An evolving BattleLore review

I was asked to write a review of BattleLore (BL for short from now on), so I decided to do so by writing a web log and updating it as I learn more about the game. So, here I begin.

The box and its contents look good, although clearly the artwork is directed more to a young than a mature audience - compared to War Hammer (WH from now on), for example, the difference is quite significant. I have to complain only about a picture of an archer in the side of the box: someone should have told the artist how bows and arrows are used...

The miniature figurines are plastic and pretty well made, although several are tilted to one side or the other. But clearly, these aren't designed to be painted (like WH figurines), so it's not a big deal - and hopefully they can be fixed in use.

There are several rule summary cards, which will be useful in a couple of first games, but can probably be kept aside afterwards, at least most of them. The game is very easy to learn. The cards for various terrain types and their effects might be needed more even in later games, so it's good to have them.

One of the obvious edges BL has over WH is just that actually: it's ready for play immediately, there's no need to build & paint models for a year or two before the first game. Of course, for people who want to do just that, WH and WarHammer 40,000 (afterwards called WH40k) are clearly the recommended choice (I have four armies for WH40k myself).

Because the game uses a hex grid, there may be limitations to the terrain, but perhaps expansions will bring more variety there. At least one doesn't have to build the terrain as in WH40k.

I haven't played many other games that use figurine models. In WH40k they represent individual soldiers, in War of the Ring they represent whole armies (or legion size units, perhaps), while in BL it's a bit different. They represent the strenght of a unit - roughly how close to destruction it is at a given time. The number of soldiers in a unit is not important (I don't think the scale of components was even mentioned anywhere), the units are more abstract. But I'd say a unit probably represents about a few hundred men. Foot units start with four figurines, mounted units with three. Their number does not influence the damage they cause, only how much they can take. When the last of them - the one with the banner showing what unit type it is - is removed, the unit is destroyed.

The combat is simple and well explained in the fairly large rules book. The reason the book is that thick, instead of a small booklet as usual, is just that it's so well organized and filled with explanatory pictures. And the rules are intuitive as well as some of the least complex I've seen in strategy games, so it shouldn't take more than one reading to learn to play the game.

The game uses special six-sided dice. There are 12 such dice included in the game. Three of the sides have a coloured helmet on them, corresponding to a the colours of the units (red means heavy units, blue regulars, green light). When attacking, heavy units roll more dice than light units, as expected. Some terrains can limit the number of dice used. A roll of the same colour as the target's colour scores a hit, thus causing the defending unit to lose a figurine for each hit. This seems a bit odd, since the chance to hit is thus the same for all units (one doesn't hit a green when rolling a red, as I would've assumed). But it's a simple system and seems to work well enough as is, so I'm not complaining.

Besides the helmets, the dice have other sides: one flag that causes a retreat, one Lore symbol which is only used in Lore Adventures (see below) and functions as a miss at other times, and finally, a Sword on Shield symbol. That's a bonus hit, when the attacker's "weapon" allows for it. The weapons, I think, should probably be thought of as abstractions. They include only Short Sword, Longsword (the card carries pictures of late medieval longswords / bastardswords), Common Bow (i.e. "longbow" as it is now called) and a crossbow. The units have different movement options depending on their type, so heavy units are slow and mounted units fast. For example, regular footsoldiers can either move one hex and attack (unless special Comman cards say something different), or move two hexes without attacking.

The rules are organized so that you can start playing after reading the first part only. The scenarios (called Adventures in BL) are in a separate booklet, where they are organized into different categories so you can play with more and more rules in the game as you learn more of the rules.

I already played (by myself) the introductory, "historical" scenario Agincourt while learning the rules. In a couple of turns I understood how the basics of the game work and soon it seemed pretty fast paced. The players give orders using command cards, like in some other games, and only move and attack with the units ordered that turn, as opposed to moving and attacking with all units, as in many old style games, such as WH40k. (The part about attacking only with units ordered using cards could perhaps be emphasized or given an example in the rules, btw. It may not be obvious to everyone after first reading.)

The world of BL is nothing as sophisticated and inspiring, and will probably never be anywhere nearly as deeply developed as that of WH40k, but at least the basic game seems to actually work better than WH40k. At least it's far more fast paced and also takes less time. I ran Agincourt into English victory while playing both sides as well as I could in less than 2 hours, and that was my first game of BL ever! For comparison, let it be known that I've had 8 hour sessions of WH40k, even when both players have played the game before...

The world of BL, if one can speak of such a thing, is actually a fantasy version of historical middle ages. One can play the game while ignoring the fantasy elements, or include them in the game. Correspondingly, the Adventures (or scenarios, as they are usually known in strategy games) are distinguished between two types: "historical" and "Lore" adventures. I suspect the latter brings much more interesting stuff into the game, including the mechanics. I doubt the "historical" adventures alone will be enough for players interested in historical battle simulations. They lack the details, historical accuracy, and realism one hopes to find when trying such games. But at least BL is fast, so perhaps it's enough for a light weight version of them?

I will add more when I get to try the Lore Adventures. They bring in pretty generic elements from fantasy games that will hopefully be fun to play in a board game like this. They include goblins, dwarves, Creatures, wizard spells, and various heroic actions.

*

An update:

I've tried some of the Lore scenarios now. Lore certainly makes the game more interesting. Without it, the simplistic system is too boring for me, as I prefer more realism and perhaps more complexity in strategic games. But this is a less serious game, and the fantasy elements involving Lore do make the game interesting and fun enough for me.

There are Creatures in the game (the starting box contains a Giant Spider) that can use the Lore die roll result in battle to use their special powers, and to store that rolled Lore to unleash power-ups later.

Wizards and other members of the war council (so far I've only tried scenarios with wizards) can use Lore tokens for their specialties, such as spells. These characters are not pieces on the strategic game board themselves, but their abilities can be used anywhere on the map. The characters can have varying levels, influencing the power of their abilities. There is a limited number of Lore cards in the game (and a limit to the number of Lore cards a player can hold at a time), which are used alongside the Command cards.

One Lore card can be played on the players own turn, another (if so specified) on the other player's turn. To use the card, the player must discard a number of Lore Tokens. These are accumulated during battles, when dice come up with Lore result, and possibly at the end of the player's turn. That is when the player decides to refresh his cards, and/or pick up more Lore tokens.