A Conversation with White Tiger Tablecraft
So today we are talking to Dellon “Dallas” Myette, known as White Tiger Tablecraft on the socials.
He is the creator of the games such as Void Horizon and the newly released Cauldron, which just dropped via Hill Giant Games (in conjunction with Steven aka Big Boy Game Time).
Just a couple of 10’s exploring their feelings over the internet.
We first chatted on Instagram back in 2021, when we started being nerds about each other’s toys, and recently met in person at a small gathering of hobby enthusiasts.
With multiple games under his belt, and the free form mini output of a mid-oeuvre expressionist - I had imagined him to be a 9 ft moustachioed monster with 4 arms. The truth was funnier, humble, and presented in a slightly smaller (and more agreeable) package.
He agreed to talk to me on one condition:
“Just Make Me Sound Really Hilarious”
Yes, of course! I won’t include all the discussions we had where we seem really earnest and lame:
Bleurgh…just make out already, you fucking Nerds.
Ok - Mr. Dellon, enough arsing about. Let’s kick off.
What is Cauldron?
It is Necromunda meets Gorkamorka. A zoomed in view of what is happening in the old world. I imagine that this is what happens in the swamp when they are not fighting Bretonnians. Inspired by squig hopping, trolls vomiting – the solid gold goofy early Warhammer. This is for people who are already packing Orcs and Goblins for Mordheim and the Old world.
How does it play?
This not a game for people that want to win at games. We wanted it to be not co-operative but definitely collaborative. We encourage players to always find a way to be chill about a rule.
When we played recently with Adam (Doom and Apathy) - we played very narrative games. There is a stat line for specifically for narrative actions, I wanted there to be something to roll against to allow you to do creative things. Want to try a backflip off a squig - roll a dice add a move stat to see if you pass.
When I played with Bigatoni Games - we managed to break the game on the first 2 play throughs.
TBF – some gamers can just read rulebooks and find combos. Yes - Kai definitely spotted this during Void Horizon.
Bur really for games like Cauldron you are counting on people to self-regulate, follow the rule of cool and build 5 - 7 guys. The results of list building should be suboptimal and so should your opponents. That will make it more fun.
Just 5 beautiful lads waiting for a bit of a scrap down the swamp.
For example, we did away with weapon ranges. We play tested on a 24 x 24 inch board and all the ranges of 30 - it just didn’t make sense. Even the weapon choices aren’t optimised - bows, muskets and a rock that you can throw.
Big rock is a weapon type?! (fuck yeah!). This was entirely due to me owning a Battle for Skull Pass Troll. But he has already seen a kitbash of a goblin holding a huge rock, which is awesome, on Instagram.
Maybe next time put a bumper sticker right on the front on how to win/break the game?
Yes – definitely will think about including this for Cauldron V 2.0.
Best Environment to play Cauldron. Specifically, can you suggest a food, drink and music pairing?
Music - 12 Castles by Quest Master. Cry of the Hawk by the Cthuluguns.
Food - Langua - Cow tongue taco. Do we have good Mexican food in the UK? Sam laughs – no it is complete horseshit. But eat after the game. He get’s too sleepy if he eats before.
Drink - Homebrew fountain soda - a suicide. Excellent – I love a Diet Spranta! The easier answer is Coke Zero. Gin and Tonic for the drunks and the Brits.
Ok - so hard pivot. You are talking about narrative/flexible gaming but I see a decent amount of rigid thinking and adherence to the rules here in the UK. Does that mindset exist Stateside too?
Oh, yes! When I was running Frostgrave at my LGS - when he worked there. One guy came to him wanting to change spells - thought he had messed up the initial spell list. If you don’t like the war band you should change it - he changed minor stuff (20%) but he keep the XP / treasure. The following week - his opponent had a big problem with this. To the extent that he asked if me, Dellon, if I wrote Frostgrave (and therefore had the righ to change it)?
LOL. Wait, you didn’t write Frostgrave though did you?
No - but Frostgrave was a big inspiration. The game systems of Joseph McCullough in general are always worth diving into.
I had been playing Necromunda. But wanted to create a spell caster and ported over Frost grave mechanics into Necromunda. Ended up with a pretty silly but fun character from this. If you have played Frostgrave/Stargrave this would be an easy pick up for you.
Dellon’s Frostgrave warband. If you squint you can see a flame template wielding wizard hidden in there.
So do you think there is room for a Game Zero/Session Zero in tabletop games?
100%. We all make blunders building lists/staring out. Just tweak the list. Don’t role survival rolls. Next week hit the ground running. Play practice games.
To get beardy about skirmish is against the ethos. It might be different if you are playing a 40k.
Talking of 40k - Where do you stand on competitive wargaming?
Competitive wargaming is great as it keeps competitive wargamers out of the scenes I want to be in.
That is a truely excellent answer. I think people could also just play chess.
Let’s talk about the look of Cauldron. Specifically the style, it looks like an UnaBomber ransom note made love to a 1992 Citadel Manuel. Would you say that is accurate?
Yes! 100%. The vibe is collage + paint bucket fill. But it has refined MS Paint vibes. This is the vibe. Pre-Mork Borg they wouldn’t have made something like this. In places it isn’t an easy read – it forces you to sit and read it. By making it more of an experience – we thought it would make it a treat for people to read it. I also wanted to include as many pictures of minis as possible - great minis from Curtis (Ramshackle), Knucklebones, Trent and others.
Just look at this palimpsest of words, colour and images. Beautiful madness.
What got you started in game design? You mentioned remixing existing systems?
Yes – this is definitely how I got started. The opposite happened too. When I introduced rapid fire and scatter mechanics into Stargrave. If we are going to break the nerd Geneva convention - let’s do it in a cool way - with flame templates.
How would he encourage others to start?
Read other rulebooks!
Digest mechanics. Learn to appreciate a mechanic even if the game isn’t good/great or something you would naturally play.
From a design aspect, a game I am constantly talking about is Dragon Rampant. It is the definition of “use what you have”. Units have 6 or 12 strength points. Could be 6 horses, 3 juggernauts. Unrestricted in the list building. Assigning key words. Lots of Osprey games are great sources of inspiration. The Doomed. This has an amazing move mechanic - as far as you can move just in a straight line. He even finds himself doing this in other games…playing Mordheim.
I like the principle that Steve states in Flames of Orion - always be harder on yourself than your opponent. Just don’t tell him I said that – I don’t want it to sound too nice. I thinks what they are doing with UtD and Hive Scum is excellent and has and will definitely inspire others. Yeah – sounds lame. I definitely won’t include it in the article.
Ok – so now we are talking about Steve (from Hive Scum) – how do you channel your equivalent “full send” energy?
Finishing things is fun. I wrote Cauldron pretty quickly. Tested it 2 dozen times. Then played through every scenario in the book and it was 90% done. Yes - we tweaked some things with Big Boy Steve’s input, but they were pretty minor as we didn’t think there was enough to go through with a fine-tooth comb. It is a remarkable feeling of getting something done.
It is finished but not perfect. This is always better.
Yes - it is just a stupid game. But it is done. Now I can feel this contented sense of disconnect. I felt like I was just playing any other game once I was holiding the physical book. I can now play this game and enjoy it.
As letting perfectionism take over is really bad new. I have been sitting on an earlier game, Alpha Swords forever. I keeps getting asked when is this going to be finished? He has shared it with 20 people and it is pretty much done but still isn’t quite finished with it.
Beautiful, compelling and entirely unfinished. Don’t even get excited about it? They are just swords with cool names presented by the first lords. Sounds lame.
This might be a travesty to admit to a game designer but for me sometimes the preamble is more fun than the game. Does he ever feel the same way?
Yep. Him too. Building the war bands. This can sometimes be more fun than playing the game. He kind of whiffed it at UtD. As he was already a bit played out from all the playtesting.
Sitting and hanging out is excellent. This is why NEMO is great. Adepticon is great. I love just being at the bar – chatting with the guys. Even if it is just talking about weird stuff like dice probabilities.
Meeting people like Mordheim Paul (Wyrdstoned) - albeit at an earlier event - was great! He was one of my first Instagram connections. So it is really nice to see the circle close, now he is a visible part of the hive scum crew.
But consequently when you leave it is so bittersweet. The closest people are 1.5 - 3 hours away.
You poor fuckers - everyone is so damn far away.
We met at NEMO for 10 mins and now we are best friends - discuss?
Hanging out at the Hill Giant Stand with a bunch of people that definitely were not Dellon.
It was a pleasure to have you come by. You have done well to be approachable. Kudos for you to come all that way and show up and crush it. I felt immediately like we were at ease. Really happy to have met you in person.
Jeez - This answer is so outrageously pleasant and complementary…can I include it without looking like an asshat?
Also Lucero really enjoyed the British candy, and said Sam is one of the best ones (well that has earned her a place in this article!). She is quite excited that we are chatting now.
If I could post you anything in the mail? What would you get me send you?
Some ruleset no one has never heard of. Something unplayable. Alternatively, the worst looking minis. A pro-paint job fail.
Non-hobby related - every brit I knows is into Drum and Bass but like into the low-fi Dad’s version. He would like a cassette of Dad mix drum and bass. Ben (Apocrypha Now) sent him a link to 2018 - and it was objectively quite bad. Midi level drum and bass and I LOVE IT.
Shout outs? Who has inspired him?
Ultimately, there is a list of 100 people - you know who you are fuckers.
Ah, go on - name check a couple just to make your other internet boyfriends jealous…
The Blind Man is blowing my mind right now - Shane. He has some of the most unhinged stuff in the hobby. His work is phenomenal.
Bill (motherfucking) Ford. Such a great guy. Always available. Not spread thin. He did the Texas Mordheim event. He recently ran a hobby weekend in Austin - that looked awesome.
Conclusion
So there you have it. A conversation with a hobby gem. As a minimum - go track him down on the internet or at a con. Read Cauldron. Find some freaky mates and make those goblins fight. I know I will be.
