Review - WtNW: Revised Core

It's been a while since I mentioned When the Navy Walked, but that's not for lack of love. I keep going back to it as a system and I can see it going far. The wargame is building momentum and there's a roleplaying game lined up of course. Given the depth, the direction of development and the rapidly improving quality I'm quite confident we'll all be much more familiar with the world in a year or two. As a setting, it has a lot to offer.

It's that rapidly developing quality I'm going to look at here, because I now have the free 'Revised Core' upgrade, a graphic update and fusion of the Core and Quick Play.

For those not so familiar with the game, WtNW is what can be called steampunk, but more accurately described as Victorian and Edwardian sci-fi. If you want to know more, visit ArmChairGeneral's blog or browse the reviews - in January I reviewed the core rules, in March the Quick Play and in April Conflict on Mars!, the first supplement.

On the Core rules I wrote: "The assets for me were the rich setting, command-focused mechanics and almost complete freedom in unit, machine and army building."

On the Quick Play: "... the feedback from the last review has been taken into account and the result is an improvement on the key drawback, with bonus material to boot."

On Conflict on Mars!: "... it offers an extension to the game world ..., fleshes this out with immediately useable units, scenarios and supporting elements like the weather and low gravity, and even expands the basic system through the rules for aerial combat and options for command. ... as an addition to a wargamer's armoury - and a pulp sci-fi fan's mental furniture - I feel Conflict on Mars! does deliver ... ."

I like it is the gist of all that.

Back to the Revised Core then. The word 'Revised' is rather nonchalant, and suggests only some light tweaking on the part of the designer, but that doesn't come close to either the quality or the quantity of visual changes. Since I first saw it I've written it to ArmChairGeneral to say he should be showing more of it off on the blog. It makes what already worked like a professionally-written ruleset look like one, and then some.

I'll talk about specific changes, but I'll do it by comparing this version and the version I reviewed back in January, simply because it may be that the improvements have been creeping in over time, and I have no way of tracking those; as far as I know, for example, the current cover has been the one in use for some months.

• First that cover, and it's a style you'll recognise if you've seen Conflict on Mars! so good textures, and a dramatic central face-off. The period mood is a sign of what to expect inside. This format unifies the three documents released, or being released, and means they ought to look good together.

• There's new page edging too, in the etching style of the art in Conflict on Mars!; the original was attractive, and evocative of the tech level, but this is something else again. A double-page spread feels like a window, or maybe a porthole. The main image gives a sense of vast open spaces and gigantic machines, and the intricate trim gives a sense of that nature of the world.

• The bulk of the text is now arranged two columns, which is a more subtle change, but an effective one. It makes the text easier to read and navigate, even if some of the subpoints in the rules listing can feel a bit squeezed.

• There's a huge amount of new art, some of which is here, also suggestive of etching. I haven't counted the total number of pieces, but it's many more than I expected and consistently good. There's a focused mix, with the majority either portraits of machines, vehicles or individuals, or scenes of conflict, and they have their own intricate borders too, again hinting at the world beyond the battlefields. They show walkers and tanks, a steamboat, a submarine, landships and airships, flying saucers and tripods, even dinosaurs. Together they take some of that rich background and help us picture it, as well as offer ideas for conversions and maybe models we can expect in the range.

• Another simple but very attractive change is in the diagrams. Rather than showing only the outlines of units, they now have top-down line drawings of the possible individuals and designs for a given unit type. More inspiration, and a fine tie-in with the existing and wider imagery.

• The update has less photos, which in a sense is a good thing. Those left in are now black and white as well as framed, which means they blend in well with the rest of the document - so much so they might not be recognised immediately for what they are. They're used now to suggest possible forces.

• As mentioned above, the upgrade is also a partial fusion of the Core and Quick Play versions I reviewed, given it also includes the four linked scenarios from the Quick Play. This means the dilemma I wrote about back then is resolved. Although the move to full black and white means the vivid colours on the maps are lost, they're still clear enough, and moodier too.

• The final pages now show the miniature and supplements range as it stands, as well as the upcoming Airships and Sky Pirates - due in December - and a well-deserved ad for the firm that seems to have produced most of the art, Scrying Eye Games. The whole document could now almost be a portfolio.

It's a big step up, and makes it hard to look back at the earlier incarnation. The Revised Core gives more of a picture of the WtNW world and a better feel for it, as well as lots of inspiration for modelling. Again, it now looks like it should look given the quality of the system overall. I can't imagine any owner of an earlier Core document will regret the upgrade, and there's certainly been no better time for a new player to pick the game up.

At some point in the next week I should be getting in some games of a newer system, It Came From Beyond the Still, which is also doing a brisk trade at Wargames Vault, and I'll review that too. It's aliens skirmishing with hillbillies, so a very different thing.
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