Minor Edits to the PDF

Playtesting has produced minor edits to the PDF. Backing up or wheeling backward now incurs the same penalty as shifting sideways. Sharpshooters cost 2 points for rifled muskets and 4 for modern rifles. Modern rifles now shoot at +1 versus companies not formed in skirmish order and not earning a cover save. Machine guns shoot twice.

This is the result of a nasty encounter with some Zulus and some vastly overpriced Boers.

PDF File Available!

I'm not saying it's Games  Workshop, but I'm pretty happy with the production values.

It's a balanced game up to and including Longbows and Handguns. We haven't done much playtesting with muskets and up, and we haven't done much with artillery.

A 30 point game will take you 1/2 hour to 45 minutes.

Hope you folks like it!

More Changes

Made light less attractive by reducing its strength to 3. Bumped heavy strength to 7. Created a new category, unarmored medium. Unarmored medium loses all ties to heavy and medium, but costs 3 instead of 4. This represents large units of drilled muskets which didn't move especially quickly.

This was all after a battle where a swarm of light crossbows cut some heavies to ribbons. If that was historically accurate crossbows would have been the king of the battlefield, so...

The Battle of Affane, Ireland, February 1, 1565

It has been called Britain's last private battle.

Gerald Fitzgerald, Earl of Desmond, became embroiled in a territorial dispute with "Black Tom" Butler, Earl of Ormonde. The Fitzgeralds and the Butlers had been enemies since their Norman ancestors conquered Ireland four hundred years before, but the fires of the feud had been dampened by Gerald's marriage to Countess Joan, Tom's mother (Gerald and Thomas were contemporaries; Joan was more than 20 years Gerald's senior).

Joan died on New Year's Day, and soon after the feud smoldered once more.

Gerald was essentially Irish. It was his preferred tongue. He entertained and lived like the Dark Age warlord he was. He employed large numbers of galloglass infantry, hereditary mercenaries originally from Scotland who fought with iron helm and hauberk and the two-handed axe. He was also followed by swarms of fleet-footed kerns, light fighters, many of them petty nobility, who fought with sword and javelin. His light horse carried spears held overhead and road without saddle or stirrup. Caesar might have faced such an army had he cared to.

Black Tom also employed kerns and galloglasses, of necessity, but he trained bands of pikemen and arquebusiers as well. Educated in England, he considered himself to be English. His cousin, Queen Elizabeth I, had been a childhood playmate. His cavalry wore armor and used stirrups.

These armies were private, having no sanction from the Queen to exist, and they were just waiting for an excuse.

Gerald essentially blundered into an ambush. He was coming down the road from Clonmel near sunset when Tom quickly struck him from a position in a wooded hill. Gerald's cavalry, nobles who didn't agree with his cause, fled immediately. The infantry fought breifly but were quickly broken. More than 300 of Desmond's men were killed, many of them drowned while attempting to retreat across the Blackwater.

When Gerald realised he was doomed he made directly for Tom, hoping for vengence at least, but he didn't make it. He was shot off his horse, taking a pistol ball to the thigh. He would limp the rest of his life.

Tom's men captured Gerald and bore him to "The Earl's Stone." A Butler laughed at him as he passed by, born atop the shoulders of some of Tom's men.

"Where now is the great Earl of Desmond?" asked the man.

"Where he belongs: on the backs of the Butlers!" was Gerald's reply. It was a brave thing to say.

Both men were recalled to England. Gerald, far too Irish for the Queen's liking, was imprisoned. Tom was admonished.

"There shall be only one sword drawn in this realm," she said, "and it shall touch only the guilty."

Gerald's force must deploy along the road to Clonmel, one in front of the other in column, front to rear with the rearmost company touching the board edge. Tom must deploy with every company touching the wooded hill. Treat the river as impassable, and the ford as rough ground.

Any company which retreats into the river (except the ford) is immediately destroyed.

The Battle of Affane: The Earl of Desmond versus The Earl of Ormonde

Gerald Fitzgerald's Irish Army (Desmond)

3 heavy Infantry: 18 points (Galloglasses)
1 Light Infantry: 2 Points (Kern)
2 Light Infantry, Javelins: 6 points (Kern)
1 Light Horse: 4 Points (Irish Horse)

30 Total Points

"Black Tom" Butler's Anglo-Irish Army (Ormonde)

1 Medium Cavalry: 6 points (Hobillars)
1Light Arquebus: 5 points
1 Medium Pikes: 5 points
1 Cannon: 6 points
1 Heavy Infantry: 6 points (Galloglasses)
1 Light Infantry: 2 points (kern)

30 Total Points

20 Point Saxon and Norman Armies: Harold and William at Hastings

King Harold's Saxons
2 Companies Heavy Infantry: 12
2 Companies Medium Infantry: 8

20 points

King William's Normans
1 Company Heavy Cavalry: 8
1 Company Light Bows: 4
2 Companies Medium Infantry: 8

20 points

HAT 28mm Spaniards

HAT Industrie is jumping into the 28mm plastic boom with some up-scaled versions of its 20mm soft plastic figures. Bravo, I say! I'd like nothing more than to amass hordes of cheap plastic figures, especially if paint actually sticks to them. I've experienced the heartbreak of watching my 1/72 Polybian Romans revert back to their natural state. It's depressing. Hopefully Hat has done the right thing here.

I've ordered a box of heavies and a box of lights from Scale Hobbyist. They ended up costing about $27 including shipping, which is the absolute cheapest retail price you will ever pay for sixty-four 28mm figures.

They're generic enough to use as 11th century fighters from anywhere, and the lights include slingers, bows, and crossbows, so there's some variety. I plan to match them up against each other, and perhaps to face them off against a horde of orcs from Wargames Factory, if Wargames Factory continues to exist. Orcs to me seem to belong to the early medieval period (the dark ages, we used to say), so that might match up nicely.
I'll post my impressions when they arrive.

Pictures courtesy of HAT's website.

We Have a Winner

I think that this is the set of rules I've always wanted to write.

Extensive playtesting has been done on light, medium and heavy fighters including javelins and slings. This produces a solid, quick, and satisfying game at 10 points and a fairly manageable big-battle game at 20.

We have more work to do on mounted and additional weapons, and I'm not even ready to touch artillery yet, but things are looking pretty good.

Scratch That: Major Revisions on the Way

It just takes too long.

What stays: design your own figures from the ground up... Buckets of dice

What goes: semi-skirmish... figures will sit atop standard bases which are easily constructed out of cardboard.

My goal was to make an economical, easy to play, "Beer and Pizza" game. I've met one of those requirements.

Coming Soon: Fantasy Variant

I'm working on a fantasy variant of these rules, to include monsters, racial charactersitics, magic and war machines.

Here's a sample:

Goblins may only be light fighters. Goblins add one more movement dice but sixes count as fives in combat.

The Rules Have Gone Official

I won't be tinkering with them for a few months. Let's call this GPWG 1.0.

Tactful feedback is always appreciated!

GPWG Endorses Testers Model Master Glue

I bought a box of Celts from Wargames Factory... great, cheap minis, if you care to give them a look. Anyway, I'd only ever put together one plastic mini (the Perry Brothers Miniatures rifleman in the picture above the rules), and I'd read somewhere that a hot glue gun works. It does, but it doesn't work well.

This stuff, on the other hand, is fantastic. It's recommended in the WF forum and also by the guy at the hobby shop. If you haven't given plastics a try, maybe you should. If you do, consider purchasing yourself some of this.

Testudo

How about a testudo rule?

If your medium and heavy fighters do not have additional weapons they add +1 to armor saves when in block formation as long as they are drilled.

Block

Block would be at least three ranks. The front rank must have at least 3 miniatures, and the rear ranks must have an equal number of miniatures to the rank in front of it, or an equal number minus 1. Each forward rank may have no more than one outlying miniature.

If a block does not meet this criteria, it is no longer a block. This would allow enemies to break up a block formation during combat. Also, when in block formation 5's count as 6's. If elite troops are in block, 4's count as 5's and 5's count as 6's.

The benefit to a block formation is that it is impossible to flank. Suppose two Celtic mediums attack a single elite Roman heavy. That's 4 dice to 3. Now suppose they attack a Roman block. 2 to 3, because they must attack 1-1.

How do you break up a block? Send your best fighter to break up the front rank so that it has fewer miniatures than the rank behind it. No more block benefit, so 5's are once again 5's for any troops still in combat.

Examples

X X X X
X X X
X


X X X
X X X
X X X


X X X X
X X X
X X
X

These are NOT blocks:

X X X
X X X X
X

X X X X
  X X X
  X X X

Column

So here's column:

RearX X X X X X X X X Front

OR...

RearX X X X X X X X X Front
RearX X X X X X X X X Front

OR...

RearXXXXXXXXXXXXFront
                     XXXXXXXFront

Column moves like a snake, with one figure following another.

Simplification

I have tried to make this a simple, straightforward game which still gives a bit of historical flavor, but I may have included too much detail.

I like the idea of an "elite" rule, and I think that my "disciplined" rule is too complicated.

What I really want to do is somehow give a benefit to well-drilled troops. Perhaps I'll have a "drilled" rule which allows a bonus in combat and maybe gaurantees a minimum movement as long as the troops are in formation.

Formation ideas:

Line of Battle
Column
Block (pike blocks, Romans)

When in block formation, drilled troops may only be attacked 1-1.

When in Column, infantry move 1 1/2 inches for every normal inch of movement.
When in line of battle, drilled shooters may re-roll any single result of "1" as long as the target was to the shooter's front. When in line of battle shooters in the rear rank may shoot through shooters in the front rank.

Also, I'm thinking of dropping the requirement to shoot at the closest enemy as long as no enemy is closer than 6 inches. Otherwise you must shoot at the closest enemy.

For morale, how about an actual retreat with the possibility of a rally?

I'm going to expand command distance to 12 inches.

Also, if there are shooters in the same company as fighters, shooters must shoot before any fighter moves into hand-to-hand combat. No shooting after hand-to-hand begins.

Painted Up Some Celts

From the Wargames Factory...

They look pretty good thanks to GW's Devlan Mud and Ogrin Flesh wash, but I had mixed results using a hot glue gun to stick pieces together. I'd met someone who swears by it, but...

I'm going to try Testors Model Glue. It's supposed to work well, says the WF forum.

We shall see...

Did Some Playtesting

A few friends and I playtested the rules using the following pieces:
Light fighters (Aztecs)
Light fighters, slings and javelins (Aztecs)
Light fighters (wardogs... Spaniards)
Medium fighters (Aztecs, suit wearers)
Elite Medim fighters (Aztecs, Otomi)
Medium fighters, crossbow (Spaniards)
Medium fighters, arquebus (Spaniards)
Elite Heavy fighters (Spanish swordsmen)
Heavy horse (Spaniards)
Cannon (Spaniards)

Elite is a new characteristic I'm playing with. Elite fighters have the same combat dice, but 5's count as 6's.

My point system seems to be pretty off. A reasonably even game was to be had at the following point totals:

Light fighters 1 point
Light slingers and javelineers: 2 points
Medium fighters 2 points
Elite Medium fighters 3 points
Elite Heavy fighters 4 points
Heavy horse 8 points
Cannon 7 points

Elite would cost 1 point, then

Crossbow range was Short, 1-4 and Long, 4-18

Arquebus range was short, 1-4 and long, 4-12 (no save allowed)