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.

Tactica Medieval Rules Test

 

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

Presentation

88 pages of glossy A4, lots of pics and diagrams, 30 pages for the core rules. Authored by Arty Conliffe of Shako and Crossfire fame. £12.95 - good value for all the historic info and siege rules probably.

Set-Up

Last of the Battles of Barnet. Yorkists on the advance this time. Yorkist Van stalled though whilst their Rear swung across the battlefield to collide with the Lancastrian van. When the Yorkist Van then appeared in the rear of their Rear they were luckily recognised as friends! Meantime the York Main hit the Lancastrian Main but there was confusing as to who was who and the Lancastrian Rear likewise stalled when it came into the battle, so some initial opportunies lost!

How It Played

Fast and bloody. Melees usually meant one side of the other was a goner after 1 turn. The Lancastrian Currours unfortunately were in column ad hit two units in the flank at the same time, so didn't obliterate the York Van as fast as they might have done. The Yorkists were quickly eliminated and another Lancastrian victory. Think that gives them 3-0 for the runs, better than in 1471!

Rules Impression

Very simple, probably too simple. No real C&C, but dice for initiative, and take an increasingly negative DM if you keep winning (nice). Missile fire was a straight 1D per figure, 6+ to kill, no modifiers or armour saving throws. Based on unit size there are regular checks for Morale, , which if failed halts the unit. Melee again 1D per figure and your target is based on the enemies armour (no save for your own), from 3+ for unarmoured to 6+ for knights (but not shown on QRS!). Minor DM for quality. So with 16 figures that's 16 dice, and on 3+ probably 10 kills. Again there's morale checks at regular loss intervals (starting at 7 for a 116 man unit), but with 11+ needed to save a unit with 10 losses most unarmoured light units go on first round (EVEN IF FIGHTING OTHER UNARMOURED!). There's a morale test if you're routed through, but only if you already have casualties. Army break point linked to number of key units - and could be a race to that on both sides!

Conclusion

For a Conliffe set of rules I was expecting more. Lots of interesting support material but the core rules were just too simple for me, and using a bucket of dice/figure model. The fact that your armour doesn't save you from missile damage, and gets oddly treated in melee was just too weird. Back on the shelf for reference.

Poleaxed Rulestest

 

#4 in this series of 7 or so  medieval rules play-throughs.

Presentation

52pp "old skool" blank and white A5 booklet, no pics or diagrams, 2pp QRS. That said really nicely laid out, very clear, all the best bits of "old skool".

Set-Up

Battle of Barnet again, and again with the off-table map movement, which gave a different "starting" position for the combat.

This time the Battles stayed almost in line with the Vans making first contact, but then the Lancastrian Main bumped into the Yorkist Rear and mistook them for friends, and then the Lancastrian Rear arrived on the flank of the Yorkist Rear.

How It Played

Apologies, memory pretty hazy again. Think the Yorkists lost again.

Rules Impression

A lot better set which obviously stands the test of time. Really nice command system. Each commander has a rating (which is constant) in terms of how aggressive they are, and any order change is rolled against that with a chance that the order gets more or less aggressive. Very neat and well worth stealing. Troop classifications are almost DBA like. Movement is N x Average Dice so variable (nice). Missile Fire uses the "guaranteed N, but N+1 on a good roll" model - so no result too wild. Damage is based on Damage Point per unit, which are also related to number of ranks (as are some other results) so trying to mentally apply to my figures which aren't really rank based was fun. Melee uses a classic Figs vs Factor table. Morale and control is again moderated by leader aggressiveness. Some nice rules for commander risk but no rules for Battle or Army break - it's an old skool  fight to the death - although does give option of 50% per Army or Battle.

Overall

Very serviceable. A few things I might tweak (or steal) if I was going to play regularly but probably the best of the bunch so far.

Battle of Barnet and Days of Knights Rules Test

 

#3 in this series of 6 or 7 medieval rules play-throughs.

Presentation

52pp, of which about 30pp rules. Pdf download, 4olumn layout (of which 1 not normally used) so quite card to read the tall thin columns. Reasonably logical. 1pp QRS, which has a very dense unit stats table but not all the key rules (eg movt) you need to play! $10. 

Set-Up

The Battle of Barnet was distinguished  by being fought in think fog, with units moving around, bumping into other units from unexpected directions, and friends being mistaken for foe - with dire consequences.

To model this I set up a simple grid on PPT and had a simple set of random (D8 based) rules to move units, so they went forward, veered left or right or stayed still, and also randomised their end facing. If two units bump into each other then another roll decides whether the unit fight, mistake friend for foe (and vice versa) or just waste time sorting things out. Here's a pic from the pre-game.

Yorkists start in the S by Barnet, Lancastrians are moving S from the N!

Once two units collide only those two transfer to the table top, with others join as they meet other units, or those on the table top.

How It Played

Sorry, I'm playing catch up here and have played the scenario twice more with other rules so I can't remember much of what happened. As you can see from the map above the Yorkist Main Battle swung left and hit the Lancastrian Van, whilst the Yorkist van just stalled in the fog. Yorkist Rear and Lancastrian Main then came into contact, and then the Lancastrian rear appeared out of the fog on the Yorkist Rear's rear! I think the Lancastrian won.

Rules Impressions

Again only headlines as I've quite  a few to go through:

• Little differentiation between troop types
• Some key unit types missing, - eg handgunners, spearmen
• It was quite confusing as to what "unit" was in the rules ( a base? a group of bases?), especially  in melee and doubling in firing, and how allocate hits are then allocated to a  "group"
• Demoralisation has minimal (-1) effect and doesn't seem to stop actions (and per unit, so can split groups to avoid it)
• As mentioned above the QRS doesn't have all the key info you need 

Overall

Couldn't get o with them at all I'm afraid. Quite hard to read and follow, and the way that the rules seemed to be "base" based for everything (rather than just damage) made it all quite messy.

Bills, Bows and Bloodshed Rules Test

 

#2 in this series of 4 or 5 medieval rules play-throughs.

Presentation

32pp (? - no page numbers! no index!) stapled A4 book with glossy card covers. No diagrams, just some dense "tutorial" colour images at the end. Two copies (nice) of a 2 page QRS. VERY text heavy, not a single real table or even bullet point. Some nice info on livery colours though. Written by Barry Slemmings with Graham Towers. I picked my copy up from Barry himself at Salute. Available from him on eBay at https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/144287669442

Had to go up to the loft whilst the game was in progress, so nice overhead shot!

Set-Up

Mortimer's Cross again, just hit reset after abandoning the Flower of Chivalry game.

How It Played

Far better. The Yorkist horse and bowmen ambushed the Lancastrian left flank. The Courror's brushed aside their opposite number and rode straight on to catch Warwick with only his own personal guard. Luckily Warwick is made of stern stuff and his DMAA managed to fight the Currours. The bowmen pinned the advancing Lancastrians allowing Yorkist Bow and Bill to start inflicting casualties. On the opposite flank the Lancastrian bow crossed the river, but by the time they got to an enfilade position the game was pretty much over. Just left of them, on the "home" side of the river the Lancastrian handgunners did a reasonable job of trading shots with the Yorkist archers. The main effort came as the Lancastrians hit the Yorkist line on an ~3 unit front. They had their best success on the right, alongside the handgunners, routing the Yorkist archers and getting in  a tussle with the second line bill. The other two units though were stopped by the Yorkist archers, who then let their bill and DMAA through to finish off the weakened Lancastrians. The final move of the game saw the lone penetrating Lancastrian bill unit make contact with Edward and his retainers just outside the village, but like Warwick he fought them off and victory was claimed.

Rules Impressions

I think that Bills, Bows and Bloodshed is one of those cases of having a good ruleset struggling to get out. As mentioned above the whole thing is really just solid text, with no nicely laid out tables to help grasp/find the key points. The QRS is basically the same text as the main rules with just some of the paragraphs dropped. The core rules are fine though, pretty classic 1D per stand, roll 4-6s or whatever to hit, plus saving throw. Movement is variable, 2 x Average Dice, which I like. Morale though has 11 triggers (and if more than one roll dice multiple times and choose worse - nice!) and 55 (!) modifiers. To be fair the rules say that once you get the hang of it you'll roll the 2 x Average Dice and if they're good assume a pass, and if possibly bad do the tests, which is what I did start to do, but even so. One issue is that the rules do account for almost every situation, and have lots of Nationality modifiers. 

There are two big (huge?) omissions:

• There is no activation/command & control/ friction system. This is old school units do what you tell them unless they fail a charge morale test. A huge contrast to Flower of Chivalry that almost goes to the other extreme.
• There seem to be no victory conditions or army morale, so every game is a game to the death?

On the plus side though the rules do allow you to have mixed bill/bow units (which modern research seems to suggest was possible/common), allows bow to fire into second ranks, allows bow to risk withdrawing through the bill behind and a host of other niceties which a lot of other rules miss - so Barry certainly knows his period (as befits a long time member of the Lance and Longbow Society) and gaming.

Overall

The rules are good enough though that I'm almost tempted to do my own QRS, or I might just steal a few bits for my own rules. If I as doing a QRS I think I'd do 2 versions, one a "quick play" which just pulls out the main DMs and loses lesser weapons/Nationalities, and one with everything. They would be though JUST tables, quick and easy to read. Despite the negatives the actual rules are as good as, and probably better than most medieval I've played, but just let down really badly by presentation.

Edward's turn to fight off the attack!

Flower of Chivalry Rules Test

 

The next cycle of probably 4-5 games are all War of the Roses based, testing out various rules sets. Christmas delayed getting it all going, and probably not helped by my first choice of rules - Flower of Chivalry (FoC).

Presentation

80 page pdf by the Canadian Wargamers Group, published in 1993! The rules only take up about 6 pages, with about 18 pages of useful background and 50 odd pages of scenarios and army lists. Probably worth the £15-£22 price just for the non-rules content. Simple text, no photos, simple diagrams, pretty old-school.

Set-Up

I used Mortimer's Cross (1641) as the scenario. The FoC scenario implies that the battle was fought E-W, with the Yorkists protecting the bridge behind them to the E. However this gives little depth and the Lancastrians have to reform after exiting the woods and hills to the W and the Yorkists having the river to their backs. Recent research seems to suggest that a N-S orientation was more likely, the  Lancastrians moving N from Hereford towards the crossing, with the Yorkists defending just to the S of it, so this is what I played.

Each side had 3 battles, each with about 3 elements (missiles, bill, DMAA), which took up all my WOTR figures. That gives about 1:25 figure to man ratio, and on a 6' x 4' table each 10cm square is about 50m.

How It Played

Not very well. The Lancastrians fought off the flank charge by the Yorkist Courrors and closed with the Yorkist line. There was an extended melee but after 2-3 hours play I lost heart.

Rules Impressions

Just didn't work for me. Having to decide on a Aggressiveness and the roll for BattleLust for every Battle every turn just seemed over the top - would have worked fine as a per game decision, but then still rolling every turn? There's something in the whole idea, but not in how it was implemented. Firing was pretty simple, roll under target, and the casualties being the number rolled if successful a nice idea. Melee ditto. Morale was a roll under a %, with a -10/20% off per stand lost. So the rest of the core mechanic were fine but the explanations, particularly about the command and control just all seemed so confusing, and the activation mechanism so tedious I just lost the will to play.

Overall

Worth buying for the source information and scenarios alone, but not for the rules.

Medieval Rules Experimentation - Order Changes

With Kings of War failing to make the cut, and still not being 100% happy with my current in-house rules I decided to have a go at a new set with three main objectives:

• Make stand based, as seems more "classic" and possibly better suited to the period
• Enable units to mix bill and box as some recent research suggests that this was the case - given that an affinity would be raised locally, and probably train locally, and build its esprit-de-corps, so why split it when it gets to the battlefield
• The big one, focus command and control on the CHANGE of orders, not assigning them. I get frustrated with a lot of rules which have limited activations as you end up with troops advancing off towards the enemy who then just stop in the middle of nowhere, or bow men who just don't fire. I also like the fact that some rules (including one of the WW2 sets) makes it harder to issues orders which are risky (eg charge) as against ones which are safer (eg withdraw).

I followed a bucket-of-dice model for combat (2 D10 per stand, 1 if damaged), stands eliminated once 2 hits. Pretty basic DMs for to-hit and to-penetrate. Melee uses to-penetrate only, with different weapon types, and all with different armour types. Troops randomly dice for quality when first needed (my now standard 2DFate model).

The orders list is below (original, now modified after playtest), with the roll needed for order change, modified by damage and quality and local commander. If a unit fails the change it FALTERS to reflect order confusion.

Order	Description	TM
STAND	No move, may fire at Short range, +1 melee	3+
FIRE	No move, may fire full effect	3+
MOVE&FIRE	May move and fire reduced effect.	4+
RECEIVE	No move, no fire, +2 melee	3+
MOVE	Move full distance twds tgt	5+
RUN	Move double distance, twds tgt,  -2 melee	6+
CHARGE	Double distance til in contact	7+
RALLY	No move/fire. Recover 1+DF DP, less last	0
WITHDRAW	Run back to lines or cover	%3+
FLEE	Run off table edge	%3+
FALTER	Auto if stopped in asslt.. No move/fire. -1 in melee.	NA

All units start on an order, and each side has one activation card per unit (not assigned) of which about 1/3rd allow order change (varied by commander quality). Cards are then shuffled and then drawn in turn, the relevant side either activating a unit on current order, or trying to change its order if allowed (I used picture cards for order change, 1-10 for normal activation). One thing I didn't expect but works well is that you can "sacrifice" an order change card in order to activate an important unit earlier on its current order.

Set-Up

I used a new iteration of my random table set-up rules which worked well. There are then "fate" cards which are diced for which made just minor changes to deployment and none to terrain, but which did bring on a rain storm which stayed the whole game, reducing bow, eliminating power and reducing movement.

Yorkists on L, Lancastrians on R. S to bottom.

How it Played

The Lancastrians were on the defensive and the Yorkists slowed slightly by the stream. Currours on both sides charged on the N flank and pretty much eliminated each other. They also made demonstrations against each others lines (reborn), but as small units facing a hail of arrows made little headway - seems reasonable. In the S Yorkists handgunners tried to get close, hoping the rain would stop, but took increasing damage and eventually routed. As the main body of Yorkist bill and DMAA came on they took damage but managed to make contact, the DMAA dispatching Lancastrian archers. Up to this point most orders were the starting ones, but now as risks and opportunities opened up order change became important, and both sides failed several roles, so the Yorkists failed to exploit, and the Lancastrian response was slowed - seems reasonable.

Advancing Handgunners (with too wet powder to use!)

The Lancastrian leader joined his DMAA (which was in reserve) and rushed to plug the gap in the line which the Yorkist DMAA had opened up - whilst Yorkist bill was in danger of breaking through a neighbouring unit. The two DMAA joined in melee and the Lancastrian leader was killed! 

The central melee

At the moment there is no instant surrender, but all troops take 1 damage so the Lancastrian force was, whilst substantially intact, notably weakened. The Yorkist DMAA was also spent though, and their Bill companions eliminated by two Lancastrian units. With the Yorkists only have one decent unit left, and the Lancastrian commander dead it was ENDEX and something of a draw.

Lancastrian DMAA flee, their commander having been killed

Analysis

Well I think that worked pretty well. Some tweaks required as ever but the C&C choices of where to play the order changes, and the friction that failures introduced worked well but nobody hung around for no reason doing nothing. Think I'll refine further and maybe try out for ECW. The stand and BOD mechanic was OK but needs a bit more work, still find BOD models very variable.

Some additional shots from the game...

Currours below a tower (built by Alan Martin)

Archers exchanging shots

Lancastrian Bill

WOTR Billmen, Pikemen and Dismounted MAA

Just finished my latest batch of figures for my War of the Roses armies. Units are:

• 2 x Billmen (Mowbray-Y and Stanley-Y/L)
• 1 x Pike/Spearmen (Mowbray-Y)
• 1 x Dismounted Men-at-Arms (Mowbray/Norfolk-Y, Beaufort/Somerset-L, Fitzalan/Arundel-Y, Stanley-L/Y)

Affinities and quantities reflect those in Kingmaker as I slowly try and build up the force to use Kingmaker as a campaign game.

Pikemen (Mowbray), meant to be spearmen but weapons seem a bit long!

Pikemen (Mowbray)

Dismounted Men-at-Arms (Stanley)

Dismounted Men-at-Arms

Two units of Billmen (Stanley in front, Mowbray behind)

20mm WOTR Billmen

First proper troops of the Lockdown - a unit of Billmen for my WOTR armies. These are in the livery of Mowbray, Duke of Norfolk - one of the 50pt Kingmaker affinities. One of the long term aims is to have a force scaled to Kingmaker points so I can use it as a campaign system - we'll see. Figures are 20mm Tumbling Dice.

Medieval/WOTR Spring Cohort

Completed my Spring cohort of WOTR 20mm from Tumbling Dice that I picked up a Salute. really nice figures, not a duff one amongst the set. First up Currours - wasn't expecting some to have lances but they look pretty nice. Closest I've seen to mounted sergeants-at-arms.

Then some levy bowmen. These are actually from his C12/13 range but I swopped the odd Norman helmet for a bareheaded ECW Covenanter's head!

Finally, some lovely handgunners in Burgundian livery.

Should be fun on the table!