The often-promised and long-awaited 7th Edition of WRG Ancients Rules are now out. Even though I've had my copy for only a week, Dick Bryant asked me to write an article with my initial thoughts. Because it is easy to miss a rule that completely changes something (and WRG Ancients Rules are not known for putting everything that pertains to a subject in the same location), I hope that you will understand if I misstate something. The rules are different; very different from 6th. To give an idea of what Phil Barker is emphasizing, a quote from Phil's introduction: "The mechanisms have also been refined and simplified and play is markedly faster. Reaction testing is reduced and made easier, order writing greatly speeded, and time wasting interaction disputes and the necessity for umpiring almost eliminated." That quote was from the 6th Edition introduction! My point is that what Phil thinks he has achieved is not always the case with the final product. Background For some background, 7th Edition started out several years ago as his "Big Battle Rules" for 15mm. For several reasons, the decision was made to call them 7th Edition a little over 2 years ago. This caused Phil to go back and include 25mm, as well as make some provision for tournament play. A third scale, 5mm, is also part of 5th Edition and indeed seems to be the direction Phil thinks our hobby is going. The rules have continued to undergo changes, some even delaying publication. In August of 1985 it was determined that missile fire was too powerful, which delayed the Sept. '85 publication date by almost 6 months. As I said, 25mm was added in later, and in a number of ways 25mm figures have been made second class status in the rules. One, they are forced to measure in millimeters while 15mm and 5mm can measure in inches. For another, the table size for all scales is 6' by 4'. Large enough for 5 and 15mm, but very cramped for 25mm, especially with the 7th Edition speedy movement system. Phil thinks 25mm is impractical for larger Ancients battles and is "especially suitable for medievalists" (where there were often only a few thousand men per side). I have a number of large 25mm armies, as do many gainers I know and these have been left out of 7th Edition's table size. Phil's thoughts on the subject are "I would not make a rules set that would make my own 25mm armies obsolete." However, refer to paragraph four of this article. Even with all the revisions and additions, 7th Edition has a decidedly historical flavor and 'Big Battle' feel that will appeal to many gainers. The new figure ratio is 1:50, but Phil says the current troop lists will work because they are based on proportions (with an eye toward 1:50). Elements The smallest playing piece is now the element (even though for wedges, etc., these are formed of part elements), which many other rules call stands. The number of figures on an element (stand) depends upon order. An element contains 4 close, 3 loose, 2 open or 1 model. The element frontage for 25mm is 60mm and 40mm for 18/15mm. Which means the 6th Edition 18mm optional basing has now become standard. But before you 25mm and already-based 18mm fellows snicker too much at those less fortunate, both of you will have some rebasing to do for the 7th Edition. As already mentioned, the frontage for models has been increased, so elephants, chariots, and artillery will have to be rebased. Also, the optional close basing for Regular loose formation troops is now required, so these must be rebased as well. Unit sizes have also changed. The maximum number of figures a unit may contain depends upon order; 48 for close, 36 for loose, and 24 for open. Also since a unit is composed of elements, all close order units must be in multiples of 4 (12, 16, 20, etc.), loose in 3's and open in 2's. So those of you with 8 figure loose cavalry units may have two figures left over. You can use those two figures as part elements, but will be penalized by the rules. New Class There is a new armor class, Heavy Knight. This class is for those western knight heavy cavalry that dismount as Extra Heavy Inf. This new class might turn into the super troop type of the 7th Edition (at least within the medieval period games) as the factors are almost the same for Extra Heavy Knights, and the HK is 3 points cheaper. Both dismount as Extra Heavy Infantry. This is another advantage for the HK. He can move mounted to close with an enemy, then dismount as EHI thereby avoiding the infantry movement fatigue penalties. Morale class "Irregular E" makes a return engagement from earlier editions. Such troops are described as forced levies combining low competence and fragile morale. Irr D troops are now described as troops usually reluctant to close, or deficient in hand-to-hand skills. My initial impression is that Irr D missile troops are very cost effective, while Irr E troops are useless. Units are combined into 1 to 6 commands (battles), each controlled by a general. The C-in-C gives an order for each of his sub and allied generals which are: rush (move quick with at least half the battle's units, and declare charge as soon as in reach), Attack, Probe, Wait, Hold, Delay, or Retreat. The sub and allied generals dice for their character and can be rash, bold, cautious, or unreliable. They can move the C-in-C's order up or down one, again depending upon dice. Generals are very important because they use their prompting time (points) to make units move, charge, etc. The troop cost point system is unchanged from 6th. Heavy Knights are on the same line as EHC, and lrr. E troops cost 1/2 their Irr. D counterparts. All other points are identical. Morale has various states; eager, willing, uneasy, shaken, or demoralized, depending upon a unit's surroundings. There are no die rolls for morale, except for a wavering test, which is a single D6 with no plus or minus factors. A 2 or better passes for A or B class, 3 for C class, etc. If a unit fails it becomes shaken. Missile fire can freeze a unit in place, and with two-casualties-per-figure, can cause a wavering test which can leave the unit shaken. To compensate, it appears that it will be fairly difficult to concentrate missile fire on a single unit. Shooting is much the same as 6th except for a much restricted arc-of-fire, and ranges have been modified somewhat. Overall, missile fire is very powerful in 7th Edition; much more devastating than in any ancients rules I have ever seen. Movement has been increased by 40 paces for everything but SHI-MI (whose new movement is 80 paces). A period's movement is broken up into 5 bounds, with LC moving in the first bound and artillery moving in the last. Hand-to-hand weapons factors are very nearly the same as 6th, but the tactical factors have changed. Being shieldless is much more deadly. Everyone can now count shieldless if they have no shield except SHI. The factor is +1 for SHK-EHI (except SHI), +2 for HI and LI, and +3 for shieldless Ml. These factors count for both shooting and hand-to-hand. But pikes no longer count shieldless (assuming they have one, and even if they don't they won't count shieldless in the first round of combat). Other tactical factors that have changed are -2 for facing pike or LTS (unless HTW). The HTW boys also don't take the -1 for facing 2HCT. Foot retain the JLS plus for subsequent rounds of melee (if originally armed with no other weapons but SA or D). The number of ranks allowed to fight remains the same as 6th. The random factor for hand-to-hand has changed somewhat. The die used are the same as 6th, but now lrr. A increase a net plus roll by 2, but only if a net plus. So they can roll from -4 to +6. Talk about your basic random factor! That's an 11 factor variable. Irr. B and Reg. A and B add +1 to a net minus roll, D class subtract 1 from a net plus, and Irr. E count both a net plus and a net minus as a net minus. So Reg. B that roll -1 takes it to even, and an lrr. F that rolls up four counts it as -4. The random factor for shooting differs in using the difference between two average dice, so now random factor for A-D class can be between +3 and -3. I rr. E again count plus as minus. lrr. E's can only shoot or fight from the front rank. The casualty table is somewhat more deadly than 6th Edition, with the +2 line being equal to the 6th Edition +4 line. Two pages entitled Stratagems, Tactics, Queries, Arguments, and Umpires are near the back of the book. But with some of the statements he makes he shows me that while Phil may be the premier rules writer for Ancients, he does not have a good grasp of how to run a successful tournament, at least in the U.S. Next are two pages of examples followed by a page of suggested unit sizes. As examples, he recommends 24 figures for a Late Roman Legio, and 16 figures for a Hellenistic pike phalanx. Thoughts? So, what are my initial thoughts of 7th Edition? On the negative side, battles of 1500 points will not work well because of the command system, the rules are not well written (especially for a wargamer new to the hobby), terms are never explained (though Phil makes an attempt to crossreference), and the rules won't work well for tournaments without modification. But we have had to modify the WRG earlier editions for tournament play, so this is nothing new. On the plus side, I am pleased with the command and control section (which reminds me of Empire III), the game simulates much closer what I think a historical battle would have been, and I am pleased with the movement system. What will 6th Edition gamers think about 7th Edition? I believe Phil did himself a disservice calling these rules "7th Edition" because people will think of them as a refined 6th Edition and they are not. In many ways 7th Edition runs counter to the main points of 6th. Many gamers have already told me they do not like the fact that there is no casualty removal in 7th (being instead handled in an abstract way by the fatigue rules). Most 6th Edition players are used to an enemy unit getting smaller as it takes massive casualties, but that won't occur in 7th. Another thing 6th Edition gamers will find hard to accept is the morale rules, or the lack of them. In 6th, morale was the key, with gamers spending about 25% of the game performing morale checks. There are none in 7th, except for the "wavering" check. Indeed this is one reason why 7th plays so much faster. It remains to be seen what the thoughts of 6th players will be after they have gotten used to the concepts of 7th. These are interesting times for Ancients players. A number of rules sets in addition to 7th Edition WRG have been released in the last few months, and the North American Society of Ancient and Medieval Wargamers* is playtesting 7th and four other sets for suitability in tournament play. We have over 100 playtesters and will play them for about 4 months before making a decision upon which is the most suitable for our tournaments. I'll let Phil close this preview with his overview from his 7th Edition introduction. "We at last have a realistic time scale and can simulate battles of 80,000x, instead of skirmishes of 5,000 or less. Orders are given to generals instead of to units, and the confusion or wavering of a disordered or shaken body can now be seen. New deployment, terrain and weather rules based on an analysis of 374 historical battles increase both realism and variety. The reaction tests which take up nearly half previous games are replaced by almost automatic continuous monitoring of troop state, and by waver tests more arbitrary, but often avoidable. This, and the end of the need to provide single figures for casualty removal, greatly speeds play and nearly halves total wordage." [ED NOTE: As a gamer who agonized through the various changes that have occurred starting with 3rd Edition and finally gave up Ancients after trying 6th just once, the negative points listed above seem positive to me. [Except for rebasing, the faster play, the fewer morale checks, a reasonable command and control system may bring me back to the period. All those interested in the period who gave up on earlier editions or may still be playing 3rd should probably give these a try... I am certainly going to!] *KRUSE SMITH besides being our Ancients Editor is President of the NASAMW. Back to Table of Contents -- Courier Vol. VI No. 6 Back to Courier List of Issues Back to Master Magazine List © Copyright 1986 by The Courier Publishing Company. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com