5 on Friday 09/12/22

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 Escher Cutters for Necromunda – I’ve seen mixed reactions to these speeder bikes for the Eschers. Personally, I really like the bikes but am pretty underwhelmed by the riders:

I do like that each gang seems to be getting their own particular style of vehicles and that each of these styles is very different to that sported by other gangs. I could see myself finding a use for these bikes for my Goblin Raceway army. I’m looking forward to taking a look at the sprues.

Affiliate Links

• The Outpost
• Element Games

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. I took a look at the campaign, about which I have pretty mixed feelings.

Away Team: The Voyages of the Pandora currently up for preorder via GMT’s P500 system – Have my recent posts about not being able to get my GMT Games titles to the table inspired me to buy more games from GMT that I will ultimately never play? Maybe. Oh, dear…

Away Team: The Voyages of the Pandora is a narrative game of space discovery. Visually, it’s pretty whimsical, particularly by GMT’s standards. They have a habit of being a little bit serious, a little bit heavy. GMT’s little complexity/solitaire gauge suggests that the game will be pretty light (again, by GMT’s standards) and very good for solo play:

The solo play isn’t important to me at all, but the rest of the game seems really cool. I think I’m about to plunge head first back into the P500 system…

Turnip 28: Forlorn Hope currently fundraising on Kickstarter – For some time, I have had a morbid curiosity about Turnip 28. I love the aesthetic. Grimy! Napoleonic! Veggies!  The people who have found their way to this game, and who have shared their experiences online have, without exception, been very creative in their approach to their miniatures. Now, with the Forlorn Hope Kickstarter, this will hopefully be opened to the masses.

This is a campaign for 3D-printable miniatures. They’re gorgeous. The thing is, it’s not the miniatures themselves that really excite me, but rather the fact that they are modular, giving lots of potential bits for conversions and customisation. I intend to take a closer look at this campaign next week.

Cubicle 7 releases their Wrath & Glory Starter Set on DriveThruRPG – I’ve only played Wrath & Glory once, which lasted for a handful of sessions. I enjoyed it. It was a lot of fun as I stomped around as my Black Templar Space Marine, harshly judging my Librarian party-mate whom I affectionately named Brother-Witch. It was fun.

I think it would have been even more fun as something other than a Space Marine, but still, I liked the system. I also have a real fondness for the Warhammer 40,000 setting. A new starter set will hopefully help Cubicle 7 to drum up some fresh interest in their game. It seemed to be spoken about for a while, but has since rather dropped off the radar. A physical copy will seemingly follow in Q3 of 2023.

Affiliate Links:

• DriveThruRPG

Blog Posts & Articles

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

The Trouble with RPG Prices @ Cannibal Halfling Gaming – This is a really fantastic, detailed, entertaining post. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed the article. I reckoned it would either be funny or detailed. I did not expect to be both. Definitely worth a read.

Painted Ghost Rider @ The Bovine Overlord – The more I see miniatures like this, the harder it is to continue to ignore Crisis Protocol. It’s just lovely. It’s also really well-painted, in this case. Thanks for sharing!.

AI Art Adventures @ Riders of Skaith – I continue to find these AI art generators really interesting, and I love posts that demonstrate and compare different applications. The final image in this post is really striking.

The Gorechosen @ A Tabletop Gamer’s Diary – Khorne models that I find myself loving? Who’d have thunk it? Not me, that’s who! These are actually really cool. I also think the author of this post has done a really great job with the painting.

Podcast: Episode 208 | Year in Review 2022 @ Sprues & Brews – You know we really are getting to the end of the year when these sorts of annual reviews start to pop up. This is a good one, as usual for Sprues & Brews. Good guests, too!

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

• The first part of this year’s Top 50 list.
• A Kickstarter-Watch article on Space 1889: After.
• Some thoughts on my GMT Games collection (part 1 and part 2).
• Sharing a Spire-themed Bundle of Holding.
• A Throwback Thursday on a fanmade Borderlands RPG.

This week, I will continue with the Top 50 list. I’ve also not finished a mini in a while. Will I finish one this week? Maybe… Probably not.

Catch ya’ll next week!