Jodrell Plays Games

As of Monday, August 1st, the In the Emperor's Name website and the ItEN Retinue Builder have been retired.

As you may know, last year I took over the editorship of In the Emperor's Name, the fan-made skirmish game set in the Warhammer 40,000 universe. Yesterday, several months of work reached its completion with the publication of the the Third Edition of ItEN - go and download it right now!

The new edition builds on the Second Edition (released in July 2011) with enhancements to almost every part of the core rules. It updates and revises some of the core game mechanics such as the points calculation formula, and introduces a new Equipment system.

ItEN is a collaborative work produced by the Forge of War Development Group. My thanks to all those people who submitted feedback and suggestions through the forums, in particular to Craig, who trusted me with his creation while he worked on In her Majesty's Name, the steampunk cousin of ItEN.

You can download the new version of ItEN here.

While Craig is busy writing In Her Majesty's Name, I've been giving the ITEN retinue lists a going over. As well as releasing a new Necron retinue list, I have also prepared a retinue list for the Adeptus Custodes, the Emperor's super badass personal guard.

My starting point for this list was "Space Marines turned up to eleven". The first draft was probably a bit over-the-top but thanks to feedback on the Forge Of War ITEN forums it's now a bit more balanced, but the Custodians would still give the Astartes a good arse-kicking mano-a-mano.

Check out the Adeptus Custodes Retinue List (docx format).

The new 40K codex for Necrons was released last year, and added a bunch of new models. I've just got round to finishing and releasing an updated retinue list for In The Emperor's Name which introduces all these new models (and don't worry, I've kept the Pariahs!).

You can download the list here - if you have any comments, please post them on the Forge Of War forum.

Craig Cartmell, founder of Forge Of War and author of the Warhammer 40,000 skirmish game In The Emperor's Name, has been commissioned by Osprey Publishing to create a steampunk themed version called In Her Majesty's Name:

The year is 1895, and the world is in turmoil. The wondrous inventions of Charles Babbage have launched a scientific revolution that has given the world miniaturized steam engines, electric lights and motors, arc weapons, hydrogen and helium dirigibles, road trains, calculating artillery engines, and sea and land dreadnoughts. The one thing these marvellous advances have not brought is peace. Every Great Power has been jostling its rivals for resources and the latest technology.

Although there have been few open conflicts between the major powers, a state of undeclared and secret war exists between them all. Instead of traditional warfare, governments employ small, ‘adventuring companies’ to strike against their foes, raiding factories, stealing technology and artefacts, and kidnapping or rescuing persons of importance.

In Her Majesty’s Name allows players to assemble their own adventuring companies of 4 to 15 agents, and pit them against their opponents in a tabletop battle. A small game can be played on a 24” by 24” table and typically lasts about 45 minutes. Larger games can be played on any table size and tend to last 2 to 3 hours. The game has been designed to allow maximum versatility for the players – if they can imagine it, they can create it within the system. There is, however, a wealth of material in the book that covers weird science, mystical powers, and a range of pre-generated adventuring companies, including the British Explorers’ Society, the US Secret Service, the Prussian Thule Society, the Chinese Black Hand and Ancient Egyptian Cults dedicated to the restoration of the Pharaohs.

In Her Majesty’s Name is a complete game in one 64-page book. It is due out in March 2013 and will retail for £11.99/$17.95.

Here's a photo of a current work-in-progress: an Imperial Crusader that I plan to use in games of In The Emperor's Name:



The miniature is a War Priest from Avatars of War. I've 40K'd it up a bit, by adding a Plasma Gun, Combat Knife, ammo pack and purity seal, all taken from the Space Marine accessories sprue. The head is from a Space Wolf marine. A bit of etched brass on the shoulder and on the sides of the warhammer finishes him off (note that the base is temporary).

More pictures below.