Dawn of Battle 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:

    • 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)

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?

    • Hard Mounted 22” x 34” game board
    • Five sheets of die-cut counters
    • Two Player Aid Cards
    • 80 marker cubes in two colors (red and yellow)
    • Two decks of 72 cards
    • Rules Booklet
    • Scenario Booklet

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

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GAME HISTORY

Dawn of Battle is a ground-up redevelopment of my earlier game, Ancient Battles Deluxe, and will be published by Worthington Games sometime in 2020. Much of the "fiddliness" of the previous game has 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. Stay tuned!

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