owning the target unit must now roll a cohesion test.  The number is the target units VBU minus the number of hits received.  A ’1′ always passes and a ’6′ a;ways fails.  If the die roll is greater than the target number, the difference is the amount of permanent damage the target unit receives.   The target unit VBU is reduced by this amount.  Both sides of a melee get to fight before damage is recorded.  The unit that takes the most permanent damage is the loser of the combat.  It retreats a variable amount.  The attacker may pursue a variable amount.  If the attacking unit catches the target unit, another melee immediately begins.

Missile combat is a little different.  As well as tactical modifiers, there is a bonus or penalty for the type of weapon used depending on the range to the target.  There is a vast array of missile weapons rated in the game.  Missile combat is not simultaneous.  The attacker only causes damage to the target.

Regardless of combat, when a unit takes hits, whether it passes a cohesion test or not, that unit is disordered.  If it was already disordered and passes a cohesion test, it take 1 point of permanent damage. Damage from accumulated disorder is not considered when determining the victor of a melee.

Large units are an interesting aspect of Impetus.  Warbands and Hoplites can usually form two units deep and Phalangites (Pikes) can form four units deep.  The effect of these large formations is to give the front unit extra dice for each additional rank.  The back unit takes damage based on the cohesion of the front unit and is eliminated first.  The whole unit is not worn until the front unit actually takes damage.  If a large unit is flanked and subsequently fails a cohesion check, the whole unit routes.

Winning and Losing

The game is over when one side has reached its breakpoint in ‘Demoralization Value’ or ‘VD’.  Each unit in an army has a VD.  One half the sum total of the VD is the break point for the army.  As untis are eliminated, the VD of that unit is deducted from the total VD for that army.  When the total VD is zero, the army breaks.  Individual commands can break as well.   The VD has to be calculated for each command.  When one command breaks, all of those units count as breaks for the whole army.  So, it is possible for an army to break before an individual command breaks.  It is also possible that 1 command breaking will break the whole army.

Under the Hood

On the surface, the game is pretty simple.  You roll dice, count the hits and apply them to a cohesion test.  There are also some things that alter the game so that it becomes fairly chaotic.  For instance, when you roll for initiative, you must move the command you chose whether you want to or not.  You might win all of the initiatives for the turn leaving your opponent with the opportunity to move his commands in any sequence he chooses.  Depending on how well you moved during your turn, this may leave you with a long and horrifying wait as your opponent picks your army apart.

Dispirit combat values are not as bad as they seem.  With a little luck, a VBU 2 unit can possibly win a melee with a VBU 6 unit.  I wrote a probability calculator using Troll Roller.  The average hits for VBU 2-6 are as follows:

VBU 2 Hits .36,  VBU 3 Hits .57,  VBU 4 Hits .79,  VBU 5 Hits 1.03,  VBU 6 Hits 1.27

It would not be too unusual to see a VBU 6 unit miss and see a VBU 4 unit score at least 1 hit.

Another aspect of the game is the higher attention to detail paid to the missile combat system.  There are several long bows, composite bows, self bows, a sling, a javelin, 2 crossbows and 3 types of artillery.  Considering that the melee combat system contains little in the way of weapon detail, I found this a bit surprising.  I would have thought that 1 bow and a long/composite bow category would be enough for bow.  The differences in types is usually 1 die and often only at certain ranges.  Simplifying the list of missile weapons would not change things up that much and would fall in line with the simplicity of the melee combat weapons.

I felt the reaction system did not really add much to the game.  It seemed a bit complicated and fiddly for what it was trying to accomplish.  The games played fine without it.  I think I actually used it once.  As the movement rules are pretty restrictive, I don’t even think special ZOC rules are required.  I would be simpler to allow a counter charge by a unit that is in good order and it passes a discipline test.  Similarly, I think it would be OK for a missile unit to shoot if it was charged by an enemy, but only if it were in good order and it passed a discipline test.

Roman line relief was the one historical rule that I had a problem with in the game.  The rules require that you make 2 cohesion tests, one for each unit trying to interchange.  With that, there is a fairly low probability of actually performing the maneuver.  Long handing 2 average units trying to swap spaces would be 50% X 50% or a 25% chance to actually perform the maneuver.  Seems low for something that was a main feature in the Roman army’s success during the time of the Republic.  I would just allow it to happen if the back unit is in good order and the front unit is not engaged or is retreating from a lost melee.

Finally, I’d like to talk a moment about the organization and editing of the rules.  Some folks felt that the rules were hard to understand.  After reading through, I could see why.  The rules set is a translation from Italian.  The wording, while correct through out, could seem a bit awkward and occasionally hard to understand.  With two English language proof readers, the quality of the translation should have been better.  The organization of the book could have also been better.  For the most part, it flowed relatively well.   However, with regard to zones of control and reaction/opportunity, the rules were spread out to several sections.  There were several other minor instances of rules that I had trouble finding.  The book could have done with an index to alleviate the problems.

I played 3 games of Impetus with 2 commands per side.  My first game was Greeks vs Persians at Marathon.  For this battle, no rules changes were needed.  The Persians fought two units deep with the archers in the rear and mixed units in the front.  They were able to inflict some loses on the advancing Athenians but for the most part, the game held up to history.  The armored hoplites closed and made short work of the Persian infantry before the cavalry could join the fight.

The second game pitted a Pyhrric army vs the might of Rome.  This one went down to the wire.  The consular army advanced to contact and started a shoving match with the more numerous and deeper deployed pikes.  At first the Romans were getting the worst of it but started to grind down the pikes and were only just broken with a charge from the rear by the Pyrrhic Agema cavalry and the elephants.

The third fight was Carthage vs Rome.  It was similar to Zama but I simply made 2 armies and added a few Numidians to Rome.  The Carthaginians lined up in three lines and kept the cavalry on the flanks.  Romans were in two lines.   Both armies used skirmishers to the front.  The battle started with the Romans besting the first punic line after a brief struggle.  The carthaginian Numidians bested the Roman Numidians but the Roman cavalry locked in a struggle with the Punic cavalry which lasted most of the game.  After blending through the second punic line, the Punic veterans of the third line proved too much for the worn Romans.  The fight was over.

In all three fights, no rules modifications were needed.  They played well.  I especially liked the way that the large units could be ground down by a superior unit after the initial contact.  The accumulated disorder rule was great at representing this.  Units would get disordered but stay stuck in, thus not being able to rally/reform.  Missile fire could seem a little powerful.  Some weaker units that take a hit could leave the field if they rolled a 6 for cohesion.  Occasionally, the cohesion rolls could get a bit dicey.  On one occasion, I rolled four 6′s for hits and then rolled a 1 for the cohesion test.  No effect.  I liken this to the old Squad Leader morale check.  You roll very low and get a morale check +4 on the enemy. Then the enemy rolls 2 for the test and barely passes.  The number of hit are not casualties but rather the psychological effect on that unit of losses during combat.

I played several games of Basic Impetus as well.  It is, indeed, a ‘lite’ version of the full game.  The games were over in under an hour.  They did have the feel of the era in a basic way.  I played my last game of Basic Impetus with a few rules from Impetus, including my modified reaction rules and the evade rules for skirmishers.  It gave a fun little game with a relatively low figure and unit count.

The support of the game from Dadi & Piombo is quite good.  There is a forum on the website as well as a Yahoo Group.  The author is active at both sites answering questions about the game.

Conclusion

The game plays well and is a nice and (mostly) uncomplicated treatment of Ancient warfare.   Once I got rolling, I enjoyed the game a lot.  Despite the difficulties, I think that the full version of Impetus is worth the money. The game comes in two versions.  The first is Basic Impetus.  It is free from the authors website and includes a large amount of army lists.  It will give you a good idea of how the combat system works.  It’s free so you have nothing to lose.  The second version is that which is reviewed here.  The cost is about $42 in the US and can be ordered from your favorite hobby retailer.

Basic Impetus

Impetus

Both by Lorenzo Sartori and published by Dadi & Piombo

Price $42

1. Horse head and legs Split Wren’s Egg (3)
2. Horse body 5/8″X1/2″ spool
3. Rider body 1/2″X1/2″ spool
4. Rider head 3/8″ plug
5. Mane 9mm chenille pipe cleaner
6. Arms and legs 5mm tile spacer (1)
7. Spear 1/2 of a round toothpick
8. Shield 5/8″ diameter washer and card stock cover
9. Craft paint

The horse was assembled first and then the rider glued on top.  The arms were short lengths of the tile spacer and the remaining part of the spacer was cut in half and glue to either side of the horse to serve as legs.  The arms were glued to either side of the rider.  The spear was then added to the right arm.  The figure was primed gray and then painted.  I completed the shield with a 1/2″ disk of card with a print of a shield design from LBMS shield decals.  The washer was painted red before the disk was added.  I then glued the shield and the mane to the horse.  Here are the results.

First unit.

Flank view.

Rear view.

Right flank.

A second unit of horse. Shields are the only difference.

The figures painted up easy enough.  The paint needed about 3 or more coats before it looked good.  The craft paint just was not strong enough to hold off the gray undercoat.  Next time I will not prime.  Both Dale Hurtt and Matt Kirkhart don’t prime and find that 2 coats of watered down craft paint are usually sufficient to cover the figure without worries of chipping.  Pr-assembly is not a plus.  It would have been easier to assemble the horse, paint it, assemble the torso, arms and head of the rider and paint it and finally add the rider to the horse with spear and legs and paint them.  The shield, of course, should always be finished befor adding.  Speaking of shields, it would also be a good idea to add them last.  The mane needs to be centered and the shield got in the way of adding the mane.  So my first batch of cavalry have the manes slightly tilted to the right.

1. The turn order is drastically changed.  Turns are completely interactive.  Each step is done by both players before moving on to the next step.  The steps are Rally, Move/Shoot, Melee, End Turn.
2. Rallying is now done by spending orders.  You may spend one order to remove one point of damage.  No unit may receive more than 1 order in a turn so if you rally, you will not get a second move!
3. Flanking has been toned down.  You still take a penalty when making morale checks because you are flanked and you still lose special abilities while flanked but there is no longer a combat penalty.  Supported units fight as one unit when flanked.  The second rank  in the supported formation is there to be chopped upon only and cannot contribute to the fight when flanked.
4. Several of the special abilities have been removed as they did not contribute to the game in a very meaningful way.
5. The army lists are being reworked and the points system will be single digit.  So, units will cost 1-7 points and most will cost 1-4 points.  A basic army will be 30 points.

That’s about all I can think of off the top of my head.  If you are interested in having a look at the draft, it can be found in the files section of the group in the folder AD6 V3.  The army lists will be uploaded in a few days.

Secondary Sources

These works are usually well researched.  They are interesting in that they can give us insights on a subject that we don’t fully understand.  They are our compass for finding those primary sources that, hopefully, hold the answers.  There is danger however.  As these are secondary sources, they are full of opinion and a healthy does of guesses.  They probably draw from a variety of primary sources.  Depending on how the author fits the information together, this could be a bad thing.

Primary Sources

Primary sources are a good thing.  The best primary sources are those that are written closely after the events covered.  Polybius is a fantastic Punic war source for example.  His treatment of the First Punic war is very generalized.  He does us a service by adding only what he knows to his narrative.  he adds little in the way of opinion and fluff.  The Second Punic war is much more detailed.  Polybius interviewed witnesses who actually fought in the war.  Massenissa, the King of Numidia, was present at Zama and at the final siege of Carthage during the Third Punic War.   As a bonus, he also was serving in Iberia on the side of Carthage.  As a rarity, he could provide insight for both sides.  Sadly, Polybius is incomplete.  Much of his work has been lost.  So what are we to do?

Adding other not so contemproary primary sources is the answer.  Both Livy and Plutarch comment on events in and around the Punic Wars.  Here is where the danger lies.  These sources, Livy especially, sometimes make comments about subject matter that they simply could not have known about with any certainty.  In Livy’s case, little is known about his sources.  In the case of Plutarch, he occasionally divulges the source of his facts.  In the life of Pyrrhus, for example, when he gives battle casualties at Heraclea, he mentions two sources, Hieronymus and Dionysius.  Hieronymus is the contemporary source for Pyrrhus but his work is lost to history.  If this is a glimpse into Plutarch’s methods, we can probably safely use him to fill in the blanks of Polybius.  Plutarch is most valuable for adding details of the Macedonian wars as he follows the lives of many Greek leaders and their military exploits.  From here we can get numbers of troops at Cynoscephalae, Pydna and Corinth.

Divining from What We Know

Here is a sole source example of the Battle of Zama.  Everything I use is drawn from Polybius’ account of the battle, inferred based on what we know about troop deployments and some guesswork.

The battlefield is almost certainly a featureless flat plain.  There is no mention of any sort of obstacles other than the vast amount of dead and wounded on the field of battle.

The forces are relatively easy to divine.  We can start with the Roman forces since the numbers are practically spoon fed to us.  The Roman forces are deployed in 2 contingents.  There is the Romans proper and the Numidians under Massinissa.  Polybius tells us that the Romans deploy in a consular army of 4 legions.  Each legion has 3000 heavy infantry and 1200 light infantry.  As well, there is a contingent of heavy cavalry of either 300 Roman horse or 900 allied horse.  Each legion is divided into 3 heavy lines of 1200 Hastati, 1200 Princepes and 600 Triari.  There is also 1200 Velites deployed to the front.  So the entire army would be deployed with 4800 men each in the first two lines and 2400 men in the last line for heavy infantry.  They would be covered by 4800 light infantry.  The total amount of horse would vary but would not be greater than 2400.  The Numidians forces were broken down for use with Massinissa arriving at the head of a force of 4000 horse and 6000 infantry.  the horse would be light horse and the infantry would probably be a mix of light and heavy infantry.  That last bit is a guess.  Nobody really knows for sure.  By the namers, the total Roman allied force would be 19,200 Romans and 10,000 Numidians for a total of 29,200 men fo all arms of which up to 6400 would be cavalry.

The Carthaginian force is a bit more problematic.  Polybius only gives us the number of the first line.  He also tells us that a Numidian Prince joined Hannibal with 2000 horse.  The first line is made up of Ligurians, Celts, Mauritanians and Baelerics.   Of the four mentioned, two units would probably be classified as light infantry.  It would be easy enough to call half of the 12,000 infantry light infantry.  That would leave a neat line of 6,000 heavy infantry supported by 6,000 light infantry.  In the second line, there were the Citizen troops.  these were of dubious quality.  we don’t know the number here but 12,000 is a reasonable guess.  we will com back to this.  The third line is Hannibal’s veterans he had in Italy.  We don’t know this number either but Polybius tells us at the end stage of the battle, both sides deployed in line and were nearly equal in strength and spirit.  That said, the Roman line we know is 12,000 men less perhaps 1,000 in casualties.  There is no reason not to think that Hannibal’s Veteran line is approximately 12,000 men in total.  So, with 2 out of 3 lines determined, I suspect that the middle line is, in fact, about 12,000 men.  Now we only have the problem of the cavalry.  We know on the Punic left, There were 2,000 Numidian Horse.  On the right, I have no idea the strength of the Punic Cavalry.  A reasonable guess would be 2,000 giving a fair advantage in cavalry to the Roman side of about 2,400 horse.  Almost done.  There is a matter of 80 elephants.  They were deployed across the entire front of the Punic army.  Most scenarios I have seen give them escorts, presumably the light infantry from the first line.  However, Polybius makes the distinction stating that the light infantry is in the first line and not with the elephants.  From here we can add up the final numbers.  36,000 infantry, 4,000 cavalry and 80 elephants.  That is a reasonable and plausible amount of troops.

So, from Polybius’ eyes, we have divined a believable scenario without having to go to other sources.  A couple of wild guesses but for the most part, I have follow Polybius’ account.

You are probably wondering what happened to the Numidian infantry.  Well, given their well documented poor quality, I suspect they were used very sparingly (camp guards maybe?) or they were driven off easily by the rampaging elephants.    Nobody knows for sure.

In melee double pikes get +3 and double warbands +1 vs all but cavalry, psiloi, light horse, scythed chariots and bows.  This is because these attackers all have some sort of missile weapons or are designed to crash through the ranks (scythed chariot) so the second rank could not actively help the front. That actually makes sense.

Double spears get +1 when fighting knights or other spears.  OK.  Huh?  This makes no sense.  If you are going to allow spears to support other spears, then one would think they would perform similarly to pikes with a +1 instead of a +3.  Not quite sure why the difference.

Psiloi supporting blades spear and auxilia confer a +1 bonus when attacking mounted, or forts or camps.  This is because 1) the target is vulnerable to missile fire or 2) the shooting overhead is making the defenders of the fort/camp keep their heads down.  This makes sense.

All of the tactical factors seem pretty straight forward.  As a whole, I think the support relationships are pretty well thought out save the Spear.  in the next iteration, I would love to see that standardized to behave like pikes do now.  Will it happen?  That remains to be seen.

The Book

MOA is a 112 page rule book with a color cover and black and white text.  The rules are well organized and feature many symbolic diagrams as well as examples to help explain the game concepts.  There are rules for setup and army building as well as 150 army lists.  The main rules cover about 40 pages.  While this may seem a bit lengthy, the rules are well explained and the game is fairly easy to play.

Setup

Units in MOA are comprised of either three stands (cavalry and light troops) or 6 stands (formed foot).  You can actually play with any number of stands per unit but 3/6 are recommended for the standard game.  Each unit is rated for training from A-E with A being the best.  Units take hits when attacked either by melee or shooting.  When a unit takes a number of hits equal to its stands, a fatigue point is placed on the unit and the remainder number of hits recorded.  So a 6 stand unit would trade in 6 hits for a fatigue point.  Excess would be then carried over.  Fatigue points are negative modifiers to the morale rolls of a unit.  More fatigue results in a better chance of a unit failing a morale check.   All units can take a certain number of hits before becoming worn.  ’A’ class units can take 4 fatigue while ‘E’ class start the game worn.  Worn units generally take morale checks in melee first before any other unit.  Keep this section in mind as you read through the description of the game.

MOA does feature formal rules for setting up a game for tournaments and pickup games.  Both players determine army composition based on the army list they have chosen.  Each army is then divided into commands, with one command per commander.    Based on the composition, each army has a total number of scout points.  Once the totals have been determined, they are compared and the player with the lower total must set out one of his commands first.

Terrain setup is more subjective and free form.  The number of terrain pieces available is based on table size.  Each side alternates placing terrain pieces and is allowed to place up to half the selections.  Not all pieces need be placed.  If one side passes, then he is done placing terrain.  In this way, both sides have some control over how much terrain is on the battlefield.

The Rules

MOA has a lengthy but logical turn sequence.

Initiative

Side A Move

Side A Shoot Side B Morale

Side B Move

Side B Shoot Side A Morale

Side A Delayed Shooting Side B Morale

Charge Declarations and Executions

Charge Responses

Melee

Morale Tests from Melee

Remove Routed Units

Break-Off

Recover from Shaken

Initiative

Both sides roll for initiative.  The higher roll is Side A and the lower roll is side B.  Initiative is rolled for each turn.

Move

Movement is interactive.  Side A moves and shoots followed by Side B.  The morale step is taken after shooting and the effects take place immediately.  The delayed shooting is an interesting point.  It does not provide an extra shot for Side A.  It only allows those units that could not shoot during side As turn to shoot if they were able after Side B has moved.

Formed units may move straight ahead, make up to a 45 degree turn and move straight ahead or move obliquely.  They may also make a facing change sacrificing all of their movement to be able to face in any direction.  As well, this facing change may be combined with a formation change allowing the unit to forma deeper formation.  Skirmish units have somewhat more freedom of movement.  They may move as formed units.  In addition they may make a skirmish move which allows them to move in any direction or make any facing change but only move at half speed.

Shooting

Units armed with missile weapons may shoot after they move.  To shoot, roll 1 die per stand in each unit and consult the chart to see what the target number is to hit the target type.  For each die that is less than or equal to the target number, 1 hit is scored.  Hit numbers are usually 2 or 3.  Convert hits to fatigue points where applicable.  After shooting is completed, the target unit must make a morale check to see if it becomes shaken.

Charge and Response

On unique facet of MOA is that movement and charge movement are separate steps.  Charge movement is performed after all shooting and morale checks from shooting is done.  This allows missile fire to occur as the charging enemy approached.  Charge move rates are separate from regular move rates and are shorter, usually by half.  A charging unit may declare a charge against any eligible target to the front of the charging unit.   It may make a 45 degree turn before executing the charge.  Charges may be canceled if the charging unit is itself the target of a charge that it could not charge or counter charge.  To execute a charge, the charging unit must pass  morale check.  Failure means that unit does not charge.

Units that are targets of a charge must now respond.  Responses are either stand, evade or counter charge.  Each unit must first pass a morale check to respond.  Failure could result in the unit becoming shaken or even routing.

Melee

Units in contact now melee each other.  To melee, first consult the melee chart to determine the starting combat factor against the target unit.  Then add appropriate modifiers to the combat factor.  This usually is a charge bonus or a penalty for being shaken.  Then roll 1 die and add the result to the combat factor.  Cross index the number of stands in the fighting unit with the final combat total on the melee table.  The final result is the number of hits scored.  Convert hits to fatigue.  Both sides melee using this procedure before determining the morale checks.

Morale

If a unit takes hits in melee and is in contact with an enemy, it must make a morale check.  Morale checks are taken in a specific order.  Worn units check first followed by non-worn units down to the lowest combat total.  Morale results are immediate.  If a unit started the morale step in contact with an enemy but is not in contact with an enemy at the end of the step because the enemy unit was routed, then the unit is not required to take a morale check.  Possible melee morale results, like all other morale checks, are shaken or routed.  routed units are removed from play.  Some units, in melee rout immediatly.  An example of this is infantry failing a morale test while in contact with cavalry.  Shaken units also rout in melee if they fail a morale check.

Break-off

During the break-off step, some units may break-off contact with slower units.  Suffice it to say, the unit breaking off turns 180 degrees and makes at least a full charge move away from the enemy and up to 2 full charge moves if desired.

Recover

Units that did not move, melee or fail a morale check may recover from being shaken.  Recovery is automatic so long as the recovering unit did not move in anyway or melee that turn.

Under the Hood

The first thing I noticed about the game was how easy it was to inflict any sort hit in the game.  Usually, hits for shooting were low and did not have any immediate effect in terms of fatigue.  Later in the game, shooting became more important when units have taken a few hits and were only 1 or 2 hits away from gaining a fatigue point and another morale modifier.  This is fine.  In fact, one thing you will notice is that there is no rallying back any lost damage.  So this sort of gradual decline makes for a tense game.

Speaking of damage, you have to keep track of two types of hits per unit.  The first is hits.  The second is fatigue.  There are two ways of doing this.  First is to use small dice or markers placed next to the unit.  Those that don’t like stuff on table will find this to be sub-optimal.  The second way is to keep a roster.   If you are like me and don’t mind marking units, you may still find two markers a bit fiddly.  A way around this is to mark fatigue as normal.  Any left over hits can be converted into a save of sorts to see if those hits also become fatigue.  Since standard units are 3 or 6 stands, you can readily use 6 sided dice to accomplish this.  Lets say a 6 stand unit takes 8 hits.  That would be 1 fatigue point automatically.  Since there are 2 hits left over, that would convert into a 2 in 6 chance of getting a second hit.  The same logic applies to a 3 stand unit but each hit would be a 1/3 chance which converts to a 2 in 6 chance.  So 2 hits left over would be a 2 in 3 chance or a 4 in 6 chance of causing an extra fatigue.  If the roll is not made, the extra hits are discarded.

Shooting felt about right for effect though heavy infantry was surprisingly susceptible to shooting with a 3 or less to be hit.  There is an optional rule on the MOA website that changes this to a 2.  The split movement phase allows all shooting on both sides to take effect without fiddling around with opportunity fire rules which often can be gamed by crafty players.

Charging and charge responses were perfectly straight forward though there was a good bit of detailed if this kind of troop is charged by that kind of troop then they can… I would have liked to have seen charge and charge responses be more generalized.  Much of the game feels like it has roots in the old WRG rules and I suspect that is why the surprisingly large amount of fiddliness with the movement rules.

Melee, again, is quite straight forward and this is where the author’s experience with WRG rules beams through.  You look up a factor based on matchup.  You add a modifier or three.  You roll a die.  You look up damage on a table.  The system should be very familiar to most old school WRG players.  Of course, instead of removing figures, you remove fatigue and carry over hits.

There is nothing statistically anomalous with the game.  When you figure out the factor and roll the die, the highest roll you can get will yield a result of about 3-4 times that of the lowest result you can roll for that combat.  This provides a pretty good amount of variation.  If I roll a 1 in the same combat 2 turns in a row and my opponent rolls a 6 for the same combat 2 turns in a row, I will probably be in big trouble with that unit.

The battles I fought were a fictitious battle between Macedonia and Rome, Marathon and Zama.  The Macedonian fight was a close run fight with Rome pulling out a victory in the last turns.  Missile fire kept the Phalanx shot up and gave the edge to the Roman infantry.  I figured Marathon was going to go to the Persians based on what I observed from reading the rules.  I was wrong.  For the most part, the Greek phalanx advanced on the Persian line.  The right was stalled by the barrage of missiles but the left and center made contact.  The archers and spara-bara troops held for a time against the hoplites.  Then the right finally rallied and passed a charge test and hit home.  This turned the tide for the Greeks.  Finally there was Zama.  The game performed well in this battle.  While the replay did not completely go according to history (what replay ever does?) it had the feel of how the troops would have performed historically.  One of the elephants even routed into the Carthaginian Numidian horse and tilted the balance in favor of Massenissa.  The other flank saw the Carthaginian horse route the Roman counterpart.  It was a dramatic turn that likely was the downfall of the Romans.  The two veteran lines did meet in the middle and a melee ensued.  Rome was beaten up just enough and the Carthaginians gained a narrow victory.

Conclusion

Might of Arms is a fine game.  It has been around for a while now (since 1996) and still gets regular mention on The Miniatures Page.  Despite some of the unnecessary detail in movement, the game is pretty straight forward and moves along at a good clip.  As with all of my reviews, I played this one solo.  It was a bit painful to do at times and is much better suited as a two player or even a club game.  Those that have fond memories of the old WRG rules should check this game out.  I’d definitely characterize it as a sort of a “WRG-Lite” game.  Those that don’t like tracking casualties on the board or in a roster might not like this game.  The current version, from what I gather is still available through the author’s website though I think his print run is finally dwindling.  I believe he is working on MOA 2 to be published sometime in the near future.

Might of Arms by Bob Bryant

Might of Arms Yahoo Group

The Book

Rally Round the King (RRtK) is 96 pages long.  Don’t be put off by the book length.  The actual battle rules are less than 20 pages.  Much of the book deals with such topics as setup, campaign, army lists and magic.  It can be bought either as a PDF or as a print book (which comes with a PDF as well)   from the authors website.  The book is mostly text with some helpful diagrams as well as the usual charts and tables.  The book has plenty of sample army lists and many are labeled with a historical equivalent army for historically minded players.  There is also a unit and army design system so you can make your own favorite army.  Finally, there is simple campaign system to play out battles in context of the “big picture” of a game world.

Setup

The setup rules are quite simple and straight forward.   In the setup sequence the players choose and build there armies.  You get a set amount of units and then you roll randomly for the rest.  Each army has a number of rolls based on half there army points.  This usually (but not always) is equal to the number of units in the base army.  Once the armies are “purchased”, both players determine the scouting values.  This value will come into play when the units of each army are actually deployed.  Then both players roll to see who is the attacker.

At this point, the defender will randomly place terrain.  The 3′X3′ battlefield is divided into 9 sectors 3X3.  The defender rolls 1 die per sector and consults the terrain placement table and places the appropriate terrain.  The attacker has the right to refuse the terrain placement.  He may do this 2 times and must live with the third placement should it come down to the third roll.  The defender chooses which table edge he will defend and the attacker will take the opposite edge.  Once this is determined, units are deployed.

The player who has the lower scouting value must place the first three units.  If this number is half that of the winner, he must place 6 at a time.  If this number is one third of the winner, he must place 9 at a time.  The player with the higher scouting total places 3 units at a time.  There is a 12″ “no man’s land” in the middle where nobody deploys.  You also may not deploy within 6″ of the side edge of the board or 3″ of the rear edge.

Units in RRtK are broadly divided into mounted and foot units.  They are further categorized as melee, skirmish, missile or dual armed.  Dual armed perform like melee troops but also have a short ranged missile attack.  There are certain abilities that can make troops even better.  Terror, for instance, can cause fear in nearby enemies making it more difficult for those units to pass reaction tests.  Other abilities such as pikes or combo-weapons can add 1 or more points to the melee die roll.  Each unit has 2 numeric values associated with it.  They are REP and AC.  REP is the over all quality of the unit.  It governs the units ability to stay on the battlefield.  The higher the REP (3-6), the better.  AC is a rating of the relative armor protection of a unit.  The higher the AC (2,4,6,8) the better the armor.

In the standard game, the objective is to drive the enemy from the field.  There are no artificial army morale rules in the game.  The battle is over when one army is completely eliminated or when one side decides to withdraw.

Leaders are an important part of the game.  A unit with a leader attached gains +2 to the rep of any unit they are attached to.  They also give +1 to the REP of any unit adjacent to the leader unit.  Finally, the leader has a war rating (2-4).  This is a measure of how many units or groups a leader may activate per turn.

Main Rules

RRtK does not have a detailed or structured turn sequence.  The attacker starts by nominating one of his units or groups to activate.  He must spend a war rating point to do this.  Once activated, that unit or group must keep moving at least at half speed until it is halted.  During the move, circumstances may cause the enemy to make a reaction test and then react to the attackers move.  This reaction could be for the defender to charge, shoot or run away.   The attacker’s group may then be forced to react to the enemy which might be to return fire, continue charging, halt or run away.  Once all actions and reactions for that unit/group has been completed the attacker activates his next unit or group and the process is repeated.  Once the attacker is done moving, the defender becomes the active player and activates units in the same manner.  Play shifts back and forth until someone wins the game.

Activation and Movement

Players spend war points to activate units.  Each player will usually have 2-4 war points per turn to activate with.  Once units and groups start moving, you don’t have to activate them until they halt.

Both units and groups must move straight ahead.  There are rules for turning.  Groups may wheel up to 45 degrees but this wheel must not exceed the speed of the slowest unit in the group.  Units may wheel up to 90 degrees.  It costs all movement for infantry to wheel and half movement for cavalry to wheel, after which they may continue moving straight ahead.

Groups are a collection of units that share a base edge in contact and are facing the same direction.  Groups may be assembled and broken up at a whim as the group or unit is activated.

Movement can sometimes be involuntary.  This may be the result of a reaction test where a unit will give ground, retire, or spontaneously charge.

A group may also be reformed if it has been jumbled as a result of a melee.  Basically the center of the group remains in position and others form up around that center unit.  This costs all movement.

Reactions

The heart of any Two Hour Wargames  game system is the reaction check.  RRtK is no different in this respect.  There are various reaction tests for being threatened by a melee unit, being shot at, being charged or for charging.  There is also a test for when the general gets killed.  To make a reaction test, two dice are rolled and each die result is compared to the units current REP value.  The results will be to pass both, pass one or pass none.  If you pass both, you will remain in good shape.  If you pass only one,  usually only some mildly bad stuff will happen to you.  If you pass none, affected units will tend to run away.  Note that when you make a reaction test, you roll only once for each unit or group.  Some units in a group will have different REP values so they may react differently from the rest of the group.  This can often have the undesired effect of the group fragmenting.  When a unit is forced to give ground or retire, it also loses another point of REP.   Also, different types of units will react differently.  Cavalry and frenzied infantry will charge even though they failed a reaction on one die.  Other will stand on the same result. 

Shooting

After a unit moves, it may shoot at an eligible enemy target.  This target may be a unit or a group.  1 or 2 dice are rolled for each shooting unit depending on type.  The die roll and modifiers are totaled.  If the total exceeds the targets AC, 1 hit is registered.  In the case of a group firing, total all dice and apply hits to the target unit within range.  If the target is a group, then the hits are divided among the units one at a time until all units are hit or all hits are accounted for.  For groups with multiple ACs, the lowest AC units are hit first.  For example, two skirmish units fire at a group with an AC 2 unit and an AC4 unit.  The die total is 7 so, starting with the AC 2 unit, a hit is scored as 7 is greater than 2.  That leaves 4 pips left.  This is compared to AC 4 which is not enough to score a hit on the second unit.  If the skirmishers fire again, the AC 4 unit becomes the first target.  Regardless of the amount rolled, a missile attack cannot score more than 1 hit per unit shooting.

Melee

Melee combat works in a similar fashion to shooting.  The only difference is that units must be in base contact.  The rules have groups and units line up exactly base to base and corner to corner.   This is sometimes not desirable if you have fewer units.  In melee, each unit rolls a die and adds modifiers for special abilities and battlefield situations.  Compare the result to the enemy AC.  If it is 1 point higher, a hit is scored.  For each multiple higher, another hit is scored.  So for instance a unit fighting an AC 2 enemy unit, could score multiple hits if the total of the melee die was 6 or more. Groups fight groups in the same fashion as groups of archers firing at enemy group targets.

Melee has to be initiated by a charge test.  Both sides passing the test will result in the melee.  It is possible for most units to route if they fail both dice on a receiving a charge test.  There is no melee benefit to a flank attack.  In stead, the unit being charged must pass the reaction test on both dice or route.  If they do pass, the melee is fought as normal.  The defending unit is assumed to have refused the flank.

End Game

As mentioned before, the game does not end until the enemy has been driven from the field or one player gives up.  Casualties in the game do not represent just actual loss of life but also the loss of the army’s will to fight.  There is a post game resolution phase that will determine what happened to the units that routed.  Some units will reform and return to the army pool and others will simply be lost.  This is important if you are playing the campaign system in RRtK but can be skipped if you are just having a battle with a friend.

Fantasy Elements

I am primarily concerned with the historical aspects of RRtK.  However, others will, undoubtedly be interested in the fantasy aspects of the game.  Suffice it to say, there are rules for wizards and heroes in RRtK.  Fantasy creatures can be created using the unit building rules so the limit is only what your imagination can come up with.  There is also a fantasy setting to run a campaign with the rules set.  I will not go into detail here but will mention that wizards do have plenty of spells to choose from to cast in game.  They include, attack defense and summoning spells.  I don’t think fantasy enthusiasts will be disappointed.

Under the Hood

I found the game mechanics of RRtK to be extremely easy to grasp and I found the game to be very enjoyable, especially as a solo game.  Part of the reason it is well suited for solo play is the reaction system.  When a reaction test is made, the troops make the move it says.  No questions asked.  So, when the units get stuck in, the local commanders take over and tend to ignore your commands.

One peculiarity I found was with the shooting system.  For the most part, each unit in the game gets 1D6 to attack with.  This seems to be true for all melee units and for skirmish units.  However, for other missile units, you get to roll two dice per unit and add either 1 or 2 to the die roll depending on how many figures are on the unit firing.  This can be quite powerful and most of the time will result in maximum damage to the target.  For instance, an AC2 unit will always be hit as you can’t roll less than 3 on2D6+1.  Similarly, an AC4 unit will be hit 5 in 6 times and with 2D6+1 and 35 in 36 times with 2D6+2.  With group shooting, it’s even  worse.  There are conditions for overkill as you cannot score more than 1 hit per unit.  This will tend to balance out the occasional miss.  I did not play the rules as written in this respect as I already knew the outcome.  For my Marathon game, I simply rolled 1 die per unit and added 1 for 3 figure units and 2 for 4 figure units.  The first couple of games were still disasters for the Greeks who had 4 REP and 4 AC.  While the Persians had only 2AC the front line were 4REP and were dual armed.  They stuck around too long and the Greeks just wore out.  I reduced all but 1 Persian unit to REP 3 and the game went much better.  I will say though, if the Greeks don’t pass the charge test with 2 dice, they will stand there and get shot at.  Give them a Mulligan and let them charge or they won’t win.   Ultimately, I think the missile system should be toned down for historical battles.  I think a better representation should be D6-1 for skirmishers, D6 for 3 figure archers and D6+1 for 4 figure archers.  I have not tried the change yet but I suspect that will give a really good balance for most battles.

Another oddity was that some units would simply get in the way.  After prolonged combat, you will have units with low REP but are getting modifiers for being supported by friends to the flank and rear.  They are often useless as you can’t charge with them and they block other  friends.  You can voluntarily route them which tends to diminish your strength.  They would still be useful in a support roll.  In my re-fight of Zama, I used the reform action to reform groups by switching the front with the rear ranks.  Most ancient armies were capable of passing ranks in some capacity and not otherwise allowing a move after this maneuver is a good enough penalty for performing the reform action.  Of course, you also can’t be in melee contact to do this.

Scoring hits on multiple units in a group can be a little confusing at first.  If all of the ACs are the same then you can simply divide the hit total by 1+AC and drop fractions.  Example: I roll a 11 on 3 dice.  The units in the target group are all AC2 so I would divide by 3 for a total of 3 hits.  For different units you are simply deducting 1+AC ignoring any result that would be less than zero.  Lets change the example to 2 units with AC2 and 1 unit with AC4.  Now we rolled a 9.  So, the first unit is an AC2, so we deduct 3 with 6 left over.  The next unit is an AC2 so we deduct 3 more with 3 left over.  The last unit is AC4 so we would deduct 5.  That would bring the total down to -2 so that last hit does not count.

So how did the rules perform?  In Marathon, I got cute and tried to do deep Persian ranks.  I allowed the rear ranks to shoot but at -1.  This did not go well for the Greeks…at all.  I then made the formation more sensible with just 1 rank of archers behind 1 rank of sparabara still allowing the overhead shooting.  Still not great.  Then I used the same formation but did the line of shooting as per the rules.  Worked better.  The Greeks got in and even routed the Persian line.  At this point, there were 2 Persian cavalry, 1 light and 1 heavy, attacking the flanks.  I was going to call it a Greek victory but decided to see how the Greek army would hold up against a charge by Datis and his heavy cavalry.  The results were bad.  3 Greek units routed in succession from the flank attack and another after failing a melee test.  To make matters worse, the Persian light cavalry was picking away at the only fresh Greek hoplite unit.  ultimately, the Persians snatched victory from the jaws of defeat.

Zama went considerably better and gave a historical result.  The skirmishers did well to defeat 3 of the 4 elephants, first by driving them back and then routing them into the oncoming Punic lines.  The 4th managed to slip through and menace a hastati unit.  Scipio directed the fighting himself, ordering some Triari into the flank of the Elephant and destroying it.  At this point, the mercenaries started their attack, sometimes giving as good as they got.  A combination of the missile fire from the Roman side and the shock of the better Roman troops help drive the mercenary line off.  The Citizens were up next.  They did little damage against the better armed and armored Roman infantry.  On the flanks, Massinissa was almost killed as the Carthaginian Numidian allies really did some damage.  Massinissa decided to charge and fail the charge test.  As his cavalry were all skirmishers, the result caused them to quit the field (defected I suppose).  The Roman and Punic cavalry mixed it up on the other flank.  The battle went back and forth for 2 turns but the Roman cavalry prevailed with the help of some supporting velites.  It finally came down to the Carthaginian veterans supported by 1 slinger unit.  The slinger was driven off the field and Massinissa and company harassed the Carthaginian left.  The Roman line charged and a bitter melee ensued.  First, the Roman line started to buckle and a unit even routed.  It looked like Carthage might just pull this one out when they rolled a 6,6 for their post melee reaction test!  More units routed but some stood firm. Hannibal’s unit finally routed and the other two followed suit in reaction to seeing his unit leave the field.

Conclusion

Rally Round the King is a solid game.  This is another game which is more workman like and less high polish though there is some old school art from Andrea Sfiligoi of Ganesha Games.  The system is easy to play and requires only a moderate amount of figures.  The game is well suited for replaying ancient and medieval battles though some modification will be needed.  I will say that it did not do a very adequate job of Marathon as I could not adjust the rules to replicate the Persian formation (yet).   Other pitched battles will probably work just fine.  People who like there games on the simple side will like this game.  Those who are interested in solo games will love this game.

Rally Round the King from Two Hour Wargames by David Gray and Ed Teixeira

Support Site To get answers to all your game questions.  There is an extensive files section with plenty of THW support material. 

Troll Roller The statistical engine I use to calculate anything I can’t do by hand.

Shaun Travers has an excellent blog reviewing many ancient wargame titles including a refight of RRtK and a review of the predicessor Warrior Kings.

The second is a historical scenario “Civitate” being played out with an un-named set of rules.

Click on the images to get a larger view. 

I’ve been using VASSAL heavily to run test games for my reviews and will continue to use it to test out rules changes for AD6.  I will also use it to resolve combats if I ever start a solo campaign.