For some months I’ve been working on my own Fantasy rulebook and setting designed ideally for mass battles.

Over the coming weeks I’ll be using this series to explore the development of the setting, factions, mechanics, and themes behind the game. Some articles will dive into rules and battlefield systems. Others will focus entirely on lore, cultures, or narrative concepts.

Previous Articles

• Orders & Omens: A World in Balance
• Orders & Omens: The Orcs
• Orders & Omens: The Stone-Kin
• Orders & Omens: Humanity and the Faith of Memory
• Orders & Omens: Why Fantasy Battles Feel Too Perfect
• Orders & Omens: The Elves
• Orders & Omens: Reconnaissance and the Shape of Battle

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One of the biggest issues I have with wargames set either in a historical or fantasy context is communication, or rather the lack of it.

In most wargames, the player acts as an all-seeing intelligence sitting above the battlefield. You can instantly redirect your cavalry on the far flank, halt an advance in the centre and order reserves up all at the same time.

Objectives Shape the Battle

At the start of the battle, players agree on the number and placement of objectives. These objectives should make narrative sense within the battlefield such as a bridge crossing, a crossroads, a hill, a settlement or a woodland pass.

They should represent the key terrain that real commanders would care about. Once placed, each objectice is assigned a number.

The commander may know what should happen, but that doesn’t mean it will.

Strategic Orders

At the start of each turn, the Marshal may attempt to issue up to three Strategic Orders to their subordinates.

At the beginning of the battle no Brigade begins with any Strategic Orders. Orders must be issued and delivered, and each Strategic Order assigns a Brigade to an objective, this is represented by placing a dice beside the Brigade,. The number on the dice indicates the objective the order applies to. For example a dice showing 3, would mean Objective 3.

Battlefield Messengers

The orders are not delivered instantly, they travel via messengers with each being represented by a miniature. These messengers move 15 inches during the Strategic Order Phase. Only when the messenger reaches the Brigade commander is the order received. Until then the Brigade continues with its current orders.

This does mean that the distance matters as a nearby Brigade can receive fresh orders quickly while a distant flank may take a turn or two to respond. That delay is intentional because the communication takes time.

Orders

A Brigade given an Order must capture or hold its assigned objective, to do so the Brigade must be within 6 inches of the objective and have no enemy units within 6 inches. If these conditions are met, the objective is controlled.

The player will then score 2 Victory Points. Brigades can still capture or hold objectives, but without the Strategic Order given by the Marshal, the player will score only 1 Victory Point per turn.

Orders Can Be Lost

Messengers are of course vulnerable, if an enemy unit moves into base contact with a messenger before the message is delivered, that messenger is considered killed or captured and the order is lost.

So fast cavalry can disrupt enemy communications, and a single intercepted messenger may prevent an entire Division from scoring a critical objective.

Command Under Pressure

And this is hopefully one of the mechanics that will make Orders & Omens different. You’ll need to be careful with your messengers and time their delivery to maximise your scoring

Next Week

We’ll look at Actions and Reactions.