Ancient Combat By: Matt Cappetta The Game Ancient combat relies on a system in which each action has a difficulty check. Difficulty checks are all made on six sided dice and may be modified by the difficulty of the check. Difficulty Scores The following shows difficulty checks. All die rolls are on a d6. The number is the minimum roll that must be rolled to succeed. Difficulty A B C D E F Die Roll 6+ 5+ 4+ 3+ 2+ 1+ When rolling a difficulty score a natural 6 is always a success, while a natural 1 is always a failure. Turn Sequence At the beginning of the each turn both players roll 1d6. The winner may choose to be player 1 or player 2. The turn goes as follows: Player 1 Actions Player 2 Actions Combat Actions Units may perform two actions per turn. They may for example move and shoot, move twice or shoot twice. Movement Units move the following distances in centimeters: Unit Type Movement Allowance Armored Soldiers 4 Lightly Armored Soldiers 5 Skirmishers 5 Heavy Cavalry 9 Light Cavalry 10 Elephant 6 Chariot 9 War Machine 1 per pusher up to 3 Terrain There are two types of terrain. There is heavy terrain and light terrain. Units who move through light terrain receive a -1 to their move. Units who move through heavy terrain receive a -2 to their move. This only counts however for the first movement action and occurs if the unit passes through the terrain at any point during his move. Skirmishers are not penalized for moving through light terrain, and they only suffer a -1 for moving through heavy terrain. Chariots moving through heavy terrain receive a -3 modifier. Units may always move 1 regardless of terrain modifiers. The following shows what sort of terrain counts as heavy and what counts as light terrain. Light Terrain- Light forests, underbrush, rocky ground, streams and up or down hills. Heavy Terrain- Heavy Forests, steppes, rivers, swamps and ruins. Units moving on roads receive a +1 modifier to their first move a turn. Shooting All ranged weapons are categorized under one of five types. They are: Javelin Range: 12 Power: D Note: Throwing a javelin does not count as an action. Short Bow Range: 26 Power: D Long Bow Range 34 Power: D Crossbow Range: 30 Power: E Note: To shoot a crossbow one must take one action to reload and one to shoot. To shoot a unit must first designate a target before measuring. If the unit is outside of the weapons range the shots fall sort and are wasted. If the unit is in range roll the difficulty check of the shooters, shoot skill. So for example a unit with a shoot skill of C must roll a 4+ to hit the designated target. If the units being shot at are within ½ the weapons range the power of the weapon goes up one level. Once the unit hits roll to wound. The shooter rolls the difficulty check of the power of the weapon, after it has been modified by the defenders armor. If he passes the check the defender is killed. Crossbows begin the game loaded. Wounding Units As detailed before to wound a unit one must roll over the difficulty check of his power. This check is however modified by a number of things. The following shows how many power levels a weapon goes down for the relevant defenses: Defense Type Reduction to Power Level Heavy Armor -2 Light Armor -1 Shield -1 Mounted +1 Barding -1 Combat To get into combat a unit must charge another unit. The charging unit gets a +1 to his difficulty score. In addition if the charging unit is mounted it gets a +2 to their difficulty score. To resolve a combat both units roll a difficulty check. Whoever gets the higher roll and passes his difficulty check wins. If one unit passes his difficulty check and the other does not the one who passed automatically wins. If both fail their combat is a standstill. Once a unit passes he must roll a power check to wound as detailed before. Units that are destroyed represent not only being killed but being wounded, or retreating from battle. If there are multiple units in a combat all units roll and whoever has the most wins win the combat. All units on the winning combat strike. Spears Units with spears may touch the back of a friendly unit and fight in the combat. For all purposes they are in the combat. They may be killed. Two Handed Weapons Units with a two handed weapon increase their power score by one. The Next Turn If at the end of the turn there are still units in combat all units move 1cm away from each other. Command Units If a command unit is within 6 cm of a unit in combat the unit gets a +1 to its combat score. Chariots A chariot gets +1 combat ability and +2 power on the turn it charges but gets a -1 to both if it does not charge.