BattleLore 2nd Edition

A two-player board game of fantasy battles

My long history with BattleLore goes back to the announcement of the first edition by Days of Wonder, and a sudden desire to set up a fan website for the game called BattleLoreMaster. I even created some original fiction featuring a character called The Raven, and one of his adventures ended up on the back of an expansion box. But sadly, first edition never developed into its full potential, and DoW, no doubt blindsided by the strange tendency of some Chinese manufacturers to drastically ‘adjust’ their production quotes after the first batch, sold the lot to Fantasy Flight Games. It seemed as if ‘original’ BattleLore was no more after FFG released Battles of Westeros, but instead, several years down the track came this new second edition, which has been wrapped in the fantasy skin of FFG’s own Terrinoth milieu.

Inevitably, a bit of character has been lost, but some rules have been tweaked and a very clever little scenario system added, and it was good to see BattleLore live on, albeit in a different form. The figures are a slightly mixed bag—but then so were those in the first edition—and I do wish they wouldn’t model big thick bow strings on bowmen, but then they are larger (an average unit is now 3 figures instead of 4) and the overall production quality is high. The whole set looks great when it’s painted up and in battle—check out the EOG video tutorials for some tips and getting them done.

Sadly, after a few figure pack expansions, BattleLore died again, and even a mobile app version called BattleLore: Command didn’t save it from oblivion. Will there be a third edition one day I wonder?

Update Log

Rules Summary & Reference

Date Version Changelog
Jun 19 2 Added all the expansions
May 17 1.1 Setup section clarified
Oct 14 1 Original release

Foamcore Box Insert Plans

Date Version Changelog
Jan 20 1.1 Fixed 2 incorrect piece quantities
Mar 15 1 Original release

8 Comments

  • scriptulike says:

    Fantastic work as always. I never play without a couple of your excellent How To Play // Rules guides (laminated, natch!) to hand. [Arkham Horror would be a non-starter without your crib-sheets.] Look forward to the updates for the new troops in Battlelore 2! The foamcore box inserts / trays are top of my to do list for the summer / autumn. (Though I am still puzzling where to store the new troops. The new plastic packaging from FFG… Shakes head.) Great painting guides too. Always a terrific pleasure – and no little inspiration – to watch. Many, many thanks for the splendid resources you have provided for gamers all these many years; and, hopefully, for many more years to come! Happy gaming! May the dice always land in your favour.

  • Thank you so much for those kind words my friend, and thank you even more for the extremely generous donation. It will go straight to making the site better! Hope to see you on the forums.

  • White Flare says:

    Built the foam core box for this game and loved it. Pulling out the top try to reveal my army all standing at attention gives me a thrill, and the top try makes organizing and accessing the tokens so much easier. This insert and your Level 7 Omega protocol are necessary for helping set up and play the game in a more reasonable time. I would love to see more foam core inserts from you as making my own design doesn’t turn out well. Thanks for everything you do!

  • Jaymer says:

    Hello, I have an original battlelore, but never found a group to play it with. It’s not the type of game you can keep trying to introduce first-time players to and I never had a steady group to enjoy it.
    Is there another game that you would suggest that offers the same/similar enjoyment and isn’t too overly complicated?
    I never played any of the other Richard Borg Games, and I’m not stuck on this genre.
    But I might as will focus my efforts on a more modern and widely accepted game, than this old one where I’m not gonna be able to find players to enjoy it with.

    • Hi Jaymer. I hesitate to recommend games because people’s tastes and tolerance for difficulty are so different, but for check out Cyclades, Inis, Lords of Waterdeep, Small World, and Dead of Winter. All popular, fun games worth playing.

  • Joe Langdale says:

    Do you have images of your painted battlelore second edition units anywhere? I am planning on painting my collection ( I have never painted before) so planning to use your video but wanted to see the rest of the units finished, your rune golems and flesh ripper brutes specifically look incredible!

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