Best Back of Beyond Rules?

[SJWi]

My mates and I are planning to dust -off our "Back of Beyond" collections and so are looking for the best rules available. We already have "Triumph and Tragedy", "A World Aflame" and the venerable "Contemptible Little Armies" but have heard good things about more recent offerings namely "Setting the East Ablaze V2", Fistful of Lead (FFoL) and "FFoL Bigger Battles", and also "Battlefield Evolution World War" plus its "Back of Beyond Supplement.

Can anyone out there recommend one of them plus explain why?

I know the "Perfect General" had a set of RCW rules but I guess they have disappeared.

Thanks in anticipation.....       

[has.been]

My vote would be for Fistful of Lead.
The Reloaded rules if you want a few figures & a skirmish.
The Big battles if you want lots of troops on the table.

Why?
Simple, open to your own interpretation as to what best represents
            your troop types.
Adaptable, if you want to stick in a few of your own rules.
Fun, well who doesn't want some of that in their games.

[Mark Plant]

The Perfect Captain rules haven't disappeared. I have all the files and will put them up on Pygmy Wars when I re-do it.

I'm a massive fan of them, but I don't see them as what most people want from Back of Beyond. They play like ordinary games, not like adventures.

[trev]

The best rules to play are the ones you like and you have opponents to play against.  Not very helpful but worth remembering.

I’ve not played CLA or T&T so can’t comment but if you have them I guess you know if you like them and they will work. 

I believe I have read that StEA are a bit CLA-like so might be an updated better option if you liked CLA.  The rule book and especially the supplements are great for ideas and pictures even if you don’t end up playing the rules.  We played them a few times in the mid covid break and had fun.  They are unit card based for activation so games with lots of units will slow down a bit. 

Here’s my AAR but search for some of Ignatief’s fantastic AARs here to see more.
https://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=126510.0

Fistful of lead bigger Battles are lots of fun and very flexible.  I like the playing card mechanic especially.  Again it’s single unit activation, so keep unit numbers lower for faster games.  The PDF rules are cheap for a taster.  I’d get Bigger Battles for BoB level actions.  The Core Rules or Reloaded would be for single figure unit skirmish games.  Perfect for Osterns or the adventures of the Elusive Avengers.

We tried a small Men Who Would Be Kings game the other day and they worked pretty well.  You’ll need to tag on some vehicle rules but that will be easy enough.  These are IGOUGO with friction so should be faster for very big games. We’ve played some monster Sudan games with them okay. If you like these for Colonial actions or like Dan Mersey’s other rules they may be a good option. 

Red Actions and Triumph of the Will are two more I haven’t played but looked okay from a read through.  See Marks RA army lists and orbat data for inspiration and reasonable force compositions. 

[NurgleHH]

I agree with Triumph & Tragedy and Fistful of Lead:Big Battles. Great rulesets, simple.

[AzSteven]

My group has used Necromunda, Triumph & Tragedy, Bolt Action, 7TV and a home-brew Frostgrave for Back of Beyond gaming.  All of them have their strengths and weaknesses.  For the most part we have settled on Bolt Action for more unit-oriented actions and 7TV for more character-based sessions.

[Lord Raglan]

I would strongly recommend Setting the East Ablaze

[Golgotha]

I would second that - definitely Setting the East Ablaze.

[ColCampbell]

Our group (Jackson Gamers) helped develop "The Sword to Adventure" variant to "The Sword and the Flame."  It has worked well for us and includes rules for armored cars and tanks.

Here's an old battle report from a 2012 convention that shows the action:  http://colcampbellbarracks.blogspot.com/2012/06/bayou-wars-report-part-2.html

But I've also started collecting forces for "The Men Who Would Be Kings" and have played a couple of small games.  They can also work well.  Just see Neil's blog "Toy Soldiers and Dining Room Battles" -- https://toysoldiersanddiningroombattles.blogspot.com/search/label/The%20Men%20Who%20Would%20be%20Kings

Jim

[Leapsnbounds]

The Sword and the Flame the Sword to Adventure is the one I go with.

[JBaumal]

I’m with Leapsnbounds on this one, TSATF - The Sword to Adventure!
Great minds, eh???

[leadfool]

We started with "The men who would be King"  Relabeled it The men who would be Warlord and have been playing a campaign, posting in the interwar forum.  The rules are ideal for BoB.  see attached.  hopefully you can read them.  feel free to play, modify, or ignore. 

leadfool

[Caliver Books]

Setting the East Ablaze is surely a must for the larger battles but for those with a few units wanting to try out the period before jumping in then these will do nicely

www.caliverbooks.com

[trev]

Are those new? Any details or reviews out yet?

[Ignatieff]

Setting the East Ablaze is surely a must for the larger battles but for those with a few units wanting to try out the period before jumping in then these will do nicely

www.caliverbooks.com

I would argue that StEA are perfectly good for small (30-40 figures) as side too.