"New Victrix Ancient Skirmish Rules: Warriors of Antiquity " Topic

"…We are also running 2 participation games using our forth coming "Warriors of Antiquity" rules. Warriors of Antiquity is a fast play set of rules based on warbands in the ancient world. It is an action packed and a very
bloody game that suits gamers who like to manage a game in a relatively short space of time on a moderately sized table (4 foot x 4 foot is more than adequate). It is not designed to re-enact Cannae but if you want a fast play game using warbands of up to 60 figures featuring scenarios such as slave and cattle raids, ambushes, looting etc this is the game for you…"

Main page
link

Amicalement
Armand

I'm looking forward to hearing more about this.

that certainly looks promising, original and interesting!

Very interesting!

Doug

Great news!

Guess I wish I was going back to Salute!

Where are they at Salute – under the games listings Victrix only has a Napoleonic game listed and I can see no mention of any other tables using the rules??

Glad you enjoyed it boys.

Amicalement
Armand

I was interested to read this but am put off a bit by the write up on the Mongoose site (they partnered with Victrix to write the rules) which says the average game will only take 20-30 minutes to play.

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Now I'm all for fast play but that seems a little short to give a satisfying game. I appreciate you will be able to get several games in a short time but 20-30 mins for a game….

Each to your own but not for me.

Good point. There doesn't seem much scope for interesting tactical play in a game that lasts less than half an hour. For me, around an hour to 90 minutes is ideal for a skirmish game of this sort of size.

Thanks, Nick B for the review! This would still interest me.

that seems odd 30 minutes certainly doesn't seem reasonable… we'll have to wait and see

When I think of Mongoose, I think "shoddy and un-tested".

Shame, because I was quite interested in this up until I heard that they were behind it.

seldonH – yes I agree – very odd.

On reading I first thought "That must be wrong!" but the I thought – "but surely the authors must know their own rules!".

If it had been a third party review I would have disregarded but this is from about as a reliable source as you can get.

However – as you say – the truth will out. I'll wander over to the stand at Salute and have a chat to verify.

I want "to re-enact Cannae", but I'll have a look anyhow. Nice cover art!

20-30 minutes does seem short for a game with 40-50 figures per side, but as long as the time savings comes from faster resolution, it might still work. The Mongoose connection does give one pause.

Doug

Have played and really enjoyed Judge Dredd, well written and a game can be over quickly. JD is a very tactical game with strategy around squad creation and character development, hopefully some of this seeps into WoA.

Keen to hear how the participation games go this weekend.

I hope someone gives an AAR from Salute. I'm not as gun-shy about Mongoose's participation.

20 to 30 minutes per game sounds rather short, but on the other hand I have a feeling that game designers tend to often underestimate the amount of time required by average players to complete a game.

"Have played and really enjoyed Judge Dredd, well written and a game can be over quickly. JD is a very tactical game with strategy around squad creation and character development, hopefully some of this seeps into WoA."

This must be a different Judge Dredd game, as the one published by Mongoose and Warlord is terrible. The base engine is not too bad, but there are literally dozens of errors, omissions and typos in the force lists. The points system is unbalanced, and the attributes list is stupidly overdone, with many irrelevant talents mixed with very powerful ones. Cross-referencing these during a game is a nightmare, you have to flip through the 200+ page hardback rulebook. There is no QRF, and there are at least half a dozen broken combos or options that can make models guaranteed game winners over almost any opposition. I doubt that any of the scenarios in the supplement were play tested even once.

I love Dredd, which makes me angry at the hatchet job Mongoose did on the rules. I hope that Victrix applied some editorial control, or they will have a turkey on their hands. Ancient players are generally more discerning than the sci-fi players Mongoose have traditionally exploited.

Half an hour for a game sounds fine for me. This could be a good way to get some games in with former WAB figures…

Sounds interesting. Maybe the 1/2 hour is for minimal forces.

Had a chat with the guy running the stand at Salute. 20-30 mins if for the upper figure numbers (30-40 figures).

To be honest the guy didn't really have much of a clue and couldn't answer the most basic questions – not really the type of person to showcase new rules!

Any news on this rule set?

Jup, became rather quiet on that ruleset….
No good sign?