Monday 9 October 2017

Oathmark

This announcement went up on social media over the weekend:


It’s true, I am currently designing a mass-battle fantasy game as part of my job for Osprey Games. I don’t want to talk too much about it at present, because it is still in the early stages of development. It is still going to be a long time before a set of rules hits the market, and many elements can, and probably will, change from now until then.

That said, for the curious, I can make a few statements about which I am 'mostly' confident.

  • Oathmark is a ‘rank and file’ game, meaning that most figures will be organized into units that will fight in blocks. 
  • However, the basic element of the game is the figure. Each figure has its own stats, and casualties are removed individually.
  • The standard base for most ‘human-ish’ sized figures is 25mm square, so figures mounted on round 25mm, or smaller, bases will be usable with movement trays.
  • The game features a bunch of different races – four main ones to start – each of which have unique stats.
  • There will be a full campaign system, which involves building your kingdom as well as your army. (Assuming I can get all of it to work!).
  • This game has no connection to Frostgrave other than sharing a few deep routed philosophies about what I believe makes a fun fantasy wargame. (Plus most of the plastic kits for the two games will be compatible!).

I’ll talk more about the game as I go along, but it will be a slow process. For now, enjoy the plastic minis that are coming soon!

17 comments:

  1. Very much looking forward to the minis coming out (of course, I don't NEED them, but if we paid attention to common sense all the time our hobbies wouldn't get anywhere). Like many, I love their grounded, low magic aesthetic.

    Also looking forward to this ruleset, if your bullet points are anything to go by, particularly the fifth. For me the main thing lacking in Warhammer - my main brush with large-scale battles - was the presence of a decent system for progressing your army and its characters. For all the supposed emphasis on fluff (funny, I don't think I've seen that word used in this sense in any other table top game), I felt it disappointing that there was no effect on the battlefield.

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  2. Mmm, and if the box art is reliable sensible goblins (if there is such a thing) rather than gobbo's

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  3. Thanks for the low down Joe. Really looking forward to this, I never got into WFB. Hopefully, this will be the game to finally hold my interest in Mass Battle games.

    So many questions already, but I guess those will have to wait. (I've still got Ghost Archipelago to play yet!)

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  4. This could be the mass battle fantasy game I've been waiting for since warhammer fantasy's demise. Very interested!

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    1. I agree wholeheartedly!!!

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    2. Dwarfs elves goblins humans... No place for gnolls?

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  5. Thanks for the information.

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  6. I'm not a fan of regiment battles but hell, Frostgrave was great and I think I'll give it a try. "Building your kingdom" sounds exciting. Reminds me Warhammer Quest rolls after finishing adventure.

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  7. Good Luck and will watch with interest

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  8. Frostgrave is a masterpiece because it brought back what made those kinds of games fun, customizing characters and making them your own. Hope to see that in this game. Lots of rank and file wargames have gone away from that, but to me that was what I loved the most about old warhammer.

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  9. Add Halflings to that list and you have yourself a customer☺

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  10. Hoping this shakes out so I can use these rules and minis with my old Warhammer Campaigns like Bloodbath at Orcs Drift.

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  11. I've never been a rank and flank fantasy guy but after a year or so of Dragon Rampant, I am ready to give it a try and this new ruleset and mins has me excited. Looking forward to hearing more about it

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  12. Can't wait to see this. I'm a big fan of Kings of War, but there's always room for other titles as far as I'm concerned. I'd caught wind of it from another source, but am bummed to hear it's in somewhat early stages of development. I'd hoped it might be out soon! I'd love to see it exist in the same universe as Frostgrave, even if there isn't much crossover besides backstory in the two games. Good luck, I'll be watching for this one!

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  13. Whats the scale. Can you give a better idea of model counts you are aiming for other than just "mass-battle" and "army"?

    (either way I am using that box of dwarves to make a frostgrave warband, hehe)

    Thanks

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  14. Super excited for this, though I am eyeing a Kingdom of men using some Byzantine minis.

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  15. The new fireforge plastics are great, aren't they!

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