So I know I should have done a short review on this book by now, but I don't think I can review this one in the format that I normally do. I feel that the best way I can look at this book is through a more 'thought's on' type format.
So what do I think of this book? Well, to me this book is Games-Workshop's ultimate compromise. What do I mean by this? Well, GW has been wanting to remove a lot of the Old World miniatures, but in doing so would result in a massive consume backlash from more classic Warhammer players. As such, they picked a bunch of miniatures from each of the now classified 'Order' factions and put them together into a single Battletome. So how bad was the shafting?
Empire:
Kept most of what was left of their range, though lost their engineer character, the horse mounted General, Warrior Priests and their War Alter and more confusing, Witch Hunters. I say the last one is confusing as even in the many cities, Witch Hunters are still prominent (so I can only hope that somewhere down the road they get brought back as part of a Warcry Warband or something similar).
Dwarfs:
Your old battleline units are gone (so no more Warriors, Handgunners or Quarrelers). You also lost the Unforged (the old Slayers), but also your artillery too. Yep, beyond the Gyrocopters and Gyrobombers, everything else is gone so you'll be relying on manlings for most of your ranged firepower. It seams they are going for a more armoured and elite style for the Dispossessed now, which still works in their favour, though not all the warscroll changers are positive.
Dark Elves:
Probably the faction that suffered the least out of all these as far as model losses go, most of their range is still there (minus the Daughters of Khaine of course). They still have that Dark Elf feel to them, with the only exception being that Assassins and Dark Riders are more akin to Sigmar's dagger then being more traditional Dark Elf like.
High Elves:
The ones that got screwed the most. Unless you played a lot of Phoenix Guard, not much else survived this. All things related to the Phoenix Temple (their hero who is the only High Elf hero, the guard and the birds) are in here, but beyond them, the Shadow Warriors were the only other unit to come out of this (and that appears to be because they are made using the same box set as the Sisters of the Watch) and are now under the Shadowblades keyword instead of Swifthawk Agents (which when you think about their playstyle, makes more sense. Maybe my brother was right to abandoned the High Elves with the end of the Old World.
Wood Elves:
The Wanderers lost a few more units, but secured enough to keep then quite viable. Like the High Elves, they also suffered a big hit to their heroes. They now are limited to a Nomad Prince. Not great, but still could have been a lot worse.
So yeah, there were a few casualties that I really do question as to why, but at least we still got to keep most of what we have. I would say that this is my biggest annoyance with this book, the second being the cities themselves. I'm not saying the cities are bad, far from it, but it is the lack of Realms that annoys me. There are suppose to be cities over all the Mortal Realms, yet only two Realms are represented, Ghyran and Aqshy. Both have three cities each, with the seventh being the twin city, which can choose which Realm of the two they are apart of. The problem lies not only with limited representation and creativity (White Dwarf had been pumping out articles on giving your armies a theme from a particular Mortal Realm, so most couldn't take advantage of this now), but this also meant that if you were using a Realms Artifacts of Power, then you can now only pick the items from the Realm of your city. With only two Realms available, it really limits what you can do with those creative option.
The book is also designed to encourage you to incorporate Stormcast into your army, with one in every four units allowing you to take a Stormcast unit. While not mandatory, I'm not going to be adding them no matter what. Some cities have extra options like this, with Tempest's Eye allowing you one in every four units being a Kharadron Overloards unit and the Living City letting you have one in every four units being Sylvaneth (so yes you could have a more classic Wood Elf like army with Wanderers and Sylvaneth units). These units replace their main faction keyword with that of Cities of Sigmar, so they benefit from all the same rules as that city (which is good).
There are no Endless Spells or Terrain, but I think this was a great move as I find having to rely on faction Terrain to be annoying and this faction has a better focus on the Malign Sorcery Endless Spells. On top of that, if those Endless Spells have the ability to be empowered, then they count as the Empowered versions, regardless of the Realm they fight in. The cherry on top is that each City has three spells of it's own, with Hollowheart having six spells, with these spells themed more in line with their respective city. This means that there are a decent number of magic options out there and with the Battlemages, you can theme your magic around your playstyle.
If your the kind of player who prefers their General on foot then riding a massive mount, this book has you covered with a bodyguard unit (as long as he is a 6 wound or less model, which most are). Between 5 - 20 one wound models, your General (as long as he is standing next to them) can pass on a wound to that unit on a 4+. Even better, if another hero on foot of 6 wound or less is also close to the General, he can be the army advisor and give a command point on a 4+ each hero phase, which makes this really feel like an actual army.
The Cities themselves have unique themes and styles. The Living City mentioned earlier is about things like wound restoration and ambushes, while Hollowheart is dedicated to magic and spells. Anvilgard feels very much like old style Dark Elves, while the Greywater Fastness is very reminiscent of the artillery city of Nuln. As such, there are seven cities with unique rules, spells, items and abilities, so there is enough there to find a particular playstyle you like and work your way around that.
I still possess many of my old Empire models from back when I was doing the Army painting challenge with my brother, so I have enough to start rebuilding a new army (too bad the models already re-based are no longer usable and are not in this book). I had thought of using the Living City rules for this new army, but after some discussion with my local store, it was pointed out that I do have a lot of Battlemages and I do like to use magic, so it was suggested that I go with Hallowheart instead. As such, I will be designing my own city and lore, but will use the Hallowheart rules (so more like an expedition from that city has reclaimed a lost city and set up there, which is why that use those rules).
Like I said earlier, this review is different, mostly cause I just don't know how to feel about it. On one hand, it's great to get better rules to use for these troops then the standard Order rules, but on the other hand I wonder if the cost was worth it. I feel we lost a few important things and didn't get nothing new to replace them (I mean the artwork for Greywater has humans manning a giant cannon, yet the book has only two artillery pieces and the unique dwarf ones are now gone, so not much of a black powder city is it).
I guess well have to see if this book gets expanded on in the future. I know White Dwarf brings out rules for a new Stormcast chamber every now and then, so why not one for a City, perhaps in a different Realm with some unique rules to match. Something to re-look at in a few months time maybe.
Sorry this wasn't the best. Perhaps I'll come back at some later point and rework it.
Saturday 26 October 2019
Monday 30 September 2019
More Thoughts on Warcry + Expansion
So now that I've had a few more games under my belt, along with my most recent one being a Coalition of Death game, I'd figure I should talk some more about it.
Most of the games I've play have been with my Gloomspite Gits, with me changing them around each game to test out new combinations, though I did have one game using the Legions of Nagash in which ended with a run around until my opponent finally ended my last Shield member. I've fought mostly the Corvus Cabal, though I have fought against Stormcast, Sisters of Khaine and Flesh-Eater Courts. My thoughts all the factions I've played/vs so far on them are:
Legions of Nagash:
Necromancer is good, but being your only leader option and being a caster makes him vulnerable to being targeted first. Doesn't help when he's in a mission when the only friendly models near him are also ones that need to remain alive and so draining them of health becomes a serious problem. Grave Guard are alright, but it's the Cursed Weapon ability that can really help them out in combat, as it adds 1 to damage from hits and critical hits and is a double ability. Any other ability requires you either be within 6" of the leader or can only come from the leader himself, which is why he is such a massive target. The cheaper skeleton warriors are alright, but tend to die just as easily.
Apart from the Necromancer, the other major problem is speed as (apart from the Necromancer) everyone has a move of 3". Not great, particularly if you get the twist card that subtracts one from movement at which point you'll probably find yourself debating if you need to waste doubles on movement based abilities over damage based ones.
Gloomspite Gits:
Kinda spoiled for choice with options, though most will prove to be difficult to manage. You have three options for your leader (Boingrot Bounder, Squig Hopper or Standard Git) and both Boingrot Bounders and Squig Hoppers have the flying ability, though Cave Squigs don't. However, these units are also kind of expensive and can die easily if your not smart with them. That said, they hit hard and should you have a high triple for Boing! Boing! Boing! or a quad for Sneaky Stab, they can really stack up that damage.
Smaller gits tend to be weak, with Netters and Squig Herders being cheap and weak and only kept in for left over points or abilities (which I feel are just not as good as other ability options), but you can have a good number of Stabba's and Shoota's in a git crew. Obviously, you want many of the stabba models near each other to benefit from the Backstabbing Mob ability on a double so you can dish out some stronger hits, while shootas work better with the Onslaught universal ability on a double (as it is a straight out extra attack, turning your 2 shots per action into 3 shots per action, unless it's changed in future FAQ's).
Sum up, Squig based models are good, but expensive while Gits tend to be weaker but cheaper. Now I just need to figure out what combination works best.
Sisters of Khaine:
Fast and powerful in their attacking, though weak against a few blows. With the right dice, they can really dish out pain in bursts, but have very little to save them from counter-attacks. In the game we played, most of my LoN skelly crew ended up removing most of my opponents sisters, with only two snake ladies remaining in the game. My fault against them was with their speed as they were able to close in and silence my Necromancer early on (thus removing both his damage and his resurrection abilities), while in the latter half of the game being able to avoid loosing their last Shield member through pure movement alone (my crew could not keep up with her, while my own last Shield member was chased down and killed by the melee snake lady). Speed 3 Skeleton/Grave Guard are no match for speed 7 snake elves.
Stormcast:
A mixed bag as they tend to have good strength, toughness and wounds, though they appear to be expensive as the one I fought against didn't have a whole lot of models. Not that it mattered as it seems the mission to kill his Shield (a Gryph-hound and his Leader), proved to be more difficult then I expected. The twist of everyone having +1 Toughness worked more for me then it did for him, but most of my Gloomspite were still hitting on 5's, so trying to grind him. That and I completely underestimated just how powerful those Gryph-hounds could be against my boys.
I would later team up with Ironjaws to verse both the Stormcast and Corvus Cabal in the Coalition of Death game and learned that they are way more limited in tighter terrain and that Ironjaws can beat the snot out of just about anything.
Flesh-Eater Courts:
Big guys or little guys, that seems to be the option when fighting them. The big guys tend to have a nice stat line with their big winged boss having a hefty amount of wounds. I learned too little - too late that when fighting these guys just how hard they hit and that my Boingrot Bounders didn't stand much of a chance (though a Cave Squig double-team did take out one of the large brutes). I learned that when fighting them that they tend to have the big guys deal the brute force damage charge, with the little ghouls being used either as support or to take objectives.
I look forward to the day when I can have a re-match so I can see how much I've improved since that first game.
Corvus Cabal:
Staying up high and striking downwards seems to be their main strategy, though they can move through or over terrain with equal speed if given a chance. The Shrike Talon in particular (those guys with wings and stilts) are deadly if they can swoop in to attack from up high. That said, my opponent had two of these guys and it didn't come without cost. Being a more expensive model for the crew, his force was limited to 6 models, so when it came to collecting treasures or holding objectives, it proved a bit more harder. The second is that striking by themselves against a group of enemies can almost lead to certain death against harder hitting units. Needless to say, the battle against the Ironjaws he fought did not last long.
I'm still working on the best list to fight him with, as he tends to focus on my Squig models first as they pose the biggest threat to him. Perhaps I should try an all Git crew instead? But moving on to other thoughts.
Coalition of Death:
Man was this both an exercise in having a both a fun and frustrating game. Given my own health issues, I had some trouble not letting everything overwhelm me, but in the end it was a mostly fun game. As mentioned earlier, the Coalition of the Greenskins (My Gloomspite allied with Ironjaws) meant that I got a few extra points, so I upgraded my boss to a Boingrot Bouncer Boss, which would prove to be my Git of the Match. We were up against the combined might of Stormcast and Corvus Cabal.
Coalition of Death has two boards placed side by side and our game was four players in two teams squaring off to fight for victory. You count only your own crew as friendly, but do not count your ally as an enemy (so basically, you can't benefit from their abilities and they can't benefit from yours, so as to balance it out), but both opponent crews do count as enemies (so abilities that target enemy models count both opponent crews as being enemy models). What makes this more interesting is that beyond the fact that the team that looses priority roll gets to set up the terrain in what ever way they want, is that each battle round you roll on two charts and those two results are the way you score victory points in that battle round, rolling new ones in the next battle round. This is by far the most intense part in the game it seems, as suddenly you realise that your opponent just happens to be on the highest terrain piece at the start of that turn and moving him off it to claim it for yourself would prove difficult now that it is suddenly a means to score points, or how you run your Hammer models in one turn in an attempt to kill a Shield model for that rounds victory point, only to fail and take damage back, then find out on the next turn that it is the Hammer models that are worth the points and now they are vulnerable in combat.
Honestly, it involves some sneaking discussions with your ally and hoping you opponent isn't paying too much attention so that you can make the most of a battle round. I was lucky to have such a great ally who, while taking the game more serious in one sense, was also having fun on the other hand. It was quite clear that by the end of turn 2 that things weren't going well and by turn 3 we were needing a real play. I was lucky that my opponent forgot about by Hammers and went to secure our starting zone, but in a stroke of luck, my Quad allowed my Boss to get into combat with a basic Corvus member and kill him, which not only took out a Hammer, but tied the number of enemy models in the starting zone objective (The bird crew kept hiding out of view or attack range due to them standing on the trees, which we all agreed that they could do in the game, though it did go against us so that felt satisfying). Despite it being a draw at the end of turn 3, it was already getting late so we called it there, even though you are meant to keep going until one side officially wins.
Turns out having the dusk twist effect didn't make much difference to our shooting when you have such dense terrain, but still was a great game. If you have a Warcry community or just a bunch of friends that you want to get into a single game at once, then definitely give this option a go.
Monsters and Mercenaries - The Warcry Expansion:
So now lets talk about the recent expansion to the game, Monsters & Mercenaries. Much like the expansions for 40k's Kill Team game, this was hit with mixed views and it is easy to see why. Monsters are powerful units that can devastate weaker models with ease, while some Mercenaries are more powerful then most units out there and cost similar points. It can also throw some people off enjoying the game this way too, so I suggest a few options if you do plan on using it:
1. Don't add Monsters or Mercenaries until your crew have completed at least one campaign.
The reason for this is that by this point, you and your opponents are already becoming quite powerful and this is the next step up. As far as the Chaotic Beasts and Thrall options from the book are concerned, I'm fine for them to be in a starting game, but feel your crew has to at least prove itself by completing one campaign in order for them to advance to bigger things. I have some suggestions if you do want to use the rules in 2 & 3 below.
2. You can still fight Monsters
Fighting a Monster as a one off mission just to test your crew or for a story purpose is fine, but just don't allow them to hire the monster if it's early on. If you do want to add monsters at some point, have it that after a set number of games that crew can hire the monster as by this time it has recovered and is now properly tamed. Personally, I'd still stick with my first one of not adding them in the first campaign, but let the warbands fight them if they want to see how they fair.
3. Mercenaries are one-off story combats
Have the option for a mercenary to join the crew for a single story battle as you have two rivals wanting to best the other and have dragged two warbands in as pawns for their victory. It makes sense for two powerful foes to suddenly drag a lesser group into battle with promises of riches and glory, knowing that many wont survive the conflict. It makes a good story mission early on until your warband has become powerful and well-known that mercenaries want to join you in your quest for glory and power.
4. The Campaign missions are fine to use.
As with my comments on letting the Chaotic Beasts in both as Beasts and as Thralls, the campaigns in the book should also be allowed for people to pick from as some people might not like the campaign stories they have or feel the rewards are not fitting of their crew. I do like the idea of either picking Honour (a sort of lighter option and grants an Exalted Command Trait) or Glory (a more darker option and grants an Artifact of Power). These ones do require two sets of different warcry game terrain sets (the starter set and one other from each terrain set released), but most players should be fine with running with whatever they have (after all, the game is meant to be fun and not everyone is loaded with cash).
That said, if people do not want to use this book or just use it for the campaigns, then that's fine and I can totally understand why. Shaking up your crews with monsters or heroes can really limit option or strategies and depending on your opponent, make the game a lot less fun to play.
Overall
In the end, Warcry is by far the best thing to come out of GW recently and one of the few things that still keep me tethered to the Warhammer franchise. I have enjoyed it and who knows, maybe at some point I might work my way up to Path to Glory or even a normal Age of Sigmar game, but for now Warcry keeps my gaming itch satisfied for the moment and I hope to keep playing it for some time.
Most of the games I've play have been with my Gloomspite Gits, with me changing them around each game to test out new combinations, though I did have one game using the Legions of Nagash in which ended with a run around until my opponent finally ended my last Shield member. I've fought mostly the Corvus Cabal, though I have fought against Stormcast, Sisters of Khaine and Flesh-Eater Courts. My thoughts all the factions I've played/vs so far on them are:
Legions of Nagash:
Necromancer is good, but being your only leader option and being a caster makes him vulnerable to being targeted first. Doesn't help when he's in a mission when the only friendly models near him are also ones that need to remain alive and so draining them of health becomes a serious problem. Grave Guard are alright, but it's the Cursed Weapon ability that can really help them out in combat, as it adds 1 to damage from hits and critical hits and is a double ability. Any other ability requires you either be within 6" of the leader or can only come from the leader himself, which is why he is such a massive target. The cheaper skeleton warriors are alright, but tend to die just as easily.
Apart from the Necromancer, the other major problem is speed as (apart from the Necromancer) everyone has a move of 3". Not great, particularly if you get the twist card that subtracts one from movement at which point you'll probably find yourself debating if you need to waste doubles on movement based abilities over damage based ones.
Gloomspite Gits:
Kinda spoiled for choice with options, though most will prove to be difficult to manage. You have three options for your leader (Boingrot Bounder, Squig Hopper or Standard Git) and both Boingrot Bounders and Squig Hoppers have the flying ability, though Cave Squigs don't. However, these units are also kind of expensive and can die easily if your not smart with them. That said, they hit hard and should you have a high triple for Boing! Boing! Boing! or a quad for Sneaky Stab, they can really stack up that damage.
Smaller gits tend to be weak, with Netters and Squig Herders being cheap and weak and only kept in for left over points or abilities (which I feel are just not as good as other ability options), but you can have a good number of Stabba's and Shoota's in a git crew. Obviously, you want many of the stabba models near each other to benefit from the Backstabbing Mob ability on a double so you can dish out some stronger hits, while shootas work better with the Onslaught universal ability on a double (as it is a straight out extra attack, turning your 2 shots per action into 3 shots per action, unless it's changed in future FAQ's).
Sum up, Squig based models are good, but expensive while Gits tend to be weaker but cheaper. Now I just need to figure out what combination works best.
Sisters of Khaine:
Fast and powerful in their attacking, though weak against a few blows. With the right dice, they can really dish out pain in bursts, but have very little to save them from counter-attacks. In the game we played, most of my LoN skelly crew ended up removing most of my opponents sisters, with only two snake ladies remaining in the game. My fault against them was with their speed as they were able to close in and silence my Necromancer early on (thus removing both his damage and his resurrection abilities), while in the latter half of the game being able to avoid loosing their last Shield member through pure movement alone (my crew could not keep up with her, while my own last Shield member was chased down and killed by the melee snake lady). Speed 3 Skeleton/Grave Guard are no match for speed 7 snake elves.
Stormcast:
A mixed bag as they tend to have good strength, toughness and wounds, though they appear to be expensive as the one I fought against didn't have a whole lot of models. Not that it mattered as it seems the mission to kill his Shield (a Gryph-hound and his Leader), proved to be more difficult then I expected. The twist of everyone having +1 Toughness worked more for me then it did for him, but most of my Gloomspite were still hitting on 5's, so trying to grind him. That and I completely underestimated just how powerful those Gryph-hounds could be against my boys.
I would later team up with Ironjaws to verse both the Stormcast and Corvus Cabal in the Coalition of Death game and learned that they are way more limited in tighter terrain and that Ironjaws can beat the snot out of just about anything.
Flesh-Eater Courts:
Big guys or little guys, that seems to be the option when fighting them. The big guys tend to have a nice stat line with their big winged boss having a hefty amount of wounds. I learned too little - too late that when fighting these guys just how hard they hit and that my Boingrot Bounders didn't stand much of a chance (though a Cave Squig double-team did take out one of the large brutes). I learned that when fighting them that they tend to have the big guys deal the brute force damage charge, with the little ghouls being used either as support or to take objectives.
I look forward to the day when I can have a re-match so I can see how much I've improved since that first game.
Corvus Cabal:
Staying up high and striking downwards seems to be their main strategy, though they can move through or over terrain with equal speed if given a chance. The Shrike Talon in particular (those guys with wings and stilts) are deadly if they can swoop in to attack from up high. That said, my opponent had two of these guys and it didn't come without cost. Being a more expensive model for the crew, his force was limited to 6 models, so when it came to collecting treasures or holding objectives, it proved a bit more harder. The second is that striking by themselves against a group of enemies can almost lead to certain death against harder hitting units. Needless to say, the battle against the Ironjaws he fought did not last long.
I'm still working on the best list to fight him with, as he tends to focus on my Squig models first as they pose the biggest threat to him. Perhaps I should try an all Git crew instead? But moving on to other thoughts.
Coalition of Death:
Man was this both an exercise in having a both a fun and frustrating game. Given my own health issues, I had some trouble not letting everything overwhelm me, but in the end it was a mostly fun game. As mentioned earlier, the Coalition of the Greenskins (My Gloomspite allied with Ironjaws) meant that I got a few extra points, so I upgraded my boss to a Boingrot Bouncer Boss, which would prove to be my Git of the Match. We were up against the combined might of Stormcast and Corvus Cabal.
Coalition of Death has two boards placed side by side and our game was four players in two teams squaring off to fight for victory. You count only your own crew as friendly, but do not count your ally as an enemy (so basically, you can't benefit from their abilities and they can't benefit from yours, so as to balance it out), but both opponent crews do count as enemies (so abilities that target enemy models count both opponent crews as being enemy models). What makes this more interesting is that beyond the fact that the team that looses priority roll gets to set up the terrain in what ever way they want, is that each battle round you roll on two charts and those two results are the way you score victory points in that battle round, rolling new ones in the next battle round. This is by far the most intense part in the game it seems, as suddenly you realise that your opponent just happens to be on the highest terrain piece at the start of that turn and moving him off it to claim it for yourself would prove difficult now that it is suddenly a means to score points, or how you run your Hammer models in one turn in an attempt to kill a Shield model for that rounds victory point, only to fail and take damage back, then find out on the next turn that it is the Hammer models that are worth the points and now they are vulnerable in combat.
Honestly, it involves some sneaking discussions with your ally and hoping you opponent isn't paying too much attention so that you can make the most of a battle round. I was lucky to have such a great ally who, while taking the game more serious in one sense, was also having fun on the other hand. It was quite clear that by the end of turn 2 that things weren't going well and by turn 3 we were needing a real play. I was lucky that my opponent forgot about by Hammers and went to secure our starting zone, but in a stroke of luck, my Quad allowed my Boss to get into combat with a basic Corvus member and kill him, which not only took out a Hammer, but tied the number of enemy models in the starting zone objective (The bird crew kept hiding out of view or attack range due to them standing on the trees, which we all agreed that they could do in the game, though it did go against us so that felt satisfying). Despite it being a draw at the end of turn 3, it was already getting late so we called it there, even though you are meant to keep going until one side officially wins.
Turns out having the dusk twist effect didn't make much difference to our shooting when you have such dense terrain, but still was a great game. If you have a Warcry community or just a bunch of friends that you want to get into a single game at once, then definitely give this option a go.
Monsters and Mercenaries - The Warcry Expansion:
So now lets talk about the recent expansion to the game, Monsters & Mercenaries. Much like the expansions for 40k's Kill Team game, this was hit with mixed views and it is easy to see why. Monsters are powerful units that can devastate weaker models with ease, while some Mercenaries are more powerful then most units out there and cost similar points. It can also throw some people off enjoying the game this way too, so I suggest a few options if you do plan on using it:
1. Don't add Monsters or Mercenaries until your crew have completed at least one campaign.
The reason for this is that by this point, you and your opponents are already becoming quite powerful and this is the next step up. As far as the Chaotic Beasts and Thrall options from the book are concerned, I'm fine for them to be in a starting game, but feel your crew has to at least prove itself by completing one campaign in order for them to advance to bigger things. I have some suggestions if you do want to use the rules in 2 & 3 below.
2. You can still fight Monsters
Fighting a Monster as a one off mission just to test your crew or for a story purpose is fine, but just don't allow them to hire the monster if it's early on. If you do want to add monsters at some point, have it that after a set number of games that crew can hire the monster as by this time it has recovered and is now properly tamed. Personally, I'd still stick with my first one of not adding them in the first campaign, but let the warbands fight them if they want to see how they fair.
3. Mercenaries are one-off story combats
Have the option for a mercenary to join the crew for a single story battle as you have two rivals wanting to best the other and have dragged two warbands in as pawns for their victory. It makes sense for two powerful foes to suddenly drag a lesser group into battle with promises of riches and glory, knowing that many wont survive the conflict. It makes a good story mission early on until your warband has become powerful and well-known that mercenaries want to join you in your quest for glory and power.
4. The Campaign missions are fine to use.
As with my comments on letting the Chaotic Beasts in both as Beasts and as Thralls, the campaigns in the book should also be allowed for people to pick from as some people might not like the campaign stories they have or feel the rewards are not fitting of their crew. I do like the idea of either picking Honour (a sort of lighter option and grants an Exalted Command Trait) or Glory (a more darker option and grants an Artifact of Power). These ones do require two sets of different warcry game terrain sets (the starter set and one other from each terrain set released), but most players should be fine with running with whatever they have (after all, the game is meant to be fun and not everyone is loaded with cash).
That said, if people do not want to use this book or just use it for the campaigns, then that's fine and I can totally understand why. Shaking up your crews with monsters or heroes can really limit option or strategies and depending on your opponent, make the game a lot less fun to play.
Overall
In the end, Warcry is by far the best thing to come out of GW recently and one of the few things that still keep me tethered to the Warhammer franchise. I have enjoyed it and who knows, maybe at some point I might work my way up to Path to Glory or even a normal Age of Sigmar game, but for now Warcry keeps my gaming itch satisfied for the moment and I hope to keep playing it for some time.
Tuesday 27 August 2019
Puppet Inspirations Part 1
So growing up there were a number of shows with puppets in them which have helped inspire me to look to puppets to bring characters to life (animation is my number one, but I can't draw, let alone animate). As such, I thought I talk about a number of them that have contributed to this, so think of this as something like my Animated Reflections series, but about puppets....and in mini form.
Note that yes, while Jim Henson and his company have created a variety of shows that have been influential for me (The Dark Crystal is my favourite movie of all time after all), they really need a part all to themselves and I wanted to talk about some others before I go into that. I'll talk about them in another part so look out for that one. I do feel a little limited in talking about these in such short segments, so perhaps sometime down the road I can look into them in a bit more depth. We'll see. So let's get started with my first one.
1. Mr. Squiggle
So here's a real classic from my childhood. Mr. Squiggle (the man from the moon) was a delightful character who would travel from the moon to join a human cast member of the series to make pictures from squiggles that would be sent in to him. These squiggles would be enlarged onto card which was placed on the character Blackboard, a rather grumpy character who always insisted that they 'hurry up', which Mr. Squiggle would draw on to make pictures. He had a habit of loosing concentration and going off on space walks, which the human assistant had to bring him back down to earth and get him focused again.
Other characters included Gus the snail (who's shell seemed to change depending on the series) and Bill the steam shovel, who appeared to blow smoke (was actually a powder) when he had a jolly good laugh. These characters were more side characters to the main cast, but more often had some small storyline in the episode in which they appeared.
We recently celebrated the 60th anniversary of Mr. Squiggle, but sadly it seems that many kids have no idea who he is or why he is such an icon in Australia. For me, this was a brilliant and creative show, with family friendly characters that was a joy to watch. Thanks to the internet, you can still find a number of episodes over the various series online here and there, so go check them out.
2. The Ferals
The Ferals are an interesting bunch of characters. There original show (The Ferals) was about four characters, Rattus the Rat, Modigliana the Cat, Derryn the Dog and Mixy the Rabbit. The group were advertised as a messed up bunch of feral animals and characters like Rattus and Modigliana could be quite brutal & violent to each other (in the comedic sense of hitting each other with objects, but recovering quite quickly) would be some what concerning and yes, some parents were concerned, but somehow it really seamed to work.
Kind of like a cross between a kids show and a bogan comedy, the Ferals were a big thing on the ABC back in the mid 90's and looking back at it now, I wonder what the real reason was that ultimately sent them into obscurity. While the original show had human actors in it, their spin-off show called Feral TV was more puppet based and worked well with its idea of a pirated TV station and having various parodies of actual shows on it. After that they just seemed to fade away, with Mixy being the face of the new ABC Kids channel for a period of time while Modigliana was co-host with a human for the educational show Creature Features (a show about animals).
I think what brought them back up for me more recently was a show called Throwback which featured Tina Matthews, the person who made the puppets and looking at their designs, they are quite detailed and a real inspiration for pushing the creation of my own characters in puppet format. After watching it I felt that this path may be the right one to be on.
3. Agro
The Ferals may have tried pushing the envelope, but Agro would cross the line. While much of his on-air performances for children's television was obviously edited, much of the non-edited stuff is now out on the internet for all to see. He was a rather naughty (making a number of adult jokes, usually involving sexual innuendos) and self-aware puppet (would make the occasional comment about puppet related things, like his hands or the hand up him). He was a real comedian about things and would often annoy and infuriate his female co-host. It also probably doesn't help that the this he said and did would most likely be slammed today as more harassment then anything funny.
Once again, time takes away from a character like that and his popularity has waned as the years have gone one. I hear his puppeteer and voice actor, Jamie Dunn, has moved on to other things and Agro these days makes a rare appearance now and then. Like most things on this list, we would like to see his return, but also like all things on this list, that is probably never going to happen.
4. The New Adventures of Blinky Bill
So here's an old one from my childhood. Blinky Bill has always been an Australian icon, but has gone through a few variations in the visual media over the years. This one in the 80's had Blinky and friends as puppets with human actors playing various roles. It's hard to talk about this show as only a few episodes can be found online these days and sadly, thanks to former actor Robert Hughes being convicted of sex offenses, the show will most likely never get released in any format.
It was still a good show (I really enjoyed the characters of Mrs Magpie and Angelina Wallaby) and from the few I have seen they were very enjoyable to watch. Iwould like to see some sort of re-release in the future, though I understand that it would be difficult seeing a children's show featuring a sex offender in it.
I really do hate people who's horrid actions spoil a good thing.
5. Bambaloo
This one was a morning show on Channel 7 that, despite being an Adult be this point in my life, I actually enjoyed watching. I can't tell if it was the puppets or the story lines that I found interesting, though having little sisters I found tended to get me interested in all manner of children's television shows, so who knows. Was more surprised to find out that, when researching this show, that it was apparently created by Yoram Gross and the Jim Henson Company. What a surprise there.
The show featured Angela Kelly as the host character Sam, who lived in a tree house (The Bambaloo Tree) with her dog Fidget, a fish called Jet and a bird named Portia. They are shown to be the main cast of the show, but the real stars are the two mice called Jinx and Gypsy, who would commentate and interact with things, but remained hidden from the group. In fact, they really only interacted with one human, a man called Jake (played by Andre Eikmeier) who would make something each episode with the mice nicking his food just after. At one episode (Leaky Tap), Sam and Jake interact with each other for the first time, which makes me wonder just what would have happened if the show had continued on for a few more seasons. Would there have been more human interaction or was it just for one episode? Maybe they did and I just never knew.
Sadly, information for this show is somewhat scarce (and my memory is shoddy these days), but I do hope I can find more to learn about it cause it seemed to be a perfect balance of activities for a children's television and the kind of stories one could tell in it. That or I may be thinking far to hard for this one.
6. Lamb Chop's Play-Along
Growing up, this was a name you knew by heart in primary school and it was due to one thing, one song...
A creation of the late and great Sheri Lewis, Lamb Chop and her friends was a morning series addiction with short stories and skits, along with jokes and songs, you knew who they were and you loved them. The ending credits song was a piece that would be repeatedly sung over and over with the lyrics:
This is the song that doesn't end
Yes it goes on and on my friend
Some people started singing it not knowing what it was
And they'll continue singing it forever just because
(Repeat)
It was damn catchy and you knew that once you started you couldn't stop (didn't help that the song itself started small and just built up, making seem to get more catchy as it kept going). Because of this, we all found ourselves drawn to this show. Looking into the work of Sheri Lewis and Lamb Chop now, you can see they did all manner of shows and even adult content was not out of the question, though it was still rather clean (especially if you compare it to say, Agro). Sheri brought a smile to us all and at times the way she would interacted with Lamb Chop you would swear that the puppet was almost real. Strangest part is, given how simple and some what limited the puppet designs were, Sheri really brought them to life with the way their faces moved as they talked and her interactions with them. You can see why people are still endeared with Lamb Chop even to this day.
7. The Sooty Show
My memories of Sooty and friends were from the Matthew Corbett era and to me, this was the best period in the Sooty history.
The Sooty Show was a family favourite in the 80's and I can remember enjoying the antics of Sooty and Sweep, usually at the expense of Matthew. Looking back at it now, it was rather amazing how you can make a non-speaking hand puppet so interesting and exciting to watch. What I found out later in life was that at one point in Sooty's career, people were outraged because apparently Sooty and Soo were boyfriend/girlfriend and were living together in the same house, which was somehow offensive to people. Boy, times have changed haven't they.
I can see why some people feel that a show with puppets has to have at least one human to interact with, as shows like this can have its puppet only segments, but much of the comedy needs a human for it to work (mostly cause the human is the victim in this case), but also to be the voice between the puppet and the audience and to bring in the moral message home so everyone can understand. The show seems to have a mix between antics and fun, but also a family feel, which can really appeal to certain audiences.
The show had both indoor and outdoor segments, but I really like how they created smaller sections to act as bedrooms and bathrooms for the puppets. It really did feel like this human person had modified his own house to accommodate for the needs of these smaller characters and it's something I can really appreciate, both from a creative and a narrative point of view. The Corbett family really worked hard to bring Sooty and his friends to life and it is something I just love.
So I think that will do it for now. Now doubt I will do another one of these soon as there are still so many shows to talk about and I only have so much in me to talk about them. Hopefully some of these will spark a little nostalgia in you and make you go back and watch them or perhaps you might find yourself interested in looking some of these up just to see what the heck I'm rambling on about. What ever reason, go watch them and be inspired.
Till next time...
Note that yes, while Jim Henson and his company have created a variety of shows that have been influential for me (The Dark Crystal is my favourite movie of all time after all), they really need a part all to themselves and I wanted to talk about some others before I go into that. I'll talk about them in another part so look out for that one. I do feel a little limited in talking about these in such short segments, so perhaps sometime down the road I can look into them in a bit more depth. We'll see. So let's get started with my first one.
1. Mr. Squiggle
Image Via Wikipedia
So here's a real classic from my childhood. Mr. Squiggle (the man from the moon) was a delightful character who would travel from the moon to join a human cast member of the series to make pictures from squiggles that would be sent in to him. These squiggles would be enlarged onto card which was placed on the character Blackboard, a rather grumpy character who always insisted that they 'hurry up', which Mr. Squiggle would draw on to make pictures. He had a habit of loosing concentration and going off on space walks, which the human assistant had to bring him back down to earth and get him focused again.
Other characters included Gus the snail (who's shell seemed to change depending on the series) and Bill the steam shovel, who appeared to blow smoke (was actually a powder) when he had a jolly good laugh. These characters were more side characters to the main cast, but more often had some small storyline in the episode in which they appeared.
We recently celebrated the 60th anniversary of Mr. Squiggle, but sadly it seems that many kids have no idea who he is or why he is such an icon in Australia. For me, this was a brilliant and creative show, with family friendly characters that was a joy to watch. Thanks to the internet, you can still find a number of episodes over the various series online here and there, so go check them out.
2. The Ferals
Image Via BuzzFeed
The Ferals are an interesting bunch of characters. There original show (The Ferals) was about four characters, Rattus the Rat, Modigliana the Cat, Derryn the Dog and Mixy the Rabbit. The group were advertised as a messed up bunch of feral animals and characters like Rattus and Modigliana could be quite brutal & violent to each other (in the comedic sense of hitting each other with objects, but recovering quite quickly) would be some what concerning and yes, some parents were concerned, but somehow it really seamed to work.
Kind of like a cross between a kids show and a bogan comedy, the Ferals were a big thing on the ABC back in the mid 90's and looking back at it now, I wonder what the real reason was that ultimately sent them into obscurity. While the original show had human actors in it, their spin-off show called Feral TV was more puppet based and worked well with its idea of a pirated TV station and having various parodies of actual shows on it. After that they just seemed to fade away, with Mixy being the face of the new ABC Kids channel for a period of time while Modigliana was co-host with a human for the educational show Creature Features (a show about animals).
I think what brought them back up for me more recently was a show called Throwback which featured Tina Matthews, the person who made the puppets and looking at their designs, they are quite detailed and a real inspiration for pushing the creation of my own characters in puppet format. After watching it I felt that this path may be the right one to be on.
3. Agro
Image Via Courier Mail
The Ferals may have tried pushing the envelope, but Agro would cross the line. While much of his on-air performances for children's television was obviously edited, much of the non-edited stuff is now out on the internet for all to see. He was a rather naughty (making a number of adult jokes, usually involving sexual innuendos) and self-aware puppet (would make the occasional comment about puppet related things, like his hands or the hand up him). He was a real comedian about things and would often annoy and infuriate his female co-host. It also probably doesn't help that the this he said and did would most likely be slammed today as more harassment then anything funny.
Once again, time takes away from a character like that and his popularity has waned as the years have gone one. I hear his puppeteer and voice actor, Jamie Dunn, has moved on to other things and Agro these days makes a rare appearance now and then. Like most things on this list, we would like to see his return, but also like all things on this list, that is probably never going to happen.
4. The New Adventures of Blinky Bill
B&W Cast Photo from the Blinky Bill Puppet Series Facebook Page
So here's an old one from my childhood. Blinky Bill has always been an Australian icon, but has gone through a few variations in the visual media over the years. This one in the 80's had Blinky and friends as puppets with human actors playing various roles. It's hard to talk about this show as only a few episodes can be found online these days and sadly, thanks to former actor Robert Hughes being convicted of sex offenses, the show will most likely never get released in any format.
It was still a good show (I really enjoyed the characters of Mrs Magpie and Angelina Wallaby) and from the few I have seen they were very enjoyable to watch. Iwould like to see some sort of re-release in the future, though I understand that it would be difficult seeing a children's show featuring a sex offender in it.
I really do hate people who's horrid actions spoil a good thing.
5. Bambaloo
Image Via beIN.net
This one was a morning show on Channel 7 that, despite being an Adult be this point in my life, I actually enjoyed watching. I can't tell if it was the puppets or the story lines that I found interesting, though having little sisters I found tended to get me interested in all manner of children's television shows, so who knows. Was more surprised to find out that, when researching this show, that it was apparently created by Yoram Gross and the Jim Henson Company. What a surprise there.
The show featured Angela Kelly as the host character Sam, who lived in a tree house (The Bambaloo Tree) with her dog Fidget, a fish called Jet and a bird named Portia. They are shown to be the main cast of the show, but the real stars are the two mice called Jinx and Gypsy, who would commentate and interact with things, but remained hidden from the group. In fact, they really only interacted with one human, a man called Jake (played by Andre Eikmeier) who would make something each episode with the mice nicking his food just after. At one episode (Leaky Tap), Sam and Jake interact with each other for the first time, which makes me wonder just what would have happened if the show had continued on for a few more seasons. Would there have been more human interaction or was it just for one episode? Maybe they did and I just never knew.
Sadly, information for this show is somewhat scarce (and my memory is shoddy these days), but I do hope I can find more to learn about it cause it seemed to be a perfect balance of activities for a children's television and the kind of stories one could tell in it. That or I may be thinking far to hard for this one.
6. Lamb Chop's Play-Along
Image Via Reddit
Growing up, this was a name you knew by heart in primary school and it was due to one thing, one song...
A creation of the late and great Sheri Lewis, Lamb Chop and her friends was a morning series addiction with short stories and skits, along with jokes and songs, you knew who they were and you loved them. The ending credits song was a piece that would be repeatedly sung over and over with the lyrics:
This is the song that doesn't end
Yes it goes on and on my friend
Some people started singing it not knowing what it was
And they'll continue singing it forever just because
(Repeat)
It was damn catchy and you knew that once you started you couldn't stop (didn't help that the song itself started small and just built up, making seem to get more catchy as it kept going). Because of this, we all found ourselves drawn to this show. Looking into the work of Sheri Lewis and Lamb Chop now, you can see they did all manner of shows and even adult content was not out of the question, though it was still rather clean (especially if you compare it to say, Agro). Sheri brought a smile to us all and at times the way she would interacted with Lamb Chop you would swear that the puppet was almost real. Strangest part is, given how simple and some what limited the puppet designs were, Sheri really brought them to life with the way their faces moved as they talked and her interactions with them. You can see why people are still endeared with Lamb Chop even to this day.
7. The Sooty Show
Image Via The Telegraph
My memories of Sooty and friends were from the Matthew Corbett era and to me, this was the best period in the Sooty history.
The Sooty Show was a family favourite in the 80's and I can remember enjoying the antics of Sooty and Sweep, usually at the expense of Matthew. Looking back at it now, it was rather amazing how you can make a non-speaking hand puppet so interesting and exciting to watch. What I found out later in life was that at one point in Sooty's career, people were outraged because apparently Sooty and Soo were boyfriend/girlfriend and were living together in the same house, which was somehow offensive to people. Boy, times have changed haven't they.
I can see why some people feel that a show with puppets has to have at least one human to interact with, as shows like this can have its puppet only segments, but much of the comedy needs a human for it to work (mostly cause the human is the victim in this case), but also to be the voice between the puppet and the audience and to bring in the moral message home so everyone can understand. The show seems to have a mix between antics and fun, but also a family feel, which can really appeal to certain audiences.
The show had both indoor and outdoor segments, but I really like how they created smaller sections to act as bedrooms and bathrooms for the puppets. It really did feel like this human person had modified his own house to accommodate for the needs of these smaller characters and it's something I can really appreciate, both from a creative and a narrative point of view. The Corbett family really worked hard to bring Sooty and his friends to life and it is something I just love.
So I think that will do it for now. Now doubt I will do another one of these soon as there are still so many shows to talk about and I only have so much in me to talk about them. Hopefully some of these will spark a little nostalgia in you and make you go back and watch them or perhaps you might find yourself interested in looking some of these up just to see what the heck I'm rambling on about. What ever reason, go watch them and be inspired.
Till next time...
Monday 26 August 2019
Creating a Burrows & Badgers Warband: Part 2 - Painting and Expanding the Crew
So the last time I was still fleshing out ideas in Part 1, but now I have expanded further with the models. Converted and painted up, the crew has been put together and the characters own lore advanced. Photos are still of mixed quality, they are still look close to what they actually look like.
So the crew from first to last is:
- Brianna
Warband leader and tank.
- Ghost
Second in command and stealth runner (despite being an Albino Squirrel).
- Ginnette
Brianna's sister and crew alchemist.
- Miranda
Main spellcaster of the Warband.
- Gurumarra
Crew support and objective runner.
- Emrick
Stealth archer.
As a campaign goes on, so does a Warband expand and new members join to help in the Warband's ever growing story. As the crew hails from a tiny hidden village right next to a riverbank, I wanted more animals that are more related to such locations.
These beasts are the new recruits for my crew. From first to last we have:
- Marcello
Master ranger of the local forests, Marcello joins up to deal more effectively with the beasts that threaten his land. Marcello would help entice other Otters to the village and to help support the local defenses.
- Barnard
An ex-knight who became disillusioned with his fellow Knights and so took his family far from away to a more peaceful life. However, his former comrades did not approve of this and went to hunt him down. With the aid of the Riverbank Warband's help, they were sent packing, but knowing they'd be back, Barnard joined up to help secure their homes from any future intrusions.
- Conner
The first bird to join the Warband, Conner is an upbeat Kingfisher bird who is your average defender who offers the Warband a fast paced response fighter who can support his fellow beasts with his speed as a warrior. He also loves to whistle.
So yeah, the crew has expanded visually. I might also eventually add Bartholomew as a Bat Assassin as he is the partner of Miranda, but given he has a more political and strategical role in the village, he might work well as a sort of NPC/objective character for special narrative missions. The next part will look more into expanding the characters lore wise and finalize the crew setup. Hopefully that should be done within the next month or so, so keep an eye out for that soon (I know this one is rather short compared to part 1, but I'll try to make it up in part 3).
So the crew from first to last is:
- Brianna
Warband leader and tank.
- Ghost
Second in command and stealth runner (despite being an Albino Squirrel).
- Ginnette
Brianna's sister and crew alchemist.
- Miranda
Main spellcaster of the Warband.
- Gurumarra
Crew support and objective runner.
- Emrick
Stealth archer.
As a campaign goes on, so does a Warband expand and new members join to help in the Warband's ever growing story. As the crew hails from a tiny hidden village right next to a riverbank, I wanted more animals that are more related to such locations.
These beasts are the new recruits for my crew. From first to last we have:
- Marcello
Master ranger of the local forests, Marcello joins up to deal more effectively with the beasts that threaten his land. Marcello would help entice other Otters to the village and to help support the local defenses.
- Barnard
An ex-knight who became disillusioned with his fellow Knights and so took his family far from away to a more peaceful life. However, his former comrades did not approve of this and went to hunt him down. With the aid of the Riverbank Warband's help, they were sent packing, but knowing they'd be back, Barnard joined up to help secure their homes from any future intrusions.
- Conner
The first bird to join the Warband, Conner is an upbeat Kingfisher bird who is your average defender who offers the Warband a fast paced response fighter who can support his fellow beasts with his speed as a warrior. He also loves to whistle.
So yeah, the crew has expanded visually. I might also eventually add Bartholomew as a Bat Assassin as he is the partner of Miranda, but given he has a more political and strategical role in the village, he might work well as a sort of NPC/objective character for special narrative missions. The next part will look more into expanding the characters lore wise and finalize the crew setup. Hopefully that should be done within the next month or so, so keep an eye out for that soon (I know this one is rather short compared to part 1, but I'll try to make it up in part 3).
A Slightly better shot of Ghost and his Hooked hand
Sunday 25 August 2019
Puppet Problems
So when going through the process of making a puppet, I've seemed to have found one of the major hurdles that seems to be a problem in Australia and that is gaining access to the materials I need to make them. By materials, the main ones I am referring to are that of the Foam and the Fleece. It seems foam of a 0.5 inch size is unavailable here, as is things like Antone fleece. Now with the fleece I can try to find alternatives, but the foam is harder to do. Not only that, but the replacement materials might not be as effective. Unfortunately, I am unable to know for sure as I still need foam and fleece to test them out.
I do have things like Polar fleece and some threat to practice sewing and as soon as I can figure out which option to use in the design process, I can get around to making a clay base to use in making the foam pattern.
Hopefully I'll be able to start some updates or a series in regard to this journey, but this is still in an idea stage, so nothing is set in stone yet.
I do have things like Polar fleece and some threat to practice sewing and as soon as I can figure out which option to use in the design process, I can get around to making a clay base to use in making the foam pattern.
Hopefully I'll be able to start some updates or a series in regard to this journey, but this is still in an idea stage, so nothing is set in stone yet.
Sunday 11 August 2019
Animated Reflections - Footrot Flats: A Dog's Tale
Officially titled - Footrot Flats: A Dog's Tail Tale (cause the main character is the Dog and grammar isn't his specialty), this animated movie is based on the comic strip series by Murray Ball. Given this was a New Zealand venture with animation done in Australia and was released in the mid-late 80's, I would not be surprised if no one outside this region would have heard of it. I would also not be surprised if some of the humour is lost on those outside of this region as much of it is rural based from these regions.
Talking about a movie rather then a series is a little different for Animated Reflections, but this is one of those animated movies I did see as a kid and it does hold a special place for me.
The story is more a collection of situations that are forming around as the main story. It follows much like it does in the comics, situated in the fictional town of Raupo in New Zealand and the nearby rural property of Footrot Flats, owned by Wallace Footrot. Wallace may be the farmer (plus a massive Rugby fan) and one of the central characters, but the real star is his Boarder Collie, a dog called...errr...Dog. Known as 'The Dog' in the comic series, he does have an actual name, but he refuses to let anyone speak it.
One of Footrot's neighbours is a kind and friendly farmer nicknamed Cooch and his dog called Jess. In fact, there is a flashback scene that explains how Wallace got Dog, how Cooch got Jess and how Dog and Jess met, which is different from the one in the books, but can understand why it was changed to better suite it for a movie.
The other neighbour that Wallace has to deal with are the Murphy's, which consist of Irish Murphy and his two sons Hunk and Spit (yeah this movie prefers to use every ones nicknames, which I guess makes it more amusing and makes characters stand out more). Irish's main goal is to get Cooch's Stag, Spit is competing to get into the All Blacks Team (the national Rugby team for New Zealand) which is one of the parts as Wallace wants to impress the selector and Spit is going for the same gig. Finally there is Hunk and he is.....just there really. He's not too sharp so I guess they couldn't do much more with a character like that. The Murphy's also have a group of nasty pet dogs and there land is inhabited by their pigs, which are referred to as 'Croco-Pigs' due to the fact that they kind of act like aggressive Crocodiles.
Beyond that there as support characters like Wallace's Aunt Dolly, his niece Pongo and Rangi, a local boy who helps out on the farm (who is also a character who appears to be of indigenous decent, so glad that there was more acceptance of that here). Another character is also Cheeky Hobson, Wallace's girlfriend and someone who the Dog has no trust for what-so-ever. Finally there is Horse, a cat that lives in the area and is basically a total bad-ass who is usually moody. They all play parts in the story, but are limited due to what you can put into a movie (the more I keep watching it the more I feel like it would have made a great T.V. series). Oh, there are rats and one particular nasty one which when you see his is very over the top looking.
Animation wise, it is done in a style that matches the art style of the comics, which was a brilliant decision. The characters are outlined well with colour added to them (as can be noticed well in Pongo's hair with her pigtails having straight black lines like in the comics with orange colour in-between them). The backgrounds are done with lines and colour with things like scribbles and marks to make it look like the background of a comic strip. Movement is smooth most of the time (being hand drawn animation does mean there are issues from time to time, though you have to be looking for them to actually notice any) and rapid movement even has the added lines to show the movement like in the comic strips. I really like this style and would like to see more shows based on comic strips use this sort of visual style.
While I enjoyed the Soundtrack, I would completely understand if other did not. Produced by New Zealand musician Dave Dobbyn, the most famous song from this soundtrack is Slice of Heaven (which I do love). Other songs are more hit or miss for me, but the non vocal music I do enjoy (I do like Cooch's theme on the OST,). Not much more to say, so I suggest looking them up and seeing which ones appeal to you.
Overall, a great movie that I recommend, though it might not be everyone's cup of tea. Like I said earlier, this was one that I have seen multiple times growing up and has stuck with me. What I don't get is why I haven't seen it on television in some time. Happy to repeat crap movies over and over again, yet this gem never gets a shot, why? Anyway, go check this one out and have some fun.
Note:
So yeah, it's been a while since I've looked at anything and this seemed like a good step into getting back into the swing of things. Sorry it's not up to the usual standards, but its clear that mine were becoming more like critic reviews more then the reflections I wanted to write about. Might need to review a few more things until I can get this series right, hopefully I'll get it down pat soon enough. Also, sorry about the screen shots but only had a Blu-ray version and not a DVD version, so didn't have much for visuals for this one. Had to make do with what I could find, so hopefully I'll be able to get one down the track or a Blu-ray player for the PC, which ever one comes first I guess.
Talking about a movie rather then a series is a little different for Animated Reflections, but this is one of those animated movies I did see as a kid and it does hold a special place for me.
The story is more a collection of situations that are forming around as the main story. It follows much like it does in the comics, situated in the fictional town of Raupo in New Zealand and the nearby rural property of Footrot Flats, owned by Wallace Footrot. Wallace may be the farmer (plus a massive Rugby fan) and one of the central characters, but the real star is his Boarder Collie, a dog called...errr...Dog. Known as 'The Dog' in the comic series, he does have an actual name, but he refuses to let anyone speak it.
One of Footrot's neighbours is a kind and friendly farmer nicknamed Cooch and his dog called Jess. In fact, there is a flashback scene that explains how Wallace got Dog, how Cooch got Jess and how Dog and Jess met, which is different from the one in the books, but can understand why it was changed to better suite it for a movie.
The other neighbour that Wallace has to deal with are the Murphy's, which consist of Irish Murphy and his two sons Hunk and Spit (yeah this movie prefers to use every ones nicknames, which I guess makes it more amusing and makes characters stand out more). Irish's main goal is to get Cooch's Stag, Spit is competing to get into the All Blacks Team (the national Rugby team for New Zealand) which is one of the parts as Wallace wants to impress the selector and Spit is going for the same gig. Finally there is Hunk and he is.....just there really. He's not too sharp so I guess they couldn't do much more with a character like that. The Murphy's also have a group of nasty pet dogs and there land is inhabited by their pigs, which are referred to as 'Croco-Pigs' due to the fact that they kind of act like aggressive Crocodiles.
Beyond that there as support characters like Wallace's Aunt Dolly, his niece Pongo and Rangi, a local boy who helps out on the farm (who is also a character who appears to be of indigenous decent, so glad that there was more acceptance of that here). Another character is also Cheeky Hobson, Wallace's girlfriend and someone who the Dog has no trust for what-so-ever. Finally there is Horse, a cat that lives in the area and is basically a total bad-ass who is usually moody. They all play parts in the story, but are limited due to what you can put into a movie (the more I keep watching it the more I feel like it would have made a great T.V. series). Oh, there are rats and one particular nasty one which when you see his is very over the top looking.
Animation wise, it is done in a style that matches the art style of the comics, which was a brilliant decision. The characters are outlined well with colour added to them (as can be noticed well in Pongo's hair with her pigtails having straight black lines like in the comics with orange colour in-between them). The backgrounds are done with lines and colour with things like scribbles and marks to make it look like the background of a comic strip. Movement is smooth most of the time (being hand drawn animation does mean there are issues from time to time, though you have to be looking for them to actually notice any) and rapid movement even has the added lines to show the movement like in the comic strips. I really like this style and would like to see more shows based on comic strips use this sort of visual style.
While I enjoyed the Soundtrack, I would completely understand if other did not. Produced by New Zealand musician Dave Dobbyn, the most famous song from this soundtrack is Slice of Heaven (which I do love). Other songs are more hit or miss for me, but the non vocal music I do enjoy (I do like Cooch's theme on the OST,). Not much more to say, so I suggest looking them up and seeing which ones appeal to you.
Overall, a great movie that I recommend, though it might not be everyone's cup of tea. Like I said earlier, this was one that I have seen multiple times growing up and has stuck with me. What I don't get is why I haven't seen it on television in some time. Happy to repeat crap movies over and over again, yet this gem never gets a shot, why? Anyway, go check this one out and have some fun.
Note:
So yeah, it's been a while since I've looked at anything and this seemed like a good step into getting back into the swing of things. Sorry it's not up to the usual standards, but its clear that mine were becoming more like critic reviews more then the reflections I wanted to write about. Might need to review a few more things until I can get this series right, hopefully I'll get it down pat soon enough. Also, sorry about the screen shots but only had a Blu-ray version and not a DVD version, so didn't have much for visuals for this one. Had to make do with what I could find, so hopefully I'll be able to get one down the track or a Blu-ray player for the PC, which ever one comes first I guess.
Friday 9 August 2019
Researching While Down
So yeah, it can be very difficult to get things done, but my support workers are positive towards my ideas for a video show using puppets. Now that's all fine and well to talk about, but until you have things like a puppet in your hands, it can be depressing to keep going on a path where there seems to be no outcome other then failure.
As such, I tend to find myself just stuck in bed just watching Youtube vids on the T.V in my room, so I decided to really use that time to find videos on making puppets and boy there are some good ones. I admit that I have no real skill in that area and while I want to produce a group of advanced puppets, it might be best if I start off small and look at making more complex versions further down the path.
One such channel I found was an individual named Adam Kreutinger, who has some great videos on puppet making. While these are average puppet designs, they are a good starting point for me to begin working on. I must admit, I'm the kind of person who tends to need specific instructions when working on many things (either because I'm afraid to fail, I tend to forget or I'm just plain stupid) and I'm also a perfectionist who wants things to be perfect the first time around, so this is a very intimidating project to go into. More so cause the puppet designs are for anthropomorphic engineer rats (one good, one evil), a steampunk engineer mouse, a sugar-glider possum pilot along with various robot and alien creatures (with possible inclusions of others like my Bat characters or even Storm Spear/Corrupticus). I feel a character like Zargooran would be better served as a 3D model integrated into a scene via VFX, though perhaps a sort of Eye Pod/Growth on a wall could be a starter until that sort of advancement is made.
Ship wise I'm still stuck, though an Adam Savage video I saw of him making such things has given me hope that I can still do that (making 3D models and animations was one of my weaker aspects of my VFX course, though that was mostly in making more organic movement I guess). I'm a little mixed up now that so much has begun going through my head as I write this so I think it's best to leave it here and update this project later.
As such, I tend to find myself just stuck in bed just watching Youtube vids on the T.V in my room, so I decided to really use that time to find videos on making puppets and boy there are some good ones. I admit that I have no real skill in that area and while I want to produce a group of advanced puppets, it might be best if I start off small and look at making more complex versions further down the path.
One such channel I found was an individual named Adam Kreutinger, who has some great videos on puppet making. While these are average puppet designs, they are a good starting point for me to begin working on. I must admit, I'm the kind of person who tends to need specific instructions when working on many things (either because I'm afraid to fail, I tend to forget or I'm just plain stupid) and I'm also a perfectionist who wants things to be perfect the first time around, so this is a very intimidating project to go into. More so cause the puppet designs are for anthropomorphic engineer rats (one good, one evil), a steampunk engineer mouse, a sugar-glider possum pilot along with various robot and alien creatures (with possible inclusions of others like my Bat characters or even Storm Spear/Corrupticus). I feel a character like Zargooran would be better served as a 3D model integrated into a scene via VFX, though perhaps a sort of Eye Pod/Growth on a wall could be a starter until that sort of advancement is made.
Ship wise I'm still stuck, though an Adam Savage video I saw of him making such things has given me hope that I can still do that (making 3D models and animations was one of my weaker aspects of my VFX course, though that was mostly in making more organic movement I guess). I'm a little mixed up now that so much has begun going through my head as I write this so I think it's best to leave it here and update this project later.
Monday 5 August 2019
Up-coming Stuff
So I'm really trying to make an effort to get back into this whole writing thing again (cause as the last year has shown, my mental health makes it rather difficult to keep updates regular). As such, I have decided to focus on a few things I'd like to post over the next few months and hope I can at least do that. So here they are:
+ Malifaux 3rd Ed Rulebook Review. May hold off on for a bit until I get a chance to get some gaming experience or review some battle reports to see how the new rules really work.
+ My Life with Mental Illness (a post by post section where I just write about my experiences and thoughts in order to both help myself and to help others without it to better understand what it's like living with it).
+ Animated Reflections: Footrot Flats.
+ At least one Warhammer novel review (and this one is purely for the gag I last left off with)
+ Uploads of photographs of projects I've done and am working on (including the last part of that Burrows and Badgers Warband section).
+GW in-store painting competition. I withdrew due to my mental health issues
I think this is a good start, just hope I'm not digging myself too deep with this lot. Can be hard sometimes, so with luck I'll get all these done over the next few months (I really want to get most done over the next few weeks, but I'm giving myself a few months due to the unpredictable nature of my mental health).
+ Malifaux 3rd Ed Rulebook Review. May hold off on for a bit until I get a chance to get some gaming experience or review some battle reports to see how the new rules really work.
+ My Life with Mental Illness (a post by post section where I just write about my experiences and thoughts in order to both help myself and to help others without it to better understand what it's like living with it).
+ Animated Reflections: Footrot Flats.
+ At least one Warhammer novel review (and this one is purely for the gag I last left off with)
+ Uploads of photographs of projects I've done and am working on (including the last part of that Burrows and Badgers Warband section).
+
I think this is a good start, just hope I'm not digging myself too deep with this lot. Can be hard sometimes, so with luck I'll get all these done over the next few months (I really want to get most done over the next few weeks, but I'm giving myself a few months due to the unpredictable nature of my mental health).
Saturday 3 August 2019
Thoughts on Warcry
So today I gathered my nerves, swallowed my Valium and went into my local GW store today to give the skirmish game Warcry a go. The results:
It was a lot of fun.
I not only got taught how to play, but was taught by some gamers/customers, who were both nice and fun. The game had my Gloomspite Gitz vs his Fleash-Eater Courts, the mission was board quarter control and I lost the game 2-3. I learned a lot about how the game works, how my faction works and the mistakes I made.
As far as a skirmish game goes, it is still somewhat basic, but mistakes early on can cost you down the road. So I guess it's best to talk a bit more about it.
Warbands have a set point value (usually 1,000pts) with one champion model being chosen to be your Leader. Stronger models have a higher point value while weak ones have a lower point value (so some factions can have the option to have few but strong or lots but weak). The stats of each model type have been reworked for this game, so looking at a models Warscroll is pointless if you want to see which ones are best to pick (a bit more on stats later on).
So for example, my Warband consisted of:
+ Boingrot Bounderz Boss (Leader)
+ Boingrot Bounderz
+ Squig
+ Squig
+ Squig
+ Squig Herder
+ Stabba with Barbed Net
Total Points: 995pts
This brings us to the turns. Each turn both players roll six dice. Numbers that are double, triple, quadruple get set aside while single numbers are used to determine who gets initiative. So say player one rolls 3,3,4,4,5,6 and player two rolls 1,2,2,2,4,6. Player one has rolled two sets of doubles and two single numbers, while player two has rolled a triple and three singles. Because player one has two singles and player two has three singles, player two wins initiative and goes first that turn. Should both players have the same number of singles, then a roll off occurs to determine who goes first.
But those doubles, triples and quadruples are still needed as they are used to activate abilities (both general and faction specific). One good example of this was in Turn 2 of the game I played, where I rolled three doubles and during that turn both of my Squigs were under attacked by one of the larger Fleash-Eater monsters (a Crypt Horror I believe). I used one of my doubles to active an ability which added 1 to my Attack and Strength characteristic for that models activation (he had to be within 1" of a friendly fighter which was the second Squig) which gave that Squig 5 attacks at Str 6, which increased the amount of attacks and hits I could place on that enemy. After he activated a Ghoul to come in and attack the second Squig, I activated that second Squig and since he was both in base range with his buddy Squig and the Horror, I used another double I had to use that same ability on that Squig and after that fight the Horror was no more.
That's not to say having them can be beneficial all the time, as in Turn 3 I had a triple aside and had no real way to use it in the game that would help and so it was wasted that Turn.
Combat is simple, with there being combat range (usually 1"- 3" for melee, with range attacks being 3"+). Your attack characteristic is the number of dice you roll to attack, Strenght and Toughness are used to determine if you attack wounds or not with a roll of 6 always being a critical hit (so if your Str is higher then their Tough you need a 3+, equal Str/Tough is a 4+ and if Tough is higher then your Str it's a 5+). There is also a damage stat shown as X/X (X being a number). This is your average damage and your critical damage, so to use the Squigs again, they have a 2/4 stat, with 2 being the damage you deal on a normal hit and 4 being on a critical hit. You then add these all up in a fight to determine how much damage you will do.
So lets do another example: You attack with you model that has four attacks attacks against a model with the same toughness as your strength and you damage value is 2/5. You roll a 3,4,4 and 6, so you have made two normal hits and one critical, so your damage is 0+2+2+5 for a total of 9 wounds to that model. Simple, but I found that when most models have a more equal Str/Tough can make more tension in a fight (better when someone decides to use an ability to shake things up).
Man, this is sounding more like a review then an experience. So back on topic, the game itself lasted around 20 - 30 minutes, give or take the learning curve. Short but fun, which is what I seem to like these days. I imagine more factions will be included as new faction releases happen and I can easily see this game having campaign expansions in the future. While you can just have the rulebook and a faction card pack or so, much of the campaign section has a layout for setting up the terrain what comes in the starter box, which can be confusing. I'm sure there are ways for everyone to go around this (given they are selling other terrain box sets to go with it), so I'll wait a bit longer to see how that one goes.
If you are interested in this game, I highly recommend either going into a store and ask about a demo game to teach you or look up various Age of Sigmar channels on Youtube to see games played and determine for yourself if the game is more suited to you (I remember one of the staff saying that 40K Kill-Team was more about harder to kill models while Warcry is all about getting in and killing).
Speaking of the staff, big thanks to the Warhammer Brisbane CBD store staff for doing their best to make me feel as comfortable as they could and a massive thanks to the two gentlemen who played and taught the game with me, it really made my day (because being in a small crowded store full of talking people is terrifying for me due to my mental health issues. Planning on writing a series to explain my life with it so that it might help people understand some of the issues we have).
Sorry for turning this into a bit of a ramble, but I had fun playing the game and enjoyed the day (a rarity, but still good).
It was a lot of fun.
I not only got taught how to play, but was taught by some gamers/customers, who were both nice and fun. The game had my Gloomspite Gitz vs his Fleash-Eater Courts, the mission was board quarter control and I lost the game 2-3. I learned a lot about how the game works, how my faction works and the mistakes I made.
As far as a skirmish game goes, it is still somewhat basic, but mistakes early on can cost you down the road. So I guess it's best to talk a bit more about it.
Warbands have a set point value (usually 1,000pts) with one champion model being chosen to be your Leader. Stronger models have a higher point value while weak ones have a lower point value (so some factions can have the option to have few but strong or lots but weak). The stats of each model type have been reworked for this game, so looking at a models Warscroll is pointless if you want to see which ones are best to pick (a bit more on stats later on).
So for example, my Warband consisted of:
+ Boingrot Bounderz Boss (Leader)
+ Boingrot Bounderz
+ Squig
+ Squig
+ Squig
+ Squig Herder
+ Stabba with Barbed Net
Total Points: 995pts
This brings us to the turns. Each turn both players roll six dice. Numbers that are double, triple, quadruple get set aside while single numbers are used to determine who gets initiative. So say player one rolls 3,3,4,4,5,6 and player two rolls 1,2,2,2,4,6. Player one has rolled two sets of doubles and two single numbers, while player two has rolled a triple and three singles. Because player one has two singles and player two has three singles, player two wins initiative and goes first that turn. Should both players have the same number of singles, then a roll off occurs to determine who goes first.
But those doubles, triples and quadruples are still needed as they are used to activate abilities (both general and faction specific). One good example of this was in Turn 2 of the game I played, where I rolled three doubles and during that turn both of my Squigs were under attacked by one of the larger Fleash-Eater monsters (a Crypt Horror I believe). I used one of my doubles to active an ability which added 1 to my Attack and Strength characteristic for that models activation (he had to be within 1" of a friendly fighter which was the second Squig) which gave that Squig 5 attacks at Str 6, which increased the amount of attacks and hits I could place on that enemy. After he activated a Ghoul to come in and attack the second Squig, I activated that second Squig and since he was both in base range with his buddy Squig and the Horror, I used another double I had to use that same ability on that Squig and after that fight the Horror was no more.
That's not to say having them can be beneficial all the time, as in Turn 3 I had a triple aside and had no real way to use it in the game that would help and so it was wasted that Turn.
Combat is simple, with there being combat range (usually 1"- 3" for melee, with range attacks being 3"+). Your attack characteristic is the number of dice you roll to attack, Strenght and Toughness are used to determine if you attack wounds or not with a roll of 6 always being a critical hit (so if your Str is higher then their Tough you need a 3+, equal Str/Tough is a 4+ and if Tough is higher then your Str it's a 5+). There is also a damage stat shown as X/X (X being a number). This is your average damage and your critical damage, so to use the Squigs again, they have a 2/4 stat, with 2 being the damage you deal on a normal hit and 4 being on a critical hit. You then add these all up in a fight to determine how much damage you will do.
So lets do another example: You attack with you model that has four attacks attacks against a model with the same toughness as your strength and you damage value is 2/5. You roll a 3,4,4 and 6, so you have made two normal hits and one critical, so your damage is 0+2+2+5 for a total of 9 wounds to that model. Simple, but I found that when most models have a more equal Str/Tough can make more tension in a fight (better when someone decides to use an ability to shake things up).
Man, this is sounding more like a review then an experience. So back on topic, the game itself lasted around 20 - 30 minutes, give or take the learning curve. Short but fun, which is what I seem to like these days. I imagine more factions will be included as new faction releases happen and I can easily see this game having campaign expansions in the future. While you can just have the rulebook and a faction card pack or so, much of the campaign section has a layout for setting up the terrain what comes in the starter box, which can be confusing. I'm sure there are ways for everyone to go around this (given they are selling other terrain box sets to go with it), so I'll wait a bit longer to see how that one goes.
If you are interested in this game, I highly recommend either going into a store and ask about a demo game to teach you or look up various Age of Sigmar channels on Youtube to see games played and determine for yourself if the game is more suited to you (I remember one of the staff saying that 40K Kill-Team was more about harder to kill models while Warcry is all about getting in and killing).
Speaking of the staff, big thanks to the Warhammer Brisbane CBD store staff for doing their best to make me feel as comfortable as they could and a massive thanks to the two gentlemen who played and taught the game with me, it really made my day (because being in a small crowded store full of talking people is terrifying for me due to my mental health issues. Planning on writing a series to explain my life with it so that it might help people understand some of the issues we have).
Sorry for turning this into a bit of a ramble, but I had fun playing the game and enjoyed the day (a rarity, but still good).
Friday 2 August 2019
Thoughts on Gremlins in M3
So having read though the Malifaux 3rd Edition Gremlins stat card pack and compared them to the ones I already own, I have a few thoughts that I'd like to bring up about them.
The first major thing I noticed is how the Gremlins have had their 'Risk vs Reward' reduced in exchange for more stability. This can be noticed as defensive stats and abilities have been improved, but things like the trigger that does double damage but they take half is now gone. On the one hand, I feel somewhat saddened that this fun little mechanic has been nerfed into the mud, but on the other hand is has made a number of Gremlins more sustainable and more likely to be chosen again.
Also, much like all the other factions, the limited upgrade options don't add too much to the crew (save for Jones and Ophelia), so I feel that at this point in time, the loss of some of the more popular upgrades seems a bit disappointing, though no doubt will see more come out in the future as the game progresses. The Keyword thing is also a bit of an issue (it does muck up some of my options when playing certain factions), but I guess with the Masters I own, that really isn't a huge deal for me.
Speaking of which, while I'm not too familiar with some of their masters, I do own three of them and so will give my quick thoughts on them (I'll update this when I get around to testing some options and combos out):
Ulix Turner:
Ulix no longer breeds the pigs anymore (but Hog Whisperer's and Slop Hauler's can summon Piglets), but in exchange he can now take a pig and upgrade it to a higher variant. So say you get one of the above mentioned models to summon a Piglet, Ulix can then upgrade it to say, a Wild Boar (assuming he can get the casting off). As such, you can still do the whole Pig breeding mechanic, it's just that how it's done is now different (so if you did play that style then you'll have to change your tactics a bit). If Ulix is used as the crews Master, then he also has the Pig keyword for the purpose of hiring pigs, so his crew is still very much a pig focused crew (and even in smaller games, Old Major can still lead a pig only crew, which I just love).
Ophelia LaCroix:
The Kin have returned and they are sporting to be a bit more competitive against the Ortega Family (Given their rivalry in the lore). While Ophelia herself still have the upgrade arsenal mechanic, it's her Kin that have had the real change, with the above mentioned Risk vs Reward exchanged for a more stable style of combat. I think this change was meant to better reflect the mastery of weapons taught to them by Ophelia and I can see them working much stronger together as a result. They are even getting Kin minions just like the Ortega's, so I expect to see these two families do battle with each other more in the future.
Mah Tucket:
I think the loss of upgrades for Mah and her crew took a bit of a bite out of them, but their compensation was to make their crew box set much more appealing. They still have many of the abilities to help boost both the crew and their turn initiative, but the biggest boost comes in the form of pit traps and the Bushwackers. In just a few turns you can set up a few pit traps to force your opponent into trying to decide if they want to risk the damage or just go the long way around and the Bushwackers themselves now benefit from being hidden until the enemy gets close enough, making them much more deadly. Can easily see this crew being more of a 'holding out or holding position' mission type, forcing their enemy to move in to avoid ranged attacks only for Mah herself to give them what for. Trixiebelle herself no longer has any sort of attack and is very much used for manipulating things more then she once did (but if you have a powerful character kept next to her, she can use a type of attack action to make that model attack her enemy instead, so there is a benefit to giving her a personal bodyguard).
Overall, I do like what has become of the Gremlins as a faction and I will talk more about them in a bit more detail in the future (along with some of the other faction crews I own). That said, I best review the M3 Rulebook first before we go any further into factions, so look for that very soon.
The first major thing I noticed is how the Gremlins have had their 'Risk vs Reward' reduced in exchange for more stability. This can be noticed as defensive stats and abilities have been improved, but things like the trigger that does double damage but they take half is now gone. On the one hand, I feel somewhat saddened that this fun little mechanic has been nerfed into the mud, but on the other hand is has made a number of Gremlins more sustainable and more likely to be chosen again.
Also, much like all the other factions, the limited upgrade options don't add too much to the crew (save for Jones and Ophelia), so I feel that at this point in time, the loss of some of the more popular upgrades seems a bit disappointing, though no doubt will see more come out in the future as the game progresses. The Keyword thing is also a bit of an issue (it does muck up some of my options when playing certain factions), but I guess with the Masters I own, that really isn't a huge deal for me.
Speaking of which, while I'm not too familiar with some of their masters, I do own three of them and so will give my quick thoughts on them (I'll update this when I get around to testing some options and combos out):
Ulix Turner:
Ulix no longer breeds the pigs anymore (but Hog Whisperer's and Slop Hauler's can summon Piglets), but in exchange he can now take a pig and upgrade it to a higher variant. So say you get one of the above mentioned models to summon a Piglet, Ulix can then upgrade it to say, a Wild Boar (assuming he can get the casting off). As such, you can still do the whole Pig breeding mechanic, it's just that how it's done is now different (so if you did play that style then you'll have to change your tactics a bit). If Ulix is used as the crews Master, then he also has the Pig keyword for the purpose of hiring pigs, so his crew is still very much a pig focused crew (and even in smaller games, Old Major can still lead a pig only crew, which I just love).
Ophelia LaCroix:
The Kin have returned and they are sporting to be a bit more competitive against the Ortega Family (Given their rivalry in the lore). While Ophelia herself still have the upgrade arsenal mechanic, it's her Kin that have had the real change, with the above mentioned Risk vs Reward exchanged for a more stable style of combat. I think this change was meant to better reflect the mastery of weapons taught to them by Ophelia and I can see them working much stronger together as a result. They are even getting Kin minions just like the Ortega's, so I expect to see these two families do battle with each other more in the future.
Mah Tucket:
I think the loss of upgrades for Mah and her crew took a bit of a bite out of them, but their compensation was to make their crew box set much more appealing. They still have many of the abilities to help boost both the crew and their turn initiative, but the biggest boost comes in the form of pit traps and the Bushwackers. In just a few turns you can set up a few pit traps to force your opponent into trying to decide if they want to risk the damage or just go the long way around and the Bushwackers themselves now benefit from being hidden until the enemy gets close enough, making them much more deadly. Can easily see this crew being more of a 'holding out or holding position' mission type, forcing their enemy to move in to avoid ranged attacks only for Mah herself to give them what for. Trixiebelle herself no longer has any sort of attack and is very much used for manipulating things more then she once did (but if you have a powerful character kept next to her, she can use a type of attack action to make that model attack her enemy instead, so there is a benefit to giving her a personal bodyguard).
Overall, I do like what has become of the Gremlins as a faction and I will talk more about them in a bit more detail in the future (along with some of the other faction crews I own). That said, I best review the M3 Rulebook first before we go any further into factions, so look for that very soon.
Sunday 28 July 2019
Malifaux's Lucas McCabe Updated and Theory
So I'm a little behind, but yeah, recently they updated the character of Lucas McCabe from just being Ten Thunders in M3 to being duel faction with the new Explorer's Society faction.
Now apart from the fact that the lore behind McCabe makes sense to be part of an exploration faction, this might also be part of change to make new faction based models so that owners of The Wild Ones nightmare box set.
Just speculation, but I really do hope this is the case as it would give me a reason to expand his crew now that all my Guild models are now useless to use with his crew.
Now apart from the fact that the lore behind McCabe makes sense to be part of an exploration faction, this might also be part of change to make new faction based models so that owners of The Wild Ones nightmare box set.
Just speculation, but I really do hope this is the case as it would give me a reason to expand his crew now that all my Guild models are now useless to use with his crew.
Friday 26 July 2019
Sooo....OK
If you have read my reasons for the lack of updates then you already know the drill, but if you are not then let me give the short of it.
I am classified as Disabled due to my Mental Illness (Depression, Anxiety, PTSD etc), a condition that affects my ability at life. I tend to have highs and lows and oh boy, mid June to late July has been one hell of a low. Top it off with a recent serious family related issue and yeah, we have a lack of work done here. Using a Desktop PC doesn't help (I'd probably get more done with a laptop due to the convenience in getting going during low times). I do have support services and health professionals, but even they are limited in how they can help in my darkest times. Perhaps in the future I can write a series of articles better explaining my experiences with it in the hopes it can help others better understand what some people are really going through, but anyway:
So what has happened Project wise then?
Burrows & Badgers Warband is complete. Just need a good shot and I can upload with the second part of the articles. On top of that, I have also looked at add-ons and have got a Beaver done and a Kingfisher bird to do. More on that later.
Nothing has happened with Moonstone other then the basing and priming. Like wise, same for Malifaux, though I do want to talk a bit more on some of the recent changes to it later.
Games-Workshop has been a big hit or miss. However, I will try to focus on the positive. I have entered the Everchosen, though my single miniature category is a 40k Death Guard Plague Zombie thingy (which looks meh, but it was the best of the bunch) and for the Open category I have entered a 40k Death Guard Myphitic Blight-hauler (aka, the rust bucket). I'll try to get shots up tomorrow night along with the feedback that I will be requesting (one can always improve, despite my skills slipping backwards).
Update:
So the results are in and while the Plague Zombie didn't make the cut, the old rust bucket (as I now refer to my Blight-Hauler) got the Gold for my local store. Has no chance in the bigger scheme, but then it may have won by default (since I don't think anyone actually entered the Open Category in the store). As such, I've linked their photos of it here:
On the other hand, next week see's the release of Warcry and I've been invited to bring in some of my Gloomspite Gitz to form a Warband and have a go, so I might practice some more calming techniques to help go in and give it a go.
This has been the first painting comp I have entered in years and while I don't expect to pass the store round, it is the first step in getting myself back into the community again. So much so, that I have put my name down to enter a store only competition in August, which you go in with a primed model and spend the day painting it and at the end they choose a winner. As such, I will be doing a Nighthaunt Lord Executioner (with some slight conversion), so this is another big step.
Video's and Puppets are on hold, though slowly writing ideas down so hopefully more on that in the future.
I did want to start posting again, more so with thoughts and opinions on things, along with some shorter reviews/Animated Reflections until I can work my way back up to where I was before. I'll try to avoid most of the negative topics, but there are some things that I do want to address in some posts.
With luck, should see a slight increase is posts soon.
Hopefully.
Probably.
Maybe.
....
I am classified as Disabled due to my Mental Illness (Depression, Anxiety, PTSD etc), a condition that affects my ability at life. I tend to have highs and lows and oh boy, mid June to late July has been one hell of a low. Top it off with a recent serious family related issue and yeah, we have a lack of work done here. Using a Desktop PC doesn't help (I'd probably get more done with a laptop due to the convenience in getting going during low times). I do have support services and health professionals, but even they are limited in how they can help in my darkest times. Perhaps in the future I can write a series of articles better explaining my experiences with it in the hopes it can help others better understand what some people are really going through, but anyway:
So what has happened Project wise then?
Burrows & Badgers Warband is complete. Just need a good shot and I can upload with the second part of the articles. On top of that, I have also looked at add-ons and have got a Beaver done and a Kingfisher bird to do. More on that later.
Nothing has happened with Moonstone other then the basing and priming. Like wise, same for Malifaux, though I do want to talk a bit more on some of the recent changes to it later.
Games-Workshop has been a big hit or miss. However, I will try to focus on the positive. I have entered the Everchosen, though my single miniature category is a 40k Death Guard Plague Zombie thingy (which looks meh, but it was the best of the bunch) and for the Open category I have entered a 40k Death Guard Myphitic Blight-hauler (aka, the rust bucket). I'll try to get shots up tomorrow night along with the feedback that I will be requesting (one can always improve, despite my skills slipping backwards).
Update:
So the results are in and while the Plague Zombie didn't make the cut, the old rust bucket (as I now refer to my Blight-Hauler) got the Gold for my local store. Has no chance in the bigger scheme, but then it may have won by default (since I don't think anyone actually entered the Open Category in the store). As such, I've linked their photos of it here:
On the other hand, next week see's the release of Warcry and I've been invited to bring in some of my Gloomspite Gitz to form a Warband and have a go, so I might practice some more calming techniques to help go in and give it a go.
This has been the first painting comp I have entered in years and while I don't expect to pass the store round, it is the first step in getting myself back into the community again. So much so, that I have put my name down to enter a store only competition in August, which you go in with a primed model and spend the day painting it and at the end they choose a winner. As such, I will be doing a Nighthaunt Lord Executioner (with some slight conversion), so this is another big step.
Video's and Puppets are on hold, though slowly writing ideas down so hopefully more on that in the future.
I did want to start posting again, more so with thoughts and opinions on things, along with some shorter reviews/Animated Reflections until I can work my way back up to where I was before. I'll try to avoid most of the negative topics, but there are some things that I do want to address in some posts.
With luck, should see a slight increase is posts soon.
Hopefully.
Probably.
Maybe.
....
Tuesday 4 June 2019
Creating a Burrows & Badgers Warband: Part 1 - Written Stuff
So while I have plenty of ideas for Warbands, I thought I might focus on making one first and talking about some of the ideas behind the creation of it.
Obviously it all starts off by picking animals from the list of beasts. I did this in three steps, the first being to check out the range of miniatures from the official website, looking at what ones I really liked, but also seeing what classifications they were (a.k.a Small, Medium etc.) so I could cross reference them with the chart in the book.
Secondly, I went over some of my own characters to see if they would work as characters in the game, choosing both a Bat (My female Bat character Miranda. I left Bartholomew to lead the defense of the burrow while they were on missions) and a Squirrel (An OC of mine who is an Albino Squirrel who lost his left hand and it is replaced with a hook). I also had names of characters I liked from cartoons and stuff, I felt that they wouldn't fit into this Warband (though expect some to show up in future ones). As such, in situations like this I tend to research baby names & meanings to give a list of usable names that I would like to use.
Finally, I go through the process of buying gear and mixing and matching various options until I find ones that fit enough that I feel confident I could enjoy playing as. It is during this point that I ensure they all have names and a brief history, that their allegiance has been picked and there is background to flesh out the Warband.
As such, here is what I have decided to start off with (I have begun painting some miniatures and am just waiting for the second set to arrive to finish it off):
Brianna (Hedgehog - Leader)
- Gear: One-Handed Weapon, Heavy Armour of Shielding +1 & Light Shield
- Skill (For being Leader): Born in Harness. Stat Boost (For being Leader): Block
Ghost (Squirrel - Second)
- Gear: 2x One-Handed Weapon, Camouflage Cloak
- Skill (For being Second): Born Survivor (though I may change it to Enduring, not sure yet)
Miranda (Bat)
- Gear: Mage's Focus
- Spell: Lightning (Nature)
Ginnette (Hedgehog)
- Gear: One-Handed Weapon
- Spell: Van Rubal's Acceleration
- Special Item: Relic
Gurumarra (Platypus)
- Gear: One-Handed Weapon, Throwing Knives, Camouflage Cloak
Emrick (Mouse)
- Gear: One-Handed Weapon, Bow, Light Armor
Allegiance: Freebeasts (Bonus items - Mortal Poison worth 6p (stored for later use), Relic and magical item: Heavy Armor of Shielding +1)
Starting Den: Abandoned Burrow
Remaining Coin: 29p
Now this is still open to change, but overall I feel this is what I am happy to at least start on. They would be part of a mixed bag of civilians who have fled into the forests and have found an abandoned burrow and from there have set up their little village. While some stay behind to deal with local threats, others join the adventuring force to help obtain things that the village doesn't have and to help it grow.
Brianna and Ginnette are sisters and while Brianna is a stone wall warrior who leads the group, Ginnette is more then happy to let her sister lead, preferring not to have such a huge responsibility on her shoulders (though supports her sister as best she can). Emrick is a plucky young mouse who has spent much of his life watching over the forests and feels he is now ready to adventure out of his grounds. Miranda joins to help aid the group, but also to help bring a positive mood to the group (her husband had to stay behind in order to help keep their friends safe). Gurumarra is from beyond the seas and had escape his captors who took him from his home, while Ghost's own story is just as sad, but he is cunning and ready to strike from the shadows.
While there is a lot more to it then that, this was just meant to give a basic idea on the characters and I'll expand more of their stories once their models are finished and ready to go.
So that was the first part of the creating of my Warband. The next part (when it's done) will be the painting and having them ready to play. I may do a third one based on playing them, but I can't promise that, so it will simply be set as a possible extra down the road. While it does look daunting at first, it's actually quite fun to put together, so much so that I already have a few other Warband lists made and I may get around to doing them later this year.
I do recommend checking out the miniature range (see link at top of this article) and seeing if any grab you. Even if you don't decide to give the game a shot, you might still find something enjoyable to paint.
Obviously it all starts off by picking animals from the list of beasts. I did this in three steps, the first being to check out the range of miniatures from the official website, looking at what ones I really liked, but also seeing what classifications they were (a.k.a Small, Medium etc.) so I could cross reference them with the chart in the book.
Secondly, I went over some of my own characters to see if they would work as characters in the game, choosing both a Bat (My female Bat character Miranda. I left Bartholomew to lead the defense of the burrow while they were on missions) and a Squirrel (An OC of mine who is an Albino Squirrel who lost his left hand and it is replaced with a hook). I also had names of characters I liked from cartoons and stuff, I felt that they wouldn't fit into this Warband (though expect some to show up in future ones). As such, in situations like this I tend to research baby names & meanings to give a list of usable names that I would like to use.
Finally, I go through the process of buying gear and mixing and matching various options until I find ones that fit enough that I feel confident I could enjoy playing as. It is during this point that I ensure they all have names and a brief history, that their allegiance has been picked and there is background to flesh out the Warband.
As such, here is what I have decided to start off with (I have begun painting some miniatures and am just waiting for the second set to arrive to finish it off):
Brianna (Hedgehog - Leader)
- Gear: One-Handed Weapon, Heavy Armour of Shielding +1 & Light Shield
- Skill (For being Leader): Born in Harness. Stat Boost (For being Leader): Block
Ghost (Squirrel - Second)
- Gear: 2x One-Handed Weapon, Camouflage Cloak
- Skill (For being Second): Born Survivor (though I may change it to Enduring, not sure yet)
Miranda (Bat)
- Gear: Mage's Focus
- Spell: Lightning (Nature)
Ginnette (Hedgehog)
- Gear: One-Handed Weapon
- Spell: Van Rubal's Acceleration
- Special Item: Relic
Gurumarra (Platypus)
- Gear: One-Handed Weapon, Throwing Knives, Camouflage Cloak
Emrick (Mouse)
- Gear: One-Handed Weapon, Bow, Light Armor
Allegiance: Freebeasts (Bonus items - Mortal Poison worth 6p (stored for later use), Relic and magical item: Heavy Armor of Shielding +1)
Starting Den: Abandoned Burrow
Remaining Coin: 29p
Now this is still open to change, but overall I feel this is what I am happy to at least start on. They would be part of a mixed bag of civilians who have fled into the forests and have found an abandoned burrow and from there have set up their little village. While some stay behind to deal with local threats, others join the adventuring force to help obtain things that the village doesn't have and to help it grow.
Brianna and Ginnette are sisters and while Brianna is a stone wall warrior who leads the group, Ginnette is more then happy to let her sister lead, preferring not to have such a huge responsibility on her shoulders (though supports her sister as best she can). Emrick is a plucky young mouse who has spent much of his life watching over the forests and feels he is now ready to adventure out of his grounds. Miranda joins to help aid the group, but also to help bring a positive mood to the group (her husband had to stay behind in order to help keep their friends safe). Gurumarra is from beyond the seas and had escape his captors who took him from his home, while Ghost's own story is just as sad, but he is cunning and ready to strike from the shadows.
While there is a lot more to it then that, this was just meant to give a basic idea on the characters and I'll expand more of their stories once their models are finished and ready to go.
So that was the first part of the creating of my Warband. The next part (when it's done) will be the painting and having them ready to play. I may do a third one based on playing them, but I can't promise that, so it will simply be set as a possible extra down the road. While it does look daunting at first, it's actually quite fun to put together, so much so that I already have a few other Warband lists made and I may get around to doing them later this year.
I do recommend checking out the miniature range (see link at top of this article) and seeing if any grab you. Even if you don't decide to give the game a shot, you might still find something enjoyable to paint.
Saturday 1 June 2019
Short Review: Burrows and Badgers Book
So while looking for videos on making terrain, I stumbled upon this little gem and was hooked immediately. Better still, the orders I made arrived within a week, which was incredibly quick given every other order I've made from Britain to Australia. Having read through it (and put together rules for my own Warband), I really wanted to give my own thoughts on it. Note that this will be a short overview of all the rules, I will probably go into more depth with them once I actually start playing and better understand them.
The Lore:
Burrows & Badgers is a skirmish game from Osprey Games about anthropomorphic animals (as the book cover states) takes place in the Kingdom of Northymbra. Recent times have become unstable, the King is no where to be found, with the Prince now acting in his stead and rumors are circulating as to the Kings fate. The weather has cause a number of problems as of late, forcing more citizens into the cities, where poverty and hunger has increased. Further south the Foxes are taking advantage of the situation to gain influence and possibly pushing the citizens into rebellion. Slavery grows and various groups raid the local areas to grow in strength.
Obviously there is a bit more to that and there is a downloadable paper to add more to the Lore, but it is still rather short (only a few pages in the book), but gets across a basic idea so that you can put together enough story for your Warbands to start adventuring.
Game Rules:
Obviously you'll need terrain, models and measuring tools, but this game also requires a number of different types of dice (d4, d6,d8 etc.) and these will come into play due to character stats. There are nine stats being: Movement, Strike, Block, Ranged, Nimbleness, Concealment, Awareness, Fortitude and Presence. There's rules for Turns, Movement and Actions, including attacking, shooting and casting spells as well as searching and hiding. Games are won by achieving the scenarios main objective, though most will tend to end with routing the enemy Warband.
Warband Rules:
Building a Warband is broken down into several parts. You get 350p (Pennies) to spend on your Warband and this includes the hiring of models and the purchasing of their gear. A Warband has a maximum total of 10 Models, with no more then a max of 6 Large models and 3 Massive available in a Warband. Obviously the Large and Massive beasts will be more costly compared to the Small and Medium beasts, so it tends to be a bit more balanced that way too.
There are four types of beasts as mentioned above: Small, Medium, Large and Massive. Each chart has a number of different animals each with their own stats and some even have a few rules to go with them (such as birds having the flight rule). Once you have selected your crew and armed them, you will pick one to be the Leader and one to be their second in command, both get a bonus to show their stature in the Warband. There are even bonuses to having single species Warbands (like Mice or Rabbits for example) as this is meant to help compensate for the lack of variety in the group, plus you are limited to who you can hire in the future as a result of this too.
After that, you select your Allegiance. There are four to choose from: Royalists, Rogues, Freebeasts and Wildbeasts. Each one grants your Warband a bonus and limit what starting Den you can pick from, though you are granted a bonus Den upgrade to start off with and will also limit what Magic Lore's you have access to. While each one of these allegiances have some story behind them, you are free to come up with your own style, just so long as your opponent is aware what Allegiance you have selected (so there is no confusion when playing).
There is also a spell listing for each of the six Magic Lore's: Natural, Light, Dark, Wild, Unbound and Noble. Depending on which one you pick will also determine which of the two stats (Fortitude or Presence) is needed to cast them. Each one also has six spells you can pick from or roll-off on. Better yet, if you purchased a Mage's Pouch for your caster and got certain ingredients, you can use those ingredients to buff those spells.
Finally there are the rules for equipment (so you know how to use the stuff your models are equipped with) along with a section for skills. Skills can be earned through a model reaching a certain level while some are natural to certain animals. Skills consist of Fighting Skills, Shooting Skills, Cunning Skills, Strength Skills, Movement Skills and Innate Skills (with Innate Skills being something an animal starts with and cannot be learned). By looking through these, you can plan out possible path options for your models to follow as they level up. This brings us to...
Campaign Rules:
While you can play one-off games, Campaigns are where this game really shines. Though a campaign, you can raise even a lowly Mouse into a real hero. The campaign section has rules for playing through one, including an injury chart for wounded characters, post-game things surviving models can do to help benefit your Warband, upgrades for the Den, rolling for Skills when a model reaches a certain level up mark, Warband upkeep, Hiring and of course Shopping..er, I mean trading.
There is also a Warband Rating section, with the lower rated one getting 'Balance Points' which it can use to help get extra re-rolls and can even earn bonus experience if the gap in ratings is large enough, so even when things look bad, there is always something to help push you forward in a campaign.
Scenarios:
There are a total of eight scenarios to roll for (if you get the Book from their website is does have a bonus scenario card), though you'll probably find you roll the first one (Open War) the most.
Each scenarios has:
+ A quick story bit to give you an idea on how to use the scenario story wise
+ A section for what terrain you might need, including important scenario pieces for some scenarios
+ Rules for deployment zones and setting up models
+ Special rules for the scenario
+ Secondary Objectives if any (there is a Secondary Objectives table to roll on)
+ Starting and Ending game rules
+ Experience and Rewards for completing the scenario
As such, these scenarios will help shape the story of your Warband as it battles against other Warbands and grows in strength. Some of these will also most likely test just how well your Warband can do, given that even a Warband of strong massive beasts might suddenly find they have entered a scenario where strength over numbers is a disadvantage.
Overall Thoughts:
This game looks amazing and the rules and options for customizing and leveling a Warband is deeper then I first thought. As far as Skirmish games go, this really does feel kind of like the Mordheim of old and I like it. It also has a large list of animals to choose from and the option of using ingredients for spell casting to improve the spell is something I just love. I found myself going through the Warband creation process again and again, creating new Warbands with different animals, gear and options (I must admit, I'm kinda addicted to it).
Honestly, it really does hype me up to play a full on campaign of this game, to create new characters and tell new stories in exciting games. Even the rules for gameplay look rather interesting and I hope that if and when I can start playing it I can do a review on the gameplay itself. If you are looking for a good Skirmish game, then I can recommend this one, though if you liked cartoons like Redwall or even Disney's animated Robin Hood, then you should really look into this one too.
The Lore:
Burrows & Badgers is a skirmish game from Osprey Games about anthropomorphic animals (as the book cover states) takes place in the Kingdom of Northymbra. Recent times have become unstable, the King is no where to be found, with the Prince now acting in his stead and rumors are circulating as to the Kings fate. The weather has cause a number of problems as of late, forcing more citizens into the cities, where poverty and hunger has increased. Further south the Foxes are taking advantage of the situation to gain influence and possibly pushing the citizens into rebellion. Slavery grows and various groups raid the local areas to grow in strength.
Obviously there is a bit more to that and there is a downloadable paper to add more to the Lore, but it is still rather short (only a few pages in the book), but gets across a basic idea so that you can put together enough story for your Warbands to start adventuring.
Game Rules:
Obviously you'll need terrain, models and measuring tools, but this game also requires a number of different types of dice (d4, d6,d8 etc.) and these will come into play due to character stats. There are nine stats being: Movement, Strike, Block, Ranged, Nimbleness, Concealment, Awareness, Fortitude and Presence. There's rules for Turns, Movement and Actions, including attacking, shooting and casting spells as well as searching and hiding. Games are won by achieving the scenarios main objective, though most will tend to end with routing the enemy Warband.
Warband Rules:
Building a Warband is broken down into several parts. You get 350p (Pennies) to spend on your Warband and this includes the hiring of models and the purchasing of their gear. A Warband has a maximum total of 10 Models, with no more then a max of 6 Large models and 3 Massive available in a Warband. Obviously the Large and Massive beasts will be more costly compared to the Small and Medium beasts, so it tends to be a bit more balanced that way too.
There are four types of beasts as mentioned above: Small, Medium, Large and Massive. Each chart has a number of different animals each with their own stats and some even have a few rules to go with them (such as birds having the flight rule). Once you have selected your crew and armed them, you will pick one to be the Leader and one to be their second in command, both get a bonus to show their stature in the Warband. There are even bonuses to having single species Warbands (like Mice or Rabbits for example) as this is meant to help compensate for the lack of variety in the group, plus you are limited to who you can hire in the future as a result of this too.
After that, you select your Allegiance. There are four to choose from: Royalists, Rogues, Freebeasts and Wildbeasts. Each one grants your Warband a bonus and limit what starting Den you can pick from, though you are granted a bonus Den upgrade to start off with and will also limit what Magic Lore's you have access to. While each one of these allegiances have some story behind them, you are free to come up with your own style, just so long as your opponent is aware what Allegiance you have selected (so there is no confusion when playing).
There is also a spell listing for each of the six Magic Lore's: Natural, Light, Dark, Wild, Unbound and Noble. Depending on which one you pick will also determine which of the two stats (Fortitude or Presence) is needed to cast them. Each one also has six spells you can pick from or roll-off on. Better yet, if you purchased a Mage's Pouch for your caster and got certain ingredients, you can use those ingredients to buff those spells.
Finally there are the rules for equipment (so you know how to use the stuff your models are equipped with) along with a section for skills. Skills can be earned through a model reaching a certain level while some are natural to certain animals. Skills consist of Fighting Skills, Shooting Skills, Cunning Skills, Strength Skills, Movement Skills and Innate Skills (with Innate Skills being something an animal starts with and cannot be learned). By looking through these, you can plan out possible path options for your models to follow as they level up. This brings us to...
Campaign Rules:
While you can play one-off games, Campaigns are where this game really shines. Though a campaign, you can raise even a lowly Mouse into a real hero. The campaign section has rules for playing through one, including an injury chart for wounded characters, post-game things surviving models can do to help benefit your Warband, upgrades for the Den, rolling for Skills when a model reaches a certain level up mark, Warband upkeep, Hiring and of course Shopping..er, I mean trading.
There is also a Warband Rating section, with the lower rated one getting 'Balance Points' which it can use to help get extra re-rolls and can even earn bonus experience if the gap in ratings is large enough, so even when things look bad, there is always something to help push you forward in a campaign.
Scenarios:
There are a total of eight scenarios to roll for (if you get the Book from their website is does have a bonus scenario card), though you'll probably find you roll the first one (Open War) the most.
Each scenarios has:
+ A quick story bit to give you an idea on how to use the scenario story wise
+ A section for what terrain you might need, including important scenario pieces for some scenarios
+ Rules for deployment zones and setting up models
+ Special rules for the scenario
+ Secondary Objectives if any (there is a Secondary Objectives table to roll on)
+ Starting and Ending game rules
+ Experience and Rewards for completing the scenario
As such, these scenarios will help shape the story of your Warband as it battles against other Warbands and grows in strength. Some of these will also most likely test just how well your Warband can do, given that even a Warband of strong massive beasts might suddenly find they have entered a scenario where strength over numbers is a disadvantage.
Overall Thoughts:
This game looks amazing and the rules and options for customizing and leveling a Warband is deeper then I first thought. As far as Skirmish games go, this really does feel kind of like the Mordheim of old and I like it. It also has a large list of animals to choose from and the option of using ingredients for spell casting to improve the spell is something I just love. I found myself going through the Warband creation process again and again, creating new Warbands with different animals, gear and options (I must admit, I'm kinda addicted to it).
Honestly, it really does hype me up to play a full on campaign of this game, to create new characters and tell new stories in exciting games. Even the rules for gameplay look rather interesting and I hope that if and when I can start playing it I can do a review on the gameplay itself. If you are looking for a good Skirmish game, then I can recommend this one, though if you liked cartoons like Redwall or even Disney's animated Robin Hood, then you should really look into this one too.
Looking at the Moonstone Two Player Starter Box
What surprised me the most about this set is just how small the box was. Perhaps I'm use to seeing things like the big starter sets for games like Warhammer and Infinity, but was a little shocked at just how small it was.
The set itself comes with the following things:
+ A Basic Mini Rulebook
+ A Pack of Cards (Arcane Deck, Combat Deck, Events & Agendas)
+ 2 6-Sided Dice & 7 4-Sided Dice (The Moonstones)
+ 30 Blue Counters for Energy
+ 1 Movement Widget
+ 4 Humans: Baron Von Fancyhat, Eric the Squire, Flintlock and Friar Flavious
+ 4 Goblins: Doug the Flatulent, Vicious Midget, Beaky Bobby and Grub
+ Character Cards for all Characters
Now looking at the lot, I find the cards and dice to be very nice. The cards remind me of the quality of the Malifaux cards, with the decks being the same sort of quality as those of the fate decks I've got (good quality, but slippery so will probably need to put them in sleeves to make them easier to pick up). The Moonstone d4 also look the part well enough to get the idea for a Moonstone colour. That said, the Blue Counters feel like a cheap factory product, but I am totally fine with that as they look like the energy marks on the Character cards. Besides, I can always look for some blue stones (like the green ones I use for Malifaux) if I want to change it up.
The miniatures are something else that I will talk about. With the exception of the Friar, all the others were made of a similar plastic that reminds me of Reaper's Bones range, while having the same flaws as GW's terrible Finecast range. The detail is great, but there was the occasional whole here and there, the swords are bent and are difficult to keep straight and they all needed some cleaning to get up to scratch. Now that being said, it was in there recent Kickstarter campaign that they stated that they were changing over to a better quality product, so I expect that most of these issues will be fixed up in future releases.
Have to admit, this is not my best work when it comes to fixing with green stuff. Guess I wasn't at my best. Overall though, I do highly recommend getting this box set if you want to get into Moonstone and compared to other starters, the price is also quite good. If however you really don't want Humans or Goblins, then they do sell most of the essentials and you can just start with a faction box set or two. Either way, I look forward to having a go at this game and this box set is a wonderful start.
Sorry for the poor quality shots, had to use phone camera for this.
The set itself comes with the following things:
+ A Basic Mini Rulebook
+ A Pack of Cards (Arcane Deck, Combat Deck, Events & Agendas)
+ 2 6-Sided Dice & 7 4-Sided Dice (The Moonstones)
+ 30 Blue Counters for Energy
+ 1 Movement Widget
+ 4 Humans: Baron Von Fancyhat, Eric the Squire, Flintlock and Friar Flavious
+ 4 Goblins: Doug the Flatulent, Vicious Midget, Beaky Bobby and Grub
+ Character Cards for all Characters
Now looking at the lot, I find the cards and dice to be very nice. The cards remind me of the quality of the Malifaux cards, with the decks being the same sort of quality as those of the fate decks I've got (good quality, but slippery so will probably need to put them in sleeves to make them easier to pick up). The Moonstone d4 also look the part well enough to get the idea for a Moonstone colour. That said, the Blue Counters feel like a cheap factory product, but I am totally fine with that as they look like the energy marks on the Character cards. Besides, I can always look for some blue stones (like the green ones I use for Malifaux) if I want to change it up.
The miniatures are something else that I will talk about. With the exception of the Friar, all the others were made of a similar plastic that reminds me of Reaper's Bones range, while having the same flaws as GW's terrible Finecast range. The detail is great, but there was the occasional whole here and there, the swords are bent and are difficult to keep straight and they all needed some cleaning to get up to scratch. Now that being said, it was in there recent Kickstarter campaign that they stated that they were changing over to a better quality product, so I expect that most of these issues will be fixed up in future releases.
Have to admit, this is not my best work when it comes to fixing with green stuff. Guess I wasn't at my best. Overall though, I do highly recommend getting this box set if you want to get into Moonstone and compared to other starters, the price is also quite good. If however you really don't want Humans or Goblins, then they do sell most of the essentials and you can just start with a faction box set or two. Either way, I look forward to having a go at this game and this box set is a wonderful start.
Friday 31 May 2019
Project Updates for June
So I now have both the Moonstone Starter set and the rule book for Burrows and Badgers, so expect a short review on both of them plus one on the hardcover book of Moonstone as well (won't give an exact time as I've learnt that I just can't predict how well I'll be doing). How I will review the two books is something I'm still working out as unlike the AoS Battletomes I've looked at, these have the full game rules in them and I have yet to play either, so I can't really fully explain the rules in a written format. As such, I might just focus on a basic look at it, focusing more in areas that I feel more drawn to.
Still haven't gotten the spark to do Animated Reflections, but do have a few shows I am currently considering looking at next (I may also have to look at how I write the reflections, given the feedback I've gotten).
I am also trying my hand at making some scenery based on a few tutorial videos that I have found online, so I will most likely do a WiP post on it, with the page being updated as I get more work done on it. Mostly just hills, rocks and a pond, but it gives me a chance to test out some ideas I have for future video projects.
Finally, Games-Workshop has finally brought back the store painting competition in the form called Everchosen. As such, it has been suggested to me that I enter into it and I am certainly considering it. I know I have no chance of actually getting past the first round, but the fact that I entered is what matters (that's what they tell me anyway), so I might just do it. As to what I will paint? I still don't know yet, but given it isn't until the latter part of July, I have a little time to consider my options so look out for future posts on that.
Still haven't gotten the spark to do Animated Reflections, but do have a few shows I am currently considering looking at next (I may also have to look at how I write the reflections, given the feedback I've gotten).
I am also trying my hand at making some scenery based on a few tutorial videos that I have found online, so I will most likely do a WiP post on it, with the page being updated as I get more work done on it. Mostly just hills, rocks and a pond, but it gives me a chance to test out some ideas I have for future video projects.
Finally, Games-Workshop has finally brought back the store painting competition in the form called Everchosen. As such, it has been suggested to me that I enter into it and I am certainly considering it. I know I have no chance of actually getting past the first round, but the fact that I entered is what matters (that's what they tell me anyway), so I might just do it. As to what I will paint? I still don't know yet, but given it isn't until the latter part of July, I have a little time to consider my options so look out for future posts on that.
The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance Teaser Trailer
This. This is exactly what I was hoping for and it looks like it is going to be amazing. Plus, Chamberlain is back, which is always a bonus.
Wednesday 15 May 2019
Site and Health Update
So yeah, no updates since February eh? So here's whats been happening:
My health has not been the best these last few years and more recently I have been heavily focused on sorting out paperwork and appointments for support that it has been a central focus of what little energy I have. Can report that things are almost set up so with any luck I may have a routine that will hopefully mean I am more motivated to focus on stuff like this, though this also means I am now officially disabled due to my mental illness. Not proud of it, but have to accept it in order to move on with my life. I've cut myself off from things like mobile games and as much political and internet based drama as the first is a terrible addiction while the latter is no good for my mental health.
I still haven't given up my ideas for video projects (such as the ship, puppets, vfx etc.), so with any luck the additional support might help me slowly get started on those. I do occasionally come up with new or altering ideas, so let's just hope things go well down that path.
Miniature wise, projects are still going. I apologise for not getting any photos up (let alone not updating my DeviantArt account), but have manage to achieve the following (which people tell me I should be proud of):
+ 10 Dire Wolves: Made from 9 Fenrisian Wolves and 1 Doom Wolf converted from Thunderwolf cavalry mount. Makes my Death faction feel more like it is in the Realm of Beasts.
+ Re-based 10 Freeguild Archers, 1 Witch Hunter, 1 Unforged and 1 Jade Wizard for my Order faction.
+ Working on a Death Guard Kill-Team. Have 4 Zombies and 1 Marine with Bubotic Axe done. Currently WiP is two more Zombies, a Marine Champion with Power Fist and Plasma Pistol, 1 Marine with Flail of Corruption, 1 Marine with Plasma Gun, 1 Marine with Blight Launcher, 1 Marine with Plague Spewer and 2 Marines with Boltguns. All are nearly finished, just need some slight work but once done will give me some options for getting into Kill-Team games (as soon as I can get some support to actually interact with people for games).
Slow but steady they say. I have lots more to do, but life just isn't right at the moment to deal with that. I do have some Moonstone coming, so I will talk more about that over the next few weeks. As such. I will try to make an effort (and by that I mean really force myself) to get back into writing on this thing again. I know I'm well overdue for another Animated Reflections post and I want to start my video projects soon so I can document actual progress here.
Sadly, things like depression and aggravation really get in the way, plus this being a Desktop PC I work from and not a Laptop means getting up and setting everything up takes more from me then you'd think. I do apologise for the lack of updates, but I hope I can really get back into do a few positive posts in the near future.
Until then.....
My health has not been the best these last few years and more recently I have been heavily focused on sorting out paperwork and appointments for support that it has been a central focus of what little energy I have. Can report that things are almost set up so with any luck I may have a routine that will hopefully mean I am more motivated to focus on stuff like this, though this also means I am now officially disabled due to my mental illness. Not proud of it, but have to accept it in order to move on with my life. I've cut myself off from things like mobile games and as much political and internet based drama as the first is a terrible addiction while the latter is no good for my mental health.
I still haven't given up my ideas for video projects (such as the ship, puppets, vfx etc.), so with any luck the additional support might help me slowly get started on those. I do occasionally come up with new or altering ideas, so let's just hope things go well down that path.
Miniature wise, projects are still going. I apologise for not getting any photos up (let alone not updating my DeviantArt account), but have manage to achieve the following (which people tell me I should be proud of):
+ 10 Dire Wolves: Made from 9 Fenrisian Wolves and 1 Doom Wolf converted from Thunderwolf cavalry mount. Makes my Death faction feel more like it is in the Realm of Beasts.
+ Re-based 10 Freeguild Archers, 1 Witch Hunter, 1 Unforged and 1 Jade Wizard for my Order faction.
+ Working on a Death Guard Kill-Team. Have 4 Zombies and 1 Marine with Bubotic Axe done. Currently WiP is two more Zombies, a Marine Champion with Power Fist and Plasma Pistol, 1 Marine with Flail of Corruption, 1 Marine with Plasma Gun, 1 Marine with Blight Launcher, 1 Marine with Plague Spewer and 2 Marines with Boltguns. All are nearly finished, just need some slight work but once done will give me some options for getting into Kill-Team games (as soon as I can get some support to actually interact with people for games).
Slow but steady they say. I have lots more to do, but life just isn't right at the moment to deal with that. I do have some Moonstone coming, so I will talk more about that over the next few weeks. As such. I will try to make an effort (and by that I mean really force myself) to get back into writing on this thing again. I know I'm well overdue for another Animated Reflections post and I want to start my video projects soon so I can document actual progress here.
Sadly, things like depression and aggravation really get in the way, plus this being a Desktop PC I work from and not a Laptop means getting up and setting everything up takes more from me then you'd think. I do apologise for the lack of updates, but I hope I can really get back into do a few positive posts in the near future.
Until then.....
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