"How is Hail Caesar holding up?" Topic

I've noticed over the past few years an avalanche of new miniatures and rules for the Ancient period.

Hail Caesar came out in 2011 and my group played it quite a bit before moving out of Ancients for a while.

What's the feeling on it these days. We always thought it was enjoyable and pretty uncomplicated but I can't recall it being played at shows for a while and obviously not by us.

Is that representative? If so, is it fashion changing or "better" rules taking over?

We are about to dust them off again but what are the newer rules like? Not interested in the smaller, Skirmish style of play, so things like Saga etc are not for us.

Thoughts?

Anyone know who stocks Crooked Dice miniatures in the USA?

Does ANYONE stock Crooked Dice miniatures in the USA?

Rare 28mm game seen out in So California for HC. Our group plays Clash of Empires (COE) as we disliked several movement and control aspects of HC. Otherwise similar ex-WAB rules clone off.

For the Strongest seems to upcoming ancients rules set. Personally haven't seen a game yet but several linked blog authors have demo out the game and reported larger tabletop actions (AAR).

Have to agree re To the Strongest! For me they have brought the fun back into Ancients gaming. Even when I lose, which is most of the time!

Mollinary

I played HC at Adepticon and Little Wars last year. Saw quite a few other rules sets in action at Little Wars though. Ancients seems a fairly fragmented market still. We still play WAB occasionally.

This is so damn annoying. This is my third topic that has been hijacked by the bug in two weeks. And I've only attempted to post three times in the past two weeks.

For the record, Trajanus, I didn't post that in response to your topic.

Carry on.

I just started picking up Hail Caesar books. Our local group plays it. Most likely the maneuverability of units is too high but good enough for me. Don't remember seeing it at Fall-In if that is any indication.

Hail Caesar is still the most common game I play. Will be returning to Adepticon with a new HC game.

L'Art de le Guerre is is very good set for recreating historical battles in an enjoyable way. A lot of what you read about the rule set focuses on its competitive tournaments, but they are excellent friendly game rules. And Big Battle DBA also supplies a good experience, particularly with multiple players.

My club are still playing Hail Caesar but a few of us are switching to L'Art de le Guerre.

I would like to try To the Strongest! but don't own any grid mats and we use non standard table sizes.

I like it – have pretty much switched over from WarHammer Ancients

Thinking about trying To the Strongest – but probably not yet

I'm using Hail Caesar Rules. and really enjoy it

As always, comments are appreciated.

Take care

Andy

After trying a multitude of Ancients rules, I now mostly play To the Strongest! It is easy to pick up, and battles are exciting with a good feel. The army lists are free, and are well researched and presented. Best of all, players get to concentrate on tactics rather than fiddly rules and measuring.

I still enjoy Hail Caesar for very large multiplayer games, with each player commanding a ‘division' of 4-6 units. IMHO, these sorts of games are where HC truly shines. Based on postings I have seen on LAF and (before it went down) the Warlord Games forum, the popularity of HC still appears to be quite strong.

However, almost all of my gaming these days is one-on-one or solo. For these more moderately sized games, my favorite Ancients ruleset is now Swordpoint. With these rules I can easily command one or both armies, with around 8-10 units per side. The rules also can be ‘scaled up' for larger multiplayer games. I also much prefer the turn sequence and some of the other mechanics in Swordpoint to those found in HC.

I have never seen a game played at conventions in the SE USA.
I have sold a few packs of the Iberian minis but not much else.

I'll be playing Hail Caesar tonight in fact…

Yes I only play once at a con, I wish that GMs at Coldwars and Historicon would put a couple on.

Hail Caesar is a great game

arsbelli hit it on the head – head to head it's not as fun as DB(x) or Saga but for a group game it is pretty fun.

The main thing we find with it as as everything is so maneuverable you are best not to do a "lineup and fight" set up but start earlier in the battle before one or both sides deploys (this is also true of Pike and Shotte).

Some of the guys are playing with a house rule that you always get one move which can reduce the frustration of a 50/50 chance of failing a move roll.

As I want a unit based and not stand based game at this level Hail Caesar is still the better choice for a group of 6+ people.

Db(x) fun? I guess we have different ideas of what fun is! Saga is more semi-skirmish game so it doesn't really fall within the same scope as HC (apples and oranges thing.) I have friends who play HC and the games look great. We play Impetus which functions at the same level as HC and feel no need to switch systems.

I enjoy the game very much. It is my main system when I play ancients solo. The command system works very well for solo play. The possibility for blunders adds some unpredictability to the game.

Yes I only play once at a con, I wish that GMs at Coldwars and Historicon would put a couple on.

Look for the "Usual Suspects" at the cons. We normally put on a big game on a Saturday night. If we ask Bowman nicely (and bribe him with some wine), we MIGHT be able to persuade him to put on a Hail Caesar game.

Even of we don't do Hail Caesar, we normally do a Bolt Action game, maybe a Black Powder game or a Too Fat Lardies game. Either way – they're a blast to play in.

I know a couple of us are skipping Cold Wars this year due to other obligations so keep your eyes open as we get closer to Historicon.