Greetings from The Great White North

[jimduncanuk]

Welcome Tristram!

I believe the rules you're after are Pendraken's very own Warband.

As Dan Mersey said, "if you're after a ruleset to replace Warmaster, this is it".

If you are half a fan of Warmaster (do give them a try) then you might want to consider your Warmaster based units on a Warlord sabot. I've done mine that way.

Have a look at this blogpost but you can ignore the gruesome health story.

http://jim-duncan.blogspot.co.uk/2015/09/wip-or-wnip-warband-warmaster-and-me.html

[Tristram]

Welcome Tristram!

I believe the rules you're after are Pendraken's very own Warband.

As Dan Mersey said, "if you're after a ruleset to replace Warmaster, this is it".

I've looked into that a bit. Love the idea of dioramic bases, something Ive been enjoying in 28mm with Kings of War. But from what I can tell no Ratmen army yet?

I may not have indicated how much I am all about the rats. I have a blog here dedicate entirely to them: http://pariedolia.weebly.com/nimh

That said, I've been devouring numerous games over the last year, and Warband is high on my list to check out.

In the UK DBMM is very much a niche game.  The national tournament circuit is still dominated by Field of Glory, however, i understand the tourney players and BHGS are starting to cast about for a replacement (FoG replaced DBM a few years back  ).

L'Art de la Guerre was touted and has taken off in a big way in Europe (so i understand) but didn't really settle here (it reminded me of a mashup between DBM and FoG).  Mortem et Gloriam has been fanfared as "the next big thing", but after splashing out £50 or so I think a lot of potential players have been...er...well...lets say we're awaiting the "January revisions".

So I think FoG will soldier on until a new ruleset emerges as a replacement.

Given the fragmented nature of UK historical gaming, its difficult to point to a single ruleset as a "go to" option.  Lots get played.  


WWII is probably dominated by Flames of War (company action) and Bolt Action (platoon action).   Personally I'm playing an old set called Rapid Fire.  Its worth a go.

Black Powder/Hail Caesar are perennial favourites for club gaming as they are accessible and easy rules.  They are based on the same engine but play very differently.  BP in particulry is more flexible and will cover many "horse foot and guns" periods.  Personally i reckon HC are a better set of rules "mechanically".

I've heard of most of those, except L'Art de la Guerre. I own Black Powder and Hail Caesar and really like the DIY nature of the games (and the books are gorgeous and just fun to read), though I was unsuccessful thus far in convincing any of my gaming group to invest in a historical army (though I may eventually wear them down, even if I have to paint up two armies myself and host a prepared game). I also bought Impetus, and really fell in love with Foundry's Medieval Warfare, both of which I'd like to give a go.

For ACW - Fire and Fury.  Accept no substitutes.  In my view a contender for "best ruleset in any genre".

ACW?

Outside of the historical gaming, Mantic are puching hard with Kings of War into the open ground left by Games Workshop (in their recent attempts to destroy themselves).  However GW changed their upper management, changed direction and are very much resurgent at the moment.  Age of Sigmar is seeing a lot of play and the 40k crowd are hanging out for the next edition (due next spring so the rumours say) - note, i heard from many people that at their club the 40k players basically wholesale switched to Bolt Action a while back.  I'd also expect to see some serious GW releases in 2017 - if Necromunda and Mordheim don't make a reappearance i'll be surprised.  I'm really hoping they reopen Warhammer Historical - they produced some great rules, the best of which was Legends of the Old West.  Pick those up second hand if you can.  Excellent game.

I've been following trends in fantasy gaming pretty closely since GW blew up The Old World. KoW is a fun game, but as 3rd was my favourite edition of WFB, I crave a bit more complexity. I don't have the hatred of AoS that many do. Cant stand the new setting, and still play under the notion the End Times never happened, but I find AoS is a fun skirmish game. It just doesn't fill my thirst for mass fantasy battles. Im pretty actively involved in the growing Oldhammer community online, and once I finish schooling (back in school for my third degree at the moment) hope to take some trips to Britain for one of the BYOL gatherings and play some 3e again. Heard good things about Warhammer historicals, though also heard Black Powder/Hail Caesar are close to being spiritual successors of those games.

If you're up for something quirky and a TON of fun, check out something called "A Very British Civil War".  Its a concept, not a ruleset and i'm sure you could come up with a Canadian version (in understand there have been some American versions).  Pendraken do some "inter war period" figures that will work for it, and in 2017 Pendraken's Blitzkrieg Commander 3rd Edition release may well be the rules to use for something "grand scale AV[Canadian]CW"!!

I'll have to look that one up, thank you

[paulr]

ACW?

A small ruckus amongst your southern neighbours during the 1860s, the American Civil War

[Tristram]

A small ruckus amongst your southern neighbours during the 1860s, the American Civil War

Ahhhh, of course.

[Orcs]

A small ruckus amongst your southern neighbours during the 1860s, the American Civil War

I believe they were actually "on time" For this one, not late as usual. 

[paulr]

 

[fsn]

I fancy gaming Plan Red, in which the US planned war on the UK (including an invasion of Canada) in the 1930s. 



http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2039453/How-America-planned-destroy-BRITAIN-1930-bombing-raids-chemical-weapons.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_Plan_Red
http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/america-planned-war-britain-revealed/

[Luddite]

Oooh, good idea!  That looks like it would be a lot of fun.  The Interwar period military of most nations is bizarrely entertaining.  Few people had worked out what tanks were for.  Hehe...

Case for the prosecution:

[fred.]

We used Hail Caesar for fantasy games for several years, our mods were on the yahoo group. They were more Warmaster based rather than WHFB - but I think HC is more an evolution of WM that WHFB.

KoW is fine, it gives a very quick brutal game - and there is a fair bit of army building to the game. Did they not add a ratmen army in one of the recent supplements. They have just produced a historical variant - but it's almost exactly the same.