Making a War Band

The first step in the process of playing Flint and Feather is to create your very own War Band. You are represented by a Great Warrior figure. You can then choose other figures to round out your War Band from Veteran Warriors, Companions (your sub-leaders), to War-bearers, Striplings and even a Healer or Shaman. Players agree on a number of furs that will be used for the campaign and then you spend your furs convincing the other warriors from your tribe to join you in your campaign.
In actuality a tribe would decide on a course of action by agreement among elders and families of a tribe and authorize a Great Warrior to lead a campaign to achieve the objectives of the tribe. Some examples of these goals might be raiding the enemy, trading up the river or hunting.
Each type of warrior has a minimum and maximum number of models allowed in your War Band. Each type then costs a certain amount of "Furs" to convince to accompany you on the expedition. Each type is given a Combat Value, amount of equipment they can carry and a number of Abilities. Abilities can be random or chosen at this point, depending on the type of model and come in Advantages and Disadvantages as well. Some examples of Advantages are Eagle Eye, Fleet of Foot and Lithe, while Disadvantages range from Awkward and Clumsy through Week and Weedy. At this point there are 55 different Advantages and Disadvantages to choose from which range in helpfulness and hindrance level.
The process for creating a War Band can take up to 30 minutes and you can mix and match Abilities to work through a strategy for your band or you can work to a back story if that is your desire. Flint and Feather is a skirmish level game that represents detailed individual combats, so the characteristics of your models can have a dramatic effect on strategy and tactics. More on this later in this blog. But there is an interesting aspect called "Taunting". Taunting allows key models to gain extra reputation, and thus advance in the campaign game, through challenging or otherwise exhibiting emotional behaviour on the tabletop. The War Band creation system has Abilities that can contribute to these skills.
All in all it is a very thorough set of constructs that allows players the freedom to express their own in game style. Here is the sample War Band, with Abilities listed, that is included in the Alpha Rules.


Example Warband: 200 Furs
Character
CV
Weapons
Armor
Attributes
Cost
Two Ravens
Great Warrior
5
Spear, club
Shield, armor
Spear Master (+1 Damage when using a spear)
Eagle Eye (Use the Eagle Eye line for Observation, CV+1 for other perception tests)
Fleet of Foot (+1D6” movement)
50
Silver Deer
Healer
2
Knife

Agile (+1D6 when using Jump Back or Leap Aside options)
Clever Tongued (Double RP losses for Taunt)
Duck Footed (Shift one column to the left when crossing water terrain)
25
Arrow Flies Fast
Companion
4
Bow, axe
Shield
Courageous (CV+1 for tests of bravery)
Sure Shot (Shift one column left when using missiles)
25
Thunder Hand
Companion
4
Spear, axe
Shield
Fierce Scars (War bearers and stripling treat as  Frightening)
Serpent’s Blade (+1D6 when using Lunge)
25
Red Bear
Veteran Warrior
4
Spear, club
Shield
Great Shield (+1D6, +3 armor when using Parry with a shield)
Nimble (Rough Terrain counts as Woods)
15
War-bearer
3
Bow, axe

Misses the Moose (Shift one column to the right when using missiles)
10
War-bearer
3
Bow, axe

Axe master (+1 damage when using an axe)
10
War-bearer
3
Bow, club

Strong (CV+1 for feats of strength)
10
War-bearer
3
Spear
Shield
Tangle-foot (-1D6 when using Counter-stroke)
10
War-bearer
3
Spear
Shield
Courageous (CV+1 for tests of bravery)
10
Stripling
2
Bow

Sure shot  (Shift one column left when using missiles)
5
Stripling
2
Bow

Lucky (one free re-roll per turn)
5
Total




200

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