Sword and Spear: Crusaders v Arabs

[monkeylite]

Here're some pics of a test I played with S&S, using a couple of house rules to increase the number of dice involved, after a discussion in this thread: http://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=94331.0











I discuss the dice a bit here: http://tewblogger.blogspot.co.uk/2016/12/sword-and-spear-test.html

[Codsticker]

Great looking armies.

ps. I see you are from Bristol, I hope your rugby club steps up it's performance  .

[monkeylite]

Great looking armies.

ps. I see you are from Bristol, I hope your rugby club steps up it's performance  .

Thanks.

I hope it doesn't. It's owned by the evil Lansdown sports empire.

[jambo1]

Lovely looking figures, really well painted. Looks like it was a great game.

[SteveBurt]

Nice looking game.
In your discussion you talk about raising the number of dice drawn per phase from 13 to 15.
The standard number per phase is 7 is Sword & Spear. Why have you raised it so much?

[monkeylite]

Nice looking game.
In your discussion you talk about raising the number of dice drawn per phase from 13 to 15.
The standard number per phase is 7 is Sword & Spear. Why have you raised it so much?

It was ostensibly a four player game, with each army split in two. The rules have the following numbers of dice recommended for that number of players (so I just raised it by two):

2----3----4----5----6
7---11---13---15---17

[SteveBurt]

Ah, got you. I thought you'd made a more radical change.

[GIjimbo]

Those armies look brilliant!
What scale and make are the figures?

[Polkovnik]

Great looking game ! Good to hear that the rules changes you tried worked well for you. You used quite a lot of extra dice - did you find that with these extra dice you were able to activate every unit every turn ? Presumably you got a lot more bonuses and were able to carry out a lot more manoeuvres with your units also ?
Maybe one extra dice per commander might be more balanced, and mean you can activate most units but not everything, so you would still have to prioritise which units to activate.
If you are using points you should probably increase the points cost of commanders, or just make sure that both sides have the same number of commanders (as you did in this game), as commanders are now more valuable if they also provide extra dice.

[monkeylite]

Great looking game ! Good to hear that the rules changes you tried worked well for you. You used quite a lot of extra dice - did you find that with these extra dice you were able to activate every unit every turn ? Presumably you got a lot more bonuses and were able to carry out a lot more manoeuvres with your units also ?
Maybe one extra dice per commander might be more balanced, and mean you can activate most units but not everything, so you would still have to prioritise which units to activate.
If you are using points you should probably increase the points cost of commanders, or just make sure that both sides have the same number of commanders (as you did in this game), as commanders are now more valuable if they also provide extra dice.

Thanks.

Yeah, in some turns there was the odd unit or two left without orders. And in some turns there was enough to activate everyone, with maybe the odd dice left over. I did find in one turn, the blue battle had already activated nearly everyone while still having a good few dice left in the bag, so I was making the decision 'should I use this 4 to activate them now, or should I just defer and hope to roll something better next phase?' which is not the sort of choice you usually get to make.

I realise that's not necessarily how you envisioned the game, but I find it to my taste (maybe I just like more!).

I am looking to play a 6 player game soon, and thinking a general and captain for each player, with the general bringing 2 extra dice, and the captain 1. That will be even more dice for about the same number of troops.

Yeah, I wouldn't like to guess how much the extra dice are worth in terms of points, so will be keeping the number of leaders per side even.

Thanks for a great game, I'm really enjoying it, and it's saved my armies, coz I hadn't really found the rules I really wanted for them despite continuing to paint loads.

[monkeylite]

Those armies look brilliant!
What scale and make are the figures?

Thanks.

They're 28mm. Most of them are Fireforge or Gripping Beast plastics, with a few Perry plastic bits sprinkled in. There are some Gripping Beast metals for the Arab leaders. The metal Arab heavy cavalry and Ghulams are Footsore Minis. The pilgrims are from all overs the place esp. Gripping Beast and Foundry.

[Phil Portway]

Great looking game. Nice to see S&S being used a lot more