So, while everyone has known this has been coming for the last year Games Workshop has finally gone public. They’re front page’s main story is the new Necrons and the Necron Army section has been updated. There are a number of new models available to Necron players but they’ve also pulled some things as well. I couldn’t find any reference to Pariahs or Tomb Spyders on the site. So, I guess it’s safe to say those are no longer being supported by GW.
Despite the fact that I rarely, if ever, play the 40k anymore. I’m still excited about this release and will, bare minimum, pick up the new codex.
, playIt's like Arkham Horror with more dice and no giant board
I’m a sucker for most anything related to Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos. I’ve read all the stories, numerous other author’s tributes and ripoffs, seen the movies, played the games, etc. I eat this stuff up. So, when I found out that Fantasy Flight had released a new game, in what they are now calling the Arkham Horror Files, using the Mythos as the backdrop I leaped.Elder Signs is, according to its website:
a fast-paced, cooperative dice game of supernatural intrigue for one to eight players by Richard Launius and Kevin Wilson, the designers of Arkham Horror. Players take the roles of investigators racing against time to stave off the imminent return of the Ancient One. Armed with tools, allies, and occult knowledge, investigators must put their sanity and stamina to the test as they adventure to locate Elder Signs, the eldritch symbols used to seal away the Ancient Ones and win the game.
Sadly, after I got the game it sat around while I tried to find a suitable day to have some friends over and play. Last Thursday I succeeded in getting two friends over and we sat down to play.
Elder Sign: mid game.
The game takes heavy inspiration from Arkham Horror, the games share artwork, characters, items, and Ancient Ones, and just like in that game the players are tasked with collecting enough elder signs to insure the Ancient One does not manifest in this world. But, instead of moving across a board, collecting cards, etc. the players use dice. The six large cards you see in the center of that picture are locations/events going on in the museum you’re all trapped in (the greenish one below is similar card but is in “another world”) the cards have lists of icons on them that correlate to matching icons on dice (six normal, two special) players are tasked with completing all the lists on a card in order to complete it and gain whatever rewards the card gives, if they fail they instead reap the consequences. Characters have sanity and stamina, items which allow them to heal, defeat monsters, switch their dice, store, dice, and use the two special dice.
As players take their turns the game’s clock advances and the various effects on the various cards (adventure, Ancient One, etc) come into effect such as monsters appearing, the players taking damage or giving up items, or adding tokens to the doom track (when it feels the Ancient One manifests; you don’t want the Ancient One to manifest.) I know it sounds kinda weird and none of us really got the hang of things until we sat down, started playing, and rolling dice. Once we did though everything fell together and we started having a blast!
adventure cards, anther world cards, item cards, and in the top right the Ancient One card
What we all found so enjoyable about Elder Sign is that the game retained the nerve wrecking tension of Arkham Horror but never bogs down. Our first game took two hours but we finished our second one in less than one hour! The other great thing is that with the dice you never know how you’re going to do. Early in the night we’d look at a card and say, “Oh, that one is so easy! I don’t even need to use any cards or special abilities.” Only to find ourselves after all the dice rolls looking up what happened when we failed. Four investigators were devoured that way. By the end of the night any time someone started saying a card was easy the other two would yell out, ” STOP saying that!” and then they’d knock on wood! I’m looking forward to getting seven people over here and seeing how the game is with that many people. I’m hopeful it will be one of my new go to party games, BANG! can’t pull all the weight.
If you’re looking for a fun, quick dice game with great mechanics and enough chance in there to make even the “easy” parts hard I don’t think you’d go wrong with Elder Sign.
Picture taken by Trent over at Random Musings of a Gamer
Games Workshop’s Warhammer 40,000 is a tabletop war game. Actually, for all intent and purposes, it is THE tabletop war game. Other war games exist, historic and otherwise, but people outside the hobby? If they know about tabletop war gaming at all they probably know about Games Workshop’s Warhammer (Fantasy or 40k). I started playing 40k over a decade ago and I love it. I love the hobby, the models, the fluff, etc. I wouldn’t call myself a fanboy (I own their competitor’s products and have some complaints).
As fun as a table top game is to play, after the game is over and you’re packing your models up and collecting stray dice, you have to admit that tiny metal and plastic models pushed up against each other and hundreds of dice roles doesn’t quite convey the frenetic pulpy action of the fluff:
…The attack was defeated, but there was no doubt there would be many more before the day was out. Less than a fifth of the Ultramarines who had begun the operation were still alive and Idaeus knew that one more push would see them defeated. He ignored the pleas of his sergeants and set off alone in a suicidal attempt to blow the bridge.
Sprinting through the bullet-chased and smoke huanted rubble, Idaeus reached the first of the demolition charges just as the retrieval Thunderhawk touched down beyond the bridge’s western approach and out of range of the enemy’s anti-aircraft positions. Triggering the commes-net Idaeus ordered the remaining Ultramarines to retreat under the command of Sergeant Uriel Ventris as the Night Lords began yet another assault. The surviving Ultramarines withdrew under fire to the Thunderhawk and Idaeus waited until the last possible second before detonating the first charge. In a catastrophic chain reaction, the remaining charges exploded, destroying Idaeus, the briddge, and much of the Night Lords’ oncoming assulat wave in a searing blast that shook the earth for Leagues around.
Excerpt from Idaeus’ Last Charge, Codex Space Marines
I have plenty of imagination and that is generally what I use when playing 40k, but now thanks to Relic and THQ I don’t have to always imagine and I don’t have to rustle up a table, and opponent and three to four spare hours. Instead, I can play Space Marine:
Space Marine is a middling action title, it isn’t great and it isn’t bad. The game does a decent job of delivering fast paced, violent action set in the 40k universe. For people who don’t know anything else about the 40k world that is all the game can be. For players of Warhammer 40,000 and fans of the world Space Marine is quite a bit more. It takes all those static images of models on a table and brings them to life! Here we can experience the destructive power of a Lascannon or the tremendous might of a single Space Marine against Xenos hordes. I especially appreciate how faithfully they portrayed the weaponry in the game. I kind of understood how a plasma gun differed from a melta gun; I understand the basics of a bolter (standard, heavy, and storm.) Space Marine, just as it does for the titular characters, brings this aspect of the 40k universe to life.
The best sections of the game are when you have access to a assault jet pack. I wish they had used the pack more or simply designed the game around it. Every jet pack level adds a vertical component to the game that is much more complex and compelling than the standard horizontal lay out of the rest of the game. I enjoy going from kill room to kill room as much as the next guy. But, in a 10 or so hour campaign it can get boring. The Jet pack allows for much more creative level design as well as giving the player an out when they are outnumbered. Hopefully, if there is a sequel the assault pack can play an integral part of it.
The only complaint I have with the game is how it handles your character’s life bar. While your Space Marine has a regenerating shield his life force is static and can only be regained by performing an “execution” against an enemy (canned animation kill) this would be fine except for the fact that some of these kills can last 3 or 4 seconds and you take damage while performing them!? I lost count of how many times I died while being stuck in the execution animation that would have healed me had it not gone on for so long…
Space Marine is a fun game, I hear the multiplayer is especially exciting, (and allows for creating your own Space Marine chapter!) for those looking for a shooter and aren’t already occupied with Gears of War 3 (I will never understand why this game was released a mere week before the most anticipated third person shooter of the year.) If you are a 40k fan though this game is indispensable!
If you follow table top war games at all you know that the hobby is largely at the mercy of the commodities market. Many of the models used by table top war games companies are metal cast. This year Games Workshop decided to do something about that by abandoning metal models and using a newly developed resin instead. Resin is lighter, easier to modify and much cheaper than metal. Games Workshop hasn’t passed those savings on to their customers though! In fact, in their press releases and investor’s statements hardly mention the cost savings at all! Instead they’ve highlighted the high quality of the new resin models:
Games Workshop already makes the best fantasy miniatures in the world. All Games Workshop miniatures will now be made either in resin or plastic to ensure Games Workshop customers get the best quality miniatures available. From a strategic perspective, Citadel Finecast has established an even greater quality differential for Games Workshop over other miniature makers using traditional metal manufacturing methods.
Mark Wells, CEO Games Workshop
But of course, one of the main reasons for this change to resin was quality. One thing you’ll notice immediately when you pick them up is the exceptionally sharp detail on the model, which can only be described as staggering. For dedicated painters (which we all are to some extent) this is a dream come true.
Andy Hall, Writer Games Workshop
I’m not going to contest that the new models look great and that their resin mix does an excellent job of capturing the nuances of the master molds. My problem is that these new lighter, cheaper models cost more than their metal counterparts?! The company has said this rise in cost is due to the better detail quality of the new finecast models, but the fact of the matter is that GW and Citadel Miniatures are using the same master molds as they were for the old metal miniatures. The only difference here is the new resin! The molds have already been made the costs invested and already returned from the sale of the old metal models, so why are customers now having to pay more for a model made from cheaper raw materials?!
Cast in the traditional manner using a metal alloyThe new finecast resin model
Games Workshop has been pricing me out of their hobby for years. I have a hard time justifying the purchase of a single model for $15 moving the sales point to $18.50 ($20 in the mind of the buyer) is out of the question! Who can afford that when armies consist of upwards of 100 models?!
