"Hail Caesar an improvement on Warmaster Ancients how?" Topic

Would those of you who have experience playing both systems care to share how these are different? What do you prefer from one or the other?

I own both but have played neither and am looking for experienced insights. At least some specifics that I might look at in the rules to evaluate for myself.

I'm most interested in using them for late medieval. (I have the WMA/M supplement.)

My thanks in advance,

DG

The biggest improvement is in skirmishers. They just don't work in Warmaster Ancients with armies that have more than just a couple of units of them.

They work great in Hail Caesar, especially skirmish cavalry.

I would say that is the single biggest improvement.

Agree with Pictor's. I also think the command mechanic is quicker and more straightforward and also better suited to multiplayer per side games.

The combat mechanic and the morale checks to me seem more streamlined and give a better overall feel to the game.

There is an update available for Warmaster Ancients which includes a revision of the skirmisher rules. You can find it here if memory serves.

link

Warmaster and HC are two different games that happen to share the idea of rolling to give commands – in both cases 2D6 – but treated somewhat differently. They share some mechanics – but not many.

Hail Caesar was developed from Black Powder, which was itself a development of Warmaster specifically to facilitate large, multi-player and informal games with 28mm models without too much fussing about exact unit sizes or base dimensions or casualty removal. So, whilst Warmaster is what you might call a proper set of rules that supports a formal one-on-one competitive style game, Hail Caesar has a large consensual element in the way orders are given and moves carried out. Hail Caesar is really designed for multi-player or club games and suits these kinds of games best – though you can play it one on one easily enough.

Well, you don't often get an answer as authoritative as that! :-)

My thanks to all, in particular to the esteemed Mr. P, the father of these great rules sets!

Bah. What does HE know about it?

Doug