"Simple rules for large battles" Topic

With the advent of 3mm Napoleonic, ACW, WWII, Modern, and SF miniatures I have been bitten by the bug to try large scale battles. I am not sure what to call the rules for the scale I want. Back in the day (late 50s I had a board game of Gettysburg by Avalon Hill. It used a board with squares. IIRC the counters were Infantry Divisions, Cavalry Brigades, and Artillery batteries. I am seeking simple rules that play at this level for all the periods mentioned.

Suggestions?

Thanks, Al

BTW what do you call rules at this level?

Not sure exactly what it's called but Panzer 8 is a ruleset worth looking into. It's a series of 2-page rules covering a whole range of eras. It's aimed at 6mm, but based on the ultra simple mechanics, imagine it would work for what you're looking at at 3mm
panzer8.weebly.com

Also, it's free.

PZ8's rules collection will have almost everything you need:

panzer8.weebly.com/rules.html

..and most are ideal for 3mm.

Tall order me thinks. I would look for some of the less complex board games and convert those to miniature games on a hex mat.

EDIT: Forgot about PZ8 rules!

Got lock filed :)

We play pretty large battles…2-3000 28mm figures on tables up to 30 foot (ish) long. We use a home-brewed version of DBA. PM me and I'll send you a set, though I think they are about to be (or maybe already have been) published in the ACW gamer e-magazine.

There are plenty of rules with brigade sized elements. For larger scale WW2 and WW1 you are looking more at 1 base = 1 battalion type stuff, although I did a set with brigade and division sized bases.

PZ8 is the way to go. Played D-Day with them recently & they worked great. There are versions for numerous periods.

John Kelly

Memoir '44

Have you looked at Altar of Freedom for ACW?

Ugly Fat Bloke:

"Our Brutal Rules" comes out in Issue 5 which is being released on 15 Oct 2014.

I haven't seen rules at that high a scale for sci-fi, but the closest I know of are Future War Commander and one of the Strike Legion sets ("Planetary Ops", IIRC).

I have adapted Corps Command: Dawn's Early Light From Lock N Load publishing for my WW3 project. Each unit is a battalion… I am fiddling with a few things as it abstracts artillery. I think there is a modern version of Megablitz out there somewhere. I am also considering using my Memoir 44 game as a starting point too.

I have been considering 3mm for Fire n Fury (ACW). I really love the 3mm scale…despite the ongoing 'might as well play with rice' debate.

I have a unique home brewed rule set for ultra modern big battle games. It emphasizes scouting and over emphasize support. While designing the rules I took note of how other rule sets tried to fix the problems created by the old UgoIgo system: alternating activation, initiative points ect. I decided not to solve this problem, but rather to eliminate it. Let me know if you are interested.

Allen57,

You could also try One Hour Wargames by Neil Thomas. They should cover all the periods you want to cover according to the description. Pen and Sword has them available now direct. You can also pre-order through amazon or get them from On Military Matters if you are in the USA.

@ Falconius,

I would be interested. I am turned off on many rules systems because of the IGUG dilemma!

MG

Falconius,

I'd be interested too.

Put me down as interested too Falconius

Me too, Falconius.

Me too, Falconius.

Me as well Falconius

And me too

And me.

Falconius, please send me a set as well.

My company has a set of big-battle ACW rules that fit on 2 sides of A4 almost ready to go. Contact me on infoatmorningstar AT gmail DOT com if you'd like a copy.

Couldn't figure out how to send the rules to those that asked for it so:
PDF link

For questions (my apologies in advance) and suggestions please email me at perseverius-at-gmail-dot-com.

Thanks for the link but it says I need a password to access the PDF..
Cheers

Same same with me RE password

Vince

Please email me and I'll send the pw.

I'm surprised no one mentioned Volley & Bayonet yet. Each base equals a brigade of troops.

Would OGRE work for a Sci-Fi setting without any Ogres?

LGG or La Grande Guerre by Sam Mustafa for Large, fast play Napoleonics.

Allen,

Give me a email and I will send you the rules. They are free by permission of author, and only about 12 pages long.

@ Falconius

How can one contact you. I am not able to send PM to you and per above the link is not working!

Ok- I found your E-mail address- thank you!

MG

I did not want to hi-jack this thread so I started a new one:
TMP link

Would OGRE work for a Sci-Fi setting without any Ogres?

Probably … MechWarrior works well without mechs.

OGRE without Ogres works very well. It is called G.E.V.

I really like the PZ8 rules. They are simple, allow just enough customization of units, and don't bog down in large games with lots of units on the table.

For Napoleonics, consider Snappy Nappy -- each pair of stands is a brigade, it's good for small areas as well as 20-person multiplayer games across a half dozen tables, and it's a snap to learn. There's a Yahoo group to support it.

Disclosure: OMM publishes Snappy Nappy.

Napoleonic quickie! Regiments yes, but fast paced battle.. Nearly real time once you know the easy to learn rules.

You can play big ACW battles with Gettysburg Soldiers, but the tactical game units are regiments (composed of stands), rather than elements for brigades or above formations. At this larger scale there's board games that you might consider miniaturizing too.

link

Fistful of TOWS works well for fast play moderns, I stand = 1 platoon

Megablitz
Lightning War (Yahoo group LWRS)
Both for ww2

Regards
Andrew

I asked something similar here

TMP link

Not had a chance to try them yet.