Sources Say: Dracula's America: Hunting Grounds

Name: Dracula's America: Hunting Grounds
Produced By: Osprey Games
System: Dracula's America
Genre(s): Western, Horror

Hunting Grounds is the first expansion for Dracula's America. And it fixes some of the problems I had with the original game right out of the gate. That's right, we've (finally) got melee weapons! Took long enough! You know what that means, right? Oh, yeah, we're going to have the Ferner Five become a thing in this game... And there's more as to why this will happen coming up.

The book opens with some more detail in the setting, centered around Deadwood and the Black Hills. Apparently, the whole Custer thing happened in this timeline (even if it isn't actually stated) and folks started prospecting around the Black Hills and found Ghost Rock! Oh, I'm sorry, they found Animus, some kind of solidified ecotoplasam. I think, I'm a little confused but we'll move on.
This book introduces two new factions: The Forsaken, who are the remnants of the US Army's 7^th Calvary (you know, Custer's boys) and cursed to be werewolves and The Shadow Dragon Tong, a group of Chinese workers, fighters, and magic users that are challenging the Crossroads Cult. Of the two, I think the Shadow Dragons are the more interesting and more powerful faction. All the Forsaken get is two (random) werewolves that you can't always control. Meanwhile, the Shadow Dragons get two melee combat ghost people and can buy magical tattoos. I have to say, I'm impressed with this, as I fully expected to them to be a bit more stereotypical.

And speaking of being impressed, they fixed the Skinwalker Tribes. Well, they made some good changes. The best thing is now they have variations for the faction based on the regions that tribes would come from. And they put in a note about how different tribes and groups are. If you're playing a Skinwalker posse, I would strongly suggest picking up this book if you haven't already. I have to say that I was impressed that they undid the whole monoculture for the Native Americans, and they even included a note about reading up on them. I always think this is a really good idea when you're dealing with historical stuff, especially when you're talking about people that had acts of government enforced genocide against them.

While this book does add in the close combat weapons, it does give you some other weapons and gear, like muskets and Coup Sticks. There's also some more spells, some of which are for certain groups, like the Skinwalkers, Crossroads Cult, and Vodou stuff. There's also a few more Hired Guns, not all of them are useful and add into some of the new stuff they introduce.

This is very much a book for your Arcanists. Why? Because we're going to deal with the Hunting Grounds or Spirit World! That's right, you can now jump back and forth between reality and the spirit realms. As can equipment and buildings. I have to say, this seems to get messy really, really fast, because you can only effect things in the reality you're currently in. You have to make sure that the guy you're aiming at is this reality and doesn't jump into the Hunting Grounds. And if you didn't see the marker, well, sucks to be you. I don't know how much I'll be using this mechanic in my games, as you can use it in every game from this point on, if both players agree.

One of the new Hired Guns is a Gattling Gun and crew. I'm really happy to see this because people seem to forget about them as A Thing in the Old/Wild West. When it came to the Civil War and afterwards, these things were a game changer. Literally in this case. I don't know where I get a mini of this but I'm looking now.
Speaking of game changers, there's a lot in here for Campaigns. In addition to a new Encounter table for “Indian Territory,” there's also a whole thing for adding in Territories for Campaigns. It's a little fuzzy for me (which is not uncommon for me and this game) but you generate some before you get started, then put them up for ante before a game and the winner gets that one, but everyone gets one but then again you might not be able to have one so you'll have to generate one and... Okay. If you want the details, buy the book. I will say that (even if it's confusing) I do like how it adds some depth to the Campaigns. Plus, you can upgrade a Hideout in your Territory, giving you another way to customize your posse.

Speaking of customizing your posse, you can hire out one of your posse members to another posse if you're not playing the game. It gets even better as you can make a member of your posse a Mercenary Drifter if you have to retire your posse. I haven't read it completely yet but when I do, I'll be dropping stats for the Ferner Five.

The last thing... Okay, there's some stuff I'm glossing over, but I have to say that this book crammed a lot of good stuff between the covers so...

Anyway. The last thing this book has is a narrative campaign. In this campaign, you divide the posses into two groups, Alliance of Order and Alliance of Chaos, with the Crossroads Cult being the driving force behind the Chaos group. Over the course of seven missions, the posses will decide the fate of the world. I like this but I don't know if I'll ever be able to pull it off. If you have a large group of players, this would be a great thing to introduce them to.

All in all, this book is a great source book. It does everything a source book/expansion should do, improve on the original book without being too powerful, as well as filling some gaps. It is by no means perfect but if you're already playing Dracula's America, you'll want this book.

Setting Showcase: Wormwood (Rifts)

Name: Wormwood (Dimension Book One)
Produced By: Palladium Books
System: Rifts/Megaverse system
Genre(s): Science Fiction/Fantasy/Horror/70's rock (not really a joke)

Motorcycles, demons, magic, and the biggest badasses in the Megaverse!

The first “Megaverse” book for Rifts is one of the more interesting ones. While they later went in a more science fiction (or science fantasy) direction, Wormwood is a throw back to the 70's adult cartoons like Wizards, Rock n' Rule, and Heavy Metal. In fact, the last section of Heavy Metal seems to be a powerful influence when you look at it.

Wormwood is a very different world from Rifts Earth. So different, I get the feeling that this book was suppose to be a new game, but got pulled under the Rifts umbrella. It very well could be that they thought it would make it more successful. Or it could be that someone thought that Rifts needed the boost. Either way, this is a source book for Rifts, meaning you need the core book to use it.

As I said, Wormwood is different. Radically different. It's so different, the whole planet is alive. You read that right. Wormwood is a living creature. The how and why of this aren't known but it seems to have some kind of intelligence. How intelligent, no one seems to know. What this means is that the planet adapts to suit the needs of its inhabitants, producing air, food, and water for them, and even shelter. It also has symbiotic animals that help maintain it and keep it in good condition. This critters can also bond with the humans that have taken up residence on the planet, allowing them to communicate their needs to Wormwood easier. Since most everything people need is provided, and they have access to magic, there's very little technology on the planet. Somehow (only in Rifts, folks) a bunch of shotguns and motorcycles ended up here and people love them. There are seem to be some flintlocks and the like running around. The inhabitants will pay good money for any of these items.

Speaking of the inhabitants, let's get into some details. First of all, most of the people living on Wormwood are human and speak American English. They're also MDC (Mega Damage Capacity) creatures. Kind of insane when you think about it and unbalancing if they ever leave. The society of Wormwood resembles Renaissance Europe, with The Church in control of everything and the people divided by castes. Of course, the Church is really the last line of defense for this world. What are they defending against? Why, the Unholy Host, of course!

That's right, Wormwood is under siege from demons. While Rifts is fast and loose with what exactly “Demons” are, and it extends to this book as well, most of these things fit the bill if only in looks. These monsters are slowly conquering the world and draining the very life essence of those they have captured. Where exactly these monsters came from isn't really known but they're here and they keep coming. They've taken a lot of territory and it doesn't look like they'll be stopped anytime soon.

Of course, there's one last thing that might swing things in favor of the Forces of Light: The Battle Saints. They're giant organic robots. And they kick all of the ass. They're part of Wormwood's symbiots and there's only a handful of them. They require very rare crystals to move, but when they do, things are going down.

I love this setting. It's balls to the walls, over the top, and out and out nuts. But because it's a Palladium product, it's half-baked. Everything made by this company, but especially the ones for Rifts, are half-baked. But since I love things like Heavy Metal, this flawed concept is right up my alley. If normal Rifts doesn't do it for you, maybe give this one a shot.

Off Topic: October 2020

 Howdy, everyone! I'm sorry I don't have a real article for you today but I thought I should put something on. So, I guess I'm going to ramble on about gaming, this year, this blog, and whatever else I think about.

Let's start with this year. 2020 has been a hell of a year. Every month feels like a year in and of itself. Some of us aren't working, some of us are working from home, and some of us (like myself) are working as normal, just waiting to catch The Plague and die. A bit of a hyperbole but not much.
The one good thing about all of this is that many people, like myself, have been able to turn back to solo hobby stuff. While I haven't been doing too much painting, I have been getting things put together and priming everything. And, you know, buying more stuff. I do this because I have some extra income and I want these companies to survive this year. I want to support local shops, too, but it's not easy with everything going on around here. If you can, I suggest you do what you can in a safe way. Look out for yourself.

Hearing that this show was cancelled is peak 2020 for me

If you're wondering why I'm doing this post, instead of my usual articles, it's because of my process. When I get ready to do a review, I tend to spend a week or so looking over the book or game I want to review. If I haven't played it, I tend to make characters, run some simple combat and etc, to get a feel for it. If I'm talking about a source book or something similar, I try to read it all the way through a few times and take notes. I'll use it to make a character or whatever, just to see how it works out. As such, you can imagine how much time this takes, before I even sit down to write the article. In fact, writing things out is probably the easiest part for me, taking only a few hours (at most) to finish a first draft. Of course, not all articles come easily and I have quite a few that are half done at most. Sometimes, the muse strikes and I can crank out 3-4 articles in a night and sometimes I have to push myself to get stuff done. Lately, things have been pretty stressful and I just don't have time or the mind to sit down and type things up. Since I take this blog seriously, I don't want to give you half-assed or incomplete articles. As you might have noticed, I refer to my entries here as "articles" not entries or posts because I've always looked at this blog as something like a magazine. While I am by no means a professional, and offer opinions on things, I do want to take this seriously. That's also why I rarely post things like this. And I don't monetize this blog as it's a labor of love. There's also some things that could cause me problems if I tried to make money (of course, if you do like my content, you can just buy my ebook.)

Sadly, this whole thing has killed my ability to play miniature games. I have a friend who's able to stay safe and can come over (you probably saw that battle report), especially since I have a ton of fans and an AC hooked up, so I was able to filter the air. I may have another guy that I can play with but it'll depend on some other factors.
Thankfully, some of the new games I've discovered allow for solo play, so I'm able to get something in. When I'm not working on a ton of other minis... I'm starting to catch up on what I have and cut down buying more. I won't lie to myself, saying that "I won't buy anymore until I finish these" because that's just not going to happen.
The last part of miniature games I want to talk about is about Warhammer 40,000. I was planning on getting back into this game (for some stupid reason) until they launched 9th edition. I'm sorry but I can't keep getting into something that has to update every few years. As much as I would love to play the game again, I'm probably going to pass for now. However, I am interested in Kill Team. I would play that and am looking into it for something in the future. I'm waiting to see what happens with it, if they'll update it to 9th or not. Or just completely drop it, as they've been known to do in the past.
if you're wondering, doing battle reports are quite time intensive as I have to make lists, set everything up, stop to take pictures, and try to take notes during the game. Writing one up can take a lot of time, too.

When it comes to RPGs, I really like playing them in person. I've played once or twice online (using Discord) but it really doesn't work as well for me. But it looks like I'm going have to make some changes if I want to get my fix now...
As such, I'm going to be running a one shot of Rifts for Halloween that I may do a Gaming Story about, depending on how it goes.
I really do like playing and running RPGs but they are quite possibly the hardest things to do. Unlike miniature games, they take longer to get into, longer to play, and requires more people. They are my preferred method of gaming. I love the experience of playing a game with a bunch of other people, the dynamics, the crazy things that happen, the jokes, and all that good stuff are why I play games. While I enjoy card games and miniature games, I do so for different reasons.
Hopefully, I'll be able to get a regular game going, somehow, some way, and I'll share it with you if I'm up for it.

Now, let's talk about what all I'm looking to do in the future. I won't promise you that this will all happen, because that's a fool's game, but I do want do these things.
First up, I want to finish my re-cap of the Ferner Five adventures. I had a lot of fun running that group and many of the players hold it up as the best game they've ever been involved it. Plus, I just love Deadlands.
Next, I'm hoping to finish my series about Silent Hill. I also need to finish that project, too. While it's probably the lowest preforming series of articles here, I write them for me. I enjoy doing it and it's my blog, so I'm going to keep at it.
I want to do some more In Depth articles as well. I really like talking about games in detail and this provides me with the chance to do so, since I've tried to rein in my reviews' length. There's also a bunch of stuff I like to discuss when it comes games, not just the books and mechanics, but things like where to find inspiration, what kinds of games you can run, and so on. I really like to pull out all the stops for these ones but they take so long, I don't have any others finished.
I'm also looking to but together more reviews and talk about settings and source books for games. However, I have a tough time figuring out which ones to do. While I usually pick the stuff that I want to talk about, I do admit that I pay attention to the games that get the most views (since no one ever leaves comments) when I sit down to work on these. As such, they tend to suffer from writer's block and lack of inspiration for me. Also, do you know how many source books I own? It's a lot.

With all of that said, if you want me to write a review of something I own (or can legally get for free), let me know. If you there's something you think I've missed, feel free to scream at me. I hate to do the "engagement request" thing but I'm not asking because I want to worship at the altar of the All Might Algorithm, but because I like to know if people are enjoying what I do. It's as simple as that. Not even to boost my ego but I like know that my effort has helped someone else.

For next week, I'm going to try and do a real article. Stay tuned to find out.

How To: Make Linoleum Bases

Welcome back to my “How To” series! I know it's been a very long time since I've done one of these but I thought it would be a good time to start up again.

Today, I'm going to show you how to make my linoleum bases. I use these bases exclusively for my “super hero” minis, because I like the way they look with the colorful costumes and all of that. While I haven't finished up too many of them, I can imagine it easily. Enough rambling, let's get started!

WHAT YOU WILL NEED:

At least one miniature with a plastic slotted base of your choice

Pin vise (or Drimmel)

Brass rod (1.2mm is what I use)

Superglue (or epoxy of your choice)

Hobby knife

Plastruct (I'm using this in our example)

 

Step One: Pick You Mini

For this example, I'm going to show you one that I've already started on, Jackhammer from Reaper's Chronoscope line. The others are also from Reaper's Chronoscope line and I needed to get them done as well. There's Candy, Sugar, Frank Russo, and Cobra, Modern Ninja

If you want to do this, you want to avoid minis with integrated bases, as it's hard to cut those off. You'll want to either pick plastic miniatures that don't have anything on their feet or metal/resin miniatures with a simple tab on the bottom.

Step Two: Prep Your Mini

Once you've selected your miniature, you'll need to do the normal prep. That means cleaning it off, trimming flash and mold lines, and all that good stuff. The last part of preparations is to cut off the tab and drill the hole you need to pin it. However, if the model has very small feet, more common on female miniatures, you'll want to keep the bit of tab directly under the foot instead of trying to drill a hole.

 

Step Three: Pin Mini

Take your adhesive of choice (superglue or epoxy) and glue the pin in there. If you've never done this before, my advise to just shove the end of the brass rod in the glue and let it set. Once it's done, you can cut the pin to length.

 

Step Four: Cut Plastruct

Take your hobby knife and cut a piece of the plastruct that's big enough to cover the base you're going to use. If you're going for a 30mm base and the same type of plastruct I'm using in this example, you'll want to cut the plastruct into a 4x4 square, giving you roughly one square inch of plastic. It won't completely cover the base but also won't overhang it too much, so you can get in base to base contact with other miniatures.

Step Five: Drill Plastruct And Glue Down Mini

What I do is figure out where the pin needs to go through the plastruct and mark it. I also try to put it at a corner of the grid pattern. But, you'll want to make sure that the pin can fit below the plastruct, so try to make sure that your hole will be over the slot in the base or that the base dips down rather than lays flat. 

 

Once you know where you want the mini, you can use a pin vise or just your knife to drill a hole through the plastruct. If you're not using a pin, and instead using the remains of a tab, I strongly suggest using the pin vise to drill the guide hole and then use your knife to expand it for the tab.

When gluing, I also strongly recommend gluing not only the pin/tab but the other foot as well. Because this will be a lighter base than say, resin, the model will be knocked over a lot more and you don't want the mini to pop off of it.

Step Six: Glue Plastruct To The Base

This is the last, and easiest, step. Now that the mini is on the plastruct, you can make sure it'll fit on the base. I suggest doing a dry fit, just to be sure, then you superglue around the base rim, and then putting the plastruct and mini down. I do the whole rim that way I can move the plastruct around if I need to before it sets. Once you've got it set, just wipe off the excess and let it dry.

 

And now you've got a cool looking base that shouldn't cost you too much!

Let's Review: Zona Alfa

 What is it?:

Zona Alfa is a 25mm scale miniatures game published by Osprey Games, inspired by things like S.T.A.L.K.E.R. And Roadside Picnic.

 

The setting:

While slightly vague about the exact location, it's clearly suppose to be the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone (like STALKER) in Eastern Europe in territory of what was once the United Soviet Socialist Republics. Also known as the USSR or CCCP.

This Zone is very fucked up. There's zombies, ghouls, hordes of vermin and wild dogs. To make things even worse, there's Anomalies. These warp reality and cause all sorts of crazy shit. If you've played STALKER, you know the basics.

The Zone is contained by a military force that should be keeping people out, but seem to be either easily bribed or evaded. Probably a bit of both. Inside the Zone, there's a half dozen groups operating inside, looting and pillaging whatever they can get away with for a variety of reasons. These groups can work together, ignore each other, or fight whenever they come into contact.

Inside the zone is a very dangerous place, so don't think that it's a place for the faint of heart. Only the hard, or the insane, are able to survive long enough to make enough money to retire.

 

The system:

The game uses both d10s and d6s, but most of the rolls you're going to need to make uses d10s. One interesting thing is that the game is a throw back in that you want to roll low, not high, and there's critical hits and failures.

Before I go much further, I'd like to point out the very Warhammer 40k vibe that comes off of this thing. The game also uses the classic WYSIWIG: What You See Is What You Get. That means that all weapons and equipment must me represented on the model. Or at least something someone can reasonably guess is that it is. That means a pistol is a pistol, not an SMG. Nor is an Assault Rifle an SMG.

Building your gang is rather interesting compared to most other games I've read. Rather than using points to build your force, you go by the experience level of the models. Sure, it's actually called Khrabrost' but it's just a way to get a balanced force. You get 12 Khrabrost' to spend on your group, however your leader has to a Veteran that costs 3k Khrabrost', you really only get 9k. And each level of experience (Rookie, Hardened, Veteran) costs 1k and is also the total number of actions the model gets, as well as how much equipment it can carry. If you want to make a horde, just roll with a bunch of Rookies and have at. If you want an elite force, roll with Veterans.

Another thing you want to figure out is what Faction your crew is a part of. There's the military, scientists, traders, and independent operators. There's also bandits and cultists that seem to worship the Zone. Each faction relates to the others differently. What that means is that you could end up in a mission where the other player's crew is an ally, meaning that you have to make a roll to fight them. The good thing is you'll split the rewards if you don't attack each other. Even if you're not best buds, you might not want to attack the other crew.

The models have a few stats, beyond their number of actions. They also have Combat Ability (which seems to be what is rolled when in a fight), movement (which should be obvious), and Will (which is rolled to get back into the fight and survive stuff). Weapons have Range, Firepower, and Damage. There's a lot of weapons. Not just melee weapons and guns, but RPGs, grenade launchers, crew serviced weapons like mortars and heavy machine guns, and thrown grenades, as well as so much more. I'm really happy to see all of this, especially with the WYSIWIG rule in effect. It also means that I'm probably going to be using my old Imperial Guard to build my crew. Or maybe Inquisitors or even some metal Sisters of Battle.

Models, with enough experience, get skills. There's not a lot of them but they do give each model its focus.

When it comes to playing the game, the rules are very much like most other skirmish games that I've played. Each model gets a set amount of actions based on their experience as I mentioned, so you have to be very careful when building that group. If you're going to go with a horde, you won't be able to shoot as much, even if you have a bunch of them. Because it's alternating activation, you might get screwed because you can never see the other crew, as they're able to stay in cover.

Models get to equipment based on their experience, so you have to keep that in mind, too. If you want to have a model that heals others, you probably want to have a more experienced model in that roll. Not only because of the number of actions they can take, as well as having skills that can help, but the ability to carry enough kits to do what needs to be done.

Speaking of healing, this is where things can get weird. When your model gets hit by a ranged attack, it can either miss, hit the armor, or actually do some damage. When an attack hits, but doesn't do damage, the model becomes pinned. Which you have to slowly remove with actions. Most models can take only one damage, but do remain on the table so they can be healed. They just lay there until someone kills them outright or the game ends.

Remember how I mentioned how much this reminds me of Warhammer 40k? Well, that's because it uses the old blast markers and flamer template. Thankfully, I have several left over from when I played. However, it doesn't use the old scatter die, instead you use the direction the “top” of the d10 is pointing when using blast markers.

In addition to all the rules to make your crew, there's rules for a campaign and leveling up your crew. You get points, and cash, from completing missions and getting salvage (oh, we're going to have a talk about the missions). You can use the cash to buy the stuff you need, including more models, or you can save it. Saving it is the name of the name, you see. During a campaign, your goal is to hit 10,000 in Zone Script (ZS) and retire. Of course, that might be easier said than done. When you select a faction, they give you discounts for buying gear or guys, but at the cost of 10% of the take during a mission. What happens if you don't bring home the bacon? They take 10% of your savings instead, so if you're almost to retirement, you will lose a lot of cash. There are some suggested ways of changing the end game but you'd have to discuss them with the other player(s) first.

So... Missions. Runs. What you do to actually play the game... Yeah. This is where things start to fall apart. There's no real rules for deployment. I saw some in the little campaign they have at the end of the book but no hard and fast rules, at least that I could see. They also say that the game can be played on a 3'x3' board, but with the weapon ranges they list, you're going to get smashed on the first turn if you didn't deploy in the right way. Not that you would know how to do that... If you really what to play the game, be ready to play on a 4'x4' board absolutely covered in terrain.

In each game, there's a “threat level” so to speak. The deeper you go into the Zone, the more Hot Spots you encounter. Roughly two per level with three levels. But there's no real rules on where to place these Hot Spots on the board. Plus, each Hot Spot and objective has a threat inside them. There's vermin swarms, zombies, ghouls, bandits, and mutants, with rules, but no real description of what they are or how big they should be. I don't know what the difference is between zombies and ghouls, as our modern version of zombies are more ghouls than traditional zombies. And these threats will move no more than 12” away from the Hot Spot and objective, so placement should be important. Also, Hot Spots are where you get Artifacts, which are very powerful, and therefore, very important. Since the game has a turn limit, you'll have to rush to these things, beat the monsters (and possibly opponent), and then make a roll to collect the Artifact. And then you'll have to roll to see what it does.

As for objectives, and mission types, there's a little table for What/Where/Why, which is cool but again, no rules for how that effects the mission. I'm not sure exactly what happened here but it just... Bothers me. Happily, there's only one objective per game so when you combine up the tables, you'll get a lot of different games out of it. Once you figure out what they all mean.

 

Is it worth it?:

I hate to say it, but... No, it's not worth $20. It's not a complete game. It's only ¾ of a game, which is a real shame. There's so much flavor text and atmosphere in the book, but it seems to be at the cost of basic rules you need to play it. I'm not sure if Osprey has an editor for these games but it looks like they need one. When I was reading over the game again for this review, I got the sense that the creator just ran out of room for the last few things the game needed and just assumed that players would figure it out. I think that might be because the creator is of the “old school” way of thinking where it's “your game, do what works for you.” There's nothing wrong with that, it just work for a lot of people.

However, I only paid about $12 for my physical and digital copies each, and if you're willing to do the work, it's not that bad at that price. I love the concept of the game and I think it has really good mechanics and setting, but I have to caution you if you're expecting a complete product.

My final note is that the book has a ton of fantastic art and great favor text that really gets you into the world of Zona Alfa. If they gave this book the “Hardback Treatment”, (like Gaslands) with rule fixes and expanded mission stuff, I'd buy it in a heartbeat, even at $30+.