Tuesday, September 22, 2009

A word about unit counters..

I've had a few requests about the unit counters I am using, so here's a sample of them.


These are all double-sided counters.

The front is the full strength side, while the back is a partial strength. It has all the numbers needed to play the miniatures game on the counters.

To create a unit counter, I take a picture of the figure type, modify the picture to make it easier to print out (take out background, etc) and use that for the main picture of the counter.

I print them out on full sheet labels, then cut and put that on cardboard.

It is easy to make double-sided counters, you just have to be sure that the back-side is a mirror image of the front (so when you past the back sheet on, it matches the units on the front).

Here is an example of a 1/2" sheet, both front and back. I cut the two halves out and mount on appropriately thick cardboard and Voila ! Double sided counters.

Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Campaign Moves... an example

So. I've got the army lists, the strategic tiles, the miniatures and the tactical rules all set. Here's an example of a "Roma Victo" campaign of Romans vs Gauls in a non-historical environment.

The Strategic tile is used to help add some flavor and maneuvering before getting to a miniature battle. I randomly determine a start point where the Romans are (denoted by the Red counter) and then determine where the Gauls are (denoted by the Green counter).

A key to the strategic moves is that the Romans (the attackers) must always move adjacent to the Gauls (the defenders). After each Roman move, the Gauls can attempt to react- that is move away and delay the inevitable battle or into better (e.g. non-clear or river) terrain.

The Romans have 6 Movement Points (MPs) to use per strategic turn. Turns here are bi-monthly, with weather effected by Month of the year (see weather system described before).

When 6 MPs are used up, the Gauls have successfully avoided combat for a complete turn (something that delays their conquest, which is a good thing). When a battle occurs, this also ends the turn after the battle if fought.

All weather was clear for this turn.
Move 1: The Romans move from A0506 to A0406 as indicated by the red arrow (1 MP). The Gauls make their reaction roll, and move to A0305, skulking behind a river.
Move 2: The Romans, not wishing to attack across a River, will attempt to outflank it to the North by moving to A0306 (1 MP). The Gauls fail to react. if they had succeded,they could have reacted to A0206 or even into the Roman hex, initiating combat, albeit without a River bonus.
Move 3: The Romans attempt to outflank the River position held by the Gauls by moving to A0206 (2 MP). Note that it cost 2 MP to move across the River , and weather can increase this cost of 1 for clear terrain, 1 for crossing the River.

Roman luck appears to be holding (weather wound up being clear for this Strategic Turn). The Gauls are caught still in camp, and fail to react again, allowing the Romans to steal a march and outflanking what would have been a good defensive River position.
Move 4: The Romans, with 2 MP left, move into the Gauls in A0305 (1 MP), and Roman luck finally runs out, as the Gauls finally pass a reaction roll and duck into the woods at A0304. Wascally Wabbit !
Move 5: The Romans do not have the MP to enter the woods (2mp) , but don't want to end the turn. So they have the ability to force march (which can hurt them in the tactical battle). They succeed with their roll, albeit a few of their cohorts are exhausted in doing so.

The Romans move into the woods, and the Gauls decide this is as good a place as any to offer battle to a tired foe. The terrain is wooded with a level 2 hill concentration (2 hexesides in A0304 have hills on them).

The battle is fought, and the Romans win a hard-won victory in a wooded, hilly environment with their exhausted cohorts (they lost 3 cohorts and an auxillary Light unit, while the Gauls lost several Warbands.) However, enough Gauls survived the battle to withdraw, which the Gauls do to A0404.

More importantly, the conquest track is advanced 1 box (this mythical "country" has 3 conquest boxes- so three successful battles need to be fought to conquer it).
This is the start of another strategic turn. Reinforcements/events occur now, and weather is determined again. A much diminished Gaulish force will be running for its life this turn, delaying and hoping to gain more reinforcements for the next turn.

All in all, its an easy system to generate tactical battles and give some "flavor" to a generic campaign game.