Saturday AAR

The Baroness took a much deserved grand tour of the Kingdom this past Saturday which left me some time to paint and try out some games I've been wanting to try for awhile. I enjoy my problem of 6-8 regular players, but it doesn't allow for those smaller 1 v 1 games. So, with the help of Essjam, I tried Dux Bellorum and Richard III.

The Normans and their LPs

I gave a one read thru review a while back. The Early Dark ages or time of historic Arthur, has always been a favorite of mine. I've had, over the years several rule sets, but none felt quite right. Glutter of Ravens came close but still wasn't right for me. When I read Dux Bellorum was a refined version of Glutter, I knew the $12 purchase was worth it.

The forces face off. LPs have been assigned.

I don't actually have any Romano-Brit troops, so I pushed the limits of the rules to a Norman v Viking contest. You build forces using a small but effective troop list. Horses aren't very prevalent for the DB period, so a Norman force cost a lot, only giving me 10 stands of troops. In DB, a stand is a unit of around 50-ish men. It also uses basewidths as measurement. My 60mm x 60mm bases with 6-8 men looked just right. This isn't a army we're talking about, but a warband of a local warlord.

Red dice indicate Cohesion loss. Long term I would definitely use markers to limit battlefield clutter.

You purchase Leadership points for your forces. For this test, both sides got 8. LPs are the heart of the system and add tons of tactical depth, I'm sure me and my opponent only began to understand with our one play.
LPs are used to help move your troops, strengthen their attacks, reduce casualties, pre-empt movement, and bolster morale. You've only got so many each turn, and lots of troops. You lose LPs everytime you take losses. How to use them becomes the heart of the game.
The Vikings were the Aggressors. A normal game turn is: Place LPs, Simultaneous shooting, then move and fight.

The battle breaks up. I also used tags to list stats on each base. This isn't necessary in a real game, but thought it would save looking up stuff this first game.

Moves are further broken down to: Skirmishers first, Mounted second then your foot troops, with Aggressors always going first. My all foot Vikings limited my options to the end.
The game started with the Normans getting a pesky skirmish unit in the woods to my flank. Shooting has a hard time killing off units, but it can definitely weaken them. My troops were a mix of highly trained shieldwall (ok attack but tough on defense) and warriors (great on attack, not so much on defense and penchant for uncontrolled charges). The Warriors uncontrolled charges allowed me to attack without having to worry about Bravery Tests, which have to made to move troops around. Once the Normans got close, I just set them loose.
The fighting part became what Dark Age battles are, a shoving match. Terrain limited the abilities of the Norman horse to get around my flank, but they were tough and ended up breaking the flank they hit after 3-4 turns.
It was close. We finished within a few stands of each other with the Normans eeking out a victory. It took but an hour to play.
Can't wait to try these as a campaign. Speaking of which, yes I have read Dux Britainiarium. Like most of the Lardies rules, I liked the ideas presented, but found the actual play clunky and not to my taste. That being said, the campaign system could be lifted and use the combat from Bellorum.

We then played Richard III. I have a large Wars of the Roses collection, so a Columbia Games block game about the period was right down my alley.
I played the Lancastrians and Scott the invading forces of York. There are 3 game turns, each split into 7 sub turns. By end of round 2 I was dethroned and playing the Usurper, and in the end lost by 2 points. Again, a great game with lots of depth I barely scratched.
And on a final note, "Hey we made 200 Followers!" Welcome to the new guys and tahnks to the old, for sticking around.

One read-through reviews

Now that I have had a chance to read through some of my Christmas horde, I have thoughts and reviews.

Epic Spell Wars of the Battle Wizards, Duel at My Skullzfyre
I tried this out with some of my Lunch Money gaming veterans. The play is much more light hearted but still all about killing your neighbors. You try to put together spells from the cards you've drawn. The ones with a Source, Delivery and Outcome are more powerful. Each time you get new and unique spell combos, and the artwork is great. Reminds me of Adventure Time meets old 70s Crazy and Bananas magazines. We had only a few players. Six would give even more fun and crazyiness. Great for kids.
4 out of 5 Flaming Skulls

Condottiere by Frank Chadwick
Being a set of Foundry rules made to sell their awful new Renaissance miniature line, I put this on the wish list more for the pictures and background than actual rules. In these glory days of wargaming with all the new innovation in game mechanics, Frank Chadwick has stayed very, very old school. Single figure removal and using playing cards for casualty outcomes harkens back to the Sword and the Flame. It has to be geared more for smaller battles, I don't know how you get a bigger game in, in a decent time otherwise. Glad this one was a freebie. If I had spent $40 myself I'd be pissed.
2 out of 5 pikes (only for the nice pictures, too bad they are of the crappy new Foundry line).

Dux Bellorum by Daniel Mersey
This rules for Dark Age wars grew out of Glutter of Ravens, released some time ago. I remember thinking they were OK, but missing something. The new range of Osprey wargames rules have got alot of flack for being long on production values and pretty pictures but short on substance. For $12.96 on Amazon, I think they are a great little deal. Whatever problems I had with Glutter, seemed to be fixed now. There are quite a few wargames out now for this period, Dux Britainniarum being the big one. I found Dux Brit had alot of great set up and campaign ideas, but the actual combat rules convoluted and clunky (SAGA does it better).
Dux Bell borrows some ideas from all over and puts them together nicely. Each warhost is of base sized units ala DBA, but of whatever size/make up you want, because measurements are in base-widths (ala Sam Mustafa). Each stand takes a number of Cohesion hits (Black Powder/Hail Caesar) before it breaks based on a target to hit number (again BP/HC).
The real fun part that sets it apart, is the use of Leadership Points (LPs). LPs can be used in different ways to motivate your troops, block enemy fire, or help with other outcomes. Simple mechanic similar to command points in Grande Armee or Might and Reason, but perfect for a period of history were a War Leader, or Dux Bellorum, had more influence on a battle's outcome. Best part, I can use troops already mounted for other rules for this and think it has use for bigger, multiplayer games.
4 dragon standards out of 5.

Maurice by Sam "the Man" Mustafa
Named for Marshal of France Maurice de Saxe, an under appreciated general who knew not defeat, and a true character in his own right. To me, much like Sam Mustafa's games.
Anyone who stumbles upon this blog knows I'm Sam's #1 fan. Many plays of Grande Armee and Might & Reason  have convinced me he knows how to deliver period flavor without sacrificing playability, reasonable playing times or getting too abstract. I had all but given up on Nappies until GA.
So, on to Maurice. First, it is more of a two player game. Yes, that's bad for my gaming group of 6-8, but not necessarily. The games can be short. The campaign system Succession Wars included in Maurice would be perfect for our little group. My table split 3 ways would give 3 games going on simultaneously. Let the Imagi-Nations go! I could use the campaign simply for my own Unkerlant.
Maurice's mechanics for actual combat varies little from Might and Reason, but its the turn sequence and use of Action Cards (similar to Commands and Colors) that really makes it shine. It creates a natural ebb and flow to the battle. You can push and blow a bunch of cards to get the advantage, but then have to hold for awhile as your forces regroup.
Maurice requires the purchase of the card deck to play, and the game ain't cheap. Around $50 was the cheapest I found for both rules and cards. But, the rules give you everything from random battlefield generation to random officers (Notables) to campaign play. Well worth it. I'm currently rebasing a ton of dusty 6mm Marlburians that have never seen combat for this. So day maybe even some 28s. Can't wait to try.
5 out of 5 powdery wigs.