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Devil’s Horsemen is one such, as it covers the battle of Liegnitz in which a motley combination of Christian European forces set out to stop the advancing Mongols, and were cut to pieces. The difficulty in designing a game on such a subject is in trying to produce something that is a reasonable reflection of the conditions, without the game being so unbalanced that there is no enjoyment in it. Personally I’d say DH is a success: while it’s undeniable that the Mongols are heavily favoured, the game mechanics are so interesting that it remains an enjoyable experience—and the designer has also provided several optional balancing rules.
The turn system is unusual, as there are in effect no game turns, only player turns driven by the command system. The first player selects a leader, who is then activated automatically and any units under his command may then move and fight. Once this activation is finished, the player nominates another leader and attempts to activate him by rolling a D10 against the leaders activation rating—a result lower than or equal to the rating means the leader activates. This process continues until a leader fails to activate, at which point play passes to the other side, who may nominate a leader for automatic activation, and then proceed with the same process of activation attempts until a failure ends the turn and passes control back to the first side again.
There are differences in the detail of the command system for each side, to reflect the differences in the two forces. The European forces, nominally under the overall command of Henry the Pious of Silesia, were in fact a loose grouping of forces, the leaders of each of which were jealous of their prerogatives and reluctant to take orders. The Mongol command hierarchy on the other hand was very well-trained, and included an expectation that unit leaders would be able to use their initiative without the constant need to refer to their superiors. The European leaders accordingly have generally lower activation ratings than the Mongols: the highest Christian leader being a 4, with the others on 2 and 3, whereas the lowest Mongol commander has a rating of 4, and most are rated 5.
The other big difference between the forces was in the very concept of warfare—the Mongols were a disciplined army accustomed, and specifically trained, to fight as a unit. Whereas for the knights who provided most of the hitting power for the Europeans, a battle was more a collection of individual duels, and there was virtually no concept of a unified battle plan. This is where, for me, the game really shines. Each European force is made up of a number of different troop types: so for example the Greater Poland contingent has heavy cavalry and infantry, whereas Henry’s force has 3 separate groups of knights, 2 of light cavalry, and 2 of infantry. When a leader activates, he must roll against the Force Status table for each of these groups, to determine what their attitude is. The possible results are: Defiant, which means the unit refuses to move at all (applies to infantry only, and gives a -2 DRM to the unit’s roll on this table at the next activation); Cautious, which halves the unit’s movement allowance (-1 DRM); Active, no restrictions or DRM; and lastly Aggressive, which only applies to knights and heavy cavalry, and means that the unit must charge the nearest enemy unit within reach, must engage in shock combat if adjacent to an enemy, and must counter-charge any enemy that uses the Mongol hit & run missile fire tactic.
The likely results vary by troop type, and each unit has its own modifier to the die roll printed on its counter. So the lowest infantry type, virtually worthless rabble with a -2 rating, may quite possibly refuse to move at all throughout the game; whereas the proud Teutonic knights, with a +2 rating, are very likely to make charge after charge, regardless of the wisdom or desirability of such action.
Combat is quick and easy: missile fire needs a 5 or higher to hit, with modifiers as you’d expect for distance, firing against the armoured knights, and so on. In shock combat, each side rolls a die, adds the modifiers (for position, number of units involved, etc) and inflicts the results as hits. When a unit’s accumulated hits reach its morale value, it’s eliminated. Morale values range from 1 (rabble infantry) through 3 and 4 for most infantry, 6 and 7 for the Mongols, up to the 8 and 9 of most knights.
The Europeans have no missile capable units in the basic rules; the optional rules allow the addition of 2 units of foot archers, and give all light cavalry units crossbows. All Mongols units can fire, and can withdraw before combat if they roll less than their morale, firing as they go. Their light cavalry are also allowed hit and run attacks, which enables them to effectively fire from 4 hexes away; if used against knights in Aggressive mode, this also forces them to counter-charge.
The command system, combined with the force capability roll, means that for the European player uncertainty is constant—apart from his first automatic activation of every turn, he has a lower than average chance of activating his leaders, and when he does he can never be sure what he’ll be able to do with the troops. It’s very difficult for him to make a plan and implement it, as some of his troops may refuse to budge, while his cavalry may charge ahead disregarding their flanks. It also means that the Mongol can attempt to implement the same tactics that were used historically: goading the enemy cavalry with missile fire and withdrawing before the resulting charge. With anything like average Mongol luck on the withdrawal and missile fire rolls, no knight will be worth much after a couple of such charges.
On the other hand, the European heavy cavalry and, especially, the knights are very powerful shock units; and if the Mongol strays too near, and fails to make his withdrawal before combat roll, he’ll regret it. The difficulty for the European player is bringing these armoured monsters to bear effectively.
For both sides, it’s necessary to work out how best to use one’s advantages, though the task is definitely easier for the Mongol. The process of doing so is never boring, and I’d rate this a very enjoyable success.
Components: Ziplock. 280 counters, unmounted and uncut (though board to mount them on is provided). The counter graphics are quite nice, similar in style to the GBACW iconic representations, with fancier backgrounds. Once mounted they are a little on the thin side, and probably won’t stand up to constant play, but for DTP efforts I found them quite acceptable. Two mapsheets, total size 20 x 15 inches. The map is not to the same standard as the counters, looking as though it’s hand-coloured and printed on a colour photocopier. But there’s not much terrain on the battleground, so the result doesn’t jar. Rules are fairly clear; I queried a couple of things, most notably the shock combat resolution procedure. A fair amount of historical notes are scattered throughout the rules, but no designer notes as such.
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