Cry Havoc!

Author: Lutz Pietschker
Version: 2023-01-03

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The Cry Havoc! Game Series

Contents:

• Introduction: Light up the Dark Ages!
• Cry Havoc: Abstract
• Cry Havoc Game Play
• The other Games of the Cry Havoc Series
  (the Norman Saga and Sherwood by Historic'One; the "classic" medieval series: Siege, Viking Raiders/Vikings, Outremer/Croisade, Samurai Blades/Samourai; the fantasy series: Dark Blades, Dragon Noir)
• Customer Information
• Cry Havoc Mapboards
• Cry Havoc Character Tables
• Playing Cry Havoc by Mail ,and Extended Rules:
  • Play by VASSAL (including setup files)
  • Play-by-Mail Rules
  • Mapboard Co-ordinates
  • Extended + Consolidated Rules
  • Advanced Rules by Tactical Workshop
• Picture collection (box covers, drawings, scenes)
• A Magazine Article about Cry Havoc (by me :-)
• Game Replay (Lady Edith's abduction + rescue) (36k)
• Who's Next?, a very silly game using Cry Havoc material
• Essential reading: The Cry Havoc Fan page & the Guiscard re-implementation (Guiscard auf deutsch)
• Mediaeval web links)
• The Gingell Files - Cry Havoc Cyberboxes and Scenarios
• The Yahoo Cry Havoc Discussion Group

Introduction: A Light Take on the Dark Ages

This could have been a nice day for Lady Blodwin and her companion Lady Edith to take a bath in the little pond, with the sun shining, the water warm and the birds singing. But mischief was at hand in form of Sir Richard who planned to take advantage of the situation if not of the women themselves. Galloping down the plain he came with his band of knaves, dismounted, and stomped down to the pool clumsily, with his armour a-jingling.
But the attack did not go unobserved: Sir Conrad, who had thrown an eye on Blodwin for some time now, smelled trouble and came thundering down from the village to prevent Sir Richard capturing the women. A shout, and Sergeant Llewellyn and his men came rushing down after him, ready to wreak havoc on the intruders.
Sir Richard is not one who slinks away from a fight, and so the opponents met crashing by the side of the pool, hacking away at each other, with the bowmen standing aside and trying to get an arrow in- preferably into an enemy.

Who will win the fight, and the hearts of the ladies, not to speak of any ransom that might be demanded after the skirmish?

Cry Havoc! is a "skirmishing game" staged in medieval times, sometime around the 13th century in Europe. It was first published in the early 1980s by Standard Games, UK, and is also published by Eurogames, France, since the mid-90's.
Highlights of the game are the excellent mapboards as well counter and box cover graphics, a decided focus on playability, and plenty of atmosphere. You may view a detail from the above scenario here (JPEG, 142 k) if you like.
The game is, in fact, the first of a series of similar games set in different regions and varying in time from the 10th to the 14th century as described below.

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Cry Havoc: Abstract

• Type: 2-player skirmishing game in a 13th century setting, with excellent play-by-mail and quite good solitary playing capabilities
• Publisher: Standard Games and Publications Ltd., UK, and Jeux Descartes Eurogames, France
• Complexity: Low to medium
• Scoring: Victory conditions are given in scenario descriptions, usually for killing or capturing opponents, or for control of some location.
• Map: 2 Map sheets 40x60 cm with 2.5-cm hex grid, 1 hex = 1.5-2.5 meters.
• Scale: One counter = one person or animal. One round equals ca. 5-15 sec. real time.
• Playing Time: 1 to 3 hours, and up
• Counters: 2 cm square, cardboard, showing characters in different states of health
• Rules: Rule booklet (13 pages), scenario and historical background booklets, player aid sheets with combat and terrain tables.

Other Resources:

• The Cry Havoc Fan pages in French, English, Spanish, Italian and German. Incredible! Loads of fan-developed additional material, consolidated rules ("Magna Carta"), and links to VASSAL and Cyberboard modules to play Cry Havoc online.
• The Yahoo Cry Havoc Internet Club
• The French club "Claymore-Normandie", publisher of the Claymore magazine and dedicated to Cry Havoc and other games of medieval warfare. In decline.

"Cry Havoc!" and its sequels "Siege", "Samurai Blades", "Outremer", "Viking Raiders" and "Dark Blades" have been originally published by Standard Games and Publications, Ltd., UK. Games and replacement parts are still available from them, but as far as I know Standard Games does not develop the game system any further.
Instead, the French company Jeux Descartes Eurogames has stepped in and re-published all the modules with rules in French language. They also added new modules and maps. From what I heard from Duccio Vitale, the game designer responsible for the Eurogames edition, it seems unlikely that further modules will be published. Even the announced "Dragon Noir" modules and the "Fortified Harbour" map set will probably never be released. This is due to some bad luck in the production process (some printing templates were destroyed by accident), but Eurogames also feels a lack of interest in the market.
Some of the modules have changed their names when re-published by Eurogames, but the contents (maps, counters) remain basically the same and are fully interchangeable. The rules have been generally given a complete overhaul by Eurogames.
If you want to compare the Standard Games and Eurogames editions: "Croisade" is the new name for "Outremer" (and it comes with a changed campaign map), "Viking Raiders" became "Vikings" (also with a changed map set, see below), "Samurai Blades" became "Samourai", and "Dark Blades" has been dropped and replaced by the "Dragon Noir" series. Unfortunately, Eurogames does not provide English rules for all the games of the series. To find out which rules are available in which language, check their price list or, better, ask in a well-stocked store (see customer information section).

Additional map sheets, counters and scenarios come with the sequel games and are also available separately, see below.

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Cry Havoc Game Play

The game scale is one-man-one-counter, though in fact each character is represented by more than one counter depending on his state of health and, for knights and other cavalry, whether he is mounted or dismounted. Playing pieces (18 mm square cardboard counters) show barons and knights, sergeants, spearmen and so on, down to poorly armed peasants and even civilians and their mules. Each character has a name and a nice illustration printed on the counter. This makes the playing experience very "personal" as you follow the fate of your knights and men-at-arms through the scenarios. The fact that the counters of killed men remain on the map also gives a distinctive feel to the game (if there are enough of them, they even hinder movement!).
One game turn represents about 10 seconds, one 25-mm map hex about 2 metres of terrain.

The mapboards are approximately 40 by 60 cm each and show a village and crossroads (with a small castle, a forest, a watering place, etc. added by other games of the series). These maps are excellent and printed on semi-laminated cardboard stock. They are not quite isomorphic, i.e. though most of them will fit to each other there are some edges that might show different terrain in adjacent half-hexes. This is especially true, of course, for the maps containing a coastline or a river.

The units are, as mentioned above, single persons of different social class. Each person has only 3 status values which are all printed on the counter, namely an attack strength, a defence strength, and a movement point allowance. These values correspond roughly to the equipment carried and armour worn. They also vary with the health status of the person. A wound approximately halves the values, while characters fall back to just a minimal defence strength while stunned. Combat results can have a person retreat, or reduce him to "stunned" (inactive) status for one round, or wound him, or kill. A second wound/stun result immediately kills. Cavalry have additional double-size counters showing the mounted state (healthy and wounded), the dismounted horse, and a dead horse. The fact that all stats are printed on the counter front and back eliminates any book-keeping. If a person is stunned the counter is just flipped on the back side. With each game some 50 to 150 characters are supplied.

The scenarios give a background story and victory conditions. Technically, they state which mapboards are used, the order of battle of both sides, and initial set-up. They are usually not limited to a certain number of game turns but demand control of a certain location or, more often and quite in line with the name of the game, the destruction of the enemy forces.
An average scenario usually can be played in 1 to 3 hours, though there are some bigger scenarios that can hardly be played in one day.
Scenarios include "Street Fight", "Peasant Revolt", "City Sack", "Burning the Camp", and Design-Your-Own rules. Sounds promising, doesn't it?

The game is played in strictly alternating player turns (a concept that allows to get by with a minimum of book-keeping and also makes for the excellent play-by-mail capability). Each player turn has a fixed sequence of action options like missile fire, movement, second fire of fast-loading missiles like bows and slings, combat, and possible retreats/advances.

Movement is governed by the in-hex and hexside terrain and is limited by the available movement points of the characters. In addition to normal movement options like leading animals, climbing ladders etc. are available.

Combat and missile fire are governed by tables. For combat, the relation of attack strength to defensive strength are calculated. The result points to a table column; it is then modified for terrain influences and other factors. You roll a 10-sided die, cross-index the roll with the table column, and get the result. Multiple attacking characters add their strengths if they do not wish to attack separately. For missile fire the table column used does not depend on strength values but on factors like weapon, range, and cover. Both tables come printed on a 20 by 30 cm player aid card that also gives a terrain overview and some additional data.

Even with a considerable number of characters on each side the game plays fast and smoothly. In turbulent skirmishes it is even sometimes hard to see at one glance which characters belong to which player since the counters have no faction marks, and even if you place them pointing to your home edge of the map players have been known to shoot at own troops in their excitement. As you can see, the game provides some realism even with the simple approach it takes!

Other action options are given in the subsequent games of the series, adding short rules sections as required. These range from transports like carts, wagons and ships to usage of special equipment like siege engines. Also, rules for night action and for swimming are given. Unfortunately, the rule set became ever less clear with each module and option, and there were also rules changes when Eurogames published their version. This is no real obstacle when playing face-to-face but can become a nuisance when playing by mail.

One last thing I'd like to mention is the compatibility of the material to role-playing and tabletop miniatures games. For example, you could use the maps as "overlays" to your tabletop to create a detailed landscape in no time at all. I found that especially the combination Hârnmaster - BattleLust - Cry Havoc connects very well (the first part of which is not surprising considering that BattleLust is a derivate of HârnMaster). For example, you could play a pitched battle using Cry Havoc rules and characters for mass combat of all not-so-interesting non-player characters, BattleLust tabletop rules for the more important NPCs, and the full HârnMaster rules for the player characters.

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Other Games of the Cry Havoc! Series

Based on the Cry Havoc! game system, and fully compatible with it, are its sequels:

• The Medieval Series:
  • Standalone Games Game (Historic'One):
    • Sherwood is an introductory game published in 2022 by Historic'One. Its ruleset is based on the Norman Saga; it has a set of simplified rules to make it accessible for audiences new to this kind of game and to younger players (10 years and up), add-on rules for advanced players and the full Norman Saga rules (as far as applicable) for experienced players. It lets you replay some adventures of Robin Hood and his band of outlaws against the Sheriff of Nottingham and his men in multiple skirmishes in Sherwood Forest or in the nearby village inn. Of course, Maid Marian also makes her graceful appearance.
      The game comes with 4 maps (the Inn, the Wood's Edge, the Gulch, the Forester's Cottage), 1 counter sheet, a counter tray and the usual booklet, reference sheets and 10-sided die. The maps have a reduced size compared to the standard maps: 28x40 cm = approx. A3, portrait orientation = full-height, half-width), and the box size is reduced accordingly (32x23.5x4.3 cm).
  • The Norman Saga (Historic'One):
    • Guiscard is a game published in 2013 by Historic'One (Buxeria, real name Hervé Tardy) to serve players who could not get hold of one of the out-of-print basic games. It is meant as an introductory base game and is set in the 11th century, when the Normans under Robert de Hauteville, nick-named Guiscard, carved out a small empire in southern Italy and Sicily. The game is also the first in the "Norman Saga" cycle of games that will be published by Historic'One and which will eventually update and consolidate almost all the rules from all the older games. The rules have been streamlined with the experience of decades of play and include simple siege rules. The maps and some overlays have been designed to combine in many ways to provide many options for scenarios, concentrating somewhat on coastal actions.
      This game has seen a second, updated version sold as Guiscard 2
    • Diex Aïe is the second game of the Norman cycle, published in 2014 by Historic'One. It is set in the time after the battle of Hastings, when Norman kings and nobles wrestled the rule of the land (and the land itself) from the hands of the Saxons. It comes with maps and overlays for a motte-and-bailey castle, a saxon hall and village and hill and river terrain just made for cavalry action and ambushes. It also comes with campaign rules and maps to play through a complete campaign that creates a series of tactical actions to be played on the detail maps. The campaign rules introduce mercenaries, supply and loyalty as new game elements.
      This game has seen a second, updated version sold as Diex Aïe 2
    • The Anarchy is the third game of the Norman cycle, published in 2015 by Historic'One. It is not a full game, but an expansion that is set in the civil war between king Stephen de Blois of England and empress Matilda of Anjou in mid-13th century. The maps show a Norman stone castle, a massive priory building and a creek with a plain, ideal for a field camp. The game concentrates on siege warfare and comes with overlays for big siege engines, hoardings and scaffolding. It also comes with campaign rules that are adapted to this game's focus on strongholds and sieges.
    • Ager Sanguinis is the fourth game of the Norman cycle, published in 2017 by Historic'One. "The Field of Blood" is the name of the battle lost by Roger of Antioch in 1119; it is set in Northern Syria in the 12th Century and simulates the fierce conflicts of the descendants of the Normans who followed Bohemond of Tarento, son of Robert Guiscard and founder of the principality of Antioch. The game includes the various factions at stake in this civilization showdown: Knights Hospitaller, Antiochian Normans, Armenians and Seljuk Turks. It comes with 3 tactical maps (Crusader Castle, Village of Outremer, Plateau), 1 campaign map, 4 sheets of counters (including) camels and naphta throwers), 1 sheet of overlays (army camp) and the usual booklets and reference sheets.
    • Montgisard (formerly announced as the Crac des Chevaliers ) is an extension to Ager Sanguinis, also published by Historic'One. Montgisard is the name of the battle won by Baldwin IV, the Leper King of Jerusalem, in 1177 against the Egyptian army of Saladin. This extension introduces new knight Templar counters as well as famous characters like Reynald de Chatillon, Balian of Ibelin and the Leper King himself. It comes with 5 tactical maps (a 2-part map of the Crac des Chevaliers, the Vaulted Ramp underground map for the Crac plus the Wadi and the Horn), 2 campaign maps, 3 sheets of counters and the usual booklets and reference sheets.
    • Mare Normannorum will be the fourth game of the Norman cycle, yet to be published by Historic'One. It will concentrate on naval rules.
    • Plantagenêts will be the sixth game of the Norman cycle, yet to be published by Historic'One. It will be set in the 12th century and will cover the wars between France and England at that time.
  • Siege plays in the same time frame as Cry Havoc!; it adds castle and camp maps and, as you would expect, siege engines and the appropriate techniques. You also get rules about kindling (and dousing) fires.
  • Viking Raiders (Eurogames Title: Vikings) goes back in time to the age of the great Viking raids on European coasts (8th to 11th century). It comes with 1 sea and 1 coast map in the Standard Games edition (2 sea and 2 coast maps plus 2 small cape maps, which equals the "Island Fortress" map set, in the Eurogames edition) and also counters and corresponding rules for ships and boats.
  • Outremer (Eurogames title: Croisade) plays in the time of the 3rd Crusade (1146) and not only adds new maps, Templar knight and muslim warriors but also a campaign game that depicts the events that might befall a group of travellers on their way to Palestine. ("Outremer" is a French name Europeans sometimes used to describe the Crusader kingdoms in Palestine which certainly were outre mer, "beyond the sea", from their point of view.) Eurogames changed the campaign map in their edition to include parts of Egypt.
  • Samurai Blades (Eurogames title: Samourai) again plays in the 13th century, but in Japan, and you get the appropriate characters like samurai, ninjas, warlike monks as well as maps showing a temple, a village and rice paddies. This module includes night rules and even a rule for "honourable suicide" (seppuku, better known as "hara-kiri").
• The Fantasy Series:
  • Dark Blades (Standard Games) takes the leap into a fantasy environment: It adds fantasy elements like magic spells and also the characters to go with them, like orcs, hobgoblins, wardogs, wizards etc. It also features the mapsheets "The Watermill" and "The Arena".
  • Dragon Noir 1 - The Exile is the Eurogames version of Dark Blades, using basically the same ideas, maps and characters but consolidating them into a background story. Eurogames also added two subterranean maps which give a whole new dimension to the game series. And the Black Dragon included is a lot more competent as an opponent than the small green one of the Standard Games edition!
  • Dragon Noir 2 - The Challenge is the second Dragon Noir game. It continues the story of Dragon Noir, adds six more subterranean maps and the horrible "Krobs", spider-like nasties. It also includes a solitaire adventure.

  All those games are not just modules to Cry Havoc! but (if not described otherwise) complete games in their own right, including all the rules, mapboards, counters and dice you need to play.

• Additional mapboards and scenarios have also been published. Since Eurogames took over the multi-sheet maps come with a rule booklet pertaining to the special terrain introduced in the new maps:
  • The Island Fortress is an additional map set (2 regular-sized coast maps and 2 small cape maps) to Viking Raiders. (This is the map set that comes with the Eurogames "Vikings" game and replaces the sea and cost maps of the Standard Games edition. The Standard Games coast map is available as an additional map "The Coast" from Eurogames, too- but don't confuse it with "The Coast No. 2" mentioned below.)
  • The Forest is a single mapsheet, displaying a densely wooded area.
  • The Open Field is a single mapsheet, displaying a plain open area with a few brushes and small trees. Good hunting ground for your archers!
  • The Coast No. 2 is a single mapsheet of a piece of coastline, with one long edge showing the sea, bordered by a long sandy beach leading to an open plain.
  • The Templar's Castle (2 mapsheets) displays a larger castle than the one on the "Siege" map, with towers, wells and secret passages.
  • The Medieval Fortified Town (4 mapsheets) so far represents the crown of the Cry Havoc! maps. It displays a town with gates, a battlemented wall, a well and a fountain, and a central stronghold with a massive keep.
  • A new map-set has been under construction by Eurogames, with the working title of The Fortified Harbour; it has been announced as an addition to the "Vikings" game. This map has now been published by the Cry Havoc Fans (see below).

  In addition to these extra maps, all the maps that are included in the original games were also available separately.

• Additional maps, counters and scenarios have been published by the Cry Havoc Fans.

  Part of this material is available for download, but most of it has also been printed and can be bought in The Shoppe.

• Two additional scenario booklets have been published by Standard Games, giving new scenarios and adding some good ideas and concepts for the further development of the game.

It must be noted that some rules changed somewhat in the course of the original (Standard Games) edition, but this is not a real problem since the changes have a certain logic in themselves, and the preference is always clear. I would definitely advise to use the archery rules given in the later games than those of the first edition of Cry Havoc. Eurogames have continued to consolidate the rules a bitwithout actually re-designing them.
The shortcomings of the original rules and an attack of megalomania have driven me to write an expanded and consolidated rule version which, sadly, I have never been finished and which is now obsolete with the publishing of the Magna Carta by Hervé Tardy and others.
The games of the "Norman Saga" (Guiscard and its follow-up games) published by Historic'One both expand and consolidate the rules yet more, including a well-designed set of campaign rules.

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Customer Information

This information is completely out of date, it represents my latest knowledge. For example, I do not think that Standard Games even exists tody. And Eurogames has given up on this games series as well,; in fact, they too seem to have folded by now. See the Cry Havoc Fan pages for up-to-date information about the games and their availability.

Standard Games and Publications, Ltd.
Arlon House, Paradise Industrial Estate, Wood Lane
Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire HP2 4TL, UK
Fon: +44-01442-249888
Fax: +44-01442-217254
They sell directly per mail order. A catalogue is available.

Eurogames Jeux Descartes
1, rue du Col. Pierre Avia, F-75503 Paris Cedex 15, France
Fon: +33-1-46484820
Fax: +33-1-46484825

Their German representative has also been very cooperative:
Eurogames Descartes Deutschland
Uwe Walentin
Am Dachsberg 6, D-78479 Konstanz, Germany
Fon: +49-7531-72789
Fax: +49-7531-72793

Sales point / Relais Descartes for Canada and the USA:
Le Valet d'Coeur
4408 St. Denis, Montreal, Quebec H2J 2L1, Canada
Fon: +1-514-499-9970
Fax: +1-514-499-1972

A German mail order shop selling the games is the Fantasy En'Counter in Essen. Check out their web site- it is worth a visit!

Also, The Sentry Box, USA, used to stock some of the games.

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, last change 2017-01-25