Customer Reviews

BattleLore

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

In my dreams, I imagine a game ... it is filled with fantasy magic, monsters and battle, overflowing with toy figures to push around an a brilliantly artistic, colorful board, adaptable so that I can play different scenarios or maybe even design my own, easy to teach to my dubious friends and even easier to play.

BattleLore, it turns out, is the promise of my dream - but not quite its fulfillment. Now, I believe Richard Borg to be a game design genius and I sincerely like the folks over at `Days of Wonder' but their products tend to leave me with a heightened state of ambivalence. The quality of their game box and its color printing are absolutely superb - but their choice of cover art is pedestrian - especially compared to the other components in their box. Their rules are gorgeously printed in full color replete with illustrations - but the organization of their rules makes the sequence unclear and overly complicates the simplest of concepts and tasks. As a former game designer, I found a number of brilliantly conceived linkages built into the rules to allow for unlimited expansion ... and yet these feel like abrupt dead ends as they are portrayed in the written rules. Such problems made it difficult to grasp the overall flow of the game and how its component rules fit together into a working system of play. Once we understood the rules, playing the game was easy and fun - but getting to that point was work and difficult.

Then there were the absolutely incredible number of fantasy figures included in the game - knights, archers and warriors of various strengths and kinds - that seemed literally to overflow the box and needed no assembly in order to play the game. That was wonderful but once again instantly offset by the small number of fantastic creatures included for play. Moreover, these were limited to dwarves, goblins and a single humungous spider. The iconic staple of epic fantasy - the dragon - was nowhere represented or even hinted at.

Perhaps this is the aspect of BattleLore which, for me, was the most disappointing - lack of fantasy context. The two opposing sides in the game are - French and English. I don't know about you but I have visited both France and England and while both were fantastic, I didn't count them as fantasy trips. The very first scenario in the game is called Agincourt, October 25th, 1415 under the leadership of the opposing Henry V and Charles d'Albret. Now for all you Shakespeare and Henry the Fifth fans, you may want to start your game with the St. Crispin's Day speech but I was leery. Was this game a fantasy game or a historical simulation game? It seems unable to decide.

All of this appears to be set in France - admittedly a France of the 13-1400s populated with some dwarves, goblins and one huge spider - but France nevertheless. This game proclaims on its cover `Epic Fantasy Adventures' and yet it contains only the barest of elements of what we think of as epic fantasy. This is my biggest problem with BattleLore; that it does not deliver the context of epic fantasy for which I had so earnestly hoped.

If you are looking for a fabulous design in a deceptively simple game with breathtaking tabletop displays ... then you will find this game well worth the price. It is achingly close to the game of my dreams ... but also achingly just short of perfection.

While the chance element is rather high in this game, it is one of the most enjoyable games I've played in a long time. There are other games filled with detail if that's what you want. This one is just plain fun. It features one of the clearest rulebooks I've ever read. The replay potential of the various scenarios seems endless. The upcoming expansions will add more fantasy elements, which I will purchase, but the basic games is just fine the way it is, in my opinion.

My story for finding and eventually deciding to buy this game started over 15 years ago with another light war game called Battlemasters from Milton Bradley. I opened the box at my Grandma's for Christmas and pulled out a giant mat that was about 4 1/2 by 5 feet. The game consisted of miniature knights, archers, wolves, goblins, a canon and ogre battling it out using essentially just cards and dice. Over the years my brother, friends and I got good use out of it, slowly lost pieces, and eventually left the game in a bedroom closet back at the parents. However, the game always stood to amaze me. Any time we pulled out that rug size mat, anyone who walked by in the house would notice, watch, and be curious.

About a month ago I walked into our local game store and saw the great artwork on Battlelore's box and immediately was drawn to it. I flipped the box around and noticed the familiar hexagon shapes and plastic figurines. At that moment, I immediately had memories come shooting back from the days growing up playing Battlemasters, this looked like a slimmed down version of the same thing in concept. I came home and over the next week or so looked up reviews and videos demonstrating the game. Sure enough, it was very similar but had some very nice additions and improvements. After that I was hooked, bought the game, played two scenarios with an old friend of mine, got him hooked, and now he has bought a copy for himself.

As far as gameplay and general rules go, words can not accurately and efficiently explain the concept. I suggest searching "Battlelore board games with Scott" on youtube to see a very well thought out, but cheesy demonstration and explanation about the game.

If you are looking for a game that you can play with your kids, wife, husband, teenagers, or other adults, than this game can work at all levels satisfactorily. The game has an incredible amount of depth without requiring a day's time just to get through the rules. They essentially build up on the rules step by step through scenarios, each adding additional elements as desired. You therefore, learn as you go with this game. For example, the first scenario introduces a small army for both sides and introduces you to the combat, then from there you can add goblins, then dwarfs, then a creature, then lore, then a war council. Eventually, you can have a pretty diverse set of options to play with, yet the design is so well done you never get overwhelmed and therefore have to play every game looking up rules every turn. In fact, the rules are essentially laid out on cards and as you progress you just add additional cards as reference sheets to the rules.

The rule book is 80 pages but you can play your first game after reading less than half of it. 80 pages seems like a lot but this is mostly due to their excellent diagrams, examples, glossary and appendixes.

This game is designed to have great longevity and I don't see it going away any time soon. For starters, many people choose to paint the figures as a hobby and to add a nice touch to the look of the game. There are over 200 of them out of the box so this can be quite the task. Second, the game has lots of support and has several expansions for additional units, creatures, play systems, and options to increase the number of players.

Overall, it may seem that $[...] is a high price for a game, but afterwards you will see that the game easily provides more than enough in both design, pieces, and depth of game play to justify it.

First of all, it is important to note that this game uses the same basic game mechanics as Memoir 44 and Command and Colors: Ancients. My wife and I started out with Memoir 44 about a year and a half ago. We love that game, but it is definitely the simplest of the three and we wanted to take the next step. Battlelore is definitely a step up in complexity from Memoir (though it still is not overly complex). I have to admit that as much as I love the World War 2 theme of Memoir, this system definitely works better with hand to hand combat as is found in Battlelore and Ancients.

For those of you familiar with Memoir 44, you know how important the terrain is in that game. In Battlelore, the terrain tiles are present, but are not nearly as important as how you maneuver your troops while keeping them in formation. That really is the key of this game - keeping your troops supported by other soldiers so that they are better able to defend themselves. I feel like this aspect of the game really ups the level of strategy required to win.

There are quite a few different types of units in Battlelore as well. Memoir basically has 3 types of units: Infantry, Armor, and Artillery (though to be fair, there are also special forces and french resistance rules). Battlelore has 15 different units just in the base game, ranging from different types of infantry and mounted units, to archers, and even to dwarves, goblins, and monsters. So there is a lot more to memorize as far as what each unit does (although it is all categorized by color and weapon so you pick it up pretty quickly).

What really sets this game apart is its use of Lore cards and a war council. Basically, at the beginning of each game you get to select a war council which has a wizard, a warrior, a rogue, a commander, and a cleric. You select the level of each of these leaders and that in turn determines how effective the Lore cards are. The Lore cards are basically a separate deck of cards that relate to each of the characters on your war council and are basically magic and special attacks. What I like about Lore is that there is a Lore symbol on the dice that allows you to take Lore tokens when you roll it. These Lore tokens are what you have to pay in order to use the Lore cards. This really helps to even out the game, because even if you get bad dice rolls, you can get more Lore tokens than your opponent even though he may be getting better dice rolls than you are. You in turn can use more special cards than he can and level the playing field. This makes it so that Battlelore is a much more even game than Memoir. In Memoir it is not uncommon to have total blow-out games because of bad dice rolls and poor cards. In Battlelore, almost every game is won by only one or two points (we play to seven). The "battle-back" rule also helps to even things out.

Overall, this game is excellent for two players. It is fun, fast, engaging, and has just the right degree of complexity.


Pros (in relation to Memoir 44):
-More strategy than Memoir.
-Keeping units in formation allows them to "battle-back" when attacked.
-Lore system keeps things interesting, but also evens out the game.
-Lots of awesome plastic minis!
-Production value is excellent

Cons
-Longer set-up time than Memoir
-Harder to teach to a new player than Memoir (I use Memoir as an intro game and then "graduate" people to Battlelore)
-More rules to remember


ALSO CHECK OUT THESE GAMES: Call to Arms expansion (a troop deployment expansion for Battlelore), Memoir 44 (obviously!), Command and Colors:Ancients, Pirate's Cove, Ticket to Ride, Ivanhoe.

Though it seems pricey for a board game, it was completely worth it. For those that have never played miniatures games or are a little intimidated by the scope of such games will find this a charming alternative.

I really enjoyed the progression of the scenarios as it introduces you to new concepts, and I loved the fantasy/history mashup. My wife enjoyed it as well, mostly since she beat me so many times.

I highly recommend this game and encourage you to go online after purchasing it and check out the game website. There are tons of downloadable scenarios, and user created scenarios that are fun to try as well.

This is a great game that is currently not being printed by the license holder. You can find used or near mint copies online at other places for well under $100. As of Dec 2011 if you are paying over $100 for this game you are paying too much - of course that is subject to change as copies become ever more scarce. I have two copies that were out of the shrink wrap but had all components present. My wife and I have been playing this game and even though she's not really a war/strategy gamer, she enjoys playing.

Play is fairly intuitive as are the rules, and you're not going to scratch your head for very long trying to find the right rule, but you will probably have a lot of little questions that won't stop you from enjoying the game. That is okay, because the adventure campaign book takes you through scenarios in a fashion that builds the game up slowly, encouraging you to play and learn - and make mistakes until it starts to gel. This gives you plenty of opportunities to see what your questions are and find the answers in the rulebook or online or however you like.

Overall it's a great mixture of fantasy, miniatures (which are fairly small: 15mm), strategy, and randomness. Some gamers hate randomness, but it is a nice feature that keeps the same person from winning EVERY SINGLE TIME. So, the game invites casual play and not just hard core gamers.

Keep in mind, this game is not being printed as of this review. There are many expansions available, but their scarcity is increasing. You can still acquire a complete set without too much trouble as of this review, but you'll want to shop around for the best bargains. Whether you pursue the expansions or not, there is a lot of play right out of the box and two of the easiest and cheapest expansions to acquire ("Epic Battlelore" and "Call to Arms") really add a ton of playability for minimal cost and effort.

If you like war games, strategy and miniatures; this is for you. It has a great set of easy-to-learn rules, fantastic art and miniature sculpt, also the support of several expansions coming soon. Once everything is set, you can expect to play for an hour or so. The rules are very similiar to Memoir 44'

I have several games in my collection and I play them constantly with my friends, This one is a favorite. The only limitation it has is the number of players (2 players or teams) but future expansions will give the chance for others to join in. Also, more miniatures are avalible along with cards to modify the gaming deck.

I was looking for a good war based board game that offered expansion and vareity of ways to play. Battlelore was the answer! It was easy to setup and the progression from simple game play to advanced game play was fantastic! I would highly recommend this game!

Complicated enough without being overly so, this game has earned a spot on our game shelf. My 13 year old son and I have finally found a game we both want to play. Monopoly is hereinafter banished from our living room. This is right up there with Axis and Allies for me - my all time favorite - but this game only takes an hour! Buy this game.