I came across Ravensfeast, which are free skirmish (or larger) rules
ravenfeast.com
saw some good reviews and the one-page summary and remembered my largely unpainted Airfix Ancient Britons and Romans I've had since I was a boy and thought, "Ah ha, why not?" and have been painting them up ever since. So they're for around A.D. 60. Today my daughter ventured out through the nippy wind and trudged through snow to get me some washers for bases.
But which rules need modifying?
Like most rules, you decide on hits by rolling a d6 dice with individual warrior modifiers each for their missiles then for the victim's armour. Both have mēlée factors and then there's a rally stage with morale factors to which a leader can lend his to nearby troops.
The biggest thing missing for the Britons is chariots, though the rules have advantages for mounted warriors. We need something to cover javelin throwers on a chariot who can jump off, fight, and jump back on. I suppose their armour and morale ratings will differ on or off so I'm wondering if I should just treat a charioteer doing that as two different men, depending on if he's on or off. Not sure if javelins are less or more lethal thrown from a chariot or not. Maybe they should affect the morale of Romans unused to them.
Question is, what special rules do I need for Roman strength, whilst still leaving openings for when they're vulnerable? The main new weapon is the pilum; the thing they threw that got stuck in shields and dragged them down. The rules have shield walls, which add a +2 to armour, but we need some advantage for Romans that affects staying power. Not sure what's best. Do they have good or worse morale individually? Or only with a leader or within a shield wall? I suppose the short gladius sword will be of advantage in a shield wall but not in unstructured mēlèes.
And how much greater advantage was Roman armour compared to the Britons? Or Albians, which sounds more appropriate. The islander's compatriots, the European Celts, had chain mail and invented the helmet-type that legionnaires wore. What's more, Britons had oblong shields suitable for shield walls but supposedly less discipline. Or was that only when they were drunk?
I've got two figures carrying standards, the loss of which, I guess should trigger a morale check.
The rules have factors for naked berserkers. I wonder why they have armour modifiers and how that would work! They don't mention sling-throwers. Seems slings threw a little further than arrows but were useless against armour plate.
Any ideas? Have I forgotten something?
