BATTLESPACE STRATEGY GAMING MAGAZINE
OCT/NOV 2011
features Independent rule design Art design powerhouse Hell Dorado battle report Going cardboard Legend of the five rings
REAL-TIME STRATEGY Naval War: Arctic Circle
End of Nations
RTS history
OP4S
Steve Argyle’s Legend of the Five Rings art
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editor’s column
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How far will you go to win at Mob Ties?
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‘Geekumentary’ maker Lorien Green analyses board games
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Tabletop strategy
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digital strategy
Visit the world of Legend of the Five Rings through the art of Steve Argyle
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table strategy 34- 57
card & board strategy incoming! products
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Gauntlet Media - Queensland, Australia www.thebattlespace.com editor@thebattlespace.com
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editor’s column James Dillon Editor-in-chief editor@thebattlespace.com www.thebattlespace.com
Full Spiel ahead One of the gaming industry’s most significant annual events, Germany’s Spiel in Essen, is just around the corner, taking place from October 20-23 in the massive Messe Essen exhibition centre. Many new board games are hurriedly being produced in anticipation for the four-day event, with fresh-off-the-printing-press games likely to come from Polish-based publishing house Portal, the deluxe tenth anniversary edition of Andreas Seyfarth’s Puerto Rico: Die Jubiläumsausgabe, various games from White Goblin Games, copies of Eclipse and Supernova expansions, Quined Games’ Alba Longa and many more. For an in-depth look at a few notable board games being showcased at Essen, turn to page 57 for our Spotlight on Spiel feature article. This issue has been strongly influenced by digital real-time strategy games, although readers may be surprised to see the RTS genre also included in our tabletop section, with a feature on the currently under-development OP4S. Game developer Brent Spivey hopes to unify digital and tabletop gaming worlds with his new rules systems, and with a number of miniature developers and game companies behind him it will be interesting to see how this develops. In other news, less then a year out from
Battlespace magazine editor, James Dillon with the awardwinning magazine at Auscon II, Australia, in October
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our first issue and Battlespace has already won an award for its content, quality and innovation. The magazine was voted Best Game Oriented Magazine in this year’s Gaming Genius Awards, an inaugural competition organised by the volunteerdriven International Gamers Guild. Battlespace is honoured to have received the award and we intend to continue innovating the concept of what it means to be a digital magazine for the gaming industry. As always, the magazine is open and accessible to gamers and game manufacturers and we welcome your involvement for future stories and features. One of Battlespace’s goals has been to develop a dedicated app for Apple’s iPad and other tablet devices. As app developers and technologies become increasingly available and easier to work with, our goal will hopefully come to fruition sometime in 2012. For those with an iPad that have found the Flash version of the magazine blocked due to Apple’s unnecessary restrictions, there is always the dedicated PDF file available here: http://www.gauntletmedia.com/ BattlespaceOctNov2011.pdf Thanks you for your interest in Battlespace and I hope you enjoy the issue. B
gaming news
ONLINE GAMERS CRACK AIDS VIRUS Online gamers have deciphered the structure of an enzyme of an AIDS-like virus that had thwarted scientists for a decade. Gamers divided into competing groups to unfold chains of amino acids - the building blocks of proteins - using a set of online tools called Foldit. The gamers produced an accurate model of the enzyme in just three weeks. The results were recently published in the journal Nature Structural & Molecular Biology.
Sydney Toy and Game Expo convenor, Charles Bishop is bringing board game fever to Sydney
SYDNEY TO HOST AUSTRALIAN EUROGAME CHAMPIONSHIPS
GLADIATORS FIGHT FOR CHARITY A gladiatorial coliseum took centre stage at a charity event in Tucson, US. The Vul-Con Team joined the festivities at NOTACON, a charity event supporting The Creative Play Project, a non-profit organisation that provides tabletop games to youth clubs. The event included access to an open games library with hundreds of games, tournaments and game demos.
Australia’s Settlers of Catan and Carcassonne championships will be held at the inaugural Sydney Toy and Game Expo (SydTAG) next year. Running from 9-11 June, 2012, the winner of the Eurogame national champions will represent Australia at the World Championships held in Germany. In 2012, current champions Daniel Geromboux (Carcassonne) and Jeff Davies (Settlers of Catan) will look to retain their titles. SydTAG will also showcase family-focused non-electronic entertainment, Lego displays, the latest in toys and games and huge jigsaw puzzles. According to expo convenor Charles Bishop, SydTAG will become an Australian version of Germany’s Essen spiele, the world’s largest public games expo. Despite the challenge ahead in reaching such heights, Mr Bishop draws inspiration from the fact that the 5
150,000-strong German event first started from humble beginnings in a local church. Essen has been a major influence on Australian expo organisers, having inspired the original Australian Games Expo held in Canberra this year. Mind Games Albury and Canberra managing director, Phil Davies launched the first expo in 2006, modelled on the Essen event, in his home town of Albury, New South Wales. Mr Bishop said continuing traditions such as hosting these tournaments will be vital to building the expo into the premier public event for toys and games within Australia. “Phil has provided a great legacy for toys and games. We look forward to realising his initial vision through bringing toys and games to the ‘meeple’ of Sydney and beyond,” Mr Bishop said. For more information on SydTAG including events, ticketing, accommodation check out their website www. sydtag.com.au.
gaming news
Thank you.
Winner: Battlespace Best Game Oriented Magazine 2011
SPY MUSEUM TO CARRY ESPIONAGE GAME Stronghold Games announced that the International Spy Museum in Washington, DC, US, will carry Confusion: Espionage and Deception in the Cold War in its retail shop. The International Spy Museum describes itself as “the only public museum in the United States solely dedicated to espionage and the only one in the world to provide a global perspective on an all-but-invisible profession that has shaped history and continues to have a significant impact on world events”.
Thank you to the games industry and everyone involved in the inaugural Gaming Genius Awards, held in September as part of Montreal’s Comiccon.
Whether you’re investigating the history of spies or not, Confusion: Espionage and Deception in the Cold War was slated for release in US retailers in September. Confusion is a strategic two-player abstract game with a heavy deduction element. At the start of the game, neither player knows how their own pieces move and must deduce the movement by performing attempted moves. Your goal is to capture the neutral pieces and deliver it to your opponent’s side of the board.
The Gaming Genius Awards, or Golden Pawns, are awards bestowed by the International Gamers Guild to recognise genius in the design, manufacture, publishing, and practice in the hobby games field. They are awarded to nominees across the hobby game industry in a variety of categories that cover the excellence of the field. Battlespace will continue to innovate the concept of a digital magazine for the gaming industry through a contemporary, cutting-edge design coupled with an interactive, animated format.
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gaming news
COMPETITIVE POST APOC CIRCUIT ANNOUNCED Dark-Age Games is running a special tournament circuit with the winner to be provided with a round trip continental US airfare to GenCon 2012. The March to Immortality competition is open to stores and clubs interested in participating, as long as they meet a list of criteria. The event must be scheduled between the dates of October 2011 and June 2012. The event must be pre-registered with Dark Age Games at least four weeks in advance of the events date and it must have reported at least 24 pre-registered players at the time of submission and the event organisers
Dark-Age games artwork. Image source: http://www.dark-age.com
must have an approved judge ready for the event. Dark Age Games will provide online promotion for the event using the Dark Age website, forums, Facebook page and Twitter. This month Dark Age Games supplied prizes to the Cornwall Breast Cancer Brawl tournament with prizes to hand out during the event. “We are sympathetic to anyone and their families who has lost someone or is suffereing from breast cancer. This is our way of showing our support for this very serious cause,” a spokesperson said.
HOBBY PAINTING BLOG SHOWCASES MODELS
BATTLE TACTICS HOWTO SERIES
Four hobby painters have teamed up to recently launch a new game blog.
Lt. Col. (ret) Jeffrey Paulding has provided his warfare experience in a series of how-to videos using battlefront.com’s Combat Mission: Battle for Normandy.
Tale of Painters (www.taleofpainters. com), formerly known as Stahly’s Paint Station, intends to provide multiple updates each day, posting showcases of their latest models and work in progress snapshots.
In the latest video Mr Paulding examines situational analysis, vulnerability and fire superiority.
They will also have painting and modelling tutorials and reviews of essential hobby gear. Current news posts include a multipart Dreadfleet review and a guide to magnetic basing and movement trays.
Land Raider showcase. Image source: www.takeofpainters.com 7
gaming news
EUROPEAN EXPANSION
HELLISH CARD GAME RULES RELEASED Small Box Games have released the online rules for their card game Hemloch. Designed for two players, each player accesses their own deck of Minions from five potential
Mayfair Games announced the formation of Mayfair Games Europe GmbH in September.
factions. With the optional drafting rules, players can create new Minion decks with each game.
Mayfair Games Europe, a German corporation, will establish offices to facilitate distribution of Mayfair Games product throughout the continent.
Preorders for Hemloch are now open.
Operations in Europe will be managed by Guenter Doil, a long-time industry veteran according to Mayfair Games. Gamers playing Catan, a board game distributed by Mayfair Games
The goods are expected to be in place and the program fully operational on November 1, 2011.
APPLE TAKES DOWN BOARD GAME APP An iPad app game design program has run into problems with Apple’s Ttunes store. Apple is concerned that EveryGame from Nathaniel Dirksen may be violating the App Store guidelines for uploading code. “EveryGame would be removed from the App store if we don’t comply with their decision, so we have no choice but to do so,” Mr Dirksen stated. “If you rely on this feature for game development (or have been considering picking up EveryGame and feel it’s important), make sure to get version 2.0, and avoid updating temporarily.”
Artwork from Hemlock. Image source: www.smallboxgames.com
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gaming news
ASCENSION APP WORLD CUP The Board Game Geek iOS Board Game Community Guild has nearly completed running a 64-player World Cup-style tournament of Ascension: Chronicle of the Godslayer. Starte din mid September and currently in the seminfinals stage, guild memebrs Jammatal and Turgid are facing each other off while Tezza has won his spot in the final game after defeating Tezza by two games. The full standings can be followed here: http://boardgamegeek.com/ geeklist/71214/ios-ascension-worldcup-2011
The app version of the card game Ascension: Chronicle of the Godslayer
MANTIC GAMES LAUNCH PARTY TO CELEBRATE WARPATH ARRIVAL UK-based Mantic Games has invited the gaming industry into its office with open doors to celebrate the imminent release of their Warpath sci-fi fantasy rule book, Planned for November 12 at their Nottingham office, a number of activities are planned for the day, including the first chance for players to get their hands on the complete Warpath range. “Everyone who comes through the door gets themselves a goodie bag, hang out with Ronnie (who no doubt will spill all the details
Concept artwork from Mantic Games’ upcoming Warpath tabletop rule book 9
about next years release schedule!) and Alessio in our seminars, check out the new scenery, learn to paint with Golem, demo the new Warpath rules and talk to world-famous celebrity guests,” a Mantic Games spokesperson said. Gamers interested in attending can gett a ticket to the November event by visitng their website. “There’s too much stuff happening to tell you all about it in the newsletter, so check out our dedicated page for all the activities and travel information,” the spokesperson said.
insight
OF GAMES AND DESIGN
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Battlespace talks to Song skirmish wargame series creator, Andrea Sfiligoi about designing fast, uncomplicated war games as a one-man operation.
insight riting rules can be a simple exercise for game designers. The hard part is playing them enough times to ensure they make sense. When you live in regional Italy with few gamers nearby to match wits against, as is the case for Ganesha Games’ Andrea Sfiligoi, this can prove problematic. Despite the geographic gulf, Mr Sfiligoi has managed to transform what was at first a hobby into a respected independent games company in the space of a few years. Collaborating with a variety of international rule authors and with more than 16 rule books to his
portfolio covering history, fantasy and alternative game worlds the games designer has leveraged the power of the internet to make his mark within the game industry. The past decade has seen a dramatic increase in the number of Italian strategy games produced and sold internationally. While German and American games have traditional been split between abstract simplicity and thematic chance, Italian games are said to give players open-ended choices that test their understanding of the game’s strategy. Ignoring conventions, Mr Sfiligoi designs the types of games he wants to play.
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insight The independent game designer believes the rule design process is like preparing the classic Italian vegetable soup minestrone, an analogy revealing his national heritage. “The ingredients are always the same but the final taste can be much different depending on the cook,” Mr Sfiligoi explains to Battlespace.
none are required) because I like an uncluttered tabletop,” he says. Ganesha Game’s flagship miniature skirmish rules, Song of Blades and Heroes, brought the designer into the gaming spotlight by surprise. Published in 2007 just for fun, its nomination in the US-based Origins Award in 2008 propelled him into
“Mr Sfiligoi looks for rules that are uncomplicated, fast
and require just a few models. With few people having the time and space for games lasting more than one hour, Mr Sfiligoi looks for rules that are uncomplicated, fast and require just a few models. “I want my games to be playable with any sort of miniatures, paper counters, and so on, on any kind of reasonably small surface. I do not produce miniatures so I am not interested in rule sets forcing people to buy a lot of models. I want my games to use as few counters or markers as possible (generally,
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the wider gaming space. The game’s crucial rule is the use of a risk-taking mechanic, an activation roll which may be performed on one-to-three dice depending on how important the player feels that particular action is. If two or more dice fail the roll, then the initiative turn overs to the opponent. “So my game system has the familiarity of the ‘I go you go’ classic systems, but at the same time the unpredictability of more modern systems,” he says. The designer ensures players have
insight plenty of things to do during his games and choices to make during their turn. Mr Sfiligoi’s aversion to math means that there is very little adding and subtracting in his games. As wargaming is a “non-exact science”, all his games use three measuring sticks, short, medium, and long, so there is no counting inches or millimeters on the tabletop. “The design principle is that two short sticks still beat one medium stick and two medium sticks beat one long stick. So a slow-moving model with more available actions than a fastmoving model will still be faster if he risks more activation dice.” His games are fairly abstract, allowing rule engines to be used for various permutations, from cavemen to futuristic soldiers with power armor and laser rifles, or spaceship combat, just by bolting on special rules. “I also make sure that the modifiers are few but meaningful, and
“I believe it’s both easier to find good examples of
rules solutions to take inspiration from, but also more difficult to stand out in the crowd of systems that are released every year,” he said. no markers or counters are used in a typical game. There are also no memory effects in the games, meaning that you don’t have to write down lasting modifiers, wounds, or stuff like that. Everything happens when it happens. This leaves you a lot of mental space to concentrate on tactics,” he says.
Pictured Above and right: Artwork from the Shadowsea rule book and ancient rule books Below: Andrea introduces children to a game of Mighty Monsters
As wargamers like to dabble in a variety of genres and periods, the Song games let them try a period and evolve into a larger ruleset later when they have more figures. “Wargamers also like to tinker with game mechanics. The Song system allows them to do so, as you can take a mechanic from, say, our horror set Fear and Faith and bolt it into a Napoleonic ruleset... voila, you have Napoleonic soldiers versus zombies during the Haiti rebellion (this is Drums of Voodoo, an actual campaign we are writing just for the heck of it). Admittedly, with a bit of common sense you can do this with any rules system, but the Song games are designed for this from the start.” Many of Gaensha Games’ rules tap into a sense of naivety 13
insight that engages well with children. Likewise, wargame ‘minmaxers’ and competitionoriented people are not welcome at Mr Sfiligoi’s games table. “I do not play like that and I do not encourage playing like that. Everybody else can join in and have a lot of fun,” he says. A special category he covers is the ‘dad playing with young son or daughter’ demographic, which is strong in countries where people still have children at a relatively young age. Two of his sets are especially aimed at such a demographic: Song of Fur and Buttons, based on colonial teddy bears by Eureka miniatures and written by a primary school teacher, Ben Boersma; and Song of the Splintered Lands (SSL), written by John McBride, another schoolteacher who wargames with children in summer camps. Mr Sfiligoi always searches for ways to minimise rule and page counts. It is far better to say something in three lines rather then filling a page. “Although I do not play a lot of boardgames or card games, I do check them for elegant and simple solutions. Miniature games in general have a lot to learn from board games,” he says. “Many elegant rule solutions also come from talking and listening to the advice of Sergio Laliscia, author of our Origins-award winning Napoleonic rule set Song of Drums and Shakos. Sergio is an expert at rules simplification.” Despite real-life often getting in the way, such as recently undergo an operation
Ganesha Games offers a number of history and medieval fantasy-oriented rule books, such as Song of Blades and Heroes 14
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Work-in-progress Upcoming Ganesha Games rule sets: · Flashing Steel (stand alone swashbuckling) · Mystri Island (WW1 weird/Pulp based on models by Khurasan miniatures) · Song of the Dragon Kings (SBH wuxia/ Chinese myth, models by Black Hat) · Song of Gods and Heroes (Greek myth) · Swatters (working title, marines vs aliens) · Song of Honor and Shadow (Japanese) · Song of Wave and Tide (pirates, ship-toship combat, models by Black Hat) · Song of Armies and Hordes (mass combat rules, in playtest) · Drums and Shakos army rules · Assault on Neo Tokyo (MDRG supplement with Kremlin miniatures) · Mighty Monsters · Song of Spear and Shield (ancient rules) · Frontline Heroes (WWII supplement, in playtest) · Ghost Rangers (written by Ben Boersma, currently in playtest) · The Fear and the Flesh (zombie campaign) · Power Legion (superheroes, in playtest) · Reichstrike (platoon-level, weird WW2 rules with mechs, nazis and ninjas, written by Andy Frazer) · Adrenaline (multiplayer participation game, currently being redesigned) · And numerous sourcebooks for SBH
for carpal tunnel syndrome on his right hand, development of his latest title, Song of Spear and Shield, is coming along nicely, although it’s been the hardest gaming system he has ever worked on.
abandoning the print market completely in the “not so distant future”, predicting that tablets and e-readers becoming the de facto distribution channel for wargames.
“I love ancients and I want to make it right. In a way, the combat is simpler than my other games, but it is complicated by the use of formations such as phalanx, tortoise, etc. The idea here is playing still at skirmish level, with one man being represented by a single figure, but allow for formations (even if they are not terribly realistic at this size of battle) because most players will like to see their figures move like that,” he says.
“I have nothing against paper but the disadvantages of having to print and ship books are just too many for a one-man company to bear,” he says.
“The real writing starts only when the
figures hit the table and you really must be able to change everything once you check your players’ reactions.
“I also have a specially designed iPad application which is basically a very nice PDF reader with inbuilt dice roller and point cost calculators. The iPad market is still very small, but it is growing and I think it is the way of the future. I am slowly converting old my games into specially designed versions for the iPad in addition to the traditional letter sized/A4 PDF booklet.” Having recently joined a new gaming club, he also hopes that this will allow him to progress his rules further.
“The real writing starts only when the figures hit the table and you really must be able to change The second version of Blades and Heroes is also everything once you check your players’ reactions. underway, benefiting from four years of play and The only way you can get the game right, in my comments from a 2000+ Yahoo group. He is also working on the superhero set Power Legion and on humble opinion, is by listening to people’s advice and understanding where they come from.” B many expansions for existing rule sets, including racial themed books for Blades and Heroes, scenario books, a ghost hunting campaign and two supplements for the post-apocalyptic set Mutants and Death Ray Guns, one of which is based on the miniatures by Kremlin miniatures in the UK), Mr Sfiligoi has enjoyed the revolution brought by the internet. Print on demand has been a major force for change, although he foresees a moment where it will be completely unnecessary thanks to the development of tablet computing. Of course, no revolution is without its victims and the stores where he bought his games as a teen have all closed down. With 80 per cent of his sales coming from e-books in PDF format, Mr Sfiligoi looks forward to 15
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Freelance game art-design powerhouse, Tears of Envy talks to Battlespace about bringing strategy gaming to life through art.
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K art designer, Tears of Envy can safely call the games industry her home. Having grown up on a diet of gaming culture and having now worked with some of the industry’s most respected names, such as Games Workshop, Mantic Games and Studio McVey, as well as smaller projects such as World of Twilight, the industry is one she loves and understands. Crafting highquality company logos, game boards, card backings and websites designs, she has carved a niche for herself within the industry and even started her own card game.
“The retro-clone movement which has swept the role-playing world is creeping into the wargaming industry.
Since as early she can remember, Tears of Envy has been fascinated by the strange and the fantastic. Influenced by her father’s love for pulp sci-fi and horror, such as the Warlord of Mars series of books and Hammer Horror films, a pivitol life moment occured when she visited her local newsagent around the age of 10. The front covers of two
magazines caught her attention: Dragon (no longer in print) and Games Workshop’s White Dwarf. Flicking through their pages, she found the gritty, apocalyptic interior art of the Games Workshop title far more appealing. From that point on she was hooked. Since then, Tears of Envy fondly remembers the Games Workshop releases of the early 90s, when titles such as Adeptus Titanicus, Advanced Heroquest and Dark Future were published. “The retro-clone movement which has swept the roleplaying world is creeping into the wargaming industry, and it’s been really great to work on 80s inspired games like Mantic’s dungeon-crawl Dwarf King’s Hold series,” Tears of Envy explains to Battlespace. Her intimate familiarity with gaming has allowed her to engage with the games industry and give their art work the right feel. “When clients come to me asking for a logo or artwork for a fantasy game, I feel like I am on safe ground. We speak the same language; we reference the same movies, video games or comics,” she says. “I think this is a really important skill because it cuts down on the amount of work a client needs to do to impart their ideas and means they come 17
Pictured above from left to right: Orc marker from Green Menace, Sedition Wars vanguard and rebel logos and cards from Genie Weave Pictured below: Legion parchment
insight away satisfied with something which has met their expectations. What’s more, it feels really great when people I meet have already seen my work. The logo for Mantic’s new game Warpath is a good example of that - it’s all over the internet and I am really proud to see it in so many places.”
fantasy and science fiction illustrator, John Blanche. It was in that period that she nailed the look which now defines her portfolio.
“Pieces like the Vampire Counts parchment (which was commissioned as a mood-board piece when Games Workshop was revising the undead With no formal art or design training, her studies line in about 2004) really set me on the trail that into art history at university has a massive impact has led me to where I am today,” she says. on her work. Spending three years pouring over Furthering her craft is an ongoing process, as images of Roman architecture, Gothic churches was revealed when she made a visit to the Games and Egyptian artifacts - the areas she principally Workshop Studio and spoke to Jez Goodwin. specialised in- she believes her style is both “He explained that when he designs he will look ‘classical’ and antique as a result. at inspiring modern sci-fi examples, but then go “From a young age I was always really creative. back to the sources which influenced them and My first love was theatre design when I was at work with those predecessors, rather than the school. This turned to film-making at university modern derivatives. It is essential to do this if and then to photography and graphic design after you want to produce original work, otherwise all I graduated,” she explains. you’ll do is reference contemporary material and Her personal style first began to develop about your work will look like everyone elses’,” she says. six years ago while working closely with British “Consequently, I look more at original Victorian
Personal project One project stands out most proudly to Tears of Envy. The design for the boardgame DUNE: Express was a selfmotivated portfolio project where she made all the graphics for a free-release of a community-written title. “Although there have been many interpretations of the universe Frank Herbert created and some of these
(like the David Lynch film) are vaguely steampunk, I wanted to do a very ornate Victorian version. There were no clients to please and no economic factors. As a result, the final product is a very pure example of my design,” she said. In particular she likes the character portrait photos used for the faction cards, genuine vintage images in harmony with the game’s design. 18
Pictured above: a blast maker from Cutlass, one of Tears of Envy’s favourite designs. Pictured bottom right: Cutlass design motif
insight and inter-war-years technology, architecture and design more than modern diesel or steampunk art.” This design process proved valuable in the development of the Cutlass rulebook from Black Scorpion. With stereotypical pirate imagery of parrots, peg legs, jolly rogers and eye patches everywhere following the success of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies, Tears of Envy and Black Scorpion’s Adam Clarke chose to look at 18th and 19th century source material. Consequently, they settled on a look which avoided these stereotypes but was piratical and unique. “We used lots of navigation and nautical-map symbols, voodoo sigils and the aesthetics of the printing processes of the time,” she says. Tears of Envy uses an iMac for her designs along with Wacom, Photoshop, Illustrator, Cinema 4D, InDesign, a Nikon D100 camera and Picasa. She began her digital career
with Photoshop before getting heavily into Illustrator in 2002, when vectors were very fashionable during the retro 70s craze. She gradually moved back to Photoshop and is now edging into 3D with Cinema 4D. “I actually like it when work moves through a pipeline that is both physical and digital. I really enjoy building models, photographing them, editing the results and then compositing them digitally,” she says. A good example of this is John Blanche’s Femme Militant figures website, where she set up and photographed a scene for the menu. Such processes are often timeconsuming though, so they happen rarely on commercial jobs. Having worked with a range of clients, she can see the shared passion within the industry. “Gamers are a devoted bunch and we often lose a bit of perspective because we love our hobby too much,” she says.
Pictured above: Game card designs for Studio McVey’s Incursion 19
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Pictured clockwise from top left: Genie Weave characters Ram, Roc and Jerboa. 20
insight “The thing we have to bear in mind is the industry is tiny. This is true of board games and especially true of wargames. The industry turnover is a fraction of that of, say, video games and utterly insignificant compared to the financial services,” she said. “Even the biggest game studio is pretty cosy and consequently the folk I deal with are as passionate, approachable and friendly as a one-man-band company.”
Outside of gaming, Tears of Envy’s involvement in historical reenactments and the steampunk genre has greatly influenced her direction in life. The steampunk ethos appeals to the core of not only her design, but her life. “There’s an amazing scene in The Man Who Fell to Earth when David Bowie, who plays an alien, begins to lose his grasp on the present,” she reveals.
“His perception slips and, while Tears of Envy is “massively” proud of driving through modern America, her work for Games Workshop and he sees frontier folk from a Mantic, but equally enthused by her century ago on the landscape. A efforts for people like Mike Thorp moment later, they’re gone. That and his World of Twilight, which she scene really sums up a lot about recently re-vamped the logo. what history means to me. My influences, my creative work and “The world he has created is amazing and it’s been really great to my life are all one.” B contribute to his universe,’ she says.
Tears of Envy has worked with Mantic Games on their Dwarf King’s Hold board game, including this detailed Green Menace expansion board piece
magic carpet ride Tears of Envy is co-operatively developing a new card game Genie Weave. Intended for two-to-six players aged eight and up, players choose one of six characters that fly on magic carpets above Midnight City collecting gems. “Genie Weave is the bomb!” she says. “I developed it with Jim Bailey from Grindhouse Games, with whom I had worked very closely on Incursion. We wanted to do a project together and, after some scoping, Genie Weave was the result.”
she turned out some utterly mindblowing character portraits which I later coloured an put effects on,” she says.
“The game means a lot to me for two reasons. I love working with Jim and I think we’ve made an amazing product. Second, the genesis of what became Genie Having completed the rules, artwork Weave began with some sketches and with prototype decks in hand, I did while I was in hospital a few they are now looking for a publisher. years ago, so it’s really nice to see something so beautiful and tangible “We hired an amazing illustrator, Janai Jeffries, to do line art for us and come out of that experience.”
Blog spot Tears of Envy’s uses her blog as a creative outlet to showcase her interests. “I really love life and I am fascinated by so many things in the world around me,” she says. “Readers will see the wide range of interests which include anything from London folklore to Day of the Dead facepaint to Turkish Star Wars knock-off figures (which, incidentally, are awesome). Over time she became aware of the 21
benefits the blog was having on her micro-business, so she now ensures she plugs her work and clients as much as she can. “I tend to release stuff first on my blog before I post it on my main site. I was glad to see that when I posted a few previews of my work on Battle for Alabaster for Studio McVey they really drew some attention,” she says.
digital strategy
Ultra-realistic modern naval real-time strategy makes a return with the upcoming strategic and tactical Naval War: Arctic Circle
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digital strategy Naval War: Arctic Circle is a RTS game where the player battles enemy naval and aerial forces for power and ultimate world domination. The game play takes place along the Norwegian and British coast, through Iceland and Greenland all the way to the North Americas and the North West Passage. Battlespace spoke to game developer Jan Haugland about how the game will unfold.
they take an existing game concept, add their own ideas, and make another game in that genre. Thus game genres are self-reinforcing, and it's a bit of a coincidence what genres flood the market. Add to that the fact that AAA titles from the big studios are so ridiculously expensive almost nobody dares to start a project that isn't a near-clone of a game that has already succeeded in the market.
BATTLESPACE: Why have realistic modern naval combat games been underrepresented in the games market?
The second is that Harpoon, and to some degree Fleet Command, were both ‘niche games’ with a reputation for being very complex. The fans were hardcore, sure, but playing these games were pretty hardcore, too, or at least that is what a lot of people think. Still it is somewhat a mystery to me why the genre has not attracted more titles.
Jan Haugland: I really don't know. If I should guess, I think there are two main factors. The first is that game developers are gamers, and make games they would want to play. So
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digital strategy B: You first revealed the game at ParadoxCon earlier this year. How has development progressed since that time? The progress has been excellent. We've strengthened our staff, become more disciplined with our process, and were all around very encouraged by the reception from the fans and the media. B: What research and resources are you using to extrapolate current technology to 2030? Mostly online resources. We are obviously limited to open sources, but there is a large number of enthusiasts who discuss military technology in many fora. We are quite conservative with including technological advances: the game will be mostly around the existing navies and air forces as they are and are currently being built.
B: How important is the Arctic Circle area in modern military-politics? This area is currently politically calm, especially compared to the headline-grabbing regions of our planet, but there is a lot of underlying tension. Exactly the concerns that are part of the storyline for NWAC oil, gas and new waterways - are very real. If you look at the headlines in our newest teaser trailer, you should note that the first headline is real, and from a quite recent news article. B: How much of an inspiration has Harpoon been? I played Harpoon pretty obsessively for a few years, so that game has been a big inspiration, sure. It demonstrated how modern naval warfare can make a very exciting strategy game. At the same time, more conventional RTS titles - those with orcs or siege tanks - demonstrated how immensely fun, popular and challenging this game genre is, and how the user
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interface and player mechanics of an RTS really should be. We think these two concepts together will make for a very exciting and deep game. B: How do you get around players being bogged down by the enormous area of game space? The player has to be able to get a good overview of the potentially huge area, and also to be able to zoom in and manage individual units. It is a challenge, sure, but playtesting it, this works very well in our interface. One major challenge is that planes are ridiculously fast compared to ships and submarines. Either planes move instantly, or ships are virtually immobile, depending on time compression. You'll notice that in normal RTS games, aircraft are not significantly faster than ground units, but for us, reality dictates otherwise. This makes for a great challenge in creating exciting game scenarios. Wise placement of forces and good use of time compression is the solution to that problem.
digital strategy B: Will the game consist of long periods of waiting interrupted by frantic moments of action?
customers during the design process?
engagements and obviously we can have large scale conflicts in a single mission including all these at once. The limitation is mostly our imagination, and when we play our own game, this imagination goes into overdrive sometimes.
We have received great feedback from the community. On the Paradox forums, we have a group of very cool I'll say tense moments of scouting and anticipation, and sudden frantic action. Some games will have a slow people, who are also very knowledgeable about the subject matter of our game as well as gaming generally. start where you have the time to set up your order of battle and lay plans. Other games can be totally crazy At the same time, ‘we’ are designing the game, and have B: How strong is your personal interest in modern from the beginning. to make our decisions not only based on our vision for fighting vessels and aircraft? the game, but also constrained by nasty realities like With stealth being an integral part of most modern deadlines and budgets. platforms, it is almost impossible to create a defensive It was Harpoon that really got me interested in this screen that cannot be penetrated. I think I will get topic, and I have been very fascinated by warships and nightmares about the little red dots on the map B: What sort of mission variation will players be military aircraft ever since. It also helps that Norway representing enemy missiles, popping up in the middle given? is an old sea-faring nation. I have the Bergen harbour of my forces, seemingly out of nowhere. right outside my doorstep and have been in boats since Navies and air forces are involved in all sort of I was old enough to crawl. At this stage the AI is far from finished, but when we playtest it, surprises happen all the time. It's great fun. operations, and the missions in Naval War: Arctic Lately, it has been the development of Naval War: Circle is going to reflect this variety. Units range from Arctic Circle which has fueled my interest in military aircraft, helicopters, small patrol boats, submarines technology. Obviously, it is a vast field that is moving B: You are very open to community very rapidly, so we can't conceivable get everything feedback influencing the game's and all the way to major surface combatants and aircraft carriers, not to mention airfields and naval exactly right, but we do dedicate a lot of resources into design. How important is bases. The missions involve submarine hunts, small making the game pretty darned realistic. B it for developers to patrol boat engagements in narrow fjords, long range engage with bombing raids, escort missions, small and large surface
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digital strategy
frontier 26
Online real-time strategy gets a heavy dose of hot lead in the upcoming massively multiplayer game End of Nations. Battlespace looks at the game hoping to forge a new genre of RTS.
digital strategy Thousands of servers worldwide strain to keep pace with changing stats and game states from hundreds of massively multiplayer role playing games. Digital strategy gamers enjoy the thrill of connecting with others, but with nearly a decade passed since World of Warcraft first launched, where the heck are the MMORTS’? Looking to bring the RTS and MMO games together is Trion World’s End of Nations. Gameplay in End of Nations takes place on a global scale, where players can play alone or team up with thousands of others to combat the Order of Nations as they develop their commander persona and grow their forces. Battlespace talked to Trion Worl’ds David Luehmann about what to expect from the new breed of RTS. : End of Nations was named 'best concept' at PAX 2011. How does it feel to have your hard work on the game recognised? David Luehmann: It feels absolutely great! That said I’m the new guy on the project, and I want to acknowledge the huge efforts of all the people at Petroglyph and Trion, those are the folks that I really want to recognise. : Why have so few (if any) MMORTS' successfully launched to market and become widely popular? Great question, I can’t say I’m really certain of the why. I think it’s unique challenge both technically and design wise in a category that is ripe for innovation. Which from our perspective looks like a great opportunity worth aggressively pursuing.
End of Nations executive producer, David Luehmann
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digital strategy : While it's possible to play the game solo, co-op or PVP, will the emphasis be on the large PVP games? I wouldn’t say there is more emphasis on PvP intentionally but I do think that over-time the longevity of the game will come from PvP and comp-stomp types of play modes, so indirectly that may be the result. Honestly, this will be dictated by the user audience and feedback we get from the players.
deployment and forces work in conjunction with unique gameplay modes. There’s also a lot of good work happening where persistence meets unit and force management that I’ve not seen before, and of course massive scale! : How important will the storyline be?
I think that really depends on the player. I personally think it’s always important in a game as it sets my emotional foundation for why I’m doing whatever I’m doing in the game. If elegantly designed this should : Considering the cutting-edge free-tohold true for even the hardcore players that play' nature of the game, was there any pressure to play it safe with game mechanics just want to jump in and smash it up in PvP battles. and style? Play it safe isn’t a phrase I’ve ever heard spoken at Trion. The charter is make a great game that people love and use whatever style and mechanics necessary to do so.
: With every battle a one-off instance, how do you maintain a sense of importance and global repercussion?
There’s two vectors here, certainly in : What new gameplay features does End of campaign mode you’ll see story progression taking place. Then in the PvP / Meta-game Nations bring to the RTS genre? you’ll literally see the control of specific regions changing hands between factions – I think we are pushing boundaries in how unit that is very cool to see happen!
: Free-to-play games are becoming increasingly popular, with many developers turning to in-game purchases of abilities and improvements as a new source of income. How do you refrain from going down this route while still remaining free-to-play? I think this is both a tempting and dangerous place for game developers to venture into. While the idea of quickly capitalizing on pay to win type of items may be appealing in the short term, I don’t think this is a viable strategy for any title that is trying to reach a larger scale audience. It’s my belief that a majority of players won’t be having much success or fun and will quickly abandon the game as a result, which will eliminate all sources of income. 28
digital strategy
: Balancing units in a multiplayer skirmish-based RTS is already a daunting task. How do you go about balancing sides for an online game with a persistent and evolving game state? It’s difficult, no question. We have a couple of game systems to help with this. We have a system in place that will balance load-out based on their power and capability, which takes into consideration factors like upgrades, etc. beyond just simple things like quantity and the like. Second, we have a pretty smart match-making system that will take player skill and experience into consideration when going into PvP matches. Between these two systems and lot of both automated and human testing we think we have the right plan to balance the overall game, but it will be a key focus of ours all the way to launch and well beyond.
Simple story In End of Nations, individual freedom and cultural identity have been crushed under the tank treads of the Order of Nations. Revolutionaries across the globe have now banded together to challenge this totalitarian enemy in this ultimate war for the future of mankind. 29
digital strategy
Wonder years Resources, building construction, unit management and war have been the foundation of the real-time strategy genre since its inception. Battlespace takes a look at the games that have laid the groundwork for this evolving genre.
Early contenders
Stonkers
1983
Written for the ZX Spectrum and published by Imagine Software in 1983, player controls infantry, artillery, tanks, and supply truck units. Replenishing combat units energy was a major component of the game. The Ancient Art of War
Dune II While not necessarily the first real-time strategy, Westwood Studio’s Dune II established the format that would be followed for years to come by the genre. As such, Dune II was the archetypical ‘real-time strategy’ game. Striking a balance between complexity and innovation, it was a huge success and laid the foundation for the coming Command & Conquer, Warcraft and Starcraft series and many other RTS games. The Dune II interface would also become the template for subsequent RTS designs and its combination of a fog of war, mousebased military micromanagement, and an economic model of resource-
1984
This 1984 battlefield simulator, named after the Sun Tzu military text book, uses a ‘rock-paper-scissors’ type of unit balance with Knights, Archers and Barbarians and Spies. Herzog Zwei
1989
Although the player only controls one unit in this 1989 game, the manner of control foreshadowed the pointand-click mechanic of later games, introducing genre conventions. 30
1992 gathering and base-building became the hallmark of the RTS genre. In the game, the player takes the role of a commander of one of three interplanetary houses, the Atreides, the Harkonnen or the Ordos, with the objective of wresting control of Arrakis from the two other houses. Key elements that first appeared n this game, but would later appear in many other RTS games, include resource-gathering to fund unit construction, base and unit construction, a technology tree, different factions with unique units and a context-sensitive mouse cursor to issue commands.
digital strategy
‘90s RTS blockbusters Warcraft: Orcs & Humans
1994
Age of Empires
Blizzard’s game persuaded a wider audience that multiplayer facilities were essential for future RTS titles. The game introduced innovations in mission design and gameplay elements, which were adopted by other RTS developers.
1997
This highly successful RTS from Ensemble Studios covers the events between the Stone Age and the Classical period in Europe and Asia. The commercially successful game featured strong A.I. and fun gameplay.
Command & Conquer (C&C) 1995
Starcraft
The precursor to the Red Alert series, in C&C Tiberium resources are harvested to fuel a pseudo-modern military war. The inclusion of two CDs with each product to allow co-operative gaming is considered a major factor in the game’s success.
Three species fight for dominance in a distant part of the Milky Way galaxy in Starcraft. It is considered one of the best and most important digital games of all time and raised the bar for developing RTS’.
Total Annhiliation
1998
1997
Set in the far future in the midst of a galactic war, Total Annihilation from Cavedog Entertainment was one of the first games to have 3D 1997 terrain and units, as well as several interface innovations. It took the winning RTS formula from Red Alert and refined it. The game included limitless ‘streaming’ resources, allowing for an unprecedented level of warfare.It pointed the way towards battlefields with hundreds and thousands of units, with the player able to command infantry bots, vehicles, ships, hovercraft, aircraft, powerful stationary long-range weapons and giant mecha.
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digital strategy
RTS odyssey 2001 saw a prolifiration of RTS games, including Fate of the Dragon, Empire Earth and Earth 2150.
The Fate of the Dragon
Company of Heroes
Relic to the rescue
Empire Earthworldwide as of February 2009,
Just as RTS games seemed to be loisng steam, Canadian RTS developers Relic Entertainment came along to give the industry new life. Specialising in creative, visually appealing and combat- intense RTS games. Their games include the space sci-fi epic Homeworld, World War II simulation Company of Heroes and Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War.
Homeworld
it is one of the best-selling games for the personal
Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War
Earth 2150worldwide as of February 2009, it
is one of the best-selling games for the personal computer.
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digital strategy Free to play Games such as End of Nations and Age of Empires Online (pictured) are a part of the RTS industrie’s recent response to shifting gamer behaviour and new social media technology opportunities.
Sword of the Stars II
Modern era The RTS genre has gone in many new directions since the days of Dune II. The Total War series has relegated resource and building components to a world map, role-playing aspects have been incorporated into many RTS games (such as Paradox Interactive’s KingArthur) the multiple dimensions of space have been taken advantage of in Homeworld, while social media and multiplayer
have influenced some major leaps in innovative online gameplay. Despite the many advances and the various directions the game has gone, the hallmarks of RTS gameplay will always ring true: balancing unit abilities alongside resource managament will always be crucial in providing a game that is challenging as well as fun for digital strategy gamers.
Pictured right: A Galactic Colussus experimental unit from Supreme Commander 2. This series from Gas Powered Games took up where Total Annhiliation left off, delivering epic sci-fi RTS warfare in 2007. The 2010 sequel streamlined the game’s economics model, which had been criticised for being “hard work”.
StarCraft II, released in 2010, was praised for its gameplay, features and improved storytelling. More than three million copies were sold worldwide in its first month on sale 33
table strategy
Computer and tabletop gamers have traditionally set themselves apart. So what happens when one designer trys to bring them together? Brent Spivey explains to Battlespace how he hopes OP4S will unite strategy gaming.
Strategy simulator The OP4S RTS game engine will allow gamers to emulate real-time strategies, tactics games through the use of resources, tactical and strategic objectives and the ‘overdrive’ mechanic. 34
table strategy here, there were so many things that didn’t make sense to them. I mean, it’s hard to justify to a player that they can’t shoot at a unit that just moved into the open because they are still in the ‘movement phase’. Brent Spivey: RTS games allow things to happen So, instead of just complaining about systems, I organically during play. One recurring theme in decided to try to solve what I perceive as limits of most tabletop designs is that of classic structure and predictability. You can either move, and then classic design and gameplay. fight with all your troops, or alternate moving and What is your personal interest/history with fighting with all your troops. Even in systems that tabletop miniature gaming? allow alternating activations, you cannot activate It all started with plastic army men, LEGOs, the same unit until all others have been activated. and my own homebrew rules. Then I started While this works at the most basic level, it’s playing [and modding] video games beginning limiting and ultimately unintuitive. with Intellivision’s Utopia, Dune, and eventually moving to games like Age of Empires, Starcraft, RTS games evolved from classic strategy and and Company of Heroes. board games. They then advanced, evolved, and refined the concepts - they grew. I think that it’s It was probably the Age of Empire series that time that tabletop games do the same. There are a got me into serious tabletop games. I guess myriad of lessons that can be learned and brought there has always been a mental link between back to the tabletop. the two for me. It was after playing many, many, systems that I designed my first tabletop game HAVOC: Tactical Miniature Warfare. It was well : Where did the idea for this "crazy plan" received and was a 2010 Origin’s Nominee for come from? Best Miniature Rules. I learned a lot from that I guess it started with demos. Regardless of design process and broke free from many classic system, when trying to explain rules to new paradigms but it wasn’t quite where I wanted it. I players, and I’m talking about basic structure think my RTS game engine is. : Why translate computer RTS mechanics and gameplay to tabletop gaming with OP4S?
“
It was probably the Age of Empire series that got me into serious tabletop games. 35
table strategy
“
I think that our hobby has a lot of grognards and purists that are resistant to change in general.
: Do you think gamers are looking for a new style of tabletop gaming? Well… yes and no. I think that our hobby has a lot of grognards and purists that are resistant to change in general. They have spent all of their tabletop gaming in classic systems there are mostly iterations of each other in a different setting or era. Our hobby is based in great part on tradition. Do they want a new style? Probably not… However, there are those gamers out there who have grown-up with videogames. Computer and console games represent their first exposure to the strategy, shooter, and tactics genres. To keep these players interested [or to attract these players to our hobby], I think that we have to explore new styles of gaming. There are things these players fundamentally expect from a game. : How have gamers responded to your pay-toplay beta format? (Laughs) Well, that’s been mixed. From the people that have actually purchased it and joined in the
What types of techs will gamers be able to choose from? It looks like the initial release will have somewhere between 70-100 TECHs. Many have roots based in classic military concepts like Frag & Clear, Overwatch, Suppression, and Bounding. Others are nods to RTS gaming and science fiction tropes and include Drones, Kamikaze!, Jump Troops,
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process, the response has been overwhelmingly positive. Some gamers have actually gone so far as to thank me for allowing them an opportunity to participate in the development. On some forums, other people have questioned the choice and how successful it can be. There have been a few comments questioning my sanity. If nothing else, then at least it has elicited a response. We are doing some fun things with the beta to embrace the video gaming roots. I’m actually offering ‘achievements’ for completing certain requirements in the testing phases. Players that gain these will have them listed in the credits of the finished product and the top achievers are going to get some really cool bonuses. The testers don’t know what they are, so discovering them is a sort of mini-game. For example, any tester that designs and uploads a custom map to the Yahoo! Group gets the ‘Cartographer’ achievement- that’s an exclusive reveal for your readers! Since the price will steadily increase throughout the beta process, I want the players who took a gamble and got in at the beginning to feel like they really got a great deal and a great experience.
Propaganda Towers, Power Fist, and GRAV. Command Doctrines are an important part of the formula as they give access to specific TECHs, units, and sometime have their own special rules. Currently there are 20 that include EnFuego, HALO, Tower Defense, and an option to do a custom build.
table strategy : What’s special about your RTS game engine? Well, the system is all about layers and how they come together. The interaction of the design layers, in varying degrees, reinforces the overall feel. The design is truly more that the sum of it’s parts. If I had to pick a couple of things though, then I would definitely say that the Overdrive mechanic and ability to build your force during play changes everything. Overdrive is key to providing the feeling of RTS play and mechanically representing time compression, leadership, and resource allocation. Overdrive gives you choice of activating multiple units for single actions, some units for single actions while others perform multiple activations, or focusing everything on one model. The key word here is choice. There are no phases. Everything simply happens. If you choose to activate a single model multiple times, then you will have an exponential increase in cost. Don’t want to show up to the game table, see your opponent’s force, and think ‘I’ve lost.’? Me either. I’m not against list building, I just want you to do it in the game. This is pretty standard stuff in a RTS, but it hasn’t been done on the tabletop. : How will the meta-game 'hard-counter soft push' system work? It starts out on the most familiar level. Units will have variants that provide a distinct bonus such as: anti-infantry, anti-armor, anti-air, etc. These are your hard counters. Soft counters are models that have a fundamentally higher base damage yield than other units, but they do not have the significant advantage of variants that hard counters do. They can whittle and annoy the enemy and are useful in a wide variety of roles. A push is when two units are facing each other without the benefit of countervariant or higher base damage. Pushes require the player to use specific mechanics, or luck, to overcome their enemy. This is all linked to Overdrive to create a subgame. An anti-infantry squad is not, by default, a hard counter for a tank. However, it can use Overdrive to overcome distance, move into close quarters battle, and actually have an advantage on the tank. The unit by its nature isn’t a hard counter, but it can perform a hard counter. It’s a different concept, and subtle, but it comes into play often. : How will players be empowered to customize their force differently to other point selection army lists rules already available? Customization is almost unlimited. Players use Command Doctrines, Commandos, units and TECHs, to tweak a force to fit their concept. There are no points associated with either Doctrines or TECHs. So, what’s different? You can do it while you’re playing the game! This can be used offensively, to attempt to force your opponent to a certain group of TECHs and units, or as a counter to their builds.
How did you get so many different miniature companies involved? Having a game out there already definitely didn’t hurt. I think that opened some doors for me. Mostly though, I just pitched them my idea and answered any questions that they had about the system. All the companies have been really supportive. I think this says a great deal about the community in general. A lot of these companies have their own game systems, and not only have they given their miniature support, but quite a few have given me some focused feedback on the games design and shown genuine excitement about seeing the finished product. It shows a commitment to the hobby as a whole. I hope that anyone who plays OP4S uses these companies whenever possible to create their force. : Will there be any opportunities for a digital component that can actually affect tabletop game? Absolutely. We are currently working on some apps that can do this in some new fun ways. Some of these could be used at the tabletop, while others could be linked through social media. The implications on campaign design and league play could be significant. None of them will be required, but they will be another way to enhance the experience.
Pictured: OP4S watch station and bunker by Dave Graffam
Pictured in this story: 3D Models designed by Rich Sanders for Micropanzer Wargame Studio Digital paint, inks, and animation by Brent Spivey Concept art by Jared Blando All 3D models and art are property of Jason Moore and used with permission 37
table strategy
WarPuppy Games tests out the new English language rules for tabletop skirmish wargame Hell Dorado
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Australian-based WarPuppy Miniature & Hobby House’s Mick Molyneaux and Adam Norris take each other in a Hell Dorado conquest skirmish scenario. The gate to Hell have cracked open and an epic, bloody war has commenced. In Hell Dorado humans clash with demons in a bid for power. Until recently, the skirmish rule book for this unique miniature line from French games company Cipher Studio has only been officially available in French, but with the release of the English rules WarPuppy Games decided to test the rules out. In this scenario, the two companies are fighting for control of a location in Hell. The losses suffered are of little consequence as long as the ground is claimed. This scenario lasts four
turns and victory is determined by the control points gained for occupying sections of the board at the end of each turn. The deeper into your opponent’s lines, the more points earned. For this battle report, Mick and Adam decided to play with the Hell Dorado Westerner and Demons Starter Box sets. Mick elected to take the Westerners as he is collecting them himself, while Adam happily took the Demons because (you guessed it) he’s collecting them as well. This game will be perfect chance to get a bit more play in with their favoured factions.
The Westerners advance into Hell has taken the Demon forces by surprise. Scattered and leaderless the Demons are driven back before the holy might of the forces of the West. As they find their territory slowly diminishing, the Demons start to form some form of co-ordinated resistance. Inspired by their Angelic leaders, the Demons finally stop the Westerners advance and both sides settle into an uneasy stalemate. While the Westerners consolidate their holdings, the Demons gather their forces and prepare to take back what is theirs.....
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table strategy
Asaliah - 60 points
Rebel angel Special abilities: Spawn Lemur, Regeneration Aura, Life Drain
Damned One of Wrath - 14 points
Special ability: Fury
Two Damned Ones of Sloth- 26 points
Adam’s pre-battle plan Having played against the Westerners a few times know, my Demons have learnt to fear the power of their arquebuses. I therefore spread my forces out to try split the Westerners shooting and capture as many conquest points as possible early on. I will team the Damned One of Wrath with a Damned One of Sloth, the idea being to push the Damned One of Sloth in front of the Damned One of Wrath to protect him from shooting 40
unit so he can get into combat with the arquebusers that are likely to be deployed. Asaliah will hang about the centre, in cover, while I try to keep the other demons within her six-inch regeneration aura. I planned to pop out a few spells to target the Westerner characters before the Damned One of Wrath meet them in combat. With this plan I’ll hopefully be able to bring victory to the forces of the Nine Irises.
table strategy
Francisco Vargas - 41 points Officer - captain Special abilities: Charisma, Vae Victis, Kiss of the Lord
Aidan Saint James - 21 points Independent - sergeant Special abilities: Reload!
Two arquebusers - 24 points
Independent - sergeant, Special ability: Trained Gunman
Francsico Vargas Francisco Vargas has long been the “go to” man for special missions and today’s mission was no exception. The powers that be want to increase their foothold in Hell and required the capture of a prominent hilltop to construct another border fortress. The placing of holy relics around the perimeter would deny the area to the Demons and allow the Westerner construction crews to begin their work in safety. From this staging point the forces of the West will then be able to strike deeper into Demon-held territory.
Mike’s pre-battle plan My plan is two fold. First I want to concentrate my firepower to bring down one of the Damned Ones of Sloth early on. I intend to use Aiden Saint James’ Reload! special ability right away so I can get at least two rounds of shooting in before we close to combat. Once that happens I will be at a
disadvantage, I think. So if I can even up the score before then I should be right. As we get into the clash of hand-to-hand, I hope to hold the Demons up with Captain Vargas and push through their lines to pick up the higher valued Conquest Points. All that’s needed now is a prayer to Our Lord.
Summoning his trusted sergeant, Aidan Saint James and crack body of troops Vargas prepared to capture the hill top. Approaching the crest of the hill a body of Demons shambled as fast as they were able in an effort to engage the approaching Westerner forces before they could complete their mission. With minimum fuss the arquebuser armed troops formed a gun line and opened fire on the closest Demon..... 41
table strategy
Demons Asaliah Damned One of Wrath
In Hell Dorado a turn is resolved in two phases: The upkeep phase and the action phase. In the upkeep phase players reset their command pool, which is used to activate special abilities throughout the game. Players also determine who is dominant for the upcoming turn, deal out any damage and healing, and finally resolve any other powers, orders, auras and abilities. In the first turn Mick and Adam set their command pool which is determined by sum of the CMD of all the officers and independents in the company. In this case the Westerners have and Demons both have six. In the first turn there is not much else to worry about so it’s on to the action phase.
In the action phase players alternatively resolve the action of one of their units on the board. Each unit may only be activated once. Unit activations are resolved by electing a unit perform one the available actions listed in the rules, or choosing to do nothing at all. Being dominant, Mick elects to go first. He activates an arquebuser using a shoot action, which allows him to make a move up to his movement in fathoms and then fire. Moving forward to gain a clear line of sight to a Damned One of Sloth, Mick measures the distance and finds the shot will be at short range.
Westerners Francsico Vargas Aidan Saint James
Deployment As Mick’s Westerners are dominant, he elects for Adam to deploy first and Adam places all of miniatures within five fathoms (inches) of his table edge. Adam opts for spread out formation seeking to maximise the opportunity for control points early in the game. Mick now deploys concentrating his units towards the centre of the board in the hope of being able to focus his shooting early on and eliminate a demon, or two. Now that deployment is sorted, it’s time to get into the thick of it.
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Dominance Dominance is used to determine the moral and vigour of your company. The company who has dominance has the upper hand and the player controlling them can decide who will go first and second in a turn. At the start of the game Dominance is determined by adding the command value (CMD) of your officer and independents, plus the number of non-insignificant units and any first contact values (a special ability). The Westerner’s dominance worked out to be nine, calculated from five CMD for Francisco Vargas plus one CMD for Aidan Saint James plus three for the troopers. The Demon’s dominance comes in at nine also, calculated from six CMD for Asaliah plus three for the troopers. Because dominance is tied the company with the most units in it is dominant. In this case the Westerners.
table strategy In Hell Dorado the range is determined in brackets of the weapons range. So in this example the Arquebus has a range of eight fathoms (inches) and the distance to the target lies greater than eight fathoms but not more than 16 fathoms making it a short ranged attack.
shooting skill (in this case 2d6). At this stage Mick decides to use a special ability of Francisco Vargas, Vae Victis. This ability is available to all officers and allows you to spend one or two command points to give extra dice to roll for an attack. Mick elects to spend two command points, leaving him with a pool of four, To resolve a shooting attack you must shoot at the closest enemy unit, although for an extra 2d6 on the attack. you can skip them for the next closest if Mick now rolls 4d6 to resolve the attack, they have certain bonuses for cover, are getting a six, five, five and two, needing engage in combat, or can’t otherwise be 4s to hit. Three hits! A fantastic start for targeted for some reason. the Westerners. Mick cross references the To resolve this shooting attack Mick first number of hits on the arquebus damage determines the difficulty of the shot. This table on the unit’s reference card to finds is always the defence rating of the target this results in five life points of damage. (in this case two for the Damned One of Sloth) or the distance difficulty (in this case four for short range) whichever is higher. This number is what you need to roll on each dice to score a hit. Mick gathers a number of d6 equal to his
When determining damage on a weapon table you can always elect to take a result lower than what you rolled. This allows you to choose a special effect that is lower on the table but more beneficial to your strategy, for example. If the target unit has a protection value greater than zero it is deducted from the damage caused. The Damned One of Sloth has a protection of zero and so suffers the full loss of life points. Fortunately they start with 18! Adam activates next selecting a run action for the injured Damned one of Sloth, which allows it to move up to two by its movement. Sloths aren’t known for their speed, so with a movement of two Adam runs forward four fathoms.
Adam moves his Demons forward towards the Westerners, but still within range of his officer Asaliah
Pictured left: Mick moves Francisco Vargas forwardis officer Asaliyah 43
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Mick makes a shoot action with a second arquebuser and moves forward again. Electing to spend another two command points (leaving a command pool of two) on Vae Victis to improve the shooting attempt, Mick rolls 4d6 on another short range shot. He rolls up four hits for seven points of damage. The Sloth is now on six life points.
command points (leaving a command pool of two) on Vae Victis to improve the shooting attempt, Mick rolls 4d6 on another short range shot. He rolls up four hits for seven points of damage. The Sloth is now on six life points.
Adam activates the second Damned One of Sloth with a run action and moves up on his right flank.
Mick activates Aidan Saint James next with another shoot action. He has to target the injured Sloth, who is behind cover. Spending another command point (leaving a command pool of one) on Vae Victis to improve the shooting
Mick makes a shoot action with a second Arquebuser and moves forward again. Electing to spend another two
Adam activates the second Damned One of Sloth with a run action and moves up on his right flank.
attempt, Mick rolls 3d6 for a point blank ranged shot, which means he needs three’s to hit. Rolling up three hits this would ordinarily deliver five points of damage, however in this instance the cover increases the Sloth’s protection by three, so this is deducted from the damage and two life points are lost which leaves the Sloth with four remaining. Adam then activates the Damned One of Wrath with a run action, moving it up behind injured Sloth. Mick then makes a run action with Vargas moving him in close to 44
support his troops. Adam lastly activates Asaliah and makes a concentration action, which allows her to move and summon a Lemur, a small magical creature that bears the spell Plague of the Believers. Adam places a Lemur miniature in base contact with Asaliah.
This ends the first turn and it’s now time to determine conquest points for uncontested table sections. The Westerners pick up one, one and two for a total of four. The Demons have one, one, and 1 - for a total of three.
table strategy Asaliah summons a Lemur
Mick refreshes the Westerners command pool back to six. The Demons haven’t spent any as yet so their command pool remains at six. Next it’s time to determine who is dominant. After the start of the game dominance is held by the company that suffered the least losses in the previous turn. Since there were no loses in turn one, dominance remains with the Westerners. Adam then benefits from the Asaliah’s regeneration aura and heals one life point to all Satanists within six fathoms, in this case the injured Sloth, bringing him back to five life points. 45
Mick chooses to activate first again, starting with Aiden Saint James. To start with Mick elects to spend two permanent command points to use Aiden’s Reload! special ability. This ability will immediately reload all allied Arquebusers on the table. Which is very handy as they normally take two turns to reload. Aiden then makes a shoot action, moving first to one side to get a clear line of sight. With the benefit other another two command points (leaving the pool at two) for Vae Victis, Mick rolls 4d6 scoring two hits for four points of damage to the injured Sloth, leaving him on one life point.
table strategy Aidan Saint James swore. A full volley of lead and the damned things keep coming! Through a series of curses that would sully the ears of a Demon and baleful stares, Aidan quickly gets his troops reloaded for another volley. The crack of gunfire echo across the battlefield and as the smoke clears one of the dammed creatures lay dead, but other faster moving monsters appear. Screaming curses and cries of guttural rage, a demon that is anger taken form hurls itself into the Westerner gun line. A gunner is slain in moments in a spray of red mist and whirling blades. Stunned by the ferocity of the Demon attack Aidan fails to notice a diminutive create at his feet until it is too late. Knocked down in burst of magical energy Aidan’s armour can to nothing to prevent the exploding lemure from wounding him. Staggering to his feet, Aidan beholds a sight that lifts his spirit and gladdens his heart. Franciso Vargas charges into the fray! His armour shining as if lit from within and sword glowing with a holy fire “Face me demon!� he roars as combat is joined....
Adam activates the second Sloth for a run move and closes the distance. He then decides to spend one command point (dropping his pool to five) to use the special ability Vae Soli, which allows him to activate another of his units immediately, breaking the normal activation sequence. Adam chooses to activate the Lemur with a charge action and moves him into contact with Aiden Saint James. The Lemur then unleashes the spell he contains, Plague of the Believers, and Aiden takes damage equal to twice his faith (two points in this case). The Lemur, consumed when the spell unleashes, is removed. Mick then activates the second Arquebuser with a shoot action. The closer undamaged Sloth is behind cover which allows him to shoot at the further damaged Sloth. Because the arquebuser did not move he benefits from his Trained Gunman special ability and gains a bonus d6 for the attack. Mick spends a further one command point (leaving one
in the pool) for Vae Victis and rolls 4d6 obtaining four hits. With only one life point remaining the Sloth falls and is removed. Adam activates the Damned One of Wrath with a charge action (which allows you to make a run move and attack) and moves into contact with an arquebuser.
Rule: When resolving a combat attack, both models involved get to fight. You make an attack roll much like shooting, rolling a number of dice equal to the combat of the unit. The Damned One of Wrath has a combat of four. Normally when you charge you attack at -1 combat. But the Wrath has the special ability Fury which ignores that penalty. Adam decides to spend two command points for Vae Victis (leaving three in the pool), bringing the roll to 6d6. However the maximum dice you can roll at any one time is five and the extra dice become re-rolls. 46
table strategy The arquebuser has a defence of three, which is what Adam needs to roll to hit. Adam rolls up six, four, four, two and one. Re-rolling the one, he gets a three. So he scores four hits that will deal eight damage in accordance with the Wrath’s weapon table. The arqubuser’s protection of two is deducted from this for six damage. Sadly, the arquebuser only has four life points and so is dead. But the arquebuser still gets to fight back as all attacks are simultaneous. He has three combat while the arquebuser has the special ability Tenacious, which gives him a +1 combat if the unit hasn’t been activated (which it hasn’t). In addition Vargas can use his special ability Charisma as he is within six fathoms, which will add another +1 combat. This gives the arquebuser 5d6 to roll. Mick grabs the dices, throws, and scores a one, one, one, five and six. The
Wrath’s defence is four, which means only two hits for three damage (leaving six life points). Mick then activates Vargas with an attack action (which allows a walk move and attack) and moves into contact with the Wrath. Vagas has a combat of five versus defence four. Mick rolls up no hits. His luck may be turning.
An angelic being of terrible beauty floats into view of the mellee and lifts her voice in a terrible cry “I am Asaliah, the avenging arm of Lucifer! Leave this place puny mortals and return to your lands!” With that she lifted her arms and began chanting.
A light began to radiate from within Asaliah and quickly spreads to the demonic forces. When the light touches the Demon of Wrath that was wrecking havoc in the Westerner’s lines, it not only seemed to heal its wounds, but, made it fight with even more fury!
With a quick glance Aidan could see that his captain was being sorely pressed by the Demon of Wrath. “My Lord!” he yelled ‘ware the Demon Witch! We are being beset by fell powers!” To the remaining arquebuser a final order was given, “Help your captain man!” Without hesitation the gunner leapt to his captain’s aide in his battle with the Demon, knowing full well he went to his doom. Whirling
to face the newest threat, the Demon of Wrath, full of the lust for battle, quickly dispatches the brave Westerner trooper. Taking advantage of the Demons momentary distraction Vargus raises his holy cross, whispers a pray and is filled with the healing powers of the Lord. Restored in body and with a holy light in his eyes Franciso Vargas returns is attention to the Demon in front of him....
The Wrath fights back delivering six damage which is reduced by Vargas’ protection to four life points lost (leaving eight life points). Adam finishes off the second turn by activating Asaliah with a walk action, and she trails her company.
Determining conquest points, the Demons score two (bringing their total to five) and the Westerners score none, remaining on four.
Mick (left) checks the stats of one of his company’s characters 47
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The command pools are reset and Mick is left with four points, as he spent two permanent points to use the Reload! special ability. Adams command pool resets to six. Both companies have lost a trooper last turn (the Lemur doesn’t count as it’s classed as insignificant) and so dominance remains with the Westerners. Then Adam applies the benefit of Asaliah’s Regeneration Aura and heals one life point to the Damned One of Wrath.
Mick decides to let Adam activate first so that he can respond when needed. Adam activates Asaliah and makes a concentration action to use her special ability Angellic Inspiration to heal the Wrath eight life points (back to full on nine). This special ability cost three permanent command points (leaving three in the pool). A concentration action also allow the character to walk, and Asaliah moves closer to support the Wrath. Adam then spends another command point (leaving two in the pool) to use Vae Solis so he can make another activation immediately. He elects to activate the Damned One of Wrath and makes an attack action. The Wrath has combat of four plus one for Asaliah’s special ability. Adam rolls up three hits for six damage, less Vargas’ Protection of two, for a loss of four life points (leaving Vargas on four life points). Mick decides to use Vargas special ability Kiss of the Lord to heal back a number of life points equal to his Faith (being three) which brings him back to 10 life points. This is a free action, so can be used at any time and costs one permanent command point (leaving three in the pool). 48
Mick then activates an arquebuser attack action, which allows him to walk and then attack the Damned One of Wrath. The arquebuser combat is three and because there are other allies in combat with the Wrath he gains +1 combat, in addition there is another +1 for Vargas’ Charisma special ability as he is within six fathoms. Mick only rolls up one hit on five dice, causing two points of damage and leaving the Wrath on seven life points. The Wrath strikes too with four combat, plus one for Charisma as Asaliah is with six fathoms. Adam rolls up five hits and for 10 damage. Even with Protection two, eight damage is more than enough to fell the arquebuser. Adam then activates the Sloth and makes run action moving him closer to the fray. Mick makes run action with Aiden Saint James and drives him deep into enemy lines. Determining conquest points the Demons score two (bringing their total to seven) and the Westerners score three (taking them to seven) thanks to Aiden’s rush behind enemy lines.
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With the game finished after Vargas and Asaliah traded blows, it was time to determine the victor. The Westerners picked up another three points in the fourth turn plus one conquest points for a total of 11 all up. The Demons picked up three points plus two for a total of 12 all up.
The command pools are reset once again and this time the Westerners pool is three after spending another permanent point to use Kiss of the Lord. Dominance is now determined to be with the Demons because the Westerners lost an arquebuser last round. The Demons pool comes back to three as Adam used Angelic Inspiration. Asaliah’s Regeneration Aura heals the Wrath one life point back to eight points.
Adam decides to go first and activates the Wrath using an attack action, he spends two command points on Vae Victis (dropping the pool to one), and adding the bonus for Asaliah’s Charisma has a combat of seven. He rolls up three hits for six damage less protection (leaving Vargas on six life points). Vargas returns the attack delivering five damage to the Wrath to leave him on three life points. Mick then activates Vargas for an attack action. Rolling five combat for seven damage. Enough to bring down the Damned One of Wrath. The Wrath still gets to hit back with four combat plus a bonus for Asaliah’s Charisma and one command point for Vae Victis (depleting the command pool). Adam rolls up two hits for 4 damage, less two protection for two life point loss (leaving Vargas on only 4 points). Mick spends one command point to use the special ability
With a difference of one point in favour of the Demons, Adam won with a minor victory.
Vae Solis (lower his pool to two) and activates another unit immediately. He uses this to activate Aiden Saint James for a run action, moving him deeper into enemy territory. Adam then activates the Sloth with a run action and positions him to pick up a final round of conquest points. The last unit left on the board to activate is Asaliah and so Adam activates again, making an attack action. He moves her into combat with Vargas for the final show down. Asaliah has combat four and Adam rolls up three hits, taking two points of Life Drain. Life Drain means that protection is no benefit and Vargas is left on two life points,. Vargas returns the attack, fighting with combat five to which Mick throws in his last two command points for Vae Victis. Mick rolls up three hits delivering five points of damage to Asaliah. 49
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Adam’s post-game summary That was a close one! I started out sticking to the plan and then got a little excited about getting into combat and forgot about the objective of the mission. The last minute dash of the Damned One of Sloth sure helped get me out of hot water. As predicted, the shooting of the Westerners hurt me early on. It’s only the bucket of life points that the Damned Ones of Sloth and Asaliah’s Regeneration Aura that keep them alive for so long. Even though it slows your advance down, I think using these guys as cannon fodder is their best use. As Mick pointed out, I have a tendency to
use armies/factions that are a bit trickier than normal to use and Demons are no exception. With a lot of special abilities there is more to think about than just running into combat and smashing all before you. However, once you have an understanding of these abilities and a good idea of when to spend permanent command points they are a satisfying force to use. I enjoy scenarios that are more than just about taking your opponent’s models of the table and this is no exception. I’ll be looking to have another shot at this mission in the not too distant future.
Mick’s post-game summary So close, yet so far. I stuck to my plan and focused my shooting to bring down one of the tough Damned Ones of Sloth early on. I think this certainly helped my cause. Though my centralised deployment proved a bit of disadvantage as it meant I wasn’t able to claim as many table areas as I could have due to them being contested by the presence of enemy units. The Demon’s ability to heal is a real challenge and it can take you by surprise. I think Adam used that well. It cost me in the later stages of the game by having to throw more into the Wrath than I was wanting to. I really like this scenario as it is not all about killing the enemy. You can play a cat and mouse game running and dodging through enemy lines to grab those precious conquest points. It’s one that I will certainly be playing again. 50
Adam and Mick are the owners of WarPuppy Miniatures, Games & Hobby House. Both are avid gamers who have been playing for a long, long time. You can find out more about WarPuppy and their huge range of miniature, card, roleplaying and board games, and accessories at www.warpuppy.com. If you are interested in exploring Hell Dorado: Skirmish Miniatures Wargame further, be sure to visit WarPuppy’s “A Dog’s Life in the article section of the website for a video review of the game and starter set contents.
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Hellishly good design Included on these pages and at the start of the battle report is artwork from the game provided by Cipher Studio. According to Cipher Studio’s David Freeman, Hell Dorado’s ease of play, fast pace, subject matter and amazing models are what make it so special. “We are seeing significant re-orders on both rulebooks and starters since we launched those products,” he told Battlespace.
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Oddball aliens collide in the upcoming tabletop-card game Dawn: Rise of the Occulites
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Miniature tabletop games typically take their subject matter seriously. Whether it’s ancient warfare or sci-fi mercenaries, the artwork, miniatures, rules and fluff all add up to grim worlds of death and destruction. Hoping to lighten the mood a tad and bring a sense of quirkiness to the gaming world is games designer Ben Boersma and his latest card-driven miniature project, Dawn: Rise of the Occulites. Set in a fantasy world where aliens defend their territory from predators and other tribes, the game involves tabletop warfare with models of creatures that look, to put it simply, strange. A school teacher by trade, Ben Boersma has found a niche developing quirky games in his spare time. The Darwin, Australia, based rule designer has made his own independent projects as well as written a rule book as part of Ganesha Games’ Song series. While not shy from the brutalities of warfare, his games tend to add a sense of child-like naivieness that has perhaps been influenced by his work as a school teacher. His latest project has brought him together with respected UK custom minitaure sculptor Bob Olley to create a detailed world of oddball alien tribes fighting for survival. Battlespace spoke to Mr Boersma about his influences and creating the world of the occulites.
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table strategy : Describe the occulites and the world they live in. Ben Boersma: Occulites are the main intelligent species in their home world of Crepusculum. The whereabouts of Crepusculum is unknown, other than it can be viewed through ‘windows’ currently only found on a remote bush property in Australia. The only person that knows about them is a small boy that lives with his Pa on the property whose name is Darwin. There are many sub-species of Occulites that have evolved on their world, five of which Darwin has discovered and identified at this point of the timeline. They live in tribes of five members and it is their belief that this number should never change. Always led by a chief who makes decisions for the tribe, a tribe also contains four other members. They see their hands (made up of a thumb and four fingers) as a representation of the tribe itself. With the thumb being the chief and the four fingers the members. Each sub-specie often takes on an appearance and features that will help them survive in the environment they live in. The world of Crepusculum revolves slowly and as such the land is in darkness for months at a time. Because of this, the creatures in the land must retreat to the safety of caves, collecting sungems throughout the day to keep them warm. Sungems are crystals that are formed in the mineral-rich earth of Crepusculum, which then trap the suns rays in their forms. Slowly releasing it when the temperature cools down. So as you can see, these are vital to the survival of all creatures and end up the reason for many skirmishes and raids. Pictured: Ben Boersma tests the rules for Dawn: Rise of the Occulites
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table strategy easy for players to play pick up games that are smooth and enjoyable, but if you want a more in depth (or hardcore) experience, there will be that flexibility there. You have Yes, I love making games that are unique and control over campaigns, how your tribe quirky. I really like trying to come up with evolves, what focuses you give them. something unique and different and enjoy the challenge of doing so. The Occulites and The Natural Selection Deck and evolutionary branches your tribe can take lend itself the story behind it are something that I’m to a deep gaming experience where your very proud of. There are lots of games that decisions are critical to the outcome of utilise a more common set of races in both situations. I am very proud of the way the fantasy and sci-fi and that’s totally fine, but Natural Selection Deck affects and shapes I’ve always been partial to the more unique creatures and ideas. There is nothing wrong play and think that it will appeal to both casual and hardcore skirmish players. Casual with going more mainstream with ideas as because there isn’t many figures to paint, they are tried and true and popular within so its easy to field a tribe. Also the ability the industry, but I wanted to do something to play pick up games quickly and easily is different. Whether that ends up being popular is really up to the people. But I love attractive. It will appeal to hardcore skirmish players because you do get to ‘evolve’ your what I do and how I do it. tribe and choose its focuses and direction over a campaign. : Will Dawn: Rise of the Occulites be for I feel that the game is easy to play, but harcore skirmish players? difficult to master and that depth in With Dawn, I have tried to reach a nice gameplay and of course the setting itself balance between ease-of-play and depth will hopefully keep players coming back for of play. Taking this into account, it will be more. : The occulites have an oddball look. Do you enjoy making games that are unique and quirky?
Pictured above: A Palaudis chief leads the tribe forward Pictured left: The luftles are a small, diminutive race that often aids occulite tribes to scavenge for food or sungems. 55
table strategy : What balance were you looking for between the various occulite tribes? I started with the core concept of evolution and looked at how, when a new species is created, it always starts with a base template and then variations occur based on environmental factors. So with the occulites, the idea was that all occulites were created equal. In the game Dawn, each tribe starts off with identical statistics. Taking into account the evolution of the species and the need to fill niches within the tribe, you go through a series of ‘Evolutionary Adjustments’ that alters these statistics to make your tribe unique. You then decide on what sub-species your tribe is – Palaudis, Floris, Hydris, Nimbus or Ignis (so far). This will give the models innate special abilities that allow them to deal with their native habitats more efficiently than others. The balance comes from the idea that all tribes are created equal and its their decisions and circumstances that decide their fates. I have tried to capture a different fee for each tribe (with different skills and abilities to develop for each tribe, in addition to their innate special abilities. It is important that these abilities don’t shine brighter than others from another tribe, so the decision was made to balance two tribes against each other first and then balance the third against the first two, thus introducing one more each time. Balance is important and you shouldn’t be at an advantage because you pick the Floris or the Hydris etc.. A focus on objectives and scenarios rather than outright fighting also promotes its own inbuilt balance.
Pictured left: Members of the Floris (top) and Hydris (bottom) tribes, sculpted by Bob Olley
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table strategy : How are the game’s campaigns meant to unfold? Campaigns take place at the start of each Dawn – when the sun finally begins to rise over the horizon and go for the duration of the day, ending with the sun setting and the creatures of Crepusculum retreating into the caves for the long dark. Scenarios become unlocked as the campaign advances, relevant to the time of ‘day’ in which they occur. For example, tribes will not often undertake a ‘podmothine’ scenario early in the day as it is extremely risky. The Podmothine is a special sentient plant that actually encourages the growth of sungems all over its body. This is of course extremely tempting for the occulites to harvest the sungems. But the podmothine has its own defense mechanisms. So the rewards are greater, but so is the risk. Because of this it is usually undertaken later in the campaign when the occulites have evolved better skills.
attack card as a defense card, to swing your opponent around to a different position after the fight, stealing a sungem during a fight, shoving an enemy away to avoid a fight or even finding weaknesses in your opponent’s defense (just to name a few). The intention of the cards were to create more dynamic decision making points in the game and to intertwine both the mechanics and the theme. : How far can you see the occulite game world going? Well, as far as planned out, a very long way. I currently have several games planned, with three of those being the official trilogy (Dawn, Dusk, Time) each with its own scope and place in the timeline of the occulite’s evolution. There are other spin off games still in development all with a different gameplay focus. One thing I have been very careful to avoid is blurring the lines between games.
The other idea is that at the end of the campaign (the end of the day) each tribe will be able to track how well they did overall, giving an overall winner. Keeping this goal in mind can influence the decision to choose certain scenarios over others etc.. How much can you reveal about how the Natural Selection deck will work and some of your card choices? The Natural Selection deck is at the heart of the game’s design and is vital for carrying out everything from activating models, to attacking and defending, terrain effects and combat effects, when certain events happen and when Sungems appear on the board. A Natural Selection card can be used for several different reasons and contains some important decision making. You can use the card for its activation number (which denotes how many models you can activate on your turn). You can use the card for its number to determine how many dice you roll in attack or how many in defense or to determine if you have avoided danger in dangerous terrains. You can also use the card to for its effect, which can range anywhere from using an
Linked above: Preview gameplay video of Darwin: Rise of the Occulites 57
card & board strategy
Mr Eurogames takes a look at four games about to make a splash at the world’s largest board game event, Essen Spiel. Essen Spiel is the world’s biggest public games expo. The German event attractis 154,000 visitors and 786 exhibitors from 32 nations showing their latest products, the event packs out floor space equivalent to that in the entire area of the Sydney Opera House.
from both the gaming community and novelist Terry Pratchett’s ardent readers is the Martin Wallace-designed Discworld: Ankh-Morpork.
Martin Wallace is a prodigious game designer typically focused on delivering games to a niche end of the market. Running from 20-23 October, 2011, His games are what are called ‘gamers’ the Spiel, which is German for game, games’ – think London and A few Acres includes hundreds of new releases from of Snow. well known game publishers such as In a new direction for Mr Wallace, Martin Wallace, Eggertspiele, Queen, he has joined forces with the popular Mayfair and Bruno Faidutti. novelist Terry Pratchett to present These games feature family-focused fun around themes as diverse as fantasy, the Roman Empire, the stone age, Terry Pratchett’s Discworld and life in a village. A particular game drawing discussion
Pictured above: Discworld: AnkhMorpork Collector's Edition die with 7a instead of 8.
Discworld as a board game.
In the game, each player seeks victory through placing buildings and agents through card play on a map of AnkhMorpork – the largest city-state of Discworld.
Pictured left: A protoype of Discworld: Ankh-Morpork being played earlier this year 58
card & board strategy Readers of the novels will likely enjoy the game, with many cards including famous characters from the Discworld series. While Mr Wallace play-tested his game earlier this year with Australian audiences at the Australian Games Expo, Essen Spiele marks a major release point for the game. “I hope we will access both gamers that follow my designs and readers of Terry’s books,” Mr Wallace said. Mr Wallace has teamed with Mayfair and Kosmos for this release. Another designer looking to have an impact at Essen is Bruno Faidutti with the releases of Dragon’s Gold and Lost Temple. Mr Faidutti is best known for Citadels, which was a finalist for the 2000 Spiel des Jahres – the major designer award in the boardgame world. Mr Faidutti also teamed with Alan Moon to design Incan Gold. Players act as explorers seeking jewels and gems in a temple and are faced with a choice of when to run from the cave with their treasure. Lost Temple incorporates aspects of both Incan Gold and Citadels. Lost Temple centres around players acting as explorers needing to find a lost temple to win the game. The nine different characters of Lost Temple echo those from Citadels: Shaman, Thief, Seer, Priest, Elder, Craftsman, Scout, Canoe and Child. Incan Gold appeals to players that prefer to chance their luck, while Citadels accesses more calculating and conniving players. Essen will reveal which type of player prefers the Lost Temple – my money is on calculating!
Yellow and orange player gather around the lake in Lost Temple
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Temple of mystery In Lost Temple, players are explorers looking for a mysterious lost temple. To find it, they must cross the jungle and get help from the indigenous people. The first player to reach the temple on the last space of the track wins the game. The game uses a character selection rule similar to Faidutti’s Citadels, and the game includes nine different characters: Shaman, Thief, Seer, Priest, Elder, Craftsman, Scout, Canoe and Child.
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card & board strategy Co-operative games are also drawing a wide audience. Pandemic is perhaps the best known of this genre, with players working together to halt diseases and find a cure. Pandemic won a Golden Geek award for best expansion in 2009. Games of this nature at Essen include Kevin Lanzing’s Fire Rescue and Steffen Bogen’s Schnappt Hubi! Schanppt Hubi! uses a number of catchy mechanisms to engage players. These include a 3D setting where players explore an old house and an electronic device that provides hints to players. This cooperative deduction game requires players to find and then chase the ghost from the house. Despite these imaginative mechanisms, no English language version is currently available. Fire Rescue offers players a chance to be what every kid dreams of being – a fire-fighter. Also, a cooperative game Lanzing provides two rule sets enabling both families and serious gamers to access the action.
A production prototype game of Schanppt Hubi!
Unsurprisingly, players band together as fire-fighters rescuing people (or is that meeple?) trapped inside a burning building. As fire-fighters in the family rules, players need to rescue at least seven people to win the game. More fire, more trapped people and explosions may add to the challenge at the end of each turn. Serious gamers face greater challenges with hazardous materials, fire hot spots but they do acquire greater fire-fighting skills. Check out all the latest news from Essen including the Board Game Geek most popular game and how the public responded to the latest releases in our next issue. B For more information on Essen Spiele see http://www.merz-verlag.com/spiel/e000.php4
The Fire Rescue game board 61
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Battlespace talks to board game documentary director, Lorien Green about the emergence of European and US board game design.
Photo credit: Nataline Viray-Fung 62
card & board strategy An impressive cast of board game designers board games are crossing over to be available and publishers appear in the upcoming ‘geekin video game form, such as Ticket to Ride, umentary’, Going Cardboard. Despite having Small World, Catan, Carcassonne and Dungeon never uploaded a Youtube video before, much Twister. Likewise, companies such as Fantasy less made a professional documentary, former Flight Games are making board games such as online community manager turned indie Star Craft, World of Warcraft, and Gears of War, filmmaker/board game enthusiast, as well as board game versions “Imagine a film of Angry Birds and Plants vs. Lorien Green has interviewed the best in the industry about Zombies. student with the future of board games. With Amongst those that Ms Green a home-brew an influx of new themes, game screenplay asking approached on a wing and a types and mechanics providing prayer included legendary game Christian Bale an infinite number of gaming designers Reiner Knizia and Klaus combinations, Ms Green is left to be in the film, Teuber. She was surprised when with an overwhelmingly positive ‘because it’s going they agreed to be involved. impression about the industry’s “(They) are the equivalent of to be great!’ future and believes the only way A-list Hollywood stars, you know, forward is upwards and onwards. and imagine a film student with a home-brew Going Cardboard looks at the current state of screenplay asking Christian Bale to be in the board game culture, design and participation. film, ‘because it’s going to be great!’ It’s not Despite the more than $10.5 billion interactive entirely the same scenario, but I appreciate the entertainment industry booming, board games level of trust all my interviewees put in me,” still have plenty of space to grow, appealing to she said. a wide range of ages. They offer a unique social “I had faith that I would make a good product, and tactile experience that allows players to and that I had the support and resources to do a sit down around a table with friends. But not good job, but there’s a leap of faith involved for only can the digital and board worlds co-exist, interviewees on a project like this.” they are finding increasing synergies. Many
Photo credit: Nataline Viray-Fung 63
card & board strategy What is a ‘designer’ board game? A designer game is one that credits a specific designer, and that designer’s name is frequently featured prominently on the game boaxd. The other element to being a designer game is the quality of the materials and components. The pieces are usually of a nice quality, and the illustrations are of high quality. Designer games tend to have an elegant set of simple rules that allow for complex game play, and tend to involve everyone throughout, as opposed to players waiting for other people to finish their turn. Pictured left : Prolific board game designer, Reiner Knizia was interviewed as part of Going Cardboard The faith continued after the interview, with Mr Knizia collaborating with Ms Green to make a board game insert, Shoot-Out, that comes with the documentary’s DVD, complete with components and game board. Ms Green gained plenty of insights from her many other interviews, which included designers Alan R. Moon, Friedemnn Friesse, Donald X. Vaccarino, Nick Kellet and Rio Grande publisher, Jay Tummelson. “Well, Jay Tummelson was a wonderful interview because he did such a great job of explaining the evolution of designer gaming, and the background for why things evolved differently in the US versus. Europe,” Ms Green said. “It was hard to cut out parts of his interview when it came to editing, because I just liked all the comments he made. The same was true of Eric Martin. 64
Those two had a very good birdseye view of the entire industry from different perspectives,” she said. “Entertainment-wise, I just loved the Christophe Boelinger interview, and the interview with the Geek Nights podcasters. Christophe is just so fun and energetic; he is a dancer/singer/ rapper, so yeah, he’d be invited to any board game night of mine. The Geek Nights podcasters, Rym and Scott, know board games and game design very well, and their pacing as a team interview is just dynamite.” She found that German gamers prefer less confrontational games and that Americans tend to prefer games with a lot of “in your face” interaction. “That being said, the biggest gateway game in the US is The Settlers of Catan, created by a German designer, and people love it,” she says.
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Pictured above: Artwork for the Shoot-Out board game that comes with Going Cardboard Pictured right: Geek Nights podcasters, Rym and Scott have extensive board game knowledge, providing great insight for the documentary
“It’s very interesting how markets and adoption differ from country to country. From what I recall, so far designer gaming is in a similar state in the UK as it is in the US. Propagating slowly in Scotland, not really getting a serious foothold yet in Russia, but booming in China. I believe Australia is a similar market to the US, and France is pretty enthusiastic about designer gaming, too.” The growth of the US and European games markets and their polarising styles is a matter of great debate within the board games industry and a subject matter explored in Going Cardboard. “(With) the concept of luck-based games versus the more strategically-influenced type, I think the issue is the US market. I think it’s pretty safe to say that overall the designer games (which have more of this strategy focus) are better games,” Ms Green said. “When you’re talking about the American market,
The growth of the US and European games markets and their polarising styles is a matter of great debate within the board game industry some people will recognise that right away and just dive right in and seek those games out. But for many others, this is unfamiliar territory, not the kind of chance-based games they grew up with. So there’s an aversion to the new thing. And then, there are people who just prefer the chance-driven games anyway.” Ms Green revealed that the German market is friendly to small publishers, encouraging variety and providing room for different niches. Big publishers trying to appeal to a mainstream audience mainly dominate the US, preventing it from catering to a full spectrum of 65
game preferences and tastes. “Those big existing companies have to figure out what their customers want and expect from them, and fill that need, and it seems like tastes are changing with the growing popularity of designer board games,” Ms Green said. There has been a downside to the number of new games coming in. Some designers revealed to Lorien that they felt there are too many games being published and that publishers need to do a better job of quality control. Their concern is that the market will be so flooded that the consumer will be overwhelmed. “That’s less of a problem for an established board gamer who knows where to go to do the research and has a good sense of what kind of games they like already, but it’s a legitimate concern for newcomers.” B
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Do you have what it takes to win in Mob Ties? Battlespace finds out how depraved and shocking a board game can get.
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hings can get heated while playing a game of Hostage Entertainment’s Mob Ties. Blood is splattered across the board and tokens. The card artwork is a revolving gallery of depraved violence, bodies, prostitutes, drug overdoses and amputation. The main game mechanic involves intense negotiation, broken promises and exacting revenge. It’s a game that brings out the worst in people. But then again, that’s what it was designed to do. “The game mechanics were constructed to force players into conflict with one another,” Hostage Entertainment’s Nathan Isaac reveals to Battlespace.
Having received feedback from playtesters, fans and reviewers, the game developers discovered the need for finding the ‘right’ group to play the game with. “We interpret that to mean you shouldn’t play the game with people who are easily offended or who take in-game actions personally. And to some degree that’s true,” Mr Isaac says.
“If players really get into the game and the threats of violence and manipulation and deal-making that go with it, the negotiation process can definitely subsume the actual game play,” Mr Isaacs says.
At its core, Mob Ties is about the players and their actions. The player’s proficiency at manipulating your opponents will determine their success in the game. There are no ‘good guys’ in Mob Ties, except for the game’s Feds mechanic, a constant presence that threaten to barge in and take over the board. And like the Feds, ‘good guys’ get eliminated early on, unless you’re only being the ‘good guy’ to deceive the other players. Tempers will flare. But when do you ever get the chance to feed your friends to the pigs?
“But with Mob Ties the metagame, the gaming experience that manifests between the players
It’s a board game that encourages lying and cheating within the rules and, most of all, backstabbing.
This is not a game where players sit around the game board passively moving their game pieces. You get out what you put in to Mob Ties.
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through the negotiation process, is just as fun as the attacking and defending and area control.”
card & board strategy Early on in the development of Mob Ties, during one of their playtesting sessions, a game designer’s roomates asked Mr Isaacs not to attack him so that he could go after one of the other players. “I assured him that once the dust settled, I wouldn’t take advantage of him. The player he intended to attack tried to convince him otherwise, but he wouldn’t listen,” Mr Isaacs says.
The detailed and characterful game board benefited from decisions made during the early period of the development process, when the team decided that they wanted Mob Ties to be a distillation of the mafia/crime genre. They began working up a list of locations from which criminal organisations might operate, or which would provide a good front for their illicit activities. Naturally, the don needed a mansion, and true to the Sopranos and a slew of other mafia television shows and films, a strip club like Kitty’s was a natural choice. The docks location was considered an organised crime target due to its union presence and flow of goods.
“He used up all the cards in his hand and failed to kill even one of his opponent’s mobsters. I immediately eliminated him from the game. He became so angry that he left, went back to the apartment and moved out that night, a few days ahead of when he had planned to move out, all “Mobsters always need a good Italian because he was so disgusted with us and restaurant, hence Little Italy. They also need a place to cut up a body, so the the game.” ‘Meat Locker’ seemed a natural choice,” Mr Isaacs says.
“The diner provided us with a good location where local mobsters could discreetly meet and bribe the dirty cop to find out what locations were hot. And the streets can never be surrounded, thereby providing players with a refuge from the Feds.” A great deal of thought went into the racket payout values of the locations as well, with plenty of calculations performed to make sure the ratio of cash being paid out each turn was balanced with the number of players and the progression of the game. The same is true for the ‘Favor Cards’ and the ‘Fed Cards’. 68
card & board strategy “We crunched the numbers over and over again to make sure that the ratios of attack cards to defense cards and weapon cards to Fed cards was sufficiently balanced to ensure smooth game play.” And then there’s the don’s ring for players to wear. “We’ve seen players force other players to kiss the ring to seal a deal. It’s a great thematic element and it definitely helps set the mood. Everyone covets the ring. And having an actual object that players compete to acquire, along with the benefits of the title of Don (and the chance to draw Favor Cards each turn), provides another layer of conflict.” When it comes to launching a game, Mr isaacs encourages aspiring game designers to join online board game community Board Game Geek (BGG). “We tried using Facebook and Twitter and other social networking tools, but friends
Mr Isaacs has a few card combos he enjoys employing.
and family can only get you so far,” he said. “If you want to know whether or not your game will make it, you’ve got to get it in front of the BGG community and let them either love it or hate it. The BGG community is the heartbeat of the board game industry, and all your promotional efforts should initially be directed there.” But even the supportive BGG community had its detractors, with some among the board game community criticising the liberal use of violence. But despite this, Mob Ties is ploughing ahead based on its initial goals. “We wanted to make a board game for adults with a mature theme. As time has gone by, people have generally come to accept the violence depicted in the illustrations, especially after we made a print and play version available during our Kickstarter campaign, and later when we released the official print and play version.” B
and get out of Prison.
One of the classic combos that players One of his favourite cards is Shanked. will see played again and again is To play it, you have to intentionally (or targeting an opponent’s mobster with unintentionally) get pinched and sent to Taken for a Ride to move the game prison. If an opponent’s mobster is also piece to a new location – namely a in the prison location, you can shank that location like The Meat Locker. There a game piece and there’s no way to defend. mobster will be waiting with the Meat Locker’s location specific attack card, Afterward, you can play Tony Goldstein, Esq., the mob lawyer card, Deal Gone Bad. 69
card & board strategy
Battlespace explores the evolving world of the Legend of the Five Rings card game through the artwork of Steve Argyle.
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For centuries the Kaiu Wall has held strong along the southern border of Rokugan. On its north side lie the lands of the Crab Clan and on its south the blighted reaches of the Shadowlands. It was here that the forces of Rokugan entrenched themselves in their eternal battle against the forces of Jigoku.
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card & board strategy
How quickly can a collectible card game evolve while maintaing a coherent storyline? If the card game in question is Alderac Entertainment Group’s Legend of the Five Rings (L5R), the answer is: pretty quickly. With a rich storyline updated on a weekly basis, the game can also be directly influenced through tournaments where players use their decks to determine which faction will claim a particular prize within the storyline.
The Crane Clan, the Left Hand of the Emperor, was known throughout Rokugan for its skilled duelists and artisans. They wield great power in the courts of the land.
Set in the fantasy feudal Japan-themed world of Rokugan, the card game shares some similarities with Magic: The Gathering but has its own unique
game mechanics and flavour, providing passive win conditions such as its Enlightenment Victory. Games can be long, with some matches lasting hours. Legend of the Five Rings has garnered many accolades throughout the years, including several Origins awards (such as the most recent 2008 award for best CCG with Samurai Edition) and the 2008 Scrye Players Choice Best CCG Award for Samurai Edition. Having built such a rich, detailed history, Battlespace decided to take a look at various snapshots from around the world of Rokugan through the artwork of Steve Argyle.
Ten Kami siblings fell to earth from the Celestrial Heaven after the bowels of the Lord Moon Onnotangu were split open. A great tournament was held and one amongst their number came to rule the new realm of Rokugan as Emperor. His seven surviving divine siblings became the founders of the seven Great Clans of Rokugan. 72
card & board strategy
In L5R, dragons are manifestations of the primal forces that exist in the physical world and the spiritual realms. The Elemental Dragons are the most well known dragons., representing fire, water, earth, air and void. The Dragon Clan was founded by Togashi, one of the founding Kami that fell to earth. 73
card & board strategy
The Emerald Champion is the leader of the Emerald Magistrates and is responsible for the protection of the Emperor himself. When the post
of Emerald Champion became vacant upon the retirement or death of the previous champion, a grand tournament is held to select the new champion. The 74
current champion, Shosuro Jimen, is not a typical Emerald Champion, and instead is a reviled villain who has plotted several murders.
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The Scorpion Clan was founded by the Kami Bayushi. While the Crane was the Emperor’s Left Hand and the Lion his right, the Scorpion was often referred to as the Underhand of the Emperor. It was a family of spies, manipulators, and assassins who valued loyalty and duty and for whom the ends justifed the means The clan and its members are widely considered to be villainous and untrustworthy by the rest of Rokugan, though they merely attempt to fulfill the duty given to their family by the First Emperor on the day of his ascension.
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The Elements are forces contained within most matter in the mortal realm. The five types of elements are air, earth, fire, void and water. Elemental spirits are present in nearly everything. Pictured above: The Mistress of the Elements brings together fire, air and water. Pictured top left: Moshi Sailcutter Pictured bottom left: The Keeper of Water 76
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Steve Argyle has drawn artwork for a range of commercial games, including L5R, Magic: The Gathering, Dungeons & Dragons and Star Wars. With every piece presenting a different challenge, Mr Argyle has a few tricks up his sleeve. Before becoming an illustrator, he worked in digital effects for films and video games and can make use of 3D CGI when presented with a tricky lighting or perspective problem. “I can create a rough digital model, render it out and use that for reference. Like having a photoshoot with Togashi Satsu. Kinda cool.” Mr Argyle said. “Typically though, it’s by hand, from scratch, in Photoshop the whole way through. I’ll do a series of quick colour thumbnails on the sketches and try to come up with something cool with the light and colour,” he said. “Once I’ve got something that is working, I’ll refine it to where everything is basically there, it’s just loose. Finally, I’ll move on to the tedious and time-consuming detailing phase. If you’ve seen any of my stuff at high rez, or my prints, you’ll see where all that time goes. You can’t really see it on the cards,” he said.
For more information about L5R, visit the informative Wiki page: http://l5r.wikia.com/wiki/Legend_of_the_Five_Rings_Wiki 77
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Fast and furious death sport
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Blood Bowl: Team Manager – The Card Game, the bone-breaking game of violence and outright cheating from Fantasy Flight Games, was introduced to store shelves in early October.
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In this fast and furious card game of football face-offs, Chaos, Dwarf, Wood Elf, Human, Orc and Skaven teams compete over the course of a brutal season. Customise your team by drafting Star Players, hiring staff, and upgrading facilities, all to win the most fans.
They recently posted images and Pictured to the right is the pricing for the second wave of underside of a Republique of releases for their relaunch of the France – Magenta Class Battleship. Uncharted Seas fantasy naval Other products include the combat game. 78
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Limited edition diorama
Critical Mass Games is offering a 20% discount on all their mercenaries until October 31.
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Miniatures include Captain Bytt and his crew (pictured left), hired guns, drone walkers, Vadorian fighters and more. Critical mass Games offers an exciting and expanding range of 15mm Sci-Fi miniatures, vehicles and terrain.
It will limited to 1000 castings. The miniature will not have rules for the Freebooter’s Fate game to start off with, but later publication has not been ruled out.
Usurp the throne A Game of Thrones - Genesis is the video game adaptation of George R.R. Martin’s best-seller series of novels A Song of Ice and Fire. In this strategy game developed by Cyanide Studio, political prowess will be as important as players’ strategic and military skills.
Thanks to a well-developed single player campaign written under supervision of the author, A Game of Thrones - Genesis will immerse players into the heart of the battles and intrigues between the Houses that shaped the Kingdom of Westeros.
Highly detailed graveyard
Tabletop World’s new graveyard is a picturesque and highly detailed terrain piece. A great centerpiece for any medieval, fantasy or horror based table. Thanks to the fully operational gates, the whole building is easily accessible. It is perfect for making dioramas as well. 79
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