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ANTS - The Future Of Wargaming?

By Gareth Thorne

Have you ever wondered about the world around your feet? Take ants for example. Which general wouldn't want an army like the ants. Fanatical, loyal, fearless these warriors will fight to the last ant even for a lost cause. They have an amazing logistical structure and work hard for the benefit of an all-powerful queen. Here is a short set of rules to allow the use of these small but dauntless amazons.

We have two main adversaries (ignoring all the sub species conflicts that arise) the ants and the termites. Ants are apparently evolved from wasps, and tend to eat whatever they can lay their antenna on, while termites are a form of social roach (like cockroaches) and are vegetarians.

I have divided these opponents down a bit further to give a playable mix.

TERMITES

Worker Squirter Warrior Jaws
Move 2 2 3 2
Carapace 1 1 2 3
Jaws 1 1 2 3
Squirt - 4/D - -
Hits 5/1 2/2 3/2 2/3

ANTS

Worker Squirter Warrior Jaws
Move 2 2 3 2
Carapace 1 2 2 3
Jaws 1 2 3 4
Squirt - 2/A - -
Hits 5/1 2/2 3/2 2/3

Terms

Worker is the general dogs body of the nest, Squirter is the acid or other nasty chemical spraying variant, Warrior is the most numerous of the fighter classes and Jaws is the biggest and meanest of the lot (the downside is this one cannot feed itself and relies on its sister workers to prevent it from starving).

Move This is how far the insect can move.
Carapace This is how heavy the insects armour is.
Jaws This is the insects melee ability.
Squirt If the insect has a ranged attack.
Hits How many insects make up a base, and how much damage each insect can take. The number of insects is also the amount of attack dice that are rolled. (Influences of the Great Game here I fear.)

Combat Charts

(No game is complete without a plethora of combat charts and tables so here are mine)

Melee Save
d6 result d6 result
Rating 1 Hit 2 Hits 1 Hit
1 6 - 6
2 5 6 5,6
3 4,5 6 4,5,6
4 3,4 5,6 N/A

Notes: Dice used are d6. Armour saves can only stop one hit. If a save is made against a two hit attack only one hit is saved.

Ranged combat is different depending if it is a direct (D) or area (A) attack.

A direct attack will cause one hit on a 4 or 5 and two hits on a 6. An area attack will cause one hit to each insect base on a 5 or 6, and will cause one hit to any other insects within 1 move on a 6. When rolling an area attack roll once per attacker per defender. i.e. if an ant squirter base with two ants attacks a termite worker base with 5 termites, roll 5 dice, roll any saves against hits, and then roll again to hit the remaining termites. Please note that only 1 kill can be inflicted per hit in ranged attacks, but more than one kill can be caused by melee attacks. (I know that this does not read very well, but then neither does DBM and they have had several attempts at that.)

Notes. Insects can always turn to face an attacker unless in contact from the front. Insects in melee can only attack to the front. Range attacks have a 360 degree fire arc.

Turn Sequence

1. Termites Move
2. Termites Squirt
3. Ants Move
4. Ants Squirt
5. Melee (simultaneous)

Example

1 base of termite workers fights 1 base of ant jaws. The termites roll 5 dice and only score one hit. The ants save against this and roll a 4 and 5 for their attacks. This causes 3 hits, but the termites only get 2 saving throws. They fail both of these, so three workers are dead. Next round only 2 workers fight against the 2 jaws. Combat continues until all of one side are destroyed.

Ambush!!

A colony of termites has been under attack from ants. The ants have already breached the larvae chambers once, so the termites are moving the royal young to protect them. The termites must get off the opposite edge of the board with 60% of their young to win, if less than 40% the ants have won. Only workers can carry young, and may not fight at the same time. Each base can carry 5 young, one per worker.

The termites have 10 bases of workers, 5 bases of squirters, 5 bases of jaws and 8 bases of warriors. They have 30 young to save.

The ants have 4 bases of workers, 4 bases of squirters, 4 bases of jaws and 8 bases of warriors.

Termites with young may not move within one move of a ant, and must move further away from the ants if they start the turn within one move. The action takes place on an 8' x 4' table. Moves are 6", Bases sizes are 3" x 3". The ants can start from either length edge, but must be marked on a map prior to the game. Young have no attacks, only 1 hit and no armour.

COUNTERS

Click Here for counters

To get a better playing experience these should be stuck onto thin card (cereal packets) to give them some weight and stop them flying away at the slightest breeze. For those you with young children you can keep them busy for hours by telling them you have got them a new colouring game.

If you want the ultimate in realistic scale models, I suggest that you cut flypaper into postage stamp size pieces, go into the garden with a stick or length of wire and stir up an ant's nest. One quick coat of spray varnish later and you have 1:1 scale armies. Flypaper also attracts grit and sand so basing isn't a problem either.