Latest book received

[Argonor]

[WillieB]

The Pagan Lord. Part 7 in the Uthred Saga by Bernard Cornwell

[Pijlie]

The Orenda by Joseph Boyden.

[grant]

How is it?

[Argonor]

How is it?

I bought it because I played a game at Attic Attack I, and liked the mechanics a lot, so, obviously, I think the rules are rather good.

Theres a lot of stuff about generating terrain that requires a LOT of terrain to pick from, so I'll not be using that a whole lot ohter than for inspiration - and also some 'Habitat'-rules with monsters attacking your units if they come too close, which are fine for spicing up things now and then, but, frankly, won't see much use, because - once more - it requires a lot of extra minis to be bought and painted, and I like to focus on my armies instead.

The simple movement and combat rules are what realy makes this game worth every penny. If you have ever gone grey-haired trying to manouver a Warhamster unit into position for making that decisive charge, you'll simply LOVE this set of rules. Don't take my word for it, buy the rules and see for yourself   If you've tried SAGA, you'll have a hint of how a unit behaves during movement. Very easy, very simple, and it WORKS!

Combat is very simple, too, you roll a d6 for each warrior fighting, have to score a set value to hit, and your opponent gets 1d6 for each warrior to roll for his defense, saving on a set value. The unit that takes most casualties recoils away from the enemy, unless it has an ability that prevents this, in which case the units are locked in combat.

EDIT:
A unit only recoils if it is 'loose' (not 'formed - i.e. in 'skirmish' formations as opposed to 'tight' rank-and-file formation). Formed units do not recoil.
And the ability that allows 'loose' formations to not recoil is called 'tenacious'
/EDIT

You can play a fairly large battle in about 2 hours (including set-up). and the army lists (included in the book), with not much tweaking, easily allows the use of your existing armies for other game systems. You can use single based or unit based models, it doesn't matter to the mechanics.

On top of this, we have a growing GoB15mm community here in Denmark (we simply halve all measurements), which was another motivating factor for getting the rules - although I intend to play the game in 28mm with LotR minis, I have been eyeing Mark Copplestones 15/18mm range for a while, and I think my 15mm army will be a combination of barbarians and dwarfs.

[grant]

Thanks for the review. Sounds like a lot of fun, and perhaps the smaller minis and price would make it a fun pick up game. I sometimes miss Warhammer (never 40k...) but couldn't possibly do Warhammer again.

[Argonor]

Thanks for the review. Sounds like a lot of fun, and perhaps the smaller minis and price would make it a fun pick up game. I sometimes miss Warhammer (never 40k...) but couldn't possibly do Warhammer again.

As written, you can easily use your existing collection to play GoB - it is written for 28mm, we just adapt it to 15mm by halving all distances (and the cost associated  ).

I love the mechanics, just as I love SAGA. This new trend of simpler, faster games is right down my alley! 

[grant]

I think I would be tempted to game it in smaller scale.

I've sold all my 28s.

[Argonor]

I think I would be tempted to game it in smaller scale.

I've sold all my 28s.

Ah, of course. I even contemplated using 10mm minis, as the system is indifferent to the basing style, but I think it would become too fiddly - and GoB15 already has a player-base around here 

[Poiter50]

Osprey Vercors 1944 (as inspiration for a campaign later this year).

[Sir Barnaby Hammond-Rye]

Outlaws of the Marsh - an English translation of an ancient Chinese story. The books are gorgeous!    Looking forward to reading them...may be some scenario ideas in there...

[Plynkes]

That's another name for "The Water Margin" isn't it?

Used to watch the Japanese TV series of that when I was a little tot. I absolutely loved it, but had no idea what was actually going on. 


Those books do look lovely. Nice one.

[OSHIROmodels]

Very jealous 

Where did you get it from?

Used to watch the Japanese TV series of that when I was a little tot. I absolutely loved it, but had no idea what was actually going on. 

I've got it on DVD and watched it in my convalescence just after Christmas and still didn't really know what was going on 

cheers

James

[Sir Barnaby Hammond-Rye]

Yes, according to Wiki:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_Margin

The story, set in the Song dynasty, tells of how a group of 108 outlaws gathers at Mount Liang (or Liangshan Marsh) to form a sizable army before they are eventually granted amnesty by the government and sent on campaigns to resist foreign invaders and suppress rebel forces. It has introduced to readers many of the most well known characters in Chinese literature, such as Wu Song, Lin Chong and Lu Zhishen.

Apparently there are many versions of the story.

This one is:

Of the later translations, Chinese-naturalised scholar Sidney Shapiro's Outlaws of the Marsh (1980) is considered to be one of the best. However, as it was published during the Cultural Revolution, this edition received little attention then.[24] It is a translation of a combination of both the 70-chapter and 100-chapter versions. The most recent translation, titled The Marshes Of Mount Liang, by Alex and John Dent-Young, is a five-volume translation of the 120-chapter version. [25]

[Sir Barnaby Hammond-Rye]

I snapped it up in the TMP Marketplace.