Somewhere on the plains of Troy...

Started by mmcv, 03 March 2021, 12:11:07 AM

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mmcv

03 March 2021, 12:11:07 AM Last Edit: 03 March 2021, 12:13:31 AM by mmcv
After reading a thread on another forum of someone looking skirmish rules for the Trojan War it got me thinking. I've been putting together armies for big battle Trojan war but it's also a perfect environment for skirmish games and I've been enjoying developing my own rules lately so thought I'd turn my hand to skirmish rules. Aim is to keep the core simple enough to keep things flowing then can add in modifiers and special rules for character flavour as things progress. At the moment the rules are several types pages of stream of consciousness, but the latest page is starting to take shape in a coherent set of rules.




A narrative of the battle, in Homeric style:

As rose-fingered dawn stretched out her hands across the morning sky, the scouting party of long haired Achaeans came upon horse-taming Trojans moving through the morning haze like a lion stalking it's prey through the long grass.

Strong-hearted Demitrios cried out, his words had wings, "See there beyond that lonely tree, there come shield-bearing Trojans, hoping for our doom!" and with a roar set of towards those men. Wiley Ariston moved forward with caution, directing the long haired Achaeans accompanying him to move to places of advantage over their mortal enemies.

Swift footed Kyros, archer of Troy, who learned his craft alongside the cursed prince who is son of Priam, ran to the side towards a small thicket of trees while the Trojan men, killers all, moved forward with bronze clad Cephalus, gleaming.

The Achaeans had with them three men of bow and and sinew who with a prayer to Artemis, beloved of all hunters, let loose their arrows at the man-killing Trojans. Their shots rang true but were able only to stall the enemy, still they came forward. Kyros, archer of Troy, let loose his own arrows, like a raptor streaking from the sky to seize a small rodent, so his arrow swept through the trees and struck down a long haired Achaean in a fountain of blood and screams.

Strong-hearted Demitrios, Theron son, his roar like that of a lion, hutled his well-formed javelins, one and then another at the oncoming Trojans, the first glancing off a stout shield and sending the Trojan man stumbling backwards, such as the force of Dimitrios' arm, only for them to be pierced through the neck by an Achaean arrow, the second javelin striking home as the fisherman skewers a fish and felling another Trojan on that dusty plain.

Trojan warriors, allies from distant Lukka, over many hills and streams, these warlike men surge forward towards noble Demitrios, who undaunted by minor wounds from cowardly arrows sent his way by Kyros the archer, plucks a fallen javelin from a foe and throws it into the warriors' midst, charging behind it to crash into them with a mighty roar. Filled with battle lust he had no fear of these war-like men and though outnumbered threefold he set upon them like a boar charging his killers.

Over the plain, Trojan man-killers from wild Thracian lands far to the north, creep through the broken ground and hurl their bronze tipped spears at the Achaean foe. The Achaeans for their part return flights of bronze with flights of bronze and blood spills wine dark between them. As the Trojans emerge from the rugged scrub, well-armed Ariston runs forward, throwing his javelin among the men, as Zeus throws his lightning from the sky, so Ariston's spear struck the enemy, then still charging forward he raised his spear, bronze tipped and gleaming, and ran it through another of the men, pulling it out with the blood and guts of his dead foe.

Bronze clad Cephalus, ignoring the Achaean arrows glancing off his glistening armour, crashed into the melee, swinging his own spear at the exposed back of well-armed Ariston. The gods looked favourably on Ariston, son of gentle Paion, healer of men, and turned mighty Cephalus' spear away so it did not strike a killing blow. Ariston, aware of the dangerous warrior now behind him turned to face his mighty foe while longhaired Achaeans charged the remaining Trojans coming from the rugged land. Their spears fell upon these men and their blood joined that of their comrades in the dust of that Trojan plain.

Strong hearted Demitrios struck down one of those Lukkan men who faced him, their blood flowing like the fast moving Scamander, that river that snaked through the Trojan plains before Illium's high walls. Before be could pull back his spear to strike once more, the other two men screamed their hatred and smote him with their bronze headed weapons, knocking him to the ground, unconscious and bleeding, close to that land where all men must go when their time comes. Before they could make sure his strong heart would never rise again, they were faced with the stout shields and long spears of long hair Achaean spearmen, fighting to protect the body of their fallen kinsman.

Kyros, archer of Troy, sent his shafts towards the Achaean men of the bow, but Helios' chariot, rising in the morning sky, clouded his eyes and his arrows found no mark. Not so with the long haired Achaeans and their strong bows, whose stout shafts found their enemy and Kyros, son of wrathful Pyrros, fell to the dust with tears of pain as the arrow pierced his chest.

Bronze clad Cephalus, anguished at the noble Trojan men dying around him cried out, his words had wings, "Back, back from these man-killing Achaeans. Grab hold of the bodies of our fallen comrades and let us back to the safe high walls of the fairest of all cities. Back in the name of Aegis-bearer Zeus".

The Achaeans shouted their taunts and insults at the fleeing Trojans, their victory had been great and they gathered those shields and spears of their fallen enemies that they could, along with the bodies of their dead and wounded and returned to the camp before the black ships, glowing in the glory of their victory.




I have set up and started another game, tweaking a few of the stat lines that I felt weren't quite right, but overall pretty happy with the core rules. Here's a picture of the second game in progress, I may get a chance to finish it before work in the morning if I'm up in time (unlikely...). Figures are mostly unpainted as my Trojan War project is still early days and most painted figures are already on their unit bases.



Duke Speedy of Leighton

You may refer to me as: Your Grace, Duke Speedy of Leighton.
2016 Pendraken Painting Competion Participation Prize  (Lucky Dip Catagory) Winner


mmcv

I managed to squeeze the game in before starting work now. Reducing the bow ranges helped balance it a bit, still able to get the odd lucky shot but have to expose themselves to danger if they want a good one, so tend to lurk behind trees trying to hit anyone who comes close enough. Heroes felt a little fragile so added a rule on the fly to allow them to recover some fighting ability, which I think may encourage them to take more risks. Photos and writeup later.

Lord Kermit of Birkenhead

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Lord Kermit of Birkenhead
Muppet of the year 2019, 2020 and 2021

Techno II


Maenoferren

Sometimes I wonder - why is that frisbee geting bigger - and then it hits me!

mmcv

Thanks! They're coming together nicely. My main aim was to provide a nice narrative flow that I could use to build multiple games around in a sort of RPG/Campaign system taking a group of warriors and heroes through some improvements, gaining honour and worth through their deeds and using that to increase their fighting ability. I want the core system to be pretty simple to pick up (and possibly transfer to other periods with a few tweaks) while providing a lot of the flavour of the period through some special abilities and mechanics. One mechanic I'm using is Arate points, i.e. the level of honour (or more properly, "excellence") a particular hero has, and these Arate points can be used for various actions (rerolls, extra movements, attacks, etc) but it is also lost through taking wounds, so it's a resource you have to balance.

Here's the report of this mornings game. I decided to run the same forces again to keep things balanced, rather than applying some of the "metagame" ideas around gaining experience and equipment, just to keep it simple for now and let me refine the stat lines. The weapon and armour stats seem to be working well to influence the style of play and encourage different play styles, for instance, Demitrios becoming a young headstrong character prone to charging into battle since he has only a shield and sword so has to close quickly and is vulnerable from behind.

Few more tweaks and refinements then I should probably paint and base a few up properly and run a small narrative campaign. It's handy that it can run in a small space. I've literally lifted my laptop to the side here and played it on half my desk (hence the grubby desk protection sheet as a playing mat!)




Shield-bearing Achaeans and noble Trojans meet once again upon the sparse plains in the lands of Priam, king. Their arrows fly like wasps roused from the nest in an angry flurry, but their stings prove fruitless at such a distance. Achaeans run forward and their javelins hit true while Trojan javelins fly too, pushing back advancing spearmen. 

Strong-hearted Demitrios, son of Theron, charges forward and feels the sting of missiles singing past his tall shield. He fells a Trojan javelinman only to be charged by those wild warriors from plains so distant from this bloodied land and falls beneath their deadly blows. Well-armed Ariston, brother of Demitrios, son of Theron, hurls his spear ahead and charges into their midst as the enraged bull charges a group of men, so Ariston charges into those bloody men, killing one, then another and pushing the last back with a mighty shove of his shield. One of those stinging wasps flying from Achaean bows finds the bare neck of this stumbling warrior and blood, wine-dark, sprays from the dying man's throat and stains his tunic as though some women of far Maeonia was applying purple dye to an ivory tunic, so it was the blood spread across his body. Wily Ariston turns swiftly and charges a nearby javelinman lining up a shot with his bronze tipped javelin, while Achaean javelinmen across the plain attack their Trojan counterparts, their spears turned aside by those shield-bearing Trojans.



Kyros the archer and bronze-clad Cephalus attack the long-haired Achaean spearmen, striking one with a well-placed arrow and another with a ferocious charge of Cephalus' stout spear. Arrows dart across the field of battle, like the swallow darting from tree to tree, so the Achaean bowmen from their wooded cover sent forth their deadly shafts. Kyros, though sheltered, receives a glancing blow from one such blood drawing swallow and screams in rage, turning his bow towards his tormentors.

Well-armed Ariston strikes down his foe with a mighty thrust of his spear and turns to aid his kinsmen, rushing bronze-clad Cephalus and striking him hard against that gleaming armour, impenetrable as a mountain in the chill north where the ground grows so cold no man can pierce it. Cephalus, angered by this ringing blow strikes wildly at the spearmen before him, his stout shaft crashing into the shied of one and with a crack like Zeus' wrath, his spear shaft breaks asunder.

Shield-bearing javelinmen battle back and forth like the tides of that great ocean that rings the world, but the gods favoured Trojan arms this day and the last man on his feet amongst the mud and blood of brutal combat calls well-built Illium his home.

Cephalus, broad-shouldered and standing a head above his enemies, dropped his now useless spear and with a swift motion draws his sword and strikes with it, pressing close to his Achaean foe and driving the sharp blade around that mighty shield. His Achaean foe screams in pain as the bronze blade pierces his side and falls to the ground. Bronze clad Cephalus, son of Tadeas, turned to wily Ariston, eyes blazing and blood dripping from that bronze implement of Achaean doom and Ariston, surveying the death of his warlike kinsmen around him cried out, his words had wings, "Noble Cephalus, prince, and friend to horse taming Trojans. You have shown yourself the mightiest of men upon the field of battle this day. We lesser men lie broken around you. I ask you, let us end the bloodshed this day and take our men to be tended to and given the full funeral rights that so befit their brave natures. My brother, strong-hearted Demitrios, lies bleeding in the ground beyond here. I ask in the name of our distant mother, gentle Danae, that I may take him back to the hollow ships and tend to him before Hades invites him to his grim halls." 



With this, the wrath of Ares that had burned so bright in Cephalus faded and he nodded to well-armed Ariston, "Enough blood has been shed this day. Let us tend to our comrades and give our observance to the immortal gods".

They gather their dead and wounded and return to their camps, the Achaeans to those black ships upon the beaches and the Trojans to well-built Illium and it's high walls. Demitrios, though bloodied, is not mortally wounded and with rest and the tender ministrations of his older brother, will recover to spill Trojan blood another day.

mmcv

I've been tinkering with these on and off over the past while. I'm maybe 80-90% there with the core rules (that I hope to be fairly adaptable to most pre-gunpowder skirmish) and maybe 60% of the way there with the "flavour" rules that set it in a particular place and time for the Trojan War. I've also some notes for ideas of other periods too, and some ideas for different flavour rules to suit them.

The core rules essentially revolve around using random activations (currently coloured dice in a bag with an end turn dice that adds a bit of urgency since everyone may not get to go) then each activated combatant may take 2 actions (move, attack, loot, defend, etc). Combat is handled with 2d6 +/- modifiers vs the target's Defence value. For standard combatants, 1 hit = dead. For elites, they have a more RPG aspect, and may use special points (known as Arete in the Trojan War flavour) to take more damage, take more actions, and some other such things. There's also rules for dealing with attack directions and terrain and all the usual stuff. There's a few special events that trigger depending on particular outcomes (double 1s or 6s).

For the Trojan War, the idea is that you start with a shipload of warriors and heroes and they would fight through a bit of a campaign system earning points for the heroes though different scenarios and using that to increase their Arete (their Excellence or Quality) as well as purchasing new equipment and earning special abilities (such as the favour of certain gods).  I've still to work out the details of the scenarios and special events, but have the core equipment and special abilities mostly worked out and costed.

Ran a quick test game at lunchtime, 3 heroes and 5 or 6 warriors a side. Still bare metal and mdf I'm afraid as my paints are all packed up for the house move!





A stream weaves through a copse of trees where two groups of enemies meet.


The Achaeans move up to the stream, strong-hearted Demitrios crossing over and attacking some Trojan warriors. An Achaean archer is felled by a well-thrown spear.


Well-armed Ariston joins his brother Demitrios and between them, they drive the warriors back along with the Trojan Leander, son of Peadar. Ariston is struck in the rear by bronze-clad Cephalus.


Strong-hearted Demitrios takes the fight to the Trojans


The battle at the stream intensifies. Achaean arrows harry the Trojan warriors, while the long spears of the Achaean warriors strike them down. But well-armed Ariston, struck already by several blows was unable to withstand the onslaught of Cephalus, son of Tadeas. Though many blows were landed against his armour of bronze, the stout Trojan spear struck Ariston, son of Paion, and he fell to the wet earth by that gentle stream. Shocked by their commander going down, the remaining Achaeans dragged his body across the stream and fled the field of battle.

Thankfully his wounds were minor, mainly thanks to his uncle, Evander, son of Heitor, trained in medical arts, who shared the field with them that day.




Game ran pretty smoothly, took about half an hour and a few of the concepts I'd tweaked (like knockback and archery) and introduced (like defending and the end turn dice) worked pretty well. There's still a little bit of balance. I ended up mostly using the Arete as would deflection rather than for additional actions. But there were one or two occasions I considered burning one for an additional action. I suspect it would work reasonably well in a do or die situation for a bit of an emergency boost, and as the heroes level up and gain more Arete it will be less risky to use it for other things. There's also an Areisteia (Moment of Excellence) mechanic that gives them a boost which didn't come up but has in other test games and encourages taking more risks.

Happy with how things are coming together, ideal for a quick lunchtime or evening game or two to build a story through linked fights. Next step will be fleshing out some additional scenarios and special events to tie that all together.

Steve J

This is all coming along rather nicely and you are obviously enjoying this, which is the most important thing :).

mmcv

Quote from: Steve J on 12 March 2021, 10:09:20 PM
This is all coming along rather nicely and you are obviously enjoying this, which is the most important thing :).

Yeah it's good fun. We've had a lot of stress around moving house so it's been nice to have something to tinker with as a distraction, and I quite enjoy the process of developing rules. This gives me a fun way to play short games to get that gaming fix without needing to set up a 2 hour battle. I've ideas to make them work with some of my "leftovers" from other projects as well and possibly scratch the itch for forces that aren't available in 10mm but that I'd not want to do an army for in a larger scale. Might also put together something that I can finally make use of those 28mm Romans and Gauls I invested in when I started getting into the hobby.

Techno II

Good stuff, Matthew !

Cheers - Phil. :)

paulr

Lord Lensman of Wellington
2018 Painting Competition - Runner-Up!
2022 Painting Competition - Runner-Up!
2023 Painting Competition - Runner-Up!

mmcv

Another quick lunchtime game (probably my last before the big house move).

The latest refinement of the rules worked well, the game ran smoothly, even got an Aristeia triggered which was fun to play out (basically a bonus activation as well as a handful of temporary Arete/skill points), as well as a series of short turns and convenient activations at just the right point to unleash a powerful counter-attack.

All being well once I'm settled into the new house I can paint and base a few models properly and start building some linked scenarios to carry things on from game to game. Tempted to get some bigger scale figures given the skirmish nature, but 10mm works well for a small play area as can lift my laptop out of the way and play on my desk Tried a slightly different balance of forces this time. Both sides had 3 heroes, but the Trojans had a good few of their warriors in units, while most of the Greek warriors were individuals. Units mean you can group multiple individual warriors together providing a combat and defence bonus, as well as being able to attack and move together, so they hit a little harder and can get to the fight quicker, but means there are fewer actions available since a unit of 3 warriors will still only have 2 actions, while 3 individual warriors will have 6 actions in total. However, there's a good chance that not all those individuals will be activated in a turn, so it does balance nicely.





Kyros, son of Pyrros, that archer of well-built Troy seeks to seize the ground upon the hill and rain his deadly arrows down onto the Achaean foe, striking well-armed Ariston a glancing blow. Famed Achaean healer, Evander, son of Heitor, rushes forward flanked by warlike Achaeans and though he stumbled upon the steep slopes, the warriors around him surged forward seeking to drive far-seeing Kyros from the hill. Evander's noble nephew, Ariston, Paion's son, rushes forward with well-armed Achaean spearmen while bronze-clad Cephalus, that horse taming Trojan, leapt from his chariot to face the advancing Achaeans joined by wild warriors from regions far from these fields. Leander, son of the Trojan ally Peador, moves up cautiously, attempting to dislodge an Achaean bowman from the trees behind which he cowers. Demitrios, strong-hearted half-brother of Ariston lingers in the rear, stretching weary muscles after a night of poor slumber.


Famed Achaean healer Evander found his feet and with his companions drove Kyros, Pyrros son, from the hill. Upon the plain, well-armed Ariston with his warlike spearmen were set upon by bronze-clad Cephalus, son of Tadeas, and his wild allies. As a golden lion rages against it's enemies, so did that godlike man of bronze, Cephalus, rage against those well armed Achaeans. As if possessed by Areas, that warlike god of butchery and strife, so Cephalus struck his long-shadowed spear against noble Ariston and while Achaean spearmen butchered their enemies, they were too late to stop that stout Trojan spear piercing Paion's son. Trojan's died upon the field of battle too. As well as those warlike Lukkans from the far South, Leander, that spear-armed many of Troy, fell to bronze tipped Achaean spears.



Strong-hearted Demitrios, son of Theron and brother to Ariston through their mother, gentle Danae, saw his half-brother fall to that warlike bronze god, Cephalus, and roared his defiance. Like a boar cornered by spears and rushing with strong tusks forward, so warlike Demitrios tore across the plain, throwing himself into the storm of battle and thrusting with spear and shield against his bronze-clad enemy. Caught off guard, glowing as he was in his victory over noble Ariston, Cephalus stepped back again and again under the ferocious onslaught of Demitrios as he drove those Trojans from his fallen brother. So far he pushed the Trojans back he became exposed to more of their number, and they crashed into his side, pushing him away from Cephalus and giving their lord time to recover. Evander, proud standing upon the hilltop, threw his spears into the Trojan ranks, helping drive them from the body of his fallen nephew.


Proud Evander and strong-hearted Demitrios press their attack, trying to bring down bronze-clad Cephalus and drive the Trojans from the field so they may tend to their fallen kin. But Cephalus stands strong and though many blows ring off his bronze-clad body, Thracian spears, allies to well-built Illium, knock Demitrios, Theron's son, bleeding to the dirt while famed healer Evander, avenged himself against them. He butchered them like the priest takes a milk-white heifer and sacrifices her to the gods, so he killed those Thracian men. In his wrath, he leaves himself open and bronze-clad Cephalus, bloody, battered, but not felled, strikes out with his stout spear and spills Evander's blood.

Three Achaean heroes lie wounded upon the field of battle, but much Trojan blood has been spilt and warcries in the distance tell of more Achaeans ready for war. The Trojans leave the field of battle.




A pretty brutal fight in all. The Achaeans got a better share of the activations, but the Trojans seemed to have Tyche, the goddess of luck herself rolling their dice. Cephalus rolled double 6s which triggered an Aristeia for him which allowed him to fell Ariston, but a few short turns in a row, which kept activating Achean heroes first meant Demitrios got to vent his wrath and stop Cephalus taking further advantage of his victory over Ariston. It wasn't enough though and the weight of Trojan arms became too much for the Acheans.

I should probably have removed the fallen warriors from the field to make things a bit cleaner looking. Fallen heroes though do still have a purpose as they can be looted, though I may wish to make proper casualties for them rather than just upending their figures, which looks a bit naff.

Techno II

 8)

At SOME stage, I'll be making a load of different casualties for various 'eras', Matthew.
Don't ask me when. ;)

My desk is getting completely over-run by wee men at the moment...and other stuff ! X_X

Cheers - Phil.