Layla.

Don't worry, Layla has what it takes to stop any man...

Storm Talon: 5 wrong things about it

Before you start reading this, let me assure you that I'm well aware of the fact that GW designers are not constrained by laws of physics, technical requirements or any other real-life nonsense when creating their models. They design vehicle that suppose to look COOL. Rest of it, rules, fluff, painting is irrelevant. After all, according to 40k fluff, armed forces of Imperium are designed in a way that none would be completely self-supporting and independent, but we keep getting rules where Space Marines can field almost anything from infantry to air force under same banner.  Now lets come to our subject, Storm Talon and 5 things GW got completely wrong about it.

1. Who is the "daddy"?

who's the daddy of storm talon?

Storm Talon design definitely keeps in line with GW overall approach to all Imperial fliers, aka "flying brick". Its square, has chicken wings, lots of unnecessary details to produce as much drag in the air as possible. Usually it is relatively easy to spot real life sources of inspiration for most of GW Imperial vehicles, but here i struggle to define one. The first thing which come to mind is one of those two helicopters: Apache and Comanche. But then you read into the rules and notice that this thing is supersonic as well as hovercraft. Great! Storm Talon must really versatile, you'd think until you try it in combat. There is another aircraft similar to Storm Talon - AV-8 Harrier, but unlike Talon, it has twice more combat capability and look much more elegant. But if you take a closer look to the side of Storm Talon you may notice who is  the real daddy:

Storm Talon, I'm your father! Join the fish side!

Dad! Is that you?!

Now it all fits into place. Whoever was working on the project must have had a goldfish in his office, that clearly inspired the looks of the aircraft. Otherwise, i can not possibly imagine that having such great planes as a starting point, GW released a flying fish.

2. Armament placement

The biggest problem of Storm Talon is that all its weapons are cramped in the nose for no apparent reason. You may argue that it gives you an extra inch when firing at that distant target, but have you ever asked yourself how often it make a huge difference? 48" range is more than enough to cover most of gaming boards in a straight line. But what about 360 degrees of firing ark for your assault cannon? What if i want to have a lascannon in moving nose turret? Heavy bolters or missile launchers are placed on the side, landing gear, as well as literally in-build restrictions stop assault cannon from gaining that. WHY???

Look at Apache with its .50 cal undercarriage, it can fire it at any target below. Storm Talon is stuck with its 45 degrees front ark, and because it lightly armoured, it can go to hover mode only if there is no opposition around. As a result, we are stuck to hit-n-run tactics, which does not fill the requirements of close air support. You may of coarse field Storm Raven in this role, but that thing has a different battlefield role. Number of people have kit bashed Talon with armament in extended wings, Nephilim-style, but that does not change the problem. So unless you are happy with its limited angle, there always be targets that will evade you wraith.  

3. Engines

There comes the comparison with Harrier. For those who do not know, Harrier is equipped with single vectored thrust Rolls Royce Pegasus II engine. 4 vectored thrusts keep plane both in flight and in hover modes, as well as providing short take-off options. Simplified it looks like that:

When you look underneath Storm Talon, you will find similar 4 hoses, which should imply, that it has similar system. Alternatively, it may have a engine providing vertical drag, similar to Russian Yak-38. But then in the name of what we have 2 additional engines, which can be tilted? Let me guess... So that a kid could turn them once and feel cooool about it for 5 seconds. Get yourself a transformer toy, if looking for that sort of crap.    

4. Size of wings (fins?)

It is obvious that they are too small for anything to be placed on them. Though their size make Talon much smaller target, their functionality for alternative weapon placement is out of any aesthetic question. Anything will look huge and out of place on them. Kit bashers usually change or extend wings to place bolters or missile launchers underneath, to solve that problem. Some use replacements from other kits, like Sentinel or Land Speeder. Regardless of that wings are not the best place to present iconography of the Chapter. Luckily they gave us a HUGE tail fin, the only place on the model where we could paint, place huge transfers or just leave it empty.

5. Weapons load-outs and special rules

In its infinite wisdom we have only one slot we can modify. ONE! With only four options to choose from twin-linked heavy bolter, twin-linked lascannon, Typhoon missile launcher and useless Skyhammer missile launcher (It is just another "special" weapon designed to make one particular unit a bit better, while robbing away its versatility). Am I the only one who feels robbed of options? What if I don't want the cursed assault cannon? Two twin-linked lascannons would be my preferred load out. Why not give me that? At least i can put assault cannon to Razorback, without going to Forgeworld.

Where are the guided missiles? At least give me a hunter-killer option, please? It is a standard weapon after all.  How about a special load outs like Interceptor, Ground Attacker, or Recon? I'd love to have Infiltrate and Scout on Talon, to blast the enemy before the main battle begins. No? Can i get an Interceptor rule, to kill those pesky Eldar as they fly into the board? No? Space Marines are not cool enough?    

Hover strike is probably most useless rule for Talon. With main weapons already twin-linked, and Pinning and Rending, why do you need an extra +1 to BS and additional Pinning? It may be useful sometimes, but it is a bit of overkill. Especially know that to get it, Talon becomes a bullet magnet, as it loses its Jink save. 

Ceramite Plating, which ignores melta rule, may be of use, but would it be more logical to improve Jink save for a such highly manoeuvrable aircraft, as opposite to heavy Storm Raven?

In conclusion of my prolonged winging, Storm-fish-Talon, is still a good option. But not the best.

Sincerely yours,
Mark-Paul.

P.S. Have I mentioned that putting landing gear on the turret of assault cannon is most ridiculous idea I've ever seen? Well now I'v said it. :)

Astra Militarium: short list of biggest changes

So it has arrived, new shiny 104 sheets hardback codex for Imperial Guard. Finally writers of GW made a serious push and made flluffy part of Imperial Guard more detailed by adding a version of Ministry of War. This however is not a significant change just a polishing of details. In short, entire codex (who does not have a leading author this time) have a feel of polished version of previous codex. Now lets talk about biggest changes.

1. Points. 

Yes, majority of weapon upgrades have been changed. Most of plasma and power weapons are at least 5 pts more expensive. On the other side, majority of other weapons like lascannons, grenade launchers, flamers, are at least 5 or 10 points cheaper. Same goes for most infantry upgrades like doctrines for veterans, medi-packs, Comissars, ect. Valkyries and Vendettas are much more expensive, 125 and 170 pts respectively. Most of surviving characters are cheaper as well, Yarrick is 145 pts, for example.  

2. Tank commander.

Finally those pesky armored units can upgrade to have a character with their own Orders and tactics. This is one of the biggest changes and improvements for the Imperial Guard. Three orders give and extra move, allow to split fire and use smoke immediately after firing weapons. Good old Pask is still here and as any other Tank commander is BS4.   

3. Modified units.

Some of the Elite units have been upgraded.and improved. Long standing outcry for Stormtroopers have been heard. Now they are called Militarium Tempestus Scions, have their own command squad, improve morale of friendlies in vicinity of 18", may shout orders and may be grouped up to 10 models in the unit. Hot-shots got an extra support weapon with Strength 4, range 24" and salvo 2/4 ability.     

Ogryns got an assault version called Bullgryns, with carapace armour and 5+ invulnerable due to the huge shield they are carrying. 

Vendetta lost 6 places for passengers. Hydra is 10 points cheaper. Ratlings now have the ability to shoot and run (not like they ever needed it). Psyker battle squad now called Wyrdane psyker and follows rules for Brotherhood of Psykers with 4 disciplines under their belt. 

Minitorum Priest ever useful in close combat are even more awesome, since they can boost combat effectiveness for each fight sub-phase. In short: re-roll any save, re-roll to wound or gain Smash rule. Zealot comes handy as well.

Enginseer gained an extremely useful ability to bestow a Power of Machine Spirit to any friendly vehicle in 12" for one turn. So now we can jump around and fire at will with any heavy tank.       

4. New vehicles.

Well strictly speaking there is only two Taurox APC and Wyvern mobile mortar. Latter one is an improved version of old Griffon, without rule for accurate bombardment. Instead we get two mortar shots with Ignore cover, Shred and small blast. Yawn.

Taurox on the other hand is a new beast.  In functionality in resembles Rhino, same stats and access points, plus two firing points and ability to re-roll dangerous terrain test. The biggest downfall is that it is a HUGE target, as tall as Basilisk. 

Taurox Prime, is a version of light tank/APC for Scions has a BS 4 and a huge variety of weapons, like battle cannons, missile launchers, hot-shot volley gun, autocannon or Gatling cannon. In addition it is a fast vehicle. But then again, it is a lightly armored HUGE target. 

5. New orders.

Well there is only two new orders, "Smite at Will!" which gives a unit a Split Fire option and "Suppressive Fire!" giving infantry a Pinning option. Others are just slightly rephrased versions of previous commands.   

  

Taurox and Scions command squad

   

  

Triss Merigold cosplay

Geralt, what is happening in that head of yours?
Triss Merigold

Celestine.

Sister Celestine of The Order of Ebony Chalice

8000 hits. Reflection.

The more you blog and read others, the more you learn. In my megalomaniac plans to conquer the world of game design, this particular blog had to be a place where puny readers, would worship and praise my glorious mastery. Instead, people come here for some silly reasons, like half naked girls. Time to facepalm, it is another defeat. But this war shall be won by ME! I swear on my pants!!

Reflection Uno: don't compete with media hype. use it. 

Games like Halo or Whitcher, have an AAA rating, and millions in their PR and media budget. Not surprisingly majority of searches goes for those subjects. If I'd go for money making scheme for this blog, I'd have create a blogged version of a "X-box magazine". Or what i accidentally did, take juicy bits of hype and share it here, wait for visitors pouring in thus providing the reason for putting up with google ads. However as one hype, overtakes another, i'd probably get lost in repeated praises for just another blockbuster.

Reflection Secundo: understand needs of your reader. if you care. 

Writing on game design, and especially on how things are developed and organised, how creative process works, or what life events game designer is going through, is a thankless job. First of all, very few specialists are interested in that and even less care. Simply because it's generally considered a normality, not an unusual thing for those who create it. Whose who study it develop their own, niche or caste stories, understood mostly by comrades in profession. Occasionally this is spilled around with hype for another game. 

However what ordinary people are looking for, and gamers especially, is analysis of what game does, and how can they use it for their own purposes, new shiny things, rules updates, reviews. Surprisingly, my post on Boarding Marines is one of the most popular in my blog, simply because it gives an answer to people's question and saves them money (hopefully). My general ramblings on how things work, or why, remain outside of the request. So again, write stuff what is a useful to others, but don't be surprised if majority does not care.

Reflection Tercio: learn from your enemies. thats how you conquer the world. 

Yep. Sadly reading other blogs, and marketing books helps. Bastards! They stole all my magnificent ideas! Outrageous! Writing your own stuff and achieving goals works even better. Because you actually work the path of development, instead of reading how it should be done. But anyway prepare.... 

King's Angels - a RPG campaign

Well, as some may or may not know, ideas have a tendency to evolve beyond your original plans. Thunderbolts, a W40k campaign was severely re-routed after a had a good look and Only War rpg-system.
In short - its a DnD in different setting, with all its rigidness and class progression. The other thing is availability of models, but i have been winging about it earlier. So as things progressed, 40k became 1947 AD, in our real world,  Imperial Navy turned into a mercenary regiment and planet Ashoka shrunk into Ethiopian Empire. At the moment of writing this, I'm testing the flight model and elements of RPG system for this particular campaign.  

There it is then: http://kingsangels.blogspot.co.uk/

Did I mentioned femme fatales? No? Then i will.

Liya Kebele

As always, your lonely megalomaniac

Burning Skies: dogfights in Warhammer 40000

Burning Skies is official rules supplement for Warhammer 40000 found in GW book Campaign: Crusade of Fire. This 92 hard-cover full colour book have been released, as a limited edition, back in 2012 when Flyer's have returned to the game. The book itself is not a subject of this post but its worth mentioning that it gives a groundwork for any Game Master willing to create and run its 40k campaign.

As your truly keeps working on RPG campaign for Thunderbolts, I looked into this book for inspiration. So allow me to share what have been discovered: Burning Skies is a relatively simple game-inside-the-game system which could be used in most 40k games. Simply put it add a mechanics similar to challenge mode in 6th edition of rules, but with added layer of complexity. Rule set is comprised of Burning Skies section described on 3 pages, Special Manoeuvres described in 4 pages, and Fighter Aces on additional 4 pages.

What these rules are about?

Burning Skies revolves around idea of micro combat during the Shooting Phase. As players end their Movement phase, they roll d6 to see if Dogfight mode could be initiated. Result could be modified by position of the aircraft toward each other. If that succeeds, then players roll for 3 stages of dogfight on special tables. Stages of dogfight are Pursuit, Lock-on and Destroy.  Each stage imitates its description and players roll for tactics used during this micro fight.

Three avaliable tactics are assigned by roll of d6 and rolls are grouped into 1-2, 3-4, 5-6 results. Both Attacker and Defender apply rolled tactics on table with 9 possible outcomes. Each of the dogfight stages have its own unique table, where results could be quite surprising.

Uff... Tired? Me too. However if you played 40k long enough you may be adjusted to mentality of many dice and extra tables. The pay-off for all these suffering and rolling is an extra Victory Points for killing enemy aircraft, as well as promised extra VP which could be generated during dogfight.
One of the biggest reservations on my part against it, is why should I give an enemy an extra chance of survival against my Shooting attack? Or even give an enemy a chance to fire back at me? The results on some of those tables allow for that to happen. When if I play simple-stupid mechanics I manoeuvre and blast the enemy out of the sky. Period. The biggest and saddest part of it for me, that Burning Skies does not change the way models actually manoeuvre or act towards other models in the game, and all this dogfighting is happening only in your imagination.   

On a bright side, these rules are supplemented with Special Manoeuvres part. This is where things get hot and interesting. Each major faction of W40k universe gets two special manoeuvres which could be used during one of the stages of dogfight or during normal Movement, Shooting and Assault phases. To use any of these manoeuvres player must pass either Leadership, Initiative or Toughness test. Should they succeed then aircraft may either gains and extra cover save, re-roll outcomes of dog-fight stage, gains extra attack, smash and ram enemy units, give allied tanks re-rolls to hit or perform a psychic attack.

From my little gaming experience with Burning Skies, if used in time and skillfully those manoeuvres make a great difference. However the biggest downside is that W40k is clunky and rigid game as it is and adding an extra complexity to it does not improve gameplay at all.  

Speaking of complexity... Third part of Burning Skies called Fighter Aces brings the pain to your brain. In its essence it is an extra roll on another table, similar to your Warlord table. Luckily there is only 3 results which modify your pilots chances of engaging in dogfight, hitting the target, inspiring allies or getting a re-roll. The price you pay is 50 points for an Ace.  

To give an overall verdict to this rules supplement is difficult. If you are an experienced player looking for more micromanagement in addition to number of shots you fired, attacks generated, number of inches moved and charged, you will find these rules easy to adapt and give your games an extra level of epicness.

If you only starting to grasp the foundation of 40k, then you may want leave it for later, as it is your decisions as player will not have a significant impact on outcome of the dogfight. That area is ruled by dice and chance, though authors do insist that we should trust our pilots to make decisions, rather than take control ourselves. Then again, why should I?

Sincerely yours,
Mark-Paul Severn

Mrs. Vader.

May the Xmas be with you!

4500 hits: things I've learned

Blogging is not a job, even if it feels sometimes like that. Its labour of love and dedication, or at least it should be. Despite the fact that my blog was abandoned for quite a long time, the visitors kept on coming and big gaming world kept buzzing with new shiny things like Destiny, Witcher: the Wild Hunt, Shadowrun and countless other names.

After looking at my visitors statistics I came to some boring conclusions.

1) Triss Merigold is awesome.
In less than a week her sexy pictures had more hits than both my fan-made codexes had in a year. No surprise here, but still. One of the ways to get high number of visitations is to join the global hype. Can't say I like the idea, but maths shows that it gets more attention than my half-witted blubbering or videos from someones youtube channel.

2) Less is more.
Continuing on half-naked Triss. My main tool here is writing but there is a risk of flooding blog with just another post on just another hype, for just another number of hits. I'm not looking for this blog to pay my bills, so why should I join the crowd? Instead, I shall continue to use this blog as place to show my creations and sort of virtual notebook on ideas and dreams. I would have to concentrate on certain topics, such as how to overcome writer's block, ideas behind game design and personalities, that simply expands my own understanding of craft, and hopefully someone else's. If there is a need for off-topic article I probably should write it for other online blog to save me from going astray.

3) More Triss.
More ladies will come, game related or not, they are an eye candy after all. Some say they even bring visitors and even readers :)

Sincerely yours,
Mark-Paul Severn.

Lara.

this is gonna hurt...
Lara Croft

Imperial Thunderbolt keeps on fighting

Some ideas just refuse to leave and die in oblivion. Thunderbolt skirmish/campaing game will be set on the planet Ashoka IV, during the jungle war against greenskin Orkz. I have no idea how and when I'm going to pull this off but I really hope it will happen soon enough. What I'm certain of is that will have three main components: aerial dogfighting, intrigue based on technology of Warhammer 40000 universe and it will have women. You may read it as much as you like, but these are an essential components for any good macho-game, especially if players are going to assume roles of fighter pilots of Imperial Navy. To make matters more difficult players will face South-Eastern peculiarities of the culture.

But SHHHH! I've not told you anything.
Now get back to work, Mark :)    

You have been logged out from another location. Do you want to log in again?

Well its Friday 13th. 
For more than a week I had a problem with logging on my beloved blog. For some unknown reason after logging in and trying to access the options panel I got this message on pretty white screen "You have been logged out from another location. Do you want to log in again?". 

In my case this problem have appeared only with Chrome browser and apparently was cased by not accepted cookies. After digging on google group dedicated to this problem i found a workable solution posted by  

Victor Novorski

My problem was resolved by following these steps
1. sign out of blogger.
2. for chrome, go to settings, privacy and then clear browsing data.
3. re-login to blogger https://www.blogger.com/home

I hope this will help you too :)

Rejoice? Problem solved? Fuck no. In order to add a picture to this post Blogger is asking me to log in again. 
Right... Hey Google? Are you taking a piss? Or for some reason you need to double check my identity so you could sell that piece of information to somebody else? 

I will try to find an extra workable solution and if all fails and probably move my megalomaniac blog to Wordpress. If may not be the end of the world, but at least it will work. 

Sincerely yours,
 Mark.

P.S. After a couple of weeks Google made an update to Chrome and it seem to fix problem. Fingers crossed. 

Path of the Gamer

In less than 48 hours new Space Marine Codex is going to arrive and bring its joy to the new and old fans of Warhammer 40k. Excited, yeah? By this moment in time I've spent more hours than I'd expect doing this hobby, and less hours than it is reasonable for any mundane folk with wife, kids and mortgage. (unless they are hooked on this as well). Though people who build Games Workshop's marketing strategy probably knew what they would do to the lives of their customers, we poor geeks can seen only the shiny side of this (more new shiny things, cool heroes, grand games and conversation in circle of friends). 

So how does Path of the Gamer looks from the receiving end of the bolter? 

Phase 1: The Cool stuff.   

Yep. The stuff you buy is cool. It makes you feel great, its new, its exciting and nice guy in blue (or black) T-shirt have gave you enough time to praise your painting skills. In fact you never knew you could paint at all, before that. Each of minis give you a personal attachment, as you practise your painting and stories of Heroes battles ring as promise of great victories for you, personally. 

This stage lasts from 2 days to couple of months, depending on temperament and surrounding. There are other forms of entertainment, which are more brain damaging but less demanding in terms of time, money and dedication. 

Phase 2: Tip of the curve

Oh yeah! You made it to your first big victory over another fella who had even less knowledge of the game than you. Your victorious army is still half painted but somehow after all this dice rolling and pushing models over the table something happend, and you won. Rejoice! 

The greatest danger of this stage is meeting the Professional (see below), who plays not only game,

but who  understands the game and can play your psyche for his benefit as well as executing battle plan. Result of this meeting could be quite demoralising, as opponent will mop the floor with your battle plan, laugh over army tactics and shovel your pride up your gaming bridge. Those who survive that, and still able to paint, buy and play may proceed to next phase.

Phase 3: Revelation

The rules start to make sense, numbers gain meaning and in debate over which unit is "cheesier" you can add your profound opinion. Models become just another one to paint and put in a box, but perception of the game itself changes into strategy and dice luck. What unit to choose as damage dealer, which relic or upgrade works better and how to write a winning army list. Some even go further and attempt to criticise authors of the rule book, on  a basis that player knows better. 

To drop out of hobby on this stage is difficult, but not impossible. Life commitments like work or personal life are among prime suspects. Even so, the wargaming virus has been planted deep and have left significant effect in terms of social life and mental ability to categorize and analyse combinations of probabilities and options. Useful life skill if it ever gets a chance to be used in real life. Taking decision in the heat of battle is probably useful as well.             

  

Phase 4: New shores

After a while (in some cases couple of armies and hundreds of £ later), Gamer is going for something new and even more shiny. Great! Now he has got experience, he can compare, he knows how to spend money and leave toys unpainted for many months to come. The game system is much easier to understand, especially if new shore is just a different army of the same game. This is the time when Gamer finally enjoys himself as he is just playing it, the biggest difficulty here is an opponent. If opponent is as good as you then it all comes to dice luck. If opponent is even better than you, that's where dirty tricks are coming into a play with full swing. (it's not like you didn't do that before, of coarse)

Dropping out of the habit on this stage is plausible to lack of challenge (you know game system far too well) or opponents (nobody want to play with you). All usual suspects are still here: women, booze, work, money, not bothered anymore.   

Phase 5: The Professional

You are cool. You can teach the game to those youngsters who just got their first box. Or you can finally satisfy your Dark side and beat the crap of everyone who fields the army on the table. You can quickly adjust to any new rule set, codex or update. Your army is painted to perfection, you dice love you and there few people on the planet who dare to challenge you. Wargaming is not a profession, pastime or a lifestyle - it is a part of your body.      

When you ascended on this Path so far, you may stop playing the game anytime you want. The problem is you don't want to.

Sincerely yours, 

Mark-Paul Severn 

on the eve of 7th Space Marine Codex arrival  

        

   

Aeronautica Imperialis: review

After some time of chasing and locating this rulebook I have succeeded. Despite being made in now long gone 2006 and not supported any more by GW, it still an interesting game. Aeronautica Imperialis have in many ways influenced many of following “hits” of gaming industry. X-wing is one of them. How to summarize the overall impression if this game in brief sentence?

Peculiar dogfight.

Lets try to break it down in smaller points and elaborate on high and low point of this definitely interesting game.

1. Stand alone game.
2. Dogfight
3. Peculiar details
4. Juicy extras and balance

Stand alone game.

Aeronautica Imperialis is a Warhammer 40k spin-off specifically dedicated to aerial dogfights. Period. It ignores the huge amount of 40k inconsistencies and “holy bolter” of its game system WS and BS. It simply puts us in the sky and gives some flying lessons in style of World War 2. As it was written prior to modern Storm Talons and Sunsharks it has relatively small, but balanced amount of aircraft for each race, but our main workhorse/opponent is Imperial Navy Thunderbolt. Fighters and Bombers are the only types, but these classes have small influence on the gameplay. Flyers characteristics are much more important. Addition of Advanced rules makes for more in-depth games, but at the same time makes it even slower. Things like limited ammo, pilots skill, weather, terrain do affect combat, but if you mastered this relatively complicated game it will make it more tactically challenging.

Dogfight.

Well... put it this way, Imperium of Man is dying and backwards, just for the sake of Space Marines being cool dudes of entire setting. In case of Aeronautica Imperialis this put an emphasize onto close aerial fighting, without Space marines on a main roles. Instead Imperial players fly with Navy. On a technical side, in time of Imperium, Thunderbolt fighters can fly to the orbit of the planet but they have no radar and heat-seeking missiles have less firepower than autocannon. So pilots main activity is to get on enemy's tail and pepper it with bullets. All other missions like Bombing raids, troop insertion, Air patrols are added on top that sweet adrenaline of “dakka-dakka”.

Peculiar details.

The sweet sound of “dakka-dakka” comes at a price. Main idea of game is to predict position of enemy's aircraft, put your plane into firing range and roll 5+ or 6+ if you are higher or lower than target. To do so, you change following: Speed, Altitude, Thrust, then you play Manoeuvre cards to do Barrel rolls, High-g turns, Dives, Climbs and Turns. For each plane! Then you have 3 set ranges for weapons with variable effect on firepower. Book states that game with 2 planes may take an hour to complete and game with up to 12 planes several hours. In my small experience dogfight of 2 vs 2 planes took approximately 40 minutes.

Luckily we were not using advanced rules, but still some small things like overshooting enemy because your speed is higher than his, firing loads of shots and not scoring anything because you needed 6+, hitting but not damaging plane (similar to roll to wound), makes Aeronautica Imperialis a very detailed game. This in my opinion is both strong and weak point of it.

On a strong side: it really delivers a shot-by-shot dogfight experience.

On the other side: the very complexity of it slows it down.

Game system written by Games Workshop veteran Warwick Kindrade is as simple as it gets for a aerial combat simulator (though book insists that it is not a simulator). But to make it's gameplay faster and even more easier to grasp and master it would have to lose many of its detail which make it so rich. For example 4 vs 4 game of X-wing takes an hour to complete, Axis and Allies: Wings of Victory is similar in speed.

Juicy extras

On top of well-tested and balanced game book contains colour schemes for all aircraft, technical specifications, fluffy descriptions, in-game data sheets, “historical” missions, campaign rules (which are easy and based on 3 tables), some special rules, couple of pages dedicated to painting and terrain.

Overall book is high quality hard back with typical Forgeworld glossy paper. Currently sold together with supplement for 40k games for £30. Probably while stock lasts. Since GW discontinued its Specialist games in 2012, this book would be a collectors, not gamers buy. For now there are much faster and more competitive games on a market. But of coarse, they are not in Warhammer 40000 universe. 

Nilin.

"... lets play another game, Colonel. but this time, the hunted will become the hunter!"
Nilin. Memory hunter.
"Remember Me"

I really wanted to love this game. It had such promise, such potential, such nice views on both Neo-Paris and Nilin. Media hype have spilled an incredible journal of Antoun, Memorize creator filled with both personal and political history of our world circa 2054. But. It's empty and lacks many essential things. On top of everything else, Nilin, her memory loss, quest for rediscovery of herself, had-to-hand combat with arrogant bosses reminded me what "Remember Me" was trying to be: a version of Japanese manga: Alita: Battle Angel . Well, at least we got to see how powerful memory mixes could be.

Thunderbolt vs X-wing.

For almost a month I've been playing with idea of RPG / flight simulator crossbreed game. I know. It even sounds weird, but I've learnt to trust even craziest idea which came into the head of mine. This one was inspired by this particular plane:

Imperial Navy Thunderbolt

Despite the being an obvious product of Games Workshop's approach towards aerodynamics (flying brick in other words), I love that plane. It has heroic vibe, lots of guns, unique appearance and style of World War 2 dogfighter. Warhammer 40k setting easily transfers players into grim and gritty warzone, and Dark Heresy book would provide enough background and rules for detective storyline enveloping the flying missions. As a point of reference I took Korean War (1950-53). That conflict provided more than enough information on planes, combat, pilots, their living conditions, attitude to war and people. (Russians, Chinese and Koreans would be replaced by Orks, eventually :-)  

But before I began fleshing out main characters as Inquisitor, Squadron Leader, Commissar, Naval Intelligence officers, Adeptus Mechanicus Magos (somebody had to upgrade and refit the planes) I stumbled upon some serious problems.

The first one is: rules for simulating air combat.
Obviously you'd look at Aeronautica Imperialis, game produced by Forgeworld. The result was frustrating. Not only the game is discontinued along all other Specialist games of GW, the rules have a very steep learning curve and require a lot of bookkeeping. In addition games tend to be quite long and overloaded with unnecessary and irritating rules like limited ammo or fuel consumption. For example: Thunderbolt may fire only 4 times per battle hitting on 5+ or 6+. Different altitudes of planes, positions, speeds and manoeuvres add to the complexity of it. After careful consideration, this game would not do the job of quick air combat between the ground missions. Well, the greed factor is still there. Its £30 for 16 pages of rules, while rest of hundred or so pages are fluff and pretty pictures.

The second one is: absence of models.
Well, as I've mentioned before Aeronautica Imperialis, along Epic: 40k and other titles have been discontinued. Aftermarket is expensive as models become rarity and slow to offer. I completely accept my fault and responsibility for NOT buying any of those model before. Sorry, GW. Next time I will be faster and clutter all my living space with your products. In the mean time I'll learn how to scratch build the tiny plane from paper.

The outcome of this sketch was discovery of very interesting set of rules by David Child-Dennis, a game designer and historical wargaming enthusiast from New Zealand.  Thanks to http://www.freewargamesrules.co.uk/ I can share this outstanding work here:

• Airwar Korea 
• Airwar Vietnam
• Typhoon (modern aircombat)

Ironically, as well as Aeronautica Imperialis I've came across another relic of long forgotten past: Crimson Skies! The incredible and crazy creation of FASA Corporation, people behind the myth of giant walking robots. In Crimson skies they managed to cross breed table-top aerial dogfighting, bravado of 30-s, zeppelins and piracy. Rules are relatively easy to grasp and free to download. See for yourself:

Crimson Skies rulebook

Last but not least, came X-wing with incredibly easy, fun and balanced rules. Which are available for download for free.

X-Wing miniatures game rulebook 

The X-wing ironically have taken my attention away from 40k. Not only this game consumed quite a bit of time and money, it inspired set of new ideas for other project I'm working on. (sci-fi of coarse :). It also showed that time of over complicated games is coming to an end.

In short time, from the moment idea of Thunderbolt campaign was born, it grew, flew on the high hopes, hit the wall of reality, died and opened the the whole new areas and approaches for future projects as well as finding some rare the jewels.

So, I guess thank you, Thunderbolt.

Sincerely yours,
Mark-Paul Severn. 
(the wanna-be-designer with megalomaniac ambitions)
     

10 Commandments of Imperial Guard Drop Trooper

1. Everyone jumps – none quits! Thus you shall conquer fear and inflict it upon enemy.

2. Everyone jumps – no exceptions! Only those who jump are your brothers in arms.

3. Everyone jumps to win, or die trying!

4. Battle is Drop Trooper’s fulfillment. Train yourself, endure hardship and seek victory.

5. First my weapon – then myself. If weapons are in good order you shall prevail.

6. Support your brothers in arms. By the spirit and aid of your comrades you shall prevail.

7. Grasp the plan and purpose of every enterprise. It’s you who makes the difference.

8. Aim carefully – shoot sharply. Wasted shots are unacceptable gifts to your enemy.

9. Respect abilities of your enemies. Fight with courage, valor and all of your might.

10. Be alert, be prepared, be tough and be fast. Thus you shall be the Emperor’s finest.


Written by
Mark-Paul Severn
Elysian Talons codex.

Conflicting logic

"Never ask for anything. 

Especially from those who are stronger and 

more powerful than you are. 

When they find you worthy 

they will offer anything you need." 

That's how I have been taught. That is how it should be. But real life is not the book.


I recollect one of the conversations while i was looking for a way into design studio of one of major gaming companies. My question was "how do you recruit new designers? How do get influx of new ideas?"

The answer was a roundabout conversation about getting into the company, sending huge amount of CV, making it through the ranks of publishing industry or just being lucky. The latest addition to that design studio was a "random guy who knew our product inside out", and I was reminded again that getting a job is matter of skill and determination. You don't actually have to be "the game designer" to design our games, that was an overall impression of that encounter.

I have promised to build up my portfolio and come back later on. Then I got hooked on the freelance with other set of skills, not involving dice, rulers and book writing. (I was doing an interpreting, should you ask. ) As a result, my confidence and understanding of doing the skilled job have increased dramatically. You don't have to be a paper pusher and beg for a chance to enjoy doing what you really good at.

That of coarse leads towards to freelancer in the crowd. It is demanding, just because the product of your sleepless nights have a great chance to get lost in hundreds of other titles. Unless of coarse you will take a path of business and try to make money on the set of rules you made. Some do.

But there is a certain pride in that. You've done it yourself. Your way.
No begging. But you are open to the offers.

Sincerely yours,
Mark-Paul.

Dice Tower's 10 tip to a game designer.

These guys are really funny, but surprise surprise they are correct in their tips. :))