Why I play WOTR and not Impetvs Fantasticus - LOTR
Jason took away the batrep duties from me but I thought I could at least do the post-game reflections. Impetus, which is a great game, has a fantasy and LOTR mod. Despite having such misgivings about the WOTR rules design that I was moved to extensively houserule it, I have stuck with the GW system rather than going to the indubitably tighter Impetus version.
The reason I did this is that the WOTR designers did a really good job of capturing the feel of the setting when designing the game. Big monsters, with all manner of abilities, stalk battlefields crammed with troops in ranked formations, led by heroic individuals.
The balance of the game can be a bit iffy. We tend to play at 1000pts and at that level you really want to be using houserules, or there set of viable armies/units narrows too much. However, at 2000 pts (which is what I suspect they had in mind when designing) it is better. You can have some real fun at 1000pts with 'rules as written' as well.
Tuesday's game vs Jason (which I lost - too rushed in my Epic hero positioning!) is a good example of the strengths of the system. The pic shows his army at the top vs my army at the bottom (the warriors on snow bases are my front line). His army is tiny.... because half of it is in that one Dragon! It was a great game, I went after his troops (since Aragorn was waaay out of position and the Dragon wisely steered clear of him) while the winged beast flew about, breathing fire, casting magic and eating my poor troops. It gave a nail biting game, where the Dragon finally won it, with every single other model on the board meeting their untimely demise!
This just isn't something that fits the Impetvs Fantasticus paradigm - that is a different game, which reflects its roots in a very good historical system.
The balance of the game can be a bit iffy. We tend to play at 1000pts and at that level you really want to be using houserules, or there set of viable armies/units narrows too much. However, at 2000 pts (which is what I suspect they had in mind when designing) it is better. You can have some real fun at 1000pts with 'rules as written' as well.
Tuesday's game vs Jason (which I lost - too rushed in my Epic hero positioning!) is a good example of the strengths of the system. The pic shows his army at the top vs my army at the bottom (the warriors on snow bases are my front line). His army is tiny.... because half of it is in that one Dragon! It was a great game, I went after his troops (since Aragorn was waaay out of position and the Dragon wisely steered clear of him) while the winged beast flew about, breathing fire, casting magic and eating my poor troops. It gave a nail biting game, where the Dragon finally won it, with every single other model on the board meeting their untimely demise!
This just isn't something that fits the Impetvs Fantasticus paradigm - that is a different game, which reflects its roots in a very good historical system.
Good summing up Jamie, I'm a bit slack but the Battle Report is forthcoming.
ReplyDeleteI've never played Imeptus Fantasticus but I agree that War of the Ring is my "beer and pretzels" game in that it dosnt tax my poor brain to much and gives a good game when I want my Fantasy fix. :)