Monday, October 31, 2016

Latest Feudal rules

Well, here they are. Lots of play testing and re-writing and tweaking here and there. I need to put in the character rules and such, but these are the rules, anyway.

FEUDAL WARGAME RULES: game the 90%!
Being a battle game for 1000 warriors a force on a table as small as 3x3’, A.D. 500-1100.

GAME CONVENTIONS
0.00 Grey Areas are resolved by defining the issue in “either/or” terms and rolling off, my “Triple-Zed Rule”.
0.1 Measuring may be done anytime.  Inches are used here - double or x 2.5 for cm as desired.
0.2 Dice used are six-sided, with either 1-6 [D6] or  2-5 for averaged results [the D5 “average dice”, has pips of 2, 3, 3, 4, 4, 5, eliminating 1 & 6]. Pick one to use for all rolls in a game. Due to this choice, “Dx” is used for the die rolled in the rules.  I prefer the D5 as less frustrating and rewarding tactics more than luck!
0.3 Scale is 5-10 minutes of action / inaction; 6” = 24m [1”=4m]. A 25mm fig=20 / 15mm fig=10 men.
0.4 Units represent 160 foot, 80 mounted / Lights in five common feudal warrior types:
a.    Knights or milites are feudal nobles with mail, helm, lance, and shield on warhorses, supported by retinues.  They charge aggressively but lack cohesion and horse armor so are vulnerable to casualties.
b.    Foot Knights are dismounted knights using lances as spears and mutual support to attack and defend.  They move slowly due to gear and tight grouping. Either Unit may have large numbers of men at arms.
c.    Serjeants or servientes are armed with spear, shield and hand weapons.  They’ve little armor and less élan so offer support through numbers and tight grouping.  Also called stipendarii, et al.
d.    Bowmen are serjeants, liberi or mercenary stipendarii, with bow or crossbow, who shoot volleys. They’ve enough missiles to endanger targets and affect the battle but avoid melee if they have missiles.
e.    Lights or ruttae are bandits or camp-followers with knives, bows, javelins, rocks and other missiles, but the best may be fierce raiding warriors.  They harass from difficult terrain, charging vulnerable opponents. Also called ribauds, bidets, brigans, arriere-ban, kerns, jacquerie, etc.
0.5 Figures & Basing. Units are 4-6” per Unit Front with a depth half the front.  I use single 5”x 2.5” bases, with 3-5 figs for mtd / Lights, 12-16 for foot. Multiple WRG/DBx bases may be on 12x6cm sabots. If there are multiple bases, they may be Turned into a BD wide column to pass gaps – their Flanks will then be twice their Front. Units on a sabot or single base do the same by using a Turn and marking the base’s new “Front”.
0.6 Base Width [BW] & Base Depth [BD] are 5 and 2.5” for my single bases, and 12 and 6cm for WRG/DBx bases. BD is used for measurements like LoS, melee contact and gaps.
0.7 Front, Flank & Rear are measured from Unit corners, 45° arcs off the sides Front, Rear [back] or Flanks –left and right. The Front’s center point shows if a Unit is in an enemy’s Rear Arc for Shooting.
0.8 Bows are missiles propelled by a device, such as a bows, slings, and the new light crossbow.
0.9 Javelins are missiles thrown by a person, including throwing spears, javelins, hand axes and rocks.
0.10 Terrain has two types, Area and Linear.  Area are 6-12” per side or diameter.  Linear are 6-12” long x 1-3” wide. Units are Defending terrain if they are within Area terrain or lining the edge of intervening Linear terrain.
a.    Hills. Area.  Defensive bonus if uphill of melee opponent.  Define “uphill” according to hill’s appearance.
b.    Woods, Marsh.  Area. Only Lights may enter. Defensive bonus.
c.    Camp & Village. Area. Defensive bonus.
d.    Lakes & Rivers, Cliffs.  Impassible Area and Linear respectively.
e.    Walls, Ditch, Ford. Linear. Defensive bonus.
f.     Roads. Linear. Road movement cancels terrain restrictions, e.g. river crossing.
0.11 Line of Sight.  LoS is measured from a Unit's Front center point to a side of the Target Unit Base: Front, Flank or Rear that is a BD length, and requires a gap >BD through which to trace it.  It is obstructed by anything taller than figure height, e.g. hills, woods and Units, but may still be traced over the obstruction by a Unit on a height clearly taller and if there’s a gap of >BD between the target and obstruction.
·         Units lining the edge of Area or Linear terrain have unobstructed LoS into the open.
·         For Units within Area terrain, e.g. woods, hill [sculpted with plateau], a LoS may be traced across a terrain edge a BD between it and another Unit, but not through two sides of Area or Linear terrain.
·         Units must have LoS to a Target Unit at the time of a Shot or Charge.
LoS to a Target Flank is blocked if it has a friendly Unit facing the same general direction within one BD of that Flank, measuring from front to front and rear to rear corners of that Flank - it may not be Shot or Charged.
PLAY SEQUENCE.  A full turn has each player taking four phases:
Attacker  [player A]: 1) Shoot, 2) Move, 3) Melee, 4) Rally
Defender [player D]: 1) Shoot, 2) Move, 3) Melee, 4) Rally

1) SHOOT
1.1 Shooting Basics.  Missile Units may shoot with these restrictions:
a.    A BD of the Shooting Unit needs a LoS to a BD of the Target Unit per LoS [0.11].
b.    Range is 18” for Bows, 6” for Javelins, measured per LoS above.
c.    Bowmen Shoot into their Front arc, and then cannot move in the Movement Phase.
d.    Lights with Javelins Shoot in the Movement Phase before or after moving only.
e.    Shooting into a Melee is permitted if there is LoS and the shooter is in the side Arc it is targeting.
f.     Remove units as soon as they get 15+ Hits.
1.2 Resolving Shooting. Roll a Dx for the number of Hits against the Target Unit, modified as follows:
a.    Lights shooting are -2,
b.    Terrain.  Units defending woods, camp, village or walls halve Hits,
c.    Armored.  Foot Knights halve Hits from shooting,
d.    Unshielded or unprepared. Double Hits from Units shooting into a Rear Arc [cf. 0.7]. 
e.    Stacked Modifiers. The max defensive benefit any Unit may receive is ¼ Hits [1/2x1/2].  Note that a halving and a doubling cancel each other out.
f.     Round all fractions up. This increases the minimum number of Hits which accounts for fatigue.
1.3 Shooting Limits.  Lights only carried about 2-3 Javelins and Bowmen a dozen arrows, so both Unit types run out of missiles if they roll a natural ‘5’ or ‘6’ on their Hit roll - mark the Unit.

2) MOVE
2.1 Move Basics.  Players sequentially; select a Unit, state if moving Fast, roll a die [add any Bonus], and move the Unit in a straight line any part of the amount, incorporating Turns as allowed.
Class 1  Foot Knights, Serjeants, Bowmen   Move  1Dx,     Fast +3”                      
Class 2  Lights                                               Move  1Dx,     Fast +6”                      
Class 3  Knights                                             Move  1Dx,     Fast +9”                      
2.2 The Move rate may be used any time, in any direction, and allows Turns [2.4] and a Charge [2.8], but no corner may move more than the amount rolled. To retreat from Melee a Unit may be in contact with only one Unit, to its Front, from a lower movement class, and may only move straight back out of melee Contact.
2.3 A Fast move is only allowed when a Unit is NOT within a BD of enemy Unit[s] at the start of the Move Phase.  If used, a Unit may not move within a BD of any enemy Unit[s] except ONE Unit that it Charges.
2.4 Turning. Units rotate on their center or center-front point up to 180°. Turns are not measured but are movement.  Ignore contacts with friendly Unit(s) while turning, as long as the Unit ends its move clear and the “overlap” is < an inch.  It is helpful to leave gaps of about 1/2 -1” between friendly Units to facilitate Turns.
a.    Foot Knights, Bowmen, Serjeants, Knights, may Turn once, at the start OR end of their move.
b.    Lights may Turn twice, once at the start AND once at the end of their move.
c.    Facing an attacker is allowed when in Melee contact with enemy Unit(s), none on its Front. The Unit turns a full 90° / 180° and faces one contacting Unit with its Front side.  Adjust enemy Unit bases to maintain contact.  If space is a problem, just mark the new “Front” [cf. 0.5].
2.4 Interpenetration & Gaps. Only Lights through any friendly Unit, and vice-versa.  The moving Unit must roll enough on its move dice to entirely clear the stationary Unit’s base. A gap >BD is needed to move through.
2.5 Moving and Shooting. Lights with Javelins may Shoot before or after their Move [a Move includes all Turns used].  Bowmen may not Move if they shot in Phase 1 [cf 1.1c].



2.8 Charging Basics.  Charges are moves that end with a Unit’s base in physical Contact with the base of an enemy Unit that is in LoS.  The total amount rolled must permit a legal Charge contact or the Charge may not be made. Units using a Fast move may only charge Targets within their Front Arc; using a Move, Units may charge enemy Units in any Arc with which they can make legal contact, effectively a 360° LoS.
a.    Lights may only charge a Flank or Rear. 
b.    Bowmen may only Charge when out of missiles.
c.    Contact is permitted by only one Charging Unit on each side, Front, Rear and each Flank. 
d.    Contact normally requires a BD+ of each Unit to be touching edge-to-edge.  The Charging Unit Moves along the LoS using the most direct legal move until it touches the Target’s base; it then uses remaining movement to close any gap and maximize the edge Contact, and stops moving.
e.    A Flank is protected if a Target Unit has a friendly Unit facing the same general direction and within a BD of that Flank, measuring Front to Front and Rear to Rear corners - it may not be Charged.
f.     If a Flank is not protected, a Charging Unit may stop its Move upon Front Corner Contact with the unprotected Flank, an exception to 2.8d above.  This allows Contacting that Flank side at the expense of the Flank Contact Bonus, cf 2.8g below.
g.    The Flank Contact bonus is only earned when the Charging Unit has full Front to Flank edge Contact on the Target Unit.  A charging Unit with just Front Corner contact melees that Flank side, but with no Bonus [3.2d].  If later Frontally Contacted itself, it automatically melees the Unit now Contacting its Front, and no longer puts Hits against the Unit with which it has only Front Corner to Flank Contact. 
h.    Space problems that occur from sculpted Terrain and Base size/shapes sometimes make full edge contact impossible.  In this case, if both Units would otherwise be able to make a legal Contact, Front Corner and edge Contacts between the Units are permitted instead.
i.      Rear contact occurs if even just a corner of the charging Unit Contacts any part of the Rear, regardless of any remaining gap between the Units.
The goal is to allow any reasonable melee contact despite terrain modeling, basing or sabots; also to reward flank protection while penalizing unprotected flanks and rear.  If disputed, cf. 0.00!

3) MELEE
3.1 One-Sided Melee.  Units only inflict Hits during their own player turn and only on one enemy Unit in Contact.  Melee includes lulls in action as both sides catch breath and exchange insults in close proximity.
3.2 Resolving Melee. Roll a Dx for each attacking Unit to get the Hits on the Target Unit, modified as follows:
a.    Unit Types. +2 for Knights and -2 for Lights and Bowmen. 
b.    Terrain. Units uphill, or defending woods / marsh / village / camp / river bank / ditch / wall halve Hits. 
c.    Armored. Foot Knights halve Hits.
d.    Unshielded or Unprepared.  Double Hits from Units attacking a Flank or the Rear.
e.    Stacked Modifiers. The max defensive benefit any Unit may receive is ¼ Hits [1/2x1/2].  Note that a halving and a doubling cancel each other out.
f.     Round all fractions up, even quartering, as for Shooting [cf. 1.2f].
Melee concludes with the elimination of Units or their retreat from Melee [cf. 2.2]. 
3.3 Facing Attackers. Units in melee with Unit[s], none on their Front, may turn to face one attacker [cf 2.4c].
3.4 Remove Units as soon as they get 15+ Hits.

4) RALLIES
Units eligible to rally off Hits due to this or an Optional Rule do so now. 
4.1 Rallying. Units that didn’t Shoot, Move or Melee, Rally off 1-3 Hits:
·         roll Dx with 1-2=1, 3-4=2, 5-6=3 Hits removed. 

Units that have passed ten Hits may not rally to below five Hits.  This represents unrecoverable fatigue and casualties in a typical 10-15 turn battle.





OHW #10, "Late Arrivals" w' Feudal Rules, P.2

As the battle of the Late Arrivals continues, the Blue force puts up a fierce defense - the main question is should they have brought in their knights mounted as an intercept force, or dismounted right into the town [which is after all the Victory Condition!]? I opted for the intercept force as I felt the threat would slow Red force down instead of having them assaulting the town in a turn or two. But was it the right choice?  We shall see...

Turn 8, Below. Unspurisingly, the Blue Knights are wiped out. Knights don't handle flank charges well, altho Foot Knights can withstand them for several turns, depending on who the outflanking force is. Red Knights providing the Hero's retinue are slowly rallying, now down to 8 Hits - almost serviceable and a threat!

Turn 9 below [forgot to turn dice over].  Red advances pell-mell to the town! A Unit of Blue Bowmen occupy it however, and aren't about to give it up - the pub is there, not to mention other benefits of being in town. They shoot Red Knights for 5 Hits, running out of missiles in the process! However, it is clear that no more missiles will be needed. Note the Red Hero Knights are down to 5 Hits and ready to fight - but they can't rally off the 5 red Hits.

Top of Turn 10 below. Red continues its advance and prepares to receive the enemy reinforcements forming a rough line facing the open South table edge. Note the Base Depth [2.5"]linking the Knights to the Serjeants is a Protected Flank, but the Bowmen to the Serjeants is not - the back corners are not also within a BD. I use blank bases to check measurements related to BD and BW. The first Red Knight has charged into the town inflicting 3 Hits and taking only 1 back - but so far the Blue Bowmen are ahead. Can they withstand the onslaught??

Bottom of Turn 10 below. Blue reinforcements arrive, a Unit of Bowmen and Lights. The Lights enter and charge the flank of the Red Knights attacking the town, inflicting a net 2 Hits doubled to 4 Hits [Dx-2 x2, so they rolled a '4' on my D5]. I could've pushed the Bowmen closer to the town, but wanted them to get some shots off before they were in melee. With Knights and Bowmen, it is sometimes best to have them offset from an enemy advance, threatening a charge or shooting respectively.

Turn 11 below. A Red Knight charges the Lights flank , rolling 5+2 x 2 for 14 Hits - ouch! Obviously, we're playing for the victory condition here. With two weak melee Units holding the town, the Red Knight only takes 2 Hits back [Bowmen and Lights roll Dx-2 for melee Hits, which means they can get '0' Hits if they roll a 2 or less]. Red Serjeants advance on the Blue Bowmen who're taking shots from the Red Bowmen. Red Hero positions himself for, well, something heroic, of course! [Heroes add a Hit to combat rolls].

Turn 12 below. Red Hero switches to the Red Knight attacking the town, hoping to finish off the Blue Bowmen holding the town,. He inflicts a total 8 Hits, halved to 4. The Blue Lights go dim - unsurprising considering they'd 1 Hit left and the lowest Knights can roll is 3-4 Hits depending on the dice you use. The Serjeants charge into the other Blue Bowmen who're now up to 8 Hits, and are still being hit by missiles as the Red Bowmen have a Line of Sight to their open left Flank. 
Melee in my variant includes hand to hand combat but also pauses in the action. Given the small scale, it isn't hard for Bowmen to squeak in a volley here and there. I debated this with myself a bunch, but it also makes Bowmen useful supports without making them charge. My historical reading is that they avoided melee whenever possible, nor were they expected to melee, so it's important that the game mechanics allow them their historical purpose. After a lot of play testing, I found that allowing shooting into melee [if there's a Line of Sight], putting the Shooting phase first, and lengthening the missile range made for the right balance.

Turn 13 below. Only a couple rolls really matter, so I roll off the melee real quick. The Blue Bowmen roll a 5! With the -2 it is still 3 Hits and they see off the Red Knights who had 13 Hits. With the -2 they had a 50% chance of inflicting two Hits. The Knights could inflict a max of 8 hits halved to 4 since they're defending the town, pushing them to 14 Hits at the most. So I knew the Blue Bowmen would survive this turn but not if they'd defeat the Red Knights.

Quick roll for Turn 14. The Red Hero's retinue charge into the town, scattering the Bowmen before them by rolling a 7 total, or 4 Hits net [rounding up]. Red wins!

Well, I think the scenario is fine - after several plays I've won for both sides and each time learned a bit more about how each can win. All the battles were decided, ultimately, by either a poor decision by one general [well, they're both me] or an excellent exploitation of an opportunity that I suddenly realized was there.

Some good things about IGO-UGO in this game is that it makes it easy to play in large groups and by switching sides I can switch mentally also, sometimes seeing an opportunity or error I didn't realize was there.

I'm very pleased with the rules. The mechanics have been clarified from the original NT version, decision points have been not only preserved but enhanced, and the game reflects the historical sources I've been reading. I'll be posting both the rules and some of the best books I have soon.

Monday, October 24, 2016

OHW #10, "Late Arrivals" w' Feudal Rules, P.1

After several months being very busy with the 1:1 scale Army, I finally had some time to sit down and return to my Feudal rules.  After a number of revisions and playtests, I tightened up many of the sections and simplified and clarified - a lot - especially sections that are always tricky, like making melee contact.  

As I am depicting battles of about 500 a side, rigid formations and movement rules largely derived from 18th C. wargames are anachonistic.  Each Unit is only 80-160 men, and they are mostly moving around a leader group that has a banner, perhaps a horn or drum, to get their attention.  Voice commands are possible in this scale, especially if one is not fighting the enemy. I also assume that the leaders have enough experience moving these loosely-trained soldiers around to get the results they need in the 5-10 minutes of a turn - usually.

Shooting is primarily Bowmen in groups large enough to shoot volleys to some effect. As shooting precedes movement, it is possible for support shooting to be followed by a charge if the enemy appears dismayed [i.e. Hits are high enough].  There are also Lights that have limited shooting and melee ability but move faster than foot altho slower than Knights.

As these are intended to play a full battle in under an hour, effort has been made to make the game physically easy to manage, with little fiddling and easily grasped concepts that often carry over into other aspects of the rules.  Limiting the period that the rule presents, and further limiting it to "playing the 90%" or the most common aspects of period battles -rather than the bizarre exceptions - results in mechanics and concepts that are simple for a table-top gamer with a bit of experience to grasp.

With this in mind, some final playtests are needed to see if these play clean. I'd been meaning to try #10 from One Hour Wargames for a while.  At first it looked uninteresting, then I thought it was lop-sided - but I was wrong on both accounts as you shall see below!  

As always, it is worth remembering that there is more going on with a set of NT rules and scenarios than you think, and that it doesn't take much to get a great game out of them.

So, on to battle!

NOTE: as my rules allow you to choose either a D6 or D5 [average die] for the game, I refer to the die rolled and value as Dx, since it is one of the two.  Personally, I prefer the D5 as more rewarding of good tactics and less on luck, but sometimes a wild ride of rolls is fun, also.  Dx+2 is the number rolled +2, Dx-2 is the same but -2, etc.

Below, the table laid out: Blue [table South] is defending the road at a bottleneck between a wood and impassible hill. Victory is preventing Red [table North] from occupying the town.


Below is the scenario and map.  Red's 6 Units arrive on the road, turn 1. Blue has two on the table up to two feet in, or in the wood.  Note that only Lights may enter woods.  Blue gets two Units Turn 5 and two Turn 10, entering the board from the South edge.  This is a pretty big help since they can charge on and the objective Town is touching the South edge.  Any Red Units that have a vulnerable flank can be charged by reinforcements..


I rolled two armies from my own lists - the main difference is that the heavy Units are Knights and Foot Knights [i.e. dismounted knights] who are "Men at Arms" renamed, and allow any Knight Unit to dismount before a scenario as Foot Knights - slow, but they only take 1/2 Hits due to their armor and protective, closely assembled grouping. This results in them only inflicting Dx Hits in melee as they have no shock value while Knights are Dx+2. Next are Serjeants [Levy in the rules] who are also slow and Hit Dx in melee, but with no armor benefit.  Bowmen shoot a Dx but melee Dx-2 and last are Lights who both shoot and melee at Dx-2, but are faster than foot; they shoot with "Javelins" during the move phase.

Blue rolled three Knights, two Bowman and one Lights.  Two Knights dismount to hold the gap and blocked it between the woods edge and the hill.  Also with the Unit to left is the Hero, William Marshal [Foundry figs] who gives +1 Hit in melee, and his banner which allows Dx-3 Hits to be rallied each turn, even if the Unit is in melee. Most of the figs are Old Glory Swabians from their Revenge series [a decrepit set of rules and mechanics but solid figs].

Below are the rest of Blue's force, a Unit of Knights, Lights and two Bowmen.  Figs are Old Glory Crusaders, Welsh bow, and Soldier and Sword archers. Basing is not yet completed b/c I wanted to be certain the "big based diorama" effect worked for me. The hills are just regular corrugated cardboard, the Welsh Lights have had their base given a first covering of wood filler [basically a thicker Elmer's glue] to see how it sets. I'm pleased so far!


Below is Red's force, four Knight Units, one Serjeants [Old Glory Welsh Spearmen] and one Unit of Bowmen [OG Welsh Archers].  They also have a Hero and a banner, forget his name, however!  Note that the Units are mounted in 2.5" x 5" cut pieces of flooring, which I covered previously in other posts [no pun intended...!].  The Front / Flank ratio is helpful, since it gives easy measurement parameters for the rules - one can use Base Depth [BD] and Base Width [BW].  Due to the need to advance quickly, take ground and attack, I left all the knights mounted.


Below, Turn 1.  Having given the scenario a trial run, I know better than to allow the Red Knights to be in charge range of the foot, a max of 8" [I use a Dx value as the base move. If charging or avoiding proximity to enemy, a bonus of 3", 6" and 9" is given to Foot Knights/Serjeants, Lights and Knights respectively]. It helps to get the charge and first Hit in, if you can. Note the Bowmen are not obstructed by the knights, needing a BD to shoot and to see of the Target, the Foot Knights on the right. As for Blue, with no charge opportunity William Marshal's Foot Knights grimly wait.


Turn 2, below. The Red Bowmen rolled a '2' which was halved to 1 Hit thanks to the Foot Knight's armor. Two Knights then charged while the Serjeants moved up in support. The Knights to right roll a 4 +2 [Knights] +1 [Hero] x 1/2 for a net 4 Hits.  For Blue, William Marshal's retinue inflicts '5' back [the highest value on D5] equaling the totals. To left, the Knights roll a 5+2=7 x 1/2 for 4 Hits, taking only 2 back. Marshal's banner ends the turn by rallying off a Hit despite the melee.


On Turn 3, the grind continues as the Red force tries to break through to the town. Blue is giving as good as it gets, the Foot Knights are tough! Both Banner's fail to rally any Hits off - the din of battle prevents their battle cry from being heard?


Turn 4, more of the same, but time is passing - next turn, Blue gets two more Units! Nearly all Units are reaching a critical point, since they break at 15 Hits. Red Hero's retinue is at 14, Marshal is at 12, the left Hit dice have been poorer so less Hits there. Red's banner fails to rally [3-3=0] while Marshal's rallies off a single Hit. Next turn will see a decision in the gap!


Turn 5. Low dice to the left leaves the melee still slogging. The right sees Marshal's retinue break, covered by a Unit of Knights that have arrived. I put the Blue Knight Unit on the left to impede the advance - putting them straight in front would give Red both an advance and a charge. Now they must deviate from their advance or face a flank charge. Blue Bowmen occupy the town. Being within it, they take 1/2 Hits. With their two Front corners touching the edge, they count as lining the edge of the town [must adapt to the shape of base and town].


Turn 6 below sees the Red Hero retreat his Unit to do some rallying. Any Unit that doesn't act - Move, Shoot or Melee - may rally off 1-3 Hits a turn. Once a Unit goes past 10 Hits however, it may not rally to below 5 Hits [hence the red dice].  This represents casualties and fatigue that just can't be recovered in such a short battle. In addition, the Banner allows a Unit to rally Dx-3 Hits a turn regardless of any activity. Not much, but in a 3-5 turn melee, a couple of Hits can mean the difference between victory and defeat! 

The left Red Knights finally finish off the Blue Foot Knights, but have 12 Hits themselves. The other Red Units advance. I allow my single-base Units to form a 'column' by moving sideways. It costs a Turn and I mark the new "Front". On Blue Turn, Bowmen advance 3" to get in range of the Red Knights, while Blue knights on the left charge the damaged Red Knights, sending them packing! This leaves them vulnerable to the flank, but I wanted to plug the gap far away and destroy one Red Unit. I'm hoping that some solid Hits from the Bowmen will damage the Red Knights enough that their attack on the town will fail. This may not be a good idea, but I felt it was better than taking a charge from 1-2 Red Knight Units.


Turn 7 below. The Red knights easily roll enough inches to strike the Blue Knight Unit on the flank, while the Red Serjeants charge the Front. inflicting 10 and 2 Hits respectively! Flank Hits are doubled. Rallying for the Red Hero goes slow thanks to poor rolling. Blue Bowmen roll a measly 2 Hits. Altho the Blue Knights are nearly spent, the clock is ticking...will they delay the Red force long enough?



At the halfway point, I'm pleased with the way the rules are going. Everything has been clean and quick, with clear, simple decisions available for the player that seem realistic given the limited possibilities of warriors that are - by modern standards - usually not very well trained or disciplined. 

I took a calculated risk throwing the Blue knight in, trying to buy time with blood. Eight more turns is a lot more to go, however, and it is disappointing that both Foot Knight Units failed to destroy their opposing Red Knight Unit. If even one had gone down, it would've cost Red another turn to organize a solid advance. As it is, They'll only lose one Knight, and it is costing me a Blue knight.

Next post will see the dramatic conclusion!