THE ART of WAR TACTICAL WARFARE IN MINIATURE

for PRE-GUNPOWDER ARMIES

Rules developed and written by:

DOUG LARSEN and ROCKY RUSSO

Copyright © 2012 Merlin Douglas Larsen

All rights reserved. Written permission must be obtained from the publisher (mailto:douglarsen50@msn.com) to use or reproduce any part of this Ebook, except for brief quotations in critical reviews or articles, or listings on the Web or other forms of advertising said Ebook. For these purposes, “brief quotations” are not to exceed two hard copy pages.

A lot of what you see here benefitted from the talents and contributions of the following people:

David Boals, Brad Carlson, Joel Caruso, Bob Conkey, Dick Fox, J. G. Francesco, Mike Hastings, Larry Irons, Pete Laub, Daniel Tompkins, Brook West and Peter Vernon. We are grateful to them and others for their research, critique and translations. Thanks also for the members of the play-test groups in Salt Lake City, Los Angeles and Denver.

Picture credits: By Doug Larsen; Mark Andrews (“Ancient Greek and Macedonian Armies”);Gareth Lane (“Ancient Armies of the Iron Age”); and David of “Miniature Minions” (“Chinese, Mongol, Hun & Japanese Armies”).

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TABLE of CONTENTS

Introduction Combat Reference Sheet

Game Scales Sequence of Play

Armor Classification Troops Costs and Points Battles

Using the Army Lists and Buying an Army Movement

Terrain Effects on Movement Evade Movement

Missile Fire Combat Melee Hand-to-Hand Combat

Tactics and Formations Infantry Formations, Tactics and Drill Cavalry Formations, Tactics and Drill

Special Weapons Chariots

Elephants War-Wagons

Paviciarii Morale and Performance

Successful Morale and Performance Rolls Causes for Morale Checks

Effects of Rout Recovery From Rout Performance Tests

Fanatic Morale Multiple Checks

Siege and Assault Rules Quick and Dirty Index

The Crusades: army lists and campaign system Ancient Greek and Macedonian Armies

Ancient Armies of the Bronze Age Ancient Armies of the Iron Age

Ancient Roman and Italian Armies Armies of the Dark Ages 500 to 1000 A.D.

European Medieval Armies 1000 to 1460 A. D. High Medieval Mercenary Armies, The Condottieri, 1300 A. D. to 1460 A. D.

Chinese, Mongol, Hun & Japanese Armies

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INTRODUCTION:

This is not another version of the ever popular War-games Research Group ancients rules, or their newer publications. These rules are original with us. The systems utilized stem from certain board-game systems we found directly useful. But the tables are found nowhere else. We did all our own research over many years. And a long time back, we even built and tested some of the missile weapons to view their effects. We are long-time fans of bows and arrows and crossbows too. We shot these into various materials to test their impact properties. We read as much on the subject as seemed reasonable to come to knowledge of the truth, and then finished up our kill charts and movement rates and etc. The rules were in a constant state of flux while all this was going on. But these rules, as offered in this book, have not changed in twenty years. They work.

OUR FOCUS: 1. Historic, tactical organization. 2. Accurate battle mechanics. 3. Drill limits, again historically defined. 4. Casualties in whole figures (as opposed to “making change” with either paper work or casualty “caps”. All our figures are individually based, as opposed to mounting figures in groups on a single base). 5. Intelligent brigade commanders and sergeants. We do not utilize written orders, limiting units to moving blindly. 6. Battles with 20,000 men per side that can be fought in less than six hours. In our games, most players average 8 to 10 moves per hour.

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7. Historic tactical limits and advantages, such that any killer-elite army can win their battles with the weapons and tactics that made them famous. 8. Eliminate trivialization: We do not care about things which are clearly beyond the ken of you, the general. (If the fourth guy from the left has the pox, or even if his wife has found out, who cares?) Big generals are still limited to being one, human-scale man: we do not believe in “great men” as cheerleaders who rally whole armies of thousands that are routing away. Thus, we do not have complex morale rules. 9. A ground scale which allows battles to be played out full-size on a manageable table. At one inch = 10 yards, the average 8' table is c. half a mile long. 10. Actual-time battle effects. No abstracted, all-day battle rules. A turn in our game is one half a minute. 11. Historic armies lists, governing encounters with specific rules as to time and locale. This set of rules only includes the basic mechanics: supplementary books will provide the army lists that you want for your favorite period of play. 12. Adaptability: We want you to be able to play our rules without having to re-base all of your figures. These rules are made to work best with individually-based figures, but multi-figure bases do work. Figures based to use virtually any other set of rules can work in our game.

QUICK START: If you want to get playing right away, and see how the game mechanics work (but ignore for now all the rules which define historical differentiation) then turn to the “quick and dirty index”.

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Combat Reference Sheet

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View the Combat reference sheet online: Full size file for printing

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GAME SCALES: Our reasons: There is this myth, that some battles took all day. Actually, there are instances where battles took all day – or even a couple of days – to reach an outcome. But the fighting was not continuous. It never was. It can safely be said, that the real fighting time, as opposed to the time spent maneuvering and negotiating, took place in “bursts” of twenty minutes or less. A “typical” all-day battle is Agincourt, 1415 A. D. This is an engagement that consisted of a morning where the two armies faced each other with real intent, but both wanted to stand defensively. Neither side moved. The English were too confident in their traditional ability to defend, and the French knights were tired of being victimized by the arrows of the longbow-men. Finally, around noon, some of the longbow-men advanced beyond their defensive position (their second of the day, the whole army having moved forward and re-staked) and commenced long-range harassing fire into the French horses. This precipitated a charge of the French knights. The English archers retreated behind their stakes and shot down large numbers of horses. The French attack failed. Two more attacks by French dismounted men-at-arms were decimated by arrow fire before the rest of the French army quit the field. The rest of this all-day battle consisted of a minor skirmish, a notable atrocity, and the searching of the field for the ransomable wounded. The actual fighting time was less than an hour.

Rules: 1. Our game uses thirty second turns. 2. The ground scale is 1:360, or one inch equals 10 yards (25 mm = 9.1 meters). 3. There is no set figure-to-men ratio. It is assumed that all troops are mustered in a close order allowing 36" of frontage and depth per infantryman (being “crushed” together would, of course, reduce this), and 4.5' of frontage per cavalryman. 4. Each round of missile fire in a game turn represents the following number of missiles launched at the enemy: 3 arrows or sling stones, 2 crossbow bolts, 1 javelin or other hand missile.

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SEQUENCE OF PLAY: Our reasons: We do not have pre-written orders. Most of these methods appear to be an extended form of rock-paper-scissors. They do not reflect reality very well. It seems silly to have battalion commanders close their eyes for turns representing an hour. When this guess-and-suffer approach is tied with the natural propensity of the gamer for chin-stroking, contemplation and verbal abuse, the game can become endless. We chose to speed up the process of play so that any usual game should be playable in four or less hours. (Huge battles with less players might take somewhat longer.) A semi-sequential movement method allows positioning to be critical but still does not require pre-written orders.

Rules: 1. Both sides roll 1d6 at the start of each turn. High roller chooses to either move first or second. The side which moves first is called “first player” this turn. 2. Where troops are close enough to make contact with the enemy or receive missile fire, the turn is broken into halves, called “first impulse” and “second impulse.” 3. All charges which receive any sort of combat bonus are called announced moves. 4. All automatic moves are performed in their entirety, in the following order: routing units move first, pursuing units move second, then the same from previous turns, then any withdraw post combat moves. 5. Movements attempting to evade any charges are now performed for the first impulse only. 6. First player moves his charging unit(s) one half a charge move for the first impulse only. 7. Note any contacted troops and make morale tests where required: the charging and contacted troops do not move for the rest of the turn, but remain where contact was made. 8. Second player moves his charging units for first impulse, and rule 7 applies afterward for these troops and any first player troops contacted. (Note: where two units are mutually charging each other and will reach in one impulse of movement, simply make a half move with each at the same time until the bases make contact. Movement of these units for the rest of the turn ends here.) 9. First player moves his non-charging units their first impulse. Second player may turn his troops (according to tactical limitations ) to face any attacks. 10. Second player makes first impulse movement with his units which are not charging. First player may not turn his figures to face if they are attacked: facing was his responsibility, inasmuch as he moved first. 11. All troops contacted for melee by charging and non-charging units make no further movement. For those troops not so-contacted, movement is now allowed during second impulse: follow rules 5 through 10 in executing second impulse. 12. Missile fire combat is resolved after all first and second impulse moves are completed. 13. Melee combats are resolved after missile fire casualties are removed. Do not fill in gaps left by removed figures before resolving melee. 14. Roll all applicable morale checks from casualties suffered this turn from missile fire and melee combat. 15. Note routing units by reversing the figures. The turn is now completed.

Note: All automatic moves are performed in their entirety, unless both players agree to perform them by impulse. Charges, evades and other voluntary movements are performed by impulse only when needed or when agreed upon.

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ARMOR CLASSIFICATION: Our reasons: We do not go into a great amount of detail concerning armor types. It is a matter of orientation. When a single figure actually represents 30 or more individuals it is unrealistic to pick only the few in the company to represent the average. So we use broad categories to represent this average. In the same unit it may be acceptable to have a light figure to hold a standard, have fully-armed chieftains, and the balance of the unit a mixture of lighter and heavier-armed troopers: and refer to the entire unit of inter-mixed figures as a medium or a heavy unit.

Rules: The following descriptions will help you to fit your figures into our armor classification system: UNARMORED: Wears little or no armor. The upper limit for this class is roughly 5 pounds. This might include as much as a whicker shield or small, target buckler; a canvas or leather vest and a leather cap would press the upper limits for this class. LIGHT: The upper limit is roughly 10 pounds of protection. Most full-sized body shields did not weigh more than 8 to 10 pounds. A metal cap would complete the armor class. A studded leather vest with a cap helm and a small targ would also be a light. A short-sleeved, hip-length mail shirt would push the upper limits of the class without any shield. Any figure which seems to be borderline may be defined as one class or the other at the start of a battle: but the opponent must be clearly informed what the weight class of the used figures is. MEDIUM: Between 10 and 20 pounds of protective equipment defines this class. A mail shirt with body-shield and cap helm is typical. Full mail without any shield is borderline. Eastern armor now becomes a classification problem: the lamellar vest was often worn over mail. The mail therefore was not always visible, except at the shoulders or hips. Not all figures are clearly molded: many Muslim troopers wore their armor concealed under their clothing. So the appearance of a figure does not necessarily consign it to a particular armor class. Up to this point, the classification of infantry and cavalry is the same. HEAVY: Heavy armor is a total protection of 20 to 30 pounds. If a cavalryman is so equipped, and is riding an unarmored or half-armored horse, he is heavy cavalry. But if a heavily-armored man is on a fully-armored horse he becomes a cataphract. Heavy armor is typically full mail to the wrists and ankles (but do not worry about the few individuals who could afford mail gauntlets and footwear ). Or, a mail shirt with a lamellar vest would be a heavy when carrying a body-shield. PLATE/CATAPHRACT: This, the heaviest armor class we consider, is any armor protection in excess of 30 pounds. A full suit of plate armor from the late middle ages weighed c. 60 pounds at the most. Heavier armors were for the joust or foot combat of the tournament and were never used in war. Quite a variety of historical armor combinations can classify as a plate footman: full mail with plate pieces, such as greaves and a breastplate, and even oriental armor could in its fullest extent be classified as plate. A coat or shirt of mail, with lamellar vest and splint greaves and vambraces would total enough weight to be solidly in this class. (The latter description is that of a typical Byzantine front rank scutatos pikeman; or of the famed Varangian guards. In regard to these particular armor styles, and special movement rules regarding some, see the special rules regarding them in their armies lists.) A plate-armored cavalryman on an unarmored or half-armored horse is still just heavy cavalry. But any heavy or plate-armored figure on a fully-armored horse becomes a cataphract, a Greek word signifying fully-armored or protected.

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TROOPS COSTS AND POINTS BATTLES:

Our reasons: It is not possible to write rules that make every army of antiquity competitive with each other and stay realistic. Some warriors, man for man, were far nastier than anyone else they ever faced. Some of this was due to training some to equipment, some to leadership, and some to the fact that certain types tended to enjoy their work: and then again, some looked good because the opposition was so bad.

However, we recognize that most games are set-piece, once-off confrontations between two players. These battles ignore historical realities that can only be reflected in a good campaign. And often these battles deal with armies which, because of time and geography, or alliance, never faced each other. Such “fantasy” anachronisms can be fun.

Now, it is not possible to be fair to every army in every situation. For one thing, players who deploy and run armies “historically” according to the advice of the best generals of the age have an advantage over players who just bought the figures because they “looked cool” or were cheap. A “historical” player who uses the standard tactics of his army type will usually do better than a modern “general” who knows better, and tries to get cute with his tactics because of 20/20 hindsight. Other armies, even properly run, will often do poorly outside the “inbred” situation wherein they fought historically. Finally, it is not possible to evaluate every possible situation which will affect an army’s performance, such as the effects of terrain, or possible enemies to be faced: some armies have an easier time against some troops than others; and, just because a player is running Alexander the Great’s constantly-victorious Greco-Macedonians does not mean that the player will be in the same class as Alex, nor be as lucky.

With these limitations in mind, we present our system for buying armies according to a points schedule. The system is designed to produce relative parity between different troops by assessing a points cost for the number of men and those pieces of equipment and tactical advantages which usually give a benefit – those things which, as a rule, cannot be stripped away from the player’s army by casual tactical play.

BUYING AN ARMY: Rules: 1.The basic cost per figure/base is by armor class and base frontage (= man count):

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2. The army list being used gives the tactics and weaponry the infantry and cavalry have. Those which have a points cost are given on the following points cost tables. Note which tactics and weapons from your army list have a points cost. The cost is per base:

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