I've put the MW QRS up on the egroups list under Files. It contains the latest updates that I've sent into the Foundry for inclusion in the rules. Please download this as it supercedes the previous QRS. If you cannot do this, email me and I'll send one out to you. Briefly, the changes include:

The new Close Combat modifier of +1 for a deeper or a wider formation (so long as it is in good order and is made up of complete ranks);

The range for being in support is now 1/4 Engagement/Command range instead of 1/3 (4" for 25-28mm large bases, 3" for 15mm medium bases, 2" for 6-10mm small bases);

The new Disorder cause for pursuing and not contacting any enemy (but this cannot result in going to a Rout/Dispersal situation);

A change in the Disorder causes making Trained non-SI/SC become disordered if they retreat 1/2 or more of their normal move (they can still retreat less than 1/2 of their normal move without becoming disordered);

Under Deploy, the Trained foot may only fall back 2" (if large bases) or 1" (other sizes) as a charge response (instead of the previous too generous 1/2 a move).

These have all been included in the new SAGA edition of MW. These are in limited supply and are spiral bound, 112 pages long with all 101 army lists. They are $25.00 postage paid from me.

Jeff brought up a good point to me today in respect to woods in our rules. This is stated in MW, but not in AW. Woods are broken down into three types:

Forests - dense terrain
Light Woods - non-delaying, non-disordering light terrain
Orchards - the same as Light Woods

All of these types of woods affect:

1. Missile Fire - front rank only may fire (no trajectory fire due to the canopy)
2. Cover - units in any type of woods are considered in Cover
3. Line of Sight - any type of woods block line of sight

Only Forests cause movement delays and disorder in certain types of troops.
So...in AW, on page 24, under Terrain Effects, at the end of the first sentence, add "Orchards and Light Woods do not delay or disorder. They do block Line-of-Sight, limit Visibility and count as Cover."

On page 32, Missile Fire, Line of Sight, the 4th bullet down, change beginning to read: "Units in any type of woods (orchards, light woods, forests)..."
Under Ranks Eligible to Fire, for both instances, change the second bullet to read:
"Only the front rank of any troop type located in any type of woods."

As you probably know, MW won the GAMA award last year for Best New Historical Miniatures Rules. I would like to repeat that honor next year with AW. It is through the contributions and work of all the members of the onelist as well as playtesters and researchers who have made these rules what they are. I am proud of the result.

It's hard to find your name on a product that you don't feel is the best it could be. When the Mister Lincoln's War rules came out (rushed to meet a deadline), I hardly recognized them. The editing was rather iffy, with things missing or different on the QRS than the body of the rules. The rules themselves were a bit on the haphazard side in respect to readability. When I ran the big Antietam game at Historicon last year, I ran it as I'd written the rules, only to have guys who had played the printed version wondering why I was doing things the way I was. My mistake. I should have run the game as per the rules, not my intentions of what they were meant to be when I initially wrote them. Live and learn.

Well, AW and MW were going to be different. Still, as many of you know, MW went through four different editions before the final product went out to the Foundry. There was always something I missed. So here we are with AW. Only two editions of that (so far!) Yet, these rules feel more complete and finished already. Part of the reason for that is the system has been played and worked on for five years. Growing out of MW (which grew out of MLW), enabled AW to be a much easier rules set to 'fine tune' and add to.

Since the basics were already in place, it didn't take much to re-program these into the earlier historical periods. The additions of chariots, the lack of the high-pommeled saddle (mostly) and stirrups, the reliance on supply, all of these made a different game from MW. Granted, the basics are the same, but cavalry do not wedge the same (the wedge is not as effective as in MW), there is no mounted breakthrough move, they lose one point in their frenzied charges and troops do not have to test morale for being charged by heavier armored types. Artillery also lose their one dice per figure fire that they have in MW. This represents the lack of psychological effect in non-gunpowder weapons.

The supply rule, while optional in MW is now required in AW. You don't HAVE to buy supply, only once your troops are low or out of missiles, they remain that way for the rest of the game. Your troops also have to be within Command Range (16" in 25mm large bases games) of a supply unit to be supplied. To me, this is an improvement on the old "Camps" business. Now you have to calculate and keep your troops together. Sending that lone unit of horse archers around the flank may not be such a good idea. An archer heavy army will now have to have at least two supply units, possibly three. The first one costs 15 points and subsequent ones run 10 points each, not too much, but remember, that if they are captured, your supply is lost.

Perry Gray and I had a long talk and we came up with some ideas that might be of interest to some of you.

First of all, these will all be strictly optional rules for MW and AW.

1. Artillery mishaps. If you are using artillery (the gunpowder types) there may be a chance your gun may explode! If on your artillery fire die rolls, more than one unmodified '1' comes up, the gun immediately blows up, killing the crew and causing any other friendly units within 8" (in 25mm) to test for destroyed friendly unit. Granted, you have to roll two '1' s to have this happen, but it did occasionally occur.

2. Historic Commanders. Perry liked the idea of being able to 'purchase' historical generals for your army instead of rolling for them. This would only be for scenario or recreation-type games, not for tournament play as of now. If you'd like a Charismatic general (Alexander, Caesar, Hannibal, William the Conqueror) it would cost you an extra 40 points. A Brave general (Guiscard, Ramses, Narses) would cost you 25 points. Let's say you are Burgundians under the command of Charles the Bold...Poor at -25 points!

3. We also gave some thought to campaign rules. Having units able to upgrade or go down in morale quality based upon their battlefield experience. This has to be further thought out.

4. Finally, we will be working on situational scenarios (i.e. attacking a column on the march, attacking defensive positions, etc.) to spice up the action as well.

All told, a good discussion and we will be continuing to bring you interesting and fun situations to add to your enjoyment of AW/MW. A bunch of us playtested AW for tournament use recently. The Roman players (Paul and Bruce) purchased a single supply unit, while the newly painted Graeco-Indians had two. The Romans simply could not keep all of their missile troops in supply and this hurt them on their right flank, where they had two units of skirmish cavalry, a legionnaire archer unit, a general and a unit of legionnaires. Once the missile troops went low on missiles, they could not restock.

The game also had our first real test of the new close combat modifier for wider or deeper formations. I had a two-stand unit of heavy chariots in combat to their front with disordered auxilia. The auxilia, though deeper (two stand depth in a four stand unit), could not count this as they were disordered (you must be in complete ranks and in good order to count either of these modifiers). Paul subsequently slammed into the flank of my heavy chariots with a unit of auxilia archers, immediately disordering my unit. I gave the unit a Deploy order the next turn so that they could turn to face their tormenters (the heavy chariots had pushed back the other auxilia unit last turn, who were now fragmented). Thus I ended up in a single stand front, two stands deep, disordered, fighting the Roman unit that was two stands wide and two deep. Paul received a plus for BOTH, as even though my chariots were two deep, they only counted one rank as they were disordered. This rule worked very well, allowing the larger units to gain some benefit from their size advantage.

Elephants have an extremely potent initial charge now, but if they can't break their opponent, their attack will bog down next turn against a tough opponent. Again, I had charged into auxilia, and pushed them back disordered the first turn. The auxilia did not lose a complete stand, so required no morale test. On subsequent turns, Paul beat me on the random die rolls and held.

Bruce had his general killed by horse archer fire. I managed to gang up six stands of close range shooters on him. Though I felt this would turn the battle for me, it didn't. Granted, two skirmisher cavalry units that were retreating (backs to my troops) routed upon seeing their general go down, but Paul had enough orders to give that he provided Bruce's troops with double orders each turn to keep them going.

All in all, a very good game, ending in a 4-2 Graeco-Indian victory. Paul Schneider made a comment during our Wednesday playtest of AW that the reason he likes these rules so well is that they work. You have to think for yourself, outthink your opponent and rely on your wits, stratagems and tactical acuity in order to win.

Just to summarize the AW accomplishments of the last few weeks:

We have changed the terrain types to include two types of woodland; Forests (dense terrain) and Light Woods/Orchards (non-delaying light terrain).
We have advanced the initial setup areas from 6" to 9" (large bases) and from 4" to 6" (small or medium bases). This leads to a faster, more decisive game.
The Chariot Circle firing has been clarified (page 11).
Wedges have been changed to reflect their use in the ancient period (less effective than in MW. this is on page 12).
Echeloned Line, removed from MW is back in AW (page 12).
Clarified who can see what in regards to Engagement Range. If you are in any type of woods, you are not seen until within 3" (large bases) or 2" (other bases) of the edge; if behind hills, the enemy must be able to have a clear line of sight to see you.
Clarified Advance restrictions (pages 17-18).
Noted that Frenzied units MUST move their full charge allowance.
Added to Deploy orders: Trained foot may now only move 2" (1") straight back instead of the previous 1/2 a move that was too much. Also added that Trained foot may now deploy from close to loose order and back again.
Changed Retreat to restrict trained troops to only being allowed to retreat up to 1/2 of their normal movement before becoming disordered (page 20).
Movement ranges have been brought in line with MW.
Added another cause of disorder: When unit is pursuing and fails to contact and enemy unit. This may NEVER result in rout morale result, however (page 27).
Added Range Determination for shooters firing at chargers under Morale Tests page 29).
Added Missile Supply rules and Supply Units to main body of rules (page 31).
Noted under Missile Fire that multiple '10's' thrown for a unit's firing result in being Out of Missiles (page 31).
Added that units armed with Various weapons only may fire ONCE before going Out of Missiles (but they still count in close combat, unlike Javelins that are used up when the unit is Out of Missiles). (Page 31).
Clarified Missile Fire Line of Sight (page 32).
Allow shooters to be issued with double Defend orders so they may pick their targets and not simply have to fire at closest enemy. This simulates the added command time needed to make sure these troops kept calm and under specific orders on who they were to make the target of their fire. (Page 32).
Clarified who aligns stands in Close Combat in ambiguous cases (the player who moved first). (Page 36).
Added two new modifiers to Close Action: Deeper formation/Wider formation (These must be complete ranks and in good order). These are on the QRS and will be integrated into the body of the rules when they are updated next week.
Under Optional Rules, you will be able to 'buy' your CiC. If you want a Charismatic CiC, it will cost you 40 points in addition to the normal CiC cost. An Exceptional CiC will cost you and additional 25 points. An Unreliable CiC saves you 25 points!

The jury is still out on some of the other items discussed.
Should we be able to 'buy' an additional dice pip when rolling for terrain? (Possibly)
Should we be able to have missile armed units automatically convert their orders to Retreat if charged? (doesn't look like it)
Should Longbows be cut back to normal bow range but have added 'stopping' power? (Maybe).

As you can see, we have been very busy and all of the inclusions have made AW a better simulation. Any other thoughts or comments are most welcome!

As to the recent MW edits. I have two changes to the Close Combat factors to include as well as some missile fire and movement changes. They are:

Elephants get a +2 in the initial round of close combat.
If your unit is deeper (in complete ranks of stands) or wider (in complete ranks of stands) and is in good order, you get a +1 on the Close Combat modifiers. Missile troops may select their targets if they have a double Defend order.
Under Deploy orders, Trained troops only get to fall back 1" (15mm) 2" (25mm)
Trained troops Retreating more than 1/2 of their normal move are now disordered.