OUTLANDS: Battle Royale (Playtesting).

Friday night is our games night at Bodmin Gaming Group (BGG). Along with the normal 40K, AoS, Bloodbowl, Lord Of The Rings (my game of choice) and a many others, it also gives us a chance to get together and try out some new OUTLANDS ideas.

OUTLANDS: Battle Royale is something that's been floating on my hard drive for a couple of months and lastnight (06/07/2018) it finally made a playtest.

If you are unfamiliar with the concept of 'Battle Royale' then let me explain the basics. A number of players are left unequipped (no weapons, no armour, no equipment) on the edge of the gameboard. Each player must find a supply crate/s, loot it for weapons, and survive to be the Last Man Standing...………. while all the time a deadly storm cloud is closing down the game area.

Its a concept that is very popular with video games...see Fortnite, PUBG and H1Z1 for more info.

Unlike the video game versions of Battle Royale, the OUTLANDS version allows for 4 players to battle it out to the death and dodge the incoming storm.

Of course, the base OUTLANDS rule system needed to be adjusted to allow 4 players instead of the normal 2. This leaded to some very interesting interactions between players (you sure find out who your friends are).

In the above photo the edge of the storm cloud is represented by the orange counters (2 counters are on the other side which you can't see) leaving just a 12 inch square 'Safe Area'. When I say 'Safe Area'...what I really mean is safe from the Storm Cloud....not the other players.

To win OUTLANDS: Battle Royale, you have to be the Last Man Standing....so if the Storm Cloud doesn't kill your opponents....then you will have to do the nasty.

Battle Royale starts of slowly, but things start to heat up when you realise that to survive you have to stay away from the storm and dodge attacks from 3 other players. Needless to say this lead to a lot of good hearted banter and secret deals to try a screw each other over.

After the game (which I won...of course), the team sat down to run some new ideas. A few minor tweaks and the OUTLANDS: Battle Royale Bolt-On should be ready for release.....for FREE.

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Until next time Outlanders,

JM