Personalities

The role of the Warlord (player character) is critical to the statement that the rules make. The rules for Warlords and other personalities are robust and steeped in role-playing. This melding of wargaming and role-playing is intended to reflect the significant impact of the Warlord personality on warfare in feudal and Medieval times. This attention to personality produces results necessary to represent the medieval lord and his times. The personality has as many if not more attributes than a unit of troops, and all are used to add depth to the personality.

The Playing Pieces

Day of Battle II has two distinct types of playing pieces, the soldier and the personality. The soldier represents the foot soldiers, knights, and other fighting men of the era. The personality represents the player (Warlord) and lesser Leaders and Heroes under his command. Each has three attributes and three skills. Skills are most important for Leaders and Heroes, attributes and skills are important to the Warlord.

The attributes, social rank, esteem and motivation reflect the Warlord’s stake and drive within the world he lives. The skills, combat, initiative, and personal combat reflect his ability to operate and survive on the battlefield. Finally, a Warlord is rewarded when he performs actions with his troops that reflect his motivation in life. Such actions net him honor points. These in turn, are cashed in to increase his skills, esteem and social rank.

Game Flow

A deck of cards is used to help randomize the game. This deck is primarily used to represent command, not movement. Numbered cards equal one command point, face cards equal two, and aces equal three. A personality has a command card rating equal to his social rank. A Baron, for example, has a social rank of 3. Therefore he may draw up to three cards for command each turn. The type of card determines how detailed the command it is used for may be. Some commands are very simple. In the basic game all commands are considered simple. In the advanced game, they can vary. Shooting or charging, for example, costs a single command. However, certain local events may cause simple actions to increase in cost. Disorder, for example, adds one point to the cost of an order. Commanding a unit to do any action other than fire or charge when it is to close to the enemy, costs an extra point. These additional modifiers are accumulative. So a simple command could wind up costing three or four command points.

When a unit is issued an order (unique command) it must play it out to completion. The personality that issued the card may not play any other orders until this one is completed. This makes it hard to coordinate units acting together outside of the battle line. The battle-line represents a body of closely packed units operating as a like mind. For example, commands can be given to an entire to coordinate movement.

Movement

Day of Battle II uses a system originally designed for Knighthood and The Middle Ages (1979). This system divides the distance between two units into three distance bands: close, normal, and distant proximity. The band the unit begins its turn in determines how fast the unit may move that turn. Proximity movement represents the -hurry-up-and-wait- found on the battlefield, showing that units move faster the further away from an enemy they are.

Combat

Shooting and melee are quite simple. A melee starts and ends in a single turn. There are no continuations from turn to turn. Reactions and results are logical, if not predictable. Knights will usually beat all others. Men at arms will beat most other foot. Melee uses the “weapon of choice” theory. This states that only one weapon will rule in a melee. If both units use the same, it is a wash. The superior weapon is the weapon of choice. A unit facing this is handicapped and will probably lose the melee.

Morale

This is usually automatic and excludes chance. Automatic morale checks (AMC) are only required in a few circumstances. For all other morale checks Day of Battle II uses harassing morale checks (HMC). This mechanism reflects the idea that your opponent will know when it is time for your unit to check morale. Day of Battle II provides a list of morale events that could trigger a HMC. As these events happen, Warlords may request a HMC on the unit.

Ground and Figure Scales

Day of Battle II maintains the scales set out by the Wargames Research Group in their pre-seventh Edition, DBA and DBM period. This figure scale (1:20) has become the norm for most rules. It allows battles of small to average size to be fought. In the period covered by these most engagements were at an expanded skirmish level.

• One complete game turn represents 10 to 15 minutes.
• 1 inch represents 10 yards.
• Levy and militia figures represent 40 men.
• All other figures represent 20 men each.