Top Dog Reviews: Star Wars Edge of the Empire Beginner Box.

When I saw the Edge of the Empire beginner box, I got all excited. Four pre-generated characters, an adventure which teaches the rules, some nice maps, and lots of fancy dice. What's not to get excited about? So I picked up a copy a couple of weeks ago with some birthday money, and last night we gave it a spin.
Having read the adventure, I ran things with Matt and my brother Nik as players. Matt's done some role playing, and has plenty of game experience. Nik has not played anything since 2nd ed 40K, but held the rank of general in the old Tie Fighter computer game. So a good test of the game's teaching abilities and learning curve.
The adventure is really well thought out - each encounter takes up a few pages, and each of them teaches a new part of the rules. They each build on the one before so that everyone learns how things work as they go. Even the GM doesn't need to read the rules before hand, because it's all explained on the page. Having read things before helps, but you could grab the box, grab some mates, and jump right in.
The adventure itself is fairly short since you'll take longer than normal to play as you are all learning as you go. It took us two or so hours. That said, it's got plenty of action and there's even an interlude where you can level up and gain some experience. By the end of the session, we all knew what we were doing, and felt pretty confident with tackling more of the game. Except that Nik's wookie had been knocked out defeating the final bad guy...

Fantasy Flight's Star Wars games use special, fancy Star Wars dice instead of the more common numerical kind. They are covered in baffling symbols, but you quickly get used to the system. There are successes, failures, threats, advantages, triumphs and despairs. All of these interact to give a final result, and both players and GM can use the more exotic things (advantage, threat, triumph and despair) to do more interesting things, trigger special abilities, and generally make the game more cinematic. Half way through the adventure, the Fate pool is introduced. The players can spend light side fate tokens to improve their chances, and the GM can do the same with the dark side. Except whenever a point is spent, it gets flipped over and becomes the opposite! I really like this mechanic since it makes you think hard about using fate or not.

So, how does the Beginner Box stack up?
Well, it's about the most fun I've ever had learning a game system, it's probably the first time I've learnt a system by playing it without an experienced player, and it really does a great job of teaching the game. The down side is that you have to use the pre generated characters, and there's nothing in there about making your own. You can download two more free characters and an extra adventure from Fantasy Flight, and you can keep playing with the pre generated characters and make your own adventures, but you will be a little limited unless you invest in the full game.

Matt has a copy of the Beta release of the full book, which I have flicked through - it has some more mechanics and levels of detail, but apart from that the rules look basically the same, so the beginner box will get you started, but won't last you that long. Of course, it's pretty cheap, and you can use it to teach other players and get them to join in - I have some other friends who are interested in having a go, so I'll be running this again.

Over all, the Beginner Box is an excellent jumping off point for the hobby. It gets you up to speed quickly, and very enjoyably, and gives you the tools for your first steps. It doesn't give you the complete experience, but you could actually play a fairly long campaign using just the contents of the box and the free bonus adventures and characters online.

THE VERDICT:
Star Wars Edge of the Empire Beginner Box scores:

Clarity of Rules:
Excellent. The only thing I was a little confused by was how to generate your own dice pools - I was very tired when I first read it. On a second read when wide awake it made perfect sense.


Learning Curve:
The whole game is designed around the learning curve, and it's probably the best 'learn as you play' RPG set I've encountered. A great way to learn, and you're supported and assisted all the way.


Fun:
The starter adventure is quite enjoyable, and we got some good laughs and dramatic action. Especially the final epic fist fight between Trax and Nik's Wookie character in the corridors of the Krayt Fang.


Replay Value:
You can replay the same adventure as the GM, but once you've played it as a PC you know the secrets and know what to do, so it's not really worth playing again. That being said, you can then use the rules and stats included to create your own adventures.


Presentation:
Fantasy Flight have really got their presentation nailed. The art is great, especially rhe painting which has been slighlty photo-shopped to show Han and Chewie playing the game (Han's not doing well, Chewie obviously just rolled a critical hit...)

24 Hours De BGG - July entries

Well, it's been a while, but now I'm back!

I didn't find the June 24 Hr contest theme on Board Game Geek all that interesting, but I ended up entering twice in July!

Time Gentlemen Please! is a game about drinking. It's a race to down the most beer before the landlord calls time, and semi-historically accurate. Or as accurate as a game about getting tight as a newt in 1950s Australia can be anyway. Plus you can steal the TARDIS, go back in time, and pinch your mates' beer!

Timecoon is a Time Travel Tycoon game where you run a time travel theme park and seek to earn the most money by developing new eras and attractions.

You can check out both, and vote for the winner of the contest here.

Board Game Geek 24 Hour Contest

I've just discovered the Contests section of the Board Game Geek forum, in particular the really cool 24 hour contests held each month. In essence, you have to create a whole game within a single 24 hour window! Obviously, I had to give it a go and ended up with...

You can check out the action on the May 2013 contest here.

Worryingly, while walking around Caulfield Park this morning, I had another idea for a game, but it didn't fit this month's theme. It would be possible to make in 24 hours, but unfortunately, I've already thought too much about it and got it basically all worked out in my mind, which is really against contest rules. I'm still going to do it, but not for the contest. Possibly for another contest...

The Islands of Hrond: A Fanticide Participation game at Little wars

At the edge of the Hagwood, where the twisted trees give way to the Wastes of Time are the Islands of Hrond; a pair of rocky levitating isles linked by an ancient, crumbling stone bridge. The air here is saturated with magic and whispers of hidden treasure. It is here that warbands clash for the strange and sinister spoils of Hrond. From the Hagwood come Ludmilla the Foul and her dark coven along with their tattered scarecrow servants and teeming imp slaves. From dimensions beyond comprehension come the Insatiable, demonic beings driven by their never ending hunger for flesh, for souls, for conquest. And from the Wastes of Time, cast from the very Hole itself come the puppets, bent on mastering this strange new land.

This year at Little Wars, Melbourne's premier gaming gathering, we'll be running some Fanticide Participation games using custom warbands over custom terrain. It'll be quick, it'll be bloody, and it'll be able to support a large group of players. 

For info on Little Wars, check out their site.

For more on Alien Dungeon's nifty Fanticide game, check out their site.

Tabel Top Day

I am reliably informed that saturday is Tabletop Day, meaning many a strange and wonderous person will be playing many a strange and wonderous game! Huzzah!
I plan to try to get some rpg-age happening at Hampton Games Club.

First play: Fanticide

I first became aware of Fanticide when Nic Robson at Eureka mentioned it to me. Then Matt got excited about it, accidentally bought two copies, and sold one to me. I would've bought it anyway, but this just sped things up.

I like the rules - they are clear and simple, and easy to apply. I also like the rules for creating your own units. It allows me to finally use all those silly things Nic at Eureka has sold me over the years. I like the feel of the world of Nowhere, although the fluff is not the best written fluff I've seen in a game. I like the challenge of developing new terrain to fit the game.
So do I like to play the game?

On Saturday, Matt and I met up at Hampton Games Club to put Fanticide through it's paces. We'd both read the rules about two weeks ago when we got them, so we'd forgotten a few things... Matt's ordered the basis of his clock-work puppet army, but is still waiting for it (I'll try to persuade him to post the army list to the blog so you can see what he's thinking). I'd bought the core of my Insatiable army from Eureka on friday night, and I ordered the rest of it from Reaper this morning. So neither of us had a full army. Fortunately, I had some Eureka warrior mice which I painted up long ago, and had written Fanticide rules for, so Matt used them.

Warrior mice ready for action.

I took two squads of three Devourers each, led by a Lord of Rapacity. Apart from the Vice of Hunger, the special rules did not come in to play. After some more play-testing, I'll put the army list up.

Name:	Give	Take	Soul	Agility	Spirit	Sanity
Devourer	3	3	2	4	6	4
Equipment:			Equipment Options:
None.			Two handed Weapons (+9)
Special Abilities:
Vice of Hunger

Name:	Give	Take	Soul	Agility	Spirit	Sanity
Lord of Rapacity	4	4	5	4	5	4
Equipment:			Equipment Options:
None.			May choose up to three artefacts, one of which may be a relic.
Special Abilities:
Vice of Hunger, Soul Powered Attacks, Soul Powered Spells, Virtue of command. 3 Spells.
Retainers:
The Legend can be accompanied y a squad of 2-6 feeder drones at 10 points each.

Matt took three squads of three Warrior Mice each - one slashers, one stickers, and one shootists, led by a Warrior Mouse legend mounted on a giant rat.

Name:	Give	Take	Soul	Agility	Spirit	Sanity
Warrior Mouse	2	2	1	6	6	6
Equipment:			Equipment Options:
None.			Blades: +4 points Bows: +5 points Spears: +2 points.
Special Abilities:
none

Name:	Give	Take	Soul	Agility	Spirit	Sanity
Mounted Legend	4	5	4	9	5	4
Equipment:			Equipment Options:
Blade, Shield			Up to 3 artifacts, one may be a relic.
Special Abilities:
none

It was a small game, based on what we had available, and the points did not quite match up (176 vs 166 from memory). We decided to use a two foot by four foot table, with a hill in the middle, and an Obo stone near each deployment zone.
Matt rolled the Sin of Envy, and I rolled Greed, so we ended up both riddled with greed. Since the game size was small, we decided to have two objectives each, with one more randomised from the center of the table. This one ended up close to Matt's edge. We used some giant mushrooms for the objectives.

Insatiable deployment.

Mouse deployment.

As to the game, well, it was quick, and it was bloody. Turn six ended with Matt having just two mice, and me having only my legend, the Lord of Rapacity. We'd both captured and removed a mushroom. My legend had more soul than the mice, so I won. Just.

The mouse legend buggers off with his mushroom prize.

The events played a major roll in the game. I got lucky with my legend effected by the Fanticide! event,  and the Time Slip event was also favourable to my forces. Of course, I also got hit by the Droppings Storm, so it evened out.

Devourers make for the Obo stone and glory!

Since it's two weeks since we read the rules, we did a few things the wrong way. We got confused about Spirit and Sanity checks, having played to much Warhammer and Warmachine, and tried to roll under our stats, not over them, and we forgot stuns in combat. But it all seemed to balance out in the end. We're certainly going to keep playing this game, and I'm looking forward to getting my armies ready and a whole table worth of terrain. I also plan to use this game at my school wargames club, as the squad-by-squad activation system means I can easily put one kid in charge of each squad, under the over-all command of a legend player. It's hard finding a skirmish game which can support upwards of eight players, and that's how many players I regularly get...

Once I have more experience of the game, I'll put up a more in-depth review.

Frivolous pretty picture showing the Devourers beating up the mouse legend while the Baba Yaga hut watches.

More frivolity which never happened in the game.

C.O.G.S: Combat Operations in Generic Steampunk.

I've recently been looking for a generic skirmish level Steampunk/Victorian Sci Fi rule set. Then I started getting ideas and decided to just create my own.

The basic idea of C.O.G.S - Combat Operations in Generic Steampunk - is to produce a 28mm skirmish system which is flexible and generic, giving gamers a clean slate to develop their own Steampunk/VSF units, vehicles and heroes. A little like the way GruntZ allows you to create your own 15mm SF units, only with more steam, rivets and exposed gearing. I am aiming for a 'Penny Dreadful' feel - that's a Pulp feel from an era BEFORE the Pulps existed! To this end, Heroes and their Side Kicks are the focus of the game, and can do really epic things, while units are basically just there to fill out the numbers and provide moving scenery. I envision the game being more scenario driven that points based - I already have plans for Nuns defending mission stations against fiendish natives, and frenchmen in diving suits battling giant sharks. 

At present I only have basic rule mechanics in place, and a lot more development to go. The core mechanics have been tested and work pretty nicely, but there's a lot of balancing and tweaking needed.

I am working on a system for designing your own vehicles with a range of power plants, drive trains and sizes.

Although the system is generic, and encourages players to develop units and vehicles, I am considering making some paper craft starter armies with pre-generated rules for those who are not so interested in developing their own.

Some of my own conversions and scratchbuilds will be appearing on Terrain For Hippos over the month of January.

Martian Zombies update

There's been a minor update to Martian Zombies. Actually, very little has changed. I've just combined everything into one PDF file and added a new page of figures containing three sets of survivors, and another twelve zombies. This way you don't have to print the survivors page twice and end up with spare counters. Combining everything into the one PDF file means you can now get previews on RPGNow! and I've also added some images to the listing over there to show what the game looks like in play.