Alkemy

[CK Lai]

What is it about “dead” games that fascinate me so?

First Okko… then Dungeon Command (OK, you can still buy the sets but WotC are not going to expand the sets any more).

Then AT-43 (proxy for Dust Tactics Vrill) and Confrontation (WoK conversion).

Maybe it’s the cheap prices? Or it’s the thrill of the hunt? Searching to complete the faction from out of print components?

Why do I do this to myself? 😛

[Universal Head]

That’s weird, I was just thinking about this yesterday. I’m the same (and I have a decent collection of Okko too). For me, I think the fact that there’s a limited number available, combined with the pleasure of hunting down and aquiring the items. Sometimes they’re cheaper, but sometimes they’re the opposite.

My biggest project along these lines was Confrontation. I’ve spent a hell of a lot on that game, but it was a very satisfying when I discovered some very rare unit or figure that was hard to find and added it to my collection. It’s been a while since I bought anything for it, but I imagine figures are even more rare and expensive these days. Buying two unit of whampyrs for my Ram army was crazy money!

Oh, there’s another thing I love about this kind of obsession, especially related to Confrontation–I get a lot of satisfaction out of rescuing old figures (and games) from the limbo of ebay and adding them to a well-painted, carefully maintained collection.

So as you can see, you’re not alone in this regard!

[CK Lai]

Yeah… it’s weird… but these so-called “dead” games seriously have some fun game mechanics to them that lift them above the ordinary. I think the Europeans do pretty well at designing minis games like that. Maybe that’s what draws me to them. But they’re also the ones to go “dead” pretty quickly 🙁

[Universal Head]

I hereby dub them ‘undead games’. 🙂

[razide]

Okko is one game I wish some-one would resurrect as a Kickstarter including all the expansions in it and some of the French site goodies too and throw in a bunch of CMoN WoK quality figures. My wife liked the game but with figures figures not the cardboard ‘stand ups’. I’ve always been tempted to use Confrontation 3 Samurai & Ninja Goblins if I ever get around to assembling them.

Which game do you two prefer AT-43 or DustTactics/Battlefield ?

Try Legions of Steel or is it Steel Legions as a more involved SpaceHulk type of boardgame.

[Universal Head]

The figures for Okko were beautiful but ridiculously fragile; not suitable as gaming pieces at all. There’s a game out there called Bushido which has lovely figures that might be suitable for it.

I prefer AT-43, but I haven’t played it in 3 years. I’m really looking forward to getting those armies back and filming some battle reports for the game.

I have a copy of Legions of Steel but I’ve never played it. Terrible 80s metal figures.

[8th]

Its not just board games, RPG systems are rising from the dead. In recent years I have picked up James Bond and Gangbusters from ebay, amongst others.

One of my favourite RPG systems is the unpopular Alternity. The Dark Matter setting book was excellent and used in a memorable campaign of X-Files like investigation and conspiracy.

Its UK Games Expo this weekend and I always search the bargain bins for lost gems of RPG and board gaming goodness. Picked up War of the Ring there a few years back as second hand.

Beware the Zom-game-pocalypse…

[CK Lai]

I would love to play AT-43 but haven’t been able to get anywhere near a complete set of 2 factions for the UNA and Therians (the Space Apes and Orange Scarecrows leave me cold, and the ONI faction costs a ridiculous amount). So it’s Dust Tactics for me. Not Battlefront or Warfare as I like the simplified movement and LOS rules (unsatisfying as they may be to hardcore table top gamers).

I have a set of AE-WWII minis but I’ve yet to assemble them much less paint them or even take them out for a spin. I’m hoping to proxy them with a combo of the Incursion plastic minis (if I can get ahold of them) and Dust Tactics minis instead.

Plus Confrontation 4 and WoK and Alkemy. That’s it for me. Everything else is board games.

[razide]

The Okko figures were nice looking but expensive when they first came out and the round base on the Oni I bought was too big for the board squares. Some of the Bushido sculpts look really good. Legend of the 5 Rings had some interesting figures which may have worked too.

AT-43 has a more engaging theme especially the Therians. I wasn’t too enthused about the Karmans(SpaceApes) but managed to pick up a few boxes during sales. The COGS didn’t translate from the concept sketches as well as I had hoped. Never physically saw any ONI miniatures. Some of the RedBlock stuff could be quite easily used in Dust Tactics.
There was also an AT-43 quasi RPG called AT-43 Tactics which came out as a supplement book.

I wished DUST was a bit more Tannhauser/AE-WW2/WWW2 in flavour.
The Tannhauser tactical squad game never eventuated.

Legions of Steel had some reasonable sculpts for the Machines. the Nightmares were better than the original GW Necrons. And I liked the Predator and Succubot too. The UNE commandos figures nor the assault Fiends haven’t aged well over the years. FantasyFlightGames would like this with all the counters and tokens. I had a couple of goes at playing this – you need to be aware of your weapon’s optimum ranges and your opponents. There were plans for a table top version at one stage.

I don’t recall much about Alternity at all.

Some of my other favourite dead games are Babylon5 Wars, the original Crimson Skies (FASA) & Mutant Chronicles/Warzone.

[Universal Head]

I was blown away when I realised the Therians were us. Genius. Loved the cigar-chomping space apes and their whole aesthetic. I agree, the Cogs came out pretty clunky, but then if you see the concept sketches I don’t know how they were going to translate them into affordable plastics.

It will be very interesting to see what Parente comes up with when he finally creates the Vrill alien race for Dust. It would be amazing if it came out anything like this.

[nicoleblond]

I arrive across on this subject. Alkemy is not dead. I’m nicoleblond and we took the license of the game since December 2013.
Here is the website:
http://www.alkemy-the-game.com
and the online store:
http://www.alkemy-the-game.com/shop

We go regularly miniatures and we will launch a crowfunding in October for 2 new factions.

[CK Lai]

UH: I know you love assembling minis… but don’t you think “It’s composed by 110 parts and it’s about 22 cm tall when finished.” is pushing it a little, no matter how cool the mini is. 😉

The model reminds me of the bioroids (?) in the Appleseed manga by Masamune Shirow. If Paolo Parente can even pull half of the look and esthetic off, I’m for for the whole faction 🙂

Until then, it’s Therian proxies for me…

[Author]

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