#How To Make Wargames Terrain

[oldschoolfrp]

How To Make Wargames Terrain by Nigel Stillman, Games Workshop, 1996. This is a compilation of some of the simplest methods for building the type of terrain seen in 1990s White Dwarf. Stillman uses an effective teaching style, keeping the basic projects very simple then showing variations that can add more complexity. This volume was inspirational for a generation of terrain builders who were able to reproduce the classic green wargaming table with inexpensive supplies -- lots of recycled cardboard and masking tape -- then go on to develop their own ideas. The book's main downside is what I call the "English Heritage site" design style, with ruins surrounded by perfectly manicured lawns and no rubble.

Warhammer and 40K are referenced in the table of contents, but not on the book's covers. I wonder if this is one of the last products GW made for "wargames" instead of for "the Warhammer hobby (TM)."

MS_Paints recently pulled this book off the shelf and built his way through a table full of 90s-inspired projects straight from its pages:

[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!

[vorehammer]

In Defense of Scatter Terrain

Scatter terrain, window dressing, set decoration, That Pile of Junk That's Leaving Bits of Flock on My Gaming Table Again You Prick... We can call it a lot of things, but what it is is nice.

With competitive wargaming being more popular than ever, it can be easy to obsess over STC-compliant board setups and quibble over minor perceived imbalances created by terrain ("I don't care that YOU'RE defending the town, there's not enough buildings on MY side!") instead of focusing on the fun of playing a game with friends. It's one thing in a tournament, it's another at home, and having a beautiful board can help get your head out of the mindset that this is GAME to be WON and into the mindset that this is an EXPERIENCE to ENJOY. Enter, the humble scatter terrain.

It serves no in-game purpose, takes up space that could be occupied by more miniatures, and has to be taken off and put back on because your little man's at a wonky angle if you leave that rock there. But it tells a story. It gives a sense of time and place and is, above all else, just plain cool. Sure, you've got your little 40s town, but isn't it a bit weird that nobody has a root cellar? Or even a damn flower bed? If we're on a wartorn planet devastated by an unforeseen invasion... Why is the ground so clean? Where's the workers' equipment left hurriedly at the job site as the planetary defense alarms went off? I've worked in the trades, I know how you aren't going to find a hammer like THAT again, but the company laser drill? Screw it, they've got insurance, ain't worth your life. That's what scatter helps bring to a game and it can be fun to make up little stories with your fellow players about the world you're building together. It can also be really easy to make.

I haven't posted much on building the stuff here, but it can be really simple, it's just terrain but small. Torn chunks of cork, sprayed black, drybrushed with 2 progressively lighter greys. Boom. Rubble. Glue em together? Rock wall. Planter boxes are easy to make with stir sticks and rectangle bases and old sprue chunks have dozens of applications. Have fun, it's really worth the time and it can help keep you hobbying on those nights when you've got the itch, but not a lot of time.

Anyway, here's a box of crap. Half of it's homemade scatter. Now go out there and make something useless. You'll be glad you did.

[coolyo294]

Working on some terrain for games of Warhammer or Mordheim set in Lustria. Pretty much just following tutorials from how to make wargaming terrain or the 6e lustria book.

I've got to figure out a better base for stuff besides foamboard though, this stuff warps like a motherfucker no matter how careful I am or how much I bend it back into place

[gilgamesh-enjoyer]

Other stuff I have been painting for Warhammer: Terrain! Got a couple of old citadel wood kits from ebay and have painted them up, though still need to flock them to match the terrain I've scratchbuilt:

A barrow loosely inspired by Hazelton Long Barrow (with resin entrances by Fenris Games), to serve as a tomb for my Bronze Age wight king.

A Bretonnian peasant cottage and barn inspired by some of the terrain in the old citadel book How to Make Wargames Terrain.

[organ-heist]

CACTI

My main project recently has been terrain, including these cacti based on the original How to Make Wargames Terrain version. Just need a shade and drybrush on the spines, and then a lot of varnish.

Currently protecting the Haribo.

[haroith]

Simple and quick painted waystones. Yeap, when you travel for a very long time, you become more pragmatic than esthetic. No need to make ideal obelisks when you don't know how long you stay here or there.

#warmaster #warhammerfb #warhammer #10mm #wargaming #terrain #woodelves #painting #tabletop

[tzeentchdaemonsart]

Modern Daemons of Tzeentch from the Disciples of Tzeentch 2022 (3rd edition AOS?)

The lord of Change is definitely much bigger than the earlier editions, he had the most scale creep for sure 😂

I kinda prefer the previous horrors (3rd version: last ones to get metal minis, I'll grab picture of some in a few days). I found the new plastic horrors and flamers to be unwieldy and awkward to handle. (In fairness all flamer minis are awkward to handle from every edition's range)

Sometimes I think that GW designers forget that they're not just making artwork, but making wargaming minis that have to handled, transported, and positioned on complex 3d terrain (including hills) next to other minis where the direction their facing may matter. I don't like it when they become easily off balanced (like the standard bearer horror minis) or protrude to far off their base making it impossible for them to be adjacent to another mini on that side, as some of the horrors and heralds do.

I hope this range gets redone with this in mind.

Until then I will slowly sculpt my own personal ones.

I still like the artwork and see much potential in it to make great minis, and it's my opinion that as far the current Tzeentch daemons go, only the screamers and the Lord of Change are truly wonderful minis, maybe the blue scribes too. The rest I think could do a better job, with more love, and more consideration towards the experience of players using the minis.

More so I still love the personality of the 1st edition (1990) blue horrors (specifically the blue ones). They're humourous, and I feel like the current range has forgotten how to be cheeky and facetious, which is an essential aspect of who Tzeentch is.

[vatrpg]

Maps. Battlemaps. Floorhammer. Flat? You know, Vat, uses a wargaming map. Terrain and all that. Anyways, I'm learning how important this important element is by way of playtesting! Mainly, because the current campaign I'm running isn't going nearly as heavy into it as I'd like, and I'm seeing how that makes things less fun. Part of that is the VTT I'm doing this through- Tabletop Sim- being a bit finicky on that front. I'm still learning how things function in it. Working on the next (and technically first!) module, I think this will fix things by virtue of... everything around it. Megacity time! Like Gotham but somehow even worse! It'll give me a lot of room to experiment with making multi-layered TTS maps and also just maps in general. Also, last session, we got into the first ACTUAL combat! Sure, I ran a combat ages ago, but I consider this one the first official one. It was a lot of fun! Things went well, learned a lot. There was several points where it could really have gone either way, but the party won in the end with no losses on the Party's end- but there was a WHOLE lot of damage. Space fungus broke containment on their orbital station!

[nitrosodiumaltcontroller]

Testing the Feasibility of Compact Wargame

In order to make an informed decision when it comes to my project, I made a basic set of rules for Compact Wargame, and a board with paper pieces.

Because the rules this time are somewhat more extensive, I made a Google Slides presentation to detail how to play.

It goes without saying that none of this is final - this is just a rough set of rules to help me decide if the core of the game is fun and functional; terrain types, resource management, power pieces, et cetera. I stress this because they've told us not to start any prototyping yet, but I really feel that this is necessary. It took maybe half an hour to write these rules and make the pieces, and another twenty minutes playtesting with my brother. Without these rough prototypes (I am also talking about the technical demos I did for the Unreal ideas), I have no way of knowing whether these are good ideas. I can't just guess whether a concept may be fun or not - I need actual qualitative evidence and feedback, and now I have it.

Note: Sappers move up to three tiles along the cardinal directions (vertical or horizontal). Horses move an infinite number of tiles, but cannot turn like the Sappers. Elephants can move up to three tiles, but only diagonally, and they can also cross swamp and water tiles without being slowed or blocked off. The king moves one tile octagonally like original chess. I say this because I don't think I ever wrote it on the Google Slides.

The actual game itself was alright. Being mostly separated by the river, there were two choices: bide my time, or try an amphibious assault with one of my elephants. I decided to move my Sappers to resource tiles and generate some stock, whereas my brother rushed me with an Elephant - this did not end well for him and he lost the elephant. After a few more rounds, we both started placing down Catapults. He left his in front of his City, while I mounted mine on an Elephant to move it closer. I then blundered and lost both my Elephant and Catapult to his Catapult. This started the 'naval warfare' section of the match, where we both built Warships and moved them around the river, taking potshots at each others' Sappers to try and cut off each others' resource pools. My brother was successful at this, but I shot at his City with my Warship, and forced his King to flee. After this, I took my Horse, and moved it across the river using a Pontoon that had been built a few rounds before, cornering his King. I would say that I enjoyed it less than Battle Cards, but that could be because the map was fairly small, paper pieces were hellish to move around, and keeping track of resources was difficult. The map was so small, in fact, that most pieces were kept to the side before we placed them down adjacent to our cities, to reflect that they had charged out of the gates or somewhat. Realistically I would prefer the map to be four times' the size, and also longer, so each player can put down multiple Cities and Power Pieces in preparation for the assault. The game could benefit from an 'assassin' or 'saboteur' piece who is immune to cannons (because he's too sneaky for them), destroying Power Pieces and siege Cities with ease, just so someone can't cover their entire side of the board with Catapults and Warships.

Based on my research, I now need to make a decision on which of these seven ideas I will make into a final one.

[gameideas-111]

So, I made a War Game

I needed to clean my Palit from the other project I'm working on, so I made this. It's far from polished, but still. It's vaguely based on Elden ring and Pokimon types, so it may be strange. I'd make it a PDF for you to read, but I can't figure out how, so I'm putting it in the text below (It doesn't let me post it with tables either, so I'll likely have to post the elemental table secretly, sorry). Still, I hope you all have fun with it.

The Shattered Realms: The great war is a tactical

The Shattered Realms: The Great War is a tactical, narrative-driven tabletop wargame where players command armies from unique factions, each with its own strengths, weaknesses, and lore. The goal is to outsmart, outfight, and outlast your opponents through a combination of strategic unit activation, tactical positioning, and dynamic battlefield events. With elemental types that also affect how battles gose. The goal was simple, kill the enemy champion.

Elements

Every unit and faction has an element. If you don’t know what damage it is, add the numbers up and that’s the damage modifier for the type.

The Champion Elements

There is a special third type that all Champions have, those Types being Strength, Wisdom, and Courage. These three spacial types adorn all Champions.

Strength

Wisdom

Courage

Core Components:

Miniatures: Representing your army (infantry, cavalry, monsters, Championes, etc.).

Battlefield Map: Modular and varied terrain compatibility (forests, rivers, ruins, high ground, etc.).

Action Dice: Standard six-sided dice used to activate units and resolve actions (combat, movement, magic, etc.).

Faction abilities: Detailing special abilities, upgrades, and unit traits specific to each faction.

Unit Stats Sheets: To track wounds, abilities, and status effects of individual units.

Tokens/Markers: For tracking morale, unit conditions, status effects, etc.

Stat block layouts

Type: They types that a creature is

wounds: how many hits they can take before they must be taken off the field and are considered dead.

Damage: how many d6 they use on their attacks. It also labels whether they are ranged, or melee attackers.

Movement: how many inches they can move per round unless abilities are used

Notes: Some lore tidbits

Abilities: List of abilities they can use on their turn (If they have any). These include passive and ones that must be activated.

Gameplay Overview:

1. Army Composition:

Army Points System: Players build armies using a point system, where each unit has a point cost. Players create balanced forces based on these points.

Units: Include standard infantry, archers, cavalry, spellcasters, monsters, and Champion units. Each unit has unique stats (Attack, Wounds, Movement, Morale).

Custom Traits: Some units have customizable traits, such as elemental affinity, leadership bonuses, or magical powers.

Champion: You can only have 1 Champion in your army at a time. 

2. Battlefield Setup:

Modular Map: The battlefield is created using hex tiles or a grid system. Terrain features (forests, ruins, rivers) affect movement, combat, and tactical choices.

Deployment Zones: Players deploy their armies within designated zones at opposite ends of the battlefield.

3. Turn Structure (5 Phases):

Command Phase:

Players check the morale of units by rolling for each of them, and activate any special abilities from Championes or faction abilities that will affect this round.

Movement Phase:

Players move their units according to their movement stats and the terrain.

Units can charge or maneuver, taking advantage of tactical positions.

Action Phase:

Combat: Units engage in combat, rolling dice based on their stats to attack and defend.

Ranged Combat: Archers, spellcasters, and siege units can attack from a distance up to a certain amount of inches, however they can not deal the final wound at distances further than 5 inches.

Melee Combat: Units in close proximity fight in hand-to-hand combat.

Magic & Abilities: Units with magical or special abilities can cast spells, summon creatures, or enhance nearby units.

Morale Phase:

Players check morale for units that suffered heavy casualties or are facing certain conditions (e.g., charges, failed actions).

Units may become disordered, retreat, or flee if morale drops too low.

Champions or leaders provide morale boosts to nearby units.

End Phase:

Remove destroyed units and check for special conditions or objectives (such as holding key locations).

Activate your faction abilities for the next round.

4. Unit Activation & Dice Rolls (Action Dice System):

Action Dice Pool: At the start of each turn, each player has a pool of Action Dice equal to the number of units in their army. Players assign dice to activate units and resolve their actions.

Activation Roll: This triggers upon a unit’s actions, like attacks or abilities that effect other units.

Champion Leadership: Champion units can boost activation chances or grant additional actions to units near them.

Reaction System: When it's not their turn, players can spend Action Dice to react to enemy actions (e.g., intercepting a charge, casting a counterspell, or firing at an enemy unit before they act).

5. Morale & Leadership:

Morale Checks: Units with low morale may fail to act, retreat, or break from the battle. Morale is influenced by leadership, casualties, and events during the game.

Leadership Aura: Championes and generals boost the morale of nearby units. Each Champion has a Leadership Roll that, if successful, can help units pass morale checks or give bonuses to their actions.

Morale Tokens: Track a unit’s morale. If a unit’s morale drops too low, they may flee the battlefield or become ineffective in combat.

6. Combat Resolution (Dice Rolls):

Attack & Wounds Rolls: Combat is resolved by rolling Action Dice (typically 2–3 dice per unit). The attacker rolls to hit, while the defender rolls to resist. Each die that meets or exceeds a set threshold is a success.

Critical Hits: Rolling the highest value on the dice (e.g., 6 on a d6) results in a critical hit, causing extra damage or triggering a special effect.

Damage Calculation: The number of successes determines how much damage is dealt, factoring in the defender’s resilience.

7. Player abilities & Battlefield Effects (Optional):

Event Cards: At the start of each Round, players draw an Event Card that introduces a random event, such as:

Magical Storm: All spellcasting units gain extra power, but also cast.

Fog of war: Line of sight is reduced to max 8 inches for this round.

Divine Favor: A unit gets a boost to their next attack or morale.

These events keep the battlefield dynamic and unpredictable, forcing players to adapt their strategies.

Distant chaos: Chaos in the distance gives disadvantage as the sounds of chaos happen in the distance.

Healing leaves: All units regain 1 wound, and holy creature’s deal double attack.

8. Objectives & Victory Conditions:

Objective-Based Victory: Scenarios have specific victory conditions, such as:

Total Conquest: Destroy all enemy units.

Territory Control: Occupy key locations on the battlefield for a set number of turns.

Champion Assasination: The main goal is simple, kill the champion of the opposing player.

Assassination: Kill the enemy Champion unit.

Survival: Survive against overwhelming odds or hold out for a set number of turns.

Victory Points (VP): Players earn Victory Points for completing objectives. The player with the most VP at the end of the game wins.

9. Campaign Mode:

Players can engage in campaigns where the outcomes of battles carry over to future games. Championes can gain experience, level up, and acquire new abilities or equipment. Armies can change over time, gaining new units or losing key members based on the results of each game.

Factions

1. The Ironclad (Heavy Infantry & Siege Warfare)

Faction Theme: A disciplined, industrial empire driven by ruthless militarism and technological prowess. Their armies consist of heavily armed foot soldiers, war machines, and siege engines.

Faction Unique Abilities:

Iron Wall: Ironclad Infantry can form a defensive wall, gaining a bonus to Wounds when grouped together.

Overcharge: Steam Knights can overcharge their engines to gain extra movement and attack power for one turn, but they take damage after using it.

Siege Supremacy: Your artillery units roll an additional attack die when firing at enemy units behind cover or fortifications.

Faction Traits:

Unyielding Resolve: Units in the Ironclad Dominion have high morale and are less likely to break under pressure. They receive a +1 bonus to all morale checks.

Siege Masters: The faction excels at long-range bombardment and siege warfare. Siege weapons (like catapults, cannons, and ballistae) have increased range and deal extra damage to fortified units or structures.

Mechanized Machines: Certain units, like Steam Knights or Iron Golems, are powered by clockwork technology. These units have increased wounds and can ignore terrain penalties.

Units:

Ironclad Infantry: (cost 1 point) Heavy infantry with high Wounds and low mobility. They can form defensive lines and hold positions effectively.

Type: Armored

wounds: 5

Damage: 3 (Melee)

Wounds: 4

Steam Knights: (Cost 5 points) Armored cavalry on mechanical horses, ideal for charging and breaking enemy lines. Their mechanical Crucible allows them to move through difficult terrain more easily.

Type: Water and Armored

wounds: 7

Damage: 5 (Melee Charge)

Wounds: 4

Ability: inflict burn upon attack and 

Artillery (Bombard Cannons, Ballistae): (Cost 10 points) Siege weapons that can target enemy units from a distance, with powerful, long-range attacks.

Type: water and radiant

wounds: 4

Damage: 6 (Ranged)

Wounds: 2

Ability: heal nearby allies by 1 wound each round and 

War Machines (Iron Golem, War Juggernaut): (Cost 12 points) Massive, slow-moving constructs with a high amount of wounds and devastating melee attacks.

Type: Radiant and Armored

wounds: 12

Damage: 6 (Melee)

Wounds: 6

Ability: prevent enemies from healing, and ignore 1 wound inflicted once a round.

Champion: Lord Ironhammer, Warden of the Steel

Type: Radiant, Magic, and Strength

wounds: 12

Damage: 7 (Melee)

Wounds: 6

Movement: 10

Notes: A towering figure in thick, enchanted steel armor. Lord Ironhammer is an expert in defensive warfare, using his mechanical prowess to command machines and fortify positions.

Abilities:

Aetheric Barrage: Deals 8 damage to a group of enemies within a 4-inch radius, with a 2-turn cooldown. The magical blast can hit multiple units at once.

Arcane Ward: Once per game, Veloria can cast an area-wide shield around friendly units, reducing incoming damage by half for one turn.

Summon Elemental: Veloria can summon an elemental creature (like a fire or water elemental) to fight alongside her. The elemental has 6 wounds and deals 4 damage, but only lasts for 3 turns.

Champion: Lady Oxavia Ironhammer, Demigod of metal

Type: Radiant, Armored, and Courage

wounds: 12

Damage: 7 (Melee)

Wounds: 6

Movement: 10

Notes: The heir to her father’s throne and power house of magic abilities. A said to be a demi god of Metal and Radiance. Often seen as a pillar of Radiant power and harboring a genuine love for the average person. Feeling deep joy for her troops' celebrations and all consuming rage when those close to her get attacked. Yet, she still holds a secret ambition that could be seen as heretical. An unexplained intrusive thought that repeatedly haunts her and makes her smile. She doesn’t know why, but she wishes to hunt and kill a god. To hunt and dismember a god and claim a trophy from them. Although she can’t quite hunt gods yet, Champions are close enough for now.

Abilities: 

Burning charge: twice a game, Take her and every allied creature within 8 inches of her, and move forward 12 inches in one direction, ignoring normal obstacles and moral checks that would otherwise be made.

Ritchuse furry: When an enemy unit kills a friendly creature in Oxavia’s line of sight, Axavia get’s one extra die for every unit she saw killed. This effect lasts for a round and only activates on trigger. If this effect is triggered, Oxavia must try and kill that unit next round.

Hunting time: As soon as Oxavia sees or is seen by another Champion, she and any troops within 5 inches of her deal double damage to that champion regardless of types.

Champion: Sir Balder Ironhammer, Master of the forges.

Type: Radiant, lightning, and Wisdom

wounds: 8

Damage: 8 (Melee)

Wounds: 5

Movement: 10

Notes: Balder is the younger brother of Oxavia, and youngest son of lord Ironhamer. Often forgotten because of his position in the background.

Abilities: 

Burning charge: twice a game, Take her and every allied creature within 8 inches of her, and move forward 12 inches in one direction, ignoring normal obstacles and moral checks that would otherwise be made.

Ritchuse furry: When an enemy unit kills a friendly creature in Oxavia’s line of sight, Axavia get’s one extra die for every unit she saw killed. This effect lasts for a round and only activates on trigger. If this effect is triggered, Oxavia must try and kill that unit next round.

Hunting time: As soon as Oxavia sees or is seen by another Champion, she and any troops within 5 inches of here deal double damage to that champion regardless of types.

2. The Firefront Order (Magical Masters & Elites)

Faction Theme: A secretive order of wizards and scholars who control ancient magics and command powerful arcane forces. They rely on knowledge, control of magic, and mystic creatures to dominate the battlefield.

Faction Unique Abilities:

Arcane Surge: A caster can channel a surge of power, re-rolling failed spellcasting rolls once per game.

Spell Reflect: If an enemy spell is cast within range of an Arcane Guardian, the player may attempt to reflect the spell back at the enemy.

Summon Elemental: Once per game, summon a powerful elemental to fight for you. The elemental can only be summoned in areas where magic is particularly strong.

Faction Traits:

Arcane Power: Spellcasters in the Firefront Order gain bonus spellcasting power. They can cast spells at higher levels and with greater range.

Etheric Resonance: Once per game, players can use Etheric Resonance to draw upon the power of the ancient realm, giving all friendly spellcasters +2 to their casting rolls for one turn.

Mystic Wounds: Firefront Order units gain resistance to magical attacks and have a special ability to deflect spells cast by enemies within range.

Units:

Apprentice Mages: (Cost 2 points) Low-cost, weak units with limited spellcasting abilities. They can assist with magical support or fire weak projectiles.

Type: Fire

wounds: 3

Damage: 4 (range 25 inches)

Wounds: 2

Battle Sorcerers: (Cost 8) Experienced spellcasters who can cast powerful spells, summon creatures, or manipulate the battlefield.

Type: Fire and Magic

wounds: 5

Damage: 5 

Wounds: 3

Ability: on attacks, inflict burn for two rounds, and heal when they have the burn effect.

Fire spirit (Elementals, Summoned Spirits): (Cost 14 points) Mythical creatures that can be summoned to fight for the Firefront Order. They’re powerful but ephemeral, often disappearing after being defeated.

Type: Fire and Spirit

wounds: 10

Damage: 6 (Melee)

Wounds: 5

Ability: Inflict burn on attack and ignores one wound a round.

Fire Drake: (Cost 18 points) Elite warriors protected by magical wards, combining high Wounds with potent offensive spells.

Type: Fire and draconic

wounds: 8

Damage: 4 (Magic)

Wounds: 4

Ability: Force all creatures in your sightline not to move towards you or away from you, and inflict burn upon attack.

Champion: High Keeper Sylas, Warden of the Wilds

Type: Fire, Crucible, and Wisdom

wounds: 10

Damage: 5 (Melee)

Wounds: 4

Movement: 6

Notes: Sylas is an ancient protector of the forest, with the ability to command the beasts and Crucible spirits to fight alongside him. He is a powerful hybrid of warrior and spellcaster.

Abilities:

Crucible’s Wrath: Deals 7 damage to all enemy units within a 4-inch radius and causes them to become "Entangled" (unable to move for 1 turn).

Beast Call: Summons two wolfkin warriors (4 wounds, 5 damage each) to fight on the battlefield for 3 turns. This ability has a 3-turn cooldown.

Healing Grove: Creates an area where friendly units heal 2 wounds at the start of each turn for 3 turns. This ability has a 4-turn cooldown.

Champion: Lord Yarig, FireSide Knight

Type: Fire, armor, and wisdom

wounds: 8

Damage: 6 (Melee)

Wounds: 4

Movement: 6

Notes: Yarig is a known pilgrim that has captured the hearts of ash and embers. They are renowned for their magic and his powers over the dead. Often seen as his one true controversial trait. Yet his joyful personality hides an ambitious mind. Even helping to bring the Firefront together as its head propagandist.

Abilities:

Ash Hall: Block the Line of sight of any creature in Lord Yarig’s line of sight for a round .

Fire call: Boost any fire type friendly creatures on the field, and attack anyone within Lord Yarig’s line of sight, and boost any moral checks made by allies by 2 advantages

Ashen Oxilery: Once a game, summon back 6 Apprentice mages who have been killed at half wounds, and only having the type of “Fire”. 

Champion: Exavior Scorchmen, Fire helm Kingsmen

Type: Fire, Magic, and Strength

wounds: 8

Damage: 8 (Melee)

Wounds: 4

Movement: 6

Notes: A Rot cleaner renowned for destroying rot in all its forms. Oftentimes even resorting to gunpowder and walls of bonfires to contain a very angry rot giant. His reason for joining the Firefront order mostly because he originally needed more funding to fight the rot. When the war started though, he became oddly officiant of roughting people into very unfortunate positions. Along with generally having an odd skill in hand to hand combat. Even developing his own combat style based on lighting himself on fire and using rot in controlled bursts. Much to the terror of his enemies. Still, his most notorious actions are often tied to the extreme lengths he’ll go to combat rot and disease quickly, even if it means a high body count.

Abilities:

Impromptu infection: If attacking, for two rounds, the target Courage take 1 wound every 3 inches they move.

Cauterizing flow: Inflict 1 wound on a creature and remove all effects and status effects from that creature.

Purge the plague: All Allied deal double damage to rot creatures, and are neutral to any element effects if the creature targeted has a status effect.

3. The Branchbound Baronies (Crucible & Beastfolk)

Faction Theme: A coalition of Keepers, forest guardians, and beastfolk who have united to protect their lands from invaders. Their forces rely on Crucible magic, the strength of wild beasts, and guerrilla tactics.

Faction Unique Abilities:

Pack Tactics: Beastfolk units gain a bonus when fighting in packs (e.g., when within 2 hexes of another Beastfolk unit).

Crucible’s Wrath: Use your magic to summon a storm, reducing enemy accuracy and movement for a turn.

Healing Circle: Create an area of healing where all units inside regenerate wounds each turn.

Faction Traits:

Natural Resilience: Units in the Branchbound Baronies have a natural resistance to damage from natural terrain (forests, rivers, etc.). They are also faster in forested areas.

Beast Bond: Many of the faction’s units can bond with animals and beasts, giving them enhanced combat abilities or the ability to command wild beasts to fight.

Healing Grove: The Branchbound Baronies can create zones of healing, where friendly units within range heal a small amount of wounds every turn.

Units:

Keeper Guardians: (Cost 1 Point) Spellcasters with the ability to heal allies and command Crucible spirits. They can also create terrain-based effects, like roots or vines to entangle enemies.

Type: Crucible

wounds: 6

Damage: 4 (Magic)

Wounds: 3

Beastfolk Warriors (Wolfkin, Bearkin): (Cost 5 points) Animal-like warriors with enhanced physical strength. Wolfkin are fast and agile, while Bearkin are strong and resilient.

Type: Crucible and Beast

wounds: 4

Damage: 5 (Melee)

Wounds: 2

Ability: This creature has advantage on moral checks, and can cause moral checks to any troops who sees them kill another unit.

Great Beasts (Dire Wolves, Forest Giants): (Cost 6 points) Large, powerful creatures that can deal significant damage and disrupt enemy formations.

Type: Crucible and beast

wounds: 8

Damage: 6 (Melee)

Wounds: 4

Ability: This creature can force out a roar when taking two wounds, and ignores terrain effects.

Vinebinders: (Cost 10 points) Specialists who can create barriers of thorns and roots, slowing down or impeding enemy movement.

Type: Beast and Magic

wounds: 10

Damage: 7 (Melee)

Wounds: 3

Ability: once a round, whenever this creature is attacked they automatically attack a creature close to it, and moral checks are made with advantage.

Champion: High Keeper Sylas, Warden of the Wilds

Type: Beast, Draconic, and Courage

wounds: 8

Damage: 5 (Melee)

Wounds: 4

Movement: 6

Notes: Sylas is an ancient protector of the forest, with the ability to command the beasts and Crucible spirits to fight alongside him. He is a powerful hybrid of warrior and spellcaster.

Abilities:

Crucible’s Radiance: All friendly creatures who are within 4in of you gain advantage on their moral checks, and heal 1 wound every round.

Beast Call: Summons two wolfkin warriors (4 wounds, 5 damage each) to fight on the battlefield for 3 turns. This ability has a 3-turn cooldown.

Healing Grove: Creates an area where friendly units heal 2 wounds at the start of each turn for 3 turns. This ability has a 4-turn cooldown.

Champion: Hearthime, The Barbarian king

Type: Beast, Armor, and Strength

wounds: 10

Damage: 5 (Melee)

Wounds: 4

Movement: 8

Notes: A fierce bavarian chef who is known to wander the world looking for worthy opponents. Yet he’s chosen to become part of the branchbound. All this despite him once being the ruling general of this land before he was discarded in an age of rule.

Abilities:

Crucible’s Wrath: Deals 7 damage to all enemy units within a 4-inch radius and causes them to become "Entangled" (unable to move for 1 round).

Rawr of the crucible: once a round, A massive rawr is let out, all enemy creatures in a 12 inch radius must make a moral check or run away screaming. Hearthime has advantages against these individuals.

Deadly thicket: Any enemy creature within 4 inches of this creature Courage take a wound when this creature moves away. Any friendly creatures can choose to move with Hearthime. 

Champion: Isabel Dragoneater, “New queen”

Type: Beast, Crucible, and Wisdom

wounds: 8

Damage: 5 (Melee)

Wounds: 4

Movement: 8

Notes: The exiled ruler of a long dead kingdom now lost beneath the waves of blood and rot. Now she marches with this new land with allies to claim a seat as queen of these lands. The lands her people was once driven out of.

Abilities:

Crucible’s Crown: Whenever an enemy is within 6 inches, they Courage have disadvantage on moral rolls, and must do it every movement they make. Along with dealing double damage to dragon enemies.

Call of the Crucible: All crucible type creatures, any attacks that have their damage reduced by their type is made neutral.

Royal Retribution: Any creature that wounds Isabel Courage take double damage from all troops the round after.

4. The Ashen legion (Undead Legion & Dark Sorcery)

Faction Theme: A dark and ancient army of the dead, controlled by necromancers and built from the bones of fallen warriors. Their focus is on overwhelming numbers, death magic, and the control of souls.

Faction Unique Abilities:

Raise Dead: Once per game, a Necromancer can raise a unit of skeletons from any destroyed enemy unit.

Cursed Blade: Death Knights can curse an enemy unit with their weapon, reducing its combat effectiveness for the rest of the battle.

Soul Surge: Sacrifice Soul Tokens to increase the power of your necromancers’ spells, either summoning more units or weakening enemies.

Faction Traits:

Endless Hunger: Undead units do not suffer morale checks and can be raised back to life once per game. They also gain a bonus to attacks when within range of a friendly necromancer.

Soul Harvest: Every time a unit from the Ashen legion destroys an enemy unit, the player gains Soul Tokens, which can be spent to raise new units or empower spells.

Dark Rituals: Necromancers can sacrifice Soul Tokens to summon undead units or cast powerful dark rituals.

Units:

Skeleton Warriors: (Cost 1 Point)Basic undead foot soldiers, weak in terms of Wounds but easily replenished with Soul Tokens.

Type: rot

wounds: 4

Damage: 4 (Melee)

Wounds: 2

Death Knights: (Cost 3 points) Undead cavalry with stronger armor and high offensive capabilities. They can charge and disrupt enemy formations.

Type: Spirit and Rot

wounds: 8

Damage: 6 (Melee)

Wounds: 5

Ability: When an enemy dies around you, they can not be resurrected, and this creature can attack automatically one last time when it hits 0hp.

Necromancers: (Cost 8 points) Dark spellcasters who control the forces of death. They can raise new undead units and cast powerful curses or life-draining spells.

Type: Spirit and Magic

wounds: 5

Damage: 2 (Magic)

Wounds: 3

Ability: Bring back any allied rot or magic creatures within 3 inches of you, and all allies have advantage on moral checks when in your sightlines. This ability does not apply when they’re freshly resurrected.

Grave Terrors: (Cost 12 points) Large, monstrous undead creatures that can cause fear and havoc, disrupting enemy lines.

Type: Rot and Magic

wounds: 10

Damage: 8 (Melee)

Wounds: 4

Ability: this creature can regain 1Hp for every two dead creatures it eats, and force a moral check to all creatures who can see it.

Champion: Lady Morrigan, the Soul Reaper

Type: Spirit, Armored, and Courage.

wounds: 10

Damage: 6 (Melee)

Wounds: 4

Movement: 4

Notes: Lady Morrigan is a necromancer and death knight, combining the power of life and death. She is a force of darkness, raising the dead and draining the life force of her enemies.

Abilities:

Soul Drain: Steals 4 wounds from a single enemy and heals Morrigan for the same amount. This can be used to heal herself in combat.

Raise Undead: Once per game, Morrigan can raise 4 fallen skeleton warriors from nearby dead units (each with 4 wounds and 4 damage).

Fear of the Grave: Forces enemy units within a 6-inch radius to roll for morale. Any unit that fails the morale test must retreat 3 inches.

Champion: Old Grey eyed, the Crown sovereign

Type: Rot, water, and wisdom

wounds: 6

Damage: 0 (Melee)

Wounds: 4

Movement: 6 in

Notes: Lord Grey eyed is one of if not the first undead, making him very special to those of rot and spirits. The fact he’s considered a demi god is just a bonus in that regard.

Abilities:

Stagnant presession: 3 times a game, If Old Grey eyed is killed, four friendly units can be sacrificed to resurrect him with half wounds, along with only being able to move if four other units are with him.

Equivalent exchange: While Old grey eye is active, once an enemy unit is killed, you can resurrect units of equal or lesser point cost. This effect does not apply to creatures killed while old grey eyes aren't on the field.

Royal protection: When an enemy unit is within 5 inches of old grey eyes, all friendly units have advantage on all rolls, but must rush to old grey eyes and defend them.

With Death as my Witness: Any enemy creature reduced to half its max wounds, who is within line of sight from old grey eye, automatically tack 2 wounds each round they remain there.

Champion: Ancient Alicia, the Dreaming death

Type: Spirit, Umbrel, and Strength

wounds: 8

Damage: 6 (Melee)

Wounds: 4

Movement: 8 in

Notes: She is a dreaming spirit and is often considered the demi-god of dreams.

Abilities:

Sleeping Monster: All allied creatures are given a passive boost to morale checks. 

Waking storm: When awake, inflict wounds on all enemies in this creature’s eyesight and inflict another wound and inflict an additional wound. Along with forcing all who can see her to immediately make a moral check, this only works on Champions once a round.

Calming Umbrel: All creatures under this commander ignore all double damage caused by their Rot and spirit typing. Along with ignoring any disadvantages of her own types besides strength.

5. The Red Hollows (Elite Warriors & Blood Magic)

Faction Theme: A military order of highly trained warriors, blood mages, and holy knights. They are fierce, disciplined, and ruthless, using both martial prowess and blood magic to strike down their foes.

Faction Unique Abilities:

Blood Magic: Sacrifice wounds to cast powerful spells or enhance attacks. The more wounds sacrificed, the more potent the effect.

Vanguard Charge: Crimson Knights gain an extra attack die when charging an enemy unit or when charging a unit with less than 3 units in range.

Blood Shield: Once per game, a Blood Mage can create a blood shield that protects all friendly units within a small radius for one turn, reducing incoming damage.

Faction Traits:

Blood Price: The Red hollows can empower themselves with blood magic, sacrificing their own wounds to enhance their abilities. Each unit can sacrifice 1 wounds to gain +1 to attack or Wounds for the rest of the turn.

Warrior’s Honor: Units in the Red hollows become stronger when fighting enemies in close combat. They gain a +1 bonus to attacks against units within 1 hex.

Blood Pact: Championes can form pacts with nearby units, granting them temporary boosts to attack or Wounds in exchange for their wounds.

Units:

Crimson Legionnaires: Heavy infantry who excel in close combat, with high attack values and special training that makes them effective at holding the line.

Type: Blood

wounds: 6

Damage: 5 (Melee)

Wounds: 4

Blood Mages: Spellcasters who use blood magic to fuel their powers. They can deal damage to enemies, heal allies, or boost the power of other units by sacrificing wounds.

Type: Blood and Magic

wounds: 4

Damage: 4 

Wounds: 2

Ability: Take half the hp equal to half the damage allies dealt  to an enemy (Rounding down). Along with giving this unit’s own hp to others using its turn.

Crimson Knights: Mounted warriors who charge into battle with devastating attacks. They are equipped with magical weapons that can cut through armor.

Type: Blood and Armored

wounds: 7

Damage: 7 (Melee)

Wounds: 5

Ability: When successfully damaging a creature, take half the damage you did as Hp for this crimson knight, and can not be killed by ranged attacks.

Blood Fiends: Demonic creatures summoned through dark blood rituals. They have high wounds and can cause chaos among enemy ranks.

Types: Blood and Frenzy

wounds: 12

Damage: 9 (Melee)

Wounds: 4

Ability: Attack all creatures around this unit without spending an action, and making the enemies that survive its attack make a moral check.

Champion: General Rhaegar, Blood-Drinker of the Crimson Host

Type: Blood, Magic, and Courage

wounds: 10

Damage: 8 (Melee)

Wounds: 4

Movement: 8 in

Notes: Rhaegar is a legendary warrior and master of blood magic. His combat skills are unrivaled, and he can sacrifice his own life force to enhance his abilities or devastate his enemies.

Abilities:

Blood Rage: For 2 turns, Rhaegar gains +3 damage and +1 movement, but he loses 1 wounds per turn while in this state.

Blood Sacrifice: Rhaegar can sacrifice up to 4 wounds points to deal 8 damage to any enemy unit within 6 inches. This ability has a 3-turn cooldown.

Crimson Shield: Once per game, Rhaegar can shield a nearby friendly unit from all damage for 1 turn, redirecting any damage back to Rhaegar.

Champion: Lord Halter, The Crimson crown

Type: Blood, Draconic, and Strength

wounds: 12

Damage: 9 (Melee)

Wounds: 5

Movement: 4 in

Notes: Halter is a draconic mass that is known for their bulkiness and deadly blood

Abilities:

Blood retaliation: Whenever he is attacked, all within 3 inches of him are attacked for 4 damage.

Blood gourger: When nearby an enemy with under half their wounds, he can eat them to recover 1 wound. He can not do this for Champions.

Red rush: Once per game, Halter can let out a barrage of blood spikes to upon a 6 in circle of enemies. These attacks have advantage, and Any who survives of this attack Courage be inflicted with burn.

Champion: Barla, The Flayed Lady

Type: Blood, Spirit, and Wisdom

wounds: 8

Damage: 20 in (range)

Wounds: 4

Movement: 10 in

Notes: Barla is an ancient entity that is rarely seen outside of battle. When she is in battle, all fear it.

Abilities:

Spectral dance: All creatures who see her must make a moral check every time she is in line of sight of those units. If they fail that moral check, they Courage scatter in different directions.

Skinned visage: You can not be hit by range attacks from units under half their wounds.

Blood rain: twice a game, activate a field wide ability that makes all blood type creatures have advantage on moral and attack checks, and half the movement speed of all creatures not blood type have their movement halved. This effect lasts for 2 rounds.

Minor factions

Minor factions are those without their own abilities or Champions. Instead being independent bands of people who can independently be hired.

The Poacher knights

Themes: The Poacher knights are a former group of knights and soldiers who have long since been reduced to piracy. Pirate like clothing and modifications over many different knightley garb. Their fall came when their lord's young son was eviscerated by bandits. Sending him into a deep depression. With their village and supplies dwindling, they began renting themselves out as mercenaries to try and make due, and maybe help their lord have some favor in whatever comes after this war. That burning hope burns in the heart of all their troops. A Hope to help their lord and save their lands from irrelevant and starvation. Even if they must work with less savory groups.

1. Briggon Dredgers

(Cost: 1 Point)Type: Armored

Damage: 2 (Melee)

Wounds: 2

Defence: 2

Movement: 5 in

Ability:

Fortified Stance: If the unit remains stationary for one round, they heal 1 Wounds for the following round. They can forgo doing this to themselves to do it to a friendly creature within 2 inches of it

2. Rivermouth Skirmisher

(Cost: 6 Points)Type: Armored, water

Wounds: 4

Damage: 6 (Melee Charge)

Defence: 4

Movement: 8 in

Ability:

Devastating Charge: When the Rivermouth skirmisher moves straight towards an enemy, they deal +2 damage on their first melee attacks after that . If there are 5 or more within 6 inches of each other, they can all take a free movement action together up to 8 inches. 

3. Siege bodies

(Cost: 10 Points)Type: Spectrel, Water

Wounds: 5

Damage: 7 (Ranged)

Movement: 8 in

Defence:  3

Ability:

Overwhelming Barrage: When the Siege Hammers hit a unit, they have a 50% chance of inflicting a “Weakened” status, reducing enemy Wounds by 2 for one round.

Drowned Recalibration: Once per game, a group of 6 Siege Hammers can “recharge” their energy, restoring 1 wound to themselves or a nearby friendly water type unit.

5. Deck Squire

(Cost: 8 Points)Type: Armored, water

Wounds: 6

Damage: 6 (Ranged)

Defence: 3

Movement: 8 in

Ability:

Aether Burn: Any enemy unit hit by a Deck Squire suffers 1 additional wound at the start of their next round as if they are drowning.

Waterlogged shield: Once per game, Deck Squires can activate a shield, reducing wounds they take this round by 3 until the next round.

4. Sea wolf Knight

(Cost: 15 Points)Type: Armored, Radiant

Damage: 8 (Melee)

Wounds: 7

Defence: 4

Movement: 10 in

Ability:

Indomitable Presence: Titanic Constructs cannot be moved by enemy abilities that force movement (such as knockback or being dragged).

Salt in the wound: once a game, if someone tries to recover wounds in a sea wolf knight’s sight, you can choose to make that ability deal damage instead.

The Congregation of Aurther

Themes: An old congregation that was forcibly disbanded by the old order. Many are forced to carry the remains of their temples on them as an eternal punishment, unless they convert. Yet, now that the land is at war, many are wanted for their abilities and powers. With the largest amongst them, these architect Pilgrims, have begun to use their burdens as parts of them. Some use seven foot doors like shields, Pieces of stained glass like eternally sharp blades, chandeliers and censors like flails, status like bartering rams, their chains letting them attack at a range, and much more. With the undead temple guardians of The Gueneveir knights now wandering with groups of those still faithful carrying their burdens, and holding congregations.

1. Aurther Monk

(Cost: 1 Point)Type: umbrel

Damage: 2 (Melee)

Wounds: 2

Movement: 5 in

Defence: 2

Ability:

Umbrella Exaltation: All creatures within 5 inches of an Aurther Monk count as umbrel creatures. 

2. Bors Umbrella Abit

(Cost: 6 Points)Type: Umbrel, Magic

Damage: 6 (Melee Charge)

Wounds: 3

Defence: 3

Movement: 6 in

Ability:

Call to arms: three of these entities can prevent any damage from Ranged weapons for any characters within 3 inches of each Umbrella Abit. However, if it’s within 5 inches, this ability is ignored.

3. Percible penitent

(Cost: 10 Points)Type: umbrel, Armor

Damage: 7 (Ranged)

Defence: 3

Wounds: 5

Movement: 5 in

Ability:

Umbrel Destruction: once a game, for an entire round, if at least one of these units fall, all enemy creatures are treated as radiant type for a round

Purging dark: have advantage against radiant type creatures.

4. Gueneveir Knight

(Cost: 8 Points)Type: Armored, umbrel

Wounds: 9

Damage: 7 (Melee)

Defence: 4

Movement: 8 in

Ability:

Undead Sentinel: This creature can not be forcibly moved, and automatically makes a free melee attack towards anyone who moves within 8 inches of it.

Umbrel lullaby: 

5. The Architect Pilgrims.

(Cost: 20 Points)Type: Armored, Umbrel

Damage: 14 (Melee)

Defence: 5

Wounds: 6

Movement: 5 in

Ability:

Crushing weight: All melee attacks ignore reduced damage when it comes to type.

Meat Shield: three times a game, If a creature is within 5 inches of an Architect Pilgrim, the architect pilgrim can choose to move in front of the creature under attack, and redirect the attack to itself.

[agendergorgon]

Worm Crisis Protocol: Bring Your Sun to Work Day

Trying to keep up my enthusiasm for this fan project (gonna adapt most of Worm's heroes and villains (mostly villains) to Marvel: Crisis Protocol's rules) long enough for me and my darling @nashoid to finally round out the Undersiders and Travellers and start playtesting. For any Marvel fans what don't know what a Worm is, a Worm is a novel of superheroic shenaniganry amid dire and worsening surroundings, and a Sundancer is a former ballet dancer and MOBA player who now controls and conjures a Small Sun. Accordingly I have taken every chance to write the words Small Sun in her rules box possible. Its a teaser for Sundancer because I like how her rules came out and I owe Colossal Mistake, author of acclaimed Worm fanfic The Great Escape, for failing to deliver any fics starring her.

Art by creator-crash here on tumblr. Sundancer and the rest of her team, The Travellers, are gonna be focusing on positioning and throwing terrain, (they'll also all have a Q, W, E and R because I'm still playing way too much DOTA myself) though Sundancer only cares about one piece of terrain: her Small Sun. In the average tabletop wargame terrain is something that blocks line of sight and maybe frustrates your ability to move. Terrain in Marvel Crisis Protocol is expendable ammunition, destroyed by either being thrown into people or having people thrown into it. Sundancer's Small Sun is a little piece of terrain she brings with her that sticks around, getting bigger and more dangerous as a thrown implement as the game goes on, though the cost of moving or recreating it goes up too. Strengths wise, thanks to her Immunity to the Incinerate special condition, Sundancer can comfortably sit around her Small Sun, though she'll still take damage if you pick it up and throw it right back at her. Then again, so will anyone daft enough to pick up and throw a Small Sun. The debuff she applies around the sun within a distance of Crosshairs 2 (Marvel Crisis Protocol uses proprietary measuring tools, Crosshairs 2 is about 4 inches when you're playing (rules/guides for how to play MCP at home without proprietary dice or measures is gonna be included in whatever full release I do)) reduces the opponent's defence, and as long as they're still sat next to a Small Sun they're not getting rid of that debuff. Powerful area denial through hostile architecture. Weakness wise, while Sundancer's Energy Defence (Little Yellow Swirly Thing in the top left) is bloody good, her defences against Red Fists or Blue Eyeballs are decidedly average. Her attacks are also below par for a character of her Threat Level (little wibbly thing below the Blue Eyeball defence). Add in a lack of any Superpowers to mitigate the damage she takes and she'll need some friends to occupy the enemy and help keep her Small Sun where it can shine. Though speaking of friends, Sundancers' fellow Travellers include Ballistic; a lumbering lad who can accellerate anything he touches to comical speeds, and Tricker; a devious little magician who can swap any two objects or people's positions, so one can imagine her team is going to have lots of ways to make sure people get a nice healthy tan going. Any thoughts on what characters you'd like to see do let us know, I have no clue how much interest this daft little project is going to have but I am very much enjoying the process.

[teensywars]

Why Tiny-Scale Wargames?

For me, a wargame succeeds or fails based on how it makes me think. When I look down at the pieces on the table, am I thinking about strategy? About the drama of my little guys? Or am thinking about little plastic toys on a table?

The default scale for miniatures games is just close enough that you can see your individual figures doing things. That makes sense. The companies want to sell toys, so you want to make a game where the toys do cool things.

But, once you zoom out far enough that individuals no longer matter, something amazing happens. Your perspective shifts, and you begin thinking of your little tabletop battle in the same way you'd think of a real battle. The game is no longer about individuals, but lines of battle, flanks, and C&C.

Space Marines in Epic Armageddon don't win because Lieutenant Ironpecs is really good at hitting things with a sword, they win because they follow orders when other armies would be struggling with morale.

Battles in Drop Zone Commander aren't won on shooting, they're won by seeing ways to use the terrain to create a place for your transports to land.

Darth Vader may be terrifying, but in Star Wars Armada, he's one guy in one TIE Fighter among hundreds.

That's something you can't get from squad-scale wargames, and that's why you should care about games with tiny miniatures.

[terraintaz24]

Been in a hard creative slump for about the last month or two, at least as concerns wargame terrain. The Biomech Tower project got shelved for two other creative projects, one of which was collaborative and paying, and then a sickness in the family (thankfully temporary).

With work and all this, how do I find time to feel guilty for just falling down on the couch every evening? Taking care of my folks, my family? While plotting out how to make some serious advances in my creative life? I don’t know when I got programmed to torture myself like this.

As I moan and groan, I am reminded that it is a huge privilege to have the time and money to pursue arts, like at all. Sometimes I don’t have one or both of those things, but I still have my health and a job. Nothing to take for granted in this day and age in North America!

I’ve sewn tipis, worked on my old truck, taken care of family, visited relatives, designed and printed 3D models, and continued to kick as much ass as I can at work. I’m busy af, think I’ll try to give myself a break.

I am nonetheless looking forward to reprising this project! One day…

[drew-mga2022mi6014]

Exploration | Logo Development

Before going into making the templates for the card, I wanted to figure out a proper logo that I would create for my game. After some thought, I decided to land on the name of Verdance: Battle of the Leaves as the final name of the game, as it pulls from similar wargame titles. To go about my explorations, I simply drew out some logos that I felt captured different aspects of my game.

I started out by trying to incorporate leaves as a main part of the V in the logo, and then subbed it out for twigs in the second variation. I wanted to have a nice balance between curves and points in these two variations, to symbolise the themes of nurture vs combat within this game.

The third variation pulls from how most wargames portray themselves. Through some quick study, I found that many wargame logos use a strong, solid serif font (usually all caps) with some sort of element of wear and tear to the letters like a worn or grunge texture. This is one of the explorations that I like most from the ones I drew. As a nod to combat, I speared the title through with a twig, as one may do with a sword.

The fourth variation is the most different, and pulls from Stribe, one of the main sources of inspiration for this game. I chose to use more blocky letterforms and an uneven distribution to create a feeling fun and excitement, and also as a nod to uneven terrain. I use elements like leaves, twigs, and seeds as well to invoke the imagery of nature that is typical of this sort of game.

The last two variations play on the idea of a wargame differently. The fifth uses a crossed-swords like image using a flower and a twig that nods to military crests. However, after some consideration, I realised that it looks far too political. The last exploration uses the silhouette of trees in the background to create a feeling of apprehension, alluding to the threat of the pests to the players' garden.

Of all these, I prefer the middle row of explorations most, as I feel that they work the best for this type of game. I will attempt to digitise both and create a mock-up to further narrow down my choice later.

[azukailgames]

Crafting a Czech Hedgehog for Army Men and Wargaming

This video looks at how to make some Czech hedgehogs to use as terrain for Neal Litherland’s Army Men, and other wargames, using wooden coffee stirrers, paint and superglue.