As you regular readers know by now, I tend to be quite promiscuous with regards to which games and rules systems I play. Preferring to paint, built and design whichever forces strikes my fancy at any given moment. And among my various ideas are the beastmen from Pantheon of Chaos, a range that has really stuck a weak spot with me, especially considering that I never got a chance to be around for the whole Realms of Chaos period of warhammer. So having gotten some of their models, among other things some black goblins, the next biggie for me is of course what to play with them. And there is one particular ruleset that I encountered on an oldhammer blog at some point that I wanted a closer delve into.
And that is Brink of Battle, and especially its expansion Epic Heroes. The game looks tightly designed, you can play campaigns or single games in different periods, force types and levels of power or magic, and can therefore cram a lot of settings into the system, for instance I have been mucking about with making a Genestealer Cultists warband for that system, while it would just as easily support a 1920's paranormal investigator, cavemen hunting dinosaurs, modern warfare or of course hodgepodge bands of mutant marauders pillaging the civilized lands to appease their dark masters.
Rules wise there is a lot of small intricacies to for example melee combat. Models Combat score determine a lot of things, both of course their ease of attacking and defending, but also their number of attacks (Combat /2 rounded down), and is used for skills like climbing and jumping. In melee combat weapon skill is of course compared, but as is weapon traits and reach. You do not want to charge someone with greater reach than yourself (spears, ouch) and some weapons are too heavy to properly counter attack with, while others like the sword can punish opponents for missteps.
And to top it all of, no-one usually fights with their full stats, as skirmishes, wounds and fatigue effects the abilities of fighters. Numerous ill effects, like getting entangled, surrounded, shocked, poisoned etc etc will cut down the stats of fighters, but are all merely circumstantial things. This makes me quite happy, because that means that fighters can "regenerate" or rest back to full power by disengaging and having a breather, and that also means that more gruesome fighters can get killed off by less talented folks, simply on account of being worn down and tired. Also the game comes with an I-go-you-go format, where players can use a special resource to steal the initiative. And it contains a plethora of spells, from the almost negligible cantrips like sending insect swarms at people, to major arcana that splits the skies and summons in hellish horrors.
All of this is of course catnip to me. But some of the writing in especially the core book is very word dense and lawyer-y, meaning that rules disputes can easily be solved, but otherwise making it a bit of a struggle to discern the relevant information or rule you're looking at. So in an effort to make all of this more approachable to myself I have among things like making myself a reference sheet, and I have just begun trying to fit profiles onto cards using godeckyourself.com.
And I wanted to show off the fellas so far.
And that is Brink of Battle, and especially its expansion Epic Heroes. The game looks tightly designed, you can play campaigns or single games in different periods, force types and levels of power or magic, and can therefore cram a lot of settings into the system, for instance I have been mucking about with making a Genestealer Cultists warband for that system, while it would just as easily support a 1920's paranormal investigator, cavemen hunting dinosaurs, modern warfare or of course hodgepodge bands of mutant marauders pillaging the civilized lands to appease their dark masters.
Rules wise there is a lot of small intricacies to for example melee combat. Models Combat score determine a lot of things, both of course their ease of attacking and defending, but also their number of attacks (Combat /2 rounded down), and is used for skills like climbing and jumping. In melee combat weapon skill is of course compared, but as is weapon traits and reach. You do not want to charge someone with greater reach than yourself (spears, ouch) and some weapons are too heavy to properly counter attack with, while others like the sword can punish opponents for missteps.
And to top it all of, no-one usually fights with their full stats, as skirmishes, wounds and fatigue effects the abilities of fighters. Numerous ill effects, like getting entangled, surrounded, shocked, poisoned etc etc will cut down the stats of fighters, but are all merely circumstantial things. This makes me quite happy, because that means that fighters can "regenerate" or rest back to full power by disengaging and having a breather, and that also means that more gruesome fighters can get killed off by less talented folks, simply on account of being worn down and tired. Also the game comes with an I-go-you-go format, where players can use a special resource to steal the initiative. And it contains a plethora of spells, from the almost negligible cantrips like sending insect swarms at people, to major arcana that splits the skies and summons in hellish horrors.
All of this is of course catnip to me. But some of the writing in especially the core book is very word dense and lawyer-y, meaning that rules disputes can easily be solved, but otherwise making it a bit of a struggle to discern the relevant information or rule you're looking at. So in an effort to make all of this more approachable to myself I have among things like making myself a reference sheet, and I have just begun trying to fit profiles onto cards using godeckyourself.com.
And I wanted to show off the fellas so far.
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