Burrows & Badgers & Beginnings

For the last year or so, I’ve been eagerly reading the Burrows & Badgers articles that fellow Goonhammer writers have been crafting along with thoroughly enjoying the painted models which get shared in the Goonhammer Discord (which you too can access by joining the Goonhammer Patreon!). I even picked up the first edition rulebook, but never quite got around to acquiring models and getting games in.

The recent release of the second edition of Burrows & Badgers feels like the perfect time to change that. You can read the Goonhammer review for another take on this new edition as well as check out the official Getting Started document from Oathsworn if you want to look into how the game works a little more. I’ve picked up the rulebook and a few miniatures and have been chatting with fellow enthusiasts, so I am hyped to start this journey. I thought it would be worthwhile for anyone Badger-curious to take a peek at someone’s first steps into the game and see if it appeals to you as well.

My usual approach to games is trying to iteratively improve my gameplay. I attempt to do this through understanding the rules, reading FAQs, and generally attempting to seek some mythical state of system mastery. I never truly achieve this, but it’s the journey of self improvement that I find rewarding. This approach could also be called “being a sweaty try-hard” in a less charitable way, but I’ll also embrace that because I do try hard at winning and getting better even if I tend to float around the mid-table level in events for other games. To preemptively answer any comments about being That Kind of Gamer, I want to stress that I always highly prioritize being a pleasant person when playing. Miniature games (and board games and card games) are inherently social experiences where you are interacting with another human being just as much, if not more, than the game pieces themselves so I think every effort should be made to create the most wholesome environment possible. My most treasured prizes from events I’ve participated in are the Best Sportsmanship awards I’ve picked up. These types of games are, at their core, a cooperative experience between multiple people, even if the game itself is structured in a competitive manner. Frankly, if you want to be a dickhead with angle shooting and “gotcha” plays, I think you should go play some single player games or virtually anonymous multiplayer video games.

I say all of that to highlight that the idea of venturing into an explicitly non-competitive game that’s more focused on ongoing campaigns sounded like a welcome change of pace for me. And that’s precisely what Burrows & Badgers is – it’s plainly stated on the very first page of the rules, once you get past some setting background and rad art. I plan to fully embrace this approach for this game as I explore not only a new system, but a new way to interact with games themselves.

Fair warning – Burrows & Badgers is a game that doesn’t take itself too seriously; it’s meant to be fun for all players, rather than overly competitive. If you are looking for a tournament game, this probably isn’t it. If you want to enjoy a full Campaign, where your models can change and develop over the course of your adventures, then you’ve picked up the right book!

Pg 12, Burrows & Badgers Rulebook

This is the first time I’ve been venturing into a story based game where the objective isn’t just winning. The campaign structure of Burrows & Badgers rewards just playing the game – the “loser” in many of the scenarios gain rewards comparable to the “winner” both in terms of Pennies (the currency to purchase items and hire new models) and experience (how to progress models). Between the main quest objectives, randomly rolled side quests, and your allegiance’s support quest, there are plenty of ways to progress your warband while playing even if you lose out on the main objective. I already know this is going to require a conscious mental shift on my part to rewire my brain.

The new edition also came at a time that felt just right for where I am in regards to miniature gaming as a hobby:

• I’m looking for another game to dip my toes into outside of my beloved Warhammer Underworlds, but I want it to remain small scale. It’s simply a lot easier for me to find time to play games when they don’t take multiple hours from start to finish. They also tend to be easier to transport and require less dedicated play space.
• I want to try once more to get into the painting side of the hobby, which I typically neglect in favor of focusing on the game aspect. I’ve attempted to find the joy of painting a few times without igniting the spark, but I’m stubborn and will give it another shot. Again, since this is a smaller scale game (2-10 models with the average being somewhere in the middle) I feel like that is not an unreasonable amount to paint.
• As much as I enjoy my slice of the GW ecosystem, I wanted to try something a little different. The dice stats and conflict resolution in this game appeals to me and the art style (which I adore) is not something you’ll find within a Codex or Battle Tome.
• I recently learned my lovely wife was a big fan of Redwall in her youth and we enjoyed looking through the various models together. I’ll take any excuse to do something with my favorite person.

With all that in mind, I pulled up the Oathsworn website a few weeks ago to start shopping around for models for my first band of beasts. Something I noticed very quickly is that the release of the second edition has certainly sparked interest in this game and quite a few models were out of stock. I initially started making a list of ones I liked the look of along with jotting down notes for what my potential band would be like narratively. In my typical fashion, this involved going overboard and making a spreadsheet tracking important values of each miniature like their species, load out, and the very important “vibes” value I felt when looking at them.

The goal was to carefully narrow down the options until it was just my band’s worth of models and then buy those. But I kept seeing models I liked the look of being sold out, and in one case one even sold out as I put it into my cart, so instead I just panicked and bought a pile of models that I thought looked cool.

This experiment is already off to an unplanned and wild start.

As I mentioned, I’m basically going to share my first steps into this game so others can get a glimpse into what it’s like for a newcomer. This piece will go from panic-buying a bunch of models to cracking open the book for the first time and building out baby’s first warbands. If there’s interest, future entries will cover my mediocre painting of models, getting terrain sorted out, and potentially gameplay while I slowly learn valuable lessons about how many horrible mistakes I have made.

I do want to point out that all of the rules writing, model sculpting, model casting, painting for the studio photos, frighteningly quick worldwide shipping, and countless other behind-the-scenes aspects of this game are handled solely by Michael and Jo Lovejoy. Their communication with the community during this release has been nothing short of phenomenal. They were working 12 hour days–including during their anniversary. There has already been one major restocking since the rules were released at Salute in London back in April with another announced by the time of writing. If what you want isn’t in stock yet, just be patient and give it some time. You’ll be in good company as I wait for the Adder Mage and Adder Warrior (and many others) to become available again. Michael and Jo, I want to thank you for your passion and time. It shows in the final product and how it’s handled every step of the way.

Band of Badgers

One of the things that stood out to me the most while reading the rulebook (aside from the gorgeous art and model photography) was the section on Allegiances. They are essentially your band’s faction. Each entry begins with a paragraph outlining some of the general vibe and background for the allegiance before flowing into the special rules that apply to both initial band generation and ongoing gameplay.

The types of modifications each Allegiance provides is fairly standardized between them all. In most cases, you’ll find the following:

• Starting Bonus: This allows you to increase the dice value of a few of your models’ stats by one. Since attributes in this game are measured in dice, this means something like a d4 would become a d6, or a d6 becomes a d8, and so on. Allegiances limit which stat(s) can be increased and it is tied to the theme of that band.
• Special Rule: Some Allegiances pick up a special “miscellaneous” rule that can be anything from a higher starting purse so you can hire and equip more beasts to restrictions saying none of your beasts can use black powder weapons.
• Den: Your band’s den is their base. It’s where they go to hang out between games. Each Allegiance gets a certain type of upgrade for free to start with and again, it’s something that will generally help with whatever that band’s theme is. Rogues get an obstacle course and the Arcane Conclave get a study, for instance. Many of these starting upgrades give you a little extra control over the results rolled for when you’re leveling up your models.
• Archetype: There are four archetypes, and each Allegiance belongs to one of them. It controls some of the tables you’ll be rolling on between games and weights results in one way or another. These are Warrior, Ranger, Cunning Folk, or All-Rounder.
• Magical Archetypes: Magic in the game is divided up into different specialties or schools. Things like Natural, Fate-weaver, Necromancy, etc. Each Allegiance is restricted to a certain set of schools that they can learn from. Each of your models is restricted to a single school to start with, but they can learn as many spells from that school as they wish – the cost isn’t paid in pennies, but rather in taking on Weak and Delicate skills which make that particular model less adept at fighting and more fragile.
• Support Quest: This is an objective that applies to any games you play and rewards models in your band with fate points and/or experience points. Some are fairly straightforward, like moving next to an objective and doing the interact action; others are a little more involved like the spellcaster Allegiance having you build up a tally of ritual points from having models channel their power.

I’m not usually one given to creating backstories for my armies in other games. It probably comes from my “crunchy” approach to games in general. I’ve tried my hand at various roleplaying games a few times–in person, via chat, or using an ancient and outdated technology called forums–but I always find it a little awkward until we get to the parts where we’re pushing models around and rolling dice. I’ve never built a Magic: the Gathering deck themed around a character or event despite having played the game for over two decades. Heck, I’ve been playing Warhammer Underworlds heavily for a few years now and I couldn’t tell you much about the Age of Sigmar factions or setting. I say all that to emphasize how novel it is for me to start daydreaming about backstories when I read a blurb about how the King of Northymbra has gone missing and his unpopular son is ruling as regent. It’s very much a King Richard and Prince John vibe. I suppose this is extra appropriate for me because one of the VHS tapes in regular rotation when I was a kid was Disney’s Robin Hood, so I’ll always associate this period of English history with animals.

That said, I won’t be writing a massive document outlining the genealogy of my beasts and their favorite flavors of ice cream – I know that’s the way some people interact with games and I think that’s rad for them, but it’s not quite for me. I am looking at some of these allegiances and coming up with very rough ideas that inspire me to make my models more than just neat sculptures with game stats, though.

What follows are my first draft of thoughts for both the fluff of the band and actually building them out using the rules. Hopefully this can give folks an idea of what’s possible to do within the rule system and maybe inspire someone else to check it out. These two warbands are built with the limitation of only using models I was able to get when I found out about this game a few weeks ago. The initial concepts came from reading the Allegiance entries and building warbands to fit the vibe some of them were giving me.

There’s a ton of list building and customization available, so if you’re the kind of person who likes to sit down with a spreadsheet or pencil and paper to try countless combinations of characters and load outs there will be plenty to do in this game.

Royalists – The Blackmailed, Jaded Veteran

As I mentioned above, in this setting there’s a bit of a power vacuum due to the missing King Redwulf. Prince Reinert has been ruling in his stead, but he’s not as popular and is struggling to keep the kingdom from fracturing. The blurb in the Royalists section mentions that warbands of this allegiance could be any of a variety of individuals from knights to convicts serving in lieu of prison time.

One of the first things that came to mind was a retired veteran who served in the King’s army before the Prince took over. These are tough times, so the Prince’s enforcers came calling and offered this beast the option to either lead a warband of prisoners or be thrown in prison (and wind up conscripted into another warband anyway). This allows for a very clear leader (the retired veteran) and the conscripted prisoners fill out most of the rest of the warband. Naturally, these despicable criminals will be guilty of crimes such as “stealing bread to feed their family” and “not being able to pay outrageous taxes” or maybe “vandalizing Cybertrucks.” As for the second in command, I decided to make this one of the Prince’s loyalists. They’re probably supposed to be subtle about sending back reports on their progress, but they’re kind of crap at it so everyone knows who they really are. It gives the group a built in heel which could be fun. I’m going to make it a mage as well for that “untrustworthy magician in a band of martial fighters” vibe.

Mechanically, I want to play towards the strengths of the Royalists allegiance. They can improve the Strike characteristic (used for melee combat) of two models and their Support Quest involves taking enemies out of action using the Attack Action. Both of these, and some other traits, make me want to lean toward an up-close setup.

Otter (Leader)
Light Armor, Heavy Shield, One-handed weapon, Relic
Leader Skill: Weaponskill
Leader Stat increase: Move
Royalist Starting Bonus: Strike

Raven (Second)
Silk Undershirt, Mage’s Focus, Relic, Signature Item
Spell: Van Rubal’s Acceleration
Spell: Burramorr’s Distant Fracturing
Second Skill: Gifted (Unbound)

Beaver
Light Armor, Polearm
Royalist Starting Bonus: Strike

Hedgehog
Light Shield, One-handed weapon

Mouse
Light Shield, One-handed weapon

2 Pennies remaining

Thoughts: This warband was primarily shaped around the models I had available. The otter figure I’m using (Otter Watch Captain) just gave me the vibe of a resigned critter doing what they felt they had to do. I absolutely wanted to do something with the Raven Mage model, so it was a shoe in. The remaining three were a balance between cool models and squeezing in enough bodies to not run out of actions in a game. I actually have some badgers that I would have loved to put in here as well, but they sure are expensive. Maybe one can be the next recruit.

The otter and beaver are the front line bruisers, with the otter leading from the front due to the extra speed and defensive benefits from a heavy shield and the Weaponskill skill which boosts both their strike and block capabilities. Being the leader, they were able to have a boost to any attribute so I chose movement to get them into place easier and help out those charges land more reliably. A move in this game just moves the maximum value of the dice, and a charge requires you to roll it and move that far. The beaver feels like a prime target for the Van Rubal’s Acceleration spell from the raven – this grants +2″ to any move, charge, or barge actions as well as +2 to strike, block, and nimbleness rolls for a full turn. Beavers are already frightening and this would help boost their average movement and already formidable melee and defenses. The other spell from the raven mage can break items the enemy has equipped. I figured it could be useful on a flying mage to get around the back of my opponent’s lines and fracture one of their ranged fighters’ weapons to keep them out of the fight, or soften up a bigger target by breaking their shield or armor. Between the raven’s relic (a guaranteed 13 on a roll once per battle), the signature item (allowing a reroll of a presence dice which is what their spells are cast with), and the Gifted skill for being the warband’s second in command, these should be fairly reliable to get off. Relics are quite cheap for the allegiances who have access to them, so I like to include them when I have some extra pennies at the end of equipping models.

The hedgehog’s innate spines grant additional block, and I’m hoping the shield (which benefits from the extra block and allows them to block ranged attacks) will help them stick around long enough to pick up additional armor and a bigger shield. The mouse is probably going to mostly scurry around and do mission related tasks, but can also serve as a last ditch fighter. I should probably have equipped them with a bow or a sling instead, but I’m leaning into this “smack the enemy” game plan.

Freebeasts – A Shitty Noble and Their Friends

The Freebeast Republic borders the kingdom of Northymbra who profess that their society is a meritocracy, when the reality is some noble fox families control most of the wealth, power, and organized crime. This puts them in the position of being wealthier than average, above the law, and at odds with the neighboring kingdom that’s currently having some turmoil. Sounds like a chance for some asshole nobles to have fun!

So that’s exactly what I’m going to structure this warband around. Shitty, rich, entitled nobles with fancy gear and too much time on their hands are going out raiding because they’re bored and why not go cause grief to political rivals and/or neighboring kingdoms and/or innocent bystanders. Kind of like a gaggle of frat boys but less predatory, despite being literal predators.

The mechanics of Freebeasts are less focused than the “go hit things” from Royalists. They get a handful of extra pennies to start with and their Support Quest is Look Out for Yourself where any model that hasn’t gone out of action when the game ends earns an experience point. I thought that could play into the self-centered mindset, so I’m going to try and include decent armor options and ranged weapons for as many fighters as I can to ensure they can both interact from afar and also be (somewhat) durable. Hopefully.

Fox (Leader)
Light Armor, Polearm, Caliver
Leader Skill: Taunt
Leader Stat increase: Move
Freebeast Starting Bonus: Fortitude

Otter (Second)
Light Armor, Polearm, Caliver
Second Skill: Enduring

Hare
Light Armor, Polearm, Caliver

Squirrel
Light Armor, Polearm, Caliver
Freebeast Starting Bonus: Presence

0 Pennies remaining

Thoughts: I wanted an elite, armored group and this is where I ended up. The Freebeast starting rare equipment options are pretty generous and since they get some bonus pennies, I wanted to really splurge on each of these critters. The fox and otter are the two species with the highest Ranged stats in the game, so I wanted to make sure they each had a ranged weapon to take advantage of that. The hare has surprisingly high values all around – tied for the highest Strike and Block along with very respectable values for Move, Presence, and Fortitude.

The initial plan was to go bananas with very heavy armor and heavy crossbows, but that ate up the available funds fast. This version is a little less skewed than I initially planned. Extra thanks to wise old badgers in the Goonhammer Discord for bringing up weaknesses that low model count warbands would suffer from which I hadn’t considered. Not only would they have a hard time playing to a lot of objectives, but with only three models there would also be substantially fewer beasts around to do off-duty tasks after games like Wander and Labour.

The equipment looks pretty similar across the group – they’re each sporting a caliver to be able to engage from a distance (and hopefully stick around long enough to get Look Out for Yourself). I chose polearms over two-handed weapons because I felt the tradeoff (higher accuracy, no defensive penalties, slightly lower damage) was worthwhile. Light armor was the best I could afford, but it’s a very high priority to upgrade at my first opportunity. I used the Freebeast starting bonus to boost the presence or fortitude of any models that only had a d6 value – an alternative would be to pick one that’s already on d8, bump it to d10 and give them a spell and the Paladin skill (to allow casting in full armor without penalties). The leader’s free skill is Taunt, which allows me to force an opponent to reroll a dice when in base contact with the fox. That felt appropriate thematically and also useful to blunt a threatening attack or get through some tough defenses. The otter second has Enduring as the free skill, which allows them to ignore the penalties that accrue from being progressively more wounded as the game goes on.

Wandering Into the Wilds

This is where I’m starting at for now. I’ve been preparing terrain, tracking down a 36″ x 36″ playmat (apparently B&B can be played on many different sizes – this one will also serve double duty as a SAGA playmat) and I received my models only a few days ago. I’m eagerly looking forward to getting a few games in to learn the ropes. Once both I and my models have more experience, I want to tackle an Arcane Conclave warband with a bunch of mages using the power of nerds to fight. Or an Undead warband with something like an armadillo lich leading angry spirits. Or perhaps some lightly armored, mobile, and deadly resistance fighters lead by a (desert) mouse named Muad’dib who is also a Fate-weaver and knows the Bright Path spell…

There are also some seemingly bonkers options in the book that I am curious to see how good they are. Spells like The Gate that can allow a model to teleport anywhere on the board feels crazy powerful, for instance. If it turns out I’m wrong, that’s great. If I’m right and they’re too good… I guess I won’t use them. I’m not here to break the game just to win, after all. I’m here for a collaborative story this time.

If any of the Goonhammer coverage of this game has caught your eye, come chat about it in our Discord! There are folks who have played since the last edition as well as a few of us total newbies getting into it for the first time.

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