Dawn of Battle: Designer's Edition is a hex-and-counter wargame allowing players to refight historical battles from roughly 1500 BCE to 1500 CE or 3000 years of combat. Players take the roles of the great commanders of history, including Xerxes, Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, Saladin, and William Wallace.

The game system is straight-forward and action-packed, as players depend upon the quality of their army’s leadership to provide activation points allowing them to maneuver their armies and strike against the enemy. The better an army’s command, the more flexibility it has to move, rally, and attack.

Also included are supplementary rules that cover free deployment in scenarios, barbarian charges, command control and impetuousity, elephant panic, and random events.

Each of the twenty included scenarios indicate the disposition of each army that engaged at that historical battle. Units include a variety of infantry types (including hoplites and the Macedonian phalanx), cavalry (including chariots and mounted archers), missile units (including slingers, longbows, and even early gunpowder weapons), and special units such as elephants and war wagons.

The game’s primary engine is comprised of an action deck used to determine command, the randomly determined outcomes of actions, and melee combat. Additionally, action cards provide special effects that players can use to enhance their units’ abilities as well as the narrative of the gaming experience. The action deck provides a unique means of resolving a battle in an experience that will never be duplicated.

The individual battles included with Dawn of Battle include:

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• Megiddo, 1457 BCE (Egpytians vs Canaanites)

• Che, 717 BCE (Yen vs Cheng)

• Marathon, 490 BCE (Greeks vs Persians)

• Gaugamela, 331 BCE (Macedonia vs Persia)

• Ipsus, 301 BCE (Antigonids vs Seleucids)

• Heraclea, 280 BCE (Epirus vs Rome)

• Lake Trasimeno, 217 BCE (Carthaginians vs Romans)

• Raphia, 217 BCE (Seleucids vs Egypt)

• Illipa, 206 BCE (Rome vs Carthage)

• Zama, 202 BCE (Carthage vs Rome)

• Sabis River, 57 BCE (Barbarians vs Romans)

• Pharsalus, 48 BCE (Populares vs Optimates)

• Hastings, 1066 CE (Normans vs English)

• Dyrrhachium, 1081 CE (Normans vs Byzantines)

• Fornham, 1173 CE (English Rebels vs Royalists)

• Bouvines, 1214 CE (France vs Holy Roman Empire)

• Kalka River, 1223 CE (Mongols vs Russians)

• Crêçy, 1346 CE (France vs England)

• Poitiers, 1356 CE (France vs England)

• Aljubarrota, 1386 CE (Portugal vs Castille)

In addition to these battles, a guideline on how to create your own scenarios is included. The Dawn of Battle design team is also working hard to make scores of additional scenarios available in future expansions.

WHAT’S IN THE BOX?
 

• Rule Book (1, 28 pages)

• Playbook (1, 44 pages)

• Player Aid Cards (2, double-sided)

• Paper Map Board (1, 34” by 22”)

• Action Decks (2, 72 poker-sized cards each)

• Counter Sheets (4, 594 double-sided units and markers)

• Terrain Tile Sheets (4, 120 double-sided tiles)

Now, YOU can determine the outcome of virtually any engagement from the Dawn of Battle!

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GAME HISTORY

 

The Dawn of Battle system is a ground-up redevelopment of my earlier game, Ancient Battles Deluxe, which was published by Worthington Games sometime in 2021. This updated Designer's Edition expands the version published by Worthington Games by including the long-awaited terrain tiles. Much of the "fiddliness" of the previous games have been addressed in this new design, making play much smoother and requiring little to no rules referencing. Unlike the Ancient Battles Deluxe, Dawn of Battle is modular out of the box, allowing for easily customizable scenario design and play. Although there are "only" twenty scenarios included in the base game, a full one-hundred have been created and will become available through future expansions that will add not only terrain, but also double-map, "epic" play.

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EXPANSION PACK #1​

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The first expansion pack includes the 20 scenarios that were included in the original Worthington edition of the game, but updated with errata and enhanced historical notes.

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• Muye, 1027 BCE (Zhou vs Shang)

• Qarqar, 853 BCE (Assyria vs Damascus)

• Pelusium, 525 BCE (Persia vs Egypt)

• Cunaxa, 401 BCE (Rebels vs Achaemenid Persians)

• Adrianople, 378 BCE (Rome vs Visigoths)

• Crocus Field, 371 BCE (Macedon vs Phocis)

• Leuctra, 371 BCE (Thebes vs Sparta)

• Asculum, 279 BCE (Epirus vs Rome)

• Magnesia, 190 BCE (Seleucids vs Rome)

• Vosges, 53 BCE (Rome vs Gaul)

• Thapsus, 46 BCE (Rome vs Rome)

• Ad Deciumum, 533 CE (Byzantium vs Vandals)

• Volturnus, 554 CE (Franks vs Byzantium)

• Ashdown, 871 CE (Wessex vs Vikings)

• Clontarf, 1014 CE (Vikings vs Irish)

• Manzikert, 1071 CE (Byzantium vs Turks)

• Dorylaeum, 1097 CE (Seljuk Turks vs Crusaders)

• Hattin, 1187 CE (Crusaders vs Ayyubid Sultinate)

• Leignica, 1221 CE (Silesia vs Mongols)

• Falkirk, 1298 CE (English vs Scotland)

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EXPANSION PACK #2

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The second expansion pack includes 20 more scenarios.

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• Thymbra, 547 BCE (Lydia vs Persia)

• Plataea, 479 BCE (Allied Greeds vs Persians)

• Issus, 333 BCE (Macedonians vs Persians)

• Hydaspes, 326 BCE (Macedonia vs India)

• Hellespontine Phrygia, 321 BCE (Successors vs Successors)

• Trebia, 218 BCE (Rome vs Carthage)

• Cannae, 216 BCE (Carthage vs Rome)

• 2nd Cynoscephalae, 197 BCE (Antigonids vs Romans)

• Pydna, 168 BCE (Antigonids vs Romans)

• Carrhae, 53 BCE (Parthia vs Rome)

• Idistaviso, 16 CE (Germans vs Rome)

• Cibalae, 315 CE (Byzantium vs Rome)

• Catalaunian Plain, 451 CE (Rome vs Huns)

• Lechfeld, 955 CE (Magyars vs Holy Roman Empire)

• Harran, 1104 CE (Seljuk Turks vs Crusaders)

• Montgisard, 1177 CE (Crusaders vs Ayyubid Sultanate)

• The Indus, 1221 CE (Kwarazimids vs Mongols)

• La Forbie, 1244 CE (Khwarezmians vs Crusaders)

• Kutna Hora (Day 1), 1421 CE (Holy Roman Empire vs Taborites)

• Kutna Hora (Day 2), 1421 CE (Holy Roman Empire vs Taborites)

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EXPANSION PACK #3 (still subject to change, but not likely)

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The third expansion pack includes 20 more scenarios.

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• Kadesh, 1258 BCE (Hittites vs Egypt)

• Yen-Ling, 575 BCE (Chin vs Ch'u)

• Mycale, 479 BCE (Allied Greeks vs Persians)

• 2nd Mantinea, 362 BCE (Thebes vs Sparta)

• Chaeronea, 338 BCE (Macedonia vs Thebes)

• The Granicus, 334 BCE (Macedonia vs Persia)

• Beneventum, 275 BCE (Epirus vs Rome)

• Sentinum, 295 BCE (Rome vs Samnites)

• Munda, 45 BCE (Caesar vs Pompey)

• Philippi, 42 BCE (Optmates vs Triumvirs)

• Watling Street, 60 CE (Iceni vs Rome)

• Argentoratum, 357 CE (Allemani vs Rome)

• Tours, 732 CE (Umayyads vs Franks)

• Legnano, 1176 CE (Holy Roman Empire vs Lombards)

• Arsuf, 1191 CE (Ayyubid Sultanate vs Crusaders)

• Bannockburn, 1314 CE (England vs Scotland)

• Agincourt, 1405 CE (England vs France)

• Habry, 1422 CE (Taborites vs Holy Roman Empire)

• Formigny, 1450 CE (England vs France)

• Brunkeberg, 1471 CE (Denmark vs Sweden)

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