Pig Wars (PW) appeared about three years ago, but the 41 page booklet states the rules were copyright in 2000 by Black Falcon Publications, which wants you to spend $20 on the set.
Bob Liebl hosted a game of PW, which is advertised as Dark Ages Skirmishing for single figures. After the game, which took some 3 hours, all at tableside muttered things like “Good game!”, except me… I kept my comments to myself.
Bob’s table measured 6 feet across by 12 feet long… he’s got beautifully sculptured terrain boards each measuring 2-feet by 2-feet. In the scenario, Viking forces entered in the middle of the long 12-foot base lines, which I’ll refer to as the north-south edges. My unit of 20 Anglo-Saxon troops was stationed at the very western edge (the short edge) of the field, some 6 feet from the center of the table, where the action developed.
I had been told my boys were to guard a Wall on the western edge, because the Vikings were going to attempt to come across it. And so I dutifully placed my men at the Wall, facing west, off the table, waiting for the Viking hordes to appear, so that I could defend my Wall in proper fashion.
After some three turns, no Vikings appeared. How come? Lots of action in midfield… everyone was clobbering one another and engaging in combat. Now I was told that I was guarding the Wall, not because the Vikings were going to enter the field across my Wall, but because they were going to gather plunder and exit the field across my Wall.
This was a different kettle of fish… I had no desire to stay near the Wall… and so my troops set off for midfield, some 6 feet away, to join in the fun.
In PW, each unit is listed on a card, all the cards are lumped into a single deck, and a unit moves when its card is drawn. PW was written by Todd Kershner, who used the same sequence in his AGE OF REASON. Todd evidently thought if a little bit is good, more is better.
Yuch!
This is the worst possible type of sequence for a multi-player game… it’s what I call a ‘wait-wait-wait’ sequence. First you wait until your unit’s card is drawn, then you move, then you sit back and wait until all the other cards are drawn and the turn is over. And then you wait and wait and wait during the next turn.
In my own unit card-action games, I always have a deck for each side, and draw from them alternately. In this manner, each side is guaranteed that at least one unit will be activated each time a card is drawn, and it’s impossible to get a run of 3 or 4 of one side’s cards in a row.
In our game, we had six units… 3 Anglo-Saxon, and 3 Viking… resulting in a 6-card deck. Each time my boys’ card was drawn, I proceeded upfield. I wasn’t making headway too fast. PW classifies the men on the field into three groups… unarmored (UA) move 9 inches per turn, partially armored (PA) move 8 inches per turn, and fully armored (FA) move 6 inches per turn. Remember that I was some 6 feet from the action, a long way to go, and so I started to cheat.
When my card was drawn, I moved all my men around 12 inches… no one noticed. They were all too busy killing each other. What was happening in midfield was that the Vikings were attacking a monastery, methodically wiping out the monks, and gathering treasure and plunder.
The PW sequence results in two kinds of “gotcha!” occurrences. First, as I mentioned above, there’s the chance that several of one side’s cards will be drawn in a row, whereupon that side shouts “I gotcha!”, and moves his units up to overrun the inactive side. I realize that if one side draws several of its cards first, then there’s got to be a run later in the turn, when the other side’s cards are drawn in a row. But I can assure you that two such ‘gotchas’ is not better than a single ‘gotcha’.
There’s another type of ‘gotcha’ occurrence. Here, when an active unit moves its men, it can zip up to an inactive unit, which is caught in comatose fashion, and the active unit can shout “I gotcha!” and the active men can virtually surround the inactive men, who have no response.
The active side simply gangs up as he wishes on the opponent’s men, pitting 2 or 3 or 4 men against a single man of the opposition.
PW’s sequence is essentially a board-game sequence, in which an active unit does three things in a row… it moves and fires and does combat. The opposition simply sits… it has no reaction, no chance to counter, no chance to evade, no chance at defensive fire.
To me, in a skirmish game, this is the essence of ‘dumbness’… you’re taking away the critical element of skirmish gaming… the ability of the men on the field to interact with one another.
And so, when I saw the myriad of ‘gotchas’ being performed in midfield, my interest in the rules system faded away. But, I have to admit, that when my own troops reached the region around the besieged monastery and went into hand-to-hand combat, I, too, joined in the ‘gotcha’ goings-on. What’s good for the goose is good for the gander.
One unique thing about PW is that it’s a diceless game… it uses a 52 card deck to determine casualties from firing and melee and for morale tests.
In melee, all men on the field are graded in terms of their skill levels, either 1, 2 or 3. Then add a weapon factor (javelins have 1, swords have 2, axes have 3), then draw a card. The cards run from 2 to ace… ace is high at 14 points. High total wins, but the difference in the two totals, the ‘delta’, must exceed the opponent’s armor factor (UA, or PA, or FA). A hit is a kill , and the man is removed. Otherwise, they remain locked in combat… you can’t back out of combat.
When you gang up (2-to-1 or 3-to-1) on some poor soul, all of your men must fight in sequential fashion. If the single man defeats your first combatant, he then faces your second. And here, the single guy is in trouble, for in this second round, he’s now lost all his weapon and skill modifiers… all he’s got to rely on is a naked card draw.
That’s why the ‘gotcha’ is so important… it leaves your opponent virtually nekkid after the first round of combat.
'Gotcha’
Sometime during the battle, I was ‘gotchad’ twice! I forget which turn, say Turn 8, I had drawn my card and my unit had performed its requisite ‘gotcha’ on one of Cleo Liebl’s units. Then, still on Turn 8, Cleo’s card was drawn and she, in turn, ‘gotchad’ me. And then, in Turn 9, Cleo’s card was drawn first, before mine and again, she ‘gotchad’ me! Two ‘gotchas’ in a row! Truly a great set of rules!
When firing, PW uses ‘savings throws’. But because there’s no dice, we have ‘savings cards’. If a hit is scored, the target draws a card to see if the arrow is sloughed off. Hitting at short range (up to 8 inches for a bow)… requires a draw of a red card, 50 percent chance to hit. At long range (out to 16 inches), you need to draw a heart,,, 25 percent chance to hit.
If hit, the target draws its savings card… armor comes into play here… a UA saves with a draw of 10 to ace, a PA saves with a draw of 8 to ace, and a FA saves with a draw of 6 to ace.
Hitting a PA at short range (50 percent), coupled with a non-saving throw of 2-to-7 (46 percent) results in a probability of hit of 23 percent. At long range, the probability falls to 11 percent.
| Target | Kill at Short Range | Kill at Long Range |
|---|---|---|
| UA | 30% | 15% |
| PA | 23% | 11% |
| FA | 15% | 8% |
Since a hit is a kill, the probabilities are okay… note it’s pretty difficult to knock out a fully armored man.
My own archers, three of them, never even fired a shot. They ran across the field, hoping to get into the fight, and I moved them close to the enemy, hoping for a series of short range shots, less than 8 inches. Too close. Alas! Up came the enemy troops, prepared to do the ‘gotcha’ thing. My missile men were swamped, and never had a chance.
Not only were ‘gotchas’ present in the game, but I also noted an assortment of ‘sleazy moves’. An example would be an attacker with an 8 inch move, who is 3 inches from his target. The attacker has enough movement distance to simply circle behind the target and attack from the rear.
A second example occurs when the same attacker is 1 inch from his target. When charging, you need to be 2 inches away to get your +1 charge bonus. So the attacker, with his 8-inch movement distance, backs up an inch and then charges forward. I must admit that this last is more of a ‘silly’ move than a ‘sleazy’ move. In any case, this didn’t sit well with me.
On the field, the Anglo-Saxon forces were going down hill pretty fast. The battle looked to be about over. And then, way over on the eastern edge of the field, appeared another Anglo-Saxon unit. Omigawd! The game was going to last another 43 turns as the new force made its way to the monastery.
But all was saved, as the participants decided to stop the action. I’m not sure which side won.
My own casualties totaled about 15 of my original 20 man unit. It looked like other units had suffered equally… sort of a ‘to-the-last-man’ battle. PW requires a morale test of your unit when you lose 25 percent of your force. I took only one morale test during the battle, I’m not sure why.
Draw a card for the morale test. Deduct 1 for every 5-men lost. The result is charted… it tells you which of your men will run off, referring to their skill level. Men with a skill level of 3 will stay, while others rout.
The PW book has some 40 pages, about 13 of it on basic rules, and about 20 on specific scenarios. I thought the cover price of $20 was far too pricey for what you get. PIG WARS ain’t my ball of wax.
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© Copyright 2000 Wally Simon
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