As mentioned in the last posting, I thought that the Vikings were too weak and the Saxon peasants too strong. So, using BATTLELORE rules where certain forces would be "bold", where they ignore the first retreat roll, and the peasants would be "frightened", where they would retreat 2 spaces for every retreat roll. I also started using the "battle back" rule, where a bold unit could fight back if they weren't forced to retreat. This, being a game just to test the changes, had no terrain and I had no plan to photograph it. I did take a few shots with my phone after it started, as it made for a better game.
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| The Saxon army advances, being careful to keep their units supported. |
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| The Saxon shield wall starts inflecting losses on the Viking. |
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| The Viking pull back their medium infantry, and the Viking heavy infantry hits the Saxon shield wall and breaks through it. |
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| The Saxon heavy infantry starts losing heavily. |
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| The Saxons lose 50% of their units; the Viking continue to attack. The Viking archers aim at the priest, who was the Saxons leader. |
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He is forced to retreat with what's left of the army.
Using the right rules made for a better game. I have to remember to use rules as they are written; it didn't complicate the game that much. I do think that Ross Macfarland's suggestions from the last comments as to what units are bold are the way to go. I think I will play one more Viking game, with larger forces, and the above changes to the rules. |
Another lovely post. Rules - !!?? Have probable caused more projects to stall or wither on the vine than anything else. I have been thinking of using battlelore with some WOTR figures I have, 15mm but unfortunately not Peter Laing. The suggestions that you implemented make sense and seem to have worked very well, you seem to have enjoyed this game. Thanks for your ideas and thoughts.
ReplyDeleteI think BATTLELORE would be a good set of rules for LOTR. I came across a set of rule variant for BATTLE CRY, which had rules for magic. These rules would be better suited for BATTLELORE. I have used the BATTLE CRY fantasy variant with my Caesars Miniatures fantasy figures.
DeleteThe rules do seem to work well for this period.
ReplyDeleteBATTLELORE also has different rules for different weapons, such as short swords, long swords, pikes. BATTLELORE is another Richard Berg game that uses the same movement system as his other games. My biggest problem with his games is that I am terrible shuffling cards and sometimes it affects the game! I did blah the Agincourt scenario several times (and posted on them) both with the BATTLELORE figures and Peter Laing figures and had enjoyable games with them. I have thought of usingg some of the BATTLELORE scenarios with my different Peter Laing armies.
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