A couple of issues ago, I spoke of a medieval battle done solo style, and this article is the result of several changes in the rules. SET UP Each side had 2 Suzerains, plus 5 knightly knights, and each knightly knight had a retinue of 5 stands, one stand each of mounted knights, foot knights, men @ arms, archers and untrained foot. This made for a total of 25 stands on the field for each side. Each knight tracked his losses, which showed up in an ever-decreasing ability to assist his men when they were in combat. Sir Walt was the Suzerain of one side, while Lord Korth headed the opposition. There were two key objectives on the field, two key manors placed mid-field. A series of initial dice tosses determined that Lord Korth's forces occupied both manors... Crum Manor was defended by Sir Ripp de Beauvoir, and Mil Manor was occupied by the retinue of the Viscount of Stilt. This irritated Lord Walt no end and immediately placed him on the offensive. KNIGHTLY ATTRIBUTES Each knight was graded in three separate categories. Control This ranged around 70 percent. If, for example, Sir Jonn Sinclair's mounted knights surged forth, challenging Baron Chargg's men to combat, this was the number that Baron Chargg had to toss to enable him to command his own mounted knights to meet the challenge. Strength This averaged around 30 percent. When a knight's retinue engaged in combat, the knight's Strength factor was added to the combat value of his men's points. As the knight's men took losses, the knight's Strength factor continually went down, and consequently, so did the total combat level of his men. Morale Averaging about 50 percent, this was added to the retinue's morale grade of 30 percent to obtain a total morale level. SEQUENCE This was 'clock driven'. The sequence was alternate, and before the active side moved, he tossed a 10-sided die. When the accumulated 'clock total' reached 12, that defined the beginning of a new turn, and all casualty markers on all retinues were evaluated according to the following chart: Table #1 01 to 33 Each casualty marker is worth 1 point 34 to 66 Each casualty marker is worth 2 points 67 to 100 Each casualty marker is worth 3 points As an example, around Turn #3, Sir Lyle de Mort had taken enough casualties, by continually tossing high on the above table, that his Strength factor was reduced to zero. Each casualty point he received reduced his Strength level. In fact, he had so many casualty points that they began to spill over onto his Morale Grade, and to decrease the contribution he made to the morale level of his retinue. Sir Walt, assuming the offensive, concentrated on Crum Manor. When Sir Walt's side was active, he diced on the following table to see how many of his 5 knights would move out: Table #2 01 to 33 All knights activated 34 to 66 All but 1 67 to 100 All but 2 If the chart decreed that one or two knights were immobile, a quick dice toss determined which were the affected ones. Lord Walt ordered Sir Lyle de Mort and Sir Jonn Sinclair to attack Crum Manor. Sir Lyle's men, moving a total distance of 10 inches, surged up the hill (70 percent chance), and climbed over the walls of the manor (70 percent chance) to engage the men under Sir Ripp. Sir Lyle requested Sir Jonn to assist, and Sir Jonn, tossing under his Control factor of 70 percent, successfully got his men to engage. Sir Ripp, seeing he was about to be inundated with enemy troops, asked one of his allies, Baron Chargg, to enter the combat. The Baron also tossed successfully under his Control percentage (65 percent), and into the fight went his retinue. Instead of adjudicating one huge melee in Crum Manor, I broke the combat in two parts: Sir Lyle versus Sir Ripp Sir Jonn versus Baron Chargg In each combat, each retinue (a) tossed dice to determine if any stands refused to engage, then (b) added up its remaining combat points... 60 points for mounted knights, 40 points for foot knights, 30 points for men @ arms, etc., (c) added the Strength factor of the commanding knight, (d) added a percentage dice throw, and looked at Table #3. Table #3 Total below 100 Enemy receives 0 markers 101 to 125 Enemy receives 1 marker 126 to 150 Enemy receives 2 markers 151 to 175 Enemy receives 3 markers 175 to 200 Enemy receives 4 markers After determining the casualty markers, each side noted two factors: N was the number of stands engaged, and M was the number of markers on the opposition. They both calculated the product, P, where P equaled 10-sided die x (N + M). The high product won. In both battles at Crum Manor, Lord Walt's knights were driven off. Sir Lyle suffered so many casualties that when he diced for their effect at the end of the turn, not only did his Strength factor go down to zero, but he had a negative residue! I used the residue to decrease his Morale factor. Sir Lyle had started with a Morale factor of 55 percent to add to his retinue's basic morale level of 30. Now his Morale factor went down to 45 percent, which meant that his retinue's basic morale level was 30 + 45, or 75 percent. Sir Jonn was hit even harder. His Strength factor was also zero, and applying his residue of casualty points, his Morale factor was reduced to 35 percent. His retinue thus had a basic morale level of 30 + 35, or 65 percent. When a retinue had to undergo a morale test due to casualties produced by enemy fire, it took its basic morale level, and deducted 5 percent for every casualty marker on the unit. The result was to effectively take both Sir Lyle and Sir Jonn out of the fight. With 2 of his 5 knights so wounded, Sir Walt called it a day, and left Crum Manor and Mil Manor in Lord Korth's hands. Back to PW Review May 1999 Table of Contents Back to PW Review List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1999 Wally Simon This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com