Author: tomgoldrick

  • Player Psychographics in Warhammer 40k

    Player Psychographics in Warhammer 40k

    Everyone is different. Thankfully, tabletop wargames offer a great case study of the various player psychographics that help designers categorize different types of players and what makes them tick. Timmy, Jimmy, Spike, and Vorthos are all equally valid and developers should be cognisant of their wants, needs, and turn-offs.

    The Tau Empire is well known for its devastating ranged firepower and not much else. This polarizing design offers players who are drawn to that play style a comfortable and familiar place to get into Warhammer while leaving a sour taste in other players’ mouths who prefer meeting their opponents in face-to-face combat. It is often more effective to create a game that some people love and some people dislike than a game that everyone thinks is so-so. Focusing on the various types of players your game will attract will help you create unique experiences that will resonate with different types of people.

    Orkz are as simple as it gets: march forward, charge, and clobber your opponent. Timmy prefers showing up to the game table with a few beers and a bowl of peanuts and appreciates the lack of complexity, while Johnny would be bored before the game even started.

    Johnny wants to express something about themselves, and thankfully, tabletop gaming offers plenty of opportunities. Not only does the act of hobbying create a sense of ownership, but the Johnny will also be happy as a clam with a list building app or a codex with all of the options and combos they have at their disposal laid bare.

    Spike isn’t looking for a specific aesthetic or style as much as they enjoy the experience of learning and perfecting their gameplay to be the best that they can be. Skill expression isn’t as much of a concern, as long as they have the best chance at winning. This player will be more focused on the minutae of gameplay rather than anything else and pushing specific values in certain areas will give them plenty of clues to discover.

    Vorthos are often more difficult to design for, given they are specifically drawn to the storylines, characters, and background lore. Tabletop wargaming offers a unique look into potential gameplay hooks for these types of players; fundamentally tabletop gaming is about shared storytelling and these players will be most drawn to that aspect of the game. Artwork, stories, and the miniatures themselves will do wonders towards catching a Vorthos’ eye.

    These basic player psychographics extend far past tabletop wargaming, but they can be especially useful when designing a multifaceted miniatures strategy game. No player will love every aspect of your project, but when each feature is designed to be loved by someone, you’re bound to have left a memorable expression.

  • Fighting Game Combo Challenge Episode 6 – Reset the Combo

  • Age of Sigmar Battle Report: Ogor Mawtribes versus Hedonites of Slaanesh

    For today’s battle report, my sparring partner and I decided to test a new Slaanesh list against my new Ogors with Kragnos in toe. Check out the lists below:

    Hedonites of Slaanesh

    • Subfaction: Pretenders
    • 1x Glutos
    • 1x Lord of Pain
    • 1x Contorted Epitome
    • 22x blissbarb archers
    • 5x blissbarb seekers
    • 10x twinsouls
    • 10x pain bringers
    • Terrain feature

    Ogor Mawtribes

    • Subfaction: +1 to spells for butchers
    • 2x butcher
    • 1x icebrow hunter
    • 1x Kragnos
    • 4x mourn fang
    • 2x frost sabres
    • 6x gluttons
    • 4 leadblechers

    We usually come up with the flavor for our match as we set up terrain, so today’s battle involved an Ogor Mawtribe on the warpath coming across Kragnos, the living earthquake, and following him into conflict with a marauding band of Slaanesh’s finest. Half the board being covered in snow helped sell the illusion that the Overwinter had followed Kragnos along with his Ogor companions to their encampment before the battle.

    Round 1: Hedonites

    I was able to win the roll off, deploy first, and gave the turn to my opponent. My goal was to aim for the double turn, and otherwise react to their movement with counter charges. As is typical for the followers of Slaanesh in 3.0, the round started with a pelting of ranged attacks and ended with the pack of seekers killing my leadblechers in one combat. My boys were able to land some nasty unleash hell damage, but otherwise the first turn was relatively uneventful, just as planned.

    Round 1: Ogors

    My turn ended up being much more eventful. Despite my subfaction giving me 2 extra casts, both of my butchers whiffed on all of their spells except for Voracious Maw, dealing a surprise amount of mortal wounds. Not having a terrain feature bit me in the butt for this match, given my list, but I think my models did okay on their own without buffs. A YouTuber once told me to never rely on my spells as an Ogors player and it felt self evident in this match. Thankfully, the remains of my ogors were able to smash into the enemy line and deal a bunch of mortal wounds. Kragnos did his thing, killing the seekers, and my general popped up out of deep strike to send his sabres in to absorb the unleash hell.

    Round 2: Ogors

    Giving up the first turn paid off! I got a double turn and was able to send Kragnos across half the board (10″ move plus a 15″ charge), tackling the Epitome and engaging most of the backline heroes in combat. My hunter was able to breath ice on the archers, charge in, and take a few down before dying himself.

    Round 2: Hedonites

    To his credit, my opponent played out the rest of the round. They finest hour’d their Epitome and went in for the attack, but a finest hour and All Out Defense from Kragnos helped keep him on a +2 despite the rend, nullifying the combat phase for the most part and keeping his army out of range of their mortal wounds on 6 ability. With the Kragnos clapback imminent and him just barely avoiding being bracketed, my opponent conceded and we had a relaxing break afterwards. Sometimes its more fun to talk about Sigmar than to play, but them’s the dice.

    Thanks for reading! If you’d like to read more about Age of Sigmar, game design, or similar topics, check out the rest of the my blog.

  • Fighting Game Combo Challenge Episode 5 – Items/Stage On!

  • Fighting Game Combo Challenge Episode 4 – Free Hugs