I've always wanted to get Twilight Imperium. Aside from the price, the only real reason I've never picked it up is because I'm fairly certain that I would never actually get to play it. Finding 3 or 4 people to give up 6 hours for one game seems a bit unlikely, let alone playing it enough to get the hang of it!
Rich pointed me towards this today. It's an online tutorial taking you through how to play Twilight Imperium! All without having to find a whole Sunday free.
The only problem now is that I'm starting to try and justify to myself why it would be okay to buy...
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Monday, April 26, 2010
ANZAC Day Gaming
The ANZAC weekend was a pretty full-on family weekend, so there wasn't any hobby time. We did have M staying with us from Saturday, which meant I actually did get some gaming in!
Rich kindly left us Settlers of Catan, so I was finally able to show K what it was like. She didn't hate it, but she was underwhelmed.
"Why would you play this when you could play Dominion?"
"Maybe because Dominion won't be invented for another 10 years"
We agreed that it would probably take a few more goes to get the hang of it, and K is willing to try it again. So it wasn't a total loss. Oh, and I won, but that's not surprising. It was a fairly close game, mostly because I carefully missed giving myself access to any wood.
K and I decided that M might enjoy Dominion, so we gave that a go. Much to my surprise M liked it so much that she wanted to play it the next night instead of Shadows Over Camelot. We each managed to win a game, which is good. Since we were playing with the standard beginner decks, I tried out a couple of new strategies, both of which failed totally.
Rich kindly left us Settlers of Catan, so I was finally able to show K what it was like. She didn't hate it, but she was underwhelmed.
"Why would you play this when you could play Dominion?"
"Maybe because Dominion won't be invented for another 10 years"
We agreed that it would probably take a few more goes to get the hang of it, and K is willing to try it again. So it wasn't a total loss. Oh, and I won, but that's not surprising. It was a fairly close game, mostly because I carefully missed giving myself access to any wood.
K and I decided that M might enjoy Dominion, so we gave that a go. Much to my surprise M liked it so much that she wanted to play it the next night instead of Shadows Over Camelot. We each managed to win a game, which is good. Since we were playing with the standard beginner decks, I tried out a couple of new strategies, both of which failed totally.
Saturday, April 24, 2010
Character Creation: Vampire the Masquerade
I'm a little behind with this, so let's get into it!
The Game: Vampire: The Masquerade (2nd Ed)
The Publisher: White-Wolf Games
Degree of Familiarity: Lots
Books Being Used : Just the core book
Step One: Concept
He's an author. He had some success while he was alive - literature, or at least something close to it - and so far has found that he can still keep most of his former life happening. Of course, that would be really annoying for all the other players - "I sit at home and write some more!" - so he keeps finding himself pulled more and more into Kindred politics.
Brujah and Toreador are the obvious choices for his clan, but I think I'll go for Brujah partly because it's slightly different from the standard leather jacket rocker, and partly because I think it would be more fun.
You know what, I don't remember the Brujah clan weakness. Oh yeah, they're the angry ones.
There are a few Natures I'd like, but I think I'll go with Architect because it will tie in with the "getting involved with politics" thing, but I'll go for Curmudgeon as his Demeanor.
Step Two: Attributes
It's tempting to make Social his primary group, but I think I have to go with Mental - Perception 3, Intelligence 3, Wits 4. Since Appearance is always a dump stat, I'm going to make it 3, which makes Charisma 2 and Manipulation 3. Lastly I'll got for 2 across the board in Physical.
Step Three: Abilities
Okay, 13/9/5 split between Talents, Skills and Knowledges. He's a writer, so he'll need Computer 2 and Linguistics 2. He can also have a point in Investigation, Bureaucracy, Law, Science and Finance I guess.
He can drive, so Drive 1. I'll give him Etiquette 2, Repair 1 (he lives on his own, so knows how to fix stuff) and Security 1 (random book research).
Acting 2, Alertness 2, Empathy 2, Streetwise 1, Subterfuge 3
Hmm, that split didn't work out how I was expecting, but that's cool. I've got 3 points left in Talents, so I'll go for a point in Brawl and 2 in Dodge.
Step Four: Advantages
3 points in Disciplines - 1 Celerity and 2 Presence.
5 Backgrounds - Fame 2, Resources 2, Contacts 1. I want more Contacts, so I might need to come back. Yes, I am not going to take any points in Generation.
Virtues - Conscience 3, Self-Control 4, Courage 3
Step Five: Finishing Touches
Willpower is equal to my Courage, so 3. Hmmm...
Humanity is Conscience + Self-Control, which is 7, so about right.
Starting Bloodpood: 8 (actually, I rolled a 1 but that's a lame number to start at)
Okay, now I've got 15 Freebie Points to spend. I want 2 more dots in Contacts and 2 in Status. I'll bump my Willpower up to 6. Actually, I think I can bump my Courage up to 4, which has the same effect on my Willpower. Either way, that leaves me with 5 points. So I might just bump his Perception to 4.
And that gives us our mildly attractive, reasonably witty author, who I will name Charlie Grey.
He was about 30 when he was embraced 10 years ago, and has managed to publish one novel since then. Charlie's a bit of a loner, but more by circumstance than nature - he likes people (and people generally like him), but often feels like an observer looking in. This natural impartiality helped him defuse a potential Anarch uprising. During a fiery argument between the Prince's lieutenants and the Anarch leader, he blurted out some thoughts that made it possible for both parties to back down without losing face.
Since then, he's found himself somehow the unofficial peace maker between the two factions. The Anarchs see him as one of the Prince's lackeys, but at least worth listening to. he Prince and his court assume Charlie's sire is pulling his strings, or he's just an Anarch with slightly better manners. Either way, it's a pretty dangerous tightrope Charlie's walking.
The Game: Vampire: The Masquerade (2nd Ed)
The Publisher: White-Wolf Games
Degree of Familiarity: Lots
Books Being Used : Just the core book
Step One: Concept
He's an author. He had some success while he was alive - literature, or at least something close to it - and so far has found that he can still keep most of his former life happening. Of course, that would be really annoying for all the other players - "I sit at home and write some more!" - so he keeps finding himself pulled more and more into Kindred politics.
Brujah and Toreador are the obvious choices for his clan, but I think I'll go for Brujah partly because it's slightly different from the standard leather jacket rocker, and partly because I think it would be more fun.
You know what, I don't remember the Brujah clan weakness. Oh yeah, they're the angry ones.
There are a few Natures I'd like, but I think I'll go with Architect because it will tie in with the "getting involved with politics" thing, but I'll go for Curmudgeon as his Demeanor.
Step Two: Attributes
It's tempting to make Social his primary group, but I think I have to go with Mental - Perception 3, Intelligence 3, Wits 4. Since Appearance is always a dump stat, I'm going to make it 3, which makes Charisma 2 and Manipulation 3. Lastly I'll got for 2 across the board in Physical.
Step Three: Abilities
Okay, 13/9/5 split between Talents, Skills and Knowledges. He's a writer, so he'll need Computer 2 and Linguistics 2. He can also have a point in Investigation, Bureaucracy, Law, Science and Finance I guess.
He can drive, so Drive 1. I'll give him Etiquette 2, Repair 1 (he lives on his own, so knows how to fix stuff) and Security 1 (random book research).
Acting 2, Alertness 2, Empathy 2, Streetwise 1, Subterfuge 3
Hmm, that split didn't work out how I was expecting, but that's cool. I've got 3 points left in Talents, so I'll go for a point in Brawl and 2 in Dodge.
Step Four: Advantages
3 points in Disciplines - 1 Celerity and 2 Presence.
5 Backgrounds - Fame 2, Resources 2, Contacts 1. I want more Contacts, so I might need to come back. Yes, I am not going to take any points in Generation.
Virtues - Conscience 3, Self-Control 4, Courage 3
Step Five: Finishing Touches
Willpower is equal to my Courage, so 3. Hmmm...
Humanity is Conscience + Self-Control, which is 7, so about right.
Starting Bloodpood: 8 (actually, I rolled a 1 but that's a lame number to start at)
Okay, now I've got 15 Freebie Points to spend. I want 2 more dots in Contacts and 2 in Status. I'll bump my Willpower up to 6. Actually, I think I can bump my Courage up to 4, which has the same effect on my Willpower. Either way, that leaves me with 5 points. So I might just bump his Perception to 4.
And that gives us our mildly attractive, reasonably witty author, who I will name Charlie Grey.
He was about 30 when he was embraced 10 years ago, and has managed to publish one novel since then. Charlie's a bit of a loner, but more by circumstance than nature - he likes people (and people generally like him), but often feels like an observer looking in. This natural impartiality helped him defuse a potential Anarch uprising. During a fiery argument between the Prince's lieutenants and the Anarch leader, he blurted out some thoughts that made it possible for both parties to back down without losing face.
Since then, he's found himself somehow the unofficial peace maker between the two factions. The Anarchs see him as one of the Prince's lackeys, but at least worth listening to. he Prince and his court assume Charlie's sire is pulling his strings, or he's just an Anarch with slightly better manners. Either way, it's a pretty dangerous tightrope Charlie's walking.
Shopping at Milsims
Rich came to stay with us last week. Since it's now just down the road, on Saturday morning we trekked off to visit Milsims!
Rich walked away with armfuls of stuff (including StarCraft, Broodwar and the Typhon promotion cards, along with some posters and stuff all for only $150). I was hoping to get Dominion for mum's birthday present (they were sold out, but I managed to find a copy - on sale! - at Mindgames in the city), but ended up getting a copy of Smallworld.
I'd read about Smallworld when it first came out last year. I thought it sounded okay, but I wasn't grabbed. But looking at it again, it looked like just the sort of game K and M might like to play. And when I noticed it could work with 2 players, I was sold.
The box is as pretty as everything from Days of Wonder - the guy in the shop said he wasn't a fan of the cover art, but I like the style.
Inside were lots of cardboard tokens to punch out. I was impressed to discover not only were there slots for everything in the box, but there was even a removable container with a lit for some of the tokens!
K decided that I wasn't allowed to even look at the rules until we sit down to play it for the first time - the theory being that that way I won't have a head start on anyone. So I'll report back when I know more about what's inside!
Rich walked away with armfuls of stuff (including StarCraft, Broodwar and the Typhon promotion cards, along with some posters and stuff all for only $150). I was hoping to get Dominion for mum's birthday present (they were sold out, but I managed to find a copy - on sale! - at Mindgames in the city), but ended up getting a copy of Smallworld.I'd read about Smallworld when it first came out last year. I thought it sounded okay, but I wasn't grabbed. But looking at it again, it looked like just the sort of game K and M might like to play. And when I noticed it could work with 2 players, I was sold.
The box is as pretty as everything from Days of Wonder - the guy in the shop said he wasn't a fan of the cover art, but I like the style.
Inside were lots of cardboard tokens to punch out. I was impressed to discover not only were there slots for everything in the box, but there was even a removable container with a lit for some of the tokens!
K decided that I wasn't allowed to even look at the rules until we sit down to play it for the first time - the theory being that that way I won't have a head start on anyone. So I'll report back when I know more about what's inside!
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Musings on a New Army
If I ever do decide to build an Imperial Guard army, it would be a Death Korps of Krieg army. I love the look - the great coats and the gas masks. Of course, at £35 for 10 troops (which is AU$6 per model), it's never going to actually happen (a single troop choice for an IG army can, theoretically, get up to something like 150 models).It's beginning to look like my dream might be affordable after all. In May, the Wargames Factory are going to release their Shock Troops range - sci fi greatcoat infantry as they describe it. The best part is that they're going to retail for US$20 for a box of 18 models (or AU$1.20 per model)
I can pick up a box of 10 Cadian Shock Troops for £10.40 (AU$1.75 per troop), just to attempt to protect me from the GW enforcers (apparently to be tournament legal, each model needs to be at least 75% GW). So mixing and matching the parts (along with some green stuff work) would give me at least 28 troops (which works out to be about AU$1.40 per model).
There's also some great gas mask heads available from Pig Iron Productions, so a couple of different sets of these could mix things up quite nicely.
Of course, considering how long I've been working on my Angels of Redemption, and I don't even have a single finished model yet, planning something like an IG army seems pretty ridiculous!
Friday, April 16, 2010
Character Creation: 3:16
I was going to start this tonight, but I'm sick of bagging my head against a wall at work, so I'm going to do this instead. It does limit my choices quite a bit, but I think I'll start with 3:16 - Carnage Amongst the Stars. I'm pretty sure I got it with the Haiti RPG bundle, but I think this copy is a free version from before it won the Ronnies. I'll have to go back and check if anything's different.
The Game: 3:16
The Publisher: Gregor Hutton
Degree of Familiarity: Virtually none - I flicked through the pdf a while ago
Books Required: The core book
The basic premise is that Earth is a nice, save place where everyone lives the life they want for as long as they want. To protect this nice, happy place, the government has formed the 3:16 Expeditionary Forces to basically go out into the galaxy and kill anything that might one day want to hurt the people on Earth.
Name
There are a couple of examples scattered in the book, but I can't be bothered to go hunting. So off the top of my head, he can be called Bob Mansfield
Reputation
Skillful, Flaky (Bob seems competent, but when it comes to the crunch he doesn't quite seem to deliver)
Abilities
There are only two stats - Fighting and Not-Fighting - both rated between 1 and 10. I've got 10 points to split between the two, so I'll go for FA 3, NFA 7. I have 5 Strength and 5 Weakness slots, but I don't have to do anything with them yet
Rank
It's a bit tempting to make Bob a Corporal, but I'll just stick with him being a Trooper for now. That gives me an Energy Rifle, a Knife, some Grenades, an Entrenching Tool and some Hand-To-Hand training.
Kills
I need to roll a D10 for each point of FA I have. Using the awesome random.org, I get 3, 8 and 4. So a total of 15.
And that's basically it! Back on Terra, Bob was never very good at sticking to one thing. He was the sort of person that picks up new skills fairly easily, but got bored quickly. One afternoon he decided that the 3:16 might be interesting, so signed up. He was bored again before the ship had even left orbit, but by then it was too late.
The Game: 3:16
The Publisher: Gregor Hutton
Degree of Familiarity: Virtually none - I flicked through the pdf a while ago
Books Required: The core book
The basic premise is that Earth is a nice, save place where everyone lives the life they want for as long as they want. To protect this nice, happy place, the government has formed the 3:16 Expeditionary Forces to basically go out into the galaxy and kill anything that might one day want to hurt the people on Earth.
Name
There are a couple of examples scattered in the book, but I can't be bothered to go hunting. So off the top of my head, he can be called Bob Mansfield
Reputation
Skillful, Flaky (Bob seems competent, but when it comes to the crunch he doesn't quite seem to deliver)
Abilities
There are only two stats - Fighting and Not-Fighting - both rated between 1 and 10. I've got 10 points to split between the two, so I'll go for FA 3, NFA 7. I have 5 Strength and 5 Weakness slots, but I don't have to do anything with them yet
Rank
It's a bit tempting to make Bob a Corporal, but I'll just stick with him being a Trooper for now. That gives me an Energy Rifle, a Knife, some Grenades, an Entrenching Tool and some Hand-To-Hand training.
Kills
I need to roll a D10 for each point of FA I have. Using the awesome random.org, I get 3, 8 and 4. So a total of 15.
And that's basically it! Back on Terra, Bob was never very good at sticking to one thing. He was the sort of person that picks up new skills fairly easily, but got bored quickly. One afternoon he decided that the 3:16 might be interesting, so signed up. He was bored again before the ship had even left orbit, but by then it was too late.
Character Creation Project
For about as long as he's been doing it (which must be at least a few years now) I've been reading Matthew McFarland's Character Creation posts on his LiveJournal. The idea is that he wanted to go through and make a character for every RPG book he owned (which, being a fairly serious gamer and a sometimes White-Wolf writer, is a pretty large collection). I've always liked the idea, and figured I'd like to have a go at it.
Since I've now got a blog all about my solitary gaming exploits, I should get around to it!
So here's how I'm going to do it. Part of the aim is to at least get a bit of use out of all the games sitting on my shelf (or on my harddrive). Where I have supplements for a game that include extra character creation rules, I'll make a character using those rules. If I have multiple editions of a game, I'll make a character for each edition that I own. So for something like Dog's in the Vineyard, it will be one character, but for Vampire: The Masquerade there will be quite a few (2nd ed, 3rd ed, all the various supplements).
I'm going to try and make this a weekly event - something for me to post on Fridays.
There's going to be a lot to get through, and I'll probably not make it. But it will certainly be a creative failed attempt!
Since I've now got a blog all about my solitary gaming exploits, I should get around to it!
So here's how I'm going to do it. Part of the aim is to at least get a bit of use out of all the games sitting on my shelf (or on my harddrive). Where I have supplements for a game that include extra character creation rules, I'll make a character using those rules. If I have multiple editions of a game, I'll make a character for each edition that I own. So for something like Dog's in the Vineyard, it will be one character, but for Vampire: The Masquerade there will be quite a few (2nd ed, 3rd ed, all the various supplements).
I'm going to try and make this a weekly event - something for me to post on Fridays.
There's going to be a lot to get through, and I'll probably not make it. But it will certainly be a creative failed attempt!
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Angels of Redemption Painting Guide (Initial Draft)
This is mostly for my reference. If for some reason you're trying to use this for yourself, the paints marked with * are some random craft acrylics that I picked up a few years ago. The instructions marked with ** are parts I haven't tried yet.
Prime
Black (I use black gesso)
Right Half
Base coat with Clover Green*
Wash with Dark Angels Green
Highlight with 1:1 Dark Angels Green and Deneb Stone**
Left Half
Base coat with Deneb Stone
Coat with 2:1 Skull White:Deneb Stone
Roughly coat with 1:1 Deneb Stone:Bright White* (the areas that get direct light)
Highlight with Bright White**
Eyes
Base with Antique Red*
Coat with Red
Highlight with 1:1 Red and Yellow
Dot 1:1 Yellow and White
Guns
Base coat with 1:1 Silver* and Black*
Coat top part (what's that called?) with Antique Red*
Aquilas & Skulls
Gold*
Purity Seals
Base coat with Antique Red* (wax) and Skull White (parchment)
Coat with Red (wax)
Highlight with 1:1 Yellow and Red** (wax)
Text is Brown*
Wash with Delvin Mud
Finishing Up
Any other detailing as required
Black line armour segments with Black*
Prime
Black (I use black gesso)
Right Half
Base coat with Clover Green*
Wash with Dark Angels Green
Highlight with 1:1 Dark Angels Green and Deneb Stone**
Left Half
Base coat with Deneb Stone
Coat with 2:1 Skull White:Deneb Stone
Roughly coat with 1:1 Deneb Stone:Bright White* (the areas that get direct light)
Highlight with Bright White**
Eyes
Base with Antique Red*
Coat with Red
Highlight with 1:1 Red and Yellow
Dot 1:1 Yellow and White
Guns
Base coat with 1:1 Silver* and Black*
Coat top part (what's that called?) with Antique Red*
Aquilas & Skulls
Gold*
Purity Seals
Base coat with Antique Red* (wax) and Skull White (parchment)
Coat with Red (wax)
Highlight with 1:1 Yellow and Red** (wax)
Text is Brown*
Wash with Delvin Mud
Finishing Up
Any other detailing as required
Black line armour segments with Black*
Painting Update: Still No Pictures
I don't want to bother posting any more photos of my Angels of Redemption until I had something finished, and I didn't want to do any more posts about painting without posting some photos. But these tactical marines are taking me forever to finish!
Part of the problem is that I've generally be trying to do a production line - take a group of figures and do the same part on all of them (base coat the green side, base coat the white side, etc), but then I get interrupted or distracted part way through. Then I might start another section on a different group of figures, or only get through part of the first group when I do the next part. That leaves me with a bunch of figures all with different parts done, and makes it harder to do another production line.
It also doesn't help that I haven't fully decided on a process yet. So I keep trying different approaches and different ideas.
I sat down last night having decided to forget about the production line and just finish one figure. I then changed my mind and decided to get myself back on track. I grabbed all the tactical marines I had partly done, and went through trying to get them all to the same point.
I now have 11 tactical marines to almost the same point. I have some detailing to do, and then it's just highlighting and touching up. I also now have a process, so when I do the next batch things should go a bit smoother.
Part of the problem is that I've generally be trying to do a production line - take a group of figures and do the same part on all of them (base coat the green side, base coat the white side, etc), but then I get interrupted or distracted part way through. Then I might start another section on a different group of figures, or only get through part of the first group when I do the next part. That leaves me with a bunch of figures all with different parts done, and makes it harder to do another production line.
It also doesn't help that I haven't fully decided on a process yet. So I keep trying different approaches and different ideas.
I sat down last night having decided to forget about the production line and just finish one figure. I then changed my mind and decided to get myself back on track. I grabbed all the tactical marines I had partly done, and went through trying to get them all to the same point.
I now have 11 tactical marines to almost the same point. I have some detailing to do, and then it's just highlighting and touching up. I also now have a process, so when I do the next batch things should go a bit smoother.
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Initial Impressions: Catan - the First Island
Still feeling a strong desire to play Settlers of Catan, on Saturday night decided to buy the iPhone game Catan: The First Island.The good news is that it definitely scratches the Catan itch. It took me a little bit to figure out how to actually start a game, but once I worked that out, the game play was very intuitive.
The default animation speed for dice rolling and the various comments the other players makes it all quite slow, but fortunately that's easy to turn off.
My biggest complaint is that the AI players are too easy to beat - I lost the first game because I was still getting back up to speed (and even then would have been okay if the rolls in the last two rounds had gone a bit differently), but since then I think I've only lost one game (and I was on 9 points and a win in my hand).
Overall, I'm very pleased with the money I spent. It's never going to replace the actual board game, but it's great for killing 10mins or so. Or if you're a gamer who's all on his own
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Easter Gaming
Over the Easter weekend, I actually managed to get some gaming done!
We played Dominion using both the Intrigue and Sea Side expansion packs. It was the first time I'd played with either of the extra cards, so I was a little slower than normal in picking up on some of the card synergies. I also feel into the trap of wanting to try out the exciting new cards and so didn't keep my eyes on the prize, but that's okay. The best result I managed was coming second.
I had been really wanting to play some Settlers of Catan, so I managed to convince everyone else to give that a go. In the first game I seriously messed up my initial placement, needlessly denying myself access to any wood, and never really recovered. The second game ended up being a lot closer. Brick was extremely hard to come by, and several times I was blocked in just before building a new settlement. So I ended up wasting lots of brick with roads to no where. I still managed to rack up 7 or 8 victory points before I stupidly made some trades that resulted in me being tronned in again AND the game ending.
The last game we tried was Space Alert. Most of us hadn't played before (including myself) so it took a bit of time to go through all the rules and explain what was going to happen. Then we jumped straight into the chaos. When the dust settled, surprisingly we almost managed to survive. Actually knowing what to expect next time will probably help us.
We played Dominion using both the Intrigue and Sea Side expansion packs. It was the first time I'd played with either of the extra cards, so I was a little slower than normal in picking up on some of the card synergies. I also feel into the trap of wanting to try out the exciting new cards and so didn't keep my eyes on the prize, but that's okay. The best result I managed was coming second.
I had been really wanting to play some Settlers of Catan, so I managed to convince everyone else to give that a go. In the first game I seriously messed up my initial placement, needlessly denying myself access to any wood, and never really recovered. The second game ended up being a lot closer. Brick was extremely hard to come by, and several times I was blocked in just before building a new settlement. So I ended up wasting lots of brick with roads to no where. I still managed to rack up 7 or 8 victory points before I stupidly made some trades that resulted in me being tronned in again AND the game ending.
The last game we tried was Space Alert. Most of us hadn't played before (including myself) so it took a bit of time to go through all the rules and explain what was going to happen. Then we jumped straight into the chaos. When the dust settled, surprisingly we almost managed to survive. Actually knowing what to expect next time will probably help us.
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