Potential buyer needs opinions - replayability

[Embir82 702]

Hi.

 

I am a long time Warhammer Fantasy Battle fan. A few years ago my interest slowly switched to board games. I play them mainly with my fiancee. She likes thematic games, especially set in fantasy settings - if you can feel sense of adventure all the better - our favourite title as of now is Runewars. Because I wanted to introduce some diversity in our gaming sessions I was thinking about buying Battlelore 2nd edition. Strictly, I wanted some 2-player tabletop wargame which is relatively fast, has rules easy to grasp and a lot of theme.

 

Now, for me the most important aspect of game is its replayability - game must provide a lot of it and encourage direct negative interaction, also it should provide a lot of options and strategic or tactical choices. I heard that battles in Battlelore are based around objectives and your scoring comes from holding objectives and not from killing opponents stuff. Is this aspect makes this game less replayable, is it forces some optimal moves or army compositions? How much of a game is in a base set? I must admit FFG is really unpredictable in this aspect - Runewars and Nexus Ops are almost infinitely replayable without any expansions; on the contrary Descent 2ed. as base set only is really mediocre.

 

[LongDarkBlues 9]

We've played it at least 50 times and still look forward to each game, just with the base set. It's one of those games that is tactically simple at first and grows in complexity as you spend more time with it. There are many opportunities where killing your opponents units is very tactically valuable - the objective banners are great in that they increase your tactical options, not limit them, and the wildly variable VP conditions from each player's scenario card - which are often focused on killing units - make changing army composition, and mid-game tactics, essential.

 

This game doesn't need the upcoming expansions at all to be fantastic (as I think all of us who've had the game since launch will attest), but it's certainly one that will get a lot of mileage out of expansions, if for no other reason than that the inherent balance and replayability is already so high.

[mulletcheese 669]

Each side chooses a scenario card out of a deck of 7, these are put together to form a map and set of objectives. That's 49 possible combinations out of the core set.

Armies are built by choosing units totalling 50 deployment points but the game comes with 3 preset armies for each side that can be used for quick play. 9 possible army combinations without building your own forces.

So using the core set alone gives 345 unique games plus building your own armies and scenarios.

Like runewars you will never have to play the same game twice.

The already announced expansions change the number of available unit types for each side from 5 to 11 and add at least 2 cards to each scenario and army deck.

81 scenario combinations + 25 army combinations = 2,025 unique games.

There is also the option to buy a 2nd core set which gives more flexibility to the types of armies you can build and allows you to play daqan vs. Daqan games.

[Julia 2,797]

What the other guys said, the game is huge and has a huge replayability. So far we played 75 times, and we're still looking forward to the next game. Absolutely no regrets in getting this game (it has a bigger replayability than Nexus Ops, for instance)

[Embir82 702]

Thanks for all the answers. I guess I am convinced now to buy this game.

Off I go into online store!

[cleardave 741]

Thanks for all the answers. I guess I am convinced now to buy this game.

Off I go into online store!

You won't regret it.  Battlelore sort of fell off the map for my wife and I over the last year, but that has more to do with the last 12 months seeing the release of some big thematic hitters that kept sneaking into the rotation; Legendary Encounters, Space Hulk 4th edition, X-Wing releases, Shadows of Brimstone, XCOM, Imperial Assault.   It was a good, but punishing year, trying to give some love to all these titles.  We don't normally go wild on new games, but there was too much awesome happening there.

 

None of this takes away from Battlelore's greatness; when we first got it, it was a weekly thing for a good while, and the only reason we stopped playing it was because, like I said, new stuff kept showing up that we wanted to give some time to.  We will absolutely be going back at it with a vengeance when the new content releases.

 

The variance in scenarios and how they match up, combined with the way combat is resolved with the special die rolls make for some unpredictable and tactical situations, given that you can only order units based on the command cards in your hand.

If you're familiar with Commands and Colours, then you know all you need to know; it's that, but with swords and sorcery.  If you want a more in-depth taste of that system, check out this video, which is what was the first in several points of research that ultimately lead me to get Battlelore 2E for us;

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=usa5hXcBX7A

[cleardave 741]

Thanks for all the answers. I guess I am convinced now to buy this game.

Off I go into online store!

P.S.  Spring for a dice pack while you're at it; you'll thank me later.

[Embir82 702]

 

Thanks for all the answers. I guess I am convinced now to buy this game.

Off I go into online store!

P.S.  Spring for a dice pack while you're at it; you'll thank me later.

 

 

Unfortunately pack is already on its way to me - if only I read this post earlier.

[LionCub 14]

Not to be that guy, but.. We find the replayability a bit limited currently. It's a really fun game and you can play it often for sure, but there is a very present feeling of "the game needs more miniatures" after the first 4-5 games. More miniatures are on the way however so this should be solved soonish (trademark).

 

Something else that would help with the games replayability also is adding more factions and multiplayer rules. Sometimes I feel FFG underestimates how many people play their games in groups ^.^

 

As for the dicepack thingy - that is a shame because those dices are lovely! and the core game comes with to few dices as it stands. That said, you can easily replace them with d6 dices. Just map a symbol to each number and you should be set. Think something like this:

 

1 = Lore

2 = Morale

3 = Ranged

4 = Single Sword

5 = Double Sword

6 = Heroic

 

Good luck and have fun with the game =)

[Budgernaut 6,225]

I bought BattleLore 2E as soon as it was released, but didn't purchase the dice pack until last Christmas. I think I could have gone on without them. They're nice, but you can get by without them. Personally, I think including 8 dice was a bit much. It went from having 4 dice to share, to having 6 dice each. I almost never roll 6 dice.

 

Anyway, I'm glad to hear you picked it up. I love Runewars to death and being able to use the same factions in a tactical-miniatures game makes me feel like I'm expanding Runewars. I think being Runewars fans, you'll like BattleLore too.

 

I agree with Cleardave that the random command cards and Lore cards really add to the replayability. Not only are you playing different combinations of scenarios all the time, but you're drawing different starting command cards, too, which means it's unlikely any two games will play the same, even if you used the same scenarios, same units, and same starting position for each unit.

 

Of course, there is more to replayability than variation. After all, a game could have 100 scenarios, but if the core gameplay is boring, you won't get to all of those. To me, BattleLore is not that type of game. I feel like it's always exciting and each game almost tells its own story in mind. However, I'm the kind of guy who can watch a movie 100 times if I like it and keep coming back to it (Star Wars, anyone?). So for me, I don't get bored of something quickly if I like it. Others may feel differently.

 

As far as units, I still feel like I haven't exhausted the 10 units we already have. Of course, I haven't had the fortune of playing a game every week or anything like that. Maybe I would get tired of them with more plays. Who knows? But I still find all of their abilities exciting.

 

One thing I think this game really makes you feel is that you want more. As you're playing, you'll wish you had more movement, more attacks, more figures*, etc. You feel desperate as you fight over victory point locations and sometimes it feels like your opponent is a step ahead or right on your heels. The dice are also pretty random since most units don't roll that many dice and there each face of the die is different, so your combat results are never certain. It's virtually impossible to math-out how a given combat will end. To me, all these things keep the tension high in every game.

 

*EDIT: For clarity, I don't mean more unit variety, but that you'll wish you physically had more on the table. Once the dice start rolling and attrition takes its toll, your army can get pretty thin. It's quite visceral in that sense.

Edited February 19, 2015 by Budgernaut

[LongDarkBlues 9]

I've really liked the amount of gettign to know the units that only having the 10 in teh core set has provided - I think it made me think about the game in a more tactical fashion. I'm excited to have more units, but we played a lot of games with those guys and I never really felt like I needed more - there's just so many tactical approaches to dealing with each one.

[mulletcheese 669]

Something else that would help with the games replayability also is adding more factions and multiplayer rules. Sometimes I feel FFG underestimates how many people play their games in groups ^.^

Rune age has 6 factions, rune wars has 4 factions and battlelore has 2 factions.

Everyone would be happier with 6 factions across the board.

Battles of westeros started with a core box with 2 factions, then added army boxes, then a new third faction with enough troops to match the core troops and army box of an existing faction.

I expect battlelore to follow that pattern.

[Embir82 702]

As a long time Runewars player I would gladly welcome 2 remaining factions of Lathari Elves and Waiquar.

 

I recieved my copy of Battlelore yesterday and I must say it looks lovely!!! Rules also seems to be easy yet providing enough room for tactical plays and maneuvring. I am planning to play this game in coming week or two.

 

For me this game looks like it have potential to get something big, competitive and flexible - just like tabeltop wargames in vein of Warhammer Fantasy Battle or Warmachine/Hordes.

 

Does FFG ever organized tournament for Battlelore, like they did with X-WIng?

[Julia 2,797]

Happy you're happy with the purchase

 

You're right, the game has a *huge* potential, from new armies to campaigns to terrain only expansions to epic play featuring bigger armies and so on, possibilities are countless (and I honestly do hope they'll develop them all!)

 

Unfortunately, there is no Organized Play for BT