Finally caved in and all in one order, got my copies of the Troll, Dragons, and Creatures after much hesitation.

My nephew and I decided the proper setting for our first experience with them would be on the Epic board, combined with Heroes. He chose the Fire Dragon and Troll along with his sneaky Rogue Hero. I countered with the Ice Drake and Wood Giant to accompany my well traveled Wizard Hero. First, the Drake froze the Fire Dragon who was menacing and frightening my front line and let the men finish him off. Seeking more glory, the Drake went after the Troll, but the Troll broke out of the ice and cleaved the mighty blue Dragon. The Rogue boldly and successfully led a devastating attack on the right section but the Wizard, who was staying out of harms way with only one life left (getting ready to join the war council), only harassed from the forest edge, failing to conjure up any lightning. All the while, Woody the forest Giant (my favorite) was laughing and hurling logs at anyone that happened by his Lair.

This was everything we had dreamed of. Now we don't have to go all the way to Disney World for the magic. We can get it in the comfort of our own dining room table.

After the adventure, I was quite worried and slept restlessly all night however. I was comforted and relieved to see the sun shining the next morning. You see, we had played the game with no BS.

Just play however **** way you want to play!

It is moy considered opinion.... this game is becoming a masterpiece.

You do understand...that you have now been reported to the BS Police.

OD

Balroy said:

So it was you who caused the earthquake in Tatzikistan huh? The butterfly effect my friend. You play without B.S. and other people suffer. You should be ashamed of yourself.

Balroy said:

Indeed. Just make sure that you don't confuse newbies. There is nothing more confusing for new players than arguing about rulesets, especially if there is an official one out there.

Balroy said:

I agree. I have actually rated the game a 10 at BGG since day one based on what was promised and the potential that I see in this game. It was a bumpy ride but we are finally getting there {albeit slowly}. If only FFG would say what their future intentions are for BL...

P.S. Finally played Battles of Westeros today. My reaction was a big fat meh.

Unbelievably fiddly, the morale track {which I think is a GREAT concept} is not as important as I thought it would be, the Command decks have cards that reduce the precious 'advanced tactics over BL' {order 3 units of the same type. whaaat?!? , where is the all-important freedom from the Section mechanic? }, the Leaders are half-gods and cannot die {parking them on objective hexes makes the attackers life miserable}, Flag results are WAY too important and since the dice have a 1/8 chance to roll a flag makes the whole situation way more luck driven than BL, the engagement tokens make the game static, non-BS rules make the players move in triads like the old BL rules but the order cards order only 2 units most of the time, relying on the dice to deliver the correct order tokens is somehow preferred over the Section card draw mechanic , Green units die like flies, red units are complete tanks, Archers prefer to shoot at Peasants instead of Nobles because of the greater hit ratio and miserable Flag ratio and there is a general underwhelming feeling of playing a skirmish battle and not a big battle.

Good things about the game: Modular board, specific Commander decks, engraved dice, Objective-based scenarios, great artwork, theme is irrelevant and I couldn't care less. Moreover I asked some friends that have read the books if the game fits will into its theme and they all said that when they play they don't feel anything like the books. {they said that the books don't have skirmish battle descriptions}

The fiddliness of this game was the highlight of the session though. Turn flags, add/remove tokens, take order tokens, give order tokens, wait to roll flags on the dice or rather PRAY that you roll flags, figures dropping while trying to sneak the engagement tokens between them, losing track of which hexside each engagement token resides on and generally a complete mess. We ignored the flipping of the banners and used Tide of Iron activation tokens to play. A complete mess.

So yeah, Disney world or not, BattleLore remains at the top for me. BoW is a minor annoyance for BL right now and I hope that it won't become a major annoyance by killing BattleLore.

Old Dwarf said:

I think we'll be o.k. Woody's watching out for 'em!

FragMaster said:

Oops. Sssorry

FragMaster said:

wow... how would a butterfly look like with BS?

I also, am not the least bit interested in Battles of Westeros. To me, attaching the name of BattleLore to it was an act of BLASPHEMY.

What kind of perverted mind would think a BL fan would buy it just because it says BattleLore on the box? Or, that a non BL fan would be drawn to it because they recognize the name and not be disgusted when they realize it is just a marketing piece of bait?

I can see fans of the books and fans of the game, A Game of Thrones, looking past this and still buying in to it. But hopefully enough of the rest of the world of BL fans and non BL fans will not look past it and generate more enemies than sales.

Even if they discontinue my beloved BattleLore altogether I can still see me playing it for the next 30 years. And after that, if it is relegated to the attic by those that think I am too old and feeble, I will go there with it.

Balroy said:

Don't you worry, Balroy! If you are ever locked in the attic with your BL, we will sure make a Rescue Party to get you from there (or just the BL, if we are too feeble. But you'll be sure to follow, anyway). We will be helped by all the creatures already released, and a bunch more we will release ourselves! Not a door will stand our imaginative axes, and your foes will sure run with terror (or roll on the floor with laughter at the sight of a bunch of old guys holding walking sticks in the air and sure having a good time with it, but that will do just fine, I expect).

I, for once, hope to teach my grandchildren the wonders of making up their own Disneyland, but with a lot more imagination and human connection. And, if I don't have grandchildren... I'll send my nephews to this dark (and wonderful) path! Mwahahahahahahahahah!

Ahem...

Pedro Lunaris said:

Thanks Pedro My mind can rest easy about that. It's nice to know we're all in this together.