5 on Friday 21/02/25

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 the High Elf Realms for The Old World – The steady flow of books and mini for The Old World continues with the latest army, the High Elf Realms:

These sons and daughters of Ulthuan make a welcome return to the table. Whilst elves (and, indeed, aelves) are far from the list of my favourite things, there is something to be said for a beautiful army of ranked up elven spears and bows. With their powerful presence in the Warhammer world, the High Elves were always going to be a big, important part of The Old World.

Affiliate Links:

Element Games
Wayland Games

Dog House Rules releases their western RPG, Sidewinder Recoiled – Savage Worlds is a solid, established, setting-agnostic ruleset for your roleplaying games. It’s also one that you don’t hear too much about now, when more games tend to use the 4E ruleset, or systems like PbtA or Blades in the Dark. Here’s a new set of western-themed rules for Savage Worlds:

This is intended as a historical game, so is an interesting set of rules for those who are keen to do some roleplaying in the Old West. It looks to be a pretty lengthy, pretty detailed book, built on a solid, tried-and-tested ruleset. There’s also a print on demand version set to come along at some point

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DriveThruRPG

The latest Illumineer’s Trove available to order as part of Lorcana’s upcoming Archazia’s Island set – Lorcana continues to see a lot of play at home. It’s a fun, light TCG that we really enjoy. We also held a recent event, and I’ll be talking a little about that this week.

Each set that comes out comes with an Illumineer’s Trove. It’s a cool storage box for your cards, along with dividers and 8 packs. There’s no denying that packs are always a risk and you are generally better buying singles, but it’s a nice set, and opening packs is fun.

Affiliate Links:

Wayland Games (Illumineer’s Trove)
Wayland Games (Jafar/Iago Starter Deck)
Wayland Games (Belle/Beast Starter Deck)

Alley Cat Games releases Tik Tak Trek – I don’t think I’ve played any games from Alley Cat, but this one grabbed my attention for its small form-factor and distinctive visual style.

It’s a simple, wee game. It’s the sort of thing you break out between bigger games a club, or take on holiday. It’s the sort of game my in-laws and I might play on a caravan holiday. Good things often come in small packages.

Affiliate Links:

Wayland Games

Stonemaier Games releases Essential Edition of Between Two Castles – I don’t play a huge number of tile-laying games. There’s Carcassonne, Isle of Skye, Among the Stars… is that it? No others pop into my head immediately. Between Two Castles looks fun, and here’s a new edition:

Placing your tiles to build a castle, this is another well-produced game from Stonemaier Games. This is one of Stonemaier’s Essential Editions, meaning that in addition to the core game, there’s also some expansion content thrown in there. In this case, it’s the Secrets & Soirees expansion.

Affiliate Links:

Wayland games

Blog Posts & Articles

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

How to paint – Zone Mortalis Tiles @ Woehammer – I like this fun, colourful, and varied approach to the Zone Mortalis tiles. It’s cool to really see them done justice! The colour guide is a handy inclusion, too.

Daily Commander: Cult of Skaro @ J.M. Casual Blog – Whilst it does not make for a competitive deck, I do like a little bit of randomness from time to time in a Commander. I think you could definitely create something fun with this Commander.

Eat the Reich – GMs Review @ The Giant Brain – I’m so conflicted on this game. I love the writer, the art style, the tone, and the concept. The system seems shaky, though. This review acknowledges the issues, but does point out that issues with the game system are less problematic when the game is used, as intended, as a one-shot.

Best 3 Games with…Fantasy Wargames! @ The Players’ Aid – Of course I’ve heard of War of the Ring, but not the other two. I think I’d enjoy Burning Banners, but I’m not convinced that Titan would be for me!

Revisiting the 1980s: RR3 Grom’s Goblin Guard @ mogsymakes – These are such fun, characterful sculpts. I’m not one of these folks who think that GW should go back to making minis like these, but I do still like them, and it’s cool to see folk still painting them up and then sharing them online. These particular ones look fantastic.

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