For those of you dissatisfied with WRG or who am merely looking for an alternative for renaissance gaming (or both), we now have another ruleset in which to kill off our lead creations. Armati is a new set of combined rules for Ancient, Medieval, and Renaissance time periods written by Arty Conliffe.

Why learn another set of rules? Armati offers three reasons important to all wargaming. 1) ease of play, 2) flexibility, and 3) historical accuracy. The ruleset is divided low four sections containing ancient and medieval basic rules, renaissance expansion rules. army lists for all three periods, and advanced rules. Arty his wisely chosen to retain the standardized VIRG ban sizes for the construction of units. If you play WRG, DBK or DBA there will be so rebasing required to make Armati units. the only exception is for certain light units that Armati requires three figures per base while many WRG lists require four figures per base (such as Roman auxiliary). However, being that the base sizes are the same, this is merely a question of aesthetics.

Armies are composed of units in Armati. Depending on die country or time period. different unit types make up the army listings much the sun a in WRG. There are three scales of play in Armati: Intro, Optimal, and Epic. The amount of time you will need will depend upon the scale you choose. A constant is involved, however. No matter what scale you use the number of units called out in the army lists remains the same. A French Late Italian War Army will have four pike units in all three scales. This difference between the scales is in the number of bases that make up a unit. In the intro set, a Pike unit contains one base, in the optimal scale the same pike unit is made up of four bases, and for the epic scale that same unit will use six bases. The beauty of Armati is that all armies fight and die based on units. ad bases. It takes four hits to break an intro pike unit but it also takes the same four hits to break an optimal or epic pike unit. The fact that the intro unit has four figures and the epic unit has twenty four figures is meaningless. The difference is almost purely visual. So why use the epic scale, if the length of play is the same as in the intro scale? The reason is simple. To miniature wargamers, visual appeal is one of the most important part of our hobby. Otherwise, we would still be playing in a two dimensional world with board games. This concept lends itself to more visually appealing tournament games without slowing down too much.

Historical reality sets in even before the game begins. Very few pre-modern generals are able to change the setup of their units once the battle began. They might be able to make small tactical changes, but most were not able to shuffle their forces around right before or during contact. The major role of the army commander was to design his deployment plan the night before the battle after his troops committed to lend moral support to localized melees.

To reflect this, each side must divide their units into divisions (either fight or heavy, depending on troop type) and then deploy these divisions on the battlefield out of sight of the enemy. Either a written deployment map is developed or a dividing board is placed between the two sides on the table before any miniatures are laid down. The competency of an Army's command structure is reflected in the amount of divisions it can deploy into and his initiative rating for movement and combat Once your plan is put into action, there are severe consequences for breaking up your divisions. Thhese include restrictions on movement, as well as reduced initiative ratings.

Movement is also restricted when compared to WRG and it's offspring DBM and DBA. If you want to run around your opponents pike block and hit him in the flank with your dismounted knights, you'll have to plan it carefully over a number of turns. These rules definitely prefer an established line of battle. Combat is resolved much like any other ruleset with the high dice (modified, of course) winning the melee. A unit's combat integrity is reduced through break points. Accumulate enough, of them and your unit is removed from play. Another gem of this ruleset is that victory is determined through the loss of key units only. If you lose a skirmish unit, it is irrelevant for victory purposes. However, if you lose a Roman cohort, you are on your way to defeat as that counts as a key unit. The lists contain break points of key unit losses for each army.

Problems

Their are problems with Armati. however. The first is the lack of terrain for the random battlefield generation table. I realize that most battles of the period occurred on open fields. but a preference for two small hills on a 40" by 60" table is too sparse. Another problem is the led of sub-generals for the army lists. This can be important when you have multiple players on each side. There are also no provisions for using ancient or medieval artillery in the rules. They may not be much, but I painted them and I want to use them.

A third problem is that the measurement scales were designed with 25mm figures in mind. If you use 15mm figures you have to use a proportionately decreased ruler. I believe that 15mm figures should have been the standard. as this is the most popular scale for the period. The last fault I find is in the army lists provided with the ruleset. Armati is advertised as a set of renaissance rules. yet the army lists stop at the 16th century. My favororite army, 30 Years War Imperialists, is not on the fist. If your favorite conflict is the English Civil War, you'll have to come up with your own compatible fists. Some of the listings, like the Italian City States, are a bit generic. A supplement to the army lists is definitely warranted. All of than problems am sadly fixed with a compromise by the players. If you want more terrain. then use more terrain. Want to add another general? No problem. If you want to use an inch scale for your 15mm armies than do so. It will just make it a quicker and more maneuverable Same. The problems with the ancient artillery and army list cutoff are a little more complex, but a bit of ingenuity will overcome these limitations. Armati remains flexible to most gamer's demands.

After four months of gaming with this ruleset. I have found it to be a an improvement over other WRG based wargames. The importance of the die roll is reduced and the skill of the commander in deploying and maneuvering his forces is increased in deciding victory. The popularity of this ruleset is increasing rapidly from what I can tell from other gamers in the region and I hope to see a number at Armati games and tournaments at the upcoming Cold Wars and Historicon conventions in 1995. This ruleset should be of special importance to renaissance players, given the lack of choice we haw had up until now as far as fast play rulesets am concerned.

No matter how many figures you pow on to the table, fast play is still the name of the some with Armati. Last week I was able to play the equivalent of three 1600 point (per side) WRG games in a little over three hours of playing time. When I can fight more battles with more figures in less time and not lose the flavor of the period, I definitely call that an improvement in the quality of my gaming life. Armati is $16.95.