I started off this blog with the idea of adapting Games Workshop's "Warhammer 40,000" (or "40k" to its friends) to use in the "Ancient Near East" (aka the "Chariot Era" or "Biblical Times".  I had a gut instict that 40k's model of combat would be a better fit with the less organized and more missile heavy combat of the bronze age in the Near East.

I haven't given up on that idea, but with my recent obsession with GW's LoTR game, I'm starting to wonder if that's not a better model even still.  The LoTR system is simpler, yet more subtle than 40k.  40k has the advantage of more detail and "flavor".

I really like the way that LoTR encourages historical-style unit tactics without mandating them.  For example, spearmen get a benefit from deploying deep, but there's no "rank bonus" like WAB has.  A standard bearer can help those near him, etc..  The one thing that slows me down is that LoTR is really best with a few dozen figures per side, due to its focus on individual combats.  Any more than that, and you spend a long time rolling combats up and down the battle line, which takes a long time to play out.

Now, I'm obviously fickle in my gaming, and will try to marry whatever rules I'm currently playing with my current time period interests, but I honestly think there might be something to all of this.  I'm not afraid to do my own rules, and I've seen many, many different game systems, so I'm not really one of those so-called "GW Fanboyz", though I do seem to be getting into their games lately.

Maybe the best approach is to write my own rules, based on a fusion of 40k and LoTR ideas that I like.  I would probably take the approach of grafting LoTR weapons and conventions (like the way spear support and rear-ranked bows are handled) onto the 40k framework.

I think the real thing to do however, is to get some bloody figures for this project painted up, and try a bunch of battles.  Which, of course, I'm not really free enough to tackle properly.  Maybe some year, after I'm caught up with my LoTR projects, my WAB Andalusians, my Chain Reaction squads, etc.  By then, I'm sure I'll have some other ruleset to obsess over.  Sigh.