From: cal@fang.att.com (Charles A. Licata)
Newsgroups: rec.games.board
Subject: REVIEW: Grenadier's Fantasy Warriors
Date: 23 Dec 92 15:32:39 GMT
Organization: AT&T Tax Systems Development, Maitland FL

This is a long review of "Fantasy Warriors" by Grandier.  I also briefly
discuss my feeling towards "Fantasy Warlord" (publishers name I forgot)
and Game Workshops "Warhammer Fantasy Battle".  To some this whole article
up, all three games have the merits and their problems, but so far I tend
to enjoy "Fantasy Warrior" the most, though I do admitt that I have not
played any one game extensively.  Read on if you care!

Chuck

__________________________________________________________________________


  I am not sure if anyone has tried the "Fantasy Warrior" game produced
by Grenadier.  I seem to recall someone posting about their dislike of
the game, which I do not intend to argue (not that I do not like the
game, I just don't feel like making it part of this review).

  After owning the game for close to a year and a half, I finally decided
to try out the game (my opponent being myself).  Part of this was spurred
on by playing my first two games of Warhammer Fantasy Battle (2nd ed.).
I like what GW had to offer in the game, though some rules bothered me.
(The one thing that seemed apparent of WFB was that the point cost system 
was well balanced.  My biggest problem was the you move, resolve combat,
I move, resolve combat turn (this is a simplification of the turn).).

  I read through both "Fantasy Warriors" and then "Fantasy Warlords"
and for movement and completeness (a good number of magic items, spells,
and background included) I found that I liked "Fantasy Warlords".  It
however, fell when it came to combat resolution.  They attempted to make
tatics everything, so casualties bacame a formula.  Disasters only occur
when you foolishly march your units into a bad situation.  I am a gamer
who enjoys when the dice go for me or against me.  The element of luck
is very attractive, though it should not overwhelm a game.

  As for "Fantasy Warriors".  It played alright, though there are sections
of the rules that drive me crazy.  To some up my good and bad feelings:

  Good:  1) Scouting units that allow armies to attempt to modify terrain
              to their advantage.  This allows the winner of a scouting roll
              to modify the board to their best advantage.

         2) Time of day is a nice addition though the game turns seem to
              represent a long duration of time. (6 turns during the day,
              6 turns during the night).

         3) The command structure is simple.  Your army is divided into
              commands based on units.  You have battle leaders for each
              command and one or more warcheifs to issue orders to the
              battle leaders.

         4) Order issuing for commands is fun.  Your warcheif must find a
              way to get an order to a battle leader and even then the
              leader may not accept it.

         5) I will not describe any others except by name:
              the threat test, troop qualities, boasts, limited ammuntion
              for missle troops, and other things.

  Bad:   1) Over simplification of important occurances on the battle field.

         2) Attacks from the rear or flank is not covered.

         3) A unit reacting to rout is eliminated.  Removed from the board.

         4) Too many damn modifiers.  And when you are using a six sided die
              (I have mixed feelings about the number of games using 6 sided
              dice) a negative anything modifier is a big pain.

         5) Too few spells.

         6) Army list is small.

  The game was origonally released for $30.  I bought it for $20 which was
well worth the money.  The game has now been shipped again, but with a $40
price tag.  Good Luck Grenadier.

  I like the game.  It has some real interesting features, but $30 is a lot,
and $40 is unresonable.  With WFB topping at $55 you may think I find that
to be unreasonable, but actually due to the quality of the plastic figures
and the quality of the printed material, it is price I would be willing to
pay.

  Well, "Fantasy Warriors" just came out with a new supplement.  For $13
it is a nice addition though it is loaded with white space and drawings.
I was hoping for clarification or addition to old rules, but instead
their is little clarification.  There are a lot of new rules and some
are pretty good.

  One of the obvious attempts of the publication was to set out rules for
the majority of Grenadier leads and resins.  Rules cover giants, war
mammoths, dragons, the goblin War Giant, Dwarve Cannon, and others.

  The supplement begins with the rules for undead armies.  These are good
rules, becuase they go out of their way to make an undead army have a unique
way of performing on a battle field.  They have a warcheif like other armies.
His job is the same as others.  He issues the orders, however he does it
different than other armies.  He surrounds himself with necrmancers and other
powerful undead creatures.  By doing this he gains power points and these are
used to activate units on the board.  1 point will cause aunit to activate,
but not attack unless attacked, 2 allows the unit to do what it likes, and
no points makes the unit stand lifeless.

  A warcheif of an undead army has a lot of important decissions to make.
Especially true if the enemy starts to knock of the precious necromancers
and the power points he gets each turn become dramatically reduced.

  The supplement than continues with rules for allowing warchiefs to give
speeches, armies purchasing fire water (alcohole.  Troops will fight longer,
but their fighting skills are reduced.) and poison arrows for missle troops.
Next, rules are given for all those neat resin battle field equipment that
Fantasy Forge has produced.  

  New rules are given for goblin and woodelf armies.  Goblins get the chance
to do a war chant that will enhance the fighting ability of the goblins.
The woodelf get the oppurtunity to try to out manouver the enemy and obtain
the right to set up units closer to the enmey by hiding in woods and bushes.
Nothing real exciting.

  Mercenary units are covered.  An army can pruhase these units at full,
half, or quarter the points, but the less you pay, the more unpredctable
they are.  They may even change sides and attack the army they origonally
started wiht.

  New individuals are added to the game.  They are Paladins, Destroyer Heros,
Marksmen, Amazon Enchantress, and Druids.  5 New spells are included, though
more would be appreciated.  Finally there is a revised army list, a rule update
section, and a multiplayer advice section.

  All in all, it is worth the money.  Again, it adds a lot of new rules to the
existing game, but none that improve on the old rules.  So far I tend to favor
this game over WFB and Fantasy Warlords, though the other two I view as equals.
My like of Fantasy Warriors is just a personal opinion.

Chuck 

P.S. - The "FREE COLOUR COUNTER CARD" offered with the supplement is
       worth having, but really no big deal.  The are computer generated
       drawings which represnt power points, poisoned arrows, and other
       new counter.  The only reason I mention this is that Grenadier
       used such large print on the back cover to advertise something
       so trivial.
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