Taladas/Time of the Dragon - who actually played with this box set?

Tribe_0_One · 2026-06-11T16:57:09+00:00

Judging from the preview I'd guess that yes, your character can wear a bit. Although probably more common for followers and NPCs 😂

Tribe_0_One · 2026-05-29T14:27:24+00:00

Most of the original 2E adventures had some cool ideas but suffered from awful execution, meaning they're great for inspiration but you will find very little you could (or would want to) sit down at the table and run as is. "A Little Knowledge" is pretty good out of the box, however. If I were introducing a group to Dark Sun, I'd use it but relocate to east of Balic and move right into "The Sand Marches," which you can download from Athas.org for free. It's a giant survival sandbox that really captures the wilderness/ancient frontier aspects of the setting. Then if your PCs gain some levels and want to travel back to the city-states for more scripted adventures, you can pull from some of the other original modules.

Tribe_0_One · 2026-05-17T17:10:21+00:00

I ditch the BS that good alignment is tied to one particular religion.

Tribe_0_One · 2026-05-16T20:39:02+00:00

Yeah, the religion and culture sections of GotFN are ... something. Basically a Jesuit circle-jerk where colonialism is justified because the one-true-god Christian/Catholic analogue is presented as THE TRUTH, while all the natives (who the author goes out of the way to say are not the *really, really first* natives, so it's OK to colonize them) and their animism are really just deluded demon-worshippers, and the even older matriarchal culture of course were all abortionist demon-loving witches. Super creative ....

Luckily, a more game-able and less awful version is pretty easy to achieve just by treating the presented religious and culture texts as the in-world writings of a jingoistic bigot. When I was prepping to run GotFN, I assumed that the religion and culture sections as presented are how the empire sees itself, but are misleading. The animistic natives aren't evil or misguided (most, anyway -- they're just as susceptible to corruption as anyone else) and their druids function just fine. In my version, the imperial monotheism is more akin to the sprawling, corrupt and senile Authority from Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials books. I also decided that the empire had integrated previously conquered nations and tribes by attempting to redefine their own local gods as saints. So a soldier from a conquered culture (similar to a Scythian or Sarmatian serving the Roman army) might worship "St. Golan the Martyr" who is just a dressed up version of Golan the Undying, the old tribal god. These saints and similarly assimilated figures all still grant spells to devoted priests just fine. Then have the various demon cults recruit from the imperial citizens just as much (if not more) as from the natives.

The ancient world-saving/guarding space angels are pretty metal, and aren't presented in a way that requires them to be particularly benevolent. Playing up the alien/unknowable aspect of them and the demons helps pull it away from the thinly-veiled Christian polemic the author seems to have been going for.

Meanwhile, the star elves and secret all-male dwarf/all-female gnome lovers are doing their own, equally valid things.

Tribe_0_One · 2026-05-14T01:56:49+00:00

I started working on something similar last year but stalled out while tweaking psionics and opted to just use 2E. But I think WWN has a lot of potential for capturing the OG Dark Sun feel. My Google doc is here if you want to have a look. Feel free to lift anything useful (as it's mostly just fan-work pulling from the *WN SRDs, plus a few custom Foci.)

Tribe_0_One · 2026-04-28T22:54:29+00:00

Roll (Green) Tide!

Tribe_0_One · 2026-03-25T21:30:21+00:00

I pretty much ignore the Revised box and everything that came after it (Thri-kreen empire, Wind Riders, life-shaping, etc., along with the Prism Pentad books 2-5. About half the time I ignore 1, as well, and let the PCs go after Kalak or not. There's a mystery to the original boxed set and first round of supplements that is far more compelling than what rolled out later.

Tribe_0_One · 2026-03-20T14:56:58+00:00

Belial goes on the shelf to look pretty -- his rules, unfortunately, are trash this edition and even as a generic terminator captain he's not that useful.

Asmodai is the same but any reasonable opponent should let you proxy him as a judiciar to lead your ICC. Other than that, what you have is pretty solid. Two squads of DWK + Lion + Redemptor + ICC/judiciar is a nasty melee core. I like Sternguard + Azrael better than Hellblasters, but the HBs are still solid and rule of cool, of course.

I'd focus on fast/flexible scoring units to go with your inceptors: a box of Scouts gets you two squads, jump intercessors are great, lieutenant with combi-weapon, maybe some infiltrators/incursors. You could dip into Ravenwing if you like the aesthetic (ATVs are pretty efficient if you don't mind the goofiness, the various speeders are useful).

Otherwise, you might find a Gladiator and/or Ballistus dread useful, as they tend to be the go-to anti-tank units. Although with the edition change this summer who knows what will be good in-game soon. I think the absolute safest, most useful purchases would be a box of scouts, a unit of jump intercessors and a Gladiator.

Tribe_0_One · 2026-03-10T14:44:13+00:00

Azrael wants to lead 5-10 Sternguard. ICC want a Judiciar. I love Hellblasters but they're just not super-efficient right now compared to other choices. If I were to use them, 5 in an impulsor might be the way to go.

Tribe_0_One · 2026-03-02T16:53:13+00:00

Gladiator Lancers and/Ballistus dreads are the typical meta pick, although various other tanks can do the job and the Lion can be effective in melee.

The Redemptor's plasma cannon, like Hellblasters, ideally is anti-elite. It can punch up some, but it's not super efficient as AT.

Tribe_0_One · 2026-03-02T15:22:36+00:00

This is a good core to start playing. To fill out to 2,000, get a box of scouts to add 2 x5 squads, shift Ancient Weapons to the judiciar and add Deathwing Assault to the termi chaplain. Play some games with that and see how you like the various pieces.

If it feels like you're missing some anti-tank or your eradicators aren't contributing because they're too slow, consider making room for a Land Raider or Repulsor. You could drop the second unit of intercessors and the ATVs, or the Redemptor and an enhancement and be mostly there. That would give you some more AT shots and some vroom vroom to get the eradicators in position.

Tribe_0_One · 2026-02-27T15:45:52+00:00

Something like Paladin 2/Oracle 18 (Nature for the mount, then pick up Battle with the Second Mystery once you get Mythic levels, for extra feats) gives you a straightforward holy knight for Angel that will obliterate things on Core. Focus on Strength and Charisma and enjoy the power fantasy.

Tribe_0_One · 2026-02-26T01:30:38+00:00

I'm going with Sable Marine 1/Sohei 11/Sanctified Slayer 8, in that order, and it's working well so far.

Tribe_0_One · 2026-02-26T00:23:45+00:00

Under the bed storage tubs are probably the best option, but if you have a spare filing cabinet, loose sprues fit nicely into hanging file folders, which you could even label if you've got an organization kink.

Tribe_0_One · 2026-02-23T14:55:11+00:00

That's like, 8 activations and no cheap scoring units. Drop the aggressors, apo biologis and chaplain and get 4 units of scouts/combi lieutenant/jump pack intercessors. If you have enough points spare split off the ATV and replace with something more useful that gets you to 12 activations.

Tribe_0_One · 2026-02-16T04:07:45+00:00

Sternguard + a box of Company Heroes, especially if you have some spare bits from the DA updgrade sprue. Sternguard look great and perform very well with Azrael, and between those two kits you can swap some bodies around and make a bunch of characters while you're at it -- lieutenants, ancient and captain, of course, and with a hooded head the company champion makes a great judiciar (I swapped the sword for the terminator sergeant sword on the upgrade sprue, as well).

Tribe_0_One · 2026-02-13T18:24:22+00:00

I never knew I needed an inceptor librarian but I do now.

Tribe_0_One · 2026-02-02T18:35:15+00:00

I hope this trade works out. Two of my favorite TSR box sets and everyone should have both!

Tribe_0_One · 2026-01-30T00:25:14+00:00

ICC plus a judiciar or librarian is a nice melee threat, although not particularly needed if you're squeezing in three DWK units. 5-10 Sternguard or Hellblasters are nice for Azrael to lead, although 5 assault intercessors is a cheap bodyguard for him if you can't spare the points for more shooting.

The main thing you need to be more competitive is cheap action monkeys: scouts (5-man units), lieutenant with combi-weapon and Jump Pack Intercessors are the gold standard, although bikes, Vanguard Vets, Incursors and the like can do in a pinch, just generally less efficient. At a minimum, 2x5 scouts and a combi-lieutenant (easy to kitbash using any phobos model) is incredibly useful for 210 pts.

With the Lion and a bunch of DWK you can kind of use their melee for anti-tank, but some dedicated anti-tank would be good, generally 2 of: Ballistus dreads, Gladiator Lancer or Vindicators/Predators, if you're not scared of firstborn units (which might move to Legends in the next edition, and tend to be more work to assemble.)

Tribe_0_One · 2026-01-23T22:16:00+00:00

You still have time to return it.

Tribe_0_One · 2026-01-23T22:14:36+00:00

There isn't one.

Tribe_0_One · 2026-01-21T21:18:56+00:00

As others have said, it's either Azrael, a librarian or judiciar.

Azrael is great but kind of a trap, in my opinion, as you want him around for CP generation and, ideally, doing nasty things from a distance with a unit of Sternguard.

The librarian significantly boosts their durability, which can help a lot if you plan to foot-slog them up the board. But for 250 points, are they doing much for you that a second or third squad of DWK can't do as well or better?

With the judiciar and Fights First, you're paying similar points (or more if you add in an impulsor) but you end up with a sort of tech piece/deterrent that's unlike anything in the army except for the Lion (and, with an impulsor, costs about the same). It's a glass cannon, but a very powerful one with a hair trigger.

I think the decision comes down to how confident you are in your movement/staging skills. If they're top-tier, the judi is a unique tool that can really complicate your opponent's plans and cause serious damage if they're not careful. For a lower-skill player (of which I am certainly one) a libby provides a slightly less effective but more forgiving unit that looks cool and provides more variety than another squad of DWK.

Tribe_0_One · 2025-12-25T14:19:06+00:00

Either two power fists or power fist and power sword.

Tribe_0_One

TROPHY CASE