Sibling chivalry
Can I tell you a secret?
I’m terrible atBattle Brothers.
I’mstillterrible at Battle Brothers, even after playing it on and off for a few years.
It’s a bit likeBlood Bowl, oddly, in that it’s all about mitigating risks.
It’s long overdue, in fact.
That’s partly because it sticks so resolutely to its guns.
Not that Battle Brothers ever did feel incomplete, mind.
It’s simply grown, quite naturally, and wouldn’t fit in those old shoes.
The latter part is handled very well.
Each town is owned by a noble house, and will offer one or two contracts every few days.
What makes them compelling is the context.
Each is introduced with some colourful writing, and each is based on real conditions on the map.
Better though, is the incomplete information.
Contracts are loosely rated by difficulty, and higher prices often indicate a rougher ride…but not always.
The client is paying just in case, and sometimes they pay over the odds.
The inverse is also true.
A client can underestimate how hard a fight will be.
And maybe he could (he did), but you’re not an adventuring party.
You’re a mercenary company.Are we getting paid enough?.
Combat, you see, is grubby, risky, and unglamorous.
You won’t get one death every ten hours and resurrect them anyway.
It’s also exhausting.
This gives you more options, and makes more of them worth considering than most games do.
Your dudes are precious, and expensive to lose even when they’re cheap.
Cheaper ones are common labourers, craftsmen, soft-handed scholars, each of which could still have some use.
Battle Brothers isn’t primarily a story generator.
Even more so here, because there’s no legacy, no inheriting children.
There is the party, and survival of the whole.
It is the attitude of the knife.
An oddly upbeat and humourous version, anyway, despite the constant violence and death.
In particular, I love that its not edgy or grimdark about its grimness or darkness.
But you do get those events.
Where you are on the map.
Whether you have enemies.
What the party has done recently.
How well the last battle went.
The time of day, your reputation, your supplies.
That’s basically what the expansions have leaned into.
Sure, the map is bigger, and there are loads more armour and weapon options.
There are more monsters that present atypical fight structures, and a new end game crisis.
But it’s not any one thing that any of its DLC added that has made a difference.
It is, just like your party, a different and better whole with the complete set.
I wouldnt be surprised if they’re eventually made inseparable.
Battle Brothers is meant to be replayed, you see.
There are even lower difficulties.
You have tolearn to lose.
Most mercenary companies will, after all.
I remain kind of terrible at Battle Brothers.
If nothing else, I admire that a great deal.
