Monday, June 1, 2015

My Top 10 Wargaming Rules

Someone posted their own personal top 10 wargame rules list on TMP, and since all my current endeavours are underway, but not complete, might as well make a neat filler post.

#10 - Blood and Swash - I just played this for the first time at Cold Wars with a western game in the HAWKS room.  Simple number crunching, designed for light (i.e fun) role-playing potential.  I'd be happy to jump into a game of this at a moment's notice.

#9 -  Pig Wars  - Part of my early days of Cold Wars where every game I played in and liked, I bought the rules.  It's still sitting on my shelf, and should I fall upon some figs suitable for the Dark Ages, I'll break it out in a heartbeat.

#8 - The Sword and the Flame - One of those games that, if you can follow the rules, you're welcome at most cons.  I learned this on one of the Duke's tables, with the referee flip flopping on special rules, and ignoring some the basics, but I'm game to play if given the chance.

#7 - Burning Plastic - I'll toot my own horn for my own game (largely Eric T Smith, but I get a nod for writing and decades of promotion.)  Little green army men represent robots and 80% casualty rates are considered tame.  Not to be confused with the home brew set of modern rules created by some school kids in New Jersey in the mid 00's. 

#6 - 55 Days at Peking - Boxer Rebellion rules coming from issue #27 of Wargames Illustrated. 

#5 - Games Workshop Rules (40K, WFB, Necromunda, Mordheim) -  If you have a hankering for wargaming, the stock simplicity of 40K, WFB and their children will get you in the right direction.  I love the campaign aspect for Mordheim and Necromunda.   The problem with GW is cost and rules escalation (not for your army, but you need to now the minutiae of all the other armies to be competitive.

#4 - Legions of Steel/Planetstorm - Global Games was going in the right direction with the tabletop rules.  Even above the Machine Complexes, Leadership was a well-done concept.  Nothing was overpowered.  And some vehicles were ten pounds of lead!

#3 - Contemptable Little Armies - I've only run it for Samoa, so no trenches, but CLA does a good job representing the chaos of early modern warfare, and can easily be used from turn of the 20th century to leading up to the Second World War.

#2 - Battletech - Yes, the hexes and arbitrary ranges turn people off, but I've played enough that everything is second nature.  The latest Introductory Boxed Set is a steal and I can't wait to finally paint the 'mechs (they're all primed) and acquire some more 6mm units and terrain.

#1 - Gnome Wars/Trench Wars - Surprised, eh?  Gnome Wars is ridiculously influenced by Trench Wars, but there is some deviation in the more complicated material.   Truth be told, even that stuff could be flipped between the two.

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