First test of ARES

 A few months ago I started to subscribe to Slingshot, the journal of the Society of Ancients.  Reading the articles has spurred me to dust off my paintbrush and to try to finish off a set of rules for ancient battles that I have been working at off and on for some time.  I started with a very simple test, pitting a group of Aramean spearmen, supported by some slingers, against a group of Kappadocian swordsmen supported by some javelinmen.  All the figures are from Newline's 20mm range.

The key feature of my rules - which I call ARES (Ancient Rules of Engagement System) - are that each fighting group has an allocation of Ardour points, reflecting willingness to fight and ability to sustain combat, and a Steadiness rating, reflecting how much stress they can take before having to start testing to remain in combat.  Alongside these are simple ratings for melée and any missile weapons.  Ardour points are used to take part in combat and melée results can cause additional loss of Ardour as well as inflicting Stress.  Once Ardour drops to 2 points, no further attacks can be made.  If it falls to 0 then the unit routs.  Missile fire only inflicts Stress.  Every turn a unit can try to rally off Stress.  If it fails to do so and the Stress level exceeds the steadiness rating then a test has to be taken to see if the group remains in the fight.  The system therefore gives a player two ways to beat an enemy. First is by inflicting Stress through combat, missile fire or threatening flanks, leading to a failed Stress Test.  Second is by wearing the enemy down through combat until he runs out of Ardour - assuming he does so before you do!  This seems to me to reflect the nature of ancient battles, a process of grinding down unless one side is able to secure an edge that allows it to break the cohesion of the enemy line.  Well, that's my theory.  How did the first test go?

I lined up the Kappadokians on the right with the swordsmen behind the javelins, just out of range of the Aramean slingers, who screened a deep block of spearmen on the left.

 

Each of the close order infantry groups started with the same Ardour level.  The spears would have an advantage over the swords in the first round of a melée but the Kappadokians could use extra ardour points to improve their chances in combat - they might hope that the ferocity of their attack would break the enemy before they themselves were exhausted.  Both had a Steadiness rating of 2.  The Javelins had a Steadiness rating of 1.  They had 3 Ardour points - so could join a melée but would not last long in it - and 3 javelins to throw - they would need to be within 6cm of an enemy to use them.  The Aramean slingers had a Steadiness rating of 0, so would need to start taking stress tests as soon as stress was inflicted, and only 2 Ardour points, so could not attack in melée, but they had unlimited slingshot to hurl and could do so out to 36cm, enough to give them at least 3 turns of fire before the enemy javelins could get close enough to do them injury.

The game began with the Kappadokians advancing as quickly as they could - the javelins moving faster than the swordsmen - to close the distance with the enemy and clear the slingers out of the way before the main clash.  They were fortunate.  The slingers failed to hit well enough to inflict stress on the javelins for the first couple of turns.

It was third time lucky for the slingers but the stress was quickly cleared as the javelins rolled a six in the rally phase!  Rather than risk a hand to hand fight with the javelins, the slingers fell back on their spearmen, giving them one more shot before the chance of hand to hand combat.

In the next turn, each of the skirmish groups inflicted stress on the other and each failed to clear the stress in the rally phase.  The slingers had to take a stress test but passed, leaving the javelinmen with a question as to whether to use up more of their javelins to try to finish off the slings, or press on to engage the spears.

They went for further skirmishing with the slingers rather than taking on the spearmen, wisely waiting for the swordsmen to catch up.  Neither inflicted more stress, neither cleared the existing stress and the slingers again passed their Stess Test.  The javelinmen were down to their last missile but the swordsmen were poised to sweep through to attack the spears.

The javelins and slingers moved out to the sides as the heavies clashed. The javelinmen kept their last shot in reserve for use against the spears if they could move round the flanks and they managed to clear the stress on them.  The slingers failed to clear their stress and finally failed their stress test, so would have to withdraw!

Kappadokian hopes were set back by the first round of melée.  Despite using extra Ardour to offset the spear's advantage, the spears still won resoundingly.  It seemed like the javelins had used up the good luck that was going.

Things went quickly from  there.  The swordsmen fell back, with loss of more ardour and taking stress, taking the javelins with them.  The spearmen followed on, giving the enemy no time to recover their balance.

Another round of melée saw the swordsmen take another Stress and lose more ardour.  Now at 3 Stress, one over their Steadiness rating, they took a Stress test, failed and routed, leaving the field to the Arameans.

Conclusions : the basic mechanism worked well in this trial but the simplicity of the scenario left many questions unanswered.  Without Generals - who can improve performance in melée and in rallying - it was very hard to rally off stress.  The Kappadokian swordsmen had burned through most of their ardour in just a couple of rounds of melée and would not have been able to carry on for long even if they had passed the stress test.  More testing is needed to get a better feel for setting initial ardour levels and how quickly these can reduce during melée.  Also, will the rules scale up well in larger battles, continuing to give a fast pace of play while capturing the diversity of troop types and morale conditions?