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| The pile of minis and bases |
Showing posts with label Flintloque. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Flintloque. Show all posts
Tuesday, 22 August 2017
Von Mohnblume Line
A package arrived from Alternative Armies recently and I had the pleasure of being one of the first to see the Von Mohnblume Line , due for release later in August. These are some new sculpts and a new type of Dogman infantry for Flintloque and Slaughterloo.
Wednesday, 7 September 2016
Creating a Flintloque Section
For some time now I've wanted to do a bit of a 'step-by-step' guide about how to create a section (i.e. force) for use in Flintloque. With actual gaming opportunities currently limited, I thought that now would be an ideal time!
As you can hopefully see, creating a Section in Flintloque is detailed but not too arduous. In even adding just one skill, trait or flaw to a character the rules help to bring them alive and I do start to wonder how they will work as a team in battle. In fact I might have to try them out and report back on how they perform! Time to hunt some orcs!
The Flintloque game is currently divided across three core books (each of which contain the rules but are focused on a different theatre of the war) and Grapeshotte, an expansion which covers artillery and other special rules. For this example, I will use the War in Catalucia book, which covers what is roughly analogous to the Peninsular War in the Napoleonic period. This setting includes the Ferach Elves, Orcs of Albion, Goblins of Al-Garvy, Joccian Ratmen and much more besides.
There is a one page summary of how to assemble your section in the book, so I will largely follow this through so you have an idea what to expect.
There is a one page summary of how to assemble your section in the book, so I will largely follow this through so you have an idea what to expect.
STEP 1 - The army:
Theatre of war and relevant rule book decided upon, the next step is to choose which army I want my section to come from. I always enjoyed the 'standard' Orcs vs Elves idea ever since I saw the cover of the first edition of Flintloque and, as I quite enjoy being the 'baddies' I'm going to decide on the Elves. Now, where other skirmish games might have picking a faction as the main decision, in Flintloque this is very much only the beginning I can now choose from a vast range of Napoleonic-style troop types. If it existed in history, it has an equivalent here.
STEP 2 - The type of section:
For this example, I'm going to imagine I have recently bought the Shilling Service Pack for War in Catalucia, which comes with Elf and Joccian figures. The elves you get are Chassuers of the Garde (and one mounted figure which I will not include in the example). Let's imagine that I had done my research and added in another pack of Chassuers with my order. That would give me a total of 8 Elves plus a leader for the section.
Each type of troop brings inherent advantages and disadvantages with it. As the Chassuers are Light troops I get a bonus to my initiative and accuracy and another bonus if I attempt to coordinate actions. Looking up the Ferach on the National Characteristics table, I find I get an additional bonus when shooting for fielding elves. Light Elf Sections are excellent at picking off the enemy from a distance!
STEP 3 - Experience Levels:
There are 5 experience levels to choose from for your characters and they have an impact on a figure's basic abilities and morale. The rules give different options, including just choosing yourself and picking at random, but I think I will go for the suggested method of having a fixed percentage of each in my new Section. For a section of 9 figures, that gives me 4 Raw, 4 Average and 1 Experienced character. I decide to give the leader the Experienced rating and have the other soldiers as a mix of Raw and Average.
There are 5 experience levels to choose from for your characters and they have an impact on a figure's basic abilities and morale. The rules give different options, including just choosing yourself and picking at random, but I think I will go for the suggested method of having a fixed percentage of each in my new Section. For a section of 9 figures, that gives me 4 Raw, 4 Average and 1 Experienced character. I decide to give the leader the Experienced rating and have the other soldiers as a mix of Raw and Average.
STEP 4 - Skills, Traits and Flaws:
The rules come with a gernerous amount of Skills, Traits and Flaws with which to customise your section. Of course, you are free to ignore these if you want, but they add a great deal of flavour. They are divided into generic ones, which any figure can have, and Race specific ones, giving each nation access to abilities no other has.
Skills can be gained by characters when they gain experience during a campaign. Raw characters may not have any to start with, Average and Experienced characters may have one. I'm going to give my Section Leader Improved Command, which gives him an additional command point to use during a game, and opt to have one of my Average elves Improved Discipline. I think he is a trusted friend of the Leader and will rarely flee from battle.
Unlike Skills, Traits cannot be changed during a game and every starting character can have up to two. I'm going to make one of my soldiers a bit of an eagle-eyed sniper and give him the Good Shot Trait, yet another shooting bonus for this elf! Another can be a religious fellow and have the Prayer Trait, which may give the Leader an additional Command Point if the elevn deity hears the prayers at the start of the game. As I don't want my other Average elf to be left out, he can have the Steady Elf Hand Trait, allowable only to Ferach Elves and giving him a reduced penalty to shooting when moving quickly.
Flaws work the same as Traits, but obviously they are negative! To add a bit of character, I'm going to give one of my Raw soldiers the Coward Flaw and another can be Forgetful, meaning he has to roll a die to see if he can activate if more than 15cm away from the Section Leader!
STEP 5 - Weapons:
The final choice to make is what armaments my Elves carry into battle. To keep things simple, I decide that all of them are carrying a standard Ferach Elf Musket with the exception of the Leader, who can have a Ferach Duelling Pistol and a Sword.
STEP 6 - Points:
Now, Flintloque is a game for gentlemen and ladies and doesn't inherently enforce a points system, but it is often a good idea to know how balanced the forces are (even though most players know any given scenario can throw this balance to the wind!).
I can see from the charts that Raw Elves are worth 15, Average ones are 21 and Experienced cost 29. As they are all Light troops, my Elves add 3 to each of these basic values. All the Skills, Traits and Flaws have points associated with them, as do the various weapons. Totting everything up I get:
So my section comes to a total of 257 points. Many Flintloque games allow for 300 points for a starting sections, so I came prety close. Actually, although it is not strictly by the book, I could add in that cavalry trooper that I mentioned came in the starter set.
I'll call him Experienced (29pts) and he has the Cavalry type (+3pts). He is armed with a sword (+5pts) and his mount costs 15pts. This gives a total of 52, bringing my section up to a healthy 309 points in total. Great! Now all I need to do is write up the details on a roster sheet and my Section is good to go.
The rules come with a gernerous amount of Skills, Traits and Flaws with which to customise your section. Of course, you are free to ignore these if you want, but they add a great deal of flavour. They are divided into generic ones, which any figure can have, and Race specific ones, giving each nation access to abilities no other has.
Skills can be gained by characters when they gain experience during a campaign. Raw characters may not have any to start with, Average and Experienced characters may have one. I'm going to give my Section Leader Improved Command, which gives him an additional command point to use during a game, and opt to have one of my Average elves Improved Discipline. I think he is a trusted friend of the Leader and will rarely flee from battle.
Unlike Skills, Traits cannot be changed during a game and every starting character can have up to two. I'm going to make one of my soldiers a bit of an eagle-eyed sniper and give him the Good Shot Trait, yet another shooting bonus for this elf! Another can be a religious fellow and have the Prayer Trait, which may give the Leader an additional Command Point if the elevn deity hears the prayers at the start of the game. As I don't want my other Average elf to be left out, he can have the Steady Elf Hand Trait, allowable only to Ferach Elves and giving him a reduced penalty to shooting when moving quickly.
Flaws work the same as Traits, but obviously they are negative! To add a bit of character, I'm going to give one of my Raw soldiers the Coward Flaw and another can be Forgetful, meaning he has to roll a die to see if he can activate if more than 15cm away from the Section Leader!
STEP 5 - Weapons:
The final choice to make is what armaments my Elves carry into battle. To keep things simple, I decide that all of them are carrying a standard Ferach Elf Musket with the exception of the Leader, who can have a Ferach Duelling Pistol and a Sword.
STEP 6 - Points:
Now, Flintloque is a game for gentlemen and ladies and doesn't inherently enforce a points system, but it is often a good idea to know how balanced the forces are (even though most players know any given scenario can throw this balance to the wind!).
I can see from the charts that Raw Elves are worth 15, Average ones are 21 and Experienced cost 29. As they are all Light troops, my Elves add 3 to each of these basic values. All the Skills, Traits and Flaws have points associated with them, as do the various weapons. Totting everything up I get:
- Section Leader/Experienced/Ferach Pistol & Sword/Improved Command - 45pts
- 2nd in Command/Average/Ferach Musket/Improved Discipline - 32pts
- Sniper/Average/Ferach Musket/Good Shot - 31pts
- Chaplain/Average/Ferach Musket/Prayer - 34pts
- Scout/Average/Ferach Musket/Steady Elf Hand - 31pts
- Coward/Raw/Ferach Musket/Coward - 19pts
- Absent Minded/Raw/Ferach Musket/Forgetful - 19pts
- Cannon Fodder/Raw/Ferach Musket - 23pts
- Cannon Fodder/Raw/Ferach Musket - 23pts
I'll call him Experienced (29pts) and he has the Cavalry type (+3pts). He is armed with a sword (+5pts) and his mount costs 15pts. This gives a total of 52, bringing my section up to a healthy 309 points in total. Great! Now all I need to do is write up the details on a roster sheet and my Section is good to go.
As you can hopefully see, creating a Section in Flintloque is detailed but not too arduous. In even adding just one skill, trait or flaw to a character the rules help to bring them alive and I do start to wonder how they will work as a team in battle. In fact I might have to try them out and report back on how they perform! Time to hunt some orcs!
[Note: I'd written up this post only to find that I hadn't painted enough of the appropriate figures, so I had to substitute some other light elves for the purposes of the pictures. Below is the contents of the War in Catalucia starter set all painted up. Sorry for the poor pictures, I haven't got the lighting in the new room sorted out yet...]
You can read more about the starter sets and other items available at: http://www.alternative-armies.com/collections/flintloque-game-system. All books in the range are available as print copies and PDFs.
Sunday, 2 March 2014
Christmas Flintloque Game
I finally got round to playing my planned Christmas game of Flintloque a few weeks back. A little late, but I ended up needing a few practice runs to get the enemy AI options how I wanted them. It was a straightforward game, with my Ferach trying to cross from one corner of the table to the other, while the Gingerbread men tried to stop them. I wrote it up in my usual format, although the Freach are speaking their native tongue!
All in all it was a fun little skirmish. I look forward to getting larger and more varied forces on the table using these rules. The solo rules work well, although I think different types of troop definitely need different tables for what they do, rather than the generic one in the rulebook.
I'm working on some more Flintloque figures, so hope to be posting more game reports soon. On the other hand, there are also various figures for pirate and zombies games on my table right now, so we'll have to see what gets finished first!
I'm working on some more Flintloque figures, so hope to be posting more game reports soon. On the other hand, there are also various figures for pirate and zombies games on my table right now, so we'll have to see what gets finished first!
Sunday, 22 December 2013
Review: Ikea Gingerbread House
Something unusual for Christmas! While browsing Ikea a few weeks ago, I stumbled across a massive pile of gingerbread house kits, reasonably priced and looking very much like they might be in scale with Flintloque figures! I quickly snapped one up, but it is only today that I got to assemble it.
As with most Ikea products, the house is flat-pack, coming with nothing more than the required components and a small instruction leaflet to guide you in assembling it!
Laying out the pieces, you can see it is quite minimalist. 4 wall sections, two roof pieces and 4 small bits for a chimney. They are all quite thin and fragile looking, but I didn't find that caused any problems during assembly.
Unfolding the instruction sheet, it was clear that it was 'written' in the same style as all their products, with simple pictures to guide you like a Lego set. The back, however, helpfully includes instructions about making suitable icing for 'gluing' the building together.
I put my workspace in order, like any good wargamer, and collected together the required elements of the 'glue'. Icing sugar, an egg (white only) and a dash of lemon juice.
Not being much of a chef myself, I was slightly concerned at the massive amount of icing sugar relative to the quantity of liquid from a single egg white and 5ml of lemon juice, but I needn't have worried. The mixture came together nicely to form a shiny, thick, sticky mass in the bowl!
Not having anything for piping, I started off by using a sandwich bag with the corner cut off. Unfortunately I cut it a bit too large, so the actual gluing step turned into a hideous mess! After the structure was completed, I transferred the rest to a cone made from baking paper, and this was much better for decorating the roof. I had also bought four coloured tubes of pre-made icing and used these to dot the roof for some extra colour.
As you can see below, the final house works well with the figures I painted in my last post. It will form the center piece for my Christmas game. However, I probably won't get a chance to play until after Christmas. I hope I don't eat the house before that happens!
So all in all I recommend this item to whimsical wargamers everywhere, although you may need to wait until next November before Ikea has them in stock again.
Finally, I'd like to wish my readers a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. I hope you all had a successful 2013 and that 2014 will hold much in the way of fun and games for you!
As with most Ikea products, the house is flat-pack, coming with nothing more than the required components and a small instruction leaflet to guide you in assembling it!
Laying out the pieces, you can see it is quite minimalist. 4 wall sections, two roof pieces and 4 small bits for a chimney. They are all quite thin and fragile looking, but I didn't find that caused any problems during assembly.
Unfolding the instruction sheet, it was clear that it was 'written' in the same style as all their products, with simple pictures to guide you like a Lego set. The back, however, helpfully includes instructions about making suitable icing for 'gluing' the building together.
I put my workspace in order, like any good wargamer, and collected together the required elements of the 'glue'. Icing sugar, an egg (white only) and a dash of lemon juice.
Not being much of a chef myself, I was slightly concerned at the massive amount of icing sugar relative to the quantity of liquid from a single egg white and 5ml of lemon juice, but I needn't have worried. The mixture came together nicely to form a shiny, thick, sticky mass in the bowl!
Not having anything for piping, I started off by using a sandwich bag with the corner cut off. Unfortunately I cut it a bit too large, so the actual gluing step turned into a hideous mess! After the structure was completed, I transferred the rest to a cone made from baking paper, and this was much better for decorating the roof. I had also bought four coloured tubes of pre-made icing and used these to dot the roof for some extra colour.
As you can see below, the final house works well with the figures I painted in my last post. It will form the center piece for my Christmas game. However, I probably won't get a chance to play until after Christmas. I hope I don't eat the house before that happens!
So all in all I recommend this item to whimsical wargamers everywhere, although you may need to wait until next November before Ikea has them in stock again.
Finally, I'd like to wish my readers a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. I hope you all had a successful 2013 and that 2014 will hold much in the way of fun and games for you!
Saturday, 21 December 2013
Review: Flintloque Gingerbread men!
In between various Christmas preparations, I managed to pull out a blister pack from my pile of Flintoque figures. It was no coincidence that I ended up with the (vaguely) festive Gingerbread Set.
As with other Limited Edition packs from Alternative Armies, this set comes in an individually numbered blister, in this case pretty crammed full of lead. Luckily, the packaging can be pulled open without the need for scissors, a minor yet gratifying point I think!
The pack contains three gingerbead men, two dwarf assistants and an undead baker, equipped with magic spoon! As with other AA offerings, wooden bases are included. I wasn't too sure about these at first, being used to using either plastic bases or coins, but in practice they are just as good as anything else!
The figures were simple to prepare, with no worse than the smallest amount of flash to be removed. The Flintloque range generally consists of figures which are easy and fun to paint and these proved to be no exception.
This set can easily be painted in a day in a simple paint scheme. Note the different button colour combinations on the Gingerbread men for easy identification!
This is a great set of figures. I suppose the only question is how much use they are, but even if they don't form a core unit in your army, they certainly have function in festive scenarios, or perhaps a mini campaign. Until recently, a scenario was available online, but I believe you can still request it by email from Alternative Armies.
So I'm very happy with these figures. In fact my next post will be about the (real) gingerbread house I bought to go with them for a Christmas game, so you will see more of these fellows!
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| Unopened pack |
As with other Limited Edition packs from Alternative Armies, this set comes in an individually numbered blister, in this case pretty crammed full of lead. Luckily, the packaging can be pulled open without the need for scissors, a minor yet gratifying point I think!
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| Pack contents |
The figures were simple to prepare, with no worse than the smallest amount of flash to be removed. The Flintloque range generally consists of figures which are easy and fun to paint and these proved to be no exception.
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| The bakers! |
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| The product! |
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| The whole set. |
This is a great set of figures. I suppose the only question is how much use they are, but even if they don't form a core unit in your army, they certainly have function in festive scenarios, or perhaps a mini campaign. Until recently, a scenario was available online, but I believe you can still request it by email from Alternative Armies.
So I'm very happy with these figures. In fact my next post will be about the (real) gingerbread house I bought to go with them for a Christmas game, so you will see more of these fellows!
Wednesday, 27 November 2013
A bit of Flintloque
I've been very busy recently, so not much movement on the gaming front. Not a great deal of time to paint and only a little to play. I've been planning my next campaign, but more of that anon. This post is just to show a few pictures of a couple of trial games of Flintloque I played a couple of weeks back. Didn't want the pictures to go to waste really! Looking forward to cracking on with the painting....
That's all for now!
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| Joccian ratmen advance. |
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| Elves form up in a defensive position, while the cavalry trooper moves to outflank the enemy. |
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| Ratman gets cut down by the elen rider (curse the auto focus on my camera!) |
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| Opening fire at the advancing enemy. |
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| Game number two! Had to play another after the rats lost the first one... |
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| Bang! |
Wednesday, 16 October 2013
A Look At: War in Catalucia
This is the first in what I hope will be a complete series of overviews of the Flintloque books. They will examine the content and presentation of each, but will stop short of being a full review as I have yet to have the opportunity to play a proper game. Also, this game has taken my fancy enough that I am not overly objective at present. So label this post 'biased opinion' rather than 'review', and enjoy!
War in Catalucia is the first in the series of the 3rd Edition Flintloque rulebooks (more information can be found on the Alternative Armies website here. It is available either by itself or as part of a starter box set containing all you need for a small game. My last two Flintloque tagged posts are of the opposing sections presented in the box set, so check them out if you want to see the figures.
The book is a softcover 96 page affair, with black and white content (except for a few pages of photos and the cover) on glossy paper. I confess to being pleasantly surprised by how it looked. My previous experience with publications by AA or their affiliated companies was a small booklet from the USEME series. Not that it is any way fair to compare a £3.50 pocket sized rulebook to a more costly publication, but Flintloque appears to be where the printing budget is concentrated!
On the inside of the front cover is a map of the Flintloque world, which I was initially confused by, expecting something more 'European' looking like the Warhammer world. This is clearly a cunning ploy to draw you into the setting as I proceeded to spend several minutes spotting all the countries and seeing what changes had been made from the real world!
Following the contents is an introduction to miniatures gaming which is nice and concise. It doesn't drag on, but gives a good overview. You may start to notice from the pictures that the font size is small and the pages generously filled with text, giving this publication a word-count heft equal to some larger titles. In fact so much is crammed in that I have yet to read all of it in full detail. There is much to savour here!
The first main section of the book details the background to the setting, the war and its opposing forces. There is a lot of detail here, but it is interesting to read even if you don't believe that 'fluff is king'. Cleverly, it is this section of the book that is broken up by 'scenario seeds', so you can dip in and out, reading some background and playing games associated with it, or just using the wealth of ideas as your own inspiration. I think that, if this was a generic fantasy setting I would not be bothered by the fluff but, if you are going to bother making a Napoleonic style fantasy game, you may as well produce some interesting background to go with it, something found in abundance here.
Above is an example of the background pages. As you can see, the pages are divided between some fun artwork, sections of 'historical' information and scenarios (in the grey boxes). Plenty of interest just for browsing through, but I promise, you will end up reading more of it than you might expect!
The next big section covers the armies of the various nations, their structure and any special characters. Again, because of the font size and the densely packed text, each one feels like a mini army book in its own right. Plenty of inspiration to be had here. This volume covers the main armies which fought in Catalucia (the equivalent to the Peninsular campaign), so you get the Elves (French), Orcs (English) and Goblins (Portugese) as well as Dark Elves (Spanish), Toadmen (Italians) and much more besides. The war in the Witchlands (Russia) and what stands in for central Europe are covered in additional, stand alone volumes.
I love the artwork dotted throughout the book. Like the Flintloque figures it has a lot of character and there is always something to find that will make you smile (or more likely think about what army you want to collect next...). I picked this one mainly because... well... it's toad men... on baby hippos... You can't go wrong with that! The art certainly has an old school feel to it, very much in keeping with the tone and feel of the game itself.
Following this is the scenario section, giving three fully fleshed out scenario ideas and suggestions for making your own. These are interesting to read and I will probably play a couple of them. Together with the other scenario ideas in the earlier section you have plenty to inspire and help you along, especially if you feel that words like 'Napoleonic Wars' and 'skirmish games' don't fit so well together!
This is a detail from one of the full page pieces of art. They are so much fun, and this particular one features my favourite Todoroni (although I am miffed that one is getting eaten head first by a darkelf's lizard mount). I definitely want to recreate this scene as a scenario some time...
The book then moves on to such matters as character and section creation and continuing your sections between games to form a campaign. The character creation section details how to define your troops' stats and covers various skills, traits and flaws available to the various races as well as how to form them into sections. You'll see from the picture that this is also where some colour photos of figures from the range have been inserted. A nice addition and again, the right number of pages given over to such material in my opinion.
The 'Between the games' section describes how your characters gain experience and improve between sessions, as well as how to determine if the casualties in the game survive to fight again. This is similar to other skirmish games but is not as complex as some of them and I think this will prove to be an advantage as you can focus on playing games instead of lots of book keeping, but still feel you are developing a unique group of individuals.
The final section of the rules is just that, the rules. Not having played them, I won't dwell too much, suffice to say that, from several read-throughs, they look simple yet effective. The core mechanisms are based around percentile dice and it is a system where players take it in turns to activate two of their figures and perform actions with them. But don't take my word for it, the rules in the book are essentially the same as the Flintloque Lite version available from Alternative Armies, so drop them an email and have a read of your own PDF copy!
Following the pages of charts and tables covering the stats of the different soldiers and weapons, you find what, for me at least, is one of the highlights of the system. The solo play rules allow one side to be automated by the game mechanics and look like an interesting way to control a third force in two-player or even co-op games maybe. I'm really looking forward to trying these out. The enemy is assigned an 'Aggression' category and then a chit pull system determines what each figure will do when they activate, so you can't be certain how they will respond to you. It looks quite promising and, if I like it enough, I will probably try and use a variation with other skirmish rules that don't come with a solo option.
The last few pages contain force rosters, quick reference sheets and counters, all of which look functional and I will definitely copy and laminate the quick reference cards for use in my games. They are perforated, but I can't see myself pulling pages out of my books.
So, that about covers everything. I have really enjoyed reading this book and it has got me very excited about playing this game. It definitely has some oldschool charm about it and it very much reminds me of the older Games Workshop stuff that I enjoy. In fact, I have enjoyed the book and figures so much that it took a while to sink in that I have basically got sucked into a fantasy game where the rule publisher is the sole supplier of figures usable in the setting! But when the company boss takes time to personally respond to emails and clearly loves the games he sells, I think I can live with that. It makes me think of the best kind of games from the late 80's and early 90's in that way. Like a little lighthouse of gaming history in a storm of overly polished, commercialised waffle.
All in all I am very satisfied with this book. I definitely think it is worth the money and it is comprehensive without feeling too slick and over-produced. It has a nice retro feel to it, but it is also clear from reading other websites that the 3rd edition is an improvement on older versions of the rules. At the moment I can't find a great deal to criticise about it, but as I do feel the need to offer something up for the sake of balance, I have to say that there are too many typos and grammatical errors for my liking. Some are jarring but most can be overlooked.
Oh... and as a strange side effect it has got me more interested in reading about the Napoleonic era and the armies of the time, even though it is a fantasy game, but then again I am always interested in history, even if I don't usually game certain periods.
So in conclusion, I'm pleased I finally decided to check this game out and find the book to be an excellent read and worthwhile purchase. On the basis of my experience so far, I would recommend others to take a look too!
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| Just one book is missing from my collection |
War in Catalucia is the first in the series of the 3rd Edition Flintloque rulebooks (more information can be found on the Alternative Armies website here. It is available either by itself or as part of a starter box set containing all you need for a small game. My last two Flintloque tagged posts are of the opposing sections presented in the box set, so check them out if you want to see the figures.
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| The cover |
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| Opening the cover |
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| Obligatory contents page and introduction |
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| Just the right amount of pages are given over to artwork |
Above is an example of the background pages. As you can see, the pages are divided between some fun artwork, sections of 'historical' information and scenarios (in the grey boxes). Plenty of interest just for browsing through, but I promise, you will end up reading more of it than you might expect!
The next big section covers the armies of the various nations, their structure and any special characters. Again, because of the font size and the densely packed text, each one feels like a mini army book in its own right. Plenty of inspiration to be had here. This volume covers the main armies which fought in Catalucia (the equivalent to the Peninsular campaign), so you get the Elves (French), Orcs (English) and Goblins (Portugese) as well as Dark Elves (Spanish), Toadmen (Italians) and much more besides. The war in the Witchlands (Russia) and what stands in for central Europe are covered in additional, stand alone volumes.
I love the artwork dotted throughout the book. Like the Flintloque figures it has a lot of character and there is always something to find that will make you smile (or more likely think about what army you want to collect next...). I picked this one mainly because... well... it's toad men... on baby hippos... You can't go wrong with that! The art certainly has an old school feel to it, very much in keeping with the tone and feel of the game itself.
Following this is the scenario section, giving three fully fleshed out scenario ideas and suggestions for making your own. These are interesting to read and I will probably play a couple of them. Together with the other scenario ideas in the earlier section you have plenty to inspire and help you along, especially if you feel that words like 'Napoleonic Wars' and 'skirmish games' don't fit so well together!
This is a detail from one of the full page pieces of art. They are so much fun, and this particular one features my favourite Todoroni (although I am miffed that one is getting eaten head first by a darkelf's lizard mount). I definitely want to recreate this scene as a scenario some time...
The book then moves on to such matters as character and section creation and continuing your sections between games to form a campaign. The character creation section details how to define your troops' stats and covers various skills, traits and flaws available to the various races as well as how to form them into sections. You'll see from the picture that this is also where some colour photos of figures from the range have been inserted. A nice addition and again, the right number of pages given over to such material in my opinion.
The 'Between the games' section describes how your characters gain experience and improve between sessions, as well as how to determine if the casualties in the game survive to fight again. This is similar to other skirmish games but is not as complex as some of them and I think this will prove to be an advantage as you can focus on playing games instead of lots of book keeping, but still feel you are developing a unique group of individuals.
The final section of the rules is just that, the rules. Not having played them, I won't dwell too much, suffice to say that, from several read-throughs, they look simple yet effective. The core mechanisms are based around percentile dice and it is a system where players take it in turns to activate two of their figures and perform actions with them. But don't take my word for it, the rules in the book are essentially the same as the Flintloque Lite version available from Alternative Armies, so drop them an email and have a read of your own PDF copy!
Following the pages of charts and tables covering the stats of the different soldiers and weapons, you find what, for me at least, is one of the highlights of the system. The solo play rules allow one side to be automated by the game mechanics and look like an interesting way to control a third force in two-player or even co-op games maybe. I'm really looking forward to trying these out. The enemy is assigned an 'Aggression' category and then a chit pull system determines what each figure will do when they activate, so you can't be certain how they will respond to you. It looks quite promising and, if I like it enough, I will probably try and use a variation with other skirmish rules that don't come with a solo option.
The last few pages contain force rosters, quick reference sheets and counters, all of which look functional and I will definitely copy and laminate the quick reference cards for use in my games. They are perforated, but I can't see myself pulling pages out of my books.
So, that about covers everything. I have really enjoyed reading this book and it has got me very excited about playing this game. It definitely has some oldschool charm about it and it very much reminds me of the older Games Workshop stuff that I enjoy. In fact, I have enjoyed the book and figures so much that it took a while to sink in that I have basically got sucked into a fantasy game where the rule publisher is the sole supplier of figures usable in the setting! But when the company boss takes time to personally respond to emails and clearly loves the games he sells, I think I can live with that. It makes me think of the best kind of games from the late 80's and early 90's in that way. Like a little lighthouse of gaming history in a storm of overly polished, commercialised waffle.
All in all I am very satisfied with this book. I definitely think it is worth the money and it is comprehensive without feeling too slick and over-produced. It has a nice retro feel to it, but it is also clear from reading other websites that the 3rd edition is an improvement on older versions of the rules. At the moment I can't find a great deal to criticise about it, but as I do feel the need to offer something up for the sake of balance, I have to say that there are too many typos and grammatical errors for my liking. Some are jarring but most can be overlooked.
Oh... and as a strange side effect it has got me more interested in reading about the Napoleonic era and the armies of the time, even though it is a fantasy game, but then again I am always interested in history, even if I don't usually game certain periods.
So in conclusion, I'm pleased I finally decided to check this game out and find the book to be an excellent read and worthwhile purchase. On the basis of my experience so far, I would recommend others to take a look too!
Sunday, 13 October 2013
Flintloque Ferach Elves
Hot on the heels of my last post, showing the Joccian Ratmen which come with the Catalucian starter box, I have now finished the Elves from the same set. So here are a couple of pictures:
These are the four Chasseurs of the Guards. Due to bad weather this weekend, the light was a bit on the murky side.
Completing the Elf force is the officer and a cavalry trooper.
Here is the obligatory group shot. These are nice figures and I really enjoyed painting them. I've got several more so I can build up a good light infantry section for Flintlock and I'm sure it won't be long before they are painted as well. I am taking a quick detour to do some Orcs and Todoroni first though!
Finally, a quick shot of all the figures from the starter set (Gavin requested this and I am more than happy to oblige). I'm sure there will be more impressive pictures once my terrain is all unpacked though!
That's it for the time being. I am now carefully wrapping these as it looks like we will definitely be moving by the end of October. So no more painting for the time being, but lots of Flintloque to look forward to over the winter months!
These are the four Chasseurs of the Guards. Due to bad weather this weekend, the light was a bit on the murky side.
Completing the Elf force is the officer and a cavalry trooper.
Here is the obligatory group shot. These are nice figures and I really enjoyed painting them. I've got several more so I can build up a good light infantry section for Flintlock and I'm sure it won't be long before they are painted as well. I am taking a quick detour to do some Orcs and Todoroni first though!
Finally, a quick shot of all the figures from the starter set (Gavin requested this and I am more than happy to oblige). I'm sure there will be more impressive pictures once my terrain is all unpacked though!
That's it for the time being. I am now carefully wrapping these as it looks like we will definitely be moving by the end of October. So no more painting for the time being, but lots of Flintloque to look forward to over the winter months!
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