Learn by doing

So I’m pleased to say that my first (hopefully not my last) The Drowned Earth event was a success!
("Event" might be over stating things but it's my blog so event is what we’re calling it.) What we had was an informal meet up and intro session punctuated by me shouting out encouragement.

I’ll start from the beginning just in case you fancy doing something similar.

Okay so I had some cool models and a basic (very basic) grasp of the rules, add to this a general over excitement and a drive to make others just as excited I decided that if there wasn’t a ready supply of players I would have to hunt some down.

Is paint water restricted movement?

 So you have you're lovely new models rattling about in a box, but you want to use them to fight dinosaurs the shallow of a pond so you'll need to get them ready.

Now I'm far from an expert painter (far from an expert anything to be honest) but I can give you a rough guide for how to take your models from bits of metal to a single lump of colourful metal.

First thing you need to do is clean and build the models, by clean I mean take off any flash (excess material left over from casting) tackle the mold lines (lines where to cast molds met). For this you'll want some tools, I normally have a Stanley knife, a pair of clippers, and a small file. The general idea is to cut or scrap off any flash, smooth down any line with the back of the knife or the file.  Both of these things can be as thorough or brief as you wish. the cleaner the model the better end result but if you don't get everyone it's not the end of the world (well it is in game but that was years ago) just make sure you take care of any excess material around where parts join as you'll want to get a got fit later on.

Getting started.

So you're thinking about starting The Drowned Earth? Me too, what a coincidence. Let's take a look at what you'll need to get started.

Now me, I would always start with lovely shiny new models but let's pretend to be logical and start with the rules?

You have two options for the rulebook either a free pdf (here) which has all the rules. Or you have the very pretty hardback rulebook (here) Which has the rules along with all the fluff and character details Its a bit over £30 but that's a fair price for a shiny book. I don't have the actual book (yet) because I picked it up then put it back down while at Salute and I was kicking myself about it all the way home.

Ignorance is bliss.

Welcome to TiDE the largely uninformed, over excited, and generally immature blog which will follow my adventures in The Drowned Earth. (Feels like it needs a “dun dun duuuun”)

When I say uninformed I honestly mean it. My current experience with the system can be boiled down to: saw at Salute, thought that gorilla has a tiny lizard friend? Here’s my money.

This was followed by a growing excitement about the game as I found out more about it through the tested method of lazy google and YouTube browsing while I should be working.