Tactica

(Medieval Rules)

by Paul Georgian

The TACTICA MEDIEVAL Rulebook is the newest release from Artie Conliffe, Ed Regandahl and company using their well proven TACTICA system. First, it's important to point out that TACTICA MEDIEVAL is a stand alone rules set. It is not necessary to own the original TACTICA to play TACTICA MEDIEVAL, although familiarity with the TACTICA system is helpful. Artie and crew deserve credit for this refreshing approach. Indeed, TACTICA MEDIEVAL includes separate Siege, Tournament and Campaign Supplements, in addition to the basic rules.

As with previous TACTICA booklets the layout is impressive, with stirring cover art and lots of color pictures inside. Unlike some, I don't find these a detriment to the product inside. I rather enjoy photographs of nicely painted figures and find they increase my interest in a rules set.

The Armies arc divided into units of heavy "Massed" Shock and Missile troops, such as European Knights, English Longbowmen, Mongol Heavy and light Cavalry, Swiss Halberdicrs, etc. and Skirmish Missile troops such as Light Archers and Slingers. Thirty-three Medieval Army lists are already created by set Orders of Battle with some minor variations and are further limited by defining Historical opponents in the rule book.

Movement and maneuver of Massed heavy units is more realistic than some other rules with these typcs~of troops being confined to wheeling or moving straight ahead. The only turns allowed to Massed units arc 180 degree turns with light cavalry. Skirmish missile troops must operate within a defined radius to each other and within that radius they may maneuver freely. Since they cannot melee with Massed heavier units this is not a problem with play balance.

Combat includes both missile and melee with all firing based on figure shooting with each 6 rolled on a die being a hit. Melee combat is likewise based on figures fighting with hits being based on the Fighting Value (FV) of the troops being attacked. Each unit rolls a number of dice based on how many figures are in its front rank modified as appropriate by various fitctors such as depth of unit (for Infantry only), or by flank or rear attacks (which are devasrating, perhaps a bit too much so, in these rules). Skirmishers may shoot at any troops or fight each other hand to hand with the higher die roll winning.

Victory is on a sudden death basis with the side that reaches its Brcakpoint first losing immediately even if it is in the middle of a turn. Breakpoint is determined by the number of units lost, either by being destroyed or routed due to morale failure. this is an interesting concept because giving different Breakpoints to two historically matched opponents can balance with would otherwise look like a mismatch.

So, how does the game play? At deployment the armies form coherent (and due to the strict sct-up conditions, fairly crowded) battlelines. As play progresses, however, the battlelines tend to break down, as the movement and combat tends to splinter the action into several widely spaced battle areas. This was one of the things I didn't like about the original TACTICA, but it doesn't concern me as much in TACTICA MEDIEVAL as, unlike the ancient world, the Middle Ages style of warfare was often wide open and disjointed. The 'motorcycle gang brawl" melee style seems well suited for this period. Combat is fast, furious and decisive. At first glance, one may assume that all the action will be straightforward hack and slash with the best dice winning, but there arc subtleties that can be used to increase ones chances, such as flank attacks, ganging up on units and judicious use of light cavalry movement options (especially for the Mongol and other horse archer armies). If you're looking for a precision style of melee combat, then TACTICA MEDIEVAL may not be your cup of tea. On the other hand, if you don't mind the simpler .roll dice and kill something" type of combat system TACTICA MEDIEVAL works fairly well.

So far, if you've played TACTICA before, all this sounds fairly similar to the original set, but there aires some subtle and not so subtle differences that, in my opinion, make TACTICA MEDIEVAL superior to its predecessor. It is clear that Artie and crew have listened to some of the criticisms leveled at TACTICA and made adjustments to this set. For one thing, the Armies in TACTICA MEDIEVAL are smaller than those in TACTICA meaning fewer figures are needed to get started.

Also, TACTICA MEDIEVAL is geared to 15mm figures as well as 25mm The Supplementary shcct contains a ruler scaled down to 15mm movement so that there is no need to make conversions in movement between the scales. This is an neat idea and greatly simplifies play.

Skirmish troops now operate within a defined zone based on the number of figures in the unit, so individual skirmisher figures are no longer necessary to obtain the full effects of the skirmisher system.

Also morale is much chancier for being interpenetrated by a friendly routing unit than it is in the original TACTICA (twice the chance of being disordered). This means that troops cannot just sit behind units about to rout, confident that they'll be free to slam into weakened pursuers.

Despite the fact that most army choices are totally restricted as in TAG TICA, TACTICA MEDIEVAL contains an interesting Italian City States Warfare option where each player picks a basic City States army and then "fleshes" it out with certain optional units including the famous mercenary White Company. This looks like the best bet for a campaign vehicle using TACTICA MEDIEVAL. There are also four Scenario Battles included: Arsouf, Bannockburn, Agincourt and Castagnarc, which are a departure from the routine.

Another aspect of these rules is the "Battle" Commander restriction for Western European armies which forces them to deploy and move in separate "Battles". Also, there is no deployment turn as in TACTICA. Units are set up deployed and may not change their formation during the game except for certain Light Cavalry which may break down into Skirmishers. In addition, most cavalry and infantry must continue to move at least a minimum distance once they have started to advance.

Special mention must be made of some of the rules "chrome" regarding certain armies such as the Mongols, Swiss, and English Longbowmen. For example the Swiss are the only troops who get to fight when attacked in the flank. The Mongols shoot 1 die per 1 figure instead of 1 per 2 like other bow armed. English Longbowmen can shoot massed, four ranks deep. These advantages make these troops particularly formidable, but they can be countered by proper tactics.

I believe TACTICA MEDIEVAL to be a definite improvement on the original TACTICA. I've played half a dozen games of so far, using various matchups and enjoyed them all. TACTICA MEDIEVAL provides a quick and reasonably fun game that can be played to a definite conclusion in two or three hours. Further, good tactics work most of the time and that is a definite plus. Whether TACTICA MEDIEVAL is a realistic simulation of Medieval warfare is another matter and largely depends on your perspective. There are facets of these rules that I feel, provide fairly accurate representations of Medieval combat and others which do not. Also, the game system itself may seem a bit too simplistic to hardcore WRG 7th Edition or Ancient Empires gamers, or conversely, too complex for the DBA crowd. Also, the "buckets of dice" combat system may annoy some. Again, this is a matter of taste, as to what style of Ancient/Medieval simulation you prefer.

If I have any problems with TACTICA MEDIEVAL it is in regards to the "no-choice" nature of most of the Orders of Battle and the limited Historical matchups. This is identical to the system used in the original TACTICA and it can lead to a sameness of play after you've sampled all the matchups. This may be what mitigates against a more widespread acceptance of the TACTICA rules sm. Further, some armies which fought historically, such as Mongols vs. Saracens or Byzantines vs. Crusaders are not allowed to be opponents. I discussed this point at length with Artie and he emphasized that his main concern was insuring a balanced game, hence the stylized matchups and limited army choices. This is understandable, but if you are not too worried about this you can fight non- historical opponents and see how it goes. My first TACTICA MEDIEVAL battle involved Theodoran Byzantines vs Mongols, a non-approved matchup and it was tightly contested battle going to the last combat.

In spite of the fact that the rules contain a section on Tournament play, the restrictions-to historical matchups only, make TACTICA MEDIEVAL hard to translate into a tournament environment. On the other hand, due to its clean and relatively uncomplicated combat and movement system, it is ideal for demonstration games for experienced and novice gamers alike.

In conclusion, I am favorably impressed by TACTICA MEDIEVAL The price tag is in the $20 - $22 dollar range, but for this you pretty much get your moneys worth. Besides giving you a fast-moving, relatively balanced and complete set of rules with mid-level complexity, you also get the Campaign, Tournament and Siege Supplements. I can't comment on these as I haven't tried them yet, but they come as part of the book, so consider them a bonus.

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