"played basic.impetus for the first time today....." Topic

And I LOVE IT.

It is perfect. We played Britons vs Romans, with some printed off flats.
It ran very smooth. I really like the vbu's its a neat system.

Britons lost. But my brother and I had a ton of fun.
Each round went to the Romans, so basically they shut down my chariots, and murdered my fanatics. But only after I killed 2 legion stands ;).
Great system, I'd recommend it to literally anyone.
Tons of fun. Bought 2 6mm armies from scalecreep today. Made 70+ bases, bought my paint…. and in all the rush, I forgot to buy the impetus rulebook. (I have a hobby budget for each paycheck)"

Have you tried Warmaster or Hail Caesar?

Impetus is more complex than BI. We play BI most weeks and love it.

Phil

Nice one, Impetus is a great game, with a friendly and informative forum. Impetus is more complex than BI, but its still not "complex"…if you know what i mean.

Steve

I love the Impetus rules and have forsaken all others.

I have tried warmaster yes. Very fun as well, but its a gw game. It feels like a gw game. Still a ton of fun.
Never tried hc.
I got into minis via 40k.

My neighbor played axis and allies, so I joined his club because i love WWI and WW2 .One of those guys played wog, an aerial combat game, so I went to play wog ….. then one of those guys played DBA. That's how I got into historical gaming.

Anyways…I loved BI. Playing again today.

Naked fanatics are mean ;)

I am so excited to get my miniatures.

I have triple sized Macedonian and Achamenid Persian armies based for DBA, and while I love DBA, I have never been satisfied with the way pikes are represented. It seems more appropriate for Renaissance gaming than the way they were used in the ancient world. I have even enjoyed a few games of DBA 3.0, but I fear the ancient pikes will be made even weaker by the new spear support rules in which pike do not share. I am seriously considering rebasing the whole collection for impetus. Does anyone have experience with the way spear and pike interact in the Impetus system? How about Persians vs Macedonians? Do they make a fun and challenging match up or is one side over powered? I think I'll start a new thread with this question just to put it at the top of the page:

TMP link

David

Impetus seems to have a very enthusiastic following. If any of you are Society of Ancients members then we really would like to hear more of it in Slingshot., particularly articles on winning tactics.
soa.org.uk

Got my second game in today. Less rule flipping,more dice rolling.

Britons won the day, as they seized initiative 3 turns in a row.

Chariots murdered legionnaires, while his cavalry harassed my fanatics. He got to vdt 9 on turn 4. Game only took 40 minutes. That's 10 min a turn.

We tried FOG once, and the time was tripled, with literally half of the amount of troops. just constant back and forth dice rolling, and markers, and troop types, and equipment, and quality… it was boring.knights are invincible, and the ancient battles bog down a bunch.

Impetus allows for some pretty heroic moments, like a warband bullrushing legionnaires, and making them rout by rolling 4 6s, oh yeah.

Not really sure how historical impetus is, but it is a ton of fun, and romans are steel-hardened slaughtering machines, that are very, very tough to kill….unless you have naked men and chariots ;). My only problem with impetus (and any historic system, that I've tried) you typically have too much control over your soldiers.
Historically, I don't feel britons would know to distract the front lines with sling fire, while running chariots around a hill to flank the artillery. They just wouldn't. They would clang their weapons, form loose groups, shout something in a welsh dialect, and charge their invaders. Aside from that, I love the game, and I plan to buy the rulebook as soon as my scifi miniatures sell.

All in all, best rules I've ever played.

AAPCH… you are right about Impetus. It is one of those rare gems that comes along, overshadowed by many. It's a great system… and really gives you a feel for ancient battle. It has become my MAIN set of rules for ancients (played EVERYTHING else).

it seems hail caesar and FOG have quite the following.
I challenge everyone who has never played impetus, to download basic, and try it. I almost guarantee you won't regret it

I have enjoyed my games. Language of rulebook takes a bit of getting your head around, and some key elements aren't well explained [e.g. army building] but broadly I'm in favour – by which I mean what everyone else means when they use that phrase – it conforms to my prejudices.

It is my favourite ancients system. Battles break down and become suitably chaotic and the dice gods can be fickle beasts, which I enjoy. Nothing like keeping an important unit alive despite overwhelming odds by rolling a 1 on a cohesion test.

My only criticism of the system I that I just don't think it works so well with multiplayer games. The interactive nature of the turn system keeps 2 players engaged at all times but without being changed in multiplayer games becomes a bit too much sitting round waiting to act.

Craig

Craig:

I once played in a 6-person Impetus game. Basically, it was 3 separate games being played side by side on the same table. Romans against Britons.

As a game, I was pleasantly surprised because it seemed to align with my prejudices about ancient warfare, that it (large battles) turned into a number of smaller battles being fought along the battlefield, with outcomes influencing the battles occurring to either side.

Lots of fun, because the players had to deal with the enemy and terrain to their front, while casting a wary eye from time to time on what was going on to either flank, etc.

My personal favorite, though is Basic Impetus, and I'm collecting various armies for it to try it out. The only other game that comes close in the fun factor for Ancients Gaming is, to my mind, Dux Bellorum.

I love the command activation system as it makes "bidding" for commands to activate a fun part of the game that can have major implications- it works really well in 1 v 1 games but in multiplayers by having to wait for player(s) to finish their turn before the others can act slows things down somewhat. By going side A acts then side B acts (still with the bidding element) you lose the subtly that makes command activations such an enjoyable part of the game but seems to be the best compromise.

I like the ways battles devolve into a number of clashes and command and control seems to breakdown as I would envision it would have in many battles.

Funny you should mention Dux Bellorum, it is my other preferred game and is a great gateway game for my son to get into gaming.

Craig