How Optio works (in brief)

Here's an overview of Optio I've already posted on TMP but thought worthwhile reposting here. I'm busy working on a battle report that explains many of Optio's mechanisms but it's taking longer than expected. It'll appear in a couple of days.

This is really brief because there are too many rulesets and people have busy lives, and those who don’t are retired and welded to their old favourite rulesets anyway.*

*Edit: on reflection this is probably rude and inaccurate. Consider it unsaid.

So...

• ARMY ORGANISATION
• COMMAND AND CONTROL
• MOVEMENT
• COMBAT
• VICTORY CONDITIONS (this is especially short)

ARMY ORGANISATION

The battlefield has a square grid, with square measuring about 10x10cm. Stands are grouped into units and one unit occupies one square. There can be one or more stands in a unit - usual number is 2 or 4. Each unit has a counter base placed behind the stands. On the counter base there is a morale counter on the left, an order/disorder counter in the middle and a shooting counter on the right.

Morale counter

Units have a certain number of morale intervals, depending on the unit. Morale intervals divide into firm and shaken - shaken intervals inflict a minus modifier on the unit in combat. Combat results in a unit losing morale until it routs.

Order/disorder counter

A few things disorder a unit, at which point the order/disorder counter is flipped over from the green to the red side. Depending on the nature of the unit, order is restored back to green quickly or more slowly.

Shooting counter
This records shooting hits. The counter is rotates as hits are received. Each time it passes through the red triangle the unit loses one morale interval. The shooting counter also has a background colour that indicates which command that unit belongs to.

COMMAND AND CONTROL

Each army has one general and several commanders. These can be represented by individual figures

or long counters like this:

For a unit to be in command, it must be part of a battleline or battle column in which one of the units has a general or commander. Each general or commander has his own command indicated by the colour of the shooting counters on units - he can put only those units into command. Like this:

If a unit is not part of a battleline or battle column it is out of command and moves very slowly.

The general and commander has no command range: They must physically be part of a battleline or battle column to put the units into command. There’s more to it than that - there’s a simplified orders system for commanders for example - but that’s enough to go with for now.

MOVEMENT

Simple movement

Units can move one, two or three squares per turn. One for slow types like heavy infantry, two for light infantry, elephants and the like, and three for mounted units. Movement can be straight ahead or diagonally - a diagonal move counts as one square movement. A line can move diagonally once in a turn, a column any number of times. Units may also rotate 90 degrees, but that disorders every class of unit. You don’t do it unless you have to.

Manoeuvres

In addition to simple movement, a unit may perform one manoeuvre per turn. There are three kinds of manoeuvre:

Forming column from a line

Forming line from a column

Rotating 180 degrees

A word about columns: a column may turn 90 degrees any number of times without incurring disorder and at no movement cost, and a column may move twice in a turn, as near to enemy units as the player pleases. However columns cannot charge and do very badly if charged, so they need to be used with caution.

COMBAT

Shooting

Shooting units of both players may shoot once at any time during each player’s move (so twice in a turn). There is no separate shooting phase. Turn sequence BTW is:

1. Player A moves all his units and executes charges. Both players shoot.
2. Player B does likewise. Both players shoot.
3. Disordered units restore order (this can take several turns to complete).
4. Units in contact with enemy units execute melee combat at the end of the turn

4 shooting hits inflict the loss of one morale interval. Generally, skirmisher types inflict one shooting hit on armoured targets and 2 on unarmoured, whilst massed shooters like archers inflict 2 shooting hits on armoured targets and 3 on unarmoured targets. Shooting ranges vary from the adjacent square in front of javelineers to 4 squares for heavy artillery. The usual things like trees block line of sight.

Charging

When a unit charges another unit it moves to overlap that unit’s square and contacts it, like this:

Charge combat resolution is deterministic. Unit A scores so many hits against unit B that scores so many hits back against unit A. The number of hits a unit can inflict are indicated on a combat table that is army specific. There are a few modifiers, e.g. terrain, disorder, shaken morale, etc.

I have a master combat table with something like 34 troop types and counting. It’s a table in InDesign so if I need a combat table for two specific armies I just delete the unwanted troops types and print out what’s left. This BTW eliminates about 80% of the modifiers found in other rulesets.

To resolve charge combat just subtract the lesser number from the greater and inflict that many morale step losses on the loser. If charge combat is a draw nothing happens. Generals or commanders can be a tie breaker by inflicting an extra combat hit. In the case of both units having a general or commander, the general with the greater combat rating inflicts the extra combat hit. If both have the same combat rating then - you guessed it - nothing happens.

Melee

Melee combat happens at the end of the turn and is like charge combat except that in the case of a draw both units lose one morale. This means that a unit with a superior morale rating - e.g. it has 5 morale intervals and its opponent has 4 - will ultimately win melee even if both units inflict the same number of hits on each other.

In melee, generals and commanders are not tie-breakers, but they can enable one shaken morale interval to be treated as firm, nullifying the minus modifier for being shaken.

VICTORY

Units are rated resolute, average or brittle. if a third of an army’s stands (not units) are routed all the brittle units immediately rout. If half of the stands are routed the average units immediately rout, and if two-thirds an army’s stands are routed the resolute units immediately rout and it’s game over. The loss of generals and commanders are equivalent to as many lost stands as the number in their red box. So if an army has 20 stands and 7 are lost plus a general worth 3 stands then that counts as half the army and the average units all rout.

When a unit routs, adjacent (including diagonally adjacent) enemy units may have their morale boosted by one interval. This puts them ahead in the demoralisation race, so it’s important to rout enemy units as quickly as possible.

And that, for the essentials, is it.

Edit: Rob below asked whether there are more than 4 intervals for the morale counter. Some counters have intervals on both sides for a total of 7 (plus one for the rout). Here are the counters from worst to best, plus both sides of the disorder counter. All counters rotate counterclockwise BTW.