Thoughts from my first 6 games of IHMN

[Ebonstar]

If you're painting and want to leave something on while you paint, here's a live show my friends and I do on youtube. We're discussing IHMN primarily and some other VSF and Steampunk games:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=exZEVrU7Tz0

My background for your reference (skip ahead to review if this isn't interesting )

I have nearly 25 years in miniature gaming, with the early portion spent in RPG's and then I did the tour of the basics- Rogue Trader 40K and GW specialist games like Blood Bowl. Most recently I went in ultra deep with Malifaux/Wyrd and founded a 300+ member club in Southern California for Malifaux. I consider myself well versed in miniature skirmish games, and am currently playing Saga, board games, and now (spoiler!) IHMN 



So anyway, onto my thoughts for my first 6 games:

So after doling out a few of these sets out to my friends and painting up a couple for myself to use, we got into our first games. One thing that jumped out at us was how intuitive the base system is- I love that each phase of the turn sequence is alternating- it makes for a highly tactical game, and the D10 with modifiers system is quite easy to follow, yet holds some deep strategy with a bit of thinking. In other words, we had the core system down in roughly 90 seconds, and were comfortably playing early in the first turn of the first game. That's one of the best features of this game- sure you still look up rules and how things work, but it's very, very intuitive. The pluck mechanic keeps the game moving at a brisk pace and even with a model sporting a 2+ pluck save, you want to play tactically because you know all too well that it only takes rolling a 1 once...

So the game gets you off to a quick start which is great, but there are spots in the rules that seem to be omitted- maybe purposefully. Things like; scenario rules, such as how to control Bad Jack every turn, or indications that you can kill the VIP in Bring Em Back Alive but the VIP has no stats, or other sections like the transport section seems to be missing some clarifications. Now a competitive gamer (or a rules-lawyer) might get all bent out of shape seeing this- but frankly I see it as an opportunity to make up something cool with your opponent, and we've done that (so for example in Bring Em Back Alive, we used the Yeti from Black Dragon Tongs and just used his full statline). Now for us that made the game even a little better than your typical skirmish game because we were less interested in trying to follow a set of rules and we were more interested in the cinematic elements of the game. It wasn't "Where does Bad Jack go this turn?" it was "Let's agree that Bad Jack is a homocidal maniac and he will charge the closest target in LoS".

To me- that's the heart of this game, and that's the spirit in which it should be played and enjoyed. So far my game group and I have had moments where we've cry-laughed at how ridiculous some of the games went (anywhere from 10 minutes to 2+ hours), we weren't nearly as concerned with how to win the games as we were wanting to know if one of us would kill 12 civilians (Collateral Damage). This game may never be some uber- power-up-your-list game and try to win tournies game, it will be the sheer joy of having this wonderful narrative unfold across several games.

So with that in mind, and our group anxiously awaiting our next opportunity to play, I've decided to draft a playable campaign format for us to use, and the guys are hard at work building their new companies and now looking into the Do-It-Yourself rules for their owned themed companies. This is brilliant stuff. This is what we love about miniature gaming.

Craig- thank you for this wonderful game. It's a breath of fresh air in today's gaming climate of rising prices, competitive focus- and groupthink.

I've been recording some of these games and hope to start uploading them on my youtube channel in the days to come.

[VSF Gamer]

Good review! I even more stoked to play my first game!

[Craig]

You hit the heart of the matter there Ebonstar.

I don't like rule sets that try to tie up every possibility for creativity. This is why we didn't overwrite many sections of the rules, leaving it for you to play as you please. The company/figure creation rules are just one example.

In Heroes, Villains and Fiends we have put a bit more work into Campaigns and have provided a fully worked example for a five stage campaign. The new rules for this places the reins of the creative process completely into your hands, so we hope you like them.

[shadowking1957]

I agree and  thats a good  view, I love the whole involved  turn, and i found the rules were in my head easy and the modifiers work even if you forgot them some times hehehhe, there is a  movie/film type look to the games, I want try all osts of stuff out and  using some templeates of emerors name i will see just what can be done...

Grat  reivew and  stuff

[cmnash]

Good review! I even more stoked to play my first game!

Exactly my feelings! and my first game is tomorrow night!  my Martian Constabulary against some Black Dragon Tong wannabes I believe ...

[Craig]

Whatever you do Nash, don't overlook Wu-jen. With the right powers he can be absolutely deadly.

[Ebonstar]

Whatever you do Nash, don't overlook Wu-jen. With the right powers he can be absolutely deadly.

Almost too strong.

I've been playing the Tong mostly as I learn the game, and he's one of the reasons why I consider the Tong to be one of the strongest of the pre-made companies.

[Saucy Jack]

Watched/hear your video last night - gave me some good insight into the game. I used to watch your Malifaux videos a lot in the past, but not since leaving that game, so it was quite funny to see you appear here.

I'm looking at Empire of the Dead, but I'm waiting for the pdf with the updated rules, which apparently still many months away - I did not back the kickstarter. Have you tried EotD and if so how would you compare to IHMN?

[Ebonstar]

I'm looking at Empire of the Dead, but I'm waiting for the pdf with the updated rules, which apparently still many months away - I did not back the kickstarter. Have you tried EotD and if so how would you compare to IHMN?

Thanks Saucy Jack!

EOTD is on the radar too, but I haven't tried it yet. Right now the biggies in our group are IHMN, Saga, and Blood Bowl, in that order. There seems to be so many promising games on the horizon. But perhaps the most awesome thing about IHMN is that if we want to do something, the rules system encourages creativity- and that goes a long way.

We played our first multiplayer game last night (3 players, King of The Hill), and it was  a breeze to play. Many of the popular skirmish games today struggle with multiplayer, but there is little to no adjustment for IHMN. I'm afraid I'm liking this game more and more as I continue to play it!