Does anyone here play Dark Age?

[obsidian3d]

I'm not sure what sparked my interest in this particular game, but I am curious.  I've been looking at the Warpath rules, waiting for their second edition to come out.  I've always been waiting for more details on the 6th edition of 40k rules to trickle down, because I haven't decided which one, if at all, I'll be going with for using my 40k armies with.

However, I realize that's not exactly topical to my thread here...but in my mind it sort of is.  I think a lot of the miniatures for 40k could probably be used to proxy into Dark Age, at least to try it out.  Naturally the forces would be smaller in general, seeing as Dark Age is intended to be a skirmish game.

So what are your thoughts on it?  Is it playable as a game just with the downloadable content from the publisher?  Are the scenarios found in the core rule book interesting enough to warrant purchasing it?  Is the d20 nature of the game enough to make it stand out from the regular d6-flavoured games?  Should I just bite the bullet and buy the rule book and two starter boxes and stop bothering all of you nice people...?

[Van-Helsing]

Had the miniatures and various versions of the Rules (from initial PDF to rulebook, to Revised PDF) for ages - and STILL not played.

The Miniatures are priddy enough, but barring the D20 - there's nothing really special about them from my perspective.

Just gotten into Eden The Game - similar sort of thing, but no Aliens (plus the Miniatures double as gangs for my Dredd games LoL)

[tnjrp]

I played the first edition a couple of times once upon the time it came out. Around the time WARMACHINE was propelled to stardom as I recall. DA seems to have remained the red-haired stepchild ever since.

It had some decent ideas as I recall but execution was problematic in some places. It wasn't too different from other action point oriented games, particularly Vor (some of the design team worked with Mr. Nielsen on that game IIRC) or the free fan-developed No Quarter/No Limits. As I recall, in our very first game we ended up with a situation where neither side had an incentive to do anything because doing something would've been an almost certain suicide. Not a very auspicious begining.

Haven't tried the current edition and am not sure if it can really be played without paying for the rulebook and possibly also one of the add-ons. I think most of the stats for the minis are still in the blisters but I can't say if they are available online and/or if the cards contain enough information to actually play. Minis are IMCO the best part of the entire thingee and as they sort of straddle the divide between scifi and fantasy (as do, arguably, WARMACHINE ones) they have enough personality to make them interesting but a little difficult to proxy, all the moreso if you are really anal about things - which you really shouldn't be if you are proxying, but I know a guy who is

[obsidian3d]

There are QuickStart rules and all the cards for the starter units on their website, which I have just downloaded but not yet read. The roll-low on a d20 sounds interesting if nothing else. I'd really like to flip through the book but none of the city stores are likely to be carrying it.

[tnjrp]

Ah ok then, that's good to know in principle although I it doesn't matter to our group specificially - we don't have time to play even the games we have been more or less committed to over the years...

The availability of DA stuff does seem to be rather poor at least on this side of the pond. I'd be willing to bet you don't find a commercial outlet for it anywhere in the Nordic countries, certainly not in Finland.

[obsidian3d]

I'm Western in Canada and my city does have one of the biggest brick and mortar shops around.  If I ask I could probably get them to bring it in, but then I'd be committed to purchasing it.  I may just proxy up two of the starter boxes and try running through the rules to see what I think.

I completely understand what you're saying about your group though.  Other than Strange Aeons, I really don't have anyone to play all these miniature games with anyway so I'm not sure what the appeal is for me lately.  However, I've always had pretty good success building gaming groups here, so if I bring something in I can probably get a few people hooked for a while.

[obsidian3d]

I read through the free rules and the game sounds simple enough. I have to pick a few models to proxy and try a game or two before I decide if I'll invest in any actual product.

The reviews of the new edition all seem very favorable...