Interested

[Ochoin]

Hello.
I’m vaguely dissatisfied with my current Late Antiquity wargames rules & after a trawl through the internet, I found the W&C rules.
They look interesting & I’ll do some more research on them.

Anywhere I can get a fairly detailed review of them? I just want to see if they’ll fit all/most/some of my foibles.

donald

[Ochoin]

I’ll answer my own email (I may, yet, end up talking to myself…..the doctors warned me….).
I’ve found some good reviews, some battle reports & a podcast about the rules.
I think I have as good a handle on them as you can without actually reading the rule book.

Several participants on a forum I infest (LAWS) also gave them a thumb’s up; albeit without actually having played a game – yeah, I know but they’re canny fellows & I respect their opinions.

A couple of questions though:

1. My Late Roman/Barbarian armies are in somewhat quirky unit sizes. Infantry in 12s, Archers & light cavalry in 10s, heavy cavalry in 8s. I’m thinking this will be OK? I do not want to add to existing units to bring them up to strength. They’re all individually mounted.
2. If I follow the points system, are there any pitfalls if I customise my armies? eg my Late Romans fall somewhere between your Imperial & Dark Age lists. My barbarians are Hun/Goth/Sarmatian/Alan etc.
3. We do Chariot Wars using FoG. Is it at all possible to use the WaC rules without re-basing?

cheers, donald

[Ochoin]

Really, really waiting for an answer to 1. above.
I can’t order a rule book until then.

No matter how good the rules, if they don’t accommodate my existing unit sizes, I would have to reluctantly look elsewhere.

donald

• This reply was modified 1 year, 7 months ago by Ochoin.

[Rob]

Hi

hopefully you got my email, on holiday and it looks like you put the first post as we left 🙂

Answer to q 3, not familiar with fog basing, but if both armies are based the same I am sure you can make it work.

Q2, NO shouldn’t be, but always happy to try and help confirm points values, especially if we are getting some new lists out of it 🙂

Q1 – you will probably want to combine the infantry into units of 24 for more durability. this is easy to do by making a new movement tray to the correct frontage and putting the models on there rather than physically rebase them.

Check the Age of Warlords booklet as this may help with some of your army list needs and were well played in a couple of themed events. (all the event reports were lost when we changed the website and forum unfortunately )

there’s a battle report called ‘they came from beyond the sea’ which gives some explantation to the rules, you can download it from here or the scarab webstore for free.

Any other questions please ask,

Kind Regards
Rob
Scarab Miniatures

[Ochoin]

Hello, Rob.
Good of you to answer whilst on holiday (& apologies for bothering you).

Q1 is the key question. I really don’t want to discard my rather elaborate movement trays so it may come down to frontage if I can combine, say, 2 existing units of x8 Goth Noble infantry to form one unit of 16 figures etc & keep them on their current trays.
I could, of course, discard the trays completely, but moving single figures, one by one, would be time consuming (Holy HG Wells!).

The battle report you referred me to is useful – the Mycenaeans have the much larger infantry units than the Egyptians, who are in 12s & 16s (which would suit me better). Those chariot units in the demo game *are* small 6-8 models. This would suit my current mounted units of 8-9 figures, if chariots are comparable to cavalrymen. So, can 8 cataphracts successfully fight 16 armoured infantry?

I should add I have no intention of playing in tournaments or even using WaC to game outside my little group, so possibly some ‘tweaks’ will work? We’re in OZ BTW. I mention this because you might think me cheap – the price of the rule book looks very reasonable but the P&P ensures I shouldn’t be too promiscuous in ordering.

I’ll think over all this. The next step might be to buy your rule book to see if I could make it work, then, if so, try to “sell” it to my pals. I take the comment from several reviews that it is worth owning even if you never game your system seriously.

I hope you enjoy tour break.

donald

• This reply was modified 1 year, 7 months ago by Ochoin.
• This reply was modified 1 year, 7 months ago by Ochoin.

[Rob]

No problem replying its just takes me longer 🙂

8 cats can take on 16 infantry, provided they charged they probably have a decent chance.

Whilst I am obviously biased, the book was put together to be a real visual feast, with the vast majority of rule explanations using photos rather than diagrams, probably one of the first times it was done at the level we took it to.. 🙂

You can view some page spreads when you look at the War & conquest rulebook in the webstore

Many people were/still are very impressed and I am very proud of the book – games not too bad either 🙂

Whilst it might seem an odd thing to suggest, if you can find a willing gaming group partner, buying two copies may work out less expensive overall than two copies individually..

If you want more than that let me know and I can see if there are better/cheaper ways to send them. (possibly not, but I can take a look) – just let me know

Hope that helps

• This reply was modified 1 year, 7 months ago by Rob.

Kind Regards
Rob
Scarab Miniatures

[Ochoin]

Hello, Rob.
I very much appreciate your kindness in replying. I have seen bits of the book reproduced in a couple of reviews & it does very much look like something to be proud of.

AFAICS, the problem with my small units would be their brittleness. I think I can probably tweak this by maybe using a D10 for shooting/combat to result in fewer “Kills”? I hope you won’t be offended if I modify as little as possible to accommodate my quirks.

I am one of 6 committed (we probably should be…) wargamers. Not a club but just mates who’ve gamed in each others homes for quite a few years. Sadly, I’m the one who likes to try out new rules for the several periods we cover, so on this issue, I’m afraid I’m tolerated rather than celebrated.
So, persuading my pals to embrace WaC will mean I buy the book, change what’s needful & host a number of games. If I do all this, some of them will come on board & buy their own copies. Try before you buy is their war cry.

I will buy a copy & go through the process outlined (NOT a chore BTW). We have a show game we’re committed to (AZW) in July so these trial games won’t be before September. Expect an order soon-ish.

Thanks, donald

[Ochoin]

The long-awaited rule book arrived today. It *is* a handsome volume. Thanks, Rob.

The plan is to run a number of games to try WaC out, with my hopefully interested pals.
There is a certain amount of effort needed in re-organising my existing units – mostly re-combining existing units but also some purchases needed. This will be some figures but also some more of the movement trays.
So, maybe in September? Though if any of my pals are really keen, they can buy into some earlier trials & otherwise solo games as I get a grip on the rules.
I do think it important that if you’re trying to sell a rule set to your friends, you are able to run a fairly seamless & enjoyable initial game or three for them.

donald

[Rob]

Brilliant, good to hear it arrived in what seems like a reasonable time considering the distance involved!

Any questions just shoot me an email, message or carrier pigeon.

Email usually get best results as I do sometimes miss posts on the forum or Facebook..

Look forward to hearing how the games go, I hope to get some more in soon myself as I have barely played a game of any sort for ages.

Kind Regards
Rob
Scarab Miniatures

[Ochoin]

Progress report.

Busy, busy time but in the odd hours when I’m not working, I’ve read the rule book & managed to absorb the rules. To bolster this, I’ve been running solo “exercises” – a unit of cataphracts charges some Goth archers…..etc. I find this gives me a real handle on the rule mechanisms.BTW WaC really is an elegant system.
I’ve re-organised my Late Roman & Hun-Goth armies to suit. This has meant buying some figures to make up shortfalls. Regular infantry units are now 16-20 figures. Cavalry is in 8s, with light and skirmish cavalry up to 10 figures per unit. etc. Always a challenge to add a few figures to an existing unit as you need to match colours & painting style so they blend in.Each side now has 20+ units.
I’ve also been bombarding my pals with messages about the rules and future games. As a group, we’re all pretty busy with work – what’s happened to the world? – so, I’m hoping a first game in August-September. I’ll umpire it, of course.
I think something simple – maybe a 10 unit a side game? I could send my army lists to my pals, stipulate a lowish points total & tell them to go “shopping”? Or maybe just split my Late Romans in two & call it a civil war.
At any rate, I want to run a full scale solo game before this so I am completely on top of the rules.
I’m very much enjoying the WaC experience so far and anticipating games to come.

donald

[Rob]

Donald, thanks for the update, good to hear you like what you have received!

Yes, about 10 units per side should give you plenty, my greeks tend to be about 8 to 9 plus personalities.

I would suggest start with 1500 to 2000 points as a maximum per side, as this gives enough to get a good game, but not enough to have access to every troop type.

I would suggest as umpire, you draw up the army lists,, a civil war might make it simpler as neither side can complain the other had better troops 🙂

Kind Regards
Rob
Scarab Miniatures

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