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 Luciferian wrote:

 Mr_Rose wrote:
Check out Twitch, they’re running a BF game without Becca Scott and they seem like they’re having a bunch more fun.

Becca Scott hams it up a bit much but as far as keeping the rules straight and managing the players she's actually one of the best wargame/rpg let's play presenters I've ever seen. Guess that's why she works for GW instead of being some schlub with a YouTube channel.

I can't wait to get my box but it hasn't even shipped yet

Eh. I’m just saying that there are three people on Twitch who were also in the ‘official’ let’s play and they all seem way more into it (and believably so) without having a script with a side of ham forced down their throats.
Personally I think they need to either: pick different (less reserved) people to work with Scott in future; give everyone more time to get used to each other’s presence; or (in the particular case of BF) have Scott as the ‘adversary’ with the GW team as a team. Teething troubles, basically.

She's definitely the dominant personality, so making her the "GM" or even just the presenter who explains the rules and manages the game, as opposed to a player, would be a good idea. Still, aside from her somewhat inauthentic presentation she's really good at keeping things straight which is pretty important. Nothing kills a let's play of a table top game like the people involved not knowing the rules or having to stop and deliberate.

Wouldn't be much of a presenter if she was't forceful and dominant on camera.

Anyway, anyone got any good shots of the tiles? Pretty please???

And my copy didn't arrive. Have to wait 'til next Saturday.

For anyone wanting a potential way for them to bring in the Chaos side of things?

Mallex's forces are purposely being "split apart" by the Blackstone Fortress. He doesn't know how many of his Astartes are still alive. He's concerned that some of them might be plotting to overthrow him even...

There's also a way for Orks, Drukhari, Tau, and a few other races to be brought in via Precipice.

 Kanluwen wrote:
For anyone wanting a potential way for them to bring in the Chaos side of things?

Mallex's forces are purposely being "split apart" by the Blackstone Fortress. He doesn't know how many of his Astartes are still alive. He's concerned that some of them might be plotting to overthrow him even...

There's also a way for Orks, Drukhari, Tau, and a few other races to be brought in via Precipice.

Sounds like a good way of increasing content. Make different teams and potentially add on to others would be good without going the AoS method of "Everyone can join!"

 ZebioLizard2 wrote:
Sounds like a good way of increasing content. Make different teams and potentially add on to others would be good without going the AoS method of "Everyone can join!"

Silver Tower is a labyrinth that promise great reward and wish fulfil for anyone who can conquer it. Not much different than the reason people want to explore in Blackstone Fortress.

Now that they're in the wild, anyone up to compare the hexes to Calth's size?

 H.B.M.C. wrote:
Wouldn't be much of a presenter if she was't forceful and dominant on camera.

Oooooh, young man!

Will get some pics of the tiles in a bit. And also dig out my Calth for a size show.

 thenoobbomb wrote:
Just picked up my box. Anyone else set appears to be missing the Hidden Vault envelope thing?

Nope picked mine up yesterday - it was in there

Chopstick wrote:

 ZebioLizard2 wrote:
Sounds like a good way of increasing content. Make different teams and potentially add on to others would be good without going the AoS method of "Everyone can join!"

Silver Tower is a labyrinth that promise great reward and wish fulfil for anyone who can conquer it. Not much different than the reason people want to explore in Blackstone Fortress.

Yes, but the civilization hating Beastmen, angry backstabbing rats, normal humans, and other such things working together is kind of odd, fun as it is.

I’m hoping that a future issue of White Dwarf has a card so we can add the special Noise Marine coming out in December to the encounter deck.

White Dwarf December has “free gifts” so it’s very possible ,

 TwilightSparkles wrote:
White Dwarf December has “free gifts” so it’s very possible ,

And when does that come out?

Worst fear is they rerelease the Starstriders (and Gellerpox mutants) with BSF cards. They really seem a better fit for WHQ than Kill Team, but...

 Chairman Aeon wrote:


Worst fear is they rerelease the Starstriders (and Gellerpox mutants) with BSF cards. They really seem a better fit for WHQ than Kill Team, but...

But what? Sounds like a good thing, I hope they do exactly that.

 Crimson wrote:

 Chairman Aeon wrote:


Worst fear is they rerelease the Starstriders (and Gellerpox mutants) with BSF cards. They really seem a better fit for WHQ than Kill Team, but...

But what? Sounds like a good thing, I hope they do exactly that.

As long as us fools who bought RT can get just the cards easily.

 spiralingcadaver wrote:

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:

hobojebus wrote:

 Galas wrote:
Wasnt the eldar ranger a girl?

It's 2018 man bewbs don't mean female, trust but verify.

I don’t get it.

You’re going to need to explain.

A comma would have clarified, but I believe hobo was referring to cross-dressing, trans people, etc.?

I'm going to blame man flu for my poor sentence structure, and yes that's what I meant.

 lord_blackfang wrote:
As long as us fools who bought RT can get just the cards easily.

I really don't understand your issues with RT.

Blackstone Fortress hexes are about half and inch smaller than Calth hexes but almost identical in size with Shadespire hexes. I am not sold on the boards - while some of the graphics are nice, the scale seems to be too small compared to miniatures. For a game that is essentially a dungeon fighter, the board should have the same scale as the miniatures IMO.

I bought Blackstone Fortress for the miniatures and honestly, according to what I have seen I am not excited about the gameplay at all. The inclusion of different shaped dice seems pretty pointless and the combat system as a whole feels rather bland (I do like the action and destiny dice mechanic from Silver Tower, though). Also, some of the challenges are in the same category of stupidity as "compare your mustache" rules from early AoS warscroll compilations

jullevi wrote:
The inclusion of different shaped dice seems pretty pointless...

That couldn't be further from the truth. If it was just D6's then everything would be done on a simple D6 scale. Because the game includes D6s, D8s, D12s and a D20 it gives you far more granularity. There can be big differences between weapon types, random AI behaviours, and other types of charts.

D6 and D6 alone is limiting. Including other types of dice gives the mechanics of the game greater depth.

jullevi wrote:
Blackstone Fortress hexes are about half and inch smaller than Calth hexes but almost identical in size with Shadespire hexes. I am not sold on the boards - while some of the graphics are nice, the scale seems to be too small compared to miniatures. For a game that is essentially a dungeon fighter, the board should have the same scale as the miniatures IMO.

I bought Blackstone Fortress for the miniatures and honestly, according to what I have seen I am not excited about the gameplay at all. The inclusion of different shaped dice seems pretty pointless and the combat system as a whole feels rather bland (I do like the action and destiny dice mechanic from Silver Tower, though). Also, some of the challenges are in the same category of stupidity as "compare your mustache" rules from early AoS warscroll compilations

Yeah im worried about tje challenges. The few i saw reeked of aos :(

 H.B.M.C. wrote:

jullevi wrote:
The inclusion of different shaped dice seems pretty pointless...

That couldn't be further from the truth. If it was just D6's then everything would be done on a simple D6 scale. Because the game includes D6s, D8s, D12s and a D20 it gives you far more granularity. There can be big differences between weapon types, random AI behaviours, and other types of charts.

D6 and D6 alone is limiting. Including other types of dice gives the mechanics of the game greater depth.

Eh. The proprietary D6, D8 and D12 are really just three levels of "hits on a X+, crits on a Y+". While the probabilities couldn't be replicated exactly on a basic D6, their inclusion is probably a lot more due to the visual distinctiveness from action dice, rather than doing anything fancy mechanically.

Played a game today. Seems fairly similar to Silver Tower, although less quirky; opinions may vary on whether that is a good or a bad thing.

Grievous wounds are horrible. You can get them with an unlucky roll every time you are attacked and as far as I can tell, most characters have no way of healing them except finishing an expedition.

Just to be clear, if Amallyn Shadowguide ended her previous exploration with the artifact to get inspired, then retreat to Precipice to heal her wounds, and finally begins a new exploration. Does she remain inspired?

Because I just saw the Designer Notes and I'm kind of confused...

Q: If an explorer was inspired when they ended an expedition, do they remain inspired on their next expedition?
A: No.

Makes sense in characters who are inspired by performing actions, such as Pious Vorne, but characters inspired by artifacts...

 Trajann Valoris wrote:
Just to be clear, if Amallyn Shadowguide ended her previous exploration with the artifact to get inspired, then retreat to Precipice to heal her wounds, and finally begins a new exploration. Does she remain inspired?

It's a temporary high. Once she gets back to Precipice she realises that her materialism is a kind of obsession that could lead her to She Who Thirsts, and thus she redoubles her efforts to remain on the Path of the Outcast, eschewing personal gain for a greater victory against the Enemy.

 spiralingcadaver wrote:
Now that they're in the wild, anyone up to compare the hexes to Calth's size?

I don't have the calth tiles but the Blackstone tiles are around 54.3 mm across.

The game seems ok. Is a lot of dice rolls and looking back and forwards between books. I gather would get easier if played more, but seems to much flicking.

For a silver tower like game I think is an improvement (however different genre). On this type of game, upgrades is what makes it fun for me and there isn't enough (for my characters or the enemy units), like during game or post game etc.

Is ok for a board game.

I played with some of my non 40k/GW playing mates and was to much rules stuff and not enough upgrades during the engagements etc. Think unless for the models, maybe a pass from me (apart from I already bought it). Is to complicated (or is spilt up into to many page flippers) for something that doesn't really upgrade your models to make them true protagonists. They have minor upgrades etc can do but nothing spectacular.

If play a lot I can see it being easy to remember, just don't see the replay-ability.

EDIT: We didn't finish it, but I don't see us/me playing it again. At least have some good models

2c

 H.B.M.C. wrote:

jullevi wrote:
The inclusion of different shaped dice seems pretty pointless...

That couldn't be further from the truth. If it was just D6's then everything would be done on a simple D6 scale. Because the game includes D6s, D8s, D12s and a D20 it gives you far more granularity. There can be big differences between weapon types, random AI behaviours, and other types of charts.

D6 and D6 alone is limiting. Including other types of dice gives the mechanics of the game greater depth.

I am not against using different shaped dice in general, I just think that they have not been used effectively here.

Combat D6 has four blanks, one hit and one critical hit. Combat D8 has four blanks, 2 hits and 2 critical hits. Combat D12 has four blanks, four hits and four critical hits. Why normal and critical hits have equal odds? Why does the D12 exist at all? Why all the weapons do the same amount of damage? I must point out that I have not played the game yet, but after looking at tutorials, rules and components, the whole combat system seems extremely dull and both needlessly complicated and simplified at the same time.

Also, why there are seven different results for hostile behaviour?

 Perfect Organism wrote:
Played a game today. Seems fairly similar to Silver Tower, although less quirky;

There are agility minigames in the Challenges deck, like having to stack a pillar of dice in numerical order in 20 seconds. That really is on AoS "+1 if you have a moustache" level of nonsense.

jullevi wrote:

 H.B.M.C. wrote:

jullevi wrote:
The inclusion of different shaped dice seems pretty pointless...

That couldn't be further from the truth. If it was just D6's then everything would be done on a simple D6 scale. Because the game includes D6s, D8s, D12s and a D20 it gives you far more granularity. There can be big differences between weapon types, random AI behaviours, and other types of charts.

D6 and D6 alone is limiting. Including other types of dice gives the mechanics of the game greater depth.

I am not against using different shaped dice in general, I just think that they have not been used effectively here.

Combat D6 has four blanks, one hit and one critical hit. Combat D8 has four blanks, 2 hits and 2 critical hits. Combat D12 has four blanks, four hits and four critical hits. Why normal and critical hits have equal odds? Why does the D12 exist at all? Why all the weapons do the same amount of damage? I must point out that I have not played the game yet, but after looking at tutorials, rules and components, the whole combat system seems extremely dull and both needlessly complicated and simplified at the same time.

Also, why there are seven different results for hostile behaviour?

Wow, that sounds stupid/superfluous indeed when it comes to dice. And not a lot of "leveling" is a bummer, too.

At least there's still some time for in-depth reviews to pop up before xmas. After getting Speed Freeks for the minis I can't get another big box game just for the minis - after all, the money could buy the Ork Battleforce from last year, which I "need" more.

I wondered the same about the D12; I presumed it was just a convenient visual distinction between 1/6 hit, 1/6 critical, 4/6 miss and 1/3 hit, 1/3 critical, 1/3 miss.

Or is there something I’m failing to get?