Roll Out the (Gun) Barrels

Roll Out the (Gun) Barrels (variants: Roll Out the Gun Barrels: Medieval Strife, Roll Out the Gun Barrels: Star Strife)

Designers: Dave Van Domelen (variants: Tyrino (Medieval Strife), J. L. Butler (Star Strife)
Publisher: Cheapass Games
Type: Dice, Wargame
Status: Free
BGG entry: http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/14986
Available at: http://cheapass.com/free/games/rotgb.html

So, your RPG has run into a situation where there's going to be some sort of large scale battle. Sure, the players can be involved in their corner of the way, but they'd really like to have some control over the whole fight. What do you do? Pull out that copy of Advanced Squad Leader and put the RPG on hold for a few years?

Well, here's a very cheap way to simulate large battles without having to deal with maps and counters and fifteen hours per turn. Obviously, it can't cover a lot of things, but if you want more detail, get a regular wargame of some sort.

Roll Out The (Gun) Barrels (ROtGB) can handle basic combat for any era, with as many unit types allowed as you have types of dice. Also, two variant rulesets are available: ROtGB: Mediveval Strife specifically for fantasy/medieval battles and ROtGB: Star Strife for space opera-style star battles.

It uses the same basic mechanic as Button Men.