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Hey guys, so I have been looking over at historical games recently after having my fill with Warhammer Age of Skub and am looking for a well balanced game system set in the dark ages europe.
So far I have looked over Gripping Beast's SAGA game and toyed with the idea of going the warlord games route, however I have not been able to find one game system that not only is fun to play, but also popular. What is the standard go-to rule set for these types of games?

Hi there,

Saga is very good for small scale skirmish but, as you say popularity is very location dependent and the US doesn't strike me as being a hotbed for it.

Lion Rampant is another set of rules that are very good for small scale skirmish (but slightly larger scale then Saga perhaps)

Warlord's rules for Hail Caesar are for medium to larger engagements and while solid, isn't really a balanced ruleset for quick games. It's for thematic games with often unequal opponents (guess like 40K then, hur hur).

Swordpoint by Gripping Beast looks like a good set of rules for medium to larger battles, but I've not had a chance to play it yet - I've only been watching batreps prior to making a purchase (Though in my case I would use it for Greek City State warfare using the classical armies book).

At the end of the day though, I can't really advise what is popular where you are. I happen to be in the UK which is the mecca of wargames (Nottingham especially) so what I've recommended may be completely unheard of in your neck of the woods. I've found that buying a ruleset I like the look of, building a few armies for it and then introducing friends to it quickly builds a local fan-base - if there's no fire, strike the first match yourself!

I also recommend looking at:

Blood Eagle
Dux Brittania
Dux Bellorum

As Wulfmar has said above really..

If you're trying to start up the game and want to convince othe Warhammer-ites to commit I would probably recommend SAGA.
- It has straightforward rules, intuitive, and easy to pick a starting force you like the look of. Lots of variety too.
- The depth of options available and different miniature manufacturers can be overwhelming for newcomers coming to historicals. SAGA gets round this by its army in a box and simple points system
- With the troop volumes it can be very cheap to play (easy to get people to try it out), the miniatures are great quality (especially some of the vikings!)
- The rules are, for want of a better expression, bloody brilliant! I honestly don't know of anyone that has tried it and not liked it. There is a nice campaign game as well when you get the hang of it, in Age of the Wolf.

Another option is Dux Bellorum, if you want to go for slightly earlier period (late Roman/Arthurian)

As Wulfmar has said, Swordpoint is another if you want mass battle (have heard very good things about it), and L'art de la Guerre is also increasingly starting to pick up players.

If you do not mind small adaptation, En Garde! can easily be made to play ancients or medieval skirmish games.

I second the votes for Saga, but if you want something smaller scale, En Garde! is worth a look.