L'Art, DBA, and Soldiers of God!

Had a wonderful time this week learning the L'Art de la Guerre rules. Played a full battle using 100 pt armies and it was a blast; a very tactical and challenging game to say the least. All in all it is safe to say that L'Art is now my "go-to" set of ancients rules for my ancient battles, second only to DBA. DBA of course is what it is... a great game that can be played with small armies on a limited space, and this is where it shines best. So therefore expect plenty more content with DBA. However, for the more 'gritty' type battles, larger, and with lots of detail, at the moment that belongs to L'Art. So both rules will be my focus at the moment. However, I will be looking back into DBMM as well, especially later this year when we can get our hands on the new version of the rules and army lists! I still feel that DBMM is one of the best sets of rules (and most realistic) out there for ancients.

Another set of rules I intend to re-visit is Impetvs, a long time favorite of mine. However, I am NOT a fan of its basing system (SHUDDDDDER) because the bases are too damn big; best played on a smooth, flat surface, which I am not keen on; I like lots of random terrain in my battles. However, I am waiting till later this year for the release of the NEW Basic Impetvs rules - yes they may actually be PUBLISHED! Hopeful Baroque and Impetvs II will follow soon after (next year?!). Regardless, expect some Impetvs content as well in the future.

With all that said, I think at the moment I know where I am sitting regarding what rules I will be using for the time being: L'Art is great for a deep, detailed battle (which I love), and DBA allows for ease of play with ANY size battle. Both are tops in my book, each deserving of my serious attention. So, we shall see what happens in the coming months if my attitude changes.

One more thing I should note is that I will be trying out Warwick Kinrade's new set of rules for the Crusades - Soldiers of God! These rules look really fun and historical. I imagine they have a lot of 'feel' for the period as well. Being deck driven is another plus as well. Anyway, I should have these rules in my hands in a matter of days now (tomorrow?). After a good look I will be plotting out some playtests. Of course, I will need to get my Feuadals based up! I also have NO arabs to fight for the Muslim cause, so I am gonna have to plan out some figure buys over the coming weeks. Full details to follow.

Playing Some L'Art de la Guerre ...

Spent the last couple day's finally testing out the L'Art de la Guerre ("L'Art") ancients rules. Taking me a bit wrapping my head around some of the movement rules, which is otherwise a pretty straight forward game system.

The mechanics are pretty straight forward, a good "grainy" feel to them for those looking for more detail compared to DBA. At the same time the game flows very fast. Combats can be very quick and brutal - even considering the "cohesion" rule that keeps units on the table until they reach a certain loss in cohesion - 2-4 points in general. The movement section takes the longest to play out - at least for a newbie to the rules like myself.

All in all I am liking the rules. I have been looking for a good set which is a step up from DBA (which remains my favorite so far - at least for small and FAST games). DBMM and Impetvs still attract me as well. Which reminds me, if you like Impetvs, you may very well like these rules as well - much of Impetvs was drawn from concepts in these rules.

L'Art de la Guerre is on the Way!

Been having an itch to give L'Art de la Guerre a test run. Have been giving ancients a break the past couple months whilst I do other things. One rules set I am itching to try is L'Art de la guerre. I did a fist look video on these rules a few months back and have only recently got around to giving them a good read through. - which I am still doing at the moment. However, I am eager to set up some miniatures and run through some test runs. Perhaps I can get to that by next week, Right now my games table is covered with panzergrenadiers, Shermans and of course a robust looking TIGER!

More to follow - including some pics  of my LarT play tests :)