Anyone interested in a convention report covering five versions of the same RPG scenario, with no pictures of the actual content (because I was too busy running the games to faff around with any of that Instagramming-pictures-of-your-dinner nonsense), plus a single insanely casual game of Hordes vs. Warmachine?
Also, an obnoxiously British gatorman and his friend.
I hope so, ’cause that’s what you’re getting.
A short while ago I wrote an article (here) about DIY gaming and how making your scenarios, armies, rules or entire games is a magnificent use of your time and creativity. The indie RPG and tabletop scenes are absolutely flourishing right now so I wanted to take a moment to highlight a particularly interesting game that has just launched its Kickstarter.
Relicblade, a tactical fantasy adventure game created by Sean Sutter. I had a chance to conduct a meandering interview with Sean where he discusses everything from his gaming history, the benefits of sculpting digitally and the importance of incredibly dangerous battlefield conditions, but first a quick review of the game itself. Continue reading
Thanks to The Plastic Crack Blog for hosting Boardy and getting this cool video batrep up.
300 point ITS no spec-ops game, with the mission Frontline, featuring Tohaa vs Haqqislam
So grab a brew and enjoy the spectacle
Once again, I am going to bravely wade into the festering swamp that is Kickstarter and pull out a few shining nuggets of pure gaming gold.
First up a little gaming mat that’s cheap as hell:
The second gaming mat Kickstarter from Ceri Designs, he returns a lot tighter with a more focused campaign. Last time was a similar deal £19 for a 3’ by 3’ full colour gaming mat. Great value, these are felt and through some sort of magic have really colourful designs on them. I got one of his last ones for X-Wing and its really bright and clear and at that price, you can’t really argue! This time the focus is on mats for a little game you might have heard of called Guildball. Last time he was quick as hell to get product out and didn’t over promise, a great way to run a campaign. He’s also really receptive to ideas, so if you don’t fancy Guildball (but you should) let him know what else you like and see what he can do.
Representation is Corehammer’s word of the week, so this project is right up our collective alley: Continue reading
Warhammer 40k is the most popular wargame on the planet, full stop. It is a sprawling franchise that encompasses novels, video games, a theatrically released film, RPG’s, board games and miniature games (that happen to dominate its industry). The grimdark future world created by the Games Workshop design team decades ago still captures the imagination of gamers across the world and drives sales of a massive product line and supporting hobby supplies. This doesn’t surprise me; the world of 40k (and 30k) is pretty fucking cool. Even as I’ve aged out of their core demographic, Games Workshops dark vision of space has a lot that can draw me back in. Powerful imagery, insane power struggles and every aspect of military cultures turned up to 11. Massive hive cities where 100’s of millions of inhabitants live on top of each other in Dickensian despair, in their midst hide alien conspiracies and brutal gang warfare. Powerful manifestations of chaotic gods pour forth from a rip in space and time so massive its swallowed whole planetary systems.A devout order of space fascists, sitting in a fortified monastery on a surviving chunk of their destroyed planet, secretly hunting traitors from their own order. This world is batshit crazy and insane in some of the best possible ways. It’s a Tolkien fantasy world ripped to pieces, thrown into deep space andstitched back together with a punk rock ethos, space opera drama and a heaping helping of gothic trappings. Warhammer 40k is without question the showpiece game of the hobby (for better or for worse). It is the most popular, best selling, widely known and most visible game of the entire wargaming world. Sadly, it’s a game that is still lacking in female representation, and that’s some shameful shit. It’s a world that quite frankly deserves female Space Marines.
Who misses the battle reports in White Dwarf? You know, actual hobby content. I’ve always enjoyed typing up a rough after action report for the email list, but wanted to do something better for the blog. So, when Brinton announced he was travelling overseas, and making a pilgrimage to Nottingham, the shout went up and a game was arranged at Warhammer World with Matt. Yes, Warhammer World, the location of *that* Apocalypse game, and the 40K spiritual depantsing for a good handful of the Corehammer crew. Hopefully a good game would get us back into it, so I wrote a narrative, we chose our armies, decided to play an objective game with the mission cards, and rolled some dice. A gallery of all photos taken can be found here
Last January I set myself the oath of painting up a Word Bearers army. I’d not painted up a full army in a long time to a high standard. some of my EC army were alright, but nothing to write home about so this was The Army, one to keep and display but also to use in games.
“The dwarves of yore made mighty spells,
While hammers fell like ringing bells
In places deep, where dark things sleep,
In hollow halls beneath the fells.”
This time of year breeds resolutions like a fetid swamp spawns plague carrying mosquitoes. Gyms, health food stores and libraries get packed as legions strive for self-improvement after the decadent and sometimes soul crushing holidays. A newer better version of your life is tantalizingly close if you just change these small things, form new habits and check boxes off a list. Easy as can be right? Eat less, exercise more, be kinder, care less about work and more about friends, value experiences over things. Now resolutions rarely work, and often if you look back at previous resolutions you could just carry them forward year after year and nothing changes. Honestly, when you catalog what you don’t like about yourself, these are usually those things that don’t change, so you find some outward trait to attach meaning too. A month of pushing off hard in all directions, trying to do everything at once as part of the new you, crashes out, and by March you’re cheating yourself and by June you’ve forgotten all about it. This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try though. This hard look in the mirror at the lazy bastard staring back at you is important, and can be quite positive, you just have to do it more than once a year. So this is the 1st of what I hope to be a monthly update where you have visibility into, and hold me accountable, to my gaming goals. Instead of just talking shit about all the things you should or could be doing, I’ll have to actually step up and produce. God help you. Continue reading
Been a while, hasn’t it?
To cut a long story short: I ragequit Warmachine and Hordes in January of last year like a right little stropper, and a few months later I bumped into Jon Webb (who runs SmogCon) and he said “oh hey, I’m calling in that favour, I need someone to run an IKRPG demo table this year”.
Iron Kingdoms Unleashed was the last big release for the IKRPG, and I had the Skorne Empire book as well (because I’m cheap for the sadistic little nutters), and because it’s a demo table I can’t really get by with cardboard markers and empty bases – models are called for. And if I’m doing something with models, I might as well do something like a proper army, and then a nice chap on Facebook had a Skorne all-in-one army box and Gargantuan he wasn’t using… you can see where this ends up. Continue reading
My name is Tanya and I have a bucketload of shame. I have many models, shelves full of them, but almost nothing is painted. I know, I’m a monster. As someone who doesn’t play tournaments and barely gets to play due to living in a relatively isolated community, painting has always taken a backseat to my other nerdy endeavours. I’m also a very relaxed gamer; I love to play but I do not care if my opponent needs to proxy some stuff, or his/her models also aren’t painted, and certainly I don’t care if marines are in mix and match power armour. Seriously, let’s just play! I’m a busy woman: I am training to play my first roller derby game, I am a full time pawn broker, and I have other hobbies too(like RPG night once a week, and squeezing video and board games in every once in awhile). That being said, I want to work on painting more in 2016.
