by pullsyjr
My friend Troy bought Horus Heresy the other day and I was the lucky one who got to give it the christening with him.
Contents
I love FFG games. I love punching out cardboard tokens and getting the little satisfying 'pop' as the things fall from their place. HH, from my experience, has far less tokens than other FFG products (I’m looking at you Arkham Horror!) with only two cards to punch stuff out of.
There are a large number of miniscule (epic scale for those old school 40k players) plastic miniatures; four coloured teams representing the Chaos forces (one colour for each of the Chaos gods found in the Warhammer universe) and one team for the Imperium.
I wasn't a huge fan of the minis in this box set. Two unit types are almost exactly the same (it seems that the only difference is that one has spiky shoulder pads which pretty much become invisible at such a small scale). The grey plastic they use on the Imperium models is rather boring too.
The final point about the miniatures is the fact that they have to be inserted into specific bases. This was rather tedious to say the least. I suppose in hindsight I prefer them that way (ignoring the mechanics of the game) as moulding figures with an integral base usually ends up with items that I personally find sub-standard.
Special characters were of the card variety such as those used in AH. It was odd to have such a different type of 'model', but it did make it a lot easier to identify.
There are eight separate decks of cards to sort through; five standard size and three 'half' size (another AH reference).
The board is a tri-folding one that has areas to remove so plastic inserts can be slotted into place before the game. I found these inserts to be quite frustrating to place but that may have been because the table we were using allowed for things to slide around every time you moved stuff. I understand that the first run of HH came out with a warped board, but the one we used seemed fine.
All up, the game is presented very nicely with few things that I thought could do with improvement. In typical FFG style there are lots of bits and makes for marvellous eye-candy.
Rules
Holy moley there’s a huge book to get through. It took over an hour to go through all the rules, and in the end we gave up and just jumped into the game referring to the tome as we required. It turned out that the rules are written in a very precise manner to expunge any rules-lawyering that may go on. Whilst it made the read a lot longer with a fair amount of duplications (and wouldn't really affect us much anyway) I imagine it would stop a few arguments between more serious players.
Whilst the rules presented a theoretically complicated game, once we got into play everything clicked into place for us with little or no difficulty. We did need to refer to the book on a number of occasions but the layout of the rules is fairly good so it was easy to find what we were looking at.
In saying that, there was no clear reason why the game is divided into “Acts”. Troy was puzzled a lot by this and when we found the blurb about it, there wasn’t really an explanation. I believe it was just to allow easy division of the Event cards but perhaps I was missing something that would become apparent in different missions.
Mechanics
HH is a diceless system based entirely around sequences of cards. To do something in the game, it needs to be done with a card that says you can. Personally I found this to be a great mechanic and presented some amazing strategic challenges. There were times during the game when both of us were literally playing edge-of-seat moves.
Given that HH is such an apparently slow moving game this was an unexpected yet welcome feeling.
1. Turn based moves
Turns are not necessarily taken on an alternate basis. Instead, whoever is further down the Initiative Track has to wait until overtaken by the opponent. This means that performing an Order that allows for a sudden reinforcement (for example) may result in the other player having up to three turns before you get to do anything more. I personally haven’t seen anything like it in a board game so was intrigued by the concept.
Does it work? Hell yes. I kid you not, but EVERY decision is crucial. Playing Order cards immediately means you get the benefit straight away but either can’t do anything for a large number of turns, or have a less effective move. Playing them Strategically however allows you to reign in your Initiative counter or gain more benefits, but means you have to wait to actually initiate the action.
It truly is a nail biting game when your opponent gets free reign for two turns. All you can do is watch events unfold.
2. Activations
When performing an Order, it will typically Activate the area played on. An area can only be Activated once, at which point all units that were subject to the event cannot do anything until deactivated. Usually deactivation occurs when a certain number of turns are made (identified by the Initiative Track) or by some cards’ special effects.
I was impressed with this idea. The first combat that I was subjected to (I was defending) was one that I managed to hold. Given the fact that the opposing units were then forced to wait for deactivation my initial worry about relentless and overwhelming strikes was allayed.
It also complicates the Orders that may be used. As well as figuring out whether to make the action immediate or Strategic, the player must also decide what area is best to Activate.
Whilst initially I was doubtful at this mechanic I found that it added a large degree of strategy to the game.
3. Combat
Combat is undertaken again with cards. For the total unit strength of an army, they receive a number of cards which gives them a mixture of attack damage, defensive bonuses and special abilities. In addition if one or more Heroes partakes of the fight they get one or two Character cards which has the same detail as the standard combat card, but with extra bonuses specific to the hero.
The fight is divided into both Attacker and Defender, which is then separated into Passive and Active. The prior is less important than the latter. The Active is the one who can deal damage and activate valid special abilities. The Passive can block the damage but deal none in return. Then the Active/Passive forces change over for the next round. Each combat is fought over a certain number of turns with the Defender retaining their position if there is no definite resolution.
I felt that the limited options with the cards made combat a tactically complex event. Whether to use the limited resources for dealing or soaking damage become a primary concern. The special abilities could also change the outcome of the battle if used properly, so it may be better to absorb a lot of damage and to get the funky part out, than to play it safe and not kick the enemy in the teeth from left field.
4. Events
Another feature of HH are the Events that occur at certain times. These provide bonuses for one side of the game on each draw and move the “story” along. From what I saw, these cards didn’t cause unreasonable or overwhelming benefits but more allowed for subtle (and sometimes not so subtle) shifting of the strategic layout of the game.
Playing the game
We played the introduction scenario; a 'historical' recreation of the Heresy siege. I was on Team Evil whilst Troy was Team Good. At first setup I was thinking that a loss was inevitable. The forces out on the table were about 4:1 in favour of my opponent. Luckily, and I feel this is a massive credit to the whole system, things were pretty evenly matched.
It is true though that there were large swathes of the board that either did nothing all game, or very little. However I don't think this is necessarily a bad thing. It allows for the threat of activity to be held against each player.
In the end I won the game. I managed to hold all four Space Ports in a final 'do or die' rush costing 3 Initiative steps to play which put me just past the point where I could claim that as a victory condition. It was a very close call and I felt threatened by Troy the entire time. I’m sure that this feeling was reciprocated.
Thoughts
I loved this game. The mechanics, whilst seemingly clunky, all worked together. The combination of the limitations imposed by the cards created truly anxious moments and very tough decision points. I don’t think HH would have been as good if any one of the mechanics was removed; rather I felt that it worked because it was a puzzle made up of a lot of constituent pieces.
The game forced a focused attention to certain areas, and also required us to think both offensively and defensively. Attempting to overwhelm an opponent with a mass of units was no guarantee of success given the Attacker/Defender system in conjunction with the Active/Passive roles. The limited combat cards did seem 'clunky' to begin with, and did have the potential to limit the effectiveness of the force, but we quickly learned how to maximise opportunities whilst minimising damage.
In no way did HH present a realistic view of large scale battles. This is particularly true in a futuristic setting, regardless of how archaic this future may look. I think HH would work precisely the same in any background, just changing the scale and the technology presented. The fact that there isn’t “realism” when it comes to the setting may annoy people looking for a more fluid representation of fast deployments via air or whatever, but it didn't bother me in the least.
HH definitely isn't suited for everyone. It DOES struggle with an apparent lack of progress, particularly when both players only place Strategy cards without activating them. If you're after something with troops moving dynamically across the board then try a different game. In fact I found that very few of my units moved at all...
All in all, I thought HH was awesome. The strategy involved was great and the limitations are what made the game so good. I can't wait to give it another bash!
So people don’t call me a Games Workshop or FFG lackey, here’s a brief background of Troy and myself:
Troy has some bias against FFG games. He loathes Arkham Horror for the huge amount of rules. All the bits drive him nuts. Rune Wars is another one that he can't stand for the same reason. So despite coming into this game expecting very little it was great to see that he really did enjoy HH.
I personally DESPISE Games Workshop with a passion. I know only the basic knowledge of the Horus campaign (ie, Horus and the Emperor fought each other) so I am sure I missed some nuances of the 40k universe. I don't care; as I stated above the game could have been set in any environment with equal result."
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