Lead Adventure Forum
Miniatures Adventure => Pikes, Muskets and Flouncy Shirts => Topic started by: morkin on April 18, 2010, 10:10:22 PM
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Hi there
I'd like to draw your kind attention to Freebooter's Fate, the new game put out by Freebooter Miniatures. It's a fast-paced 30mm scale tabletop skirmish game set on and around the tropical island of Leonera. The Empire's hold is crumbling, threatened by pirates, goblins and mysterious assassins.
The game is based on a diceless combat system that leans more towards skill and psychology than luck, although having the latter still comes in handy. Play alternates between miniatures of opposing teams, thus not only leading to interesting tactical options but also minimizing downtime for the individual player, making the game more fun.
On top of that, it's got everything a swashbuckler's heart could desire: rampacious pirates, dastardly goblins, stalwart Imperials, shadowy assassins, women with big guns, rum, gold and booty. Give it a go, you'll love it.
There’s no website yet, but we’ll be launching the English version at Salute, so if you’re attending, keep your eyes peeled for that one.
Thanks for reading this far.
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Hi, I played a preliminary version at Crisis in Antwerp last year.
Nice nice rules I have to say, unusual game mechanics.
Looking forward to see the "real" issue.
cheers Thomas
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"Diceless"? "skill and psychology than luck"?
How is this achieved? How is combat resolved?
Is this a land based game, or will there be ship to ship combat?
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@RicharDMB: Sorry, I'm in too much of a rush at the moment to go into much detail, but if you come to the Freebooter stand at Salute, I'll be happy to explain the mechanics at length. We may even have a demo table. Otherwise, I'm afraid you'll have to wait till we're back from London. Sorry.
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Hi,
(Werner is that you?) It's Jo from Black Cat. It sounds great and I believe that your demo table is next to ours and directly infront of our stall?? Was very please when I spotted that earlier! :)
we will see you then, we are setting up on Friday, if you need any help let us know!
Jo & Ben Black Cat Bases.
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Hiya
Sorry to have to disappoint you, but I'm not Werner. I'm the main translator and one of the co-authors of the rules (mainly fluff). I speak to Werner regularly, though. Thanks for the kind offer of help, I'll pass your message on. I'll be there on Friday as well and may well be running the odd demo game at Salute.
Hope I haven't spoiled your pleasure now. I'm told I can be quite agreeable as well on occasion. ;) Looking forward to meeting you on Friday. :)
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Any more news on the starter sets, their factions, contents and price?
I look forward to seeing the game on Saturday.
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Any more news on the starter sets, their factions, contents and price?
I look forward to seeing the game on Saturday.
My latest information is that there will be a starter set for each of the four main factions, i.e. Pirates, Imperial Armada, Goblin Pirates and Brotherhood. They will feature a basic crew, the rules and the game cards at a special Salute discount price. There will also be a booster deal for each of the four factions on top of that so you can bulk out your starting force.
Unfortunately, I have no details with regard to price or detailed content but as far as I'm aware, you'll get a range of options to choose from where possible, so you're not forced to buy one specific crew as part of the deal. Full details will be available at the stand.
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Unfortunately, I am no where neat Salute, so I guess I have to wait til you get back! lol
But I will say, I am excited on hearing about this game...
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Picked up a copy of the rules and the deck of cards required at Salute yesterday (unfortunately I'd spent too much at this point to buy a starter set :()
Having read the book and watched some demo game yesterday i have to say this is a really nice games system, fluid and easy to pick up. Just need the toys now. If I'm lucky they'll put starter sets on their online shop.
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Played a demo on Saturday, bought a XXL starter set straight away. Very easy to pick up rules, beautiful minis. Great demo too, thanks if it was you :)
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Played a demo on Saturday, bought a XXL starter set straight away. Very easy to pick up rules, beautiful minis. Great demo too, thanks if it was you :)
No worries. I was the unshaven one in the black pirate shirt, with no glasses. Thanks for playing (and buying ;)). I had an absolute blast of a time, even if my voice went AWOL for a time. Thanks to everyone who came to our stand, whether you played a demo game, bought some stuff or just dropped by for a wee chat or some lead ogling.
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So any more info? Easy to pick up, but what are the rules like???
When will it go on sale to the general public?
What are the pros/cons of the game?
I am dying to find out!!! o_o
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I just read that there were started packages for Salute... On several different websites...
Since I was on the other side of the planet, will there be a "kick off" package for those of us who were not able/near Salute? Can there be? Please? ;)
Some of the quick reviews have me very curious about this game...
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Okay, here's a short overview of the Freebooter's Fate game mechanics to answer RicharDMB's earlier question:
The Freebooter's Fate game mechanics are card-based. There is a stack of so-called fate cards with numerical values and symbols to work out damage, initiative and other stuff. The interesting thing is that the pile is worked through from the top and reshuffled once exhausted. So if your memory is better than mine and you can memorise which cards have been played already, you gain a better insight into the relative probability of the remaining ones as the game progresses.
The real skill comes into play during hit determination, however. Usually, both attacker and defender get to choose a number of hit location cards from two identical sets. The number of cards they each get to choose depends on factors such as cover, special actions, special character traits and similar. Any card chosen by the attacker and not the defender represents a potential hit to that location. Multiple hits or particularly heavy damage can result in critical hits to certain locations with severe adverse effects for the defender (reduced movement, reduced attacks etc.). This is where the skill bit comes in as you try to outguess your opponent and anticipate what cards he or she is going to choose or rather try to bluff your opponent into thinking you are going to defend certain locations. "Reading" your opponent is the skill you need here. My own personal experience from countless testgames and demo rounds is that most people have a pattern or certain favourites. Of course, you can make this bit entirely random by just drawing cards at random rather than choosing them deliberately, but you would seriously miss out on a lot of fun.
To answer your other pre-Salute question, the game is currently entirely land-based. However, we are by no means finished with developing the game and will keep on refining and expanding it. Any suggestions from active players are always welcome, by the way.
We are only slowly emerging from our post-Salute frazzle and so it'll take me a bit longer to get answers to your other questions, but I'll try my best.
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Thanks a lot for the info...
When will the general release be?
Not to be pushy, but a few guys in my Club are getting excited about this game...
Thanks again!
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I'm supposed to hear from Werner tomorrow or the day after that about the general release date. I'll keep you posted.
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Well, I've just had it confirmed: Freebooter's Fate is going to be available from the Freebooter Webshop from 11 May 2010 onwards. And as far as I've heard there will be starter specials as well. I'll keep you posted once I have more details.
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Can't wait.. I need to buy some minis!
When is the forum reopening? Do you know?
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When is the forum reopening? Do you know?
Sorry, no idea. If I judge Werner's current workload correctly, it's not gonna be anytime soon, either. In the meantime, feel free to post any questions, comments etc. in whatever forum you catch me. What I can't answer or deal with, I'll pass on to Werner. :)
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Sorry, no idea. If I judge Werner's current workload correctly, it's not gonna be anytime soon, either.
Lots of miniatures to sculpt and release I hope!
In the meantime, feel free to post any questions, comments etc. in whatever forum you catch me. What I can't answer or deal with, I'll pass on to Werner. :)
Cool, thanks for the info. Once i've made a long list of questions I'll pm you on here, or just list them in this here topic.
BTW You looked like you were having fun running demo games at Salute, and as a bystander (every time I went to get a game you were in the middle of one!) it looked like you and the participants were thouroughly enjoying yourselves. It also made sense watching (not something every rule set can claim!!)
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BTW You looked like you were having fun running demo games at Salute, and as a bystander (every time I went to get a game you were in the middle of one!) it looked like you and the participants were thouroughly enjoying yourselves. It also made sense watching (not something every rule set can claim!!)
I had an absolutely blast running the games. Which was largely due to the players. They all got into the spirit of the thing and not one of them looked like they'd rather wax their cat than play another turn. There was one chap who was a bit quiet and reserved in the beginning, but he sure perked up when the lead started to fly. :) It was great fun. I'm glad to hear that this became apparent to outside observers as well.
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Just to let you know that the Freebooter's Fate rule book has been reviewed by Beasts Of War at http://www.youtube.com/beastsofwar#p/u/1/L1L2I6rEmSs (http://www.youtube.com/beastsofwar#p/u/1/L1L2I6rEmSs).
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In response to the otherwise very positive initial user feedback (ta very much to all of you), we have decided to put up a complete list of the hire fees for all characters which are featured in the book. This also includes the values for those characters which have not been released yet.
The pdf can be downloaded at:
http://freebooterminiatures.de/downloads/Punkte_e_02.pdf
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The game has now officially been launched and is generally available. You can either point your browser to http://www.freebooterminiatures.de/indexeng.html or pester your Friendly Local Games Shop about it. Either way, we hope you'll like it. I will continue to be available for questions on this forum, although the way things are going, there will be a noticeable delay in your questions being answered until the dust from the initial rush has settled. :) Sorry about that in advance.
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Hey Morkin you do get around a bit ;)
For those interested the UKCORD forum ahs had a lot going on about Freebooter's Fate and Morkin has answered many a question there.
http://www.conf-federation.org.uk/forum/index.php?board=174.0
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Bit too pricey for my liking.
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Morkin -
What if I bought some of these figs before, and do not have the cards.
Are the stat cards available in the book or as a Down Load?
I really hope so.
Also... Are there rules for making your own character? Or do we have to use the pre-set characters?
I don't have the book yet, but I am ordering it today. I cannot wait to get my hands on it. o_o
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Also, is it beneficial to buy two decks of cards?
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morkin has said on UKCoRD Forum that there will be a way to get cards if you already have the miniatures, details will follow on the Freebooter website at some point.
Don't think there's any point in having a second deck, unless you think you'll damage/ lose the first deck. Once you've gone through the deck, you just shuffle it and start again.
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Back from holiday now and I see that the method of getting cards for minis you already have has been made official: go to the freebooter shop, select the Freebooter's Fate category, go to the very bottom until you find ZUB 000. Enter however many cards you need and specify in the comments field, exactly which ones they are and what language they are supposed to be in, English or German.
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Oh yes, and there is no real benefit from having more than one deck, unless you are playing with more than two players and don't want to keep handing hit location cards from player to player. But I'm really grasping here... :)
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T³ Gamesystem page about Freebooter's Fate
http://www.tabletoptournaments.net/game/Freebooters-Fate
Player map
http://forum.warhammer-forum.com/index.php?gameId=89&act=home&CODE=locator
Player list
http://www.tabletoptournaments.net/players/
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Rumor has it one of the boxes Neotacha has wrapped for me for Father's Day* is a copy of the rulebook, the cards, and maybe a few more miniatures. Sure hope so!
So, how does the game play for more than two players? My brother, brother-in-law, nephew and a friend are coming for visit, about a week, at the end of the month. I'm working on a Mordheim mini-campaign, but if Freebooter's Fate works well for a group of people, we will certainly want to give it a spin.
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Got mine in the mail today.
Called the guys in the Club... Game this Saturday! I better start reading! lol
Cannot wait! o_o
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So, how does the game play for more than two players? My brother, brother-in-law, nephew and a friend are coming for visit, about a week, at the end of the month. I'm working on a Mordheim mini-campaign, but if Freebooter's Fate works well for a group of people, we will certainly want to give it a spin.
My very first game was a three-player one, and it got me hooked, so I'd say it plays fairly well. ;) There are some scenarios in the book for more than two crews. You can also split a crew among players, that works pretty well because play alternates by miniatures and not crews and combat is resolved instantly so the need to co-ordinate keeps it interesting.
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Got mine in the mail today.
Called the guys in the Club... Game this Saturday! I better start reading! lol
Cannot wait! o_o
Wahey! Finally! :) Let us know how it went. And if you have any questions or something you think sould go in the FAQ, please let me know.
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Thanks for the response. Morkin! I am looking forward to playing it later this month.
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I did indeed receive a copy of Freebooter's Fate and some of the miniatures from the cats (by way of Neotacha) for Father's Day. It is a very pretty rulebook, and I hope to give the rules a spin this coming week when out-of-town company will be visiting.
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I posted a very in-depth review on Monday if anyone wants to know what it's all about...
http://wargameguru.weebly.com/in-focus-review---freebooters-fate.html
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Enjoyed the review, WGG.
I read a decent chunk of the rules today at work - looks like a lot of fun, frankly. Looking forward to trying it out this week.
I have most of the Imperial Armada miniatures and a good chunk of the pirates - none of the orcs/goblins or assassin factions though. I will probably pick them up over time, since they are such nice figures, but they are on the pricey side (the exchange rate is a big factor there, of course). We will also cheerfully use non-Freebooter models, of course.
Indeed, if we like the game, once we have a good feel for it I would be surprised if we don't try to cobble up some rules for dwarves and undead bands. Hopefully Freebooter will officially expand into some new factions (cause even if we wind up not liking the game, more miniatures from Freebooter is always a Good Thing).
Hopefully there will be rules for campaign play at some point. One reason our group has played Mordheim steadily since its original release is because it has such a nice campaign system.
My summer school class is taking their mid-term tomorrow, so I'll probably finish the rules then. Our game-playin' house guests invade tomorrow night...
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It is a lot of fun. Glad you enjoyed the review.
I'm dying for some undead/skeleton pirates, crossng my fingers that those are next. They already have a couple of skeleton figures in the regular Freebooter range too, so it would't be too hard to add them.
I didn't think about Dwarves, that would be cool too.