Rules...

A quick post on rules we are playing currently, starting with the most played...

Black Powder, this is not a review but a list of what i like about them...

They are fun, a bit of a no brainer really...
the command pips is a simplified version of warmaster, roll 2d6 under the command value and let the troops fly across the table, no micro measuring and angles rubbish, just get them in and dont spare the bayonets!!
The units stay on the table til they run away, no figure removal to slow the game down or loose figures to drop on the floor!!
D6s.. lots of them
the use of on table markers and damage pips for casualties, no off table grids to tick the boxes off of... "which unit was that? oh have you got a rubber.. piece of bread? anything?"
simple army morale and break rules that are realistic, well to me anyway

These rules are just so generic and adaptable that we have retrofitted them into ancients and fantasy using our old warmaster bases.... worked really well.. we play these for the fun factor

LaSalle

Fun - igo ugo activations, but the reserves can be a pain to arrive, army builder is very useful
D6s - for everything, by the handful.. nice and easy, roll to hit, roll to save... cry when the unit rolls 4 or less on two dice...
Units on table - these are multi-based to change formation, prefer the 'Grande Armee' approach of one stand but this is for smaller battles, will wait and see what 'blucher' does...
Markers - again am liking the disorder marker and casualties pips, its so easy and convenient
Army Morale - 33% loses and you roll over the turn number, sorted!! simples!!
hmmmmm, same reasons as BP really, except i win more with these rules and they are purely Napoleonic in feel... playing the period feel to them, not just a game of toys for some reason, we have used the army builder to make the black powder games more Napoleonic and less 70s airfix army.. ie British highlanders and scot greys vrs French old guard and Cuirrasiers!!

Songs of Blades and Whatevers....

These are the current choice of rules for Skirmish action.... Drums and shakos for sharpe, fear and faith for zombies and soon 'flying lead' for future wars stuff i am collecting... the concept I like here is very DBX, in the opposed dice rolls and doubling kills, simple and fun and quick!! oh and D6s and a very very nifty and nice activations sequence...

Battlefield evolution

WW2 company actions covered here... d6s, fun, simplistic... think there is a trend forming... we are supposed to be starting a pacific campaign at the club with these rules and as i cant be canadian i opted for ozzies, the rules can be very brutal in a 40k way, in that i move and you can shoot the shit out of me way, but they work better than everything we have tried so far... and that list is long!!!

BAsic Impetus and IMpetus...

Want to play this more than i do.... currently just building forces for it, even if they are being pushed into playing BlackPowder with... i like the hit on 5s n 6s thing with these rules, it worked for me, also the unit diarama stands are great, the stats worked well and allowed for some nice match ups with my romans and barbarians, altho the urge to add magic was never far away!!

DiscGame

THis was a simplefied version of warmaster i made to take to LARP events, but ended using with my son to play at home. It ironically seems to be a mix of DBX activation, warmaster unit stats and LaSalle morale, played on a grid 6x8... i wrote them 5 years ago on 5 index cards!! have now finished 4 complete armies and have 8 more in construction or half painted, GW plastics on 7cm disc bases from GW. I have lately been tinkering with them but not sure they needed it...

Rules - the future

One thing i have noticed is we (ie me and rich) do like to get rulesets and have a little tinker with them, so much so that Ganesha Games new rule set 'Flying Lead' is actually written by Rich becase he tinkered so much with a playtest set he was given that he basically re-wrote it for them!! I think that is why we have gravitated towards Black Powder over LaSalle, its just a less rigid set of rules, allowing the game to flow, like a sunday league referee that allows the 'play on' after someone has just been stabbed in the box. We like to play a game and enjoy that, not bluster about the rules in minute detail, protractors out and moving troops to the nearest thou on an imperial ruler!! life is to short for that type of game or indeed player, the hobby is supposed to be about having fun .. innit tho? eh?

Shaun