I have decided that I'm going to make another change to my Six By Six Challenge choices, even at this late stage, with less than five months to go.
My original selection included Black Powder, which I quickly abandoned; a good job, since our club seems to have mostly abandoned it these days as well. I swapped it for the new Nordic Weasel 'Scum of the Earth' rules. These had potential for the kind of small-scale game I like to play, as well as being versatile enough to cover a range of periods.
However, you will know from reading this blog that I have recently become entranced by the Lion/Dragon Rampant system. These are similar in scope and style to Scum of the Earth and, I confess, I prefer the way they do things. So I have decided to drop Scum of the Earth (and the two games I've already played as part of the challenge), and replace it with The Rampant System. However, to be fair, I have decided not to retrospectively count any games I've already played as part towards the challenge. In fact, doing so would actually conclude that particular entry straight away, which is hardly the done thing.
So: out goes Scum of the Earth. In comes Lion Rampant, Dragon Rampant and Pikeman's Lament.
The loss of those two games I'd already played now means I have to fit in at least two games of something else this month in order to maintain my pace in the challenge.
I feel so betrayed! :)
ReplyDeleteJoking aside, looking forward to seeing how the challenge proceeds.I keep meaning to pick up one of the Rampant books. Other than the subject material, are the rules substantially different?
To be fair part of the change is that the Scum stuff is really only being done by me, whereas the Rampant games have begun to acquire an following at my gaming group, which offers more opportunities for play and therefore Challenge entries.
DeleteYeah indie gaming is sort of an odd beast, which is part of why I tend to write for solo gamers a lot :)
DeleteDifferent from each other, I mean.
ReplyDeleteOh yes - different mechanisms. But a similar style in terms of number of units and how they interact. To my mind anyway :)
DeleteIf i was getting just one, what's the recommendation?
DeleteHmm, a tricky choice. The core rules - 75% or so - of each are the same, and the devil's obviously in the detail of the other 25%. Lion Rampant is probably the most vanilla; Dragon Rampant has, for the most part, the same troops (albeit minus one or two upgrades/downgrades), but doesn't have the same leader rules or historical-style scenarios. Pikeman's Lament has its own troop types and is the 'different' one.
DeleteDragon Rampant is, in some ways, the most flexible if you feel like adapting to other periods, but you'll lose the period flavour of the other two sets.
May I just say I think KK has it right - If I had to recommend just one, I would tend to recommend Dragon Rampant as it is the most flexible of all of them.
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