From: C.PRINGLE@elsevier.co.uk
Date: Fri 06 May 1994 - 18:45:31 EEST
Can anyone recommend published rules for fighting Gloranthan
battles and military campaigns? (I.e. where the emphasis is on
generalship/strategy/tactics rather than on roleplaying of the
more usual freelance adventurer type.) I myself have found the
Shieldbearer rules to be very satisfactory, but I just thought I
would stimulate some discussion.
I speak as a wargamer who is also a Runequester. I have always found ancient-style warfare to be a big disappointment: the troop types are ever so colourful, but most tabletop encounters are frighteningly tedious - like chess only less unpredictable. The intrinsic problem in my view is that all the interesting and clever stuff depends on what happens before the armies ever reach the battlefield; and once they are lined up, the commander's (player's) options are very limited (a: line up and wait for them; b: line up and charge at them).
The best way to enjoy ancients battles seems to me to be in a campaign, where strategems and ruses can be employed to the full. I have therefore been running such a campaign set in Ralios, by post, with about 15 players around the UK. Each player is a ruler (Inhuman King of Ormsland; Azruban Ironarm of Delela; etc); each game move is a year; after a short time for diplomacy, each player sends me orders for the year (raising/disbanding armies; invasions; oppression of the peasantry; bizarre megalomaniac actions, etc etc). Yours truly then sacrifices a weekend plus a couple of weeknights to sort it all out, a few phone calls for reaction to other players' moves if necessary, a pile of photocopying and it's time for the next move.
Military-wise we have now had several wars and have seen armies of up to 20,000 chugging around. However, the Invisible God (or umpire) has fixed the rules so that invasions are suitably expensive to launch, and conquest is often profitless if the new subjects won't pay taxes or keep rebelling . . . The players have proved endlessly inventive, eg tactics used to counter warg-riding cavalry include use of pepper, aniseed, and bitches on heat . . . (The campaign has also generated a surprising amount of very fine poetry which I publish in the campaign newspaper, the Goodword Herald.)
The Shieldbearer rules have served very well, as they are fairly simple and quick (big advantage) and rely on one main variable, the "Determination" of the troops fighting. This is what determines whether they will fight in the first place, affects how much damage they will inflict on opponents, and decides when they will give up; and it is very easy to integrate campaign-type factors (fatigue; hunger; fanaticism; attrition; effects of magic or exotic attacks . . .).
What are other people's experiences with Runequest-based wargames? How do you cope with Heroes, Rune magic, regiments of wizards? Helpful hints welcome!
Chris Pringle
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