Still Tinkering

 I've been thinking of revisiting the battle I just fought as part of the Campaign Carnival 2022 started by Purple Druid of Wargame Culture. I've had to crystalize what I wanted to accomplish. Do I need to use a different system that fits the scenario setup and objectives better? Should there be victory point objectives added or eliminated? 

Ultimately I've decided to use the Dice Legions ruleset again, partially for familiarity and partially for result comparisons.  I also want to adhere more close to rules as written. I am going to rescale the units from each "pip" on a die representing 20 men to 50 men in order to reduce the number of dice.  Why? Below is a picture of the initial setup of my previous battle.

 

Yup.

What I am going to change is the setup. Since this replay will be not be included in the Carnival results, I want to try to reexamine the nature of a 'aftermath of a lost battle' clash.

 A quick overview of the original setup:

The original setup called for:

• Side A to set up in Zones 9 and 10, facing north, with 45% of initial army
  
• Side B to set up in Zones 5 and 6, facing south, with 90% of initial army
  
• Side A attempting to leave via Zones 2 and 3
• Random terrain via card draw. Mine had forest in Zones 4, 9, and 3 with hills in Zone 9
  

The new setup will retain previous terrain and the 45% of total force available for Side A (in this case Heirland) and 90% available for Side B (Mireland). It will also retain the goal of Side A to exit through the same zones. 

 The new part of the setup:

• 25% of the Side A force will be set up in Zone 9. (The fluff behind this is that it was a reserve force that never got into the initial battle due to the collapse of Side A's army.)
• The rest of Side A's force will be offboard to the north. these will be elements of the army fleeing the battlefield.
• Side B's force will also be offboard to the north and will be pursuing the fleeing elements
• All of the units entering from the north will be considered disorganized until rallied. some of them (the first to enter of each type per Side) will not be full strength, having participated in the first battle.
  
• Units may be rallied by a unit with a leader. There will be one leader attached to a basic infantry unit, a cavalry unit, and a 'range' unit on each side. The Side A leaders will be with the reserve force. Side B leaders will be determined as units enter the field. Leaders will have no other effect than being able to rally units. For victory point purposes they will also serve as 'character models'.

Entry of offboard units will be determined by card draw. Court cards will be Side A units and numerical cards and jokers will be Side B units. The value of the card will be the number of inches from the Zone edge the unit will enter. Red cards will measure from the right side of the board, black cards from the left. The deck is going to be stacked with the court cards and 8 other cards at the top. This represents that the fleeing units left the battlefield first. The first Side B units to enter the field will be the faster cavalry units. The leaders will come in with jokers or 10s (or the last of each unit type to enter the field of play).

 

Side A units that enter will move a full move each turn until rallied.  If they take any loses and leave the board without being rallied, they will be considered routed for victory point purposes.  Side B units will make a full move towards the nearest Side A unit until rallied by a leader or engaging/being engaged in combat. Side B

 

Dice Legions gives each side 1 activation per 3 dice. For this scenario only non-disorganized units will 'generate' activations.  So as units are rallied each side will gain more battlefield control over their units.  Based on overall unit counts, fully rallied Side A would have 6 activations and Side B 11.  That is a total of 17, any "unclaimed" activations will be used to draw cards, bringing units onto the field. So on the first turn, side A will have 3 activations and 14 cards will be drawn.

 

The force breakdowns:

• Side A has seven units of infantry (2 @ 5 str, 1 @ 4), four units of knights (1 @ 5, 1 @ 4), two scouts, and five mages. Four inf, 2 kni, 2 sc, and 2 mages will start on the field.
• Side B has thirteen gatorkin (3 @ 5), eight drake riders (5 @ 5), four goblins, and nine carnage beasts.
• The mages and carnage beasts are single person units and do not have leaders
  

I hope to get this on the table this weekend. I'm going to try to record it.