Warlords of Erehwon, Warlords new fantasy game.

[jetengine]

So some interesting info has recently dropped. The long rumoured 'Fantares' (Fantasy Antares) ruleset will be arriving at the end of January next year under the title of Warlords of Erehwon.

This is what I've found so far....

     Warlords of Erehwon transports us to the multifarious fantasy realms of fiction, folklore and myth, placing us at the head of a fighting force of our choosing. Model warbands clash across fantastical tabletops as humans and monsters, the living and the dead, war over the spoils of victory in a universe of heroes, sorcerers and the supernatural.

Our game has been designed with a single objective in mind - to allow us to play fast paced and exciting miniature battles upon a modestly-sized table between rival forces of that we describe as warbands. A warband represents your own band of warriors - courageous humans, blood-thirsty monsters, perhaps even minions that you have raised from beyond the grave to do your bidding.

Your force might typically comprise a few dozen models organised into loose groups of fighters, commonly five to ten strong each, or a single model in the case of chariots, giant monsters and war machines. This gives us our ‘warband’ style game, large enough to provide scope for scenario building, with plenty of opportunity to reward tactical play, but at the same time keeping things manageable in terms of the size of our forces and space required.

Warlord of Erehwon uses ten-sided dice providing for a game with mechanical depth and considerable adaptability. An intuitive universal dice test system means that play proceeds at a good pace once players are familiar with the core mechanics. A host of unique and entertaining attributes ensure that different creatures fight and behave after their own fashion, bringing their own mix of strengths and weaknesses to the fight.

The sequence of game play is determined by a dice-bag draw, and units are activated one at a time in a way that engages and challenges both players. A draw for your warband is an opportunity to launch your attack, or perhaps to set an ambush, maybe to seize a tactically important part of the battlefield, or to cast a spell and turn the tide of battle in your favour. Beware though - for whatever you do there is no guarantee that the next draw might not favour your foe - a Warlord of Erehwon must be prepared for all situations.

Force selector lists are included to represent the following warbands :

Barbarians - Axe-wielding Northmen, heroic chariot-riding Fianna, mounted hordes from the Steppe and even Mammoth riding Neanderthals.

Beastmen - Bestial furry masses in half-animal form, braying, snorting and grunting with mutant might.

Dwarfs - Who do you think you’re calling short? Sturdy axe wielding maniacs with a heady dose of dour and tempers even shorter than they are.

Elves - Touched by magic and faster than a flying arrow, the Sidhe of ancient legend and races of popular fiction - all reside herein.

Gnolls - Creatures of canine descent and dogged determination - fearsome fighters of monstrous appearance and insatiable taste for flesh.

Goblins - Undersized and mean-spirited critters dangerous in numbers. Just don’t turn your back. Not for a minute.

Halflings - Pint sized humanoid creatures in the tradition of ‘the wee folk’. Remarkably accurate with any missile and deceptively innocent in appearance.

Knight - A retinue of medieval style romance and popular fiction complete with armoured knights, brave yeomen, courtly wizards and sturdy peasants.

Olympian - The heroes and warriors of Greek legend together with their rivals and associates from myth and popular culture.

Orcs - Thuggish over-sized monsters, blessed with simple minded brutality, keen on large-unwieldy weapons, not too bright.

Undead - The walking dead, skeleton warriors, zombies and malevolent spirits led by Necromancers, Liches and Wraiths.

Monsters - our selector list provides for all the giants, dragons and other traditional fantasy monsters that can also be included as part of any warband.» 

.5 things to start with. Rulebook (£30), Box of Orcs (£20 for 24 minis) , Box of Skeletons (£20 for 24 minis) and two 'Army Box' sets. Both £50, both with a mixture of Metal and Plastic minis (Guessing Warlord will sculpt additional stuff) 91 minis exactly.

The minis are the Wargames Factory Skeletons and Orcs. Though I'm guessing they'll sculpt more stuff for the other kits or use the Northstar stuff maybe ?


Their going to have to do some very clever marketing though to stand out from GW beyond "Ours is more classical and cheaper with a different ruleset"

[Mr.J]

Sounds interesting. I’m working on some rules agnostic barbarians at the moment and I’d be interested in picking up the Wargames Factory Skeletons when they reappear.

[sir_shvantselot]

Any idea what the approach is to square or round bases?

[Nord]

Seems that fantasy is alive again. Saga Age of Magic coming, this Erewhon (terrible name pun alert), revival of Lord of the Rings, Osprey Oathmark game, plus a few other smaller name games (so small I fail to remember them). Let's hope Warlord can support their game properly this time - what the heck was that last fantasy game called?

[robh]

Another tired rehash of stereotypical fantasy forces.  Couldn't they find even a single original concept, these guys have had what, 30 odd years and still re-inventing the same worn out wheel.

[Sir_Theo]

I'll keep half an eye on it. But with the aforementioned Middle Earth, KoW (and Vanguard) and Saga supplement I'm pretty well served for fantasy rules atm.

[spect_spidey]

My guess this is another quick cash grab to make use of the existing orc and skeleton sprues they acquired. It seems to be a pattern with Warlord Games. They did it with Project Z and Test of Honour prior to this. Both of those games seemed decent enough, but not nearly enough support for them to keep them going.

[Lost Egg]

The info in the first post makes it sound like they will be almost a generic set of rules, not necessarily tied to a mini line. If so it might encourage me to use Celtos minis as that game seems to be dead/painfully-slowly-moving-towards-mass-battle.

Any idea what the approach is to square or round bases?

Well there are pics of the boxes out but I can't make out which bases they are using. Given they've mentioned loose units I assume its round or doesn't matter.

http://ttfix.blogspot.com/2018/11/warlord-games-new-fantasy-system.html

Another tired rehash of stereotypical fantasy forces.  Couldn't they find even a single original concept, these guys have had what, 30 odd years and still re-inventing the same worn out wheel.

Trouble is, making slight variations of the same sells and generally seems to be a safe(ish) bet.

[Munindk]

The Orcs look like they'd fit in well with the GW LoTR Orcs and the Oathmark Goblins. I probably dont want 20 of the Warlord Orcs on the table, but 10 or so and the rest  for conversion parts for GW and Oathmark is very tempting.

If the skeletons are closer to 28mm then GW's they should sell well and I'll definitely have a use for them.

I dont know if there is a market for another generic (and unsupported ruleset probably) right now, but more options isnt a bad thing.

[Lost Egg]

No idea on the scale.

Options is always good as not everyone likes whats out now.

[jetengine]

Any idea what the approach is to square or round bases?

Whilst I cant confirm, in the Orc youtube video their on squares. Though I wouldn't be surprised if they take a 'we dont care' stance on rounds/squares

My guess this is another quick cash grab to make use of the existing orc and skeleton sprues they acquired. It seems to be a pattern with Warlord Games. They did it with Project Z and Test of Honour prior to this. Both of those games seemed decent enough, but not nearly enough support for them to keep them going.

Yes and no afaict, the orcs and skeletons appear to be the things Kickstarting the game but from what I can tell they'll be making their own stuff to add.

The info in the first post makes it sound like they will be almost a generic set of rules, not necessarily tied to a mini line. If so it might encourage me to use Celtos minis as that game seems to be dead/painfully-slowly-moving-towards-mass-battle.

Trouble is, making slight variations of the same sells and generally seems to be a safe(ish) bet.

Yes from what I've seen its taking the Bolt Action idea of "Everyone makes WW2/Fantasy so we cant copyright it". As for lsck of variety Western Fantasy sells well and as cool as using other cultures fantasy ideals would be they either dont take off or  the games get mismanaged.

No idea on the scale.

Options is always good as not everyone likes whats out now.

28mm, possibly true 28mm

[Etranger]

Seems that fantasy is alive again.... this Erewhon (terrible name pun alert), ...

It has a long association with fantasy, so Warlord aren't to blame for that. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erewhon

[Vanth]

So another skirmish ruleset, not a proper massbattle ruleset... and rushed in the launch with the definitely subpar WGF miniatures. Doesn't bode well, think I will give this a pass

[Hobgoblin]

It has a long association with fantasy, so Warlord aren't to blame for that. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erewhon

Yes - and Fritz Lieber's Nehwon ("No When") was a play on it, so there's even a link to swords and sorcery.

On generic fantasy wargames: I think there's a strong argument to be made that generic rulesets tend to be better than those that are tied into specific ranges of miniatures or specific backgrounds. Hordes of the Things is a prime example: it's clearly still played a lot (including tournaments) and has had only two editions in 27 years - and only two tiny rules tweaks between those. Think of all the setting-specific games that have completely disappeared in that time. And the likes of Song of Blades and Dragon Rampant are going strong.

Obviously, there are few exceptions (Warhammer, chiefly) where the strength of the IP overwhelms deficiencies in the rules, but robust rules that can be used with any miniatures are surely a good thing. The commercial argument's different, though.

But of course the quality of the rules are everything when it comes to generic games.

Seems odd to reboot gnolls so that they're canine creatures rather than feliform ones (like hyenas)! [/pedant]

[robh]

The Orcs look like they'd fit in well with the GW LoTR Orcs and the Oathmark Goblins............
........If the skeletons are closer to 28mm then GW's they should sell well and I'll definitely have a use for them.

The ex WGF orcs are a perfect match with the GW LotR plastic orcs and Moria Goblins.  They are pretty much exact Angus McBride style models (which is originally where much of the design inspiration came from).
The skeletons are small by modern standards, but are very nicely detailed and are the only ones since the original GW Skeleton Horde box that look as if they could feasibly be the "inside" of a standard human figure.  Their almost infinite poses and lack of costume/equipment makes them perfect for accessorising dungeons or terrain

.......with the definitely subpar WGF miniatures............

The ex Wargames Factory Orcs and Skeletons are in no way sub-par in the hands of a competent modeller.
In their original moulding format they were superb value, extremely finely detailed and well proportioned models. In terms of scope, pose options and usability nothing released since even comes close.
The real shame is that Warlord have chosen to increase the price by 25% and simultaneously cut the box contents by 33%