After the smoke

The heretics were slowly advancing, and the Ork rabble behind them following closely. The Grey Knight Paladins looked on, rage filling them as the watched one noble battle brothers pairing up with the Orks.

Standing resolute and brave, the Paladins heard their Tech Priest behind them call down yet another orbital bombardment, and they felt the ground shake beneath their feet. The battle would soon be over, at one cost no one knew.

Out of a thick cloud of dust a smoke screamed a Dakkajet, its guns blazing and the pilot screaming a tirade of obscenities, audible even over the roar of the jets. The Paladins took no action waiting for a opportune moment, but were shook as a rogue bullet from the supa-shooters struck the Tech Priest between the eyes, his body slumping under the weight of his Artificer armour. They looked back, eyes to the sky, powerless against the might of a jet powered aircraft, even as it swooped around to make another strafing run. They had already accepted their fate, and knew their brothers would avenge them with the might of the Emperor behind them himself.

The pilot saw Paladins and took a direct line straight at them, guns blazing.

The Icarus blast vaporised the top half of his body. Behind the lines was a lone Icarus Lascannon, which had just been woken by the Tech Priest, now with a enraged machine spirit. The second blast destroyed the tail, and sent the Dakkajet is a wild death spiral, right down towards the stricken Paladins.

The Paladins saw what was about to happen, and felt a force flow through them. Somehow, maybe the God Emperor himself had sensed what was about to happen, and sent his spirit to protect them. As they were one, the braced, and threw their arms up as the Dakkajet dropped onto them from above, and as a unit threw it further behind them, destroying the bastion, but saving their lives. From the dust and fire emerged 5 Paladins, ready to take on the the enemy all by themselves, fuelled by the Emperor himself.

This is a short fiction based on possibly one of the most memorable things that have ever happened in a game of WH40k that I have played, from Thursday Night Gaming. I don't know a lot about the lore of the Grey Knights, so there may be some creative license here, but I just could not let this go without a good write up!

Thursday Night Gaming 19/7/12

The night went very well again! There was a different turnout of people, but it matched the same amount as last week.

Everyone enjoyed themselves, with many games going on. On one table was a three way game of Scrabble going on, and from the words that were going down I would not have stood a chance. On another table was a rather fun looking game, Yahtzee Poker. I didn’t get chance to play this, but it looks like a great, fast and fun party game. I am going to have to check this one out, as I could not quite grasp the rules from the quick look that I got.

The main event, which I participated in was a rather awesome game of Warhammer 40000. We had decided on a 1000 point game, and I used a alliance of Orks and Space Marines, against the might that are the Grey Knights. I had 43 models on my side, including the Dakkajet, and the Grey Knights were only 11 models strong. And I got the beating of my life in this game. To say that I have only ever lost 3 games of 40k in the past 6 years, this was a shock. Grey Knights are just stupidly over powered (which is why now, I think my next army will be them...). I can't even see a strategy that could overcome them, but there must be one. The game took the best part of the night, and the 6^th edition rules really shined through in this game.

After that, a few round of Magestones whilst we waited for the others to finish their games, then we finished up on a game of Railways of the World: The card game. Again this was played with people that had never played it and had no interest in the theme, but again these people loved it. I am slowly converting the world to love ROTW, one person at a time....

All in all another fantastic night, and one that I hope will continue to grow with new people and seasoned gamers coming down.

If you are in the area, then we are there every Thursday from 730pm onwards. Come on down, and lets play some games!

Nice and quick games

Now I think we all like games that we can sink our teeth into, and I do like a game that lasts 4 hours plus every now and then, but with the stresses of modern day to day life, it can be hard to get a game like that to the table.

This is a list of our top games that are quick and, most importantly, fun.

1. MageStones: Whenever we have 20 minutes to spare, generally this what will come out. Set up time is no more that 30 seconds, and play time 5-10 minutes each game. This is the go to game for waiting for people, or just to wind down from a hard day. Unfortunately, this game is getting increasingly difficult to find these days.
     
   
   
   
   
2. Dominion: This is a odd one for this list. On one hand, it can take a long time to play with a few people, but with two people who know what they are doing, set up time is minimal, and so are game times. 10-15 Minutes per games, with only one game still being able to scratch that board game itch if needed.
   
   
   
   
   
    
3. Rummikub: Easy to play for children and adults alike, this takes a minute to set up and about 5 minutes per game. Easily available, this is a great place to start for your “quick game” section of your collection.
   
   
   
   
   
   
4. Dawn Under: At the time of writing this, I am having a hard time finding anywhere that sells this, and it looks like eBay is the best bet. A nice, bright and fun memory game, get your vampires to bed in the graveyard before the sun comes up!
   
   
   
   
   
   
    
   
   
   
   
   
   
5. Scrabble: No collection is complete without at least one copy of scrabble. The way we play, set a time limit, say 20 minutes, highest score by that point wins. And no time wasting!

So that's our list, our top 5 quick games. Go to www.facebook.com/farlandsgames and tell us your top 5!

Vintage Game: MageStones

MageStones is a old TSR game from way back in the '90s. It didn’t do terribly well when it was released, and faded into obscurity very quickly. I remember getting my first copy one Christmas when I was a child, and I saw it in pound shops a few years back as well.

This game spent a long time unplayed. The written rules make very little sense unless you play along with the rule book in hand. If only TSR had written some better rules, I think that this could have really taken off.

Basically, its a abstract game with its roots in naught’s and crosses. Players roll 3 dice, add them together and then can place their stones on a board with lanes marked 3 to 9. The dice are d3's, and roll of 1-2-3 makes you miss a turn, and a treble number gains you a extra turn. The idea of the game is to move all of your pieces from your hand onto the board. Pieces that have been surrounded by another players pieces, are “dispelled”, removed back the the owning players hand.

Lane 6 is the most powerful, and can only be place there with a roll of 2-2-2. But pieces in this lane cannot be dispelled, but can be used to dispel other pieces.

On first glance, when you get the rules (or have someone show you more likely), the game is shallow with not a lot going on. The theme is pasted on so badly it could be ANYTHING. But after a few plays, the strategy starts to come out, a lot like my findings with Dominion. When you see what can be achieved, with cunning ploys or outright bluffing, this game really comes into its own.

Coupled with the fact that a no game ever really goes over 15 minutes, even with 3 players, this is a great game to play when you are waiting for people, or even at parties. Simple enough, yet also highly competitive I think this would stand well with a league/table based on it.

Its a pretty rare find these days to get a nice copy of this. This game goes for between £10-25 on eBay (plus p+p), so can discourage people to buy it based on an old game at that price. But get this, this has the Farlands recommendation attached to it, it is a valuable addition to any game collection, and a testament to this game is that I spent £30 just to get this in my collection.

WAMP 2012!

August 11^th 2012 is the WAMP 2012 live event in Mansfield, UK.

Who are WAMP? WAMP is a great miniature painting forum that can be found via this link. I have been a member for a while now, and it really is one of those places on the internet where you can just kick back and have a conversation about the hobby. Gaming wise, they don't talk about it a lot, as most of the posters there are helping out people or getting ready for a competition.

I have yet to find a forum that will help you out as much as the guys here will. If you need help, then these people will help you. I cannot stress how much these guys (and gals!) helped me when I first ventured there.

They also have a store, where you can find wonderful miniatures to paint. There is a wide range of miniatures there from companies that I personally had never heard of, and models that you will want. So buy from the store, get stuck and seek help in the forum. You cannot want for more than that!

There is also the webazine Portal, a run down of all things miniature with interviews from all over the industry. It really is a great read for anyone interested in the hobby.

2012 is the second WAMP live event. It is being held at the Maelstrom gaming store in Mansfield. Go here for the details. I hope that I shall be going, if I get much interest from around here I might make it the first TNG excursion.

The event will focus around a painting competition, with feature hands on painting help, and a separate speed painting contest. All in all sounds like a fantastic day out that we all need to go to!

Go and visit the WAMP forum, here at www.wampforum.com, and enjoy your stay there.

Vintage Game: Guess Who!

In this series of posts, we are going to play old games and see if they stand up to the test of time.

Guess who was first released in Great Britain in 1979 by Milton Bradley (MB) games. It went to the US in 1982. It has taken a few design changes over the years, the 1987 version only included 5 women and 19 men, which was not rectified until the 2000 version which had a almost equal split. Star Wars, Marvel and Disney versions have all been released, as well as various travel editions, which had only 20 tiles to choose from.

Guess Who. Now I think that everybody at some point in time must have played this game, it is one of THOSE games. I remember having it as a child, and now I play it with the children that are around now (nephews, friends children etc.), but recently we got this out at a party with adults, and yes it went down a blast.

The idea of the game is to “guess who” the other player has drawn from a deck of cards. You get two game boards, each with 24 tiles with each of the characters faces on them. You take it in turns asking questions about the looks, and by the end you should have one tile left, which should be the identity of your opponents character. If it is, you win that round, and onto the next one. First to five wins.

Now I know that write up is most likely irrelevant, as most people know how to play this simple game. With children, it teaches them logic and how to formulate plans to achieve a goal in a very real sense, and I think that this game alone is worth a place in children’s game collections just because of that. With a group of adults however, the game changes. The once innocent questions of a child are replaced with some, lets say, more colourful questions. But that all adds to the fun of this game.

I have played this game just one on one, and whilst it was still good, I think that with a group of adults, team play is a must. How you go about this is up to you, and part of the fun working that out.

The game in this day and age I think is defiantly still relevant. As I mentioned above, as a children’s game it encourages the building of logic skills, to get to a unknown goal in a structured way. As a adult party game, it works great. Its simple, easy to teach and can have some very funny outcomes and banter associated with it. If your child has this game try it out again, you may be surprised. If your child does not have this in their collection, get it for the both of you.

Descent 2nd Edition

Here is a game off the beaten track of all the Warhammer 40000 posts that have been going up here recently. Descent 2^nd edition is the follow up to the hugely popular Fantasy Flight Games, Descent: Journeys into the Dark.

A lot of people loved the first edition, and a lot of people hated the it as well. The main complaints were about the length of the game, and the sheer amount of space that it took up on the table. 2^nd edition is very similar, but also very different.

Miniatures wise, like all other FFG games, they are fantastic. Not as many as in 1^st Ed, but still a good amount. Cards are standard FFG size, and board pieces and counters again the quality that you would expect from FFG.

It has been hugely streamlined. Many of the annoyances that were in Descent, like the Town, popping to the shops mid quest, all the re-spawn points, and the fact that the Overlord character has so many monsters, and then variations of the monsters that you never quite knew what you were fighting until you were dead.

This leaves a system that begs to be played, and with not as much to remember for a new player, should be completed in 2 hours or less, maybe a little longer, but not by much.

At heart its still a dungeon crawl minus RPG elements, but you can still level up characters, and indeed the overlord player can upgrade as well. If you want more of a RPG series, then D&D or other equivalent system is for you. This is a tactical miniature game. One player takes the role of the overlord, and runs the dungeon and monsters with the help of a deck of cards. Other players take the role of heroes, ones that must defeat the many dangers lurking in these dungeons.

I believe that all of these adventures could be played right from the box, pick one and off you go. This would be great to show new people how to play, but the real heart of this is the campaign system, linking all the adventures together, and powering up your characters. Indeed, the game comes with a campaign all set up and ready to go, and I can almost guarantee that there will be expansions just like 1^st edition.

If you own first edition, then there is a little bonus for you. There is a upgrade kit. It requires that the core 2^nd edition is bought, but upgrades all of the 1^st edition monsters into the 2^nd edition rules, so right from the word go you will have many more options!

Game wise, this plays well from 2 to 5 players, all within 2 hours, without the grind of 1^st edition. I played 1^st Ed, liked it enough, but never played again as it was draining in the long run. This is a lot smoother and a lot better.

If you have never played Descent: Journeys into the Darkness, and like dungeon games, then without hesitation go out and buy this game. It is fantastic and will be supported for a while to come, so many more adventures are to come. If you have played 1^st Ed, I would recommend this game a lot, but would also suggest playing before you buy. The changes are for the better, but may be changes enough to make you not like these rules.

All in all, Descent 2^nd edition is a rip roaring romp through a dungeon, with enough re-playability to keep it on the table for months to come.