So, playthrough of Swordpoint done - just in time for 2nd edition
Like HC the basics suited my ambitions; figures on 'proper' bases (40mm square or 50mm square essentially), removal of said bases (eventually) from casualties, individual generals, recognisable phases of play - movement, shooting, melee, etc.
The creating of two forces to play test (Seleucid & Ptolemaic) I had to wing it a little as the sample lists started at Carthaginian and I didn't want to be forced into buying army lists as well - and I have to say the list supplied and the stuff about points on page 8 of the rules wasn't terribly clear. Like several other sets the units have arbitrary values to showcase their effectiveness (in this case Defence and Cohesion) which of course you need the army lists for your particular army but on going through the lists supplied their really wasn't a hell of a lot of difference - most Cohesion was across 6,7,8 and Defence across 3,5,6; why bother?
The sequence is billed as not being 'I go, you go' as if there is something terribly wrong with that idea (I have no preference either way as long as it works), but in fact when it came to the movement phase it was exactly that, based on a dice throw for Initiative, no modifiers, pure luck; it all seemed a bit counter intuitive. Much has been made of Shooting being the first phase of the game (I don't count the housekeeping phase) but for me it really didn't matter, it just meant the skirmishers were less effective having had one less turn of movement for them to get into range or a target get close enough.
Unfortunately the shooting and close combat suffer from that Warhammer hold over of inflict casualties then roll to save - WHY?! The mechanisms are simple enough yes, but why do it twice with the now expected 4 on a D6 to hit (plus or minus a few modifiers) then rolling against the Defence value for an actual casualty? It just makes the process longer and when there is a lot going on the count can get lost - I even confused myself! Both ultimately result in a Cohesion test (morale), with a combat result calculation in between for melees, which is a key decider in losing units - on average you are more likely to fail than succeed.
What I did like about the casualty calculation however was that casualties are counted in figures (eventually
), whole bases are removed but 'left overs' are discarded at the end of the phase. I think I might do it slightly differently but a good idea that kept things simple.
I did rather like the Momentum tokens idea; you start with a fixed number and add to your pile from success and use the pile for adding to your Initiative roll in movement and as bonuses in melee, I don't think it entirely worked, the rewards system favours the mobile aggressor overly significantly leaving defensive armies (Harold and the Saxons) at a disadvantage.
Command figures are quite useful for melees (extra dice) and rallying (command radius) and had a value which I didn't quite understand or could work out where it came from so I kept all mine at a neutral value, they are pretty hard to kill however even when in a melee.
The Line of Battle idea where you can spread casualties between the unit fighting and those either side was innovative I thought, it did get a bit messy when I had four pike blocks per side all in melee and it does tend to make the fight into a bit of a grind but maybe that's a good thing for the period I'm trying to do
What I did find irritating was all the 'special rules' and important other bits were at the back of the rules and not interlaced with the main rules where they were applicable which meant an awful lot of flicking back and forward. I get why it was done this way, to keep it all together but I don't think it worked.
Overall I got a result fairly quickly with some reasonable sized armies - 4 pike blocks per side with attached skirmishers, a couple of elephants and 6 small units of cavalry per side and nothing stood out too much as being 'unhistorical'.
Would I play them again? Yes, I think so. Are they THE rules? Not completely convinced but this can't go on forever.
So, in terms of the process, we are down to these, Hail Caesar and my own (obviously!). Next stage is play the three sets back to back with a real opponent and make a decision - thank god we're in a pandemic
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May 24, 2011, 07:43:04 AM
