FRAG: Poor Bloody Infantry

I wrote part of a new army list for FRAG, the Earth Defence Force, but ended up shelving it.

Intended to represent the generic soldiers who are inevitably slaughtered before a game begins, they were meant for the sort of people who love playing the Imperial Guard in 40k. The poor bloody infantry, outmatched but determined that the superhuman invaders can piss right off.

At first I wrote some Duke3D inspired gimmick special weapons for them but decided that it didn’t really fit the theme of bloody minded cannon fodder. The second idea, having them plant lots of debuffs on enemies before going in for the kill, also proved to be too much paperwork that just didn’t gel with the fast and fluid nature of the rules. Finally, just giving them a generic equipment list so that anyone can use their generic sci-fi miniatures proved boring and conflicted with the fluff of the space marines (who get way cooler stuff).

Whilst I could have fixed these things, in the end I moved the EDF work into the “Cut Content” section of the rulebook where they’ll probably stay.

I love the idea of basic humans fighting back these superhuman opponents, but if you want basic soldiers struggling to move and fire heavy weapons, just take a New Order army full of basic soldiers.

FRAG: The New Order Lore

I wrote some new fluff for FRAG’s evil human faction.

The New Order
The accessible dimensions are strange and varied places. Rarely, Humans or human-like creatures may live in these dimensions but their societies are alien to the inhabitants of Earth. Colonial scientists believed that there simply were no ‘alternate Earths’. This changed after the discovery of the New Order during the Battle of New Angeles.

When they were first encountered the New Order were believed to be a militant cult taking advantage of Hell’s invasion. The truth was far more sinister. In reality the New Order were humans from an alternate Earth, newly arrived with the goal of subverting and eventually conquering the Earth government.

Little information about the New Order is known for sure. They are believed to come from a parallel Earth where the Second World War was won by an alternate incarnation of the Axis Powers called the European Triad. In this timeline the Triad achieved total dominance using mysterious technological and occult methods. Following on from their total victory over the Allies, the European Triad became the New Order and began to explore alternate dimensions through a mysterious technique involving “the Dark Sun”.

The Dark War
Unlike all other dimensions visited, current information about the New Order’s home world suggests that it is a true ‘alternate Earth’. Investigators have yet to identify a point of divergence, but by the early 1940s the world had started to majorly diverge. An alternate version of the Axis Powers, composed of Germany, Italy, and Spain, uncovered a cache of ultra-technological weaponry and used it to conquer the world. The circumstances surrounding this discovery are shrouded in mystery, even to members of the New Order.

It’s possible that variations in the timeline may stretch much further back than initially believed, with alternate rulers and ancient orders of warlocks hinted at by captured New Order operatives, but the Earth Defence Force does not possess the technology needed to infiltrate the New Order’s home world yet.

Like Hell itself, time appears to flow differently in the New Order’s home dimension. In their universe, the year is believed to be some time in the mid to late 20th century.

Get Psyched
Members of the Lost Battalion first encountered the New Order during the Battle of New Angeles. The Order had attacked several Earth Defence Force positions, but was wiped out by a counter attack by the Lost Battalion’s marines. While the Lost had little interest in searching the ruined outpost, EDF investigators arriving after the battle were able to piece together some information about the inter-dimensional interlopers.

Since then, the Earth Defence Force and the New Order have clashed a few times. The current goal of the Order appears to be theft – they hope to steal the secrets of Earth’s interstellar flight and demonic research. They also have an interest in the mystical, and target arcane dimensions as well.

FRAG: The Elves Get Pissed

I’ve finished the first pass of the fourth army for FRAG – the Sidhe.The Sidhe (‘shee’) hail from a distant, magical dimension. After their world was annihilated by powerful arch-demons, the reminders of the Sidhe race turned their considerable might towards hunting demons and monsters across the cosmos. While ostensibly allies to the Earth Defence Force and the Lost Battalion, they remain mysterious and aloof.

More so than the Lost Battalion or the Forces of Hell, the Sidhe really rely on their characters to deliver their deadliest abilities. Most Sidhe pepper the enemy with amber wand fire; they depend on mages to deliver them to the right spot and increase their firepower, cardinals to support them defensively, and lords to rip the throats out of the biggest bads on the battlefield.

The Sidhe also have a few important differences to other armies. For one, they need to declare which artifacts they are using at the beginning of the turn (they have a lot). Secondly, many Sidhe are Slippery (they can leave close combat without triggering attacks). Careful planning, alongside the brute force expected from a FRAG army, will ensure they win the day.

Doom: High Noon Drifter

(Originally posted on Tumblr by TerminusEst13)

High Noon Drifter is getting closer and closer to release, with only a small handful of things left to do.
So with that, I’ve distributed a couple builds out for folks to test and share their thoughts on, and I’ve also been doing some serious playtesting of it. And there’s been one mapset that I think has fit wonderfully.

This is a run-through of Strange Aeons, Episode 1, with High Noon Drifter on UV. I don’t really go for many secrets or 100% completion, and many of the weapons are still unshown, but hopefully you enjoy nonetheless.

TerminusEst

I’m really looking forward to playing this. The new abilities look super fun.

FRAG: The Next Faction

Tried to do some work on the next update…. let’s call it the Sidhe update. They’re a new army for FRAG, my tabletop rulebook project. There’s not been much progress. Perhaps there’s been too much Real Life Work stuff on my mind.

When I started writing FRAG, I just wanted to make a simple but fun game about some of the cool stuff that’s gone on in the Doom / Id fan community. I also wanted people to be able to use pretty much whatever miniatures they liked – the fantasy list has a dual purpose of letting people use fantasy models as well as scratching that Heretic / Hexen itch.

Of course, it’s a bit tricky balancing that against armoured space marines shooting plasma guns at bulletproof demon-cyborgs in a simplified d6 system.

FRAG: New Faction

Currently writing rules for the “Not-Wolfenstein” SS Paranormal Division, now renamed to the New Order. They should play quite differently to the other lists. While running about firing heavy weapons is the standard in FRAG, these alt-history Nazis are (mostly) only human and have to carefully deploy weapon teams instead.

Mid-write I went looking for reference pics for the army list to help guide artists and play testers. I really shouldn’t have been surprised at what’s available for the SS Elite Guard. In the end I used screenshots from Return to Castle Wolfenstein but I’m pretty sure I’m on a watch list now.