Monday 16 June 2014

10mm Romano-British for Dux Bellorum

I really like games that can deliver discrete, definable and achievable goals when it comes to building your armies. That is one huge tick in the box for Dan Mersey's Dux Bellorum. I am yet to play a game but the rules read very well and it looks to be a very enjoyable game. 

Army lists in Dux Bellorum are defined , but loosely and allow for a lot of flexibility in the forces you raise. Generally you are looking at between five and ten units, plus  up to three strategies - strategies might be unique unit types like monks or wardogs, or they could represent unit upgrades etc. My starter army lists, as I may have mentioned before, were driven by the models I already had at hand, either painted or in the lead pile. 

We will be playing our games based in the north of Britain (c. AD 500) to permit Picts, Saxons, Irish, Welsh and Romano-Brits all to have a go. Here is my Romano-British army, sans strategies. It stands at 29 points, allowing me three points to spend on a strategy of my choosing during any given battle. Nominally it is the war-host of Rheged, the British kingdom straddling the Solway and taking in the regions of Cumbria, Dumfries and Galloway (perhaps). In AD 500, that might (or might not... I love this period) make my commander king Meirchion Gul - Meirchion the Lean.

I will be using this unit of Sarmatian-esque equites as my mounted companions.

These are two units of noble riders, the experienced warrior caste of Rheged.

The local Rheged infantry consist of a shieldwall muster and a body of archers.

The infantry is supplemented by two shieldwalls of foederati - fierce Germanic mercenaries. The unit on the right - fully equipped in chainmail, swords and the odd wolf skin - will be used as a noble shieldwall; at least to begin with. The other unit will be an ordinary shieldwall. I have stuck with a red colour theme with this army, except for the foederati whom I have themed in blue. This way they can form the basis of a future Saxon army, should the need arise.

The army assembled; and to top it all off, at the back is a small hamlet for them to raid or defend (as the notion takes them).


Sunday 15 June 2014

Irregular Wars: Conflict at the World's End 2nd ed. progress report

I realise that I have been unusually quiet for the past month. In part, that is because I've been busy with work and have had a number of nights working late, meaning that I have less time in my weekends to sneak off and paint/play games. In part, it is because June is now a pretty sad month in our family and everything grinds to a bit of a halt.

Having said that, over the last while I have managed to make a little progress on the 2nd edition of my Irregular Wars rules. However, I've not really discussed any of the changes or progress. To give a bit of a taste of where we are at, I have included a contents list giving a rundown of everything as it stands below. The old phase system has been streamlined to make the basic rules easier and faster, impetuous companies now have a more realistic random movement system, there are now more optional actions for units within their lord's command radius, and every rule is more fully explained than before. To date there are also now 45 different army lists (those in red have not yet been written).

The rules are written, most of the army lists are done, Doc Phalanx is working on diagrams and it's really just the scenario variants Any comments or queries are certainly welcome!


1. Introduction                                            
1.1 Design concepts                                    
1.2 Game scale                                             
1.3 Basing conventions                               
1.4 Table size                                                           
1.5 Playing equipment                               
1.6 Company rosters                                   
1.7 The commanding lord                         
1.8 Resolve                                                   
Ø  Wavering companies
Ø  Scattering

2. Setting up                                                
2.1 Determining armies                              
Ø  Small actions or big battles?
2.2 Determine attacker and defender       
2.3 Terrain and visibility                           
2.4 Chance cards                                          
2.5 Army recruitment                                 
Example recruitment
2.6 Standard deployment                          
2.7 Scenarios                                                
Ø  Punitive raid
Ø  Ambush
Ø  Reive and retrieve
Ø  Breakthrough
Ø  Assaulting the walls
2.8 Disease and mishaps                            

3. Playing the game                                    
3.1 Turn sequence                                       
3.2 Shot phase                                              
Ø  Shooting ranges
Ø  Shooting
Ø  Effects of terrain on line of sight
Ø  Risks to the lord
Ø  Smoke markers
3.3 Action phase                                          
Ø  Rolling for initiative
Ø  Command range
Ø  Impetuous actions
Ø  Controlled actions
Ø  Moving into melee
Ø  Movement modifiers
Ø  Hidden units and ambushes
Ø  Interpenetration
Ø  Disengaging from melee
Ø  Reloading
Ø  Rallying
Ø  Cursing
3.4 Melee phase                                           
Ø  Melee mechanism
Ø  Winning a melee
Ø  Risks to the lord
Ø  Pursuing scattered, wavering or disengaging foes

4. Special rules                                            
Ø  Archaic missiles, Bolas, Caracole, Charge +1, Charge +2, Charge +3, Charge +4, Dragoons, Elusive, Exotic mounts, Grenades, Heavy ordinance, Light ordinance, Long spears, loose, Natives, Pikes, Pious, Pole-arms, Reivers, Reliable, Savage, Targeteers, Unreliable, Wagon, Wild
5. Army lists                                                 
Ø  Royal English, Northern English, English adventurers, Lowland Scots, Highland Scots, Mere Irish, Spanish expeditionary force, Conquistadors, Colonial Spanish, Colonial Portuguese, French adventurers, Coureurs de bois, Hollanders, Swedish, Imperialist, Polish-Lithuanian Union, Muscovites, Cossacks, Ottoman, Steppe Khanate, Arabian, Safavids, Moghul, East Indies sultanate, Eastern pirates, Ming Chinese, Manchurian, Joseon Korean, Japanese shogunate, Ikkō Ikki, North African, East African, Songhai, Tribal African, Caribbean Indians, Amazonia Indians, Mesoamerican, Chinantecs, Inca, Mapuche, Desert Indians, Mississippians, Woodland Indians, Pacific Islanders


Quick reference sheets