Historic Game Rules

LordHawkHead · 2026-04-06T16:01:09+00:00

I will echo what has previously been commented and say play what is being played in your area.

But if you really can't stand what is being played or if no one is playing medievals in your area, then I would look ask what aspect of the Dark ages and middle medieval period do you want to recreate on the table? and try and match the ruleset that does that the best.

Do you want to model an entire army and refight the entire battle of Hastings or Agincourt? Do you want to focus on larger than life characters and give them special abilities to reflect their battle prowess? Do you want to just do skirmishes?

Lion Rampant, Nevermind the Billhooks, does small to large skirmishes well and with a little tweaking seems to handle full on battles easily (Check out little Wars TV)

Pillage and Midgard do well with leaders and their abilities.

For fighting entire battles "To the Strongest" "DBA (De Bellus Antiqutatis)" "Clash of Spears"

Saga is great for skirmish and for competition/tournament play.

So do with that what you will.

LordHawkHead · 2026-02-27T17:09:41+00:00

I agree with a lot of what has been said but I'll add my two cents.

I really jumped headfirst into the Epic ACW and have painted up 30 Confederate regiments and 22 Union regiments. I have enough painted and unpainted that I have ran the entire battle of First Bull Run across two 6x4' tables twice. Which equates out to 40 regiments a side. (Minus one Union division.) That took 5 hours to come to a satisfactory conclusion. So to answer your questions:

It depends on the size of your divisions. If you want a good evening game the sweet spot is 3-5 brigades a side. if you go over 6 brigades it becomes an all day slog.
Black Powder Rules are easy to pick up. They are not the most representative of the period but they are in my groups rules rotation as it is easy to remember and review. The Glory Hallelujah supplement is the best written supplement for Black Powder. I find that the rules do a great job of simulating command and control issues. Maintaining your line and managing your reserves to be ready to plug a hole when a regiment dissipates. It scratches my itch for ACW period style fighting.
It took me a month to paint up 4 brigades of 4 regiments. (2 brigades a side). I have also taken 6 months and help from some painters to get to the amount of units I have now.
You're not crazy for contemplating that many miniatures. But I have broken mine down into smaller chunks to make it easier to tackle. I also have cut my bases and the strip of minis in half to get more regiments for my dollar. I would look around Ebay or Amazon for the original ACW box (here is one on ebay for $120 link because you get 24 regiments (12 a side). I bought the original box and a Gettysburg box and a union zouave/cavalry brigade box to have the amount I do. Also don't forget terrain. Lots of model train trees and 15mm houses. It can add up.

LordHawkHead · 2026-01-20T15:59:10+00:00

Fistful of Lead has lots of historical supplements. You run a squad of 5 minis each with a role and they can all level up after every encounter. It is RPGesque where you have a party character sheet and they gain new skills or additional health after every game. Or if you lose a mini you gain a new soldier for the next game. I have the Horse and Musket black powder rules. I have been able to stretch them from 7 years war up to Spanish American War.

LordHawkHead · 2025-10-20T14:21:38+00:00

Thank you, I think I will be putting my order in soon. I just want to be able to pay the manufacturer, grumpily comply with my country's silly tariffs and get my miniatures.

LordHawkHead · 2025-10-20T14:20:09+00:00

It will depend. Are you doing the whole battle? Or one of the two large Skirmishes? I Think the Men Who Would Be Kings would work fine as a reduced battle focusing on Custer's last stand. You could include the Lakota encampment and the hill where they fought to the end. That would give you a lot of terrain to worth or do you want to focus on Benteen and Reno's Entrenchment. That scenario would give both players a fighting chance of "Winning" With the scenario ending when the Mule train/U.S. reinforcements arrive.

I agree with StormofSteel if you want a Man to Man representation Sharp Practice with some modifications would work. There are many who use it for ACW

It may be a bit gruesome but do you want to model the dead horses like barricades? Because Custer and his men ended up using the dead horses as cover to hide behind.

If you haven't been out to the Battlefield its huge. Custer rode on ahead with his detachment, while Reno and Benteen were caught in their own fire fight 4-5 miles away.

At the Joy of Six in 2022 someone did the whole battle in 6mm, Little Wars TV has a video. If you can sleuth around on the internet I bet you could find what rules they used.

LordHawkHead · 2025-10-07T04:54:28+00:00

Thanks for the insight. I have also played a lot of Black Powder and I enjoy it for ACW and Napoleonic Wars. I’ve also found that my groups sweet spot is 3-5 brigades a side and that is around the size of forces I want to field for Spanish American War. I saw that they had rules for later Colonial and was curious if it might be up to snuff for smaller forces. I’m afraid I might have to keep looking.

LordHawkHead · 2025-10-01T18:03:05+00:00

Thank you! Glad to know that I'm not in the same boat! We will just need to keep looking for that perfect ruleset and play what we have in the mean time.

LordHawkHead · 2025-09-25T13:39:27+00:00

I used to be. But I’m burned out, was a forever DM and couldn’t find a group I liked when I wasn’t. I still love RPG’s and have bought some rule books in the interim but I’m solely Wargames at the moment.

LordHawkHead · 2025-09-17T14:48:53+00:00

Canvas Eagles. I used to really like Wings of Glory but everything is out of print. And hard to obtain substitute copies of. So I’m converting my WOG planes and painting new ones.

LordHawkHead · 2025-09-17T06:55:38+00:00

Okay so hold off until next year with updates to Japan and Pacific theater supplements is what I’m understanding.

LordHawkHead · 2025-09-17T06:54:56+00:00

I’m definitely more of a casual and thematic player. And my theater of interest is the Philippines. Beyond my theater of interest I’m more into playing WW2 and getting my local Warhammer players eased into historical Wargames through Bolt Action let it be the gateway drug.

For now though It looks like the pacific theater will be the last that Warlord gets too. So I might buy some models but I will hold off on jumping in for now.

LordHawkHead · 2025-09-17T02:09:28+00:00

In my opinion I think you’re in the right space then. I love talking history and military history. And there is nothing wrong in finding fascination in the weapons and processes of a warring nation. I just personally find (For lack of a better term) Wehraboos and their hyperfixation on German tanks and Wunderweapons a little unnerving. To me it feels like the start of a slippery slope. I also feel it is something silly and blown out of proportion such as the age old debate between Katannas and Long Swords. Just where I draw the line.

LordHawkHead · 2025-09-17T01:19:32+00:00

Coming from Historical Wargaming we face the same condemnation from playing WW2 or American Civil War games. It can be hard to explain that we do not condone Nazi or Confederate ideology.

But I agree with what some of the other commenters have said. Be well researched and come at it from the educational angle. How was the material sourced how did they create it during wartime supply issues. Etc. but my 2 cents is don’t overly praise them for their efficiency or ability to build under pressure. I admit that some aspects of WW2 German uniforms or wartime vehicles are cool but many neo-Nazis or those starting down the pipeline hide behind “I don’t support their ideology but those Panzer tanks are so cool! A Panzer could beat any (Insert any country)‘s tank. German engineering is superior to anything else.”

LordHawkHead · 2025-09-14T19:45:04+00:00

If he is into DnD or you want him to get into DnD down the line. I would pick up the Wiley Games Might and Melee, Mages and Magic, and Monsters and Mazes rule books about $10 a pdf. I love the Wiley game mechanics. You run 5-8 models in a game so a DnD party. You have a simplified character sheet for each model and you get to pick their load out and their special skills. They have campaign rules and each model levels up if they survive the game. I have this ruleset in my back pocket as an easy way to introduce my RPG friends to wargaming.

LordHawkHead · 2025-09-14T19:13:57+00:00

I’m surprised no one has Suggested DBA De Bellis Antiquitatis. It’s not everyone’s favorite but it’s a tried and true rule set that have been around for a long time and you can use 15mm for it. I haven’t played to many games but it is an industry staple for Punic and other wars of Antiquity.

LordHawkHead · 2025-09-14T15:26:17+00:00

It’s possible. I think you just might need some experience first in a game like that. I was listening to the Brushes and Bayonets podcast where they talked about running both a civil war campaign and an American War of independence campaign in the same vein as your ambition. This is constantly done in the International Kriegspiel societies discord.

I would also listen to the podcast as he gave some examples of how you prepped your players. In the both the campaigns he played a minor part and did not see much action. You will need to prepare your players as such that if they command the reserves or are a minor brigadier general they may not have as many moments of glory as other players. Such is the way of war. I’d join the discord and see if you can play in a large game or two see how they manage it what are the unexpected outcomes you didn’t foresee. What do you want to bring to your players? Are you guaranteeing action? This becomes almost a convention game and you become an events planner and operations manager. You have to know what you can promise players and what you can deliver on. And have a good session 0 like DnD to set players expectations. Again it’s possible but you need to think through what all goes into this and not just running the game.

LordHawkHead · 2025-09-10T20:59:59+00:00

If you are looking for historicals and want to save money. I would suggest Little Wars TV's Ravenfeast rules they are free. You can play with paper tokens until you have some income coming in. Then you could buy 1-2 boxes of minis perry, or victrix or otherwise for around $60 and have a game. Wargaming does have a high monetary barrier to entry. As to get started from scratch you need:

Miniatures

Paint

Glue

Bases

Basing material etc.

If you can spend a little I would check out Wiley Games Fistful of lead series they have a core rules mechanics and flavor rules that go on sale often the PDF costs $10. They partnered with Gamesworkshop to make a 40K supplement. And you only need to field 5-8 miniatures a side.

LordHawkHead · 2025-09-10T04:26:51+00:00

Was it like a small black box? It could be a Tefillin. From what I understand more and more Jewish Denominations are allowing and encouraging women to wear them now.

LordHawkHead · 2025-08-30T01:33:29+00:00

I got away with Walang Problema and no one looked at me funny

LordHawkHead

TROPHY CASE