/hwg/ - Historical Wargames General

Empress Maud Edition

Previous thread: Get in here, post games, miniatures, questions, whatever you like.

List of mini providers:
docs.google.com/document/d/1uGaaOSvSTqpwPGAvLPY3B5M2WYppDhzXdjwMpqRxo9M/edit

List of Historical Tactical, Strategic, and Military Drill treatises:
pastebin.com/BfMeGd6R

ZunTsu Gameboxes:
mediafire.com/folder/yaokao3h1o4og/ZunTsu_GameBoxes

/hwg/ Steam Group:
steamcommunity.com/groups/tghwg/

Games, Ospreys & References folders:
mediafire.com/folder/lu95l5mgg06d5/Ancient
mediafire.com/folder/81ck8x600cas4/Medieval
mediafire.com/folder/w6m41ma3co51e/Horse_and_Musket
mediafire.com/folder/vh1uqv8gipzo1/Napoleonic
mediafire.com/folder/bbpscr0dam7iy/ACW
mediafire.com/folder/bvdtt01gh105d/Victorian
mediafire.com/folder/b35x147vmc6sg/World_War_One
mediafire.com/folder/z8a13ampzzs88/World_War_Two
mediafire.com/folder/z8i8t83bysdwz/Vietnam_War
mediafire.com/folder/7n3mcn9hlgl1t/Modern

mediafire.com/folder/6jrcg496e7vnb/Avalon Hill
mediafire.com/folder/pq6ckzqo3g6e6/Field_Of_Glory
mediafire.com/folder/r2mff8tnl8bjy/GDW
mediafire.com/folder/whmbo8ii2evqh//SPI
mediafire.com/folder/ws6yi58d2oacc/Strategy_&_Tactics_Magazine
mediafire.com/folder/lx05hfgbic6b8/Naval_Wargaming
mediafire.com/folder/s1am77aldi1as/Wargames
mega.nz/#F!ZAoVjbQB!iGfDqfBDpgr0GC-NHg7KFQ

Other urls found in this thread:

mediafire.com/folder/d9x0dbxrpjg48/Advanced_Squad_Leader
mediafire.com/folder/cb83cg7ays4l1/Battleground_WWII
mega.nz/#F!SolyxarJ!GUg6zWBStfznr6BvYedghQ
mediafire.com/download/o5x6blwoczojmfr/Black Powder.pdf
mediafire.com/folder/n7jmdnlv1n0ju/Bolt_Action
mega.co.nz/#!jxgCWTYD!FCp52DAqIUc-EM-TsRsWv7fB92nJ3kkzKsNcD_urI5Q
mega.nz/#F!i1N3xZxL!C6fQ3Z8o2U0gtk5kdXuVcQ
mega.nz/#F!XsVD0KgT!twB1NWiFE3aKXK_O1EZ4pA
mediafire.com/folder/28i9gevqws518/Impetus
mediafire.com/folder/7b5027l7oaz05/Modelling_&_Painting_Guides
mediafire.com/folder/eupungrg93xgb/Next_War
mega.co.nz/#F!b5tgXRwa!mzelRNrKPjiT8gP7VrS-Jw
mediafire.com/folder/alj31go19tmpm/SAGA
mega.co.nz/#F!C9sQhbwb!NVnD4jvUn5inOrPJIAkBhA
mediafire.com/download/cghxf3475qy46aq/Wargaming Compendium.pdf
mediafire.com/download/uttov32riixm9b0/Warhammer Ancient Battles 2E.pdf
mediafire.com/download/ta7aj1erh7sap1t/Warhammer Ancient Battles - Armies of Antiquity v2.pdf
mega.nz/#F!LxkElYYY!FJB5miNmlWZKMj2VfSYdxg
mediafire.com/download/cifld8bl3uy2i5g/Warmaster Ancients.pdf
mediafire.com/download/3emyvka11bnna1b/Warmaster Ancient Armies.pdf
mediafire.com/download/a7qatqf535aiz9j/Osprey - WAR 001 - Norman Knight 950-1204.pdf
mediafire.com/download/8jo0vztlcex483l/Osprey - WAR 048 - English Medieval Knight 1200-1300.pdf
deremilitari.org/2014/03/the-battle-of-lincoln-1141-from-five-sources/
jimwallman.org.uk/wargame/trench assault 1916.pdf
elladan-shop.de/epages/b0930d3e-9a66-4b1e-a9d0-f66fbfd657e0.sf/de_DE/?ObjectPath=/Shops/b0930d3e-9a66-4b1e-a9d0-f66fbfd657e0/Categories/"Anleitungen und Tipps"/HobbyTipps/Anleitung_fuer_Teddyfell_Gelaende]
wtj.com/games/1916/
tobispaintpot.blogspot.com/2012/10/a-new-horizon-tutorial-for-flexible.html
matakishi.com/makingthings.htm
matakishi.net/
insidegmt.com/?p=16070
wargamevault.com/product/147407/Not-Just-a-Brush-War-Brush-war-campaigns-for-any-war-game-system
wargamevault.com/product/146620/Nation-Generator-for-20th-century-Brushwars
mediafire.com/file/1fs195q31apwq6n/The Pikeman's Lament.pdf
twitter.com/SFWRedditGifs

>Advanced Squad Leader
mediafire.com/folder/d9x0dbxrpjg48/Advanced_Squad_Leader
>Battleground WWII
mediafire.com/folder/cb83cg7ays4l1/Battleground_WWII
>Battlegroup
mega.nz/#F!SolyxarJ!GUg6zWBStfznr6BvYedghQ
>Black Powder
mediafire.com/download/o5x6blwoczojmfr/Black Powder.pdf
>Bolt Action
mediafire.com/folder/n7jmdnlv1n0ju/Bolt_Action
>By Fire And Sword
mega.co.nz/#!jxgCWTYD!FCp52DAqIUc-EM-TsRsWv7fB92nJ3kkzKsNcD_urI5Q
>Fleet Series
mega.nz/#F!i1N3xZxL!C6fQ3Z8o2U0gtk5kdXuVcQ
>Hail Caesar
mega.nz/#F!XsVD0KgT!twB1NWiFE3aKXK_O1EZ4pA
>Impetus
mediafire.com/folder/28i9gevqws518/Impetus
>Modelling & painting guides
mediafire.com/folder/7b5027l7oaz05/Modelling_&_Painting_Guides
>Next War (GMT)
mediafire.com/folder/eupungrg93xgb/Next_War
>Phoenix Command RPG
mega.co.nz/#F!b5tgXRwa!mzelRNrKPjiT8gP7VrS-Jw
>Saga
mediafire.com/folder/alj31go19tmpm/SAGA
>Twilight 2000/2013 RPG
mega.co.nz/#F!C9sQhbwb!NVnD4jvUn5inOrPJIAkBhA
>Wargaming Compendium
mediafire.com/download/cghxf3475qy46aq/Wargaming Compendium.pdf
>Warhammer Ancient battles 2.0
mediafire.com/download/uttov32riixm9b0/Warhammer Ancient Battles 2E.pdf
mediafire.com/download/ta7aj1erh7sap1t/Warhammer Ancient Battles - Armies of Antiquity v2.pdf
>Warhammer Historical
mega.nz/#F!LxkElYYY!FJB5miNmlWZKMj2VfSYdxg
>Warmaster Ancients
mediafire.com/download/cifld8bl3uy2i5g/Warmaster Ancients.pdf
mediafire.com/download/3emyvka11bnna1b/Warmaster Ancient Armies.pdf

Desired scans :
Rank and File supplements
Harpoon 3 & 4 supplements
Force on Force supplements
Hind Commander
At Close Quarters
War and Conquest

2nd February in military history:

1141 – The 1st Battle of Lincoln, at which King Stephen is defeated and captured by the allies of Empress Matilda.
1461 – Wars of the Roses: The Battle of Mortimer's Cross is fought in Herefordshire, England.
1542 – Portuguese forces under Cristóvão da Gama capture a Muslim-occupied hill fort in northern Ethiopia in the Battle of Baçente.
1848 – Mexican–American War: The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo is signed.
1868 – Pro-Imperial forces captured Osaka Castle from the Tokugawa shogunate and burned it to the ground.
1920 – The Tartu Peace Treaty is signed between Estonia and Russia.
1920 – France occupies Memel.
1943 – World War II: The Battle of Stalingrad comes to an end when Soviet troops accept the surrender of the last German troops in the city.
1966 – Pakistan suggests a six-point agenda with Kashmir after the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965.
1971 – Idi Amin replaces President Milton Obote as leader of Uganda.
1972 – The British embassy in Dublin is destroyed in protest at Bloody Sunday.
1982 – Hama massacre: The government of Syria attacks the town of Hama.
1989 – Soviet war in Afghanistan: The last Soviet armoured column leaves Kabul.

It is 876 years since the (First) Battle of Lincoln, fought during a turbulent period of civil war in England history called The Anarchy. King Stephen was captured during the battle, imprisoned, and effectively deposed while his mother Empress Matilda ruled for a short time.

The forces of Stephen had been besieging Lincoln Castle but were themselves attacked by a relief force loyal to Matilda and commanded by Robert, 1st Earl of Gloucester, Matilda's half-brother. The Angevin army consisted of the divisions of Robert's men, those of Ranulf, Earl of Chester and those disinherited by Stephen, while on the flank was a mass of Welsh troops led by Madog ap Maredudd, Lord of Powys, and Cadwaladr ap Gruffydd. Cadwaladr was the brother of Owain, Prince of Gwynedd, but Owain did not support any side in The Anarchy. Stephen's force included William of Ypres; Simon of Senlis; Gilbert of Hertford; William of Aumale, Alan of Richmond and Hugh Bigod but was markedly short of cavalry.

As soon as the battle was joined, the majority of the leading magnates fled the king. Other important magnates captured with the king were all men of respected baronial families; it had only been earls who had fled.

Even as the royal troops listened to the exhortations of Stephen's lieutenant, Baldwin fitz Gilbert, the advancing enemy was heard and soon the disinherited Angevin knights charged the cavalry of the five earls. On the left Earl William Aumale of York and William Ypres charged and smashed the poorly armed, 'but full of spirits', Welsh division but were themselves in turn routed 'in a moment' by the well-ordered military might of Earl Ranulf who stood out from the mass in 'his bright armour'. The earls, outnumbered and outfought, were soon put to flight and many of their men were killed and captured. King Stephen and his knights were rapidly surrounded by the Angevin force.

"Then might you have seen a dreadful aspect of battle, on every quarter around the king's troop fire flashing from the meeting of swords and helmets - a dreadful crash, a terrific clamour - at which the hills re-echoed, the city walls resounded. With horses spurred on, they charged the king's troop, slew some, wounded others, and dragging some away, made them prisoners. No rest, no breathing time was granted them, except in the quarter where stood that most valiant king, as the foe dreaded the incomparable force of his blows. The earl of Chester, on perceiving this, envying the king his glory, rushed upon him with all the weight of his armed men. Then was seen the might of the king, equal to a thunderbolt, slaying some with his immense battle-axe, and striking others down. Then arose the shouts afresh, all rushing against him and him against all. At length through the number of the blows, the king's battle-axe was broken asunder. Instantly, with his right hand, drawing his sword, well worthy of a king, he marvellously waged the combat, until the sword as well was broken asunder. On seeing this William Kahamnes [i.e. William de Keynes], a most powerful knight, rushed upon the king, and seizing him by the helmet, cried with a loud voice, 'Hither, all of you come hither! I have taken the king!'"

After his capture the rest of Stephen's division fought on with no hope of escape until all were killed or had surrendered. Baldwin fitz Richard and Richard fitz Urse 'having received many wounds, and, by their determined resistance, having gained immortal honour' were taken prisoner. The city of Lincoln suffered for its support of King Stephen; it was sacked, and many of its inhabitants killed by the victorious army.

The battle was later popularly called 'The Joust of Lincoln'.

After fierce fighting in the city's streets, Stephen's forces were defeated. Stephen himself was captured and taken to Bristol, where he was imprisoned. He was subsequently exchanged for Robert of Gloucester, who was captured in the Rout of Winchester the following September, that ended Matilda's brief ascendancy in the wars with Stephen.

mediafire.com/download/a7qatqf535aiz9j/Osprey - WAR 001 - Norman Knight 950-1204.pdf
mediafire.com/download/8jo0vztlcex483l/Osprey - WAR 048 - English Medieval Knight 1200-1300.pdf
deremilitari.org/2014/03/the-battle-of-lincoln-1141-from-five-sources/

The community project this month, is a mini or unit based on something from military fiction.

Does anyone know how long it usually takes Rod Langton navals to ship? I ordered a couple of ships (USS Constitution and HMS Java) for the community project about 3 weeks ago and haven't even seen a tracking number.

Question for Fear Naught user:
Is there a standard table size intended for games?

Anons there any good medieval skirmish games by chance? I want something flashy saracens and the like vs. shiny knights.

Few WW1 German minis mostly done for Westfront. I still need to "gloss" the mud of most of these bases with a layer of watered-down PVA.

Its all 1/72, A7V was some random resin model I found on trademe, 21cm morsers are Strelets, 77mm felkanone and most MGs are Emhar, with the odd Caesar armored soldier. The infantry are dirty old Airfix.

Saga?

I want to play a WW1 game, but I have a terrible time trying to remember rules.

Any suggestions for a simple one?

You could try something like Trench assault:
jimwallman.org.uk/wargame/trench assault 1916.pdf

What kind of scale do you want to play? skirmish? large battles? Have a look through the WW1 game folders in the OP, there's a bunch of games in there. Westfront might work if you strip out communication.

Thanks for that link.

Based Jim's website should be a familar place to all wargamers, the guy's a gem

Skirmish with Flames of War Great War minis, as those are all I've got for WW1.
And actually, I think I may have found what I'm looking for in Price of a Mile from Nordic Weasel Games!

quick little campaign run through before i sit down to record. Just wanted to play something for a change that I wasnt shooting video for and to get myself back into the rules

Rapid Deployment situation in Israel with 8 AH-64s. Yeah-im thinking its gonna end badly for me.....

Could anyone recommend guides/pdfs/blogs/image albums/etc for building 10 mm terrain? I've already snagged the Advanced Terrain pdf from "Modelling and Painting guides", but some of it won't translate well from 28mm to 10mm.

I hope you don't mind if I piggyback on this and ask if people share any terrain building pdf's/resources they have.

Seems like useful stuff to have.

Thirded. I keep seeing people using fluffy fabric of some type to create grassy mats, and I hear that using doormats can make good wheatfields, but I'll be damned if I can figure out how it's supposed to work. A guide would be really nice.

elladan-shop.de/epages/b0930d3e-9a66-4b1e-a9d0-f66fbfd657e0.sf/de_DE/?ObjectPath=/Shops/b0930d3e-9a66-4b1e-a9d0-f66fbfd657e0/Categories/"Anleitungen und Tipps"/HobbyTipps/Anleitung_fuer_Teddyfell_Gelaende]

You are a gentleman and a scholar user. i might have to go to the fabric store tomorrow and see what I can find.

6x4' is what I've been working with but 4x4' will probably work alright too.

Bump

...

that ugly painting.

The painting looks good its just glossy and the flash is ruining it.

Might also check 1916

It's free and fairly simple though more complex than Trench Assault there.
wtj.com/games/1916/

Probably better for scales larger than 10mm but here how to make a game mat tobispaintpot.blogspot.com/2012/10/a-new-horizon-tutorial-for-flexible.html
A large painters drop cloth costs

>For 20mm/28mm see here: matakishi.com/makingthings.htm
You all should probably see matakishi's site whatever you play, it's great.

wait, apparently he's in the process of moving over to matakishi.net/ now, so go there instead, although most of it's not there yet and I don't think he's got the layout right yet.

just go to a matakishi site.

Anyone know of any good skirmish or about 30 models a side wargames for Early Rome/ Punic wars?
Failing that for Alexander the Great into India.

Small surface to play on, pref not i go you go rules and I can build from army lists

BMP

Mine took a week or two before being shipped out but in that time I received an email to discuss postage and packaging costs.

Might be worth sending a message just to check the progress.

So apparently Saga is getting an expansion, it's based around the Western Roman Empire during the barbarian invasions. Does any of you play it? How is it? Is it cheap? What army would you reccomend for starters?

I know NEA plays Saga and seems to like it. He'd probably be able to give you a good rundown.

So, /hwg/, do any of you guys (or gals) know of a war/board game where you play as a (not neccessarily US) Air Force Commander in charge of the Air part of Air/Land/Sea Battle in a single Front/Area/Theatre of the war? (tactical handling of the planes is a bonus)

So, basically, you send planes on missions (CAS, Recon, Patrol, SEAD, etc) and try to help your mud-based buddies win the war on the ground - 'cause you win only if they do.
Naturally, the enemy's doing the same, and you've gotta stop him, just like he's trying to stop you.

Planes and Mercs?

No rules for that one, bub. In my dreams only ...

Afraid I don't know of any Ancients skirmish games, but you can check out what's in the folders up top. There's some Medieval ones which might port over.

Air Superority/Air Strike for the tactical level of plane to plane and ground strike attacks

Downtown:Air war over Hanoi for a more operational level of the same style of warfare.

there is a NATO/WP version of the game coming out here soon as well...working title is called Red Sto:The air war over central Germany 1987

insidegmt.com/?p=16070

Any of DVGs Flight Leader games cover air war and ground strike. Hornet Leader, Thunderbolt/Apache Leader, Phantom Leader, Israeli Air Force Leader

Saga is an immense amount of fun to play, it's a really well-designed wargame in that respect. The basics of the game are pretty simple and easy to explain, which makes it a great option for introducing new players - even people who have little/no experience with wargames.

It's also super cheap to get into, as far as the hobby goes. If you shop around and are frugal about it, you can pretty much buy two warbands (one for you, one for an opponent) for around fifty bucks.

I'd say the game only has two limitations. One is the hard cap on your warband's size - due to the way gameplay is designed, it's very hard to implement players having more than fifty or sixty models per side. If you want more than that, Saga isn't gonna do it.

The other issue - and the weight of this will vary - is Saga's rather loose approach to historical accuracy. I mean, the Pagan Rus battleboard features borderline sorcery, as an example. If you want a realistic simulation, Saga won't cut it. If you want an enjoyable skirmish game with a medieval or dark age setting, Saga is (imo) nearly perfect.

Nice, thanks.
A part from Gripping Beast are there any major plastic miniature producing companies known for their quality/cheapness? I mean like Zvezda or PSC are for 15mm WW2.

conquest does some OK/nice Normans

Anyone play AK-47 republic, especially in 6mm. I think it would be better with Micro-Armor to better approximate the scale. The flag generator is great as well.

It was huge here when it first came out so I think many anons should be able to share ideas about it.

Cheers user, looks like I've got a game mat to make.

Part of what draws me to AK-47 Republic is the visual spectacle, so 6mm feels often too lacking, even if it's better at modelling large scale combats. Plus it's fun coming up with one's own imagi-nations, and just how you choose to model them helps add to the story.

I'm genuinely surprised it doesn't come with a generator for the self-granted title of the dictator of your personal African shithole.

For example 'His Excellency President for Life, Field Marshal Alhaji Dr. Idi Amin Dada, VC, DSO, MC, CBE'

Zvezda, incidentally, has good models for Vikings and Rus Princes if you're alright with playing at 25mm. A single box will probably supply you with enough models to build an entire warband.

At that scale, Caesar and Revell have an array of products that you can use for other warbands like Normans and Anglo-Danes.

I have to concur with the other user and suggest 15mm is really the best. The number of minis is on average much lower than your usual 6mm game (Fistful of TOWs for example) and the scales are abstract enough that it's not a big deal.

People either like the first ed for it's utterly chaotic army generation or the second ed for it's more refined and balanced generation. In the first your army can straight up lose and gain units, in the second you don't gain beyond your army list's size or lose units but have them shunted into reserves.

There's an user around here who has a great-looking 'Colonial Rump' force with Centurions and Land Rovers and so on, hopefully they'll pop in.

It was published before Veeky Forums was a thing, but around 2011 someone finally scanned and uploaded some PDFs and brought it to the board's general attention. It was fun to watch because Veeky Forums embraced it for the same reasons it had been originally popular - the novelty of the concept and the spirit of fun with which the rules were written.

I mostly play in 15mm. I find 6mm, while having a broader range of figures, lacks the necessary spectacle.

The most fun I have is making orders and reports for our games. These were the orders for the native forces.

Mhoro Bhudhi General,

Our informants speak of an imperialist convoy on the road from (blank) to (blank). It is your mission to eliminate and/or capture the supply vehicles for the glorious cause! Think of what could be done with such goods! However if you must destruction is tolerated.

You will be well prepared for this ambush, with concealed positions and many of our fine brothers in arms. Recently arrived are gifts from our comrades in the east crewed by our finest warriors, use these to crush the capitalist pigs! Using wealth redistributed from the imperialists we have acquired a force of European mercenaries. See the white mans greed, he fights amongst himself! We will use this weakness to make our country strong!

The imperialist convoy is lightly defended but take no chances! There will be a few armoured vehicle and infantry, the will be no match for our glorious forces! However where they best us, there is no shame in admitting it, is in air cover watch out for their helicopters! However our vehicles and fighters are well equipped with machine guns to deal with such an occurrence. While the convoy may seem lightly guarded there is a military base not too far away, news is sure to travel fast, watch out for their reinforcements!

Uve nemhanza yakanaka,
Presidential Field Marshal Kitenge

...

I've heard its not stand alone and it requires a few of the previous editions to full understand the rules.

I would have got it but I remember a review said some rules can't be understood without the previous book which in turn can't be understood without the book before it.

I prefer the late antiquity setting and never got the into Dark Ages Saga so hearing that killed my interest.

What might be some good sources for miniatures if I want to do 1960s-70s PLA "advisors" in Africa?

Under the command of the perpetually disappointed Colonel Lao Yang, of course

Pic related

I know this is a lot to ask, but could anyone give me the cliff notes on the differences between Warmaster Ancient, Hail Caesar, and Dux Bellorum?

From just looking around it seems that there are lots of dice to roll in WMA, lots of unit variations in HC, and DB seems faster paced compared to the other two.

Going to be playing dark ages in 10mm.

Fireforge if you play the crusades expansion for Saga

I've been looking for this too, so I have something to play while I buy/paint up to larger armies. Pretty much decided I would just have to design it myself, osprey has a couple ancient skirmish games but they have fantasy/mythological elements

These look promising - thanks, ASLanon!

Anybody here familiar with the Objective Interim Modern Combat System? If so, how is it?

Not sure if it's exactly what you're looking for, but Khurasan do modern North Koreans with helmets who might fit the bill. Pic related.

THUNDERBOLT
APACHE
LEADER

AK-47: 1st edition has a more interesting pre-battle sequence than 2e, really helps the flavour.

Also, check out Nordic Weasel's Not Just A Bush War: wargamevault.com/product/147407/Not-Just-a-Brush-War-Brush-war-campaigns-for-any-war-game-system

Or the free excerpt from it: wargamevault.com/product/146620/Nation-Generator-for-20th-century-Brushwars

More serious than AK-47, but still handy and cool.

Peter Pig have a whole range of minis for AK47 Republic, chances are one of them could work well for that

A generous user has delivered

The Pikeman’s Lament - Pike and Shot Wargaming Rules

Recreate the action and drama of 17th Century warfare on your tabletop with The Pikeman's Lament. Start by creating your Officer - is he a natural leader raised from the ranks, the youngest son of a noble family, or an old veteran who has seen too many battles? As you campaign, your Officer will win honour and gain promotion, acquiring traits that may help lead his men to victory. Before each skirmish, your Officer must raise his Company from a wide range of unit options - should he lean towards hard-hitting heavy cavalry or favour solid, defensively minded infantry? Companies are typically formed from 6-8 units, each made up of either 6 or 12 figures, and quick, decisive, and dramatic games are the order of the day. With core mechanics based on Daniel Mersey's popular Lion Rampant rules, The Pikeman's Lament captures the military flavour of the 17th Century, and allows you to recreate skirmishes and raids from conflicts such as the Thirty Years' War, the English Civil Wars, and the Great Northern War.

mediafire.com/file/1fs195q31apwq6n/The Pikeman's Lament.pdf

Get the new big boxes from Strelets - for 60GBP you'll have enough Normans and Saxons for mass battles as well, and a bunch of Vikings too, prolly only enough for Saga, but if you grab a box of Zvezda vikings, enough for mass games too.

>mediafire.com/file/1fs195q31apwq6n/The Pikeman's Lament.pdf
Beautiful - this is greatly appreciated. Appraisal copies allow us to look at the whole thing in case we are adding yet another bad ruleset to the pile. Most of us have dozens of these expensive shelf-fillers after all... :-)

Hail Caesar is a Warmaster Ancients derivative that's a Warmaster (Warhammer Fantasy) derivative. Like everything from that stable, it's the same ruleset with limited flavour variations (Like Black Powder is the same ruleset as Hail Caesar or Pike&Shotte).

It's a very rules-light system, and the unit details are given by special rules attached to every single one. It's kinda flexible in building up stuff but it feels very samey after a while. I strongly dislike the order system, it's guaranteed to fuck one of the players thanks to random rolls. All said and done, I prefer Warmaster Ancients, but that's me.

Never played Dux Bellorum. Don't tell me it's another Lion Rampant derivative (I swear, it seems that Warlord keeps remaking Warhammer with every ruleset and Osprey remakes Lion Rampant with every other one, goddammit).

Dux Bellorum is not a variant of LR. It is a development of Glutter of Ravens and was released many years ago. Dux is an improvement over Glutter. I will leave you to check out the "appraisal" copy I uploaded a while ago - you will find it in the Ancients folder at the top of the page.
For me LR is as vanilla as Hail Caesar. A nice idea, but... I am finding most of the Osprey series like this to be honest - somewhat limited by their format. 10 pages of rules, 10 pages of tables and fluff and 22 pages of pictures from Osprey titles.
They are good, light, pint and pretzel games. Dux Bellorum, IHMN and Honours of War are good playable games. I have not seen Chosen Men but Mark Latham can write a good set when he wants to.

Hi,

All three are in the files section. Dux is a good fun game that can be relayed many times. There are limited armies but then it is specifically written for Dark Age Britain. There are many variants to be found online including a pretty good WotR version.
Hail Caesar works as a large multiplayer game as it the only way to put up with the astonishing randomness - ie laugh at the unfortunate who got a blunder - AGAIN!
WMA is designed for 10mm and is the fore-runner to HC. It is a good game but suffers from a lack of availability.
My favourite is Dux, HC is the most popular, I would suggest looking also at Impetus.
Before starting write down the things that you want your game to do, then look at the rules to see if any of them meet all of the criteria.

One more AK question. Looking at the Communist Intervention Army, it seems that you take 1-x units for the major types of infantry, as well as AFVs, towed guns, and technicals.

Does this mean that you need one of each, with an additional one serving as a liability unit?

Oh fuck my life.

£85

Please note this is a pre-order product and is due to be released mid February. Any other products ordered at the the same time will be held until it is ready to go!

Scale: 28mm
96 Infantry
15 Cavalry
3 Artillery Pieces/War Machines
12 Crew
Plastic

It's the Wargames Factory ones.

>It's the Wargames Factory ones.

Yup and they look like absolute wank.

2 boxes of infantry, 1 (AFAIK) of cavalry and 1 of artillery. It was 19.95$ for WGF boxes, so would be around 80$, but factoring in postage from the US to the EU, and free postage over 50GBP from Warlord, I'd say it's worth it. They even managed to paint them pretty well.

>96 Infantry
in 1 post

>post
pose

And then it'll get discounted at some point...

Yeah, but monopose line regiments look totally sweet for some periods, and this is definitely one of them.

I think it's three-figure sprues with two basically standard figures that just need a head attached, and a legs/torso/arms/head one you can customise. Out of 96, that'd be 32 customisable figures in the basic infantry units, plus whatever you might do with the artillery crew. That's not bad.

In this vein of throught anyone know of a good trench raid type scenerio ruleset? Where its smaller scale warband style?

Played another game of Naval War last night.

No pics, so no blog post batrep, but I did write one up for the Naval War forum.
Want me to post it here as well?

Yes please.

I had the pleasure of playing another game yesterday, this time against another local who already had a French collection in 1/3000.

We ran with a simple 150-point game, since I can't really scrape more than that together with my IJN in 1/3000 scale.
My opponent, of course, wanted to use his own French vessels.

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to take any pictures of the battle, so we'll have to do without.

Our scenario was to be an Encounter battle, in the day and on clear seas.
There were two land masses on the battlefield: a cape protruding from the French long table edge and a decent-sized island also roughly in the center, but slightly towards the Japanese side.

The French force:

Commander: 3 star

Core fleet:
>Cruiser squadron
CA Algerie (Algerie class) - Squadron and fleet flagship
CA Colbert (Suffren class)
CA Foch (Suffren class)

>Destroyer squadron
DD Le Hardi (Le Hardi class)
DD Le Mars (l'Adroit class) - I believe she was squadron flagship; might also have been Le Hardi
DD Tornade (Bourrasque class)

The Japanese force:

Commander: 2 star

Core fleet:
>Cruiser squadron
CA Kako (Furutaka class) - Squadron and fleet flagship
DD Sazanami (Fubuki class)

Close support:
>Destroyer squadron
CL Yubari (Yubari class) - Squadron flagship
DD Mutsuki (Mutsuki class)
DD Uzuki (Mutsuki class)

Distant support:
>Air cover
2 G4M "Betty" bomber flights

This matchup was going to be pretty interesting; the French rather outgun and outarmour me and have a solid torpedo arsenal.
I'd have to rely on my superior speed (all French vessels were speed 3) and better torpedoes, plus maybe my decent rapid-fire guns.
After all, the guns on the French destroyers are pretty solid, if only they were rapid fire...

My first squadron would also have to hold on by themselves for a bit, until Yubari and her destroyers could arrive from support.
One undergunned heavy cruiser and a single modern destroyer aren't quite enough to vanquish than entire French force.

>Turn 1
Things start off pretty calmly: the French sail forwards keeping the destroyers near the cape and putting their cruisers near them as well for AA cover against the airpower I manage to call in: a whole two flights of G4M bombers, worth a grand total of 10 points.
The IJN vessels steam forwards cautiously, with Sazanami laying a smokescreen for Kako to hide behind.

>Turn 2
IJN reserves will not be arriving this turn and the French choose to specialize in gunnery for their national rule.
Ships advance cautiously, with Sazanami laying another smokescreen.
The French cruisers try to range in on her with their bow guns since they're just barely close enough, but all of their shots miss.

The G4Ms go for an attack run on the outermost destroyer, but still face three dice of AA fire per flight.
One gets shot down, but the other gets lucky and makes it through only for its attacks to miss.
That would be all from my airpower this game, since I'd have better things to do with my orders in following turns.

Turn 3
This is where the tension will start to rise. The French destroyers advance aggressively, ready to deliver their torpedoes to the heavy cruiser Kako or maybe even Sazanami if they're lucky.
The Japanese leadership has other ideas and maneuvers to cut across the enemy path and put the French small craft in their broadside arc.
French destroyers open up with their bow guns, dealing minor damage.
Out go the Type 93 torpedoes, hoping to score a lucky hit. 13 of them should allow decent odds of that.
The French cruisers manage to range in on Kaka, though their sporadic hits fail to do any serious damage.
Those volleys are followed by close-range gunnery broadsides from both IJN warships, ravaging one French destroyer but failing to put it down.

Finally, the French cruisers turn to fire in broadside against Kako next turn and the IJN light squadron rushes forward to join the battle.

Then it's time to resolve the torpedo fire. Only the already-battered lead ship in the French light column, Le Hardi I believe, is hit.
The Type 93 effectively tears the ship apart, sending it to the bottom nigh instantly.

>Turn 4
The loss of one of the French destroyers reduces their order pool somewhat, which is a rather bad thing at this critical juncture where battle is truly joined.

Things start off with some rapid maneuvering by the French destroyers, their commanders hoping to finally be in a position to launch those torpedoes.
However, the captains of Kako and Sazanami continue to show their guts and dash past the French, with Kako actually crossing between the two destroyers.
Some gunfire is exchanged between the two squadrons, dealing only light damage.

Then the French cruisers open up on Kako.
Her captain immediately orders her to go evasive, which she does effectively.
Each of the cruisers scores some hits, but the frantic maneuvering and solid armour keep things from getting too bad and her crew prove willing to stay in the fight.

The IJN light squadron also advances closer, with Yubari in position to launch her torpedoes at the lead French cruiser and fleet flagship, Algerie.
However, in doing so she has also entered the torpedo range of Le Mars, which fires both of its banks in an attempt to deal some damage while the ship is still in fighting shape.
Aside from Yubari, Kako also fires her starboard torpedoes against the other French cruisers.

The torpedoes from Le Mars run true, with two of them striking Yubari.
Heavy damage is dealt and the ship is now both flooding and on fire.
However, Algerie is similarly unlucky, taking a Type 93 hit from the volley of Yubari and breaking off because of the damage.
Two of the torpedoes from Kako also hit her, sending her to the bottom.

>Turn 5
The French are now in a fairly bad situation; They have lost a third of their force and though some of them have serious damage, all of the IJN vessels are still in the fight.
Fortunately for the French, most IJN vessels have spent their torpedoes; only the pair of Mutsuki-class destroyers still has theirs loaded.
Still, they will have to truly make the most of the now even more limited pool of orders they have left.

The French destroyers and the IJN cruiser-destroyer pair continue weaving around each other and firing their guns.
Continued hits finally force Le Mars to break off.
The remaining French cruisers also continue their fire against Kako, dealing more damage but ending up short of crippling her.
However, the pair of Mutsuki-class destroyers now move into position to launch their torps against the French , sending out three volleys of three into the area they're guaranteed to end up in with their compulsory movement.

Damage control doesn't go too well on Yubari and the continuing damage from the fires forces her to break off.
Finally some good news for the French.

However, things take a turn much for the worse with torpedo resolution: both of the remaining cruisers get struck by a Type 93.
Colbert breaks off, though Foch is saved from that fate by the French commander's once-per-game ability.

>End of game
With this, the French had less than half of their victory points still in the fight.
This requires the flagship to make a command check, but since the fleet flagship was sunk, we weren't sure if the next senior flagship can take the test instead.

Still, we felt this was a nice moment to call it and wrapped up the game.

We just not gonna discuss this?

>Final results:
IJN light cruiser Yubari: heavily damaged, will require serious repair.
IJN heavy cruiser Kako: moderately damaged, will require some harbor work to be fir for battle again.
IJN destroyer Sazanami: lightly damaged, still fully combat capable.
IJN destroyers Mutsuki and Uzuki: no damage whatsoever.

French heavy cruiser Algerie and destroyer Le Hardi sunk.
French heavy cruisers Colbert and Foch moderately damaged, will require harbour work.
French destroyer Le Mars: crippling damage, might not make it back to port.
French destroyer Tornade: minor damage, still fully combat capable.

All in all, quite the disaster for the Marine Nationale.

While their initial maneuvers were quite effective, they failed to deal with the agressive tactics of Kako and Sazanami, throwing the French battleplan into chaos.
This left the IJN fast squadron in a position to launch torpedo strikes against broadside-on cruisers, dealing massive damage.
Perhaps better anti-torpedo tactics would have allowed the French cruisers to hang in there better and deliver the pain with their eight-inch guns.
However, that would probably have left IJN Kako more free to deal damage as well, so I'm unsure if that would really have been the preferred option.

In the end, their high speed and more powerful torpedo armaments did indeed allow the Japanese to come out on top against an opposing force that is massively superior in terms of guns and pure tonnage.
Interesting matchup, especially with some of the non-standard combinations of armament, armour and speed available in the French fleet and their flexible command station abilities.

I'm quite interested in facing off against them again in the future.
I also wonder how a gunnery-focused US cruiser force would fare against a French force like this one.

I dunno, does anyone care about yet another skirmish game?

I'd need a seriously good hook to even start to care at this point.

I'll wait on the rules and prices but for me more diversity in the market the better. Yet more competition for dollar.

It'll be 35GBP, so not too badly priced, given you get the game and figures. Similarly priced as Project Z, and Warlord put up some pics on their article which shows archers in straw hats (wasn't in the box) and a warrior monk (tho he looks metal), so hopefully there'll be some new stuff as well.

I'm interested in this, have lots of Zvezda samurai figures, but for small skirmishes, I might get some 28mm diddly.

Not too bad for that much. seems like they're doing a staggered activation for units too.

Looks good so far. Hopefully I can do an army of warrior monks.

>no friendly air-supremacy fighters doing their job
>no enemy fighters contesting airspace over target
>no enemy ground-pounder plane counterparts to me
>no friendly ground troops locked in mortal combat & desperately in need of a few good Rockeye's
>Breakdown of enemy target Battalion to get bombable troops (nearly) the same as the shit I made up for the AirWar C.21 Risk Campaign rules way before I even read TAL

1/10 - would skim through the rules again.

Counterpoint: it's fun as hell and the pilot stress management, and other between-mission elements, are a key part of the fun. It's got a bunch of campaign options!

but really who the fuck uses a-10s with enemy fighters contesting airspace unless you're just counting down until the nukes launch, they're going to die in droves

I dunno, might give it a shot.
Found the rules for mixing Hornet and Apache/Thunderbolt Leaders, so there's that.

Also, there are (also) your own fighters who're supposed to cover them - so if you leave them unprotected, you deserve everything that happens.

Now find a way to add in the Cthulhu expansion so your helo pilots are going insane after one too many close encounters with byakhee.

or just break out the nukes.

Isn't this just repackaged Wargames Factory sprues?

Yeah, but as with the Project Z and AWI stuff, they might have kept something back so there'll be new stuff.