Micro Battles

As mentioned previously, I started messing around with a micro-battle game on a 5 x 7 square grid with 4 or so units per side. I've been experimenting with the concept.

Experiment 1
I had already created simple army lists for a selection of ancient or medieval armies. My initial experiment featured Greeks (blue) vs. Persians (red/brown).

The Greek army consisted of 4 units of hoplites while the Persians had 2 units of Cavalry (brown), a unit of archers (red with blue standard) and auxiliaries (red with white).

The micro-battlefield showing the initial Persian advance

The Persian horse and archers drove away the Greek left. The White Phalanx held out long enough for the Red Phalanx to come to support. However, the combined Persian assaults finally broke the Whites. Finding themselves alone, the Reds retired.

Analysis
I used an opposed die roll, a la DBA. However, losers did not automatically retreat. Instead, they took a hit. A unit could roll a save to slough off the hit. Doubling the opponent forced a retreat and provided the possibility of 2 hits, which would destroy a unit.

The rules worked OK. There was none of the back-and-forth pushing that I find rather annoying in DBA. Instead, units got locked into ongoing melee until one side broke. That's what I wanted to achieve.

However, I found the mechanism to be annoying (reminding me why I no longer care for DBA). It's not opposed die rolls so much as it is having to determine if a unit scored double its opponent. There were numerous times where it was obvious who won a round but not so obvious if the roll doubled the opponent. I would then have to tote up the modifiers for both sides and then divide. I have engineering and business degrees so I am capable of doing the math. It's just that doing the division slows down the game. I prefer to be able to tell at a glance what happened without stopping for calculations. So this system seems to have a tragic flaw.

Experiment 2
This time I pitted Alexander's Macedonians (red) vs. Darius's Persians (blue).

I based this battle on Neil Thomas's replay of Issus in Ancient & Medieval Wargaming.

Alexander's Companions (left) routed the opposing light horse and then lent a hand to the phalanx crushing the Kardakes.

Soon, a lone Persian unit was fending off the entire Macedonian army. It did not last long.

Analysis
For this experiment I changed the combat rules. They are now more akin to Bob Cordery's Portable Wargame in that a unit in combat rolls 1D6 needed a 5 or more (modified by unit type) to hit. I used a different procedure for resolving hits, however. When a unit is hit, it rolls to save with the target roll depending on unit type (e.g. heavy infantry saves easier than light). A roll of 1 on a save also necessitates a retreat.

While 2 hits would destroy a unit, I also included an option to rally, thus removing a hit. This proved crucial in the scenario I played as the Companions took a hit in their initial combat but were able to slough it off.

Overall, the rules worked much smoother than my first experiment. I had much less math to contend with and I could generally tell upon rolling if a hit was scored. Units tended to get locked into battle until it was resolved one way or the other, which I liked. I did not roll up any retreats; I may need to rethink how those work (this calls for more experiments!). Overall, the feel seemed right.

The game was short, only 17 minutes. This is not a bad thing as I can play more battles in a single sitting.

Finally, I created a compact game set, using an old miniatures box I had lying around. The box measures about 5.5" x 8.5" and easily fits all needed components.