Beyond the Gates of Antares: Alpha rules

After a long silence Beyond the Gates of Antares, a new sci-fi game by Rick Priestly has returned. Alpha rules are released for the purpose of playtest and available in low and high color variant.(links are below). File is 52 page and cover most of the know development of this game, including history of the Spill, technology, major races and factions.

I'm posting these files based on Rick Priestley opinion:

If you want to share copies with your playtesting partners just share them - that's what the pdf is there for.  

The rules are based on Bolt Action, a great game by Master Priestly. But ruleset itself does not have a rules for vehicles and most definitely will expand in near future. Files are represented on basis that you will not use them for commercial purposes. All copyrights and trademarks belong to Warlord Games Ltd. no challenge of intellectual property is intended.

Beyond the Gates of Antares: Alpha rules (printer friendly low-color version)

Beyond the Gates of Antares: Alpha rules (full color version)

Review: Deadzone game mechanics

Enforcers with Captain

Deadzone, huh? The first time I had a look at this game I thought it just another Necromunda-clone. Despite having 3-dimensional approach to space and different morale status my presupposition was not changed. After all, small scale skirmish games are established genre, what new could be possibly made there? All of them revolve around same ideas established by Rick Priestly in early W40K and later in Necromunda and Mordheim. Difference in minor details or skills (like Infinity for example) do not make a game revolutional. So I admit:

I was wrong. 

Deadzone by Jake Thorton does not blow you away with its absolutely new game mechanics, it takes your heart slowly, but surely. You'd still do all the usual things: determine initiative, activate models, shoot, move, fight, give commands and use special card. But first of all you do not need to count number of shots or punches in combat. It is probably The Newest Approach to skirmish games we have seen for a long time.But before I will go into details of how it works and what it does, allow me to summarise what this game is about. 

Deadzone is wargame of tactical unpredictability. You as player, would have to fight on several level of the game. 

• Preparation: gather your team of specialist and prepare for the unknown.
• Tactical: you need to make an analysis of yours and prediction of opponent's mission objectives. 
• Combat: you must use your team wisely, play to its strengths in order to prevail and survive.   

Now the most important difference of Deadzone from other games is its core mechanics, which is dead simple on a first glance, and deep on the second. In short it could be described as: highest number of successes wins. In order to succeed in most actions player takes a test, usually on 3 d8. To achieve success they need to roll a equal or higher number of the stat used. For example, for Survive 5+ you'd roll 3 d8 looking for 5 or higher result. 

The real difference begins with two things, first of all: result of 8, is an exploding dice, i.e. gives you another dice for the same test. If again score 8, it gives another dice, and so on. Second: biggest difference of game mechanics is comparing the result of the test. There are 3 stages of success: one success more than opponents, double and triple. The higher is obviously the better. For each level of success in close combat, shooting, commanding or other special actions there is a chart with effects. 

Another big difference is that every model can take either two Short actions or one Long actions. This alone makes for a very intense tactical decision making. For example, in ranged combat you have a choice to either Shoot to kill one model, Blaze away to Pin down entire square with lets say three models, or take an Overwatch and wait till enemy walks into a crossfire.   

One of most controversial mechanics of Deadzone is Cover system. Cover against normal Shooting works as you'd expect: give bonus to your defence. However against Blaze Away (pinning fire) it provides negative modifier. Why? Because it's comfortable to be in cover, and while enemy is trying to pin you down you are more likely to curl and hide. Controversial? Yep, but works fine.

Less controversial, but still unusual system is Command. Some models have a command value , creating your Command pool (number of orders per battle), but shouting orders is a Long Action. With 6+ test on 3 d8 it is a risky business as well. However each level of success, Normal, Double and Triple has three separate entry for effects. This is a bit tricky, because you can't plan your order, you see if your are successful, and then determine the order. However all three entries have 3 distinct similarities: 

• boost your troops by giving a free action. 
• confuse enemy by marking one of his models as activated. thus denying him chance of using that model in his turn.
• get an extra battle card, either from deck or discard pile     

The Battle cards is another level to this game. They act as instant bonus to your troops abilities or actions. Cards are divided into Active - could be used in your activation, Reactive - used in opponent's turn, and Hybrind which could be used in any phase. 

From my experience of playing Deadzone, it's a very alien concept at first, which takes a very different route form most of skirmish games. However once you drop the "bullet counting and cover saves" mentality, and concentrate on decisions and tactical situation around your team, the game flows. What's most important: this game allows situations to build a story of your team, lucky shots and epic fails almost as good as old-timers. Rulebook has an inbuilt campaign system, equipment, perks and special abilities as well as doze of information of major protagonist Enforcers, Plague, Marauders and Rebels.

   

Those pinky goons are Plague. 

Ciri.

"side by side, step by step they went down the castle's bloodied
ladders. The White Wolf and Grey Cat." 

Victoria.

We shall ride and meet them!

Game designer: Chris Roberts

He has returned! 

Legendary game designer Chris Roberts, author of Wing Commander series came back with new great idea of MMO space simulator. For more than a year this massive project has been building up and growing in followers. In this interview Mr. Roberts talks about his path in game design, occasional film director roles, his burnout and current return to the stage with Star Citizen. Chris Roberts was always a designer with both vision, technical expertise and eye for commercial success. Star citizen is not yet complete, but already making profit, and it is the most successful crowd-funded game of all time with more than $1,6 million raised. (those charities must be green with envy).

Welcome back, Chris! Please, do take our money!   

Video length: 29 min

Game Designer: Sid Meier

Few people in game industry need an additional presentation. Sid Meier is definitely one of them. In this interview for Rev3Games youtube channel he talks about his humble beginnings and current plans. Despite being world know creator he is surprisingly modest and honest about himself.

Video length: 26 min 

TIE Phantom tactics

i'm so sexy for my shirt..

As promised earlier I will explore combat tactics best suited for newly released TIE Phantom. This post is based on both recommendations from Fantasy Flight and analysis of several combats using this ship against various adversaries. Allow me to start with analysis of what this fighter is:

1) Silver bullet of Empire's fleet. 

As a base of this topic let's agree that list over 100 points are left out of conversation. Let's compare the points of  basic TIE, Interceptor and Phantom: 12, 18 and 25. In or standard 100 points game we would be able to fit 8 TIE fighters, 5 Interceptors and 4 Phantoms. However, Phantom unlike other crafts, really shines with extra upgrades like Stygium particle accelerator and Advanced cloaking device. If we stick to 3 Phantoms it leaves us 25 points for upgrades, enough to give each one of them a chance to wreak havoc on opponent, but really vulnerable in case of concentrated firepower. So do not expect Phantoms to replace your TIE's. 2 Phantoms is an overspending you points in a small game. 

2) Mastering the flight of the Phantom.

X-wing is game where ability to predict opponents move and control over space is a mainstay of the gameplay. (Especially if there is no 3rd dimension in order to deliver dramatic elements of the space combat.) So we players, have to understand what our craft is able to do as well as what opponent is capable of. Mastering Phantom takes a bit of time simply because it requires a three sided analysis of battlefield in front of you. First, you have to predict where opponent's ships will be, then you need to plan positions of your other ships, then you plan where you would like to decloak and take position. Not an easy task if you have more than 6 ships in your flight path, as well as obstacles. So learn your Phantom! Learn a three phase planning:

showcase of Echo's decloaking paths

• where i will decloak: Main aspect of its ability to cloak gives you an ability to appear on position most advantageous for you. However in many cases, mistakes, opponent's ships and obstacles will deny you decloaking position, so be prepared for that. 

• where my manoeuvre will end: at the moment Phantom is probably fastest ship in the game with its 2 decloaking and 4 ahead move. however in most cases, especially in turning dogfight you will find ability to take sharp turn and barrel roll most advantageous. As well as lack of basic 1 ahead frustrating. Remember that your manoeuvre must put you into a firing position ahead of your opponent!   

• what action i shall take afterwards: Pure battlefield analysis must tell you what will happen next, if there is anybody aiming at you with higher Pilot Skill than yours, then Cloaking or at least Evade is a must. With you decloaked Agility of 2 and points value of 30 you are a shots magnet.    

3) Combat role and loadout.

Phantom as i mentioned before is a new and manoeuverable ship, with great firepower. However relying only on its in-built abilities is not enough to bring you victory. To make it into a really great addition to your squadron it would be a good idea to assign it a combat role with a balanced loadout. Allow me to offer some of the roles i've used so far:

• Flanker: this role takes Phantom as a support to your main squadron, making use of its ability to flank main enemy force and soften them up before your main strike at lower step. Loadout: Shadow Sq Pilot, skill 5 (27pts), Stygium Particle Accelerator (2pts), Fire-Control system (2pts), Shield Upgrade (4pts). Total: 35 pts. 
• Hit-n-run: in this role "Echo" Phantom takes a great risks by going into a midst of enemy formation, hitting hard and disappearing before anyone can retaliate. Loadout: "Echo" Phantom PS 6 (30 pts), Advanced Cloaking device (4), Push the limit (3), Recon Specialist (2). Total: 40 pts.      
• Sniper: in this role, "Whisper" Phantom is acting as long range attacker, forcing enemy to reconsider its manoeuvres as critical hits and unexpected stress token pile in. Loadout: "Whisper" Phantom, PS 7, (32 pts), Marksmanship (3), Tactician or Mercenary co-pilot (2), Stygium Particle Accelerator (2). Total: 40 pts
• Shotgun: in this role Phantom is working as point blank battery flooding target with shots and ignoring its fragile nature. Loadout: Sigma Sq pilot skill 3 (25 pts), Saboteur (2), Shield Upgrade (4 pts). Total: 32 pts. 

Echo's zone of control in combat

4) Combat tactics in accordance with role.
I must admit that i love Phantom, in every game that i played so far it really made a great impact, even if i lost the battle. Learning how to use Phantom to its advantages have boiled into those roles and following tactics for them:

Flanker is less than risky approach, than Shotgun. I've played this tactics in support of my TIE swarm and in support of Firespray. As a described before, your main task is to position your ship ahead and aside of enemy formation, barrel roll if you must and give pot-shots ahead of your main attack. Positioning here is crucial, as well as Evade action as you will be left open to enemy flankers. Fire-Control system or Targeting Computer if you prefer this version, will allow you to concentrate fire of most dangerous opponent and keep the pressure until its gone. With 4 shots as normal and re-roll with Target Lock you are dangerous. Preferred distance to target; range 2, less chances of getting stuck in clusterfuck of the swarm and enough space to decloak.      

Hit-n-run is by far my favorite tactic. Make maximum use of Echo's ability to curve your decloaking position, then decloak, move, Push the limit and Cloak again. There is no need to attack every turn, let opponent get stuck with your main force, let him ignore you or get annoyed at your unpredictable pattern of flight, then strike anyone who is busy target locking or focusing on other ships with absolute impunity. The dissapear again using Advanced Cloaking device, (it gives you a free cloaking after you attacked). Word of advice - avoid or wipe out Ion Cannons, even your cloaked agility of 4 will not help if you are zapped and have a ship with a Gunner on your six. Preferred range: any, but demands a good understanding of what's going on. Action: Push the limit/Focus.

Sniper is my answer to B-wing with pesky "i-ignore-your-ability" upgrade. It demands patience and careful positioning. Ignore fighters and anything with agility more than 2. Your priority is heavy punchers, which must lose their advantage of shields and firepower before your main force will rip them apart. Main danger here is being distracted or intercepted by A-wings or TIE, so either let them get busy or wipe them as they closing to you. Cloaking and evading them is also a good tactics, but remember your objective is to take down and disorganize, let TIE bombers be a damage dealers. Preferred range: 3, action: Marksmanship.  

Shotgun is reckless but devastating tactics, where Phantom is used as part of formation, basically ignoring Cloaking for the sake of firepower. You would need to ask Darth Vader or Squad leader for extra action called Evade, as you will attract a lot of attention. But flying alongside a swarm of 3 Interceptors and poring 5 my shots plus their 12 into anything which comes close is not for feint hearted. I've used Saboteur crew upgrade just to make sure that if anything has at least one damage, will be crippled on the next turn if it did not got away. Beware of assault missiles and bombs, as any swarm you are vulnerable to them, so pick you targets wisely and cloak out of danger if you have to. Preferred range 1, action: Evade.   

In conclusion, TIE Phantom is a truly an elite choice, demanding, sometimes unpredictable but ultimately rewarding. Take your time to study its abilities, and do not get cocky. Now player's are new to it but eventually those pesky rebels will learn of your weak spots like low agility and will know how to use them against you. Good old rule of flying in formation and staying of boogie's six are still in play. 

Sincerely yours,
Mark-Paul Severn.

Anna.

so you call yourself a stalker and have not played Lost Alpha yet?
get outta'here...

TIE Phantom review: origins, rules, upgrades

"Scanners are picking up something strange;
 I can't get a firm fix on anything."

TIE Phantom is one of the ships of 4th wave for X-Wing miniatures games. At the moment of writing this post its couple of week away from release along with TIE Defender, E-wing and Z-95 Headhunter. I was lucky enough to acquire Phantom during Assault on Imdar event in my local gaming store. 

Origins: TIE Phantom was featured in computer game Rebel Assault II: The Hidden Empire, where Darth Vader was extremely annoyed at his egg-heads who kept testing this stealth fighter instead of delivering it under his command. Well, in events of that game (released in 1995 AD), the entire fleet of Phantoms along with cruiser Terror explodes in typical Star Wars manner. For more fluffy story on TIE Phantom (V39 Phantom) look here.  

Rules: Now lets have a good look at rules and card for this fighter. Box comes with two generic pilots flying Phantom: Sigma Squadron - Pilot Skill 3, Shadow Sq - PS 5, and two named pilots: "Echo" - PS 6 and "Whisper" - PS 7. As you can see on a picture, Phantom has Firepower of 4, Agility 2, Hull 2 and Shields 2. Incredibly impressive firepower is delivered by five laser cannons, which makes this beast most dangerous opponent in Range 1 with its 5 dice to hit you. even with Agility 3 and guaranteed Evade, there is few ships able to leave without scratch. (unless your dice hate you)

Points: All this goodness comes at a steep point price, Sigma Sq: 25 pts, Shadow Sq: 27, Echo: 30, Whisper: 32. And we have not yet looked at upgrades!  

Manoeuvrability and cloaking: this is the best part of Phantom, its unique (until arrival of Jedi fighters and Stealth-Wing) ability to cloak and become invisible. Game mechanics works in following matter: you spend an action and place a fancy Cloaking token next to the ship. This adds +2 to Agility of the ship and stays until decloaked. The pay-off is that you cannot make an attacks while cloaked. However Decloaking IS NOT an action. Let me say that again: decloaking is not an action. Which means that that after you appear on the field you still can focus, barrel roll, evade or put target lock (if you have an upgrade, because Phantom does not have it as standard). 

TIE Phantom manoeuvre dial

Decloaking is made before you reveal you manoeuvre. After you decloak ship must move ahead 2 or make a barrel roll of 2. Then you make a move depicted on a dial. I will talk about it later in tactics section, but just imagine the possibilities! Muhahaha! Phantom's manoeuvrability is close to TIE Interceptor, but without K-turn and direct ahead of 5. But with decloaking move of 2 it not a bad compensation at all.

   

Upgrades: TIE Phantom can take following upgrades: Elite Pilots skills (named pilots only), Crew, System Upgrades, as well as Modifications and Titles. Box comes with five of the upgrade cards: Recon Specialist - adds extra Focus token (3 pts), Fire-Control system - allows you to gain a Target Lock on a ship you just attacked (2 pts), Tactician - ship defending from your attack in Range 2 takes a stress token (2 pts),  Stygium Particle Accelerator -  allows free evade token if you perform Cloak or Decloak (2 pts) and Advanced Cloaking Device - enables you to perform free cloak action after you perform an attack (4 pts). 

All in all, TIE Phantom is an exceptional addition to the fleet of Empire, with its firepower and mobility it will make a great hunter. However there are some big question to which role this craft should be assigned in your squadron, as well as its high price and effective combat application.

I will explore this more in TIE Phantom Tactics. 

Isabella.

I dont even know why i'm here. Its your bad influence Hawke!
Isabella. Dragon Age II.

Tactica Imperialis

My dear reader, thank you for finding time to look at result of my work. This document is test of concept for Warhammer 40000 universe. Its main idea, is to give every major faction ability to use Orders, similar to Imperial Guard (Astra Militarium if prefer a new name). Though during development of this concept I was considering development of skirmish game with same name and order based mechanics for various reasons this idea have been left out. Tactica Imperialis was play tested using early 6^th edition of W40K, and achieved its goal, its showed that concept is successful, but was not developed any further. For me, as game designer it was an important stepping stone to understand how game systems work, and how they could be created. On other pages you will find tables describing particular orders and ways of commanding specific to most races of W40k. Hope it will provide an interesting read and games. As always this document does not seek to challenge any copyrights or trade marks and made for non-profit purposes.

Yours,

Mark-Paul Severn

mp7vrn.blogspot.co.uk

Download: Tactica Imperialis 

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!