A Battlemasters Remake

Battlemasters Box 1992, Milton Bradley (MB) & Games Workshop.
Maybe the biggest ever Wargame-in-a-box

Remember that I said I would go back to the early nineties if possible? Her I am, going back to "simpler times".

Not that I liked the Battlemasters game so much. I was never a friend of random troop activation and that game did unit activation with cards. I think what you do or plan in a game should not depend on randomness. To me it is stupid to make wargames a lottery. Complete randomness - the fights are of course also solved by dice and so all results are random - produces a complete unpredictable game and makes any planning and tactics obsolete. I am not a chess player, but I am sure that none of them would sit down to play a game over which they have no control. Always strange to me that wargamers tend to accept this. The question is: who plays with whom? Do you play the game or does the game play with you?

But what I liked was the simpleness. Moving troops from field to field without measurement, getting fighting results without looking at result tables. Fast gaming without too much effort and with a good pace. And of course the style, this 90s Citadel-Warhammer style.

While I was painting some of the minis that I bought 4 years ago it came to me that a rebuild/my own version of a hex-field-fantasy-boardgame, with new rules, expansion and a nice playmat with some terrain features could be made very easy. In fact I can produce this very quick and I get a very handy game that can be used occasionally and may also be used by non-wargamers who would never touch a complicated game. 

I looked around and it seems I am not the only or the first one with this idea. I found a lot of pictures of nicely painted Battlemasters minis, some people made new playmats, even 3D prints of the minis are on sale (!) and there are fans who created complete hex-field gaming tables with terrain that do not look different from other fantasy wargaming tables.

So, why not? I made a list. I always make lists.

ToDo / Thoughts

Miniatures

1. Paint all the minis I have
2. Add missing minis via Ebay (mostly the evil ones)
3. Look what else in my collection fits in size and style
1. Add an Elves faction (already present but are unpainted)
1. plus self casted 32mm High-Elves and Wood-Elf archers from Prince August moulds
1. Magicians
2. Champions & Heroes
3. Dragons / Monsters
4. War machines / Catapults / Guns
5. Chariots(?)

Basing

1. Mount the minis on single bases
1. They need less space, can show the size of a unit and can be used as single minis in other contexts.
2. Build unit bases on which the single bases can be placed (maybe magnetic)
1. But I don't know if I am going to use Unit-bases

Terrain

1. Playmat painted on awning fabric (sturdy and can easily be rolled)
2. Buildings
1. Tower/Castle keep (done)
1. Expansion-Elements to transform it into a bigger castle
2. Maybe one or more extra pieces, or another tower
2. Bridge
3. Palisades and/or walls
4. Houses / Farm (?)
5. Temple / Shrine (game ojective ?)
3. Hills (spanning 1 field, 2 fields, 3 fields)
4. Unpassable Terrain
1. River (tiles)
2. Swamp
3. Mountain(s)
4. Piles of rocks
5. Trees / Woods

Markers

1. Do I need them?
2. But if needed...
1. Damage (Minis are single, can be taken out...)
2. Explosion / hit by catapult or gun
3. Effects (fog, fire, poison, magic,...)
4. Ammunition (for guns, catapults?)

Rules

1. Forget the old rules
2. Write new rules
1. Reduce randomness to a minimum (fight)
1. I go <-> You go system (Is it OK for Chess? Then it's OK for you.)
2. Dice : 20-sided dice
3. Safe throws only with (very limited) magic support
2. No tables
1. Everything is resolved by dice
3. Add tiny set of magic rules (limited by ressources)
1. Surprise actions
2. Ressurection / Repair (see safe throw)
3. Attack / Special effects (fog, fire...)
4. Teleportation / Magic gates (...?)
4. Three Level System : Soldier - Champion - Hero
1. Bonus/malus system based on qualitty, weapons, support
5. Solve the Reinforcement problem
1. To prevent setting a player back for the rest of the campaign after the first lost battle there have to be rules for reinforcement at special places and/or a point-system.

Not complete of course, just a quick overview.