@amazon warrior
i didn´t play the game myself, but one of the owner of my local game store and theyre intern are pretty into it.
According tto them the basic rules are classic skirmish, with the little difference that you use the special colored dices that come with your faction box to roll the damage. Different attacks, both normal and magic are associated with a certain colour, as darker the colour as bigger the damage.
the real twist of the game is the way that magic is handled: in order to cast spells you need alchemistical incrediens your magician, witch, shaman has to collect on the battlefield. that means your very fragile sorcerer must be played very agressive. No hangin arround behind a wall of infantery. The incredients themself and the spells are associated with one of the four elements, that means if you and your opponent are looking for the same element, you got an even bigger problem.
So why would you go through all that hazzle ? because the spells are real \"game turner\" and extremly strong. In a skirmish system where you rarely have more than 10 Minis on the table, a spell that can kick out a strong warrior on an average roll is worth the trouble.
as far as the cats go ( by the way the kalimans have GIANT feet - not that they don´t look awesome, but theyre feet are nearly as big as theyre heads ) - the take the part of the sophisticated, benign republic and because of they´re diplomatic skills you get a bonus on ther dice roll determing who gets the first turn, plus theyre fairly quick.
btw, my favourites are the Arloks: every arlok takes up charackteristics, both physical and spiritual, of the zodiac sign theyre born under. thats why theyre shamn looks like a big toad and in case he gets injured, his skin starts to discharge acid - anyone wanna lick a toad ? lol