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ANCIENT
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1/300 Ancient Campaign and Wargame Rules.
by
Richard Mc Clean.
21st March 2002: In a moment of madness, myself and Simon Thompson
decided to do a 1/300 scale Ancient Campaign. The easy part was choosing
the figures. We decided on Baccus
and agreed to do the Early Greeks to start off with. The idea was to
get an Army pack each and then buy some Persians between us, the Rules
and how we ran the Campaign was left up to me. So on or around the 17th
of March 2002 we sent for our Greeks. Whilst waiting for them I tried
having a go at the Rules. I intend this series of Articles to be like
a diary of the Campaign's development. Some of the style will be very
basic, but this will how it looks in real life. The Rules will constantly
change as they are playtested. Once I have settled on what will stand,
then the Article will take on a more organised appearance. Believe me
these few pages will seem absolutely chaotic but anyone who has written
their own Rules will recognise the layout (or lack of it).
Again I hope that you can use some of the ideas that will crop up now
and again. Any feedback will be appreciated.
The Rules:
I first of all must apologise to all DBM Players but I do not like the
Rules, this is my own personal view on this. I have kept the basic Base
Size as DBM, mainly because the figures are designed with these in mind
but because of Simon. Simon is the type of Wargamer who thinks that
a undercoat using a spray can is all the paint job a figure needs. By
keeping to DBM Bases he hopes to pick up a few second hand figures.
Believe me, Simon will not re-base them so we decided on the universally
accepted DBM Base Sizes. Some of the Rules may seem similar but this
is unavoidable. I am trying to get away from the "line them up
and see who gets the domino flanking effect". The Game/Campaign
will try to reflect the Period, so a few Rules that seem unrealistic
will have to be introduced to achieve this. We wanted the Game to flow
but not to over simplify it too much, a tall order. A smaller scale
does not mean a drastic drop in realism. As always we will only find
out by playtesting as often as we can. The Campaign Rules will be uploaded
as soon as I think of them. Like the Rules, the first Draft will make
strange reading. Once the Campaign has started we will be giving a Monthly
update so that you can follow the Rise and Fall of the Greek City States.
If nothing else, it will show you how NOT to do it.
The Campaign:
We originally intended just to have Greeks and Persians but considered
that this could get a bit repetitive. Looking at the Baccus Army Packs
it has been decided to introduce gradually a few other nations. Some
of these will be outside their Period but hopefully this will not be
a problem. The Main Campaign Map will consist of a series of twelve
Maps arranged in a 4 X 3 sequence. Each Map will be based on my 8 X
6 foot Wargame Table, thus giving us 12 Tables in which to fight over.
Each City will start off controlling a single two foot Terrain Tile
containing the Capitol/Citadel, a farm and a Village. From this small
beginning each City State will grow. A small amount of Gold Pieces (GP)
will be made available for the recruitment of an Army and for future
investment. Taxes are raised from Villagers, farms vineyards etc. and
these are used to the benefit of the City State. All other Towns, buildings,
etc. will be neutral until they have been occupied for a certain time.
They then become part of the State and start to pay Taxes. We hope to
get other Gamers to temporarily take command of invading Persians, other
City States, nasty Carthaginians, Barbaric Macedonians and those pesky
Republican Romans.
I had already started to develop a Campaign System for my Fantasy Rules
which could also be used for almost any other Period. Once these are
finalised they will be made available from the Rules,
List & Books File. There will be sections on special Rules and
conditions that are required for Periods other than Fantasy/Ancient.
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