Lieutenant General George S. Patton
Re: The Continuing War Efforts

Ladies and Gentlemen,

This meeting has been called to discuss the forthcoming war efforts. Recent additions to the war include the results of Operation: Novgorod and the inclusion of the Matriarchy. The results of Tesla’s defection have proven costly. Recently agents have reported new activity in a number of areas.

Operation Daedalus will be a mission to recover the legendary minotaur, Asterios. This creature is no myth, and we must do everything we can to prevent either of our enemies from recovering him. He will be found deep in the island labyrinth, and will prove to be a massive asset should he be contained. The terrain may prove deadly, with new features and powerful traps. Also hidden within is the legendary platform system of Daedalus! These platforms allow the instant transport of someone, or something, across the labyrinth.

Ladies and Gentlemen, once again we entrust our future to the handful of men and women forming our specialist squads. They will be in my mind and heart, I pray they are in yours as well.

Dismissed!

George S. Patton

Operation Daedalus is the newest expansion for Tannhäuser, and is fully compatible with the material found in the base game and Operation: Novgorod. This expansion will take your game to the next level with two brand new maps. The labyrinth of Minos is the target of Operation: Daedalus as each faction is sending a force to capture the powerful and terrifying minotaur. Each scenario will pit your team against the deadly traps and terrors held within this maze. If the hazards aren’t deadly enough, the spirit of Asterios, the legendary minotaur, is haunting the twists and turns as he attempts to bring himself back to our plane. Featuring all new modifier circles, forced movement, and the ever present danger of the minotaur, the Labyrinth of Minos is sure to deliver nail biting action.

The second map is set in the outdoor Outpost of Gévaudan, and also elevates your play experience. This map brings the deadly capabilities of the sniper to bear. An all new icon for you to exploit, the sniper post allows you to target models not on your path!

From detonating the labyrinth to battling the enraged spirit of Asterios, Daedalus offers an immersive linked six scenario campaign. In these scenarios, the mercenaries Wolf and Gorgeï make an appearance. To ensure everyone will able to play these awesome scenarios, Fantasy Flight Games is proud to announce that Wolf will be for sale wherever Daedalus is sold. That’s right, Wolf will be for sale through our online store and your friendly local game store.

Do you have what it takes to get to the heart of the maze? Can you survive your opponent’s forces, the deadly traps, and the wrath of the spirit of Asterios long enough to understand the secrets held inside?

Find out with Operation: Daedalus!

Tannhäuser is a squad-based board game for 2-10 players, set in a U-chronic past. WWI has never ended and the forces of the Reich have turned to the occult. The forces of the Union have delved into alien technology and developed deadly weapons of war. Using the revolutionary Path-Finding System, Tannhäuser is quick and easy to play.

Last week, we introduced you to three formidable Dragons that will be flying onto shelves this fall. BattleLore: Creatures, much like Dragons, introduces players to three new monstrosities to unleash upon any force foolish enough to stand in their way. Two of these figures are variant forms of the promotional creatures that appeared previously.

Sharing a forest home with the Wood Wyvern is the Wood Giant. Towering over his foes, the Wood Giant is able to defend both allies and lair by hurling massive logs! This devastating ranged attack must come from tiles that contain a forest, but the giant isn’t afraid to leave his home to crush invading forces.

A mighty warrior was once tasked with removing a powerful creature from the land. He journeyed far until he reached the creature’s lair. He shot arrows into the cave, hoping to draw the monster out. As the creature ventured forth, he got his first glimpse of this powerful monster. The powerful body, the sinuous movement, the multiple heads... multiple heads? As the warrior attacked the beast, he was able to sever one of these heads. Much to his horror, the head not only grew back, it grew back alongside another head! This creature is the deadly Hydra! Now you can field the might of this mythic monster, and as the creature is wounded is gets far stronger. Every head removed is a new head added, and each head is able to launch its own attack!

Our final creature is the most magical of all. Brought forth from the power of the Magic Vortex, the Rock Elemental is able to appear almost anywhere on the battlefield! This powerful ability, combined with the sheer strength of this creature, can be truly devastating. As this creature can strike without warning, the enemy will be forced to guard his movement, keeping the possible angles of attack right where he wants them.

FFG is proud to see these powerful new additions to the BattleLore line. Make sure to check out the product page for full details on all the great components found in these new expansions. And check back, as we will be previewing these beasts in the weeks to come!

Set in a world that bridges history and fantasy, BattleLore is board game that puts players in command of a vast array of miniature troops on the battlefields of medieval Europe. Using the easy-to-learn Commands and Colors system, players can wage thrilling battles without a lengthy time commitment.

Greetings Rogue Trader fans!

I want to share with you some of the details about a concept near and dear to the heart of any Rogue Trader: making his fortune and wresting profit from the stars!

During the development of Rogue Trader, I asked two of my authors, Reason and Owen Barnes, to work on a system that would accurately represent how and why Rogue Traders operate. We needed a set of mechanics to represent the vast amounts of wealth that a Rogue Trader deals with, and we needed a set of mechanics to allow a Rogue Trader to pursue that wealth in any manner he chooses.

Owen Barnes is one of the primary writers for Rogue Trader, and I would like to share his thoughts on these elements of the game line below:

Profit Factor and Endeavours

A big part of Rogue Trader is the acquisition of wealth and power. So when Ross asked me to work up a system for representing this in the game I was very psyched to be involved in this integral aspect of the book. Having designed a lot of the core rules for Dark Heresy, including the monetary system (lifted pretty much as is from WFRP) this was kind of a second chance for me to implement a wealth system for the 40k setting. One that would capture the grandeur and scope of a Rogue Trader’s dynasty, but also at the same time be versatile enough to be applied to other settings.

Now, I am a fan of wealth systems for modern and sci-fi settings—especially in cases where the players have a lot of resources at their command. It just doesn’t make sense that you should be counting pennies to buy a bolt pistol when you command a legion of assault troopers and a billion ton starship. They create a nice abstract sense of money changing hands behind the scenes and wealth tied up in property, favours and loans. The trick of course is creating a system that has the scale to go from buying a combat shotgun to a small moon without lots of dice rolls or excessive maths.

So… how does it work? Well Profit Factor works much in the same way as a characteristic – rated between 1 and 100 (however, in the case of the very poor or the very rich, it can be higher or lower). The PCs start off ‘sharing’ their PF (since it represents the resources of their dynasty) but this can change later on and starting PF (modified by a few factors) starts between about 30-40, much like a characteristic. When a PC (or the group) want to acquire a new item, retainer or whatever they make a test against their PF and see if they get it—or if they have to wait—or it just isn’t available or out of their reach.

The real depth of the system, however, is in the modifiers, of which there are three kinds for every acquisition—Availability, Craftsmanship and Scale. The first two, of course, come straight from Dark Heresy (making the system compatible with DH equipment tables) while the third is simply how many of a certain item you are after. In this way buying a single lasgun is a negligible expense for a Rogue Trader and automatic (if PF is modified beyond 100, no roll to acquire the item is necessary) but buying 10,000 might require some expenditure of resources, and thus, a check.

So what does it all actually mean for a Rogue Trader PC? Well, a PF of 30-40 is very good by the standards of Imperial society and places the players quite a way above the vast bulk of humanity. This means that the players will start with pretty much all the top end personal equipment they want, with perhaps the exception of the extremely rare or well made things. But boltguns, plasma pistols, carapace armour, and other such items will all be readily within their reach. And for lesser items like common ammo, low end weapons and most standard gear these will simply be drawn from the dynasty holdings when and as required without the need for rolls or bean counting. Of course, in Rogue Trader, the real purpose of PF will be in the acquisition of things for the group; such as starships, mining colonies, well equipped and trained soldiers or specialist retainers. In much the same way as a Dark Heresy character may covet a bolter or suit of power armour, a Rogue Trader character will dream of Adeptus Mechanicus lance batteries, death cult assassin kill squads, and exclusive writs of passage.

So that is basically how Profit Factor works! However, the other big part of the system (and probably the core of much of the efforts of the PCs) is how to increase it or avoid losing it. This is where Endeavours and Misfortunes come in—basically two tools for the GM to award and remove Profit Factor from the PCs. If you imagine that Profit Factor is like experience points—a measure of power awarded by the GM to the players for their deeds—then an Endeavour is the guidelines for handing out those rewards. In addition to giving the GM an idea of when and how much to reward the players with PF, Endeavours also present the framework for many typical Rogue Trader-y activities, such as founding a colony, exploiting worlds, charting dangerous warp routes, aiding Imperial organisations like the Navy, and of course, trading and exploring. GMs are, of course, free to create their own means of awarding PF, but Endeavours present a host of ready-made examples and guidelines. Just as Endeavour show the GM how to award PF, Misfortunes show how to take it away—presenting some of the many perils that can attack a Rogue Trader’s wealth and how the PCs can try and fend them off.

Used together, Endeavours and Misfortunes create a system where the PCs will be constantly seeking to fill their coffers and increase their wealth, while at the same time fighting to retain what they have won. Such is the life of a Rogue Trader as his fortunes rise and fall amidst the uncaring stars.

Well that’s it for now—hope that gives you some more solid clues as to what to expect from Rogue Trader and you are looking forward to seeing it on shelves as much as I am!

-Owen

Rogue Trader is a roleplaying game set in dark gothic far future of Games Workshop's Warhammer 40,000 universe. Players take on the roles of explorers aboard a Rogue Trader's ship, searching for profit and adventure while discovering new alien cultures and threats in the uncharted regions of space.

by Jay Little

One of the key elements in any roleplaying experiences are the characters the gameplay focus on; the heroes and personalities that interact with the GM and the setting to tell interesting and engaging stories. The player characters are an important part of Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, as well. A PC in Warhammer is not just defined by his race or his characteristics. His career, wealth, talents, and skills all play a part in describing who he is and the role he plays within the setting. This designer diary take a look at the steps in the Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay character creation process.

Step 1: Select a Race
When creating a character for Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, the basic character concept can be strongly influenced by the character’s background and race. There are four races available in the core set – Reikland humans, dwarfs hailing from Karak Azgaraz, high elves, and wood elves. Each race has its own rich history, distinct flavour, strengths, and special abilities.

In addition to background information about each race, and that race’s impact and involvement in the Empire, there are a number of special abilities associated with each race. Player characters of a certain race share these special race abilities in addition to any other abilities they may have from their career or training. Alternatively, if players wish to randomly determine their PCs races, a table is provided.

Step 2: Draw 3 Careers
The next step in the character creation process is to determine the starting career for the character. The character’s career influences his available skills, talents, the advancement options after earning experience, as well as describes the character’s social function and role within the Old World.

         
Click to see which careers you've drawn
 

To determine the character’s starting career, the player shuffles together all the basic career sheets and draws three careers at random. He checks to see if his character’s race is eligible for the careers drawn. If any of the careers are not compatible, the player draws until he has three valid careers. He then chooses which of those three careers he wishes his character to start with.

Step 3: Invest Creation Points
Each player has a number of creation points available to invest in the customisation of his character. The number of creation points available is based on the character’s race. Creation points are spent by the player to invest in his PC’s characteristics, as well as starting wealth and other advancements to improve a character’s starting skills and abilities. Any creation points not spent during character creation are lost – so the players need to invest wisely!

For example, if a player chooses to invest zero creation points in his character’s starting wealth, then the player character starts out broke. A broke character begins play with the clothes on his back (probably old and tattered), a dagger or quarterstaff, and has 5 brass coins.

Step 4: Acquire Action Cards
A character’s action cards provide a broad range of options during gameplay. All characters begin play with a few “basic” action cards. Several of the basic action cards have a minimum characteristic requirement. If a character does not begin play with the required characteristic rating, he does not begin with that basic action card. However, if he later raises his characteristics to meet these requirements, he can choose to acquire these actions later in his career.

Certain careers may have access to other basic actions. For example, wizard careers start the game with a number of petty magic spells, which are considered basic spell actions, and Channel Power, which allows them to generate the power needed to fuel their spells. Priest careers start the game with a number of minor blessings, which are considered basic blessing actions, and the Curry Favour action, which allows them to generate the favour needed to activate their blessings.

Step 5: Determine Stances
The player is now ready to determine his character’s starting stances. The character’s career sheet indicates the default number of conservative and reckless pieces for that character’s stance meter, which can be augmented over time by investing in additional pieces. The player then takes a number of puzzle-fit stance pieces based on the character’s stance makeup. One neutral stance piece is placed in the centre. A number of green pieces are attached to the left equal to the character’s conservative stance rating, and a number of red pieces are attached to the right equal to the character’s reckless stance rating.

Step 6: Select a Party Sheet
Once the individual players have created their characters, they work together to determine what sort of relationship their characters have with each other. Developing a back story or concept of why these characters are working together provides motivation for the characters, as well as potential plot hooks and adventure ideas for the GM.

The players should look through the available party sheets and decide which party sheet best reflects the play style and type of party they want their characters to be in. Each party sheet offers different options to the group. If the group cannot decide, they may wish to randomly draw a party sheet and discuss how their character fits into the concept presented by the sheet.

Finishing Touches
To get the most out of a roleplaying experience, players are encouraged to consider their characters and develop a sense for who they are and how they fit into the setting. What are the character’s motivations? What drives him to action? Who are the important people in his life? What inspired him to take up a life of adventure? Does he have any long-term goals or aspirations?

Is the soldier a battle weary veteran grudgingly forced to take up his sword again when beastmen threaten his home? Or is he an avaricious man, who seeks fame and fortune with his swordarm? Is the initiate of Sigmar a devout and pious man, never questioning the doctrine of his faith? Or is he on a personal quest of redemption to answer the questions burning a hole in his very soul?

By spending a few minutes thinking about a character’s background, motivations, and personality, players can enjoy a much richer, more fulfilling game experience. If a player is not sure how to answer these questions right away, that’s fine, too! One of the exciting thigs about roleplaying games is playing a character who develops and grows over time. And as players become more familiar with the game system, the setting, and their character, more ideas to flesh out their personal stories will emerge.

Set in the grim world of Games Workshop's Warhammer Fantasy universe, Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay is a roleplaying game that sets unlikely heroes on the road to perilous adventure. Players will venture into the dark corners of the Empire, guided by luck and Fate, and challenge the threats that others cannot or will not face.

By now most of you have read the articles (and possibly even the game rules) which can be found here, and now we would like to present you with an exclusive look behind the curtain.

From Concept to Board
The original pitch, from the man himself (“the man” being FFG head honcho Chris Petersen), was simple: “players play the Gods of Chaos corrupting the world.” It was so simple, in fact, that I originally misunderstood; clearly a game concept this obviously cool was already produced! After being told that the game was mine to design, I seized the rare opportunity and ran with it.

The general structure for the game came to me within about half an hour of the initial meeting. For years I had wanted to do a big territory control board game with combat, but never got around to it because I was looking for something more. Having each player play a unique “personality” was the hook I needed. That those personalities are some of the storied icons of awesomeness to ever grace a fantasy world was icing on top of the cake.

A key point which I made sure to hold on to was that this game was not to be like Risk; unit combat was not the primary play pattern. As Ruinous Powers of Chaos, I wanted players to have a more holistic overview of the game they were playing. Which regions to dominate, which ones to corrupt and which ones to ruin? Which battles to fight, and why? How much power to spend on playing highly versatile but temporary chaos cards versus deploying more followers? Avoid the threats posed by the Old World deck or embrace them to further your victory condition? These are the choices I wanted players to face.

The Ruinous Powers
The more I read about the gods of Chaos, the more I realized how important it was that they all feel very different from one another in play. From the beginning I knew that each player would get their own custom deck of chaos cards to influence the board, but after a few initial revisions I decided to take the leap and make sure that not a single card effect was duplicated in more than one deck.

This extra effort paid off in spades. Each of the four Ruinous Powers felt like they were really bringing their own customized battle plan to the table, and they all played out quite differently even under the same set of rules.

I also knew from the beginning that each Ruinous Power would need its own separate victory condition. This would make players’ motivations fall in line with their god’s personality, allowing even the most casual Warhammer fan (or even non-fan) to get a good idea of what each of these foul beings are all about. The particular victory conditions practically wrote themselves, and only Slaanesh’s changed during the extended design period (to make it more flavorful).

The Dials
The biggest challenge with designing this game was to maintain tension between the two victory conditions without making them completely separate. The game wants you to semi-cooperatively corrupt and dominate the world, although only one player may claim supremacy. Each Ruinous Power’s alternate victory condition tugs them in a slightly different direction. How to make the two dovetail seamlessly without breaking the game’s wonderful narrative?

The dials were, as you may have guessed, inspired by FFG’s own Battlestar Galactica board game. But what compelled me to use them was the idea that each Ruinous Power could have a “reward track” that gave them either conquest points or an in-game advantage for playing “in character” throughout the game. The dials neatly replaced the need for charts and also provided nice dramatic moments during players’ first games. In addition, as players “dialed up” they would also increase their threat level, making them more susceptible to the targeted wrath of the Old World’s continuous attempts to expel Chaos.

The key point to the dials is that, while players will ultimately have to choose at some point in the game whether to try to win by straight up conquest or by their alternate victory condition, at no point is “dialing up” a wasted action. You gain conquest points, unit or power upgrades, and other game advantages for simply playing in character … so even if you’ve given up on racing to finish your dial, you still keep momentum on the primary victory condition.

And that’s it for the early design journal for Chaos in the Old World. I hope you have as much fun playing this game as I did designing it. I’d like to use this space to give due thanks to Jeff Tidball for being an amazing producer and JR Godwin and Jay Little for their boundless Warhammer expertise.

Enjoy wreaking havoc on the Old World!

Chaos in the Old World is a game of conquest, pitting the four Ruinous Powers of Chaos against each other for control of the Old World. Players must out summon, out play, and outwit theirs rivals to ensure their domination of the lands for ages to come.

Welcome to the last of four articles about the races found in the Warhammer: Invasion Core set. Each of the races -Dwarfs, Orcs, Empire, and Chaos- is designed to have a unique overall feel, as well as having multiple paths to victory.

Long have the Orc and the Goblin tainted our homes. Long have the forces of Chaos plagued us at our doorstep. We have lost many of our kin. We have lost many of our secrets. No more. Now I call upon every Dwarf to pick up their axe. Now I call upon every Dwarf to stand and take the fight to the savage Orc, to the back-stabbing goblins, to the tainted spawn of Chaos. We shall stand as one nation, and we shall have our vengeance. For too long have the followers of Destruction gone unpunished for their deeds. This grudge is buried now!

Dwarfs are as the mountain – immovable, unforgiving, inexorable. They will eventually crush you under their weight. And gods help you if you ever cross them, for they never forget!

Another thing: the mountain people are master engineers and builders. Their masons and smiths are unmatched in prowess, and they have created some impressive as well as devastating constructs.

Unbreakable
Dwarfs are hard to kill. In fact, if you build your deck in the right way, your units will be nearly impossible to remove from play. When you play the Ironbreakers of Ankhor, your opponents will be hard pressed to get rid of them. They are one of several dwarf units with the Toughness keyword, which soaks some damage each and every time the unit is about to take some.

Look strong? I’d argue that toughness is even better than it looks at first glance, partially because it keeps working until the unit is dead. A unit with toughness 2 and 3 hit points would survive for three combats with an impressive 3-power unit hitting it full strength. And even if you were playing against somebody using Chaos burn, Toughness absorbs 2 from each effect.

Lastly, the Ironbreakers’ toughness is variable, depending on the number of developments you place in the same zone as them. In case you missed it from an earlier article, you may place any card from your hand face down as a development in a zone of your choice, once per turn, increasing the hit points of that section of your capital by one … and as you can see, developments also “turn on” devastating abilities, such as these.

The Bearers of the Grudge
So your opponent finally threw everything they had at your poor Dwarf unit and killed it. Wait … they killed one of your Dwarfs?! Unforgivable! And if it’s one thing the mountain-folk do better than anything else, it’s carrying out grudges of mythic proportions.

The dwarfs have many ways to punish your opponents for daring to do bad things to either your units or your capital. Units like the Dwarf Ranger shoot one point of direct damage anywhere (including a capital!) if any of your units die. And it gets even more awesome… all of these grudge effects are cumulative! If you had three rangers in your quest zone and one of your units was killed, all three of them get to shoot at something! It gets ugly for your opponent very quickly.

What’s even better is that the Dwarfs hold a grudge even if it wasn’t your opponent that did the killing! You’ll find a few weapons of war in your arsenal that require the noble sacrifice of a Dwarf unit to accomplish tasks … which trigger your various grudge-effects. In the right deck, the results can be absolutely devastating.

One last (and more subtle) aspect of the grudge is that Dwarfs have access to some lethal effects that target attacking units. You have to wait until after the effect to use them (thus creating a “grudge situation”), but when your Grudgethrower Assault can kill your opponent’s best attacker, it’s often worth the short term pain.

Engineering 101
As previously shown, Dwarfs can build some nice contraptions, but they also have some impressive buildings. The Keystone Forge ties in to their unbreakable concept by healing your capital by one damage every single turn, as well as providing power in its home zone.

Your poor opponent will have trouble getting through your tough-as-nails defending units (who can also use their power for kingdom management, questing or battle depending on which zone they are in!). And even when they do, your engineering contraptions and awesome buildings will help you rebuild fast!

The key phrase I want you to remember when playing the forces of Order (Empire or especially Dwarfs) is “offensive defense.” The ability to defend yourself with minimal effort leaves you free to build a wicked strong resource and/or questing engine for your capital and then use it to crush your opponent.

Defensive play has never been so scrappy!

As you read this article, the very first preview copies of Warhammer: Invasion are being played. I look forward to hearing about your early experiences with the game on the message boards!

Warhammer Invasion LCG is a card game, by Eric M. Lang, in which 2 players develop their kingdoms and lay waste to their foes. Each side is comprised of either the forces of Order -Dwarfs, High Elves, Empire- or the forces of Destruction -Orcs, Chaos, Dark Elves- as they seek to extend their empire to include the entire Old World.

As the battle draws to a close, the day in nearly won. Knights dismount, removing their battered helms and breathing in the smoking air. Suddenly, a shadow falls across the battlefield, accompanied by the deafening beat of massive wings... and the fight is far from over. This fall, all of Europe shall tremble before the might of three new creatures!

BattleLore: Dragons, the upcoming expansion for the beloved strategy game BattleLore, brings to bear the awesome power of one of the most iconic figures in the fantasy genre. These majestic creatures promise to lay waste to their foes as they fly unhindered about the battlefield.

Silence falls across the forest, and the air smells acrid as small creatures scurry for cover. In these woods, all life knows better than to be around when the Wood Wyvern is flying over head. Armed with a vicious bite and toxic breath, the wyvern is able to poison anything it faces. As the venom courses through the veins of those who stand before it, horrible spasms wrack the victim. The wyvern waits mere moments before the afflicted fall dead at its feet.

Mirroring the deadly effectiveness of its woodland brethren, the Ice Drake descends from the frozen north. Able to fly over a battlefield with ease, this fell creature can unleash the power of the glaciers - freezing enemies in place! While not harmful in and of itself, frozen foes find themselves unable to move or act, making them a perfect target for the Ice Drake’s bite or its allies.

The strongest of the reptilian forces is the Fire Dragon. The gouts of flame issuing from this creature’s mouth are so hot, armor is no protection. As it flies from one side of the battlefield to the other, fire rains from the sky and sets unit after unit ablaze. Once it tires of cooking the enemy, the Fire Dragon has a vicious melee attack to dispatch any remaining fighters.

Make sure to check back, as we will be previewing these beasts in more detail in the weeks to come!

Set in a world that bridges history and fantasy, BattleLore is board game that puts players in command of a vast array of miniature troops on the battlefields of medieval Europe. Using the easy-to-learn Commands and Colors system, players can wage thrilling battles without a lengthy time commitment.

Greetings, Rogue Trader fans!

This week I am pleased to present a guest designer diary by scribe Sam Stewart, the author of the Starships chapter in Rogue Trader.

Sam Stewart Speaks!

So the other day, Ross asked me if I could put together a designer diary going over how to construct a space ship in Rogue Trader. Well, I’ll take any excuse to write about Rogue Trader’s starships, so I pulled out a fresh sheet of parchment, fired up the ol’ auto-quill, and got to work.

The first thing to determine is the ‘budget’ I’m working with. Rogue Trader has rules for determining your starting Profit Factor and Ship Points, with more of one meaning less than the other. To find out how much of each you start with, you roll a single 1d10 on Table 1-5: Starting Profit Factor and Ship Points (found on page 33 of the core rulebook). There are five possible results, ranging from wealthy Rogue Traders with small, modest ships, to impoverished Rogue Traders who still cling to the mighty vessels their dynasty possessed when it was wealthy.

I rolled a “7,” giving me an average amount of Profit Factor and Ship Points. Apparently, the dynasty I’m building this ship for is a relatively new player on the galactic stage, with lots of resources to draw on. Those resources mean I have 50 Ship Points to play with when constructing this vessel. Now that I know how many Ship Points I have, I’ll turn to Chapter 8: Starships to actually build the ship.

First I have to decide what kind of ship I’m going to build, and that means selecting a hull type. There are five different types of hulls, from slow and lumbering transports, fast and fragile raiders, multi-purpose frigates, long-range light cruisers, and heavy and powerful cruisers. The ship’s hull is also what I’ll be spending the most Ship Points on. A complete list of hulls can be found on pages 194-196.

I decide to go with a Sword-class frigate, a venerable mainstay of the Imperial Battlefleet. It has a good balance of Speed, Manoeverability, armour, and potential firepower. It also costs 40 Ship Points, leaving me 10 to purchase Components to augment the starship with. As we’ll see, 10 Ship Points will be plenty to construct this starship (I would always make sure I have at least 5 left over after selecting a hull).

Before I go any further, I have to see what my new ship has gone through before ending up under my pen. That entails rolling on the two Complications tables found on page 197 and 198. The first table, Machine Spirit Oddities, determines some of the quirks my ship’s machine spirit has picked up over its many years of service. There are 10 possibilities, and I roll “Resolute.” My frigate is a bit slower than other ships, but is tougher and easier to repair.

Next, I roll on the second table, Past Histories. Starships in the 40k universe are very old, often owned by many owners, and rebuilt and refurbished countless times. This table suggests some of the activities the ship (and its crew) has been involved in in the past. I get the result “Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing,” meaning this ship has sophisticated masking systems to conceal some of its weapons; perhaps it used to be a pirate vessel, or served time as a Q-ship in the Imperial Navy.

Next, I have to pick out my ship’s Essential Components (listed on page 201). These are things the ship needs to run, like life sustainers and a bridge. There are seven categories of Essential Components, and every ship needs one Component from each category (no more, no less). However, since every ship is expected to have them, most Essential Components do not cost Ship Points. I will have to keep an eye on my ship’s available Power and Space, however. Each component will take up some of each of these resources (which are provided by the ship’s Plasma Drives and Hull, respectively). I’m starting with 45 Power and 40 Space, but my Past History takes up 2 Power right off the bat, and things like my Void Shields and Warp Drives take up even more. Most of the Components I select are the most basic, bare-bones versions, but I use a little extra Power, Space, and one of my remaining Ship Points to upgrade my Bridge to a combat oriented bridge, and buy a more powerful Augur Array. At the end I have 9 Ship Points, 14 Space, and 16 Power left over.

Now comes the really fun part—adding the Supplemental Components. These are things like cargo holds, augmented systems, and (of course) guns. Not essential, but you’ll be glad you have them. (A list of Supplemental Components is found on page 204.)

First, weapons. A Sunsear Laser Battery and set of Mars Pattern Macrocannons for my two Weapon Component slots means my frigate hits hard at long range, and even harder up close. To beef them up even more, I’ll install a Munitorium packed full of laser focusing crystals and macro-warheads. All three Components combined take up 12 Power, 9 Space, and 4 Ship Points. (As a side note, my ship’s Past History will allow me to conceal all three Components from prying scans, giving my opponents a nasty surprise!)

Next, I’ll take a Cargo Hold and Lighter Bay to ensure my frigate can participate in trading endeavors. I’ll also add a Librarium Vault and a Trophy Room. The Librarium is full of accumulated lore on any number of topics, and what Rogue Trader wouldn’t want a grand hall dedicated to his accomplishments? Finally, in the lowest reaches of the ship, I’ll install a set of cryo-pods to store a cadre of Murder-Servitors, invaluable when conducting hit-and-run raids on other ships.

That’s the last of my Power, Space, and Ship Points, and I’m left with a credible and dangerous ship to explore the Expanse with. All I need now is a name, and in honor of the brilliant novels by Patrick O’Brian, I think I’ll call her the Surprise (it’s certainly fitting).

And there you have it: a new ship ready for some plucky Rogue Trader to take into the Koronus Expanse.

Rogue Trader is a roleplaying game set in dark gothic far future of Games Workshop's Warhammer 40,000 universe. Players take on the roles of explorers aboard a Rogue Trader's ship, searching for profit and adventure while discovering new alien cultures and threats in the uncharted regions of space.

On The Level
By David Hanold

Welcome back, Adventurers.

We have delved into several of the characters exploring the world of World of Warcraft: the Adventure Game. We have explored the fury of the warrior, the finesse of the warlock, the deadliness of the hunter, and the skills of the mage. Now we shall look at the combat and level building aspect of the game.

I shall start with the basics. Every encounter card only requires a character to survive for one round of combat. Knowing this we can start to look at statistics and ratios. For instance, the average grey level encounter has between a 1 and 2 attack value, a 5 defense value, and does 1 damage. That means if you are playing a melee character all you need on average to beat a grey level encounter card is a defense value of around 5, giving the character a chance of avoiding the attack. For ranged attacks, it shouldn’t matter if you can pull off a high enough attack to defeat the encounter. Almost all grey level encounter cards use a melee attack value, so for a ranged user all you need to focus on is landing a hit, because if you hit a melee attacker with a ranged attack, then they are defeated before they hit you.

Any character that begins the game with a good hand has a chance against any level up grey space. Keep in mind that all green level up spaces are melee attacks, so a ranged attack just needs to hit. However, a melee character needs to watch their health and make sure they can risk being hit by the encounter. If you know you have the ability cards to handle the green level up space, then you should forget those quests for now and head right for it. If you have not rolled enough movement to get to a green level up space, your best bet is to head for a space that allows you to draw discovery tokens. Depending on the type of token drawn, you should either place it to help you with the level up space or hinder and slow down an opponent. For more about where to place discovery tokens, refer to The Thrill of Discovery. If the other characters get to green level before you, do not feel rushed to level up. If you were in the middle of completing a quest, you should finish it, because valor points are what win the game. 

Green level encounters get just a bit tougher, but not by much. Green encounters still maintain the average 1 or 2 attack value, so a melee character with 5 defense will still do well. Where green encounters differ from grey is in the amount of ranged attacks. Almost 2/3 of the green encounter deck have ranged attacks. Having more ranged encounters thrown into the mix makes winning for ranged characters a little bit harder if they are low on health. About half the green level encounters also have a 6 defense value, so you can be sure that if your opponent is ranged based and has few to no cards in their hand that they will be spending the next turn or two gathering good weapon replacement cards.

Hint: If an opponent appears to be gathering cards, then perhaps they are not ready for player versus player combat. If you have something to gain by eliminating them (from a quest, or to take a really nice item from them), this is your chance to do so with little reprisal.

Don’t think that being melee means a character has it any easier than ranged characters, because many green encounters also have a damage value of 2. The higher damage value offsets the higher health value of the melee based characters. So before attempting green encounters, make sure you have a fair amount of health, a good set of armor, and a good attack value. Ranged characters will not have that slight upper hand against the yellow level up space encounters that they shared with the green level up spaces, because two of the level spaces are ranged attacks and the other has a 7 defense and benefits from low rolls.

Just as one would expect, yellow encounters are tougher than green encounters. Unlike the slight difference in difficulty that grey and green encounters have, the progression in difficulty from green to yellow is significant. Yellow encounters have an average attack value of 1 and 2, a defense between 6 and 7, and still deal 1 or 2 damage. For the early levels I suggested that characters should have certain things in their possession before taking on encounters, now they must have them. A ranged character must have a high weapon replacement card or solid ranged weapon at his disposal in order to guarantee a hit. A melee character must pay attention to their health and needs a very good set of equipment to overcome those attack values of 2 and defenses of 6. Most characters will spend most of the game at yellow level, because yellow encounters reward really good equipment that will stay helpful for defeating red level encounters. Another reason character may find themselves stuck at yellow level for so long, is because many yellow encounters have attacks specifically meant to delay the characters rather than damage them. Prepping for red level up spaces is hard for both melee and ranged character types. Both red level up spaces are ranged attacks with high defenses and deal 2 damage. Knowing what powers you have in your hand, how much health you can afford to lose, and what gear is equipped, one should be able to used that knowledge combined with the information gathered in my other articles to discern if they are ready for red level up encounters or attacking another character that may have exhausted all of their resources.

Upon hitting red level the character should be ready to head right for the overlords and claim victory. The best part about red level encounters is how much less of a threat they are compared to yellow encounters. Only one value average stat changes from yellow to red and that is the defense value, rising to an average of 7 and 8. Another good thing about the red encounter deck is that it houses very few ranged attack encounters. Red level is just like the grey level. The two levels that the characters should spend the least amount of time in are grey and red. Their single purpose is to slow down a character on their way to an overlord. 

Player versus player is encouraged at this point in the game. Watch carefully what cards opponents have played. Take note of things such as if the mage played water elemental and lost it due to taking damage. Maybe even try to coax them into wasting abilities on your character while you keep your key abilities to defeat the overlord. Above everything else you have read, my most important advice is to pay attention and keep mental notes on all opponents’ progress, discovery tokens, and the chart below. Following this simple ratio and statistics layout you should be able to come out on top as the victor, unless your opponent has also read this. In that case who ever does better with mind games, mental notes, and risk taking will come out on top.

World of Warcraft: The Adventure Game Encounter Stats with every expansion added 

As always, thanks again for your time. Up next the first wave of expansion character articles!

World of Warcraft: The Adventure Game puts you on the path to renown. 2-4 players take on the role of fledgling adventurers seeking to become legendary warriors. Each turn sees players completing quests, fighting vicious creatures, and above all, vying for glory!

Which part of the new expansion is your favorite addition?
How can someone choose between his children? :-)

Ok, I’ll try to give a less impartial answer. Having to choose only one module to add, I’d probably vote for the Governors (the “special characters”). They introduce a strong asymmetry between the players and offer a variety of effects (some whose use is more obvious and others less so). They are numerous (thus requiring several plays to explore all of them and their potentials) and also feature some nifty artwork.

Are there going to be scenarios in the expansion as well?
No. The scenarios are an idea that hit me several months later the end of our (Andrea’s and mine) work on the expansion (design, fine-tuning and playtest).

Since they have been well received, I may design more in the future (they will be freely downloadable from FFG website as the current ones). It may be possible that some of those will require the expansion to be played. In such case, I do not intend it as a subtle (or overt) way to publicize the expansion, but rather as a way to thank the players who supported the game buying “To Forge a Realm” (besides, all the elements added or modified by the modules can prove to offer just too much design opportunities to not incorporate them somehow in a scenario or three).

Where do the new development tracks go, above the top (meaning more victory points) or below the bottom (meaning more military focus)?
There are two new tracks: one goes above all the old ones and the other below them.

The upper one is composed by some expensive buildings that offer a decent amount of Victory Points, but whose real goal is to generate resources. A LOT of resources, especially if you manage to complete the whole row (there’s more synergy between its buildings than in many other rows, so you are more tempted to continue to invest in it; but of course you should try to balance the desire to complete such powerful but expensive buildings with the need to protect them against the wintry menaces).

The lower one instead features the cheapest buildings of their columns and effectively is a third military row with some little but nice effects (whose main advantage is to be so easily obtainable) However, the “replacement rows” (featured by another of the modules composing the expansion) for these two extra rows are totally different (being both focused on producing Victory Points, rather than resources and military aids, albeit in different ways).

What are the year events?
A deck of cards, each one representing an Event. One is drawn at random at the beginning of each year and its effect is applied for the upcoming year (three productive seasons and the wintry battle).

Some effects are positive (e.g. “A new quarry is discovered – at the beginning of Spring, Summer and Autumn, one die is rolled: if it scores 4 or more, each player gets a Stone from the supply”), while others are detrimental (e.g. “Bloodthirsty enemies – the invaders of this year get +1 to their Strength”). Since they are drawn at the start of the year, you should be able to react and adapt, rather than being just hit by them. They also tend to affect all players equally, thus introducing an additional random element in the game but without swaying too much the overall balance.

There are almost thirty Events in the deck (all different... with an exception that simply needed a second copy to work as intended) and since you draw only five of them per game, it should take some time to taste them all.

Which aspect of the governors do you enjoy most?
They add a lot of variety. They break the total symmetry existing between the players when the game starts. Each Governor may require a different style of play to better exploit his/her potential. But above all, I like them because they compose the module that takes more time to explore, since there are a bit more than twenty Governors and yet you use only one of them per game (looking at those of the other players is not the same as playing them, since unlike the Events they do not affect you in the same way, if at all. Being on the “other end” of a special power is a very different feeling from that you experience while holding such power yourself).

What is your ideal setup? As in, which elements do you personally play with?
Usually I always add the extra rows, the alternative rows and the Governors. However about half of the times I opt for the Reinforcements tokens instead of the wintry die and sometimes I also throw in the Events.

But when I play with less experienced players, I try to only add one module (or at most two) to introduce them gradually (the goal being to add some new twists to the known game and not to overwhelm people with novelties).  If the same group wants to play again, I may either add another module or swap the previously used one(s) with some other(s). I describe briefly the five modules and let the players pick those they’re most interested to try. After all, as I wrote in the first answer, I like them all. I hope all Kingsburg players will, too!

Kingsburg is a board game where players take on the roles of provincial governors tasked with protecting the furthest frontiers of the kingdom from marauding monsters. At the same time, players must use their influence to enlist the help of the king's courtiers in to civilize the wilderness, build prosperous towns, and earn the most favor from the king. The player who does the best at all of these things will achieve victory!