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 Leagues of Votann army set for Warhammer 40,000 – There seems to be a bit of controversy around the release of the leagues of Votann because, well, of course, there is. It wouldn’t be the 40K community if they could just enjoy something, could it? To be fair, the rules do feel a bit strong, but some points tweaks (read: increases) will help with this. My focus tends to be more on the models. These models are lovely:
Squats haven’t been around in a meaningful way in 40K for quite some time. These lads are super characterful and satisfying chonky. I really love the bikes because they look lived on. These are used, and that’s great. The warriors look good. The characters are gorgeous, especially the Einhyr Champion who is delightfully to-heavy. Now, I’ve linked above to the Games Workshop webstore, but this item is sold out there. You might have a chance of getting it via an independent retailer, but I wouldn’t necessarily count on it. This is proving to be a popular release.
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Mantic releases new Riftforged Storm Giant for Kings of War – I do like the Mantic Giant. I’ve bought a few of them to use in my Sons of Behemat, and have finished painting one of them. I picked up two of the standard Giants and one of the Frost Giants. In addition, Mantic also do a horror-themed one in the form of their Nightstalker Shadowhulk. My slightly – and it’s the same problem that I have with the new Mega-Gargant variants that Games Workshop have been previewing – is that they’re all based on the same core model, so the legs, torso, and basic pose are all ultimately the same.
That said, I like this variant. It’d look good as an addition to your Kings of War armies and your Age of Sigmar ones. I think that I’d mostly likely use this chap as a Kraken Eater. I think that’s the closes match to it, visually. It will also be a fraction of the price of a Games Workshop Kraken Eater Mega-Gargant.
Roll & Play Press launches Kickstarter campaign for One-Shot Wonders – I like one-shots, and this book seems to strike a good balance in presenting them. It’s not overly detailed and prescriptive, but it is reasonably information-dense over a couple pages per adventure.
I’ve given a fuller account of my thoughts on the book/Kickstarter campaign in another post from earlier this week. Go take a look to read my full thoughts on the book.
Warlord Games releases A Gentleman’s War, a starter set for Bolt Action – I liked Bolt Action. I played it a wee bit, a little over a decade ago. It worked well. I also like that Warlord tries to keep things fresh with new starters every so often. V The latest of these is A Gentleman’s War:
Now, what I particularly like about this set is the atypical setting. This isn’t a game set on the eastern or western fronts of the war in Europe, but rather a less-explored part of the conflict; the North Africa campaign. This set pits the infamous Desert Rats against the Deutsche Afrika Korps. Each side consists of 24 multi-part hard plastic troops and an armoured car. Great models, good game, nice set.
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Atomic Mass Games releases Din Dkarin (Mando!) and Grogu for Star Wars: Legion – I like the new Shadow Collective (scum and villainy) faction for Star Wars: Legion. They have a nice level of variety within the faction, which is nice as some factions can feel a bit samey – at least looking from the outside. They have some very pretty miniatures as well. The newest addition to this newest faction is the titular Mandolorian from the Disney+ series:
Of course, Mando comes with his little foundling friend, Grogu (formerly The Child; popularly ‘Baby Yoda’). As is common for the Shadow Collective minis, this is a good ‘un. I can’t honestly say how it plays in the game because I just don’t know the system at all. I’d also pick him up for use as a merc, bounty hunter, or similar in a game like Stargrave. But then most sci-fi models would be at home in Stargrave. It’s part of the appeal of Osprey’s miniature-neutral range of games, I suppose.
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Blog Posts & Articles
The meat of 5 on Friday, the articles are listed in no particular order, so let’s get into some recommendations:
Warcry! The Iron Golems (and Furies) @ At the Mountains of Minis – There are so many fantastic images in this post! I’ve seen a lot of Iron Golems over the past few years, but I don’t often see them in silvers and bronze. It’s cool. They have a bit of a feel of 40K’s Iron Warriors to me. The Furies are cool as well. I need to pick up more of them to use with Be’Lakor!
Three great games that aren’t D&D – and what to steal from them @ Scroll for Initiative – Oh, I wish I could get more non-D&D RPGs to the tabletop. I would love to get some more Dresden Files on the go but haven’t managed to drum up much interest. Maybe Traveller, Changeling, or Vampire? I generally have more success in getting people together for a Paranoia one-shot. I very much agree with the point of this post, that it’s a good idea to nick bits and pieces from different games, based on what works for you. I especially agree that the aspects system from FATE should be taken and incorporated into more peoples’ games. It’s such an elegant system that actively encourages players to play to their character, rather than just playing for advantage.
Welcome to Night City – Review of “Cyberpunk: Edgerunners” Episodes 1 & 2 @ The King’s Square – Edgerunners had completely passed me by! How did I miss this? I love me some cyberpunk-based media. With a game of Cyberpunk Red hopefully on the horizon, I should give the show a chance. This review of the opening episodes definitely helps to motivate me on this front!
Running Games At Conventions @ Burn After Running – The convention game is a very different experience from your typical RPG session. There’s a sense of adventure and or urgency that you might not get elsewhere. I’ve considered running a convention game in the past, but Covid put a pin in it. There are some good thoughts in this post to set me back on track.
Warhammer Fantasy Artwork using Midjourney AI @ The Iron-Bound Tome – I’ve recently taken a look at some AI-generated writing. It’s amazing to see how far along AI-generated art has come. Midjourney seems really good from that angle, but I know that there’s a lot of controversy around ownership and proper recognition of (and, of course, compensation for) the artists from whom the AI obtains source images. I really like how the Skaven portraits turned out in these examples.
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It’s been a second solid week in a row on NoRerolls. Since my last 5 on Friday, I’ve published the following posts:
- An overview of a Humble Bundle of Warhammer 40,000 audiobooks.
- A Review of DM Dave’s Oozemancer class for D&D 5E.
- Some thoughts on the Disciples of Tzeentch rules preview for Age of Sigmar.
- A look at a Kickstarter campaign for a book of RPG one-shot ideas.
- A rundown of a PBTA-themed Bundle of Holding.
- A Throwback Thursday on my review of a fan-made new edition of Changeling: the Dreaming.
The next week might be a bit less active, as I’m having to travel for a funeral on Thursday and a wedding on Friday and Saturday. There’ll be no 5 on Friday, and possibly a bit less activity, generally.
Catch ya’ll next week… or possibly the week after.
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