Best Place for Questions?

[76mm]

I've gone through the FOG 3.1 rules a couple of times now and like them more than most rules, but will certainly have some questions. Since I don't think there are any actual players in my area (DC), I'd like to be able to ask questions online somewhere.

This is the only forum I've been able to find for FOG...are there any others? I also didn't see anything on FaceBook, Reddit, etc.

Are there any FOG players left in the US at all? I primarily intend to play solo, so not too worried about it, but just curious. I've looked at several other rulesets, but so far Warrior is the only other set that really interests me (and I've actually found a few players around for that...).

[SaidQutuz]

Hey 76mm, this is currently the only Field of Glory Ancients and Medieval online community I have found. I am also based in the USA, midwest, bit far from dc.

Like you, I have found the FoG rule set very compelling and have been looking into it as my first tabletop wargame. I will let you know that I have been looking around my area and have not found many people who have even heard of FoG as it appear to be mostly found in Europe, however, after talking to a couple of game stores I found several people interested in playing it at least once. I am planning to build up the Roman and Carthaginian army, or the French and English armies (or both) from the example armies in the book and see if I can scrounge up some matches.

I am also working on a Vassal Engine module to try and play over the internet, not ideal, however, I have yet to receive permission from Slitherine to distribute it (the post on the progress of the module can be found in these forums actually, I need to find time to make terrain).

I would be happy to learn the game playing a few matches against each other virtually if your down though.

[76mm]

Thanks for responding. So that's you working on the VASSAL module? I saw that, looks interesting!

AFAICT most/all of the previous FOG players in the US went over to ADLG or other rules 8-10 years ago, but having looked at ADLG pretty hard, I much prefer FOG. Honestly it's a bit weird how it seems to have completely disappeared on this side of the pond.

Around here very few people play Ancients, but most of those that do seem to play ADLG or Triumph, along with a couple of Warrior players. I've played a few games of Warrior and like it, but it is more fiddly than FOG, so we'll see. I'm going to Historicon next weekend and will be playing another game of Warrior and hopefully watching a couple of games of ADLG and MeG (doesn't look like my thing, but want to check it out). I was hoping to check out some FOG games there, but it looks like there won't be any...

What part of the midwest are you from? My family is in St Louis and I usually go back there for the holidays.

[SaidQutuz]

Honestly it's a bit weird how it seems to have completely disappeared on this side of the pond.

Looks like we need to bring it back. I looked at a few of the other rules and most of them felt like either controlling only one person per unit, age of empires style, or grid based civ style. FoG was the only rule set that felt more like total war style which is what I wanted.

Let me know what you find out at historicon. St. Louis is very far for me.

[76mm]

Not sure if you've seen Warrior, but it is similar to FOG in many ways, but significantly more complicated (in ways that I'm not sure are worth it).

Also, I wanted to mention that rather than creating a VASSAL module from scratch, you might want to look at the existing modules for DBM and DBMM (there is one for ADLG too, but the basing would be wrong). Since VASSAL doesn't apply the rules anyway, most of a DBM module seems like could be usable for FOG; while you might need to create a few markers, that would be trivial. There are also TTS modules for some Ancients rule sets (ADLG, maybe MEG and Triumph), but I haven't really looked at them.

Someday we should try to meet up to play mano-a-mano for the North American championship!

[SaidQutuz]

Not sure if you've seen Warrior, but it is similar to FOG in many ways, but significantly more complicated (in ways that I'm not sure are worth it).

I will take a look at it. I will still stick with fog at least until I can play a few games and understand it better (easier to compare to other games that way). Keep in mind I have never done tabletop wargaming before, so I don't want to get overwhelmed with choices and then never break into it.

Also, I wanted to mention that rather than creating a VASSAL module from scratch, you might want to look at the existing modules for DBM and DBMM

thanks for the suggestions, i did look into these, unfortunately they didn't do what I was looking for. I did think about borrowing their terrain though as I am unsure of how to move forward on my end.

Someday we should try to meet up to play mano-a-mano for the North American championship!

works for me I will either be the best or the 2nd best in north america

[76mm]

I will still stick with fog at least until I can play a few games and understand it better (easier to compare to other games that way).

Yeah, I'm not saying Warrior is better; it is just similar, but more convoluted. So I would definitely start with FOG.

thanks for the suggestions, i did look into these, unfortunately they didn't do what I was looking for. I did think about borrowing their terrain though as I am unsure of how to move forward on my end.

Got it. What snags are you hitting on your end? I've dabbled with VASSAL before...

works for me I will either be the best or the 2nd best in north america

Yeah, we might as well go ahead and order the trophies! It's kind of like the Jamaican bobsled team or something!

[SaidQutuz]

Got it. What snags are you hitting on your end? I've dabbled with VASSAL before...

Real life

[berthier]

Sadly you are correct in that FOG is largely a lost art in the USA. I used to be able to get 6-8 people together to play a tournament for FOG in the Gulf South but ADLG has run rampant and brought out the worst in the gaming scene (IMHO). I have a quick play version of FOG (FOG 300) on my blog (https://bloodsandsteel.blogspot.com) as well as several campaigns I have developed for FOG.

Did a solo run of Broken Rays of the Sun during the Covid lock down that I quite enjoyed.

I am in Alabama BTW.

[76mm]

I was at Historicon this weekend; there were about 24 people playing ADLG, maybe a dozen or so playing Warrior, and quite a few playing Triumph. There were some tables set aside for MeG, but they seemed empty, so didn't get to check that out.

I chatted with one fellow at the ADLG tables that used to play (and like) FOG, but he claimed that interest evaporated when Osprey said they wouldn't support it any more, and now no one has interest because (gesturing at all the people playing ADLG)... From what I have seen, the ADLG players primarily like ADLG because...that's what everyone else is playing, and because they enjoy tournaments. I'm more interested in friendly games so the tournament scene is irrelevant to me.

Meanwhile I've downloaded my free, updated version of FOG 3.1 and had a hard copy printed--what's not to like? I'll play a few games solo to see how I like it; I played a game of Warrior at Historicon and like it, although as I've said it is considerably more complicated than FOG.

LOL, it's a pity we're all so far apart...Midwest, South, Mid-Atlantic, all we need is New England and West Coast and we'll have perfect coverage of players too far apart to actually play each other...

PS: Slitherine actually had a booth at Historicon. I wanted to ask the guy at the booth if he knew of any FOG players in the area, but the real booth guy was off playing the whole time I was there, and the temp guy manning the booth had no idea...

[76mm]

...as well as several campaigns I have developed for FOG....

Does your blog include campaign rules for things such as how to deal with casualties, replacements, new units, etc? That's what I want to do, and as always, it is better not to re-invent the wheel if you already have something that works.

[berthier]

Does your blog include campaign rules for things such as how to deal with casualties, replacements, new units, etc? That's what I want to do, and as always, it is better not to re-invent the wheel if you already have something that works.

There are limits built in to the rules due to losses for special units and how many "campaigns" you push in a turn in each set of campaigns as well as the possibility of special units due to Random Events. Few players wanted to get bogged down in the logistics of campaigning and wanted to really just push lead so getting to the table-top has been my main focus.

[philqw78]

There is a "FOG-AM" Facebook group
I'd need Facebook handles to invite you though
It's set to private, but not hidden, so you may be able to find it

[76mm]

There is a "FOG-AM" Facebook group

I've signed up there already, thanks. There doesn't seem to be much traffic here, would it be better to ask any questions on FB do you think?

[berthier]

There are faster replies on the FB group and Terry is there quite often.

[grahambriggs]

hello. The Facebook group is at https://www.facebook.com/groups/1726636790966631

There are some very knowledgeable folk in there. I'm glad you like version 3.1 - we put a lot of work into it and enjoy playing it.

[76mm]

I'm glad you like version 3.1 - we put a lot of work into it and enjoy playing it.

I think it is a very good ruleset and am surprised that it is not played more in the US (and elsewhere). Thanks for your work on updating it after all these years.

I am also looking at Warrior, but FoG is considerably simpler without being too simple, so we'll see. Once I finish painting up my armies I'll play out a game and see how it goes.