From: Roberto Chiavini <mumaye@mail.dada.it>
Subject: Re: Three reviews

Champs de Bataille (Vae Victis 9)

This spectacular translation on paper of the miniature wargame system De
Bellis Multitudinis is one of the better offers of all the games
presented on Vae Victis till now. With an abstract map (which could be
modified at will, thanks to the pieces offered in later numbers of this
Frenche magazine) and six different set of combat pieces in this number
(dozens more have appeared in the following numbers), the players may
recreate almost any battle fought in the period between the Egyptians
and the late medieval armies of the Hundred Years War.

In this number, you have six armies (Late Romans – Byzantinians – Early
Franks – Carolingians Franks – Sassanid Persians – Arabs) and a set of
rules, very simple, but effective and with a few twists for the normal
board-wargamer. 

There are two scenarios in the basic game: Soissons, using Romans and
Early Franks, and Poitiers, using Carolingians Franks and Arabs. Two
more scenarios (Daras and Casilinum) were published in number 10 of Vae
Victis, using the other two armies of the basic set (the first battle is
Byzantinians against Persians, the second Byzantinians against Franks).

The system is very simple, but with a very long lists of modifiers for
the various type of weapons (using English abbreviations on the counters
with French translations on the rules is, in my opinion, deleterious for
the simple comprehension of the rules themselves, as, for example, is
very chaotic to understand the differences among the various type of
horses, easier with the English terms), five different quality modifiers
and the very important difference between regular and irregular units.

The armies are divided in two or more parts, each with a leader; at the
start of each turn, a player rolls a die to see how many action points
he has available for that commander and his units.

The action points are used to move the units; line commands are very
important to move your units toward the enemy and to re-fill the gaps on
your frontline when the melee is started.

Combat may be shoot or melee fight, but is resolved in the same manner:
each player roll a die, add to the result the strength of his combat
unit (that may be modified by several factors, as other units in the
same hex, various type of weapons against weapons modifiers, and,
mostly, by the presence of supporting units in the near hexes, not
themselves taken in the zone of control of other enemies); the better
result prevails (after taking in account the differential quality
modifier) and the aftermath may be the retreat or the elimination of the
losing side.

Victory is awarded normally for demoralizing the other party (you have
to destroy more than the half of the total of the other units).

I have played three scenarios for the moment (Soissons – Franks victory;
Poitiers – Franks victory; Daras – Byzantinians victory, but a very near
one) and I have liked the system, even in solitaire (if you play against
a real adversary, you may use the rules for ambushes). You have to learn
the differences amongst the various type of units, how to mix your
combat line and how to exploit your action points allowance, but the
games are normally tense, not depended only on luck, and play fast
enough to be ideal for tournament play.

I rate the system 7 out of 10.