Some Brief Talk Of D&D 5th Edition

Alright so this is more like “what I would like to see happen” since the information given to us thus far has been vague and rather un-helpful(although the new books are something like a year out anyway so I can’t really hold it against them too much). Now I’ve been periodically checking Wizards of the Coast’s website for news on this new edition and avoiding any online discussion of it because those discussions turn into whining and bitching and edition wars faster than I can blink. So what would I like to see?

First off you may recall that I said I’m a fan of the 4th edition character sheet, and I’m sticking to that statement. WotC need to keep character creation easy and not have it get bogged down in a billion tiny details like 3rd edition did where everything on the character sheet had to be printed in 5 point font. I quite enjoyed being able to get all the basics of my character set and done in less than a day.

I would also like to see WotC create some new settings, and really mix it up a bit. One of the things I always loved about Dark Sun was how it took the standard races and changed them from the standard cliches. I’ve said it time and time again that I hate the bog standard Tolkien inspired cliches that everyone seems to cling to like it was right out of God’s mouth. Create a new setting and don’t be afraid to shake things up a bit. Don’t let the cliches and tropes control you, WotC, don’t be afraid to experiment or rattle the cage of tradition a little bit. Give us a Bronze Age type setting with a not-Rome, or an ancient Egypt style setting with all sorts of cool stuff to work with. Hell; I’ll shoot you the setting I’m working on if it’ll help!

Don’t pull a Games Workshop and just release the same books over and over again. So when 5th edition comes out don’t just release the same settings that you released in 4th edition; bring back some of the classics. Give us a new Spelljammer, Al-Qadim or Ravenloft. Don’t give us the same settings over and over again without touching on some that are, shall we say, less loved.

Maybe tone down the dependence on miniatures and a map during combat? I know I said it wasn’t as bad as everyone made it out to be before, but toning it back can’t hurt either. Or, at the very least, make it an optional thing? That kind of entails a double set of rules, but if done right it can provide the best of both worlds for people to pick how they want to do things. Both a visual and an entirely mental system work equally well.

Lastly, for the love of god, change the Dragonborn into something cool if you insist on keeping them. Dragon people is fine and dandy in a fantasy setting, but  the way they were handled in 4th edition was kind of crap. They weren’t very interesting, they didn’t look fierce enough, and why did the females have breasts? They’re lizards, and as such probably don’t nurse their young like humans.

So those are what I’d like to see. Hopefully some of this gets implemented, and hopefully this new edition won’t lead to the same idiotic complaints from the people who whined endlessly about the last edition. Maybe, just maybe, the fanbase will grow up a bit and let people play what they find enjoyable.

Vampires Abound!

So as promised from last weeks debacles I come with gifts of new Vampire Counts models! The book is already out by now with it’s horribly atrocious cover art, but I still feel like giving some opinions!

As always we’re starting in the Lords and Heroes section of the charts with Isabella Von Carstein.

This errr…rather unattractive lady is in Finecast since GW is still trying to shove that down our throats. The detail is all there and it’s crisp, and it’s nice to see her in a slightly dramatic pose but she just doesn’t wow me. Maybe it’s the low cut top and the visible panties?

Moving on we have Krell.

Krell is quite clearly not a Vampire, but I digress. He looks pretty cool with a really creepy vibe, and his axe is pretty neat(even if I think the whole “stick screaming faces on it, that’s scary right?” thing is a bit silly myself). He’s got all the detail, if a bit uninspired in his pose. The one thing I don’t like are his feet, they just look….well….weird to me. Other than that a superb model that would make a fine Lich in D&D.

Next we get the Wight King, and boy howdy.

I am loving this guy. He looks evil, he looks mean, he looks awesome. All the detail is fantastic, the pose isn’t completely boring, and the basic design is just great. This guy would make an even better Lich than Krell.

Last thing in the Lords/Heroes department is the Vampire Counts’ new obligatory “we’re giving everyone a big model because screw uniqueness!” thing; the Mortis Engine/Coven Throne.

I have to admit I am impressed by the staggering amount of detail on this thing, but I just can’t bring myself to be all that excited about it. It looks cool(if the ladies on the throne look kinda’ uninspired) and it’s oozing with cool little things, but I still can’t like it all that much. I mean; not only is it a shameless shill to get you to spend more cash, but dear god that thing is going to be a nightmare to transport anywhere. I bet it’ll be a converter’s dream come true, though, with all the left over bits you’ll probably have.

Moving on to core selections we get…… a whole lot of nothing. Apparently GW was content with the designs of the core troops for the Vampires and opted to not only not remold any of them(which in my opinion the Ghouls and Zombies need badly) nor give the Vampire Counts any new core choices.

So with that we move to Special Units. And we start off with the new Black Knights/Hexwraiths.

Now I won’t lie; the Black Knights are awesome. They just look so good, and the horses look good too. GW; why don’t you give those horses to the Tomb Kings as well so they can stop riding those fugly things you gave them? Seriously, though, I am really digging these guys. If they weren’t $30 a pop I’d probably buy some for other purposes.

The Hexwraiths, though, I’m not quite as excited about. I’m not a big fan of molded fire, and I feel like big ass scythes on horseback can only end in disaster.

Next up we get the Vargheists/Crypt Horrors kit.

I really like the Vargheists; they look like smaller versions of the Varghulf which I always thought was a pretty awesome model. They look mean and bestial and monstrous. What I’m not digging is the random set of smaller wings on one of them and the strange inclusion of pubic hair. Would loincloths have been so hard, GW?

The Crypt Horrors are nice in detail and all that jazz, but they just look like bigger versions of the Ghouls which I still don’t like. It’s that whole hunched over thing; just doesn’t look good to me.

And that’s your lot. No new Rare choices either which, again, strikes me as a bit odd. GW did re-release a whole bunch of stuff in Finecast(seriously; like 50% of the New Releases are just remolds in Finecast), but I really don’t care enough to go through those because you’ve already seen them before.

On the whole I’m not as impressed by the new Vampire Counts as I thought I’d be when they got announced. Some of the models are really neat and I really dig, but the majority are just kinda’ “meh” to me. The details on them are all really nice and they’re all really nicely done, but just looks wise the majority of them didn’t catch my eye.

So I hope you enjoyed this little stroll down Von Carstein Way. Man, it sure does feel like Necrons got way more stuff, doesn’t it?

A Day Late And A Buck Short

Yeah yeah; sorry I forgot about yesterday. I wasn’t feeling too good and totally let it slip my mind.

But next week, I promise; new Vampire Counts stuff. Seriously.

DUST vs. Gear Krieg

So this week I want to cover something I get asked about on occasion; why I seem to hate on Weird War 2 stuff but seem to love DUST and Gear Krieg, and which of the two I like more.

To answer the first question; it’s mostly because I feel the whole Weird War 2 thing is a bit overdone at this point, and it’s starting to fall into its own series of very obnoxious cliches(some of which even DUST isn’t exempt from). It mostly stems from having gone through the Maryland public education system where every single year in history class they’d spend at least a month wanking off to how awesome the United States was during the second World War and would shrug off pretty much any history that occurred before 1939; including the first World War which, without, the second wouldn’t have been possible. Even in world history my junior year of high school we hardly touched on the Great War but spent weeks upon weeks talking about WW2 like every event in history before it was completely worthless and would never matter. So yes I’m a bit bitter towards the second world war for hogging all the damn spotlight both in schools and on the History Channel.

As for Weird War 2 it’s starting to follow a pattern I think. We in the gaming world continue to just automatically go “Nazis = everything evil” and churn out the same thing over and over. Why do the Nazis always seem to be trying to raise armies of zombies, or discover magic in Weird War 2 settings? I get that, for the most part, the Nazis were some crazy evil bastards who did a lot of crazy evil stuff, but have we become so lazy that when we say “Nazi science” it automatically leads to zombies? What makes you think nobody else would be invested in crazy super-science stuff if you’re going that route?

Now the “Nazi super-science” thing is something that even DUST can’t escape from, which is a shame because I generally like DUST. I greatly enjoyed the boardgame and I love the art and the overall feel of the setting, and I still eagerly await DUST Warfare to maybe someday eventually possibly grace us with its presence. Unfortunately there are some things that DUST does fall flat on, and the “Nazi super-science” is one of them. The axis forces have super-science Gorillas and zombies, and that always bugged the hell out of me.

I’m a bit more hesitant to label Gear Krieg as Weird War 2 because it doesn’t feel like most others, and even Dream Pod 9(the folks who made the original game) refer to it as Dieselpunk. It’s more pulpy and less silly. Does it still have the cool walking tank thing like DUST? Yep, but it has no zombies or Nazi occultists or whatever crazy crap they constantly try and jam down our throats. Gear Krieg is much more grounded, and it sprinkles in the cool stuff like the aforementioned walkers with more subtlety and realism than just going “lol super-science.”

Now to answer the second question of which I like more between DUST and Gear Krieg; I’d have to tip my hat towards Gear Krieg for the reasons in my previous paragraph. Gear Krieg is more down to Earth and feels like silly and off the walls than DUST, and that’s nice to me. It truly feels like it’s basically just WW2 with some better technology(walkers, jet fighters more commonplace, etc.) and doesn’t rely on the cheesy old gimmick of “Nazi super-science” to get you to start booing and hissing. It’s a game that doesn’t make you feel like a sociopath dick for wanting to play the Axis forces because it’s not so blatantly sitting here going “Nazis are evil so they use all these things we might think are evil because they are all evil baby killing cannibals who like to pee on dead bodies” or whatever. Gear Krieg is about the basic troopers on the ground doing what they do, and it doesn’t touch on the sociopolitical stuff that was going on with the higher ups of the German government at the time and how they were really the big crazy evil people while most of the ground troops were just pissed because the Germans got a raw deal at the end of the Great War but history class wouldn’t tell you that because then they’d have to acknowledge that something happened between the American Civil War and the Nazi invasion of Poland and it’s so much easier to just say “they were dicks.”

Holiday, Relaxing, The Usual

So I’m taking this week off since I’m still technically on my vacation, but really quick I want to cover a few things we can expect in 2012.

- Warhammer 40k 6th edition which will change very few things and not actually fix the real problems that make 40k such an awful game.

- Infinity campaign book which will add all sorts of new fun stuff to the game included new sectorals if rumors are correct.

- DUST Warfare which will finally give DUST a legit miniatures game.

- Gear Krieg 28mm which will hopefully provide all sorts of fun times with WW2 walkers.

- Iron Kingdoms RPG in the summer so we can all wander around the Iron Kingdoms beating stuff with our magitek swords.

Here’s hoping you all had a happy holidays, have a wonderful New Years and that 2012 is nothing short of awesome for the traditional gaming crowd.

The Other Guys Part Duex

So a long while back I posted a bunch of models from various companies that aren’t GW, Privateer Press or Corvus Belli to expose you guys to some other companies and models that are on the market. Well this week I’m going to do that again, so let’s get things going.

First up are the good folks over at Crocodile Games. These guys make the fantastic Wargods fantasy battle system which is, for a refreshing change of pace, based on different ancient mythology instead of being stuck in the same part of medieval England that the rest of fantasy settings seem to.

Honestly I really love the sculpts from these guys. They aren’t the greatest but they manage to convey so much character while still being able to rank up for gameplay purposes. I also just love the look; it’s just such a refreshing pace in fantasy miniatures.

Speaking of a refreshing take on fantasy models we move on to my next subject; Twilight Miniatures.

I love the models being churned out by Twilight; a setting with no fantasy tropes in the races. No Dwarfs, no Humans, no Elves none of it. The models are fairly simple looking but they’re also extremely unique and have a lot of charm about them.

The next guys are someone I’m really fond of; Black Scorpion Miniatures.

Black Scorpion makes so much stuff and they make such a nice variety of models that nothing ever feels tired or overdone. These guys are one of their sets of Elven Pirates for their Cutlass game, and I love it. They took fantasy races and made them pirates and it works really well. They also make a nice range of western models and two really nice football teams(Orcs and Humans). Simply fantastic stuff from these guys.

Next we’ve got Impact miniatures and these guys have blown me away.

They make fantasy football models for their Elfball game, but obviously these guys are able to be used for Blood Bowl. The models I posted here are their Valkyrie team which I think is just an awesome set of models(and which I plan to use for an Amazon team at some point). They have a huge selection of different teams and lots of choices for your alternate team of choice.

Next up we’ve got some guys making an awesome line of sci-fi models; Pig Iron Productions.

I really love Pig Iron’s designs and their models just look really nice. Their Kolony Militia(which the HQ set is pictured here) would make some really nice Steel Legion for an IG army in 40k with some work(mostly for heavy weapons teams). Seriously; go check out their site and look at their Wardroid and tell me you don’t want one of those bad-boys.

Moving on we have Studio McVey who’s churning out some awesome sculpts.

Studio McVey is making some amazing sci-fi models for their Sedition Wars game, but they also have a line of limited release resin models of various things(including an awesome Rhino man). Just really nice, crisp details and an amazing design going for much of the line.

Next up on the list is  Urban Mammoth.

I’ll admit that the game they make(Urban War) doesn’t really interest me that much, but these guys do churn out some really nice models. I really like the Viridian(whose snipers are shown here), the VASA and the robots called the Syntha(who just ooze retro charm). Much like Pig Iron with some work I think the Viridians could make a really nice alternate Imperial Guard army that would help set you apart during games.

Moving on from there we have  Cipher Studios who make Hell Dorado and Anima Tactics.

Now I’ll admit right out I don’t like the models from the Anima Tactics line; they’re just everything I dislike about most anime and the new Final Fantasy games, but god do I ever love their Hell Dorado line of models. These things just look gritty and mean and awesome. They have very distinct styles between the factions available, and each model has its own character and charm.

Next is one of my favorites; Antenocitis Workshop.

Now I know for a fact that this is a one man operation and he churns out some of the most amazing sci-fi terrain and vehicles I’ve ever seen. He also makes models of people, but his vehicles are what really captured my imagination and got me looking at his stuff(and weeping at how poor I am). It’s just stunning and so much love goes into each piece.

Speaking of vehicles here’s someone new to the scene as far as entire models goes; Secret Weapon.

This is the company’s first foray into an entire model after making lots of bits for customizing models, and I have to say I really like it. It’s a nice hefty looking APC type vehicle, and the weapon options give you a lot of choices on how to build it(or you could magnatize the turret and switch the weapons as the situation deems so). I can’t wait to see more from these guys.

Next is someone else rather new to the scene; Vesper On Studios.

These guys are much like how Freebooter Miniatures was back in the first one of these things; some young fresh company doing a unique game and an amazing line of models and that’s as far as my knowledge goes. I love the look of the models in both the fact that the game they’re for, Carnevale,  is all about Renaissance Italy and the fact that they just look so full of character. I’m really looking forward to seeing more from these guys(including the rules for that game) and much like with Freebooter I have a lot of faith in them.

Now we go to CP Models and Miniatures and something that caught me entirely off guard.

I found Dwarfs I actually really like and would consider buying. Yes; these guys make a range of Arabian Dwarf models that are just really cool to me. They aren’t the greatest detail or highest quality that we’re used to from other companies, but the fact that these guys are willing to step out from the cliches and tropes shows me real promise. It’s just really nice to see something different, and it’s really nice to see some love for the Arabian style.

Next in line is Tercio Creativo.

These guys are another company I don’t know much about, but I do know they make awesome looking models. These things are just so pristine and crisp looking and the details are superb and leave nothing to be desired. They’re just that good.

Next we have GCT miniatures and their Bushido line.

Look; it’s an old sage riding a big old tortoise. What more can I really say about how awesome that is? The rest of the line is equally impressive, and it’s a nice offering for some more….errr….oriental styled models.

Last up today(because good lord this thing has gone on forever) is Taban Miniatures who make the post-apocalyptic game Eden.

Now these guys I’ll admit are kind of hit-or-miss depending on if you like the style of the classic post-apoc thing with everyone in grungy clothes and slapped together armor made out of cookeware. I think some of these models look really nice, and their line of fantasy models is equally well made. If you’re looking for quality and disregarding style then these guys are a hit.

So that’s it for this installment of “The Other Guys.” Although I do want to make a quick note before I go:

After my last one of these little adventures I had people asking why I wasn’t mentioned the various Historical ranges made by different companies and why I seemed to be ignoring anything that wasn’t 28mm(with the few rare exceptions). Now I mentioned I’m not a historical gamer and that I’m not a big fan of small scale games, so that’s played into it. I am familiar with plenty of historical lines and I’ve mentioned companies in these which make historical models(Wargames Foundry from the first one and Black Scorpion here), but if you guys want me to do a run down of some historical gaming companies and their models then by all means feel free to let me know and I’ll be more than glad to help. As for the 15mm stuff; I just don’t know enough companies since models that small very rarely catch my eye like a 28mm model will.

Is Bigger Actually Better?

So I’m technically on vacation for the next few weeks, but I want to discuss a recent trend in Games Workshop models that I brought up way back in my preview of the first wave of new Tomb Kings models; the trend of everyone getting a big centerpiece model.

Now I get that from a visual perspective it’s always kind of cool to have a big centerpiece model in your army, but from a game perspective I feel like they took away something unique to some of the armies. Now I’m approaching this mostly from the Fantasy side since there’s always been big models in 40k, and the biggest ones are usually covered by Forge World. In Fantasy there were always a big thing that armies could take, usually things like Dragons or Hydras or what-have-you, but now I feel that each army getting a huge model kind of takes away from the unique charm of things like the Lizardmen Stegadon which was a big imposing monster. Well if everyone has a big imposing monster then suddenly the Stegadon isn’t so unique.

It’s also the methodology behind them of “we’ll give every army a huge model, and we’ll make it so good in game that they’ll have to take it to be competitive and then we’ll charge $50+ for it” that bugs the hell out of me. It’s such a shameless money grab(which can also be said of the new “hordes are awesome” idea in Fantasy as well), but that still doesn’t bug me as much as the dilution of  the unique and awesome sight of a big monster in certain armies.

Maybe I’m looking at it wrong, but I liked it when seeing a big scary bad-ass monster was reserved to just a few armies, and now everyone has one which just sort of ruins the appeal to me. It was one of those things of going against certain armies that “oh man that big baddie could be in their list” was so much fun, and now it’s like that against every army. Storm of Magic didn’t help this much either since it was basically just full of big models that any army could take.

I like the charm of certain armies having big things while others need to find ways around it, and if the way around it now is to counter it with another big thing then it loses some of the charm and some of some of the uniqueness of the armies.

Just had to get that off my chest.

Heroic v. True

Alright I’m short on material this week so this will be a quick one since it’s a question I get asked fairly often: do you prefer Heroic or True scaled models.

I think first off I should address the differences for anyone who isn’t familiar with the terminology. Heroic Scale refers to models with exaggerated proportions; usually the head, hands and feet tend to be bigger. This is both a stylistic thing and a simplicity thing since it’s easier to paint bigger things(generally speaking). Here’s a picture of a model from Privateer Press’s Iron Kingdoms RPG range for example.

As you can see her head is rather large looking compared to her torso. This is common in Heroic Scale stuff.

Now True Scale refers to things being more correctly proportioned, so no giant heads and hands. Historical game companies tend to do all their models in True Scale because it’s more realistic, and smaller companies also tend to do True Scale because it allows them to stand out a little bit more. Here’s an example from Infinity.

As you can see everything is much more proportioned and doesn’t look quite as off.

And just for fun here’s what happens when you combine the two(this particular abomination was made from a Perry Brothers model for the body and legs with some GW bits slapped on).

That horror should give you an idea of just how vastly different the two scales tend to be.

As for my opinion; I tend to not be that picky, but I do find myself leaning more towards True Scale lately. Heroic Scale works for a cartoony sort of comic-book feel, but it just doesn’t always do it for me. My Warmachine stuff is all Heroic Scale, and let I find it lacking when placed next to my Infinity stuff. it’s a strange, and someone moronic, situation where I like the look of True Scale stuff more because it doesn’t look so bloody goofy, but I dread painting True Scale stuff because everything is so tiny. Really Warmachine is designed to have a cartoony visual appeal to it so I’m not too harsh on it, but I find myself liking more and more realistically proportioned models.

As I said earlier I find more of the small companies doing True Scale stuff, and i9t’s a curiosity of mine as to why. I assume it’s for immediate visual recognition from the Heroic Scale to rules the market in Warhammer and Warmachine, but I could be wrong. Perhaps Heroic Scale is easier to produce? I have no idea, but I do know that the smaller companies seem to be leaning away from Heroic Scale. Some of them have a sort of hybrid going on where some things are slightly exaggerated, but nothing ever approaching what GW or Privateer Press are known for.

In the end, though, it’s a matter of preference. I like the look of True Scale, but the ease of painting(no matter how bad my painting may be) of Heroic Scale. Maybe playing games from both perspectives has allowed me to not really worry to much about it.

Keeping It Simple

Throughout my many years of playing various tabletop games I’ve come across my share of good and bad rule sets, and I’ve also come across my share of rules that are easy to learn and others that are complicated for reasons beyond my simple mortal understanding it seems.

It’s a trend I’ve noticed in some games that ties back to my discussion involving tables a few weeks back as well as other things, and it’s really starting to confuse me. Game companies that make games complicated and difficult to learn for no explainable reason. They use any number of things to make the learning process more difficult than it really needs to be: bad wording, horrible layout, stupid pointless rules that lead to stupid situations like running d6 inches and the aforementioned tables. What ever happened to “keep it simple; stupid?” That golden rule of, really, any interactive medium? Why do game companies, and indeed even their fans, seem to decry such a thing? We saw it with D&D 4th edition with everyone complaining that it didn’t take them 6 weeks to make a character or learn how many dice they roll to attack or what-have-you. Why are people so opposed to things being easier to learn?

Chess is one of the oldest, and the most well known, tabletop game in existence, and its rules are pretty damn simple. Yes different pieces move in different ways, but it only takes a single game before you’ve memorized them all. Chess is the perfect example of good game design; easy to learn, difficult to master. That’s how a game should work. The basic rules should be simple enough that anyone with an IQ over 12 can pick them up in a single game(maybe two games if I’m feeling generous), but should offer enough depth and tactical flexibility that it takes a while to master it.

The basic rules of any game should be simple and, as the title implies; basic. They should cover the common things and set up how a game plays, and then the real challenge should be left to the players. The game shouldn’t beat you over the head with complexities, and I feel like we see that in a few too many games. Battletech is well known for not being 100% friendly to newer players because it has a fairly steep learning curve, but at least they were kind enough to include a basic rules set in the starter box so new players could get the hang of things like moving and shooting before the crazy stuff showed up. Malifaux is another game with piles of complexity since every model seems to have a dozen or so special rules and abilities(the stat cards are huge and they still have to print in a tiny font to fit everything on them). Infinity can be the same way if you try and read the rule book cover-to-cover, but the actual basics are pretty simple to learn(it gets complicated when you start adding in different ammos, special equipment, camo and the likes).

I just wonder, sometimes, why people shy away from anything that might be considered simple. Heroscape was an amazing game, and it had fairly simple rules that were easy to learn. Where the complexity laid was how you, as an individual, played the game. That’s how it should be; complexity and difficulty should lay in the hands of the players. If your game is too complex for people to learn then who’s going to bother playing it? Simple doesn’t mean easy, and it certainly doesn’t mean a game is bad. Look at checkers; simplest rules around and yet it can still take years to master. That’s doing a game right.

Vaction Week Yet Again?

Yes it’s a rather un-eventful week in the world of table top gaming and as such I’m taking the week off and calling it a holiday. I’ll be back next week with more of the usual.