"Opinion on Rules for 28mm medieval warfare (Big battles)" Topic

i was wondering if anyone has any opinion on the bellow rules i have in my house but played only very few of them.

1.TACTICA MEDIEVAL
2.PIQUET Band of Brothers.
3 Field of Glory (played)
4.IMPETVS(Playing at the moment)
5.HAIL CAESAR
6.l'ART DE LA GUERRE
7.WARHAMMER
8.MEDIEVAL WARFARE (i played last time long time ago i cant remember)

Any imput or opinion will be a great help so i can avoid reading all the rules..;)

I have used impetus full rules for Late Medieval. They definitely work but there was no real flavour to them. The system is much like DBA with bells on
DBM used to work so art de la Guerre ought to be ok
Field of glory, too much like hard work
Warhammer playable, you could do a lot worse

Depends on what you want really. All of the above can give you a great game, though some are harder work than others. Each has strengths and weaknesses, but it also depends on what you mean by 'medieval'. A system might be great for Vikings in England, but not good at all for 15th Century Italy.
If you find anything that's any good for the early Hundred Years war, please let us know!

We love Medieval Warfare and have been playing it for years. It works for longbow armies like 100 Years War or WOR and for early crusader knights vs horse archers and dark age shield walls.

When i mean medieval in my case i mean Hundred Years war.

I'd use either Hail Caesar or BBDBA (v3.0).

How about "TO THE STRONGEST"?

oh yes i forgot to add the rules in this list..also Flower of Chivalry and TO THE STRONGEST

To the Strongest has potential for lots of figures and a fast moving game. We've played a number of WoR battles with them.

We also like Piquet a lot but, it works best with say 12 – 20 units a side – though it is easy to have big units if you fiddle with movement and shooting distances.

BTW, how big is big? These days, big battles seem to be a lot smaller than they used to be.

Well this is a project or lets say a labour of love i had for the last 5 years.
I love the Hundred years war period and i wanted to create 2 big 28mm armies and create big battles.
So after 5 years i managed to get very close to my goal reaching the number of about 1000 miniatures of all the types..mostly Perry but also Essex-games Foundry -Black tree design- Front Rank and a few Scotts(the name of the makers i forget at the moment)
All these are based on Impetus bases..i like tha basing system so i dont want to change it..but the rules i have to say after a few years ..well i need a change..
So i wanted to ask here where we have very experianced players if there is any preference from the above mentioned rules sets.

1000 28mm figures is a good start on big. It's about the average size of games I run at my place.

Impetus bases would be perfect for TTS, and you would get games done in an evening.

hahah..average!!??how big are your big ones?i would really really like to see some photos of your games if that would be possible…

All these are based on Impetus bases..i like tha basing system so i dont want to change it..but the rules i have to say after a few years ..well i need a change..

There is also Sword & Spear which will work with your basing. If you have liked Impetus but want a change then it is certainly worth giving it a try. It does seem to have appealed to quite a lot of Impetus players.
link

The new version is available to pre-order here: link

I think DBM could work well--you have as basic troop types Spear, Blades, Pikes, Bows, Knights, and Cavalry, and DBM provides for regular/irregular and superior/ordinary/inferior gradations within troop types. Big Battle DBA might be a bit too abstract for much flavor if you are going to focus on a specific sub-period like this.

I rather like the Piquet rules, and the Band of Brothers supplement has some nice detail, but Inhave really not played enough games to have a feel for it on this specific question.

Here are a couple using figures from my collection

This one is Marignano 1515 staged at Derby this year, pike blocks are 100 figs.

This one is Harran 1104 in my room

Although not in battle, this is my Punic Wars collection. It's my second biggest at 2122 figures

Here seen in action at Lake Trasimene

My Prussians and Russians from my SYW collection, I've not taken a picture of the Austrians yet. It's my biggest collection at over 2500 figs.

Here the Russians and Prussians are in action at Zorndorf 1758

Of course, my games are not in the gigantic league as I collect and paint all of the figures for the periods I do. Next Year, with the SYW finished I'll be starting a Peninsular War collection – my first order arrived from Front Rank earlier this year, it weighed 28 Kg.

But, they are quite nicely painted:

At the moment, the game at my place is a fictional SYW bash. NOt all of the Russians or Prussians are in action, but both armies add up to about 1300 figs, at a guess.

Not all of the Prussians can be seen in the picture as they lauched a sneaky attack on a flank with a few

Hope you like,

James

I have used impetus full rules for Late Medieval. They definitely work but there was no real flavour to them. The system is much like DBA with bells on

I must beg to differ. Impetus isn't at all like DBA. Units in Impetus have several important ratings that are completely absent in DBA. Units function differently in Impetus. The game activates differently and missile fire is handled with much greater precision. Your comments make me think you played Basic Impetus on not Impetus.

I would say Impetus probably shares a closer relationship with Armati than any of the WRG/DBx systems.

Personally I like Impetus for this period but since you have suggested that you`re looking for something different I won`t suggest it.

It has big blocks, about 12 of them. Seemed close enough to me. I played full impetus and I have played dba as well

If it has 12 big blocks then you played Basic Impetus.

James you figure collection is fantastic!!

I agree WarWizard but it did seem to me like it was stealing the show away from the original posting. Probably deserves its own topic heading (most people will never see these pictures.)

Ok James!!haha..i know you!!I follow your Blog i am a big fun and one of the reasons of my project was looking at you pics!!
WELL DONE!
Also your gaming room was the inspiration to design a similar one back home..(before i had to leave my home country for work here in the desert)

No problem guys the conversation can expand!it is very interesting to read all these comments!!But because i can see many very experienced players here i can help you so you can help me.

In my games i like having more factors..like..weapons-armor morale…etc..etc and less dice..than more Dice and less factors.i personally think it make it more strategic..i also like push backs and support units…i think all this give a nice feel in the game..

P.S This December i am going to try and paint my mat the way you showed in the blog..i hope it works as well as yours!!

Hi Marcus B,

I didn't think Nicholas (OP) would have a problem because he did ask to see them earlier in the thread.

Sorry, if it got in the way.

James

No James it was a pleasure seeing those FANTASTIC armies!
Read my message just above you will understand

I too have lots of 28mm medieval figures.

We use Big Battle DBA 3.0 – works very well for medieval period (much better than earlier versions – esp for 28mm).

Easy to teach easy to learn and really looks like a medieval battle on the table.

TomT

There is some kinds of post stealings that are better than other olicana so no hard feelings at my end! :) I do think the pictures deserve their own posting because most TMP members will never come to this thread.

Agree with Marcus…great collection and it deserves a wider audience.