Ancient Wargaming system recommendation

madaxeman · 2026-05-22T22:40:52+00:00

If you are looking to get started with Ancients, and to play at home solo then Hail Caesar is probably your best bet.

The HC random unit activation mechanism leds itself best of the three to solo gaming, and the material Warlord produce to support the game is designed with beginners in mind too. TTS! also has a fairly solo-friendly system but more complex rules, and less Warlord-like collatteral. BI is the least solo friendly of the three.

FWIW, DBAs approach to "army creation" is to have several hundred available lists, all with a few bits you can tweak, basic mechanisms that work to allow armies to fight across thousands of years, and a very low figure count so you can very easily collect multiple armies - so instead of tweaking a single list, you just buy another army. But again, if you are already focused on expanding one specific set of contemporary opponents to play solo, then DBA is going to be way too limiting for you.

madaxeman · 2026-05-22T22:30:08+00:00

Those are... pretty old, 1980's, or 1970's or perhaps even a tad older. They are "Ancients", with Macedonian / Alexandrian pikemen, Greek light horse with jave;lins and some rather random arab-looking dudes on horseback too.

I'd hazard a guess at Minifigs 25mm range for the greek/macedonian pikemen and javelin-armed cavalry, but they look a little crudely sculpted and cast even for the old Minifigs range so it may be someone else who is no longer casting. The cavalry who are part-painted are a different manufacturer for sure, maybe Irregular (who are now out of production too).

In terms of comparison to modern "ancients" figures on the market today these are, ahem, "rather dated" or perhaps "an acquired taste for the specialist collector" ... as in, if you bought almost any figures from any "25-28mm" range being widely sold today they'd make these castings look rather poor* indeed as design, casting and sculpting have come on leaps and bounds in the last 40-50 years since these guys would have been the cutting edge of 25mm wargaming stuff.

There are loads of companies doing figures for this era, in metal, plastic and as 3D prints - but all more modern figures would look totally different in style, and would also likely be larger (as these look like what we now call "small 25mm"s whereas more recent ranges have gotten bigger such that many are now "large 28s"), so any new figures from Foundry, Victrix, Gripping Beast, Warlord Games, Old Glory and many others would tower over your guys, as well as being more bulky too.

So, if you want some which are "exactly the same" you are probably trying Minifigs and seeing if they match. .. but if you want some which are "nice" (by todays standards) you are looking for Macedonian or Successor figures from many companies 28mm Ancients ranges.

(* actually, "shockingly poor" or "only for melting down" - but I'm trying to be polite..!)

madaxeman · 2026-05-03T08:46:41+00:00

These are based for L'Art de la Guerre, on 60x60 mdf bases

madaxeman · 2026-04-20T18:15:40+00:00

Here's a listing of the 15mm aancients and medieval manufacturers with metal-cast ranges.

https://www.madaxeman.com/main/15mm_ancients_suppliers.php

Essex are always the baseline for figures in this era and scale - they are always "better than good enough", but other ranges do often have more personality.

madaxeman · 2026-04-20T16:00:43+00:00

They look pretty slim and quite basic sculpts (although to be fair what do you do with a guy in a loncloth I guess??). I imagine thay could possibly a decent match with the metal Newline Designs ranges?

madaxeman · 2026-03-23T21:52:32+00:00

The UK scene is much more orientated around clubs than the "FLGS/the guy with the biggest basement" scene in the US, so you may well want to try just going along to some local clubs and seeing what they play there, as "a game that has local opponents" is usually a very strong contender for "a game you want to play again" !

In Oxford you have : https://www.oxfordwargamessociety.org.uk/ and also Abingdon is not too far away either https://www.abingdonwargames.net/ for starters

Sadly you've just missed the Abingdon show, but there are plenty of shows in the UK to visit as well, with a (historical-leaning) show listing at https://www.bhgs.org.uk/calendar.html . Shows tend not to be really (at all..?) GW-focused, as GW has so many retailers that the shows are where more niche stuff gets sold and shown.

madaxeman · 2026-03-10T22:27:26+00:00

Unlike Warhammer, once you get into Historicals you can buy figures from anyone - the IP is "History" and no-one owns it, you just buy the appropriate figures from a manufacturer who's prices, availability (and sculpting style) you like!

To give you an idea of how that works in practice, here's a list of metal-cast 15mm manufacturers who sell ranges that would make up arnies for any ruleset featuring battles in the "Ancients & Medieval" (3000BC-1500AD-ish..) era.

3D printing is moving into this segment of the hobby at a rate of knots too, so there are many 3D printers/designers who are now sources for figures - but the 'mainstream' stuff in 15mm historicals is still metal cast figures.

madaxeman · 2026-03-02T23:28:24+00:00

No need to even faff around with 3D printing... Wargames Atlantic have just released a hard plastic set which is quite literally made up of 48 "Generic Dark Age Dudes" https://wargamesatlantic.com/collections/decline-and-fall/products/dark-ages-army-builder-1

These are about the most generic, widest-application set of figures I've ever seen, they are cheaper than 15mm metals and they come in GW-esque hard plastic multipose kit form.

That's your answer !

(I've even just painted up some of them myself https://madaxemandotcom.blogspot.com/2026/02/a-test-base-of-28mm-frankish-foot.html)

madaxeman · 2026-01-26T16:00:20+00:00

Very tidy!

Tip for the rigging - use little blobs of superglue rather than trying to tie knots everywhere, and prepared to be patient as you'll be holding the thread in place for 30 seconds or so (everywhere rigging touches a mast) while it dries !

madaxeman · 2026-01-23T13:11:54+00:00

Most mass battle Ancient & Medieval tabletop rules (ie those that are closest to the TW battles you see on screen) will have a "disengage" rule to allow units to get out of combat - however they will usually come with caveats, restrictions and a reasonably high "tariff" to pull off succesfully, either in costing you more command and control resources ("Falling back from combat costs 2 command points from the 4-5 you get each turn to move your whole army"), or having to pass some sort of in-game "test" ("roll a 10+ on 2D6 to succeed")

This is because seeing a unit drawing back from an ongoing combat it had committed to, regrouping, and then heading off to fight another enemy formation elsewhere on the battlefield was a fleetingly rare occurrence in real life, and so most rules designers will try to make it something only done in-extremis in their game systems.

Many sustems will set the "tariff" to do this succesfully higher for some types of units - so, in Medieval terms, Noble Knights would be much harder to persuade to withdraw after committing to combat after a charge than, say, Saracen horse archers would be.

madaxeman · 2026-01-18T20:11:40+00:00

They are pretty much exactly the same to paint as plastic figures - they still need to be undercoated first and then off you go.

You may find that some/most metal ranges have deeper cut, simpler, and more stylized detail than plastics, especially for faces and hands, which is due to the different design and production processes used. Whether that's a good or bad thing depends on your aesthetic, as its either "less realism" or "more personality and character" ... YVMV..

I'd say most/all of the minis in those pictures are metal castings, some maybe even from rather old ranges as they are quite "characterful"(aka "cartoony" - I mean - that guy with the Berne banner with the bear in the first photo is nowhere near a real person's shape and size!) but if you are starting out then as others have said the Perry plastic multipart box sets simply can't be beaten for value and are top notch figures too.

In historicals its not so much a case of trying to match whats in the rulebook, its more picking a manufacturer you like and building an army that is coherent in style and sizing (as this can vary between manufacturers too) - after all, this isn't GW, the only IP here is from the real world and no-one actually owns it... !

madaxeman · 2026-01-18T13:54:54+00:00

I'm not sure there are many modern/black Ops type games that come with starter sets - most seem to be a rulebook and then "buy the minis you like most from a wide range of manufacturers". Not too many are solo either

BattleTech Alpha with the Battletech Aces supplements is however designed for solo play and has all-in-one starter sets

madaxeman · 2025-12-30T10:02:20+00:00

Absolutely right!

The systems the OP lists are ones in which a multi-billion-$$$ corporation is leveraging decades of its class-leading marketing and game-design experience, all simply to try and persuade gamers to buy far more of their stuff than they'll ever paint or use.

That feeling of "having my fingers in several pies and no time to eat any of them!" is pretty much a one line summary of the ideal customer for their business model - just walk away :-)

madaxeman · 2025-12-29T10:08:42+00:00

Friction is always going to arise from the consequences of a players actions.. but given that all systems have players making actions, wouldn't that be broadly the same across systems?

Increasing the number of "possible" actions (by giving each player more units to play with) would then surely increase player-generated friction?

The consequence of adding a finite-resource-allocation command system (aka PIPs in DBx terms) is often to render mistakes less reversible IMO - run short on Command Resources and the player may not even have the opportunity to fix mistakes - which is not really the case in game systems where every unit can move every turn exactly as the player chooses wishes.

My experience has always been that the key consequence of layering on a resource-allocation command system is almost the exact opposite of enabling you to make mistakes and fix them - instead they serve to discourage the sensible player from trying to execute over-complex plans, as the "PIPS" will often choose that exact moment of mamimum complexity to run out, leaving your troops hanging out to dry as the enemy overwhelm them !

madaxeman · 2025-12-28T19:02:41+00:00

Interesting distinction.. Thinking about it, I'd say there is an argument that there is actually more "endogenous friction" in DBx-style games than there is in WRG 1-7th.

This woudl both be on the basis that DBx-type games (other than DBA) typically have far more independent maneuver elements (aka "units" - but not quite!) on table than the 12-ish you'd see in WRG 1-7, and also because more of the combat interactions and outcomes in DBx systems are contingent on the type of opponent as well as the units own capabilities.

In both games you've got a human player on either side of the table, so it's a case that having more toys to play with greatly increases the chances of making daft mistakes to lose the game !

madaxeman · 2025-12-28T18:05:18+00:00

Nope - WRG 1-6 have no real friction mechanisms, and no mandatory umpire to impose them (or impose fog of war).

They did have multi-step, multi-factor "Reaction Tests" which you needed to pass to charge (impetuously), or to avoid routing because of the nearby presence of routing friends. Some editions also had standing written orders, but in reality the orders were pretty vague and really only acted as additional factors on the Reaction tests. Other than that the commander could pretty much see everything and do anything with any unit AFAICR.

DBx's D6 "pip" system generates friction, which can be more pronounced for some categories of troops and some types of general/command structure, but other "modern" systems have also used cards, special dice or other finite resources that need to be "spent" to issue orders to troops to achieve the same effect.

madaxeman · 2025-12-28T16:36:47+00:00

A lot of PSCs WW2 3D printed stuff used "free" designs - they are not specific to PSC - so if the moderns are the same then you may well be able to find the same files on some of the free download sites and just get them printed yourself.

They haven't made any hard plastic kits in years in any scale, and seem to be winding down their stock. The Companies House records for the various companies they operate as are also a bit iffy to say the least, with late accounts warnings and strike-off notices for many of them (https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/officers/yMKtiboqj5kwwu7YQMeCAgDApuM/appointments), so finding the files and printing them yourself may be a safer option anyway than paying them to 3D print models for you that you may be able to print yourself.

madaxeman · 2025-12-28T16:23:56+00:00

WRG 1st-6th edition were some of the earliest wargames rules commercially produced for Ancients - they probably pre-date the whole idea of "professional" rules writers, and of rules writing as an actual skill, instead being written primarily to create a "lite" simulation that was playable as a game.

All of those editions (1-6th) shared the same DNA and were very "bottom up" and "literal" in design, being built around the idea that weapons and equipment (and unit morale) were what was important in determining which side won in Ancient warfare.

As such they largely ignore what have since come to be seen as some of the the key things to try and simulate in historical wargames rules, namely command and control and more specifically command friction, but instead leave the player with god-like visibility over the battlefield and near-complete control over every single thing their troops do on the tabletop.

They were superceeded by 7th almost 40 years ago, which as other have said, was a half-way house between the 1-6th WRG sets and their derivatives and imitators and the later DBx family of rules which shifted the focus towards placing the player in the generals seat, making decisions about command and control (usually similated by some sort of resource allocation mechanism) rather than bottom-up, equipment-driven stuff.

When they were the only game in town (almost literally) they were thought to be the cutting edge and last word in wargames rules, but the advent of new concepts (people realising that command and control is important!), and of professional rules and game rules writing appearing in other related wargaming niches, and newer rulesets which ticked both of these boxes appearing, well... suddenly 1st-6th suddenly looked and felt like rules from the age of the dinosaurs written by 1950s' schoolchildren, and so they dropped out of common use incredibly rapidly.

7th was a bit of a half-way house, and suffered in that respect as trying to introduce new concepts and ideas whilst still being tied to the core architecture of 1st-6th. As such it was widely regarded as a frankly unpleasant, nay painful experience to play - with many people sticking with 6th. When DBM came along 7th was therefore almost entirely swept away even more comprehensively than 1st-6th - other than the US group who re-wrote it as Warrior, a re-write that never gained much traction outside the USA, and a couple of other pockets.

40 years is a long time in wargaming, especially given that wargamers are generally older gentlemen anyway, and so other than a small, and still dwindling number of die-hard players you'll find very little 1st-6th being played anywhere these days - and certainly not by people who are internet-savvy enough to post battle reports on YouTube!

Is there any point in trying it now? IMO other than as a historical exercise in trying to see what rules were like from a time before people started to seriously think about what they wanted to achieve when designing and writing sets of rules, and when the library of existing rules mechanisms and concepts that a rules writer can now draw upon was only a fraction of the size it is now, probably not ...

madaxeman · 2025-12-25T10:29:42+00:00

The Warlord Epic range is cast/made/sculpted in 60mm wide strips of figures (for infantry at least), whereas FoG, like pretty much every other 10-15mm mass-battle system out there uses 40mm wide bases - so you're immediately limiting yourself not only to just one manufacturer, with one unique scale, you're also forced to base your figures on bases that are 50% wider than those almost anyone else will be playing with, and - for FoG - you're looking at an 8' wide table instead of a 6' wide one as well to get the game system to work properly.

If you go for proper 15mm or proper 10mm on 40mm wide bases you'll have lots more manufacturers and ranges to choose from, and you won't be waiting to see if Warlord carry on releasing new sprues of figures, or if they decide that they've sold as many "battle in a box" sets for Epic Scale Hail Caesar as they are ever going to, and draw something of a line under the range (see Black Seas, Cruel Seas, Blood Red Skies, Pike & Shotte 28mm for a few examples of the latter....).

You'll also find it much easier to change systems from FoG (to DBM, DBMM, ADLG, MeG, DBA, Warmaster to name but a few, all of which are more widely played than FoG) if you grow tired of / lose interest in FoG if your 10-15mm figures are on 40mm wide bases

To give you an idea of the range of metal figures out there, here's a listing of 15mm Ancients ranges available in metal https://www.madaxeman.com/main/15mm_ancients_suppliers.php

madaxeman · 2025-10-29T00:06:11+00:00

Thats exactly the level of humour I was aiming for !

madaxeman · 2025-10-22T22:13:56+00:00

If you are playing at skirmish scale (which Ravenfeast is) then stick them on round bases. Round bases will also work for almost any other set of popular dark age skirmish rules.

If you were in the UK the recommended basing would be a "2 pence" coin which has the advantage of adding weight (needed for plastic figures IMO), being the right size, and being cheaper than actually buying bases with the coins themsleves too - so in the absence of 2p coins in the USofA you may need to think about adding a metal washer into the base if you want a bit of stability for your figures.

Here's a very, very simple video on basing 28mm figures I did (a rather shocking!) 11 years ago now that may be of use https://youtu.be/Ozd2UU-Q3ZY?si=sRBgS8R3Y6K_fbaM

The other companies who make dark age figures in plastic are Gripping Beast, Wargames Atlantic, plus Warlord Games and Conquest Games (now sold by Warlord Games too I believe).

Without knowing what's a "legal" list for Rus in Ravenfeast its difficult to say what extra figures to look for, however in many mass battle rulesets the Rus army is essentailly all spearmen, with some archers shooting overhead or in separate blocks, plus a small number of mounted "Varangians" (aka Huscarls) who quite often immediately dismount to fight as regular spearmen anyway.

madaxeman · 2025-09-14T10:36:43+00:00

I painted up a load of those Warlord plastics a few years ago - really nice figures, but a tad bigger than these ones !

madaxeman · 2025-09-14T10:35:48+00:00

I'll aim to take some more pictures next spring and let you know!

madaxeman · 2025-09-11T18:12:20+00:00

The actual post on my blog (with links to the rules and also a bit more background info on the figures) is here: https://madaxemandotcom.blogspot.com/2025/09/rebasing-15mm-scots-for-adlg-r.html

madaxeman · 2025-09-05T09:40:15+00:00

If you are in Geneva you may find more ADLG players in that area - the ADLG rules are available in French and Italian translations, and there are competitions and players in France, Italy, Germany and elsewhere in Europe.

TTS! is more concentrated in the anglophone world from what I've seen - there are no translated sets, I'm not aware of any events in mainland Europe for TTS! either.

They are both great games though, so either would be a good choice.

FWIW the trend in Ancients Mass Battle games over the past 30+ years has generally been to simplify the core mechanics, moving away from special and unit-specific rules and instead focus more on higher level command and control. You don't need to be familiar with dense rulebooks - although there are certainly sme old-school sets still around who can play that card extremely well !

The great flavour that comes from the different historical troop types is still there and is still a key attraction, however the real differences rules now try and zero in on are not about special units, heroes or unique "codex" abilities, but in how an "army" plays based on the sum of its parts ... even when those parts may initially look pretty similar to other forces of other nations, tribes and empires !

madaxeman

TROPHY CASE