News
Game InformationDesigner PostsResourcesStrategyMusingsE-mail MerricWotC Forum3ebb ForumsLemonbutter
(Tracking/Galleries)Maxminis
(Trading Forums)Vesivus' Site
(Filtered Galleries)Italian DDM forum
|
Everything you want to know about the Dungeons & Dragons Miniatures game produced by Wizards of the Coast!If you have any news about the game, please e-mail me at merricb@yahoo.co.uk. A good place to gain further information - especially from Rob Heinsoo and Mike Donais, two of the designers of the game - is the D&D Miniatures Forum on the WotC boards. Merric's Law of Miniatures: Non-Random Packaging, Cheap Prices, and a Large Range of Figures: Choose two. What are D&D Miniatures? | Recent News: |
News Wizards site updates Commander's Notebook -
The Art of Warbands -
()
Deathknell figure in "Previews" From Kevin Blumhardt: "In the newest Previews magazine (so it'll be in the next Game Trade), there's a listing for Deathknell that has a picture of a flaming skeleton miniature. Not very helpful, but it looks familiar. It doesn't look like the effigy from MM2, it looks more like a large flaming skeleton from one of the recent books. I'll have to dig through all the books to see if I can find it!"
()
Deathknell preview II, Recurring Villainy The latest updates are up at the Wizards site:
Deathknell preview II - previews Rask, Half-Orc Chainfighter; the Grell, and the Boneclaw
Recurring Villainy - gives 20 themed encounters for the RPG.
()
Wizards site updates: Skirmish Scenario -
A small but powerful team of samurai seek to punish a group of monks for standing up to the samurai's authority. It's a classic conflict of the big and powerful against the small … but not so weak.
Commander's Notebook -
A small but powerful team of samurai seek to punish a group of monks for standing up to the samurai's authority. It's a classic conflict of the big and powerful against the small … but not so weak.
(No preview this week, unfortunately!)
()
What does "basing" mean? A good question recently asked on the Wizards boards. (You'll see it used in strategy posts a lot).
What does "basing" mean?
It means moving in to base-to-base contact with a figure. "Basing" is a lot simpler than saying "moving adjacent to", especially when some people can't seem to comprehend that "adjacent" in DDM means "base-to-base contact" rather than "within a creature's Reach range". (Sulaco's explanation)
"Basing" a figure means that the figure cannot cast non-touch spells or use ranged attacks without first moving away - drawing an attack of opportunity for doing so - and so is an essential part of good play.
Personally, I prefer the term "engage", but that might be just me. :)
()
Designer Posts Just added some designer posts to the page - includes some interesting notes from Rob Heinsoo. :-)
()
GodEmperor's Skirmish Campaign Catching up on my e-mail...
Here's an interesting site: for the past several months, GodEmperor has been playing in a D&D Miniatures Skirmish campaign using the Vassal engine. The players use GodEmperor's site for keeping track of pairings and rankings.
GodEmperor says, "We play w/ some alternate rules and the site is almost fully automated.... I have spent lots of time on the site. It uses PHP and a MySQL database to track everything.... anyways I am always looking for more players and my site has some other things to offer..."
()
Denying Assault part 2 Hordelings.com have posted the second part of the strategy article.
()
Designer posts I've added a couple of new posts to the Designer Posts page.
()
December Previews are up Mat Smith has posted his latest set of , which have a lot of joy for the D&D Miniatures player. The following miniatures are previewed from Deathknell:
- Undying Soldier
- Rask, Half-Orc Chainfighter
- Bullywug Thug (common)
- Beholder (rare)
Enjoy!
()
First Deathknell preview! (and other Wizards updates) Deathknell preview I - ; Couatl and Griffon
The Art of Warbands -
The War Machine -
()
Guy Fullerton's GenCon Guy Fullerton has posted a page of pictures he took at GenCon:
(fixed the link)
()
More unofficial dungeon tiles This site has just come to my attention -
(Just a note: I'm more than willing to post links to interesting sites, but you generally need to e-mail me first!)
()
DDM News from GenCon... From Dagni:
"I got a chance to talk to Ian Richards, head of Organized Play for DDM, just a few hours ago, right at the very end of the Con. He was very informative, and I'll try to write up a full rumors/advance news posting later in the next couple of days.
"A quick major highlight, next year's Constructed Championships should be basically like this last year's. As in, it will be at GenCon Indy, with Qualifiers beforehand, and there won't be Draft finals, straight Constructed.
"However, there will also be a Sealed Championships next year! This will not be at GenCon Indy, it will be a few months later, in my own backyard, at GenCon SoCal. It will have it's own series of Qualifiers with plane tickets for the winners, same as the Constructed one. It will be Sealed with Draft finals. "Oh, another tidbit I'll post now lest I forget about it again. I asked RobH about reprinted stat cards for the old sets. His immediate answer was basically, ehh, not really happening. However, I then suggested something along the lines of using the league kits as the means to doing reprinted stat cards, and he thought that was a good idea, and wrote a note to himself about that. "Certainly Rob himself is in agreement with me and many of you guys on the boards that the old stat cards look terrible next to the newer ones. So we at least have an advocate for our cause, but as RobH said, WotC's policy so far has been against anything involving printing of extra stat cards." And from Rob Heinsoo: (some guy connected with Wizards DDM design...) "Amusingly, the people who came to play tournaments at GenCon SoCal had so many good ideas that I got to spend a lot of time listening and asking questions instead of being interrogated until I cracked and blabbed about everything that was coming soon. People who want news about upcoming stuff don't have long to wait: preview articles for Deathknell are starting soon." From Tried: "Dagni, Guy F and Rob H did play in the unsanctioned Titans tourney, only to fall to the unstoppable Mr. Derry. I will post the top 4 warbands when I get a chance to catch up at work!" From Synedoche: "One tidbit I discovered that I haven't seen reported is that it looks like 6x6 terrain tiles are coming. I saw two at the WOTC desk: a crumbling fountain and one divided into multiple little rooms. I haven't really thought through the ramifications of this yet, but I do think that tile placement is a major, and underappreciated, aspect of the game." From Fenris: "RobH mentioned in passing that he's somewhat dissatisfied with how routing creatures don't give any victory points when time is called, even when there's no commander that could possibly rally them. He & I chatted about possible workarounds for that, but neither of us could come up with a simple & fair "fix" on the spot. So I guess maybe in the future there might possibly be a rule change about that, but probably not soon and maybe not ever. "
()
Beholder Stat Card Thanks to Timothy/Slade, we have a picture of the stat card. ()
Of note:
Death Knell has a symbol of a Scythe.
The Beholder is #32/60 and is Lawful Evil. (That means about 30 figures usable by good factions - half the set!)
()
More on the new formats... Our "Man on the Inside", Kiddoc, has this to say about the new formats in the last Wizards News item:
Yes indeed. It is news. Several new formats are coming to the game and I think each of them makes some very nice improvements where the others left off. I really look forward to doing some seriously fun play in these formats. As it happens, I'm a huge fan of the league format. I really feel that the smaller starting costs, combined with the auto-handicapping feature and the very fun alternate scenarios the type of play that goes on very appealing. I for one, welcome the attention that R&D and the playtest team is paying to that format. Thanks guys.
()
Warlords run amok This on the Wizards page is interesting - are they testing a new variation of the campaign rules from the MHb?
()
Designer posts updated Quite a few posts from Mike Donais have been added to the page. He revealed a couple of interesting points about Deathknell: There will be 13 new undead, and one of them will be a Skeleton Warrior. (Quite a bit more deadly than the Warrior Skeleton!)
()
Beholder stats Dagni has got a glimpse of the Beholder's stat card. From what he remembers:
Beholder
83 pts
LVL/SAVE 11; SPD F2; AC 22; HP 95
Special Abilities:
Anti-Magic Ray (any enemy within LOS of Beholder that tries to cast a spell rolls a d20 and fails on an 11+)
Dual Activation
Eye Ray (rolls a d20, can use the corresponding ability or any ability needing a lower roll, chooses target after rolling:
1-4: Slide creature up to 3 spaces, DC 17 (allies can voluntarily fail).
5-8: 20 Negative dmg, DC 17
9-12: Target gains Slow Attack ability: Creature cannot move and attack in the same turn, and cannot attack more than once in a turn. DC 17
13-15: Fear: Morale Save
16-18: Flesh to Stone, living creature turns into a statue; DC 17
19-20: Disintegrate: 60 dmg, DC 17)
More details .
()
Wizards site updates - Get a look at the trophies for the Miniatures Tournament at GenCon SoCal - including the first place Beholder miniature!
Commander's Notebook: - three warbands from three designers using Ryld.
()
December Retailer Kit contents Wizards have posted the contents of the December :
- 12 Creeping Tangle Tiles
- 7 Orc Sergeant Promo Minis
- 3 Small Burst Effects Templates
- 3 Copies of an Adventure for Legacy of the Green Regent
- 2 Season Posters
- 1 D&D Campaigns "Play Here" Window Decal
- Tournament, League, and Roleplaying Paperwork
- A D&D Campaigns Newsletter
- Event Reporting Forms
()
|