Pendraken Miniatures Forum

Wider Wargaming => Genre/Period Discussion => Fantasy & Sci-Fi => Topic started by: Luddite on 18 June 2013, 08:02:44 PM

Title: Something a lot more orc...
Post by: Luddite on 18 June 2013, 08:02:44 PM
I've been working on some fantasy rules for about a year now (looking to publish) and finally got my orc army together for it.

http://luddite1811.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/something-lot-more-orc.html (http://luddite1811.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/something-lot-more-orc.html)

(http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-poYJjeFQ5bo/UcC224BcEPI/AAAAAAAABVM/esm9RPirX9o/s640/IMG_0197.JPG)

:)
Title: Re: Something a lot more orc...
Post by: ryman1 on 18 June 2013, 08:10:36 PM
Very impressive, I love the organised chaos look of it. =D>
Title: Re: Something a lot more orc...
Post by: fred. on 18 June 2013, 08:18:56 PM
Very nice looking army.

I too have that same troll!

Are the spiders the Pendraken ones?
Title: Re: Something a lot more orc...
Post by: petercooman on 18 June 2013, 08:19:35 PM
Nice!!
Title: Re: Something a lot more orc...
Post by: Luddite on 18 June 2013, 08:23:26 PM
Yep the spiders are Pendrakens.

I think they're a bit 'flat', or rather 'flattened', but the way they're cast means its difficult to bend them into something a bit more dynamic.  Still pretty good though.   :D

I'll be doing the dwarves/gnomes next.
Title: Re: Something a lot more orc...
Post by: Steve J on 18 June 2013, 08:37:51 PM
Great looking army 8).
Title: Re: Something a lot more orc...
Post by: Techno on 18 June 2013, 08:42:01 PM
Excellent that man. :-bd
Cheers - Phil.
Title: Re: Something a lot more orc...
Post by: Fenton on 18 June 2013, 09:02:52 PM
Really nice stuff...Nice to see more rules on the horizon using big bases
Title: Re: Something a lot more orc...
Post by: Duke Speedy of Leighton on 18 June 2013, 09:41:15 PM
Looks great, looking for a excuse to use my halflings and goblins.
Title: Re: Something a lot more orc...
Post by: sunjester on 19 June 2013, 08:13:46 AM
These look really great :D....just a pity they are green-skinned instead of the right colours! :d
Title: Re: Something a lot more orc...
Post by: Luddite on 19 June 2013, 09:35:27 AM
Quote from: sunjester on 19 June 2013, 08:13:46 AM
These look really great :D....just a pity they are green-skinned instead of the right colours! :d

Well, that's true, but green is kind of traditional now!

I do have plans for LotR armies too so they'll be 'proper' coloured, and i probably won't use orc figures for the orcs... 

Title: Re: Something a lot more orc...
Post by: nikharwood on 19 June 2013, 10:03:32 PM
Very nicely done indeed, Luddite  8)
Title: Re: Something a lot more orc...
Post by: Annatar on 20 June 2013, 05:30:55 AM
Great Army!!! Lots of nice ideas!!!
Title: Re: Something a lot more orc...
Post by: Luddite on 20 June 2013, 09:23:14 AM
Cheers chaps, i think it really shows what 10mm figures do best - not a few figures on a 40x20mm base but a real 'mass' on a decent base.  100x50mm also gives a bit of space to create a sort of diorama, which is what i tried to do with each 'warband'.

They'll do fine for HotT, but i created these for a set of rules i've been bumbling about with for a while now.  They seem to work pretty well too.  My 'playtesters' have almost immediately started rebasing their Warmaster armies!  Hehe... ;D

I'm kicking off the dwarves to oppose these orc chaps, but i'm struggling with colour schemes.

Individual heraldry? 
Purple / red?

I'm thinking i'd like to go 'earthy' tones (brown/green/stone grey)...

Not sure.


:)
Title: Re: Something a lot more orc...
Post by: Fenton on 20 June 2013, 09:27:53 AM
Maybe go down the 'Norse' looking route for Dwarves, then you could get the best of both worlds with earthy tones and some gaudy colours thrown in for leaders etc
Title: Re: Something a lot more orc...
Post by: kev1964 on 20 June 2013, 07:49:39 PM
Really nice army and excellent basing,


kev
Title: Re: Something a lot more orc...
Post by: Fenton on 23 June 2013, 08:38:40 PM
Will we be able to have a look at the rules soon, or are they going to be for sale?
Title: Re: Something a lot more orc...
Post by: Luddite on 23 June 2013, 09:29:07 PM
Quote from: Fenton on 23 June 2013, 08:38:40 PM
Will we be able to have a look at the rules soon, or are they going to be for sale?

Hopefully they'll be published and for sale as soon as i can get things worked out.

I don't want to commit to a firm date yet, but 'as soon as possible'.

Fingers crossed.   8)
Title: Re: Something a lot more orc...
Post by: Fenton on 23 June 2013, 09:40:53 PM
Thanks for that

I am a sucker for big bases in games
Title: Re: Something a lot more orc...
Post by: jchaos79 on 25 June 2013, 06:02:21 AM
Great army, and fantasic diorams in each unit. Congrat.

what is the name of your ruleset? can you talk a little bit about it?
Title: Re: Something a lot more orc...
Post by: Luddite on 25 June 2013, 09:53:23 AM
Well... I'm still working on the issues with getting the draft from the laptop to a published product.  However...

The rules are a 'fantasy' set provisionally called Warband (may well be followed by a historical version).  They use the basing you see above and are intended for use with, shall we say, figures from a popular 10mm supplier.

Design philosophies:

1.   Simple to play, difficult to master.
2.   The best player should win, not the best dice (an impossible dream!  Damn those 1's!)

They are intuitive to play, and run as you expect, and they're 'game' more than 'simulation'.  They're structured around a familiar turn sequence which mixes igougo with 'simultaneous' phases.  Nothing ground-breaking but satisfyingly 'familiar'!  They also have a single core resolution mechanic (dice pool vs target number) that means whatever you're trying to do, you'll know what you need to do it.  Of course, for each task there are tactical methods to stack the odds in favour of success.

As a player however, you're forced to make decisions throughout each turn, and so success or failure rests as much with you as with a lucky or unlucky dice roll.  In fact your decisions will be focused around which dice/action failures you need to bolster or reverse, or which successes you need to reinforce.  And you can never do everything you need to!

There aren't 'buckets of dice', but there is a steady drip of dice rolling throughout the turn.  Nothing is certain so you'll need to dice to move your troops, to resolve their combat actions and to resolve their reactions to combat.

Units are therefore classified in terms of quality and capacity by the number of dice they roll for each action.  'Special abilities' are added to these core competencies to allow you to build the various different troop types.

Trolls for example will have poor motivation, average fighting ability, good defence, and are bolstered by the 'fear, powerful, and regenerate' special abilities.  All these affect a unit's points value so the armies are very balanced.  In almost every play test game over the last year, the battles have lasted about 2 hours and have been contested right down to the final turn.  I've yet to see a game where one side completely trounced the other!  Also with the various troops having differing abilities, you need a well balanced and mixed force to be victorious. 

Armies are built using set points so you'll typically have a small elite force an average force or a large poor quality force.  You'll find in building your army, there's never enough points to include everything you need...hehe... 

By design, armies need to fight cohesively.  Units that get isolated from their friends or their commander won't last long, especially if they have low motivation.

And the commander is vital to your success.  He is able to intervene to inspire or rally your troops (by adding dice to their abilities).  This is the constant decision-making element that means that success is more to do with you than a stray bad dice roll!

Then of course there's magic: the one thing I'd say is keep your wizard out of melee!  They add a bit of unpredictability to the game with a suite of spells that allow them to give special abilities or extra dice to nearby units, or with more powerful spells to the whole army. 

I've been play testing them for about a year now and things are nice stable and give a good game.

Hopefully I can get these to market as soon as possible, but as I said – no date commitments at this stage.  Fingers crossed it will happen.

:D :-SS :-SS 8->
Title: Re: Something a lot more orc...
Post by: Fenton on 25 June 2013, 09:57:42 AM
Sounds good...Are you going to release these  through something like wargames vault or as a a hard copy?
Title: Re: Something a lot more orc...
Post by: Luddite on 25 June 2013, 10:16:25 AM
Details to be worked out but both hard copy and pdf are on the cards.
Title: Re: Something a lot more orc...
Post by: fred. on 25 June 2013, 07:28:45 PM
Sounds interesting - I shall await developments.  :)
Title: Re: Something a lot more orc...
Post by: Duke Speedy of Leighton on 25 June 2013, 09:33:45 PM
Just let me know when you release the Halflings vs Gobbos supplement!
Title: Re: Something a lot more orc...
Post by: nikharwood on 26 June 2013, 08:31:43 PM
Sounds good to me, Luddite  8)
Title: Re: Something a lot more orc...
Post by: Maenoferren on 27 June 2013, 09:41:17 PM
Looking great :)
Title: Re: Something a lot more orc...
Post by: kyussinchains on 03 July 2013, 08:29:15 AM
looking great, love the basing and real 'horde' feel of the army, may have to steal some of your ideas for my own orcs (if I ever get around to them!) looking forwards to the dwarfs next!
Title: Re: Something a lot more orc...
Post by: Fenton on 31 July 2013, 05:30:48 PM
Any updates on the rules yet Mr Luddite?
Title: Re: Something a lot more orc...
Post by: Luddite on 01 August 2013, 09:50:33 PM
I'm working through the army lists at the moment.

Title: Re: Something a lot more orc...
Post by: Fenton on 10 December 2013, 04:55:35 PM
Any new development on these Luddite?
Title: Re: Something a lot more orc...
Post by: Orcs on 10 December 2013, 08:09:52 PM
Quote from: Luddite on 25 June 2013, 10:16:25 AM
Details to be worked out but both hard copy and pdf are on the cards.

Luddite, Have you looked at getting them on Lulu - The publishing website not the singer.  :)

Although despite her being 62 sh is still a nice bit of Totty. :P
Title: Re: Something a lot more orc...
Post by: Leon on 10 December 2013, 09:01:27 PM
There may be some delay at my end, as we're looking to work with Luddite on this.  I've got the rules here, I just need to give them a good read through and add some nice formatting, etc.

Title: Re: Something a lot more orc...
Post by: Fenton on 10 December 2013, 09:02:17 PM
Please hurry