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Post by hammurabi70 on Jan 28, 2020 11:16:03 GMT
Hammurabi70, I found 2 sets of naval rules that looked interesting. The first is "Ram or Die! Fast and Easy Naval Battle Rules" by Matt Fritz. It is fast and simple which I liked. Naval battles were something new I tried to expand the Ancient Mediterranean campaign I had. It led to a lot of interesting developments. I looked at another ruleset called "All Ships! Ram Speed!" It is much more detailed, but it looked like it really captured the flavor of ancient naval warfare. Someday I'll try it. I think I found these on the Freewargames rules Wiki. If you can't find them I can send you a copy. Dale Would that be the ones from Junior General? juniorgeneral.org/naval/salamis.htmlwww.navalwargamessociety.org/rulesonline.html |
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Post by wargamerdale on Feb 1, 2020 14:36:04 GMT
Andy,
I'm still working on the campaign rules. I found out that the changes described above resulted in too few battles overall. I'm working to correct that and so far generating a lot more action in an interesting campaign that has taken several different turns. So far I'm liking how it all works together.
Dale
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Post by saxonred on Feb 1, 2020 16:55:20 GMT
Hi Dale,
I've just finished a 1 year campaign set in Britain around 845 AD using your rules (mostly) I've modified a few things to fit the period e.g. each Empire rolls a D6 in spring & summer to determine if they are raided by the dreaded North men. They have the option to fight or pay tribute.
One thing that has struck me is that there is a need for some number crunching (not excessive) in the Winter period, how have you copped with this? Do you have a specific sheet to help keep track of the figures?
Here's what happened in my campaign year:
I only played 3 active 'Empires' the Pictish, Mercia and the Welsh - all other e.g. Northumbria were Neutral territories with a standing army of 12 DBA elements
Spring - the Pics attacked Northumbria but were defeated and retreated back with the loss of 4 elements. Mercia and the Welsh was inactive and stayed at home.
Summer - the Welsh laid siege to Chester but were unsuccessful in its capture. The Picts and Mercia were inactive.
Autumn - the Welsh and Mercians met on the border and fought a battle that lasted most of the day (I use Stevie's daylight indicator). Both sides suffered losses but with no overall winner. Both retreated back home. The Picts were inactive.
Winter - all Empires were home for the winter and recovered their losses. The Mercians spent 6 pieces of gold on 6 naval points.
I kept if simple and managed to get the whole campaign in to just under 5 hours, making notes and trying stuff as I went along. All in all an enjoyable day, thanks for sharing the rules Dale.
Andy
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Post by wargamerdale on Feb 2, 2020 15:07:47 GMT
Andy, Thanks for sharing that. Your campaign sounds similar to the campaigns I've played with these rules. Working on one more upgrade that so far is really enjoyable. Will share it after a few tests. I like that you were able to add your own "mods" to fit the period. I think any set of rules like this should be fluid and customizable to personal taste. For the number-crunching, yes I do keep some records: 1. A roster of each empire's army or armies, and navy if they have one. 2. An ongoing update record of each empire's treasury. Each Winter after all the calculations and decision have been done, it is updated. It is not as cumbersome as it may seem, and goes fairly quickly. For neutral territories, I simplify it by making assumptions: 1. A fort's garrison is "just there". It is either defeated in a siege or not. 2. Any forces a neutral territory may have will be "commands" (4 light/medium foot elements with an assumed officer). A territory can have 1, 2 or 3 commands. In multiples, they have an "assumed" commanding officer. I do not keep records on these, but have simple numbered markers, one for each command, placed in the territory zone on the campaign map. It's visual and easier to see. If a battle is fought against a neutral army, I play it out, randomly choosing the foot elements. As elements are lost in battle, I remove a "command" marker from the map, rounding to nearest multiple of 4). Example: A neutral army has 12 elements (3 commands). During the battle it loses 5 elements and is defeated. I remove just one command from the map. One more or less light foot element does not affect the campaign, and this is much simpler this way. I hope this makes sense. It does when I play it out  Dale |
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Post by wargamerdale on Feb 13, 2020 19:25:03 GMT
Yes, the naval rules I tried are from Junior General (Battle of Salamis). The other ones are indeed from the navalwargamessociety website you indicated. I picked them up and saved for a future try. They looked pretty good though.
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Post by saxonred on Feb 16, 2020 19:50:45 GMT
Sadly I only got to play out 2 seasons of 846AD today due to various interruptions. Continuing on from my last post with the same empires.
Spring - Picts attack Northern territory of Strathclyde and win a decisive battle. The Strathclyde army retreats to it's Southern territory and the Picts occupy the north. Dunbarton garrison surrenders to the Picts.
Mercia attacks the Southern territory of Wales. The Welsh win the battle by cunning use of terrain (hills and a river) and send the Mercians back home.
There were no raids.
Summer - Welsh & Picts raided by Vikings. The Welsh pay off the Vikings with 7 points of gold. The Pict garrison of Nectansiner confront the raiders and win the battle (I used Stevie's raiders house rule).
The Picts continue their invasion of Strathclyde and crush the remaining field army. Picts are now the new masters of Strathclyde.
Welsh lay siege to Mercian controlled Chester but fail. They loose 1 element of 3WB and return to North Wales.
Mercia attacks South Wales by laying siege to Cuerwent and destroys the garrison. Mercian field army occupies South Wales.
Hope to play the next 2 seasons early this week.
The raider rule works well and with the timely publish of a house rule by Stevie can now be played out on the table. I have also allowed for garrison troops to increase to 6 elements and confront raiders if the opportunity occurs.
I've mastered what 'accounting' is needed.
Andy
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Post by saxonred on Feb 21, 2020 17:25:27 GMT
Autumn - No Viking raids.
Picts continue their aggressive actions by attacking the southern territory of Northumbria and lay siege to Loidis (Leeds). The garrison is destroyed and the Picts occupy the territory West of the River Ouse.
Mercia and the Welsh attack each other once again. This time both armies march to the north/south border of Wales so I used the 'Collision course' rules by Dave Lawrence to recreate a chance encounter. The Welsh beat the Mercian army and retake South Wales.
Winter - All Empires spend the winter in friendly territory. Field armies are brought back up to full strength.
The Picts now occupy Strathclyde and pay gold to garrison Carlise & Dumbarton. The Welsh spend gold on reinstalling a garrison in Ceurwent. All Strathclyde gold is handed over to the Picts.
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Post by wargamerdale on Feb 24, 2020 1:28:48 GMT
Andy, it sounds like you are having an interesting campaign with these rules. They can of course be bended and twisted to fit your era better and your likes/dislikes. I would be interested in knowing how many battles and also sieges you had during the campaign. I had one campaign that seemed to last for years with many, many battles. Then I had one that had only a couple and it was over. sort of like a heavyweight prize fight. I'm trying to find that happy medium of an interesting campaign with just the right number of battles. If you tweaked the rules, I'd be interested in what the tweaks were and how they worked for you. There is surely no rush. Thanks so much.
Dale
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Post by wargamerdale on Mar 4, 2020 2:22:53 GMT
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Post by chgowiz on Mar 4, 2020 5:09:52 GMT
Dale, that link is broken to some degree, it won't let folks comment. It seems to be a blog "preview" link rather than a live link.
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Post by wargamerdale on Mar 5, 2020 21:53:33 GMT
Hmmm. I saw a comment from you in the blog yesterday (??). I'm new to using or having my own blog, so bear with me. I'll take another look. Thanks for the input.
Dale
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Post by wargamerdale on Mar 5, 2020 22:03:14 GMT
OK, sorry about that. Entering the blog address below gets your right to it.
dalemunz.blogspot.com
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