1490 Doom: First Test Game

 

Myself and Sophie went over to see Chris 'The Fabricator' a few weeks ago to test out Beur Games' 1490 Doom Ruleset. It's been something of an indie darling since its release and is one of several resurgent games with a decisively grim dark atmosphere. Inspired by older titles like Mordhiem and more recent major successes like Mork Borg and Trench Crusade, 1490's atmosphere is indicative of the sludgey dark fantasy genre's oppressive atmosphere combined with slick production quality.  I find the combination of 80s punk zine aesthetic and modern professional design very appealing. 

As for the game itself, the primary narrative thrust is that in the year 1490, a deadly miasma called the 'creeping death' has settled across the world. The majority of the population dies from this mysterious, deadly fog, with the remainder developing rebreathers to stay alive in this apocalyptic time. Even with this some banks of the dog are so caustic that they will still cause death.  This essentially means a 'King of the Hill' style scenario with survivor bands attempting to climb to the highest point on the board to get above the fog. 

Each player controls 3 figures, with players assigning a class out of a generous dozen or so different options and selecting options like climbing gear, throwables, and other expendable items 

My warband, the 'Dread Harvest', from left to right, an Assassin, Executioner, and Reaver

Chris' warband the 'Hallowed Hand'

Sophies warband 'The Bread Line' 

1490 is played normally on a small round table with a lot of terrain, defined as about the size of a dinner plate. For our purposes, we went with a 2x2 board and a scattering of castle terrain to give us some interesting verticality.

The warbands set out into the labarythine ruins of the castle. working aggressively to get to good positions to gain height for later in the game.  VP is scored at the end, and is primarily centered around who has models the highest up on the board, and how much vitality (health) each player has remaining in active play. 

The nature of the games setup lends itself to some cool tight aesthetics of adventurers exploring toppled ruins and castles. Which is a big win in my book

Chris' warband scrabbles around courtyards of the eastern castle looking for a way up to the top of the center tower

My assassin, whom started on the opposite side of the board from the rest of the Dread Harvest makes his way up to the southern battlements and begins heading to meet up with the Reaver to ascend to the top of the complex.

Sophie's warband works its way forward at ground level, and begins attempting to use ladders and grappling hooks to ascend at different points of the structure. 

The warbands begin meeting and violence ensues as the Dread Harvest's assassin pushes Sophies' scout off her ladder, and confrontation is had at the centre tower and north western gate between the Dread Harvest and the Hallowed Hand.

The clash of steel between my executioner and Chris' bulwark goes against me, and the executioner finds himself reduced to a gory pile in the face of his foes attacks. 

Things start getting tense at cloud level as members of each warband begin a showdown at the towers atrium, with throwables and the crash of blades signalling the beginning of the end game. 

In the final turn, everyone had made their way to the top of the tower and a frantic rush to push each other off the highest tower began. 

Chris ended up carrying the day by only a small VP margin over Sophie and myself. 

Overall it was a really enjoyable experience, that reminded me in some ways of Mordhiem, which is of course no bad thing.  It does make me consider how much versatility the ruleset has to it, so many of its abilities and mechanics focus on climbing and the ascent to higher levels for positional advantage, that it may be limited in regards to some of the more specific narratives that we tend to craft. That being said, its a great 'beer and pretzels' game, that can be played very quickly. Making it a perfect option for midweek gaming. That plus the small model count and limited space needed for the table means that I can heartily recommend the title for anyone interested. 

I think, if you are transitioning into the world of tabletop wargames from more traditional TTRPG's you may find this a particularly fun one for its limited model count and slick app support. Its certainly more approachable that larger battles games like Warhammer, or Dragons Rampant. With a tight focus that means more game, with more people. 

  Thanks for Reading! 

-Your Favorite Madman-

Hobby: 1490 Doom Crew

 

We've recently been trying out the very interesting 1490 Doom ruleset, by Buer Games (LINK) which has been a lot of fun to try out, and with a low model count, its an approachable project. You can see my wayward band of fogwalkers here, made from a combination of Frostgrave pieces, and Wargames Atlantic Villagers and Guards kits.  

I think overall an appealing little project, I'll try to put up the actual images of the playtest we did soon.  I suspect we will be getting some more games in of it in the future as well. 

One thing we found while working on our warbands was that the villagers and guards kits don't quite scale together, the Guards are slightly (and in some cases much) larger than the villagers, just as an aside if youre thinking of making your own.   That being said, both the North Star plastics and the Wargames Atlantic kits are excellent, and well worth the price point being asked for them. 

We found that the 1490 Doom companion app was hugely helpful in playing the game and made it a breeze. If your reading this, then I'm imaginging youve probably played a tabletop game or two, so many of the conventions should feel very familiar to anyone who's played Dungeons and Dragons, or a flavor of Warhammer. 

Thanks for reading! 

-Your Favorite Madman-

Personal: June 2026 Update

 

A wayward swordsman hunts through a forsaken land

Well, it's been quite a while again since I've updated the blog. Like I've said in previous posts though, this blog is something special to me, in many ways a catalog of my interests as I've grown up.  I started Skies of Flies, Ground of Rust when I was 17 years old, a lot of the other guys at the game store had blogs and it seemed like the thing to do to connect with other hobbyists (this was largely before social media mind you). I'm in my thirties now, and I've gotten to watch our hobby grow wildly outside of what I had ever could have hoped for. 

My time in tabletop gaming has been a huge part of my life, and the people I've met have become lifelong friends, and have been a part of getting me my career, and living my life. In some ways im suprised im still playing games and writing stories as often as I am. In others I suppose it makes a lot of sense. 

While this blog has not been very active in the hobby, I have, If anything in the recent years I've played more games than ever and written more stories about Jornath and the wider Vahland sector than ever. I'm hoping life has finally started to calm down slightly to allow for me to share them here again.  

I can't wait to share the Stories of Edras College, Havaris, Yen-Isorah, Ingredior, or the many other 'little wars' in other settings. 

I've also been working on getting into the woods and hiking more with my loving partner Sophie. She's been an absolute light in my life. Also my hair's gotten about 8" longer, which has been an all new experience of its own! 

I appreciate you all, 

-Aaron