One of my Christmas presents to me this year was the skirmish style rule book for the Quar, called Songs of Our Ancestors or 'SOA' as its often referred to on the Zombiesmith forums & website (I also bought another dozen Quar minis). SOA is a nice little book, the rules seem simple enough, though I'll probably have to read through them several times for them to soak in as I generally suck at understanding rules without actually playing the game. Seems like its designed to be a 'beer & pretzels' game of about a dozen minis per side.
The book is full color through out (not bad for a miniscule mini game company), and easy enough to read. It doesn't have the jam packed with info feel of say, the Heavy Gear Blitz rulebooks, where acronyms for essential tidbits of information are seemingly impossible to find when you most need them.In addition to the basic game rules, SOA has rules listings & stats for the three original factions: the Royalists (the old guard fighting for their kings & countries), the Crusaders (who are trying to take over the world with quite a bit of success) and the Partisans (who's actions have probably done more to grind the Crusade to a bloody halt than the Royalists would like to admit). A fourth faction has the Kryst, have since been introduced but it isn't in this book. I believe the Krysters (NOT Krystians...) are somewhere between royalists & Partisans, and are desert dwellers...I think. Something like that.
In addition there are also several scenarios listed as well including recommended forces for 'historical' engagements. Kinda reminds me of a Forgeworld book in this regard, except that SOA didn't cost $85, nor do the recommended forces cost literally thousands of dollars each! Indeed, Between SOA & a dozen Royalists and another dozen Crusaders, I think I have roughly $100 invested (if that). I've yet to read any of the scenarios (or close to half of the book yet), however skimming thru I found that one of them has the 'intoxicated table' at right. I've not seen one of those before! Yes, SOA is definitely a beer & pretzels game!
4 comments:
Thanks for the info about this book, a few times in the past two months I've come really close to ordering it. I like what you report about the game and the rulebook itself. There are a few Crusader sculpts that I think are great but overall I'm most tempted by the Partisans. If you have the time I'd appreciate any extra tidbits about the factions, like what makes them different in the game. Thanks!
And that Intoxication table for the Partisan rhyflers is pretty neat, too!
As I'm still not too knowledgeable on the Quar, its really almost a case of just aesthetic appeal. That's how I initially chose the Royalists over the Crusaders. That said, the partisan models are probably some of the most characterful minis in the entire line. I chose th eCrusaders as an oposing force, but in reading SOA, it seems that the partisans aren't always all that friendly to the Royalists either, so perhaps I should have gotten them instead (rather than later on).
As for equipment, I like the fact that every side doesn't necessarily have the same weapons, as in the ubiquitous boltgun of 40k. Royalist rhyflers (the basic grunt) have bolt action rhyfles, which have the obvious longer range & single shot. Whereas Crusader rhyflers have medium ranged semi-automatic assault rhyfles (which look kinda like the Lewis guns of WWI).
Partisans have whatever they can scrounge up, which is most cases means their weapons are similar to the Royalists.
To give a bit of a breakdown on the weapons everyone's toting:
As Masta Cheef points out Crusaders have a medium range semi-auto gun as their basic rifle (which in game terms allows them to move & shoot when others can't), and their support weapon is a slightly stronger, long range semi-auto weapon.
Royalists have a long range gun but with no move & shoot ability like the Crusaders, but at the same attack strength. Their support weapon is an LMG.
Partisans carry old bolt action and hunting rifles, which in game terms are long range and stronger than the Crusader and Royalist weapons but take time to reload. Their support weapon is a terrifying shotgun and a pistol which is usually taken by one model to balance out the shotgun.
Fluff-wise almost anyone could feasibly be fighting against anyone else, with the exception of Coftyrans (the royalists from the first book) and Fidwoggers (a second Royalist faction introduced in the next book). Krysters have switched sides and fought for different factions throughout the long war and they get several sets of profiles to reflect these different time periods.
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