INQ28 the Game or Genre?
Or how rules are guidelines to aesthetically driven RPG.
Recently I commented on an Instagram post by the Iron Sleet team. I’ve known of many of this crew years back on DakkaDakka forum and their own personal projects, the rise of Ammobunker as a hub for folks creating Inquisitorial gangs and fighting out games in the dark places of the 40k universe using 28mm minis with the original GW Inquisitor ruleset. Later, modded Necromunda games (Inquisimunda) and a few more variations from there.
Distracted by the growth of Advanced Tau Tactica, going off sailing around the world and well Life (TM) I lost touch with this niche gaming genre in 40k, until the other day when I couldn’t resist learning more.
Turns out, this was a significant discussion, as the Iron Sleet team forms their relevance and firm place in the 40k Community. Establishing how best to describe their style of play that provides an environment for the amazing models on display amidst story driven games.
This past year I saw the crew on IronSleet build toward and run an invitational (Inquivitational?) event at GW Nottingham. Very cool and evocactive modelling in the John Blanche inspired style of true Gothic 40k (Blanchitsu).
A visually amazing game was played through a story driven scenario. But one thing in the back of my mind was; what ruleset are they using to create a common “system of understanding” to play out the rule of chance when gaming.
Turns out it it’s a amalgum of it’s origins in Inquisitor and Inquisimunda, blended to suit and provide a loose framework to drape a more RPG style of loose play on the games. Inspired by the genre and the very situations Inquisitional warbands get into during play.
There is a great conversation sparked by several folks debating the label of Inq28 unwittingly misguiding folks and also what the genre itself means as an aesthetic to them personally.
Check it out here on Iron Sleet. And incidentaly some new models for their next, USA based, adventure.
A great discussion primer for understanding the aesthetic and more roleplay style of the burgeoning Inquivitational movement.
Just backtracked through the discussion on Instagram and the evaluation of sorts on Iron Sleet. Interesting read, and to me, the core attitude of this Inq28/Iron Sleetism/Blanchitsu gaming sounds close to my heart. I guess it does for you too?
Yah, certainly, I see a kindred nature in the approach to my Warhammer Quest Knights campaign. A strong narrative that will drive a campaign where WHQst is merely a framework to provide structure to the element of chance. Either way, good to see the establishment of how best to describe their preferences. A lot of people tend to like rules and structure – Chess is popular because of this. Both opponents know the rules and it comes down to out-thinking each other with the same tools. You can pretty much go anywhere in the world and bang, you can play chess. This is why some folks want to know the structures to understand how to replicate it.
I loathe chess, because of the established systems and complete lack of chance. I like an unexpected element in board games using dice. Knowing how the Iron Sleet team approach their gaming tells me so much about the themes and beleifs they have toward it; hence I can see more folks replicating the gaming style to achieve similar results among their own hobby groups.
There seems a small element of recoil going on that they find themselves having to “Explain Themselves” like school children, but that is a misintepretation for any thinking that. What I see going on is a deep interest and people needing to understand their method. It’s not just the models, there are many people who can out-paint and out-convert the entire community of INQ28. It’s the spirit and comraderie of these story driven games people admire and they only want to get a footprint on the core, so they can jump off into the genre however they darned well please, just like the Iron Sleet team 🙂
That’s well put.
Inq28 Iron Sleet style does look to be about story and mindset (or in short, inspiration) over rules. To be honest, I had wondered about which rules they used in the past as well, but more because Necromunda seemed to formal and codified for the crazy they were generating and Inquisitor seemed too “heavy” for the amount of figures they used. Unless, as they turn out to do, water them down with a heavy dose of gentlemans agreement and rule of cool.
I don’t think anyone was trying to call the Iron Sleet group to account, the questioning seemed to focus more on “How did you do that?! How can we do this too?”
Made me feel like digging out my Void Crows again…
I know I am a fan of the INQ28 style of games.
Now if only I could get other people in my area into it to.
I think it was you void crew that got me into INQ in the first place honestly,
Thank you Commissar, though Modhail created the first iteration that inspired me originally! 😀
And I, in turn, got the idea for the void suit conversion from Xanthus over on Warseer. I just built an entire warband out of that single idea. (I’m painting 3 more at the moment. 😉 )
I just found this article in a random search into Inq28 and it got me wondering, is anyone doing anything similar to the inq28 way of gaming but in a fantasy genre?
Hi Gniknok, thats a good question. Some folks use the Warhammer Skirmish rules (Warbands) others mix it up Mordheim style and myself personally I roll with Warhammer Quest using the RPG book for more guidelines on more narrative gaming.
That said, I’ve not heard of a Necromunda crossover in the Mordheim fashion.
Now you’ve got me thinking too 🙂
I just did the same (sort of) . You may already know this but “AoS28” is now a thing:
http://www.exprofundis.com/introducing-aos28-inq28-meets-age-sigmar/
Hi WarbossKurgan 🙂 Indeed I do, but thank you for reading and posting a link for others! It is a great project and hopefully draws in new gamers into a warband fantasy version of Inq28 😀
And the obvious next question is, how does mordheim survive into the age of sigmar? I love mordheim. It is one of the best GW games out there, but it could use an update… Are you using AoS fluff and newer rules in your WQ gaming or do you still exist in the old world? Not looking for definitive answers, just curious as to your approach… I’ve had difficulty getting into the newer fluff but I do enjoy playing AoS more than recent eds of WFB so I’m torn as to how to approach this style of gaming in a fantasy genre.
Indeed, how does it? It is very tied to the Old World. There is a big community around classic Mordheim and I have a small library of additional content both GW and talented fan work. I am most definitely still exploring the Old World in WhQst. More grounded, apt for common folk to become heroes.
I use Warhammer as a background resource and guide for composing faction themed encounters – to ensure the liklihood of meeting minions or masters during encounters. Random cards are great, but I’ve been enjoying themed games of late. The RPG side of WHQst allows a lot of leeway when designing dungeons and character development without getting too bogged down. I also tend to go outdoors using tile spaces as inches. Taking Mordheim to the countryside, your best bet would be reviewing the Warband rules from some time back. I’ll review my archive and email you.