Lead Adventure Forum
Miniatures Adventure => Age of Myths, Gods and Empires => Topic started by: Kommando_J on August 06, 2016, 03:30:10 PM
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Does anyone know exactly what 'nations' will be featured, I know Romans, Celts, Dacians and Germans but is that it?
I tried asking on the northstar website and got a vague non-answer.
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These are the nations/factions featured in the version I helped playtest:
- Romans; actually they have three different ones: Son of the Eagle, The Order of Mithras, Sons of Spartacus.
- Barbarians (Britons, Iceni, Irish, Gauls and Numantians)
- Germanic Tribes (incl. Goths)
- Dacians
- The Argonauts (basically Greece)
- The Cult of Seth
- Pathians
Whether anything has been changed I don't know, but the Dacians were originally part of the Germanic Tribes. But the author was given a lot of feedback that they should be different and be able to have vampiric creatures.
Take a look at my blog for more information: http://londonbymidnight.blogspot.dk/ (http://londonbymidnight.blogspot.dk/)
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Excellent blog, from the look see doent float my boat it seem like small warbands. Of gods and mortals would provide a similar vibe
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Methinks this will be the ancient skirmish game that i've always wanted, strip out the more fantastical elements and you get a system tailor-made to simulate tribal raiding in Rome, Gaul or further afield, plus no need to buy an absolute horde of men to make a viable force.
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Thanks for the information share
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I have been really tempted by this,not a period I am normally into.
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Due to the large mini requirement I would say it's a hard period to get into in some respects.
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Anyone seen a good review of the final rules yet? I'm still on the fence with these as not really a period I skirmish game in at the moment.
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Anyone seen a good review of the final rules yet? I'm still on the fence with these as not really a period I skirmish game in at the moment.
I ordered them - I loved Legends of the Old West so this was an easy sell for me. Unfortunately it's en route via Canada Post, and it looks like there may be a postal strike before it arrives :(
I will post my first impressions when (if!) it arrives.
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In advance of the physical rulebook showing up at my local store, I also bought the Kindle version. As expected, it's very similar to Legends of the Old West, with some magic thrown in. I'm going to try and get my group to play soon, as we were all big fans of Legends of the Old West.
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Thanks for the quick review! I didn't even realize this was released yet... I thought it was slated for the fall!
I like the idea for the time period, you could even argue that if you don't like the rules you can at least skim it for some ideas to transpose onto a more favourable ruleset? Looking forward to hearing some reviews after folks have played a game or two.
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I ordered them - I loved Legends of the Old West so this was an easy sell for me. Unfortunately it's en route via Canada Post, and it looks like there may be a postal strike before it arrives :(
I will post my first impressions when (if!) it arrives.
So does this mostly use the LotR SBG/ Legends of the Old West engine?
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The preview of the book on Amazon includes the table of contents, which gives some idea of what it's all about.
Like the idea of Weird Rome, so will likely end up purchasing it. Ancient Rome was pretty weird to begin with :)
Weird Rome has been done before--for the Savage Worlds RPG, if looking for more source material
http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/119321/Weird-Wars-Rome?term=rome&manufacturers_id=27&test_epoch=0
Well, a small band of minis can be interesting to play, if you have the right system. For fantasy, I've come to prefer the 'Songs' rules and variants: Song of Blades and Heroes, Song of Shadows and Dust, Fear and Faith..... They could all be adapted.
http://www.drivethrurpg.com/browse/pub/2502/Ganesha-Games
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I had actually been looking forward to these rules for some time.
However, I began to hear things about how long a game, with only a handful
of figures took. With the reviews I read here I am glad I did not buy it.
I'll pass.
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I caved and bought the digital version from Osprey while I wait (they have a sale!).
First off, the game is fundamentally the same system as the Legends of the Old West/High Seas (and LotR SBG), except modified to use a d10 instead of a d6. Personally, I think that the additional granularity is probably a great thing for these rules, because one of my main complaints about that system was that sometimes, victory came down to whoever could roll the most 6s.
I'll have to play a game before I can really comment on game length, but I have a hard time seeing how a typical match could last three hours. There is definitely more dice-rolling than in Frostgrave, which would slow things down a bit, but I don't see anything that would make the game drag other than that.
Regarding the number of special rules - I don't think it's overwhelming at all, as most of them are the typical special rules you'd find in any fairly detailed skirmish game. Certainly the "special rules" weight is insignificant compared to Warmachine, 40k, or even the Song of Blades and Heroes line of games.
As for the negatives - I was disappointed at the lack of fluff in the game. Legends of the Old West and Legends of the High Seas both had a lot of good, succinct writing about their settings. This game has little more than an introduction which sets out the premise (small groups fighting over magical stuff in the ancient world) and about a paragraph introducing each type of warband. I would have liked to see more information about the setting, and more pictures of example warbands to show how they might look. I like the idea that you could pull together a warband out of pretty much any selection of ancients miniatures, but I would like more justification for having what sound like Bronze Age Egyptian axemen battling Imperial Roman legionaries.
Still, for an inexpensive set of rules set in an under-explored setting (at least in fantasy skirmish gaming) it's a great little game, and I look forward to playing it!
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I was one of the play testers and here are some comments to what has been written in the past few posts.
Please bear in mind that I have not seen the finished product, so this is based on the play test document.
Regarding the number of special rules - they are not overwhelming at all. Once you choose which warband you want to play you will only have a few special rules and perhaps a few weapon rules that you need to remember. This is not special rules intensive at all. If you play the "Soldiers of the Eagle" warband you have no access to magic and all of your men are issued with gladius. So there is not much in terms of special rules that you need to remember.
Games take a long time. We played with the standard 200 points and while we were of course playtesting we never managed to finish a game in under two hours. Two things make the game slow:
- There are a lot of dice rolling, and when you have 10-15 individuals that is a lot of activations.
- The Fate points that the better minis are issued with. They make them very difficult to take down.
I asked the author about this and he replied that I was not the only one who had commented on it. His immediate solution at the time was to set the starting points at 150 instead. Whether this is the starting points in the book I don't know.
The fluff is limited but I think that is because of the set page limit that Osprey has. It would mean that some of the game mechanics would need to be cut.
I feel that in order for the game to succeed players need to play the campaign mode. At the time of play testing this was not developed a lot and neither was the scenarios. These two aspects of the game will either make or break it. In Frostgrave both the campaign system and the scenarios is the game's strong point and why it is so successful. It will be the same for Broken Legions.
I look forward to seeing the final product when it arrives at my doorstep. After a read through I will try it out again.
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Can anyone tell if or how you can field Egyptians?
From what I can see, the only thing hinting at them is the Cult of Seth and I gotta say that I'm not all that hot about Set.
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Can anyone tell if or how you can field Egyptians?
From what I can see, the only thing hinting at them is the Cult of Seth and I gotta say that I'm not all that hot about Set.
Cult of Set is currently the only way to field Egyptians. Of course, the rules are generic enough that it would be very easy to replace Set with pretty much any Egyptian god.
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Here's a genuine question.
It's kind of about Broken Legions, but wider than that as well.
I have seen, several time, Broken Legions being described as a 'granular system'.
I just don't get what that means. I've heard it used about other games as well.
Exactly what is meant by 'granular system'? I've tried to work it out and think about it in relation to Broken Legions but my simple brain just can't get at what it is meant to mean.
Like I say that's a genuine question - what is meant by 'granular system'?
The cynic in me thinks it may just be a bit of meaningless marketing/buzz speak. That you're not meant to think about it but accept it and nod sagely. In the same way the word 'meme' gets bandied about (mostly incorrectly), or 'solutions' or 'multi-media' or 'interactive'. You're not supposed to stop and question the use, just inanely accept it as an implied positive that really means something. Please tell me I'm wrong about that, and could someone please tell me what a 'granular system' is, what is meant to be so good about it (assuming it's a positive), and how that applies to Broken Legions?
Yes I'm one of those people who smile and nod politely when such words are used lol.
I've just looked online and Granular can mean a number of things and one of them is "highly detailed, having many small and distinct parts".
Now I received my copy of BL yesterday and I can say that I wouldn't say that phrase describes these rules. In fact the rules are very "playable" and are not what I would term highly detailed, which for someone like me is a big plus ;)
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Cult of Set is currently the only way to field Egyptians. Of course, the rules are generic enough that it would be very easy to replace Set with pretty much any Egyptian god.
Yep - replace "Set" with "God of Choice" and you're away. Some of the abilities and options available to the Egyptians are keyed towards Set, but can easily be renamed/re-themed, or taken with a dose of Handwavemol (two tablets, with water).
I asked the author about this and he replied that I was not the only one who had commented on it. His immediate solution at the time was to set the starting points at 150 instead. Whether this is the starting points in the book I don't know.
150 is the recommendation in the book. Thanks for playtesting!
The fluff is limited but I think that is because of the set page limit that Osprey has. It would mean that some of the game mechanics would need to be cut.
The fluff is limited, due to the space constraints you mention - any fluff we included would be limited at best, and come at the expense of game options - we erred in favour of more options! I personally hope that the core theme (Legionaries vs. Monsters!) is strong enough to inspire players to develop their own stories without getting bogged down in whether 'The Emperor' is Augustus, Nero, Trajan or Maximinus (beloved of rules lawyers everywhere) and so on.
For people wanting more inspiration on the background front, the author has also written a standalone title bringing Cthulhu to Rome (Link (https://ospreypublishing.com/the-cthulhu-wars-39469)), due out in November, and I heartily recommend both the Cthulhu Invictus supplement for the Call of Cthulhu RPG (Link (http://www.chaosium.com/cthulhu-invictus/)), and the Weird Wars Rome supplement (Link (https://www.peginc.com/store/weird-wars-rome/)) for Savage Worlds.
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I actually like the core plus special rules. What I do want is the special rules to be original and provide flavor.
My favorite skrimish rules are Brink of Battle which follow a similar approach.
I bought Broken Legions, read them and hope to play them soon. They look great, the page count seems to have been used effectively. Yes I would love a major thick book for a setting like this but it is not possible in the small osprey books and I think the author has done a great job at providing good flavor on the offered factions.
I also like the alternative scenarios offered.
I don't know what granular might mean to different people. I agree that these rules are not cumbersome nor hard to learn while they appear to provide enough tactical options for a game to be fun at this level with 10-15 guys.. which is not always the case..
As you can see, I'm happy to have broken legions :) it is a good addition.. I wish Northstar had come up with some minis for them, I can shop around but I like the standard warbands that NS has produced for games like IHMN :)
... I know, I know.. "hey man, this is just your opinion" :) ...
Francisco
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First off, the game is fundamentally the same system as the Legends of the Old West/High Seas (and LotR SBG), except modified to use a d10 instead of a d6. Personally, I think that the additional granularity is probably a great thing for these rules, because one of my main complaints about that system was that sometimes, victory came down to whoever could roll the most 6s.
I think (but the OP may correct me if I am wrong of course) that granularity here is used in the sense that using D10s give a wider spread of statistical possiblities than using D6s and through this yields more possible outcomes/events during the game. Because of this skills may be more varied, more circumstances can be taken into account when using skills and all this gives a "finer" grain to the game than D6s would.
It's like a picture done in a finer grain: it looks like the same picture as one done in a cruder grain when looked at casually, but when you enhance it, you can see more detail.
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I think (but the OP may correct me if I am wrong of course) that granularity here is used in the sense that using D10s give a wider spread of statistical possiblities than using D6s and through this yields more possible outcomes/events during the game. Because of this skills may be more varied, more circumstances can be taken into account when using skills and all this gives a "finer" grain to the game than D6s would.
It's like a picture done in a finer grain: it looks like the same picture as one done in a cruder grain when looked at casually, but when you enhance it, you can see more detail.
This is exactly what I meant. Thanks!
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Cult of Set is currently the only way to field Egyptians. Of course, the rules are generic enough that it would be very easy to replace Set with pretty much any Egyptian god.
Yep - replace "Set" with "God of Choice" and you're away. Some of the abilities and options available to the Egyptians are keyed towards Set, but can easily be renamed/re-themed, or taken with a dose of Handwavemol (two tablets, with water).
Thanks for the replies - practically all my games are vs my brother so bending the names shan't be an issue. :D
Ddogwood, when you say "currently" do you mean there are going to be supplements or such?
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Have gotten my hands on a copy of the rules, while I find the lack of fluff annoying it also does let me brew u my own stuff more, one could justify setting the game in Caesarian Rome or later or given the secret conflict nature perhaps earlier?
Looking at the lists I had an odd idea...a band of warriors backed by descendants of the Etruscans planning to strike back at Rome for past wrongs, waering theor old ancestral armur (the newer patterns are emblematic of Rome).
I'd choose either barbarians or possibly Greeks as Etruscans did have priests and also worshiped versions of Greek Gods.
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Hi i need some help since my english is either too bad or I can not find the explanation.
The defensive weapon rule for the buckler how exactly does it work?
Thanks
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I have ordered the book, and I'm wondering - which period in Roman history is this aimed at? This will guide my search for appropriate models to modify. It'd be nice to know specifically which historical blasphemies I'll be inflicting upon their uniforms and gear.
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I have ordered the book, and I'm wondering - which period in Roman history is this aimed at? This will guide my search for appropriate models to modify. It'd be nice to know specifically which historical blasphemies I'll be inflicting upon their uniforms and gear.
no specific period - but it is probably 1st-2nd century AD
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The illustrations as well as the fluff would suggest the late first century BC and onwards.
A few facts point at this. One is the fact that "The Emperor" orders a great deal of things and the first real Emperor was Augustus around 15BC.
Furthermore, sects like the Sons of Spartacus would also suggest that sect was founded after 71BC (the year Spartacus' rebellion ended and he died).
Of course a secret Roman movement could have existed as a forerunner of the Soldiers of the Eagle. And the cults of Mitras and Set were certainly much older than 1BC.
So there does not seem to be any reason that Broken Legions could not be set long before the Christian Era.
Ancient Egypt would of course be a great background, that with all those temples, tombs and necromantic undertones in the Egyptian religion. The controversy between Greece and Persia could prove to have surprising backgrounds. Who knows what the Spartans REALLY fought at Thermopylae??
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I have ordered the book, and I'm wondering - which period in Roman history is this aimed at? This will guide my search for appropriate models to modify. It'd be nice to know specifically which historical blasphemies I'll be inflicting upon their uniforms and gear.
I've collected, but not yet painted, some Successor Greeks for my Argonauts. I had a Warlord gift certificate that I used for a unit of Thorakitai for Argonauts. I'll probably use imitation legionaries as the hoplite mercenaries and I only need 4, IIRC. That was my solution for keeping it all in relatively the same time period.
Just to distinguish Order of Mithras from Order of the Eagle, I intend to use Late Republican Romans for Mithras (seeing how they're so nostalgic, they'll keep the old amor, too ;)) and just picked up a few EIR Romans from Black Tree Design on their 50% off sale for the Eagle guys.
Early Imperial Rome is really not my time period in 28mm as everything is invested in Late Romans. But I had those two free figures from Warlord that came with the books and never knew what to do with them. Now I have a use for them, the EIR centurion will be the leader of the Eagle faction and the the really cool Late Republican centurion (came with the Caesar supplement) will head up Mithras.
I love it when I find a use for loose minis! :D
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Considering that Cult of Set can hire sea peoples there is no need to worry about minor anachronisms ;) after all the setting is more fantasy than real history
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Considering that Cult of Set can hire sea peoples there is no need to worry about minor anachronisms ;) after all the setting is more fantasy than real history
They are not actual sea people, but these: http://www.wargamesfoundry.com/ancients/sea-peoples/ (http://www.wargamesfoundry.com/ancients/sea-peoples/)
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Thank you all. So Warlord's EIR in whatever uniforms would easily work for this project.
I'm kicking myself for re-basing my Steampunk EIR into multiple blocks for Dragon Rampant.
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Thank you all. So Warlord's EIR in whatever uniforms would easily work for this project.
I'm kicking myself for re-basing my Steampunk EIR into multiple blocks for Dragon Rampant.
I would stay away from Warlord EIR as the minis are very small, and do not match well with other lines. Try Aventine Miniatures instead, they have 4-man packs for all you need. Take a look at my blog: http://londonbymidnight.blogspot.dk/2015/12/broken-legions-soldiers-of-eagle.html (http://londonbymidnight.blogspot.dk/2015/12/broken-legions-soldiers-of-eagle.html)
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Heh. The difference is that I already have a bunch of Warlord EIR - the aforementioned Steampunk legion.
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I would stay away from Warlord EIR as the minis are very small, and do not match well with other lines. Try Aventine Miniatures instead, they have 4-man packs for all you need. Take a look at my blog: http://londonbymidnight.blogspot.dk/2015/12/broken-legions-soldiers-of-eagle.html (http://londonbymidnight.blogspot.dk/2015/12/broken-legions-soldiers-of-eagle.html)
Funny thing is, the figures sent with a rules purchase; the centurions EIR and especially the new Republican, are very BIG. But you are right, can't go wrong with anything from Aventine.