"Back to gaming with new Ancients Rules" Topic

After a few years break from gaming I have been drawn back to the hobby by the new ancients ruleset, , ! from TooFatLardies. I have enjoyed several other of their rulesets in the past and think that the size and style of action will suit me well. Large skirmishes on the frontiers of the Roman Empire really appeal to me along with the asymmetric dynamic of discipline verses fervour. Videos of the action seem really flavourful and full of interesting command decisions.

I already have some Early Imperial Romans and Britons from Warlord but am thinking I will ultimately do Germans, Gauls and Caesarian Romans as well so I will have lots of variety. I'm tempted to go with Victrix figures but I think they are quite large in comparison to my Warlord ones. Wargames Foundry might be nearer the mark although they are quite pricey compared to plastics.

Which other manufacturers are worth considering please, particularly those that are a good size fit with my existing Warlord ones?

I'm really excited to try this ancients game with a difference.

Not sure what happened there, "snip, snip!" should read " , !". I wasn't swearing, I promise!

Apparently Bill doesn't like the rules?

You might be better off asking for figure recommendations elsewhere (maybe the TFL forum/FB pages for ‘those rules') as this thread is likely to be edited out.

There's several different explanations why TFL and TMP have fallen out it seems, but both parties are the poorer for it.

This looks like a sock puppet to me.

yeah I wouldn't mention TFLs here at the moment…..rather a lot of bad blood (its all rather silly but it seems to have escalated into a lot of nastiness). You are better off just asking for figure size comparisons and drop the TFL references.

Who is Bill, is he a moderator?

Are the words ", !" offensive in some way that I have missed?

I certainly did not want to offend anyone, I'm just really excited to be getting back into the hobby with what promises to be a fantastic and rather different set of rules.

If he is a socket puppet he had some real fore thought in setting up an account in 2011…

Ah ok, thanks for the replies. I'm a slow typer!

I don't think I'm a sock puppet, although I don't really know what one is!

That's a shame if TMP and TFL have fallen out, they were both a big part of my gaming up until my hiatus.

344 posts suggests Thorfin is legit, give him a break 🙂

But while we're still able, to answer the original question: for Germans, definitely go for Foundry, still some of the nicest figures out there and worth the price. I also hear lots of good things about Aventine Miniatures but I don't have any myself – like you, it's a long time since I played Ancients and even then it was mainly 15mm

I have been looking at , . Look like an interesting set of rules.Bit childish if TMP are going down this path.

Thanks on both counts Basha. I am rather confused about all this but thanks for the Foundry recommendation. I love their figures and I think I know in my heart that's the way I want to go, I just have to justify it to myself.

I shall be very disappointed if I cannot talk about TFL and their rules on this site. They had become a significant part of my gaming and the people I met seemed a really friendly and welcoming community. My young daughter and I once played in a tremendous Imaginations game of Sharp Practice run by Rich Clarke himself.

For anyone not sure what is going on just read the thread "Stop Please Stop", further down the front page, on Peter Pig being harassed.

Honestly neither TMP or TFLs are coming out of this looking particularly good. More shitty is the fact innocent companies like Peter Pig and North Star are getting harassed over what is essentially a falling out between two people.

Prince Rupert/Thorfin

There's a more balanced thread entitled "what's the problem with posting about certain rules" – or something like that – in the TMP Talk section, if anyone really wants to see how this sorry situation developed.

That the owner of Peter Pig feels somehow threatened by some abusive emails is, of course, very sad, and there's always a few idiotic keyboard warriors who go too far, but I'm a bit surprised (but pleased)there's been none of the usual "grow a backbone/don't be a snowflake" comments one might usually see in response to such a post.

All very unpleasant and totally unnecessary IMHO.

Plenty of choice for Romans, Gauls, Germans etc…

Victrix definitely seem to have the edge when it comes to plastic ranges but as you say they do tend to the large size and probably wont fit in with Foundry metals of Warlord's ranges.

I have the same dilemma as I have existing forces using Wargames Factory and Warlord but for my sins also own Ancient Spanish by Victrix.

Foundry. Germans are awesome.

Thank you bruntonboy. Maybe if my Barbarians are Victrix and my Romans are Foundry, the size difference can be explained away fairly easily. Of course it's the weapon sizes that can throw that approach off.

I'm not that keen on gluing models together but the opportunity of creating lots of diverse poses for the Barbarians is very attractive.

Oooh, yes. I see what you mean D6 Junkie. There are lots of them too so plenty of inbuilt diversity. Maybe they're a better fit for my modelling skills, if not my wallet!

Am I right in thinking that Gauls and Britons had a lot of crossover/similarities so that some of my figures could be used for both forces?

Basha Felika@ I deliberately turned off TMP Talk years ago to avoid these dramas and I find TMP a decent place to visit since then. This current one crept through onto my front page because of the Peter Pig thread. Normally I try to just ignore the spats that come up.

Right getting this back to the OP have you looked at crusader miniatures ancients they have some lovely Germans?

link

I think it's funny censoring the name of the rules. That's funny.

Because anyone can just google Lardy ancients rules and see the name of the game. Bill hasn't deleted the thread.

I think Bill is being funny. I like rivalries that are funny.

Oh yeah Thornin. I tend to use my barbarians in various armies. I make sure that the front bases are spot on then the rear bases a bit of mixing generic.

I won't be buying their products due to ALL this.

Am I right in thinking that Gauls and Britons had a lot of crossover/similarities so that some of my figures could be used for both forces?

Both came from Celtic back grounds so there are over laps.

The Gauls tend to have more armour but don't get Chariots like the British and they fight differently to each other in the rules.

My regular opponent is making up an army for both by interchanging Vitrix figures – sort of like a two for one deal!

Thank you Basha Felika! I found the thread and at one point the snip snip name wasn't covered and suddenly it all made sense.

! ! is that the rules?

Question: why is that word being bleeped?

altfitz,

Take this as friendly advice. For the value of your mental health you really do not want to know.

It has nothing to do with Gaming and Ancients and will not improve your life one iota.

If you remember that Greek woman and her box, keep the lid shut!

The rules in question will be all over printed wargames media in the coming months anyway.

If he is a socket puppet he had some real fore thought in setting up an account in 2011…

Pure sock puppet.

Account unused since 2014, just happens to be reactivated today?

Question: why is that word being bleeped?

Because TMP has been the subject of a harassment campaign for a week now, at the hands of certain Too Fat Lardies fans who will not respect our forum rules against making commercial announcements.

Further to this, Too Fat Lardies is now orchestrating a campaign to 'cancel' TMP by pressuring our advertisers to abandon us.

As a consequence of this campaign, TMP staffers and myself have been subject to a nasty series of online attacks, many on the TFL forum itself, including homophobic and anti-religious bigotry. Facebook removed a post from the TFL Facebook feed as Hate Speech.

I find it fascinating that a company that is trying to do so much publicize a new set of rules in a scorch and burn campaign with TMP … and then keeps trying to share the word here.

Well, Thorfin did say he'd taken a break from gaming for several years, and had 344 posts to his name, so that's pretty deep cover for a sock puppet?

Hope he's not a genuine gamer who's just been caught in the crossfire

Prince Rupert, funnily enough I did just look at Crusader – maybe a bit ‘chunkier' than those lovely Foundry models but I am tempted.

Basha Felika@ Crusader are designed by MarK Sims who learnt his trade at Foundry I believe. I do like Crusader miniatures they are very paintable, nice clean lines, not to many extra details just good solid wargames miniatures.

I have played quite a few ancients rules including, DBA, Ancient Warfare, Warhammer Ancients, , !, Song of Blades and Heroes, Fields of Glory, and DBMM. They all have plus and minus aspects.

Strange that Infam y, Infam y! got snipped!

I wonder if "Day of " will get snipped?

It did. How can we now quote one of President Roosevelt's most famous quotes ?
"There's no difference between fame and now. There's a new school of professional famous people that don't do anything. They don't create anything."

"When I plummeted into in the Calgary Olympics, I never thought that a film would be made about my life" Eddie the Eagle

"It is better to go down in than to never go down at all". Jack Bowman

"More precious is want with honesty than wealth with ." Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford

Well, Thorfin did say he'd taken a break from gaming for several years, and had 344 posts to his name, so that's pretty deep cover for a sock puppet?

Hope he's not a genuine gamer who's just been caught in the crossfire

If he's an innocent and its a coincidence, he can always chat with Editor Gwen and get reinstated.

There's a pattern of people who left TMP for some reason in the past, then reactivate their accounts years later just to make snarky attacks.

Prince Rupert, I agree : the Crusader sculpting style is a lot kinder to us amateur painters than many other ranges!

Pity Thorfin is no longer with us to discuss – he seemed OK. If he was an ordinary punter rather than some deep cover sleeper agent for an unknown enemy, he's joined the ranks of disgruntled ex-TMPers now – not even given a chance to explain himself, it seems.

It is hard to believe we are just talking about a war-gaming product? TFL or rather their fans do have a history of this conduct. I remember when Little Wars TV had the nerve to publish an average review about chain of command they were flooded with negative comments insulting the reviewers' integrity.Bill has done well here, if they wont pay for advertising why let them flood the forum with posts which are thinly disguised free ads?

Back on subject Foundry's Ancient Germans are bigger than their older figures and should fit in with victrix.

Put the hobby first.

Please step away from the vortex.

Pity Thorfin is no longer with us to discuss – he seemed OK. If he was an ordinary punter rather than some deep cover sleeper agent for an unknown enemy, he's joined the ranks of disgruntled ex-TMPers now – not even given a chance to explain himself, it seems.

Understandably, all of us here have itchy trigger fingers right now. You have no idea what we have to deal with on a daily basis from certain abusive fans.

But he certainly has a chance to explain himself. He can always chat with Editor Gwen. She'll probably send him an email soon, but she's backed up with work due to the current situation.

Just remember, Bill, the old adage that someone who experiences good service tells one other person, while those who have a bad experience tell ten.

Those of us in any consumer facing business don't have the luxury of having an itchy trigger finger – there's too much at stake. I was at the dinner when Gerald Ratner destroyed his business with one ‘humorous' comment (look it up, it's a great story, unless you're Gerald).

With hindsight, whatever the pressure, might have been better to have quietly ‘had words' with Thorfin to check him out without blocking him, just in case he's legitimate – as a punter he has nothing to prove or justify to anyone (unless what you want as a business is a private, fee-paying club, in which case it's a different matter).

As things stand, it's conceivable there's now a Scottish Wargamer, just returned to the hobby and all enthused about it, who's spoken knowledgeably about the figures he's got etc, who is now telling 20 mates how badly he's been treated by the Editor at TMP – what's the point in that?

Yep on the other hand his heading, first sentence and last sentence were praise for a set of rules He's never played. No "has anyone played these they look fun?"

There has been an incredible unprecedented amount of pre-launch publicity across social media, anticipating the release of these rules and he seems to have been caught up in it.

If they get lapsed gamers involved again, that's great, it'll just be a shame if they are remembered more for this unseemly dispute than their quality, but I think that won't be the case – we gamers have short memories.

Pretty sure the question asked has been answered in other threads on this site and similar. Victrix has been around a couple of years now and there are many size comparison reviews of them and other manufacturers.

From what I've seen recently, the Victrix size is quite common – Crusader, newer Foundry, Warlord Games plastics, Gripping Beast, the new Wargames Atlantic, Aventine, Agema etc are all within this size range.

As an aside, BTD Germans are lovely too.

Marcus Brutus, I agree but the likelihood of your BTD order actually being shipped is low, which makes them much less attractive, sadly!

Do BTD still make ancients other than Romans?

We have heard from Thorfin. He's not a troll, he's one of the good guys! He fit the "pattern" of the trolls, but it was a false positive. We've apologized to him and unlocked his account.

Good news, welcome back Thorfin!

December 7th, 1941. A day that will live in snip.