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 & 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 releases new edition of Warcry in the Heart of Ghur – Yeah, same as last week, but it’s a two week preorder window and is a fantastic set!
Warcry is a fantastic skirmish game set in the Mortal Realms, setting of the wonderful Age of Sigmar. I’ve never had a bad game of Warcry, but I’ve also not played enough Warcry. I need to give it a more sustained go. And, hey, how’s this for timing?
The set looks great. The terrain is nice. The miniatures are great. I’m really hoping the second edition rules will keep the core and tighten up some of the iffy bits from first edition, such as shooting being a bit OP. I had store credit sitting, so I’ve ordered myself a copy. It got dispatched yesterday! Excite!
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Renegade Game Studios releases new edition of Hunter: The Reckoning – This one totally passed me by. Hunter: The Reckoning is the World of Darkness game about monster hunters. People come to this life for a range of reasons, with a range of capabilities and motivations, and that in itself of ample fodder for a good campaign. I’m excited for this, and surprised, to see this released before Werewolf: the Apocalypse or Mage: the Ascension.
The book is pretty pricey, as is normal for big, hardback RPG releases these days. That said, the book looks pretty cool and I’ll be picking it up in the near future. This might be a bit more approachable for some of the groups I play with, with whom I’m desperate to run soemthing that isn’t D&D.
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- DriveThruRPG (PDF version)
Fria Ligan opens late pledges for their Blade Runner RPG – I don’t need to sell you on Blade Runner at this point. Either you like it or you don’t and, honestly, I get you either way. I love it, but I appreciate it’s not for everyone. Fria Ligan seems to have snapped up the RPG license and have modified their (fantastic) Mutant Year Zero system for it. I like MYZ a lot, so that and Blade Runner are a pretty solid combo for me.
The thing is, is it too late? There are so many cyberpunk games out there just now. There have been a bunch of 5E settings released, along with Altered Carbon, Cyberpunk, Shadowrun, Neon City Overdrive, The Sprawl, Interface Zero, Genesys Android… the list could go on, I’m sure. Nobody really questions the number of generic sci-fi and fantasy games that come out, I suppose. Maybe I’m being unfair. I just think of cyberpunk as a genre being narrower, y’know? Either way, yeah, this is a good property and a good system.
Forgeworld releases Marduk Sedras miniature for The Horus Heresy – As a game, I just find it really hard to care about Horus Heresy. I like the setting, and the books can be pretty good, but as a game? It’s just power armour. Who cares? 40K already suffers from too much of it, so why go to a game that is just that? That said, there are some models, when you drill down into the legion-specific stuff, that actually look pretty awesome. Marduk Sedras is one such mini:
I actually think that this looks like more of an Inquisitor, and I’d be happy to use it as such in Warhammer 40,000. As it stands, it’s a fantastic Dark Angels miniature that is bursting with character. I mean, this thing is ornate. Fantastic mini.
Wizards of the Coast releases new Dungeons & Dragons starter set – Phandelver served us well. The Lost Mines of Phandelver was the adventure from the initial 5E starter set for Dungeons & Dragons, and it was pretty decent. Now, 8 years later, it’s time to replace it with something new: Dragons of Stormwreck Isle:
The contents seem pretty standard with some rules, an adventure, some dice and a handful of premade characters. In addition, the adventure is seemingly a bit less linear and prescriptive, as suits the more open playstyle that many people enjoy. I think that 8 years of experience with the system will have put designers in a good place to create a really solid experience for new players. It’s also a really cheap box, so why not, eh?
Blog Posts & Articles
The meat of 5 on Friday, the articles are listed in no particular order, so let’s get into some recommendations:
Age of Sigmar: the first game @ Spalanz – Welcome to the Mortal Realms! I would agree that there’s less actively going on that 40K, what with 40K being a bloated mess, but I wouldn’t agree that shooting is super rare – though it’d be pretty rare in the Slaves to Darkness vs Bonereapers matchup that the author played. I’d also agree that Bonereapers are surprisingly smoll.
Bringing a Man-Skewer Crossbow to a Gunfight (Sticking with an Underperforming Army) @ Woehammer – As someone who loves the Gloomspite Gitz, I can relate to this post! Certainly, the point about people not being as sure about what your army can do is very true. It surprised people how hard a unit of Troggoths can hit, and ho survivable those Rockguts are. Yeah, a fun and relatable read.
Terraforming Mars: Ares Expedition – First Impressions @ The McCue Review – A review of one of my favourite games? let’s take a look! The author seems a bit lukewarm on the game, but I agree that two-player, although enjoyable, isn’t where this game shines – and this is pretty much for the reason he gives; that turns can be a bit short if both players play the same phase card.
Paints – Reaper @ Double Down Dice – I’ve never tried Reaper paints, largely for the reason that the author mentions; the difficulty in getting them consistently outside of the US. I like their Triad system, which seems to have been taken from the older Foundry paints. But yeah, nice wee article about some paints that sound pretty good.
What’s the Best Stranger Things Board Game? @ Dice in the Dark – I like these sorts of articles. I previously did one about choosing an RPG to represent Rick and Morty. I should do more of those… Back to this article, and I like it. There are some games that I’m familiar with, and others that I’m not. I totally agree on the author’s appraisal of both Tales from the Loop and Kids on Bikes.
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This week, I’ve shared a review of Dropout.tv, a streaming service with loads of great comedy and RPG-related content.
Catch ya’ll next week!
No Rerolls 
Thanks for the post! I think we definitely have more to discover with AoS – so many games, so little time!!
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Nice to Bonereaper represented. I hadn’t played them ever until this July at a tournament, then had like 4 games against them since.
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I know next to nothing about AoS, but from the OB Facebook group, I get the impression that a lot of people are waiting for a new book, because of how the changes to the game have affected their play style. It’s good to hear them still out in the wild, though!
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Thanks for the shout out to my paint article, hope it helps! I’m also really excited about getting my hands on that new D&D Starter Set, as my youngest has just started getting into it.
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