This was a busy ass week, but I got a game in of Gloomhaven which is… interesting. It’s definitely not a game I would want to own or try to get people to play (or read the rules) but it was pretty fun. Gloomhaven is a mash up of Kingdom Death and Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 3rd edition with all the cards-as-actions and tons of counters for everything; except instead of an RPG, all adventures are pre-codefied in maps that unlock as you play. Classes unlock as you play as well which is interesting. While I don’t think it’s especially good after the first play, it’s still worth giving a good college try.
Comparing it to another similar, recent game: The Others, it’s the opposite in that the basic Gloomhaven gameplay is clunky and card driven, while the Others is very smooth and streamlined. However, the Others has zero as a campaign mode and is replayable only in that you can play through different missions with different hero teams. The lack of a Campaign mode in The Others really hurts the game, while the campaign mode in Gloomhaven makes a rather lackluster miniatures combat game much more exciting to play.
Anyway, here’s some other interesting stuff from the interweb tubes this week:
New 8th ed 40K FAQ. I love some of the questions (and answers): basically people are asking if they are planning on AOS’ing 40k. Seems not.
Freemium ios games are the worst of the worst trash mobile gaming has to offer, but there are exceptions.
An AWESOME rundown of the launch of the original Warhammer 40K. I read this and then started re-reading it right away.
And another GW-based post about 1989. That was when I was totally into the Warhammer stuff full bore (as full bore as a highschool kid could be) and it lasted until 1993 or so when we started playing too much Jyhad and MTG (and still a lot of talisman).