Day of Battle

Medieval Miniature Rules

Review by Russ Lockwood

Day of Battle, a miniatures rules set by Christopher Parker, recreates medieval battles on the tabletop. While not exactly a direct outgrowth of his previous rules, Knighthood in the Middle Ages, you can see some of the ideas and concepts reworked--and indeed, streamlined, for faster play.

Since leadership is paramount for the time period, DoB concentrates on the role of the nobility in leading armies and "battles" (detachments in modern parlance). One of the cleverest ideas is that of status, or as DoB puts it, "social rank." The pecking order of nobility ensures that dukes command more units than earls, which command more than minor nobility, which comand more than knights.

In many ways, the leadership rules embrace role playing concepts. You dice up a leader, er, actually, you use regular playing cards, filling out four main areas: Social Rank, Esteem, Motivation, and Skills. This sets the tone for your character, although in game mechanics, you will concentrate on the four skill attributes: Initiative, Morale, Combat, and Personal Combat Survival. this can take a while on the first run through, but gets easier with practice. There's a rndom leader table in case you want an already created leader.

It is possible, therefore, to roll up, er, card up, an inept--but high status--duke or king, along with more competent knights and other underling nobility. But there's a wonderful catch to all this--a noble must command a minimum number of troops, and the higher the status, the more troops. And unless he commands that certain minimum number of troops, he will lose esteem at the end of the battle.

And to bring the role playing genre back into this, esteem points are like the old experience points--you need to earn them to climb the social ladder.

Honor Points

Now, if that weren't enough, Parker comes up with honor points, which help your leader gain skill levels (as opposed to status levels). You will, like the old hack and slash role playing games, keep track of what a particular noble does in battle. In small games, such as the one we played, the bookkeeping is minimal. In larger games, it might become a chore. And the points differ depending on the Motivation characteristic.

But it gets better. When the battle is over and done, and assuming the leader survives, you multiply the honor points by the esteem level. That's right. Upper crust nobility get better public relations than the lower nobility.

Of course, much of the bookkeeping only applies for campaign style games where there is a reason to advance in status and skill levels. However, it is indicative of the thought that went into the rules set.

Mechanics

As for the actual move, shoot, melee mechanics, they are very straightforward and took all of 5 minutes to learn. Each stand, in DoB called a "company," moves a certain distance, and in melee, gets to roll a d20. Roll equal to or less than the assigned combat value and the enemy unit is hit. Put enough hits on the enemy and companies start to disappear, morale checks are forced, disorganization occurs, and so on.

However, remembering that the focus is on leadership, each leader gets a certain number of comand points--the higher the status of the leader, the more command points available. Yes, it's great to be king.

For example, in the game I played, the Earl received 3 command points. The knight had 1. The Earl can move and shoot more units than the knight. These CPs are modified by die roll--if you roll poorly, you can find youself (as my hapless knight did on occasion) without any CPs. In the basic game, each unit takes 1 CP to do something--akin to DBA's pip idea.

In the advanced game (recommended), you draw a number of cards equal to your CPs, which can grant extra CPs if you draw high enough. Nothing like drawing an Ace (3 CPs), which would allow a unit to Move (1 CP), Fire (1 CP), and Rally (1 CP). Battlelines (units touching or in very close proximity) can use 1 CP to move them all, or rally them all. Just like DBA, if you got the pips, you can do wonders, but if you don't...

One of the optional movement rules we used was the idea of proximity. The farther away from the enemy, the faster you move. There are three zones (Close, Near, Distant). As you cross each threshhold as you go towards the enemy, you half the amount of movement remaining. As you go away, you double the amount. This is a clever rule that knocked about in KotMA. Or maybe I should say, this is another clever rule.

Morale Misgivings

If there is one hard-to-grasp concept, it's morale. There is no die rolling or card pulling. First, you figure out from a chart if you need to check morale. Then, you tally up modifiers (+ and -), compare them on a chart, and apply the result. Sounds simple, right? Well, not exactly. New players, myself included, seem to have a number of difficulties applying these rules. If there was one thing that slowed the game down, it was the morale checks...because no one was quite sure he was doing them correctly. You have to admire Parker's patience in explaining for the third time in a single turn how to do a morale check, and then doing it again the next turn, and the turn after that...

There is an alternative advanced rule about Harassing Morale. This looks promising. Basically, you as player decide when to cause your opponent to check morale--and you only get as many calls per game as twice your status level. So, you better figure out when to call them, for if you waste them, you don't get them back.

The 32-page manual includes army lists for English, French, German, Scots, and Welsh, some leaders, a collection of ideas on running a micro-campaign, and some other optional rules. There is also a pull-out cardstock sheet with the major tables on it.

Ending Notes

If I have to use one word for Day of Battle, it would be "clever." The leadership/command concepts are particularly appropriate to the time period, and the mechanics, save for the morale checks, play quickly. From a complexity viewpoint, it is more involved than DBA, less so than WRG 7th, a little easier than Knighthood of the Middle Ages, and about the same as Medieval Tactica (although much superior to the army game in MT). Those with basing for DBA/WRG can use DoB without a problem. The glossy presentation is relatively straightforward, with numerous examples in the margins, and can be followed along quite easily. All in all, games are tightly contested contests that keys in on leadership--and that, more than anything, recommends the rules.

Available direct from All About Games Publishing, PO Box 1201, Plaistow, NH 03865 (508) 363-2320. E-mail: cparker868@aol.com. $10

Post-Review Addendum

Well, the first thing I must call attention to is the article in Knights Round Table #2 Morale in Day of Battle. This clears up some confusion on my part about morale, especially about the "how to check" part. Looking back over the morale rules in the DOB rulebook, I find it difficult to recall why I had a mental block on the morale resolution. I do distinctly remember rolling dice for morale, which is a no-no in DOB--morale is based on situation, troop quality, and positions, not random rolls.

This also points up the benefits (read: deviousness) of calling in a Harassing Morale check at just the right moment. And since it is not based on luck, the "cleverness" I spoke about shines through even brighter

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