My heart is not cold. It’s broken.

Peter has some strong opinions about the new Necromunda: Skirmish boxed set!

Necromunda is a game that’s dear to my heart, having played and enjoyed it since the first boxed set way back in 1995. So I’ve had mixed feelings about the direction Games Workshop has pushed it in since the re-release (Necromunda: Underhive) back in 2017. That boxed set wasn’t very exciting and missed the mark by presenting the game in a 2D form, but subsequent sets (Dark Uprising, Ash Wastes), while extremely expensive, at least featured a good amount of terrain, which is what this game is all about.

Since then it’s been hardcover book after hardcover book – a new one every time a new model was released, it seemed,, and I get the feeling that the folks at GW just don’t know what to to with Necromunda (or, I should say, how to monetise it effectively). This new set underscores that impression. There’s been a little bit of rules cleanup, but not enough to upset anyone. We’re back to the 2D format that doesn’t really give a good impression of the game at all, with a stingy single sprue of pipes for cover. And worst of all, the model count per gang has dropped from 10 to 8, for no reason whatsever.

At first I was pleased to hear that all the gang stats would be released in 2 subsequent books (though I wish they’d all been squeezed into one) – but now we discover there’s a series of softcover ‘journals’, one for each gang, coming down the pipe. Is this just a whole lot of recycling? An attempt to get fans of the game to buy the same stuff all over again with just a few tweaks? Only time will tell. Personally, I wish GW had been brave enough to do something new with the game – but I guess that’s a risk they’re not willing to take.

Check out my video for all my thoughts on the new release!

You’re a formidable opponent, Lady Penelope!

More new regiment boxes for Armoured Clash – Check them out!

Now you’ve seen the new Commonwealth and Crown heavy regiment boxes, allow me to show you two more, this time for the Enlightened and Union factions. Both small boxes contain some very tasty new units to beef up your armies. Enjoy!

It doesn’t matter how hard you try or how brave you are.

New releases for Armoured Clash – plus a solo adventure book!

As you all know by now Warcradle is a great supporter of the Esoteric Order, and I’m very happy to feature their products, because I think their games are excellent and they really care about them. Now that they’ve finished releasing big boxes for each of the 8 factions for Armoured Clash, they’re filling out the army choices with a series of smaller regiment boxes with a focus on heavier units. In this video I tell you about the new boxes for the Crown and Commonwealth factions. Also, out of left field they released a Choose-Your-Own -Adventure-style paperback set in the Dystopian Age called VALIANT. Check out all this new stuff in the video!

Were we gods we’d breach these walls to the Eastern Ocean.

Peter and Andy get a fully painted Kings of War 4th Edition starter set on the table to try out the new game!

Mantic Games, though still a relatively small wargaming company, has been very busy lately churning out games and miniatures, most notably their Halo: Flashpoint system. But they’ve also found the time to release a new edition of their old rank and flank fantasy battles rules: Kings of War.

I received the new starter set Claws in the Sand at the start of this year and immediately got to painting it up, but it’s taken me a little while to finally get the game to the table. Please enjoy Andy and I putting the starter set through its paces, and having a lot of fun and laughs as we do so!

I’ll rest easier when I know they’ve reached shore

Peter checks out the packed new starter set for Dystopian Wars – Dominion of the Dragon!

Warcradle keeps hitting it out of the park with their releases and they’ve followed up the recent complete revamp of the Dystopian Wars rules with a brand new starter set packed with goodies – everything you need for two players to start playing this exceptional game of steampunk naval combat. Let’s check it out!

So uh, what’s it like, having such a short life cycle?

Peter and Will play Epic Warpath over some really incredible Gale Force Nine terrain!

My mini-season of battle reports from Will’s recent visit continues, and this time it’s an incredible game on probably the most spectacular tabletop of terrain I’ve ever had the good fortune to play on. That’s mostly thanks to Gale Force Nine, who sent me several boxes of their amazing pre-painted Gothic Sector epic scale terrain. You can see my unboxing of it all in this video.

The game is Epic Warpath by Mantic Games, and I’ve got to say I’m really impressed with this pretty streamlined, easy-to-use, and fun system for epic-scale scifi wargaming. I’m looking forward to getting my hands on some different factions and painting them up too! While panting epic armies can be a bit of a chore, the results, as you can see, are undeniably stunning, and the scale makes for big, beautiful games. So enjoy this session, where we show off Epic Warpath at its absolute best, and have a lot of laughs at the same time!

But it is not this day! This day we fight!

Be victorious on the battlefield with your Kings of War rules & reference!

I’ve been covering a lot of Mantic Games lately (especially since a certain other company decided they didn’t want the support of content creators), and I’ve been very pleasantly surprised by their offerings. The new Epic Warpath is a great system with a wide range of classic scifi factions to play with, and Halo: Flashpoint is coming into its own as the range of available models increases. But the one game of theirs I haven’t explored yet is Kings of War. It’s perfect timing then, because the new 4th edition has just been released!

Kings of War is a classic ‘rank and flank’ fantasy tabletop miniatures game, in the tradition of the old Warhammer Fantasy Battle (now Warhammer: The Old World). It’s been interesting to see these old regimental games enjoy a resurgence of popularity – Hobgoblin and Conquest: Last Argument of Kings are two others – and there’s certainly something very satisfying about pushing around trays of warriors in neat rectangular formations. Kings of War commits completely to the concept because you actually model the miniatures attached to the base, rather than have them individually standing on it. It may mean a lot more modelling – building and painting 10 miniatures to make a single unit is a big job – but it certainly looks spectacular when you have a full army on the field.

As for the rules themselves, they’ve been cleaned up from previous editions. I haven’t played yet (I’ve been busy painting, which is now all done – watch out for a tips video), but will film a game when I do so you can see how it goes; but Mantic have a habit of making very solid rules systems, so I have high hopes. The new starter set Claws in the Sand is a good introduction box for new players and features two unusual small armies – the aquatic Trident Kingdom and the Medieval Japanese-syled dogmen of the Xirkaali Kingdom.

In the meantime, here’s my rules and reference to make your games easier and smoother – and of course you can also find it in my rules app Tabletop Codex!

Now, there will be some shooting.

Remember the Reach with your Halo: Flashpoint rules & reference!

As mentioned in yesterday’s video, I’ve updated my Halo: Flashpoint rules & reference to encompass the two new expansions, Rise of the Banished and Feet First Into Hell! But if you were quick and immediately downloaded it, check again, because I discovered a keyword was missing and have updated it again to v2.1. Enjoy!

Nobody asks to be a hero, it just sometimes turns out that way.

Peter unboxes two new expansions for Halo: Flashpoint by Mantic Games!

It’s great to see more stuff coming out for Mantic’s Halo: Flashpoint game, and I’m especially happy to see more aliens on the battlefield. Check out the new stuff – Rise of the Banished and Feet First Into Hell!

Never set foot on the wrong side of history.

Conquer worlds with your Epic Warpath rules & reference!

It’s been a bumper time for fans of epic scale wargaming lately, and Mantic Games has got in on the act by Kickstarting an entire range – 8 factions – for their own epic system, Epic Warpath. I received the starter set, a couple of large resin models, and some epic scale building sets for review, and as I write the painting is finally done and I played my first game last week – and had a blast!

The rules are a nice mixture between old and new, using the command dice system from Deadzone and the order tokens pioneered in GW’s original Adeptus Titanicus and still used in their recent epic scale game Legions Imperialis. Order and combat tokens do a very nice job of tracking each unit’s current status during the game, so you can see what’s going on at a glance, and the combat system is straightforward and effective. It wasn’t long before the rules began to recede into the background during our first game and we could concentrate on what was happening on the table. The order of the rules in the book is a bit clunky however, and I’ve tried to improve comprehension with my rules & reference. Stayed tuned for a battle report video as soon as I get an opportunity!

The miniatures look great and there’s a minimum of fiddly construction, which is good to see. For me the big draw here over GW’s offering is the variety and distinctness of the available factions – and the fact they’re all available up front. While GW seems obsessed with their Horus Heresy, Mantic is having fun putting space rats, dwarves, zombies and weird aliens together on the tabletop, and to me that’s far more enjoyable than civil war amongst space marines.

To see what you get in the starter set, check out my unboxing. More to come!

Any man who must say “I am the king” is no true king.

Peter checks out Kings of War for the first time with the new 4th Edition!

It’s a brand new year – the 14th! – for the Esoteric Order of Gamers, and I’m kicking it off with a new project – Kings of War by Mantic Games! Will this be your new favourite game of fantasy battles? Stick with me over the coming weeks as I unbox, build, paint and play (and of course, make a rules summary for) this rank and flank fantasy tabletop miniatures game.