Field of Glory rejuvenated

[Deleted User]

Some gamers find FoG dull. Others don’t like the complexity of the rules. Still others find FoG a soulless approach to Ancient gaming.Many dislike the turgid rule book with its Byzantine lack of clear organisation. Fog’s tournament style alienates a considerable number.

And then there are those who just don’t like these rules.

My little group uses FoG. Assimilating them took time, endless determination &, to be honest, a bloody minded decision not to let the rules beat us.

We’ve been using them for Punic games for several years & sporadically for the Bronze Age & Chariot Wars. We like them.

However, I recognise that although the rules produce a clear & plausible outcome that more or less feels like Ancient warfare, they are a tad mechanical.

I was determined to inject life into them. And so, today’s game…….

 

It was to be Bronze Age & had three new factors.

1. It pitted a brand new army (Hittite) against the tried & true NKE.
2. We used the V3 rules with its changes designed to produce a quicker game & even more decisive outcome.
3. I used my patented 5 hidden objectives method (using a blind draw, each side chose 3 out of 5 objectives to control by games’ end.)
4. (never could count) I used my FATE cards. One was drawn at the beginning of each turn & offered friction through instructions such as, ” A sandstorm reduces all movement to half the set distances for one turn.”

And what a game! Slice ’em, dice ’em, rout & destroy. In a less than 4 hours my NKE army was no more & Muwattilis was triumphant. Never in a game of FoG was such levity heard! Never were FoG gamers so satisfied by a game!! Rarely were so many unprovable absolutes used in a single paragraph!!!

 

My Egyptians lost & I can still write I rarely have enjoyed a game so much.

 

donald

[Autodidact-O-Saurus]

Gosh, sounds like everything I hate and everything I love all rolled up into one game.

Self taught, persistently behind the times, never up to date. AKA ~ jeff
More verbosity: http://petiteguerre.blogspot.com/

[Guy Farrish]

I have to confess to not having played FoG!

I had a sort of allergic reaction on picking a copy up. That’s a bit heartless isn’t it? But the obvious necessity for ‘a bloody minded decision not to let the rules beat us’ defeated me I am afraid.

However I am glad there are people out there with the mental acuity and determination to make it work and have a good time, at the same time.

I can only applaud you!

 

[Deleted User]

Thank you, gentlemen.

I should hasten to say I’m not proselytising FoG.

Indeed, I’m not sure I shouldn’t warn my friends about this rule set. But it’s good to see that you can enjoy what is not necessarily the most promising material.

 

 

donald

[Hafen von Schlockenberg]

I picked up a copy of the Renaissance set a few years ago– five bucks on a hobby shop clearance table.

Read through them.

Laughed.

[Deleted User]

Hafen von Schlockenberg wrote:

I picked up a copy of the Renaissance set a few years ago– five bucks on a hobby shop clearance table. Read through them. Laughed.

 

Vince, this will make you laugh……IMO, the FoG Renaissance rules are much better than the FoG: A&M set!!!

I hope this puts in perspective our ability to have enjoyable games using the A&M rules. It is *not* easy.

 

cheers, donald

[Hafen von Schlockenberg]

Then,sir, I can but salute your club’s iron determination and sheer grit!

Though I am reminded a bit of this exchange from an old British radio show:

“Ugh! Nnngh! Arrrrgh! Ack! Aaaargh!”

“My god, man — surely you don’t do that for a living?!”

“Oh no! Oh no! THIS is me ‘obby!”

[Who Asked This Joker]

Play what you like.  You get an A+ for your determination alone!

Me?  I thought they were too complex with the usual endless exceptions.  That said, I quite like the computer version.  They’ve just released version 2 which is similar to their computer version of the Renaissance version of the game.

John

"Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power."

--Abraham Lincoln

[Deleted User]

I hope no one’s going to expect me to defend FoG. They got some things right. I like the idea of 2 separate rounds of combat, Impact & Melee, where the fundamental differences in some troop types can be seen. For example, Gauls charge strongly & have an advantage in Impact but tend to fade in lengthy combats hence their poorer showing in Melee.

However, the nature of FoG as a tournament set of rules has caused the aspects that many dislike. I think in an effort to create a set that would defeat rules-lawyers & their ilk, the designers produced something quite dour. And, as I indicated, the poorly written rule book is only less opaque than the DBA set of rules.

You can look at us & FoG as the participants in a bad marriage (mine, I rush to say is an excellent one). The two participants have a long standing relationship & know the best & worst of each other. There’s sporadic outbreaks of bad language as frustration sometimes mounts. They may be better off apart but are staying together for the sake of the kids (the figures are all organised & based for FoG).

 

donald

[Who Asked This Joker]

Bad marriage.  An interesting analogy.  I think FoG can give a good game.  You just have to be willing to do all of the in game calculations.

John

"Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power."

--Abraham Lincoln

[Steve Burt]

It’s not  a bad set of rules, but we did find that the whole thing of calculating POA by file, particularly if units are not lined up, took a *loong* time.

We found it hard to finish a 650 pt 28mm game on a 6×4 table in less than 3 hours.

Subsequently switched to ‘To the Strongest’ and we finish larger games in a couple of hours. The combination of the grid and the cards speed things up no end.

[Deleted User]

I had an 900 point game a month or so ago. It took a bit less than 3 hours but that seems reasonable to me. Like all rules, after you use them for a while, you find you’ve memorised your POAs etc.

 

donald

[Norm S]

Sometimes a higher level of satisfaction comes from the higher level of engagement with rules – but it is a very fine line between engagement and being  over-whelmed by the an imbalance of fun Vs hard work.

The other end of the scale can cause equal extremes where absolute bland is well ……. absolute bland!

I have not played FoW, but I have played several games in which our heads have been seldom out of the rule book, some have been really satisfying and others have just stifled all enthusiasm to go on.

[Author]

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