15th Century Wargaming

The 15th Century & Delaying Lazy Projects

When It comes to wargaming I try to go on the web and learn which system works best that is both engaging yet simple at the same time, whether or not It's historical wargaming. I played a few times with a friend of mine using By This Axe and it was very simple and fun. While by "default" it is ideal for historical war games. There are appendixes like running theater of the mind or playing fantasy battles with 1:5 or 1:20 scales options available.  

 

Front Cover of By This Axe

 

I mostly know Fantasy because I've watched Lord of The Rings, Conan, Salomon Kane, Red Sonja and other media and literature to feel more at home playing.

As for Historical well that is where most of that falls flat on my face. So I went ahead and found another system that focuses more on smaller battles and mostly fantasy. This game was called Songs Of Blade And Heroes. 

But I played it a few times and didn't enjoy it because it was "too simple" to play. The combat is cool and I like the rules, but that's only on a surface level. The actual gameplay relies heavily on bonuses, even and odd results of knocking down opponents or pushing them back. It felt a lot more slower than By This Axe because of this. So I got rid of the game. What I did enjoy while playing it was the Activation Rule. You would simply roll 1 to 3 dice and if you roll higher on a unit's required activation number you succeed. I can see this mechanic being useful outside of the game, but I feel bad to just buying the game only for that. 

Now I had to find another way to play By This Axe or simple form of wargaming so that I can use my miniatures more often. Later in 2024 I discovered a wargame that is simple and accessible using graph paper and theater of the mind. 

Beautiful Artwork Here!

 

Killchain

I will say that the downsides of this system diminish right as you play it more often. The system streamlines the game heavily and the lack of detailed rules may not suit everyone. Especially that it solely relies on theater of the mind and/or graph paper to play it. When you think about it, it's actually fun and playable. It is pretty much Chainmail 1971, but barebones and easier to pick up. The Author states that it can be tweaked and make a version of your own! 

If anyone is interested in getting this you can find it on Itch.io through this link: Killchain By Castle Grief 

Future Wargaming

I decided to look back at By This Axe and realized I had a system that works for me initially. While I don't really have to run the historical portion of the rules. I think it would be neat to try them out and use my 15th century miniatures. I own Redbox War Of The Roses and Caesar 15th Century Miniatures. It took some time investing into the 'European' sets that can represent anyone outside of England. The final decision I made to represent the European army was the italian condottieri.  

 

Miniart's XV Italian Knights

 

Originally I wanted to paint the miniatures for a french army since the Hundred Years War later ends on 1453 against the English in the Battle Of Castillon. 

Of course I can do other events in the 15th Century such as Joan Of Arc, Burgundian Wars and War Of The Roses. The Italian Wars take place later in the late 15th Century so I'm not sure how I would handle that event. So I'm looking through the web and finding out what could work best and find some sources to read for Italian armies for the XV century. So my miniatures will collect dust for a while and won't be painted yet. However, I own bootleg caesar miniatures and might do some painting referring to Miniart's color palette shown for the Italian Knights.

Overall it's a bit of work upfront and won't consider this quick to setup. This also has to do with which system I choose to play, but it's most likely gonna be By This Axe. Hope you enjoyed this and stay tuned!