If your Christmas and the surrounding holidays have been anything like mine, then there’s been a lot to take in. On the day itself, parent’s and grandparent’s voices reverberate around the kitchen as no one can agree exactly how long a turkey crown takes to cook, other than it’s not the length of time everyone else has suggested. Children, both your own and distantly related, cry as they rumble down the stairs – someone’s already broken the arm off a brand-new action figure of Sonic the Hedgehog. The doorbell is ringing, Michael Buble is singing at a volume designed to upset the neighbours, and your partner has realised that Auntie Greta hasn’t got a present.
It’s your fault.
That’s Christmas. Every Christmas. And Christmas is a lot. However, if you’re looking for an antidote to the familial, or Bublé-incensed, sensory overload, then Unknown Worlds have the perfect solution tucked away in their latest game, Moonbreaker.
Moonbreaker is a tabletop tactics game, and it’s one of the most gorgeously designed games of the year (albeit only in Early Access right now) as it manages to nail the aesthetic of an actual tabletop. Laden with a carefully crafted sci-fi diorama and a batch of painted miniatures, you can play a tight and strategic skirmish game that’s a brilliant recreation of the type of warfare found in Games Workshop’s Necromunda or Mordheim.
You can put the tactics to one side though – Christmas is already building up past the point where you want to worry about hit points, soft cover or line of sight. Moonbreaker’s secret (santa) weapon is its painting mode, a quiet, reflective space where you can take any of the incredibly detailed in-game miniatures and paint them in whichever lurid colour scheme you want.
Now, for anyone that’s ever indulged in the unspoken love between a human being and a tiny miniature there are few things that can evoke the same level of commitment, concentration and adoration. This love is, like all loves, an expensive one, taking its toll on your wallet, your diminishing lifeforce, and your relationships with real people in the real world.
Moonbreaker solves at least one of these problems, with a host of digital miniatures and digital paints included as part of its very reasonable price of entry. The other two, in this festive instance, aren’t actually problems and you can focus in on your miniature of choice while the Christmas war rages around you.
You should absolutely pop on a pair of headphones too, with the painting mode accompanied by either the game’s understated soundtrack or a selection of incredible audio plays detailing the back story of each of the main characters. The right headset and volume level will ensure that you can’t hear a word of ‘the sprout chat’ or the inevitable shattering of a vase as the in-laws have bought yet another Nerf gun despite your children’s lifelong ban on plastic weaponry.
Moonbreaker’s painting tools have been built by a team who clearly understand miniature painting, and the level of detail you can achieve is incredible, zooming in to a level that’s far beyond what you’d be able to achieve holding a model up to your eye. You can use brushes that start as small as a single pixel, and bring in high-level techniques like washes and dry-brushing to achieve a finish that would be worthy of the Golden Demon awards.
Now, some might argue that painting miniatures can be stressful. A slip of the hand or an unexpected cough as you’re painting a tiny detail can result in your model sporting a permanent lazy eye, and that can cause tension. Thankfully, Moonbreaker removes any drama with its rewind feature, meaning you can take as many runs as you need to smoothly eke out a particular line on a model’s leg despite crumbs from turkey sandwiches getting in the way of your mouse.
There’s focus here. Beautiful, quiet focus. It’s the perfect way to come down from the sensory attack that the festive season can bring, and you can rotate, zoom, paint, and repaint each model without even a smear coming into contact with any of your special-guests-are-visiting clothes.
Of course, this time of year should be a joyful time, and one where spending time with relatives and friends is both a privilege and a gift in and of itself. I’m not really eulogising for spending the day ignoring everyone around you, but if things get a bit too much now, or even at other times of life, you should consider Moonbreaker. It’s the creative comedown you didn’t know you needed.
