I've never played Battlelore but I've been thinking about picking it up recently. Are any of the expansions must have? It seems like maybe Call to Arms, but I seem to read mixed reviews about it. What do you guys say?
Battlelore Expansions?
Depends what you are looking for...
Call to Arms - This is the "drafting" expansion that allwos you to take an empty board and build your army as part of the game. This is done through cards and switching up units with Specialist cards. Some people didn't like this because they wanted greater freedom with a point system and felto too rrestricted with the cards. But I find it easy to use and quick on top of that. Plus, I think more will be built around these in the future. I call this a "foundational" expansion as it expands the basic game without adding any units. Though all of the Army packs can be played without CtA, they all have Specialist cards that can be used with CtA.
Epic - This is another "foundational" expansion that allows a different board set-up to be used. This is for those who like a larger area to battle and for those who plan on playing with more than 2 players. I am not terribly impressed with the "standard" Epic rules for more than 2 players but do like the bigger boards. I think the Reluctant Allies variant rules that come with it our excellent. I just wish they utilized them more.
As for the rest, I commented on them in detail in another thread. Here is that post on the same topic:
ColtsFan76 said:
What order you want to add expansions is really up to you and your tastes. However, I would consider getting most of them in pairs. Just so you know, these expanions are designed so that you can play (officially) one of two ways. 1) Use the pre-set scenarios that showcase all the new units or 2) Use them in conjunction with Call to Arms to "draft" 2 or 3 special units (total from all expansions) per side. So besides the set scenarios, it will be rare for you to use all of your units in any given expansion at any given time. That's good in that no single expansion unbalances the game but bad because you may feel like a lot of your investment is sitting on the sidelines. But if you are into designing your own scenarios, getting all of the expansion will allow you to create a complete Goblin or Dwarven Army that doesn't depend on humans units to round out their ranks. Here's my brief rundown on them.
Goblin Skimishers / Dwarven Battalion - When I come late to the paetty of a game that has a bunch of expansions, I personally like to get them in order. These were the first 2 published of what you still need. These two pair nicely as one give more Goblins while another gives more Dwarves. I also consider these the "musical" expansions as the Goblin introduce embedded drummers into your unit and also gives you the option to put together a band. The Dwarves comes with a bagpipe unit.
Goblin Maruaders / Scottish Wars - GM was the next in line or maybe came out right after 100Y/W but SW was the last full expansion made by DOW. Regardless, these two pair as well. I call this the "mounted" pair - though on second thought, that phrase doesn't sound so nice! Anyway, GM gives you another Band but focuses on Hyena and Ostrich riders. It's a fast moving set that highlights the advantage the goblins have. SW introduces a powerful Clan Chief unit and gives us bull-riding dwarves as well. In addition, there are a few human mounted knight units included as well. There has been some coomplaint about the Dwarven cattle riders because they are sub-par when compared to other mounted units. But 1) they are meant to balance the dwarves if you go with an all dwarve army adn 2) it sounds like DOW forgot to include their bull rush special ability that Richard wanted to include.
100 Years War / Scottish Wars - I am includuing SW again but do not recommend getting a 2nd copy. This is the "medieval" package. 100Y/W is all humans but gives twice as many figures as the other 4 packs. It can be used with the Lore portion but is designed for those that want medieval only. I included SW again because it does have a few human units and all the scenarios included are supposed to be historical. However, when DOW said "medieval" only, they meant "medieval only within the context of lore." The dwarves represent the Scottish nation. So you can play medieval only and just consider them as midget Scotsmen. Or if it really bothers you, switch them out with left over human units and keep their banners as a means of identifying them.
Now, you can buy each expansion separately. They really don't depende on each other (through SW may assume you have DB and borrow some spearbearers).
Troll Pack - DOW got a lot of heat for this one. Mostly because it was too high-priced and pulled away from their core design of having modular boards. But for its intended purpose, setting up an epic board quickly and demoing the game - it is great. This give you 2 more static Epic scenarios plus a Troll figure to boot. Nothing else is needed to play it and it does make a nice, though expensive, addition to your game.
Hope that helps!
WOW. I need to get call to arms.
Well CF sucked all the oxygen out of that answer!
Call to Arms is a must IMHO,I use the 100 War to fight out
Historical Battles.
OD
Wow, thanks for the awesome reply. I think I'll definitely pick up Call to arms and then some of the others after I play a few times.
Old Dwarf said:
Well CF sucked all the oxygen out of that answer!
Call to Arms is a must IMHO,I use the 100 War to fight out
Historical Battles.
OD
I would tend to agree that if you had to get one expansion, Call to Arms seems to be the main one to get. Seems to add a lot to the game but also not a lot that if you don't get it won't detract either.
Cab
If it's any help, I've got all the expansions so far as well, and if I would have to start over, I'd also go with Call to Arms.
One of the main advantages of Call To Arms is the "infinite" replayability, where you aren't limited by the scenarios you have, and can mix-and-match any other expansions you have (which usually doesn't happen in scenarios, either).