"Best Simple Ruleset?" Topic

What is the best miniature wargaming ruleset which is also simple?

Junior General has rules for multiple periods and they are all somewhat similar. they are designed to use as a teaching aid with students so simple and straight forward.

Oh yeah and free!

The Sword and the Flame.

One Page Fantasy Skirmish by John David Slor
2/3 page actually, the other third has campaign and scenarios.
Gather a batch of figures, Dr. Who, Vikings whatever. Match the stats- have fun.
Crossfire Arty Conliffe- WW2.
On to Richmond- Paul Koch ACW- watch out for the house rules.

Hmmm… If I had to choose 1, it would be Crossfire.

One Hour Wargames by Neil Thomas. Simple, multiple scenarios, multi-era, and great fun.

Volley and Bayonet plays very simply.

DBA
TSATF

Hmm. I'd have put OTR and TSATF at moderate complexity, and "Rules by Ral" and "Charge! for Dummies" as simple--an upper limit of four typed pages. And if I had to pick one, it would be CFD.

The Portable Wargame by Bob Cordery

A Fistful of Lead. War Engine / Shock Force.

Those one or two page rulesets that a member here maintains. Very good stuff.

If DBA makes the cut for simple, then DBA.

If not, everything by Neil Thomas with a special thumbs up for his Simplicity in Practice from Battlegames 23.

Volley & Bayonet…
DBA

Joe Collins

Another vote for Bob Cordery's Portable Wargame.

Charge! can be played from memory after a game or two. Period tactics flow from the rules rather than being forced upon the player.

Napoleonic Wargaming for Fun if you are looking for a bit of simple simulationism from skirmish to army level gaming.

A most interesting thread with very good suggestions. Agree on volley and bayonet.

I would also like to suggest the Fife and Drum miniatures rule sets. The ones on Seven Years War and Rev War are very good. I had adapted them for War of 1812 and they provide a very nice game. I would also like to add David Raybin's Charge of The Light Brigade rules. Great game, easy to learn.

Isn't that true of many rulesets once you know them though?
I rarely look stuff up when running sg2ww2.
Even rules which involve complicated tables with column shifting and whatnot can be fairly simple to play.
So long as the tables fit on a few quick reference cards, looking up stuff can be fairly simple.

One Hour Wargames or Portable Wargame. Elegant designs, easy to get beginners to play, and very adaptable.

One Hour Wargames, by Neil Thomas mst definitely. or Pz8 portfolio of free rules for several periods.

Brom's rules as written and variants by the Jackson
Gamers (ACW, Colonial, AWI, WWII low-level (platoon
versus Platoon) infantry, Old West, Napoleonic, Ancients
(Romans versus Gauls).

DBA
Tsatf

Must agree with the One Hour Wargames book.

If I was to lose everything, gaming wise, this would be my first thing to replace.

Fubar.

The Rules According to Ral.

Wins by miles!

Fife and Drum AWI and SYW rules by Der Alte Fritz.
They are the 'best' simple rules I've played.

Loose Files and American Scramble are also fun and simple.

DBA

Empire…

KISS Rommel.

Simple can mean many different things to different people, and 'best' is very subjective, I doubt a consensus will be reached in this topic!

We used to display our plastic soldiers then shoot rubber bands at them….

DBA

The Song of Blades series is one of my faves for its simplicity while still offering diverse games.

I haven't tried it yet but the various FUBAR rules look like a lot of fun.

DBA
Space Hulk

Dba is not simple for the first time reader. I have played it since 1991 and still get confused :-)

If someone had a teacher it would be fantastic as a simple game. It is the best wargame rules around.

My local group which has teenagers as well as adults Thinks that Ganesha Are quite easy to learn, if that's what simple means. We have picked up song of advanced blades and heroes, flashing steel, flying lead, chariot racing, quite easily

To the strongest

DBA is proably about as simple as it gets before becoming no more than just a games. Even then I would not consider it as a particularly good example of a war game. DBM is to me, about as simple as it gets while being a credible wargame. Mush less and its draughts with minis.

Well, I'd have to go with Quick Intermediate Level Skirmish (QILS). In several years, I have only once seen one plyer try to play the rules instead of the scenario (which makes a game good in my estimate) – he lost poorly. Other than that, people talk tactics of the situation instead of the rules after about three turns (which makes it simple in my book).

I agree on One Hour Wargames being the first thing I'd replace, especially for its scenarios. Also another vote for Corderey's Portable Wargames.

DBA. Of course it is confusing, but simple.

Simple seems to be in the eye of the beholder(s), at times. Based on what some "wants" from a wargame.

Square-bashing

Kiss Rommel, Crossfire, Volley and Bayonet, Charge.

I put an ultra simple version of DBX in Knights and Knaves. As simple as Neil Thomas' 1 hour wargames but expandable into a full medieval modernized DBX game.

I taught my then 8 year old son the basics of DBX using the basic game in A Game of Knights and Knaves and he's gone on to win DBA tournaments (but still greatly prefers Knights and Knaves).

Thomas J. Thomas
Fame and Glory Games

One Hour Wargames
The Portable Wargame

Voted other as Neil Thomas rules are the b st I found for a simple introduction

TSATF