Midgard

I am a sucker for new rules sets that I am most likely never to play. Over the last year or so I have been reading the splendid Mogsymakes blog where he has reported on the progress of a new set of rules he has written for mass battles called Midgard : Heroic Battles. There are several after action reports written for games he has played in a variety of ages and settings on the blog, and they look very exciting indeed.

 Midgard rules cover - used without permission from the Mogsymakes website

Anyway, on a whim, I decided to order up the rulebook on the pre-order system from Reisswitz Press to see what it was like. I was not disappointed.

I have had a quick step through the rulebook and I am deeply impressed with the production values; it is a beautiful soft-cover, full-sized rulebook with 132 pages in full colour. There are lots of inspiring full-page images of warriors and monsters in battle to whet the appetite for a game or two (if only I had the figures to do so), and numerous pictures of nicely painted miniatures to supplement the rules images. The book is well laid out, with an Index (very rare in gaming rulebooks) and a QRS (quick reference sheet) to aid the gamer so that fewer rules look-ups are required through play. From the limited reading of them I have done, I am thoroughly looking forward to the weekend when I can really indulge myself.

The main reason I was drawn to this rules set was the grandiose sweep of the pictures on the Mogsymakes blog of Tolkien's 1st Age Middle Earth. Being drawn to anything Middle Earth related I was easily swayed to part with my hard-earned. Upon reading further and finding it is age agnostic (well, until black powder is fully involved, which suits me just fine) I was more intrigued. Then, upon my skip through the rulebook earlier I noticed within the first few pages that one of the dedications is to Pat Mills (he of Slaine from 2000AD notoriety) I was completely sold (well I had the book by then but you know what I mean). 

After my initial glance through the book, I was drawn to those half-painted orcs I have sitting on the paint station. My imagination ran over with all the things I could do with them in a mass battle game. I will most likely be all excited about these rules for the next few weeks now, so I must use the impetus to get painting some more.