Jade Tower Studio: Battles Before Time is a prehistoric fantasy miniatures skirmish game for 28mm figures (as well as plastic dinosaurs & giant mammals that more or less fit with 28mm cavemen).
The game is set in an alternate prehistory where our Human ancestors – the Early Modern Humans, or Emohs for short – rub elbows with Neanderthals, Dino sapiens (dinosaur men), Florz (small Emohs), & other species. Dinosaurs, huge mammals, & monsters also roam the Earth, & shamans can use powerful magic.
The game consists of two parts. Part One is 24 pages long; it contains the rules (the core rules are only seven pages long) as well as a guide to the cavemen & creatures that will make up your warband. Warbands include cavemen or dinosaur men who can purchase special abilities, weapons, armor, cavepunk items, & spells. Warbands can also include heroes, dinosaurs, mammals, prehistoric “birds”, aquatic beasts, & prehistoric monsters.
Part One begins with an Introduction & Game Overview. Next, scale, items needed to play, & information on setting up the game are presented. The rules themselves have the following sections: Game Turns & Actions, Actions When Activated, Darwinian Measurement, Movement, Going Prone, Language (or the Lack Thereof), Stones & Stone Draws, Contests, Combat, Doing Damage, Area Effect Attacks, Panic, & End of the Game/Victory!
Next, Part One covers how to make your warband. There's information about units & unit types (mostly Packs of Grunts), crew & riders, & heroes. After that, you'll find out about how to use beast masters to control the huge variety of prehistoric beasts included.
To defend your cavemen against these creatures, you'll find lots of prehistoric weapons, armor, cavepunk technology, standards, torches, & watercraft. You can also include shamans, who cast magic spells.
Part Two contains detailed instructions on how to create your warband. Players can use one of the pre-made warbands provided, or can create their own balanced warbands using a simple point build system. Part Two is 63 pages long & includes templates, more than 100 unit cards, all the tokens you’ll need (though it is strongly recommended that you purchase cheap glass beads for the simple “stone draw” system that’s used to resolve actions), a terrain placement guide, & measuring sticks. You supply the cavemen, dinosaurs, & other prehistoric figures, & we'll give you a fun excuse to play with them on a tabletop! So, stop shaving! Stop bathing! Grab a club, and let’s rock & roll!
Grab these cheap rules here and Battle before Time!
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