As the sea breaks against a rock

We have given another try to the Romans In Britain rules. The combat rules had changed a bit based on our previous game, I had written some notes around the various civilians and road users in the game, and I had bought some more bases at Fiasco to tidy things up a bit.

Once again it was an enjoyable evening in which the Romans slaughtered 250 or so Celts for the loss of a couple of dozen men. I think that we can say that the very simple combat rules work OK. On the other hand there weren't enough vehicles and others passing along the road, so that bit didn't work. And the rules regarding the sheep were somewhat fiddly; less is more, less is more.

Centurion Horatius holds the bridge

In the post-match discussion one common theme to emerge was the conviction that the Pony Wars rules (which both Peter and James played with the authors at shows many years ago) were written before large numbers of modern techniques and accessories in wargames were ever thought of. So, having deliberately tried to mimic the original rules as closely as possible - with some success it has to be said - the time has come to completely revisit them, using elements from current practice, while hopefully retaining the spirit. Funnily enough given my liking for games like Piquet and C&C, the cards will be the first to go.