Armatura X

 

Armatura X - Front

Armatura X - Back

The latest version as of Aug 11, 2021. The final version? Who can say?!

Note: I find that by opening each page "in it's own tab" (Right Click option) I can enlarge it to make it easily readable.

I have to start thinking about Battle Magic and about doing a functional "Cheat Sheet". My goal of getting a complete set of rules onto a single sheet of paper (back & front) is almost complete. Paper size: Tabloid (11" x 17") - which might be considered "cheating" b/c it is so large but I don't care. ;-)

Lohwand: Armatura, ver 6

 

Made some changes, 

including getting the version correct!

Lohwand: Armatura, ver 5.0

 

Here is the latest iteration of my Armatura rules, version 5.0, though as you can see I need to do some more edits. (I got confused as to how many versions I had made and discarded.) Some changes to both front and back. 

For one thing, I changed the rules for Army Morale. I realised I was referencing rules that were not on the sheet, which kind of defeated the "all-the-rules-on-the-cheat-sheet" objective. It possibly fails that in other ways; I need to vet it again to be sure.

I also changed a couple of the Command Actions, and have gone through and made sure that I used the same format for abbreviations throughout.

The morale test has changed as I finally realized that it didn't need to be an opposed test, and was probably better that it wasn't. I've tried to add a mechanism to allow the Saxon Fryd to pursue fleeing (retiring) Normans out of their formation. Not sure yet if it works.

And I'm thinking that Staff Slings probably should only have a ROF of 1.

Under Armatura each unit, be it a cohort, squadron or warband, has three primary traits: Virtis, Disciplina and Labor. Virtis is its combat ability, Disciplina represents discipline and morale, and Labor is the unit's engineering skill. A unit may also be designated as having an Exceptional Leader. 

There is assumed to be an overall commander, with sub-commanders in charge of left and right wings, and any reserve. Commanders have another trait called the Tactics Rating. (I tried to find the latin translation. I thought it would be "Tactica" but it seems not to be the case. Or maybe my Google-Fu is weak!) This rating determines the number of cards in their hand. It is assumed all officers have the rating, but it is only determined when relevant. i.e. if a centurion were promoted to command a detachment.

I need to sort out the "Well Led" and "Exceptional Leader" designations b/c I notice they are overlapping somewhat. 

Lohwand: Back to Bases

 

Litko "Rune Battles" basing set

GMT268

3mm Plywood

Demonstrating the effectiveness 

of my magnetic basing system...

Formed Unit bases

5" x 4" custom from Warbases

So far, so good!

Made a small leap forward over the last week, my slow progress with base-making gradually taking shape. As I think I mentioned previously, I have decided that "regulars" should be based in even numbers, and "irregulars" in odd numbers. In addition, "formed" will get bases with 90-degree corners, while "unformed", i.e. "warbands", will get irregularly shaped bases.

As we have a stock of surplus biscuit tins saved up over a number of years, and I have a stock of off-cuts from sign shop magnetic sheeting, I decided to make my bases so that I can swap the troops on and off the bases as needed. Theoretically, by doing this I should only need a limited number of bases; enough to field two typical armies without caring which armies they are. 

By happy chance the Expeditionary Force 60mm Ancients that are providing the bulk of my armies have integral plastic bases with a hollow underneath. The hollow is roughly egg-shaped and, with slight variations, about the depth of the magnetic stripping - another stroke of luck! In some instances the depth is slightly deeper, requiring a card insert to make sure the magnet is flush with the base edges. Some others are slightly shallower. It just seems to depend on the particular pose and presumably how the sculptor made that particular base, or perhaps how the production die was cut. 

Anyway, it is "So far, so good". I have finally produced ten or so "formed" bases and have started on the "irregular" bases. As I mentioned before I have decided on 5" x 4" x 3mm thick bases as my main base type, for "formed" troops such as Roman cohort or hoplite phalanx. For Macedonian pike phalanx I might turn the base on end so the narrow face is the front, with three ranks of two. I don't currently have any pike-armed figures though, so I am unable to experiment.

For warbands and hordes, the first picture above shows a possible warband arrangement. It shows nine figures on the central base, and then perhaps seven on each side base, with horn blowers and priests behind on single bases. That gives 23+ figures, about the size of one of my cohorts (20 figs.)

The Litko "Rune Battles, Terrain Tile Set GMT268" contains two of the large bases, the two medium bases shown and the four small bases. So I can make larger warbands by using more from each set per warband. I can also alter the warband size by swopping around how the bases are aligned. Litko also make an even larger irregular base: tree bases I think they are called. They are about 10.5" x 7" give-or-take. Warbases also makes irregularly shaped "Pond Bases" which look like they would hold three of my figures. So, lots of options!

The above photos also show how the magnets, though not super strong, are strong enough to hold the figures more-or-less in place. Certainly good enough for gaming though I probably wouldn't try running with the figures on, at least NOT after I've got everything painted!

Lastly, if I am lucky, the remaining biscuit tins will be deep enough to store the figures in, and the magnets will do a fine job holding them in place there. So far I have only cut up a single tin, and I am only about halfway through the metal from that, so I should have plenty of tins left over for storage. (Plus we are liable to accumulate a few more this Christmas!) ;-)

Lohwand: Some Preliminary Basing Ideas

Unit Bases (i.e. one figure = multiple persons)

OK, more-or-less final basing ideas:

1) Units get square or rectangular bases;

2) Single entities get round or oval bases;

3) Regular units are based with an even number of figures;

4) Irregular units are based with an odd number of figures;

5) My standard base is 4" x 5".

I have an idea that a phalanx sub-unit might be four bases, as above, but with the front edge being 4", not 5". So each base would be two figures wide by three deep, with the whole sub unit being four figures wide by six figures deep. Perhaps in this configuration it would have six bases instead of four, arrayed three wide by two deep. 

More later...

 

Lohwand: Armatura v4.0

  

Some slight changes and additions...

Lohwand: Armatura v3.0

Armatura v. 3.0 (Front)

Following on from my earlier post I have again revised the front of the Armatura cheat sheet to reflect the new ideas. Also, I realized I had the nomenclature all wrong for the cards, calling the "court" cards "suit" cards. Apologies if that caused some scratching of heads! 

The main changes are that now, within the colour block that a player uses for activations - i.e. red or black, one suit is considered "higher" than the other. So Hearts and Spades are "high", Diamonds and Clubs are not.

Having made the changes, I now see yet another: under "Initiative" I say that Aces are considered "high" for that purpose. It should read that they can be "high" i.e. 14 or "low" i.e. 1 as the player wishes. Also, "high" suits can be used to break ties. That is, a 7 of Hearts (high) would beat a 7 of clubs (low).

I've also tried to cover the end of Game a little better. I'm thinking about it from a campaign perspective, rather than the "Sunday afternoon" sort of game. So if a side is reduced to the point where it fails the Army Morale roll and has lost, then there may be pursuit or there may not.

If there isn't then it is essentially like a typical game where it just "ends"  with no more fighting. The losing side is assumed to withdraw from the field as they can with no more game-play.

If, however, there is pursuit, then the losing sides units have to attempt to withdraw from the field. The units all now have Fear as a modifier, though the better units may not be too affected still. Some units that were already fearful (i.e. militias) now become terrified as well, so that should mean they collapse in short order.

Lohwand: Aces Wild!

While re-editing my Armatura cheat sheets I am recognizing nuances I hadn't noticed before.

I am already using the D10 to represent eleven values, with the '0' representing a '10' or a '0' depending on circumstances. The "Counting Zeroes" concept.

Yesterday I realized that the Ace in a deck of cards is essentially the same, with the ability to be either the highest card or the lowest. So how can I incorporate that feature? I have some ideas.

Then, today, I recalled how a friend had good and bad events in a deck based on the two red or black suits - hearts good/diamonds bad - or whatever. So now I am thinking there is room for further variations to be added to the card activation.

Example:

One side is activating on red, the other black. If Hearts are better than Diamonds, and Spades better than Clubs what is the effect? One effect could be that if a unit is activated with a Heart or Spade it gains a +1 to the Combat Result* if it is also "Counting Zeroes". 

*There will be a Combat Result table that determines how a melee is progressing.

Another option is to allow a unit that is no longer Counting Zeroes to count them for that activation - i.e. +10% to the die rolls.

A third option is to have Exceptional Leaders, as in Fire and Fury, and provide a bonus if the Exceptional Leader is present when the card is played.

Getting back to the Aces, they could function similar, but could also be linked to the "Counting Zeroes" concept. That is, if a unit is Counting Zeroes the Ace is high card; if not, then it is low card. If high card, they might have a special Command Action similar to those I already described. If low card, the suit of the Ace might still come into play as given in the examples above.

Incorporating these ideas means re-vamping my cheat sheet! I'll have to find room somewhere as they probably should go on the front page of the sheet.  *sigh*

Lohwand: Armatura v2.0

Front

I realized pretty quick that I'd left a lot of stuff out of version 1.0 - not that it would fit on a LTR sized cheat sheet anyhow. So first thing I did was resize my sheet to tabloid, 11" x 17".

Then I set about adding in the stuff I'd left out because of space or just plumb forgotten to include. The new front of the sheet is shown above. I'm still working on the back, but already I've made a few tiny edits to the front so I expect there'll be a version 3 soon enough. :-)

One thing I noticed was a player, most likely me, could pick up a card but then pass, and as long as his opponent, also most likely me, didn't also pass, he could keep accumulating quite a hand of cards. Which sounds likely a shifty, Scipio Africanus sort of thing to do, so I've changed it so it you want to pass you have to discard a card. It still lets you get rid of the chaff but at least your hand doesn't get any bigger. 

I think there are a couple of other edits as well, but here is v2.0 before the edits.

Lohwand: Armatura v1.0

Armatura (Front)

Armatura (Back)

Here is the cheat sheet for the rules I am intending to use for my Lohwand campaign. It isn't a complete set of rules but I've tried to fit on all the essentials.

It still needs a little cleaning up, as I just took the sheet for A Band of Joyous Heroes and modified it. As I intend to use this for my large scale Lohwand campaign I have modified the move stick slightly. The older (lesser) distances still show - please ignore.

Figure scale: 54 to 60mm

Figure ratio: approx. 1:24  (This is based upon my prototype cohort organization.)

Movement and Ranges use a range stick based upon a common bamboo chopstick - see cheat sheet for illustration.

Unit Traits:

Virtis - a unit's fighting ability. Roll equal or under on a D10 to score a "hit".

Disciplina - a unit's discipline. Used for morale checks, and also determine the complexity of maneuvers permitted.

Labor - a unit's ability to perform engineering tasks: build roads and bridges, siege works, mining/counter-mining, and similar.

Zeroes: Recognizing that a D10 is typically numbered 0-9, and that this actually allows for eleven possible options. The concept of "Counting Zeroes" is explained in brief on the cheat sheet. It essentially amounts to a 10% bonus to units that can count it.

Armatura: found in the melee section, this is an ability possessed by certain units (i.e. veteran Roman legionaries) that reflects their combat training and skill, giving them a bonus. A Knight of St. John, or Spartan Hoplite might also have the trait.