After a week’s break for a family Christmas in Wellington, New Zealand, I returned home with a few rules and campaign ideas to try out. The first idea was to apply an army activation approach to my D3 Ancient rules (a variant of One-Hour Wargames). To test them a Punic War game setup. It has been quite a while since my ancients have been out for a game.
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| Roman forces are lined up on the left and Carthaginian forces on the right behind the fordable river. |
I opted for 9 units per side with the orders of battle being:
Rome:
6 x Heavy Infantry units (2 of which are veterans)
2 x Light Infantry
1 x Cavalry
Carthage:
1 x Elephants
3 x Cavalry (1 of which is veteran)
2 x Heavy Infantry (both veteran)
2 x Gauls (Warbands)
1 x Light Infantry
The game report…
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| Both armies advance. Carthage kept its veteran heavy infantry on the hill. |
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| Carthaginian cavalry push around on the flank quite successfully, but their commander gets caught up in the ensuing melee which will impact the activation check. In the centre the Gauls and elephants are battling heavy infantry with both sides taking casualties. |
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| The Carthaginian commander’s unit is eliminated and they retire from the field of battle. Carthage continues to threaten Rome’s flank while in the centre their veteran heavy infantry advance to replace the Gaul and elephant unit losses. |
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| Roman units are able to fend off the flanking cavalry with retires. In the centre they advance and use the remaining light infantry to flank Carthage’s heavy infantry. |
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| A poor army activation allows Roman forces to eliminate the Carthage’s cavalry reducing the army to 2 units. A Roman victory. |
A quick and enjoyable game of 12 turns. The army activation provided some unpredictability as unit accrue hits and become less likely to activate. This is something I appreciate as a solo gamer and I have updated the D3 Ancients rules (see tab at the top of the blog page).
Next up I will be returning to my WW1 Palestine campaign. This time I will not be battling solo. Instead I will be playing a remote game with Jon of https://palousewargamingjournal.blogspot.com
Looking forward to our next contest! It is interesting to watch your army activation concept take hold and spread through your other D3 stable of rules. The army activation does add an extra level of unpredictability and nuance. Without it, the French were unlikely to see victory in the recent Auberoche game.
ReplyDeleteKeeping some fresh units in reserve can prove useful towards the end of the game as units have an increasing chance of failing to activate.
DeleteLovely sized game. Variable activation is a great boon for solo play. Can your units choose to move together as a block on a single activation?
ReplyDeleteUnits all move individually, providing their hits are less than the army activation score. The exception is the unit with a commander attached, they can always activate.
DeleteThis is the only weakness that I see with activation systems for ancients, as a ‘front’ cannot advance universally, causing the line to break up before there has been any friction of combat.
DeleteThe likes of DBA does allow a block to advance as one for (say) 1 pip. On the flip side one can only imagine that such an ancient army must have been a monster to move and certainly in no other way than straight ahead ….. so perhaps they were less bound by this notion than we assume - is that what Roman maniples etc was designed to overcome. A fascinating design subject.
Activation is pretty easy early on in the game, but becomes more problematic as the game progresses and units accrue hits. 1’s are always going to be a problem and cause delays for units with hits. Reserves of fresh units, or second lines, become very useful as they will be able to activate.
DeleteGreat to see the Punic Armies out again, just a few questions / comments:
ReplyDelete1. What are the 'retires' that you mention the Roman infantry seeing off cavalry with - there seems no mention of retire in the rules.
2. Can units move backwards? I assume not.
3. What is the thinking behind units in combat not fightng if they are below the activation thereshold? It seems a bit harsh to me.
4. I assume the first bullet in the rules under charging is what can, not what cannot, be charged?
5. Do units still turn to face chargers if not already fighting another unit?
5. Can re-post the old rule-set alongside the new?
Hi Rob, 1) the cavalry that retired had eliminated their opponent, then retired as they had taken a good few hits and there were other enemy nearby.
Delete2) providing the unit can pivot a unit can move in any direction.
3) I was in two minds about this, either retire 3” or just not attack. I opted for the latter. I treat it as a unit becoming disorganised or taking a setback in the ebb and flow of battle. Harsh? Yes, units can disappear quite quickly. Reserves of fresh units are important.
4) Thanks for the typo pick up.
5) If already engaged frontally, they cannot turn. If not engaged frontally, they they can pivot.
6) Unfortunately, I over wrote the old set. I will see if I have a copy elsewhere and email you.
Thanks, Peter
Thanks for the answers and forgive the two number '5's (I knew I should've taken my socks off to help count the questions).
DeleteDon't worry about the previous set as I did eventually find where I had kept a copy - I thought I had.
Ah! Now I get it. It was supposed to say "... able to fend off the flanking cavalry WHICH retires."
DeleteNo worries, thanks for all the comments. Peter
DeleteGreat looking table as usual Peter! I'm getting 'sword and sandal epic' vibes from it. Sadly they seem to be thin on the ground on the telly this Christmas.
ReplyDeleteAll the best.
Chris
Thanks, a bit slack of the TV channels not having one of the old epics showing at this time of year.
DeleteAnother great game there Peter. The visual look is a real treat for me. I too like some unpredictability in my solo games, hence my preference for the Warlord Games Black Powder style C&C die rolls.
ReplyDeleteI try and get a balance between the look and practicality of tabletop terrain. The unpredictability does help make a good solo game.
DeleteThe Punic plastics look excellent as ever. Look forward to the WW1 action in East Africa.
ReplyDeleteI am increasingly enjoying collecting the plastic figures, particularly the 20mm figures as it is a scale I really like.
DeleteAm eyecatchingly attractive battlefield, Peter!
ReplyDeleteThank you. Other than some of the trees it is all scratch built.
DeleteGreat looking game Peter and excellent ideas on the unit activation. I may steal them for my games. 😊
ReplyDeleteThanks. I hope the activation mechanism may be of use.
DeleteEnjoyed the write up and pictures, Peter. I like a certain amount of chaos (unpredictability) in my games, and that is especially true when playing solo!
ReplyDeleteThe unpredictability (or chaos) increases as the hits mount added to the enjoyment.
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