FictionalReality-MAGAZINE-10.pdf

Fictional Reality

December 2002

Issue 10

Table of Contents

Game Reviews

Mech Warrior: Dark Age

Fiction

Necromunda

Giant Monster Rampage

Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers

Press Releases

Games Workshop

Armies of Arcana

Mutants & Masterminds

Pinnacle

Privateer Press

Fiction

Magic: The Gathering

Fast Forward Entertainment

Standing Orders

Gothic Horror

Larry Leadhead

Dungeons and Dragons

Warhammer Fantasy Role-play Demons

Free Game

Rabbidgerbal’s Biplane Dogfight Game

Miniature Reviews

Pulp Figures

Concept Artwork

Excelsior Entertainment

IK: Warmachine

Knight-Terror

Hundred Kingdoms

100 Kingdoms

Rackham

Reaper

Quick-Start Rules

IK: Warmachine

Knight Terror Games

I-Kore

Excelsior Entertainment

Battle Report

Confrontation: Twilight of the Dead

Battle Report

Chronopia: Firstborn vs. Devout

The Slave Pit

Painting Translucent Clothing

103

D20 Reviews

Masters of Arms

Contest

Merry Christmas Contest

The Book of the Righteous

105

Heroes of High Favor: Half-Orcs

The Assassin’s Handbook

Oathbound

From the Editor

Common Ground II / Gaming Frontiers 3

Wild Spellcraft

Holy Cow, the Table of Contents has finally spilled over

into the second column and we’ve surpassed the 100-

page mark! Thanks to everyone that has made this

possible and I hope to continue along these lines with

more articles and larger issues of Fictional Reality.

Depths of Despair

Monster Manual II

Star Wars: Arms and Equipment Guide

Monsternomicon

Bluffside: City on the Edge

Weird War II: Land of the Rising Dead

Ok, so what’s been going on? Well, I’ve been playing

some miniature and role-playing games as I have time.

Mostly Chronopia and Confrontation on the miniatures

side and we’ve started bouncing between several role-

playing games, all still d20 right now, with Judge Dredd

and Dungeons and Dragons taking center stage right now,

but we’re looking at jumping into Feng Shui for a little

while.

Deadlands: Lost Colony

Twin Crowns

Broadsides!

Wrath and Rage

d20 Modern

Arsenal

Hell on Earth

Campaign Magazine 5 / Enchanted Locations

Advertisers Index

Great Canadian Miniatures

IFC, 58 and 100

RPG Objects

2 and 104

100 Kingdoms

Devil Dog Design

Fantization

21 and 70

Privateer Press

Pinnacle Entertainment Group

42 and 70

Thane’s Games

Etherworld

Excelsior Entertainment

66, 80, and 94

Plans for Gen-Con next year are already starting to take shape for me and I

really hope to see, and get a chance to play with, many of you.

Many thanks go out to Dave Ross at Pinnacle Entertainment Group for

providing the artwork for this issue’s cover. It’s from their Weird Wars

Afrika Korpse sourcebook.

Also, just to make sure that we’re all still on the same page, and hopefully

out of court rooms, I make no challenge whatsoever to anyone’s physical or

intellectual property. If you own or hold the copyright to any product,

game, piece of moon rock, etc… in which there is an article written about in

Fictional Reality then you still own it.

Ok, that’s about it from me for now. Hope that you have a very Merry

Christmas and a Happy New Year and be sure to check out the very last

page of this issue for a chance to pick up some free toys.

Later,

Mark Theurer

THE GAME

The first thing you need to know about MW:DA is that it is

not customizable in the way that you are probably used to

with miniature games. All of the units come ‘as is’.

Customization comes in when you choose what specific

units will go into your force. The combat dial, or ‘clicky’

base contains all of the game stats for that figure. ‘Mechs

generally have two weapons (energy, ballistic or HTH), a

speed rating (inches per turn), attack and defense values,

a vent rating (for dispersing heat), and a heat dial.

Vehicles and infantry are similar, but heat is absent and

fewer weapons are sometimes found on them. There are

also variants to most units (Green, Veteran, and Elite)

which have different stats and there are special Unique

units, which you can only have one of in your force. Point

values are also listed right on the base.

BASICS

Standard games are played on a 3’ x 3’ table (smaller than

most other miniature games) and after settling on an

army point value you pick the figs you want to use and

head off to battle. Based on the number of points you are

using you can issue a number of orders each turn. Unless

you want to take damage (vehicles/infantry) or increase

heat (mechs) you cannot give a unit an order of two

consecutive turns. A word about damage is appropriate

here. It represents not only you getting smacked around,

but also the use of special ammunition, armor being

blown off, fatigue, etc… It’s used more abstractly and

represents more in MW:DA than in other games.

Mech Warrior: Dark Age is a collectible miniatures combat

game by WhizKids. Starter Sets retail for $19.95 and

contain 8 miniatures (1 ‘Mech, 2 vehicles and 5 infantry

stands), a rule book, faction dossier, special equipment

card, a ruler, some stickers, and 3d6. Booster Packs will

set you back $9.95 and contain 4 miniatures (1 ‘Mech, 1

vehicle and 2 infantry stands).

Orders can range from moving, fighting in close combat,

charging, shooting a weapon, trying to capture an enemy

unit (with infantry), etc. No unit can ever perform more

than one order each turn so even though the game has

been simplified from its pencil and paper roots

Combat is handled by adding your attack rating to the roll

of 3d6. If you equal or exceed the defense rating of your

target you do damage related to the weapon you are

using. It’s pretty straightforward and easy. There is an

slightly different way of determining fumbles and criticals

in MW:DA. Two of the 3d6 that you roll are white and the

other is black. If you roll double 6’s on the white dice you

automatically hit the target and cause extra damage. If

you roll double 1’s on the white dice you automatically

miss and you take one hit, or ‘click’ of damage.

Mech Warrior: Dark Age is the ‘new’ version of Battletech

using the ‘clicky’ bases made popular with Mage Knight

and Hero Clix. It is a game of giant mechanized walking

tanks, and the regular futuristic kind, engaging in combat

in the 32 nd century.

I have to mention that I was very much not a fan of Mage

Knight (the ‘clicky’ bases didn’t appeal to me at all and the

figures were just not at all what I was looking for). It

took a good word from another game manufacturer, that

does not work for WhizKids by the way, to get me to pick

up Mech Warrior: Dark Age and give it a chance.

I found the combat system pretty elegant and the lack of

record sheets actually let us concentrate on playing the

game.

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