How to play I Shall Call You My Lord

[KarwickWingmaker]

In this thread I will give a basic overview of the mechanics of I Shall Call You My Lord. The rules manual goes into more detail such as moving through rough ground, cavalry, points values, campaigns and so on, but this should give you a taste of how the game is played.

The rules are all available for free here: https://orriblelittlemen.wordpress.com/downloads


Part 1: Initiative, Activation & Movement


The Yorkists (left to right): A unit of 12 Mercenary Archers armed with handguns, a Lord (in the gilded armour with his sword raised), and his unit of 4 Men At Arms


The Lancastrians (our left to right): a Cannon with 4 crew, a unit of 7 Retinue Archers, a Captain and his unit of 6 Retinue Billmen


Both sides roll for Initiative, with the Yorkists (the white d6) rolling higher, therefore winning the Initiative for the turn. This means that the Yorkists will act first in each phase, starting with Activation.


To Activate, a leader or unit must pass a morale test. Leaders can activate their own unit and up to their Influence Effect value of other units. The Yorkist leader is a Lord, therefore being able to activate his own unit and up to 3 others within his Influence Range of 12 inches. To pass a morale test, roll 2D6 and add the result to the Leader or Unit’s Morale value. If the result is 10 or higher, the Morale test is passed. We see here that the Yorkist Lord passes with relative ease and proceeds to activate his own unit of men at arms, and the handgunners to his right. The Yorkists decide to remain stationary during the Movement Phase.


The Lancastrian Captain has a Morale value of 5, and also manages to pass his morale test, activating his own unit, the archers, and the cannon crew.


The Lancastrian Captain decides to move up with his billmen. They may move up to 6 inches ...


... but may not end the Movement Phase within 3 inches of any enemy models.

[KarwickWingmaker]

Part 2: Charging and Reaction



The Charge Phase begins with the Yorkists deciding not to charge. The Lancastrian Captain elects to charge with his billmen, rolling a D6 to determine the distance they can charge that turn. If the roll is lower than the distance to the enemy, the charge is unsuccessful and the unit would remain stationary for the rest of the Charge Phase. The roll of 6 allows the Lancastrian Captain’s unit to charge into the handgunners defending the hedge.


The target of the charge now gets to react, whether that means bracing for the charge, evading, or making a desperate shot as the enemy closes. They decide to make a desperate shot, which would lower their armour in combat, but allows them the chance to stop the charge entirely. The unit shoots as though at medium range (in this case requiring rolls of 5 or more to cause hits) by rolling a D6 per shooting model. 5 hits! The billmen are going to regret this reckless charge.


A leader is in the unit ans therefore must roll a 2 or higher to evade having been hit, a 3 will do the trick!


Now armour saves must be rolled for each hit taken, with handguns causing a -2 modifier to the rolls. The billmen need 6’s to save. I don’t see any 6’s!


Having taken 5 casualties, the billmen are reduced to less than 1/2 of their starting number. They must pass a morale test with a -1 modifier for each unit member lost that turn (so -5 in this example). The test is failed so they flee.


Fleeing distance is calculated in exactly the same way as running, add a D6 to the units movement (6 inches) and move that distance directly away from the enemy.


Having rolled a 2, the Lancastrian Captain and his last remaining billman run 8 inches directly away from the handgunners.


Each unit with ranged weapons has 4 shots per battle, this 7mm red d6 shows that the handgunners have 3 shots remaining.

[KarwickWingmaker]

Part 3: Shooting and Cannon


Each unit may only shoot up to once per turn, so with the Yorkist handgunners having shot during the Charge Phase, the Yorkists do not have any units able to shoot during the Shoot Phase. The Lancastrians open up with their cannon. Cannon hit on a roll of 4 or higher within 12” (the Yorkist Lord’s unit of Men At Arms are within 12” of the Cannon as shown here). The cover of the hedge means that the cannon must roll 1 higher to hit, needing a 5+ to hit their target.
Cannon are fired by rolling 2D6, the higher result being the to hit roll, and the lower result being the casualties caused by the shot. As we can see, the shot has hit with a roll of 5, and has caused 2 casualties.


When cannon shoot at a unit that contains a Leader, 2D6 are rolled. A double 1 would mean the leader has been hit. This was a very close call for the Yorkist Lord as the shot rips through his unit.


Whenever a unit is hit by a cannon, they must take a morale test. The Yorkists pass here with a roll of 9.


However, the Shoot Phase is not over! The Lancastrian archers loose into the men at arms.


They cause 2 hits (they need rolls of 5 or 6 to hit as they are shooting at short range at a unit behind cover)


The Yorkist Lord avoids being hit once again!


The hits are both saved by the plate armour of the men at arms.


Both the Cannon and the archers have used up one of their shots each.

[KarwickWingmaker]

Part 4: An Example of Combat


These poor archers are about to be charged by some men at arms, they are out of arrows and running would just prolong the inevitable. They elect to brace for the charge.


The men at arms crash into the archers! Combat is fought by rolling a D6 for each model in base contact with the enemy, attempting to roll the same as their Combat value or above. The men at arms have a Combat value of 3+, so only rolls of 1 or 2 fail (here they fail once, causing 6 hits). The archers have a Combat value of 5+, but manage a respectable 4 hits against their enemy.


The men at arms have an Armour value of 3+, meaning that they need to roll 3 or higher on each saving roll. They fail one saving roll, so a single man at arms is removed as a casualty. The archers fail all 6 of their saves as they required rolls of 4 or higher. The archers suffered more casualties than the men at arms, so they are pushed back 2 inches.


The men at arms elect to follow up, keeping the archers locked in combat for the next turn.


That’s all the basics covered!

The rest is found in the rules manual (link to the free download in part 1 of this tutorial)

[Totleben]

Thanks a lot. 

[Charlie_]

Nice clear guide, well done!

Are these your own rules?

One thing jumped out at me at the end.... the archers losing the combat were pushed back 2". I can't help but think it would be better if a losing nit was pushed back a random distance, D6". It would make the push and shove of combat more unpredictable!

[KarwickWingmaker]

Thanks a lot. 

No problem! Thanks for checking out the rules

[KarwickWingmaker]

Nice clear guide, well done!

Are these your own rules?

One thing jumped out at me at the end.... the archers losing the combat were pushed back 2". I can't help but think it would be better if a losing nit was pushed back a random distance, D6". It would make the push and shove of combat more unpredictable!

Thanks Charlie! Yes they’re my own set of rules

Initially I had units pushed back D3 or D6 inches (cant remember now  ) but in playtesting it tended to just feel like another thing the players had to make rolls for, and also sometimes gave extreme results that I will attempt to explain now:

If a Captain and his unit of men at arms push back a unit of archers D6 inches, and the archers roll a 6, then the Captain could follow up with his men at arms to remain locked in combat, moving 6 inches. This could mean the Captain is now relatively isolated as the units that were next to his own would be left behind, and could themselves be thrown back 6 inches if they lose their combats.

Admittedly some randomisation would be a cool mechanic but in practice any extreme result such as that would make the battle feel like it flows in quite an odd manner, with battle lines possibly only lasting a single turn before all command and control breaks down. With the emphasis of this game being on the commanding influence of the leaders, it was more in line with that core premise to have the units remain relatively under the player’s control until something goes horribly wrong (like a unit losing more than 50% of its starting number and failing its morale test).

As the battle goes on and units take more of a beating, the commanders lose a grip of their units. They struggle to hold the line, or break due to taking losses, and this is where the randomness comes into play, with units individually attempting to get out of harms way, possibly leaving gaps in the line for the enemy to pour through and mop up those still fighting on.

I wanted combat to be decisive, but also wanted the battle lines to last a few turns under normal circumstances (especially due to the archery duel that normally takes up the first three or four turns in a normal battle)

I hope this answers your question