WHEN NIGHTMARES COME

Ospreypublishing.com £14.99

When Nightmares Come is Osprey’s latest ‘blue book’ game system. It’s a miniatures wargame based around modern era supernatural horror and occult investigation. It’s set in a world of nightmarish monsters which your team of paranormal vigilantes proceed to hunt down. It’s a solo/cooperative system for up to five players who form a ‘Nightwatch’ team who then investigate mysterious disappearances, thefts, and murders. So more Buffy than Ghostbusters, perhaps...

Using 28mm minis (though you could go smaller with 15mm I guess) and a 2’ x 2’ play area you’ll need figures, terrain and scatter pieces, a ruler or measuring tape, at least one full set of polyhedral dice and a set of wargame blast and teardrop templates (3” and 5” diameter, plus a 8.25” teardrop) would all be useful as well as some tokens to mark a model’s status.

Your player’s figures – called Hunters – are split into three types: Wardens (the fighters of the groups), Weavers (the magic users), and Wrights (the folks who research and build stuff). There’s a character generation section for these three.

There’s a Supply Closet where you can equip players with occult and mundane items – everything from magic items to bandages – and a Dark Spawn bestiary section that lists the creatures, demons, ‘Staypuff’ giants or whatever it is you’d want to meet in the game.

Finally there’s a set of guidance for how to play out a ‘case’ as the scenarios are called, although an actual scenario/ case might have been rather more useful: I look forward to seeing one on line, perhaps. There is a map of a small town to investigate (Deacon Falls), but that’s about it, really.

When Nightmares Come is a mix of roleplaying and skirmish with an IGOUGO system using an Action Dice Pool and emphasizes quick resolutions. It’s a good price and takes the horror/ Cthulhu-esque gaming style into a modern era. On a personal taste front, I’m not a big fan of the artwork used but I do like the dice system.