Things Are Getting Serious!

They look fabulous in grey, think about how good they will be once painted (yes, I have to start painting them...)

"A Murder of Crows" is not only a box packed with new Iron Crows and a name that is as fitting as it is probably controversial in the eyes of META (but it is not as if we care about visibility, right?!), as I mentioned in yesterday's post, it is also a complete Company in game terms.

"But Durgin, you silly thing, why should I care about a game I know nothing about?"

Well, in almost complete silence (seriously, I think I need to learn how to give my projects a bit more visibility...), development on Peoples of Inneath (a remarkably adventurous game*) is moving steadily towards a Beta version that feels decidedly solid, and I would even say exciting.

At the beginning of September, I shared a first Beta on my Patreon, partly to give myself a sort of moral checkpoint and finally tick one box off my Grand Plan™, and partly to begin stepping out of my self referential cocoon and get some more meaningful outside feedback.

I will tell you the truth: at first, I was afraid nobody would even bother reading a single page of the rules, then I started worrying that I would receive nothing but brutal criticism.

Honestly, I was not sure which outcome would have been preferable.

Fortunately, I received enough opinions for it to reasonably count as "interest", along with feedback constructive enough to give me a solid direction to work towards.

So I have spent the last few weeks going back over the rules, refining the Scenario Supplement, and finally beginning to narrow down the first character profiles that will be immediately playable. There will be time to go into all of this in detail, but one element we have changed significantly also concerns the "A Murder of Crows" box: the game's Recruiting system.

As you can see, the system is not based on the classic points system, but on a practical layout of 6 Recruiting Slots. There must always be a LEADER (for obvious reasons), and players must fill at least 2 Recruiting Slots with CORE Heroes.

Players can then fill the remaining slots as they wish, while still keeping a few small restrictions in mind: no more than two slots can be filled with CORE Heroes sharing the same name (I would rather spare you the frustration of playing against an army of Iron Crow Sentinels), and you cannot have two SPECIALIST with the same name (again, the idea is to reward variety rather than the proliferation of clones).

In addition, unless otherwise specified, each Company may field a single FAMILIAR.

Now, let us return to the contents of "A Murder of Crows":

Assuming you assemble the kits as they were intended (although nothing stops you from using one of the spare crossbows from Wandering Arrows on a Warrior body to make an additional Iron Crow Sentinel!), from this box you can build:

• 5 Iron Crow Warriors (CORE), in every possible equipment configuration (Dwarven Blade & Shield, Paired Blades, and Great Axe)

• 3 Iron Crow Sentinels (CORE)

• 1 Iron Crow Huscarl (SPECIALIST), armed with Spear & Shield

• 1 Iron Crow Veteran (LEADER)

• 3 Imperial Crow Familiars ("But I can only field one, so what is the point?" Have faith, young Padawans... does the name Crowseer mean nothing to you?)

So, from this box you can build a complete Iron Crows Company, with a few Iron Crow Warriors and one Iron Crow Sentinel left over so you can try out new gameplay variants (you will discover that, depending on the weapon he carries, an Iron Crow Warrior can change his role on the battlefield quite dramatically).

True, it may seem a little early to be talking about the game right now, considering that the starter set is planned for autumn 2027, but I wanted to plant the idea in your mind and give you a sense of the potential behind this investment: pick up "A Murder of Crows" now, and you will have plenty of time to paint it and arrive at the game's debut at least 3 or 4 steps ahead of everyone else.

And as everyone knows, "a painted army is a luckier army!"

That is all for today. I remind you once again that only 100 boxes will be available, ready to ship. You would not want some Elf to steal one, would you? (What would they even do with it, anyway??)

Bona!

*you know how much I love silly pompous names...