Tabletop Battle Rules

The tabletop rules are adapted from the medieval rules in Neil Thomas's book Ancient and Medieval Warfare (AMW). I highly recommend this book to you.

AMW rules are based around units of 4 stands. I didn't have enough figures to use this size of unit as my armies are based for DBA and my available playing area small. My figures are 1/72 plastic and are based on a 60mm frontage.

However I came across a cut down version of AMW called Mini-AMW on John's Wargame Page blog. In these rules each unit is represented by a single base. That was perfect. Here are the Mini-AWW rules I used with some additional tweaks:

1. All units are represented with 1 stand.
2. All movement rates and ranges are halved.
   1. The number of dice rolled is based on the chart in the book. Several exceptions need to be made:
      • Scythed chariots and Elephants roll 1/4 the listed number of dice.
      • For Artillery, roll a die as normal. On a 1-3, roll to hit with 1 die. On a 4-6, roll to hit with 2 dice.*
3. Each unit can take 4 casualties.
   • Elephants and Scythed Chariots take 1 casualty.
   • Artillery is overrun if it comes into contact with an enemy unit.
4. Each hit causes 1 casualty if the saving throw fails (as in the standard AMW rules).
   1. Melee casualties cause a morale roll, with 1 check per casualty. Each failed morale check results in an additional casualty.
   2. Battles are played on a 900mm x 900mm (roughly 3'x3') board.
   3. Armies start 25cm apart.

* Scythed chariots and Elephants are relevant to the ancient period rules but are not used in this medieval campaign. I have kept the artillery rule as there is a small possibility artillery may play a part in the campaign.

I use a causality marker to show stand causalities. These were constructed from a small square with pebbles glued on to each side to indicate causality numbers. The relevant number of causalities could be indicated by the side that touched the stand.

UPDATE

The causality stands didn't really work. I either forgot to move them or bumped them. So instead I purchased online a packet containing a lot of "Transparent Green Mini 5mm 6 Sided D6" dice. I just place a die on a stand with the number of casualties showing on the upward face.

In the standard AMW game both sides have a size of 8 units each. Now in an campaign you will mostly get unequal sized battles. So where possible when there was a contact in the campaign I would scale the smaller force up to 8 units and the larger force proportionally. Loss of battle occurs when a side reaches 1/4 of its original size.

Neil Thomas's Ancient and Medieval Warfare rules add chrome by having special rules for each army. These are the rules I used.

Special Rules for Saracens

Saracen Heavy Cavalry enjoy these benefits:

1. They may turn without movement penalties.
2. They may fire their bows after they move.
3. They may withdraw from combat (second or subsequent move) with enemy Heavy Cavalry or Mounted Knights.

Special Rules for Crusaders

Medieval Infantry:

1. These units were partially equipped with crossbows. Half the remaining bases in the unit may fire each turn provided the unit has not moved beforehand.
   1. This rule won't work under Mini-AMW's single base units so I have replaced it with this one: A base of Medieval Infantry may fire each turn with crossbows provided the unit has not moved beforehand until it has suffered 2 casualties after which it cannot fire.
   3. To represent Medieval Infantry I use two bases one behind the other with crossbowmen in front and spearmen behind. After taking two casualties I remove the crossbowmen to remind myself the unit can no longer fire.

In addition my rule is that Turcopoles are treated the same as Saracen Heavy Cavalry above.

Additional Rules

Terrain Selection Procedure

1. Randomly select the number of terrain pieces to be placed on the wargames table.
   1. For example in the Whispery Meadow there are 4 equal choices: 0 pieces or 1 piece or 2 pieces or 3 pieces.
2. Randomly select the type of each terrain piece.
   1. For example for the Crystal Mountains there is a 1 in 4 chance of selecting each listed terrain types, for the Golden Dunes there is a 1 in 2 chance of selecting each listed terrain types.
   2. Randomly select where on the table each piece is placed on the wargames table based on the diagram below. If a terrain piece is already in the selected place then try again.

Notes

1. If a stand was removed because it was destroyed by being attacked both frontally and in the rear by the Victors (only) the above table is ignored. The Victors may choose either (a) to have 100 men removed from the campaign unit; or (b) that 100 men from the campaign unit count as having been captured.
2. For future battles where a campaign unit falls short of multiples of 100 men, the campaign unit will be represented on the tabletop with one of its stands having a casualty for each lot of 25 men it falls short. Fractions are rounded up.
3. For example a campaign unit of 250 men will be represented on the tabletop by 3 stands. One of these stands will have 2 casualties against it at the start of the tabletop battle.