"Deus Vult - a wargamer's reflection" Topic

These days I tend to use Rob Broom's fantastic War and Conquest rule-set for both ancient and medieval wargaming. Later this year I will be fully committed to collecting armies to represent both sides of the conflict during the Third Crusade. As a result, I recently purchased some 28mm Crusaders from Nick Eyre at Northstar Miniatures. Alongside the miniatures (which are really nice by the way), I decided to make and inquisitive purchase of the Deus Vult rule-set which specialises in the Crusader period.

I have not played them yet, however they have lots of interesting ideas for the Crusade period. Even if I don't ever use them fully for my wargames, then I can certainly use them to make War and Conquest more period specific.

Having reflected on them for a few days, I got to wondering about how appealing these rules would be to most wargamers. Given the narrow field of interest and the recent surge in new rule-sets such as War and Conquest, Hail Caesar and Clash of Empires to name just a few – is there a genuine position in the marketplace for rule-sets like Deus Vult?

Raglan

I am interested in any review you may care to write or know of. There's room for a ruleset on a specific period if it has good ideas and, as you suggest, these are appropriate for the period simulated. The figures that are aligned with DV do look tempting (but not enough to get me adding to my HUGE pile of unpainted material just yet). They would also be good for my Ars Magica RPG saga.

My answer is maybe. But only if someone makes it easy to get Muslim hordes by producing them in plastic. Something fireforge really should have done.

Jaz
Http://revolutionaryroads.com

"Having reflected on them for a few days, I got to wondering about how appealing these rules would be to most wargamers"

That statement right there is what the crux of the problem is for these rules. There's nothing inherently wrong with them as they are well done, good army lists, and definitely helps to inspire one to take up the Crusades period. The big problem, IMHO, is the set up/pre-battle maneuver which is the heart of the system. However, most gamers just want to set up, move units, and start killing things, so they skip that part. Well, if you're going to do that then why play these rules? You can just use Hail Caesar, WAB, or any of the other ancients rules, which is I believe what is happening as there are no battle reports, reviews that I've seen, or questions posted here about the rules themselves. They probably deserve better treatment than they're getting, but this is the nature of the hobby at the current time.

From personal experience not really.

Before you commit take a close look at Shatterd Lances, a set of rules written for the period and are fantastic in capturing the differance between the Western and Eastern sytles of fighting.
William

I just can't see them ever appealing to a mass audience. Crusader wargaming does not seem that popular a period anyway. I suppose Fireforge have attracted a few more gamers into the period with their plastics and well done to them for doing so. I will have a bash at them at some point, however I am enjoying War and Conquest too much to consider a complete change.

Raglan

Might we tempt you to Clash of Empires when the new Crusade supplement is released this summer my lord ;-)