40K OSR? (13)

Long time, no update, so this time it's massive.

As usual, if you're not sure what a 40K OSR? could be, there are potential definitions here.

If you identify with it, especially if you're coming up with new material, Colonel Kane's logo, to the right, is ready to use. If you do, consider giving him credit and adding Tales from the Maelstrom to your roll. The battle report the guys posted just before Christmas should be reason enough.

This time milestones, bad news and possible surprises, plus the usual wild cards at the end.

• As mentioned, Killzone v 3.0 is out after playtesting, with some thoughts up at A Gentleman's Ones and notes on the future at Galaxy in Flames.

• Big Jim also announced the TCP podcast and Bay Area Open narrative event, and posted on progress with the Soul Reapers - the codex is here.

• Rules Manufactorum has now gone in its original form, but been adopted by the renamed Casual Rules Bryssling of a Ruthless Mind Manufactorum.

• Sons of Taurus has now released Version 1.1 of the Codex: Lost and the Damned, and there are designer's notes and a sample army list up too.

• Sons of Taurus also introduced Ethereal's Projects, home to a fandex each for the Lost and the Damned, the Tau and the Sisters of Battle, and today linked to the progress report at Rogue Trader on Codex: Squat Stronghold.

• At Warpstone Flux jabberjabber posted a power, Psychokinetic Sphere.

• Tallarn at still practicing_ posted the end of the planetary empires campaign with two more rules, Tremors and Pyroclastic Barrage; I don't think I've ever mentioned the 5 minute history series, but it's a great refresher.

• Gotthammer has been posting on Rogue Trader RPG at Collegia Titanica, with the superb Koronus Gazetter and a set of non-player characters.

• At GAME OVER Von and Lexington ponder the motives of the Necrons.

• Lantz finished another unit for the AdMech FanDex, the Caminus Priests, and converted a Skitarii Jetbike based on the Antenociti Workshop kit, while Sandwyrm at The Back 40K also likes Micro Art Studios minis.

• Pirate Viking Painting has solid conversions for generic Imperial infantry.

• Rictus at Recalcitrant Daze had this emplacement mentioned at FTW, here, has a CAD development of it here, and was also busy with the Ork looted wagons at BoLS, the highlight for me being this thorough guide.

• Also linked there at FTW was The Mentor Legion, focused on the chapter.

• Chris Swaine at Roll With It converted a fine Malakim Phoros from IA9.

• Spikey Bits ran a tank conversion contest and got some great entries, with this Tau titan arguably the most unusual, spectacular and controversial, while the blog as a whole is tipped by Lantz as a possible heir to BoLS.

• Hungry Ghosts has posted huge amounts since the last update, including a look at the HQ, the third appendix for Historia Squataticus and a space Skaven, plus three parts of a series on Bob Olley not-Squats, 1, 2 and 3.

• At 3++ Aueretious Taak posted a Tyranid army using classic miniatures.

• Dylan Gould has a mass of Necromunda gangers and some classic IG.

• Back at FTW, Ron talked about leaving the gaming aspect behind.

• Tears of Envy's blog has another new piece of artwork by John Blanche...

• ... there are 1, 2, 3 more 40K-themed sketches over at Spiky Rat Pack...

• ... and at Confessions... dwez has more classic pieces by Gary Herrod, ...

• ... while back on Squats and Tyranids, Curis at Ninjabread pointed out the Beardy Bastards web comic, and looked at use of orange in sci-fi...

... and both of those links could almost be wild cards, making me think the distinction might be blurring as time goes by. Here are the three that seem just outside this time.

• Atom Kid over at Maximum Rock & Role Playing is in the early stages of sculpting a Space Ork in 15mm, i.e. at more or less half the usual size.

• At Swords & Stitchery the prolific Needles holds a weird, retro sci-fi mirror up to the Imperium with this post, offering a setting concept for Rogue Space.

• And Sandwyrm, again at The Back 40K, looks at GW's half year results.

All related posts here get the 40K OSR? label, so you can keep up with what I see. If you think I've missed anything, go right ahead and leave the link to it in the comments.

Update: As usual I find one right away - Spyglass Asylum has a John Blanche mini.

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40K OSR? (11)

Time at last for a proper 40K OSR? update.

It still feels fairly quiet, but with things slowly picking up again. The change of season might be part of it, but I get the impression the sense of crisis and arrival of sixth edition is bringing out more expressions of what we each feel is the essence, more reflections on past and future.

Hopefully there'll updates more often because of it, but you can still find the most recent posts and links using the 40K OSR? search label.

So then, the usual intro - what is a 40K OSR? There are some potential definitions here.

As ever, if you identify with the concept, especially if you're putting out new ideas, feel free to use Colonel Kane's logo, at the top of this post. If you do, consider crediting him and adding Tales from the Maelstrom to your roll. It's real 40K magic, and if proof were needed of that, have a good read of the thoughtful interview with Rick Priestley.

• The biggest development of the past few days has to be the arrival of The M42 Project, SandWyrm's move to write a 40K equivalent, one that's good for competitive gaming, but with rules true to the setting and free expansion.

• As mentioned here, there's also renewed purpose at Rules Manufactorum, with a lot of homebrew - the Bullfrog All-Terrain Vehicle, and hints for creating vehicles and monstrous creatures, as well as Shawn Abreu's Dark Apostle and Necron Recombinants and a Battle Company list.

• Tied in with current design, Imaginary Wars Blog has a post on perceived problems, and also a cautious optimism re the direction of White Dwarf.

• Von at GAME OVER has a proper 40K OSR-labelled post on getting the Imperial Guard and Blood Axes back together, with a proposed mini mashup.

• Auberon at Digital Waaagh! has more Ork madboyz updated to fifth edition, this time phobiaks, as well as a ponder on the squig attack arm.

• Into modelling, Brian over at A Gentleman's Ones has a harlequin troupe converted by Thatguyjames, and reveals a Killzone update is on the way.

• Brian of course also completed those amazing tables for the Heroes of Armageddon charity project, which also referenced older material and featured one-off conversion wonders like the Golgotha super heavy tank.

• Re that, Hudson has the modelling of his Ecclesiarch super heavy done.

• Rictus at Recalcitrant Daze has a slightly smaller engineseer chimera, and had a feature on his Ork vehicles at Bell of Lost Souls recently too.

• On to 2D art, Tears of Envy has the Confrontation art by John Blanche, with comments from Blanche himself, as well as a piece which doesn't seem to have made it in; there's much more Blanche at gothic punk.

• While we're on the subject, Dave G at Wargaming Tradecraft does an excellent job covering unofficial artwork in his weekly updates.

• My homebrew offerings this time are the Wasteland Settlers troop type, Survivors upgrade and Parley special rule, all for Heroes of Armageddon, as well as the Orkosystem Spotta Squig and the living objectives idea.

Three wild cards too. The first two are linked, one being this overview at Dropship Horizon of 15mm power armoured troops, even more worthy of a look if M42 will be easily compatible, as SandWyrm suggests. There's a similar post at In space no one can hear you sculpt, here, looking at developing a design for Khurasan Miniatures.

The third comes via Stargazer's World, which has a link to a supplement for Barbarians of the Aftermath called Barbarians of the Future, inspired by the 40K universe.

This is still far shorter than I imagined it would be. What have I missed? Go right ahead and leave any relevant suggestions in the comments, even links to your own posts.

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40K OSR? (9)

This week's update on a possible 40K OSR. What's that? Some potential definitions here.

If you identify with the idea, and most of all if you're putting out new takes, go ahead and use Colonel Kane's 40K OSR logo - to the right.

If you do, consider crediting Kane and adding Tales from the Maelstrom to your blogroll. If the OSR exists, this is it; up at the moment more Rogue Trader landing party members.

As well as that, this week we have rules suggestions, conversions and a scratch build, alternative models and short fiction.

• First - a week late and found only thanks to Lantz - an alternative approach to priority proposed by Tenzing at Gaming All Areas. He looks at using Initative for unit activation. Good idea. Will we see this next edition?

• Master Bryss at Rules Manufactorum has the usual inspiring thinking, this time a set of suggestions on creating characters for campaigns.

• Lantz was busy at Twin Linked Awesome with more adeptus mechanicus conversions for his AdMech FanDex, this time a Leman Russ Vladd, some evocative Forsaken and a batch of Luceo Rollers, due in the next edition.

• Lantz used Brotherhood models from Blight Wheel Miniatures for those Forsaken, and You Ain't Seen Squat! continues looking at alternative miniatures, this time for the Squats and/or Demiurg, here and here.

• Hudson has something pretty spectacular up at the moment, an update on progress on a super heavy Exorcist for the adepta sororitas.

• Going bigger still, Apocalypse 40K has an update on the Warhawk Lander, that ongoing transfer of the Epic space marine miniature to 40K.

• One of the guys working on an army for the Heroes of Armageddon project is John at Santa Cruz Warhammer, and he showed a converted Ork Hunter squad with a hive ganger aesthetic. This for me goes deep into the setting.

• One that didn't make it last week was Gotthammer's mention of Blinded Eyes Do See, his entry for a fiction contest, starring an astropath.

• Linked with this, That Guy James lists 40 things that make 40K what it is.

• And finally, a post that might make more sense if you remember the Rogue Trader days, jabberjabber at Warpstone Flux has a Khorne-following Ork. 

A couple of wild cards too, on different scales.

• First, a 6mm Epic Tzeentch feral titan at Wargaming Workshop. Wow.

• Second, as a follow-up to my mention in 40K OSR? (3) of those 15mm 'space dwarves', the relaunched Dropship Horizon talks about how to get into 15mm. If 40K works at 28mm and 6mm, why not a compromise 15mm?

As for me, this weekend should see an expansion for the hive interior supplement I put together for Heroes of Armagedon, with rules for playing games inside gargants. I love the idea, and wonder why I've never seen it done before. I hope I can do it justice.

As usual, any and all links to alternatives are very welcome.

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40K OSR? (7)

This week's update on a possible 40K OSR. What is it? Some potential definitions here.

If you identify with the concept, especially if you're putting out new ideas, feel free to use Colonel Kane's 40K OSR logo - to the right.

If you do, consider crediting Kane and adding Tales from the Maelstrom to your blogroll.

It's a great blog; up at the moment are some orc pirates, and this week Kane and Martini Henrie gave their thoughts on Old School gaming.

And here's more good stuff, alternative ideas old and new and hands-on creativity.

• Atrotos at Rules Manufactorum asks whether 40K should be more like Magic the Gathering in terms of composition and theme. I'm intrigued.

• The second and third parts of the in-depth battle report have now gone up at A Gentleman's Ones, and in the latter Brian reflects on the impact of that alternative approach to deployment.

• Von has reflections at the new GAME OVER, on the hobby over the years, with links to four thought-provoking posts, including Brian's intro to the report.

• Lantz has wonderful conversions at The Magnet Pro of a tech-priest transmechanic and a Leman Russ burrower. Yes, you read it right - the shells burrow. Sound familiar? Check the AdMech FanDex for details...

• And if that's got you excited about Squats and/or Demiurg, Mik over at Mik's Minis gives us a link to a new blog - You Ain't Seen Squat! - building a new force and considering counts as options. It all excites me, but the living ancestor pushes a special button by using an Epic mini.

• On the subject of counts as, Andy has the second part of an Apocalypse battle report at Creepy Corridor with a scary biotitan and some great Ork vehicles; first part here, set up here.

• At Strictly Average Brent gives us an update on his ongoing Brotherhood project, a fantastic mix of old elements and new.

• Commissar Carrie at Inquisitork has put up an index for the growing Radical and has the ninth instalment, Rest, bringing another force into the mix...

As for me, I'm not sure what's up with the Orkosystem series at Roll With It - a squig is due to follow the snotling sabbatur, but must have flown off. I hope the ladz can get him back. When the current run of flash fiction for Heroes of Armageddon finishes I'm planning to expand on the hive interior supplement with something very Orky...

As ever, if I've missed anything - and this week I think I must have - feel completely free to leave recommendations and links in the comments. Better still put something up.

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Blog standard

If this was an old school roleplaying blog, Trey's famous and fun advancement table at From the Sorcerer's Skull would mean I'd just levelled up, going from Maven to Pundit, at 160 followers.

Thanks very much to all of you, and to everyone who reads.

But it's not really an old school roleplaying blog, or at least not primarily. It's not a wargaming blog either, although it covers aspects of that. It's not even only a gaming blog. If it had a focus, I'd say it's fiction, or exploration of ideas. Speculation maybe.

In this sense, the number to look at seems less the number of followers and more the number of follows, or blogs in blogrolls.

Here are those numbers then.

I follow 304 blogs. In that light, especially given the common but rather silly idea that if someone follows you ought to follow them, having 160 followers actually makes me look fairly unpopular.

There are eight blogrolls in the left sidebar, although one is a collection of blogs from the other seven. In the seven the total number of blogs is 340. Again, Porky no-mates.

This means the ratio of blogs followed or listed to followers is about 2:1. I'm guessing this is quite high, but I don't think it really should be. After all, why not 3:1 or 10:1?