ANCIENTS VOTING RESULTS:
Favorite Rules - Warhammer Ancient Battles

Fought my son James (12) to a standstill with my Byzantines against his Vikings using Warhammer Ancient Battles. A small encounter battle with no terrain, 1000 points, using the fantastic Gripping Beast figures. This was a major ploy by me to wean him off ridicuosly expensive 40K gaming (because I pay for it). He loves ancients now and we plan early Imperial Rome versus Ancient Brits armies next; now for his little friends.... [19 May 1999]

Roman vs Egyptian/Roman in a semi desert battle with low hills and asingle oasis. The Egyptians were flanked and crushed by two chorts before their Roman alllies coud interven. [03 Jun 1999]

We played 2000 pts. Warhammer Anients battle, Carthagian vs. Alexander. [14 May 1999]

The last game wasn't Entirely Historical. I pitted my Late Roman Army (15mm) against my friend's, Rick's, Early Imperial Roman Army. We played using Warhammer Ancients Battles. It looked as if I might have an easy victory (with the use of Hun allies; they are great in this set) until one of my legions failed moral. At that point most of my army followed. [4 Apr 99]

Using Warhammer Ancient Battles at club. Imperial Romans vs Byzantine. [3 Apr 99]

persian vs indian. that persian 'spara' formation is formidable! a few people (including jervis) have said they think elephants are too powerful, i disagree my ellies suufer badly from massed bow fire and tend too run, sorry 'stampede' off the table carrying my boss with them argh! [31 Mar 99]

British Celts v's Roman. Romans set up on a hill facing Britons across a clear vally. Britons had left their chariots behind but pushed on regardless. kept advancing then charged up hill. On the left flank the British cav outnumbered the Roman cav 2-1 but still went down in a screaming heap ruining the expected envelopment. In the center the impetuous charge of the warbands broke one cohort but couldn't catch in persuit the other cohort held firm. On the British right flank skirmishers kept each other busy. Next turn the Broken Cohort rallied only to be charged again, this time they held Roman cav returned to main battle charging a warband in the flank causing the warband to rout never to return. The skirmishers kept doing their duty however the second warband was surrounded and broken causing a general withdrawl. In the end more Romans than Britons died however the Romans were left holding the field. But we shall return thistime with ye olde British panzer brigade. [31 Mar 99]

Warhammer Ancients: Roughly 3000 points Normans vs. Later Sassanids.

WAB was selected as my favorite largely because of the numerous problems with the remainder of the rules currently available. The ideal set of rules for me would combine the best elements of WRG 7th and DBM. WAB is not ideal, but at least it is enjoyble to play. Overall it it probably too much of a step back in terms of simplicity, but as said, it is fun. The ideal set of rules should be unit based (not element based), incorporate fatigue into shooting and combat, and have some limitation on command and control (DBM does a good job at this). The rules in turn should not require a fixed number of units per army or a fixed army list per army. Finally the ideal rules should be clearly written (i.e., not written by Phil Barker), and have a well organized index that allows quick resolution of questions as they arise, and should not have an excesivley complicated series of modifiers to any combat, shooting, or morale resolution. [30 Mar 99]

Warhammer Ancient Battles 1200 points of Late Romans vs. 1500 points of Franks. The Romans had to transport a convoy of 8 wagons from one side of the board to the next. The Franks had to capture at least 4 wagons and to win. It was a simple solitaire scenario. The idea was based on a scenario in the Courier for Napoleon's retreat from Moscow. The terrain was lightly wooded up to one point near the Roman exit point, that was heavily wooded.

At the heavily wooded area was a concentration of 800 points of Franks. The remanider could appear at any point before the woods when a d6 was rolled. The dice weren't with the Franks. Too few appeared before the heavy woods to do any damage.

Before the Romans reached the heavy woods, they deployed, all the cavalry surrounding the wagons. The Roman Auxiliary infantry and archers deployed on the flanks.

The Franks charged from the woods, bad dice again, and the Roman cavalry and wagons counter charged. The convoy punched a hole in the Franks and continued down the road. The Roman auxiliary inf and archers repulsed the Franks charge. The game was over.

I was hoping that the Franks would have attacked the convoy before the woods to weaken the Romans. This didn't happen. [30 Mar 99]