The gaming gods are smiling upon me as I have received a rough draft of the upcoming "Hail Caesar" rules from John Stallard at Warlord Games to play test with my gaming group. Well to be honest, I received a bunch of word documents that have the text but no pictures, but it's more than enough to start testing.
Before anyone asks, I can not and will not share the files with anyone else so please don't ask. I will share the results of our play testing and, of course, my witty banter - what a deal!
As posted on the Warlord Website, the game is similar in structure to Black Powder, but with more emphasis on melee combat and, in my opinion, maneuver. The basic mechanics are simple, but there is a nice level of optionality in how various units and capabilities are combined. I've played a couple of basic turns with my 28mm Roman army and I feel that Hail Caesar plays a bit more deeply than Black Powder - there a few more things to think about. Of course, when playing solitaire, my opinions are of questionable value given the rather limited capabilities of my opponent. I have determine that Legionnaires with support are a very tough nut to crack.
I'm going to get my gaming buddies together over the next few weeks and do some proper play testing (assuming I can "borrow" my table from my son's robotics team).
One note - I remember when BP first came out, there was a lot of hemming and hawing about the cost of high quality books with glossy pictures and what a crime it was for publishers to "force" people to pay a higher price for a higher quality book. Well I've had the opportunity to see the rules in a rather basic format - just text, no pictures and I've come to a conclusion on this topic. With all due respect, those of you clamoring to save $20 - $25 dollars or so to get a stripped down version are, shall we say, ummm, "missing the point" (see, I was polite). Our hobby is a visual one and seeing top flight miniatures is half the fun and I think well worth a bit of a price premium. That's just one gamer's opinion, void where prohibited by law, your milage may vary...
Very extremely jealous! Really looking forward to hearing your thoughts, I keep reading good things about these rules and am very keen for them to be released.
ReplyDeleteEnjoy your play testing and please let us know what you think.
Cheers
Scullmeister
I'm looking forward to this too. It's always good to get a new ruleset and those guys clearly know a thing or two.
ReplyDeleteI really like your thinking on the visual being important, even if I'm personally not fully convinced..! I do think there are players who soak inspiration up from all quarters and need a solid ruleset only, although in my case it's probably the other way round.
Then again, that premium might well help to cover better development of the rules too. It seems to me we have too little data to form hard views, and so too little to argue amongst ourselves about it, as seems so often to happen. For me your tone is admirable - friendly and encouraging - and a good cue to take.
You lucky devil.
ReplyDeleteI think it's a crafty marketing ploy on Mr. Stallard's part knowing that I only have Romans and, therefore, will need to purchase some opponents to "proprly" test the rules. The craftiest part is is even though I know he's pulling this stunt, I'm still going to fall for it! The force is strong with Mr Stallard.
ReplyDeleteI'm leaning towards Dacians, with some Germans and Gauls thrown in for fun
Although Parthians have those lovely cataphracts...
Lastly, those aren't the droids I was looking for.
Good work on those marines and looking forward to hearing your thoughts on the rules.
ReplyDelete