Chaos In Carpathia Reference Sheet for Secret Objectives

With my geek room not quite finished yet, I find myself continuing on with geek projects of the non-painting variety. In the previous post I revealed my new full-colour Secret Objective Cards. Next for your perusal I have the accompanying two-sided reference sheet. Each player would need one of these sheets and a deck of eight objective cards in order to play

There have been some tweaks and changes over the last year and they are all reflected here. For those who used the cards before, you'll notice that there is far less text on the cards than there used to be. That's because all of the necessary explanations and descriptions have been brought together on the reference sheet so the cards themselves can stay visually-striking and clutter-free. 

In any event, if you plan on using the new reference sheets and objective cards, make sure you read through them. There have been some changes here and there that might affect your warband, albeit not in any major way.

Thanks for reading,
JET

Chaos in Carpathia Secret Objectives - New and Improved

Last year I created a series of Secret Objective Cards for Chaos in Carpathia and we've been playtesting them ever since. Now that all of the wrinkles are ironed out, I thought it was time to make a sexier version of the cards.

For those who tried out the original text-only cards, you can see that the same original eight cards are still here. In addition to the graphic addition to the cards, I've reduced the amount of text. The next stage is to create a two-side playsheet (one per player) that explains game-set up, the objective cards, and the warband-special rules. I should have mine printed and ready for play in time for the soon-to-be updated warband lists.

Happy Halloween and, as always, thanks for reading,
JET

Yes, I'm Still a Geek

I don't know how I fell off the blogging wagon exactly, I just did. Tonight I got a sudden urge to check in and to assure anyone out there who still reads this thing that I am most definitely alive and that my geek life has never been better. Whatever gaming and small spurts of painting I've had over the Spring and Summer have mostly been divided between my two great loves - Impetus and Chaos In Carpathia.

We haven't played much (i.e. any) Impetus over the Summer but there is growth. Stu and I played our first 500-point game featuring his Swiss against my Free Company. You can see my new unit of English Knights below, the gents with the red shields sport the golden axes. Stu's lovely army is comprised of Legio Heroica models.

There is one other guy in the group (also named Jason) who happens to be just as big of a Chaos in Carpathia fan as I am. He is currently painting his 4th warband and, between the two of us, we have playtested and hammered out my Secret Objective and Campaign System. It's the game we just never get sick of us. In fact, you might find some recent game reports on his newish blog. Here are some shots of a game we had over the Summer. The Von Krumms, my Hungarian Monster Hunter warband, continue to be one of my favourites.

So, why haven't we heard from you lately?

Well, in spite of my love of the hobby and the games, there have been some very positive "distractions" as of late. Although my twelve-year old son spends most of his time on his scooter, making videos, and playing PS3, my two-year old requires a lot attention. Here's Jake in all his glory jamming with dear old Dad.

Also, we bought are first house over the Summer. The only major-ish job we took on was to develop the back of the basement area. All of the house stuff has also been eating up time. In fact, my father and I are in the throws of framing up a geek room. The final product will be 11ft x 12 ft and will have ample shelves and a gaming table.

I also am working (or rather, was working before the renovations started) on my 28mm Vikings with an eye to the Dux Bellorum Ruleset. I am in the process of "almost finishing" a number of projects including my 15mm Avar for Impetus and a couple of goblin units for Fantasy Impetus. After the geek room is ready for action, I plan on painting a Brotherhood warband for Chaos in Carpathia, the Alkemy warband I've had lying around for three years, and (no commitment on this one) a few of the guys are starting fleets for Firestorm Armada. I may give that a shot depending on what I see them produce.

Thanks for reading,
JET

Playtesting the New Chaos in Carpathia Lists

Although my blogging continues to suffer, there's been quite a lot of development on the Chaos in Carpathia front lately. I'll show you some shots of some recent games between the other Jason and me. I've been lucky enough to work with Tom Weiss on the improved warband lists so I'll give you a few indications of what's coming when the new list is released.

Jason's Gypsies are a hard nut to crack. The combination of the Knife Fighter ability along with the Dancing Girl's Mesmerize ability and the Old Woman's Gypsy Luck ability make them a very unique warband to face.

We've gotten into the habit of laying out interiors right next to the outdoor terrain set-up. Here we see Brechen (sword-raised) scouting into the dungeon ahead of the Master Vampire. I just recently painted the Master. The new Romanian Vampire list makes the Vampiric Might ability exclusivly available to the Romanians. Furthermore, the ability has more functionality in the game now than it did.

The model on the left is Commodus, one of my newly-painted Nosferatu, leading a ghoul on the right. The Nosferatu have lost Vampiric Might but have gained a new abililty - Mind Control. This multi-use ability allows the Nosferatu to control their ghouls and wolves in the form of extra activations.

I usually designate between 1/4 and 1/3 of the table width for interiors. The interiors below represent three buildings and a small underground complex under the settlement.

The Magistrate's Chair was one of six objectives spread across the table. Like the other objectives, it would only be of interest to a player with a SEARCH secret objective card.

Ms. Emmalina Grunberg was placed in a small underground chamber. As the Person of Interest, she was of special interest to any player with a RESCUE/KIDNAPPING secret objective card.

Here are some scenes of an epic battle that took place between my Nosferatu and Jason's Gypsies. The Nosferatu's ability to control the ghouls is particulary useful in combat when an extra attack here and there can make a big difference.

We still use my Indoor Furniture Rules. Searching objects such as Chests, Sarcophagi, and Bookcases add a small wildcard element to the game.

Later on, I played my Hungarian Monster Hunters and Jason played his Nosferatu warband. He held the FOG campaign card and chose to activate the event rather than saving the card for bonus points and the end of the game. It was a good choice as the fog cloud stopped my shooters from targeting his ghouls while they got into position.

Jason has painted up some of the Westwind werewolf models to correspond with his Nosferatu minis. This is important since all Nosferatu now come with one use Shape of the Beast and an option to purchase another. Jason has taken the full upgrade for most of his Nosferatu so his band is particularly deadly in combat. As you can see below, teamwork is the key to defeating vampires. Of course, the stake that Helmut plunged into his chest helped as well.

Konrad Von Krumm, my Expedition Leader, found himself set upon by ghouls. He made a bold stand but was taken down before help arrived.

During my game against the Nosferatu, I the RESCUE/KIDNAPPING card as well as a SEARCH card. I decided to send half of the warband underground the rescue Ms. Grunburg and to find the necessary number of clues while they were down there.

I know what the hardcore Carpathia players are thinking. "Can I have the new lists?" The answer is "Soon." I believe that Tom is still playtesting some of the changes on his end as well but I doubt that much will change at this point. In general, you'll notice that Monsters are generally stronger, tougher, and more capable, yet more expensive. Humans, on the other hand, saw some decreases in points without losing many abilities at all. This means that the Monster wabands tend to be slightly less numerous than their human counterparts. However, human characters generally need to work together to really succeed in the game.

On a final note, after Tom releases the new lists I'm going to try to find somewhere to host my "gamepack" for Carpathia which includes my Indoor Furniture rules as well as my Secret Objective Cards and my Campaign Cards. We've finally tweaked the game to the point that it's the perfect mix of wargaming, roleplaying, and strategy to suit our tastes.

I'll try to be more diligent throwing up photos and as always, thanks for reading,
JET

Detectives for the Department

Marc is creating an entire cityscape using Worldworks paper terrain and is also painting a variety of miniatures to populate it. The goal is to start playing the Department in the very near future. The Department is a Goal System game set in a very Bladerunner-ish near future. What makes the game cool is that the players play as a team "against" the game. It was with this system in mind that I painted the two detectives below.

First up is Inspector John Drake, a veteran detective who likes to let his fists do the talking. If it weren't for his impressive track record of bringing unregistered fabricants to justice he would have been thrown off of the force long ago.

His partner is James Arthur Bunsen (aka Jimmy B, aka "Scales"), a Ph.D. drop-out who is one of the department's best forensic investigators. The department overlooks his questionable street connections - good lab men are just too hard to find these days.

Marc currently has around 10 miniatures painted. I think he has 10 more or so to go. That will give him the necessary detectives, bystanders, prostitutes, and criminals to start the campaign. It's actually quite nice for a change to sit back and watch someone else do the labour-intensive world-building that is so necessary for a successful adventure game. While I wait, I get closer and closer to finishing my 15mm Avar army for Impetus, so it all works out. I'll be sure to fire up some photos after we play our first game.

Thanks for reading,
JET

Yes, I'm Still a Geek (and playing lots of Gothic Horror)

Well, it's been a long hiatus. Rather than bore you with the mundane details of daily life, suffice it to say that, although I haven't been blogging, I have been painting and playing. In particular, there's been a lot of Chaos In Carpathia being played. The newest member of the group has painted two warbands and we are lucky enough to be testing out some of Tom Weiss's new warband ideas. Last night I took some shots of my Hungarian Monster Hunters versus the other Jason's Nosferatu warband.

Here's a shot of my Adventurous Scholar, Ms. Elizabeta Von Krumm creeping around the outskirts of a small village, unaware of the dark creatures skulking in the shadows.

However, protection was not far away. From L to R: Lazlo the Wanderer and his monkey Captain Hatteras, Ernst Holdt, Bjorn the Bold, and to the far right, Helmut Von Krumm.

Lucien (one of Jason's vampires) leads a ghoul into combat. The foul nosferatu found himself no match for Lazlo's knife work. In fact, the game was an absolute slaughterfest for my Monster Hunters. Highlights included staking a vampire (which is not that easy) and having the sun come up near the end of the game and incinerating the master vampire.

As some of you may have noticed on Lead Adventure, I've recently created and playtested a set of Secret Objective Cards as well as a deck of Campaign Cards. For a genre like Gothic Horror, the mystery of never really knowing what your opponent is up to and, to some degree, what he is up to adds a great deal of suspense to the game.

Oh, and didn't I mention... We have models ordered to start a couple of Brotherhood warbands as well. Because I really need a FIFTH warband for Chaos in Carpathia. That' wasn't sarcasm. I do need another one.

Thanks for reading,

JET