L’Art De La Guerre

I played my first game of the Ancient and Medieval wargaming rules L’Art De La Guerre at the club today. My ‘tutorial’ game was Ottoman Empire v Hungarian, using 15mm figures.

For those not familiar with these rules they are unit based, with a unit consisting of one FoG/DBM size element, with one or more behind for some infantry units. Armies are split into three commands. There are all the usual troop types and each has a protection and cohesion factor as well as basic combat/shooting factors.

Units are activated by each command using a single dice with a bonus for better quality commanders. The result is halved and that’s the number of units or group of units you can move or attempt to rally. Movement is measured by front edge to front edge and uses base widths with deductions for turns etc.

It’s an IGYG system although both sides can shoot in that phase. Combat resolution is by a single D6 and modifiers with both players rolling a dice. The outcome is a loss of cohesion points, usually one, but big defeats can mean more.

The standard game is 200pts and that size of game is played on a 4’ x 3’ table. Each command will have around 6 units, so it doesn’t need lots of figures. It also means a game can be played in a couple of hours. That is a real strength as it makes for a good evening game. It also points to its strength as an introduction game - quick and relatively few figures for a full battle game.

The rule book is not cheap (£27), but it includes full army lists, so there are no additional costs that you get with FoG and others. A nice laminated QRF comes with the rules.

The game plays a bit like DBM, which I wasn’t a great fan of, but this is better. I can’t see me playing it a lot, but equally it wont gather too much dust. I’ll try 28mm figures next over the summer.