Basic Impetus 2 available

The English edition of Basic Impetus 2 is now available both printed and digital.

Due to holidays season I will stop shipping wednesday but all pre-orders received have been shipped this morning. In a very few days both North Star and Caliver Books will carry BI2 so you can order the printed version there.

As for the digital version, it is available through Wargames Vault.

Dear Lorenzo,
thank you very much for making this happen. I am reading since yesterday and I must say, I am very pleased so far. I am a little bit surprised, how close this is to Impetus and Baroque. The focus is clearly on the small game scale and almost fixed lists, so the tactical depth is still high. The activation is more simple, but this makes sense since there is only one command in each army. I am very curious how the new distances work, I am very pleased with the infantry moving faster now and different movement for FL and CP1 and CP2. I really like the idea, that the fastes troops are not the hardest hitting ones. The english text has evolved much, that is highly appreciated!

My only complaint about BI 2 & Baroque is the addition of more tables for charging, fleeing & pursuit distance vs. the simplicity of rolling a D6 or D3 for distance. We need fewer charts & reference sheets, not more.

yes, I understand, but with distance calculated on frontage was unavoidable.

Hi just posting to congratulate on Basic Impetus 2. I got this from the pdf download and was really impressed - looking forward to playing the first game!

I am a regular Impetus player and not used Basic Impetus before - however from the BI2 I really like some of the new elements introduced.

It will be interesting to see what the regular Impetus players think of BI 2. What kind of feedback did you get from the Italian players?

Cheers Jez

I hope that Impetus players understand that BI2 is the evolution of BI, not of Impetus though it may add some new feature not present in Impetus.

And above all it is not a competitor, just and alternative for faster games, a good way to bring new players in and also a kind of bridge towards Impetus 2 (for the use of the new Unit of measure).
It has been a much bigger effort than expected, hope people will like it :-)

Wot, no Kushans?

dadiepiombo wrote:
I hope that Impetus players understand that BI2 is the evolution of BI, not of Impetus though it may add some new feature not present in Impetus.

Yep, I understand this - although I think it's hard for newcomers to grasp it, whilst Basic was the free intro game it made sense to share the name. Now it's essentially a separate game a change of title would have been a good idea IMO.

dadiepiombo wrote:
And above all it is not a competitor, just and alternative for faster games

Unfortunately it is a [they are] competitor[s] - you are diluting your player base across two similar but different rulesets.

Looks great so far Lorenzo! I need to hurry up and play some games to see how all these new rules work!

Only one thought off the top of my head in that I think Pikes should completely cancel the Impetus bonus of mounted troops as written, but long spears and Bills perhaps only half would have been more appropriate? So far that's my only real criticism otherwise everything looks pretty interesting!

Christopher

Axebreaker wrote:Only one thought off the top of my head in that I think Pikes should completely cancel the Impetus bonus of mounted troops as written, but long spears and Bills perhaps only half would have been more appropriate?

Maybe it will be later in Impetus 2.0

I disagree, long pointy sticks are long pointy sticks. We have examples of cavalry bouncing of all manner of solid infantry and examples of them forcing their way into Swiss pike blocks.

Besides I don't want the additional maths involved of halving factors so those with odd numbers become incrementally more/less valuable than those with even numbers (depending on how they are rounded).

Yuk! Bad mechanic for no plausible reason I'm afraid.

I think BI2 is a great addition. Just the fact that everything is in one place now is a big plus. Also all those army lists !....fantastic a complete package

Tarty wrote:I think BI2 is a great addition. Just the fact that everything is in one place now is a big plus. Also all those army lists !....fantastic a complete package  

I'll agree that as a single package it is a nice thing and the lists are nicely presented, so much better than the mess of beta lists that bedevil Impetus.

I am a little concerned to see that ZOCs exist. I'd really rather hoped they would disappear with the introduction of Reactions. I note that Opportunity was never a thing in BI-I and that Defensive Fire is a sort of Reaction in BI-II but it makes me nervous for Impetus II

Also I quite like the classification of CP1 and CP2, the intro of H measures and Aces in the Hole

These will be an asset for competitions and introducing new players into the game no more having to explain Adv Imp and beta list straight off the bat... till they're ready for it.

Perhaps not enough 'meat on the bones' for us old veterans. I don't see them replacing my games at home for instance but could see them being good for mini campaigns, I've heard a few noises already on this subject

@Zippee

Exceptions to everything, but generally speaking pikes were very effective at repulsing cavalry to the point of near suicide to make frontal charges if you could get the horses to do so. Yes indeed long spears were also effective , but not equivalent to the pike imho. So I do see a distinction between a pike and a long spear and would not just group things into pointy sticks are all the same.;-)

Christopher

I am aware of no evidence that suggests pikes were more effective against cavalry than long spears.

Frontal charges against ether are pretty dumb.

Pikes are already better than long spear because they can be 3 deep. They will wear down even gendarmes in a head on clash as a result.

Both cancel mounted impetus and that's fine with me, I can see no reason why mounted should gain some impetus against long spear.

You'll need to provide examples of such infantry being bowled over by mounted purely because of a difference in weapon technology (as opposed to morale) - I can't think of anything, so would be interested to see your list.

No thanks not interested in debating further we can agree to disagree then or call it a win for you if that's better. Now I need to get back to painting.

Christopher

Pikes have a better depth bonus than long spear VS mounted.