Entropy City: Making a Wargame

Presenting the world’s first ever Entropy City battle report, this video captures the first 2 turns of combat between Hades M.C. And The Komodo. I’ve not filmed many battle Reports in the past and have found the learning curve is rather steep but hope you find the video enjoyable, I definitely have plans to make future videos even better.

So I hope this wets your appetite for Entropy City and builds the curiosity for more.

Very briefly this is what I have plans to improve next time.

• More camera angles and less reaching into frame
• On screen images to display changes and conditions.
• Film more to allow for the edit to capture everything and be edited to look more like what I see elsewhere.
• Entropy City will need it’s own YouTube channel to become active at some point.

Some of these improvements are already in progress.

What is it that Gerry loves the most? Battle Reports? So what am I attempting to do? Make a battle report.

Actually truth be told Ive already finished editing the battle report itself, it captures 2 turns of a game, it will go live later in the month but wanted to leave it with getting Tabled patreons for a little while first. However here is a little tease of things to come.

This preview was created BEFORE the new artwork was completed.

I can already tell you theres things I will want to do better next time. For starters, the originaln plan was to use the footage to create several game mechanic videos and it somewhat BECAME a battle report later, this means theres some “boring” turns that arent captured, also without graphics on screen to show off the stats, and I am in the process of creating these things for next time.

Ive also never really done battle reports so its a learning curve, but hopefully the final version peaks enough peoples interest for more

I’ve spoken endless times about how I cant really draw, and thats okay its just not a skill I have, Ive been proud of what ive been able to achieve my “faking it” as I call it but getting real artwork thats drawn by a real artist and is mine to use without being concerned about stolen assets has been a huge goal for a long time.

For a long time the Hades Motorcycle Club has a simple idea and I want to quickly share its history before I reveal the official final logo.

As you can see the idea started simply, I had what I felt was a pretty solid idea in my head but the question was how it looked, I settled quickly on how I wanted it to look like it could be made as a patch and I’ve stuck with that with the final version I had Into The Weird Blue Yonder complete for me.

A logo is a small step but an important one and makes the game feel more real. Hope I can share more soon.

Long time since I got a decent update done on the game’s development, a lot of this is because the big changes lately havent really existed, its been a lot of little things. I am very much in the crunch period of small little tweaks everytime I find something, small answers to questions that I can just I did xyz or abc but everytime I went to write a post I felt like it would be boring to read and so I hesitated.

The most recent design of the cards was one I was very very happy with, though there was definately parts I needed to update, parts when printed in real life were far too small and almost unreadable, thats been fixed and so I am sharing again. These have been available on the podcast discord since Saturday and have been uploaded to the facebook group today as well..  They’re formated in a 4×6 design for only one reason, for me to print i found it easier to cut to size because a lot of the templates I had even though they were measured to literal size never came out the size they should be.

At the very bottom you will find a few files, firstly im sharing the rulebook again, simply just to keep everything easy to find, same with the updated version of the Quick Reference sheet and then finally an image gallery will all the current cards (10 in total), I had hoped to share them via a zip file but the project doesnt allow it for security reasons Im guessing.

As you will see my font choices have moved to something far more generic looking on the cards, this has happened for 2 reasons, 1 dull and another annoying. I did however change the name to a more interesting choice, this isnt final more a point of concept, does the card work and look like its right with the different fonts I think it could IF the design is right. The other major change to Komodo some may have missed if they no longer have access to any fire arms, this is a deliberate choice to help differentiate them from the other factions and one for balancing as well.

In the earliest days is development I was trying to stage development to prevent myself from over stretching, for a long time I believed it was helping avoid the pitfalls Ive seen elsewhere but it was also something of a self defense mechanism for me given I’ve not only not done this before but also that I hoped it would help me prevent finding a gl;aring error in the development of the game near the end that caused a whole heap of issues. For a long time I believed it was the right call however I have been moving more and more away from the small steps into the larger picture for some time now as I began to see the issues it also created, the largest of those issues being the somewhat deliberate choice of keeping the factions largely the same until I felt the rules were strong enough to start splitting the groups up and making them more individualistic.

My first steps for this were giving each faction a weapon of their own and changing how speeds worked for bike types but ultimately that didnt really achieve much and I knew that at the time. More recently you may have seen that each gang has their own base stats to help differentiate them further but the biggest change I made recently actually came from a different issue entirely and when trying to fix it I realised it was my chance to instead use it to my advantage.

I’ve been having some balance issues with the sword, largely that it was supposed to be one of the defining characteristics of The Komodo but I was struggling to keep it balanced without it feeling like there was no point it being in the game. So how do I do both?

Well in the end I’ve realised that it was a far easier solution which was stop trying to fix the sword, it worked the way I wanted it, that wasnt the problem. The issue was that they had access to both the Sword and the guns and by removing their access to ranged weaponry and giving them a storyline reason for it helps the way they act on the table to feel more unique and means I can have my cake & eat it too. This makes The Komodo more of a close combat faction and helps the others access to weaponry feel more unique.

In turn I feel making something like the Molotov Cocktails being something only Mutiny use helps with this as well, afterall it leans in to the grouod guerilla tactics I want to centre their playstyle around and overall helps the game feel more fleshed out mechanically (if it continues to go well.)

Do you like the direction this took? Do you think its silly I didn’t think of it sooner? Do you have other questions, throw it in the comments and I’ll try and answer it or create an entry to.

For a long time, because its all for playtesting a lot of the components have been kept deliberately simple, it makes them easy to edit when it comes to updating time and whilst its in playtesting it really doesnt matter how things look right?

Well I’ve started to think that maybe isnt entirely as true as I thought, afterall aesthetics are as important to a games components as they are to the table and the miniatures themselves, and theres more chance people seeing us playtesting might ask what the game is if it doesnt look like it was made by a 5 year old on microsoft word.

So I’ve instead tried to do my best as a 42 year old in my image editing software to create a template for the cards themselves. Its still simple, most definately not a finished piece but I feel its a BIG step in the right direction.

Especially for a game without a single piece of art yet.

Updated: 26/02/2025

Rather than updating the earlier post and expecting you to find it, I felt it was time for a proper update of the rules so that people can find it easier.

My quick reference guide is the first ‘successful’ version of it I feel like Ive made, certainly doesnt mean it wont be updated a million times like everything else has been. But have a look, its very pretty, made all of it including the background myself.

Its important to know that for the ease of playtesting all images being used are simply pictures of the miniatures I am using for playtesting, theyre all from rather random lines. Infinity, 40k and some other places but please dont think I am attempting to claim them as my own theyre just things I have converted for my own use.

If you ever come across something you dont think works, or doesnt make sense to you then please reach out, either I might be able to explain what my thoughts were, or why I am trying it that way or you may actually have noticed something I hadnt.

Thanks as always.

Lets all be honest for a maybe, generally speaking on social media most people have extremes, either its “I will only show the stuff Im proud of” or “I will seeth with rage and tear apart this person I believe wronged me” and I kinda feel that in some ways we’re similar with our hobby at times, if something doesnt turn out the way we wanted it to, most of us tend to hide it and not update until either its “fixed”  or we move on to the next thing in hopes it goes better. But if this game is ever to become a sucess I kind’ve feel I should be sharing atleast some of my disapointments without ever reaching that point of pointing fingers in rage.

Although I’ve somewhat mocked up a few pieces of “art” I am not an artist, and I am not actually good at drawing and this isnt me being all down on myself I’m merely aware of my flaws and drawing is a skill I do not have. I have certain images in my mind but I’ve never had the skill to complete them.  I continued to put off art largely due to lack of budget but I decided to start getting small stuff done, starting with commissioning some concept sketches, it felt like a smart idea. So where do I do, well I started with a popular platform Fivver becasuse it felt like the safest place to start.

I has asked for a sketch for a Hades character based losely around a miniature that I customised because I felt it was an easy place to start. Had things gone well the plan was to start doing a few here and there until I had a decent amount for each faction. Sadly however it seemed that good reviews arent everything, 2 days after the order the artist went quiet. I wont name them as I said I dont want to be that person, Fivver ensured I got most of my funds back, all in all I lost around $15, it could have been much worse.

Ironically I finally heard for them an hour after the review I submitted, Id left it WAY longer than the deadline offered before submitting the query and it was another 4 days before I took it further.

So why share this? I guess the thing is that its important to always be careful with your funds, and to not allow moments like this to deter you from moving forward with a project. I will certainly be continuing to explore options for artist options, I have a lift of options saved and have had for sometime.

I do have a friend Ive reached out to work on the logo’s that Ive done until now, again I started with the Hades as I feel thats the closest to me being happy it just needs to be reworked to be completely my own and have its ‘borrowed’ assets replaced.