Field of Glory Game Review

**cyberfriend** · Jul 8, 2008, 11:47pm

few days ago I picked up the new set of Historical Ancients-Medievals rules from Osprey, “Field of Glory”. Since I was asked to write a brief review for the rules for the GameKastle community, I’ve read through the rules several times trying to get a good enough impression of the rules so that I could give everyone a useful opinion. I think, after a lot of thought, I can boil my opinion down to one sentence.

Field of Glory is THE new standard in historical Ancients miniatures war game rules.

Yes, I know that’s a pretty sweeping statement, here are a few of the areas where I think “Field of Glory” shines.

• Presentation: Gone are the days when your war game rules were a few photocopied sheets of smudgy text originally typed out on an old Smith-Corona. The hardbound “Field of Glory” rules are gorgeously laid out in full color with an index (yay!), full color diagrams and examples of play, art from Ospreys other titles, and color coded and tabbed chapters. It’s very exciting to look at and it makes you want to knock the dust off your old armies (or plan a new one) and play the game.
• Rules: The rules are comprehensive and a little overwhelming at first, but once your realize that nearly every new rule introduced in the book is followed by (sometimes) several illustrated examples of play it becomes a little easier to handle. This review isn’t the place to discuss the mechanics of the game, but I feel the games creators have worked hard to create a clearly written and balanced game and have tried to cut out any ambiguities so that we can spend more time playing the game and less time trying to interpret the rules.
• Tournament Play: “Field of Glory” has been written with tournament play in mind. Its not period specific so anachronistic match-ups are possible (today it’s the ancient Sumerians versus the Vikings!) It is also points based so that you can build your own tournament legal armies from the upcoming army books, and so far at least, according to reports from around the web, the points system seems well balanced, no broken killer armies or “must have” units have emerged. Whether or not you enjoy playing in tournaments I think this is positive. Allowing anachronistic match-ups means that it’s more likely that you’ll find an opponent to game with. The points based building system allows you to build an army that suits your style of play and allows you to easily scale the size of your battles.
• Support: The amount of support so far for this game has been very good, with a regular schedule of army book release’s, online support both official and fan based, and an upcoming miniatures release (28mm plastic multipart Romans!)

Next time you’re in the store check out “Field of Glory” I think you’ll be impressed.

Jul 8, 2008, 11:47pm	#1 (permalink) Field of Glory Game Review
cyberfriend Junior Member Posts: 3 Karma:	few days ago I picked up the new set of Historical Ancients-Medievals rules from Osprey, “Field of Glory”. Since I was asked to write a brief review for the rules for the GameKastle community, I’ve read through the rules several times trying to get a good enough impression of the rules so that I could give everyone a useful opinion. I think, after a lot of thought, I can boil my opinion down to one sentence. Field of Glory is THE new standard in historical Ancients miniatures war game rules. Yes, I know that’s a pretty sweeping statement, here are a few of the areas where I think “Field of Glory” shines. • Presentation: Gone are the days when your war game rules were a few photocopied sheets of smudgy text originally typed out on an old Smith-Corona. The hardbound “Field of Glory” rules are gorgeously laid out in full color with an index (yay!), full color diagrams and examples of play, art from Ospreys other titles, and color coded and tabbed chapters. It’s very exciting to look at and it makes you want to knock the dust off your old armies (or plan a new one) and play the game. • Rules: The rules are comprehensive and a little overwhelming at first, but once your realize that nearly every new rule introduced in the book is followed by (sometimes) several illustrated examples of play it becomes a little easier to handle. This review isn’t the place to discuss the mechanics of the game, but I feel the games creators have worked hard to create a clearly written and balanced game and have tried to cut out any ambiguities so that we can spend more time playing the game and less time trying to interpret the rules. • Tournament Play: “Field of Glory” has been written with tournament play in mind. Its not period specific so anachronistic match-ups are possible (today it’s the ancient Sumerians versus the Vikings!) It is also points based so that you can build your own tournament legal armies from the upcoming army books, and so far at least, according to reports from around the web, the points system seems well balanced, no broken killer armies or “must have” units have emerged. Whether or not you enjoy playing in tournaments I think this is positive. Allowing anachronistic match-ups means that it’s more likely that you’ll find an opponent to game with. The points based building system allows you to build an army that suits your style of play and allows you to easily scale the size of your battles. • Support: The amount of support so far for this game has been very good, with a regular schedule of army book release’s, online support both official and fan based, and an upcoming miniatures release (28mm plastic multipart Romans!) Next time you’re in the store check out “Field of Glory” I think you’ll be impressed. __________________ flameproofing ny Architectural Fiberglass Columns

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