Wargames Research Group
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The Wargames Research Group (WRG) publish wargaming rules, mostly for miniature wargaming. In contrast to earlier publishers of rulebooks, they base their rules on historical research. They are associated with the Society of Ancients.
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[edit] History
WRG were founded by Phil Barker, Bob O'Brien, and Ed Smith in 1969, when they published War Game Rules: 1000 B.C. to 500 A.D..[1]
Features of the rules included:
- army selection based on points (better troops required more points, giving the gamer a choice between a small but high-quality army, or a larger but lower-quality army, and also allowed the matching of armies from different historical periods).
- morale rules, based on a reaction test which evaluated the tactical situation of a unit as well as the casualties it had suffered . The results of the reaction test could result in units panicking and running away, or getting too excited and charging the enemy, like the Varangians at Dyrrhachium. The latter is called an uncontrolled advance or an impetuous advance.
- a complex combat result table, which by the 6th edition cross referenced 13 troop and armour types against 12 tactical circumstances
- nominal 1:20 figure scale, so that one wargames figure represented 20 men. This allowed a Roman Cohort to be represented by 24 figures.
In the UK, the WRG's Ancients and Renaissance rules were the most widely played sets up to the mid 1980s. The mechanisms were very influential on authors of other rule sets.
The 7th edition of the Ancients rules increased the base size allowed for the increasingly popular 15mm figures. These, like their 25mm counterparts, were being made larger (15mm to 18mm; 25mm to 28mm) to allow greater detailing.
Later WRG extended their rules to the mediaeval and early-modern periods.
WRG also produced some rules for the 'horse and musket' period and the (then) contemporary period.
WRG introduced army lists to ensure that armies were historically accurate. From the mid 1970s WRG published a series of books on the armies of different historic periods. These provided much more accurate historical information to both wargamers and figure designers than was generally available at the time.
At the beginning of the 1990s WRG introduced De Bellis Antiquitatis (DBA) which was a radical simplification of ancients wargaming. The concepts of DBA were adapted to allow significantly larger games, which lead to De Bellis Multitudinis (DBM) for Ancients and De Bellis Renationis (DBR) for Renaissance. The DBx series of rules are still in widespread use.
DBA was also adapted to a fantasy setting in Hordes of the Things.
[edit] Significance
The WRG was a significant influence in the early development of miniature wargaming, representing the first major attempt to introduce historical research to provide historical realism in wargames. Thus, the WRG referred to the original historical texts as the basis for their rules sets and army lists.
Also, the WRG introduced the notions of reaction tables to establish the morale of simulated military units. Previously, the 'brave lead soldier' did not run away; after the WRG's rules units that suffered significant casualties or were in danger from attack from behind were likely to turn and run.
In a sense, their work was a precursor to the later historically-based computer games such as Age of Empires.
[edit] Products
[edit] Rules
[edit] Ancients
In seven editions, normally referred to by wargamers just by the edition number.
- War Games Rules 1000 B.C to 500 A.D, 1st Edition, Ancient War Games Research Group, Feb 1969.
- War Games Rules 1000 B.C to 500 A.D., 2nd Edition, Ancient War Games Research Group, July 1969
- War Games Rules 1000 B.C. to 1000 A.D., 3rd Edition, War Games Research Group, September 1971
- War Games Rules 1000 B.C. to 1000 A.D., 4th Edition, War Games Research Group, August 1973
- Wargames Rules 3000 B.C - 1250 A.D, 5th Edition, Wargames Research Group, 1976
- Wargames Rules 3000 BC to 1485 AD, 6th Edition, Wargames Research Group, 1980
- Wargames Rules 3000 BC to 1485 AD, Revised 7th Edition, Wargames Research Group, 1986
- Wargames Rules 3000 BC to 1485 AD, Amended 7th Edition, Wargames Research Group, 1987*
[edit] Renaissance
- Rulettes for 16th Century Naval Warfare, Wargames Research Group, 1978
- Wargames Rules 1420-1700 George Gush 2nd Edition, Wargames Research Group, 1979
[edit] Napoleonic
- Wargames Rules 1750 - 1850, Wargames Research Group, January 1971.
- Wargames Rules 1685-1845, Wargames Research Group, 1979
- Corps d'Armee: Napoleonic Rules for Large Scale Wargames, Geoffrey Wootten, Wargames Research Group, 1989
[edit] Modern
- War Games Rules Infantry Action 1925 - 1975, War Games Research Group, June 1972.
- War Games Rules Armour & Infantry 1925 - 1950, War Games Research Group, June 1973
- War Games Rules Armour & Infantry 1950 - 1975, War Games Research Group, January 1974
- War Games Rules for Armoured Warfare 1950 - 1985, Wargames Research Group, 1979
[edit] DBx
- DBA
- De Bellis Antiquitatis, Wargames Research Group, 1990
- De Bellis Antiquitatis, Version 2.0, Wargames Research Group, 2001
- DBM
- De Bellis Multitudinis 3000 BC to 1500 AD, Phil Barker and Richard Bodley Scott. Wargames Research Group, 1993
- DBR
- De Bellis Renationis' 1494 AD to 1701 AD, Phil Barker and Richard Bodley Scott, Wargames Research Group, 1995
- Hordes (Fantasy)
- Hordes of the Things, Phil Barker, Sue Laflin Barker & Richard Bodley Scott, Wargames Research Group, 1991
- Hordes of the Things, Phil Barker, Sue Laflin Barker & Richard Bodley Scott, 2nd Edition, Wargames Research Group, 2002
[edit] Other
- Richard Nelson, Naval wargames rules: fleet action (September 1973, 20pp and two copies of a quick reference card).
- Decline and Fall (board game), about the fall of the Roman empire.
- Seastrike ('modern' naval warfare, about 1970).
[edit] Army Lists
[edit] Ancients
- Army Lists For use with rules 3000 B.C - 1250A.D. War Games Research Group, 1977.
- Army Lists For use with wargames rules 3000 BC to 1485 AD Book One - 3000 BC - 75 AD, Wargames Research Group, 1981
- Army Lists For use with wargames rules 3000 BC to 1485 AD Book Two - 55 BC - 1000 AD, Wargames Research Group, 1982
- Army Lists For use with wargames rules 3000 BC to 1485 AD Book Three - Armies Originating After 1000 AD, Wargames Research Group, 1982
- Army Lists Volume 1: Armies of the Ancient Near East 3000BC - 500BC, D. Hutchby & S. Clark, Wargames Research Group, 1992
- Army Lists Volume 2: Armies of the Far East, Asia and America, D. Hutchby & S. Clark, Wargames Research Group, 1993.
[edit] Renaissance
- Army Lists For use with rules 1490 A.D - 1660 A.D, War Games Research Group, 1978.
- Army Lists For use with Wargames Research Group Wargames Rules 1420 - 1700, George Gush, Wargames Research Group, 1984
[edit] DBx
- D.B.M. Army Lists Book 1: 3000 BC - 500 BC, Phil Barker & Richard Bodley Scott, Wargames Research Group, 1993
- D.B.M. Army Lists Book 2: 500 BC - 476 AD, Phil Barker & Richard Bodley Scott, Wargames Research Group, 1993
- D.B.M. Army Lists Book 3: 476 AD - 1071 AD, Phil Barker & Richard Bodley Scott, Wargames Research Group, 1994
- D.B.M. Army Lists Book 4: 1071 AD - 1500 AD, Phil Barker & Richard Bodley Scott, Wargames Research Group, 1994
- D.B.R. Army Lists Book 1: Armies of the Great Italian Wars, Valois-Hapsburg-Tudor Wars, Turkish Wars, Chinese and Japanese Wars, The Americas and of the Reformation, Phil Barker, Wargames Research Group, 1995
[edit] Reference Books
- Warfleets of antiquity.
- Tony Bath, Setting up a wargames campaign, Wargames Research Group, May 1973 (75pp).
- Chapters "How to set up your campaign", "map movement", "contacts, battles and after affects", "umpires - and the lack of same", "supply and replacement", "characterisation", "campaign extras", "horse and musket campaigns", "Victorian campaigns", "World War I", "World War II", "mini campaigns", and "naval campaigns".
- Tony Bath, Setting up a Wargames Campaign Revised Third Edition, Wargames Research Group, 1986.
- Alan Buttery, Armies and Enemies of Ancient Egypt and Assyria: 3200 BC to 612 BC, Wargames Research Group, 1974.
- John P Greer, The Armies and Enemies of Ancient China 1027 BC - 1286 AD, Wargames Research Group, 1975.
- Richard Nelson, Armies of the Greek and Persian Wars 500 to 350 BC, Wargames Research Group, 1975
- Ian Heath, Armies of Feudal Europe 1066-1300, Wargames Research Group, 1977
- Ian Heath, Armies and Enemies of the Crusades 1096-1291, Wargames Research Group, 1978
- Ian Heath, Armies of the Dark Ages 600-1066, Second Edition, Wargames Research Group, 1980
- Phil Barker, The Armies and Enemies of Imperial Rome 150 BC to 600 AD, Fourth Edition, Wargames Research Group, 1981
- Duncan Head, Armies of the Macedonian and Punic Wars 359 BC to 146 BC, Wargames Research Group, 1982.
- Ian Heath, Armies of the Middle Ages, Volume 1: The Hundred Years War, the Wars of the Roses and the Burgundian Wars, 1300-1487, Wargames Research Group, 1982
- Ian Heath, Armies of the Midde Ages, Volume 2: The Ottoman Empire, Eastern Europe and the Near East, 1300-1500, Wargames Research Group, 1984
- Nigel Stillman and Nigel Tallis, Armies of the Ancient Near East 3000 BC to 539 BC, Wargames Research Group, 1984.
