Star Wars X-Wing Episode III: A New Hope

I have recently come across the most extraordinary thing: A game my wife will play.

Now, my wife is not a gamer. She enjoys mainstream games like Monopoly or Trivial Pursuit, and she did buy the NCIS board game not too long ago for us to play together. I don't mind some of those types of games (except Trivial Pursuit, which I really hate) but I am a hobby gamer. I like games that have strong themes (especially dungeon crawls) or involve miniatures. They don't have to be competitive, but are not her cup of tea because they often involve war, death and mayhem if possible.

He makes any game better.

However, my wife has come to really enjoy Star Wars. Our first date, in fact, was watching all 6 movies. Since at the time she had only ever seen Episode III, I only have to assume she was really, REALLY attracted to me. It's definitely how I knew she was a keeper.

Ok, so she's beautiful too.

When I first purchased X-Wing, I made some sort of  offhanded remark about her trying it with me and she said she would. We do this with every game I purchase though and it is an exchange that neither of us follow through with generally. I usually ask in order to include her in the hobby, but I don't really expect it because I know she isn't really into it, and that's ok. I just want to let her know she is welcome but I'm not going to push it. A probably she agrees to make me feel better and show interest, but she knows I'm not going to pester her about it either. She has been really good about trying things though, and there are a couple she will acquiesce to (such as HeroQuest or Magic: The Gathering).

So I was stunned one day when I jokingly suggested playing some X-Wing and she agreed. I was elated! She said the ships looked cool, as well as the new mat I had gotten, plus she liked doing Star Wars things with me.

I set up the game with her playing the Rebels and me with Imperials. We started off with the basic game, her with Luke and I with a couple of TIEs. Obviously we had to put Episode IV on in the background while we played.

She said it would inspire her better and I'm always up for some fitting music and sound effects. It is possible that it was too inspiring. This was the result:

Goddammnit.

In the first couple turns she managed to smoke one of my TIEs. I was on the back foot the entire game from there on out. However, she was having a fantastic time. Neither of us was truly used to the movement system yet, so we laughed about how we were always flying the wrong way or bumping into each other. The dice alternately showered us with both love and hate, so our turns were fairly even. Ultimately though, my luck eventually ran out and she won. She loves kicking my ass, so there was much rejoicing.

I was shocked, however when she immediately asked to play again. Moreover, she was not happy with just Luke. She wanted more ships! I responded by giving her Wedge (or "Wedgie" as she has come to call him).

"Man this flight suit is really riding up today."

In order to make the points even (and to indulge my need for saying "I have you now!" when I'm tailing an enemy ship) I took Vader. There was some discussion following this choice since what she really meant was "Only I can have more ships." Apparently she was happy getting a Death Star destroying hero if I was going to be stuck with only two TIE fighters. After calmly explaining points values and how awesome X-Wings were, she agreed that I could at least defend myself and we got the second game underway. This time we added some life to the mat with a couple planet templates from Battlefleet Gothic.


With more options on either side, the game was a blast. Vader could never seem to close in on the X-Wings, and though I eventually managed to take out Wedge, when it finally came down to just Luke and Vader, she managed to get the drop on me and blew me outta the sky.

We were having an amazing time. She was getting a good handle on the movement and managing to avoid when I was closing in. She also picked up on fire arcs and target locks like a pro. I am both scared and aroused by this turn of events.

And of course we had to play another game the next night. I was stunned when she actually requested another game of her own volition after the fact. That is actually something that has never happened with any game we have ever played, even the mainstream ones. Usually I request playing a game and then she chooses one of those or acquiesces to my choice. This was like the sighting of a rare white elk only with dice.

"I used my crossbow of elk-slaying +2"

So once again we set up the mat with a new planet to fight around and set to work. This time we used a couple of upgrades (R2, torpedoes, missles, etc.) but the lists were basically the same.

 

Of course it wasn't long until we started taking casualties. In fact, her first shot of the game looked something like this:

GODDAMMNIT.

Yep, another total smoking of my TIE. If fact, this has become something of a regular event. TIEs are pretty flimsy and she has become very adept at closing in when I least expect it, while I have become very adept at rolling blank faces. Amazingly enough I managed a win on this game.

We have both had a blast so far and I can't wait for a re-match. Unfortunately I have been distracted  by other games and the holidays took up all of our time after out last game. Hopefully we will be able to squeeze in some games now that we both have more time. I know I am extremely happy to have a game we can both enjoy and that she can share in at least a fraction of my hobby. Even if she pouts every time she loses a ship.

This image has been included at her "suggestion"

Favored Enemy: Elder Sign

There are few things in this world I enjoy more than the Cthulhu mythos and the works of H.P Lovecraft. The idea of malevolent entities of uknowable power and influence perched on the edge of space and time, waiting for the stars to be right to burst forth into our reality and consume it just speaks to me. Gothic horror wows me because the payoff is longer lasting. Its a creeping dread, rather than a bloody spatter. Lovecraft's work makes me believe that the Great Old Ones exist in a nebulous way I will never truly understand, at once knowing that it is all just fiction and yet there is a niggling feeling in the back of my skull that always asks, "...or is it?"

All of that is why I had to pick up Elder Sign from Fantasy Flight games on theme alone. It is a push your luck dice and card game that can be played by 1-8 players and it is fun. It is very luck based, so sometimes it can be truly challenging, other times frustrating and still others a real cakewalk. 

The game in action

Set inside a museum, there is something breaking free amongst the exhibits and it is up to the investigators to search the museum for clues and powerful Elder Signs that can be used to lock that something away before it devours our world. The cards represent a series of encounters that must be completed by players to gain rewards, done so by rolling the dice included and matching them to tasks on the card. Certain items, spells and clues can be used to alter these rolls and help. Sometimes monsters pop up, adding to or changing tasks and screwing up the players' plans. After each player's turn, the clock advances and every "midnight" changes the field in some way, usually for the worse. If the player's don't find enough Elder Signs to win the game befor the Doom track is filled (by various card effects), the Great Old One breaks free and a battle ensues, usually ending badly for the players.

I have only played the game solo, but I really enjoy it. The theme may color my opinion on it, but I think it executes that theme perfectly. When dealing with unknown horrors, you rarely get what you want, always feel on the back foot and sometimes winning that battle is impossible. And you never truly know what is going to happen. Having randomly determined tasks and results with ways to boost your chance of succeeding really makes that come across. You use your artifact, spell or stick of dynamite, roll the dice and hope for the best. And you can use any advantage you can get because you need it.

All I need to take on eldritch horrors are a shotgun, my diary, some hooch and a steak.

You can choose your investigators and the Great Old One you want to fight, but I find that it makes it too easy to find winning combinations. Some investigators can flat out battle certain GOOs head to head. This might make for a great "chosen one" feel once in a while, but it gets boring quick if you can pick it every time. Randomly assigning investigators and GOOs keeps the game fresh and ensures a challenge, in my opinion. I also make the solo game a little harder for myself by not drawing a new investigator if the one I'm using dies, therefore losing the game. This gives a real feeling of being alone against the darkness and speeds up game play a little too.

The game has so many good points and a couple bad ones. Its realatively cheap ($34.99 or less depending on online discounts), stays fresh, beautiful artwork and has great theme. However, games take a pretty long time to resolve (1-2 hours or so) and there are a lot of little rules to remember. The rulebook could use a little better layout as well, and luckily there are several "cheat sheets" (and other great resources) available.

There is only one thing in the game I consider a lost opportunity: no miniatures! I know it would have increased the cost, but some sort of pawn for moving the investigators from card to card would have been nice. They have included tokens, but these are small, flat and fiddly. Given that FFG already produces miniatures for these same investigators (for Arkham Horror and Mansions of Madness, which share the same characters), unpainted versions would have been very cool to play with. Even generic colored pawns, or larger tokens with stands would have helped. I usually use one investigator solo, so I have taken using a small Cthulhu statue from FFG's Bag of Cthulhu they sell. It looks suitably creepy and does the job for me, but it would be hard to use multiples and know whose is whose during multiplayer. I have also taken the liberty of buying an FFG dice bag to use as a monster cup and it makes drawing monsters much easier.

Plus it's filled with tentacle goodness. 

All said, though, I love this game. It is a perfect way to spend a couple hours on a free day off, certainly more engaging than a random movie off the TV. It can be tough, outright brutal, but even when you lose you feel like you've played a game. And you can always try to thwart the Great Old Ones another time. Also, there is a tablet/smart phone version of this game called Elder Sign: Omens available for $4.99. It plays a little different, but is almost as good! Some people prefer it, but I like my doom with a little tactile sensation.

Oh hey, a button....

You may notice a little "Donate" button on the left hand side of the page. Yes, it may seem kind of gauche, but its a little bit of an experiment. I'm not begging for money, really. I'm just sticking it down there to see what happens.

I enjoy writing stuff occasionally, and some of it I think is pretty interesting for others to read. I'm probably wrong, but it's possible that somewhere out in this vast universe there's someone who thinks "Oooh a new post on Deep Dark Dungeons!" To those people I say a heartfelt thank you. I'm not terribly good at this blog thing. I don't update regularly. I take pretty horrible pictures. I'm most likely not as entertaining as I think I am.

But if you do enjoy what you've read and want to show your appreciation with a little money, I would appreciate it. And if you think I totally suck and don't want to give me one red cent, that's cool too. And if you like my blog and still don't feel like donating, well, I still love you anyway. Like I said, its just there as an experiment. And who knows, if I get some sort of great response, then maybe I might start producing more content and not be as damnably lazy. Stranger things have happened.

Down, Down To Goblin Town...

I recently picked up Games Workshop's new The Hobbit: Escape From Goblin Town set and found myself wanting a 2'x2' board to play the scenarios on. I've actually been wanting to put together a new small skirmish board for a while. My green grass board is beginning to show its age with a few bald spots and some dents (kind of like me), and I figured this would be a great opportunity.

So, armed with four 1'x1' floor tiles and some spray paint, I managed to put this together:

I sprayed the tiles black, then found a suitable dark grey textured spray to go over that. It's a little dark, but I think it captures the deep underground feel.

I've come to like the textured sprays Rustoleum puts out. A single can can easily cover a large area and the texture is sandy without being chunky. Miniatures slide over the surface with ease. The walkways pictured are the Goblin Town terrain included in the Hobbit set (and can be bought separately for ridiculous prices). The rocks are some of Gale Force 9's terriffic pre-painted Battlefield in a Box pieces. Luckily with such a small board, you don't need much to cover it.

Of course any small skirmish game or RPG could be played on this board. I have in the past played compact games of Song of Blades and Heroes on a 2'x2' board using their 15mm scale measurements with 28mm figures (my 15mm collection is woefully small). Combats for D&D could also be played out using inches instead of squares.

Hayden the Slayer encounters some aberrant monstrosities in the Deep Dark.

It will also serve to host other Lord of The Rings SBG scenarios in Moria or maybe even the black ash wastes of Mordor.

Frodo and Sam fend off a Moria Goblin in the rocky tunnels of Moria.

All in all, the best part about this board is that it was pretty cheap. My tiles were free (extras from re-flooring a space at work), I already had a can of black spray and the texture spray was around 6 bucks. But if I had to buy it all from scratch it would be less than $20. It's a bonus that the tiles all stack and store in a 1'x1' space and can have other things stacked on top with little chance of damaging them.

Happy gaming!

Temple of the Old Ones

I've managed to get some work done on my long-forgotten dungeon project, which opens up my options for building. One of the things that I am finding the dungeon pieces great for is creating structures on the battlefield for skirmish games. The open top and grey stone aesthetic really helps create the atmosphere of ancient tombs and ruined temples.

I set about playing with making a Lovecraft Mythos themed temple and I think I did pretty well. Here is the Temple of the Old Ones:

Aerial view of the temple

Close-up of the interior

The face of evil...

Chains to hold the sacrifices...

The grey walls and floors are a wonderful contrast to the sickly green of the idols. The idols are from FFG's Bag of Cthulhu accessory for their Call of Cthulhu LCG. They are a must for any miniatures gamer who wants to add an air of Lovecraftian eeriness to their tabletop.

Now all I have to do is finish off my cultist miniatures so I will have someone to tend it and feed the will of the dark gods...

A Little Bit Of Lovecraftian Horror

I haven't been as productive of late, so I haven't been posting as much. Life has been busy and on top of it I have been sick. Hopefully I will be able to post up a couple of game reviews and some painting projects, but in the meantime, here's a blurb of Lovecraftian horror that may inspire you in some way.

All at once a sound echoed down the tunnel, something like the scrabbling of a thousand rats fleeing some disaster over the stone floor. We angled the torch behind us and stood frozen as some "thing" slid into the light, rearing up as it was confronted by the brightness.

Its snake-like, chitinous body was black, the smooth scales shining in the glow of the torch. It had no legs, but was instead propelled forward on millions of pink tendrils that writhed and skittered on the tunnel floor. It was long enough that the tail was lost in the darkness behind it, but the part that was revealed to us was at least ten feet in length. Most horrible of all, where the head would have been grew only a cluster of tongue-like projections, wiggling obscenely as it drooled a thick, viscous liquid that hissed as it dripped on the stone below it.

We stared at it as it swayed away from our light, then suddenly it surged forward with a choked gurgling sound...

It's Good To Be The King (Of War)

I missed posting last week for a very practical reason: I got a case of orcs.

I was told to take two adventurers and call in the morning.

By that, I mean that my Kickstarter order from Mantic Games finally arrived. My excitement was only slightly dampened by the fact that it was over two months late. I had originally delayed my order to the August shipping so I could get a nice shiny backer rulebook with my name in it. But then the August orders overwhelmed Mantic and they didn't go out until September. No biggie, since I had already been waiting since May or so and they had provided me with a lovely PDF copy to play with and I have no shortage of miniatures.

But then disaster struck. All of September came and went, and there was no box from Mantic. I contacted Stew on the forums (great guy) and he said it may have gotten lost in the mail. However, he had them ship out a new order immediately and it was only a couple of days before it arrived. The arrival was slightly marred by the fact that I got a regular book and not a backer book, so it had no signatures from Mantic's Ronnie Renton or designer Alessio Cavatore, and it did not have the backer name pages.

 Another round of messages to Stew and I was assured I would get the signatures on a new book(which I hope will come soon), but I would not be able to get a real backer book because they were out. The whole reason I delayed my order in the first place (and subsequently the reason it got lost in the shuffle) was for that particular book. So I'm still a little disappointed because I wanted to be able to point to my name on the page. I'm narcissistic like that. but Mantic's response was so great and fast that I can't help but still love them (thanks again, Stew!).

Besides, I still had a whole orc army to assemble. And, I had plenty of sprues. I don't know if it was a mistake or intentional awesomeness on Mantic's part, but I had a whole extra 10 orcs in my army box, enough to expand one of my Ax units to a 30 man horde, or (as I chose to do) make a whole new unit of elite Morax warriors with some creative assembly and a dash of command bits leftover from some GW beastmen.

Mo' axes, NO problems. Because you hit those problems with an AXE!

So far I have a solid block of infantry assembled into a 1000 point army and I am still working on getting the Gore Rider Cavalry assembled.

And why, do you ask, could I be so busy for two weeks and still not even be finished? Three reasons:

• I got over 100 orcs in the box.
• I have played a couple games in between assembly. 
• I got over 100 orcs in the box.

103 in the final count, not including a couple extra sprues that don't add up to full units. I am also concerned as I had not calculated how I was going house these orcs among my many other armies.

Clearly I need some of these.

So, what do I think of Mantic and Kings of War?

First off, Mantic is a great company. So far my relationship with them has been rocky, but I really believe they are trying to be the company I want for mass battles gaming. They have managed to pick up where Games Workshop has left off. Their miniatures may not be as pretty as GW's but they also don't require me to take out a bank loan.

"I'm not sure what a Skaven is, but I'm sure we can get you started. Is it some sort of home addition?"

 They also provide some great board games with Dwarf King's Hold and Project Pandora. They are also friendly and listen to their fans, something a lot of companies (GW most of all) don't do these days. While I may have a ton of miniatures and could have gotten to playing Kings of War with my GW armies I already own, I like Mantic enough that I bought a whole new Orc army. So that's something.

As to Kings of War, I am already a fan. I have already converted all of my Warhammer armies over to Kings of War. That is an extremely easy task, since not only does the main rulebook come with EVERY army list for EVERY race in he game, but 95% of the units are analogous to Warhammer units and races. It's not a perfect fit (I am still trying to get my Necrosphinx into my Tomb Kings undead) but it works.

The game itself is really nice. Kings of War is written by Alessio Cavatore, in my opinion the best author of the WHFB ruleset. You can see where he took many of the ideas in WHFB and streamlined them. The result is a game that plays fast and seems tighter than its predecessor.

For example, movement is a simple "I move here" affair. There is no wheeling, just pivoting on the spot. Terrain slows you down like it should and is never mysterious. Unless you and your opponent agree beforehand, forests never eat your troops and rivers don't boil the skin off you just for daring to wade across them. Even charging is simple and thankfully non-random. 

Attacking is streamlined so that there are no charts. You simply have a melee or ranged score to hit and you always hit on that score, barring modifiers like range, cover, charging defended obstacles or cavalry attacking a block of spears. Your unit has a number of attacks, used for both ranged attacks and melee, and you simply roll that many dice to hit. Also, only the unit that charges gets to attack. Afterward the units are separated and the attacker waits for the inevitable counter-charge.

Each unit has a defense score required to hurt it, and you simply roll to beat it. You get a bonus if you have Crushing Strength or Piercing. I'ts extremely straightforward. It's as if they pre-calculated things for you so you could spend less time looking things up and more time gaming. 

Magic, too, is simplified. You can zap things, heal things, move units (mostly an undead thing) or breath fire. This sounds limiting and kind of generic, but I like that aspect. When I use Zap, I could be throwing fireballs, lightning bolts, dark energy or fluffy kittens. It's all up to what I decide happens.

Felinomancy is a lost (and adorable) art.

The one part of the game I am still on the fence about is how damage is applied. Models are never removed from units. Instead, they are treated like one big model and take a number of wounds that must be marked by the unit. This is good for a couple of reasons. One, you can model your whole unit on a single base, allowing you to make it into a beautiful diorama piece and never having to worry about models falling off. Two, you always get to see your units in their full glory until they are completely destroyed. 

This approach also has its negatives. It requires that you have some sort of wound counters to mark the unit. Most people will use dice, as it is not uncommon to see wounds in the double digits. This is a bit fiddly, since you have to make sure you don't accidentally pick them up and roll them when you attack, or accidentally bump them and turn the die. You could also use counters/tokens but they pile up fast and have to move with the unit. The opportunity exists for some really cool diorama type counters though, and I am intrigued with what I could come up with if I get ambitious. Finally, you could just write it down on a sheet of paper. That's really the most elegant solution as long as you have some way of keeping track of who is who.

I also very much like the visceral feeling of knocking over "dead" miniatures. Hopefully my inner 6-year-old will get over not being able to do that.

He probably won't.

The only aspect of the game I dislike is Nerve. Nerve is both the unit's health and morale. After doing damage, the player who attacked rolls two dice and adds the number of wounds on the unit. If it hits the unit's Wavering score, the unit is disrupted and can only really retreat in the next turn. If it hits the Rout score, the unit is destroyed. Anything less and the unit keeps fighting.

Maybe I'm too used to Leadership tests, but I find the Nerve test counter-intuitive, in that as the attacker I am rolling it. If this represents the damaged unit taking the action (i.e. holding or fleeing), shouldn't the unit's controller be making the roll? There has been so much focus on keeping only the active player performing actions that this seems a little forced. This could have been the one place in which your opponent could have participated in combat during an otherwise one-sided affair. Player interaction is important, and it can mean the difference between combat feeling like a tense battle of sides or a total ass-kicking while you lie helpless on the floor in a puddle of warm urine. Functionally it makes no difference, but emotion is where we live when combat ensues.

Ultimately, I love Kings of War so far. I was actually going to include a battle report. I was invested enough to take pictures. But none of the pictures came out well, and my new orcs got beaten to a bloody pulp by weedy elves, and nobody enjoys watching a blurry ass-kicking.

I don't think Kings of War will ever fully supplant Warhammer for me. I am too excited by GW's fluff and style, and occasionally a massive, detailed, crazy 4-6 hour game is exactly what you need. However, Kings of War plays so quickly that I know I will be playing it more often than WHFB. The last game I played was about 1000 points (equal to about a 1500 point Warhammer game) and took only an hour and a half. And that's without uber-total-unit-destruction spells to eat half an army. Plus, I am finding that including things like large monsters are less of a liability (they act more like regular units), so I am getting to use my lovely High Elf dragon rider that has been collecting dust for a couple years.

So I suggest you try it out. You really have nothing to lose. The basic rules are FREE.

Didn't I tell you Mantic was awesome?