"new to ancients- solo rules suggestions?" Topic

Hello, first of all. This is my first post, though I have been lurking these venerable forums for longer than I care to mention. They have been a wonderful resource for me over the years when starting new projects. So, my very sincere thanks to everyone here.

I have been painting a considerable amount of 1/72 bronze age figures lately. Mycenaeans, Sea Peoples, and Sumerians (to fight amongst themselves). From the looks of things, there are enough painted to start thinking about basing and playing some games.

I am completely new to ancients. I have over the years acquired and read DBA 3.0, WAB (1st edition) and Hail Caesar, but I have yet to play any of these. I am also aware that there are a vast amount of other ancients rulesets available, and though I enjoy reading them, I cannot read them all and, at the same time, remain a member of society.

I will admit to being overwhelmed by choice and, as a result, reluctant to proceed.

I am asking for advice on selecting a ruleset/rulesets. I have always been exclusively a solo player, I enjoy playing both sides of a game, using rules as written, and also inserting homebrew solo mechanics for taste, so I do not require a specifically solo-oriented ruleset. I prefer that the rules are not written with tournament/competition play in mind.

Also, I am working with approx. 120 figures in each army, I am not yet certain if I will expand these armies. My personal history tells me that I will probably expand them, though. So, preferably something that will allow me to utilize most of what I've painted with room for possible expansion, but I have not yet decided on the scale of battles/skirmishes I intend to fight. Also, I don't mind complex rules, as long as the results are worthwhile. Though, as a solo player, there is a limit to what I can reasonably keep track of.

So, what is your opinion? If your circumstances were the same, what would you go with?

I thank you in advance. It is likely that I will not reply to this post, but I will read and consider any comment. Any advice is greatly appreciated.

To the Strongest is a very good rules set. This is my preferred rules set for ancients and medievals.

Hello J
The usual answer will be "What do the locals play?'.
However as a solo player you have infinite freedom.
Before you buy try to find a battle report for a good read.

You might consider Conquerors and Kings (CK)
link

Free resources, complete rules description and plenty of videos. That is very rare.

CK uses zones, which helps with randomising opponent movement.
This means you can create set responses e.g "If faced with opponent zone with 5 or more D6 superiority= fall back 1 zone". e.g "if own zone contains veteran troops roll a D6(for each veteran present) and = 5,6 they must charge the opponent zone.

If you can make up about 10 set responses with some random element you wil get a better solo game.

CK needs about 120-160 figures, Units are 3 bases. Armies about 18 units.

Good wishes for your search.

martin

I'll second To the Strongest as a solo set. Played on a grid there is no tricksy manoeuvring, and with card activation (I prefer chits) not everything you try will work.

I don't play solo, so can't really recommend a set.

But I would recommend joining the Society of Ancients, signing up to the Society's online Forum, and exploring the Rule System Discussions sub-forum. Perhaps start at link

+1 To the Strongest

Also, in TtS a unit is typically 1 or 2 (occasionally) 3 bases. So 120 figures at 6 figure per base gives you 20 bases – plenty to play a game with.

Also, the game uses squares. I use 6' squares to fill a 6x8 table. 3" squares is 4x6 and you can go even smaller. Great if your space is limited aqnd you want to elave a game set upa while.

Rebel Minis Press offers "Rally Round the King" built on the Two Hour Wargames reaction system. The core rules are for fantasy, but a set of historical army lists are also available. The rules are designed with solo play in mind. Not everyone enjoys the reaction system mechanics. I think you can download a free rules set for skirmish using the basic mechanisms from Two Hour Wargames.

For Late Bronze Age games I very much enjoy "Homeric Hack" with is designed specifically for the Trojan War, and "Holy Hack" which covers the "Biblical" period of Ancients. Both give good games, and I think capture the feel of the period. Holy Hack includes rules for heroic champions as well as the rank and file troops. Homeric Hack is one of my favorite rules sets.

Stick with DBA 3.0. I've been playing DBA solo for years.

+1 for Rally Round the King. Uses DBX-like elements so the armies will work fine with most other sets these days as well.

If you look around at the Rebel Minis Press/ Two Hour Wargames family, "Rally Round the King" is designed for large armies, but other rules are designed for a shipload of raiders, and still others for just a handful of warriors. The rules have a lot in common, so you could switch from one level to another, depending on how you feel that day.

There are battle boards out on the internet for Mycenaean era games with 1st edition Saga (if you are familiar with that).

Read about a "Hail, Caesar" chariot war game here: TMP link

Grelber

I would also vote for To The Strongest, the grid and card activation system lend themselves to solo play well.

+1 to RRtK, DBA y to the strongest.

Another +1 for Rally Round the King.

Another +1 for Rally round the King.

DBA, DBM, DBMM, Fields of Glory, To the Strongest, Sword and Spear.
All use the same basing, so you can try them with your figures.
All work well solo

If you don't mind playing very simple and generic rules; I use One Hour Wargames with 1/72 Sumerians, Egyptian and Sea Peoples, the book has solitaire rules and the scenarios give interesting situations, different from the usual frontal clash of armies.

Ano0ther vote for To the Strongest! The cad activation makes it especially suitable (and enjoyable) for solo play, can scale the size of the table, grid, and units up or down as you like, Games usually finish within 3 hours unless very large, and there is always a definite result. You can even use Duice instead of cards, if you must! :-)

I play quite a few different ancient rules, but do not play solo. That being said, I can see how To The Strongest (TTS) works well as a solo game. I know one member of our group used TTS solo during COVID.

Triumph!

I have a variant of One Hour Wargames for the late Bronze Age but you will need the book to understand
link