Mass Battle Rules

[Alvin Molethrottler]

Recommend me a set of fantasy mass battle rules, please. I prefer adaptations of historical sets but that’s not a requirement and scale is also irrelevant as I’m capable of adjusting movement and weapon ranges to suit. My current collect is 10mm Middle Earth with an eye for a Pelennor Fields refight, if that helps.

Although I’m easy going about game engines two things are right out, Dbx style mechanics (I.E. far too much emphasis on a single die roll) and Warmaster style unit activations. I enjoy IGOUGO systems because, when you don’t have your health, it’s nice to sit back and have a break while the other fella has his turn, but again that’s not a requirement.

I’ve had a bit of a look around over the weekend and some possibilities have suggested themselves E.G. fantasy versions of Sword & Spear and Piquet, but what are your thoughts on the matter?

Thanks in advance 😉

[Mike]

How much book keeping?

[Alan Millicheap]

Warband by Pendraken are popular at the BVC although I’ve not played them. They are aimed at 10mm but the lads use them with 28mm. The army lists are geared towards Pendraken’s fantasy range but having had a glance through the lists there is probably enough to put LOTR armies together

Alan

[Mr. Average]

Warmaster is a nice and well-tested system.  Whenever I get the feeling I might incline to fantasy I think of Warmaster.  Haven’t ever taken the plunge, but that would be my system of choice if I did, and probably either with 10mm Pendraken or 6mm Microworld figures.

[Alvin Molethrottler]

@Editor Mike. Lots or none, I don’t mind either way.

@Allen. Thanks I’ll take a look at them.

@Mr Average. The problem (to my eyes) with Warmaster is the unit activation mechanic, which can see stuff just sat about the battlefield not moving at all.

[Steve Williams]

If you can still find them. Vis Bellica and its spin off Vis Magica gave/ give good games

[Alvin Molethrottler]

Thanks Steve, I’ve also just downloaded a set called “Mayhem” so I’ll be giving them a read over the next couple of days.

[Steve Williams]

I have those myself. They are a good set though I just don’t have the time to do all the unit types up myself these days

[Mr. Average]

In re: Warmaster, fair assessment. I like that level of uncertainty but I recognize its not something with universal appeal.

[Alvin Molethrottler]

So Mayhem looked good but it won’t be right for what I want (I know, I’m picky). Imagine if HOTT and WHFB had a child, its name would be Mayhem. This is not a criticism, as I said I liked what I read. Anyway, onwards! The next download will probably be “Legions of Battle”, at least I think that was what it was called.

[Blackhat]

I have been using Kings of War lately with 25mm GW LOTR figures and had some really good games.

They are very IGO-UGO in that you don’t do anything in the other person’s turn but are very quick to play so that doesn’t matter.

The units stay until they are routed which I also like.

Worth a look – they are free download from Mantic to try out.

Mike

[James Rivera]

I’ll second what Mike from Blackhat said, Kings of War (I’ve also been using my GW LoTR figs 🙂 ) gives some fun, fast games and the Human Army List offers a fairly large variety of troop types, both fantasy and not, which should allow you to quickly craft some relatively historical armies.

James

[Alvin Molethrottler]

I’ve played KOW a couple of times and enjoyed the experience, so much so in fact that I’m currently in the middle of rebasing my 15mm Vlad the Impaler army for the KOW historical game as found at the An Hour of Wolves website. KOW is a good suggestion.

[Northern Monkey]

We have been playing a new game called Lords & Lands (I was part of the playtest) and whilst biased as its my mates game, it does do fantasy mass battles really well, large games played to a conclusion in a reasonable amount of time, innovative command and control so no player is waiting ages for their turn and with plenty of command options, army lists are free and will be kept updated where necessary, and there are no specific basing or scale requirements.

My attempt at a Blog: http://ablogofwar.blogspot.co.uk/

[Piyan Glupak]

Don’t Peter Pig do fantasy set?  I seem to remember playing a trial version quite a few years ago.  I quite enjoyed the game, but don’t remember too many specific details about it.

I never followed up on them because I play Hordes of the things for my massed fantasy games.

[Alvin Molethrottler]

I’ve got PP fantasy rules they use a grid system, it’s been years since I read them but as I recall I was pretty meh about them, perhaps I should dig them out and have another look. As for HOTT it’s a good game but I am all DBxed out there’s too much drama and geometry 😉

As for Lords and Lands, is there a good review anywhere? If so sling us a link would you as I was aware of it because its been mentioned here at TWW before.

Yesterday I downloaded a free rule set called “Shieldwall”, I thought they had great potential, with a suitable amount of tinkering obviously.

[James Rivera]

Someone pointed me to this youtube series demonstrating Lords & Lands a while back.  Haven’t actually had time to watch it yet, but book-marked it cause it definitely seemed worth a look.

If you check it out, come back here and let us know what you think.

[Warren Beattie]

Alvin Molethrottler wrote:

So Mayhem looked good but it won’t be right for what I want (I know, I’m picky).

I was about to recommend it myself. Out of curiosity, what turned you off? The (usually) single dice roll? The command point allocation and activation?

I’ve bought the Legions of Battle and Lords and Lands rules myself. Both seem pretty solid, although I’d have to reacquaint myself with the finer points.

[Thaddeus Blanchette]

Y’know, with a tiny amount of tinkering, Osprey’s new Dragon Rampant works just fine as a mass battle system. It does force you to roll to activate, though.

How about the good old Chainmail, first edition rules?

We get slapped around, but we have a good time!

[Fredd Bloggs]

I am going for ‘To the Strongest’ while it is not a fantasy game (yet, Simon was/is a huge Runequest fan and plans are afoot) it is a good ancients game and is fast and furious to play.

[Alvin Molethrottler]

I briefly considered buying a copy of the ‘Sword and Spear’ rules to see what they were like, but ‘Shieldwall’ has the wonderful aggression mechanic that I can see a lot of potential in, so I bought a bottle of whiskey instead.

@Warren, given my intended use for the ruleset I thought ‘Mayhem’ was good but not “Tolkien” enough for my tastes. Don’t ask me what that means I probably couldn’t explain it fully, it’s one of those I’ll know it when I see it things.

@James, thanks for the link I must get round to watching it as soon as Christmas wears off (for the record pints of Carlsberg Special Brew with a Creme de Menthe bomb are not a good idea!).

@Thaddeus, I’ve tried ‘Chainmail’ substituting units for individual figures it was clunky but it worked.

Thanks to all for contributing to this thread you really are giving me food for thought.

[Mark Lewis]

If you are still considering Sword & Spear, but are only interested in fantasy, then you should probably wait until the fantasy rules are published, which I am hoping will be this summer. They are ideal for big LOTR battles such as Pelennor Fields – in fact that is one of the battles I’m planning on doing myself this year.
Here are some pictures from a Battle of Five Armies game played with Sword & Spear Fantasy :

[Alvin Molethrottler]

Great stuff, Mark, that representation of Erebor is excellent! Is it a scratch build or can it be bought?

I recently became aware of the fantasy version of S&S and will be buying a copy when it comes out.

[Mark Lewis]

Alvin Molethrottler wrote:

Great stuff, Mark, that representation of Erebor is excellent! Is it a scratch build or can it be bought?

Thanks. It’s scratch built. There’s a thread on my forum showing how it was built, as well as tracking the rest of the preparation for this battle.
http://polkovnikproductions.freeforums.org/battle-of-five-armies-t440.html

[6mmwargaming]

You could also check out Fantasy Rules!3 TCE by Chipco. The TCE stands for Tournament and Competition edition but that is misleading, it is really a stripped back version of the main Fantasy Rules!3 rules.  Great rules but they dont have a website  anymore I believe. BTW I wrote a whole bunch of LoTR scenarios for them here

http://6mm.wargaming.info/page71.shtml

 

 

 

My 6mm Wargaming site https://6mm.wargaming.info

[Alvin Molethrottler]

Hello there 6mm, that is an impressive set of scenarios! I’ve visited your site before but somehow missed those pages. Thanks for the rules recommendation 😉

[6mmwargaming]

No problem. I wrote them a few years ago so there may be the odd mistake.

My 6mm Wargaming site https://6mm.wargaming.info

[Author]

Posts