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An upcoming fantasy skirmish game from 4Ground ... KS coming in June.



from Beasts of War

The Druggoi are the leaders of a band of ravenous monsters infected with a deadly virus known as the Drugoul. These beasts then fall into lesser categories including the Gluttons and the Terrors. Each of them is a fearsome foe ready to rip you limb from limb.

Conversely the Eightfold Path are a religious order of valiant warriors. They are dedicated to the eradication of evil, especially the Druggoi. Made up of two main sections the order is split into the Initiates and the Ascended. The Ascended are those who have consumed the blood of the Druggoi and have not been corrupted. Those who pass the test have shown their strength of will.

Sounds a lot like Dragon Age, no?

Some features:

- active/reactive player structure
- custom dice
- there will be standard fantasy races

FB Page: https://www.facebook.com/The-Legends-Of-Fabled-Realms-334856040246872/?ref=ts&fref=ts

That does sound interesting, I wonder who is writing the rules?

Perhaps an another small scale skirmish alternative to Mordheim? That makes use of some of their lovely terrain.

The game's setting definitely ties into their existing fantasy terrain. One of the factions, for example, will be the Mordanburg city watch.

According to BoW, there will be a campaign system.

If they do giant discounted terrain bundle packs on their KS then I may cave just for a huge pile of buildings.

I'm more curious about the miniatures. I own my own body weight in 4Ground buildings (none of their fantasy range) but I want to know who is sculpting/producing their miniatures and what the ranges will consist of.

If they're multi-part plastics it could be very interesting (some great kits coming out of non-GW shops for fantasy). I hope their level of precision in their buildings follows over to the quality of a table-top game. I don't love the artwork I've seen so far - so that's a "meh" sign.

4Ground has been really good to work with in the past so I expect this should be good if not great.

Man, I kinda really like that art by Jared Blando. It's like an interesting stylized update to late 80's RPG art.

A bit more info here - http://www.beastsofwar.com/4ground/legends-fabled-realms-coming-soon/

6 - 30 models per side.

Heading to salute for first time this year so will need to go have a look at the demo game.

Definitely interested for this - doubly so because, as Doug noted, there will probably be a way to get a lot of their terrain too!

Tentatively interested.

Need to see some sculpts, and I'm somewhat surprised they didn't show at least one up front.

~Eric

If the deal is sweet enough I can be convinced to take the plunge. It'll be interesting to see if they're thinking of going the plastics route.

I'm going to guess we'll be seeing new scenery pieces for this?

I wonder if we'll be seeing more in the way of ruins rather than intact buildings.

 judgedoug wrote:
Man, I kinda really like that art by Jared Blando. It's like an interesting stylized update to late 80's RPG art.

Very much agree. I am especially interested in the "not-Blight" bad guy range.

 highlord tamburlaine wrote:
I wonder if we'll be seeing more in the way of ruins rather than intact buildings.

The current line has a nice mix. I think this KS will be more about the game and minis and expanding the fairly extensive terrain range will be something of a sideline.

BoW are running a weekender and speaking to one of the developers soon - anyone who is member there, would be extremely grateful if you could report back any gossip!

Chap posting in BoW says the miniatures do exist (as he has seen them!) so hopefully they will appear some point soon.

Definitely think there is an alternative to another Mordheim-esque game alongside Frostgrave so very excited about this, if 4ground even apply half of their design ability that they show with their buildings this should be something special!

If it's 6-30 models I hope they go with metal. Resin would be a no-go for me, but I suspect we may not see plastic box kits then.

Hi Guys,

Thank you for your interest in our game. The Facebook Page, https://www.facebook.com/The-Legends-Of-Fabled-Realms-334856040246872/?ref=bookmarks for the game has images of the miniatures and information. The Beasts Of War weekender with it in is linked here http://www.beastsofwar.com/the-weekender/4grounds-fantasy-game-age-of-sigmar-dwarfs/.

Let us know what you think.

The kickstarter will be in June to finish in July and the models are Heroic 28mm, similar to GW in scale.

Regards,
Cad

I was pretty happy with the stuff on the BoW video - not super stoked by some of the mechanics, but the sculpts look really fantastic (only in 3D form at the moment, so I'll reserve judgment). If they're a good material, well printed/produced and are reasonably priced I'll definitely be in for some miniatures even if I don't jump on the game.

Love the artistic style of the "good guys" from that video.

Some cool pics and renders over there - I'm now even more psyched for this one!

I'm digging the monster type creatures.....they look what I think GW vampires should. The humans are alright.....I really like the men-at-arms models, but the two leaders are a bit over done I feel. Too many accessories and what not. I'm also starting to wonder why fantasy miniature sculptors put visors on their miniatures at all. I know it's an artistic thing so you can show off the model's face/emotions, but it is getting a bit tacky having a piece of armor that is never used on models. Why not just omit it?

The minis look great. I'm a big fan of this sort of medieval fantasy/horror. I'll be watching with interest.

 judgedoug wrote:
Man, I kinda really like that art by Jared Blando. It's like an interesting stylized update to late 80's RPG art.

Yep 10/10 for the art. Name, not so much.

The visors make sense to me. I doubt that most knights fought visor-down all the time anyway. Unless you were expecting serious quantities of arrows or bolts heading your way, you would probably be better off being able to see well than being 100% protected. You really can't see much at all with a visor down...

It's well worth watching the product feature over on BoW.

Some highlights and a couple of things that stood out for me if you aren't watching:
- The game designers have real RPG roots. For anyone who thought the campaign system was a little light in Frostgrave, it sounds like this could be much more in depth. It sounds like the developers really spent some time investing character and a narrative to their game stories over many years, and want this to be an integral part of playing the game.
- The mechanics. There is a face-to-face type role for attack and defence, reactive turn sequence (definitely sounded like elements of Infinity), special dice for hits, misses, crits with dice cancelling each other out (a la X-Wing). Again, it comes across as more depth than Frostgrave, but would need to see the game in action to determine how much it slows down the play. Certainly, the use of symbols on the unit cards, not having to track experience with pen and paper (which sounded like another nice touch, as much as some of us actually enjoy doing this!) makes me think this has been through a fair bit of playtesting, and believe it was mentioned in the video that you're looking at an hour or less for a game once you know it. Also, containing elements of two of the game systems so fondly thought of in terms of Infinity and X-Wing, can only be a good thing!
- The miniatures are nicely detailed and characterful. Again, independent detail and character on each one (which would lend itself to campaign) rather than just 'Henchman A mk2'. The scale and heroic proportion means you could probably swap in GW, Frostgrave etc. pretty easily if you wanted to.
- The art, styling, setting is quite distinctive. There is definitely a 'horror' vibe going on with the bestial/vampyric bad guys (Draguul? Not sure of spelling), and the 'virus' idea of the transmission brings to mind something like Blade 2. The different species all transforming to a Draguul equivalent is a nice touch. Will be interesting to see what the other factions and races are like, but it sounds like an awful lot of background already there from the 10 years or so the developers say they have been playing with the background setting. Personally I loved the retro-style fantasy artwork, but understand this won't be to everyone's taste.
- And of course, lovely terrain to use the miniatures with. I really hope there is some 'town + miniatures' level for the forthcoming KS, can see that being pretty popular if they do, even if you have to get out a second mortgage to pay for it!

Overall certainly looking very positive and can't wait for future info, and hopefully get a test drive at Salute!

Anyone else have the feeling like there might have been a Dragon Age minis game in the works here but the licensing fell through? In the BoW vid, the 4Ground gents attribute the game's inspiration to a D&D campaign but there were not a lot of details. The art style definitely echoes DA and the setting conflict seems beat for beat like the Blight from DA. (Not that this is a bad thing, mind.)

Manchu wrote:
Anyone else have the feeling like there might have been a Dragon Age minis game in the works here but the licensing fell through? In the BoW vid, the 4Ground gents attribute the game's inspiration to a D&D campaign but there were not a lot of details. The art style definitely echoes DA and the setting conflict seems beat for beat like the Blight from DA. (Not that this is a bad thing, mind.)

My first thought exactly

 Ian Sturrock wrote:
The visors make sense to me. I doubt that most knights fought visor-down all the time anyway. Unless you were expecting serious quantities of arrows or bolts heading your way, you would probably be better off being able to see well than being 100% protected. You really can't see much at all with a visor down...

Sure, some knights didn't even have a visor, but like 90% of fantasy knight miniatures have a visor and are never using it. What's the point in including it in a sculpt? It's just very tropey. Have worn a few different medieval helmets with visors (and a number of goalie masks of different designs) you can see a lot better than you'd think. What is generally more limited is your peripheral vision. And honestly unless you are at extreme range a visor won't protect much against an arrow (at least from a long bow) or a bolt, as they are made of thinner metal than the rest of the helm generally. They were more important in protecting against cheap shots up close. You don't have to hit someone very hard in the face to disorient them and throw them off-balance, at least that's what I was taught in judo (fortunately I haven't had to test that one out).

All that aside...my main issue is that it's just so common on fantasy miniatures these day, I'd rather them just not include it.

 Sabotage! wrote:
I'm digging the monster type creatures.....they look what I think GW vampires should. The humans are alright.....I really like the men-at-arms models, but the two leaders are a bit over done I feel. Too many accessories and what not. I'm also starting to wonder why fantasy miniature sculptors put visors on their miniatures at all. I know it's an artistic thing so you can show off the model's face/emotions, but it is getting a bit tacky having a piece of armor that is never used on models. Why not just omit it?

I think you answered your own question!

Plus, visors on helmets of Medieval styled minis is a trope now?!?

Also, Manchu, port some of those pics over here already - it is your sacred duty as the OP of this thread!!!

 Alpharius wrote:

 Sabotage! wrote:
I'm digging the monster type creatures.....they look what I think GW vampires should. The humans are alright.....I really like the men-at-arms models, but the two leaders are a bit over done I feel. Too many accessories and what not. I'm also starting to wonder why fantasy miniature sculptors put visors on their miniatures at all. I know it's an artistic thing so you can show off the model's face/emotions, but it is getting a bit tacky having a piece of armor that is never used on models. Why not just omit it?

I think you answered your own question!

Plus, visors on helmets of Medieval styled minis is a trope now?!?

Also, Manchu, port some of those pics over here already - it is your sacred duty as the OP of this thread!!!

Haha, I don't mean the visors themselves are a trope, I mean including the visors and never having a model using it is the trope. Much like the infamous boob-plate and what not.

 Alpharius wrote:
Also, Manchu, port some of those pics over here already - it is your sacred duty as the OP of this thread!!!

FB workblocked :(

 Sabotage! wrote:
Have worn a few different medieval helmets with visors (and a number of goalie masks of different designs) you can see a lot better than you'd think. What is generally more limited is your peripheral vision

My experience of 14th and 15th century re-enactment is that most helmets massively limit your vision, and thus, fighting capabilities, during combat. This is especially the case in a line fight (where that peripheral vision is vital) but even one-on-one, the inability to see much below your opponent's chest means they can get a lot of hits in...

Manuscripts seem to show a mix of visors up and down. I don't believe the distinction is as strong as I maybe implied -- down to protect against arrows, up for close combat -- but I do know that most visors are designed to be easily raised and lowered with one hand, even in a gauntlet, and good at staying where you put them. That implies to me that visor up, or down, at any given moment, is a tactical decision and one that you can make and act on very rapidly. There are plenty of reasons why you might suddenly need more vision and breath, particularly if you're the unit leader, as for this dude.

Anyway! I like the minis as they are. I'm sure a head swap for a down visor or full-head helm would be pretty easy though.

 Ian Sturrock wrote:

 Sabotage! wrote:
Have worn a few different medieval helmets with visors (and a number of goalie masks of different designs) you can see a lot better than you'd think. What is generally more limited is your peripheral vision

My experience of 14th and 15th century re-enactment is that most helmets massively limit your vision, and thus, fighting capabilities, during combat. This is especially the case in a line fight (where that peripheral vision is vital) but even one-on-one, the inability to see much below your opponent's chest means they can get a lot of hits in...

Manuscripts seem to show a mix of visors up and down. I don't believe the distinction is as strong as I maybe implied -- down to protect against arrows, up for close combat -- but I do know that most visors are designed to be easily raised and lowered with one hand, even in a gauntlet, and good at staying where you put them. That implies to me that visor up, or down, at any given moment, is a tactical decision and one that you can make and act on very rapidly. There are plenty of reasons why you might suddenly need more vision and breath, particularly if you're the unit leader, as for this dude.

Anyway! I like the minis as they are. I'm sure a head swap for a down visor or full-head helm would be pretty easy though.

I didn't have a that experience so much with extremely limited vision, but the two helmets I did wear were later 15th century (great bascinet) and early 16th (armet) and they did have large eye ports than a lot of helmets I have seen. I also did not wear them in a combat or mock combat situation. But I can see how the limited vision could be detrimental in some situations.

It does seem most visors can easily be pushed up and do a fairly good job at staying there (though I am no expert on this), and I could see the merit of having your visor up if you were issuing orders on a battlefield.

My main issue isn't so much that this miniature has a visor that it isn't using, but how it seems most fantasy knight miniatures these days have visors and are never using them. I just feel it is overdone to the point that they shouldn't even include visors on a miniature if they are never going to be shown in use.

Anyways, I should probably stop hijacking this thread with a relatively minor critique of the heavily armored fantasy miniatures produced today, haha.

Anyone know if buildings will be included in the KS?

Interested to see if they ever do dungeons or sewers. Probably just stick with Dwarven Forge for those....