Friday, December 28, 2018

Breaking! Warlord Games: New Warlords of Erehwon - Fantasy Wargame Rules and Miniatures


Warlord Games announced their new Warlords of Erehwon - fantasy wargames rules. Warlords of Erehwon transports us to the multifarious fantasy realms of fiction, folklore and myth, placing us at the head of a fighting force of our choosing. Model warbands clash across fantastical tabletops as humans and monsters, the living and the dead, war over the spoils of victory in a universe of heroes, sorcerers and the supernatural.

Warlords of Erehwon will kick off with a Rulebook (£30), Box of plastic Orcs (£20 for 24 minis), Box of plastic Skeletons (£20 for 24 minis) and two Army Box sets (£50), both with a mixture of metal and plastic miniatures. The first miniatures both the plastic Skeletons and Orcs are former Wargames Factory miniatures and to be honest quite dated so hope they will have reworked these miniatures as some nice packaging won't help the actual content ...

Our game has been designed with a single objective in mind - to allow us to play fast paced and exciting miniature battles upon a modestly-sized table between rival forces of that we describe as warbands. A warband represents your own band of warriors - courageous humans, blood-thirsty monsters, perhaps even minions that you have raised from beyond the grave to do your bidding. 

Your force might typically comprise a few dozen models organised into loose groups of fighters, commonly five to ten strong each, or a single model in the case of chariots, giant monsters and war machines. This gives us our ‘warband’ style game, large enough to provide scope for scenario building, with plenty of opportunity to reward tactical play, but at the same time keeping things manageable in terms of the size of our forces and space required.

Warlords of Erehwon uses ten-sided dice providing for a game with mechanical depth and considerable adaptability. An intuitive universal dice test system means that play proceeds at a good pace once players are familiar with the core mechanics. A host of unique and entertaining attributes ensure that different creatures fight and behave after their own fashion, bringing their own mix of strengths and weaknesses to the fight.

The sequence of game play is determined by a dice-bag draw, and units are activated one at a time in a way that engages and challenges both players. A draw for your warband is an opportunity to launch your attack, or perhaps to set an ambush, maybe to seize a tactically important part of the battlefield, or to cast a spell and turn the tide of battle in your favour. Beware though - for whatever you do there is no guarantee that the next draw might not favour your foe - a Warlord of Erehwon must be prepared for all situations.

Force selector lists are included to represent the following warbands: Barbarians - Axe-wielding Northmen, heroic chariot-riding Fianna, mounted hordes from the Steppe and even Mammoth riding Neanderthals. Beastmen - Bestial furry masses in half-animal form, braying, snorting and grunting with mutant might. Dwarfs - Who do you think you’re calling short? Sturdy axe wielding maniacs with a heady dose of dour and tempers even shorter than they are. Elves - Touched by magic and faster than a flying arrow, the Sidhe of ancient legend and races of popular fiction - all reside herein. Gnolls - Creatures of canine descent and dogged determination - fearsome fighters of monstrous appearance and insatiable taste for flesh.

Goblins - Undersized and mean-spirited critters dangerous in numbers. Just don’t turn your back. Not for a minute. Halflings - Pint sized humanoid creatures in the tradition of ‘the wee folk’. Remarkably accurate with any missile and deceptively innocent in appearance. Knight - A retinue of medieval style romance and popular fiction complete with armoured knights, brave yeomen, courtly wizards and sturdy peasants. Olympian - The heroes and warriors of Greek legend together with their rivals and associates from myth and popular culture. Orcs - Thuggish over-sized monsters, blessed with simple minded brutality, keen on large-unwieldy weapons, not too bright. Undead - The walking dead, skeleton warriors, zombies and malevolent spirits led by Necromancers, Liches and Wraiths. Monsters - our selector list provides for all the giants, dragons and other traditional fantasy monsters that can also be included as part of any warband.



5 comments:

Bill said...

Now that's interesting - I wonder if this is intended to compete with the forthcoming Oathmark. I had bought a box of Wargames Factory Orcs back in 2014, built about half of them and I think the remainder are still in my project closet. I never thought they were *that* terrible, truth be told, though I'm never that big a fan of open-handed figures. I never bought any of the skeletons because I always heard they were an excessively fiddly kit.

Wargame News and Terrain Blog said...

Thanks for your comment Bill, I think they might want to grab a slice of the fantasy wargame market and are using their already acquired assets (the old plastic sets) combined with a brand new ruleset based on their solid game systems along with new miniatures.

Not sure if they will be able to compete with Oathmark from Northstar Miniatures and Osprey Games as those companies are planning loads of plastic miniature kits with bunch already released. In my opinion the Oathmark miniatures are way better than the old Wargames Factory miniatures as those are quite old and weren't too great even back then in terms of sculpting and design.

The Wargames Factory Orcs are quite simple sculpts and the lay-out of the sprue is a bit strange but they are useful as I have used them as fantasy orcs for Lord of The Rings games. They are based on the artwork of Angus McBride. The Skeletons were way too fiddle with all loose bits (heads, bodies, arms, legs and even loose feet) they were a nightmare for me to assemble to be honest.

But looking forward in seeing their new metal releases (and maybe plastic releases?) and the ruleset as some more new miniatures and rules are always good.

BDub said...

I'm interested in the Ruleset (is it base on Bolt-Action or Black Powder, or is it entirely new). If its good, id use t with minis from other souces, but I am not a fan of the Wargames Factory minis at all.

Wargame News and Terrain Blog said...

From what I have heard it is based on the Bolt Action/ Beyond The Gates of Antares system. Already have some of the Wargames Factory miniatures but would also use other miniatures to be honest.

s.kierdzik said...

I'm so excited, can't wait for this game!