5 on Friday 15/12/23

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, books, 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 transparent Warriors of the Dead for the Middle-Earth Strategy Battle Game – This isn’t the first time that Games Workshop has produced LotR miniatures in transparent plastic. They’ve previously done characters who have carried the ring in this way to show them as being invisible. Now, they’re doing some cool, see-through Warriors of the Dead:

These will be challenging to paint. You’ll need to hand-prime them, I suppose, if you wanted to enjoy the benefit of the transparent plastic. I imagine that a good painter could create some really interesting effects. 

Micro RPG release Frost City Blues expansion to Galactic Heroes, Rebel Stars –  Released as a quest expansion to Galactic Heroes, Rebel Stars, Frost City Blues promises:

• A new QUEST to complete in Frost city.
• 7 new Enemies, including 3 bosses. 
• New EQUIPMENT to buy.
• The basic rules concepts that fit on one page.
• Rules for creating your own Galactic Hero.
• 4 Lineages to choose from.
• 4 Training Classes to choose from.

I picked this up, along with the original game in order to have a wee flip through and see how it works. If I really get into it and like what I see, I might follow up with a little review. It certainly looks interesting!

Affiliate Links:

• DriveThruRPG

Radu Caraus launches Kickstarter campaign for Bunker Strike – Tactile/reflex games aren’t really my thing, at least beyond the occasional game of Jungle Speed or Dancing Eggs. That said, this little project strikes me as pretty cool and worthy of a look:

It’s a rubber band-shooting game! This is a nice, visually appealing game of firing rubber bands at one another with some cool terrain thrown in. I do worry that it might not hit its funding target, but one can hope. I also think that the stretch goals are a bit… ambitious. Still, cool project!

James WIlloughby releases Last Nights of the Caliphate, a supplement for Vampire: the Dark Ages, 20th Anniversary Edition – As much as I love Vampire: the Masquerade, I’ve never played Dark Ages. It’s not been a conscious choice, but I suppose I’ve always just really enjoyed the modern setting of the World of Darkness, and not really thought about playing an alternative setting. Well, I thought (and wrote) about it a little…

Here’s a new supplement! This is a lengthy tome that deals with the Middle East. There’s a ton of content, but the most interesting part for me is that this seems to be a “By Night” supplement for Baghdad. I love the By Night books, so it’s cool to see this branching out into new (yet old) territory. 

Affiliate Links:

• DriveThruRPG

NoRerolls releases the Carrion Oracle class for MÖRK BORG – hey, it’s time to do a bit of cheeky self-promotion! This week, I released a new class for Mork Borg, the Carrion Oracle:

This was fun to put together, and is the first of a few that I intend to release in the coming months. I’m also really happy with the design of this one; it’s far clearer and more usable than previous efforts.

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: 

Playing The Jehammed Trilogy @ Train to Baikonur – I can’t say that Degenesis is a game that I call all that much about. I just don’t know much about it. This video about a Degenesis campaign is great though. I really enjoy the recap, including the reflections and advice from the GM on how he ran his game.

List-Building with Flesh Eater Courts @ Plastic Craic – I’m quite hyped for FEC, as I’ve said before. I’ve been enjoying the Plastic Craic coverage of the new book. I’m hoping that the supremacy of Destruction on that site is not compromised, but I have been enjoying the non-destro stuffs!

Starting From Scratch – Prepping a New System @ Burn After Running: RPG One-Shots – This post of just full of useful advice, as we’ve come to expect from Burn After Running. One of my goals for next year is to run more of these games, so this is really handy for me. 

Dragonmeet 2023 Retrospective 1: Sales & Money @ LunarShadow Designs – I continue to find these posts from LunarShdow really interesting. I appreciate the insight into how small publishers operate and the sorts of experiences they have and margins they exist on. Thanks a lot for sharing this!

Painting Beastmen #2 @ Dragons of Lancasm – Classic monopose miniatures, these old Beastmen do have a special place in my heart. I used to have some of them, and I enjoyed painting them as a kid. It’s great to see folk still getting enjoyment out of them, and painting them up so nicely.

*  *  *

There have been a few posts since my last 5 on Friday:

• Part 2 of this year’s Top 50 Games list
• Carrion Oracle, a new PDF from NoRerolls
• Gallery Updates!
• A pair of Traveller-themed Bundles of Holding
• A really fantastic form template for Paranoia
• A Throwback Thursday about evaluating a year in the hobby

I’ve just finished up some Gloomspite miniatures which will feature on the site this week. I’m not sure how many more minis I am going to be able to fit into this year, so I don’t think my total will rise any farther. With these finished goblins, I’m now at 509! 

Catch y’all soon!