Happy Mum-orial Day!

Hope all you gamers out there got some gaming in on this long holiday weekend. Personally, I got a little bit of progress done on my Cryx force, and I decided to have a little fun and paint up a mummy from my Bones Kickstarter.

Right now I'm really glad I bought into Bones. I didn't even prime this guys, so I could just pick up and paint on a whim. It's really to have a big pile of random fantasy figures to paint on the fly. The base is D&D style black for now, but I will probably go back and base him later. I also made a conscious decision to paint the eyes the same as the Bones zombies I painted up a while back. That way, there's a sort of connection between them, like maybe the zombies are the mummy's minions. Either way, I'm happy with how it came out for such a quick paint job.

I'm sure I'll find a million uses for a mummy, but I know he'll find his way into Strange Aeons for sure. He looks marvelous staring down my Threshold team.

That's all for now. Have a great rest of your holiday and happy gaming!

The Banes Of My Existence

My WarMachine project is slowly chugging along. I am about halfway through my 15 point force and I am trying not to rush too much. That being said, I am not above using lazy methods to achieve my goal quickly.

That brings me to my next unit: Bane Thralls.

I have always loved the concept of the Banes. Ancient dead warriors who sneak up on you and hack you to pieces with giant axes are really nothing to pass up. Not only are undead badasses cloaked in a pall of darkness cool, but they are great on the battlefield. Most melee-only troops have to advance under a hail of murder-sticks to chop up their enemies.

But at least they get to fight in the shade.

But Banes get to close in relatively unmolested thanks to their Stealth ability, soften up the enemy armor with a little Dark Shroud, then smash even the heaviest warjacks with an extra die of damage on every attack. Back when I was playing MKI, Thralls saw a bit of downturn thanks to Bane Knights but now that I've returned, I'm glad to see they are viable choices again.

I have two units of Bane Thralls and I intend to use both at every opportunity. However, I hate painting units. I find it tedious beyond belief. That's where that laziness thing comes in. Behold the Banes:

As you can see, I did a lot of drybrushing. The idea was to try and pull off a ghost warrior look. Its nothing but a simple 3 layers of Dark Angels Green, Snot Green and finally Scorpion Green, but I think it works just fine. The bases probably took up half of the total paint time. The other unit should follow suit rather quickly.

I also managed another Deathripper repaint, giving Deneghra her requisite two Arc Nodes. They also make her look like a huntress with her two hunting dogs, so that's pretty badass as well.

I like to believe their names are Chauncey and Monetque.

So that's where I've gotten so far. I'm literally one unit of Banes and a Skarlock Thrall away for being finished. Now if only I can keep my momentum...

Happy gaming!

The Cryx Of The Situation

Back in the Dark Times, when Games Workshop (TM) stalked the land and Space Marines (TM) ruled the earth, I heard of a nascent game where wizards and mechanical monsters smashed each other in the face repeatedly while spewing steam and hemorrhaging gears. This sounded like seven kinds of awesome, so I researched it a bit and found out all about WarMachine.

You can't not want to play magic robot battles.

I managed to convince my cousin that he should play too, so we set about choosing factions. He (being a dwarf player) chose the faction with the most magnificent beards and heaviest armor, therefore purchasing a Khador battlebox. I initially leaned toward Cygnar, but felt like it was too Red-Vs.-Blue and the 'jacks too similar to Khador in most ways. Menoth was a little to fanatical and ornate, plus I hated painting white. That only left Cryx.

"Can you tell we''re the bad guys? I don't think we're wearing enough black."

I was immediately hooked on the idea of battle robots made of bone and metal, with the addition of steampunk necromancy for shambling hordes of undead. I also liked the idea of a finesse army among all the hulking metal stomping around.

We had fun playing battles with our battleboxes, and I expanded my army with a few extra units. Ultimately, though, there wasn't much of a community at the height of our interest and Warhammer 40k was still king in our hearts and it fell by the wayside. I stopped playing altogether around the time Hordes came out, which I was less interested in because the monsters were flesh instead of metal.

Well, a few days ago I dug out my old Cryx models and resigned to get back into the game. There is a sizable community in my area now and the new game shop in town has a a great set-up to play in. A rulebook and some tokens later, plus the great War Room app downloaded and I was ready to start again. But not without a fully painted starting force to keep from embarrassing myself.

Somewhere among all this smashy goodness, I managed the task of painting my whole battlebox. I was very proud because my last completely painted army was back in 2nd edition 40k. It was a task mostly accomplished with the liberal application of black primer and some minor detail work. The end result was a paint job that looked like this:

Back when I thought grass-green flock was the best ever.

While I'm proud of the bone, the rest of the scheme is very flat. I wanted some more color, something a little more vibrant than the old black or the newer grey-green look of the official schemes. I chose purple: still evil but not boring.

My first repaint, ironically, is Deathripper #2

I kept the original metal and bone work, added heavy purple highlights, some hard pink highlights, and repainted the grass flock brown. The flock was drybrushed with a light bone color to give an ashy look and I chose yellowed grass to contrast with the purple. All in all I am happy with the end result.

I also gave my warcaster, Warwitch Deneghra a quick update too:

This just had a purple wash added to the skin and a re-highlight, plus the cloth painted purple. The rest is all original paint. The base was done the same as above.

My ultimate goal is to get a 15 point duel force painted up so I can play the occasional small game. My hope is that this project will lead to me joining the local WarMachine community and get me out of the house a bit more. Of course, true to form, the WarMachine night is on a night that I work regularly. Oh well. For right now I'm having fun painting and there are no shortage of players to duff up some metal on a different day!

Happy gaming!

Review: Cops & Robbers

Recently I was wading through the morass of gaming awesomeness that is BoardGameGeek when I came across a thread by a new game designer/publisher asking for a review of their game. They would even send a review copy for free for anyone willing to play it and write about it.

Having written a few review-type-things before, I decided to give it a go and try out a proper, official review. A few PMs later and a copy was winging it's way to my door.

That game is Cops & Robbers, designed by Kieran Billings. It is a simple, fun game about stealing loot and running from the fuzz. The game consists of three different decks of cards, aptly named Cops, Robbers and Loot:

Anything else would be confusing really.

Robber cards consist of sneaky tricks, bonuses to help you escape the cops and penalty cards to screw with the other players when they make their getaway.

Some of the most important types of Robber cards are Getaway cards which represent your getaway car and all the cool modifications you've made to it to better cheese it when the cops appear.

This would totally be my car.

The object of the game, of course, is to get loot. The Loot deck contains all sorts of shiny things to steal, although occasionally you end up with nothing. Too bad it still counts against you if you come up empty handed!

Finally you have the Cop cards, which you must evade to keep your loot. Sometimes your illegal activities draw no attention at all, but each Loot card means more cops, and sometimes you can end up caught no matter how crafty you are.

Games are either played until one player reaches a certain amount of Loot, or for a fixed time period, at the end of which the player with the most Loot wins. All players start with five Robber cards and must draw/discard back to five at the start of each turn.

During a turn a player may lay low and draw two more Robber cards for more heist options, or steal stuff, netting one Robber card and one Loot card to add to the pile of stuff to stash later. During either of these actions, a player may play other cards, including adding to their getaway car.

Alternatively, a player may try to stash the Loot they have stolen so far, triggering a getaway sequence. During a getaway, the player running draws one Cop card for each Loot card stolen and must have bonuses equal to the number of cops or more to escape. This might be simple, except that other players may play penalty cards to worsen your chances. Unless you have some bonus cards or some sneaky tricks, you'll find yourself behind bars quick.

What going to jail might look like.

If you escape, your Loot cards go to your stash and are off limits for the rest of the game. Loot doesn't count for your victory total until it's stashed, so it pays to get it done quick. However, if you are caught, you lose the Loot you haven't stashed yet, your sweet ride (i.e. getaway cards) and you lose a turn while you sweat it out in jail.

I have to say, I did have a lot of fun playing Cops & Robbers. I was a little worried about writing this review because the game is definitely not like my usual fare. However, it was a nice diversion, and I do like the design of the game. There are both "gotcha!" and press-your-luck elements, meaning you are just as likely to be screwed by your opponent as by your own decisions. The rules are simple and straight forward, and the game would be very good for playing with family, other non-hardcore gamers or as a light filler during game nights.

Being a preliminary copy, it has a couple of rough edges I would like to see worked up before its final release. The rules are simple, but the rulebook could be a little clearer in places. The Robber cards lack art right now, but Kieran promises that they will have more of the same great art (which is nearly finished).

In closing, I recommend giving Cops & Robbers a chance. Not only will you be getting a fun game, but you will be helping out a new game designer, which I think we can all agree is great for the hobby as a whole. The game isn't commercially available yet, but the Kickstarter campaign opens up April 20th and will continue until May 18th. Toss a few bucks at it and get a fun game! And in the meantime, check out the Devious Games blog for rules and updates!

Tabletop Day 2014 Mini-Report

I never remember when Tabletop Day is. I always miss it or find out it is coming up too late to plan anything fun. It would seem like an day I would be counting down to all year but somehow it always eludes me.

It is like the Saola of dates.

This year was no exception.

However, I did vow that after I got out of work and had dinner, I would devote the rest of my evening until midnight to gaming. Being that I found out short notice and I am filled with unmitigated hermit-ness, this was going to be a solo gaming experience. I'm fairly used to this situation, so I was well prepared.

I started with a game of Song of Blades and Heroes. While not a solo game per se, it is well suited to solo play since you never know when a turn will end. My dungeon adventurers went up against a combined force of dark elves, lizardmen and goblins. The adventurers lost half their numbers but ultimately prevailed. I did learn that lizardmen make excellent heavy hitters, especially with loads of goblins to hold down their target while they do the hitting. However, there is very little that can stop a combat 5 dwarf fighter once it makes contact, especially with a wizard giving magical support from the edge of a wood. My favorite part of the game came when the dark elf priestess and the templar came face to face in a battle of holy wrath.

The priestess retreated shortly thereafter, being combat 1.

After that, I went with The Lord of the Rings LCG. I chose the Flies and Spiders adventure from The Hobbit: On The Doorstep, as I hadn't played it before and it looked like a good challenge for my Leadership/Spirit dwarf deck. As uisual, I went with Easy Mode, because I like having a chance to win once in a while without devoting every second of my life to the game. It is an interesting scenario to play single deck solo, and actually a little easier because you don't have to manage two staging areas in the late game.

That said, I got mercilessly murdered by spiders on my first play through. Even though I began the game with Gandalf, my hand was otherwise pretty bad and I rushed the first couple stages. When I hit the Spider Glade, I found myself with too few allies to deal with the pile of spiders that came at me. Game Two was different, though. I started not only with Gandalf again but an Unexpected Courage on Dain to keep him ready. I slowed down a bit and had plenty of support in the late game.

The field two turns before winning the scenario.

Finally, as the night was drawing to the close, I decided to play something a little less brain-burning to wind down. I chose Castle Panic, which is one of my fave solo time-fillers.

The Goblin King brings a few friends to the board early on.

I won this game fairly easily due to a good series of hands. It was a fun game though and ended just 2 minutes before midnight! I managed to get all my games in before Tabletop Day ended!

So, that was my Tabletop Day celebration. It wasn't much, but it was a good excuse to get a few solid hours of gaming in and make use of the old underground lair for some me time. Maybe next year I can remember when it's coming up and plan some non-hermit activities.

I wouldn't count on it.

Here's hoping your Tabletop Day was more exciting than mine. Happy gaming!

Deep Dark Dungeons Dungeon Crawl Rules

For a while now, I've been playing dungeon crawls with Song of Blades & Heroes and Song of Gold & Darkness. I love both rulesets, but I've found SGD to be extremely focused on two players going head to head. This isn't a bad thing, but I prefer a more co-operative experience, especially one that can be played solo.

So slowly I began making small changes, adding random tables and generally fiddling around with each game until I think I am somewhere close to that goal. At the very least I'm having fun with it and I have been getting a lot of requests to see what I'm using, so I am ready to let people have a look-see at the rough draft.

I do want to stress that last part. These rules make sense to me and I'm not 100% sure I've articulated them properly. I've no doubt forgotten things I do and there may be holes I've missed entirely. I'll be happy to address any questions that pop up and there will most definitely be revisions in the future.

So, without further ado, here are the rules for Deep Dark Dungeons. Just click the link below to grab the PDF. You will definitely need copies of Song of Blades & Heroes and Song of Gold & Darkness. These rules do not stand alone and I may possibly have slipped a few other rules for other supplements that I've forgotten about as well.

Deep Dark Dungeons V1.2.1 (6/3/19)

And here's a Party Sheet to keep track of your adventurers and any damage, treasure, skills, equipment, etc. they may pick up along the way.

Party Sheet

I hope that everyone finds these fun and I'm sure that I'll get some good feedback on making the rules clearer. My hope is that maybe I will find the time and ambition to work this into a full SBH stand-alone game similar to Song of the Splintered Lands or Song of Arthur & Merlin. That might be a pipe dream because I am monumentally slow at this sort of thing, but one can always dream.

As always, if you like what I've done here and wish to support the cause, there is a lovely little donate button on the left hand of the page.

Happy gaming!

Battle Report: Defend The Brew!

Lately I've been jonesing for a Song of Blades and Heroes skirmish, and in the name of expedience, decided to play a game with basic profiles from the book. This is something I rarely do outside of teaching games, since the warband calculator is so damn fun. The narrative I had chosen, though leant itself toward something basic.

You see, a dwarven community with a fantastic brewery had caught the attention of a band of hobgoblin raiders. A frosty dwarven brew would be just the thing to quench their thrist after a long day of pillaging and warfare! While the brewers and craftsmen locked themselves behind sturdy dwarf doors, a small band of dwarf heroes prepared to defend the town.

The Attackers:

Hobgoblin Heavy Infantry Leader and 2 Bugbear Warriors

3 Hobgoblin Warriors and 2 Hobgoblin Archers (Crossbowmen)

The Defenders:

Dwarf Orcslayer, Dwarf Commander, Dwarf Dragonslayer, Dwarf Elite Crossbowman and 2 Dwarf Warriors

The attackers were 3 points over the 300 point limit, and the defenders were from a previously made list, putting them at a slight disadvantage because the Orc and Dragon slayers would be paying for abilities they wouldn't be using. To that end, I chose to swap the Dragonslayer's Lethal to Big creatures for this game.

The two forces set up ready to do battle, the dwarves seeking to use buildings to anchor their line, while the hobgoblins seek to gain some high ground.

The hobgoblins gain the initiative, sending the bugbears out to soften up the dwarves as the archers take the hill. The dwarves react by sending the Dragonslayer out to meet the bugbears head on and taking cover behind a building, trusting her combat skills to wreak havoc while making the goblinoids come to them.

The tactic pays off, as the Dragonslayer fells a bugbear in a single blow. The Orcslayer rushes out to assist and gets smashed in the face for his troubles, stunning him.

Taking back the initiative, the bugbear smashes the stunned Orcslayer into the dirt while the hobgoblin line advances. The archers rain a few ineffectual arrows down on the dwarves, the sturdy dwarf mail easily turning their jagged points.

Screaming oaths of vengeance, the Dragonslayer launches herself at the last bugbear and severs its head cleanly in a single stroke. The horrific display breaks the hobgoblin line, punching a hole for the dwarf warriors to rush the leader. They quickly hack him to pieces, sending the hobgoblins literally running for the hills.

At last the dwarven brew was safe. Songs were sung of the Orcslayer's brave exploits and the heroes enjoyed copious amounts of the finest ale for leagues around. All on the house of course!