Milton Bradley produced BEAST MASTER (BM) about 12 years ago. The game originally cost $60 or so, and, soon after, copies could be picked up at the flea market for $20. In each BM box was a huge assortment of excellently sculpted 25mm fantasy plastic figures (a wee bit on the large scale), together with a good-looking 5-foot by 5-foot colored terrain map of 6-inch hexes.
I laid out, on my ping pong table, two of the maps, thus completely filling the table top. On the field were 13 different types of troops, each with its own ATTACK and DEFEND factor. In theory, one of the fiercest thingies on the table were the ogres, due to their ability to go on a rampage and bash anything in their path.
When the active side moved, it tossed percentage dice, and with a toss of 25 or lower, not only did an ogre move 3 hexes, but it then referred to its own 6-card ‘smash and bash’ deck. Cards were drawn at random and 3 of the cards were for the ogre to move one hex while the other 3 were for the ogre to get a freebee strike at any enemy element in an adjacent hex. The freebee strike was even more effective because the opposing stand was not permitted to strike back.
I kept telling the participants about the awesome power of the ogres... not only could they engage in regular combat, but, because of the deck giving them additional movement and combat capabilities, they could virtually annihilate enemy troops. Despite the good PR I gave the ogres, the result, of course, was that when the percentage dice were tossed, no one threw less than 25, and the ogres never went on a rampage nor did they stomp on anyone.
"Okay," I said, "Let’s set up a second game giving the ogre more flexibility." In this second game, a toss of 70 or less resulted in the ogre’s rampage. So here, in this second effort, there was a 70 percent chance for the rampage, in contrast to the mere 25 percent chance of the first game.
I need not tell you that, when the time came, no one tossed under 70 in the second game. The ogres were, in a word, impotent. Better yet... two words... absolutely impotent.
In both scenarios, the forces of Light and Goodness were pitted against those of Chaos and Darkness. Each side had around 25 stands of troops, with each stand representing a separate unit... stands were not brigaded into higher echelon-size groups. One stand was permitted in a 6-by-6 hex and combat was fought from adjacent hexes.
The name of the game was "take the enemy castle"... each side had a 1-hex castle stronghold, and if the enemy could take and hold the castle for one full turn, the battle was over.
The BM kit contained a number of ‘skull dice’... these were 6-sided cubes with 3 of the sides showing a skull. In the original game, you’d toss your dice and if a skull showed up (50 percent chance to do so), a hit would be registered on the opponent. I, too, used the skull dice... both for firing and for combat.
When archers fired, they would toss 2 skull dice and each skull betokened a hit on the target. If the target was under cover, only one skull die would be tossed.
I also drew up a huge combat chart, showing the capabilities, in terms of attack and defense, of each of the 13 types of figures.
| Unit | ATTACK | DEFENSE | MARKERS TO DESTROY |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lord Knight, Prince | 100 | 50 | 7 |
| Chaos Mounted Knights | 100 | 50 | 7 |
| Mounted Knights | 95 | 50 | 6 |
| Lizards | 90 | 45 | 6 |
| Beasts | 85 | 45 | 5 |
| Human Infantry | 80 | 40 | 5 |
| Orcs | 80 | 40 | 5 |
| Wolves | 75 | 35 | 4 |
| Ogre | 70 | 35 | 4 |
| Demons | 70 | 35 | 4 |
| Goblins | 60 | 35 | 3 |
| Archers | 60 | 35 | 2 |
| Cannoneers | 55 | 30 | 2 |
The difference, or delta, between the Attack and Defend Factors of the two opposing stands determined how many skull dice would be tossed. As an example, if a stand of Mounted Knights was in combat with one of Demons, you’d get
- For the Mounted Knights Attack Factor of 95 less Demon’s Defend of 35, gives a resultant delta of 60. For every 10 points in the delta, one skull die would be tossed. Here, therefore, the Mounted Knights would toss 6 dice.
For the Demons Attack Factor of 70 less Mounted Knights’ Defend Factor of 50, gives a delta of 20, hence the Demons would toss 2 dice.
Once the dice were thrown as indicated above to determine the casualties (hit markers placed on the stands), then the winner would be found by adding together 3 different parameters. The stand with the highest total was declared the winner.
- For the stand with the highest Attack Factor +10
For every casualty marker (hit marker) on the opposing stand +10
Percentage dice toss + Dice
The third column in the above chart notes the number of hits required to destroy a stand. The big guys in the game were both the mounted knights and the leaders. And note that the ogres were fairly well down in the listing of regular combat values, so that if their ‘smash and bash’ card capability was denied them, they’d merely be regular troops.
As I mentioned, we ran 2 games. In the first, Bob and Cleo Liebl commanded the forces of Goodness and Light. Goodness and Light had no ogres... these were solely the property of Chaos and Darkness. And impotent ogres were just that... impotent. After about 2 hours of play, the castle of Chaos and Darkness fell to enemy hands.
"This was a fast game," I said. "Shall we play it again?" A resounding "No! No!" from Stephan Petajak, but a "Yes! Yes!" from all the others. Thus by democratic action, we had at it for a second effort. Can I say that a good time was had by all?
Ask Stephan.
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© Copyright 2001 Wally Simon
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