Impetus - Berbers vs Spanish

Another game of Impetus and a bit of practice to get to know the rules better before the first leg of the Scottish Impetus Championships which I'm going to take part in, as is Dave K my adversary for the evening, who is also organising the event.

Initial Deployments

I fielded the army I'm going to use which is my Berbers (masquerading under the Later Andalusians beta list as it's a slightly better list) and Dave used his El Cid Spanish (again using the beta list which for 300pts was almost all compulsories) for a historical match.

Mid game and just getting interesting

As you can see, my Berber's still haven't seen much paint over the last month that I'd planned to do, and are unlikely now to get finished for the competition. I'll see what I can get done before then though.

The game was more about getting more familiar with the rules as we are finding that though the rules are enjoyable, they do have a pretty steep learning curve in terms of getting the system and the rules fixed in your mind. This is not helped by the layout which is pretty different from most other rule sets I've seen for a number of years, and the pretty constant amendments, but we're getting there.

The game turned out to be a pretty slow affair as we quickly got into 'checking the rules' mode for various movement issues and then on through the rules. We did manage to get through five turns each and as we were both playing it canny, the game was really only getting to the interesting bit when we had to pack up.

The Cid charges forth

So in terms of the game it really was only a practice and getting to know the rules event and this it did as several points were picked up and several issues with my army list were high-lighted so all good really and I'm feeling I like the rules more after the game rather than any less.

The game itself was interesting with the Berber Cavalry keeping the flanks covered until right at the end when two rubbish cohesion tests in a row meant that the two units on the left flank disappeared. The infantry in the centre seemed to be doing ok while advancing cautiously against Dave's Spanish who were doing the same only slighlty slower. His impetuous knights though scary didn't seem to be doing well on either flank and in the centre the man himself The Cid charged into the right of the Berber line and that was where we left it when really the game was just getting to the interesting bit.

End of round five and end of game

All in all an education rather than a pleasure, but useful none the less. The Impetus rules are certainly gaining a particular popularity at the club at the moment with even a couple of seasoned fantasy/sci-fi players getting into it, so not a bad thing, and should provide a considerable number of opponents in the future.

The rules I think seem to suit a competition style of play and definitely give a more 'ordered' type of game in comparison to say WAB, or the newer HC or WaC and can be a bit linear in terms of movement.

I do enjoy playing the rules but I don't see myself abandoning the other rule sets just yet.