Days of Knights is a game played with miniature figures that covers the High Middle Ages, from 1250 AD to 1500 AD. It is produced by Chipco Games and is available as a .pdf file via their website. And before you ask, I'm not an employee of Chipco - just a fan!:-)

Anyway, Days of Knights is a fast-play ruleset, based around the element (here called a unit), rather than the individual figure. All units are based on 40mm x 40 mm (60x60 for 25mm) bases.

Each army also has a number of characters, which are based individually. There are two categories of characters; Major and Minor. Major characters, which are used to determine unit movement and can give morale and melee bonuses, include Kings (the army general), Marshals (sub-generals), and Captains. Minor characters, which cannot influence movement, include Religious Personalities and Bow Masters.

Essentially, a unit can only move straight forward (angling 45 degrees to either side) unless it has an attached Major Character. A Captain can affect the movement of a single unit, a Marshall can control a Battle (an army has three Marshals, one for each battle) and the King can lead anyone. This can lead to all sorts of problems if you don't have the required character available for a particular maneuver!

Unit demoralization is an important part of DOK. A demoralized unit cannot engage enemy and has its combat factor reduced by one. A double-demoralized unit also recoils. A third demoralization results in the unit's destruction. However, each player has a chance to rally his demoralized units each turn by rolling a d10 and comparing the number to that unit's rally factor. If he makes the roll, the unit rallies and loses all demoralization markers. .

Combat rules are simple and familiar to players of DB*. Each unit has a combat factor, to which are added any modifiers that may apply, and the roll of a ten-sided die. Higher score wins, with the loser either becoming demoralized or being destroyed. However, unlike DB*, there are no quick kills and no variation in outcome moves depending on unit type.

Heavy infantry units get support from those beside them, encouraging the player to use battle lines. Interestingly, longbow units can give support to other infantry units, but not to other longbow units, forcing to player to adopt a herce-like formation of alternating "bills and bows". Cavalry doesn't give nor receive support, encouraging players to deploy it separately from the foot.

To fire missiles, you total the number of firing units and roll a d10. The target is either unaffected destroyed or demoralized. Target type doesn't matter, although Chipco is considering a new rule which would see heavily-armoured infantry treat all destroyed results as demoralization instead.

I find the game system works surprisingly well. Characters are all-important, and must be in position to reorganize troops after combat, or to react to unexpected threats. Leaderless units become easy prey to the enemy.

I really enjoy Days of Knights. It is easy to understand, fast to play and enjoyable. I find it works exceptionally well for the later 15th century, and is the best ruleset I have ever used for the Wars of the Roses period. It also works particularly well for historical refights and scenarios.