from Warhammer Wargames Ltd., 1998. Price $25.00.

Jervis Johnson, the author of the rules, makes the point in his introduction to AB that he has written them "in conversational English and trust to the player's native intelligence to resolve...misunderstanding...." That's a lot of trust, Jervis, but I must say, I like your style. Lavishly illustrated with both black and white line art by the Perry twins and Dave Gallagher as well as a tantalizing color spread of the Foundry's Romans and Briton figures, along with buildings and terrain, the rule book itself covers 70 pages, with an additional 74 pages, covering special rules, tips on painting and collection an army, campaigns and two army lists for 1st century Romans and their British adversaries. Other booklets are promised covering other armies. Full color covers, like other Warhammer publications, make this an attractive package.

Jervis and I have corresponded in the past and his gaming philosophy differs from mine. With my prejudices intact, I began to delve into the Warhammer ancients gaming system.

Going Back

First of all, a couple of years back, several of us played a large (500 + figures) game of Warhammer based upon the Irish Battle of Clontarf in 1014 A.D. The game was interesting, but the myriad die rolls seemed to bog the game down with little benefit. The rules were cleanly written, however, and played fast and furious once we opted to eliminate the savings throws. Being familiar with Warhammer from this perspective helped me to get through AB relatively easily. I don't think anyone would be hard put to read and understand these rules.

As with Warhammer, all the units in the game are differentiated by "characteristics", including movement allowance, weapon skill, ballistic skill, strength, toughness, wounds, initiative, attacks and leadership. This is a bit much for those of us used to the simple "HI, Average, Jav/Sh" type of thing, but they are Warhammer all the way. Basing can be as per suggested or anything else, so long as there is not a huge discrepancy in mounting systems. The turn sequence is move-countermove and follows the standard fare, with psychology tests, movement, firing and melee. Each of these phases are further subdivided.

Psychology tests are required when a unit is charging or being charged by a unit it fears, i.e. horses fear camels. Even worse than fear is terror. Elephants terrorize units within 8" and they must roll 2d6 to equal or lower the unit leadership rating to pass. Luckily, you only have to test for terror once per game per unit. Frenzied troops automatically charge anyone within charge range. Hatred is caused by blood feuds or racial animosity. They are harder to break them if fighting against guys they hate. Stubborn troops simply will not leave when they should. They automatically will pass their first break test. Warbands also have added leadership bonuses.

Okay, so these are all good, common sense rules. Now we go on to the movement phase. First of all, the moving player declares charges and the opponent declares what he wants his charged unit to do. He can stand and fire or fire and flee (if missile armed), hold and fight or flee. No countercharges? Guess not. Charge moves are double normal moves, with one wheel allowed to align with the enemy. Next, you attempt to rally any of your troops which are fleeing. Then you make any compulsory moves, i.e. terrorized units fleeing. Now chargers are moved then remaining units move. No orders are assumed necessary for a move-countermove game such as this. This is one failing of this type of system. The non-moving player is totally at the mercy of his opponent. Orders at least keep you honest and do not allow these pesky "instant reaction" moves. Units may turn 90-180 degrees or change formation. Curiously, barbarians are as effective as trained troops in their maneuverability.

Shooting

The shooting phase uses a standard 45 degree arc of fire and as long as you are in range, you fire at maximum effect unless the target is over 1/2 missile range away, or if the firing unit is charging, the shooter is moving, the target is a skirmisher target or in cover. Each figure gets to roll a dice to hit. Once you determine you've hit the target, you must see if you wound him. Weapons all have a strength of 3, except crossbows @ 4 (I would think that longbows would be at least this good, as well). Roll per each hit to see if a wound is inflicted. Even if wounded, armor can reduce the damage with saving s throws (here are those multiple die rolls I mentioned in the beginning). One figure is removed for each final casualty, except in the case of elephants, which take 5 casualties to remove.

Close combat has seven parts to it. All the combats are fought before going to the next part of the phase, the results. After determining melee results for all the units, go to break tests. Failed units cause friends seeing them to take panic tests. Failure to pass causes units to fell. Winners pursue. Finally, units redress or fix their ranks. Personally, I prefer to fight each close combat completely through, including morale tests, before going on to the next. Again, this is my own prejudice, evident in my own rules.

Melee

Anyway, there is no simultaneous combat. Chargers automatically get first hits on the defender, otherwise, the troop type with the higher initiative gets to hit first. I would think that a countercharge would be a good option to add. Like Warhammer, some warhorses also have an attack, thus a cavalryman sometimes gets two die rolls. Hit charts have a number, depending upon the attacker's weapon skill vrs. the defender's, which must be rolled on a d6 per figure fighting. Once hits are determined, you go to the wound chart where you compare the strength of the weapon against the toughness of the target's armor. A further bunch of d6 rolls determines actual casualties. Once casualties are assessed, the side which inflicted the most wounds wins (there are a number of modifiers), with the severity of the win determined by how many more wounds it inflicted then received. When the loser takes its mandatory test for losing the close combat, 2d6 are rolled and difference between the winner's and loser's wound score is added to the total. If the final number is more than the leadership value of the unit, it breaks.

Fleeing units which have failed their morale run away and winners must pursue unless they take a test by rolling 2d6 to roll equal to or lower than the unit's leadership value. Games last 4-6 turns normally, unless one player concedes. There is a chart to determine who wins depending on who controls areas of the table and figure losses.

There are rules for unit leaders, musicians, standard bearers and characters, generals, and special, optional rules covering multiple-armed troops, weaponry, psychology skirmishers, light cavalry, chariots, elephants, war machines, buildings and fortifications. Added to these are sections on building and painting an army (beautifully illustrated), scenario suggestions, scenery and terrain, color photos of gorgeous Foundry figures and two exhaustive army lists for Romans and Britons.

Altogether a good effort and one I recommend to anyone desiring to start playing a game in a very short time. The armies are not overly large, enabling beginners to build up a force for relatively small amounts of money. The appeal of these rules is obvious. They are well-packaged, are nicely presented, are well written and have the publicity that goes with any Warhammer product, for better or worse! Jervis has done an extremely fine job on these and I wish him all the best with his latest endeavor.