When Empires Clash! – The first draft

After the play-test, and having listened to the very useful feedback I have had from readers of this blog, I have finished the first draft of these newly named rules.

Briefly, they are substantially the same as the original version but with several significant developments. There may be summed up as being:

• The use of both 2D6s and D12s – the 2D6s are used when European and European-style armies are fighting each other; the D12s are used for Colonial battles. The reasoning behind this is that European armies all tended to use similar methodology and weapons, thus making combat between them much more predictable, whereas Colonial conflicts were far more asymmetric and therefore less predictable. This may not appeal to some people, but I want to play-test this before deciding which option to go with … or not as the case may be.
• The possibility of allowing stands that are larger than the squares on the grid has been covered. These larger stands would allow players to use weapons such as heavy artillery and tanks, whose models may be larger than the basic 50mm square.
• Rules for using transport to carry troops or to tow artillery have been included.
• More weapon types have been included. The latter includes mechanical machine guns (e.g. Gatlings, Gardners) and automatic machine guns (e.g. Maxims, Colts).
• The ‘Generals’ have now become ‘Commanders’, and their ability rating now counts towards the number of stands they can activate each turn as well as having a possible impact on Fire Combat and Close Combat.
• The use of dice to determine initiative has been changed slightly, with the highest scoring player deciding whether they want to retain the initiative and activate their stands first during a turn or whether to pass the initiative over to the other side.
• The rules regarding stands that are forced to withdraw have been re-worked so as to make them clearer … I hope! It has also meant that if the foremost stand of a pair of stands in a square is forced to withdraw it will be destroyed.
• The difference between Fire Combat and Close Combat has been defined.
• Artillery is now allowed to fire indirectly if certain criteria are met.
• Some additional combat additions and subtractions have been included. These mainly relate to the effect of artillery and machine gun fire on squares that contain a pair of stands and the effect of firing into the flank or rear of a stand.

All the rules need now is to be proof read, after which I will be able to make them available in PDF format. It is too late tonight to do this so I hope to do it tomorrow morning.

Once this draft has been play-tested I hope to add rules for aircraft and warships, but this will be sometime in the future.