Dark Age Lard

[Lardy Rich]

Sid's very into weather and mist and stuff like that.  He's a weather man on Look East or one of the regional TV networks.  I'm not sure if he gets poetic on the box.  I know he has been one of the guest "experts" on Countdown once or twice, so clearly he's good with words.

Rich

[isaanmini]

I am interested to know how the campaign rules will work, I have picked up some clues from your blogs .....will there be some use in picking up or copying the OS dark age britain map or will it be more abstract ?
Also, have you finished sending out playtest rule sets.......I would be very keen to take a look.......

[Arlequín]

Sid's very into weather and mist and stuff like that.  He's a weather man on Look East or one of the regional TV networks.  I'm not sure if he gets poetic on the box.  I know he has been one of the guest "experts" on Countdown once or twice, so clearly he's good with words.

Rich

So he has fifty or so words to describe rain? Or maybe that's just us here in the North West...

I am interested to know how the campaign rules will work, I have picked up some clues from your blogs .....will there be some use in picking up or copying the OS dark age britain map or will it be more abstract ?

Yes, I'd like some details too please, however vague and unformed they may be.

[Lardy Rich]

Arlequin, et al

I have put some more details of the system and how it will work on Lard Island News.  This is explaining the long-term objective and where the journey begins.  We'll be filling in more detail as we continue the quest. 



A Saxon raid into British controlled land around Verulamium in the summer of 473 AD



Please feel free to ask any questions, I will try to expand where you are interested.

Rich

[Arlequín]

Rich, I've already clocked that, but thanks. I think it sounds like a fun and workable concept. I'm looking at around the late 6th/Early 7th Century in what is now Shropshire and I think the concept will work fine, judging by what you've said.

What sort of starting strength are you looking at for an initial warband?

[LeadAsbestos]

What sort of starting strength are you looking at for an initial warband?

Says in the report that around 40 minis will make a good starting warband.

I'm sold! Now just release the damn thing! (If you could come in at less than the $40USD they want for SAGA, it would be much appreciated! )

[Arlequín]

*Facepalm* so it does... 

[Lardy Rich]

The basic starter army for the Romano-British will be six Comanipulares or Elites, twelve Milites or Warriors, eighteen Numeri or Levy and four archers or missile troops.  They will have a Warlord/King (actually a minor Lord or Tribune at start of the campaign) two sub-commanders and one champion.

A Saxon force will be made up of a dozen Gedriht or Elites, and eighteen Duguth or Geoguth, or Warriors.  They will have Warlord/King plus two sub-commanders and one Champion. 

As the campaign progresses you'll see that force expand gradually.  For example Cyddic's win on Tuesday night means that he can add a couple of volunteer warriors to his force for next week.  You can also get mercenaries involved, up to a dozen from early on.  Basically it allows you to build up a force at a graceful pace and get some cracking games while you're doing it.  I found that to be a fun and motivating way to build up my Sharp Practice collection, start small and then a few more figures for each game.  It makes it achievable even for a slow (and rubbish) painter like me.

Ultimately I see Dux Brit running up to the point where your Lord or Tribune has secured his Kingdom and beaten his foe.  After that we'll produce a set of battle rules to allow him to go on and become a major figure in larger battles where we introduce figure ratios, so maybe the six figures will be sixty men rather than just six.

Price is always an interesting one.  I used to have a very definite policy of producing rules as cheaply as possible to allow as many people as possible access to them.  Sharp Practice is a case in point, it's got a good quality 300gsm cover in full colour, but the rules themselves are black and white with some pen and ink line drawings.  We sell them for £12, so about $19 US.  However we cannot get our rules reviewed in the glossy hobby magazines unless we produce our rules in full colour, so we are having to respond to that. 

Personally I think it is slightly crazy; rule are rules whether they are in colour or not, but I must admit that producing rules in colour does allow me to give better illustrated examples of games in play, and that does help players trying to learn a new game.  Of course that does mean that the cost of printing shoots up signifcantly, so you are unlikely to get full colour rules these days for less than £20 (which is what I Ain't Been Shot Mum retail for, and they are undoubtedly much cheaper than most comparably produced rule sets), so that's ust over thirty bucks US.   

I'd be interested to know what people think is a fair and reasonable price for a set of rules, say sixty-odd pages in full colour.  Although I can't promise to live up (or down) to your expectations!   

[Arlequín]

I wouldn't know where to start in pricing up a set of rules, as the cost is in proportion to their value to me. A good set of rules, well presented and ultimately giving a good game, is easily as valuable as one which is filled with period fluff, 'how to paint' and other stuff that pads out the page count to the 150-200 pages region, but doesn't actually add that much to the game itself.

As we're talking £25-£30 for that style of rule book, in hard cover (and sometimes not), which Amazon usually reduce to around £15-£20, and contrast it to the Osprey 'Men at Arms' series (which are largely b&w still) at around 40 pages for £9.99 (£6-ish from Amazon), we're talking £10 at least. 'Dux Bellorum' is 64 pages and is priced at £11.50 (£8.50 Amazon) and is unlikely to be in full colour... I'd probably say there's your benchmark purely on face value. 'SAGA' is £25 for 76 pages, full colour but soft binding, and 4 'Battleboards' and I've seen it mentioned in reviews that it is over-priced. I don't have it so I can't comment on that, but where there's folk willing to say it out loud, then there's a lot more whinging in the background.

The game sounds my cup of tea though and I'm liking what I'm reading so far. I'm presuming that replacing losses amongst your 'elites' etc will be a lot more difficult than replacing them with standard warriors, hence the high initial count (in my opinion anyway)? This isn't a big deal as I've yet to come across a TFL product which is carved in stone... I'm just curious.

[LeadAsbestos]

I guess I'm just a cheapskate when It comes to rules! $40 for a set of minis I wanted wouldn't bother me in the slightest,  but I balk at paying that for a book, seven when it looks as good as this.
Time to re-evaluate! I' m in! Itching to get my hands on these rules. Even reading my Warlord Chronicles again to get in the right mood!

[LeadAsbestos]

Update!

http://toofatlardies.co.uk/blog/

[Atheling]

Looking forward to buying a copy and seeing what's what  .

Darrell.

[Blackwolf]

I'm interested And so are my Picts

[Poiter50]

My Saxons are busy gathering their strength and building on their land ceded by their former Roman paymasters.

[Aaron]

I'm very interested in this and a friend has some Arthurian-Romano-Brit-Whatchamacalits already painted. Who should I be looking at for evil Saxon baddie types in 28mm?