Lead Adventure Forum
Miniatures Adventure => Call of Cthulhu => Strange Aeons => Topic started by: Dolmot on January 09, 2011, 08:15:56 PM
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Hello
In a sudden moment of inspiration (actually, my first proper day off since last summer), we decided to start a small VUK (Von Unaussprechlichen Kulten) campaign. In another moment of madness I started documenting these sessions. Don't expect any spectacular, polished reports. I'm just trying to play games. Everything else is lucky extra. In fact, I put these lists together in 15 minutes and started playing without even reading the rules properly. If I find more time for this and have any energy remaining, I'll dump some photos here:
Cult Following
(http://dolmot.net/mini/CF/01/p01_header.jpg)
(http://dolmot.net/mini/CF/)
So...quick snaps, forgotten rules, chipped game boards and probably some broken html, but a pile of jolly gaming pics as well. (This first part has about 4 MB on a single page. Let me know if it's too much for your machine or connection.)
I'll also use this topic for assorted commentary and rules questions. Everyone else is welcome to participate too. Thanks. :)
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Looks like tremendous pun! (intended) ;)
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Hi Dolmot,
Thanks for posting the photos and report - it looks like you had a great game and day off.
I've just been checking out the serpent men on the EM4 site and I think I'll be grabing some in a couple of weeks time at the Penarth Show - your paint job has inspired me.
Ramirez
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Wow, that looks great! I just started SA and already I can't wait to put together a Church of the Yellow Sign cult. Keep up the nice shots!
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Lookin' good Dolmot. Looks like the Maniac was a real ripper on the battlefield!
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Thanks to all for chipping in. We'll continue soon, I hope. Meanwhile, I'll post a handful of questions/comments. There are more, but let's start with something. (Some of these may have been answered elsewhere. Unfortunately all this multitasking has corrupted my memory.)
Speaking of Maniacs...
1 ) "Maniacs automatically Frenzy! when making a resolve test." - Does this mean "instead of making the test in the first place" or failing it? Against non-human cults there is typically a reason to take a test or two every turn, so effectively you get a 6-attack model for 7 points. (See also: Cleavers below.)
2 ) Frenzy: "Model makes 1 Move Action towards the closest enemy model (if not in base-to-base already) --".
Move Actions: "Move Actions may NEVER end in base-to-base with an enemy model (that would be a Charge)."
Charge: "A Charge is a Move Action that brings the nominated model into base-to-base with an enemy model. A round of Close Combat is fought immediately."
So what does a frenzying model really do, in or out of close combat? Is Charge ultimately a Move Action or not?
3 ) Multiple Opponents: "If a Draw against multiple opponents occurs, the player must choose one model to fight Close Combat and receive bonus Attacks." Which player? What does this mean? Let's take a trickier case and say we have models 1a-2b-1c-2d fighting in a chain. It's player 1's turn. Who will fight and who chooses what?
4 ) Cover Saves: "Medium: any terrain that covers at least half of the target --", "Heavy: any terrain that covers more than half the target --". OK, there is a theoretical exactly-half point, which is "at least" while not "more than", but does this really make any sense? (In practice we treat these as "about half" and "a lot" or something, but a proper rule would be nice.)
5 ) How does armour combine? If a thick-skinned model wears armour, do the bonuses stack and can you pierce a part of it with AP? Is insufficient AP of any use or just wasted?
6 ) How do Saves combine? Do I get extra save for a mix of Duck skill / being down / terrain?
7 ) Does the Hybrid special ability affect non-Threshold models?
8 ) Comment: Currently there is no real reason to take any other close combat weapon than Meat Cleaver, ever. I think we'll remove Parry from it first and then see if it's still taken by every model every time.
9 ) How do Maul / Bite / other natural attacks relate to Unarmed combat and Two (or more) Weapons?
10 ) If a model suffers Revulsion, can I choose the weapon/attack which causes the free Wound? Some of them have special effects...
11 ) Poison: when does the -1 Con take place? When does it begin?
12 ) Comment: I suggest that the VUK skills are rolled individually and given to that particular model. Otherwise you end up with rather ugly combo-building, where any model who has received an injury first is never chosen. More randomness, please.
13 ) If I buy a Spell to a starting model and the points sort of disappear (VUK p.30), which one of "You can save up to 5 RP" and "your TCR should be somewhere between 35 and 40" no longer applies?
OK, we got 13. That's enough for now. Going back lurking...
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Looks fantastic, awesome miniatures and terrain! :-*
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Hey Dolmot,
I'll try to answer your questions in order...but not all at once...that's a lot of questions.
Here we go:
1) I'm not so worried about the wording in Strange Aeons but for Kulten it does become important. I would change the wording to read: Maniacs will automatically Frenzy when they fail a Resolve test. Still a crazy good Human model for the points but a little less killy...
2) You got me here...poor wording on my part. The model will make a Move action (if not in base-to-base already), if this Move ends in base-to-base consider it a Charge.
3) At the start of the Turn (when fighting Draws) the player with multiple models must choose one and gain the bonuses (+1 Attacks per additional model in base-to-base) from the others.
4) Never really noticed it. Use common sense and gentlemannly banter to figure it out amongst yourselves.
5) the bonuses do stack. Likewise with natural armour (as a Fishman has).
6) No written 'official' rule on this one. At home we like to stack each applicable save.
7) Nope.
I'll get back to you on the rest...let me know if my answers so far make sense...
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No.8
Make no since to remove the parry from the meat cleaver, as if you say every one take it then the parry will cancel it’s self out, it is a good basic C.C.B weapon, but you will need a higher AP to bye pass heavy armour . As uncle mike say body armour stacks with natural armour. E.g. fish man con would be 6/9 with heavy body armour +2 and the meat cleaver would only bring that down to 6/8.
No9
Claws Maul and Bites are all forms of weapons in C.C.B and would have that free hit against a unarmed , on page 22 it stats that a player may wish to use two C.C.B weapons if he wishes, so don’t see why not claw maul or bite can’t be used with a hand weapon, but only one weapon can do the damage, so may not be worth combing them.
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O.K. let's do a few more...
8) The Meat Cleaver has been a bone of contention with a few players. It was 1.5BP when we first started playtesting Strange Aeons but I'm not really into 1.5BP weapons so it became a 1BP weapon instead. Then we included Parry as a skill to counter it's usefullness. I Don't think I'll change it...
9) What Jnr said. They are not Unarmed and it counts as a weapon. Can be used with Two-Fisted.
10) You bet! You get to do your worst to a cowardly model as it tries to run away. :P
11) At the start of each turn (yours and your opponents). So, the turn after you get poisoned you start suffering the effects.
12) This idea is going to be argued around the gaming table for a few weeks before I give a final verdict. I think it's a great idea, personally and wonder why I didn't have it myself...It will make players burn through Favour to get 'that skill' on 'that guy who needs it'...It will slow down monster character models from being built within 3-5 games...and, my favorite, it will piss off the players, not being able to get 'that skill' when they need it...now that I've said it I'll never get a skill on any model above 2BP, just watch! really like this idea! :)
13) The starting points are incorrect...not sure of the math currently but it will allow players to be lower than the stated 35...
Thank you Sir, for these helpful insights and questions. Hope they are answered to your satisfaction, if not ask again. ;)
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Thanks. It's a good start. Let me return to a few points:
2) You got me here...poor wording on my part. The model will make a Move action (if not in base-to-base already), if this Move ends in base-to-base consider it a Charge.
Just to check: If he's already in close combat, does anything happen? (Doubled attacks, probably, but no round of combat?)
Also, it would be a good idea to define the exact relation of these two Action types. For example, do you have to declare one or another before taking an Action, or can they convert into each other "on the fly". It will probably make a difference at some point.
One more thing about this: Fear and Terror can trigger Frenzy in other models, while the moving model is completing its Move/Charge. What happens if an enemy model suddenly decides to charge a) the moving model or b) someone else? This may result in intercepted or failed Charges for the original model. Does this cause two rounds of fighting or possibly a failed Charge?
Or, if another friendly model Charges somewhere due to the moving model's Fear, does the original Move resume normally afterwards?
Or, what if the moving model itself is Human and suddenly fails its test in the middle of its move. Does the new Frenzy Move replace the rest of his current Action?
This whole rule seems to require some deeper explanation. :?
3) At the start of the Turn (when fighting Draws) the player with multiple models must choose one and gain the bonuses (+1 Attacks per additional model in base-to-base) from the others.
This is fine for the simple one-against-many case, but what about the 2-vs-2 example I mentioned?
5) the bonuses do stack. Likewise with natural armour (as a Fishman has).
OK. I just noticed that my other question is irrelevant, because Armour apparently does not do what it says in the book (http://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=13040.0). The AP rule says "If the weapon is used against a target whose Armour has a Constitution bonus equal to or lower than the AP of the weapon, the Armour may be ignored --". The literal interpretation of this is that there's no effect if the Con bonus is higher. Should be rewritten.
6) [Duck/terrain/down saves etc.] No written 'official' rule on this one. At home we like to stack each applicable save.
This probably means the usual wargaming logic, where 6+6=5...or is it multiple Save rolls, one after another?
(Note regarding (7), Hybrids: First I thought this would make them a bit pointless in VUK, but being less Human than Cultists/Henchmen may be a good idea, when hideous and scary models are a lot more numerous.)
9) What Jnr said. They are not Unarmed and it counts as a weapon. Can be used with Two-Fisted.
Follow-ups: Can a biting model use three "weapons" and how? How many hands does Ghoul's "Claw/Bite" or other odd attack names take? Do Battle-Axe or 2-Handed Sword (duh) take two hands?
(About (12), randomised skill targets: It may be fair to include some option for altered Skill rolls for models who have already peaked. Maybe a better chance for RP/Favours instead?)
A few new observations:
14) I don't think Shooting into close combat (http://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=14777.0) is told anywhere in the books themselves.
15) The Cult Differential Table on p.30 is not entirely clear. I guess these bonuses are received after-game regardless of the result, but is it really so? The meaning of this column is not explained anywhere.
Right, going back painting...
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15) The Cult Differential Table on p.30 is not entirely clear. I guess these bonuses are received after-game regardless of the result, but is it really so? The meaning of this column is not explained anywhere.
Well this one I can tackle: the bonus points/favour are received prior to the game being played, and may immediately be spent on additional equipment, spells and models.
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Hey Dolmot,
2) If already in close combat (base-to-base) the model will Frenzy.
I make checks as soon as they are relevant and apply the results then and there...then the turn continues as normal.
For simplicity the model that Frenzies will attack anything already in base-to-base, Move into base-to-base (treat as a Charge) or simply Move toward the enemy model (and remain Frenzied for the remainder of that turn...)
3) If both players have multiple models the same rules apply.
5) You can play as you like...it will most likely get a re-write in the second edition of Strange Aeons as I prefer the way I play it and ,like you say, not how it is written in the book.
6) Purposely left vague so players can decide amongst themselves...dependent on the scenery and table you are playing on really... :? Sort of a 'non-answer' I'm afraid.
9) Never thought of this...would say a model can only have two Close Combat and two Shooting weapons...including 'natural' weapons found on the starting profile.
14) You could be right...I'll need to do some reading it seems... ;) At home I roll to hit and then randomize between models to see who was hit.
15) LidlessEye has this one correct. Further, the table is located in the Pre-Game Sequence...but a little more detail wouldn't hurt.
Keep 'em comin'. :)
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I have a funny question:
Are the VUK rules a replacement and upgrading to the rules in the 'Strange Aeons' sourcebook? From what I read in the VUK trial rules, VUK is called a 'new game'. Is it really a new game, or is it more of a 'expansion' to the core rules?
I'm just curious: Couldn't the government agents be treated like a 'cult' as well, but with a few restrictions?
I am still waiting for my SA sourcebook to arrive (I ordered it a few days ago), so if this is a silly question, please bear with me... I can't wait for it book to arrive!!
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No, it'll be a completely new standalone game using the same basic mechanics as Strange Aeons. Any modifications we make in Kulten may find their way into Strange Aeons 2nd Edition (which is still several years away), but those changes look to be more explanatory/cosmetic than structural, and will be released in the form of an errata/FAQ long before 2nd Edition sees light of day.
Strange Aeons has always been intended as, and will continue to be, the campaign game for Threshold squads. It came as something of a surprise to us that players were 'taking a side' and only fielding Lurkers, as that was never how we'd envisioned the game! The intent was that each player would have a Threshold squad and take turns playing on each side of the cosmic battle. Not saying everyone has to play it that way - once you've bought a copy, it's your game to play as you wish! - but it'll continue to be the way we develop it. Hence, Kulten arose as an opportunity to build and develop a Lurker squad. In Kulten, Threshold will effectively appear as a single-game 'cult' using the Alerting the Authorities rules, but this is the only way you'll see the good guys. The scenarios are for the most part just too darned evil for Threshold to be participating in, and it doesn't make any sense to have them out collecting dark favour or sacrificing victims (which they'd be at an enormous disadvantage if they weren't allowed to do).
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The scenarios are for the most part just too darned evil for Threshold to be participating in, and it doesn't make any sense to have them out collecting dark favour or sacrificing victims.
Now that's shocking. :o
Coincidentally, part 2 is online.
Warning: contains lead representations of various demographics in (simulated) disturbing situations.
(http://dolmot.net/mini/CF/02/p02_header.jpg) (http://dolmot.net/mini/CF/02/index.html)
Testing notes: The end conditions of this scenario were a complete mystery to us. Do cult models leave the table when capturing? If so, does a cult become "eliminated" if all (or some of) its members move out voluntarily? Who is the winner here? Does a grabbed model count as captured in the end, when only one cult remains on the table? Please enlighten us. :?
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Hmmm.
In most Lovecraft fiction, it seems that the protagonists can sometimes seem to be just as occult-versed as the bad guys. Most of them have read The Necronomicon, for instance (see: The Dunwich Horror) or are actively engaged in occult activities (see: The Statement of Randolph Carter, The Nameless City, etc....). There are times when the 'Good Guys' are just as bloodthirsty as the evil they are trying to fight - the incarcerations and executions Innsmouth, for example, or to a much lesser extent, the boarding action upon the 'Alert' in The Call of Cthulhu. It seems more a question of attitude: cultists actively try to aid the Old Ones, and the non-cultists (or 'status-quo' types) try to forget what they've learned about it and make sure no one else learns about it.
Given that the difference seems to me to be primarily one of attitude, it seems that it would be a great idea to integrate VUK completely with Strange Aeons to make a combined, more versatile ruleset for players to choose what direction they want to take. After all, it's a small step from using The Necronomicon and the Powder of Ibn-Gatzi in the banishing Wilbur Whateley's brother to sacrificing a cultist to gain some kind of hyper-dimensional advantage over some other bad (okay... 'more bad') guys.
Just a thought.
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Also...
I really like the house in image#7. Did you scratch build it?
If so, could you describe your construction method?
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Really like your battle reports. Very inspiring and a good "Dunwich" look in your game table. :) :-*
Also...
I really like the house in image#7. Did you scratch build it?
If so, could you describe your construction method?
I think is the Perry ACW house or it´s a very similar one built from scratch. I have one of those waiting for the paint job.
Regards,
Andrés.
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The perry farm house can be also be bought from the manufactures, plus they do picket fnces if you need extra ones .
http://renedra.co.uk/webstore.html
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Hey Dolmot,
The table/minis/overall look of your games look great! And now onto the explanation...
The game continues until all the Civilians have been removed from the table...this can be from injury or from being grabbed and moved off the table (via the players board edge).
This scenario is one of the few where cults don't have to eliminate each other to win...it allows you to try and 'stock up' on Civies for various dark reasons (see: Special Rules of scenario).
If you have captured a Civilian (by moving him off your board edge) he belongs to your cult now...win or loose. The winner can try and get any remaining Civilians (assuming the opponent has been wiped out and there are still some on the board...).
Hope that explains...
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I think is the Perry ACW house
It is. Nice and sleek, although I still deeply dislike cleaning a million plastic parts from mould lines...and somehow I managed to botch some steps of the assembly, especially the hinges. Be more careful than I was, if you end up buying this. Check all fits and angles beforehand, twice.
If I had to build one, I'd probably use coffee stirrers for clapboard and common hobby wood shapes & cardboard for the rest.
Hope that explains...
Not entirely, because you essentially repeated the basic scenario setup that's already printed, while I tried to ask four very specific questions about terminology and mechanics. Let me repeat and elaborate.
a) Do cult models leave the table when capturing?
I assume they do, because:
- "Unless otherwise stated in the Scenario Special Rules, a model that leaves the table, either voluntarily or otherwise, can take no further part in the game." (p.15)
- "Once the grabbed Civilian (and accompanying cult member) move off the table via the short board edge the Civilian is captured." (p.34)
b) If so, does a cult become "eliminated" if all (or some of) its members move out voluntarily?
Let's assume player 1 currently has four members in his cult, and there are five Civilians.. All cultists grab a Civilian and capture them by moving off the board. Player 2 does nothing significant whatsoever. Is player 1 now "eliminated", even though no fighting took place and he accomplished everything he could? Does the game end now as only one cult and one Civilian remain on the table?
c) Who is the winner here?
Continuing the previous example, the scenario rules say "If one cult is eliminated, the winner may roll 1D6 for each Civilian still on the board." Notice the word "winner" here, and the fact that Post-Game Sequence gives bonuses to the "winning player". As stated before, player 2 didn't really do anything in this example. Does he still win?
d) Does a grabbed model count as captured in the end, when only one cult remains on the table?
Still continuing the example, let's assume player 2 has the last Civilian grabbed, but not captured, and cult 1 has left the table. What happens?
Option 1: The game ends. Does player 2 get any benefit from this grabbing, or does he roll and wish for 5-6 for every Civilian alike, grabbed or not? It sounds a bit odd, that the physically held Civilian is suddenly released and then possibly recaptured. Or does "grabbed" convert automatically to "captured" in this case?
Option 2: Player 2 continues playing alone (which may or may not be the literal interpretation, depending on how you read "eliminated" and the primary condition about Civilians on the table). In this option he will eventually Capture as many Civilians as possible, leave the table, and the rolling part can never take place.
A few more:
e) Can a cultist grab more than one Civilian simultaneously?
f) Do Civilians take psychology tests as usual, and occasionally start fighting? (We played it this way. It resulted in plenty of additional randomness and chaos on the table.)
As a random note, the deployment rule "at least 12" from board edges" does not make much sense, unless you mean "short board edges". Otherwise there are no eligible points at all on a 2' wide table.
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I'm coming in really late to this conversation--especially because I'm thinking about the meat cleavers controversy.
I also think that meat cleavers are a little too good; they are such a no-brainer weapon to take ...and yet it seems kinda' wrong that trained government agents would likely find them preferable to other close combat weapons (for me, a meat cleaver seems more like an ad-hoc, spur-of-the-moment (albeit savage) weapon and not one to be viewed as standard kit by those who are part of a regimented & trained organisation.
If meat cleavers are too good for 1 point, but not worth raising to 1.5 or 2 points, but need to be a bit more flashy than a bowie knife, but a parry makes them a little too good, why not make it so that meat cleavers can only parry a 6?
It could represent that meat cleavers are nasty enough that, essentially, they rob one's opponent the ability to attack with his full finesse, yet betray the cleaver's heritage: cutting things not delivering artful fencing maneuvers.
Just a thought.....
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Hey Dolmot,
a) Yes.
b) Yes.
c) In this scenario player 2 would be the winner.
d) Yes.
e) No.
f) Yes.
Random note: You are correct. It should read short board edges.
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Thanks for the answers. :) Maybe a bit counterintuitive that fulfilling the scenario goals will make you lose, but we can call it a trade-off. As usual, I have a bunch of new questions. However, let's just take a look at part 3 first.
(http://dolmot.net/mini/CF/03/p03_header.jpg) (http://dolmot.net/mini/CF/03/index.html)
Spooky. :o
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Very nice table again!! And good work preparing the battle reports, Thank you!
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I had a few questions that came up during a game yesterday.
-We played the Summoning scenario. The last death of one of the cults made the BP rise over 30, calling the Godling into play. We were unsure if the cult that was wiped out triggered the end of the scenario or if, with the entrance of the Godling, the remaining cult had to keep playing.
-The rules for gaining RP state that the winning cult gains 1d6 RP if their magus is unharmed. Does unharmed in this case mean that the magus simply has to be remaining on the table? Or do they have to actually have all of their wounds remaining, too?
-The High Priests start the campaign with 3 spells. These disappear for good once they're used, right?
I'm looking forward to a larger variety of weapons and whatnot, once the supplements get printed. But in the meantime, I'm having a great time putting together my cult!
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My son and I used the cemetery set up for our game rough size 2x3` , trees need work on the bases and walls need finished.
And the Undead handed my arse on a plate to me, bad idea telling my son to use two Conglomerate, in his Undead Cult.
(http://i246.photobucket.com/albums/gg115/jnrmack/Strange%20Aeons/gravegamestartup.jpg)
(http://i246.photobucket.com/albums/gg115/jnrmack/Strange%20Aeons/gravegame121024x768.jpg)
And I hope to use this one day, Hougoumont I painted it a long time ago but it still needs weathering,that board is 3x4` so you have a idea of the size.
,
(http://i246.photobucket.com/albums/gg115/jnrmack/Slaughterloo/HougoumontfromHovel-1.jpg)
(http://i246.photobucket.com/albums/gg115/jnrmack/Slaughterloo/Hougoumontunderattack.jpg)
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@ennui - I'll throw my hat into the ring for answering questions... :?
I had a few questions that came up during a game yesterday.
-We played the Summoning scenario. The last death of one of the cults made the BP rise over 30, calling the Godling into play. We were unsure if the cult that was wiped out triggered the end of the scenario or if, with the entrance of the Godling, the remaining cult had to keep playing.
Not sure on this one (Uncle Mike can clarify) but I believe the game is over once one cult has been eliminated. I, for one, love the idea of continuing to play the scenario out so that the eliminated cult can extract their revenge by playing the godling and grinding the cult of his opponent into dust underneath the godlings feet/tentacles etc. >:D
-The rules for gaining RP state that the winning cult gains 1d6 RP if their magus is unharmed. Does unharmed in this case mean that the magus simply has to be remaining on the table? Or do they have to actually have all of their wounds remaining, too?
The Magus is "unharmed" at the end of the game and qualifies for 1d6 RP if he has:
1) Not been removed from the table due to injury (Major/minor) even if he has had some of his Wounds removed during the game (he is assumed to make a full recovery at the end of the game)
2) Failed a Cult Unity test and left the table/game
3) Run off the table either by failing a Resolve check near his short board edge or left by choice
-The High Priests start the campaign with 3 spells. These disappear for good once they're used, right?
Yes. I was told this rule may be changing so that spells may only be re-equipped through scrolls and tomes but Uncle Mike can confirm this...
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Hi Dolmot,
Episode three looking good -I'm glad I don't find "nasties" like that when I'm working on my church conservation projects :o
(http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5128/5376378846_90f8067192_z.jpg)
... see what I mean ...
@ Jnr - nice set up on both counts - know what you mean about sons getting the good roles - mine always does as well lol
Ramirez
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Thanx Darth, those look like the right answers. And glad to hear of your misfortunes, Ennui! ;)
Also, great looking game (as usual) Dolmot!
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More VUK questions/comments here!
-No buying skills upon creation of Cult (or with RP at all). I didn't catch this until today, actually, because I skipped reading over the definition of stats and whatnot that are the same between SA and VUK. Maybe you can make it more explicit on page 4 that you can't spend RP on skills? (Also, BP, BP, RP and TCR are 4 different acronyms with very similar meanings that took a while to wrap my head around...)
-Since all it takes is an unharmed magus to gain RP and unharmed cultists to roll for skills, does this also apply to those that ran away or were thrown out of the playing area? Even for the losing cult?
-Do Rogue Threshold models count as Lurkers or as Threshold? What special items do they have access to?
-This was something that I couldn't find in SA, either: Resolve checks are decided on a roll of 1d6, correct?
-The only way for a cult to have a demon in its cult is to summon it, correct? How about a way for my Heralds of the Yellow Sign cult to summon the King in Yellow, so that I can use this awesome mini? >:D
-I'm confused about this sentence concerning the Chain Coffin scenario: On a result of 1-4 or 6, the Grave Marker is removed from the table, On a roll of 5 the Marker is left on
the table and must be removed as usual, but may not be searched again.
Is the marker left there or removed?
-My opponent and I didn't realize that we couldn't load up our cult with skills, and neither did we use cult unity tests to run away, ending up in very brutal and deadly games where one side or the other would lose 10-15 points and the other would lose very little. I'm not sure if our mistakes made a large difference or not, but we found that after 1 or 2 games, the discrepancy between any two cults began to grow rather large rather quick, and when only the winner won a few points of RP, the losing cult would quickly run out of any chance to win aside from Calling the Authorities.
To help ourselves out, we decided that both players would roll 1d6 for RP after every game, but the winner would roll an extra 1d6 (2d6 total for RP) in addition to the chance for each remaining cultist on the board to contribute. We also threw a bunch of civilians on the board that would give 1 RP to the side that murdered them in cold blood.
Is it just me that feels that losing cult members to death (nearly a 1 in 3 chance since a roll of 16-25 results in death) can quickly make your cult spiral out of control? Or should we go back and try with running away and see if that negates our need for the extra 1d6 RP each?
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OK, time to post a few rules questions. Let's start by returning to these issues:
The Magus is "unharmed" at the end of the game and qualifies for 1d6 RP if he has:
1) Not been removed from the table due to injury (Major/minor) even if he has had some of his Wounds removed during the game (he is assumed to make a full recovery at the end of the game)
2) Failed a Cult Unity test and left the table/game
3) Run off the table either by failing a Resolve check near his short board edge or left by choice
I assume this means that all voluntarily or involutarily fled models still do generate RP as long as they were not Injured (major/minor), right? And the same condition applies to learning Skills?
-The High Priests start the campaign with 3 spells. These disappear for good once they're used, right?
Yes. I was told this rule may be changing so that spells may only be re-equipped through scrolls and tomes but Uncle Mike can confirm this...
So the Spells disappear instantly and permanently after exactly one use (or attempt). Can you currently buy more for 3 RP each in any re-equipment phase?
Some others:
1) How do you attack Inanimate Objects? In Close Combat, do you roll against a score of zero "to hit", cause an automatic Wound with a single die or something else? If a "to hit" roll is involved, can you cause Critical Hits or Misses? When Shooting them, do you need to hit here? I'm under the impression that hitting an immobile object at point-blank range should be fairly easy, but is it?
2) How do various Phobias work if a non-Human Lurker gets one? (for example, Teratophobia)
3) In being Face Down: "-- are removed as a Major Injury if engaged in Close Combat by any enemy model". Does this happen instantly for just being in base-to-base or does it require an event which would trigger a round of Close Combat (Charge Action, start of turn, Frenzy, maybe others)?
4) Can you leave Close Combat, if your opponent(s) are Face Up/Down? The "It's a Draw" rule refers to "being victorious"? What does it mean?
5) The same rule says "Models already in base-to-base need not declare a Charge action to engage in Close Combat." What kind of actions do they declare then, if they're standing?
6) Lightning Fast: I see an exception has been added for Alert and two named weapons, but should it apply to all Ready weapons, such as .30 Machine Gun and possible future additions?
7) In "Steal the Artifacts" scenario, does the sentence "may be searched after game with no penalty" mean that this search does not reduce your RP generation? I can't imagine any other penalty which could apply at this point of the game.
Enough for now, too tired for any more questions...but that doesn't mean I wouldn't have them. ;)
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OK, 'ere we go...
Generating RP and skills: You are correct. Running for your life (or living to fight another day) does have its advantages.
Spells: Correct on both points.
Others
1) Move into base to base for CC, free roll to wound. Shooting point blank still involves 'hitting' the target as the gun may jam (critical miss)or the model may be such a miserable shot that he couldn't hit the broad side of a barn!
2) Non-human Lurkers are immune to Psychology based on their lurker type (Beast, Demon, Undead etc.) They still are affected by Cult Unity Tests though.
3) If a model is Face Down and in Close Combat with an enemy model, on the next Close Combat event (either before the turn or as an action), the model is removed as a major injury (There's no fighting back when you are unconscious!...).
4) You can choose to leave Close Combat if you win the roll to hit, then you may decide to leave combat rather than choosing to 'roll to wound' your opponent. (A good tactic if your model is a 'shooty' model who was engaged in close combat by your opponent, essentially tying up your gun). 'It's a Draw' refers to the CC results being the same and the combat must continue (neither model may do anything else until the CC is resolved)
5) If models are in base-to-base, they are assumed to be in CC already. The action would be to fight or engage in a round Close Combat. This can be useful as it can prevent models with Thunderous Charge from getting their bonus (as they would have to leave combat and Charge back in to recieve their bonus)
6) Lightning Fast removes the Ready requirement from certain weapons like Bolt Action Rifles and Dynamite.
7) Correct.
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@ennui: I'll take a stab at this one...
-Since all it takes is an unharmed magus to gain RP and unharmed cultists to roll for skills, does this also apply to those that ran away or were thrown out of the playing area? Even for the losing cult?
Unharmed Magus gains 1D6 RP, unarmed cultists gain 1 RP on a 4,5,6 on a 1D6 roll. This applies to all members who either ran off or were thrown out (ie NOT removed with an injury.) for both winning and losing cults. Skills are determined from a results of 6 on a 1D6 roll for each cult member who was not removed with an injury (same conditions as Cult Management - gaining RP). Applies to both winning and losing cults.
-Do Rogue Threshold models count as Lurkers or as Threshold? What special items do they have access to?
Rogue Threshold Characters and Agents are Lurkers. Consult the Master Weapons Table, VUK pg 21 for available weapons. As far as I know, special gear and weapons for Rogue Threshold Characters and Threshold are not available in Kulten.
-This was something that I couldn't find in SA, either: Resolve checks are decided on a roll of 1d6, correct?
Yes.
-The only way for a cult to have a demon in its cult is to summon it, correct? How about a way for my Heralds of the Yellow Sign cult to summon the King in Yellow, so that I can use this awesome mini?
A Demon must be summoned in the scenario "The Summoning!" although rumour has it that there may be other ways...only Uncle Mike and the nefarious powers really know for sure... :-X
-I'm confused about this sentence concerning the Chain Coffin scenario: On a result of 1-4 or 6, the Grave Marker is removed from the table, On a roll of 5 the Marker is left on
the table and must be removed as usual, but may not be searched again.
Is the marker left there or removed?
The grave marker now represents the grave of a Restless Spirit, so it is left in place but cannot be re-searched
-My opponent and I didn't realize that we couldn't load up our cult with skills, and neither did we use cult unity tests to run away, ending up in very brutal and deadly games where one side or the other would lose 10-15 points and the other would lose very little. I'm not sure if our mistakes made a large difference or not, but we found that after 1 or 2 games, the discrepancy between any two cults began to grow rather large rather quick, and when only the winner won a few points of RP, the losing cult would quickly run out of any chance to win aside from Calling the Authorities.
To help ourselves out, we decided that both players would roll 1d6 for RP after every game, but the winner would roll an extra 1d6 (2d6 total for RP) in addition to the chance for each remaining cultist on the board to contribute. We also threw a bunch of civilians on the board that would give 1 RP to the side that murdered them in cold blood.
Is it just me that feels that losing cult members to death (nearly a 1 in 3 chance since a roll of 16-25 results in death) can quickly make your cult spiral out of control? Or should we go back and try with running away and see if that negates our need for the extra 1d6 RP each?
The first few games of VUK are very challenging from a Cult Management perspective as you can rarely generate enough RP to buy back all the cultists that died + lost gear.. Despite this initial set-back, once a handfull of games have been played, it does become easier to generate RP. That being said, keeping the Magus ALIVE (ie. uninjured) allows for the best odds of generating enough RP.
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Actually, any Rogue Threshold Character or Agent may use one Prototype weapon from Shocking Tales #1 at the listed cost. A Rogue Character with a Tesla Rifle may in fact be the nastiest Magus you can field out of the gate.
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Thanks for the response!
The first few games of VUK are very challenging from a Cult Management perspective as you can rarely generate enough RP to buy back all the cultists that died + lost gear.. Despite this initial set-back, once a handfull of games have been played, it does become easier to generate RP. That being said, keeping the Magus ALIVE (ie. uninjured) allows for the best odds of generating enough RP.
We tried yesterday, starting from scratch with new cults. 1 cult survived with 1 death (a 1 point cultist) and the other suffered 2 deaths, unfortunately it was including the high priest. That cult ended up being at about 14 points total TCR versus the other cult's 38. Even when a bribe was given (the cult's remaining free RP and let the lower TRC cult use the surprise attack scenario), the game was just completely lopsided and ended up not being much fun for the lower TRC cult player.
I think that there are 2 main reasons that this turned out the way it did. The first is simply that the player got his high priest killed, plain and simple. He got poor rolls, and even with an Eldritch Barrier spell in place, a tommy gun ended up doing him in, and he rolled poorly on the major injury chart. One could probably say that none of this would have happened if he was luckier or kept his high priest further back.
The other reason is that the high priest ends up taking up half of the RP when building a cult. 15 points is probably too high; a rogue Threshold character is 5 points, has the same stat spread, gets command, 1 free skill and a .45. The only thing that the high priest gets that's better are spells, since a rogue threshold character can take Speak Languages as its skill. So that's 10 points you're paying for 3 spells--but when you buy spells normally, they don't add to a list's BP. And these spells disappear as soon as you use it. So you're basically losing out on 10 points if you ever take the high priest over a RTC (rogue threshold character). And if you think about a 15 point RTC would look like (same stat build as high priest, but 10 skills!), the difference is pretty striking. When we play Strange Aeons, we never have to worry about balance since each game the lurker list is created from scratch, and I think that the high priest is balanced toward that, and that's what's throwing off the balance for VUK. Maybe if the human cultists had a separate point value for VUK? Or maybe just not allow rogue threshold models?
Keep in mind, my opponent and I have almost only been using the Arcane Seeker lists, using nothing but human cultists. We started off with my opponent using a death cult, but his zombies just couldn't get up to my horde of .22 cultists to do any damage, so he gave up pretty quick. Actually, I've found that 1 point cultist models with .22s, or rather, 7-10 of them, can usually take care of any list pretty easily. I think the thing for us to do now is to try out other cult lists and see how those fare. We're both still excited about this game and want to help work some of what we perceive as issues.
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Actually, any Rogue Threshold Character or Agent may use one Prototype weapon from Shocking Tales #1 at the listed cost. A Rogue Character with a Tesla Rifle may in fact be the nastiest Magus you can field out of the gate.
Good point LidlessEye. It's good to know that those weapons can be used by a Rogue Threshold Agency.
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-Do Rogue Threshold models count as Lurkers or as Threshold? What special items do they have access to?
Rogue Threshold Characters and Agents are Lurkers. Consult the Master Weapons Table, VUK pg 21 for available weapons. As far as I know, special gear and weapons for Rogue Threshold Characters and Threshold are not available in Kulten.
One more question:
Does this mean that rogue threshold characters can neither equip the special threshold items found in the SA book nor the special lurker items in Kulten? I don't have the supplement, so I don't know what is in there... :'(
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Hello. This week we have more of the same old, but also a surprise bonus battle. Enjoy. :)
(http://dolmot.net/mini/CF/04/p04_header.jpg) (http://dolmot.net/mini/CF/04/index.html)
(http://dolmot.net/mini/CF/04/p04_header2.jpg)
(~5 MB of images, if you happen to care about such things.)
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One more question:
Does this mean that rogue threshold characters can neither equip the special threshold items found in the SA book nor the special lurker items in Kulten? I don't have the supplement, so I don't know what is in there... :'(
Rogues can use any item from the SA Master Weapon List or Shocking Tales #1 Additional Weapons, in addition to any one Threshold Prototype weapon from Shocking Tales #1. So far as I am aware, they cannot use items from the Extra Gear list, but can equip Special Gear from the Kulten rules. Rogues are Lurker models, so no rules referring specifically to Threshold apply to them.
I think the core of the issue here, both in terms of rules confusion and the relative weakness of your cult, is that the Rogue Threshold Agent and Character are Lurker profiles provided in Shocking Tales #1, and have different costs, gear and stats than a starter Threshold Character or Agent. If you want to be more competitive at present, you may unfortunately have to choose a different cult type :(
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Hi Dolmot,
The continuing escapades of the various cults are enthralling. I like the "bonus battle" and I'm looking forward to the next encounters.
Your range of questions and comments help and the responses from Uncle Mike, LidlessEye and others make the whole game really come to life.
Looking forward to receiving my own copy of “Strange Aeons” ... I have a few local location ideas to set some encounters in.
Ramirez
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Thanks for the comments again. This week's episode may be a triple feature. :o It got fairly chaotic with two simultaneous VUK battles going on, and a Descent campaign being played in the background. I had even less time for photography and observations than usual, but that doesn't mean we would run out of pics. There are plenty. In fact, I split them in two to keep things manageable.
(http://dolmot.net/mini/CF/05a/p05a_header.jpg)
Part 5a (http://dolmot.net/mini/CF/05a/index.html)
(http://dolmot.net/mini/CF/05b/p05b_header.jpg)
Part 5b (http://dolmot.net/mini/CF/05b/index.html)
Phew. I need a time-out.
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Again a very good work!! And again, your table is fantastic.
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Fantastic work all around. And your one-liners are hilarious. Had some good chuckles :D
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Great reports and I love the photos on your site. What kid of lighting do you use?
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Fantastic work all around. And your one-liners are hilarious. Had some good chuckles :D
Agreed. Found myself chuckling on several occasions while reading.
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Great reports and I love the photos on your site. What kid of lighting do you use?
Thanks. :) The answer to your question is "nothing". Well, something, obviously. For these reports I simply lug assorted gaming items to the local community centre and then try to take some pics while playing. No studio studio setup whatsoever is used here. The lighting consists of standard fluorescent tubes. Fortunately there are enough to provide sufficient and fairly even light for handheld pics. Definitely you could get better with a dedicated photographer, but for spontaneous gaming pics the current outcome is plausible, I think.
More something coming as soon as I find a bit of time and energy for it, whatever it is.
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Lovely work, board, minis game reports.
Quick question: where did you get your shack and various crypts and slabs from?
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Quick question: where did you get your shack and various crypts and slabs from?
The shack and various other terrain bits are from Rusty Rail.
The graveyard items are collected from multiple sources over years so I may have forgotten some of them already. Anyway, I'd say there are:
- Crypts, slabs and monuments (resin) from Armorcast
- Worn gravestones (those on large grass bases, metal) and some coffins from Black Tree
- Various gravestones and monuments (on round bases, metal) from Mississinewa
- Crypt caskets (maybe not appearing that often here, resin) from Ironhalo
- Gravestones and memorials (resin) from Ainsty
I also have a few Fantascene bits somewhere, but probably not in these pics.
Maybe you can get your own collection started with those, even if some sources are still missing. :)
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@ Commander Vyper:
Don't forget that Fenris Games also have a good selection of cthulesque resin scenery.