Pendraken Miniatures Forum

We all try different rule sets and then sometimes move on and try something else.
Most of us also have a collection of regular rule sets that are our 'go to set' for a particular period and scale of game that we play again and again.
Some of us may have one rule set that we love and that is all we use regularly.

I am curious how our group of players compares to others.

To count as a regular rule set you must have played the rules at least three times and plan to keep coming back to them in the future.
If you use a rule set to cover multiple periods then it counts as one rule set, e.g. we use General Quarters I/II to play Pre-Dreadnought, WW I and WW II naval

For me in no particular order Black Ops, Hail Caesar, Pike and Shotte, Black Powder and Lion Rampant. Pike and Shotte gets the most use at the moment

Cheers
Ian

The ones that get the most table time with my gaming group are two home-brew sets, Hordes of War for mass fantasy battles, and mini epic for sci-fi. We have been playing Battlegroup and Rommel for WWII quite a bit, and I'm sure they will be part of our stable of rules. We have played a fair bit of TMWWBKs and I want to play more of those rules too.

We have played quite a bit of Irregular Wars - but it probably is too close to Hordes of War for it to be likely to get much more table time - which is a shame as it is a good game, but most of the group would rather play fantasy, than Renaissance.

I read LOTS of rules but play only four (counting TtS!/FK&P as a single rules set). The number may be a function of how many active players you have in a playing group, since with several you can always have one or two experts. As an aging solo gamer, keeping my head around three or four is about it.

Also, for me, it is easier to remember more rules if they are from dissimilar periods.

I'll divide my answers in 'group' and 'solo'.

Group:

-BKC II for word war II games: We played BKC I and went through to second edition. Think this will be the majority of all games i have played with my group, so count about 10-15 a year.

-x-wing/wings of glory : a good surrogate for when we need to get a quick game in, or we don't have time to prepare much. Both same principle so will count as 1 ruleset.

That's about it. As a group we like to play Blitzkrieg comander so much, we hardly play anything else! Exceptions being cardgames like blood bowl and Greenland, but those are not 'rule sets'


Solo:

-Blitzkrieg Commander for WWII (bigger games)

-USE ME WWII for 'big skirmish'

-Song of blades and heroes/flying lead/deep dark dungeonsfor fantasy and pulp style games (all the same engine, flashing steel will add to this list shortly! )

-kings of war for fantasy games: works well solo for me

- deadzone for scifi skirmish; i use V1 with the AI cards for solo play

-LOTR strategy battle game: one of the best skirmish games out there.Used to be able to put this in the group category, but alas it's been years since it hit the table. Still like a quick game solo now and then, as Lord of the rings was really the first proper game i had when i was a beginner, so has a special place for me!

-War at sea (axis & allies): Great WWII game, Roll off for initiative really makes the game good to play solo IMHO.

-Napoleonic wargaming by Neil thomas: Really love this one. So much that i adapted them for my ACW games as well. (should really get 19th century wargaming for that, but never seem to make the purchase. Think i like the napoleonic one too much to even bother )

Seems i got quite a few :D


Hoping to add in the future: Bolt action for a light but good WWII game at lower level for the group.

We cover a lot of history, so different rule sets are inevitable:

IACTA ALEA EST!, HEP! DEVS VVLT!, Ten More Sons!, Ball and Bayonette, A Hundred Circling Camps, White Man's Burden, Biggles Rolls a Six, and Alamein to Zem Zem.

Not counted: Blood and Borscht, which needs five reliable regular players and so happens too seldom, and Rising Sun Time, a set of Sengoku rules that I haven't used since the mid-1990s and might find a bit clunky by now. Used a few times recently but now discarded, The Good, the Bad, and the Lucky, which increasingly appeared to be players following rules, not making decisions. The honest townsfolk of Dead Man's Knees have found themselves assigned variously to the 26th Maryland volunteers, Rush's Lancers, and the baggage trains.

Blitzkreig Commander and Chain Of Command for WW2 land.

General Quarters for WW2 Naval

Warmaster for Fantasy big battle.

Retinue for Medieval skirmish

Legends of the Old West and Once Upon A Time In The West for Wild West skirmish

"Headdenquest" (homebrew set derived from SPIs Dragonquest system) for dungeon crawling.

I suspect Tribal/ Primeval could be added. Played 3 games (all on Friday evening) and intend to play more.

I reckon that makes 9.

Dux Bellorum and Lion Rampant for Ancients. I have other rules but really like these.

The Pikemen's Lament for P&S era, although Baroque looks to be good (yet to have a game) and the forthcoming For King & Pariament.

Honours of War for 18thC.

Bloody Big Battles for 19thC, with Black Powder and Neil Thomas's rules getting a look in as well.

Blizkreig Commander II for iner-war and WWII along with Battlegroup.

So, plenty of rulesets but seemingly precious little time for games at present :(.

I submitted 5-6 but it may be more:

BBB

FOB2

FOG

Square Bashing

HOW

Ronin

There are others that I will be playing a lot more of in the future, including Dux Bellorum, Dux Brittaniarum, Saga, To the Strongest and Tin Soldiers in Action, as well as campaign based games like To the Last Gaiter Button.

Hmm, the list goes up every time I think about it :D

My gaming isn't really regular despite a Wednesday evening every week as that's usually d&d; my wargaming is usually occasional weekends and we spread a bit thin to call any set regular.

Art d'la Guerre has revitalised our Ancients, Spearhead has replaced BKC again though, I've played plenty of Twilight of the Sun King recently, Impetus was a frequent contender, Frostgrave sees a fair bit of play even at the club. Blucher gets a lot of play time and Song of Blades for demo/participation games and Quick bashes at the club.

Although we're thinking Black Ops for this season so we'll likely have 3-4 games over the next month to get in practise :)

There's probably more I'll immediately remember when I hit save...

BBB
Kiss me Hardy

Oh good grief, haven't played for a couple of months but BBB as well :D

MeG
Dux Bellorum
Blucher
Warband
Battleship row series especially ww2
FogR
Sabresquadron
Poseidon's Warriors
Star WarsArmada

Plus quite a few irregular card driven games that the lads bring down

I do quite a bit of boardgaming as well and some of those rulebooks can be significant (such as Panzer by GMT), so  my overall count is probably quite high......downside, I never master anything :-)

Eight sets of rules, three of which are for WW2 :)

Rapid Fire!, Cross of Iron, BKC.

Martin

And for those of us who never play WWII what are the other five sets?

Lion rampant
Black powder
The men who would be kings
BKC 2
Bolt action
Kings of war

I thank you
Jim

Quote from: Norm on 22 October 2017, 03:36:21 PM
......downside, I never master anything :-)

Thanks all who have responded so far, many varied lists :)

Norm's comment is the concern our group is starting to have as we add more rule sets. As one of our group put it, "we make beginner's mistakes and we aren't beginners"

I should probably reveal our list

Land
1. DBMM - Ancients
2. DBA - Medieval
3. Volley & Bayonet - AWI, Napoleonic (Regiment/Brigade units)
4. Home brew - Napoleonic (Battalion units)
5. If the Lord Spares Us - WW I
6. Home brew - WW II (Company/Platoon units)
7. Spearhead / Modern Spearhead - WW2 (Battalion units), 1980-90s

Naval
8. Home brew - Age of Sail 1750 - 1820
9. General Quarters I/II - Pre-Dreadnought, WW I, WW II

Let me see,

CoC, BKC2, Frostgrave, Mordheim, Epic, Warmaster.   (4 of which have seen campaigns recently)

There are lots of fringe ones like Sharp Practice 2, Dux, Saga, Rogue Stars, Inquisitor, In Her Majesties Name, Diasho, Blood Eagle which don't quite make the cut of regular enough anymore.

Define regularly?  I regularly play lots of sets but it might only be once in 6 months

CoC
BKC2
Fire and Fury - Both
Rapid Fire
Dragon Rampant
Lion Rampant
The Men Who Would Be Kings]
AK47
Black Powder
Wings of War
Sword and Spear
Wild West ( Home brew)
Soldiers of God
Frostgrave


And often we find we are playing Rapid Blitzkrieg Rampant Commander as we forget which rule belongs in which game 

Quote from: Orcs on 23 October 2017, 08:24:24 AM
And often we find we are playing Rapid Blitzkrieg Rampant Commander as we forget which rule belongs in which game 

I have that problem with Pike and Shotte and Hail Caesar  :)

Cheers
Ian

Doubly so with their "tool kit" approach where I can't remember what's different WITHIN the system let alone BETWEEN them :D

Rapid Fire
Bolt Action
Sword and Spear
X-Wing

In no particular order:

Sword and Spear
Bluecher
Rommel
Muskets and Tomahawks
Longstreet
Maurice
Lasalle
Grand Armee
Might and Reason
Homebrew Sudan
Homebrew RCW
Homebrew Sengoku-Jidai
Homebrew cold war
Homebrew SCW

Probably missing a few too.

It is amazing how many people don't play the same games I do. Clearly no two wargamers are the same. At least I have now found a set of rules which look as though they will play very well as a solo game' i.e. Tin Soldiers in Action.

Yes we all seem to play different games! And all play lots of different rules.

I don't know if this is a good thing or a bad thing. It feels that it's a bit of a problem that as gamers we are spreading ourselves too thin. On the other hand there is so much choice and availablity of different periods and rules.

Now I just need to work out how to get more gaming time and get my gaming mates to be available more too!

Quote from: Leman on 22 October 2017, 06:11:27 PM
And for those of us who never play WWII what are the other five sets?

Lion Rampart,
Grimsby Clubs own ECW, also used for TYW etc.
Wings of War,
Victorian Steel at the authors wargaming venue in Grimsby,
AK47 Republic (both versions).

Regards,

Martin

Quote from: Orcs on 23 October 2017, 08:24:24 AM
Define regularly?  I regularly play lots of sets but it might only be once in 6 months

And often we find we are playing Rapid Blitzkrieg Rampant Commander as we forget which rule belongs in which game 

I did try to give a definition in my first post but I agree it's not simple ;)
Our DBMM game a couple of weeks ago was the first in almost a year

We find we miss bits or get them 'nearly right' rather than adding things from other sets ???

Quote from: fred. on 23 October 2017, 05:27:23 PM
Yes we all seem to play different games! And all play lots of different rules.

I don't know if this is a good thing or a bad thing. It feels that it's a bit of a problem that as gamers we are spreading ourselves too thin. On the other hand there is so much choice and availablity of different periods and rules.

Now I just need to work out how to get more gaming time and get my gaming mates to be available more too!

Seconded

Quote from: Orcs on 23 October 2017, 08:24:24 AM
Define regularly?  I regularly play lots of sets but it might only be once in 6 months

Sharing this problem I going to define regularly for my purposes as something I have played more than 3 times, intend to return to and have played in the past 12 months.

CoC
BKC2
Fire and Fury - The proper one, not Regimental
Dragon Rampant
Lion Rampant
The Men Who Would Be Kings
The Pikeman's Lament
En Garde
Black Powder
Sword and Spear
Wild West ( Home brew)
Soldiers of God
Frostgrave

In the past I would have included Warmaster Ancients and I Ain't Been Shot Mum but I haven't played either of those for a couple of years now.

Osprey have done a lot to add variety to the rules I use. I'm far more likely to give an unknown set of rules a go when they cost about a tenner, rather than £30.

Here is my regular rules list:

Covoy

Bag the Hun
Bag the Mig
Wings of War

Charlie Don't Surf
Blitzkrieg Commander
Red Actions
It's a Long Way to Tipperary
Die Fighting
Mr Lincoln's War
Battles for Empire
Regimental Fire and Fury
General de Brigade
British Grenadier
Age of Reason
Sharpe Practice
Slugfest
A Coat of Steel
WarmasterAncients
Hail Caesar!

I wonder if I will ever settle on a period?

Hopefully never!

See what I mean:

Convoy - don't do naval
Bag the Hun
Bag the Mig  }don't do air wargames
Wings of War

Charlie Don't Surf - don't do Vietnam
Blitzkrieg commander - don't do WWII

Red Actions
It's a long Way... }never heard of so assume modern war
Die Fighting

Mr Lincoln's War - played once
Battles for Empire - never heard of
Regimental F&F - too slow so no longer play
General de Brigade - never played as too slow
British Grenadier - don't do AWI
Age of Reason - Honours of War is much better
Sharpe Practice - bought it, considered it, figures still in box and most likely to be sold off.
Slugfest - ? is it to do with invertebrates?
A Coat of Steel - not heard of that one
Warmaster Ancients - played once, not my cup of tea - TtS and BI2 have replaced it
Hail Caesar - on the bookshelf, never played

As can be clearly seen, in wargaming one man's meat etc. which seems to render this whole questionnaire somewhat redundant unless of course the point is to show that there appear to be as many rulesets as wargamers.

My reason for putting up the poll was to get a view of the number of rule sets people play, it has been very helpful in that regard :)

Our group plays a variety of periods and regularly use 9 different rule sets. We are considering adding a tenth, Baroque, and have been discussing the challenges of remaining familiar with that many rule sets

The poll results suggest that we are at the upper end of the curve, except for some outliers

Quote from: vonlacy on 24 October 2017, 08:15:37 PM
Here is my regular rules list:

Covoy

Bag the Hun
Bag the Mig
Wings of War

Charlie Don't Surf
Blitzkrieg Commander
Red Actions
It's a Long Way to Tipperary
Die Fighting
Mr Lincoln's War
Battles for Empire
Regimental Fire and Fury
General de Brigade
British Grenadier
Age of Reason
Sharpe Practice
Slugfest
A Coat of Steel
WarmasterAncients
Hail Caesar!

You play all of those regularly? Colour me impressed!

Cheers, M.
--

Perhaps some are like his bath, once a year whether he needs it or not ;) ;D

We certainly struggle to get all our 9 current rule sets played in a year :!!

Yes we do play all of them, some are one week games others can be 2 or even 3 week games. We game every week and we have large collections , so we like them to get regular outings, it's no good just having them sitting in a box. There are a couple more rule sets we use occasionally say once every couple of years.

You're very fortunate to get to game every week :)

We've estimated that we might get 40 gaming evenings a year, if we are lucky

As we are a group of 7, if I am unable to put a game luckily on someone else will, so we usually get around 48-50 games in a year.

Our 'group' is very occasional - some have a lot of regular gaming (RPG, board and tabletop) but I rarely get the opportunity to join in. So I guess the 'regular' wargame rules are I Ain't Been Shot Mum (20mm - occasionally 6mm or 15mm), Blitzkrieg Commander (10mm), Frostgrave, Star Wars Armada, X-Wing.