Hi folks,
These are some very simple rules I cooked up while (very eagerly) waiting for my Roman legion to come in the mail. I figured I'd post them here in case anyone was interested. Comments and suggestions are of course welcome.
Materials needed
- Ten cards, marked 1-10
- A playing surface at least 60x60cm
- Miniatures on square/rectangular bases (I use 30x60mm)
- Ruler/measuring tape
Card value
- Whenever cards are played, the lower card has a value equal to the number shown on it, while the higher card has a value of the DIFFERENCE between two numbers. For example, if a 4 and 9 are played, the 4 has a value of four, and the 9 has a value of five (9-4).
Setup
- Deploy armies on opposite side of play surface. Distribute all ten cards between players (I usually do evens/odds).
Course of play
- Players each select one card from their hand, revealing them simultaneously.
- The player with the lower card goes first, taking one action with as many units as they wish. Then the player with the higher card does the same.
- After both players have acted, each passes the card they just played to the other player.
- Players each play another card. Any of a player's units with more pressure on it than the value of the player's card breaks, and is removed from play. Players then pass cards again.
- Whichever player lost fewer units in the previous step steals as many cards from the other player's hand as the difference in units lost (resulting in their hand becoming bigger, and the other player's becoming smaller).
- Repeat process.
Winning/losing
- If at any point a player has no cards in their hand, they have lost and their opponent has won.
- In the unlikely event that a player still has cards but has run out of units, they have lost.
Actions
- Advance: Unit moves directly forward as many inches as the value of the player's card.
- Retreat: Unit moves directly backwards as many inches as the value of the player's card.
- Shift: Unit pivots on one corner.
- Recover: Unit loses pressure equal to the value of the player's card. Units in contact with an enemy unit may not recover.
- Attack: Enemy unit in contact with unit's front flank takes pressure equal to the value of the player's card.
- Shoot: Enemy unit directly in front of (but not contacted by) unit's front flank receives pressure equal to the value of the player's card minus the distance between the two units. Enemy unit must not be obstructed by terrain or other units. Units in contact with an enemy unit may not shoot. Only ranged units may shoot.
Quality
- Units have a quality number of 0-5. When checking to see if a unit is removed, subtract its quality from the pressure on it (so if a quality 2 unit has 5 pressure on it, it counts as having 3 pressure).
Special units
- Cavalry: Treats move and retreat actions as double value.
- Ranged: May make shoot actions.
- Long Ranged: May make shoot actions, treats them as double value.
(Note: Some units may be both ranged and cavalry.)
Moving through units
- Units may move through friendly units, but not enemy units. A unit may never end an action overlapping another unit.
builds a pond for his campaign.