... then the blogs - now specialist games?

According to epic addiction, both GW and Forge World are winding up production of miniatures for the specialist games, which presumably means Epic, Necromunda, Blood Bowl, Inquisitor etc. The new generation producers may be turning up in the nick of time.

On that front, Tabletop Fix just announced there'll be no posting on GW and FW for the forseeable future - too risky in light of the situation with Faeit 212, Apocalypse 40K and possibly BoLS. TF posts 300-400 times a month, and shapes opinion through BoLS too.

If it's true that GW sales grew massively in 1999-2006, they could well have benefited from rising web use. There may be less danger of growth like that in a brave new world of blood freezing in veins. Look at the worry at even a restrained blog like Warpstone Flux.

If the past few months have been about getting GW ready for sale, good luck whoever's buying. Hasbro? PP? Profits might be up - just - but if volumes are falling and the player base shrinking with it, the owner will presumably be vulnerable to ever smaller shocks.

Final point: epic addiction is new in the HoP blogrolls this week. It's how I found it. With the BoLS front page not yet back, blogs may be seeing lower traffic. It can't hurt to be in other rolls too. You can join HoP here, but consider adding more blogs to your own rolls and links in posts and comments. If a community is worth having, we can all support it.

Update: More bad news - the Fantasy and 40K collectors' ranges seem to be going too.

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Bell of Lost Souls peals on

For everyone wondering about BoLS being down, I've just checked. Larry's looking into it and he's confident everything is fine, and the Lounge is still going. I don't have any news on the situation at Faeit 212, but as far as I know, Natfka is away at an event at the moment, so that might slow down the response a little. All should be clear soon enough.

Update: The Spirit Chamber has more, and points to this thread at Dakka Dakka. Looks a slightly worse case now, as in GW takedown requests to the blog software provider for infringement. An email from Natfka suggests he wants to get it resolved. Interestingly, Warboss Gubbinz makes the link with TSR, original publishers of Dungeons & Dragons.

Update: For clarity, the issue at Faeit 212 at least seems to be prerelease White Dwarf images. The legitimacy of that is being debated. Zweischneid has some reflections here.

Update: Larry has posted here at the Lounge to say he's still assuming the BoLS issue is a technical one, Natfka here a little lower down suggesting the problem should be one post not whole blog, and Loken at Apocalypse 40K, also affected, has an overview here.

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Crewbrew (2) - tertiary functions & compartment use

Seeing the new troop variant of the Dragonfly from puppetswar, partway between thunderhawk, valkyrie and Squat gyrocopter, I got to thinking more about that underslung compartment and how small a role vehicle interiors still have in play.

So this is the second in the crewbrew run of supplementary homebrew, with suggestions this time for 40K. The first section below is a set of actions not so commonly covered in wargaming, the second an approach to compartments for systems that don't offer one.

                                                                                                                              

Tertiary functions

Once per turn a crew member may perform one of actions 1-7, in addition to any usual role. A passenger may do so instead of moving, shooting or performing another action. A friendly passenger does so automatically, while an unfriendly passenger must attempt to do so, succeeding on a 4+ on 1D6. None of the set may be performed in any other way.

1. open/close either one adjacent hatch, doorway or ramp, or all simultaneously
2. turn interior/exterior lighting on/off - if either type of lighting is on, but not both, units firing in and/or out are one degree more accurate; in 40K, under nightfighting, the first band is 24", not 12"
3. communicate with another compartment over the intercom - if the compartment has at least one exterior portal currently open, this turn the vehicle is able to move up to one unit of measurement further or perform one other task one degree more accurately; in 40K, +1" or +1 to hit
4. patch into a local, aerial or orbital relay - so as to send a message as described in entry 7.
5. send a message over standard frequencies - if the compartment has at least one exterior portal currently open, next turn any one friendly unit is subject to the effect described in entry 3.
6. disable a device enabling any one action 1-5. - the action may no longer be performed
7. repair a device disabled by action 6. - roll 1D6: on a 6, the action lost is available again

* No hatch, doorway, ramp etc. may be opened and closed in the same turn, even by different individuals.
                                                                                                                              

Compartment use

Each closed, crewed vehicle is assumed to have at least one compartment, but may have many, e.g. for transport. If unclear, before the game the players agree the number, distribution and capacity, as well as access: the hatches, doorways and ramps leading to each. Compartments are assumed to be connected internally by single doors.

Width in human-sized models is for a hatch 1, single door 2, double door 3 and ramp 4.

This is the number who can attack or be attacked through it when open, at range or in close combat. The player controlling the passengers decides who is visible; blast attacks into a compartment affect all within. An attacker may only enter a compartment if number of occupants falls below the width of the portal attacked; for each full turn in which at least one unfriendly passenger is within the vehicle, crew cohesion falls by one.

A crew member cannot perform a usual role if a) engaged in close combat, b) firing a non-fixed ranged weapon or c) outside the proper compartment; distraction then applies.

                                                                                                                              

How would that affect your game? If you're using point values, they might need tweaking.

Linked with all of this, and that Dragonfly too, you might be interested in the release of Khurasan's Polecat and Caiman, two vehicles in both the 15mm range and the 28mm.

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The Nature of Gothic: Naturalism

Here's the third key argument from "The Nature of Gothic", an influential essay by John Ruskin. Like the first and second parts, it may be a valuable read, possibly for people with an interest in 40K, but maybe all the more so for anyone creating or thinking ahead.

Again, stay with it. It's over 160 years old, but still in English, and the ideas shine bright.

 
 “

The third constituent element of the Gothic mind was stated to be NATURALISM; that is to say, the love of natural objects for their own sake, and the effort to represent them frankly, unconstrained by artistical laws.

This characteristic of the style partly follows in necessary connection with those named above. For, so soon as the workman is left free to represent what subjects he chooses, he must look to the nature that is round him for material, and will endeavour to represent it as he sees it, with more or less accuracy according to the skill he possesses, and with much play of fancy, but with small respect for law. ...

... considering all artists as either men of design, men of facts, or men of both, the Gothic builders were men of both; ... considering all artists as either Purists, Naturalists, or Sensualists, the Gothic builders were Naturalists.

... Their power of artistical invention or arrangement was not greater than that of Romanesque and Byzantine workmen; by those workmen they were taught the principles, and from them received their models, of design; but to the ornamental feeling and rich fancy of the Byzantine the Gothic builder added a love of fact ... Both Greek and Roman used conventional foliage in their ornament, passing into something that was not foliage at all, knotting itself into strange cup-like buds or clusters, and growing out of lifeless rods instead of stems; the Gothic sculptor received these types, at first, as things that ought to be, just as we have a second time received them; but he could not rest in them. He saw there was no veracity in them, no knowledge, no vitality. Do what he would, he could not help liking the true leaves better; ...

...

I do not say that this love of veracity is always healthy in its operation. ... there is [a] kind of error ... in which the love of truth is too hasty, and seizes on a surface truth instead of an inner one. ... The love of truth, as such, is good, but when it is misdirected by thoughtlessness or over-excited by vanity, and either seizes on facts of small value, or gathers them chiefly that it may boast of its grasp and apprehension, its work may well become dull or offensive. Yet let us not, therefore, blame the inherent love of facts, but the incautiousness of their selection, and impertinence of their statement.

Fritz 40K + D&D

A heads up, and maybe a surprise. Many 40K players know Fritz of Fritz 40K for shrewd and effective tactics for supposedly underpowered factions. I'd not made the connection before now, but shrewd tactics for supposedly underpowered characters can be a big part of D&D, and the very earliest versions of D&D for sure. It may not be a coincidence.

He's just announced he's starting a play-by-post, and get this: "We are also going to be opening it up to any version of D&D in terms of character creation ranging from AD&D up to 4.0." And more magic words: "long term goals". I wonder if he could be persuaded to run to 'basic' D&D too, and whether he'll be using rules from all those editions in one?

He needs six players to start.

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The wombull - a possible new character class?

I read this. And with Saturday's round-up still fresh in my mind, it all started to happen.

Picture the scene. Late '80s, the UK, a temple of gaming near a rambling common. A creature looking rather like a Womble elopes with one looking a bit like a Citadel ambull into the folds of what could be a BECMI box. They dig a lair and start a character class.

If I was going to write up that character class - and why would I? - I might do it like this...

WOMBULL

Motivation  Likes holes in the ground. Drawn to the intolerable waste in forgotten spaces; prefers not to steal, but will to put a thing to better use.

Requirements  Strength and Wisdom of 13+

Nature  Wisdom is the prime, with dice, saves and levels as per the dwarf.

Equipment  May use any; has jaws and claws (1d4 dam.), and paws only a little clumsier than human hands (-1 with missile weapons and devices).

Abilities  Digs twice as fast as a human. Has infravision, the dwarven feel for structure and a 1-in-6 chance of identifying inconsistencies or later changes in the contents of a space. May combine suitable items into a new form given that form's gp value in minutes; the new form is one degree poorer for its type and has a 1-in-3 chance of failing with each use.

Knowing the creativity of the people round here, someone's already done it, but I think I'd be happy to play any version. Now, where could a party with a wombull go adventuring..?

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Failed divine?

Time for more Flash Fearsday, for a weird start to the week. This time too I'm following Jennie's lead, focusing on cards, but in particular tarot, in this case used for divination.

Flash Fearsday is ultra-short flash fiction - an unsettling narrative in just 140 characters.

He plays the last card. The tarot speak. Say: "Man, surface, device."

They know what they know. 

He hears not, for he looks. They know, but not this. 

Man. Surface. Device.

Divided. We still don't understand our tools. Maybe we're not seeing those barriers? This week we're sponsored by Trey's Magi, Cygnus with that A-Z, and maybe Dave's farseer.

If you want to try one too, go for it, at your place or Jennie's. Jensan has one up already.

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40K OSR? (22)

It's been yonks since the last 40K OSR? update.

Not sure what a 40K OSR? is? If you know what a 40K is, and an OSR, you're pretty much there.

If you're part of it, feel free to use Colonel Kane's logo, here to the right, and consider linking to a superb example: their Tales from the Maelstrom.

Since that last update, they've set up and run a multiplayer Rogue Trader game, posted the photos and mused on the nature of old school.

And there's been plenty more going on too, for various systems and scales, and none.

• Mutants and Magic outlined a Mutant Future-WFRP blend - Weirdhammer.

• Jack at Tales of the Grotesque posted stats for various Tyranids in WFRP.

• Zhu Bajiee looks at a possible origin for the Tyranids in M.A.R. Barker's Tékumel and possible examples of UK politics appearing in the hobby...
  

• ... and SandWyrm at The Back 40K GW being a public limited company.

• Relic at Lead Space found a source of Epic-scale counts as Tyranids and looked at building up a Crimson Fists force for NetEpic over one, two posts.

• Fictive Fantasies posted two draft expansions for Fictive Hack (pdf), first for space marines then for genestealer cults, plus a scenario and playtest. 

• DarthMeer at The Heralds of Ruin took us all the way up to Kill Team v1.6.
  

• Col. Gravis released a possible IG bike and is crowdfunding field pieces.

• James at Warp Signal posted on the Ratling Project, a major reimagining.

• Master Bryss posted the second part of creature feature for sixth edition.

• TJ Atwell did Iron Warriors and Night Lords in Dark Future's bits series, ...

• ... Davey at The Marienburg Gazette uses this set for plague marines ...

• ... and smiler at Brush of Fumbling just posted a list of skirmish options.

• The guys at Spiky Rat Pack have been producing too much superb work to list - just go and look at it - but one piece, the Living Coffin, ties in with...

• ... the pic-heavy Arkke Retour series at Tears of Isstvaan on a return to the Yggdrassilium tree, for more INQ28 gaming with John Blanche and friends.

• Paul Schaefer mentioned a Necromundan Caves of Chaos at Talysman's.

• Unite All Action showed some great Necromunda Van Saar conversions.

• Lasgunpacker discussed the scope for normal life in the 41st millennium.

• John Bell - The Retired Adventurer - posted a map with lists for the Tellian Sector and psyker and warrior packages for 40K in Stars Without Number.

• Krisken at Scratchbuilt 40K has posted once, twice on a land raider build...

• ... Ansu at Farseer with a Brush once, twice, thrice a card Leman Russ, ...

• ... John Hanan III at Zorcon's Word once, twice the fairly rare arvus lighter...

• ... and Unite All Action - second mention - once, twice a low Ork trukk, ...

• ... plus Rictus at Recalcitrant Daze finished the immense Ork kopta karrier.

• Andrew Lotz brings the warlock titan in line with the phantom at Apoc 40K.

• Phil at The Shell Case talks about a love for the 6mm Adeptus Titanicus.

• At Dropship Studio Carl gives advice on weathering Epic-scale vehicles...

• ... and Sigur at Tale of Painters converted up a 6mm Hunter anti-air rhino.

• J. D. Brink of Chaos Theory has a way of reintroducing shooting modifiers.

• Finally, The M42 Project has posted a lot more, including an introduction. 

I've probably missed a huge number of posts so feel free to leave links in the comments.

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Then they came for the lizards with guns...

Check out this post at Faeit 212 for a look behind a curtain of fear. This time it's Blight Wheel Miniatures daring, it seems, to be inspired by what may be the same old ideas.

Have a read of this bold claim: "There are an infinite number of ways in which an armed mutant komodo dragon could have been depicted". There's one for the metaphysicists...

And get a load of the demands. The question may be: what doesn't GW potentially own?

If this is the best they can do, how will they cope when major opportunities come along?

Update: If that's not enough big boy bodyslamming for one day, there's this thing now too. Following up the thinking at Aldeboran yesterday, resistance ain't futile - it's fertile.

Update: And if this decision and this one reflect a wider trend, the tide may be turning.

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Why I appreciate S&W and you might - even for 40K

Today it's Swords & Wizardry Appreciation Day.

Lots of readers of the Expanse will know what S&W is - a rules-light tactical roleplaying game, and more especially an Original D&D 'retroclone'.

But quite a lot of people reading have probably never even heard of S&W: this is for you.

I'll look at what I appreciate about it, then what you might, then finally a way of using it to do something it's not explicitly designed to do: run 40K. There's a discount today too.

Universal soldiers and a past and future polycosmos

Thanks to John Till and Chirine ba Kal I recently found Bronze Age Miniatures. They have some real gems in 32mm, but the models that stand out for me are the three here.

They're up as 'space adventurers', but beyond maybe the trousers and a possible pistol on one hand they could be in many times and places. Are they sci-fi, fantasy, modern?

For 40K they could cover hive gangers, mercenaries or renegades, or some unknown faction, and they'd probably fit Infinity too. They could be D&D adventurers old school or new. They'd also work for pseudo-historical gladiators and Earth-bound post-apocalyptic.

Lightly armed? Maybe that facewear could be a kind of mandiblaster or banshee mask.

It makes me wonder...

Why do so few producers make near-universal models? Or, rather, what happened to the wide-open worlds of the past, the '60s, '70s and '80s? Have our minds closed..?

What we learnt (13)

...

Noircana - a new spell sextet

Time for more noircana. Most of the discussion on this project is going on over at JD's blog, The Disoriented Ranger, and there's a brief intro here.

This time it's a modular set of six new spells for the toolkit we've been developing, for various worlds and various game systems, not least the simple tactical roleplaying ruleset here.

They're for working with magical energy, including creating sources of power and magic items, as well as manipulating magical signatures. This builds on my last contribution and should also tie in with the work JD is doing on wider landscapes and world histories.

In what seems to be the most useful order to introduce them, the six spells are Conjure Reservoir, Channel Power, Beget Source, Bind Spell, Reinscription and Filter Signature.

Getting internally organised

Jennie's back posting at Nine Worlds, Ten Thousand Things after a rough few months, and hot on the heels of C'nor at Lunching on Lamias too, another much missed blogger.

Following her lead diving back into the flash fiction, here's mine this week. For everyone who wasn't around, Flash Fearsday is a horror-themed narrative, in just 140 characters.

 

Thwump!

The blade lops off my head.

Heart, lungs, gut see Descartes' error: mind-body separation. Quick, they scream, where are we?

Nowhere.

Three other inspirations could have been the aftermath post at Middenmurk - a fine read, and not just for wargamers - this post at The Acorn Afloat, and the death of Paolo Soleri.

If you fancy having a go, and it is good fun, you can post at your blog or over at Jennie's.

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How they made Knightmare

There's an article here that might be a good read for anyone with fond memories of the UK teatime show Knightmare, or with an interest in created spaces - it was a kind of blue-screen dungeon crawl, and more visceral for one player per group.

Coincidentally, it started on 7 September 1987, the day the first conference on artificial life got going. Over 25 years ago. It makes me wonder whether we'll look back at the first five to ten of those years the way we can now at the age of Apollo, as a lost opportunity.

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Creating a new codex for fun, but not profit

Still haven't had your favourite codex updated? Or seen your favourite 40K faction get a codex ever, even after all these years - if not decades? Never been offered a simple method for making a whole new one? After all, the galaxy is a very big place.

Here's an idea to experiment with while you wait.

First, think about the faction's nature, then their motivations, means and methods. Write a bit of background, draw a unit or two, convert some up.

Then for each entry in the list do the following...

Noircana - magical signatures

This is a first contribution to the noircana project I posted about yesterday, a possible campaign toolkit that JD, Garrisonjames and I are talking about below this post at The Disoriented Ranger.

This system covers magical signatures for users of magic and sources of power in a landscape, for a sandboxy, oracular-dicey campaign.

                                                                                                                              

Key elements are size, signature, generation and strength, for casters and sources.

Counts-as master lists?

Quite a few people seem to be moving away from GW's aesthetics and prices, and away from the company in general. Even where players carry on with a GW system, many seem to be looking to alternative model producers. So I'm wondering...

Does anyone know of any master lists being kept that recommend options for counts-as?

I'm thinking of lists at blogs or forums with ideas for any or all of the standard units or a faction as a whole - a place to point people when they ask.

Update: Given the flood of traffic this post is getting and the lack of suggestions so far, I'm taking it there aren't too many lists. Maybe I'll start collecting up links for a series of posts. If you have any recommendations, feel free to leave a reference in the comments.

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Noircana - a campaign toolkit?

Imagine a world where magic bleeds out raw, and infuses all within. Where arcane is mundane and lines between living and dead thin. A civilisation of sorcerers all the way up, from the newborn to gods that pass unseen, a landscape gone mad, and now MAD - with Mutual Assured Destruction.

Conventions, contracts and pacts abound, but out where the rules don't apply there's radicalism and exponential growth. Ever more subtle forms of power and means to exercise it. Mysteries in mysteries, but faint trails back to puppeteers for any who dare look, and know how - or can learn.

A world where wealth is redefined and anything really will be possible. If it isn't already...

This is one possible take on a project JD and I have been talking about here at his blog, The Disoriented Ranger. It's essentially a themed toolkit for tactical roleplaying*, but could also go beyond, into other game types too: imagine a wargame where units are unnecessary and battles fought with arcane power only, but orders of magnitude greater.

It started with JD's subsystem for personal magic weapons and my mind still on Read Magic. One of the major ideas we've been discussing is the near-universal magic item, formed naturally, and the concept of a magical signature unique to a particular source, and linked with that the idea of casters having a magical fingerprint and leaving it behind.

Not a noircrawl so much as a noircana to deepen a campaign, building on lesser-used spells like Detect Magic and maybe leading to whole new sets like those in Space-Age Sorcery. It plays to dark classics, but also more recent reference points like The Matrix and the so-called singularity. Hereticwerks and others already work with material like it.

On those missing xeno/form/s

I'm not talking so much about the Tau delay. If I had to guess, I'd guess that's GW paring down its initial commitment to a release. If sales are falling, they might feel reducing that risk will help.

I'm talking most about the new post at Future War Stories: Where The Frak Are All The Aliens? It goes wider than many in its thinking, and it's still a pertinent question, maybe more so than ever. I recommend reading it. And thinking. Plus if you need the answer to Fermi's Paradox for any spacefaring campaign, just roll 1d10 on William's list.

Also, re the post title, I feel 'xenos' is almost a derogatory term, but 'xenoform' is a little fairer. After all, to talk about other lifeforms is to colour them with our view of what life is.

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A defence of Read Magic, and battlefield power gain

This is for D&D, and any game with magic, psionics etc., including wargames like 40K.

A defence of Read Magic

The prompt is the discussion here at Like Being Read To From Dictionaries on the point of the Read Magic spell, and possibly a lack of clarity in the rules. I think Nagora gets it.

What's Read Magic? Put simply, in OD&D etc. just looking at magical script - at the text of a spell on a scroll say - isn't enough for a spellcaster to read it, and, if it's a spell, to learn it: it needs to be deciphered first, i.e. translated from the system and even the scrawl of the writer, a little like understanding a prescription maybe. There's a spell for that - Read Magic - but it means forgoing another potentially more useful spell to learn it.*

Status report - March 2013

Another month gone so here's the usual summary of possible highlights at the Expanse.

• A first 400 entries for the grimdarkling detail project, the head and arms

• A tool for shared location building in wargame and roleplaying campaigns

• Musings on getting better old school encounters, and a great discussion

• An approach to the ruinedcitycrawl, and a Conanesque not-Necromunda

• The second in a set of excerpts from John Ruskin's "The Nature of Gothic"

A lot of activity this month was off the blog, mostly for the Petty Gods project, now being run to an astounding, breakneck standard by Greg Gorgonmilk. I've sent three entries:

• Perichronaos, Godlink of the Age Outer Past, making use of the braner idea

• Blentry, Godlet of the Improbable Tally, and four spells of a cybernetic magic

• Expiurge, Petty Gods of Chaos Embound, with a 3x1d30 table for the facets

The three braner posts have also been expanded to go in as well, including three more spells for crossing or unfurling dimensions and fixing braners to items. They could also be used in weird ways with the cybernetic spells, to cast up virtual noöspheric networks.

Greg's also just linked up the free pdf for Original Petty Gods - the James Maliszewski and Peter Gifford edition - and if you like weird spells, don't forget Space-Age Sorcery, a free resource by Hereticwerks and Needles of Swords & Stitchery released last week.

The ghosts of Easters past, present and future

Got more time today? Feeling oddly reflective? I'd recommend reading this historical text posted by The Angry Lurker, this new take at Arlequín's World on another intricate period, and these thoughts from The Polemarch on gaming ethics.

That last post, and the nature of the day itself, leads in well to this interview with Frank Herbert of Dune fame, which covers a huge amount of ground and about one fifth of the way down the page considers an approach to relationships between ethics and morality.

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Quick ruinedcitycrawls - and Conan on Necromunda?

For a little background for this post, go read this one at The Tears of Isstvan then this one at Hill Cantons. It's aimed at tactical roleplaying, but you can find an introductory ruleset for that here.

It's all about managing the complexity of a ruined cityscape that's occupied and prowled, and the key elements are the map, faction territories, depth, locations and activity.

                                                                                                                              

200 grimdarkling personal features, minor mutations, gifts, devices, body mods and stylings (arms /1,000)

Yet more entries for the character detail project, which is an open project to produce a large range of options for figures in a grimdarkling world like 40K's. The whole thing was set off a couple of weeks back by Lasgunpacker's random warband creator for Inquisitor.

Since my last batch, Lasgunpacker has posted 200 each for bling and equipment, to make 700. With zhu bajiee's 60 minor mutations and my first batch we have around 950.

This is my next batch of 200 then, this time for the arms, which gets us to around 1,150.

If you don't have a d20 and/or d10, just roll 1d6: on a 1-3, roll for 1-100 as described in the fifth paragraph here; on a 4-6 roll for 101-200 the same way, adding 100 to the result.

To decide which arm it is, assuming two, roll 1d6: on a 1-3 it's the left, on a 4-6 the right.

Beware: there's some weirdness, a fairy tale-bad dream darkness and light body horror.
 

A question for (potential) diemakers

If the probability of rolling each of the individual results on a given die is influenced by the weight of material removed from each face to create the specific pips or numbers that face has, why not:

a) cut seven pips in each face to a three-by-three grid then ink only those pips actually needed, or

b) cut the pips or numbers on different faces to different depths, i.e. cut the one six times deeper than the six, to equalise the weight of each face?

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Casting on weird frequencies

This caught me napping: out from under the transplanar radar throbs Space-Age Sorcery - a free pdf resource.

It's a collaboration between Hereticwerks and Needles at Swords & Stitchery, with me along for the ride. The pdf has over 100 'spells', weird ones blurring the line people keep seeing between sci-fi and fantasy, with whole sacs of horror thrown in. There's a quick note on the tone here.

You should be able to plug them all fairly easily into your old school tactical roleplaying game, but if you don't have one of those yet, you could use the simple ruleset here.

Go download one, and show your appreciation to Hereticwerks and Needles if you like it.

Update: Just uploaded is Version 1.5, with enough tweaked to make it worth switching.

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Complex interlocking segments

A link set nonet loosely related to relationships...

First, Bujilli is back. If you don't know Bujilli, read this. You can join in this week's instalment here.

 

Second, this post at TalkToYoUniverse reports on a useful discussion of weapons and their development, in fictional worlds and our world at various times in history, and the latest has a video of a discussion on armies in worldbuilding.

Third, there's a post and discussion at BoLS on the design of DreamForge's Eisenkern stormtroopers in the context of GW's Adeptus Astartes and Imperial Guard, Mantic's Corporation, and other fictional designs of armour.

Fourth, Jabberwock at The Vorpal Mind takes a look at Reichstar, which assumes an alternative path for the Second World War, and ponders the value in exploring the space.

Fifth, here at the GW vs. Chapterhouse thread paulson games reopens discussion of the space marine pauldron in a historical context - a legal point may be variation in size.

Sixth, Overwatch at Capture and Control wonders in this post if GW's recent move on sales out of country is a sharp attempt to do more damage to smaller competitors than to itself, a little like the clustering that seems to be used by companies like Starbucks, and Dave G has an interesting supplementary anecdote here at Wargaming Tradecraft. 

Seventh, since yesterday's post there's been a brief update from James Maliszewski with a cryptic line that suggests the Dwimmermount project may finally be moving again.

Update: More news - money has been sent to Autarch, with just the rights to be agreed.

Eighth, Peter Ball over at Too Few Tanks is taking on a huge terrain project inspired by a classic Necromunda board, if 'board' is the right word for it, and I'm partly to blame.

Finally, Marc Pavone at Roll For Treasure posted a dice game themed on train layout.

There's much more worth highlighting of course, but it's not especially difficult if you try.

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