Battlesystem (TSR) Review

I just secured the rights to some artwork for my War In Space game.  I'm excited, but that means I need to rewrite, edit, and expand the current download version to make it worthy of the cool cover it will have.  And I still need to finish adding a hex grid to my space mat so I can finish playtesting.   I want to finish some interior art as well, which is ambitious since I've never inked anything in my life.  Oh, and not to mention inspections at my full time job and a number of LabView programs that need to be written and labs wired up for grad school.  So what the hell am I doing talking about Battlesystem (2nd edition) by TSR??

I saw a Battlesystem board get added over on The Miniatures Page (TMP) forums and after wading through all the complaints about obsolete games, I finally learned enough about the game to intrigue me.  I found a near mint copy on eBay for less than 8 bones (including shipping)!  I've not played the game, but here is my first impression.

The game looks very simple, which is a good thing.  Although the book clocks in at 128 pages, the basic rules required to play your first game are complete by the first third.  The intermediate and advanced rules add some neat stuff like monsters and magic, but really none of these extra concepts count as all that "advanced".  All the rules are very tidy but not simplistic.  A good portion of the pages get eaten up by scenarios and painting guides so the book is not as daunting as it seems.

A conversion system exist in the appendix to allow AD&D (1st and 2nd) characters and monsters to appear on the game table during mass combat: a super cool feature. 

The cover shows Lando Calrissian being choked out by some guy with a skullet, but the interior art is typical late 80s TSR paintings, which I always loved.  Most of the interior images are photos of actual miniatures which I find helpful.

My problems with the system are minor.  The rules has players count the number of figures for attacks, and the game is designed for 25mm figures.  So, that means a lot of lead to purchase, base and paint.  I suppose it would be very easy to adapt it to small scales like 10mm or 6mm however, and I may do that.  Another complaint I have is the inconsistent dice rolling methods.  For example, to roll to attack it's a simple die roll, with higher scores yielding better results.  Easy.  And a roll for armor save is also a simple roll high (above Armor Rating), also easy.  Morale however is roll equal to or under and uses 2d10... and even worse the lowest roll wins initiative.  Why?  In my opinion it's just more to remember instead of making everything "roll high".  Which brings me to my last complaint.  It appears that there's a ton (I count 13) of different triggers for morale rolls, not counting special rolls like charge initiation.  I've never played but it seems like a lot to remember.

All in all my complaints are very minor.  As an AD&D product I expected a lot of weird tables and nonsensical, ultra-specific rules.  All those things are awesome in RPGs; the kooky rules are part of  what makes playing old school AD&D so fun.  In a wargame I expect a streamlined system however, and Battlesystem surprised me by delivering.  If you are interested in historical or fantasy massed combat, check Battlesystem 2nd edition out.

Mythic GME Review

As a solo-gamer I'm always looking for a way to give my "opponent" more independence.  Artificial intelligence would be nice, but I'm a wargaming geek, not a computer nerd.  I've heard of the Mythic Game Master Emulator quite a bit on the solo forums, so I finally broke down and bought the .pdf download.  I resisted for the longest time, since I was concerned the system would essentially be a pen-and-paper version of the "Magic 8-Ball" toy.  Then I paid $22.00 for breakfast with my girlfriend this Sunday and realized, yeah I can afford to spend $6.95 on what may be a helpful product.

The system essentially just assigns a numeric percentage chance score to an event; rolling under this score results in a "yes" answer to a yes or no question asked by the player.  For example if you decide that a yes answer to a question should be "very likely", then the score, according to the chart provided in Mythic, is about an 85; so an 85% chance of a yes.  The score changes depending on a Chaos Rank.  The Chaos Rank also lets you set up scenes, and might change your scenes in ways you don't expect.  I think these random events are the best part of the Mythic system, but I would probably generate my own random words vice the 200 options in the book.  Most of the book is just examples of how to use this simple, but effective system.  My mind wasn't blown as some other internet reviews promised, but the Mythic system presents a nice, codified way of introducing randomness into your game.

The artwork greatly detracts from the book.  It sucks.  The artwork consists almost entirely of "hot chicks with swords/guns", a lame concept made even lamer by poor execution (the ladies aren't that "hot").  I love the indie look of pen-and-ink line drawings in small press games, and I prefer my artwork a little rough, a la the original AD&D Monster Manual.  But when every picture is from some prepubescent boy's fantasy, I can't be bothered.

I recommend this product for roleplayers and solo wargamers despite the dreadful art and the fact that if you've been gaming for a long time, you've probably developed a similar system yourself.