Gangs of Rome

[rumacara]

Jagannath, both buildings, civilians (mobs) and gangs are available to pre-order. They will be shiped in january.
You have both separated and in deals.

[Carpathian]

I see some must-haves here, especially the mega-mob deal.   

Like the gangbanger poses in general, even if there are only 10 of them, not allowing for head and arm swaps.   Would wish for at least some long gowns for the ladies, which even slaves wore...  Biggest problem I can see is getting enough cards.   (Even if you only need 5 of them, having the same characters come back to life each new round must become tiresome.  Unless you buy more which is the idea I suppose.)

Cards, tokens, and coins...it does look interesting and they are practically giving the rule book away.  If there is a second edition I hope they will rethink the marketing of it and just release it as a box set or something.   Until then, most likely sticking with the entertaining, underappreciated, and budget-friendly, Song of Shadows and Dust.

Amazing terrain.   Couldn't wait to graffiti them    

Doesn't compare but I made my own budget paper terrain theater a couple of years back.   The album is still there,

http://www.photobucket.com/user/captainsanta/library/Rome

[Agis]

I am still unsure if I join in...
The gaming material (MDF coins?) look rather cheap which is not translating well to the high price!
The minis are OK, but not better than the Foundry Ancient Civilians:


https://www.wargamesfoundry.com/collections/ancient-civilians

I will wait for the pdf rulebook!

[nervisfr]

Maybe less expensive are the Warbase's building range :

for the 28mm  :

https://warbases.co.uk/?product_cat=veni-vidi-vici-roman



and 15mm :


https://warbases.co.uk/?product_cat=veni-vidi-vici-15mm-roman


All these things are useless for me now.  
They are produced too late  as i have nearly finished my city  ......nearly i said  

[Gary Peach]

Having painted both the Foundry and the GoR figures, they are both excellent figures and scale well.  The GoR fighter figures come with all thats needed in the game, cards, coins, game specific bases.  The buildings may not size well with other makes, take your chances on that working.  The buildings are built into the game and in some cases may have specific details laid out for scenarios, details that will only come with the buildings themselves.  As for the money side, a lot of time and work has gone into the 'optimizing' of them - and as for profiteering - Ive read a lot of implied comment, the designer of them doesnt get paid unless the sell.

[axabrax]

I’m not so sure. The GoR figs are new sculpts by who, Steve Saleh and Paul Hicks with interchangeable heads? The Foundry sculpts look like figs made as an amalgam from bits of other Foundry figures on new dollies? They have that Casting Room look about them.

I am still unsure if I join in...
The gaming material (MDF coins?) look rather cheap which is not translating well to the high price!
The minis are OK, but not better than the Foundry Ancient Civilians:


https://www.wargamesfoundry.com/collections/ancient-civilians

I will wait for the pdf rulebook!

[rdewhurst]

I really like the look of this game. I love Ancient Rome, I would really enjoy getting together the scenery, and painting a couple of gangs of the miniatures. But for me, it's got to be a good game I'll play a lot, and the biggest problem I see is this--

Biggest problem I can see is getting enough cards.   (Even if you only need 5 of them, having the same characters come back to life each new round must become tiresome.  Unless you buy more which is the idea I suppose.)

Part of the game is going to be trying out different characters and synergies and different things going on. If I am supplying both sides, or even if I manage to get a friend interested, we are going to get bored of the same characters. £8 a time every time I want to try a new character (just to get the card, I can reuse an already painted miniature)?  No guarantee it won't be almost identical to one I already have? No way of getting particular skills or abilities I'd like to try in my gang?

Even if all the characters are balanced, there are going to be some gangs that work better together, cover each other's weaknesses, have synergies between their stats and abilities. People who are lucky with the cards they get-- or who buy a large number-- are going to have the edge.

So, very reluctantly, because I absolutely love almost everything about this, I don't think this is the game for me. I would have still probably bought the miniatures and terrain, but as so much of the cost seems to be eaten up by the cards, coins etc., I probably can't justify it.

I would quite like to be convinced otherwise before the pre-order ends, though.

[/quote]

[Antonio J Carrasco]

I really like the look of this game. I love Ancient Rome, I would really enjoy getting together the scenery, and painting a couple of gangs of the miniatures. But for me, it's got to be a good game I'll play a lot, and the biggest problem I see is this--

PDF rules will be up for free on December 14. Until then, we only can especulate how the game actually works. Maybe the cards are too few. Maybe the cards are enough; neither we know how the stats and skills will actually interact with each other and if they will, or will not, create übergangs. Even if they do -create powerful synergies, I mean-, there are no guarantees whatsoever that you will get the card that you need, regardless how much you spend, as the skills and stats are randomly generated, i.e. there is not a constant of rarity for the cards themselves that would guarantee you that given a sufficient number of purchases you will get the card that is the perfect match for the card of other of your fighters.

On the other hand, you can always come up with your own stats and skills, customizing your gang (I plan to do it with mine, by the way). In closed groups of friends, it can work perfectly. You only would need "official" cards when having casual games with strangers or if participating in a tournament -if ever one is organized, I mean-.

[WuZhuiQiu]

This is beginning to sound like what I had heard about Magic ...

[pocoloco]

PDF rules will be up for free on December 14. Until then, we only can especulate how the game actually works. Maybe the cards are too few. Maybe the cards are enough; neither we know how the stats and skills will actually interact with each other and if they will, or will not, create übergangs. Even if they do -create powerful synergies, I mean-, there are no guarantees whatsoever that you will get the card that you need, regardless how much you spend, as the skills and stats are randomly generated, i.e. there is not a constant of rarity for the cards themselves that would guarantee you that given a sufficient number of purchases you will get the card that is the perfect match for the card of other of your fighters.

On the other hand, you can always come up with your own stats and skills, customizing your gang (I plan to do it with mine, by the way). In closed groups of friends, it can work perfectly. You only would need "official" cards when having casual games with strangers or if participating in a tournament -if ever one is organized, I mean-.

I think that's not so relevant, as how can one need some fighter card if there is, apparently, almost endless variations of cards available. I understand that this might be difficult for the types of players who like to have over-powered lists and armies (aka cheesy lists) but those incline to more narrative type of play, there really shouldn't be that much of a hassle... or am I missing something? 
But I do see the concerns about possible limitations of having to just rely on the fighter cards one has purchased and not having a chance to make owns own... unless you just make them, regardless of buying or not buying more.

[Coenus Scaldingus]

Now that we know the prices, I suppose an additional disadvantage is that the pricetag on the fighters seems to be drastically increased due to the included 'coins' and other bits. Now I was more of a fan of the various other figures anyway, but getting the fighters purely for the model (using them in other game systems) doesn't look very attractive at 8 quid per figure.

As for (once again) the randomness of things included, the 'no guarantees whatsoever' is more of a problem than a solution in so many ways. Firstly, not knowing what you get will be an obstacle to many. If for whatever reason you really want X or Y, you will indeed not be guaranteed to find it in several, nor several dozen purchases. On the other hand, the law of averages means that you will be much more likely to get particular desired skills or coins the more you buy. From what I've seen in trading card games, you can thus either shell out for many packs, or pay a lot for the better options on the second hand market. (Although it remains to be seen if the game will be big enough for any of that to happen.) This is not just problematic for those competetive minded people out there, but also to the ones playing against them.

Besides, they sell figures related to the randomly distributed coins: so you either have to hope you get a 'gladiator' coin if you buy and want to use that figure, or you find out you happen to get that coin, after which you have to place another order to get the mini to actually use him.

(And yes, everybody is free to play the game however they want, using home-made tokens or whatever, but this is still a place to discuss the intended game design.)

[Antonio J Carrasco]

I think that's not so relevant, as how can one need some fighter card if there is, apparently, almost endless variations of cards available. I understand that this might be difficult for the types of players who like to have over-powered lists and armies (aka cheesy lists) but those incline to more narrative type of play, there really shouldn't be that much of a hassle... or am I missing something? 
But I do see the concerns about possible limitations of having to just rely on the fighter cards one has purchased and not having a chance to make owns own... unless you just make them, regardless of buying or not buying more.

That is exactly my point: it is almost impossible to create an übergang.

[Antonio J Carrasco]

Now that we know the prices, I suppose an additional disadvantage is that the pricetag on the fighters seems to be drastically increased due to the included 'coins' and other bits. Now I was more of a fan of the various other figures anyway, but getting the fighters purely for the model (using them in other game systems) doesn't look very attractive at 8 quid per figure.

As for (once again) the randomness of things included, the 'no guarantees whatsoever' is more of a problem than a solution in so many ways. Firstly, not knowing what you get will be an obstacle to many. If for whatever reason you really want X or Y, you will indeed not be guaranteed to find it in several, nor several dozen purchases. On the other hand, the law of averages means that you will be much more likely to get particular desired skills or coins the more you buy. From what I've seen in trading card games, you can thus either shell out for many packs, or pay a lot for the better options on the second hand market. (Although it remains to be seen if the game will be big enough for any of that to happen.) This is not just problematic for those competetive minded people out there, but also to the ones playing against them.

Besides, they sell figures related to the randomly distributed coins: so you either have to hope you get a 'gladiator' coin if you buy and want to use that figure, or you find out you happen to get that coin, after which you have to place another order to get the mini to actually use him.

(And yes, everybody is free to play the game however they want, using home-made tokens or whatever, but this is still a place to discuss the intended game design.)

For what the designers have explained of the game that won't be -or should not be- an issue. There are not "gladiator" coins, in the sense of coins powerful enough to unbalance the game. WHat there are is "rare" coins -abilities, if you wish- but with its rarity compesated by its cost in points. Roughly, a rare coin -it can be a piece of extra equipment, for instance- will be equivalent in cost at two uncommon or three common. In theory that would stop the power players from outbuying their opponents. In other words, despite their randomness GoR does not work like a Trading Card Game. At least that is what the designers claim, and bar the actual rules I trust their word until proved otherwise.

[moiterei_1984]

For what the designers have explained of the game that won't be -or should not be- an issue. There are not "gladiator" coins, in the sense of coins powerful enough to unbalance the game. WHat there are is "rare" coins -abilities, if you wish- but with its rarity compesated by its cost in points. Roughly, a rare coin -it can be a piece of extra equipment, for instance- will be equivalent in cost at two uncommon or three common. In theory that would stop the power players from outbuying their opponents. In other words, despite their randomness GoR does not work like a Trading Card Game. At least that is what the designers claim, and bar the actual rules I trust their word until proved otherwise.

That’s how I read it too. My only gripe would be you more or less need to buy the Footsore miniatures to get hold of the cards and coins to be able to play the game. So if you should already happen to have a collection for that kind of game, you’re more or less dependent on people selling their cards/ coins on ebay or the like.
On the other hand I can totally understand Footsores point from a marketing point of view. They might be over estimating the market for a product in a niche within a niche market though.

[Coenus Scaldingus]

There are not "gladiator" coins, in the sense of coins powerful enough to unbalance the game. WHat there are is "rare" coins -abilities, if you wish- but with its rarity compesated by its cost in points. Roughly, a rare coin -it can be a piece of extra equipment, for instance- will be equivalent in cost at two uncommon or three common. In theory that would stop the power players from outbuying their opponents. In other words, despite their randomness GoR does not work like a Trading Card Game. At least that is what the designers claim, and bar the actual rules I trust their word until proved otherwise.

What I'm saying is that there literally is a coin for a gladiator ally. Whether it has a points value that completely balances it out isn't the main point I'm making (although at this stage there is no way of telling how balanced the game will be, and I tend to be cautiously pessimistic when sales strategies of this type are involved) - the point is that the model of a gladiator is sold seperately from the randomly assigned coins allowing you to field said gladiator. You can purchase the gladiator, but in 20 packs of gang fighters may not find the ability to actually field him (especially problematic if the rules for the upgrade are indeed only found in the packs containing the relevant coins), or you can buy a gang fighter, then find out you have to purchase a gladiator figure to make use of the upgrade coin contained in your pack.