It’s Friday, and here on No Rerolls that means it’s time for an all-new 5 on Friday. We’re going to start with 5 exciting releases for this week before moving on to our usual digest of some of our favourite articles from the past week. Of course, we’re slow readers, so don’t be surprised if there are some articles that are a little older – these are just some of the great articles we happen to have actually read in the past week.
Releases and Previews
Every week there are many games and miniatures released. This will probably be a mix of previews, preorders and releases, and with release dates being the way they are in this industry, it’s always pretty approximate. Excuses out of the way, here are 5 of the releases that caught our attention this week:
Games Workshop taking preorders for Kill Team – Kill Team is probably going to be Games Workshop’s biggest release of the year. I do think it will be bigger than Age of Sigmar 2nd ed. Maybe between the two releases, Games Workshop can start to head towards the sort of sales they got last summer with the release of Warhammer 40,000 8th ed. Maybe. The boxed set looks great:
The models aren’t new, but they are all minis that I like. The terrain looks great too, and you get the books and cards you need to play, too. Isn’t this like the third 40k skirmish system released in the past 2 years, though? I mean, wow, this seems redundant. That said, it’s the system that will probably stick with most people as it seems to be a solid game in which a player can use the miniatures from their existing army. I’m looking forward to this one, but probably won’t pick it up for a wee while, yet.
Lone Shark Games taking preorders for Thornwatch – I’ve followed the development of Thornwatch on Penny Arcade. I love Penny Arcade. I know they (i.e. Mike) has done and said things that upset some people, but I like their work. I love the concept of the Eyrewood and the Thornwatch, so I’m keen to take a look at this when it comes out:
Both the core game and the first expansion are up for preorder, but they do seem just a little pricey for what they are. That said, the art is beautiful and the playthroughs I’ve watched have me really interested.
Soda Pop Miniatures re-release Ninja All-Stars miniatures for Super Dungeon Explore – Oh, Soda Pop… how I loved you, and how you continue to make me sad. Ninja All-Stars didn’t seem to do well. It didn’t have the charm or the fun of Super Dungeon Explore, and so it just kind of fell by the wayside. That said, the minis were nice, so it makes sense for Soda Pop to repackage them and release them for SDE:
I’m torn on this. I don’t really need more SDE stuff at the moment, but would I buy it down the line? I’m not sure the company deserves my money when it has so utterly let down the backers of both Super Dungeon Legends and the 2nd edition of Relic Knights. That said, if everyone took that attitude, the company would likely fail before they could catch up with their promises and fulfil. I’d just love to have a better idea of how things are running over there. Again, nice models, but not new – these are good repacks.
Elemenz from Bad Cat Games hits retail – Although I am not completely sold on the visual style of this dice game, the actual gameplay appeals to me. I saw a demo of it a while back, after the Kickstarter when the developers were showing it off at Common Ground Games in Stirling. It seemed pretty fun!
I’d encourage you to take a look. It’s hitting retail channels and I hope it does well. I do like to support Scottish designers!
Wyrd announces the 3rd edition of Malifaux – For me, the biggest thing this week is Wyrd’s announcement that a new edition of Malifaux is coming. M3E! Wyrd have already put together some preliminary info and showed the format of the card and some renders of the new miniatures:
I’m not as fussed about the minis – I mean, they’re gorgeous, but I’m not going to replace minis I already have. I’m looking forward to learning more and trying out the new, hopefully, refined rules. I just hope they don’t make a complete mess of it like Privateer Press and Warmahordes 3rd ed.
Blog Posts/Articles
The meat of 5 on Friday, the articles are listed in no particular order, so let’s get into some recommendations:
A match made in heaven: Playdek and GMT form partnership @ Stately Play – Playdek is a company known for designing digital editions of board games. I like their interpretation of Lord of Waterdeep and I adore their version of GMT’s Twilight Struggle. To hear that they are putting out more GMT Games is fantastic. It’s even better to hear of this supposed partnership, which will hopefully see them work their way through much of GMT’s back catalogue. Starting with Labyrinth would be great!
Ruthless Efficiency: One-Box Kill Teams and You @ Vincent Knotley’s Hobby Blog – There are a lot of Kill Team articles kicking around just now, which is understandable given that the new boxed set is coming out soon. This article is a series of musings on different Kill Teams that can be made up of just one box. I agree with most of what the author says, but I do need to defend the Chaos Space Marines box. I remember when this set came out and it was amazing when it was released and was such a huge improvement over the basic, uninspiring models that came before. I feel they hold up reasonably well. But yeah, the article is good, with the author nipping through several different boxed and considering their suitability for the new game.
Decking Out a Board Gaming Room @ The Meeple Street – My own gaming room is a bit plain, usually messy, and could do with a bit of sprucing up. To be honest, I’m just glad to have the space – it’s a good space. The author of this post offers some nice thoughts on such spaces and it seems they are at the same stage as us – having moved into their house a year ago and not having done much to it to really make it theirs. I love our house, but it’s not really ‘ours’ yet, if you know what I mean. We’ve not really put our stamp on it. If anything, the games room is the one that has changed the most from the previous owners, just by nature of being full of board games! Ta for the ideas, and it’s nice to find others in the same situation.
Swiss Army Approach to Army Collecting @ thegngrnoob – This is an interesting post. So, with the various different fantasy miniatures games out there, the author wants an army that can be used for any or all of them. Taking the Chaos Dwarf army, the author compares what they can use them as in Kings of War, Ninth Age, Age of Sigmar and Warhammer. It makes for a cool read, the comparison being quite fascinating. I also maintain my interest in Chaos Dwarfs – I will eventually do an army of them, and now I know how they fit into each different game!
Running Established Properties @ The Rolling Bones RPG Blog – I agree with the author that there are definite pros and cons when it comes to playing games in established properties. I like the points that the author brings to the table and I agree that a major problem with these games is when the GM tries to run it too close to the source material, rehashing plots, episodes and the likes. I love the Dresden Files RPG and most of my group didn’t really know the setting, but they were able to explore it very well, and because they didn’t know it, they didn’t ape the existing characters. In Star Wars, it’s broad enough that players I’ve gamed with have generally been able to carve out their own niche that doesn’t stick too closely to the films. This article gives some interesting food for thought and is definitely worth a read.
On No Rerolls this week, we’ve looked at Bundles of Holding for Ars magica and Mutant: Year Zero. We also posted our weekly Hobby Update.
Catch you next week!
No Rerolls 
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