*
Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.
March 19, 2024, 02:38:51 AM

Login with username, password and session length

Donate

We Appreciate Your Support

Members
Stats
  • Total Posts: 1685048
  • Total Topics: 118007
  • Online Today: 766
  • Online Ever: 2235
  • (October 29, 2023, 12:32:45 AM)
Users Online

Recent

Author Topic: Small scale Skirmish rules for Romans in Britain Any Suggestions please?  (Read 3793 times)

Offline seldon

  • Scientist
  • Posts: 444
Re: Small scale Skirmish rules for Romans in Britain Any Suggestions please?
« Reply #15 on: January 23, 2020, 01:27:31 AM »
Oh, I was not complaining about you.... by all means do not take it as criticism ... Like anyone would have the last word on this :D

we all have this issue... we just don’t have a term to classify the options :)

I usually say “platoon level” for those games even if the platoon is not valid for the period...

I guess as these games became more popular the issue became more common...

Ok... in that case 10-15 figures per side...certainly not CLASH... lots of great options and keep Brink of Battle in mind...

I love squad level games ...


Offline Poiter50

  • Scatterbrained Genius
  • Posts: 3562
Re: Small scale Skirmish rules for Romans in Britain Any Suggestions please?
« Reply #16 on: January 23, 2020, 01:52:07 AM »
Looks like North Star have s set coming up for release in Feb from posts on this forum.
Cheers,
Poiter50

Offline seldon

  • Scientist
  • Posts: 444
Re: Small scale Skirmish rules for Romans in Britain Any Suggestions please?
« Reply #17 on: January 23, 2020, 02:14:35 AM »
Missed that.. unless you mean Soldiers of Rome, those are actually for large battles ...

BTW, this is a Brink of Battle report , it is with Lord of the Rings but you can get an idea of how it works for ancients/medievals...

https://www.thewargamespot.com/clash-at-cynewiin-epic-heroes-of-middle-earth-skirmish-battle/

cheers
Francisco

Offline Poiter50

  • Scatterbrained Genius
  • Posts: 3562
Re: Small scale Skirmish rules for Romans in Britain Any Suggestions please?
« Reply #18 on: January 23, 2020, 02:21:11 AM »
Ah, I see, units of up to 20, not forces of. Silly me.

Missed that.. unless you mean Soldiers of Rome, those are actually for large battles ...

BTW, this is a Brink of Battle report , it is with Lord of the Rings but you can get an idea of how it works for ancients/medievals...

https://www.thewargamespot.com/clash-at-cynewiin-epic-heroes-of-middle-earth-skirmish-battle/

cheers
Francisco

Offline seldon

  • Scientist
  • Posts: 444
Re: Small scale Skirmish rules for Romans in Britain Any Suggestions please?
« Reply #19 on: January 23, 2020, 03:00:13 AM »
Still looks interesting :)

Offline Easy E

  • Mastermind
  • Posts: 1918
  • Just some guy who does stuff
    • Blood and Spectacles
Re: Small scale Skirmish rules for Romans in Britain Any Suggestions please?
« Reply #20 on: January 23, 2020, 04:15:06 PM »
I tend to say Model-vs-model is I want 1 figure fighting 1 figure style skirmish.

If I want small units fighting each other like Clash of Spears or Men of Bronze, I tend to say Squad vs. Squad skirmish. 

It helps me differentiate, but other people's mileage may vary.   
Support Blood and Spectacles Publishing:
https://www.patreon.com/Bloodandspectaclespublishing

Offline seldon

  • Scientist
  • Posts: 444
Re: Small scale Skirmish rules for Romans in Britain Any Suggestions please?
« Reply #21 on: January 23, 2020, 04:40:44 PM »
but men of bronze you do large battles right ?  The scenarios in the book ar too large for clash.. not in figure count due to the scale in your game but our rules don’t cover phalanxes and such.. right ?

Kind of you could use an army to represent a raid in clash and use the same minis to do a large battle with MoB .. right ?


Offline Easy E

  • Mastermind
  • Posts: 1918
  • Just some guy who does stuff
    • Blood and Spectacles
Re: Small scale Skirmish rules for Romans in Britain Any Suggestions please?
« Reply #22 on: January 23, 2020, 06:37:53 PM »
Yes, that is true.....


Dang it.....


Now I have to rethink my whole world view!   :o  :D :o lol

Offline seldon

  • Scientist
  • Posts: 444
Re: Small scale Skirmish rules for Romans in Britain Any Suggestions please?
« Reply #23 on: January 23, 2020, 08:27:03 PM »
You can re-think the world view buuut... just don't re-write the rules.. we already learned those :) ...

I'm waiting for the new book to try my 10mm punic wars armies :)


Offline Hobgoblin

  • Galactic Brain
  • Posts: 4903
    • Hobgoblinry
Re: Small scale Skirmish rules for Romans in Britain Any Suggestions please?
« Reply #24 on: January 24, 2020, 01:10:33 PM »
I'd agree with the recommendations of Fistful of Lead, Pulp Alley and Song of Blades.

I'd also largely disagree with the criticism of Song of Blades' traits system. Of all the skirmish games I've played, I find Song of Blades to be the one that needs the least consultation of the rulebook - and that usually means zero consultation.

Yes, there are lots of traits to add to the basic two-stat profile. But most of them are exceptionally easy to memorise. For example, Savage (appropriate for a druid or fierce tribal champion, perhaps) means that any kill made by that model is a 'gruesome kill' (causing a morale test). Big gives a +1 bonus in close combat but the same bonus to anyone shooting at the model. Long Move uses the 'long' measuring stick rather than the medium one. Shooter (Long) gives the model a missile weapon using the 'long' stick for range. And so on.

The point is, once you've used these once, you'll remember what they do. And most characters will have either zero or one trait, so they really don't cause many complications. If you look at the profiles at the back of the SoBH rulebook, you'll see what I mean.

By comparison, Fistful of Lead (an equally brilliant game) also uses traits and tends to have more of them per model. I find its traits slightly less intuitive and so typically refer to the rules a bit more often. Part of that is just down to less familiarity with the rules, of course.

Pulp Alley has a similar allocation of traits to FFoL. Again, I'd say these are a little less intuitive/memorable than SobH's traits. But against that, many of them are factored into the main character profile. So there's less need to consult the rules.

All three games are excellent, so I'd recommend them all (it's nice to skip from one to the other as time and whim dictates). I'd recommend SoBH for spur-of-the-moment games as it has the quickest warband generation and 'time to table'. FFoL is really good for larger groups of players. Pulp Alley has the most built-in narrative and non-combat options. I really couldn't pick a favourite, though I've played SoBH more than the others, mainly because you can get a game going from scratch in five minutes flat.

Here's how Song of Blades could work with Romans vs Britons (a patrol attacked close to Hadrian's Wall, perhaps?).

Romans
5 x Legionaries: Q3, C3, Heavy Armour, Shooter: (Short), Shieldwall
1 x Native Scout: Q4, C2, Forester, Free Disengage, Shooter (Medium)
1 X Mounted Auxiliary: Q3, C3, Mounted, Long Move
302 points

Britons
1 x Chieftain: Q3, C3, Leader
1 x Champion: Q3, C4, Hero, Savage, Shooter (Short), Tough
6 x Warriors: Q4, C2, Dashing, Shooter (Short)
308 points

Shooter (Short) represents pila/javelins; Shooter (Medium) represents a bow.

That should give you a nicely balanced game. The Romans are disciplined and steady; the Britons are hard-hitting but frail - especially if their leader is killed. Each side should play very differently from the other.

Offline Johnny Boy

  • Scientist
  • Posts: 334
  • The Older I get the better I was.. . . .
Re: Small scale Skirmish rules for Romans in Britain Any Suggestions please?
« Reply #25 on: January 26, 2020, 08:43:56 AM »
Once again many thanks for the feedback, just need to decide plastic, metal or both?? Any suggestions for a good mix of different poses if I go metal?

Offline Antonio J Carrasco

  • Supporting Adventurer
  • Mad Scientist
  • *
  • Posts: 974
Re: Small scale Skirmish rules for Romans in Britain Any Suggestions please?
« Reply #26 on: January 26, 2020, 09:17:41 AM »
Once again many thanks for the feedback, just need to decide plastic, metal or both?? Any suggestions for a good mix of different poses if I go metal?

I dare to say plastics, now that Victrix has legionaires, auxiliares, cavalry and Celts available.

Offline Ghost

  • Bookworm
  • Posts: 66
Re: Small scale Skirmish rules for Romans in Britain Any Suggestions please?
« Reply #27 on: January 26, 2020, 02:00:46 PM »
You could give a try to "Open Combat" : a few characteristic and abilities, simple mecanisms, the game is designed for skirmishes in pre-gun powder era.
You only need 5-10 miniatures and a 2'x2' battlefield.

Offline tikitang

  • Mad Scientist
  • Posts: 610
  • A shadow out of time...
Re: Small scale Skirmish rules for Romans in Britain Any Suggestions please?
« Reply #28 on: January 26, 2020, 09:54:09 PM »
I would use the profiles from Warhammer Ancient Battles, build up a very small "army" between 100 and 200 points, then use the Mordheim or Warhammer Skirmish rules to actually play. It is all the same system so should work fine with only a bit of tweaking here and there.
https://a-descent-into-the-maelstrom.blogspot.com/


"The things you own end up owning you. It's only after you lose everything that you're free to do anything."

- Chuck Palahniuk

Offline wmyers

  • Scientist
  • Posts: 366
Re: Small scale Skirmish rules for Romans in Britain Any Suggestions please?
« Reply #29 on: January 27, 2020, 02:18:01 AM »
Once again many thanks for the feedback, just need to decide plastic, metal or both?? Any suggestions for a good mix of different poses if I go metal?

If you’re only getting a few, go for metal. 

Plastic is good for large numbers being built up cheaply. However, some plastics makers charge about the same as metals and plastic breaks very easily. Metal lasts, has a better feel to it and they seem like miniature sculptures (far more so than plastics).

Although, it really needs to be based on how much you have to spend.