Monday 15 September 2014

Bronze Age Warfare rules test game(part1)


Been thinking hard about the Bronze Age Warfare (BAW) rules whilst walking dog and have come up with the following ideas. There are the following troop types - Infantry , Cavalry, Skirmishers and Leaders/Heroes . Movement is as follows- Cavalry/Chariots move 4xD6 , Infantry 2xD6 and Skirmishers 3xD6 . Chariots are used as transport for Leaders, who have a command radius of 6". Units who are not in command radius have to re-roll their highest dice - this reflects their lack of motivation . Moving through bad terrain halves the movement .


To activate a unit a token is drawn red for one side blue the other . Would like to say I used Reindeer blood and Woad to mark the stones but Vallejo was easier . One token per unit and one token marked with Black, when this is drawn the turn stops and all the tokens are returned to the box . 


Tilly thinks the 'Staines o' Destiny' are a little strange !, I think they add period feel !.Missile shooting have 3 range bands , 0-6" - 456 to hit , 6"- 12" - 56 to hit , 12"- 18" - 6 to hit , each figure shoots individually . When hit a casualty throws a saving dice - saving on a 56 adding 1 if in cover, cavalry/chariots and skirmishers . Heroes/Leaders have 2 wounds before being removed . I must stress these are 'work in progress' rules.


I decided the best way to try out these rules was to play a test game through and see how they go . The invading army of Clan Broc are going to try and despoil their rivals sacred site and move onto the table - 3 units of Infantry/Warriors , 1 of Skirmishers and 2 Leaders/Heroes. 


The battlefield set out (the cat was removed before combat started) nearest the camera is the sacred site of the Clan of the Red Pig . Caught by surprise the can only muster 1 Hero/Leader and 2 units of Skirmishers (which represent the local villagers ) to start with , reinforcements will arrive on a dice throw every move .


The Shaman of the Clan of the Red Pig calls on the Gods for help !. The Warrior/Infantry units are 20 figures strong and the Skirmishers 10 figures , as moral will be rudimentary I don't think actual numbers will matter  - ie Units having taken 50 % casualties will not advance and if out of command radius will retire . If an Army suffers 50% casualties it has lost the game .


The Warriors of Clan Broc advance, but then the 'Sable Staine' is drawn and the move comes to an end ! . Well so far I've pinch rules from Featherstone (for shooting) and TSATF (for movement) , the command idea is my own . Well I'll return to the table to continue the game and report on it soon .





  

10 comments:

  1. Excellent start,interesting rules and the stones are a super idea- can't wait to hear more!

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    1. Very much a case of trying them out and seeing how they run , cheers Tony

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  2. Looks good on the table and the rules thus far have a sound base, The stones do have an appropriate feel but I'm glad they aren't being used for casualty resolution in a Wellsian fashion,

    Keeping in mind that they are in the process of being developed, a couple of questions came to mind:
    - will the saving throw be adjusted for shield/armour?
    - are the missile rules for all weapons whether javelin or bow etc.? (which might actually be reasonable esp woth early bows) and can the massed infantry throw their spears or only the light infantry?
    - will there be a judgement of winner and loser for each round of melee? I have a lingering affection for the old wrg pushback with different morale levels being able to take more consecutive losses before breaking. One day I'll work that back into a set.

    and a personal note, I've always been suspicious of the deep column approach that Warhammer seems to have fostered. I picture early mobs being more linear, 2 ranks rather than 4. (No I do not have any actual evidence for this feeling!)

    Anyway it looks good and sounds promising. I look forward to seeing more.

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    1. Was going to do the saving throws on troop type - Chariots/Heroes being hardest to kill due to their armour/protection , then Cavalry and Skirmishers next because of their speed and open order and finally the Infantry/ Warriors. Was keeping it simple by lumping all range weapons together (don't think they would have units of slingers and only Skirmishers can shoot . The melee system is still being mulled over , Tony

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  3. You have a good start there. Throw in some small chance of divine intervention, and perhaps a more variable force morale line-up and you will have a winner.

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    1. Was looking at some sort of magic/superstition type thing similar to the sort found in the Bernard Cornwall books , Tony

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  4. Looking very good so far....perhaps introduce the cat into the rules?

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  5. I'm up for the magic /superstition idea- seems excellent

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    Temple Run 2
    Yugi H5
    Bladebound

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