Having recently acquired Neil Thomas' Ancient and Medieval Wargaming rules, primarily for the Wars of the Roses campaign, I had the itch to give them a test game. It also gave me an opportunity to get out my Early Imperial Roman and Ancient British figures. This game was played on a 2'3" x 2'3" table.
As can be seen, I planned this being the most basic of games just to get the feel for the rules. I am not a fan of generic sized units but for this test outing I have stuck with the 4 bases per unit as recommended with an orbat drawn from the army lists included in the book (1 for artillery).
I have used the 'Classical Warfare' module and the only change I have made was to add a command and control system (there are none in the rules). I settled on a slight variation of the 'Hail Caesar' system but limiting the number of moves a unit can make to 2 rather than the designed 3. As this is a relatively small battle there will be just one commander for each side.
The Ancient British consist of 5 units of warband, 2 x slingers, 3 x light chariots and 2 x light cavalry.
Continued -
The early moves saw both flanks converge on each other. The Britons were awarded with 2 move activations for the 2 light chariot units on their left flank. This allowed them to sweep passed the Roman cavalry unit launching their javelins as they did so inflicting 2 hits (a base is removed when it suffers 4 hits).
The Roman cavalry had 2 activations of their own and duty charged into a unit of slingers.
On the opposite flank the Briton light cavalry clashed with the Roman heavy cavalry.
In the centre the light chariots suffered from the attention of the Roman artillery unit but they replied peppering the waiting Roman units with javelins.
Having chewed up one unit of slingers, the Roman cavalry charged into a 2nd. It was not entirely one-sided though with the cavalry losing a base.
Another British light cavalry unit was thrown into the fray but was too late in preventing the demise of their comrades. The Roman cavalry unit was not immune though and had lost a base.
With the light chariots swirling around the Roman flanks and peppering them with javelins, the warbands prepared to charge home.
The warbands charge into the Roman shields initially rocking them back on their heels (the warbands receive bonus dice rolls for the 1st round of melee).
The warbands fail to make much headway and as their morale drains away so they lose more bases. On the left the Roman Auxiliary unit envelopes the British flank.
Top left of the photo, the Roman cavalry has defeated the light cavalry unit but has been reduced to just one base. They are now coming to the attention of chariot units.
The warbands have disintegrated and the returning victorious chariots, having destroyed the last of the Roman cavalry on that flank, can provide little assistance.
The chariots converge on the last of the Roman cavalry on the opposite flank but in destroying it lose one of their units in the process. With the warbands now destroyed, just 2 British units are left on the field signalling the end of the battle. A resounding Roman victory.
The rules recommend base sizes and numbers of figures on each. Mine are different but that did not present a problem.
The slingers inflicted a surprising amount of damage on the Roman cavalry in melee. They are allocated light armour in the army lists giving them a saving throw on a '6'. Although not making a huge difference, I would consider removing their light armour.
The command and control system did not work as well as I would have hoped but this, I believe, was mainly due to the fact that I only allocated 1 commander each. Both sides should really have had 1 x CinC with 2 x sub-commanders on the flanks.
The rules are simple and very easy to add your own ideas. I shall certainly continue using these rules and see how I can develop them for future games. Whether they will become my rules of choice for Ancients/Medieval remains to be seen but certainly possible.
Glad to see you've been able to give them a run out. I like the simplicity of the rules and the fact that you can tweak them almost to your hearts content to give you a game that works for you. Also the fact that you get plenty of army lists etc is a big bonus.
ReplyDeleteI agree Steve. I like the basic concept and the melees are suitably bloody. That one book provides a surprising amount of useful detail.
DeleteThis was a good first outing of AMW. I look forward to seeing more.
ReplyDeleteMany thanks Jonathan.
DeleteGood test game. I can’t make my mind up about base removal for these rules. Aesthetically I’m not keen on it, but for practical record keeping it is very intuitive.
ReplyDeleteThanks Norm. A factor I like with these rules are that morale is part and parcel of base removal. Simplifies the process and at the same time reflects the disintegration of a unit with, as you say, no need for record keeping.
DeleteWow simple but so effective.
ReplyDeleteRegards Peter
Many thanks Peter.
DeleteNice test Jon. Are there any provisions for army cohesion in the face of mounting casualties? It seems the warbands were cut down to a man but the chariots still kept engaging the Roman cavalry.
ReplyDeleteThe rules as they are stipulate that one side has lost when down to 2 units left. So basically no. With regard to losses, although the warbands were wiped out this includes bases lost due to morale test failures. If a unit loses a base in combat a morale test is conducted for each base lost and if fails then another base is removed.
DeleteI intend to introduce my own cohesion provision which will apply to each sub-command. Something simple like either a 50% or 75% loss of bases causes the command to break. I am considering bases rather than unit loss as my units will be of varying sizes.