Battlestandard Miniatures
USA
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| Long Review: | This is a new set of rules, just released, and they have already proved to be so popular that the first printing has sold out. I was fortunate enough to be involved in the production. I discovered the Yahoo group for BAR in an e-mail on the WAB-list several years ago, and joined. Due to some time problems I dropped out for a while, but earlier this year I had a look at the list again. Surprisingly there was a lot of activity and I realised that the rules had moved on considerably. I offered my services as a playtester and proof-reader, and was welcomed back into the fold. Over the course of a few months we finally hammered out the last few kinks in the rules, as well as making sure the flow of the words and spelling and layout were as clear and concise as they could be. BAR is Jeff Stuckey's baby, and came about because he felt that there were too many problems in WAB. I must admit that most of these problems are caused by tournament play and people wanting advantages so as to win the game, and as I'm not a tournament player, they would not necessarily affect me. I did (and still do), however, agree with several other problems in WAB. The end result is a 132-page ring-bound book with a large number of colour photographs of appropriate miniatures interspersed between the text. There is a good deal of information on gaming and background on the rules. There is a step-by-step section showing how the rules work. Included are six army lists, Macedonians and Persians, Romans and Barbarians, and Normans and Saxons. There is also a section in the book detailing how to create your own army lists from information presented in other sets of lists. A laminated quick reference sheet completes the purchase. The rules are very similar to WAB, but turns are more integrated- both players perform the actions consecutively, as opposed to the I-go, you-go seen in WAB. There is also a slight change in the charge sequence- and this (apparently) puts a slightly different twist on the whole game. I must admit that I am probably missing something there, but I have not found that there is any real impact in this change. Something that I do like is the variable movement rates in the charge section, although I personally find the movement rates to be a little fast in general. A big change is that BAR requires the use of D10s, unlike WAB's D6 approach. This means that there is a wider gap between levies and average troops and veterans, which means that one can now have several grades of normal troops - and levies really are differnet troops. Period: Ancients up to approximately AD1500. Scale: Best for 28mm, but can be used for 15mm with minor modification. Basing: Individual. Contents: One spiral-bound soft-cover book, one laminated quick-reference sheet. |
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| Historical Accuracy: | Average. |
| Sources: | I received a signed copy as "thank you" for assistance during the design phase. |
| Designer: | Jeff Stuckey. |
| Other reviews for this company: | See the reviews: |