Impetus or more correctly Impetvs is an Italian set of ancient rules designed by Lorenzo Sartori. One of Lorenzo’s design choices was to keep the abbreviations of unit names and stat lines for all books in Italian. The idea behind this was to have a common point of reference for gamers no matter what language they spoke. Heavy foot for example, would always be FP no matter what language your rule book was printed in. Personally I have never had a problem with these abbreviations. After a couple of games they pretty much become second nature. Still in the interest of clarity I thought it best to highlight the matter before explaining what each stat represents in this system.

All units in Impetus have just four basic stats to help divine their properties on and off the table top.

1. VBU: Basic Unit Value (remembering abbreviations are in Italian) denotes the offensive and defensive capabilities of any given unit. For example, an element of heavy spearmen with a VBU of five could sustain five wounds before it is eliminated. The same unit would also start with five dice when attacking. If the spearmen were to lose two wounds in the battle their VBU would be reduced to three as would their attack dice. I really like how this ties everything together. The more wounds a unit takes the weaker it gets and therefore the less pain it can dish out. It is probably worth mentioning here that the rules work a little different from other systems when it comes to combat. Rather than modify the To Hit Number needed on an attacking dice roll. In Impetus every six or double five rolled causes a hit no matter what you are doing (shooting, stabbing, sticking or smacking it doesn’t matter). In these rules it is the number of attack dice you roll that is modified not the To Hit Number. You never have to adjust the numbers on the dice after rolling either. For example, a five never becomes a four because your opponent has a shield or heavy armor.
2. I: Impetus bonus. This is the number of bonus attack dice a unit receives when charging. Taking the same unit of heavy spearmen as an example. They have an Impetus bonus of two plus a VBU value of five which would give them a total of seven attack dice (if no other modifiers apply). Units that start the game with an “I” value of zero cannot voluntarily contact the enemy (skirmishers). This bonus is also reduced as units take damage during the game.
3. D: Discipline. One of three different levels of discipline are assigned to any given unit. Throughout the game units wishing to attempt a rally, react or march move will be required to pass a discipline test. The higher the units discipline rating the more likely they will succeed. Failing a discipline test can lead to disorder and in the words of South Park’s Mr. Mackey “that’s bad okay“.
   
4. VD: Demoralization value. These values are used to determine the level of victory at the end of a game. A Unit’s VD value only becomes important after it is removed from play. Once a third of a sub command’s total VD points have been removed from the board that command is broken. All remaining units in the command are removed from play. An army is routed and the game is considered over once half of a force’s total VD points have been removed from play.