"Swordpoint - How is it?" Topic

So the gaming club is still searching for ancients rules and are asking about Swordpoint. I wrote up a summary but have not played them.

If you have played them what did you think?

Just got their Dark Ages Army List Book. Haven't played them yet. Plan to use my WAB armies for a new set of rules.

Is Swordpoint very like WAB or a very different mechanic? The armies I have seen look similar to WAB but I know no things about the rules themself.

Swordpoint is an excellent rule set for two-player 'big battle' Ancients games. The combat system is similar enough to WAB to feel familiar, but calculated by base rather than by individual figure. Leaders are vital for command, control and rallying, but are not 'super-powered' fighters. Key features include the acquisition and use of Momentum tokens, maintaining a solid battle line (for infantry-heavy armies), and protecting your own flanks while turning those of your opponent.

Only played one game so far, Romans vs Gauls. Gauls charged, used their momentum advantage and ended up running away without causing a scratch in the same turn. I might have messed something up but I'm not sure I can convince people to try a second game.

I've played several games with Gauls v. Caesarian Romans. Occasionally a Gallic warband was able to punch through the Roman line with their charge and wreak some havoc, but most often the legions were able to absorb the initial onslaught and gradually wear down their barbarian foes. My Gauls have had their best success on the flanks, when their noble cavalry was able to rout the Romans' allied Gallic horse and hit the engaged legions in the flank or rear.

In my games I have never seen the Gauls break during the very first turn of combat. Did you remember to moderate the combat results for being in a Line of Battle? Did you have a chieftain attached to each Gallic unit so he could add his Attack and Cohesion values, and keep the High Chieftain nearby in order to rally any units that did happen to break?

We didn't have many leaders models so we had 1 Chieftain and 1 High Chieftain. The combat result was so bad for the Gauls that even after moderation and with momentum in their favour they had to break test. The armour save advantage made a huge difference for the Romans

I did make the units on both sides roughly equal points so the Gallic units were bigger than the Roman ones which caused a multiple combat with more smaller Roman units and let a single combat result very much in favour of the Romans.

We also got stuck on some other rules. Can throwing spears be used for a shooting attack or are they just a bonus in melee? We couldn't figure out how interpenetration works. Smallish units of ranged troop seemed a poor choice as they needed to be very lucky to cause enough casualties to discourage the enemy unit especially if the enemy unit has a lot of bases.

A Gallic army can have up to eight commanders in all. I would recommend fielding as many as you possibly can, ideally one per non-skirmish unit.

Did you remember to give your Gallic units the Warband special rule, which adds their Combat depth and formation bonuses to their Cohesion value, up to a maximum bonus of +2, for all Cohesion tests?

There is no need for each opposing unit to be of equal point value. The Gauls should have more units that the Romans – that is one of the chief advantages of fielding less expensive units! I also would advise not allowing the tough Roman legionary units to 'double up' on your warbands. If you want to add bases to make your warbands more durable, I would suggest adding a third rank of bases, rather than making the formations wider, and thus more vulnerable.

Throwing spears and heavy throwing spears are not used in the Shooting phase. They are used for the first round of Combat only.

Skirmishers may move through/interpenetrate other friendly units, and other friendly units may move – but not charge – through skirmishers. Using the Escorts special rule, a formed unit may charge through accompanying escorts that are in skirmish order. No other types of unit interpenetration are allowed.

Small units of troops armed with ranged weapons should be used in their historical roles to skirmish, screen, protect flanks, and harass enemy troops. On the other hand, larger units of massed missile troops can have correspondingly greater effects and be much more decisive, which seems quite historical to me.