Version 3 of Ancients D6.
Ancients D6 is a fast playing game of Ancient combat. Games usually last about 1 hour and require armies of 50-100 figures. The game can be scaled up for larger engagements.
AD6_V3 Dec 18, 2013
QRS Version 3 Dec 18, 2013
Basic Units V3 Dec 18, 2013
Biblical V3 Dec 18, 2013
Classical Greece V3 Dec 18, 2013
Alexander the Great V3 Dec 18, 2013
Successors V3 Dec 18, 2013
Punic Wars V3 Dec 18, 2013
Imperial Rome V3 Dec 18, 2013
Dark Ages V3 Dec 18, 2013
Early Medieval Dec 18, 2013
High Medieval V3 Dec 18, 2013
Fantasy V3 Dec 18, 2013
Version 2.1 In German
AD6 German V2.1 Translated and modified by Bernd Kohler NEW!
AD6 Army Lists German Translated and modified by Bernd Kohler NEW!
John's Wargame Page 
You have rekindled my interest in Rome vs Greece. I’ll be checking these rules out over the weekend. Thank heaven for juniogenerals too!
Our gaming group have several games of D6 behind us and seem to like them better each time we play!!!! We have even designed a campaign game around D6 using a large island similar to sicily with Romans ,Charthageans and Greeks facing each other. We also use a naval component played a lot like D6. Thank You
@Joe
Hope you enjoy the rules. Junior General is a great site. I’ve used some of their art and have drawn some of my own in their style.
@Jon
Glad you are enjoying the game. I am intrigued about your naval rules. How do they work? D6 would work great for campaigns because of the relatively short games.
John
Looks great, thank you for sharing! Any thoughts of extending it to include Medievals?
Right now I plan on doing Early Medieval as in Norman/Saxon/Viking. I’ll probably extend that to include first crusade. I tend to design to my miniatures collection and my favorite periods (ie the ones I know something about!) HYW is not out of the question as are the Scottish and Welsh wars. The Imperials will be a bit more problematic as I don’t know too much about that.
John
Hi
Looks like a fun set of rules! I will have to give them a try.
Thanks for putting the rules out here for us all.
John
Dear John,
Ancients D6 is a Very nice set of rules. I have played them with my boys and some of their freinds (as young and 5 years old) and they like it as do I.
I have a question on rallying. Does only the phasing player rally or do both sides rally in each rally phase. Also, if both sides rally, can the non phasing side use commander’s orders and if he does so, does it affect the number of orders he can use in his phase?
Thanks again, John Worden
Hi John,
Glad you are enjoying the rules.
In the rally phase, only the phasing player gets to rally. So, only the phasing player can spend orders to rally his units.
John
Hi John, just read the rules (heard about them on TMP). I am a medievals player and was wondering how you would handle medieval troop types. Have you done any medieval lists?
Thanks – Allen
hey, i tried to download the Ancients D6 but it wont happen… any help would be appreciated.
Hi Aiden,
I noticed the link went up and down a few times today. Probably something going on with my provider. Give it another try. If it does not work, I can upload a copy to the group.
John
Stumbled across this site via TMP and am intrigued by your approach. I have a fair few Saxon and Norman figures languishing in my loft and you have given me the incentive to liberate them from the darkness and I intend to test your systems with them over the next few weeks.
Thanks for reviving the interest of a jaded gamer.
[…] Ancients D6 […]
[…] Ancients D6 […]
[…] Ancients D6 […]
Hi John
Nice Games… i have one question
Hu is the cost of Kommanders and Captains from the Armies?
i m not found cost from his.
Thanks
Jose
Jose,
Page 2 of any of the army lists gives the answer. You get 1 General and 1 captain for a 300 point army. For each 150 points of an army, you can add another captain. There is no cost per se. you get them based on army size.
Hope that answers your question.
John
Hi John
When appears the Seleucid List 🙂 with big Elephants 🙂 .
Greetings
Hi John,
Your rules look good, I would like to work up some armies using the rules for Lord of the rings, any chance of publishing the points system?
Hi,
I found your rules and read them. They a fantastic.
Like Hawkmoon in the post above, I am interested in creating my own army list so is there a system?
After 50+ years of ancient miniatures gaming (and I’ve tried them all) I think this ancient gamers has found his set! How do you mark individual casualties? I’ve been playing rules with stand removal, rather than individual figures markings. I must tell you I don’t like casualty caps — the rules, look to be worth the trade, however.
Thanks!
I have a few suggestions: First I think the ZOC rules are redundant in a game where skirmishers can have ranged combat, and can evade. I think the wording of “must attempt to make contact” is hopelessly vague, and seems to require an umpire to invigilate. We tossed it, and found the game hardly noticed.
Secondly, it’s not clear whether you can move backwards in a group, or even whether wheels have to be in a forward direction. I suggest a clarification also of what edge-to-edge contact means. Your diagrams seem to imply that a 40X20 and a 40X30 element side-by-side, aren’t a group, but I don’t know if that’s intended (it certainly is a good rule if so, IMHO, as it encourages similar units to fight together).
Third, there’s the whole “death spiral” thing. That’s where you punish the guy unlucky enough to get hit first. Certainly realistic, but IMHO, suboptimal as a game mechanic, and this is a game. I’d have units that are damaged, still attack with full dice, but roll fewer perhaps in saving throws?
Fourth, I’d get rid of the Rally step. It slows things down, and isn’t necessary. I’d make rallying more effective, and far less frequent, so that it becomes a special thing a leader can do, at a cost in PIPs. Essentially he intervenes in a dire case, to save a unit from breaking.
Otherwise, I love the fresh ideas, and the break with tradition this game represents. I’m not a big fan of saving throws (why randomise multiple times?) but as compared with DBA (where everything is boiled down to one crucial roll, and you better get a 6) this game is far better.
Flanking rules are utterly unnecessary and in my view, totally ahistorical. Outflanked ARMIES were indeed at a big disadvantage, but outflanked units, I can not really find a historical precedent. What would have occurred is this: as a unit was “outflanked” it would detach/deform in such a way as to match the enemy maneuvering, and as a result would be fighting on a longer front. It would become more brittle, but would suffer no decrease in its ability to place spear points on target.
In game terms: once a unit is flanked, it should fight two combats: one against the unit to its front, one against the flanking unit. Assume for now that all units are identical. Suppose on average each can sustain 2 hits, and on average applies 2 hits each time it rolls. Now you have 2 units each suffering two hits, thus both survive. The flanked unit suffers 2 hits from each enemy unit, and so is destroyed. There is the flanking effect without any special rule necessary.
Hi John, really it is interesting how wedded DBx gamers are to the concept of a ZoC, and how totally unnecessary it really is. It works in hex-based games. It fails utterly in a continuum (and this can be demonstrated by a topoligical argument). Your “straight ahead” rule accomplishes the same thing, with one sentence, that DBA does with a page of convoluted rules, an unofficial guide, and a never-ending argument about what constitutes legal contact. PB should have dumped the ZoC concept a decade ago.
I did wonder when you were going to “scale down” your points system. In my view, if an army needs more than about 20-30 points for a game, you end up doing too much accounting.and arithmetic, and given that your design seeks to eliminate calculation, that seems a pity.
Thanks for publishing this brilliantly elegant set of rules.
Looking forward to dragging some old DBA / HoTT armies out of the cupboard and finding new life in them.
I am currently putting together some fun, free, fast-play rules for 18th C imagi-nation warfare for in house gaming. Whilst I have trawled lots of rules for inspiration, I have ended up taking 90% of the mechanics for ‘my’ system from your D6 ancients.
Good stuff, and thanks again.
Cheers Steve! Glad you like the rules. I am looking forward to seeing what you come up with for your 18th century mod.
John
A stupid question: what is the basic movement increment? One inch or one base width?
1″. I’m not really fond of the whole BW thing but I understand why their is a growing trend.
[…] Ancients D6 […]
Hello John,
In version 3, the Successor’s army list, page 2, Front Rank Pike, there is a modifier called “Small Shield”. Is this modifier left over from an earlier version or was it left out of the V3 rules?
Kyle
*sigh* Yes. Sorry about that. They are now just “shields”. The point values should still be correct.
I like the rules but I can’t understand if the bases must be allined, like in DBA/M when in H2H ???? Any help ??
Francesco, as far as I read it, no conforming, for combat (you can only make contact by a straight ahead move!). If you want group benefits (or support) you need to conform to your OWN troops, but never the enemy.
Avoids the “Tetris” effect of DBA.
[…] Ancients D6 […]
HI we have some questions about play. 1).player one moves a unit into melee contact with player two unit. Can player two move that unit back out of melee contact during player two movement phase? 2.) The loser of melee combat is pushed back and takes a morale check??
we played about three games, no terrain yet because we are still trying to figure out play but its fun.
thanks
keith
I’ve just completed my second read-through. Sounds interesting and clear on many muddled approaches from other games. Have to say I’ll need some mods as I use four base equvilent, i.e. 80mm wide. As all of my armies are based this way should be interesting. At least distance should be easy.
One problem: my armies. I have Byzantines, Bulgars, Magyars, Hungarians, and Pechenegs with large numbers of dual armed melee/missle and mixed armed melee/missle. Has any work been done in these areas?
Another question is non-gunpowder artillery for ancients, specifically Roman, Syracuse and Successors. Or did I miss them somewhere?
Thanks for putting this good together and indeed the price is right as well.
Martin
Hi Martin,
We played with large units like you have before. You can double all rates and ranges and everything should work movement-wise. For combat, you can do something like what is done in the German version. Bernd posted a translated version of the mods above. In your case you would multiply by 4 for all dice rolls and modifiers. OR you could simply assign a strength to each unit base. This would correspond to the figure strength of individual WRG bases.
Byzantines etc. It’s on my list of things to do. Really. 😀 I thought someone (maybe me?) did some work on this a while ago. I’ll have to look through my files when I get home.
John
Thanks for taking a look for these. I’m setting up a game for next week and give them a run through using Successors, maybe Pyrrhus versus Demetrius as I ran at a convention couple of months ago. Should get a decent comparison between our House Rules and AD6.
I did not have anything on Byzantines. I think the only thing you really need is cavalry with bows. They should be bow (4″) and cost 1 point more than regular cavalry.
Hello John,
Our little group did a run through with 40 points per side to match with a convention game I ran a few weeks ago with Pyrrhus versus Rome. Even with all the checking, rechecking, variables, etc. we made excellent time and received good results. As usual with learning we had a few questions and some incredulous looks. Here we go:
QRS has morale modifiers “rallying unit in enemy zone of control.” ZOC not found in rules.
QRS has morale check for Shooting and states “push back and disrupted.” Disrupted not found in rules so we discarded.
Skirmishers and Light Foot in the army lists: Master, Successors and Rome do not show ‘Evade’ ability except for Peltasts. Is this correct?
Can an active missle unit voluntarily hold fire to have the ability to fire in later phases, e.g. when they become the target of a charge? In an arbitary way we agreed to have opportunity fire until the unit’s next activation, that could only be used as the rules states after the active player has moved and fired.
Wording under ‘Pursuit’ had a lot of questions and discussion. Appears active is the defending unit? When the charging player must decide to use a second move, does he still get to expend his full first move allowance before using the ‘ordered’ move?
OK. Enough for now. I’ll send the rest later and the big issue: Pike.
Hi Martin,
ZOC in general is a thing of the past. The game works without any ZOC rules. As well, rallying is now automatic so long as you spend an order to rally 1 point.
A failed morale check from shooting should result in the unit being pushed back. Originally it also kept the unit from moving except with an order.
Skirmish units should have evade. Originally it was part of the skirmish ability. I broke it out so that peltast units could evade as well.
Shooting can occur at any time during movement or at the end of movement when both players have gone. So a bow could move and not fire. If the enemy moves into range or charges the bow unit, it may fire at the end of the movement phase. This is usually a dangerous thing to do as the phasing player could move his own bow units up and shoot up your bow unit before the end of the movement phase.
I’ll post more when I read over pursuit again to see where the hangup is. Also I’d be interested to hear what the issue was with pike. In general, I am working out how a group of units get flanked. I want to simplify everything. It has been pointed out to me that it should be enough that units getting flanked should be able to defend normally. They are attacked from multiple directions and are probably receiving at least twice as many attacks as they are dishing out. Rear attacks should use the armor value of the rear unit and flank attacks should use the armor value of the front unit.
John
Well Martin, it was an easy fix. Change “Inactive” to “Active” or “Phasing”. Apparently I was having a couple of pops while I was writing that section. 😀
Hello John,
Your suggestions on response to base size works quite well. I’ve been going through the rules and adding my questions, comments and the large base size changes. In theory I think I’ve got it covered. It’s just going to take some game time and see how myself and others behave with it.
Here’s some questions from playing and reading:
When a commander detaches then attaches to another unit, which used his entire move, is he still able to move with the new unit?
When a general is attached and the unit must make a morale roll, can the general give an Order Point and therefore rolls +2D6 for attached and +2D6 more for the order?
Can the winner of the initiative pass it over to the opponent and require they be active first?
When defining groups, does corner to corner count, or is it required to be an edge to edge contact?
When moving through units does the reference to skirmish unit include bot Mounted and Foot?
You use the terms difficult and rough terrain. Do you consider these to be interchangeable? And woods to be a type?
On page 16, the sentence, “If any unit is not a in formation or terrain falls within this line…” seems out of place (and bit confusing) with the ‘line of fire’ bullet points just above, even if I correct to “not in a.” Or am I missing something else going on here?
Okay, last one for today: how can I decipher unit points? I use a lot of different armies and associated army lists from a number of sources, plus my personal research. Example is Pyrrhus’ veteran, regular and levy pike. Now, I can get the regular from list and then add veteran, but what should I pay for the upgrade or downgrade for the levy. With the points for units being so low I’ve yet to break the code on all the special abilities.
I’d like to be able to convert some of my armies and play the game with more than my Mediterranean ancient armies. And truly, considering all the time you spend in and for the hobby, you shouldn’t have to do my army lists.
I appreciate your efforts and look forward to more gaming and learning with Ancients D6. BTW, the German looks good for the missing Pyrrhus list! A personal favorite. The generic list is a great idea, but again the cost factors are there but not how to alter for some special cases, etc.
Martin
Hello,
Had a fine game last Saturday with AD6. Ran Romans and Pyrrhus. The recommended double move & range etc worked just fine for large bases. Couple of items puzzled us. When can a unit counter-charge, and some match-ups seemed at odds with historical practive. To point, “Why can’t I countercharge and get my charge bonus,” with the Romans. And, “my pike just don’t have any push power against weaker units.” As well as, cavalry charging elephants worked and infantry skirmishers and light infantry versus elephants did not.
Also had some “house rules” because of my basing. My elephants have skirmisher escorts. Had the skirmishers give firepower as normal, but had opponents firing at them split hits to both, odd to the skirmisher. Of course with only 2 points, it was a brief interlude to more destructive hits. The advantage in other rule sets is more pronounced but just do some guerilla engineering and keep going.
Thanks for listening,
M
Hi Martin,
I’ll answer your first post in a few days. Just got back from Vacation.
You may counter-charge if you are attacked frontally only.
Skirmishers should be able to shoot up elephants. Unlike DBx, you have to actually shoot. Remember, skirmishers can also evade the charging elephants. At Zama, the Velites (skirmishers) took severe casualties against the elephants.
The handlers is an interesting idea. Probably works pretty well for larger bases. As you say, the handlers get killed quickly.
Pike should be able to handle anything that charges them to the front. Skirmishers would run away. So nothing shocking there. I found that Roman Legionaires get chopped up pretty good against pike.
Hope that answers some of your questions.
John
Thanks. We’ll be moving in deeper next game. I think it was the cavalry versus elephants that got the General and Captains jumping. Would the Fear/Terror factor have to be checked each turn, is that equalizing? Anyway, thanks and looking forward to more games.
Hi I am having problems viewing any of your d6Ancients stuff. Is there a problem at your end? Thanks.
Hi Andrew,
Phone line was cut a few weeks ago. It took 5 days before it was spiced together again. Everything should be up and running.
John
Hi John
I just finished a Korean army for D6. It will be entered in the county fair in July but in the meantime we hope to get in a battle or two. We also have a stampeded cattle piece that we are experimenting with. Thanks again for renewing my interest in ancients with such a simple and easy to learn rules system.
Glad you are enjoying the game Kieth. I’d be interested in hearing your impressions of the game. Also, do post the stats of your stampeding cattle unit. Always good to cover the niches as well!
Ancients D6
The game system is ideal for beginners,novices and Figure painters who want to have their army battle tested and ready. We only use certain rules to get started. No terrain, command rules or breakoff ,evade and pursuit. although the latter three are used by myself and my only veteran opponent. We do have one commander each with three command points.
I have even had a couple skirmishes with no modifiers just to get used to moving and coming to battle.
If you are able to find hardcore players for face to face battles thats great but out in the North prairie farm country, players are difficult to locate. So this way I can teach myself and others this game and grow into it a step t a time.
We painted and based some armies for DBA some years ago but without ever playing it it was hard for us to figure out. There is a whole world of DBA on the internet but we never played face to face with some who had played it, ever! Interest was lost until Ancients D6 was discovered.
When our family is lucky enough to get together for gaming Ancient D6 is gaining in popularity against Risk, Blockus and cards.Twenty some years ago Avalon Hills game 3rd Reich was my game of choice but I cant find 4 opponents willing to set aside many hours to play the game .
Painting plastic 1/72 ancients for Battle using ancient D6 is my new passion.
thanks guys
My interest for the wargame was lost until I discover your new Ancient D6 rules. Thank you for your work. Mike.
Thank you very much for Ancients D6. It’s a great system and a lot of fun to play. You have rekindled my interest in wargaming and I am amassing my armies at present; my creative energy is stirring and I’m enjoying learning many new things about this wonderful hobby. With gratitude ~ Brett.
You are welcome Brett. Enjoy the rules and do drop by if you have any questions.
John
Thank you, John. I appreciate that.
I do have a few questions:
1) I’m thinking that Order Points can only be allocated toward giving a unit/group an extra move during the Movement Phase of a turn. Is that correct?
2) The following questions have more to do with aesthetics than the rule system (I’m looking at ideas for boarding my miniatures, so I’d appreciate the wisdom of those more experienced than I):
a) I imagine it comes down to personal choice, but do people tend to have their command figures as mounted generals/captains on the single base as opposed to foot commanders?
b) I’ve noticed that there are some great standard bearer miniatures on the market. Have you used them as part of your armies in the game, and if so do you place them within a regular unit (with legionaries or a bodyguard unit, etc.?) or do some people expand the Command Base to include more than one figure (perhaps with a foot commander, standard bearer, and musician)?
3) Are there any plans for rules outlining siege warfare for Ancients D6?
Thank you once again, John. I have played a few games now featuring Early Imperial Romans versus Britons and have found them to be fast paced, and the rules to be sensible, well thought out, and a lot of fun to work with.
Best wishes ~ Brett.
Hi Brett,
1) You are correct. No player should ever feel like he’s lost the game because he rolled 1 order point. You always get to move units 1 move. You then may move units/groups a second move up to the mount of orders. Guard at least one of your officers like gold because you lose the orders they impart if they die.
2) I keep a few singles around based on squares or rectangles. I wish I had based them on rounds. It’s easier to distinguish them from the troops on the battlefield.
I have some stands with standard bearers so they can be used in multi-figure games. Eye candy really. I do use them to denote elite units on the battlefield in Ancients D6.
3) No sieges at this time. It’s been a while since I’ve played so I have to get back into it before considering sieges!
Glad you are enjoying the game.
John
Thank you, John.
Your Order Points system makes a lot of sense to me. I like the Rally rule: it conjures up images of reinforcements being sent, and units brushing themselves off, bolstering their spirits, and pressing onward!
In my test games, I used 30 x 30 mm square bases for Command, but I see we have a local company supplying bases that I will go with; they have 40 mm round bases that I think I’ll use for Command, following on from your suggestion.
I agree with what you have written about eye candy. I’ve been looking at some Corvus Belli and Blue Moon command sets. Call me what you will, but the standard bearers and musicians included in those sets are too nice for me not to include. Ha-ha!
I think I might incorporate some siege elements in a few games. I feel that with your rules for higher/lower ground, cover, etc. I could adapt a few things (I really like your rules for artillery, by the way). You have piqued my interest re: the Jewish Revolt, so I think it will good to play some siege games or at least street-fighting once I can get a Zealot Army together…
Thanks again and best wishes ~ Brett.
Hi John,
I just discovered your rules and am looking forward to giving them a try. I’ve done a few read throughs and the one thing I don’t see is any kind of terrain information. Am I missing something or is their a terrain table that did not make it into the V3 rules?
Thanks,
Brad
Hi John, i am writing a new antique rules and i am using different ideas and mechanics. I would like to know if your rules are “open” and if i can use some of your ideas on it. Of course i will mention your rulebook as a source.
Thanks
Sebastian
Hi Sebastian,
Sorry for the delay. My rules have some unique ideas and many ideas borrowed from elsewhere. Feel free to use them as you like! Please also feel free to share. I’d be interested in seeing what you come up with.
Cheers!
John
Hi Just discovered and am about to try the rules with my 15mm DBA Egypt and Sea People I must have missed it but I cant find the * section with the additional skills/additions for the troop types Can ya help show me where to find it cheers heath
Just set up….Movement table Cant find one I read its 1 inch…isn’t that a tiny bit snail like on a reg 60x60cm board And does 1 inch apply to all troop types…I see 1 move all…and 2nd move order pt..I must have missed the movement rules that maybe somewhere else on the site Ill go through again but helppp lol
ah ha BASIC UNITS That’s better Excellent
This is great No restrictions…House rules easily fit in….If anyones reading Is there somewhere I can download my battle report Im about to play..30 point game Viking raiders(10 stands) vs A village militia/peasant force helped by the local lords house cav,heavy foot and some accurate merc bowmen(19 stands)…House rule has made the 5×3 reasonably trained militia poor,and the 8×2 village semi trained units have been given 2 inch range missile weapons but are skirmishers.Viking hirdmen,numbering only 6 have been made veteran so theres 24 pts,throw in a beserker,a 3 bow and 2×2 bow armed skirmishers(it is a raiding party after all) and it should be great….the board has the DBA Littoral waterway for the landing,the stone walled village at other end,a steep hill on village base line edge cr(difficult terrain,but prob wont come inot play unless the 3 lord units hang up there or Vikings attack them to gain more vps) ,a reasonable sized plowed field to left near village(Difficult terrain) and a small orchard terrain piece 3 inch right in front of village,also difficult terrain….board looks good
Hi Heath, Glad you are liking the game! 1″? That may be something like artillery I suppose. You do get a second move if you spend an order/pip. You can also group move with that order. I’ll answer your other comments when I have more time. It’s a busy week for me. John
I had 2 of the guys over and its a winner…I found a great way to measure casualty hits…I own 1000 board wargames and remembered a counter that measured up to 4 casualty hits and 4 decreasing morale levels…simple , a small but readable square counter numbered each side 1-2-3-4…simply lay at rear of unit with current loss figure touching the rear base of stand….it seems to work and we don’t have to look at the colour chart I did…white marker=1 Blue=2 and red=3…too much for our memory LOL ..
Another idea is to use painted shields. I would imagine it would well given how few casualties most units can take.
I use colored casualty caps. White/Yellow/Red for 1/2/3 casualties. Similar to heath. The shield idea is an interesting one though. I think ti works better if the bases are big enough to accommodate counters etc.
Hi, just had a battle this weekend and we used red/white/blue caps. Less clutter and its nice if there is a spike or pole on the base!
Yep! Straight up spears or pikes hold them nicely. Not really surprisingly, guys with their pikes at 45 degrees makes it a bit more difficult. You pretty much have to put the cap on their head instead or confusion will ensue.
Hi John,
I’m looking at adding Sumerians to by AD6 games, and was hoping you could share any thoughts you might have for a Sumerian army list (and those of their enemies, or would Sumerian city state versus city state be best?). I could wing it, but would prefer you sharing your wisdom on the matter before I go purchasing, painting, and basing troops.
Thank you as ever, and best wishes.
Brett Simpson.
Hi Brett,
First off, sorry for the delay. It’s been a busy couple of weeks. All caught up now.
I am afraid I do not know to much about armies from the beginning of history! However, I can tell you that I do use DBA Online army lists as inspiration and a guide for proportions of men. The units listed in Ancients D6 Biblical Armies should cover most of the units found in the early bronze age. From the DBAOL lists, it appears they fought Early Syrians, Early Egyptians and them selves (Sumerians!). For Pike, I’d actually use spearmen. Other than that, the army has a core of heavy chariots with auxiliaries, skirmishers and perhaps a light chariot or two.
Hope that helps.
John
Army list is here. http://www.dbaol.com/armies/army_1_figure_1.htm
Hi John,
Please don’t apologise — I appreciate the response. Thank you for the link to the DBA Army Lists. This is going to be a fun project, and I have already started work on terrain (trodden fields).
Best wishes and happy gaming!
Brett.
Hi John,
I have a couple of questions for you regarding the Ancient Britons army list.
Light Chariots are listed as Bow 4″, but my understanding is that the chariot-warriors used javelins as range weapons. Is the listed 4″ range a way of reflecting the mobility/hit-and-run nature of the chariots? I’m not knocking the rules (which are great!) — I’m just curious as it has come up in-game.
What are your thoughts on having sling skirmishers available to the Britons? I’m thinking that rather than a separate listing they could be interchangeable with bow skirmishers (statistically the same?). I only ask as a number of manufacturers produce Briton/Celtic slingers and it might be fun to represent them on the table.
Best wishes and thanks again for the Rules!
Brett.
Hi Brett.
I honestly don’t remember. It may be that the Chariots were given the long range for just what you say or it may be that I lifted light chariots from the Biblical list and forgot to change them to Javelins. Try either way and see what works well.
I think it is well documented that slings were widely used by the Britons/Celts/Scoti in all of the various eras. I think it would be perfectly fine to use slings instead of bows.
John
Thank you for answering my questions, John.
I ran a play-through with 2″ Chariots today. They worked well, but I’ll run a few more and see what the consensus is from my group.
The Celtic slingers are on their way from Magister Militum and Minifigs!
Have you considered making your system available for purchase through OneBookshelf or somewhere similar? I think you should — it’s a wonderful set of rules!
Best wishes always.
Brett.
Hi John,
I am so glad that I found your rules. I’m trying to introduce some historical gaming to my local game store and they’re just what I’m looking for: straight forward and easy to teach.
I’m using Expeditionary Force Miniatures 60mm figures. For all of the base widths and distances I have quadruple them. Do you think that you would have any deleterious affect on the game? And I do have a large enough area to game on BTW.
Thanks
William
60mm! You must be lucky enough to have a gym floor to game on! 😀
Seriously, I think your approach going up incrementally is the right way to go. So if you are quadrupling base sizes, then you should also quadruple all move rates and ranges. There should otherwise be no bad effects.
I think the only problem you will have is that the board will be something like 8 feet square! I reckon you can use smaller bases and use a 6 foot square table. Just assign strengths to each base rather than counting figures.
Hope you take some pictures!
John,
I think I’ve got enough room. My game shop has a number of 4 x 12′ tables and I’m planning to put two of these together, level them out and cover with a large canvas drop cloth suitably painted (accent spray paints). Most of my terrain will be around the edges so I’m going to use some “croupier rakes” if needed for action in the middle of the table.
Currently I’m building Macedonian and Persian armies. I took the liberty and modified your army lists a little adding some extra units (e.g. prodromoi, Apple Bearers, and some others). My aim for a compact but relatively well trained/elite Macedonian army and a larger but less homoginous/poorer trained Persian army.
Again, these look like a great set of rules. I’m really looking forward to trying them out.
Good luck with the game. You may want to try a couple of games before hand just to get the flow down. The abilities of troops are sometimes off-putting to new players. It is good to have someone at the table who is familiar with their game effects.
Hi John,
Another couple of rules questions if I may:
Must commanders be attached to a unit?
If they stand alone, can they be targeted by enemy units?
Thank you!
Brett.
Hi Brett,
I can’t believe I did not add that in! If a commander gets contacted in the open, roll a D6 as if the commander was hit. The wound result means the commander was captured. Command points are lost as usual. The commander may be recaptured during the game and the command points restored. If the result is escape, the commander moves to the nearest friendly unit, even if the path is blocked. He may not influence combat that turn (ie no +1 morale or melee) but his command points are still available. Also, characters in general cannot be targeted individually by missile fire.
Hope that was clear.
John
Thank you, John.
Very clear and simple — and what a great addition to the rules. Captured commanders! We are having a lot of fun with AD6 at present.
Best wishes.
Brett.
Hi John,
A quick question regarding evading units (skirmishers and such). When playing on a small table (2′ x 2′) what happens if the flee result (bass movement plus die roll) has them running off the table-edge? Would it be unfair to say they are routed, or do you have them re-enter the battle at some point?
Thank you!
Brett.
— sorry that should read “base movement”, not “bass movement”.
Hi Brett,
I usually play on a 3 foot board but have played on the 2 foot board. When a unit runs off the board because it flees, you can do one of two things. The unit returns in 2 turns or the unit returns in D3 turns. In either case, it should return within 1 move of the point that it left the board either to the left or right or, of course, the point at which it left. I think we went with the random option. When the unit does return, place it on the board edge. That will constitute its free move. Then you can give it an order to make it move a second time if you so choose.
Hope that helps.
John
Thank you as always, John.
That rule came in very handy in a game tonight, actually (British light horse chased off by Roman heavy cavalry). We used the random method (3 turns), which meant they didn’t return until the very end of the battle…
Is their a blog or somewhere else we can share images from our games?
Brett.
Hi Brett, Glad your game went well. If you like you can e-mail the pics to me and I can post them up for you here in a blog post. Full credits to you of course! Send them to jacar AT johnshouse DOT org. Just make sure it is obvious which order the pics are supposed to be in. 😉
John
Thank you, John.
Email sent.
Hello John,
the rules are great for me. i’ve played them a few times. great.
Question: Are there such rules ( D6 ) for the Napoleonic Era and the American Civil War?
Hi Peter,
I kicked around the idea a few times but never did anything with it. I know a gentleman by the name of John Hills experimented with an ECW variant. I don’t know if he ever finished. Glad you enjoyed the rules!
John
Hello John,
I have used these rules a couple of times, so far, and find them excellent. However there are a couple of points that I’m not clear on..
1 – How does a units Strength apply in combat situations ?
2 – If a unit wants to charge is there a specific distance that they have to be from the unit they want to charge ?
Thank You..
Hi Paul,
First, thanks for the kind words about the rules!
On to the questions:
#1 Strength is the number of dice rolled to attack, modified by abilities and situation. As a unit takes casualties this number will decrease. The unit can be rallied back of course to full strength. A heavy infantry might start with 4 strength so rolls 4 dice in combat. The same unit might take some casualties. Lets say they’ve taken 2. The next time the unit attacks, it only rolls 2 dice.
#2 There is no special charge rules in this game. The unit is assumed to be charging if it moves to contact on that turn. Cavalry are assumed to be counter charging if they have a benefit for charging and are only contacted from the front.
Hope that helps!
John
Hi, I’ve got a couple of questions…
1 – You mention in some of the army lists about including “Superior Generals” but I cannot find what you mean by that?
2 – If 2 identical units are side by side fighting a single enemy unit, does the total number of d6 increase. i.e. if I have 2 groups of legionaries adjacent to each other fighting the same group of Pictish warriors, do the romans roll 5d6 (4 basic + 1d6 for ‘support’) or 9d6 (2 groups of 4 =8d6 +1d6 for support)?
Thanks