Xavi wrote:

Nice review. Hoplites were not elite warriors of Greece but *the* warriors  but apart from that it sounds solid. I miss an auxilia (medium infantry) and a psiloi (light infantry) career path there, but then I am a sucker for this types pof distinction and the BoL engine does not need them. Since it is supposed to be a hero-oriented game in the Micenic period they can be all bundled in Soldier without problems

I like the new ideas introduced for heroes (the faith mechanics, Fate and Cleos) and the mass combat rules for infantry and ships sound really cool. The whole cults sections seem great.

The chariot rules seem to be somewhat weird, since chariots were not used for raming in greece but as taxi services (move in with a chariot, dismount, fight on foot, move out with chariot when you want to stop fighting). I think I heard you say khopesh for weapons but I hope you said kopis. The author generally seems to know what he is talking about in other sections and I doubt he failed here.

I found it funny to hear the Greek god and character names with an English accent.

The only thing I missed is a review of the actual book. Durability, layout, font size, words per page... and a review of the internal artwork.

Nice review. Thanks for sharing

Actually,if you watch the last minute of the review, he shows a lot of the internal artwork during the musical interlude.
 

Last edited by GMgerrymander (5/26/2014 7:58 am)

In a nutshell, the line art is very nice.  While there are a few more "amazons" than would be a realistic representative sample in Historical Greece, as the reviewer (and author) mentioned, this is a more fantastical historical greece, ala Harryhausen and other Hollywood movies and TV shows.   (Let's face it, 300 was rather fantastical compared to the real history too).

As for the book itself, he shows the book in the video, but its double column, sorted by Cult (Chapters) with each one detailing a different aspect of the rules (again, the video reviewer pretty much details and summarizes each).

For the most part, the supplement is easy to search.  The only thing I would have suggested would be a "summary" page at the end with a quick review of the new rules: Fate, Cleos, Origin, etc.

 

Xavi wrote:

Nice review. Hoplites were not elite warriors of Greece but *the* warriors  but apart from that it sounds solid. I miss an auxilia (medium infantry) and a psiloi (light infantry) career path there, but then I am a sucker for this types pof distinction and the BoL engine does not need them. Since it is supposed to be a hero-oriented game in the Micenic period they can be all bundled in Soldier without problems

I like the new ideas introduced for heroes (the faith mechanics, Fate and Cleos) and the mass combat rules for infantry and ships sound really cool. The whole cults sections seem great.

The chariot rules seem to be somewhat weird, since chariots were not used for raming in greece but as taxi services (move in with a chariot, dismount, fight on foot, move out with chariot when you want to stop fighting). I think I heard you say khopesh for weapons but I hope you said kopis. The author generally seems to know what he is talking about in other sections and I doubt he failed here.

I found it funny to hear the Greek god and character names with an English accent.

The only thing I missed is a review of the actual book. Durability, layout, font size, words per page... and a review of the internal artwork.

Nice review. Thanks for sharing

Thanks for the kind words Xavi! Much ppreciated!

I wanted to differentiate between the fully armored shield wall soldier and the average less equipped soldier. As far as I know the soldiers that could afford the bronze armor and helmets were referred to as Hoplites. I could be wrong. Historically speaking.
For the game I wanted to make a distinction and put a name on it. Simple semantics.

Yes, I am aware that in the epics soldiers would use a chariot to get to the battle. 'taxi' style. There is a bit of archeological evidence from the Mycenean era that suggests that chariots were use as archery or spear platforms. That being said; I was not going for total historical accuracy.
You know how it goes. As soon as the players get a hold of a chariot there gonna want to ram someone or put blades on the hubs. So, I thought I should address this to save the GM a little trouble.

You say Kopis, I say Falcatta, he says Kopish cant we all just get along and roll mighty successes.


 

Last edited by umungus (5/27/2014 7:59 am)

Xena and Wonder Woman rock.
You can't have enough Amazons

Xavi wrote:

I saw quite a few images for women in ars in the images shown. Yes, amazions are a stapple of the Greek myths, but they are extremely localized. In most stories they are not around. Women in the myths tend to be (versimplifying but you get the idea) either objects of desire or bad sorceresses if they are a protagonist. Or godesses. Most women are not relevant from an adventure-friendly point of view and as such I am surprised to see more than one representation of them armed and equiped for combat. As witches for sure, and as rulers (or attractive items of desire), but as usual adventurers? I have more difficulty reconicing myself with that idea. This is why I made that comment A full amazon party? yeah sure! WEomen being usual members of a war party in Attica or Thessaly? Not likely. I am sure this does not detract from the product, buit I found it somewhat odd.

Strickly speaking, you're not wrong, but here's the thing; like the rest of our hobby, HoH is game, a leisure activity first and formost. Fun supercedes historical accuracy. I deliberately selected images that depict female characters to underline that it can accomodate them without issue. 

I know that I have a number a subscribers to the channel that happen to be women.
The game in no way tries to pigeon hole female characters to historical (and UN-fun) gender roles. 
Why not showcase that as a virtue of the game?