Holy Hack is a new set of rules by Phil Viverito covering the Bronze Age Ancient Warfare in the West. Holy Hack is a professionally designed and printed 30 page booklet of 30 pages, not counting a page of game markers which can be cut out and mounted. The color cover has a cartoonish rendition of a Canaanite type light chariot shooting at a gaggle of Egyptian spearmen. Inside are plentiful black and white diagrams illustrating game mechanics and deployments. There are also scanned in photographs of Wargames Foundry range of 25mm Bronze Age figures and an occasional Egyptian or Minoan sculpture; these images have a somewhat "pixelish" or grainy appearance.
Although Holy Hack is part of a series of rules written by Phil covering warfare up to the Renaissance, they are complete in themselves and are not a module (like the Trojan supplement for Ancient Empires, reviewed in a previous issue of MWAN). In fact, aside from various skirmish rules, for the most part published in magazines and not generally available, these are the only battle rules exclusively covering the Bronze Age. Of course, many other sets such as ARMATI, DBA DBM can be used for this period. The rules are divide into 5 major sections, and I will follow this organization in my review to describe what the rules have to offer before rendering an overall recommendation.
1. Game Conventions: The game scale can be 20 feet = 1 inch, 5 minutes per turn or 100 feet = 1 inch, 20 minutes per turn. The difference in scale is to allow for smaller armies and tables using the larger ground scale. Guidelines for a typical game are 1000 - 2500 points in 25mm, using a 4 X 6 foot table. Basing is standard WRG, with close ordered troops based 4 figures per stand; open order 3 figures per stand and loose order 2 figures per stand. So, no rebasing, and your DBM or ARMATI army can be used as is.
2. Pregame Sequence: This section consists of organizing your army into units of 1 to 4 stands according to troop type/formation and the player's preference. Units may then be grouped into commands. Units are paid for by a points system which takes into account formation (close, open, loose and special i.e. chariots), morale (6 grades and protection (armor and/or shields). Leaders and subleaders are paid for separately. The leader acts as C ic C, subleaders command collections of units called commands. An optional rule provides for unit leaders, holy prophets and standards such as the Ark of the Covenant. This section is very well explained and you should have no difficulty organizing your army.
Terrain set up is handled by a throw of percentile dice, with 13 different terrain types cross indexed to specific Bronze Age locales such as the Nile Valley, Greece, Nubia, etc. Each player is given a fixed number of rolls on this table depending on the size of the board. I like the idea of matching the terrain to specific geographic places. Each terrain type is precisely defined as to size on the game table - I wish other rules would do this as well.
The most innovative part of this section are sample deployments for a generic Bronze Age Army. The names are fictional but evocative of the period. The author states these were divinely inspired, but a more prosaic explanation would be adaptation of diagrams of actual battle deployments from history books. These templates are useful for beginners and solo games, and I think this idea should be extended to other periods.
The final part of this section concerns optional rules for individual combats between champions (David and Goliath, for example). This adapts the combat system to skirmish actions, and although this is not mentioned by the author, lend themselves to adaptation as a set of skirmish rules.
3. Morale: This section is straightforward, with a list of situational checks and a table of ( 26!) modifiers to a die roll. Results can be disorder, no penalty or rout. Although I feared the long list of modifiers would be unwieldy, the 2 games I played used only a few and so this was not a problem. 4. Turn Sequence: This section outlines the command control system, movement and combat. There are essentially no command control rules. All units "act as the commander wishes". The only possible exception would be in multiplayer games where the C in C issues instructions to the subleader players on his side, leave them to carry them out as they see fit. But even here, the subleader's units are under his complete control.
Missile fire and melee are similar - you basically figure out your hit number, apply appropriate modifiers and roll percentile dice. You either inflict no damage or 1 - 3 hits depending on how well you rolled. Missile fire allows for a form of opportunity fire and melee can result in leader casualties - for the latter you roll on a table full of amusing descriptions. Evasions, pursuit moves, breakthroughs and rallies are provided for. Charging an enemy unit can be in 6 different modes, including pass through chariot attacks.
Movement is either basic or maneuver. Basic movement consists only of straight ahead movement and/or wheels. Maneuvers, such as formation changes, about faces are available to a unit, but are limited by the training of the unit or in the case of chariots, whether they are of advanced design or not - a nice touch.
5. Determining Victory: The briefest section in the rules, victory in tournament or pick up games is decided on a points system. Scenario driven games are not necessarily decided by points, however and in the sample scenario provided, Qadesh, victory depends on possession of the Egyptian camp. This scenario provides the only two army lists in the book, New Kingdom Egyptian and Hittite, although the back cover indicates an army list book will soon be forthcoming.
Overall, these rules have a much different feel than grand tactical sets such as ARMATI, DBA or DBM. I believe this is partly due to detail in the combat system and partly due to the lack of command control rules. The latter may not be a significant limitation in scenario games, which I believe the rules encourage. They are certainly different from the previously mentioned sets and are worth a try if you are interested in this period, especially if you, like a more tactical approach. Recommended.
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© Copyright 1996 Hal Thinglum
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