Lead Adventure Forum
Miniatures Adventure => Age of Myths, Gods and Empires => Topic started by: bigredbat on March 24, 2014, 08:56:05 AM
-
I'm contemplating dipping a toe into the world of Roman skirmish, but don't have any experience with rules lower than at a cohort level. ;-) What rules do people use for skirmish, please?
-
Wargames Foundry Compendium provides a lovely little rule set "Today Will Decide". It's about for playing skirmish games with Roman Centurions vs small warbands of Gauls. Quick and dirty :) incl. heroic actions etc.
Also I know of some people who are using SAGA rules for Ancients skirmish.
Lt.Hazel was using T&T rules for his Late Roman Tactica game.
-
Thanks Prof, what's T&T?
I originally come from (in didtant days of yore) a role-playing background. I was particularly wondering if there is a set where players have about half a dozen to a dozen characters each; street gangs or so forth.
Cheers, Simon
-
We use SAGA and Triumph and Tragedy with modifications for Late Romans. If you are interested in the T&T stuff let me know, LAF member Skink wrote all changes down, he will send you a document for sure.
And Dux Britanniarum seems to ne very good, didn't Play it personally but others love it.
For the Romans I use the Anglo-Danish Board when playing SAGA. Hope that helps?
Edit: for real small games have a look at Broadsword Adventures, really fast and fun.
-
There is a ancients "street gang" ruleset by Ganesha Games called Song of Shadows and Dust, which I have never played, but seems designed for such things.
-
Thanks all! The other systems sound fine but with more minis than I'm after using; Song of shadows and Dust does indeed sound closer. I'll either have a look at that, or write something of my own.
Cheers, Simon
-
There is a ancients "street gang" ruleset by Ganesha Games called Song of Shadows and Dust, which I have never played, but seems designed for such things.
that's right ! :-*
An ancient set of rules will follow (still under playtesting at Ganesha Games).
SSS= Song of Spear and Shield (Ancient Skirmish) final playtest
the yahoo group : https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/songofblades/info (https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/songofblades/info)
-
Could it be more, converted to the cause of roman gangs? :o
I hope so. :D
Song of Shadows and Dust might work for what your searching for.
Wargames Soldier and Strategy issue 63 also has Saga batteboard and rules for roman street gangs that might interest you. If you can, check them. :)
Cheers
Rumacara
-
Somebody by the name of Cy Taylor ran a Gangs of Rome skirmish at the Fall-In Convention in the US:
http://theminiaturespage.com/boards/msg.mv?id=325771
I haven't yet seen his rules, though.
-
Thanks- TMP is down, but I do recall seeing pics of his Rome. Very nice.
Rumcara, by chance I know Mark who wrote the WS&S piece, well. Perhaps I'll play that game with him, sometime!
-
You could always use Warhammer Ancient Battles, and cut it down to a skirmish as per the Fall of the West Supplement.
Another alternative would be to use Mordheim as a staring point.
-
Shockingly, I must confess that I've never played Mordheim! It always looked good, from afar, but I wasn't into things GW. I'll have a look at the rules...
-
Shockingly, I must confess that I've never played Mordheim! It always looked good, from afar, but I wasn't into things GW. I'll have a look at the rules...
I think, there is free PDF version of the rules somewhere on the GW site. The rules are good, I've enjoyed them, you've got a lot of special weapon rules, which makes the using and equipment an important tactical point in the game. Though logically you'll have to make some additions for things like pillum, scutum etc.
-
Yes there is a version called Coreheim. I know this because I downloaded them, a couple of years back with this project in mind; never read them, though. Typical. ;-)
http://www.coreheim.com/
-
A pity you don't have a copy of the LOTR rules. There's a LOTR Rules Variant Yahoo Group with rules for Romans vs Celts, I'm sure they could be adapted to your needs.
-
I'll second the LotR rules, they're really terrific and are easily transferable to any period (fantasy, scifi, or historical).
-
Are you familiar with "The Sword and the Flame" Colonial Rules? There is an ancient variant of that called "The Sword in Gaul", take a look here - http://www.sergeants3.com/index.html
-
I have a friend who has TSATF. We've thought about playing it, not got around to it yet.
I want a very low level of skirmish, though, with just a handful of figures on each side. A game I could set up in 5 mins, rather than the usual sixty with my ancients!
-
We use SAGA and Triumph and Tragedy with modifications for Late Romans. If you are interested in the T&T stuff let me know, LAF member Skink wrote all changes down, he will send you a document for sure.
And Dux Britanniarum seems to ne very good, didn't Play it personally but others love it.
For the Romans I use the Anglo-Danish Board when playing SAGA. Hope that helps?
Edit: for real small games have a look at Broadsword Adventures, really fast and fun.
If you wouldn't mind sharing the T&T variant, I'd really be very grateful, as I am hoping to run some participation games in the Late Roman era at my club and need something that I can run with easily as umpire - something that the players could just pick up and play easily. I have considered using Dux Britanniarum with bigger forces but am not sure that'd be a good 'pick up and play' set for the players who'd likely be involved...
-
Are the LOTR rules available for download anywhere?
-
Are the LOTR rules available for download anywhere?
The core rules or some modified profiles?
-
The core rules or some modified profiles?
Definitely the core, I've never seen the game played. What supplements do people play with and recommend? Cheers
-
I don't think the core rules are available for a free download anywhere, but they show up on ebay for fairly cheap. GW recently put all the LotR armies into themed books but there aren't really other supplements.
-
I don't think the core rules are available for a free download anywhere, but they show up on ebay for fairly cheap. GW recently put all the LotR armies into themed books but there aren't really other supplements.
Is the game still in print? I thought GW throws up their rules for free when they stop making the game. Or is the Hobbit game essentially the same thing?
-
The game is still in print. The Hobbit uses the same rules, but I'm not sure about the profiles. If you can get the big blue rule book, that would be your best bet.
-
eBay surely?
Luckily I kept my sons set in a safe place! The whole LotR/LOTOW/Mordhiem family of rules are an excellent basis for any skirmish period.
-
eBay surely?
Luckily I kept my sons set in a safe place! The whole LotR/LOTOW/Mordhiem family of rules are an excellent basis for any skirmish period.
I took a look on ebay, but there seem to be a bunch of different rule sets. I'll wait till GW stops making this game and the rules are free, that should be a week or so given their track record :D
-
I took a look on ebay, but there seem to be a bunch of different rule sets. I'll wait till GW stops making this game and the rules are free, that should be a week or so given their track record :D
My advice would be to look on EBAY for the dark blue hardback version of LOTR rules, or the Return of the King version, as that was the last reprint for the different movies. I use them at home with my son. They are better than the new Hobbit rules as they were written before all the daft new rules for special strikes with certain weapons, etc (although you could easily ignore those).
Although they have their detractors, they are IMHO a very good core rules for skirmish type games - easy to play, but with layers of complexity that aren't immediately obvious. My 5 year old son can cope with the basic mechanisms of movement and combat quite easily.
-
I originally come from a role-playing background
My ruleset « Argad ! » is intended for role-playing minds :) ...but you need to devise your own scenarios, it's not really a complete game system it's more a simple technical background for adventures; and you need terrain features not a bare plain. http://www.argad-bzh.fr/argad/en.html
-
I would say...
Dux Britanniarum... the basic engine is ready for late Rome, you can make some twists for early period (it has been tried for Roman conquest of Britain with no modifications). You can even use the campaign as it is (with some rewording) or wait that someone with some experience in ancient history (me for example o_o ) find the will to stop posting on forum and drooling at the latest miniatures and actually does some design work and produce adapted campaigns for earlier period... yes this is an auto-whip against my passive-complaining mood...
anyway Dux has around 30 figures per side, characters with sound background and RPG attributes, a nice battle generation system and everything is needed post phalanx (in a pinch you can easily adapt shield wall rules to represent small phalanxes).
Arrigo (who is not Rich's salesman, but a satisfied TFL customer!)
-
I think I'd go first and foremost with the LOTR variants from the Yahoo group if you want Romans vs. Barbarians, or even just the LOTR rules, using "counts-as" profiles in place of the various fantasy minis. You could easily count Romans as the more heavily armored and disciplined Gondorians, orcs could represent a variety of barbarians (their profiles range from relatively weak, with poor morale, to quite strong and heavily armored).
Song of Shadows and Dust would be good if you're interested in an urban setting, and/or if you want a game with campaign progression, though. Additionally, if you're interested in later Romans, there's always Song of Arthur and Merlin, which is the same core rules but covers 3 versions of King Arthur (historical, Welsh folklore, and high fantasy). Obviously you'd be looking for the historical version, but if Arthurian wargaming in general appeals to you, then this is one of my favorites for capturing the feel of that type of small-scale heroic combat.
I suppose it's also worth looking here (http://www.freewargamesrules.co.uk/ancient.html), since there are tons of rule sets listed (not all skirmish, though). If you like DBA, there's a set in there by Phil Barker called "De Bellis Vellitum."
Another option would be to use WAB along with the fantasy Warhammer Skirmish supplement, applying the skirmish rules to the historical game.
-
I use SAGA or Pig Wars.