Fantastic Battles

 In my 2022 New Year's message I had mentioned I was very interested in and had started playing the Fantastic Battles (FB) rules system by Nicholas Wright, for mass battles for both historical and  Fantasy genre for a range of scales (2mm-28mm). The rules allow you to customize and build armies based on a tool kit approach of different traits added to company types including: Elite, Formed Irregular, Fantastic Beast, Vehicle and Giant.  There is a separate system for characters that makes them significant but not exaggerated in power. FB is also well supported by the author and members on the Fantastic Battles Face Book Page.

Cover

Since early  December 2021 I have played at least 7 games of  FB, but sadly I have not had time to provide detailed reports for each game.  I still don't have time now to provide detailed reports but  read on to find information on basing, table size and a list of games played with selected photos.

 

Table Size and Basing

The standard size company base in Fantastic battles is 4cm square for 15mm scale and 6cm square for 25 to 28mm scale.  These Base Widths (BW) are the unit of measurement in the game.  For games of 5000 to  1,000 points in 15mm a 4' x 3' table is recommended and in 28mm for that size game it is a 4' x 6' game area but we have found we can push it to 1,500 points although there is some loss of room to  maneuver.  Future plans include trying a 4.5' x 8' table for 28mm at 1,500-2,000 points.

To simply matters and speed things up I did not re-base my figures  I used 15mm figures mounted on magnetic DBA size bases and put them on 4cm square steel topped sabot bases, 

 

Roman 15mm troops on 4cm square bases

For 28mm scale I placed individual magnetized figures on steel topped 6cm square sabot bases painted dark green.  My long term plan is to flock these sabot bases, but leaving the area covered by the figure base unflocked.   With 28mm figures based on  2cm square bases it is possible to fit 6 or more figures on the 6cm sabot bases, but only 4 figures  if using round 25mm figure bases,which is what lead me to decide on 4 per base as my standard for formed companies. Below are shown some 28mm figures on 6cm square sabot bases, 6  skeleton crossbows on square bases and 4 Norman Sears on round bases.

6 Skeleton Crossbows & 4 Norman Spearmen

This flexible system allows me to use the same figures as individual figures for skirmish games like SAGA or Warhammer (3rd or 6th edition).

For 28mm I  settled on 4 figures per base for formed and elite companies in 28mm, 3 figures for irregular companies.

 

High Elf: scout, infantry, cavalry and artillery

In the above picture are various types of High Elf units on 6cm square sabot bases from left to right: irregular infantry (scouts), Formed company (elite Phoenix Guard), Formed cavalry company (Dragon Prince Cavalry), and Artillery (bolt thrower).

 

Undead crossbowmen

Above another example of a 6cm sabot base for a formed company of Undead crossbowmen with the standard 4 figures.

 

Giant, Flying and swarm bases

Above from left to right are 6cm square bases for: Fantastic Beast (Dwarf Fire Giant), Vehicle (Dwarf Gyrocopter), two Fantastic Beasts (Undead Fell Bats), and in the foreground a swarm base (Undead bat swarm). 

Chariot and artillery bases

.Above from left to right: 6cm x 10cm Chariot sabot base (Tomb Kings Chariot), 6cm square Artillery / Ordnance (Dwarf Catapult), and 6cm square sabot base Artillery / Ordnance (Undead skull chucker catapult). The size of the chariot necessitated the deeper 6cm wide by 10cm deep base.

Below is a close up of one of the small Undead / skeleton skull chucker catapults on a 6cm square sabot base.

 

I have also produced some bases for oversized artillery measuring 6cm wide by 10cm deep.

Undead artillery on 6cm x 10cm bases

 So far in 15mm I have Romans, Gauls / Ancient Briton's based for FB with Etruscan  and HYW French and English armies being planned. As for 28mm I have the following in sabot bases: Undead (Vampire Counts), High Elves and Wood Elves, with the following being works in progress near completion: Dark Elves, Dwarfs, and Tomb Kings, while the the Bretonians, Chaos Beastmen, and Orcs & Goblins are a more distant objective.  For Historicals in 28mm Both Vikings and Normans are ready to be based on the 6cm sabot bases, with future plans for Greeks, Trojans and Amazons.  I have produced roughly over 200 of these 6cm sabot bases and will  need to produce roughly another 200  more for other races.  This involves cutting  and applying  rubber steel tops to the plastic or MDF sabot 6cm squares and then painting them dark green, olive, sand or brown.  Also many individual figures have been or will need to have magnets (mainly Rare Earth disc magnets) glued to the underside.

 

High Elf Sword Masters versus Ghosts

Games Played

 

Here is a  list of games played so far with a brief title and some sample pictures. When / if  I get more time I will post full After Action Reports or add some more pictures and descriptions to what is below.

 

Romans versus Gauls in 15mm December 5, 2021. Test solo game.  

 

 

Romans versus Gauls  in 15mm December 29, 2021.   Roman Victory

Romans versus Ancient Britons in 15mm, January 2, 2022. Roman Victory?

Romans versus Gauls in 15mm January 16-17, 2022. Draw?

 

Undead versus High Elves in 28mm, February  20-28, 2022.  Undead Victory

 

Undead versus Wood Elves in 28mm, March 20-28, 2022.  Wood Elf Victory

First experiment using cards

Undead versus High Elves in 28mm,  April 18-23, 2022. High Elf victory

Undead bat swarms & bow cavalry vs High Elf Cavalry

Skeleton Crossbows about to be charged by High Elf Cavalry

The next game will likely be in late May or June 2022 featuring High Elves versus Undead, Dwarfs or Dark Elves.

Below the Dwarf army almost ready to march into battle (June 2022):

 

Dwarf army minus Gyro-copters

July 5, 2022  Update.

 Various circumstances including weather, power outages, furnace installation and family commitments meant no games in May or June, but I am planning for an early July game.  The Fantastic Battles (FB) rules have recently been amended via PDF (see face book page) and the movement rate of Undead / mindless troops has been increased, which will means updating cards and stats sheets for the Undead.  While the updating is a pain, I believe it is a good thing as I was finding the undead at severe disadvantage due to how slow they were with most infantry only moving 1BW (6cm).   All the more reason to try out the Dwarf Army while I update the stats on the Undead and await the new FB army builder spread sheet with the updated stats. Although it is rather ironic I am using dwarfs another notoriously slow army (small legs) but there movement rate for infantry is 2BW, the same as average armies, and now for the updated Undead.  Of course the Elves are faster at 3BW.  Some preview pics of m Dwarf Army below.

General by Grenadier

Hammerers by GW

Miners by Black Tree

Rogue by Wizkids

Wizard by Grenadier

Gyro-Copter by GW