Thud & Blunder - CLASH Done Right!

So, long-time readers might remember I was working on CLASH - The Generic Fantasy Skirmish Game, built on the engine used in In The Emperor's Name. I had planned on making a game that could be played with any sort of miniatures you had lying around, from old armies to a DM's collection of pre-painted minis. Almost anything could be quickly and easily statted up, and the core of the game was to be simple, quick to learn and fast enough to fit a couple of games in a night, or even a quick one while you waited for your gaming group to finally get together.

Well, turns out I got one-upped by the guys at The Ministry of Gentlemanly Warfare, the original writers of In The Emperor's Name. Over the course of a few games (In Her Majesty's Name, Daisho, and Blood Eagle), they tweaked the system (they need a name for their house system!), and finally turned their attention to the fantasy genre full-force (both Daisho and Blood Eagle are closer to "mythic" than truly fantastical).

Thud & Blunder is slightly more in-depth than your standard skirmish game (the combat feels like a stripped-down RPG, with options for disarming, mounted combat, and an interesting campaign system). However, it flows fairly well, with a phased you-go-I-go system reminiscent of GW's classic skirmish games. The extra complexity is mostly optional - you can run it stripped-down, or as complex as you like.

As far as my goals for the game go, it hits every note - not only is it easy to stat up any mini in your collection, with formula for new weapons, a bunch of pre-made warband lists to crib from and tweak to your hearts content, it's also easy to pick up and play with minimal fuss.

Even if you don't plan on using the system as-is, I would heartily recommend picking this up for the Scenarios, Complications and Landscapes- a massive list of plot hooks, weather conditions, alternate win conditions and changes you can add to any skirmish game to completely change the game! There are thousands of combinations you can create, meaning every game plays that little bit different. And it's incredibly easy to add your own, so you could never play the same game twice!

All in, it's an amazing little game! Well worth a tenner, even if just for the Scenarios / Complications / Landscapes section.

Hopefully, I should be able to get a few games in over the next few months, so keep your eyes peeled for more T&B content!

The Generic Fantasy Skirmish Game - Now Available!

So, after many years of struggle (and forgetting about the project), I finally got around to finishing my conversion of In The Emperor's Name to a fantasy milieu.

I even gave it a proper name! CLASH. Sounds nice and skirmishy, without being too over-blown.

This game is designed to allow players to use any miniatures they have to hand, and to make sure games are relatively quick. At most, you'll need 3-15 miniatures, some random gubbins for terrain, a D6 per side, and maybe some scatter dice and templates.

The first draft is split into two sections - one with the main rules (like how to price up models, combat and spellcasting, and some sample scenarios), and the second one is given over to the Warband listings. Of course, if you find something that isn't covered, feel free to use the rules in the first part to make your own!

The next releases will probably be either specific scenarios, maybe some bonus rules for Campaigns, or just random extra Warbands that pop into my head.

The CORE RULES are here.

The WARBANDS are here.

As this is the first real draft, please feel free to leave comments, criticisms, hate mail and death threats. But please - go try the game, and let me know what you think!

D&D Collectors Series Miniatures: What the Fuck, WotC, What the Fuck...

So, I happened into my Friendly Local Gaming Shop (the wonderful Static Games in Glasgow), hunting for bargains and weird and wonderful books (their second hand/ding stock is always plentiful, with some fabulous discounts), when something caught my eye.

Gale Force Nine have produced a new set of D&D Miniatures - the Dungeons and Dragons Collector's Series, to be precise. All new sculpts, themed (and finally non-random) sets (the Drow and Illithid Raiding Parties), and big single models (the Eye Tyrant and Purple Worm). The first thing that caught me was the quality of the sculpts - they look pretty fantastic. The Purple Worm is ludicrously nice, the Eye Tyrant looks very well-proportioned, and the Drow and Illithids are well in keeping with the 3rd/4th edition art style. Fair enough, I'm not a massive fan of that particular art style, but it is invoked pretty well.

This sounds like a pretty positive review so far, right?

Well, I took a closer look...

First thing that jumped out at me - the price. £40.00. For five miniatures. Now, I know that they're limited edition. I know there's only one store in Scotland stocking these (though, weirdly, eight in England!). And I know geeks just love to throw their money away. But come on - even Games Workshop has better prices than that.

Not only just 5 minis - 5 snap-fit miniatures! There's next to no customisation to do here, unless you want to do extensive remodelling. But, as these look to be resin-plastic models, and incredibly detailed and fiddly, I say good fucking luck. Cutting into one of these would just wreck the whole thing! Too many details, too few pieces to really allow you to mod them up as you need. So you'd better like the poses and weapons they come with, otherwise tough shit.

Some could attempt to justify the price - after all, they're limited edition, high quality figures. But seriously - £40. It just pushes some button deep inside me that knows that that is wrong.

But, you can now get official Beholder and Mind Flayer minis without sifting through booster packs, or having to put up with shitty pre-paint jobs!

I'd hold off on the Drow, however - there are a million companies selling Dark Elf minis out there, and unless you want to run a word entirely based off the artwork of  Wayne Reynolds, you'd be better going elsewhere.

Generic Fantasy Skrmish - Goblinoid Warbands

So, I thought I would present these lists together, because they share a common rule - The Horde.

As always, these rules are first drafts, and will be changed at a later date (after some hopeful playtesting). And, as always, they are part of an expansion of In The Emperor's Name, Gawd 'Elp Us Games's take on skirmish-level narrative 40k wargaming. Please check it out!

The Horde
Any Warband made from models with this rule can include any model from another Warband with the same rule without having to pay the Strange Ally cost - unless the model has a Heroism of 2+, then it's 5pts (instead of the usual 10pts).

So, in true fantasy style, a gang of Goblins can be led by an outcast Orc, or perhaps the Orcs befriended a wounded Ogre (or promised him a share of the loot and as many bones as he could eat), or maybe that group of Hobgoblins uses Goblins as meatshields and an Orc Berserker as their heavy hitter... the options are endless, and help make these Warbands incredibly flexible.

Plus, part of the idea of this game was that you could grab a pile of minis and play, like if only some of your usual RPG group show up, or you don't have enough armies for larger-scale wargames to go round your players. And if you're the type of DM who uses minis, you probably will have Orcs, Goblins and maybe Hobgoblins - enough of each for a decent encounter, I'd bet. If not, they're easy to get hold of - on sites which sell D&D minis individually, the Goblinoids are normally considered Common (barring a few special ones), and cost about $3 at most.

I advise only using this rule during campaign games (and maybe creating a similar rule for the Human, Elf and Dwarf (or whatever) lists - The Alliance). Otherwise, it can lead to much MathHammering and min/maxing your list choices, and really - that's not what this game is about.

I had thought about making them one big list, but in trying to ensure there was enough variation for players to run a list with just one type of Goblinoid, I decided I was as well making several lists that could be dipped interchangeably.

Goblins

Unit Type	Heroism	FV	SV	Speed	Notes
Skirmisher	5+	+0	+0	+2	Small
Sneak	5+	+1	+1	+2	Small, Stealth
Assassin	4+	+2	+1	+2	Small, Stealth, Poison, Hunter
Warchief	4+	+2	+2	+2	Small, Leader
Barghest	3+	+3	+0	+3	Hunter, Stealth

Campaign Rule: The Horde

Hobgoblins

Unit Type	Heroism	FV	SV	Speed	Notes
Cadet	4+	+1	+0	+1
Warrior	4+	+2	+1	+1	Phalanx
Archer	4+	+1	+2	+1
Captain	3+	+2	+2	+1	Leader, Disciplne, Defensive Master, Phalanx
Warcaster	4+	+1	+2	+1	Leader, can buy spells @ 10pts from the Divine Spell List, Discipline

Campaign Rule: The Horde

Orcs

Unit Type	Heroism	FV	SV	Speed	Notes
Grunt	4+	+1	+1	+0
Barbarian	3+	+2	+0	+0
Warlord	3+	+3	+3	+0
Rager	3+	+3	+0	+1
Shaman	4+	+2	+1	+0	Leader, can buy spells @ 10pts from the Nature Spell List

Campaign Rule: The Horde

Ogres

Unit Type	Heroism	FV	SV	Speed	Notes
Savage	2+	+4	+0	-1	Combat Master
Hurler	2+	+3	+3	-1
Chieftain	2+	+5	+3	-1

Armour Type	Notes	Restricted To
None	Just clothes [5+ to hit]
Light	Leather, Padded Armour [6+ to hit]
Medium	Chainmail, Half-Plate, Scale [7+ to hit]
	Amulet of Protection [7+ to hit]	Hogoblin Warcaster, Orc Shaman
Heavy	Banded Mail, Full Plate [8+ to hit]	Hobgoblin Captain, Orc Warlord
	Ogre Hide [9+ to hit]	Ogre Savage, Hurler
	Ogre Plate [10+ to hit]	Ogre Chieftain
Shields	Buckler, Light Round [+1 AV]
	Heavy, Tower [+2 AV]

New Special Rules

As always, these rules cost 5 points unless otherwise stated.

Small - this model is particularly small, and cannot use any Heavy weapons or Armour (including Heavy or Tower Shields) - however, they can move through Light Cover with no penalty. This ability does not cost any points (as it is both an advantage and a drawback).
Hunter - see Bounty Hunter.
Poison - any weapon used by this unit gains a Grit penalty of -1. This stacks with the weapon's original Grit penalty (but not other sources, such as the Envenom spell).
Discipline - grants all allies within 9" in Line of Sight immunity to the effects of Terror (see Invoke Faith).
Phalanx - units with this rule can form a shield wall - when using a shield, and in base contact with another shield-using unit, they count as carrying a line of Light Cover (+1 to Armour, penalties to shooting into it, and reduced movement speed).

Generic Fantasy Skirmish - Outlaws Warband

"Way I hear it, they'll rape us to death, eat our flesh, and sew our skins into their clothing. And if we're very, very lucky, they'll do it in that order."
   Knight-Captain Zoe Washburne, Lanthian Kingsguard

Bandits, brigands, thieves and cutthroats - there are always men who look to make a living outside the law. While most operate individualy, robbing innocent travellers and those who stumble down the wrong back alley, groups of these miscreants can make for a surprisingly tough nut to crack.

While working on a "Kingsguard" list, and its variants, I thought about making a list that would allow players to combine various human and demi-human miniatures, lightly-armoured skirmishers rather than the well-trained, heavily-armed men who make up the brunt of the Human armies. The cheapness of Thugs allow for a lot of bodies on the field, but your more expensive units have a lot of cool options and strategies you can build around them.

The rules are based on In The Emperor's Name, and as always, are a first-draft.

Unit Type	Heroism	FV	SV	Speed	Notes
Thug	5+	+1	+0	+0
Outlaw	4+	+2	+1	+1
Thief	4+	+1	+0	+2	Nose For  Trouble, Stealth
Desperado	4+	+1	+2	+1	Sniper
Bandit Chief	3+	+2	+2	+1	Leader, Combat Master
Reaver	2+	+3	+1	+2	Terrifying, Hard To Kill, Stalwart

Armour	Notes	Restricted To
None	Just clothes [5+ to hit]
Light	Leathers, Padded armour [6+ to hit]
Medium	Hide, Scale, Chain [7+ to hit]
Heavy	Half-Plate	Bandit Chief
Light Shield	Buckler [+1 AV]

Now, the cool thing about these guys is that most any fantasy miniatures can be used - a mix of humans and other fantasy races, and the Reaver could be anything from a Half-Ogre to a Khornate Warrior. This might be the first Warband I actually model up, due to easy availability of suitable minis.

Generic Fantasy Skirmish: High Elves Warband

"We are immortal. Unstoppable. We have trained in the art of swordplay for a hundred years, and have forgot more than you will ever know. You should bow before your superiors, mortal."
   -Khalesa Mensha Aurin, in peace talks before the Battle of Elevan

So, after the low-cost horde of Kobolds, we now have the "heavy hitters" - the expensive, elite army (much like In The Emperor's Name's take on Eldar Harlequins). These guys will be pretty hard to field in any great numbers, but they more than make up for it in personal power and survivability.

The High Elves are an ancient race, allegedly the first true beings to step foot into the World. They have made many great civilisations, and watched them fall, all before the first Human took breath. Their long lives lead to a sense of apathy towards life - in order to stave off such ennui, the High Elves will master several arts, ranging from the martial, to the arcane, the philosophical and poetic, all edged to perfection over the course of a hundred years or so. Once they have reached the natural limit of their talent, they will begin a new craft from scratch - more for something to do than any great desire to be the greatest.

Unit Type	Heroism	FV	SV	Speed	Special
Bladesinger	2+	+5	+3	+2	Leader, can buy Spells @ 10 points from the Arcane and Nature lists, Combat Master, Defensive Master, Grace. Max 1 per Warband.
Archmage	3+	+3	+4	+2	Leader, can buy spells @ 5pts from any spell list, Lore, Grace. Max 1 per Warband.
Master Ranger	3+	+4	+5	+2	Multishot, Bounty Hunter, Inhuman Climber, Grace
Ancient Warrior	3+	+4	+3	+2	Can buy one spell @ 10 pts from the Arcane and Nature lists, Grace

Armour	Notes	Restricted To
None	Just clothing [5+ to hit]
Light	Leather Armour, Ranger Cloth [6+ to hit]
Medium	Chainmail [7+ to hit]
Heavy	Full Plate [8+ to hit]	Bladesinger
	Warding Seal [8+ to hit]	Archmage
Shield	Light [+1 Armour Value]
	Heavy [+2 Armour Value]	Bladesinger

Grace [8pts] - this unit can move through cover or difficult terrain at no penalty, and may move through enemy models without having to engage in base-to-base combat. All High Elf models must take this ability.

Multishot [5pts] - A figure with this ability may take a second shot with a ranged weapon if they have knocked down or killed an enemy figure with their normal shot. They may only do this once per turn.

Once again, these guys are a first-draft. Any issues or problems, let me know!

Dear God, MORE DELAYS

Once again, family, illness and work have kept me away from my 4th most important thing - this blog!

Fingers crossed, I should be back up and running in the next few days, and I'll be working on an actual, honest to God buffer, so these delays are less frequent.

As with all my delay posts, here's the plans to garner some excitement:

• Finishing my Let's Read of the Book of Erotic Fantasy
• Getting up some playtest stuff for the Generic Fantasy Skirmish Game
• A new setting I've been cooking up, along with some thoughts on what system to run it in (and resources for doing so)
• A few new reviews (of old stuff I own)
• Some new reports from the Glorious Lord Admiral Black, as she scours the 41st Millennium for MORE CASH MONEY
• And some other stuff!

Generic Fantasy Skirmish: More Planning and Playtesting

So, while I've been posting up some Warbands and such here, I really wanted to get a playtest on the go before I start getting it all out there.

I have plans to run a few playtest games with each Warband (first round - High Elves vs Kobolds, the two Warbands who stray furthest from the game's "norm", as a cannon-fodder heavy list, and an elite list with very easy access to magic), but I also have plans to release a playtest document on here and G+ soon.

The playtest should contain:

• Human, Undead, Kobold, High Elf, and Orcs lists
• Weapons and Armour Listings
• Basic Rules (including any mentioned Special Abilities)
• And a few "optional" rules, which I would like to test out before I go throwing them in.

More info next week (assuming my days off are as productive as possible...)

Generic Fantasy Skirmish: Adventurers - Giant-Kin Warrior

"Even if we are told to pick a manly name for the game, Genocidicles is a bit much."
     -No. 1336, Things Mr Welch Is No Longer Allowed To Do In RPGs

For those warbands who want to pack a little extra punch, the Giant-Kin Warrior is a great addition. As well as high FV and Grit values, he has a few special rules up his sleeve that make him a formidable opponent. Of course, he's expensive, and his gear won't come cheap either - but he'll more than make up for it with the number of skulls he'll crack.

Heroism	FV	SV	Speed	Special Abilities	Base Cost
2+	+4	+2	+1	Leader, Hard to Kill, Combat Master, Terrifying, Stalwart	48

Armour	None (5+ To-Hit) Heavy Plate (8+ To-Hit) Shield (+1 to Armour)
Weapons	Zweihander Sword (+3, -1 Heroism Penalty) Warhammer (+3, -1 Heroism Penalty) Greatclub (+2, -1 Heroism Penalty)

Suggested Minis

The D&D Minis line has a few Goliath/Half Ogre minis, but you'll probably want to touch up the paintjobs a bit... the sculpts are fairly decent though, so they're a good option if you want to field this guy with little cost.

For those with a bit of a tight budget, the GW Lord of the Rings Half-Troll would make a great Giant-Kin, if perhaps a little too monstrous for some Warbands, and you get two for £8! It's somewhat weird that GW's flavour text suggests that the trollish blood of these guys is only "a rumour"...

As always, Reaper Miniatures can provide a few cool minis, but this one has a nice, dynamic pose - something to consider when dealing with smaller groups of troops.

This guy from Hasslefree Miniatures has a wonderful old-school charm to him that's just crying out to be lovingly painted...

And this guy is one of my favourite sculpts from Heresy Miniatures. He deserves a good home.

Generic Fantasy Skirmish: I Need A New Name

So yeah - Generic Fantasy Skirmish isn't going to cut it. The system need a new name, and I'm stumped.

It's based on In The Emperor's Name, so I had thought about a play on that - but In The King's Name sounds a bit... meh.

In The Name of The King is the subtitle to that odious Uwe Boll Dungeon Siege movie.

For King and Country sounds a bit too regal and wargame-y.

Maybe something like Mordheim - a place, or object. But I wanted this to be pretty explicitly generic - to allow it to stand in for any setting you might wish to use.

Any suggestions? Should I use your suggestion, you will have the chance to win a prize, to be disclosed at a later date (when I think of one).

Generic Fantasy Skirmish: Nature Spell List

Credit: Azurenex

So, the last of the first batch of spell lists for my fantasy conversion of In The Emperor's Name - the Nature Spell List. There's a strong focus on battlefield control spells here, allowing the Caster to create cover, terrain, and to affect enemy movement. I have also included a little attack/utility spell in there, to allow for some degree of flexibility (something I aimed for in all the spell lists). I also picture the Wood Elves will find that extra "oomph" of use in close combat - I see them as having bonuses to Speed and SV, rather than FV.

Something I have been considering is allowing Warbands who take a particular Spell List to gain access to unusual units - so, the Arcane list grants Golems or Elementals, the Necromancy list allows one to take Skeletons and Zombies outside an Undead Warband, the Divine list minor angelic servants, and the Nature list certain types of animal. The idea of a lone Wood Elf Druid and her menagerie of wolves, bears, ravens and big cats is pretty cool to me... but we'll see. I might just be overcomplicating things for the sake of it.

Spell	Range	Duration	Effect	Heroism To Save?
Swarm	6" Radius	1 Turn	Insects swirl in a 6” radius of the Caster, granting them and anyone else in the radius soft cover.	No
Entangle	12"	1 Turn	All enemies in a 6" radius of the designated target point move a if in heavy cover (-3")	Yes
Aspect of  The Beast	Self	2 Turns	The Caster gains one of +1 FV, +1 Speed, or Flight for the duration of the spell.	No
Hedgewall	12"	3 Turns	The Caster creates a dense wall of vegetation 1" thick, 2" high, and 8" long. This wall blocks Line of Sight, and can be attacked (Armour 10) to create a hole large enough for one creature to look through (and make ranged attacks).	No
Windcall	12" Radius	Instant	The Caster creates sudden gusts of wind, which force enemies in range to make a Heroism roll or be pushed back by D6" in a random direction. Those who match their Heroism total are still Knocked Down.	Yes

Generic Fantasy Skirmish: Necromancy Spell List

"Death is only the beginning... I died three-hundred and seventy-three years ago. I've never felt better."
    -Rhas a' Khemeri, Tomb-Prince of The Sevenfold Khemerite Empires

So, my adaptation of In The Emperor's Name continues, and here's the next part - the Necromancy Spell List. This one focuses on debuffing enemies, and useful little utility spells as well.

This Spell List will most likely be in the hands of usually Evil Warbands, like the Undead and possibly the Dark Elves. However, one might imagine an Order of Necromancers not unlike those in the Diablo setting - neither Good nor Evil, more dedicated to keeping the balance than anything else.

That could make for a really cool Warband. I might even write that one up...

Spell	Range	Duration	Effect	Heroism To Resist?
False Life	Touch	Instant	The Caster grants one fallen ally a free Heroism roll to return to the game as a Zombie (see the Undead Retinue for stats). In Campaign games, the figure is automatically assumed to have failed its Survival roll.	No
Ghostwalk	Self	1 Turn	The Caster moves 12”, unhindered by cover, enemies or even solid structures. He must begin and end this movement in an open space. This power is used instead of normal movement.	No
Masque of Death	Self	1 Turn	All enemies consider the Caster to be Terrifying.	No
Possession	12"	1 Turn	The target enemy is forced to make an immediate move towards and attack its nearest ally.	No
Venom	Touch	1 Turn	Anyone hit by the touched weapon suffers a -2 to their Grit rolls against that attack.	No

Remember, these Spell Lists are a "first draft" - after some playtesting, some spells may be reworked, new ones added, whatever - I am simply posting these up to gauge interest in the game as I plan it.

Generic Fantasy Skirmish: The Divine Spell List

"Yeah? Well, my God has a hammer!"
     -Nick Fury

So, where the Arcane Spell List had a bent towards damage, the Divine Spell List is more about support - the classic archetype of the Cleric who is more healer than warrior. In addition to that, they can buff their allies, and grant extra options in combat. Most Clerics will supplement these spells with the ability to wear heavy armour, as well as decent close combat ability.

Spell	Range	Duration	Effect	Heroism To Resist?
Bless	Touch	3 Turns	Either add +1 to Armour or FV. This can be either the Caster, or one ally in base contact.	No
Heal	Touch	Instant	The Caster may grant one out-of-action figure a free Heroism roll to come back into the game. They cannot take any actions until the following turn.	No
Divine Guidance	12“	Instant	The Caster can shoot at an enemy figure, even if they are concealed by cover or if line of sight is blocked. Cover gives them no protection.	No
Show The Path	Self	1 Turn	The Caster creates a clear 6" path through an area of soft or hard cover directly adjacent to himself. He or others can move along the path in single file, until it fades.	No
Touch of Heroism	Touch	3 Turns	The figure touched gains a Grit attribute of 2+ for the duration of the power. Note this cannot be used to increase a Caster's spellcasting ability.	No

Remember, these rules are as-yet unplaytested (though the core ItEN rules are pretty well balanced), so I am not 100% sure the effect some of these new spells and warbands will have on the game. Hopefully, I should get a few playtests up and running over the next few weeks - if anyone is interested, comment here or shoot me an e-mail!

Generic Fantasy Skirmish: The Arcane Spell List

"A Thaum is the basic unit of magical strength. It has been universally established as the amount of magic needed to create one small white pigeon or three normal sized billiard balls."
     -Terry Pratchett, The Light Fantastic

Magic is a big art of fantasy literature and gaming, so I wanted to expand its role in this conversion. The original list of Psyker Powers for In The Emperor's Name is pretty varied, and all Psykers and Sorcerers and such gain access to the same powers from that list. I wanted something a bit different - a few seperate lists, which help to provide flavour to a particular Warband, and offer some degree of tactical depth in choosing which Casters to field.

The Spell Lists I am planning at the moment are as follows;

• Arcane - a list for Wizards, Sorcerers, and other more offencively-oriented Casters. Provides a good mix of offence, utility, and battlefield control. Available to most Warbands.
• Divine - a list for Clerics, and maybe some Priests. Mainly buffing and defence, though there might be a few offencive options in there too.
• Necromancy - debuffs, some offence, and a few "False Life"-type healing spells. Most associated with the Undead, Dark Warriors, and some Human Warbands.
• Nature - all battlefield control, with a few good defensive options too. Most associated with the Wood Elf Warbands.

So without further ado, the first draft of the Arcane Spell List:

Spell	Range	Duration	Effect	Heroism To Resist?
Invisibility	Self	2 Turns	The Caster can become invisible, granting him the Infiltration rule if used at the start of the game, and rendering it impossible to draw Line of Sight to them until the effect ends. This effect is ended prematurely when the target attacks, is hit, or otherwise interacts with an object (opening doors, carrying loot, etc).	No
Levitate	Self	Instant	The Caster can rise up to 12" up any structure/object in the Movement Phase in addition to their normal movement.	No
Lightning Bolt	20“	Instant	The Caster may fire a bolt which becomes a 20“ line - all enemies in that line take a hit, and the bolt is treated as a +1 ranged weapon, with Cover applying as normal.	No
Magic Missile	LoS	Instant	Counts as a ranged weapon shot at +2.	No
Wall of Flame	24“	3 Turns	The Caster can produce a 12“ wall of flames, anywhere within 24“ of the Caster. This acts as Soft Cover, and can be crossed by making a Heroism Roll (failure means taking a hit as per the Flamethrower rules).	No

Generic Fantasy Skirmish: Adventurers Preview: The Thief

So, to add some more fun to my conversion of In The Emperor's Name into the Generic Fantasy Skirmish Game, I wanted to add a classic element - Adventurers.

Aside from the usual scattered armies of Men and other races, there are those who follow a more "freelance" approach to warfare - those who don't fight for their countries and history, but for their own legends, and the riches of long-forgotten kings. These mercenaries and brigands, euphemistically titled "Adventurers", will work for any cause, so long as the pay is right. They could also be those amongst their races who have worked long and hard to acquire skills and training that sets them aside from the rank-and-file.

These guys are similar to Necromunda's Hired Guns - free-floating characters who can be recruited by many different Warbands to bolster their numbers, or shore up their weaknesses. As I am also planning a Space Hulk-style Dungeon Crawl variant for these rules, these guys will also be included as a Warband for that game. Each one is purchased via the Strange Ally rule (costing an extra 5 or 10 points, depending on their Grit/Heroism score).

A feature that I might add is that each Adventurer may work with certain Warbands without paying that Strange Ally rule - it would be weird for the Elven Ranger to have trouble working for a Wood Elf Warband, for example.

Our first preview is The Thief - your classic Rogue, capable of great feats of dexterity, hiding in shadows to leap out and plant a dagger in your kidneys, and possessing the type of street smarts that a General might not consider.

Heroism	FV	SV	Speed	Notes and Special Abilities	Base Cost
4+	+3	+2	+1	Leader or Nose For Trouble, Infiltrate, Inhuman Climber, Defensive Master	25 (30 with Nose For Trouble)

Armour	Light Armour (6+ To Hit) Amulet of Protection (7+ To Hit)
Weapons	Throwing Dagger (+1) Short Sword (+2) Shortbow (+1, 18") Hand Crossbow (+1, 12") Flintlock Pistol (+1, Heroism Penalty -1, 18", Backfire)

New Weapon Special Qualities
Backfire - black powder weapons are not the most... reliable. On an Attack Roll, any natural 1 makes the weapon inoperable, and the wielder is required to make a Heroism roll or be Knocked Down. Once the weapon has been rendered inoperable, it can be used as an Improvised Weapon (for Flintlock Pistols) or a Club (for Rifles).

Cool Minis

Generic Fantasy Skirmish: More Thoughts

So, I started back at converting In The Emperor's Name to represent a fantasy skirmish system. I mean, sure, there are dozens of skirmish systems floating about the net for free, there's Mordheim and such, but ItEN is just such a cool little game, and it's very easy to hack, change, add new Retinues and such, that I couldn't resist.

I had thought about making my own system (based off d10s, similar to the new Mongoose Judge Dredd game), but meh - too much work. Maybe some day...

So, the current work is to:

• Convert and re-jigger the weapons list (many of the unpowered melee weapons in the list share the same stats, which would make a game like this kinda boring), rewrite the Ranged weapons options (as a fantasy game, hand-to-hand is more appropriate - so maybe shorten the ranges, cut out most of the "heavy" weapons but leave the option to buy greatbows/flintlocks/cannons for a slightly higher price).
• Work out a rule to represent smaller combatants (ensuring they have a lower Grit score, etc), possibly with a special rule...
• Small - characters with this ability can only use Light weapons and cannot wear Heavy armour, but can move through difficult terrain and full speed, and gain... some other bonus I haven't thought of yet.
• Spell Lists - most Warbands will have access to a Caster unit (Wizard/Shaman/Cleric/whatever), who can buy spells, but each will only have access to a handful of possible Spell Lists - like, Wood Elves can buy spells from the Nature lists, Dwarves from the Rune-smith list, etc. Currently thinking of the following:
• Death/Necromancy (debuffs, allows access to Undead in the Warband)
• Life/Healing (all buffs)
• War (all offense)
• Shadow/Illusion (some debuffs, some offense, some defense)
• Nature (battlefield control, healing, maybe some summon-type stuff)
• Write out the Retinue/Warband lists. So far, my thoughts are:
• Humans - the "baseline", stats-wise. Fairly balanced, with a variety of troop-types available.
• Dwarves - have a higher Grit than others, mostly tough "tank" units, with a Rune-wizard available (using spells that buff others and themselves), as well as the option to buy things like Heavy Bolt Throwers and all that nonsense.
• Elves - three separate lists so far...
• High Elves - any High Elf model can buy Spells for 10 points, and their Mages can buy them for 5 points. A wide selection of spell-lists available.
• Wood Elves - higher SV and Speed, access to Nature spells, maybe a Beast-tamer unit, mainly skirmisher/stealth-type units.
• Dark Elves - higher FV and Speed, access to Illusion spells, maybe some rules for Poison weapons.
• Kobolds - poor stats, but so cheap you can buy dozens of the little buggers. Comes with access to the Draconic Spell List.
• The Green Tide - Orcs (tough but slow), Hobgoblins (nice and balanced), Goblins (small and sneaky), Ogres (big and tough) who might get a re-do of the rules for Stupidity, maybe allow another Beast-tamer unit, gain access to the War Spell List.
• The Forces of Darkness - something like the classic Warriors of Chaos, big, tough, slow, access to some weird special units, and stuff like the War and Death Spell Lists.
• Adventurers - more like "Hired Guns", to be purchased by any army (using the Strange Ally rule), but include an option to take them for no extra cost in certain warbands (like the Elven Ranger being free to work with the Elven Warbands, but costing extra points in the Human Warband).
• And, of course, a few others as they come to me.

One thing that caught my eye in ItEN was the Appendix for using the game to play Space Hulk-style games - which really flipped a switch somewhere. Mainly because, it would be simple enough to use those rules as a framework to create a "dungeon crawl"-style scenario for the game - perfect! I might add rules for the Defending Warband to buy traps, turn it into a real Tucker's Kobolds deal...

Dredd: How To Game It

Pictured: THE LAW

So, because I was ill as fuck over the weekend, the girlfriend's flatmate picked me up a copy of Dredd on DVD to cheer me up.

I loved the movie. It managed to perfectly recreate the look of the comics - I wasn't all that convinced by the choice of South Africa, at first, but it turns out that Cape Town pretty much looks exactly like Mega-City One. It mixes ultra-modern, sleek aesthetics with junker vans and slums, and even has those wonderful mixes (like the futuristic flyover built from concrete, cutting through a regular "Americanised" street, with shanty houses on one side). It's awesome!

The casting was good - Olivia Thirlby makes a slightly younger-than-usual Psi-Judge Anderson, but pulls off the "badass rookie" pretty well, and Urban nails it. Lena Heady was a little take-it-or-leave-it as Ma-Ma - I can think of a lot of female actresses out there who could have brought more to the role. But, she wasn't terrible. Plus, movie-geek rage happened when her scar make-up couldn't stay consistent between shots.

The SFX were well-realised - they added to the scenes, rather than dominating them (a common problem in bigger-budget movies). Practical effects are used for most of the movie, with the real exceptions being the scenes powered by the perception-altering drug Slo-Mo - thus adding to the feeling of unreality (and, in theatres, most of the 3D elements were Slo-Mo scenes as well!).

But, the thing that stuck in my head was how much fun it might be to run a game in the setting.

The first thought was a skirmish-style game, as I've been wanting to try a little bit more wargaming recently. Necromunda is pretty much already a hab-riot on the tabletop, but the rules for playing as a smaller, elite force (like the Arbites) as versus a larger gang are a bit wonky. Plus, the Arbites in a campaign game have a few issues (like the system of replacements and hiring).

Inquisitor28 could be a good fit, particularly inspired by this post. A small group of Judges/Arbites, controlled by one player, and the inhabitants by another player (or multiple players). You could have simple survival as the goal, but it's always more fun to have a clear objective in Inquisitor (perhaps, similar to the movie, the Arbites have to protect a witness/perp, and the other gangs need to make sure they don't get out alive/they're the ones who kill the witness/they steal the witness away for their own nefarious purposes). I'd maybe consider modifying the rules to reflect ammo (even just price up clips, etc), and track wounds a little more "realistically" for the Arbites. Building a multi-level environment might pose a problem, but it surely can be done!

There is also a new Judge Dredd miniatures line and Skirmish Game from Mongoose Publishing, which are both pretty top-notch. The rules are a free download, for one thing, and the miniatures are sculpted suspiciously similar to the Wargames Foundry 2000AD Miniatures, and their Street Violence Range as well - meaning that you have a lot of options for this one.

I'll pop up a quick review of the rules soon.

I also thought about full-on roleplay in the setting. While there is a Judge Dredd system out there, I was never a fan. So, searching about, I thought MiniSix could make a good starting point. But, then I thought - really, the Warhammer 40k setting has borrowed so much from the Dredd setting, that it's time to give something back...

I'll pop up some conversion ideas for running Dredd in the WH40kRPG system this week - stay tuned!

BrikWars: BRIKIN' IT

So, me and my mate tried our first game of BrikWars tonight.

For those of you not in the know, BrikWars is a free-to-download wargame which exclusively uses Lego, both for the miniatures and terrain. The aim of the game is not simulation - it's fun. The light, breezy way the rules are written, the humorous examples, right down to their choice of materials - this is a beer-and-pizza wargame, pure and simple.

An example of a rule that emphasises the fun-oriented nature of the game is the "What I Say Goes" roll. Here, a player can narrate an action not covered by the rules, dictate a new rule, establish a ruling on an existing rule in weird and wonderful circumstances... anything, really. If everyone agrees, he can go right ahead. If anyone disagrees, all of the involved parties roll a dice (d10s are recommended) - whoever gets the higher roll, wins. So if it's the one proposing the rule/action/whatever, it succeeds - but if not, the opposition get to decide what happens. This might be as simple as "No, you can't do it", but really, that's boring. Players can spice things up by adding new complications, penalties, whatever seems appropriate (and, if it's too harsh, you could always make another WISG roll!).

The rules are exceedingly simple, to start - each minifig has the same stats, and a decent chance of surviving a few rounds before being executed in a variety of terrible and humiliating (and hilarious) ways. Some figures can be designated as Heroes - better stats, more attacks per round, and a fun special ability - these are Cliches (think Risus). A Cliche allows a Hero to perform certain acts
Due to the variety of possible weapons and accessories that you can find in a box of Legos (and even more, if you include places like BrickArms and all the other cloning companies), weapons are handled in very generic terms - categories like One-Handed, Two-handed Melee, Pistols and Long Arms, etc. This allows for pretty varied forces, and means you can sub in most anything, so long as it can vaguely fit a category (like using Harry Potter Lego wands - a simple Pistol stat-line will do just nicely!).

There are two options for Armour - either a static number (4 for a normal Minifig), or rolling an Armour Save (roughly equivalent to 1d6). Deal more damage than the target number (or their roll), and they go down. Wearing armour simply adds an extra die to the roll. Nice and simple!

Sure, there are way more rules than that - the current rulebook pulls in at about 80-odd pages. But, most of these are optional or really edge-case rules, and also help to support the game at much larger scales. At the moment, we're sticking to a skirmish-scale game (mainly because I can't find the boxes and boxes of Lego I have floating around somewhere...), and it seems pretty fit for purpose.

Expect a lovingly-photographed battle report soon!

Necromunda or Bust...

Well, mainly bust.

We never got around to the Necromunda game this weekend, due to fatigue, illness, and a fateful Saturday morning delivery from LoveFilm:

Skyrim.

I should settle my affairs now, to prevent the shame of dieing in front of the screen with no will ready...

Chaos of The Warp Podcast

As you know, I like to support my friends and fellow Scotsmen. I find that friendship and helping each other out is the basis of forming a strong gaming community - and also gives me the chance to get a free promotion.

*nudge nudge*

Chaos of The Warp is a general wargaming podcast, with an obvious focus on Warhammer 40k. Reviews, upcoming events in Scotland, rumours, and GW announcements all fall under their radar. It helps that one of my close friends and DMs, Brian of Lead Legion, is a contributor.

Check them out!