Second Edition Playtest.

[Uncle Mike]

The playtest team has been hard at work getting everything ready for Strange Aeons: Second Edition. As the rules are mostly worked out now we have a bit more time for other things. Welcome to the Second Edition Playtest. Please feel free to ask any questions you might have.

First, I have decided to ramble on about my Threshold list and their many and various victories and defeats. My hope is to have a bit of fun and show some new rules and figures before the launch of Strange Aeons: Second Edition...later this year.

Our story will begin not at the start but quite a way along. Many players already know and love the campaign system from first edition. Second edition has clarified and expanded this with a number of Promotions which grant the team certain bonuses...but at the same time, make the Lurkers they face stronger. My list, 'Winchester's Wildmen' has been at the good fight for 22 games. 12 losses and 10 wins. We will begin our tale here...on the eve of Samuel Winchester`s second promotion...

Agent Winchester regarded the box on his desk. He supposed it must be some sort of service medal. The citation hung loosely in his right hand, `For Gallantry in Action` the note had said. He closed his eyes and exhaled sharply. In his head, hammering for release, were the screams and moans of the dead; fallen comrades, innocent bystanders, even those misguided wretches endlessly working toward his destruction. Sometimes he felt remorse for all of them. Sometimes none of them. It was easier not to think. Placing the letter on the desk, he rose, slowly and with great effort, the weight of his conscience holding him down even more than his many injuries.

Sounds a bit foreboding...more to come...soon...ish...

[Uncle Mike]

He crossed the room to the decanter of whiskey and extending a shaking hand, poured himself a generous glass. He drank it down. It helped; with the pain, with the voices. Catching his reflection in the mirror, Winchester straightened and watched himself. Shirtless and wrapped in bandages he looked like some sort of nightmare fiend. "Specter at my own feast," he mused aloud, watching his doppelganger mouth the words back. The shrieks and whispers growing louder as he observed the story etched in his skin and remembered those things that he drank to forget. He poured another glass and returned to the mirror.
Winchester's face was devoid of emotion as he began to remove the wraps around his midsection, occasionally he would see himself wincing, or straining not to. His chest was a criss-cross of thick scars. Many of the wounds were still fresh but he couldn't stay still any longer. Madness was creeping in every corner of his room. Memory clawed at the door. He felt himself shrinking from his own gaze. He needed to go back to work.
Next were the bandages around his head. He hadn't made out so well; a fierce gash ran down the side of his face and his blood-shot and swollen eye gazed back lazily. Well, that was the worst of it. Nothing that a fresh suit and shave wouldn't fix...
Returning to the desk, he took the box and note and placed them in the drawer, next to the others. Seeing the medal was irrelevant. It wasn't the sort of thing you could wear, at least not until you were lying in a coffin. A decoration to be pinned on a battered corpse some time in the future...
Rather than following this chain of reasoning to it's logical conclusion, Winchester began to fill out the various requisition forms for more personnel and weaponry. As he wrote, the screaming inside his skull continued.

[Uncle Mike]

So, as you can see Agent Winchester isn't without his issues...mental and physical. Here is what he looks like in game terms:

Agent 'Shotgun' Samuel Winchester
Cost: 9PP + 4EP = 13 Total Points
M   Dex.   Con.   A   W   Res.   Skills
4   3+   7   3   2   4+   Command, Heroic, Lucky, +1Con, Ambush, -1Dex, +1Con.
Weapons: Double Barreled Shotgun, Cleaver, Lucky Hat, Garlic
Special: Human
Injuries: Head Trauma, Chest Wound, Leg Wound, Basket Case

Becoming a Basket Case actually helped...older injuries of Claustrophobia, Ballistophobia and Hate (for Cult Leaders) were superseded.

Next, onto the new team...and some action in the field! 

[Uncle Mike]

Here is the team after a re-equip. I'll go into more detail later...gotta get a game in against Darth James...

[Klener Zorn]

GREAT i really like that theres a way to have another team after nearly everyone died now

[Uncle Mike]

Thanks...it really helps if you want to play a longer campaign...or if you are very unlucky. 

The photo above from left to right: Agent Ablett (pronounced Aubleah...he's French you know!), 'Shotgun' Samuel Winchester (my long suffering Character), 'Hot' Cas (Special Agent: Psychic), Agent Lovie (resident book worm and spell caster).

Winchester has been alive from the start and seen many a comrade fall (around 17 at a guess... ) everyone else is newly recruited, with the exception of old Lovie who has seen his share of action...but having a librarian's combat prowess has taken a few wounds along the way. Being Weakened, suffering a rather nasty Chest Wound and becoming Mysophobic (Fear of dirt...so you don't need to look it up  ) have left him a bit quirky but still usable in the field.
The list has 5 Map Pieces at present and only three spells left...I'd guess a few games revolving around securing some Ancient and or Evil Tomes would be possible in the very near future...
The other two are, as I said, new to the team. Agent Ablett is just a standard Agent with a Tommy Gun while Agent Cas is a Pyrokine who has joined the team permanently (One of the bonuses gained from the latest Promotion).

They are suited up and ready for action. Hope to have a battle report with pictures next week...

[Mr. Peabody]

Hot damn! This is looking great. 

[Uncle Mike]

Just wait 'till we get going!

Also, worth pointing out, the team is now at a Points Total of 31. Personnel Points: 20. Equipment Points: 11. The scale of the game has been broadened with this edition allowing me to build a list above 30 Pts. The Godling has become a 40 Pt Lurker and there are plenty new monsters to fill the gap. If things go poorly you may see some of the larger creatures in the upcoming games...

[Mr. Peabody]

That's very good news Mike, broad is good... Gives the campaign game legs.

[Mason]

Oh, yes!
This is looking good.
 

Our group is really looking forward to 2nd Edition so that we can get a new campaign going.
 

[Uncle Mike]

Thanks guys. The campaign has been expanded quite a bit since 1st edition and I am having great fun with it. Now that the team has received their second promotion I also need to write up a Nemesis for them. One of my favorite new rules...essentially create a Lurker that gains skills and takes injuries in every game that it is used in. Still not sure who the Nemesis should be. I can't decide between a Rogue Character or a Mummy...both have their appeal for me...once I get a suitable figure ready all systems will be a-go. Hope to get a battle report done after the long weekend.

[diehard]

The Nemesis addition is inspired and fits in beautifully with the campaign aspect. I'm sure this new edition of the rules will be everything that a Wargaming Mythophile could hope for. Anxiously waiting to learn more. 

[Uncle Mike]

Enter the Nemesis: Slithiss the Overlord...

[Mason]

Love the Nemesis idea.
(And the paintjob on that fella, obviously).
 

We had something similar going on with Dr Hugh Jarse, who turned out to be a right pain in the....

[Uncle Mike]

Thanks Mason, you may recognize Slithiss form my Kulten Serpent Worshipers cult. Many and various are his evil schemes...but those will have to wait. The team has been mobilized to recover some sort of objective at a Supply Drop.



The supplies had been dropped quite a way from the intended location, several miles walk from any sort of conventional road. By the time the team arrived on the scene they were worn out from traversing the low hills and rocky plateaus in this part of...well, wherever it was. They could see the drop zone...and also, behind it, coming closer, their adversary. It looked like some sort of gigantic worm. This wasn't going to be easy.

Could this newly recruited force hope to rescue the goods? How would they stop such a monstrous opponent? What exactly does Government Agent taste like? Stay tuned for the horrifying answers to these questions! Will it shock you? You bet!

More later...