A Mass Combat battle happens between two players, red and blue. Battles are fought to the death of the last man, yet any player may concede defeat at any point during play. At the start, the players throw a coin to determine who moves first and who counter-moves.
The order of play is:
At the setup of a game, and if no consensus is reached, one player may be selected with a coin toss to arrange simple buildings as obstacles. Once complete, the other player may then choose which side of the field they would fight from. The players arrange their figures along a "back line", which is the starting point for all figures.
For the purposes of measurement, each player gets two pieces of string: One exactly two feet long, and one six inches long.
| TROOP TYPE | MOVE |
| Heavy Foot | 12" |
| Light Horse | 24" |
| War Engines | 24" |
An example of a Heavy Infantry is any troop that carries plate or chainmail.
An example of a Light Cavalry is any horseborne troop.
An example of a War Engine is the heavy catapult.
A Heavy Catapult has a minimum range of 18" and maximum of 36".
When firing, a Heavy Catapult throws two dice. The number of figures killed is shown on the higher die. Catapults may both move and fire in the same turn. If a Catapult is reached by enemy melee units within 6" without any friendly units in the same vicinity, the Catapult converts and the enemy takes control of it.
If utilising skill-based shooting, a catapult may fire six shots in a turn.
Casualties are decided by casting dice and evaluating the scores per each combatant. Melee range is 3".
Any roll for Heavy Foot and Light Horse attacking is made by casting one die per one figure. The results of 4-6 mean one kill of an opponent figure.
Units are commonly organised to move in rows of five with the full unit having a number in the base of five. i.e. 5, 10, 15, 20, etc. Although this is not a strict rule at all and a unit may constitute as many figures as desired. It is recommended that some leeway of at least 1/16th of an inch be left between the figures.
The Melee will last but one round, until either of the sides perishes.
Each figure "controls" one inch on either side of it to stop infiltration.
After a Move phase, neighbouring units within 3" may be drawn into a melee if the player so desires. They must beat their opponent's die roll to enter all the troops they wish (may move up to six inches). This may only be done if the unit(s) to enter the melee have moved 1/2 or less of their move.
Both Stone and Wooden Buildings may be placed as obstacles within the play field. Buildings commonly have 12" of wall(thus making buildings of 3x3" or 4x2") with two stories, an attic and cellar, although none of these guidelines are binding.
Move in from any points you like on the back line and try to kill the whole of the enemy's force.
Decided when at least three men of one force reach any point in the back line of their antagonist. They are then supposed to have suffered a strategic defeat. With a long rear line the game is simply a rush at some weak point in the first player's line by the entire cavalry brigade of the second player. Instead of making the whole back line available for Blow at the Rear, the middle of either half may be taken.
A force, the defenders, 2/3 as strong as the antagonist, tries to prevent the latter arriving, while still a quarter of its original strength, upon the defender's back line. The terrain must be made by one or both of the players before it is determined which shall be defender. The players then toss for choice of sides, and the winner of the toss becomes the defender. They put out their force over the field on their own side, anywhere up to the distance of one move off the middle of the line - that is to say, they must not put any man within one move of the middle line, but they may do so anywhere on their own side of that limit - and then the loser of the toss become the first player, and set out their men a move from their back line.
Except in the above cases, or when otherwise agreed upon, the forces engaged shall be equal in number and similar in composition. The methods of handicapping are obvious. A slight inequality (chances of war) may be arranged between equal players by leaving out 12 men on each side and tossing with a pair of dice to see how many each player shall take of these. The best arrangement and proportion of the forces is in small bodies of about 20-25 infantry and 12-15 cavalry to a single war machine. Such a force can manoeuvre comfortably on a front of 4 or 5 feet.
A standard game can be played with about 80 infantry, 50 cavalry, and 4 or 5 catapults on either side, or with smaller proportional forces.
Excellent, huge games can be played on an 18-foot battlefield with over 200 men and six catapults per side.
A player may, of course, rearrange their forces to suit their own convenience according to point count; brigade all or most of their cavalry into a powerful striking force, or what not. But more catapults proportionally lead to their being put out of action too early for want of men; a larger proportion of infantry makes the game sluggish, and more cavalry - because of the difficulty of keeping large bodies of this force under cover - leads simply to early heavy losses by catapults and violent and disastrous charging. The composition of a force may, of course, be varied considerably. One good "Fight to the Finish" game can be tried as follows: Arrange the terrain, coin-toss for turns, then assemble a force based on a total of 300 points. For instance, a player may choose 100 infantry and 5 catapults, or 100 cavalry and no catapults, or 60 infantry, 40 cavalry and 3 catapults. It could make matches like 80 cavalry + 3 catapults vs 110 infantry + 4 catapults quite interesting.
Heavy Foot - 2 pts
Light Horse - 3 pts
Heavy Catapult - 20 pts
A red vs blue match with a map provided.
Force One has 3 catapults, 48 infantry, 25 horse. Instructions are to clear up the terrain to the east of Firely Church. Their opponent has about the same troops.
The ruleset here would constitute v0.1 of the game.