5 on Friday 14/10/22

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 Battletome for the Sons of Behemat – Gargants! My stompy boys return! I’ve heard some mixed views about the new book, and I highlight one such article later in this post, but I’m excited about this book. I think Gargants are such a fun force to play, and I’m all in favour of having new options for them.

I’m probably most excited about the two new warscrolls and the new monstrous rampages. Yeah, the rampages are the coolest thing I’ve seen so far from the book. I’ve not preordered this book, but I’m heading south next week, so I can grab it from somewhere. Will need to build a Beast Smasha. They look fun!

Affiliate Links:

• The Outpost
• Element Games

Locke the Mothman plush toy is up on Kickstarter – There’s not a huge amount to say on this one. It’s just a cool, wee plush toy the grabbed my attention on Kickstarter, but isn’t quite complex enough to warrant a Kickstarter-Watch post.

I mean, this is actually a pretty creepy object, but I suppose that’s kind of the point. Yeah. Ok. I’m glad this has met the creator’s funding goal, as this sort of quirky, unique little thing is what Kickstarter should be.

Free League releases remastered edition of Into the Odd on DriveThruRPG – An exploration-themed RPG, Into the Odd has previously caught my interest. Now, we have a remastered edition, put out by Fria Ligan (Free league), publishers of Mutant: Year Zero, Tales from the Loop, Coriolis, Mörk Borg, and many others:

The description of the game ticks a lot of boxes for me. I’ve picked out the most bits in bold:

• Fast Character Creation – Roll an explorer in minutes, grabbing a starter package of flavourful equipment and starting your expedition.
• Minimalist Rules – An ultralite system that keeps the game moving forward. Combat is fast and decisive, with every turn counting.
• Strange Things – Monsters are horrific hazards, not opponents to be fought for sport. Arcana are weird artifacts that each carry a unique ability, from firing portals to attracting bones like a magnet.
• Return to the Iron Coral – The strange expedition location from the original game has tripled in size, now sprawling over three levels. The surrounding Fallen Marsh now hides four mini-dungeons in its 24 hexes. In the North, the desperate port of Hopesend welcomes adventurous travellers looking to go further.
• The Expanded Oddpendium – 26 pages of modules and random tables to help you flesh out the world. Roll to create weird creatures, find the best shortcut across town, and find out what happens when you “eat the stuff”.

This will likely be one I pick up.

Affiliate Links:

• DriveThruRPG

Modiphius releases Hypercorps sourcebook for their Infinity RPG – If you’ve recently picked up the Infinity RPG bundle that we highlighted the other week, then here’s your next content-drop! Having covered the factions from the miniatures game, this offering takes a look at the corporations of the Human Sphere:

The hypercorps, if not as individual companies, but as an idea, were already extant before for formation of PanOceania and the other nations of the Human Sphere. I imagine that if these political entities fall and are replaced, the hypercorps will remain, still. This book helps you to add a bit of corporate intrigue to your games, having hypercorps and their agents act as adversaries. There are also some rules on creating and running your own corporations, which is a cool option to give. I do like games where the players can feed into a larger organisation.

Affiliate Links:

• DriveThruRPG (PDF Version)

Milan by Night for Vampire: the Masquerade released on Storytellers Vault – I’ve always liked the city-themed books for Vampire: the Masquerade. Chicago by Night is the absolute classic, with a number of different editions published over the years. I also have Milwaukee by Night and Berlin by Night as physical books, along with London By Night for Victorian Age Vampire. In PDF, I really liked reading Montreal by Night for the Sabbat focus, and Constantinople by Night for the epic feeling of it. Now, via the Storytellers Vault, we have Milan by Night:

In terms of content, this 147-page PDF contains the usual sort of stuff that a ‘by Night’ book should have:

• The historical events of the dominion of Milan
• The current organization of the domain
• The main players within the domain
• The places of interest in the city and the dangers that lurk in it

The thing that interests me most about this book is the idea of a city that has changed factions relatively recently. A former capital of the Sabbat, Milan has, in recent decades, become a Camarilla city. That fact alone gives a lot of scope for intrigue and conflict.

Affiliate Links:

• Storytellers Vault

Blog Posts & Articles

The meat of 5 on Friday, the articles are listed in no particular order, so let’s get into some recommendations:

Homemade terrain: hazard stripes @ Scent of a Gamer – Simple, quick instructional post on creating hazard stripes on barriers. The author kept it concise, simple, and largely pictorial. Thanks for sharing! Will bear this in mind if I ever end up doing some Iron Warriors…

Boingrot Bounderz @ JK-Hobby – Bouncy balls of teeth; I just love Squigs. They’re great. I have had some Boingrot Bounders sitting half-finished for over a year. Posts like this make me feel even more guilty about this! The author has done a really nice job on his Bounders. I especially like the colour-reversals he’s done on some miniatures, switching from a red squig and black-clad rider to a black squig and a red-robed rider. It’s a nice touch, and they look really good mixed together in the unit.

Battletome Sons of Behemat: My Top Five Power Plays @ Plastic Craic– As I said above, I like my stompy boys, and I’m excited for the new book. It’s great to see people already getting into the nitty-gritty of the battletome and picking out individual, interesting plays. I also agree with the author that it’s probably a more interesting format than the exhaustive rehashing of the book.

Renegade Game Studios Expands Licensing Agreement With Hasbro – Squad Leader Coming? @ Dude! Take Your Turn! – I never got into Squad Leader, but I’m aware it has quite a following. I’m even more aware of the very dedicated following that Advanced Squad Leaders has! It’ll be interesting to see where this goes, as I’d definitely be up for trying out any new edition of Squad Leader that might come of this.

Prep Techniques – Round-Up @ Burn After Running: RPG One-Shots – Rather than an article in itself, this is a link to lots of great resources, ideas, and prep techniques. Some of these are from the author, whilst others are from elsewhere. I can definitely endorse Burn After Running for consistently good advice on running games, so this is worth a look.

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It’s been a busy week on NoRerolls. Since my last 5 on Friday, I’ve published the following posts:

• The results of a couple of games with Daemons in both AoS and 40K.
• A review of a 1,000 points AoS tournament I attended last weekend.
• A project plan for a potential goblin-themed Stormcast army.
• An overview of a Kickstarter campaign for a D120.
• My thoughts on an RPG/writing-themed Bundle of Holding.
• A Throwback Thursday featuring an article on playing D&D with kids.

Catch ya’ll next week!