5 on Friday 23/12/22

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:

Joshua Mason releases PnP edition of his Escaping Mars card game via Kickstarter – Joshua Mason has made a ton of awesome, small-form-factor card games on a whole range of topics. I’ve looked at his Kickstarters in the past, but have always held off on pulling the trigger because of the cost of the international shipping. It’s just prohibitive and takes the price point to a level that’s no longer acceptable for what you’re getting. That’s why this Kickstarter campaign is so interesting.

It’s for a print-and-play edition of Escaping Mars. This is cool, as it makes Mason’s games far more accessible to those of us outside the US. I looked at the campaign in more detail in this week’s Kickstarter-Watch.

Kraken Dice releases Let it Snows dice sets – Kraken Dice consistently make very pretty sets of dice. I used to cover them a lot more than I do these days, but the temptation was getting too strong! Their latest offering is very seasonal:

I’m never quite sure what to write for dice. They’re dice. They’re pretty dice, but they’re pretty self-explanatory, y’know?

Three Brothers Grim launches a Kickstarter Campaign for their wargame, Warsurge – This is a generic miniatures game that encourages you to play with a whole range of minis, both fantasy and sci-fi. It’s not the most strongly themed of games, but it looks interesting.

Something that really appeals to me is the integrated campaign system in the core book. I’ll be taking a closer look at the game in this week’s Kickstarter-Watch.

Modiphius releases physical edition of the Hypercorps supplement for the Infinity RPG – If you’ve recently picked up the Infinity RPG bundle that we highlighted the other month, then here’s your next content-drop! I previously highlighted the PDF edition of the book, but the print edition is not making its way into retail channels 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)

NoRerolls releases Creative Inertia, a Fiasco playset on DriveThruRPG – Okay, this is a bit blatant, I know. What can I say? I’m pretty shameless. I’ve been wanting to put some RPG resources together for a wee while. I don’t know that I have a game in me, but I certainly like to tinker, and it’s cool to share that on DTRPG. My first such item is Creative Inertia, a Fiasco playset:

This is a playset based on my love of British political sitcoms. Oh, and Veep! But that was created by Armando Ianucci, my Scottish-Italian bae, so I’m counting that as tangentially British! I’m happy with the set, and am also delighted with the number of folk who have downloaded it so far. Some have even chucked me some payment for it, which is a nice bonus! My next item will likely be another Fiasco playset. I have two in the works.

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:

Yet Another 40K Site @ Bellinghammer – Hey, a new blog! Hello! Welcome! It’s nice to see more folk sharing their hobby. The Tau army featured in this post is also very pretty.

What have The Sentry Box been up to – Dec 12-18 @ The Sentry Box – A nice wee rundown of some gaming! I really like the Gellerpox minis. Clank is a fantastic game, so it’s cool to see that on the table. There’s a lot of fun coming with that copy of Century: Golem Edition. It’s a gorgeous game, too. Clank Catacombs is one that I am keen to pick up at some point, too.

Book Review – Deathworld @ Woehammer – Some proper, pulpy sci-fi! This is a somewhat different sort of article from Woehammer, and that’s great. I love it when they mix things up a bit. Solid review of what seems an interesting novella.

Running Feng Shui One-Shots @ Burn After Running – Burn After Running continues to be probably my favourite RPG blog at the moment. It’s so focused and practical. I really appreciate the advice that they give. Feng Shui is a fast-paced action movie RPG which I had never heard of until reading this post. The advice given, whilst couched in this game, is often applicable to other one-shots you may run. Limiting your setting is a solid piece of advice, for example, as is adjusting fight difficulty. Another really good article by Burn After Running.

Two Thin Coats Paints Review – Trans Atlantis Games and Duncan Rhodes Painting Academy @ Sprues & Brews – You know, I’m happy that this review is so positive. Like most people in the hobby, I quite like Duncan Rhodes. He seems like a decent guy, and I like his videos. I’d have felt pretty bad if his paints fell flat. I’m really chuffed that he seems to be on to a winner.

* * *

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