Welcome to my blog, the story of my continuing journey into the World of Zombie Wargames.

Monday 8 October 2018

Palaeo Diet - EobE Rules Review

As I only briefly touched on the rules for Palaeo Diet - Eat or be Eaten (henceforth PD) last week, but thought a more in-depth look at the rules was in order.

I'm fairly stuck in my ways and like my rules to have a straightforward layout.:
An Introduction to the game, including base-sizes, figure scale, dice used etc.
A Movement section - what are the movement rates for the figures, who can I move and when ?
A Shooting section- Missile weapon ranges, how to use them and their effects.
A Melee section- Hand to hand (or teeth, claws or talons), how it's conducted and how do you win fights?
A Morale section- Do your figures, fight, flee or freeze ?  This is probably the most difficult to get right when writing one's own rules imo.
A Miscellaneous section  - the catch-all section wherein everything else is put, maybe rarely-used rules, 'advanced' rules, optional rules and the like.
It seems to be the case now though that more and more rules would include scenarios , points systems, army lists etc.
This is a skirmish game, using single figures on a small playing area, generally hunting prehistoric beasts.
Movement in PD is straight forward, you can have up to three actions per turn, with the choice of using one two or three dice for his activation(s).
Two of your dice are white and a roll of '1' means you have failed to activate with that die and will cause reactions by beasts.
The third die is red and a roll of '1,2 or 3' will cause a failed activation.
Each successful activation allows the figure to move in one of three ways- Lope, amble or skulk (though I'd have preferred Run, Walk and Sneak).
Their are also a seven other actions that can be done with a successful activation, such as Howling, throwing spears and so on.


Each figure has three abilities relevant to their attacking prowess (Savagery), the ease in which they are wounded (Resilience) and how many wounds it takes to kill them( Bulk). Your hunters are given all three stats too, but as their Savagery and resilience is never used it confused me for a good while.
Shooting a bow or using a slingshot are both grouped as 'Pelting' (I'd much have [referred to stick with shooting) and generally follow the same lines as melee/close combat. The Hunters use a beast resilience to inflict a wound, using a D6 to equal or better the beast's Resilience, whilst a beast attacking a hunter uses its Savagery. Any success inflicts a single wound on the victim.



The shooting and melee rules are simplistic, but it's the animal's reactions and actions to being hunted that makes this game.
Animals are split into Predators (large and pack types) and grazers, large and other.
Each of these types will differ in their reactions and subsequent reactions to the hunters.
There are six things that make animals react, and a D6 determines which of eight possible animal actions the animals take, each of the four groups mentioned having their own distinctive ways of dealing with the hunters.
Predatory animals generally see the hunters as prey and grazers tend to see them as threats, which may either be attacked or fled from etc.


There are many other rules in the general sections, none of which will come as a surprise, using dogs and fire on the hunt and smaller animals 'Critters' all of which add to the game.
The beasts' sense of smell, alerting them to the hunters is dealt with in the extension "Fireside tales" and a slight change to the critters rules are also in the latter volume.
The obvious campaign possibilities of feeding and expanding your tribe, using individual traits for characters are also all there.
Many gamers will find the large number of very simple scenarios a great boon in getting started.
Overall I found the rules well set-out and simple enough that one could learn to play in very little time.bThere's element of luck and skill which I like in all games and I'll be looking forward to playing these - even solo!

In other news, I ordered the four sets of Copplestone Cavemen/women figures for this project from North Star, they arrived last week, exactly a week since I ordered them ! My order from "Arcane Scenery" that I ordered last Tuesday also arrived  with the North Star order - an amazing two days after I ordered them. I'm still awaiting further models, from "Steve Barber", but it is less than a week since I ordered them. 
I'll probably show what I've done with the figures next week.
Plans for further adventures in Jimland, whilst having slowed down, haven't yet come to a stop as real life once more rears it's ugly head.

That's it then for this week, as always thanks for taking the time to visit and of course your comments are always welcomed and appreciated.

22 comments:

  1. The simpler the better, I like them!

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    1. Thanksfully, things have come full circle and rules generallyaresimpler, though some are too simplified imho (not this set though it suits the genre)

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    1. Thanks you Michal, (don't say anything, but I'm not that good at writing rule reviews)

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  3. A good look at the rules Joe & good to see you happy with them :)

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    1. Thanks Frank, the movement decisions and the animal reactions sold it for me.

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  4. Exceelent review Joe, and I'm looking forward to seeing this in action on your blog soon :-)

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    1. Thanks Blaxx, I never quite know what to put into rule reviews and like you I too hope tpo see some action on my blog, but who knows when.

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  5. A good intro to the rules Joe. I've been impressed with the delivery speed from Arcane and NorthStar as well.

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    1. Thanks Vagabond, though it was probably yourself and Colgar6 that brought me around to Palaeo. My first order form North Star took about a fornight to arrive (about the dsame time as a lot of my stuff from China), but as there were three different manufacturers' stiff I wasn;t that surprised. Pleased with them this time though.
      Arcane Scenery is probably the fastest I've ever had a delivery from what I can remember.

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  6. Thanks for acting as the Hunter gatherer in bringing these rules to my attention. I shall look for the first game with MUCH anticipation.

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    1. It's probably the games' narratives that caught my attention first
      Don;t hold your breath waiting for a game, it'll be a while.

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  7. Sound fun. I've read a few reports on it and they played out well.

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    1. Thanks Brummie, I think it was the same reports that got me enthusiastic about it all and I hope mine play out as well.

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  8. Good stuff Joe! Can't wait to see what you've done with your orders from NorthStar and Arcane :)

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    1. Thanks Ivor, all will be revealead in due course, but don't expect any more than 'average'!

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  9. Good summary of the rules,sounds nice and clear,Ill join everyone else in looking forward to a game write up or a first look at figures!
    Best Iain

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    1. Thanks Iain, the rules have currently left me with no questions, but then again I haven't played a game!
      I'm sure I'kk be up and riunninbg as fast as I'm able.

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  10. Sounds like good progress. I hope you enjoy playing PD as much as we have done :-) .

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    1. Thanks C6, I reckon it was your write-ups that intrigued me, both in your earlier (Settlement ?) days and your later Palaeo games. The latter, plus Vagabond's, eventually made me fold and go for Palaeo Diet.

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  11. I must admit Joe, the reports from C6 and Vagabond were very inspiring and I hope yours will be too (I'm positive they will be). This seems to be a very fun set of rules and I'm really tempted

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    1. Thanks dGG, the reports from them both inspired me to finally plump for PD as I've looked around for a set of prehistoric hunting tules for a while. For the price of the PDF I thought it was well worth the cash abd the supplement, whilst amusing and introduces a few new rules, isn't essential. The only thing I don't like about this project (or any other tbh) is painting the figures.

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