Fantastic Terrain

 Amazing New Fantasy Human Buildings from 15mm.co.uk

There are very few miniatures that get released that truly take my breath away and even fewer terrain items, but 15mm.co.uk's upcoming Hordes of Buildings line is one of them.

Promising to be an amazing series of releases, this first installment of structures brings to gamers five human buildings with a decidedly fantastic bent. These are not just regular old medieval buildings. Each of the five new buildings is bubbling with faerie tale charm. Hovels in two sizes and houses in three, it's almost as if we are perfectly poised for a witch, a hidden princess or the dark streets of some village, stalked by wraiths or the thieves of the guild.

For more information on the release and the pre-order offers, head over - HERE

Loud Ninja Games - Ikwen Released

Hello all,

Just a quick post today letting you all know that the Ikwen have released on schedule and are now available at the Loud Ninja Games page at 15mm.co.uk.. As previous indicated the release includes three core packs of six miniatures each as well as a platoon pack that allows you to pick them up in larger chunks and with a savings!

For full information and details check out our store - HERE

Concepting and Developing the Ikwen

Just a quick addendum post to the preview of the miniatures.

Gavin at 15mm.co.uk compiled a bunch of the background information I have written for the Ikwen int oa single blog post at the 15mm.co.uk blog - HERE

Give it a read and learn about who and what these alien freedom fighters are all about.

Thanks,

-Eli

Loud Ninja Games: The Ikwen Uprising is Upon Us

Ikwen Coming March 4th, 2015

Over a generation ago, the planet Kwiell was set upon by aliens bent on exploiting the natural resources of the planet. The planet's native population, the Ikwen, found themselves suddenly enslaved and their society rocked as they were enslaved, put to work and in many cases hunted and killed. The Ikwen have spent decades in frustrated servitude to these invading overlords, hedging on their beliefs and their close-knit kinship ties to get them through. It was only when the invaders sought to remove their spiritual identities that they found the courage to rise up and go to war.

The conflict began as acts of sabotage, ambushes and in some cases organized resistance but as time went on it grew into a very real, very active militia war. Weapons were procured through theft or the trade of the very resources they had been robbed of. Groups of soldiers took to the wilderness, the highlands and steppes where they enlisted the locals there into their fight. Ancient desert fortresses and settlements were once more turned into homes for fighters and their families. Ancient warrior traditions and less-spoken of factions found a renewed place in the world.

The Ikwen are one side of an asymmetric war against a higher tech, invading enemy. They fight in a less organized, militia style, utilizing acquired weapons, not of their of own manufacture.

While we see them as very much freedom-fighting indigenous life forms, use them as alien invaders, allies, mercenaries or even lower tech indigenous forces for more organized warfare.

On 4th March 2015 we will be releasing the next packs in the Loud Ninja Games range at 15mm.co.uk . These will be the Ikwen as described in the words of their imagineer Eli Arndt. Sculpted by Roderick Campbell there will be three packs and a platoon pack with saving.

Here are pictures of the codes for you to look at:

RAP016 Ikwen Militia with Assault Rifles (6 in pack)

RAP018 Ikwen Militia with Light Machine Gun (6 in pack – 3 poses)

RAP017 Ikwen Militia with Rocket Launchers (6 in pack – 3 poses)

RAP016P Ikwen Militia Platoon (24) with saving!

These are lovely 15mm sci-fi miniatures with an original idea behind them and we love them.

We hope you do too.

-Eli and Gavin

Would You Like Fries With That?

The Ion Age's New Service Droid

This month the folks at the Ion Age bring us a special miniature with a bit of whimsy. The Happy Burger Bot is a characterful serving robot representing a galactic franchise with a standard of quality in both product and service.

The Happy Burger Bot is available free with any order through the month of March 2015. It may be purchased separately or in multiples as well. 

For more information on this playful special miniatures, go - HERE 

Sunday food for thought: game design

Hi guys,

Long time no posts... I guess real life does that sometimes. Anyway, just surfacing for a moment in order to introduce this excellent series of articles by evilleMonkeigh on Delta Vector!

Walls and walls (30 of them) of text for sure (but it's Sunday: shops are closed, weather is shitty and kids are getting mad), but utterly interesting ones. evilleMonkeigh is field stripping every part of our favorite hobby (various aspects of what makes a rule system tick of course, but also broader topics like how "fluff" or commercialism interact with game design. A few dead horse in there (and the occasional rant embryo, thankfully kept under control), but quite a few eyes openers too... I've been avidly reading them since they started and found my self thinking "so THAT is why I like this or that game"  more than once!

I assume quite a few Dropship Horizon frequent flyers are regulars at Delta Vector too, but for the rest of us... Mandatory reading if you ever considered writing your own game (wouldn't that be every miniature wargamer ever?)

Thank you for evilleMonkeigh for allowing us to repost this here! 

The series so far:

"What started out as half a dozen posts dissecting common rules issues has grown into a surprisingly large, comprehensive series, often driven by reader responses.  Here's the break-down of the articles so far:

1. "Decision Points" 
This is about "decision points"(TM) - the amount of times during a game or turn that the player can make a choice to influence the outcome of a game. "Resolution" is how long it takes to resolve these decisions. Lots of decisions + simple/fast resolution = good game.

2.  The Fifth Element
Most wargames have the four Ms: Morale, Melee, Missile & Movement. But games need something more. What is the X factor that sets a game apart from its peers?

3. Special Rules, Stat Lines, and False Economy
In which I posit the modern trend to move away from stat lines is actually complicating matters as well as losing differentiation.

4. Keep it Consistent
Keeping mechanics consistent vs using 20 different dice rolling methods.

5. What happened to Time Scale and Ground Scale in Wargames?
They still exist, even if we ignore them.  It's the game designer sacrificing realism for the ability to play 100 genres with the same rule set.

6.  "Realism"in Wargames
In which the realism-v-fun myth is debunked; it's actually realism vs unrealistic, and simple vs complicated.  Realism is possible, and it's a good thing.

7.  Design Philosophy
The importance of designers "nailing their colours to the mast" and setting a clear success criteria.

8. Scenarios for Wargames
The old chestnut. Points systems vs scenarios. Can they co-exist?

9. Fluff n'Stuff.
A few ground rules for good fluff.

10.  Pre-measuring vs Guessing
Always a contentious topic. Do we favour estimation skills or geometry? Or neither?

11. The Balanced Points System
In which I contend a balanced point system is impossible on many levels - but still worth including.

12. Commercialism - Supplements, Rules and Miniature Sales
The rise of the "cookie-cutter" one-size-its-all rulebook, and how miniature sales (not fun, playability or realism are driving game design. The codex arms race. 

13.  Is Originality Possible?
There are only a finite amount of ways to represent wargame mechanics - and do we really need more anyway?

14. The "Forgotten" - Terrain, Victory Conditions, & Balance
The often-neglected impact of terrain and alternate victory conditions on game balance. 

15. Philosophy in Wargames
Game designers need to decide how they want their game to play; then reward/punish using modifiers and game mechanics to "encourage" players to play that way.  For example, 40K rewards good list building and deployment; Infinity emphasizes the good use of cover and positioning of fire lanes. 

16. Record Keeping, Counters & Bookkeeping
Considering the tradeoffs of "enhancing gameplay" vs ""time/fiddliness." Is it worth it?

17. Playtesting - is it a fair test?
Using the scientific method of a "fair test" I point out how it's almost impossible to playtest a game properly.

18. The decline of MMOs, and how it applies to wargames
Drawing parallels between the stagnation of MMO design and trends in wargame design.

19. "Early Access" ""Pay to Win" and "Wargaming DLC" 
Some less-than-desirable trends from the PC industry that seem to be transferring to wargame companies.

20. Realism Revisited
I revisit the "realism vs fun" myth and attempt to define it more accurately, in terms such as "process vs results" and "detailed vs abstract."

21. RPG Resources 
Musing about magic systems, and concepts wargames could borrow from RPGs.

22. Best Selling Wargames
Analyzing the bestselling games, and trying to quantify what makes a rule set commercially successful.

23. Enjoyable or Innovative Mechanics 1 - Setup/Activation
Sharing fun and interesting game mechanics.

24. Favourite Mechanics 2  - Movement
Sharing more favourite game mechanics. 

25. Mordhiem, Competitive Campaigns, & Balance
No game has filled the Necromunda/Mordhiem niche. A look at balancing campaigns for the competitive sphere.

26.  The out-of-game experience
Most successful games seem to have lots to do when you aren't actually playing. 

27. True Line of Sight
It's increasingly popular, and almost the de-facto for vision rules. But is true-line-of-site really the best choice?

28.  Morale Rules & Combat Stress
Musing on morale systems. Is there a "best"method, or can we ignore morale altogether?

29. Vietnam in Space
Hard sci-fi is everywhere - it's the new "platoon-level WW2" - where has the imagination gone?"