Big Battle "Dominion of the Spear"

Yeah man!  This is more like it cuz it's More Better!

Why settle for 9 units when you can have 22??

The obvious next step in the enjoyable journey of getting to know Dominion of the Spears [CLICK] is to jump into the Big Battle rules in the Designer Notes [p.29]. This gives better "feel" as it widens the center so it feels more like a large battle line.  My choice was to go 5 wide with a Reserve Sector, so 6 total Sectors a side. 

However, I also wanted to try out a "clash of light troops" at the start, as a sort of "Act One" of the game narrative. So both Armies had three units of light troops fight it out before the main clash of battlelines. The sole purpose of this is to see if one side got any advantage out of it by taking out a battle line Unit.  History tells us this is the purpose of light troops [in addition to being camp servants], so I wanted to model that somehow but without changing the game.

Polybian [Republic] Roman Army - 10 Units, 30 Points:

3 x Elite Armoured Melee Infantry - Principes [brown] and Triarii [red]

2 x Melee Infantry - Hastati [blue] and Italian Allies [white]

2 x Melee Mounted - Equites and allied Italian Cavalry [white]

3 x Melee Infantry - Velites

Deployment of the Romans is in order listed above, from the back. The red Triarii are in Reserve.

Carthaginian [Hannibal] Army - 12 Units, 30 Points:

2 x Missile Infantry 1 x Melee Infantry - Balearic Slingers and Caetrati

3 x Melee Infantry - Gauls  [left] and Spanish Scutarii [brown] in center

3 x Melee Mounted - Spanish, Gallic, and Numidian Cavalry

1 x Melee Mounted Armoured - Elephants [right]

2 x Melee Infantry Armoured - Libyans [reserve]

Deployment of the Carthaginians is in order listed above, from the back, with cavalry on the wings [elephants on right of battleline].

Reserve Sector is Numidians, 2 x Libyans, and Spanish Cavalry.

In the clash of light infantry over 2 Rounds, Carthage was bested despite having the advantage of going first with their Missile Infantry, the Balaeric Slingers. Below, you see the advance of the entire Roman Army, led by the two surviving units of Velites. Now, however, the Velites will fight the Carthaginian main battle line to see if they can take out a unit before being "removed" [retiring to the rear after a job well done].

And they do very well for themselves, indeed! They take out 2 x Melee Infantry before being themselves "destroyed", a Gallic and a Spanish Scutarii. Hannibal will have to commit his Reserve Libyans!

Second Round of Battleline Combat. Elephants destroy Italian Cavalry, Principes and last Scutarii mutually destroy in center Sector, Gallic Cavalry destroy Equites. Libyans held their own against the Italians and Hastati.

With no other choice, Hannibal commits the Spanish Cavalry to hold the Center Sector, and the Romans commit a Triarii to the Center [I forgot to commit the other Triarii against the Elephants on the Right, however].

Next Round, the Elephants take out the Italian Infantry. The '4' would not have destroyed the Armoured Triarii Unit, however.

The Libyans fail to destroy the Triarii with a Flank attack, but the Spanish Cavalry destroy them and pursue them off the battlefield [both destroyed, actually].

Gallic Warband knock out the Hastati - a '6' destroys anything.

The Might of Carthage now faces a lone Triarii! The game ends as the Romans have 0-1 Unit, and less than Carthage.

Obviously, I messed up the reinforcements, as the Triarii would have held against the Elephants and saved the Italian Foot. But the loss of the Hastati - who were also Flanked by the Gallic Cavalry - and the Numidian Cavalry reinforcing the center would still leave the final Roman Units badly outnumbered and likely to lose.

Despite the rule mistake, a great little game, probly took about 15-20 minutes to set up and execute.  Dominion of the Spears really shines with an expanded center, and what I will keep as an Optional Rule:

Clash of Skirmishers

The Skirmishers form opposed battlelines in the center. They fight until one side has all Units removed [retire to rear]. Remaining Skirmishers of the winner then fight until removed against the enemy main battle line sectors normally, until they are also removed [retire to the rear]. After this, the main battlelines clash as normal.

Without using any special rules, this "battle before the battle" doesn't just enhance the narrative, it provides an opportunity for Lights to affect the main battleline fight that is next.  While it didn't work out for the Romans since they lost 3-1 in the first Round, followed by being outflanked on their right, it could easily have gone differently if the Carthaginians had fewer Reserve Units.

************************************** Second Big Battle **************************

Well, that played quickly and enjoyably, so I had to have another go!

Again, the Velites managed to win. They then fought the Gallic warband in the main battle line...

...and mutually destroyed them.

This required a Libyan Infantry Unit to be deployed from the Reserve.

In the following Rounds, the Carthaginians bested the Italian Cavalry on the right, but lost in the Center and Left Flank Sectors.

These holes were plugged with Reserves, but the elite Principes and Triarii showed their worth, defeating the Libyans and Elephants [respectively] after the cavalry mutually destroyed each other. Below is the final Round Battle Line Matchup! 

Amazingly, the Spanish Cavalry destroyed the Triarii, but no surprise that the Scutarii didn't survive the frontal attack of the Italian Allies, followed by Flank Attacks from the Hastati and Principes. Game over, man, Game Over!

I hope these posts show how much better this game plays with:

- the Big Battle version from the rules

- a deepening of both sides by a Sector, allowing a clash of Light Troops as the opening stage of the battle.  This could easily be ignored if you feel that historically the light fight wasn't very impactful.  However, in both my battles they destroyed a Carthaginian battle line Unit. Despite this, Carthage still won the first battle, only losing the second.

Next, I will be working on rules for the Generals. This will result in several more opportunities for player decisions, which is all this game really needs to check all my boxes at this point. Stay Tuned!

Dominion of the Spear: Review

Unbelievable but Real!

3-Minute battles for $6 

that's only $2 a minute!

Play Caesar's conquest of Gaul in an evening - while drinking!

Play on the plane, or on the train - but not while you're driving....

BLUF

Dominion of the Spear is a tightly written set of high-level [big-battle] wargame rules that may be played anywhere, anyhow; solo / opposed, remote / present, electronic / table top. It's results-oriented mechanics show the effects of most [not ALL] historical battle narratives with either a simple mechanic or dice roll abstraction. This results in an extreme fast-play game of 5-10 minutes per battle, and regular good "feel" narrative moments. 

It is also:

- an easily printed black-and-white download, 

- very user-friendly, ideal for young and new gamers,

- a direct challenge to over-designed, complex rulesets, and therefore of significant interest to experienced gamers who need a mental re-set,

- at $6 the best deal of [global inflationary] 2024 in wargaming, 

- the perfect cross-over game for tabletop board and role-playing gamers. 

- a good [not complete or ideal] framework to resolve battle results from theater-level board or role-playing games,

- given all the above, HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

Wow! You might be saying... is this really true, oh dubious blogger of the Western Hemisphere?  Well, brace yourself for a strong argument below, Dear Reader!

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This latest review may be blamed on a specific culprit, that Mad Processor of Wargame Mechanics, that scruffy nerf-herder of gaming, none other than Shawn Travers of Shaun's Wargaming with Miniatures. I don't closely follow him, as I'm afraid I'll get sucked into his obsessive search for the Perfect Ancients Game, something so tempting I went to 15 of 10 'recovering gamer' meetings to avoid it. As I never saw Shaun at any of the meetings, I can only conclude he's not interested in recovery, yet.  

So here we go again...

Kidding aside, Shaun is a gamer on a mission. His commitment to small fast-play ancients gaming processes is detailed enough that you can design games from it, albeit ones that he may not have intended you to design. His blog is a cross between a class with Dr. Phil Sabin and an extended overnight game development session fueled by sangria in a Spanish seaside resort - likely including a whopping hangover next day, as well.  However, I still like it better than going to classes!

Shaun is serving the ancient gaming community. Getting information on game design processes - the good, the bad, the ugly - isn't easy on the internet.  Most of what is posted doesn't include enough data from which to draw conclusions. And, frankly, a lot of people know what they like but they don't really know why or how it works. Shaun offers the reasoning behind his personal preferences, which definitely helps educate those gamers who are ignorant of wargame design processes. So, if you want to design or steal your own ancients rules, click the above link!

Shaun's latest fascination is the game "Dominion of the Spears: Fight Battles of the Ancient World - Solo Game" v.7, a $6 2024 WargameVault offering from Ork Publishing. The author goes by the street-name of "Steve" which is a good choice since just reading these rules will trigger 80-90% of wargamers into apoplectic fits of rage, so I strongly advise him to continue hiding far up in the North Country in a cave near Neil Thomas' secluded bastion [NOTE <-- humor].

The rules in booklet format printed easily at 32 pages, at 4 pages a sheet [2-sided] and took just a few seconds to staple and fold to create the rule booklet. I almost felt guilty at not spending another $50 on a set of wargame rules, clearly a result of social and consumer conditioning by the larger wargame companies.

The booklet could easily be printed as 8 pages with just the cover and rules [6 pages]. They contain

- a 4 page "example battle", 

- 14 pages of 196 Army Lists, 

- 2 pages of Designer Notes - which are definitely needed.  Why?  Excellent question, dear reader, which I will now elaborate upon in full...

Steve has made the most interesting ancients game since Phil Barker's "DBSA" was offered by that Madman of Distilled Syntax [God rest his soul and preserve his Legacy].  And I admit that it is proving as thought-provoking for me as DBA did, Lo' those Many Years Ago.

Basically, Steve has ruthlessly cut through ancient wargame design clutter and culture - and the redundant gaminess / cheesiness - and distilled it to its purest essence: 

1) pick your armies & determine the 'attacker',

2) deploy your armies, 

3) pray to your gods and roll the dice, committing reserves as Units are removed.

Yep, that's it.

Is this ALL there is to ancient warfare? Of course not. But if a bunch of ancient generals made a wargame that was the initial training tool for Aspiring Young Noble Generals, this would be it. They'd scratch it into the dirt and use rocks for Units.  And, I might add, they'd have plenty of interesting conversations for said students of generalship over watered-down wine at the end of a 25-mile march.

Aside from the shocking facts reported above, what is there to add?

- There are 4 troop types: Melee Infantry & Cavalry, Missile Infantry & Cavalry.

- There are 2 classifications: "Elite / Ferocious" gives a bonus for attacking, and "Armoured" gives a penalty against attacks.

- Altogether, there are 16 Unit types as you can combine Elite / Armoured.

- The rules are clearly written in plain English - and I mean English, cuz they spell armor "armour" implying significant affection for armor. But I digress...

- There is a simple points system [that works].

- There are no "light troops" at all; they are assumed to be linked to the battle line Units behind them or large enough in numbers to qualify as an above Unit.

Deployment is onto a "game board" that has three sectors - left, center & right for each side, and behind both sides a Reserve sector. Whatever size your army is, 4-6 Units typically, you must deploy the entire army in those sectors. The battle line sectors may only have 1 Unit each, but the Reserve may have all the rest.

Combat resolution is by d6 with a few modifiers, with each Unit simultaneously attempting to roll a target number, which removes the target Unit.  If both sides succeed, both Units are 'removed' - the logic being one is destroyed and the other is 'pursuing' and therefore also no longer available to the general. 

-- Rout and pursuit rules...do you need them?

-- Maneuver, formation, angles, etc...do you need them, either?

There are  some interesting historical nuances to troop-type interactions. 

There is also the possibility to outflank enemy Units after the Unit's opponent has been removed. 

The only movement rules are for Reserve Units to the Battle Line Sectors.

Player Decisions

These are very limited in these core rules. You can:

1) Pick your Army and Deploy it,

2) Choose from Reinforcement Units,

3) Choose Flank attack opportunities.

2 and 3 are only episodic. 2 only comes up when you've a 5-6 Unit Army, and 3 only if your Center Sector Infantry defeats it's opponent, and both Flanks are still fighting. So these "core rules" are definitely in the "ancient generals have limited opportunities to affect battles" camp. There is a supplement that adds to this, however.

Game Play

Quickly [say, in under 2 minutes], a Side loses enough Units to have gaps in the battle line, and its Units take multiple attacks from flanking Units. That usually provides just enough edge to win the battle. In Steve's own words:

"The armies are deployed as left flank, centre, and right flank with extra units in the reserve. Then combat in each of these three sectors are resolved sector by sector. A six sided dice is used for each unit to hit and rout it's opponent with missile armed units firing first. Defeated units are replaced from the reserve. The fun and interest comes from the interaction of the different types of units with missile mounted units having an advantage over melee infantry, melee infantry having an advantage over missile infantry, missile infantry over melee mounted, and melee mounted over missile mounted. Then there are outflanking bonuses. A battle can be fought in around 10 minutes or less and with some imagination generates an amusing story. Brief rules are given for scaling up with a bigger battlefield and bigger armies. Really designed to be played solo." 

From WargameVault [CLICK].

Options

There is a Big Battle option explained at the very end of the rules, in the Designer Notes. This is well explained and a good guide for those who will certainly want to push the limited boundary of the core game.

Genius

The real genius of the whole thing is what is NOT in the rules, such as weapon differentiation [often fictitious false differentiation in wargame design].  Units are instead only defined by their main combat function - missile or melee - and their battlefield role - battleline [infantry] or maneuvering [mounted].

196 Army Lists are - as presented - plentiful but usually no options. 

Steve has determined clear limits which you are free to modify, and he explains how to do so in the Designer Notes.

As hinted above, the rules *just* short of perfection, IMHO. 

Criticisms:

There are no terrain rules.  The rules missed out on an easy - and obvious - opportunity. Many well-documented battles featured at least one piece of important terrain that served to limit the battlefield size and/or maneuvering, or enhance / penalize certain troop types. Indeed some armies are arguably terrain dependent, e.g. 100 Years War English v. French.

In the author's favor, however, one can argue:

- Most historical limiting terrain is implied, e.g. flanking terrain. You can't move into an outer 4th [or 4th and 5th!] sector, so terrain constricts the battlefield. 

- There are no "terrain dependent / sensitive" Units, so it doesn't matter. But there should be...shouldn't there? Wait...should there?? Again, one can *assume* that by giving battle, both sides have found enough terrain to make their army combat effective and have a chance to win, ergo the English longbowmen have found terrain / placed stakes to make them stronger on the defense. 

To use a DBx example, in a clash between a Blade army and an Auxilia army the latter needs rough terrain to reduce the Blade Units to an equal fighting factor of '3'. If one has not found that terrain, one ought not fight the battle at all as obviously one cannot win it...so why game that battle, anyway?

Accepting Steve's design goals and some obvious historical examples, I would still argue that a simple, limited terrain offering greatly enhances the game's design by offering players historical choices. For example, a 6-Unit 100YW French army is fighting a 4-Unit 100YW English army; making a smaller battlefield with a piece of impassible terrain reduces the chance of the English army being outflanked.  Alternatively, a hill might give the English Missile Infantry the "Armoured" advantage. Choosing which terrain piece to use is an interesting choice for the English player. The same *historical* argument can be made for many other Army Lists opponents. 

No difference between Elite and Ferocious so Ferocious is unnecessary. And "Ferocious Archers" sound a bit ridiculous...maybe they're orks?

I'm not fond of the Mutual Destruction mechanic. Yes, I get that one Unit wasn't destroyed but is "pursuing and out of the fight". Still, don't like the feel of it. If a campaign game, I'd say the side that rolled higher won and the other unit was driven from the field.

Last Thoughts on the Design

Dominion destroys the notion that you need redundancies for an historical game. 

Redundancies are factors put into games for "feel" or "color" but that largely cancel out in execution of a "fair game". For example, in most wargame designs, weaker troop types are cheaper and therefore end up as larger Units. The net effect cancels out since most of those wargames use proportional casualties for morale checks. Ergo, the 16-figure Elite Legionary Unit fights - and costs - the same as 24-figure Gallic warband.  This is chrome that creates a false sense of historicity unless it results in ACTUAL differences on the battlefield. 

DBA got rid of most of it while also - interestingly - imposing a 12-Unit size on both sides. Triumph! got rid of identically sized sides, and DBM added numerous additional troop classifications, destroying an elegantly simple and effective design. ADLG appears to be more of the same DBM / DBMM problems. 

Even if one took any of those rulesets and limited each side to 4-6 Units, you couldn't possibly quickly play the game to an historical outcome, largely due to numerous questionable mechanics that clutter up the game. For example, "wheeling", a gamer fantasy for most ancient armies [cuz, like, dude, the Franks wheeled their Units by fixing one corner and maintaining a front while turning with the opposite corner, just like Frederick the Great's battalions did... yes, that's historical gaming in some people's minds].

To Conclude...

"Dominion of the Spear" is the complete mind-blowing reset that most gamers need.  It focuses players to think of the limited decisions available to a [typical non-genius] historical general and to closely evaluate battle history without adding in a lot more than we are certain about. While there are a couple of missed opportunities, perhaps, I admire Steve's determination to ruthlessly cull redundant wargame chrome down to the abstraction of a dice roll; few others have done so.

*********************************** BREAK **********************************

Well, that's the rules, so how does a game play out?  

With a strong narrative, and in 5 minutes, I found - repeatedly!

Below, the wonderful cards from "Battleground Historical Warfare: the Punic War" by Rattrap Games [CLICK] which I highly recommend for any wargamer to acquire, along with their terrain pack.  

The Romans are defending against the Carthaginians with 2 x Elite, Armoured Melee Infantry [Legions], 1 Melee Infantry [Italian Allies], 1 Melee Cavalry [Equites].  They have deployed the two strongest infantry in the battle line Sectors to their left, and their cavalry on their right Sector - this is to counter the Carthaginian attack sequence that will start on the Carthaginian right. In their Reserve Sector is the average Melee Infantry. Their plan is to have their best troops up front, win a succession of combats, then exploit with the Center Legion or Flank Cavalry.

Below, the attacking Carthaginians deploy second. They choose the best matchups they can with an inferior but larger army. From their right, they place Armoured Melee Cavalry [Elephants], Armoured Melee Infantry [Libyan spears], and Melee Cavalry [Numidians]. In the Reserve Sector they have a Melee Cavalry [Spanish] and Melee Infantry [Gauls]. Plan is to roll high on the right and center while winning with cavalry on the left, and wearing the Romans down.

First Round. The left Cavalry are mutually removed.

They are replaced by Reserves. The Romans use the Italian Foot, the only Reserve Unit they have. The Carthaginian General chooses the Spanish Cavalry. The Gauls remain in Reserve.

Second Round. The center Legion destroys the Libyans, the Gauls [must] replace from Reserve. Then the Italian Allies destroy the Spanish Cavalry - there is no more Reseves! It looks like Rome will be safe for a few months longer...

Third Round. Elephants destroy a Legion! Gloriously, the center Legion and the Flanking Italians fail to destroy the Gauls, so the game is tied, but with the advantage to the Carthaginians as combat is resolved Attacker's Right to Left. 

Fourth Round. Elephants destroy center Legion with a Flank Attack!

Everything rests on the Italian Allies at this point - they need a 4+ to destroy the Gauls, tie the game, and force a 5th round against the Elephants.  But their gods have failed them, barely!  They roll a '3' and the game ends as they have 1 Unit left, and fewer than their opponent. 

Example Game 2

I quickly played another game [actually, all the games are quick!] which went down like this: Round 1, Elephants and Legion mutually destroy each other. Italian Allies and Numidians replace from Reserves, respectively.

Then Spanish Cavalry destroy the Equites. No Replacements left for Rome.

Round 2. Numidians and Italian Allies also mutually destroy each other [or, Italian Allies drove Numidians from the field and pursued them since they rolled higher]. Replaced by the Gauls.

Round 2 continues, the Libyans hold off the Legion, but the Spanish Cavalry destroy them from a Flank.

Each battle took just about 3-4 minutes.  One can easily construct an historical narrative / battle report upon each of these battles. Doing so will take far longer than the actual game, of course!  Perfect for a campaign game or system.

I think this may be the best $6 I've ever spent!

Battle Masters: The Game, The Figs

It's a Boardgame...

wait, it's a Tabletop Miniatures Game... 

no it's a hybrid Grid-Based Table Top Unit Miniatures Game!

Whatever it is, we'll never see a deal like this again, that's for sure!

There's plenty of story and history to this 1992 game at BoardGameGeek [BGG] and Wikipedia [WIKI] so I won't cover the astonishing partnership between a huge American game company like Milton Bradley and the - then - up and coming niche company Games Workshop. Suffice it to say that some gamers I know remember it as a craze and played the heck out of it, while other people - like me - have no idea what anyone is talking about. I do have an excuse... I was living in Belgium and playing rugby while studying various native dictionaries. No tabletop games were being played in those years!

Anyway, below is the - still amazing - list of what's in the box:

Over 100 figures in 25 Units with trays and flags, a plastic tower, a huge gridded 'board' [really, a large vinyl hexed mat] 'board', terrain templates, and 100 tokens to mark Units - everything a miniatures player needs to host a sizable game.  And people I know say they scarfed up the last games for $4 on sale.  Crazy!

There's plenty of games out there since it was mass-produced. But since it was aimed at 10 year olds, most copies got a fair amount of play and abuse, so it can be hard to find a mint copy, altho they are out there. Parts of the game are easily available on Facebook Marketplace and eBay. As usual, some prices are ridiculous and some are very reasonable. New in shrink wrap, expect to pay $300.  Excellent condition and complete, $150.  In playable condition and perhaps missing a couple of parts [and with some broken spears etc] about $80.  If you persist, like I did, you can get a 95% complete and playable game for about $50.

Again, there's lots of games out there, and you can still find them for $5 in someone's garage sale - parents from the 90s are downsizing and getting rid of their kid's junk / priceless childhood memories.

Initially, however, I approached it from the angle of just getting some plastic figures in an old-school mono-pose style.  The intent is to use these as "back rankers" in Units, with the front figs, the Big Mahoffs, being classic metal.  Can't get much more Old School than that. Sure, it's a toy soldier type of style, but that's the charm, also. I'd also argue that mono-pose figs make the perfect minions, so players know who is important and who is not. Dynamic, cool pose with unique paint job?  Yeah, that's a leader / hero.  

So, I bought two sets [without Ogres], a total of 240 figs for $110 total, incl tax & shipping.  At 50 cents a figure, that is a good deal for classic plastic miniatures. They also came with the Unit trays and flags, necessary since they are slotta figs with no bases - the figs fit into slots on the trays.

When it comes to sizing, these are a bit smaller than later GW, so closer to 25mm. Below, BM Chaos Warrior; GW Metal Chaos Warrior & Plastic Halberdier; BM Plastic Halberdier [note the BM figs have the stickers on the shields].

Above: the most obvious difference is the halberdiers, GW left, BM right.

Below, BM Empire Archer, GW metal Empire Archer, BM Chaos Archer:

Above, the Empire Archer is almost exactly 25mm, the metal GW one is 28mm. The Chaos archer is just a tad smaller, but remember "Chaos oversized mutant" ethos.

The wood bases below are 1" squares, and the Orc slottas don't quite fit, nor does the caparisoned war horse. The goblins and armored horses do.  So there'll need to be some trimming to get these to fit on single bases, whether old plastics or these new wood ones.

And here's what a Unit will look like with the BasEx D&D 1e rules I'm developing. A loose blob of figs mounted variously on bases, 3-4-3 for a tribal mob appearance. 

The goblins may end up on 20mm bases - pretty sure I have some, somewhere...

Below, a nice paint job of the wolf riders, showing what can be done with these figs.

After talking to some of my gaming peers and reading about the game at BGG, however, I downloaded the rules from the Hasbro [thanks!] site. Then decided to get a copy of the game. Between the plastic figs and the modest mental demands of the game, it's still a perfect intro to table top miniatures, and slightly larger units of 10 figs will be perfect with my ultimate fast-play game, One-Hour Wargames. Why a lot more of us OHW fans aren't using these figs is beyond me!

I got a copy for $50 [including delivery] and it is only missing a few figs and some counters - and three dice, which I'll make my own from old SAGA parts.  Ta-DAAA!

Missing parts, below. I have plenty of the figs.

Unboxing and sorting to inventory parts.

Both the Ogre and the tower are quite nicely done!

Trays and flags.

These illustrations just crack me up!

Most importantly, it came with all the cards and essentials to play the game, so I've no complaints, altho I should have done this FIRST and then decided if I wanted the additional figures. I might sell some off later, we'll see. Meanwhile, there's definitely enough to play mega-games with other people and their sets!

I really recommend this as a game to play unto itself - with a little bit of tweaking, it can easily keep experienced gamers engaged. As-is, it will be fun for newbies of all ages, and it is a visually spectacular set for nearly zero work.  Painting the figs will be fun [altho cleaning and prepping them won't be] and if properly protected in a 'miracle dip' will be nearly indestructible.

Bas-Ex D&D: The Battle Game, p.2

The Dark Horde preparing to raid Empire territory!

Another run-thru of One-Hour Wargames Scenario #25 "Infiltration" using the BasEx D&D 1e mass combat rules.  Here, I have limits on arrows [white dice] and experimented with fatigue, both of which are in the Basic Rules.

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BasEx D&D Mass Combat Commentary

Overall, it hasn't been too difficult to adapt BasEx to mass combat with units. Goal is to have Unit battles work the same as the 1 fig = 1 Player Character RPG mechanics. Altho the ground scale is 1"=10' and the fig ratio is 1:5 or 10, there has been only a little bit added to the game since the Combat rules already have group rules for morale and simple, obvious tactical choices. These work just fine when scaled "up" to larger groups.

I worked out a simple conversion of ground scale and turn length using the Basic book, kept movement as "loose blobs" of single figures [and wrote the mechanics for this of course], and have stuck as close to the combat rules as possible. All this is to make it very easy to introduce Magic [so it will be Fantasy gaming].

Turns are same as I will run RPG game turns - there's an Initiative roll each Turn, the winner gets to act first. Each Figure / Unit may perform an Action. If tied, there are a few options for 'simultaneous' Actions from the book [really, partially simultaneous]. The Turn sequence is the biggest change I've made, as I got rid of the - quite artificial - phases of the turn, a needless complication from the wargaming world that found its way into the RPG rules.

Each Fig in this scenario attacks with 1d20 needing around an 11-12 To Hit most Units, except the plate armored knights are more like a 16-17. Each Hit inflicts about enough Damage to kill a figure. Morale is checked for Initial casualties, 50%, and Bad Things; failure results in either an orderly Withdrawal that can be stopped, to a full Retreat which cannot. Figs Move pretty slowly, mostly 6-8", but can run at triple speed [causing Fatigue] to Charge [only]. 

Overall, these rules are pretty simple, but hit all the essentials and are very intuitive to work with since they are derived from single-man combat.

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Invading horde again has 3 Greenskin Units [2 Orc, 1 Goblin] and 3 Chaos Units [Champions, Beastmen and Archers]. The Chaos forces will attempt to break through the Empire forces while the Greenies will be arrow-fodder. 

But hey, 'shhhh...they don't know that yet."  Let's not spoil the surprise!

Plan is for the Chaos forces to head North immediately, while Orcs and Goblins take the hill and otherwise hold off the Empire reinforcements.

Empire Forces - Archers on hill, Men-at-Arms at Table North will enter Turn 3, and block the open ground between the hill and woods. Turn 6 the Knights and Crossbows will enter on the road.

Plan is to hold the enemy with the MaA Halberdiers in the North, while the Archers shoot up targets, and the Knights charge whatever is close to getting away. Officially, the invading side is supposed to exit at the Road on the North side. 

But: 

* Since the Chaos forces are slow, I'm giving them the option to exit anywhere on the North side of the Table. 

**They also have 6 Units so need to exit 3 for a win.

By Turn 3, the Beastmen are have progressed into the woods, the Champions lag behind. The Beastmen get a bonus to Morale and move unimpeded there, plus it is near the edge for a quick escape.

Meanwhile, the Greenskins have advanced upon the Archers, supported by the Chaos Archers. One Orc unit charged in, while the other is going around the flank. The Goblins lag behind.

Halberdier 1 charges the Beastmen, and taking their first losses they check and fail morale, so Withdraw a half move. This does allow the Champions time to catch up.

Orc 2 and the Chaos Archers start moving North, heading towards the Halberdiers, who are now significantly outnumbered!

Orc 1 fails morale and Retreats. Chaos has maneuvered well and now has a 2-1 advantage in the North, and the Halberdiers have unwisely split up!

Turn 6, Empire reinforcements arrive. The Archers have once again been attacked by Greenies, but the Halberdiers have managed to gang up on the Champions due to the weak performance of the Beastmen.

As they Recovered, finally, the Beastmen again advance, hoping to slip around the Halberdiers and make good their escape. The Chaos Champions are taking some real Damage despite their Armor Class 3, thanks to the Empire's Halberds.

Considering the situation, the Beastmen attack the rear of Halberdier 1. The Lord Knights manage a Charge against the Chaos Archers, supported by their own Crossbows. The Goblins have been routed by the knights who have followed up with a charge against the Orcs.

Despite rolling a '7' at 50%, the Orcs fail by 1, due to being outnumbered and outflanked. They begin a Fighting Withdrawal.

These Battle Masters figs are new to me, but they are already cursed by the fickle gaming god that persecutes elite units! Needing a measly 9 to Hit the Archers, the Lord Knights miss with all four dice!

With Orce 2 Retreating, the Empire Knights are free to charge the Chaos Warriors!  They do, and ALSO succumb to the Elite Unit Curse!  All misses!

Just to prove the dark gods are laughing, the Halberdiers score two Hits, put the Chaos Champions over 50%, and put the knights to shame!

Chaos Champions laugh - maniacally - and roll a '4' to pass Morale. We'll see who gets the last laugh, however, as Empire reinforcements have arrived!

The Chaos Archers - who had one [1!!!!] figure left, Withdraw in good order off the board after the Lord Knights completely missed them - they've escaped [all 5-10 of them].  It is getting very VERY close.  The Lord Knights look around for something glorious to do - the woods cost them 1/3 movement, so they've only a 16" Charge. They are short of the Beastmen [who are easy pickings] so must pile onto the Champions.

Seeing their opportunity, the Beastmen start to march off the board.

Everything came down to just a few rolls. The Champions check Morale for being charged on the flanks, and again roll very low. On their player turn, they Withdraw a half move. Next game turn, they Run off the board, escaping the Empire's clutches - barely! Had they lost Initiative, they would have been charged in the flanks and rear again, and very likely wiped out. Chaos squeaked out a win, getting parts of three units off the table to escape or raid the Empire, however you see it. 

Scenario #25 "Infiltration" is a much better One-Hour Wargames scenario than I thought it would be. There's a few important decisions that need to be made to optimize a delaying force while the rest escape. Speed and combat power both need to be taken into account.

As a playtest, I feel it was effective in most regards. I dropped calculating fatigue part way through as I was having enough trouble just keeping track of the core game mechanics, so that will wait for next time.

The most difficult part to manage is the movement rates, which allow a lot of freedom as they're designed for small skirmishers and individual fig = 1 man. On a small table like mine, if you can run freely you can Move way too fast, possibly winning games before they really get started. The brake on that is to limit running freely to NPCs and PCs.  Units may only Charge at the Run.

 Overall, it isn't that the "Troops" can't run more, it's that they won't because they're uncertain what is lurking out there, they're awaiting instructions, sticking together for safety in numbers, etc. These D&D fantasy armies are basically Dark Age or early Medieval Armies, and a "battle" is more like a large skirmish between multiple tribes. Presently, with full explanations in bullet form, the rules are 4 typed pages.

Next time, I'll be using the Fatigue rules - they are derived from the Basic D&D movement rules, but will they be worth the effort?