Tag Archives: Tabletop

“Miniatures Agnositc”

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This has started to be one of my favorite phrases in a description of any tabletop miniatures game.

As I start to play games like Frostgrave and Rangers of Shadow Deep, I find myself looking at my old D&D/RPG miniatures to fill in for some of the character models I need for the games.

An unused rogue mini will be a thief in my Frostgrave warband.

One of my paladin minis will be the champion in another warband.

And I’m sure I’ll find a purpose for many others of these miniatures.

Meanwhile, instead of scrambling to find enough creaturesfor a given scenario in some of these games, I came up with this simple solution.

I’m printing a dozen of these guys to proxy *any* creature that my warbands come across.  Some of the scenarios call for 5 of a certain type when all I have is 2, so the generic green SFX guys will fill in for the missing creatures.

Stand by!

Warriors of Athena

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I was browsing Osprey Publishing’s July Flash Sale and came across a new tabletop skirmish game called Warriors of Athena, and after reading the description I figured that this would be the perfect next game for me to try.

“In an age of monsters, humanity is besieged, sheltering in isolated city states as the forces of destruction ravage the land. There is a spark of hope, however – the demigods. These heroes, born of the gods and granted some of the power of their divine parents, stand fast against the chaos. Explorers, warriors, and diplomats, they sail the wine-dark sea, seeking adventure, battling horrific creatures, and protecting the helpless.”

It’s a relatively new game (released in February?) but I’m sure I have plenty of miniatures that can fit the bill for both heroes and monsters.

You create a hero in the same vein as many of the Greek heroes (Odysseus, Jason) with possible parentage from the gods, who can grant your hero gifts or weaknesses, choose your heroic abilities, generate your stats, recruit your companions, choose your weapons and armor, and name your character.

It’s a pretty straightforward character creation system.

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Idea!

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So I came up with a campaign idea for Five Parsecs From Home.

Mando’s Mission.

With just a crew (clan) of 2, I’ll have the Mandalorian go after Imperial warlords in the Outer Rim.

Though technically I can have Zeb along for missions.

Colonel Ward and the New Republic will be his patron, giving him missions.  I’m hoping Skullforge Studios will create some new character minis from the movie.

And of course I’ll use my Star Wars Legion miniatures, though I did just print up another Zeb, I’ll paint him like he is in the movie.

Stand by!

Guards! Guards!

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Yet another game joins the ranks of the Soon to be Played™

1-4 player skirmish game where you control a Guard captain and his squad, while attempting to keep the peace in a medieval town.

Ahead of receiving the game from overseas (England) I’ve ordered an extra set of guards from the miniatures manufacturer, Wargames Atlantic, so I can assemble and paint up some guards.

Some of the paint schemes I’ve seen have inspired me to simply use team colors from various English football (soccer) squads, like there’s a blue/white scheme that can represent Tottenham, or gold/black for Wolverhampton Wanderers.

And there’s like 20+ civilian miniatures in the game who can be suspects for crimes from the plot cards played during a scenario.

Stand by!

This Is The Way

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“I swear on my name and the names of the ancestors… That I shall walk the Way of the Mand’alor… And the words of the Creed shall be forever forged in my heart. This is the Way.“

The real reason I’m getting back into Star Wars Legion?

Along with choosing from 4 clans (Clan Wren, Clan Kryze, Deathwatch/Super Commandos, Children of the Watch) there’s an option where you can create YOUR OWN CLAN.

Clan Pepsi and the Pepsimandalorians will live!

Stand by!

Legion

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As I printed up a squad of Security Troops from “Maul: Shadow Lord” (or ‘Maul Cops’ as I call them), I thought about what it would cost to dive back into Star Wars Legion, now in it’s 2.0 format.

I’ve been very reluctant to do this since I have a smaller area to play in my apartment, along with the cost of a new army or armies.

After reviewing a couple of videos on YouTube, I discovered that it wouldn’t cost me anything except color printer ink.

I was afraid that I’d have to grab a new Starter Box, but since I have all of my Legion miniatures (Rebellion and Empire) in a few boxes/cases, the only things missing were the unit/command cards and the measuring/movement tools and dice.

Past me must have anticipated this, because I found that I had downloaded all the updated print and play unit cards from the Atomic Mass Games site, even for units I don’t have (but could 3D print proxies for, like Daimyo Boba Fett).

I also found that I there are ‘Recon’ rules for play in a smaller area, 3ft x 3ft instead of 6ft x 3ft.  And I do have a double sided 3ft x 3ft play mat.

I’ll need to grab some stuff out of storage soon, specifically the 3D terrain I had printed, and the core box with the measuring/movement tools and dice.

Stand by!

Star Wars

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… Nothing but Star Wars, Give me those Star Wars, Dont let them end. Oh Star Wars, If they should bar wars, Please let these Star Wars Stay.

I gotta say, I am a sucker for most Star Wars tabletop games.

I got into X-Wing, Armada and Imperial Assault, al of which have been discontinued.

And now I hear that Star Wars Shatterpoint is the next in line to go that way.

To be fair, I did like the look of the Shatterpoint miniatures more than Star Wars Legion, and I believe I only bought a couple of expansions (Clone Wars Era) before shelving that game in storage.

For Legion, on the other hand, I bought more than a few extra squad boxes for both the Rebellion and the Empire.  And then the main game went into storage, while the miniatures found their way to my apartment.

I have a couple of miniature agnostic games that allow me to use them, A Fistful of Lead: Galactic Heroes Edition and Five Parsecs from Home.

It does make me wonder if I should get a new Starter Set for Legion, since it appears that they pivoted toward Shatterpoint for a while and left Legion to flounder and then shifting back to Legion, but looking at the contents of the Rebellion Starter Set, I have pretty much all the miniatures it includes except for the Wookiees.

Now if they came out with a Scum and Villainy Starter set…

Play

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If there’s one thing I’ve picked up from watching more Solo RPG videos, especially from The Grouch Couch, it’s that I should be playing more, not trying to write a novel.

There should be more dice rolling and less treating the play session as a creative writing exercise.

And that goes for any other tabletop games I’m trying to play, like Five Leagues and Five Parsecs.

I’ve found myself lost in simple things like trying to hard to come up with background details for a character I may or may not ever play, or trying to come up with names for regions/cities for my Five Leagues map.

And that’s probably one of the things that subconsciously prevents me from delving more into any of the Solo RPGs that i’ve already set up, all three of them.

I have one campaign underway (Star Trek Adventures/Captain’s Log), and two ready to start (Dragonbane, D&D 5E) but  now I believe that the issue I was having was trying to describe events THAT HAVE NOT HAPPENED YET.

You can’t write a good story without an outline, so how can I describe how my adventure is going without playing out the situation?

For Star Trek: Excalibur, we’re about to continue our mission of exploration.

Irony: the last bit of storytelling for Star Trek: Excalibur was *totally* a creative writing exercise, no dice were rolled, just trying to advance the plot.

For Dragonbane, my character is about to delve into the unknown catacombs.

For D&D, my two-man party is about to enter the forest in search of a lost scouting party from a local town.

Other games will have some sort of after action report as they are played.

Don’t touch that dial!

Beginnings Revisited

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Star Trek Adventures has a new sourcebook, The 23rd Century Campaign Guide, and per usual, they included a new career path option:

NOW I can recreate my original FASA Trek trader captain, Mackenzie Decker, if I so choose.

I’m actually thinking of having Decker as an NPC, and maybe pull a nuBSG and do a gender swap on Mackenzie Decker?

File:Big Wow 2013 - Indiana Jones (8845876192).jpg

I’ve met this cosplayer, Abby Darkstar, and her partner, Keith Zen, both are really nice people.

Anyways.

Decisions, decisions.