"Best Rule set for the War of the Roses" Topic

Hey TMP!

So I bought a few sets of the beautiful Perry plastics for WOTR and some metals for command figures and have started painting them. Soon I will base them, and am having trouble deciding on a good rules set to use them in. I don't want to base them before deciding on rules for obvious reasons, and wondered if anyone had any suggestions.

I'm not sure there is concensus on this.

It's a bit like asking what is the best flavor of ice cream. Many will have different opinions.

I'd suggest typing in Wars of the Roses rules in the message archives search feature, for the many previous discussions on the subject, which might prove enlightening to you.

Some in the running include: Impetus, Band of Brothers-Piquet, Bloody Barons (at least I think that is the name of the Peter Pig set), Medieval Warfare, Poleaxed, etc.

Good luck on your search.

In 15mm I use Warmaster, but to be honest I am not totally satisfied and may one day try a "dedicated" set of rules.

There's also the free set from The Perfect Captain:

link

and this one from Real Time Wargames:

link

Incidentally, have you thought about painting some troops in your family's coat of arms/livery?

link

I had flags custom-made:

link

As Mako says, I dont think its ever been conclusively decided for this period. I like Medieval Warfare by Terry Gore but am now switching over to Pike & Shotte.

War and Conquest – currently working on a War of the Roses supplement as we speak.

Raglan

Impetus for my vote

Hail Caesar works beautifully for the period. I didn't MIND Bloody Barons from Peter Pig, but it lacks something.

After two years trying to like Warmaster Ancients (and how I persevered) I decided I didn't like it. I must get round to flogging off the books – full set.

Pat

I think ACOP from the perfect captain is the most characteristic rulesystem for medieval warfare I have seen. There is also a campaign system you can play. They are worth a look.

Another vote for ACOP from Perfect Captain. I'm rebasing my WOTR armies for these at the moment.

ACOP is impressive indeed – unfortunately I'm not really interestend in WOTR, but I would like to see a "generic late medieval" version of it.

Isen't there a supplement for late medievals due for Hail Caesar soon ?

"Isen't there a supplement for late medievals due for Hail Caesar soon"

It would seem a perfect fit to fill in between HC and Pike & Shotte, no?

WRG 6th. My go to rules for anything pre-1460s-ish.

Bloody barons, period specific

I'm planning on doing WOR with Perry figures for Impetus. The basing system for Impetus accomodates the ol' WRG standard as carried forward in DBA, DBM, DBMM, DBMMMMMMMMM, FoG, etc. But if you base just for Impetus, you get to have really nice looking bases. Important for those who like the visuals of the game.

Tree of Battles just released -specifically desigined for Wars of the Roses and Hundred Years War.

link
Simon

As others have said there is a wide spectrum of tastes and options. I personally have had great success with running Medieval battles with Warhammer Ancients (first edition) using their Armies of Chivalry supplement and army lists. While I have not gamed the WOTR specifically as of yet, I have run dozens of games set in the HYW and the Italian Wars. Each time the Warhammer rules have given us a fun and plausible game. I would look at the Hail Caesar rules and explore the others that have been mentioned.

I enjoy tree of battles so far, but maybe thats because its free to download. I do like that the figures are based several to a base rather then individually.

I am going to look at Impetus and Hail Caesar / P&S as well.

So many rules sets.

Thank you everyone for the idea's

We have used Might of Arms for numerous large convention sized games with good result. If you are going to have more than one player per side, I would suggest them. We simplified the charts by removing all non-WotR specific troop types from the matrix and also instead of having to remember each unit's morale, we used the number of banners as +1 for morale. This got rid of all paper.

The Perfect Captain rules play more like WotR battles read in books I've read.

You can use the same base size for all the Warhammer-type rules (WAB2, COE, W&C, HC): Infantry 20x20mm, cavalry 25x50mm – and multiples thereof.

Impetus is different, but you can either use metal bases or metal card under the base and attach them to magnetic multibases for that.

You can use the same base size for all the Warhammer-type rules (WAB2, COE, W&C, HC)

HC is not really a Warhammer type rule – it's unit based rather than figure based. So you can use any sized base whatsoever.

Which is nice.

Pat

Yes, and the individual base sizes to make up units for HC are listed on page 14:

Infantry 20x20mm
Cavalry 25x50mm

As an edit to my original post though – scratch WAB2 following the closure of WHH :-(

Another vote for 'Bloody Barons' great set if rules
And all the optional pre-game dice stuff is
Inspired!! Real feel of the period, to me,
Anyway.

John

I should actually correct my above post. I have decided that Hail Caesar works better for WotR than Pike & Shotte though Ill be using some of the special troop qualities from P&S.

ACOP, but as they are free you could also try a commercial set

I agree with the ACOP idea, that give You the "flavour" of the period, being dedicaded exclusively to it.

You can find there all the nobles involved, with their characters.

And there is also a campaign system.

Wonderful Game!

Stefano

I played my first game of 'A Coat of Steel' and I was really impressed. I am currently revising my orbats for the Battle of Bosworth Field. If you feel inclined you can follow my blog entitled the 'The White Boar' at jerseyprivateer2.blogspot.com As the title of the blog suggests I have a strong inclination for The Yorkist cause, particularly Richard III.

The rules from the Perfect Captain are fantastic. They may seem a little daunting and perhaps a little fiddley with all the counters but I think that once you have organized your wards and sorted out what tactics you want your wards to perform the game flows really well.