Ironhead Station

I'm taking a little break this week to go on a vacation with my wife. What did I do today? Well, it looked something like this:

Next week I'll be back to the real world and we'll get back to talking about Warmachine and RPGs... Until then - buenos dias!

I’ve written a lot about Warmachine over the last year, mostly because I’ve been spending a lot of time painting over the last year, and it works well for a blog because it’s a very visual thing - people seem to like looking at pictures of minis, as they tend to get a lot of hits. Still, the truth is that I’m really a roleplayer at my core, and worse, I’m a sucker for roleplaying source books. The problem is that I’m always finding new things that I would really like to play, but I never want to derail us from the game-in-progress.

Over the past few months, we have debated whether or not we should stay with 3.5, move to fourth edition, or switch over and try out the Pathfinder RPG, all of which is good discussion, but at the end of the day, it’s still just D&D. We tend to play fairly character- and story-centric games, which tend to come off just as well in any of those systems.

Lately, my real itch it to try something completely different – to get a break from high, heroic fantasy and all of the worn-out tropes that go with it. Don't get me wrong - I love me some Pathfinder - but the adventure paths end up being really long, taking us literally years to get through. There so many other things I'd like to at least try, that we are going to try an inject some "one-off" between major sections of the Pathfinder campaign. I’ve really been itching to play something more contemporary – a modern game, or even some sci-fi. The good news is that there are plenty of options of there to choose from. Time seems to be the enemy here, although I’m warming up to running some “one-offs” just to scratch the itch. Looking through my game shelf, here are the main contenders for stuff I own that I need to get around to playing:

“A mind without purpose will wander in dark places.”

Dark Heresy is roleplaying set in the Warhammer 40,000 universe. The game puts you in the role of an acolyte of the Holy Imperial Inquisition, searching out heresy wherever it may take root. I’m a huge fan of the Horus Heresy series of novels put out by the black library, and the chance to play in that universe sound great. The game has taken some criticisms for setting you as a weakling in a universe full of space marines, but as a fan of low-powered games, I think I’m okay with that. I’ve also heard that the system itself is both very mechanical and table-driven, and often quite fatal for characters. This probably limits its attractiveness as a long term campaign for us, but it seems like it could be a lot of fun for a one shot –especially one with a gruesome ending…

“I want to believe.”

D20 Modern. Last year we did a one-shot game of d20 Modern (you can read about that here) and it was amazingly fun – I was hooked. I would love to get back to it and explore some more ideas. Not really a single setting, d20 Modern is really a toolkit for running modern campaigns, and could cover just about anything you can think of in the modern world like military-based games or detective stories. It is, however, especially well suited to running “X-Files” style paranormal/alien/occult investigation games. If you are interested in that type of thing, I would recommend the excellent “Dark Matter” supplement. As the name implies, it is d20-based, making it an easy transition for those coming from D&D.

“In space, nobody can hear you scream.”

D20 future is really just an expansion book for d20 Modern, but it adds so much significant content that it makes it feel like an entirely new game. As gaming supplements go, d20 Future is especially impressive, with rules for almost everything you might need to play in a sci-fi setting, from power armor and alien races to spaceships and giant fighting robots. (For those that are truly old school, you will also find all of the old Star Frontiers races here as well!) I’ve even considered running a 40K-setting game with this system to take advantage of the approachability and flexibility it offers – I really can’t think of one sci-fi setting that you couldn’t easily adapt to d20 Future.

“Help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi. You’re my only hope.”

Star Wars. As a child of the 70’s and 80s, Star Wars virtually defined science fiction for me growing up. I grew up eating and breathing Star Wars, and I still say my best Christmas ever was the one where I got the death star play set (with the working trash compactor - complete with bits foam trash and a tentacle trash monster!) Wizards of the Coast seems to have shown renewed interest in the Star Wars line, and we saw a number titles come out at the end of last year, and a strong lineup set for 2009. Soon we will have setting books for the Old Republic, the Clone Wars, the Rebellion and the Legacy Era – rest assured that no matter which slice of the Star Wars timeline is your favorite, it should be well supported. Star Wars is another game that while I don’t know if I would want to play an entire extended campaign, I think it would be great material for one off games. Like d20 Modern, this one has its roots in the d20 system it should be easy enough for most D&D players to make the switch.

“I Aim to misbehave."

Serenity. The newest game book in my collection, I received the Serenity RPG as a Christmas present last year. I haven’t had a chance to read the book in detail, but it seems to be a lightweight system that should keep the game focused on the characters rather than complicated mechanics. It also does a great job communicating the feel of the Firefly universe, as most of the book is written in the distinctive “verse speak” that made the dialog of the television series so much fun. The setting can feel a little thin with only 12 TV episodes and a movie to back it up - I think I would have to work a little to fill in the grey space. Firefly was popular because of its amazing characters – I worry that there is enough “world fluff” to carry the setting without its iconic characters, and yet the lightweight character-driven system might just make it all worthwhile. Plus, I have certain appreciation any game that calls its highest-tier of character the “Big Damn Hero.”

I'll let you know what I end up with, and maybe talk through the game I develop. I've been running mostly published stuff for the last few years. It's been a long time since I've created something from whole cloth - it should be fun!

Labels: Dungeons and Dragons, RPGs

Over the holiday break we managed to re-start our ongoing D&D campaign. We are currently running through Paizo’s Rise of the Runelords adventure path, and if you want, you can read as I gush about it here. We are just wrapping up the first book in the adventure path, and the good news is the enthusiasm is high to keep plowing ahead.

Paizo Publishing has done a great job making Golarion (the Pathfinder setting world) a really compelling place, and we are having a lot of fun playing in it. At this point, thePathfinder line is really starting to fill out nicely, and many of the more interesting locales are getting their own sourcebooks, adding to the depth and richness the world. Plus, it gives you mountains of fluff to sift through and keep you engaged between sessions.

Getting back to our pen and paper game has left me pretty much itching for D&D around the clock, so I picked up the new Neverwinter Nights 2 expansion “Storm of Zehir.” It’s an interesting game, and a worthy effort, but my review is somewhat mixed. On the bright side, it seems like there has been some much-needed performance tuning done, and the game now actually runs fairly smooth. NWN2 has always been a bit of a performance pig considering its middle-of-the-road graphics.

The game also re-introduces the party system, a feature I’ve been missing since the first Neverwinter Nights. In this expansion you get to create and control you entire party, which is half the fun. One of the things I really missed since the old Black Isle Studios days was the ability to roll up your entire party at the start of a game. For me, party creation is almost a satisfying game on its own. The game also does about the best job yet of capturing the entirely of the 3.5 rule set, and reproduces them as faithfully as is probably possible without going to a turn-based game (which I actually wish it was). In addition to all the core classes and pile of prestige classes, you will find a full lineup of spells, feats, items and a crafting system to keep you very busy. Storm of Zehir also does an excellent job translating skills – usually in a videogame you can sink all your points into the combat skills like tumble, parry, etc. without worrying about gimping your character. This time around they managed to make everything count, and you suddenly find yourself valuing those ranks in knowledge, intimidate or diplomacy.

An overland travel map has been added, which is kind of a “macro” travel mode where you cross large stretches of terrain. Random monsters encounters will spawn on the overland map, setting up ad-hoc battles. In fact, your skills even come into play here, allowing you to sneak past monsters, intimidate them before combat begins, or parlay with them to avoid conflict altogether. Unfortunately, these random encounters will pop up with a little too much frequency and tend to get annoying (the same way that random encounters popped up constantly in FFX), and left me wishing there was an option to control both the frequency and the difficulty of the encounters.

The story is weak to nonexistent – this is not the game to look to for an epic storyline or deep character development – it certainly isn’t a Baldur’s Gate (we will have to wait for Dragon Age for that), but it is a great combat-focused romp through the Forgotten Realms, somewhat akin to the old Icewind Dale games.

In all, it’s not a great game as a total package, and even pretty weak as a stand-alone story, but if you are itching for some faithful D&D hack-and-slash goodness, it’s worth a look. It also adds a ton of new game content that NWN2’s very active mod community should be able to do some very cool things with. This is definitely a game for the D&D fan (I actually had my Players Handbook open next to me while I created my characters!) On the other hand, if you aren’t really a D&D player, and you are just looking for some good CRPG fun, you would probably be better off passing on Storm of Zehir and picking up Fable 2 or waiting for Dragon Age.

Labels: Dungeons and Dragons, PC games, RPGs

Well, the first week back to work was a tough one after two weeks on vacation. It took most of the week just to get my head back around what I needed to be doing, and only strengthened my resolve that I need to make a career shift. Right now I’m thinking “Independently Wealthy Billionaire” sounds like a job I would be good at.

I did manage to sneak out to my FLGS for Thursday Warmachine, and to pick up the new No Quarter and “The Dude.” I played against Skorne this week, for the first time ever. It was later in the evening, so we decided to only play a 500 point game. The lists looked something like this:

My Cygnar Army (500 pts, 19VPs) Captain Victoria Hailey Squire Ol' Rowdy Thorn Sword Knights (x10) Long Gunners (x6) Long Gunner UA Journeyman Warcaster

Skorne Army (497 pts., 17 VPs) Lord Tyrant Hexeris Titan Gladiator Titan Cannoneer Cyclops Savage Praetorian Swordsman (x10) Preatorian Swordsman UA Ancestral Guardian

Having been the first time I’d ever played Skorne, I didn’t have a very good handle on what all his stuff did, and I ended up focusing on all the wrong things. I went after the Praetorians straight away with the chain lightning shenanigans, killing off most of the unit at the top of turn 2. Of course, when he then put the giant stack of soul tokens on the Ancestral Guardian, I knew that something terrible had just happened. A turn later, the ancestral guardian scrapped Ol’ Rowdy like he was nothing.

I felt a little better on the next turn when Thorn teamed up with my remaining sword knights to gut his Gladiator in one round. Even with the satisfaction this gave me, the damage had already been done. His cannonner had killed off my long gunners (not realizing the cannoneer was an AOE, I packed them too tight), and I was down to only 3 Sword Knights and Thorn. I missed a potential assassination run, because I forgot that Warlocks can’t transfer without Fury – thinking that he would just pass the damage off, I went after the Gladiator instead. I finally took Hailey on a suicide run rather than throw up TB and make his already slow army chase me around the table at a crawl.

So, it was another learning game, and I made a lot of mistakes. It was kind of rough night for me, but still an enjoyable game. I won’t underestimate that Ancestral Guardian or the Cannoneer again. I didn’t like Rowdy at all at 500, at least not in this army. He does a lot of cool stuff, but he costs a lot of focus to run, especially if you want to keep Best Defense up. I think I would have been much happier with Defender (some serious ranged punch) or a Centurion, for the charge-denial and the auto-hitting follow on attacks.

In that vein, I finished painting my Centurion last night. As I was painting the right arm, I realized how much I hate the spear on the model. It just looks stupid – it is way to short. So, I decided to build him a new one! I’ve never been a big modder, but it seems like fun, and I thought I would give it a try. I ended up cutting the speartip and the butt off the existing model, and then clipping the remaining shaft out of the hand. To fashion a new spear, I used a piece of 3/32 brass rod that I picked up at a model railroad/airplane shop, and cut that to length. I then drilled through the model's fist, so I could slide the new shaft all the way through his hand.

I had originally experimented with just extending the spear, but drilling a 3/32 hole into the existing shaft was damn hear impossible. I did manage to drill out the spear tip and the butt, and I glued those onto the new shaft. Finally, I used green stuff to blend both pieces into the shaft, and to create a new grip. My green stuff work is amateur at best, but painted up, I think it works out okay, and It achieved the scale that I was looking for. Take a look:

Labels: miniatures, wargaming, Warmachine

• Epic Hailey
• Epic Nemo
• Jerimiah Kraye
• Siege Brisbane

Warjacks

• Thunderhead
• Stormclad
• Centurion

Units

• 10 Stormguard
• 10 Long Gunners + UA
• 10 Precursor Knights + UA
• 5 Storm Lances
• Black 13th Strike Team
• 2 additional Sword Knights + UA
• Trencher UA

Solos

• Kate Laddermore
• Maxwell Finn
• Alran Strangewayes
• The Piper of Ord (Okay... not realy Cygnar, but...)

I know a few folks that would set that as a one month goal (yes Jen, I'm talking about you), but for me, just getting that all done this year will be a good accomplishment. Of course, I'd also like to get a bunch of play in with them, as I feel like I'm really starting to get my head around both the army and the game. Then, I'll probably retire the Cygnar in 2010 and switch over to playing my Cryx army for a while. I'd also like to get into Hordes at some point, but the idea of starting with a whole new army while I still have so much pewter sitting in the closet doesn't sit that well with me. I like painted metal.

Beyond that, I would really like to go to one of the big tabletop focused cons like GenCon, Origins or TempleCon, but that trip may have to wait another year.

I did managed to get a few things painted over the break, but not nearly as much as I had hoped. Here are a few pics of what I did manage to accomplish:

Ol' Rowdy. Bring it, bitches.

A full set of Stormsmiths. Can you say "Triangulation?"

The Squire. Lackluster paint job, spectacular rules.

And for when things go bad... a wreck marker. I even die classy.

Labels: miniatures, wargaming, Warmachine