Rules, Scenarios and Gamer Files

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(art courtesy HaT Industrie and Italeri)

About Hex Command Ancients

Hex Command Ancients are rules based on Hex Command Gunpowder which contains all the basic premises and concepts of the Hex Command system.   A combination of Hex Command Gunpowder and Hex Command Ancients comprises the Pike and Shotte module of HCG for playing the Pike and Shotte era.

Almost all the combat of the ancient era involves frontal melee action of two units that have contacted; imagine if you will that units suffer more from fatigue than actual battle injury, which ironically, as they grow tired causes them to become more susceptible to physical wounds. 

Once units become tired enough, they are pushed away from contact; more likely they "melt" away, something you might think of as a "repulse" that we seem to read so much about.

We also read that "units came back" to try again.  This ebb and flow of battle has been recorded throughout history, though this is the one aspect that has not been actually explored in film; even Gladiator had major issues and it was as good as any film if not the best, in showing how things might have actually occurred.

Note: We recently made it an option that players can play the game by NOT routing a unit back when it routs; instead, remove the unit from the game. The rationale behind this is that once a unit has reached the point of exhaustion and injury, it simply cannot take any more and as more men fall or stream away from the enemy the entire unit breaks.  

The concept that it can recover and be used in the battle later pushes the fact of human nature and is likely not accurate. It is up to players if they wish to have the concept of units "rallying" to be able to be used again.  Routing from missile file is a different story; routing from melee however we think, pretty much destroys the health of a unit for the rest of the battle and while we show it running away, in fact it is not likely to recover regardless of any commander trying to stop them.  Herein lies the value of reserve lines of troops.  

If you do not have a reserve force, without using the rally rule, you will experience greater difficulty in reaching an acceptable conclusion to the battle.

Shown: Carthaginian Spear "Phalanx" Heavy Infantry.  

This type of "phalanx" is not that same as a Macedonian serisa-armed Phalanx; these Heavy Infantry are somewhat more maneuverable (expressed as being able to face change like normal Heavy infantry but NOT having the same push-of-pike rules that apply to serisa-armed Phalanx and those units found in the Pike and Shotte era.)

<<<< This is where leaders come in: their presence and risk during combat increases a units value, but they can be killed at the same time.  Remember, a "leader" is not a person here; his presence represents leadership activity and his death represents loss of that ability for this region or the units he may have been attached to.

Routed units that reach proximity of a leader immediately rally; there is no separate die roll in these rules for morale because all such things are factored into the basic combat system already.

"..Our design intention is to give new players and experienced military gamers, a miniatures game with board game speed so it can be started and finished within an hour..."

Above: Numidian light cavalry.

Below: Example of a card produced for the game.. Each side of players draws from a set of large 4x6 graphic cards (art courtesy HaT Industrie) to see at random who commands what units on their side. Handing these out to players provides a great sense of time and place, plus the cards describe exactly what they can do and other game hints..

1. Proximity Effect for Commanders:
   a.  Commander Symbol characters must touch a unit (be placed on it) or 
   b.  they can be placed within a hex of the unit (Proximity Effect) to affect it (heal and rally).
2. Self-Rally.  Mark some units as being "trained" or "elite" status: they can self-rally on their own, whenever they need to, from their own wounds and routs.  "Trained" cavalry is also able to ignore the effects of Elephants.  Also, some self-rally units may cause other units within one hex range that are NOT self-rally to heal-up by one level or rally from routed.
3. Artillery.  Artillery examples are large bolt throwers, and these are moved by wagons.  Generally, unless in a siege situation, ancient artillery will not be seen on the battlefield.
4. Hidden Movement and Placement Options: Generally, the best method for fog-of-war is to use markers on the table for all units at the beginning, and having some of those markers labeled Fake.  Fake markers are revealed at maximum missile firing range.  The percentage of Real to Fake markers is to be determined and generally favors less experienced players.
5. Quantity of Commanders. As another benefit to less experienced players, determine the number of Commander symbol figures per side.  Generally this is one per side which will create a hort game, and NO commanders will create a VERY short game because only those units able to self-rally will do so.  

In the image below from a box cover art, it is interesting to note the missile figures are in the back ranks while the forward soldiers advance with swords drawn.  Based on the pantaloons and enemy in the distance, this might be staged in a northern Europe climate but the type of Pilum being thrown by the Romans is an early javelin type.