The Drowned Earth | Fortified Niche playtest!

Carnevale logo, plus sign, Infinity N4 logo, plus sign, a skink miniature

One of the most persistent images of humanity past its fall involves flooded cities that have been reclaimed by the jungle. So if the only thing that that formula was missing was dinosaurs, then The Drowned Earth has you covered. It’s a dynamic skirmish miniature wargame where your hero might just be riding a dino.

Listen to the Fortified Niche episode.

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Starfield guide: frictionless game design

One of the main NPCs of Starfield, standing in a space suit and a helmet. The helmet has a duct tape patch with "do not use" sharpied on it

You probably don’t need another Starfield review. But the myriad things that drag the game down still need discussing. I need to vent all that frustration, mostly with all the game design choices that make the game frictionless. And what do I mean by that? For the purpose of this post, friction is “obstacles that require skill and adaptation from the player.” As Starfield stands right now, the only player trait you need is tolerance of checklists.

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I AM TENNO

TENNO

I am one of Tenno, an ancient warrior of sublime skill awakened from ageless slumber to fight the overwhelming hordes plaguing the Origin system.

My body is clad in the bio-technological suit of armor called the Warframe. Crafted by the antediluvian Orokin from materials beyond the bounds space and sanity, made to fight an apocalyptic war against eldritch machinery, the Warframe channels the spirit of a legendary warrior and possesses powers that defy the laws of nature.

My enemies are the innumerable hordes of the decaying Grineer, the flesh and steel thralls of the Corpus, and the Infection which twists all that it touches.

I use spear to catch fish.

The Mystery Of The Plasma Guard Kill Team

Guardsman without a plasma gun

Back in the olden days of Warhammer 40,000 4th 3rd* edition, Kill Team was born. It was a scenario driven way to play. One player built a Kill Team of individually acting soldiers/miniatures drawn from a Troops-choice unit. The other would have a roster of regular goons and leader – they were the opposition. The name of the game was cinematic action, combined with a heavily-customized squad of Your Dudes. Over the years, Games Workshop transformed KT into the closest thing to an entry level product they have.  And for some reason, the newest Kill Team release allows you to bring 8 plasma gun toting Guardsmen into the fray.

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Five Reasons Why I’m Still Mad About The Imperial Guard Codex

Hatred is, after all, the Emperor’s greatest gift for humanity. And ya’ll kids know that unca JcDent has enough bile, vitriol and foul temper for two racist uncles. I had previously written my wishlist/hatelist for the upcoming Codex: Astra Militarum. That book has since been released, so here I am on the road again, bitching about the new Imperial Guard codex. Codex: Astra Militarum fixed a few problems from the Index, but not all. It introduced a few more. Here they are.

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My Age Of Darkness Rulebook Is Here

No, no chance of that getting played any time soon.
“You think he actually intends to play with us, brothers?”

Age of Darkness is what Forge World calls their 40K spin-off set in Horus Heresy. Naturally, everyone just calls it Horus Heresy. 8th edition dropped last year and Age of Darkness found itself without a rulebook. After all, the game was using modified 7e rules. This forced Forge World to release its own standalone rulebook. However, Alan Bligh, the lead writer for the project passed away from cancer a few months before 8e, and it was a real scramble to get it published. Took them half a year, but now we have a book. And here is my copy of Age of Darkness rulebook!

If you want to know more about what I think about the Horus Heresy ruleset, I have written an article about it!