"Basic Impetus + at the SoA BattleDay" Topic

Slightly delayed, I have just posted some more on the Basic Impetus version of the Battle of Montaperti I presented at the Society of Ancients BattleDay …

Basic Impetus (plus some simple add ins) worked very nicely for this classic medieval Italian battle and enabled a result within a couple of hours with most of the play involving newcomers to the game.

You can't ask much more than that, I think …

(action around the Florentine Carroccio and bell tower in Game One)

Basic Impetus did a good enough job to be honoured as best game amongst a choice of equally good reconstructions.

Purists might spot that my Knight units are only in one rank (looking more like Armati than Impetus, perhaps) … I did this just to simplify the play for newcomers … actually, in general I like the look of Impetus style cavalry units but Knights look OK in a single line and are easier to manage … (it is the frontage that matters, really) ..

Anyway, if you are interested, there is more on Ancients on the Move/Montaperti (2), there is some discussion on the Society Forum and Slingshot will have comprehensive coverage in due course …

An interesting and very colourful battle … a quick and plausible wargame system

Phil
Ancients on the Move
Ancients on the Move BattleDay overview

Phil,

I remember you not liking that light infantry could not evade. How does your new rule work? Is evade and countercharge automatic or is there a dice roll involved?

Great looking games and figures BTW.

John

Beautiful game, thank you for the report and pics.

Allen

Hi, John … the mods were relatively crude as the games have been umpire moderated (so players tend to 'play along' as it were).

Basically if you have impetus above 0 then you can countercharge (but not foot vs mounted) … Knights _must countercharge unless they are in a unit or body with the general in it (in which case the player gets to choose)

Skirmishers were allowed to evade by dropping back their normal move if charged (chargers could use their variable extra move but, generally, the evade dropped the SI back behind heavier troops so it worked well enough)

Medieval Italian armies are fairly simple beasts (in this scenario, all the mounted troops were Knights, and the only potential evaders were the 3 skirmishing bow or crossbow infantry), so these changes were not exactly 'tested to destruction'.

However they did give us a nice fluid game which didn't jar with player expectations (always a plus) and it enabled me to use Italian rules for some Italian history.

It is also nice, for shows or 'one offs' to be able to point players or browsers who are interested at dadiepiombo.com/basic2.html where they can download the rules or lists for free (not something you can do with say Field of Glory for example) ..

Phil

Nice layout. All the terrain features are there. Great work on the Bell Wagon. Would you please post the troop rosters.

Hi, Bob …

I have them on charts for the Slingshot article … I will see if pasting them in a reply here will work

Orders of Battle for Montaperti

GUELPH ARMY (Florence) VDT = 24/12
Nr Type Move VBU Imp VD Notes
1 W 5 5 0 5 Carroccio wagon and Martinella group
2 Kn 8 6 2 3 Communal Knights
1 Kn 8 5 2 1 Ghibelline Sympathisers*
2 FT 5 5 1 2 Spearmen
3 Missile 5 3 0 2 Crossbow and Pavise (Crossbow B)
1 FT 8 3 1 1 Contadini
1 SI 8 2 0 1 Skirmishers with Crossbow type B
*will test loyalty when first activated and change side if 1-3 rolled on a D6

GHIBELLINE ARMY (Siena) VDT = 20/10
Nr Type Move VBU Imp VD Notes
1 W 5 4 0 4 Sienese Carroccio and guards
2 Kn 8 7 4 3 German Knights
1 Kn 8 6 2 3 Communal Knights
2 FT 5 5 1 2 Spearmen
3 Missile 6 3 0 2 Communal Crossbowmen (Crossbow B)
1 FT 5 3 1 1 Contadini
1 SI 8 2 0 1 Skirmishers with crossbow type B
Outflanking force*
1 Kn 8 6 2 3 Communal Knights
1 SI 8 2 0 1 Skirmishers with Short Bow type B
*will turn up in any bound where the player's first initiative die roll is a 6

Well, in the composition box that seems to work … let's hope when I click 'submit' sanity is maintained.

Phil
Ancients on the Move

Great to see a nice game of Impetus – those sound like good additions to basic.

The armies look nice too – love the bell tower!

Knights _must countercharge unless they are in a unit or body with the general in it (in which case the player gets to choose)

Hey Phil,

So there is sometimes an advantage to not counter charge? Do both the charger and the counter-charger move? If so how far? If you stayed in place but optionally could counter-charge, I couldn't think of a reason to not.

John

So there is sometimes an advantage to not counter charge?

They meet in the middle.

By 'impetus above 0' I mean as the basic troop type.

Of course the unit might not be fresh at the time so would not count that impetus bonus. In that case you might not want to be pulled out of position (but unless you have a commander with you you won't have the choice) ..

Foot vs Foot is a free choice. In the Montaperti scenario the Florentines are uphill, so if the Sienese infantry charge (impetus +1), the Florentines might either hold the slope (+1) or countercharge (impetus +1) … so it will depend on how the Florentines want to play it.

Perhaps that makes better sense …

Phil

Perhaps that makes better sense …

Much better! Thanks!