Ravage Magazine 32
Ravage is a French-language games and miniatures magazine published by Histoire & Collections, who also publish the historical wargames magazine Vae Victis, the collectibles magazine Dixième Planète, and a new CCG magazine called Mana Rouge.
The magazine's tagline is "the magazine for fantasy strategy games". As such they choose, unlike Harbinger, to include collectible miniature games like Mage Knight, Star Wars and D&D miniatures, in which I have merely a passing interest (Mage Knight and HeroClix I bought in job lots from eBay; Star Wars I haven't tried; D&D I had a fair few but gave up when they went to the uncollectible and ugly "huge" sets). They also have a little coverage of computer games and books (too much to my view but the extent of the other content is sufficient to forgive them slightly). They also have a little coverage of boardgames, which doesn't quite fit their remit but is generally OK with me.
The page count is similar to Harbinger but, since the advertising page count is far lower, the magazine runs at a larger page size, the text is significantly smaller and the pages are better organised, Ravage containts significantly more actual content. Albeit it's in French. Another difference from Harbinger is that they quite rightly treat GW as just another miniatures/games company.
Articles and Content:
News covers Mongoose, Aberrant/Rezolution, Urban Mammoth, Dark Age (it points out that the new minis previously previewed here are the only ones in 4 months), Privateer, Wizkids (Heroclix, Mechwarrior, Pirates and High Stakes Drifter), Fenryll, Ilyad's Dungeon Twister boardgame, White Wolf's hybrid Car Wars/Pirates constructible game Racer Knights, Ilyad's miniatures line, GW, and Rackham. Previews of a couple of boardgames: Fantasy Pub (a new edition from Tilsit) and Mission Planète Rouge from Asmodèe, a new game by Bruno Faidutti.
Preview of Corvus Belli's Infinity. Every time I see this it looks more interesting. A combination of an interesting sci-fi background, excellent miniatures and manga overtones. It remains to be seen whether the introductory game provides as smooth a learning and collecting curve as, say, Confrontation but I'm beginning to look forward to it.
Preview of Wizkids' Rocketmen game, aka Pirates in Space. Although the article says the new game isn't just a future version of Pirates and for that matter is positive on the game.
Preview of GW's Black Templar Codex for 40k. I now have one of these, so I'll come to a review separately. Points out that the BT force has a weak command score (absence of veteran sergeants) combined with interesting element of vows. Anyhow, more on this in a different article.
Preview of Rackham's Dogs of War expansion for Confrontation 3. I hadn't seen this before. It replaces the old Incarnation system for C2, which allows for an adventure mode (effectively a campaign system) which saw characters evolve and change from skirmish to skirmish (yes, just like Mordheim and Necromunda), a kind of halfway house between Confrontation and the forthcoming Cadwallon RPG.
Preview of the Star Wars Universe booster packs. As I said, I've not been attracted by this. Presumably WotC have managed to sort out the quality issues that made their previous huge sets (those sets containing "huge" models) so dire (and for that matter uncollectable). Anyhow, until I see otherwise I'll leave this well alone.
Preview/review of Robogear. Saw it in a store in the US. Miniature quality seems poor. Not interested. The reviewer recognises that people are going to be agin it, but likes it nonetheless. If I have a criticism of Ravage, it's that they never give anything a bad review (OK, maybe occasionally the odd model gets faint criticism. Actually my other criticism is that the page size is so big that the staples don't support it). Anyhow, I suspect in this case he's reviewing the gameplay rather than the miniatures, which look like a cheap Airfix kit (actually this is because it is precisely that). The included terrain, by the way, is the same as that being sold by Urban Mammoth for Urban War.
Article on Urban War group tactics. There is, by the way, a French Urban War site with its own new releases page, which I ought to include in the template for this site.
Article on Warmachine mercenaries, with French translations of the cards, rules and backgrounds (from PP's No Quarter 1).
Suggested army lists for Confrontation - Griffons and Scorpions. Two army lists each of about 400 points strength, with notes on theme, strategy and painting.
Cloaks and Shadows, a campaign for Lord of the Rings battle game. Designed as a series of "commando style" missions for Gondorians operating behind enemy lines. Yes, there's even a reference to Tom Clancy.
Fall of the Temple Cities, a scenario for Warhammer Fantasy Battles, set in Lustria, designed for Lizardmen versus demonic Chaos armies.
Poste 627, a scenario for Rezolution. Note there's also a French website for Rezolution but it's as bad as the English one.
Blood and Sand, a scenario for Confrontation, designed for Griffons and Scorpions (there's an advisory as to how to use alternative armies though).
The ruins of Utgar, a scenario for Heroscape. I've heard decent things about the game, as a game, but generally regard it in the same vein as Robogear.
A guide to choosing colour schemes for miniatures, written by Starplayer, a Paris retail store (and therefore an advertiser), but the editorial origin/sponsorship is at least clearly marked. A decent article on colour theory. My recommendation though is to start with the one in the Darksons Design Painting Guide, as this one's a bit abstract for an introduction.
Then 4 pages of collectible price guide stuff, which I just ignore.
The gallery includes the manufacturer studio pictures of new models, not the publisher's studio or other contributors. So it's not really comparable to, say, the Harbinger showcase. You'll have seen most of the pictures on this site already (or else they preceded its existence).
Finally, 2 pages of book reviews and 3 of computer/console games (one news page and then reviews of Fable for the PC and Dungeon Siege 2). As I said, I'm not keen. My general view on these things is that they grow until someone has the bright idea of movie reviews, which means that they've lost interest in the core subject.
Anyhow, hopefully this gives you a flavour of the magazine. If you can read anything from high school French to better (and reading is easier than speaking), I'd recommend it whole-heartedly. The French retail price is E6.35 per issue; a subscription in France is E33 for 6 issues and outside France is E40 for 6 issues, so not bad.
The magazine's tagline is "the magazine for fantasy strategy games". As such they choose, unlike Harbinger, to include collectible miniature games like Mage Knight, Star Wars and D&D miniatures, in which I have merely a passing interest (Mage Knight and HeroClix I bought in job lots from eBay; Star Wars I haven't tried; D&D I had a fair few but gave up when they went to the uncollectible and ugly "huge" sets). They also have a little coverage of computer games and books (too much to my view but the extent of the other content is sufficient to forgive them slightly). They also have a little coverage of boardgames, which doesn't quite fit their remit but is generally OK with me.
The page count is similar to Harbinger but, since the advertising page count is far lower, the magazine runs at a larger page size, the text is significantly smaller and the pages are better organised, Ravage containts significantly more actual content. Albeit it's in French. Another difference from Harbinger is that they quite rightly treat GW as just another miniatures/games company.
Articles and Content:
News covers Mongoose, Aberrant/Rezolution, Urban Mammoth, Dark Age (it points out that the new minis previously previewed here are the only ones in 4 months), Privateer, Wizkids (Heroclix, Mechwarrior, Pirates and High Stakes Drifter), Fenryll, Ilyad's Dungeon Twister boardgame, White Wolf's hybrid Car Wars/Pirates constructible game Racer Knights, Ilyad's miniatures line, GW, and Rackham. Previews of a couple of boardgames: Fantasy Pub (a new edition from Tilsit) and Mission Planète Rouge from Asmodèe, a new game by Bruno Faidutti.
Preview of Corvus Belli's Infinity. Every time I see this it looks more interesting. A combination of an interesting sci-fi background, excellent miniatures and manga overtones. It remains to be seen whether the introductory game provides as smooth a learning and collecting curve as, say, Confrontation but I'm beginning to look forward to it.
Preview of Wizkids' Rocketmen game, aka Pirates in Space. Although the article says the new game isn't just a future version of Pirates and for that matter is positive on the game.
Preview of GW's Black Templar Codex for 40k. I now have one of these, so I'll come to a review separately. Points out that the BT force has a weak command score (absence of veteran sergeants) combined with interesting element of vows. Anyhow, more on this in a different article.
Preview of Rackham's Dogs of War expansion for Confrontation 3. I hadn't seen this before. It replaces the old Incarnation system for C2, which allows for an adventure mode (effectively a campaign system) which saw characters evolve and change from skirmish to skirmish (yes, just like Mordheim and Necromunda), a kind of halfway house between Confrontation and the forthcoming Cadwallon RPG.
Preview of the Star Wars Universe booster packs. As I said, I've not been attracted by this. Presumably WotC have managed to sort out the quality issues that made their previous huge sets (those sets containing "huge" models) so dire (and for that matter uncollectable). Anyhow, until I see otherwise I'll leave this well alone.
Preview/review of Robogear. Saw it in a store in the US. Miniature quality seems poor. Not interested. The reviewer recognises that people are going to be agin it, but likes it nonetheless. If I have a criticism of Ravage, it's that they never give anything a bad review (OK, maybe occasionally the odd model gets faint criticism. Actually my other criticism is that the page size is so big that the staples don't support it). Anyhow, I suspect in this case he's reviewing the gameplay rather than the miniatures, which look like a cheap Airfix kit (actually this is because it is precisely that). The included terrain, by the way, is the same as that being sold by Urban Mammoth for Urban War.
Article on Urban War group tactics. There is, by the way, a French Urban War site with its own new releases page, which I ought to include in the template for this site.
Article on Warmachine mercenaries, with French translations of the cards, rules and backgrounds (from PP's No Quarter 1).
Suggested army lists for Confrontation - Griffons and Scorpions. Two army lists each of about 400 points strength, with notes on theme, strategy and painting.
Cloaks and Shadows, a campaign for Lord of the Rings battle game. Designed as a series of "commando style" missions for Gondorians operating behind enemy lines. Yes, there's even a reference to Tom Clancy.
Fall of the Temple Cities, a scenario for Warhammer Fantasy Battles, set in Lustria, designed for Lizardmen versus demonic Chaos armies.
Poste 627, a scenario for Rezolution. Note there's also a French website for Rezolution but it's as bad as the English one.
Blood and Sand, a scenario for Confrontation, designed for Griffons and Scorpions (there's an advisory as to how to use alternative armies though).
The ruins of Utgar, a scenario for Heroscape. I've heard decent things about the game, as a game, but generally regard it in the same vein as Robogear.
A guide to choosing colour schemes for miniatures, written by Starplayer, a Paris retail store (and therefore an advertiser), but the editorial origin/sponsorship is at least clearly marked. A decent article on colour theory. My recommendation though is to start with the one in the Darksons Design Painting Guide, as this one's a bit abstract for an introduction.
Then 4 pages of collectible price guide stuff, which I just ignore.
The gallery includes the manufacturer studio pictures of new models, not the publisher's studio or other contributors. So it's not really comparable to, say, the Harbinger showcase. You'll have seen most of the pictures on this site already (or else they preceded its existence).
Finally, 2 pages of book reviews and 3 of computer/console games (one news page and then reviews of Fable for the PC and Dungeon Siege 2). As I said, I'm not keen. My general view on these things is that they grow until someone has the bright idea of movie reviews, which means that they've lost interest in the core subject.
Anyhow, hopefully this gives you a flavour of the magazine. If you can read anything from high school French to better (and reading is easier than speaking), I'd recommend it whole-heartedly. The French retail price is E6.35 per issue; a subscription in France is E33 for 6 issues and outside France is E40 for 6 issues, so not bad.
posted by MiniBlogster at 9:23 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home