"Best fast-play rules for ECW?" Topic

I'm building armies of 15mm figures with a figure ratio of around 20:1 for representing units (I like to see large numbers of figures crowding the table). I prefer simple, fast-play rules. Any advice would be appreciated.

We have played ECW using Baroque and I must say it's fast, simple and very fun.
I'd suggest to have a go at it.
Marco

Warmaster ECW. It is based on Warmaster fantasy with mods for the ECW.

We like Victory Without Quarter and its free!

link

You could try "Gott mit uns!", grid based for large battles for any basing or figure scale. Available on eBay.
Lance.

FoG-R works for our group.

You might consider "Regiment of Foote" by PP. They use the PP 6" grid , which speeds up play a lot. 4x3 foot table. I am reluctant to call them fast play as a game takes about 2 hours. ROF is a specific ECW set rather than a broader set of rules covering various stuff.
Lots of details about the ROF rules on the PP website.
Good luck in your quest.

Some good ones listed Baroque or Victory Without Quarter are good choices. You might look at Pike & Shotte as well.

"For God, King and Country". Card driven, easy play.

"Liber militum: Tercios". The "Kingdoms" expansion is out with army lists for the ECW and Eastern Europe.

DBR is not that slow nor all that complicated, as long as you have a familiarity with the DBx family. There is also the DBA-RRR variant which uses the DBAa rules with only a few modifications, and can be used for bigger battles as can DBA, which is therefore less complicated and speedier than DBR.

Most rule sets are slow and not "fast play" when the players are unfamiliar with them, and familiarity is an often-overlooked factor. That and lots of boring morale tests using long lists of factors that have to recalculated for each and every combat.

Cavaliers and Roundheads

Regimente of Foote for our group- although the original version rather than the gridded version (not that we don't like grids).

We're off to see Sir Fleming Nadger…..

Victory without quarter as said above. It is very good!

We've loved using Baroque for ECW.

I am not sure I found Victory Without Quarter "fast play" but that may have just been us. Perfectly good rules.

Cavaliers and roundheads. Back when things didn't take themselves too seriously, but they were fun- and believable with a little D6 tweaking!

I found 1644 to play quite quickly after a few runs, certainly much faster than Forlorn Hope that used to give me migraines if used for big battles (though great for smaller engagements more typical of ECW)

I second the 1644 recommendation.My favorite set of ECW rules…period!

Dear Dwilliams,

I have just published few adaptations in order to use Hott fore English Civil War (ECW) on my blog ( link ).
This is my choice of fast play ECW.
Kind regards,
Benoit

Thanks for posting those, Benoit. I like your ideas for reflecting the religious/superstitious beliefs of that era.

Surprised no one has put forward "File Leader" by Peter Berry.

Must say, that more than half of the rules suggested are not by any stretch of the imagination "fast-play" rules.

You could also try "One-Hour Wargames" and the renaissance set of rules in "Wargaming: An Introduction" by Neil Thomas. They need a bit of mechanical finishing to your taste, but they genuinely are fast play [especially One-Hour Wargames]. OHW also comes with 30 scenarios that will keep you busy for a long long time, each being a different nut to crack.

For King and Parliament (ECW version of To The Strongest).
A big battle plays through in a couple of hours. The combination of the grid and the cards really speeds up play.

We are playing FK&P now – it is by no stretch of the imagination a quick-play set of rules. It is intermediate complexity with many small rules and exceptions, and with 100 years of wargaming present at the table we are enjoying it but medium sized games take 3-4 hours.

Pvt Snuffy,

Very surprised by your comment. I admit I am one of the authors, but I played Marston Moor with 100 plus units, and six players, only one of whom was familiar with the rules, one had played an early play test version, and four of whom had never played the rules before, in just over four hours. Normal sized games (12-15 units a side) take two hours or so. What is it that you are finding so time consuming? Happy to help, if I can.

Pvt Snuffy,

Further to my last, I put on Marston Moor again at a big show here in UK last weekend, Partizan at Newark. Eight players this time, with myself umpiring, over 3,000 10mm figures on the table. Played to a decisive Parliamentarian victory in three and a quarter hours. Parliamentarians rook all 64 Royalist victory medals while losing 54 of their own. The average experience of FK&P among the players was three games.