I was a reluctant draftee in my first game of Armati. My regular opponent had read the rules and felt that they might be an answer to our disenchantment with the ever mutating WRG rules. After playing the basic rules with Indians and Late Achmaenid Persians, I was convinced that the rules were too simple for enjoyment.
After about three more games, we began to use all of the advanced rules, including fatigue. A new dimension of tactical complexity was immediately added to the game that hasn't faded yet.
One of the better features of the game is that I can complete three games with another lawyer between 6:00 and 10:00 p.m. without any acrimony over rules interpretations--although there is some completely unwarranted criticism of my measurement of wheels. The total absence of rules arguments made the game more enjoyable as well as shorter.
The rules are very complex tactically but preserve ease of understanding. As might be expected from the simplicity of the rules, they are very easy to learn. For once, an author's statement that the rules are all contained on the quick reference sheet is true.
The basic mechanisms are also easy to understand. On two separate occasions, I have lost games to players who were playing their first games. Although both losses can be attributed to my arrogance in assuming that superior expertise would enable me to ignore basic tactics in attempts to secure flashy victories (always possible in WRG), both losses stand for the proposition that new players can assimilate the rules and play challenging games in quick order (never true in WRG).
The best comparison of tactical complexity is to WRG 5th edition. Many of the critical tactical concepts have direct analogs in WRG 5th.
The basic maneuver unit is the division. Standard-sized units are organized into heavy and light divisions. The number of heavy and light units varies from army to army. Armies that were noted for better command structure and/or more complex tactics have more divisions. Units within a division must remain in base-to-base contact with the same facing and with limited abilities to split divisions.
Divisions may be commanded or uncommanded. A commanded division may move. An uncommanded divisions may only charge enemy units within range and may not otherwise move.
The basic heavy infantry move is six inches, the light infantry move nine inches, and the cavalry move is 15 inches. Heavy infantry divisions may either move straight ahead or wheel up to two inches. Light divisions and cavalry divisions may wheel up to two inches and complete their full move. Optional rules permit larger wheels under limited circumstances. Turns to the rear are permitted under limited circumstances. Oblique movement and other turns are not permitted.
Although the movement rules appear to severely limit the ability of infantry to change their direction of advance or to relocate their efforts, I consistently have been able to deploy infantry on one side of the line and redeploy it on the other side. Cavalry is reasonably mobile when utilized on the flanks. Prohibitions against wheeling or about faces when within six inches of the enemy make it unwise to deploy heavy cavalry in the center.
Light cavalry can significantly impede the advance to contact of enemy foot by moving to just outside two inches of the foot and evading each turn. This limits the advance of enemy foot to two inches each turn. This tactics is often used to permit more archery or to delay the advance of a hostile center in order to permit heavier cavalry to win one or more flanks and maneuver for the flank or rear of enemy heavy infantry.
Units are broken by cumulative casualties. Heavy infantry require four casualties to break; heavy cavalry, warbands, chariots, and elephants require three; light troops require two; and skirmish infantry require one.
Most battles are resolved by hand-to-hand combat, although my regular opponent seems to have an instinctive knack for shooting my armies to death.
Archery in Combat
Archery is relatively ineffective, with most archery having a less than 1/3 chance of causing a casualty. Archery casualties are resolved by comparing dies rolls on a six-sided die with the defender adding either a 1 or 2 to the die roll depending on armor class and order. Cataphracts and knights add 3, however, longbows and crossbows have increased effectiveness against heavy targets. Heavy targets do not get to add to their die roll against longbows or crossbows.
Combat is resolved by comparing the result of a six-sided die roll added to a basic fighting value that varies from unit to unit and from time to time. The losing player takes one casualty. So, one can see that the basic infantry slugfest takes four plus turns to resolve.
A unit suffers a degradation in its fighting ability according to the number of turns that it participates in hand-to-hand combat. For each turn of hand-to-hand combat, a unit suffers one fatigue point. When the unit suffers a number of fatigue points equal to the number of casualties needed to break that type of unit, it is fatigued and subtracts 2 from its die roll (1 for lights). Fatigue is removed by resting outside charge range of the enemy.
Flank attacks are the solution to the four plus turn slugfest. A unit which loses a fight with a heavy unit to its flank or rear is immediately broken. Broken units are removed from play. As there is generally a three-to-five point difference between front and flank fighting values, units that are attacked to the flank generally lose.
Much of the interest of the game is derived from the attempts to secure the deadly flank attack. The simplest version requires delaying resolution of the main combat until one player or the other has won a flank of the main enemy battleline. Due to the relative move distances and the greater ease in wheeling cavalry, it is the unit of choice for the flank.
Units with impetus (most mounted units and warbands) are capable of breaking an enemy infantry unit in one turn if they score better in combat on the initial turn of combat. The fighting value discrepancy is one to two in the case of warbands and one to three in the case of most cavalry. A successful unit with impetus in the center of the enemy main battleline can roll up the enemy flanks from the center out.
The game is won by breaking a stated number of enemy critical units. The range is from three to six, with armies averaging a dozen units. Critical units vary from army to army. Skirmish troops, light infantry, light cavalry, and elephants are generally not critical units. Heavy infantry is almost always a critical unit. Heavy cavalry and elephants may or may not be critical units. Knights are always critical units. Of course, the definition may vary from army to army. Light cavalry is a critical unit in a Mongol army and not in a Carthaginian army. Most games are very tightly run until the last turn or two.
All in all, the game does not forgive sloppy tactics. One must use good tactics against both novices and experts. A tactical gamble generally does not pay off. Good historical tactics do pay off.
Hopefully, I have communicated that the game is easy to learn, fun to play, and does not get boring with repetitive play. A novice can play a good game from the start. There is more than enough complexity for the most experienced player. Finally, has any one ever played three exciting ancients games in one evening with another complex set of rules?