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Hobgoblin · 09-02-2019, 10:55 AM

That's certainly a common criticism of SOBH. I didn't have that experience, possibly because I was initially playing with a six-year-old, and so we kept the profiles very simply - Q3, C4 lizardmen with the Amphibious and Tailslap traits and Q4, C3 orcs with no traits but one Q3, C3 leader (with the Leader trait). Archers got the Shooter trait, but that was that. So those games (and there were many!) only used three or four traits at most, and we knew their rules by heart after the first game.

A huge number of the traits just involve a +1 bonus to a roll in a certain situation (shooting for Good Shot, attacking on a charge for Dashing, morale tests for Steadfast, etc.), so they're self-explanatory after you've played a game or two.

My recommendation for anybody starting out with SoBH would be to have no more than one or two traits per warband - if that. You can have a perfectly good game with a bunch of 'goodies' (Q3, C3) and a larger number of 'baddies' (Q4, C3) with a leader (Q3, C3, Leader). After that, add a Shooter or two, and maybe a Hero with Savage for the baddies - or a Big or Mounted, Long Move creature.

You're quite right, though, that TFT gives you much more scope for individualisation and 'granularity'. Even more importantly, it's got much more scope for character advancement. That's why I prefer it to Tales of Blades and Heroes (the SoBH role-playing variant). I also think TFT's (much) more detailed combat system works better for role-playing (ToBH doesn't really distinguish between weapon types, for example, so players aren't incentivised to acquire stuff).

I would say, though, that SoBH is definitely the quicker game with the least 'time to table'. And I'd also say that you're much more likely to need to open the Melee/ITL rulebook - even if it's just to find weapon damages or ST requirements.

For me, they occupy slightly different niches: SoBH is a push-your-luck, risk/reward affair, while Melee/TFT is more of a tactical challenge. Both great, though.

As it happens, I didn't get a chance to try the morale experiment at the weekend, as the players' choice of routes resulted in encounters that were either in locales that allowed no retreat or very finely balanced until the last round.

09-02-2019, 10:55 AM	#43
Hobgoblin Join Date: Aug 2019	Re: Middle Earth Characters That's certainly a common criticism of SOBH. I didn't have that experience, possibly because I was initially playing with a six-year-old, and so we kept the profiles very simply - Q3, C4 lizardmen with the Amphibious and Tailslap traits and Q4, C3 orcs with no traits but one Q3, C3 leader (with the Leader trait). Archers got the Shooter trait, but that was that. So those games (and there were many!) only used three or four traits at most, and we knew their rules by heart after the first game. A huge number of the traits just involve a +1 bonus to a roll in a certain situation (shooting for Good Shot, attacking on a charge for Dashing, morale tests for Steadfast, etc.), so they're self-explanatory after you've played a game or two. My recommendation for anybody starting out with SoBH would be to have no more than one or two traits per warband - if that. You can have a perfectly good game with a bunch of 'goodies' (Q3, C3) and a larger number of 'baddies' (Q4, C3) with a leader (Q3, C3, Leader). After that, add a Shooter or two, and maybe a Hero with Savage for the baddies - or a Big or Mounted, Long Move creature. You're quite right, though, that TFT gives you much more scope for individualisation and 'granularity'. Even more importantly, it's got much more scope for character advancement. That's why I prefer it to Tales of Blades and Heroes (the SoBH role-playing variant). I also think TFT's (much) more detailed combat system works better for role-playing (ToBH doesn't really distinguish between weapon types, for example, so players aren't incentivised to acquire stuff). I would say, though, that SoBH is definitely the quicker game with the least 'time to table'. And I'd also say that you're much more likely to need to open the Melee/ITL rulebook - even if it's just to find weapon damages or ST requirements. For me, they occupy slightly different niches: SoBH is a push-your-luck, risk/reward affair, while Melee/TFT is more of a tactical challenge. Both great, though. As it happens, I didn't get a chance to try the morale experiment at the weekend, as the players' choice of routes resulted in encounters that were either in locales that allowed no retreat or very finely balanced until the last round.