"Battle Masters - Castle Keeps" Topic

At early dawn two armies assembled, two castle keeps had stood vacant, but from the vantage of their high parapets there would be witnessed a ferocious battle between the forces of Good and Evil (aka – I got in two games today with the buds, trying out my new "Castle Keeps" mat along with the classic Battle Masters game kit).

Quite an interesting battle space, with the walls being impassable, there were distinctive avenues for advance, along with one large combat arena.

Here's the overall game board, showing the initial areas the two armies could deploy in.

The game will hit the tables again at a local convention coming up, called DieCon, in Collinsville IL, this 1st of June.

That's a great mat! Did you make it?

Love seeing a new twist on the classic game.

(This is what Hasbro/Avalon Hill needs to bring back next…)

Thank you Parzival!

I did all the digital texturing on this except for the wall images, and those gave me the initial inspiration to make up a different style of board for the game.

That castle wall art came from Jean Dury's amazing Castle Ruins image file available on Wargame Vault -

link

I'm amazed. How did you print it?

Well, since I'm doing mostly fleece mats these past couple years, I searched for a different printer than the one I used for my vinyl jobs – I found one I thought was a domestic firm (they had a N.A. listed webpage), but instead it actually linked to their office in London. So now I'm getting this printing work done in the UK, and it's FedExed back to me here in the Midwest/USA.

Amazingly, there's been consistent fast turnaround, and I'm usually getting a mat delivered to my doorstep within three days total.

This fleece mat here is the 17th they've received as an order from me (I don't want to think of all the mats I've had printed out on both vinyl and now fleece the past 15-20 years…..that way if my wife asked about thi$$$ too, I can honestly say I don't know)! :)))

Awesome!!! The game mat change-up's breathe new life into this game! I thought about that, years ago, when I bought around three sets of the game, for the figures for use in my 2e BattleSystem fantasy mass battles games.

I even considered that it would be possible to use a more standard, modular terrain setup (same thing I use with my minis and rules, today), with the rules, and the figures, without much modification (measuring sticks, in place of a hex grid). Alas, I was focused on the figures, rather than the rules…

If they bring this game back, it will once again be a gold-mine for fantasy figures for people to use for other game systems! I built out some very affordable fantasy armies using these miniatures. Cheers!

Cheers also Sarge!

I'm kind of waffling on wanting a newer version of Battle Masters……thinkin' it's close to perfect as-is, and any newer rendition would lose this classic appeal, and just become the add-ons, escalating-collectibles money-grab the industry markets today.

In a nutshell, I think MB's classic here is just that, because it worked great, and had everything needed, and that was that.

Maybe new boards to wage new scenarios with (like here) has some appeal, but I like this for what it's not (the current never-ending add-ons, new editions/rules merry-go-round to what worked, but exists now as a meal ticket for a few game execs).

Looks good. I still have my Battlemasters game that I got in 1993 for $10 USD at Buds/Walmart. Never played it. Lol.

TimePortal, looks like that Battle Masters' time portal beckons……

Best pick-up-and-play low stress fantasy wargame. Flip a card, move the units, roll the dice, repeat. Easy for kids, but with a little thought you can jazz it up more for adults.

The classic doesn't need a rewrite or reskin— just a re-release!

Parzival – there it is (and well said)!

Wow, that's awesome

Oh, merde!

Just the other side of StL, but could be of the country…

Would have loved to see in person.

Still, best wishes!

Doug

Upprow and Doug, thanks for the encouraging feedback, and the nice well-wishes!!!