reference

Fighters in the Void

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Original image from Stewart Crowley’s “Terran Trade Authority” series w/ Prisma Gothic filter.

Casey Garske’s “Voidfighter” is out and I’ve just had a chance to play. I enjoyed my first game with these rules and looking forward to the next. In support of my next out I’ve quickly refined my Space Werido QRS in support of Voidfighter.

Grab the first iteration of this QRS here. Find the Voidfighter rules here.

Finally a few snaps from our first game. There are some lovely custom cards prepared by my good friend, sadly they were not enough to save my brave rebels, none of us escaped the fist of the Emperor Jeff. 😦

Update 14 September

An online gaming buddy has asked if we could play Voidfighter online, sure why not. Here are a few snaps of an Owlbear Rodeo session I whipped up this afternoon. The ships are from FASA’s Renegade Legion: Interceptor.

Update 3 May

My oldest friend just celebrated a birthday and has been having a grand time with Voidfighter. Inspired by his enthusiasm I organized 12 simple scenarios that I hope will inspire me or others to play more of this fine game.

Front Cover
Introduction
Mission Sample
Conclusion
Back Cover
Grab your copy here

RT Pocket

Aron Clark4 Comments
This thing isn’t mine, but it’s awesome

Back in 2021

In these dark times a glimmer of joy pieced my heart when a friend shared with me RT Pocket. Yes that RT, and it’s an amazing summary of the game. The most I did was upload to Lulu and futz with the cover a bit.

Get Yours

You grab your own copy at the link shared above, or if you’d like to order an at cost print copy you can find that here.

That’s Weird

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Filtered original by Jack Kamen, Weird Science Cover

SPAce…. WEirdOoos…

Our group has gotten ahold of Space Weirdos, an indie sci-fi skirmish game by Casey Garske. This is a tight little 16 page booklet, designed for custom warbands with low model counts.

There is a good deal of nuance tied up in these rules, and after my first play it was pretty clear that I needed a simplified reference during play.

My first effort was a literal cut and paste from the rulebook itself. While useful there were organizational changes I still wanted to make.

Next Generation

With a few games under our belts, I’ve bitten the bullet and worked up a one page QRS that suits my needs perfectly. You can grab the file here.

Update Jan 9

Just had a game of Space Weirdos with a new player. In advance of our game I was brainstorming with Copilot on existing narative based scenario tools, as I find these more interesting than simple pitched battles. A few tools were recommended by AI to help with this:

  • Nordic Weasel – The Scenario Generator – which is a bit higher level than what I wanted
  • Donjon – Mission Generator – focuses on RPG missions in different genres, a reasonable starting point
  • Reedsy – Plot Generator – primarily a writing tool for full story arcs

Copilot offered to build a scenario based on my criteria and with a bit of tinkering arrived at something that suit my needs well. Here’s an example of the output, along with some links to packs of scenarios based on different themes:

Hard Sci-Fi

Space Opera 

Military Sci-Fi

I’ll chalk this up to a win for AI and fitting for a sci-fi theme.

County Road Z1ed

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Still from “Return of the Living Dead” – Prisma Gothic filter

…2022

I stumbled on miniature game County Road Z being played in 15mm at Pacificon. I quickly sourced the rules and set them aside for a someday project.

…2023

Again at Pacificon, flea market delivered a large zombie wargaming collection in 15mm and I committed to hosting a game soonest.

…2024

I studied the rules, prepared a quick reference, and hosted a game for friends at Kublacon.

…today

The following are on offer in a workbook that collects:

  • a quick reference
  • an X / Y sheet
  • a random survivor generator
  • a 3×5 character card

Some thoughts

County Road Z (CRZ) is a fine little game from a first time indie publisher, Jordan Heckman – Earthbound Games. Looking forward to seeing what comes next.

CRZ at its heart is a solo or co-op miniatures wargame; but I can see room here for multiple players participating in something closer to an RPG.

Game play is nicely segmented into a tactical game of fighting off the living dead and a strategic game of resource management.

There is a virtual tabletop version! No miniatures, no space, no time – no problem – play online when you can.

My copy of the rules and supporting assets are based on v1 and should be compatible with the latest Modipus version, v2.

v2 is described as being a new layout for the same core rules, but with new settings – equipment – monsters – and so on.

I’m unlikely to pick-up the latest version of CRZ, but feel free to get in touch and request any edits that are linked to v2.

Best Laid Plans

Aron Clark2 Comments
“Maus” by Art Spiegelman

123123…4

The new year has come and gone, and I’m not entirely too sure what day it is – thanks in large part to some extended time off from my regular 9-5.

As is tradition amongst my tabletop gaming friends we consider our hobby plans for the new year, describing projects we plan to take on or commitments to finish things long overdue. In an attempt to organize whirling ideas I have for my own tabletop games in ‘24 I’m applying some principals from my professional world.

In short, I’ve set broad goals for myself and defined some projects that fit into goals, with a simple task list that I can organize week over week. If projects are not on the list, or doesn’t fit into one of my goals, I don’t work on them. All the crazy ideas that pop into my head I collect in a separate list which can be considered if and when I have some spare capacity.

There’s a good chance this could work well for me, and if you’d like to take a look at how this concept is shaping up here.

Let’s Review

‘23 was a fine year for my tabletop gaming efforts. I have continued regular games both online and in person, but with little data to show for it (above methods should help in the next year’s analysis). This blog continues to grow with 2,220 visitors in ‘23 (up 31%), the most popular post being Holmes & Clark with 1,110 views.

Post volume is still low, with on 4 posts in ‘23 (down 40%). So perhaps that’s something that needs more attention.

I did experiment with tracking my miniature purchases and completed output in ‘23, but by the summer I had fallen out of the practice of tracking such things. However, it still seams a reasonable excercise and one I’ll attempt again in ‘24. Find those details here.