Sword & Spear Fantasy

48 pages, full colour softback rule book. From the author, Mark Lewis:

This ruleset, Sword & Spear Fantasy, is based on the Sword & Spear ancient and medieval wargames rules which are designed for playing out large battles of the period from about 3000BC to 1500AD. They are an evolution of that ruleset, with rules added to cover all of the required fantasy elements, but at its heart it is the same core mechanisms. Therefore it has a basis in reality, and should be expected to give realistic outcomes, or at least outcomes that seem reasonable compared to actual historical battles and the fantasy battles of literature and film.

This should be a game that players can pick up and play with relative ease. The turn structure is unusual compared to many other games, but once the activation mechanics are understood it is soon picked up. When a unit is activated it does all of its actions for the turn, so there is not the usual turn sequence of move units, missile shooting, melee combat that you get in many other games. Movement and combat mechanics have been kept simple so that the focus of the game is on command and control. After a game or two it can be played with only the occasional reference to the rulebook, and as there are no tables of dice roll modifiers, an experienced player will hardly ever even need to refer to the quick reference sheet.