Reviewing Stand

Wargames Rules 3000BC to 1485 (6th ed)

by J. Chaskes

Published by Wargames Research Group; 75 Ardingsly Drive; Goring-By-Sea, West Sussex; BN12 4TN, England, U.K.

For those who are not familiar with the origin of this set of rules, it must be mentioned that the 6th. Edition is a direct descendant of five previous Editions, the last of which was published in 1976. Players familiar with previous editions should look with care at the mechanisms of the 6th. Edition. There have been numerous changes some of which are minor; but several of which alter the entire character of the game.

The fact that this writer has in his hands for review one of the two rule sets known to have reached North America makes the inclusion of play test experience in this review rather difficult Therefore, I shall go over those points of difference and indicate my judgement of the resulting effects.

The first point that comes to eye is the extension of the time period covered by these rules to the year 1485. This now includes the late Crusades, the Hundred Years War and the Wars of the Roses. Obviously different weapons systems, tactics and organizations were thus, of necessity, added to the rules as well as was an added emphasis on the morale value of Army leaders and Army standards. As of this point I am a bit sceptical about the equity of New Kingdom Egyptians squaring off against a late Hundred Years War English Army but I am still open to persuasion.

The next major change in the rules is the system for choosing terrain. Under the new system each player may select up to six terrain pieces of his choice and then place them on the table. Each player then dices for each terrain piece and keeps or discards it depending on the die roll. This should remove the extreme terrain configurations generated by the previous method.

Although some additional factors have been added to the deployment process, such as the existence of an off table camp to the rear of each army, there is really little change here. The order writing system has been radically changed, however. The system first used at Origins 79 has been used with a number of further refinements. The net result of this, combined with the change in the character and the factors of the Reaction Test should make for a more unpredictable game. Players can no longer invoke all saving standing orders to rescue them from a sticky situation and the ability of a general to control his troops is now more limited.

The entire Reaction Test has been changed. New factors have been added and different result states have been created. These states are: impetuous, shaken and routing; each with its own set of limits and each with its own set of liabilities. Particularly, the addition of the new category, "shaken", adds a new dimension to the game Reactions permitted to a declared charge have been modified and "impetuous" troops will suffer for it. The entire act of evading has also been made much more dicey.

Movement rules and rules covering the use of shields have been changed but not drastically. The entire process of shooting has been revised to include variations for range, effects of fire and troops eligible to fire and be fired upon. The process of hand to hand combat remains the same but the effects of bowfire casualties and the addition of troops eligible to fight will make for a more variable set of results. Along these lines, the Casualty Chart has been revised and seems easier to use. Finally, the entire push back, rout and pursuit mechanism has been altered.

Other additions to the rules include an expanded siege and engineering section, suggested fantasy adaptions and rules for postal games.

All in all I must give a good deal of credit to W.R.G. for the extensive revision of these Ancient rules. At this point I can see a good reason for each of the changes that has been made and I feel that in the long run; once we get a chance to digest all that has been changed; the game will be a closer approximation of Ancient warfare than was found in the previous 5 Editions.

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