With grim-faced determination and sharpened sword, lead your troops through the greatest battles of history using the simple maneuver and combat mechanics that allow you engage in the decisive missile and melee combat that is Ancient Battles Deluxe.
Here players will find more than a great game, but a complete system using standardized pieces and rules that allows hearty warriors to recreate any number of pre-gunpowder and early-gunpowder era battles in a compact playing area over a short time.
Do you have what it takes to command an army in a desperate situation? Will your leadership be able to advance your line in good order or resist the shock of a barbarian charge? If your units falter and break, will you be able rally them once more unto the line, or will your army disintegrate into abject panic? Show us what it takes to maintain good order and cohesion amidst the chaos of battle long enough to vanquish the foe, break their spears asunder, and to stand gloriously amid the field of battle victorious!
Time scale: Each Game Turn equals 45 minutes.
Unit scale: Dozens to hundreds of men, beasts and equipment.
This is the 'expanded' Turn Sequence Summary I use when I play ABD. I didn't intend on making it this comprehensive (4 pages) but I pretty much ended up re-writing most of the rulebook once I was done. Still, I found it a good way to learn the rules & reveal any areas I was a bit uncertain on. Maybe you'll find it useful but it's probably not as good as when you've written it yourself. :)
Easy to forget rules are in red, "conditional" rules are in blue.
Contact me if you would would like a copy of the Word file.
This is version 4 but it's the first version I've submitted to BGG.
This spreadsheet (in Excel 2007 format) shows all of the possible outcomes of a melee with an attacker having a DRM of anywhere from +0 to +10 against a defender having a DRM of +0 to +4. Because its all formula driven, its easy to modify for other DRMs for either side.
Here is an authorized Vassal module of Victory Point Games 'Ancient Battles Deluxe'. This is Vassal module verison 1.1. It now contains counters, maps and scenarios for the Base game and the first three expansion kits: 'Elephants at War', 'Hell's Horsemen' and 'Strange Ordnance'.
FINAL VERSION. Download this one, and not the two listed below.
I believe this to be the final draft of the Reaction Move. I've playtested this quite a few times and it really seems to be smooth and feel like its part of the regular game. It clearly does not dominate play, but certainly makes you plan your moves a bit more carefully in terms of the order in which you do things.
The format of this also looks better than prior versions. I tried to use colors consistent with the regular rules, and I cleaned up the wording in a number of places. Enjoy!
(...and of course, as luck would have it, there was one little error. Please change the single reference to an "AP" about midway down the document so that it instead says "CP."
I don't think this one little bit of proofreading folly...