Slitherine

1 - Do you have any idea on how long an 'average' game is likely to last?

2 - Are the army lists going to more to be geared to actual troop types/army sizes, rather than as wide a possible variety/combinations?

1 - Do you have any idea on how long an 'average' game is likely to last?

The rules have aimed at results in 3 hours on average.

In testing most games get to a result in 3 1/2 hours - probably 1/2 of them result in a complete army loss. The usual some sort of moderate or major victory for one side or another. Few draws so far. It is very hard to corner sit or block up the game - which is part of the rason for the rsolution I suspect. Of course we still get dras but not non-event draws - more 2 armies wearing each other out.

Terry and I - who have played lots of games (40 now) - generally finish game in about 2 1/2 hours.

So with a bit of experience a nice evening should give a result with a typical army.

2 - Are the army lists going to more to be geared to actual troop types/army sizes, rather than as wide a possible variety/combinations?

Certainly they lean heavily towards the former based on real battles. We have tried to keep variety available to cover the real range we can either demonstrate or reasonably extrapolate, but avoid some of the more "fantasy" variants that have appeared in some lists. No SHC cataphract chariots or the like........

Hope that helps

Si

thanx it does. some of the lists tend to add/remove units to create a wider variety, whilst I appreciate the mix. Some of the lists, particularly with newer evidence available now feel a bit wrong.

We have tapped into lots of experts for the lists so while we may not get everything to everyones liking , there have been 1000s of hour spent on trying to get the latest views reflected in them. We have also been open to feedback and comments throughout from all the testers. We are hoping that such an interactive and exhaustive approach to the lists will have picked up a great deal in realism and made full use of the troop classifiaction felxibility that the rules allow.

My personal favourite armies from history are : Mongols, Samurai, Byzantine, Ancient Britons, Republican Roman, Carthaginian. I would not claim to be a universal expert, but I have read and studied these ones extensively.

The combined effect of lists and rules seem to give me 6 armies that play and feel right - I recognise all of them in both form and feel ,and they all play well "in character".

Si