"Interested in trying new rules." Topic

So, I am thinking of tying out a new rule-set. I have been out of active gaming for awhile, but I have some familiarity with FOG and Warhammer Historical.

I have heard positive remarks about Hail Ceasar and SAGA. Would anybody offer some feedback on those games? How about other systems I haven't mentioned?

Clash of Empires… WAB without the character heavy effect and cleaner rule design. Look at the COE's new, improved and revamped site* and the WAB forum for comments and game designer notes. Free army lists and the game designer is willing to adapt those lists to updated information and play testing. Sort of a "not written in stone" ruleset.

* greatescapegames.co.uk Clash of Empires site.

WR

Impetus is also gaining in popularity and a "lite" version is available free.

Hail Caesar! Fast moving, authentic and fun. Rules dont have to be complex to give a historical outcome!

I recommend FoG. It has some echoes of the Good Old Days, whenever those were.

And also an outgrowth of WAB type rules – War and Conquest

Basic Impetus is a free download and definitely worth a try.

Thaks for the prompt responses!

Which rules are better for "big battles"? I'm not big on having 5 or 6 (smallish) blocks of troops representing an entire army.

Glance at some of our COE games…..

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WR

IMHO War and Conquest is the best of the new rule-sets on offer.

Raglan

Welcome back to active gaming, Mike!

Hail Caesar was designed with large battles in mind, and it is by far my favorite rule set for Ancients.
Here are links to some earlier TMP threads with information, reviews and AARs:

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Best of luck in your search!

Cheers,
Scott

For large battles I play Hail Caesar.

RIght now I'm digging War and Conquest but it's a 4-8 units a side type game. Not what you are looking for if you want double or triple that size in regards to units. That's Hail Caesar and I hope others who have experience with other large battle rules they like will post what works for them.

In my opinion, Impetus is the best game going. Figures are based on large stands, not single bases (although you can always sabot if you want.) Easy setup and take down. Plus the rules have a dynamic feel to it that makes each game unique while having simple mechanisms. We've played Carthaginian verus Roman many times and no two games were alike.

SAGA is a skirmish level game which seems to be quite popular just now. So, even if you are starting out with no figures, it wouldn't take long to field a warband (25 to 73 figures) and you can probably find people to play.

The leader of your band is the Warlord, who is something of a character (in a Warhammer Historical way), counting as a one man unit. In addition, you can have hearthguard (elite), warriors, and levies. They don't get into the effects of various weapons or armor as much as many rules do.

They use special dice, which are expensive, but provide a chart showing the equivalent on a regular six sided die (for my Vikings, the 6 counts as the Sol rune). You can also print the various signs onto adhesive backed paperand put these on blank dice or just print up chits and use them.
You use some of the dice to activate your units, and others go on the battle board shich allows various abilities to help your lads or make the enemy miserable.

You might want to do a search here on TMP: there have been a lot of comments about Saga and a lot of after action reports.

Grelber

I Also agree with using Impetus.

Although the Basic Impetus rules use only 7-12 large bases per army, the full Impetus rules allow you to field very large forces, and you can easily play multi-player and multi-army battles.

Definitely a big second for War & Conquest. I've tried most of the other sets mentioned here but W&C was the only one that inspired me to return to Ancient/Medieval gaming. It's all down to personal style but I've found W&C gives a very good game with lots of decision making, yet doesn't leave you with a headache. Though a wallet ache is highly likely…

I just wish they would all agree on one basic basing standard – come back WRG, all is forgiven!

And I still haven't seen a set that handles Early Byzantine cavalry well.

Thanks for the positive comments on War & Conquest.

We have been getting some great reviews regarding the book and its presentation, and now the game is out there, players are discovering its good fun as well!

Some page spreads here link

You normally need between 8 and 12 units, heres a picture of a hoplite battle here

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and if you scan round the site and check the reports, you can see plenty of other battles in progress including our first gaming day here
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and here link

Our local club have been using the 1/72nd plastics and heres a link to the blog post with a couple of independant battle reports and pictures link

Kind regards
Rob Broom
scarabminiatures.com
warandconquest.co.uk

Just to echo recommendation for Hail Caesar for big battles.

My first game was a big multiplayer game at my local club with IIRC 10 players in total. Only a couple of players had played more than one game previously- for most of us it was our first game.

We played Romans vs Greeks. I forget how many Roman units there were but to give you an idea there was 16 units of Greek Phalanx with 24 figures each, four units of Peltasts with 10-12 figures each and 8 units of Psiloi with 6-12 figures each. The one unit of Greek cavalry had 12 figures.

The game ran smoothly despite the huge number of figures and the fact that for most of players it was their first game.

Great fun!!

Cheers

James

Have a look at Civitates Bellantes and Comitatus. Free downloads at link
Simon