Dark Age

[2.0]

Thought I'd post this since there hasn't been a thread for this game yet... I had basically two choices to get into a new game last winter. It was going to either be Infinity or Dark Age. After reviewing the Quick Starts for both and then browsing the online store for both, DA won over. The freedom of action that each models Action Points give were the biggest winner for me, being able to basically do what you wish with each model until you use up their action points. Not being required to have any kind of "leader" is pretty cool to. There are a few models that require a prerequisite model to be in the force, but not many.

Price, you can't beat the price in any game for the quality of models that they give you. $19.99 is their most expensive metal model and that is one of the special characters in the game who easily stands head to head with any heavy jack in Warmachine. Most games are 500 points, and that would cost you about $35-$50 full retail which is incredible.

It's post apocalyptic for the most part, but it's a well done story line and already has a few expansions out or in the works. On top of everything else, the models are sculpted forms of a lot of Brom's artwork (think AD&D's Dark Sun artwork for those not familiar).

So who plays, who's thought of it? Who has decided against it for what other game and why? (and yes, you can have a difference of opinion in this thread and say why you didn't play Dark Age or won't play). I want to see a good amount of viewpoints.

Here is the website, browse the online store when you get a chance and see the lovelies

www.dark-age.com

[scarletsquig]

I've looked at the models quite a bit, really like a lot of the Forsaken and Skaard range, especially this guy:



"Talk to the bible, the face ain't listening"

Not too keen on the spiky female S&M bondage theme that half of the models follow (girlfriend would kill me if I put those on the shelf :P), but I guess that's a result of basing it on fantasy por- I mean, "art" and they're good quality sculpts nonetheless.

One thing that put me off was seeing the "unit packs", that contained several duplicate figures. Is it mandatory to field squads using the dark age rules, or are individuals okay? If I played this, I'd prefer to have a unique pick and mix of the stuff I liked the look of rather than having multiples of a few figures in big units.

[2.0]

most "units" are squad size minimums of 2, so instead of buying the unit box, you could buy one blister that has a couple poses. One of the cons of the games so far is some units really have a lack of poses and so it's hard to use some in a good variety, but they are currently working on that as well as the new stuff. And there are a plethora of individuals in all the army lists that you could field just as competitively.

Contradiciton is also one of my favorite models in the range, his pose fits his fluff beautifully. And yeah, there is a bit of flesh in the model range A lot like it and some greenstuff over it, and yeah its a buyproduct of copying the artwork pretty well.

[two_heads_talking]

http://www.dark-age.com/main.php

http://www.dark-age.com/gameinfo.php

Dark Age is a miniatures game based on the art of Brom. His art has a "bit" of the bondage look but it translates into the game very easily.. In fact, you will find the miniatures very affordable, and very nice looking.

take a look at the two links above and even check out the forums and see what's up..

[Steel Rabbit]

The cool thing about Dark Age is you don't really have to have anything in your army (except for the Dragyri, who have to have a ratio of 3 slaves to one trueborn). If you don't like the double sculpt? Do what the person ahead of me said and only buy a blister. Don't even want to include squads? Just use individuals.

Also, I like the fetishy/BDSM look to the models, my favorite type of Sci-Fi is the kind that's weird as hell.

[A neutral shade of black.]

I've had a gander at the models on the store, and whilst I can appreciate the technical quality of them, I can't say I'm that big a fan. I like the post-apocalyptic scenario, but the mutant/freakshow aspect of the Skarrd and Brood (and to a lesser degree, Dragyri) don't appeal to me.

That said, the premise interests me, and the models are good, so I'm sure I'd like them more if I had some background behind them to convince me. Do the different subfactions (i.e. Forsaken Churches or Dragyri castes) actually make up different armies? If so, what's a rough idea of the background for each of these subfactions? The reason I ask is, their main website doesn't provide much in the way of an introduction to each force - actually, a run-through of their playstyles would be nice, too.

Sorry for all the questions, but I'm asking to be converted, here. :P

Edit: oh, and a particular point of concern of mine - how powerful is CC in the game? I absolutely hate how important CC is in 40k, which is why I play stuff like Infinity.

[2.0]

I'll try to answer best as I can...

Fluff in a nutshell... Megacorporations are resourcing the planet. When the galactic market crashes for the most part, all the corporations evacuate the "essentials" from the planets and the rest are left to go on their own...

There are 4 main factions for the game currently.

The Dragyri are the alien race of the game, have a samurai kinda honor system and represent themselves in different castes. Ice Caste was the first to hit the shelves and Air Caste should be this summer. They use slaves and slaves must be used in thier forces in some extent.

The Forsaken are the "survivors" of the evacuations and the rioting and debauchery that resulted shortly thereafter. They found out that there is power in religion to sway the people and so use the bible to their benefit. So all in all, they are a religious sect that are run by conmen and women. There is one saint trying to explore and expand on each point of the compass, 3 have been fleshed out, Mark Mary and John. They are subfactions in the Forsaken faction, but share quite a few of the same troop options, having some elite individuals and troops loyal to only them.

Skarrd are the forsaken of the Forsaken. They have been exiled into the desert and have had to fend on their own. The first cult is the Cult of Toxin with the Cult of Blood on the horizon. The Toxic cult was exposed to toxins left behind by the corporations and those that survived found some resilience and slight mutation here and there from the exposure and use that to their benefit. The "Fathers" of the tribe employ hallucigenics to use fear, anger, and hate against their enemies

Brood come out of the swamps. Laboratories left behind by the corporations, basically thought to be left for dead, some of the samples started to grow and gain intelligence. This led to the main organism taking the labs over and creating it's own army, mutating and using genetics to create many different kinds of warriors to employ. Nearly all of the Brood are modelled on 40mm bases or bigger and are very sizable models.

The playstyles are as follows:
Dragyri are close combat masters and their honor system makes them prefer that. They do have some shooting, but it is limited.

Forsaken are a very good shooting force, but can do well on either front.

Skarrd are pretty very good at close combat, and have a few good ranged units.

Brood for the most part are close combat with "artillery" of sorts. They also have regeneration which makes them hard to keep down. Grist are their indirect firing units though they can do LOS shots as well and the Pud Throwers launch rabid little puds to annoy the hell out of the enemy

Close combat plays its role in the game for sure. But it is very fast, very unforgiving and plays well to having units support each other. Firefights are just as fun in the game and everything has a chance to at least damage everything else. There are uber units sort of, but everything needs to be cared for and those that just throw themselves forward haphazardly will find the reprecussions fast.

Anything else? I love the game and could talk about it all day

[jazzdude78]

This isnt the first thread it should probably show up on the 3rd/4th page
http://www.warseer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=64855

rough rundown of the races (non gameplaywise for that check the link)

Forsaken, basically human slaves abandoned on a planet by giant faceless corporations, they went feral without aid, found religion and are now scrounging up leftover hightech stuff from before they were marooned
Saints may or may not be saints (St. Mark certainly doesnt see himself as a real one) but in some cases used it as an oppurtunity to gain personal power etc.

Dragyri, have been around longer, originally the smaller slaves were overlords with their higher tech, but their crystal gateway blew up also marooning them there, they hid underground and the big guys revolted, now thousands of years later the masters are now the slaves, they have a strong sense of honor/martial discipline (big ones do at least)

Brood are the byproduct of illegal genetic testing done by the corporations, when they left the supercomputer basically bonded with a primodial lake and started her/its own genetic experiments, have a hivemind type of link

Skarrd are basically the nonbelievers who left when religion took over, only on their pilgrimage north they encountered an old medical research lab and accidentally unleashed a host of plagues and toxins and chemicals on themselvesm those that survived became warped psychotic reflections of their former selves

@aneutralshadeofblack Youre probably gonna be dissappointed then CC is huge in this game, but thats because its not straight scifi, its more postapocalyptic scifi where they have some guns but they are unreliable tempermental machines (though forsaken can get away with a 100% shooting force easiest and win with it)

[two_heads_talking]

close combat is awesome.. there are quite a few things that make it fun.. gang up bonuses.. the more people you have ganging up the more damage you can do..

also, if you break combat and run, even your own troops will beat down your cowardly ****.. in other words, every model near you can take a free shot as you run away.. "Cowardice is not tolerated"

there are many opportunities for tech to fail. in fact it can fail and still work or it can fail catestrophically and cause wounds on yourself.

with alternate activiation, meaning that you activate a unit, then your opponent activates a unit and so forth, cause you to think much more strategically. you see you don't get to move all your models and then me move all mine.. in this way, you can set up the 1-2 punch or get set up for a 1-2 punch.. it just all depends..

I hope that helps some as well.

[blkdymnd]

Yep, all the stuff above is good stuff and I'll add that I absolutely love the malfunction rule in the game. With the D20 being used, it really gives weapons a very good degree of difficulty in being used. And the differences between certain techs is represented. You can bash anyone over the head with a basic club, but shoot someone and you better know how to use it. Most weapons in the game have a MAL number (ie. 18) if you're roll to hit equals or exceeds that number you take a hit from your own weapon and need a save. Spray weapons are even better as the spray deviates randomly on a malfunction.

My favorite example is St. Marks plasma gun. It has something like a 19 or 20 Malfunction on the first shot, but it has a rate of fire of 2 and on the second shot the Malfunction drops to 16 showing how you're overheating the weapon when you fire again that quickly.

[A neutral shade of black.]

@aneutralshadeofblack Youre probably gonna be dissappointed then CC is huge in this game, but thats because its not straight scifi, its more postapocalyptic scifi where they have some guns but they are unreliable tempermental machines (though forsaken can get away with a 100% shooting force easiest and win with it)

I don't mind CC in itself; in fact, I quite like it. What I have a problem with is games where the army I pick is designed to suck in CC, but the game is designed to favour CC over shooting (I play Tau - their lack of CC skill wouldn't be so frustrating if it weren't basically impossible to escape CC in 40k - once the enemy makes contact with one of my units, it's a lost cause, because of the way CC works in 40k. It's that kind of situation I want to avoid), especially if it's supposed to be sci-fi with planet-killing guns and for some reason, a knife is more effective than a rocket launcher. If the game downgrades the importance of guns in favour of CC, especially if it does so for background reasons (i.e. technology is scarce because it's a post-apocalyptic setting) and the game balance follows, then count me happy. I just don't want a game where the mechanics gimp a certain army from the start, if you see what I mean.

I guess I just want 100% consistency between the game and how it plays - which 40k doesn't have.

Anything else? :D I love the game and could talk about it all day

A bit more in-depths detail with regards to the philosophy of each Saint would be nice, since Forsaken are what I'm interested in (can't say I like all their models, but the Coils are nice).

I'd also like to know how character-oriented the game is - do you have to have named models, like Confrontation, or are they just special characters like 40k/Infinity?

Oh, and why do half the Brood look like they're playing street hockey, hurling or golf? :D

[blkdymnd]

I'd also like to know how character-oriented the game is - do you have to have named models, like Confrontation, or are they just special characters like 40k/Infinity?

Oh, and why do half the Brood look like they're playing street hockey, hurling or golf?

The character one I can answer right off and it's another unique thing in the game. Characters can play as little or as much as you'd like. It is somewhat character oriented as each faction has at least a few characters that help keep the storylines going or give some character to the faction. The arbiters of the Dragyri, the "perfect" warriors of the Brood, the Saints, and the Fathers of the Skarrd. Great thing is you can use them or not. You don't even have to have a leader at all and just take troop models. You could have a whole force of just bane's and coil's with really nothing else added in, or make a complex force. The designers really lended a lot of freedom and "play what you brought" attitude towards forcebuilding

And on the brood question... not sure, I thought hockey when I first saw the ratchets All I know is Mean Jellybean definatley knows how to use his in CC

[TanithScout]

I play the game, i also demo for them (im an outkast). i dont have a chance right now to look through all the questions, but i'll do my best. haha, if you have evolution, i did the john story too...anyway...enough about me

Dark age is a fast (yes it actually is fast...so many games describe their games as fast when they really run at a snail pace) and very violent D20 skirmish game. Combat is brutal. Its an alternate activation game instead of the standard 'you move your entire army then i move my entire army'. also, unlike 40k, dark age combat is whollisticly more realistic. You have Ap (action points) which can be spent moving, shooting, fighting etc. you can do this in any order. i.e run shoot run, run run shoot. Stab shoot charge etc etc. The system isnt bogged down with silly modifiers like gw where you can only move shoot and assault on months with 31 days as long as its tuesday and theres a full moon outside. However, there are enough modifiers to keep things balanced.

Technology is wholly unreliable, meaning their are great guns (saint mark's plasma guns) but their is often a hefty price with firing. Guns can malfunction.

The feel of this game, and the unniverse it dwells in is wonderfully translated into the gaming system. Yes, the brutality of samaria, the harsh life of each warrior can be seen in the gaming mechanics. its a wonderful game, pick it up if you can (super affordable). check if there are any outkasts in your area and they will happily give you a demo. im in Califorina, the bay area, so if any of you want a demo or a game drop me a line.

anyway, like i said, please organize any questions and me (or any other DA fantatic) can answer them, however i gotta run! great to see a DA post!

[Gubs]

St Mark is ambitious and opportunistic. He's interested more in self-preservation and self-promotion more than anything. He's got a meeeean gun.

St John is a stand up guy. Definitely a man of the people who is noble and loyal. He has a big stompy hammer of smiting.

I don't remember St Mary and I don't think St Luke is done yet.

[blkdymnd]

St. Mary I believe was abducted by the Skarrd at one point, not sure on the rest of her motivation but has hatred toward Skarrd. She is a very "up close and personal" saint with her and her elite troops having spray templates and CC for the most part.

[A neutral shade of black.]

Saint John seems like the one I'd adhere to most - which is good, considering I love the Haniel models.

I just finished reading the QSR, and I have a question - am I correct in assuming that the lower DF, the better? The QSR mention that the target number for an attack is determined by adding enemy DF + weapon AS, but that means that someone with a higher DF is easier to hit, hence my confusion.

[blkdymnd]

yes, the lower defense is the best,which is the only "low is good" stat that i can think of. For the majority, rolling low in the game overall is best which is a big thing to get used to for most players

I see the to hit roll as two things. The combination of the ability of the weapon compared to the ability of the target to avoid the weapon which is a cool concept.

I also love the Haniels and will be building up a force for John soon. I also have seen Banger in action once and he is absolutely a fun model to watch and play (though not so much on the receiving end of him) with his pistols ability to basically spray shot what he is targetting.

[TanithScout]

glad to see people interested in the game : )
yep the lower the defense, the better : D

I'm an abid saint mark player. He is the dirty of the dirty saints, and the first to realize how he could exploit said religion in forsaken society. Mark's 'special units' are also wonderful. The junkers, though expensive, are seriously hard assed!! i ate through a bunch of brood with them, they are truly monster killers.

The beauty of the forsaken faction in general is that each Saint has special units that are unique to him/her, but the basic squads (coils, banes, firestorms, ravages, strikes) are common to all, which means you can get the basic squads, and sub out a saint and their perspective units, meaning you got 3 armies in 1 !!

[Warmonger]

I'm a very new convert to Dark Age. I played my first four games in a free tournament on Saturday that a couple of the Outcasts hosted. They supplied all of their models and small armies to each of us. It was designed for beginning players, so it had smaller point sized forces (350) and they were omnipresent to help everyone learn the rules (I had probably learned 80% of the rules just by playing a demo) and the prize for the winner was a free 350pt army from the company.

Now, when they say fast paced, they mean fast paced. Even with us being completely new to the game, we would have 3-4 turns at most, in a 45 minute to hour period and one or nearly both of the armies would be totally annihilated.

It definitely takes some getting used to the alternate activation.

I bought one book that contained the Skarrd information, and wound up 1 model short of creating just over a full 750pt army. Which is about the standard size. When complete my army will number 17 models, and including the rulebook, cost about as much as about 12 metal GW models would with no rulebooks. And really, what type of force could you possibly field in GW with only 12 man sized models?

I'm quite sure that my GW playing time will be rapidly diminished and my Dark Age time will be way up.

[Wing Commander]

As far as we know, Phil Walling is the only UK outcast, he is one of the guys over at ID Gaming who stock the entire range and play the game regularly, the game has caught on so much that ID now has a custom Brood board and about a dozen regular players.
If you check out www.idgaming.co.uk you'll see a few battle reports and a load of discussions on Dark Ages, it is a very good game and I'm not really sure why it hasn't taken up in the UK more... here's keeping our fingers crossed.