Category: Games

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Iliada Game Studio Review

There’s never been a better time to dive into the world of 6 mm war gaming.  There’s a wide variety of miniature and terrain manufacturers providing nearly everything you could want in nearly every genre.  The hobby has long been dominated by metal and plastic miniatures, though recently laser cut MDF has become popular for terrain.  Even more recent is its use in miniatures.

I recently came across Iliada Game Studio on Facebook and thought to give their product a closer look. Iliada Games Studio makes available 6 mm terrain that fits sci fi and modern settings. They also offer a variety of bridges, communication or power pylons, buildings, and futuristic tanks.

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Tactical Units in Ages of Conflict

An important element of Ages of Conflict is customization.  The many empires and kingdoms of the ancient world didn’t organize their armies identically.  They didn’t all adhere to a strict structure as modern armies utilize.

Though there were exceptions. Rome, for example is well-known for its organizational structure of Legion -> Cohorts -> Centuries with a legion consisting of ten cohorts of six centuries each. 

Though Rome wasn’t the norm. It wasn’t until King Gustav II organized the Swedish army into regiments consisting of companies did the various armies of the world begin to standardize.  The armies of the Napoleonic Wars began to settle on a structure that looks quite similar to what many armies use today with divisions, brigades, regiments, battalions, and companies.

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Ages of Conflict Genres

We chose the name Ages of Conflict as we wanted a name that reflected the multi-genre nature of the game. Ages of Conflict is a rules set that will allow you to play war games of different genres without having to learn a different set of rules for each.

Each genre will be covered in its own book that will include genre-specific rules, background material, and army lists. It is important to note that rules that are introduced in genre books can be used with other genres if desired. We simply made the design decision to introduce certain rules if the situation they represent were not universal.

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Ages of Conflict Play Test Report

We used Tabletop Simulator for the first time Thursday to conduct a play test of Ages of Conflict. It isn’t the same as sitting around a table face-to-face, though I believe it will be a valuable tool that will allow us to test more frequently.

We used small squares to represent the units. We opted to not use miniatures as that seemed like a bit of overkill for play tests. Each unit is numbered and has a small spin counter on it to represent its Presence. (Presence is a measurement of a unit’s ability to withstand damage as well as its ability to project as a threat.) We used index cards to list each unit’s other characteristics and equipment.

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Playtest Philosophy

Playtests are a crucial step in game development.  They are perhaps the most vital.  The purpose of a playtest is simple – it is to find design and play-ability flaws prior to the game being released.  Playtesting isn’t necessarily going to reveal every challenge, though with enough foresight and thoroughness, playtests will uncover most issues before the game is released.

Ages of Conflict began as a home creation to allow us to play battles the way we wanted to play them.  We didn’t have plans to release the rules and so we weren’t concerned with playtesting other than fixing problems as we encountered them.

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