Just finished the limited demo campaign for Shogun 2, and I'm pleased that this seems to be from the outset a tighter, and better finished product than Empire:TW was.

The graphics, gameplay and strategy all seem to be in place. The art is gorgeous! And from the demo you get to see a good range of the units. There's definitely not going to as much difference in range of units as Medieval 1 or 2, but setting specific additions (like Ninja units that you can play on a battlefield; they have an easier time scaling walls to capture those essential gatehouses) will bring a lot more to the game.

Things I liked:
1)The agents in the game - Ninja, Mesuke(a secret policeman type), and Monk - level up with their sucessful actions and YOU get to pick they're abilities and retainers. Thus a Monk in my game got better at demoralizing an opponent's army after a few missions.
2)Your family and council - You have your usual progression of age and the birth of new sons and daughters, but you can now assign family members/generals to titled position (Master of Warfare, Mastery of Treasury etc) that give you faction/province bonuses. These bonuses improve as the rank of its holder increases. You can also hostage your own children to improve the chances of a diplomatic deal going ahead!
3)Although tough to get your head around the new multi-level sieges are exciting and a good addition to game, with archery towers on different levels providing fire as your progress, and multiple gatehouses ensuring you have to push constantly forward (strategically) to ring about victory.
4) Although a mere graphical touch, I loved that as you explored into unknown territory and your Fog of War was pushed back for the first time, the map went from a "drawn ink on scroll" effect to reveal the actual scenery and terrain. Simple but very effective!

I'm sure the game will reveal more with a 2nd and 3rd playthough, but this is a must-buy for me!

D/Ling Shogun as we speak, not that fussed about Dragon Age.

I must say everything I've seen from Shogun so far looks like it'll be a good un! *fingers crossed*

The Favored Gear feat states "choose one specific piece of gear" - does this mean Favored Gear (pistol, military) or Favored Gear ("Old Kicker") i.e. one named individual piece of equipment and not all those of a type; and thus not be able to use it for all of those type you carry.  I suspect the Old Kicker route, but I want to be sure.

Also, the Load quality (say Load 7) states it take that many listed rounds of Handle Item actions to reload. If combined with the Quick Draw feat, could you in theory reload the previous example in one and a half rounds (Round One: Two free Handle Item actions from Quick Draw, then two more from your regular half actions makes 4; Round Two: Your two free actions, then one half makes another three, for a total of 7). Is this correct?

I like the Unborn "Mars Rover" Explorer (with the Pech Artisan Keeper a close 2nd).

Thanks for the include Iprophet. Just a quickie, will you allow the Gunmage specialty on the Wiki?(http://www.crafty-games.com/content/new-specialties)

This might sound a little dumb, but when you gain access to the Spellcasting skill from "Subtle and Quick to Anger" does that mean on any following level, even if that class doesn't have an increase in caster level, you can still put points into the Spellcasting skill i.e. putting points in when you've taken a level of Soldier.

Room for another one? I'm new to playing on boards like this but I'd love to give it a go.

If you're full I understand. If not, I've got an itch to play something akin to a human/elven gun-mage (ala the Iron Kingdoms setting) - Having been trained in the Arts whilst living in the yoke of the Dragon Kingdoms, he has finally managed to escape to the freedom of the Steam Kingdoms embracing all that their enlightened state has to offer. Delving into crafting of these extraordinary black powder weapons, he has managed to combine the two aspects of the world seemingly most at odds with one another.

Would this be ok, is there room?

Edit: For more on the concept

Thanks, I appreciate the speedy reply.

Ok, how does this tie in in with the Adventurer's Luck feat - using my previous example and the followed advice would my party get 2C and 2L AND the npc assigned gear?! Is that right?

That applies to all attacks to which you may apply sneak attack damage (ie to flat-footed opponents etc.).  Remember that opponents cease to be flat-footed after they're hit once, so it'll generally only apply to the first hit you get on them, unless you've a way to make them flat-footed again.

Thanks!I thought so. And,yes I knew it had to be flat-footed, thus my players are learning to like Feint quite a bit!

Next question. If I'm rolling for Treasure say, 1C & 1L, but have roughly described the weapons and armour their foe was using and they wanted it, would you allow them to pick that up instead of rolling?

And if the Treasure entry was 1C, 1L - does that mean each player rolls for 1C, 1L or that 1C and 1L is rolled for the whole party? (I suspect the former)

Also, with the Destroyed and Spoiled entries  - is it a case of saying what they received and "better luck next time"?

This could be me just reading to much into this but:- 
Ambush Basics: The granted sneak attack dice - is that to all attacks you make, or just those through an ambush check (i.e. you gain 2d6 on a critical sucess, 1d6 normally) - I thought the first result but I'm now in my own head and confused!

I downloaded the soundtrack for Dawn of War II, and it's quite good.  I'm thinkin' the Grammy needs a Video Game Score category.

I've been thinking this since C&C Red Alert. The soundtrack for that game was perfect in both flavour and substance. That probably kept me playing the game again and again and....

Thanks, that will work perfectly. They'll be enough dice rolling to keep peeps happy, and enough scope for me to describe the action!

I've already written it up for tonight's session.

Much appreciated.

I was thinking about running a chase scene in my adventure, and it seemed to me that a complex task would suit it best. However, I have a question - in complex tasks do all participants make the skill check or just the one with the best chance of success?
Also an idea I had was that to catch the villian they would have to succeed at 5 checks in 8 rounds, but if there's several of them in the chase it would seem likely that they could complete the task within two or three rounds. Do I increase the number of successes? Perhaps as they fail they could "fall behind" and no longer take part in the the task?

Your thoughts/answers/advice!

I was going to mention Traveling Man if you weren't already a customer of theirs. I also highly recommend .

The T-Man boys are coming down to our big trade show- http://www.yorkwargames.org/Vapnartak.htm - this weekend, they're always a good laugh. And great to order direct through.