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Author Topic: Historical Rulesets  (Read 1950 times)

Offline Warlord

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Historical Rulesets
« on: August 05, 2015, 05:40:12 AM »
Hi guys,

I am wondering what tabletop wargame rules are there to represent historicals?
I know this is perhaps jumping into the deep end of the pool, but I am curious what people use... or what is standard...
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Offline ZeroTwentythree

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Re: Historical Rulesets
« Reply #1 on: August 05, 2015, 05:47:53 AM »
Theres not really any "standard" and it varies a lot depending on what period, and what scale you are interested in. (Scale in terms of how big the battles are, not scale of the figures.)

Whats your interest?

Offline Warlord

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Re: Historical Rulesets
« Reply #2 on: August 05, 2015, 06:16:42 AM »
Hmmmm,

Well I was just wondering what is out there.
The scale I was thinking was similar to warhammer size.

Though if there is larger, that streamline rules, that would work too.

Obviously Empire is HRE and Renaissance period, so curious as to what works.

Empire can also play Napoleonics with all our gunpowder.

But Bretonnians are more Medieval / Dark Age.

My Carthegineans are more Ancient.

Was wondering if there was any ruleset that kinda worked for all of them?
Or what ruleset is preferred for each?
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Offline Vauln

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Re: Historical Rulesets
« Reply #3 on: August 05, 2015, 08:16:59 AM »
Warlord, I think you might have more luck over on Lead Adventure Forum, hey have a dedicated section for Historical and different periods.

Offline Warlord

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Re: Historical Rulesets
« Reply #4 on: August 05, 2015, 08:18:15 AM »
Cool.

Just didn't know where to start :)
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Offline Midaski

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Re: Historical Rulesets
« Reply #5 on: August 05, 2015, 10:49:40 AM »
There are a few I have got rulebooks for.

Clash of Empires
War and Conquest (Rob Broome from WAB as I recall)
L'Art de La Guerre

which offer combat over a variety of historical periods.

I've tried Pike & Shotte with Henerius at the Eurobash which was quite fun.
They also have Hail Caesar and Blackpowder either side of that period.

I've also got a full set of all the old Warhammer Historical books and the Rulebooks to use them with. I think one or two are a bit unbalanced but the game is reasonably easy to pick up as it is similar to Warhammer.

To be honest I also just like the books for their own sake - most of them have historical content and good illustrations.
 
I'm more into the smaller skirmish stuff on a 4' x 4' board at the moment, with warbands from 10 figures up to 30, 50 or 70.
Things like:
SAGA,
Muskets & Tomahawks
Lion Rampant
Mordheim
Legends of the High Seas
Legends of the Old West
Ronin
Daisho
Frostgrave

Beauty of the internet is that searching on these titles gets you lots of good info - though not sure if you have any decent access down under of course.   :engel:
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Offline ZeroTwentythree

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Re: Historical Rulesets
« Reply #6 on: August 05, 2015, 04:40:11 PM »
Empire is definitely set in the 16th century, maybe pushing it back to the late 15th. It would be really out of place in the Napoleonic period. It's not just the aesthetics, but the equipment and the style of warfare was vastly different.


Midaski named a lot of good options: Clash of Empires, War & Conquest, Pike & Shotte, and Hail Caesar. The now out of print Warhammer Historical rules like WAB and Warmaster Ancients/Warmaster Medieval were decent. But if you're interested in those, you may as well stick to the others mentioned before, as they are newer, more accessible, and somewhat based on one of those two older games anyway.

Crusader Miniatures also produce some good rules. The ancient/medieval rules are simply called "Crusader." The PDF download is fairly inexpensive. http://www.crusaderpublishing.com/shop/home.php

Field of Glory seems popular, but I just couldn't get into it. I thought it was needlessly convoluted.

I'm not sure what is still in print/current, but DBA, DBM, and DBR (collectively known as "DBx") used to be pretty popular back in the day. DBA was the "gateway" game. Relatively simple & fast playing -- but maybe not really meaty enough for a lot of people. (All armies have 12 "elements" or units specified by army lists, rather than points. There is a certain rock-paper-scissor relationship to the types of elements.) These rules may all be ancient history (ha!) by now, though. Most of the DBM & DBR players I knew shifted to Field of Glory when that came out.

I've been curious about the Piquet family of games lately, but haven't tried them. People seem to either really love or really hate them. The web site has a rambling treatise on the design theory behind the game, which has fueled my curiosity. http://www.piquetwargames.com/index.php?main_page=page&id=1


Offline Zygmund

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Re: Historical Rulesets
« Reply #7 on: August 06, 2015, 10:50:11 PM »
Condottiere: The Dogs of War by Foundry is somewhat Warhammer-like, and plays very well with Empire and DoW figures. It might be more light-hearted than any of the others mentioned. Somewhere around Pike&Shotte, but plays well with less figures.

Impetus has elegant game design, and is more akin to the DBx style play, i.e. more strategic.
Here's a review: http://theminiaturespage.com/boards/msg.mv?id=192875

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Offline GamesPoet

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Re: Historical Rulesets
« Reply #8 on: August 07, 2015, 01:36:08 AM »
Impetus is very good.  They have a basic set of rules (free), the regular rules, and an advanced set which seems to be more of an update to the regular rules booklet (free).  Also, the army lists in Impetus Extra #3 fit the time period that Warhammer fit into.  I havent' tried those armies yet, but plan to do so eevntually.  I am currently doing a Late Achaemenid Persian army out of Impetus Extra #4 which is all classical Greece up to early Roman era.  My sense is these rules are definitely less convoluted then Field of Glory, and the only way I currently play Field of Glory is if a good friend of mine is GMing a game, because his knowledge of the rules and ability to keep a game moving are excellent.
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Offline ZeroTwentythree

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Re: Historical Rulesets
« Reply #9 on: August 07, 2015, 05:13:25 AM »
I haven't played FoG since the first year or so it came out, but my thoughts at the time were that it was like all the best parts of other rules/styles crammed into one game but without enough consideration as to how they would flow as a set of rules when put together. I recall a two sided reference sheet, crammed full of charts and tables in tiny print just to fit them all on the sheet. In my opinion, there are much better ways to play a game than that. Especially given the evolution of game design at this point.

Offline knightofthelance

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Re: Historical Rulesets
« Reply #10 on: August 09, 2015, 03:06:15 AM »
Quote
I've been curious about the Piquet family of games lately, but haven't tried them. People seem to either really love or really hate them.

I do really want to try that system out, but it's polarizing enough that I'm not sure I'll have people to play it with.