SAGA: Age of Magic, King of Fantasy Skirmish
Studio Tomahawk has gone from strength to strength over the years. Their SAGA series of wargames in particular are an unmitigated success. With their SAGA: Age of Magic (AoM) release they hit on the perfect recipe for all things fantasy wargaming. AoM is a broad umbrella wide enough to include every fantasy genre and trope while still allowing a specificity that will appeal to gamers trying to bring a specific force to the table. It’s also released in a way that is a clinic for how to pay the bills with rulebooks and accessories alone, and not the attached model range.
3D Printing Wargame Fantasies
In this first of a short series on 3D printing I won’t bury the lead. By instalments, I’m going to prove that 3D printing is now a viable and indeed superior way of acquiring wargames figures and terrain. Let’s start with printing hex campaign tiles that in both imagination and execution are far superior to anything even the best manufacturers have created. Full disclosure: I wasn’t given a single dime or any free access to product to do this article so you can be sure that there will actually be constructive criticism where needed. Photo Credits: Cassie O’Brien and Sean Souter
Read MoreStanley Plane Restoration
I have increasingly merged my gaming and woodworking hobbies. A hardwood dice tray side venture is up and running and taken on a life of its own. I’ve got an Etsy store set up as well as a Facebook page. Covid lockdown, despite its numerous devastating impacts, has afforded me the time to take on a few of the more challenging projects on my list. Currently it’s learning how to do more woodworking by hand and that starts with using wood planes to size, smooth, and finish some of the work I was previously doing with machines. Planes are an investment so I was happy to find an old plane for sale and put in the work to get it up and running again. You can find out how it went in this latest instalment in the “Tangents” category of the website.
Tyrants of Lothal: Imperial Assault Swan Song
Tyrants of Lothal is the last in its line. The order has reached its end with this, the final Imperial Assault expansion. Tyrants, thankfully, doesn’t add any major rules or components to the increasingly fiddly campaign and game mechanics. The two minor additions – new hero Tress Hacnua’s style tokens and some fiddly tinkering with the allies rules – don’t change core game play. So, is it worth buying and playing through Tyrants of Lothal? An emphatic yes, and here’s why.
Alien RPG: A Near Perfect Organism
ALIEN: The Roleplaying Game burned its way onto and through shop shelves this week. The quality of the two original Alien movies, the fundamental questions about human nature at their core, and the thrill ride they provide launched the films into the sci-fi firmament. Does ALIEN: The Roleplaying Game allow us to explore that Alien universe in a novel and satisfying way? **Full disclosure: I was provided a review copy at no cost from Free League publications with which to do this review.
Read MoreVallejo Airbrushing and Weathering Techniques: Buy it Again?
Let’s face it, the question when deciding to purchase a “how to” book is not about the book at all but rather: Is the book worth buying despite the wealth of “how to” instructions already available on the web? Because Vallejo’s Airbrushing and Weathering Techniques offers a feature and photo rich format that curates everything beautifully into one place it’s well worth considering for your own collection. Here are four compelling reasons to buy this book.
Read MoreMasking camo on a PSC 15mm StuG
After playing a solid year of a WWII Africa campaign with the DAK pitted against the Indian Army we’ve decided to keep following the historical timeline. With the DAK booted out of Africa this can only mean one thing: Next stop, Italy! We wanted to get more toys on the table so we picked the 1/100th or 15mm scale. This allows platoons of tanks and combined arms infantry tactics. It also requires painting said armour with detailed camo schemes. Let’s have a look at a start-to-finish model build and paint of a German WWII camo pattern.
Read MoreGenesys Android: Shadow of the Beanstalk Read and Reviewed
In my quest to recapture some of my 30 year old RPG mojo I’ve been leading a Call of Cthulhu campaign, and having a ball doing it. Yet, I still hanker for Cyberspace, the old cyberpunk RPG, that allowed me to play out my favourite sci-fi story lines: Bladerunner, the Alien series, and everything William Gibson. I couldn’t resist picking up the Android: Shadow of the Beanstalk supplement that applies Fantasy Flight’s Genesys RPG engine to a sci-if setting. Might it allow Cyberspace, Neuromancer, and Bladerunner narratives in a modernized package? Let’s have a look at what is and, equally important, what isn’t in the Shadow of the Beanstalk book.
Why I’m Playing my First RPG in 30 Years
Role Playing Games (RPG) are where I got started in the gaming hobby. Board and, later, miniature games take up most of my hobby time nowadays but I’ve long harboured an interest in recapturing the feeling of those RPG days. Maybe it’s just nostalgia. I had a lot of fun in my late teens playing Dungeons and Dragons, Twilight 2000, and Cyberspace where I did my first and only stint as GM. After thirty intervening years I think I’ve found a way back into role-playing games.
Read MoreHeart of the Empire: Played and Reviewed
We just finished our sixth Imperial Assault campaign. Big box expansion Heart of the Empire kept us busy through eight closely fought missions. Fantasy Flight Games continues to improve each campaign; the Thursday Night Gaming Group (TNGG) agreed that this was the best one yet due to some well considered tweaks to the campaign system. Join us as we look back on the Heart of the Empire campaign.
On Sean's Table 
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