"Looking for simple ancient rules" Topic

I have been playing DBA for some years and have had enough of it. Can anyone suggest a set of rules that will give a quick ancients game preferably using multiple basing (like DBA so i don't have to rebase) and will not involve much reading or brainpower?

Basic Impetus. You can use two (cavalry) or four (infantry) bases per unit rather than re-base. You can even use one base per unit though that will be a small battle indeed.

Even simpler: Mighty Armies.

My suggestion is Basic Impetus.

You could try Basic Impetus. It's free, uses multiple bases and does not require much brainpower, thus fitting your requirements. Being free, it costs you nothing to download and read the rules. There is also an active forum if you have questions.

Rules: link
Forum: impetus.ativiforum.com

Edit: Looks like vtsao got in there while I was typing. Ninjaed!!

Command and Colours Ancients. I play it with my DBx based stuff on Kallistra hexes.

The rules from Neil Thomas's 'Introduction to Wargaming' aren't bad either, and if you want something even simpler, the Ancients rules from his 'One Hour Wargames' are very, very fast and simple.

Basic Impetus or Sword and Spear. Either can be played using your existing DBA basing either as they are or combined into larger bases depending on space available.

Curious as to what has turned you against DBA?

You want simple? "Throw me a 6" will do it for you. PDF link

4 WRG/DBx stands per unit. 8 units will give a good game.

Civitates bellantes. You can buy the pdf for 5£. Pretty easy but fun and realistic. No rebasing needed

Impetus.

As noted, Basic Impetus,The full version of Impetus does not add that much complexity.

To the Strongest gives a fun game, and as it is geid based the individual bases of units is irrelevant.

Mollinary

If you want something simple, yet a different style than DBA, I agree Basic Impetus is a good option. It is simple, plays fast, it is a very different game than DBA, and you can download for free.

You can use your DBA based units. Just have to double up your ranks of infantry.

If you take a liking to it and want to add more you can go up to Impetus. Not a big jump and you get more to work with.

For Dark Age warfare, I really like Comitatus. It is a simple rules system, customized to the time period and plays smoothly. It also plays well solitaire.

Just have to double up your ranks of infantry

Naw. Plays just fine with dba units. Looks better with double rank infantry though.

Try Basic Impetus, for free.
If you like it, you can buy the complete set with some extra's (Impetus).

If you don't like it, try To the Strongest. Which is also a great game you can play with as little as DBA armies to 1000's of figures a side (if you want it a bit more spectacular).

We also still like to play Armati 2 a few times a year. Armies are around DBA size, but the rules are long OOP.

I will second the recommendation for Sword and Spear.

Neil Thomas Ancient & medieval Rules or even his One Hour Wargames book

Rally Round the King.

It's a fantasy set of big battle rules, but strip out the magic, and it's totally historical. In fact, to show how much we believe in it you can download 160 historical lists for it for free.

link

And if you have purchased the lists within the last year, email me and you'll get a credit for the full amount you paid.

I'll second Ancient and Medieval Wargaming from Neil Thomas. The rules themselves require little in the reading department as they are only about 5 sparse pages of text. The book itself has 4 sections of rules that are slightly modified to cover each period from Biblical to Dark Ages. Fun sets all.

RC's Simply Ancients (TM)
line your armies up on opposite sides of the table.
roll a d6
high roll wins.
these are the simplest rules I know of.

Green Tiger, that will be $1,999 USD

Ed, you really should put RRtK under "Ancient & Medieval" as well (not only with your fantasy products). I almost gave up looking for them when I didn't find them with the corresponding army lists.

RC, that is too close to DBA for my liking.
Thanks guys, I have Basic Impetus but wasn't sure about the basing and the need for stats but I'll give them a go I think. Might try the "Throw a six" ones too otherwise I'll just have to write my own…

link

This is a page where my mate has reviewed and tested lots of Ancient rules.

Have a look and see if anything takes your fancy😁

A vote for Neil Thomas Ancient & medieval Rules. They brought me back to Ancient wargaming and are full of interesting army lists and rules.

Olivero – Good idea and done! Thanks.

I play all of Neil Thomas (AMW), DBA, and Basic Impetus and I'm just having a look at L'Art de la Guerre … all simple, all work (no real turkeys out there these days …) it really depends on what you want …

Phil
Ancients on the Move

Ancients D6

link

Diocletian284, please note that Civitates bellantes is the ancient version of Comitatus: same author, same historical feel and smooth flow (and no, I am not in way related to the author or the rules – I just like them a lot)

I have been playing DBA for some years and have had enough of it.

I assume, since you have been playing for "some years," you are referring to DBA 2.2 or earlier.

For a quick ancients game using the same basing have you tried DBA 3.0 yet? Quite a different game to its predecessors, fast and brutal, DBA 3.0 got me back into the DBA world after finding earlier editions a bit bland. More dynamic play aside, the explanatory diagrams and army lists all in the one cover are a big improvement.

Sword & Spear is interesting – it's a clean and simple, yet complex system and holds a lot of promise. I recently posted a first impression on my if you'd like a quick rundown of the basic features: hookisland.wordpress.com/2015/12/15/first-impressions-sword-spear

Hail Caesar is also an option if you're more into the old school take on things.

Cae5er – been playing since 1st edition because my regular opponents like it. We had mercifully shelved it for a few years and it was the release of 3rd edition that has prompted a revival and this question because I actually think it is worse than the previous editions and I don't want to play it any more. My companions won't be that into rebasing or building new armies so a replacement has to be vaguely compatible. it also has to have one base = one unit for the same reason.

The game formerly known as DBA 2.2+?
And yes, I bought 3.0

Green Tiger, are you looking for rules that use your existing DBA-sized armies, but have a different tactical feel than DBA? What in DBA bothers you the most?

Among the rules suggested above, we've played and enjoyed Basic Impetus and Rally Round The King. These are very different from each other, but have good period "feel", and to my taste provide more immersion in the game, whereas DBA seems too abstract and sterile. I also like more volatility and uncertainty in wargames, and DBA combat is too predictable.

Basic Impetus are simple rules, but allow higher combat effectiveness in the first round to troops that charge in; for barbarian war bands, and Alexander's companions, this recreates the terror of a furious attack, and the results can be unpredictable. Roman infantry have a special rule to throw pila in combat, which is effective for them, but they use them just once in the game, and are slightly weaker in later combat without their pila. There are army lists on the website, but your group can play with your DBA armies which are similar size. Look at the BI army lists to get the combat ratings for your units. As vtsaogames says, you can treat each of your stands as a separate unit; you don't need them to be full sized if your group does not want to buy more miniatures.

Rally Round the King specifically uses 1 stand/unit like DBA, but the reaction system from Two Hour Wargames is very different from I go/you go turn sequence. When you move one of your units (or battle groups), your opponent makes a reaction test immediately, which may result in an aggressive reaction like counter charging your units, or timid reaction like falling back or running away. Ed can describe this better than I (by the way, he gives incredibly fast response to online orders). When you get used to it, the games play very fast and dynamic. One of the great things about the reaction system is playing all players on one side against an ambush like Teutoberger Wald, where the barbarians are hidden and controlled by their reaction tests. These are challenging and fun scenarios, but impractical to stage unbalanced games like this without the reaction system. The RRtK rules themselves don't include the hidden enemy and non-player reaction rules, but we grafted them on from THW's Muskets and Mohawks rules; Ed may suggest an alternative that may be easier to implement.