Brink of Battle - New Skirmish Rules!

[Faust23]

Greetings everyone!

This is the formal announcement thread for the worldwide release of my skirmish rules, Brink of Battle: Skirmish Gaming through the Ages!

The Prof has been kind enough to set up this link to my flyer here http://leadadventureforum.com/downloads/BrinkofBattle_MarketingRelease.pdf

My rules will be released at ConQuest Sacramento 2012 on March 17th & 18th.  They will then go on sale worldwide from www.brinkofbattle.com or my Lulu.com store on March 19th.

The retail price is $29.95 USD.  It is designed for you to pick any period in history and play 1:1 level skirmish games using between 3-20 models per side.

This is the official thread to discuss the game, ask questions, review the flyer, etc. 

Thanks for checking it out! 

Noch Weiter!

Faust

[YPU]

Looks very tempting, I must say the way the rules are described sounds good to me.

I would love to see a demo battle or a AAR of this!

[joroas]

This sounds like a great idea, love to see it in action. 

[Anatoli]

I will be doing a demo game/AAR and review of the rules as soon as they arrive in my mailbox 

[Faust23]

I will be sending Anatoli his copy for review today.  His will be the first official review of the game, and if you have seen his other reviews, you'll know the high standard of his reports.  That's why I asked him to do the first one. 

Since it's against LAF rules to crosspost, Prof suggested I set this forum up. If you have friends that might be interested from other forums, please let them know about this thread.

Thanks!

[Mako]

They sound interesting, but it'd be nice to hear a bit more about them, especially info on:

initiative determination
movement and facing
melee combat
parrying attacks
how shields are handled
bows and crossbows
guns
different armor levels
dicing conventions used
injury and death
etc.

[Faust23]

They sound interesting, but it'd be nice to hear a bit more about them, especially info on:

initiative determination
movement and facing
melee combat
parrying attacks
how shields are handled
bows and crossbows
guns
different armor levels
dicing conventions used
injury and death
etc.

That's quite a list.   


Those questions will be better answered by Anatoli's battle report & review.  I will copy a post with similar questions from another forum in a minute, and maybe that will help a little.

The problem with detailing each item you listed is that many of the answers won't make sense without the context provided by the rules proper.  Or, will dilute the content so much, that people will prejudge or have a negative opinion of it before learning more.

So, I will post some more info, but we will wait for Anatoli's review before diving into the nitty gritty. 

[Faust23]

As promised this is part I from a post on TMP regarding questions about the game:

Great questions. Let me take 'em one at a time.

Anatoli's Game Room will host the first review/after action report. His reviews are, imo, top notch. I just mailed his copy from the US today, so it'll probably be a couple weeks before that's up. He said he will post on his blog, TMP, LAF, & Steve Dean forums as well.

Rulebook is 139 pages, color cover, black & white interior.

It is not a rule set written to sell miniatures, and it doesn't endorse or promote any line of models. As such it doesn't have ads or fluff, just rules and well illustrated diagrams.

It will be for sale online from my website and lulu store. I will send plenty of notification when that is ready. It goes on sale March 19th.

For those in California, it will premier with full demo tables at ConQuest Sacramento on March 17th & 18th. It will also be carried by The Launch Pad comics & games in Lodi California.

That's the list of what's. Next post is the how's.

[Faust23]

And here's part II:

The greatest value to my rules is that it plays like 3 different games in one. Each different Period holds true to the styles of fighting available at the time. The players are responsible for keeping each other historically accurate, not the rules. (I know better than to throw my rules between to arguing historical gamers! )

A skirmish between Romans and Gauls plays out like it would historically; lot's of hand to hand fighting, with a sprinkle of thrown weapons or bow fire tipping the scales.

A fight between Forlorn Hope's in the Thirty Years' War will play much like it occurred; unreliable firearms clouding the field with smoke, and occasionally wasting targets outright. Push of pike and hand to hand come to the fore, while musketeers spend time reloading.

SEAL Team 6 assualting a compound in the modern era will end much as it does in real life; not much hand combat because people die at distance far more often.

Regardless of the critics who may espouse that you can't have a system that represents multiple historical conflicts without losing the 'feel' of that type of fighting, it can be done.

Ater all, the same human parameters and laws of physics applied to ancient as well as modern times. The only difference between fighting men of all periods is their methods, equipment, and experience.

At the man to man level, this becomes an easier task because individual differences between warriors matter. At a much larger scale, averages play a more distinct role.

So, you pick a specific year from history, say 1500AD. You pick a place, say Italy. You and your opponent build your forces based on what was historically available to your chosen soldiers. In this case, let's say one of you picks German Landsknecht and the other French Gendarmes. You both choose what type of Force Organization you will each use, whether Elite, Standard, or Horde. This gives you the minimums and maximums that you have to choose between three types of models: Commander, Veterans, & Troopers.

You purchase your models, and their Ratings, Traits, & Gear then proceed to Mission selection.

You can either play one off games, or do a campaign that gives your models injuries and experience that can improve or alter their abilities.

I hope that answers a few of the more 'how did you do that' type questions. If you have others, please ask.

Thanks,
Faust

[Faust23]

Anatoli got his Brink of Battle rulebook today!  Not long now before we get his review!  Stay tuned.   

[Mainly28s]

Can't wait to see the review.

[magokiron]

Sound interesting.

Anatoli is a great source of information with his reviews, so I'm waiting to read it too.

Best wishes.

[Faust23]

Sound interesting.

Anatoli is a great source of information with his reviews, so I'm waiting to read it too.

Best wishes.

I feel the same way about his work, which is why I'm so glad he's doing the first one.

[Anatoli]

Received the book and started reading and tyring out the rules for real this afternoon. I will play a game with fellow LAF member Preedh on Monday after which a full review will follow (and a AAR of course).

I can say that Robert/ Faust23 has made something really unique and the rules certainly don't have the "copy/paste" feel of most wargames. There are some very innovative details to be found in the book and I can say that much thought and effort has been put into making all the various profiles for weapons, traits and gear.

[bugmans6x]

Received the book and started reading and tyring out the rules for real this afternoon. I will play a game with fellow LAF member Preedh on Monday after which a full review will follow (and a AAR of course).

I can say that Robert/ Faust23 has made something really unique and the rules certainly don't have the "copy/paste" feel of most wargames. There are some very innovative details to be found in the book and I can say that much thought and effort has been put into making all the various profiles for weapons, traits and gear.

I received mine today and have to say I'm really pleased on how this has turned out. You will be pleased with how this plays.

I have to say that the last few games Joe and I played in playtesting, we could feel the tension ebb and flow as we went through the turns. It made me want to go build lots more terrain to play it with so I could really capture the feel of the action on the table.