"Cry 'Havoc', and let slip the dogs of war"

[derv]

In my recent interest of Chainmail I've been surfing for information, including other rule sets that could either clarify terminology or present clearer examples of play. One system that came across my radar was Cry Havoc. This was a man-to-man mass combat rule set put out in the early eighties. The basic rules sounded like it had a Chainmailish feel in a hex and counter presentation. I like the compactness of hex and counter games and thought it would be cool to approach Chainmail in this way. Because, lets face it, 4 feet by 8 feet of playing area (even 4x4) is a lot of space. In my search, I came across this very cool fan run site. www.cryhavocfan.org/eng/suite/concepts.htm

I hesitate to share this link, but I can't find anything that suggests it's not on the up and up. In fact, I've found very little else written about these rules on the web. The maps and counters alone are gold though. If the mods find the content questionable at all, please feel free to yank the post.

[coffee]

Seems legit, at least according to BoardGameGeek. There's also a computer version, which is also free.

I'll have to check that out.

[ffilz]

I have most of the Cry Havoc games. The maps and counters are really awesome and the game was reasonably fun too (I've played a couple scenarios). I had the fortune of getting interested in them in the late 90s when a company in Canada still had a decent stock of the games.

I remember them from back in the day, and had regretted not getting them. Now having them, I know I would have really loved the maps for my college gaming for additional terrain maps for encounters (we used the terrain maps that Steve Jackson Games put out).

Frank

[derv]

The scenarios are also very good. I need to take a closer look at the Outremer/Croisades material. The large Mediterranean Crusades map is also very cool. I think you could take the scenarios and use them as is with Chainmail (if a person was inclined to). The Dark Blades supplement takes this historical rule set and brings in the fantasy element (again, kind of reminds me of Chainmails Fantasy supplement). There's alot to like about this game. The basic rules of Cry Havoc seems very straight forward and simple to play. It's worth mentioning that the sites creator did a compilation of all the rules sets that were published and ironed out any inconsistencies between them. It's under Magna Carta.

[jmccann]

Interesting find. I have heard of this but never checked it out before. I'll definitely be downloading some of this.