In this page I have set out the house rules adopted during our campaign battles that added to or altered the standard rules of MeG or ADLG additional to the ones laid out in the campaign rules.
ADLG
No house rules were added.
MeG
1. As we played though a video link we each drew from our own pack of Command Cards. This shouldn't normally make any difference to the probability of any particular general drawing any particular cards except when players retain cards for the future turns. In this case, as each player has his own set of cards, one player cannot influence the cards likely to be drawn by their opponent as is the case when only one pack is used. The rationale for being able to retain cards is not explained in the MeG rules except for flank marches so it is difficult to see why an opponent's card draw should be affected in the first place by their opponent.
2. Gordon commented in several of our early campaign games using MeG that there appeared to be a certain inevitability of a unit winning a fight when it had even a mere one combat claim advantage over its opponent when locked into a melee combat. Whilst I didn't find it to be quite so cut and dried I agreed that there was an issue, compounded by the deployment procedure and the relative speed that units are able to close to combat, which sometimes can give limited scope to rectify a bad matchup.
The issue is compounded
in MeG Maximus where each unit may have three or four files in combat the
averaging effect of so many rolls means that, even if the side with the worst
colour die betters its opponent in one or two rolls, over the space of several
turns our experience is it is generally only a matter of time before the unit rolling the worst die
is destroyed.
Looking at Death Die overall lethality, taking a Skull as 2 hits and a Wound as 1, they are
graded as follows:
Lethality
Increase
Black 1 - -
White 2 1 100%
Green 4 2 100%
Yellow 5 1 25%
Red 7 2 40%
The above chart demonstrates the problem – a green Death Die is twice as lethal as a white, so the match up moves straight from one where the lethality is equal (green v green) to one where if one side has only a one claim advantage it is twice as likely to be as lethal as the other (green v white) - an increase of 100%. The problem is compounded by the fact that the chance of obtaining a Shatter or Shove result on a green Death Die is also twice that of a white one.
Also, rather counter-intuitively, the ‘increase in lethality’
actually drops substantially (from 100% to 25%) when moving from a green to a yellow Death Die, picking up again
when moving from yellow to red, but in percentage terms only to 40%.
An obvious
alteration, to smooth out the curve, is to reduce the green Death Die lethality to 3, this can be
simply done by removing one Wound result so that the lethality becomes as follows:
Lethality Increase
Black 1 - -
White 2 1 100%
Green 3 1 50%
Yellow 5 2 67%
Red 7 2 40%
This makes
the trend in the lethality increase more logical as there is no step down in the increase in lethality rate from the
green to yellow Death Die. The increase in lethality from the yellow to red Death Die remains at 40%, a reduction from the 67% of the green to yellow but without starting to adjust further rolls this will need to remain.
There are
several issues that appear to have a bearing here:
a. Some units are far better in the charge phase
than in the fighting phase and will therefore on average do more damage to their
opponent in that phase and vice versa for melee specialists.
b. The majority of combats, whether in the charge
or fighting phases, are situations where one side is at most one up i.e. a green Death Die is rolled versus the opponent’s white Death Die in a large proportion of combats. Reducing
the lethality of the green Death Die will inevitably make games longer.
In order that
the issue in (a) is taken into account the proposal, therefore, is to reduce
the lethality of the green Death Die in both the charge and fighting phases as
per the above by rolling a second normal d6 when rolling a green Death Die. If
that die rolls a 1-3 any Wound result on the green Death Die is treated as a blank, on a
4-6 it stands.
The issue in
(b) above, whilst being important for competition game organisers who are under
pressure to get games finished in set time limits, is not so important for our
campaign. In addition, if there is an army that a player believes will be more
adversely affected by this change than its opponent it can be taken into account
in the bidding process.
NB this modifier will only apply to combat rolls i.e. melee combat in both the charge and fighting phases plus shooting rolls. It will not be applied to any KaB tests involving a green Death Die.
This revision
will be tested from Game eleven of the campaign and assessed following those games.
Assessment post game 11
The change undoubtedly had an impact, it approximately downgraded the results of the green Death die in 5-6 of my throws and double that for Gordon. Without that change the game may well have been fought to a conclusion in the time we had but not only did it lead to a feeling that the combats weren't one sided but several of them were going against the odds.
We will continue the assessment going forward where we are using MeG Magna.
Assessment post game 12
Gordon rolled several green Death dice when shooting with his skilled bowmen and was affected a couple of times by the house rule, it definitely made me more confident at advancing towards his unit of skilled shooters. I am coming to like the rule, skilled shooters seem a touch overpowered under the standard rules so this tones down their effectiveness a bit, they are still 50% more effective than experienced shooters but are not ridiculously devastating.
Assessment post game 19
This game was over quite quickly with few green Death dice rolled, Gordon's charging lancers were rolling yellows or better in the charge phase. Neither side particularly benefitted from the change.
Assessment post game 22
Another quick game with only a half a dozen green dice rolled by me. Of the three wounds that I rolled all were confirmed so I got lucky, but in themselves not a game winner.
6 March 2025 update
The house rules summary below has been drawn up since the completion of our first campaign to address a couple of issues (a) MeG games are taking too long to reach a conclusion, often remaining unfinished; and (b) dissatisfaction with some of the game mechanics in what is otherwise an excellent system. In any future campaign all or some may be used when playing MeG games.
Army list changes
The choices of number of bases per unit, as
listed on the army lists, are for tournament purposes that obviously have no
relation to real-life unit sizes. This gives players the ability to decide unit
sizes for themselves within the min-max parameters which also makes producing
armies to a points limit easier without having to downgrade things.
Rule changes
1. Downgrade all green death dice to remove one wound result and replace it with a blank result.
This is (a) to make melee combats between files
throwing a green die against an opponent’s white die less predictably one-sided;
and (b) to reduce the effect of green dice generally – particularly and
intentionally affecting skilled shooters.
This also evens out the irregularity in the
increase in lethality of the dice when moving from white to green to yellow so
should encourage play to achieve more yellow-white matchups as opposed to settling
for over-powered green-white matchups.
NB The easiest way to enact this is to place a
red dot on the face to be treated as a blank on each green die.
2. Allow Shoot and Charge shooting to take effect on any enemy target of a charge up to full charge reach, rather than limited to weapon range on charge declaration; otherwise all normal rules apply.
This is (a) to reduce the game-slowing
millimetre measuring silliness that occurs when opposing units approach each
other; and (b) reflects that a charging unit would not be charging the whole
distance but would stop/slowdown at a safe distance to gather itself for the
final charge in, including launching its rear rank missile volleys from that
point.
3. Flexible units:
a. Flexible foot are deemed at all times to be in
the best formation (i.e. close or loose) for the terrain they occupy when
moving or fighting at no card cost, at the owning players discretion. Bases no
longer need to be rearranged to reflect this, the owning player merely states
this when necessary.
This is (a) to actually give ‘flexible’
infantry units the flexibility that the player has paid for; and (b) reflects
that it would be the unit commanders that would order the re-organisation that
would occur not the corps commander so would be an automatic process at the MeG
game level.
b. Flexible mounted may switch formation between
loose and open (and vice versa) for no card cost at the start of their first
move each turn and at the same time redress ranks (but only when
switching formation). Play of a black card also allows such a unit to switch
formation (and redress ranks as above) as an M1 prompted action as long as not
in combat. Both the above are also permitted after evading.
This is for the same reasons as 3.(a) above.
4. MF actions no longer require Command Cards, as many may be undertaken as and when desired subject to normal rules.
This is to reflect that the decision making for
micro-moves would be at a level below the game Command Card level and should therefore
be an automatic process in game terms.
5. Calculate the difference in Command Cards held at the start of each movement phase. In each movement phase only, the side with the least may declare a pass for each point of difference but if they pass twice in a row their movement phase ends as usual.
This is to stop the silliness that occurs of
holding cards back to outmanoeuvre opposing army units by ‘clever’ but game-slowing
play that is hard to relate to anything in a real life battle.
6. Each side has their own deck of command cards instead of one shared one and each player/side deals from their own.
This stops various silly scenarios, like
holding back red cards to stop enemy flank marches, whilst speeding up play.
7. Charge rule changes:
a. Firstly, when charging, a player must select a
direction of charge in order to maximise the number of files a unit or group
can get into combat against its chosen target(s).
b. Secondly, if desired by the player controlling
the unit(s) being charged that player may shift the target units up to and
including 1BW to either side perpendicular to the charge direction immediately
before contact but only if it allows more files to fight than would otherwise
be the case and only so far as space allows. No unit may be moved completely
out of the path of charge whilst doing so. NB This happens after any shooting
at chargers.
This is (a) to stop game-slowing ‘clever’ moves
to take advantage of game mechanics; and (b) stop tactics of just charging the
corners of opposing units by units that are deemed by the players to be better
in the fighting phase compared to the charge phase which behaviour appears
wholly unhistorical.
8. Countercharges/Intercepts:
a. C4 Prompted Actions may be undertaken at the
cost of a green card by all units (as charges); and
b. Countercharging and intercepting units may
shoot from their new position but in the Charge Phase only, following the
normal rules for shooting at chargers.
This is to make the game mechanic of
counter-charging and intercepting more useful as, as currently drafted, they
are rarely undertaken. The recent clarification that counter-chargers and
interceptors can’t shoot at approaching chargers is debateable given the time
scales of a battle so change (b) gives players an additional incentive.
9. Feigned flight: A foot unit may not use the following exception that turns forced charges into free charges if the only opposing target UG is a mounted SUG with this characteristic.
·
They are foot and would contact
cavalry, camelry, elephants or chariots in good going with the
UGs as currently positioned.
The feigned flight rule as currently drafted is
pretty pointless; this broadens its scope so that, without a major re-write, it
at least may become more useful and used!
10. Prompted Action Table changes
a. C4 Countercharge or Intercept costs
a green card for all units.
b. CM1 Move General may
make one move per phase at no cost as long as it is the first move of the
command. In addition a general that joins an UG that hasn’t yet moved/charged
etc. that phase may move with that UG.
c. M1 Switch Flexibles See
3.b. above.
d. M4 Advance with Double Wheel remove
distance restriction from enemy TUGs.
e. M5 Full Ahead with Shift remove
distance restriction from enemy TUGs.
f. M6 Advance and Contract remove
distance restriction from enemy TUGs.
g. M8 Contract on the Spot remove
distance restriction from enemy TUGs.
h. NEW M16 Sideways Shift [Card required: White/Green/Green/Yellow] UG may shift max move distance in terrain minus 1BW. No file may leave the threat zone of an enemy UG even if entering another. (TUGs may ignore SUG TZs in open terrain).
h. MF1 & MF2 require
no card – see 4. above.
These changes are to make the playing of the
game easier as well as not being so necessary with rule 7 above.
11. Deployment Process
a. NEW
final line (except see point b. below): Both players may, starting with the
player who deployed UGs first:
Nominate
a command, then draw a card from the deck, if that card is equal to or better
than the army commander’s ability (white/green/yellow/red for Legendary/ Brilliant/Competent/Mediocre
respectively) then the player may shift all qualifying units in that command sideways
any distance, subject to the following restrictions:
§
Each command may only be nominated once.
§
To qualify, a TUG must have an UG “screening”
them from being harassed by the enemy i.e. all files of the TUG must be
immediately behind a file of a friendly TUG or SUG.
§
TUGs (but not SUGs) must stay screened from the
enemy at all times during the move.
§
A SUG may shift after it has done its job of
screening.
§
Neither fortified camps nor ambushes may be shifted nor
may flank marches be changed. Exception: Other camps may shift but only to be directly opposite the opponents camp. A camp is treated
as being part of the Army Commander’s command for this purpose only.
§
Each UG may only shift once and may not
leapfrog others horizontally, or move other than sideways, parallel to the long
table edge.
§
TUGs may not change formation during the process;
SUGs may expand or contract once, as well as shift, as long as they stay in a
legal formation.
§
Units may not shift into Deployment Zones or
terrain they are not able to deploy in.
§
Once a player chooses to stop nominating
commands to move the other player is free to attempt to continue to nominate
commands until there are no more to nominate.
§
On completion of each command’s shift, players
may move its General anywhere in their Deployment Zone, as long as all UGs of that
command are in command at the end of the process.
b. NEW
NEW final line: If a player intends to deploy Expendables further forward
towards the enemy than all other UGs in the army they may be deployed as the
last UGs placed, at the very end of the Deployment Process. This takes place
after unit shifting attempts per point a. above. Obviously sufficient room must
be left to do so, if it isn’t the unit cannot be deployed.
Point (a) is to enable players to potentially
redeploy units in their army who are screened from enemy harassment after
seeing what the enemy is up to and recognises that the length of time it takes
to deploy an army gives some scope for the army commander to order some
pre-battle manoeuvring. Point (b) is to
give players the opportunity to use expendables in a more useful fashion.
12. Line of sight
a. Terrain clarification: Units in terrain listed with a
line of sight limitation based on distance can only be seen within that
distance even if they are at the edge of the terrain and are being viewed from UGs outside.
b. UGs that are out of the line of sight of their command's General count as being out of command even if within their General's command range.
This change is to reduce the overly liberal ability of Generals to command units they cannot see.
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