"Big Battle Fantasy rules" Topic

I've taken out my Late Roman & Hun/Goth armies to look at.
As only a 'Proud father" can say, they're lovely. They're mostly Tumbling Dice figures – 22 units a side. Not small forces.

Be that as it may, they don't get much use. I originally started them with a mind to creating some home-groan rules. TBH, this never worked very well. I bought 'War & Conquest' but it operates on a level of detail I don't like. In the few games I had with them, I think more stats & mechanisms were forgotten than actually used.
I've used them in a couple of 36 point Lion Rampant games (the figs are individually mounted & on unit movement trays) but, after all, my pals & I all have medieval LR forces to use.

I'm quite taken by Hail Caesar to use with my Bronze Age armies, so I could use them here – 4 "brigades" a side with 4-5 units per brigade.
I'm sure this will work & will organise a game in a few weeks to try it out.

However, it occurred to me that there might also be an answer in fantasy. Obviously not exactly, but the 2 armies have a certain Lord of the Rings vibe – the Late Roman forces of "Good", all regimented versus the chaotic Huns (who do look a bit orchish) & their human thralls, the Goths.
Clearly, there are no monsters, or wizards in my forces. But, maybe, they could come later, if things worked out?

But, is there a fantasy rule set that meets the parameters of my existing forces? I am not going to re-base or even change movement trays (they are all roughly the same width – 1 unit fights 1 unit). Something of the simplicity of Hail Caesar? Something that can ignore the gaps in my collection & use everything I currently have ie Big Battle games?

NB I am not a fantasy gamer. Yet?

Suggestions welcome.

I think these rules were written with your idea in mind.

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Warmaster Revolution rules may work.

But you would need to change the rules for the 3 stand units to one stand.
Maybe fresh, tired, and exhausted. The command and control is very good also.
3D armies are cheap and plentiful. Rules and army lists are free too.
Are your troops 28mm? The rules are for 10mm which you would need to change.

Thanks, Jim. Possibly too many changes for what I want.
My figs are 1/72:
url=https://postimg.cc/crbxj6Q1]

Someone somewhere else recommended Midguard. Not out yet but the website seems to offer promise.

Kings of War would be compatible with movement tray-based armies. You might need to jiggle the relative size of units to match the size of your trays. Another option is the big battle for GW's Middle Earth game, the War of the Ring supplement battle game.

Element-based systems like Warmaster or Piquet's Hostile Realms could still be doable with movement trays, because although these systems show formations by rearranging the (smaller) bases making up each "unit," you could use your trays and just find a different way to handle this.

Not Fantasy, but have you looked at To the Strongest? Basing neutral, plays in a grid.

DBA has a big battle version that could work.
The exact name escapes me.

The big brother of DBA is DBM, De Bellis Multitudinis

If you want a fantasy game that has everything in it, including the kitchen sink, I would recommend 2e BattleSystem: generic for figures -- any will do; rules for organized units (skirmishers, irregulars, and close formation types); covers sieges, flying creatures, mining, and more; Morale is king, Baby; bucket-O-dice game, rolling a d4-d12, for each figure fighting (I get to justify my dice collection -- and actually roll 50+ dice at once, for a single attack, when I have a line of 50 figures attacking!).

It is a mass battles rules set, where each figure traditionally represents 10 men/creatures/monsters, Man-sized or smaller, and giant creatures are 1:1 per figure. It has a dated, but still useful, basic painting and terrain guide. It covers formations, charges, special rules for magic, and Undead. Magic is good, but it won't win the game for anyone, by itself. Heroes make a difference, but they will not win the game for the owning player, either, just like Magic: they help, but they are not overpowered.

The PDF is $4.99USD‌, while hardcopies (softcover book) are still available on e-Bay. I've been playing this game since 1992. Still my favorite for a variety of reasons, but mostly it is so adaptable: I've made up stats for my own unit types, based on the rules of the book, and they play well (Goblins riding Giant Bat Cavalry -- not in the book, but oh, so much fun to play with using stats configured per the rulebook…). The game is an absolute blast to play with large groups of players, as things move faster with more hands to push figures around. It plays well with just two players, but larger games take longer for the players to push their figures across the tabletop!

The business card pieces of paper in the photos, above, are the Rosters for each Unit. Halfway through that game, I asked the players to rely upon the colored plastic tubules marking each base, for unit identification, requesting they remove the roster cards. I will no longer allow players to clutter up the tabletop with the cards. Wish I had requested that immediately, before the game really got underway: 1,200+ figures, total, 30+ Units between both sides, 10 players pushing figures (five players per side), and I ref'd -- amazingly good time was had by all, including me… Everyone asked to be invited to the next game -- huzzah! Cheers!

After seeing your bases I second GW's Middle Earth game, the War of the Ring supplement battle game.

Fantastic Battles allows us to fight large fantasy battles, 30-40 units per side, basing is not important, thinking about reserves and rallying is!

Tally Ho!

Yeah Fantastic Battles is a great set of rules! Dragon Rampant is aslo scaleable.

Thanks

John

Another vote for the War of the Rings big battle rules!
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Hordes of the Things – fantasy version of DBA

Sword and Spear Fantasy set would work well. It integrates a clever game system from the historical set with some really interesting fantasy concepts. The magic is fairly high level so only a few specific spell types. The focus is on effect rather than process. There is place for heroes and monsters. I think the system works well for the low magic environment of Middle Earth. I am using it for LoTR gaming.

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Try either Battlesystem or if you have 1e or 2e AD&D just use it, by using average hitpoints, a hand full of d20's and go at it, simple easy and Ive done it with 700 or 800 miniatures on the table, workd great. A person can do Historical or Fantasy just as easily with those rules.