Armies of the Iron League Part Three: Idee

So now that we have the source material to hand, and an understanding of how armies are constituted in Triumph!, we’re ready to start forming up some army lists.

I’m going to start with Idee, which is the most straightforward of the states of the Iron League. Going by the information in Dragon 57, we have the following “standard” proportions for the Ideean army:

1 heavy horse / 2 medium horse / 1 light horse (mercenary) / 3 regular infantry / 2 mercenary infantry / 3 infantry hillmen levies / 2 infantry levies

Now, we need to translate these troops into Triumph! troop types. The heavy horse is easy; those are Knights. Medium horse would be Elite Cavalry, and light horse would be Bad Horse.

Idee’s regular infantry would be Heavy Foot, while the mercenaries would be Elite Foot. The infantry hillman levies would be Light Foot, while the infantry levies would be Light Spear. I make this distinction because Light Foot does better in difficult terrain, which makes perfect sense for hillmen.

So now we’re ready to do an army list for Idee, following the format of the Meshwesh website. This will show the options for standard Triumph. For Grand Triumph, just multiply the number of stands by the number of main army commands.

Iron League Idee

CY 576-580

Invasion Rating 1

Maneuver Rating 2

Home Topography: arable, hilly

General’s troop type: Knights

Army Battle Cards: Fortified Camp

Required Troops

Troop TypesMinMaxBattle LineRestrictionsBattle Cards
Knights
Heavy horse
12AllSword fighting cavalry
Elite Cavalry
Medium horse
12All
Bad Horse
Mercenaries
02CY 579-580
Heavy Foot
Regular infantry
24All
Elite Foot
Mercenaries
02AllCY 579-580
Light Foot
Hillmen levies
36CY 579-580
Light Spear
Infantry levies
02CY 579-580

Optional Contingents: No optional contingents available

Ally Troop Options: Iron Hills Dwarves

Troop TypesMinMaxRestrictionBattle Cards
Warband12CY 579-580Dwarven Troops
Elite Foot12CY 579-580Dwarven Troops

Ally Troop Options: Irongate

Troop TypesMinMaxRestrictionBattle Cards
Archers
Armored Crossbowmen
12CY 578-579

Ally Troop Options: Onnwal

Troop TypesMinMaxRestrictionBattle Cards
Light Spear
Light Infantry
12CY 578-580

Enemies: Great Kingdom South Province, Great Kingdom See of Medegia, Great Kingdom, Scarlet Brotherhood

Now all that needs to be done is to create that “Dwarven Troops” battle card for the Iron Hills allies.

Battle Card (DRAFT)

DWARVEN TROOPS

Rules Change

When fighting against orcs, goblins, or hobgoblins, dwarven troops get an additional +1 combat factor. When resolving close combat, orcs, goblins, or hobgoblins need more than its opponent’s score plus 2 in order to force dwarven troops to fall back.

Timing

This rule is continuous; stands so marked may use the ability throughout the game without restriction.

Cost

None. This is a free army ability, so long as the other conditions are met.

(Idee heraldry by Anna B. Meyer)

Written by 

Wargamer and RPG'er since the 1970's, author of Adventures Dark and Deep, Castle of the Mad Archmage, and other things, and proprietor of the Greyhawk Grognard blog.

4 thoughts on “Armies of the Iron League Part Three: Idee

  1. Very interesting! I’m intrigued by the unit customization and battle cards. This is very appealing in its simplicity and flexibility.

    I’m curious how expandable this will be to allow for monster, battle magic, and of course “hero” actions. Will you be covering those topics in future articles, Joe?

    1. I’m hoping to go into some of the spells and monsters in a future post. That’ll be pretty math-heavy, though, to figure out just what needs to be shown in the game (i.e., what has an effect at an army level) and what can simply be factored into the army design itself. WGC is working on its own fantasy Triumph rules, and they say they’re including one-on-one actions, which will be interesting to see, but it might end up easier to just use D&D melee combat if leaders come into contact. But yes, I do intend to go more into that as the armies progress.

      1. Thanks for sharing those insights, Joe. “Out of the box” fantasy rules may be nice, too. But, I’m more interested in seeing your interpretations. In the past my group has used all the TSR rulesets you can think of for mass combat – chainmail, war machine, and even battle system. Each brought something different to the table in terms of scalability and fun. I like the idea that the Triumph ruleset could be used for everything from skirmish to full on kingdom v. kingdom battles. I look forward to future installments of your blog!

        1. Happy to, Mark! And I’ve got another post that should be ready to go tonight or tomorrow with some specifics of how I’m integrating magic with Triumph! that I think you’ll find interesting.

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