d12 Killfinity Necroteam Playtest #2: The Rescue

This time the Tau are back. After being captured last mission, the luckless Pathfinder scouts are being readied by Flayed Ones who hunger for their meat-flesh - and to use their skins as nifty suits. 

A rescue is mounted; this time with more hard hitting firepower; two stealth suits (one with plasma); a railgun scout, and two rifles swapped in for carbines to add range. A bonus two gun drones are added free (Dad wanted to test drone rules), along with a Kroot to allow some melee - and cos the kids thought it looked cool (an excellent reason.)

The drones just move along with a Tau orbiting within a base length; and add two TN5 shots; they can also be used as 'cover' - shots which miss because of the drone, hit the drone. I.e. let's say it is TN 6 to hit a Tau, but it is reduced to a TN4 for -2 cover by the drone. Any rolls of 1-4 hit the Tau, and any 5-6 (the original TN) hit the drone.

 You can see the downed scouts being guarded by scarabs and Flayed Ones in the left top building.

The Flayed Ones, ritual interrupted, make a beeline for the disgusting meat-flesh intruders.  The railgun Pathfinder smashes the first one with a critical hit - with a TN of 7 he rolled exactly a 7. The railgun has -5 to enemy saves and double damage, so the Flayed One must make 4 saves at 9 -5 = 4 or less. He only saves 3 (two for the crit of 4, plus the 3) so he is downed. As he is not overkilled, he may resurrect later...

 

The Kroot fires across the board and knocks down another Flayed One (a special kind of pin/suppression that is harder to shrug off). Another Flayed One sneaks up on him but is downed by a hail of fire by the nearby Tau warrior+gun drone. In the next turn the Kroot uses his action to permanently finish off the twitching Necron, to stop it resurrecting.

At this point, my daughter has taken over the Tau. With the pin slowing it down, the Flayed One cannot make it into melee range. In almost the exact same spot as its compatriot, the railgun scout perched on the building smashes it again. It takes crits and excess damage - beyond its formidable resurrection abilities - and is also removed.

A chittering swarm of Scarabs flies into a Stealth Suit which was flanking to the side. After a lot of ineffectual firing, the Stealth Suit finally downs its second wound (swarms get an extra wound) with a punch (despite having 1 roll to 3 in melee).  The swarm self destructs!

 

...ineffectually and anticlimatically I might add. My daughter is as lucky in her rolls as my son is unlucky. We are all a little disappointed as we thought robot exploding bugs were cinematic, but she was relieved her favoured female Tau was unhurt (I have headswapped a few token girl heads into most of my factions)...

But my daughter was yet to fully demonstrate her luck powers. Until a Stealth Suit who was moving to lay down overwatch (as denoted by the green token) near the fallen scouts stumbled into some Necron Warriors dad brought on as reinforcements (can't make it too easy for 'em)....

After downing the first Necron to move into view with an overcharged unstable plasma blast (any '12' and the damage is applied to the plasma wielder) the Stealth Suit lacked actions to defend against the second. So the Necron had two shots strike home - both crits - for double damage. She needed 4 saves of TN7 (1-7 on d12) to survive!

...She passed all the rolls and then aced (critical success) a Willpower test to avoid being pinned/suppressed!  My son, spectating, said "Come onnnn!" in disgust. "How did she survive that?"

PART 2

The game being truncated for bed-time, today my son is at tennis so the girl is at the helm of the Tau again. Her first Fire Warrors are almost arriving to rescue/check the vitals of the downed Scouts. Who knows what vile experiments the Flayed Ones had been doing with them?

With most of the threats down, she briskly moves up her forces and puts some on hold (overwatch - green token) to cover any Necrons that might emerge from the table edge. 

 Just in time, as Dad, bored by the lull, has brought on a few Necron warriors, who were summoned to deal with the meatbag intruders!

 The Stealth Suits do good work. The Plasma armed one downs its target. The minigun one opts to reposition (move up to base length/pivot) and thus gets to spool up its gun, emptying four shots through a window, pinning the second Necron. (A pin is caused by non-penetrating hits, then failing a subsequent Will test - the model then loses its free move and must either move or shoot - not both).

 

The third Necron warrior runs into a girl Tau (headswapped at my daughter's request). Accompanied by a gun drone, they unleash 2 shots each at "close quarters": (+2) range for the compact carbines. Although they do a measly -1 damage, the Necron goes down.

 A lurking Kroot spends an action to administer a autokill 'coup de grace' to the twitching automaton. However next turn Dad escalates things further. This is going to be no leisurely evac...

 Mwahahaha! A wraith appears, phases through a wall and jumps a Stealth Suit with its deadly claws.  All 3 shots hit including a crit! 5 saves required at -7! The luckless Steath Suit is dismembered with terrifying ease.

Meanwhile, the rescuers have got both Pathfinders up. One rolls a crit on their recovery roll and bounds up in time to take a shot at a Necron Warrior. (He misses - would've been cinematic though!)

 

The round ends with my daughter starting to move everyone back, while adjusting the positioning of the big damage hitters (railgun snipers -5, stealth suit plasma -8 overcharge shot) to prepare to down the Defence 12 Wraith.  She plans to create an evac point (out of Necron LoS) to pull them off the board more rapidly, and perhaps tar-pit (slow) the Wraith by sacrificing the Kroot into melee with it. 

A Fire Warrior created an evac point with its action. She prepared to rush her team through and out. 

 But first, the Pathfinder sniper from the previous game (the one who had to be revived twice, then rescued in this mission) redeemed himself. He scored a crit on the terrifying wraith and with lethal crit and double wound special traits he ripped through its exoskeleton.

 

Tau were quickly streaming out the evac point while the enemies were out of LoS (if in line of sight, evac is not automatic but requires an Agility roll).

 

 Three more Necron warriors arrived. With so many Tau having evacuated, they not longer had fire superiority. 

 My daughter forgot to finish off the wraith and to her horror I tried to resurrect it on a TN of 7. Luckily for her it was an 8. Twitching, the ghostly horror sank back, permanently inert. Whew!

 

 Unfortunately the heroic sniper now paid with his life. A Necron scored two crits! Coruscating green lightening turned him into an ashy outline on the wall. A Kroot, fading towards the exit, took a sneaky overwatch shot from cover, avenging his ally by taking down an advancing Necron.

 But the Necrons stalked forward remorselessly. The Kroot and a Pathfinder sniper were the last remaining. 

 

The sniper covered the Kroot's escape - he took out another Necron with his powerful rail sniper. Unfortunately as it is a heavy weapon it cannot move and shoot...

The heroic last stand ended as the sniper was cut down by green energy blasts.  A cinematic finale!

The game ended with one Tau being rescued, the other killed, and two other casualties being taken in the attempt. Total Necron deaths - a bit hazy, but from memory: a scarab swarm, 3 flayed ones, a handful or so Necron warriors and the luckless wraith, victim of a 1 in 12 crit. 

My daughter wasn't sure she had won - she accomplished her mission - rescue the Pathfinders - but lost one, and took some other casualties in the process. I reassured her this was pretty par for the course for military operations...

Possible Rules Changes:

1.Should pinned models be able to react? Perhaps if they pass a Will check? After all, the pin just removes the free move. Daughter suggestion.

2.Should you be able to dodge forward into melee? Currently you can't. And if you can, how does it work? (I'm working on a rule for my Khorne beserkers but should this 'counter-charge' be a universal rule or limited to certain models/factions) Daughter suggestion.

3.I may tone down the Wraith in melee: 3 x -7 hits are pretty much autokill.  In fact, review the methods used to generate melee damage. Dad musing.

4.I may also need to do a balance pass in how I convert Defence (combined toughness+armour save) from 40K. Currently I have Toughness 3 = Defence 5. Any toughness over this is +1 each level i.e. a Toughness 5 model would be Defence 5+2 = 7. Then I add armour saves - a 6 is +1, a 5-6 is +2, a 4-6 is a +3 etc.  

Finally I have a rough scale for wounds. The maximum wounds I have is 2, so 2 wounds is just the extra wound and no defence bonus. 3 wounds is +1 defence, 4 wounds is +2, 5 wounds is +3 etc. However some really big models have really big wound numbers....  It's probably just the effect that stats balanced for fighting squads of 5-10 means monsters are pretty overtuned/OP in a 1:1 melee game. Dad musing.

Next time I'd like to look at adding grenades, flamers and AoE weapons. But I am prone to distraction and my son is asking for 15mm tanks & mechs vs wizards sci fi rules - my working title is "Wizards of Mars". It's an interesting challenge as the rules have to be slick enough to easily/quickly handle vehicles and fire teams of infantry AND magic spells. So the rules will be very simple and 'pared back' so I can add another layer (magic) without slowing things down too much....

Game Design #115: Rulebooks, Referees & VAR (Part B)

A good rulebook (like a referee) should be seen and not heard, but keep the game flowing smoothly. 

Or - the rules should be such as to require minimal consultation. There should be no complex tables that force you to flip open the book each combat phase. There should be few modifiers and special rules - so you can remember them after a single play through.  The special; rules interactions should not spawn extra complications. Like a referee, the less you see of a rulebook: the better it is doing its job.

But unless the rules are extremely simple, VAR (the rulebook) will be required at some stage. In this case the VAR check should be accurate and quick - allowing us to quickly get back to the game. With minimal paging back and forth, squinting in puzzlement, arguing etc. VAR (aka consulting the rules) should be over fast - and everyone then understands what is going on. Accessible, fast, easy, obvious. 

Part B:  Rulebooks should be easy and fast to use and understand. 

A well laid out rulebook allows you to use more complex mechanics and concepts. I can teach algebra rather easily to 8-9 year olds if it is kept simple, clear and broken into chunks.  With a clear, well delivered rulebook you can 'get away with more' - consulting the rules more often is less a problem if the consultation is a fast, simple, painless experience. Flawed rules are less an issue when the referee is really fast and good at his job of explaining them.

Rules must be easy to find. Index, Appendix, Quick Reference = Mandatory

This means an index in the front, appendix in the back, and a quick play/reference section in the back you can photocopy.  It ain't new. It ain't complicated. If the rulebook is a pdf, the appendix and index should be bookmarked so when you click on an index topic, you are sent to the right place.  Anything else is just laziness or poor editing oversight

E.g. I like the idea of Weird War I. A War Transformed has many charts, and tables needed to resolve combat. It uses a range of dice mechanics. OK, according to Part A, not ideal... ...but no glossary, index or quickplay for a 200+ page rulebook? That compounds the problem. 

A quick reference chart with all the key rules and mechanics you need each turn is a must. It should preferably fit on a single A4 sheet so it can be taken in 'at a glance.'

 

 A table of contents and index are mandatory. Surprisingly, some of the best indexed are from the fanmade living rulebooks like Necrodamus or BFG.

Corollary: Unit stats and special rules should also be easy to use, find and share

This is not just the rulebook but encompasses unit and faction cards which are laid out on the table where your opponent can glance over and see them, or pick them up and check them for a few seconds. 

I have a personal rule that all my homebrew games' special rules for all factions should also fit on a back to back A4 (i.e. 2 pages max) so I can print them all out easily. Obviously that doesn't work for everything but it's fair to say unit cards should be easily read, visible and understood by opponents; preferably with summaries of any applicable 'special rules' aka rules exceptions to minimize interaction with the rulebook. I've been experimenting with an "army sheet" - where all units stats, weapon stats and special rules/skills/trait summaries are all combined on one sheet of paper.

There should be no hidden knowledge. Rules should be generic if possible and shared by all. Unique, faction-only skills should be minimized. I shouldn't need to own a special rulebook to know what my opponents' units can do.  

While handy, these tabletop unit cards also have an implicit limit; if you need to have a hundred information cards piled on the table... ....has an underlying rulebook issue just been shifted elsewhere? Another consideration I wrestle with: For a unit card - like a PowerPoint slide - how much information is too much?

 With tabletop unit cards, the question is: what is too much information? I like it when all you (or your opponent) needs to know can fit on 1 or 2 sides of A4.

 

 Quar rules manage it in three pages per faction but they do include vehicles.... so acceptable enough I suppose...

Rules should also be logically laid out.

Finding a rule should not be like a game of hide and seek. I should find shooting in the shooting chapter, movement in the movement section. Following traditional layouts is good. Perhaps the chapters are in order each phase appears in a game turn? Logic is good. 

Duplication is better than playing hide and seek with rules. Sometimes it may be necessary to repeat rules, but that's OK. Maybe damage rules get repeated in shooting and melee. Or movement in the terrain section. Or morale appears in a few places. I'd rather find a rule too often, then not at all. 

There's room in the word count, because a good rulebook won't be filled with excess fluff and random stories. Right?

The oldschool Starfleet Battles/WRG format is very precisely laid out and well indexed but can be a little dry and mind numbing.... some pictures to break up the wall of text would be nice!
 

Rules should not require viewing Youtube how-to-plays to make sense

Pretty much as per the title. If a rulebook does not make sense without having to go to outside the rules and watch video tutorials - then the rules just suck and need to be rewritten.  Period. I shouldn't need to watch an hour of Youtube tutorials for a game to make sense. And the rulebook certainly shouldn't be being sold for money....

Rules should not use unique language or symbols

Many rules mistakenly try to rename common conventions to...   appear hip?   I mean, movement, fight/melee, shoot, damage, morale - these are pretty commonly understood.  My poster child is Killwager.

You have measures, targeted measures, trained measures, technical measures, free measures, reactive measures. You can dip! and your minis have flow.  The game sequence goes:

 

This sequence (or even what a measure is) will probably not be perfectly clear to someone picking up the rulebook for the first time. Familiarity with other games doesn't necessarily help. Renaming actions etc is needless complication. Keep it simple. Keep it oldschool. We're playing games with toy soldiers ffs. We don't need to feel trendy and have hipster phrasing. (The follow-up game, BLKOUT went back to more traditional wording and looks to be a much bigger success)

Another gaffe is using lots special symbols instead of just... words. Words like shoot, fight, etc aren't that long as to require replacing with a symbol. The symbol is just another thing to learn. Worse is when the symbols are embedded throughout the rules instead of restricted to unit cards (like the Warcry example above). Like this:

 

If you have to look up the rules even a few times to work out the symbol - then that's another piece of rulebook interference that slows the game. When your rules are 250+ pages long, the word count obviously wasn't the issue. It's a little unfair to pick on Lancer as it is a quasi-RPG combat game, but I had the pdf handy. While I've got it open:

 

 Not all unit cards are equal. If your unit profile goes for four pages... it's probably not table-friendly!

Rules should not be hidden among the lore/fluff/waffle.

Sometimes I have to read 30 pages of fluff before I get to the actual rules (or 150 *cough* Carnevale *cough*). Sometimes the rules are hidden, sandwiched amongst the fluff - i.e. 5-6 pages of lore waffle, and 5-6 pages of rules, like my old Malifaux rules. 

This slows the VAR decision. The ref rules needs to do its job, not deliver a Shakespearean monologue.   

A picture is worth 100 words. Mark Borg, Trench Crusade, Necropolis prove - the art or cool mini photos can do a lot of the heavy lifting. Heck just the front cover of Space Weirdos gives a truckload of vibes. 

So give us the pictures, and spare us the 1000 words. 

Or do a separate lore/art/fluff book if you insist - like Infinity and Trench Crusade have done. Then, those who want to enjoy a lore deep dive or have a glossy hard copy, can. Those who just want to be able to easily and quickly access rules - they win as well. 

The rules' ease-of-use should not be neglected just so the author can waffle about their game world. 

Carnevale has great art and atmosphere. Assassins, vampires and cthulhu in the canals of Venice. Pity there's 150 pages before I can actually read the rules needed to play the game...

Diagrams, Pictures & Examples are good

Diagrams are good. Examples and photos of gameplay are good. Not all of us has a mate to teach us the game, or can get to a demo game. If you can't explain something succinctly without taking your hands out of your pockets, then it probably needs a diagram (unless you are Italian).

Corollary: However if a single game concept needs pages and pages of diagrams to explain a concept.... perhaps the rules themselves need simplifying and clarifying. 

While I'm not a fan of hitpoints on humans, Necropolis is a nifty free game in playtesting. The art style is very evocative and has spawned some great display boards. It avoids 150 pages of fluff and still has vibes.

 

While nowhere near as good as the lovely art in the O.G. Songs of Our Ancestors, the free new Quar rules also show distinct atmosphere without much text.

The rest is pretty commonsense... 

Format, Layout & Font

A sterotypical wargamer is a middle aged male. Our eyesight is usually not optimal. So.... paragraphs, pictures, decent font size thanks! Break up those walls of text. Take pity on middle aged eyes! While I do feel for those Osprey blue book authors struggling with a page count/cap, I shouldn't have aching eyes from reading a wall of text.

Editing & Spelling

You'd hardly think it need be said, but this is surprisingly common. Terrible spelling, grammar and proofreading can be surprisingly jarring and break your focus on the rules. 

After marking a lot of schoolwork, I know the author is the worst proofreader. Our brain "fills in" what it thinks it said or intended.  Likewise a spouse/best mate/gaming partner are also not optimal - they might easily "grasp" something that they already know about from other discussions; so it still makes sense to them: but an outside reader would be throwing their hands in the air. 

To summarise:

PART A 

The analogy is that if VAR or the referee interferes in a football game too often, it is a bad thing. The game cannot flow. A good game is where the referee does its job unobtrusively and barely seems present.

Likewise, a set of rules, like the referee, should be unobtrusive and not require frequent referencing. Therefore, things like many special rules, tables, lots of range bands and modifiers - anything that will require you to refer to the rules more often - should be minimized or avoided when designing a game, to reduce/minimize the chance of referee (aka rulebook) interference.

PART B

If the rulebook (aka referee or VAR) is required, then the process should be as quick, simple and smooth as possible - not a long drawn out or difficult process. 

This means making the rulebook as accessible and readable as possible. Things like indexes, table of contents, quick play sheets should be mandatory - making rules quick to find and share. Excessive lore text should not obfuscate the actual rules. Unique language and symbols should be eschewed for common and familiar words and terms. Youtube tutorials cannot be used as a crutch - the rulebook should be able to stand on its own merits. 

When recourse to the rulebook/rules are needed, it should be a quick and clear process allowing you to quickly get back to the core business - making pew-pewing noises while swooshing around toy soldiers....

Game Design #114: Rulebooks, Refs & VAR (Part A)

I enjoy football, and find the debate around VAR interesting. Is it worth it? Is the accuracy worth the delays?  VAR seems to dominate the headlines a lot. Which generates clicks, probably. But whenever refereeing is the most discussed part of the game, not the players, tactics or goals - I think we'd agree that's pretty bad. 

A good referee is barely noticed, but keeps the game running fairly and smoothly with few VAR-esque stoppages and interruptions.

I'd like to make an analogy. In wargames, the rulebook is the referee.  And when the referee (aka rulebook) is at the forefront of the gaming experience, it's a bad game. 

A good rulebook is barely noticed, but keeps the game running fairly and smoothly with few VAR-esque stoppages and interruptions. 

PART A: A good rulebook should seldom be needed or noticed

 So a few things flow from this. We can make some generalizations based on the above statement.

Lots of modifiers are bad.  

Take Battletech. Here is a "cheat sheet" to make it easy to play the game. I reckon the cheat sheet needs it own cheat sheet....

I quite approve of Zone Raiders (Necromunda meets Blame!) with it's relatively modern, clean mechanics. If there was a less niche version of this, it would be my off-the-shelf pick for all my sci fi skirmish.  But is even this too much?

 

Too many modifiers can get forgotten or just require you to look at the rulebook or quickplay sheet too often (interrupting play). Modifiers should be few, obvious, logical. Easy to remember. I reckon 2-4 maximum? 

A corollary is insignificant modifiers. If the modifier doesn't do much in the scheme of things... why have it? A -1 on a d20 roll is 5%. Not worth. Modifiers are there to steer player choices. They should be few, significant, and be key factors for the type of combat the wargame is replicating. Do you really need a modifier for every last detail?  "-1 to a shot because the sniper's wife was up last night nagging him."

--

Lots of range bands are bad. 

Each Infinity weapon has it's own stats. There is 12? kinds of ammo.

Even if the range bands are somewhat standardized (like the newer edition) - many smaller increments guarantee you will have to measure often, and can't just eyeball the range.

 

This is just a small sample of rifles. (There's 150+ weapons... I feel 5 types of HMG is a bit excessive!) 

Lots of range bands are (a) extra mental effort to remember and (b) means more mandatory measuring on the tabletop. This measuring and checking means more times the referee rules are interrupting the play.

-- 

Tables are bad. 

I mean, you are being forced to use a rulebook (or at least a quick play aid). I like Battlefleet Gothic, but is there another way to do this?

 

Tables force you out of the game. They make the referee(rules) more visible - compulsory, even. Remember those old 1980s-1990s games with 101 tables? 

Having to consult a table  (even worse, several!) often means interruptions to the game that the rulebook itself has dictated. Bonus bad design points if the referee tables need to be consulted every turn.

The 90s are gone. They can take their tables (and music) with them. 

 --

 Lots of special rules are bad. 

Especially if they are unique to a faction and not in general use. About 10 years ago there was a shift away from "stats". Lots of wargames were advertised as "only one stat to remember!" - but they neglected to mention, that to differentiate armies, they replaced those universal, commonly understood stats with special rules - each special rule/trait/ability/keyword often a paragraph long. 

 

These Infinity N5 rules are - ironically - vastly improved and cleaned up from earlier editions. But I still couldn't fit them into my single screenshot. If your 'special rules' go for 51 pages - you guarantee you'll need the  referee rulebook. Often.

 --

Lots of different dice resolution mechanics are bad. 

There should be 2-3 ways to roll your dice, maximum. One universal mechanic would be even better. Two Fat Lardies make games that have a good 'feel' but they use 101 different mechanics. In Bag that Hun, there are 10 ways to resolve actions. You can:

 #1. Roll 2d6 and compare to a Target Number. Ah, the same as Warmachine. (Spotting)

#2. Roll one d6 and compare to a Target Number. +/- Modifiers. (Maneuvers, tailing, crash landings.)

#3. Roll "buckets" of d6, 5+ hit. +/- Dice. Defender does the same. Compare total successes. (Shooting)

#4. Roll a d10 on a chart (Damage)  Huh? We're using d10 now? This is the only time we need this dice.

#5. Opposed d6 roll. +/- Modifiers.  (Shooting at parachutes) Because shooting at parachutes is so important, it needs its own special mechanic.

#6. Roll 3 d6, count doubles and triples. (Air to air rockets).  Again, such a common occurence in-game, and this is the ONLY mechanic that would work.... right? 

#7. Roll buckets of d6, +/- dice AND use different target numbers (Bombing). Just to vary method #3 enough to keep you guessing. 

Cripes, I can't even remember all the dice rolling methods they used without looking at the rulebook. Having many ways to roll dice is needless complication that speaks of erratic game design.

--- 

Recording is bad.  

It is forcing you out of the game to do math, or tick off a chart. It's accounting, not cool pew-pew. It's actually an unpleasantly increasing trend in wargaming. Why do all the skirmish games recently have hitpoints? (longtime readers will be expecting this one...)

(a) It's stupid...  ...not even realistic - a person can lose 9 of 10 hitpoints from an war-axe, survive fine, then die the next turn when a rabbit bites their last 1hp

(b) It can be a lot of recording. If each "Whatever-grave" peasant or "Youtuber-made-a-game" grunt has 10 hitpoints... and there are just 12 peasants.. that's 120 boxes to be tracked/ticked off each game. Per side.

Sometimes recording is unavoidable. Big complex spaceships or 74-gun ships of line probably need hitpoints or some other way to show slow, incremental damage to many systems and subsystems as vast vessels of 100s, 1000s of tons slowly succumb. But not human hitpoints ffs.

But adding needless or avoidable recording takes you out the game. It's like bad VAR.

Corollary: Recording is bad... but tokens aren't great either. 

I can't even remember what all of Infinity's tokens stand for. So you'd have to consult the referee rules...  but my actual point is if your table is being cluttered by tokens you're constantly tracking/adding/removing.... it's also an unsightly form of recording...

 

 Here are a few of the 'states' (aka things that need tokens) in Infinity. Not only do they need tokens, but you'll probably need to look them up.... consulting the rulebook... again.

Novelty for it's own sake is bad.  

Familiar mechanics, tropes and stereotypes are easy to digest. If I tell you of a game where your units roll to hit on a d6 with 3+, 4+ or 5+ ; have similar defence and cover saves - also on a d6 - to cancel hits... you'll go "ah, sounds a bit like 40K."  It's familiar. It's a frame of reference.  

It also means players don't have to refer to the rules because they are already familiar with them.  

I always find it interesting when folk obsess over mechanics and dice methods in the blog comments. I mean - the dice are just RNG. It's a way to generate results. Whether you use handfuls of d6s, or single d20s. Or if you shut your eyes and toss dice over your shoulder. Or combine them with cards.. or whatever. 

People like novelty, I get it. No, I'm not that excited to play the next 40K clone either (I'd class Flames of Bolt Action in this category) buuuuut...

 ....Familiar mechanics and rules means less consulting the referee rules. And that's a good thing.

200 in 2 Months

Well, my ancient 40K models have been well and truly dusted off (or rather painted up). 5th edition called, babe - it wants its models back! 

A visit to the local gaming shop showed me just how much GW have lifted their game since then - the samey mono-pose Marines are so dynamic now.  But since these cost me $0 that is what is getting played with. Here are this week's new factions for my KillFinity d12 house rules. (A blend of stripped-back d12-based Infinity with the less-lethal stats and percentages of Necromunda/40K/KT). 

Currently my son's Tau are trying to rescue the survivors of his last game from the Necron flayers, but the game has been interrupted by the arrival of a new 15ft Nacra catamaran (me) and the discovery of Skyrim/Oblivion/Morrowind (him). We play a few rounds every night.

^Actually, visitors may be able to help - exactly what weapons are these Tyrannid Warriors armed with? I think I got them from an ebay job lot so I have no idea; although the weapon with the glowy green nutsack attached is probably a flamer or plasma analogue, right? 

 

I planned to paint these the now-default Leviathan purple/grey but my daughter insisted on more xenomorph-y green and black (Aliens recently made the dad-and-daughter move night playlist). They had already been based so I couldn't do any creative kitbash chestburster shenaningans but I did quickly add some alien-looking coral (I'm in useful proximity to the Great Barrier Reef).

The Tyannids took my painted count to 211, but in my rummaging I found more stuff....

These old Chaos were horrifically same-y poses, but if I painted two factions, I reckon I could be justified in some new purchases, right? ......Some ebay Dark Elf warriors and some rescue-job Incubi (~15 minis) removed $90 from my budget (retail in Australia for both is $175 so... yay I guess?). The painted total is now 230 in the last two months. But 200 sounds better so the title stays.

Stop press: I just found some Orks but as I hate the look/vibe of the stupid cockney potato green-as-grass 40K orks (I'm a heretic to most I'm sure)... I'm not sure if they actually will get painted. 

I've got a few game design thoughts mulling around in my head:
a) The problem created by our perfectly-flat game tables, and the issue with hills/slopes in wargames and

b) rulebook best practice (triggered by being unable to fine Infinity's grenade rules)... 

...but they tend to take a while to type up, so I'll see when I get to it. 

Backup projects: 

My current "make a wargame in an hour" challenged when bored on a car trip produced 'Aeronef Gothic'... which will look like/should play like about how you'd suspect. When I finally decide to base my WW2 15mm insurgents individually (like all my other 15mm) or FoW-style (like my other WW2 15mm) Tankmunda was (last playtest anyway) in a pretty playable state, so I'll post up some playtests when I get to them, if folk are interested.

Diary of an Average Painter 2026

Are they perfect? No. I'm a working dad, not a Youtuber. But my paint total is now 180 minis in a month or so, and I've made 3 tables of terrain - without any dedicated 'hobby day' or 'hobby time.' 

This isn't to teach anyone any hobby techniques, but to encourage you to get out there and slap some paint on some models! When you lower the bar = you run faster in hurdles!

 

These Sentinels were just basecoated and drybrushed, and since they had already been undercoated/based, merely took me an hour while helping my daughter with her homework. I tend to use simple, bland bases as (a) they are fast and (b) I can mix-and-match minis from a variety of genres/games

1) ADHD is fine. If you are bored, swap projects! Why grind away painting minis you are tired of, when there is a new shiny, 'funner' thing you can do. The key is continuous progress. Stalled in your hobbying? Go rummage in your man cave and see what random item you feel like painting, basing, or maybe find an old model to add more detail/touch up.

Small projects of ~12 or less models offer a good ratio of "production line" speed as well as variety. You can always stop when you're bored!

2) Perfect is the enemy of good.  Is it a gaming toy, or a display model? Given lots of folks field half painted or just primered armies, a quick basecoat + wash + highlight is, technically, above average. Eschew perfection, embrace progress!

3) You can always come back later. Often I'll grab out some minis and go "these guys need a touch up!" - and it is usually a quick job I am then motivated to do. Not every model needs to be a Golden Demon nominee. Does it look good enough to middle aged eyes at table distance? That's more pertinent.

A vehicle or large hero or monster can be a quick fun "break" from painting rank and file.

Did I edge highlight SM armour like the usually accepted practice? Nope. I was bored with them (and the colour purple) by then and they looked fine from a distance so I just.... didn't? They are absolutely fine as a tabletop toy, and are a hundred times better than unpainted/primer.

4) All progress is good. I'm not in the mood to paint any more Space Marines, so I'll undercoat and base my Tyrannids. Sprinkling sand and PVA is not very exciting, but it's progress. Less glamorous jobs can be done while watching TV.  Assembly, priming and preparing bases in advance means I always have several painting jobs 'ready to go' so there is less chance of killing momentum.

5) Production Lines vs Small Batches. They both have their place. Painting in stages in quantity, i.e doing all the purples, then all the metallic, then all the black etc - on 30 models at a time is time efficient. But it also can be too dull and leave a day or so where the models seem dispiritingly unfinished. Break up these bigger tasks with fun small jobs where you completely finish only a handful of models.

6) Low hanging fruit is fine. Start small. Build momentum! Often knocking over a bunch of easy jobs will motivate you for bigger and tougher tasks. Space Marines  Mechanicus  Tau  Eldar Dwarves  Vostroyans OK - now I'm ready to tackle 100 Tyrannids!

 7) Track Progress. I award myself 0.5 for a 15mm, 1pt for a 28mm, 2pt for a 40mm base, and 3pts for a 50mm+ base. I also stay aware of what I have accomplished this week, and what I'd like to accomplish. But it's aspirational. It's not a job!

8) Do you have a space to work and a time to work (routine). I have no large blocks of time or 'hobby afternoons' or special weekend time. I usually can rely on some "dad time" after kids are in bed. It's surprising what you can do in an hour. I try to get the minis out a few times a week. How much time do you spend on screens in a day? Could some of that time be repurposed to wargaming?

Having a range of models with the same colour scheme allowed me to work in small batches AND use a production line method.

9) Media. If you're playing Dawn of War (the O.G. of course!) it tends to energize your 40K painting. A recent diet of Alien and Predator movies got my Kroot and Tyrannids assembled and out of the box they've languished in for years. I watched Elysium and have assembled some cool humanoid robots. Cleaning out my old 40K Kill Team rulebook inspired my current painting project. I've got The Last Samurai standing by to assist my samurai project (it's such a long movie I could probably paint them all during it!)

10) It's a hobby, not a job. If it ain't fun - or at least satisfying - why are you doing it? Don't forget to play with all those cool toys! As a bonus: you can make terrain - even your own rules! 

Anyway, why are you sitting around looking at this blog? Go slap some paint on some models! 

.....Also, share any motivational ideas/tips in the comments 

d12Finity Playtest

I gave the rules a run through with my son. Some ignorant meatbags have disturbed a Necron tomb!

The rules passed my "can explain in 5min or less"

"You take turns moving one guy each. Each turn, your guy gets to move AND do a thing. The thing can be move again, shoot, climb, whatever. If you are hurt or pinned you don't get the free move. You can hold your move or shoot til later if you want - like to wait til someone pokes his head out. You can 'reposition' your model by moving it up to a base length and change facing and not count as moving - your model isn't frozen in place."

D: "You do stuff by rolling equal or less than your stat. 6 is normal. If you roll exactly the number, you get a bonus or automatically win. If you both need to roll against each other, put aside any dice that fail, then see who has the best dice. The winner does all his shooting etc - and if the loser survives, he can shoot back etc."

D" "If you are hit you roll against your Defence to save. Powerful guns make this Defence less i.e. a big sniper is -5, but most are -2. If you fail you die unless you are a big monster or a hero. If you survive you are suppressed and lose your free move next turn."

D:"You can set up 2 moves from your baseline, unless you are a scout - you get to move double after that - or an infiltrator - you can set up anywhere 6" away from and out of view of any enemies."

D:"If you die you tip over the model and get to test if an ally comes over to you and spends their action. If you pass a Phys test you get up, pinned; if you fail it dies and is removed. Necrons can do this themselves like a Terminator."

T: "How do I fight hand to hand?"

D: "You're a Tau. You don't." 

We then discussed the stats on my piece of paper. 

Minis were: 

4xFire Warrior 6" move, 6 Shoot, 6 (-1) Melee, 7 Defence, 6 Agility, 6 Physique, 6 Will.

2xPathfinder 7" move, 7 Shoot, 6 (-0) Melee, 6 Defence,  7 Agility, 6 Physique, 7 Will. Mark target, Scout

1xStealth Suit, 8" move, 7 Shoot, 6 (-0) Melee, 9 Defence, 5 Agility, 7 Physique, 7 Will. Infil, Stealth, Mark target, Tough (2 wounds)

=vs= 

3x respawning Necron Warriors 5" move, 6 Shoot, 6 (-2) Melee, 9 Defence, 5 Agility, 6 Physique, 6 Will. Regenerate.

This was all we referred to in the game, except to discuss climbing and falling rules. My son asked "what can I hurdle easily" I said "anything head height or less" and he asked "what can I climb" I said "stairs are normal, anything else needs you to spend your action climbing" He then said "at half speed?"

Weapons were:
Heavy Battle Rifle (Necron) -2 Damage, 18" effective range, Auto (2 shots in effective range)

Pulse Carbine (Tau) -2 Damage, 12" effective range, Auto (2 shots in effective range); +2 in CQB

Minigun/MMG (Tau); -2 Damage, 24" effective range, Cyclic (2 shots, +2 bonus shots if no move), -2 CQB

Railgun Sniper (Tau); -5 Damage, 24" effective range, heavy (no move+fire), -2 CQB

My son without being told guessed that the minigun and sniper would be -2 (bulky) if the short carbine was (+2) which showed it was at least inutitive. I kept most of the guns at -2 damage to be simple but my rules actually have the carbines at -1 damage and the minigun at -3... in hindsight my son would easily have remembered it. 

I also allowed everyone to be a medic (not a usual rule), which was intended to make the game less frustrating, but turned out to work really well, as my son often had tough decisions on whether to attack or go for a revive, as well as allowing everyone to attempt to shrug off a suppression (usually only for space marines - Know No Fear and all that.)

Victory Conditions:
My son had to go to each green marker, spend an action and roll under his Will (usually 6, 7 for scouts) to collect it. He could leave whenever he wanted.

GAME & COMMENTS

My son deployed his Pathfinders and Stealth Suit forward (scout, infiltrate) - probably too far forward for his sniper who got shot a hilarious amount of times. His first wound happened early, an attempt to snipe a Necron missing and being nailed in return with a lucky roll. He went down but not out. His -5 damage rifle was out of action most of the game and was sorely missed as the Necrons rolled 1-7 d12 saves vs the conventional weapons.

 Beyond effective range (18" for rifles, 12" for carbines) the shooting was pretty haphazard thanks to the -2 modifier and reduced RoF.

I was acting as a NPC so I merely advanced my 3 Necrons remorselessly forward, firing when they spotted a foe. The first fight developed on the left. The Necrons downed a Pathfinder, being suppressed but shrugging it off with good Will rolls.  The Stealth suit spooled up its burst cannon but merely suppressed the Necrons, taking a wound in return. My son did not roll well and this continued the whole night (lucky he saw the funny side). Maybe 'rolling low' mechanics is the way to go for me!

The Stealth Suit's burst autocannon fires 2 bursts of 2 shots; not 4 at a time; the most dice mismatch is thus 2 to 1; not 4 to 1 like Infinity. The other two shots can be saved and fired later or straight after the initial opposed roll. 

 

The luckless Pathfinder sniper passes a Phys roll and is revived for the first time. You can see the objective marker but the Tau are too busy staying alive to spend an action to attempt to collect it with a Will roll.

 

There are only three shooting modifiers; -2 long range, -2 cover, and -2 if being fired at from the rear 180.  We decided to add in a -3 "good" cover next game for where the model is snuggled up against the cover: to differentiate it from shots where the cover is technically in the way/obstructing some vision, but a long way from the model. 

My son said "how will anyone ever get in the rear 180?".....  just as my Necron strolled down the right flank and shot him in the back. The Necrons were repeatedly pinned but not downed. On the left you can see a Fire Warrior going in for a revive on the Pathfinder. The Stealth Suit is Tough and thus can take 2 hits (unlike all the other models which are downed with one shot) but it was overwhelmed.

At this point my son went from "I outnumber them 8 to 3, I'm gonna kill em all then collect tokens" to "What tokens can I grab before I leg it."

The luckless Tau sniper revived a second time with a crit (rolling exactly the target score required) so he got to leap up and act like normal. 

 

He rolled another crit (his Shoot is 7, he rolled a 7) vs the Necrons two hits (his Shoot is 6, rolled a 4 and a 3). Since his success was a crit (or higher) he applied his damage first, downing the Necron whose then did not get to 'shoot back,'

 My son's sniper at last downs a remorseless Necron who failed his save roll (Defence 9 -5 = needs 4 or less on d12)."Finally!"  Taking no chances, he shoots its twitching chassis to prevent it attempting to Regenerate.

However, shaken by his early losses, he is still determined to grab tokens and get out. I respawned my dead Necron back on my baseline to keep the pressure up.

Unfortunately he keeps rolling over his Will and failing to pick up tokens.

 

His luck isn't good. Here I am rolling a critical on my saving throw of 7 to resist two successful hits.

When he failed his fourth attempt to pick up a token (a 50/50 each time), he decided to retreat and fight another day. The remaining tokens were on my side of the board and nasty Necrons were in the way.

 The Tau sniper was downed again, but this time, callously left to his fate. "I'm sick of reviving him!"

 

The last Fire Warrior escaped of the table, leaving five colleagues behind, including one confirmed dead. Next game I'm going to bring them back... wearing their skins as Flayed Ones! Muwahahaha!

Thoughts: Would have been fair, but for some diabolical die rolling from wee lad and some inspired saves from my Necrons.  As I merely tinkered with existing lethality percentages and ranges from games like 40K and Infinity the game worked perfectly fine out of the box as you could predict. I had reduced the models base defence from 6 to 5 before this playtest and it was a good choice as the minis already seemed quite resilient.

In hindsight he would have brought another railgun sniper and sat it back of the board, as well as swapping to a plasma cannon for the Stealth Suit for more heavy hitting oomph. The carbine vs rifle was interesting (a carbine has 12" effective vs 18" rifle effective, but gains +2 in CQB i.e. 6") and he debated bringing more rifles for the extra shot between 12-18." 

My son easily grasped the rules, although he did not bother to use the scout Marker rule (spend an action to Mark all targets in LoS who are then +1 to be hit) mostly because his squishy scouts got downed so fast. Stealth (spend an action to avoid being shot at if outside 6") was likewise unused as his Stealth Suit heroically was thrown into the frontlines with its bullet hose gun to try to save some downed team mates rather than as a sneaky assassin.

The very few modifiers (-2 for long range, -2 rear 180, -2 cover) meant we rarely checked the rules. What could be climbed/jumped off was the biggest topic of discussion and something I probably need to expand on as the wee lad tried to climb on or over everything. 

My son also suggested some new rules:

 Evac: On my son's suggestion, I've decided to add a rule where a model can spend an action to place an 'evac token' out of enemy LoS. Any other model can move to it, and then spend their action, and pass an Agility roll to be removed from the battle. This represents ziplines, escape tunnels, etc and avoids laboriously retreating off the board. I like it as I can use a modified version to allow Necrons to phase out. I love any rule I can use for multiple circumstances.

Better cover: My son felt there should be 'better' cover; I counted ANY slight obstruction or intervening terrain but he thought when the mini is touching up against the cover or close (base length) it should be better. So that is -3 not -2. 

 Success!

+ It was fast playing, easy to remember, and fun. The kid reckons it would be easy to adapt to Ninjago/LEGO. "+1 defence for a helmet, +1 for a shield, +1 for armour..."

+ It was waaaaay easier than Infinity and more interactive while having the same "opposed roll" vibe, and "where do I cover/who has LoS to me." It was a lot less punishing though.

+ The "everyone is a medic" rule I put in to keep my son entertained I may keep permanently, as it created a lot of tension: "do I do xy or do I spend an action instead to try revive my team mates?"

~ The Necrons seemed so tough.... but it was only a 1-7 defence save on d12 - 58% - (between a 4+ and a 3+ save on a d6) so it was merely diabolical rolling on my son's behalf and some inspired saves on my own.

+ The d12 system worked fine. The "roll equal or under the stat; if you roll exactly the stat you get a crit" was pretty easy in practice as you just remove all the dice that fail; so you are only comparing the dice that passed: Who got as crit? If not, who was highest? Similar to Infinity's d20 but less swingy; and with a universal rule.  A crit (1 in 12) is rarer than a '6' on a d6 so it is more cinematic when it arrives. Also the larger range on the d12 allows more stats and modifiers to 'fit' on the dice.  I can do a single defence roll rather than a toughness roll, a cover save, then an armour save etc etc.

~ Modifying the original target number, not the dice roll seemed to work well. You do the (very few) modifiers, both declare the number you are after, then roll; then it's simply comparing numbers. You're not adding or subtracting from each dice.

+ We only looked at the stat cards a few times. Modifiers were easy and automatic.

The main fixes needed... 

- If one side is outnumbered you kinda get pummelled as you run out of actions and get dunked on without any way of responding. I'll probably fix this by allowing the lesser team "pass" tokens that they give to the opponent so they can choose when to skip their turn, and/or maybe a bonus action by allowing a previously activated model an action by passing a Will roll - but only when the opponent with greater numbers is acting unopposed.... 

- I'll need more robust and clear climbing and falling rules as my son is as much a monkey in a wargame as he is IRL. 

Hmmm - that's another New Year's resolution ticked off: "Post a homebrew playtest up on the blog."

d12Finity - Mantic vs GW, Checklists and New Rules

 Well my New Years goals are being ticked off already and it's only March.

1. Create 3 terrain sets. Done. I think I'm on 4?

2. Assemble 2 warbands of minis off old sprues. Buy new minis only after equivalent amount painted.

3. Design a new set of rules, print off indie/free rules* Do some battle reports - OK not done I'll get there.

4. 2 blog posts a month. Already on 13.

5. Paint 100 minis/always paint more existing models than new acquisitions. I'm on 130 already.

6. Budget. $350. OK I just spent another $50 for some GW Skitarri so we're on $60 terrain + $20 printing + $60 BB team so we're on $190. Eeek, well under but we've 9 months to go...

7. Downsize 3 IKEA boxes of wargaming terrain/stuff. Exceeded.

Main outstanding tasks are pretty much wallet related:   

Buy new rules for an existing project. Buy a new cool rulebook.

Some rules PDFs are interesting but colossally overpriced. I mean - $25 for an electronic file + $10 to print and bind it in B&W means it compares unfavourably with say a lovely glossy secondhand GW ME:SBG sourcebook.

 

I used my Mantic dwarves to test my bronze paint ahead of possible Greek ancient shenanigans...

I'm open to suggestions for new rules to try. Blog regulars probably know my biases by now...

Some unused minis that could do with as set of rules to reinvigorate them are feudal Japan, 7-YW, and ancient Greece, though I may end up using a ME:SBG adaption for the former. Talking about ME:SBG - I was eyeing off the Pillage rules until I realised it was just ME:SBG with the numbers filed off. 

I have some (a lot?) of lovely old Confrontation C3 minis which I am rebasing on 25mm or 32mm circles (square bases are revolting, fight me!). Maybe the latter 32mm size so they can fit in with my many metal Warmachine which have never been used for their intended system. OK, add fantasy rules to possible rulebooks to try.

Dwarves on motorbikes are cool but not enough to offset the vastly lower quality of Mantic sculpts... 

Something with zombies might be good inspiration for my post apoc vikings vs zombies homebrew rules. The Last Days? Does Silver Bayonet use the shitty boring system Frostgrave does? I've always felt I should own Napoleonics but they are just so dull to paint. $1 says both rules have hitpoints. Maybe... what's that magazine that has the rules in it - Blaster? any good rules in that? Some non-PDF actual printed rules would be nice, but not if I'm paying $50 for ship it from the USA.

These clippers I got for 3D printing but they have been the best sprue removal tools I've got.  Not sure what they are called? These West Wind werewolves were quickies to get me to 100 models, but I'm now on 130. At this rate I'll do 720 this year. I think my best year was 2023 with ~750 (I did 466 LoTR alone) so it isn't as silly as it sounds... Despite additonal purchases I've eroded my 1200-1500 mini lead mountain down by a LOT over the last few years.

Mantic vs GW vs Boutique Startups

In my painting I've really noticed the huuuge gap in quality between GW and Mantic. Maybe in UK Mantic is a much cheaper option but in Australia they are (a) not readily available and (b) similar in price, especially after P&P. Mantic had a 50% sale, I wanted some were-jaguars, but even in bulk they were the same as the equivalent GW models. The sculpts are meh, the plastic is soapy and on one occasion (my Mantic skaven cyborgs) the plastic got tacky when I spray painted it, like a toy-store dinosaur.

I've mentioned USA postage making it a literal no-fly zone for even books, but some of the boutique models are insanely expensive, even 3D printed. I noticed BLKOUT (rules I recommend) is for sale in Australia. Yay! Affordable? 15x 3D printed models, and a rulebook for $207, not including postage. Kill Team starter with the same gear from my local game shop was $118. Are these guys expecting to retire millionaires from making wargames? I know there is economy of scale, but come on.

I always love Kroot but they lack variety in gear and weapons (or did when I got them a decade ago). maybe a search on ebay for those animals (Krootox?) -they ride on? My daughter asked for some blue Na'vi Kroot.

d12Finity (Main project)

This is my current main project - a quicker 'opposed roll' Infinity that actually plays without needing the rulebook and has a manageable amount of rules, allowing me to use my abandoned 40K, Infinity and Mantic minis alongside my daughter's Necromunda.

This has lots of momentum as (a) I have lots of unused 40K and Mantic in small, squad-sized packages (I intended to play Shadow War Armageddon/2018 oldskool KT back in the day) which are fun to paint and (b) I can read my old rulebooks for ideas when I am way from the house like on boring car trips (my wife drives our family sedan, I only like my 'funner to drive' n54 135i).

I like d12s as they adapt perfectly to d6s and also align fairly well with d20s, keeping lots on the dice and avoiding the extreme 'swinginess' of d20s.  

Remember: the mechanics are irrelevant (besides being simple and consistent) - it's the RNG % the rolls generate that matter. 

Here is an example of how I can replicate 40K kill percentages using a single d12 vs two d6 rolls.

A STR3 lasgun vs a Tough 4, Armour Save 6+ Imperial Guardsman is two rolls of .50 x .83 = 42% chance of a kill, once hit.

In my version, there is a single "Defence" roll where the defender rolls under a stat to save. The defence save is 1-6 for 'Tough 3' equivalent, and +1 each level of armour save. So the defender needs a 7 or less on d12 i.e. .58 to 'save'. Which means a 42% to be killed.

Two different systems. Identical results 'in the end'. 

 

My daughter and I are currently working on Esher and Skitarri Rangers respectively. She is mulling over punk hairdos for her "Pink Ladies." The purple fidget is great for mixing paint as when it dries you just pop the tried paint out. d12s sitting out from testing 'd12Finity.'

Tankmunda (Side Project)

My tank-Mordhiem with post apocalyptic. Currently (thanks Tim from comments) I have just added a bunch of ragged Peter Pig resistance and civilians to be my dirty post apoc 1930s scavengers. Still on the lookout for 15mm zombies/werewolves/monsters that don't require paying extortionate US postage.

My current dilemma bogging this project - I feel basing 15mm individually (like I do with sci fi) may work better for my game of small ragtag scavengers, but I do have lots of WW2 on FoW bigger bases and it kinda makes sense to keep all my WW2 era troops similar. Changing the bases midway means I can't use my existing troops with them without them looking dumb.... but the chances of me actually playing FoW itself ever again is pretty slim...

OK, it's getting late and I may still be able to sweet talk my wife into watching Predators (2018) with me. But before I go, here's my random thought:

You know those silica gel packs they are used to dry stuff out? For some reason there's one on our kitchen bench. It says "Do not eat"  Dessicant  Throw Out etc. But why the quotation marks next to "Do Not Eat"? Can I eat it or not? It's bothering me. Silicon should be pretty non toxic, it just won't break down...  A quick google and I found the answer on Facebook, the source of all wisdom.

 

Cya all.