So far the Imperial troop of centurions and spearmen are holding onto the objective area. With the air Mage granting mist cover.
The rebels are moving into position though, with a rebel Bowmaster sneaking on top of a nearby building. We'll see where it goes in further turns, when I have time
Please keep sharing these, they are wonderful :)
ReplyDeleteIf you ever decide to delve into a bit of sci-fi, ping me and I’ll send you a freebie of Starport Scum
Ivan Sorensen thanks. It is the culmination of years experience trying miniature games without having to paint anything. I'm split between this scale and the minifigs, but these certainly kinder to the wallet.
ReplyDeleteAnd sci-fi is genre I have never really tried, but if I make the shift I'll certainly keep it in mind. My next project I think is going to be a run at Kings of War in this Lego Bits scale....or possibly minifigs.
Yeah, I really adore the minifigs but for more than a dozen guys, it might be cost prohibitive, though the plethora of detailed knock-offs on the market make it very tempting.
ReplyDeleteAmazing stuff! I am sure you posted the answer before, but where are the boards from?
ReplyDeleteevandro novel they are from Heroes of Normandie. The base box as well as the terrain expansion and the rivers expansion.
ReplyDeleteHoN is fin in it's own right as well.
Geoff Osterberg Wow, thank you! It does look interesting. I have played a lot of Memoir 44. HoN sounds like a good alternative...
ReplyDeleteGeoff Osterberg I have read a few HoN reviews: good stuff, it seems. Individual movie-like heroes should fit well with narrative-oriented solo skirmish games. What do you think, on the basis of your actual experience with the game?
ReplyDeleteevandro novel honestly the terrain boards have more than paid for the game in enjoyment value. The game itself is fun and is solo friendly if you are the sort who plays both sides to your best ability.
ReplyDeleteThere is a hidden information element due to the hand of cards each force gets, but I got around that without any noticeable impact on the gameplay. I draw three cards per side at the start of a round and discard all the unused ones at the end of the same round. I play both hands in the open but otherwise according to the rules of the game and scenario.
The only draw back, for me is the time it takes to set up. I have German and American armies (including the reenfrocent expansion boxes) fairly well organize, but it still takes about 30 minutes to set up. Each time Ive played it's probably been about 1-2 hours game time spread out over a day or two if I have other things going on. Since the game itself has a substantial table footprint, that may not work form some to leave it set up to play a turn here or there. Keep in mind I'm a slow player and hate a disorganized table, so your experience may vary.
Finally, I read a quote once (and have since lost the source) that said solo wargaming was a hobby best compared to doing a jigsaw puzzle. It's not about winning or losing, but about seeing the pices fit together in a satisfying way. This game slots into the view of the hobby quite well in my oppinion, the pieces fit together in a very enjoyable way.
Edit: Forgot to mention, but depending on your interests you may want to wait on picking it up. I had read that a new core box focused on Osfront, particularly Stalingrad, will be hitting Kickstarter at the end of the year.
Geoff Osterberg Ah, a 30 minutes set up is definitely unbearable for me too. M44 has the same problem, but I hoped that a smaller scale game with no minis could be set up more quickly. Thank you for pointing out the problem!
ReplyDeleteevandro novel no problem. It may get faster to set up over time, but that's to be seen.
ReplyDeleteIf you were interested in the game itself and not necessarily the cardboard, my son tells me the HoN version for PC plays identical. Fair warning, from him that's not much praise.HoN became mine by default after he got it for Xmas one year and decided it wasn't for him after a few attempts.
Geoff Osterberg Thanks, but I love playing with paper, cardboard and plastic toys. I will think about getting a copy of HoN: it is not very expensive and it seems to have several interesting features. Also, your reuse of the boards seems a great idea to me. Nice 2D with a little 3D is a great compromise :)
ReplyDeleteI kept kicking around HoN as a faster alternative to squad leader, but ended up getting Conflcit of Heroes instead.
ReplyDeleteNot a specific reason, just got a decent deal in a store
Ivan Sorensen I never played SL: I am quite sure it is well beyond the level of complexity I can manage. Are you happy with CoH? While browsing this stuff, I also noticed that print and play Valor and Victory seems to be good. Have you ever looked into it?
ReplyDeleteevandro novel Cheers.
ReplyDeleteSquad Leader is both the original game, which is quite simple, but hard to find, and ASL which is quite difficult and not always easy to find either.
If you do want to dip your toes, get the first of the three Starter Kits they made.
Vehicle combat is very complex, but the first starter kit is just infantry and very approachable.
CoH is pretty neat, but the rulebook is organized somewhat confusingly. It does have a lot of examples.
Its fairly straight forward to play but there's some factors that aren't immediately obvious and you have to play to really learn.
What I do like ( and really their main selling point) is that when you "hit" a unit, you draw a marker which can be anything from hte unit being pinned to going berserk or panicking. It's a nice random touch.
Its also an alternating activation system, so it feels like a mini's game a little bit.
We've only played a little bit, so I can't comment on the scenarios.
It's really promising, and I think if you own all the boxes, it could replace Squad Leader pretty well.
I'm not familiar with V&V but I'll go take a glance.
Ivan Sorensen Thank you! Since I am mostly into "narrative" skirmish games (like most of the rulesets you design) I can easily live with infantry only. CoH hit tokens could fit my taste: I think this kind of varied outcomes is an important feature in making an interesting narrative out of a fight. Having separate markers instead of tables could make things easier to play. This also makes me think of the old and great Blue Max :)
ReplyDeleteYeah, I think there's a bit more "story" to it in that sense.
ReplyDeleteThe nice part about Squad Leader was always the unexpected things that could happen, like a squad going berserk or disintegrating under fire or a random hero popping up, it was just a bit too stodgy to flow smoothly at all times.
For what its worth, CoH vehicle combat is very straight-forward, so I wouldn't have any qualms about integrating that.