"War Hammer Ancient Battles or Hail Caesar? " Topic

I would like to pick up my idea of starting a Roman Army and need a good set of rules can anyone tell me which set is better, I've never played either.

I think the WHAB is reviewed here and I know Hail Caesar is as well. I have not seen a side by side comparison however.
VR
James Mattes

Honest opinion, save your cash, do some research on your own, and use your own rules. Neither present anything "new" or extraordinary.

It probably won't get you players, but you will think for yourself.

Harsh words, but it is worth your while.

Flipside Opinion: Choose the one with the most players in your area and/or what your current game group uses.

Augustus, I should have never made you my heir!
Hail Caesar, of course, just for the name.

But in all seriousness, look around TMP for info on both sets of rules.
They each take a different approach and that is going to be the deciding factor for you.
You'll also want to consider Clash of Empires, which people are saying is very similar to WAB.

WAB is much closer to a game such as Clash of Empires than Hail Caesar. Personally I prefer HC, I much prefer the grander scale battles (using 6 or 10mm figs)that it makes easy to run in a couple of hours.
Ive never found WAB particularly good for Roman armies- it never quite feels right, although I like WAB for Dark Ages.

Wait a couple of weeks and checkout War and Conquest by Rob Broom:

warandconquest.co.uk

Raglan

Imnpetus and its free Basic variant is the only set of ancient rules to have contributed anything "new" in the past several years. Every other set is merely a rehash of old systems of play presented in an even glossier and expensive package. IMHO

You know waiting for this Rule book might not be a bad idea. Here's hoping it not a other 200 page pile of fluff, with an inflated price!

I prefer HC over WAB.

But that's just me. I have friends who prefer WAB over HC.

Ok, some of this info is Ok but why do you prefer HC over WAB or the other way around.

Does this link help?
TMP link

@Augustus
Stop giving honest opinions. You'll ruin the reputation of the people who make up TMP!

Oh…and…what Augustus said.

Listen to the Meeples and Miniatures podcast episode 77. link It reviews Hail Caesar and Clash of Empires (which is like WAB) and talks about the type of player that should like each. Also goes into the mechanics.

Dale

Honest opinion, save your cash, do some research on your own, and use your own rules. Neither present anything "new" or extraordinary.

It probably won't get you players, but you will think for yourself.

Harsh words, but it is worth your while.

-----------------------------------------------------------

Great idea but for most people impractical really – plus how do you find other people to play as is said – thinking for oneself is one thing but many people game for the social side too. Also as much as a commercial set has it prejudices so does a home grown one if not more so, as most commercial sets are extensively playtested so that the bias of the rules writer to say make the Romans unbeatable is hopefully balanced by things like points costs and other factors

The Hail Caesar book is probably worth it just for the pictures and the battle narratives. Hail Caesar army lists are due out in September I think. Warlord Games seems to support the rules very well.

WAB is dated and I never cared for how they dealt with Romans. The Warhammer Fantasy Battle rules-engine does not really work for all Classical armies … it is a renaissance based game after all. But … they are publishing an army list book too. So that might help things a bit.

Rule books are not cheap these days. But compared to figure costs, the investment in books is pretty cheap. I suggest you get both and decided. Both make nice bathroom reading.

Mike B

Another vote for Hail Caesar.
It's said that Clash of Empires work fine for smaller battles.
Hope it helps somehow. But if you do some search in TMP you'll find plenty of information about all of them.
BTW Hail Caesar is going to have its first supplement, full of army lists to cover the non scenario, point driven gaming.

Now, this opinion is from a place of partial ignorance – but I play Hail Caesar's Musketty Uncle, Black Powder – and it's a great game – but I would never play it using 28s unless I had an enormous table to do the (often sweeping) movement justice.

Not played Hail Caesar, so feel free to tune me out!

I do intend to get it and then break out all my 15mm stuff on an 8*4 using cm.

Pat

I think "Hail Caesar" runs much more smooth/fast games than "Warhammer Ancient Battles".
I am a big fan of the command and control mechanics of "Hail Caesar" also.
Hope this helps.

Hail Caesar.

WAB.

WAB – may be dated but still gives a good game in one evening with reasonable number of figures on table. Not sure if the BP engine also is a good one for Ancients

The BP engine, as it were, originates from Warmaster.

The BP engine, as it were, originates from Warmaster.

And as modified for Hail Caesar, it is quite good for Ancients!

While WAB has suffered from "gamesmanship" as a result sooo many folks playing it in tournaments that they found all the killer armies and tactics. It is still a good, fun, and easy game to learn and play. While there were editorial and proofreading isssue with WAB 2.0 the original version is still playable as anyother rules system out there. I enjoy it although I have never play in an ancients tournament ever.
VR
James Mattes

If you fall in love with pushing Ancients I suspect you would enjoy either but for my money it has to be Hail Caesar.

As ever, late to the party, but I recommend Hail Caesar too.

For what it's worth try both – I think HC gives a more gritty process but WAB is certainly 'fun'! WE play them both in our coven.