5 on Friday 02/12/22

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 Sundered Fate boxed set for Warcry – Another Warcry box! Didn’t we just get one of these? Well, time for another! And it’s a nice boxed set, too. We get some more of that lovely Gnarlwood terrain and a couple of new warbands:

The warbands are interesting. The first one, the Jade Obelisk, is another group of Chaos Cultists. They look fantastic. I really love the style that GW has gone for with these guys. The second warband, the Hunters of Huanchi, are interesting. This second edition, we were told, was when we would start to see more non-Chaos stuff emerging for Warcry, as the action moves out of the Varanspire and into the wider realms. I suppose that this beautiful Seraphon warband is the first real example of that shift.

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Strange Owl Games launches Kickstarter campaign for Space 1889: After – Space 1889 has been around since 1989, originally having been put out by Game Designers’ Workshop. It’s gone through several iterations since, under a range of different plublishers. Now, there’s a Kickstarter campaign going for a new edition:

Strange Owl Games is crowdfunding for a new version of Space 1889 based on the Dungeons & Dragons 5E ruleset. Because of course they are. 5E is increasingly ubiquitous, and it’s not a surprise to see established games or properties jump on this particular bandwagon. The campaign looks pretty promising, though. I’ll be curious to see how it turns out.

Modiphius taking preorders for Forest of Fear, an adventure for Achtung! Cthulhu – Modiphius continues to put out adventures for their 2D20 edition of Achtung! Cthulhu. This latest offering sees the allied forces stalled at the German border, settling in for a winter stalemate. Cannae argue with the timing of the release, eh?

Facing off against the occult force of the Third Reich and the ancient evil lurking below the forest, the Allies have their work cut out for them on this one. I’ve still not managed to get Achting! Cthulhu to the table. Will have to see if I can remedy this next year!

Steve Jackson Games is running a Kickstarter campaign for 3D-printable cars and weapons – Yeah, I know, it’s Steve Jackson. That’s usually my queue to start moaning about shovelware, lack of imagination, overprice boxes, and the like. The thing is, this actually looks pretty good!

I wrote at some length about this campaign in this week’s Kickstarter-Watch article. These are some really cool bits for anyone looking to play Car Wars. Or, if they’d rather play a good game, Gaslands!

Free League releases CY_BORG on DriveThruRPG – Rather unsurprisingly given the name, CY_BORG is based on the hit, punky, apocalyptic RPG, MÖRK BORG. Not only is it based on MÖRK BORG, but it’s also compatible with it, letting you mix and match addons, resources, and the like.

As with MÖRK BORG, I love the rough art style of this game. With the gorgeous artwork, the punky, irreverent tone, and the rules-light nature of the game this ticks a lot of boxes for me. I need to get MÖRK BORG to the table to really see if I like it before I start exploring these spin-offs and whatnot. I’ve covered this particular game before, but now the PDF version is also available!

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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:

My Recent Poor Vampire: the Masquerade Experience & What I Learned From It @ Lauren Grace Zemel – As much as I love Vampire: the Masquerade, there’s no denying that not every game is going to be a good ‘un. The bits from the author’s experience that really stand out as disappointing are the forced action plot, the early reveal of the big bad, and the massive exposition and background dumps. It pains me to say it, but no Vampire is better than bad Vampire.

Mordheim – Carnival of Chaos @ Tacutter – I’m enjoying watching this blog’s ventures into the damned city of Mordheim. The Carnival of Chaos is a particularly exciting warband with some really fantastic minis. The author has done a great job with these chaps, too! Thank for sharing.

Star Wars: Shatterpoint and Why It’s a Massive Announcement @ Professional Casual Network – I agree with some of this post, but not all. Shatterpoint is interesting, and it’s definitely a big deal. It’s also likely not the end of Legion. That said, I don’t have the author’s faith in Atomic Mass Games. It’s still Asmodee, and it’s still just picking away at the corpse of FFG. The game looks cool though, no doubt.

5 Necessary Changes in 10th Edition Warhammer 40,000 @ Tom Goldrick – I think this post hits the right note. I’d agree that what really needs to change in 40K is the scoring, strategems, and the generaly bloatiness. The actual core of the game is pretty good and the problems arrive when you then dump a big, steamy pile of excess rules on top.

The Horus Heresy #12: A Thousand Sons Review @ Endless Questing – This is one of my favourite Warhammer novels. This is a very positive review, but I totally agree with everything the author says.

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Since my last 5 on Friday, I’ve published the following posts: