My Medieval Base/BOD Rules Development Test

 

Having given everybody else's medieval rules a hard time, it's time to move on to my own! I've currently got two versions - a base/bucket-of-dice set and a Fate Dice set. I've also been toying with a D10 version, but that would probably just be a variation of the base/BOD set using D10 instead of D6s to give a bit more granularity between weapon types.

Both sets of rules share an order system similar to Poleaxed, and I've just added their idea of commander "aggressiveness" ratings (as well as competency) - so a unit gets given an order and then carries it out every turn - no hanging around waiting for command points. Lots of the other mechanics are borrowed from SLS, so per Battle card based activation, King+CPs for the CinC, troop quality. Movement is base+random. The games are, as ever played on a 10cm grid. It's really just the  firing/melee/casualty/morale model that's different.

For this version firing/melee is 1D6 per base, with standard DMs, and then an armour saving throw - seems sensible/suitable for medieval. Casualties are in bases, but I tend to mark them rather than remove them just to make the clearing up simpler (although for medieval shrinking frontage may be more important to show). 

I stole the morale model from Battlegroup:NORTHAG, so your break point is the number of units in a battle, and you roll D3 for each unit lost. So on average your Morale Hits == Break Point after 50% losses, but you could do better or worse.

Set Up

Battle of Tewkesbury again, straight fight. There was some drawing of fate cards before the game, which delayed part of the Yorkist Rear, and weakened some of the Lancastrian Van.

How It Played

The battles paired off against each other. Yorkists moved forward on Attack orders, Lancastrians stayed put on Defend. Both sides loosed a few arrows and then switched out missiles for bill for the melees. This went well for the Lancastrians in the Van and Main, less well in the Rear. Currours squared off against each other, the Yorkists getting by far the better of it before the cavalry broke to recover.

After a couple of melee turns things began to shake out. The Lancastrian Rear was the first battle to go. The Yorkist centre was very dicey, but held on with a morale/control test at 50% casualties. The Yorkish Van was almost completely wiped out though.

Both Commanders were getting stuck into the action, although neither brave enough to lead from the front rank. Both took flesh wounds, but as the Lancastrian Rear melted away for a brief moment Lord Wenlock was left exposed, but managed to hasten away before the Yorkists could take him. It was then Edward that ended up exposed as he had only his MAA around him as his center Battle failed. 

The Lancastrian Courrors came racing back, aiming at Edward but their Yorkists counterparts managed an intercept and finally wiped them out.

With two battles down it was time for Edward to withdraw, protected by what was left of his Rear.

Rules Impression

OK, I know they are my rules, and there's certainly past evidence on this blog of me being harsh about my own rules, but I think these played pretty well, and better than most of the sets I've tested. Certainly give me the sort of game and the sort of decisions I want when playing Medieval. Needless to say I tinkered with various things along the way, and still more to do. Particular areas to look at are:

• Orders state post melee, and exploitation
• Effect on battles when other battles break

Both of these I can look at also in the DFate version of the game.

Conclusions

So heading in the right direction. I'll update the 1 page QRS/rules-set if anyone wants to take a look.

The Three Wargame Table

 

Busy justifying the three 2'6" x 6' tables I bought when I set up the wargames room!

The figure game is a development/play test of my Medieval rules, after playtesting all those commercial ones over the last couple of months. Must admit it's going very well so far.

Near the camera is "Advance on Fitzlar" - the introductory scenario form my new (to me) copy(s) of NATO Division Commander (seen stacked). You can see the big black box of counters I've got to sort through at some point. Vague business reasons for playing it as it's one of the few commercial/SPI wargames which has two maps (for hidden movement) and rules for ISR (you have to get so many ISR points on a target before you can react/fire on it - I think)

Finally the smaller yellow/red countered game is Brian Train's Ukrainian Crisis (2014 version). I'd hoped to play this before the war started, but Russia beat me to it. Again business play (rather than hobby/PhD) as it has a large element of polmil/grey zone in it.

Hue lined up for after one of these finishes to get me back on the PhD track.

NATO Division Commander

 

About 40 years ago I lusted after SPI's NATO Division Commander. I had The Next War, but NDC just kept being delayed, but the rumours that it had a PC companion made it seem like the game to have. But a combination of price, delays and starting to soldier for real meant that I never got around to buying it.

Fast forward 39 years and I started tracking NDC on eBay, most copies where £150 and in the US (so add £30 postage!), but Hind Figures had one, looking battered and "only 1 map" for £100. Then a week or ago so someone had a map on its own, I picked that up for a bargain, debated whether I could survive with just the map, PDF rules, and self-printed PDF counters, but once I had the map in my hands I decided I really needed (wanted) to bite the bullet and get the whole thing. 

Discussions with Ian at Hind to confirm the state also revealed that it was actually 2 (!) sets he was selling, but the boxes were so battered and counters so intermingled that he couldn't face trying to divide it up to confirm 2 sets. So in the end I decided I might as well be the one to sort out 1200 counters so I made him an offer and the sets were mine.

Yep the boxes are pretty battered, and there is a bag of ~700 counters, but the rest are unpunched, and it does look like there are 4 maps there (NDC is one of the few games with a double map set for hidden movement/umpire play).

I've already got the starter scenario - Advance on Fitzlar - laid out, ready to be played over the next week or so.

So the plan is try create two separate sets, and sell one. As long as most of the counters are there I'm not too bothered by completeness (will probably create some UK ones anyway), so I'll give the "for sale" set the mostly unpunched counters. I will probably keep the better box (still tatty) but make the second box at least usable. Then I'll put it on eBay and see if I can recoup some of the cost. And then there's always the 5th map! Given my schedule don't expect me to get it done til late summer though!

Tango Down AAR

 

Played a couple of games of Tango Down by Tiny Battle Publishing as part of my PhD research. It's a CQB Skirmish game, with about 8 people a side, all fighting it out inside a single building. I replaced the counter-sized action markers with my generic red pins, and that made it a lot easier to follow what was happening. 

My only real downer on the rules was that you were drawing special action cards on EVERY activation, which broke the flow and gave you too much stuff to play with. I adjusted it a card per side per turn, but keeping one from the previous turn. Seemed far better. 

Tango Down also has a neat way of doing activations, every unit has 2AP, but on the alternate activations you only need to use 1AP, and save 1AP for later in the turn (eg overwatch).

Once I've got my Dishdash 28mm moderns I might try and play it out in 28mm and it would make a great set of gridded skirmish rules.

My "formal" review is at http://taunoyen.com/wiki/lib/exe/fetch.php?media=wargaming:phd:aar:aartangodown.pdf

The game is available at https://tinybattlepublishing.com/products/tango-down and there's a print-and-play version on WargameVault (which is what I used) for only $15. Well worth it if you like modern skirmish.

Never Mind the Billhooks Rules Test

 

#6 in this series of 8 (!) medieval rules play-throughs.

Presentation

32pp downloadable PDF, including 8 pages of cards/tokens and a QRS. £6 from Wargames Illustrated. Really nice looking rule set, well laid out, and good pics/tutorials.

Set-Up

Time to move on from Barnet and out of the fog, so this one was based on the Battle of Tewkesbury, 1471. Lancastrians advancing from the N against the Yorkist line in the S. No fancy tricks, just a straight head to head.

How It Played

The Lancastrians advanced in the pre-game, but the poorly led Yorkist Rear Battle loosed it's crossbow belts a bit early and the game moved into its main phase. The Lancastrians aimed to get a few rounds of missile fire in before sending in their billmen. The Lancastrian Cuorrours saw off the Yorkist horse whilst the arrows flew. 

The Yorkists ended up being first out of the blocks, swopping ranks and sending Billmen and MAA in against the Lancastrians. In the Main Battle the Lancastrian bowmen tried to hold off the Yorkists, failed, then broke in the melee and took their bill with them. The Lancastrian Van archers wisely evaded and let it be bill on bill. Draw for the first round, but then the Yorkist MAA piled in and won the melee, and again Yorkist bow and bill fled. 

The Lancastrians still weren't quite broken, and in the next turn the Currours returned and fell on the flank of the Yorkist Rear Battle. The Yorkists lost units to this and the remaining Lancastrian Bill and MAA, and for a brief moment it looked like they might pull it off, but the last bill on bill melee finally went the Yorkist way and it was all over.

Rules Impression

The rules are set up for figure removal, and 1D per figure so I changed that to base removal (well marked) and 1D per base. That probably meant the game played faster but was no bad things. Activation is by battle by random card (my favourite), with some random cards for extra actions (although annoyingly they need a dice roll and another card draw when they happen). Missile fire is a straight roll to hit based on weapon/range, and a save based on armour, no real DMs. Melee is similar  roll to hit and save. There are morale checks triggered on various things (mainly 50% casualties). Losses trigger Morale Tokens, and once you have as many as you had units it's game over ( a basic loss = 2 tokens, so effectively 50% losses).

The rules make a big thing about Disarray and Daunted states, but the post-melee rules for the loser are such that I never triggered Daunted, it was all OK or routed.

A few weapons were missing (spear, handguns) and the QRS missed some key info but otherwise everything there for a normal game, and some extra rules for  mustering, and there are points values there if you need them.

Conclusion

Really good, played a lot better than any of the other rulesets, and a lot slicker and faster than Poleaxed - although not with the same level of detail. I think I'd tweak the random events mechanism, and add the Poleaxed orders system, and maybe something like the Battlegroup:Northag system for Battle breakpoints and a few other tweaks and I could have a near ideal system. Think that might be the #7 game.