Dux Bellorum: Arthurian Wargaming Rules AD367–793 (Osprey Wargames) Paperback – August 21, 2012

I'll confess that I am not big on historical wargaming, but Dux Bellorum has definitely changed that. The rules are simple and straightforward, easy to learn, hard to master, and most of all: FUN! I often find it tedious to read through the rules of a new game, but Mersey has set this book up to be a smooth read from start to finish, easy to get into, and logical in its layout. The basic rules provide a good baseline to begin your first games with optional advanced rules laid out for your consideration along the way, easy for you to add in and just sitting there next to the rules they modify; no hunting for them in the appendixes, which is nice. The army lists are good representations of the forces featured in the era and the options you can add to your army (like Monks, Mead or Wardogs) are fun and colorfull additions that give the game a depth lacking in other historical simulators. Even the scenarios provided are well thought out and in keeping with the time-period. Even the little bits of not-so historical add-ins and flights of whimsy (like the Stampede) make for a fun game. And best of all for small gaming groups like mine, you don't need to buy much to get into playing, the number of figures and basing scale is up to the players. You can get started with only a dozen or so individually mounted warriors or base up whole companies in your chosen scale (even use the stuff you already have for DBA or FoG).So to summarize: Great rules, great buy.

The print edition is well designed with a beautiful collection of artwork.The rules themselves are excellent. Game mechanics are explained in detail without limiting creative possibilities. Army building suggestions are included along with photographs of miniatures for inspiration.Daniel Mersey is active on the Boardgamegeek website and offers supplemental information and strategies.I would recommend this ruleset to any wargamer interested in the period.

Solid rule book for tabletop war games. It is as advertised.

I was really enjoyed the book. Great material content and a friendly writing style. Would Like to see more books of this kind and subject matter.

This is a fantastic set of rules for fighting battles in the Arthurian era. The initial release had some problems with formatting of the army tables and a few typographical errors in the lists, but they have been corrected by the publisher, and users who have the earlier versions can delete their local copy and re-download the corrected version.

Very well written. The author certainly knows his period. Makes me want to start painting miniatures. Will work with multiple scales.

Great rules set!!

A good reference book, I would recommend it any that are interested in wargaming! :)

Gut

Nice set of rules, easy to follow. The book is worth it for the colour prints and pictures of painted models alone.

Very interesting for those who like rules with few figurines and not individually based.

Contrary to the previous review, this is a great set of wargames rules. Gives the feel of being a commander in the dark ages. Compared to the other Dux rules (Dux Britaniarum by Too Fat Lardies) this is an army level rules in which each stand represents a few dozen to few hundred warriors.

I haven't been an active wargamer for many years now but, having recently decided to get back into the hobby, I started to buy a few rule sets to see what new periods were available, and to find out if rules had changed in the intervening years. Two things struck me immediately. The production values of today's rule sets are a world apart from the poorly typeset A5 booklets of my youth, but some of them have become so big as to be unapproachable. Happily, Dux Bellorum takes full advantage of the first change whilst remaining small enough to be entirely approachable. This is a nicely produced book with clear text, good diagrams and great photographs, and at just 64 pages long (including army lists and quick reference cards) the rules can be quickly read and assimilated. More importantly, I liked the rules, especially the focus on leadership and the clever use of the leadership points mechanism to influence many parts of the battle. Dux Bellorum is an enjoyable read in it's own right (just for the background on an interesting period of history and the new rule mechanisms that the author has developed) but if the rules play as well as they read, and I suspect they will, then they will quickly find favour with busy people who favour playability over minutely detailed simulation.