I get the feeling when the guys from Hasslefree read this I may be getting a boot up the arse but in my defence I've had a very unfun time of the last 18 months and I've finally managed to dig myself out of all the malarky that's going on.
But enough excuses. I'm looking for something very simple from this forum. My usual playtest group has gone off and become all professional in the "real world" and now apparently don't have time to play with toy soliders any more. So I'm opening it up to all and sundry to take part in the playtest of SDMIS's Beta. I'll answer the most common questions below and go from there:
What is SDMIS?SDMIS is a skirmish game using only the miniatures avaiable from Hasslefree. Predominately the Grymm minis, cause I've always had a soft spot for dwarves, and their wibbly nasties. Play is designed to be quick and allows for different pointed armies to play each other easily. So if you like a particular army no need to bulk it out or slim it down to play another person, just take it along.
Different pointed armies? How does that work?Essensially the game is played in two halves. The first player controls the Grymm and the second player controls the nasties in the first game. The more resources the Grymm player makes it away with the more points they score, the more Grymm the nasties kill the more points they score. Then in the second game the players switch.
This requires each player to have one of each faction to play with and after comparing points the player with the lower number of points receives the difference in "gryt" points which can be used in a number of ways to tactical advantage. Of course this doesn't mean that taking an essessively large or small army will help you, too big and your opponent will be rocking enough gryt to out manuver and stymie you, too small and while those 3 guys maybe rockstars it doesn't help when a Jotun lights you up with an Armour Peircing Chaingun, so as with all good games balance is the key.
So what makes this game unique?If I'm honest pretty much nothing in the game is too unique. It borrows from many systems and refines them, I hope, allowing for smooth familiar gameplay without too much trouble to teach. I'm not expecting this to become peoples #1 game of choice, just a fun sideline to play when you're bored with friends.
In terms of what sort of stuff is in the game it's all pretty standard; stat cards, Action-Reaction-Systems, multiple order systems, asset management, reroll and dice boosting effects, keywording effects, squad orgainisation and management, card based movement and a few other things which streamline and smooth out play without being overly clunky.
Which of Hasslefree's minis does this use?For the Beta the entire Grymm range other than Geezer, Torsten, the Pilot and the Jumppack conversion kit. Everything else will be at the very least statted and playable. This gives plenty of options for force composition without using minis that require exceptions.
For the Nasties it currently stands at the following: All 3 Kiergi, the Lesser Mawe, Mesaan Grunts, Boss Mesaan, Mawes, Ieuan the space elf, All the Bohkin, the Druuschan Stryker, the Drones and the big man himself the Jotun. It allows for all kinds of crazy stuff to happen but encourages focused building to get the best effect. Not that my old playtest list of 5 Jotuns was bad.......
So what will I need for to play?Around 3-12 Grymm and around 3-12 Nasties in terms of miniatures.
Some printed out statcards and prolly the rules as well.
A 2'x2'-3'x3' table to play on.
A sheadload of terrain or a whiteboard marker to draw on the table.
Some counters and d6s.
So we've established that the game exists so who are you?Well I'm Moley. I'm a student in my final year at Teesside uni, I'll be heading off down the country to work as a games developer in a few short months and I've been making games for many years now. Mostly CCGs and RPG stuff but I'm known to do the odd minis game thing from time to time.
I do tend to forget things or get distracted by the shiny and seem to be cursed when it comes to bills and spare cash but other than that I am known with my circle of designer friends for having a good mind for balancing and gameplay so this is my first attempt at a real public beta of a game I've been working on. Mostly I just do stuff with other developers I'm working with or with my usual playtest monkey groups.
I'm looking to get the playtest finished by Mid-September and then hand the completed rules over to Hasslefree along with some spangly nice art as well for them to do with what they wish.
Why should we care? I could just play 40k.There's nothing in the world that I can do to MAKE you care about this game but I'd like to think that having a range of miniatures that you can use in a specific game is much more satisfying than just having the mini's for the sake of pretty.....then again this is the man who once bought the entire range of Wolfen and Griffons without speaking a word of french. Oh and helldorado, and that japanese mechgame, and that korean historical game and.......yeah.
So what do I need to do?It's easy. Email me at
molehilldesigns@gmail.com and include "SDMIS Beta" in the title and I'll email you over the current playtest version of the rules. Play it a little, make some notes and send it back and I'll incorporate/rebalance sections before sending it on back to you lovely people. It's as simple as that.
I'll also be popping into this thread from time to time to answer questions and the like if people are having difficulties with any sections of the rules or are just curious. Please note that the current working version is very rough and some things may not be written out too clearly. Also I'm currently part way through writing my dissertation on "The Effects of Rules Complexity on Gameplay Within Multiplayer Games." and as you can imagine it's gripping stuff so the beta stuff will be sent out after the 8th of April at the earliest.
Thanks for your time and I hope we can get something good made from this.
