"Battle Masters (MB boxed game) " Topic

Or is it Battlemaster? Or Battlemasters? The box is in another room and I'm too lazy to go and check. Anyway, I've revisited this game for the first time in 15 years or so and been soundly thrashed in the campaign but it was fun. I'd forgotten some of the good ideas the rules contained – quite innovative. Obviously, a lot of luck is involved – it's not easy to make and carry out plans (my excuse for losing the campaign) but even that is the kind of game mechanics that a lot of much more complicated rules are striving for, not always successfully. And the cannon and Ogre rules are just great fun.

The scenarios in the campaign warmed the heart of this wargamer of many, many years standing. For example, the staggered arrival of forces in one game was just what we used to love to do in Napoleonics games 30 years ago and the hidden deployment of the Battle of the Plains was another throwback to those well-remembered games of yore.

So, considering that this was very much a game aimed at non-wargamers and probably very young ones at that, my experience on returning to it was very positive indeed – despite the crushing defeat. As a matter of interest, how about painting the figures? Do people do that. Did you?

DBDD

As a side note, this game was developed with Games Workshop, with the miniatures made by Citadel. That's why it takes place in the Warhammer Fantasy world.

This brings back fond memories. I got the game at the Essen game fair at a heavy disount from the company. It was a fun game to play and the game pieces were very nice. Besides the miniatures it also had a gorgeous play mat.

I started painting the miniatures. After all they were Citadel miniatures which could also be used elsewhere. (This was at a tme when the Warhammer miniatures were more regular and less over the top looking.) The set contained my first ever miniature cannons. I also had a fondness for the goblin wolfriders. IIRC my want to paint the figures led me to discover Citadel colours nd the joys of using acrylics instead of the at the time prevalent enamel colours I knew from model kits.

I used to play it as a kid. I loved how the monster and the cannon worked: a bit too random as you say but the result was always fun. And the minis were very well done too: the wolves are now wargs in my LotR games.

I still use the Knights and crossbowmen.

Great fun game. I can't seem to lay my hands on my own copy lately – I'm hoping it's just been stashed away in the attic somewhere. The ogre and the cannon were definitely the most fun to use, but I liked a lot of the game mechanics. Very simple but highly enjoyable, one of the very few games I've been able to successfully play with my whole family.

In answer to the question about painting – I didn't start painting mine, for the simple reason that I knew I'd never finish them. I figured unpainted plastic troops would look a lot better than a jumbled mix of half-painted and undercoated ones, and as playing pieces for a boardgame (as opposed to wargaming armies) leaving them unpainted was fine by me.

On a related note, did anyone ever get or use the expansion set(s?) for Battlemasters? There was at least one released, maybe two, but I only ever had the basic game. I've found in the past though that with simple systems like that, expanding on the core idea can ruin or at least diminish the fun.

Expansions? There were a couple for Heroquest some years earlier, but I never saw anything for Battlemasters.

There were two expansions released – one for each side.

I use the human figures for my Empire army and also for my Italian Wars armies – nice, cheap figures.

Yep, there was definitely at least one expansion, which contained one or more additional ogres. I was going to buy it when a local store was selling it off cheap, but I got there too late and they'd sold out. Bah!

Ah, thanks for the confirmation astronomican.

I bought three copies of this game when I found them on ultra-discount at a Toys R Us… I think $6 USD a piece.
Mostly I wanted the plastic bits (those plastic castles have been used a LOT) and didn't play the game for years until one wierd day when we pulled it out as a lark… expecting something really craptacular… and ended up having a whole lot of fun.

White Dwarf of the day did have pictures of the minis painted up… they looked pretty nice.

Love the game. Play it with my son from time to time; as it's luck-heavy, the dice naturally favor him, so I lose a lot. I wish I could find the expansion sets in some lonely, forgotten toy store…

The expansions were not great if I remember them correctly. I think they only contained additional troops (not new sculpts; just more of some from the basic set) and a scenario.

I picked up 2 boxes on clearance years ago. I still use the knights in my Empire army.

Cheers, Xin

The plastic they used on those minis was pretty hard… they took a bit of work to clean up.

The plastic they used on those minis was pretty hard… they took a bit of work to clean up.

Really?

Mine only needed a file and an exacto to clean up for painting?

That's how I remember them… it's possible/probable that, back then, I wasn't using the proper tools… it might have been before I acquired a nice pair of clippers.

I love Battlelore!

I painted mine. With acrylics. They look awful.

I meant with enamels.

Yeah, I painted some of mine back before I knew about putting on a primer coat… I think I used Testors.
GAK!

Justin, BattleLore is by the designer of BattleCry/ACW, Memnoir 44/WW2 and Anceint Colors. As far as I know, the system is based on that master system.

The casualty removal does seem similar. But many other aspects are different.

I painted 2 sets of Battlemasters. They turned out spendidly!! Best 20 bucks I ever spent.

I bought a copy on eBay a couple of years ago. At the time I thought I'd just scrounge the figures, but I never got around to it. I decided to try it out recently with my 5 year old son, and we had a great time. No reading required, and he was able to grasp the basics quickly.

While were playing, he actually put his head down on the floor to get to eye level with the figures, and he told me how "it looks really neat if you do this." After that, I had no choice but to start painting the figures!

I've turned the project into my first experiment using the Dip, and it's working out really well, they look decent and I can whip them out much faster than my usually glacial pace.

I agree with venusboys3 about the plastic. I'm guessing that it's ABS plastic (or something similar) rather than the softer styrene usually used for plastic models, GW figures, etc. It's not super hard, but I noticed it has a slightly different feel.

BATTLEMASTERS RULE!
I've been wargaming for ages but BM is always a good quick game if we dont't want to spend a lot of time and/or brain effort.
As for the minis, I've painted lots of them and they look so great I use them in WHFB.
Same with HEROQUEST, another game by MB-GW.

Just finished buying my fourth set of Battle Masters.
I am using them for HOTT.
I can field 7 armies. Ork, chaos,beastmen, goblin, undead, Empire (human).
Threw in a lot of Heroscape and Heroquest items for magicians and beasts etc.

Hope to run a HOTT campaign game set in the Warhammer world.

Cheers.

I bought 2 sets many years ago and still use the minis in Empire and goblin armies for Armies of Arcana. Lately I've been sticky tacking some of the painted minis back to the original big bases and playing games with my 6 year old. Great game.

You know what buying three of these boxes mean when each only cost $10. USD

The core of my Empire and Orks & Goblins armies being set.

Sold the Chaos and Flags for more than what I paid for the three boxes and cover most of the new bases cost.

So other than spending over a year painting the models and having to buy new bases.

Some of the cheapest miniatures you could ever get.

this came out when i worked for GW, i remember playing it a lot in store at the time. The minis were good for the time, the Ogre was massive iirc. Good system and one hell of a box full of minis!!! Maybe i will hunt one down to play with my little-uns. There are a couple on UK ebay atm which are at an ok price.

We played a lot, and then made a set using 10mm Warmaster figures, played on a BattleCry board. I think I used skeleton archers instead of chaos archers. I have since sold those Warmaster figures, but still have many of the original ones lurking about.

I've still got enough of the cards and stuff to put together a game using counters.

andy