#Warcrow Wargame

[owlbear33]

thinkin'bout factions in wargames, specifically, I'm thinking about the sort of biopunky magic as science, uses fleshy abominations as troops sorta faction that I've seen pop up now 3 times, I think, and I'm wondering if it's actually a thing

My first encounter with this faction is The Alchemists Of Dirz from the old, now sadly very defunct wargame, Confrontation, from Rackham Miniatures, the faction I would have played If I'd had the money for wargames in my early teens, they were a weird bunch of scientists hiding in the desert, producing clone soldiers and biological abominations to try and conquer the world

More recently, I've seen Conquest: The Last Argument of Kings, from Para Bellum Games, a very pretty if a bit edgy wargame, The Spires first struck me as being heavily inspired by the alchemist, as far as I can tell, they're a bunch of weird extradimensional wizards producing clone soldiers and biological abominations to try and conquer the world, and sure they're not exactly the same in look or theme, but there are similarities

Have you seen Corvus Belli, the creators of the well-known Infinity, has a new fantasy skirmish wargame, I took their faction quiz, taking all the magic as science options, and the factions they've given me is the Scions of Yaldabaoth, a group of rebel-ish elf mages, who serve the architect of flesh, and though I think there's a little less clone soldiers, they still go in for bioaugmentation and biological abominations

so, is this a thing? are there other examples that you can think of? particularly in fantasy wargames, but also elsewhere in fantasy

[bloodsweatandresin]

Finished up Njord for warcrow tonight. Dude is a beast on the field

[zoredaichaso]

Warcrow concept art

Since I delisted my portfolio on Artstation due to their support for AI, I am gonna be uploading what I had there, but here, with the process of my designs for Infinity

[alternativeminiatures]

First look at the new miniatures for Warcrow, Corvus Belli's new game.

[open-hearth-rpg]

#RPGaDay2024

Evocative Environments

Here’s another one I’m torn on. For a setting I find interesting and grabbing, despite its many flaws, I really love the original Coriolis. I did a focus on Arabic and Middle Eastern Studies in college and there’s some smart references in there, without it falling too much into cut and paste replacement (see Emirates of Ylaruam from Mystara for that). 

I love the vibe, feel, and look of things there. It does a great job of integrating faith into a sci-fi setting, without just splattering pseudo-Catholicism on it (i.e. Fading Suns). The game mechanics undercut it, but I dig what’s present in old Coriolis. 

But for a setting which shook me hard, I have to go with Red Markets. More often than not I roll my eyes at tons of world background and material. It feels like too much– a whole built up universe that doesn’t actually have room for me. The interesting choices have been made. While the play might not actually require you to know all this, it feels like something looming over play. That’s part of what keeps me from wrestling with things like Infinity or Iron Kingdoms. 

Like I was kind of excited watching some of the stuff on Corvus Belli’s new skirmish fantasy wargame, Warcrow. It has cool models and a neat starter set. But then I saw the massive hardcover tome with just oceans of background material and detail. It left me cold. 

With all that being said, Red Markets shocked me with its presentation. It seemingly falls into the trap of an extensive, 100+ page history and background for the setting. But it grabbed me. It grabbed me despite my generally disliking zombie stuff. The writing’s excellent and there’s new and novel ideas throughout. I love how much the set up feels natural but at the same time works to allow room for rpg play and groups. 

You can see where your play group could slot in-- with lots of different approaches you could take. The set up can be explained easily, but also rewards digging into it. It has lots of imaginative space.

But more importantly, Red Markets conveys the intended vibe of economic horror and devastation. The zombies remain awful, but the system and society created after the fall are worse. It's one of the most compelling and unsettling reads I’ve ever done. I highly recommend it to anyone writing up background material for a game. 

[theaceofskulls]

So my current obsession when it comes to miniatures games is Covus Belli's Warcrow game because it's doing some very interesting things that I wasn't expecting from this type of game.

I should preface this really quick by saying that the actual gameplay as a skirmish wargame is also really good. It's just complicated enough to give it enough depth while it's small enough that you're not going insane tracking everything. This is in part because it worked in a cardboard dial and uses a very easy "stack" system that's familiar to me as a Magic the Gathering player.

But the interesting part is that the intro box showed off how the system is narratively focused.

I should state that a lot of narrative wargames typically come down to tracking progress of your armies after battles, acting like a typical RPG leveling system and persistent battle damage, with a few fluff pieces in them. Sometimes you have things like Frostgrave where you're tasked with gathering treasure over fighting it out, but a lot of them end the fluffy gameplay there.

So imagine my surprise when the short 3 mission campaign for this box came with little story events that you read off when something happens in the game, akin to a TTRPG, and even had persuasion/intimidation rolls with an NPC during one of the missions if you didn't get an item in the first mission. Hell, the first mission, my fiance and I played ended with me driving her warband back from the farm we were fighting over, but me losing the mysterious magical item we'd discovered at the center of it.

Now, all this being said, those three missions are currently the only ones released at the moment for this game and the release schedule for the armies full rollout is rather slow at the moment (also this is a game system with its own dice and measuring tools), but this one has me fascinated so far.

I think due to the limited amount of what's out for it right now, it's going to take quite a bit of time for it to end up having a chance at being my regular game, but already it's got me thinking about what other games could learn from it. Definitely one to watch if you're the type that enjoys the storytelling aspect of games.

[thegaminggang]

Miniature Wargame Warcrow Arrives This September from Corvus Belli - https://thegaminggang.com/game-news/miniature-wargame-warcrow-arrives-this-september-from-corvis-belli/...

[spikeybits]

The new @Corvusbelli Warcrow Adventures Kickstarter is a fantasy dungeon crawler game based around companion app play! Corvus Belli has some great games in their line-up already, but it's great to see them adding more to their offerings! This is obviously a little different from some of their other stuff, but it seems like it will be really fun, and the idea of having a companion app that actually helps you play through the game is really cool. . . . . . . . #warhammer40k #warhammer #40k #ageofsigmar #miniature #miniaturewargaming #wargaming #warmongers #paintingwarhammer #miniaturepainting #art #tabletopgaming #hobby #spikeybits #paintingminis #new40k #aos #eisenhorn #blacklibrary #spacemarines #spacemarines40k #chaos40k #CorvusBelli

[owlbear33]

So I did a google, but the old Warcrow line of miniatures from Corvus Belli appear to have been discontinued in 2013, only 10 years ago

[owlbear33]

speaking of Warcrow from Corvus Belli, it has this whole red mist thing which I swear is like 90% "borrowed" from Forbidden Lands by Free League

[bloodsweatandresin]

Alright that's one starter box worth of warcrow models all finished up!

[bloodsweatandresin]

I've made a bunch more progress on the warcrow models!

Really loving the game too

[bloodsweatandresin]

Finished up my first model for warcrow, I have spent forever dorking about with the color scheme but I'm very happy with it.

[zoredaichaso]

Warcrow concept art

Since I delisted my portfolio on Artstation due to their support for AI, I am gonna be uploading what I had there, but here, with the process of my designs for Infinity

[zoredaichaso]

Warcrow concept art

Since I delisted my portfolio on Artstation due to their support for AI, I am gonna be uploading what I had there, but here, with the process of my designs for Infinity

[zoredaichaso]

Warcrow concept art Since I delisted my portfolio on Artstation due to their support for AI, I am gonna be uploading what I had there, but here, with the process of my designs for Infinity