Historical Fantasy – A Burning Banners: Rage of the Witch King Review

Burning Banners is a bit of a darling. Published by Compass Games, it’s an asymmetric fantasy wargame built upon the foundation of traditional hex-and-counter conflict simulations. It doesn’t boast an innovative action system, there’s no Euro-style engine building, and it includes zero miniatures. It’s progression through reinterpretation, finding expansive creativity in the well-tread mud of past battles.

And it’s broken through.

This game has found a feverish audience, one that floats across the trenches manned by grognards and extends into the realm of modern thematic gamers. This thing is already approaching its third print run this year, and that’s because it absolutely slays.

Designer Christopher Moeller is an interesting character. He’s designed several wargames which haven’t had the impact of this new title, but he’s perhaps better known for his effort as an artist. My only previous encounter with his work is through the Burning Empires roleplaying game. This is a nifty off-shoot of one of my favorite RPGs, Burning Wheel. It’s set in Moeller’s Iron Empires universe that came to life as a graphic novel. His skill as an illustrator is evident, not just from Iron Empires but also from Burning Banners‘ exceptional visual presentation. Look at those counters and maps. They are imaginative, clean, and full of charisma. There is an identity in this game that is familiar and built atop the foundation of Tolkien, but it somehow captures an element of distinction. This game is not at all generic.

Everything emanates from this individuality. Each faction is asymmetrical, offering a number of unique units that are distinguished through simple qualities such as attack dice, movement points, and universal special traits. After a play or two, you can pick up a new faction and immediately identify how its troops work and what your strategic options are. There are some macro-level faction powers – such as the Eastern Empire having a unique revolt system and Orcs possessing an alternative economic engine – but these are summarized on a single card and easy to interpret. This isn’t Root.

There’s a real sense of simplicity here that echoes beyond the factions. The basic rules of the game have players taking turns activating all of their units by moving them about the board and then performing a single action. Usually the action is spent attacking an adjacent foe. Sometimes it’s a quirkier activity such as working a mine with dwarfs or fording a river with goblin scouts. There is a surprising degree of freedom in purchasing new troops, as you can buy and place them in the middle of your turn. This means you can activate an ogre and seize a settlement, only then to place down a new group of orc scouts. There’s a fluidity here that is natural and liberating. This flexibility is the most significant source of player agency as combat tends to be swingy and less predictable.

While there are some persnickety rules concerning garrisons, terrain, and controlling settlements, it’s largely devoid of exceptions or obtuse concepts. Completely absent are zones of control. Units don’t pin or influence each other indirectly at all. Stacking of multiple units does not exist. There also are no CRTs in sight as combat is simply rolling either six or eight-siders and looking for a 5+ to generate hits. There is, however, a neat dice explosion mechanism which is a delightful source of drama and helps cement this game’s grounding in the fantastical.

Now this is where it gets interesting. The advanced ruleset adds several touches which upend the game and increase complexity. Heroes are perhaps the biggest gain, as named characters from each nation may be deployed for support on the battlefield. They possess distinct abilities and often influence combat. A detail that I applaud is that you do not recruit a specific hero, instead you draw randomly from your stack. This avoids the issue of player’s favoring certain characters, allowing for a mixture in strength and effectiveness. Some may be bothered by this wobbly balance, but it ties into the game’s volatile nature and the guardrails on competence are narrow enough to make the procedure never feel awful.

Faction blessings are personal decks tied to each culture. They function as hidden abilities which are triggered through card play. This allows for insane options such as surprise attacks, unit capture, or even the appearance of a wondrous dwarf city in the mountains. There’s absurdity here and it’s splendid. These decks almost double the disparity in faction capability, adding a large degree of specialization which farther amplifies the role and tendencies of the various armies.

Spells function similarly except they are drawn from a shared deck. They can boost combat profiles, allow for unexpected maneuvers, and even summon loyal creatures to aid you on the battlefield. They are wide-ranging and will have a large effect on play. They’re also the messiest aspect of Burning Banners as they are facilitated with a strict timing procedure in combat. This is due to the counterplay associated with these effects and it’s an unfortunate necessity. This also adds some overhead to the turn structure, as a new phase occurs at the conclusion of each player turn where everyone refills their hand of cards. The game transitions here from a very clean, almost introductory consim, to something more trashy and wild. This concession is absolutely worth it, but it’s a cost nonetheless.

The final detail of the advanced ruleset are dungeon sites. These are gnarly. There are specific locations on the board such as forsaken caves and crumbling spires that serve as a neutral monster nest. Units can spend their action to explore these locales, drawing a random creature from a pool of chits and then fighting it. If you defeat the beast you’re rewarded with gold and a treasure card. These items are potent, allowing you to unleash significant abilities and alter the scope of battle. If you fail to defeat the creature, then the opposing side gains control of it and can utilize it during their turn. Totally killer.

Beyond the additional setting implications and detail, I am very pleased with this dungeoneering as it creates side adventures in the midst of a larger conflict. It reminds me of the role of heroes in Runewars, venturing off to an isolated area on the side of the map to adventure. There’s this neat subtext of fantasy world building and lore associated with this mechanism, and I dig it.

While I do enjoy the basic Burning Banners ruleset, these advanced options transition the experience to a more vivid and rich outcome. Most importantly, the setting is injected with life and becomes more chromatic and detailed. This is the single most important attribute, as the interesting setting is the focal point of play.

The perspective of Burning Banners is unique. It does not originate from a group of protagonists, it’s not even player centered. Instead, the viewpoint of play is derived from setting.

This begins from the map. There are four mounted boards that can all be connected to form part of the kingdom of Kalar. While the largest scenarios feature all four maps, many utilize only one or two. Each scenario is extraordinarily unique and creative with varying goals and alternative rules. They’re steeped in the kingdom’s history, offering a reference date and background context. Some even link together to form important points in the 12-year war. Turns, likewise, are framed as seasons. This adds additional oomph to that sense of time and setting.

There is a surprising sense of place. Seeing a location in one battle and then revisiting it later offers a strong degree of context. Allegiances of settlements and important locations are altered over time, and there’s a sense of motion and consequence that is beyond most fantasy wargames. This is a remarkable thing, as the game places you in the role of student, exploring the War of the Burning Banners through key points in the conflict’s history.

It’s such a different feeling to playing a game like BattleLore or even the aforementioned Runewars. Neither of those games, or virtually anything else of that ilk, conveys a chronology or setting in an effective way. I’ve said this before, but I know almost nothing of Terrinoth despite spending dozens and dozens of hours in it. I know about Kalar. I care about it. And that’s because the game is presented and framed with this coherent idea of world. It elevates the experience and overcomes the undignified label of “generic fantasy”.

I also am amused with how this historical lens fosters a sense of curiosity. In my early plays on the Wilderness map, I kept eyeing the Spire of the Moon, curious what the hell was going on there. I knew the game would eventually tell me. I wasn’t disappointed.

It’s obvious Moeller is all in on this. The game comes with a dedicated setting booklet. It also provides art prints of various characters. There are details embedded through play that are evocative and actually stick with me. For instance, the Orc and Goblin nations – two separate factions – collectively are referred to as the Shashka Kingdom. That sounds like an off-brand soda, but it quickly transforms into something meaningful. The whole game is sort of like this. It’s silly fantasy, perhaps even tropey, and then it’s not. It’s something rich with history that you’ve actually experienced and are engaged with.

I do have to admit that I’m frustrated. Burning Banners is one of 2024’s best games, but it’s terribly close to being something even more than that. Its faults, while not unconquerable, protrude even more noticeably due to this case.

One of the largest issues with this game is downtime. You will see it often discussed in the context of this design. A smart thing Moeller does is situate every scenario as a team affair. This game is never played as a free-for-all. It’s always aligned with the more traditionally “good” nations opposite the “bad”. This is a wonderful twist, as it keeps players in continual contact and discussion. But even so, the game can stretch to an excruciating length.

With a full complement of six players you may have to wait 45-minutes or more between turns. This is because a player activates every single one of their units before they pass the baton. The game is straightforward and can certainly play quickly, but if a participant hesitates on what they want to purchase or where they want to attack, it can drag out substantially. This is a problem not often seen in wargames, as the bulk of them are two-player games. It’s also not a problem typical of Ameritrash or thematic games that exist outside of that genre. Downtime isn’t particularly painful in Twilight Imperium, for instance. So, there’s this byproduct here of the wargame structure melding with thematic gaming, and it produces this structural issue which cannot easily be solved.

At smaller player counts it’s a brisk thing. I’m particularly fond of the three-player scenarios which offer a unique two-versus-one setup. These take place on smaller maps as well, which means even allies are concerned with what’s going on nearby their kingdom. In the larger games, some of the action can be so far away that it’s difficult to maintain concentration when that portion of the board is active. There is some nice team action, particularly with the ability to cast spells to aid your compatriots. But this isn’t a large enough segment of play to overcome the fatigue at the upper end of the player spectrum. It’s also diminished somewhat in the larger games as heroes need to be within reasonable distance of their allies in order to cast spells and influence battle.

On the whole, I do think downtime is an overblown criticism in modern gaming. It offers a moment to engage others in discussion, reflect on the what’s happened, and just take a breather. It’s certainly appropriate when you’re committing to an epic game. And I can enjoy Burning Banners with a full group, I just won’t want to do it more than once a year or so. This relegates it to those occasions where it’s an event of sorts. Thankfully it can be played with a smaller contingent, otherwise it would be in eternal competition with Dune and Twilight Imperium.

Another minor issue is the game’s instability. There has been online chatter about tweaking certain aspects of the ruleset. There are proposed variants to reduce downtime, buff certain units, and tweak details for all facets of the game. Some find the advanced systems too complex and want something in between. Others want the rigid process of magic in battle gutted.

While all of that is fine, Moeller has been too quick to rubber stamp some of these changes and appease players. There was a moment where he officially removed the battle magic system and opted for a more freeform and less structured approach. This caused its own problems, however, and he’s now reinstated the rule as written. He’s also soft proposed a multiplayer system similar to the overlord rules in Memoir 44. This is intended to alleviate some of the downtime at larger player counts. While this suggestion is in its infancy, it’s already something that’s stirring up some interest and discussion.

A game of this magnitude needs to sit on its own for a while. Errata is necessary, and there is a little of that, but significant changes to the game’s systems need to be held off and play-tested over a long period of time. The shifting landscape appears less stable for those researching the game and it’s a disservice to undermine the already extensive design work.

Ultimately, who cares, right? You don’t have to read the forums. This isn’t a huge deal. You can also just play with four or less players and ignore the largest issue. These grouses are legitimate, but they’re also not terribly consequential.

As I said at the beginning of this article, Burning Banners slays. It’s one of the biggest surprises of the year, and it’s serving a lesser attended to space of hybrid-war and modern board gamer. Regardless of its faults, I yearn to play more. Along with Arcs, it’s one of the games I’ve spent the most time noodling on. Helmets off to Christopher Moeller.

 

A review copy of the game was provided by the publisher.

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