Getting Started

I have started this blog to hopefully attract a number of like minded individuals who are interested in the military campaigns of the Mongols under both Chinggis Khan and his offspring. My interest in the Mongols began way back in the early 1970's when, not long after being introduced to the wargaming fraternity by way of a little diorama showing the Airfix set of Highlanders and Cuirassiers, I read a book on the man himself by the two Dupuy's from their series of Great Commanders. Ever since then I have been an avid reader of anything to do with the Mongols. 

My wargaming credentials in the period are that I have Mongol armies in 25mm (figures can be seen on the Irregular Miniatures website -www.irregularminiatures.co.uk/- the command base and others. 15mm from a variety of manufacturers, 6mm from Irregular and the latest project ...10mm.

  Why 10mm, I hear you ask? Weelll, there is a very good reason.

  25mm is great for the visual aspect of the hobby but can take an age to paint if you want them to look any good. 6mm goes the other way, great for tactical representation, easy to paint while stuck in the middle is 15mm. Now 10mm is something different again. I wanted to combine the representation of masses of troops while still giving them a certain amount of individuality. 

  Now before you read the next bit please don't think too much about the order I do things.

  A radical new idea was born. Why not standardise the base size for everything and go from there? I saw a site where an American gentleman had based up a load of 10mm Normans with about 10 heavy cavalry and a shedload of infantry on a single base. So now I have the basics of two armies, Mongol and Xi-Xia/Jin/Song all based on 60mm x 40mm bases with the numbers of figures showing roughly what type of troops they represent.   Then I thought rules. Brick wall job there! Not a great lover of WRG -geared more towards the  competition side of the hobby, not my thing at all- WAB, far too many dice needed and from what I've seen, individual basing. Bleeech! Sorry, can't be doing with that.

  First conclusion -nothing available that fitted my criteria which were a period specific set of rules that gave a reasonably decent game and a more accurate representation of troop types available. 

  Second conclusion -write my own. Piece of cake, thinks I flippantly. Been wargaming since early 1970's used loads of different sets of rules over that time (still got a copy of WRG 3rd Edition in an overflowing storage box full or old sets). Loads of ideas stored somewhere in the old brainbox.   How difficult can it be?

 Answer: More bloody difficult than I thought. Concepts are simple, Application is a hell of a lot more difficult.

  Now we come to the crux of the blog. 

 I am hoping that it will chronicle the mental meanderings and verbal verbiage of a man on the edge when it comes to the art of wargames rule writing. 

  To start with, most of the basic rules are written and I've started doing the stats for the different armies.

 As noted above the rules work on premise of bases; 3 to a unit with troops divided into various different Fighting Styles: Skirmishers (SKI or SKC) up to 9 inf or 4 cav on a base, Supporting troops (SPI or SPC), up to 16 inf or 10 cav on a base and Battle troops (BI or BC), with the same number s as SP troops.

  The factors for Combat and Firing are determined by a variety of different things. Training, both offensive and defensive capabilities, troop type etc. These are all allocated numbers which when totalled give a Points Value. Various combinations added together give a single factor for  Offensive and Defensive Combat and Firing.  Combat and Firing work off the same chart with the difference between dice rolls for each player governing the result.

  Availability of troops is covered by the following categories. X Rare, V Rare, Rare, Uncommon, Common and Very Common. within each bracket there is a range of the minimum and maximum  numbers of units available.

  In trying to 'periodise' the rules each of the army sections will contain background, army notes including organisation, tactics, weapons etc, etc. As the Mongol army developed over the  period there are at the moment three listings for the army.

  More ramblings will undoubtedly follow as I go.

All comments gratefully received.

Unrelated stuff.

I'm so chuffed that the Irons got off to a flyer last Saturday, I just hope they can hang on to Deano for a while longer when the big money comes sniffing around. Once they start playing the big boys, that's when he'll earn his keep. Green is another one. Played his socks off on Saturday. Now I'm not saying that the others coming through are crepe but a good, experienced 1st team keeper is essential in the top flight. As long as they can score than the opposition every match I'll be a happy bunny.