Tuesday 26 November 2013

Empire of the Dead Requiem Rules Release

The new PDF rules have been released for the Requiem expansion to Empire of the Dead.  Included are rules for criminal gangs (including Moriarty and his crew and the Inscrutable Tong), and other factions like Nemo and his crew, the Bedlam Brotherhood and the Clickers.



My first read through discovered a number of typos already (they still haven't fixed the long range distance for Lightning Jack for instance, which is "4"), which does detract a little from the overall effect.  Without play testing any of it yet, I do get an overall feeling of there being particular flavours for each faction, which will lead to them being played differently on the table and thereby using different tactics.  That is good - although adding additional complexity, the game is particularly straight forward anyway so it is not difficult to add special rules.

I am keen to get the clickers now - there is a two page back story to this faction which is well done and the manner in which they are played and developed is quite different from any other faction (the additional clickers are summonsed as the game goes on rather than deployed at the start).



You can also harvest body parts and get extra shillings from different body parts harvested from models killed on the table - cool!

Bedlam Brotherhood has a number of rules around combat - most involving the rolling of a D10 before combat with a "1" involved some positive effect (increased strength, fortitude or combat skill) and a 9-10 involving some sort of crazy outcome.  Nipper, for instance, in a fit of pique refuses to fight and resolves the combat as if he is discombobulated and prone.  Hat man, on a "1" turns sides for that turn and allows the other player to activate him as if he was a member of their faction!  Alice gets to use Tom, her cat, as an ally and can set him upon an opponent as well.

Lots of new rules around carriages - shooting from and at carriages and the like.  Looks like there is real scope for car chase sequences across London streets!



There are a number of characters still missing - it seems Prof Cavor (diving suit guy) is left out at this stage and so are the stretch goal guys as well in large part (correct me if I am wrong on that).  I am not sure if they are coming later.

Hopefully Westwind will take the comments back and be flexible enough to tweak these rules before they are finalised, because I would expect there will be some teething problems here.  Also, just a quick look at the costs of some against others, makes me think there is scope for some factions being significantly more powerful versus cost than others.  Guess we will just have play them and find out!

8 comments:

  1. Great it's nice that it's now available. The Bedlam Brotherhood sounds unwieldy but a heck of a lot of fun! Can't wait to take them for a spin. The clickers also sound quite interesting. Pity about the errors.

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  2. I haven't had a chance to read these yet but I've long suspected that some of the new factions will seem significantly stronger than the original ones.

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  3. Sounds really interesting. The Bedlam Brotherhood could drive you mad! Playing the new rules out will be revealing though. Hopefully Westwind haven't rushed things too much...

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  4. Yes I have a had a quick scan through. They look good, I like the artwork, back story etc... Must admit I was expecting a full rule-book, re-issue with the new bits added, not just the additions by themselves...
    I just hope we don't have long to wait for rules for the other KS figures - Uncle 'Thulu etc... and that any required rules tweaks (errata/FAQs) are forthcoming via the WW forum...

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  5. Thanks guys - the rules PDF has been removed and replaced into dropbox a few times today so there may be some more updates. Shame the Thu isn't in there yet, I do like his character. He got a run out last night with the Supernatural Branch and he brought a certain suave sophistication to the night's entertainment. Well, lets see over the next few weeks what comes out next

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    1. Huh sounds like they were a tad preemptive. Thulu certainly did get a good run last night. With a bit of tweaking I think he will be very handy, or tentically.

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    2. Like that. Tentically indeed.

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  6. The rules typo's withstanding seem ok. Not to impressed with the Nemo crew. The rules seem to have been done without any thought to what the actual models in the boxed set have been equipped with. As to the Stretchgoal miniatures as most people won't have them all I don't think its fair for them to have special rules as such especially if there are any sort of official tournaments. I would of liked to of seen rules for Mechana bat and the Steam Knight.

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