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Made in ca
Bloody Peasant





So being rather new to historical wargaming. medieval wargaming in that matter, I've been stuck up on what kind of rule set I should get into.
Recently Field of Glory has been on my radar for quite a while after purchasing the core rulebook at my local game shop. But after looking over it,
I was struck down by the confusing layout of the book which is full of equally confusing rules(which probably explained the 20% discount). So with that in mind,
I've made the decision to expand my knowledge onto other rulesets that I can use as a backup in case Field of Glory isn't my cup of tea.

I would like a rule set that could be easy to pick up as I intend to teach some of my friends to play it as well. Also, the game should preferably be able to last around 3-4 hours or less
And they should also be intended or easily adjusted for 15mm models.

Thank you in advance
   
Made in gb
[MOD]
Villanous Scum







De Bellis Multitudinis (DBM) is highly recommended and I have heard some good things about kings of war historical but have never played it myself.

On parle toujours mal quand on n'a rien à dire. 
   
Made in us
Battlefield Tourist




MN (Currently in WY)

A lot of people also seem to like....

L'Art de Guerre- Never played

Hail Caesar- Some people hate the Push-Your-Luck command system.

Lion Rampant- Maybe more skirmish focused, some people hate the activation method.

Dues Vault- Never played, but crusades

Soldiers of God- Never played, Crusades

Support Blood and Spectacles Publishing:
https://www.patreon.com/Bloodandspectaclespublishing 
   
Made in us
Longtime Dakkanaut



Cheyenne WY

I'm a major fan of DBA/DBM rule sets. But I recently purchased La'Art del la Guerre and I find it a "modernised" version of Big Battle DBA...and it seems to get more use. I haven't seen much DBM activity in ages, but this set seems to get used. And the book is much easier to understand.
It also includes the army lists in the rules, so it's all in one.

The will of the hive is always the same: HUNGER 
   
Made in us
Regular Dakkanaut





L'Art de Guerre

My podcast!
http://chanceofgaming.com/

http://www.adamchance.net/
 
   
Made in ro
Osprey Reader




London

If you're just starting out, DBA (De Bellis Antique-something!) is probably the 'baseline' set to look at. Its also cheap, has a low model count, has all the lists in one book and the mechanics and basing conventions are used in many other subsequent (and larger scale) rulesets, so anything you do for DBA will be reusable in other systems..

ADLG is the current 'most popular' DBA-derived set out there, with armies which are a little larger, but it still sticks to many of the same ideas.

Here's a "thing" about DBA

https://ancientwargaming.wordpress.com/an-introduction-to-dba/


Heres something about DBA, and DBA-derived rulesets you may find entertaining:
https://www.madaxeman.com/main/life_of_brian_the_wargamer.php

Here's some stuff about ADLG

https://www.madaxeman.com/L_Art_de_la_Guerre_page.php




www.madaxeman.com
See more of this rubbish there 
   
Made in us
Willing Inquisitorial Excruciator





Philadelphia

I would add

War and Conquest as a possibility. Was one of the Warhammer Ancients replacements touted a few years ago.

Warhammer Ancients. I think you can still get the 1.0 and 1.5 rules second hand, same for some of the books, particularly Armies of Antiquity. Game still plays very well, and the sourcebooks are great. Getting the 2.0 rules for cheap is nigh on impossible.

Outeremer: Faith and Blood (Osprey) - foucsed in the crusades, and more skirmish, but another option.

*edit.

Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game. Bear with me. If you're looking for a simple to play game to get started, get one of the first run SBG rulebooks. It is fairly easy to find a corrolary in the SBG armies for historical equivalents (and there are some fan made crusades, vikings, and other lists for SBG). The older rules are still perfectly good, cheap, and the ability to modify the points to get what you want is there. Just pull out the magic stuff and the monsters, unless you want to include them for historical monster hunting.

Medieval Warfare - this one is an old school ruleset with ranks and flanks, and combat is calculated rather than rolled.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2019/01/02 14:20:17


Legio Suturvora 2000 points (painted)
30k Word Bearers 2000 points (in progress)
Daemonhunters 1000 points (painted)
Flesh Tearers 2000+ points (painted) - Balt GT '02 52nd; Balt GT '05 16th
Kabal of the Tortured Soul 2000+ points (painted) - Balt GT '08 85th; Mechanicon '09 12th
Greenwing 1000 points (painted) - Adepticon Team Tourny 2013

"There is rational thought here. It's just swimming through a sea of stupid and is often concealed from view by the waves of irrational conclusions." - Railguns 
   
Made in gb
Longtime Dakkanaut




Throw DBMM in there as well, but DBA is not a bad place to start, V3 is written in an almost human readable form as well, just about every 15mm ancients game uses the same basic format for models or can be adapted to so its a good place to start.

Essex Miniatures (and probably others) do specific DBA 3 army packs of the miniatures you need for a factions list and any associated variations.
   
Made in au
Voracious Kroothound





Clash of Empires by Great Escape Games, another kind of Warhammer Ancient's replacement. Their website has a whole load of army lists pdfs to download for free including medieval.
   
Made in gb
Osprey Reader




London

The OP was looking at 15mm I think - Clash of Empires, War & Conquest, LOTR and the other warhammer-derived sets are all popular in places, but are all pretty much only ever seen played in 25mm - single figure casualty removal makes playing them in 15mm fiddly, especially if your 15mm figures are multiple based to the DBx "standard"..

If you are looking at 25mm its a whole different, often skirmish-level ball game - and Saga would probably figure highly in many folks list of suggestions in that case.

www.madaxeman.com
See more of this rubbish there 
   
Made in us
Wing Commander





TCS Midway

So, easy to learn rule sets:

Hail Caesar! - easily adjustable to 15mm, and tries to mimic some unpredictability with a refined version of Warmaster/Blitzkrieg Commander style command system.

Kings of War Historical - could easily be adjusted to 15mm, plays fast and is pretty 'light'

Saga - could be easily adapted to 15mm. As a thought, you could use bases of men at 15mm to be a single stand. Giving it the feel of a large scale battle very easily. I've toyed with this using our Warmaster 10mm armies, but haven't fielded it as a game yet. Should work very easily though.

Also look into Osprey's line of books. Ronin, En Garde!, Lion Rampant, Dragon Rampant, etc are all scale agnostic. These are largely skirmish games though. Lion Rampant could perhaps be done with multiple figures per base (as the suggestion above with Saga) as a single 'model' to make the scale of the conflict feel larger.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2019/01/04 19:34:50


On time, on target, or the next one's free

Gesta Normannorum - A historical minis blog
https://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/474587.page

 
   
Made in gb
Longtime Dakkanaut




one worth considering if you are prepared to look outside ancients is "Sharpe Practice", essentially a 28mm skirmish game, but could easily scale for 15mm as you are dealing with units (just need to mark casualties somehow).

one rulebook, some counters (get the counters, not the cards) and a few markers then figures from wherever you want, you don't need too many
   
 
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