Heroes of battle: any good?

[Blackfish]

Has anyone used Heroes of Battle? I just picked it up and will be trying it out on my campaign in a week or 2. Just trying to get some tips, insight to how it worked out for others. The plan is to have the PCs and a rag-tag group of 20 rebels(some archers) hold a pass against 100 or so raiding northmen. I want strategy to be a huge factor in whether victory is possible or not.

I also ordered Fields of blood, but it hasn't arrived yet. I plan to use that when the campaign turns to all out war.

Any opinions/experiences would be great.

 

[the Jester]

I love HoB. I've used a few elements from it a few times; the victory point system is GREAT imho. I'm going to start running Red Hand of Doom in the next month or so and expect to get a lot of use out of HoB then.

 

[diaglo]

not a fan.
in fact, i can pretty easily say it is the worst book i bought for the newest edition.

 

[Blackrat]

I liked. There's not much I've used but it's good reading and you can reap it for some ideas. The section I have used more than anything is the table with military ranks for different "fantasy armies". It's pretty good, and I've gotten my military characters more unique.

 

[Klaus]

Has anyone used Heroes of Battle? I just picked it up and will be trying it out on my campaign in a week or 2. Just trying to get some tips, insight to how it worked out for others. The plan is to have the PCs and a rag-tag group of 20 rebels(some archers) hold a pass against 100 or so raiding northmen. I want strategy to be a huge factor in whether victory is possible or not.

I also ordered Fields of blood, but it hasn't arrived yet. I plan to use that when the campaign turns to all out war.

Any opinions/experiences would be great.

I like it.

The trick is to spell out the battle without the PCs' presence. Then you come up with a series of actions the PCs can take during the battle. The more actions the PCs succeed at, the better the outcome.

 

[Bayushi Seikuro]

There are a few things I love from Heroes of Battle:

The Combat Medic - by far my favorite cleric PrC. Minor things like evasion, Mobility, spontaneous Heal spells, Heal skill as a move action. Things like that.

Co-ordinated fire. Rules for a group of archers firing into one square, and doing more or less an AoE arrow attack.

Designing battles like flowcharts, with rules for reputation etc.

 

[DM_Jeff]

I found it a great add-on when I ran Red Hand of Doom. And I've returned to it a bunch of times since as the book is filled with utility items (including stealable stat-blocks in the back) and the victory point system as well as general good game-running advice.

-DM Jeff

 

[Ranger REG]

Has anyone used Heroes of Battle? I just picked it up and will be trying it out on my campaign in a week or 2. Just trying to get some tips, insight to how it worked out for others. The plan is to have the PCs and a rag-tag group of 20 rebels(some archers) hold a pass against 100 or so raiding northmen. I want strategy to be a huge factor in whether victory is possible or not.

I also ordered Fields of blood, but it hasn't arrived yet. I plan to use that when the campaign turns to all out war.

Any opinions/experiences would be great.

Well, if you're trying to run a wartime campaign, giving PC party "military missions," then HoB is for you.

If you want to run mass combat, Field of Blood or any other mass combat rules is more appropriate.

 

[TheAuldGrump]

Hmmm, running battles in a manner similar to a flow chart was a great idea. Rather than having the players try to match wits on a battlefield covered in miniatures (both the players and the battlefield, sometimes...) they get to play the heroes running around and, well, being heroic.

It has made for a much more entertaining way to handle mass conflicts, and since not all RPG players are also wargamers it also makes the scenarios more balanced. I actually liked it a great deal more than I do the Miniatures Handbook, Chainmail (the newer one), or D&D Miniatures. I am a wargamer, and most of my players are not - doing the actual battles with miniature (lots of miniatures) and dice was fun for me and not so much fun for them. Plus the bad guys had to be handicapped if the PCs side was to have a chance of winning.

I liked it, and have used the basic system in games other than D&D.

The Auld Grump

 

[megamania]

Like Blackfish , I have been debating whether to buy the book. After reading comments here, it looks like I ought to give it a try. I can see a lot of use of it for my Eberron campaign.


Thankyou.