Spear and Shield

(Ancient-Medieval Rules)

by Tom McMillen

Ancient, Medieval, and Fantasy Wargame Rules: Another set of rules from Australia, (by Phil Barlow and Dallas Gavin) this time from the other side of the country (Perth), and another set of rules worth serious consideration. Once again movement uses cards for alternate movement, (what is it with all these cards?), REVENGE also suggests cards for its naval supplement, making it three for three), however, in this case they seem somewhat less inappropriate as this is a lighter, more freewheeling game. Unlike PUSH OF PIKE where when your card comes up you get to move everybody, here we have the more artificial system where each card represents one unit. The best of SPEAR AND SHIELD is the Melee system. Each troop type has a Combat Value, which is multiplied by the number of figures fighting. Both sides' totals are compared and a D6 is rolled on the appropriate chart to determine casualties. Thus when Heavy Lancers charge in on a German warband, it's 3X8=24 vs. 6x5=30, if we roll a 3 and look on the 'I to 10' chart we see that the cavalry lose 2 figures, the Germans 1. This seems to accomplish, using the simplest combat result system since Avalon Hill devised 1 D-Elim , very much the same thing that WRG, Newbury, and Tactica do with a great deal more falderal. Missle combat is even simpler, yet still gets the job done nicely while Morale is a 2D6 check with modifiers for Troop level and percent losses only. In short, sort of a 'house rules' feel, but house rules that received a lot of time and effort, and turned out well. Also available from the Armoury, for approximately $15.

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