To the Strongest

I'm a bit of a sucker for rules sets.  Like most wargamers, the search for the perfect ruleset is a little like the search for the holy grail (although probably with slightly less chance of success!).  However, I do like reading rules and picking up clever ideas.

Recently I'd picked up on a new set of ancient rules by Simon Miller called "To the Strongest" which seemed to have a different approach (no dice!).  The initial reviews I'd read were positive however, and I was intrigued.  So with the rules available for download for under a tenner it seemed rude not to take a look.  

As noted above, TTS are a little different.  To be fair, as they use neither dice or tape measures it has been joked that they aren't really wargames rules at all!  Tape measures are replaced by a grid on the table and dice are replaced by playing cards.  Both aimed at speeding up a game.

I laid out a quick grid on my table using little bits of ground cover material, roughed out 2 armies from my Roman and Ancient Briton figures and set to it.

Table set to go with the grid marked.

Roman battle line.

Britons defending the village

Battle commenced with the Romans advancing and cavalry clashing with chariots on the left.

Overall I liked the rules.  Playing solo it took a little time (as always) to get my head round the rules but the basic concepts are dead easy.  In addition combat is quick to resolve but does seem to ebb and flow in a realistic way.

The Romans won the first game, but I realised I hadn't counted the warband units as "deep" which while making them less manoeuvrable does give them more staying power.

The second game saw fortunes reversed.  This time the Britons managed to break through on the right.  This did highlight one of the strengths of the rules which is the need to hold a reserve.  Units are far less manoeuvrable than most ancient rule sets.  Once your battle line is breached it is very difficult to react quickly withou fresh reserve units.

Overall I like them.  They do give a quick game and are, I think, ideally suited to multi-player games.

I definitely want to play more and introduce them to the Club.  With the multi-player aspect and quick play I think these would be ideal for a club nights.