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Post by tiger1 (Paul) on Aug 13, 2011 19:13:34 GMT
I received a copy of the new ancient rules Clash of Empires a couple of days ago. Funnily soon after Kerion showed me his copy. Having had a read through already there is a clear core of WAB throughout, with the main difference being 1) the removal of "Characters" replacing them with "Generals and Captains", which give dice modifiers to units. Similar to many historically based rule sets. 2) the remaoval of command elements Officers, Musician and Standard, but suggests they remain for athetic puroses. 3) focus on historical army abilities such as giving legion status to both auxilliaries and legionaries acting similar to the "maniple"rule where legionary units can add support bonus's for "behind" auxilliaries, and indeed replace them in combat, however with some rixk to the relaced unit fleeing. 4) warbands have similar characterisitcs to WAB but with some subtle twists and so on. An interesting read and coming from a historical background rather than fantasy, I can see much promise. The armies are slightly bigger than the typical WAB matchup - I would suggest about 50% bigger on first troll through. Finally the army lists are well designed around core troops and support / skirmish. with a matchup of one core to one of the S / S to a moax of 6 "non core troops so armies do not become unbalanced. It may well be worth experimenting in september if any one is interested with this rule set. on the whole it appears a well thought out set, but may not suit the WAB purist.
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Post by carl on Aug 13, 2011 23:58:16 GMT
i'll give it a go with you mate, just give us a shout when you are ready
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Post by tiger1 (Paul) on Aug 14, 2011 10:36:50 GMT
Thanks Carl, maybe get Kerion in as well as he also has a copy of the rules and hopefully there fore an interest. Read through some sections in more detail this morning, elephants . artillery and chariots well thought out, WAB basics again but additions and twists to original concepts, should be interesting to see what happens. Interestingly units can be min to max say 10 to 30 in size. When they get below the minimum they suffer a -1 on morale and other rolls - this discourages small units or people shaving figures off to cram in that other unit. yon can do but risk the negative modifier if you go below minumium strength. Oh certain types are not fully impacted, did I ention legionaries ;D ;D. In addition there is now an expert swordsman rule where you get half second rank fighting and opponant gets a minus 1 armour save No over laps in charge but up to 2 overlaps per flank in sustained combat. and theres more .... next time cheers Paul
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Post by Kierons on Aug 15, 2011 16:19:27 GMT
Im up for that. Maybe we can do a 2 vs 2 game so more of us can try the rules.
Will start reading my copy properly this week...
Kieron
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Post by wstevens on Aug 15, 2011 16:23:45 GMT
Yeah I don't mind having a look at this if you are doing a 2v2 let me know what sort of army I have to field pointswise or regiment wise. Obviously lets get Axes out of the way first.
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Post by tiger1 (Paul) on Aug 15, 2011 17:24:01 GMT
We can easily do greek v greek with my and Warrens greeks v Simon and Carls - any one else with Greeks? Alternatively we have shed loads of romans and barbarians between us. Up to you guys. One point emphasised in the rules is movement is more precise, some movement requires a dice roll 7 or less (on average) otherwise straight forward. All close order are restricted unless of course drilled in which case more feedoms. Just be prepared if not drilled and close order to move straight forward Open order types are more flexible but of course not first class battle line troops. March moves for CO requires a test (of course) Simplified artillery rules but makes sense to me. Elephants are fun, Cavalry test (both sides) if within 20cm of an elephant - expect some "elephant friendly mounted when army lists come out". Oh big change is metric not inches - not sure about that one - rule Britannia, etc. cheers Paul
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Post by wstevens on Aug 15, 2011 18:11:53 GMT
Still haven't answered my question about points etc... but yeah could do Macedonians / greeks
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Post by tiger1 (Paul) on Aug 15, 2011 20:44:13 GMT
Points values depend on the armies used, and who can bring what. If players give me a simple list of units you can all field I will work a scenario out and umpire the game, that way we can get 4 players plus me. Lets plan for mid sept. If you go to www.clashofempires.co.uk/quick-reference-sheets you can dowmload the reference sheets - although the use of the word "quick" amuses me ;D ;D. But at least they are comprehensive. Paul
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Post by Kierons on Aug 17, 2011 16:52:08 GMT
The've also got a whole load of other army lists free to download on their site. Worth a visit!
Kieron
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