Success of the successor. A CK game report.

[martin]

Righteous versus Naughty successors.
November 2022


Some useful detail.
CK = Conquerors and Kings. A grid based  game of war.

This report is about CK 2nd edition. 1st edition was in 1998.
The italics give an insight into the mechanisms used.


CK is played on a 6 zone (width) by 5 zone (depth) table.
This game was played using 15mm figures, but the grid system means that any sized figures and zones can be used.
In 15mm games, each zone is 10 inches by 6 inches. This gives a table size of 5 feet by 2.5 feet.
For 25mm games the zones would be 12" by 8" (table size 6 feet by 40")

This gives space for all the gaming clutter to be off the gaming area. Don't like sheets of paper, casualties etc littered over the playing area (yuk!).

A zone can hold 3 proper units and a skirmish, elephant , general for free.

Players use a "menu"  type list from which to choose their units.
Players buy complete units not individual bases. Most units have 3 bases which die by the half base. This would also allow a unit to be one "blob" with a D6 recoding the 6 increments of death.

Each player chooses 3 scenery  pieces (the usual gentle hill, rough hill, rough ground, wood etc).
Each scenery piece occupies a complete zone.

There are a limited number of troop types.  Elephants, chariots, cavalry, mounted skirmishers, close order foot, auxiliary foot, skirmishers foot. Some small differentiations exist within those categories.


Apologies in advance for no photos. This is because the game was fast and furious (we were busy) , but mainly because we were using all sorts of stand ins for the figures .  e.g Egyptian spearmen were pretending to be pikemen.


This is a CK game report.
The RIGHTEOUS and NAUGHTY armies  both had  about 0 pike units, 3 cavalry, 3 elephants, 3 auxiliary and 6 skirmish units. There were a couple of bolt shooters in there too.
I will be deliberately biased toward the RIGHTEOUS army because I was a general in that army in the tradition of ancient authors.

CK armies total 300 points. A skirmisher unit cost 7 points and close order spear unit costs 18 points. After arrival one army becomes te defender with some losses.

The pre-game created some very gifted generals for both armies. Typically, each army would expect 2 gifts. In this game each army obtained 5 gifts.
The scenery system created an open battlefield with a village on each flank.

The pregame takes into consideration the suitability of the army for campaigning. e.g lots of skirmishers make for better scouting.

The RIGHTEOUS army was in defence. It deployed first.  This deployment used 3 zones width of pike and support troops. The cavalry was delayed in its arrival (doing something off table).


The NAUGHTY army deployed in a similar manner. No surprises there.
Deployment is in each players base edge row. There are some dictats  about where the bulk of the army must be deployed.

CK allows players to have alternate moves. The other players gets to react and demand re-rolls etc.

Zone entireties attack other zone entireties. There is no charge/counter charge etc.

The RIGHTEOUS army started the game by moving of its base edge  boldly( I was an RIGHTEOUS commander). The RIGHTEOUS flanks pulled in a little so as to thicken the line up. So far so good.

The NAUGHTY army came on in a big, long  line too. Not as nice a line as the RIGHTEOUS line.
Skirmish shooting started up. To the horror of the RIGHTEOUS army a bolt from the blue killed an RIGHTEOUS  elephant.

The  RIGHTEOUS army launched a pre emptive assault with the left flank. It all went horribly wrong. RIGHTEOUS had 9D6 versus the NAUGHTY 12D6. The difference was due to the quality and quantity of the NAUGHTY zones units. A small loss for the RIGHTEOUS zone would be fine as  little damage is done in a lost fight.
However, the RIGHTEOUS zone D6 were appalling ( in fights a re-roll of all or none is allowed).
The NAUGHTY zone D6 were excellent (obviously suspicious).
The hurt came in the fall back in which RIGHTEOUS troop started to "drift".

Fight D6 are made up of three facets. Up to 6D6 for positive modifiers . Up to 10D6 for the units involved.  Up to 6 D6 in deductive (-) modifiers.
Scores of 5,6 = hits.  Fights are won on hits, not kills. Thus, armoured units can lose a fight and be forced back although they have suffered fewer deads.

After this the RIGHTEOUS army also launched a right flank assault. This did well with both sides scoring low but the RIGHTEOUS having the better of it.

Then the NAUGHTY army assaulted in the centre and against the RIGHTEOUS left flank which was already reeling from its losses. The NAUGHTY troops punched  hard and pushed RIGHTEOUS units back.
Assault are improved by having supporting zones.

Subsequently the left flank RIGHTEOUS general got killed whilst fighting.
Rare,  but it does happen.

Morale for the RIGHTEOUS army caused a big pause in action.
Morale is a bunch of D6 based on 6 criteria. Very easy to memorise,

The RIGHTEOUS reinforcements turned up about a third of the way through the game.
They did help steady the line, but the sun was going down on the RIGHTEOUS army.

The RIGHTEOUS army re gathered its pike units and formed a defence.   This got smacked in the face and driven from the table.
Re gathering a line is difficult because moving unit sideways needs D6 score successes.


This might all sound terrible, but the RIGHTEOUS army only lost about 3 compete units. the NAUGHTY army lost a few bases.

Victory criteria include, bases killed, zones taken (different zones have different values) and various compensations.

The game was not a massacre because the NAUGHTY army did not take the full ground.
This caused the game to be a "good win" for the NAUGHTY army.
Of course, they did not deserve it as our cause was just (ie the want of power, land and money).

From arrival to bye bye took 2.5 hours including a nice tea break..
Typical game = 9 or 10 turns.

CK allows players a full part in the game from dot to end.
Players choose their scenery , battle tactics (allowed army gifts), army etc.
In CK there is no alpha player (some gamers prefer an alpha player game , and some don't) making all the decisions about scenario, scenery, army, objectives et al.
CK concentrates on the player being a general and not as a unit captain. e.g the player has no input into unit formations and positioning.

CK joins a whole pantheon of gaming rules for the ancient period. People who like this sort of game will find this the sort of game they like.

martin

[Imperial Dave]

thanks Martin, a definite revisit for me re CK