Arty's "Stand Games" Review

Armati: Arty Does Good (Review)

by Steve Phenow

Game Rules Summary:

ARMATI. Miniature War game Rules for Ancient, Medieval, & Renaissance periods.
Movement. Move - Countermove
Scales: Size: 15 and 25mm figures

Ground scale: No exact scale given for anything. But we can figure it out. Missile ranges are 24" for foot bow. A composite bow can shoot 200-300 yards. English Yew Bow s are comparable. So lets say 24" equals 300 yards. That equals 12.5 yards to inch. Javelins reach out to 9'. Javelins had a range of maybe 30-40 yards. So if 9" is forty yards. that equals 4.4 yards to the inch. Let's stick to 12 yards to the inch, and say with a range of 108 yards, these are real light javelins.

Men: Let's stick with the ground scale is 12 yards an inch. A soldier when formed close order has a yard. 36" space between across him to the next soldier. So 1" can be occupied by 12 soldiers. Basin is 40 mill across for heavy infantry with four figures to a base. Presum ably one base represents 4 ranks of depth. That means after adding another 6 yards gives 18 solders across and four deep for a total of 72 soldiers to a base. Two bases give 144 soldiers, 8 ranks deep. and since a standard Hi unit is 16 figures. unit would total 288 men. This is close to Tac-13's 300 men per counter.

Time: 1 turn equals 20 - 30 minutes

Sequence of Play:

1. Missile fire (simultaneous).
2. Movement: Dice for choice. Winner has movement option. Army Initiative ratings affect dice roll.
3. Support charges (If unit one moved 1 2. it may now move the rest of its movement allowance to make melee contact.)
4. Melee (winner picks direction, includes morale.)
5. Breakthrough (Units that break opponents get 3" bonus move).
6. Each unengaged unit may attempt to regain Break Points.

1. Missile Fire Ranges: Foot Bows have 24" range. Horse bows. slings and crossbows range is 18". Hand hurled is 9 inches. Foot artillcm' fires 36-18" for heavy. 30-15" medium. and 24-12" for light. guns. "Case shot" range is gun's last range number to zero. i.e., heavy guns would have a case shot range of 18-0".

Mechanics:

One dice roll per unit per turn. Add protection modifiers (PROT) if applicable and each player rolls I D-6. Higher adjusted score wins, and inflicts 1 breakpoint on the other.

2. Movement:

Heavy Infanm moves 6 inches in line, warbands, LHI Lights and skirmishers move 9 inches. Armored Horse moves 12". Heavy and Light horse moves 15". Heavy horse chariots. Elephants move 9". Two horse chariots, scythed chariots, move 15". Camels, wagons move 12". There are no charge bonuses. Units must wheel than move. Wheeling is very slow, per the Conliffe idea. Some units may not move if they wheel. Only lights may about face and penetrate formed friendly units.

3. Support Charges:

Units that only took 1 2 move during their movement phase may now take the remaining movement to contact an already engaged enemy unit. This represents a unit charging to protect the flank of another.

4. Melee Mechanics:

Units now use their fighting value (FV) of 1-8 to decided melee outcomes. They compare melee factors. FVs and each rolls 1 D-6 comparable to missile fire mechanics. Winner scores 1 BP on the other. If a foot unit is not in depth. 4 stands deep rather than 2, or in favorable terrain and the attacker is Heavy or Armored Cavalry. Chariots, or Warbands. and they score a BP. the foot unit breaks and is removed from the board. If any Heavy nit flanks another unit. and inflicts 1 BP on the flank unit. it also breaks. Morale: The unit while breaking routs 3". If it bumps into a "like type unit" that unit must test morale. If it fails it joins the rout and breaks. Units that don't break immediately are locked in melee. They fight until they reach or forces their opponent to reach breakpoint (2-4 depending on tape.) Units that reach breakpoint. rout and are returned from play

5. Breakthrough:

Units that broke their opponents may exploit the hole b' moving or wheeling a total of three inches. Units may not initiate melees by breakthroughs. but maybe in position to screw-up an opponents move.

6. Rally:

Units nay remove break points if the unit is unengaged. that is it did not move or melee. and there are no enemy units that can charge it within 6". The unit roam attempt to remove 1 BP for each turn it is unengaged. This is the only way that break points mad be removed.

7. Victory:

When a side loses the requisite numbers of Key Units. it breaks and the game is over.

Commentary.

With Armati Arty has fashioned a winner. I suspect once the nuances of the rules are appreciated. this rules set will replace the De Bellis series as the tournament rules per excellence. Why? Because the rules arc so clearly written aird illustrated. Unlike other sets. there arc no ambiguous rules to be exploited. no wonder troops or killer armies can be created. Army lists are very rigid. there is none of those gimmicks that used to drive me crazy in WGR. Art_ also has achieved the perfect balance. no troops are stronger in one thing without losing something in an other The clear rules for deployment are a gem. (much like my Sarissa And Elephant). Another plus. if a weak army with low initiative goes up against a strong army with higher initialise. The stronger army has to win in a set number of turns, or lose. This means that horse archer armies are under the gun against foot. They must close and win.

To reinforce the idea of tournament play there is a well defined set of Armati competition rules. These are spelled out in clear prose, and if a player does not like some units in his army list. lie may exchange them for better units. The result of this a-historical "beefing up"' though are severe. The killer force now must win in a set number of turns, and its Key Unit Break Point is reduced to allow the weaker army a chance.

You have a board gaming friend who detests miniatures? Show him Armati. Since you are allowed to premeasure before movement, you know your relative distance from units, just like on a hex grid. Wheeling is the only problem, so maybe until he gets the hang of the game, let him to wheel 45 degrees, and move. That is what you do on a game board.

Command control is handled without PIP Rolls. Instead each army can control several divisions. Better command control means more divisions are under control. There are two types of divisions. Light and Heavy. A division is much like a medieval Battle or an ancient wing. Any number of units can form a division. They all must be the same type of troops. i.e., all heavy or light If you have more divisions than command points, some are out of control. Out of Control divisions may not move unless the enemy enters its charge ran<„e. Then the unit becomes active and charges. Of course since you can premeasure before you move. (board game mentality again), you can stay out of the activation radius. As divisions shred and units are broken, army initiative drops. As initiative drops. the enemy gets the advantage. I think Arty has caught the best way to represent earl Biblical and Medieval armies command control problems.

Problems

That's is not to say that these rules does not have problems. Let's return to the divisions. It's not the best way to represent classical command and fails miserable when it comes to steppe armies. Why? Those troops do not just sit there in a battle., Especially Spartan. Macedonian, Roman or steppe armies. All are assigned a target in the battle plan, then advance. It's after the target disappears or is destroyed that out of command units are limited. They are the ones that go off and loot the camp. Mongols are badly shortchanged. Their form of command is represented by a higher initiative. which while it allows them to move first most of the time. the Army command can only control 6 light divisions, out of the 10 light units allowed. Mongols command communications were based on visual signals. There were never troops out of the army command when if they were 5 miles away.

Second real problem is the rule's simplicity. True. this a good thing for tournaments. but it's sterile when it comes to recreating history. Terrain really does not play a part in the Armati like in the DB rules. In fact I get the feeling that Arty believes that gamers do not want any terrain mucking up their advances and cause arguments.

Third. because of the premeasurement ability it's hard to spring traps. Bresadis' destruction of Kleon's Athenian army at Amphipolis 422 BC would be impossible under these rules. the Kleon player would premeasure and discover his left division would activate Brasidas and he would be taken in the flank and broken if he moved too close to Amphipolis. He would simply skirt Bresadis' charge range and march away. What really happened. Kleon lacked the ability of how to maneuver divisions of the Phalanx under stress and when the Spartans came out of the gate and formed Phalanx, he was mental] routed before his men could form in response.

Finally there is that aforementioned inability to maneuver. While this may be correct for some armies. the Spartans and Romans had a drill to reverse direction, and the Mongols and other steppe peoples could execute a maneuver called "feigned flight." Arty does not believe in the armies maneuvering. He feels that too much maneuver ability causes player's arguments. and based on im experiences with miniature rules lie is probably right.

If you want a set of rules that will allow you to pit different armies against one another in a minimal, no fuss, two hour battle where luck plays a diminutive factor, these are the rules for you. If you want a set of rules that mirrors historical accuracy. then keep searching. these rules fall short of that. I recommend that these rules for biblical and medieval periods. but it gives a satisfying experience of battlegaming in all periods.

Arty's "Stand Games" Reviews

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