It's no secret that I'm a fan of miniature use in role-playing games, but for our Manaburst game I wanted to try something different.  I was worried that if the players - who were new to FATE - saw the miniatures on the table it might distract from the looser, narrative way FATE designates location in a scene.  So I decided to try something new:

A sample combat zone setup for a boarding action.

Whenever a map is necessary, I sketch one out on a pad of paper and thumbtack it down to a couple cork tiles.  We then use straight pins to mark locations and move them around as necessary.  The pack of small push pins I purchased contained three different colored pins, which helps keep from confusing groups on the map.

For the PCs or important NPCs I use larger pins, with the PCs' getting extra attention.  I had asked the players for pictures of their characters before the campaigns started so I could surprise them with their pins at the first game.  I cropped and resized these pics before printing them out as two .75" x .75" squares side by side which were wrapped around pins and taped into place.  It makes it easier for each player to quickly see their own pin given the smaller size of the maps we use.

So far the only complaint has been that the maps can be a little small, but that could be easily resolved with some larger cork tiles.  Other than that, though, the process has been quick and abstract, allowing more room for narration.  Seems like a success to me.

When I first started playing, most locals sleeved their cards individucally and kept them in a deck box. I quickly adopted this method and found a couple products that I really liked - Dragon Shield card sleeves and Ultra Pro deck boxes.  I've used this set up for years - it's quick and dirty but it works.  I never had any problems at all in actual play, but as my army collections started getting bigger, keeping the cards sorted became harder - I started chucking whatever I had played back in the box after each game.  Searching for cards when building armies on the fly started taking longer and longer, so I started looking at alternatives.

Alternatively the Dragon Shield Box will double as a cheap (but less durable) deck box.

A number of locals swear by keeping their cards in an Ultra Pro4-Pocket Album. At first I was a little leery but I decided to try out this method for my Legion cards to see how easy it was to keep cards sorted when every card I removed from the binder to play left behind a blank spot to return it to when finished.

The strap is removable and the loops allow you to clip this to your mini case.

As soon as my first game got underway I realized a big flaw in this method - 4-pocket pages hold cards loose enough to let them slip around and out from under where you had been marking damage.  That was easily fixed though - I slipped my beasts into dragon shield sleeve and in turn slipped those in turn into the 4-pocket page.  The tighter fit keeps the card from moving, and I haven't any issues since.

So far the album has been easier to keep organized, especially once I purchased some sticky tabs to attach to the first page of each model type (warlocks, warbeasts, solos, units, and minions) for quick reference.  I keep blank sheets in the front of the binder to move the cards for my current army into, then remove those from the binder for actual play.

I'm still waffling on which method I prefer more; the quick and dirty or the more elaborate more organized.  Then again I wouldn't be surprised if there was a better solution that I haven't found yet.

the...

LEADER!!!!

The studio picture of the Legion of Everblight Hex Hunters unit has just been released, showing the full unit of these sorcerous elves, minus UA whose existence was spoiled earlier last month. I'm not a vest man myself, but the biker mages aren't bad overall.

But they do bring up one aspect of PP's unit design that came up in discussion at the FLGS during the last tournament - the unique non-leader. We were discussing Idrians at the time as one of the biggest offenders, but the Hex Hunters here are the same way. Looking at the unit, we see four sculpts that are duplicated and two unique poses.

Two? I'm not against variety, but why the second unique pose? Why not just one unique pose so the leader is obvious? In general it's possible to figure out who it's 'supposed' to be by looking at the packaging and/or the book the model appears in, but it seems to me that there's no real benefit in the second unique pose, plus it costs PP more since it's an extra sculpt to commission.

I've played quite a few games where after deployment my opponent has pointed out which model is the leader of his unit, indicating a sculpt other than the one that actually fills that role. On a few rare unfortunate cases (mostly MkI) after I eliminated the leader sculpt mid-game I was informed that the casualty wasn't the sculpt that the player used as the leader.

In general unless it's a winner-bracket tournament match, I'll let these slide but polite point out the intended leader and ask the player to mention it ahead of time if he's using a different sculpt. But for my models I try to avoid the mess all together - that's why I base all of my unit leaders standing on rock outcroppings while the rest of the unit stands on the flocked 'ground' of the base.

I've seen players who paint their leaders with some sort of visual marking instead, and if done prominently enough that works well too. A thin line might not be sufficient but a different color helmet or cloak will make a model stand out clearly on the battlefield an mark it as a leader model.

Warmachine and Hordes are open-information games. All spells, effects, abilities, and all other characteristics of your models are available to your opponent at any time. So make sure that your opponent knows what models are leading your units. After all time spent discussing which model is which is time you're not playing!

Spirals aside, I definitely think that the Hordes cards came out looking better than their Warmachine counterparts. The contributor is the card backgrounds themselves. Where the Warmachine card backgrounds are gear-filled and busy, the Hordes cards have more organic and subtle designs without light-effects. They encourage the eye to look past them instead of jarring the eye to stare at them like the Warmachine cards do. The cards just feel less busy overall, and as a result also feel more spacious and less cluttered.

The spiral issues is just a personal gripe of mine that isn't going to change one way or the other. Spirals aren't going to change (unfortunately) so it's just something I have to accept. Although I will say the MkII Spirals are definitely better than their MkI counterparts. The spirals are larger and each aspect has a different colored background, making it easier to follow them around the spiral.

So overall the MkII Hordes cards are definitely a step in the right direction. There are a few areas of design that could be improved but overall it will definitely service for the next couple years.

Buh-bye now

The actual construction of the new templates is pretty rudimentary. The template itself is sized at 4" x .75", so I cut the required shape out of a piece of balsa wood I had left over from an old terrain project. A simple cut-out would have been more than sufficient as a template, but I went online and found a fire texture that I resized and printed out to glue to the template. Making a template "pretty" is hardly necessary but the most convenient templates and game aids are those that are immediately recognizable for what they are at only  a glance.

4" x .75" Wall of Fire template

Just like the tokens that I create, I used UHU glue on the templates, since it doesn't warp thin surfaces when applied like PVA glue will. But first I took a sharpie and edged the wood black to make it look more finished. You can do this after applying the label but then you run the risk of marking over it. Edging the template first means you can afford to be a little sloppy.

After that dries, I apply the glue thin enough and make sure the edges are covered (so the paper won't peel up) and then apply the printout, making sure to affix it evenly.

Old & new wall size comparison

I only applied the fire to one side of the wall templates. I could have done both just so I didn't have to bother with flipping the template if I grabbed the wrong side, but if I ever play a faction that has access to the other wall spells - like Searforge - I'll place their wall on the reverse side for convenience.

Granted, the rules play just as well either way, and there are plenty of communities that are using the MkII printout exclusively and aren't having any issue.  It's really just a psychological thing, but since the MkI rules are still solid enough to play, I'm finding it difficult to give up my cards for some printouts.

January can't get here quick enough.

Around St. Louis, cut-out cardstock templates have been replaced by brass rings that can be found at most craft/hobby stores.  These rings are  found in 3", 4" and 5" diameters, making them perfect for the various AOE template sizes that Warmachine and Hordes use for cloud effects.

The handy thing about these rings is that you can drop them around and between models with little difficulty.  It's possible that you may still have to drape one over a model if it's standing right on the edge of where you want to place your template, but 90% of the time using rings grants you a flexibility in template placement that a solid cutout doesn't provide.

As a side note, most folks carry these these by clipping them to the side of their army transport bag with a carabiner key chain.  When it's time to play you can unclip them from your bag and carry them to the table, using the carabiner to keep them together when not in play.

You can see from the link above how cheap a handful of rings is, so I recommend picking up a handful to try out the next time you're in your local craft store.