The Setting
The year is 1492, the city of Rome is a maze of crumbling ruins of the ancient city with shacks and hovels built into them and newly built villas. The city is caught in a power struggle between mercenary warlord families like the Orsini and the Colonna and the Papacy itself.
In the street of the city itself the power struggle can easily turn deadly as the retinues of the different factions use force to influence the balance of power through raids, assassinations, theft and acts of intimidation.
In the outskirts around Rome bands of brigands and mercenaries comb the ruins of ancient Rome ring the ancient city. They scrap with each other over the artefacts of the city’s glorious past that can be found in these buried temples and catacombs. Items that command extravagant prices from princes and cardinals!
Mechanics
Quick Narrative Play
Force of Virtue is a game that is built to play on a 2 foot by 2 foot table or a 3 foot by 3 foot table in 45 minutes to an hour with only a handful of models This is to allow a campaign to develop in an afternoon. Featuring a handy scenario generation table and scenario deck to spice up the game.
Campaign mode is also focused on speed and ease gathering advantages through victories without paperwork or unbalancing the game in one warbands favour.
The Virtues
In Force of Virtue your officers and experienced troops have a pool of virtues that they can divide up between the actions they take. This resource is the lifeblood of your force, for without it your troops flee! Each virtue can effect troops differently on a critical success or failure. Each making them prudent, audacious, ferocious or stoic. You will also lose virtue as your opponent injures and kills troops and your men lose faith in their officers.
How and on what you spend your virtue will be key to victory and give each unit it’s own unique personality.
Customisable
Using the cards from our decks you can build forces focused on surprising your opponent with dastardly traps or building devastating knights, clockwork efficient mercenary bands or whimsical flights of fancy that are no less effective.
The decks are built to emulate the unique styles of each nation of the time and then flavour them with individual character so you can have fun building something unique to you.
Building your Warband
In Force of Virtue you play an independent mercenary band of your choosing. Either pursuing their own private agenda or taking on work from Magnates or Warlords. Anything from a disgruntled artist and his apprentices to the feared Swiss Papal Guard.
In order to do this you use decks to choose your officers, troops, equipment, level of morale, special training, advantages like ambushing etc. or to lay traps or effects on your enemy
What do I need to start?
You can dive in now with our tutorial missions that are downloadable from our website for free with some sample scenarios and listst! If you want to start playing Force of Virtue on a budget you will need a rulebook and at least one nation deck, that’s all you need to get started technically and will give you a start for under 25 pound/Euro. You will need to find your own dice and tokens. If you want to dive into the game in it’s full glory we also sell starter sets that include, tokens, virtue dice, reference sheets, rulebook and 5 decks! Great value and more than enough for two people to play the game in high style! All our products can be ordered from our page here.
Miniatures can be found at great value from Perry Miniatures, Warlord Games and Warlord Atlantic
Nation Decks
For your Warband, you will need to choose at least one nation deck, your Nation Decks gives you your troops officers and nation-specific, special tactics, weapons and abilities!
Swiss
God protect us from the wrath of the Swiss! Grim disciplined bands of mountain men, well equipped with gun and pike and raised to war!
The mightiest nations have tried to overcome the citizens of the Cantons, and they have all choked on their own blood. Grind your opponents into dust as your force acts together in deadly clockwork efficiency.
- Strengths – Honour Cards for mercenaries, Virtue Cards, Strategic Cards, Equipment Cards for mercenaries.
- Weaknesses – Few buffing cards for capos, limited access to equipment cards for capos.
You can find this deck here
For Miniatures we suggest the Perry Miniatures European mercenaries box and European Armies line. One of the plastic box sets should make at least 3 warbands.
Condottieri
The condottieri’s primary tools are subterfuge and cunning, but they also sport strong knights from the noble families of Italy and have access to a variety of weapons.
Other nations may attempt to win through brute force or skill at arms, but for the condottiere war is not a contest of strength but of guile. When fighting a condottieri trust nothing and no one, things are rarely as they seem.
- Strengths – Good variety of troop types, many knight abilities, Intrigue Cards.
- Weaknesses – Low morale, few abilities for troops
You can find this deck here
For Miniatures we suggest the Perry Miniatures European mercenaries box and the European Armies line. One of the plastic box sets should make at least 3 warbands. Their War of the Roses line can be useful for billmen who were also popular in Italy. For Characters and special miniatures Casting Room Miniatures does some excellent models.
French
Sound the horns for the charge! Gird your armour! fasten your lady’s token and prepare to win glory for the king!
No nation provides stronger or more chivalrous knights of finer lineage than France. Let your mighty warriors descend as a hammer blow… with some support by the king’s petty archers and cannoneers of course. Show your foes why the chivalry of France has been feared across Christendom and beyond since the time of Charlemagne!
- Strengths – Many Ability Cards for knights, High Morale, and Defensive Intrigue Cards.
- Weaknesses – Ability Cards for Mercenaries, Equipment Cards for Mercenaries, Strategic Cards.
Your can find the deck here
For Miniatures we suggest the Perry Miniatures War of the Roses infantry box and European Armies line. One of the plastic box sets should make at least 3 warbands. You can also find more knights in their men-at-arms box set or in their War of the Roses range.
Spanish
For almost a thousand years Spain has been a cauldron of war, every aspect of culture moulded towards the pursuit of arms, the long war won, now Spanish warriors take the stage on the battlefields of Europe!
Spain, or, better said, the crowns of Castile and Aragon, have long struggled with each other for control of the peninsula, who knows what they could accomplish united? From the legions of Rome to El Cid, the Iberian sun has tempered both man and metal to formidable strength. Whittle your opponents down with withering fire before you strike, drill and Toledo steel will prevail!
- Strengths – Focussed on combined arms and mobility, highly specialised cards.
- Weaknesses – Highly specialised cards, low armour and high Virtue needed to use their abilities to the fullest.
You can find the deck here
Wargames Atlantic makes an excellent box of Spanish infantry.
Landsknecht
We are the emperor’s hammer, his shield and his iron fist! We smile at death and dance with her as our enemies fall in swathes before greatsword and pike! A new age comes and we shall be it’s herald!
Newly raised by the Emperor Maximilian to bring Germany under his rulership, they are the Emperor’s hammer and his fist. A well oiled and near fanatical machine of war they are the product of Swiss and Spanish trainers and the most modern weapons and armour that can be found. They have already developed a reputation for garish dress and a devil may care attitude towards their lives and those of others.
You can find this deck here
Warlord Games produce an excellent box of Landsknecht pike and Steel Fist miniatures produces some beautiful Landsknecht miniatures with some especially nice Doppelsoldner.
Character Decks
Character Decks give your force some added flavour and are based on common descriptions of mercenary bands at the time!
Dogs of War
Cry havoc and let loose the dogs of war.
Gallows birds, murderers, ne’er do wells and rogues, but experienced and merciless warriors, skilled in all the arts of war. Dogs of War excels at burning enemy virtue and improving your mercenary’s offensive output as well as a few good characters for managing troops.
You can find this deck here!
- Strengths – Good offensive Honour Cards for mercenaries, can prevent enemies rallying.
- Weaknesses – Low amount of Virtue cards, few Honour Cards for capos.
Fires of Faith
It is not always strength of arms that prevails, but the flame men carry in their hearts.
In this new world the true Faith is assailed by heretics and dissenters. Those who believe often are followed by fanatical and devoted fighters willing to die for their beliefs.
You can find this deck here!
- Strengths – Excellent defensive cards for mercenaries, many ways of rallying.
- Weaknesses – Few strategic cards, few offensive cards for knights.
Born to Battle
The great wheels of progress grind forward, but the sons of the nobility will not go easily.
Bred to war as dogs to the hunt they are blessed with magnificent armour and the knowledge of countless generations of warriors. They stride as gods of war amongst throngs of foes!
You can find this deck here!
- Strengths – Excellent Honor and offensive and defensive cards for capos.
- Weaknesses – Few strategic cards, few Honour cards for mercenaries.
Renaissance Man
A new age has come. A rebirth of light and reason, of the teachings of Greece and of Rome. With this rebirth come breakthroughs in science, medicine, engineering and even tactics and strategy.
You can find this deck here!
- Strengths – Good variety of command cards for capos, good support cards to help interacting with objectives.
- Weaknesses – Few strategic cards, few Honor cards for mercenaries.
Scenario Decks
Scenario Decks are some of our favourite part of the game. It allows you to bring in all those small factors that might play for or against a force that you find in both historical sources and cinematic portrayals. You can use cards from our scenario deck to choose your moment so that enemy troops are hung over, rain hampers enemy guns or a potential snipers nest is actually a dangerously crumbling ruin. The scenario deck always brings a wonderful element to your games.
You can find this deck here!