The phantom rule that will make Blackstone Fortress a bit easier
As opposed to Cursed City, Blackstone Fortress doesn’t say what to do with your inspiration points between adventures. That omission is intentional. It is meaningful silence. I wish rules in Blackstone Fortress and Cursed City were more positive. Positive in that you can feel them click, that the rules say to do something, not that they don’t say to do or not do something. It’s easier to read the rules and see what they say, rather than look for what they don’t say. I feel like it’s rules writers being clever and conserving their words, but their unexpected novelty is easily overlooked and can dramatically affect gameplay. In Cursed City, you’re rolling a D12 to get Inspiration Points. In Blackstone Fortress, it’s a D20. We get Inspiration Points soooo rarely! How often are you going to roll a three or less on a D20? Not that much. Another example is…
How long have you been “in the hobby”?
How long have you been in the miniatures/painting/gaming hobby? For me, medium-ish, I’d say. Not as long as others, but the time since beginning to now is substantial. It all started when I was a wee lad in 1989 or thereabouts. There was a local hobby shop that carried trains, toys, squirt guns, model car kits, games, miniatures and paints. That is the origin story of my hobby experience. That store was pretty much all I could think about in those young dawning years. Ral Partha, Citadel, Grenadier, Marauder. Rogue Trader, Space Hulk, Advanced HeroQuest, Man O’ War, and many more. This was our mecca. From 5th grade to 9th grade were the gaming years. Not that I was a big gamer. I really wasn’t. I liked the art, painting, and building. Hobbying started to tail off a bit in middle school, then high school rolled around. 1993-1994 and that…
Modern miniatures and the uncanny valley
I’d like to revisit a topic I talked about a couple weeks ago. Modern Games Workshop models. This is a controversial topic because people are passionate about both old and new. It’s really great that people have found things they genuinely enjoy, and I do not meant to diminish anyone’s interest in anything. This is a longer article than I usual write, so if you want to skip right to the uncanny valley section, it starts in section 3. I’ve been trying to psychoanalyze myself as to what drives my personal preference in miniatures. Opinions and biases are 100% subjective. I am in no way saying something is right or wrong. I’m going to be talking about my own personal preference. I’m sure this won’t ingratiate me with anyone. To break it down, I’d say there are 3 factors driving my preference toward older miniatures. All of those are real…
What makes Blackstone Fortress so fun?
Is it the beautiful hex tiles? Is it the exotic space bazaar narrative? Is it the brilliant miniatures? Is it the intriguing characters? Is it the imaginative gameplay? Is it the vast unknown of the Blackstone itself? Or is it all of the above? I say it’s all of the above. The game has it all. Total package. But with all that going for it, it’s still not for everyone. It’s too boardgamey for hard core gamers It’s too RPGey for casual game players It’s not Warhammerey enough for Warhammer players. But it’s just enough for me, my friends and family. You roll fun dice. Explore exotic locations. Slay interesting monsters. What’s not to like? If I have one criticism, it’s the layer of abstraction laid over trading on Precipice. I think it’s there to avoid “gaming” the trading system. But I find it cumbersome, we leave it out. If…
Finished my ghoul proxies
More info here
Hand sculpted vs computer sculpted
Why do the new GW models look the way they do? Is Computer Aided Design (CAD) affecting the aesthetic? I don’t even have the words to describe how they look. They’re less-characterfull? They’re more generic? They’re overly uniform? They’re abnormally standardized? They’re too boardroom flowcharted? They’re too scale-accurate? They look like they the sculpting was outsourced and they’re designed to spec. Maybe they’re designed in-house, but the really look like they’re designed by a completely new staff. In some ways they’re great. In other ways, they do not look like a GW model. They don’t have a GW feel to them. Do I like them? Yes, I suppose. Do I own many of these? Not too many. Also, the Warhulk pictured to the right costs $55.00 USD. The days of finding an interesting GW blister pack for pocket money are long gone. I find that some of the magic, whimsey,…