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Vis Bellica
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Recently I received a pleasant e mail regarding a new set of Wargames rules for the Ancient period, I reproduce the correspondence below : -
Vis Bellica is a new set of rules for wargaming the Ancient period available from www.visbellica.com.
It's a fast moving game where command is the key and
an average game consists of 2-3 hours of play with 100-120 figures a side.
Figures for the rules are properly based in nice chunky elements, but you can use those based to DBM and WAB without any problems.
Reviews and articles on the rules should be appearing in most of the wargaming journals over the next few months. In the meantime, they have already been mentioned on wargamesjournal.com, who said: "...these rules look to be very slick. There are several neat touches that show they have been crafted by someone with a keen interest in the period and a desire to play interesting wargames."
People can order them direct at www.visbellica.com, and they are gradually making their way out to various traders as well.
There's also all sorts of other useful information at www.visbellica.com: including a brief description of the rules, some pictures from the VB Gallery, battle reports, army results and, of course, the dreaded Rules Lawyer, ready to adjudicate on any disputes that might arise during the course of gaming.
I will put a review copy in the post to you, and would ask that you mention the rules in the appropriate news sections of the Wargames Forum.
Please feel free to contact me with any further questions or queries.
Many thanks
Robert Avery
Well as you expect I responded straight away, and have now received a review copy, and very impressive they seem on first reading, 59 pages of rules and sample army lists, clearly and logically presented in an A4 soft back format. Read the rules is also interesting, the author Robert Avery is an experienced Colonial gamer, and in seeking a set of rules to re-enter the Ancient period sought certain elements to the game that he found pleasing form his colonial wars. He did not find them and so he did what any self respecting gamer would do, he wrote his own.
There are a number of things about his preferences that I wholeheartedly agree with, including the basing of units in large realistic looking figure groups, and more importantly the impact of command and command structure on the combat efficiency of units. This in particular has been a bug bear of mine and so it is very interesting to see Robert's approach to this issue.
I have played a couple of test games with the rules, and although they take so getting used to, as do any new rules, they are logical to follow and play smoothly. On what i have seen I am happy to recommend these rules not only to the Ancient gamer, but also as an interesting read. However I am not normally an Ancient period gamer, and knowing them to be a pernickety lot and so I have asked a colleague to take the rules for a more extensive play test and review, that I will produce in due course.
The rules will retail at £8.75 and can be purchased from the website above or selected retailers. Army lists (a few are included with the rules) will be published in the New Year, with a fantasy version Vis Magica to follow in the Spring.
John Sharples 12/02
Please remember to mention Wargames Forum when contacting traders!
