I finally had the chance to take a look at the Kings of War rule book from Mantic Games. Take a look at what I have to say.
I hope to have a rules review up before Christmas so check back soon. You can learn more about KoW at Mantic games.
Paul Eaglestone’s A World Aflame is an alternate/real history miniatures game. The interwar is set in the years 1918 to 1939. While there are no lists to the game he does provide some sample lists. Nor is there a particular scale to play in, he uses 28mm.
The rules set offers a unique rules that took me a little getting used to. The oddest thing for me is the army construction. With the absence of point values the units become more equipment or initiative based. Initiative is probably the most important factor in the game, since the game uses alternate activations that follow in initiative order. Outside of Construction the rules are fairly simple, that is just like most miniature games you roll the dice to achieve a target number.
There are a couple of simple rules that add flavor to the game. The best of these is a deck of Chance cards. Each card is an event that can be used. These can be anything from sniper to extra ammunition.
If I played A World Aflame on a regular basis I would probably drop the communication and ammunition tracking rules. While they add a certain amount of flavor to depict the era, I think the upkeep isn’t worth the trade.
All in all it is a well written set of rules with a tremendous amount of freedom for game play and scenarios that you create. It isn’t a tournament style game. I think you could create some pretty amazing campaigns though. If you are a Flames of War player the lack of scenarios in the book will slow you down at first.
So is it worth your two cents? It really depends on who you are. If you are a casual player then it a sure thing. If you are looking for a game that is a break from competitive play this is a good way to go. If you are a competitive player looking for competition this is not your best choice.
Dux Bellorum is a 64 page self contained rule book. It focuses on the Arthurian era of history (Ad 367 -793). The book itself features several charts and diagrams to make your game play more enjoyable and easier to learn. The art truly tells the story of the era, while the pictures of the miniatures clearly show you what you can expect on the table. This is the only book you need to play this game. It includes all of the rules, lists and equipment guides for a complete game. The author, Daniel Mersey, used his rules set Glutter of Ravens as a base for this rules set.
Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2012 Tomorrow’s War is produced by Osprey Publishing for Ambush Alley Games. The book is just the right size for the gamer, 260 pages. It is fully embossed with several nice pictures and easy to use charts. Even though the fog of war cards are available as a deck I wish they were removable.
There is not a models line for this game. there is a complete list of manufacturers that carry adequate mini’s in both 15mm and 28 mm that can be used.
Tomorrow’s War is set in the 24th century. Humanity has begun colonizing off world. This has lead to the discoveries of new technologies and even alien races.
It is a game of Modern Warfare game. It covers just about everything you want in Sci-fi, Vtol’s,off and on board artillery, reinforcements,and airstrikes. It uses a pointless system for army construction. That is to say that a marine is not x points. Instead all troops are assigned a experience type ranging from green to elite. Each troop type has a different die value for its skills. Most of your troops in a game are green so it balances nicely.
The game mechanics are a little different. As I mentioned before the experience of the troop determines the die value, Green troops use d6 while the best troops use a d12. When making a skill check you would roll the appropriate die. This is an opposed roll. You may roll 5d6 against 3d12. What is important about the system is that a success of 4 plus can be trumped by a higher opposed roll. I have played the game and I like the system.
Tomorrow’s War is a great Sci-fi game for clubs. You can take it anywhere in the world and teach someone how to play, it is that easy. Without a point system it lacks the structure needed for tournaments.
What I would like to see in a future print run is a quick reference sheet.
I should note that the Fog of War cards are available at your retailer.
Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2012 I have already done a review of Force on Force based off of the demonstration game I played at Origins Game Fair. This will be a little more in depth than that review. You can read that here.
Most of you probably already know that Force on Force is a modern warfare skirmish game published by Osprey Publishing for Ambush Alley Games. It is an independent miniatures game without a miniatures line. The book has several recommendations where you can purchase models . I originally thought that not having a minis line would be detrimental, but the rules are set up so you can freely play any modern forces from 1960 to present. The other unique part about not having a line of minis is there is no set scale. You get to determine the size of your battlefield based off of what you own.
Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2012 Warhammer 40K is another sci-fi skirmish game. It has a huge following. It is both loved and hated by gamers around the world. There is just so much one can say in the great GW argument, but we aren’t here to fuel that debate. I am here to give an honest review of Warhammer 40K
Here is my brief history of 40k. In November of 2004 (the night bfore Thanksgiving actually) I painted my first 40 Dark Eldar Warriors. For, oh the next 3 years we played pretty hard, 2 or 3 nights a week. So, what happened? Life just kind of got in the way. Our 4oK games began to grind down. We still play a game or 2 a year but it is nothing like it used to be.
So here we go the roller coaster known as 40K.
Warhammer 40k Uses an archaic set of game rules. The largest detriment to the game is the whole army activations. The game industry moved away from this around 2003. Not only is whole army activation old it slows down game play. The game would play much faster if the interaction of activations alternated form player to player instead of army to army. Further, if the activations alternated squad to squad the game would allow for more tactics.
Rezolution is a sci-fi skirmish game from Aberrant Games. It is set in a cyber punk world where corporations effectively rule all. That theme always seems to lead the game into a “darker tomorrow”. As far as games go, it does a good job of putting fluff into the game. It also does an excellent job of using simple mechanics to achieve fast play. Since it is a skirmish game you do not need a lot of toys to play the game.
In order to start playing Rezolution you would need to choose a faction. The easiest and most cost effective way to do this is to buy one of the starter boxes. Each box has quick start rules and about 5 figures. If you want the rules you can buy a hard copy with the starter or you can download a copy at wargame vault. In other words for about 45.00 you have everything you will ever need to play the game.
There are a few game mechanics I would like to talk about, opposed rolling, models and wounds, craft, and hacking. It is these 4 mechanics that make the game stand apart. Opposed rolling is the where you shoot or make a melee attack against another model. When you do this you and your opponent both roll two six sided dice and add the appropriate attribute to determine the victor. When models get wounded the wound is recorded. By making this record you track the “strength” of the figure. As models are wounded they can face death sooner, or fall unconscious. Craft is the magic and psionic attribute. It only appears on models that have a magic or psionic ability. Each model with craft has craft powers defined on the stat card. Hack is well computer hacking. It allows for the model to do thing like, hack robots, and computers. It also allows two or more hackers to duel on the grid (a network so to speak). There are other cool mechanics that make this game even better, but the mechanics we spoke of are the ones that truly define Rezolution.
The forums are not always bustling with activity, but they are visited frequently. Further, the owners of the company takes great interest in their players and answers questions on a regular basis.
I give Rezolution a 5.6 out of 7. You might be wondering the what or the how behind that rating. Well, there is a long story to it, but basically my wife created a calculator that works of some points we decided were important for a game. I will go into that more at a later date. the hort story is we look at
There are more sub categories to each of those. you might think a 5.6 is low. It’s not. I have been using it for about 5 years now and it is a harsh calculator. Many games do not get above 3.
