"Sword & Spear 2ed: Take 2" Topic

Thought I'd post this again after the disappearance of various posts (I lost 5 whole threads).

How detailed are the Sword and Spear 2nd edition rules?

My biggest concern is the way the variables work with the dice mechanic. Take combat for example; if you have 4 dice to an opponent's 3 dice, then the only real advantage you have is that extra 4th dice.

With a d6 rolled directly against another d6, each dice has the exact same chance of rolling a 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 or a 6.

Modifiers would resolve the variable issue a lot, but I'm not sure if the game uses modifiers.

The number of dice depends on the units strength so heavy infantry may start with 4 whereas skirmishers will start with 2.

Impetus will add a die, large units and cavalry get 2 impetus dice if fresh, additional dice for flank attacks and for supporting units, use of a "6" on an impetus die adds a further dice.

So for example you can commonly get 6-7 dice against 3-4 dice in combat. Obviously you choose your highest 4 to match off.

Remember that to cause a casualty you need to double the opponents score or exceed it and they fail a discipline check.

Armour means you can move one opponents die score down by one. Unprotected means you can increase your score on one die against a die.

Impact capability (warbands on the charge, lance armed cavalry) means you only have to beat the opponents score to cause an auto casualty.

2-handed weapons and crossbow ignore armour.

There are other factors but this gives you a flavour. This gives some good nuances IMO but after only a couple of turns it is very easy to remember the factors so the game moves at a good pace.

Thanks Nick

I can't prove it with statistics, but, in my experience, the mechanism works.
Remember that impetus can make a huge difference as Nick B describes above: and you use your command dice to decide where you want to put your effort, and thereby achieve the best odds (because only active units get extra dice for Impetus); so there is a degree of skill in choosing how to make best use of your resources.

Take combat for example; if you have 4 dice to an opponent's 3 dice, then the only real advantage you have is that extra 4th dice.
With a d6 rolled directly against another d6, each dice has the exact same chance of rolling a 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 or a 6.

The dice are ordered before pairing them up, so it is not just one dice rolled against another dice. So if one side rolls six dice and gets 6,5,4,3,2,1 against four dice that come up 5,4,3,2, the side with six dice will win all four pairings.
It is probably more "swingy" than some other combat systems, but in general the side with the advantage (i.e. more combat dice) will win.
There are no dice roll modifiers – it is just the number of dice rolled that reflects the strength of the units and the tactical situation.

Thank you for clarifying Mark