The Troops
In BattleLore, there are three Troop types, roughly corresponding to three distinct levels of military training.
Green Banner Troops
Green Banner troops, identified by the green undertone or background field of their banners, are used to denote young, untrained recruits drawn from the masses.
In some Races, they are called Irregulars. Their weapon is usually little more than a simple sword, common bow or a stick, and they usually wear little to no body armor. Their military training tends to be meager or non-existent; on the flipside, they usually benefit from having good mobility.
Blue Banner Troops
Blue Banner troops, identified by the blue background field of their banners, usually form the backbone of a regular army.
Trained to battle in Melee and advance in military formations, these are usually professionally equipped men-at-arms, or Regulars of an army, well versed in military matters.
Red Banner Troops
Red Banner troops, identified by the red background field of their banners, form the Heavy shock troops of an army.
Often held in reserve to deliver the decisive coup-de-grace in battle, they possess the best weapons, the top mounts and the finest armor. On the flipside, these assets greatly encumber them and they display much less mobility than other units.
Units move and battle differently according to their troops’ type and status (foot or mounted).
Other Languages:
September 15th, 2006 at 3:33 pm
Is it gonna be shown / available at Spiel in Essen?
September 15th, 2006 at 3:57 pm
Looking good. Pretty straight forward on the troop types.
September 15th, 2006 at 4:12 pm
Very interesting.
I am curious to see how the battle dice are going to work. I do not see the circle, triangle, or square of C&CA on the banners. But, the colors are green, blue, and red. Hm-m-m-m.
It also looks like Infantry types will be four to a hex, and Cav will be 3 per hex.
I cannot wait to see more!
September 15th, 2006 at 4:35 pm
yeah, it’s probly gonna be colors on the dice to see who gets hit.
September 15th, 2006 at 4:57 pm
Have you tested these banners with color-blind people?
September 15th, 2006 at 5:25 pm
Initially I was very interested in this game, but it sounds like its just going to be another version of heroscape (a money pit). I like the gradual and steady release of the memior’44 expansions. There’s just enough time in between them so that you’re not shelling out a boat load of cash just to stay current with the system. It looks like you’ll have to buy something every other month just to be able to play with the latest figures. You’ll also need lots of storage space (a HUGE reason I’m generally turned-off by minatures games in the first place).
September 15th, 2006 at 5:54 pm
“another version of heroscape” - what’s wrong with that? and didn’t I see an 80-page rulebook somewhere? Not quite like heroscape then.
“It looks like you’ll have to buy something every other month just to be able to play with the latest figures.” No you don’t. Just don’t buy them. For me, I love a game that is supported well enought to have bi-monthly releases. Not to argue but Memoir ‘44 expansion releases have been neither steady nor gradual. There have been 3 in 2 years and nothing else in sight (except maybe this urban myth of a storage case).
“also need lots of storage space” Huh? These are not life size minis they are measured in mm. One average sized gun case from a hunting goods store will hold your whole army. I played WH40K and WHFB for years and kept several armies at once all in 2 gun cases.
September 15th, 2006 at 5:58 pm
Brett, The banners are not the issue per se because the different units use different sculpts, so looking at a mini will tell you whether it’s a Heavy infantry or not. The dice are another story, however, and will likely require some marking to recognize one side from another at a glance.
September 15th, 2006 at 7:24 pm
Are there any other differentiators? What’s the difference between a blue orc soldier and a blue human soldier, for instance? What about bigger creatures, like the hill giant and elemental…what rules-wise makes them different?
BTW, I’m VERY excited for this game!
Steve
September 15th, 2006 at 7:51 pm
SteveB, I bet they will have a different reference card. Maybe that is why there are 45, or so reference cards in the base game.
Eric, so the battle dice will be similar to C&CA with a color on three sides, a flag, a leader symbol, and the crossed swords (or something similar)?
September 15th, 2006 at 8:13 pm
It kind of bothers me that “light/medium/heavy” characteristics are intertwined with “green/regular/elite”. For instance, based on the description, all elite units will be slow, heavy units. That seems kind of limiting.
September 15th, 2006 at 8:24 pm
Excellent point Leon.
I was thinking the same thing. Does this mean that there are no slow weak units? No fast strong units? And, as others have pointed out, we still don’t know what determines a “hit” for each unit.
And, more, how do the “wizards, clerics and rogues” play into all this
Still waiting for more!!! (Aren’t we a demanding lot)
BTW - there are 58 unit types in the base set. What does this mean? Green Knights, Regular Knights, Elite Knights? Is that three? And 58 does not divide evenly by 3, so that means not all units have all three classes.
Isn’t conjecturing wonderful!!
September 15th, 2006 at 8:27 pm
Leon,
this will not be the case. The descriptions are just for flavor, and nothing in the system prevents us from designing some “elite” irregulars for instace.
The dice I will talk about soon, they’re not quite like that aslskfan. and
SteveB, different races, etc… all have their own summary cards, for good reasons.
It will all progressively become clearer as we post additional entries into the blog
eric
September 15th, 2006 at 8:29 pm
There are NOT 58 different unit types in the base set, but rather 58 banner bearers, several of which are of the same unit type.
September 15th, 2006 at 8:30 pm
so no mithrill in BL ?
September 15th, 2006 at 9:14 pm
Eric, are each of the figures pictured today, that have the hole for the banner in the base, considered a “banner bearer”? If so, I assume that this means that a unit will have one “banner bearer” base, and three regular bases. Right?
Also, it looks like the figures are tabbed to be inserted into the bases. True?
September 15th, 2006 at 9:54 pm
Looking closely, both infantry and archers are using the same base.
Maybe there are two or more types of base ? one with banner holders and one without ? Or do all the bases have the holes ?
Maybe the figures have to be inserted by us into the bases ?
Don’t you just love this speculation ? Eric, it’s drving us all mad !! Give us more info !
Seriously though, BattleLore is looking like a great product.
September 15th, 2006 at 10:28 pm
Question re cavalry figure vs infantry figure…
Are the figures as pictured to scale? If so then that means the cavalry is scaled differently than an infantry unit (cav figure looks smaller) so as to fit it in a hex. This would be a bad thing IMO.
September 15th, 2006 at 10:37 pm
I do not think that the figs are in any consitent scale, ala Warhammer. I agree it would be very cool to have a consistent scale.
Eric, I look forward to hearing more about the battle dice. I am wondering if they will be regular 6 siders…….. I.e. hit on a 1 to 4 (or, 1-3, etc.), flag on a six.
September 15th, 2006 at 10:40 pm
Also, I was shocked that my FLGS and they had never heard of Battle Lore, or the promotional minis. And, it is a FLGS listed on the DoW site as a retailer……….
September 15th, 2006 at 11:34 pm
Some answers:
MikeW22: all bases have a hole, in which a banner can be plugged or un-plugged. This provides a huge flexibility in terms of gameplay.
MikeW22: You won’t have to insert the figs in their base. They will be already inserted (and glued). As usual with our games, we want the game to be ready to play when you open it.
Milton: no, the pictures do not have the same scale, sorry about the confusion. The figs have all the same scale, so mounted figs are taller and larger than foot units. There is no problem to fit them on the hexes, since a foot unit has 4 figs and a mounted unit 3 figs.
September 16th, 2006 at 5:06 am
You can see a picture of the gameboard & dice on the battlemaster fan site.
http://www.battleloremaster.com/
Ths was taken from a french game site: Asmodée Editions
The dice look very similar to the CC:A dice. But what is the little cup beside the dice for?
September 16th, 2006 at 12:44 pm
TnT, thanks for the link. the board looks superb - I suspect even died in the wool ancients players with no interest in fantasy will buy this even if only to play C+C using a top quality board and terrain.
Unrelated questions - 1. am I right to think the game will have a ‘campaign’ system, allowing armies to develop from scenario to scenario?
2. Solitaire play possible?
Andy.
September 16th, 2006 at 1:23 pm
Thanks for the plug TnT, now I don’t have to be rude and plug my own site (except to mention I’ve just set up forums there as well - oops).
A campaign system would certainly be great; I believe someone did one for M’44 that I haven’t played yet, but it’s a great idea. It is a bit of a shame the board won’t be able to grow ‘depthwise’ as well as ‘lengthwise’, but then there are these mentions of a ‘double-scale’ board on the flipside. It’ll be interesting to see how that works.
Ahh, I can hardly wait.
September 16th, 2006 at 1:24 pm
Here is the link to the french site:
http://www.asmodee.com/jeux-de-societe/news/news.htm?HK=6419 83fad28ef609aa4236a86af51969&ID=590
Dice cups, war council boards, the dice look a bit different, and you can see the lore cards. Maybe the die in the cup is for the lore system.
September 16th, 2006 at 1:27 pm
Well, the link did not come out so hot. Just click on the news tab and you should have no trouble finding the Battle Lore news.
September 17th, 2006 at 8:01 am
As an avid board gamer I have to say this is one of the few unreleased games I am looking forward to. Of course, this being my hobby I get very in depth on the stratagy/efficiency of the elements in a game. The first thing that popped out at me today is that depending on the ‘necessity/importance’ of movement and being ‘close’ to your oponents either the high movement green troops or the low movement red troops will reign tacticly supreme. This could of course be overcome if there is a ‘unit cost’ ala warhammer/mageknight/warmachine.
September 17th, 2006 at 2:52 pm
Just a nitpick here, but on the “Foot Units” card, in the text for blue troops, shouldn’t it read “not battle” instead of “no battle”?
September 17th, 2006 at 8:17 pm
While interesting and intriguing, so far, Battlelore seems like a fantasy version of Memoir ‘44.
September 17th, 2006 at 11:59 pm
Am wondering is that footman mini footman with shield and sword or 2H sword and small arm shield? If is is with sword and shield why does it have sword in left hand? The same goes for knight on horse. Weapon was mostly used in right hand and that bothers me a bit…
Other then this so ar the game looks nice..
September 18th, 2006 at 12:49 am
“Just a nitpick here, but on the “Foot Units” card, in the text for blue troops, shouldn’t it read “not battle” instead of “no battle”?”
C&C convention is to say ‘no battle’ when I unit can’t battle. An abbreviated version of ‘no battle ability’ or ‘no battle option’ I assume.
“While interesting and intriguing, so far, Battlelore seems like a fantasy version of Memoir ‘44.”
Umm, yes. That’s sort of the point. It will have some other rules and systems though (most likely from CC: Ancients), like morale and follow-up attacks.
September 18th, 2006 at 4:53 am
DOW Team - I am looking forward to the game. I just noticed something that didn’t seem to make sense. The banners on the foot units card is not matching the banner that you have on the actual photo of the unit. The calvary unit has a straight up and down type carrying banner, but the card that you showed looks to be the horizontal waving flag.
Just noticed this possible QC issue.
September 18th, 2006 at 8:53 am
Tjstehking,
I think that there are twi banner types for the two opposing forces in the game.
Let’s say the army from the “vertical stripes land” and the army of the horizontal lines planes”.
(I think that the Lion and the cross also have to do with the two armies but i am not sure)
September 18th, 2006 at 5:36 pm
Zinos is correct, no worry. The summary cards are available in doublets (ie a version of each, ie a version for each camp, matching thhat camp’s banners.
Also no worry about this looking like Fantasy Memoir ‘44. It’s simply because we first need to introduce some of the base principles, as not everyone is familiar with the game system’s general concepts. You will see that things eventually get quite… different, shall we say
September 18th, 2006 at 6:24 pm
Looks liek the Knights are left handed too. I wonder if the sculpter is left handed?????
Eric, I think Eagraa was refering to the “look” of Battle Lore (the same size board as M’44, the troop density, the terain tiles, etc.), not the “play” of Battle Lore. It actually looks pretty much what I thought it would “look” like, and I am looking forward to hear more about the “play” of Battle Lore.
September 18th, 2006 at 7:04 pm
More Battle Lore MP3 goodness:
http://www.boardgamenews.com/index.php/boardgamenews/comments/the_boardgaming_roundtable_episode_3_days_of_wonder_and_battlelore/
September 20th, 2006 at 1:15 am
Eric:
My FLGS said that they have to order 6 copies of the game to get the preorder? I thought there was a limit of 6 Hill Giants per store on the initial order. Is there some confusion, or do they have to make that commitment?
September 20th, 2006 at 5:27 am
is this game similar in concept to memoir 44 just using a different theme?
September 20th, 2006 at 6:58 am
Memoir’44 (DoW), Battle Cry (by Avalon Hill) and Command & Colours:Ancients (GMT) all have the same basic game engine. Battlelore has the same pedigree, thus will be similar. From a complexity perspective, BattleCry is the simplest, M’44 next, then CC:A is the most complex (so far). I have played both M’44 and CC:A - and found them very different in play - despite the fact they are essentially the same system.
Given that Battlelore has an 80 page rulebook, more unit types, and lore abilities, I would conjecture that it is at the higher end of the complexity.
September 20th, 2006 at 10:24 am
uh are the swordmen and knights really left-handed? I would prefer them right-handed … but the rest of the game looks wonderful!
September 20th, 2006 at 6:45 pm
Yes, I think it rather odd that the miniatures so far shown (except the bowmen) are all left-handed (ie, sword in left hand, shield in right). The fighting style in medieval times was sword in right hand, shield in left. I understand that even medieval internal winding castle stairways were built with this fact in mind.
September 20th, 2006 at 7:16 pm
If you are all going to nit pick over such a small detail, then don’t buy it.
September 20th, 2006 at 11:05 pm
Well we said we like everything else… this blog is to express our opinion and some critics are not allway bad… still the game looks nice and i will buy it even if swords will be in left hand…
but maby they will fix this in expansions so this comment is not so bad…
September 20th, 2006 at 11:39 pm
Actually, taking a quick look at those on my desk, the minis are a mix of right and left-handed ones ;-).
September 21st, 2006 at 10:34 am
Eagraa Says:
September 20th, 2006 at 7:16 pm
“If you are all going to nit pick over such a small detail, then don’t buy it.”
Relax Eagraa - this sounds like an awesome game. Companies like DOW appreciate feedback. If there are customers who think that left-handed knights and swordsmen are an anachronism then DOW are entitled to hear that feedback. Perhaps it may influence future sculpts.
September 21st, 2006 at 2:56 pm
Is there are reason for the left handed sculpts?
September 21st, 2006 at 10:07 pm
And the left-handed warriors and bowmen in the artwork?
September 22nd, 2006 at 10:27 am
Eric has said in the Command Cards thread that the left-handed minis and artwork is just artistic license.
December 1st, 2006 at 8:36 am
youre right
they are left handed, meaning…