Hi there
If you're interested please send me an email to dfmbrown@mpx.com.au
put playtest in the subject
regards
David F Brown
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Introduction to ‘The Last Stand – Fantasy and Semi-Historical Miniatures Wargame Rules'
These rules are not new. I have been tinkering with them and playing games with friends for more than a decade. They have been demonstrated at a number of conventions.
They are for wargames using miniature armies depicting the forces found in fiction, mythology or in a semi-historical setting. Forces from some ‘science fiction' worlds where hand-to-hand fighting is important may also be used.
Model armies of any of the popular scales; 6mm, 10mm, 15-18mm, 20mm and 25-28mm are catered for. These rules are not designed to be used with any particular sets of miniatures in mind.
These rules use a basing scheme for stands, perhaps of different sizes, allowing players to use almost all existing stand-based armies.
These rules are aimed primarily at one-on-one play but solo, pairs or teams play is possible too. The rules are robust enough to have survived the initial assault of competition-style play. The Periodic Events add variety to help solo play.
Design Philosophy
These rules are grounded in the following principles.
o That armies should resemble armies found in myth or fiction and behave like them. ‘Semi-historical' armies are those based on an idealised form of their historical prototype, or perhaps are based on legend and include only minor fictional or magical components.
o Players want an enjoyable table-top game that is fun and fulfilling to play, where the tactical and organisational skills of the players will be rewarded. That all armies regardless of their composition should be competitive, even if some will require unorthodox tactics and a crafty general.
o Play must be fast-paced, the battle unfold in a logical and interesting way, that game mechanisms must be simple and easily understood.
o Players with a little practice can conclude a game within roughly three to four hours.
o That pre-existing armies from (most) other rules sets can be used with this set and differences in play between the various figure scales should be eliminated where possible.
o The armies of fiction, where described by competent story-tellers, behave like their historical analogues – notwithstanding that they may include non-human, flying, gigantic or magical components.
o That a fantasy army from any genre can be played against any other.
o That experience has shown the 20 to 60 stand armies of the typical game represents the largest size of fantasy armies most players are happy to build.
Executive Summary
Stands are the basic playing pieces of the game, they are a number of figurines fixed on a rectangular base and each may represent a particular regiment or organisational sub-division of your army.
Armies are roughly 20-60 stands strong of named troop Types while some Types are divided into more or less powerful sub-Types. Stands can be one of three sizes, ‘Stands', ‘Large-Stands' and ‘Double-Stands'. You can mix these in your army but play will be a shade easier if both sides stick to one size.
Stands are further organised into 1-6 Divisions each with a stand that includes a Leader. An option for a fast-play game has a smaller force all in a single Division.
Troop Types are not necessarily defined by weapons and armour rather an amalgam of these and training, doctrine, drill, morale and role. Stands have different Army Advantage Points (AAP) value – armies' power is balanced by these.
Troops fight in a variety of ways; shooting, close conflict and magical assault.
Conflict is calculated by stands determining which of them has the first chance to compute the results of the fight. This computation is done by drawing and rolling dice and checking against a chart that compares the combatant stand types.
If the first stand fails to inflict a result the enemy stand now draws and rolls dice to check if they are successful.
Troop state, representing casualties, fatigue, enthusiasm or disruption is shown by stands accumulating ‘Hits' in a round of conflict, those taking six or more are destroyed while those taking one to five must dice to avoid elimination or routing. Adjoining friends of routers or destroyed stands also dice to see if they suffer a similar outcome.
Divisions taking excessive losses become Defeated and may dissolve.
Command is conducted by a Command Activation Decisions (CADs) or also called ‘Actions' system of a random 1-14 CADs per Bound.
Sequence of play is an unusual continuous model rather than the more traditional fixed and repetitious order of conducting events.
Army Lists
Last Stand is supported by three (at the moment) volumes of 100 army lists each. The lists, rather than pure invention, are taken from a wide range of sources including myth, legend, visual art and modern cinema.
