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StashAugustine posted:I think thengreat advantage of "matched play" is you don't have to agree ahead of time what stuff you're bringing or what scenario you'll play, just show up with an army and you're set. I would like to see more interesting scenarios within this context though. I like Fantasy Flight (now AMG) games giving you a pregame scenario selection minigame, and it could be interesting to see that expanded- ie have scenarios where the margin of victory dynamically depends on the difference between the forces. I also feel like skirmish games (especially pre modern ones) have a tendency to feel like mini massed battles rather than a proper skirmish I wax on about this game so much, but I really liked the way Starship Troopers handled extemporaneous matches. You'd more often than not get an asymetric scenario in terms of deployment, objectives, and abilities, if not force values (though it also had a Priority Level mechanic so the more exotic your army, the harder the objective).
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Jan 24, 2024 21:01
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Play historicals. Almost every game is a scenario driven one. Yeah there's the more gamey side of the spectrum like Bolt Action / FoW that tilt towards the pick-up-and-play angle but those tend be be (wrongly, imho) seen as 'lesser' than trying to refight Waterloo for the billionth time.
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Jan 24, 2024 21:35
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I’ve got no interest in one hour skirmish Wargames, but apparently the one hour skirmish scenarios book is another huge set of meaningful scenarios akin to the back of the OHW book by the same author.
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Jan 24, 2024 21:42
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If i had to do even more homework before I got to throw dice and go 'pew pew' I'd not be in this hobby much longer. I love a good specific scenario for missions, and Infinity definitely provides that for me. I love the idea of someone GMing a tabletop wargame, I haven't seen it done in an elegant fashion in contemporary games. After Mars: Code Aurora I would love to see more games rip it off with individual mission goals for sure. Back to Inifinty with it's classifieds but even going full one person playing Power Pack and the other trying for Looting and Sabotaging sounds much easier to organise at the thursday night game night at the FLGS. EdsTeioh posted:Yeah, all resin minis, card resolution, bluffing, and the sort of "whimsy" aesthetic really make me want to avoid. It looks a lot like a Malifaux type thing to me. Absolutely respect the self knowledge, the bluffing is completely different from Malifaux's basic higher card style bluffs but appreciate it's not for you.
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Jan 25, 2024 05:12
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Here's a couple of example scenarios, firstly from OHW: And from OSS:  Cassa posted:If i had to do even more homework before I got to throw dice and go 'pew pew' I'd not be in this hobby much longer. I see what you're saying but if you're playing Infinity then that's complex AF and I don't really see how a scenario book to give you interesting things to play over is the obstacle here?
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Jan 25, 2024 14:50
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I don't want to dump on too much more here, but when players of RPGs bitch about 'homework' when I'm doing a GM's work, all I hear is pathetic baby wailing. It doesn't sound much different in wargames. Also I really need to get off my rear end and start up some Mexican Civil War forces. That conflict is just ripe with unique and interesting battles.
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Jan 25, 2024 16:07
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Has anyone played ’Mech Attack’ ? What’s the deal with heavy gear these days?
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Jan 25, 2024 18:46
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Cassa posted:
Bluffing in and of itself I don't have much of an issue with; Netrunner is one of my favorite games ever, but I don't really want it as a subsystem in another game. I never actually played much Malifaux either since it didn't really seem like my thing either. HOWEVER, after hearing all of you guys talk about it, it sounds like a good game that isn't for me, so I recommended my friend pick it up.
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Jan 25, 2024 21:59
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Southern Heel posted:What’s the deal with heavy gear these days? Depends on what you mean by 'these days'. The last and upcoming year: New models are direct 3D prints and cheaper than the metal ones, and so far no more complaints about them than the metals. Caprice has had a ton of units added to it, but random other faction models as well; this month is the Wasserjager. 4th ed RPG is coming out this quarter and heralding an advancement of the timeline, which will see a whole new faction join the game. There's some Beta testing rules for a v3.2 of the game that keep showing up in the companion doc udpates; current ones are flexible actions which I haven't gotten a chance to try yet, but let you save and borrow actions from other turns. DP9 is showing up to a few convetions this year, and there's a tournament in Ottoawa next month. Slyphic fucked around with this message at 22:16 on Jan 25, 2024 |
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Jan 25, 2024 22:12
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Southern Heel posted:I see what you're saying but if you're playing Infinity then that's complex AF and I don't really see how a scenario book to give you interesting things to play over is the obstacle here? Oh right entirely misread what you were proposing. Scenarios are cool yes, absolutely agreed! I thought you were suggesting the players/GM-equiv simply come up with exciting new scenarios each time, my bad! EdsTeioh posted:Bluffing in and of itself I don't have much of an issue with; Netrunner is one of my favorite games ever, but I don't really want it as a subsystem in another game. I never actually played much Malifaux either since it didn't really seem like my thing either. HOWEVER, after hearing all of you guys talk about it, it sounds like a good game that isn't for me, so I recommended my friend pick it up. Rulebooks free and only about 20 pages, they even have paper standees available for most models so you don't have to deal with resin and painting things if you don't want! https://www.moonstonethegame.com/downloads
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Jan 26, 2024 01:51
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My usual MO is to test a variety of rules with the same minis and scenarios, just for a laugh and to see how they shake out. For a baseline I decided to use Warhammer fantasy 3rd edition to compare rank and flank fantasy games. I know it’s not strictly independent, but being almost 40 years out of print and bearing no relation to the current game hopefully it’s okay to post here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mr7wo3BQGEM Southern Heel fucked around with this message at 14:35 on Jan 26, 2024 |
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Jan 26, 2024 09:33
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On the note above (sorry for doublepost) is why I asked about Heavy Gear, so:Slyphic posted:https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=4034165 I mean really does the tabletop game hold up on its own merits? I've been recently pointed at MechAttack by Armor Grid and it's a FANTASTIC mech-based skirmish game. I've not played enough to know if it's even remotely balanced, but it was super enjoyable with literally everything about BattleTech pared to the very minimum required to get a game that feels like giant mechs, tanks and troops running around without thousands of pages of rules and errata and a very elegant datasheet for tracking damage and unit stats. How it started:  How it ended:  Battle Report and more in-depth here: https://williamswargames.wordpress.com/2024/01/26/battle-report-mechattack/
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Jan 26, 2024 14:39
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Heavy Gear currently does what it sets out to do well. 6-18 models per side, infantry air and tanks mix in just fine with the predominant mechs. That said, the game is built for badass ace pilots, and trying to run a chaff army of conscripts is technically possible but tactically a failing plan, though the recent experimental action rules are supposed to address that. Gameplay is reasonably quick and there's certainly not much I can see in the game that's superfluous. The average size game is 100-150TV per side, and we complete those games in 2-3 hours of frankly slow casual play, but the one time we tried to really stay on it, we did 150 in 90 minutes no problem. I've got my own notes on a few ways to improve the game, but I have those for literally every game I've ever played.
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Jan 26, 2024 15:05
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Tried out Horizon Wars in solo mode. Spoilers: It sure seems like I won in one turn, or at least it felt inevitable. Perhaps I misjudged things, so I left the table as it was at the end of turn 1 so I can try another turn tomorrow night if I've got the time to see how correct I am in that assessment. Also entirely possible I hosed something up rules-wise, but it could just be that a 'real' two player game is necessary to properly assess the game and solo mode is just a silly side thing. https://asciolist.org/2024/01/26/horizon-wars-solo-game/
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Jan 27, 2024 03:56
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Southern Heel posted:On the note above (sorry for doublepost) is why I asked about Heavy Gear, so: It's Armored Trooper Votoms, Gundam: 08th MS Team, Patlabor, and a handful of other things but those are the biggest and boldest influences (and in that order). The 'ScopeDog' mech from Votoms speaks loudly for itself.  - Jager firing autocannon and rocket pack - heavy autocannon (note the shape of the ammo box) - secondary movement systems (the heelies most gears have) - a spike gun, as found on manay paratrooper gears
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Jan 27, 2024 20:11
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Heavy Gears are also generally a decent sized smaller than other franchise mechs from what I remember, although that can vary
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Jan 28, 2024 00:49
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Thanks, that’s very interesting! I want to try and Mech attack with some combined arms before moving on. It seems it’s effectively abandonware, but a complete game. My test game was very fun!
Southern Heel fucked around with this message at 14:35 on Jan 29, 2024 |
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Jan 28, 2024 11:55
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In line with my post in the Historicals thread bemoaning I'm finding historical fighting sail and pre-dreadnought games a bit underwhelming despite how excited I get about the IDEA of them - is there a sci-fi or fantasy naval game (either space, land, air or sea) which is actually really fun to play and doesn't have A4 sized record sheets per ship, and ideally solo friendly? I feel this is just chasing a perfect game that doesn't exist.Slyphic posted:It's Armored Trooper Votoms, Gundam: 08th MS Team, Patlabor, and a handful of other things but those are the biggest and boldest influences (and in that order). The 'ScopeDog' mech from Votoms speaks loudly for itself. To clarify, this is super cool. MechAttack while substantially complete lacks a melee system (though bizarrely has a 'break away from B2B' mechanic) and I've recently been enjoying some 80's anime in the background while I'm working - Patlabor, Gundam, etc. These all have a significant melee combat element to them - whether it's grappling, laser swords or whatever. Is there a way in for someone with a 3D printer and internet access, or is this really best done through the official starter sets? One small thing that puts me off is the number of figures - maybe I'm just too used to how battletech works. Sojenus posted:Tried out Horizon Wars in solo mode. Spoilers: It sure seems like I won in one turn, or at least it felt inevitable. Perhaps I misjudged things, so I left the table as it was at the end of turn 1 so I can try another turn tomorrow night if I've got the time to see how correct I am in that assessment. Also entirely possible I hosed something up rules-wise, but it could just be that a 'real' two player game is necessary to properly assess the game and solo mode is just a silly side thing. I did read this, by the way - seems like an odd activation mechanic. I'm always super-aware of alpha strike type problems in solo games so maybe less of a factor against a real opponent?
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Jan 29, 2024 14:48
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There aren't any straight proxies for heavy gear, but there's plenty of generic STLs that would fit the bill out there, and tons of scopedogs. That said, the plastic starter armies are extremely good value. The one caveat is that the first generation plastic starters aren't as well designed molds as the later ones. The NuCoal, Peace River, CEF, and Utopia plastic army boxes are great, but the North and South army boxes are noticably less detailed, less posable, and have a couple weird problems (misaligned edge on a knee cap, blowout in an engine grill, vacuum divot in a rocket pack)
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Jan 29, 2024 16:30
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Southern Heel posted:I did read this, by the way - seems like an odd activation mechanic. I'm always super-aware of alpha strike type problems in solo games so maybe less of a factor against a real opponent? I think it almost certainly would be. Solo mode enemies work differently than player units in that they just have 3 hit points to take down, as opposed to the attrition/fatigue mechanic of player units, and the mission had them in the center of the table while I was walking my things on from any point to get optimal shots off from medium range. In standard play, you'll likely have opposing board edges and smarter deployment, so player units being shot at from long range are going to take less hits that can then be allocated to lowering whatever stats are deemed least important, rather than being destroyed outright.
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Jan 29, 2024 16:41
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Southern Heel posted:In line with my post in the Historicals thread bemoaning I'm finding historical fighting sail and pre-dreadnought games a bit underwhelming despite how excited I get about the IDEA of them - is there a sci-fi or fantasy naval game (either space, land, air or sea) which is actually really fun to play and doesn't have A4 sized record sheets per ship, and ideally solo friendly? I feel this is just chasing a perfect game that doesn't exist. This is maybe terrain you've already covered, but have you checked out KOW Armada, which sounds like basically exactly the game you're talking about? Well - AFAIK there's no solo rules other than playing both sides, but, it's a fantasy sail naval game with a more abstract approach to damage and stuff. I haven't personally played it but the community is sizeable in some locations and Mantic seem to think it does well.
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Jan 29, 2024 21:15
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Armada is Warlord's Black Seas game with some fantasy stuff tacked on. Which is not an insult, I've enjoyed many games of Black Seas. Activation is based on the direction of the wind so alpha strike is impossible and it makes solo gaming very easy since once the maneuvering happens the ships will not be activating in the same way. There is still some paperwork required for damage tracking, mast speed, etc but it isn't nearly as bad as the other "fast" sailing game Fire as She Bears. It's a step up in complexity from Fighting Sail so you won't be using as many ships if you want to actually finish a game in a decent time.
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Jan 29, 2024 21:42
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Maybe I should check out Armada/Black Sails but the little voice in my head says 'well why not just do historicals' and I can't easily silence it despite the obvious shortcomings I'm finding with purely historical naval games. While I puzzle that out (and wait for my next infantry miniature delivery) I quickly knocked out a couple of vehicles and some ground troops to round out a pair of combined-arms MechAttack forces:
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Jan 30, 2024 16:50
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I actually just finished painting up an Armada force - not I just have to print and paint a rival force so I can play some games I love it, you can also use historical ships as the "Kingdom of Men" faction if you want to crossover.
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Jan 30, 2024 17:12
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Count Thrashula posted:I actually just finished painting up an Armada force - not I just have to print and paint a rival force so I can play some games Absolute pro click right there. Fantastic!!
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Jan 30, 2024 19:44
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For the upthread discussion of different materials for 6 mm models, I’ve mostly worked with plastic and metal but not resin of either poured or printed variety. Onslaught miniatures sells some cool resin “not” Tau, but some of the battle suits look somewhat spindly. When people talk about resin being fragile, just how fragile are we talking? I understand a fall from table to floor is likely to be a tragedy, but is regular jostling in a foam case going to be problem?
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Jan 31, 2024 01:57
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I have a lot of 3D printed resin mechs for Battletech and they can sometimes be spindly or have obviously fragile features such as antennae. The only real damage I've had to them is when I transport them home after receiving a fresh print as I often just put them at the top of whatever bag I have with me. I've only ever really had arms or legs snap off, which are an easy enough fix, especially before priming or painting. When specifically transporting them for a game in a properly padded container, I've had no issues, and this is riding at 80kmh on a scooter over roads that have questionable maintenance. However, the quality and brittleness of 3D printed resin may not be the same as resin from a professional cast.
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Jan 31, 2024 03:03
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The Malthusian posted:For the upthread discussion of different materials for 6 mm models, I’ve mostly worked with plastic and metal but not resin of either poured or printed variety. Onslaught miniatures sells some cool resin “not” Tau, but some of the battle suits look somewhat spindly. When people talk about resin being fragile, just how fragile are we talking? I understand a fall from table to floor is likely to be a tragedy, but is regular jostling in a foam case going to be problem? For printed figures you can use different kinds of resin with more or less flexibility. A large proportion of the new generation of resins don't need post-curing, or can have a very short cure which means they can be even more flexible. The only real problems I've found with fragility are with figures which have been scaled down rather than designed for a given scale - see comment re: Henry Turner above. EDIT: In a practical sense Henry Turner bayonets and standards in resin are totally fine. I think the only time I've had a breakage is when I had a 10mm orc based on a penny fall off the table onto a hard floor at a certain angle where it broke at the ankles (and which just required gluing together) Southern Heel fucked around with this message at 11:06 on Jan 31, 2024 |
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Jan 31, 2024 11:03
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I think I've asked you this before but for ABS-Like what's your usual cure time? I tend to do 2 min but wondering if that's too long now.
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Jan 31, 2024 14:46
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I remember reading a while back from one of the Atlas 3DSS guys that overcuring is a myth - just found that explanation again. quote:Resin curing is a polymerisation reaction, like super glue or epoxy "drying". Once the reaction is done, it's done. Longer curing times can be useful to curing the insides of thicker parts, and they can be important for engineering resins (the manufacturer will usually specify recommended curing times for these), but usually aren't necessary for model resins where we're mostly just trying to seal the outside so they're not sticky.
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Jan 31, 2024 15:23
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Springfield Fatts posted:I think I've asked you this before but for ABS-Like what's your usual cure time? I tend to do 2 min but wondering if that's too long now. Cure time depends on intensity of light source, so unless you've got a way to measure that, no one can give you a useful answer. I just printed a batch of spindly stuff and cured portions in 30s intervals and found the minimal time that guaranteed nothing was uncured. I can tell you 10mm fantasy figures of 100% sun-lu ABS in an Elegoo Mercury curing station should be cured at least 2 minutes. I usually go with 4m unless it's particularly chunky, but also because I timed the rotations of the platform and that gives me a smidge more than 3 full rotations for even curing as well.
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Jan 31, 2024 16:05
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Atlas Hugged posted:I have a lot of 3D printed resin mechs for Battletech and they can sometimes be spindly or have obviously fragile features such as antennae. The only real damage I've had to them is when I transport them home after receiving a fresh print as I often just put them at the top of whatever bag I have with me. I've only ever really had arms or legs snap off, which are an easy enough fix, especially before priming or painting. When specifically transporting them for a game in a properly padded container, I've had no issues, and this is riding at 80kmh on a scooter over roads that have questionable maintenance. Mix in a flexible resin. I'm using a resin that comes with a bit of flex in the blend already, but 10-20% tenacious will eliminate 90% of the problems you see. It will reduce detail "technically", but I can't say I've really noticed the difference About the only time I have stuff break on me is when I drop a model with a painting handle attached to it. The extra weight just obliterates models on concrete
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Jan 31, 2024 17:19
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Speaking of sourcing models (of various materials), I’ve been buying sets of CAV plastics and DZC starters before I realized they were 10 mm. Obviously, that means the models will be almost double size relative to 6 mm—but during play, just how tolerable would you all find that kind of difference? The most obvious effect for me is the 10 mm vehicles are all 30-40 mm long while the 6 mm are 20-30 mm, but I guess I could claim the 10 mm are “super heavies” or something. I’m thinking it might be harder to square the infantry size differences, but I can’t compare until my 6 mm models get here. Is that difference in scale for basic troopers pretty noticeable? (Obviously I get that it comes down to personal preference but wanted to hear your experiences with these different scales)
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Feb 1, 2024 20:36
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Left to Right: 6mm infantry figure from C-in-C, Dropzone Commander UCM Legionnaire, Talon CAV Heavy Infantry Infantry is pretty noticeable, not gonna lie. Vehicles you've got a lot more scale fudge to work with; a 10mm light unit works as a 6mm heavy whatever most of the time, and a 6mm medium can be a 10mm drone or something. Slyphic fucked around with this message at 22:08 on Feb 1, 2024 |
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Feb 1, 2024 22:00
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I'd been wondering about the Talon CAV infantry and couldn't find many comparison pics of them, so thanks for that--they are huge compared to 6 mm and other 10 mm! I guess I'll just pick up vehicles and mechs from that line. I'll look for chunkier 6 mm models (big power armor troops only?) if I want to mix in 10 mm, but otherwise that extra 4 mm is pretty noticable. Thanks!
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Feb 2, 2024 09:06
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Don't think of it as only 4 mm, think of it as nearly double the size
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Feb 2, 2024 23:07
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The Malthusian posted:For the upthread discussion of different materials for 6 mm models, I’ve mostly worked with plastic and metal but not resin of either poured or printed variety. Onslaught miniatures sells some cool resin “not” Tau, but some of the battle suits look somewhat spindly. When people talk about resin being fragile, just how fragile are we talking? I understand a fall from table to floor is likely to be a tragedy, but is regular jostling in a foam case going to be problem? Casting resin behaves differently from printed resin and printed resins also behave differently depending on the mix. If the model has been cast then while fragile it should be fine to sit in a foam case. The printed resin can be extremely brittle and may spontaneously fracture. I had a Battletech Atlas snap it's ankles following a fall onto carpet, and those are some really chonky ankles. OTOH if the printer knows what they're doing they'll go for something more flexible and then it shouldn't be materially different from casting resin. Regarding your other question on 6mm infantry - I've had a really hard time finding good sized 6mm "power armour". There's a variety of GW style terminators (both official and not) but they're only marginally bigger than the average 6mm dude. If you want a more substantial suit of power armour and want to avoid the GW aesthetic then you may look into Battletech Power Armour. A lot of the casts are hot garbage but there are some good ones and they stand between 8-10mm and are more substantial. It doesn't really help that 6mm is a mess of a scale and you have guys standing anywhere from 6mm to top of head, 6mm to eyes to 8mm to top of head all technically falling in the same scale with varying levels of chonkiness to boot.
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Feb 3, 2024 08:38
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You could do the flip of this and use GHQ infantry for the normal guys. They're 1:285 true scale so even an 8mm Space Marine would be huge next to them. Yeah it's contemporary equipment but at that scale 'guy with rifle / missile launcher / heavy weapon" is mostly a difference of paint job to turn them into Imperial Guard or something.
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Feb 3, 2024 17:45
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My BattleTech infantry are all 1:300 Heroics & Ros modern British. You can tell they have appropriate bullpup rifles for the area of space they occupy, so they work fine.
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Feb 3, 2024 18:17
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Arquinsiel posted:My BattleTech infantry are all 1:300 Heroics & Ros modern British. You can tell they have appropriate bullpup rifles for the area of space they occupy, so they work fine. Aren't they all Davions then.
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Feb 4, 2024 16:53
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