Metalsmashing: A Game of Ancient & Medieval Battles

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 Metalsmashing: A Game of Ancient & Medieval Battles

Units: The kind of warfare described in this

game was organized. The Ancient armies such
as the Romans were very organized; medieval
armies had a looser kind of organization. Most
soldiers were organized into units. These were
led by experienced soldiers or nobles.
Our game works better if we replicate
the units of old. In our scaled-down world, an
This is a basic set of rules for battles from the infantry unit would be nine to eleven men and a
Ancient to the Medieval era. It is intended for commander. A cavalry unit would be four to
soldiers as small as 15mm, and as tall as 30mm. five men and a commander. An artillery unit
If you use larger figures and / or a larger space, would be two machines and their crews.
double the moves. Likewise, if your space is You would also need the overall
very small, then measure in centimeters rather command unit. This would have a general on
than inches. horseback, a standard bearer, an assistant and
The average space for a game would be an extra man.
4” by 2” or smaller. Using these rules, you can Now comes the problem of moving all
even play on a coffee table. All you need are those men. The way to make it easier is a trick
miniature soldiers, terrain pieces, measuring called “traying.” We make a base out of wood,
sticks and six-sided dice. plastic or cardstock. It might be 4 inches long
and 1 inch wide. To it we glue four footmen,
Scale all in the same position. To make a unit ,we
could make two of these trays. Our third tray
To recreate the battles of old, you would need would have our commander and the remaining
thousands of miniature figures and a massive riflemen. Should you decide on a 12-man unit,
playing area. Even small skirmishes might you might make the third tray with an officer, a
involve a thousand or more men. Likewise, the standard bearer, and two footmen.
ranges of weapons range from 200 yards for a Of course, you could opt for six-man
crossbow to a mile or more for a culverin. A trays.
skirmish could involve movement and firing Cavalry Trays might have two or three
over a mile of terrain. A larger battle would horsemen. You could also make trays of five
rage over anything from a square mile to to six horses.
several miles. An artillery piece might be trayed with
How much space would it take to two or three crewmen. The other crewmen
recreate a mile of battle? If you used 25mm could be loose.
figures, it would be 65 foot by 65 foot. For
HO, which is 20m scale, it would be a little To make consistent trays, consider what others
over 64 foot. 15mm is close to 1/120, and that do:
would be 44 foot. Imagine setting up and
moving thousands of figures over 65 foot! For 25mm to 30mm figures, most players tray
What we do is scale everything down. their men at one-inch intervals so that each
We scale down the movement, the range of controls a 1” by 1” area. Cavalry controls 1”
weapons and the number of men in a unit. by 1 ½”
This allows us to recreate a battle in a much
smaller space. “Scaling down” has been used For 15mm to 20mm, some prefer to have a ½
for years. It does not sacrifice the realism of inch interval. Cavalry gets ½” by 1 inch Of
the game. Scaling allows you to enjoy a full course, some use ¾” and 1”. Some who use
battle in minimal space, with a manageable 20mm might stick to 1” and 1 ½” for cavalry.
number of pieces.

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 Metalsmashing: A Game of Ancient & Medieval Battles

Moving Your Army above the muck and so normal road speed
applies when using it. The swamp speed only
Movement: To simulate how different soldiers applies to going through the swamp when off-
move, we use a simple trick. Imagine if a man road).
and a horse were going to race. Instead of the
race being a set distance, such as 500 yards, it Type Off road On road
would be a set time. It might be a few seconds. Light Infantry 4 6
If a man and horse both ran five seconds, the Armored 3 5
man might go 10 to 15 yards. The horse might Infantry
go 20 to 30 yards. We use a similar thing in Light cavalry 8 10
our game. A man moves half the distance of a Heavy 6 8
horse, simulating how fast he goes. cavalry
Wagon 4 7
Pushed 2 3
artillery

If a unit goes from road to open land, or vice

versa, it must change its speed. For example, a
cavalry unit moves 5 inches on a road, and then
goes into woods. This leaves seven inches.
However, since off road speed is ½, then the
unit can only go 3 ½ inches into the woods.

Men and horses in the field go slower than if If a unit goes from regular to rough terrain, he
they were on a road. The speeds below are must adjust accordingly. For instance, a
measured in numbers. Most people use inches, caisson going on a road five inches comes to a
but for smaller spaces you might use ford. That would leave 6 inches. Since the
centimeters. If you have a very large space, rough terrain speed is about 2/3 of the regular
you might double them. (If you double road speed, and the ford in one the road, he
movement, you must also double firing range.) would go 4 more inches. For determining
speed when moving from regular to rough
Type Off road On road terrain, we use a “rough guess-timate” that
Light Infantry 5 7 rough terrain speed is 2/3 of normal movement.
Armored 4 6
Infantry Other movement rules:
Light Cavalry 10 14
Armored 8 12 Light footmen & light cavalry can leap a wall
Cavalry that is chest high or lower. They have to go
Wagon 7 11 around higher walls. Heavy foot have to go
Pushed 3 5 around, or use ½ of their movement to climb
artillery over. Heavy cavalry can jump walls that are
waist high or lower to a man. Otherwise they
Some kinds of terrain make it even harder to must ride around them.
move. The chart below shows movement in Wagons and artillery must be pushed around
rough terrain” going uphill, going through a walls.
swamp, or fording a river at a ford (you cannot Men can enter a house. Cavalry, wagons and
ford a river that has no ford). (Note that with artillery cannot enter.
swamps, there is no “road speed.” If a road
goes through a swamp, it is assumed to be

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 Metalsmashing: A Game of Ancient & Medieval Battles

Shooting Artillery
In our game, the two ways to fight the enemy Catapults, trebuchets, ballistae,
are to shoot him or melee. Shooting is very bombards and culverins are a
simple. You roll one die for every six shooters. specialty all their own. The first
Only the front rank can fire. To the number thing you need make are firing
that comes up on the dice, you add or subtract sticks. One should be 10 inches, the
as follows: other 16 inches. Mark 1 inch
increments on the first six inches.
Target is at long range: -1 On the other end, affix a circle. The
Target is behind soft cover (bushes): -1 circle should be 2 inches in diameter.
Target is behind hard cover (wall, in house): -2 Make the circle of wire, and affix its
Target is 2 inches or closer: +1 center to the end of the stick, as
Target unit has his back to you: +2 shown on Page 5.
Cavalry firing from horseback: -2
Target has shield: -1 Your artillery will need crews. Each culverin,
Target has armor: -2 trebuchet or bombard should have a crew of 6
Crossbow at short range: +1 to 8 men. Each catapult or ballista needs a
Arquebus or hand-cannon at close range: +2 crew of 4 to 6 men. 2 men must always be at
Sling: -1 the weapon, and the others must stay within
one infantry move of the gun. If your catapult
Weapon range: the chart below shows short and or ballista crew is reduced to 2 men, they fire at
long range. Anything further than long range half rate, i.e. every other turn. If your culverin,
cannot be shot. bombard or trebuchet crew is reduced to 3, it
fires at half rate. Any less than that, and the
Weapon Close range Long range weapon cannot operate until you send up more
Short Bow 0-3 3-6 artillerymen. Infantry and cavalry cannot
Long Bow, 0-4 4-8 operate artillery. Only artillerists can handle it.
Norse Bow
Light 0-4 4-7 Artillery pieces can either move or fire in one
Crossbow move . They cannot do both
Arbalest 0-6 6-12
Crossbow Each weapon had different ways of firing.
Hand cannon 0-3 3-5 Flat Trajectory: Ballistapults and culverins
(early gun) were direct-fire weapons. They were fired
Arquebus 0-4 4-8 directly at the front of enemy troops and targets
Sling 0-3 3-5 in a relatively flat trajectory.
Javelin / spear 0-2 2-4 Parabolic: Trebuchets, onagers, catapults and
bombards were fired in a parabolic trajectory.
If less then 6 men are firing, subtract their Their ammunition fell downward onto the
number from 6. The sum is the amount to enemy.
deduct from the dice when you roll for them to Some bombards could also be fired like
shoot. For example, if four men are shooting: 6 culverins.
minus 4 = 2. Deduct 2 from the dice roll.
To fire a parabolic weapon at a target,
place the stick so that the back end passes over
the weapon, and the circle is over the target.
Roll a die

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 Metalsmashing: A Game of Ancient & Medieval Battles

1 means the shot fell 1 inch short – move the Weapon Short range Long range
stick back one inch Catapult, 3 10
2 means the shot fell 2 inches short – move the onager
stick back 2 inches Ballistapult 0 12
3 means the weapon overshot 1 inch – move Trebuchet, 4 16
the stick forward 1 inch* Mangonel
4 means the weapon overshot 2 inches – move Culverin 0 14
the stick forward 2 inches* Bombard*, 5 16
5 and 6 means it hit right on target. Haufnitze
* Some bombards can also fire flat trajectory
If you roll a 3 or 4, and it puts your circle past projectiles. You must determine this before the
its full range (more than 10 or 16, depending on game begins.
the weapon). then the piece is considered to
have misfired, causing no casualties. Artillery Flat trajectory weapons launch in a straight
line, cutting a swath through the ranks. Use a
thick wire and place one end at the artillery
piece ,and the other at the enemy. Anyone it
touches must roll a die to survive.

Target is behind wall +1

Target is in house. +1
Target has back turned on the weapon -1

If the final number is 1, 2, 3 or 4 means he is

removed. If it is 5 or 6 means he is saved.
cannot fire past its range
If a culverin hits a stone or heavy wood wall, it
Whatever number you get, everyone in the will blast a half-inch wide gap. The wall
circle can be hit. Roll 1 die for each man in the absorbs the projectile’s power, so that it can
circle. Add or subtract to the number as only continue one inch through the wall. The
explained below: spear from a ballistapult will be stopped by a
wall.
Target area is in woods - +1
Target was on other side of wall from impact
(center of circle): +2
Melee
Target was in first floor of house: +2
Target was on same side of wall as impact: -1 When enemy soldiers come within ½ inch of
each other, they can melee. This is hand-to-
When you add or subtract, you get the final hand combat. First, a 4” diameter circle is
number. Here is what the final number means: placed so that its center is over the first two
If the final number is 1, 2, 3 or 4 he is removed. fighters. Everyone within the circle is
If it is 5 or 6 means he is saved. considered involved in the melee. Each side
adds up the points value of men in the circle.
Parabolic weapons have a short range and long Each player rolls one die, and multiplies
range. They cannot fire at targets within this it by the number of points he has in the circle.
short range. Parabolic weapons can only fire at The one with the higher number wins. The
targets in their long ranges. For instance, an loser loses half of his men. The winner loses
onager cannot fire at targets closer than three one half as many casualties as the loser. Thus,
inches. if the loser had lost ten men, then the winner

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 Metalsmashing: A Game of Ancient & Medieval Battles

loses five. The winner holds the ground, and Command unit within 1 move: +2
the loser retreats ½ move. Losing of officer –1
If both sides get the same number, Losing of command unit (for units within 2
making it a draw, then both lose half their men moves of command unit) -2
as casualties. In that case, victory will depend Unit separated from other units more then 1
upon who brings up reinforcements fastest move away from allies units) -1
Elite Unit (Knights Templar, Praetorians, etc)
Light infantry – 1 +1
Armored infantry – 2 Unit has defeated an enemy unit within the
Light cavalry – 2 three previous moves: +2
Heavy cavalry- 3 Unit was defeated by enemy unit within three
Archer , crossbowman, arquebusier – 1 previous moves: -2
Unit is unharmed: +1
A unit of 8 or more men armed with polearms New officer joins unit: +1
gets a bonus against men armed with short
weapons. They also get the bonus against Morale results:
cavalry. The men with polearms get a free
strike when a melee starts. Before rolling for Roll dice add and subtract factors listed above.
the melee, roll one die for each six men with
polearms, making the usual deductions as if for 5, 6 Unit follows orders and fights
archery. Remove casualties Afterward, melee 4 Unit holds for one move
normally. 3 Unit retreats one move
2 Unit retreats for two moves.
1 Unit routs: retreats until it leaves battle or
Morale until checked

The difference between victory and defeat was Checking a routed unit
often a matter of the state of morale. For this
reason, we need to look at morale to determine To stop a routed unit, an officer must confront
if a unit stays and fights, or retreats. it. He rolls a dice. 5 and 6 mean the unit is
rallied, and returns to battle. 3, 4 means the
When to check morale: unit halts and must check morale on the next
turn. 1, 2 means the unit continues to rout.
Loss of 25% of men: unit halts one turn and The officer can remain with the unit and try to
checks morale rally it again the next move
Loss of 50% of men: unit halts one turn and
rolls for morale Any unit that Loses its officer automatically
Getting hit from behind by equal or larger halts 2 moves.
force: unit rolls for morale.
Getting beat in a melee or by projectile
weapons: roll for morale. Terrain
Loss of command unit: all units within two
moves of command unit must check morale Rivers can only be crossed at fords and bridges.
Houses can provide cover. Up to four men can
Factors which adjust more dice roll: be in a small house, and six in a large house.

Losing 25% of one’s unit: -1 Artillery can do direct fire against houses. Roll
Losing 50% of one’s unit: – 2 a die. 1, 2 and 3 means nothing happened. 4. 5
Command unit within sight: +1 and 6 mean damage was done. 4 hits by
artillery can destroy a small house. 7 hits can
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 Metalsmashing: A Game of Ancient & Medieval Battles

destroy a large house. When a house is Miniature bridges

destroyed, all occupants are removed from the Miniature walls and fences
game. For light guns, subtract 1 from the die Miniature houses
roll. For mortars, add 1 to the die roll.
Several companies manufacture small soldiers
Direct artillery fire can attack walls and fences. that fit our game. Many
On a 5 or 6, the shell punches out a 1 inch wide different manufacturers
gap. 1, 2, and 3 do nothing. 4 reduces a 1 – make Romans, Gauls,
inch wide section to half its previous height. Greeks, Knights, Vikings,
Crusaders, and Saracens..
Capturing Equipment These range from
inexpensive25mm plastic
It is possible to capture artillery and equipment. figures to various metal
So long as no enemy soldier is within two castings ranging from
inches of the item, you can seize it. You need 15mm to 30mm.
to have two men touch the item. The next Houses can be found at hobby shops
move, your men can move it away. You can that sell wargame supplies. They often have
capture artillery and wagons. However, only Medieval and Ancient style structures. Model
artillerymen can operate a catapult, ballista, railroad shops that carry Faller kits might have
culverin, bombard or trenbuchet. If you a few old style German buildings for HO scale.
capture artillery, you cannot use it unless it is Also, some of the older Airfix first have been
manned by your artillerymen. reissued.
You can buy miniature walls and fences
in several scales where they sell trains.
Most hobby shops carry miniature trees.
Sequence of Play They also have lichen, which can be used to
simulate bushes.
Both sides move simultaneously, each strarting Miniature bridges can be gotten in
from his left and moving to the right. Players hobby shops.
have five minutes to complete movement. After Another source of bridges, castles and
moving, combat is reloved I nthis sequence. structures is aquarium decorations.
Rivers, lakes and roads can be cut from
1) Fire artillery the appropriately- colored paper.
2) Shoot Archery and hand guns Miniature hills and mountains can be
3) Settle Melees found at shops that sell trains.
4) Check Morale
This set of wargame rules has been prepared
for you by Milihistriot Quarterly, the
Supplies Journal for Military Miniature
Enthusiasts. If you enjoy military
Along with dice, you will need several items to miniatures, toy soldiers and miniature
play Metalsmashing. These include: wargaming, you will enjoy visiting our website
at www.milihistriot.com
Miniature soldiers and their equipment
Miniature trees
Miniature lakes

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 Metalsmashing: A Game of Ancient & Medieval Battles

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