A Review
Ok so firstly for a bit of wargaming background
On the reviewer.....
I started playing ancients using the venerable WRG 6th Edition rules and moved onto WRG's 7th Edition and finally DBA. 6th Edition was missing something (alternatively it was too heavily weapon-orientated, something that 7th Edition tried to break free of.... but didn't quite get anywhere in the end). Then we had a gap, figures gathered dust and despite local club attempts to revive the genre nothing seemed good enough. Then we had a plethora of new rule sets which were eagerly bought, eagerly play-tested and again never really satisfied anyone (and indeed worse at times). Time for a new set that maybe will be good enough.....
So, having pondered in good wargamer-style for some years I took the chance and purchased a copy of Basic Impetus 2.0 on Wargames Vault specifically because I could get it in pdf format. Why? Well so I could dissect & digest the rules and it allowed me to make the army generation (from a plethora of armies) more user-friendly as a bonus.
So how did the play-testing go?
Slow at first it has to be said but with an evolving QRS produced it was easier to ensure that all the intricacies in the rules were followed. Overall the rules handled pretty well and generated a good game that was playable in a few hours.
However whilst the play did generally make a lot of sense, and combat was quite tense, we did feel that something wasn't quite right with the omission of counter-charges in particular. We aren't sure why they were omitted but we added one of a few new unofficial optional rules to cope.
We've included them in our latest QRS (that we've cheekily called 4.0). There wasn't perhaps the full set of background rules found in the WRG Rules (but we've also covered most of that with a few more unofficial optional rules and extra Ace In The Hole cards). We've included those both below.
Overall a good set of rules (and certainly above the chaff) with inclusive army lists (with clever variations) makes this a rules set to try out.
Where to buy the Rules?
Available from their website or in personalised pdf from Wargames Vault we would, overall, so far recommend it. But it is early days and we are yet to have the inevitable pike vs legionnaire clash (let alone, heaven-forbid, two out-of-period armies).
In Summary
Pros....
That is really about it. Oh we also changed the width of the Units (50% wider) and the depth (50% less) to provide a more linear depiction and bring the unit frontages in line with the shooting ranges.
Anyway here are the files (the Quick Reference Sheet being amended as at 28.01.2022).....
On the reviewer.....
I started playing ancients using the venerable WRG 6th Edition rules and moved onto WRG's 7th Edition and finally DBA. 6th Edition was missing something (alternatively it was too heavily weapon-orientated, something that 7th Edition tried to break free of.... but didn't quite get anywhere in the end). Then we had a gap, figures gathered dust and despite local club attempts to revive the genre nothing seemed good enough. Then we had a plethora of new rule sets which were eagerly bought, eagerly play-tested and again never really satisfied anyone (and indeed worse at times). Time for a new set that maybe will be good enough.....
So, having pondered in good wargamer-style for some years I took the chance and purchased a copy of Basic Impetus 2.0 on Wargames Vault specifically because I could get it in pdf format. Why? Well so I could dissect & digest the rules and it allowed me to make the army generation (from a plethora of armies) more user-friendly as a bonus.
So how did the play-testing go?
Slow at first it has to be said but with an evolving QRS produced it was easier to ensure that all the intricacies in the rules were followed. Overall the rules handled pretty well and generated a good game that was playable in a few hours.
However whilst the play did generally make a lot of sense, and combat was quite tense, we did feel that something wasn't quite right with the omission of counter-charges in particular. We aren't sure why they were omitted but we added one of a few new unofficial optional rules to cope.
We've included them in our latest QRS (that we've cheekily called 4.0). There wasn't perhaps the full set of background rules found in the WRG Rules (but we've also covered most of that with a few more unofficial optional rules and extra Ace In The Hole cards). We've included those both below.
Overall a good set of rules (and certainly above the chaff) with inclusive army lists (with clever variations) makes this a rules set to try out.
Where to buy the Rules?
Available from their website or in personalised pdf from Wargames Vault we would, overall, so far recommend it. But it is early days and we are yet to have the inevitable pike vs legionnaire clash (let alone, heaven-forbid, two out-of-period armies).
In Summary
Pros....
- suitable for small, medium & large battles
- variable & extensive army lists (some nice touches here)
- Ace in the Hole cards give variations to the rules (12 official ones in total - 6 extra being on their website)
- several generalised troop types with some variation as to abilities & doctrine
- not too much book-keeping (with preparation most, if not all, can be indicated on-table)
- Cons....
- a lot of little rules easily forgotten
- no counter-charging (makes impetuous/fanatical troops rather reliant on an Army's initiative)
- a detailed QRS would have been useful
- weather, type of engagement etc. not covered
- You need to keep track of which unit is which as they often have subtle differences
- No Cohesion Tests as they are firstly confusing, secondly created weird results and thirdly slow the game down
- Use the Impetus Rating to determine (rolling it or less on 1D6) if a Unit counter-charges or even just charges an opponent in reach
- When rolling for Initiative use the (modified for CinC on table) result as the number of Units or Groups you can move (this includes potential counter-charges, but not evade moves) this turn. Halve the score for smaller games with a single army, You can modify this to help with different armies level of command control but to be honest the possibility of extra initiative rolls in the Army Lists covers this.
That is really about it. Oh we also changed the width of the Units (50% wider) and the depth (50% less) to provide a more linear depiction and bring the unit frontages in line with the shooting ranges.
Anyway here are the files (the Quick Reference Sheet being amended as at 28.01.2022).....
| bi2_qrs.pdf |
| ace_in_the_hole_1_v2.pdf |
| ace_in_the_hole_2_v2.pdf |
| ace_in_the_hole_3_v2.pdf |
| ace_in_the_hole_4_v2.pdf |
Here is our latest Quick Reference Sheet 4.0 with an optional rule or two:
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