Draft Inca Battle Board

Two Milestones Hit

Well, I finally made it to 250 posts! Not only that, but I hit the 100th blog reader milestone too!

So welcome to new reader Howard, who put me over the top. I hope you enjoy the "eclectic" style (read: "schizophrenic") of the subjects, and as alway, comments are always welcome. (By the way, I like your profile icon; very Tekumel looking.)

Here Come the Incas

Ralph (Bowman) has been hard at work drafting up the Incan faction rules and Saga abilities and I finally got some time to make the battle board. As always, remember this is a draft and it all needs to be play tested.

I decided to put some effort into this one, as I wanted to move away from the template provided by Tomahawk Studios and come up with a more "Mesoamerican" themed board. Also, I started standardizing fonts and element positioning. It was a lot of work, but the board looks a lot cleaner. (I dread going back and redoing the Aztec, Tlaxcaltec, and Conquistador battle boards in the same way.)

I started with searching for an Incan textile pattern. In hindsight, I probably should have blown the pattern up, making it larger, rather than using the smaller pattern and repeating it. As it is, you really have to look close to see the repeating, as so much of it is covered by the abilities.

On to the faction rules!

Saga: Inca

1. All Inca (Apu, Huaminca, and Auqua) are armed with a champi (a 5-starred stone or metal warclub) or a thrusting spear (the original Quechua term is not known), with a canipu (metal breastplate) and a polcana (shield).
2. The Apu (Warlord) may be on foot or carried in a War Palanquin. If in a palanquin he is considered Mounted. Due to the large size of the model, use the body of the palanquin for measuring. This corresponds roughly to a large Warlord base size. The figures carrying the palanquin are only for decoration and have no effect in the game.
3. You may take between one and two Huaminca (Hearthguard) units. If you decide to take two units then one unit will be from the Upper Huaminca and the other from the Lower Huaminca. (Upper and Lower pertains to the neighborhoods in Cuzco City.) These units are very competitive and antagonistic and they suffer from the Animosity Special Rule.
4. Animosity Special Rule: If during the game the two Huaminca units finish their turn within M of one another, both units instantly accrue a FATIGUE marker.
5. Huaminca soldiers are armed with a yauri (halberd), which is treated as a two-handed Danish Axe.
6. The Auqua (Warriors), in addition to the equipment listed above, are also armed with the huaraca (sling). They may fire with their slings if they do not move in their turn. (Note that not being able to move on a turn they fire is their penalty for having both ranged and melee weapons and combat values.)
7. A unit of Auqua may be exchanged for a unit of Cunti. They have no slings, but carry a two-handed macana (sword). Treat the macan as a two-handed Danish Axe.
8. Auqua may use the "Bolas" SAGA ability. A single Bolas shot strikes two foot figures or one Mounted figure within M range. Against Mounted figures, the bolas is -1 to shoot. (Note: I need clarification from Ralph on exactly what this means.) As with a sling, the bolas cannot be used if the unit has moved in the turn. Further, the unit cannot move after firing the bolas. As with a sling, using the bolas for more than one Shooting activation accrues a FATIGUE on the second and each subsequent Shooting activation.
9. The Inca warband must take at least 1 unit of Anti or Chuncho (Forest) Indian Levy.
10. A guanca (or huaca, or waka, depending upon the source) is a collection of stones that had magical and spiritual qualities that Inca soldiers could draw upon in the battle. Make some rocky terrain that is based on a Warlord-sized base (about 40mm). At the beginning of battle, before any troops are deployed, the Inca player may place the guanca on the battlefield.

Now if only I had some 25mm Incas to try these rules out with. (I do have some unpainted 15mm Incas that I received as a gift, however. No 15mm Conquistadors, however.)

Update on C4ISR – Science Fiction Command and Colors

I decided that, to start, I am going to have to use the Command deck from Memoir '44, if I want to get a game going in some reasonable amount of time (i.e. this weekend or next week). I am also probably going to have to use the Memoir '44 Combat decks, and their attendant rules, until I come up with my own science-fiction themed events and combat buffs. Not that either of these is a problem, it just won't look as good until I have it all done. (As the figures are not all painted, the cards are actually the least of my worries.)

I have been developing a list of differences between C4ISR and Memoir '44 and other Command and Colors games.

• Units will represent far smaller units, probably platoons or squads/sections.
• Units will be allowed to move through friendly units, although they cannot remain in the same hex. (There are exceptions, such as a transport unit transporting a foot unit.)
• Aerial vehicles will be units, not abstract cards.
• Aerial vehicles can be eliminated by anti-air units (whether ground- or aerial-based), eliminating the ability to call in further aerial attacks.
• Support will allow a unit to ignore one retreat.
• Artillery and Command units can provide support from farther away; they will not be required to provide support to a unit by being adjacent.
• Artillery will be easier to eliminate by direct attack.
• Close Assault will be deadlier. Actually, ranged fire will be less deadly than in Memoir '44. I am going to allow the Grenade to hit only in Close Assault, rather than always.
• Units can only ignore one Retreat, or all, depending upon circumstances. Command units, support, digging in, etc. will each grant the ability to ignore one Retreat, but unlike other Command and Colors variants, they will not stack. Other elements, like fortifications, however, might allow you to ignore all Retreat results. So it will be one, all, or nothing.
• Foot units will be able to mount transport units, which allows them to move faster and may change the unit type from Infantry to Armor or Aerial (depending upon the transport type) while being transported.

Let me know what you think, or if you have any ideas of your own.