The Warmachine/Hordes campaign I've been working on is finally finished! Well, at least version 1 is. It took me way to long to do this, but then again try juggling school, two jobs, and some semblance of a personal life, and you'll end up with a similar time-frame.
Here is the link to the file. If it goes away after a while, just let me know. This is version 1. Also, if you're not using a Macintosh, you might see the boxes on the Military Influence tracker, and the Homeland tracker as weird symbols. There's supposed to be 10 Boxes under each faction.
I'm very open to constructive criticism regarding this campaign, as it's untested as of yet. STRATEGIES Games & Hobbies is currently running it, so I'll be able to give you my impression, as well as changes in six-week's time.
As for the first day of the campaign, it sucked. There was one enthusiastic person who made his appearance only to wait an hour and a half for no opponent. No sooner should one appear, than the early-comer has to leave. Thankfully a third unsuspecting Hordes gamer popped in and the campaign was off to a humble start. A quick explanation and the game began without a hitch. Then the game tied at the end. A thorough tie. Even victory conditions, and even points totals. This was not supposed to happen, and as you'll see from the rules of the campaign, this pretty much evens out the benefits and penalties built into the mechanics. Essentially nothing happened. Both players were then left to contemplate ways to break a tie in the quickest way possible. Evidently this method resulted in them playing Pandemic.
I'm hoping the next week will be more solid. I worked surprisingly hard on the simple campaign and I hope it'll be somewhat of a success.
More news about non-campaign gaming in the next post down.
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Monday, October 12, 2009
What's New?
Time keeps rollin' on here on the Internet. It seems to move faster than real life does. Therefore I lose track of the need to post.
Here's what I've been up to:
First off, I've ordered all the Warmaster Ancients stuff I'm gonna start with. We haven't figured out a definitive points value yet, but I'm sure the stuff I have will be a decent start, and allow me to get some painting done. In case I haven't mentioned it before, it's 15mm Warmaster Ancients gaming using forces from the Warmaster Ancients book, and the Warmaster Ancient Armies book. I'm just doing early imperial Romans, as I like that period in Roman history the best. All of the figs I'm using so far come from Corvus Belli 'cause their stuff looks incredible, and I don't have to buy 15mm weapons separately like some ancient ranges. Our goal is to have painted, playable armies by January.
Speaking of January, I've been roped into playing in a Blood Bowl league, which is weird. I don't really like Blood Bowl. Don't get me wrong, I think a game that combines American football and bloody, fucking, murder is awesome, especially in a fantasy setting, but it's the tension that gets to me. The tension in Blood Bowl is like nothing ever felt in any other game. When your blitzer runs down the pitch full-bore, only to fail a dodge roll, or a push or something like that, dropping the ball and ending your whole, goddamn, turn it's a little too much for me. Another game with this sort of tension, that's managable is Space Hulk. I like the tension in that game because at worst, I lose a terminator with a failed die roll, not the turn I've been waiting for. However, I have a fully-painted Elf team for Blood Bowl, and I just want to roll dice with friends. Still, I'd rather be playing Grind.
My Retribution of Scyrah marches onwards. I have some pictures to upload, which I'll do later today. It's going slowly, but that's because I paint just about as often as I post on blogs.
My quest to finish a Warhammer army has taken a different path. I was very, very, keen to do my High Elves, being an embarassingly large elf fan, however the clarion call of the dark gods is too much to ignore, and so I've moved onto doing a Warriors of Chaos (WoC) army. This is mainly because my elf army required the purchase of several things I don't have the money for right now, and then the painting of those things. My WoC army requires me to purchase 18 Chosen (a mighty feat, but still smaller than my elf list), and paint them. A more pleasing option. I'll get to my High Elves next, I just really want to have a fully painted Warhammer force.
I've been playing alot of the Fantasy Flight Living Card Games (LCG), and I now see no reason to continue playing collectible card games. You heard it here first, people; I officially quit the realm of collectible card games! It's been a mighty 15 year run, but all good things must come to an end. I highly value my Vampire: The Eternal Struggle, Doom Trooper, and Magic: the Gathering card collection, but when I don't have to drop $1,000,000 on boosters in order to get a playable deck I get excited. Not to mention the CCG crowds are questionable. Besides, CCGs are so '90s!
In Roleplaying news, I'm taking part in a Dark Heresy (DH) campaign. I will play an Imperial Guardsman Sergeant from the planet Krieg (using a Death Korp model I bought at German Games Day), and will be playing in the Haarlock's Legacy campaign. According to the GM, the campaign is so difficult, that despite its claim that 1st rank characters are appropriate, he has suggested we start at 4th rank. I hope I get a bunch of sessions in before my character meets a grisly death. I'm excited.
I also got the Rogue Trader Collector's Edition in the mail last Wednesday. As of now, it's my favorite Roleplaying Game, to say nothing of it being my favorite GW-based RPG. This mighty boast is based off of the fact that everyone in the game plays what equates to the 41st millennium's version of the Star Trek bridge crew, including a player who gets to be captain. And, in typical Kirk style, you lead dangerous away-missions while all the ratings in the ship fight a desperate boarding action in order that you may have a ship to return to. Not to mention that the characters are of a higher power than your Dark Heresy characters. Both games remain fully compatable, however, as your Dark Heresy characters will simply have to be of 6th rank in order to equal a 1st rank Rogue Trader character. There are some more weapons, and a few tweaks to the rules here and there, but I imagine it will lend itself greatly to DH players in the form of more character classes, weapons, adversaries, and starship rules.
That's all for now; I wouldn't want to overload you with all my gaming pleasures, while you sit and play WoW. Oh, by the way, I'm also going to be playing in a Warhammer Online (WAR) guild.
+++END TRANSMISSION+++
Here's what I've been up to:
First off, I've ordered all the Warmaster Ancients stuff I'm gonna start with. We haven't figured out a definitive points value yet, but I'm sure the stuff I have will be a decent start, and allow me to get some painting done. In case I haven't mentioned it before, it's 15mm Warmaster Ancients gaming using forces from the Warmaster Ancients book, and the Warmaster Ancient Armies book. I'm just doing early imperial Romans, as I like that period in Roman history the best. All of the figs I'm using so far come from Corvus Belli 'cause their stuff looks incredible, and I don't have to buy 15mm weapons separately like some ancient ranges. Our goal is to have painted, playable armies by January.
Speaking of January, I've been roped into playing in a Blood Bowl league, which is weird. I don't really like Blood Bowl. Don't get me wrong, I think a game that combines American football and bloody, fucking, murder is awesome, especially in a fantasy setting, but it's the tension that gets to me. The tension in Blood Bowl is like nothing ever felt in any other game. When your blitzer runs down the pitch full-bore, only to fail a dodge roll, or a push or something like that, dropping the ball and ending your whole, goddamn, turn it's a little too much for me. Another game with this sort of tension, that's managable is Space Hulk. I like the tension in that game because at worst, I lose a terminator with a failed die roll, not the turn I've been waiting for. However, I have a fully-painted Elf team for Blood Bowl, and I just want to roll dice with friends. Still, I'd rather be playing Grind.
My Retribution of Scyrah marches onwards. I have some pictures to upload, which I'll do later today. It's going slowly, but that's because I paint just about as often as I post on blogs.
My quest to finish a Warhammer army has taken a different path. I was very, very, keen to do my High Elves, being an embarassingly large elf fan, however the clarion call of the dark gods is too much to ignore, and so I've moved onto doing a Warriors of Chaos (WoC) army. This is mainly because my elf army required the purchase of several things I don't have the money for right now, and then the painting of those things. My WoC army requires me to purchase 18 Chosen (a mighty feat, but still smaller than my elf list), and paint them. A more pleasing option. I'll get to my High Elves next, I just really want to have a fully painted Warhammer force.
I've been playing alot of the Fantasy Flight Living Card Games (LCG), and I now see no reason to continue playing collectible card games. You heard it here first, people; I officially quit the realm of collectible card games! It's been a mighty 15 year run, but all good things must come to an end. I highly value my Vampire: The Eternal Struggle, Doom Trooper, and Magic: the Gathering card collection, but when I don't have to drop $1,000,000 on boosters in order to get a playable deck I get excited. Not to mention the CCG crowds are questionable. Besides, CCGs are so '90s!
In Roleplaying news, I'm taking part in a Dark Heresy (DH) campaign. I will play an Imperial Guardsman Sergeant from the planet Krieg (using a Death Korp model I bought at German Games Day), and will be playing in the Haarlock's Legacy campaign. According to the GM, the campaign is so difficult, that despite its claim that 1st rank characters are appropriate, he has suggested we start at 4th rank. I hope I get a bunch of sessions in before my character meets a grisly death. I'm excited.
I also got the Rogue Trader Collector's Edition in the mail last Wednesday. As of now, it's my favorite Roleplaying Game, to say nothing of it being my favorite GW-based RPG. This mighty boast is based off of the fact that everyone in the game plays what equates to the 41st millennium's version of the Star Trek bridge crew, including a player who gets to be captain. And, in typical Kirk style, you lead dangerous away-missions while all the ratings in the ship fight a desperate boarding action in order that you may have a ship to return to. Not to mention that the characters are of a higher power than your Dark Heresy characters. Both games remain fully compatable, however, as your Dark Heresy characters will simply have to be of 6th rank in order to equal a 1st rank Rogue Trader character. There are some more weapons, and a few tweaks to the rules here and there, but I imagine it will lend itself greatly to DH players in the form of more character classes, weapons, adversaries, and starship rules.
That's all for now; I wouldn't want to overload you with all my gaming pleasures, while you sit and play WoW. Oh, by the way, I'm also going to be playing in a Warhammer Online (WAR) guild.
+++END TRANSMISSION+++
Sunday, September 13, 2009
More on Campaigns and Retribution
First of all, to those reading this on IABN who don't read the blog regularly, I'm sorry for the lack of updates this last month. I was moving from Germany to Canada, and as you can imagine, such an endeavor is time consuming. But now I'm back. Que trumpets.
The Warmachine campaign draws near and I've had to give much more thought towards it than time permits me, however I've come up with a solid foundation on which to build the campaign. In fact, the foundation is so solid that the work I have to do on it will be merely superficial. This foundation of which I speak is the Mighty/Planetary Empires sets put out by Games Workshop.
These two sets not only provide a good-looking, and customizable map on which to play, but also gives me a starting point for campaign rules. Now, I don't think the campaign rules are the best; in fact, when I first heard that GW was redoing the Mighty Empires rules I was disappointed with the rules in the booklet (the whole two pages or so of them). However, it was promised that with the release of Planetary Empires (Mighty Empires' grimdark futuristic sibling), the much-loved plastic hexagons would see a rules set worthy of their beauty. I haven't read through the entire book(let) yet, but I can tell you that that might not be the case.
This disturbs me not, for a skeleton-frame of rules is what I was looking for; and upon that skeleton-frame, I shall drape a leathery skin-cloak, one that resembles a land of steam-powered full-metal fantasy. This campaign shall not only have a lovely map to play on, but shall have a story as well leading up to the arrival of the forces of the Retribution and the turn of the dial towards Mk.II.
I've recently had the pleasure of putting together some Retribution of Scyrah models, specifically the Dawnguard Invictors, the Chimera, Narn, Mage Hunter of Ios, and Dawnlord Vyros. I have to put forward that these models are much better in person that on the Internet. This isn't to say that they're awful on the Internet, but they definitely look flatter online. The same goes with the color scheme, which I saw while I was at PAX 2009, and can honestly say that the paint scheme, in person, doesn't disappoint. All in all I'm confident that these models will make up a striking force once they're on the tabletop. I haven't had a chance to give their book a good read, but I'm hoping to have the models done by the time Mk.II is released, so I can throw down, and eventually rule the Warmachine tournament scene with a pewter fist. I've taken pictures. Behold the work I've done on them so far.
I haven't yet decided on a color scheme, but I'm pretty sure I'll do something green-ish. I seriously can't wait to put a brush to these figs. Soon... Soon...
I also have more games right now than I know what to do with. Space Hulk was purchased by myself today, and I've almost finished cutting all of the figs out of the sprues. Dying in deep-space has never been so fun. As well, I also have the demo copy of Arcane Legions to learn. This will also require some sprue-work, but I'm looking forward to it. During PAX, Privateer Press had a deal on Monstropocalypse sets, resulting in me coming into a starter set and four boosters of Set 1: Rise, and therefore the army, Lords of Cthul. I've been playing with that, as it doesn't require me to paint anything, which is a nice change. And last but not least I have the Axis and Allies Anniversary Edition with me begging to be played like we used to when I was in high school (I guess I was more desirable to A&A then). Let's see if I can't get through it all.
+++END TRANSMISSION+++
The Warmachine campaign draws near and I've had to give much more thought towards it than time permits me, however I've come up with a solid foundation on which to build the campaign. In fact, the foundation is so solid that the work I have to do on it will be merely superficial. This foundation of which I speak is the Mighty/Planetary Empires sets put out by Games Workshop.
These two sets not only provide a good-looking, and customizable map on which to play, but also gives me a starting point for campaign rules. Now, I don't think the campaign rules are the best; in fact, when I first heard that GW was redoing the Mighty Empires rules I was disappointed with the rules in the booklet (the whole two pages or so of them). However, it was promised that with the release of Planetary Empires (Mighty Empires' grimdark futuristic sibling), the much-loved plastic hexagons would see a rules set worthy of their beauty. I haven't read through the entire book(let) yet, but I can tell you that that might not be the case.
This disturbs me not, for a skeleton-frame of rules is what I was looking for; and upon that skeleton-frame, I shall drape a leathery skin-cloak, one that resembles a land of steam-powered full-metal fantasy. This campaign shall not only have a lovely map to play on, but shall have a story as well leading up to the arrival of the forces of the Retribution and the turn of the dial towards Mk.II.
I've recently had the pleasure of putting together some Retribution of Scyrah models, specifically the Dawnguard Invictors, the Chimera, Narn, Mage Hunter of Ios, and Dawnlord Vyros. I have to put forward that these models are much better in person that on the Internet. This isn't to say that they're awful on the Internet, but they definitely look flatter online. The same goes with the color scheme, which I saw while I was at PAX 2009, and can honestly say that the paint scheme, in person, doesn't disappoint. All in all I'm confident that these models will make up a striking force once they're on the tabletop. I haven't had a chance to give their book a good read, but I'm hoping to have the models done by the time Mk.II is released, so I can throw down, and eventually rule the Warmachine tournament scene with a pewter fist. I've taken pictures. Behold the work I've done on them so far.
I haven't yet decided on a color scheme, but I'm pretty sure I'll do something green-ish. I seriously can't wait to put a brush to these figs. Soon... Soon...
I also have more games right now than I know what to do with. Space Hulk was purchased by myself today, and I've almost finished cutting all of the figs out of the sprues. Dying in deep-space has never been so fun. As well, I also have the demo copy of Arcane Legions to learn. This will also require some sprue-work, but I'm looking forward to it. During PAX, Privateer Press had a deal on Monstropocalypse sets, resulting in me coming into a starter set and four boosters of Set 1: Rise, and therefore the army, Lords of Cthul. I've been playing with that, as it doesn't require me to paint anything, which is a nice change. And last but not least I have the Axis and Allies Anniversary Edition with me begging to be played like we used to when I was in high school (I guess I was more desirable to A&A then). Let's see if I can't get through it all.
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Friday, September 11, 2009
Return of Blogger!
Hail the returning hero! Yes, yes, I know, It's been a while, but when you're trotting around a globe (as opposed to virus-bombing it), things can become hectic. Internet is also spotty.
Yet here I am, sitting at my rather messy desk, currently covered with the memorabilia of my year long sojourn in the Olde Worlde.
What's in store now? Well, Space Hulk, Retribution of Scyrah, Warhammer High Elves, Monsterpocalypse, Flames of War Americans and a year's worth of games that I need to catch up on, so I'm not hawking old product to today's savvy gamer!
Tomorrow's my first day of work back at STRATEGIES. I'm pretty excited.
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Yet here I am, sitting at my rather messy desk, currently covered with the memorabilia of my year long sojourn in the Olde Worlde.
What's in store now? Well, Space Hulk, Retribution of Scyrah, Warhammer High Elves, Monsterpocalypse, Flames of War Americans and a year's worth of games that I need to catch up on, so I'm not hawking old product to today's savvy gamer!
Tomorrow's my first day of work back at STRATEGIES. I'm pretty excited.
+++END TRANSMISSION+++
Monday, August 17, 2009
Transmission Received
So I've decided to not apologize for anymore lack of blog posts... It's kinda lame. However, I have been absent for about 2 and a half weeks. Here's why:
When I got back from Italy, I had to start writing three essays before I left Germany on the 19th of August. Well, it soon became apparent that I'd have to lock myself in my room and write, and that the third essay would have to be dropped, due to lack of time, after a couple days procrastination.
Then, on the 15th of August, I left for Games Day in Köln (Cologne). Now I find myself with only one of the two remaining essays finished, and I leave in 2 days... *sigh*.
To top that off, I had to cancel my Internet already, because I was told that I could only hand in the modem to their office in my dorm (which is open from 14-15 Wednesdays, and 9-10 Thursdays). So I did it on Thursday. Well, now I've found out that I could've handed it into their main office (two blocks from my place), and that I wont be able to get my deposit back 'cause they don't give deposits to foreign accounts, and I have to close my bank account tomorrow!
My god...
Anyways, I'll have more for this blog in a couple days when I'm in Frankfurt and will hopefully have Internet access.
I'll also link to my Games Day photos later.
+++END TRANSMISSION+++
When I got back from Italy, I had to start writing three essays before I left Germany on the 19th of August. Well, it soon became apparent that I'd have to lock myself in my room and write, and that the third essay would have to be dropped, due to lack of time, after a couple days procrastination.
Then, on the 15th of August, I left for Games Day in Köln (Cologne). Now I find myself with only one of the two remaining essays finished, and I leave in 2 days... *sigh*.
To top that off, I had to cancel my Internet already, because I was told that I could only hand in the modem to their office in my dorm (which is open from 14-15 Wednesdays, and 9-10 Thursdays). So I did it on Thursday. Well, now I've found out that I could've handed it into their main office (two blocks from my place), and that I wont be able to get my deposit back 'cause they don't give deposits to foreign accounts, and I have to close my bank account tomorrow!
My god...
Anyways, I'll have more for this blog in a couple days when I'm in Frankfurt and will hopefully have Internet access.
I'll also link to my Games Day photos later.
+++END TRANSMISSION+++
Saturday, July 25, 2009
Friday, July 24, 2009
On Overwatch
So I'm going to Italy for a week, starting Sunday; therefore I wont be posting anything 'till I get back on the 3rd of August (probably the 4th or 5th). I'm gonna do some more campaign thinking, and some White Dwarf stuff (even though it'll be a week late) then. Some news and pics are coming after Games Day Germany on the 16th, and I'm still putting some work into the intro to gaming article I'm writing.
I also pre-ordered a metric tonne of Retribution stuff! Can't wait 'till September!
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I also pre-ordered a metric tonne of Retribution stuff! Can't wait 'till September!
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Monday, July 20, 2009
Campaign Notes 2
So I want this campaign to have a definite storyline, one that revolves around the ending in Legends and the beginning of Mk2, and also coincides with the troop movements of the Retribution of Scyrah.
I'm thinking of a few modes of play:
Story-Driven
This will involve weekly reports and goals for all the factions. Every week there will be cards (probably index cards) handed out every week to the respective generals. These goals will be flexible enough to allow for all sorts of opponents (i.e. one week's Cygnar report wont be exclusive to hunting Cryx). This will allow every faction to have its own story, while at the same time accounting for more than one player of the faction. For instance all Cygnar players will be working towards the goal of Cygnar, whether there's two Darius', or a Stryker and a Haley.
These goals, when reached will provide 'victory points' that the players can accumulate, and ultimately determine the winning faction at the end. It can also be used to tally the individual points of the separate gamers, allowing for a top player, in addition to a top faction.
I haven't decided, yet, if these points will carry over to the tournament, and have the tournament be like another set of games, or if I should have the winning faction, and player of the campaign get a bonus for use in the tournament, and have the tournament be the deciding factor for the whole thing. The problem with that, is there's a chance it could invalidate all the hard work done during the campaign, and I want the campaign to matter. However, I also don't want the tournament to see futile to some, as there will probably be prizes, and thus require an entry fee, and someone, or someone's faction wont enter if they think the thing is hopeless.
One way to ensure a worthwhile tournament experience would be to adjust the points per battle and objective before the tournament so that there's enough, if the lowest faction works hard enough, for them to come out on top as well. While, of course all points will apply to the highest faction as well. That, or because each faction gets its own story, and objectives I could make the underdog's objectives worth more points. This may draw the ire of the highest tier players, but it may require less math-balancing.
Ladder Campaign
This is right out, I think. They don't usually tend to be as immersive as I want this campaign to be, while at the same time, being too stringent.
Map-Based Campaign
These are really fun, and look really impressive, but are a bit of work to set up. I could use the Games Workshop Mighty Empires tiles, but they will probably be in use during the private campaign my gaming club will run. If my Story-Driven campaign turns out to be too much work I can always fall back on a map-based campaign.
That's all the time/energy I have for right now. For all you peoples of the Americas it's somewhere between 12:08, and 15:08, but for me it's 21:08 after a long day of schoolwork, speaking German, and celebrating the leaving of good friends I've made while on exchange, so it's been taxing.
+++END TRANSMISSION+++
I'm thinking of a few modes of play:
Story-Driven
This will involve weekly reports and goals for all the factions. Every week there will be cards (probably index cards) handed out every week to the respective generals. These goals will be flexible enough to allow for all sorts of opponents (i.e. one week's Cygnar report wont be exclusive to hunting Cryx). This will allow every faction to have its own story, while at the same time accounting for more than one player of the faction. For instance all Cygnar players will be working towards the goal of Cygnar, whether there's two Darius', or a Stryker and a Haley.
These goals, when reached will provide 'victory points' that the players can accumulate, and ultimately determine the winning faction at the end. It can also be used to tally the individual points of the separate gamers, allowing for a top player, in addition to a top faction.
I haven't decided, yet, if these points will carry over to the tournament, and have the tournament be like another set of games, or if I should have the winning faction, and player of the campaign get a bonus for use in the tournament, and have the tournament be the deciding factor for the whole thing. The problem with that, is there's a chance it could invalidate all the hard work done during the campaign, and I want the campaign to matter. However, I also don't want the tournament to see futile to some, as there will probably be prizes, and thus require an entry fee, and someone, or someone's faction wont enter if they think the thing is hopeless.
One way to ensure a worthwhile tournament experience would be to adjust the points per battle and objective before the tournament so that there's enough, if the lowest faction works hard enough, for them to come out on top as well. While, of course all points will apply to the highest faction as well. That, or because each faction gets its own story, and objectives I could make the underdog's objectives worth more points. This may draw the ire of the highest tier players, but it may require less math-balancing.
Ladder Campaign
This is right out, I think. They don't usually tend to be as immersive as I want this campaign to be, while at the same time, being too stringent.
Map-Based Campaign
These are really fun, and look really impressive, but are a bit of work to set up. I could use the Games Workshop Mighty Empires tiles, but they will probably be in use during the private campaign my gaming club will run. If my Story-Driven campaign turns out to be too much work I can always fall back on a map-based campaign.
That's all the time/energy I have for right now. For all you peoples of the Americas it's somewhere between 12:08, and 15:08, but for me it's 21:08 after a long day of schoolwork, speaking German, and celebrating the leaving of good friends I've made while on exchange, so it's been taxing.
+++END TRANSMISSION+++
Friday, July 10, 2009
Of Campaigning and Online Networks
A few WARMACHINE-related items this post.
First of all, I need to plan a campaign that will last from three to six weeks (hopefully six), will involve all eight (or nine in the case of the Retribution) factions, and have no limit to the amount of players. This is because when I return to Vancouver I will still be an employee at STRATEGIES Games & Hobbies, and I'll be in charge of running a WARMACHINE/HORDES campaign to celebrate the ending of Mk1 and the coming of Retribution, it'll also end in a tournament.
There are some aspects of the campaign that needs to be there:
+ It needs to be a campaign for both WARMACHINE and HORDES
+ It needs to involve all the factions available
+ It needs to last 3-6 weeks
+ It needs to end in a tournament
+ It needs to be open to almost any amount of players
+ It needs to be fun!
I'm going to chronicle the development here, with a deadline of middle to the end of September 2009. I went through my whole blog and fixed the tags, so everything all nice and tidy. I'll also be adding a tag to this project, cleverly titled: WM Campaign.
Secondly, I'm joining up with the Iron Agenda Blogging Network, in order to contribute my delightful opinions, and projects to the larger morass of the online gaming community (Online is an adjective, and not part of the noun gaming). I found, though, that before I do that I need a Privateer Press-based post that's newer than July 27th, 2008! Therefore, this one should do the trick!
I'm still working on that intro to Wargaming article, so that will be up here soon, as well as more of this campaign nonsense. For those that aren't big fans of Privateer Press stuff, I'll have some GW stuff coming around August when I go to Games Day Germany 2009, and in September/October when I work on some Chaos Daemons, and play around with Planetstrike.
First of all, I need to plan a campaign that will last from three to six weeks (hopefully six), will involve all eight (or nine in the case of the Retribution) factions, and have no limit to the amount of players. This is because when I return to Vancouver I will still be an employee at STRATEGIES Games & Hobbies, and I'll be in charge of running a WARMACHINE/HORDES campaign to celebrate the ending of Mk1 and the coming of Retribution, it'll also end in a tournament.
There are some aspects of the campaign that needs to be there:
+ It needs to be a campaign for both WARMACHINE and HORDES
+ It needs to involve all the factions available
+ It needs to last 3-6 weeks
+ It needs to end in a tournament
+ It needs to be open to almost any amount of players
+ It needs to be fun!
I'm going to chronicle the development here, with a deadline of middle to the end of September 2009. I went through my whole blog and fixed the tags, so everything all nice and tidy. I'll also be adding a tag to this project, cleverly titled: WM Campaign.
Secondly, I'm joining up with the Iron Agenda Blogging Network, in order to contribute my delightful opinions, and projects to the larger morass of the online gaming community (Online is an adjective, and not part of the noun gaming). I found, though, that before I do that I need a Privateer Press-based post that's newer than July 27th, 2008! Therefore, this one should do the trick!
I'm still working on that intro to Wargaming article, so that will be up here soon, as well as more of this campaign nonsense. For those that aren't big fans of Privateer Press stuff, I'll have some GW stuff coming around August when I go to Games Day Germany 2009, and in September/October when I work on some Chaos Daemons, and play around with Planetstrike.
Friday, July 3, 2009
White Dwarf 355 - July 2009
So I decided to add a new feature to the blog, every month (or two in the case of No Quarter) I will go through a copy of White Dwarf, or No Quarter, and give my opinions of it. Though it's not entirely necessary thanks to articles such as this, or this, I thought it would be fun to go through them, hopefully add a second opinion to it, and most importantly generate content. So without further ado:
White Dwarf 355 - July 2009
Now, first off, even though I live in Canada (and for the next two months, Germany), I'll be using the British issue numbering because it was the original magazine, and until Canada and Germany switched over to their own numbering, they used the British one. For the record this would be issue 163 for Germany, 354 for the US, and I have no clue for Canada, as I can't find their numbering on the website (plus I have no clue what's going on with GW Canada these days, as it shut down after I left for Germany). Also, keep in mind I'm going from the German issues until September (I'm gonna try and get a British August issue, but we'll see), so if there's any difference between terms I use, and ones you see in your English White Dwarf, then go with the WD, as I'm going by translation, and it's often not a direct translation.
A big criticism of White Dwarf has been that the magazine is simply an advertising vehicle for Games Workshop. The most telling aspect of this has been the 'New Releases' section of the magazine. Now I have no problem with new releases, as I want to see prices, release dates, and pictures as well, but I prefer the days of the 'Red Period' White Dwarfs (191-227 I think) where each game system had one or two pages dedicated to New Releases as opposed to these days. However, this issue has only 11 pages of New Releases and it goes through all the Planetstrike stuff as well as the subsidiary stuff like Black Library and Forge World. Doesn't look like a single thing for Warhammer or Lord of the Rings, which seems a bit strange; and as we'll see, this issue is rather devoid of Warhammer or LotR articles.
Further on we have the news section, which I rather like. In this one we have an article on the Open House event they had in Nottingham which I wish I attended, followed by a preview of the new board game Chaos in the Old World, that's put out by Fantasy Flight, and a blurb about an audio book by James Swallow called Heart of Rage. Despite being a huge Blood Angels fan I haven't actually read any of James Swallow's Blood Angels books, which this is supposed to be a continuation of, so I don't really have any anticipatory notes on it, but I'm excited as hell by the board game, as it has to do with the Chaos gods, and it harkens back to the time when GW made board games.
There's also three teaser sentences pretty much coming out and screaming that the next Warhammer faction to be redone is Skaven, but I don't know if that will surprise the rumor-forum junkies out there.
To the meat of the issue we have "War on all Fronts" the Planetstrike article, that's your standard fare design article, followed by some sample army lists. As a wannabe games designer, I enjoy design articles, as they give you an insight into the mentality behind design (something you can't always determine from the finished product).
This one seemed okay. It didn't go into anything profound (ie, things left on the cutting-room floor, upcoming products, etc.) instead it just gave a pretty good overview of Planetstrike itself, and gave passing comments about the balancing issues inherent in the new expansion.
The lone Warhammer article was a bit disappointing. I'm sure for a new Empire player, the Empire Tactica article would be helpful (and as much as things like this aren't very useful to us vets, we have to concede space to newer players) to the vets out there. I don't have my Empire army up and running yet, and I wanted to get to Standard Bearer as quickly as I could, so I didn't read this article.
Up next is an article, the likes of which I like to see in White Dwarf. This one's a new one as far as I know, and it's called Dave and Jeremy's Old War Stories. This article has Jeremy Vetock and Dave Andrews, two GW veterans giving alternative ways to play GW games (house rules, strange scenarios, etc). This one has them do a Kill-Team scenario with a handful of Catachans against a whole slew of Orks.
I like this kind of stuff in White Dwarf, because I believe it's using White Dwarf to its fullest, which is to provide alternative ways to enjoy your GW games, in addition to previews, news, battle reports, painting guides, and what have you. This one, in particular I don't think I'll recreate, but it provided me with somewhere to jump from if I want to do a similar thing, such as a Death Korps squad that's pushed too far into enemy lines and needs to regroup with it's HQ, or at the very least broke up the new release monotony that White Dwarfs can sometimes fall into.
Another article I like to see in White Dwarfs is an army list, and in this issue we have one for the Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game. It's the Galadhrim list that appeared in the War of the Ring book, but converted for use in LotR. As if harkening back to the days when White Dwarf introduced new units (Genestealer Hybrids back in Rogue Trader), or full army lists (Legion of the Damned in 2nd edition). This was particularly pleasing to me, as I'm planning on doing a Galadhrim army for WotR, and now I'll be able to use it for LotR as well.
Afterwards we get a battle report between Eldar and Imperial Guard using the new Planetstrike rules. Usually I enjoy reading the battle report(s) in White Dwarf, but whenever a new codex or army book comes out, I can tell you exactly who will win, thus I tend to avoid those ones. This one I haven't read yet.
My favorite part of the recent White Dwarfs is Jervis' column Standard Bearer. Jervis is an industry vet within Games Workshop and has created, and contributed to some of my favorite games (including my favorite game: Epic). In his column he muses over certain aspects like collecting, painting, sportsmanship, points values, or in the case of this month's column: the social aspect of gaming. His very British style, and humor remind me of the days when he had more of a hand in White Dwarf articles, and are always a good read.
Finally we get to the painting articles. In this one we have a couple good ones, and some alright ones. Of course, they have a Planetstrike-themed terrain-building article that gives you some examples of bastions for various factions such as Chaos, Eldar (which looks Eldarish, but not very Bastion-like), and some tabletop setups that look fairly impressive. There's not much on the actual execution of these vis a vis a step-by-step guide, but for an experienced modeler, these provide some pretty neat inspiration.
There's a modeling guide for some new Space Marine stuff that's coming out including the Ironclad Dreadnought and the new Landspeeder Storm. There are no building instructions, but I think the point of these articles is to show you some configurations, and most importantly: every damned piece in the kit. I like the cut-away layouts that show every bit, along with a legend telling you what they are. I find that rather handy.
Up next was a rather, disappointing article on the new paint brushes Citadel is putting out. Rather, it seems to be just a reorganization of their current paint brush line. Anyways, it's pretty much a 4-page ad for their brushes. The only good thing to come out of it is a shot of the workshop where the brushes are made, that thankfully shows that it's not done by slave-labor, but instead by happy-looking women from England.
Finally, my favorite is a competition put on by the 'Eavy Metal team, where they each drew a type of wizard from the Imperial College of Wizardry out of a hat and had to build and paint that wizard. The winner got a neat little certificate, and I imagine some bragging rights amongst the other painters. Besides being a look behind the scenes at the people who work at Games Workshop, it also shocased some very nice looking models, and paintjobs.
+++
So that's it then. My overall impression is that this is a good issue of White Dwarf, and that if you're a 40K player with an interest in Planetstrike, or a LotR player who wants to field the Galadhrim from WotR on your LotR tabletop, then it's worth getting. Otherwise not...
My favorite articles in this were (naturally) Standard Bearer, War on all Fronts, The Wizard contest article, and the Galadhrim army list. My least favorite articles were the rest of the painting/modeling articles, and the Empire Tactica article. All in all a very 40K-centric issue.
+++END TRANSMISSION+++
White Dwarf 355 - July 2009
Now, first off, even though I live in Canada (and for the next two months, Germany), I'll be using the British issue numbering because it was the original magazine, and until Canada and Germany switched over to their own numbering, they used the British one. For the record this would be issue 163 for Germany, 354 for the US, and I have no clue for Canada, as I can't find their numbering on the website (plus I have no clue what's going on with GW Canada these days, as it shut down after I left for Germany). Also, keep in mind I'm going from the German issues until September (I'm gonna try and get a British August issue, but we'll see), so if there's any difference between terms I use, and ones you see in your English White Dwarf, then go with the WD, as I'm going by translation, and it's often not a direct translation.
A big criticism of White Dwarf has been that the magazine is simply an advertising vehicle for Games Workshop. The most telling aspect of this has been the 'New Releases' section of the magazine. Now I have no problem with new releases, as I want to see prices, release dates, and pictures as well, but I prefer the days of the 'Red Period' White Dwarfs (191-227 I think) where each game system had one or two pages dedicated to New Releases as opposed to these days. However, this issue has only 11 pages of New Releases and it goes through all the Planetstrike stuff as well as the subsidiary stuff like Black Library and Forge World. Doesn't look like a single thing for Warhammer or Lord of the Rings, which seems a bit strange; and as we'll see, this issue is rather devoid of Warhammer or LotR articles.
Further on we have the news section, which I rather like. In this one we have an article on the Open House event they had in Nottingham which I wish I attended, followed by a preview of the new board game Chaos in the Old World, that's put out by Fantasy Flight, and a blurb about an audio book by James Swallow called Heart of Rage. Despite being a huge Blood Angels fan I haven't actually read any of James Swallow's Blood Angels books, which this is supposed to be a continuation of, so I don't really have any anticipatory notes on it, but I'm excited as hell by the board game, as it has to do with the Chaos gods, and it harkens back to the time when GW made board games.
There's also three teaser sentences pretty much coming out and screaming that the next Warhammer faction to be redone is Skaven, but I don't know if that will surprise the rumor-forum junkies out there.
To the meat of the issue we have "War on all Fronts" the Planetstrike article, that's your standard fare design article, followed by some sample army lists. As a wannabe games designer, I enjoy design articles, as they give you an insight into the mentality behind design (something you can't always determine from the finished product).
This one seemed okay. It didn't go into anything profound (ie, things left on the cutting-room floor, upcoming products, etc.) instead it just gave a pretty good overview of Planetstrike itself, and gave passing comments about the balancing issues inherent in the new expansion.
The lone Warhammer article was a bit disappointing. I'm sure for a new Empire player, the Empire Tactica article would be helpful (and as much as things like this aren't very useful to us vets, we have to concede space to newer players) to the vets out there. I don't have my Empire army up and running yet, and I wanted to get to Standard Bearer as quickly as I could, so I didn't read this article.
Up next is an article, the likes of which I like to see in White Dwarf. This one's a new one as far as I know, and it's called Dave and Jeremy's Old War Stories. This article has Jeremy Vetock and Dave Andrews, two GW veterans giving alternative ways to play GW games (house rules, strange scenarios, etc). This one has them do a Kill-Team scenario with a handful of Catachans against a whole slew of Orks.
I like this kind of stuff in White Dwarf, because I believe it's using White Dwarf to its fullest, which is to provide alternative ways to enjoy your GW games, in addition to previews, news, battle reports, painting guides, and what have you. This one, in particular I don't think I'll recreate, but it provided me with somewhere to jump from if I want to do a similar thing, such as a Death Korps squad that's pushed too far into enemy lines and needs to regroup with it's HQ, or at the very least broke up the new release monotony that White Dwarfs can sometimes fall into.
Another article I like to see in White Dwarfs is an army list, and in this issue we have one for the Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game. It's the Galadhrim list that appeared in the War of the Ring book, but converted for use in LotR. As if harkening back to the days when White Dwarf introduced new units (Genestealer Hybrids back in Rogue Trader), or full army lists (Legion of the Damned in 2nd edition). This was particularly pleasing to me, as I'm planning on doing a Galadhrim army for WotR, and now I'll be able to use it for LotR as well.
Afterwards we get a battle report between Eldar and Imperial Guard using the new Planetstrike rules. Usually I enjoy reading the battle report(s) in White Dwarf, but whenever a new codex or army book comes out, I can tell you exactly who will win, thus I tend to avoid those ones. This one I haven't read yet.
My favorite part of the recent White Dwarfs is Jervis' column Standard Bearer. Jervis is an industry vet within Games Workshop and has created, and contributed to some of my favorite games (including my favorite game: Epic). In his column he muses over certain aspects like collecting, painting, sportsmanship, points values, or in the case of this month's column: the social aspect of gaming. His very British style, and humor remind me of the days when he had more of a hand in White Dwarf articles, and are always a good read.
Finally we get to the painting articles. In this one we have a couple good ones, and some alright ones. Of course, they have a Planetstrike-themed terrain-building article that gives you some examples of bastions for various factions such as Chaos, Eldar (which looks Eldarish, but not very Bastion-like), and some tabletop setups that look fairly impressive. There's not much on the actual execution of these vis a vis a step-by-step guide, but for an experienced modeler, these provide some pretty neat inspiration.
There's a modeling guide for some new Space Marine stuff that's coming out including the Ironclad Dreadnought and the new Landspeeder Storm. There are no building instructions, but I think the point of these articles is to show you some configurations, and most importantly: every damned piece in the kit. I like the cut-away layouts that show every bit, along with a legend telling you what they are. I find that rather handy.
Up next was a rather, disappointing article on the new paint brushes Citadel is putting out. Rather, it seems to be just a reorganization of their current paint brush line. Anyways, it's pretty much a 4-page ad for their brushes. The only good thing to come out of it is a shot of the workshop where the brushes are made, that thankfully shows that it's not done by slave-labor, but instead by happy-looking women from England.
Finally, my favorite is a competition put on by the 'Eavy Metal team, where they each drew a type of wizard from the Imperial College of Wizardry out of a hat and had to build and paint that wizard. The winner got a neat little certificate, and I imagine some bragging rights amongst the other painters. Besides being a look behind the scenes at the people who work at Games Workshop, it also shocased some very nice looking models, and paintjobs.
+++
So that's it then. My overall impression is that this is a good issue of White Dwarf, and that if you're a 40K player with an interest in Planetstrike, or a LotR player who wants to field the Galadhrim from WotR on your LotR tabletop, then it's worth getting. Otherwise not...
My favorite articles in this were (naturally) Standard Bearer, War on all Fronts, The Wizard contest article, and the Galadhrim army list. My least favorite articles were the rest of the painting/modeling articles, and the Empire Tactica article. All in all a very 40K-centric issue.
+++END TRANSMISSION+++
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