RPG & Wargame Newsletter #38
December 25, 2023
Greetings, Gamers!
I am grateful for the 300 subscribers who listen to my ramblings each week about gaming, and I look forward to continuing to do so into 2024 and beyond. Our gaming hobby is not slowing down… and it does appear to me to be growing every year. I’m not quite sure why, but I think more and more people are discovering the fun of playing games with friends and family and complete strangers. Whether it is RPGs, boardgames, wargames, or simple card or dice games, the hobby seems to be growing at an incredible rate with no slow down in sight. Good for us, right?!
Rather than put this week’s newsletter out on Monday, I’m going to go ahead and send it out on Sunday, Dec 24th.
So, Merry Christmas a day early! Whether you celebrate or not, I wish you all the best this holiday season and I also hope you have a fun and save New Year!
Now, on to the fun stuff.
RPGs
I don’t really have anything to share regarding RPGs this week EXCEPT that the core rulebooks for Shadowdark are being sent out (this last week and I assume this coming week). I’m really looking forward to getting my copy. I’ve been running my own Shadowdark game each Wed from my PDF on my iPad, but I’m old-school and really prefer a book in my hand. A huge congrats to Kelsey Dionne, author of Shadowdark, for getting the book out to fans before the end of 2023.
If you’re looking to grab a copy of Shadowdark, you can find it here along with other resources for the game. Shadowdark is a blend of old-school D&D with some of the new 5e mechanics mixed in. It really is a gift to the gaming community, and my players (a group of boys, ages 13-14 - one is my son and the rest are his school buddies) love the game. LOVE IT.
WARGAMING
Adam (Uncle Atom) over at Tabletop Minions has a great review of the new 216 Paints (!!!!) from The Army Painter. While I’m a huge fan of their speedpaints and while I’m not yet sure I’ll be investing in this collection, I will say there are individual bottles that I may very well pick up based on this review (such as Oil Spill). The box comes out in early 2024, and it’s called the Fanatic range. The Army Painter has really come out swinging in the last few years with their paint development, and I have no doubt that these will do well.
MINIATURES
If you’re a player of the Dragonbane RPG from Free League, you might be interested to know that they are partnering with MyMiniFactory and Titan Forge to produce 3D printable minis from the game’s content. Yes, this seems to include the Mallard race.
Frome the announcement: In the first month, subscribers receive five 3D printable files as seen below, sculpted by Titan Forge, and taken from the Dragonbane Core Set. Every month after that, subscribers will receive one 3D printable file of a monster or enemy from the pages of Dragonbane as well as a story teaser and more discounts from partners of MyMiniFactory.
In the first month, subscribers receive five 3D printable files as seen below, sculpted by Titan Forge, and taken from the Dragonbane Core Set. Every month after that, subscribers will receive one 3D printable file of a monster or enemy from the pages of Dragonbane as well as a story teaser and more discounts from partners of MyMiniFactory.
SPEED PAINTING
From George Tousis (on The Army Painter Fan group on Facebook) comes this Frozen Horror (HeroQuest) done in Speedpaints and Contrast paints. Wow. Love the blues and whites.
CROWDSOURCING
I’ve never played a wargame that took place in the trees (think Ewoks), but this Kickstarter for Deserter’s Forest has me thinking I may try it. The 3D files are quite various, and for $20, it’s not a bad deal for what you get. And even better, so many stretch goals have been unlocked. There’s also a commercial license for those who might want to print-and-sell the terrain. More info here - the KS ends on December 25th (today!), so don’t wait too long if you’re interested.
LOVECRAFT MYTHOS
Aconyte Books has just released the cover for it’s first Arkham Horror book where you choose the path of the adventure. Releasing in 2024 on May 7, I’m definitely curious about The Darkness Over Arkham by Jonathan Green. I have read ALL of Aconyte’s Arkham Horror novels (to date) and I really have enjoyed them. You can read a synopsis and pre-order here.
GASLANDS VEHICLE OF THE WEEK
This week’s amazing toy car conversion for Gaslands is from Star Corp Industries over at the Facebook Gaslands group. It looks like some 3D printed parts here and there, but overall I like the color scheme. Not quite sure what that thing in front of the front windshield is supposed to be, but it works for some reason.
YOUTUBE
The terrain builder known as Battlefield Builder isn’t out yet (the Kickstarter ends on December 31, 2023), but they’ve released a nice video showing how to use the software that produces the files for 3D printing. If you’re a 40k player, I suspect this will be of interest to you. I hope they continue to expand on the software and offer more options than just walls and floors… that would make it much more useful to sci-fi wargame players who don’t want just ruinous terrain.
CLOSING THOUGHTS
Between Christmas, my laser ornaments taking up so much of my time, and a bit of travel, this month has flown by. Thank you all for subscribing and reading my weekly ramblings, and I hope you have a Happy New Year!
Go play some games - I plan on doing so!
Jim
TO MY SUBSCRIBERS
You can find my zines and laser-cut terrain at thetabletopengineer.bigcartel.com - 10% off to newsletter readers with code RPGWGNEWS.
Digital copies of all my zines can be found on DrivethruRPG.
My game play-through videos can be found here.
The YouTube Channel name is The Tabletop Engineer Plays
I’m enjoying your newsletter and looking forward to more in 2024!