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"I like mini-wargaming, but Im sick of the mainstream 2 or 3 games...I wonder if there are other options?" Well, there are. A lot of them. They are all interesting to varying degrees, and this thread is the communal place to educate ourselves/discuss them. No Games Workshop. No Privateer Press (except monpoc). No Historicals. (Those all have their own threads:) GW: http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3224113 PP: http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3240672 Historicals: http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3248082 So, to start it off, this massive OP is going to have a small "summary" section for each game I think worthy of placing in it. To get consideration to be in this thread, a game must be non-historical, and be made by a company that produces its own models for it. So, no rulesets without minis, no minis without rulesets. -----------------------------------------------------------------  GAMES  Infinity, by Corvus Belli (spain) setting: futuristic sci fi, ghost in the shell/corporate wars/etc size: skirmish, 5-20 models per side, 28mm scale mechanics: A futuristic skirmish gunfight. Alternating unit activations. Snap-fire mechanic that allows units to fire outside of their activation, making for very lethal, realistic firefights. Use of cover isnt optional. In addition, there are plenty of mechs/heavy armor, as well as hackers who can do all sorts of interesting game effects like giving cover, taking over mechs, etc. There is a very cool camo mechanic that allows units to sneak around undetected. models: Metal, multi-part casts. Very well casted, minimal flash. Extremely well sculpted, although some of the anime-ish sculpts may turn off some people. It certainly helps to not paint their hair purple and poo poo like that. cost: A starter box and a rulebook will set you back about $80 USD. To play larger games, more minis need to be added, at a cost of around $8-13 per model. Per model, its pricier than most game systems, but luckily you dont really need many models. pros: Really realistic and fun skirmish system Amazing sculpts/studio paintjobs 8 Factions Low model count to purchase Very well supported, releases once per month for almost every faction cons: Expensive individual model prices Rules are translated from Spanish and can be a little obtuse at times Gay Animes Lol (not as anime as the artwork leads one to believe) images       Official Site http://www.infinitythegame.com/infinity_ENG/ -----------------------------------------------------------------------------  Malifaux, by Wyrd Miniatures (US): setting: fantasy/victorian era/alice in wonderland/creepy/halloween/steampunk size: skirmish, 5-10 models per side, 30mm scale mechanics: A very unique, card driven mechanic is the core of this game. No dice required! Alternating unit activation. Each unit has a list of abilities and spells, and has lots of options each turn. This means that a game of 5 models a side is about an hour and a half. There is a "cheating fate" mechanic, which involves you replacing the random "flipped" card with a card out of your hand. This game does the "contested" type of mechanic very well...both players are involved in everything that happens during the turn. models: Multipart metal models, well cast. An interesting bunch of sculpts, some hilarious, some awesome, some pretty terrible. Youve got to love a game that lets you have a giant animated teddy bear with razor teeth, undead hookers, and steampunk construct spiders. cost: Pretty inexpensive. A rulebook, starter, and deck will be around $80 USD. You dont need much else, but a few additional models will allow for bigger games. Models are $8-13 or so each. pros: Very unique gameplay and setting Hilarious models Contested "flip" mechanics are really, really fun cons: Production values are decent, but not amazing Some of the models are pretty weak Faction balance isnt great, this isnt really a tourney game images:      Official website: http://www.wyrd-games.net/ --------------------------------------------------------------- Uncharted Seas and Firestorm Armada, by Spartan Games (UK): setting: uncharted: fantasy naval combat, fsa: future space-naval combat size: Fleet combat, about 10-20 ships per side. mechanics: d6 based, using an "exploding 6's" mechanic (re-roll 6's and add results). A nice balance of maneuvering strategy and shooting. Relatively simple to play. FSA has some nice mechanics with point defense, gun batteries, fighters. models: Multipart resin and metal. Casting is a really mixed bag, some of the models are cast very cleanly, others are very time consuming to assemble. The models themselves are mostly pretty nice sculpts, the FSA stuff is a sort of clean-futuristic look, and US is very similar to GW's Manowar. cost: Rulebook/starter/deck is about $80 USD, and you can add more ships/squadrons on for reasonable prices. pros: Simple, yet strategic pew-pew spaceships (or dragonships)! Fleet creation/invention is supported Fast and furious combat, critical mechanic is really cool cons: A lot of issues with early casts...supposedly fixed Model assembly can be a bitch, especially for those unused to working with resin Production values are OK, but not great Rulebook is written in some infuriatingly obtuse language at times, a good editor could hack it down to probably half its current size images:         Official website: http://www.spartangames.co.uk/index.html ---------------------------------------------------------------  Dark Age, by Dark Age Games setting: Post apocalypci/mutant/future size: skirmish, 5-15 models, 32mm scale mechanics: (stolen from their website) Dark Age is a fast paced, bloody skirmish game. Combat is strategic but intuitive and most definitely not for the faint-hearted with the edge normally given to aggressive play. The game utilizes many specific characteristics including... D20s: Dark Age only uses one dice type, the d20. High is bad and low is Good. There are many rules throughout the game to represent the "Law of 1 and 20" so special effects take place when rolling either of those 2 numbers. Action Points (AP): Every Unit has a specific number of Action Points (average is 2) which they can use to perform actions such as Move, Shoot, Make a Close Assault etc. Alternate Unit Activation (AUA): Rather than the usual IGOUGO method, Dark Age uses AUA. Each player moves one Individual or Squad then the next player moves one and so on. When moving a Squad each member within the Squad exhausts their APs before the player moves to the next member. Malfunctions (MAL) : Not everything works very well on the world of Samaria. To take this into account most technology has a MAL number and should you roll over it then are hit by the effects, some of which can be quite devastating. Special Abilities: Dark Age splits up Abilities into 3 categories; Weapon Abilities, Special Abilities and Force Specific Abilities. - Weapon Abilities are exactly what they sound like, abilities specific to a weapon rather than the wielder. These include such every day ones as Extreme Damage, Blast and Knock prone through to more unique ones such as Numb, Point Blank and Piercing. - Special Abilities are specific to Individuals themselves. Again they include such mainstays as Never Panic, Infiltrate and Hatred through to the more strategic or weird like Command, Nonliving Unit and Major Focus. - Force Specific Abilities are inherent abilities of each Faction. These will be expanded on in the Factions section below. Cowardice will not be Tolerated: Like Malfunctions this was a popular idea amongst playtesters. Surviving on Samaria is not for the yellow-bellied and should you show such weakness you are unlikely to be forgiven and tucked up warm in bed. Cowards are dealt with harshly during combat so should a Unit find itself fleeing they should really try hard not to go too near their fellow 'comrades'. models: Metal, multipart. Some really amazing models, and a very unique post-apocalyptic vision. These models are based on the artwork of Brom, so if you like his stuff (you should) you should like them. Like all ranges, there are a few lovely sculpts, but for the most part they are really nice. cost: I think you need at least 2 rulebooks to get all the faction info, so that on top of the miniatures cost for a small force is probably around $100-130 USD. pros: Amazing setting Really interesting models and factions Incredible art High production values Model stats included on cards inside every blister pack cons: Because of one of the founders of the company's battle with cancer, support stopped for a while. However, new models and bases were produced this year, so the game isnt dead. Faction balance is a mixed bag images:      Official website: http://www.dark-age.com/main.php ---------------------------------------------------------- Battletech, by FASA (original), Some German Company? (interim), Catalyst Game Labs (Current) submitted by Johnny Nox NOTE: We are going to ignore the WizKids Mechwarrior game. It's not the same. setting: Future wars/mechs/space/power armor size: skirmish, 1-4+ models per side, ??mm scale mechanics: concurrent turn hex-based wargame. You each take turns moving one model until all models are moved, Then rotating torso, then firing weapons, calculating heat and applying damage. The basic ruleset allows for missile, line-of-sight(lasers and machine guns etc), and melee atacks. Increasingly advanced rule sets add death-from-above(ie jumping on your opponent's head), artillery support, C^3 nets, targeting computers, etc. There is a very low level of abstraction so you get to track heat levels (heat sinks in legs work double efficiency if standing in water!) amount of armor/internal structure in each leg, arm, head, and left/right/center/rear torso. Too much heat can kill your pilot. Limbs and weapons can be shot off. Heads can be blown off. Internal damage will make ammo cook off. All that fun stuff. models: Metal. Some models are multi-piece, many are single piece. Level of detail seems to vary from sculpt to sculpt. The current mini producer (iron wind metals) is owned and run by the same person who ran the old producer (Ral Partha) so many of the molds are 20+ years old. Thematically ranges from anime mecha to boxes-with-legs to some strange and wonderful creations. cost: The starter box set comes with 2 maps, a starter rule book, and 24 plastic miniatures, complete stat sheets, cardboard chart printouts and more. MSRP is $39.99. Models range from $8-$15. Hardcover rule books: $40 each. There are currently 3 out only "Total War" is required. More are planned. pros: Starter box has decent quality models and is quite cheap Many years of fluff to play with You can design your own mechs the visceral feeling of giving a light mech an AC20 to the face (ie BOOM! Headshot!) Excellent balance between speed-of-play and simulationism Some truly awe-inspiring mechs TONS of old material that can still be used Game is being developed, but slowly cons: Game is truly in it's twilight Finding opponents, but you can both use your mechs Shot placement is mostly random, you can't aim at legs for instance Some of the mechs are kind of...odd The classic Battletech and Ironwind Metals webpages are REALLY REALLY bad. There are several versions of the rules. These versions are not necessarily interchangeable images       Links: Battle Tech main page http://classicbattletech.com/ IronWind Metals http://ironwindmetals.com/d/ Camo Specs Online http://www.camospecs.com/ <--This is an official site! --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Pulp City (Europe, I think) setting: 1940's "golden age" era comic book setting, superheroes vs villains vs communist apes size: skirmish setting, 3+ models per side mechanics: I havent played this game yet, and I am having a hard time finding on their website a brief summary of the game mechanics. They mention that it is a fast skirmish game. (more info needed) models: Metal, multipart (i think). Some really fun sculpts, the range as a whole is pretty rad. cost: Rules are free, a starter set with 5 or 6 minis will run you 40$/30€ pros Awesome models, setting Great website, looks like it is well supported Very low model count/investment to play cons You cant create your own heroes/villains (though minion creation rules are available) images      official site http://pulp-city.com/index.html ------------------------------------------------------------------ AT-43, by Rackham (france) setting: Future war size: 20-50 models per side (close to 40k sized) mechanics: alternating unit activations, with a neat mechanic that forces players to organize their units cards in the order they want them to activate during the turn. Otherwise, its basically a simplified wh40k...d based, very simple combat rules. models: soft plastic pre-painted, 28mm. The sculpts are pretty decent, but because they are pre-paints, the painting is a very mixed bag, ranging from "OK" to "stabbed with a brush 3 times and thrown in a box". The big robots/walkers/etc are very nice sculpts and usually nicer painted than the infantry, which are pretty mediocre. cost: If paying full retail, the starter box is like 70 bux, and additional units are similar pricing to wh40k. However, every online store, including FFG, seems to sell at43 stuff for absurdly low prices. Ive seen the starter box as low as 12 bux. pros: 5 factions, all pretty unique. Evil scary robots, human military, gorillas in power armor, space communists, etc. A lot of the faction rules are free online, so you probably dont have to buy army books. Prepainted means you dont have to assemble or paint anything if you dont want to. Rules are pretty simple, so its a good game to introduce newbies to our terrible hobby. cons: Unit variety and customization is pretty much non-existant. Very few modelling opportunities. Rules are very basic. Finding players may be difficult. Firesales on their models lead many to believe that support is dwindling, but Rackham seems to keep releasing stuff on a regular basis, so who knows. images: (note that rackham pays very good painters to repaint the prepaints, so these images are not neccesarily what the models will be painted like when you purchase them)     Official website http://www.at-43.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=blogcategory&id=57&Itemid=253 ----------------------------------------------------------------  MONSTERPOCALYPSE by Privateer Press submitted by Dree2Dee2 setting: Giant monsters attacking modern day cities! size: 16 models mechanics: This game originated the dice resource system that's in the Grind board game. You spend your limited amount of dice to move, perform attacks, use special powers, and smash the hell out of the city and your enemy. You earn Power Dice for blowing up buildings and killing stuff, which can be used to power up insanely powerful attacks like bodyslams and headbutts by your giant monster. Power dice can also be used to transform your monster into it's Hyper Form, a super powered death machine that will wreck havok on your opponent.  Your force will consist of your giant monster and it's hyper form, 15 support units, and 2-12 buildings that you contribute to the fight. models: Pre-painted plastic figures. cost: A starter box is about 20 bucks, which is enough for 1 player. Booster packs are around 10. pros: Dice resource mechanic is very deep and strategic Tons of abilities and powers Prepainted figures that look awesome GIANT MONSTERS VOLTRON is coming out for this 4 sets currently out with a new set coming in a few months 12 unique factions Famous landmarks promo figures cons: Random distribution in booster packs Ability symbols on figures are a fairly steep learning curve You may have to do some catching up depending on what faction you play Doesn't seem like too many people know about this game Some promo figures might be hard to get images     Official Site https://www.monsterpocalypse.com ------------------------------------------------  submitted by: Bob Smith Urban War, by Urban Mammoth Setting: Dystopian sci-fi. Size: 10-20 models per side, 28mm scale. It can be played smaller though. Mechanics: D10-based with per-model activations and the opportunity for elite units to take additional turns. Cover is vital, there are basically no armour saves or multi-wound models. Games are over very quickly in most cases due to a break point rule where losing too many men leads to a game over even if you aren't wiped out. Models: Mostly single-part metal infantry, some multi-part models. Casting is on the whole good, and they invite interesting colour schemes. Cost: A starter box will cost about £15-25 ($24-40) with blister packs then going for £4-10 ($6-16.) Pros: - Fast-paced. - Per-model activations rather than "I Go You Go" - The rulebook has every model's rules in. Cons: - No new releases impending, and the company seem to be half-dead. They still sell models, though. - Some units don't have models. - Faction design may be too generic for some. Pictures: (From the official site)      Official Site: https://www.urbanmammoth.com ------------------------------------------------- Stargrunt 2 by Ground Zero Games submitted by PlaneGuy Setting: Near Future Size: Platoon->Batallion->A very long game Mechanics: Alternate unit activation: I swear Warhammer's the last modern game to not make the switch. Die shifts: Squad ability is represented by a die type. Modifiers move you up and down the die range. So if the squad starts at d8, a +1 would move you to a d10. The lowest die is d4 (lower than that means the action is impossible) and you cap out at a d12 (in some cases shifts over d12 start dropping an opponents die). Command & Control: Your force must have a command structure. Squads have commanders, Platoons have a commanding squad, etc. Commanders use an action to try to give a subordinate squad an extra turn. If the Commander is not in shouting range, he has to try to radio his command, which opponents can try to jam, etc. There's also a decent morale system that covers from what happens when the squad leader gets shot to dealing with injuries (morale takes a hit if you abandon an injured comrade). It really adds to the game. Combined arms: Usually your force will have access to resources up the chain of command, like artillery, airstikes, and medvac services. To request them you have to make a command roll, modified by how many levels of command (and therefore red tape) you have to go through. Again, any of these communications could be jammed. Combat: Attacker rolls ability + a die based on the total firepower in the squad. Defender rolls range from attacker (based on attacker's skill) modified by cover. If only one of the attacker's dice beats the defender, the defender is suppressed and has to rally to do a normal action. If both beat the defender, then damage is calulated from the sum of the attacker dice. It's a little clunky after this point due to random hits and armour. Scenario-based: There is no point system for building forces. You have to figure out a scenario and put together what "feels right". There are also mechanics to randomize leadership and actual number of figures at the start of a battle ("Patterson's sick, sir!"). Models: 15-30mm scale. GZG's 15mm lines are pretty good, with some good not sci-fi property figures (like Halo Spartans or Stargate jackal-head guys). 15mm sci-fi is a growing market, so there's plenty to choose from even if you don't go to GZG. While I haven't bought anything from them, Critical Mass games has some sweet looking stuff. Dropship Horizon is a great source for 15mm scifi news. Cost: Rules cost ZERO Download from http://www.groundzerogames.net Figures vary depending on manufacturer. Pros: Cheap. Elegant, but with very interesting chrome. Scenario-based. Cons: Rulebook's hard to go through the first time. Generic setting has no special rules so you have to roll your own. Damage's a little clunky to deal with sometimes. Scenario-based. Pictures stolen from the web: Critical Mass games   Ground Zero Games   Khurasan 15mm Sci-fi  ----------------------------------------------------------------- (more games to come) PaintVagrant fucked around with this message at 03:08 on Feb 2, 2010 |
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Jan 12, 2010 01:29
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Anyone who plays or wants to add a game to the OP, post itt using the same format as the OP
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Jan 12, 2010 01:30
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Great OP. I ordered a bunch of ships and the rulebook for Firestorm Armada just before christmas, still waiting on them to arrive. I have a thing for spaceships and the ships look a billion times better than BFG IMO. Really interested in Malifaux too. What's the best game, fun wise, for two people to play? (Optimum player counts aren't in the OP.)
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Jan 12, 2010 01:47
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When it comes to miniature wargaming, its pretty rare to find a game designed for anything other than just 2 players. Id say out of the OP as it stands currently, the most fun Ive had was with Infinity and Malifaux. Malifaux's contested card mechanics make almost everything that happens in the game pretty tense
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Jan 12, 2010 01:50
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I might write up something for Battletech if I get the time, but I don't know if that counts as a Miniature wargame, it's more of a wargame with miniatures (ie everything is done on a paper map in the current incarnation, there is no measuring) Plus I really suck at it. Okay, First pass: Battletech, by FASA (original), Some German Company? (interim), Catalyst Game Labs (Current) NOTE: We are going to ignore the WizKids Mechwarrior game. It's not the same. Setting: The game started off as a skirmish level wargame between 2 (or more) "lances" of mecha. Eventually the rules grew to incorporate tanks, infantry, aerospace fighters, and battle armor. The scale of the game also grew to include options for full strategic operations. size: skirmish, 1-4+ models per side, ??mm scale mechanics: concurrent turn hex-based wargame. You each take turns moving one model until all models are moved, Then rotating torso, then firing weapons, calculating heat and applying damage. The basic ruleset allows for missile, line-of-sight(lasers and machine guns etc), and melee atacks. Increasingly advanced rule sets add death-from-above(ie jumping on your opponent's head), artillery support, C^3 nets, targeting computers, etc. There is a very low level of abstraction so you get to track heat levels (heat sinks in legs work double efficiency if standing in water!) amount of armor/internal structure in each leg, arm, head, and left/right/center/rear torso. Too much heat can kill your pilot. Limbs and weapons can be shot off. Heads can be blown off. Internal damage will make ammo cook off. All that fun stuff. models: Metal. Some models are multi-piece, many are single piece. Level of detail seems to vary from sculpt to sculpt. The current mini producer (iron wind metals) is owned and run by the same person who ran the old producer (Ral Partha) so many of the molds are 20+ years old. Thematically ranges from anime mecha to boxes-with-legs to some strange and wonderful creations. cost: The starter box set comes with 2 maps, a starter rule book, and 24 plastic miniatures, complete stat sheets, cardboard chart printouts and more. MSRP is $39.99. Models range from $8-$15. Hardcover rule books: $40 each. There are currently 3 out only "Total War" is required. More are planned. These are my painted versions of the models that came with the starter set (this image will be replaced) pros: Starter box has decent quality models and is quite cheap Many years of fluff to play with You can design your own mechs the visceral feeling of giving a light mech an AC20 to the face (ie BOOM! Headshot!) Excellent balance between speed-of-play and simulationism Some truly awe-inspiring mechs TONS of old material that can still be used Game is being developed, but slowly cons: Game is truly in it's twilight Finding opponents, but you can both use your mechs Shot placement is mostly random, you can't aim at legs for instance Some of the mechs are kind of...odd The classic Battletech and Ironwind Metals webpages are REALLY REALLY bad. There are several versions of the rules. These versions are not necessarily interchangeable Images Click here for the full 440x611 image. Links: Battle Tech main page http://classicbattletech.com/ IronWind Metals http://ironwindmetals.com/d/ Camo Specs Online http://www.camospecs.com/ <--This is an official site! Jonny Nox fucked around with this message at 08:41 on Jan 12, 2010 |
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Jan 12, 2010 01:58
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Jonny Nox posted:I might write up something for Battletech if I get the time, but I don't know if that counts as a Miniature wargame, it's more of a wargame with miniatures (ie everything is done on a paper map in the current incarnation, there is no measuring) Feel free, make sure to get images and links for the various manufacturers (Im pretty sure BT is made by a couple companies now)
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Jan 12, 2010 02:03
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I really want to get in and try Infinity, but my god I just can't stand to read the rules. I've started going over it six or seven times now, and the thing is so chock full of obtuse acronyms that I get sleepy before I get all the way through the first section. They really need to take another whack at organizing their rulebook and lay things out in plainer english, because drat. Never mind the actual order of rules definitions in the book. Somehow I'm reading this:quote:• Support Weapons Cost (SWC). Support Weapons are special weapons not included in the basic or standard equipment of a trooper. Every 50 points used to build an army provides 1 point to spend on Support Weapons for the troops chosen. For example, a battle of 300 points gives 6 SWC points to spend on miniatures equipped with Support Weapons. The SWC is indicated on every unit containing a figure equipped with a Support Weapon. Figures with basic equipment have a SWC: 0. For example, a Fusilier with a Combi Rifle has a SWC: 0, while a Fusilier with a HMG has a SWC: 1. Before we've even gotten to the basic attributes of troops. And guess which apparently important acronym then doesn't appear on the character stat graph that follows? Also, code:Sort your bugs out, guys.
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Jan 12, 2010 02:28
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I remember when the game first came out, teh guy who did the translating on the first book had a thread where you could leave feedback. I left some feedback  That being said, once you get the hang of things the rules make sense, but their layout is loving awful as you mentioned SWC: you can have one point of SWC (heavy weps, basically) per 50 points in your army list
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Jan 12, 2010 03:28
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Fix and PV posted:Infinity Rules. I read these last week, and couldn't agree more. It looks like a very interesting game though with some very cool mechanics. The two short or one long action looks great along with the overwatch / reaction actions. I also can't wait to plunk a Hacker or two down and start messing poo poo up. I really like the focus on lots of terrain and LoS, but that seems to go hand in hand with most skirmish games. Because the rules were a little confusing, and I found the layout styling appalling, I was going to create a new PDF for myself as part of a mini project. Probably A3 Landscape format (I prefer to work on a large space, and should work well), will overhaul or scrap the current graphics, and slap some editing in to make things clearer. If there's interest I'll stop dragging my heels, and post the results in a few days for further C and C. I don't know if posting the finished article will break any rules here (if so let me know), or tread on IP. If so, I'll hand out links privately and see if I can get in contact with the publishers on their stance to it. I'll also be doing the same for Necromunda if people are interested. But I'll post more about that in the Warhammer thread when I get around to actually starting to play. Malifaux posted:Cards and Minatures? Who needs dice! Dark Age posted:Post apocolyptic D20. These look really cool, I was going to ask if there were more decent skirmish games out there. When I've got disposable income again I'll probably pick up the rule books / starter sets just to have a look. Firestorm Armada posted:No one will hear you scream. I've not checked this out too closely yet. Trying to like the sculpts, what I've seen so far seems slightly bland. But I'm reserving judgment and eagerly waiting to see examples turn up around here. I fear I'm fighting a losing battle though, it's god drat spaceships how can I resist?  Hoping to start off with Necromunda, Infinity and some BFG at first. I've tried for years to collect a full blown Warhammer army and it's never worked. Normally burn out on the painting, and find the lack of depth I like off putting. So I'm looking at skirmish and anything with spaceships to fill my miniature gaming needs. I'm also hoping with the model counts being low, I can feasibly buy 2 or 3 forces so I can get siblings and friends hooked enough to buy their own.
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Jan 12, 2010 05:48
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Wiltershaw posted:I've not checked this out too closely yet. Trying to like the sculpts, what I've seen so far seems slightly bland. But I'm reserving judgment and eagerly waiting to see examples turn up around here. I fear I'm fighting a losing battle though, it's god drat spaceships how can I resist? Here's my one and only ship painted, in crappy camera phone glory!  Click here for the full 800x681 image.  Click here for the full 800x917 image. Still haven't played a game yet, but I've got my painting/gaming group roped in for a paper cutout battle and try and get them to purchase a fleet. I hear good things about Malifaux, might have to look into that as well. Small model count as well which is always appealing. *edit While I'm at it I might as well post my crappy shots of my test gaming board for FA. I'll be making a proper table in a few weeks once I've got my 40k army painted for next weeks tourney.  Click here for the full 800x600 image.  Click here for the full 800x600 image. KTS fucked around with this message at 08:31 on Jan 12, 2010 |
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Jan 12, 2010 08:28
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Okay, I think the Battletech writeup is usable now. You might wait a couple of days to see if I change that photo of the box-set minis since I really should have used a smaller aperature
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Jan 12, 2010 08:44
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Wiltershaw posted:Because the rules were a little confusing, and I found the layout styling appalling, I was going to create a new PDF for myself as part of a mini project. Probably A3 Landscape format (I prefer to work on a large space, and should work well), will overhaul or scrap the current graphics, and slap some editing in to make things clearer. If there's interest I'll stop dragging my heels, and post the results in a few days for further C and C. Please, yes.
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Jan 12, 2010 08:50
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Jonny Nox posted:Catalyst Game Labs (Current) Through a convoluted series of links I stumbled onto to this http://monstersinthesky.com/ also by Catalyst. I am sucker for flying battleships so I went and ahead and bought the starter PDFs. Reminds me of Aeronef by Wessex games. Which I have but haven't had a chance to play. Both games are available here Wow we now have 3 threads dedicated to our terrible nerd hobby. We are truly blessed, our wallets are truly cursed. E: Oh wow there is going to be a full box for Leviathan in Spring 2010,  awesome.
No Pun Intended fucked around with this message at 09:09 on Jan 12, 2010 |
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Jan 12, 2010 09:01
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^^^ 4 threads, there's a warmachine one too.. unless you're not counting the painting thread? Bookmarked  Got the first of my FSA ships through just before christmas but awaiting a replacement due to dodgy casting. Not had the time to sit down and try fixing the casting issues with the ship I've got but hey ho. If it goes together well enough then I'll fork out for some more ships and the rulebook and then try to find an opponent 
enri fucked around with this message at 11:27 on Jan 12, 2010 |
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Jan 12, 2010 11:25
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It's worth pointing out that Leviathans is being released under a Creative Commons license, so the rules will be completely free once they're released. There's a torrent of the Lieutenant's Manual somewhere on the catalyst website but that thing is a pain in the rear end to navigate.
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Jan 12, 2010 12:55
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Jonny Nox posted:Okay, I think the Battletech writeup is usable now. You might wait a couple of days to see if I change that photo of the box-set minis since I really should have used a smaller aperature Cool, added to OP
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Jan 12, 2010 16:34
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Fix posted:Please, yes. e: in other news, I added a pulp city entry to the OP, but having not played it, my info is pretty sparse. If I remember correctly there are definitely some goons who play this, so please post some info for me! PaintVagrant fucked around with this message at 17:24 on Jan 12, 2010 |
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Jan 12, 2010 16:34
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Would you consider relaxing the rule about the company must make minis AND rules? I'm looking into Ambush Alley and a few other games like that, that are designed to work with almost any miniatures made.
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Jan 12, 2010 18:02
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Pagan posted:Would you consider relaxing the rule about the company must make minis AND rules? I'm looking into Ambush Alley and a few other games like that, that are designed to work with almost any miniatures made. Isnt that a modern war/historical game anyways?
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Jan 12, 2010 18:10
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I adore Battletech. I've played it for over 20 years. It was the first "gamer's" game I ever played and is still my favorite. Great, well balanced rules, a rich and detailed setting that rivals any in all of fantasy/sci-fi fiction and giant rear end robots blowing each other apart. The rules can seem daunting at first, even the basic rules because they are pretty thick but games can move fast once you've got them down. A few editions ago they streamlined them to make everything even smoother. For instance, there is no torso-twist/reaction phase anymore. I am currently involved in a planetary invasion campaign circa War of 3039 that has been ongoing for months and will last another several months. It's brigade/battalion level with 50 or so mechs on eash side plus support vehicles, infantry, static defenses, aerospace fighters, couple of drop ships and so on. I'm the Davion invasion force, he's the Kurita garrison. It's being documented in OCD-level detail and I planed to do a thread about it when it's done. What sucks most about Batletech is the lack of players, but what players remain seem to be universally fanatic. It never was and never will be as big as, say, Warhammer and that's a drat shame. I think Battletech is the superior game in every way. I don't think it will ever disapear completely. There are a lot of resources for it out there on the net if you just hunt around a bit.
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Jan 12, 2010 18:26
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I'm really interested in the rewritten infinity rules as well. I've played a few games and trying to find specific rules is nearly impossible with how the book is laid out. I don't think it'd be an IP violation as the core set of rules have been released for free on their website, so you'd only be reformatting something they have made public.
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Jan 12, 2010 20:00
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As soon as its economically feasible for me (might be a few months) Im going to start playing Infinity again, so if no one has fixed the rules I can help out. I definitely remember hating the layout of the 1st edition book, but after learning to play, most of the rulebook checking was for how abilities worked. That being said, I would have never quite gotten it right without reading a bunch of threads on their rules forum
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Jan 12, 2010 20:05
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What's Helldorado like, and are there rules in English? I've seen the sweet miniatures but the site was enigmatically foreign...
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Jan 12, 2010 23:47
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Danger - Octopus! posted:What's Helldorado like, and are there rules in English? I've seen the sweet miniatures but the site was enigmatically foreign... Asmodee (the french dudes who made it originally) stopped producing Hell Dorado in April 09, but Cipher (the dudes who make Anima: Tactics) picked it up back in September. They're supposed to be producing an English edition and continuing development of the game, but there hasn't been much news since then and there aren't even any loose release dates.
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Jan 12, 2010 23:58
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I play Pulp City and would be happy to answer any questions, give info or just be a raving fanboy. I even made a thread before but completely failed to maintain it , you can see it's carcass with a longer introduction here. I took the liberty to work over the infoblock (minus images): PaintVagrant posted:Pulp City, by Pulp Monsters (Poland)
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Jan 12, 2010 23:59
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Nice! Post some pics of your minis!
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Jan 13, 2010 03:31
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KTS posted:Sweet ship and board Really liking the paint job on the ship you've got. I've been looking into it a little more and the styles of the Sorylian Collective and Aquan Prime ships are getting my imagination racing. I really don't like the hard square bases though, will have to see if I can get some round ones. Unless square bases are key to any rules? How'd you go about painting the effects on your table? It looks pretty swish. Jonny Nox posted:BattleTech Nice. Mech Commander and Mech Warrior are fond memories of my early gaming years. Defiantly going to check this out, and the massive amounts of fluff. Anyone recommend some decent books / series to start with, and ones to avoid? I've started copying the rules out of the Infinity PDF, about a quarter of the way through after this evening. For now it's just a straight copy paste affair with the same formatting. Playing around with the order, formatting and editing will come when I've got easily editable blocks to play with. Hopefully I'll have a bare bones draft ready for Friday / Saturday depending on how busy I am. The graphics shouldn't take long once all the text is formatted and edited properly. I'll be aiming to finish (bar any minor corrections and updates) by the end of next week. Those who've already read the current iteration, if you've got any suggestions let me know. I'll try and get them into the first draft.
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Jan 13, 2010 04:17
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Wiltershaw posted:Unless square bases are key to any rules? Yeah they are, thats how you determine your fire arcs and the width of "fixed" weapons fire paths
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Jan 13, 2010 04:20
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Wiltershaw posted:Nice. Mech Commander and Mech Warrior are fond memories of my early gaming years. Defiantly going to check this out, and the massive amounts of fluff. Anyone recommend some decent books / series to start with, and ones to avoid? The house books (Davion, Liao, Kurita, Steiner and Marik) are available here for free from the official site are are a great source of history and setting for the game. As far as the novels go, the ones written by Mark Stackpole are alright, but I can't say any of them are great reading.
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Jan 13, 2010 05:17
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infinity looks awesome
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Jan 13, 2010 07:33
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Wiltershaw posted:Really liking the paint job on the ship you've got. I've been looking into it a little more and the styles of the Sorylian Collective and Aquan Prime ships are getting my imagination racing. I really don't like the hard square bases though, will have to see if I can get some round ones. Unless square bases are key to any rules? Thanks! It's still a bit rough and I need to fix uo my striping mistakes but for a quick paint job I like it. The board I painted in an hour or so using spraycans, I basically followed this youtube spraypaint art tutorial. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9nOE6g0G63Q
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Jan 13, 2010 08:10
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PaintVagrant posted:Nice! Post some pics of your minis!
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Jan 13, 2010 20:09
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Heavy Gear was really awesome back in the day and I think the mech designs were really neat. I know it's still around, but I think they released a dumbed-down ruleset which kind of defeats the purpose. Half the fun was in the crazy number of mechs you could make that came in the supplemental books by converting the standard models, and if you couldn't find it then you could always make your own. There was a nice variety in factions too; the North with mechs with more narrow edges and mammal names (Grizzly, Cheetah), the South with mechs that had sleeker, more rounded edges and reptile names (Black Mamba, Cobra, Basilisk), Peace River with heavy fat mechs with military names (Warrior, Skirmisher), and the Earth which had really powerful tiny ground infantry, hovertanks, and mass-produced wiry battleframe mechs. The models were all of very high quality, and you only needed a small number to play. Aside from mechs there were hovertanks, wheeled vehicles, striders (huge mechs more in line with the Battletech style), and tiny little infantry (10mm? 6mm?) with rocket launchers and stuff. The big difference between the Battletech and Heavy Gear mechs is that Gears are humanoid and carry their weapons like humans. They might have shoulder-mounted weapons like mortars and rocketpods but they almost always have a gun in their hands; they always have arms, legs, a head, hands and feet. I haven't looked at the new (Blitz) ruleset because I haven't played the game in 9 or so years, but from quickly browsing the site it looks like they're going for a game with less customization and more standardization. That is, you don't get the option to take all those really funky and crazy mechs from various sourcebooks anymore, nor choose how good the pilot is, nor are there all the weird accessories and guns for the mechs. Plus they seem to be selling 'armies' at 10 mechs a side, which is bigger than it used to be (around 6 was the norm). That said, an 'army' only costs $85 which is about what a GW battleforce costs, and the models are of similar quality. e: What I meant by standardization vs customization is that it used to be you could have one mech and there were about 100 variants of it (and you could make your own) and you could choose the level of pilot to put in. So you could theoretically use up your entire deployment point pool on a single mech with stealth capabilities that could fire 2 mortars and its handheld railgun in one turn with a crack pilot, while your opponent could spend all his points fielding 20 cheap mechs with various machine guns and green pilots and maybe a couple infantry bases with rocket launchers; now it seems to be the standard GW-esque 'here's your army list, pick from it' and you get to choose from bog-standard mechs for a fixed number of points with no real variation. PaintVagrant posted:I use this model as my Marbo in my desert-themed 40k IG army (though painted bubonic brown/dark flesh) 
HeroOfTheRevolution fucked around with this message at 20:44 on Jan 13, 2010 |
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Jan 13, 2010 20:29
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HeroOfTheRevolution posted:e: What I meant by standardization vs customization is that it used to be you could have one mech and there were about 100 variants of it (and you could make your own) and you could choose the level of pilot to put in. So you could theoretically use up your entire deployment point pool on a single mech with stealth capabilities that could fire 2 mortars and its handheld railgun in one turn with a crack pilot, while your opponent could spend all his points fielding 20 cheap mechs with various machine guns and green pilots and maybe a couple infantry bases with rocket launchers; now it seems to be the standard GW-esque 'here's your army list, pick from it' and you get to choose from bog-standard mechs for a fixed number of points with no real variation. Though, it feels like it would be the like Battletech's mech construction; I'm glad its there, but I hate seeing it used because it invariably results in some godawful abomination that's unfun to play against.
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Jan 13, 2010 21:09
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Check This poo poo Out  Click here for the full 1024x768 image. Papercraft terrain sellers. They've got stuff for sci-fi, modern, fantasy, horror, etc. Ten or so sets per genre. They've even got some stuff you can put together for BFG or other space based games, replacement boards for Space Hulk, etc. Definitely getting some of this for Infinity when the time comes. Here's a youtube of them putting some together, using a fantasy set. Edit: And here is a video of using their custom terrain creation software so you can design your own boards. FFFFFFFUUUUU Fix fucked around with this message at 22:23 on Jan 13, 2010 |
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Jan 13, 2010 22:15
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Wow those look pretty damned nice.
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Jan 13, 2010 22:34
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Worldworks owns, I've got a bunch of their fantasy terrain PDFs. Great stuff.
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Jan 13, 2010 23:03
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I posted about Worldworks in the big thread and none of you jerks had anything to say about it then. I would love to get a bunch of their stuff for skirmish games like Necromunda, but I need to find a place to print it out and work out if the cost is worth it.
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Jan 13, 2010 23:18
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FirstCongoWar posted:Worldworks owns, I've got a bunch of their fantasy terrain PDFs. Great stuff. I'm a big WWG fangirl. I've done a bunch of their models. The Maiden is incredible. I got given Wormhole for free due to a silly billing error, their customer service is great. Not had chance to play it yet. I've got a bunch of black foamboard here waiting for me to build the ships.
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Jan 13, 2010 23:19
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| # ? Apr 27, 2024 02:54 |
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Furret Basket posted:I'm a big WWG fangirl. I've done a bunch of their models. The Maiden is incredible. I'd really like to get your opinion on the game when you do end up playing, my friends and I have been looking into it.
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Jan 14, 2010 00:32
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