Tuesday, February 13, 2007

Ancients Rules test
Ancients rumminations.............
Played DBM 3.1 Ancients game with SB using polybian Romans vs his Carthaginians. Close fought game which I eventually lost. DBM3.1 is my preferred version of Dbm but still unsatisfying in several respects.
So during past week I have tried out a number of Ancients rulesets with similar oppossing forces (ie Polybian/Republican Romans and Gauls/Celts) in 15mm using a 6' x 4' table with unchanging terrain and solo play.
1st set tried was Warmaster Ancients which gave a good quick game but felt tad unsatisfying (possibly larger forces needed). Lots of die rolling and large moves/ranges. Easy to understand rules and concepts. Romans trunced Gauls but lots of dead on both sides.
2nd test was with Armati II. VERY restrictive set-ups and manoeuvre, more historical/accurate no doubt but not much of a game in the end as essentially 2 straights line clashed and became a pure dice rolling battle (Romans annihilated Gauls for virtually no loss). The unit stats/combat system is fine and quick play but the lack of movement is too restrictive for my liking.
3rd test with WRG 7th edition (a blast from past) Most complex set but surprisingly playable (possibly due to my long ago useage ?). Slow overall with lots of charts etc and felt more like a skirmish than a large battle.
Still to try out Might Of Arms (altough I know I like these) and PK Archon II.