Simpler alternatives to Warhammer Fantasy

[nickdives]

We have had good results with Fantastic Battles and Shadow Storm for large battles.

[Diablo Jon]

Much as I love my oldhammer if you think the combats in  6th are a slog don't play 3rd where units push and shove each other back and forth 2" across the table and even when one side breaks the other side have to purse taking free hacks at their backs.

Personally I think 4th was the most streamlined especially if you play it with the Ravening Hordes book armies and tue magic items from just the box set.

[pixelgeek]

Kings of War and Hobgoblin are definitely good calls

I really like Hobgoblin. The background and the structure of the armies. I don't like how close armies start and if I did play the game I would look at starting slightly further apart

[traveller]

One Hour Skirmish Wargames by John Lambshead will release a fantasy version later this year. This is my favourite system of all times, fast and furious but still with a lot of tactics:

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/272745/one-hour-skirmish-wargames-fast-play-dice-less-rul

[mikedemana]

I like Dragon Rampant for ease of play and simplicity. It makes a great multiplayer game, too, so you don't get locked into that big box 1v1 format...

Mike Demana

[Rick]

I like Dragon Rampant for ease of play and simplicity. It makes a great multiplayer game, too, so you don't get locked into that big box 1v1 format...

Mike Demana

Frankly, so do I, but the OP did mention 'rank and flank' which Dragon Rampant doesn't, thankfully, do so well.

[Basementboy]

I like Dragon Rampant for ease of play and simplicity. It makes a great multiplayer game, too, so you don't get locked into that big box 1v1 format...

Mike Demana

I love the entire Rampant series myself! Great recommendation, but as Rick pointed out I am looking for rank and flank specifically. Thanks for the recommend all the same though, great series of games.

And as an aside, thanks to Rick and Nickdives for the further recommends- have never heard of Shadow Storm before, looking forward to finding out!

[Hobgoblin]

Yeah - honestly, we've been round all the houses on this conversation! 2nd is great, it has the greatest puns, the biggest jokes and the silliest stuff out of all the editions - but the 'rank and flank' structure of later Warhammer really doesn't come of age until 3rd edition - 3rd is the mature but still fun wargame that will form the basis of the later editions but doesn't get bogged down in special rules, special counter rules, counter-counter rules and exceptions to the rules and special rules! 

I think Rick Priestley recently pointed out that the third-edition rules have quite a lot of missing bits (as a result of typesetting errors). I remember that third introduced a lot of formations (wedges and so on), but most of the rank-and-flank stuff is there in second? Rank bonuses, lapping round and all that? I remember second being less fiddly overall and having better-balanced magic. For me, third was an eye-catching presentation of much the same but with fiddly extra bits.

It would be remiss not to mention Hordes of the Things, too. I found it an eye-opener when I switched from Warhammer third around the time HotT was published. It's a much faster and smoother game, and I find it gives a much more satisfying impression of a battle. The above-mentioned DBF is a new iteration of the same DBA/HotT principles and is great, but HotT is a great starting point. All you need are 'elements' of the same frontages: traditionally 60mm for 28mm, but you can just as easily play with 80 or 100 or whatever. The 100mm has the advantage of allowing elements to be formed of either 20mm or 25mm bases (with 40mm bases, you could add some goblins or whatever as unit fillers).

You can also use sabot bases to accommodate Warhammer's basing peculiarities. James at Oshiro Models (on this forum!) made me some great sabots that accommodate 25mm bases for a 60mm HotT frontage. So these individually based Warhammer orcs can play with the multi-based beastmen below:





I'd hugely recommend giving HotT/DBF a go - you get a really satisfying battle, and the fantastical elements work really well alongside the abstract/realistic historically based DBA combat rules on which both games are based.

[Tom Dulski]

 Wow are those shields and flag hand painted?

[Hobgoblin]

Wow are those shields and flag hand painted?

Yes - I don't have the dexterity for transfers!