Home Forums General General Argad rules updated – a mix of RPG and miniature skirmish

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  • #134851
    Avatar photoPatrice
    Participant

    Hi all,

    In February I had been working on updates and a better explanation of Argad rules in French.
    And… with all the fearful events and confinement these weeks I found I had time to translate it in English too!

    The rules were first published in 1996 as a very simple skirmish system. Their RPG potential was not fully apparent then, and only since a few years has it been better explored (thanks to a small bunch of enthusiastic players and game masters).

    Some people did seem interested or intrigued by game AARs posted on forums and asked for a new version in English but the few documents online were outdated. And experience has shown it was necessary to state clearly what these rules are about and what they are not. The new PDF (48 pages) explains the basic system, answers a number of issues which caused problems (and is loaded with many peculiar cases which don’t happen often) and a large part is devoted to suggestions and ideas for the RPG dimension which is the main interest and purpose of the rules.

    Reference sheets for some historical periods have been updated too.

    It’s there and it’s free:
    http://www.argad-bzh.fr/argad/en.html

    It is not a professional translation, I apologise for awkward wording and syntax.

    http://www.argad-bzh.fr/argad/en.html
    https://www.anargader.net/

    #134853
    Avatar photoMike
    Keymaster

    Thanks dude, I have enjoyed reading your game posts here so will give this a look.

    #134857
    Avatar photoDarkest Star Games
    Participant

    Oooo yes, I am definitely interested in this!  Thank you for your work!

    Question: would you use the mid 16th Cen PDF for Samurai?

    "I saw this in a cartoon once, but I'm pretty sure I can do it..."

    #134858
    Avatar photoPatrice
    Participant

    Oooo yes, I am definitely interested in this! Thank you for your work! Question: would you use the mid 16th Cen PDF for Samurai?

    Hi,

    For Sengoku Samurai context there is a PDF in French, not yet translated: http://www.argad-bzh.fr/argad/pdfs/fiche-fr-japon-sengoku.pdf which has been adapted with experience of the games (and could still be perfected), at first it was based on our medieval rules re-written (in French) in 2016 (not much different from the 2020 generic rules, now they are all the same). If compared to Europe, Sengoku Samurai period is perhaps closer to medieval fightings than to 16th C.

    Also the GM who organises our Samurai games has devised his own system for Japanese characters competences, a bit more detailed than the official rules, I hope he will be willing to accept a translation if you need one.

    http://www.argad-bzh.fr/argad/en.html
    https://www.anargader.net/

    #134885
    Avatar photoDarryl Smith
    Participant

    I do hope you offer English versions of the Samurai offerings!

    Buckeye Six Actual
    https://ambushedinthealley.blogspot.com/
    http://foragecaps.blogspot.com/
    http://germancolonialgaming.blogspot.com/

    #134923
    Avatar photoPatrice
    Participant

    would you use the mid 16th Cen PDF for Samurai?

    I do hope you offer English versions of the Samurai offerings!

    It is one of the next things to be done… I hope to finish it soon…. That, and details of the generic rule for cavalry, and another document to complete the Dark Ages PDFs… The privateers & pirates extension will wait a bit…

    http://www.argad-bzh.fr/argad/en.html
    https://www.anargader.net/

    #134928
    Avatar photoDarkest Star Games
    Participant

    It is one of the next things to be done…

      Thank you Patrice!  I’ll start building a collection now, as I’ve always wanted to get into that era of gaming.  I have long watched your games and they are awe inspiring.  Thank you and your group for all of the work.

    "I saw this in a cartoon once, but I'm pretty sure I can do it..."

    #134963
    Avatar photoPatrice
    Participant

    Oh and I didn’t mention that the very basic core of the rules can be easily adapted for simple games with children…

    Give a handful of warriors on foot armed with swords and/or spears or bows to each player, forget other weapons.
    Shooting table as usual for bows: 5-6 to hit at 0-20 cm, 6 to hit at 20-40 cm, do not use 40-60 cm range;
    –1 to die roll for archer moving, –1 if target somewhat protected by terrain, –1 at chain mail or breastplate;
    allow foot archers to shoot in movement;
    archers cannot shoot and strike in melee in the same game turn.
    Melee as usual: hit if die roll exceeds class and also exceeds armour, recoil if die roll equals class (or higher than class but not than armour), missed if smaller than class.
    Movement can be limited to 10 cm for everyone for a small or medium-sized gaming table.
    Roll one D6 for each shot or each strike in melee,
    Average soldier = “class 3”
    Elite soldier = “class 4”
    Player character = “class 5” and can survive one wound.
    Chain mail or breastplate = “armour 4”.
    Ignore everything else, and it will not be very RPG nor will it allow big strategy… but it works.
    Add more ingredients later if wished.
    And “the game organiser is always right” whatever the rules say …because it is written in the rules.

    http://www.argad-bzh.fr/argad/en.html
    https://www.anargader.net/

    #135392
    Avatar photoPatrice
    Participant

    The Sengoku Japan reference sheet now is online, on the same page: http://www.argad-bzh.fr/argad/en.html

    I have joined some explanations, suggestions and ideas we had in our games. And, as usual with these rules, the GMs or game organisers can adapt them as they wish for their own games.

    Rules improvements about this period and context (which I personally didn’t know much…) would not have been possible without the wonderful scenarios and scratch-building works of Nicolas “Euthanasor” http://euthanasor-wargamesetmodelisme.blogspot.com/search/label/Samurai

    BTW I also corrected a few typos (nothing important) in the generic rules.

    http://www.argad-bzh.fr/argad/en.html
    https://www.anargader.net/

    #135454
    Avatar photoDarkest Star Games
    Participant

    Thanks Patrice!

    "I saw this in a cartoon once, but I'm pretty sure I can do it..."

    #135457
    Avatar photoMike
    Keymaster

    Appreciated.

    #135472
    Avatar photoPatrice
    Participant

    Ask questions if needed.

    Oh and did you notice these two short videos made by another player in our games (and I was not the GM),

    Sengoku Japan three years ago:

    https://drive.google.com/file/d/1MzjAqkUyhsqfD2h1IrDZYO0vWvdyjT9Q/view

    and Old West last year:

    https://drive.google.com/file/d/105arZyRfygW2QJHm9WnTSA5-jTmKmyEg/view

    Nothing extraordinary but he was able to show the overall feeling of the games in these short videos.

    And, funny enough, during these games nobody noticed this player was filming, we thought he was just taking a few pictures. 😉

    http://www.argad-bzh.fr/argad/en.html
    https://www.anargader.net/

    #137270
    Avatar photoPatrice
    Participant

    Hi,

    The 2020 Argad generic rules has only one page devoted to cavalry. A new 8-pages document is now online, it contains explanations, suggestions and examples about cavalry and mounted troops:
    http://www.argad-bzh.fr/argad/pdfs/argad-en-cavalry.pdf

    Some links to a few 1/72 AARs have also been added on the website.
    http://www.argad-bzh.fr/argad/en.html

    http://www.argad-bzh.fr/argad/en.html
    https://www.anargader.net/

    #147070
    Avatar photoPatrice
    Participant

    Hi again,

    Tables for (almost) all flintlock weapons of the 18th and early 19th century have been added to the Argad ruleset website:
    http://www.argad-bzh.fr/argad/pdfs/firearms-en-18th-Napo.pdf

    Everything else is still on the main page:
    http://www.argad-bzh.fr/argad/en.html

    We are currently working on a more detailed extension for pirate games, and also (as promised) on details and historical abilities for regular (very) small units in the late 18th and early 19th C. depending on their formation and training, etc. 🙂

    http://www.argad-bzh.fr/argad/en.html
    https://www.anargader.net/

    #147073
    Avatar photoian pillay
    Participant

    Ignore everything else, and it will not be very RPG nor will it allow big strategy… but it works.

    Don’t know anything about these rules so I will find out more. I think the lite version would work really nicely especially for the younger gamers. Excellent work. Thank you for sharing.

    Ian

    Tally-Ho! Check out my blog at…..
    http://steelcitywargaming.wordpress.com/

    #147075
    Avatar photoJim Jackaman
    Participant

    Excellent!

    Thank you for your hard work.

    #147172
    Avatar photoPatrice
    Participant

    Thanks guys.

    In fact most of the work is trying to put together lots of ideas and bits of texts accumulated since the first edition of the rules in 1996 (…and not so long ago I was still researching for very old .cwk AppleWorks files in the depths of one of my old computers…)   and all the new ideas, additions, and resolution of unexpected problems, written (or, most often, not completely written) since a dozen years when the rules began to take a new dimension. And all those which appear now and again.

    Writing rules is a curse. Completing them is worse.

    http://www.argad-bzh.fr/argad/en.html
    https://www.anargader.net/

    #147253
    Avatar photoPhil Dutré
    Participant

    Nice rules!

    I gave them a little mention on my Wargaming Mechanics blog. I was especially enamoured by the use of animals as dummy markers for hidden troop movement.

    #147327
    Avatar photoPatrice
    Participant

    I was especially enamoured by the use of animals as dummy markers for hidden troop movement.

    Thanks Phil,

    Not sure if the idea is very original, we have been using it since a few years but I can’t remember who invented it or where it comes from.

    And sometimes it brings unexpected and funny results… In a game some years ago the only animal figures we had brought were …sheep. So in the first moves of the game, what could be seen was …sheep (instead of Viking invaders) advancing forward individually in a broad line, something real sheep never do!

    There was no watch post on the opposite side (in the scenario the defenders were not expecting an attack) but only a small group of children fishing at a river ford. When the children saw one of the sheep (and it was confirmed that this dummy represented enemy warriors) the children began to run towards the village. But the dummy was not yet replaced, as the village chief (player) could not know exactly what was there before the children reached the village to tell him. So the children were running across the wood and fields, apparently pursued by a sheep. Later, when we shared the pictures, a player remarked that these children would probably not become great warriors in the future if they were running away from a sheep…

    http://www.argad-bzh.fr/argad/en.html
    https://www.anargader.net/

    #157527
    Avatar photoPatrice
    Participant

    The 2020 Argad generic rules has only one page devoted to cavalry. A new 8-pages document is now online, it contains explanations, suggestions and examples about cavalry and mounted troops: http://www.argad-bzh.fr/argad/pdfs/argad-en-cavalry.pdf

    The generic cavalry supplement mentioned above (in May 2020) was a bit too dense and some details were not clearly explained. A new one (16 pages) is now online at the same address, it contains more useful examples, pictures, and ideas.

    Next works to be soon finished are a new document for Sengoku Japan including a table for arquebus units shooting in salvoes and some more suggestions (already online in French); and a reference sheet and extension for the FIW and AWI (the FIW reference sheet which had been online in the past having been withdrawn a few years ago as it was no longer coherent with newer updates of the rules).

    http://www.argad-bzh.fr/argad/en.html
    https://www.anargader.net/

    #158138
    Avatar photoPatrice
    Participant

    Hi,

    The Sengoku Japan reference sheet and extension for Argad (a mix of RPG and skirmish rules) has been updated (a translation from the most recent update in French).

    It now includes an optional table for arquebuses firing in salvoes, and more explanations, suggestions, and ideas (10 pages).

    http://www.argad-bzh.fr/argad/pdfs/sheet-en-japan-sengoku.pdf

    http://www.argad-bzh.fr/argad/en.html
    https://www.anargader.net/

    #158141
    Avatar photoMike
    Keymaster

    Cheers dude. Thanks for sharing.

    #158232
    Avatar photoPatrice
    Participant

    Thanks Mike.

    With the pandemic there were less game festivals and less games …so more time to exhume and to update many drafts of the rules which had not been finished since years…

    http://www.argad-bzh.fr/argad/en.html
    https://www.anargader.net/

    #165082
    Avatar photoPatrice
    Participant

    Hi,

    Two new complements for Argad ruleset have been translated into English:

    – “Archery Tables” (4 pages) a compilation of charts and rules for different sorts of bows and crossbows. These charts are otherwise scattered in different documents, having them together will help game organisers and GMs to have a better overview of the rules system.

    http://argad-bzh.fr/argad/pdfs/archery-tables-en.pdf

    – “Ogres & Ogresses” (4 pages) suggestions and reference sheets for these creatures. Since the first edition of Argad in 1996 all humanoids used only D6s in the fantasy games (as humans in the historical games) with too many modifiers, it was not very practical. Improvements using D4, D8, D10 etc. instead are being rewritten and tested, this is the first document about it. The rules are not linked to any peculiar fantasy world, these suggestions are for inspiration more than compulsory.

    http://argad-bzh.fr/argad/pdfs/ogres-en.pdf

    http://www.argad-bzh.fr/argad/en.html
    https://www.anargader.net/

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