Wargame Mechanics Index

Joust the Black Knight!

A 'great handful of dice' push-your-luck system where the only decision is how many dice to risk.

A two-minute jousting game for recruiting at public events. Each player rolls as many dice as he dares: green faces move the knight and leftover greens power the attack on a melee table, while red faces trigger mishaps; three passes are scored for broken lances and dismounts.

Get it from the Wargame Library Open in the index

Mechanics 5 · 1 distinctive

Resolution Engine

3engine
Great handfuls of dice (GHOD)Push-your-luck dice handful

Players choose how many dice to roll; more dice give more successes but also more mishaps.

How it works

Dice have one green (6), one red (1) and four yellow faces. Greens count as successes for movement and attack; reds index an 'Opps!' mishap table (drop weapon, fall, wound your own horse, up to killing yourself on 12).

Joust is a great hand-fulls of dice game (GHOD) that allows the players to roll as many dice as they wish each turn.
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1engine
Movement / Melee / Opps! / Recovery tablesTable-driven resolution

Counts of greens or reds are looked up on 1-12 tables for attack effects, mishaps and recovery.

How it works

Melee: 1-2 break lance (1 pt), 3 break shield (2 pts), 4 break helm (3 pts), up to 10 mortal wound, 11 kill, 12 capture. Recovery offers rally results (stand up, unstun, rearm, bind wound) against 'opps' results escalating to rout and surrender.

12 stands capture opponent kill yourself
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Damage & Attrition

1dmg
Stun, wound, dismountIndividual wounds & injury

Knights can be stunned, wounded, dismounted or disarmed and must roll to recover each state.

How it works

States such as stunned, fallen, disarmed and wounded each require a matching recovery result (unstun, stand up, rearm, bind wound) before the knight can fight on; recovery rolls risk foolish or cowardly results.

Once down one could roll to rally, but risk running away.
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Movement & Manoeuvre

2move
Movement by greensRandom movement distance

Each green rolled moves the knight one stand length; surplus greens on reaching the foe go into the attack.

How it works

Knights start opposite each other; each green moves about an inch. Leftover greens on contact are read on the melee table, then the other knight attacks and they pass.

For each green (six) rolled the knight moves forward one stand length (about one inch). If when he reaches his opponent, he has left over greens, they are used in his attack.
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Scenario, Campaign & Victory

1scen
Joust scoringObjectives & victory points

Points for broken lances, shields and helms and for dismounts are totalled over three passes.

How it works

Each game is three passes; scores are added and the winner declared.

Points would be scored for breaking lances and dismounting men. Three passes would be made per game
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