In preparation for a campaign, I tested out siege rules that I have written to go with Flower of Chivalry.
Flower of Chivalry, published eons ago by the Canadian Wargames Group, are a simple yet flavoursome set... in my opinion anyway. My slightly amended version of these are what will be used for field battles. These, with my siege adaptations will also be used to assaults castles. It just made sense to use the same base for both types of battles.
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| The attackers are making their approach. Off picture are two trebuchets that are pounding the walls. |
In keeping with Flower of Chivalry, the loser is the first side to reach zero on the Army Morale countdown. The defenders can also lose if two of their units are driven off the table edge within a certain time limit. This represents the poor fellows dispersing to escape the possible mayhem and murder wrought by the attackers.
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| The missing wall sections represent breaches. knights are pouring in. On the left, men at arms are assaulting the walls via a siege tower. Doesn't look good for the defenders! |
The defenders' Army Morale was driven down to zero at the point where their second unit was driven off the table. The castle is captured and the population put to the blade!
As you can see I used my 2mm figures to enact this siege. The figures are from Irregular2mm and the castle, towers and walls from Brigade Models.
After thoughts
I got a lot out of this, both as rule writer and player.
As a player, the attacker could use more ladders (I only gave one unit ladders and they got beaten back!).
As for the rules, I made a couple of clarifications and a couple of additions. The most important being the starting levels for the two armies' battle lust - this represents the exhaustion and morale of each Battle/Ward in an army. Plus 7 is exhaustion and big minuses in combat; minus 7 is a collapsing morale with big minuses for morale checks. The starting point is usually zero with the levels rising and falling depending on orders given. Manoeuvre and charge orders add to the battle lust; react and defend orders provide a minus to battle lust. However, I found that adjusting it so defenders start at plus 4 and the attackers at minus 4 kept the attackers moving without exhausting too quickly and allowed the defenders to react and defend without morale falling too sharply.
Lastly, I have some breaches to model along with a few more walls to paint.
I guess that I will write more about the upcoming campaign in due course.
Well these look nice and simple and oyur adjustments seem to make sense. Sadly Blogger issues means this still hasn't appeared in my Feed, only by checking individual Blogs did I get to see it.
ReplyDeleteThanks Steve.
DeleteI taken to looking through my list instead of waiting for posts to appear.... a bit of a faff!
Looks interesting! I await seeing your rules in action.
ReplyDeleteYou will.
DeleteInteresting, look forward to seeing it in action in a game
ReplyDeleteThanks, Neil. Hopefully not to long.
DeleteA great looking siege Richard! Julian and I played Flower of Chivalry 15 -20 years ago, for a while. I remember managing the battle lust was quite a challenge! We went through a phase of using quite a few of the Canadian Wargames Group rulesets - I think my favourite was the Habitants and Highlanders FIW set (and campaign system)
ReplyDeleteThanks, Keith. You are right about managing the battle lust, especially when a Battle/Ward doen't do what you want.
DeleteVery interesting Richard!
ReplyDeleteCheers, Michal.
DeleteInteresting set of rules Richard and a great looking game. Always tough to try and do sieges on the table.
ReplyDeleteI have had to find this by going through my blog roll. I have made a separate page on my blog to make it easier for me.
Thanks Ben. Doing sieges is fine, but producing exciting or interesting games is not so easy.
DeleteThe figures and Brigade Games castle look great Richard. It will be interesting to see your revised version of these rules in action other than a solo game as it sounds like you are on he right track.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Lawrence. A little modelling to do first, then a couple of games of Flower of Chivalry so people can get the basics under their belt, then onto a siege.
DeleteAn on cue, another really interesting post (since I came in at your previous, not realising that there was a more recent)! 😀
ReplyDeleteThat was a great looking game and really dramatic. It looked great and will look all the more so with your coming damaged wall sections.
Best wishes, James
You are too kind, James.
DeleteA wonderfully evocative opening picture. The Flower of Chivalry, that brings back some memories a treasure in my youth, I just loved the layout and presentation of the rules, they had a sort of home made feel, but in a professional way .... does that even make any sense! :-)
ReplyDeleteIt makes perfect sense. Plus, they have plenty of scenarios/battles to play as is or to convert.
DeleteAll looks and sounds great Rich. I look forward to playing the rules soon, myself.
ReplyDeleteCheers. Ray.
DeleteLooking good, itll be even better with damaged sections! Difficult to have a un siege game, so I look forward to your game and enlightenment!
ReplyDeleteBest Iain
Thanks, Iain. We'll see how it goes.
DeleteTerrific playtest report, Richard! The 2mm setups always look amazing for grand medieval siege scenes, and those battle lust tweaks sound like they did the trick to keep the action moving.
ReplyDeleteAll the best, Andy
Thank you Andy. So far, so good. Time and further games will prove if it works beyond one or two times.
DeleteThat’s the nature of playtesting, Richard! Fingers crossed they continue to perform just as well in the next few games.
DeleteAll the best, Andy
Thank you.
DeleteVery impressive, Richard! I have a few Irregular EIR in 2mm, and very happy with their sculpts. I may have to delve more deeply into this scale someday.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Dean. 2mm moves the emphasis to grand tactical. Plus, less burden on figure painting but more on the terrain.
Delete