Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
The
VOIDRUNNER'S CODEX
is coming! Explore new worlds, fight oppressive empires, fend off fearsome aliens, and wield deadly psionics with this comprehensive boxed set expansion for 5E and A5E!
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
D&D Older Editions
Chainmail is 50 years old!
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Baron Opal II" data-source="post: 8232110" data-attributes="member: 6794067"><p><u>PART-4 ANALYSIS</u></p><p></p><p>First of all, everyone had a lot of fun with it. Most mentioned some variation of “when do we do this again?” and “next time will go better!” One player had some experience with Warhammer. I have played proper wargames (as opposed to RPGs, &c.) I think twice. So, for most of us this was a new experience.</p><p></p><p><strong>Morale</strong>- Didn’t really use it. Only three units on the Ivory King side had enough sapience or free will to consider it. Most of the time Team Phoenix units were delivering the hurt, not getting hurt, or getting paralyzed so it didn’t come into play. There was functionally no cavalry on the Ivory King side, and the Team Phoenix cavalry plowed into skeletons and zombies.</p><p></p><p>I can see, however, from this inverse example, if you will, how there would be a lot more movement of forces when morale comes into play. I think the Cogwheel Archers did perform a single 3” fall back maneuver when firing at the ghouls. It was mentioned that the maneuver “felt right, what archers would do.”</p><p></p><p>Also, the post melee morale rules seem untenable. I can imagine I could do that in my head, eventually, but it would definitely be beyond a couple of my players. I adapted the rules for a different morale situation later in the book (8+ on 2d6 for light foot, &c.). But, I think there was really only one roll during the game.</p><p></p><p><strong>Fatigue</strong>- Barely used it. I ruled that using the charge move two rounds in a row incurred fatigue. It didn’t seem quite fair to implement those rules since none of my troops would be fatigued, ever. I certainly didn’t pay a troop cost surcharge for it. Something for next time.</p><p></p><p><strong>Archers / Massed Troops</strong>- Team Phoenix is so lucky that I didn’t come up with an archer unit for the Ivory King. There was a little confusion over the rules; I ruled that Unarmored / Partial Armor / Fully Armored corresponded to Light / Heavy / Armored designations. This made intuitive sense as skeletons and ghouls were light units and zombies were heavy. While the zombies weren’t actually wearing armor, there was a lot of dead meat to cut through.</p><p></p><p>From the word go, I heard at least once every other round, “we needed archers”. A squad of six units of archers would mop up in this scenario, especially the Cogwheel Archers with their improved range.</p><p></p><p>From about Round 2-3, the lack of massed troops was keenly felt. If there were six units of Hashlemac, there would have been no stalemate with the ghouls. If there were 6 units of the Galvanic Foot, there would have been no zombie issues, and possibly no draugr issues. (The draugr could out-maneuver them, however. They were quite slow.) Having only one or two units per squad did allow them to cover more territory, but it also increased their losses overall.</p><p></p><p>An interesting loophole in the rules was that the Galvanic Foot always had at least 2 dice on the attack, due to polearms and magic weapons. Since there was only one unit, armored foot didn’t have the dice to attack the draugr (medium horse x2). They could still take the draugr out with the bonus dice, however. Also, the draugr couldn’t attack back due to the polearms, not having reach. Thus, the Galvanic Foot didn’t need paralyzation protection, at least from the front. This ended up fitting the feel of the setting, so that was great.</p><p></p><p><strong>Heroes</strong>- Team Phoenix did not use their heroes effectively. This is really just an experience issue, however. They see that Asher should have been carving up skeletons and zombies, or paired with a heavy hitting squad as he gave +2 to the roll. Elenia was a good fit with the Brass Men. It made a certain sense to match Oglethorp with the Hashlemac, but his need to use <em>Rally</em> every turn to keep them mobile prevented him from throwing his hammer to cause a <em>Shockwave</em>. Team Phoenix could have lessened their losses using their own form of artillery. Getting lucky and taking out the lich would have been a coup.</p><p></p><p><strong>General</strong>- These definitely feel like a set of first edition, 40 year old rules. There’s a distinct lack of polish, here. But, after reading them 3-4 times, they worked <em>really well</em>! When two units of heavy horse slammed into six of light foot, what occurred felt right. After understanding how archers worked, the lack was keenly felt. I may be so moved to write my own version so I understand them better, but I, and we, are really pleased with them overall.</p><p></p><p>I have to admit a certain pride when my son said the next day, “we matched Strong versus Strong, Weak versus Weak. That was a big mistake, and increased our losses.”</p><p></p><p>All in all, a great experience, and they’re already thinking about the next time. I guess I need to make another scenario!</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Baron Opal II, post: 8232110, member: 6794067"] [U]PART-4 ANALYSIS[/U] First of all, everyone had a lot of fun with it. Most mentioned some variation of “when do we do this again?” and “next time will go better!” One player had some experience with Warhammer. I have played proper wargames (as opposed to RPGs, &c.) I think twice. So, for most of us this was a new experience. [B]Morale[/B]- Didn’t really use it. Only three units on the Ivory King side had enough sapience or free will to consider it. Most of the time Team Phoenix units were delivering the hurt, not getting hurt, or getting paralyzed so it didn’t come into play. There was functionally no cavalry on the Ivory King side, and the Team Phoenix cavalry plowed into skeletons and zombies. I can see, however, from this inverse example, if you will, how there would be a lot more movement of forces when morale comes into play. I think the Cogwheel Archers did perform a single 3” fall back maneuver when firing at the ghouls. It was mentioned that the maneuver “felt right, what archers would do.” Also, the post melee morale rules seem untenable. I can imagine I could do that in my head, eventually, but it would definitely be beyond a couple of my players. I adapted the rules for a different morale situation later in the book (8+ on 2d6 for light foot, &c.). But, I think there was really only one roll during the game. [B]Fatigue[/B]- Barely used it. I ruled that using the charge move two rounds in a row incurred fatigue. It didn’t seem quite fair to implement those rules since none of my troops would be fatigued, ever. I certainly didn’t pay a troop cost surcharge for it. Something for next time. [B]Archers / Massed Troops[/B]- Team Phoenix is so lucky that I didn’t come up with an archer unit for the Ivory King. There was a little confusion over the rules; I ruled that Unarmored / Partial Armor / Fully Armored corresponded to Light / Heavy / Armored designations. This made intuitive sense as skeletons and ghouls were light units and zombies were heavy. While the zombies weren’t actually wearing armor, there was a lot of dead meat to cut through. From the word go, I heard at least once every other round, “we needed archers”. A squad of six units of archers would mop up in this scenario, especially the Cogwheel Archers with their improved range. From about Round 2-3, the lack of massed troops was keenly felt. If there were six units of Hashlemac, there would have been no stalemate with the ghouls. If there were 6 units of the Galvanic Foot, there would have been no zombie issues, and possibly no draugr issues. (The draugr could out-maneuver them, however. They were quite slow.) Having only one or two units per squad did allow them to cover more territory, but it also increased their losses overall. An interesting loophole in the rules was that the Galvanic Foot always had at least 2 dice on the attack, due to polearms and magic weapons. Since there was only one unit, armored foot didn’t have the dice to attack the draugr (medium horse x2). They could still take the draugr out with the bonus dice, however. Also, the draugr couldn’t attack back due to the polearms, not having reach. Thus, the Galvanic Foot didn’t need paralyzation protection, at least from the front. This ended up fitting the feel of the setting, so that was great. [B]Heroes[/B]- Team Phoenix did not use their heroes effectively. This is really just an experience issue, however. They see that Asher should have been carving up skeletons and zombies, or paired with a heavy hitting squad as he gave +2 to the roll. Elenia was a good fit with the Brass Men. It made a certain sense to match Oglethorp with the Hashlemac, but his need to use [I]Rally[/I] every turn to keep them mobile prevented him from throwing his hammer to cause a [I]Shockwave[/I]. Team Phoenix could have lessened their losses using their own form of artillery. Getting lucky and taking out the lich would have been a coup. [B]General[/B]- These definitely feel like a set of first edition, 40 year old rules. There’s a distinct lack of polish, here. But, after reading them 3-4 times, they worked [I]really well[/I]! When two units of heavy horse slammed into six of light foot, what occurred felt right. After understanding how archers worked, the lack was keenly felt. I may be so moved to write my own version so I understand them better, but I, and we, are really pleased with them overall. I have to admit a certain pride when my son said the next day, “we matched Strong versus Strong, Weak versus Weak. That was a big mistake, and increased our losses.” All in all, a great experience, and they’re already thinking about the next time. I guess I need to make another scenario! [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
D&D Older Editions
Chainmail is 50 years old!
Top