After sorting my thoughts on Dr. Jones' presentation of creating an "authentic" Medieval wargame and the prodigious and helpful reader commentary from the previous post (thank you, all!), I am ready to bring armies to the table. Well, at least I think I am ready to bring my WotR collection to the table!
Interweaving all of the helpful suggestions and interesting points brought up in the last post's discussion, other Medieval rulesets, writings on wargaming the period, and my own goals for fighting Medieval battles, a version 1.0 of a working ruleset is in place for the first trial by fire. That trial is set for Monday in a two-player gaming session as we put the rules through its paces. No historical battle will be considered this time. Monday's contest will see two armies of three Battles each face down across an open plain. Each army will field three Battles of three units each. Each Battle will field one unit bow, bill, and Men-at-Arms. Leadership and unit effectiveness will be set in a pregame phase as we roll for attributes. Adding variation to Battle composition will provide some data in unequal contests as each pair of enemy combatants fight it out one-on-one. As in most of my designs, emphasis is on leadership, combat effectiveness, and formation cohesion. We find out Monday if these working rules survive first contact with the enemy. With luck, the game will not go down hearing me mumbling the immortal words of Pogo,
The figures look great Jon..... hopefully your rules work reasonably well the first time....I am sure some tweaking is inevitable!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Keith! We will see if rules survive first contact. Since the core game engine remains similar to other efforts, the basics "should" hold up under stress testing.
DeleteGood luck with your first test game. The pre-game activities sound like they could offer some surprises in the game.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Peter. You may be next up!
DeleteExcellent. I read the Blood and Dropping rules out of interest.
DeleteThis will be an interesting exercise. I'll look forward to the forthcoming account and how the rules fare.
ReplyDeleteI hope for an interesting exercise too!
DeleteOne will read the account with interest.
ReplyDeleteGood!
DeleteGreat looking WotR figures, Jonathan. In the past (distant past at that), I found Lion Rampant worked pretty well for smaller engagements like First St Albans.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Dean! I may give LR a spin too.
DeleteI will follow your progress with interest, I do hope you arrive at your station none the worse for wear. Quoting Pogo has raised you another notch.
ReplyDeleteGetting raised another notch is always welcome! Thank you!
DeleteJust looking at the figures laid out inspires a tale that will tell of great exploits.
DeleteI sure hope you are correct!
DeleteNice to see the armies on show and lovely looking they are too! Will be following with interest to see how the rules develop over the playtests.
ReplyDeleteDonnie, it is good getting these armies out and ready for battle.
DeleteLooks great, and I look forward to seeing the playtest :)
ReplyDeleteThank you! I look forward to the trial run too.
DeleteExcellent looking array of troops, I await , with interest , news of how you get on in your game.
ReplyDeleteAlan Tradgardland
Thanks, Alan. There will likely be a report from the front, post battle.
DeleteLooking forward to seeing how the rules work out
ReplyDeleteMe too!
DeleteLovely looking armies and I would echo Deans view of Lion Rampant being a decent shout, Camisado has lots of examples of decent sized battles using that rulesets, even if set in the great Italian Wars!
ReplyDeleteBest Iain
Thank you, Iain! I will give LR a look.
DeleteGreat to see the troops arrayed for battle Jon and look forward to hearing how the first playtest went. The newish WotR supplement from Warlord Games looks pretty good, thanks to a review I saw on Youtube. Some interesting pre-game stuff to give uncertainty to the forces, as well as a pretty comprehensive set of commanders, troops types and battle scenarios. I may succumb as some of the pre-game stuff could work well for other periods too.
ReplyDeleteYeah, getting the armies finally into a battle is a very good step in the right direction. If you buy the supplement, please report back on your impressions.
DeleteI've ordered the book, so will hopefully jot something down in due course. In the meantime, I found the following videos very useful:
DeleteThis ones an overview of the book and general impressions:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OKwghC1PU_g
Finally an AAR, but the set up part is the most interesting for me:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FS4o5ksN_Bw&t=5736s
Hope they might be of interest and use to you...
Thanks, Steve!
DeleteGood luck with the game and the rules! 😁
ReplyDeleteThank you, Stew! We survived!
DeleteVery nice small battle.
ReplyDeleteThanks! This represents a typical three ward battle.
DeleteI hope it all went well and you learnt lots?
ReplyDeleteRay, we made it through, and the battle came down to the wire.
DeleteSounds like the battle has already been waged and my late-to-the-party self needs to wait for the next post to find out how it went.
ReplyDeleteHoping that your rules gave you the Medieval flavour experience you were hoping for Jon.
Yes, Dai, the battle has already been fought. Details later...
Delete