"Only Five Rulesets" Topic

Warhammer Ancient Battles (will do fine for fantasy as well)
Forlorn Hope
Black Powder (probably, haven't actually tried it yet…..)
Rapid Fire!

cover my main periods,

as a bonus item, perhaps LoTR SBG for skirmishes

1.- Black Powder
2.- Hail Caesar
3.- Warhammer 40K
4.- Blitzkrieg Commander
5.- Disposable Heroes

I Ain't Been Shot Mum – WW2
Impetus – Ancients
Bag The Hun – WW2 Aerial
Le Feu Sacre – Napoleonics
They Couldn't Hit an Elephant – ACW

It has to be SIX! no, I meant 7…I MEAN 8!!!!!Can't be done less than 10!

Acually I've tried and cant get it below 11 and some of those actually cover 3 'period' sets….

Impetus – Ancients to pike and shot and jacobite rebllion
Bag The Hun/ Algernon – WW!/ WW2 Aerial & korea up to the falklands
General quarters
Battlegroup panzergrenadier
PBI
Spearhead
Washington's army/ CWB#
Regiment of Foote/ BAW
Rank & File
Warfare in the age of reason

AND

Hey you in the jail!

And the points I note now that I have writen them are how simplistic they generally are….The most complicated are gnerally the oldest.

Current top five would be:

AE-WWII
Gruntz
Pulp City

And yes, I know that's only three, but everything else can be adapted to fit in there.

Lary's set and Mike's set, and AA and maybe the original Recon.

Savage Worlds – almost all skirmish
The Sword and the Flame – Zulu wars & Sudan
Impetus – ancients & medieval
General de Brigade – 1vs1 horse & musket
Black Powder – multiplayer horse & musket

6th would be Force on Force and it'd be all I need.

FUBAR
A.G.S.

That would do me.

"Star Wars Miniatures Battles" – West End Games
"Full Thrust/More Thrust" – Ground Zero Games
"The Great Rail Wars, First Edition" – Pinnacle Games
"AD&D BattleSystem, Second Edition" – TSR Games
"Command & Colors" (all titles in series) – various titles from various publishers using the system created by Richard Borg
Sixth would be "Wings of War/Wings of Glory" – Nexus Games/Ares Games.

Savage Worlds
DBA
HOTT
Contemptible Little Armies
Ever Victorious Armies

5? Harsh.

FAD (since its my own game and all)

Crossfire
TW&T or IABSM (would have to think about that one)
Doctor Who miniatures game
Maybe 40K Rogue Trader for the last spot?

Can't be done? Tosh. One rule set. Simple, minor period mods. Move on. Which? Haven't written them yet. Working on it. Rules are over rated – and way, way over produced. Sorry to all of you poring your heart and soul into your rules, but it is just true. They are nothing more than the frame around the toys And, yeah, I know, I'm adding to the over crowded mix – but mine are just for me and my gaming buds. It's about play – not arguments. Otherwise I'd be a lawyer. Eww-ick!

General de Brigade
Black Powder
The Wargame – Charles Grant
n/a
n/a

1. Warmachine
2. Blitzkrieg Commander II
3. Future War Commander
4. Hordes
5. Tutatis

only Rules I play at present mostly playing Solo board games got not mates..

LGW

I like the Peter Pig range so

Battles in the Age of War – Samurai
Civil War Battles – ACW
Washington's Army – AWI
PBI – WW2
Square bashing – WW1
Bloody Barons – WOR

ATZ
6 Gun Sound
Chain Reaction 3.0 Final Version
Song Blades Heroes with expansions
DBA

Turns out, after much thought. I only play 5 sets!
1. DBA
2. Bloody Barons
3. In the Grand Manner
4. Crossfire
5. 'johns Wings of Blue Max War, Harry Tate'
My own WW1 air rules

John

Hmmm…

I write all my own rule sets, so the answer for me would be mine, mine, mine, mine, mine.

However if I were to select five "rule-sets" ideas for inspiration they would be (in no particular order) contained in the books.

Brigadier Peter Young "CARGE!"
Don Featherstone "War Games"
Joe Moreschauser "How to Play Wargames in Miniature"
Harry Dowdall "Shambattle"
Charles Grant "The Wargame"
Don Featherstone "Naval Wargames"
(forget the author) "Naval Wargames" (not the same as the above)
Fielding's "Games Ancient and Oriental and How to play them.
" These are classic games but with over twelve different chess variants (Shaturanj, Chinese Chess, Tamerlane's Chess etc, it's a reminder that there are many ways to skin a cat.

The above might be considered "Old School" but everything about wargames is there- the rest are just derivative.

I also would pick the top five Board games I would use for inspiration and development.

Tactics II- Avalon Hill (seen one half inch counter game you've seen em all)

Divine Right- TSR (I thinkthat's the company) Innovative use of fishbowling and many concepts that stand the test of time.

Victory in the Pacific (Avalon Hill) Obviously innovative for handling the huge complexity of war in a brisk and satisfying way.

Cosmic Encounters (Eon Games) (This is truly "The Necronomicon" of games with so many subtle concepts and an idea of a game as a kaleidascopic selection of interchangeables as to be immortal. Also its step-child, Avalon Hill's "Dune."

Freedom in the Galaxy (SPI)One of the best efforts I have ever found to merge the personal with the political, that is the small with the large, and again, having many subtle and useful concepts.

In addition I would have five normal board or family games.

Monopoly- (Parker Brothers) Stupid, artificial, classic, it has one overwhelming feature of it – it works and has been ripped off dozens of times. If that ain't success I don't know what is- Gotta have it.

Lie-Cheat and Steal- A little known game but which actually allows cheating. Innovative in concept and NOT a monopoly rip-off in spite of some superficial elements.

Diplomacy- Obvious. Elegant simplicity of handling a large problem.

RA- One of the best games I ever played and while of doubtful utility for war games, nevertheless a compendium of concepts and a completely different way of doing things.

The Barbie Game: As Ridiculous as it is its a pointer and a map to competition tempered with cooperation in games. A completely unmined area for wargamers which always assume deadly, unmitigated, and murderous competition between players.

Char

Lasalle
DBA
Troops Weapons and Tactics
IABSM
Maurice

IABSM
Algy
Kiss Me Hardy
TCHAE
DBMM

Let see

Might & Reason- Sam M
Shako II- Arty C
This Very Ground- Keith S
Fire & Fury/R F&F- Rich H
Flames of War- Battlefront

Honarable mentions
V&B
The Black books- Blackpowder, AofK, P&S
WAB/WECW
First Rate (Naval)

GASLIGHT
DBA
Song of Blades
Don Featherstone's WARGAMES
Joseph Morchauser's How To Play Wargames in Miniature

Piquet: Field of Battle
THW Reaction System
Song of …
Impetus
Grand Fleets

Although I would really want to add a couple more for specific periods/conflicts

Well what I need would be
1. sci-fi. Starship troopers and general movie type stuff Yet to find the answer
2. battle group or assault group level world war. I like the rules we use at the club. Cross something their calledd.
3. Mass battle pre modern fire arms. I use my own rules.
4. Heroic Skirmish- Saga we're going to try when we get the chance down the club.
5. Heroic mass battles that also includes chariots. For stuff like LoftR to Troy or Excalibur or whatever-I'd be glad of suggestions.

well I have 2 out 5.

The list below includes rules that just provided too many memories to not make my "had to have" list. May not be the best but, when my sons were younger this is what we played.
Just too many fond memories (maybe not the best games)

1) Jagdpanzer
2) Age Of Reason
3) Red Sun Blue Sky series
4) Regimental Fire and Fury
5) SOLDAT

Honorable mentions… I know not asked for but, CY6!; IABSM; TSATF

For land

1)"Mon Die, Tout saif un Six!" (Oh God Anything But a six (18th century)
2)"The Shattered Century." (WWI to WII)
3) "Magnolia's Mint Juleps N' Gritz" (American Civil War)
4) "Die Fleidermauser." (19th Century Role Playing.
5) "A is for Autochtonous" Early Early Ancient Period.

For Naval
1) "yo-Ho-Ho" 18th centurynaval.
2) "If you build it, it will sink" late 19th century.
3) "Jayne's Frightening Ships 1937 (Interwar to WWII)

Our own. Because then we only need one!

Although to be fair they only cover all land battles for every historcial period. We don't tend to fight air or naval games much so would probably use simplified rules there such as we are now using a variant of the 'Noddy ACW naval rules'.

1. Impetus
2. Civil War Battles
3. Our home brewed WWII small unit action rules
4. Home brewed "Dark age Pontoon"
5. Random pick from Dux Bellorum or Song Of Drums & Shakos (both newly bought and unplayed so I can't really choose between them)

40K
Battlefield Evolution
Combined Arms (GDW's modern version of Command Decision)
D&D 3.5
DBA

HOTT
Pig Wars (modified)
Tooth and Claw (modified)
Commands and Colors (w/minis)
to be determined….?

Napoleonic Command.
Rifle Wars.
Fire When Ready.

Easy, only need 3.

Still looking for a decent set of later reniassance and 7YW sets. All the current crop for both periods have been tried and found wanting.

Savage Worlds
No Limits/Vor the Maelstrom
Battletech
First/ Second edition Warhammer 40k
the new trek game can't remember the name right now..

1. Flames of War-WW2 land
2. Maurice-big battle horse and musket
3. The upcoming Longstreet rules from the Sam for ACW
4. For ancients, it would be a toss-up between Field of Glory and DBA. I like DBA for the ability to finish small armies quickly and play on a card table, but I do like the granularity found in FoG.
5. Finally, I have this idea that in my later years I will specialize in 25mm small unit skirmish gaming for the French and Indian War, AWI and War of 1812. What I have not decided on has been what rules-Black Powder Battles (2HW) failed for us, but Muskets and Mohawks may do the trick, or This Very Ground, or even Sharpe Practice, or a modification of '61-'65.

Funny how I don't have as strong a connection with naval gaming though, as a former navy man. The GHQ models are nice, and we really like the GQIII rules, but if I had to pare my choices down to 5, I'm afraid naval gaming wouldn't make the cut.

Also like Lasalle for Napoleonics, if I didn't have to pare it down to five. However, if my list was all horse and musket with no WW2 I might get pretty bored!

Five is harsh:
1. Spearhead (SH)
2. DBA
3. Rockets Red Glare
4. Doctor Who the Miniature Game
5. Fantasy Rules Tournament & Campaign Ed. or HOTT

If I had a 6th then:
Great War by Warhammer Historicial or GWSH
#7 would be some sort of Sci-Fi space combat rule system.
Have yet to try Sharpe Practice and Song of d Drums and Shakos so they might make the list.