Monday, September 11, 2006
Official Word: Miniatures
The official DoW blog has just been updated with a look at the BattleLore miniatures. And the ones shown—a human heavy cavalry and a goblin archer—look stunningly detailed (love those textured bases). We’ve been told previously that that there will be fifteen different sculpts (humans, goblins, dwarves, and a giant spider figure) in the base game, and that the human figures will be about 25% larger than the Memoir ‘44 figures.
We also get a look at what looks to be a unit’s Summary card—in this case for troops armed with common bows. It has Weapon Type, Damage, Bonus Strike and Special headings.
We’re introduced to a key mechanic of the game—banner bearers. The banners themselves look to be of a sturdy plastic that can be attached to different figures like a peg, and the colour stickers that identify them look bold, colourful and clear. The banner’s shape identifies the ‘camp’ the unit belongs to; its base colour the level of training (mobility and combat-worthiness), and the weapons symbol identifies its special combat abilities. Once the figures are painted it certainly is going to be a spectacular battlefield.
The use of banners (and indeed, the whole concept of fantasy units on a hex field) reminds me of the old Milton Bradley/Games Workshop game Battle Masters, and indeed the similarity was mentioned in the Tom Vasel interview, though Eric Hautemont of DoW said the game was not an inspiration for Battlelore. In Battle Masters moreover, the banners were not only bizarrely tall and out of scale, but had no real useful game purpose.
Images of miniatures as they are released will be compiled on the Game page.