RPG Review: Scum and Villainy- Evil Hat Productions/Off Guard Games

 

It's no secret that I like to play narrative focused and cinematic games.  I have a preference for rules-lite.  Those are some of my biases that I want you to know about going into this RPG review.  Why would I tell you this?  Well, if you look at the cover you can see it is a Forged in the Dark role-playing game.  It is no accident that I am going to be interested in this game.  

Of course, I cut my teeth on the old West End Games Star Wars 2nd Edition.  I grew-up playing that as my sci-fi game of choice.  I should probably do a review on it some day even though it is not new.  I have also played Starfinder for straight Sci-fi games.  For a stretch, I have also played Palladium's Robotech system as well.  Finally, I have also played Green Ronin's The Expanse role-playing game.  I guess I am telling you all this to show my Bonafide's when it comes to sci-fi role-playing games.  I am not a rookie when it comes to this style of game. 

As an added bonus this a game that is about heists.  That makes sense, considering the source of this system is Blades in the Dark, which is a heist game.  I also have experience with heist games.  This is  mainly via Shadowrun.  However, I also have some experience with Noir games such as Hard City.  Therefore, I am familiar with this "less than savory characters" style games too.  In many ways, this one reminds me of the TV show Firefly.    

Therefore, you now know some of my bias going into this games.  You also know some of my history with RPGs of this type.  So, let's dig into this one shall we?  Time to fuel up, load the cargo, and get ready to blast through the blockade.  Does this game have what it takes to keep on flying?      

Things I Like

This game uses a Playbook system.  I tend to like those as it fills core "niche" with appropriate stuff.  However, they are typically choice one of these options which allows for a quick start.  The niche is often "fictionally appropriate" for the style of game being played.  This is a Star Wars/Firefly genre Space Opera.  Therefore, the core "playbooks" are: Mechanics, Muscles, Mystics, Pilots, Scoundrels, Speakers, and Stitches.  I think you can imagine which of your favorite characters fit in where.  

In addition to playbooks, there are a few "crew types" that help create an archetype for the stories you will be telling in a campaign.  These archetype ships set the tone of the table and adventures to come.  It is different being smugglers than bounty hunters than freedom fighters.  You might dabble in all of these, but ultimately the main draw is the archetype of the ship and crew.  

Dice mechanics are simple.  There is a small list of attributes from 0-4 dice.  These represent a dice pool that you roll for tests.  A highest dice as a 6 is a full success, 4-5 is a partial success, and 1-3 is a bad outcome.  No dice, then roll two and pick the lowest with no chance to crit.  Simple.  I like simple dice mechanics. 

The game discusses scene types with "On The Job", "Downtime", and "Free Play".  It gets into more details about types of Jobs and the Engagement roll to help speed up planning.  Therefore, players and GMs have an idea of what to expect from each part of the game.  

You can get extra dice for a roll, but there are always a complication.  They call it a Devil's Bargain!  These can be used to shake things up and raise the stakes.  I can see a certain type of player never taking these, and another always taking them when offered. 

Things I Do Not Like

I rarely talk about lay-out of games, but I am not a fan of how this game is laid-out in the book.  It is not easy to use.  When I was making my character, I had a hard time finding key details.  I was surprised since this is a Playbook driven game yet simple things like "attributes" are buried in the character section without a clear heading name.  Just, not great editing and design.  I know, a bit petty but it made making a character a bit of a frustration. 

There was 12 Attributes, which I think is probably 4 too many.  Again, a bit nit-picky but there you go.  Often times your Playbook will give you a bonus in an Attribute.  There are only 7 Playbooks, so that is probably how many Attributes the game should have as well.  The intention is to give you an idea about how the PCs will approach a given scene, where sneaking across a hangar is played out mechanically different from sprinting across the same hangar.  However, I think a layer of abstraction would work fine here to cover both situations.      

Then there are three resistance rolls that are used in different situations.  Again, I think it is one too many.  Resistance rolls always succeed, but you take stress.  Stress is bad. Instead of damage, you take Stress when called upon to resist.  If your Stress reaches max, you start taking Trauma conditions.  These are more like Role-play notes with names like Paranoid and Cold.  Trauma conditions are permanent, but when you have 4 Trauma you are out of the game.  It looks like you start with 12 trauma, and can choose to take 2 to Push Your Luck.  I think this is too much Stress to start and not enough impact from Trauma.  Instead, if you play Trauma well you get XP bonus.  Play it bad and..... nothing really.     

Meh and Other Uncertainties

Clocks. It wouldn't be a Forged in the Dark system without clocks.  Clocks are a pretty handy and cool idea.  The GM determines how many times you can essentially pass or fail before consequences start to spiral.  Bad Outcomes and Partial successes can cause opposing clocks to move, and success and Crits can have good clocks move.  Pretty neat way to raise the tension, especially since you will want to make these clocks public.  So, why do I put them here?  Ultimately, I think you will have too many clocks going at a time, even in fairly mundane circumstance.  

I.e. a simple smash and grab would have a clock for the PCs to "Get into the Hide-out" and then "Get the loot", and "Escape Clean".  Various actions would help them or hinder, but on the other side you might have the opponents with "Detect Intruders", "Clean-out the Loot", and "Turn-the-Tables"  However, at the same time each PC may also have their own clocks running for various personal reason.  They can stack up fast and a tool to help make tracking and abstraction easier suddenly is not easy.  Doing a clock is easy and cool, but running 12 clocks can be tricky.    

In addition to the dice any individual has, you can boost dice by taking stress, taking a Devil's Bargain, Assists from others, and there are also shared Crew resources.  There are a lot of ways to boost your dice pool, with varying forms of consequences.  It means you can easily manage risk, with only a few options to make interesting complications.      

Ultimately, I think the game just uses too much jargon for things that do not need it.  The lay-out is all ready strained, so the amount of game specific Jargon just takes me out of the rules.  I am sure a great GM can make this all disappear; but a great GM can make any game great!  What about a mediocre or average GM?  I am not sure it can be done here, and I think the jargon and terms will get in the way of the narrative your table is telling.  

Final Thoughts

I really wanted to love these rules.  I had heard a lot of great things about them.  However, I am not sure they are for everyone.  I actually like them less than a standard Powered by the Apocalypse game.  They are slightly more complicated with nothing new to show for it.  The big idea is the Clocks compared to PbtA and I am not sure they deliver an enhanced experience that can not be captured with less book-keeping.   

Plus, I think the lay-out and jargon make this game easier to play than to read.  As a new player to a campaign, I did not find it easy or intuitive to grasp.  I also had a hard time finding what I was looking for in the book.  It was too abstract and too detailed at the same time for my tastes and in the wrong areas.    

That said, I am glad I have read it and played it.  There are really good ideas here, I just am not satisfied with how it all goes together.  I can see others who would absolutely adore this game, and I won't turn down future games.  However, it is also not my favorite either.      

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On the Painting Desk: The Frozen Horror on the Road

 

The main goals on my painting desk for 2026 were my Heroquest expansions.  In order to get all the Heroes for my games, I splurged last year and picked up all the Expansions with Heroes.  This left me with a pretty hefty Pile of Potential to work through.  Before I could start working on my Late Roman project for Osprey I was going to need to clear this backlog out.  Early this year, I had managed to finish of Rise of the Dread Moon so now it was time to focus on The Frozen Horror expansion. 

This expansion was a snow themed adventure for the barbarian and his pals.  That was going to be a very different look from what the Elves looked like.  There were an assortment of winter themed minis and a number of human mercenaries to go in this set.  Before I began traveling, I was able to get them all base coated and stored away in my WIP bin.  

Not much to say about the undercoating process you do not all ready know.  Grey Seer undercoat GW spray, dark grey cheap acrylic wash, and then a dry brushing of cheap acrylic white to get them to this point.  I have had good results with this undercoat process for speedpaints.  The first minis I painted from this set were the Yeti.  They were a test of my mobile painting station. 

With the pre-amble out of the way, it was time to get going on the rest of the models.  

At this point I was Mobile.  On a nice sunny, spring day I pulled out the paints and decided to give painting a go, my first real time working in my new space.  I pulled out my WIP bin and decided to give my Polar War Bears a go.  I think we have all read or seen some version of the Golden Compass now, so you get the idea of what these guys are.  Interestingly, in this expansion they get the ability to attack twice!  Plus, they hit pretty hard too!  

This gives you an idea of my painting space

I decided to use a watered down Crusader Skin on one bear, and Sand Golem on the other.  After that, I used a drybrush of cheap acylic white with a blast of Holy White speedpaints as well.  I used a dot of Grim Black of nose and eyes, and a dot of Blood Red for the tongue, and a spot of Pallid Bone for the teeth.  A surprising amount of detail on the face of a Warbear.  From there it was pretty standard suff.  I did use Absolution Green for the "fur" trim of the lighter bear.  For those following along at home, I use that color for Ogre hair, meaning that this guy had been killing Ogres and using their scalps as fur trim!  Turn around is fair play I guess.  For armor I used Runic Grey, Graveyard Grey, and Talos Bronze.  I have had good results with the greys for armor and they did not disappoint.  

            

From here, I packed them back up and let them dry overnight.  At this point, their basecoats were on and they were ready for a nice coat of Light Wash and then touch-ups and highlights.  Nothing too fancy.  Once done with those, I painted the bases with Runic Grey and then the traditional black trim to finish them up.  

Not a bad first effort at painting while on the road.  However, I still had things to paint for The Frozen Horror expansion.  After the Polar War Bears, it was time to get a bit more fiddly-foes.  I grabbed the Gremlins out.  These guys are really annoying because they do not do damage, but they DO steal your stuff!  Gross.  I wanted them to have the same skin tones as the Yetis I painted, so I went back to the Magic Blue and Holy White mix and three drops of thinner as their skin tone. 

I used a watered down Voidshield Blue as the base for their hair and beards.  I wanted them to look "icy".  From there, I painted over it with Holy White and then drybushed it with cheap acrylic White.  I did the same thing with their wands too.  The rest of the minis were standard natural colors like Hardened Leather, Pallid Bone, Crusader Skin, Runic Grey, Gravelord Grey, etc.  The details were mostly Golden Loot from the Metallic Speedpaint sets.  They were washed with a light wash and then touched up again.  The bases were the usual stuff of Runic Grey with a black rim.  

From there I had a few loose doors.  Two were ones I had missed from one of the Elven Sets, but I am not sure which one and it doesn't matter because I am painting them now.  The other two were snow and ice themed doors from The Frozen Horror.  The two sets of doors would require very different painting techniques to complete them.  I had two wooden ones and two iron ones.  Typically, one of those types is the start of the Quest while the other is an exit.  

For the Frozen doors, I used a Dark Wood for the planks, while for the Elf ones I used Sand Golem.  That tracked as all my Elf wood is Sand Golem paint.  The iron ones I used Broadsword Silver and for the Elf one I used Pallid Bone.  Again, my elf metal was always Pallid Bone so I was staying consistent.  Where the elf one was covered in vines, The Frozen Horror doors had icicles and snow on them.  

The elf doors were fairly straight forward using Magic Blue and Plasmatic Bolt for the runes and such.  The stone was Graveyard Grey and the vines were Malignant Green.  Give it all a Light Wash and they were done.

The frost and snow of the other doors required a different effort.  The runes were Magic Blue, this time with Markers.  The stone was Graveyard Grey.  The fixtures were Broadsword Silver from the Metallic Sets.  The snow and icicles I started with a Voidshield Blue wash.  Then, I painted over it with a light coat of Holy White.  Once dry, I drybrushed cheap white acrylic over it with a make-up brush.  I used watered down black to give the whole thing a dark wash.  

Final Thoughts

That feels like a good place to leave it for this post.  11 models painted is a good weekends work.  All that is left from this set is the Mercs and the big, bad himself.  I look forward to painting the Frozen Horror himself but I will probably save him for last.  

Until next time! 

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Wargame Design: Game Over Man!

My thanks to the Delta Vector blog for getting me to think about this aspect of Wargames.  I have dealt with some pretty esoteric parts of wargame design; deployment, terrain placement, weapon ranges, rules lay-out, etc.  However, I had not spent too much time thinking about how a game should end.  Most of my thinking had been.... ahem..... front-loaded?  I was thinking a lot more about pre-game, game set-up and the game play itself.  It I thought about the end of the game it was normally in the realm of Campaign elements.  Therefore, when I read Evil Monkeigh's post about how to end a wargame I was struck by what an obvious miss it was on my part.  

The Classic Ending

You used to know a movie was over when a black title card flashed up with The End written in white on it.  As things developed, this title card was often accompanied by a musical flourish.  Then, it evolved into putting The End over a picture or final shot of the film itself.  These are all examples of the "classic" ending.  

Wargames also have these types of "classic endings" as well.  By far, the most commonly seen version of the Classic Wargame ending is using a Turn Sequence to dictate when the active part of the wargame was over.  This would then lead to calculating the winner.  Typically, you won the game if your side completed their primary mission objective while denying the opponent their objective.  In the old days, often the players did not know each others objectives!

The calculation looked a little something like this: 

- Did Force A achieve X.Y. and Z?  Did Force B achieve 1,2, 3?  If Yes to both = Draw

- Did Force A achieve more of X, Y, and Z than Force B achieved 1, 2, 3?  If Yes = Win for A, Loss for B

- Did Force A achieve fewer of X,Y, and Z than Force B achieved of 1, 2, 3?  If Yes = Win for B, Loss for A

- Did Force A fail to achieve X, Y, and Z and Force B failed to achieve 1,2, 3?  If Yes = Draw  

A rather simple formula.  However, many gamers found such methods unsatisfactory.  What if both sides failed to achieve their objective but Force A managed to rout more of Force B?  Shouldn't that count for something? 

Therefore, the classic "Ending" has some limitations even though I still find it very compelling and relevant.  

Many Historical games use this method.  Off the top of my head, I am thinking about Blucher from Sam Mustafa. 

The Ultimate Ending

The cleanest method is often the simplest.  I refer to this as the Ultimate Ending.  The side that wins is the one that defeats the entire enemy force.  This is the "Table Your Foe" style ending.  Force A still has models represented on the board while Force B no longer has any miniatures present due to death, routing, or other reasons.  The winner is clear and obvious to all.  

Of course, this type of ending has its own issues.  First off, such an end to a game is very limited in scope.  Objectives and other considerations do not matter.  All that matters is eliminating the opposing force as quickly and easily as possible.  The replayability of such games gets low very fast.  I find games that rely on the Ultimate Ending often also lead to becoming "solved" much quicker because the only factor is finding the units that deliver the most kill while avoiding death themselves.     

Sir Robin Endings

A varient of the Ultimate Ending.  The difference is that instead of actually killing/eliminating all of the enemy force you just make them fallback or run-away!  However, such endings also lead to the same problems as the Ultimate Ending.     

For example, a game like Necromunda with a Bottle Test uses this method.  

Victory Points

This is a bit like the "Classic Ending" in the sense that at the end of the game it is not always obvious immediately who won.  There is a "final phase" where players have to do some math to find out who won.  Often times, you gain Victory Points by completing tasks like destroying a certain unit, holding a bit of territory, or a unit not being routed.  

This is a versatile system as the designer can assign different Victory Points for achieving certain key details.  This also allows the use of primary and secondary objectives of varying points.  It can also connect the "value" of a unit to the number of Victory Points gained or lost from the unit's destruction.  Finally, Victory Points are a great way to create a structured and competitive approach to a game.  The major downside is that victory is not always obvious at the end of the game, and requires Math to know for sure.  

For example, many GW games use this method. 

Time is the Enemy Ending

In the Classic type of ending a game ends when a certain number of turns are completed by both players.  They have an equal chance to do all the things in each turn.  In this type of ending, the game length is not set by arbitrary turn limits.  Instead, it is set by a hard time limit.  I.e. the game will end after 1 hour of play.  No matter what is going on at that point, the game ends.  

This type of end is surprisingly common in tournament style play.  The game rules may state 6 turns total, but a tournament may not have time for all 6 turns to be played out fully.  This can lead to a strange "run-out-the-clock" type of strategy by players.  The other flaw is that at the end, the winner is still not obvious and you need to use a VP or Classic If This Than This winning condition for the winner.  

Grab the Loot 

In these types of games, the board is scattered with objectives that have to be grabbed and moved off the board.  The team that moves the most loot off the board is the winner.  On the upside, it is typically obvious who the winner is at the end of the game, especially if you have uneven loot markers.  On the downside, I have played games like this where no one interacted or fought with each other as they were too busy grabbing loot.  

The obvious example of this is Frostgrave and the other Grave style games.    

Hit Your Marks

A variant to the Grab the Loot, except the loot does not move.  The models have to sit on it all game and score at the end.  Many of the same advantages and disadvantages as the above.  However, with uneven Marks to grab there is always an incentive to fight over one.  

For example, the Batman: Miniature Game by Knight Models used this method of sitting on objectives to score points.  

Doom Clock

The game has a limit to how long it will go, but the turn limit is not set.  It is instead based on the actions of the players.  As certain key actions happen, it raises the Friction for the battle.  Once it hits a limit the clock has run out.  This ends the game or triggers and end game turn.  This could be individualized doom clocks for each force OR a game-wide Doom Clock.  When the Doom Clock is reached the game ends.  

This approach means player action dictates the end-of-the-game trigger.  They can "manage" the clock based on their needs in the game.  On the downside, there is more to track and a greater chance of error in triggering the end state when needed.

For example, individual Doom Clocks are represented really well by Battlegroup.  Each force has a breakpoint, and as they take damage they draw a random chit with the total of these chits adding up to their break points.  When the break point is hit, that force has broken and is the loser.  

For a more unified Doom Clock a game like 1490 Doom fits the bill.  All players are constrained by the rising flood waters.  It rises and players need to react to the end of the game looming closer and closer. 

Combinations

Of course, many games use a variety of combinations of these techniques, even in the same game!  The end state maybe scenario specific.  By using various end states, the game can increase its replayability by changing up what it takes to win from game to game.  Not every game has a "universal" win condition.  The downside is that such differentiated win conditions mean that winning is an If This Than That rules interaction.     

For example, I am thinking of the various scenarios all have different end of game victory conditions in Wars of the Republic

Final Thoughts

Like all decisions in game design, the choice of how a game ends and who wins and loses should flow from a simple decision.  Which method does what the designer wants it to do?  This needs to flow from the designer's POV of the game and their Design Goals.

Win conditions will "teach" your players how they should be playing the game.  How to win will influence the tactics of the game.  These tactics will then impact the "feel" of game play.  Therefore, win conditions are a critical part in making sure that your game "does what you want it to do!".  

For example, Under the Martian Yoke is designed to be a survival horror wargame.  The sense of things spirally out of control is intended to heighten the tension while playing the game.  A Doom Clock is a natural fit for this type of game.  Meanwhile a game like Wars of the Republic which is intended to give historical--ish outcomes needs to be able to mirror the results of scenarios from the historical record; and therefore a more mixed approach might be needed to cover that breadth of outcomes.

In wargame design, the end can have a strong influence on the beginning and middle of the experience.  Therefore, be intentional about what win conditions you wish to use in your core rule and scenario designs. 

Until next time! 

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Heroquest: The Frozen Horror - Hasbro/Avalon HIll

 

For those closely following the development of Heroquest then this expansion is old news to you.  You probably all ready know all about it.  Heck, you may even own it at this point.  I am a bit behind.  I was trying to paint up my expansions as I went and holding off on the next until the earlier was painted.  Late in 2025 I threw that plan out the window.  Instead, I bought up all the expansions with Heroes in them.  That left me a bit of a Pile of Potential to work through for painting and reviewing.  

So, let's not waste a ton of time and just get into it then.  First off, this is a re-release of an older Heroquest expansion.  As such, Hasbro/Avalon Hill pretty much kept the original content in these expansions but updated the miniatures that went with them.  I appreciate that, but in the past has led to some odd wording or contradictory rules in the various expansions.  We will have to see if that is the case in this expansion as well.  

So, let us heft our broad sword, don our fur-lined loincloth, and gird our loins and get into this review. 

Things I Liked

Well, first off I wanted the Female Barbarian sculpt.  I have been interested in getting all the heroes and their alternate sculpts.  I like to have an inclusive party and my family likes female versions of factions, armies, and individual heroes.  Amazingly, they want representation on the game board!  Who would have thought!   Therefore, I was excited and happy to get this model for them.  I made sure to get it painted up right away.  Mechanically, it is no different than the core barbarian.  However, aesthetics matter too.   

I think this was the first expansion to make use of Mercenaries.  It is an indication that the game is getting much tougher when they started to include additional non-heroes you could add to your retinue to help soak damage and spread the damage output.  There are four types that broadly align with the types found in the Rise of the Dread Moon expansions.  These are a mix of models and represent scouts, crossbow folks, halberdiers, and great swords.  

Like Mage in the Mirror this expansion has a handful of solo adventures for the Barbarians.  This allow them to pick-up some special gear.  Like the Elf special missions, this could be a good way to get a single Hero "up-to-speed" after a death.  

The Frozen Horror gets its own special miniature!  Yeah!  Like I said, I wish they would have done it for the Return of the Witchlord, especially as some of those named baddies also get name checked in other Quests.  However, here Hasbro/Avalon Hill have done us a solid and made the Frozen Horror in miniature form!  

Things I Do Not Like

Hasbro/Avalon Hill try to build each boxed set as a stand-alone effort.  I.e. you only need the core game rules to use them.  Therefore, the new magic cards and others are mostly either duplicates or unique to the Frozen Horror.  There is not going to be a ton of utility for some of them in other adventures.  However, new equipment and board tiles are always useful for homebrew as well.   

I did not need the Blue and White themed character sheets.  However, I keep my characters on the App instead of on paper.  However, if you use paper maybe you have gone through a lot of Heroes?  Seemed like that could have been used for something cooler, but I am not sure what. 

There are some rules clarifications that you can find in other expansions at this point.  However, as mentioned they assume you only have the core rules for these expansions. 

Meh and Other Uncertainties

This expansion comes with another set of dice.  I am okay with this as you can then have a set for Zargon and a set for the Players.  Less passing of dice and faster game play with extra sets.  Plus, if you have other expansions you will reach a point where all the players will have their own set of dice.  Not sure I like that the made the movement dice blue as they are often referred in the rules as "red dice" but I doubt people playing Heroquest will get hung-up on that.   

This is a difficult Quest Pack.  It is for hardened adventurers.  The exact location of this Quest in relation to others is kind of fuzzy, but it seems likely to be after Keller's Keep and Return of the Witchlord.  That means the monsters had to be tougher, the traps more deadly, and the number of foes greater.  I think they manage to make it very, very difficult.  Therefore, this is not a Quest pack to be taken lightly!  It is so tough, they made the Mercenaries mechanic to help you out!  

How exactly do they make this harder?  First, the new monster have a lot of special effects that are tough.  Yetis can hug you, warbears attack twice, and gremlins steal your stuff.  There are a variety of traps including instant death situations.  There is a Fog room that voids your attacks on a bad roll, icicles that fall while you are fighting, and ice slide traps.  There are some tough wandering monsters too.  I will say, this Questpack does a lot to try to make you feel like you are in an Ice and Snow-soaked environment.  A good change from the usual dungeon exploration.      

Final Thoughts

As always, this is a great expansion to the core gameplay.  However, this one does not seem to be as "essential" as an expansion like Rise of the Dread Moon or Against the Ogre Horde.  The main add is the Mercenary rules, but you can now find those in other expansions now.  That said, I think it is still a good value for money with a lot of solid minis that could see use in a variety of games.  Frozen Horror expands on the Heroquest world and adds interesting, unique elements but they maybe too niche for many players and Zargons.  

Until next time! 

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Review: Hide, Stone, and Bone - Osprey Games

 

GOOOOOAAAAALLLLLL!!!!!!!!

Well, at least the start of one.  One of my goals that pre-dates this blog is to own all the Osprey Blue Books.  I guess you could say, it was a goal from my own pre-history?  Huh?  Huh?  Anyway.... I have every single, currently published Blue Book and have reviewed all of them.  I have even played a few!  

It took me a bit to get my hands on a copy of Hide, Bone, and Stone due to some changes going on in my personal life at the time of publication.  I had to hunt a copy down and gather it up into my collection.  However, I have it now and am eager to take a look. This is not the only Stone-Age book by Osprey in my game collection.  I also have the RPG PaleoMythic on my shelf.  However, I am not sure I ever wrote a RPG Review of that one.  Those cam a bit later in my blogging career.  If you are interested in my thoughts on that one, drop me a comment and I will see what I can do.  

In Hide, Stone and Bone you are the leader of a tribe of early human ancestors.  You are attempting to survive the perils of the Ice Age.  The game represents the "Big Days" of a tribes life, while the campaign represents more of the day-to-day life of the tribe.  This game has options for solo, coop, and versus play.  I have to admit, I do not have any miniatures for this period but I might have some plastic critters and maybe even some cave men from a by-gone age in a pinch.  

So, let's get into the <ahem> meat of this book!   

Things I Liked

The currency in this game is not like what you see in other games.  Instead of a "cost" in resources, it is a cost in time.  This is called Moons.... i.e. how long it takes to get things done.  

You can be a tribe of Cro-Magnun Humans OR Neanderthals.  "Modern" humans are represented by two different stat lines for some variability in "tribal" lists.  No word on mixed tribes Clan of the Cave Bear style.  

To add tactical gameplay, their are combat arcs.  180 degrees for tribesman, and 270 for predator beasts!  This is for line-of-sight, but also used to determine if a model can try to "dodge" an attack.  Combat arcs like this are a simple and effective way to add Tactical Gameplay.  

There is a limited form of Pre-measuring in the game. When a model first activates, the player may measure 12 inches out from the model.  This represents what they can see clearly from their position.  After this initial measurement, no pre-measuring is allowed.  A nice hybrid version I had not encountered before.  This is another simple way to allow for Tactical Gameplay and to force a player to make Meaningful Choices on limited information.  

The game does a good job making a variety of different animals to inhabit this world from predators to prey.  They are run by a simple table-based AI using their instincts.  Predators will act differently than prey, and even herd/pack animals act different than lonely singles. This leads to different instinct tables.  Animals also can have a variety of traits to make encountering them unique to other Hominid bands.  

 Things I Do Not Like

The game tries to move away from Melee Yahtzee because you can choose to Fight, Grapple, or Throw.  Fight is a pretty standard opposed dice test with the winner causing a potential hit.  Throwing is also an opposed test but with more modifiers on both sides.  However, Grapple gets interesting as you can inflict a wound, Throw your foe 3 inches away in any direction (like off a cliff), or move out of combat.  However, I am not sure why someone would choose to grapple rather than just Fight.  It will only come up in certain situations.  However, unlike fighting, grappling does not always end decisively with a winner or loser and can go on for multiple turns. 

Toughness related tests, are the only time you roll low in the game.  Every other test is roll high.  I prefer when rolling high is always the preference.  However, based on how they use Toughness, I understand why they went low.  It can be tough to balance out all your stats to be high vs low intuitively.  However, failing to do so leads to If This/Than That rules. 

The game uses Stress Tokens that add up from various actions.  These act as modifiers to a Stress test that can impact if a model will activate appropriately.  I like the Concept, BUT the stress tokens are an unnecessary board clutter and mechanic as you could just have the model take tests as they are acted upon, and failures cause an effect, represented by facing or immediate movement instead.  Less rules and less table clutter in that scenario. 

The game uses alternate activations based on the winner of a roll-off.  However, the game uses something I hate; Action Points.  Some moves use more action points than others.  For example, most movement type actions are 1 point, so you can move multiple times an activation.  Basic combat is typically two actions so fight, grapple, throw, etc.  There are a few complex actions that take 3 such as a charge.  The game does cover a wide variety of actions with this system such as yelling at a foe, going prone, or even certain shamanic acts.  Yuck to action points!  I do not want to track action points during a game.  Hate action points.  However, others love them so now you get to see my preferences!  

Meh and Other Uncertainties

This game is written by a chap names Austin Hunt.  That seems very appropriate for the subject matter.  A Nom de Plume?  LOL

Casualties are placed face down.  There is a one turn to try to help them, but a turn they are considered dead.  They have crawled away to die in a hole or ditch somewhere and can not be found or helped further.  Now, casualties and how to treat them has become a choice.

The game uses a combination of d10s with a few d6s.  The game has Natural 1 Crit Failures for all tests.  A Natural 10 is only useful as a Critical Success for combat situations.    

The core rules are about 15 pages of how to play.  Overall pretty simple rules with enough meat to force some interesting decision making.  However, like many of these small skirmish games the focus is on the campaign.  The campaign details are the bulk of the 60 pages!  Therefore, if campaign and story-telling skirmish games are not your thing.... well..... I am not sure what to tell you. 

The campaign covers all the things you have come to expect such as injuries, experience, skills, and gearing up.  Success is based on something called "Extinction Points and when or if they run down to Zero, your band is assumed to have been scattered, disbanded, or left the area.  They have lost. Success of Failure on "Big Days" (Scenarios) leads to gains and loses of Extinction Points.  The campaign is pretty straight forward but notable absences are Base Building and story-telling events between "Big Days".     

There are additional rules to play games set in a "Pulp" Hollow Earth type setting with Dinosaurs and Pulp Adventurers interacting with your tribe.  This also includes being able to add the Pulp Adventurers to your bands as NPCs.  

The book has several scenarios with a variety of Objectives and complications to allow for a great deal of replayability.  This range from battling other tribes, hunting beasts, or gathering supplies while under duress.  A decent assortment of things to do but nothing outside of what you would expect from a game like this.    

The game does not go too in depth on solo, coop, or versus game play.  However, the rules are self-evident based on how the instinct tables for animals work.  However, facing against rival tribes in solo is not clear to me. 

Final Thoughts

This is a straight-forward and well-themed skirmish game.  It makes some efforts to add choice and tactical decision making than many skirmish games.  However, it is still a bit under-baked "on the table".  The focus is mostly on the campaign and linked games.  That is where most of the ink is spilled.  The Campaign follows the tried-and-true pattern of a solid campaign and it has a clear win/lose state.  The campaign is missing some story-beats that focuses the events to what happens on the table.  

I am sure this would be a fun game for short, club campaigns and the occasional "Big Day" or convention game.  It is well suited to multi-player scenarios.  Overall, a nice little addition to the Osprey stable and does what it says on the tin.    

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Wargaming on the Road: Travel Painting Kit

 

Look at that!  A brand new banner for the blog!  You know, I have a few of these banners now.  They cover a few topics: 

1. On the Painting Desk

These are posts that usually cover what I am painting now, techniques I am using, updates on newly finished projects, and other thoughts on painting.  It helps me keep track of what I am painting in a year.  The frequency varies based on how much painting I am doing.   

2. Wargame Design

When you see this header, the focus is on a discussion about various wargame design topics.  I try to post one of these a month, but I am not always consistent.  Some months have more, but more likely it is less.  

3. Wargaming on a Budget

These are sporadic posts.  However, they focus on how to indulge in the wargaming hobby on the cheap.  There was a long period of my wargaming career where money was absolutely a limiting factor in my wargaming life.  These are tips and tricks to make the hobby more affordable.  

4. Random

As the name implies, these cover a few different types of posts that do not fit any other category.  Random thoughts about wargaming adjacent topics, Goals and Objectives, round-ups, etc.  

Obviously, I have a lot of other content but they do not tend to have special headers. Reviews tend to have a picture of the game in question.  Battle Reports tend to have a picture of the game we are going to play.  No special headers for those.  

Now this header is going to focus on the challenges of being a wargamer in small spaces or travelling.  Since the moving to a more "mobile" environment this has become a "Hot Topic" for me.  How do I keep active in the wargaming space while living in a contained space on the road?  

Today, we are going to focus on my mobile painting station.  I have always had a relatively portable or condensed painting station.  Unlike many folks, I actually never really kept my projects out.  It was part of my painting routine to pull out my painting gear, set it all up, paint, and then store it all away when a painting session was complete.  This routine helped me get into the right mindset to paint.  Once I had everything out and set-up I was committed to paint!  This approach does NOT work for everyone but it worked well for me! 

Therefore, moving to a more mobile painting station was not a huge transition to me.  The biggest change was condensing my painting supplies into a single portable container rather than keeping them in scattered boxes of supplies in a single storage place.  Historically, I had a few boxes of paints, a container of brushes, a container of basing materials, a box of construction equipment, etc.  I kept them all in one place together but I had several, individual boxes based on the stuff that was in it.  However, I consolidated all of this material into one portable carrying case.  

Let's take a look at what's in the box!  For the case itself, I found an empty Plano tackle box that I had in my garage.  I have probably had it for at least a decade and had completely forgotten about it.  I thought it was full of miniatures!  I was wrong.  The tackle box is pretty standard with a large open middle center at the bottom, and then fold out trays, three on each side at the top.  

Pretty much looked like this one: 

Inside, I started by filling in the base with the biggest items I was going to need.  I put in 2 Grey Seer spray primer and 1 spray enamel.  I also put in my case for my magnifier glasses that I got for Christmas.  I have found the built-in lights very useful, even if my eyes are still good enough to see up close with.... for now.  On top of those I put my two green cutting mats that I use as the base for my painting projects.  Next, I made sure there was a space for my pop-and-lock palette.  With the spare space, I put in my basing materials such as some bases, washers, super-glue, and other detailing tools.  I also put in two wooden dice holders and a small case with my metal Heroforge D&D figures a friend got to represent my wife and I.  Finally, I put in a solar-powered battery pack in case I needed to charge my glasses up.    

Guess which one I am! 

From there, I had the folding trays to fill in.  In the larger trays, I started by putting in my big-box retailer brushes.  In the area next to it I put in my sculpting tools like exacto-knife, clay shapers, and dental tools.  Above those I used an area to put in my washes and another for my Metallic speedpaints.  The final rows had some individual Flesh colors and traditional armypainter paints I like to use such as Voidshield Blue and Daemonic Yellow.  

On the other side, I put in my Big-Box retailer acylics I used the most so White and Pewter Grey,  I also put in a few blacks from various manufacturers.  I then filled out the rest of the box with the rest of my speedpaints with 1 or 2 paints per slot.  Finally, I had some long slots on the top tray.  In those I put my better quality brushes.  I also put a few cutters in there.  

It all closed up tight as a drum and fit nicely under the queen-sized bed in my bus.                   

In addition, I had a small, foam lined, latched wooden case that I put all my Work-in-Progress models into.  For my initial efforts, I decided to pack my Heroquest: The Frozen Horror expansion models to paint.  The key thing is that this box lays relatively flat and actually slides right under the cupboard in my shuttle bus for easy storage.  

To test my painting kit out, I took it to a local painting social with the True Crit Gaming Guild just before I left to hit the road.  First, I made sure that all the models from The Frozen Horror expansion for Heroquest.

Then, I painted a couple of Yeti.  I painted this in a table for two, with another Guild member on the other side of the table.  My painting space was just a bit wider than my green cutting mat that I use as my base.  Then, next to it I had a small pile of brushes and my paint palette what I also used as my water dish.  I put my WIP book upright on one side of me against a wall, and the other side I put my Plano tackle box.  I tried to take out and put back any materials I was using as I went to keep my work space open and clear.  I managed to stay in a space equivalent to half-of-the-table in my bus.  Therefore, I think my efforts to condense and reduce my painting sprawl worked.  

For those interested, here are the Yeti that I painted.  

Pretty straight forward minis.  For the skin-tone I used a mix of Magic Blue, Holy White, and three drops of Medium thinner.  The horns, teeth, and claws were Pallid Bone.  The fur was watered down Sand Golem that was then dry-brushed back up with Holy White.  Then, I hit them with a Light Tone Wash, and dry-drushed them up with cheap, acylic White again.  I wanted one to be whiter than the other in case I needed to differentiate on the table top.  

Finally, their bases were a quick Runic Grey and a black rim.  The usual basing I use for Heroquest minis. 

The next things you see painted on this blog will have been painted while "on-the-road".  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!