Return to Rules

Dark Age Skirmish rules

 By Steve Burt.

Introduction

These rules are for skirmish games in the heroic manner; that is, they more closely resemble the Icelandic Sagas than the rather messy reality. They allow a total of about 50 figures to be deployed on the table for an evening's play. The figures should be individually based with their name on the underside of the base. In the case of mounted figures, you will require duplicate mounted and dismounted version of each character. There should not be too many mounted figures (only about 10% of the figures). Only those figures which have a mounted version are considered able to ride horses.

In addition to the figures, you will require some 10-sided dice (or 20 sided dice marked 0-9 twice) (Referred to as a d10 in these rules), a pack of cards, and a record sheet for each faction. The pack of cards is used to determine the order in which characters act. The record sheets record each character's attributes and are used to show fatigue, wounds, and ammunition expenditure. Some sample record sheets for Vikings, Fyrd and Peasants are attached at the end of the rules.

Note that the ‘0’ on the dice is considered a zero, not a 10. This is because the rules require you to roll less than a number to do something. So you have a 40% chance of rolling less than 4 (0..3).

The rules can be used on the tabletop with the distances given (it speeds up play a lot if you make up some sticks with the movement and firing distances marked on them). Alternatively, the game can be played on a hex grid (such as those sold by Standard Games with its excellent range of board games). Movement and firing distance are also given in hexes for those who prefer the latter system.

Scales

These rules are designed for use with 25mm or 15mm figures - the latter are more in scale, but 25mm look nicer for skirmish games.

Ground scale is 1cm:1 metre (1:100)

Each turn is 2 seconds, but as with most of these games, the time scale is somewhat elastic, and it can be assumed that there is a lot of crouching in the bushes going on

Turn Sequence

For small numbers of figures, assign each character a playing card. The cards are then turned over one at a time, and as each character's card comes up he or she may take their actions. This means that each character gets to act once per move, but the exact sequence in which they go varies, and one character may get to act at the end of one move and the beginning of the next, allowing two actions in a row before the opponent has a chance to react.

If there are more than a dozen or so figures on table, this become unwieldy, and it is better just to give each faction a turn to do things with all its figures.

Characters

Each character has a BRAVERY, a STRENGTH and an AGILITY (All 1-9).

Bravery determines how easy it is for a character to enter combat. Strength determines how many wounds you can take, how much fatigue you have, and how effective your blows are. Agility determines how quickly you react, how good at shooting you are, and how good you are at hitting with blows. To "roll against" a characteristic, roll a 10-sided dice and try and get LESS than the characteristic. '0' counts as 0, not 10. A roll of 0 is occasionally a 'special' (e.g. it represents

a GREAT BLOW in combat).

There are five character types, each of which has a different rating (Br/St/Ag are always the same except as noted):

Non-Combatant	4	Costs: 0
Peasant	5	Costs: 1
Warrior	6	Costs: 2
Hero	7	Costs: 4
Berserker	7	Costs: 5

Bravery in each case is one more than the number here (8 for a hero, etc)

Any character armed with a Missile Weapon gets a bonus of 1 to Agility (only). They cost an extra point.

Berserkers have a Bravery of 9

Bersekers get a bonus to agility (1) & strength (2) when they go berserk

Characters also have armament, shields and possibly armour as well, all as depicted on the figure.

Actions

Actions are of three basic types - Movement, Combat and Other.

A character may make one Movement AND one Combat action.

Alternatively, he may make one Other action.

For instance a character may run up to another and strike a blow (assuming they are brave enough - see below), or may walk and fire an arrow (although it would be a snapshot with a moving firer) . However, actions such as Aiming or Resting may not be combined with others. Nor may a character perform two combat or two movement actions.

Movement Actions

Crawl Walk Run Sprint Stand up Lie Down

(On horseback)

Walk Trot Canter Gallop

Combat Actions

Strike Blow Disengage Fire

(Unarmed combat)

Punch Kick Grapple

Other Actions

Swim Mount Dismount Aim Rest

Movement

On Foot		On Horseback	(Hexes)
Crawl	2cm		1
Walk	6cm	Walk	3
Run	12cm	Trot	6
Sprint	16cm	Canter	8
	24cm	Gallop	12

Swimmers move at crawling speed. The action is only in the list of 'Others' because it can't be combined with a combat action.

Prone characters may crawl, but may not engage in any combat action without standing up first.

Combat - Firing

Ranges in cm (hexes in brackets)

Weapon	Point Blank	Short	Medium	Long
Spear	3(2)	10(5)	20(10)	30(15)
Sling	5(3)	15(8)	30(15)	50(25)
Bow	10(5)	25(12)	50(25)	75(36)
Longbow/Crossbow	15(8)	50(25)	100(50)	150(75)

Aiming

Characters may AIM up to 3 times. Represent each AIM with a counter under the figure. Each one makes firing more accurate. All AIMS are lost if a character does anything other than stand still.

Firing - roll to hit

Roll less than your AGILITY on d10, with the following modifiers:

Point Blank	+1
Short	0
Medium	-1
Long	-3

Target running/trotting	-1
Target sprinting/cantering	-2
Target galloping	-3
Target has large shield	-1
Snapshot (No AIM)	-1
Firer mounted	-1
Firer galloping	-4
Firer sprinting/cantering	-3
Firer running/trotting	-2
Firer walking	-1
Target only 75% visible	-1 (knees and up)
Target only 50% visible	-2 (waist and up)
Target only 25% visible	-3 (head and shoulders)
Target only 10% visible	-4 (head only)
Each AIM after the first	+1 (max +2)

Note that visibility percentages apply to targets who run across gaps and the like. Soft cover only counts as half the normal visibility penalty - e.g. a man behind a waist-high hedge counts 75% visible, not 50%.

You must expose at least head and shoulders to fire, unless firing out of loopholes.

Combat - Hand to hand

Roll against striker's agility to see if a blow connects, with the following modifiers:

Target has large shield facing striker	-2
Target has small shield facing striker	-1
Target 50% or more concealed	-1
Target 75% or more concealed	-2
Using an axe	-1
Friend(s) also attacking	+1
Target exhausted	+1
Cannot see striker	+2
Target stunned/asleep/unaware	+4

A man with a longer weapon cannot be struck at by his opponent in the first round of combat - represent this by leaving the figures slightly apart. Move them together after the first round of combat.

Combat - Hit effects.

When a blow or a missile weapon finds its target, roll against the striker's strength to see how much damage is done. In the case of missile weapons, a bonus is added to the firer's strength as follows:

Rocks etc.	0
Spear/Javelin	+1
Sling	+2
Bow	+3
Longbow	+4
Crossbow	+5

The following modifiers apply:

Target has padded cloth/part leather	-1
Target has leather/ part mail	-2
Target has mail/ part plate	-3
Target has plate	-4
Target cannot see striker	+2
Using axe	+1
Improvised weapons	-1

If the roll is less than the striker's strength, after applying modifiers, the number of wounds inflicted is as follows:

1,2	Light Wound
3,4	Serious Wound
5,6	Critical Wound
7+	Kill

A roll of 0 is a GREAT BLOW. Roll again for effect against target's strength:

0 - target killed outright

Less than strength - target stunned (lie figure down)

Greater than or equal to strength - target disabled - stunned, and seriously wounded.

Characters get 1 red counter per wound level. Each deducts 1 from strength & agility

Example of combat:

Osric the bowman sees Svein about 15 yards away. Both are Warriors (strength 6), but Osric has Agility 7 because he is missile armed. He decides to try a snapshot (-1). It is short range (0), and Svein has a large shield (-1). Osric's agility is 7, modified to 5. He requires 4 or less to hit. He rolls a 3 - a hit! Now he rolls for effect with his strength of 5, +3 because he is using a bow, but -1 because of Svein's armour, for a modified strength of 7. He can do up to a critical wound (if he rolls a 5,6), but in fact in rolls a 2. Svein is lightly wounded, reducing his strength to 5, and his maximum fatigue to 10. He rolls to see if he is stunned - a 4, so he remains upright. Now Svein wants to go into combat before Osric gets off another shot. He rolls

against his bravery of 7, getting a 4, so he sprints in combat and strikes a blow (3 fatigue). His agility is 5 because of the wound. Osric is using his bow and so doesn't have his shield in use. Svein rolls a 0 - a hit. Osric has no armour, so now Svein rolls against his current strength of 5. He rolls a 4 - inflicting a serious wound on the unfortunate Osric. Osric must now roll against his modified strength (4) to see if he remains upright. He rolls a 6, falling over stunned, and will probably be finished off next move.

That will teach him not to fire arrows at Vikings.

Effects of wounds on the target

If a character takes damage (other than from a GREAT BLOW, which is covered above), there is a chance that the shock will stun him/her:

Each wound deducts 1 from strength & agility.

Roll against the character's current STRENGTH rating (i.e. after deducting any damage). If he fails the roll he falls over STUNNED. Stunned characters may try to recover each move by rolling against their strength. If they recover they may stand up (but take no other action). If they do not recover, they are considered to remain

lying prone and semi-conscious and may do nothing.

Entering and leaving combat

To enter combat a character must roll against bravery. If he fails, he may do something else (roll before moving). To disengage from combat, a character must roll against agility. If he fails, he stays in combat (and may not take a swing at his opponent), but still loses the point of fatigue (q.v.).

Modifiers to bravery roll:

+1 per friend already in combat with target

+2 if trying to attack from behind

+1 if mounted and target not mounted

-1 if on foot and target mounted

No need to roll against stunned/asleep targets

Fatigue

Fatigue may be lost by characters doing strenuous things, or by being wounded. In the latter case, the loss is permanent. Fatiguing activities are:

Running	1
Sprinting	2
Shooting	1
Throwing	1
Swimming	2 (1 just to stay afloat)
Striking blow	1
Punch or kick	1
Grappling	2
Climbing an obstacle (e.g. a ship)	1
Breaking off combat	1

Whenever a character does something fatiguing, roll a dice. If you roll less than the number of fatigue points you have just expended, the character is ‘tired’. Place a yellow counter underneath - this deducts 1 from Agility & Strength, and you may expend a maximum of 1 fatigue point a move until rested.

If a tired character gets another yellow counter, he is exhausted and may not spend fatigue at all - deduct 2 from Str/Ag.

Fatigue may be regained by standing still at the rate of 1 counter per turn. If you have no fatigue points left, you cannot perform any of the above activities. If you are swimming, you drown.

Reaction

Reaction rating is given a character's agility. This is the roll he must make on a d10 to react to something unexpected (e.g. a fleeting target, being shot at from behind, and so on). This is also used when a character attempts something tricky, such as run through bushes, jump a wall, etc.

Anyone running (or cantering on a horse) through bad terrain must make an agility roll or fall over. Anyone sprinting (or galloping on a horse) through bad going must make TWO such rolls. Characters who fall over when running or sprinting are not stunned and may get up next move. If the character falls from a horse, they will be stunned and must roll against strength to recover.

A character's visibility arc is normally 120 degrees in front of him, and he can be assumed to spot things going on in this area.

Berserkers

Characters with a bravery of 9 are berserkers. Instead of rolling on bravery when they go into combat, they roll to see if they go berserk. A 9 means they do. They then add 2 strength and 1 agility and 4 fatigue (the figures in brackets on the character sheets). A berserker may also voluntarily try to enter berserkergang - needs a 0 or 1. Once berserk, a berserker MUST attack the nearest figure - he may never break off combat, and if the nearest figure is a friend - too bad. Roll after each turn of berserkergang. On a 0 the rage ends. At this point, the berserker is automatically exhausted. (0 fatigue).

Any character attacked by a berserker must make a bravery roll or flee in panic.

Panic

A character may panic when he sees a friend killed or when charged by a berserker. Roll against bravery to avoid panic. Panicked characters will sprint for the nearest cover (regardless of fatigue).

Once in cover they will remain there unless attacked again, in which case they will flee again. Characters may try to recover from panic by rolling LESS THAN HALF their bravery (e.g. a character with a bravery of 5 would need to roll 0 1 or 2).

Boats

A rowing boat may be rowed by 1 character at crawling pace, or two at walking pace. Rowing is a fatiguing activity. A Viking longboat may be rowed by two characters at crawling pace, 6 at walking pace, or 12 at running pace. It takes two characters a move to raise or lower the sail. The boat will go at crawling pace under sail in a light wind, walking in a moderate wind, or running in a strong one. It may not sail into the wind.

Animals

Up to 2 pigs, sheep, cows or goats may be led by a single character.

If a character runs toward animals that are not confined they will run off at galloping pace in random directions. If you want to get hold of an animal, you must approach it slowly.

Wagons

Wagons normally move at walking pace unless the towing beasts are panicked by something, in which case they go at running pace, but they will overturn on a roll of 0 or 1 on a d10. They move after all other characters each move.

Non combatants

Non combatants don't need cards. They move at the end of each turn, after all other characters. They will never initiate combat and will always try to break off combat if attacked. If the Vikings are trying to carry off women as a scenario condition, they must make a GRAPPLE attempt by rolling against agility. If they succeed, the woman has been overpowered and may be carried off on the next move. Carrying someone (or any heavy object) means that you can only go at walking pace and must use a fatigue each move.

Unarmed combat

A kick which connects is rolled in the normal manner, but only 1 point of damage is ever inflicted. A punch does not cause damage, but in the case of both a kick and a punch the target must roll for possible stunning. To overpower a combatant target, roll against agility to grapple, then both roll a dice and add your strength. If the grappler gets higher, the target is overpowered.