TWD Tryout

Last night I tried out a two layer game of The Walking Dead; All Out War, Mantic Games' latest kickstarter.  I have previously tried it out as a solo (which it handles very well) so I had a basic understanding of the gameplay.

T'Other One was my opponent, apt as it is he who first introduced me to TWD.  We used his 'Last Night On Earth' figures and Mars Attacks vehicles and barricades, plus a few bits of street scenery which were there just to look nice (though at one point I thought a bench was a barricade and nearly put Carl in mortal danger).  The mat is just some very old Fat Dragon street tiles designed for Heroclix IIRC.

I won't give a blow-by-blow account, but here are some observations:

The game play is pretty simple and straight forward.  It's hard for gamers to judge, but I think it will be easy for non gamers to pick up.

The feel of the game is pretty much spot on.  Lots of sneaking around and trying to avoid the walkers. At no point did we actually come to blows with each other, though Rick did shoot at a walker and draw others onto one of the opposition.  There was lots of gathering of supplies, by the other side at least.  Rick got one lot which turned out to be a Lurker, the opposition got several, and was close to winning on more than one occasion, only to have a team member die and drop all collected loot.

There were a couple of points we were unsure of, and one tactic that happens in the comics, but doesn't seem to be modelled in the game, but overall a very pleasing experience.

Now I'm really looking forward to getting the finished game and hoping there is a good campaign system in it.

TWD Playtest

Mantic have just released the playtest rules for the All Out War game.

Why not check them out and leave feedback on the Mantic forum

January Hangover

No, not an indication that my New Year's Resolutions are slipping, simply me finishing off the last unit of orcs for my Dragon Rampant force.

A sample of the 12 figures, all from Magister Millitum's 15mm fantasy range.  Here they are based on 15mm diameter 2mm thick MDF bases (Warbases I believe) and undercoated using Vallejo white primer.  I would normally use spray undercoat, but with such small batches its not really worth it.

These Magister Millitum orcs are lovely minis.  Just enough detail for the scale, but not so much that painting them becomes a chore.  My only slight complaint is that it can be difficult to clean mold-lines off thin pieces.  The goblin bows were particularly difficult in this respect, and in the end there are more lines left on than I am happy with.  Still,, I hope it doesn't show much at this scale.

Now the base coats are added.  I paint skin tones first.  For the orcs that is any of Orkhide, Knarloc green, Gretchin green or Khemri brown from the Citadel Foundation series (sorry, I have no idea what the new names are), or Sick green or Stonewall grey from the Vallejo Game Color range.

Leather is painted with Calthan brown (CF), metals with Oily Steel (VMC) and then in some cases with Dwarf Bronze.  Cloth is any one of several colours, but I keep to a fairly limited palate here.  I imagine the orcs have looted a few bolts of cloth and use it for various purposes; trousers, bags, tunics etc.  Deneb Stone (CF) is a particular favourite of mine for unbleached/undyed cloth.  All orc tusks are painted in Bone White, eyes will be done at the end.

February is Terrain Month

As i said the other day, i am concentrating on terrain this month (and finishing off the orcs from last month).

First up are eight corner ruins for Frostgrave amongst other things.  I am using D.M. Scotty's excellent ruins tutorial which I thought provides fantastic results given the materials.

Here are two of the tall ruins and two of the short ruins.  I've still to paint them (obviously), but they are otherwise built.

I made a few changes to DMScotty's method; I used single ply corrugated card, but laminated two sheets at right angles for added strength.  Also I used thin card for the stonework on the corners, and made it a bit more elaborate.  This was taken form one of those card envelopes you get wargames books in from a well known online retailer (I'm sure they do other books as well).

The folds along the edges are ideal, just cut a stip 1cm from the fold on one side, and 2 cm on the other.  Hot glue means you don't have to wait around while it sticks to your fingers better than to the card. 

I was pleased with how quickly I could build these once I got going, and the material cost appeals to the Yorkshireman in me.

I still have my fold flat ruins, but these will help fill up the table.  I am thinking of something a bit more impressive when these are done,. but i'm not sure what yet.