As you may have previously read, Lee and myself have been helping Paul, from Pazoot, with his new project, Battle Chronicle - The Retreat From Moscow. The rules are very nearly ready, so here's a quick introduction for you.
Battle Chronicles is a skirmish game in which each model
represents a single man, struggling to survive on his own. The groups are too
small, too broken, and too exhausted for formal formations—on this battlefield,
there are no lines, no manoeuvres, only individuals fighting to endure.
The game is played cooperatively. All players take the
role of French stragglers, while the
Russian forces are controlled by an automated system, an
ever-present threat that must be outpaced, outwitted, or simply escaped.
Battle Chronicle Concept
Battle Chronicles are inspired by “One-Shots” from the
RPG world. They’re intended to be quick and easy to pick up and played a
handful of times, they’re not designed as a complete games system for a period.
You could think of a Battle Chronicle as a wargame equivalent of a fighting
fantasy book. They are primarily designed to be played through as a campaign.
Battle Chronicles are designed to be complete wargames,
that include the core rules,
scenarios and campaign system. The scenarios are designed
to be played in a campaign style with the result of the first game affecting
what happens in the next game. Also, the scale of the conflicts is designed to
grow in force size and rule complexity as you move through each scenario.
The first scenario is designed to be a learning game, it should play quite quickly, need a small number of troops and introduce the players to the basic concepts of the game.
Each subsequent scenario will require more miniatures and introduce more rules and concepts. The rules have been deliberately kept as easy as possible and new rules and concepts are introduced at the beginning of each scenario so that you don’t have too much to learn before starting to roll the dice and taking the battle to the enemy.
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Sounds like an interesting idea, not my bag but I can see it being fun!
ReplyDeleteBest Iain
It's not going to be everyone's cuppa, that's for sure.
DeleteI like the sound of that, not usually interested in skirmish games but I do think this will be very interesting.
ReplyDeleteIts not gonna blow the bank and is a fun game to play.
DeleteSounds fantastic Ray!
ReplyDeleteIts a great game.
DeleteFor an historical Napoleonic game, the logo projects too much of a fantasy theme to me. Perhaps a Dark Ages theme would be more fitting to the logo?
ReplyDeleteI see your point Jon, the plan is to have a series of these covering all sorts of historical periods, so I presume Paul went with a generic logo to cover warfare rather than a specific era,
DeleteCo-operative hmmm not suitable to every set of gamers I fear :-)
ReplyDeleteThat's it in a nutshell, you have to co-operate or you lose.
DeleteGood luck with it Ray
ReplyDeleteThanks Dave!
DeleteQuite the project. Looking forward to more!
ReplyDeleteThere will be more soon.
DeleteIt will be fun following this as you get a few games underway.
ReplyDeleteWe are supposed to be letting some of the Rejects loose on the game soon, but trying to get bods together is proving difficult.
DeleteLove the idea of being ‘too small, too broken, and too exhausted for formal formations’
ReplyDeleteIt works perfect for the Retreat.
DeleteI have a bit of a soft spot for this kind of skirmish level game nowadays, and the concept/back story actually makes some sense in the context of the Retreat. I do agree with Jon re the logo, however, it does not suggest Napoleonic or Russia to me at all!
ReplyDeleteAgreed, the logo is for all periods, not just Napoleonic. Other era games are in the pipline.
DeleteThanks for taking us through all the play testing Ray.
ReplyDeleteIt is a fun concept. Unfortunately I do not have the minis for it....or time 😂
On the logo I assume the logo is generic as it will be the start of a number of these types of game if it is successful.
Best of luck with it.
That's exactly it regarding the logo, Ben. My next post will tell you what figures are needed, it won't be too hard on your wallet.
Delete