Revisiting the Blackstone Fortress

[@Bassmunchkin1]

All I'll say is, it gets more and more exciting as you make your way through the expansions...

[@TheDungeonDive]

Yeah, I bet. Need to get to those, ASAP!

[@davidchilds2935]

Just stumbled into a facebook group, Beyond Precipice, which is adding a lot of user made content, ala Warhammer Quest, to add everything from retinue characters to pyskers and on. I've only begun to scratch the surface of the content they've created.

[@TheDungeonDive]

Oh wow! That sounds awesome. Thanks for the info.

[@p.henrique9088]

Another great video! I am playing WHQ Silver Tower with my wife at the moment, triggered by your video about that game I think 1 month ago. I still didn't buy anything BF related but it looks really cool!

[@TheDungeonDive]

Hope you both are having fun with it! If you like ST, I would highly recommend BSF, especially considering how much GW is supporting it. ST is such a great foundation, and I'm really happy that GW is continuing to build upon it. I really like all of these modern WHQ games.

[@Alittlefruitgoesalongway]

I'm hoping to pick up silver tower after I finish painting my blackstone fortress minis. I like the fantasy theme even more than sci fi, and I enjoy dungeon crawls. I'd be absolutely thrilled to see a new Warhammer Quest fantasy/age of sigmar game come out with more updated rules. I love the tiles in blackstone fortress especially, as well as the random enemy encounters, and I'd love to see that redone to fit a good fantasy theme again. Even if it turned into more of a solo/co op adventure/skirmish game where you explore different parts of the mortal realms, even on the surface, and that would justify the random environments and enemies I should think.

[@Alittlefruitgoesalongway]

Oh, and if it wasn't clear I absolutely love and enjoy Blackstone Fortress. I'm not a huge fan of 40k lore, but the small setting and scope of the fortress with smaller, more personable and human-like characters, I find that I really enjoy it.

[@willpattison8779]

I recently finished the main quest. I think that the 4 clues per stronghold is good initially to give 1 or 2 trips to Precipice. It’s important to get a few non-discard resources. They really help with the strongholds which are quite challenging. One in particular, we couldn’t even risk stepping out of the elevator for several turns without being shot to pieces. So I think that reducing the clue cost for a stronghold to 3 is a good idea, but it will increase difficulty slightly.

[@TheDungeonDive]

About how long did it take?

[@willpattison8779]

The Dungeon Dive I think that 35 hours is a rough estimate for the main campaign. Now we started new characters, got the retinue character Skarburn, and started the Ambull quest. In the first expedition we got everything that we need to attempt the main lair expedition next time. So it looks like more of a 10 hour quest.

[@TheDungeonDive]

Nice. I'm really looking forward to getting to Escalation. The campaign system for that one seems really cool.

[@oliverklar813]

Finally :) still have my copy unplayed on the shelf. Bought everything, build the figures but still torn between painting all of it and then playing. But i do enjoy the narrative of the game tremendously. Read the book and did like it. Also the white dwarf addons, i think the compiled it in a book now. Amazing! Not played it but still think too many games are trying to be video games and do not use the strength of board games like Silver Tower did.

[@TheDungeonDive]

I think BSF takes the right kind of inspiration from video games, and uses it to be a better board game.

[@Alittlefruitgoesalongway]

Blackstone is also great fun to play in a group of 3 or 4. I still enjoy it solo but when you can play with buddies it's just so much more fun. The tense die rolls are exciting, the planning between eachother is fun, and it's a great way to have a laugh when both epic and terrible things happen to your adventurers. It's something that I think video games have a harder time recreating, because you often wouldn't be together in person. There's somethinf I enjoy about having a physical board and models too. One funny time I remember was when one of my friends set up his Eldar sniper in a long, straight hallway with overwatch and a bunch of dice left, and another played the psyker and used his special ability to force move enemies into the halway, right into the sniper's overwatch where they got demolished. It was awesome.

[@boardsomnis55]

Not touched a lot of the extra content, but love how much GW is supporting this game. At first I thought they would just do a couple of features in WD, and I think there were gap months early 2019, but as the year rolled on and expansions were release we saw a more consistency. I have to agree on the base game campaign length. Needing 4 clues to make a Stronghold run really eats up time in BF delves to get clues. Maybe reduce the clue requirement for Strongholds (say 2-4 depending on the strongold/boss). I like your idea for an events table in round. The twists don't trigger often enough, and I feel its re-enforcements that seem to add to the round becoming dull. Also I'd like to see more happening at Precipice, maybe another events table or something other than just shopping. I'd also like to 3D print some terrain/cover/portals for this game at some point to make the map pop more.

[@TheDungeonDive]

I"m thinking of a house rule where I need only 3 clues to raid a stronghold.

[@mko7779]

Great video and overview of the game. I’m really looking forward to jump into the game. May I ask which tray you use for the miniatures? I bought a foam insert, but it holds just the base game minis. Do you store the minis with the tray in the core box? Because that’s what I normally like instead of having stuff from different games laying around in the shelf. Currently I only have the base game and traitor command. If I do not find a good storage solution, I will not dig deeper in Blackstone Fortress.

[@TheDungeonDive]

I keep my minis in plastic storage contains, all stacked up on a shelf, separate from the games themselves. I'm really getting kind of sick of minis, because of this. The ones I use for minis are from Creative Options. Smaller box is model 23630, larger box is Plano 3730, but I can't seem to find that size anymore.

[@agentorangecb1]

Great review btw, I've just subbed to the channel

[@TheDungeonDive]

Awesome, thank you!

[@agentorangecb1]

@@TheDungeonDive My pleasure. Thank you!

[@MariosIliofotou]

Great video, I love your content. So, I use the rules to make the game harder that is to draw an extra encounter card and apply the twist (keep drawing until you find one that has a twist). This makes sure that you have at least one twist. This makes each game a bit different.

[@TheDungeonDive]

Thanks for watching! I wish there was a deck of nothing but twists.

[@MariosIliofotou]

The Dungeon Dive the abominable Intellect encounter deck has a twist in each card. Even though I didn’t buy the extra enemies with that, I do use it just for drawing twists.

[@TheDungeonDive]

@@MariosIliofotou I saw that, and went to buy them, only to find that they are selling for like $150 now! WTH? :) Insane. I guess they didn't make too many of them.

[@agentorangecb1]

After viewing some content on this game, i just bought the base game and any expansions i could get my hands on without paying a fortune, as well as the annual! I'm really looking forward to it! Unfortunately some expansions are only available for collector prices now (10x RRP on Ebay) but i may get the rule sets and counters, then sub in suitable miniatures for any characters and enemies? For example, buy a standalone box of poxwalkers, chaos cultists and use any old 🤖 model or guy with sword and shield for expansion characters. Since GW don't sell it anymore, i guess that's okay?! Also unfortunate is not having anyone to play with during lockdown but I'll try it then see if i can tempt and buddies in future. It seems a solo game can still be pretty engaging due to randomised enemy behaviour? Did you play OG Warhammer Quest or any similar, solo narrative games? I did when i was much younger and loved it. I liked being the DM actually but player too. It was a simple to learn game with a surprising amount of depth and therefore a good 'entry point' for friends new to the hobby and not as overwhelming as the big war games. The progressive narrative a collecting gear seems like a real motivator to drive forward. Even if they're pricey, i appreciate a self-contained game with a fixed cost, focus on nuance and variations from game to game. Do you think simply choosing to do less before a raid would work? For example, deciding you'll just get two clues, or three, or adding expansion rules and content partway through? That's probably what I'll do to keep it fresh. Taking different characters for each mission could also help add variety and keep the game challenging, if the characters play significantly differently from one another?

[@TheDungeonDive]

Just wait for the next WHQ - should be coming out in a couple of months. I wouldn't pay the collector's / OOP prices for this one. I've played all of the WHQ games, and have many, many, MANY videos on the original and Silver Tower here. Check the playlists.

[@agentorangecb1]

@@TheDungeonDive Thanks. The Cursed thingy looks great, especially the minis they revealed. I'm still more into Sci-Fi than classic Fantasy but I'll probably get it and i look forward to hearing your thoughts on it in future vids

[@AFatalPapercut]

i feel your pain. All I need is No Respite and I can't find it anywhere without paying 2-3x the amount.

[@agentorangecb1]

@@AFatalPapercut Yeah, I can't justify £200 for 3 marines, 6 poxwalkers and some cardboard 🤦🏼‍♂️

[@PiterMorbid]

Thinking about this one. I don't know how far into it you ended up going. If I get it with expansions, do you recommend it?

[@TheDungeonDive]

Hard to say. Expansions are very expensive. If you have a lot of discretionary income and like lighter skirmish games, it’s good. I haven’t played nearly all of everything. But I can’t because of the channel I’m kind of forced to constantly being playing new things.

[@PiterMorbid]

@@TheDungeonDive yes I'm aware of the cost and it's okay... My question is about the game itself

[@TheDungeonDive]

It’s really hard for me to say. I haven’t played everything but I’m glad I own it for when I get around to it. Overall, it’s a pretty simple skirmish game, and I wouldn’t consider it a holy grail game. It’s good, but for me not one of the best. With my income as it is right now, I definitely wouldn’t buy it for the prices it goes for.

[@rolandbruno686]

what card holders are those?

[@TheDungeonDive]

www.amazon.com/Worldwide-W651-Hardwood-Card-Holder/dp/B0006A0NLA/ref=sr_1_32?crid=PINPMVDIOR8P&dchild=1&keywords=wooden+card+holders+for+playing+cards&qid=1595615528&sprefix=wooden+card+%2Caps%2C228&sr=8-32

[@TinyDiodes]

For me, the literature constituted about 60% of my total, positive, experience with Blackstone Fortress.

[@Enroth186]

Ahhh, what are you doing to your books? There are better alternatives to using dog-ears :-)

[@TheDungeonDive]

Books are tools. They are meant to be used and worn. I am an avid book collector, and I use my books like tools. I write notes in them, I fold pages, i highlight, etc. Nothing worth keeping is worth keeping in pristine condition. I want things that I use to wear with time, so that it shows that I actually use those things. I totally do not understand the concept of wanting the things I collect to look like they've never been used. :)

[@p0ck3tp3ar]

@@TheDungeonDive Does that mean you don't sleeve your cards? :)