+ inload: Bloodsong quick Q&A and notes +

+ New frontiers +

+ Titanicus wargaming with xenos +

+ Getting the gang back together – from left to right, Ork Great Gargant; Imperial Warlord Titan, Eldar Phantom Titan. + 

+ I've held off a bit on posting pics of the various Titans, mainly because I haven't got any painting done for weeks and weeks; hobby time being taken up elsewhere. Nevertheless, with Bloodsong out in the wild [+noosphericexloadlink embedded+], and some feedback coming in already, I though the pic above gave a good indication of my take on things. +

+ This inload will look at the plan for Bloodsong, and address some early playtesting feedback. +

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+ The plan, early feedback and FAQs +

First off, thanks for everyone who's downloaded, read and given Bloodsong a go so far – please do let me know how you're getting on with it, and any feedback – positive or negative – is very welcome!

'Wombo combos' are exactly what I'd like to see you playtest to pressure test the rules; the playtesting so far has explicitly been Open Play and aimed at making sure the rules work mechanically, so seeing the live playtest results of more competitive players will be very helpful indeed. 

However, please do try 'em out 'in the round', as it were – there's lots that I was concerned was overtuned, but seems to work fine in our (admittedly rather soft!) games. Feel free to pop your findings in a message to me (I'm not thin-skinned, so don't worry about hurting my feelings!), or better yet, in a comment on the PDF, so they're all collected together.

The plan is for three months of playtest feedback to pin down the Terminals, Maniple equivalents and Weapons. (And gather artwork and model pics). Those are the core that anyone using the rules will have to engage with. After that, adding in the Legio equivalents, new weapons and new units (the Mekboy Gargant/Supa-Stompa) will be relatively easy.

… and August is therefore the plan for release of an updated version, which I hope will be a 64 or 80pp one, containing the lore and missions for a mini-campaign alongside the rest.

+ Playtesting +

Bloodsong is all, of course, unofficial, and I'd emphasise that your game is yours, whoever's rules you're using as a kicking-off point. If you're lucky enough to have someone willing to play unofficial rules, I imagine both you and they are already open-minded and creative enough to make some tweaks to better fit your take on things.

With that said, a common set of rules is necessary to make meaningful tweaks and adjustments, so when playtesting and providing feedback, I'd please ask you to give things a try as they're presented – or please let me know what changes you've made, so I can take into account.

When providing feedback, the 'big questions' I want to answer are:

• ‘Did they feel like Eldar/Orks?’
• ‘Were they fun to play with?’

and most importantly,

• ‘Were they fun to play against?’

After that, please feel free to get as granular and detailed as you like. Think a particular weapon stinks? Think the pricing's off? Want to know why X Y or Z was done? Let us know. 

There's a thread on the + Death of a Rubricist + Facebook group for discussion, or you can send me a message through the comments and contact details here, if you prefer.

+ Early feedback and FAQs +

Some quick response answers to unclear areas:

Orks

I read it as all sizes of Gargant need to have a belly gun and two arm guns but the Mega-Gargant's towers and kustom job are optional, is that correct?

Yes, that’s right.

Gargants can use weapon cards from their size or smaller, so a Great or Mega Gargant could use either the Great Gargant sized Gut Buster or the Gargant sized (half the points for the same weapon but less armoured), correct?

Typo here! Great Gargant version should be S10 and Blast (5in); hence the heftier price. This is flagged on the PDF for change. 

If you have 2 dice of krew in the weirdboy tower, is the strength determined by adding the 2 values together?

Yes, add the values together… although this is one of those bits that I’m very keen to hear feedback on. If you’re finding it oppressive, please let me know.

Are there any plans on the works for Stompas?

Knights and equivalent are beyond the scope of this project for the moment at least, but the Mekboy Gargant is definitely on the drawing board – currently occupying a specialist supporting role somewhat like the Imperial Dire Wolf or Warbringer Nemesis. Their weapon cards will be akin to (and  possibly interchangeable with) the Mega Gargants' Kustom Job cards. This unit will be included in the updated version, with a more 'normal' weapon option allowing you to field it as a Supa-Stompa.

[As an aside on terminology, the Mekboy Gargant, present in Epic: Space Marine 2nd edition and Titan Legions as the Mekboy Gargant, disappeared after Epic: 40,000, and was replaced by the Supa-stompa in Epic: Armageddon. Confusingly, the current 40k-scale Stompa is (in-universe) about this size – so you can see why I've got a bit tied in knots about whether Stompas are in or not!]

This unit will be great to proxy with your old Epic Gargant or Steam Gargant models.

What's the reasoning behind Gargants being on round bases?

We tried them on both, and found round bases gives more of a solid, unwieldy ‘feel’ in-game that helps to distinguish the orks from the other factions, and makes the model appear chunkier.

Round bases also opened up some interesting little tactical bits and bobs – since the gun decks can fire in the side arcs, it allows Gargants to protect themselves from flanking knights or help an ally strip shields without turning. They can also fire slightly behind themselves, which gives a nice ‘navy battle cruiser’ feel. 

With that said, there’s not a huge amount in it, so feel free to adapt and use oval bases if you wish, or they better frame your models – these are, after all, homemade rules, so adapt them as you like.

Eldar

Can Revenants use their jump jets jump over titans?

No; cinematic as the visual is, I think that causes mechanical and gameplay problems. Feel free to playtest, but my instinct is that Revenants are already had enough to draw a bead on! 

Imageine a Warhound squadron attacks a Revenant.  The first shot from the first weapon hits the shield vanes, so the attacking Warhound finishes the rest of its attacks with no holofield active. When the second Warhound attacks, are the holofields active, or do they stay down until all squadron attacks are completed?

I’d suggest the shields are back in place for the second and subsequent Warhounds, as it’s a different unit. The mechanic is intended to encourage focussed fire from individual Titans, and since the holofields are the only defence the Revenant has, it seems harsh to allow an entire squadron to benefit (particularly once various Legio/Maniple bonuses are factored in). 

Some of the critical damage effects have names that are not defined in the booklet.  Do we assume they are analogous to what's in the main rulebook? e.g. Spiritmesh disturbed does not have a reference in the rulebook I can see; Steersman wounded, and Soulstone compromised are not defined in the rulebook, but I think its a safe assumption that they are analogous to MIU feedback, etc? 

Yes, the critical damage results started as ‘fluffy’ equivalents, with no mechanical difference – while some are now different, assume the others are as you’ve outlined. I’ll clarify this in the next update.

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+ How big's a [+INSERT TITAN HERE+]? +

Scale and size (particularly base size) have an impact on the game; from interactions with terrain to line of sight issues and arcs of fire, so the supplement contains a few notes that allude to it. However, I didn't want to bog down what's meant to be a practical gaming supplement with endless screeds of conversion suggestions – that's what this noospheric node is for!

On model size, you'll see that the fluid lines between Gargants and Great Gargants is mentioned a few times in Bloodsong, and that's to help when converting. With no official figures, you'll be forced to convert, find third-party sculpts, or scratch build – and that's complicated by the fact that there are lots of different interpretations of the various units; both officially and in fan-made material. 

+ This looks 'right' to me, weaned as I was on the original Adeptus Titanicus – but there's a decent argument that the modern Phantom, for example, should be nearer Reaver in size. +

I've tried to provide some structure in Bloodsong but leave lots of wiggle room – the last thing I want to do is tell someone they can't use their cool model because it doesn't match the letter of these rules. As long as it's clear to both you and the other player(s) what's what, than I think you can go a long way by being generous with line of sight etc. If you're converting or scaling things, I'd aim for the following height from base to top of head:

• Gargant between 9–12cm (3½–5in)
• Great Gargant between 12.5 and 15cm (5–6in)
• Phantom Spectre 15cm (6in) and larger
• Phantom Shade 12.5cm (5in) and smaller
• Revenant 9–10cm (3½–4in)

These are the assumed sizes used in Bloodsong, based partially on the background; on comparisons of the old Epic models to the new Titanicus models; on comparisons of the 28mm Eldar Forgeworld Titans to the 28mm Imperial Forgeworld Titans, and a hefty dollop of practicality – which models I found myself able to source. 

I really want Bloodsong to be accessible, so you'll note that the sizes suggested mean that you can essentially 'demote' the old Epic Phantom and Great Gargant to stand in as Revenants and (standard) Gargants respectively. These are relatively easy to find second-hand, and all the various generations of the official sculpts will be in the right ballpark.

+ Taller and more gracile, and shorter but stockier – you could use the Phantom Shade rules for one and the Phantom Spectre for the other; but equally you might just treat them as different styles of the same type. +

Part of the reason for the Shade/Spectre versions of the Phantom is to allow different interpretations to better match people’s models and conversions – but again, if you dislike the idea of having different types of Phantom, then by all means just pick one and stick with it. If you're converting your own, I’d suggest the Wraithlord is small but in the right ballpark for the Phantom. 

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