Company Of Iron: Follow Up Thoughts As Of March 18, 2022

I want to point out that this blog in general is almost 100% for my own enjoyment. I like writing. I like thinking about things / breaking them down. I like writing about the things I think about...blah blah blah. 

I write that to say that I'm not trying to convince anyone to feel any differently about Company of Iron. I'm just exploring my own thoughts on it as I dig deeper into the game play, how the launch / later-development was handled by PP, the complaints I've seen, etc. As we play it more & I read / watch more older content from when the game first came out, I may have more thoughts to dig into.

I guess I should clarify from the start: not all the complaints are unfounded or wrong. For one thing, personal taste comes into play and that makes many things relative. That said, there are other complaints that I think can squarely be blamed on misunderstanding of a core rule or building a list that I believe does not fit well with the "spirit" of Company of Iron's most enjoyable game play could be.

One of the primary complaints was that games of Company of Iron take as long as 50pt games of full-on Warmachine / Hordes. In some instances, the complaint of games going longer than expected is legitimate & for that I offer a few suggestions to combat it. In other situations, it seems to be a matter of misunderstanding how / when "casualty rolls" work & that prolongs games that should have ended quicker than they did.

Since the game is no longer in active development by PP and seems to primarily be played by dedicated fans in casual settings, I think a small "house rule" tweak isn't such a horrible offense.

To that I offer: when Donna & I play Company of Iron, we use the Warcaster: Neo-Mechanika rule for "Rough Terrain" - basically moving in rough terrain is a flat -2" penalty to your overall movement, but capped so that you never move less than 1" due the penalty. In our last play of COI, we used this house rule for rough terrain & really liked it. It's a simple adjustment, but it can be a real time saver / makes for very quick math and you're off to the races. Just to clarify, this is only for our games of Company of Iron. When we play Brawlmachine, we use the active rules with no changes for rough terrain or anything else.

Another aspect that I believe to longer-than-expected games relates to list building. To my mind, Company of Iron should be a small skirmish game. By that, I mean you'd be looking at anywhere from 4-9 models total per player. In our games, we each average around 4-6 models, but looking at a couple older batreps from when the game first came out, I can see where the game could be bloated with upwards of 20+ models per player.

For instance, I made a 20pt list for my Cryx that included:

- full unit of Mechanithralls (10 models)

- full unit of Bile Thralls (10 models)

- Soul Trapper

- Necrotech

22 total models. That's a LOT of activations & even if playing with the correctly understood rules for casualty rolls, you're going to be looking a more than a "quick skirmish game".

Adding insult to injury, if there's confusion about casualty rolls, having lists like this is compounded so much more. Also, that's at the minimum 20pt game for Company of Iron. If you play up to the 25pt level with a list like that, the game would obviously be even more drawn out.

"But, Jason, that's easy to do with Cryx since their models are so much cheaper"

True, but even when I look at a faction like Protectorate, I can easily cram 17 models into a 20 pt list with:

- full unit of Temple Flameguard (10 models)

- full unit of Daughters of the Flame (6 models)

- Vassal Mechanik

By contrast, the lists that Donna & I played in our first Company of Iron game with Cryx vs Protectorate were:

Cryx (me)

- Hellslinger Phantom

- Ripjaw

- Bloat Thrall

- min unit of Mechanithralls (6 models)

Total Cryx: 9 models

Protectorate of Menoth (Donna)

- Exemplar Warder Elias Gade

- Revenger

- Vassal Mechanik

- min unit of Exemplar Bastions (3 models)

Total Protectorate: 6 models

Our current 20pt lists for COI for our Hordes factions are even smaller. My Skorne is 4 models & her Circle is 5.

Skorne

- Hakaar the Destroyer

- Cyclops Savage

- Ancestral Guardian

- Extoller Novitiate

Circle Orboros

- min unit of Warpborn Skinwalkers (3 models)

- Winter Argus

- Lord of the Feast

My overall point is that I think, while not explicitly stated in the rules, playing lists with tons of cheap models goes against what I believe the heart of what Company of Iron should be. Bear in mind, this is 100% my own theory based on what I've seen and not based on any specific interview or statement from Privateer Press or the original designer, Will Schoonover.

The last thing I want to get into in this post is what seems to be continued confusion about casualty rolls. To be fair, this isn't exactly anyone's fault. Some players misunderstood them, but if we're being honest, the rulebooks don't exactly help. All the information is in the rulebooks for Company of Iron along with the core rules for Warmachine. However, it's certainly not always in the most clear to understand or easy to find layout.

A big part of that problem is that the rules for COI are spread out between 3 rulebooks. I don't have a set timeline yet, but I have plans to compile the 3 rulebooks into 1 with a few small additions to clarify things (simple stuff like flow charts, etc).

Some players were making casualty rolls for models who were attacked while in an Injured state. That shouldn't happen, but the sections covering Injured models, attacks on Injured models, & casualty rolls are separated from each other by anywhere from 6-14 pages. Like I said, it's all there, just not in the most intuitive place / way of explaining.

I am going to make a simple flowchart to cover what happens when a model is attacked based on the state they're in when I rewrite the rules, but I'll give a simple text overview of it here:

1. When a Battle Ready model is attacked, if the damage done would be enough to mark off their last health:

- make a d6 casualty roll: 

  - 1-2 the model is Disabled, go through the Disabled-Boxed-Destroyed flow

  - 3-4 the model is Injured with 1 damage removed / 1 box unmarked

  - 5-6 the model is Knocked Down with 1 damage removed / 1 box unmarked

2. When an Injured model is attacked (any melee attack or any ranged / magic attack within 0.5"):

- the attack automatically hits

- the model is automatically Boxed without the need for a damage roll

3. When a Knocked Down model is attacked:

- if melee attack, it automatically hits

- if ranged / magic attack, make an attack roll with the target gaining the +4 DEF bonus from cover

- if the attack hits, make a damage roll

- if the damage roll would do at least 1 damage, a casualty roll is made

At the start of their activation, if a model is Injured they make a casualty roll with the same "chart" listed above: 1-2 Disabled, 3-4 still Injured, 5-6 Knocked Down.

If they're Disabled, it's simple. They go through the Disabled-Boxed-Destroyed flow.

If they're still Injured, it's simple. Their activation is over immediately & you pass turn to your opponent.

If they're Knocked Down, it's simple. They can activate, either playing an appropriate card to "Shake" the Knock Down or forfeiting their Normal Movement or Combat Action to stand up.

No matter which it is, it's a quick simple resolution and the game continues.

Another mistake that I've seen made is that some players were making casualty rolls for warjacks & warbeasts when their last health was marked off. No casualty rolls are ever made for jacks or beasts. When they lose their last health, you go straight to the normal Disabled-Boxed-Destroyed flow from Warmachine.

Unfortunately, from what I've read in forums between PP / reddit / FB / etc and seen in a few videos, it seems like some people were making casualty rolls when an Injured model was attacked. All those extra erroneous casualty rolls would no doubt make the game drag on longer than you'd expect.

One thing is for certain: Donna & I are really enjoying our plays of Company of Iron. We just bought 2 mats to fit the 30"x30" play area from TableWar. I'm in the process of making a quick reference guide for it, updated Commander Upgrade cards, & have plans to rewrite the rulebook (using 99.9999% of the original text, but just moving a few things to where they can be understood better and adding in a couple of flow charts).

In the past, I worked as a Euro board game designer with several designs published by some of the most notable American & European board game publishers. So, I'm no stranger to the work that goes into writing good rulebooks & have had the privilege of working with some outstanding game developers; having done my best to glean as much wisdom from them as I could over the years. I'm hoping to translate that into a more clear, easy to understand rulebook for Company of Iron. The rules overall are very well written for COI. There are just a few things that are spread out or not very clear as I noted above.

The schedule I've tried to keep for the blog for the past however-many months has been 2 batreps a month with a hobby or otherwise WMH-related blog in the weeks in between batreps. Since our Company of Iron games play in half the time or less of our Brawlmachine games, I may start adding a 3rd batrep to each month with 2 of them being Brawlmachine every other week & the 3rd being for Company of Iron on the week in between the other 2. We'll see how that goes as far as scheduling is concerned, but right now I'm excited to breathe some new life & put some work into a game format that we have come to love.