twisted moon
Moderator
i don't remember that from my youth. it must have made for some excellent games.
How was it to actually play RT during the first years?
- Thread starter AranaszarSzuur
- Start date
symphonicpoet
Moderator
^I . . . uh . . . can't imagine borrowing any model train bits from my father for creative play purposes. 
Good times.
Good times.
AranaszarSzuur
Member
Interesting. So ultimately switching to plastic for Space Marines was harmful to game balance? It sounds like it would be better if they'd use C100 marines instead.dieselmonkey":tgqayld8 said:
AranaszarSzuur
Member
Whoa, that's epic. Also, wow photos of game from the original times D: .symphonicpoet":30kmzkfx said:
symphonicpoet
Moderator
AranaszarSzuur":2urwy5kv said:
I wish I had more photos. It was pretty early in my photographic experiments, and even cheap film cost money that could be spent on more beakies, tanks, or model airplanes. They were difficult times for a teenager's budget. I had an arms race with a neighboring ki . . . I mean power. But I tell you what, I am glad I have even the few pictures I do. Now that I have my own yard I should do some landscape hammer. The only question is where to put the mud pit.
(My neighbors are going to love me! Thankfully, they all have dogs, so nobody is likely to get too upset by a bit of carefully crafted mud.)TheLion
Member
My favourite memories are from my teenage years playing Rogue Trader with my best friend. It provided escapism from my alcoholic father and being bullied at school. Even though those years were really bad, RT helped to get me through.
We didn't have much money so we used one inch squares of card for miniatures, and noted on them what they represented. We used dried peas for buildings, which was cool when you hacked your way in as you just removed some of the peas.
We did buy the odd miniature but it was more about the narrative, not what miniatures we had, whether they were painted, or who won or lost. We had a lot of fun and I miss those times.
I've played every edition of 40k to date and RT is still my favourite.
We didn't have much money so we used one inch squares of card for miniatures, and noted on them what they represented. We used dried peas for buildings, which was cool when you hacked your way in as you just removed some of the peas.
We did buy the odd miniature but it was more about the narrative, not what miniatures we had, whether they were painted, or who won or lost. We had a lot of fun and I miss those times.
I've played every edition of 40k to date and RT is still my favourite.
symphonicpoet
Moderator
^Were you using it more as a roll playing story driven sort of game or more of a battle simulation kind of enterprise? Sounds like enormous fun either way. I love the idea of gradually dismantling semi-edible buildings during a game!
I love the idea of gradually dismantling semi-edible buildings during a game!TheLion
Member
We always used the mission generators in the main book, which were tweaked to what we wanted to play. It was always very narrative driven gaming, no extended campaigns, just crazy one off stuff.
Yes, the dried peas were pretty cool. You could create the outline of the buildings, including the interior. Had to use your imagination with regard to line of sight and heights.
Yes, the dried peas were pretty cool. You could create the outline of the buildings, including the interior. Had to use your imagination with regard to line of sight and heights.
AranaszarSzuur
Member
*bump*
EricF
Administrator
A worthy bump.
The smell of preserved lichen (moose moss to some) from model railway shops - that's one other strong "back in the day" thing I remember. You would just buy a big bag of multiple colours and bam hedges and undergrowth everywhere. In fact we used to use a lot of model railway bits, tunnels and the like probably because we had them in the house. I did have to get some lichen a while back just for the nostalgia and I keep wondering about trying to try preserve some of the tonnes of it that grow on the heathland around us (I think it's generally getting it to take up glycerine to prevent it going brittle - better go and find the old railway modelling magazines/books).
Otherwise as others have said - lots more narrative play. I don't think in the RT days we ever did a game that didn't have some kind of other objective (beyond destroy the opponent) for one or both sides. Also getting hold of the dungeon floorplans meant a lot of games had to have secret tunnels and bits hidden underground for models to explore, to be honest I think we probably over complicated it when we tried to have too much Z axis play!
The smell of preserved lichen (moose moss to some) from model railway shops - that's one other strong "back in the day" thing I remember. You would just buy a big bag of multiple colours and bam hedges and undergrowth everywhere. In fact we used to use a lot of model railway bits, tunnels and the like probably because we had them in the house. I did have to get some lichen a while back just for the nostalgia and I keep wondering about trying to try preserve some of the tonnes of it that grow on the heathland around us (I think it's generally getting it to take up glycerine to prevent it going brittle - better go and find the old railway modelling magazines/books).
Otherwise as others have said - lots more narrative play. I don't think in the RT days we ever did a game that didn't have some kind of other objective (beyond destroy the opponent) for one or both sides. Also getting hold of the dungeon floorplans meant a lot of games had to have secret tunnels and bits hidden underground for models to explore, to be honest I think we probably over complicated it when we tried to have too much Z axis play!
symphonicpoet
Moderator
^^Damn! That's pretty hardcore.
^^^The Z axis! We used to set up mountains made out of old army blankets wadded up. I always argued in favor of a house rule to give the guy on the hill a firing advantage. (Basically the guy on the hill gets the measure straight out, but the guy on the ground has to follow the terrain.) I think I was soundly voted down every time. But yeah, that was the days when we were using fishing weights for plasma guns, lichen for hedgerows, German flak cannons for tarantulas, and things like that. Ah me! Lovely stuff. (I really should have treated that lichen. It's all brittle and faded now. I still use some of it every now and then though.)
^^^The Z axis! We used to set up mountains made out of old army blankets wadded up. I always argued in favor of a house rule to give the guy on the hill a firing advantage. (Basically the guy on the hill gets the measure straight out, but the guy on the ground has to follow the terrain.) I think I was soundly voted down every time. But yeah, that was the days when we were using fishing weights for plasma guns, lichen for hedgerows, German flak cannons for tarantulas, and things like that. Ah me! Lovely stuff. (I really should have treated that lichen. It's all brittle and faded now. I still use some of it every now and then though.)