"CLASSICAL HACK" Topic

Hello,

I'm searching for some more informations about the ruleset classical hack. I searched the board and read the article in the rules directory but I still don't know much about the game mechanics.
I'm new to historical gaming, but played several years Warhammer Fantasy and other Fantasy stuff. I'm searching for a rule set with much period flavour. First I bought the Warrior rules, because I heard that they are detailed and simulate well ancient warfare, but I have to admit, that they are perhaps a bit to complex to learn them alone without help.
I'm from Germany so my English is far from perfect so it would took a long time to learn the rules.
Classical hack sounds interesting but if you have other recomdentions for an ancient rule set with period flavour I welcome that too.

Dear Dickerdieb (is that Fat thief?),

Asking what ancient ruleset would be recommended on the Ancients page of TMP is going to give you a confusing multitude of answers. Some things to consider:

1) Looking for a ruleset with "much period flavour". What flavour was the ancient or Classical times? That's a long time period. This is very subjective and I'm afraid you are going to be the best judge of what "flavour" you want. What I may think of as a flavourful rule, someone else thinks is only a needless complicating "special rule" that detracts from the game.

2) If you enjoyed playing WFB then it makes sense to look at WAB as it uses the same mechanics. You already know the rules. If, however, you hated WFB then stay away from WAB.

3) What do your immediate friends play? How are your armies based and what size do you game in? These questions have some importance to selecting a ruleset.

4) Now to attempt to answer your question. I've played Classical Hack and some varients at the HMGS conventions. The rules are fun and easy to pick up for a WAB player like myself. There tends to be a little more bookkeeping involved and more modifiers to keep track of, but not to the point of distraction. I would recommend you pick up the rules and give them a go. I have not played Warrior, but I know it has a reputation of being complex. That is not necessarily a bad thing either.

Good Luck,

Ralph

Review here, from the Society of Ancients page:

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You can also follow the link through to the Classical Hack Web page, and read Phil's introduction to the game.

Allen

I want to game the classic period. I dont't want a to generic ruleset (DBM).
Period flavour is hard to discribe for me in English. I think a game need more than diffrent unit types to represent the warfare of a period. Diffrent armies had diffrent styles of fighting. I heard, that the Classical hack rules are good in reprenst the battlelines of the republic romans e.g.
Scale, basing etc. doesn't care. I intend to play with 1/72 plastics because it's the easiest to get in Germany and cheap. I got a freind who is willed to play with me what I chose.

Are armielists in the 2nd Edition Rulebook?

I enjoy playing Classical Hack. You can join the yahoo group and ask Phil all kinds of questions directly. He is very good about answering questions.

link

Also some good turn sequence description is here:

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I second what Goldwyrm said. Hack is a great system and I have done many modifications for the rules. Right now I am working on a Asia modification and Meso-American version.
VR
James Mattes

We've played Classic Hack at the club several times, and if you like Romans and lots of modifiers Classic Hack will work for you. However, we always come back to Might of Arms, which we play far more often.

When we did "triple plays" at conventions (Classic Hack, Might of Arms and I think Ancient Warfare) , same troops and same scenario with different rules, Might of Arms always got more turns in and actually finished.

While James Mattes will disagree with me, Might of Arms may be a better choice. It's far faster to learn, play, and teach. It plays very well multiplayer, great for clubs, handles large armies appropriatly and is a complete product – ie the army lists are included. It uses DBX basing, so no rebaseing, although it does tend to use more figures. At least two local clubs play it often and clearly prefer it.