"Warpack - Free fantasy ruleset looking for playtest feedback" Topic

I'm here to spread the word about my new fantasy game – Warpack.

Warpack strives for: simplicity, balance, customisability and narrative – Your Fantasy Battles.

The rules are available for free download on the Warpack site warpack.uk

Warpack Features:

• Full rules for custom Factions – select racial attributes and technologies to craft a force.

• Playable with any models you like – coveted 80s sculpts and that new Kickstarter monster!

• 20 battle scenarios to play through.

• 8 mighty Factions to take straight to the field – each with a distinct playstyle.

• Multiplayer options – play three or four ways or forge alliances.

• An integrated narrative campaign system – which pretender will rise to glory?

The game has been through several revisions and I'm really pleased with how it plays, however this is not the final iteration of the rules. For now I am looking to gain more playtest feedback and hopefully build community interest.

Ultimately I aim to Kickstart a true first edition rulebook sometime down the line.

Gather your minis and hasten to war…

TL,DR: Cool free wargame rules! warpack.uk

It looks interesting. thanks.

It would be good if there was a standard way to present mini game rules to get a "feel" for them.
Your introduction above tells me nothing about the actual game and a one-minute skim of the rules (which to be honest is the time you have to "sell" the system to me) gives nothing. So..
What miniature size/scale is the game aimed at?
Single based/multi based?
How large is a typical game? Ten minis? Fifty? Two hundred?
How long does a typical game last?
Fiddly formation manoeuvering like warhammer or unrestricted movement?
How important is magic?
Igo-ugo or alternating, free-form, other?
Any Randomizers? Dice (d6, d10 etc), cards, coins, rock-paper-scissors, StatisticHammer?
Counters on the table?
How different, rules-wise, is a troll from an elf?
Etc, etc.

All this may sound harsh but there are thousands of fantasy rulesets so in order to know if this is worth looking at, I ned to know the basics before even looking at the actual rules.

Hi Lupulus

Thanks for the feedback – a very fair point.
Apologies for the delay in responding – I clearly haven't set up email alerts correctly!

I didn't want to swamp players with too much info but some sort of mini summary would seem useful, so:

Warpack is primarily aimed at (and has been playtested with) single based 28mm miniatures.*

Game sizes vary from 200 point skirmishes up to 1200 point mass battles.

Typically an army will field about 40 models per 200 points, though this fluctuates greatly for elite vs horde armies.

A two player skirmish usually takes around an hour – not counting list building or terrain setup.
Whereas a four way 600 point battle is likely to take an entire evening , 4 hours or so.

Movement is less fiddly than Warhammer (pivoting rather than wheeling) but still a bit restricted, guarding your flanks is important.

Combat is less fiddly too – units fight each other, characters buff units they join. None of this which model is in base contact with which other specific model in a unit of 30 nonsense…I enjoy WFB but this is a bugbear of mine!

Magic is important but not essential. Spellcasters are not the only way to employ magic, many units can get access to magical attacks via the Arcane technology tree. An army without magic is basically giving up a resource. The same can be said for an army lacking ranged capabilities.

Players alternate activating an entire section of their army at a time. There are four sections: Regulars/Elites/Rares/Characters. Not all armies will have units in each section.

Playing cards are used as randomizers, each player is dealt a hand of action cards at the start of a turn and then assigns a card to each unit. The trump suits relate to different action types: Melee, Ranged, Magic and Defence. I have some custom Warpack cards I'm hoping to make available soon!

Wound counters and morale counters are placed on the battlefield as units experience trauma. There may also be scenario specific counters, e.g The Relic.

An elf is infantry , while a Troll is a brute. Infantry units are purchased in ranks of 5 models. Brutes can run solo or in ranks of 3.

Statwise an elf has Movement 1 (swift), Strength 2, Toughness 2 and Discipline 2, a troll has Movement 2, Strength 6, Toughness 7 and Discipline 1.

Players are encouraged to tweak statlines for their own factions though!

Another major feature of the game is that all units deploy under the fog of war, it's important to second guess your opponent and maybe hold a swift unit in reserve just in case…

* The rules are designed to scale flexibly as ranges are abstracted. Similarly models/bases can be used interchangeably. So long as all players are on the same page of course!

Well I hope this helps, I'll try and come up with some sort of short summary document for the site too.

Cheers
Joe