Lead Adventure Forum
Miniatures Adventure => Gothic Horror => Topic started by: Tenz on 01 August 2013, 01:31:08 PM
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Hey Guys
Jet and I were having a discussion of possibly giving Empire of the Dead a try. We wondering what the opinions were of the game play etc. We are heavy into Adventure (Chaos in Carpathia, Pulp Alley, Legends of the Old West) gaming and wondering if the game is a mash up skirmish type or more of a campaign play style?
Cheers,
Tenz
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classic gameplay (very GW oriented if you see what I mean), excellent universe ... I really like it
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Like all these sort of Games (Necromunda, Mordheim, Cutlass etc) its about the narrative more than anything (especially with its excellent background).
You might need to make a few "tweaks" here and there, but its a good solid "core".
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Its definitely a campaign game, but suitable for one-offs as well. Very interesting and well-written 'flavor' material, until you look at the rules. The rules are badly organized, unclear and a bit incomplete, in my opinion, and don't always seem to support the universe described in the background. Playable, but a bit of an interpretive struggle at times.
I found In Her Majesty's Name to be a better written set of rules, but with little of the background flavor found in EOTD - perhaps the real answer is a combination of the two? That seems to be where my group is headed anyway.
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There are lots of new figures and factions coming out shortly for EOTD following the kickstarter earlier this year. The rules are being expanded to include these new factions, they will also include rules for vehicles, steam tech, carriages, flying machines etc.
I haven't played many games so can't comment much on the system, but I think it is most suited to campaign games such as LOTW etc.
Check out Anatolis blog. He has written an extensive review of the rules and has a number of AARs from games he has played. I think you should be able to formualte a good opinion either way by looking here:
http://anatolisgameroom.blogspot.co.uk/
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I like them. While you can do 'one off' games, there is rules for 'advancing' your war band. So it works really well.
As for me, I'm not a fan of the WW figs, so I use other companies minis for these rules.
Also there is a good place online that where you can fill out your roster... http://www.umpireofthedead.com/
One thing about the rules, there is a lot of fiction/fluff in it that was almost too distracting to me... IMO, YMMV...
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Considering what an excellent job westwind are doing killing their own system, I would not bother, they've made the same mistakes with this that they did with secrets of, just buy in her majestys name, cheaper system and better from what players have been saying.
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EotD is a nice system similar to Necromunda type skirmish game. The rules I found quite easy to get to grips with tbh. The miniatures are really nice and when boosted by Requiem there will be alot of choice to.
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Considering what an excellent job westwind are doing killing their own system, I would not bother, they've made the same mistakes with this that they did with secrets of, just buy in her majestys name, cheaper system and better from what players have been saying.
Intrigued by this KT - how are they killing their own system?
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Intrigued by this KT - how are they killing their own system?
Well, since it's basicaly a "1 man does everything" company, it's hard to keep the needed follow up on existing ranges and games. Yet KS was intended to have a contracted out caster to help reduce the pressure and help focusing on sculpting and making new rules/supplements, so time will tell.
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My understanding was Andy Cooper sculpts and runs the store with his other half Wendy. The rules were for EotD written by Sam Catterall and Nigel Atkinson.
Personally I like the rules as you can play a campaign or a pick up (with a little prep). Simple turn sequence using d10s - although I plan to embellish it with a card based activation system.
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Considering what an excellent job westwind are doing killing their own system, I would not bother, they've made the same mistakes with this that they did with secrets of, just buy in her majestys name, cheaper system and better from what players have been saying.
Having played both, I can say both have issues - Empire of the Dead has a few Rules problems, but they can be ironed out easily with house rulings. Animals are treated the same as Humans/Sentient Models in the rules when captured (for example) - that was easily sorted with a house rule. In Her Majesty's Name has a campaign system, but (to be frank) its not very interesting, and (kind of) feels "tacked on" to the rules rather than being a part of them.
In Her Majesty's Name is better for "one off" games, and Empire of the Dead is better for extended campaign play.
Out of the two, I personally prefer Empire of the Dead - but I think the "use whatever miniatures you want" approach of In Her Majesty's Name has won it a lot of devotees (FFS I've seen Sinbad Casts, Doctor Who Casts - its all over the place) that doesn't make it a better ruleset - it just has a lower price point, and people don't have to spend anything extra to play it.
I (again personally) prefer a game with a dedicated (and extensive) set of miniatures - and with the Empire of the Dead 'Requiem' miniatures on the way, we will have that with Empire of the Dead.
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Are these the same "on the way" miniatures which like the "on the way" expansion rulebook might be knocked back till February?
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Are these the same "on the way" miniatures which like the "on the way" expansion rulebook might be knocked back till February?
These are the same "on the way" Miniatures that were part of the Kickstarter campaign.
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/832150598/empire-of-the-dead-requiem-0 (http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/832150598/empire-of-the-dead-requiem-0)
(https://s3.amazonaws.com/ksr/projects/452884/posts/537849/image-290734-full.jpg?1373724217)
(https://fbcdn-sphotos-h-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-frc1/300538_548938081823330_1794788201_n.jpg)
(https://s3.amazonaws.com/ksr/projects/452884/posts/474944/image-253630-full.jpg?1368006372)
(https://s3.amazonaws.com/ksr/projects/452884/posts/474944/image-253631-full.jpg?1368006398)
(https://s3.amazonaws.com/ksr/assets/000/468/565/c1497d915ac23de6c01b93eb77868596_large.jpg?1364213350)
(http://sphotos-g.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/253604_584328504913146_87504640_n.jpg)
(http://sphotos-a.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/537678_520333454683793_2043504472_n.jpg)
(http://sphotos-g.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/531624_583131078366222_972619916_n.jpg)
(http://sphotos-f.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/304313_582822825063714_1167250535_n.jpg)
(http://sphotos-f.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/540767_582284708450859_1810420681_n.jpg)
Some of the newer Rules have already been released to the Kickstarter Backers "The Supernatural Branch".
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King Tiger wrote Considering what an excellent job westwind are doing killing their own system,
How on God's good earth do you come to that? If you don#t like the minis don't buy them don't like the rules don't play them.
We wait for wonderful miniatures to be sent to us on the kickstarter made to the high standard we expect and paid for? The rules are rules i played them i played IHMN, and pictures in a book? don't understand how its killing off EOTD.
My thoughts only
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In Her Majesty's Name has a campaign system, but (to be frank) its not very interesting, and (kind of) feels "tacked on" to the rules rather than being a part of them.
That was definitely my experience as well - while I preferred the IHMN rules overall, the EOTD campaign rules are much better - that's the 'combination' thing I was thinking of; using hte EOTD campaign rules, suitably morphed, on top of the IHMN game rules.
I have played and enjoyed both though, and certainly I am one of those who dropped way more than I had originally planned on that Requiem Kickstarter. My EOTD/IHMN figure and faction selection is going to be ridiculously large, thanks to my lack of Kickstarter self control. Maybe I will even PAINT them eventually! lol
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I ended up doing both the Requiem Kickstarter and the IHMN "Nickstarter".
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Are these the same "on the way" miniatures which like the "on the way" expansion rulebook might be knocked back till February?
I don't get where you get your information from as a backer i've not been told of this. The delay is Andy 'sculpting' all the extra factions/miniatures because the kickstarter went up and beyond its initial release which is the Requiem hich funnily enough is all sculpted.
They are going to send out everything when its ready and not piecemeal to make tracking whose had what easier. The Rules are delayed for the same reason the new factions and vehicle rules are being play tested.
King Tiger you astonish me sometimes how you seem to have a negative opinion on everything yet don't have the facts to back up your statement?
Funny really perfect rules seem to be lacking everywhere as I've not found any yet that haven't been tweaked or house ruled in some way.
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Funny really perfect rules seem to be lacking everywhere as I've not found any yet that haven't been tweaked or house ruled in some way.
7TV/Action Engine - plays perfectly "as is" ;)
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Thanks for all the responses guys. Tenz and I haven't played any Carpathia in about 6 months. We used to play A LOT. After all of these responses, I think we'll stick with the CinCar for now. The main rulebook, combined with Tom's ammended lists and my campaign system, gives the type of game we are looking for. EOTD certainly looks fun, maybe we'll consider trying it down the road sometime.
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7TV/Action Engine - plays perfectly "as is" ;)
YES!!!
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YES!!!
I thought you might like that remark :D
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@ Brummie Thug: some of the miniatures featured in KS, those already sculpted by the time I mean, were advertised for a long time. I remember Wendy even told me once they were thinking release for christmas, last year. They took some time to figure the KS thingy and the whole development of the range. Hope september will bring all the promised fruits of their remarkable achievement ;)
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@ Brummie Thug: some of the miniatures featured in KS, those already sculpted by the time I mean, were advertised for a long time. I remember Wendy even told me once they were thinking release for christmas, last year. They took some time to figure the KS thingy and the whole development of the range. Hope september will bring all the promised fruits of their remarkable achievement ;)
I'm fully aware of that mate, but what you saw was still only a 1/3 of the initial Requiem release. When they ks finished still only 2/3 where shown as completed or as greens then the following where added on as stretch goals.
11 Stretch Goal Characters (Not including the initial Ltd Edition figure)
Men Of Hell Division
Mechana Bat The hooded Knight of the skies
Steam Knight
The Clickers Faction
The Bedlam Brotherhood Faction
The Chinese Tong
Criminal Gang Street Thugs
Victorian Servants
Order of the Dragon Masked Thugs
Nemo and the Crew of the Nautilus
Famous Authors
Weapon Sprues
Head Sprues
Thats not including the vehicles as they aren't being done by Andy bit then the crew might be?
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Hope september will bring all the promised fruits of their remarkable achievement ;)
...some 100+ figures, and too many vehicles. I loved the Kickstarter, and loved their handling of the survey, and the preview pics, but I must admit, with the date coming sooner rather than later, I have a bit of dread of the workload that will arrive on my doorstep.
And then what? ...... we'll probably see a Mars kickstarter in Feb..... ooooohhhh the lead to paint. ;)
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...some 100+ figures, and too many vehicles. I loved the Kickstarter, and loved their handling of the survey, and the preview pics, but I must admit, with the date coming sooner rather than later, I have a bit of dread of the workload that will arrive on my doorstep.
And then what? ...... we'll probably see a Mars kickstarter in Feb..... ooooohhhh the lead to paint. ;)
Yea, its looking like Requiem, Relics, Wild West Exodus, and the Deadzone first wave will all be arriving fairly close together for me . . . .
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At least I will have another three months or so (after Requiem arrives) before the Robotech stuff sits on my doorstep :o :o :o :o :o
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I never bothered with Robotech thankfully.
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I did not participate (GH is a subset of my VSF gaming plans and iI have way too many figures for my current factions now) but Something I Observed is that really big KS tend to (duh) take a long time to complete after the money is in, especially if sculpting figures is involved.
If you are a person of a certain age who is used to going to a website, clicking your order, paying by Paypal, then getting the items within a week via <insert you version of USPS here> the longer timelines involved seem to take overly long. Perhaps understandable but IMHO I can't suspect establish sculptors and businessmen of being lazy or loath to fulfill the - perhaps overly confident - goals set in the KS. To all of them ther eis a business reputation to polish/protect and for many of them there is an element of "Labour of Love" plus the grit of "Real Life" as in 8-12 hour days, wife/partner and/or kids, and "dealing with the public." That last one is us - the customers...
Those who remember waiting for your shop to stock a particular line of figures (a certain shop owner here didn't stock what either was high profit or his own interests - IMNSHO - so I learned to love the internet) and having to wait to complete an army over three or more re-stockings of the shop will understand that many KSs of this magnitude actually finish in quite short (in terms of the entire project) periods.
Back to EOTD, I have no experience in it but it seems from the comments to be a good campaign type gaming experience.
That said, I will explore the IHMN rules (hopefully "in transit") when they come for my one-off games in my VSF world in complement with my CiC rules. Play what you enjoy.
Gracias,
Glenn
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EOTD, the rulebook is nice to look at and the background story is inspiring. The rules are ok but nothing impressive. The equipment is very unbalanced which is a problem for the game. For example a "Hunting Rifle" has 48" range and Strenght 6 at a cost of 10 shillings. A "Crossbow" has 24" range, Strength 4 AND is "move or shoot" at a cost of 6 shillings. In game terms a model with a crossbow is next to useless compared to a model with hunting rifle.
This goes throught the equipment lists (sword anyone?). So basically unless you're palying gamemaster driven games with ready made army lists you'd first need to rework the points system to get the game going.
I've not tried the campaign system but a couple of problems already show themselves from reading the rules.
Wolves as an example. Lyacon can buy wolves at 20 shillings a pop. A faction has 150 shillings to start with so they are quite expensive models. In the campaign rules the wolf can't gain experience because he's an animal. So it doesn't advance. But it can sustain injuries. So basically you have models in the campaign that only get worse and worse without any chance to advance. This might still work well when you play a campaign but I don't fancy the idea.
I've not yet looked into the new rules stuff from the kickstarter. The models are great and I'm looking forward to get the lot.
IHMN is very well written and obviously well thought out. Since it has a (working) character builder you can make rules for the EOTD factions. Or invent new warbands for carpathia. ;-)
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Costings for the weapons seem fair and I think if you try and play a model with a crossbow the same as a rifle model you are asking for trouble, so the system encourages you to think differently, use available cover, lay ambushes etc.
The wolves not gaining experience does bother me a little but the lycaon faction is one that has the heavy hitters in melee. Not played a game yet but still it's a system I like having read through it - some bits I will use, others maybe not (especially the steam-tech weapons).
At least the rules make more sense than the Vampire Wars ones did ;D
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EOTD, the rulebook is nice to look at and the background story is inspiring. The rules are ok but nothing impressive. The equipment is very unbalanced which is a problem for the game. For example a "Hunting Rifle" has 48" range and Strenght 6 at a cost of 10 shillings. A "Crossbow" has 24" range, Strength 4 AND is "move or shoot" at a cost of 6 shillings. In game terms a model with a crossbow is next to useless compared to a model with hunting rifle.
This goes throught the equipment lists (sword anyone?). So basically unless you're palying gamemaster driven games with ready made army lists you'd first need to rework the points system to get the game going.
I've not tried the campaign system but a couple of problems already show themselves from reading the rules.
Wolves as an example. Lyacon can buy wolves at 20 shillings a pop. A faction has 150 shillings to start with so they are quite expensive models. In the campaign rules the wolf can't gain experience because he's an animal. So it doesn't advance. But it can sustain injuries. So basically you have models in the campaign that only get worse and worse without any chance to advance. This might still work well when you play a campaign but I don't fancy the idea.
I've not yet looked into the new rules stuff from the kickstarter. The models are great and I'm looking forward to get the lot.
IHMN is very well written and obviously well thought out. Since it has a (working) character builder you can make rules for the EOTD factions. Or invent new warbands for carpathia. ;-)
Well sir you peaked my interest with these comments. I ordered myself a copy of IHMN. Its a win win situation for us. We'll give the rule-set a try and if it isn't to our liking we'll use the character builder to assist our CiC experience!
Cheers,
Tenz