"Tactica 2 Primer or Review?" Topic

Anyone who has bought a copy of Tactica 2 care to give us a primer?

What army lists are included?

Are armies created from a list or by points?

How is basing, combat and morale handled?

Anyone who has played a game or two want to give us a play-by-play?

Thanks in advance!

I have it. I have looked it over but haven't actually played it yet.
It is pretty similar to the orig. version, combat-wise (fighting value concept retained) and morale-wise. Basing is sim. to classic WRG ancients systems such as DBA, DBM, etc. It has a points system for army generation, cost is per figure fielded. Army lists include unit types, percentage of points that can be spent for each type of troop, and min./max. unit sizes. Units are rated as militia, veteran, elite and legendary and their ability to remain on the field with respect to casualties is rated accordingly. Rank bonus is sim. to orig. version. Army lists end with 1066 armies. With the points system and some army composition minimums and maximums, gamers can come up with other army lists pretty easily, I would think.

Armies have a list, but a points system lets you do what you want. Armies don't have to be huge, and can be scaled down.

Basing is WRG standard.

The old battle line rules are no more, and multiple commands (like Tactica Medieval) are used.

Republican Romans have a cool new system that simulates 3 battle lines and relief. Caesarian Romans have a new cohort system. Both systems are simple, and elegant.

Elephants can now screen. Skirmishers can evade.

I've poked fun at Arty Conliffe on these threads in a good-natured way for years, believing that Tactica 2 was like Bigfoot, or the lost recordings in "Eddie and the Cruisers". But the wait really was worth it. I'm expanding/refurbishing my old Foundry Republican Romans at this very moment, and they haven't seen the tabletop in 25 years.

This is Conliffe's Magnum Opus – 3 decades of design combined with 3 decades of playtesting. Even if the game ends up not scratching your particular gaming itch, I think that I can safely say that there will never be another set of rules as carefully crafted as Tactica 2.

FWIW, I have no ties to Conliffe whatsoever. I do like his approach to gaming, though.

There is no doubt that Armati 2 was a brilliantly executed set of rules. Don't like the system but I appreciated the level of rules crafting that went into it. There probably wasn't any situation that arose in Armati 2 that the rules didn't cover. If Tactica 2 is that well thought through then it I salute Arty Conliffe!

Also, it is printed in black & white and there are only situational/explanatory diagrams in it, no photos of miniatures at all. So it basically has no bling value. I don't have a problem with this.

Some play-by-plays can be found here from when it was in playtesting: link andhere: strategikonii.blogspot.com

An earlier message thread on Tactica lists the Army Lists provided in the rules.

Trojan War (including special rules for heroes, Divine Intervention, Burning Greek Ships, Breaching Walls of Troy)
New Kingdom Egyptian
Hittite
Greek City States
Spartan
Macedonian
Early Persian
Late Persian
Indian
Ptolemaic
Seleucid
Roman, 2nd Punic War(special 3-battle line system)
Carthaginian, 2nd Punic War
Roman, Marian(special cohort system)
Gallic and German
Pontic, Early
Byzantine, 575 AD – 650 AD
Arab Conquest
Sassanid, Later
Norman, 1066
English, 1066
Viking, 1066

Is it a IGO UGO system, simultaneous movement or card driven?

can you fight big battles?

Roll for Initiative, then IGO/UGO movement, simultaneous missile fire and combat, then Breakthru and Pursuit moves. Big battles, certainly! Recommended size battle is 2000 points which gives about 260 figures per side. Most battles can be completed within about 2-3 hrs.