On the Painting Desk: Castles in the Sky- Austro-Hungarian Fleet

 

Castles in the Sky is model agnostic, but the minis in the book are all from Brigade.  My existing fleets are also from Brigade and I like the look of them. Therefore, "Liberation Day" Tariffs were announced I moved quickly to secure a new fleet from Scale Creep Games before the new Tariff pricing took effect.  I might not have been the only one with that idea, because the site didn't have much left on it.  Quantities were so low, that I emailed Scale Creep before I ordered to make sure that the volumes on the site were correct. 

Scale Creep got me my order right quick, and before Tariff pricing kicked in.  I was thankful.  This time I picked up two fleet packs of Austro-Hungarian ships.  I was surprised when I got them that they were Resin/Metal hybrids for the big boys.  I am not going to lie, I am not a fan of that. 

Despite being metal/resin hybrids it didn't take me long to get them assembled with Super-Glue and Greenstuff.  Flash was minimal, and the hardest part was getting the smokestacks off the sprue and somewhat lined up right!  

Oh boy!  Look at those beauties.  I have a few different makes and models there.  Look at those mid-size wedge shaped darlings.  They look like a Star Destroyer had a baby with the Titanic.  Ahhhh..... so cute.  I also really like the look of those metal ships on the left.  The only downside, is I am not sure which of these cool little guys will be the Austro-Hungarian escorts?  They all look a little beefy and well-armed for escorts.  

From there, I got them outside and gave them a Seer Grey undercoat.  Next, I gave them all a dark grey wash and then I dry-brushed with cheap, white-acrylic paint.  They were now ready for some paint.  I took some time and thought a bit about the color schemes.  I took a close look at the sky around me and my existing fleets.  I decided that I was going to use Graveyard Grey as the "hull", Sand Golem for the wooden decks, and Runic Grey for the super-structures.  These colors will give the ship a "camouflage" look in the sky from either the top or bottom as clouds are often grey as well.  Plus, they will still look like World War One warships.  

I decided to take a few of each ship type and give it a quick test run..... 

As a quick test of the color scheme, I was happy with the results and decided to keep going with that color scheme.  From there, it was a just a few touches here and there to make the ships "Pop" a bit.  For windows I used Voidshield Blue from the regular Armypainter range of paints.  I also gave them some markings on their "fins" where is made sense in Red and White.  These also came from the main Armypainter range.  Finally I painted the inside of the stacks with Grim Black speedpaint.   

The last step on these test models was to mount them on some bases.  I typically used a Litko flying stand ring on the base of the ship.  Then, I would insert the bases that I got from Brigade.  This gives them that flying feel and is very sturdy.  Lastly, I tried to cut-out an Austro-Hungarian flag I got with the ships using an X-acto knife and mounted it on the biggest ship's observation mast.  

This gave me a workable fleet for any games that were going to come up.  However, what if I needed a bigger fleet?  Good thing I still had several ships to get painted up! 

Satisfied with the test ships, I decided to move on and paint the rest using the same general scheme.  The only challenge was that I did not have enough Litko flying base rings for all of them.  I only had enough for about 5 more airships.  Oh well. I went ahead and painted them all anyway and decided which ones got to fly later.     

Then, here is the ships on patrol somewhere over Bosnia, patrolling the border with Serbia.  This show of force should deter any Nationalist sentiment from those regional upstarts!  

This gives our local Castles in the Sky players 2 British fleets, a French Fleet, an American Fleet, a German fleet, and now this Austro-Hungarian Fleet.   A good mix of fleets and ships for us to choose from.  

Until next time! 

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Random: Mid-Year Round-up, Pardner!

 

Did you hear about the doctor that fell into a well?  He should have tended to the sick and left the well alone!  Well, well, well...... look at the time.  It sure does fly-by when you are having fun!  Before you know it, it will be the end of the year and what will I have to show for it?  

It is the end of July and now seems like a good time to re-cap the first half of the year and check how I am doing on my goals for the distant future of 2025.  You can see my original goal list here.  A post like this one is a bit of a tradition here at Blood and Spectacles and helps make sure I stay on track and do not get to distracted as the year progresses.  

In addition to the hobby stuff you see here I have been doing a lot of things in my personal and professional life as well.  I won't bore you with the details, except to say that my time and money are valuable commodities that are in big demand at the moment.  Hopefully, it won't have too many repercussions on what we are trying to do here!  

As usual, I have broken my goals up into five key categories: 

• Purchases
• Painting and Modelling
• Playing Games
• Rules Writing
• Miscellaneous   

Purchases

This section always starts with a huge Thank You!  My purchases are driven by you.  Every time you purchase a game from Osprey, Wargames Vault, Drive Thru RPG, follow me on Patreon or support me in other ways you are funding this goal.  You see, my Purchasing goals are driven directly by the financial support of readers like you.  It is your support that allows me to buy the paints, supplies, miniatures, and rules that grace this humble blog.  Your purchases are what keeps Blood and Spectacles Publishing going.  The money I earn here goes back into the business of wargaming!  Thank you for making all of the publications and projects possible! 

Turf War

Going into the year, I had a big list of things I was thinking about purchasing.  I am always torn between funding new projects, supporting existing games, or trying to expand the scope and reach of the hobby into new areas via reviews and the like.  These guidelines help keep me from chasing the new shiny all the time and focused for the year.  So, how have I done?  Well, half as well as I would of hoped, and not half as well as you deserve! 

• Stay caught-up with the Osprey Wargaming Series- Achieved, mostly because they have not really released anything?  I expected Voidfighter to be out by now, but it seems have been delayed.  Mike Hutchinson's Pacific Command seems to have been moved up instead, and I have it.  Review posted!  
• Purchase Victory at Sea or Nimitz- The Tariffs and other uncertainty has kept me away from going all in on this front.  However, I did find that Miniature Market had the Victory at Sea rulebook at pre-Tariff levels.  I picked it up and you can expect a review later this year.  I have not bought any minis, but figure I can use paper templates or even order GHQ models from the US if I need them.    
• Purchase Three Fantasy Ice Hockey Teams- That's a negative.  This one is more due to not being able to clean off my Painting Desk in a reasonable time frame this year. 
• Start one more of the following: Carthaginian, Aztec, Theban, or Late Roman - Big Net Zero.  Tariffs, painting, and space limitations have kept me from fully committing to a new "big" project for 2025.  
• Start Cowboys- Another disappointing outcome.  
• New set of RPG rules - Well, not NEW but I did pick up the Pendragon Gamemaster's Handbook.  I really want to give this game a shot but doubt my RPG group will go for it.  I still contemplate writing something for it.  However, I would rather write something I can monetize.  I also still need to review My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic RPG book my wife owns. 
• A New Heroquest Expansion- Another win!  I purchased and painted up and reviewed First Light and Mage in the Mirror.  I also got the Wandering Monks and reviewed and painted those up too.  
• A 4th Reaper Nativity Scene - Nope   

I did add on something that was not on the list at the start of the year.  Before Tariff prices kicked in, I did pick-up an Austro-Hungarian fleet from Brigade thanks to Scale Creep Miniatures for use with Castles in the Sky. 

Austro-Hungarian fleet from Brigade

Well, my initial plans for 2025 were very aggressive, so it makes sense that I have not been able to follow-up on them 100%.  Plus, some of you may have noticed some chaos happening in the global economy that has impacted my spending and sales for the year so far.  Ho hum, such is life.  

Painting and Modelling

I went into the year with 1 big project to complete, and that was an Anglo-Saxon force from Victrix Miniatures for use in my Fury of the Northman rules, and other games.  Otherwise, my painting desk was pretty clean.  

Well, I think I did okay in this category as I managed to paint up 130+ miniatures so far this year.  Not a bad bit of painting.  I did complete those Anglo-Saxons, painted up my Heroquest expansions as well.  Beyond that, I have not gotten too much accomplished at this point.  Maybe a couple one-off palette cleansers here and there?  

Anglo-saxon army

      

Mage in the Mirror

First Light and other Heroes for Heroquest

We will see what comes next, as my back log is in an okay place.  I just have the Austro-Hungarian fleet to get painted up.  Then, my desk is open and ready for the next project..... whatever that might be?  

Gaming

Similar to last year, I jumped out of the gate early with a decent amount of gaming.  However, I expect that to slow down as we move through the rest of summer and fall.  When the weather is nice, there is a lot of things to get done in my region.  Gaming tends to take a bit of a back-seat.  However, 15 games is not a slouch, even if they are a mix of solo-play, games with my Skumgrod, and games with the True Crit Gaming Guild.  

I think there are three big stories for the year.  First, I finally took my Battle of Kadesh game out into the world.  I had been talking about running that participation game out in public, and I finally did it.  That took a few years to get off the ground.  The second big story was getting Castles in the Sky back onto the table after a long hiatus at the club.  The final one is that I have been getting Heroquest out and on my table for a solo-campaign using the App. 

Battle of Kadesh

My RPG night has been rolling along, but we have been mostly in a D&D 5E campaign all year.  I have not had a chance to DM much of anything yet.  In addition, I got to one board game night and played a Clue-a-like game.  The name is escaping me at the moment.  So, my non-wargaming stuff is going okay as well.   

Castles in the Sky

I am still looking at getting my Under the Martian Yoke solo-campaign finished off this year.  That is a good winter task.  I am also hoping to bring something new to the table for the Gaming Guild as well, but I am not 100% sure what yet. 

Rules Writing

Going into this year, I did not have a clear idea of what was going to get done, and what was not going to get done.  Some of the stuff I was the closest to finishing the writing on, I was far away on regarding post-production.  I did not have the miniatures, art, or photos for some of my projects that were furthest along.  I found in 2025, that the games that get done first are the ones that I have the post-production components for!  That means, I can get them done much faster if they are based off my existing games and I all ready have miniatures for it.  If not...... well...... those take a lot longer.  

Surprisingly, I have 4 games/books that I added to my catalog all ready for the year!  I was not sure I would get any finished by this time, much less four! 

This is a campaign supplement for Men of Bronze.  Therefore, to get the most out of it, you really need Men of Bronze or Wars of the Republic.  When I was playtesting the original rules for Men of Bronze, I often set those games during the Corinthian War so I do not know what took me so long to make a supplement for it?  I mean, the historical campaign had big Hoplite battles, raids, naval battles, sieges, and everything to make a great campaign!    

I have been into writing and playing RPGs lately.  This one actually came about when I was working on the mecha dogfight game; Hostile Space.  The wargame had some detailed dogfighting mechanics, but that seemed to be missing one of the key components of the Space Mecha Genre.  The videos always seemed to be about the characters and their relationships.  Therefore, it only made sense to expand and write the game as an RPG.  

Typically, my RPGs are relatively rules-lite, narrative driven affairs for quick play.  Not this one.  This is the crunchiest RPG I have ever written.  This thing was a beast to write, and I did it all in a relatively short period of time.  The post-Production however took me another 5 years or so.  It has everything you need to play including QRS, Character Sheets, Index, and a starting Op to get you going.   

Going into the year, this game also was not really on my radar.  However, I had the miniatures for it and I based it on the same general template of Homer's Heroes: Bronze Age Bad Boys.  Therefore, I had the bones and the post-prod pieces I needed to make this game come together quickly.  Amazing how that works!  That said, this is a great little Skirmish game that is model-vs-model and very cinematic.  It is great for recreating the more fantastical Viking Sagas.  

The final game I got onto my Publications page was a Role-Playing Game more akin to my style.  This is a rule-lite, narrative focused RPG for Wild West or Weird Wild West adventures.  I noticed that Poker and Cards were common in Wild West games, so decided to build the resolution mechanics completely around playing cards and Poker hands instead of the normal dice mechanics I use.  This was a stretch of my design skills.  This one has the rules, character sheets, and a starting adventure to get you going. 

My Patrons have been getting previews of some of the work I have been doing on other games like: 

• Rise and Fall- Carthaginian Supplement for Wars of the Republic
• PHUCK- Fantasy Hockey
• Barbarians at the Gate- Late Roman
• Gods, Glory and Guns- New World wargaming
• Super Sexy Swingin' Spies- 60's Super-Spies RPG
• Mobile Fortress: Verdun- Land Ironclads compatible with Castles in the Sky

Other Stuff

I had a pretty light load on this front this year. I only wanted to keep my Painting and Games tracker up-to-date on the blog.  So far so good!  That often forms the basis for these updates.  

The only other big news is that I have been slowly downscaling my Social Media in the form of Facebook and Instagram.  Instead, I have now opened a Blue Sky account to start pivoting towards.... maybe.  I am still getting the hang of it there, since it is a bit different from my other Social Media accounts. 

Restless Sun

Conclusion

I guess 2025 has proven to be more productive than I expected it to be.  Like I said, there has been a lot happening on the personal and professional front.  However, I have been using a different technique in my writing process that has helped me be more productive.  Maybe I will stay productive over late summer and fall into winter?  I hope so, but who knows.  

What keeps me motivated is hearing from YOU!  I love it when people send me photos, share their war stories, and post about their own adventures online.  That is a big motivator.  Feel free to drop me a line anytime on any of my Socials, the MessageBoard, or directly at Eric@Bloodandspectacles.com.           

Until next time! 

Become a Patron and get access to all the cool stuff, a peak behind the curtain of Blood and Spectacles, and early-access to playtest games!  

Blood and Spectacles Patreon! 

You can follow Blood and Spectacles Facebook page or Instagram for more fun! 

Check out the latest publications and contact me at our Blood and Spectacles website

Or purchase all out games at the Blood and Spectacles Publishing Wargames Vault Page!        

  

 

Battle Report: Operation Hemlock- Restless Sun

 

Operation Hemlock has been a long running semi-narrative campaign m Skumgrod have been playing.  It is set in our corner of the Warhammer 40K universe but uses a variety of games to play.  Sometimes we use GW games, sometimes we use my games, and sometimes we use other, third party games.  Today, we elected to play Restless Sun which is my model-vs-model sci-fi game.  

Colonel Brusilov had Taskforce: Sword pounding the ork encampment for days now.  He could hear the rhythmic cycle of the Earthshakers just outside of his command chimera.  His command holo-display lit up with indications and assessments of where the great shells were striking in the Ork camp.    

His artillery were running out of shells.  Ork air attacks had weakened his supply lines back to North Ammoriss and his fellow Taskforce commanders had been unable to stop the greenskin raids.  He was very close to breaking the Ork toe-hold on Grig's Rest, but his supplies had to hold out long enough for him to push them off the island once and for all.  

Before he could launch his assault, he needed better intel.  The Office of Strategic Intelligence was sending him streams of information but they were back at Northcomm, miles away.  They couldn't tell him where the orks were hiding in their dug-outs, where they had hidden their traks, and where their gun emplacements were.  Before he could order an assault into the ruins of the Ork camp he needed intel.  

Brusilov tapped some controls, and a vox-channel opened to his adjunct at the front lines.  The hiss of static filled the air, before it stabilized and toned clear.  

"Major, gather scouts from each Company and send them forward.  We need to know where to strike." 

Forces:

Our Imperial Troops will be represented by my Death Korp Kill Team.  They are all going to be Regular Infantry units.  

Sergeant - Combat Weapons

Gunners - Squad Support Weapons

Sniper- Marksman

For the Orks, we are using Irregular Infantry however the Orks will all have the Fierce rules.  

Nob- Regular Infantry- Combat Weapons

Sniper Boy- Marksman

Shoota Boy - Rapid Fire

Rokit - Blast, Long Range

Bomb Squig- Rapid movement, Blast

Gretchin- Jump Gear

Mission:

To match the situation, we decided to use the Control Terrain scenario for our battle report today.  Models gain points for being in Difficult terrain at the end of the game.  

For complications, we went with Minefield.  Therefore, if you fail a movement roll you will lose Effectiveness from artillery, wild fire, or a mines.  I mean, they are trying to scout an active warzone!  

This scenario will last 8 turns. 

Set-up:

We will be using a 36 x 36 inch board for this.  Plus, since Difficult terrain is important, we will be putting 5 pieces of it out on the table.  1 near each deployment zone and three along the rough center line.   

Both sides are deploying about 6 MU in from their own table edge.  

The Ork side of the table.....

As usual, this will not be a turn by turn break down of the game.  This game went 8 turns.  Instead, I will cover it in broad strokes for the Maneuver phases, the Battle, and the End Phases.  

Maneuver Phase:  

The Artillery barrage and mines made it hard to move forward.  Some of the shells were landing dangerously close, disrupting maneuver by both sides.  However, those that could pressed forward, with the two sides trading ineffective shots.  The PDF troopers manage to force some of the leading elements of the Ork thrust with suppressive rifle fire.  

However, an Ork manages to sneak around the edge and attack a pair of Guardsman, forcing them to retreat from the onslaught.  The better training of the Troopers appears to be paying off! 

Battle Phase: 

A PDF Trooper with a support weapon flees from the board thanks to the ferocious Ork Assault.  However, it does not go all the Orks way as concentrated rifle fire sees three Orks forced off the board and into retreat as well.  The PDF have dug in at two buildings, while the Orks have 1 building and a Grot in a ruin.

The PDF Troopers manage to leap-frog forward, with mines hampering their movement.  As a Guardsman makes the ruins, a startled Gretchin leaps out and forces him back with a flurry of vicious stabs.  Meanwhile, fighting is house-to-house and at close range! 

The Trooper with the Squad Support Plasma Gun manages to drive the Gretchin out of the cover of the ruins and forces him to retreat.  The Orks manage to counter-attack and push the PDF troopers back, but it might not be enough as their momentum is quickly spent.  Both sides still hold two objectives each.

 End Phase

The Ork assault is blunted by accurate rifle fire as the Ork Nob is forced back, as is an ork by the house.  However, the Bomb squig re-orients itself and charges towards the PDF lines.  

The PDF Sniper finally manages to outright kill an Ork with a shot to the head.  Bam!  Headshot! 

However the Bomb Squig gets to the PDF positions and detonates.  The blast outright kills 1 trooper and sends the other one scurrying away in shock.  

A trooper scrambles into the ruins to contest it from the Ork hiding inside of it.  With that, the Ork Nobs hears a distant horn blast, signaling for his Boyz to fall back and cover the final withdrawal back to the Green Zone from Grig's Island. 

Conclusion

This was a hotly contested battle between the PDF and Orks.  However, the PDF managed to score 2 objectives, while the Orks only had 1.  The PDF lost 1 KIA and 2 MIA from the squad, while the Orks had 2 killed outright, while 3 Orks and a Grot were unaccounted for during the retreat.     

It is hard to outright kill folks in this game, but you are constantly pushing them around the battlefield as they retreat, get Shaken, and Rally.  Probably a bit more realistic in that sense, as you could see momentum shift when friction did its thing during game play.  

I wanted to do one big Grig's Island showdown with Restless Galaxies, but I am not getting my Ork forces printed up for it.  Challenges, challenges.  Perhaps I will need to play a Aquanautica Imperialis Naval or even a Aeronautica Imperialis game to represent the Orks trying to flee the island, or even just a big Restless Stars or Xenos Rampant game instead? 

It might be a while until my Skumgrod is available for another game.  This one was on the books for a few months before we got it done.  We will see what happens in Operation: Hemlock next! 

Until next time! 

     

Become a Patron and get access to all the cool stuff, a peak behind the curtain of Blood and Spectacles, and early-access to playtest games!  

Blood and Spectacles Patreon! 

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Check out the latest publications and contact me at our Blood and Spectacles website

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On The Painting Desk: Heroquest- Mage in the Mirror

 

One of my Goals for 2025 was to pick-up and paint a new Heroquest expansion.  I was off to a good start when I picked up a copy of Mage in the Mirror which was an Elf focused expansion.  It was a bit of a pre-lude to Rise of the Dread Moon as both took place in the Kingdom of the Heroquest Elves.  However, Mage in the Mirror had been a re-print from the O.G. Heroquest, even though I think it was region locked as I do not recall seeing it in the US. 

This expansion came with a new set of "elf" themed furniture, effectively doubling the amount of Heroquest furniture I had now.  In addition, it came with some new enemies in the form of giant wolves, Ogres, and Elf warriors.  There was also a special model for the villain and a new male Elf model.  That meant there was a lot of stuff to paint!  However, right off the bat I decided that I was not going to paint the enemy elves yet, because Rise of the Dread Moon also had some, and I figured it would be easier to paint them all at once.  I learned from Kellar's Keep that it is not as easy to go back and match paint schemes later as you would hope.       

So, with all that preamble out of the way, let's take a closer look at some painting huh?  The hardest part of any painting project for me is getting started.  Thankfully, I have a bit of a routine for getting minis ready to paint so I can fall back onto muscle memory for most of it.  Like always, I undercoated them with GW's Grey Seer, gave them all a dark grey wash made from cheap acrylic paint from a Big-Box Retailer, and then drybrushed them with cheap acrylic white.  They were undercoated and ready to paint.  This undercoating method works really well with Speedpaints.    

I decided to get started with the Giant Wolves first.  I had previously painted a Heroquest wolf from the Against the Ogres box and wanted them to look a bit different from that dude.  He was just a "regular" wolf and a potential Mercenary/Shape-shifted Druid.  I also wanted them all to be a bit distinctive because I wanted to be able to tell which one was which during hectic games.  Therefore, I decided to paint them all in different colors.  I started by using Alchemy Purple on their little puppy tongues, Grim Black for their noses and eyes, and Pallid Bone for their teeth and claws.  For some reason known only unto God, I decided to paint one Holy White, another Dark Wood brown, and the last one with a combination of Sand Golem and Hardened Leather.  Then after Light Tone wash I finished them off with the standard Runic Grey base and Flat Black rim. Not sure I like them, BUT they are done and that's all that matters.       

From there, I decided to tackle all the furniture.  What is interesting about painting my ever-expanding line of Heroquest models is to try to keep them somewhat internally consistent.  For example, I had been using Pallid Bone as a "metal" on the Elf's swords and armor.  I also used a Plasma Bolt green for their runes and magic.  Elsewhere, for plant roots and such I used Malignant Green.  I also tend to use Runic Grey for stone, and Gravelord Grey for wrought iron looking metal.  I wanted to make sure I stayed consistent with these approaches as I moved forward.  Man, I should really write some of this down somewhere.... like a blog or something..... 

Anyway, here is a WIP shot as I power through the furniture.  For this batch I decide that all the wood would be Sand Golem, much lighter than the Hardened Leather and Dark Wood I used on my regular Heroquest furniture.  However, that is also the skin-color I used for my Ogres when I painted them for Against the Ogres too.  

A nice design touch is that the chests and doors are being held closed by plant vines and roots.  That was an interesting design choice for the elven realms.  The "hardest" part of painting these items was painting all the little details like books, bottles, boxes, scroll work, etc.  I ended up using a lot of colors.   The iron gates were also a challenge/chore to paint.  They were chunky bois.

Here is all the new furniture done and dusted.  I like how it turned out looking brighter and organic than the rest of my furniture.  I even painted the bases for the mirrors so they would blend in better on the board.    

That left the last minis I was planning on painting for this round, those pesky Ogres.  These guys looked a bit less feral than the Ogres in Against the Ogres.  In the supplement, they were using clubs and bone weapons.  These dudes were clearly using metal axes.  Last time I painted them, I decided that Ogres use Sand Golem skin.  But I also decided that Absolution Green was a common Ogre hair color, as was Gravelord Grey.  I knew I was going to have follow those design choices on these Ogres too.  Finally, I also wanted to paint all their "kilts" different colors too.  You know I like to be able to make them a bit unique on the board so I used Blood Red, Magic Blue, Fire Giant Orange, and Zealot Yellow.      

The whole set took me about a month to get fully painted.  Not too bad.  However, I am starting to wonder if I might be running into a space limitation with all this Heroquest stuff?  I will have to shuffle things around, but there is always room for one more!  I think my next expansion will be Rise of the Dread Moon so I can finish off my Elf collection for Heroquest.  Soon, I will have enough Heroquest models to make my own version of Battlemasters.  :) 

Until next time! 

Become a Patron and get access to all the cool stuff, a peak behind the curtain of Blood and Spectacles, and early-access to playtest games!  

Blood and Spectacles Patreon! 

You can follow Blood and Spectacles Facebook page or Instagram for more fun! 

Check out the latest publications and contact me at our Blood and Spectacles website

Or purchase all out games at the Blood and Spectacles Publishing Wargames Vault Page!    

RPG Design: Badlands - Wild West Adventures

 

Badlands came about because I was thinking a lot about Westerns.  I was thinking about what made them work, what tropes did they lean on, and why they were so popular as a genre.  I had been thinking about trying to get my local group, The True Crit Gaming Guild; into some Cowboy gaming.  However, all this thought led me not to a designing a new wargame, but into another Role- playing Game instead!   

There are a couple of things that I wanted to accomplish with Badlands: 

1. Mechanics based on Poker, a staple of the Wild West
2. Ease of character creation that intuitively creates Role-play
3. Use a Meta-currency for the GM and Players to influence game play
4. Lean harder into narrative than crunch
5. Create space to tell Wild West based stories, natural and super-natural  

Poker as the Unifying Mechanic

I am not much of a Poker player, but I have a basic understanding of the various hands and how they interact.  I wanted to make these rules a core mechanic for the game because Poker is an iconic tradition of the Wild West, and is tied to the American Mythology of the period.  The Gamemaster is called the Dealer and they hand cards out to the Players.  When there is a Challenge Check, it is resolved by the impacted Characters building a hand of cards and trying to beat the Dealers' hand.  

Attributes, Values, and Skills have numeric values that indicate the number of cards to be used to Build a Hand.  No one can ever have more than 5 cards in their hand.  If the Player has a better hand, their character succeeds in the Challenge. If the Dealer wins, the Character fails the Challenge.  

Poker Hand Chart from Wikimedia Commons

Intuitive Role-Play

Characters are built using 4 Attributes and 4 Values.  Attributes are physical components, while Values are more about the characters outlook on life.  These are built on with Skills, Traits, Assets, and Backgrounds that help flesh out what a Character is good at, and allows different abilities while Building a Hand.  Characters also have Drives to manipulate Meta-Currency and Weaknesses that can be used to manipulate Meta-currency and Asset availability.  All of these mechanical features allow clear and distinct levers for role-play as well as mechanical benefits too.   

Meta-Currency

The Dealer and the Players all start with a pool of Poker Chips they can draw on.  The Players have Luck Chips while the Dealer has Danger Chips.  As Players cash-in Luck they are converted to Danger Chips for the Dealer, and as the Dealer uses Danger Chips they convert to Luck Chips for the Players. As the game progresses, these Chips get passed back and forth for various effects on the game.    

From Canva

Lean into Narrative

This is a rulings over rules type of game, and it is designed for the Players and the Dealer to lean into the story.  It is not "crunchy" but there are a lot of decisions to be made thanks to how the different Character details help "Build a Hand" and the use of Luck/Danger within the game.  At the end of the day, the Scene will React no matter the outcome of any Challenge Checks.  

The game also encourages Dealers to structure Badlands adventures like TV shows and movies.  It recommends a three act structure with a Beginning, Middle, End.  It also uses the language of cinema such as Inciting Incident to trigger Challenge Checks, Final Scene for the dramatic finish, and Epilogues to help wrap up loose ends.  This is a Narrative first game. 

Tell Wild West Stories

Badlands spends time dissecting what makes a Western work on-screen.  There is discussion of Themes, Stakes, and Genre Tropes so that the Dealer and the Players can engage in authentic feeling Wild West stories.  However, the game is loose enough that your adventures can be any of the many types of Western stories, singing cowboys, wagon trains, cattle drives, outlaws, sheriffs, lone rangers, and more.  There is also space for "straight" Westerns with white hats and black hats, or something a bit more supernatural like werewolves, shamans, cannibals, or even aliens!  You can make your Wild West as wild as you want. 

Some Details

The rules are 71 pages long.  It includes almost everything you need to play.  This includes a blank character sheet, a Quick Refence Sheet of rules, a Poker Hand chart, and an Index.  The rulebook also has an initial adventure set in 1849 on the Oregon Trail to kick-off your Badlands experience.  All you need to do is provide a deck of standard Poker cards with Jokers, and a handful of Poker chips.    

Final Thoughts

Of course, if you have been reading this blog you know I have some core ideas and preferences about my RPGs.  I tend to design games that I would want to play.  Therefore, my preferences are on full display.  Badlands is no exception.  

Therefore, if you like narrative and character driven based RPGs that use a traditional story-telling format, this might be a good game for you.  This is not a game to challenge the Players with survival like an OSR, it is focused on telling stories and looking for characters to grow and change.  It is rulings over rules and forces the players to ask the question, "What is the right thing to do?".  This question is about morals, ethics, and values more often than it is about survival in the Badlands.  

Check it out and let me know what you think! 

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