Heromages: Betrayal Map

This is an interesting 4 player map. Each player has 1 guardian next to an opposing heromage. It was designed to mix up starting positions and cause chaos and bloodshed early.

It also has some LOS and corners to hide during the game

Summer update: Heromages

Been playing a bit of heromages ( www.heromages) the last two weeks.

Its a flash based game with a good amount of strategy and depth. My only concern is that the endgame can drag out between two players.

Other than that, summer gaming has been light. I got in three games of Heroscape for my birthday in June. It was fun..but the games aren't hitting the table anymore...

Chain Reaction 3: Swordfight is out

A new version of Chain Reaction is out with a fantasy skirmish out for free.

I glanced at the rules and it looks better organized than previous iteration. This is the free version, so it doesn't have as much detail as the other games in the series.

Starting setting up a follow up scenario to test the rules out.

Mechaton

Mechaton is a very pretty game of mecha combat using legos and d6. I loved the system and picked up the rules two years ago but never had the legos to assemble the cool looking mechs.

Looks like a new mechaton site came up: Mechatonic with some new design and campaign notes.

Light Posting

A Major Release for work, so I've working overtime. I probably won't touch any boardgames till late February.

I've played a few games of ADOM here and there. Needless to say, its a hard game.

The small cave is a death trap if you stay too long. I didn't find a key and got stuck, so I tried to take out the Brigand leader with my Dwarven fighter.

The half-orc bouncer took my head.

playing ADOM

I came across ADOM while doing research on computer games. Its an old ASCII based rogue. The user interface is very challenging to learn.

Melee Specials for SOBH

Some ideas for melee specials. Some of these are used in a Song of Dragon Noir.

Weapon Master
You may roll 2 dice for your combat roll. Choose one of the values as
your final combat roll.

This should effectively add a +1 to your die roll. However, you have the choice of choosing the final value. The reason for this is to give you the option to choose to knock down or force your opponent to recoil.

Mighty
When your Combat roll is a 5, you may change it to a 6.
This effectively bumps your combat odds of causing a knock down.

Hardy - this idea came from the Bren of SOBH forum.
When your Combat roll is a 1, you may change it to a 2.

This effectively reduces your odds of fallen or killed.

Song of Dragon Noir - Rule Costing

Here is a summary rule costing for the specials in Song of Dragon Noir.
These values probably need balancing.

Acrobat;3;
Armored;3;
Berserk;3;
Bodyguard;3;
Cleric;15;p;
Combat Master;10;p;
Coward;-2;
Epic Attack;5;p;
Evil;0;
Ghost Blade;2;
Good;0;
Group Fighter;3;p;
Hatred;3;
Magic Resistance;2;
Mighty;3;
Necromancer;15;p;
Opportunistic;4;
Paladin;2;
Quick Shot;7;
Running Blow;8;
Sharpshooter;3;
Shock;3;
Shoot or Move;-3;
Sniper;10;p;
Summoner;15;p;
Weapon Master;7;p;
vs dwarves;0;
vs elves;0;
vs evil;0;
vs good;0;
vs humans;0;
vs magic users;0;
vs mounted;0;
vs orcs;0;
vs trolls;0;

A Song of Dragon Noir

I finally wrapped up all my notes on my Dragon Noir/SOBH conversion and bundled into a few pdfs. The first draft can be found at the SOBH forum

A Song of Dragon Noir is a fan conversion of Dragon Noir to SOBH rules. It was a good mental exercise and got a few solo plays.

Each counter has a unique stat and fills a role on their side for a campaign game.

If I have time, I would like to update the stats for the individual characters differently using some new ideas I have.

SOBH: Black Fox Warband

Here are the stats for the Black Fox warband.

;Black Fox Warband
Arek;17;4;2;false;Coward,Gregarious;
Aruk;23;4;3;false;Evil;
Ashrak;48;3;3;false;Armored,Evil,Lethal,Shock,vs mounted;
Attrag;33;4;3;false;Hatred,Sharpshooter,Shoot or Move,Shooter: Medium,vs dwarves;
Azrog;27;4;3;false;Evil,Savage;
Baby Dragon;86;3;4;true;Armored,Epic Attack,Tough;
Black Fox;96;3;4;true;Armored,Leader,Savage,Weapon Master;
Crazy Ork;39;4;4;false;Berserk,Mighty;
Fnarad;29;4;3;false;Evil,Shooter: Medium;
Gattog;39;4;3;false;Evil,Quick Shot,Shooter: Medium;
Gharvs;38;4;4;false;Animal,Big,Long Move,Slow;
Gnurr;41;5;4;true;Big,Fearless,Tough;
Graz;33;4;3;false;Evil,Hatred,Sharpshooter,Shoot or Move,Shooter: Medium,vs elves;
Grishnak;48;3;3;false;Armored,Lethal,Shock,vs elves;
Gromr;62;4;4;true;Big,Mighty,Tough;
Gromrak;44;3;3;true;Evil,Weapon Master;
Grumuz;36;3;3;false;Evil,Steadfast;
Grunek;26;4;2;false;Gregarious,Shooter: Medium;
Guruk;46;3;2;true;Armored,Evil,Leader,Slow;
Kommog;44;3;3;false;Evil,Sharpshooter,Shooter: Medium;
Krek;24;4;2;false;Free Disengage,Gregarious;
Krobek;32;3;2;false;Mighty,Shock;
Krular;20;4;3;false;Coward,Evil;
Kuruz;32;4;3;false;Armored,Evil,Mighty;
Radak;42;3;3;false;Armored,Evil,Savage;
Shaman;46;3;2;true;Coward,Evil,Magic-User;
Shraggag;36;3;3;false;Evil,Group Fighter;
Throda;41;5;4;true;Big,Group Fighter,Tough;
Thrugg;35;4;4;false;Evil,Mighty,Savage,Short Move;
Ugluk;46;3;4;false;Armored,Evil;
Wardog;14;3;2;false;Animal;
Wardog;14;3;2;false;Animal;
Zabek;24;4;2;false;Gregarious,Shock;
Zarad;27;4;3;false;Evil,Fearless;
Zed;32;4;3;false;Armored,Evil,Poison;
Zorak;33;4;3;false;Armored,Evil,Opportunistic;
Zrodek;24;4;2;false;Gregarious,Hatred,vs dwarves;
Zugun;36;3;3;false;Berserk,Evil;

Holiday Gaming

Over the holidays, I finally got a chance to get some board gaming going on with my friends.

I tried to prep up a game of SOBH but most of my friends are euro gamers, so those games made it to the table first.

Shadow Hunters was fun but actually took a while to play with 6 players.

Fairy Tale was a quick fun game. By plays, it is in my top 3 and goes over well with teenagers.

A quick game of Nexus Ops reminded me why I like the game so much. Sometimes I do wish the game had a more tactical feel but that would only increase the time.