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Author Topic: Our first Frenu playtest  (Read 3154 times)
serin
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« on: November 30, 2014, 01:03:09 pm »

Well, having unboxed everything and glued together most models, my son Tom and I decided to have a first go at the Frenu.
We diced for it and Tom was in command of an Empire force and I had the frenu.
We noticed some tweaking to a few of the Empire rules. We found the new cards and reference sheet very useful. These make for a much smoother game and meant we hardly needed to refer to the main rule book.

For ease of reading, I am going to split this into several posts.
We used proxies and unpainted figures for the Frenu, so I did not take any photos I am afraid.
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serin
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« Reply #1 on: November 30, 2014, 01:05:29 pm »

The forces:

Empire
Militia captain and 5 militia
Engineer Beru
Casanii Scout
Hunter plus 4 Graku
Total 250 points

Frenu
As listed in the playtest sheet
2 Frenu Kaopi
1 Bagrun with 2 Protofubarnii
2 Small swarms and 10 Frenu

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serin
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« Reply #2 on: November 30, 2014, 01:15:42 pm »

The battle

Empire set up in a line across one edge: Hunter, Casanii, Beru, Militia
Opposing them the 2 Kaopi were on either flank, each with a small swarm and half the frenu in front of them. To the rear were the protofubarnii and Bagrun.

Frenu had early advantages and one Kaopi and small swarm attacked the hunter and graku. With judicious 'sacrifice' of frenu to counteract the hunter's attacks, the Kaopi survived and managed to kill the hunter and 2 graku.

Elsewhere, the Casanii had managed to fire off arrows and land hits on the Kaopi. A combination of sacrificed frenu and good dice rolling saved the Kaopi however. Unfortunately though, the Kaopi on the right got isolated and a coordinated strike by the militia captain meant that he had to face all the militia. With insufficient frenu to sacrifice, his luck ran out and he was killed.

This meant that the Kaopi on the left broke off from that flank and rejoined the remaining forces to try to consolidate. However, the victorious militia then started picking off a protofubarnii and a small swarm. Hence when the big fight happened, the Kaopi was outnumbered. He went down fighting, but it was a clear Empire victory.

Survivors
Casanii scout, 2 graku, Beru, Militia captain and 2 militia

Bagrun
« Last Edit: November 30, 2014, 01:26:44 pm by serin » Logged
serin
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Posts: 297



« Reply #3 on: November 30, 2014, 01:24:31 pm »

Thoughts on the rules

The stamina rules for the swarms were not immediately clear - we assumed they start off with 0 stamina and then can sacrifice frenu if they want to use abilities that require stamina - this did seem to work reasonably well.

I struggled to use my Bagrun. Does the Bomb carrier rule have to be used in the activation phase, or can you use it in the combat phase, if Frenu have initiative? We used the former rule, which means you have to plan ahead.

We did realise that I should not have allowed the Kaopi to become isolated, as once one Kaopi is killed, it became very difficult to use the other to control the whole force. We also realised that you have to use stamina sensibly for the Kaopi which is a good part of the rules.

Can a swarm be manipulated if it is engaged? We assumed not, but it is not stated.

This was a useful first attempt. I don't think we will be as naïve again.

As for balance of forces, the small swarms to help soak up enemy troops; more than one kaopi is essential.
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Carcharoth
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« Reply #4 on: November 30, 2014, 11:36:24 pm »

Thanks!
The bagrun is very powerful, probably too powerful as it stands. Every frenu that starts it's activation close to the bagrun can charge and fight a 3 stone combat. As you surmised, you can't use the ability in the combat phase.
You are correct about swarms and stamina. They don't have a stamina stat, so can only store one at a time and only gain it by discarding frenu.
Swarms can be manipulated if engaged. You can also create a swarm so it is engaged with enemy models if you want to. Or grow a swarm to medium and use that to engage or disengage (potentially moving the swarm quite a long way in the process). Note that you can't currently shrink or disband a medium swarm, but they are very powerful!

I think you will find the current force closer to 300pts once you've got used to them, particularly with the bagrun. Maybe give the opposing force 280pts next time.

Currently thinking of slowing down frenu bomb carriers, but it'll be interesting to hear more thoughts first.
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