Outline of Bill Butler's Scutarii Rules

Scutarii 2nd Edition (2014) is a set of wargames rules for ancient battles written by William (Bill) Butler and published by Hoplite Research.

Disclaimer (or laying my cards on the table): I know Bill through the Lost Battles group, and when I heard that he had some rules coming out I offered to write up a battle report and post it here. Unfortunately, I have not yet had a chance to put on a battle, but I thought I would do a quick outline of the rules in the meantime. The copy of the rules I have is the final play-test version, so there may be some changes between this and the published version.

Scale

One turn is equivalent to about 15 minutes, and when using 40mm frontage bases one inch on the table equates to 50 paces. Each base usually represents around 500 men, though this may go as low as 300 or as high as 600.

The game can be played using all figure scales and caters for the standard basing systems.

Unit classifications

Units can be in open or close order, and are classified by movement type (mounted, foot, naval), defense factor (based on armour), melee factor (based on weapons), missile factor (bow, sling or artillery), training (drilled, undrilled, fanatic and so on, rendered as a morale factor) and morale grade (elite, average, poor, Roman trained, which modify the melee factor).

A unit of triari might, for example, be classed as follows:

Move: 300 paces
Attack: 4
Defence: 6
Morale Factor: 10
Notes: drilled, elite

This means that the unit will move 6 inches, roll 4 d10 on attack, require enemy units to roll higher than 6 to score a hit on it, when fresh will successfully pass morale tests on a d10 score of 10 or less, can make formation changes, and will get a +1 on attack dice rolls.

Turn order

The turn order is fairly standard, though melee is simultaneous and conducted up to twice per turn. Morale checks are taken before movement, so this becomes an important consideration in deciding who will move first.

• Initiative (decided by die roll or scenario rules). Winner decides whether to move first or second.

• Army moving first conducts morale checks as needed.
• Army moving first moves and conducts missile fire. Non-moving side conducts defensive fire.
• Both sides resolve melee combat for units in contact with the enemy.

• Army moving second conducts morale checks as needed.
• Army moving second moves and conducts missile fire. Non-moving side conducts defensive fire.
• Both sides resolve melee combat for units in contact.

• Repeat the cycle.

Combat

In combat, units roll a number of d10s equal to their attack factor. Results higher than the target's defense factor cause a hit. As you might expect, there are modifiers that may apply here, either by adding or subtracting attack dice or by modifying the defense factor. Missile combat follows the same process but is less effective against some types of troops than others. For example, open order troops get a saving throw when hit.

When engaging multiple enemy units attack dice are apportioned as evenly as possible between those units.

Depending on the depth of the formation adopted, friendly units may be able to share out hits amongst troops behind the front line.

Roman units have certain advantages. They get a pila bonus when fighting other infantry, they are able to conduct line relief, and they do not get overlap bonuses against them. On the minus side, they may not distribute hits to the units behind.

Aside from usual outflanking tactics, key in-game tactics seems to be to get overlaps (ie, side support) against enemy units thereby allowing more dice to be brought to bear, and by exploiting disorganised units, which melee with only half their usual attack dice and cannot share out hits amongst other friendly units.

In defense, depth and mutually supporting units are rewarded.*

* Without playing the game it is difficult for me to properly assess combat, so I will need to return with more comments at a later time.

Morale

As units take hits or are put into stressful situations they will at various times be obliged to take morale tests against their morale factor. If the d10 score is higher than the morale factor, the test is failed. The morale factor is modified by various considerations such as the number of hits that the unit has taken, proximity to routers or, more positively, to a friendly commander.

A failed morale test causes a unit to become shaken or to rout immediately. If it fails a test while already shaken, the unit will certainly rout. Units do not recover from their shaken or routed state unless rallied by a general within 100 paces (20cms), and units may not recover hits, so a unit which has taken more hits than it has morale factor is destroyed.

In an interesting twist, units which score very low on their morale test can become enthusiastic. enthusiastic units, as the appellation suggests, have their blood up and are eager to get to grips to the enemy. This has both positive and negative aspects to it!

Disorganisation and recovery

As mentioned, disorganised units are far less effective in combat than fresh units. Disorganisation occurs as a result of being on bad terrain, being shaken, evading, being contacted by terrifying enemy or not charging and not making contact.

Units recover from disorganisation by remaining stationary and 100 paces or more fromenemy units.

Victory

An army wins by driving the other from the field or, where the field is shared, by a points system.

Units and formations

Most units will be comprised of four bases in double rank* of one base, but options exist for using more bases in a unit. The game supports some formations, but in most cases these will be open order or closed order.

* Thanks to the rules author for pointing out my error.

Points and scenarios

The game includes a points system and a number of scenarios for a few well known battles such as Bibracte and Asculum. There are no army lists, but the author includes suggestions on how to convert army lists from other rules systems.

Conclusion

These rules are for people who already know a reasonable amount about ancient warfare and who want a toolkit for devising their own scenarios for casual or convention play. The rules give scenario designers flexibility, support multi-player games, and with experience are said to play to conclusion in around three hours.

The interactions seem to be in line with those of other rule sets, with victory going to the side that can best exploit its advantages to wear down the enemy and then induce a final, contagious rout. Reports on the yahoo group suggest that turn order can be crucial as the game enters its final stages, and being able to force the enemy to test morale before one's own tests are due can make a big difference to the outcome of closely-fought contests.

My impression is that the rules come from a do-it-yourself mentality; that players who share this mentality will enjoy the rules and be able to use them to suit their own style of game; that if you want competition games and cast-iron interpretations this will probably not be the ruleset for you.

Regarding rules completeness, the play-test copy implies rather than spells out a couple of key points, namely how a unit is destroyed (the answer is by taking more hits than its morale factor and thus being unable to rally) and whether the d10 is valued at 0-9 or 1-10 (the answer is 1-10).

Given this, it is possible that other rules questions will come up during play, but Bill responds quickly and supports the game as best he can through the yahoo group and by email, so I don't think that gaps in the rules or errata will be much of a problem.

Availability

The rules can be bought in hardcopy from Lulu for US$30. At this stage they are not available in an e-publishing format.

In the US you can also order Scutarii from On Military Matters.

Support can be found on the yahoo group Domus Scutarii, where Bill will happily answer any questions you might have.

Want-to-play factor

I am keen to give these a go. All that I require is space, gaming motivation, an opponent and a duty free weekend!

Rules Archive

Following Trebian's post from last Friday, and Dave Knight's as well, I thought I would do a similar compilation list of owned rules.

The trick is that they must be a hard copy and purchased by me, but I'm also going to include gifts.

I actually thought I had more rules than this, but I suppose that's because I buy too many boardgames as well!

Ancient and Medieval Wargaming - Neil Thomas rules. Simple set with lots of army lists. Open to interpretation so house rules need to be sorted out. Makes for a fun game. Jumbos are overpowered, but that's good if you're playing with your kids because you just give them the elephant army!

Ancient Warfare - A gift from a friend. Uses exotic basing, so probably won't play these.

Armati and Advanced Armati - Ancients rules from Arty Conliffe. Have no local opponent so have only played once and then solo. Would like to try them some more.

Broadsword - Ebay buy. Diceless medieval miniatures.

Classical Hack - Ancients rules from Phil Viverito. First set of rules I bought, but there are some things about them I didn't much like, so eventually moved on.

Command Decision 2nd Edition - WWII set from GDW. Not yet played.

Commands and Colors: Ancients - Very popular game from Richard Borg that uses hexes to regulate movement and cards to activate units. Produced as a board game but designed with miniatures in mind.

Corvus - Ancient naval miniatures rules from the Society of Ancients. Not played yet.

Crossfire - Remarkable set of WW2 rules. I'm not yet experienced enough to rate them properly from play, but I love the ideas behind them.

DBA - The classic 12-element set. I don't mind it the big battle version, but doesn't really appeal to me enough to learn all the ins and outs of the rules.

DBM - Wanted to like these, but the gaminess of some of the tactics put me off a bit.  Might get back into it for some solo games at some stage.  The army lists are a fantastic resource.

Field of Glory - Played one game but didn't really grab us and haven't played again since.

Hail Caesar - Development of Warmaster Ancients. Rules that seem to suit a casual club scene with big battles involving beer and lots of players. Not very appealing to me for solo play for some reason, even though they should work OK.

Johnny Reb II - Classic American Civil War rules. Order chits, strict sequence of play, really enjoyable. Sad to say I've still only had one game.

Kampfgruppe Commander II - WW2 rules. Not yet played, but there are things about them I like.

Legion - Early set from Phil Sabin.  Detailed look at ancient warfare. I need to get an appropriate hex mat sorted out to give these a try.

Might of Arms - A recent purchase. Keen to look at these a bit more.

Modern Spearhead - Modern adaption of the Spearhead rules. Gripping games at the outset, but they can become a bit of a grind as you end up rolling, rolling, rolling and rolling again for rockets, artillery, mortars and air strikes. Games are often decided by who can get their flank march to arrive at the right moment. My opponent generally outplays me tactically and yet we end up at around 50/50 in results, which goes to show that luck and playing the Americans is important!

Napoleon's Battles - Classic Napoleonics set. Probably too long in the tooth to make the time investment needed to learn these now. If I'd got them when I was a teenager I'd have been all over them.

Shako - More Arty Conliffe rules.This time Napoleonic.

Shattered Lances - Interesting Crusades set. Not sure why we haven't played these yet. Have been meaning to for years!

Shipwreck - Modern naval. Looking forward to trying these out.

Spearhead - Good rules for WW2 with 1/300 scale miniatures. Less arty-reliant than the Modern version, but I've only played twice, so it may depend on the scenario.

Strategos II / Lost Battles - Innovative rules from Phil Sabin. Best ancients rules I've played. Makes for great stories and historical outcomes.  Hard to beat.

Warhammer Ancients Battles - Well known GW set for 28mm figures. Not really suited for 15mm figures, but you can play it.

Warhammer English Civil War - A gift from a friend. Familiar Warhammer mechanics.

Warhammer Fantasy Battle, battle for Skull Pass set - 3rd edition was my introduction to miniatures gaming, and bought this out of nostalgia. Not the same game however, and not yet played in this form.

Warmaster Ancients - Designed for 10mm figures. Idiosyncratic basing for pike and shock cavalry, but an interesting set of rules. Played one game solo.

Crossfire infantry rules summary

Scale.

Fighting bases are 30mm square, with each one representing a squad, an HMG or a mortar.  In addition, commanders (company and platoon) and forward observers are represented on table.

A platoon is represented by 3 rifle stands, a PC (platoon commander) stand and perhaps an attached HMG stand.  There is no fixed ground scale.

Actions and Initiative.

The side with the initiative can perform any one of the following actions:

1) Move a squad or group straight ahead any distance (may pivot first) but may not enter and exit the same terrain feature in the same move and must stop if pinned by reaction fire.

2) Order a squad or group in open ground to 'ground hug' which confers a 'target in protective cover' benefit.

3) Order a squad or group in open ground which is ground hugging to stand up.

4) Order a squad or group to do a retreat move.  Stands in a retreat move cannot be attacked by reactive fire in the terrain feature they begin the move in.

5) A squad or group may shoot at an enemy squad, or fire at a terrain feature for 'recon by fire'.

6) Attempt to rally a pinned or suppressed unit.

If an action fails, if a moving squad is suppressed by reactive fire, or if the phasing player gives up his turn, the initiative passes to the opposing player.  Otherwise, the phasing player may continue to activate other or the same squads, HMGs, commanders or groups for subsequent actions as long as he retains the initiative.

Command and Control.

German squads can move at at any time.  An American squad can only move if it begins its move with line of sight to its platoon commander.

Group moves can be undertaken by squads from the same platoon who are in close proximity to one another.

To move as a group, one squad/HMG, platoon commander or company commander is designated the group leader.  All other stands from the same platoon within one stand of the group leader are then also able to move in conjunction with it.

Terrain Features.

The board is made up of open ground overlaid with terrain features.  Movement does not rely on rulers, but is limited by entering a new terrain feature, by being fired upon and pinned, or by player choice.

Some terrain blocks line of sight, other types provide protective cover, others hinder movement.

As a general rule squads in adjacent terrain features can see each other, but intervening terrain may block LOS.

Depressions - do not block LOS.  Troops in a depression can only be shot at by troops on higher ground or by troops also in the depression.

Hedges/walls - squads must stop when contacting a hedge or wall.  It takes one move action to cross to the other side, and on a third action may continue moving normally.  Hedges block LOS; walls do not.

Woods - block LOS and provide protective cover for all fire (-1 attacking dice).

Hills / crests - intervening hills block LOS: crests block LOS unless squad is touching crest.  Both hills provide protective cover from direct fire only.

Rough ground - does not block LOS.  Provides protective cover from all fire.

Fields - block LOS in season; do not block LOS if out of season.  Provide protective cover from direct fire only.

Orchards - in season function as woods; out of season as rough ground.

Direct Fire.

Ordered stands roll a number of dice (typically 2, 3 or 4).  Hits are scored on a 5-6, and fire is by individual squad or weapon.  One hit causes a pin result, 2 hits a suppression, and 3 hits a kill.  A suppressed squad that is suppressed again is killed.

There are three kinds of direct fire: single squad/weapon fire, fire group fire, or crossfire.  Fire group fire requires a fire group leader to be designated, with other stands within 30mm of that stand also allowed to fire at the same target.  A crossfire requires a PC or CC to direct the fire of two  or more squads or HMGs from one platoon to fire on the same target.

Rifles roll 3 dice, SMGs 2 (4 at point blank range), and HMGs 4 dice.

Indirect Fire.

Mortars can be called in by forward observers to fire or land smoke.  They roll a number of dice depending on the weapon and hit on 5s and 6s, and may have an area effect.

Close Combat.

Attacking stands which move to touch a target squad will perform close combat.  Attacker and defender roll a die, add applicable modifiers, and the high die wins. Commanders can influence combat and more than one attacking or defending stand can take part.  Defeated stands are eliminated.

Rules Overview: Lost Battles.

There was a post on the yahoo group the other night asking some questions about Lost Battles.  In reply I wrote what was supposed to be a brief summary of the game, but it turned out to be a bit longer than I expected.  I decided to re-post it here as it may be of interest to those who want to know a little more about the game.

The forthcoming Lost Battles board game  actually contains two games, "Lost Battles" and "Empire", but I'm going to concentrate on Lost Battles as that's the one I know most about.

Lost Battles is a system that models historical battles of the ancient era at grand-tactical scale. That means that each side will control somewhere around 20 units per side, with each unit representing greater or fewer numbers of troops depending on the size of the battle. At the battle of Trebia an average quality unit of heavy infantry represents 3000 men; at the battle of Leuctra a similar unit would represent 500 men. This is called the 'troop multiple' and allows LB to work for historical battles of different sizes without altering the core rules.

The board is divided into 20 zones; 5 wide by 4 deep. Troops move and fight from zone to zone, and these also scale in real terms from a minimum of 300m across to a maximum of 1200m across depending on the size of the historical battlefield.


Armies are made up of a limited set of troop types, with some sub-types to reflect different styles of fighting. The main types are light and heavy infantry, light and heavy cavalry, elephants, chariots and scythed chariots. The sub-types include phalangites, hoplites, legionaries and cataphracts, with rules to allow them to perform as they did historically.


Units are rated for quality and fighting value, with the three quality levels being levy (fighting value 2), average (fighting value 3) and veteran (fighting value 4)


The game also includes on-table generals, who make a real difference to the quality of a force. Generals have a range of special functions including the ability to rally units, move troops for free, give combat bonuses to units in their zone, and occasionally to boost morale. Better quality generals can do more of these things; poorer quality ones fewer.


So once you have decided on a scenario you want to play and set up your 20-odd units and generals (and seen your opponent do the same), what happens next?


Well, it's IGO-UGO, so if you're the starting player you must first work out how many commands you have. Commands are what allow your units to move and fight; the oil in the gaming engine, if you like ;-)


For every ten points of fighting value in your army you get 1 command. On top of that you roll a d6, and that gives you your command total. As mentioned, your generals also give you free commands (called exemptions), but I won't go into those too much right now. As an example, if you are fighting Cannae the Romans begin with a fighting value of 70, so they get 7 command plus the die result. The Carthaginians have a fighting value of 84, so they get 8 commands plus the die result.


Once you know how many commands you have you can start thinking about moving and fighting. It usually costs two commands to do most things (activate a group to move, activate a group to fight, etc) but there are a lot of different ways you can use commands, and there are many subtleties built into the system. You can make some units move farther at a higher command cost, or give units +1 in combat, and so on and so forth. Usually you can't do everything you'd like to do, so in how and where you use your commands resides a lot of the decision-making of the game, and it's where your tabletop generalship (and rules knowledge!) is most tested.


Combat is pretty simple: in most cases four units can attack from any one zone into another, so when it is your turn you choose which zones to attack with, and which units will attack from those zones and in what order. Two dice (six-sided) are rolled for each attack with a 'to hit' number required. As you would expect, different types of troops require different 'to hit' numbers depending on who they are attacking. Heavy cavalry against light infantry will hit on a 7; against heavy infantry they will need a 9, and so on for each troop type. The defending zone must always have a 'lead unit' against which all attacks are directed, and when a hit is scored on that unit it becomes 'spent' and another unit takes its place. Eventually, after a number of turns, 'spent' units will have to rotate back into the lead position again, and when spent units are hit they 'shatter', are removed from the table, and cause a morale test.


A lot of space could be devoted to talking about the details of combat, but to avoid overload I'll just say that it's simple but there is a lot to it and you have to make some interesting decisions, especially with 'all-out attacks' and rallies. 


Over time zones all across the battlefield will find themselves with more and more 'spent' units, and the process of trying to shatter enemy units while avoiding the same happening to your own becomes quite exciting.


Because it is grand-tactical scale, you will not be thinking about what formation you troops will assume, line of sight, whether to throw javelins at 40 paces or wait until 20 or any other low-level tactics. You will decide where to concentrate the greatest weight of your attack (represented by combat bonuses and high-quality troops), where you will attempt to hold the enemy (represented by refusing a flank, or stacking a zone with lower-quality troops) and how you will attempt to gain grand-tactical advantage (represented by attacking enemy zones from more than one direction, surrounding enemy zones or holding more of the central zones than the enemy).


To win battles you need to force a morale failure in the enemy army. When you shatter enough units and build up a morale advantage in other ways (holding key positions, killing enemy generals, surrounding zones containing enemy units) eventually one or both armies will start to fail morale tests and parts of the army will flee the field. At first spent light troops will run; then whole zones will flee, until finally a fatal shatter is scored and the remaining troops of one army melt away.


Once the battle is over, the secondary genius of the system shows through. At this point, players count up victory points and work out who wins the *game*. Unlike in many systems, the weaker army CAN (and often does) win in Lost Battles, because there is a handicap system in play. If you've played a few other ancients board game systems you'll probably have found that games are very imbalanced and there is not always much joy in playing the weaker army. Lost Battles is quite different in this regard, and each battle really is a game as well as a refight. The tabletop Caesar can win the field at Pharsalus but still lose the battle if the tabletop Pompey puts in a brave, stubborn and cunning performance.


So what do you get in Lost Battles?


1) a tense gaming experience.

2) a working model of ancient combat at grand-tactical level.

3) a sense of how these battles were fought and some insight into how and why the battles were won or lost as they were.

 Where is the game in Lost Battles?


1) how you deploy your army is very important (though you can use the historical deployments if you prefer).

2) where and when you employ combat bonuses is key.

3) it is necessary to have a plan for winning the battle, but you also need to be flexible in your approach.

4) which troops you put as lead units and the order of your attacks is a subtle but essential tool of tabletop generalship.

5) you must learn / gamble on when you can rely on your defense to hold and when you must stake everything on the attack.

6) use of reserves, withdrawals and encirclements is very important.

7) the order in which you move and resolve your attacks requires constant assessment to give your army the best chance of winning the field and yourself of winning the game.


8) how you use your on-table generals (where to position them, how to use the free commands, when to risk their death in a rally attempt and so on) is also quite important.


I hope that it gives you a bit of a taste of what you can expect from Lost Battles.