thinking about getting into the medieval period and looking for some rule recommendations, not DBA, they must be easy to play, base removal preferred, army size roughly 150 figures max each side,

never gamed medieval before so know nothing about the rules available, and I will be using Pendraken figures  

any help appreciated

I have played a couple of games of Sword and Spear Hundred Years War Games and am pretty impressed.


http://polkovnik.moonfruit.com/sword-spear/4583102656

Basic Impetus is free and plays pretty well also

Hail Cheesy for early Middle Ages, maybe?

I have played an Agincourt refight using Pike and Shotte and it worked well and was great fun

Ian

Quote from: old smokie on 11 December 2014, 05:05:56 PM
thinking about getting into the medieval period and looking for some rule recommendations, not DBA, they must be easy to play, base removal preferred, army size roughly 150 figures max each side,

never gamed medieval before so know nothing about the rules available, and I will be using Pendraken figures  

any help appreciated

HOTT; small armies, troop types translate to medieval easily.  No need to study medieval history, warfare or chivalry before playing - just get in there! Not for the dedicated 'true to history' gamer but it is fun.

Quote from: old smokie on 11 December 2014, 05:05:56 PM
thinking about getting into the medieval period and looking for some rule recommendations, not DBA, they must be easy to play, base removal preferred, army size roughly 150 figures max each side,

Quote from: SV52 on 11 December 2014, 09:09:52 PM
HOTT; small armies, troop types translate to medieval easily.  No need to study medieval history, warfare or chivalry before playing - just get in there! Not for the dedicated 'true to history' gamer but it is fun.

HOTT is DBA with ridiculous units and a badly tacked on magic system. DBA is easy to play with base removal and an army size of less than 150 figures a side so ticks all the boxes, not sure what you have against it? Perhaps an outline of why "not DBA" might help inform suggestions?

I recommend warmaster ruleset.

Quote from: jchaos79 on 12 December 2014, 07:13:06 AM
I recommend warmaster ruleset.

Would be my preference too, to be honest.

I would look at Impetus, use 6cm wide bases for 10mm, about 10-12 figures per base for close order foot so an army works out at 120 to 150 figures. Have a look at Basic Impetus as suggested by Fenton.
I am also trying out the Sword and Spear rules which can use the same bases and a similar sized army. These rules also seem to play quite quick. 

thanks for the info,  I shall take a look at Impetus, Sword and Spear and warmaster rulesets

tried DBA before didn't like it, it was like trying to interpret a foreign language also a lack of diagrams and examples put me right off, some people love the rules, I did not

I'm a huge fan of the Warmaster set but they're out of print, although I believe you can get a PDF version from the interweb, courtesy of Long John Silver.

The medieval book is probably the weakest of the three volumes but providing you play in period the anomalies aren't noticeable.

There is quite a bit of Warmaster stuff here

http://www.ricks-warmaster.com/

Warmaster fantasy was released by GW as a PDF. It's no longer directly available from them but pdf copies are legitimate.

I'd recommend Hail Ceaser over WM. HC feels like an updated version of WM, with many if the fiddly bits removed. Both can suffer from too many units doing nothing or the odd unit zooming around.

Quote from: old smokie on 12 December 2014, 08:19:21 AM
thanks for the info,  I shall take a look at Impetus, Sword and Spear and warmaster rulesets

tried DBA before didn't like it, it was like trying to interpret a foreign language also a lack of diagrams and examples put me right off, some people love the rules, I did not

DBA 3.0 has recently been released, it suffers from has the same writing style but has diagrams and several hundred army lists.

The first printing has sold out and the first reprint will apparently be available shortly

I am seriously considering getting a copy but will probably organise a game or two with someone who has a copy before I do

Field of Glory v.2
Use the same size bases as 15mm figures just mount 50% more figures on the base.
A 400 point army has about twice the number of bases (24) about as a DBA army  (12 bases).
Dba is a problem in 10mm because of the pack sizes.

Unless Leon would do army packs. The idea is to make each base a diorama, in particular the command bases.

The best way if he won't is to look at the contents of an army pack, and see how many you can use.

You may be able to buy an army book cheap on Amazon or eBay.

If you have an opponent in mind buy a pack each and use the lot to begin with. Don't worry about army points.

I'd throw in another vote for Impetus - cracking set for pointy stick era games!

The Basic version is free and plays well too, but not really is worth a bash at the full version.

Bloody Barons (Peter Pig) gives a very good Wars of the Roses style game for relatively little outlay. Two bases together and you've also got units for Impetus.

All suggested rules set are top notch, but Id go with 'Seasons of War' from Red Wyvern Games Here's links to a rules review and AAR:
http://grandscalewargaming.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/seasons-of-war-review-aar-pt1.html

http://grandscalewargaming.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/the-armies-muster-sow-review-pt2.html

http://grandscalewargaming.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/bloodshed-beyond-walls-of-acre-sow-aar.html

Regards
Jason.

Dan Mersey's Dux Bellorum's a good, simple game but set for Dark Ages, so early Medeival.

There's a Dux Bellorum conversion here for Wars of the Roses.  http://luddite1811.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/dux-bellorum-wars-of-roses-unofficial.html

He also wrote Lion Rampant, although that's more a Medeival skirmish game.

I struggled with Impetus to be honest.  They never quite worked for me.

Field of Glory is good.  Used to play it a lot, but i went off the rules in a huge way.

Warlord Games Hail Caesar is jolly good fun, if a little 'loose' around the wargaming midriff.  They're sort of like a less fiddly Warmaster ruleset.

I'm a big fan of Warmaster, with I think of those I've played Impetus is a good 2nd (Although it does suffer from the translation, the main test mechanic is horrifically explained in the rules, but is really simple if you can work your way through it in another way.)

The other set I love is TooFatLardies Dux Britainarrium although that is more focused on Post Roman Britain, the mechanics are simple enough to shift into a different era.