Throw me a 6 Horse and Musket

I’ve been musing for a while now about how to bring TMA6 into the horse and musket era.  I’ll focus initially on the early part where linear tactics prevail and worry about the the Revolutionary and Napoleonic period later.

Moving should be pretty simple.  I think a simple formation system will be in order.  The only formations needed will be road column and line.  Perhaps 6″ in line, 9″ in column and 12″ in column if traveling the entire distance on a road.   Most of the other maneuver rules can remain the same.

Shooting was my bigger hangup.  How much is too much in terms of firepower?  I have to consider the two firing systems.  There is rank fire which, while relatively steady, can be cumbersome when the formation is taking fire.  The platoon fire system probably yields similar results when the formation is moving but should have an advantage when the formation is not moving.  In general, there is about a 4:3 relationship between a 3 rank and 4 rank formation.    I settled on a unit being able to fire with 3 dice which is about a 42% chance of causing at least 1 hit.  Platoon fire infantry that do not move may add 1 die to the total for about a 51% chance of causing at least 1 hit.  Each hit on the unit reduces it’s firepower and melee power by 1.  3 hits (3 stands lost) results in the unit routing.   Units should be represented by 5 stands.  4 will do but with 5, you can place the flag in the center which makes the unit look great!

Melee should be similar to the Ancients version.  The loser retreats a variable amount of inches while the attacker can pursue up to a half move.   Base melee power should be set at 3 as melee by this time is a combination of shooting and hand to hand fighting.  If an infantry unit chooses not to charge another unit, it may issue fire first.  A hit results in the opposing unit to halt short and it may then return fire.  2 hits breaks the attacker and the unit retreats in a similar fashion to melee.  The defender (winner) may not pursue if they win through firepower.

I have not thought about cavalry yet but being that they are mostly melee troops, there will be armored and unarmored heavy horse and light horse.  They should all function similar to the TMA6 ancients rules.

Magic for ‘Throw Me a 6’

I’ve been pondering how to incorporate magic in Throw Me a 6.  I think I have come up with a simple but kind of interesting solution.

1. Spells, in general cost “points” not unlike other systems out there.  A wizard will have a set amount per game to use.
2. When a spell is cast, the points for the spell are expended and a success roll is made.  On a ‘1’, the spell fizzles.  On a ‘2’ through ‘5’, the spell succeeds with normal effects.  On a ‘6’, the spell critically succeeds!  ‘Throw me a 6’ right?!
3. The ‘6’ might be to simply double the effect, or add some other bonus to the spell.  Haste, might allow a unit to move a second time.  A ‘6’ would add +2″ to each move.  Fireball might be 1-3 dice depending on how many points you spend.  A ‘6’ would double the amount of dice rolled.  Fear might cause a unit to retreat as if it just lost a melee.  A ‘6’ would also cause a loss of a stand.

I think there would be a couple of broad types of casters.  Wizard, Sorcerer, Necromancer, Druid and Priest.  Each will probably have about 3 spells to choose from.  I’ll have to give it a few tests to see how it goes.

 

 

Throw me a 6 has been updated.

After taking a read through the file recently, I noticed I never wrote in the “advance after combat” rules for Throw me a ‘6’.  I finally got around to updating the rules.  As well as this addition, I’ve updated the design notes to be more reflective of the design of the game specifically.  Find the rules here.

Finally, a little something to try.

Generals are a single stand unit.  They can influence the retreat die roll by +/-1 for any friendly unit within 4″ that has to retreat.  Alternatively, they may join a unit and influence the retreat roll by up to +/-2.  If that unit becomes involved in a melee, the general will add 1 die to the melee dice.  However, at the end of each turn that a general is involved in a melee, the opponent rolls 1 die.  On a 6 the general is killed.  Generals may move without restrictions at the rate of light cavalry.  If they are not attached to a unit and are contacted by an enemy, they will flee toward the nearest unit and attach themselves to that unit.

The ‘General’ rule has not been tried out yet.  If you plan on giving them a go, let me know how they work for you.

John

New revision of “Throw me a ‘6’” online.

After taking in some feedback and changing a few things I was not happy with after a few plays, I have put the new edition online.  You can find it here or in th Old School game page above.

Changes:

• Added combat skill Superior, Average and Inferior
• Changed the way armor works
• Tightened up movement
• Tweaked some of the melee modifiers
• Fixed some of the typos.  I’m sure there is more!