So while I have plenty of ideas for Warbands, I thought I might focus on making one first and talking about some of the ideas behind the creation of it.
Obviously it all starts off by picking animals from the list of beasts. I did this in three steps, the first being to check out the range of miniatures from the official website, looking at what ones I really liked, but also seeing what classifications they were (a.k.a Small, Medium etc.) so I could cross reference them with the chart in the book.
Secondly, I went over some of my own characters to see if they would work as characters in the game, choosing both a Bat (My female Bat character Miranda. I left Bartholomew to lead the defense of the burrow while they were on missions) and a Squirrel (An OC of mine who is an Albino Squirrel who lost his left hand and it is replaced with a hook). I also had names of characters I liked from cartoons and stuff, I felt that they wouldn't fit into this Warband (though expect some to show up in future ones). As such, in situations like this I tend to research baby names & meanings to give a list of usable names that I would like to use.
Finally, I go through the process of buying gear and mixing and matching various options until I find ones that fit enough that I feel confident I could enjoy playing as. It is during this point that I ensure they all have names and a brief history, that their allegiance has been picked and there is background to flesh out the Warband.
As such, here is what I have decided to start off with (I have begun painting some miniatures and am just waiting for the second set to arrive to finish it off):
Brianna (Hedgehog - Leader)
- Gear: One-Handed Weapon, Heavy Armour of Shielding +1 & Light Shield
- Skill (For being Leader): Born in Harness. Stat Boost (For being Leader): Block
Ghost (Squirrel - Second)
- Gear: 2x One-Handed Weapon, Camouflage Cloak
- Skill (For being Second): Born Survivor (though I may change it to Enduring, not sure yet)
Miranda (Bat)
- Gear: Mage's Focus
- Spell: Lightning (Nature)
Ginnette (Hedgehog)
- Gear: One-Handed Weapon
- Spell: Van Rubal's Acceleration
- Special Item: Relic
Gurumarra (Platypus)
- Gear: One-Handed Weapon, Throwing Knives, Camouflage Cloak
Emrick (Mouse)
- Gear: One-Handed Weapon, Bow, Light Armor
Allegiance: Freebeasts (Bonus items - Mortal Poison worth 6p (stored for later use), Relic and magical item: Heavy Armor of Shielding +1)
Starting Den: Abandoned Burrow
Remaining Coin: 29p
Now this is still open to change, but overall I feel this is what I am happy to at least start on. They would be part of a mixed bag of civilians who have fled into the forests and have found an abandoned burrow and from there have set up their little village. While some stay behind to deal with local threats, others join the adventuring force to help obtain things that the village doesn't have and to help it grow.
Brianna and Ginnette are sisters and while Brianna is a stone wall warrior who leads the group, Ginnette is more then happy to let her sister lead, preferring not to have such a huge responsibility on her shoulders (though supports her sister as best she can). Emrick is a plucky young mouse who has spent much of his life watching over the forests and feels he is now ready to adventure out of his grounds. Miranda joins to help aid the group, but also to help bring a positive mood to the group (her husband had to stay behind in order to help keep their friends safe). Gurumarra is from beyond the seas and had escape his captors who took him from his home, while Ghost's own story is just as sad, but he is cunning and ready to strike from the shadows.
While there is a lot more to it then that, this was just meant to give a basic idea on the characters and I'll expand more of their stories once their models are finished and ready to go.
So that was the first part of the creating of my Warband. The next part (when it's done) will be the painting and having them ready to play. I may do a third one based on playing them, but I can't promise that, so it will simply be set as a possible extra down the road. While it does look daunting at first, it's actually quite fun to put together, so much so that I already have a few other Warband lists made and I may get around to doing them later this year.
I do recommend checking out the miniature range (see link at top of this article) and seeing if any grab you. Even if you don't decide to give the game a shot, you might still find something enjoyable to paint.
Tuesday 4 June 2019
Saturday 1 June 2019
Short Review: Burrows and Badgers Book
So while looking for videos on making terrain, I stumbled upon this little gem and was hooked immediately. Better still, the orders I made arrived within a week, which was incredibly quick given every other order I've made from Britain to Australia. Having read through it (and put together rules for my own Warband), I really wanted to give my own thoughts on it. Note that this will be a short overview of all the rules, I will probably go into more depth with them once I actually start playing and better understand them.
The Lore:
Burrows & Badgers is a skirmish game from Osprey Games about anthropomorphic animals (as the book cover states) takes place in the Kingdom of Northymbra. Recent times have become unstable, the King is no where to be found, with the Prince now acting in his stead and rumors are circulating as to the Kings fate. The weather has cause a number of problems as of late, forcing more citizens into the cities, where poverty and hunger has increased. Further south the Foxes are taking advantage of the situation to gain influence and possibly pushing the citizens into rebellion. Slavery grows and various groups raid the local areas to grow in strength.
Obviously there is a bit more to that and there is a downloadable paper to add more to the Lore, but it is still rather short (only a few pages in the book), but gets across a basic idea so that you can put together enough story for your Warbands to start adventuring.
Game Rules:
Obviously you'll need terrain, models and measuring tools, but this game also requires a number of different types of dice (d4, d6,d8 etc.) and these will come into play due to character stats. There are nine stats being: Movement, Strike, Block, Ranged, Nimbleness, Concealment, Awareness, Fortitude and Presence. There's rules for Turns, Movement and Actions, including attacking, shooting and casting spells as well as searching and hiding. Games are won by achieving the scenarios main objective, though most will tend to end with routing the enemy Warband.
Warband Rules:
Building a Warband is broken down into several parts. You get 350p (Pennies) to spend on your Warband and this includes the hiring of models and the purchasing of their gear. A Warband has a maximum total of 10 Models, with no more then a max of 6 Large models and 3 Massive available in a Warband. Obviously the Large and Massive beasts will be more costly compared to the Small and Medium beasts, so it tends to be a bit more balanced that way too.
There are four types of beasts as mentioned above: Small, Medium, Large and Massive. Each chart has a number of different animals each with their own stats and some even have a few rules to go with them (such as birds having the flight rule). Once you have selected your crew and armed them, you will pick one to be the Leader and one to be their second in command, both get a bonus to show their stature in the Warband. There are even bonuses to having single species Warbands (like Mice or Rabbits for example) as this is meant to help compensate for the lack of variety in the group, plus you are limited to who you can hire in the future as a result of this too.
After that, you select your Allegiance. There are four to choose from: Royalists, Rogues, Freebeasts and Wildbeasts. Each one grants your Warband a bonus and limit what starting Den you can pick from, though you are granted a bonus Den upgrade to start off with and will also limit what Magic Lore's you have access to. While each one of these allegiances have some story behind them, you are free to come up with your own style, just so long as your opponent is aware what Allegiance you have selected (so there is no confusion when playing).
There is also a spell listing for each of the six Magic Lore's: Natural, Light, Dark, Wild, Unbound and Noble. Depending on which one you pick will also determine which of the two stats (Fortitude or Presence) is needed to cast them. Each one also has six spells you can pick from or roll-off on. Better yet, if you purchased a Mage's Pouch for your caster and got certain ingredients, you can use those ingredients to buff those spells.
Finally there are the rules for equipment (so you know how to use the stuff your models are equipped with) along with a section for skills. Skills can be earned through a model reaching a certain level while some are natural to certain animals. Skills consist of Fighting Skills, Shooting Skills, Cunning Skills, Strength Skills, Movement Skills and Innate Skills (with Innate Skills being something an animal starts with and cannot be learned). By looking through these, you can plan out possible path options for your models to follow as they level up. This brings us to...
Campaign Rules:
While you can play one-off games, Campaigns are where this game really shines. Though a campaign, you can raise even a lowly Mouse into a real hero. The campaign section has rules for playing through one, including an injury chart for wounded characters, post-game things surviving models can do to help benefit your Warband, upgrades for the Den, rolling for Skills when a model reaches a certain level up mark, Warband upkeep, Hiring and of course Shopping..er, I mean trading.
There is also a Warband Rating section, with the lower rated one getting 'Balance Points' which it can use to help get extra re-rolls and can even earn bonus experience if the gap in ratings is large enough, so even when things look bad, there is always something to help push you forward in a campaign.
Scenarios:
There are a total of eight scenarios to roll for (if you get the Book from their website is does have a bonus scenario card), though you'll probably find you roll the first one (Open War) the most.
Each scenarios has:
+ A quick story bit to give you an idea on how to use the scenario story wise
+ A section for what terrain you might need, including important scenario pieces for some scenarios
+ Rules for deployment zones and setting up models
+ Special rules for the scenario
+ Secondary Objectives if any (there is a Secondary Objectives table to roll on)
+ Starting and Ending game rules
+ Experience and Rewards for completing the scenario
As such, these scenarios will help shape the story of your Warband as it battles against other Warbands and grows in strength. Some of these will also most likely test just how well your Warband can do, given that even a Warband of strong massive beasts might suddenly find they have entered a scenario where strength over numbers is a disadvantage.
Overall Thoughts:
This game looks amazing and the rules and options for customizing and leveling a Warband is deeper then I first thought. As far as Skirmish games go, this really does feel kind of like the Mordheim of old and I like it. It also has a large list of animals to choose from and the option of using ingredients for spell casting to improve the spell is something I just love. I found myself going through the Warband creation process again and again, creating new Warbands with different animals, gear and options (I must admit, I'm kinda addicted to it).
Honestly, it really does hype me up to play a full on campaign of this game, to create new characters and tell new stories in exciting games. Even the rules for gameplay look rather interesting and I hope that if and when I can start playing it I can do a review on the gameplay itself. If you are looking for a good Skirmish game, then I can recommend this one, though if you liked cartoons like Redwall or even Disney's animated Robin Hood, then you should really look into this one too.
The Lore:
Burrows & Badgers is a skirmish game from Osprey Games about anthropomorphic animals (as the book cover states) takes place in the Kingdom of Northymbra. Recent times have become unstable, the King is no where to be found, with the Prince now acting in his stead and rumors are circulating as to the Kings fate. The weather has cause a number of problems as of late, forcing more citizens into the cities, where poverty and hunger has increased. Further south the Foxes are taking advantage of the situation to gain influence and possibly pushing the citizens into rebellion. Slavery grows and various groups raid the local areas to grow in strength.
Obviously there is a bit more to that and there is a downloadable paper to add more to the Lore, but it is still rather short (only a few pages in the book), but gets across a basic idea so that you can put together enough story for your Warbands to start adventuring.
Game Rules:
Obviously you'll need terrain, models and measuring tools, but this game also requires a number of different types of dice (d4, d6,d8 etc.) and these will come into play due to character stats. There are nine stats being: Movement, Strike, Block, Ranged, Nimbleness, Concealment, Awareness, Fortitude and Presence. There's rules for Turns, Movement and Actions, including attacking, shooting and casting spells as well as searching and hiding. Games are won by achieving the scenarios main objective, though most will tend to end with routing the enemy Warband.
Warband Rules:
Building a Warband is broken down into several parts. You get 350p (Pennies) to spend on your Warband and this includes the hiring of models and the purchasing of their gear. A Warband has a maximum total of 10 Models, with no more then a max of 6 Large models and 3 Massive available in a Warband. Obviously the Large and Massive beasts will be more costly compared to the Small and Medium beasts, so it tends to be a bit more balanced that way too.
There are four types of beasts as mentioned above: Small, Medium, Large and Massive. Each chart has a number of different animals each with their own stats and some even have a few rules to go with them (such as birds having the flight rule). Once you have selected your crew and armed them, you will pick one to be the Leader and one to be their second in command, both get a bonus to show their stature in the Warband. There are even bonuses to having single species Warbands (like Mice or Rabbits for example) as this is meant to help compensate for the lack of variety in the group, plus you are limited to who you can hire in the future as a result of this too.
After that, you select your Allegiance. There are four to choose from: Royalists, Rogues, Freebeasts and Wildbeasts. Each one grants your Warband a bonus and limit what starting Den you can pick from, though you are granted a bonus Den upgrade to start off with and will also limit what Magic Lore's you have access to. While each one of these allegiances have some story behind them, you are free to come up with your own style, just so long as your opponent is aware what Allegiance you have selected (so there is no confusion when playing).
There is also a spell listing for each of the six Magic Lore's: Natural, Light, Dark, Wild, Unbound and Noble. Depending on which one you pick will also determine which of the two stats (Fortitude or Presence) is needed to cast them. Each one also has six spells you can pick from or roll-off on. Better yet, if you purchased a Mage's Pouch for your caster and got certain ingredients, you can use those ingredients to buff those spells.
Finally there are the rules for equipment (so you know how to use the stuff your models are equipped with) along with a section for skills. Skills can be earned through a model reaching a certain level while some are natural to certain animals. Skills consist of Fighting Skills, Shooting Skills, Cunning Skills, Strength Skills, Movement Skills and Innate Skills (with Innate Skills being something an animal starts with and cannot be learned). By looking through these, you can plan out possible path options for your models to follow as they level up. This brings us to...
Campaign Rules:
While you can play one-off games, Campaigns are where this game really shines. Though a campaign, you can raise even a lowly Mouse into a real hero. The campaign section has rules for playing through one, including an injury chart for wounded characters, post-game things surviving models can do to help benefit your Warband, upgrades for the Den, rolling for Skills when a model reaches a certain level up mark, Warband upkeep, Hiring and of course Shopping..er, I mean trading.
There is also a Warband Rating section, with the lower rated one getting 'Balance Points' which it can use to help get extra re-rolls and can even earn bonus experience if the gap in ratings is large enough, so even when things look bad, there is always something to help push you forward in a campaign.
Scenarios:
There are a total of eight scenarios to roll for (if you get the Book from their website is does have a bonus scenario card), though you'll probably find you roll the first one (Open War) the most.
Each scenarios has:
+ A quick story bit to give you an idea on how to use the scenario story wise
+ A section for what terrain you might need, including important scenario pieces for some scenarios
+ Rules for deployment zones and setting up models
+ Special rules for the scenario
+ Secondary Objectives if any (there is a Secondary Objectives table to roll on)
+ Starting and Ending game rules
+ Experience and Rewards for completing the scenario
As such, these scenarios will help shape the story of your Warband as it battles against other Warbands and grows in strength. Some of these will also most likely test just how well your Warband can do, given that even a Warband of strong massive beasts might suddenly find they have entered a scenario where strength over numbers is a disadvantage.
Overall Thoughts:
This game looks amazing and the rules and options for customizing and leveling a Warband is deeper then I first thought. As far as Skirmish games go, this really does feel kind of like the Mordheim of old and I like it. It also has a large list of animals to choose from and the option of using ingredients for spell casting to improve the spell is something I just love. I found myself going through the Warband creation process again and again, creating new Warbands with different animals, gear and options (I must admit, I'm kinda addicted to it).
Honestly, it really does hype me up to play a full on campaign of this game, to create new characters and tell new stories in exciting games. Even the rules for gameplay look rather interesting and I hope that if and when I can start playing it I can do a review on the gameplay itself. If you are looking for a good Skirmish game, then I can recommend this one, though if you liked cartoons like Redwall or even Disney's animated Robin Hood, then you should really look into this one too.
Looking at the Moonstone Two Player Starter Box
What surprised me the most about this set is just how small the box was. Perhaps I'm use to seeing things like the big starter sets for games like Warhammer and Infinity, but was a little shocked at just how small it was.
The set itself comes with the following things:
+ A Basic Mini Rulebook
+ A Pack of Cards (Arcane Deck, Combat Deck, Events & Agendas)
+ 2 6-Sided Dice & 7 4-Sided Dice (The Moonstones)
+ 30 Blue Counters for Energy
+ 1 Movement Widget
+ 4 Humans: Baron Von Fancyhat, Eric the Squire, Flintlock and Friar Flavious
+ 4 Goblins: Doug the Flatulent, Vicious Midget, Beaky Bobby and Grub
+ Character Cards for all Characters
Now looking at the lot, I find the cards and dice to be very nice. The cards remind me of the quality of the Malifaux cards, with the decks being the same sort of quality as those of the fate decks I've got (good quality, but slippery so will probably need to put them in sleeves to make them easier to pick up). The Moonstone d4 also look the part well enough to get the idea for a Moonstone colour. That said, the Blue Counters feel like a cheap factory product, but I am totally fine with that as they look like the energy marks on the Character cards. Besides, I can always look for some blue stones (like the green ones I use for Malifaux) if I want to change it up.
The miniatures are something else that I will talk about. With the exception of the Friar, all the others were made of a similar plastic that reminds me of Reaper's Bones range, while having the same flaws as GW's terrible Finecast range. The detail is great, but there was the occasional whole here and there, the swords are bent and are difficult to keep straight and they all needed some cleaning to get up to scratch. Now that being said, it was in there recent Kickstarter campaign that they stated that they were changing over to a better quality product, so I expect that most of these issues will be fixed up in future releases.
Have to admit, this is not my best work when it comes to fixing with green stuff. Guess I wasn't at my best. Overall though, I do highly recommend getting this box set if you want to get into Moonstone and compared to other starters, the price is also quite good. If however you really don't want Humans or Goblins, then they do sell most of the essentials and you can just start with a faction box set or two. Either way, I look forward to having a go at this game and this box set is a wonderful start.
Sorry for the poor quality shots, had to use phone camera for this.
The set itself comes with the following things:
+ A Basic Mini Rulebook
+ A Pack of Cards (Arcane Deck, Combat Deck, Events & Agendas)
+ 2 6-Sided Dice & 7 4-Sided Dice (The Moonstones)
+ 30 Blue Counters for Energy
+ 1 Movement Widget
+ 4 Humans: Baron Von Fancyhat, Eric the Squire, Flintlock and Friar Flavious
+ 4 Goblins: Doug the Flatulent, Vicious Midget, Beaky Bobby and Grub
+ Character Cards for all Characters
Now looking at the lot, I find the cards and dice to be very nice. The cards remind me of the quality of the Malifaux cards, with the decks being the same sort of quality as those of the fate decks I've got (good quality, but slippery so will probably need to put them in sleeves to make them easier to pick up). The Moonstone d4 also look the part well enough to get the idea for a Moonstone colour. That said, the Blue Counters feel like a cheap factory product, but I am totally fine with that as they look like the energy marks on the Character cards. Besides, I can always look for some blue stones (like the green ones I use for Malifaux) if I want to change it up.
The miniatures are something else that I will talk about. With the exception of the Friar, all the others were made of a similar plastic that reminds me of Reaper's Bones range, while having the same flaws as GW's terrible Finecast range. The detail is great, but there was the occasional whole here and there, the swords are bent and are difficult to keep straight and they all needed some cleaning to get up to scratch. Now that being said, it was in there recent Kickstarter campaign that they stated that they were changing over to a better quality product, so I expect that most of these issues will be fixed up in future releases.
Have to admit, this is not my best work when it comes to fixing with green stuff. Guess I wasn't at my best. Overall though, I do highly recommend getting this box set if you want to get into Moonstone and compared to other starters, the price is also quite good. If however you really don't want Humans or Goblins, then they do sell most of the essentials and you can just start with a faction box set or two. Either way, I look forward to having a go at this game and this box set is a wonderful start.
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