MR.
ROGER'S BATTLEFIELD
ANCIENTS I, by BILL BANKS;
Re-developed [Sure] by Keith Poulter
from 3W
Games
Six 8
1/2"x11" maps, 200 counters, one 8 page rulebook,1 scenario book, 1
chart card; 3W, POB 155, Cambria CA 93428. $25.
Reviewed
by GEORGE PEARSON
When all
those altakaka's gather 'round the faded Panzergruppe Guderian mapsheets
and begin to wax nostalgic about the "Golden Age" of wargaming, don't
believe it. What they're really talking about is the golden age of TANK
wargaming. Throughout the 70's and much of the 80's, games on WW II and III
dominated the market. One irascible reviewer called it the "Curse of the
Three N's: Nukes, Nato, and Nazis". (Ed. See, Ty! So where's that
royalty check?) Endlessly dreary games on obscure East Front battles sold
like latkes at a klezmer festival, while 3,000 years of history got the back of
the industry's simulated hand. Well, that was then, and this is now. Today,
Ancients is hotter than Madonna at a photo-op, and every game publisher this
side of Nineveh is cranking out something for the spear and sword set.
The foremost
producer of pre-Napoleonic games - at least in quantity, certainly not in quality - is 3W. Keith Poulter's lust for
new titles (a passion that seems to spontaneously generate somewhere in his
rear pocket) is so all-consuming that he now appears intent on re-doing every
Third World game from the 1980's, to which over-heatedness we are now indebted
for a remake of Bill Bank's Ancients: Ancients I. Given the
stunning sales and design success of the Great Battles of History series
from GMT, one wonders exactly at what market 3W is gazing. SPQR featured
state of the art graphics and design; the ambition and achievement of Ancients
I is rather more limited. GBH is like a high-performance sports car:
powerful, smooth, but somewhat intimidating to the first time user. Ancients
I is the family hatchback- simple yet reliable. Then again, why do I want a
Honda Civic if there's a Maserati in my garage?
Ancients
I comes in the
familiar 3W box, compliments of the Osprey Men-At-Arms series. It still looks
nifty, but with the seemingly endless
number of Markham spin-offs ("The Black Prince Goes Hawaiian"), the
shtick may have gotten a little stale, consumer-wise. This latest cover
features some Parthian/Sassanid cavalry-types, including a Shirley Temple
look-alike riding a horse decorated with Shell Oil logos. The inner components
are workmanlike, and, if not exactly inspiring, a far sight better than what
we're used to getting from 3W. It ain't DaVinci, but at least it's no longer
the Stevie Wonder Paint by Numbers Kit. The rules book is clear, well laid out,
and easy to follow … which is more than one can say for its sibling Scenario
tome.Unlike most games, reading the rules is the easy part of Ancients I. Get
ready for the Scenario Book From Hell. At first glance, it seems innocuous
enough: a nice layout, 32 juicy scenarios ranging from Kadesh to Issus to
Adrianople to Agincourt. A closer look indicates that the infamous and overpaid
3W "Glitch Detectors" fell asleep at the chariot wheel again. There
are a depressing number of typos and errors of information, such as:
•• At Mantinea, Epaminondas has been promoted to "Theban King" (… with
the thanks of a grateful city-state, we presume).
•• General Theagenes gets similar treatment at
Chaeronea
•• At Issus,
Darius is told that, "A mere boy has invaded your empire and routes [sic]
your armies." The Macedonians are now telling the Persians where to go
physically AND metaphysically!
•• In the "Historical [Hysterical?]
Notes" for the same battle, we read that Darius' "...army is caught
in a vice [sic] and his family is captured". So much for Persian Family
Values.
Aesop says:
"A Punch of the Spellchecker Button Does Not a Proofreader Make."
Well, we all
have our "Days á la Decision". But, unlike the latter company - and
their heinous Ancients in the Bag Quad - 3W's Ancients I attempts to combine at least a modicum of
flavor and creativity with its simplicity, synthesizing familiar rules into an
enjoyable and eminently playable system. This is no mean feat. Not too long
ago, no less a designer than Jim Dunnigan tried and failed with Men-At-Arms.
Where Ancients succeeds is in the smooth and natural flow of play that
characterizes the game. The sequence of play is the old, reliable "Va... vadis - Latin for Igo (the Caesarean
version of Igo-Hugo). The Phasing Player removes his leaders from the board,
checks for army panic, brings on any reinforcements, moves, and places leaders
back on the board. Mr. Non-Phasing Player gets a crack at fire combat,
whereupon the Phasing Player resolves melee on a standard odds combat table.
Finally, the Phaser rallies any disordered units that are stacked with leaders.
Leaders are
abstract representations of an army's command capability, hence their ability
to appear at any location a player desires. The game offers a respectable spectrum
of different kinds of units at a scale of 500-6000 men per unit: light, heavy,
and phalanx infantry, light and heavy archers, "mixed-missile"
(skirmishers
with bite, like peltasts), light and heavy cavalry, knights, chariots, and the
ubiquitous elephants. Units are rated for combat strength, movement, and
missile ability. Some units, such as phalanxes, have a special ability noted
with an asterisk (the big-stick boys are doubled vs. cavalry). All counters
have a
reverse, or disordered side, generally with a lessened combat factor. Attacking
is voluntary, but if a unit attacks it must do so individually. This is a nice
touch, as it prevents a bunch of light troops from ganging up on a heavy
infantry unit to get better odds.
Shock combat
uses an odds-ratio table, ranging from 1-2 to 3-1, which results in either
eliminations or disorders. Missile units use a chart that cross-references
missile ability, range, and target type. This is basic stuff, to be sure, but
it works - albeit with little subtlety. The handling of command, though, is
less felicitous, as all leaders do is double unit strengths - with up to three leaders allowed in a
stack, this means you would increase a 6 SP phalanx to a strength of 48! - and
rally. Even early tactical games, like SPI's old PRESTAGS, had a better
feel for the importance of command. Still, the effect works well enough in game
terms, and griping about a lack of complexity in a game like this is sort of
like getting offended by nudity in Penthouse. I mean, what did you expect?
And if
command is a tad sophomoric, the rest of the game is not. With his simple little system, Banks has
managed to paint some (but certainly not all) broad truths about ancient and
medieval warfare. For example, phalanxes are the most potent units in the game.
However, they are unwieldy (1 movement point), so committing them is a one-way
street; there isn't enough time in the game to change your mind once you launch
an attack. They are also remarkably vulnerable when disordered. In a well led
and drilled army, such as Philip's and Alexander's Macedonians, they are easily
rallied; without the leadership edge, they easily fall prey to the more mobile
and durable heavy infantry. (Can you say "legions" boys and girls? I
knew you could.)
In addition
to the basics, there are the de rigueur, optional rules, which run the
gamut from "Why wasn't this included in the regular rules?" (ZOC) to
"Whaaaaaaat?!!?" (Dice-free combat, wherein every 1-2 is an Attacker
Disrupted. Any takers?). There are, moreover, naval rules … even though there
are no naval counters! For that, you have to plunk down your dinares for the
soon-to-be available Ancients II. Everybody has an angle, but Keith is a
regular Pythagoras.
OK, the
rules are read, the counters punched … it's Show Time!
You read
through the scenarios, looking for a favorite battle, when you're brought up
shorter than Herve Villechaize. For some ill-starred reason, the 3W Development
Team - Team Bozo - decided to break
with tradition (and common sense) and introduce a new "system" for
setting up the counters. You know, essayist Fran Leibowitz said that, if you're
the first person to ever sautée steak with limes, try and think
"why". The original Ancients used nice little deployment maps,
showing you, at a glance, where all the units were deployed. But the Cretins de
la Cambria decided that was too obvious. We now get counter information and hex
number written in Assyrian shorthand, to wit: "3A2 (G12)" (gamespeak
for "a 3-point Heavy Archer in hex G12"). But, as Al Jolson said, you
ain't seen nothin' yet. Unfortunately - and literally so - there are NO hex
numbers on the map! Instead, you get a sample map with letters across the top
and numbers down the side. You are then instructed, in best New Age fashion, to
"imagine" these letters and numbers on your scenario map. Sort of
like the bumper sticker, "Visualize World Peace". Maybe a phone call
to Hunk-Ra would help? It would be just about as effective. _Ancients I was
designed to be a fast, enjoyable game. Setting the thing up shouldn't be such a
bloody chore.
Fortunately,
the set-up problems don't seem to have percolated into the scenarios. The sole
exception is Magnesia, which appears as if it were taken from Coleridge's
"Kubla Khan". Antiochus' cavalry
on the extreme right is separated from, and facing perpendicular to!, the main
Syrian army. Even weirder, the cavalry must cross a stream to get to the
Romans. I have never encountered anything quite like this in any ancient or
modern accounts. It flies in the face of what little we do know about the
battle. It would be nice to see where the designer/developer got their
information (Ed. The developer's "stately dome" was probably under
the influence of the same "inspiration" relied upon by the poet.),
but, alas, there is nary a bibliography or reading list to be found.
Inexcusable. Bibliographies are not pedantry; they're common courtesy.
So, why buy
the Civic when you can drive off in that Maserati?. If price is an object, you
know that the Great Battles Series, like Advanced Squad Leader, is
somewhat pricey. For $25 bucks, 3W
gives you more battles than you can shake a sarissa at. Ancients I
is also a relatively painless, fast-food supplement for those three-legged,
"Tactical Resolution" dogs most
designers, devoid of any creative inspiration, have tacked on to such
strategic/operational games as Trajan, Alexandros, Hannibal,
etc. Ancients I is also a pretty good way to introduce the uninitiated
to our obsession. It's fast, furious, fun that ends quickly, and leaves you
wanting more. Bill Banks has managed to keep it simple without becoming overly
simplistic. It's no SPQR; but neither is it gaming's equivalent to Dan
Quayle - The Old Bag Quad. It's a quick, satisfying bash for the
veteran, and an appropriate starting point for the neophyte. A pretty fair
addition to this, the Neo-Classicist Renaissance of Wargaming.
CAPSULE
COMMENTS:
Graphic
Presentation:
Acceptable, if not exactly cutting edge. 3W's starting to show improvement.
Playability: Real slam, bam, thank you
Mamertines stuff. All scenarios are limited to a maximum of 6 turns, so you can
rate it in games-per-hour! Solitaire is good.
Replayability:
Because of high scenario content and rapid-play time, a major asset.
Historicity: Understanding its approach, an acceptable feel for the period. It gets
the results right, although it has less chrome than a '68 Volvo.
Comparisons: We're starting to get some traffic
here. If you want to understand the
dynamics of ancient battles, get SPQR, et al. - the Rolls Royce leading the pile-up.
It's probably not as good as SPI's old PRESTAGS - but who can afford one
of those? Men-at-Arms was a reach, but it only grasped
disappointment. The Old Bag Quad
is cardboard-pushing at its most dismal.
Overall:
Ancients I is not
the definitive treatment of classical or medieval warfare, but it doesn't try
to be. It is a fun game that shows you some glimmer of what happened.