Board Game Review: House... Of Danger!!!

My wife and I stopped by a game store over the weekend, and one game in particular peaked her interest...  The Choose Your Own Adventure game, House of Danger.

I had seen this game before and considered it, but wasn't really sure if my wife would want to play.  Turns out the answer is yes, and we got it to the table the very next day.

Now part of this game for me is nostalgia; I remember reading the CYOA books as a kid, keeping my place at that one spot that must be the crucial decision as I flip through to see if my choice was the wrong one.  The game mirrors that "mechanic" but adds a bit more depth along with a variable element as well.

As you proceed through the "book", you read through the chapters and try to find clues that will help you through the game.  They do this because there are times that you are rolling a die to determine the outcome instead of just choosing which path to follow.  There is also a "damage" mechanic in the form of the Danger Meter.  This forms a damage track that also increases the die roll you need to do to perform some of the tasks in the game.  The target number starts at 3+, but creeps up to 6 before kicking back down to 3+ but at a cost.

In this particular game, you are a psychic private investigator.  As you complete different parts of the story, your level on the psychic scale increases but if you take too much damage that level will drop.  Each time you reset the target number on the damage track, you loose two points on your psychic scale which can affect your overall psychic level.

The mechanics and game play are very simple, but we have been having fun with it so far.  The game has five chapters, and we have played through two of them already.  There is some replay possible as you explore paths you might not have chosen, but that does seem to be the one negative that is popping up for me.  Other than that, it's not a bad game and I'm looking forward to finishing to seeming how it ends.  This is definitely a light game, but if you grew up with the CYOA books this could be a fun trip down memory lane for you.  Until next time...

Terrain Review: Kaldstrom Scenery Expansion Pack

I did a review of the first pack, so I might as well do the second one as well, right?  The Kaldstrom Scenery Expansion Pack adds onto the terrain that comes in the base pack... makes sense given the name.  Unlike that set, this one comes with some different options which I think make it worth taking a look at.

As with the base pack, the expansion also comes with two of the smaller buildings done in the same format; double sided to give you options but these ones are a little bit taller.  They do have a similar footprint to the small buildings from the base pack but I do like the varying height.

And that is the point that the similarities between the two packs ends.  Instead of the two large buildings, the expansion give you one extra large building that can be set up either with a roof or as an open topped building with a walkway.  Unlike the other terrain, the fit on this one is looser so it might be something that I try converting back and forth as needed, depending on how snug the walkway makes things.  Even so, I really like that it adds a third building foot print to the mix, giving you even more variety.

Next up are the stairs and bridges.  These pieces are designed to clip right over the ledge on the top of the buildings but they don't have a specific location that they connect to which continues the trend these sets have of giving you some flexibility in their set up.  The bridges also come with pieces that go on the end so you can also use them as stand alone features.  Got a small river or chasm you need to cross?  Instant foot bridge!  As with the buildings, all of these are very sturdy in both material and construction which is great.

Unlike the base set, this one comes with almost no scatter terrain.  In fact, there is only one piece, a console of some kind, but combined with the other set I don't really see that as much of a detriment since that one comes with so much.

Finally there is the elephant towering over the room, by which I am literally referring to the tower.  I like this piece since it really adds a new dimension to the field.  It also has a staircase that gives you access to the top so you could even do some kind of running battle up the stairs if you wanted, as long as you don't mind going in single file.

As you can see, combining the two sets makes a board with a pretty good amount of cover.  If anything it might be a little cluttered for my 2' x 3' board but you get the idea at the very least.  As for the appearance, I like the aesthetic of the whole thing, and the two sets give a nice variety of structures as well.  Now all of this sounds great, but once again there were some issues.  The instructions are just as vague with this set, and though the pieces were very similar, it seemed like they were harder to get together this time.  On top of that, some of the pieces are really, really loose, to the point that they fall apart when you pick them up.  This is easy to fix by just hitting them with some glue, it just seemed kind of odd since the other set went together so well.

Even with these minor gripes, I'm happy with this purchase.  These two sets give me a bunch of sci-fi themed building that I can throw down and pick up really fast, and the printed designs mean that I can easily transport them since there are no fiddly bits to snag and break off.  And you can expect to see these two sets again soon.  I head back out into the field next week and these are coming with me in my hobby kit, not to mention about half a dozen single player board games that I've added to my collection, but more on those later.  Until next time...

Stargrave Miniatures: Troopa Numba One!

This week has been especially hectic as my daughter is heading to college, and then I'm heading out to the field so not much time for hobby this week.  That said, I was able to put together one of the troopers from the Stargrave Troopers set and I'm quite pleased with how he came out.

In this case, this mini is actually destined to head into the Zone and will be taking up the role of my leader.  In Zona Alfa, the leader is kitted out with mil-spec armor among other things so the trooper sculpt works well for it.

The sculpt is also very crisp with nice and clear details which I always prefer.  I always feel like minis with soft details just get too muddled but no worries on that here.  There was also nearly no flash or mold lines which is great because I am horrible at getting those off!  I've heard of patience, but never put much stock in it.

For those of you who might have noticed the sharp lines on his lower leg, those actually aren't mold lines.  I noticed them when I snapped these pics and grabbed by xacto scrape them off, but those are the edges of the armor on the lower leg.

The sprue also comes with a nice variety of extras as I mentioned in a previous post, but they all come together quite nicely which is a big plus!  All the fiddly bits in the world won't do you any good if you can't glue them together but I've had no worries with that so far.  On this particular mini, the backpack, the pouches below the pack, and the sidearm are all separate bits.  I was a little worried about the pouches fitting up since they have a curve to them, but they went together clean as could be!

I want to dig into the mercenaries sprue next to build a couple of hardened crew members, so hopefully I can do that soon.  I've also started working up some stats for the Zone critters that I previously posted so I'll see if I can fine tune those as well.  All of it's progress, and it's all headed in the right direction!  Until next time...

Terrain Review: Kaldstrom Scenery Pack

A couple of weeks ago, I saw images of the Kaldstrom scenery pack and it quickly peaked my interest.  I purchased one of the original Corvus Belli scenery packs, the Kurage Station scenery pack, and it wasn't bad.  The Kurage Station pack is made up of basically flattened, pre-printed boxes that you fold out into some buildings, storage containers, and walkways.  It was dirt cheap and not bad as far as quality, but it lacked any weight.  Knock the table just right and I was worried about minis going flying so I didn't use it that often.  With the Kaldstrom pack, Corvus Belli has gone in a different direction and in my opinion the end result isn't bad for what you get.

Unlike the Kurage Station pack, the Kaldstrom pack is made out of a very thick cardboard.  Think Battle Systems terrain and you are close, but I think this material is actually a bit thicker.  Printed on both sides, it is designed to give you different options when you assemble them, plus you can take them apart, flip the parts over, and instantly have some different terrain.  Not a bad concept in theory, but in practice?  Not so much.

Where the Battle Systems terrain has a finish on them, the Corvus Belli terrain doesn't which makes it a little more delicate when are assembling it.  Since this is all done with slots and tabs, you do need to be careful as you assemble it otherwise the board quickly start to breakdown and the layers break apart.  The instructions also aren't very clear as there isn't a suggested order of assembly to put it all together without having to resort to a bit of brute force.  To be clear, I was able to assemble all of the terrain pieces once without any serious issues but there is no way I'm going to take them back apart.

The resulting buildings are very solid and I think they could easily support the weight of even a good sized metal mini with no issue.  They also come in two different sizes so you can actually stack one of the smaller ones on top of a larger one to give yourself another story.

The set also comes with a good number of barriers, holoads, and display boards, giving you a nice mix of scatter terrain.  These bits were a big reason that I decided to bite the bullet and give it a go, as I can easily incorporate these parts into something like Core Space for some different cover options.  There are also a good number of tokens for use with Infinity but you can easily find ways to corporate them into other games as well.  The most numerous are order tokens which I can see being used as blips like in Space Hulk.

Overall, I like this set and I can see it getting use in the future.  I was looking for a cheap alternative to scratch built terrain and I think that this fits the bill.  Perhaps not the most varied of terrains but it was ready to go pretty quickly so that works for me, and as you can see from the pictures, it doesn't look half bad with some other terrain to mix things up.

There is also an expansion pack that includes two more small buildings, a much larger open topped building they list as "an objective room", some bridges and ladders, and even a sniper tower.  This one is currently on order, but with these two sets I'm thinking I should be able to get decent coverage for a 4' x 3' table which is the biggest I'd be playing solo on.

So the final verdict?  I don't think it's a bad value for the money.  Retailing at $36 each, I managed to get both for just over $50 which I don't think is too bad a price.  The pieces are double sided so in theory you can rebuild them to have a different facade, but I think that the wear and tear on the edges of the material would quickly make them impossible to get together.  Could I make something similar myself?  Absolutely, but then again when you figure in the materials and more importantly the time to do it, I think I came out ahead in this situation.  This doesn't mean that I'm going to stop making terrain, but it's good to have an option for some terrain that I can just grab and throw onto the table.  Until next time...

Betrayal Legacy: The Final Betrayal... Or Perhaps The First

 It was a year later than we expected, but we finally did it; we completed Betrayal Legacy.  Our original goal was to finish it last summer before two of the players headed off to college, but then there was social distancing, followed by the two of them unfortunately breaking up... but the four of us that were last pushed through and completed the game.

Just look at all the rolling real estate outside of the house now!

All I can say is wow.

No, not really.  It would be a really short post if that was all I said!  Now that it's done, we know the story behind the house and it actually makes more sense.  Why isn't there an easy way out of the basement?  Just why are there so many bizarre and creepy things crammed into this one house, and why in the world did the group from the original Betrayal even go there?

Of course someone still had to get stuck in the basement.

On top of the story making more sense, now we have our own version of the game which is a really cool twist.  This is the first legacy game that I've completed and I think it will be fun to break it out again in the future just to experience what our campaign created.

One of the final moments of our story!  Man was it close!

Is this a game for everyone?  Probably not.  I enjoy the traitor mechanic in the game but there are those that really don't, plus if you are a newer player it can be tricky to get your head around what exactly you are supposed to be doing.  After all, it's not like you can ask the other players to help!

As for what's next, I'm thinking that I'll go back and repaint some of the minis, plus add more that better fit the various haunts.  By the end, you have a total of ten minis that come with the game and I added more on top of that.  Just like the look of it more than having a cardboard counter for the inhabitants of the house, makes them more part of the game as least for me.  Before I get to that though, I've got some stalkers to work on, and one of them is already assembled!  Now I just gotta figure out what the other are equipped with.  Until next time...

Stargrave Miniatures: So Much Plastic Goodness!

I hopped onto the Stargrave nickstarter earlier this year, but I've gotta admit that I didn't do it for the game.  I did it for the miniatures.

I was really excited when I first heard about Stargrave, and could not wait to get my grubby little mitts on it!  A sci fi game that uses mechanics similar to Frostgrave?!? Heck yeah!  Then as it got closer I heard that it didn't use mechanics similar to Frostgrave, it basically was Frostgrave reskinned which really took the wind out of my sails.  I love playing the original, but why would I pay for exactly the same game with the names swapped out?

I will admit that I haven't looked at the book since it was actually released, and maybe... hopefully... this isn't entirely true but for now I'm in no rush to get this one which I why I went with the miniatures only option on the Nickstarter.

I've had the three boxes kicking around since they were released, but it wasn't until I started looking more into Zona Alfa and Five Parsecs that I broke them open and really looked at all the little gribbly bits that are in them.  With so much sitting around unpainted or even assembled, I really want to try to make use of my current collection before rushing out to add more, and these three sets look like they might be the key!

The first of the sets is the Crew, a sprue from which is shown below.

Of the three sets, these are the most day to day.  The bodies are clothed in more everyday wear than the other sets, and the weapons are a mix of handguns, SMGs, shotguns, and some basic rifles.  There are also a number of fun bits to add some flavor; backpacks, pouches, holsters, datapads, and a few more doohickeys ta boot.  And since this isn't enough variety, there are also the heads.  There are 20 of them on each of the four sprues, with a good mix of bare heads, alien heads, and even a couple of helmets for good measure.  An added plus is that the pairs of arms are all number coded on the flat that attaches to the shoulder, making it easy to get a matching set.

While it's good to have access to your "everyman" set, it's also handy to be able to bring in the bigger guns when you need them.  For this, you'll need to get yourself some mercenaries.

Where the crewmembers have everyday clothing, the mercenaries are ready for the rough and tumble with a mix of body armors.  This is a touch that I really like because each of the five bodies on the sprue are kitted out differently to give you a variety to choose from.  Their gear is much more businesslike as well, with most of the options being a bullpup configuration assault rifle.  Of course, that's not all since no self respecting merc would miss out on a machine gun, sniper rifle, or rocket launcher.  On top of this, there are a couple of backpacks, pouches, and even grenades, not to mention a whopping 22 heads per sprue!  Since merc are a bit more concerned about protecting their melon, a good number of these heads are helmeted, plus there are even more of the alien heads so you can keep spicing things up.

Last but not least, we have the men and women of the space force of your choosing.

These minis take the armor up another notch and are pretty uniform in style across the whole sprue, which is perfect for a bunch of troopers.  Their weapons step things up as well since most of the rifles on this sprue look to be some kind of bullpup combat rifles.  On top of these, they also have some more advanced looking SMGs, a scoped rifle, and a more advanced machine gun and missile launcher for good measure.  A majority of the 19 heads are helmeted, as you would expect from a military group, but this set is also the only one of the three that includes distinctly female heads.

All told, these sets give you a ton of options individually, and if you start combining them?  The sky is the limit!  I could see some people complaining about the leg/torso body configuration since that take away one modelling option, but when you compare that to all the bits and doodads that you get it seems like a fair trade!  I also love all of the options as far as the heads since those lend themselves to giving the minis even more character.

As for future developments on this line, I could see them introducing a box of female crew and/or mercs in the future, like they did with the Frostgrave plastics but even as is, there are the female heads in the trooper box to give you some options.

Now the question is which box is the best bet of the three?  I like all of them, and I'm glad that I have all three to mix and match with, but if I only bought one it would be the mercenaries.  I think that this set is versatile enough with the bits that are in it that you could easily slot them into a modern or sci-fi setting and not be out of place.  The outfits they are wearing are aren't crazily armored or over the top sci-fi looking, and I think this set has the most well rounded selection of weapons as well.

After that, I'd say the crew box and then the troopers, but this is just because of their versatility.  The crew have a more casual look to them with good options so I can see them fitting into a number of different situations, while the troopers are just straight up military.  They are equipped with more advanced combat weapons and body armor which limits their options a bit.  It's not like you can run out to the local store and pick up a set of military armor, right?  They are still good minis though, just as I said, slightly more limited in the application.

The next step for me will be perusing though these sets so I can start assembling my stalkers for Zona Alfa and my crew for Five Parsecs.  I'm going to try to only use minis on hand for these two systems instead of adding to the unpainted pile of shame.  It's going to be tricky in some cases, but my wallet and I are excited to see how I can do!  Until next time... 

Five Parsecs From Home: Beginning the Journey, Part Deux

It's time to finish what we started, and in this case I mean the crew of... well, the unnamed starship thingamabob. Heck, right now we don't even know what kind of ship it is, but have no fear!  There's a table for that too.

For our fourth crew member, we have another primary alien!  Cool!  And with another roll, we have a swift.  Swift are a race of small, winged reptilian humanoids and they earned their name from the jerky, quick movements.  Interesting...

For their class, they are from a lower megacity which earns them an extra low tech weapon.  Kind of gives me a Necromunda/Mega Ctiy One vibe which is cool.  These little tidbits don't just add to the characters, they also help develop the region of space that you are starting in.

Next comes their motivation, which is revenge!  This earns us yet another rival (because it's always fun to have yet another person messing with your plans!) and also earns this character 2 XP.  Unlike the other perks that you can get in character generation, XPs are for the individual character and not the group, and are used to increase ability scores or even get some special training to open up new skills.

Lastly is the class for our little lizardy friend, and they are an explorer.  This earns the crew another roll on the gear table, and earns the swift another 2 XPs!  Our little swift has already on the road to becoming the most competent member of the crew... as long as they can survive a couple of games!

Our fifth member of the crew is another alien, in this case what is known as a soulless.  Soulless are cybernetic beings that share a hive mind, making them kind of like Geth from Mass Effect.  And things got even more interesting when their background popped up another isolationist enclave.  So the engineer and the soulless are both from these enclaves... or maybe the same one?  Hmmm...

Next for their motivation we have freedom, earning them 2 XPs.  So maybe they wanted out of the enclave?  See how all the little prompts start getting the creative juices flowing?  Las but not least is their class, which is scientist.  This boosts up their savvy ability again (this was already improved from being a soulless) and earns the group an extra piece of gear.

The final member of the crew is another baseline human, but this time with a twist.  They grew up on a mining colony, which gives them a +1 to their toughness.  On top of that, their motivation is survival which gives another +1 to toughness.  This boosts their toughness all the way up to 5, one short of the max allowed and turning this character in the tank of the crew!  And speaking of crew, that happens to be their occupation as well; starship crew.  This gives them another +1 to savvy this time, making this character a brute that can take a hit while using their brain to figure things out.

This just leaves one more step to this whole process (well, other than rolling up the equipment which we can touch on as I get the minis done) and that is the ship.  Just what the heck are these people flitting about in?  One more roll and we have... an unreliable merchant cruiser.  Huh.  Not as dramatic as a retired scout ship or an old military patrol ship, but it will suffice I suppose.  Especially when you look back at the first character I rolled up who is from a wealthy merchant family.  Maybe they were given it to go make a name for themselves?  Or did they steal it, and maybe the family wants it back?  They are an agitator after all, and that would be a heck of a rival.

As you can see, even though these things were all randomly generated they have already gotten the creative juices flowing, trying connect them all together.  So just who are the crew of this merchant cruiser?  We'll find that out soon!  Until next time...

Five Parsecs From Home: Beginning The Journey, Part Uno...

I ordered a copy of Five Parsecs From Home, published by Modiphius, back when it was still in pre-order.  The great thing about this is that Modiphius provided a pdf copy of the game if you gave them proof of purchase, regardless of where you purchased it.  This was a brilliant idea for them, and I think it has really helped push the game to the fore, especially with solo gaming still being so common.

For me, the idea of a solo game fits in very nicely for once I get back into the field.  My real world job is as a field representative out of state, so I have more than a fair amount of time in a hotel room during the week.  The nice thing about this is that we have one hotel that we typically operate from, and since they have suites, you can really make yourself at home.  Well, as "at home" as you can get in a hotel.

This living arraignment had been one of the things that really drove me to get more into painting since it was an easy way to fill the downtime.  I dabbled with playing solo versions of Gates of Antares and Wrath of Kings, but since being recalled last year I've actually been working on expanding my solo gaming options which makes Five Parsecs perfect.

One of the innovative aspects of this game is the various tables that you use to flesh out every aspect of the campaign.  You can always just choose an option instead of rolling it, but the charts have got a good depth and breadth to them to keep things interesting, as I saw when I starting creating my first crew.

The character creation process is pretty straightforward.  The first thing you do is roll to determine your crew type.  This gives your character a baseline of stats that they will develop from and might also include some other characteristics or special rules.  Once you have determined that, you roll for their background, motivation, and finally their class.  Then you give them a name, pick a mini, and bam!  You're done!

While this might seem like it would be too random to work, it really just seems to boil down to an exercise in creative storytelling.

The first character I rolled up was a baseline human... how exciting, right?  They are also the most common crew type so it's not that surprising but I was hoping to hit some of the more unique types.  Moving on to their background, this character comes from a wealthy merchant family which gives them a bit of pocket money to start out their journey towards independent living.  Might come in handy.

Next was their motivation which is faith, earning them a story point and a rumor in the form of an old map.  Story points give you some control over the random nature of the game while rumors can lead to quests... though I can't seem to find out what exactly that means at the moment.  Hmmm... looks like that will be a bit of homework for me.

Finally I roll for their class which is kind of like their occupation?  In this case, they're an agitator which earns them a rival.  Rivals are enemies that want revenge and could interfere with your masterful plans as you journey among the stars!  Yeah, they are really a big bunch of jerks.

For the next member of the crew, things got a bit more interesting as the are aren't human, they are an engineer.  Engineers are slim humanoids with an innate gift for working with technology.  Think of the Quarians from Mass Effect and you've got the idea.  In fact, that image fits even better with this character because they are from an isolationist enclave which also earns another two rumors.

Their motivation that drives them is loyalty.  To their friends?  Their family? Dorritos maybe?  Who knows at this point, but I'm sure it will be part of their story.

And last but not least is their class which in this case is bounty hunter.  Boosting their movement rate, earning another rumor, and an extra piece of equipment are nice perks, but how did this slight humanoid become someone that tracks down others for a living?  Interesting...

For the third crew member, we've got another baseline human.  They're from an industrial world, which earns them an extra piece of gear, and also fits in nicely with their motivation, which is escape.  Mechanically, this gives them an extra point of movement but I like the idea that they are trying to escape from their past.

The last bit of this character is their class which is agitator again.  More rivals to mess up my finely crafted plans!  Yay!  But maybe that is why they are so good at escaping?  Always on the run from their rivals?  Could be why they left in the first place... interesting ideas...

So that is the first half of the crew rolled up, and I've already got some story ideas floating around in my brain.  We'll come back in the next installment and finish rolling them up before I get to the hard part of this process... figuring out the minis!  Until next time...

Random Updates: Välkommen och tack Sverige!

In a slightly bewildering turn of events, this blog managed to set a new high for number of hits last month.  This year I've been hovering from 600 up to about 800 hits typically, but for some reason I had an absolutely massive spike, ending just shy of 6000 hits!

Normally I can piece together what might be happening.  The last big upsurge I had looked like it was tied to the title of an entry mentioning mercenaries.  I play hobby wargames, so this might not seem too surprising, but the hits were all coming from part of the world that was in a bit of unrest.  I changed it from "mercenaries" to "independent contractors" and the hit parade slowed down, but not before that one post became the second most often viewed post on the blog with almost 1000 hits in just a few months!

And then there was this past month.  There wasn't a single post that shot up in views, and even when I dug a little to see why I suddenly had 5500 hits from just Sweden, I didn't see anything happening that would accidentally lead to my doorstep.  The mystery remains, so all that's left is to do is say "Thank You Sweden!"  I hope you've been enjoying whatever it was you've all been reading!

On more serious note, this past weekend was... well, challenging to say the least.  There was a death in the family and medical issues with a pet that we've had for a very long time, all of which took priority over the plastic men.  The toys are fun after all, but they are still just toys at the end of the day.  This past month I had just started working on getting into a Tuesday/Friday posting routine, but I'll have to see what happens later this week.  Hopefully I can get in some more hobby just to have some time to destress and disconnect for a bit, but family comes first.  Until next time...