The Barons' War

What is The Barons’ War

The Barons’ War is a medieval skirmish game written by Andy Hobday. You lead a retinue: a baron or lord, his knights, serjeants, crossbowmen and peasant levy, fighting in small groups across a crowded table. It’s inspired by the First Barons’ War, the civil war around Magna Carta, but the rules are built to cover medieval fighting in general. Defend a stronghold, lead a raid, or fight for the crown.

The first edition came from Footsore Miniatures in February 2021. The Second Edition landed in April 2025, published by Wargames Atlantic, where Hobday is now Creative Director. The Starter Set sold out around the world on its first release. Footsore still stocks the game and its long metal range.

Hobday calls the new edition a refinement, not a reimagining. It keeps the first edition’s core and cleans up profiles, combat, movement and retinue building.

How it plays

Groups, not single models. Your retinue is made of groups of warriors plus commanders. Every warrior has a fixed profile (Green, Irregular, Regular or Veteran), and weapons and armour add modifiers to the dice rather than changing the stats.
Alternating activations. Players take turns activating groups. Broken groups have to activate first and spend it trying to Rally, while your opponent keeps making fresh moves.
d10s and morale dice. Attacks and defence are rolled on ten-sided dice, with custom Morale dice on the side. A group checks morale once it has lost half its starting number, and six morale penalties is the cap.
Reactions. When a group is charged it can Attack Back, Defend, or use Reaction Shooting, which lets archers fire on a charge that started far enough away.
Commanders fight and command. Your Retinue Leader can issue actions and reactions to other groups. Lesser commanders can issue reactions only. A commander in base contact with the enemy fights with their own dice, and the enemy can aim at them. Lose one and nearby groups test morale.
Busy tables. Terrain is based, keyworded and matters a lot. Goonhammer’s first-impressions piece notes the standing advice of twelve pieces of area or line-of-sight-blocking terrain on a standard board.

It’s miniature agnostic in practice. The rulebook asks for “miniatures, and a battlefield of your own creation,” and any 28mm medieval figures will do. Wargames Atlantic’s plastics are made for it, and Footsore sells metals.

How to start

Get the Starter Set. $144.95 from Wargames Atlantic. It has the full Second Edition rulebook, a Getting Started booklet, 54 multipart plastic 28mm figures (12 Foot Knights, 18 Foot Serjeants, 24 Peasant Levy), plastic barricades that also build a market, a token sheet, 14 d10s, 10 Morale dice and a d6. That’s enough for two 500-point retinues or one 1,000-point retinue. At the time of writing it’s sold out on Wargames Atlantic’s US store, with US stock promised soon. Footsore has it in the UK, and its store will show prices in USD ($107 today, with US duties collected at checkout).
Or build one side. The Retinue Box ($79.95) is a single force: a balanced 500-point retinue, with enough left over to grow it to 750 points. It doesn’t include the rules.
Already have medieval minis? The rules alone are a $23 PDF or a $45 hardcover. The book includes the Feudal Western European retinue list, a quick reference sheet and a glossary.

Supplements

King John is the first supplement for the Second Edition: a 246-page sourcebook that updates the Feudal European list and adds the Welsh, Scottish, Poitevin, Flemish, Mercenary and Outlaw retinues, historical scenarios, named characters from William Marshal to Robin Hood, and rules for bigger multiplayer battles. $55 hardcover or $28 PDF from Wargames Atlantic.

The first-edition supplements, Death & Taxes and Outremer, were written for the old rules, and Hobday has said a free bridging PDF is in the works. Warhost, the fantasy supplement, was developed alongside the Second Edition and works with both.