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Author Topic: My BLADESTORM topic  (Read 2267 times)

Offline D. Brownie

  • Scientist
  • Posts: 279
Re: My BLADESTORM topic
« Reply #15 on: November 11, 2019, 06:40:16 PM »
It's really not.  If anything it's easier and more intuitive than (say) the Song of XXXX stuff from Ganesha, which is about the same "scope" of game in terms of figs and play time.  You're making one dice roll (usually 2-3 dice) compared to a static number to determine whether you hit, and the same roll determines damage.  Relatively few models have multiple attacks, and gameplay is quick and bloody.  I can't speak for game balance or campaign play in 2nd ed, but 1st was always a smooth-playing game and easy to pick up and teach.  Biggest handicap was the general lack of support from ICE after release and a rather ugly line of dedicated miniatures.

Totally agree! Not Easy as Frostgrave, but not very complicated.
« Last Edit: November 11, 2019, 06:48:23 PM by D. Brownie »

Offline D. Brownie

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  • Posts: 279
Re: My BLADESTORM topic
« Reply #16 on: November 11, 2019, 06:46:04 PM »
Not familiar with the 2nd ed changes or the scenario you were playing, but zombies are dirt slow.  Maybe better to avoid them as much as possible and go do whatever "discovery" objectives the game calls for while your toughest characters stall the bulk of the baddies?  Assuming decent armor, defense, and endurance, a single Dwarf warrior type ought to be able to stand there tanking four or more zombies for quite a while.  d6+d10-1 for Low damage is fairly wretched offense.

You are right! In fact died only the unprotected magician, but on the other side it's hard for me to kill Zombies...
This was only a test. With my forthcoming campaign I'm going to calibrate Better all the things, but Always starting with Adventurers with no experience

Offline Hobgoblin

  • Galactic Brain
  • Posts: 4911
    • Hobgoblinry
Re: My BLADESTORM topic
« Reply #17 on: November 11, 2019, 07:21:39 PM »
I remember Bladestorm coming out when I was a teenager; I was quite intrigued by it but never actually bought or played it.

The accompanying miniatures (still available from Mirliton here) were a mixed bag; I really like the river ogres and sea trolls, and I don't mind the two types of goblins (the mountain goblins are very The Princess and the Goblin). But most of them are fairly grim - and they were certainly much worse than most of the stuff that Grenadier produced.

I read through the free rules a while back. What do those who have played it see as its main attraction? The combined damage/to-hit roll seems quite elegant, with a very wide range of potential damage, but I don't recall anything that seemed particularly striking in the way that SoBH's risk/reward system and Fistful of Lead's card-based activation are. It was a while ago, though ...

Offline Griefbringer

  • Scientist
  • Posts: 273
Re: My BLADESTORM topic
« Reply #18 on: November 12, 2019, 08:11:39 AM »
The more normal races were better supported, but because there were so many factions even the main human "nations" generally only had a pack or two of figs.

There certainly were a lot of factions in Folenn. Just the Warring Holds region, which was the focus of the 1st edition sourcebook, had 10 human factions plus at least 7 other races. And then there is the rest of the Folenn, which contained over 40 other less detailed realms. Plus on top of that there are the raiders from other continents, secret factions, animated constructs, beasts living in the wilderness etc.

Offline Hobby Services

  • Scatterbrained Genius
  • Posts: 2070
Re: My BLADESTORM topic
« Reply #19 on: November 12, 2019, 01:45:54 PM »
I read through the free rules a while back. What do those who have played it see as its main attraction? The combined damage/to-hit roll seems quite elegant, with a very wide range of potential damage, but I don't recall anything that seemed particularly striking in the way that SoBH's risk/reward system and Fistful of Lead's card-based activation are. It was a while ago, though ...

That's kind of a tough one, in part since I haven't tried 2nd ed.  1st appealed to me partly out of familiarity.  The dice mechanics are a breeze for Silent Death fans (which I am) and the rest of the rules were very much bog-standard for fantasy wargames of the period, from the slightly clunky formation rules to morale to the general feel of things.  Not much innovation there, but effortless to pick up.  Probably feels dated today to younger players, but for me it's like going back 2nd or 3rd ed Warhammer or D&D Battlesystem or even Legions of the Petal Throne - homey and nostalgic.

I was also something of a fan of the setting and general premise, and just generally liked ICE products in those days, even they tended to be written rather dryly and the RPG mechanics were rather convoluted.  As I said earlier the idea of a magical "weather" effect ("It's raining swords...") restricting fights to at most large skirmish scale was an appealing idea.

Offline Griefbringer

  • Scientist
  • Posts: 273
Re: My BLADESTORM topic
« Reply #20 on: November 12, 2019, 02:01:00 PM »
As I said earlier the idea of a magical "weather" effect ("It's raining swords...") restricting fights to at most large skirmish scale was an appealing idea.

Also the threat of incoming bladestorm would force a battle to the halt, as the combatants would rather retreat than face it. Thus after every turn there would be a test to see if such a storm appeared - and the larger the battle the higher the chance of summoning it, thus the commanders of larger forces would have to act more decisively to achieve their objectives. That said, many of the realms in Folenn were relatively small, and would not have been able to muster massive forces in the first place.

Bladestorms also acted as a plot device in another way, as sometimes ancient magical artefacts could be found left lying around afterwards, and a conflict would take place for their control. I think one of the scenarios in the book involved an ancient dwarven helmet that had ended up with new owners this way...