Warhammer Quest Silver Tower

[Major_Gilbear]

Good to see you're approaching it with an open mind, though 

??

I acknowledge that despite its namecheck to an older game, I know it's not really anything like the old game (I know it can't be just by looking at the game components and the way the dice are arranged on the character cards in "pools").

I also don't really like AoS myself, but this is a self-contained game that could actually take place pretty much anywhere along the Warhammer timeline. As a self-contained game therefore, its being AoS doesn't automatically make it a no-no for me.

Regardless, I don't think it's unreasonable to ask if the game is actually any good or not (especially considering that GW are seeming to support this with an app and more characters - unlike Calth or Overkill).

@ nic-e:

Well I pleased to see that it's been well received at least. If you get any chance to explain the game mechanics and perhaps provide a personal impression of the game, I'd appreciate it.

@ everyone else:

Yeah, I know the new AoS stuff is basically a full head bigger than most of the older WHFB 7/8th stuff. As long as each side is reasonably well-scaled to itself, I don't mind a bit of difference between them. I think GW's AoS stuff can be reasonably called "32mm Heroic scale" now though...

@ Andrew Rae:

Interesting picture, thank you! I already thought the plastic Cadians were huge though, so seeing them dwarfed by the AoS stuff is not reassuring me that they'll find much use in my existing fantasy forces.

[Andrew Rae]

If by "again" you mean what GW and just about everyone else has been doing for the last 2 years...

...then Yes.

I was just really hoping maybe we'd moved on to something slightly less daft! But let's not get into that. It makes my head hurt.

@ Major-Gilbear, I think the only one that would look truly out of place alongside older GW figures is the War Priest. No idea why they decided to make him a 7 foot monster, but he's also the weakest figure in my opinion so no loss there.

[eilif]

I was just really hoping maybe we'd moved on to something slightly less daft! But let's not get into that. It makes my head hurt.

@ Major-Gilbear, I think the only one that would look truly out of place alongside older GW figures is the War Priest. No idea why they decided to make him a 7 foot monster, but he's also the weakest figure in my opinion so no loss there.

Oops, I miswrote. I meant to say 20 years (not 2).  Not to get too deep into it, but I find to-the eye measurements really easy and quite useful.  Especially in wargames with minis(like everything GW makes) that often have rather shwl we say "extensive" head dress. 

It's been a standard for a few decades because it works.

[Andrew Rae]

So did any of you end up buying this? If so, what was the game like please?

Finally played a game after slogging through assembling all the figures!

It's worth bearing in mind we're going through something of a heat wave here in the west of Scotland - pale flesh turning read. Most of the day had been spent baking in the sun and a couple of bottles of wine and several vodkas and gins were consumed that evening. But despite our addled minds the game was easy to get into. An index would have been handy as the rules are kind of spread out but I'm pretty sure we had everything sussed after a round or two. If I'd read the rules again sober before playing there wouldn't have been any issues.

It was a two-player game (the dwarf and barbar) and at first my other half sighed like a moody teenager about the rules ("Roll more bloody dice?", "Why can't I attack you?") but again, after a round or two she was getting into it and mocking my inability to kill anything. In the first room I took 4 wounds (one more and I'd be out of the game until there was a monsters phase with no monsters) while she racked up Renown points and so it continued. The flavour text in the Adventure book (stumblingly read by me) had sound effects added (by her). Treasure was cooed over. Familiars were nabbed. Unexpected events were feared (bloody Horrors).

Unfortunately we didn't get to finish the Quest as we noticed we'd left a window slightly open and now the roof and walls were swarming with hundreds of midgies. I guess it does show how absorbed we were in the game that we missed the crawling blackness on the walls! So I embarked on another, much less enjoyable Quest to hoover up all the little buggers.

But it has been announced that the Quest must be resumed, so surely that counts as a successful introduction to the game.

[Nord]

Interesting review, I used to live next to a farm and made the mistake of leaving the window open on a warm evening. Never thought of a hoover, I spent ages armed only with a tea towel.

Having put together a few of the chaos figures, I can confirm that they do take some time - but they are bloody lovely too. My chaos army will be getting a Tzeentch contingent at last. Not bothered about the game myself, never really liked dungeon crawls, they always seem so tedious and there's no real tactical thinking required - enter the room, slay the monsters, pick up the treasure, enter the next room, slay more monsters, get more treasure, etc ad nauseum. I sold my gaming components straight away on ebay, but they did look nicely put together. Probably better with sound effects.

[Andrew Rae]

We'd played a few games of Hnefatafl before hand as I'd found a copy in a charity shop, but we discovered neither of us had much in way of tactical nous so a dungeon crawl was about our level. That said, there are plenty of decisions to be made in Silver Tower as to how to spend your action and destiny dice and such like, certainly more decisions than the original game ever had.

[Major_Gilbear]

Thank you for the review Andrew.

I have to admit that I finally found a synopsis of the game's workings on 4chan of all places, so I was able to somewhat sate my curiosity recently.

It's worth bearing in mind we're going through something of a heat wave here in the west of Scotland - pale flesh turning read. Most of the day had been spent baking in the sun and a couple of bottles of wine and several vodkas and gins were consumed that evening. But despite our addled minds the game was easy to get into. An index would have been handy as the rules are kind of spread out but I'm pretty sure we had everything sussed after a round or two. If I'd read the rules again sober before playing there wouldn't have been any issues.

I see Tzeentch's influence at work here... I think you'll mostly be okay though, at least until you start sprouting additional limbs or gain unusual features like colourful feathers, beaks, or eyestalks!

That said, there are plenty of decisions to be made in Silver Tower as to how to spend your action and destiny dice and such like, certainly more decisions than the original game ever had.

Yes, I realised that reading 4chan. The mechanics remind me a little of Matakishi's games in that you have a pool of dice that you can spend for certain actions. Also, as I understand it, you roll the pool at the start of the combat and then "spend" the results to activate certain actions and special abilities depending on what you rolled?

Either way, it seemed simple but pretty entertaining and reasonably nuanced. I have nostalgia for the old WHQ stat-crunching style of play, but I admit that it wasn't especially quick or smooth to for new players to get to grips with and probably didn't add much to the game. Silver Tower seems to have concentrated on the fun bits of skill activation rather than grinding towards hitting a goblin with a sword slightly more easily.

Anyway, I'd be interested in further updates and observations as you play more!

[Andrew Rae]

Also, as I understand it, you roll the pool at the start of the combat and then "spend" the results to activate certain actions and special abilities depending on what you rolled?

Yup, a player rolls four action dice at the start of their turn and they spend these dice to perform actions. Actions such as move, and one type of weapon attack, can use any dice from 1-6. Other actions, such as buffs, special actions or more powerful attacks, require you to spend a dice that has a higher value. For example, the Fyreslayer can spend a dice of 5 or more to use his axe (you still need to roll to hit) which can do more damage than his regular attack. Or the Stormcast can spend a 3 or more dice to improve his save for the round.

Each character also gains extra Renown in different ways, in addition to 1 point for every enemy you kill. The War Priest gains extra by healing 2 wounds in a turn using one of his special (3+ dice) actions, while the Fyreslayer gets extra by getting wounded! Once you make it around the Renown dial tracker thing, you get a Skill card. So you're encouraged to play each character differently beyond how they perform their actions.

There seems to be plenty to keep the basic game-play interesting.

[Vermis]

I'm goggling at the revelation of a good game coming out of GW. And worrying about what that prospect might mean for my hobby budget.

[Major_Gilbear]

I have to admit, that actually sounds a lot like the type of thing I've wanted for a long time!

I mean, yeah dungeon crawlers are "linear" and straightforward in what most of them are, but there's still plenty of nuance to be had from cools skills, positioning, and memorable game moments too. I'm pleasantly pleased (cautiously delighted?) that Silver Tower seems to have understood and provided this.

[Jagannath]

Sorry to bump a thread all - can anyone with the game tell me how well I could play with 15mm minis on the board? How does the board 'scale'? Thinking of buying the game -minis off eBay and using my Daemonworld minis (they're on 20mm bases)

Ta

[nic-e]

the squares are quite large but that shouldn't be too much of an issue.
If you're basing your 15mm on 20mm bases they're going to look small on the board pieces, but hey, it is a magical floating god tower, who's to say it isn't going to make you feel tiny?

[Jagannath]

Well that's very true - worth a punt I reckon.

[Andrew Rae]

If anything it'll make the game a bit easier to play, as you won't be struggling to extract large, spiky figures from a huddle of other large, spiky figures. The squares are fairly big (32mm?) but some of the figures are even bigger!