A Question of Honour: an Interview with Warring States Organiser Kieran Byrne

 

Hi, I'm Paul, and welcome to The Asylum.

As part of our continued and ongoing commitment to organised play, we at Asylum Wargaming will be attending the forthcoming Warring States event in Nottingham. Don't know what a Warring States event is? Or even where Nottingham's at? Then don't worry, you don't need to know ... because I've interviewed event organiser Kieran Byrne to get your answers for you. You're welcome.

Hello Kieran, and thank you for joining me. Can you begin by introducing yourself?

Many will know me from various social media outputs surrounding Warlord Games. Being a member of both the Combined Operations podcast—which is based around my first love, Bolt Action—and the relatively new Three Swords podcast, which focuses on Test of Honour. I also run two Bolt Action groups on Facebook, being Bolt Action KL and the Bolt Action Honved, which are for players of Dutch and Hungarian armies in Bolt Action.

Apart from that I playtest for Warlord Games, whether on my own or at the club I attend, Infamous Wargaming.

You cite Bolt Action as your 'first love'; how long have you been playing BA, and what first attracted you to it?

I was a big gamer in my early teens but drifted away from the hobby in my late teens when the group split up. Some years later I discovered Airsoft guns and the subgenre of WWII Airsoft events, in which groups of grown men disappear into the woods together, get dressed up in World War II kit and shoot one another all weekend. Unsurprisingly, there are a large number of wargamers in that scene, and in late 2012 / early 2013 one such wargamer brought some of his Bolt Action armies to play with in the mess after an event; I couldn't have been more hooked more quickly.

Kieran in Airsoft action!

So, moving onto Test of Honour and Warring States, can you tell me about the event?

Absolutely. Warring States will be a campaign event for Test of Honour; that is to say the day doesn't focus entirely on a competitive tournament. I have a background of putting on what have been described as 'story driven' Bolt Action tournaments with a narrative element; I wanted to do Warring States in the same way.

The key aim for Warring States is to ensure everyone gets as much out of it as they can, so I want to steer away from the kind of tournament which encourages a certain section of players to embrace their more 'competitive' nature and  side, especially as Test of Honour is still relatively new and a lot of our players may still be learning the game.

Good to hear. As a guy who rarely dips his toe into tournament play I can relate to those who find the thought of min/maxing and cheese lists daunting. But how do you aim to avoid the kind of scenario where 'newbs' may be pummelled by power gamers?

Look, you can't really complain about power play, min/maxing or whatever if that's the way the tournament's structured; you're going to get it as soon as you offer big prizes for those who win the most games. With Test of Honour, however, the basis of the game—and its various unit cards—means nothing really stands out as overtly powerful; that mitigates against the concept of only winning if you take 'x' unit. 

Also, in Test of Honour the only game mechanic that can be open to abuse is the Fate Card deck. Whilst some decks could be stuffed with what are regarded as 'better cards' from all the expansions, we've tried to curb that by stipulating which cards can be included in a player's deck. It's all going to be a bit of a trial and error with this first event, but the feedback I've had regarding the tournament pack has been positive.

The other thing about tournaments is you have to be up front with your players; make the statement of what is expected at the event and you'll be surprised by how your players buy into it, and those that don't like it just don't book on.

A Test of Honour battle rages. Photo by Alfonso Oclaf

And what has take up been like so far?

When we were looking at where to hold the event, and through our club links with Warlord, we only really had it in our heads that we wanted to hold it at Warlord HQ in Nottingham. The building they're in includes a really good event space so it seemed like a no brainer to go there. Thanks to that and generous offers to lend us scenery and buildings on the day we can easily accommodate 40 players. At present we have 20 confirmed players with others expressing interest and waiting to confirm once pay days roll round, etc.

Even at 20 players it should still be a great event, right?

Oh yeah, totally. Numbers don't always translate to bigger being better. Also, as I will be doing all the admin on the day, smaller numbers is better for me...

More Test of Honour awesome courtesy of Alfonso Oclaf

So what format can players expect on the day?

There will be four rounds of games, so hopefully people will play against a good mixture of warbands. This as a campaign event which focuses on the build up to a famous battle from the period, and all the games propel the storyline toward that battle. If players invest and immerse themselves in the event and its narrative they will leave with a good tale to tell about their hero and warband.

And how many points can players field?

It's going to be 24  points, which is seen as the set level in many cases. However, the points total builds from round to round, so a player's full warband won't hit the table until the final game. This means the player will have a bit of decision making to do from game to game. We have put the Event Guide on the Facebook group already, so hopefully people will already be planning and counter planning...

Thanks for your time, Kieran; Warring States sounds like an awesome event in the making, and we can't wait to see you there.

Find out More about Kieran's 3 Swords Tests of Honour podcast.
Art by The Lucky Orc.

Warring States takes place on Saturday 30th September at Warlord Games HQ in Nottingham. Tickets are still available, and those interested in attending should contact Kieran via the Warring States Facebook page.

Asylum Wargaming will be in attendance at Warring States, and we shall show much honour, fail many tests, and do much losing...

...We will, however, draw the line at sepukku.

Anyaral: The World of Twilight; Spud Tate Unboxes The Dhogo Raiders!

Hi, I'm Paul, and welcome to The Asylum.


As you may have noticed, we at Asylum Wargaming are just mad about Anyaral: The World of Twilight. We like it so much our very own Wargaming Viking, Spud Tate, has recorded the first in a series of Anyaral unboxing videos. So sit back and relax as Spud unveils the hidden treaures of Anyaral's Dhogo Raiders Starter Set.

That's all for now, Inmates. But fear not, for we'll be unboxing more wargaming goodness in the very near future, including more Anyaral: The World of Twilight.

Until then...

...Stay crazy.



What are you waiting for? Anyaral: The World of Twilight is available from our webstore.

Some Touch of Madness: An interview with Mike Thorp, Creator of Anyaral: The World of Twilight

Hi, I'm Paul, and welcome to The Asylum.

Today I bring you the latest instalment in our continuing feature, Some Touch of Madness. Focusing on the creative geniuses behind our favourite games and miniatures, Some Touch of Madness gives us a rare and exciting insight into the minds that create all this cool stuff we're obsessed with.

Today's evil genius is Mike Thorp, creator of Anyaral: The World of Twilight.


Hello and thank you for taking the time to talk to us today. Perhaps you’d like to begin by introducing both yourself and Anyaral?

Hi, I’m Mike Thorp. I’m a dad, a space underwriter, and the creator of Anyaral, the World of Twilight.

Anyaral is an alternative fantasy world that doesn’t have any elves, dwarves or humans, but is instead populated by unusual races such as the Fubarnii and the Devanu.

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The first thing that struck me when I discovered Anyaral was its originality; I’ve never seen anything quite like it, and it certainly boasts a variety of unique miniatures. Could you tell us something about the origin of these concepts, such as any influences and evolutions?

It’s scary to think I’ve been working on Twilight for almost eighteen years now. Back in the 90s wargames were far less numerous than they are now, and nearly all of them were firmly rooted in Tolkien’s mythology and revolved around humans, elves, dwarves and orcs. I wanted to create something unique, so I started sketching out funny,

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heavily-armoured little characters with long snouts and big hooves. Those creatures rapidly evolved into the main protagonists of Twilight, the Fubarnii. Their arch-enemies, the Devanu, took a little longer to evolve. As alpha predators I knew they should feel and act like the Velociraptors in Jurassic Park, but it took a few years to finally get them looking right!



At the time I wanted to create something truly original, but in retrospect it is easy to see I was influenced by the likes of The Dark Crystal, Labyrinth and Dinotopia, as well as books like [Dougal Dixon's] After Man.


At what point did you decide you wished to transfer these ideas and influences into miniature form?




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I’ve played tabletop and boardgames for as long as I can remember and from the outset I wanted to turn these characters into miniatures.

I wove those characters together into the world of Anyaral and the first thing I wanted to do was play games with them. I have sketchpads from those early years filled with ideas for the world, sketches of characters and creatures and notes on game mechanics.



What challenges did this process present?



The first challenge was the miniatures themselves.

Games workshop had just started selling Green Stuff, which I was very excited about! I’d previously used paperclips and Milliput so Green Stuff was a huge change. I had a proper go at sculpting. I was entirely self-taught, and the sculpts were very crude, but I managed to make them recognisable. I then discovered that it was possible to cast figures at home. I’m not sure my mum’s hob was ever the same, but soon enough I had my own little armies of metal Fubarnii and Devanu. Now I could bully my friends into

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playing games of Twilight with me!

The models were fun, but not really good enough to sell! Twilight then spent a few years on the backburners while I took the time to teach myself to sculpt properly. I received some great sculpting advice and support from Andy at Heresy Miniatures, and did a bunch of random Fantasy Football sculpts until a few years later I finally decided to revisit the world of Anyaral.





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So we’ve touched upon the challenges that come with creating a line of miniatures, but what about those inherent with the creation of a ruleset?

I’ve always been fascinated by games and rulesets, so I really enjoyed the challenge of creating Anyaral. I invented a little combat system which involved special combat stones (two sided ‘dice’ with symbols scribed into them). That raised the logistical challenge of producing stones.

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I sculpted the first stones in clay, but that wasn’t very practical. Neither was suggesting that people use different coloured smarties... I eventually managed to have them produced in metal and resin, both of which add something to the overall feel of the game so I’m glad I persisted.

I’m pleased with how the rules have turned out: it’s a fun game rather than one of deeply competitive strategy, and that meshes well with the quirkiness of the setting.


Like many creators and companies in today’s industry, you chose to advance Anyaral through Kickstarter. What challenges did this present, and conversely, what benefits did it bring?

I originally released Twilight with the help of Hasslefree miniatures. They produced the miniatures and I focused on sculpting and getting the rules into print. As Twilight grew, I set up on my own and built up a good community of players and collectors. When I was working on the third book in the series I figured I would give Kickstarter a try, with the modest aim of getting the book published with a few new figures. The response was amazing and I got somewhat carried away with Pledges and Add-Ons during the month-long campaign…

Regardless, the Kickstarter was a fantastic way to gain more exposure and it gave me

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the encouragement to really grow the game. Having been so ambitious with pledges and what-not, delivery was definitely a challenge, but I got there in the end!

A couple of years later I ventured into the world of Kickstarter again to get a new culture, the Casanii, into production. That was another great success, although I was a little more careful not to overstretch that time!

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How has Anyaral been received now it’s on general release?

Twilight ticks along nicely, with regular players adding to their collections and new players bringing a new perspective, which is always inspiring. With so many fantastic games around it’s a challenge to convince people to stick to one game, so it’s best to try and have events that catch customers’ imaginations. Kickstarter is a great way to do that, as is going to shows like Salute. Both help to build a community, which a game like Twilight truly needs. There are plenty of Twilight miniatures—and even cultures—that would never have been sculpted were I not inspired by that community!

Sculpting new miniatures by hand is always a slow and steady process, but it’s also one that gives me time to give every character and unit real depth and history. Occasionally I do get help with the sculpting; Mark Craggs has sculpted a lot of the models in the range, like the Nobleguard and the Herders. Most recently he has sculpted the Yartain, a big hairy yeti-like creatures that accompany the Dhogu! This have just been released and I'm working on their rules as we speak...



The mighty Yartain!

And finally, what can we look forward to in the world of Twilight?

I always wonder where things will go next! The great thing with a world like Anyaral is that I can choose where I want to explore, sometimes on a whim and sometimes as part of a larger plan. With the release of the Casanii last year I have finally fleshed out all the main cultures that I originally sketched out! I do feel that the bat-like Kedashi swarms have been a little under-served so far so they’ll be getting some more attention, with their ancient Kedashi queens, terrifying beasts of the forests, and more of the Trebarnii followers.



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After that I really want to start moving the story of the Delgon invasion along… I’ve sculpted two of their gods, the Enarii so far, but there are several more of them that I would love to sculpt. But it all depends... In spite of my careful plans in the last couple of weeks I got distracted and I've been having fun sculpting a few random little beasties and some new cavalry for the Nobleguard! After that I really want to start moving the story of the Delgon invasion along.

And here endeth the sermon, Inmates! Please take a moment to thank Mike for not only his time, but for the bold and singular vision that is Anyaral.  I for one wish him—and Anyaral—all the best for the future.

 



Anyaral: The World of Twilight is available on our webstore. Fill thy boots