Medici
TITLE: Medici
AUTHOR: Jim Sheets and Carl Smith
PUBLISHER: Adversary Games, Jacksonville, Fla
PUBLICATION DATE: 1981
WEB SITE/SUPPORT FORUM: None
PRICE (with date): $4.50 (1981)
REVIEWED BY: Mark "Extra Crispy" Severin
PERIOD COVERED:
Medici covers the entire Renaissance, including the Thirty Years War, the English Civil War and the Italian Wars.
THE BOOK:
Medici is a typical rulebook for its era. Simple photocopy interior in a card stock cover, entirely black & white. Layout is crude by 2026 standards, but legible. There are no diagrams and only a few charts. It runs a scant 39 pages which includes army lists.
BASING:
Medici is designed for 25mm figures based on 3" wide by 1" deep stands. Cavalry are on 3x2" stands, Artillery are 3x2 or 3x3" for heavy guns.
ARMY SIZE:
Unknown. There is no given definition of what a "stand" is nor how many make up a unit that I can find.
BASE UNIT:
There is no given unit type other than "unit." Each unit moves and must have a commander. So I'm guessing it is a battalion or regiment sized unit (?).
GAME SCALES:
Ground Scale: None listed. Pistols fire 12", Longbows 21 inches, heavy guns 48". Time Scale: None listed. Light foot move 15", Armored foot move 6", Armored cavalry 12" per turn.
TURN SEQUENCE:
The turn has three phases firing, simultaneous moving, and melee. Play is alternated firing and melee phases so Player A fires then Player B fires, etc.
MOVEMENT: Movement is simultaneous and uses a written order system. There is a 5 minute limit for carrying out turns. In order for a unit to move the player rolls against the unit commander's skill level. If the roll exceeds the commander's skill, the unit remains stationary. Certain unit types may move half, fire, then move half again.
There are three formations - line, open, and column. Various terrain can only be entered/crossed in open order, and formation changes take a half move or more to complete. Additionally terrain may slow movement as well.
FIRING: During a turn each missile unit may perform three actions - fire, load or move. Fire is by stand and uses percentile dice. Cross indexing the firer with the target's armor yields a basic "to hit" number. You must roll equal to or less than this to score a hit. Soft cover reduces casualties by 25%, hard cover by 50%.
MELEE:
Upon charging in to contact the attacker takes a morale check. The target to roll is modified by the difference between the two units' morale levels. Thus a unit with a morale of 70 attacking a unit with a morale of 50 must roll a 70 + 20 = 90 or less. If they fail the morale roll, they stand fast.
Resolving melee works like shooting - cross index weapon type with target armor. This may be adjusted up or down for various factors (foot versus mounted are -10%). This is your target to hit number. Combat is by stand.
MORALE: Morale is a d100 base with low rolls being good. Units must roll under their morale, modified for leaders, fleeing nearby friends, casualties, etc.
The rules also include a detailed section on siege warfare.
ARMY LISTS/SCENARIOS:
The book contains a good number of army lists for most of the Renaissance period, as well as a basic "points" system for designing scenarios.
REVIEWER’S COMMENTS:
Upon two close reads these rules are simply unplayable as written. There is no way to know how many men are in a unit, or how to actually calculate casualties. Does a hit kill a stand? A figure? Something else? At one point the post melee morale has a -1% modifier for every man killed. What?
PLAYER’S COMMENTS:
Not played.
