Good scaleable ruleset for migration era / dark age battles

[LeadLust]

Comitatus from Simon MacDowell sounds exactly like what you are after. PDF from https://www.legio-wargames.com for the princely sum of £7. Leadership driven, 'battle scale' rules with good period feel. Freely downloadable QRS, amendments and migration period scenarios also available.

[Atheling]

Just to be clear, Dux Bellorum and Lion Rampant use completely different game systems. Dux is the adaptation of Glutter of Ravens, and Lion Rampant was the first iteration of the “large skirmish” rules that have been adapted in Dan Mersey’s other Osprey titles.

I like both, but they’re aimed at different sorts of games.

With the emphasis on very different.

[Hobgoblin]

With Lion Rampant, you can easily mess with things for far larger forces without much work. Just increase what counts for a base figure into a larger group.

You'll have larger groups clashing, casualty rates remain about the same so if it's an x10 game, you'll have 10 casualties each time you would normally lose one.

I haven't done it with Lion Rampant, but I have with Dragon Rampant...

Good point - though it must get very fiddly unless you have element-bases. The thought of moving a 'blob' of 120 individually based figures is quite daunting!

[armchairgeneral]

We refought Dyrrhachium (1081 Normans vs Byzantines) with 200 - 300 figures aside, using Lion Rampant just had a few very simple house rules. See link below.

https://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=134458.msg1706742#msg1706742

Version 2 is out 21st July so not long to wait  https://www.northstarfigures.com/prod.php?prod=16518

Lion Rampant is quick and easy to learn and use so was ideal for my friend and I as we don't get many opportunities to game. If you are gaming the Arthurian period regularly it sounds like you want something with more depth and period flavour so WAB with the Age of Arthur supplement which IMHO was an outstanding piece of work from James Morris is the way to go for now. Then maybe check out Midgard when it comes out?

[SotF]

As a side note, with Lion Rampant getting a new edition, you might want to consider waiting a little bit to decide on rules. It's next month, I believe, when that's coming out.

[bluewillow]

Impetus on sabot bases would work well and scaled up and down from 160 figures to 600 plus per side.

Basic handles the small games ok but I prefer advanced, it has a better feel for fall of Rome to high medieval. The diorama basing really appeals to me too.

A selection of my early medieval armies

https://stormandconquest.blogspot.com/search/label/Dark%20Ages?m=0

Cheers
Matt

[Atheling]

Impetus on sabot bases would work well and scaled up and down from 160 figures to 600 plus per side.

I agree with Matt Impetus is a pretty good rule set and plays the Early Medieval period well enough.

I try to base my miniatures to fit as many rule systems as possible these days, without resorting to Sabot bases which can look quite ugly if you're playing a massed battle game IMHO

[Bloggard]

I think maybe you’re being too hard on yourself regarding painting productivity and quality- 120 infantry and 60 cavalry over a three month period seems quite productive (especially if that’s consistent and you’re not burning yourself out), and there’s nothing wrong with the quality of the figures in the photo you posted. ....

couldn't agree more.
that seems to be a very good 'table-top' standard indeed from what I can see, and for that rate of productivity (again excellent by most people's standards, I'm sure).

[WorkShy]

Comitatus from Simon MacDowell sounds exactly like what you are after. PDF from https://www.legio-wargames.com for the princely sum of £7. Leadership driven, 'battle scale' rules with good period feel. Freely downloadable QRS, amendments and migration period scenarios also available.

Just downloaded a copy and it seems quite interesting. Not sure it's better than WAB but for £7 it's worth it just for a read in the bath!

couldn't agree more.
that seems to be a very good 'table-top' standard indeed from what I can see, and for that rate of productivity (again excellent by most people's standards, I'm sure).

"Table-top standard" is pretty much all I want right now. Once I hit a critical mass of minis, I can then go back and tidy some up or strip them and start again.

I've tried to keep the minis flexible by magnetically basing them all individually. I've also magnetized shields on some minis so I can switch them around from round to oval or change to a different LBMS shield device. That is damned fiddly (I gave up with small shields) and does reduce the production rates but it means I can expand a unit from 12 to 36 minis easily. I tried doing 12 infantry and 6 cav in a batch but died of boredom so I'm now doing 8 and 4.

I must admit I nearly gave it all up with frustration after having a couple a larger orders from one manufacturer where the minis took longer to prep in terms of filling in pot holes in the surface and getting rid of flash/mould lines than to actually paint. The last couple of orders from different providers, however, have been very clean and that has made a major difference. Just got to keep pushing on.

[crafty]

Your minis look great.

One ruleset that hasn't been mentioned yet is Kings of War Historical...it's a simple to learn rank & flank game, a bit old school IGOUGO, but does offer that scale-ability that you were after. I've bought it recently and have just started dabbling in it (playing with my kids with small 10-figure units...but it does scale up to 60 figure units).

I realise it's probably not as 'hard core historical' as some of the other sets mentioned here, but it's another set people can consider.

[Atheling]

Just downloaded a copy and it seems quite interesting. Not sure it's better than WAB but for £7 it's worth it just for a read in the bath!
"Table-top standard" is pretty much all I want right now. Once I hit a critical mass of minis, I can then go back and tidy some up or strip them and start again.

I did the same, the rules are OK but the small element bases put me off immediately. I like my large battles to look that way, with large units that are suitably, erm..... large!

If you need some painting inspiration you could head over to my blog and check out my Early Byzantines (the closest thing I haver to a Late Roman Army at the mo'):
Just Add Water Wargaming and Painting Blog- Early Byzantines:
https://justaddwater-bedford.blogspot.com/search/label/All%20My%20Early%20Byzantine%20Units%20Thus%20Far%21