Dave da Leanderthal
I was reading an interesting thread onThe Miniaturespage (hey its a slow day at work) and thought I would fire up the conversation: Whats your favorite set(s) of miniatures rules and why. Conversely what miniatures rules sets do you hate and why.
Favorite Rules for Dave
Volley and Bayonet - Not everyone's cup of tea, but I am very fond of this truly grand tactical set of rules that allow you to fight large historical battles in a reasonable amount of time.
Fire and Fury - Fun and very playable. Can be a challenge to find enough time to fight the larger scale battles, but very nice game mechanics.
Sword and the Flame - again a fun, fast, and very playable set of skirmish rules.
Rules I hate by Dave
Empire Napoleonics - I used to play these rules almost exclusively, but now I find them tedious and the pro-french, probritish bias of the author is glaringly obvious throughout the rules.
Tractics - An oldie but a baddie I used to play a lot before Tank Charts came out. The infantry rules were completely unplayable.
WRG - I just shudder thinking about how poorly written these rules were and just when you finally figured them out and everyone pretty much agreed on how it should be played another edition would come out.
Star Fleet Battles - When it first came out it was one of my favorite games. The first real example I came across of "death by suppliment".
Mike Hillsgrove
Rules I Love
Might of Arms - Exceptionally good for running multiplayer events, well written and straight forward. Best army level Ancients game made.
The British are Coming - Simple, excellent feel for the AWI period
J R III - The classic ACW game.
Tractics - What other WWII man to man skirmish game has rules for tactical thermonuclear weapons?
Age of Reason - The card system used in this game actually works. Introduces "friction" in an appropriate way.
Heart of Oak - The best sailing ship game ever made. They could have stopped with this one,
Seapower II/III. Still easier to play then most others.
Rules I hate by Mike
DBA - it makes my skin crawl. Would rather play Russian Roulett with an automatic.
Warhammer 40K et al , too many dice, too much die rolling.
Flint and Steel - Probably good for a Carl Sagan or Albert Einstien. It makes me feel stupid. Strangely, I recommend this rule set because of the fantastic suppliment.
Empire III - I will never play a game again that requires a flow chart. Ancient Empires travels the same stupid path.
Harpoon and family. Aside from a pricetag that would double the national debt, it's too damned complicated. Miniature rule sets should not require a micrometer for movement..
Bob Bailey
Best Rules:
Ancient Warfare/Medieval Warfare - These are easy to pick up and play well. If you're careful to keep approach marches short, the scenario should be fast-paced and fun.
Fire and Fury - For the American Civil War, this is about the best you can get for playability and ease of learning. It also sets your scenario at a level (if each player runs a corps) that allows players to "see" a Civil War battle like they read about.
Command Decision - The first version of this is actually best for conventions, because it's the least confusing. Again, with each player running a battalion, the battles look like the books.
My house rules - Although I do NOT recommend using house rules for conventions (EVERYBODY has to learn the rules, thus making for a slow game), mine are pretty easy to play and folks enjoy them. Keep away from large games with them, though, as combat eats time like crazy.
I may add Battlefront WWII to this list, but my experience therewith is not sufficient at this point.
Worst Rules:
WRG & DBx - These are done in a legalistic fashion and played by a lot of tournament players, thus practically guaranteeing rules lawyering. They also don't give much of a feel for the battles of the time.
The Piquet Family - The overwhelming influence of chance in these rules makes it tough for players to get beyond it to playing any sort of battle plan. A run of impetus can ruin even the most fun of scenarios otherwise.
Any set of rules that has large numbers of charts or makes players do a lot of bookkeeping. They are okay in a club setting, but they are too heavy for a convention.
Jim
Favorites:
Sword and the Flame (though not the best for large battles)
With MacDuff to the Frontier (a little too much figure handling though)
Johnny Reb II (great morale system, but somewhat complicated rules that give a good flavor of combat at the regiment/brigade level)
Fire and Fury - pretty good, but a little thin on detail/flavor as opposed to JR Il - which admittedly are much more complicated IMHO
Poor rule systems
Washington's Wars (I am unfamiliar with any particularly good rules system for 18th Century, and Rev War in particular). The combo table must die.
Command Decision - The games always end up looking like a tank parking lot, but that may be more the fault of the players than the rules.
Indifferent Rule systems
Johnny Reb III - not as well laid out or explained as 11, but a better charge system. I do not find them superior to II, just different.
Soldiers Companion - a lot of dice rolling to undo earlier dice rolling. Just my opinions.
David Doty
Favorites:
WW1 naval-Small War at Sea-Does a good job of capturing the flavor of combat in this period. Rewards continuous fire at the same target and Battle Cruisers go up like popcorn (as they should)
Seven Years War-Mitre, Moustache and Musket You are the general, even if your orders aren't the best... An excellent battalion level game that can be used to run very large games. (Zorndorf at Origins 5 times)
Medievals-Chain mail Keep it simple! Fun, fast and bloody, the way it ought to be.
Colonials-Science vs. Pluck see Chain mail
Dislikes:
Any rule set that requires a tip toe through the charts!
Back to Dispatch January 2003 Table of Contents
Back to Dispatch List of Issues
Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List
© Copyright 2003 by HMGS Mid-South
This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other articles from military history and related magazines are available at http://www.magweb.com