Fantasy Legend does something that a number of wargames have never managed well. Fantasy legend actually has a good system of advancement for your army through gameplay.
Plus, the game mechanics are well thought out and play-tested. Another trait that many games lack.
Set in the world of Faldor, a mostly generic fantasy world, Fantasy Legend lets you build an army and then see it grow over time to become a legend. It handles this through a system similar to roleplaying, where you track the exploits and accomplishments of your heroes in what they do. Slay a wizard? Two promotion points. Capture a standard? 1 promotion point. Lots of systems use these actions for victory points; only Fantasy Legends lets you spend these to create new units and subordinate commanders. Although this system is of little use during one-off fights, in campaign games it actually adds a whole new dimension to the game.
Other than that system, Fantasy Legend does not present too many innovations to fantasy wargames; it presents a good engine for playing, and little more. The rules work well together, and offer few areas of confusion or room for argument, but they are not particularly groundbreaking. Everything is handled on a D10. There is a good deal of comparison of stats to charts, but this does not slow down gameplay. There are enough examples given in the rules text to quickly pick up on the rules needed to play.
The army generation is relatively quick and easily, and there are ten different races to choose from, as well as a wide array of weapons and equipment to pick from. The number of charts in this book are staggering; and may take some getting used to, but they do keep the data easily available and well organized.
The book includes a large amount of templates and playsheets in the back, in order to maximize organization. This is a good thing, as hunting down some rules in the rulebook could slow down the game quite a bit.
The layout is simplistic, with two-columns per page being the normal, with some black and white illustration to break things up a bit. The artwork ranges from very good to passable, but there is no feeling of "filling space" with the artwork. It breaks up the text a bit, or serves the examples, or merely adds some flavor to things.
Complaints? Really, none big. This game doesn't make any glaring errors, which is a welcome to relief. The organization leaves a little to be desired, with things out of the order I would have them in. This isn't a big complaint, but players of other game systems are accustomed to finding things in certain places, and this book doesn't follow that same sense of order. I also would have liked to have seen pictures of miniatures and terrain, but Black Knight's miniatures line is not out yet. A pity.
Overall, this game is a good one. It is easy to learn, has some nice touches, and moves smoothly. It also doesn't have anything that has me jumping out of my seat in excitement (not that that happens often, actually). Fantasy Legend is going to have to face up against the current king of the hill, Games Workshop's Warhammer. Players of Warhammer certainly won't be disappointed by the ease of gameplay in this game, but it lacks much flash needed to get their attention. Which is a shame, as Fantasy Legend might be just what some of them want - a game that doesn't require arguing to play.
Style: 3 (Average)
Substance: 4 (Meaty)
