I've been a Piquet rules addict for several years, having all the traditional historical modules they make, plus the campaign rules. When they released their first fantasy rules, I had to have them, too. So, Hostile Realms was released in limited numbers at Historicon in July, and in regular distribution at Fall In earlier this month. This set of rules is a hybrid between the traditional Piquet system and the more recent Field of Battle rules, streamlining Piquet play quite a bit and getting rid of the long runs of initiative that sometimes happened in the traditional rules. Not all of the GW type armies are represented yet - my Chaos army awaits my working up a set of tables - but for the humans, orcs, goblins, dwarves, elves, even the rats and lizards, the rules are ready for players to work up their first game. There are inexpensive cards included that need to be cut apart from card stock, or you can buy a regular playing card grade set of sequence cards. A scenario book is also available with 6 scenarios, which will help new gamers both get an understanding of the system and help in building your first army. While basing isnt completely compatable with GW base sizes, you can use any basing style so long as both sides are based the same way, so I'm working on making up move stands to mount my GW forces on without having to rebase them. The rule book includes a game report walking through each turn of the cards, each die roll and each command and unit move for 3 turns, explaining how the rules go together to make the game. No more codexes going out of date, and no more needing to buy huge numbers of troops for a few units. Unit structures are the same as the traditional Piquet historical unit structures, wtih an average of 12 figures per unit, with as few as 8 or as many as 16 depending on the type of unit. Artillery is done in batteries of 2 models while chariots and elephant units are in units of 4. Not cheap, but at $35 for the rule book and $20 for the deck of cards, it really isnt any more than some of the Warhammer material, and should not need revamping every year or so at the whim of a corporation. Give it a look, try this or other Piquet rules and see if it's right for you.

Tom

Link for the lazy?

Not hard really to find with google.

http://www.piquet.com/store/

Didn't have anything I was really interested in.

Friend of mine has been wanting to try Piquet and we are both curious about card based systems. Will send him the link. Might be worth looking into.

Piquet is a love it or hate it sort of system. I'm on the love it side. I think the folks who are hoplessly hooked on the I-go-U-go games may not like it so much, but the flexibility of the system to show time passing while leaders are sorting out what to do next, fog of war, and that sort of thing are great. When I run Piquet games at conventions, I always do a bit of narrative as we go, so players understand what the card draws and initiative changes mean. Have usually ended up with regular players if not outright converts, anyway. Most of the stuff people didnt like with Piquet (long bouts of one player with initiative while the other player sits and watches - happens but not all that often) were fixed in the Field of Battle rules, and Hostile Realms is a merger of the Piquet medieval rules and the Field of Battle system, so promises to have everything I like about Piquet and much less of the stuff others dont like.

Sorry that they dont have images up yet on the books. The website guru got back from Fall In, started the site, and got hit with the flu, so I know he's working on it, but may be a bit before he has everything listed.

Tom

It really does sound like my kind of game. I was hoping that the Song of... series would be like that as well, but I got so frustrated with zombies being completely worthless that I have not played since. This, though, sounds like more of a combat simulation. Funny thing is I was trying to work out a similar system a year ago. Ended up giving up as I just could not quite wrap my head around making it work and had a hard time letting go of each player using every unit every turn. This is very inspirational!

is an excellent analysis of the triumphs and shortcomings of the Piquet system. Very interesting read!

Pretty good read. He misses the Opportunity chips part - that each army has a set number of opportunity fires, charges, etc. available each turn. So, you can shoot at the other guy during his phase, some armies can use opportunity charges, etc. You buy back the opportunity chips by spending impetus points on your next phase. Since I GM or at least prepare the army sheets for my games, I do that some days before the event, so it never takes away gaming time. I also have scanned the necessary tables and share just the info they need to do their own army characterization, so they get the feel of it without tying up game time. Either way, after the first turn, card turning and looking at unit values and which die to use goes pretty fast. I'd probably compare it to counting how many troops and special characters are in a GW unit and determining how many D6 to use. Again, it comes down to each person's own perception. I sort of like the meat in the newer modules instead of the bare bones of the first editions. I have both editions in several cases, and being able to run Napoleonics or WW2 in 3 different levels with the same set of rules is a good thing to me. Also, the writer wrote that before the new Field of Battle rules came out, streamlining much of those issues, and reducing the long runs of impetus.

Tom

Excellent counterpoint, Tom. Looks like FoB is included as part of Hostile Realms as well. Does HR come with a deck or do you have to buy them?

One (possibly?) missed opportunity I can see is the requirement of specific cards depending on the inclusion of specific units. Like, say, you must have a missfire or catastrophic explosion for rudimentary cannons or catapults. Like, say, the ones Orcs use. Of course, that may be in their and I just have not found it referenced, but I think that would add a lot.

The rules come with a simple set of cards printed to card stock to cut apart. You can buy the fancier decks on playing card stock all ready to go, but they run $20 each, and you need two decks. I was fortunate and my old Army buddy bought all this stuff for me at Fall In since he owed me for my painting of his FoW US airborne company. But you dont need to buy the special cards. I tend to make my own custom cards instead of cutting up the ones that come with the different rules, and once you see what all cards are there, it would be easy enough to customize decks for the races or something like that. Piquet also has a CD of custom cards, ready to print on Avery business card stock, and that includes several decks for HR, so if $25 sounds like a good deal to be able to make up custom decks quickly, maybe that would be the way to go. I bought it and have enjoyed it, but then I have nearly every module they make, so I can use nearly every deck on the disk. As for guns exploding, I did see on a first run through that organ guns may explode. The firer rolls a 1 on the D12, and the target player rolls a 4, 5, or 6 on a D6 to make that happen. Easy enough to make a house rule that that can happen on any artillery. One constant throughout all the Piquet books is that they are considered a tool box, with house rules and modifications being expected by the authors.

Tom

Tom

On the webstore for HR, it said that the $20 package includes two decks. Really not a bad price, although combined with $35 for the book...a bit steep for a game I've never played.

Hmmmm, my freind outdid himself without knowing it. Got two packs of sequence cards AND 2 packs of Relics cards, and probably only needed one of each. Oh well.

Yep, I'd probably go with the minimum and see how you like it. Cut out the cards, or copy to other card stock and save the originals just in case.

The website has a spot for PDF sales, and I'm hoping that may make things cheaper, but I wont hold my breath. They are just in the talking about stages for that, so I dont think it will happen any time soon.

Tom