First Game of BOFA

That's Battle of Five Armies if you are confused. The titular battle was the climax in the Hobbit book (and no doubt the upcoming film), pitching an alliance of elves, dwarfs and men against goblins and wolves. In my case, it was more an Encounter Between Three and a Half Armies, since the goblins or elves are not yet painted.

We set up a village to be defended by men, with dwarfs coming to their rescue from the nearby hills. Rushing in to pillage were the wolves and wolf riders. The game plays very much like Blitzkrieg Commander, hardly surprising as both games are based on Warmaster. BOFA seemed very fast moving, there are few stats to get bogged down with, and I'm sure the rules will come fairly quickly after a couple of sessions. I could remember most of Command, Shooting and even Combat, it was just the rules on Confusion that (wait for it) caused some confusion.

Pitching an all cavalry force against a pure infantry force was probably unwise, the goblins rampaged through the enemy in no time at all, but it gave us a reasonable idea of how the game plays and it seems promising. I am keen to get some more tiny figures painted, perhaps some goblin infantry to make the opposing forces a little more balanced. Time to break out the tiny brushes and giant magnifier!

Coincidentally, there's a teaser trailer up on the GW website today, the totally expected release of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey Strategy Battle Game. I am guessing it will be similar to the previous 25mm incarnations of Lord of the Rings, skirmish level gaming recreating scenes from the book/film. We will find out later in the week.