What I have been up to

I have been working my new job with Prodos Games for a few months now and have been busy as heck. Prodos Games are the people who brought back Warzone and late this fall Aliens verses Predator the boardgame and wargame. It is like a dream come true to work for a company that is making two sci-fi settings that I adore as miniatures games.

I am their US Marketing and Sales Manager, things are finally starting to roll and the first five shops should have product shortly. I am working on many others as I type this. Additionally I get to help write rules and do the groovy behind the scenes stuff as well!

So as you can imagine my gaming and hobby time is filled with Warzone Resurrection. This past weekend I attended the Bay Area Open and ran Warzone demos all weekend, it was a total blast! I even made a few new shop contacts for stocking Warzone, so this was a bonus to a great two days of demoing. Here are a few pics from the weekend:

Now on to things 40k, I still love the 40k universe and will still be playing on occasion but as you can imagine the new job will keep me busy. 40k Killzone is dead until I have the time to write a make your own army list out of the codex set of stipulations, cause I just cannot make updates for every single codex.

30k Killzone will get an update and official PDF by October, I still need to order the latest HH book from Forgeworld. I can reasonably update it with only one book arriving every year. 

Finally I am going to try to post once a week from this point forward, more if I can.

Until next time keep your powder dry and lead flying! 

Special Operations Killzone Codex Operatives incoming!

Hey guys I am happy to announce that by late March Spec Ops Killzone will be fully updated to 6th ed. The Codex Operatives has been woefully out of date, but fear not I have two very good friends that will be sitting down with me to make sure that this update happens so going forward updates won't be such a daunting task!

Until next time, keep your powder dry and lead flying!

Why you should consider skirmish gaming

This is a re-post from my article yesterday on Dark Future Gaming:

Skirmish games are typically played with small armies of miniatures ranging from 5-30 miniatures per side. This makes entry into a skirmish game really easy. The games themselves are usually more detail oriented mechanics wise as well; because the forces are smaller the complexity of the game can be increased without bogging down gameplay.

Killzone at Adepticon 2011, thanks to Brian from A Gentleman's Ones Blog for the pic

Some people will disagree with me on the following, these people will ardently argue that my Micro skirmish category is the only true skirmish game, but this is my opinion. I put skirmish games into 3 categories, Micro, Macro and Scaleable skirmish.

Micro skirmish games are the ones where your force is made up of anywhere between 5 and 15 models, each model usually acts on its own even if part of a “unit.” Typically a Micro skirmish game can be completed in around forty-five minutes or less.

Macro skirmish games are the ones where your force is made up between 15 to around 30 models, sometimes the models act as units and the better ones allow models to act on their own even if part of a unit. These types of games can run anywhere from an hour to ninety minutes depending on the complexity of the system.

Scaleable skirmish games are my favorite by far as they straddle the line between Micro and Macro games. This allows you the gamer to choose how small or large you want your games to be. Both versions of Killzone and Warzone are all Scaleable skirmish games!

So to answer my own question “why skirmish gaming?” it is the easy entry in monetary and hobby outlay; with the added benefit of having fast paces small games that do not take up a lot of time. Sometimes it is just nice to have a force for a game that is painted to a higher standard than you would never consider doing in an army level game like 40k. Plus on top of that you can also go to town converting and modeling your minis to make each one be unique from the rest; this is actually one of my favorite things about skirmish.

Skirmish games also tent to be much more tactical in the gameplay, since you do not have the resources to just throw away a unit, you must seriously consider each of your actions to effectively use your units to complete the mission at hand.

Another of Brian's amazing tables!

Another thing that is really cool is the terrain making opportunities that you have with skirmish gaming that would just be impractical in a battle game (like 40k) setting. Terrain is also infinitely more important in a skirmish game than a battle one; if you play a skirmish game on a standard 25% terrain 40k table it will devolve into a shooting gallery and the side with the strongest shooting will typically run rough shod over other lists.

In my next post I will cover the importance of terrain in skirmish gaming.

Until Next time, keep your powder dry and lead flying!

Help Save S.O. Killzone

Special Operations Killzone needs your help. I am not currently playing much in the way of 40k at all; I have been more involved in 30k for a while now. Couple this with the fact that I have been heavily involved working on stuff for Warzone Resurrection and the cost of the rapidly releasing 40k codices and you might understand why Codex Operatives is woefully out of date. On top of that I am getting constantly emailed telling me that the Codex Ops is out of date.

Basically it boils down to the fact that I do not have the time or am willing to spend the money to keep the Codex Operatives updated or any idea of when I might be able to tackle such a project on my own.

If SO Killzone has any hope of getting properly updated it will only be through the help of the community. The main rules are set and good to go as is, but the codex operatives needs a 6^th ed update for everything after Dark Angels.

I have asked for help in the past and even had a few people say that they were gonna help, which is great, but this time around if you volunteer you need to have the initiative to get these things rolling without me assigning a task; I am very busy currently and do not have the time to micromanage the project.

What needs doing and what are you looking for? Codex: Daemons, Tau, Eldar, Space Marine, Sisters of Battle and Tyranids need doing. You need to look for special rules and Wargear that will mess with the one man unit dynamic of SO Killzone.

If you are willing to help out email me at galaxynflames @ gmail dot com

With your help Special Operations Killzone can thrive in 2014!

Until next time, keep your powder dry and lead flying!

30k Killzone has a working title!

I have been busy behind the scenes working on the 30k version of Killzone. Thinking on how best to make the skirmish game feel work for the madness of the Horus Heresy.

What if your Killzone force represented the remnants of an attack force banding together to be a thorn in their opponents side while at the same time in the midst of a desperate struggle survive.

Instead of a highly specialized mission oriented game you have a rag tag group of survivors banded together out of necessity.

With that concept in mind Killzone Survival is born!

I would also like to thank Brian Sobb for joining the Killzone Survival team and for all his help so far! Upon linking up with me this past weekend he had already been working on a 30k adaptation for normal SO KZ; the most wicked part is that we seem to mostly be on the same page for the majority of things. Very Exciting!

Until next time: keep your powder dry and bullets flying!

New Horizons, Going Forward

It is time to say goodbye to 40k centric Galaxy in Flames and move forward into blogging about all of my miniature wargaming experiences. I just cannot completely say goodbye since I built a very solid community on GiF and made a ton of new friends here as well, so think of this as a re-branding of sorts because that is basically what it is. A dawn of a new blogging era, please join me on this journey!

I have re-booted many things in my personal life to contend with my health issues. My life has been a constant struggle for the last 18 months, but now that I am getting a real manageable handle on those I can move forward in the hobby world.

I will still offer 40k hobby content although going forward there will probably be more Horus Heresy 30k than 40k. I will also be offering content for Warzone Resurrection, Flames of War, Grunts 15mm Sci-fi, Muskets and Tomahawks (French Indian War skirmish), Lord of the Rings and anything else shiny that strikes my fancy.

On top of all that Special Operations Killzone will be here as well, as my buddy Lee and I are working hard to catch up with the crazy release schedule that GW is throwing at us.

Until next time, keep your powder dry and bullets flying!

Killzone new rule ideas

Here are a few rules that we have been testing, but have not added to the update yet. They may or may not make it in. I figured I would give you a glimpse at what we are cooking up behind the scenes. 

Auto-fire: Any time a stationary model with a heavy weapon that has 3 or more shots fires, the shooting player may choose to initiate an Auto-fire attack; the player lays down a 3 x 5 inch Auto-fire template down with the long edge facing the shooting model. All models under the template generate one extra to hit dice in addition to the weapons usual rate of fire. These shooting attacks are all made at -1 BS. Wounds are allocated one at a time starting with the closest model, you may not place a second hit on any model until every model under the template has been allocated a hit.

Strength in Numbers: If you out number your opponent in the assault phase your models gain +1 to hit with all close combat attacks. However if you lose combat while outnumbering your opponent you have -1 to your leadership test.

Chain Blades: 2 points

Any model armed with a close combat weapon may upgrade it to a Chain Blade. These are vicious flesh rending, armor shredding weapons. Chain Blades are AP 4. (You may not upgrade combat accessories to Chain Blades)

Changes to 6th ed Killzone

I have been asked a few times since last night to list the major changes in the 6th ed update. To be totally honest there are no major changes, mostly minor tweaks.

Killzone Overwatch became Opportunity Fire

Grenades are thrown following the rules from the 6th ed MRB.

Assault distance is 4inches plus a D6, this was done to make sure that models with the new versions of fleet and equipped with Jump packs function properly.

I upped the limit of Jump Infantry and Bikes/Cav from 2 to 3 models in a standard list.

Some of the Killzone Wargear got tweaks as well; they are the Auspex, Medi-pack, Suspensors, Targeters and Thermal Imaging.

In missions with Reserves deployment 3 models may deploy via Deepstrike.

That is about the extent of the changes, although there has been some rewording of some rules/wargear for clarity. 

I am working on a team leader traits chart that I will hopefully be incorporating into the official update.

6th Ed Killzone Beta Released

It's final here, the S.O. Killzone 6th edition beta is available for download! This is not the finished update, it has no pics and most of the flavor text has not be added in; this is to get you guys back on the table. Let me know of any hiccups you find during play.



I have also uploaded the printer friendly versions of the Mission and Fate cards. You can print them out and paste them to regular playing cards.

Killzone 6th edition Download

Mission and Fate Cards Download

Coming soon S.O. Killzone: Forlorn Hope

We are in the middle of making a players versus a GM style supplement for S.O. Killzone. I have been playtesting it myself and have had good success and am about ready to send it out to others to playtest.

 I have decided to call the supplement Forlorn Hope it is an old military term that was made popular during the Napoleonic wars.


Forlorn Hope: A forlorn hope is a band of soldiers or other combatants chosen to take the leading part in a military operation, such as an assault on a defended position, where the risk of casualties is high. 

This supplement is meant to pit teams of special operations groups into desperate fights versus the likes of a Daemonic incursion, Tyranid invasion or even a Zombie apocalypse. Your teams will work together to accomplish mission goals and hopefully survive while doing so.

This supplement works best with 2-3 players with one player acting as the game master running the adversary creatures.

This supplement will also give you the opportunity to play single player games of Killzone by utilizing a random creature generation dice and card mechanic in conjunction with random creature movement system. For those times that you or your buddies don't have a game master handy or just all want to play as the good guys.


I am very excited about this supplement it has been tons of fun to play so far, so plenty of great stuff in the future for Killzone!
 

Get your S.O. Killzone Cards, tokens and Glory

Hey guys,
Brian is offering up some sweet S.O. Killzone tokens and decks of Mission and Fate cards over at A Gentleman's Ones. While not required for play, they are a Glorious way of enhancing your S.O. KZ experience! So head on over and pick your combo pack.

Check out the Killzone playtest give away

Brian is running a give away for Killzone on A Gentleman's Ones. It's really easy to enter play a game of killzone, use the form provided in his post to report you game and bam, you are entered in the give away. First prize on the table is a NIB Stormraven!

So Check it out!

Killzone: Giveaway

Killzone V2 available for some hot skirmish action

Get 'em while they are hot!

A newly revised and updated Special Operations: Killzone Core Rules and Errata is available for download. These revisions and updates improve on the basics of the Killzone dynamic, but also account for the player feedback about extremely modest hiccups that were encountered over the last year, as well as bringing all the new codices into line.

This update includes:

The revised ruleset includes revisions to: wargear, skills, overwatch, team selection, themes, deployment, mission points, victory conditions, and much, much more. We have worked very hard to hone the dynamic, and I am quite proud of where we are.

The revised errata include new lists for the Grey Knights, Sisters of Battle, Necrons and a special operations team for the Inquisition.

Also outlined is an entirely new card system that includes deployment options, primary missions, secondary missions, tertiary missions and rounded out by the wildly cinematic fate dynamic. We have rolled the Missions into the Core rulesbook.(The card decks will follow shortly.)

To download the files follow this link to the TCP Killzone page you want the V2 versions of the PDF's.

Killzone Downloads

We have left up the old V1 cards, missions book and Adepticon 2011 missions for anyone that may want to have them.

The home stretch: Killzone fans rejoice!

Brian and I have been hard at work on the next version of Killzone. We have hashed almost everything out and editing and formatting is about it. We have updated the rules and missions. We have finally got all the FAQ's done for all the codices; Grey Knights, Sisters of Battle and Necrons. We have even included a specialist Inquisition henchman list out of the GK codex.

The plan is to have the PDF's in your hot little hands by Friday 11/26.

Killzone links temporarily removed

Hey guys sorry for any inconvieniences but I have removed the links for the Killzone PDF's. So that there is no confusion for the 2012 Adepticon Killzone participants.

Brian and I are hard at work on an update to the system including a few long overdue Errata updates. Sorry for the delay life has gotten in the way.

We should be able to have these up in the next 7-10 days, so keep your eyes out for them.

Cheers,
Jim

Spec Ops Killzone News and info

Hey Killzone fans we are hot of the heels of the success of the events held at Adepticon! I'd like to thank Adepticon and all the great gamers who made the events a success.

B.smoove was a champ at getting fantastic tables made and running the events! Make sure to check out his coverage of the Glorious events on his blog A Gentleman's Ones!

Here are a few videos that contain footage of the tables and games in progress. Thanks to the Terrainaholic on youtube for the coverage!



Killzone in progress starting at 3:45


I just got my Adepticon Killzone care package from Brian, woohoo great stuff! Decks of cards, markers and event the printed missions from the events! Thanks B!

With all that said Killzone is on the move:

I will be closing the Killzone specific forums in the near future.

I have however set up new forums for Killzone and moving all further advancement of the rules over to The Codex Project website.

This will make it ten times easier for me to monitor as I only have so many online hours in the day.

Thanks for all your wonderful support of Killzone and I hope you find you way over to the new forums over at TCP.

Cheers,
Jim

Killzone Cards PDF in time for Adepticon

Brand new and ready for unveiling tomorrow at Adepticon! These cards are meant to add cinematic flavor to your games.

They will be used at the Adepticon Events starting tomorrow. There are professionally printed decks for use on each table at the event.

Secondary Objective Cards: The Secondary Objective cards are designed to add a new wrinkle to your Killzone game, to stretch your resources, and to force you to reconsider strategic options that might otherwise remain untapped.

Secondary Objective Cards are also designed to upturn the results of the game. As such, these cards remain concealed during gameplay in order to mimic the covert and the clandestine nature of your Special Operations Group.

Fate Cards: These cards are designed to add a statistically improbable, but appropriately cinematic, element to a Killzone game. They are not necessarily balanced, and are deliberately designed to offer your Team a boon in the grand, heroic Hollywood tradition.

Killzone Mission/Fate Cards download

Good luck to everyone entering the Killzone at Adepticon! I expect lots of pictures to come my way!

Blog and Soul Reapers Updates

I will be back to regular posting next week. Sorry for the lack of updates, life has been stomping all over me.

My vehicle had decided it is time to die about a month ago which has nuked all my going to Adepticon hopes. Unfortunately I am one of those people that has to do most of my travel plans close to the events so I can save the cash for the trip, I just don't make the money I used to; to be able to plan out more than 3 months in advance. So now I must use my travel money combined with my emergency savings to get new transportation.

I urge everyone to support Brian, AKA B.smoove from A Gentleman's Ones with the Killzone events at Adepticon. I would also appreciate if you guys could take plenty of pics for me to enjoy since I will not be there.

I have been spending the little hobby time I have on things for The Codex Project. There are ten Codices in development:

Soul Drinkers
Imperial Fists
Ecclesiarchy
Adeptus Arbites
Iron Hands
Legion of the Damned
13th Company SW's
Adeptus Mechanicus
Raven Guard
Soul Reapers (my Chaos Astartes)

I have updated the Soul Reapers codex to reflect layout changes for TCP.

Codex Soul Reapers

There have been lots of minor tweaks and changes to the Codex.

Until next time,
Jim

The final Killzone Rules update for Adepticon 2011

We have done the final update to the main rules for use at Adepticon. In this update we have small fixes for Overwatch, Penetrator Rounds and the Hard to Kill skill.

Killzone Update

After Adepticon is over we will be finishing up the Campaign system for Killzone.

Killzone update for Christmas: Simply Glorious!

Galaxy in Flames and A Gentleman's Ones proudly present Our Christmas present to the 40k community. We have worked long and hard on this update, incorporating changes from the playtest feedback that has been received.

A big shout out to Jabberjabber from the Warpstone Flux blog for the proofreading, thanks a million Bro! Thanks again to all the guys on the rules council that allowed Killzone to get on its feet.

So follow the links below to download the updated version of Killzone.

Killzone Rules

Killzone Errata

Killzone Missions

Don't forget to stop by at Adepticon 2011 and say hello if you are not already participating in the sold out Killzone Events!

Cheers from B.smoove and myself we hope you enjoy this new and updated version of Killzone!

Have a Glorious holiday,
Big Jim