Warhammer Ancient Battles is an ancients miniatures wargame produced by Warhammer Historical Games a separate entity from the folks at Games Workshop who produce Warhammer and Warhammer 40k.

In 144 pages, Jervis Johnson, Rick Priestly, and the famous Perry Brothers provide rules for fighting out pre-gun powder era battles on the tabletop. The game is remarkably similar to Warhammer Fantasy Battles 6th Edition (so folks familiar with that game will have a good deal of understanding from the beginning with these rules). For those of you who haven't seen or played WHFB, I'll explain.

In addition to the game rules, the book advises on basing models and classifies models into troop types such as chariots, light infantry, cavalry, etc. for game purposes.
Models are assigned points to reflect their movement, missile accuracy, close combat prowess and armor value. Using these points values, players then agree on a total for their armies and construct forces in by 'buying' troops within these points limits.

The game is played in IGOUGO (I go/You go) turns where one player completes all the moves, shooting and close combat for his side before passing the turn over to his opponent. The game turn is broken down in order: move, shoot, close combat.

Movement is very nicely done in this game allowing for double and triple timing if the tactical situation allows (of course you have to be clear of enemy and give up shooting with units moving this fast).

Shooting is by unit and a number of factors are incorporated into a unit's shooting that account for line of sight, target cover, weapon range, previous movement and, of course, the shooting unit's marksmanship.

Close combat, the heart of most Warhammer titles, is also very nicely done. Responses to be charged are more varied than many similar games and allow the chargee to attempt to withdraw toward his lines to avoid the charge, to stand and shoot (if a missile unit) or to stand and take the brunt of the charges in hopes of beating their attackers.

Attack allows first strikes and a number of combat factors (as with shooting) are accounted for in the rules. Factors include mass of the attacker/defender (rank bonuses), defending terrain, leadership of the engaged units, etc. Units who take a sound thrashing are likely to try to run towards perceived safety; this can lead to panic of other units in some cases, which brings me to psychology.

Psychology rules in the game help reflect things such as hatred of the enemy, fearsome enemy warriors, wild berserker behavior and several other battlefield phenomena associated with going toe to toe with your enemies. A well placed attack can conceivably cause an entire army to rout if their morale doesn't hold up, a cool effect if you've ever seen it done (and fairly realistic when you think about the nature of the warfare being simulated).

War Machines, Elephants and charismatic leaders are also covered---and as you might imagine, these rare additions to the battlefield have a significant impact on how well an army functions. Of course players have to be careful when choosing these more expensive units to avoid putting too many eggs in one basket.

The latter half of the book focuses on army lists, modelling and painting (both miniatures and terrain) and on collecting armies. This section is full of wonderful pictures showing just what types of armies are available for the new historical wargamer. As Games Workshop doesn't produce historical miniatures, the authors have used a wide variety of manufacturers and periods to show what types of battles are possible using these rules.

Focusing on army lists, the one shortfall many have placed on this book is the lack of more of them. In defense, the game provides two very detailed lists for Romans and Barbarian warbands. These lists are very well done, include a good deal of historical footnotes on weaponry, armor and force organization and help set the stage for the game.

Players wanting more army lists to play armies other than Romans versus Barbarians have a couple of viable options. They can buy one of the supplements for the game including Armies of Antiquity (which provides over 20 new options (all the way to 1250 AD) or Chariot Wars which deals more with Biblical armies.

Another less expensive option is to develop lists using an example table provided near the end of the WAB book. It includes example units from several popular ancient armies (e.g. Greek Hoplites), from which players could develop armies by borrowing proxy troop descriptions from the lists provided. Either way, players have a good starting point using just the WAB book.

Overall, the book is well organized and well presented. The rules do the job and allow players to relive ancient conflicts using whatever figures they have and/or feel are appropriate. Players who enjoy other Warhammer products (even though WAB is not a Games Workshop product, per se) will very likely enjoy this rule set. Conversely, those who don't like Warhammer in other forms, probably won't like this rule set either.

One important note is that with the popularity of Warhammer and 40k, players interested in breaking into historical gaming or who want to get others interested will likely have an established audience where they normally play.

privateer4hire (#25684),

I would like to add that this rulebook is superior to the fantasy rulebook, in clear written word, and I suggest even fantasy players to buy this one for the clear text and ease of use.

Sean