Arcane Legions

Hey salties, I'm back (for now)! I was thinking while washing dishes today that I should do some more reviews of games for you. Here is what I think about a new game, Arcane Legions, to be released on October 7, 2009.

I first saw Arcane Legions at Origins 2009. They had a booth, somewhat in the back of the exhibit hall, where they were demoing the game for people. The booth was so busy I opted to learn by watching two other people play the demo. I was truly impressed. Here is what I think about the game.

First, it is a miniatures game, but it is different from any other minis game I have ever seen or read about. The storyline for the game is set in 37 B.C., and players battle each other with armies composed of units from that time period with a twist. Players have the choice of which faction to play. These are the Han Dynasty, the Egyptian Imperium, or the Roman Empire. Now what is really neat about this game is that your units are little figures in a plastic tray, and each figure has a peg in its base that sits in a hole on a card, and that determines what figure brings to the unit e.g. movement points, combat dice, etc. On your turn, you can rearrange the figures in the base to essentially change the stats of your unit on the fly. For instance, your Roman infantry can march up to an enemy unit, change formation to maximize its attack, attack, then change formation again to form a shield wall so that on your opponents turn, all your figures are giving you defense dice. This mechanic is really cool, and I like it a lot. The trays are nice too because it keeps the game nice and neat. Everything about the game is quite easy to learn and play, but there is a lot of room for intricate strategies.

I want to spend a lot of money on this game, but I am apprehensive. I have a sneaking suspicion that this game is going to be a flash in the pan of miniatures gaming. It is a great game, but so far the execution on the business end of things has been poor. The company releasing the game, Wells Expeditions, does not have a good handle on things. The demo kit I received had mistakes on the Errata sheet. Now that's messed up. There have been all kinds of mistakes that came out when the product was pre-released at Gen Con. I don't want to get financially attached to a game that is going to have mistakes in it, and to a company that can't get the details right. Let's face it, a game is all about the details.

My plan for now is to go to a local launch party for Arcane Legions and get a feel for how many players are interested in the game before I purchase anything for it.