Saturday, July 16, 2016

Totally Accurate Battle Simulator and a Wargame

         While on Facebook I came across a video game called Totally Accurate Battle Simulator. While not available yet, it is hardly a state of the art video game. In fact, it looks like something from the 90s. If you Youtube  "Totally Accurate Battle Simulator", you can see some videos of the game. It looks like it would be a fun game, although if you are looking for a game to match the title, you will be disappointed. It is very cartoonish and the battles last around a minute. Still, it is a game I would love to play. It reminds me of my "no brain" wargame. This encouraged me to play a game.  I have been working on another set of simple rules, somewhere between "no brain" and Battlelore. I decided to try them out to see how they work.
     It is a simple game; nothing new to it. Both sides start out with equal forces; 2 archer units, 4 spearmen units, 2 cavalry unit, one that can be mounted archers. Infantry move one square (or hex), cavalry 2 squares (or hexes). Each unit has 4 men.  Archers have a range of 2.  A unit throws one dice for each figure in the unit. As they lose men, they lose dice. A "5" causes the attacked unit to retreat. A "6" kills one in the unit.  If an infantry unit forces another unit back when next to that unit, it may advance into the vacated square (or hex). If cavalry forces an adjacent enemy unit to retreat, it can advance into the vacated square (or hex) and continue to attack any adjacent enemy unit. In this game think of cavalry as fast infantry. The first army to lose 50% or their general (this is important, as will be seen), they are defeated.


Arab army in the foreground; Sudanese army at top.

At the top the Arab archers push back a Sudanese unit 2 spaces.








The Sudanese cavalry forces the center back. The Sudanese horse archers move forward, fire their arrows, and fall back.

Closeup of the Sudan horse archers attack.

The Arab horse archers kills one Sudanese, and forces the unit back.


Th Sudanese cavalry forces back the Arab center.




The Arab archers kill two of the Sudanese cavalry.



The Arab archers kill another Sudanese cavalryman. The other Sudanese cavalryman is the Sudanese general.

The Sudanese cavalry pushes back an Arab archer unit. In its' followup attack, it fails to force the  spearmen back.  The Sudanese pushes the Arab cavalry back. The Arab cavalry cannot fall back two spaces, so they lose one man.

The Arab cavalry attack the Sudanese cavalry from behind. With their retreat cut off, they lose two men (the number of 5's rolled by the Arab cavalry).

The Arab archers shoot at the Sudanese general; they miss.

The Sudanese general falls back. At this point I made a mistake. The general  moves back, right in the range of  the Arab cavalry. The Sudanese cavalry in the foreground positions himself so he can hit at multiple targets. Once I move a figure and take my hand off it, I won't move it if I realize I made a mistake as in this case.



The Arab cavalry hits the Sudanese general....

.....and kills him. With the rules as I wrote them, the loss of the general spells defeat for the Sudanese.



The Sudanese only had 11 men left; the Arabs 17.

6 comments:

  1. Using a chess board is a very attractive idea. I am aware that Bob C at Wargames Miscellany has used chess boards before in relation to the Portable Wargame. I get stuck when thinking about rules and making them simple but elegant, Hmmmmmmm need to get my thinking cap on. Thanks again.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Chris, when I want to go for a "toy soldier" feel, a chess board is a good way to go. I imagine a tiled floor in a Victorian home. I was going to use this board with my Peter Laing Victorian Parade figures. These rules are for when I'm stuck on projects and and still want to get a game in.

      Delete
  2. A very interesting battle report and set of rules. They seem to work very well and to produce a nicely balanced game where either side can win.

    All the best,

    Bob

    ReplyDelete
  3. Bob, I have found even simple rules need to be clearly written out; these rules were just written on a piece of scrap paper. The main reason I came up with this set of rules is so I can try to use more of the Peter Laing figures that I haven't been able to use. Although for this game I used the figures in set units, such as archer units, spear units and cavalry, I want to be able to mix the figures so different units have different capabilities. The armies are small enough that I could paint one in short order. When gaming solo, the hard part is getting the right balance so either side can win.

    ReplyDelete
  4. John, I love the write up and particularly your use of those arrow markers. The pictures look really good

    ReplyDelete
  5. I've seen the RISK arrows used in other blogs. I don't always post battle reports right away, and the arrows help me remember how the battle went. Most of the photos I've been taking the last few months are with my wife's camera. I am finally getting the hang of using the flash with the figures.

    ReplyDelete