Leptis Magna Season 1, Episode 2

Following on from the last episode, we carry onto the next round. My posts are in blue, Marks are in green, and any post-editing commentary are in red. The gladiator rules used are Munera Sine Missione - note that this version may have differences to the current version. Each round will be posted as a weekly episode.

Mago loved the games. Upon entering the arena for the first time, he was in awe of its beauty, being only recently completed, with a large monument dedicating the structure to the great and powerful Nero. Holding 16,000 people, there were large cheers at each turn of the fight. The crowd was screaming "Mago! Mago!" at the win. The Editor spared Pertinax, mainly as he was on the "Roman" side, and it was not good form for the Romans to lose.

Macer was very happy at the showing of Mago and Kemsa. Mago earned 4 aureus for his work. Kemsa only earned 2 aureus, which he found puzzling, as Kemsa thought he did a far better job than Mago.

The fat guy was not the governor, it was the Editor of the games. Despite the wins of his Novus gladiators, Macer was fuming, his arch rival in Leptis Magna, the Lanista Mettius Ulpius Noctua, made side deal with the Editor, and had his gladiators take the afternoon games. Macer's gladiators had the early session, before any people of importance arrived to see. In a fit of rage, when addressing his gladiators after their brilliant victories, Macer slammed his fist on the table. "This is an insult! We were placed just after the acrobats and jugglers! Does not the Editor understand the quality of my Ludus?!"

A devious slave of Macer, the Syrian called Samasu, came with information that the bribe money from the despised Noctua would be paid to the Editor tomorrow night. "This is the work of trained gladiators" thought Macer, and he plotted to steal the money en route, In doing so, it was a win-win. Not only would the Editor be offened by Noctua's failure to keep up his part of the deal, Macer would become richer by the ill gotten gains!

Macer spoke with Mago in private. "You showed great courage in the arena! More than the low quality gladiators in Noctua's Ludus! I need some special work done, which needs someone who knows how to fight." Macer explained the situation, and that Samasu would accompany Mago on the mission, as well as Kemsa, given that Mago had some wounding compared to Kemsa's scratch.

Without armour, and armed only with swords, the intrepid group of 3 were to intercept the money as it travelled down a dark alleyway and return it to Macer. They were not to reveal their identities, lest it be traced back to Macer.

They waited in the shadows for what seemed many hours, until late at night, a group of 4 men walked purposefully down the road from the direction of Noctua's villa to the Editors villa. Once they had passed, Mago gave the nod and with Kemsa, they quickly dispatched the two men in the rear. The two in the front quickly turned around. One of them was quite big, and drawing a gladius, quickly knocked Kemsa aside with a hit to his head from the pommel, and Kemsa fell unconsious. The second stranger looked at making a quick lunge at Mago, which would have been fatal, but the devious Samasu struck him from behind with a dagger. The big man pivoted and struck Samasu with his sword, and Samasu fell. Mago then thrust his gladius and toppled the big man.

Both Kemsa and Samasu were on the ground, along with the 4 other men. Around you there is yelling and screaming from the few people scattered around, and in the distance, you can hear the distinctive metallic thudding/clanging sound of the armoured city prefects draw closer. Mago notices that the big man has an over filled purse tied to his waist. Does Mago;

1) Check both Kemsa and Samasu, to see if they are OK and revive them. OR

2) Rip the purse off the big man and run (a) back to Macer OR (b) into the distance to escape and make a bid for freedom.

Over to you....

Mago thought fast! The guards were still a couple of minutes away, so he quickly checked his two companions and to see if he could revive them ... Hopefully still time to scuttle into the surrounding alleyways and get away.

Good choice…

Mago quickly reached down to Kemsa, and with almost instant response, he groggily awoke. Samasu looked injured, Mago bent over and picked him up. By now Kemsa was standing up as well. In the distance, Mago could see the prefects round the corner at the end of the alley, with the lamp light glistening off their armour. Having no time to do anything else, Mago, carrying Samasu dashed away, followed by the swaying Kemsa. The prefects began to chase, but were confounded by a large group of drunken revellers who inadvertently got in their way. After a while, Samasu was able to walk, and the three navigated their way back to the ludus, narrowly avoiding a second prefect patrol that passed by them while they stood still in the shadows.

Macer greeted them at the door, a moment Mago was dreading as they failed to recover the money. Mago was about to start explaining what happened when the smiling Samasu interjected with "Success my Dominus", and handed over the purse to Macer. Mago figured that cunning Samasu had the presence of mind to rip it off the big man with an outstretched arm as Mago was picking him up, given they were lying next to each other on the ground. Mago also curiously noted that the purse seemed a lot thinner to what he remembered in the alley. Macer, unaware of what the original bribe amount would have been, was overcome with happiness, waving the purse aloft. Both Mago and Kemsa receive 2 aureus each to add to their savings.

There was much celebration in the ludus, with wine for all and other delights on offer. Over the coming weeks, all gladiators with their first win were branded with the mark of the ludus, as they were welcomed into the gladiator brotherhood. Mago rarely, if ever saw the elusive and devious Samasu, as he was a household slave, and was continually out on business for the Dominus.

After what seemed an age, the festival of Fortuna was coming up, with gladiators, beasts and circus performers being sought from far and wide. Mago has been matched against Mus (Mus has 2 skills - Reflexes and Dodge), and Kemsa against Botanicus (Botanicus has 1 skill - Dodge). Also remember that Mago and Kemsa have picked up a skill each from their previous wins, beating opponents of equal level. May "Fortuna" shine upon the house of Macer....

I think Macer will be happy about the performance of his Africans at these games. It seems Fortuna is indeed smiling on him ... for the moment.

Both Mago and Kemsa had picked up the "Dodge" skill based on previous experience. Thanks for reminding me about that.

FIGHT 1: MAGO v MUS

The bigger they come, the harder they fall! Mago spent quite a few moves avoiding combat at the start of this bout, hoping to be able to turn a flank, but that did not work and in the end he tried a trident attack from the front. After a couple of rounds of sparring both figures were 1 strength down. Then one of those rare sets of circumstances happened: first Mago was knocked down, but - stroke of Fortune - was able to recover without injury. Then Mus was knocked down by a "double 3" in his own turn. Tripped over his own shield perhaps. Then - another stroke of Fortune - Mago threw 6 AP (plus his extra AP for being Light, and having the Dodge skill = 8AP) and was able to attack the prone Mus from a shieldless side hex, and inflicted 6 wounds. Mus was somehow able to get up again but was too groggy to put up much resistance as Mago finished him off. The crowd granted Mus missio.

Mago: lost 1/9 strength, 1 fatigue. Vincit (won).
Mus: lost 9/8 strength, 1 fatigue. Missio (lost but given Mercy).

FIGHT 2: KEMSA v BOTANICUS

This turned out to be quite an easy fight for Kemsa. He advanced cautiously but Botanicus rushed headlong into combat. After a couple of indecisive rounds with both gladiators using their Dodge skill to avoid wounds, Botanicus suffered a 5 point wound. After that it was just up to Kemsa to keep out of trouble and deliver the final blow. He was not able to kill Botanicus however, who successfully appealed to the crowd, despite not having wounded Kemsa at all.

Kemsa: lost 0/10 strength, accumulated 2 fatigue. Vincit (won)
Botanicus: lost 8/7 strength, accumulated 2 fatigue. Missio (lost but given mercy).

NEXT EPISODE

Leptis Magna Season 1, Episode 1

Introduction
Munera Sine Missione are a fast playing set of gladiator rules that can throw up a surprising amount of narrative. A major advantage is that they can be easily played solo.

A famous exponent of this game, Mark Stevens, had moved overseas, and we had been thinking about how to play this by email. The thought was that the game could be run as a "solo" campaign with a GM; one player plays out the arena fights, whereas the GM controls the storyline between fights. The idea was that the "in-between" events were a set of multiple choices, and that it should not be too dangerous for the gladiator. However, the multiple choice way proved description heavy and in later campaigns, this grew into a skirmish game using the Song of Shadows and Dust rules instead.

Initially, the campaign was a bit slow to start (and description heavy), as we were finding our way through how this works. It was played in just over about 2 weeks in April 2015; all communication was via email.

Setting
The campaign is set in Leptis Magna, in the province of Africa in the last years of Nero's reign.

So it was that Mark used his figures (references to opponents etc are from Marks figure list) who also fought out the bouts, and I would do the GMing. From Mark's list of gladiators, he chose Mago, a Retiarius from the province of Africa. A second backup gladiator was also used, Kemsa (a hoplomachus, also from the province of Africa).

Below are the emails that passed back and forth - my entries are in blue, Marks are in green. Any post edit comments are in red. I will post the whole campaign, round by round, on a weekly basis.

Campaign Rules background
For the Lanista to make a reasonable return on a gladiator, the gladiator needs to repay an amount of 100 gold aureus to the Lanista. This is repaid from a gladiators share of the winnings. Extra money can be earned in side activities. Depending on how the story goes, the Lanista might also sell the gladiator to another Familia. Or the gladiator could win the rudis and be freed!

Gladiator Background Story
Mago is owned the Lanista Servius Albius Macer, who is based in the free city of Leptis Magna in Africa. A gruff man who squandered his family fortune at Capua (mostly from befriending the wrong people), he is trying to rebuild the glory of his house in the outer provinces. Nero is Emperor in Rome.

Even though Mago is untried, Macer is keen to start seeing some return from his investment and has enrolled Mago into the upcoming games, held in celebration of the great Roman victory over Carthage in the battle of Zama. Mago has been deemed to be on the “Carthaginian” side. His opponent, the cunning Pertinax (a Secutor), is on the “Roman” side. Though the crowd is quite partial the native “Carthaginian” side, publicly they will pretend to cheer for the “Roman” side. It is even rumoured that the current governor of Africa, Titus Flavius Vespasianus, may be in attendance. Macer, believing himself to be a good judge of character, is convinced nothing important will ever come of Vespasianus, but nevertheless, he is keen to impress anyone of station. Macer emphasises to Mago how important a win is here.

Let me know the outcome of the fight with Pertinax (also with no skills), including how much strength & fatigue each one finished on.

Let the games begin.....

(Kemsa, a late inclusion, was to fight Bardelys, a Thracian)

Well the first two games have been played. Photo of the Mago v Pertinax setup below, with the Governor and some of his cronies coming down to take a look. I think the fat guy with the walking stick on Vespasian's right (camera left) might be Macer. Or maybe not, he is probably not important enough to get that close to the Gov.

Also as you will see I have also run Mago's best friend Kemsa. I suspect they were captured in the same slave raid when they were small boys over ten years ago, they certainly have some shared secret only they know.

Anyway ... on to the games 

FIGHT 1: MAGO (Retiarius) v PERTINAX (Secutor)

It was hard work for Mago, Pertinax was as slippery as an eel and escaped from difficult situations a couple of times, but he finally ran out of luck. A good double attack by Mago, net entanglement then successful trident attack, took Pertinax to -3 on his AP rolls, and although he was able to cut the net free he then dropped his sword. It was soon over after that,

Mago - lost 4/7 strength, 2 fatigue - Vincit (Won).
Pertinax - lost 11/10 strength, 5 fatigue - appeal final score of 10, Missio (Lost but given Mercy)

FIGHT 2: KEMSA (Hoplomachus) v BARDELYS (Thracian)

Bardelys adopted the tactic of bustling Kemsa so it was hard for him to use his long spear. However Kemsa's last attack, with the long spear disadvantaged at close range, was a "defender floored" special event. On paper the Thracian is the better figure, especially with armour saves, so a somewhat surprising trend prior to the special event.

Kemsa - lost 1/9 strength, 3 fatigue - Vincit (Won)
Bardelys - lost 3/8 strength, 3 fatigue - appeal final score of 8, Missio (Lost but given Mercy)

Back to you for the next steps!

Next Episode

Running a Tournament without Record Keeping

Over the years I have seen many different systems of scoring miniatures tournaments. They mostly involve mathematical equations, some quite complex, that measure the degree of victory or loss based on a number of factors. Generally, the intent is that whoever wins the most games should be the tournament winner, and along the way, players of equal ranking should face each other. Often (if not always) arbitrary "other factors", such as the loss of a general, or number of troops lost, are used as a tie breaker between those on equal wins. Some scoring systems even tend to value "other factors" to such a degree that their cumulative effect can be worth more than a win even when you lose or draw.

Another common aspect is that after each game, the players are required to fill in accounting sheets, calculating the various factors from the game, and then totalling them for each player. The tournament organiser then collects the results, and works out cumulative totals for every player to determine the next round draw. This sometimes requires a computer to work it all out.

So my goal is to run a tournament without pen and paper, and not need an organiser to run things between rounds. I realise that there are some formats out there that do this. I have read with real interest about the concept of a "King of the Hill" style tournament, such as detailed at this site. Here rank is determined by seating positions at tables set up in a line like a ladder that you have to work up. The players on the top table are the "King" and "Challenger". It is intriguing in having some sense of narrative to it, and physical locations, giving the feel of a quasi campaign. However, the main downside seems to be that every game must have a result, it does not cater for draws very well. (Draws are the bane of any tournament system).

The idea I have is that only numbered cards and poker chits are used, as in the picture below.

It is meant to produce the same results as a typical Swiss chess type draw, with a tie breaker mechanism between equal ranked opponents. The poker chits are a proxy for ranking; if you have more poker chits, you have more wins. The numbered cards are used as a tie breaker.

It is also meant to provide some narrative for a quasi campaign - the poker chits are called Resource Chits (the more wins you have, the more territory is conquered, or resources acquired). The numbered cards are called Influence Cards (the higher the number, the more influence you have).

So, the tournament rules are (assuming an even number of players);

Influence Cards
There should be a set of numbered cards, without duplicates, from 1 to the number of players involved. So in an eight player tournament, there are eight cards numbered 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. Before round one, each player randomly receives an Influence Card. These help with ranking.

At the end of a battle, the Influence Card may be swapped between players. In a win/loss game, the winner gets (or retains) the lowest value influence card between both players. In a draw/draw, there is no swap, both players retain their existing cards.

Resource Chits
Each player starts the tournament with a number of Resource Chits equal to the number of rounds in the competition. So in a four 4 round tournament, each player starts with 4 Resource Chits. When a player wins, they take one Resource Chit from the loser. In the case of a draw, neither player gains or loses a Resource Chit. Accordingly, a player losing all 4 games will end up with no Resource Chits at the end, whereas a player winning all 4 games will end up with 8 Resource Chits at the end. Resource Chits are to be placed on the table during the games so that ranking can be easily determined.

Matching Opponents
In round one, match players from the lowest Influence Card to the highest. So in an 8 player tournament, 1 fights number 8, 2 fights 7, 3 fights 6, and 4 fights 5. This is important so that the highest value cards end up with the winners after round one.

From the second round onwards, group players based on the number of Resource Chits. The player with the lowest value Influence Card in the group with the most Resource Chits will be matched against the player they have not played yet with the next lowest value Influence Card in that group. If there is an odd player left over in that group, then one is chosen from the group with the next highest number of Resource Chits they have not played yet with the lowest value Influence Card. The main thing is that players face equally ranked opponents but not face an opponent they already fought in the tournament.

After Final Round
The player with most Resource Chits is the winner of the tournament. If there is more than one player with an equal number of Resource Chits, then the one with the lowest value Influence Card wins within that grouping.

Notes
I intend to use this at in the MOAB Hordes of the Things tournament in 2016. I ran it in the 2015 tournament, in parallel with a traditional scoring system as a double check, and it produced the same results with a lot less work and organisation.

One thing I am not sure about is whether players who draw should both lose a Resource Chit rather than retain them - as this then places the draw on the same footing as a loss (so as to discourage players aiming for a draw). Retaining the chit didn't cause any issues in the 2015 tournament, so I don't see the need to change this at the moment.

Mock Battles 2

In the never ending quest in finding a set of rules for larger scale "mock battle" gladiator fights, I tried Ronin with Martin last Friday night at the Sutherland Shire Gamers. My previous attempt at using the now OOP Warhammer Historical set in my previous post at Mock Battles.

Even though Ronin is meant for battles using Samurai in Japan, Craig Woodfield (the author) wrote a supplement in the Wargames Illustrated #318 (April 2014) called Gladius. This provides a conversion to Roman gladiatorial combat - not "one on one" fighting as such, but more for one group up against another group.

Just as an aside, I bought a set of rules at MOAB many years ago called Gladius by the same author. At the time I thought they had a very clever combat mechanism that involved a pool of dice, and allowed for some tactical decisions in how those dice were used. It seems that those rules became Ronin, which Craig Woodfield stated (in the WI #318 article) that "Ronin started life as a set of gladiator rules". I can see a some similarities, but there are a lot of differences as well. Anyway, enough of this aside.

We tried a refight of the "Attack on a Celtic village" scenario that was the subject of my previous post. It took place on a hex grid, we just converted one inch of movement to a hex. Here is the initial setup;

There were 8 "Romans" (gladiators in legion armour) who were level 3 and wore heavy armour, they also had skill with the gladius which gave them a reroll (24 points each). The "Celts" had 7 level 2 fighters in light armour (12 points each), and 5 level 2 fighters in medium armour (14 points each). They also had an additional hero figure (al la Maximus), who was level 5, wore medium armour, had skill with the gladius, had Fast (bonus to initiative) and Intuition (boost to defence) for 38 points. So a total of 13 "Celts" and 192 points per side.



Both sides rushed up against each other, with the Romans pushing up through their right to initially limit the superior number of Celts. After a couple of turns, the quality of the "Romans" with the extra level, gladius skill and heavy armour made quite a difference - the celts couldn't really stand up to this unless they could outnumber. The Celt hero (who we called Russell), was quite capable in his own right. We actually found that Russell probably should have had the Inexorable attribute rather than Fast. He was winning the initiative anyway without needing Fast, and he would win a combat with pool dice to spare. In such open terrain, he could have been freed up for extra attacks in other areas.

Below is the situation by the end. The Romans won. They only had 3 losses (all at the hand of Russell), and eventually, Russell himself was surrounded. I think the result could have been a lot different if Russell had Inexorable. However, the game did do what I thought it should - the Romans were superior to the Celts, and the Celt hero was superior to the Romans. The morale rules never came into play, apart from one Roman who was grievously wounded and kept failing morale to enter combat.

As the game was quite fast to play, we had time left over for an actual game with Samurai figures. Martin had brought a lot of these, and we had time to plan both sides (100 points each) and set up terrain as below;

It was basically a small group of heavy armoured Samurai with a powerful leader (4 figures) needing to cross over bridges to get to the enemy (5 figures), who had no armour but were armed with yari (bow). They also had a very powerful boss as well (but also no armour). The game also took place at dusk, so line of sight was diminishing with the falling light. It was a close result, the Samurai were (as expected) very powerful in attack, but they took wounds from bowfire closing in, so that the lightly armoured defenders won at the end with 2 figures remaining. However, like the gladiator game, morale didn't really come into it, with both sides passing tests easily. Not sure if this was being played wrong somehow, or whether it is the intention of the rules that fights were often down to the last man.

The Ronin rules were good, they provided for a fast game and simple mechanisms.

Knight of Destiny

The latest offering from Ganesha Games in the Four Against Darkness (4AD) series is The Knight of Destiny. I actually wrote this supplement, so will try not to wax lyrical about it too much...

Some background first. 4AD is a solo RPG game created by Andrea Sfiligoi, where the player controls a party of four characters that move through a randomly generated dungeon. Since its initial release, a number of supplements have come out. First was Caves of the Kobold Slave Masters, and then Dark Waters, both of which will kick off first level parties through to the third level. The next release was The Three Rings, which is for third to fifth level characters, so a logical progression for parties that moved through one of the previous supplements. Though the 4AD base game itself can be applied to any world or background, the supplements have theming, being set in the world of Norindaal, which is the official world of Song of Blades and Heroes.

The Knight of Destiny applies the game system to a medieval Arthurian world, where a single character (a starting 3rd level paladin) heads out from Camelot on a quest for the grail. It is set in the outdoors, so there is no dungeon generation or map making. The main inspirations are Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur, the John Boorman's 1981 Excalibur film, and even a good dose of Chaucer's Pardoners Tale!

During the adventure, the paladin will come across a whole menagerie of creatures and characters, some benign, others not so. An important concept in the game are inns, it is here where the paladin can rest and listen out for rumors to help in the quest. Retainers can also be hired at inns; they will bring with them various skills (that the paladin does not have) to help on the quest. Another key concept is piety; at various points in the game, the paladin will have to make life threatening or moral decisions to succeed, as only the most righteous can find the grail.

While the paladin is busy questing, a larger story develops in the background where the evil and traitorous forces led by Morgana and Mordred will grow in power and try to defeat King Arthur. There is a role reversal for the player here, as the paladin can shift from being the hunter to the hunted, as increasingly powerful knights (bosses) will try to stop the grail from being found.

My aim was for The Knight of Destiny to provide a solid challenge, and be random enough for it to give a different game/experience every time it is played. My success rate in playing is somewhere below 50% - so finding and returning the grail to Camelot is not that easy! The randomness is brought about by a number of tables, similar to the 4AD base game approach where there is no scripting.

Anyway, I hope this a good addition to the 4AD family, taking the system into a semi-historical / mythological background.

Review of Dark Waters (No Spoilers)

Having just downloaded Dark Waters, the next supplement to Ganesha's Four Against Darkness (4AD), I was keen to give it a play.

4AD is a solo pen and paper RPG, which tries to capture the classic feel of the dungeon bash. The game has a lot of replay-ability as dungeons and monsters are randomly generated. One "scripted" supplement has already come out, Caves of the Kobold Slave Masters (CotKSM), which follows a set theme with a background plot.

Dark Waters is second supplement to come out, and like CotKSM, has a scripted background plot and a strong sea-faring/swashbuckler theme. It also introduces an entirely new character class - the Swashbuckler, a sort of fighter with some thematic abilities suiting the class.

The first part of Dark Waters is similar to the first part of CotKSM, in that there is an already generated map with it's own set of bosses and minions. One major difference is that the party can choose from two separate narratives to start with, each with it's own benefits and outcomes (what these are is not known before the choice is made).

So I created the following 1st level party to venture through the first section;

• A Swashbuckler (Jacabo)
• A Wizard (Balthazar)
• A Cleric (Ethelred)
• A Dwarf (Thorgrim)

It is hard to write about what happened without giving away spoilers, but it felt more difficult for a 1st level party than the core 4AD. A lot can go wrong, some of the situations and bosses were challenging. Though no-one was lost, Balthazar (the Wizard) and Ethelred (the Cleric) came close. They all got to level up, but had to spend most of their treasure to remove certain conditions that happened to them. There are things that can happen to characters that seems quite bad at the time, but can end up being a cool (and really pirate thematic) character effect.

The second section is in the dungeon crawl format of 4AD. It is thematically tied into the world of Norindaal, and is the exploration of a sunken temple somewhere near Atlis, with its corresponding sea creatures. There are new tables for the various monsters, events, treasures, features and other things. During the game I rolled up 21 rooms before completing. After running into a lot of the different minions and vermin, I found that the attack abilities of the monsters in this adventure probably favours a different party/character mix than what works in 4AD. This is good, as what works in one game should not necessarily work as well in another.

In the end, more through good luck then good management, the party survived intact. One thing I did (hopefully correctly) was that I found 3 clues, and used them on the "weakness of a monster" ability, which can make all attacks on the final boss at +2. Clues are one of the great things in 4AD, and give some extra narrative. I just need to think up something creative as to what the clues could represent :) Ultimately, Jacabo and Thorgrim ended up on level 4 each, while Ethelred and Balthazar ended up on level 3 each. There was a fair bit of cash and magic items at the end, as the intrepid party awaits it's next adventure.

One feature of Dark Waters was that some campaign benefits are bestowed upon the party. How these can come into play are probably up to the players imagination and forthcoming supplements.

Overall, there is a lot of bang for your buck here. For the price of a few dollars, there is at least 2 hours plus of entertainment. The new swashbuckler character class also looks quite usable outside of Dark Waters.

Through the Mud and Blood

Tonight at the "club" Steve & Martin had a game of "Through the Mud and Blood". This is a WWI game using individual figures. I was mainly a spectator of sorts, providing unwanted tactical advice at various critical points. However, I did provide the figures for the German side, with Martin providing the British. Steve provided the cards, blinds and extensive knowledge of the rules.

The game was scenario 1 from the rules. It is an introductory scenario, with small forces. I had played this before with Steve, I was the Germans and lost. Steve since that time played the same scenario three more times, and every time the British won, mainly as they have more numbers and more commanders. So here with his 5th attempt, the challenge was to see whether the Germans could win. Steve took the Germans, Martin the British.

Below is the initial set up. Both sides deploy with cards. The Germans start in trenches, whereas the British are attacking, coming in from the board edge.

As the game progressed, the troops got revealed, first were the Germans in the trenches;

Then everything was fully deployed - here is the scene from the British perspective;

It was an interesting game, initially the main British command stayed back out of harms way (thanks to bad movement dice), which meant the advance was not that well co-ordinated, and units fell back in shock from the German shooting. The consensus was that a German victory was possible at this point.

However, as this scenario tends to turn out, the British command (called "big men" in the rules) got its act together, rallied the troops and they slowly wore down the outnumbered Germans for another British win.

The rules are interesting in that they simulate difficulties in command during the era, and also the suppressive effects of firepower. Units can take casualties or accumulate "shock" points - and shock points reduce movement and shooting ability unless rallied off. A lot of shock points will force a unit to fall back.

Anyway, onto scenario 2 next time to see who can win that one....