Medieval Warfare Medieval Miniature Rules Review by Russ Lockwood

There's nothing better than a man on a mission, and designer Terry Gore is on a mission to revitalize medieval gaming, and with the publication of his upcoming Ancient Warfare, revitalize ancients gaming too. Gore is not a fan of the DBM style rules that use generic troop types, as well as a "pip" system of random command abilities--hardly the stuff of commanders. He leans towards WRG 7th edition, although its fall from popularity works against its re-emergence. Instead, and with a nod to his research into medieval command (Gore is the author of Neglected Heroes: Leadership and War in the Early Medieval Period), he sets out to capture the essence of Medieval warfare for us tabletop commanders. Or as Terry puts it: MW is "a hands-on system, where each figure is important, as is his armor, weaponry, morale and psychological motivation. Leadership is essential to victory." The scale is 1 figure equals 20 men, with 1 inch equals 25 yards (15mm figures). One turn equals 5-10 minutes. An army divides into a number of Battles (Divisions), each Battle commanded by a general. Units contain a number of stands. MW contains an amazing amount of research into Army lists--93 are in the back of the rules, from Late Patrician Roman (mid 5th Century) to Burgundian Ordonnance (late 15th cetury), and 91 others in between. These are presented in WRG 7th style, with unit name, type, weapons, and purchase points. Four scenarios are also in the rules, and we used a variation of the Battle of Hastings scenario for our playtest. The sequence of play consists of Recovery (Rally phase), placing tactical orders, conducting movement, missile fire, and melee. For command, a commander receives between 3 and 5 orders, depending on his competence. These can be assigned in the second phase of each turn--you receive a choice of 6 orders (charge, move, hold, defend, retire, and recover). Unlike the random pip system, the number remains a constant each turn, rather than a random number from 1 to 6. We recommend using dummy counters when placing the tactical orders--for most battles will have more units than tactical commands. MW contains two kinds of movement: strategic and tactical. Strategic occurs when units are beyond 12" of the enemy--they receive additional movement of between 25% to 100% more, depending on the unit. However, they cannot come closer than 12". Again, this is similar to march movement in WRG 7th--although a lot more restricted (WRG 7th allows more liberal multipliers, so to speak). Tactical is just that. When you want to close, you must use the slower tactical movement. For example, armoured and close order infantry move 4 inches, loose order move 6 inches, and so on. Terrain can slow your move. When charging and routing, each unit receives a random move amount. For example, close order armoured infantry go 1 inch plus an "averaging" die roll (2-5) for a total of 3-6 inches. Defenders have the option to countercharge. There are several times during a turn, for example, such as charging and countercharging, when morale tests are necessary. This is a d10 roll, with various modifiers. Cleverly, if you fail by a little, not much happens. Fail by a lot and suffer extreme consequences. Missile fire is by stand, with a d10 random roll. We found missile fire to be bloodier versus cavalry than infantry. Melee uses an "averaging die" (2-5) to which modifiers are added and then multiplied by the number of stands. The resulting number is divided by 10 to get the number of casualties. When a unit receives a number of casualties equal to the number of figures on a stand, the stand is removed. As you can imagine, combat is fast, furious, and bloody! The various stages of disorganization that can occur from morale checks and movement through dense terrain, makes combat a little more precarious. You must take time to settle your troops down and reform them before launching charges. When you lose 1/3 of your troops, it's morale check time for everyone. And then everytime you lose a unit, more morale checks. The game ends when a general either conceded defeat or all his troops run away or are destroyed. And that's MW. While not quite as simple as DBA or DBM, it is also not quite as difficult as WRG 7th--although it comes closer to WRG than DBA. It certainly places emphasis on weapons and armor than on generic troop types, as the designer intended. There are certainly factors of +1 here and -1 there depending on the tactical situation, and special formations (Shieldwall, schiltrons, wedge, etc) are included. If I was going to rate the COMPLEXITY of a variety of rules sets on a scale of 1-10 (1 equal simple and 10 equal difficult), I'd make it: DBA (1), DBM (3), Medieval Tactica (5), Day of Battle (6), Knight Hack (6), Medieval Warfare (7), WRG 7th (10). Did Gore carry out his mission? Certainly did. In fact, the rules have been picked up by Guernsey Foundry for a makeover (more color photos) and wider distribution. Medieval Warfare costs $20 and is available from Terry Gore, 890 James Rd., Rochester, NY 14612, USA. E-mail: 061815@msn.com Of course, no rules set survives contact with the consumer. We had a number of questions occur while playing the rules. Designer Gore had the answers... 1) About the turn sequence on page 7:, 4a) does Excellent equal Exceptional? Yes. 2) Do I read Maneuver rule Pg. 10; (6. D. 2. a) correctly? That EACH turn of moving through light terrain with close order infantry they receive a Disorder Marker, so on the third turn they've picked up three Disorders and rout? Yes. You must halt and Recover their order at some point, they can't just keep moving and becoming more and more fragmented. 3) Since Leaders can spend multiple orders to issue an order to a unit outside the 12" command radius, can leaders therefore give multiple orders to a single unit within command radius? (i.e. issue multiple Recover orders to a disordered unit--see pg. 15 7C2b? Issue multiple move orders?) No multiple Recover orders. The only multiple orders allowed to a unit are to halt a Frenzied Mounted unit from continuous charging (see pg. 8, 5A2.) 4) With missile fire, can a 1/2 stand fire? (i.e., it says round up for close combat, but i didn't see a mention in missile fire for what happens when 1 disordered stand fires.) Each eligible Firing stand has a 10% chance for a hit. 5) I recommend using dummy order counters so that the opponent does not know which of your units are ordered and which are not. A good optional rule, Russ! Consider it done. Subsequent editions of MW will include this. 6) When the Reveal Orders phase occurs, are ALL orders revealed for both sides? Yes. 7) Can you wheel more than once in a move? No. 8) On a normal move, what is the closest distance you can come to a unit? You can move right into an enemy unit, but you receive no Charge bonus die roll modifiers. See pg. 18, 8A - "Units which MOVE, charge or counter- charge into contact with an enemy unit initiate close combat." 9) Does a general's unit require an order? Only if it is more than just the command stand itself. 10) Is a skirmisher (SC or SI) a "U" (Unarmored) target? Yes. 11) When does Countercharge and Morale tests for being Charged come in the turn sequence? Example: Player A, with initiative, launches a charge against B, which has its own Charge order. They are far enough apart to force a roll of the charge die for distance moved. Both have exactly the same units. Is it: a) A rolls for a charge, and IF he makes it, then B countercharges, or, b) A announces the charge and B announces a charge and they meet in the middle and there is no roll. The correct answer is b). The sequence during a turn has first charges, then countercharges, with morale tests being taken at any time when required. required.countercharges 12) To continue this line of thought, and provide an example from our test play: A wants to do a Frenzied charge vrs. B, which also has a charge order. For Frenzy, A rolls for morale, but fails the morale roll, and so halts 1" away disordered from B. Sequentially, due to initiative, B then does his charge and can't help hitting A at such close distance. Can A countercharge B's charge? No, he has taken a chance, trying to 'pump himself up' into a frenzied state and failed. (See page 15, Morale Failure Results.) The Charge/Counter- charges are simultaneous, with the counter-charging unit reacting to the charging unit. Only units with Charge orders may attempt to become Frenzied. Unit A must simply sit, disordered, and take B's countercharge. 13) When do Retirements occur during the sequence? In a continuing melee from the last turn, player A wants to Retire from B. B wants to move a second unit behind A to set up a charge for the next turn. B has elected to take the initiative. Does B's move come before or after A's retirement? B has elected to move first, so it is tough luck for A! If you have a Retire order and you are charged, you Retire in the face of the charge, hoping to outrun it. 14) On the missile fire table, close range is 0-2", Effective is 2"-4" and Long is 4"-10" (for bows). The bow unit is exactly 2" away from the target unit. What range do you use? My playtesters were right! I didn't think this question would occur. Okay, call it "up to and including..." for range. 2" is Close Range. 15) A 6-stand bow unit is going to fire on a target. Four stands are at Effective range, but two stands measure out to Long range. There are no modifiers. Does this mean 4 dice for 8s and 2 dice for 10s, or because the majority are in Effective range, is it 6 dice for 8s (all rolled on a d10)? Four dice for 8s and two for 10s. To clarify, at the top of page 17, change Firing Unit to Firing Stand. 16) What does 'Halt' mean after a morale check? Does that mean you cannot move the unit the next turn, or that the unit never moved in the first place? It means you stop NOW! Next turn the unit may be given and act upon new orders. 17) In the example of play, last page, bottom illustration, unit A and B are flush up against each other in battle, and a corner of C is just nicking the corner of A. It says C counts in combat. So it appears the attacker is not required to conform to the defender in order to get into Close Combat. All you need to do is to nick a corner to initiate combat? Yes, although you fight with only that one stand and any eligible ones behind. In this instance, it counts as a frontal charge, not a flank charge. 18) In a follow up, can you expand? No. In Medieval times, my research has shown that troops behind the front lines simply pushed harder against thos ein front, instead of fanning out and enveloping the flanks of an enemy unit. 19) Can you kill a general during missile fire or close combat, so the side no longer gets those general's orders? Yes. See page 4, 2A4. More Medieval Warfare Interview: Terry L. Gore, Medieval Warfare Designer Back to Historical Game Review List Back to Master Game Review List Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1998 by Coalition Web, Inc. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. 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