Nick Bate

@ickbat.bsky.social

2464 Followers 562 Following

Used to be a galactic archaeologist. Now I design tabletop games about epic heists, illegal mech racing, daring sky pirates, doomed expeditions, and other such nonsense. 🚀 Black Armada Tales cast member. https://ickbat.itch.io

A photo of a stack of four ttrpg rulebooks: Ultraviolet Grasslands 2E, Blades in the Dark, Ironsworn: Starforged, and Apocalypse Keys.
A photo of the Black Armada Games / ickbat games stall at UKGE 2026, with Against Time and Death in the front of the frame.
The Black Armada Games / ickbat games stall at UKGE 3A-407.
The Speed Daemons title. The 'a' in 'daemons' has been replaced with a circular logo in red, implying anarchy, a pentagram, and a race route.
The cover art for Against Time and Death by Nick Bate. The art is bold reds and blues, lines and dots implying branching timelines or multiverses.
A fantasy-style map of the UKGE layout, showing the route to Black Armada Games.
The title for Speed Daemons. Includes the words 'Speed Daemons' in block black capitals, and a red logo. The logo replaces the 'a' in 'daemons', and resembles a graffitied pentagram or anarchy symbol.
A gif of Ke Huy Quan from Loki Season 2. He’s wearing a boiler suit, looking back and forth between two people saying ‘Yeah. Yeah. No.’
A photograph of a section of the Horus Heresy 3rd edition rulebook, describing in excessive detail what a tape measure is.
Era When will the scene take place? 1. Prehistory. Geological processes, megafauna, early humans, mythmaking. 2. Ancient history. Empires, gods and heroes, foundations of art and science, monument building. 3. History. Holy war, monarchy, trade empires, exploration, colonialism, scientific and artistic flourishing. 4. Now. Nation states, world wars, mass protest, pop culture, evolution, computation, cyberspace, capitalism, tourism, terrorism, revolution. 5. The future. Catastrophic climate change, corporate states, the solar system, true AI, interplanetary warfare, transhumanity, pushing boundaries, the stars. 6. The mythic future. Infinite panhumanity, engineering on impossible scales, magictech, dreams made manifest, the darkness between stars, the things that reside there.
A graph of Chiron's Doom referrers by day over the last month. Beginning September 15th, the graph rises from about 10 per day to over a hundred. A green circle highlights the rise.
The cover of Chiron’s Doom by Nick Bate. It depicts a giant diamond-shaped portal on a dark volcanic beach, with three different views of a tower through the portal, one infested with a giant eye with 8 tentacles. Three small explorers stand before the portal.
A photo of a splash page in the Lancer rulebook. It shows two mechs squaring off against each other, one wielding laser swords the other firing missiles.
A screenshot of the front page of the Against Time and Death Kickstarter. The funding total of £6,000 is circled in red, with an arrow and two exclamation points.
Brian Johnson from The Breakfast Club
Daemonologist: House mechs and their pilots have teams of specialists running tech support. In the underground, you’re it. Flare: What’s the point in racing if it doesn’t look good? You put on a show, and everyone knows it. Jarhead: You’re the result of an experiment to create the ideal daemon, a literal brain in a jar. Lazarus: You used to race, but you’ve been out for years. Now something has pulled you back in. Reliquary: At the end of human civilisation, you are the team’s memory—historian, xenoarchaeologist, eschatologist, and priest. Spark: You’re a true believer. The team rallies around you. Weaver: You navigate the mesh. It’s shot through with holes, rotten with centuries of compacted information, and absolutely crucial to the race.
A black and white illustration of a racing mech from the work in progress game Speed Daemons. Art by Si Sweetman.
Two dual pistol-wielding warriors swirl around each other like a yin-yang symbol. One is dressed in black, the other white. Taken from the cover of Wushu Black Belt Edition, written by Dan Bayn and illustrated by Levi Kornelsen.
A screenshot of the front page of the Against Time and Death Kickstarter, showing 361 backers contributing a generous £5,766 towards the campaign. Thank you, you legends!
An Against Time and Death poster, showing a silhouetted figure from a low angle, pointing a gun. They have blue glasses and a blue insignia on their chest. Around them loom buildings that are illuminated red. A banner on the top of the image reads 'Ends Feb 25!', and a banner on the bottom reads 'Against Time and Death on Kickstarter now'.
The front page of the Against Time and Death Kickstarter with “321 backers” circled in red.
Title image for Against Time and Death containing the logo on the right (back-to-back silhouettes pointing guns, one with a red tie and one with a blue tie, surrounded by the game's title) and a split image of Sasha Sienna and Jonathan Sims on the right, surrounded by the words 'MacGuffin & Co. Sasha Sienna Jonathan Sims'.
On the left of the image, the Against Time and Death logo: two back-to-back agents in silhouette, pointing guns. One has a red tie, the other a blue tie. On the right of the image, a picture of Shawn and Navi Drake. The text reads 'A Couple of Drakes, Navi Drake, Shawn Drake'. The background is the curved tracks and coloured swatches of the Against Time and Death cover, meant to imply the multiverse.
On the left of the image, the Against Time and Death logo: two back-to-back agents in silhouette, pointing guns. One has a red tie, the other a blue tie. On the right of the image, a picture of Adam Vass and Will Jobst. The text reads 'The Brain Trust, Adam Vass, Will Jobst'. The background is the curved tracks and coloured swatches of the Against Time and Death cover, meant to imply the multiverse.
On the left of the image, the Against Time and Death logo: two back-to-back agents in silhouette, pointing guns. One has a red tie, the other a blue tie. On the right of the image, a picture of the Storybrewers. The text reads 'Storybrewers, Hayley Gordon, Vee Hendro'. The background is the curved tracks and coloured swatches of the Against Time and Death cover, meant to imply the multiverse.
On the left of the image, the Against Time and Death logo: two back-to-back agents in silhouette, pointing guns. One has a red tie, the other a blue tie. On the right of the image, a picture of Melody Watson. The text reads 'Melody Watson, Editor'. The background is the curved tracks and coloured swatches of the Against Time and Death cover, meant to imply the multiverse.
On the left of the image, the Against Time and Death logo: two back-to-back agents in silhouette, pointing guns. One has a red tie, the other a blue tie. On the right of the image, a picture of Paul Tomes. The text reads 'Paul Tomes, artist'. The background is the curved tracks and coloured swatches of the Against Time and Death cover, meant to imply the multiverse.
A poster image of a stylised figure in silhouette, from a low angle. They're pointing a gun, and have blue glasses and a sort of blue symbol on their chest. Around them loom tall buildings illuminated in red. A banner on the top of the image reads 'Ends Feb 25!'. Another banner on the bottom of the image reads "Against Time and Death on Kickstarter now".
A poster image of a stylised figure in silhouette, from a low angle. They're pointing a gun, and have blue glasses and a sort of blue symbol on their chest. Around them loom tall buildings illuminated in red. A banner on the bottom of the image reads "Against Time and Death on Kickstarter now".
A logo consisting of a blue clock surrounded by two rings of lines ending in dots. Slightly under half of the lines are red, the remainder are blue.
A black and white image split into four quadrants, showing the heads of four Thrones. Clockwise from the top left, we have the dinosaur-like Justice Above, the domed hat of Tenswords, Belly Laugh seated on its own giant throne, and the flame-engulfed mask of The Burning Soldier.
"If you loved this" with an arrow pointing to the cover of This Is How You Lose the Time War, followed by "I think you'll love this" with an arrow pointing towards the cover of Against Time and Death.
The Kickstarter banner for Against Time and Death. On the right side, an image of Navi and Shawn Drake, surrounded by text that reads "A Couple of Drakes - Navi Drake / Shawn Drake".
An edited version of the title card for the Against Time and Death Kickstarter. The title has been replaced with the words "Fight a Time War with me?", and some of the black nodes on the background map of the multiverse have been replaced with red or blue hearts.
A gif showing a Kickstarter Project We Love badge. A red heart in the centre of the badge blinks between full and empty.
A circular logo showing a clock, with a series of line segments ending in circles orbiting around it. The clock and about half of the line segments are blue. The remaining line segments are red.
Screenshot of the Against Time and Death Kickstarter page, showing £1,712 pledged and 96 backers.
A screen shot of the Against Time and Death Kickstarter page, showing £1,011 pledged of a £1,000 goal. Funded!
A screenshot of the Against Time & Death Kickstarter page, showing £841 pledged of a £1,000 goal.
An introductory video for the Against Time and Death Kickstarter. Set to piano music, with a red and blue background with interconnected lines and dots moving around each other. The introductory text reads: A total war for all of time and space. Two factions. Rival operatives. About to meet. Nothing will be the same. A forbidden relationship. A multiversal time war. A duet roleplaying game. "Love is what we have, against time and death, against all the powers ranged to crush us down." This Is How You Lose the Time War. Against Time and Death by Nick Bate.
An image of two white circles against a red and blue backdrop that implies the multiverse. The left circle includes two silhouettes back-to-back, each holding a gun. one has a red tie, the other a blue tie. They are surrounded by the words 'Against Time and Death'. The second circle contains a photo of Hayley Gordon and Vee Hendro, both smiling, surrounded by the words 'Storybrewers' and 'Hayley Gordon' and 'Vee Hendro'.
Two dots, one light blue and one red, giving the impression that they're orbiting around each other.
A red-bordered graphic, split into two sections. On the left, a white logo of a sailing ship and the words "BLACK ARMADA TALES presents". On the right, in reds and blues, a snippet of the cover for Against Time and Death showing two back-to-back operatives pointing guns. One has a red tie, the other a blue tie.
A screenshot of the Against Time and Death Kickstarter pre-launch page. The figure '193 followers' has a red circle drawn around it, with a red arrow pointing to the circle.
Promo image for Growing Thylacine: A Pamphlet TTRPG by Pidj Sorensen. It features a black and white image of two Tasmanian tigers, plus images of five dice in various shades of black, yellow, green, and white.
The photo of the back of a playing card. The card depicts a combination key and magnifying glass and says the word “mystery”.
A screenshot of the Kickstarter pre-launch page for Against Time and Death. A red circle and arrow draw the eye to the bottom of the page, where it says “179 followers”.
A snippet from the cover of Against Time and Death, showing two silhouetted figures back-to-back. One has a red tie, the other a blue tie. Both are holding guns. They are surrounded by the title of the game, against a red and blue background of lines and circles implying the multiverse.
A screenshot of the Kickstarter pre-launch page for Against Time and Death. An arrow and a circle draw attention to the words ‘132 followers’ at the bottom of the page.
A screenshot of the Against Time and Death Kickstarter prelaunch page. A circle and arrow highlight the ‘96 followers’ at the bottom of the page.
A hand holding a copy of This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone on the train. The cover features two birds: one red, upright, the other blue, upside down.
A screenshot taken from the Against Time and Death Kickstarter pre-launch page. There is a 'Notify me on launch' button, beneath which the phrase '69 followers' has been circled in red.
A map of the Lower Trade Hall at Dragonmeet 2024, in the style of a fantasy map of a market or fair in a dungeon. Two labels point to the same stall, reading "ickbat games" and "Lunar Shadow Designs". The map is courtesy of Jog Brogzin.
The cover of What's So Daring About Sky Pirates, in the style of an old pulp magazine. It features four small airplanes diving out of a blue, white, and purple cloud-filled sky, contrails behind. The cover includes a title in yellow, a logo of a skull wearing aviator's goggles, and two pieces of yellow text which read: "Soar through the glorious skies over the SUNSET ARCHIPELAGO" and "Launch daredevil raids against the might of the METEORIC EMPIRE".
A section of the cover image for Against Time and Death. Two operatives in silhouette stand back to back, one with a red tie and one with a blue tie. They're inside a white bubble on a field of red and blue tracks and nodes, implying a multiversal network.
Two dots -- one turquoise, one red -- each with a thin black ring around it. They look like they're orbiting each other.