Thursday, March 5, 2020

While We'Re Waiting

Today was a snow day so I was sure I'd manage to write up a battle report of Tuesday's game and a good copy of the revised original Square Brigadier rules.........

Opening phases of Tuesday's game: On the first turn, the DG Bodyguard took advantage of a chance card giving a double move to gallop through town and seize a bridgehead over the river thus giving the new dismounted troopers a chance to show their stuff. They held out for turn after turn against artillery and three times their numbers but help never came.

I didn't write a game report though. Instead, I replayed the game using the updated rules as adopted after the first, rather enjoyable game which was played with various mid-game rule adjustments ( eg: drop a die vs cover or -1 from each die or just say 1/2 casualties, range 2 for rifles or 3, that sort of thing). Once that was successfully done, I then spent an unconscionable amount of time trying to use my mental powers to clear the driveway while sipping coffee and listening to youtube videos etc.

During the test game the Rebels pressed their attack against the Dominion position, their General having forgotten that he had already won unless Red counterattacked, throwing Blue back across the river and seizing one bridge themselves. It was a rather rash attack which resulted in heavy losses but it may have also fallen foul of some of the mid-game rule tweaks, as well as a sudden change in Red's luck.

Looking back over last year's 54mm games, almost all of their share of my time was spent putting to the test several alternative approaches to those Toy Soldier games. I had been quite happen with the games played in 2018 with the Square Brigadier but the games were neither very Toy Soldierish nor did they have an Old School air of detail with unit formations, relative scale and so forth and I thought that maybe my Toy Soldier games should have one or both of those things. There was also was a question of which exact niche the Toy Soldiers were supposed to be filling in the 19thC part of collection 19thC, other than being taller than my 40mm's. Were they to let me "play with toy soldiers", "play abstract wargames", "refight Historical battles and skirmishes", "play Imagi-Nation Battles", or something else?

So, last year I tried the various other approaches and found merit and fault with each but found that the merit of both faded with use while the faults grew. In short, knocking over soldiers and hiding guys behind rocks is fun sometimes when in the right mood but distracts from the real point of game while I now find that too much detail and fiddliness tends to get tedious to play while usually failing to get things "right" anyway despite every increasing complications.

The Rebels fell back and took up defensive positions and for a while it looked like the game was over until Red suddenly remembered that he needed to counterattack or lose!

Oddly enough those are the same conclusions I've reached each time I've gone through this recently but I've never made such a thorough attempt to try the matter on the table. I'm afraid Prince Valiant is condemned to be my one "single figure" collection which will allow me to "play toy soldiers" if I get that urge while my 22mm ACW and War of 1812 armies will have the "refight historical battles" job as well as the usual generic scenarios set in their particular eras.

As the last card turned, Red launched a desperate attack at 1:1 odds and was rescued by the dice. The game was arguably a Pyrrhic win for Red since Blue's army morale broke as night fell but as they hadn't yet crossed the river, Blue could argue a draw by a strict reading of the scenario victory conditions.

Updating the full 4 page version of the Square Brigadier was also on the list for today but I decided to write this post instead!

Somewhere around turn 4 of 15 of today's game. The chaos in the background seems to be some sort of reaction by the universe to my presence.

Will there be a battle report of the 2nd battle in Thursday or Friday morning's Newport Noodle? You never know.

Wednesday, March 4, 2020

Hiring: Project-based 3D Artist

Title: 3D artist
Focus: Polishing environments and props
Type: Full-time, project-based (approx. 1 year)
Last day to apply: 4th of November 2018

After 3 years of hard work, we are now close to finishing one of our new games. We want it to look amazing, and to accomplish that we need more (hu)manpower.

This is where you come in.

We are now looking for an experienced 3D artist, who will focus on environments and props for our upcoming horror game. Our ideal person loves horror, and is able to convey atmospheric environments and terrifying scenes through 3D art. The position is full-time and project-based, lasting for about a year until the new game is ready to be shipped.

What will you work on?

We are quite a small team, but we consider that our strength. As an environment artist you will get to work on every level of the game, ranging from small props to whole levels. This means your contribution will greatly influence how the final game looks, plays, and evokes emotions.

Here are some of the things you will be working on:

Creating basic models that make up the levels, such as walls and floors
Modelling props of various complexity, both with and without the help of concept art, and often having to take gameplay concerns into account
Constructing particle systems, both by drawing textures and using parameters in our editor
Combining various techniques to create special effects, such as flowing water or fire.

If you want to know more about Frictional work practices, you can check out the introduction post of Rasmus, who will be your closest teammate.

What are we looking for?

You have to be a EU/EEA resident to apply.

The person we're looking for is creative, driven and most importantly self-sufficient.

Since the position is project-based, we are looking for a person who can start as soon as possible, end of November the latest.

Here are some essential skills we require:

Excellent skills at adapting to a style and taking it to a finished state
Strong self-drive and ability to organise your own work
Interest in and ability to do research for interesting prop and environment solutions
Love for working on a variety of tasks
Fluency in English
Team communication skills
Knowledge of game design
A Windows PC that runs recent games (such as SOMA) that you can use for work (unless you live in Malmö and will work from the office)
A fast and stable internet connection.

And here are some more techie skills:

Excellent skills in 3D software. Modo preferred
Familiarity with Zbrush/Mudbox/similar
Excellent skills in Substance
Excellent skills in Photoshop or similar software
Familiarity with issue-tracking software
Experience in classic/non-PBR workflow.

If you want to impress us:

Love for horror and narrative games
A major role in completing at least one game
Great free-drawing skills
Experience in level design
Strong game design skills
Experience kitbashing/working with modular sets.

For this position you can work from home. We have a central hub in Malmö, Sweden, which you can use if you wish.

What we offer:

Flexible working hours, a no-crunch approach
Opportunities to influence your work flow
Variety in your work tasks, and ability to influence your work load
Participation in Show & Tell of games, having a say in all aspects of the game making
An inclusive work environment
A possibility to become a permanent employee.

How to apply?

If all of the above piqued your interest, we would love to hear from you! Send us your application 4th of November the latest - but the sooner, the better.

Please attach all the following:

Cover letter (why you should work with us, what do you bring to the table)
CV
Portfolio (link or PDF)
Examples of works that have inspired you or blown you away.

Please notice that you need to send all of the applications to be considered.

Send your application to apply@frictionalgames.com!

Privacy Policy

By sending us your application, you give us permission to store your personal information and attachments.

We store all applications in a secure system. The applications are stored for two years, after which they are deleted. If you want your your information removed earlier, please contact us through our Contact form. Read more in our Privacy Policy.

July Scrum Rnd2 - Madrak2 Vs. Baldur1

Last night I got my round two of the July Scrum league in vs. Jordan and he was kind enough to allow me to pause the clock between rounds to take a picture to write a detailed report. I am extremely excited to be writing this match up because it was one of the best kinds of game: it swung wildly back and forth, with the game ending on Turn 7 with me at 40 seconds and Jordan at 30 seconds. I'm very grateful to Jordan for the match and look forward to other matches in the future.

Jordan's Lists

Baldur1 Bones of Orboros
-Megalith
-Wold Guardian
-Woldwarden
-Woldwatcher
-Woldwyrd
-Woldwyrd

Stoneshaper
Stoneshaper
Stoneshaper
Blackclad Wayfarer
Sentry Stone & Mannikin
Shifting Stones
Celestial Fulcrum

Kaya2 - No Theme
-Laris
-Feral
-Gnarlhorn
-Warpwolf Stalker
-Argus
-Druid Wilder
Feralgeist
Lord fo the Feast
Reeves of Orboros (min)
Shifting Stones + Stone Keeper
Tharn Ravagers (min) + Chieftain

Matchup Analysis

So it's a Bones list and Kaya2 out of theme, my initial thoughts are "look at the stones on this guy!". Trolls have always been a bit of a bad matchup for Circle in the game and it seems immediately obvious my drop is going to be Madrak2 and Jordan will be forced into Baldur1. Simply put both of my lists can run over Kaya's list without breaking a sweat, particularly Grim2. Conversely out of the two I'm probably better off with Madrak into Baldur. This is exactly what happened, Jordan didn't even bring his Kaya list with him when he arrived to play our game.

For reference my Madrak2 list is:

Trollblood - Madrak2 Toughallo

Theme: Band of Heroes
3 / 3 Free Cards     74 / 75 Army

Madrak Ironhide, World Ender - WB: +28
-    Trollkin Runebearer - PC: 0
-    Dire Troll Mauler - PC: 15 (Battlegroup Points Used: 15)
-    Dire Troll Bomber - PC: 19 (Battlegroup Points Used: 13)

Fell Caller Hero - PC: 0
Fell Caller Hero - PC: 0
Eilish Garrity, the Occultist - PC: 5

Krielstone Bearer & Stone Scribes - Leader & 5 Grunts: 9
-    Stone Scribe Elder - PC: 3
Trollkin Long Riders - Leader & 4 Grunts: 20
Trollkin Long Riders - Leader & 4 Grunts: 20
Kriel Warriors - Leader & 9 Grunts: 11

Our Scenario was The Pit 2.

Deployment

I wont the roll off to go first and Jordan picked his table side. Since we both had an extra 2" of deployment we were starting off really close to each other.

My Turn 1

I respected the output of the Woldwyrds to murder Longriders with Blood Fury on them, so I simply dump all my Fury onto the stone and run forward, keeping everything except one Long Rider under the aura and sing for no continuous effects.

Jordan Turn 1

Since I had zero chill, Jordan was forced to feat turn 1. This sees him kill a Longrider from my left flank with a Woldwyrd, Fulcrum, and Woldwatcher finally finishing it off and creating a forest out of its corpse. On the right flank Jordan takes some Geomancy shots at my Longriders doing minimal damage, but he makes a mistake by running the Manikins to jam before taking his shots with the Woldwyrd. He misses my Longrider and kills his Manikin furthest to my right.

Of note - I forgot to deploy Eilish and Jordan was kind enough to allow me to put him at the back of my lines, so I had him hide in a trench.

My Turn 2

After some careful measurements, I am able to get one Longrider over the wall and into the Woldwyrd on my right flank and one Longrider can engage it over the wall - all without entering Baldur's control area. Madrak puts Bloodfury on the right most Longriders and then fills the stone, sitting on 1 after a Harmonious Exaltation. I was careful to stay more than 2" from the forest, respecting Baldur's assassination.

The Fellcaller gets puppet master from Eilish and then activates (after the stone!) and sprays off one of the Manikins to clear my charge lane, and then sings Pathfinder on the Longriders (they were out of Baldurs feat). Luckily I do no damage to my Longrider.

I'm able to kill the right Woldwyrd with the Long Riders and while I am able to get a single rider to the Sentry stone, it leaves it on one box.

On the left flank I call pathfinder to allow the Longriders to shift left and I'm able to just toe my Bomber into Baldur's forest to see through to the other side to kill a Shifting stone. Jordan shield guards the first shot, but the second shot is able to kill a stone and take teleportation off the table.

Jordan's Turn 2

Jordan decided that murdering Trolls was his fucking job and it was time to go to work. The left Woldwyrd shifts right and shoots two Longriders off the table thanks to them having an upkeep on them. The Blackclad gets hunters mark on the unit and then Megalith and a Woldwarden decide to kill the other riders, with more than enough fury to Earth Spikes and knock down the right Fell Caller, then kill my Runbearer, with his crit knocking down Madrak, my left Fell Caller, and a Kriel Warrior.

Jordan uses his still alive Sentry Stone to make a Manikin who then sprays down part of my Krielstone. He then runs and Jams up my stuff with shifting stones and the Woldguardian has the +2STR/ARM spell on it (which I forget about).

To top it off he's also able to kill two more Longriders from my left flank with his Fulcrum and the Watcher, scoring 1 point.

Overall, I'm astonished I'm still able to sit comfortably as I write this after the ass beating Jordan laid down here. Suffice it to say I didn't at all expect to lose nearly that much. On the plus side, Jordan was not able to kill my objective and score more than 1 VP.

My Turn 3

My initial plan was to have the Longriders and Fell Caller kill the Woldwarden, the Mauler kills Megalith, and then the Bomber kills the Woldguardian. Simple, right? Turns out this was less simple and more of a "I'll try to do too much and as a result accomplish nothing for $500, Alex."

Since my Runebearer was dead, I should have noticed my plan was utterly doomed to failure since I couldn't upkeep Blood Fury and so would need to cast it and then two Rage's to properly achieve my goals. I similarly couldn't actually charge the Woldguardian and so would need Madrak's feat to et into him, burning 1 attack off the Bomber. I also forgot the Guardian had the +2 ARM spell.

Madrak stupidly goes first, sacrificed movement to stand, feats, then throws his axe to kill the Manikin in the Longriders way. I put Bloodfury on the riders, and then Rage on the Bomber.

My left Fell Caller sacrificed action to stand and then walks 5" and calls to stand up the other Fell Caller. Eilish gives that Fell Caller puppet master (another mistake, it should have gone on the Mauler). The Stone activates for +1 STR, and then the right Fell Caller charges into the Warden, doing decent damage and not even needing the Puppet Master.

The Longriders charge and impact attack and I kill it between two impact attacks and one charge attack, they Reposition out of the Maulers way.

The Mauler is dice off 2 from Megalith since he didn't have Rage and I decide the extra attacks are better. I charge in, missing my second initial and losing the chain attack. I proceed to roll a bunch of 5's for damage and leave all of Megaliths systems up. The Bomber similarly fails to do too much to the Woldguardian, though he kills two Stones for my trouble due to Feat.

On the bright side my Kriel Warriors with near zero buffs on them decide to charge in and utterly annihilate the Woldwatcher.

If I wasn't hell bent on making mistakes I would have Jammed up the Woldguardian with 2-3 Kriel Warriors and used the Bomber to possibly kill the objective and if I had enough Kriel Warriors left maybe I score a point by killing the Woldwatcher anyway. Rage and Puppet Master goes on the Mauler who would then murder Megalith and then I'm way ahead on the piece trade and at least tying scenario.

Jordan Turn 3

If you remember Turn 2, you'll know that Fucking Murdering Trolls is Jordan's job description. Megalith gets +2 STR from a Stonekeeper and walks to be able to kill the Mauler and hopefully kill the Objective. Luckily for me he has to focus everything on killing the Mauler and isn't able to kill the Objective. I pulled the 5 Fury off the Mauler when it dies.

The Sentry Stone spawns a new Manikin who then kills my right Fell Caller. The Woldguardian gets an additional +2 STR from another Stonekeeper and trivially murders my Bomber.

The Woldwyrd starts gunning down Longriders, but isn't able to kill them all. In fact he's only able to force a Tough on one rider, who gets charged and killed by a Blackclad who then Battle Wizards to kill some more of my Kriel Stone.

The only area where Jordan didn't completely meet his Troll Murder Quota was with the Fulcrum who only killed a few Kriel Warriors. The other bit of good news is that no one scores anything on Scenario this turn, so I'm only down 0-1.

My Turn 4

This turn I finally decided that Sticks and Stones have broken enough of my bones and the best way to make them never hurt me again is to annihilate them.

Madrak upkeeps Bloodfury on the single Longrider. The Fell Caller activates and puts +2 MAT on the Krielstone unit. The Stone spends a fury for +1 STR and then declares a Charge/Run to kill the goddamn Blackclad who sprayed them down.

The Longrider has similarly had enough of the shit out of the Woldwyrd and Sentry Stone. I charge the Woldwyrd and am able to get impact attacks on both the Woldwyrd and the Sentry Stone. The Sentry Stone dies and I miss the Woldwyrd with my impact. I roll like goddamn FIRE on the charge attack and leave it on like two boxes. Madrak activates, casts Blood Fury on the Kriel Warriors.

The Kriel Warriors decide to continue to be bosses, two charge the Stonkeeper and CMA to get a hit and kill him. The others charge into the Woldguardian, and then rip it to shreds. I'm able to redirect a charge attack into the Woldwyrd, I hit, and then take the last points off. As such I score the center zone. Score is now tied, 1-1.

Jordan's Turn 4

Here is where things start going bad for Jordan. He's only able to kill a few of the Kriel Warriors, notably failing to clear the left zone and score due to dice keeping one contesting Warrior alive.

He is able to kill my objective and clear the right zone, scoring two VP's here. He also sacrifices a Stonekeeper to prevent me from scoring the center. Score is now 3-1 for Jordan.

My Turn 5

Madrak gets his two free Fury from the dead beasts and upkeeps Blood Fury on the Kriel Warriors. The Stone activates and sings for +1 STR and I move the one model to contest the left zone. He misses the Stone Shaper.

Eilish gives Madrak Puppet Master. Madrak activates, aims, and boosts to hit the Shaper, killing him and clearing the center zone. The Kriel Warriors charge into the Fulcrum and carve off damage. The Fell Caller charges in, and fails to kill. The Long Rider has to charge in and is finally able to kill the Fulcrum. I made a mistake in forgetting to reposition the Long Rider and turn him to face Jordan's models coming into the center zone.

Clock is getting low. Score is now 3-2, sill in favor of Jordan.

Jordan Turn 5

I forgot to take a picture here, though what occurred should be apparent in the next picture.

Megalith moves up and kills the contesting Stone model in melee, then Geomancies and kills my Stone Scribe Elder and the last grunt in the Stone unit, leaving only the Bearer itself. Jordan puts a forest up to block LOS to Megalith who is now contesting the center zone. Jordan scores my left zone and the score is now 4-2 in favor of Jordan.

My Turn 6

Madrak gets his two fury and upkeeps Blood Fury on the Kriel Warriors. The Warriors and Fell Caller charge the objective and kill it, with the two Kriel Warriors who couldn't get in taking position to contest the center zone. Madrak and the Stone run to the right zone and I make a critical error, I leave Madrak within 2" of the forest, forgetting about Baldur's threat.

I position the Fell Caller just outside of Megalith's 9" threat.

Eilish decides to sacrifice himself for the cause and contests the left zone.

I score two points, tying the game 4-4.

Jordan's Turn 6

Jordan decides to go for the assassination I dutifully gave him. Megalith moves up and then misses Madrak with his Geomancy. Baldur doesn't upkeep the forest, casts it on himself, then teleports to within 2" of Madrak. He's got 4 Fury.

He boosts to hit Madrak (3 Fury left) and hits, but I sacrifice it to the Stone, who suffers the Weight of Stone effect, and then decides to pass his Tough check. Baldur buy's the attack on the stone and kills it (2 Fury left). He buys on Madrak again (1 Fury left), misses, and then he decides to camp his last Fury.

I score on Jordan's turn, bringing the game 5-4 in favor of me.

My Turn 7

Given that I'm under two minutes on clock, I decided to avoid the assassination and just play it safe. Fell Caller gives +2 MAT to the Kriel Warriors who charge into Baldur, one hits doing 8 damage. More importantly they get within 3" of Madrak who runs away from Baldur, taking the free strike and then killing the Kriel Warrior because Grim Salvation lets you sacrifice even free strikes. I run to the other corner of the zone thinking there's no way Baldur can get to me and that's game.

What I should have realized was that he could teleport to me again and that to cement the game I could just surround Madrak with Kriel Warriors to really make sure I can't die, but I just try to put them in the way.

Still, I score yet another VP for the left zone and bring the score to 6-4, thinking I've won the game. I clock back to Jordan with only 40 seconds left on my clock. I didn't even activate the Longrider.

Jordan's Turn 7

Jordan decides to pull yet another Surprise Motherfucker! He teleports Baldur to Madrak and I think I've lost the game. Baldur is down to 4 Fury for this assassination run.

He boosts to hit Madrak and hits (3 Fury left). He rolls a 5 for damage, Madrak takes 2. Jordan proceeds to buy his next three attacks and after everything is said and done his damage rolls are so poor that Madrak is left with 10 health when Baldur is out of fury and only 30 seconds left on his clock. Jordan does run to contest, leaving the score 6-4 and I win by scenario at the end of turn 7.

Conclusions

This game was insane! I managed to survive two assassination runs, and while that's normally not very surprising with Madrak2, in these situations it is very surprising. Dice saved my ass when I made two mistakes that gave Jordan two assassination runs I didn't have to give him. I also was able to recover from a critical set of mistakes on Turn 3 on my part and the late game idea of weapon master Kriel Warriors really came through.

Clock was extremely tight and was definitely forcing us to move very quickly so that's definitely a factor towards the end of the game where possibly better decisions could have been made. Still, I won this game through a series of critical dice rolls: Jordan failing to kill a contesting Kriel Warrior on Turn 4 was massive, and then my passing the tough check on my Stonebearer on his Turn 6 assassination run ate through enough of his fury to keep me alive.

Overall it was an incredible game, the kind that really makes you appreciate Warmachine. I look forward to playing Jordan again.

My conclusions going forward is to take notice of exactly how fucking good higher model count lists are in scenario. I remember that from the last Scrum in 2017 and it seems just as true today. Looking forward and knowing that I want to play Convergence, primarily in Destruction Initiative, I'm going to start having the kinds of large attrition swings in my games if I can't mitigate my opponents. The model count and unit buff on the late game Kriel Warriors really saved me here. I'm going to need to keep that in mind as I move forward.

Monday, February 24, 2020

Eminent Domain Origins - Starting Resource Testing

I got another 2 playtest games in today...

Game 1: simulated 5p game (Dave and I played 2 seats each)

I wanted to test the 4-5p starting resources, but there were only three of us. Dave has played a handful of games (last year), while Hoss hadn't played at all. I wanted feedback from fresh eyes on the game in general from Hoss (mostly about fiddliness and grokability), but had Dave and myself each play 2 seats so we could see the 4-5p starting cards in action. Dave had the Afterburner to see if he could abuse it. I had the Upgraded Cargo Hold to see if it felt way too good.

Playing multiple seats is never ideal, but it wasn't too bad. The worst part was probably when the blue player scanned, and then the purple player (both played by me) was able to act on that info :/

In the end, the 5th player (Upgraded Cargo Hold) won, but I don't think it was really due to the starting resources. In fact, I felt like I kind of squandered my start, but that seat just played a good game otherwise.

Dave tried to get the Afterburner online as quickly as possible in seat 4. He ended up in 2nd place by only 6 points. Only two points back was Dave's other seat (P1), who started with $20 and tried avoiding buying a thruster (he got a Hyperdrive).

My other seat (P2-shield +3energy) and Hoss (P3-Cargo Hold) tied at about 10 points back, both seats playing loie n00bs :)

Game 2: 4p, but with starting resources of players 2-5

Russell showed up right at the end of that first game,so next we played with 4, but to test more if the 4-5p cards, we just skipped the 1p ones. Hoss and I started with 2-3p cards cryo Chamber and Weapon+Crystal, respectivly). Dave starter with the Upgraded Cargo Hold and Russell started with Additional Module Slots+$20.

Hoss, still a newbie, didn't do great. He was doing better until a pretty devastating mistake - he left the Outpost to Colonize but forgot a colony marker! I worry a little bit that this may be a common error, but other than warm about it in the rules, I don't think there's anything I can really do about it witjwit making significant changes to the system :/ I did about as badly as Hoss, just taking way too long to actually put my plans into action.

But more importantly, how did the 4th and 5th players do with their starting resources? We'll, Russell had a pretty strong showing, getting 2nd place without ever using the Additional Module Slots. Though all three of us were close packed in score.

Dave however finished 25 points ahead... Which is like 2-3 big plays in this game. How much of this was due to the Upgraded Cargo Hold? We'll, probably at least 10 of it was from capitalizing on Hoss' mistakes, but he was also able to do a lot with the ability to hold both 2 colony markers and so many resources.

In the end, the Upgraded Cargo Hold is probably overpowered, and the Additional Module Slots is probably underpowered. That technologhy just isn't a "starting resource," and as such is not a useful thing to get at the beginning of the game. I'm going to try "$10+1 Energy+loaded colony marker" and "2 brown + 1 energy" instead of those two starting cards.

Also, originally each player started with 3 VP, in case you ran into an asteroid in the early game and didn't have shields. I've been trying the game without that, but I realized today that starting with 1 energy is irrelevant if you have nothing to lose by crashing into asteroids. So I think I'll add VP to all of the cards so that starting with 1 energy is relevant again. I think most of the cards will get 3vp, but I can tune up or down for cards that feel a little strong or weak.

A few other little details...

With the inclusion of the starting resource cards, I have deleted the stage 1 rewards, because they served the same purpose. This shortens the game a little bit, but I did add 3 tiles to stage 3, so it should not be too different than the old version. However, one of the stage 3 rewards is a free Thruster module, which is great (better the earlier you get it), but comes out fairly late, so there isn't much time to use it. But without the stage 1 rewards, that one can come out all the earlier, which may be too strong. I might move that one to stage 4 instead.

As for the Wormhole physics I talked about last time, I worry that "any OTHER wormhole" will be one of those easily forgotten rules. I guess the game doesn't break if players go in and out of the same wormhole, I've been playing that way. But should I have an easier to remember rule?

Sunday, February 23, 2020

Italian Wars Project : "Light Cavalry"

Having run out of fancy Dan Gendarme in all their feathers and livery it's time to go "smart but casual" with these chaps, 6 figures from the 28mm Perry Miniatures plastic Light Cavalry box set.

I think this box set is turning into one of the most versatile avaliable, not only have I used it for these lance armed troops but you get the sword armed chap for an officer and there is a musician arm in there as well. The box is also my "go to" for Standard Bearers and that's before you add in the Crossbow (next unit) and Bow options. I don't know how they got so much on each sprue.

I'm sure you will all know the score on the painting by now, oil wipe method horses (this is the last six of the batch of 80 plus horses I painted back in December), riders done in acrylic paint (mostly Vallejo) with the odd subtle wash and a Pete's Flag stuck on a pole and hoisted above said unit for effect.

This will be half of a 12 man unit however I plan for these to be multi-functional in my army. They can be used as a Light Cavalry unit on its own or they can be split up and mixed with the Gendarme to increase their unit size, maybe 6 Gendarme in the front rank with 6 of these behind? It's a work in progress.

The traditional 3 man "Lance" consisted of the main man (the Gendarme), the lesser armed Squire (these guys) and a non-combatant or general dogsbody back at camp to polish the armour and make the tea.

The big drive on the Italian Wars Project has come as a result of the Annual Analogue Hobbies Winter Paint Challenge which is nearing it's end (20th March) so I will do a Troops on Parade feature on the Army at that stage. Next up will be some Mounted Crossbow from the same box set along with another 6 lance armed figures to up this unit to 12.

Thursday, February 20, 2020

Animal Crossing: New Horizons Introduces Town Terraforming - Eurogamer

Animal Crossing: New Horizons introduces town terraforming

Sekiro: Initial Impressions (Monday Musings 78)

Thanks to GameFly free month trial, I was able to try out Sekiro for free. I'm using the service
Sekiro hero, Wolf
to sample games that I want to buy down the road. Games that may take me months to finish such as the typically long JRPGs, thus I only played Sekiro for about 20 hours or so, then mailed it, in exchange for the next game.

A major first tip that I'd recommend is to change the controls for the D-pad up = switch between your prosthetic tools, and Y/Triangle button = use items. It's a bit clunky to press D-pad up when you want to heal as opposed to a face button.

Spoilers Ahead!

I don't think I'd be so enamoured of Sekiro if it didn't have the incredible melee combat mechanics. It's very addictive to deflect (parry) which breaks the enemy's posture, and once posture bar is completely filled (i.e. you broke enemy posture), then deathblow. Another major way to kill off enemies (if you refuse to deflect), is to deplete health bar through R1/RB attack, and when it goes to zero, you press RB/R1 for death blow. Stealth is another way.

But often, it's much faster to use the deflect mechanic, which breaks posture, and once posture is broken, you instantly kill the enemy with R1/RB attack. And, the developer, From Software insist that you use deflect.

Because of this insistence, or rather fetish, I wonder if I would get tired of deflecting, and then bored of the game eventually. On the other hand, 20 hours of practice is not enough time to be able to consistently deflect, so I'm hoping that even a hundred hours later, you still need to hone your deflect skills, so that combat doesn't get stale.

It's upsetting that you are forced to play the way From Software wants you to play, as opposed to fighting the enemies the way you want to. I thought From's other game Bloodborne was very limiting, as you have to defeat enemies mainly through melee, but at least there were variety of weapons with different feels, and the weapon transform is a neat trick. Sekiro is even more limited than that. From my understanding, Sekiro's main character Wolf only has that short Katana, so your strikes will always feel the same.

Like Bloodborne, you really can't make a pure ranged build in Sekiro, and in fact, the only ranged option I noticed so far is the Shuriken prosthetic tool, of which you can only use a dozen times (though you can buy skills to increase the usage). The mantra (pun intended due to the Buddhist themes of this game) we will be repeating is deflect, deflect, deflect, but using the same boring looking weapon.

However, I was very stubborn and as a middle finger to From, I played the game the way I want to play. So, for the first few mini-bosses and the two main bosses (Lady Butterfly and the rather awful General on Horse boss), I got away with running away from them when they attack. After attack, I run back towards the enemy, whacking them once or twice. One particular whirling move (which appears to be resistant to deflect or special deflect skill called Mikiri) of Lady Butterfly, I found I couldn't run away, because I often get clipped, but found you can jump safely away from that attack.

For Lady Butterfly's phase 2, I used the prosthetic wooden axe, with the additional prosthetic combo skill that I grinded for, to stun-lock her to death, in a surprisingly easy cheese method.

As for trash mobs, I run away from enemies (Wolf has unlimited stamina), picking up items and stumbling upon the next shrine (save point). But since you can easily be swarmed by trash mob, it's best to take them out via stealth. If you whiff on stealth, because quite often, when you successfully sneak up on the enemy and press L1/LB for the backstab, that attack doesn't register, and then you alarm all of his buddies.

Inconsistently, other times, the backstab reflects (even without that red icon that means death blow). The inconsistency of stealth is a bit of a let-down, especially as stealth kills are a good way to thin out the ranks.

Once stealth whiffs, however, you're sort of forced into using the deflect method because there are so many enemies that you have to take them out very fast, and the fastest way is through the deflect/counter-attack method that Sekiro fetishizes.

I'm absolutely certain that down the road, you really have to master deflect (as well as the other special deflect skill that you can grind for, Mikiri, that breaks posture even more), so I hope the game doesn't get stale the further you progress.

Again, I don't think the game would be as stale if only Wolf can use other weapons that may have slower but stronger attacks and the like! Of course From software can continue the deflect mechanic all they want, but at least give us variety in weapons. In fact, I got excited when you can buy a hint from an NPC for a short sword (of course my heart sank, since you want a longer ranged sword), but at least it's not that same Katana. Come to find out, this sword was a prosthetic tool to my chagrin.

I wonder if the stellar combat mechanics can override all the issues I have of the game? However, before I go into the rather problematic flaws of the game, I must say that out of all the From software games post-Demon's Souls, Sekiro has the most satisfying melee combat.

The first grating issue I have is that the un-inspired looking hero Wolf has just as much personality as a blank-slate character, so it didn't make sense to not have the hero customizable. Also I wished you can change outfits, as it got tiring, even after just 20 hours, of seeing the same bland costume. Perhaps Activision may roll out costumes as micro-transactions.

At any rate, if you're going to have a character that's not customizable, please make him or her distinct such as Nathan Drake of Uncharted or Joel and Ellie of The Last of Us! As From software appears to be allergic to good writing, and committed to no personality playable characters, their heroes should be customizable. If you want the character to talk, just hire male and female voice actors.

Again, it's not as if Japan has lack of brilliant writers, so why can't From software hire a good writer? There are so many starving writers in the world who would jump at the chance to make 200K for a game script.

I harp on this issue because indeed, the story and the other NPCs you meet are equally as bland to the point where I didn't feel anything when I found out that the castle was burned down in one of Wolf's memories. In fact, I was actually annoyed that I couldn't go through the fire to the next destination as a faster way of getting to the boss, very clearly not caring about the castle's destruction, but more concerned about traversal. Adding to my annoyance is that you had to go around to the right of your mentor, even though he said to go to his left.

So, we're stuck with the same dull looking character throughout the game, same damn armor and weapon, and at least in the beginning part of the game, we have uninteresting NPCs and un-inspired story. Fine, but the combat and traversal are amazing, and the graphics lovely with almost no aliasing, so I pushed through.

The world is gorgeous, and I find the level design rather good! After using stealth and learning how to deflect better, I was able to clear out some areas to explore. There were some spots that I missed because of the verticality of the game - the traversal is wonderful as you can use grappling hook to move seamlessly through the world - as there's an item that's often hidden just below, or above you.

There are also the typical From software doors that don't open on the accessible side, or needing key, and there were two doors that I couldn't find my way to the other side! Although I wanted to play the first part of the game blind, I just had to find out how to open these doors, so I Youtube'd it. These hidden doors showcase the great level design of the game, as one door (after the Ogre mini-boss), you have to go past that area, go through a cave, climb multiple ledges, and you still can miss an upper ledge that you can grapple hook your way up, and open this door.

Even so, the issue with having a great level design, but only useless consumable items to pick up (you can easily buy or grind for them), you're not inspired to really get to know the map and the world of the game. The only items that are useful (at least in the beginning part of the game) are the prosthetic tools - and they're very easily found because they tend to be before or after the shrine save points - or you can buy them. So that doesn't compel you to explore the world for them.

The other item that is a must is the gourd seed - analogous to the estus flask - that heals you. The more seeds you collect, the more heals you can use, and they replenish every time you rest at the shrines. But these seeds are also easily seen either before or after the shrine save points, again making exploration unnecessary.

Another one is the prayer bead which you get when you defeat mini-boss and I think main boss. You need 4 to make a prayer bracelet that increases vitality. I didn't realize that you can find a prayer bead in tucked off location, but even so, there are so many mini-bosses, that I didn't find it necessary to scour the world to find 1 or 2 prayer beads, unless for trophy.

This is in contrast with Souls games, where you want to explore every part of the world because you may find cool weapons and armor that are in hidden locations, but this is not quite the case with Sekiro. But at least Sekiro seems to have complex level design and fun traversal, though you may not have as much fun exploring after getting the five trillionth ash.

At least for the first part of the game, the music was really bad. The trash mob background music was so off-putting that I turned music off. This was a shock to me as all the Souls game had incredible music. I didn't listen to the boss music of Lady Butterfly or the General on the Horse boss because I forgot to turn the music back on.

The first boss I encountered was Lady Butterfly in the Memories, and I failed horribly against her, so I decided to continue the main campaign, getting more skills, prayer beads, and Gourd seeds. But if I hadn't encountered Lady Butterfly, I would be so disappointed because the first proper boss of the game was quite bad - I feel that the General on the Horse is probably my least favorite boss in all of From's software games I played.

However, Lady Butterfly was a fantastic boss, and was very happy to cheese her in her second phase, and fighting her the way I wanted to fight her. I'm predicting that future bosses are going to be wonderful, as is the From Software trademark.

I didn't mind the lack of variety of enemies, since again, the combat is so amazing. Further, the various human enemies all have distinct attack patterns, which is a big strength of this game, so you have to be able to know when to deflect or Mikiri for a particular human.

It appears that Sekiro is not intended to be the typical JRPG that we've seen in Souls series, but more along the lines of an action-adventure game, since it greatly scales down the usual stats of Vitality, Stamina, Dexterity, Strength and so forth, but rather you level up via Prayer Beads (as mentioned above, 4 of them grant you 1 extra vitality) and upon killing bosses, I believe my attack power increased by 1. Even so, you do buy skills, and prosthetic tools also can be leveled up.

Although I love the min/max and distributing points as in the traditional JRPG, as opposed to skill trees, I completely understand why a lot of people prefer pure combat and not having to worry about leveling up. In that sense, Sekiro's combat is spectacular, and gameplay is where the game truly shines, as it makes you perfect your timing and skills, so satisfying to break posture upon deflect/counter-attack.

Conclusion: Despite all my complaints, my initial impression is that I like Sekiro because of the thrill of combat, which is breathtaking at times. I also appreciate the level design (albeit wasted due to uninspired items you find), the traversal, and stealth mechanics (although often dodgy).

I'll have to play the entire game to see if I truly love the game, to see if combat can push Sekiro past all the issues I have. It's a game that I may not want to buy at full price, but certainly when it comes out with the bundled DLC edition, at cheaper price. If you played Sekiro, what are your thoughts of the game?

The How of Happiness Review

Quiet Gardens Of Celadon

After leaving behind the sleepy little hamlet of Lavender Town, Celadon City is quite the overwhelming spectacle. While Saffron City may have the tallest buildings in the land, Celadon is known throughout Kanto as a center of commerce. It boasts the largest population in Kanto, making it the most bustling city you'll find. The streets are packed with people coming and going about their daily lives. Aside from a world-renown shopping center, the city also boasts all forms of entertainment. Neon signs lit up the evening sky broadcasting all forms of attractions in Celadon City. As tempting as it was to check out some of the local nightlife, I was here on a mission.
My first morning in Celadon found me standing face to face with the Celadon City Gym. I had read in a brochure that only local females were allowed to join the gym as members which made it a bit intimidating for shy male trainers like myself. I took a deep breath and walked inside. It was humid and balmy, as it was partially a greenhouse. There were plants everywhere making it difficult to see much of anything. Blue had told me this should be my first stop in Celadon and to wait for further instructions. As I pushed my way through the dense plants, I stumbled into other trainers. I startled them as much as they startled me!
I decided that since I was here waiting for Blue, I'd challenge the gym. So I battled my way through the vines and grasses; I battled my way through the strikingly beautiful trainers that Gym Leader Erika had assembled at her gym to test challengers. As expected, Celadon's specialty was Grass-type Pokémon and most of the Grass-types in Kanto are also Poison-types which made them particularly susceptible to Dustin's psychic assaults, but I was saving Dustin for the finale. I didn't want to show my hand too quickly. It was Shakespear who helped clear the way through the gym trainers to face the leader. Shakespear pecked his way through the crowd of Oddish, Bellsprout and the occasional Ivysaur.

"Blue sent you, did he not?" Erika asked me when I found her lounging in the shade under a tree. I nodded and she smiled softly. "I can see why. I train with these girls every morning and your Spearow put all that training to shame." She sat up and wrapped her arms around her knees. She was dressed in a beautiful, ornate kimono. She looked a bit like a samurai princess. "Are you ready to face Team Rocket, I wonder."
She stood up and brushed the grass and dirt off her clearly expensive attire. She smiled her lazy smile at me again before throwing a Pokéball in my direction, unleashing a Victreebel. I didn't open with Shakespear this time. Instead, Dustin took the field and Erika looked surprised and also satisfied. Dustin tore through the Victreebell with a psychic confusion attack. Erika tossed out a Tangela, which were a rather rare species of Grass-type Pokémon. It was a pure Grass-type and wouldn't be utterly defeated by a psychic assault, but Dustin was well versed in the Fox-school of Pokémon battling. He hypnotized Tangela and lulled it to sleep, then began to rejuvenate himself with Dream Eater. He faced off against Erika's final Pokémon, a Vileplume, at full strength and won a decisive victory.
"I am impressed," she said as she stepped forward with her hand extended. In it was the Rainbow Badge her gym bestowed on worthy challengers. As I took it from her, our hands touched and I thought perhaps lingered a moment. Her skin was so soft. She blushed a little when I looked at her. "Would you take a moment to accompany me to the shopping plaza?" she asked. "We have some time before other things require our attention."
"I … uh … yes?" I was a bit flustered. Was she asking me out? "I have some things I need to pick up at the store, too," I finally managed to stammer and she laughed very softly. It was true I'd had a close call with Royal on the way over from Lavender as I scrambled to dig my last poison antidote out of my bag. I needed to resupply and reorganize before something terrible happened due to my absent-mindedness.
"Let me speak to the trainers here for a moment and I will meet you outside," she said with a smile. "We are waiting for a few more to show up, as well." I nodded and made my way back out of the steamy gym. As I stepped out into the cool spring air, I wondered if it was the greenhouse or the girl's hint of flirtation that had gotten me so hot and uncomfortable. Had Erika asked me on a date? It was distracting to say the least at a time when I should have been focused on what we were about to be up against. Perhaps it was just the kind of pleasant distraction I needed, though.

The Celadon Shopping Plaza was extraordinary. A shopping mall built six stories tall and specializing in all things Pokémon related. There were other shops and restaurants, of course, but it was truly a trainer's paradise. As I followed Erika through the crowds of busy shoppers, my eyes drawn equally to every flashing sign as they were to every brief smile on Erika's face. I restocked all the items I needed to keep my Pokémon healthy. She helped me find everything I needed at the the right shops for the right prices, smiling shyly and giving a few brief laughs here and there. She also took me to an old man selling rare stones, explaining one in particular would allow Arnold to evolve into a more powerful form if I so chose. It was something to consider and I was grateful for her expertise on both shopping and Grass-type Pokémon!

As we made our way from shop to shop, I noticed people were giving us a bit of a wide berth. All around us was an ocean of people, but for some reason Erika seemed to remain the eye of the storm. As if on cue, the calm was broken by a young interloper who came crashing out of the crowd and into our small private bubble.
"Who the hell are you and why are you so familiar with Gym Leader Erika?" he demanded. His outburst turned more than a few heads in the crowd, but people continued about their own business. This guy was younger than me, younger than Erika, but he stood his ground firmly.
"My name is Fox," I stammered.
"Don't pay him any attention, Fox. He's just jealous."
"Damn straight, I'm jealous!" the boy shouted. A few more heads turned, but when they saw Erika was involved they kept walking. "You don't just get to walk side-by-side with the Princess of Celadon City."
Erika blushed deeply, her porcelain skin turning bright red. "Don't call me that!" she snapped. She grabbed me by the wrist and dragged me forward. He nearly jumped out of the way to avoid her crashing into him. The crowd parted around us as she rushed us forward. It was so strange to observe. She was actually being treated like some kind of royalty, now that the kid mentioned it.
We finally stopped at a quiet spot in a less busy area of the plaza. Erika sat down beside a fountain in the shade of a nearby indoor tree planted by the fountain. "I'm sorry about that," she offered. "Every time I go out something like this happens, so I mostly stay at the gym, surrounded by my girl friends who aren't so damn aggravating."
"What was that all about?" I asked cautiously. I stood near her nervously for a moment before deciding I was being an idiot. Then I sat down next to her, but not too close.
"My father is … perhaps was … the most wealthy man in Kanto. He helped build this place," she said making a sweeping gesture to the grand shopping plaza. "He's pretty much the reason Celadon City is such a booming success. So that dumb kid wasn't wrong when he called me the Princess of Celadon, but I just hate that title." Her rather soft-spoken demeanor had all but evaporated now that we were fairly isolated and alone.
"Honestly I think Team Rocket runs things, now. Daddy won't admit it. He's very proud and stubborn. Still, I think Rocket has all but publicly taken over this town. They operate out of the most successful casino parlor and arcade, and up until recently they've been mostly hiding in the shadows. Something changed, though. No one knows what, but now Team Rocket is not just a shady organization operating discreetly behind the scenes. They are committing real crimes right out in the open - like at Mount Moon, Cerulean City and whatever's going on in Saffron City. It's as if they feel invulnerable. The police have done almost nothing in the last few months and that's why we need to stop them. Apparently, no one else will."
"I didn't know things had gotten so bad," I offered.
"It's understandable. You aren't from Kanto, but Kanto needs you. We all need you. We need all the help we can get to flush these criminals out of our streets before things get any worse."
After a moment's hesitation, I put my hand on hers. She was depending on me and suddenly that felt vastly more important than Professor Oak's research, my dreams of running a sanctuary, or some League challenge. "I'll do everything I can to help," I said it with confidence. On the inside I was terrified, but I tried not to let it show. I was terrified of facing Team Rocket. I was terrified of sitting next to a girl as pretty and apparently powerful as Erika. I tried to channel my inner Blue and his tremendous amount of self-confidence and hoped it was working.
Erika looked up at me and smiled a genuine, beautiful smile. I felt true calm and confidence sweep over me briefly. Then bells began ringing and sirens began blaring both inside and outside the plaza. Erika's smile vanished in a heartbeat and was replaced with stoic determination.
"Let's go," she said. "It's time."

Current Team:
Attacks in Blue are recently learned.

Bill's Storage: Kiwi (Pidgeotto) & Vesper (Zubat)

Old Man Daycare: Charlie (Pidgey)

Wednesday, February 19, 2020

Something A Little different....The First Of The Romans

One on-going project I have at the moment (and one which is going to go on for quite a long time!), is painting up a lot of Warlord Early Imperial Romans. Not for me, I might add, but fun nonetheless. Here are the first 2 cohorts- eventually I'll have a couple of Legions worth + all the Auxilia to do. So, quite a bit.
I'm not doing this alone, thank God, but as part of a team of painters in order to accomplish this massive task.

I've always wanted to do an Early Imperial army, but have never actually got round to it, one of those situations common to just about every wargamer, we all have "those projects" I guess, so having the opportunity to paint one for someone else will hopefully get it out of my system.

Early Imperials have always been the "classic" Romans for me, Square Scutem, Lorica Segmentata, I suspect my like of them goes back to a bunch of Timpo figures I had when I was a youngster.
The Warlord figures have been around for while, go together fairly easily, choices of sword-arm or pilum, a few different head choices. The ones in the pictures are a mixture of the basic set and the set sold as "veterans" - these give you a few extra choices - different heads and helmets, and battered shields. All the veterans have the additional magnia sword- arm armour a few legionaires adopted for the Dacian wars. Fortunately these are indeed for the Dacian campaigns so they will fit right in.

There are a few extra metal command figures mixed in- manufacturer unknown.

Anyway, I'm enjoying doing these, which is probably just as well, seeing as there are a few to paint! It makes for a good diversion from the WWII projects which I'm also doing for myself.

So thats a few Romans, Next up, I'll be showing some rather lovely Dacian tribesmen to oppose them

[IACR] ePrint Report: Mode-Level Vs. Implementation-Level Physical Security In Symmetric Cryptography: A Practical Guide Through The Leakage-Resistance Jungle

ePrint Report: Mode-Level vs. Implementation-Level Physical Security in Symmetric Cryptography: A Practical Guide Through the Leakage-Resistance Jungle

Thursday, February 13, 2020

Brave Browser the Best privacy-focused Browser of 2020

Out of all the privacy-focused products and apps available on the market, Brave has been voted the best. Other winners of Product Hunt's Golden Kitty awards showed that there was a huge interest in privacy-enhancing products and apps such as chats, maps, and other collaboration tools.

An extremely productive year for Brave

Last year has been a pivotal one for the crypto industry, but few companies managed to see the kind of success Brave did. Almost every day of the year has been packed witch action, as the company managed to officially launch its browser, get its Basic Attention Token out, and onboard hundreds of thousands of verified publishers on its rewards platform.

Luckily, the effort Brave has been putting into its product hasn't gone unnoticed.

The company's revolutionary browser has been voted the best privacy-focused product of 2019, for which it received a Golden Kitty award. The awards, hosted by Product Hunt, were given to the most popular products across 23 different product categories.

Ryan Hoover, the founder of Product Hunt said:

"Our annual Golden Kitty awards celebrate all the great products that makers have launched throughout the year"

Brave's win is important for the company—with this year seeing the most user votes ever, it's a clear indicator of the browser's rapidly rising popularity.

Privacy and blockchain are the strongest forces in tech right now

If reaching 10 million monthly active users in December was Brave's crown achievement, then the Product Hunt award was the cherry on top.

The recognition Brave got from Product Hunt users shows that a market for privacy-focused apps is thriving. All of the apps and products that got a Golden Kitty award from Product Hunt users focused heavily on data protection. Everything from automatic investment apps and remote collaboration tools to smart home products emphasized their privacy.

AI and machine learning rose as another note-worthy trend, but blockchain seemed to be the most dominating force in app development. Blockchain-based messaging apps and maps were hugely popular with Product Hunt users, who seem to value innovation and security.

For those users, Brave is a perfect platform. The company's research and development team has recently debuted its privacy-preserving distributed VPN, which could potentially bring even more security to the user than its already existing Tor extension.

Brave's effort to revolutionize the advertising industry has also been recognized by some of the biggest names in publishing—major publications such as The Washington Post, The Guardian, NDTV, NPR, and Qz have all joined the platform. Some of the highest-ranking websites in the world, including Wikipedia, WikiHow, Vimeo, Internet Archive, and DuckDuckGo, are also among Brave's 390,000 verified publishers.

Ragnar 2010