Mordheim PvP After Action Reports 2

 More Mordheim PvP shenanigans. This time between Ben’s Undead army and my Chaos warband. We each had 7 units: one Leader, two Heroes this time and four Henchmen.  We started off in an arc around our wagons on opposite sides of the map.  Again, we were deployed in a ruined neighborhood of Mordheim, but this time a three-story dilapidated manor house was to my north-east, surrounded in part by an iron fence just west of it.  I had chosen a random secondary objective, and we both ended up with Wyrdstone Rush, which simply is a race to collect the majority of the wyrdstone on the board.

My units started in a good position. A little over half of the wyrdstone was on my side of the board and there was a large cluster of stone on an open street in between ramshackle buildings and the iron fence I mentioned earlier. I aggressively seized the field, clearing out some treasure pockets with my forces broken into two formations.  My Magister Leader, Marauder Hero, and a Brethren Henchman archer comprised the western flank and made a moderate beeline for the wyrdstone cluster to my north-west.  My other three Henchmen, Darksouls all, were led by the Doomweaver and began approaching the abandoned manor house to the north-east.

My Leader Knarr preparing for battle

Now I should also mention that two of my Darksoul henchmen had lost weapons last conflict and were equipped strictly with daggers because I had forgotten to resupply them with proper weapons.  Despite this I still found them useful because the initiative bonus from the daggers brought them close to the top of the initiative track.  I was going to use the Darksouls as tanks anyhow and let the heavy lifting damage be done by my Heroes and Leader. That was the plan anyway.

As my Leader and associates group began to creep up on the wrydstone cluster, my other group lead by the Doomweaver began to converge with them.  I was wary of Ben’s dastardly Hero the Skaven Poison Wind Globadier (named Halfear) so my Leader ran up to the cluster, eagerly grabbed two wyrdstone shards and retreated into the safety of the rest of my forces.  As expected, Ben’s Globadier Halfear showed up and put a cloud of poison over the cluster to deter any further looting on my part.  As we eyed each other, one of Ben’s zombies walked out of the mist to take up a defensive position next to the Globadier. 

Mentally preparing to take down the nasty-nasty Skaven with my Magister Leader and adjacent Marauder, Ben made an observation. “Hey can you see the Daemon?”  “What Daemon?” I asked when suddenly a four-armed slavering Pink Horror galloped around the corner and engaged my Leader, the Magister.  Ironically, I was excited.  This was the first time Ben and I had seen a Daemon in action in a Mordheim player vs player conflict.  Eager to see what this thing had in store for us I engaged it with my Marauder Hero to back up my Leader.  “Uh, that’s a lot of hitpoints it has” I remarked as my Marauder sliced into it twice, deeply, and only knocked its health down by a sixth or so.

Then Ben unveiled his wicked plan. A second Poison Wind Globadier took the field. His name was Khan Something.  Soon my Leader, Marauder and the Daemon were surrounded by a dense cloud of poison gas generated by the dual actions of the two Globadiers. And that wasn’t the worst part.  Despite a desperate dodge, the Daemon ripped into both of my important units.  “Uh. So, it has three attacks per turn. Interesting.” I stated without a quaver of worry in my voice. 

My Leader and Marauder continued to be tied up by the Tzeentchian Horror, trading blow for blow, but constantly losing health due to the evil poison gas from the dastardly Skaven.  With a cry, both of my poor units were put out of action by the poison, just as the Pink Horror was about to die.  One of Ben’s Skaven took aim and finished the thing with a warplock pistol shot just as my Doomweaver was rushing to try to finish the threat.

 “I think I see a graphical glitch,” Ben said. “What do you mean?” I responded. “I see two Blue Daemons.” Right then my Warhammer lore kicked in very belatedly.  Pink horrors, SPLIT when slain into two lesser, but still dangerous, versions.  And my Doomweaver was now facing two slavering very hungry maws.

My Henchmen in the right flank fared much better despite being mostly equipped with daggers.  There was a ruined gatehouse outside, south of the three-story manor house and my archer had take up an overwatch position on what was essentially a two-story staircase.  Ben’s Leader Vampire, who has been much abused by injuries over the course of our games, creeped forwards to engage my archer but he was counter-ambushed by a nearby Darksoul, this one with proper weapons.  Ben’s ghoul attempted to jump up to the second floor (this melee was all taking place on the second floor) but based on the Vampire’s position, could not engage either of my troops.  

Luckily, with stunning blows, my archer (who carries a sword and shield just for this eventuality) and the Darksoul engaged the Vampire and were acquitting themselves handily.

A dagger armed Darksoul on the ground engaged Ben’s nearby Zombie sent in to support, but it was too late for me tactically.  At this time, I was trying to disengage from the dual Blue Horrors with my Doomweaver and retreat.  Didn’t matter. The Daemons tracked down the Doomweaver, ignoring Ben’s Skaven to the north, and tore the Hero apart.  Warband moral check failed; lessoned learned.

I was very happy when I learned my Magister Leader, Gnarr, returned home without additional loss. Then he promptly collapsed on the floor and died from his injuries.  Such is the power of Chaos. 

Mordheim PvP After Action Reports 1

 Mordheim: City of the Damnned is the video game adaptation of the classic tabletop skirmish wargame Mordheim set in the Warhammer Fantasy universe. The video game is an excellent turn-based squad-based tactics game with a punishing difficulty. If you like XCOM, Battle Brothers or Gloomhaven you will feel right at home. If your warband characters get put out of action in combat they may come back with injuries that persist from combat to combat, or even lose their weapons if your opponent has looted them. Some may see this as extremely punishing, but I see this as adding realistic flavor to the mercenary management portion of the game. For the remainder of this post I'll be referring to the video game as Mordheim.

What follows is an After Action Report of some of the PvP games I have played against opponents Ben and Splizwarf.

In my first game, Ben was playing the Undead and I had my plucky Chaos warband.  We started at Rank zero so we only had 5 units each: A Leader, a Hero and three Henchmen (soldiers). Ben picked a Skaven Poison Wind Globadier as his Hero. I picked a Chaos Mutant (gets mutations at level 1, 4 and 7; currently level zero).

In our initial skirmish our armies were nearly adjacent to each other. I foolishly engaged Ben's Ghoul Henchman with my Leader and got surrounded, putting my Leader out of action.  The game desynced and kicked us both off, declaring us both victors ironically.  Still, my leader had to spend five days recovering from his wounds. 

Undaunted I bought a new Magister Leader, Steiner, and engaged Ben again. Ben saw a trio of my Hero and Henchmen outside a gate and charged with his Vampire Leader. I surrounded his Vampire and promptly pummeled him into the dirt.  But then, then came the Skaven Globadier.  Ben expertly threw poison globes into the midst of the victorious trio multiple times over several turns, taking the high ground of a nearby three story house.  My leader finally engaged the dammed Skaven in the top of the house but the damage was already done. The multiple poison strikes from the globes weakened my trio so much that they died to poison spontaneously, really before Ben even needed to engage.  It was like sacrificing your Queen to take out the rest of your opponent's chess pieces. Oh and my leader engaging the Skaven?  He got knifed to death by the slippery dodging Skaven and a Ghoul that snuck up behind him and pummeled him with an axe. 

My Leader Steiner lost an arm from that battle and that is a permanent injury! We may have more battles and shenanigans to come.

****

More Mordheim Battle reports. This time, I talk about winning and the morale mechanic.  To win a match in Mordheim you need to either put the entire enemy team out of action or make them run away by failing a morale test. You have a certain amount of morale based on each unit’s Leadership score.  Your Leaders usually have the lion’s share of your team’s morale, so if they go down, it usually takes one or two more casualties for the opponent to force you to take a morale check by reducing your morale below a certain threshold.  Also, each player has a cart which contains a totem.  Steal the totem and you reduce your opponent’s morale by about one casualty.  

In my game against Ben we spawned on a map neither of us was familiar with.  Imagine a square that was an eight-pointed star with standing stones at each of the eight points, encircled by abandoned houses all around the edge.  Ben had to deploy his warband around his cart in the center of the standing stones while I was made to scatter my troops in a wide arc around in the abandoned buildings.  We clashed quickly at two points as the terrain and deployment encouraged us to.  My Magister (Chaos sorcerer who is also my Leader) was engaged by Ben’s Vampire Leader half way up the collapsed roof of some ruined building.  I managed to have a nearby Chaos henchman charge the Vampire from his rear and between my two Chaos units the Vampire was slammed and put out of action. 

The second point of conflict was in a ruined alleyway where wyrdstone and treasure were littered behind one of my henchmen.  Ben’s Ghoul and Skaven Poison Wind Globadier engaged my henchman, who fortunately dodged his best, but his health was still getting dangerously low.  An archer of mine and another Chaos henchman were isolated from the main conflicts so I sent them on a sneaky mission. Dodging and hiding behind the standing stones I stealthily marched them to Ben’s cart in the center of the plaza and quickly stole Ben’s Undead totem.  This, along with the Vampire Leader’s collapse, forced a moral check on Ben’s forces and huzzah they ran away and I was declared victor of the field!

Then there was the clash with Splizwarf’s Skaven.  After one match where Spliz was getting used to the controls, a cat and mouse conflict began where I would occasionally spy a sneaky Skaven some two buildings away from my eager Chaos forces but by the time we got there, the vermin would be gone.  All that was left were ransacked treasure chests and a distinct lack of wyrdstone.  Finally, I found a Stormvermin hiding behind a crumbling wall and was able to successfully execute him in combat. With one rat down I made the mistake of sending my wounded henchman into a building where he was chasing down a Skaven assassin. The Skaven, known for their frequent dodging, crumpled my wounded henchman onto the pavement and then disappeared.  Searching for rats and signs of tails one Chaos fighter turned the corner of a building and was immediately charged by the Skaven leader, his swords dripping with poison.  Dodging nearly all of my desperate strikes, the Skaven warband encircled my units and took them apart one by one. 

Despite the massacre, most of my warband returned to the lair miraculously fully recovered! Such is the power of Chaos.  

Introduction to playing Twilight Imperium 4th edition online

 

I got invited to play the legendary space civilization conflict boardgame Twilight Imperium 4^th edition.  Six players gathered to play and we all connected online using the Twilight Imperium app, Twilight Wars.

If you have never played before, like myself, Twilight Imperium can be quite intimidating.  There are 17 factions in the base game alone and that can increase to 24 factions in the expansion, Prophecy of Kings.

Getting up to speed from zero on the rules will take you some investment of time, but this blog post should help smooth that process by pointing out some excellent guides found around the internet.

First of all you want the Learn to Play basic rules, provided by Fantasy Flight Games themselves here.

A very well put together and entertaining youtube video that should be considered a companion piece to the Learn to Play pdf is “Twilight Imperium (4th Edition) in 32 minutes” by RTFM.  The RTFM video goes over the steps of setup, activating a system, and detailed section on space combat.  The Strategy cards and their uses are explained in the latter half of the video. 

Once you have those down, you may want to plug the holes in your knowledge gap about the rules by checking the wiki.  I went there to read up on promissory notes which is lightly covered in the Learn to Play pdf. 

That’s great and all, but what about beginning advice about starting the game by picking one of the 17 factions?  That is found in the wiki as well, under the List of Factions by Play Complexity page.

Next you may wish to know how the interface for Twilight Wars, the online app, works. These tutorial videos by youtube user Twilight Wars are brief, to the point and extremely helpful. I found Tutorial video 3: Setup phase and core tactical steps to be very useful in consolidating and implementing what I learned by reading the pdf and watching the RTFM video.  To look into how the Twilight Wars app differs from the main game because of coding limitations, go here.   

The above teaches you how to play but not necessarily the best choices you should make for your faction in order to win.  Here is a youtube library with strategy guides for the factions by Rulebreaker Boardgames.  I chose the Emirates of Hacan faction as my first faction to play, because the wiki stated they were of limited complexity, they had a strong dominance in trade, and who doesn’t like Space Cats? Hacan’s strategy guide is here. 

Beyond this, you may want some advice on what Strategy cards to choose at different phases during the game.  Beyond the Board has you covered with this analysis. 

So was all this homework worth it? I’m currently enjoying myself and I’m waiting on turn 2 to start.  I’ll let you know whom of the six of us wins! The complexity for Twilight Imperium is significant, but I hope some of the pitfalls and your questions were answered by this guide compellation. 

Are we in a Golden Age of roleplaying games and how could we tell?

 I saw a kickstarter today that got the old wheels turning. It was an advertisement for, of all things, a Monty Python roleplaying game. As I was thinking about this (no one expects a Monty Python rpg!) the latest Dune roleplaying game published by Modiphius also passed through my mind...then the official licensed Alien rpg also published by Modiphius...and the Spectre 007 boardgame ALSO published by Modiphius.  You see there is a pattern here and it's not just one publishing company. To me, anecdotally, it seems that more and more large properties want to get into gaming as entertainment. 

Maybe I'm behind on keying into this trend but specifically the Monty Python game made me wonder, are we in a Golden Age of roleplaying games or games in general?  If so how would we know? Could we quantify it? 

There is another thread to this. I was watching Adam Loper's Tabletop Minion's youtube titled "Why Isn't Wargaming DEAD?" (July 29, 2022) last night.  And Adam proposed that wargaming was flourishing more than it ever had been because of 1) lower barrier for entry for creatives to get their wargame out there to customers, 2) proliferation of STLs for unique and awesome miniatures, and 3) crossover of people coming in from video games and other media to wargames.  So this again begs the question, are we in a Golden Age for gaming or at least for specifically wargames?

Also another thread. As I was writing the first sentences of  this blog I was on a wargaming aficionado discord and having a typed discussion with a wargaming writer and other members.  One of the other members literally stated we were in a 'golden age' of gaming as there was discussion on another topic.  Kismet? Serendipity? Or just people reading the writing on the wall. 

Now the question is, what is a Golden Age and how can it be measured.  I'm just digging into this, but I think good models could be the Golden/Silver/etc. Age of Comics, the Golden Age of science fiction writing, or even the advent of certain technologies/fields like genome sequencing giving rise to the Human Genome project in the decade of the 90s.  

That's all for now, but it is a question that is churning in my mind.      

5 Parsecs from Home Interlude

 The room was silent, save for the rhythmic wheezing of the breathing machine and the man’s inhalation and expulsion of his lit cigar.  Two men, sitting still as marble, were at repose in chairs facing the man, across from his authentic teak desk.  Eyes shut, the two were like twins in suits, giving off no sign of discomfort, metabolism or life. Dulled chrome feeder lines had been grafted into the men’s spinal columns, snaking from each man to input ports hidden in the shadows somewhere in the teakwood desk.

A holographic red triangle flared to life above the desk, pulsing and bobbing like a maniac faerie. Reams of data began to unfurl as from a majestic tapestry in translucent form in front of the man.  Planetary climate, Jump data, ship manifests, economic flow with the Exchange, psychohistory projections of police overreach, wanted posters, spacecraft transponder catalogues, closeup views of surveillance videos at space docks and bars.  The man exhaled and the scent of prima tobacco filled the room.  The red triangle pulsed and danced in expectation.  A door slid open with a whisper and a figure strode in.  Metal jangled from the figure’s belt and bandolier as he approached the desk, forming an uncouth counterpoint to the laboring of the respiratory device and the occasional puff of the cigar.   

“His location, you have it.” rumbled the figure. It was a statement, not a question.  The machines behind the man at the desk wheezed and shuddered.  The man flicked an accusatory finger at the figure. The holographic red triangle obeyed and skittered across the desk, disappearing at the edge.  The figure’s arm implants flared to life, a holographic cerulean triangle now hovering and pulsing with mischief above his forearm. The artificial glow illuminated the figure’s scarred face, reflected against the state-of-the-art optics in his left eye and was swallowed up by his broad brimmed black hat.  Data coursed past his artificial eye and across the holo display in his forearm.  The figure smiled, an uncomfortable and transient expression.

“Be seeing you” the figure stated, turning on his heel and rounding on the door.  The door remained sealed.  “What is—," the figure began, turning around.  One of the seated men’s eyes flew open, unleashing an emerald green glow, as his mouth worked, giving form to the syllables from dry lips. “Please, dear Tracker, take a squad of certified Guild Troopers with you. You will find them most capable in your endeavors.”

“I work alone,” growled the Bounty Tracker as his frame bristled. Totems and trophies jingled and jangled on his belt. “Renegotiation requires a commensurate increase in price.”

“Your terms are more than acceptable, good Tracker,” the green-eyed man said, spittle forming at the corner of his mouth. “The Syndicate insists.”

“Have them ready to board the Maculata in two standard hours,” the Bounty Tracker grunted, his cyber eye focusing on the image of a bearded face on his holo display. The whisper of the door disappearing into the celling was his only answer and he took the hint quickly.

Moments passed as the Bounty Tracker stalked off down the halls.  There was a faint hum in the room. Data was exchanged, plans were made, communications were correlated and finances were moved. In seconds a virtual snake had been assembled and was coiled to strike. “I shall oversee this personally,” the man with the glowing emerald eyes spoke as he reached up behind him and swiftly jerked the metal cord out of his hind brain.  There was a sickening squelching sound as neurons, silicon, flesh and blood vessels rearranged themselves. The man behind the desk smiled and the expression was mirrored on his cohort, now free of the umbilical. “We shall have Bjorn Ivannox in our hands within days.” None could say which man spoke this line or which man’s smile was wider.    

*****

This interlude was preparation and introduction for the villains of the upcoming 5 Parsecs from Home After Action Report 2.  The Integrated Syndicate (name randomly chosen) is the criminal element Rival of both Captain Bjorn Ivannox and Anriel.  During squad creation I randomly rolled up a Rival that was a criminal element for both characters, so I decided that they were hunted by the same organization.  When I rolled for Rivals checks for the second campaign turn, I included two chances that the Integrated Syndicate would show up; one for Bjorn Ivannox and one for Anriel.  In preparation for the Battle Phase of the second campaign turn, I rolled up a Unique Individual, a Bounty Tracker, that was going to aid the Integrated Syndicate’s forces. 

Review of The Monster Breeder

Last week I found a brilliant Indy game called The Monster Breeder and I’ve already sunk many hours into it. It is $19.99 on Steam, in Early Access, and a labor of love by one developer.

Monster Breeder bills itself as a monster cross-breeding game, and it is; but the monster breeding part is the icing on the cake that is a core good gladiatorial management game.  Once I understood that the economics of the game is to win big purses by fielding your monster hybrids in the more lucrative gladiator arenas, then everything clicked into place.

My insectoid hybrids ready to rumble

You start with some seed money, an old keep and a spring in your step as you immediately swing down to the hunter’s shop to see what types of juvenile monsters they have that you can purchase and eventually crossbreed.

Monster Breeder is in Early Access, so systems are rough around the edges. There is a hard limit to the interesting monsters you can crossbreed, however acquiring a monster hybrid with the attributes and traits you want will undoubtable take a while. And it’s a lot of fun to tinker around with the systems of blood infusion, feeding baby monsters with different meat, and treating baby monsters with different magic fields (from runestones and scrolls) and potions to improve certain traits.

Also Monster Breeder has a lot of systems. Forgers can make you arms and armor, and some items can be sold to keep you economically afloat. This is a necessity in the early game when you are just treading water economically and a majority of your income comes from the pittance given at the Catacombs arena. Alchemists can make potions you can use in combat, but more importantly at greater levels alchemists can make you potions that allow you to crossbreed, mutate, tame or enchant the monsters you collect. So, they are a long-term investment.

Once you get into the midgame when you have viable monster hybrids to take on the challenges in the non-Catacombs gladiator arenas and win thousands of gold, things really open up as you can run multiple monster breeding programs in parallel. You can also invest in human gladiators coming from warrior, archer or mage backgrounds.  Equipping your human gladiators with the best gear either from your high-level forgers, gladiatorial winnings, or special shopping festivals is another fun gameplay loop of optimizing your units. 

The biggest drawbacks have already been described by other reviewers.  The graphics are quaint, the sound effects can be annoying and the early game has a learning curve.  However, this is one of the best monster breeder games on the market that I can think of and one of the better gladiatorial games available on Steam.  Ultimately as other have said, it’s rough and in Early Access but it already has a good gameplay loop and personally I want to see how the developer further iterates and defines this monster breeder game. 

Review of Nemesis: Lockdown, Digital Edition

 I bought Nemesis: Lockdown on Steam. It is a direct port of the boardgame if you are familiar with that. It is multiplayer, there are five different survivors (characters) to choose from so far and it looks like some hidden goals allow you to betray your teammates. The trick is you can’t take direct action against each other by directly attacking with weapons. There is a solo mode also. I should also mention it is in Early Access. 

Played about four solo games. They were interesting.  I think the gameplay might be slow for some people but I like it as it builds tension slowly and it models the Alien(s) movie experience. In my first game I managed to drag my heavily bleeding body to the room where I sent a signal off Mars.  It wasn't enough to finish my second goal however (kill the Queen). An Adult alien cornered me and turned me into a tasty meatball.  

In my second game I played a Janitor and got infected by alien Larva.  I used a card in my hand to scan the infection and it killed me because I had a larva residing in my body. Woops! I didn’t even get to use my jury-rigged flamethrower!

In my third playthrough I was a Xenobiologist with the goal to capture the corpse of an alien intruder.  I was making my way quietly from room to room and gaining knowledge about the alien threat when the game crashed.  

In my fourth opportunity I played a Survivor character.  I learned that each character has starting equipment they can make into something useful assuming they reach the right room and pay for the item.  I successfully made it to the crafting room and made myself an assault rifle! Hell yeah I thought. Fast forward to two turns later where I was in the Surgery room and trapped by an Adult alien. I missed four out of five shots on the alien and then again got turned into a spicy meatball after it had shredded my arms and legs.

I'm excited to try multiplayer with other people who have competing goals.  Fair warning though I think the multiplayer servers may be a bit unstable right now in terms of trying to connect to them.

Another warning about Nemesis: Lockdown. As much fun as I am having with it, I have encountered two Unreal Engine errors, one resulting in the solo game crash I mentioned above.  So, I'd maybe wait until they have fixed these.