War of the Roses rulesets and scale

[warbossd 4562xp 0]

Hi all

Just looking for some advice. I have a friend who is a reenactor in the War of the Roses field and we are looking at dipping a toe into wargaming this period.

Both of us are relative noobs to historical wargaming.

Having done a bit of googling I’ve found various recommendations for rulesets: Hail Caesar, MeG, Never mind the Billhooks, Test of Resolve (even though it’s made for the period the core system of cards and d12 seems a bit vulnerable to random swings within games to me).

We will be playing at a gaming club so games ideally should be no more than 2 hours and work well on 4’x4′ tables.

I like the idea of doing a 10 or 15mm scale (as I don’t have many other games at these scales) as this will give us more of a sense of grandeur to the games but 28mm seems to have more figures and the heraldry would be way easier to model and paint.

Does anyone here already game in this period and have experience to share regarding a favourite ruleset?

If we go for a smaller scale is there good availability for characterful command models in particular?

Any help or advice greatly appreciated.

[scribbs 14517xp 2]

Billhooks seems to be very popular at the moment. It plays quite fast, so is likely a good fit for 2 hour club sessions, but is designed for 6×4 tables and focuses on smaller actions rather than sweeping battles. Table size can be mitigated by going for the smaller scale models of course.

A couple of nice 15mm ranges for WotR are Khursan and Peter Pig (although I think the former are more like 18mm). Peter Pig do have a few character models within their range.

https://khurasanminiatures.tripod.com/late-fifteenth-century.html

https://www.peterpig.co.uk/23%20Wars%20Of%20The%20Roses.html

One usual question I have for anyone starting historicals is to ask about what type of game do they want to play – big battles or smaller engagements? As a sweeping generalisation, a lot of the differentiation between rulesets comes from the level of battlefield scale they focus on. If you have an idea of what scale of battles you’re interested in, that can refine rule choice, whilst also helping with decisions on figure scale (particular when combined with space restrictions – epic battles in 28mm need big tables).

[buggeroff 15234xp 2]

MeG is a great system to get into and can cover a large range of Ages – Ancient, Medieval, The Renaissance. Covering all continents. Great community and lots of online resources

[warbossd 4562xp 0]

Hi Scribbs

I personally would prefer larger scale engagements. Given a 4×4 play space this explains my preference for 10-15mm.

Thanks for your help.

[buggeroff 15234xp 2]

from the MeG site – https://mortem-et-gloriam.co.uk/meg/pacto/

Pacto (compact) is our miniaturised game, but in no way feels small as it keeps the main features of Maximus. Armies are just 20-30 bases, making it good for travel and easy to build. The 15mm game is played on a 3’x2′ mat (4’x3′ for 28mm) and it completes in under 90 minutes.

[torros 23839xp 1]

You could try Bloody Barons  by Peter Pig. I think the 2nd edition is out now and they have a nice range if figures as well

[admiralandy 1655xp 1]

With a 4×4 you might want to look at 28mm or smaller, using Lion Rampant with the Billhooks event and bonus cards when unit activation is a double 1 or double 6 (Makes sense when you know the rules).

Unit sizes are 6 or 12 figures with options for artillery and generals lead a unit that they fight with.

As you have around 50 figures a side you could give it a go with Perry miniatures and if playing the Early Wars of the Roses you could use some Againcort French perrys also do as an allied unit for the appropriate side.

[Wolfie65 1252xp 2]

If you like saving money, look into 1/72 (20mm) scale plastics, lots of medievals available, Red Box even make WotR-specific troops.

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