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- Units need an aggression of at least 4 to close. If neither of two units facing each other has enough then assume resting/stand off. - Compare trumps. Highest wins that round of combat. - Both lose one off trumps and strength. Loser then also loses points difference off other ratings in sequence agg./form./stg. - Both sides separate 2". If difference 3+ loser retreats 4", winner has option of following up (see manoeuvre).
Leaders in combat- If not facing opposition leaders: wounded (lose one LP) for dice of 1 if on winning side, 1/2 if draw, 1/2/3 if loser. - Personal combat with opposing Leader: May refuse challenge but retinue loses one agg. If accepted fight 3 rounds (stones/scissors/paper). Lose 1LP if 2 rounds lost, 2 LP's if 3 lost. - If standard falls (risk as for leader, see above) lose 1 form. Take up standard again automatically on first fall, for 4+ on 2nd, and 5/6 only on subsequent. If not taken up again assume captured: lose one off all ratings (retinue + adj. units that turn, others next turn) - If he is present, a leader can chose the combat trumps for his retinue. Costs 1LP. Where two leaders are facing each other and choose different trumps the standard combat trumps (as used by other units that turn) applies. - Leaders must lead from the front unless they have suffered more than 1 wound or have only one LP left.
Forming upThe start lines of the two sides = either: A) Average dice roll * six inches apart, or B) Both sides state preferred forming up distance. Take the mean of the two. - Leaders may not take initial stand with a flank unit or adjacent to another leader. - All units start with a basic Aggression of 1 and Formation of 1. Leaders allot LP's in each 'forming-up' turn to build up these ratings to a level sufficient for them to feel to confident to order the advance. - Units need an aggression of at least 5 in order to advance. - Both sides display card at the end of each turn to show if they wish to advance. If both show an advance card on the same turn assume simultaneous advance. - Otherwise the side on defence immediately rolls 1 Average dice +1 for each of his units. The units lose that number of points off their ratings, in the sequence aggression/formation/strength. So, if you roll a three, adding 1 to give a total of four, you will lose 1 point each off aggression, formation and strength, with an extra point off aggression.
The Advance- Once the signal is given all units capable of advancing do s (i.e. those with agg. of 5+). - Units with agg. of 4 will also advance (but 3" behind) as they get +1 agg. as reaction to seeing advance. Others may follow once their agg. reaches 5. - Contingents conform to the movement of an adjacent retinue (players choice as advance starts) - Each 6" move forward entails loss of 1 formation point. Only one LP can be allotted to formation each turn during the advance. - Obstacles: effect on formation is umpire-assessed or dice. (1= -3, 2-5= -2, 6= -1). - Re-forming: Leaders may halt their retinues (costs 1LP) to rebuild formation. A halt automatically entails the loss of one aggression point and one formation.
Closing with the enemy- Lay down 'fighting lines' to determine opponents when first within 6" of enemy line. Make any necessary adjustments to 'orbat' (i.e. breaking down and creating contingents). - Compare aggression levels. An advancing unit with higher aggression, or if both at 8, charges the enemy. Defender loses 1 form. If attacker agg. is lower he halts (lose 1 form). In the next turn the defender, if he is a retinue, may counter attack. If one or both sides have an agg. of 4+ they close with each other with no gain or losses to ratings.
Manoeuvre- Before the lines close there is no manoeuvre: units march straight ahead. Once the lines have clashed, however, various eventualities are possible: a) Outflanking: A unit outflanking/overlapping another may attack its flank if its agg. is at least 4 and (if no leader present) it throws an initiative dice LOWER than its agg. (Plus one on dice for each previous refusal to attack (i.e. it gets more difficult)). b) Follow-up and retreat: A unit must retreat 4" if the difference on combat trumps was 3 or more. Victor can follow-up if agg. 4+. Adjacent units react to this advance/retreat. c) Pursuit and Rout: A unit routs if any of its ratings drop to zero. Victor pursues if aggression 4 or more. Chase fugitives one turn and 12". Lose Av. dice off formation and strength. Formation should not drop below one but if strength goes down to zero assume whole unit pursues enemy off field. If leader present never drop to zero strength. d) Envelopment: A unit attacked in flank or rear and not engaged on another facing (or one wishing to attack to its own flank/rear) counts 1/2 effect in combat. May turn to face (see below) in next turn. Two or more units attacking one unit combine their ratings in combat to give a trumps score. e) Wheeling: A wheel up to 90 degrees costs 1LP and loss of 1 form. Over 90 = 2 LP's and 2 form. f) rallying: A stationary leader with a standard, not involved in combat, can rally one strength point per turn (from stragglers, etc) to a total not exceeding the original strength of the unit.
Explanatory NotesThese rules use a number of quite unconventional mechanisms so readers who haven't seen them demonstrated may find the following useful: 1) BASES Base size doesn't matter as long as its consistent for all groups. Beer mats make ideal group bases. The number of figures on a group base is irrelevant. Use whatever you think looks right or whatever you can afford. 2) FORMING UP i) The army forms up as a single line of group bases. No reserves allowed!
ii) The leaders take up their positions (2-5 leaders per side). One player per leader is ideal. They stand in front of their personal retinue (one group base). Each leader commands a 'Division' or 'Battle', which is made up of one retinue and a contingent to either side.
3) RECORD KEEPING For each unit you need to keep a record of the current state of its various ratings (aggression, strength, formation). I use a piece of cork tile with mapping pins to move up and down the score tracks (this saves the constant crossing out of a paper ad pencil record).
Place these behind the unit concerned, standing upright, so you an read off ratings at a glance while they are hidden from you opponent. I paint the reverse side to match the table colour and stick on a few of the 25mm cardboard cut-out Saxon figures now sold by Standard Games and Publications to help the visual aspect from the enemy's side of the table. Alternatively, you can simply represent Strength by the number
of figures on the base. 4) THE ADVANCE Each Commander in Chief has two cards, one blank and the other saying 'CHARGE'. He displays one of these after phase one of each forming up turn. 5) CLOSING WITH THE ENEMY When the two lines close you will find that the unit divisions rarely coincide. This doesn't matter as long as the actual bases are aligned. Simply break down the units into smaller versions of themselves (cloning), maintaining the same Aggression/Strength?Formation ratings. Since the original contingents represented no coherent unit structure in the first place, being simply used for administrative convenience, this breaking down makes no difference. Boundaries between the Divisions of the army MUST be maintained though, for leadership purposes.
'Fighting Lines' are lengths of string or florists wire used to mark off boundaries of engagements. 6) COMBAT The Stone/Scissors/Paper game: A playground game, but for those of you unfamiliar with it here it is... Each player forms one hand into a fist, knocks three times on the table and then simultaneously displays one of the following: Stone (=fist). Beats scissors (smashes them) but is beaten by paper (is wrapped up by it). Scissors (=two fingers). Beats paper (cuts it) but is beaten by stone (smashed). Paper (=open palm). Beats stone wraps it up) but is beaten by scissors (cut). Genuine hand to hand combat!! 7) GENERAL APPEARANCE As one wing of the army moves off to the advance first, or after a few turns of fighting and groups begin to rout off, you'll find gaps appearing in the line. To prevent these gaps making the battlefield look too 'regular' scatter a few loose figures around to represent stragglers. These have no influence on the game other than to make it look better (and if you don't want it to look good why on earth are you using figures in the first place?). The cardboard figures mentioned above also look very good scattered as dead.
CONCLUSION Overall you'll find that the game gives very little scope for any tactical decision making on the part of the player. Basically, all he had to do is line his army up, make his influence felt where it is most needed and lead from the front. Players who prefer equal points armies and competition-type games needn't bother with these rules. Perceptive readers will have noticed the absence of any rules for cavalry or missile weapons. This is simply because I was aiming to create a specifically pre-Conquest battle, in which rules to cater for William the Bastard's continental tactical innovations would be irrelevant. To tie in with the system as it stands, archers might be used as groups with no melee capacity, with not much need for aggression and an effect mostly on enemy formation (rather than strength or aggression). Cavalry would need to be easy to raise in aggression but liable to loose formation in the twinkling of an eye, and thus require a lot of attention on the part of the leader. Those who want to write rules for berserkers are welcome to do so, as long as you don't organise them into units and expect them to froth at the mouth on the word of command. I would suggest that individual figures be allowed to hurl themselves, kamikaze-like, at the enemy lines during the forming up stage, in an attempt to have a depressing effect on enemy aggression and formation. Those who choose to use them ought to run the risk that they might carry the rest of the army with them in a premature rush. I think that the basic mechanisms are quite capable of expansion in this way, just so long as you avoid over-complicating things and thus losing the playability of the whole system. The more far sighted amongst you might see uses for the leader points system in other periods. Peter Stallabrass showed at the 1983 WD conference how he has incorporated the idea into the chain of command for Horse and Musket period rules, for example. But then that's part of the enduring appeal of this hobby. Once you've had an idea you never know where it's going to take you....
The above article originally appeared in Miniature Wargames, No. 7, 1983. This page was reproduced for the Internet by Nick Dorrell, January 2005, with the permission of the author. Steve Switzer's modified version of these rules including cavalry are here, White Steeds and Seax Click here, Andy Callan, to return to the index of Andy Callan's articles. |
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