'Vis Bellica' are rules that cover Ancient Warfare "Chariots to Dark Ages". There is one book of army lists for Vis Bellica, but the author promises another shortly.

Scales:

Figure: 1 casting = between 65-80 men.

Ground Scale: One cm = 10 yards

Basing: Average base for 15 nun: 60 mm wide by 30 mm deep. Figures mounted in two ranks if Infantry, one rank if Horse. Different numbers per base shows if troops are in close-loose-open order. Time: Not stated. Based on movement to ground ratio about one minute. However melee results are not as drawn out, so 5 minutes per turn seems about right.

Turn Sequence:

Simultaneous system, with each turn divided into three phases: a mandatory phase (things that the players have no control over what is happening i.e., routs, melees etc); a command phase players issue, orders (subject to failure) finally an action phase where the troops try to carry out these orders. After both sides move this constitutes a turn.

Organization:

Bases are grouped into regular 'brigades' or irregular 'contingents'. These may be any number up to six bases. Think of Armati's "divisions".

Also, like Armati, once a unit pivots it must move straight ahead. But the brigade cannot wheel so these operate together to wheel unless there are enough CP (see below) so unless you are moving straight ahead, "brigades" are pretty unwieldy. A brigade is under the command of a general called a Leader in the rules. Six Leaders report to a Sub-General; four Sub- Generals report to a General; and four Generals report to the Commander in Chief of the army. There is a definite chain of command in these rules and following it is very important.

Command:

Vis Bellica takes an unusual slant to orders. Since it is a simultaneous movement system orders are the most important part of the game. However this is where the game's first flaw appears. Everybody from the CiC on down may issue the same types of orders. These are:

Attack: This means the unit must close and charge the enemy.
Forward: Advance to missile range but do not charge.
Hold: Halt in place until unit receives new orders
Retreat: Head towards the rear..
Guard: Guide on the General who gives the order and protect him.

There are positional orders as well. "Hold Forest" will have the units given this order, advancing to the indicated forest and occupying it, not moving until they get a new order.

The rules say Generals are issued with orders as they deploy and issue these same orders to all bases under their command. During play testing we were uncertain if this meant the CiC gives each sub-general a order such as " rout the enemy center" and the sub-generals gave out the advance orders with targets, or did the CiC issue the starting advance orders to all the "brigades" leaving the generals to modify the orders as they saw fit. This would be the equivalent of Alexander or Hannibal going to each sub unit before the battle and giving it detailed orders, something I doubt happened.

The rules tell us that a general or a unit follows orders each turn whatever the situation, even if that means it is going to hit in the flank. The player is only able to attempt to change orders once per turn in the command phase. You have to plan ahead, and be ready to issue orders as soon as you see your "brigade" in trouble. This is misses the fog of war, however. I can see a general with subunit taxie giving those 100 men commands. But a whole phalanx in the time scale of play? Very difficult to carry out.

The command mechanism has each general getting 1d6 of "command points" per turn. (Shades of PIPs!) These points are used to change the orders of a unit under the general's command at a cost of one point per unit. The more senior generals are able to pass their command points down the chain of command to those generals who need them. So give a general 3-4 bases in his "brigade" and he should be able to change the orders of each of his "brigade" bases each turn. Well, it doesn't quite work out that way. You also need command points to:

See enemy troops,
To re-order disordered troops (which happens a lot once everybody starts moving and fighting)
To rally shaken or routed troops.

And the further the distance away from the general if the unit is outside command range that adds to the points as well. So if you roll a 1 for command points for that turn ... you get the idea.

In our playtest battle, my peltasts were all ready to take an Athenian taxis in the flank. However I couldn't get them to turn, the advance order was in direction moving away from them. All it would take would be one Thessalian looking over his shoulder to see he was on the flank of an enemy hoplite taxis then tell his lads: "Look!" But no, they were stately moving along to skirmish with the Athenian Knights who ignored the taxis completely, who returned the favor.

Close Combat:

For close combat, or melee, there are two things to be decided by the rules: how did the units approach each other, and then what happens. Your options are simple. A charged unit my attempt to evade the charge, to shoot missiles at the incoming troops in an attempt to halt the charge, or to receive the charge. In some situations units are also allowed to counter-charge (if you have the CPs).

Melee is calculated by comparing units combat factors, adding modifiers, total two d6 and then divide the sum by five. The unit suffering the most damage has lost. After a morale check, the units subtract points from their basic fighting factors. Hence a roster system is used. Missile fire is calculated the same way.

Morale:

Vis Bellica's troops have three tiers ofmorale: good, shaken and routed. As expected shaken morale is the middle stage between good and routed, troops are not really retreating, but are not advancing either. Morale checks are made due to taking casualties or when a general tries to rally a shaken or routed unit. The system is two d6 with plus and minus modifiers. Reminds me a lot of WRG's old reaction test.

The author told me via e-mail that the average game consists of about 120 figures a side, and takes about 2-3 hours of play to resolve. Because it was our first game it took twice as long as that. And truthfully, we could not see it getting much faster. I'd say 4 hours is a good average.

Good things about these rules:

You cannot do much maneuvers with heavy units. So battlelines close quickly. You have to deploy intelligently, and make sure your generals follow chain of command. A bad deployment spells your doom since you cannot really change position while advancing. Rules allow for hidden movement without the need for a referee.

Bad things about these rules:

These rules owe a lot to "Principles of War" which in turn own a lot to my designs in the early 80's. So I thought I'd feel right at home with them. However the command system owes a lot to Phil Barker's PIP's with its attendant problems. It uses a roster system, which slows the game down, plus the book keeping always causes arguments. You have to re-base your figures. The author says no, but to use the system, they should be re-based. We cheated using 40 mm x 30 mm based units from Armati, and because of this problems in maneuver cropped up. Light troops are penalized in maneuver in these rules when they shouldn't be, the heavy infantry is queen of the field. The battlefield does not look like my idea of what an aerial view of one should look like.

Still Robert Avery has made a credible first effort. I look forward to his second edition when he fixes the typos and misprints visible in this, his first.

Rules are available from
Robert Avery
webmaster@visbellica.com
www.visbellica.com