So which Fantasy battle game are we all playing?

[Ethelred the Almost Ready]

I use DR with some tweaks for big battles.  I am planning to give Mortem et Gloriam Fantasy a try.

[TheGamingArtisan]

Dragon Rampant and Warmaster Revolution (both using 10mm) 

[TheGamingArtisan]

I use DR with some tweaks for big battles.  I am planning to give Mortem et Gloriam Fantasy a try.

Interested to hear what tweaks you've done to make DR better for larger games?

[Irregular Wars Nic]

There’s also the new Fantastic Battles by Nicholas Wright of Irregular Wars. Like Mayhem I think it’s designed with 15 mm and smaller figures in mind but there’s no reason 28 mm shouldn’t work.

PDF is available from Wargame Vault. I was going to buy a hard copy on Amazon but I’ve got myself locked out of my account.

I hear Fantastic Battles by that Irregular Wars Nic chap is the way to go! 

[Ultravanillasmurf]

Not quite got to the point of actually playing, but Oathmark is a major part of my hobby.
https://ultravanillasmurf.blogspot.com/search/label/Oathmark

[squeaky]

I hear Fantastic Battles by that Irregular Wars Nic chap is the way to go! 

Well Amazon have my money now so he'd better know what he's about 😁

[squeaky]

I wonder how the painting’s going...

I’m also wondering whether anyone has any experience with Hostile Realms,  the fantasy version of Piquet, which I have just come across while browsing the Caliver Books site. All I know of it is that a pack of sequence cards is used by each player, presumably to randomise the order of play, as well as ‘relic cards’. I am aware that Piquet seems to divide opinion like Marmite, in part because of its asymmetrical mechanics, but I’m wondering whether these might be more palatable in a fantasy setting.

I picked these up at a show some years back, and to be honest they seemed pretty damned good, everything was in there you could hope for, a complete set of rules with the flavour and army lists any good fantasy set needs, but as you say, piquet is not everyone's cup of tea.. Particularly if you come from a Warhammer (or in my case fantasy warriors) background were you're more accustomed to the 'nippy little battalion' syndrome. I agree however, surely this battlefield chaos and narrative style would work well for fantasy. I just couldn't commit to learning it at the time.

[Andrew_McGuire]

Thank you, that’s interesting to know. I’ve seen a discussion on TMP from 10 years ago but there were more comments on the difficulty of ordering from the Piquet website than on gameplay, though I haven’t read everything. I do, however, like card-driven mechanics, and was already intrigued by Field of Battle, from which Hostile Realms appears to draw more than it does from regular Piquet. (I note that some people rate FoB as far better though I am sure that there are many of the opposite view.)

As well as being highly suited to solo play, HR may be a good way into the system as well as offering more scope for tinkering than a historical setting.

[Misneach]

Before lockdown I was playing a lot of Kings of War. I really enjoy the rules.

The morale/damage system is really good, and adds a lot of tension to the game. Every turn a unit takes damage, the player rolls 2d6 and adds the wounds the unit has taken. If it beats the unit's nerve stat, it wavers (like pinning) or is routed. It's fun because a lucky roll can destroy very strong unit, or weak units can hang on for ages!

One of the major attractions to the game is the multibasing. Units are fairly large, so you can have a lot of fun building little dioramas.

[robh]

........was already intrigued by Field of Battle, from which Hostile Realms appears to draw more than it does from regular Piquet. (I note that some people rate FoB as far better though I am sure that there are many of the opposite view.).

FoB fixes some things that not everyone thought were problems, hence the resistance. Amongst an overall update and redesign it somewhat flattened the often wild swings of initiative and the active/inactive ratio of the original system.
Pretty much everyone familiar with the system seem to think it an improvement and as a new player it is a great place to start. Unfortunately Piquet is not a cheap system to buy into, especially back when we had to order everything from the States, so some of us still stick to the original.

It is a game for players who can step aside from the micromanagement of their armies, allow fate and fortune to rule the game and actually command an army.

[Andrew_McGuire]

Thank you for those observations, which serve to confirm the impression I had been forming. FoB and / or HR are now definitely among my wanted rule sets. At the very least it seems clear they offer a radically different experience than at least 90% of the systems most of us are familiar with or have heard about.

[black hat miniatures]

Thank you for those observations, which serve to confirm the impression I had been forming. FoB and / or HR are now definitely among my wanted rule sets. At the very least it seems clear they offer a radically different experience than at least 90% of the systems most of us are familiar with or have heard about.

You can order Piquet products from Lancashire Games in the UK...

Mike

[Bodvoc]

Another shout for Fantastic Battles, excellent and very playable rules, army lists and campaign system all in one very affordable book.

[Polkovnik]

I’m also wondering whether anyone has any experience with Hostile Realms,  the fantasy version of Piquet, which I have just come across while browsing the Caliver Books site. All I know of it is that a pack of sequence cards is used by each player, presumably to randomise the order of play, as well as ‘relic cards’. I am aware that Piquet seems to divide opinion like Marmite, in part because of its asymmetrical mechanics, but I’m wondering whether these might be more palatable in a fantasy setting.

Some time ago I bought Hostile Realms and decided it wasn't for me. As there was (and probably still is) very little information available about these rules I wrote a review after reading them, here:
http://www.theminiaturespage.com/boards/msg.mv?id=267782
 

[Dr. The Viking]

I much enjoy Warhammer Renaissance, which is a Warhammer Fantasy battle amalgamation of 4th and 5th ed with later versions added in. Really a "greatest hits" sort of thing. Made by fans for other fans.

If you like the old stuff then this is for you. If you detest all things GW, then probably it is not.

I was recently part of making an "herohammer" fanzine, and there's quite a large piece on it in the fanzine: https://herohammer-fanzine.com/ (free of course!)