5 on Friday 30/12/22

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:

Forgeworld releases Ringbearers set for Middle-Earth Strategy Battle Game –I haven’t actually played the Middle Earth Strategy Battle Game since back when the first The Lord of the Rings starter was released, donkeys ago. That was the Mines of Moria box, and it was really cool. I’ve heard that the game is still really good and that the system remains solid, even if Games Workshop has been a bit hot and cold on it over the years. This latest (limited stock) offering from Forgeworld is fun:

This is a set of the various character who have borne the One Ring. The set contains:

1x Frodo Baggins
Bilbo Baggins, Master Burglar
Bilbo Baggins
Isildur
1x Sméagol/Gollum

It’s a cool idea, casting the minis in clear resin to represent them being invisible. They’ve done it before, but it’s nice to see it come back. Also, the price of this set seems pretty reasonable, at £31 for the 5 minis. For the GW (and Forgeworld in particular), that’s a steal, likes.

Modiphius releases physical edition of the Ships of the Human Sphere supplement for the Infinity RPG – If you’ve recently picked up the Infinity RPG bundle that we highlighted the other month, then here’s another wee content-drop! Something I quite like for sci-fi games is a ship handbook. It’s why Highguard is one of my favourite books for Traveller. Now, Modiphius has put out their own books for ships of Infinity’s Human Sphere setting:

Initially, I was genuinely surprised that Modiphius was still putting out all of these Infinity sourcebooks. It feels like things would have dried up a bit by now and I was delighted to see it continue. A quick check though, reveals that it’s not that simple. This game originally came from a successful Kickstarter campaign and this book is part of the last round of supplements that were promised as part of the stretch goals. I’m curious to see if this is now the game finished, or if support will continue into the future.

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DriveThruRPG (PDF version)

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 took a closer look at the project in last week’s Kickstarter-Watch.

Modiphius releases Behind Enemy Lines, a Mission Dossier for the Achtung! Cthulhu RPG – There have been a few cool Achtung! Cthulhu adventures released this year. This compendium gathers 5 short adventures into one larger tome where they can be played individually, or strung together into a campaign.

Achtung! Cthulhu remains on the ‘to-play’ list, and bite-sized adventures does make running an introductory game that much more accessible. This collection could represent a nice little entry point for the budding A!C GM.

Fowers Games releases Paperback Adventures – As was established earlier this week, I’m a big fan of Tim Fowers’ game, Paperback. It’s one of my favourite deckbuilders and just a fantastic wee game. Now, there’s a new entry in the series with Paperback Adventures:

Unlike Paperback, this is a solo game, so is likely not something I’d look to pick up myself. It’s also interesting that this is not, in itself, a complete and playable product. You need this core box plus at least one character box. Mkay. If the core game is still similar, it should be fun, but this doesn’t sound like it’s for me.

Blog Posts & Articles

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

Blood Bowl: Orc Team Coach @ Wyrd Stones and Tackle Zones – Oh, what a great use for this miniature! I’m delighted by this. So cool. Well-painted, too. Thanks for sharing.

The Witcher miniatures @ Scent of a Gamer – I’m not really a Witcher fan, but these models are pretty. I do like the design of Geralt, as presented in the games and his miniature is really cool. The others could be anyone to me. They’re pretty generic as character designs go, but it’s cool to see them painted and for the Scent of a Gamer blog to continue to espouse the merits of Duncan Rhodes’ new paint line. It’s also so sweet that these were done as a gift!

Turnip28 and The Kings own 23rd Boggy Marsh Rutabagas – Part 10 @ Imperial Rebel Ork – Yes, ok, right. Turnip28. Let’s talk about Turnip28. I ended up backing the Kickstarter for the STL files for the game, and I’ve been a lot of posts like this one, full of people’s Turnip28-themed conversions. These ones are awesome. I’m totally stealing the carriage idea, too.

DMs Guild Review: From Ancient Grudge @ The Kind GM – A solid review of an adventure that sounds pretty interesting. I feel that the main issue with this adventure (the over-reliance on pre-set plot) is a really common error in many of these wee supplements, and something that it’s easy to fall into as a new GM. Of course, if they adventure has some good material, an experienced GM should be able to think on their feet and adapt.

The Ork Mega Dread – Secret Santa 2022 @ Painting in the Dark – The best things about Ork vehicles is that you can just really do whatever you want, bulking them up, making them more killy or, if it suits you, more silly. This is a fantastic kitbash, ending in a cool, chunky Dread. Fantastic work!

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