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…
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,…
White Dwarf 2024
I got my hands on the latest iteration of Grombrindal, the White Dwarf. White Dwarf 500 has rules for Cursed City, Age of Sigmar, Underworlds, and Warcry. I’m most interested in Cursed City and hope to try him out in the next week. Always Board Never Boring goes over his rules. He’s a Loremaster in Cursed City, which is interesting because his stats are very stalwart-ey and he has no spells. Oh but that axe! He’s going to do some damage. Admittedly, this is a splurge purchase and at nearly $40 US, it’s pretty steep for one single-little-itty-bitty piece of plastic. But, I’m a bit of a white dwarf collector, so I can stomach this one. Having game rules definitely helps too. I’ve been somewhat critical of the tiny pieces in some GW sets. Not so here! Look at these beautiful chunky pieces! This thing went together great, no fiddley…
One Man Army
Old Man Time has really started cranking the wheel hard because believe it or not, it’s been over a year ago that Warhammer Community published rules to use some truly mighty heroes in Cursed City. I printed up the cards and was ready to roll right away. I have absolutely no problem proxying minis that are a close facsimile to the originals. Take the Cryptguard ghouls for example. I’m not going to spend $50.00 US on 20 ghouls when I have perfectly good ghouls at home! However, I’m loathe to proxy character models. So I got all three. Well, I already had Gotrek Gurnisson, so getting Cursed City rules was an added bonus. I’m a big Gotrek & Felix fan -Me (2005) I really had a blast playing a couple games as Gotrek. I have to admit, I was a bit star struck. I even got everything painted up! I…
Cursed City or Blackstone Fortress
A frequent question I see online is: I’m interested in getting into a new game, should I go with Cursed City or Blackstone Fortress The Internet It’s a tough question. They’re both still currently available new, from Games Workshop or your friendly local game store. Cursed City costs a bit more, but dollar-wise it’s not a deal breaker. Also, your preference between fantasy (Cursed City), or sci-fi (Blackstone Fortress) may sway your decision. Both have: Blackstone Fortress was developed first, and came out in 2018. Cursed City came out in 2021 and is a bit more distilled than Blackstone Fortress. They both are a bit light on strategy, though some of the newer expansion heroes for Cursed City make it more interesting. Some of the things that were slimmed down for Cursed City make Blackstone Fortress a bit more intriguing to play. In Blackstone fortress, you’re frequently deciding when to…
Update on Darktide the Miniatures Game
So the price is in for Darktide The Miniatures Game. It’s $110 U.S. This game right here. It costs $110! You get 20 minis and some cardboard for $110. That’s $5.50 per figure. Cursed City is $3.33 per model, and appears to be about 10x the game. Generally speaking, I’m pretty charitable when it comes to Games Workshop. But this is too much. If GW does release a new Warhammer Quest game in the future, I’m not sure I’ll be able to afford it.
White Dwarf 500 (2024)
Now this is something I can get behind! A new White Dwarf mini AND rules for Cursed City! Count me in! (sold separately, purchase necessary) He looks great, very majestic. His fellow White Dwarf breathern will welcome him into the fold!
New 40k bookshelf game
Quite often I’m the target consumer for small-box games. This time I’m not. I’ll watch the promo video, but the game-play photo looks… Dull? Uninteresting? Something along those lines. I should be more polite and just say it’s not for me; “It’s not for me”. If it had more of the right minis, it might make sense, but it would take two sets to augment the gaps in my Blackstone Fortress minis. Or more interesting boards/terrain. Or, I don’t know… some pizzaz? I suppose I’m just not the target market. If someone was thinking about getting into Kill Team it might be a good intro. Now this isn’t the first time GW has released a ugly looking box-game. Just check out Gorechosen. Oh boy, that thing looks like a game of foursquare or tic-tac-toe in a box. BUT! Apparently it’s a hoot to play and came with some of the…
A MOST UN-SILENT NIGHT
This Cursed City content flew completely under my radar until recently. It consists of a pre-battle report: https://www.warhammer-community.com/2023/12/20/building-the-wildest-festive-battle-report-adventure-yet/ The actual scenario is linked in the page above, but here’s the direct link: https://www.warhammer-community.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/vgBnJJdPbfXOvBra.pdf As usual, this GW content would cost hundreds of dollars to put on the table if you don’t already have Da Red Gobbo, Squigs, Grotmas Gitz, Gnawty Snufflers, and Coal Grots. I read the adventure, but it turns out I unknowingly had COVID, so not much stuck around in the old thinker. I’ll give it another read through. I’m glad to see some fun, festive content for Cursed City. The game is a GREAT base to make fun things happen. I found some pretty solid 3D options for you home printers out there. I didn’t find (and didn’t look too hard) for Gnawty Snufflers and Coal Grots. Just swap in some goblins, there’s lots of squig models…
Cursed City eratta for White Dwarf 497-498
Attention everyone! Stop what you’re doing and read the eratta from Games Workshop, fixing the errors with The Madness of Baron Veingulper. Huge thanks to Nicholas Linindoll in the Cursed City Facebook group for pushing GW to move on the fix. It’s nice when non-free expansion material is playable. I’m equal parts glad and surprised this was released. GW addressed the mistakes and omittions necessary to be Rules-As-Written slaughtered by an avalanche of bloodthirsty cannibals. Doorway rules are included, map corrections, as well as the card for Crypt Haunter Courtiers! They will beat your heroes to death, no joke.