"Why was the mushroom happy? Because he was a fun-gi!"
With both Arabianknight and I backing Ganesha Games
Kickstarter for the SoBH game, Fightin Fungi, we were keen to play test the new
rules available to backers. So down at Arabianknight’s Gaming Emporium we both deployed
a quickly assembled 350 point warband for a simple Capture the Shard of Power,
(or something like that!), scenario.
As this was a rules play test, our rosters – certainly mine
anyway – were created primarily towards testing out some of the expanded array
of abilities (traits), the new weapon/armour rules and the Reaction system. We
both forewent the long list of new Magic abilities for this time, leaving that
for another playtest.
I hired the services of my erstwhile Dwarf campaign
leader, Valgen Maest and his some of his lads whilst Arabianknight assembled his
Human Church Retinue again. No idea why, maybe he likes big hats! This was led
by an angry Bishop with a contingent of soldiers. I think a Bishop with a
penchant for bludgeoning to death unbelievers’ definitely fits the 'angry'
profile!
For Valgen and his lads, I picked out some of the more interesting
new traits that sounded vaguely thematic for a band of Dwarfs – Low Kick,
Shield Rush, Hammering Blow and the Way of the Intercepting Fist amongst them! Valgen
and his stoic side-kick, Falster Vonlyr, both turned up in full armour too,
which looked good but I soon found was counter-productive for dwarfs!
The new armour and weapon rules allows players to select
the type of kit their characters are armed with, (heavy/light armour,
large/magic/standard shield, buckler etc.), rather than relying on ‘traits’
alone to distinguish individual characters. For example, Falster Vonlyr, being
a veteran dwarf warrior, had Armoured and Shield included on his profile as
well as Fearless, Shield Rush and Short Move.
This meant that a melee loss by 2 (armour + shield),
becomes a tie. Crucially however, for dwarfs already on a Short Move due to
their, ahem… stature, movement is reduced by one stick, so a very frustrated
Falster found himself having to get two successful activation rolls to move –
bringing back memories of battling through heavy snow in previous campaigns! If
this wasn’t bad enough for armoured dwarfs, it also had a direct impact when it
came to the Reaction system.
Players of SoBH will know that each character can be activated
with a choice of up to three dice, activating
against their Quality, so for example, three successes would mean Falster could
at least move short with two actions (armour and shield) and with the third possibly
make a normal melee attack if he managed to move into base contact with an
opponent. If however Falster had only rolled one success of three attempted activations, he wouldn’t have been
able to move at all – and play would then immediately pass (turnover) to the opposing
warband for rolling two unsuccessful activation rolls! But before that happens,
the new Reaction system kicks in.
Taking the last example, with Falster choosing to roll
three activation dice and losing two – Arabianknight can then immediately pick
up the two failed dice and attempt to activate one of his own characters,
before Falster completes his one successful action!
“A reaction is a short burst of activity, a momentary stealing of the initiative, a sudden action that throws a wrench in the works of your opponent’s plan!"
Post game we did have to have the Reaction definition
clarified, as somehow we were interpreting that any failed activation rolls guaranteed
the equivalent reaction for the opponent. Not so, the opponent still has to activate a reaction against the reacting character's Quality. We also clarified that turnovers only happen when it is that players turn, not as a result of a reaction roll. There are also a number of rules supporting the Reaction
system, for example characters who have already successfully reacted during
this turn may not react again amongst others. It is to be noted that the armour and weapon
rules are still being developed so our interpretation, for example the
Slow Move dwarfs with armour having to take two movement actions, will
have to be clarified.
Ireheart (left) Outnumbered by three soldiers |
The Bishop's crossbowman (left) with a reload marker |
SoBH was dynamic before, but with the new Reaction system
in play the action becomes truly vibrant. It’s certainly not a game for players
that like to rely on carefully crafted power lists! With SoBH it’s a fast-paced
skirmish with the new raft of traits and equipment options available for the
characters only adding to the roleplaying element. And we haven’t even touched
on the new Magic rules and lists yet!
Andrea Sfilgoi clarified Armored/Heavy Armored with Short Move on the Fightin' Fungi playtest forum.
ReplyDelete"...no reduction beyond 1 Short so nothing really changes for Dwarves in the new armor rules. We tried many solutions but with only 3 sticks there is not enough granularity - nor any need IMHO - to reduce their movement, Short is already pathetic."
Yay! Valgen's Lads will be most pleased they can now get all dressed up in their best armour and shields without being reduced to armoured manikins!
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