Precinct Omega

9th August was the arbitrary date I set for getting back to social wargaming and, with no sign on the horizon yet of anything radically apocalyptic to change that plan, it is time to make plans about what I'm going to play. Other than Horizon Wars games, obviously.

 

So, with that in mind, how can I choose from the plethora of excellent games out there which ones I'm going to focus on for the next 12 months? I think there's room for a maximum of three, but which three? Well, after a lot of thinking, I whittled it down to a long list of:

 

Infinity the Game 

Aristeia 

Kill Team (the new one)

Deadzone 

Warcaster: Neo-Mechanika 

Bushido 

Necromunda 

Spectre: Operations 

The Silver Bayonet 

WarCry 

and

Star Breach 

 

In this episode I rate each of these based on how much fun I think it will be, how innovative I think it is, how much money I would have to spend to play it, how good the local scene is and how easy it will be to find tournaments to play in around the UK. And, based on that, I make some qualified assessments of what I'm going to try out.

 

In this episode, we re-visit the subject of tax and VAT in the light of new EU rules and this strange beast, IOSS.

DISCLAIMER: I am not a tax specialist.

But because that's very dull, I also took some time to look at the news emerging about Games Workshop's complete re-write of the Kill Team rules, due for release soon, and Mantic Games's new sci-fi arena combat board game, Overdrive.

A full transcript of this episode is available to subscribers on the Precinct Omega Patreon.

Inspired by my conversation with Gav, I thought I'd do an episode on "emergent properties" - where this idea comes from and what forms they take in miniatures wargames.

 

My first effort turned out to have corrupted after 12 minutes, with no sound recorded, so I had to re-do it and the second effort honestly wasn't quite as good as the first one, but I think I covered most of the same material.

Please note that I am now posting the scripts of scripted episodes like this one as exclusive bonus content on the Patreon. So if you'd rather read this episode than listen to my voice, you can get access to scripts at patreon.com/precinctomega from as little as £1 per month.

Please consider supporting the Patreon as it makes a huge different to my ability to make it through the month!

In this episode, I look at new releases from:

Wyrd Games

Westfalia Miniatures

Victrix

GCT Studios

Corvus Belli and, reluctantly,

Games Workshop

And discuss how these use (or don't use) the idea of "starter sets" to draw new players or re-engage old players with their game or games.

 

Gav is the third patron I've been delighted to welcome on to the podcast.

 

We spend some time on his GW career, with an emphasis on the internal workings of the business from his perspective. Obviously, we also talk about Inquisitor, because I couldn't not do that. And we - eventually - get to the subject of narrative and how mechanics can create the experience of narrative events in a miniatures wargame.

 

There is a YouTube edition of this podcast but, for technical reasons, my conversation with Gav is entirely audio, so the video section is really only my last 20 minutes, wrapping up my learning from the interview.

 

This week's news looks at:

 

Warhammer+ 

The "new" TSR 

Mantic Games's new Overdrive release

6: Siege and Cyber Odyssey 

 

It covers over a lot of different subjects, with no intentional core thread. But I realized afterwards that, what I was really talking about, was how the industry is changing itself in response to a new relationship with the digital future.

...manoeuvre... mobility... whatever you want to call it.

What are the options available to designers and why would you choose one over another?

And I also talk about aspects of manoeuvre that are often under-emphasized or ignored by designers.

GW decided to change the aesthetics of their "Orruk" orc fantasy range

 

Wired (not "The Wire" as I say in the script - d'oh!) gave us some click-bait about women and wargaming

 

Even the miniatures wargaming Twittersphere isn't immune to attention-seeking trolling (big surprise)

 

I take my life in my hands and give some controversial subjects the questionable benefit of my analysis and contemplate what it means for Precinct Omega.

 

There will be a YouTube edition of this podcast if you like that sort of thing.

I got to chat to Jake Thornton, renowned tabletop game designer whose credits include Lost Patrol, Dreadball, Dwarf King's Hold and many others. We discuss his career journey, experience of working inside Games Workshop and the transition to freelancer.

This episode is also available as a video on YouTube if you are compelled to see our faces.

Not sure what happened to my scheduled release, because I definitely did it. Anyway, apologies that this episode is a day late.

 

News topics this week include:

 

Rubicon Models 

Microworld Games 

Spellcrow 

HiTech Miniatures 

Diehard Miniatures 

Figone 

Europe Asunder 

Corvus Games Terrain 

Devil Inside Productions 

Manufaktura (no link for you!)

0-Hr 

Seb Games 

 

But the big feature for this week's episode is an hour-long conversation with Ben Calvert-Lee, digital sculptor extraordinaire and also long-time collaborator with GCT Studios. Ben shares his journey into the industry, his thoughts about the dynamic between traditional and digital sculpting media and insights into the evolution and operations of GCT Studios.

 

Ben also has his own podcast that we forgot to mention.  You can listen to him on the Robot Dice Explosion.

I hope you enjoy!