Warbands

The above 3d printed models were designed by Paolo Sartini (Dadi Dungeon & Dintorni). They are great for wargames such as Warbands or for any RPGs. The floors lift off to reveal detailed playable interiors. I wanted to make the siege tower taller. Printing more of the upper floors was easy but the gate was too long to nest properly. It was a simple matter to shorten it in the one dimension so it tucked under the level above it. In the purest sense of a siege tower, this would never need to be opened, but I like the option to have an extra shooting platform area, or to be able to attack two different floors of a castle/fortification at the same time.

This page is for the Fantasy Combat game, Warbands. It was written for the RRB Minis fantasy line which began in the 1980s as Ahketon’s Continent of Thrapsus (what little is known about the continent is recorded here). That line has expanded to include RRB originals, and Reviresco miniatures, plus 3d printed terrain. Though written with these items in mind, the rules system is of an open architecture styles, and can be used with any figures that you currently own.

Warbands 1984 started out as a very simple skirmish game. Each player was a warlord and led their troops into battle against any who would oppose them. It was humanoid-centric meaning that it dealt with pretty common fantasy elements: Elves vs Orcs, and Humans vs Dwarves sorts of match up. The basic premise for Warbands 2024 remains the same, but it has been expanded in scope. Scope referring to both having larger number of forces on the field, and having a wider variety of being represented.

The above scene is from our first play test session: Pig-Faced Orcs vs Ratogs. It played very fast and deadly… just the way we like our fantasy battles. You can learn the game quickly by just grabbing a couple handfuls of figures, but if you want your game to last more than 15 minutes, you’ll need a good a many more… 30 or so per player.

With the addition of a wider varies of races, the rules had to be adapted to handle size differences, as in giving a fighting bonus based on having extra mass. We did not want to slow the game down by making the players do a lot of math, so we handled this based on the model’s base size, and by giving the figures on larger bases more favorable Attack Dice than those on smaller bases.

The above scene is from our second play test session: We ran this one with the same two sides as the first, but we added some tiny mice and frog warriors to the mix, along with a couple Legendary Monster for support. It still played great and we had a lot of laughs has the tiny mice archers brought down the gryphon (gaining experience and becoming local heroes). It was during this session that we decided that a rule for “sweeping blow” was needed for when a large thing was being attacked by many small things. The rule is now added to the current version of the rules and has been playtested a bit.

Speaking of the rules and playtesting, if you care to check them out, you will find a free pdf copy of the rules here. If you want to help us out, playtest them and send your feedback via the contact form here. Enjoy!

We are also experimenting with a unit calculator using this simple Excel file. You are welcome to experiment with it. The idea is for it calculate the warband cost, and provide a couple different views which might be helpful printouts to have at the table. It is all experimental so your mileage may vary, as they say. Let us know what you think.

More to come, including faction backgrounds and maps of the Continent of Thrapsus! See the WIP here.

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Feel free to use the contact form here, or join our Facebook group here if you have any questions/comments.