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Author Topic: I'm a potential convert  (Read 2717 times)

Offline Melnibonean

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I'm a potential convert
« on: October 04, 2012, 09:22:45 AM »
Greetings folk,
I'm looking to start some Lovecraftian skirmish horror and I've been directed to Strange Aeons.

So, what's the deal?
How does the game work?
What makes it good?
What makes it bad?
What makes it creepy?

Cheers,
IanKH
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http://this28mmlife.blogspot.com.au/

Offline Mason

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Re: I'm a potential convert
« Reply #1 on: October 04, 2012, 10:20:53 AM »
Where do you start?

You should try reading some of the threads on this board, especially the AAR's if ou want an idea of how it works.

Basically it is a skirmish level game, where a small team of Agents are attempting to destroy the forces of 'Darkness' (for want of a better word) and save the world in the meantime.

It is a fast-paced, clever system, where you dont need a huge board and lots of scenery, as the basic game board is 2x3, which is one of the smallest that I am aware of.

Your characters have the chance to gain skills through experience, whilst unlocking further scenarios and rewards by gaining Map Pieces (I see these as information/clues), with the enemies (Lurkers) becoming more powerful as you gain experience.
This means that games should be fairly well balanced, no matter how experienced your team.
Another great thing is the sheer variety of potential Lurkers in the genre, anything is possible with a little thought.
As an aside, I think the rules are strong enough to used in any era/genre with small modifications.
I will be using them as a base for a future Star Wars project, whilst others have used them for Aliens-type games, Inquisitor and Medieval settings.

You will be told by the posters on this board to just 'try it' as we have all, obviously, been converted.

Offline Melnibonean

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Re: I'm a potential convert
« Reply #2 on: October 04, 2012, 12:11:59 PM »
Thank you Mason. Sounds good.

Another question: Can the game be used as is for more generic eldrich horror scenarios? I have a habit of taking games and twisting them into my own little realm of make-believe. For instance could they work for a 1970's Night Stalker type scenario or a more pulp oriented horror scenario??

Offline Mason

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Re: I'm a potential convert
« Reply #3 on: October 04, 2012, 12:26:30 PM »
Thank you Mason. Sounds good.

Another question: Can the game be used as is for more generic eldrich horror scenarios? I have a habit of taking games and twisting them into my own little realm of make-believe. For instance could they work for a 1970's Night Stalker type scenario or a more pulp oriented horror scenario??

It certainly could.
The only thing 1920's specific is the weaponry.
Easily converted to any era with a little thought.

Given what you have said above, we sound very similar.
A little work and any genre should be possible, as it is the system itself that works so well.

It certainly works for me.
 ;)




Offline Oldben1

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Re: I'm a potential convert
« Reply #4 on: October 04, 2012, 12:46:10 PM »
The best part of Strange Aeons is the ability to tailor the game; you choose the complexity.  If you want a quick skirmish game,or a even a more detailed campaign, the rules allow for both.  You don't need a lot of miniatures either.  I only have roughly 12 good guys and around 15 monsters and cultists.  There are a lot of examples on this site of
People who change the time period from modern times, to Western, to en Victorian.

Offline superflytnt

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Re: I'm a potential convert
« Reply #5 on: October 04, 2012, 01:06:25 PM »
I've written around a hundred reviews of board and tabletop games. Later this week when I get back from a buisness trip I'll be completing the write-up.

Check superflycircus.blogspot.com in around a week and it will be on the front page.
www.superflycircus.blogspot.com
Board Game Reviews And Social Commentary At Its Finest

Offline necrocannibal

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Re: I'm a potential convert
« Reply #6 on: October 04, 2012, 04:35:30 PM »
It really doesn't matter what time period you use or even what time period your characters are from. You could easily imagine a scenario where the Threshold Team are trapped in some sort of time anomaly where they're thrown back to the dark ages or something like that (a bit like the scenarios from Shocking Tales #2).
One of the most fun things I can think of when playing Strange Aeons are the injuries (both mental and physical) that the agents can receive after/ during a scenario...it leads to some great situations that can be hilarious.
The Cult of the Black Goat Cultist No. 11

ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn! Iä! Iä! Cthulhu fhtagn!

Offline styx

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Re: I'm a potential convert
« Reply #7 on: October 04, 2012, 07:19:41 PM »
That is the sweet thing about the game is being able to craft it to what you want. I have been talking to another LAF member here about Cthulu and Cowboys using the SA rules.

The best thing is the balance, simple to play, rich in theme and story plots with variety of Lurkers to challenge. Alternating between good and evil sides....great stuff!

Melnibonean you could also check out my blog for Stange Aeons (link below) there is a contest I did where people did game reports, some rather amazing work there by many on this board.
Check out my blogs!

Warhammer 40k, Fantasy and more!: http://armyoftheweek.blogspot.com

Warhammer Historicals: Legends of the High Seas and Old West, Gladiator: http://diceoflegends.blogspot.com/

Strange Aeons: http://strangeraeonsadventures.blogspot.com

Offline redzed

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Re: I'm a potential convert
« Reply #8 on: October 05, 2012, 03:54:51 AM »
That is the sweet thing about the game is being able to craft it to what you want.
Weird WW2 with upto 30 figures a side?   :)

and early 1700's with muskets, swords and 'Indians'? (I have Muskets and Tomahawks but want to bolt a weird/SA vibe onto it)

also ECW with witchunters :o

apart from SA what other supplements are required?
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Offline Mathyoo

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Re: I'm a potential convert
« Reply #9 on: October 05, 2012, 07:25:02 AM »
Hello,

I am fairly new to Strange Aeons, but I was waiting about 6-8 months deciding if I want to try this game. All the answers have been given, but more the merrier, no?

To answer your questions, the deal, for me, is an amazing amount of fun. When I first got the game, my little brother, that can't be doing same thing for long, and I were playing the game for whole day, no joke. Its just so amazing.

The game in its core is pretty simple. Rules use IGOUGO system, but every character has two "actions" available, so there is no move-shoot-charge phasing. You also have to "nominate" miniatures you want to move each turn (usually from one to three, depending on use of a special "command" ability). This makes sure that outnumbered side is not necessarily at a disadvantage. Weapon chart is pretty simple, sometimes lacking, but then again, I never really figured what Im missing, as, for example "tommy gun" fits every SMG at this complexity. IMO, of course.

In my local area, people play FOW (I play FOW :P), WH fantasy, WH 40k and to a lesser extent warmachine and hordes and infinity. So, most played games are army vs army based. I prefer skirmish games and what I like at this one is that games are short (it could be played in 30 minutes, but mostly its 1 hour as I dont know the rules and all the stats yet), gaming board needed is small (2x3 feet) and it has an awesome campaign system. Youre pretty unlucky if your character dies, but it gets some kind of funny phobias or other problems if he gets knocked out of the game. I have limited wargaming experience, but the injury chart appealed to me really fast. I have just bought the expanisons few days back so I didn't yet play the special scenarios, but those are just making game better, imo. And as other said, you can play with anything you have. I like the 1920's setting so Im not changing it, but for the board, you can just put on anything you got.
One other good thing is, I can try and sculpt my own monsters. Some of them are somewhat hard to get and it gives me a good reason to practice!
Plus, nobody bothers you if you use any miniatures you want, witch is really a great plus.

As for bad, I have to say availability and price. When I first learned about the game I could only get it from Canada (being in Europe myself) and I found it in Sweden. Now, I am not saying the rules are expensive, as the book is of great quality (spiral bound!) and the rules are really great (albeit sometimes not clear enough). But for a student, it represents quite a cost to get them. Good-bad thing is a number of miniatures you need to play. In theory, you'd need 3-5 agents and up to 10 "bad guys"....but the game offers so many choices you can reasonably buy more than you need! :P
If I'd have to point out the thing that bothers me the most, it has to be the "solo play". It was advertised in Morbid adventures expansion and to be honest, I got a feeling it just says "you can play solo". But the game is way more fun if two play anyways.
The other thing that some people found lacking is the campaign system. I mean, the system is great, you upgrade skills, your team develops but the thing is, this is only available for the treshold team. Lurker has to build new list every game. He always builds it up to the points where treshold team is. Treshold team grows in points every game, so lurkers get stronger every game. This is great for game balance and it kind of makes sense, same govermental agency fights evildoers on different locations. This is not a problem for me, as my brother and I always played at least two games, one with his and one with mine treshold list, so we actually played 2 campaigns. However, if you really like lurkers, if you got a basic Strange Aeons game, you can download free beta rules for a game called Von Unaussprachlichen (I can't spell it, but you get the idea) Culten. It is actually a SA game, but where lurkers fight lurkers. Here the winning cult eventually gets stronger than the losing one  and after few games, you can see why it is good that lurkers have to use treshold's points in a "normal" game.

As for what makes it creepy...your imagination. It has some RPG elements, imo, and if you can imagine your hero poking a gellatinous formless beast from other dimension...eww :P. Oh, and the way it is written...it has this humorous feel to the game. I really like that as well.

Redzed, to play the game, you really only need only SA book.
You don't need Strange tales 1, as most of the content is now freely available. But at for 3$ for PDF, you might want it just to see the pictures and read a story.
Strange tales 2 has a special "black dossier" campaign where you make a big Treshold expedition to time forgotten valley where you starve, fight dinosaurs and neanderthals and dress in animal pelt - all while looking for some uber important scientist. It also has a "mob" rule, where you get some special rules if you have 5 miniatures of the same profile in your list.
Strange tales 3 is available for preorder now and will have 3 other "black dossier" campaigns if I understood correctly.
Morbid adventures expansion gives you all the weapons and lurkers from ST1 and ST2 books (except dinosaurs and other lurkers, specially available for the expedition campaign) and it has all the extra scenarios + some new.

You don't need anything but SA to play. I started by buying SA and MA. I think MA is really useful as you get extra weapons and lurkers, which is always nice. There is around 30 scenarios if I remember correctly. You can also order them from UK if you're in Europe, which was a tie breaker for me. I had some doubts because both books cost me quite much, but the books are really worth it. I guess you could also get SA and either the free content from ST1 or the pdf itself, plus ST2.

Oh, for the end, I might mention that there are some trial rules on the webpage. It is good so you can see if you like the mechanics of the game, but the game itself really shines in a campaign, so the trial doesn't really do it justice.

Offline Mason

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Re: I'm a potential convert
« Reply #10 on: October 05, 2012, 07:26:52 AM »
...
and early 1700's with muskets, swords and 'Indians'? (I have Muskets and Tomahawks but want to bolt a weird/SA vibe onto it)

also ECW with witchunters :o

These should all be fairly easy adaptations using the standard rules, but.....

Weird WW2 with upto 30 figures a side?   :)

....this will need a little modification to the Command rules, as SA is designed for smaller numbers of personnel on each side.
It could be possible, for example, by activating a whole fire team or squad at the same time.

I will trying to devise a larger scale version, similar in size to your example, for VSF skirmish.
I will post the modifications on here when I get around to it.
(Not until next year, at least, so if you do it yourself before then, could you post any modifications for me to steal peruse, before I do mine?  :D)

As for....
...apart from SA what other supplements are required?

None are 'required' but the Morbid Adventures supplement is highly recomended.
Loads of good stuff in there.
 ;D


Offline redzed

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Re: I'm a potential convert
« Reply #11 on: October 05, 2012, 11:37:38 AM »
thanks ;)

Mr Black Hat may well be getting a call :)

 

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