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"WAB, Hail Caesar or ?? For Arthurian Dark Ages?" Topic


Warhammer: Ancient Battles

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18 Jan 2017 12:59 p.m. PST
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Comments or corrections?

Dave Crowell20 Jun 2012 8:27 a.m. PST

I have WAB along with Shield Wall and Age of Arthur. How does Hail Caesar compare for Dark Ages Britain? Arthur to Alfred and maybe ending at 1066 and all that.

How about Saga?

Just curious how the latest crop of rules stack up for Dark Ages and early medieval Britain compared to a known standard.

Shagnasty Supporting Member of TMP20 Jun 2012 8:43 a.m. PST

Pig Wars.

Rapier Miniatures20 Jun 2012 9:00 a.m. PST

What scale do you want? big Battle, Dux Brittanarium from Osprey would be my start point these days.

22ndFoot20 Jun 2012 9:13 a.m. PST

Rapier,

The forthcoming Osprey rules will be DUX BELLORUM and appear to be for quite big armies.

DUX BRITANNIARUM are the much anticipated rules from TooFatLardies for large skirmishes (most armies start at about 40 figures each representing one man) in the immediate post-Roman period which the author has written about here throughout development:

TMP link

Cheers,

Pedrobear20 Jun 2012 9:35 a.m. PST

Dux Bellorum is for mass battles with each unit being a single base/element, as with Impetus.

The base size for larger than 15mm is 6cm x 4cm, with no fixed number of figures per base.

link

You can play with larger bases as long as all units have the same width – distance in this game is expressed as base width; I made a range-stick for my 15mm units.

If you already have 25/28mm figures, it's a matter of dividing the number of figures in your army by the number of units in your list (about 8 ~ 12 depending on list), which gives you the number of figures each unit will have more or less. Then it's a matter of deciding how many wide and deep you want.

Again, if using infantry on 20mm bases and cavalry on 25mm wide bases, you'll probably just have the infantry 5 wide (and two or three ranks deep depending on type) and cavalry 4 wide so they will have the same frontage, unless you are using movement trays, in which case

I use 15mm on DBX bases, so I use 8cm x 6cm movement trays and place 4 DBX bases on each tray, except for Shieldwall units which I place 6.

picture

link

(Although DB is written for Arthurian, I use them with my 1066 figures)

If I'm using 25mm figures on WAB bases, I will have 10cm wide units, with cavalry being 4 wide 1 deep, infantry 5 wide and 3 deep (maybe 2 deep for Warriors), and skirmishers 4 wide and in single rank (if they are on 25mm round bases).

Rapier Miniatures20 Jun 2012 9:55 a.m. PST

D'oh got them the wrong way around. Anyway, the Osprey ones are the successors to Glutter of Ravens as well, which were a good Dark Age set.

Pedrobear20 Jun 2012 9:58 a.m. PST

DB is in a way a simplified version of GoR – instead of tracking 3 stats per unit you only track one now. I own and tried playing GoR but found it cumbersome. DB plays much faster.

Who asked this joker20 Jun 2012 10:40 a.m. PST

Another vote for Pig Wars. You can use Pig Wars as a skirmish game or as a bi battle game and still represent characters just like you do in WAB. In that respect you don't lose the flavor of the era.

Dux Brittainarium appears to be another choice similar in scope to WAB. I don't know much about it though.

As well, you could try Clash of Empires or War and Conquest. Both are trying to fill the void left by WAB.

DeRuyter20 Jun 2012 10:50 a.m. PST

SAGA for skirmish or raid style games – fun set with unique character to each type of warband. Can be played in under 2 hours. Lots of activity on the forum for other Dark Age factions – Romano-British for example.

Not sure there is a "void" left by WAB to fill. You have SW and Age of Arthur (one of the better books IMO), so nothing stopping you from playing.

DColtman20 Jun 2012 11:04 a.m. PST

I think WAB is actually really well suited for the small battles and heroic colour that characterize this period, and the Age of Arthur supplement is really very good. I still prefer it to CoE or HC for Arthurian Britain.

If you are interested in skirmish, it's like comparing apples to oranges. But Saga is innovative and fun.

Dave Crowell20 Jun 2012 12:06 p.m. PST

I agree that Age of Arthur is one of the best of the WAB supplements. Dux Bellorum is on pre-order.

As this is really the only period of Ancients/medivals, other than Bronze Age Near East, that I play I thought I would ask how HC does for it. If it is no better than WAB I don't feel I am missing anything.

Pig Wars is definitely my set of choice for skirmishing. Great fun.

scrivs20 Jun 2012 12:46 p.m. PST

WAB, Saga and Hail Caesar are my games of choice for Dark Ages.

There are some battle reports for each on the Dark Ages section of the Scrivsland blog: link

bjporter20 Jun 2012 1:13 p.m. PST

I recommend War & Conquest. It has some really excellent features and fixed most of the problems that WAB had.

Crocus21 Jun 2012 3:38 a.m. PST

Try the Chipco rules – I have gravitated there from a DBx and WAB background. All the elegance of DBx with more bells and tweeters! Differentiate your Heptarchy Saxon units with thrown assault weapons, armour, heros, scops and wigleras and have a ball!

If you were finding DBx too limiting for the tiny battles of the Twilight of Britannia, but want the speed and elegance, go with Chipco's FR! pdf and have a look at the FR Annex.

In my humble opinion and with no contact from the Chipco Corporation!

Stuart at Great Escape Games22 Jun 2012 7:14 a.m. PST

Look at them all, there is loads of choice.
Here's the link for Dark Age army lists for Clash of Empires:

link

raylev322 Jun 2012 12:58 p.m. PST

I'd take a look at War & Conquest. Rob Broom, who ran the historicals that included WAB, did this set of rules. If you liked WAB it should be an easy transition to War & Conquest. Rob says he fixed a bunch of issues he had with WAB.

janner23 Jun 2012 1:48 a.m. PST

+1 for CoE – the Age of Raven supplement for the early Middle Ages is excellent

Socalwarhammer23 Jun 2012 7:17 p.m. PST

+2 for CoE- I think it is the best thing out there (of the new rule sets). I really love the Age of Arthur supplement for WAB…probably one of the best supplements produced for WAB.

brevior est vita24 Jun 2012 4:12 a.m. PST

Here are some nice AARs for Arthurian and Dark Ages battles using Hail Caesar:

link
link
link
link
link

Cheers,
Scott

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