#wargaming map

[kathysvart]

I FINISHED THE MAP!

AAAAAAAAAA

I loved working on it.

[losttrailsmaps]

In the vastness of outer space, pulsing stars and explosive supernovas cast fleeting glows across an ancient darkness, where ancient horrors drift and hunger.

Welcome to Outer Space! This pack features 15 maps, including stars, asteroid fields, wormholes and much more.

Patrons get access to gridded/ungridded and watermark-free maps. The grid size of each map is 20x30.

Check out the map pack here.

[tinygiantplasticmonsters]

CGL map scale Overlord for battletech I painted up. Almost did a big Combine logo on it, but turns out the Federated Suns navy also does red and black, so leaving it off so I have an excuse for it fitting more usages.

[eightfoldpaper]

[doolallymagpie]

The print went well apart from an obvious hiccup, but, yeah, FDM and long, thin components don’t mix

So, a 54mm battle-damaged Dalek Subjugator

[clara-armada]

Serilian Confederation: Warfare Command Center

[lynnaquinn]

Though the 4 Constellations lay out the major regions, there are 3 other regions that exist within the nation that don't bear a Constellation (as of yet)

The Dorfendepths lie between the Hinterlands and the Northern Wastes. This is the realm where the Dwarfkin hale from originally.

The Elfenwoods lie between the Hinterlands and the deadly Necropolis. The Fae Kind and the remnants of the Orcish Kingdom hale from here.

The southern borders of the Hinterlands lie the Dragon's Reach. The original kingdom of the Orcs before an experiment left the kingdom in Rune left to time and treasure hunters. It's mountainous pass leading to a long stretch of wastelands before hitting the shore.

The Southern Islands are off of a peninsula shared by the Hinterlands and the Dragon's Reach!

[prokopetz]

The funny thing about contemporary discourse regarding whether trying to adapt roguelike video games to the tabletop represents the videogamification of tabletop RPGs is that tabletop RPGs randomly generating encounters and dungeon layouts using stacks of big stupid lookup tables is actually older than Rogue (i.e., the game the roguelike genre is named after). Heck, depending on how you define your terms, the hex-crawl – a style of tabletop roleplaying revolving around the logistics of overland travel across a hex-gridded map where the contents of each hex are randomly generated – may well be the earliest form of tabletop RPG to fully distinguish itself from historical wargaming. Like, this style of play is not novel to the medium; it's the literal, historical foundation of the hobby.

[rottenshotgungames]

There’s been a consistent push towards mapless play in the TTRPG space (in all but those games that lean most heavily into their tactical wargaming roots). The idea of genre emulation and trope usage has made tracking precise physical space all but obsolete in most cases . . . but I hate that. I think that there are some stories that are only at their most effective when one can see, interact with, and directly make use of their environment. There’s the obvious example of war games, but stealth games also heavily benefit from having an environment that players are able to see (or at least see a vague representation of). The visual representation of physical reality helps ground the fiction in that reality, and mapless play almost always loses that.

Do you prefer maps? Do you hate maps? Why or why not?

[oldschoolfrp]

This year marks the 80th anniversary of the Ardennes Offensive, aka the Battle of the Bulge, fought in the winter of 1944-45. The many wargames recreating this battle include:

The Battle of the Bulge by Avalon Hill, 1965 -- The designers credited General McAuliffe with authenticating their research, while AH's advertising also mentions inspiration from the Henry Fonda film of the same year

The Battle of the Bulge, 2nd edition by Avalon Hill in 1981 with Rodger MacGowan box art depicting General Patton

The Ardennes Offensive by SPI, 1973, designed by Jim Dunnigan

Wacht am Rhein, SPI, 1977, a grand tactical simulation across 4 map boards, larger and more complex than SPI's other Bulge games

The Big Red One, SPI, 1980, a simpler approach to the same subject with shorter rules, fewer pieces, and a small map, originally released in 1979 as Bulge: The Battle for the Ardennes, then rebranded as a tie-in with Samuel Fuller's 1980 film

One Page Bulge by Steve Jackson Games, 1980, one of their few historical microgames, with Dave Martin box art

Attack in the Ardennes, GDW, 1982, designed by Frank Chadwick with box art by William H Keith, Jr

[theresattrpgforthat]

This is kind of a weird one I guess but do you have any recommendations for urban fantasy games with crunchy combat that can utilise battle mats or terrain? ideally ones where the general population don't know the fantasy elements exist. Something with a vibe like fighting monsters and gangs in abandoned malls and subway stations instead of dungeons.

I wanna build terrain for an urban fantasy game but all the ones I see seem to be ones where combat isn't a huge focus, or they're very rules light, or combat is super deadly so you don't have an opportunity to screw around with positions a lot.

Thanks -w-

THEME: Urban Fantasy w/ Combat.

Hello! This is a pretty tall order, and I think that what you're looking for is closer to a war game than a ttrpg. I'm going to include a few tabletop games here, since that's my thing, but I'm also going to show you a little bit of what I found from the Wargame Vault, in case you find that to be a little more in your wheelhouse.

CAIN, by Tom Bloom.

Humanity is cursed, host to a roiling psychic sea barely understood or controlled, a phenomenon arising purely from the darkest portions of the human soul. While most humans are blissfully unaware of its presence, others are more sensitive. When it grows wild in these hosts, SINS appear, terrifying supernatural monsters that are anathema to reality itself.

CAIN is the solution, the global supranational shadow organization dedicated solely to the hunting and execution of sins. It’s mission is clear, its purpose steadfast. Is there anything better than a good hunt? Just think, you’re all set to slaughter to your heart’s content.

YOU are an exorcist, a powerful psychic soldier and tool of CAIN, honed and wielded for one purpose: WIPE OUT THE STAIN.

From the same person who brought us Kill Six Billion Demons and Lancer, CAIN is definitely focused on the hunt of something that regularly, everyday people can't see. The game uses d6 dice pools, and draws on a lot of narrative cues that I've seen in places like Blades in the Dark, so I don't know if it's necessarily as map-oriented as you'd like, but there might be something tactical in the choices your characters might have to make.

CAIN also puts a fair amount of stock in something called a Category, which is a scaling system to help you determine how effective any given action might be, depending on your character vs the type of supernatural power they are up against, as well as an exorcist's level of skill, the number of people involved, or how much of an area one might need to cover. The game definitely feels like it will reward you if you manage to attain some system mastery, so if you like that kind of challenge, you might like CAIN.

Majestic 13, by Snarling Badger Studios.

MAJESTIC 13 is miniatures-agnostic tabletop wargame where you command an elite team of alien hunters in a secret war to protect the Earth.

To the public, the modern era of alien encounters started in Roswell, New Mexico, on July 8th, 1947, with reports of a downed alien craft, which were quickly retracted and replaced by the story of a weather balloon. The public remains suspicious but accepts the story and moves on. Conspiracy theorists claim the government absconded with alien bodies and technology and hid everything from the people. Both stories are, of course, wrong.

Secrecy? Check. Monsters? Check. Terrain & combat? Absolutely check. Majestic 13 is not necessarily an urban fantasy game, but I think that you could swap out the aliens for fantasy monsters and you'd be pretty darn close. This is also a war-game, so it's definitely focused on the logistics of a drawn-out fight, rather than narrative beats. I think perhaps one of the biggest drawbacks of this game is that it's designed for only 1-2 players, so it would be difficult to bring this to a larger table.

Mad as Hell, by SoulMuppet Publishing.

Mad as Hell is an anti-capitalist demon-hunting exploration of activism and community. Play as Radicals, members of various Communities, banding together to fight the literal demons of capitalism.

The only way to kill demons is to understand what quiet violence created them in the first place, work out how to solve that problem, and turn it into a weapon. You might kill a demon of mouldy water with a purifier, a demon of poison-laced diet drugs with its own reflection, or a demon of bigotry with a pride flag. Unless you address the root cause of the problem, the wound in the world will continue to fester, and the demon will be reborn, free to wreak havoc. To defeat the demon truly, you need to make meaningful social change in your communities and help those around you.

Mad as Hell is rules-light, but it's also a combat game, where demons are representative of the evils that have arisen from a wounded world full of damaging power structures. You hunt these demons to protect the communities you are part of, and also to help combat the distress that arises from living in such a fraught environment.

I'm recommending this game mostly because it carries the fantasy setting that you're looking for, as well as focusing much of the game on conflict, although the conflict is probably less about a strategically-managed battlefield, and more about using what resources you have to solve what problems you can.

Right now the game is preparing to kick-start later this year, but the quick-start (linked above) is free to download. You can also download the Radical's Handbook if you want some in-world commentary from various contributors.

Dark Streets & Darker Secrets, by Old Skull Publishing.

Dark Streets & Darker Secrets is a Street & Sorcery Rules Light Role-Playing Game with an Old School spirit, just like its predecessors: Sharp Swords & Sinister Spells and Solar Blades & Cosmic Spells.

It’s a game about modern adventures in the world we live today, only with a layer of supernatural weirdness and horror. Characters are people who have found out about the mysteries and horrors that exist in the world and have decided to do something about it, be it battle it, join it, or simply explore its possibilities in any way they see fit. They will battle evil cultists, corrupted ghosts, bloodsucking vampires, and frenzied werewolves, or maybe they will be the horrors of others.

Dark Streets & Darker Secrets feels like a great option for GMs who want a bunch of tools to help them generate interesting adventures for their players. The game itself feels liked it draws from quite a bit of OSR sensibilities, which means that if there is strategy, it will mostly revolve around creative uses of your environment and the items on your person.

I'm not entirely sure whether or not terrain is something that would add to OSR-style games or not, but combat in this game system is pretty comprehensive, with rules about movement, cover, multiple attacks, and using spells. If you want to learn more about this game, you can check out this review on Questing Beast about the game!

The Secret World, by Star Anvil Studios.

An age is ending, and the darkest days are already here. Ancient enemies cast their avaricious gaze upon our world, threats both mortal and cosmic–once thought merely myth, but horrifically all too real–reveal themselves as the clock counts down towards apocalypse. Now, the “Bees,” the Chosen of Gaia, must step forth to defend the Earth against these dire threats. At the same time, they must work with secret societies who support the bees in their efforts to save humanity from unspeakable horrors.

In The Secret World: The Roleplaying Game, the players are those bees.

The Secret World requires the Savage Worlds core rulebook in order to play; it's a setting more than it is a standalone game. It's all about secret societies fighting against apocalyptic forces. Mechanically, I find Savage Worlds to be "crunchy" and I certainly wouldn't call it rules-lite… but it's also not exactly tactical in nature. Mechanical bonuses are awarded to characters depending on how you as a player role-play, and characters are built through a point-buy system, rather than through an advancement path often seen in class-based games.

That being said, the fact that the game tracks movement through pace means that having some kind of map or terrain to track your progress would be very helpful. The kind of weapon your character holds determines how much damage you might be able to do, and you roll for damage, meaning that you can't count on dealing the same amount of damage every time. If you like trad games, I think there's a lot you might like in both Savage Worlds and The Secret World.

When Nightmares Come, by Osprey Publishing.

When Nightmares Come is a tabletop miniatures wargame about modern day monster hunting and occult investigations. Players will form a team of paranormal vigilantes; self-taught occult specialists and monster hunters who call themselves the Nightwatch. These self-appointed members of the ‘watch look to tackle the supernatural horrors and investigate the strange disturbances that plague their city.

The core of the game, using the Action Dice Pool with its multiple die types, is fast and bloody, with tiered enemies, flexible player classes, quick combat resolution, and straightforward mission objectives.

When Nightmares Come also contains a roleplaying element that allows for non-combat challenges and dramatic encounters. This system uses the same dice types as the core game’s Action Dice Pool and emphasizes quick resolutions. This narrative system adds a fresh dimension to the core miniatures experience, particularly in longer campaigns where the promise of different foes and new story lines encourages long-term play-ability.

This looks like an excellent game for folks who like to play the underdog, combining the combat of monster-hunting with an investigation that point to plenty of mystery and hidden enemies. The publisher of this game also mentions a narrative system, which allows for dramatic encounters that might allow this game to straddle the line between war-game and TTRPG. Another great thing about this game is that appears to be some supplements designed by to community to help you get started, such as The Loa of Lockwood Court, and Gang Tags and Elder Signs.

Finally...

If you like what I do and want to leave a tip, you can check out my Ko-Fi!

[kathysvart]

Map and a sleepy kitty

[losttrailsmaps]

City Streets Map Pack

Greetings everyone, welcome to another map pack! It features 12 total maps, including city streets, bridges, cathedrals and much more.

Patrons get access to gridded/ungridded and watermark-free maps. The grid size of each map is 30x40.

Check out the map pack here.

[vintagegeekculture]

"Ares" was a magazine put out between 1977-1984 by SPI that specialized in military wargames with a fantasy or science fiction bent. It was put out by SPI, who mainly made military wargaming guides of the usual type, e.g. recreating Caesar vs. the Gauls or World War Ii, but they noticed the incredibly popular rise of strategic scifi starship board games like Phil Pritchard's Lensman in 1969, and Starforce: Interstellar Conflict in the 25th Century in 1974.

The key trait of Ares is that each issue came with a strategy game inside of it, with an expandable fold out map you get by lifting the staples, and with small unit counters on cardboard placed inside you punch out. So for example, the issue of Albion would fold out into this:

There used to be a lot of interstellar space strategy board games that in terms of complexity, had borders blurred with tabletop RPGs; even Star Trek got one under FASA. The main reason these kinds of games went away is that they never had a huge audience due to their simulative complexity. Their audience was a sort of hodgepodge of Gifted Kids and ex-military veterans, and that audience fractured. Gifted Kids went on to tabletop RPGs and video games, particularly when, in the late 80s, home computers became able to do the kind of complex number heavy games of this nature.

Most issues of Ares are available from the Internet Archive, and with some creativity and cardboard, you can even print miniatures.

[eightfoldpaper]

[agendergorgon]

Heroscape!

It sure is one of THE battles of all time. Kid me thought it was the coolest thing ever and my brother agreed, and together we'd combine our allowance and buy another little expansion every week in a terrifying prelude to my dangerous warhammer addiction.

Space valkyries discover portals that let them gain power and summon nerds from across the universe, and decide to fight each other over these portals with their summoned nerds abducted from throughout the timestream. When the starter box contains a dragon, an orc riding a T-rex, foolish samurai warriors, and a robot named Deathwalker 9000 you know they thought out the appeal of this. Are the rules any good for the board game? Eh, good kiddie fair, somehow still more fun than warhammer, not the best but not the worst. Were the minis any good? About on par with blind bag DnD stuff. But the tiles! You see these things?

Its a 3d fucking hex map! DnD players' dream! Many good wargame tool. Heroscape has its play all done on a big 3d map where height advantage gives you bonus attack and def and climbing costs extra movement and models with flying ignore this. And where water tiles are slippy so you gotta stop in them unless you're flying. Okay, interacting with the map was a thing, but a bit basic. It was mostly either ignoring the penalties or a slight increase in stats. BUT! Heroscape died a decade ago, and now its coming back. And whoever is making it now knows what they're doing, because-

The new lads they're spoiling include stuff like modifying the map. The modular map the game is played on, is modular! People throwing more stuff on the table, taking it off. THIS! I like this. Pointing and excited. Even more than I am that Heroscape is coming back and I don't need to use a 3d printer to replace my cracking old heroscape tiles. Funny modular map rules! Give me a lady that has a portable wall and I am sold.