I took my homebrew rules out for another spin at the weekend to try out some of the new additions. Coming together pretty well, one or two minor tweaks I may consider for the future but need another test game or two first to see.



Full report here along with thoughts on the state of the rules currently:

https://mmcvhistory.home.blog/2021/07/04/battle-report-feudal-japan-ao-vs-shiro-clans-rematch/

Looking forward to getting some actual figures to game these properly now!

Seem to work well

Looks great (pretty windmills) but yes, the fatigue levels sound like they need some thought about numbers.

On the fatigues/casualties Matt - just a though ...

In my mass battle Fantasy rules that I am currently working on, I put Mini-bits dice holders onto the bases - each base has 3 holders - I then use different dice colours for fatigues and casualties.
My basic rule of thumb is that if a unit (base) has a break-point of 6 (for example) it becomes fully fatigued once it has collected 6 fatigues. These can be recovered fully (all in one go) - if the unit steps out of the battle-line and does nothing for a game turn (no movement, no shooting or receiving shooting casualties, no melee etc). A unit can also acquire Fatigues for moving in poor going (bad terrain) or choosing to move at higher speed (an added half move per turn) or when involved in hand to hand melee.

That way I can use the small dice to represent the casualties (by their pips) or fatigues. (I am using Red for casualties and Black for fatigues).
The 3rd dice holder is to represent when a unit is suppressed (which can happen in my Fantasy rules due to fear or a magical impact, loss of commander or heavy missile related casualties etc) and I just use one 'blind' white dice for that (adding or taking it off as appropriate).

I really like the idea of the camps and the messengers - great 'period' features.

It was an incredibly 'bloody' game but I am inclined to like that at this period. It certainly seems to work well.

More please.
mark

Quote from: Big Insect on 05 July 2021, 02:51:57 PM
On the fatigues/casualties Matt - just a though ...

In my mass battle Fantasy rules that I am currently working on, I put Mini-bits dice holders onto the bases - each base has 3 holders - I then use different dice colours for fatigues and casualties.
My basic rule of thumb is that if a unit (base) has a break-point of 6 (for example) it becomes fully fatigued once it has collected 6 fatigues. These can be recovered fully (all in one go) - if the unit steps out of the battle-line and does nothing for a game turn (no movement, no shooting or receiving shooting casualties, no melee etc). A unit can also acquire Fatigues for moving in poor going (bad terrain) or choosing to move at higher speed (an added half move per turn) or when involved in hand to hand melee.

That way I can use the small dice to represent the casualties (by their pips) or fatigues. (I am using Red for casualties and Black for fatigues).
The 3rd dice holder is to represent when a unit is suppressed (which can happen in my Fantasy rules due to fear or a magical impact, loss of commander or heavy missile related casualties etc) and I just use one 'blind' white dice for that (adding or taking it off as appropriate).

I really like the idea of the camps and the messengers - great 'period' features.

It was an incredibly 'bloody' game but I am inclined to like that at this period. It certainly seems to work well.

More please.
mark

I've toyed with dice holders before with some other rules, but to be honest, one of my aims is to minimise the amount of trackers that need to follow units around. With casualties, it's tracked with a single status (Wavering or Disloyal, though you could of course use your blank dice system for this) and commander Authority usually ranges usually from -1 to 2, so not really useful for dice tracking.

I may even reduce that further to just have a "lost authority" status rather than changing the numeric value of the authority, but haven't decided whether that needs changed yet, though the embedded dice frames would work nicely enough given the rules allow for diorama basing.

So fatigue is the only big number tracker needed and in most circumstances, it won't move with the unit. For a mid period battle like this each unit will usually be able to inflict between 2 and 6 Fatigue on a unit each time, depending on the size and formation its in, and how far it is from the target. I've actually since drafted a rule that will automatically discard any Fatigue under a threshold (the thresholds are fairly low, 2 Fatigue for a standard unit for instance so anything under that can be "shaken off") at the start of an activation, then any fatigue gained from movement would generally be applied at the end after they'd moved anyway, so there should never really be a case of fatigue having to move with the unit. If that's the case then having large numbers build-up isn't too concerning, except of course for the unit testing which may only be able to prevent itself routing with a roll of a 12!

But yeah the games are made to be bloody, with tenacious commanders able to hang on by the skin of their teeth and hold divisions together in the face of endless fire, though can also have large numbers of units collapse quickly if a melee goes the wrong way or the commander gets cold feet. Because the commanders are so important if you catch an enemy commander undefended and destroy them you can clear an entire flank instantly. Makes those unusual formations all the more important to keep the commander safe while still combat effective!

I hope to get another test game in soon, provided real life doesn't get in the way too much.