I've been in a few games, both IKRPG and Unleashed. I come from a wargaming background so I didn't mind the combat. Squares get real niggly anyway.
I do take a few issues with it, even as a fan. In general, skilled characters outshine mighty characters. The issue is virtuoso and the extra attack and that defense is usually better than armor. That said, mighty benefits from extra attacks more.
Healing is barely a thing, so play it more like Dark Heresy. The caster/martial divide isn't really there outside of warcasters/warlocks. It kind of runs in the opposite direction, casters are crazy early level and curve off later. Focusers do not curve off and get insane, which is supposed to happen. Warnouns are cannonically very powerful, it's not uncommon to forbid them from play.
I played a mighty pirate/duelist, skilled cutthroat/alchemist, and a cunning Wolf of Oroboros/Chieftain. If your gm is worth anything, the cost of running and transporting jacks and beasts keeps thier numbers down in the party.
I did get to play a modernized Witchfire Trilogy using pathfinder. It was fun while it lasted.
Isaac Davis
Something I am afraid of is if the game is too "wargamey" (strategy/combat) does it cut into the natural roleplaying aspect?
Brandon Davis
The out of combat skill checks made sense iirc, mind you it's been at least two years since I last played. Roleplaying sort of falls in the player's camp in my opinion. And if you don't want to play with miniatures, you don't have to.
Mason Price
It's kinda light in RPing rules as-is. Literally all spells are combat-use ones almost entirely lifted from the wargame except for a few in one book, but even those unique ones are entirely combat-based.
Charles Russell
It has issues, but on the whole, great fun. I went in expecting to hate it deeply, but my GM was a big fan of the setting, and I always had fun with what he ran, so I went for it. Right off the bat, the character creation is great. Choosing an Archetype, then combining two classes, gives a lot of flexibility, and once you know the system, you can make some crazy shit. I made a Skilled Spy/Duelist who started with a sword and pistol, then quickly turned in Revolver Ocelot. By the time all the players left for scheduling reasons, the GM and I were having such fun with it that we just stuck with it. At the time of writing, my character is up to Veteran Level, and has probably about 300 kills. We've replicated several Hotline Miami levels, literally. I'm under the impression my GM made repeating guns much more common than they are in the base setting, nearly everyone has a revolver in my game, my character carries at least 4 at a time in combat, alongside some other pistols. It's been a ton of fun, my all time favorite campaign, even if the system or setting aren't my favorites by themselves. All in all, simple, intuitive, and pretty character flexible, but it's just the Wargame combat made RPG. If you have a good GM like I do, you'll have a ton of fun.
PS. Fuck Khador.
Owen Perez
So I know the kit has minis in it, but scale wise how do they compare to regular warmahordes? I really like the gator with a gun, and even though I obviously can't use him in warmahordes, I'd at least like to put him next to those models and not look out of place.
Ryan Bell
As far as I could tell they are plastic remolds of the exact same models, with maybe a 5% difference.
Oliver Cooper
Observe the base sizes.
Caleb King
It is a beautifully detailed setting with some surprisingly deep fluff that people who only play the wargame rarely give it credit for (and it really doesn't help when the wargame is accused of having no/shit fluff just because people compare it to GW and their piles on piles of material for their settings.)
I personally love the game, but it is very different to D&D. If you're looking for a change I can't recommend it enough, if you're looking to play more like D&D there are other editions of D&D that might be worth a look. The setting is much closer to WWI industrial fantasy than medieval stuff for example, where you can sit at a cafe reading a newspaper and maybe even send a message via telegraph instead of meeting in a tavern with an ale.
Classes are one of my favourite things about it, you essentially pick two from a huge list, effectively allowing you to choose an RP focused one like say Spy, as well as a combat focused one like say Dualist and have a balanced character. Or you can pick to play a Noble Spy and go full RP, or a Soldier Knight for full combat. It allows you to make a lot of cool combinations, especially when you add in the Nations Kings Gods book with faction specific stuff. For example you can create an Iron Fang Uhlan by combining the Iron Fang and Horseman careers, or a Treancher Commando by combining Treancher and Ranger with some modified equipment.
Like the wargame you have a defense value and armour instead of an AC, defense being the number needed to hit you and armour soaking damage. Nostly you have the option of one or the other, heavier armour lowering your defense while a high defence usually comes with low armour. This means that instead of your sword and broad melee front liner being hard to hit he is piss easy to hit but your enemy needs to roll high to make him take any damage while your rogues with no armour are very hard to hit but if they get hit they go down quick.
Luke Bailey
I've played a decent amount of the 3.5 version of Iron Kingdoms. My uncle, cousin, brother and I played the Witchfire Trilogy, but my bro ended up dropping out because rpgs were not really his thing. We all played as gun-based characters, with my character being the gunmage. I really like the setting and all the technomagic stuff. We haven't played in years but I'd love continuing the adventures of the Gun Bros. in the new version of the game. The best part of the Witchfire Trilogy for me was exploring the clockwork church of the Machine Goddess.
