First Journey To The Iron Kingdoms

My character,Dougal McDougan, trollkin fell caller-sorcerer

Last night, some of my gaming friends back home and I gave the Iron Kingdoms RPG at test drive. The IKRPG is based on the Warmachine and Hordes miniatures games by Privateer Press. It's a magical medieval world with magic steam punk elements (including battle mechs).

If you're interested in  the game you can find quickstart rules, pre-gens, and the adventure we played, Full's Rush In, here. Because Wirty has the Iron Kingdoms and I have Iron Kingdoms Unleashed we made our own characters.

If you've ever played Hordes or Warmachine the system is quite easy. Everyone else had an their learn curve was really easy. I haven't played the game so it took me a bit too catch on, but it still wasn't too rough. You can tell the system was based on a miniatures game, because combat is a very tactical affair (and the game uses inches as measurement).

The session was fun and I'll be interested in playing the game again sometime.

Gencon Haul and Kickstarter Goodness

Well I didn't go to Gencon this year, but that doesn't mean I didn't get stuff from Gencon. My best friend Wirty and his lovely wife went and picked up a few things for me. I asked them to grab the two digest sized adventures for Dungeon Classics. One is for Peril on the Purple Planet and the other for The Chained Coffin (which are two kickass boxed sets for DCC). While buying them he was given a DCC swag bag. The bag itself is cool, but the contents are even better. There were pins, post cards, an issue of the Goodman Games Gazzette (which featured a new monster and item that were statted for DCC and 5E). In addition there was a signature scavenger hunt insert that I might actually flesh out and turn into a full adventure. Finally there was a large pad of DCC characters sheets. 

You probably also notice a miniature in the pile of stuff. That is a convention exclusive Blindwater Brew Witch Doctor for Hordes. For game purposes she's a gatorman witch doctor, but sculptwise she's a sexy brew lady. 

Overall, not a bad haul at all. In addition to getting some Gencon swag my Maximum Mayhem Dungeons Kickstarter material came in. I didn't back the original (because I didn't really back Kickstarters to the extent that I do now). However +Timothy Brannan made a few posts about it and really got me interested. When I saw that +Mark Taormino was doing a second adventure I jumped on the opportunity to back it. Lucky for me I was able to pick up the first book when I backed the second. Mark's adventures are gonzo OSR affairs that are a lot of fun. I'll post more about them later on. Oh yeah, I got a few prints along with the books. 

"Yep, that's going to kill the party."

I might just be a tad excited.

I'm Iron Kingdoms Bound

I didn't need another miniatures or rpg to get into, but it looks like I'm going to dive headfirst into one anyway. My friends have talked it over and we're going to start playing Warmachine/Hordes. The game seems like a lot of fun and the cats at Privateer Press are really nice folks. The setting is a nice mix of fantasy and steampunk. Both games are fully compatible, they each just have a different spin. The factions in Warmachines are nations with magically controlled mechs (called warjacks). In Hordes you play one of the wild factions and use your warlocks to control warbeasts. The games also have fully compatible tabletop rpg's, Iron Kingdoms: Full Metal Fantasy and Iron Kingdoms: Unleashed. I'm not kidding when I say the rpg and minis are fully compatible. The minis and npc stat blocks look identical.

As far as Warmachines is concerned, I really like Khador. Their story is awesome and I dig Russian-esque nations. Plus they essentially have Baba Yaga as a warcaster. On the Hordes side of things I'm partial to the noble Trollsblood and the Blindwater Congregation, a pact (lesser faction), of voodoo alligator men.

Here's a little taste of the artwork for the games (which is phenomenal).

Trollbloods, powerful , honorable, displaced warriors

A lurk and a gatorman, two of the monstrous races you can play as in Unleashed.

Definitely not Baba Yaga and her hut...

War forces of Cygnar, the crown jewel the Iron Kingdoms