The Adventures
The world of BattleLore is the one of history books - or, more precisely, the world of Europe during the Late Middle Ages.
A period rich in major mass combat clashes, minor skirmishes and daring chevauchées;
A period full of characters so lively and colorful (among them, a sheperdess hearing voices before leading her troops to victory; a mad king - or two!; a man known as the Black Prince, and another as Don Pedro the Cruel…) that no one would believe in them had they been invented;
Finally, a period with enough geo-political twists (not to mention religious - never again would the world witness three competing popes vying for the control of “their” church) and military and scientific innovations (cannons and gunpowder, astronomy, …) to make anyone’s head spin.
You will discover this world progressively through the writings of one of the period’s leading chronicler - Jehan (Jean) Froissart.
As a principal witness and the primary narrative source for this period, Froissart is widely acknowledged as the most entertaining, if not always the most impartial, chronicler of this troubled time.
As you delve into the Adventure’s booklet that comes with the game - Froissart’s Vrayes croniques de France, d’Engleterre et païs voisins - you won’t be able to help but notice that even the best history books didn’t quite get it right!
Maybe it will be the frequent sighting of mercenary bands of mythical races; or the rumors of the monstrous creatures said to roam the land; or the whispered talk of Lore, this arcane power that is said to draw as much from science as from witchcraft;
It doesn’t matter: soon enough, you will acquire the conviction that not all is at it seems in old Europe.
In order to ensure a rapid game set-up, all BattleLore adventures are presented in a similar format, featuring:
- The adventure’s title, and (when provided by Froissart), its date in history
- A Battle Map, depicting the lay of the land, and the forces deployed on the battlefield at game start
- A list of the Terrain (type and quantity) used
- A list of key figures and supplemental units, if any
- The Adventure’s Battle Notes
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| An adventure’s Battle map and… | … the accompanying Battle notes |
| Click on the pictures to Zoom | |
The Battle notes provide a short background introduction to the adventure, a briefing section denoting the opposing camps: known Commanders, Lore Masters and/or War Councils composition, and the party who moves first (ie who starts the game). Also listed are the Victory Conditions, and Special Rules, if any.
The adventures presented in the base game have been specifically designed to progressively introduce players to all the various facets of BattleLore.
Each adventure lists, in a brief Apprentice section at the end of the Battle Notes, the key new rules featured, along with the relevant chapter or page numbers in the Player’s Guide.
Once players have become familiar with the whole system, they will be able to revisit each adventure with the War Councils, Lore Masters and Creatures of their choice, as well as head over to the Adventures section of the official BattleLore web site, where additional adventures will await them.
Another key feature of BattleLore’s adventure system is the Online Adventure editor accessible free of charge to all registered BattleLore owners. A very simple interface will give each player access to the same tool we use internally to develop and test our adventures, opening the door to countless new adventures in the setting of the players’ choosing.
BattleLore Editor (Click on the picture to zoom)
This Online editor is part of a more ambitious effort on our part to progressively offer to the community the tools required for it to thrive (read: something far superior to our now-abandoned M44platoon effort, for those brave souls among Memoir ‘44 users who ventured to use that tool ).
But this will be the subject of a separate, future entry…
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November 9th, 2006 at 5:56 pm
wow!!!!!!!!!!!! Just wanted to be the first person to post a comment. Keep up the great work!!!!!!
November 9th, 2006 at 7:09 pm
Similar yet different from M44.
Now I have to go see what happened the the M44 Platoon. Yikes.
November 9th, 2006 at 7:18 pm
“Astrology” isn’t a scientific innovation. Astronomy, perhaps?
Otherwise — looking good.
November 9th, 2006 at 8:08 pm
Oops, pardon our French! It’s been fixed.
November 9th, 2006 at 8:50 pm
Neat. So do you think that the online mission editor will offer suggestions about balancing the units? Will they be ascribed some kind of suggested point value, or will we need to just kind of eyeball it?
November 9th, 2006 at 8:53 pm
The scenario here shows what appears to be a fence in front of the archers next to the stronhold. I wonder how this affects battle? I would guess it would give good protection to the archers and not decrease the number of dice they roll when they attack.
November 9th, 2006 at 10:57 pm
One easy guess would have the fence be equivalent to “Sandbags” in M44, or similar fortifications in C&C:A — units battling in roll -1 die, units inside ignore a retreat flag.
November 9th, 2006 at 11:07 pm
Or, consistent with the landscape tiles, a maximum number of dice in and out, which is probably no problem for the light archers defending it, but a big one for the heavies on the other side.
November 10th, 2006 at 1:35 am
Actually the “fence” is not a fence, but rather some ramparts, that have their own special cool rules. I’ll try and post more about it when I have a minute.
November 10th, 2006 at 3:43 am
Cool, I notice the mercenary tags on some of the units as well. We also see a graphic of the Warrior’s special landmark tile as well, it looks like a walled encampment\city.
November 10th, 2006 at 6:29 am
Nice! Looks like the guys who were looking for an opportunity to escalade a castle or large fortification will get the chance in the base game.
November 10th, 2006 at 11:22 am
Everything is ok except one thing.
Is it so difficult to highlight a hexagon on the square terrain tiles you use on the editor, and make transparent the outside of the hexagon?
I am not talking about remaking the editor to use hexagonal tiles instead of square ones (probably you have some issues with the hexagonal ones), just make the square ones look like hexagonal.
Even if you cannot make some part of the square tiles transparent, can’t you lower the opacity of the colour outside the hexagon so it will fit the background colour?
Maybe i am going into minor things, but i don’t have the game yet!!!! 20 more days to go!………the pain………..the suffering
November 10th, 2006 at 9:18 pm
Chris, you can see a close up of the Warrior special landmark at the end of the Morale: A good thing to have! (October 3rd, 2006) blog entry.
Twenty days to go. Should we start a countdwon clock like they do on the WizKids website???
November 14th, 2006 at 7:53 am
Next one please
November 14th, 2006 at 4:55 pm
I need my fix bad man! More!
November 14th, 2006 at 4:59 pm
Aye - the good old days with updates on a Mon / Tues
Off the topic of ‘Adventures’ - but will it be possible to see the spider in a monthly blister pack for those who want more than one ?
November 14th, 2006 at 8:01 pm
MikeW22, you need to buy two games to play the Epic adventures. So, that is the way to get two spiders.
CoffeeMan, forget the updates just ship us the games!
The Dice Tower guys have received their demo copies of the game and just did a preview/review on their latest podcast. You can check it out here:
http://www.boardgamenews.com/index.php/boardgamenews/comments/the_dice_tower_episode_74_auction_games_and_battlelore/
Only about 16 days to go………..
November 15th, 2006 at 10:09 pm
done?
November 15th, 2006 at 10:42 pm
not quite. we’re just very busy.
a new post should go up soon, hopefully tomorrow.
November 15th, 2006 at 11:53 pm
Thanks for taking the time to reply, Eric, we all appreciate it. We know you guys are busy and working hard on getting the game out the door, so pardon our impatience, we just want our gaming goodness… sooner rather than later!