*
Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.
March 28, 2024, 08:44:11 AM

Login with username, password and session length

Donate

We Appreciate Your Support

Members
Stats
  • Total Posts: 1686439
  • Total Topics: 118100
  • Online Today: 811
  • Online Ever: 2235
  • (October 29, 2023, 12:32:45 AM)
Users Online

Recent

Author Topic: Men Of Bronze  (Read 37518 times)

Offline Jeff965

  • Scatterbrained Genius
  • Posts: 2634
Re: Men Of Bronze
« Reply #120 on: May 08, 2019, 10:17:17 AM »
Thanks for that FAQ.
Going to play first game on Friday using Punic war units - very few hoplite type units save what Carthage is bringing, and maybe Triarii, so it'll be interesting. Going to field the Republican Romans as Elite and drilled type infantry and the Pila will be greatly missed, but I think the game will still work out wonderfully.

The FAQ really helped to clear up some confusion, so thank you again!
Cheers


I was thinking how these might work for the Punic Wars as well, with Pila I thought before a Roman unit enters melee then roll a d6, if you score 4,5 or a 6 then the Pila has managed to disrupt the enemy formation forcing them to fight in open order.
Or another option would be to add more attack dice, like you do for attacking flanks or rear.

Offline Wiegraf

  • Scientist
  • Posts: 301
Re: Men Of Bronze
« Reply #121 on: May 08, 2019, 06:52:54 PM »
Quote
I hope you post a batrep
I'd love to do a video one on my YouTube channel, but I think since its my first time playing the best I can possibly do is a picture one. We'll see.

Quote
I was thinking how these might work for the Punic Wars as well, with Pila I thought before a Roman unit enters melee then roll a d6, if you score 4,5 or a 6 then the Pila has managed to disrupt the enemy formation forcing them to fight in open order.
Or another option would be to add more attack dice, like you do for attacking flanks or rear.

That would be interesting. I was also thinking +1 to d6 rolled in attack or something when you charge in.  But I think for our initial games we'll just stick to original game book stuff and pretend the Romans left the pila at home ;)
« Last Edit: May 08, 2019, 07:21:08 PM by Wiegraf »

Offline Jeff965

  • Scatterbrained Genius
  • Posts: 2634
Re: Men Of Bronze
« Reply #122 on: May 08, 2019, 09:13:03 PM »
I'd love to do a video one on my YouTube channel, but I think since its my first time playing the best I can possibly do is a picture one. We'll see.

That would be interesting. I was also thinking +1 to d6 rolled in attack or something when you charge in.  But I think for our initial games we'll just stick to original game book stuff and pretend the Romans left the pila at home ;)

Yes, good idea, get a feel for the rules first. I've played them a couple of times now, hope you enjoy them as much as I did :)

Offline Easy E

  • Mastermind
  • Posts: 1928
  • Just some guy who does stuff
    • Blood and Spectacles
Re: Men Of Bronze
« Reply #123 on: May 09, 2019, 04:40:47 AM »
Thanks for that FAQ.
Going to play first game on Friday using Punic war units - very few hoplite type units save what Carthage is bringing, and maybe Triarii, so it'll be interesting. Going to field the Republican Romans as Elite and drilled type infantry and the Pila will be greatly missed, but I think the game will still work out wonderfully.

The FAQ really helped to clear up some confusion, so thank you again!
Cheers

I will be interested in what happens.  I have been working on some pre-Punic War stuff off and on for after Heirs to Empire.

You can see an early play test here: https://bloodandspectacles.blogspot.com/2018/12/conquest-rome-in-italy-battle-report.html?m=1

Support Blood and Spectacles Publishing:
https://www.patreon.com/Bloodandspectaclespublishing

Offline Irregular Wars Nic

  • Mad Scientist
  • Posts: 940
    • Visit the Irregular Wars blog:
Re: Men Of Bronze
« Reply #124 on: May 09, 2019, 06:56:05 AM »
A points question for Eric:

Why are warband infantry so expensive? They are worse in almost every way to peltasts, but 50% more costly?

Based one their stat line and lack of special traits, I would have thought they were more akin to psiloi in points cost.


Offline Irregular Wars Nic

  • Mad Scientist
  • Posts: 940
    • Visit the Irregular Wars blog:
Re: Men Of Bronze
« Reply #125 on: May 09, 2019, 06:56:29 AM »
A points question for Eric:

Why are warband infantry so expensive? They are worse in almost every way to peltasts, but 50% more costly?

Based on their stat line and lack of special traits, I would have thought they were more akin to psiloi in points cost.

Offline Easy E

  • Mastermind
  • Posts: 1928
  • Just some guy who does stuff
    • Blood and Spectacles
Re: Men Of Bronze
« Reply #126 on: May 09, 2019, 01:34:55 PM »


Yeah, many people have been pointing this out to me.  I am still considering how I want to tackle it. 

In play testing the warband infantry often performed better in their role as flankers, support, or "fast" moving threats to victory conditions than Peltasts as players did not get distracted by shooting and other tricks that Peltasts had.  Perhaps that clouded my judgement a bit as they seemed to outperform Peltasts.

In addition, infantry points went down in nice multiples of two!  :)

More to come!
« Last Edit: May 09, 2019, 01:40:18 PM by Easy E »

Offline Irregular Wars Nic

  • Mad Scientist
  • Posts: 940
    • Visit the Irregular Wars blog:
Re: Men Of Bronze
« Reply #127 on: May 11, 2019, 05:13:20 PM »


I've just written up a report and some thoughts after our first game (we actually played two, but the second report will have to wait for now.

https://irregularwars.blogspot.com/2019/05/first-game-of-men-of-bronze.html?fbclid=IwAR0fBPe1V7JAraE4Q9kYshc2Yx_agaduUqM1K8XCjokZqkYvUGjF85GEgOA

"In reflection after our game, there were things that raised eyebrows, but the game was fun. It flowed really well and there were enough tough decisions to keep us both engaged. The combat mechanisms, for melee and for shooting, are clear, easy to pick up, but nuanced enough to not make every unit handle the same way. Hoplites in phalanx formation are tough nuts!"

Offline Wiegraf

  • Scientist
  • Posts: 301
Re: Men Of Bronze
« Reply #128 on: May 11, 2019, 05:45:47 PM »
It’s interesting to see the game played with large single bases as you did Irregular Wars Nic. That’s something I can certainly attest to - the game men of bronze really can be played on any basing style as long as you have a system to differentiate open order and phalanx.  You can even just state “base width value is x” and honestly then use any basing system. I think if I used my men on 20x20 and 40x40 mm bases and games against someone with men on 25mm circle bases and we agreed base widths meant 20mm , the game would run smoothly.

Offline Irregular Wars Nic

  • Mad Scientist
  • Posts: 940
    • Visit the Irregular Wars blog:
Re: Men Of Bronze
« Reply #129 on: May 11, 2019, 06:41:09 PM »
It’s interesting to see the game played with large single bases as you did Irregular Wars Nic. That’s something I can certainly attest to - the game men of bronze really can be played on any basing style as long as you have a system to differentiate open order and phalanx.  You can even just state “base width value is x” and honestly then use any basing system. I think if I used my men on 20x20 and 40x40 mm bases and games against someone with men on 25mm circle bases and we agreed base widths meant 20mm , the game would run smoothly.

Yeah... mostly. I'd certainly agree with the last sentence you said.

However, a few issues start to come into effect with multi-based figures - perhaps accentuated by the fact Eric seems to have done all his playtesting with units having a ratio of 5:2, width to depth, while ours are 3:2.

Offline Irregular Wars Nic

  • Mad Scientist
  • Posts: 940
    • Visit the Irregular Wars blog:
Re: Men Of Bronze
« Reply #130 on: May 11, 2019, 08:18:54 PM »

Offline Easy E

  • Mastermind
  • Posts: 1928
  • Just some guy who does stuff
    • Blood and Spectacles
Re: Men Of Bronze
« Reply #131 on: May 13, 2019, 03:37:38 PM »
Excellent stuff! 

I loved reading these reports.  They gave me some meat to chew on as I work on FAQ and other products! 

I left some comments on your blog too!  Great work and thanks for your support and help!

Offline Easy E

  • Mastermind
  • Posts: 1928
  • Just some guy who does stuff
    • Blood and Spectacles
Re: Men Of Bronze
« Reply #132 on: August 20, 2019, 04:18:45 PM »
Wargames, Soldiers, and Strategy 103 has a review of the rules by Jeff Jones if you are looking for another opinion on them.....

https://www.karwansaraypublishers.com/wss-issue-103.html


Offline Easy E

  • Mastermind
  • Posts: 1928
  • Just some guy who does stuff
    • Blood and Spectacles
Re: Men Of Bronze
« Reply #133 on: September 13, 2019, 02:21:58 PM »
I just managed to listen to Meeples and Miniatures Episode 267 where they discuss Men of Bronze. Overall, I think it is a fair and nuanced review.

If you are thinking about the game and are unsure about if you want to buy it, give it a listen.....

https://meeples.wordpress.com/2019/05/17/meeples-miniatures-episode-267-its-all-greek-to-me-part-omega/

Offline Easy E

  • Mastermind
  • Posts: 1928
  • Just some guy who does stuff
    • Blood and Spectacles
Re: Men Of Bronze
« Reply #134 on: September 27, 2019, 04:46:16 PM »
Here is my favorite review on Amazon...

Quote
A complete waste of paper
Useless rule set unless you like ahistorical fantasy

I now know what to do differently next time!   lol