Desert Nomad

I recently learned that the best colour to wear in the desert is black, because it won't reflect more light onto you, which would make it hotter.

So keeping with that mind, he is my darkly clad Desert Nomad!

Who also happens to have a very nice scabbard for his scimitar.

Russian Coalition Suvorov Cruiser

Like a blunt instrument is the best way to describe the Russian Coalition Suvorov Cruisers from Spartan Games Dystopian Wars.  Like most Russian vessels, their guns are short range, but they make up for it in raw power.

To close the gap, the Suvorov Cruisers also come equipped with Ablative armour, giving them extra protection against the incoming hail of fire. And are very effective in punching their way through any heavily fortified area.



                          

Russian Coalition Tunguska Class Large Skyship

The Russian Coalition in Spartan Games' Dystopian Wars do not have a very well rounded air force, and rely predominantly on their land forces to crush their enemies. However when they do need to take to the sky their heaviest war machine is the Tunguska Class Large Skyship.

It is essentially a flying battleship, and has about the same power. I use it regularly to control the air land and sea.

And let's be honest, it looks pretty cool on the board :)



                          

Space Empires 4X

In the vast reaches of space, empires evolve quietly. Previously isolated planets deploy newly engineered scouting vessels deep space to explore and colonize. They may strike gold on resource-rich planets waiting to be discovered; they may uncover ancient terror lost to the depths of space and time. Ultimately these civilizations will discover each other wielding  vast and secretive armadas and a galactic war for supremacy will rage beyond the stars. One dynasty will emerge as conqueror, the others will be lost to infinity. This is the destiny awaiting players of the brilliant 4X strategy game Space Empires.

Any wargame enthusiast and lover of strategy can instantly tell how much time and effort designed the scope of this game. While initially intimidating to look at in terms of the sheer volume of components and rulebook size, once the gameplay process is understood, Space Empires plays fluidly and intuitively. To put it in clearer perspective, the prototype version reportedly took 3 days to play a full game of, but thankfully designer Jim Krohn was able to the reduce playing time to an hourly increment while still maintaining the epic mission of exploration, expansion, exploitation, and extermination.

The game consists of three phases of turn based movement, followed by an economic phase involving players allocating resources towards building new ships and upgrading their technologies. During movement players can send their scouting ships to adjacent hexes where they must flip the tiles there to reveal the scout crew's fate. Exploration can yield anything from new planets to colonize, resources and alien technologies that can be towed back to colonized planets and harvested during the economic phase, wormholes that warp to different areas of the board (useful for attack planning), or even ancient alien doomsday devices that when uncovered, roam the map decimating everything in their wake.

The stakes get higher as players can also move the various other vessels they’ve built throughout the game including carriers, battlecruisers, and mining ships (which can collect and tow resources). The shadow element is the fact that ships can be moved face down form their launch site, making the position of rival battle groups impossible to pinpoint until players move into the same hex and MUST exchange fire by the roll of the die. When the time does come to attack other players, bluff them by sending a masked squadron of weaker carriers or decoys  toward their colonies, diverting their forces if you’ve played your cards right,  and leaving their homeworld open to a deadly assault from your fleet of dreadnoughts they had no idea you built and sent straight for them. Keep this in mind as conquering another player’s homeworld wins you the game. There are various hands of this militaristic poker that can be auspiciously dealt by admirals in the field, but it’s behind the scenes where the real balancing act of strategy must be play out to secure victory for the strongest empire.

The economic phase is a glorious exercise in bookkeeping and resource management and is sure to be the selling point for fans of this type of gameplay, while simultaneously turning away those put off by such intricacy. Every player has at their disposal a production sheet which allows them to tally their total resources each round and a ship building list for deciding how to spend them.  (Mining ships, Planetary defence systems, raiders, and space stations that can build and deploy new ships from colonies vs homeward, all add to the subtle layers of strategy) With so many options, especially with regards to tech upgrades doing amazing things like upping ship movement, granting carriers the capacity to launch fighters, and even cloaking entire fleets, this phase will really test your ability to respond to the game’s ever-shifting climate and plan for your strategy’s fruition 10 turns in advance; be it one of military might, technical supremacy, or exploratory dominance.

It's extra engaging to see how the overall strategies of players adapt to the landscape of space laid out before them as it's revealed. The random placement of tiles on each hex prior to turn one ensures a unique board every game. If there are more planets near one player’s homeworld, they may opt for focusing on spending more to colonize them and then creating pipelines in between colonies in order to reap more resources and construct stronger weapons for future attacks. By contrast if a player lucks out and has a lot of free-floating resources in the deep space near their homeworld, that empire may be able to invest early on in technology upgrades for their ships, making it possible to win the game faster using smaller but more elite fleets- and possibly with a little assistance from a well-placed wormhole.

Ultimately Space Empires is an interesting and epic-to-game expression of the chronology of developing space civilizations soon to be at war with each other: Scouts discover new planets to be colonized -> resources are mined from the new worlds->trading routes are established back to the mother planet->Armadas are constructed and deployed-> Enemies are conquered and annexed. Not only do players get to witness a unique version of these events unfold each game; they get to fuel them based on their imperial interests and goals. You are the driving force behind these galactic schematics and it'll be the feeling of synapses connecting in your brain as you see your carefully organized strategies grow and develop. The simplicity of the game pieces is no deterrent either as each ship tile has a great numbering system for tracking and hull point value (cost to build) while still providing immersion in spite of the two-dimensional nature of the 4X game art. GMT games has published a passion project not for the faint of heart. Expansions will see land combat added to the mix which will take battles down to the surface of planets and add a whole new level of detail to an already highly engrossing game experience.  To conquer, resources must be expertly managed in an environment where nothing is known, but one thing is certain: In the vast reaches of space, Empires rise and fall.


                          

7 Reasons Why Your Campaign Failed

Every Game Master has that campaign (or Two) that didn't work out. Maybe it was because the story never unfolded, the plot felt incomplete, the characters where lethargic or worse, players were constantly bickering. It is a terrible feeling to watch something you've created fail, but at the same time it is a great learning experience.

Here are seven reasons why JADE members have seen campaigns fail.

1.Plot Issues

This is perhaps the most obvious, but many campaigns fail to get off the ground because there is a fundamental flaw in the plot.

This can take many forms, and we could go on for ages about them, but these are a few common problems we've encountered.

1.The campaign story has holes.

2.The plot hooks are poorly executed.

3.The players have no reason to follow the story


If the only way you can explain part of your campaign story is by saying "a miracle occurs" or "just because", then you need to develop your plot (unless of course it is an act of god.... cause hey it's an RPG right?). This information doesn't ever need to be told to the players, but your world will benefit from the stability of having a well developed back story, and an answer to every question. Your players will notice the difference as well.

Of course when writing your plot, it's important to include the "call to adventure" or the sequence of events that introduces your players to the stories in your campaign. If these are setup without forethought to how the player party will encounter and pursue them, then the plot will never get off the ground and the party will get frustrated and ignore your story. Make sure that your "calls to adventure" are obvious and give the players just enough information that they can piece together what to do next.

Even if your back story is well defined, and your plot hooks are intriguing, you can still have plot issues arising from your player characters themselves. Sometimes, the group will create characters that simply do not work in the campaign you have created. This can cause in-fighting, tension, lack of focus and general incompatibility. As a game master it's up to you to make sure that your player's back stories work with your campaign idea. If you have something specific in mind for your story then give them some guidelines. If your world is more free play, be more lenient and allow for more player creativity.

2.Too Many Plots

Another plot related issue is the common problem of over-complex story lines.

If you throw too many plot hooks at the party they will be unable to sort out what to do next. Table Top RPG players do not have the benefit of a "quest log" like in a video game RPG, and if there are too many plots going at once, they will feel overwhelmed and confused. This can lead to frustration, and eventually they might lose interest.

Keep it to a few plots at a time, save the rest for later, or another campaign.

3.Controlling GMs

Scripting a scene, as I like to call it, is when a game master writes their story like they are writing a book or a movie. The events will inevitably work out regardless of players' actions, because the game master has decided how the story will unfold. This is being a controlling game master.

The reality is that your campaign is for your players to interact with, and if you are constantly holding their hand, and guiding them through the events of your story, they will feel like they are not in control of their own fate and will lose interest.

The easiest way to avoid this is to make sure that your plot hooks ask a player to do something, rather than telling them how to do. For example: the elf in the tavern may need me to go rob a tomb, and they may know some very useful information about the area, but the elf shouldn't tell me how to rob the grave. I am the adventurer, I will sort it out.

4.Tight-Lipped GMs

Too often do game masters sit behind their screens, smirking as the players struggle to solve the riddle of their campaign. While a certain level of intrigue is important in a table top RPG, nothing is more frustrating for the players than when there is no information available.

Having the big reveal that ties everything together at the end of the story is an exciting prospect for a game master. However, if you don't give the players anything to go on, how can they follow your story?

Open up a little bit to your players. Talk to them before hand about the general goals of your campaign, and make sure that your NPCs and other information engines give the players what they need to continue, and stay focused and interested in your campaign.

5.Power Tripping GMs

The temptation to include ridiculously powerful monsters in your dungeon, or throw wave after wave of attacks at the players is pretty strong for the game master. It's your world, and sometimes it can be fun to really have a go at the player party. But if you are constantly doing this, your players will stop enjoying themselves. The game will seem hopeless to them, and they won't have much of a reason to go on.

Scale your monsters to your player party's level and power, and give them a time to rest between major encounters. This will give them a chance to heal up (if only a little) and to do some character building as they interact with the other players during a point of relaxation.  If, on the other hand, the stress of constant combat is the driving force of the campaign, then let your players know what to expect before hand, so they can design their battle hardened characters before hand.

6.Invincible Player Characters

On the opposite side of the spectrum are game masters who are afraid to let their players fail. Perhaps their story is too important to them and they don't won't to lose momentum or maybe they're afraid to hurt a player's feeling by killing their characters. Either way, this can derail a campaign.

If there is no chance of failure, then your players will lose their immersion. The encounters will seem artificial and the victories that they achieve will be bitter sweet at best.

Either the player's health or well being should be on the line, and don't be afraid to to seriously threaten it, or take it from them. It may suck to lose a character, but your player will make another one, and learn from their mistakes.

7.Uncooperative Players

Sometimes the problem isn't the campaign or the game master; it's the players. As much as the game master needs to make sure the plot is interesting for players, the players have a responsibility to "play ball" with the party and the game master, to help the campaign move along.

Unfortunately, you'll sometimes get players who will not get with the program. Whether they are being argumentative, disruptive,  or ridiculous the uncooperative player is holding back the progression of the campaign.

I'm a firm believer that talking to your players before hand and working with them to create a character that works in your campaign is the best way to preemptively deal with this sort of issue. If you're still having problems make sure that they're playing to their character's alignment, and personality. If they're not then give penalties to their XP for "Not Role Playing", and make sure that their undesirable actions are not without consequences (in game of course).



                          

Nikki's Raptor

For her very first mini JADE Guest Nikki decided to do something simple and painted this raptor from Reaper Miniatures.

She did a fantastic job, making it look reptilian and terrifying! 



                          

Three Knights

I will confess that I have a thing for Knights. I just love them. Whether they are in Full, half or just gold ol' plate mail, there is just something about them that makes my adventures sense tingle.

These guys are from Steel Fist Miniatures who do a fantastic line of Samurai, as well as these 15th Century Nobles.

We use them for everything from heavily armoured guards, mercenaries,etc. to statues!

BUt I didn't get them any any particular purpose... Well, Maybe to make the 10 year old in me proud.



                          

Adam's Pragmatic Priest

Adam created this Pragmatic Priest from Game 5 of the Al-Qadim, his name is Aalim ibn Khaldin.

He is a priest of Zann the Learned, and lives in Kafra. His plan is to turn the small town into an intellectual oasis, but that is but a dream so far.




                          

Bat Swarms

These batswarms are from Mirliton Miniatures, and are some of the first RPG minis I ever bought!

The minis work for Swarms, individual giant bats, all of the bat needs. And they look like they are flying!



                          

A Bandit Trio

This trio of bandits is from Zvezda's Medieval Peasant Army. It is a great, and inexpensive choice for a ton of low level bad guys!

The leader the peasant army, is clearly this robin hood-esque character. I usually like to make him the only one wearing armour.

The other odd man out from the group, is this strange fellow wielding a scimitar and a torch. A dangerous combination if there ever was one.

And of course, what peasant army would be complete without the head of a recently deposed mayor or lord?