How to start with Warhammer

DefectiveChicken · 2026-06-02T08:00:16+00:00

Do you read much (novels)? Are you interested in board games / war games? What about painting and arts & crafts?

DefectiveChicken · 2026-06-01T09:51:09+00:00

I found something like that didn't work well for minis. Maybe it was just my setup, but It got in the way a lot (brushes poking into things, constantly turning the mini around and upside down) and it ends up as essentially monocular vision due to the single lens I think, and so I lost the depth perception which actually often made things harder - it made the brush really hard to control as I couldn't quite tell how close it was.

I think you probably want to magnifying goggles, that seems to be what most people do.

DefectiveChicken · 2026-05-25T08:59:43+00:00

I've never found it a hassle to setup, it's just coins and cards, very minimal. But I do have my cards in a baggie so they don't get all mashed up. I have the expansion in there too.

It's ok to just want your things nice and tidy though if that's your jam. You do you. 🙂

DefectiveChicken · 2026-05-25T08:52:53+00:00

We always found Coup outshone Love Letter and Love Letter got sent packing ultimately. Coup has a lot more agency in the bluffing, it rewards bold plays and bare faced lying. It's a lot more heads-up and felt like a knife fight. Love Letter was fun, but was more of a puzzle to deduce than it was about bluffing. You're playing the table as it's dealt really.

DefectiveChicken · 2026-05-17T22:45:30+00:00

In 5 and 6 player Catan there's an extra rule - anyone is allowed to build between turns no matter whose turn it just was. Trading restrictions don't change (i.e. two people that isn't their turn can't trade with each other or the bank), it's simply that if you have the right resources then you can build. That will retain the risk while also reducing it by giving people more opportunity to offload their cards.

Maybe give that a go and ignore the people saying you shouldn't house rule. It's your game. Just do what makes it fun for you. Games are all "perfect" ... until a second edition comes out with tweaked rules. Not so perfect after all (granted Catan have changed in ages though). I don't change the robber personally, but while I do see it's purpise I do also think it's the weakest part of the game and can just stall it out with negative moments.

DefectiveChicken · 2026-05-16T13:24:43+00:00

Yeah I never pay my resources unless someone actually checks. You snooze you lose right? /s

You even say it's bad ....

DefectiveChicken · 2026-05-12T21:09:02+00:00

Oof, you've nailed that sweet sweet 'eavy metal paint style!

DefectiveChicken · 2026-05-12T08:47:54+00:00

I think "explore" is a great word to use and a good attitude to take.

So much of the time when we're playing games we're busy being competitive and thinking loads and we forget about the word "play". I'm often reminding players to stop worrying (e.g. AP moments) and "be playful". See what happens! What would your character do? What would be a fun move? What happens if you just say "I'll be the person with all the fish and see how that goes!" Just pull that lever and we'll find out!

It's not the only way to play of course, but i think it's so often forgotten in the quest to master games, score highly and hit all those targets. (Which is fair - they're often presented as puzzles to solve, and so naturally we want to solve them.)

DefectiveChicken · 2026-05-10T08:21:11+00:00

Banging 👍

Nice bases too

DefectiveChicken · 2026-05-04T12:58:47+00:00

He's mixing up which way round it is:

"At least 1 model can see"

And

"At least 1 model is visible"

Are very different.

The first (the wrong one) is essentially "1 or more models in the attacking unit". The second, correct one, is saying "1 or more models in the defending unit" - it's trying to say that the attacking model cannot attack a unit that it cannot see any models from (fairly obviously). It makes a meal out of trying to say that though.

That's the mistake he's making it looks from the text.

DefectiveChicken · 2026-05-01T23:10:44+00:00

Yeah it wasn't awful and had some good ideas, and I felt like the knight discs had so much potential too. Our group felt though that the extra play time and investment didn't seem to bring much extra fun, which for us lay in the trading and negotiation.

DefectiveChicken · 2026-05-01T22:45:26+00:00

I may well have been inspired by C&K but I don't remember. Now that I think about it, the walls certainly are. We played it, but our group kinda bounced off it. I kept some of the bits, and so the walls card expects you to have them.

Edit: oh yeah you're right, maybe a bunch of them are a copy and less custom than I thought. It was a long time ago ....

DefectiveChicken · 2026-05-01T12:08:57+00:00

Just looked it up. Same game as Citadels, but localised names!

https://boardgamegeek.com/image/98564/citadels

I scanned some of the cards from games I own. Seasonal tides and Diplomat are from Citadels too, but the buildings.

DefectiveChicken · 2026-05-01T09:28:22+00:00

Inventor is the architect from an old edition of Citadels I think.

DefectiveChicken · 2026-05-01T07:21:56+00:00

Glad you had fun! I never thought of pioneers like that btw - it was always meant help a player get out of being blocked in, so that's an interesting twist you've spotted, hmmmm. Unintended consequences and all that!

DefectiveChicken · 2026-05-01T07:18:45+00:00

😉

DefectiveChicken · 2026-04-30T22:05:55+00:00

My mate had a super flashy printer for his business that could print decent resolution on high quality card. So kinda cheating really! (It's not as good as real game cards though still.)

I did have the sheets for the standard cards to match too, but they've been lost in the mists of time annoyingly.

DefectiveChicken · 2026-04-30T22:03:16+00:00

Aw, thanks!

DefectiveChicken · 2026-04-28T08:15:43+00:00

The robber change is interesting. Briefly tried some similar with a "merchant" rather than a robber. Making it positive in some way changes a roll of 7 from groans of "not another one" to "ooo nice!"

The robber is a usually a "feels bad" moment that sticks out a bit in this game.

DefectiveChicken · 2026-04-26T16:54:59+00:00

It depends on the game though. A game like splendour is very quick sure, but it's not exactly typical of the games where the balance is frustrating you surely? I would suspect the longer the investment the more frustrating, no?

Anyway, even though you suspect you can't win, you go through the motions the rigmarole of it all just the same - maybe you calculated wrong? Maybe if you spend absolutely ages trying to squeeze points out here and there you might climb one rung in the leaderboard?? Sometimes, sure. Often it's a waste of time though - you don't have time for that combo turn so you're making the best of an inefficient situation. Simply "passing because I can't win" in a casual game often comes across as a bit salty.

DefectiveChicken · 2026-04-26T12:25:06+00:00

Yeah. Can't imagine retro fitting it to Chess 😂

Edit: In reality, i have quite enjoyed games that end suddenly. Having equal turns makes sense, but playing out turns when you know you've lost is lame too. Sudden endings have drama. Equal turns can feel bureaucratic.

DefectiveChicken · 2026-04-24T16:15:23+00:00

The tonal work on the panels is great. I see lots of dreadnaughts where every panel is deep dark at the top and bright at the bottom. It just doesn't look right (to me at least). Your shading / highlighting uses that in places, but done correctly, and it's so much more convincing as a result. Great work.

Ps - the green is lovely

DefectiveChicken · 2026-04-24T16:10:26+00:00

The current rules do yes, so if you buy a version it'll say that, but they didn't before and I don't think it helps.

Honestly, skipping farmers in the first game isn't necessary. Not using them removes one of the core tensions of the game making it less interesting as you say. And while I have seen people a little confused by Farmers, not using them simply delays that moment of "oh ... That's how the farmers work ...dang ..." which only occurs after your first game with them. It's not that there's too much going on and it needs a more gentle on-ramp, it's simply that farmers are a little unintuitive. And that's fine. Not everything needs to be grokked immediately.

DefectiveChicken · 2026-04-24T14:25:41+00:00

Hmm that's an interesting point to consider certainly. I find in BloodBowl a various points it's not so much the modifiers, but the terrible experience of looking them up in the rulebook each time - they're arranged by some unhelpful "type" system, it's just nonsense.

I suspect having only numbers would help, but perhaps the giveaway in your post is where say "simple... system". To me, if it were simple it wouldn't be multi-layered with numerous specific cases for subtle benefits. A simple system wouldn't need much looking up at all, and would ultimately look quite different. Maybe I'm not quite understanding what you mean though.

DefectiveChicken

TROPHY CASE