So which is the most popular ancient mass battle rule set?

[twrchtrwyth]

Rampant Ancients may be the way forward.

Is this a new set or do you mean Lion Rampant?

[redzed]

It's a name for the collective of Ancient versions on the web.

[SteveBurt]

One nice thing about ADLG in 28mm, the standard table size is 6'x4'.

As indeed it is for 'To the Strongest'

[SteveBurt]

It's a name for the collective of Ancient versions on the web.

But the Rampant games are not really mass battles - just big skirmishes (something I also felt about WAB)

[Sunjester]

Why do people seem to equate tournament use with popularity? When I attend a UK convention, like Warfare, the tournament players are only a small fraction of the number attending. I know quite a few wargamers, but only a handful are regular tournament players (and most of those are 40K players).
I'm not intending to start the "tournament players are rule nazis etc" old chesnut (because most of them aren't), I'm just curious.

Oh, and at my local club it's mostly Sword and Spear with the odd game of HC.

[mellis1644]

Why do people seem to equate tournament use with popularity?

It much easier and visible to count such games vs. what is played at clubs/homes. There must also be home games of these played so it's not a bad stat/judge to use. But like any can be manipulated as required. Aka lies, damed lies and statistics.
 

Oh, and at my local club it's mostly Sword and Spear with the odd game of HC.

We play a bit of Sword and Spear and HC but both systems are not great for the 'really completive/ or general pick up games'. They can be abused badly by someone who wants to win - and that makes it unfun for everyone other than them. So, they are played when someone 'puts on a game' and creates a scenario etc.

DBA is our major turn up with an army and play game, although I'm trying out ADLG for the same style but bigger games.

[redzed]

Why do people seem to equate tournament use with popularity?

So they can say there little game is best 

[Tim Haslam]

I was hoping this topic would help me decide what rules to use.
I prefer 28mm gaming.
I like going out for the day (or weekend) and playing a few Wargames, regardless of either tournament OR just campaign style events.
What I’m trying to decide is which set of ancients, holds the most “events”
(Notice I avoided the dirty tournament word) 

I’m just starting to get some time to game again, and so I’d like to attend some “events” in the future.

Anyhow, doing my own research, I think To The Strongest may fit the bill?

[bigredbat]

Hi Tim,

Stumbled across this thread. Declaring an interest, I wrote "To the Strongest!", which isn't primarily a tournament game - I designed it to be played in an evening in a room over a pub - but which I also wrote with tournaments in mind and is proving quite popular as a tournament game, because it's fast and we can play 4 games in a day without raising too much of a sweat.

This is out first year on the tournament scene.  We've run 28mm tournaments in Cardiff, Chalgrove (our "Worlds"), RollCall, the London GT (last weekend) and Glasgow this weekend. I know that ADLG also run 28mm events, I'm not sure about the other popular systems. Our 2019 "Worlds" had 40 players (possibly the largest 28mm big-battle event in the world?), the others are in the 10-20 player range. It's been a lot of fun- we might add one or two more events, next year.

https://bigredbat.blogspot.com/2019/09/tts-knight-fever-at-london-gt.html

Our tournaments are on 6' x 4' tables with around a dozen units a side.  To give you an idea, there are (I think) 92 Perry plastic minis in the Italian Condotta army I've been using in the tournaments this year. Some of the infantry armies would be rather bigger, around twice that I suppose, at the high end. Basing is flexible and a lot of people use WAB or Saga armies.

As well as tournaments I run participation games at several of the major shows, and players put on participation games, too.  Of course, most TtS! games are played at home, or in clubs.  Happily, there appear to be a lot of people playing the rules. :-) 

Feel free to PM me if you have any questions.

Best, Simon

PS I have an idea that I've bought at least one army off you.  :-)

[Tim Haslam]

Yes Simon!

Yeah, I’m thinking TTS, is the direction.
Still working on my all fanatic Celt force!

[madaxeman]

As BRB says, if you are looking to wheel out some 28mm figures at several "events" each year you are probably looking at TTS! or L'Art de la Guerre to have a reasonable chance of finding an event near you in a dateline that suits.  TTS! had the 4-5 events BRB mentioned, whereas there were at least 9 events featuring 25mm ADLG held last year.

Other than that Swordpoint has maybe 2-3 events, the 6th Edition crowd still have maybe 2-3 as well (but hide them well!), there are I think 2 DBM events in 25mm and Rob Brooms I Can't Believe Its Not WaB set (forget the name  ) also has one or two I think, but again many of these don't really have much of a web footprint so can be hard to find if you are not in the relevant circle of cognoscenti.

The upside of ADLG is, as well as the large pool of players, that 25mm armies can be bought reasonably cost effectively as the figure count isn't quite wall-to-wall mass battle numbers, and as a consequence there is more room for moving about on a 25mm 6x4 table than in many of the other rulesets I've peronally played in 25mm in the past.

But, as always, play what floats your boat and what has a community near you is (as ever) always the only advice really worth taking !

 

[VonAkers]

twrchtrwyth

Like some others have said , you need to define Popular , do you want a historical set or a tournament set ? .
 .., If you wish to do larger  forces and 28mm & more Historical Battles, that can be finished in a reasonable time frame , then To the Strongest ( from the Big Red Bat Genius ) is the way to go , if you want tournament rules give it a miss..
The rules TTS are quite elegant , and this will not at all be evident from just reading the rules , you need to play them.
They do a very good job of simulating the command & control that an Ancient general would have , the others are not even close IMHO
Most others mentioned you will need a Masters Degree in trigonometry to play well.
Hail Caeser is quite good as well., & its a sandbox and can be modified easily to suit , and is very good to play around with( rules wise )
In addition not sure who said 28mm is dead … ..quite the opposite,  its the king ( probably someone who is far too attached to their retro minifigs ...  ..) look how they shine .!!!..
Cheers

[VonAkers]

Sorry I meant this for Tim Haslam..oops

[VonAkers]

Tim
red zed had a point
The dragon Rampant system Modified is quite a good and versatile rule set.
It is fun , fast,  simple but again surprisingly subtle. However the figures mostly need to be single bases.
That system can handle a ton of figures .
Cheers 

[bigredbat]

I wrote TtS! primarily as an ancient battle set, but also think TtS! are great tournament rules- you can fight four battles in a day, generally, to a conclusion, without bursting a gasket. I have never, ever been an ancients tournament player, but I've played in 4 of our 5 UK TtS! tournaments, this year, had an absolute ball. I even find I'm getting quite good with my own rules, or maybe it's just that I have identified an army that works for me (Italian Condotta). Here , the Duke of Milan is getting ready to deliver a massive left hook to some out-armoured Dacians, last Saturday, in Glasgow.