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.
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 Space Marines Lieutenant Amulius – Don’t worry! Yes, Games Workshop has temporarily closed their stores, including their online store, but they are promising us the one thing we really need from them. There will be another Primaris Lieutenant available for purchase:
I kid. Well, I don’t, but I dig with affection! Amulius is a nice miniature who, up to this point, has only been available at events. GW is making him available to a wider audience, taking orders for a “made to order” production run.
Queen Games launches Kickstarter campaign for Winter Kingdom – As I mentioned back in December, it took me a while to warm to Kingdom Builder. I bought it because it was designed by Donald X. Vaccarino who also created my beloved Dominion. This game is nothing like Dominion and, you know, that’s ok. It does its own thing. Now, there’s a spin-off a-coming:
At a glance, Winter Kingdon seems similar to Kingdom Builder, but with perhaps a little added complexity. Production values look a little higher than the original game, too. I think this will be worth a look for anyone who enjoyed the original, particularly if they feel they want something more to spice up the experience.
Onyx Path releases The Chicago Folios for Vampire: The Masquerade – Chicago by Night was a great book. I like what they did with the Lasombra and it was great to return to my favourite VtM setting. I’ve long loved the World of Darkness incarnation of Chicago. It’s always been the “standard” Vampire setting for me. Now, Onyx Path is putting out some supplementary material to go with Chicago by Night:
With lots of chronicle hooks, characters, loresheets, and rituals, there’s a lot of content packed into these 177 pages. I’m keen for any material to flesh out my Chicago-based games, so this is a must-buy for me!
Chaosium releases a Call of Cthulhu colouring book – Hah, this is funny. It’s just a simple little colouring book that you can print off. It just happens to feature unfathomable cosmic horrors:
Rather handily, at the time of writing, it’s also free! I mean, it’s only $5 usually, so it was never going to break the bank. Still, it’s a nice freebie!
Cephalofair Games launches Kickstarter campaign for Frosthaven – I backed the second Kickstarter for Gloomhaven. I thought it would be a lot of fun and it looked epic. Yeah, I’ve still to play it. It’s just so big and I need a regular group, and other excuses! Now, there’s a sequel coming in what seems to be an equally massive box:
The game is huge. It features a massive campaign and has loads of cool tokens and character miniatures. It has ridiculously good production value and is generally super impressive. I can see myself picking this up, though it may well end up staying on the shelf, too…
The meat of 5 on Friday, the articles are listed in no particular order, so let’s get into some recommendations:
Frostgrave: the beginning @ Pile of dice – There was a short period of a few months, perhaps a couple of years back, that Frostgrave was quite popular in our gaming group. I always found it interesting because I love skirmish games, but I never got into it at the time. I did pick up the rules and they read well. I still like the idea of the game and count it among the many, many games that I tell myself I will get around to at some point. It’s fun to read about other people, such as this author, discovering and getting into the game. I’ll be following along as the author posts their progress with the miniatures and terrain!
Sequestered Hobby / #2 — Now In 3D @ Torg’s Blog – Thinking about it, Epic 40K is kind of the perfect game for 3D printing. It’s long out of print, uses smaller miniatures, and doesn’t require a huge amount of detail in the miniatures. That said, the level of detail the author has managed to get on these miniatures is pretty impressive. The temptation to pick up a 3D printer grows every day…
D&D is terrible why do I like it? @ Hex Junkie – I really sympathise with this post. There are so many really amazing games out there that are just so much better than D&D and present more modern, engaging and interesting rules. Yet we do keep going back to D&D. I like the author’s reasoning. For me, it comes down to what people in the local area want to play, although I’m pleased to report that we’ve seen a little bit of movement on that front.
A Tale of Painting: Having the Right Mindset @ Sprues & Brews – Mindset is huge in the creative side of the hobby. Without a good one, you’ll get nowhere with your painting. I speak from very direct experience on that one! I think the author has taken the absolutely correct approach, only comparing his work to his own prior works and taking feedback where offered. I really like this post because I’m trying to relate to it, having put brush to miniature today for the first time this year.
The One With Broken Windows… @ Stalker7 – I hadn’t heard of Zone Alfa, but it turns out to be another of those wee Osprey wargames. I love these little blue books because they provide such nice, thematic, self-contained experiences. This post contains a good writeup and lots of really cool pictures with fantastic miniatures and terrain. Thanks for sharing!
At NoRerolls, we have had a pretty quiet week.
Catch you later!
No Rerolls 