Spears of Valour - Free to download mass fantasy ruleset!

[Dauntless]

Hey folks,

Just thought I would put this new mass fantasy ruleset out there! Its a D6 system for 15mm / 28mm (individual basing). Free to download from WGV: https://www.wargamevault.com/product/462440/Spears-of-Valour-Mass-fantasy-battles

It has a nice twist on 'unit activation'. Regiments activate on initiative and get two orders per turn: 'Move' and 'Shoot' in any order, or twice. So cavalry in a good position can set up a flank charge and pull it off in one activation, horse archers can shoot and run, etc. It's a whole different strategic challenge.

Rules are all on eleven pages and each army list is only one page! So nice and streamlined 

[Basementboy]

Very helpful! Thanks for bringing it to attention

[Polkovnik]

"Each model represents one warrior on the field"
How is it mass battle then ?

[Pattus Magnus]

You just need to have a big enough collection! Belgian and a few others on LAF could manage it… (but I certainly can’t!)

[Dauntless]

"Each model represents one warrior on the field"
How is it mass battle then ?

I only have about a 100 models in most fantasy armies, max around 150.

I take 'mass-fantasy' to mean regiment sized battles (i.e. blocks of 10-30 troops).

6mm scale battles and the like which use elements are the next scale up! I don't know how people refer to that scale.

[Luigi]

Dauntless, because of you my collection of rank and flank fantasy games keeps increasing!

I'm at work so I took just a very cursory glance at it, but it seems very similar to Runestar D12 but based on D6s instead.

[Dauntless]

Dauntless, because of you my collection of rank and flank fantasy games keeps increasing!

I'm at work so I took just a very cursory glance at it, but it seems very similar to Runestar D12 but based on D6s instead.

That was it, 'rank and flank'! It was on the tip of my tongue. I can only ever remember 'mass fantasy' when describing these games.

Ah its a different experience Luigi. Spears of Valour has an activation system. High initiative units activate first and get two orders per activation. Most units have two wounds each. It has a different combat engine and the theme is a bit more generic and 'Epic Fantasy'.

I would call it a more 'streamlined' game, which trades 'detail' for 'ergonomics' (i.e. lots of 'one-pagers' - one page of magick, one page army lists, one page of special rules, etc). Depends on what flavour you are after - a bit more detail or a bit more 'succinctness'.

[Polkovnik]

I only have about a 100 models in most fantasy armies, max around 150.

I take 'mass-fantasy' to mean regiment sized battles (i.e. blocks of 10-30 troops).

6mm scale battles and the like which use elements are the next scale up! I don't know how people refer to that scale.

Mass battle mean it represents a large battle, 1000s of combatants on each side. The number of figures on the table is irrelevant - DBA is a mass battle ruleset with only about 30-40 figures on each side.

A real battle with 100 - 200 participants on each side is a skirmish, not a mass battle.

[Hobgoblin]

Mass battle mean it represents a large battle, 1000s of combatants on each side. The number of figures on the table is irrelevant - DBA is a mass battle ruleset with only about 30-40 figures on each side.

A real battle with 100 - 200 participants on each side is a skirmish, not a mass battle.

Very true - but Warhammer has cast its shadow far in this regard. Rick Priestley pointed out in an interview that he and his co-writers achieved a strange sleight of hand in the Warhammer rules: on the one hand, the rules plainly assume a figure:troop ratio of at least 1:20; on the other, they treat musicians, standard-bearers and heroes as individuals.

It always seems odd to me that other designers have adopted this wholesale - as in Kings of War and Oathmark, for example. Plainly, rank'n'flank is implausible with units of 10 or 20 men, but games that use large-skirmish numbers for mass battles and remain silent on the assumed figure scale are remarkably widespread.

It's interesting to contrast Gygax's Chainmail with Warhammer and the games in its lineage - Chainmail is upfront about figure scale (1:20) and ground scale (1:10), but those later games just keep quiet!

Obviously, there are many honourable exceptions in fantasy wargames (Sword and Spear , HOTT and Mayhem, for example).

[Dubbya]

Yuck, a discussion of what counts as mass battle, next arguing about "high" and "low" fantasy? 😀 You have to keep in mind many people call games with half a dosen models skirmish games.

Battlesystem from TSR was clear on figure count. Like Warhammer, it does your head in when you start having models interact with buildings!

Nordic Weasel have a couple of games that specifically call it out as being like a battle in a television series - zoomed in, these few actors look close enough to represent a real battle, even if it's clearly not enough.

At a quick look, these rules seem similar to some of the streamlined "handful of individual models" games, but for regiments.

[Hobgoblin]

Battlesystem from TSR was clear on figure count.

Ah - good point (1:10 rather than Chainmail's 1:20). I suspect that's a result of the Chainmail (and other wargaming) lineage on the D&D side: figure scales were part of the soil from which TSR grew.

Like Warhammer, it does your head in when you start having models interact with buildings!

Yes, I wonder if that's one reason the figure scale in Warhammer was left implicit - that and heroes. Once you state that a figure is 20 men, then you have to explain that a hero figure represents the hero and his bodyguard, and so on. Another reason might just be that the maths gets a bit mind-bending and complicated for kids. I remember that when I first dabbled with fantasy wargames at the age of 8 or 9, figure scale seemed a daunting concept, and Warhammer was reassuring in that it just ignored it.

Nordic Weasel have a couple of games that specifically call it out as being like a battle in a television series - zoomed in, these few actors look close enough to represent a real battle, even if it's clearly not enough.

I'd completely forgotten that (it's in An Orc Too Far, which I've played a couple of times)! It's a clever rationalisation and worth quoting:

Rather than attempt an exact scale, we operate on what we call “television scale”.
A unit of 6 stands with 3 figures each doesn’t really look like a battalion of troops.
What it does look like is a battalion on television (at least before the days when computer graphics could conjure up armies of thousands).
You know the sort: We’re told that we’re watching an epic battle for the fate of the world, but they only have 40 guys dressed up so they zoom the camera in close to just look at them.
As such, ground scales are left fairly undefined and units represent whatever you need them to do.

[Luigi]

the rules plainly assume a figure:troop ratio of at least 1:20

for me it's always been the opposite: my 20-30 man block of soldiers represent a single, blocky and angular, warrior. 

[Dauntless]

Two new mini expansions for Spears of Valour are now freely available!

New Army Lists 1: https://www.wargamevault.com/product/463204/Spears-of-Valour-New-Army-Lists-I

This book contains a Samurai list, Dragon-men, Wolfen, the elemental armies of a Mage-Realm and many more!

Of Monsters and Magick: https://www.wargamevault.com/product/463544/Spears-of-Valour-Of-Monsters-and-Magick

This book introduces eight new spell lores, taking the total up to ten! Also an extra page of bestiary monsters.

[Basementboy]

Good to know!