Battle Brothers: The Board Game brings the tactical, mercenary RPG to the table as a skirmish game

If, like me, you are a big fan of low-fantasy, squad-based tactics game Battle Brothers, then you’ll likely be very interested to hear that it’s the latest game to make the leap to the tabletop – with its Kickstarter going live in early October.

Video games getting adapted into skirmish board games seem to be on the rise of late, and not just through the recent appearance of miniature skirmish versions of Halo, Starcraft or Fallout. I’d argue, however, that Battle Brothers is one of the best fits for this (miniature or, in this case, not) due to its inherent tactical gameplay and permadeath. Battle Brothers: The Board Game’s appearance as an adaptation is welcome, but also feels like a natural progression for the series.

As you’ll see in the video above, a lot of the spirit of the video game has been maintained in the adaptation. It’s still turn-to-turn brutality, however the threat of a major loss during campaign play has been lost as it plays out as a one-off skirmish set up. That said, there’s an incredible depth to each deck, and the variety isn’t just in the units (one player as human, the other as orcs) but the attack decks, perks, injuries and even map set up.

I especially like the tug of war that comes with map set up, then the subsequent revealing of units as you alternate between revealing troops – clearly showing off your intent behind your map movements. The fact that it clearly uses the exact perk, attack and character artwork as the video game is brilliant to see, and its clear that the team that have adapted it – Nodice – have both consulted with the developers and also played through the game.

I’m sure that we’ll find out more about Battle Brothers: The Board game once the Kickstarter goes live in October, and I’m particularly interested in seeing any stretch goals goes live alongside it. There’s a lot of different ways that the demo’d content could be expanded based on the video game, not least through Blazing Deserts‘ Southern Brothers and accessories, but this already looks like a solid start.

You can find out more about Battle Brothers: The Board game on its Kickstarter page.