Here is a beautifully done SAGA battleboard for dwarves in the Lord of the Rings
Playing Atomic Tank With The Designers At Flint Con
I spent a frozen February Saturday at Flint Con (held in Flint, Michigan, of course). It’s always a great miniatures convention, with a large number and variety of games, an interesting flea market, good on-site food and lots of old friends to catch up with. Rod Cain runs a great show at the Lutheran school, with proceeds benefiting students at the school.
The highlight for me was the chance to play Atomic Tank (manufacturer’s site) with designers Matt and John. The epic scale 10-ish mm game with atomic tanks, armored infantry and big stompy robots is part of their Retroverse series of games, which also includes the 28mm Retro Raygun skirmish game and War Rockets, a space ship fleet game.
All of the products have a Flash Gordon – Buck Rogers – 1930s – 1950s science fiction vibe. The figures are terrific.
In the Atomic Tank base game, players command a force of either Galacteers (Earth humans) or the Robot Legion. The Galacteers are speedy and good shots. The Robot Legion is tough and has a “brutal” close combat attack. Additional factions are in the works. I am anxious to see the not-Ming -the-Merciless faction.
Atomic Tank has some interesting mechanics. To activate units, players roll a number d6s equal to their activation stat, and can take as many actions as 4 – 6 results rolled. When shooting or in close combat, the attacker rolls a number of d6s equal to their shooting or assault stat while the defender simultaneously rolls d6s equal to their defense stat. A hit and damage are scored based on the highest “unblocked” d6 score of 4 – 6 from the attacker. For example, if the attacker rolls a 6, 5 and 3 and the defender rolls a 5 and 4, the 6 is unblocked (the 3 is a flat out miss) and goes through.
Once players grok the “blocked concept, the game plays very smoothly.
The figures are a bit larger than what I remember of the old GW Epic 40k, but still small enough to get a good sized game on a smaller table. The four player game I was in used a couple of banquet tables, but I think you could get in a good game on standard dining room table with four, and a card table with two.
It will come as no surprise to any who have been at a table with me that my dice betrayed me early and often. Still, I had a lot of fun in a losing effort.
I think that with its retro vibe, clever dice mechanics and beautiful figures, Atomic Tank is a winner.
The Battle of Chaeronea, 338 BC Fast Play Rules
The Battle of Chaeronea, 338 BC is a set of free wargames rules for recreating Philip of Macedon’s greatest victory. These are fast play rules from the Junior General series.
High Seas Drifter WWII Era Battleship Rules
High Seas Drifter is a set of free wargames rules for playing battleship combats in the World War II era.
Cthulhu Wars Mini Review
I recently got in a play of Cthulhu Wars, with miniatures gloriously painted by my friend David. The play reminded me of what the brilliance of this game.
Cthulhu Wars is an area control, action points management game with strong asymmetrical factions. In it, you play as a faction of one of the Lovecraftian Elder Gods, scoring points by area control, and performing rituals. Action points are used to raise forces (cultists, monsters and summoning the Elder God itself), fight opponents, build gates, capture enemy cultists, cast spells and use your own faction’s special powers.
The rules are quite simple: Spend a point to move. Spend a point to attack. Spend x points to summon a cultist, monster or Old One. Restock your points at the end of the round based on the board state. Score points based on the board state.
What makes Cthulhu Wars so good is the way in which each faction bends, breaks and modifies those rules. For example, in the last game, I played the Ithaqua faction which — among other rule breaking powers — allows you to hibernate and carry action points over from one turn to another. One of the monsters allows you to push a single opposing unit out of a battle before it commences.
In all, there are (as far I know) twelve playable factions. I’ve played six or seven of them, and they all somehow seem simultaneously over- and under- powered. I look at the player board (with the faction rules) at the beginning of the game and think “how the heck am I supposed to win with this?” Then, a turn or two in, a path to victory becomes clear. Unfortunately, the other players are also gaining clarity on their own factions at the same time. The powers seem to balance out; each seems to have a way to offset the others. In the end, every game I’ve played has ended relatively close.
I suppose that if you played the same faction multiple times, you would skip that initial bewilderment phase. However, with 495 (by my calculations) different possible combinations in a four player game, it would be a very long while before one is able to cement a strategy for each of the factions to counteract each of the others.
Every one of my plays of Cthulhu Wars has has been a delightful exercise in exploration and discovery of my faction’s abilities both on their own and in relation to the other factions on the table.
Cthulhu Wars also has a huge variety of maps for various player counts, many of which have unique rules of play.
The miniatures are well-done, and in many cases, huge. Cthulhu Wars is visually impressive.
If you have not played Cthulhu Wars and get the chance to do so, I recommend you jump at the chance.
