Better than Monopoly (pic: Hasbro)
GameCentral looks back at the year in tabletop games, from the rise of Henry Cavill’s Warhammer to the best games to play at Christmas.
What board game did you play this Christmas? Maybe your family didn’t fancy an eight hour day of back stabbing with Game of Thrones: The Board Game but perhaps they dug out the Monopoly or Risk board instead. Board games are now ubiquitous at Christmas and the choice can be pleasantly overwhelming, but this wasn’t always the case.
While no Christmas was complete in the 1970s without a game of Mouse Trap or Operation, such trivial pursuits never made an appearance in my house. Instead, my abiding gaming memory of Christmas past, is of a Scottish family holiday in 1986 where my father ran a week-long campaign of Middle-earth Role Playing in a remote cottage in the highlands. MERP lost its licence in 1999 but has recently been revamped by Free League Publishing as The One Ring, for those who miss the good old days.
The recent revamp of Dungeons & Dragon’s Dragonlance reminded me of the hours I spent reading The Legend of Huma one Christmas, a Dragonlance novel which sees a paladin fall in love with a silver dragon and is basically the Romeo and Juliet of fantasy novels. It also introduced me to Tasslehoff Burrfoot, one of my favourite Dungeons & Dragons characters, a Kender (basically an off-brand Hobbit) who had a top knot before anyone I knew in real life.
While role-playing in the ‘80s wasn’t for everyone the most accessible way to get your family involved in high fantasy was HeroQuest, which will always be the definitive dungeon crawler. It’s like Dungeons & Dragons lite: a self-contained role-playing adventure in a box, that was originally sold in ordinary shops alongside Cluedo and all the rest.
The rules are clearly set out, and require no prior knowledge of anything, meaning that anyone can play it, no matter their experience. The original was created by Warhammer makers Games Workshop and the recent revival has introduced expansions The Frozen Horror and Return of the Witch Lord, which I’m definitely looking forward to playing.
Forget the promise of progress and understanding, for in the grim dark future there is only war.
– from the introduction to Warhammer 40,000
Tabletop games aren’t something that usually make the entertainment news headlines but that all changed recently thanks to Amazon and Henry Cavill, the world’s most handsome nerd. Cavill has never been shy talking about his love for the grim dark universe of Warhammer, having shown off his miniature painting skills during lockdown and now, thanks to him, it’s not just your tabletop the Imperium of Mankind has its sights on but your TV as well.
There’s barely a day this December that Henry Cavil hasn’t made the news, with his departure from The Witcher and then the revelation that he will be stepping down as Superman. All of which was followed by the plot twist that he will be producing, and presumably starring, in a live action Warhammer series for Amazon.
Although everyone assumes this will mean the Space Marines of Warhammer 40,000 that’s not actually been confirmed yet, but it seems unlikely Amazon wants another live action high fantasy series. Although it’s going to cost a fortune to make Henry’s dreams come true, given how much CGI is going to be needed.
‘For 30 years I have dreamt of seeing a Warhammer universe in live action. Now, after 22 years of experience in this industry, I finally feel that I have the skill set and experience to guide a Warhammer Cinematic Universe into life,’ said Henry, who’s clearly all in on the concept.
Warhammer is going to be bigger than ever next year (pic: Wizards of the Coast)
For my game of Christmas future, we circle back to role-playing, but this time in the form of DIY Kickstarter game Orc Borg. If you weren’t impressed by Rings of Power and have had your fill of Middle-earth, how about some light-hearted, over-the-top orcs in space? This a zine-length standalone role-player, powered by the Mörk Borg game engine and sees you playing one of a horde of orcs on a space junker skidding through space, fighting off everything from other orc factions to cultists and aliens.
Scheming and scraping gets you access to new guns and melee weapons and there’s even rules for stealing and piloting giant robots – called things like Bang Ten Thousand and Rust Bitch – as well as cybernetic limb replacements and other dodgy gear powered by distilled technowizardry and yell-powered prayers. You can also adapt existing dungeon maps for the game, to avoid having to design an environment from scratch – just like any good orc would.
Orc Borg is just one of the numerous inventive spin-offs based on the Mörk Borg engine and its generous third party licence, which allows you to create your own games and campaigns for any theme imaginable. There’s more information at the official resource directory, including plenty of one shot adventures for every occasion.
As for the ghost of Christmas present, the main problem with role-playing, as anyone that has ever tried to organise a tabletop game will know, is that you need a party of committed players who are willing to turn up at the same time and see the adventure through to the end. There has been a modern solution to this problem tough, with clubs such as Avalon organising Dungeons & Dragons nights with a persistent campaign that you can drop in and out of whenever you like.
Your stats and experience points are stored in the Dungeons & Dragons Beyond app, for safe keeping, and so even if you take a Christmas break you can still start back where you left off. That’s certainly what I’m planning to do with my Drow bard character Werewoozlella, as soon as the holidays are over and the turkey’s HP is finally extinguished.
You don’t have to come every week! The world, the players, even the economy is designed to live on and keep moving regardless of who is able to attend the sessions each week.
– Avalon
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GameCentral looks back at the year in tabletop games, from the rise of Henry Cavill’s Warhammer to the best games to play at Christmas.
