Osprey's The Doomed

[Ultravanillasmurf]

My first warband:
Inheritor Courts
Sheriff + Slugger + Maul

Pathfinder+Slugger+Maul

Champion+Ancestral Blade+Slugger

Legionnaire + Thunder gun

The figures are Stargrave Scavengers with Merc helmets and assorted arms. The sluggers are actually the grenade launchers (and the maul hand is a repurposed grenade arm). The Ancestral Blade is from the Frosrgrave Soldiers sprue.

I might swap the judge and the Champion figures.

I need to get some photographs of them.

[ced1106]

> How does that work?

Make a quality check (?). If you succeed, you continue until you hit something. If you fail, your opponent moves you *up to* that distance (between your start and end points). Oh, look. He moved you into his unit's LOS. Fancy that.

> I cannot make up my mind about this game

A link to the WIP was posted so you can see the actual rules, many scenarios, and even between-scenario encounters. Can't do better than that.

> For me, the (very) lightly sketched background is a real attraction.

After going through the rules and scenarios, I also find it easy to scrape off the serial numbers (and you won't need to kitbash despite the hype, just find a weapon that has similar abilities). One of the factions even reveres medieval technology, though not to the point of spellcasters. You'd still want the Horrors and likely faction stats. Range is LOS, and I'm not seeing rules for one-shot items, so spellcasting, psionics, potions, grenades would need house rules? The point system is simple -- one point, two points for better, and a point for any special abilities. And that's it -- no rabbit hole of trying to accurately simulate how a particular weapon would work. Good for solo, though obviously not so good when you're playing with That Guy.

Don't expect to get to the rules until after this Lasting Tales campaign, but I've already painted my Battle Systems First Born terrain, and have their Shantytown to build. Plus I have some GW gothic buildings. Oh, hey maybe I'll paint those two boxes of Sedition Wars after all...

[Hobgoblin]

We played another game last night. This one was quite different from the last, in that we managed to take out the nexuses in the first turn, so there were far fewer minions involved (we got just one on the table). And then the horror was killed with a lucky reaction shot in the third turn.

One thing we'd missed earlier was that units gain a bonus to Move activations (only your first is automatic) if they can see their leader. That's one of the many tactical elements in a deceptively simple game. There's quite a lot to consider with the order of activations because certain leaders can coax Free Actions out of Readied (i.e. unactivated) followers. And, as ced1106 says above, there's lots of fun to be had with your opponent's failed activations.

I agree entirely with ced1106 on 'scraping off the serial numbers'. A friend of mine has a Mordheim witchfinder warband ready to go; I suspect our first game with it will be a game of The Doomed, because the witchfinders will fit right in as Inheritors.

With both melee and ranged weapons, the key distinction is in the number of dice you roll and the amount of damage each die does. So you have weapons that hit easily but give you just one chance of a wound, and weapons that are all or nothing but cause a lot of damage when they hit. That means reskinning is very simple. A 'blaster' could be skilled use of a bow or a spell or whatever. And there are lots of melee options.

[Vanvlak]

I'd forgotten I bought this a couple of weeks ago, and almost bought it again!
The terrain I'm working on  (https://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=142747.msg1821352#msg1821352) is very different compared to the pics in the book - but the dimensions are (almost) just right, and the expected clutter of stuff is there.
I also have a band of AT-43 Therians which might work as a Martyr retinue, although I am very tempted to kitbash a more esoteric band. 

[Hobgoblin]

That looks a great set-up (presumably, with lots of internal clutter added)!

[Vanvlak]

That looks a great set-up (presumably, with lots of internal clutter added)!

That's the plan - although I intend to build it as a spaceship carrier (with ships and parts serving as clutter - useful, if not quite in line with the Doomed setting), everything will be removable, and an alternative version will have tools, machinery, containers etc. in the way; a third plan is to have structures in the central open spaces, built in the abandoned structure by someone arriving there after it was abandoned

[Ultravanillasmurf]

I'd forgotten I bought this a couple of weeks ago, and almost bought it again!

Oops (nearly).

[Ultravanillasmurf]

Inheritor Court Warband.

North Star Scavengers with Mercenary Heads and Frostgrave Soldier big sword.

[Hobgoblin]

Those look terrific! The guy with the sword is especially good.

[3Fingers2]

Love the look of those
With the low tech melee weapons and non strict background this could possibly used as a vsf planet being abandoned or even a medieval /black powder era with cthulhu gribblies ?

[Hobgoblin]

With the low tech melee weapons and non strict background this could possibly used as a vsf planet being abandoned or even a medieval /black powder era with cthulhu gribblies ?

Yes, definitely. It would be perfect for either of those set-ups. The weapon types could even be interpreted as 'fighting styles' or 'combat' skills rather than specific bits of kit (one swordsman hits seldom but hits hard; another hits often but lightly, and so on).

[Vanvlak]

Oops (nearly).

Yes, I was THAT close 

[Vanvlak]

Inheritor Court Warband.

North Star Scavengers with Mercenary Heads and Frostgrave Soldier big sword.

Nice lot, they give the right sort of vibe, I think 

[Ultravanillasmurf]

For other warbands I am wondering what to use.

I have thought about Wargames Atlantic's Cannon Fodder with the mechanical hands from the upgrade sprue. I think there are some cyborg heads in the Stargrave sets.

[Hobgoblin]

For Exiles, I've got a converted Skaven almost finished, along with some demon/snakeman kitbashes.