Last friday I got me the coreset of this game.

I knew it was good and it has been on my short-list for quite some time so when I saw it with a decent discount I bought it.

Now browsing this section of the forum it seems all-but dead.

Am I mistaken?Is this game a (fun but) dead end? With no further support from FFG?

Would you recommend buying expansions? If so; which ones? And why?

The game's awesome, but they haven't been releasing expansions for a while. If I were you, I'll grab all what I can as long as I can find it (nobody knows if anything will actually be reprinted)

Are the 'neutrals' (Dragon, Giant and razorwings) worth adding?

I do seriously consider buying all 'army expansions' once in order to have as much game out of this if (it *is* an "if" no?) it all goes the way of the dodo...

The neutrals are good, not only in terms of what they add to your lore deck or to your army variations, but also because each neutral comes with a special scenario (designed with those units in mind); two of them in particular (Dragon and Giant) are super-fun to play. Razorwings is good, but it's very difficult to win for the Daqan player (but WHEN you win, oh, God, it's such a sweet sense of triumph). So, if you are in for a "last, desperate charge into the valley of death" mode, get also the Razorwings.

In the end, it all comes down to two questions:

a) how often do you see yourself playing
b) how impacting it's for you investing a couple of hundred bucks on the whole lot

I can talk only of my personal experience: BattleLore for me was huge. I had a lot of fun with it, I tested all the expansions, and played countless times outside of the testing environment and every time the game was better. The more you play, the more you understand how agonizingly difficult certain decisions are, and you can see how often good strategy prevails. So simple, so deep, so good. So, for me, the investment will repay you in countless hours of fun

Just my 0.2 anyway!

Buy all army packs. Neutrals are completely optional, so you need then only for collection completion

Just echoing what others have said... it's a phenomenal game and well worth your time. They tripled the content of the core set in expansions so it was certainly well developed, although more of a good thing would be really nice. Many assumed a 4th faction, the Latari Elves, would have been added too but it doesn't look too hopeful. If they really have stopped development there's still tons of gameplay and enjoyment to be had with what's out. If you're looking for something like a priority list the consensus is generally:

1. Get the core set faction army packs, Hernfar Guardians and Warband of Scorn. These add new units, scenario and lore cards to the Daqan and Uthuk, giving them more options.

2. Get the two Undead army packs, Heralds of Dreadfall and Terror of the Mists. Together, these add a 3rd Undead faction to the game equal in units and variety as the Daqan and Uthuk in the core set plus their army packs.

3. Get the reinforcement packs. We have one of each and think that's plenty. They have nice abilities and come with a preset scenario which I gather are well liked (although we prefer the standard scenario setups).

I think @Daverman 's assessment is spot-on. Go for expanding the core units first, then expand to the undead, and finally get the neutrals if you're still interested. The neutrals have beautiful models and interesting scenarios, but I just don't tend to muster them in my normal games. Considering that getting all three of them is the same cost as an army pack, it's hard to justify the expense. But if you're a completionist, you really don't have a choice.

I also agree with @Julia about how awesome BattleLore is. It is a very fun game. One interesting thing about BattleLore is that you'll see posts on the forums here and at Board Game Geek (www.boardgamegeek.com) that indicate the game is not balanced or that players often know who won the battle before it's even halfway over. But like Julia mentioned, there is a lot of skill and strategy involved in the game. There is a ton of luck, too, but part of the skill is managing the luck and calculating risks. Several of my recent games had me making a come back after being down on victory points. The more you know the game, the more you can orchestrate those come-back moments. It's very thrilling!

Are there some rules of thumb/guidelines for army composition?

For maximum fun, not for 'ZOMG-SQUASH-ALL'.

Ideally a balanced force with the core set alone, fun for both sides to play with and against.

There are some units that are more difficult to play properly with (talking in terms of strategy), but it really depends on the scenario. For example: you have some buildings you need to defend as a Daqan. Then you'll probably want some Rune Golems there. You'll probably want to avoid using too much Viper Legions because they are weaker than what they should be. But really, best thing is start playing. Go with a few units in, see how they behave, think about how to improve the next time you play that scenario. Each scenario could be optimized with a slightly different army composition. And then you'll have Lore customization for your decks as soon as you get the other packs. And then you'll start building the army and deploying the units with specific strategy cards in mind

3 hours ago, Elkerlyc said:

Are there some rules of thumb/guidelines for army composition?

For maximum fun, not for 'ZOMG-SQUASH-ALL'.

Ideally a balanced force with the core set alone, fun for both sides to play with and against.

My wife isn't much of a fan of customizing a deck/army/etc. before playing a game. For the first dozen games we played, we would each randomly deal one of the preconstructed army cards to ourselves. Then we'd draw three scenarios and choose the scenario we felt would best match the army we were dealt. It sped up setup a tiny bit and made it so that one player didn't feel like they were getting power-played by the other. I still enjoy playing this way on occasion. It's what I did when I got my Guardians of Hernfar and Warband of Scorn expansions, too.

I think there's a psychological effect in play when you use preconstructed armies. When customizing an army, a defeat feels even more personal, but it's easier to shrug off a loss when you just use what you are dealt. I think using pre-cons goes a long way toward helping players learn the game without getting turned off by some losses.

I had not considered the pre-constructed army cards/lists.

Excellent idea!

In the expansions are new army cards? (with new units included at a guess?)

Yes. You get 2 army cards in each army pack. This does mean you end up with 1 fewer Undead army card*, but it's plenty, I think. You'll eventually want to customize anyway.

*Because the core comes with 3 cards per army but each army pack only has 2.

Never used those army cards. IMHO, they are quite dumb: army composition largely depends on the scenario(s). E.g., if I am defending an objective, I'll take Banshee. Need to hold a building near to deployment? Bone horrors. Lots of combat in woods expected? Reanimates. Need to steal an objective close to a forest? Wraiths. Etc.

1 hour ago, SpawnGarret said:

Never used those army cards. IMHO, they are quite dumb: army composition largely depends on the scenario(s). E.g., if I am defending an objective, I'll take Banshee. Need to hold a building near to deployment? Bone horrors. Lots of combat in woods expected? Reanimates. Need to steal an objective close to a forest? Wraiths. Etc.

This is true. Nonetheless, pre-built army were created with the idea of specific combos to be triggered and to give a general idea of what the different new units can bring to the game. So, they are not helpful for experienced players, but for players who just got into the hobby, or are not particularly interested in simulating interactions in their minds before playing the game, they represent a good starting point

Hi

I always kept an eye to BattleLore since its beginning with Days of Wonder, but never though to buy it since I am not the miniature game type. But recently, I made an exchange with BattleLore 2nd Edition, I though, why not? ... Well we loved it !! Fantastic 2 players games with a great game experience !.

Since them ... I just follow sales ... and in less than a year I had the opportunity to buy Hernfar Guardians and Warband of Scorn at 50% ... and just finished last black friday with Heralds of Dreadfall and Terror of the Mists (same -50%). And now, I'm looking at the reinforcement packs.

I totally agree with Daverman, first of all, focus on Hernfar Guardians and Warband of Scorn, it will add a large versitality to the base game, and even if you buy nothing else, you will have a great whole game. But, if you are only interested in variety and want to buy only one, I'd say go for Heralds of Dreadfall, it will add a third faction with similar aspect of the others two from the basic game, the drawback, is that when you will want to enhance your armies, you will have to buy all the other pack to upgrade all army in the same way. So in that, just focusing on Dakan and Uthuk armies first is a wise choice, to mitigate risk and your wallet.

The Hernfar Guardians were on a discount so ordered those.
Looking for Warband of Scorn now. And likely the Undead too.

I'd hate it if I found out in a few months that these are no longer available...

I don't forseee them going out of stock super soon especially since the big sale they had just flooded the market with them. But be quick, just to be safe (Possibly not being sold anymore is an excuse I use to buy things all the time)