First off, the game has not fundamentally changed. The core mechanics of activation and combat still work the same, and there is more that is similar between the two editions than different. That said, a few changes will be immediately noticeable. The most obvious is the inclusion of Undead armies, the rules for chariots, and the rules for Legendary Heroes*. Osprey considered these to be core aspects of the game and wanted to see them presented in the main rules. If nothing else, it should make mixed army building with undead that much easier!

For me, the biggest change is one of presentation. The first edition was very much a ‘game of battles’ with a campaign system added on. I’ve reoriented it so that is a ‘game about kingdoms’ with lots of rules for fighting battles. So, the game now opens with the rules for building kingdoms. This works in a similar fashion to first edition, except that players are encouraged to start their kingdoms with only 2 or 3 Regions filled. This allows players to start smaller, either with smaller battles, or at least with fewer types of troops on the table. Importantly, it also allows for more room and time for kingdoms to grow organically, thus more time for players to enjoy the growth of their kingdoms. This is also aided by the inclusion of a new 6th region to the kingdom circle – of course that 6th region represents the borderlands, and the troops you raise from there aren’t quite as reliable...

The ‘game’ of Oathmark is now played as a series of kingdom turns, all of which involve a battle of some sort, though I have tweaked the exact types of battles and what their outcomes mean, again trying to enhance the fun and narrative of kingdom building. Of course, you can still play one-off games by assembling a quick kingdom/army and going at it. Like I said, the change is more about presentation than full rules.

Beyond undead, there are no ‘new’ armies or major races in the core rulebook; however, I know a lot of players wanted to see a little more distinction between the races. The undead have lots of special rules, and the orcs have their Wild Charge… well, now the Elves are the ‘Eldest’, Humans are ‘Hasty’, and Dwarves are ‘Children of Stone’. None of these are major factors in most situations, but just a little something to distinguish them from one another.

Confession – when I first wrote Oathmark, I was a little bit afraid of magic. Having made my name writing Frostgrave, I didn’t want this game to be dominated by wizards. I love a good bit of chaos in my games, but I didn’t want magic to become more important than the movement of blocks of troops, at least most of the time. I believe this fear drove me to underpower spellcasters a little bit in the first edition. This was especially true for the poor orcs and goblins who rarely seemed to get a spell off. So, spellcasters have become a bit better. They know more spells, a lot of spells are easier to cast, and perhaps most importantly, they can attempt to cast a spell with a simple action, though at a penalty. This magic review continued into the magic items, which have been expanded, and many became cheaper, as they were very rarely used.

While there are lots of Oathmark scenarios to be found in the expansions, I always thought the core rules were a little underserved, so I have increased the number of scenarios in the book from 5 to 8 and did a thorough review of the originals. I think we can all agree that River scenario needed some work!

Monsters have also had a review. I love big stompy monsters, but again, they should be the spice, not the main dish of the game. Some of the monsters have become a bit less reliable and some, most notably the dragon, can only be included in a kingdom in the borderlands, making it inherently unreliable. You can just never trust dragons...

There are lot of other little tweaks that players will discover, such as artillery losing the Champion Die, and some of the undead being a bit more brittle, but as I said, I want to preserve some of the surprise. Hopefully this has at least got you excited for the future of Oathmark!

*Keep an eye out for an upcoming preview of how you can create Legendary Heroes for your Oathmark army...

Oathmark: Second Edition is available to pre-order now.