An Arcane Story Part III

Zhonghli Quan nodded and the battle began.

The Hundun Spirit let the Phoenis and Raven divisoons at the double time straight into the softly golden glowing ground that seemed blessed by the gods. Reaming there and keeping the opposing Daqin army out would hearten his own troops and slowly demoralize the enemy, Quan knew. Still, it was a transient advantage, because there was a similar blessed ground near the Daqin host that they'd undoubtedly seize as well. So in the end it would come down to hard fighting.

As Quan expected, the Daqin began their advance in the center, although he was disconcerted to see that the Daqin were leading with their archers, ratehr than the large-shielded infantry. He was even more disconnected when those archers let fly with a surprisingly devastating flurry of arrows that mowed down half of the Phoenix Division in seconds! This was unexpected, as the Daqin, known as Romans in their own tongue, were reputed to be indifferent archers. It was evident this was some outdated intelligence. It appeared that the Daqin planned to followup their success as a small body of mechanical construct infantry charged toward Phoenix Division.

This appeared to be a premature move, however, as the Hundun Spirit quickly noted the advance and fired, downing several of the constructs. The Phoenix Division regained its composure and dropped a few more and finally the crack Raven Division wheeled into firing position and finished off the constructs! First blood to the Han. Quan nodded again and the Dragon of Wrath began its advance on the right.

The Daqin archers continued to fire on Phoenix, although less accurately now, possibky due to fatigue and now some of the large-shielded infantry advanced as well, with some occupying the blessed ground on the left and others moving towards the Hundun Spirit.

Soon a swirling melee developed in right center and it became hard to make out the details. The Daqin fed in unit after unit, including some of their fearsome steam-armored infantry. Quan, too, carefully fed new troops into the fray.

Some minor affairs caused a momentary distraction. The Dragon of Wrath was pestered by another group of constructs, which were quickly reduced to a pile of parts. Quan's own constructs of the Honor Division came under effective fire from some additional Daqin archers. Losses were heavy, and some arrows fell close to Quan, himself, but he judged it was not the critical sector and kept his focus on the central fight. Eventually the Hundun Spirit, himself, fell under the rending blows of the steam armored infantry. He was, as a spirit, naturally impossible to actually slay, but without the coherence of his armored to confine the spirit in place, he dissipated. He would eventually regroup and rejoin the Crusade, but in days or weeks, not tomorrow.

Quan sent in the Lightning Division horse archers, the Thunder Division lancers and the fearsome Hizume horse. The fighting was hard, and the Hizume, especially, suffered heavily, but in time the Daqin had enough and Quan saw their line waver and then break. A pursuit seemed unwise, however, as his own cavalry was weary and the Daqin's still fresh. He noted that they expertly formed up to cover the retreat, so at least one Daqin leader seemed to have kept his wits about him.

As he surveyed the wreckage on the field, he noted that the human losses were remarkably low. Most of the units that had been wrecked were made of constructs, not living beings. Even the defeated Daqin didn't leave an extarordianry number on the field and indeed, it seemed both victor and vanquished lost about equally. Quan was impressed with the valor and stolidness of the Daqin soldiers, but was less impressed with their eladersm who seemed unimaginative.


Epilogue

Marcus Agrippus glanced over at the bloodied -- and chastened -- Titus. No doubt the defeated general dreaded what Agrippa might report to Augustus. And indeed, the battle might have been handled better, Agrippa admitted to himself. But Titus would get another chance. He had been valorous enough, right in the thick of the fight. He'd been trampled by Han horsemen and had to be rescued by one of his beloved Invictus steam-powered infantry. Still, the Han were a worthy adversary, the toughest Rome had met in more than a century, and this first encounter would provide lessons on how to deal with them in the future. Their foot seeemed none too impressive, although they were not really tested but their skilled archers, valorous horse and fierce Dracos would require more than the standard Roman steadiness to defeat. No, it might be time to ask the Druids for help ... .


A solitaire run through for familiarization purposes I pitted Han and Roman armies of abourd 14,000 points against each other. This is larger than the recommended forces, but I wanted to explore as many units as possible.

An Arcane Story Part II

Arcane Legions

Titus Petronius wasn't entirely happy.

It was true that his co-commanders had brought welcome reinforcements, but Titus would have been much happier with just the additional troops. He suspected strongly that Marcus Agrippa and Diviciacus of Gaul were meant to keep an eye on him for Augustus, not merely aid him in battle. Titus hadn't risen this far by sharing his achievements with others, and with battle imminent with the strange easterners, he wasn't going to tarnish his Triumph by giving too prominent a role to either rival.
So he had posted Agrippa on the flank to lead some cavalry, which seemed to suit him, and likewise the Druid off on the other flank with a hodgepodge of units for a guard. Between them the two spies commanded much less than half the army, however. No, Titus kept the real striking force, his VIIth Legion and, most importantly, his prize elite Invictus, under his personal command in the center. There he planned to win the victory with brute force.

The opposing array was interesting, enough. One couldn't help but stare at the two great Dracos that they had. While wingless, the enormous beasts were clearly the creatures of legend, brought back to life by the mists that had so changed the world. One was a bright blue, while the other was a shimmering gold in color, one on each flank.

Still, Titus was too experienced a Roman soldier to be distracted by flashy "special" weapons. What were the Dracos but a bigger Elephant, after all. Victory always came down in the end to the soldier in the ranks. And here the Easterners didn't look so special. Across from him was a large body of shield-less infantry, most of it the clay soldiers that reports had indicated were more fearsome-loo0king than dangerous. On the left the enemy's true striking forces was apparent, some archers and cavalry. These would bear watching, but Roman soldiers had dealt with their sort before and Titus expected they could do so again. With a little luck they might slay that troublesome Druid, though.

Titus noted that the ground had begun to glow in two spots. There were many theories about the Night of Mist, but Titus thought the answer was obvious -- the Gods of Old had determined to intervene in the affairs of man again. And as was often the case, they seemed to bless this battle by consecrating some patches of ground between the armies. Claiming the consecrating ground always heartened the possessors and demoralized the dispossessed. Titus was under know illusions, however. The Gods played no favorites, rewarding valor and success only. The Romans would find favor from the Gods through victory, not merely for being Roman, and if the strange easterners proved more worthy then they would celebrate the Triumph, not Titus.

Ah, movement. The affray begins, then.

An Arcane story -- part I

Arcane Legions


"What remarkable times," said Zhonghli Quan to himself, as he had said daily in the five years since the Night of the Mists changed the world.
The Han Empires' premier general, known to all as the Immortal Tactician, pondered the opposing array as the last of his own troops took up their battle positions. The Crusade had taken his army far from home, and deep in to the vast steppes that formed the contested ground between the three empires of the world. He hadn't been certain until the night before which opposing army he'd encounter first, but scouts had reported during the evening that they'd discovered the camp of the Daqin Empire.
The sight across the shallow, almost imperceptible, valley between the two forces revealed that it was the Daqin, with their enormous shields and sturdy infantry, that would be the first opponent. In their own tongue they were called "Romans," Zhonghli Quan had been told, named after their city. A city that had conquered an empire! Remarkable, especially considering the conquest had been accomplished without the aid of the mists or magical beasts.
But now they were facing another empire that had also conquered its portion of the world without the aid of the mists, and Zhonghli Quan expected victory, even if hard-won.
The array of the Daqin appeared rather conventional, to Quan's practiced eye. In the center was a large mass of the huge-shielded infantry that formed the heart of a Daqin host, interspersed with some archers, a few magically mechanical construct warriors and some units of the steam-powered magical heavy infantry that the mists had made possible.
Off to Quan's left the enemy's flank was guarded by a couple of bodies of human cavalry accompanied by some giant wolves. On the right the flank was guarded more unconventionally with a few more magical mechanical constructs and a group of steam soldiers mounted on some giant bears. A small bodyguard of infantry surrounded a man wearing a conspicuous white robe. Clearly not a fighting man, Quan surmised he was a magician of some sort.
It appeared the enemy plan was to pierce the Han center and overwhelm them in hand-to-hand combat. It could work, if Quan gave them time.
But time was not what Quan planned to give them. On his left he posted a fearsome-looking detachment that should give the Daqin pause -- a luck Dragon and the Souls of Chance with a Great One brute and some magical Qilin. Quan doubted that the Daqin had seen them before. Zhonghli Quan, himself, would contest the center of the battlefield with his bodyguard, the human Tiger Division and the double-strength Honor and Glory divisions of terra cotta construct troops. An imposing, yet fragile force, Quan expected this to be the Yin, or ordinary force.
Quan intended the victory to be won by his Yang, or special force, on the right. Led by the frightening Hundun Spirit, this force would use fire and speed to overwhelm and roll up the flank of the Daqin host. The speed came from a Dragon and the Hizume and Thunder divisions of cavalry. The fire would some from the Phoenix Division of archers and the Raven Division of crossbows. Combining speed and fire was the Lightning Division of horse archers.
Quan cast his eye over to the Hundun Spirit and saw that he was ready. A nod of Quan's head was all the signal needed for the battle to begin.
He nodded.

Arcane Legions demo report and review

A demo copy had been languishing at The Citadel for a few weeks, so I offered to go ahead and take the demo kit and run a game. It's hard to have hard and fast opinions based on a single incident, but my initial impression is that this game is going to have a hard time breaking out. The game is from the founders of WizKids and brings together elements reminiscent of such varied predecessors as Heroscape, Warhammer, DBA and of course Heroclix. The premise is variation off our historical world where some sort of magic force sweeps through in the last few decades before the common era. Three great empires vie for dominance in this world" The Roman empire under Octavian, a Greco-Roman-Egyptian empire under Cleopatra and Mark Antony and the Han Chinese empire with a strong contingent provided by Japan. It's a "mass combat" game, in other words an army-fighting game rather than a skirmish-level game. It's also a collectible game, with all the features and drawbacks of that sort of marketing. In this case the common units are made up of unpainted soldiers (although some shields are painted) while the uncommon and rare heroic and magical creatures are painted. The key game concept is the basing system. Each piece has pegs which can fit into holes on a plastic base. Which holes are available, however, is determined by a card that overlays the plastic board. As a further variation, there are generally more open holes than pieces in the unit. The precise capability of a unit is based on which holes are occupied. For example, look at this card for a Han Chinese unit called Escort for an Immortal: Some holes are marked with a red die image. If occupied, that entitles the unit to one red attack die. Other holes depict a white defense die, and for each of those occupied by a piece the unit gets to roll a defense die. Combat involves rolling the appropriate number of attack and defense dice and comparing them with each defense die that equals or exceeds the attacking die cancelling it. If there are an excess of dice of one color or the other the excess are compared to "phantom" dice that are an automatic "2." So, for example, let's say the Escort for an Immortal attacks (with 6 red dice) an Egyptian unit that has just 2 white defensive dice. If, for example, the attack die were 6-6-5-3-1-1 and the defense were 6-3 the results would be as follows: The Defending 6 cancels one attacking 6, but the other attacking 6 is matched by a defending 3 and therefore hits. The attacker's 5 and 3 each exceed the"phantom" 2 and hit, but the phantom dice block the two attacking 1s. So a grand total of 3 hits are inflicted, which will normally remove one piece from the defending stand each. Naturally, as a collectible game, this basic structure can be modified by all sorts of special abilities and the like. For example, some of the Han Chinese infantry are "terracotta warriors" who have a special characteristic of being "fragile" so nay time they take a hit in combat they take an extra hit! Movement is likewise determined by which slots with little chevrons are occupied on a unit base. For example, the Escort above has two slots that give a total of 3 movement points. One of those is marked in yellow and can only be occupied by a Hero, in this case the Immortal. If the hero occupies the starting space (shown by the small name next to the circle) then the unit gets two movement factors (plus a special ability shown by the diamond). If the hero is moved to the other yellow cicle then the unit gets an attack die AND a defense die, but loses the special ability and those twor movement factors which cannot be replaced by a common trooper. The only other movement factor space can be occupied by a common trooper, but there's no red or white die associated with it so the unit's combat ability will suffer. Naturally losses will also tend to degrade a unit's capabilities. All in all it's a clever system, although it might involve too much manipulation for some tastes. The actual movement of the bases is fairly straightforward. All distances are expressed in terms of base lengths with each movement point allowing a stand's worth of movement. Turns are handled with a special turning tool that fits into notches on the bases. Bases that come into contact with other bases or terrain "snap" into alignment with the contacted item, similar to DBA. For the most part this works well, discouraging any kind of millimeter-by-millimeter silliness and keeping the game moving quickly. The Demo includes units from all three armies but only enough bases to field two of them at a time. each demo army comprises four full-sized units (three melee and one missile) typically containing 10 figures and one "sortie" (half-base) unit which is comprised of 3-5 special magical style creatures/heroes. The orders system is pretty straightforward. Units can be given close combat, ranged combat or movement orders with self-evident consequences. They can also be ordered to reorganize, which allows a player to switch pieces around on the base and units with a special ability can get an order to activate it. Units can be given one order per turn without penalty and, judging from the Demo, it appears that the design intent is to have slightly fewer orders available than units eligible to execute them. In a distant echo recalling their earlier Clix designs, units in Arcane Legions that have already been ordered can be "pushed" and ordered again, at a cost of one eliminated figure. One aspect of the game that some will consider a feature but was definitely a bug for me was the need to assemble the figures. Not only are the common figures unpainted but they are still mounted on the sprue and many of them have separately cat shields, weapons and limbs that will require glue, even if you don't paint them. Warhammer players will be familiar with this, but as someone with little talent and less time for model-building this was not a plus. The proof of the pudding is in the eating, of course, and a couple of guys who were waiting for another game to start were willing to take a go at it. They played long enough to exercise all the movement rules and the combat system, with the final board result appearing below: Essentially the Greco-Egyptian army was able to close successfully with the Han Chinese was was well on its way to victory when the game was called due to the desire of the players to start their other game. Victory is assessed by casualties caused, with each full-sized unit being worth 2 points and each sortie worth 1. Dead heroes were worth an additional one, so the elimination of the Han Escort of an Immortal was worth 3 victory points to the Egyptians. Occupying the "control zones" (squares marked with stripes) was worth another 3, so the score at the end was 8 to 5. First player to 15 wins, which in the demo basically would require occupying both control zones and killing nearly all the enemy force. Altogether I consider it a mildly interesting game design, but not one likely to be a breakout hit. I think the collectibility will be a drag on interest. There's only room for a handful of collectible games in the market at any given time. It's not historical enough to lure away any Axis & Allies miniatures players and not cool enough to take away the Magic: The Gathering players. It doesn't have a license tie-in or relation with another popular game, so I don't think D&D, Star Wars or World of Warcraft players will switch.