Battles of Westeros

[McCloskey]

I just saw the update that FFG is producing Battles of Westeros, a tactical combat game similar to Battle Lore. Does anyone play Battle Lore? If so, can you direct me to someplace where I can find the actual rules to the game? The FFG site and others Ive seen dont get into the nuts and bolts of how the game is actually played and combat resolved.

But in any case, this game could be really cool and I will definitely be picking it up when it comes out.

[Ran]

Try here.... oh, wait, that one's gone. Hrm. Try here instead.

I don't generally play board games, but I admit, this one is looking sort of appealing, because of the possibility of Internet play. It'd be cool to run a ladder system.

[McCloskey]

Try here.... oh, wait, that one's gone. Hrm. Try here instead.

I don't generally play board games, but I admit, this one is looking sort of appealing, because of the possibility of Internet play. It'd be cool to run a ladder system.

Perfect. Thanks Ran

[McCloskey]

So i have checked out the Battlelore link that Ran provided as well as the FFG website and I am thoroughly intrigued. This game looks like it has a lot of potential. Are there any boarders who play Battlelore and can share the general experience? I'm surprised more people haven't commented. I can't wait to relive the Young Wolf's campaigning in the Riverlands to start. And if this is successful and spawns more expansions and units, Roberts Rebellion and the Battle of the Blackwater would be awesome. Very excited.

[Wolfheart]

So i have checked out the Battlelore link that Ran provided as well as the FFG website and I am thoroughly intrigued. This game looks like it has a lot of potential. Are there any boarders who play Battlelore and can share the general experience? I'm surprised more people haven't commented. I can't wait to relive the Young Wolf's campaigning in the Riverlands to start. And if this is successful and spawns more expansions and units, Roberts Rebellion and the Battle of the Blackwater would be awesome. Very excited.

I am an avid boardgamer geek. Love me some boardgames! Much more social interaction than in videogames. THe only video games I play now, when I rarely do are retro games from Nintendo and playstation past and the Current Wii games. I have enjoyed battlelore and I axiously look forward to playing Battles of Westeros with my fiance as she has gobbled or should I say "wolfed" down the first three books and is eagerly exited to start AFFC this week, as she is also a growing boardgame geek. She isnt into strategy games much. But I showed her this new game and she was willing to try since the theme. She wants Dany's army though!

[Werthead]

Looking at the stuff on the FFG website, it appears that Battles of Westeros is a purely stand-alone miniatures game. It does not use the BattleLore rules system at all. Apparently FFG bought the BattleLore game and name two years ago and have struggled to fit the game and setting into their line-up, so have decided to use the BattleLore name as a catch-all for any tactical fantasy battle game they produce, regardless of rules system.

To me this seems bemusing and confusing. Looking on the website, it's very clearly severely pissed off the existing BattleLore fanbase (some of whom have been put off reading ASoIaF by it by association, which is a shame), and it's also clearly confused people who didn't know what BattleLore was previously who assumed that Battles of Westeros was using the same rules. As such, the value of using the BattleLore name for this product seems to be non-existent and indeed even confusing.

[Ran]

Yeah, posted about that on the blog. The CEO's interview was sort of confusing, and I'm not sure why they think attaching BattleLore to the game when it's not BattleLore, and when they still plan to release actual BattleLore stuff (some day, eventually, etc.), is a good idea. It's a poor use of the trademark from any angle that I can see.

[French DireWolf]

Looking at the stuff on the FFG website, it appears that Battles of Westeros is a purely stand-alone miniatures game. It does not use the BattleLore rules system at all. Apparently FFG bought the BattleLore game and name two years ago and have struggled to fit the game and setting into their line-up, so have decided to use the BattleLore name as a catch-all for any tactical fantasy battle game they produce, regardless of rules system.

To me this seems bemusing and confusing. Looking on the website, it's very clearly severely pissed off the existing BattleLore fanbase (some of whom have been put off reading ASoIaF by it by association, which is a shame), and it's also clearly confused people who didn't know what BattleLore was previously who assumed that Battles of Westeros was using the same rules. As such, the value of using the BattleLore name for this product seems to be non-existent and indeed even confusing.

It looks like Battle of Westeros will be nonetheless prety close to Battlelore. There will be differences between the two games, but most of the basic rules are very similar (cavalry/infantry/archer of three types (red for heavy, blue for medium, green for light), cards to activate the units, the dices have 2 more faces but the mechanism is the same...)

Using the BattleLor name was very confusing, but it is clearly inspired by the rules of this game.

[fanaka66]

Looking on the website, it's very clearly severely pissed off the existing BattleLore fanbase (some of whom have been put off reading ASoIaF by it by association, which is a shame)

No worries here. I'm one of the boardgame geeks that heard of this series because of the Battles of Westeros game. I read a Game of Thrones in record time (for me) and am now reading a Clash of Kings. Now I'm trying to get some of my friends to read the series, too, to make finding opponents for the game easier.

You can definitely see why items get licensed out, to increase interest in both properties. You guys are now checking out the board game, and on boardgamegeek there's a similar thread about the books you guys might find interesting: http://www.geekdo.com/thread/511818/about-the-books/page/1

[McCloskey]

Any idea when the game will be released? They have the gaming weekend this fall but it seems like they are still doing QC on it.

[fanaka66]

Any idea when the game will be released? They have the gaming weekend this fall but it seems like they are still doing QC on it.

The release date I read was June 1. Board game release dates are notoriously flexible, though.

[Spanky]

;_;

It's now June 3rd, and I don't think it's released yet. Does anyone know any updated info? I've searched all over, and it seems like there's nothing to read about the release date online. Like it's never coming out. O_O

[Ran]

According to the website, the board game is currently shipping from their printer (in Asia, I gather) to their warehouse in the U.S. Once it arrives, I expect it will start shipping to retailers and pre-orders.

[alguien]

According to the website, the board game is currently shipping from their printer (in Asia, I gather) to their warehouse in the U.S. Once it arrives, I expect it will start shipping to retailers and pre-orders.

To add to this, having printed books overseas in Hong Kong, the shipping is always a pain, usually taking 2-3 months.

[Spanky]

:D George talked about it!

[McCloskey]

Looks like they are taking orders now for Bow. If theres anyone in Easter New England that wants to play let me know!

[hvacigar]

I have the game now, and I have pulled everything out of the box, but have yet to play it. I hope to get a game going soon. The initial setup is going to be a hassle since the figures do not fit into the bases well, and will have to be glued. For a breakdown of the you can see this review here.

[Ran]

Any guess as to what scale the figures are?

[McCloskey]

I have the game now, and I have pulled everything out of the box, but have yet to play it. I hope to get a game going soon. The initial setup is going to be a hassle since the figures do not fit into the bases well, and will have to be glued. For a breakdown of the you can see this review here.

I got mine to. My figures havent been too bad except for the Stark Kennelmasters. They just wont stay up. Hoping to try it out this weekend.

[Ukkosenjumala]

Picked up this gane today. Very pleased of the stuff inside of box, everything looks good as you would expect from FantasyFlightGames's high-end boardgames. Lots of small figurines, that are always cool, punch-out cardboard markers of thick cardboard. If you have ever seen any FFG's games you know what I mean.

I don't own Battlelore, but I have Memoir'44 (released by Days of Wonder) which is the first game to come with this type game rules from game designer Richard Borg. From there we have Battlelore and now we have Battles of Westeros. BOW is designed by Robert A. Kouba who seems to be some sort house deisgner for FFG. Made quite few add-ons, but not anything original. As so, BOW has this feel of add-on. Stand-alone, but add-on nevertheless.

Comparing to Memoir is easier to me, since I own that, but not Battlelore. Altough I have played Battlelore few times. Similarities between Memoir and BOW can be found in base level (Movement, line-of-sight, terrain etc.), but from there it gets quite different. Only skimmed the rules I'll go there once I read them trough and get to play this one atleast once.

If you are interested to find out yourself about those differences, then go to FFG's website for BOW and Battlelore. Memoir'44 can be found at Days of Wonder's site.

All the rules are online:

Battles of Westeros

Battlelore

Memoir'44

Ran asked for scale and these figurines go towards 15mm scale. Bit off, but somewhere there.