A funny story about a dwarf

   "It was a long time ago.  My companions and I started a series of quests for some wizard named the Mentor and some of the weirdest stuff happened.  For a company used to escorting caravans and guarding lords, those dungeon-crawls were kinda crap!  But we certainly have some stories to tell.  

  Like, early on, we were tasked with hunting down this Gargoyle- massive, stone-tough, and surrounded by all the monsters you would find in a dungeon!  I, of course, kicked every door down and charged whatever looked like it needed my blade.  The elf followed and kept getting injured- elves aren't very tough, ya know?  But he did some things with that magic he uses.  Speaking of magic- the wizard snuck around more than a thief!  Every room- he comes in later and just sorts himself into a corner and watches as we do all the fighting, and then just wanders away.  He had some good magic, but he was all about hiding in the shadows.  

  But the dwarf- well, they have short legs so you shouldn't expect much.  He lagged behind the rest of the group all the time.  In fact, I'm confident he even wandered off down different hallways because he didn't know where were!  By the time we got to the final room, with a fireplace, the Gargoyle, and a bunch of other baddies, the dwarf was all the way around the other side!  As we fought- the elf died and then I died!  The dwarf yelled through the wall after us as he heard the commotion and then the wizard used that magic and made the dwarf walk right through that wall!  With a bellowing roar, he charged into the Gargoyle's back and finished him off easily.  Like, one-shot easily.  That dwarf hadn't fought but once through the whole quest and then he gets to show up and win the battle?

  Our arguments later really came from who the MVP was.  Obviously, everyone wanted to pick the dwarf because he landed the killing blow.  But I think that sneaky little wizard, with his 'pass through walls' thing, was the real winner.  It didn't matter, the elf died too and that makes it all okay.  Then there was a wagon getting crashed on the way home, but that's a different story.  Ah, the stories!  Now let me tell you about rescuing Sir Ragnar..."

The ladies fighting for the galaxy!

  The whole family is together recently and we had to take the chance to throw down on some games.  My wife and daughter pulled out the Relic Knights box and I was summoned to do the "Intro stuff".  I was reminded of how easy this game is to learn...  Of course, they played Radiant vs. Void and it led to a couple of unique happenings that make for great story-telling- the whole point of all games!

  One of the best concepts of the game is the complete lack of deployment zones are specific terrain setup.  The players take turns to place their objective markers anywhere on the table more than 9" away from other objectives, then take turns deploying their units ANYWHERE ON THE TABLE more than 9" away from enemy units and enemy objectives.  This means players are not limited to 'symmetry' or some arbitrary required setup when making a themed, organic battlefield.  The unlimited deployment means that players are in the action almost immediately- no clunky rounds of just moving around and 'positioning' like other wargames.  My wife and daughter set up a nice, woodland table that wouldn't be out-of-place for a LotR SBG game...

  As the game ramped up, we saw Cupid compelling the Sundown Enforcers backwards after getting peppered with sheets of firepower, and Mikel chasing Mr. Milky into the trees for far too long- the Cyphers were definitely a focus!

  But the story of Tahariel and Bang Bang seems to be fated to remaining the same- Ms. Kaylee slowed Mikel's obsessive advance and eventually charged to finish the weakened cleric.  The Sundown Enforcers, long frustrated with Cupid's shenanigans, opened fire on Tahariel from across the battlefield and added to Bang Bang's deadeye shots, giving Kaylee her chance to sneak up on an unsuspecting target and use her claws.  Tahariel screamed in agony and fled the area, defeated this time...  

  It was a great game and both of the ladies playing had an absolute blast!  It was also great to see a complete 'noob' be able to pick up the rules and game-flow so easily, meaning that this should be a very easy game to teach.  This game just used the models from the 2-player starter set and the games are even more fun at the 'full-size'- that's more units to field!  I'm working on those right now.  Be sure to check out the set and more here.  

Happy Gaming!

Da Boyz iz comin'!

   If  you haven't paid attention lately- 40k is coming out with a new edition in only a few weeks.  The starter box will have Blood Angels (the old and new again poster-boyz!) and Orks and be themed around the continuing third war for Armageddon.  I don't want a new edition.  But I do want more boyz and my addiction to toy soldiers far outweighs my budgetary discipline.  

  My son demanded that we play a game finally (life has been 'fun' for both of us recently!) and I had to ask which foe he'd like to vanquish.  Dem greenskins wuz his target, so I had to do some digging to pull those old things out.  I have SO MUCH and still have WAY MORE to build and paint, but now I worry about the new edition and all those models becoming replaced anyway, so this game needed to happen just to give my collection their 'last run'.  My son, being the great defender of the war-planet, decided to bring his Black Templars led by Grimaldus himself, so this last run was going to be a massacre for the xenos.  Or so I thought...

  We deployed our forces and I saw my tough, unarmoured mob lined up across from his tough, heavily-armoured mob.  We rolled off for the first turn and the Emprah's angels won, so they got to jump forward and advanced with everything, their righteous zeal pushing them to cleanse the unclean.  The Templars shot with a couple of weapons but caused no significant damage, and then stood to wait for the oncoming charge.  Their chainsswords revved with murdurous intent and their voxes spread prayers of hatred and litanies of faith to the Emprah.  The only choice for the Orks was to match that energy and charge.

  The wall of greenskins surged forward and their mobs were quickly joined by a ramshackle but speedy Battlewagon sneaking from the flank and blocking off the Templars' dreadnought with its massive size and blocking line-of-sight.  With that, the cheers erupted and the choppas swung and the Orks gleefully leapt into the Black Templar lines.  When the smoke finally cleared, more than half the marines were destroyed and the Orks had lost only a few of their number.  Now it was an unarmoured horde versus a couple of armoured defenders.  

  We finished the next turn, just rolling dice to see if anything neat would happen, and it didn't.  The Orks massacred the Black Templars.  In game terms, the Orks almost 'tabled' their opponent in two turns.  In narrative terms- the greenskins have long taken over Armageddon, scrapping and looting any abandoned Imperial site that they could find.  The Templars were dispatched to reclaim a particular area (now a junkyard and less a defensible site) and they ran into overly eager inhabitants.  Zeal does not replace Intel...

  The problem in this battle (besides a lack of dense terrain- we wanted to fight, not dodge!) is that the Templars went first and ran up too quickly, allowing the Orks first turn to take advantage of the 'Waaagh' rule and get stuck-in very quickly.  This gave Orks first strike and the sheer weight of numbers quickly overwhelmed even power armour.  But it was fun and we got to see the greenskins do what greenskins do.  

  Needless to say, I can't wait for the new edition.  I want more boyz!  They're coming, and soon.  

As always, Happy Gaming!

A little bit about Relic Knights

 

  Admittedly, I don't know very much about this game.  When I bought the 2-player starter kit and the rulebook, I was going off the models, description of the gameplay, and story of the company from the guy I talked to at Reapercon.  I only knew that this game used cards instead of dice and was sorta sci-fi.  I'm not a fan of the bubble-gum-style anime models, but that's because I don't usually paint them.  And not using dice?  Add alternating turns and open deployment and you got yourself a winner!  But in all of that, i never got the 'background' to the game.  I got home, suffering a little bit of 'buyer's remorse', but I instantly jumped onto the interwebs and the Youtubes to find anything I could.  I found some excessively boring videos and some exceptionally short videos focused on the factions.  But nothing really broke down the storyline in any meaningful way.  But here's what I know:

  Many years in the future, society across the galaxy developed AI and built their worlds around this technology.  Then, slowly at first, the stars started disappearing from the night sky.  Suddenly, the AI almost everywhere came to life and chose champions meant to for great things.  Unfortunately, time passed and the stars continued to disappear until this galaxy is the last one.  No science or religion has found a way to stop it yet, but there are champions that travel and battle for the fate of everything.  These champions are accompanied by AI constructs with magical powers and help to accomplish objectives or discover powerful relics.  These champions are known as Questing Knights and their companions are known as Cyphers.  When a Questing Knight reaches those milestones however they do, the Cypher and Knight transform into a more powerful being bent on destroying or saving this last galaxy, known as a Relic Knight.  

  The 'good guys' are known as the Radiant Faction and are trying to preserve the last galaxy.  The 'bad guys' are called the Void Faction and are bent on the destruction of everything.  Their champions battle each other for locations of great power and even the location of ancient artifacts to accomplish their goals.  The 2-player starter set has two Questing Knights- Bang Bang for the Radiant Faction and Tahariel for the Void Faction.  These two are not yet ascended to Relic Knights, but are equally passionate about their cause.  Somehow, the fates always seem to lead these two champions against each other as they have become too familiar with each other at every turn.  

  Bang Bang leads a band of western-style enforcers used to working on the outskirts of civilization.  Her Sundown Enforcers are heavily-armoured troops with a lot of firepower, while Miss Kaylee is a cat-woman with an armoured suit, a powerful blaster, and a claw that can rip the eyes out of her foes.  Finally, her Cypher is a small cow-creature named Mr. Milky and he has the ability to spray milk on his allies to heal them.  Bang Bang herself sports a couple of pistols and fisticuffs with an eagerness to lay down covering fire and knock some sense into those Void folk.  

  Tahariel leads an elite team of speedy operators interested in darkness and speed.  The Dark Pinions are lightly-armoured soldiers with combined firepower and blades fueled by jet packs, and Mikel is an angelic champion with a burning blade and wings of vengeance on the darkness.  Tahariel helps them by compelling her foes across the battlefield or melting their minds, while her Cypher is named Cupid and also compels units, allowing everyone to be in position to do the most damage.  

  And that's it!  The models are fantastic and enough to keep me interested by themselves, but the storyline may be nice to know.  I do have to note that I haven't gotten any Relic Knights (or their "Questing" version) for my collection yet.  I do have most of the available factions and will be adding the Empire of Noh (and probably more) this year at Reapercon.  For right now, we're just using that 2-player starter kit with the addition of a couple of models and having a blast.  Give it a look-see on their website and definitely let me know if I have anything wrong above.  This is just a 'little bit' because that'as all I know!

Of course- Happy Hobbying!