Looking for fantasy mass battle rules for 10mm/15mm

[undead_jon]

Not played a mass battle fantasy game in a long time and the recent arrival at my gaming club of Kings of War made me realise that I have no interest in 28mm mass battle games any more, but I would like to play in 10mm or 15mm, so I was wondering what rules are out there.

I know of Warmaster, Demonworld and HOTT.

Also what are people's views on the best rules/miniature lines to use for these scales?

Ta

J

[Sterling Moose]

Wasn't there an official set of D&D rules for that scale?  I'm sure they produced figures too.

[leutenantbrittan]

Hi!

the D&D one is Battlesystem!

Theres also 3rd edition of Fantasy battle (it seems far more popular at the moment than the current ones), Kings of War, Fantasy Warriors, No Quarter, Mighty Armies and Armies of Arcana...

Many of these are 28mm scale but work just as well, if not better in the smaller scale with a little work!

All the best!

[Laughing Ferret]

One problem with using 28mm fantasy mass battle games with 10 & 15mm though is many of them assume single-based minis and removing individuals as wounds from units, where 10 & 15mm typically assume element bases, or at least subdivision stands.  You can probably create a work-around for that though.

I've been on the same search myself this year.

Add to your list:

Fantasy Rules from Chipco (available as a pdf)
   .. similar to HOTT in many ways, but with more options.

Fantasy Impetus.
    ... Can track it down from the Impetus forum or website. It's in development it seems, and I can't tell how much support it has or will have.  Also check the Geektactica Blog: That's where I first found out about it. There's more there about historical Impetus, but their group was doing some with 28mm Fantasy Impetus..it works for any scale.  That game looks promising, I just don't have my head wrapped around the army construction & unit selection, it seems choices are shoe-horned, but sure people can change whatever they like. Biggest thing that has me hesitant on that is HOTT & Fantasy Rules use element bases of 40x40 and Impetus uses larger bases, and varies by unit type. So either way it's a commitment that removes the option for the other base-type games.  The 40x40 is nice for clean face-changes within multi combat, but I like the look of the larger rectangular bases more... so again: on the fence.

Mighty Armies
   .. released this year from Rebel Minis  rebelminis.com  Haven't played it or know much about it.  Appears to use small strip bases though, and visually I'm less interested in that. I'd like 15mm to use larger bases so the units can have little scenic element bases.  Same feeling about warmaster: i like the warmaster rules, but I want something more visually interesting than just the massed ranks of troops.  It;s one reason I'm interested in 15mm fantasy to begin with: having element bases for units, rather than big blocks of troops that need to be individual to pull them off as wounds.

You mention Kings of War's game: my understanding is that it doesn't remove models as wounds? if so, it wouldn't be hard to convert the rules over to 15mm and use element bases as units.

Not finding a great fit for me with anything out there, I'm in the process of writing rules for element-base unit combat that would allow for any base size, so there'd be no need to rebase from other systems.

[Svennn]

Is HOTT a fantasy version of DBA/DBM? I think there was one but cannot recall what it was called.

[leutenantbrittan]

Hi!

I found that using an element base approach also works with the 28mm scale by using a dice to mark damage and then remove the full base...

Fantasy Rules is a good system too!

[phreedh]

Is HOTT a fantasy version of DBA/DBM? I think there was one but cannot recall what it was called.

Yep, Hordes of the Things. Available as a free PDF from here:
http://wrg.me.uk/HISTORY/HOTT2.pdf

I'm building 18mm armies as a side project, but I'm using 28mm dimensions. More lead per element. =)

[leutenantbrittan]

I believe Ganesha Games, makers of Song of Blades has a mass battle version in development using 40mm square bases...

[undead_jon]

Thanks for the responses guy, will look through the options and see if I can find a set that works for me.

J

[Boromir_and_kermit]

I believe Ganesha Games, makers of Song of Blades has a mass battle version in development using 40mm square bases...

Yes, you are correct leutenantbrittan - its actually very good. Its still in playtesting, but when released will be a very nice addition to the line. Song of Armies and Hordes its called.

There is also Pride of Lions in the mass combat market as well that you might like to check out.

Cheers,
Ben.

[leadfool]

Years ago we played some giant 15mm fantasy battles using YLRAC which was a modified version of Tactica.  2000 figures per side.  Army lists were very simple, ie. all the orcs, dark ages and medieval type guys that we own against everything you guys own. 

[thebinmann]

Wasn't there an official set of D&D rules for that scale?  I'm sure they produced figures too.

Battle system was 25mm, but I use it for 6mm. Should be good for 10/15MM too just dived but 2? (or for 10mm use cms instead of in, oh now that's a bad suggestion;;;;

[Ironduke73]

You can try Lord and Lands, any scale, any period, fantasy, historical or fantasy vs historical, entirely up to you.

Fast paced and fun intro and tutorials on YouTube

[skink]

I would suggest Mayhem. I think it is written with 15mm in mind, but you can basically use any scale(I play it in 6mm). It comes with a points system that lets you create your own units with stats and traits as you see fit, so you aren't limited to the classic fantasy races. Also, there are magic rules and a spell list included and an expansion that features sieges.

[Eric the Shed]

you can't go wrong with Warmaster using the Medieval ruleset and original fantasy magic - plus drop the 3+ to hit with Elven bows - give them I extra shot like English Bowmen (100YW)