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.

The Walking Dead

Mantic's latest kickstarter, a board game based on The Walking Dead graphic novels, launches today.
It's looking like a good board game, with the possibility of add-on packs for extra factions.
Players control groups of survivors, with the Walkers being a hazard to everyone (there are ways to manipulate their behavior to sic 'em on your opponent).

January is Orcs Month

I haven't posted for a while, but I have been busy.  I have been putting together a warband for Dragon Rampant, using some old 15mm orcs I had lying around, plus some new figures I got to bulk out the force.

As I mentioned previously, i was concerned that I could no longer see well enough to paint the detail on 15mm figures.  In fact I got rid of most of my 15mm collection a while back, and the orcs were just some I missed.  I did keep a 15mm Empire army, from back in the day when I played Warhammer Fantasy Battle in that scale, but I have other plans for those.
I was aiming to finish the force by the end of january, but I still have one unit to do.  I may keep that for a step by step guide if its of any use to people. Everything still needs properly basing and texturing.  Never-the-less, I am please with my progress, and I might try for this 'one project a month' approach this year and see how well I do.

Still not great with the photos, but here are a couple of the units.

Heavy Riders, six Magister Millitum orcs on boars

The same unit, shields still to have some sort of design on them.

Foot (light or heavy) from a mix of manufacturers.

The rest of the foot unit.

I have two units of scouts and another unit of foot ready.  The bulk of the force is a mixture of different manufacturers, including; Essex, Ral Partha, Chariot, Magister Millitum and Grenadier.  I like the mix, and I have chosen a variety of skin tones to emphasise this, from the traditional GW green to paler shades and browns and greys.

The bases are from Warbases and are ideal for my 15mm Dragon Rampant stuff as I base infantry on 15mm diameter MDF bases.  They make movement easier, and fit with the idea that the unit is a mob of orcs rather than a well regimented block of troops (though I will probably use similar for my next 15mm DR force; medieval humans).  I hope to have some cavalry bases custom made soon.

I am allowing myself a few extra days in February since I didn't start this project until part way into January.  

Next month, probably terrain.

A Little Experiment

One of the things I am trying to do this year is thin out my figure collection.  A quick rummage through various boxes turned up some old 15mm fantasy I had from years back, some of which I had painted.
Now I gave up on 15mm a while ago as I found it difficult to paint the detail as my eyesight succumbed to middle age.  However, I had a good half of a Dragon Rampant warband with the painted orcs, so I wondered, if I use a magnifying visor, could I paint enough of the remaining orcs to make it worth while?
I picked out three unpainted Kalistra Mountain Orcs (not strictly 15mm, but I want the orcs to look varied, so that works for me.
The visor certainly helped me see the detail, but I found my brush hand was not as steady as it used to be.

After the base coat was on I felt very discouraged, the paint job was scrappy, with lots of the wrong colours where they shouldn't be, but I persevered and gave them a wash of black over the armour, then a sepia wash over everything.  A quick bit of drybrushing and some highlights kind of saved them, so here they are.

For comparison, here are three of the orcs I painted years ago, these are some of the rather nice Grenadier 15mm fantasy range, now made by Mirliton.

Whilst not fantastic, I can live with them, so time to look out the rest of my old 15mm, and, maybe, see what is available these days.

They will probably get put on individual 15mm round MDF bases,and I believe that Warbases does movement trays designed for just such a thing.