In CoraQuest you take control of four adventurers exploring a dungeon, avoiding traps, finding treasure, fighting monsters,and sometimes rescuing gnomes called Kevin.
Being a proactive fellow, I’ve been on the hunt for a dungeon crawler I can eventually play with my daughter. She’s only two at the moment, and I don’t fancy waiting another ten years, so I’d been Googling “dungeon crawlers for kids”. I’ll admit it was a somewhat half-hearted search, but it didn’t throw up anything that caught my attention.
Anyway, it turns out that all I needed to do was attend this year’s Tabletop Scotland to find what I was after. I hadn’t been through the doors two minutes when I spotted a lovely wee game called CoraQuest. I had a chat with the nice chap from Bright Eye Games, got shown the basics, and did the old “take my money” routine.
When I got a look in the box that evening, I learned more about the game’s origins, and it turns out there’s a heartwarming tale of a Dad (Dan) and daughter (Cora) creating it as a lockdown-era project in 2020.
Anyway, the next natural step in this sequence of events was, of course, to have a chat about it on the podcast. In this episode, you’ll hear from CoraQuest co-creator Dan about the game’s background, how it plays, and the media frenzy that followed its release.
CoraQuest is a cooperative game with everything you need to start playing right out of the box. But it also lends itself to adaptation and homebrewing. There’s a booklet inside that helps you create your own characters, weapons, and items. The game is played with brilliantly drawn cardboard “standees”, but these can easily be substituted by miniatures from your collection. My old Monster in My Pocket horde are just screaming to be let loose on these dungeon tiles…
Both of these games are miniature agnostic systems with innovative designs and mechanics.
Rogue Planet is a sci-fantasy skirmish game ideally suited to folks seeking a bit of a 40k/Rogue Trader fix. Mayhem, on the other hand, works great as a mass-battle system for getting your 6mm or 10mm armies on the table. The book includes rules for sieges too, if you want to give your castle terrain a runout.
You can keep up with future updates from Brent by visiting his website Bombshell Games.
We make a return to playing Song of Blades & Heroes, one of the most simple and accessible skirmish games on the market. And, in this battle, we’re focusing on storytelling over points, fairness, and balance. The defenders can’t possibly win. But how well can they hold out against a huge Chaos force?
So why do many players prefer unbalanced, narrative scenarios over fair and competitive encounters?
After all, isn’t tabletop wargaming all about strategy, skill, and balance? Isn’t the whole point to test our tactical abilities against our opponents?
Sure, that’s definitely a big part of it. But it’s not the only part.
Unbalanced scenarios add a layer of excitement and unpredictability to the game. You never know what you might be up against in these scenarios. It could be a massive army against a small group of elite units, or it could be a guerrilla-style ambush on a convoy of tanks. These types of scenarios offer a unique challenge that can’t be replicated in a balanced game.
At its heart, tabletop wargaming is about storytelling. We create armies, paint models, and build terrain because we want to immerse ourselves in epic battles and heroic struggles. We want to feel like we’re part of a grand, sweeping narrative, with all the twists and turns and emotional highs and lows that come with it.
In a fair and balanced game, both players have equal opportunities to win, which means the game’s outcome is largely determined by skill and strategy. While that’s great, it can also become predictable and monotonous after a while. Unbalanced scenarios, on the other hand, keep the game fresh and exciting by forcing players to come up with creative solutions to overcome their disadvantage.
When we play a game that’s heavily weighted in favour of one side or the other, we’re not just trying to win. We’re also trying to tell a story. Maybe we’re playing out the final battle of a long and bitter war, with one side hopelessly outnumbered but fighting with desperate courage. Or maybe we’re staging a daring raid on an enemy stronghold, with the attackers outnumbered but relying on cunning and surprise to carry the day. Whatever the situation, it’s the narrative that drives us, not just the desire to win.
In an unbalanced scenario, the narrative becomes the driving force behind the game. Players can get lost in the story and become more invested in their army’s fate, which adds to the overall gaming experience.
Of course, this kind of approach isn’t for everyone. Some players prefer the purity of a perfectly balanced, competitive encounter, where victory is determined solely by skill and strategy. And that’s totally fine! There’s nothing wrong with wanting a fair fight.
But for those of us who crave a bit more drama and excitement, unbalanced scenarios are where it’s at. We get to take risks, try crazy tactics, and see our armies perform feats of heroism and bravery that would be impossible in a strictly balanced game. We get to tell stories that are full of tension, surprise, and drama – stories that stick with us long after the game is over.
Finally, unbalanced scenarios can be a great leveller. They allow newer players to compete against more experienced players on a more level playing field. When a scenario is unbalanced, the outcome is not determined solely by the players’ skill level. Instead, it’s about how well they can adapt to the challenges presented by the scenario. This can give newer players a fighting chance and motivate them to keep playing.
Unfortunately, after a positive start, we misinterpreted a vital rule and botched the entire thing. We were keeping investigation scores for each auxiliary companion as opposed to one single collective score. Now that we know what we did wrong, it makes perfect sense. It isn’t the clearest when you read it in the book, though, and we aren’t the brightest of chaps, so it was the perfect storm.
Lesson learned, though. We’ll definitely be arranging a rematch in the very near future.
We did get to fight some giant rats before it all went wrong.
As well as some giant flies.
But not really any wolves. This certainly never happened.
Nor did this.
Our auxiliary companions, Seb, Orla, Nicolan, and Covin. None of them were the werewolf, so in some ways, this game was a tremendous success.
The Manor House. Built with some kids wooden blocks, and furniture from Dungeon Saga.
Range-ers of Shadow Deep.
Dangers of Shadow Deep. We did get to fight and kill this werewolf. Eventually. Is it acceptable to skin it and wear its fur? Or would it turn back into mouldy human skin once the moon went away?
This isn’t a direct comparison of Frostgrave Vs Rangers of Shadow Deep. We’ve covered the ins and outs of the latter quite a bit on this podcast, already. Instead, we’re going to turn our attention to the frozen city, and delve into the Frostgrave rules (and spells) to see the similarities and differences between these two excellent games.
Not content with reading through the Frostgrave rulebook, we then take the heroic next step – put some little painted toys on a table, roll dice, and probe measuring tapes about the place.
The forces of good. Our Rangers of Shadow Deep crew are led by illusionist Claire with the Bear, and her apprentice, Russell Sprout.
They’re up against the forces of evil – led by summoner Courtney Lovecraft, and her apprentice, Squid Vicious.
The forces assemble. Photo credit, Vinny the Vulture, who did not take part.
Claire and Russell were joined by ‘Adam & his Apple’. A fast runner who eats his five a day.
An Orc Brute. Surely he’ll mash a few heads in. Surely….?
A Chaos Goblin champion and his two Chaos Warrior chums.
An Orc Warrior, and veteran of Battlemasters. He’s seen it all.
Squid Vicious, apprentice to Courtney Lovecraft.
A Chaos Dwarf with two heads, and Weird Willie (left) with… well, you know…
This didn’t actually happen (summoning a greater daemon was way too hard) but I thought it made for a cool picture.
It reminds me of a sort of grimdark Bioshock.
The kids went without supper that evening, purely because Stu was away out with his mum’s best pot on his head.
As for the big guy? Turns out he only needed directions to the post office.
The game in full swing.
Frostgrave Vs Rangers of Shadow Deep
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Gnoll’s House Party: The lads prepare to toast some marshmallows around the campfire
Now it was time to kick off Mission Two (The Beacon Tower) with its first scenario, The Bridge Guards. Here, we see the introduction of the Gnolls, and those were a mixture of beastmen and goblins on our tabletop.
The gnolls were guarding a bridge (hence the aptly named scenario) over a fast-flowing and very cold river, which we needed to get across on our way to Tor Varden.
The stage is set
I took Joe McCullough’s “wooden blocks” advice on this scenario. The table had to be strewn with rocks, boulders, and general cover – the idea being that the Rangers have the element of surprise (at least, until one of my guys manages to blow our cover pretty early on!).
A Vinny the Vulture-eye view of the table
I even used these blocks to build the bridge itself. Sure, it doesn’t look ultra-realistic, but suspension of disbelief quickly kicks in the minute the first dice is rolled.
The well-guarded bridge
We upped the challenge level by adding in a “Gnoll Lord”, who basically took the stat line of an ogre. We also gave ourselves some extra backup with the addition of ‘Goatsy’ – and he had a very interesting afternoon indeed!
Goatsy: Will we ever see his like again?
Keeping the Joe McCulloch theme of this episode, I also wanted to chat about a book I recently bought and read through – Frostgrave supplement Perilous Dark. This excellent solo/co-op guide combines pre-written scenarios with a lot of how-to advice on creating your own scenarios and campaigns of this nature. Big thanks to friend of the show Mark on our Discord channel for the heads up about it!
More Photos From The Bridge Guards
This episode is sponsored by Midlam Miniatures. Three of the miniatures used in this scenario were bought from Midlam – Goatsy, Boarus, and the big lizardy lad playing the role of the Gnoll Sergeant on the bridge. You can see pics of the Kraken Cult, Grim Reaper, and Headless Lady miniatures mentioned in my post about Populating a Lovecraftian Dungeon.
Harald Half-Orc. Boarus, and Vinny
Fun Gus, Grubb, and Count Gunther
Quite literally the bridge guards. Note that the Gnoll sergeant is too tough for clothes.
The table in its entirety.Cotton wool balls to represent cocoons. The red Battlemasters dice are the nests. The old drunk was rescued in the previous mission. He didn’t survive this one. The sort of view Vinny the Vulture had when he flew around contributing absolutely nothing. One of the spiders. Another look down on the tabletop. More spiders. What’s next for this motley crew? They’re off to Tor Varden.
On a recent episode of the Tabletop Miniature Hobby Podcast, we took a look through the rulebook of Rangers of Shadow Deep. Now it was time to get the table set up and test it out for ourselves. In this episode, we talk through our experience of the deserted village scenario.
RoSD is a popular and exciting solo/cooperative game. There’s a lot of adventuring to be done with the core rulebook containing more than a few missions and scenarios. On top of that, there are various expansions available too which build out the story world and develop your rangers.
That said, we thought we’d start at the start, and that was a scenario that tasked us to venture out and look for one of our companions, a chap by the name of Aventine.
Aventine has been missing for a few days, and on top of that, there have been reports of an attack on a nearby village. It’s up to our party to take a look around and get to the bottom of things.
Our party are, admittedly, a bit of a gang of misfits. Hardly the noblest looking of bunches.
Ranger Harald Half-Orc (right), backed up by Boarus the “Boarbarian”, and Vinny the Vulture. These guys came from Otherworld, Midlam, and North Star, respectively.
Ranger Grubb (centre) flanked by Count Gunther and Fun Gus. The wee mushie man came from Checkpoint Miniatures, whilst the other two were bought from Otherworld Miniatures.
“Count” Gunther. Probably not a real Count. Just a brutal thug in some plate armour. Or, potentially, disgraced nobility. But who’s going to ask?
“You might’ve lost your kettle, Vinny, but you’re still making the tea. Hey? What? That’s why they call me Fun Gus!”
Ranger Harald Half-Orc looking “pleased”.
Boarus the “Boarbarian”, ex-slave and arena combatant. Now, hired muscle.
What will become of this partygoing villager if we take him along in the next scenario?
Song of Blades and Heroes is a cult classic miniature agnostic fantasy skirmish ruleset. It’s an incredibly simple game to pick and up learn, with a low barrier to entry (you only need a handful of miniatures). Despite its simplicity though it isn’t a game that quickly feels limiting or boring. There’s a lot you can do with it, from the varied warbands you can build to the scenarios and campaigns you can play through.
On this episode of the Tabletop Miniature Hobby Podcast, we take a deep dive into the Song of Blades and Heroes rules. We talk through the Quality and Combat stats, before covering all the core mechanics around moving, fighting, shooting, magic, and, of course, running away.
Games typically last 30-45 minutes and there’s no bookkeeping either. This makes SBH a great game for beginners to start having fun with right away.
We talk a bit about a game we played recently (pictured above) where a classic Chaos alliance (the Oldhammer type where Orcs and Goblins got in on the act) took on an undead “force”. The undead were actually far from what you might call a force and generally hung about in their deployment zone doing not very much at all. In any case, it was a fun afternoon and lessons were learned.
In our next game of Song of Blades and Heroes, we’ll be finding out if one Ancient Dragon can come out on top against 85 zombies. The answer is probably yes.
How many beginners are attracted to the hobby because of the miniatures, lore, painting, not to mention the scenery covered tabletops, only to be put off the minute they get a look at a set of rules? Sure, there’s definitely a place for complex and ultra-deep rulesets, but if you’re just starting out then chances are you’re going to be seeking out simple tabletop wargames. With that in mind, let’s take a look at some of the best miniature games for beginners.
Simple Tabletop Wargames
When we use the term “simple” it comes with a few caveats. A game of coin-toss is simple, but it’ll get boring pretty fast. In miniature wargaming, the phrase “easy to learn, hard to master” gets used a lot. Most beginners are looking for a ruleset they can quickly grasp, and then spend the rest of their brainpower working out things like tactics and strategies to outfox their opponents.
When weighing up the best miniature games for beginners we also need to consider a ruleset’s “replayability”. There’s little point in investing in a tabletop game if you’re only going to play it once, so we’ll bear that in mind here, too.
To kick us off, I’d like to shine a light on a company that does a fantastic job of creating simple tabletop games…
My heroes and villains from Mantic’s Dungeon Saga
This roundup contains a few affiliate links which mean the site may earn a small commission, should you choose to buy through them. This helps support what we do and is never at any extra cost to you!
Mantic Games
Mantic are a company with a great ethos around making their games enjoyable and accessible for beginners. Any game you buy from them is going to be easy to get into and offer a lot of replay value to boot.
I’m a big fan of their mass fantasy rank and flank game Kings of War. KoW was designed by Alessio Cavatore, who’s also well known for his work on Games Workshop titles like Warmaster, Warhammer 40,000 and Mordheim. It’s arguably the best modern alternative to Warhammer Fantasy Battles.
If sci-fi is your jam, then look no further than the futuristic Warpath. On the other hand, if you’re up for a bit of fantasy naval warfare then Armada might well float your boat. Or, enable you to sink some.
Dungeon Saga is another favourite of mines and is as close to a modern and supported version of the legendary dungeon crawler HeroQuest as you’re likely to find.
Finally, Mantic offers some licensed boxed miniature games in the form of The Walking Dead: All Out War and Hellboy. These are perfect “gateway drugs” for pals and partners who might otherwise baulk at the very thought of playing with toy soldiers 😉
One Page Wonders
I want to give a nod to the One Page Rules project which offers some of the best miniature games for beginners. Their name is slightly deceptive as you’ll find few games there that are literally one-page rules, but they are all easy to understand and look like a lot of fun.
There’s no shortage of sandboxes to play in here, from Grimdark Future to Age of Fantasy, as well as some cracking one-offs that will explore every setting and scratch every itch.
As an added bonus, these rulesets are all available for free. That said though, they do run a Patreon, so if you enjoy their games it’s nice to chuck them a wee tip to say thanks!
Building a warband for a skirmish-level game makes miniature wargaming accessible for beginners
Simple Skirmish Games
I’d couldn’t write a simple tabletop games roundup and not mention two of my favourite skirmish games, Song of Blades & Heroes, and Open Combat. I can’t speak highly enough about these two titles, which both cater to medieval and fantasy miniatures.
If you’re a complete beginner or plan to play with one, I’d start with SoBH. With this game, the stat lines and bookkeeping are kept to an absolute minimum, and you don’t even need a tape measure to play. The game has been re-skinned to fit many settings too, from Mutants & Death Ray Guns to Fur & Buttons, and everything in between.
Open Combat will give you slightly more depth when it comes to the stats of your warband, as well as their weapons and armour. That said, a complete beginner will have no problem at all picking the rules up. An added bonus is that the game’s hardback rulebook is beautifully put together.
Simple Tabletop Wargames
Hopefully this roundup of some of the best miniature games for beginners has helped you find something that suits your needs, wants, and tastes.
I personally struggle to learn new rulesets and get intimidated by chunky rule tomes. There’s no game I’ve mentioned here though that I wouldn’t have the confidence to pick up for the first time and have an enjoyable playing experience with.
If you’re aware of any more simple tabletop wargames not mentioned here too, then I’d love to hear about them in the comments section.
