Frills and Fripperies

Feedback and questions from the magnificent 7 Play test groups in Edinburgh, Dumfries, Sweden, Cheltenham, Arizona, Georgia and Florida.
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Shann1870
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Frills and Fripperies

Post by Shann1870 » Wed Dec 23, 2009 2:09 pm

Hi All
Whilst the Great and the Good are pondering the philosophical and practical profundities involved in bringing BLB 2 into being, could I lower the tone somewhat and ask if the new set will have new illustrations and scenarios? I don't know how anyone else feels, but I found they greatly enhanced BLB 1 and were a real incitement to get painting! I know that some on other forums have been a bit sniffy about such "eye candy", but personally I love it. My painting and modelling standards have improved largely because of seeing what others have done. Any chance Barry?
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18th Century Guy
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Post by 18th Century Guy » Wed Dec 23, 2009 2:58 pm

I'd say take to the next level beyond eye candy - gaming p o r n. That's right, make those pics so darn purdy that even the most seasoned gamer drools. :lol:
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barr7430
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Post by barr7430 » Wed Dec 23, 2009 3:46 pm

Steve,

good question... the answer may be to your liking (I hope so!)

The biggest criticisms of BLB were about the lack of examples and explanations. This I took on board with Republic to Empire and guess what? We got some crit because there is too much .. yes you guessed it.. examples and explanations!! :roll:

BLB 2nd Edition introduces refined mechanisms for some 'clunky' things that needed modification and my thought was to strip it back to just a rule set without the associated frippery. I wanted this to be comprehensive and detailed which means it will probably extend to 50-60 pages. BLB 1 was only 56 pages including the scenarios and events.

So, on to the next part of the project:

We are currently working on several new books to accompany BLB. These include scenario books (each should contain at least 10 but probably 15 scenarios). Each scenario will have historical context and background, orbats, special scenario conditions, a map and photos.
At the moment the first book looks like:

Jacobite Wars 1689-1719.

We will I hope follow with:

Great Northern War (possibly incorporating Skane War)
Flanders 1689-1698
The War of the Spanish Succession

In addition we are looking at a particular piece of weighty source material for the period but more of that later.

How, you might say are you and Clarence going to achieve all this if your day jobs keep getting in the way :shock: ??

Easy. The scenario books will be written by us AND other BLB players / period specialists. I will edit, and get everything into our 'style' whilst Clarence will work his usual magic in the visuals department.

We will use the technique applied with Republicto Empire... work with great painters and collectors and photograph some of their collections as part of the eye candy fest. That way we can honour the work of some really talented people and not have the burden of having to paint 1,000s of models.

Rather than have to wait 10 years for all of this stuff coming out it can smoothly roll out over a relatively short period of time.


The work is well underway.

BLB2 is not going to be BLB with new lipstick. It will preserve the strongest principles from the core rules, reinforce this with better explanations whilst introducing some new mechanisms. It will have a new cover, all new photos and a look more in line with R2E.

Hopefully there is enough here to reassure you Steve that Mr H & Mr H are hard at work!!
"If you think you can, or if you think you can't, you are probably right"

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Shann1870
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Post by Shann1870 » Wed Dec 23, 2009 9:12 pm

Hard at work? - I never doubted it!! This all sounds very interesting and encouraging. I will get on and complete my Danish brigade of horse, do the hand-painted flags for my existing Scots and English units, Bavarian Kurassiers, Gardes Francaises and Suisses and.....
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Post by barr7430 » Thu Dec 24, 2009 12:45 am

I am actually painting like mad too at the moment as I am home for a while over christmas.. I'll post some pics of my new Swedish Army soon..

speed painted (well some of it). I am doing it as a little promise to myself to get 8 battlaions finished for January!
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Post by quindia » Thu Dec 24, 2009 1:16 am

I am already working on a new cover. I don't have much in the way of minis for the period (one of these days) so instead of photography I'm going to focus on all new illos, possibly some color art inside as well.
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