• Dawn of War: Why I deeply distaste it

  ... and still have a blast playing it.

  written by Alex Woitalla, 25.12.08

  anger... this post is highly biased by the author. The first 40k game, that came across my rig was the much acclaimed Chaos Gate. Being somewhat slow in game play, yet quite immersive and fitted with ok graphics at its time, I played the campaign mode a lot, always having much fun doing so. As I heard about Dawn of War for the fist time, I thought, well, a RTS 40k game? How will this be possible? Will there be huge like epic scale battlefields? Or will the game be more intimate, petting your Space Marines like I did in Chaos Gate?
  
  I was a big time sceptic, as RTS won't pay justice to the 40k world at all. My scepticism was confirmed, when I fired up the DOW-demo for the first time. I howled out, praying to the Great Russ himself. What abomination of a game has befouled my hard drive... I was shocked. - [ Read on, Marine! ]

  3 comments, so far. - Permalink

• Fan Fiction: Praeordinaris, Part Two

  Read part two of my attic find. Now it's getting bloody.

  written by Alex Woitalla, 10.12.08

  e could distinguish all of them easily just by listing to their voices. There was Pal, Jam, Vasvar and Narec, the leader. Kesh held his breath as shadows moved past his cunning ambush. Bog still cowered behind his heap, ready to jump forward, like a spider in its web.
  
  Not yet! Again that voice. Just a few more seconds.
  
  Where did it come from? The self-brewed throat buster, they seized off that crippled bum? Could't be. Kesh wiped away the distracting thoughts as he could even see their emblems on the jackets now. - [ Read on, Marine! ]

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• Critical Hit to the Chest

  What makes a good roleplaying experience?

  written by Alex Woitalla, 28.11.08

  or many years I have played roleplaying games. Sitting on both sides of the table, as game master and as player I did most genres. Fantasy, science-fiction, superheroes, cyberpunk, comedy, cthulhoid... With my current Cthulhu campaign racing towards its climax and Dark Heresy hitting the shelves at last, I really wonder what makes a good roleplaying experience. Is it the game system? May it be the plot? The cunning of the gamers? The ruthlessness of the game master? To be perfectly honest, after all those years in the games I still do not know. But there are promising leads that point out, that it is not a single factor to have a great game, but a combination of many. - [ Read on, Marine! ]

  2 comments, so far. - Permalink

• Fan Fiction: Praeordinaris, Part One

  How an attic find whizzed me back ten years in time.

  written by Alex Woitalla, 25.11.08

  reat Scott… Leafing through some really old stuff, I discovered a piece of fan fiction, that I wrote about ten years ago. I was playing Necromunda at that time, eager to flesh out the background story of my hive gang. I sat back and read it with a grin on my face and was surprised about the length of it, as it covered about eight pages. As far as I remember, I wrote it in one sleepless night and I think that now the time is right to make it public. Or isn't it? Who cares. I hope my English translation won’t kill the “literary quality” of it. More to follow soon. Sit back and enjoy! - [ Read on, Marine! ]

  5 comments, so far. - Permalink

• Celestial Smackdown: Khorne vs. Kali

  Watch as the Gods of Chaos take on the "Real" Ones.

  written by Alex Woitalla, 19.11.08

  he bulky figure stood tall against the dark red horizon as it stepped toward its now defeated opponent. The heavily wounded Commissar wretched in pain, trying to mobilize his last powers to evade the inevitable, but nothing could save him, with his best men slain in the trenches and the minions of evil spilling blood and carnage amongst the supporting troops of the planetary governor. A machine-like hissing from the ancient Power Armour was the last thing the Commissar noticed, as the heavy metal boot slowly applied pressure to his back. With the last exhalation the formed the final word of his life, a life, that was submitted to delivering powerful speeches, rallying contingents of shaken guardsmen, facing assured death on the battlefield. “God.”, and then he died, his back broken, ribs crushed, lungs collapsing. - [ Read on, Marine! ]

  3 comments, so far. - Permalink

• Our own insignificance

  Or: The universe is a vast place, and you won’t be missed.

  written by Alex Woitalla, 11.11.08

  hen I’m recalling my first contact with the Warhammer Universe, I see a half-adult nerdy figure, leaning over a crammed table that is hosting badly painted miniatures of Tyranids and Space Marines, scattered over a richly coloured floor plan of a hive ship. A friend from university hooked up with my cousin and lured her into playing this botch of a game. I remember me looking at those figurines, wondering where this all would lead at that evening.
  
  We had a beer. And another. And started playing. I didn’t get the rules at first but the wondrous effects of stout made me actually enjoy the semi-tactical game play. Maybe it helped that no one of our gathering was used to that kind of gaming, since we knew Trivial Pursuit. - [ Read on, Marine! ]

  10 comments, so far. - Permalink

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