Eden Studios' Fields of Blood... is it good?

[shadow]

This is not accurate. Did you read all of Cry Havoc? It has both a mass combat system and a army combat system.

I suppose I should have said that Cry Havoc Unit Combat system does not support larger battles. While there is an army combat system for large battles, it is rather abstract and handles the entire battle with a few simple roles.

I am really happy it doesn't. If it was (yet another) miniature wargame, I wouldn't have bought it. I wanted something to resolve wars and/or battles, but not into the minitature wargaming for D&D. Cry Havoc does a superb job at everything I bought it for.

Well, to each his own. Personally I prefer strategic wargame style rules to overly abstract rules. I have always wanted to play a huge, epic style battle where the PCs could take active roles in strategy and combat, not resolve everything with random dice rolls. The same goes for most of the people I game with.

 

[Emiricol]

Well, you can do that. I wanted to involve the PCs, or I'd just decide who won

 

[MerricB]

I am really happy it doesn't. If it was (yet another) miniature wargame, I wouldn't have bought it. I wanted something to resolve wars and/or battles, but not into the minitature wargaming for D&D. Cry Havoc does a superb job at everything I bought it for.

Given that 90 pages of the 134 page Cry Havoc is devoted to the miniature combat system, I think I can rightfully say that its inability to handle large battles with miniatures is a serious flaw.

Cheers!

 

[ruleslawyer]

I suppose I should have said that Cry Havoc Unit Combat system does not support larger battles. While there is an army combat system for large battles, it is rather abstract and handles the entire battle with a few simple roles [sic].

How, precisely, are you supposed to handle large battles using a unit combat model without driving yourself crazy and spending $5000 on miniatures or counters?

More pertinently and specifically: How does FoB handle it? I'd be really interested if someone would post a summary of the system.

 

[mattcolville]

Well, as mentioned, I'm still way into the start of it.

One thing I'd like to see are more monsters done up in unit individuals. This is one of the things I liked about Empire, don't like about Cry Havok. Appendix D provides a great list including some stnaards, like skeletons, that are really every day useful but I'd like more. Heck, maybe even a Liber Bestiarus section for those with that book (or a web expansion?)

I'll have to take a look at my copy when it arrives. But as I recall, there are an AWFUL lot of monsters statted out.

More material on infantry. For example, page 61 has meidum infantry and Lord Jaspyr's Own, but how about human archers, crossbow men, and other common units? .

Again, I'll have to check my copy, but you should have stats in there for many, many types of infantry.

In addition, in siege weapons, there doesn't seem to be anything for fantasy based siege weapons. Am I explaining that? For example, Doom striders from Bastion Press, has large siege weapons in the form of mecha, as does Dream Pod 9's book. Heck, the picture next to siege weapons looks like one of the flail snails with a castle upon it's back.

That's probably a War Snail from the Liber. You should be able to take any seige weapon and convert it to the Book of War, though of course stuff from other companies won't be in there.

Not truly necessary, but some core classes to take advantage of this information might be useful. The fighter has always been a good soldier, but due to limited skill points and skills (no profession skill?) isn't the best suited to lead in some situations.

I believe there are prestige classes for FoB designed for each class.

 

[pogre]

How, precisely, are you supposed to handle large battles using a unit combat model without driving yourself crazy and spending $5000 on miniatures or counters?

You're not! Fill this whole table with miniatures!

Sell the car - I need another regiment of elephant war riders!

hmmmm, oh what? *rubs eyes* That was some great dream!

 

[Emiricol]

Given that 90 pages of the 134 page Cry Havoc is devoted to the miniature combat system, I think I can rightfully say that its inability to handle large battles with miniatures is a serious flaw.

Cheers!

And again, "given that" I disagree with you completely, I can "rightfully" say it is not a "serious flaw." Yeesh.

Also, your counting seems to be off. Only the "Unit Combat" chapter deals with miniatures, and that is 46 pages, not 90.

And I've yet to use miniatures with the Unit Combat system - just graph paper to help keep the ebb and flow of battle straight while the PCs do their thing.

You don't have to like it, but don't tell me what it rightfully is or isn't. But thank you for sharing your subjective opinion. I respect your right to it.

 

[MerricB]

And again, "given that" I disagree with you completely, I can "rightfully" say it is not a "serious flaw." Yeesh.

Also, your counting seems to be off. Only the "Unit Combat" chapter deals with miniatures, and that is 46 pages, not 90.

From the book itself:
Chapter 4: Offers conversion notes for using standard d20 magic with the unit combat system in Chapter Three.
Chapter 5: Offers conversion notes for using standard d20 skills with the unit combat system in Chapter Three.

There are perhaps 2 pages in Chapter 4 that can be used in normal RPG play. The same applies to Chapter 5. The rest are specifically conversion notes for the Unit Combat System in chapter 3.

And I've yet to use miniatures with the Unit Combat system - just graph paper to help keep the ebb and flow of battle straight while the PCs do their thing.

That's good. I quite agree that the system doesn't need miniatures, even though it aims towards that representation (in the same manner that 3E combat does).

Cheers!

 

[NewJeffCT]

I haven't seen any reviews posted yet (or am I just not looking hard enough?).

Is it good? How does it compare to Cry Havoc?

Should I get it?

I did not pick up Cry Havoc, but my first impression of Fields of Blood is that it is Warhammer d20, but also has rules for role-playing as a king/emperor and building your nation/empire (i.e., they have national & regional values that are modified by resources: regular Town A has a production value of X, but Town B has a mine, so it's production value is increased by 25%)

It's a very rules-heavy book from what I can tell and I have not even gotten beyond the first few chapters. But, it can involve things at the nation/kingdom/empire level or on a smaller scale.

 

[mattcolville]

I did not pick up Cry Havoc, but my first impression of Fields of Blood is that it is Warhammer d20, but also has rules for role-playing as a king/emperor and building your nation/empire (i.e., they have national & regional values that are modified by resources: regular Town A has a production value of X, but Town B has a mine, so it's production value is increased by 25%)

It's a very rules-heavy book from what I can tell and I have not even gotten beyond the first few chapters. But, it can involve things at the nation/kingdom/empire level or on a smaller scale.

It would amuse me for the book to be considered "warhammer d20" since I hate warhammer. It's not likely...indeed, not even possible, I think, for someone using the system to A: need to roll a bucket of d6s and then B: have none of them produce any effect.

The book does eschew tracking unit hit points in favor of "healthy, injured, dead" and in this it follows hundreds of wargames.