Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

We are looking for play testers for Fields of war. If you are interested please send me an e-mail or pm with what army(s) that you want and I'll send the core rule book and the army's rules too you. The only requirement is that you send us a battle report when you are done. We will also take suggestions for new units, rules, missions, etc. from people who help play test.
http://fieldsofwar.blogspot.com/

What is Fields of War?

its a table top strategy game.

Jaggedjaw: A brief writeup about your system, with a sketch of both the background (world, races and scale of conflict) and the mechanics would be very helpful for those of us reading this thread. It might also generate interest in your game for later marketing etc.

RanTheCid, I found this description of at least the races on their blog:

"The armies

Humans of the Dominion
-the humans of the Dominion are located in the center of the continent of the Ancients and as such have experienced many raids over the years. They are a tough people and they use gunpowder and iron as much a steam and sail to keep their realm safe from invaders. Thought they are not the strongest, brightest, or biggest race they have the numbers and determination to keep their empire safe. Now however they are experiencing raids and battles from every direction and are fighting a war to prevent there own demise.

Dwarfs of the Mountain Realms
-the dwarfs are short with long beards and short tempers. They live in the mountains of Eskew and dig for gold, iron, silver, jewels, and mitheral. They use guns and steam to a level almost on par with the scarecrows and gnomes. Although they are few in number they are tough and can deal with any problem they are faced with. Now they march to war to prevent the Ratkins from destroying the Mountain Realms.

Gnomes of the forests
-the gnomes are like the dwarfs of the forests, only it takes 2 of them to equal a dwarf's height. They are as numerous as the goblins but create their own technology to help them cut down trees. They are at ends with the Dwarfs and also with the Elves(they live on the same forests as them) and so are in an almost constant state of war. now they march to Prevent the Scarecrows from destroying the Foren Forests, even getting the help of the elves.

Scarecrows of the northern wastes
-scarecrows are 10 foot tall creatures that are driven by steam and made from wood, brass, bone, iron, stone, and a whole lot of other things. they are the mindless servants of their Lord Carl, who claims to be from the future and that he wants to go back. The Scarecrow inhabit what was once the northern plains of the dominion and have somehow transformed it into the dark, barren and rocky place it is today and their main base is a large fortress know as "The Black Forge". The armies march so that they may gather resources to build more of them and to build the "Time Portal".

Elves of the hills
-the elves are taller then humans but are shorter than trolls. The live in the Reidear hills near the middle of the Foren Forest and on the island of Lumenek. They use bows, elven steel, and horse to fight their wars and have rarely lost a battle. In addition the have large amounts of magic to aid them in most everything they do. They are marching to war now to prevent the Gnomes from claiming all the glory for saving the forests and to destroy the goblin tribes.

Goblins of everywhere
-goblins are brownish orange creatures no bigger then dwarfs and more numerous then Ratkins. They have no solid holdings and the only stronghold they have is "MY CITY!!!" in the Northern Wastes. They are scavengers in the extreme and even their weapons and armor have all been stolen or discovered in a trash pile. what few weapons that they make are shoddy and tend to fall apart, the only highly notable exception is the rum gun. They run to war no simply to loot and pillage everything they can find and make the ultimate rum gun, one big enough to shoot the whole world out of it.

Soldiers of Chaos
-the soldiers of Chaos are the servants of the dark god Chaos, ruler of the Eternal Realms. They come from everywhere and all march to the rhythms of the skull drums. The most faithful followers are the skull gnomes, better known as the exiled for they were forced to live underground by their forest brothers. In addition the great servants of Chaos himself often go to war, know as the Minions and the Kost. They are marching to war for no other reason then their war cry portrays, "SKULLS FOR CHAOS!!!!".

Ratkins of the Darklands
-the Ratkins are ratlike creatures who live to destroy and eat all that lies in their way. They are weak and cowards however they do have numbers and the highly dreaded Storm Guards and Storm Bikes. They dont live on the continent of the Ancients but instead inhabit Maeltra, a continent across the dreaded Black Ocean. They march for they need more land to support there ever growing appetite and also to escape what they call the "other worlders".

Stygians of the Isles
-The Stygians are a race of Elves with blue skin and white hair. They were once the rulers of the entire continent, but by trying to stop the never ending Goblin invasions, their might had crumbled and their once great Empire had been reduced to a small Kingdom on a chain of islands, this chain of Islands is known as Stygia. But now, the Stygians had risen again, to expand their kingdom, and to get new allies. A Stygian warrior is well trained, in both the body, the mind and the soul. The army of Stygia must not fall, for their entire race depends on it.


Humans of Garmaria"The Industrious"
-Garmarea is another continent that is across the sea of Drean. The people who live there use something they call "mass production" and as such, can support vary large and highly advance armies. There armies are armed with steel and "titanium" weapons and they move in line formations wielding halberds, rifles, and machine rifles with the ease that trolls wield axes. They also fight long strange war machines like the Kump cannon and the Tran war wagon. They march now to gather more iron to fuel their needs and wants and to bring "industrialization" to the rest of the world.

Trolls of the desert
-Trolls are tall long limed savages who claim to have"fellen flat on me fac from dat fing up dere". They use primitive weaponry(the only exception being the strange led belchas,jak waggoons,jumpa paks, terrpedas and fast led belchas). They live in the Blasted Desert and as such have to pillage for every single last resource they have. They run to war wielding anything that comes to hand simply because "Us Trolz iz da best, an' wez gonna make shure dat all da squishies know dat".

Pirates of Hellspout
-Hellspout is a small island nation near the middle of the Black Ocean. There lawlessness is the norm and pirates are the rulers. They use the unusual larfar ship which allows them to travel on land with the same ease that they navigate with the ships at sea. Because of this they use hit and run tactics to ensure that they can quickly gain large amounts of loot with the smallest amount of resistance. They are not so much marching to war now as they are simply taking advantage of the turmoil and using the war to help further increase their already large stock piles of loot.

Visar of the norther plains
-Visar is a relatively backwards country where the crossbow is only just making its debut. They live in a manorial type system where the knights and nobles are the rulers and Beation is there only god(who coincidentally is considered to be the destroyer of man by followers of chaos). The Visar lord priest, Vaentrum, recently received a vision from Beation telling him to lead the nation of Visar in a holy crusade against the thousands of infidels and none humans who inhabit the world. Now large multitudes of visar knights, serfs, vassals, and nobles march to rid the world of all those who do not follow Beation.

The people of Inaros
-Inaros is a large continent about three fifths the size of the Darklands and about twice as productive. The Inaros are primitive even by there, however, they make extensive use of the earth spirits known as Golems and have such an extensive range of troops available that it doesn't matter how advance they are. They now march to war to protect Inaros from the foreign invaders who plague it almost daily.

Plain riders
-the Plain Riders are a coalition of several nations forces including the centaurs, satyrs, Cyclops, botants(a plant like creation of the satyrs), and large number of other groups tp various to mention. They live in tent cities all over the world but the highest concentration of them are in the goblin plains. They ride to war to reclaim the lost lands of the numerous nations and to stop the spread of chaos.

The taboo
-The Taboo are the necromatic and vodoo members of the cult of verbode kennis, the lost scholar of Chaos. They use powerful spells and rituals to raise massive armies of zombies. They march to war for as many reasons as there are stars in the sky and almost all of the reasons are vile by anyone's standards. "

A couple of other long threads, I think over in discussions, for those that want more info.

thanks for posting that savnock.
if anyone wants to see the other thread here it is:
http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/326690.page

After reading your threads and going through the race info, I have to say... you really need to start over. The vast majority of your material is straight lifted from other sources, with a few name changes. The Stygians are a blatant rip off of Age of Mythology, the Rat-kin are obviously skaven, the troll talk like orcs... the list goes on and on.

On the plus side, you guys obviously have a lot of enthusiasm for this. Please don't quit trying, just make your ideas more unique, like the scarecrow army. That is actually a really cool idea, which you should expand on. If you can make the other races as unique and interesting, then you'll have a solid system that people will want to play.

We currently have very little fluff out on the armies right now.
for example do you know what the storm guardian's purpose is?
or what da 'oly 'ead is?
for the stygians i tried to be involved in their creation as little as possible but in the unit and some of the fluff we have addressed that multiple times.
we are still in the very basic knowledge phase so any similarities between these armies and any other ones are the only thing you have to go on.
also thank you guildsman that was the kind of feed back that we wanted.

jaggedjaw wrote:We currently have very little fluff out on the armies right now.

That may be part of the problem: What background does exist, is either derivative or poorly written.

A suggestion I made in an earlier thread was to think about how your content (background, rules, etc.) is organized: a blog is pretty heavily embedded in the 'journal' format, and while some interlinking can be done, it's meant to be read day by day, with heavy sue of teasers, etc. A wiki or other Content Management System (CMS) would be a better choice, and I believe there's a few free services.

I recommend this to be helpful: If you want to be taken seriously, you need to look as professional as you can.

jaggedjaw wrote:for example do you know what the storm guardian's purpose is?

I know it's best known as a unit from another well-known miniatures game. Yours is probably different, but that doesn't help, especially since 9(as you said) we don't know much about it.

jaggedjaw wrote:or what da 'oly 'ead is?

No clue... But again, why should I want to find out?

jaggedjaw wrote:for the stygians i tried to be involved in their creation as little as possible but in the unit and some of the fluff we have addressed that multiple times.
we are still in the very basic knowledge phase so any similarities between these armies and any other ones are the only thing you have to go on.
also thank you guildsman that was the kind of feed back that we wanted.

Stepping back, a lot of games are admittedly derivative. GW borrows from all over. Most fantasy derives from Tolkien, and Tolkien took a lot of inspiration from myths and legends. however, Tolkien, GW, etc. put their own spin on it and thus add value and interest. GW's version of Tolkienesque fantasy is fantasy plus grimdark. Privateer Press takes a lot of fantasy tropes and adds steampunk elements in.

What makes your setting interesting? It looks (from the scant, disorganized notes that exist) to be heavily based on the Warhammer Fantasy tropes (Fantasy, but with some guns and steam tech, and some heavy GW-pointers like Ratkin, Chaos, Cockney Monsters (OK, yours are trolls not Orcs), etc.

I fully support your desire to create, but I think you need to work at it some more. As an exercise, do you have any art (A painting, a sketch, even music or literature) that sums up the setting for you?

For example, the guys that made the Deadlands RPG setting mentioned that a big inspiration was a painting they were lucky enough to license for use as a cover:


To those guys, this encapsulated the setting for them. It's not the entire setting (not by a long shot, as Deadlands grew to include a post-apocalyptic and off-world setting, and event he core wild-west had a lot of other stuff going on) but it's a great image that sets the feel for everything.

Please consider this. Especially at first, you've got to 'sell' people on your idea with a couple of sentences.

WHFB: it's fanatsy, but everything is super dark and dire and all metal turned up to 11!

Warmachine: It's fanatsy, but there's cool steampunk robots running around controlled by wizards!

Deadlands: it's the wild west with zombies and magic!

WH40k: It's fantasy in space, but even darker!

Actually, I need to think about this for a project I'm working on...

well thank you for that post.
also for those who are interested we had a problem and need someone to help re-pdf the files so if you are interested send me a pm.
Also there are some new posts on the site.

Thank you for your response; it was refreshingly polite. Gotta commend you on taking criticism well. Like Balance said, you have to make it different. Sit down and think out, "what will make this unique?"

criticism is just another way to say you need to improve what you're doing and so long as we know what to fix i don't really care. However, outright bashing it is a completely other thing.
also Fields of war is currently looking for people to help make our art. If you have ever wanted your artwork to be official game art then here's your chance. If you're interested just send me a PM or post a reply on this thread and we'll tell you the overall feel of that army(ies).
there is also a new post to help expand on the fluff.
also for anyone who's interested we have a facebook group now:
http://www.facebook.com/editgroup.php?gid=129692473774243&sk=picture#!/home.php?sk=group_129692473774243

If anyone is interested there is a new post on the blog:
http://fieldsofwar.blogspot.com/2011/07/legends-of-warorcs.html

i agree that you need to make it more unique, also i think maybe there are too many different races, but maybe thats just me, the scarecrows are a good idea and i lke the gnomes, but the chaos war cry made me cringe, its too much like Khorne's war cry
sure make them possessed and mutants and whatever but a different name would help alot

One way to make some of the races slightly less derivative is to change their alliance, or twist their reasons for being seen the way they are. Rackham's Orks were a good example of this. They were noble creatures that were fighting against their creators and looking for some peace (as far as I can remember anyway)

For example in your descriptions of the Dwarves and Ratkin you've got the Dwarves protecting their domain from the ever expanding, cowardly but vicious Ratkin. Anyone that's read any fantasy will know that dwarves are always fighting a losing battle against the horde army that wants their homes.

What if the Ratkin are very much family focussed and quite peaceful, but live on large seams of precious metals that the Dwarves want? What better way of getting support in their attacks if the Dwarves start telling everyone that the Ratkin are evil and that they are just defending themselves? The dwarves have driven them to respond in kind, just to protect themselves from the constant attacks. This not only gives you a twist in what people know, but provides some additional reasoning behind the ratkin being cowardly and liking large groups.

The Ratkins are actually trying to out run a devastating plague in their homeland and they are trying to get land in the old world. and since they look like giant rats, their god is accidentally believed to be the god of disease(he's actually the god of purging), storms, and rats, and some of them just babbling disease things everyone assumes that they are evil. That and their god used to work for Chaos so...yeah.

Scarecrows sound cool. I will try and help with this as much as I can.

We have another new post on the blog and this one explains the back story of one of Chaos' most loyal followers: the Shadow Elves.
http://fieldsofwar.blogspot.com/2011/08/legends-of-warshadow-elves-elven.html

We have several new posts on the blog with ranging importance:
http://fieldsofwar.blogspot.com/2011/08/general-proclomationofficial-battle.html (the most important)
http://fieldsofwar.blogspot.com/2011/08/legends-of-warthe-quhelet-empire-slave.html

The first wave armies have been decided.
http://fieldsofwar.blogspot.com/2011/09/general-proclomation1st-wave-armies.html

I am having trouble with a quote and would like some help finishing it. Any help at all would be greatly appreciated. so far I have:
"13 cuts in a dead man's heart sack,
14 holes in the king's old kayak,
15 ships in the stagnant whale-path,
we're sailing for the morning."

"Give to others and you shall receive 5 fold over the year."
General feeling of Relenfeast
http://fieldsofwar.blogspot.com/2011/10/legends-of-warrelenfeast-28-days-of-joy.html

The Elves are on the march
http://fieldsofwar.blogspot.com/2011/10/forces-of-warelves.html
also would anyone care if I posted the rules pdf's here?

The Dwarf's are standing their ground
http://fieldsofwar.blogspot.com/2011/10/forces-of-wardwarves.html

also the main rulebook pdf
http://the-lost-and-the-damned.664610.n2.nabble.com/file/n6683557/Fields_of_War_core_rule_book.odt

I don't want to sound mean, but the rules need some serious work. I understand it's a basic start, but IMO they are not playable. Also, when I look at the rules I feel like I'm reading a stripped down version of WFB or Kings of War. I think every gamer want to create a game at one time or another, but you have to make something unique. For example, I played a few into games of Chronopia (War in the Eternal Realm version) at GenCon in 2004. The game had a unique blind set up system using cards and a unit activation system (my unit, your unit, my unit, etc) for play. Warmachine was unique with the whole card/combo/caster mechanic and the fact it started as a skirmish game. I don't see anything unique in this system. I just see tons of questions.

1. Ranks - a rank is five models. Does it have to be five? Can I make it ten and the minimum is five? How many ranks can I have?

2. Movement - models have a speed and I get that a block of humans moves four inches. What about the unit formation? No rules for wheels, turns, reverse facing, etc. And your entry for marching says you can march and double your speed. Then you refer to a courage check for a forced march. What is forced march? Is that a regular march? If it is, why not just call it forced march? Charging says that it works the same as march (again, do I have to make a courage check?) and that if the charge fails, you lose your movement. Does this mean I can pre-measure my charge? If the charge fails and I loose my movement, I need to know how far the target unit is. Most other games allow you to charge and if you don't reach the target, their turn/activation is over.

3. Shooting. Works just like 40K/WFB. Why? Volley fire. This needs some work. Only the front rank can usually fire, but this gives the whole unit the ability to fire for only a -1 modifier. Why would I ever not volley? Sure they can't fire next turn, but shooting 20 guys is much better than shooting 5. I would tweak this and save it as a special ability for some types. And ranges... crossbow has the same range as a longbow? I'm not an expert, but I think the range on a crossbow would be more like a short bow or pistol, but with a higher strength and lower skill to use. You refer to shooting to/from a cohort, but no in game definition is given for a cohort. What does it mean in game?

4. Close combat. Again, just like 40K/WFB. Infantry, cav, monsters, fine. Why would I take chariots if the crew is just going to sit there? I'm better off just taking another infantry block. Chariots need some rules for break away or extra speed. Again you talk about cohorts fighting, but I don't see any description for it in unit types.

5. Aftermath. This rule is pure BS. Sorry, but if I read this in a book at a game store I would put the game down and never touch it again. If I lose and fail a courage check, the whole unit is destroyed? If I lose one guy out of 25 and you lose none and then I somehow fail a courage check the other 24 are destroyed. No. This is just plain bad. If I flee and you catch up or run down my fleeing troops, fine. If you read even a little history, you would know that most battles were not won by completely wiping out the enemy forces. Yes, it does happen, but more often one side just gets worn down and retreats or gives up. A lot of historical wargames make completely wiping out an enemy unit very hard. The games focus more on forcing morale checks and making the enemy run away. If you are running, you may be able to regroup. Here is where morale and the army leadership structure come into play. By just wiping the unit out, courage is just a big unit saving throw. Give me a chance to spend points on generals that can rally fleeing troops.

6. Give Fire. This rule should be with the charging rules.

7. The closing phase paragraph needs to be re-written. It's not clear what is supposed to happen. What should we do if 'it' (what is 'it') is over 75%.

8. Close combat weapons. This is just my personal preference, but infantry should have pikes (not spears..when I think of infantry wielding spears, I think Romans, who generally threw them) and cavalry should have lances, not spears. Again, that is just my opinion.

9. Ranged weapons. Handgun and pistol? Isn't that the same thing? (dictionary.com - Handgun - a firearm that can be held, carried, and fired with one hand, such as a pistol). And why is a handgun double the range of a pistol? Again, fix the crossbow/longbow thing. There is a lot of information in books and on the web about the English longbow and unit tactics. When I think of a longbow unit, I don't think of 'move and fire'. I see longbow units grouped behind defenses, in fortifications, or on the flank. As written, there is no reason to take a shortbow.

10. Playing a game and Infrastructure should be at the beginning, not the end. Flanking, line of sight, and changing direction (answers my earlier question) don't fit in any other categories? Really? How about Movement, Shooting, and Movement? I would think they would fit very well.

These are my questions after a quick read. It takes courage to post it here for feedback and I understand why players want to create their own games. It's just that you aren't providing anything that I don't already get by playing WFB. This game is just like what GW turns out only with out 25+ years of fluff, development, and models.

I would:

1. Scrap this and go back to the drawing board.
2. Figure out what you don't like about games you play.
3. Read other game systems (historical, fantasy, out of print, new, etc) for inspiration. If your game is going to borrow elements from others, at least find something worth borrowing. There are only so many ways to push little plastic/metal men around on a table.
4. Create something new or with some unique mechanics. Don't just give us WFB light (if I want that, I'll download KoW).

thank you 2112 for your feed back on the rules. we are still in the early phases and are looking for comments like this to help us make the game better. We will try to re-work the rulebooks to be less cluttered. If you have any mechanic/rule suggestions (aside from the ones already given) we would love to hear them.

Trolz iz 'ere
http://fieldsofwar.blogspot.com/2011/10/forces-of-wartrolls.html

the tent cities of the Plain riders alliance are revealed
http://fieldsofwar.blogspot.com/2011/10/forces-of-war-plain-riders.html
also don't use any of the rulebooks for a while we are making major amendments to the rules.

"They came out of the ground with the effort of us rising from shallow water and even the most gravest injury was remedied by the soil rising and returning them to their original state. And then their eyes... their eyes!"
-the Rambling of former captain Delr Tocsten
http://fieldsofwar.blogspot.com/2011/11/legends-of-wararabi-vanished-realm.html

Men of the Dominion, Hear this. your forces are ready for you to command.
http://fieldsofwar.blogspot.com/2011/11/forces-of-warthe-dominion.html