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Greetings,

I recently received a Gift Certificate to my FLGS that I can only spend on what they have physically there. Here are what I have narrowed my options down to, but would like your broader thoughts on some of these game systems. I am look for something fun, with ihntersting mechanics and ideas powering it. No matter which way I go, I will need to create two armies, table, terrain etc. so that isn;t a big deal.

The options are:

1. Cold War Commander
2. Sails of Glory
3. Blucher
4. Regimental Fire and Fury
5. GHQ Modern Microarmor

If you could tell me your thought sor experiences with one or more of these games that would be great!

 Easy E wrote:
Greetings,

I recently received a Gift Certificate to my FLGS that I can only spend on what they have physically there. Here are what I have narrowed my options down to, but would like your broader thoughts on some of these game systems. I am look for something fun, with ihntersting mechanics and ideas powering it. No matter which way I go, I will need to create two armies, table, terrain etc. so that isn;t a big deal.

The options are:

1. Cold War Commander
2. Sails of Glory
3. Blucher
4. Regimental Fire and Fury
5. GHQ Modern Microarmor

If you could tell me your thought sor experiences with one or more of these games that would be great!

Of those, I've only skimmed GHQ's Microarmor rules. They weren't for me based on that extremely quick read-through.
You can preview GHQ's approach by downloading some of their free stuff here:
http://www.ghqmodels.com/pages/military/freestuff.asp

I've only played Future War Commander, which is basically CWC with some futuristic bits. It's a good game that's based around the Warmaster activation mechanic. Makes for a fun game, but it can sometimes hurt the realism a bit when the activations go very well or very badly.

Do you have any interest in the dark ages? SAGA is an excellent historical ruleset. Collecting 2 armies can be fairly cheap and the way SAGA is taking off it might not even be necessary.

Best of luck whatever you decide.

Not my period of interest but Blucher seems to be a ruleset (and more) that is getting big thumbs up from our local Napoleonic players.

It does have some interesting mechanics that make it stand out from the crowd. It is quite comprehensive including a clever campaign system and the option to play without minis (you use poker sized unit cards instead).

It does seem to be a all in one solution if you wanted to dip your toes into this era

Thanks guys! Good insights so far.

 Eilif wrote:
Do you have any interest in the dark ages? SAGA is an excellent historical ruleset. Collecting 2 armies can be fairly cheap and the way SAGA is taking off it might not even be necessary.

The local FLGS just has the expansions and not the core rules at the moment, so it is out at the moment. I was interested in learning more about thje battle board approach.

I've played Sails of Glory and Regimental Fire and Fury. Both were fun, although I think Sails of Glory could really bog down if a person is controlling more than two ships at a time even without using the optional rules. RFF had a lot of mobility, with units moving into combat, falling back after taking fire, and then moving back in again after recovering. It made for a great spectacle.

Other than Blucher... Nowt there that I would particuarly go with, from those I have played.


Dont get on with F&F, got bored rather quickly with Cold War Commander as its a bit too abstracted for its setting for me, GHQ rules left me cold to be honest.

My choice would be Blucher, great game.

 Easy E wrote:
Thanks guys! Good insights so far.

 Eilif wrote:
Do you have any interest in the dark ages? SAGA is an excellent historical ruleset. Collecting 2 armies can be fairly cheap and the way SAGA is taking off it might not even be necessary.

The local FLGS just has the expansions and not the core rules at the moment, so it is out at the moment. I was interested in learning more about thje battle board approach.

The battle board is a pretty neat mechanic. Adds another layer of decision making to the game, but not in a bothersome way. Basically, you roll a set of dice and all the actions you get in a given turn are based on how you allocate them on the battle board.

As for expansions, if they have the Crusades book, I believe it has the core rules in it. If the rules are sold out, it may be a good sign that folks are interested. I'm not sure I'd make my decision on what game to invest in based on what the FLGS happens to have in stock.

I would normally agree about not making decisions based on what is there, but I have Gift Cert to spend.

Thanks fo rthe call out on the Cross and Cresecent part. I thought it was just an expansion.

...or wait till they get some more stock in?

Does the gift card have a use by limit?

I really enjoy Sails of Glory with all or most all of the optional rules. I can't see one person playing more than two or three ships, however, without it being a PITA.

Big P wrote:
...or wait till they get some more stock in?

Does the gift card have a use by limit?

No, but for some odd reason the FLGS doesn't seem to like to order in new stock when something sells out... especially in the Historical realm. I can see why they do it from a business side, but it is a bit frustrating for me personally. Since they have been in business since I was a tiny lad (I think I got my first copy of Rogue Trader from them), I'm not going to argue about their business model.

I suppose I could ask them to order something in for me, but since this is practically found money I am fine going off the reservation and taking something from the shelf.

 Eilif wrote:

 Easy E wrote:
Thanks guys! Good insights so far.

 Eilif wrote:
Do you have any interest in the dark ages? SAGA is an excellent historical ruleset. Collecting 2 armies can be fairly cheap and the way SAGA is taking off it might not even be necessary.

The local FLGS just has the expansions and not the core rules at the moment, so it is out at the moment. I was interested in learning more about thje battle board approach.

The battle board is a pretty neat mechanic. Adds another layer of decision making to the game, but not in a bothersome way. Basically, you roll a set of dice and all the actions you get in a given turn are based on how you allocate them on the battle board.

As for expansions, if they have the Crusades book, I believe it has the core rules in it. If the rules are sold out, it may be a good sign that folks are interested. I'm not sure I'd make my decision on what game to invest in based on what the FLGS happens to have in stock.

Crescent and Cross is indeed the most current rule book. It covers all of the rules from the first plus any necessary errata. It does not contain the original factions, but does have 6 factions to choose from instead of the original 4. The expansions don't add a lot in the way of new rules, they just add in new factions and scenarios.

Saga (original rulebook): Normans, Vikings, Anglo-Danish, Welsh
Saga - Raven's Shadow: Franks, Irish, Strathclyde, Norse-Gael
Saga - Northern Fury: Jomsvikings, Anglo-Saxons, Bretons, Scots
Saga - Crescent and Cross (current rulebook): Crusaders, Milites Christi, Christian Spanish, Moors, Mutatawwi’a, Saracens
There is also a Byzantine/Russian expansion (the name of which escapes me), plus rules for Skraelings (Native American Indians) that were in a Wargames Illustrated I believe.

My vote would be for Blucher. Seems to be a solid ruleset and I am a big fan of Sam Mustafa's other works as well. The options to play with either cards or miniatures is also good if you're wanting to put together two armies quickly, or try the game out before you get all your miniatures painted up.

Hopefully, I'm heading to the FLGS tonight. Any last minute suggestions?

Edits: Thanks for everyone's thoughts.

They did not have Blucher, LaSalle, Longstreet or Cross and Crescent available so I didn't go with anything. Instead, I got some painting stuff instead. My supply was running low.

Cold War Commander- After reading the rules a bit more, it is simply a reskinned Warmaster. I was not super keen on the idea of tracking hits for the units at the scale it was at.

Sails of Glory- Not keen on the Wings of War engine at the moment. Just a personal preference.

GHQ Modern: Micro Armor- After reading the rules, some fo the turn sequence seemed a bit too fiddly fo rmy tastes.

Regimental Fire and Fury- It was tough for me to justify with my copy of Black Powder sitting on my shelf looking at me accusingly.

I also took a peek at Dues Vault and Lion Rampart- But I just wasn't feeling the period. Then I saw a huge variety of Napoleanic rules and my eyes just kind of glazed over. I had no idea what to pick up there. So, I stuck with paints for now. Perhaps next time.

On the bright side, now you can order SAGA!

 Easy E wrote:
Hopefully, I'm heading to the FLGS tonight. Any last minute suggestions?

Edits: Thanks for everyone's thoughts.

They did not have Blucher, LaSalle, Longstreet or Cross and Crescent available so I didn't go with anything. Instead, I got some painting stuff instead. My supply was running low.

Cold War Commander- After reading the rules a bit more, it is simply a reskinned Warmaster. I was not super keen on the idea of tracking hits for the units at the scale it was at.

Sails of Glory- Not keen on the Wings of War engine at the moment. Just a personal preference.

GHQ Modern: Micro Armor- After reading the rules, some fo the turn sequence seemed a bit too fiddly fo rmy tastes.

Regimental Fire and Fury- It was tough for me to justify with my copy of Black Powder sitting on my shelf looking at me accusingly.

I also took a peek at Dues Vault and Lion Rampart- But I just wasn't feeling the period. Then I saw a huge variety of Napoleanic rules and my eyes just kind of glazed over. I had no idea what to pick up there. So, I stuck with paints for now. Perhaps next time.

If they have a copy, try reading through Ronin. It is a brilliantly simple skirmish game covering feudal Japan (as well as sections on Korea and China) up through the Edo period if you want. It could easily be used for other places (I've thought of using it for Dark Age skirmish myself) and has some fun mechanics (in addition to the normal dice rolling, you have 'actions' that you can spend on initiative, attacks or defense, making it strategic in how you divy these up, and the more models involved in one combat the more you can 'support' a main model).