I finished assembling the Wofun Games War of the Roses starter set, and decided to try them out with the starter rules from the Paperboys book they're based on. The rules are gridded, so I tried out one of my new Melee Mats too - they're very nice, and the markings seem to come off easily, which is a good thing. Already wasted one of the four markers they came with, sadly, by leaving it uncapped. Since the bases are 30mm wide and the squares one inch (25.4mm), I marked the corners of two-inch squares in a 7x10 grid.
Setup and Turn 1. Each side has two men-at-arms bases (one of them the commander); four billmen bases, and six archer bases.
Turn 2 and 3. Shooting has short and long ranges - the caveat is that arrows are limited and if you shoot with more than one base in a turn you expend them. You have six "multi-volleys" per game - at this short table-width it turns out not to be a big deal as units will be in combat inside two turns and the game has a fair chance of ending in less than six.
End-game. Combat is basic; units have a variable number of attacks based on level, hitting on 5+. The side that scores more forces saving throws on the opponent. Fail and the base is removed; pass and it is pushed back. The goal is to remove half the opponent's "points" total, each type being worth a differing number; the total in this game is 20 a side. The command base is powerful enough, with four attack dice, for the player to want to use it. But lose it and you lose the game, like the King in chess, and that was what happened here. I put up the Red commander against a weaker billmen base, but lost the combat and failed one of his two saves.
I like this simple ruleset, which is a lead-in to the full rules and represents a single ward or battle of the three normally found in an army of the period. I'll need to play it through a few more times to internalize the rules, but I don't expect that to take long. It's very chess-like, but with different (yet not complex) combat resolution that rewards consideration of risk. I might try it at work when the library's chess club starts up again.
On a related note, I received some nice Lancashire Games unit markers I ordered on a tip from Jonathan Freitag, intending to use them for Test of Resolve with these same figures, in units of two bases. The slide-under bit is smaller than I feared, and is hidden completely under a 20mm-deep by 30mm-wide base. Well and good.
Most interesting post and I am fascinated by the markers, never seen them before.
ReplyDeleteI think they're 3d-printed, and I've found several similar designs on Thingiverse. Unfortunately, none that combine the two parts of die-holder and sign-holder. I'm supposed to receive some tech-training on this sort of thing at work sometime this year, which would help me print it myself.
DeleteJennifer,
ReplyDeleteThe WoFun figures look impressive when seen en mass, and I like the unit markers.
All the best,
Bob
And they're only half... of the starter set! Not really my period, which is one reason for the smaller-scale gridded games which I will also try with the ECW set. I hadn't noticed until this week that you had a Pike-and-Shot Portable Wargame.
DeleteInteresting observation on the unit markers. I have a bunch of the dual 16mm dice markers. Most of my bulk-purchased 16mm dice do not quite fit into the holder. I thought it my be a QC issue with my (likely) Chinese dice. Did not consider that the issue might be QC issue on the holder. I guess I ought to measure both.
ReplyDeleteBut some of them do? Hm. I'd try the 16mm ones at this point, except that then the "under-the-base" section would probably be too large. The four 8mm dice in my collection fit well - with room to spare but not so much that they'll roll themselves when the holder is moved.
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