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Flippin' 'eck!

Spoilered because Mammoth is massive!

Yeah, totally amazing.

I didn't want one before but seeing it painted up has really tempted me.

That is a mammoth miniature... of a Mammoth!

Interested in hearing from folks who play the game, what do you like about it? What makes it unique?

What can you tell me that will push me over the edge and dive in?

I have the mammoth, it is awesome.
Not too fond of that paint job though...
It's technically brilliant of course, nor the color choices...
Tusks are too dark, fur too light, skin too pink.
Just my 2c...

It fits with the fomoraic background that the stronger/more powerful creatures are paler in colour and I like it for that

(but I'll agree on the tusks a lthough they probably went that way to contrast with the fur rather thn have it all blend together)

I actually like it more painted.
Goddammit, I really need a Fomor army..

Everytime there is a Kickstrater with discounted bundles I`m this close to getting it, but then I look at the pile of unpainted minis on the shelf.

Doesn anyone have a size comparison of Gabrax/Gul-Gabrax next to GW beastmen?

Time 2 Roll wrote:
Interested in hearing from folks who play the game, what do you like about it? What makes it unique?

What can you tell me that will push me over the edge and dive in?

The models are what will make you want to dive in.

The game is VERY crunchy. Very!

I love that kind of stuff - but it is playuing a bit against 'modern' trends, to be sure!

There is a revised 'quick start' rules document though - that might be a good place to begin?

http://mierce-miniatures.com/projects/all/darklands_first_edition_qpg.pdf

EDIT

Not sure if that's the right link now... There were a few during the campaign, some had errors/wouldn't work?

Can't tell if that's the case, or if it is just my sloooooow internet connection at work.

Yup that's the one

Yer, the rules are very clunky, I can't see how this would be an enjoyable game to play, you'd spend so long arguing over rules...
lucky I just paint minis, so matter not to me

yxalitis wrote:
you'd spend so long arguing over rules...

Not a chance. The rules are expansive, but the majority of it is just the actions. The base rules are pretty straight forward. And there's very little room for interpretation, they are very tight in what you can and can't do.

 zedmeister wrote:

yxalitis wrote:
you'd spend so long arguing over rules...

Not a chance. The rules are expansive, but the majority of it is just the actions. The base rules are pretty straight forward. And there's very little room for interpretation, they are very tight in what you can and can't do.

Agreed!

Sure, there's a lot there, but there's a lot less 'open to interpretation' here vs. a typical GW game!

I've tried to get friends interested however the large rulebook is very intimidating, in a program a VHS sort of way. Though as folks have said there's not much to argue over.

The real difficulty is getting a starter set, or missing out on kickstarter savings. You can't see them on the webstore unless you participate in a kickstarter. So the few folks that are interested have to wait until a kickstarter appears (and inevitably some are kickstarter shy despite Mierce's kickstarter record) and it generally all falls apart. I know the starter sets have been promised for a long time at a higher price but it's yet to materialise.

So if you love painting or have a good proxy army ready to go (I'm thinking the next one I might get some expensive Frostgrave warbands) take the plunge. Otherwise I don't think the game has really taken off outside of a few areas in England where Mierce can show it off in person. I'd love to be corrected however.

No Zond, that's a fair assessment!

The Starter sets getting a retail release and the Quickstart rules will help though!

Thank you for the help everyone. Is there somewhere to learn more about faction playstyles? The rulebook?

I read the blog at the beginning of this thread as well.

Based on model coolness, I'm thinking Bzyantii/Demons, Norse or Formac. Ysians are in the number 4 spot.

Have a poke about on the mierce forums

http://www.mierce-miniatures.com/forum/

playstyle is probably going to feature here

http://www.mierce-miniatures.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=4&sid=ece65c72de2e081fca0244177c3d1f79

and rules questions here

http://www.mierce-miniatures.com/forum/

if you fancy joining be aware that Rob has to manually authorise your request (as otherwise it gets swamped with spambots) so it won't come through instantly), but if you've not heard back within a week or so poke him via the contact form on the store website

Also, two things: ask us for any additional Kindred (read: faction) info and also google! Many names, places and the like usually have a real historical or mythical reference. For example, the Ysians, if you google Ys or Ker-Ys you'll get a fascinating legend and it will give you an idea of them and what they are like (depraved madmen)!

I can't imagine playing and trying to keep up with all of the ridiculous unit names. Love the models though.

I think after spending enough time with the game/ lore/ figures and such, you do in fact get used to the names, as well as the conventions on how the names are built.

Now getting a game in on the other hand... I can't recall how long I've had the rules and still haven't digested everything in there.

My home still hasn't graduated from Song of Blades & Heroes yet.

 SlaveToDorkness wrote:
I can't imagine playing and trying to keep up with all of the ridiculous unit names. Love the models though.

In all honestly, with a little bit of time and effort, it really isn't that difficult!

As the Highlord noted though, the bigger challenge will be finding a game.

Most of us will have to be Darklands Evangelists!

The Mammoth is nice, but it still seems like you're paying a lot for a huge model that is mostly fur. Compared to other large, expensive models, it seems tame.

 kestral wrote:
The Mammoth is nice, but it still seems like you're paying a lot for a huge model that is mostly fur. Compared to other large, expensive models, it seems tame.

I don't understand this complaint. It's a Mammoth, of course it will be covered in fur!

Also, it doesn't seem tame to me. Quite the opposite, it seems rather wild

I think the names will only really become a problem once you're trying to have a game, and thus attempting to say them out loud to another human

I keep thinking that one of these days, or month, or years, when I have some extra time, I am going to go through the rulebook and rewrite it. The rules are not bad exactly, but the layout and organization of the rules and their very atomized structure makes it sort of a pain to read through. I love rule books generally, collecting them for games I don't even play (and likely never will). Every time I read the Mierce book's organization, with subheadings that go down 3-4 levels frequently, it makes me cringe a bit. I have written massive business design documents that were less complicated.

The rules are deliciously crunchy and detailed, however, don't get me wrong. They just need a much better editor for the book, and probably someone to streamline things a bit, as there are a lot of rules that seem to do the same thing.

You should totally do a 'Fan Edit'!

Someone did that for Infinity 2E, and it was awesome.

And, of course, extremely helpful!

 Wehrkind wrote:
I keep thinking that one of these days, or month, or years, when I have some extra time, I am going to go through the rulebook and rewrite it. The rules are not bad exactly, but the layout and organization of the rules and their very atomized structure makes it sort of a pain to read through. I love rule books generally, collecting them for games I don't even play (and likely never will). Every time I read the Mierce book's organization, with subheadings that go down 3-4 levels frequently, it makes me cringe a bit. I have written massive business design documents that were less complicated.

The rules are deliciously crunchy and detailed, however, don't get me wrong. They just need a much better editor for the book, and probably someone to streamline things a bit, as there are a lot of rules that seem to do the same thing.

This is very true, the style of writing is not conducive to easy comprehension.

The entire rule book was available as a PDF before the printed version was published, that's now been withdrawn. According to Rob, that's because he "has books to sell"
I think that's a mistake, the money is in the minis, giving away a PDF version only gets the word out easier and to more people.

Agreed. I could be lured in by minis more easily if I knew the rules were good as well.

I have a fair amount of the minis but would never buy the rule book.

Me and friends read some of the pdf rules when they were out and found them overly complex when most games are trying to simpler and easier for new players to understand.

Is sad that they are making very nice minis but have very little idea of how to do an effective rules system that might actually interest gamers into playing it.

The names actually keep me from gaining any interest in the game. I have struggled through the store many times trying to find that miniature I contemplated buying some earlier time.

I can only imagine what the examples in the book are like:
"The Ygryneth Swainhwerf is striking with his Ygryneth Ilefuwral Blade against the Brynaithe Celtjahrl Cataphracti...."

I did finally manage to find and buy the very nice ice bear Mierce makes, which with some filing fits well as Kislev Sons of Ursun, so I can vouch for the miniatures being really good looking, high quality and great for use in other games

Great conversions.

I do agree on the topic of names... I know why they're doing it, but the words are just too strange even for us nerds. And I have studied old English and middle English literature....