Weekend Gaming - Irusk2 *hearts* Flag

Every once in awhile my one group of friends manages to secure a weekend to get everyone together to play a couple of games of WM/H (or whatever everyone is in the mood for). Its gotten harder as everyone settles further into grown-up responsibilities (mainly marriage and kids) but sometimes we get lucky and a weekend lines up for enough of us.

This past weekend was one of those weekends and WM/H was the game of choice. I'm still hanging out on the edge of WM/H after burning out hard on it near the end of last year so I don't have many lists that I've wanted to play. Butcher3 and Sorscha2 will always be good, but I want to play something different.

I've been playing Vlad3 here and there and enjoying it, but I have a hard time finding a list with him I really like. Most of the lists I make with Vlad3 at the helm seem like they'd be better under Vlad3, unless I go theme (which is fun but one sided) or more cav focused to get something out of his feat (which leads to pretty much the same problem).

In the week leading up to the gaming day I started to go back over 'casters I liked playing but didn't put a lot of time into and one name floated to the top: Irusk2. I had some lists I liked with him, he's pretty great in general, and there has been some discussion about him recently that motivated me to get him back on the table.

I used Irusk2 for all the games I played on Saturday and really liked using him. I'm not going to do batreps (not quite up for that yet) but I do have some thoughts from those games that I wanted to share. Lists and thoughts after the break.

SmogCon Q&A Tidbits and Rumors

At some point, probably a year or two ago, the Warmachine and Hordes community really embraced social media. Lots of prominent players took to Twitter and Facebook as ways of directly communicating with each other and the rest of the player base.

While that is good-to-great for building a sense of community, it had an effect I never would have foreseen: almost all spoiler talk happens first on Twitter/Facebook, and then we're lucky to catch it on a forum somewhere (usually it's just something like "spoilers on Trevor from Chain Attack's Twitter?") As a social media Luddite, it makes me nostalgic for the good 'ol days of vague forum posts and blog info dumps.

In that spirit, I wanted to collect the set of spoiler-y tidbits and rumors that came out of SmogCon this past weekend, which you can find after the break. If you want to preserve the original means of delivery, only read it 140 characters at a time.

Thoughts on PP's Mini-2016 Keynote

Privateer Press's Primecast podcast was kind enough to offer up a bevvy of spoilers recently, courtesy of Matt Wilson and Jason Soles talking about the next round of 'casters and 'locks, as well some random tidbits for later in the year. 

I put together a quick and dirty synopsis of what was discussed during the podcast here. Now that I've had some time to digest what they talked about, lets kick around some thoughts about what all that info might mean.

Musings start after the break.

PP Mini-Keynote (via Primecast) - New Warcaster and Warlock Teasers

The latest Primecast managed to dump a bunch of spoiler info in the form of a mini-keynote of what we can expect from PP in the coming year. Several teasers about the upcoming crop of 'casters and 'locks, along with what seems to be confirmation that we're getting two new sets of 'casters and 'locks this year.

Check after the break for a quick transcript of what Matt Wilson and Jason Soles revealed.

Indivisible

Lab Zero Games, creators of the awesome MVC2-style fighting game Skullgirls, are running an Indiegogo campaign for their next game idea: Indivisible.

Indivisible is a different direction for Lab Zero - instead of being another fighting game or something similar, Indivisible is an RPG with action stylings. More accurately: it meshes the RPG style combat and party management of Valkyrie Profile with exploration and ability-based progression from Super Metroid. The result is a RPG with a very active, responsive combat system and surprisingly fun and engaging exploration.

Indivisible has a playable prototype available for free (regardless of whether you have backed the project or not) that will run on Windows and Linux, with a Mac version coming soon. You can find the link to download it at the Indiegogo page, or use this link to access the download page directly.

If you have any interest in the game at all, or even just want something fun to play for a few hours, I highly recommend trying out the prototype. It has a much higher production quality than most alpha/beta materials you've seen elsewhere. Hell, I think its better than some finished games that I've played. It does an excellent job of conveying the gameplay you can expect from the final product, as well as demonstrating how impressive the art and animation is (even at this early stage).

Indivisible represents a very unique project: it is a crowdfunding effort that isn't trying to seduce you with stretch goal bloat or shiny rewards, and unlike a lot of crowdfunded video games they are being extremely transparent and honest about what it really costs for an independent studio to make a game. Their goal may seem ambitious (and in some ways, it is) but it is also a very realistic view of the real cost of bringing your ideas to life in video game form. And, unlike a lot of other crowdfunding efforts, Lab Zero has given us an extremely promising prototype to experience, along with a track record of being able to deliver on their promises.

If you're a fan of RPGs, Valkyrie Profile, Super Metroid, independent game creation, unique art and settings, or awesome action, I highly, highly encourage you to check out this project and consider throwing some money their way. Indivisible is one of the most refreshing, interesting, and exciting video games I have seen in a very, very long time, and it will be a goddamn crying shame if it never sees the light of day.

Kingdom Death: Monster - Gameplay Review

I mentioned during my review of the game box contents of Kingdom Death: Monster (KD:M) that I wasn't comfortable making any strong statements about how the game plays until I had actually sat down and experienced it myself.

Thankfully, it didn't take very long to get a chance to play the game. I was able to sit down with a friend of mine recently and take the game for a test spin (each of us controlling 2 survivors). 

The short review is: KD:M plays as good as it looks. Its a very fun, engaging co-operative game that has surprising depth, excellent design, and seems to have plenty of replay value just with the core game set (with plenty of expansions coming as a result of the success of the Kickstarter). The total package of the game and the supplemental materials makes KD:M one of the absolute best products I've encountered in all of my nerd gaming years.

Long review after the break.

Kingdom Death: Monster - Boxed Game Review

Let me tell you a bit about Kingdom Death: Monster and why it is worth every penny of the asking price (especially if you can nab it at the pre-order values).