"Warmaster in a Bathtub" Topic

Has anyone experimented playing Warmaster where only one unit per order is the standard i.e. no 'brigade' orders?

Armies could well be smaller, cheaper to collect and playable in a smaller tabletop.

Warmaster is already low cost.

If you want less activations, perhaps having only brigades with attached characters move. Downside is they can not command other units. Many game systems use this.

Hope this helps?

Brigade orders when they are successful are fun— they move the battle along quickly.
Brigade orders when they fail are abysmal… yet the game moves along even more quickly, because now it's the other player's turn!

I like lots of units on the board, so a one order per character rule makes that untenable— the odds mean the bulk of an army won't ever move in any given turn. The brigade system allows for a greater probability of the entire army moving, or at least a significant portion.

Right now I often play a doubled-sized Battle of Five Armies with 150+ stands on the board— 32 units of goblins/wargs, plus 6 goblin characters vs. 19 "Free Folk" units and 5 hero characters. I've run this at NashCon for 3 years. Takes up a single 4-hour slot, same as any other game, and every time it's reached a decisive and clear conclusion, with almost all units of both sides becoming involved in the fight. (I think maybe once a unit of goblins didn't move close enough to be engaged, but that appears to have been a fluke.)

My total investment in the above is less than $100 USD, as I got the original set on clearance (half off) and the second set from a private sale/trade at roughly the same value. Paint & glue costs were minimal.

I also have some standard Warmaster armies— Orcs & Goblins, Dwarves, also less than $100 USD (again, another clearance sale). And in a trade, two massive armies of Empire and Chaos forces that I've yet to paint or play. Again, way less than $50 USD in trade costs to me.

And I've filled out my Bo5A and O&G and D forces with Kallistra and Copplestone 10mm fantasy not-LotR sets, which I consider very reasonable— another $100 USD?

All of this is over twenty years or so, so it's not like it came in one big purchase.

So, yeah, I think Warmaster as is can be quite reasonable in cost. Plenty of 10mm and 6mm or even 15mm manufacturers out there which can fill the bill for not much dosh. (Warmaster is ostensibly 10mm, but really almost any smaller scale will work.)

I am thinking more about 60 minutes of playing time and a 4 foot square table at best.

I have sold all my original Warmaster armies for several hundreds of UK Sterling which was way more than the original cost.

I am basically starting over again and have a limited number of years left. So smaller armies are a plus.

Human Chaos and Ogre armies go light on units (pt cost per units are high) so less units to buy and paint.

A 2' x 2' table works with little or no terrain. It does limit the games that can be played.

Look at Kallistra for cheap equivalents.

Or Forest Dragon offers a line of STL files for 3D printing your own not-Warmaster armies. Sometimes local libraries have "maker spaces" with 3d printers if you don't otherwise have access to them. You may also be able to find already printed versions.

Good luck!

Look over all the options. My ancients are 6mm on 40mm wide stands--so 16 formed infantry per base--and play "Big Battle DBA" with 36 bases on a 2'X 4' table. Presumably some elements of HOTT could be imported.

Not running down Warhammer, of which I've heard nice things. But sometimes you want to look at using systems designed for a table size instead of tweaking the game. Tweaked games sometimes tweak back.

Playing Warmaster on a smaller scale is fun and can save players time and money. The same goes for block blast which requires you to consider tactics and arrange them properly to achieve the best results.