CCL. Fabula Rules System Playtest

Last Sunday we gathered a few friends and gave a test run to the rules we wrote for the Sunhold event.

If you want to try out the rules as they currently stand, you can download them on this link: FABULA. If enough people show interest, I'm considering opening a FB group for the Fabula rules system so folks can share their experiences, opinions, house rules and stats.

I also put two other documents up for download: the Sunhold mood board (LINK) and the brief intro to the setting (LINK), since I got a few queries about those.

This week we've seen more WIPs from other Sunhold participants:  @ingrimmson (LINK) @shavigrad (LINK),  @frigidus_sanguis (LINK) and @totally_not_panicking (LINK). 

Follow #aos28sunhold for future updates on the project. 

Now about our first playtest. Ivan and I were GMs, and we had three players: Luka, Goran and Patrik (who also took photos of the game). Luka was the only one with experience in tabletop miniature gaming. We set up the board using our ruins and graveyard scenery, populated it with traps, loot and visible and secret monsters (Deadwalkers, Skeletons, Harpies, Crypt Ghouls, Deranged Cultists), and let the players pick their warbands. Luka played the Iron Legs, Goran the Templars of the Twin-Tailed Comet, and Patrik had Avananta Stormsight with a single Templar henchman. Their main goal was to raid a particular crypt that contained a valuable artefact, but in order to get there they had to get through perilous ruins.

The players decided at some point to start viciously killing each other. That ended in all PCs being wiped out before they even passed into the second half of the map, where a boss was waiting for them, guarding their main objective. The guys didn't take the game seriously in the slightest, but since this was a playtest it didn't matter as much. We definitely confirmed that collaboration between warbands is highly beneficial for success in this game.

We did get a bunch of feedback from our playtesters, some of which we immediately implemented in the first tweak of the rulebook. We intend to do several more playtest games to get a better idea what works and what doesn't.

CCXLIX. AoS28: The Iron Legs

The Iron Legs are a group of adventurers working for the figurehead Queen of Eagelroc. This warband was designed by my brother Ivan and executed by me. This band of rascals will be used this Sunday in our first playtest of the rules system Fabula, which was written for the Sunhold game.

Lukas the Fortunate.

Lukas is the leader if the warband. He is a mercenary, treasure hunter and explorer, whose accomplishments are more often than not the product of inexplicable luck rather than skill or wit. He was built using mostly plastic Perry parts. The pistol is from Freebooter Miniatures. The sword and helmet have been heavily modified with wire and putty, and the ruff around his neck is sculpted from scratch.

Padre Ambrosius.

This character is a corrupt priest of Sigmar. The model was based on a WH40k Astropath. The head came from Warlord plastic Zulu warriors kit.

Sebastianus.

Sebastianus is a soldier with an appetite for human flesh. Perry plastics with some sculpting.

Narses.

Narses is a rifleman, and a notorious coward. Also a Perry plastics kitbash with a bit of green stuff.

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The first few public posts from Sunhold participants have been shared by @shavigrad (LINK), @vmkuriljov (LINK), @frigidus_sanguis (LINK) and @totally_not_panicking (LINK). Follow #aos28sunhold for future updates on the project.

CCXLVIII. Sunhold: The First Triumvirate - Introduction

This summer I will once more be organising an AoS28 multiplayer event game at UMS "Agram" in Zagreb. The project has only recently reached production stage, and I'll be documenting its development here on the blog - perhaps it will help someone who is interested in organising something similar.

Before I started inviting potential participants and collaborators, I had to do a certain amount of work and planning by myself.  The venue and date of the event were both provided to us by UMS "Agram" from the start, so I didn't have to deal with that. I did, however, have to come up with the setting and the premise of the game. This took more than I expected, but I settled for the following:

The story of The First Triumvirate takes place in a territory freshly liberated from occupation by Chaos. The huge and mighty Stormhost is gone to fight somewhere else, and people are working on resettling the area: rebuilding, repopulating, starting new kingdoms on ruins of old. A small contingent of Stormcast Eternals remains to coordinate and lead these efforts. Although armies of Chaos are gone, these lands are not fully safe yet. Wild beasts, the undead and small groups of servants of Chaos are still roaming about. Each city-state and country are painstakingly reclaimed for mankind, and the execution of this effort is organised as a series of reclamation projects. Sunhold is a sprawling ruined city surrounded by plains,forests and marshes. The events of our game will take place within Sunhold's walls.

Each player will take command of a small warband, representing groups that entered the city to fulfil their individual goals. They may be a part of the reclamation project and want to exterminate enemies of humanity to make the city once more habitable, or they may be a party of adventurers or bandits who wish to loot the ruins and fill their own pockets. The warbands may make alliances and collaborate, or betray and eliminate each other on their path through the ruins.

The setting is a loot-littered, monster-infested ruined city; a familiar concept we've seen before in Mordheim, Frostgrave, Shadespire and others. 

The next step was to determine which rules system we would use, as that would have some effect on future decisions. I went to my brother for advice on this one, since he's my usual rules guy. After some discussion he suggested writing a fully custom rules system, and that is what we ended up doing. I will discuss the system in a separate post, as it's a topic worth examining on its own.

Now that we had a setting and an idea what the game will play like, I turned to the matter of the table and scenery. Since I have no more than six months to prepare, I will rely mostly on plastic kits as opposed to elaborate scratch-built terrain. It's the kind of scenery I intend to use for many games in the future, and that re-usability is a big bonus. I have a fine amount of unbuilt Warcry ruins as well as a few sets of Garden of Morr (or whatever they call it these days). I will need the help of others with scatter terrain, though.

The kits have been taken off the sprue and about half of them have been cleaned up already. When that's done, we commence assembly.

This was the moment I had enough to start inviting folks to the game. Some of them are friends I've collaborated before and even met with at past events, but many are people I hadn't been in direct contact with before I invited them. I'm looking forward to seeing a bunch of them around the same table on the day of the game. I will talk more about them and show off their progress here as they start working on their models. You can follow the project on Instagram under #aos28sunhold.

In order to keep the team on the same page regarding the setting and overall aesthetic of the game, I needed to create two documents: Background&Guidelines and the Mood Board. The former lets the participants in on what the event is about and the size and composition of their warbands. The latter consists of images that help convey the colours, shapes, notions and overall atmosphere the game aims to achieve through its visual design. Since there are so many artist working on the project, this is a must if it is to possess a consistent and recognisable look. I crammed the whole crew into a dedicated FB group so we can all communicate, share and discuss about the project.

Background&Guidelines

Mood Board

 That's all for now. Watch this space (as well as Instagram and Facebook) for further updates.

CCXLVII. AoS28: The Order of the Twin-Tailed Comet

For my first post of the new year we have a new pair of Templars to join the existing two. Now they have the numbers to be a warband on their own.

Two Knight Brothers, Commander, Chaplain.

Knight Commander.

I wanted the Commander to stand out from the Knight Brothers. The helmet design reminiscent of the twin-tailed comet is something I wanted to include from the start.

The conversion is a mix of Perry plastic parts, a GW comet symbol (don't remember exactly where it came from) and green stuff.

 

Chaplain.

The conversion is a combination of Perry plastic knight parts and North Star plastic wizard (plus putty).

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On a related note, I'm happy to announce that this summer I will once again be hosting an AoS28 event in Zagreb. The custom rules system written by my brother Ivan is nearly ready for a test drive, and I'm busy preparing the briefing document and fearfully glancing at the pile of terrain that needs to be built and painted over the coming months. 

More information coming soon.