NT Skirmish: not RAW but half-baked? Empire v. Chaos

So after several fights and re-fights with these forces, including tinkering with point values, small rule changes, and closely reading LOTR SBG mechanics, I arrived at the below skirmish battle that I feel is worth presenting.

One issue that came up consistently with the IGO-UGO aspect of NT's RAW skirmish rules is that because the players alternate full rounds of Move-Shoot-Melee, even though melee is simultaneous and both fight in it, unrealistic things were happening with match-ups.

In a player's half of the turn, since all figures are dead or retreat out of melee except in the very occasional "push" resulting from a tie, most figures are free to act again. They then pick ideal match-ups including very calculated outnumbering to get the results needed. As there are no Zone of Control / ZoC rules in NT's rules, one can literally walk a millimeter in front of an enemy figure that stands there while you pass before him and melee someone else, or retreat to shoot, whatever. As there are no support rules you can concentrate melee dice against an figure that is on the flank or edge of even a close formation. All this needs to be remedied.

So I took the Control Zone and Turn Sequence from LOTR SBG which I always liked anyway. The mechanics rather painlessly solve all the issues with the least amount of rules for the tactical interest. The NT RAW turn sequence is:

• I Move, I Shoot, I Melee [we both fight]
• You Move, You Shoot, You Melee [we both fight].

The LOTR SBG turn sequence is:

• We roll off for Priority [Initiative].  The Priority winner acts first in each phase:
• We Move, the side with Priority moves first.
• We Shoot, the side with Priority shoots first.
• We Fight, the side with Priority decides the match-ups and order in which the fights are resolved.

Courage [morale] is rolled at the start of the side's Move after they've reached their morale point, which is usually 50%.

The LOTR SBG sequence allows for some interesting tactics with the moving first or second, shooting first or second aspect.  I always liked it. Pretty much my only problem with the game is its complexity which gets pushed up pretty quickly.

The Turn sequence I adopted for this demo battle is:

• We roll for Initiative. The winner decides to keep Initiative and act first or give it to the opposition and act second. this allows you to counter-move against your enemy's actions, for example.
• We Take Actions. the side with Initiative first. Actions include moving, shooting, reload, etc.
• We fight Melee. the side with Initiative decides the match-ups and order of resolution.
• We take Morale checks if we've reached 25% [fail - move back a full move] or 50% [fail - removed from game] that turn. This is simultaneous.

So this is basically the LOTR turn sequence with shooting / moving merged into one action phase. I like this b/c it allows you to shoot and then charge to contact, or retreat and shoot to cover yourself, etc. There are some interesting possibilities with taking the Morale Checks in Initiative order or something, will have to think about that.

I also wanted to make the game a bit faster, and retain the simplicity of rolling on the Wound Chart with the same amount of dice as the winning side rolled for the Melee. This resulted in my reducing the melee and wound numbers for Soldiers to '1', which then rise to '2' for Veterans, '3' for Heroes and '4' for Mighty Heroes. The final points and other values are below with the forces and points for this skirmish. The grey parts are areas I'm still tinkering with - upgrading figures in a category or two [how much does it cost?] and the future use of Might Points [which I plan to be simply a re-roll].

Building Fantasy Skirmish Forces. Each army is <550 points.

Class	Movement	Shooting	Melee	Wounds	Morale	Points	Might
1 Levy	5”	6+	1 die	1	6+	10	0
2 Soldier	6”	5+	1 die	1	5+	20	0
3 Veteran	6”	4+	2 dice	2	4+	40	1
4 Hero	6”	3+	3 dice	3	3+	60	2
5 Mighty Hero	6”	2+	4 dice	4	2+	75	3
Upgrades	+/-1” = 3	+/-1 = 5	+/-1 = 5	+/-1 = 5	+/-1 = 3

CHARACTER	Move		Shooting		Melee Dice		Wounds		Morale		Point Cost
Pistoleer Cpt.	Revolver, longsword [melee weapon], Heavy Armor [AS 4+], Leader
Veteran	12”	4+		3		2		4+		110
Pistoleer	Pistols, [Pistol, melee weapon], Medium Armor [AS 5+]
Soldier	12”	4+		2		1		5+		70
Arquebusier	Arquebus [Musket, melee weapon], Dodger [AS 6+]
Soldier	6”	5+		1		1		5+		40
Spearman	Spear [melee weapon, Long], Light Armor, Shield [AS 5+ / 6+]
Soldier	6”	--		2		1		5+		45

Total                                                                                                                                460

ABOVE. Classic GW sculpts from the 90s. Outrider, two pistoleers [partial conversions] with three arqubusiers and two spearmen. I painted all the riders, Fernando the foot.

CHARACTER	Move		Shooting		Melee Dice		Wounds		Morale		Point Cost
Marauder Chief	Flail, Sword [melee weapon, Dual-Handed], Throwing Axe [pistol], Medium Armor [AS 5+], Leader
Hero	12”	--		4		4		3+		125
Marauder Mtd.	Flail, Longknife [melee weapon, Dual-Handed],  Throwing Axe [pistol], Light Armor [AS 6+]
Veteran	12”	--		3		3		4+		85
Hellhound	Claws and fangs [melee weapon], Dodge [AS 6+]
Soldier	12”	--		2		1		5+		50
Marauder	Flail, Longknife [melee weapon],  Light Armor [AS 6+]
Soldier	6”	--		2		2		5+		40

Total                                                                                                                                460 

Above. More classic GW sculpts. Metal Hellhound, two Marauder horse [the white is the Hero on a stolen Wood Elf mount!], five classic metal marauders. All painted by others.

In any event, the above changes along with adding a 1" zoc [cancelled if the enemy is contacting the figure] are the biggest changes I made. Most of the rest were small chrome changes.

Thus we have a classic confrontation between a Chaos Marauder force and an Empire force.  The Chaos have superior melee and wounds, representing their bloodthirsty nature. The Empire has superior shooting - all but the spear can shoot. The Chaos force has nothing but throwing axes [which I forgot to use, anyway]. On to the scenario...

I picked a scenario from Neil Thomas one Hour Wargames. Both forces represent a small part of a much larger army. There is a strategic hill with a ruin atop it alongside the main road. The Empire wants to seize is as a firing position from which to rain a hail of lead upon the enemy as the main battle develops over the next few days - with their firepower this is a significant advantage. The Marauders - with little shooting - want to prevent this. Whoever breaks the other force or holds the hill at the end of the battle wins.


Above. The battlefield. Note that skirmish terrain needs to be a lot busier than battle terrain. The 3' square board has 5 of the 9 square foot spaces filled, with a wood, two hills ]one with ruins] and two ruins along with the road. The Spanish moss looks like bushes so counts as cover.

The forces may enter from any side - the winner of the first Initiative roll will decide which side they will enter from and the opposing side will be the one opposite. The main considerations would be terrain that covers the approach of the Chaos force from Empire shooting.

Next post: A Desperate and Vicious Little Affair...