Some throughts about Combat

We've got so little info, it's hard to reasonably hypothesize what the system will be like.

Are the symbol d8s going to be some type of success/fail (E.g. 3 success, 5 fails per die)?

Will they be resource generators, akin to Aristeia and Defiance (but ultimately different)?

Will there be multiple types of dice? Attack, defense, magic, skill, etc?

Ultimately, I would like interactive combat that continues CB's motto of "it's always your turn" - both players rolling at the same time for combat, making decisions together.

 

Bushido-style would be great! It's kinda Riddle of steel but in the wargame. Maybe some maneuvers from the 7th Sea (1st edition, of course) – beat, lunge, reposte – being available to martial artists unlike standard thugs.

 

I think there was a board game I played years ago that had something cool. It used dice of course but also cards. First you drew your cards, the each person put down what they were going to do. Then you rolled it. I thought it could be cool for a war game. But it could potentially have too many cards if each troop had several. Maybe a pool for the whole force would be better. So like depending on what you take, adds those cards to the pool but anyone can use them when it comes up.

 

Could be cool, as long as it doesn't end up like certain game, where you buy minis you don't want for the cards they come with.

 

Yeah, my friends and I were interested in Warhammer Underworlds initially but got turned off very quickly by how the deck-building aspect was implemented.

 

I quite like combat systems where I can just reach for my credit card whenever I'm not doing enough damage points

 

Vaulsc, the Wallet Warrior of Warcrow? I could get behind such a vwww. protocol. :)

On a more serious note though: are you interested in Warcrow, Vaul, as a general concept and a fantasy game, is there a possibility you will diversify your channel, and provide us top notch content about Warcrow as well, if you take fancy?

 

Zero interest in it right now, but I promised that I'd take a look into it when it comes out and at least read what it's about at some point. Highly sceptical though. Like any CB Kickstarter the hype dies down very quickly, only to shift over to whatever else is next in the new-queue :)

 

The Warcrow skirmish game will be regular retail, only the Boardgame will be Kickstarter.

 

and the boardgame will be in retail also, without the kickstarter exclusives.

 

I hear ya. It was the same for me as well after Defiance. TAG Raid could not catch me even if it was blinged out.
On the other hand, as others have pointed out, CB will have to risk it a bit more with Warcrow, as they showed some commitment for the future and some investment upfront in this line (hiring personel etc.). So hopefully they cannot escape that easily with the same half-hearted way as they did with their fist two Kickstarters.

The other thing is, I am not sure they have such a long queue of great ideas to fall back on. Sure, we can joke around with REM-race and other silly stuff, but TAG Raid also showed that there it is a downward spiral with half-baked ideas, and a financial blackhole if they lose the trust of their core base, which is mainly made up by Infinity players. On the other hand, Warcrow is based on an old idea, their baby growing at the back of their minds since the beginning, so I very much hope they will handle it with care and respect. If not... well, then they will remain a one-trick pony company with Infinity (1.5-trick pony with Aristeia, maybe). But I doubt that, as they also need a large scale pilot study for shifting towards Siocast (and more affordable miniatures, honestly), so Warcrow is a critical business venture they cannot afford to fail.

 

I will just say that I am interested in warcrow only because it's made from the same team of Aristeia! that IMHO is the best game CB game.
The combat being based on d8 make me think of Kings of War Vanguard that works like warhammer, but with d8. For who don't know let's just say that every unit attack rolling X amount of d8 and for hitting his target has to roll a target number. Example roll 5d8 4+ means that you roll 5 dice and every result of 4+ gets you an hit.

This would bring the game in line with a lot of other skirmish that are taking the market Kill Team 2021 being the best example.
Other than combat I hope the game will have alternate activation and be a real skirmish with a max of 10/12 model for the swarm faction and a smaller table than infinity.

 

So far, we've been told:
The game will use d8s with symbols. Players will use 15ish models.
No word on how activations will work, but apparently they do know they won't be tied to model count.

 

From the new video it looks like the dungeon crawler at least will have dice mechanics will be very similar to Aristeia! but with D8s instead.
There have been 2 spin off games from the Infinity universe, and one shares much of the same mechanics, TAG Raid, and the other none at all, Aristeia! so I am interested in seeing what mechanics, if any, will carry over to the skirmish game.

 

Infinity: Defiance used modified Aristeia as well, so may give a view of the alterations.

 

Spoiler

No, I'm not gonna buy Yoda just for Burst of Speed, I don't even play Republic...

 

Sounds like any FFG game (And UW from GW). Every time I hear the "cards upgrades" I am immediately turn off from any game.

 

Thing is, I'm not sure what they see as a success, and I'm genuinely sceptical on what they can deliver.

Looking at the Defiance KS, there seems to be a general consensus that CB just did not care enough. But I think it's a fair question to ask whether they had the capability to actually do better.

And I'd say Infinity clearly show some of these limits. I always read how the complexity and depth of that game is the reason for it being so niche, but I disagree. I still think the lack of a larger success comes from CB's inability to get their act together and produce a decent, approachable rulebook, or in the case of Code One, an approachable game. And looking at the many unanswered rules questions during N3, I don't think it's only a question of language, at times I wonder if they haven't built something too big for them to manage.

Infinity was a brilliant idea they never managed to implement quite right. Aristeia, if I understand correctly, is a game they blundered into. I'm still waiting for them to simply produce one game solid from start to finish that requires no excuses as to the size of the company or the language barrier or anything like that.

The Warcrow crawler is going to be a big test for that, there is so much competition in that realm, "our minis look good" is just not going to cut it.