Vampifan's Views 88 - Monthly Musings 62

I begin as always with a picture of my favourite comic superhero - Vampirella. This piece of artwork was pencilled by Amanda Connor, an artist whose work I have always admired. You can tell this is an old picture by the Harris Comics logo in the bottom right corner. Vampi looks like she's about to cause someone some serious hurt.

On the hobby front, February has been another very busy month. Work continues on my Judge Dredd Miniatures Game campaign with new scenery items, vehicles and figures made and painted, most of which will hopefully appear in posts during March. I'm particularly keen to show you my scratch-built Boingers. In addition to working on my JDMG stuff I have been painting a lot of contemporary 28mm scale figures - Goths by Slow Death Games, Wargames Foundry leather clad gangers and a Wargames Foundry TV crew to use in the 7TV2e game. They're just about finished.

In 2016 I played just three games that appeared as batreps on my blog. One was for 7TV2e and the other two were for Zombicide. That was pitiful! Now, with just two months of the year gone, I have played four JDMG scenarios that have featured on my blog. I didn't make any New Year's resolutions but if I had I would certainly have expressed a desire to do more batreps on my blog. This, I have achieved... easily! Best of all, I have loads more planned. My enthusiasm for Judge Dredd is as high as ever. There will definitely be at least one JDMG batrep appearing next month - my biggest one yet as all seven of the Judges who have appeared and survived in my previous batreps work together to take out a very dangerous and powerful gang of perps. Who knows, it could be a two-parter depending on how things turn out.

The components for the Rum and Bones: Second Tide boardgame.

I was very pleased to receive my Wave 1 parcel of the Rum and Bones: Second Tide boardgame with miniatures from Cool Mini Or Not earlier this month. This is more than just an expansion to the original set. The rules have undergone a few changes, not many, but enough to make this a very different game to the original. The biggest change is to do with the character cards, which are drastically different to the original ones. Heroes can now buy their skills and/or upgrade them during the course of the game. I like this new rule but the downside is that until the upgrade cards for the original forces are released in Wave 2, I can only play this new version with the two forces that come in this boxed set. The following info and pictures were taken directly from the Kickstarter page but give you a good overview of the game.

"In Rum and Bones: Second Tide, 2 to 6 players will take control of one of two deadly pirate crews: the mysterious and monstrous Deep Lords, who seek to claim Davy Jones’ treasure in an effort to flood the world and reshape it to their liking, or the Marea de la Muerte¸ a crew of ruthless gold-seeking Spanish cut-throats who will stop at nothing to claim the treasure for their own greed!
Players control teams of three to five heroes, depending on the number of players, each with various and unique powers and abilities. These Heroes are drawn from five different classes, each with their own strengths and weaknesses:

• Captains: Jack-of-all-Trade Heroes who specialize in buffing other Heroes.
• Brutes: The toughest of the tough, Brutes can take a ton of punishment and only get stronger for doing so!
• Gunner: Ranged damage dealers, Gunners have the lowest HP of all classes, but can also dish out the most hurt.
• Swashbucklers: Like Gunners, Swashbucklers specialize in dealing damage, but prefer the up-close-and-personal approach.
• Quartermaster: While they don't deal the most damage, Quartermasters make up for it in raw utility: specializing in healing and buffing Heroes, and also enhancing your Deckhands and Bosuns!

The Deep Lords seek the power of the locker, and with it, to flood the world!

Left to Right: Carcharius [Captain], Ishmael [Brute], Kyria and Karl [Gunner], Waldorf [Quartermaster], Snapjaw [Swashbuckler]

The crew of Marea de la Muerta are motivated by power and greed!

Left to Right: Viana [Captain], Don Santiago [Brute], Gabriela [Gunner, El Latigo [Quartermaster], DeMarco [Swashbuckler]

In addition to your Heroes, your team will also control your ships' Deckhands and Bosuns, which collectively make up the ships' "Crew". The Crew make up the "background" characters of the fight, much like you'd see in traditional pirate movies - they follow a simple A.I. and path - so it'll be up to your Heroes to do most of the game-changing plays and moves. But don't think they're useless, however, many Hero abilities and effects manipulate your Crew (notably Quartermasters) and can turn these unsung sailors into a truly game-winning force to be reckoned with!

The Crew of the Deep Lords: Bosun [shown on round base- 6 in the Core Box], and 3 Deckhands [on square bases- 8 of each sculpt in Core Box!]

The Crew of Marea de la Muerte: Bosun [shown on round base- 6 in the Core Box], and 3 Deckhands [on square bases- 8 of each sculpt in Core Box!]

Second Tide is no mere expansion, however, there have been numerous upgrades and changes made to enhance gameplay and your pirate experience!  The most notable of such is our new dynamic Levelling System!

Each Hero has its own unique Dashboard, where its Coin, Damage, and Skills will be tracked.

Each Hero begins the game with their Basic Attack skill card. As they gain Coins, which are obtained from KO'ing enemies and Objectives, they can use those Coins to buy new skills, as well as level up existing skills!

Each Hero has a set of three Skill Cards, which display their unique powers and abilities.

Each skill flips over to reveal its Level 2 version.

In addition to the Heroes and Crew, however, each faction has access to their own  Tide Deck -a deck of 30 cards, 20 of which are unique to that Crew, featuring faction-specific powers and effects. These Tide Cards can turn the Tide (Yarg!) of battle at a moment's notice - but be warned! Utilizing this power can draw the ire of The Kraken, and if it appears it can spell doom for your entire Crew! Slay him, however, and you'll gain the full might of his power, and come all the closer to total victory over your opponent! Each Crew has their own unique, 30 card, Tide Deck!

Each Crew has their own unique, 30 card, Tide Deck!

But that's not all! To round out all the changes listed above, we've also introduced a new Alternating Activation method of play! With this new system players will take turns activating 1 Hero (or their Crew), and then their opponent will do the same, continuing back and forth until everyone has gone. With this method you can better react to your opponent's actions, as well as change your own strategies on the fly! This new system is sure to create some dynamic and memorable moments as the balance of the fight sways back and forth-just like the Tide!"

A game in progress with the two smaller Marea de la Muerte ships flanking the larger Deep Lords galleon.

I am a big fan of Rum and Bones and I greatly enjoyed playing the original game. This new version looks even better. The figures are over-scaled, being roughly 32-35mm in size, but I don't mind this. They have a slightly comic style to them but seeing as I'm unlikely to use any of them in other games that really is not an issue. I can't wait for my Wave 2 parcel to arrive; hopefully next month or the month after. Oh, and I really should make a start on painting the figures. I'm sure Simon will keep nagging me to get them done, which is ironic, really, as he hasn't even opened the original box he bought! :-)