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**********************************************************************
************* Alternative gaming ************************************
************** or something about tabletop battle games **************
**********************************************************************
** 1/2Saulot'2001 ****************************************************
**********************************************************************
Before me is difficult task to tell you about a different kind of
entertainment. Leave behind all of the computer stuff for now.....
Or maybe not now !!! Maybe later. Many of you during his/her (is there
any woman here?) Atari ST career have seen or played Gremlin games
such as "Hero Quest" or "Space Crusade". These titles were computer
conversions of classical board games made by British company Games
Workshop. I must admit that these two games intrigued me a lot so I
started to gather information about Games Workshop products. It was
blink of an eye before I realised that I'd become *real* GW freak.
So what is so special about the games they are producing? Well, the
first thing is that they created an extensive background for their
games. GW created two worlds simply called Warhammer and Warhammer
40,000. Here I would like to give you very simple characteristic of
these realms. First one is in <link=g43.scr>fantasy</l> convention, so we meet some
classical races like dwarves, halflings, elves, dark elves, humans
of course, undead(8-#), orcs, goblins, ogres, lizardmen. And less
classical like skaven (half rats, half men), mutants, fimirs, ratogres
and many more. The reality is very similar to Europe's late medieval.
The layout of the map isn't very original. It's very plain to see that
designers was mainly inspired by European culture. This is not visible
at first sight (but for the second sight of course HA!!). Moreover
there is magic. Maybe not lurking behind every corner, but it exists
and it's very difficult, powerful, treacherous, destructive, addictive
(!?), seductive (!?) and generally not available to everyone.
Additionally someone has invented gunpowder !!! It means that there
are cannons, rifles, blunderbusses... Very unreliable stuff (you
cannot have the certainty that it will not blow up in your hands).
Hmmmm, for me interesting mix.
Second one is techno-fantasy one. There is 40th millennium. Humankind
reached the stars with the help of an ancient and long forgotten
technology. The journeys to the far corners of galaxy are now
possible with powerful warp-engines. Emperor-once the greatest leader
of humanity is now a living carcass. His life functions are sustained
by device called a "Golden Throne" located on Earth and from this
place rules the galaxy. But humankind, in his race to the stars, has
disturbed powers better left forgotten, that long for the downfall of
man. But the Emperor created the race of super-humans called simply
space marines, these genetically enhanced warriors are far more
superior to an ordinary man and are guardians of the galaxy. They are
organised in groups called "chapters" and they are scattered through
the universe. But what's the game without bad guys. So we have the
Eldars, an enigmatic race from outer space (something like space elves
but this is very generally spoken), Orks (fantasy like orcs with big
gunz and a lot of self made, crude machinery), Tyranids (the alien
like creatures, if you have seen genestealers in "Space hulk" on
Amiga or PC you should have a rough idea),Dark Eldar(similar to Eldar,
but far more sadistic and cruel). These two worlds have one thing in
common. Both of them incorporate chaos powers trying to infiltrate
and throw mankind to its knees. Chaos can take many forms. It's a
great power and can reward its followers very well. Anyone who dares
to tread this treacherous path is more powerful but less and less
human. His body decays, mutates to the shape beyond recognition.
Often the mind cannot stand this transformation and the being that
was once human becomes a real monstrosity. The fight with the Chaos
powers and its minions is really hard and has only one major reward -
survival of mankind.
The second thing that I would like to mention about GW games is the
quality of the artwork included in books, on boxes, everywhere. I
don't want to write for long about it but if you have never seen
artwork made by John Blanche, Geoff Taylor or Mark Gibbons you must
see it. It's a must.
And the last thing, but not least are the miniatures. They are simply
talking, f!$%₧*g k0ol. And there are hundreds and hundreds of them.
Everyone is different, and it's almost impossible to get them
all (Special Hi! to every potential sponsor :-)))). GW is using 250mm
scale, it means that if you draw a straight line from eyes to foot
of a humanise model you will get in approx. this value. So if humans
can have this size, then imagine how big the others can be, for
example, a dragon. And here I would like to discuss the quality of
their models. They are very detailed. State of the art, another must
see. When you get the new models you receive them as a raw piece of
grey metal (or plastic). So it's very advisable to paint them!!! The
painting isn't necessary, but will improve the look of your models
(or not :-)). The best suitable paints are acrylic paints and they
are non-toxic (WoW! It means that you can lick your brush and drink
them directly from the pot without ruining your precious health !)
So let's summarise things up. Interesting and complex background,
stunning artwork, great miniatures in place of classical, dull, paper
counters and... Your kitchen table instead of standard game board. How
it can be, you ask? Well it's simple. The table represents flat
surface of battlefield. Here you set the terrain features like forests
hills, rivers, buildings and so on. This kind of stuff you can do by
yourself(it's very easy) or buy. After setting up the terrain you are
almost ready to do battle. I've said almost because all you need is
a living opponent, a few miniatures representing your warriors and
of course an appropriate set of rules. Here you can choose between
several different systems. It mainly depends what you like. If you
like fantasy settings then you have: Warhammer fantasy battle (most
popular, you're leading your army to beat your opponent), Mordheim
(you are commander of the group of mercenaries fighting for influence
in a cursed city). If you like big guns, lasers and tanks then you
should check out these: Warhammer 40.000 (also very popular,
devastating battles in the 41st millennium), GorkaMorka (for younger
players - a hack ' n ' slash between ork tribes), Gothic (you command
a large spacefleet). There is of course lots of other titles, but many
of them are no longer available (sad :-( ). The game itself is quite
simple. Firstly you have to choose your army. You choose from races
mentioned earlier. Every kind of army has its own strong points and
weaknesses and has its own special units not available to others.
Every kind of model has its own point value and characteristic. The
higher the characteristic is, the higher the point value of the model
Moreover some races have some units of troops that have special rules
unique only to them (for example Undead are immune to poison and cause
fear). Its quite logical because one human model is worth, let's say,
5 points. And now compare it to 200 points of a giant. Characteristic
defines mental and physical abilities of the individual model. There
are 9 attributes like Movement, Weapon Skill, Balistic Skill, Strength
Toughness, Wounds, Initiative, Leadership. Each attribute has a value
from 1 (worst) to 10 (greatest). You field your army up to the agreed
point value total. That keeps the game well balanced, 'coz where's
the fun if your opponent deploys a horde of dragons against your
little, tiny, green goblin. Most common battles are fought with a 2000
point limit. That means that you can "buy" for this agreed value
regiments of troops, war machines, monsters, heroes, wizards, magic
items, tanks etc. Got it? So let's play!!!!!!
First you need to deploy your troops. The place on the table where you
set up your forces mainly depends on the kind battle you want to play.
There are ten scenarios (of course you can easily invent your own) You
can play standard battles, ambushes, sieges and many more. There are a
nearly infinite number of possibilities. To add spice up the game you
can invite more friends to play, use some custom special rules, set up
objectives or make larger battlefield. The game itself is turn based,
like in chess (i.e. first you move, next your opponent) You roll the
dice to determine who will go first and how many turns the game will
take. During your turn you can move your troops, charge enemy, rally
fleeing troops, use magic spells and items, shoot from ranged weapons
etc. Everything has to be performed in some fixed order, described
in rules, to avoid total chaos on the battlefield. As there is no
conventional board the distances must be measured by ruler in inches
and feet. It's really painful for non-brits (multiplying everything by
2,5). The movement of troops is very straightforward. In
characteristic of specified model there is attribute called Movement.
The number of this attribute specifies the distance in inches that
miniature can move This value is doubled if you decide that model will
run or charge enemy and it can be appropriately decreased if model
steps in some kind of difficult terrain, wood or obstacle. Everything
is wonderful, don't you think? Afraid not... There are some serious
letdowns. It's a very expensive hobby. The miniatures aren't
cheap (especially for student with irregular income). The prices are
starting from 5 ukp per miniature blister where you can find from one
to three models to 25 ukp for Crusader (tank for Warhammer 40k). But I
think that they are worth their price, they are beautiful indeed.
Hopefully GW is producing cheaper multipart sets of plastic miniatures
that are not so bad ;-). Additionally rulebooks and supplements are
not generally cheaper than 12ukp (with small exclusions). Painting and
preparing models to battle eats up lot of time. This is not the
entertainment for one evening. Painting of single model can take from
one day to a week. Of course there's no obligation to paint everything
at once.
Uffffffffffffff, that's all I think. If you want to know more
then you can check out GW site at http://www.games-workshop.com . BtW
Grey should be putting some photos somewhere...... And there are some
rumours that GW will produce battlegame based on the J.R.R Tolkien's
Lord of the Rings..Games Workshop has had 25 anniversary last year you
know? Maybe I should stop now?..... Yes, that's good idea I think.....
Saulot is signing off...
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- -- --- --- -- ------------------------------------------------------
CHOSNECK team contact us:
people faithful 2 da roots! atarimsb@wp.pl
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