MEETING OF HOSTS
Rules for simple ancient wargames with toy soldiers by Ross Macfarlane.
inspired by Joe Morschauser and Don Featherstone
25 July 2010
INTRODUCTION AND DESIGN NOTES
This is a set of simple rules for playing wargames with toy soldiers depicting ancient warriors. It is not a detailed, simulation of low level ancient tactics nor is it intended to be a clever vehicle for challenging competition style games. It is, hopefully, a relaxed game where the gamer can focus on his over all plan, not minor tactical details while getting enough flavour to feel right at a high level. For example, light infantry are mobile but fragile while heavy infantry are ponderous but robust. Troop variations have been glossed over, this is not to say that I don’t understand that there is a difference between how a maniplur legion and a pike phalanx operated but at a high level, neither seems to have had an overwhelming advantage in a frontal encounter so rather than give them different but balanced capabilities, they are all just heavy infantry. However, the manipular legion should be fielded as a large number of small units and the phalanx as a small number of large units. The resulting clash should mirror the real thing reasonably well without further special rules, the more flexible legion can lose the occasional unit without losing the battle. It can pull back battered units to recover them and can send triarii marching around the flank. Once a phalanx unit is flanked and breaks, the huge hole will be irreparable. However, I believe in the Old School philosophy of adapting rules to suit the user and rather than being comprehensive, the rules are flexible and so players who like them but want more detail and troop differentiation are encouraged to add more complexity if that’s what they enjoy.
In order to achieve the desired level of simplicity combined with a certain ‘toy soldier’ feel, several compromises were made and key concepts employed. Some might refer to these as dodges but hopefully an explanation of a few key ones will help to excuse some apparent oddities.
- “What you see ain’t what you get”. The game is played as a series of alternate moves of constant duration. Life doesn’t work like that. As a game mechanic it is useful and the gamer will have to work with it, however, when you move first and bear down on a unit only to see them skip nimbly out of the way, keep in mind, that the movement on the table represents the intent of the generals crossed with capabilities on the unit commanders on the spot faced with the practical difficulties of carrying out that intent, if they even know it, over a variable period of time, much of which is wasted. If all goes well, things will end up looking like you planned, if it goes south, well perhaps you weren’t clear or perhaps a clever enemy unit commander reacted faster than your man on the spot and took action which he was unable to encounter. You are the general not a god.
- A nice rectangular body of peltasts on the table, is probably sending out small subunits to hurl javelins then fall back but might close up if faced by cavalry. A block of cavalrymen drops files and rides through a gap, then expands on the other side. Don’t forget the units on the table are not solid, homogenous blocks, they are composed of unseen sub units them selves made of up of individuals. They are also probably occupying too deep an area on the table. When a unit maneuvers, things are going on below the level that we can see. Don’t worry about the details, if you try to carry out a lot of fancy maneuvers you will probably get into trouble.
- It is well accepted these days that ancient armies rarely took very heavy casualties until they broke and ran and therefore it has become fashionable to not remove any figures but just track some form of unit effectiveness measure. This allows practical and often very attractive multi-figure stands but I think that actually laying down figures has a more visceral effect on a player, a reminder that there are dead and wounded men before his avatar on the field. I also think it has more of a toy soldier feel which I like. So I remove or mark casualties. That doesn’t mean they are all dead and wounded though, it is also the overall effect of fear and fatigue, in effect, its another way, simple though probably not scientifically accurate, of tracking that nebulous quality, a unit’s cohesion or effectiveness. So when a unit gets a chance to rest and succeeds in recovering some of its casualties, I’m not actually thinking of hoplites with a dramatic bandages wrapped around their heads rejoining the ranks, its just that the rest and the work of the leaders in exhorting their men is having an effect of raising the units effectiveness.
It is customary to include points values in ancient rules to allow opposing armies to be “balanced” , but I have never met a point system where all troops were equally worth their points so I am not going to bother. Most of my games are either, unbalanced raids, ambushes and advance guard scuffles or else based loosely on historical battles with scaled down forces. If you have trouble agreeing on reasonable forces then try having one player define the forces and let the other player choose sides.
Last but not least, not every situation will be catered for so be prepared to improvise. If something doesn’t look or feel right, you may want to over ride a rule temporarily. If a situation arises and consensus can’t be reached, opposing players should state their case and dice to see whose opinion will prevail. Anyone who uses these rules is welcome, encouraged rather, to send me comments, questions and criticisms but is also welcome to make changes and additions to suit themselves. I will, however, pass on Joe Morschauser’s exhortation to let your opponent know of any changes BEFORE a game starts.
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PREPARING FOR BATTLE
1) ORGANIZATION: This game was designed to be played with individual toy soldiers but if you have multiple figures fixed to a base they can be used as long as you can mark casualties in someway (caps, wound markers etc). Movement trays holding a number of figures may also be used as a convenience. Soldiers must be organized into units including a leader. A standard unit is 12 cavalry, skirmishers or light infantry or 24 other infantry but larger or smaller units may be used if desired. (for example a late manipular legion might be fielded as 5 heavy infantry (hastate, princeps and triari) and 2 light infantry units (velites), while an opposing pike phalanx might take the field as 2x36 man units. Miniatures should look like what they are meant to be but no account is taken of individual weapon variations and officers, standard bearers and musicians are treated the same as the majority of the unit. All members of the unit must stay together and do the same thing.
2) GENERALS. Each army is commanded by one General. He may be assisted by subordinate generals who command a portion of the army which is assigned to them at the start of the game. The over all commander may order or join any unit but a subordinate can only do so to the units assigned to him.
3) UNIT TYPES: Troops are classified in several ways, the main one is by function, how the units are equipped and trained to fight. This can be modified by their training, enthusiasm and discipline as well by minor differences in armour and weapons. Troops must be slotted into one of the following categories. If the unit you wish to represent does not fit any of the categories, you must pick the closest or write your own amendments. The term infantry will apply to all figures fighting on foot, cavalry are all figures fighting from chariots, horseback or from camels, special troops include elephants, artillery and various oddities that may crop up. Skirmishers, light infantry and light cavalry are all light troops.
a) Skirmishers: Infantry who operate in a loose formation, using bows, slings and javelins to inflict damage from a distance and avoiding hand to hand combat. In many armies these are not regular soldiers but are youths not ready for the battle line, camp followers or the like but in some cases they are the main fighting strength of mountain tribes or are well paid mercenaries etc.
b) Light Infantry: Lightly equipped infantry who are trained and equipped to fight hand to hand as well as using missiles. Most often they are equipped with javelin, shield and sword or spear but less often they may be archers or a mix of archers and sword or spearmen.
c) Medium Infantry: Infantry relying on a combination of missile fire and hand to hand combat but not heavily armoured and are not typically trained to fight in tightly ordered ranks but more as individuals. They will normally rely on shields for defence but may have some armour Typical examples would include Persian spear and bow units and Celtic infantry with throwing spears and sword. Most mixed spear and bow units will fall into this category to reflect their reliance on missile fire.
d) Heavy Infantry: Infantry trained and equipped to fight hand to hand in close ranks. Typically the front ranks at least are heavily armoured and carry large shields. Most are armed with spears and pikes but Roman legionaires will fall into this category as well.
e) Light Cavalry: Cavalry operating in a loose formation or a swarm of small parties, relying on bow or javelin fire to disrupt and avoiding hand to hand combat unless it is to their advantage.
f) Medium Cavalry: Massed cavalry, camelry or chariots usually relying on javelins or bows to weaken the enemy but also trained and equipped to charge if an opening appears. Usually they will have some armour or carry shields.
g) Heavy Cavalry: Armoured shock cavalry and heavy chariots whose main tactic is a charge to contact. Cataphracts are a subset of heavy cavalry, heavily armoured men mounted on armoured horses. In theory the armour gives them very good protection but makes them slow as does the clumsy formations sometimes adopted for them. In practice their clumsiness in melee seems to have countered the additional protection and so I am going to lump them in with other heavy shock cavalry.
h) Elephants: War elephants using a mixture of terror and missile fire to disrupt the enemy as well as smashing enemy infantry in melee. Elephants are particularly effective against cavalry but are prone to panic if they or their driver are wounded and are a risk to their own army if they do so.Each elephant is usually a separate unit.
i) Artillery: is rare in the field but was occasionally lighter engines were used. It is not very mobile but can wear down and disrupt the enemy at a distance. Larger engines should be treated as immobile.
4) UNIT QUALITY: The average unit is assumed to be composed of men who know how to handle their weapons and how to behave. The level of training, experience and enthusiasm could vary widely but only 2 exceptions are made in these rules:
a) Elite: These are units of picked veteran troops who can be relied on to perform better than average. They will often have more training or indoctrination (as with barbarian nobles) but also have experience and mental and physical toughness that will allow them to show a higher standard of courage than other units and the experience to handle unexpected or unfavorable situations without panicking. Having fancy clothes and political influence or an impetuous assault is not enough to qualify as elite.
b) Levy: These are unreliable troops, they may be enthusiastic but untrained, or may be disaffected or poorly led which will lead to a tendency to fall into disorder and robs troops of courage.
5) HITS: Hits represent fatigue, fear and a general loss of combat ability in addition to actual wounds. Normally each hit causes a figure to be removed. Artillery, chariots and elephants are removed when all of the human crew are hit.
6) SPECIAL UNIT RULES. The rules only list very generic unit types based primarily on function and variations are assumed to equal out (for example extra armour decreases physically vulnerability but also increases fatigue). Players are welcome to agree on new unit types or special rules to add flavour and complexity for specific campaigns. For example, Celtic medium infantry may be given +1 bonus in melee until they lose or tie a round but they are not allowed to use the recovery rule. Well drilled troops will often end up being classified as elite but if you want to portray a heavy infantry unit that you feels is well drilled but not superior in combat or morale then you could allow them to use the elite bonus on disorder tests when doing a maneuver but no where else.
7) FORMATIONS: Figures must stay with their units. Heavy and medium troops should remain base to base, light troops should remain within an inch of each other. Rather than delve deeply into all the formations likely to have been used by all the nations of the ancient world, I leave it up to the player to deploy his troops as historically as pleases him and warn that an attempt to lead them through fancy maneuvers brings a risk of disorder and disaster.
8) UNIT ASPECT. The area directly to the front of a unit is its Front. The area reaching from directly to the right of a unit, around behind it to its left is its flank or rear. There is no special name for the area which is neither front nor flank or rear.
9) TERRAIN: Terrain may affect movement and visibility. Under movement, ratios are applied proportionally so that a unit of infantry might move half their move (3”) in the open then enter a section of broken ground and then move the second ½ of their move at ½ speed (1.5”). Some terrain will block line of sight but terrain like woods does not provide cover to units which are visible and in a position to shoot out. (An individual might hide behind a tree between shots but several ranks of archers can’t fire effectively from the middle of a wood )
a) Broken terrain: This is all terrain which is passable to most troops but not ideal. It includes streams, rocky or steep slopes, open woods, cultivated fields, especially if bounded by hedges or walls and the like. A linear obstacle will count as a minimum of 1” wide. Terrain which is man high will block the line of sight. Troops which are on the edge may be seen. Troops back from the edge are assumed to post sentries and thus be aware of what is happening but cannot shoot or be shot at or charged from outside. If 2 units are in the same area of terrain they may see each other at 1” distance.
b) Difficult terrain: This is terrain which is impractical for most troops. Steep, rocky slopes, forests, marshes and so forth.
c) Rivers: Minor streams and difficult fords are classed as broken terrain. Good fords are classed as clear terrain. Most other rivers are impassible to bodies of troops except for fords and bridges. Specialist river crossing units may usually cross as a difficult obstacle.
d) Villages, cities and forts: Villages are best represented by a base with a few small buildings and walls placed on it. The whole is treated as an area of broken ground that blocks line of sight. Larger cities and forts or fortified camps will usually have an exterior wall. Any buildings within a city wall will represent city blocks and be considered difficult. The inside of a fort would be broken instead. The wall will provide hard cover from shooting and in hand to hand combat and can only be attacked by infantry which we will assume have improvised some way to escalade or have been provided with ladders by a general with foresight. The game master may declare high city or fortress walls to be impassible without special equipment. Gates can always be assaulted. A city or fort will usually be criss-crossed by roads and contain open squares all of which will count as clear terrain.
e) Roads: Although roads exist, they are of little concern for troop movements except to mark the best route to follow.
.JPG)
