Taban Miniatures: Eden
Posted: October 15th, 2014, 8:49 pmThere was some talk in the Bushido thread about this game, so I decided to give my two cents.
Eden is a french skirmish game with 32mm scale figures. It has generally low model count per side, even for a skirmish game. Typical force has only 3-5 models, but thanks to some interesting rules interactions the game don't feel limited. For example, every model has four stats and four "limbs", to which they attach (PSI and head, Combat and Arm, Vigour and Body and Speed and Legs). Every limb has separate wound tracker and if the limb becomes wounded, the attached stat become worse. If the limb becomes incapitated, the model is dead. This brings a whole lot of more tactics and decision making in simple combat. Do I want to strike at full force at body and wound it, thus being able to hit in the future? Or do I want to modify the hit at Feet? Because Speed is important stat.
The game uses alternating activation, but a model with higher speed can steal the turn from adversary. So if I manage to lower the opponents speed, I can possibly deny its activation early in the next turn. For example, I once managed to scratch a huge alien beast in the legs. Thanks to that it becomed wounded and its speed was lowered to three, meaning every model in my force was faster, thus being able to avoid its attacks.
One other thing that differ from most skirmish games is how easy it is to disengage from combat. This is important with objective based scenarios. Speaking of scenarios, it's a whole other game by itself. Both side choose a scenario card and tries to play accordingly. Some scenarios are hidden.
In general the game is "Easy to learn, hard to master" -type and plays fast. Typical 5 round game last about an hour! Once we played a whole game, packed up and everything, and the Malifaux game next table was still on its first round!
Models are made from rather soft metal, so keep that in mind when ordering some more ambitious pieces.
Eden is a french skirmish game with 32mm scale figures. It has generally low model count per side, even for a skirmish game. Typical force has only 3-5 models, but thanks to some interesting rules interactions the game don't feel limited. For example, every model has four stats and four "limbs", to which they attach (PSI and head, Combat and Arm, Vigour and Body and Speed and Legs). Every limb has separate wound tracker and if the limb becomes wounded, the attached stat become worse. If the limb becomes incapitated, the model is dead. This brings a whole lot of more tactics and decision making in simple combat. Do I want to strike at full force at body and wound it, thus being able to hit in the future? Or do I want to modify the hit at Feet? Because Speed is important stat.
The game uses alternating activation, but a model with higher speed can steal the turn from adversary. So if I manage to lower the opponents speed, I can possibly deny its activation early in the next turn. For example, I once managed to scratch a huge alien beast in the legs. Thanks to that it becomed wounded and its speed was lowered to three, meaning every model in my force was faster, thus being able to avoid its attacks.
One other thing that differ from most skirmish games is how easy it is to disengage from combat. This is important with objective based scenarios. Speaking of scenarios, it's a whole other game by itself. Both side choose a scenario card and tries to play accordingly. Some scenarios are hidden.
In general the game is "Easy to learn, hard to master" -type and plays fast. Typical 5 round game last about an hour! Once we played a whole game, packed up and everything, and the Malifaux game next table was still on its first round!
Models are made from rather soft metal, so keep that in mind when ordering some more ambitious pieces.
