34th Tribe of the Vault Wargaming

An Interview with The Outer Circle

My first interview for this hobbyist blog series is someone you will more than likely know if you’ve been in the Warhammer 40k, and the Horus Heresy community for some time. The Outer Circle is known best for his YouTube channel on such series as ‘What Broke the Fans’, ‘The Weekly Scrubdown’, ‘The Horus Heresy 2.0: Getting Started in the Age of Darkness’ and various topical videos on Games Workshop business practices and the community.

I wanted to create this post to not only hear from TOC opinion on The Horus Heresy, but to also learn how it all started for TOC, and where the future will go from here.

I hope you’ll enjoy this interview as much as I have. Let’s begin…

1) First of all, what got you started into the hobby, and what was your first army you’ve collected?

I had a relative who visited the UK bring me back some models, which I painted awfully as I was gifted just 3 paints, Blood Red, Ultarmarines Blue and Skull White and a far-too-large paint brush. After some stop-start I eventually ended up with Thousand Sons or Tzeentch aligned marines back in the heady days of late 2nd edition.

2) How did you get into the Horus Heresy, and what was that era like during the time when Forge World was producing it?

The Horus Heresy was an era I never imagined being actually covered. I had a friend, John, who ran a page called ‘The Painting Bunker’, a brilliant little blog, and he was producing some fantastic stuff which was starting to inform my own hobbying. I saw his work with Badab and the Charcaradons and his use of the Forge World Power Armour sets. So I decided that I would do something like that, taking the Forge World armours, namely MK II, and converting it with bits from Kromlech, Puppets War, Scibor etc. and created a heresy-like red Thousand Sons force led by a converted Scibor miniature as my Magnus the Red, and placed onto Secret Weapon Miniatures bases. The army was a real passion project, despite being hindered by being tied to the awful 40k Chaos codexes.

At about the time I finished up, the first Horus Heresy book was announced, and I was amazed that it was happening, and then I saw the miniatures, the quality, the painting style, and it felt so different, so much more realistic, and it hooked me. I was also reading the very new (at that time) heresy novel series throughout my army building, and it had a big impact on me. It was a golden time, where 40k was in a rough spot, with codexes being either awful or overpowered, and no in-between, with the cost of models being far lower at Forge World due to exchange rates, and the books were roughly the same cost, a 350 page black book from world was the same price as a “limited edition” codex with 80 pages. We saw a solid 5 or 6 years of cosntant releases, and continually high-quality books, which didn’t really change until we hit book VI/VII and the plastics released alongside a new direction for 40k with Primaris and the Last Chance to Buy nuking the hobby.

Up until that point, the community was amazing, and I really didn’t devolve into the ‘salt merchant’ until that 2016/17 era where first I targeted 40k as it was slipping, and then sadly had to start targeting 30k, because I felt too many people were being willfully blind to the very real (in my eyes) issues that affected our very large, and very real collections.

3) Now that the Horus Heresy current edition is over 6 months on, what are your thoughts on the current progress with the model range, rules support and community engagement?

The current version of the game is in a far worse place compared to the balance in the original game at the same point in time. I think the inclusion of many rules with a clear lack of playtesting, such as Brutal, Reactions and changes to Dreadnoughts upset the balance because it was performed far too late in the development cycle to be effectively worked with, and true to form, Games Workshop is highly reluctant to rectify their faults. There are a great many glaring issues which are a single sentence FAQ away from being resolved, but sadly aren’t, because that would require actual effort. For example, the Raven Guard have a key legion trait which applies to all of their jump infantry, which is rerolling 1’s to wound on the charge. Except all of the jump units have shredding weapons, in the form of chainswords or lightning claws, making the rule entirely redundant outside of niche units.

The kits as well have suffered from what I’ll call “impressive but not important” syndrome, where we keep getting tank models in particular, which are ill-suited to the basic requirements of the player base. People require troops units especially, namely Assault Marines, Despoilers, Breachers and Recon Marines, and instead we get multiple super-heavies which may make a 1-per-army appearance. It shows that sales are being placed ahead of the actual needs of the player base and brings out the inner cynic in me. I contrast this with heresy 1.0 which gave us Cataphractii, Tartarus, despoilers, assault marines, tactical marines, breachers and recon marines all in resin, in multiple armour types within the same span of time.

There can be a host of reasons for these issues, however, the issues persist and a concerted effort really needs to be made in the project management area when it comes to resolving the problem.

4) In comparison to Warhammer Age of Sigmar 1.0 supported transfer of all WHFB faction rules in PDF, and Warhammer 40k 8th ed having all factions updated in the Index books; what are your thoughts on GW deciding to space out rules support for factions in the Horus Heresy?

Considering how many less factions there are to account for, I can only put it down to laziness. If Games Workshop as a company performed thorough playtesting and did rapid and effective FAQ’ing of their work, I’d personally cut them a lot more slack. At the time of writing, however, we are at the tale end of February, the game dropped in May/June of the last year, and two of the big factions (Militia and Daemons) are both unplayable, whilst the company is releasing units like the Esoterist which directly use or work with those factions. It’s like some kind of sick joke.

5) Now that the Siege of Terra novel series is nearing its end, what do you forsee the future for the tabletop game?

I think the tabletop game is going to explore various warzones in 30k much like the warzones of 40k. In 40k you get a campaign book, and some new goodies, some must-haves to sell it, and 30k will likely copy this, with Siege of Cthonia being the first up my sources tell me. It makes me shake my head, because despite having a rich tapestry to draw from which is already established in the various books and novels, the writers/developers would rather come up with their own characters and campaigns rather than letting us play the most appealing scenarios we read about.

6) If you had three opportunities to choose any character, vehicle or faction specific units to be made in plastic, what would be your top three most wanted?

I’ try and make a tri-build unit, which includes Destroyers, Assault Marines and Despoilers first off, as it would be a huge boon to the players base. Preferably in MK II or V.

7) Final question relating to The Horus Heresy, what would you change if you were in charge, and how would you propose your pitch for 3.0 starter boxset?

If I were in charge I’d revert to more of a 1.0 style game, but bringing across some of the better 2.0 mechanics, such as psychic powers, the morale system etc. I would try and create a starter box of essential units, rather than cool toys like the Spartan, so perhaps Breachers vs Assault Marines, a clash of styles which anyone can utilise, and it plays nicely with the theme of defense (the Imperium) vs offence (the Warmaster). I would also try and make it as cheap as possible in order to make it more accessible as the gateway drug into the game.

I would also try to tailor my releases in such a way that there was more equal factional representation, the Daemons of the Ruinstorm currently have only Ruinstorm Brutes as their one and only unit available, which don’t’ really suit any of the daemonic factions from GW, and thus look a bit out of place. Sure, they have HQ options, but who honestly cares about the special characters. It’s a mess of an army currently, and that would need to be avoided with a well-planned release. Additionally, I think the game needs to stop trying to reinvent itself each release, that’s the trap GW has fallen into since 5th edition 40k, where rather than taking what works and keeping it, they try to rework the already working mechanics and miss half the ones that didn’t work, and without properly playtesting it, they just dump it onto the market. This is EASY to avoid, look at how ASOIAF was handled by CMON.

8) With Warhammer: The Old World in the works at GW, what are your thoughts on what has been revealed so far? What would you like to see from this edition of the game?

I think they should have just gone back to the Old World at the tail end of 8th edition fantasy. By going back in time, they are trying to invalidate people’s forces so that they HAVE to buy the new miniatures because units like Empire Handgunners won’t exist yet. It’s also a highly cynical move as they are trying to cash in on the success that Total Warhammer created, but don’t want to give us that world, and are giving it to us long after the Total Warhammer hype (3 is already over a year old) created. It’s like streaming services starting up in an already saturated market hoping to cash in on the trend.

9) Final question, what are your hobby goals for 2023, and what are your plans for your YouTube and Instagram content?

I would desperately love to get away from ‘salty’ sensational commentary. If, like with the latest price-hike, people wake up to the reality and complain, then I feel that my work is done. I don’t need to create a video swearing and chastising the company for their anti-consumer practices, because people are already aware. If people could do that more often, my content would become purely army showcases and talking about my hobby projects. I have a large Salamanders army for this edition, a small Raven Guard and Iron Warriors army, and I’m working on a unique project right now involving a missing legion. I’m also creating my own STL’s which I put up cheap on Cults3D just of the things that interest me, or that I see a need for, such as graviton shredders for the Iron Hands. I am far more interested in creating things than critiquing a toy manufacturer, but I feel I have a duty to perform since I’m lucky enough to have a platform and hence…. SALT.

_____________________________

Thank you TOC for taking your time to share your opinions on the subjects in this interview.

If you’d like to see more of The Outer Circles content, the links to the YouTube page and Instagram account are linked below:

YouTube- https://youtube.com/@TheOuterCircle

Instagram- https://instagram.com/theoutercircle?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

I’ll be back soon with another interview post covering one of my favourite skirmish tabletop wargame, Fallout: Wasteland Warfare (which is a bit of a hint on who’s my next interview guest 😉).

Until next time,

34th Tribe

Fallout Wasteland Warfare Map Campaign: Squad Labradorite Operation 1 the full story

The ongoing quest for redemption in the vastness of the Mojave Wasteland, Knight Casey, recently exiled Brotherhood of Steel Knight, must prove her worth by completing several missions in order to reclaim her rights to return to live at the Hidden Valley Bunker. A test of bravery, skill, honour, strength, determination and sacrifice in order to redeem her past transgression of failure.

She isn’t the only one to go on this quest, Squad Labradorite comprises of an Eyebot, a Scribe named Welton, an Elijah sympathiser and progressive of advancing the needs of society for a better tomorrow. Wells, a Scout who was exiled for attempting to murder a fellow scout over a disagreement that result in a bloody brawl. Falk, also a scout who’s exile is a mystery save for the Elder.

Their first mission was to seek out the Super Mutant infested Black Mountain and observer from a distance notable strategic points of interest and how to exploit it for an operational raid into this fortified camp. A mission that would test Squad Labradorite as they faced one of their first Nemesis, the Veteran warrior Super Mutant Master, Henrikson.

The full story for part 1 can be read here:

Brotherhood of Steel: Squad Labradorite Operation 1 Download

Operation 2 will be published not too long from now.

Blogging 2023

Ah yes I have a blog and haven’t posted in quite some time!

Let’s change that.

This year there are quite a few changes and new things that are in effect. For one, I don’t buy as much miniatures as I used to. My focus is to play more games, create stories and really grasp how best to craft an engaging campaign. You’ll be reading “campaign” a lot going forwards this year…

WordPress is an entirely different subject. Because it’s a much smaller audience wise, I can post content that more or less interests my followers. I don’t expect any growth on this site, not since I’ve seen quite a few bloggers leave the site for a few years now.

The way I see it, blogging on WordPress is for the niche inner circle of groups who support each other. Though few in numbers, you’ll genuinely have better community experience.

I post here for the few rather than the many. I know that whatever I post will at least interest most of my followers. Since moving my fan made FWW projects to the Modiphius Forums, I haven’t really thought about what my blog should be doing. Cursed City didn’t pan out well for me, and to be honest, I’m not enthusiastic enough to try another attempt at playing it.

But instead of complaining all the way through this post, what now?

I’d like to post semi regularly if I can, as WordPress is basically where I first started joining the online hobby community.

Part of my goal for his year is to make a series if interviews with like minded hobbyists. I think this kind of content would not only help me engage more with the community and see another perspective, but also let hobbyists share their story and mindset into their hobby.

I’m currently working on a few things behind the scenes that have taken much of my spare time. For one I’m working on my AoS map campaign set in Hallost, much work is still to be done as I’m getting my research work done. This has inspired me to get all my AoS collections out of the dusty storage and getting them played in games for once.

WIP Fan made map of Hallost for my AoS Hallost map campaign.

This will be a solo campaign, so much of the game play and lore needs a bit more effort on my part. Though like FWW, it’ll be an interesting experience.

Speaking of FWW, I’m currently playing my latest campaign playing as the BoS Mojave Chapter. I’ve recently posted a full PDF story covering part 1 of my map campaign series on the Modiphius Forums.

However, for those who don’t follow the Modiphius Forums I’ve attached the PDF versions of part 1 below.

BoS Squad Labradorite Campagin story part 1 Download

My current progress involves dealing with a Deathclaw that will permanently kill one of my characters in the campaign. I love the randomness of my fan made map campaign rules, when I needed sanctuary, I get a unstoppable murder machine instead!

I’m planning to make a new update to my fan made map campaign rules at some point in the next couple of weeks. Just to iron out some rules and make some visual changes to the PDF theme.

I think that will be all for today.

Until next time,

-34th Tribe

Metal Goblin wizard

Fallout Wasteland Warfare: Bonnie Springs Settlement Mode/ the full story

Wouldn’t you believe it, it’s been over a year since the Bonnie Springs settlement mode was going on the blog and Instagram. It was my first ongoing narrative story that took inspiration from the Fallout setting, and became its own little universe of stories.

As my first lore project to play the tabletop and conjure up a suitable narrative story, it became one of my favourite series both in terms of playing FWW, building my settlement on a math grid sheet with notes on what I built, but also creating my story. Much of the lore I’d written is on this blog, listing each event in a chronological order of dates.

However, due to oversight and limited time, there were a lot of grammatical errors, loopholes and not well thought out structure to the story. So to celebrate the first anniversary of the Bonnie Springs Settlement story, I’ve made a PDF that combines all my lore posts into one file.

Fallout Wasteland Warfare Bonnie Springs Settlement full story Download

Whilst the story has ended for some time now, I have plans to continue threads unfinished that I’ve left for future narrative stories. What I hadn’t realised was how many story potential there were to be used for further campaigns. I’m already forgetting things now 😅.

Although I mentioned it months ago about The Battle of Nelson and the short lived Fallout 3 Outcast campaign, I’ve left those aside until I feel ready to make any further content on them.

For now, I’ve got plans to start my first campaign series using my fan made FWW campaign map rules. I’ve already got the points worked out and the maps edited to be used to track my journey. All thats left now is to decide on what mission plans to use and start writing the initial story for what’s going on.

I’ll post more about this in a future post once I’ve got a few things sorted out.

Until next time,

34th Tribe

Halo: ODST Fireteam Zion/ Flood in the Safari

The following is a retelling story based on my experience playing my second Fireteam game. I made some creative liberties on the backstory.

The Split of Team Zion

When the Flood started to encroach on New Mombasa just after the Covenant opened the gateway to the Ark, some scattering groups of UNSC soldiers were still active in the city. These groups were either Marines who were from the same squad or amalgamated from surviving members from different squads. Others however came from the ODST.

Team Zion was originally a squad of five ODST’s who were deployed on New Mombasa to help disrupt the Covenants communication links. Unfortunately, one ODST was killed whilst falling from orbit. Another squad member lost his life when a Brute impaled him with a blade from a Brute Shot. The other two members of the squad went MIA.

This only left Marksman Lawrence as the last surviving squad member of Team Zion. He would later group up with other stray ODST’s and a Veteran Marine at New Mombasas Safari tourist attraction.

This team consisted of:

Private Lawrence. E, ODST marksman specialist who joined the UNSC before his homeworld, Labradorite II (named after a gemstone by which the planet looked similar to in appearance), was glassed by the Covenant. Whilst his military record lacks the greatness of the “heroic” kind, he nevertheless tries to maintain order and the objective in mind.
Sergeant “Whisky”
ONI operative [M•S]
ODST [422]

As they just became acquainted, if wary of the strangers before them, they’d be met by the oncoming Flood.

Now the strength of these men and women will be tested as a team. Lest they become part of the Flood as one…

Alone you will die

The team spilt off as they did their own tasks, rather than staying as a group in a single location. This had a benefit of each member using the best of their abilities and talents to take down their targets with a preffered weapon of choice. The downside was that the more distant they were, the harder it was to regroup.

Lawrence, a marksman specialist found out the hard way as he had several swarms pinning him down. Try as he might with a spray of SMG fire, the Flood came crashing down on his position. Several times he was on the brink of being overwhelmed by incoming fire, and in some cases near death situations.

What didn’t help the situation was the incoming bombardment of shots by a Flood driven Wraith. Which caused a nuasance to the team from positioning themselves on the top floor of the Safari building.

As if that wasn’t enough, a group of infected Marines were using a Warthog spraying machine gun bullets at lone wolf team members. Lawrence took the most damage from being in proximity to the thing.

A regroup was needed in order to concentrate on staying together as a team, or at least be split in teams of two.

The Flood showed no sign of mercy…

A bottle of whisky and an unlikely turn of events

Lawrence decided it would be better to regroup and find his team mates, alive or dead. Before going up the stairs, he saw Sergeant “Whisky” in the small room crouched at the corner. Despite seeing Lawrence before him, the Sergeant didn’t move a muscle. He either went crazy from it all or preparing himself for his last whisky to face the Flood.

Upstairs another squad member was on the top floor, dodging incoming fire from the Wraith like a game of dodgeball. Lawrence tried to help shoot the Wraith down, but the range was too short to make a dent in the thing. Instead he went to take down the Flood forms that were swarming upstairs.

He had help from a fellow ODST squad member and the one he met earlier with the Wraith. They grouped up and shot down the Flood monstrosities in the thinly tight belief that they might just live by the end of this battle. Soon enough, the stairs below were cleared and the Flood reorganised to make another wave assault in the area.

The team were somwhat together again as they prepared for the next wave of attacks. It was only when an ODST squad mate found a working Warthog, she beeped for Lawrence to take on the mounted machine gun. Now the battle just got interesting.

Fury of the Warthog and a rescue mission

ONI Operative [M•S] drove the Warthog like a seasoned rally driver as she expertly maneuvered the vehicle around the battlefield. Taking care not to overturn the vehicle and to ensure Lawrence can make the necessary payback load from the machine gun to spray down the enemy. They managed to decimate much of the Flood from the spores to the bulked brutes that would normally cause issue on foot.

Another ODST squad member took the reins of a Warthog, and together, both groups made fury upon the enemies of mankind. Shooting, ramming and driving over the corpses of Flood carcases in an effort to keep the momentum of this new revitalised defence. The first Wraith was destroyed, much to the hooting of the Warthogs horns at a fine kill.

Only three times did the Warthog crash at an angle, and each time Lawrence and [M•S] would quickly turn it upright to get back into the fight. By the third crash they were wedged into a concrete wall near a second active Wraith, hitting Lawrence across some distance. He hit the ground hard which knocked him out for a couple of minutes until he regained consciousness. By the far end the ONI operative was being pinned by the Wraith’s burning payload.

Lawrence knew she wasn’t going to make it without some back up (or a distraction for the Wraith). So he came across towards her as she came across to him in a Flood infested battle zone. Luckily, [M•S] got out without being vaporised, and Lawrence covered her as they both regrouped back into the Safari building complex. From there, the final assault was about to commence…

Riders of the final wave

At this point it was a case of staying alive just long enough to destroy the Flood from taking over this strategic location. Whilst the second Warthog was going around the battlefield spraying machine gun fire, Lawrence and the ONI Operative needed to find a new Warthog or some restock of weapons. Then from a corner a damaged but fairly factional Ghost was found. [M•S] took reins of her new ride as she turned to go out into the battle zone. Or so Lawrence thought.

The ONI operative turned it around and got off, then directed Lawrence to take over and drive off. Surprised by this offer, he took the reins and drove off out of cover to face his doom. Though he was not alone as the second Warthog was still in combat taking on the horde. [M•S] found a second Ghost and followed Lawrence as they drove deep into the Flood to finish off the final wave of parasites for good.

Leaving on good terms

As the dust settled and the Flood had finally stopped, the team took a well earned break from the battle. Lawrence was new to this kind of Warfare against the Flood. Unlike the Covenant who were the greatest enemy that could potentially wipe out mankind in the fires of religious zealotory. The Flood represented a far greater threat as the never ending disease to the galaxy. How many live would it take to defeat such a thing?

His team knew this enemy from previous engagements, the looks on their faces solem, tortured and hardened by the horrors they’ve faced. Today was unlikely to be the last encounter of the Flood.

Then, one by one the team split apart to go forth into the hellish landscape of the war torn New Mombasa. No goodbyes, no hand shakes and no eye contact. They knew for too long now that such things wouldn’t be right. They had their duties to commit to by their commanders, or by their own initiative on a solo assigned operation.

Lawrence hoped this wasn’t the last he would meet them, hopefully alive after this invasion is over. He picks up his sniper rifle and his pistol, and walks off into the hazy heat of a burning civilisation into brink of total decimation.

____________________________

I hope you have enjoyed this retelling of a Halo: ODST Firefight match. Interesting fact, despite playing Halo: ODST since 2010, I’ve never had the opportunity to play online until now! It was a blast to finally play one of my all time favourite video game with other video gamers in a team.

Whilst the story here had some creative changes to the names and narrative drive, the rest was what happend in my match experience. There was a genuine cooperation of teamwork when I joined in with another player. We didn’t use microphone headsets to communicate, instead, it was sort of like sign language or body language to communicate on what to do.

I really enjoyed this Firefight, had me going a bit emotional by the end when I realised I finally had the Halo online experience. I wrote down my teams names so I may be able to regroup with them again. Hopefully another story could happen soon?

Until next time,

34th Tribe

Warhammer Quest: Cursed City, initial thoughts from a Level 0 perspective

It seems like I’m behind on the hype craze for most releases by GW nowadays, to the point that I’m way behind on 9th Ed 40k and 3rd Ed AoS. But this isn’t a bad thing as I can pick and choose what I’d like based on products not hyped like it’s a life altering product.

One such purchase was Warhammer Quest: Cursed City. One of Games Workshops most infamous botched release from last year that caused a stir within the miniature hobby community. It’s still on sale today, however, you can forget that the expansions ever existed in the first place. Another classic GW decision to make a core board game have limited print run expansions.

My copy of Cursed City was a second hand product that included no miniatures, but the rest was sealed and new. Since I have a many alternative proxy miniatures in my collection, I could still play the board game with appropriate miniatures.

In fact, my copy of Cursed City only costed £20! Since purchasing the set the price has inflated to £25 at the same store, so I was pretty lucky to have considered getting Cursed City whilst I could grab it. The miniatures sold separately would well exceed the original price of a fresh boxed copy above £125+.

This post follows my recorded journey at Level 0 playing Warhammer Quest: Cursed City.

First game

I started by reading the rules for several days, absorbing all the rules in mind as well as watching several YouTube vids to help me see how it played out. From the guidelines I played my first game of Cursed City at Level 0 for the Hunt Journey. This mission is all about slaying champions in order to progress the quest tracker by 10. Fulfilling that with at least one survive hero was the requisite to win.

I won’t go into the details of the entire gaming session, but I’ll explain my initial thoughts from the game.

My first game of Cursed City testing out the rules and making some errors on my first go.

Once you get used to the rules and turn sequence it can be very fun and intense at times.
Enemy Hostile Spawning Can be an issue as it’s too far from the action.
Most of the Encounters are champion free units, making a level 0 game last 3+ hours in my gameplay.
Enemies don’t use range weapons, so you’ll probably just run away without consequences.
Gorslav is an ass, make sure you decimate the Zombies when he’s on the table.

Overall for my first game testing I thought it was fun and at times intense. When Gorslav is I play and Zombie Hostile groups are around, they can prove very intimidating despite appearing to be easy kills with only 2 wounds each. Oh, and the gravestone markers can be a nightmare if you don’t destroy them. Each one can Spawn zombies, and in my second game, it got messy…

Second game, the proper first journey

Only the Ogre lived to fight another day

The game was much better this time around with a Cheat sheet on hand, all the rules simplified on three pages
Again, the game took way too long to finish as most of the Encounters didn’t have Champions.
I hate Zombies.
I really, really, really hate Gorslav
Nightfall came and basically spelt the doom for my party.

Here’s my problem. I think Level 0 is either me not playing it right and it’s taking me 3+ hours to slay 10 champions, or the game itself isn’t balanced for fresh playthtoughs? From what I’ve seen online I’m not the only one who’s experienced this same long drawn out gameplay, though others say it’s more yo do with enemy spawning that’s the issue.

On the spawning issue, a new Hostile Encounter is placed the furthest from any hero and placed near a Lychgate. He issue is it takes a heck of a long time for that unit to do anything to your group of heros for several turns. The way I’ve gone around it is by spawning a hostile group clockwise on the Lychgates, so say a unit of Hostilee is slain, and their initiative card has two dimonds corresponding with its combat track placement of being the second unit. I’d spawn them at the bottom right corner Lychgate, which is only a board or two away from my band of heros.

My primary issue though is the Champion spawning. So a deck of Hostile Encounter contains a total of 19 cards that are shuffled and placed down as a deck of cards. On each card is a table contents of different encounters based on your highest levels character. In this case all of my heros are Level 0.

For a Level 0 you’ll get 8 Hostile Encounters that contain a Champion, and 8 cards that don’t contain a Champion. From the Champions you get, if you slay them you’ll have a total of 8 Quest tracked steps, just short of 10 to win the game.

The problem is when put into practice you’ll be playing a lot of non-champion units. I played the Hunt Journey for 3 hours to only achive five slain Champions on my quest dial. In both my games I played up to ten turns and both times I only got to slay 5 targets.

If you played a level 1 and above, this drastically changes when the scale of Encounters is heavily more to slay compared to non viable units. Its like the rule writers on purposely made it a grind at Level 0 with a weird Hostile Encounter reinforcement rule. Whilst many would say that a challenge is a good thing and stay close to the rules and level up the way its written, I really don’t want to spend two days grinding on a mission that just doesn’t sit right with me.

I’d rather have a game contined within 2 hours that still challenges from the foes and events that take place, rather than a grind based rulset that forces me waste time on a long drawn out game. The challenge is already in the game as shown by the Nightfall space that can be lethal when units are Empowerd. On top of that some Hostile units can be pretty lethal in their own right like Gorslavs buried action, the Korsagi’s brutal output of attacks and defence and the Zombies unique ability to spawn new models by placing gravestones on a free space.

I’m going to try the other two journey missions to see how they go. However, if they are a grind too, then I’m just gong to play as a Level 1 team onwards. From my observation with the Encounter cards, Discovery cards and Explore cards, a Level 1 playthrough is much more balanced after calculating the chances of senario.

Third game, Journey 2

I’m beginning to think this is either me doing something wrong in order to make the game slower, the design of the game is intentionally grinding for a game that lasts 6 hours just to level up heros and decrease one or two point fron either Fear or Influence (which one will go up regardless and more by Crisis fail), or this is actually a really badly thought out game that tries to be like Dark Souls without the charm.

I want to belive that it’s the former case, but I’ve read the rules right and rechecked them over and over. I’ve even watched several playthroughs on YouTube to see how it’s done. The criticism for Cursed City appears to be a case of grind.

If people say it gets better once I level up my Hero’s (for how long though until I finally get to level 1 for all???) then I hope it’s true. I’m starting to consider other creative ideas if this game is becoming nothing but grind for the sake of grind. The game is fun for sure once it gets going, and I really like aspects of the game for its environmental situations and difficulty in making hard decisions on the journey.

But the long drawn out gameplay is an issue for me.

Until next time,

34th Tribe

Unofficial Fallout Wasteland Warfare Map Campaign

If you’ve not been following me on Instagram and over on Modiphius Forums, I’ve recently released my ambitious fan made project for Fallout Wasteland Warfare, Map Campaigns. The project is a map campaign rulset designed to let you play in a world space where your gang travel the Wasteland taking on missions, encountering enemy factions, coming across different scenarios on the journey and grow a faction reputation.

Right now version V1.0T is up on the Modiphius Forums, which is where I share updates on the current progress with my fan projects. I used to make F:WW fan made rules on this blog until I joined the Modiphius Forums as a new place to post that sort of content to a wider audience within the community.

V1.0T is basically a Version 1 Test rulset which lays out the basics of what my fan made rulset aims to expand and evolve from. Totaling to 11 pages, the PDF covers the basics on how the system plays into a F:WW campaign.

Believe it or not, this fan project has been in the works for over a year. The document itself is about a few months in the works, but the idea and trial of making it came from making a map for Fallout 4 as a simple grid map on Word doc. I scrapped that idea and went on to create the faction list project, which took some time to research information in gaming guide books for F3 and F:NV. Then edit and create a PDF document for each faction as a source for list building.

Admittedly, I’ve only covered four or five factions to date, one or two having two lists for East and West Coast settings. However, this was useful way of understanding how to edit and create PDF docs.

Then came Wasteland Encounters, a similar way to how random encounters work in Fallout 3, I wanted something like that on the tabletop. So I picked 20 types of encounters from the Fallout 3 gaming guide book and create 20 non setting specific encounters that anyone can use.

A user on the Modiphius Forums did a similar thing based on Fallout 3, and posted it before I came on the Forums. However, we both came about this inspiration from a different angle. The user went about it with a bigger emphasis on the RPG mechanics, whilst I went for a mixture of RPG, card Creature/Danger card draw and unique mini battle scenarios. The Wasteland Encounters would actually be used as part of a mechsnic in my latest fan made rules as one of three dice roll outcomes.

Which finally leads us to now, with this fan made project which is essentially everything I’ve learnt so far made into a ruleset that any F:WW player can use for solo or group campaigns. V1.0T is my initial testing version for anyone to use and play.

The rules aren’t set in stone, as I hope this version will be used by the community as a playtesting version. I hope based on the a very strong reception of likes on my Instagram announcement post, that F:WW players have downloaded the rules and testing them out.

I would very much like to recive as much feedback as possible on how V1.0T was like. With enough feedback and data I can make V1.0T into V1.0, the first and contined version for which I can build subsequent updates on.

This is all for free for anyone who want to play a meaningful journey of their own narrative in the Wasteland playing F:WW. As much as I like making these things for free to the community, I can’t just do it out of giving if the support and lack of feedback makes me demotivated into working on it.

With your help, I can use my time to dedicate more effort into making this fan project an ongoing and useful resource for hobbyists and Fallout Wasteland Warfare fans.

Below, is the Map Campaign fan project V1.0T for you to download and test out on your tabletop.

F:WW Map Campaign ruleset Download

If you don’t have a lot of miniatures you can use substitute items to represent any Enemy Encounter or Boss Encounters. All you need is the enemy stat cards.

If you need a reference sheet on what you need to do when playing map campaigns, you can download this useful PDF sheet to see how each turn works.

F:WW Map Campaign reference sheet Download

Finally, here’s how the campaign map I’ve made for my Fallout New Vegas campaign looks with a few edits to use with the rules.

If you want to send me your feedback on what you like and want the rules to be improved on, you can either send me your feedback in the comment section below, or send me it at the Modiphius Forums website in the Fallout Wasteland Warfare page on the post “Map Campaign Thread”.

Thank you for reading this post, and I hope you’ll enjoy testing out the rules in your games of Fallout Wasteland Warfare!

Until next time,

34th Tribe

Fallout Wasteland Warfare Campaign: The Battle of Nelson part 1 & 2

The Battle of Nelson is set several months before the main event of Fallout: New Vegas, when the New California Republic was still in control of one of its three camps along the Colorado River. Camp Nelson is the middle of the three camps, made as a fort defense to keep the Legion back from counter attacking Hoover Dam.

However, in the video game, we find out that the Legion had taken over Camp Nelson. Deadsea, a Recruit Decanus, is in charge of the Legion occupation of this site. This is one of two great advances that Caesar’s Legion has made to expand closer into NCR territory, the other being the decimation of Camp Searchlight by nuclear exposure.

In this alternative timeline universe of Fallout: New Vegas, the campaign is set a few years after the Bonnie Springs Settlement mode Series. It follows the perspective of the Legion as they dare to invade Camp Nelson by the cunning plans of Centurion Lindvm. Spliting his forces in half by two groups of 40 Legionaries, Lindvm leads the southern pincer whilst Recruit Decanus Deadsea leads the northern pincer.

First, the Legion scatters in groups of tent squads to obscure their true strength from the NCR. From these scattered groups encounters emerage, and many will likely perish.

Centurion Lindvm hopes his gamble pays off with enough Legionaries alive to regroup at the checkpoint to initiate the counter attack of the southern half. If he fails to arrive on time for the assault on Camp Nelson, then Deadsea himself will lead the attack with only 39 Legionaries in his command.

Game 1: Encounter

A Tent squad of the southern pincer group came into conflict with the NCR Patrol squad. A fierce battle began as both sides fought to decimate the other. The battle was a stalemate as neither side could gain the majority.

The victor of this battle came by third party intrusion as a swarm of Cazadors swooped in to kill all parties of the engagement. The battlefield was in fact a Cazador nest site from the shade of boulders.

The battle ended in a bloody draw as neither Legion nor NCR forces lived to tell the tale.

Game 2: Trader

Some miles away from the first engagement of skirmish combat, an NCR Patrol led by NCR Patrol Ranger Mathew was escorting a trader on route to a safe settlement. The Trader and his Brahmin looked innocent enough from appearance as a traveling salesmen. Though in truth this is a cover for an NCR package delivery of supply’s to the Ranger Station.

Today proved why such protection and misdirection was needed, as a Caesar’s Legion Tent squad ambushed the NCR Patrol. To the Legions perspective, this trader was an ally to the NCR, so all must be made an example of to the God of Mars.

The battle was an intense and frantic skirmish, time was ticking as the trader and his Brahmin were escaping to safety with NCR covering fire to distract the Legionaries. Just before the trader could escape to safety, he was assassinated by a Decanus’ Machete Gladius to the back.

Victory would be a brief one for the Legion as the Brahmin managed to escape from the battle. There was no point in chasing the beast now. Despite not plundering the loot from the traders goods they at least killed the trader.

In the perspective of the NCR, this was a bitter defeat as the trader was actually a trained technician who was going to set up a new communication hub at the Ranger Station. This would have improved sending and receiving messages to nearby NCR outposts. However, at least the package survived the battle intact, but setting it up will likely take days once a new technician arrives.

The Legion would embrace this battle as a minor victory, whilst Recruit Decanus Titus make a fine kill in slaying the trader, it was a missed opportunity to recover the goods from the Brahmin. They didn’t know that this simple trader escorting ambush would’ve been far greater a target if they knew the full story…

End of part 1 of 3

Update and Zaku II

You will have noticed that I’ve been absent on this blog for over a month now. Simply put I’ve started posting content over on the Modiphius Forums, which has been fun and much more engaging to post F:WW fan content. Though what does that mean for the blog?

I plan to make the blog still as it was and will be for the foreseeable future as I continue to post wargaming hobby content. Though I will unfortunately not be posting fan projects like the Themstic lists, Wasteland Events and etc. However, you can find those and new content posted on the Modiphius Forums to download as PDF supplements. Which I’d say is way more convenient than scrolling through a blog page lol.

Taking a month off has given me time to think about what I should do with the blog, and how best to continue it. I personally believe that the campaign narrative series approach is the best way forward, I had tons of fun with the Bonnie Springs Settlement mode as a gaming and narrative solo experience. So I aim to continue in that direction as my main focus for content, maybe several shorter events and one or two major campaigns a year.

I’d also like to post wargamimg content on discussion topics or a series of posts on a subject as journey of sorts. I don’t express my opinions or ideas on Instagram, wheres on a blog I think it would be a good thing to try out.

With that done, onto the Zaku II Gundam kit.

Last week I got myself a Zaku II model kit as part of a project to create a realistic 1/144 scale mecha. Using scoring techniques, engraving, edge highlighting, damage effects and more to create a Sons of Horus themed Zaku II. The Horus Heresy meets the Principality of Zeon.

Whilst my intent was to scribe lining the model, that went pretty bad. So I went for battle damage to amend my terrible attempt at making panel lining cuts. I think scribing is beyond my ability, though it takes practice to get the right look to be fair.

The Zaku II wasn’t a big hit on Instagram, though it wasn’t for people’s attention, rather it was for my own choice to do what I wanted to do. I’m impressed with the final outcome of this project, and I hope to do more Gundam projects this year (since I seem to only do one every year).