Fantasy Settings you like

[Angel Barracks]

What fantasy settings do you like, do you play them?

I like the worlds of Conan and Elric.
However I am not sure that the Elric world of Melnibone works for me as a mass battle wargames world, the same with Conan.
I see them more as RPG style worlds.

I think that the Warhammer world is pretty well set up for wargames, though I would tone down the magic a fair bit.
I also would not play it in 25mm as you could not have enough units on the table to make it all it could be.
6mm with at least 30 units per side would be a good start I reckon, plenty of range for gyrocopters and cavalry…

https://cromsanvil.co.uk/

[Fredd Bloggs]

Conan is a superb mass battle setting, indeed the first and one of the biggest Fantasy campaigns was fought in Hyboria. Look for Tony Baths stuff on the subject from the late 60s and 70s.

Middle earth is a setting of battles large and small, but has a specific feel to it.

My favourite Fantasy setting is Earthsea, but that is not a wargame setting.

[Ruarigh]

It will probably come as no surprise that I favour fantasy settings rooted in the Viking Age and early medieval period, although it may surprise that I do not find Middle Earth that interesting.

Never argue with an idiot. They'll only drag you down to their level and beat you with experience.

https://emidsvikings.ac.uk/
https://roderickdale.co.uk/

[Paul]

I like the usual suspects: Middle Earth, Hyborian Age, Westeros, as well as a few more obscure worlds:

– The land of Legend: this is the setting for the Dragon Warriors role playing game. A very dark, gritty and realistic* world. Nice for skirmish games if gangs of hald-starved, filthy, ne’er-do-Wells are your thing.

*Realistic in the sense that magic is rare and low powered, and non-human races are very rare.

– Harkuna: another setting by Dave Morris (who also did DW above): more or less the complete opposite of Legend in that it is very high magic. D&D style nonhuman are conspicuous in their absence, but there are other nonhuman races.

And I also dig Planescape. Very different, and I loved the art in the setting books.

Those are brave men knocking at our door. Let's go kill them!

[Mike]

Turns out since writing this I have merged my own little campaign setting into the world of Conan..

[Mike]

Angel Barracks wrote:

However I am not sure that the Elric world of Melnibone works for me as a mass battle wargames world, the same with Conan. I see them more as RPG style worlds.

Turns out I have also seen a few Conan setting mass battles too..
All good things come to those that wait, or summat I guess.

[Alan Hamilton]

My favourite fantasy setting is our own version of Middle Earth which we call Morval Earth in which we use our own rules and any figures from any manufacturer and date back to 1970s and 80s.  http://www.morvalearth.co.uk/me_brief_history.htm

That said I also have Arthurian, Celtic, Conan, Greek, Roman and Egyptian mythology settings that use the same rules though not quite incorporated them into the setting.  There is no reason why they cannot fit.

I have not tried to fit in Elric though I have a few of the figures using other names and characteristics.  So far we’ve not found a  Runesword (except in Talisman games).

[kyoteblue]

I use my Imagi-nation The Sultanate of Ifat, which can have Conan, Tarzan or anyone else adventuring in it.

[Hafen von Schlockenberg]

Strictly speaking, SF rather than fantasy, but I’ve always wanted to play a game based on the battles in Jack Vance’s “The Dragon Masters”.

[Thomaston]

I use my own setting too, but the earliest setting I liked for large battle was Elizabeth Moon’s Paksenarian first book. It had some mercenary battles and it fitted well with how Warmaster worked.

Tired is enough.

[Phil Dutré]

Angel Barracks wrote:

I think that the Warhammer world is pretty well set up for wargames

That’s an understatement. The Warhammer world was designed specifically with the purpose of wargaming in mind 😉

For wargaming you need a fantasy world with various countries/factions/tribes/… that go to war regularly and do so in large masses. Not all literary fantasy worlds have that type of setting. It’s no coincidence Tolkien’s Middle Earth does have major wars built in (as well First Age and Third age), and hence has inspired much of fantasy wargaming as we know it.

Other fantasy literature is more focused on the adventurers of a single hero (without wars or large combats), and is therefore more suited for roleplaying games.

Tiny Tin Men Blog: http://snv-ttm.blogspot.com/
Wargaming Mechanics Blog: http://wargaming-mechanics.blogspot.com/

[Whirlwind]

Phil Dutré wrote:

Angel Barracks wrote: I think that the Warhammer world is pretty well set up for wargames

That’s an understatement. The Warhammer world was designed specifically with the purpose of wargaming in mind 😉

I played a fair bit of WFRP at one time – and still play occasionally – but I think my world has become a bit more like the real world than the Warhammer source material.  All the monsters and monstrous races have been toned down a lot.  There are no open Orc realms or Hobgoblin khanates or whatever.

https://hereticalgaming.blogspot.co.uk/

[Phil Dutré]

Whirlwind wrote:

Phil Dutré wrote:

Angel Barracks wrote: I think that the Warhammer world is pretty well set up for wargames That’s an understatement. The Warhammer world was designed specifically with the purpose of wargaming in mind

I played a fair bit of WFRP at one time – and still play occasionally – but I think my world has become a bit more like the real world than the Warhammer source material. All the monsters and monstrous races have been toned down a lot. There are no open Orc realms or Hobgoblin khanates or whatever.

The original WFRP world (based on the loose world descriptions in WFB 2nd edition) was actually a quite good roleplaying world – I gm’ed the entire The Enemy Within campaign when it was first published, great fun. It was only after the WFRP world was retrofitted to WFB 4th edition that everything went downhill 🙂

• This reply was modified 2 years ago by Phil Dutré.

Tiny Tin Men Blog: http://snv-ttm.blogspot.com/
Wargaming Mechanics Blog: http://wargaming-mechanics.blogspot.com/

[Mike]

Something Rotten in Kislev!!

Ahh memories.

[Sane Max]

Glorantha for me. My first serious stab at a wargame was in Glorantha.

It’s one of those settings where less is more – a lot of the background for it is awful drivel- but Prax and its environs is wonderful.

I loved the Old World when i was younger, with the emphasis on The Empire, thanks mainly to some of the very good pulp novels and short stories set in the area, and will be playing a game of 5th edition in a few weeks with my Skaven.

Pat

[Sane Max]

Edit, and I know this may make a few people’s hair stand on end… but Gor had great promise, until the author allowed the fact he was monumental pervert and mad as a hatter to sadly spoil it.

[Mike]

Interestingly enough (or not) I started reading the first book a while back, progress is slow and I am not sure I will finish it.
But the homestone and tarn ideas are quite nice.
I also like that you can move through the caste system, there are some nice ideas.
The covers suggest he is a bit pervy, but where I am in terms of reading, no more so than Howard.

[Darkest Star Games]

Sane Max wrote:

Edit, and I know this may make a few people’s hair stand on end… but Gor had great promise, until the author allowed the fact he was monumental pervert and mad as a hatter to sadly spoil it.

Somehow I missed that whole setting.

For me my first attempt at fantasy battles occurred using the old D&D Chainmail battlegame and was set the Greyhawk world.  Not my fav, but my first RPG world I played in (well, second if you count the generic redbox D&D) before moving to mostly sci-fi.

There is a lot I like about the Harn setting, but it can also be quite restrictive and is very low-fantasy.

But one that I really enjoyed when I was younger but can no longer find any info on is Lavondyss, and RPG based in the “other world” from the Mythago Wodd cycle.  No idea where my buddy got it, but it was very much like playing in a dark ages fantasy setting, but with more moviesque/epic/dark feeling.  I was all very mysterious and edge of your pants survival.

"I saw this in a cartoon once, but I'm pretty sure I can do it..."

[Sane Max]

Mike wrote:

Interestingly enough (or not) I started reading the first book a while back, progress is slow and I am not sure I will finish it.
But the homestone and tarn ideas are quite nice.
I also like that you can move through the caste system, there are some nice ideas.
The covers suggest he is a bit pervy, but where I am in terms of reading, no more so than Howard.

Hahahah. My mum used to buy me a book a month when I was a kid, based entirely on the covers, so I got some surprises. (she bought me James Herbert’s ‘The Fog’ when I was about 10. She had NO IDEA what that would do to a boy, and I never told her).

I got all the Gor’s, in sequence, by the time I was about 16 and trust me, Gor starts out good, pulpy, sub ‘John Carter of Mars’ style stuff, and as the books progress goes COMPLETELY MAD.

When i got rid of them, the bloke in the second hand bookshop was overly friendly. I didn’t realise at the time, but I suspect he was hoping I might be an… afficianado.

[Maff Sparkes]

For me, this is perplexing question as there is just so much I’ve read over the years..

My first experience of a fantasy setting was “The Hobbit” and in middle earth terms, Eriador and the “wilderland” through to Mirkwood remains my favourite, far more than Gondor or Rohan. Lankhmar as a world has its place but the one that really stands out is Hyboria. It may just be an image of spider haunted towers but REH’s creation really impressed me. So it’s a mix of eriador and Hyboria with the City of Lankhmar bolted on. And that is of course a pretty good description of Judges Guild’s “ Wilderlands of High Fantasy” and “City State of the Invincible Overlord”. I’m looking at it from an RPG perspective I think but if you are looking at Warbands, Battle Companies, Retinue level, then it should work as well. From a skirmish perspective, Tegel Manor has some good factions (pirate, perhaps two factions of cultist, goblins and undead) which can fight a band of adventurers or, say, Paladin and retinue.

And I have just realised that I have forgotten Glorantha, or rather Dragon Pass.

[warwell]

I’m a fan of Middle Earth and Narnia, but for gaming I use my own settings.

[Author]

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