Renaissance Warfare is an adaptation of Terry Gore's highly successful Medieval Warfare rules, winner of the GAMA New Rules of the Year Award in 1998. Having played Medieval Warfare from its debut at Historicon 1997 and helped playtest Ancient Warfare I became excited at the opportunity to modify and extend the rules into what has become my favorite period – the Renaissance. Terry has given me a free hand to make the modifications necessary to bring the unique flavor and character of the Renaissance period to life within the general framework of the existing rules.

The rules are tactical level (no more than 40-1 figure scale) where armor/weapons/formations are important and not abstracted, but they are really geared to provide the player with tactical decisions to make: charge in or fire until the enemy is disordered and beaten down; recover/reorder your troops or press the attack by bringing up reserves; defend in place or withdraw out of danger – and risk getting run down from behind! These decisions are shaped and informed by the morale and fighting qualities of your forces, the matchups you face, and the formations and alignments you have made to counter them – but it is those tactical decisions that are likely to be the decisive factor in winning or losing the game. The dice rarely turn what should be a victory into ignominious defeat -- at least no one ever buys it when I try to claim that's what happened….

Command and control is exercised principally by Generals issuing a fixed number of order to units within their command distance each turn. Many armies, particularly those in the latter period of the rules, are allowed significant numbers of Leaders who function as something akin to Brigade commanders with the ability to issue a single order to one or all of the units that make up his 'Brigade.' Leaders are very useful in providing a more flexible command and control structure, at least initially to maneuver and advance into contact, but as things get messy and units need to be retreat, be rallied or redeployed things can get rather more difficult.

To give a feel for the flow of a game of Renaissance Warfare lets run through putting an army together and on the board, then run through the Sequence of Play and outline what happens in each phase.

Select your army from the army lists (currently 50, this number will expand as Conquistador/Aztec type armies and post-1660 armies are added). If desired, create your own (a template covering the points costs is included). Form your army into units (this is a unit based game) of 1-10 stands each (basing is flexible but founded on WRG basing). The stands in your units each have a strength (# of hits before stand removal). Basically close order troops are 4, loose order 3 and skirmishers 2. Include enough Generals (and Leaders) to provide an appropriate command and control capability. Once your army is created you need to provide terrain and deploy your forces. There is a terrain generation system, if desired. Deployment is normally either hidden or by alternating units. Units may be hidden in ambush on your side of the board in dense terrain, buildings or behind hills. You may opt for flank marches or keep off table reserves that can come on any turn you like, but only at a specific location. Dragoons may deploy anywhere on your own half of the table while others start near the baseline (6" or 9" set on is standard). Once both sides are deployed it is time to fight!

The Sequence of Play is as follows:

Orders Phase: This is when your Generals decide which Orders to give and which units will get them. It is vital to allocate your limited number of Orders where they will do the most good. Whether to use them to launch attacks, to rally disordered units, or to use them to bolster defending troops is up to you. Units without Orders may fire missiles, but may not move. Each General and Leader will place his allowed number of Order markers face down on desired units. This is performed simultaneously by both players. Any units within Engagement Range (12"/16" for 15mm/25mm figs) of a visible enemy unit must have Orders to move. Units outside of Engagement Range may also be given Orders if desired. Orders to choose from are: Advance (movement ahead which may include a single wheel of up to 45 degrees at the beginning of the turn), Charge (pretty obvious), Retreat (180 and move away from enemy – disorders most troops), Defend (prepare to fight in place with some combat and morale bonuses), Deploy (mostly changes of facing/formation) and Recover (from various levels of disorder or low/out of ammunition).

Strategic Movement Phase: This phase is for moving units which are outside Engagement Range which do not have Order markers. Troops moved faster and followed directions so long as they did not perceive themselves as being in immediate danger or threatened by their enemies. Units starting outside Engagement Range without an Order marker may simultaneously either Advance, Retreat or Deploy. Troops moving during the Strategic Movement Phase must halt as soon as they come within Engagement Range of any visible enemy unit. Units may never move in both Strategic Movement and Tactical Movement Phases of the same turn.

Initiative Roll Phase: This phase determines who moves first in the Tactical Movement Phase. There are advantages and disadvantages to moving first. Depending on the situation, you may want to let your opponent move first. A simple die roll modified by the CiC's ability determines the initiative.

Charge Declaration Phase: Both players simultaneously declare and execute any ordered Charges and permitted charge responses. Chargers may make Frenzied Charge attempts (powerful but very hard to control). Line up stands for combat. This occurs before any other moves are made. Each unit in turn does the following: Do each charge/response/frenzy attempt in sequence, moving from one end of the board to the other as chosen by the winner of the initiative die roll. Perform any fire from chargers/counterchargers as well as any return fire from the targets of those charges and immediately adjudicate casualties and take any required morale tests. Chargers may only fire at the targets of their charge and are less effective than defenders. All units which had Charge Orders assigned to them go after their targets, which may respond to the charges in the following manner:

Charge order: Charge enemy unit simultaneously.
Advance order: Cavalry may countercharge any and Infantry may countercharge only Infantry.
Retreat order: Execute Retreat prior to enemy execution of Charge.
Deploy order: May turn to face or (if Trained) retreat 1"/2" retaining original facing.
No order: Loose or Skirmish order Cavalry may countercharge.

Loose order foot execute a Retreat if charged by cavalry, unless with a Defend order or in terrain. Otherwise, the targets sit and take it at the halt.

Tactical Movement Phase: After all Charges and charge responses are finished, all other units with Orders get to make their moves/deployments. The player with Initiative now turns over any remaining Order markers, then: Roll openly for the arrival of Flank Marchers or place Off-Table Reserves on the baseline table edge. The player with the Initiative applies his Orders. The opposing player then turns over his order markers and applies his Orders in the same fashion.

Fire Phase: After charges and other moves have been resolved, all eligible stands on both sides simultaneously conduct fire. This is a deadly phase, with units able to literally shoot their opponents into disorder or worse, if you have opted to use correct Orders and have the troops to conduct an intensive fire upon the enemy. Each stand eligible to fire normally rolls a single d10 (artillery rolls 1 per crew member – normally 3) with the to-hit number varying based on range, armor, shooter expertise, etc. Each hit inflicts a casualty. Mounted troops and artillery normally go out or low on ammunition if using their full firing capability.

Close Combat Phase: It was rare for a unit to simply blow apart at first contact (unless weakened by disorder and/or fire). Sometimes, a unit would panic when it was charged and would be in the process of falling apart when it is hit. Usually, though, the units would clash and the battle would last for a time until one side had reached a point of exhaustion or had lost so many troops that the rest simply turned and ran. Close combat (which may be initiated through either a charge or advance order) is conducted by determining a units combat score and multiplying by the number of stands eligible to fight in close combat (pikes fight up to 3 ranks deep, halberds 2, lances only 1, for example). This gives the casualties inflicted – divide by 10 and you have the number of hits inflicted. Combat score is derived from your units skill (reflected in morale rating), enemy unit's armor level, your weapon plus a variety of modifiers, such as charging, general/leader with the unit, overlaps, etc. There is only one additional, random factor and that is a d6 rolled by each side, with the winner adding the difference to his combat score. Fight the close combat between units in contact with each other one at a time, starting from the flank chosen by the player who won the Initiative roll. If you inflict more hits on the enemy unit than are inflicted on you then the enemy is pushed back and Disordered. After each close combat, perform all resulting push back, Rout and Pursuit movement. Proceed to the next close combat.

Recovery Phase: This is the part of the turn when troops are brought back from rallying and resting to a better-organized physical and psychological state. This is performed simultaneously by both players. Units that had a Recover Order marker placed on them during the Orders Phase may Recover either one morale level or from low/out of ammo to reloaded.

Morale: During the turn there are any number of times that a morale check may be required for one side or the other. Morale checks are conducted immediately when the situation calls for one. The main reasons for making a morale check include losing a stand of troops in your unit, seeing a friendly unit rout, a general die, or having infantry being charged by non-skirmish cavalry. Units that fail a morale check don't all react the same way as the degree of failure is important. Failing by 1 (on a modified d10) renders you simply Disordered in place while failure by 4 or more causes a rout. Veteran or Elite units formed up deeply, well supported with generals/leaders nearby will rarely fail morale without having taken quite a beating by fire or in close combat, while conscripts left unsupported with enemy on their flanks are likely to run screaming if the enemy says boo. It is up to you to create the conditions necessary to keep your army confident and together.

Development

The Renaissance rules have been in development and playtest for over a year and stand on a strong base of Medieval Warfare's 3+ years of play at conventions and tournaments throughout the US. Until the Foundry takes custody of the rules (they have MW in hand and Ancient Warfare should also be in their hands within a few months) they are available for downloading in current format. We have a discussion group at RenWarfare@egroups.com (RenWarfare-subscribe@egroups.com to subscribe and the first address to post messages).

The files are available under RenWarfare on the egroups.com website. I have always held to the idea that 'pride of authorship' (connoting resistance to change in our own written word) is ridiculous unless what you write is something to be proud of, thus I continue to welcome informative comments and suggestions. I hope you find RW as fun and interesting to play (and far less work) as it has been for me to put it together. Enjoy!