Hail Caesar Supplements Question.

[Deadmanwade]

This is really one for the Warlord staff I guess, but I was wondering if there were any Hail Caesar supplements under development that covered a specific period in the same way that the books being written for Black Powder cover just one era.
Obviously HC covers a massive number of battles, wars and periods, so I get why the first few books are just army lists. Once those are done will we be seeing anything with a more narrow focus?
Of course, everyone will have their own 'Warlord should write ...." suggestion, so lets avoid wishlisting in here.

[Paul @ Warlord Games]

Yes indeed - we have several being written and two already completed to final manuscript stage.

[Eumerin]

Of course, everyone will have their own 'Warlord should write ...." suggestion, so lets avoid wishlisting in here.

I think we can make a reasonable guess about at least some of the content, given the name of the game, a strong presence among the miniatures line-up of certain gladius-wielding imperialists, etc...

[sane max]

Please, please don't

There are too many to cover, and if you are not careful you will end up going down the same crappy road as WAB with wildly varying qualities of supplements, and special rules getting added with each supplement, and ....ohh god no.

The two sets so far are excellent. Do another up the later Mediaval to fill the gap to P&s, another for odd armies that you missed out of the supplements whether for Geographical reasons or quirkiness, (Hawaiians, that sort of Tosh).

But Codices? Nein Danke

Pat

[Eumerin]

But Codices? Nein Danke

Eh...

I think you're overly concerned about this. Further, I suspect that the supplements in question will be a lot like the existing Black Powder supplements, which provide the information that you need to build a force without providing points values. Or in other words, they'll be appropriate for historical scenarios (refighting Cannae, for instance), but not for setting up a "300 point pitched battle".

[jazbo]

Personally I have found all the supplements a bit superficial. Refight Cannae? Read a book about it and go from there, hell you could even read the wiki entry and get the jist and it's free....

[sane max]

totally agree Jaz - in my op, FWIW, the only reason for a book to cover 'the Mighty eagles of Rome' or 'Chinese Armies of the Eastern Chu'ung River (350bc-350bc lunchtime)' is if the basic mech does noot work for them and so they need their own game - like P&S was for BP.

Otherwise if I want to know one amatuer Historian's opinion on how Hannibal won the battle of lake trasimene I can use T'interweb.

If Warlord PROMISE to release a glossy codex for EVERY SINGLE ANCIENT WARGAMES ARMY ANYONE HAS EVER HEARD OF within 3 months, fine. Otherwise we are gonna end up witha two-tier game.

¬Fancy a game between my Romans and your Greeks? Oh, by the way I will be using the "Gosh, Romans are really manly and tough and had eagles and stuff' supplement, so I will have the 'Centurions chew Gravel', "Roman Legionaries are superhumans' and 'you haven't a hope in hades' special rules. Looking forward to that

And also this forum will become full of "When oh When will the special Codices for Samurai come out? I went to Karate lessons once and really like 'Shogun' and therefore unless it has special rules for ninja-warrior monks and samurai that can kill a dinosaur with a pair of chopsticks , do not think it will be any good' threads.

Pat

[Cubster]

Or people could be given the choice.

[janner]

Within the limted geographical areas/eras about which I have some specialist knowledge, it seems to me that the present lists enable one to put together armies that favour more than one interpretation of an army's historical composition. So I, for one, am not concerned.

I think that campaign supplements are a great idea as it will only enhance what we have been give so far, ie they wont be essential to play the game, but will add period flavour, scenarios - maybe even the odd in supplement special rule

WAB didn't really fall down because of the supplements that were produced. A lack of editorial consistency and an inability to keep the flow coming is what led to the rules' slow and painful demise. And that's two reasons why I'm given W&C a wide berth for the moment

[Paul @ Warlord Games]

We don't plan to do codex/style supplements focusing on one army - they'll be more likely to focus on a specific conflict (AWI, or perhaps The Crusades, or maybe Rome's wars in Dacia).

They will be gaming material heavy (scenarios, army lists, etc) with as little historical background as we can manage (only really setting the scene and for contextual purposes). As has already been pointed out we all have access to t'interweb or books for the history and background.

As the games in question weren't designed for tournament play I don;t see how a 'two-tier' game would come about - you'd play the game with your mates and choose to use the supplement or just the rulebook and your own lists. BP, P&S and HC are not really designed for 'pick-up' games but for club and organised friendly play - we encourage you to mould the rules and lists to your own taste and these supplements can support that.

We've been asked over and over again for supplements and that's what we've decided to slowly do. If you decide not to pick them up and go with just the rulebook that is just as viable a route and won't in any way diminish your playing of the game.