Impetvs on Grid

Bracing for the charge

The more I play the Command & Colors derivatives, the more I enjoy gaming on the hex mat with miniatures.  With hexes, or any grid that governs game play, both precision and speed of play increases.  No more fiddling around with exact movement distances, hair-splitting angles of attack, or other such minutiae.

While Samurai Battles is an excellent two player contest, my thought is that solo play might suffer due to the interaction of both the Honor and Fortune and Dragon decks.  Really nothing beats the wild swings in Samurai Battles' games but for solo play the system poses a few hurdles.  Impetvs games have, likewise, been enjoyable.  A solution for solo play might include translating Impetvs to the hex mat.  Sound reasonable? 

In the 15mm Impetvs game, 1U equals 1cm.  Since my small, Commands & Colors hex mat has two inch hexes then the conversion becomes,
                       1 hex = 2 inches = 5 cm = 5U 
In keeping to the spirit of Impetvs movement and ranges, I set movement allowances to one hex for foot and two hexes for horse.  Similarly, firing ranges become one hex, three hexes, and six hexes.  In 15mm, movement allowances seem a bit stingy but I will keep the movement rates as is for now.

To test this conversion, I deployed two seven stand armies with nearly equivalent capabilities.  I drew both armies (one "Red" and one "White") up on the field of battle into a compact battle line with a large neutral area between and no terrain to interfere.  On to the replay...

Armies arrayed for battle

Red readies for battle

White braces for battle

Turn 1: Initiative RED

Both lines advance to close the gap.
White Teppo fires into Red Spearmen, disordering
them.

Turn 2: Initiative RED

Advancing to close the distance.

Turn 3: Initiative RED

 Red maintains the initiative and advances on both flanks.
Red Teppo fire into White Ashigaru swordsmen and cause one hit.

The Ashigaru fail their cohesion test and take
one hit, becoming disordered.

White archers inflict two hits on the Red archers
while White charges into Red's leading spear element.

Clash in the center.
With no permanent losses, both sides are locked in combat.

Turn 4: Initiative WHITE

In the continuing close combat, Red spear suffer
disorder but hold on. 

White cavalry prepare for charge on White right

In the center clash, Red counterattacks.
Red suffers one permanent hit and retreats one hex.
White becomes disordered.

Red Samurai cavalry charge into the warrior monks.
The monks check the charge and the cavalry retreat
two hexes suffering one hit.  Monks are disordered.

Turn 5: Initiative RED

Red consolidates on the right while attacking
on the left and center

Red Spear attack White Teppo on the far left but
are repulsed with heavy casualties.
In the center, Red spearmen attack White swordsmen
driving the swordsmen back onto supports. 

White cavalry respond by charging into Red's foot samurai.

After rolling 7 hits against foot, only two hits are suffered permanently.
Red samurai fall back but are caught by the cavalry.
In pursuit, the foot Samurai suffer one more casualty.

Ouch! Overwhelming casualties but only two stick

White spear counterattack.
White takes one hit but hold their ground.

Turn 6: Initiative RED

Red redresses its battle line

Red charges into the center while the Red left holds.

White spear are hit by both cavalry and foot.
White takes two hits and retires.

Unable to outrun the pursuing cavalry,
White spearmen are caught and destroyed.

In the center, Red spear attack White swordsmen.
Swordsmen suffer two hits while inflicting none.
Swordsmen retreat but are caught and destroyed.

With two foot units destroyed on Turn 6, split command, and the center wide open for exploitation, White chooses to disengage.  Thus, the battle ends with Red controlling the battlefield.  Now, Impetvs games usually end with VBU damage greater than one-half of the starting army value.  With the result clear, I decided to halt this exercise. 

Impetvs played on the grid was not much different from normal play.  The game did play faster and much less time spent maneuvering and measuring.  Although the level of excitement was not as high as in Samurai Battles, the game was enjoyable even in a solitaire setting.  As mentioned earlier, movement rates may need to be increased above normal Impetvs rates to allow for a more dynamic game.  In any case, further tests will determine if I prefer grid to no grid.  For solo play, using the grid enhanced my enjoyment but as they say, "your mileage may vary."