Recently, on a journey through The Miniatures Page (www.theminiaturespage.com), I discovered a set of fantasy miniatures wargame rules called Fantasy Legend, by Black Knight Games (www.black-knight-games.com). At that time, they were offering the rulebook for half price, so I decided to take up their offer and purchase a copy to see if I liked it. Around that time I had written a letter to Rich Barbuto, where in a fit of passion I had written that I would try to review the rules for the association. Well, I have now played through the rules, so here are my observations. First, the book itself. The book is perfect bound, roughly 8 ˝ x 11. For a small press offering, the book is quite well done. Art is liberally scattered throughout, most of it very good. Digital scanning mangled a couple pieces, but most of it comes through fine, and helps give the "feel" of Faldor, the default world for Fantasy Legend play. There are a number of chapters, dealing with building armies, the world of Faldor, morale, movement, and combat, along with appendices for army lists, weapons, beasts/monsters, and magic spells. There are a few editing glitches in the book, including one major one where they totally left off the title to the Wood Elf page. Oops. Also, the summary table for the hand weapons in appendix B is so riddled with errors as to make it worthless. Oops again. I overcame these errors, however, and persevered on through the book. [Rule Author's comments: Ouch! Lessons learned in the publishing game. I am going to place a totally revised section for both weapons/equipment and spells on the web as pdf files. Please let folks know that this is in the works.] The basing for figures in Fantasy Legend is 1"x1" for foot troops, 1"x2" for mounted troops, and other base sizes for special creatures (like the Gar, giant lizard warriors). This is a little different from Warhammer, but exactly the same as Fantasy Warriors. Luckily, I have a number of moderately sized armies for Fantasy Warriors, so I can easily use those figures. I pulled out my wood elves and my orcs (called N'Tal in Fantasy Legend for no real reason), and built up small 1000 point armies. [Rule Author's comments: Actually, The N'Tal and N'Tak are unto themselves. I was thinking more of "counter-elves" than of orcs. Note that Faldor.net will include several new race profiles, including Orcs, Goblins, Halflings, and some others.] When building armies in Fantasy Legend, you buy everything with points. The individual trooper costs points, which is dependent on his/her quality, of which there are three classes; A, B, and C, in descending order of worth. Then, if the figure is wearing armor, that costs points, based on the Toughness (TOU) rating of the figure. If he/she has a shield, that costs points, too, again based on TOU. Each weapon costs points, based on the figure's Strength (STR). Let me give you an example. I wanted a leader for my wood elves. I decided on a level 1 character. There are five total levels, and a character can be a warrior or a mage. You will normally start with a level 1 character due to the campaign rules, which I will get too in a minute. Anyway, a wood elf level 1 non-mage character costs 53 points. The figure I will be using has a sword, so I buy a sword for him. The cost of a sword is STRx1. My character has a STR of 9, so that equals 9 points. Wood elves travel light, so I decide this fellow should have light armor. Light armor costs TOUx1/4. My wood elf has a TOU of 9, which results in a cost of 2.25. I'm not sure what the official rule on fractions is. I couldn't find it in the book, but I just might have missed it. So I decided to round all fractions up. [Rule Author's comment: Use standard rounding. If less than .5 round down, if greater than .5, round up.] This results in a cost of 3. I also give my character a light shield, which also costs TOUx1/4, so that results in 3 more points, for a total cost of 68 points. After working up 2 armies of 2 units and 1 leader each, I came to the conclusion that I didn't like the way that every little detail had to be accounted for. [Rule Author's comment: Army lists are forthcoming. Also, I am finishing an Army Generation program that will run on a PC. I will probably make this available for download (for free), or on CD (small fee). Also, Lone Wolf has done a version of Army Builder files for the game.] I am used to purchasing a figure for a set cost, with the possibility of a small number of changes to increase unit quality, add a shield, etc. Having to buy each weapon and piece of armor was tedious. However, each weapon is a little different, and each has its own strengths, so someone looking for "realism" would probably like this. It also adds a little strategy to unit building, which is nice. I'm not sure if it is considered acceptable to have a unit equipped with all sorts of different weapons, but you could probably do that with this system. That would be cool for "militia" type units with a variety of weapons. [Rule Author's comment: Actually, your elements can carry up to three hand weapons, a missile weapon, and armor! I buy a lance and a sword for my heavy knights, and a lance sword and crossbow for my light lancers. It really makes your opponent think twice about messing with them, but they are REALLY expensive. Note that it costs 1 AP to change weapons.] So I have two little armies. The wood elves have a non-mage character with a sword, light armor, and a light shield, at a cost of 68. The first wood elf unit consists of 10 class B elves with spears and light armor for a cost of 280. The second wood elf unit consists of 10 class B elves with elf bows and swords for 640 points. "640?" you may ask yourself. "That's an awful lot of points, especially considering what the other unit costs." That is true, but you will notice that these lucky guys have elf bows. Elf bows are insanely awesome weapons available only to wood elves, sea elves, and characters. They have a cost of STRx5, making it the most expensive weapon in the whole game, outside of cannons and such. And that cost is most definitely justified, as we shall soon see. But enough on that. On to the orcs. Oops, I mean the N'Tal. They have a level 1 non-mage character with a sword, medium armor, and a medium shield for 75 points; a unit of 15 B class N'Tal with swords, medium armor, and light shields for 495 points; and a unit of 16 B class N'Tal with spears and medium armor for 416 points. Now, one of the interesting things in Fantasy Legend is that you don't really run set-piece scenarios. No, you run campaigns. [Rule Author's comment: Please mention that the Downloads page has several maps ready for use, and that a pdf of the campaign is forthcoming. This was to be used for our 99 league, which never got off the ground. I will have the pdf out there sometime next week.] The rulebook recommends that you actually have a referee to design and run a campaign for the players, each of whom will have an army. Then you fight battles for specific objectives, and after each battle both sides get build points based on how well they met their objectives. Build points are used to replace casualties and purchase new units and characters. Over time, you will get enough units that you will need more characters, as each character can only control 4 units. So what happens when you get 5 units? Your original character miraculously becomes a level 2 character, and you buy a subordinate level 1 character. This is the only way to get a character above level 1 in a campaign. You can buy a character of a level higher than 1 for a scenario outside of a campaign, but campaigns are definitely the encouraged form of play. You see, the reason that the game is called Fantasy Legend is that your character is seeking to become a legend (i.e., reach level 5) by conquering all his/her foes over a long campaign. The default background of the world of Faldor works very well for this, as the world is just emerging into an age of exploration, and there are no large empires, just a number of small city-states. Or, at least, there's no empire yet... But I digress. I decided that the N'Tal were encroaching on the wood elves home, as these poor N'Tal were from a tribe that had gotten too big, so these folks were looking for a new home. Well, they looked in the wrong place. The first battle had the N'Tal lined up across a relatively open plain from the wood elves. On the first turn, the wood elves won initiative and got to act first. Being interested in seeing how good those horribly expensive elf bows were, I lined 'em up, and fired away at the unit of N'Tal with swords. I should note here that class B wood elves have 2 Attacks (ATT). They also have 3 Action Points (AP). Moving costs an action point, turning costs an action point, fighting costs an action point, etc. What this meant, was that the elves could spend 1 action point getting into position, and they could shoot twice at the poor N'Tal. So, that is what they did. Combat, both missile and melee, is done by rolling a D10 and referencing the appropriate chart. First, you roll a D10 and compare the result against the number of attacking models to determine how many actually hit. This roll is modified by lots of things, from position advantage to the size of the unit. Well, the elves rolled fairly low, but they had a number of positive modifiers, so the result ended up as a 7. With ten units shooting, this resulted in seven hits. Once the number of hits is determined, you multiply this number by the strength of the shot to get the strength of the attack. Elf bows have a STR modifier of x2, and wood elves have a STR of 7, resulting in 14. We subtract the N'Tal's DRF of 5, giving us 9. 9 x 7 = 63. Now, N'Tal have a TOU of 10, so for every 10 in damage, we remove a N'Tal model, fractions being dropped. So, we remove 6 models, leaving 9. That hurt. Now, because the elves have 1 ATT left, and they still have one AP remaining, they get to shoot again. And this time they roll a 10. Oh my. 140 damage to 9 N'Tal results in the whole rest of the unit being wiped out. So, 495 points of N'Tal were wiped out in one turn. Yes, I do believe that those elf bows were worth their cost. I should note that in this situation standard long bows would have likely been just as good, as the only difference is that elf bows have a range of 48" while long bows have a range of 40". Anyway, so the next turn the elves turned their bows on the poor N'Tal with spears, and at the end of the second turn, while the poor suckers vainly tried to cross the gap between them and the elven spears, 13 of the 16 N'Tal were killed by arrows. At this point, I stopped the game, as it became obvious to me that nothing would survive those elven archers. [Rule Author's comment: Although the elfbow is an awesome weapon, there are work arounds… If I am faced with fighting elven armies where the elfbow is used, I make sure that I have at least two BIG units of C class troops. Using them as a screen (remember, archers MUST shoot at the closest threat), I get them as close to the archers as I can, and back them up with better troops. When in hand-to-hand, the elves will usually get themselves beat up fairly well. Also, if they don't have a secondary hand weapon, they are hard-pressed to hurt anyone by hitting them with a bow!!!] So, I tried things again. This time, rather than setting up on the long end of my 6'x4' play area, I set up the armies on the short ends, with lots of trees and stuff between them. Unfortunately for the N'Tal, the elves ruled the day again, with arrows slaying N'Tal in droves. The ability to fire twice in a turn is really brutal. Maybe heavily armored knights could survive long enough to get into combat, but maybe not. These elves are excellent archers. So, my playtesting had shown me how missile fire worked, but I had yet to actually see a melee combat. So, I decided to try a little set piece battle between the N'Tal spearmen and the elf spearmen from the earlier scenario. I set it up where the N'Tal spears (8 figures wide, 2 ranks) attacked the elven spears (5 figures wide, 2 ranks). Spears have a reach of 1 inch, so all 10 elves can fight. For the N'Tal, they can get 14 models involved. In a standard game, when units are charged, they might break and flee. If a unit is not in Determined state, you have to make a morale check. Having the elves break and flee would eliminate the point of this exercise, however, so let's assume that they are Determined. [Rule Author's comment: We always start a battle in DETERMINED. When I am the Arbitrator, I assume that units are determined until something bad happens to them. Then we check Morale.] So, the orcs (oops, N'Tal) have charged. I go to the Melee Modifiers table, and see that their total modifier is +2. (Note that I am not having the elves set their spears against the charge, which they could do.) Added to the Minimum Hit Value (MHV) of a B class N'Tal, I get a +3. So, I now roll a D10, and get a 2. 2+3=5. So, I go to the Battle Resolution Sheet, and check a 5 roll against 14 attackers, giving me 7 hits on those pesky elves. The attack is at a STR of 9, so we subtract the elven DRF of 2, giving a strength per hit of 7. 7 strength times 7 hits gives 49 damage points. The elven spears have a toughness of 8, and 49 / 8 =6.125, so 6 elves go down. However, they are not removed, as they get to fight back because I am assuming that the elves had not acted yet this turn. If the elves had previously acted (they were moving to attack another unit and the N'Tal came out of ambush, for example), then they would not get to fight back. But the elves do fight back. They get a total modifier of +1, and they have a MHV of 2, to their total modifier is +3, just like the N'Tal. The elves, however, roll a 4, giving a total of 7. 10 attacking units rolling a 7 gives 7 hits. The elves only have a STR of 7, however, and the N'Tal have a total DRF of 4, so each hit only gives 3 damage. 3 x 7 = 21. N'Tal have a toughness of 10, so 2 N'Tal become true heroes, dying for their cause. So the elves lost 6, and the N'Tal lost 2. I think the N'Tal won, don't you? Yes, there is math involved in combat, and large tables are provided for you if you can't do the math yourself. After a couple uses, though, I began ignoring the tables because the underlying math is really basic and easy to do in your head. It works. This being a fantasy wargame, you can have your characters cast magic. You have to purchase a character profile that allows him/her to cast magic. This profile costs more points than its equivalent non-magic profile, but the profile characteristics are the same. You just pay the extra for the ability to use magic. Then you pay more to purchase the specific spells you want. This can get very expensive. There are not that many spells, but you can purchase the existing spells in various levels, with a higher level increasing spell potency, as well as its cost. For example, you can buy a spell shield at level 2 for 124 points, or a spell shield at level 3 for 234 points, or at level 4 for 344 points. This being a wargame, all of the spells are combat oriented, or at least useful on a battlefield. To actually use a spell in the game, you have to successfully cast it. Each spell has a listed Success %. For example, the spell shield at level 2 has a success % of 69%. This means that I would have to roll a 69 or less on percentile dice in order to successfully cast the spell. If I roll above the success %, then the spell fails. Now, if you roll doubles when casting the spell, whether successful or not, you have "fumbled" the spell, and you have to roll on the dreaded Spell Fumble Table. Bad things happen when you roll on the spell fumble table, things like your mage exploding, or units suddenly disappearing from the table and reappearing somewhere else, etc. The magic system is serviceable and works, though it does seem a little bland. More and varied spells would help. I would like to see summoning spells to create elementals to fight for me, or to raise killed models as skeletons. That would be cool. All told, Fantasy Legend is a good game. Individual combats seem to go quickly, with one unit getting hopelessly slaughtered. The total odds would have to be right to really have an even, meat grinder-type of fight. This is nice, as if it looks like a unit is really tough and nasty, odds are it IS tough and nasty, and you should avoid it and have your elven archers with their hellacious elf bows shoot it to pieces. I do happen to dislike the coherency rules, as I think they are a little too restrictive, but that is a minor point. I also don't like that you can't get a subordinate character in a campaign until you have at least 5 units in your army. But, we are solo players, right? So we can change whatever we want and nobody can tell us we're wrong. In the end, Fantasy Legend is worth a look if you are into fantasy wargaming. [Rule Author's comment: In fact, I encourage you to do just that. House rules are the very best way to make a game your own! I state in the book that these rules are there as a guideline, not to be carved in stone. I am a gamer, and I know that I ALWAYS change some of the rules to suit me and my buddies. I expect no less from others. In fact, I would like to see more input from our fans about what they have come up with to address the 'holes' in the current rules. I will post these on the web for others to consider.] Black Knight Games does have a small line of miniatures for Fantasy Legend. You can, of course, use any miniatures that you want, but the Gar (giant lizards), sea elves (elves that look like samurai), and verminion (rat men) have their own models. I purchased some of the verminion, and a sea elf mage character. From the pictures on the Black Knight Games website, I was expecting average models. However, a pack of 5 infantry costs $4.50, which is less than a buck a figure, so that's a good price in my book, even for average models. However, when I received the figures I was very pleasantly surprised at how good the models were. The sculpting on the various verminion figures was excellent, and they look great. The sea elf mage doesn't have as much detail, but he definitely looks good. He actually looks like some warrior monk getting ready to put the smackdown on some poor fool. If you don't care about the game, at least check out the miniatures, as they are a great value. Lastly, Black Knight Games plans on having a special website, www.faldor.net, available sometime in the not-too-distant future that will be dedicated to the world of Fantasy Legend. They do not know if this will be a members-only, fee-based site, or if it will be open to everybody. They are supposed to have scenarios, new rules, and other stuff like that when the site goes up. I hope to report on this in the future, once I have a chance to check it out. Back to Table of Contents -- Lone Warrior #132 Back to Lone Warrior List of Issues Back to MagWeb Magazine List © Copyright 2000 by Solo Wargamers Association. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com