Firelock Games are now on Kickstarter with their brand new Fantasy wargame, Brigands of Arja. Designed to be a quick campaign-based game that you can play through completely in an afternoon or evening, this game sounds like it could be a solution to an age-old problem.

Brigands of Arja Kickstarter // Firelock Games

When you dive into playing Brigands of Arja, one to four players will take control of a warband that features between four to six brigand warriors. Whilst you can play the game as a one-off experience, it has been designed so that you play multiple-game campaigns. A normal game of Brigands of Arja only lasts around an hour and with a quick, easy post-game sequence, Firelock say that you can get through a full campaign of Brigands of Arja in an evening with friends.

Brigands Vs Cyclops // Brigands of Arja

This is because the game ends when, over the course of three or more games, the player with the highest infamy gets declared the winner. Most Fantasy campaign games are dogged by the "runaway leader" who ends up winning a few games and getting all of the upgrades. This doesn't make it particularly fun for other people in the campaign. Brigands of Arja solves that by having it all done and dusted in the course of an evening, so you can start from scratch and try a different combination of brigands the next time around.

Brigands Vs Giant Scorpion // Brigands of Arja

This is all facilitated by a set of game mechanics which are quick and easy to grasp. Using alternating activation, characters will act in initiative order. Challenges between players are settled by the use of pools of d10 dice based on your character's Fight or Shoot skill. Agility is then used to work out how many dice you use to defend against an attack.

You will be aiming for a target number during these clashes but the brigand who rolls the highest number will win the roll-off. If you ever tie on a dice roll, you'll go to the next lowest value and so on. Simple and effective. Brigands who lose in these clashes gain Fatigue, which ends up making them less effective and more vulnerable to dying!

Brigands Vs Wendigo // Brigands of Arja

Whilst Brigands of Arja can be played with each warband going up against each other to claim loot and infamy, you can also play Brigands of Arja solo or cooperatively. The rules come with a set of mechanics for governing an enemy warband but also lots of the monsters that you'll come up against during your encounters.

Brigands of Arja Gameplay Demo // Firelock Games

If you'd like to see the game being played, you can check out the demo from Firelock Games above, where they run through the basics of the mechanics and how it all works.

Brigands of Arja Pledges & More

When you dive into pledging for Brigands of Arja, you can either decide on the digital option or the physical one. You can also mix and match if you'd prefer!

What's In The Box // Brigands of Arja

The core box (done in a very nice retro, distressed red) comes with the full Rulebook for Brigands of Arja alongside a set of cards covering your Warband, your individual Brigands and the various Monsters that might pop up during your encounters on the tabletop.

You'll also be able to get nine miniatures representing enough figures for two warbands, plus the Basilisk as one of the iconic monsters from Brigands of Arja. You will also get a nice set of d10 to roll alongside tokens, widgets and more.

All of the offerings between the physical set and digital set are essentially replicated, plus more is being replicated through Stretch Goals. You can also get an ace set of monster miniatures that I reckon a lot of folks will be picking up.

Unique leaders and more can also be snapped up, giving you different ways for you to theme your warband of brigands! I should probably mention that I have backed this campaign for the rules and cards and will most likely be using the Frostgrave range when it comes to building warbands.

Which way will you be diving into Brigands of Arja?