In a previous issue, I described a medieval-era campaign that I had been umpiring, one which pitted the forces of Bob Hurst (Sir Robert Hurstly, Lord of the North) against Don Bailey (Donald the Grim). Each side started with three armies, and each was required to dash around the map and gain possession of 5 out of 8 towns on the field.
Donald the Grim almost had his hand on the prize… he had control of 4 towns and knocked at the gates of a fifth and successfully bribed the mayor to join his cause, when, on the same turn, one of Sir Robert’s armies entered one of the Grim’s other towns, the town of Chad, taking possession from him, leaving the Grim again with only 4 of the required 5.
Unperturbed, Donald the Grim rushed up a liberating army to recapture his lost town. Armies were composed of “Army Points” (AP), and I, as umpire, could take the AP and, prior to each battle, ‘buy’ forces for each side… a stand of Mounted Knights cost 50 AP, a stand of Archers cost 20 AP, and so on. Then, I’d set the forces on the field and play the battle out in solo fashion. In essence, all that Bob and Don were doing were telling their forces where to go, and I took over from there… I allocated APs, I fought the battles, I gave out reinforcement APs, I tested to see if the mayors of the various towns could be bribed… the logistics were not overwhelming, and kept me busy for several afternoons.
This article describes the encounter at the town of Chad, when Donald the Grim sought to drive Sir Robert’s forces out of the town. Chad was composed of 5 town-blocks, i.e., areas, each block about 6-inches by 6-inches, and control of the town meant controlling 4 of the 5 areas. A ‘stacking limit’ applied to the blocks… only one unit was permitted in an area. When an enemy force entered an occupied town-block, a combat was fought and the winning unit remained in the area, while the losing unit was driven out.
The Grim’s liberating force at Chad totaled 900 AP, while Sir Robert’s defenders had only 630 AP. The Grim had two divisions, or 2 battles, composed of
- Sir Lyle de Mort’s Division
-
Mounted Knights 2 stands
Foot Knights 3 stands
Men at Arms 4 stands
Trained Archers 4 stands
Untrained Foot 4 stands
Sir Morton of Elgar’s Division
-
Mounted Knights 2 stands
Foot Knights 4 stands
Men at Arms 3 stands
Trained Archers 3 stands
Each division had 16 stands, or 32 in all, not too many to push around for a solo game. The two defending divisions in Chad, totaling 630 AP, had proportionally fewer stands.
Since I was running this game solo, I wanted, as much as I could build into the system, to have the gaming system itself make as many decisions as possible, thus reducing my own decision-making efforts to a minimum. To this effect, I employed a deck of sequence cards. Each side had its own deck, and there were 6 cards in the decks. Each card listed two items:
- a. It designated which of the 2 divisions on a side was the primary active one, and
b. It designated one unit of the inactive division which could also be activated.
For example, one of the Grim’s cards stated:
- a. All units in Sir Lyle de Mort’s division are activated, and
b. The Foot Knights in Sir Morton of Elgar’s division are activated.
As usual, this produced a ‘lurchy’ sequence, as first, one division was ‘energized’ and then another… but in solo gaming, lurchy sequences are good… in multiple-player games, lurchy sequences stink.
I must report that Sir Robert’s troops fought fiercely, but outnumbered as they were, the end was foreseeable.
I went through the sequence decks about 3 times before the Grim’s foot knights were able to get a foothold in the town, but once in, never out.
Each division leader possessed two key parameters. Take for example, Sir Arno de Bois, commanding a division defending Chad.
- a. He started with 20 Combat Points (CP). Each time a unit in his division was hit, he lost one of his CPs. When he was down to zero CP, his troubles began.
b. (1) He had 30 Morale Points (MP). When one of his units took a morale test, it added its own base of 50 to his 30 MP to get a total of 80.
(2) After his CP nose-dived to zero, then, with no more CP to be reduced, he started taking points off his MP.
(3) This meant that the units in his division, adding their base morale level of 50 to his reduced MP, gradually went to pieces, as more and more fall-backs, due to their failing morale tests, occurred.
At battle’s end, with Sir Arno’s CP at zero, his MP were down to 14. When his units took a morale test, they added their 50 points to his 14, giving a grand total of 64… not good.
The firing and melee procedures used the same technique. Each type of unit had an Attack Value and a Defense Value. Examples are:
| Unit | Attack Value When Firing | Attack Value In Melee | Defense Value | Knights | NA | 12 | 7 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Men at Arms | NA | 10 | 6 |
| Archers | 10 | 9 | 5 |
Note that the archers’ missiles had an Attack Value greater than the unit’s melee value. If the Archers fired at Mounted Knights, take the missile Attack Value of 10, and subtract the Knights’ Defense Value of 7, giving a remainder of 3. This indicates that a toss of 1, or 2, or 3 on a 10-sided die successfully strikes the Knights.
When Mounted Knights attack Archers, take the Knights’ Attack Value of 12, and subtract the Archers’ Defense Value of 5. The result of 7 indicates that a toss of 1-through-7 is a hit on the Archers. Each stand tosses a die, so that multiple hits may be scored.
For the most part, Sir Robert’s men played a waiting game, simply sitting in a defensive mode. But toward the end, I saw an opportunity for the defenders to launch an attack on one of the Grim’s units of Foot Knights, an extremely weak unit, bedecked with casualty markers. Contact was made, the units struck at each other in accordance with their Attack and Defense Values, and it looked as if Sir Robert’s unit had the upper hand. Alas! To determine the winner, each side tossed a die, modified by the casualties on the opposing unit. Even though Sir Robert’s unit had fewer casualties, it tossed a ‘1’… you just can’t win a melee by tossing a ‘1’.
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© Copyright 2000 Wally Simon
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