Wars of The Republic Rules Queries/Discussion Thread

[Corto Maltese]

Hi Eric

Many thanks for sending me here to the LAF for questions after my query on your blog.  Your responses to Andy's questions above have been very illuminating and ironed out a few queries my opponent David and I had.  We certainly had the same question about hills (I'm an old WAB player too) and may adopt the same solution Andy did.  Here, then, are the remainder of our questions:

1.  This is just to make absolutely sure I'm on top of the turn sequence, and specifically so I can be confident I know when the melee phase is meant to take place.  Do both I and David carry out all of our moving, shooting and charging before all the melees take place, or are melees decided individually, as the units make contact?  I may be unwittingly porting over ideas from other rules as I assume the former, but then again, if this is the case I don't see how the order of melee resolution can be decided by the player who has initiative, as it seems that initiative is now irrelevant, or at least 'over'.  If the latter, then there is no order for the Initiative-holding player to decide, as they are individually adjudicated.

2.  You use the wording 'locked in melee'.  Are we correct in interpreting this to mean that units cannot voluntarily leave a melee and the only way a melee can break up is if a unit routs, or it is pushed back and its opponent chooses not to follow up.

3.  Two units are involved in melee and a third has the opportunity to charge in on the flank.  Are we correct in assuming that while it can count +2 for charging and +2 for flank attack, it can only ever count +2 for a supporting unit and will not receive its full attack value in this particular fight, i.e. that the first unit to contact is always the primary melee unit and others will only ever count as supports?

4.  You also answered the question originating in your Blood and Spectacles blog about Phalanx or Legion troops moving to support even if at an angle.  Your reminder that it is the leader of the support unit that has to be within 6MU is appreciated.  Our supplementary question is: does the support unit retain its Legion or Phalanx status even after the move?

Thanks again.  I want to reiterate that we had a great game and are looking forward to more.  There were some interested looks at our table from other members of the club during the evening too.  I think people are looking for a new Ancients big battle game and Wars of the Republic may be it.

Cheers

Paul

[Easy E]

Glad you found your way here! At the end of March, I will compile all of these questions and make an FAQ on my blog.  Until then, this is the place!

1. You are correct.  Complete all activations of Movement and shooting, once all units have been activated, then you move onto the Melee Phase.  Once the Melee phase begins the only advantage to having Initiative is you get to choose which melees to resolve first.  This can matter as people begin to run out of Commander's Gaze for re-rolls. 

2. That is also correct.  Other units can still choose to join the melee as support units later on. 

3. You nailed it.  Spot on.  Therefore, it is best to use your heavy hitters as the main thrust of the attack with other units on the support side of things.

4. Yes, even though Legion and Phalanx can not normally move sideways or at an angle the direction of the support move is more like getting caught up in the general fighting and an exception to normal movement restrictions.   

[Corto Maltese]

Thanks very much Eric. Really useful clarifications.

Cheers

Paul

[guitarheroandy]

Great questions and the one about the flank attacking support unit made me realise that we did something wrong in our last game, where my legion regulars were fighting British warriors to their front in an ongoing fight and were also flank charged by chariots. We treated both British units as primary units where according to what you've said, the chariots  should have counted as a charging flank attacking supporting unit as they piled into an existing combat.

In other news, one of the very few things my regular opponent and I are not too keen on in these rules is the terrain generation chart - specifically the fact that you can end up with random stone walls or hedges on the table where, in reality, that kind of thing just doesn't really happen. (I know - we're really pedantic!  ) Anyway, we're toying with replacing 'stone wall (or other linear obstacle)' with 'walled/fenced enclosure/ruin' and treating it as difficult ground that also provides cover as that suits our idea of it better.

We're also considering creating some 'theatre-specific' terrain tables to tailor the terrain a little more to the theatre we're fighting in, as (for example) you'd not get swamps or ponds in Mesopotamia in a Roman vs Parthians battle (which is likely what we're going to fight next), but you might get areas of rocky ground that might be 'dangerous' to cavalry/chariots. similarly, in Gaul, you'd probably need some wooded hills (difficult ground.) My opponent has so many ancient armies that we feel this would give our games even more 'flavour'. Anyway, this is just a random idea at this stage but if we get anywhere with it, we'll post our thoughts up here...

[Easy E]

I would love more flavorful terrain placement charts, but felt that was an area better left to players.  I have no idea what they have in their collection so kept mine pretty generic in nature.  For example, there is no River option! 

[old git]

Managed a couple of games at the weekend and became a little confused regarding Stealing the Initiative & a unit commander’s field of vision.

If both players have a force of 6 units and after I Activate my 3rd unit my opponent Steals the Initiative does he have the opportunity to Activate all 6 of his units before I have the opportunity to Activate my units 4-6, assuming I do not Steal the Initiative back?

Line of Sight for Shooting purposes is 360’ per P15. Does this apply to a unit in say Phalanx?
Is Line of Sight for Melee purposes 360’?

Cheers 

[Easy E]

Managed a couple of games at the weekend and became a little confused regarding Stealing the Initiative & a unit commander’s field of vision.

If both players have a force of 6 units and after I Activate my 3rd unit my opponent Steals the Initiative does he have the opportunity to Activate all 6 of his units before I have the opportunity to Activate my units 4-6, assuming I do not Steal the Initiative back?

Line of Sight for Shooting purposes is 360’ per P15. Does this apply to a unit in say Phalanx?
Is Line of Sight for Melee purposes 360’?

Cheers

Glad to hear you gave it a go! 

Regarding Stealing the Initiative, once a player steals the initiative they can start to activate units.  If you want to start activating units again you need to steal it back OR wait until all of their units have activated. 

Player 1- I won initiative, so I activate a unit, decide to Move, and move it. 
Player 2- I spend a Commander's Gaze to steal the initiative.  The players roll off and Player 2 wins.  They can activate a unit, and they choose to shoot with some archers. Shooting is resolved.
Player 1- Can then decide to try an steal initiative back OR let Player 2 keep activate units.

Make sense? 

Regarding the Melee 360, I am not sure I understand the question?  However, here is my take below. 

Typically, the front is the forward of the base 180, the back is rear of the base 180, and the flanks are the sides of the base not in the front or rear.  Therefore, you can use the Focal Point of the Unit (Unit leader) to determine if it is a charge to the receiving units front, flank, or rear.