On Saturday, Feb. 24, George Soika and I got together to play a game of Might of Arms, a set of Ancient rules written by Bob Bryant. According to the author, "The rules emphasize the principles of the military art common to battles in different periods, rather than the details that distinguish different periods."

Each type of troop performs best when used according to its historical tactics. Different types of armies have a different feel and need to be handled differently. Historical tactics work. Being a relative novice to ancients, I was looking for a rule set that didn't have the ambiguity to DBM nor the simplicity of Big Battle DBA. Nothing against either of those worthy publications, they just weren't for me.

The armies are bought from lists that cover about 3000 years of history, from early Libyan, 1600 B.C., to the Burgundian Ordonnance of the 1500s. Players can keep to strictly historical match ups by playing within the six groups Bob sets as guides, or they can set a points limit and then "buy" an army. The rules are easy to learn with limited ambiguity and have diagrams that detail trouble spots. You can play the game from the play sheet right away, referring to the text if there are questions.

The game is morale based, with five grades of morale: A, B, C, D, and E (A is the best, E the worst) and has fatigue points replacing actual casualties. The players combine their troop types into groups from 2 to 8 stands to form units. It follows the normal set-up for a rule system, dividing the turn into movement, shooting, melee, and morale. Play is by alternating bounds with the players rolling for initiative and the low player taking the first turn. He moves all his units and then shoots any missile troops. The second player then moves all of his troops and then fires his missile troops. There is a delayed fire sequence where the player that moved first gets to then fire any missile troops that only came into range after his turn is over.

Morale checks are required for shooting, melee, and to perform certain actions. Melees result from units that declare a charge against a opposing unit. Unlike most games, this one is easy to learn just by reading their play sheet. You don't need an experienced player to get you through the first couple of matches. Needless to say I like these rules!

George and I decided to play a a historical match up with his Macedonian Successor army (#33) versus my Late Imperial Roman army (#66).

George had:

3 units of 8 stands Heavy Infantry - pike, morale C
2 units of 6 stands Light Infantry - javelins, morale C
1 unit of 6 stands of Sub heavy Infantry, morale C
2 units of 3 stands Heavy cavalry morale B
2 units of 3 stands Light cavalry - javelins, morale C
2 units of 3 stands Skirmish Infantry - javelin, morale C
1 unit of 4 stands Skirmish Infantry - sling, morale C
1 unit of of 2 stands Skirmish Infantry - bow, morale C
3 mounted leaders.

My Roman host contained:

3 units of 3 stands Heavy cavalry, morale C
1 unit of 3 stands Light Cavalry - javelin, morale C
4 units of 6 stands Elite Heavy Infantry, morale B
1 unit of 6 stands Elite Lt. Infantry - javelins, morale C
2 units of 6 stands Lt. Infantry - javelins, morale B
1 unit of 6 stands Medium Infantry - bows, morale D
2 units of 3 stands Skirmish Inf. - bow, morale C
3 artillery pieces - bolt shooters
1 mounted leader.

George had better command and control with 3 leaders but I out numbered him and would be relying on the strength of my Legions elite grading.

The battlefield was dominated by two patches of rough ground, separated by a nice plain to fight over. I was anchored on my left by a hill and forested area. I placed my skirmish and medium infantry with bows in the first line in hopes that they would pepper George's pikes. I really wasn't keen on taking on Heavy Infantry that outnumbered me, elite status or not! On their left flank, I placed my elite light infantry and one of the other light infantry units in the rough ground in hopes of using their ability to move in rough terrain at normal speed. On my right, I placed the cavalry. I felt it had the most open area, which cavalry needs to be effective. Just in case, I placed my last light infantry unit in the other rough ground as Roman Cavalry is notorious for being run off and giving the enemy our rear. As it turned out, it was a well placed unit. In the second line, I sandwiched my artillery between a pair of the elite heavy infantry units. I had an open field of fire into George's lines and then could move the Legionaries to engage any unit that got too close (hopefully after it resembled a pin cushion!).

George set his troops similar to my battle line, but in a single rank. That meant my cavalry would be facing his just as I suspected, but I was risking being overrun on the flanks due to his single rank. On his right, in that same rough I planned on moving through unabated, he placed a skirmish unit and a light infantry unit to stop me. Lucky for me, his pikemen were in line with the artillery and the medium bowmen. I won the first turn and tried to move my missile troops quickly into range. I also moved my left from the hill into the woods according to my plan. The cavalry moved to close the distance between us as it was important that whoever chased the other off would gain an immediate advantage. After a rather ineffectual volley with all but the bolt shooters, George got his turn and really hammered my elite light infantry. He declined to initiate the cavalry fight until he brought up a unit of sub heavy infantry in support.

Turn two began on a up note -- I again won the initiative and moved first. Then things started going wrong. My right flanking maneuver loosed a volley that I thought would cripple the roadblock placed in their path. My elite light infantry moved too far forward, in an effort to weaken his pikes. I really used used my medium bowmen poorly. They had the best range outside of the bolt shooters, but here I was moving them forward. What was I thinking? My cavalry on the right faced two heavies and two lights. I thought I'd do okay in a straight up fight but had gotten bottle-necked into fighting on too narrow of a front. George was able to outmaneuver me with his lights, moving in on my flanks while keeping me occupied to the front with his heavies, supported by the sub heavy infantry. I moved my light infantry up to counter his light cavalry, but the damage was done. I was caught with no place to go but charge, and so charge I did.

On his turn, he engaged my elite light infantry and bowmen with two units of pikes but forgot to charge the other. His heavy cavalry counter-charged mine, while the lights continued to pepper me, lowering my fighting strength. In the resulting melee, I lost my elites but managed to hold with the bowmen -- even after absorbing a staggering 17 hits! The cavalry fight was equal for the first turn, but I knew once the sub heavies charged home I would be in trouble.

Turn three began and once again I won the initiative. On the left, I tried to press forward with the remaining lights. I began to move my heavy infantry up to meet the pikemen quickly bearing down on me, and shifted my light cavalry to the left to sweep the skirmishers that were starting to screen and harass my artillery. George moved his right forward, getting ready for the pending clash while his sub heavy infantry moved into position on my heavy cavalry's flank. Here is where my lack of leaders began to hurt. I failed to charge with two units because they failed their morale check. Checking is not necessary if there is a leader within 8" or the unit is elite. That meant I couldn't delay him on my left. My bowmen only survived this last melee and died ingloriously. When his infantry charge hit on my flank, my horse couldn't take the strain and broke. That left my rear open except for the lone light infantry I placed there to defend such an occurrence.

By now things were decidedly in George's favor. I had lost all three heavy cavalry units, my bowmen and my elite light infantry. George had been badly bruised in the cavalry fight, but now had a seemingly open path to my rear. I was in position on the left but had failed to charge the prior turn due to failing the check (I was out of command range). The one bright spot was the reserve of my Legions. If I could get them stuck in with his pike, hopefully worn down by the bow and artillery, I might manage to turn his glorious victory to a marginal one. I had to do this quickly though, I didn't plan on my lights on the right stopping a determined horse charge for long.

George really wanted me to go first on turn four. This would allow him to determine where and who would fight and it was here that lady luck decided to visit me. He had to move first and was limited to going forward knowing if he didn't push the fight I would. In my turn, I was able to charge on the left flank and destroy the unit blocking me from turning his flank. I got close enough to charge with the legions that were relatively fresh compared to his pikemen, that had receive every missile unit's attention during the game. Then the most glorious moment happened. My lights on the right flank during the movement phase positioned themselves between my flank and his horse. When they shot, they caused three hits which was just enough to cause another morale check. Like I previously stated, his cavalry were bruised in the previous fight with mine, so the modifiers were fairly severe. It's just so lucky that I caused just enough hits that were necessary for the check. Sure enough, George failed it and my rear was saved!

On turns five and six George had to move first but there was limited movement as most units were already engaged. By now, my elite heavy infantry were in a position to battle his pikemen. And the lights on the left got close enough to charge his right most flank of pikemen. George attached one of his leaders to another unit ensuring a minimum of a 3 on a d6 in the upcoming battle. I didn't have that luxury since I only had one leader.

We pretty much traded hits in turn five, but my troops were more fresh and of better quality and I could afford to do so. I failed to hurt his leader and you only get that opportunity if he is involved in a melee and then you still need to roll a 1 on 1d6. In turn six, things really went poorly for George. I caused three of his units to go to Worn status, but because of the freshness of the legions I was still in good shape (at least for one more turn). Once they become Worn, units have to check morale. Because of the modifiers, George failed them all causing them to go Shaken! The dice had really left him. To add insult to injury, I got really lucky and rolled a one for his leader. That caused every unit within 8" to check for morale. As it so happened, those three shaken units were within the 8" zone and had to check. They all failed, causing them to rout! I had pulled out a victory!

The game lasted about four hours and had many surprises. Once again, if you haven't played these rules and like Ancients, try them. I highly recommend them.