Meanwhile...

Battlelore buzz!
Days of Wonder games recently confirmed rumours that Battlelore would be their next release of a game using Richard Borg's renowned Command and Colours game system.

The images on the blog linked above show the quality of the contents of the new game as well as the mechanics' kinship with those of C&C:A. The details noted in the very informative interview with DoW's Eric Hautemont and Mark Kaufmann posted at Boardgame News give a good idea of just how much of those components there will be in the new big box; eg. Battlelore will have 210 miniatures and a total of 168 cards, compared to 148 and 69 respectively in M44.

Box-stuffing goodies aside, what intrigues me most so far are the hints at how the game will handle 2 of the most important features of the fantasy setting, namely heroes and magic: "Lore Masters, such as Wizards, Clerics, Warriors and Rogues gathered in customizable War Councils". Hmm. So it seems that heroes will be handled by a special unit type which will have special abilities dependent on how many of the classic archetypes the unit contains? Sounds interesting.

Anyhoo the game is due for release in November, and DoW will be maintaining a flow of teasers to maximise the buzz, so no doubt there'll be more anticipatory slavering here at RD/KA! before I finally prise open the box and go ballistic!

Commands and Colours: Ancients- GMT update online material
As noted in my last post, GMT Games were planning on making available living rules and new scenarios as downloads for fans of C&C:A. This material is now available here.

The 2nd edition rules were announced in advance as due to contain only minor clarifications. It turns out that there are actually some rules changes which are significant even if their effect on games won't actually be overpowering. These changes effect close combat and missile fire of units occupying terrain- which is significant; but which only apply to 4 of the 10 scenarios in the 1st edition of the game- which is hardly a sweeping change to gameplay as players will already know it.

The extra scenarios give C&C:A players 10 new battles in which to test their skills and nerve. More important though are 9 more chances to get out those elephants and hope for some serious rampaging!

TheRPGsite's looking lively
The late unlamented Nutkinland messageboard's new incarnation looks to have generated sufficient momentum to get off the ground and have a viable future, with a healthy posting rate on topics that have provided some interesting reading.

Winner in the realm of sheer simple curiosity for this reader was the thread about Things game companies do that piss you off?. Apart from bringing up the first serious test of the pundit's moderation-lite, I was intrigued when another thread-drift- on the topic of Freemasonry- brought out the source of the term 'Landmarks' the pundit uses to denote his list of fundamentals of anti-Swine roleplaying theory: according to the Wikipedia entry (an infallible source, I know!) the Landmarks are "the ancient and unchangeable precepts of Masonry". Not trying to make any particular point here; it's just that the idea of the Freemason's theory of roleplaying tickled my funny bone somewhat! ;)