Getting started in "The Barons' War"

Lately I've been reading a lot of online buzz about a game from Footsore Miniatures called "The Barons' War." The game has been out for a while now, and there have been, I think, four very successful Kickstarters for it.

I became more intrigued recently after seeing some posts on Facebook. The basic "retinue," which is what a force is called, can run from about 25 to 50 figures depending on the point level of the game. That's right in my comfort zone in terms of number of figures.

I don't know too much about the time period covered by the game, apart from having watched several iterations of "Robin Hood." But that can be remedied with a few good books.

There is a main rulebook for the game, The Barons' War, that contains the basic rules for playing out battles, creating your retinue, etc.

There are also a pair of supplements, Death & Taxes and Outremer. The first contains a campaign and rules for outlaw bands. The latter, of course, deals with the Crusades. Outremer has just released, so I've not yet had a chance to read it. I have always wanted a Hospitaller force, so I'll be looking to pick this up soon.

Footsore has also produced four mini campaign books along with accompanying figures of the main characters in each. These look like a lot of fun, though I've not yet gotten my hands on any.

Footsore produces a line of figures for the game, of course, and they are beautiful. They come as individual figures for the characters, or packs of four for the troops. You can also get a whole basic retinue.

You can use any figures you wish, however, and there are some other good options. Fireforge produces a line of plastic figures that are suitable, and more economical.

There are also some 3D print designers that have models appropriate to this era. You can spend as much or as little as you wish.

For myself, I will probably mix and match from several sources to complete my retinues.

In order to "get my feet wet" with this game, I picked up a box of Fireforge Foot Sergeants at Gigabytes. At $50 for 48 figures it's about as inexpensive as you can get, per figure.

Each of the six sprues contains eight bodies and an assortment of weapons. There are six hand weapons (two swords, two axes, two maces), six spears, and four crossbows on each sprue. You also get a selection of heads and shields.

Sergeants seem to be a fairly basic building block in most retinues I've seen. I've decided to start by assembling four figures with hand weapons. That's enough to experiment on and try to get a paint scheme that I like. 

I'm sure that as I read and become familiar with the rules I'll figure out how best to equip them to have a decent core of troops. I'll be looking to add some knights, mounted and on foot, to add some punch, as well as some more common folk to bulk up the numbers.

I have always been fond of skirmishing cavalry armed with missile weapons. I am not sure which troops best fit that role in The Barons' War (perhaps mounted Sergeants with crossbows?) but I am sure I will figure it out.

As I've mentioned, I don't really know much about this time and place in history. Heraldry is a mystery to me so I don't really know in which direction to go. Because I'm generally not a stickler for strict accuracy, I'll probably invent my own character to lead the retinue and just design a heraldry and color combination that looks decent. From my reading, I'll try to come up with a background that makes sense.

Here are the first four figures I assembled, awaiting basing and priming:

Hopefully they'll have some color to them for my next post on The Barons' War.

Don't worry though, fans of Malchus, despite a holiday- and COVID-induced hiatus, the Clash of Spears campaign is still in full swing, and your favorite intrepid Carthaginian madman will be back with more adventures soon!

'Til next time!