Burrowowl

The gamecrafters at Privateer Press are at it again. After introducing their Iron Kingdoms campaign setting for the d20 RPG and the WARMACHINE miniature wargame, and progressing each of these products a bit through subsequent expansions and add-ons, they’ve decided to take a hard left turn away from giant metal juggernaughts and rifle brigades and into the realm of big brutish wild-men with axes. Hyped as the Next Big Thing in their magazine No Quarter, we finally got some details.

Hordes will be an alternate version of the WARMACHINE miniatures game that focuses on four new factions, some of which we IKRPG fans are already familiar with: a cabal of Druids (presumably Blackclads), the diverse Trollblood populations (including proper Trolls as well as Trollkin), the Skorne (originally seen in the Witchfire trilogy), and the minions of a previously-believed-to-be-destroyed dragon Everblight (the subject of the Wyrmcycle Saga, alluded to in a number of Iron Kingdoms works). This game will have play mechanisms extremely-similar to that of WARMACHINE, and is promised to be fully compatible with the old system. This means you’ll be able to pit Warpwolves and Woldwardens against Cygnaran Longgunners, and Skorne stormtroopers against Cryxian Helljacks.

This also means that a wide assortment of monster miniatures that are Iron Kingdoms-appropriate will be released into the wild. Expect prices on these figures to be more in line with those of wargames minis (which they are) than with traditional RPG minis, of course. This also means that we can probably expect a slowdown in the release of new units and ‘jacks for Cygnar, Cryx, Khador, and the Protectorate, as well as a shift in the tone of the over-arching main plotline of this setting.

I find it interesting that even as the Liber Mechanika is being shipped out, with all its mechanika goodies, the Privateers are focusing onto the wild and hairy portions of their game world. I suspect that given a couple more shifts like this, the Iron Kingdoms will be a remarkably well-rounded place to adventure in.

Many of us in the Internet Technology community had a looming, growing concern regarding Firefox, the web browser based on Netscape and Mozilla’s “Gecko” rendering engine. A great deal of hype has flown hither and thither across the ‘net regarding this product, including a little from me. The growing concern was not regarding glaring security issues or the viability of a wildly-popular-but-free software package, but rather one of popularity. No self-respecting Unix-using, pocket-protector-wearing, pencil-neck computer geek wants to schlep around on the web using the same browser as the unwashed plebian masses. Rest easy, o geeky one: Firefox’s recent gains in widespread usage have come to a halt. That’s right, for reasons surpassing understanding, the vastly-inferior Microsoft browser, Internet Explorer, has regained a portion of its lost market share, and is once again weighing in as the browser-of-actual-use for 87.2% of web usage. Fly your freak-flag high, Firefox users: your browser’s position of obscurity is safe, for now.

A couple weeks ago, I picked up a copy of Nippon Ichi‘s new isometric tactical super-deformed big pile of silliness, Makai Kingdom. These are the same folks that created the breakout hit Disgaea, which did so well they were able to bring us the somewhat less-well-received, but utterly lovable La Pucelle Tactics (released in Japan before Disgaea, and wrongly considered a prequel). I must admit I completely missed out on Phantom Brave, the game in which they departed from the “movement grid” tradition of their previous titles and classics like Final Fantasy Tactics. I hear it was pretty good, but this is about Makai Kingdom.

The plotline of Makai Kingdom is, as with all games of the tactics niche-genre, totally unimportant to the enjoyment of the game. In apparent acknowledgment of this perception amongst gamers, players are given the opportunity to explicitly skip any plot-point animations entirely. Basically you’re a demon overlord hell-bent on regaining his netherworld and his original body after he’s trapped in a book. He uses minions to wage his struggle to regain dominance in the netherworlds, as books aren’t very handy in a fight.

The lack of characters that are pivotal to the plotline is tremendously liberating in this game, as you are given absolutely no disincentive to building up, using, customizing, sacrificing, and recycling your minions. Minions that have been successful in battle earn “mana” that can be used to make wishes, ranging from the creation of new facilities in your underworld to the creation of additional dungeons that you can use to strengthen your army and fatten your coffers.

Unencumbered by a movement grid, many unusual tactical formations are possible. One serious drawback I’ve found is that there appears to be no means of denying movement to your enemies. This means that your tough, strong melee-fighters are not useful as meat-shields for your more fragile-but-quite-useful magic-using types. Enemies dart right through your front lines with nary a care, delivering untimely deaths to your valuable Witches, Wizards, and Healers.

The musical score is pleasant, with enough variation to keep hours of play from grating on your eardrums. The graphics are cute, and hearken back to the console platforms of our forefathers (or in my case, my slightly-more-spoiled neighbors). The animated plot-points are possibly the most disappointing portion of the game, as super-deformed sprites of supposedly-mighty netherworld overlords argue amongst themselves while floating in an utterly-uninteresting void. Clearly the plot wasn’t terribly important to the designers, which is fine by me, but such a lapse in effort detracts from an otherwise-excellent work.