I am looking forward to September being "update month" with the first big updates to Mystic Space and SLAM as well as getting two more army lists "done" for Rogue Hammer.

There will also be an announcement about an RPG project. 

You can spend forever trying to find a reliable source of armour ratings for tanks, then figuring out how much to adjust for sloping and weak points etc.

I don't have that time and the books I have on hand giver very vague and general armour values. 

For History Dad, I basically decided to just rely on the ratings given in the Steel Panthers World War 2 computer game (freely downloadable). Their vehicle stats are pretty well researched and correspond to roughly 1 point of armour per 10mm (with some additions for sloping). 

So the HD combat rules were built to just use those, so if you want to look up a tank that isn't on the tables yet, you can do so.

Gun ratings come from the same place, using the penetration at point blank range (since even a 6x4 foot gaming table is still only going to represent 3-400 metres of distance: Basically knife fight distance for tanks). 

If you have not checked in on Rogue Hammer in a while, make sure to do so.

The first four army lists (Imperial Legion, Star Knights, Free Traders and Imperial Personalties) are now finished, meaning they have their own upgrades, psionic abilities (where needed) and have been touched up with how they work.

This does not mean they are never going to be updated. Unit tweaks are of course always possible and new units can be added (particularly to the Personalities list) but it means they are basically at a step where I am happy with how they look. 

I am hoping to "finish up" an army list every couple days, which will also mean fleshing out the lists that don't have enough units (or any units, making it somewhat of a difficult to use army list :) )

Now it needs to be said that the points values are perhaps a wide eyed estimate at best. I do not have a count yet, but I would guess we are well past 200 units and counting and with each army list aiming to have 15 possible upgrades (5 for squads, 5 for individuals, 5 for vehicles) it is basically inevitable that some of them will not make sense. That can all be solved by a nice email to my inbox, so I can work on things :)

Do note that things must be seen in context: The same upgrade may be worth more to one army than another, so bear that in mind.

It has been a long time since I have talked about Planetfall, as it slowly makes its way through editing and layout. 

So this is a quick run down of key features. I will try to do a more in depth post going into some of the information later.

*The gist of the campaign is that you are landing on an unexplored world to exploit its resources and make your colony self sufficient and successful.

*It features a planetary map. 

*Your characters this time are Unity agents and can be soldiers, scouts or scientists. You can also bring over Five Parsecs characters of course. Each class has its own special abilities and gear is usable by particular classes.

*Enemy lifeforms are randomly generated, allowing you to fill out your own unique planetary encounter table. This will be modified over the course of play.

*You also encounter a strange new hostile alien species. 

*Missions include sweeping for resources, exploring alien ruins and taking the fight to the enemy. There are 12 scenarios (if I counted right).

*Scientific research will unlock new tech, items and upgrades.

*You build a base with facilities that improve your capabilities.

*In addition to new tech, you can also get augmentations for your soldiers and find alien artifacts.

*There is an end game with multiple possible outcomes for your colony. Along the way you will achieve milestones that push the campaign to the next step, unlocking options and increasing challenges. It is self paced to an extent. 

*Fluff nerds will get some new information about Unity and its various efforts across the galaxy. 

*You also get a bit of fiction from yours truly. 

Gamers have no shortage of ideas. Some of them are good ideas. Some of them are workable ideas. The intersection between good and workable is the stuff that might make it into a book some day.

The main difference between a professional (hah!) and a hobbyist I suspect is in evaluating the workable bit, not the good bit. 

One thing to be wary of is to get too carried away with an idea that sounds appealing, but which ultimately you will lose interest in. Not everything is inspiring enough to sustain you through a 20 page game, let alone a 100 page one. Are you going to try to build a hobby empire out of it like the Brutality guy, 2 Hour Wargames or Song of X&Y? It's gotta be an idea you can sustain interest in for months and years.

I use a notepad program to track ideas. If I think of something that could be fun as a project, it goes on the list. You can use anything, I use a little app called Tot which I use only for this purpose and nothing else. But you can just use a document on your computer desktop or a piece of paper and a magnet on the fridge. For me personally, keeping it separately helps compartmentalise a bit mentally. 

Every Sunday I sit down and look back over the list. I sometimes add a qualifier to an entry like "maybe" if I am starting to wonder if its a good idea or if I have changed my mind about some aspect (this SHOULD be a Renegade Scout expansion!). If I am no longer enthused, I delete it. 

It currently had 56 entries on it for consideration. They are not sorted in any kind of order.  The last 5 (you were gonna ask) are:

A skirmish game OR scenario booklet for "Snap haner" (Danish guerillas fighting the Swedes in the 1600s), some sort of Arthurian mythology game (probably a warband game?), an urban fantasy skirmish game with vampires and werewolves and all that, some sort of campaign game based around a space ark seeking a new world and a game or scenario booklet about partisan warfare in WW2 Norway.

This also went out by email through the Wargame Vault but not everyone receives messages there.

If you have purchased Mystic Space, I would like your thoughts on a few questions. Email to nordicweaselgames@icloud.com if you would be so good

- Have you had a chance to play the game yet? If so, what did you feel about the rules? What rules worked really well and which ones were difficult to use or understand?

-are there parts of the rules that are hard to understand and need explaining better?

- From the factions which seems the most exciting and which do you feel could use some more flavour?

- If you are intending on building an army for Mystic Space, what figure range are you planning on using?

- What do you hope to see in the full version and in the future for Mystic Space?

- How interested are you in other spin-off games in the same world? 

It should not be too much longer before the preorders for the Five Leagues Compendium go up (next week?) 

This will combine the first two expansions (which is already a monstrous amount of gaming goodness) as well as a stand alone game titled Deep Below.

Deep Below is a Five Leagues spin off (similar to how Bug Hunt is a Five Parsecs spin off), focused on exploring and fighting within a cavernous underworld. 

The rules feature:

The same combat system you are used to, allowing you to get up and running quickly and even transfer characters back and forth.

Character origins: Adventurer Humans, Derzkan, Windspite Dwarfs, Weaslings and Grey Elfs

A new magic approach (runes)

Randomly generated (and thus unique) enemies to fight.

A new type of mission with exploration and unpredictable encounters in huge underworld caves.

A bit of base building on the side as the settlement you are defending expands over time.

New magic goodies to find.

It is playable 100% on its own as its own experience or as a way to link up with the main Five Leagues game. 

Those of you who have been with me for a while know that 15mm science fiction is near and dear to my heart.

The scene went from a curiosity to a hugely supported contender with multiple manufacturers making excellent figures. It was also supported at the time by games like Gruntz, Stargrunt 2 and, if I may say so, FAD.

However many years on, I think things have gotten a little quiet, so it is time for me to stir the campfire a little bit again.

With that in mind, I am pleased to announce the alpha test of SLAM-15:

https://www.wargamevault.com/product/526734/SLAM15%22%20rel=%22/includes/ajax/tooltip_request_handler.php?products_id=526734

A set of rules written specifically to take advantage of, and be suitable for, 15mm figures. This means capturing a bit of a "hard scifi/hard space opera" vibe in the rules (since this is the most common figures available), ensuring the rules match what people usually want to use in their armies (multiple vehicles, multiple infantry squads based individually) and making sure the game is not excessively fiddly and that any tracking can be done either using simple markers (activations) or dice (vehicle damage).

It is intended for pick up games though it should not be too difficult to solo two-fisted. 

The alpha version of the rules feature everything needed to play, including sample troop profiles and weapons with points values. Buyers will also get a discount on the final version. 

A few questions after the Alpha release that I figured everyone could benefit from the answer to:

Q: Is Mystic Space based on <insert media here>

A: We tried to be pretty original, but it obviously has heavy vibes from other space fantasy, particularly scifi  Anime and Manga. There's definitely a bit of Macross in there. 

Mechanically I tried to be "theme first". I did not intentionally borrow any mechanics from anywhere but if you have played a lot of miniatures games you will be able to tell how ideas travel from game to game. I did want things to mostly be fairly conventional this time around.

Q: Who wrote what portions?

A: Rules and the main setting chapter were all me. The faction write ups are mostly my wife. I tweaked them a little and I think I wrote one and a half of them. I did write the military snippets. We had wanted to do a project together for ages and this was the perfect opportunity. Plus as more of an RPG player, she'd bring a different perspective.

Q: Do you have any plans for a Mystic Space RPG?

A: The thought has arisen, though there are other things to do first. I wanted the setting to be detailed enough that people could improvise it and test the waters so to speak.

Q: When STLs start being available, will they be added to the book?

A: Yes, though there are some things to consider when doing that. Probably after we are out of alpha. 

If you are checking back in, we have had quite a few things happening:

The first is the release of Elf, Knyghte, Pyke and Sworde, the second edition of the KPS skirmish rules and fully updated with fantasy content. This will be supported with updates and cool stuff as we move forward, becoming one of the "core" NWG game titles. 

You can pick up a copy here:

https://www.wargamevault.com/product/520073/Elf-Knyghte-Pyke-Sworde?src=hottest 

We also released the alpha version of Mystic Space, our new space fantasy game, complete with army lists and an exciting setting. You can pick that up here. 

https://www.wargamevault.com/product/521390/Mystic-Space-Alpha-version?src=hottest

Buyers of the alpha will get a discount when the final game is released.

And of course if you are into Squad Hammer but wishes it was a bit more grim and or dark, you can check out Rogue Hammer here 

https://www.wargamevault.com/product/418767/Rogue-Hammer-Gothic-scifi-miniatures-gaming 

This has seen a ton of updates and now has profiles for a ton of units from all across old school 40K and is now beginning to feature units from other scifi worlds and even inspired by history. The rules are also constantly being updated, improved and tidied up. 

So please dig and have fun :)