OK ... if not 40K then what? Unexplored Horizons (Rant from yesterday continued ...)

You know I like many GW fans out there rant and rave occasionally about things I don't like about GW, yet I'll be the first to defend them when I think something is too extreme in terms of criticism. GW has provided me with some wonderful gaming over the years and as much as I dog on them ... I sincerely love the Warhammer and Warhammer 40K universes. I would be deeply saddened if the company ever went away as we know it. I love an independently run GW. It would break my heart to have Hasbro buy them or something like that and of course I'd be in absolute death in the family mode if they just went out of business. So I threaten to stop playing, etc. and I doubt that would happen in the near future anyway ... but ... that said I find myself more and more wanting to find some backup mini games. If said backups provide a better gaming experience for me closer to what I really used to love about GW ... I think the GW stuff would become my back burner game of choice.

I've tried AT-43 and Confrontation and I personally didn't like either system, I found the rules to be counter intuitive (maybe I've just been playing 40K too long) and hard to get into. I liked some of the models and factions but didn't care for others and I'm not a fan of pre-painted stuff. Why you ask? Well to me with GW in my home gaming groups we've always refered to it as a "barrier of entry" type game. I mean lets face it guys ... ok sure there are some cool people playing some of the collectible "low barrier of entry" games ... but at least in my personal experience they are pretty rare. Mostly you get very young players, jerks and store trolls ... people I honestly don't tend to game with if I can avoid it. Don't get me wrong I love to see younger players doing any type of non-video game based gaming (nothing against video games I just see them as the enemy of tabletop games ... yes I myself play lots of video games ... just saying) and if one of the adults who games in my home gaming group has spawn and they feel like bringing em along for gaming ... as long as its not disruptive ... fine by me. Over the years I've had several friends who have had teenage kids who actually fully participated in gaming with the home game group/gaming club and it was fine ... they fit in and become just one of the gaming crew. 

Anyway why are those types of less desirable gamers more likely to pick up pre-painted stuff? Well I know I'm stating the obvious but they don't have to do any work ... the just pay money ... crack open a box and bada bing they are playing. See that is one of my issues with GW these days ... so many painting services, etc. have started to make inroads into turning GW into a AT-43 fest ... where people just buy pre-painted blue table armies and show up at tourneys (the few that still have paint scores that is) and get free points. Most of those types of players are in the "jerk" or "store troll" catagory to me. They are playing the game purely for competitive reasons, they don't care about the hobby side of the game, the modeling, converting or painting ... they just want to show up at a tourney and kick people in the privates and thump their chests. That is the epitome of lameness ... winning at 40K is like winning at checkers ... tic-tac-toe or winning at flipping quarters. To me the only reason to do mini gaming is for a cool social experience, I have just as much fun with a close loss or a tie as I do with a smashing victory ... to be honest alot more fun usually. So why would anyone want to just dominate? Issues of inadequacy spring to mind ... 

Seriously to the ultra competitive players I say if you want to be competitive do something cool that is worthy of thumping your chest about. Go pick up golf, learn to shoot competitively, get into running or archery or start showing dogs or something, play video games competitively. I have yet to find any type of  tabletop game other than chess (or various card games) that is really designed to be purely competitive, mini gaming is fundamentally a gentleman's agreement between the players. You each agree to not cheat, to be honorable about rules calls, etc. and you are just moving minis and rolling dice ... having a shared interesting experience. The randomness of the dice, the scenarios, terrain placement ... it never makes for a truly balanced game. If a tourney orgainzer is really good they can sort of get it close for you but you'll never have a really level playing field. That is why I just laugh when I see people lamenting "balance" ... to a certain extent balance has never and can never really exist. See that is the cool thing about mini wargames ... your in essence experiencing just a little snippet of what real commanders would on a real battlefield.

If your a wargamer and you haven't I highly recommend reading Sun Tzu ... nearly 2500 years ago he figured out principles of battlefield engagement which still apply today. I mean as a commander if you can you want to avoid an even fight  ... you want to do anything you can to gain as much advantage as you can. When I say that I'm not condoning the cheese head overly competitive powergamers out there ... I'm talking about why unbalanced games are actually more realistic and more rewarding potentially. Realistically if one commander has advantage one would not ... if your playing a game where your the one with the disadvantage ... well figure out how to get yourself out alive.Winning a game where you have a disadvantage is really cool ... something to give you a sense of accomplishment about. Obviously playing a game where you have no chance of winning is not fun and that isn't what I'm talking about. Somehow the essence of what makes wargaming so fun has been largely lost with 40K ... at least over a large portion of the US competitive scene. Like I was saying when I first got involved with 40K there was enough of it there to hold my interest. Now its again in my experience ... devolving into MTG in pewter and plastic. In home games though we still very much enjoy the true fun of war gaming. But that is in private home and club gaming ... its really nearly impossible to get that in public GW gaming anymore. 

So the question remains ... if not GW ... then what? I've been watching Spartan Games for awhile Uncharted Seas and Firestorm look cool.  I've really been searching for some solid 28 MM historical options that give a solid  medium to large scale skirmish war gaming experience. I'm seeing more and more stuff pop up out there actually one source is GW Historicals ... ironically ... I've never understood that segment of the company. They are sort of off by themselves ... an apparent red headed stepchild of GW. Anyway some of their rulesets look really cool. 

I'm not a fan of Privateer Press stuff ... I adore the Iron Kingdoms universe ... I love most of the models in their range ... but having played that game for two years (Cryx, Khador, Cygnar and Hordes) its even more MTG in pewter (and now plastic too) than GW stuff is. Looking at the focus of PP with their Monsterpocalypse collectible crack ... I can see that they really aren't too concerned about that. In the original Warmachine rulebook they made the "play like you've got a pair" statement ... like "hey we love powergamers" ... ok ... thanks for being honest guys I can't fault you for that at any point. They designed their game to be a complex chess game. All strategy and combos and little in the way of tactics. Absolutely awesome if that's what your looking for ... I am not though.

So for me sticking with 40K and slowly dabbling with other stuff is probably what I'll do until I finally settle in on historicals. I suppose I'm following the progression that most European mini gamers undergo ... its just sort of odd out here in the Western US. Historicals groups are cloistered out here and tend to be groups of guys who were my age in the 70s and 80s. In fact I have yet to find any historicals groups in Northern Utah (which surprised me). 

Anyone out there feel free to share suggestions on viable GW 40K/WHFB alternatives. By this I mean that rules are no more complex than those rulesets, they don't have massive imbalance issues like FOW and there is at least some depth to the games (i.e. multiple factions, etc.). For me like I said I really don't like the AT-43 or Privateer Press rulesets (either Warmachine or Hordes) so that's part of "viable" for me as well.

Reoccuring Rant about GW's US tourney scene ... (Warning I'm like a broken record on this ... sorry)

Ok as I read other blogs this evening that I subscribe to  I'm yet again reminded that ... apparently ... GW has allowed their entire US support to fall back to levels  not probably seen since the early 90s. In those days at least you could understand why ... they were still moving into parts of the US in terms of the mini gaming scene ... heck they were creating a mini gaming scene in places (I'm talking non-historical mini gaming). Still growing a customer base, still learning how to run competitive gaming with their product on a large scale, etc. etc.

Flash forward 12 years or so to present ... the official support GW is giving its product at least in the Western US is the worst I've ever personally experienced. From what I'm reading in various places 'Ard Boyz is going as expected ... being dominated by a few large clubs as usual ... same players ... same clubs ... same bias in GWs system towards them. The latest thing I've heard is a GW store employee actually wrote the scenarios the day before the event (courtesy of a good blog I have been reading theback40k.) ... check that stuff out. I'm not playing this year ... and I don't think I'd ever bother to ... the competitive GW scene has fallen off a precipice as far as I'm concerned. All the coolness of the big tourneys has faded for me ... everyone is running the net list o' the week ... with blue table painted armies ... whats the point. Back in the early 2000s I remember playing in GTs where everyone was running amazingly well done armies ... that 95% were painted by the person playing ... running pretty balanced lists based on sound tactical practices for their armies. Was there cheese ... were there beardy lists ... of course ... but at least from my selective, biased attention ... it seems like that is 99% of the field now as opposed to 10 or 20% back in 2000-2005.

In my personal experience GW has gone from having really solid official Games Workshop run  big events  that were supported by clubs to stuff that individual game clubs ... whose members not only game in said events but win them ... run/dominate. These clubs collectively have maybe 2 or 3k in membership ... the  massive, vast majority of the rest of GW customers out there get hosed. Lets face it people buy GW stuff as much online anymore as from their FLGS and I don't want to get into a FLGS vs. the internet debate because generally I believe supporting yea old FLGS is good for us all ... BUT ... GWs policy now actually mostly hurts the FLGS. A system where focus on all the stores running RTTs and some sort of system that at least partially would incorporate that would really benefit people all over. Now ... with this regional 'Ard Boyz thing ... just the big stores that are bending over for GW get hooked up and most of the rest of the stores get left out. This is just 'Ard Boyz we are talking about too ... the so called Independent GTs are even less beneficial to FLGS. I'm not claiming to have all of the answers or even a plan for a better system ... but I've seen some pretty solid stagnation over the past few years.

To me its like GW is saying "we don't give a feth about competitive play in the US. They certainly are telling me they don't care about supporting their own product in the Western US anymore by pulling out all their big events they used to have. Gamesday, GTs, etc. Now reading all this stuff the past few months just confirms what I've been hearing for the past few years in terms of the trend away from GW product support towards depending on large gaming clubs to do their work for them. You have these clubs basically running GWs support in the US. Its lame and it isn't the type of setup I bought into with GW. I loved the GW company at least seeming/appearing unbiased events, etc. Because of all of this stuff for me at least there is little point to participate in official events anymore as its all either "insider" club stuff or store (read a greedy so called "friendly" local game shop running stuff that caters to the store trolls who spend money in their store) ... independent gamers and small garage gaming groups have no reason to partake in GW stuff on a competitive level anymore at all. People can scoff at what I'm saying but long term its not good for the GW hobby scene in the US. A big segment of the market is being neglected and don't just take my word for it look around the net ... look in the Blog-o-sphere ... listen to your local gaming community. More and more people are getting disenchanted with GW for various reasons ... but support is an area that is key.

Beyond my rage ... as a hobbyist who loves this stuff ... it saddens to me to see something that has been near and dear to me diminished at least in part. I actually really loved the competitive side of GW games and now there is nothing left there that is appealing. Yes there is still a lot to love ... but ... price increases ... lack of overall product support (again at least in the Western US) ... etc. etc. etc. ... combined with the loss of a tourney scene I would participate in ...glass half empty ... at least for GW for me ... I could really use a refill GW. Warhammer Fantasy just for fun (8th ed right around the corner) ... historical 28 MM finally ... hmmm ... the grass is looking greener by the day.

Off Topic Post: Heroes

Ok ... ok ... ok ...

Pretty off the beaten path here in terms of what I usually blog about but I just had to get this off my chest. Basically ... I had given up on Heroes somewhere during the beginning of season 2 ... BUT ... I kept watching. I had become invested in the characters and the overall story. I like probably nearly every single person watching the show ... was ticked off about various things and dismayed about the spiraling quality of the show. But I hung in there and kept watching ... yes ... yes ... grumbling all the way ... BUT I WAS STILL WATCHING the show. Now they announce its been canceled ... ok ... that's fine ... relieving in a way even. 

To me this highlights yet another instance to me where network TV just utterly sucks ... any decent show quickly gets killed because the demographics aren't right or the ratings aren't good enough (but in today's media world I'd argue ratings are less and less where its at ... they really need to figure out how people are really viewing stuff).

It would seem that more and more the only people who watch network TV with any regularity are watching crap I hate ... Law and Order ... Desperate Housewives ... Jay Leno (I like Jay but not his show ... I preferred Conan) ... etc. etc. Its the same with most of the big budget Hollywood films. They are produced with first and foremost tweens/teens in mind in terms of what appeals to them ... so we get alot of Hannah Montana, Twilight and adjustments are made to stuff that adults would normally be watching so it appeals to that demographic more. Its logical since they are the only ones still going to movies ... along with seniors. The other area of focus for big media is obviously DVD sales and foreign box office ... which there again screws most adults and/or geeks (we might be mostly older but I don't know if you could really call us "adults").  So you get alot more train wreck films like Pirates of the Carri bean III and far fewer titles that I'm willing to go spend $20 bucks to see a Sunday matinee on. Even the so called "cool" stuff ... I would argue is watered down by these factors ... pick a movie that has been somewhat well received and you can see the telltale signs of adjustment for maximized marketing effect.

Such is life ... capitalism at its core eh ... life in a media world = the media puts out what people will consume so in addition to mostly crap films, music, TV, video games, etc. we have crap news as well. I long ago learned this as I'm sure many of you have ... yet ... like a moth to a flame I get pulled back in by stuff like Heroes or Legend of the Seeker (which also has been canceled) and burnt.  All I know is there should be an FCC regulation requiring all cancelled shows to be wrapped up at least in a lame way so fans can avoid OCD thoughts about why the show they actually didn't like much was ended ... without an ending. Is that too much to ask? Oh well at least Hayden will go on acting ... for whatever reason I really like her ... hrrmmm

For Queen and Sanity ...

What the ... Col. Corbane writing for BoLS!! What! I was really glad to see that! Hopefully the esteemed Col. Corbane will be given some decent space to set some of those out there who are ruining the GW hobbies straight! If BoLS starts programing more material like his ... I'll subscribe to the page again ... 

If your out there Colonel ... thank you sir! Thank you very much!! Please keep fighting the good fight!

GW ... a price too high?

I've been a dyed in the wool GW fanboy for a very long time ... 12 years or so. I know there are those out there who were fans back in the 80s. I didn't know GW back then ... I was mostly a board game, video game, D&D player as far as gaming went. I then took a long hiatus from gaming and returned to it in the late 90s via miniature gaming. I've frequently defended GW and their corporate actions. I've also been vocal in my local gaming groups and local gaming communities at times against GW when I feel they are in the wrong. I'm just an average Joe ... but in my own little world ... in my own little, tiny, insignificant corner of the universe I discuss gaming related topics with friends, etc. and we come to our own conclusions.

On the recent GW price increases ... I have to say ... in years past the price increases have been across the board or minor. Usually it was related to the increasing cost of metal or the rising price of oil (impacting shipping/transport costs). Well oil isn't on the increase dramatically and if you look at most of the price increases ... it was just a largely across the board (yes there are many products that shall remain the same price) ... to me it just seems like GW is raising prices because it can. That is fine ... capitalism and all ... corporations are entitled to and expected to do whatever will make the most cash ... customers will either put up with it or not. Thats fine. I have studied Mr. Smith's theories at the university level and I know that actual theoretical economics do not work in the real world. Politics is one of the main reasons that the "invisible hand" can't actually do its work ... globalization fails ... and consumers get hosed by corporations that are far too powerful and able to virtually make law on their own. In GWs case that isn't the case ... GW is a small company compaired to the titans of industry ... "a nat on a flea's arse" as it where.  In the tiny segment of the gaming industry which is the mini gaming industry ... GW is a big deal though. GW is a mover and a shaker ... companies follow GW and GW impacts that whole segment of the gaming industry ... sometimes for the better and sometimes for the worse.

I've been trying to ponder whether this recent price increase is a good thing or a bad thing ... for the industry as a whole. The past few days having read about the increases and listening to people online and conversation with friends ... I feel its actually a good thing.

GW used to really have the competitive side of miniature gaming on lock-down ... with the exception of collectible mini games ... they were pretty much the only tourney structured mini game operating in a big way on the market. Then ... they started doing a bad job ... dropped their guard ... got greedy ... made some bad moves ... bada bing ... enter Privateer Press. Well I'm seeing the same thing happening I think right now. Mantic Games, Wargames Factory Plastics, two just mention two ... and it seems like a day doesn't go by that I don't see another company producing affordable amazing minis in plastic. GW knows its customer base, it has the numbers very well understood, it knows many of its loyal customers are so invested in time and money into their product line they are reluctant to leave and even better ... eager to bring in new people not the hobby of miniature gaming ... but to GW games. I can't deny that I haven't encouraged my gaming group to stay true to GW ... but what I find in my own attitude is ... I once was very against proxies of any kind. I still am a staunch enforcer of WYSIWYG in terms of using another companies minis ... but I could care less now if people use GWs stuff or company X stuff. I no longer passionately preach spending our gaming money on mostly GW stuff ... that was me five years ago. Today ... I go where I can get the best price ... and/or I make my own stuff. I use sculpy, I resin cast (my own scratch built stuff), I buy scratch built stuff on ebay, I use other companies minis if they are WYSIWYG and either cooler or cheaper (or both in many cases now) than GWs stuff.

I think that GW raising prices and focusing on the highest end of the market ... is going to drive more and more of their "loyal" base to do what I'm doing. I think for the miniatures industry as a whole that is a good thing. I think spreading the wealth is good and I think this might be the harkening of a miniature game renaissance perhaps ... thanks to GWs continued in many cases ... unjustified ... price hikes. On to Wargame Factory Plastics ... on to Mantic Games ... maybe even on to Privateer Press (though their line is as or more expensive than GWs .. going to be awhile before they are a cheaper alternative).

Anyway I still love GW games and still will faithfully purchase their rulesets, etc. I just find myself spending less and less money on their products and more and more on other companies products... granted ... to play the GW games. I hope they stay in business at least for the rest of my life ... however long that is ... so I'm not a GW hater by any stretch. I'm just tossing out my very insignificant two cents on the issue ... feel free to comment and/or disagree if you like ... I like to hear other perspectives

The "Dip Method" ... for miniature painting

A friend recently asked me for an old miniature painting technique recipe and having dredged it up I thought I'd do a quick post on it. There is a good article on the tabletop gaming news page page regarding the "dip" method or the "magic sauce method" ... "future finish floor wax method" .. etc. etc. this is basically what I use for a dip if I'm going to brew some up. I also just use plain old minwax wood stain. These methods really speeds up painting ... its not for every project or for every painter ... but if you want quick "tabletop standard" paint jobs ... this method is your friend. I have largely converted to this style of painting now ... as it saves massive amounts of time and at this point competition quality paint jobs aren't very important to me.

My recipe is 1 part future finish floor wax ... 2 parts distilled water ... 1 part Higgins Black Fountain Pen Ink (frequently called "India" ink) ... 1 Part Higgins Brown Ink

... I combine that stuff in a nice air tight container. Not usually just a tupperware style one ... but one that has a threaded lid so its very air tight and can withstand being knocked over, etc. 

The thing is this stuff is literally made to DIP ... i.e., fully submerge entire miniatures in. So you want a wide mouthed container that you can just kerplunk minis into. I usually take a pair of needle nosed pliers and grab a corner of the base and plunge the mini in. As you start running low on the dip ... mix a whole new batch so you keep your proportions correct and on this note having an oversize container (by this I mean something that would hold say two full batches of dip) is a good idea. For large models like vehicles, giant figures (monsters, giants, dragons, etc. ... shit that's too big to fit in the container) you can use a large "tank" brush or even a full sized edging paint brush or something ... and just completely cover the model. You'll still get the "dip" effect by doing that.

Essentially to break down how this works:

Assemble, Prime, Flock the base with gravel flock ... 

Block paint the mini (i.e., paint all the basic colors): to break this down further ... lets use an orc for an example. You would paint the skin green, the shoes and leather bits brown, the armor a metalic color of choice ... apply red to the eyes ... whiten or yellow depending on preference the teeth ... etc. just the basic colors your going for. Now this is again a matter of preference ... for the skin you might be talking about a two or three step painting process ... same with other parts ... but you can just go single step block color painting. 

Once that is done to your preference ... the mini gets dipped. 

What I do as I'm doing this is use a paper towel to daub off any excessive pooling of the dip. You want the dip to help shade the model ... but you don't want big pools to dry leaving odd lines, or watermarks on the mini. 

Let the mini dry ... 

look it over and do detail cleanup where needed ... but in many cases your done with the minis when the dip drys.

Here is a quick image of something that has been dipped. The mini isn't mine ... but you get a quick and very rough idea of what the method does. My results are usually even better than this picture ... but to me this picture demonstrates what your going for. Bear in mind that the dipped mini on the right hasn't dried yet nor did they do a good job priming this mini ... it has very telltale primer screw up signs. Also an example of the "pooling" I was talking about, its not very bad but you can see some on the shield on the fig on the right side ... the red part upper right hand side of the shield ... see it. That is an over shade ... it sort of screws up the effect your going for. You would daub that a bit ... not all the way you want the shading in the recesses but not on the field. Again that isn't an extreme example ... if I was doing say 100 figures in one batch I'd probably not even bother with that level of scrutiny but if I was just dipping a single figure or if this was a hero character or general of my army or something ... I'd pay more attention. Anyway that figure now that its nicely shaded ... it will be shiny.

The wax in the dip gives a glossy sheen after its applied (go figure) ... which on one hand is awesome because your mini is effectively sealed. What I do last ... once I'm completely done with the fig minus the application of static grass ... is I matte varnish the figure. That tones down the sheen and helps fully seal the model. At that point ... and by this I mean later on like a few years down the road when they are really dusty or whatever ... you can even clean minis l with a damp rag with soapy water, etc. (again that isn't a step in the process ... I'm just saying the seal is that durable).  Dipped minis will withstand a fair amount of abuse (especially plastic figs). Anyway in a nutshell that is the basic dip method. Once you try it yourself don't be afraid to experiment with the color of inks you use ... there are many different pen inks you can use in place of the black/brown. Tyranids for example are an army just begging for the dip method  ... and for a project like that ... using a red, blue or green variant on this method would probably work great! Happy painting everyone!

Dust Tactics Miniature boardgame ... ? Tactical Minis Skirmish or just another board game??

"30 soldiers, 4 robots and 2 heroes" Some interesting stuff ... I'd like to see the models up close. From what little I've seen the minis are in the 25 to 28 MM range. Some really cool pulp -- Weird War II type figures. The backstory for the boardgame/"Dust" universe is pretty cool. Definitely worth keeping an eye on! This advertisement references Gencon 2011?? I won't be going this year but I will be at 2011 Gencon. That's pretty far out though ... I also have seen some other pictures ... like this one.

Its pretty disappointing that apparently they are just going to be using the AT-43 rules ... which in my personal opinion aren't that good. I bought the boxed set of that game and played a dozen games or so of it ... and really didn't enjoy it. I didn't like the card based rules, etc. For a sci-fi game of that scale I much prefer the 40K rules to the AT-43 stuff. That said if the minis are as cool as they are looking ... I for sure might be enticed into buying them for pulp RGPing and/or for house 40K armies, etc.

Two cool things: Beasts of War and Mantic Games

Ok ... quick mini gaming related news which might be new to some and old to others ... 

First I'm sure many of you know about the BEASTS OF WAR guys who do Youtube reviews of gaming (mostly minis) related products. They do quick detailed reviews of a large variety of mini gaming related items and the seem to keep about as up to date as Tabletop Gaming News. I don't know how they do so many reviews ... its pretty amazing. Anyway good source for info on new mini gaming related items check em out ... Beasts of War!

The main reason I mention them is they have a several reviews of Mantic Games products.

Mantic Games to me is very exciting along with Wargames Factory Plastics ... whether your a Games Workshop game fan, or an RPG fan who uses minis in their game or even a historical gamer (though Mantic hasn't done any historical stuff yet) these companies should be of interest. They are producing some very high quality plastic miniatures at generally lower (in the case of WFP much, much lower) prices than most of the other big mini producers out there ... mainly GW. Now don't get me wrong ... I'm a GW fanboy through and through ... but I'm also a gamer on a budget as many of us are. I like to stretch my gaming dollars as far as they will go. Both of these companies are offering entire armies worth of figures for well less than a hundred dollars. In the case of WFP you could get a couple of armies worth of figures for that price. 

For the DM out there who wants an undead horde ... both of these companies are doing very affordable undead hordes. WFP has some AWESOME modern zombies for super cheap and Mantic is doing a big undead empire. As for RPG figure opportunities WFP has Romans, Celts and Vikings with alot of promising stuff on the horizon. Mantic currently has High Elves and Undead and I believe they are doing a dwarven army next. Anyway I plan to pick up figures (if not entire armies) from both of these companies very soon. I think this is a very good sign for 28 MM miniature fans ... more companies moving into this area is really nice to see. Affordable plastic minis has been a dream for a long time ... finally looks like it is becoming a reality :)

Wargames Factory FTW!

WARGAMES FACTORY INTRODUCES:
THE LIBERTY AND UNION LEAGUE
WHERE YOU DECIDE WHAT WE MAKE...
...AND HAVE A CHANCE FOR FAME AND FORTUNE!

Ok I'm sure almost everyone out there knows about Wargames Factory they have burst onto the scene with some amazingly well done and astoundingly cheap (seriously how the hell do they make their stuff so damn cheap ...?!?!) plastic 28 MM minis. The reason I'm posting this is I don't think people are really fully aware of how cool this company is. Let me elaborate on the Liberty and Union League ... in short it is BRILLIANT! 

I'm just going to put the entire page in right here ... its a damn cool idea ... and people they have been following through on this. Do you guys play GW games ... want something compatible with those? Do you play D&D or RPGs and think a certain fig ... cheap ... by the hordes ... would be cool? Go to their page and suggest something be produced. Let me know if you do .. if its something decent ... I'm in for 10 sprues ... whether or not anyone wants to suggest things I just really like this idea. This is a company that is basically ready and willing to make whatever their customers will buy ... literally ... sadly a novel concept these days. Asking your customers directly ... vs ... asking your marketing department/focus groups/etc. 

SUBMIT YOUR IDEAS, SEE THEM MADE INTO HARD PLASTIC, AND WIN BIG!

This is an idea that our good friend Nic Robson of Eureka Miniatures first came up with. Let’s say you want a figure, or a bunch of figures, that nobody makes. Nic lets you submit your suggestion to the Eureka Miniatures website and lets everyone vote on it. Once enough people have said they were interested and have pre-ordered enough miniatures, Eureka puts them into production and offers them for sale. How’s that for customer service!

The big difference between Wargames Factory and Eureka Miniatures is that we’re doing our figures in hard plastic (by the sprue) and the start-up costs to produce the injection mold tooling for a small set of figures is VERY high so you need to sell “farsands” of them!

But the numbers aren’t as huge as you may have been led to believe! If we can get a hundred people to promise, between them, to buy a thousand sprues (averaging 10 sprues each) of any given subject, then we are in business! That’s not to say that selling 1000 sprues will cover all of our costs, but the combination of 100 unique purchasers and 1000 total sprues sold tells us that there is enough interest in that sprue that it will most likely do well once it reaches the wider wargames market and we’ll be able to at least break even!

(On the flip side, one guy who wants 1000 sprues for himself is great – but we would have to wonder if there are any more like him in the world and whether or not we would ever inject plastic into that very expensive mold again after the first 1000 sprues were shipped off to the Collector extraordinaire?! That said, we want to make people happy and we want to make figures that people love – so if you have a project you would really, really like to see done but that doesn’t necessarily have a huge mass market appeal – let us know!)

“What’s the catch?”  we hear you ask… There is none! That’s what’s great about this. You make your suggestions, we put them up on the site, those who agree with you vote with a free “order”, and once the number of customers and “orders” reaches 100 and 1000 respectively, we make the sprue! Once we start production, we will show work-in-progress shots of the miniatures, elicit your feedback and make changes, and then go into tooling. Prior to going into production, we’ll contact all those who made “orders” to finalize and ship the sprues to you – you don’t pay anything until the sprues are being made. It’s pretty simple actually.

Hey, What's With the Fame and Fortune Part?
That's the FUN part! If you enter a sprue suggestion, and your suggestion makes it to the 1000-sprue level and gets made into plastic -- you will WIN:

10 FREE Sprues of Your Idea

A $100 Wargames Factory Gift Certificate

and last, but not least:

The Undying Adoration of Fellow Wargamers!

I'm Sold! What Do I Do Now?

It depends, here are your choices:

1. Submit your own idea -- by going HERE.

2. "Shop" other people's ideas -- by going HERE.

3. Read the "How To" in more depth HERE.

4. See what's on the Hit, Bullet, and Bucket lists by clicking HERE.

or

5. Be completely overwhelmed by the sheer number of possibilities, be completely unable to make up your mind, totally freak out, and buy 87 books HERE to try to help you decide on a submission!

Whatever you decide...PLEASE ENJOY!

Ogres and Orks ... Oh My!

Ogres and Orks are on their way! Finally ... finally ... I'm returning to the promised land of miniature gaming.  I was very spoiled in the past and had an amazing group to play mini games with ... so when I moved away and was faced with the prospect of store gaming only I just couldn't do it. So for the past year I've been working very hard to find mini game players locally who to be very blunt are non-tool-jerk types. I have assembled a brave band of six players with several more on the way who are going to be embarking upon the path towards miniature gaming righteousness and excellence together! Starting in June we will be playing 40K exclusively through the summer and Warhammer Fantasy and Blood Bowl in the fall (give the group a few months to digest the new 8th Ed rules due out in July). Sometime in the darkness of winter we plan to embark upon Historical gaming .. and then run "seasons" from that point thereafter where we as a group focus on a game for 3 to 4 months. While we'd all be free to play whatever games we prefer on the side as a group we'd focus on one system for larger campaign play ... house leagues and possible competitive play. From past experience I'm hoping to avoid "flavor of the month" syndrome and maximize our fun and enjoyment and maintain freshness and interest rotate the stock so to speak.  We are working on a plan to form a 40k team ... where we will work together to improve our lists and play so when we show up to a tournament we don't get auto-pwn'd and we plan the same thing with WHFB eventually. We are planning some team terrain projects, etc. like a couple custom blood bowl pitches, a Hirst Arts space hulk table and some more fantasy terrain.

Anyway this means I need to get off my duff and finish up my Orks for 40K which are completely done except for 2 Nobs and a squad of Shoota Boyz. I do have a speed freak army on the bench as well that I'd like to try to finish up sometime this summer to add more options to my foot slog Goff list. As for WHFB I have a fair sized ogre army that I fully assembled several years ago ... but never painted ... now that I'm going to have a chance to play some fantasy again I'm going to dust them off and paint them up.

Rediscoverying Old Glory

I'm sure many of you know about Old Glory and the plethora of figures they carry (and manufacture) ... but I've recently been looking for some odd figures here and there and found several from Old Glory that I'm going to pick up. I know that there are hundreds of other mini manufacturers and retailers with as good (and better in many cases) a selection ... but I'd forgotten about Old Glory. I was talking to a local friend about getting back into historical stuff at some point next year and we were discussing ranges and Old Glory came up. Anyway here is there site ... they have stuff from Ancients to Fantasy to Historical to Pulp and everything in between. They also have a club you can join for $50.00 which gives you 40% off their product for a year (and not like you couldn't go in on orders with a friend to two).

Gabriel Knight Titan by Dragons Den for sale

I'll be dropping this on ebay sometime in the next week or two. They are exceedingly rare ... I lucked out when I got mine a few years ago. A friend found two for sale in a Denver area hobby shop and we snatched em up. Its unassembled and in original mint condition. This picture was taken off the web ... I was too lazy to take one ... as I said its going on ebay next week ... I'm going to start the price out at 400 and do a buy it now of 500. Again to to my knowledge these are ultra rare ... yes they aren't anywhere near as common as the armorcast ones. As for forgeworld ... yes ... they are cool ... but hundreds of parts to assemble and they are over 500 bucks plus shipping from the UK. Then you deal with the very fiddly quality of some of their casts ... which usually can be fixed but take the know how. This thing ... its like 6 pieces that are easy to put together and your done. Prime it and paint it and bada bing. Again this is in base resin state, unassembled., unprimed, unpainted If someone wanted to save me the hassle of ebay, etc. etc. I'd probably let it go for 400 which would include shipping anywhere in the lower 48. The reason I'm selling it is I NEVER play Apocalypse games and likely won't anytime soon. If I do end up getting into Apocalypse size games it would be with my Orks and/or Nids anyway. I had visions of converting this one into a chaos titan ... but meh ... not going to happen. So I might as well get rid of it and convert the resource into something I'll actually use. As for size ... another reason I plundered that picture ... is it gives good scale. To my knowledge the armorcast warhound weapons would fit pretty easily this guy (obviously with some tweaking/converting). Its a little larger than the warhounds (both forgeworld and armorcast) and really could almost be viably used as a warlord (by comparison to the Armorcast Warlord ... I think it is a fair bit smaller than the forgeworld Warlord though). Anyway it goes on ebay probably sometime between Thursday and Sunday.

Ok folks I'm hosting the first Annual LARRYCON which is basically a gathering of gamers I know from my old home town of Las Vegas ... way up here in Northern Utah. We are going to be running a CON-Style gaming weekend from my home ... some might say such an endeavor would be lame ... others might say ... your crazy man ... but I'm super stoked about it. Its looking like we should have around 20 to 30 participants over the course of the weekend.

Here is whats on the agenda so far ....

My friends fly in from Vegas early Friday afternoon and I'll pick them up at the airport ... then we'll make our way to the grocery story and likely liquor store and probably be back to my place around 3 PM that afternoon (Friday May 28th) at which point I'll give them 30 minutes or so to get their gear stowed away and then we'll probably fire up a board game or something. So if people would like to show up as early as 3:00 to 3:30 that afternoon we'll have a meet and greet BS session/casual board game session.

Around 6 I'd like to fire up the grill and do some grilling and get a little pot-luck style dinner going ... anyone is welcome to show up ... at least bring some soda and/or chips, etc. with you but if you have a specialty dish you'd like to share with the group let me know and I'll put it on the menu.  I'll be providing some pasta salad, potato salad, chips and salsa, hamburgers and hot dogs and soda. You guys are responsible for your own adult beverages ... beer ... margaritas ... whatever one wants to bring themselves. 

I will outline a rough schedule of events here, what I'm looking for at this point is to get feedback from people on who can attend and what sessions you will be attending. My friend Scott has been running very successful, popular games at game conventions and Las Vegas area gamesdays for several years now. He will be running several different games that I guarantee will be some of the best RPGing you've ever had and well worth any RPG fans time. In addition to that I'm hoping to get some of the local talent up here to run a few games if they'd like so anyone out there who is interested in running a game let me know and lets get you on the agenda. Also if someone wants to bring a board game or a miniature game or something that would be cool as well. The main thing I would ask is whatever someone wanted to run could be done within one of the time slots which will be from 9 AM to 5 or 6 PM (just depending on the game) or from 7 PM to whenever (again depending on the game) on Saturday or Sunday. I'm blocking Friday evening out for mainly one big group activity. Also at this point what I'm listing for Scott is tentative ... he actually might try to run a FATE based game or two instead ... just depends.

Friday May 28th:

That evening we'll be playing:

Do You Worship Cthulhu? - DYWC is a Lovecraftian take on the classic child's game of Mafia. You play a resident of a small town where murderous worshippers of the Old Ones have set up shop. One by one they slay your comrades driving you into a hysterical state of paranoia. Each morning someone is murdered and each night, the townsfolk lynch one of their own in a effort to find the killer. I have written some social roles for the game in an effort to bring some role-playing elements and to eliminate the stalling that can happen when there is no clear suspect to accuse.

In addition James will be running ACTION CASTLE for folks when they inevitably die off as Cthulhu progresses. I'll leave discription of Action Castle to James ... in a nutshell its a pen and paper homage to old school text based M.U.D style games. Zork is frequently the reference used to explain roughly what the game is about. From what I've heard its hilarious fun. It will give the dead from Cthulhu something to do in the afterlife :)

After these games end we can either do a round 2 of them if there is interest or we can do BANG! or Shadows over Camelot.

Saturday  May 29th:

Saturday morning Scott is going to be running a game of 4E and I'm hoping to get our resident Star Wars GM James to come over and run a game of Star Wars for my other two Vegas compadres (Robin and Jason) and anyone from up here who would like to try out the coolness which is Saga system. Scott is just about the best 4E DM I think you'll ever get a chance to play for so I'm really hoping that the current 4E crew will get a chance to experience his game. It will be brutal and fun and hopefully enlightening in terms of just what one can actually do with 4E. I'm excited to get a chance to play. James is a real Star Wars aficionado with a wealth of background information on the Star Wars universe that he brings to his game and the Saga System is really clean and cool its something in between 3.5 and 4E and thus far I've very much enjoyed playing. So hopefully folks out there who would like to test the system out can have a chance to do so.

Saturday night Scott is going to be running an old school classic game Tunnels and Trolls which has been around since 1975. It really captures that old school original D&D feel with some surprisingly indie game-esq mechanics. The first time I played it immediatly became one of my all time favorite RPGs ... I'd still rank it in the top 10 best RPG systems I've personally ever played. 

Anyway here is Scott's blurb on his game: 

Tunnels and Trolls: The Dungeon of Excess - This is old-school meat grinder gaming at it's best. T&T is a simple system with great open-ended mechanics. The Dungeon of Excess awaits any who want to plumb the unfathomable depths. Can you survive the dreaded Ball Lightning?

If  we have the numbers and there is someone who'd like to run something else there is room for a second slot here of something. However Scott's game will be able to accommodate up to maybe as many 8 to 10 players ... as its a big free for all style adventure. Also T&T handles large groups better than most RPGs due to an extremely sleek combat system. Anyway if anyone out there would like to run something in this time slot just chime in and I'll get it on the agenda. 

Sunday May 30th:

9 AM to 5 to 6ish (with a break for lunch)

I believe that a friend from the SLC area Rustin is planning on running something Sunday morning and the Vegas crew and myself will likely partake in that ... but if there is interest there is room here for a second slot of something as well so if you'd like to run something just chime in and I'll get it on the agenda. 

7 PM to whenever .... 

Savage Worlds: The Incident at Station 11 - The Federation lost contact with the scientists at Station 11 on the planet Gareth several months ago. Your crew was sent to check things out and find out what happened and if everything is okay. It probably isn't okay. In fact, what happened there probably can't be imagined in your worst nightmares. 

Thinking Big (maybe too big) ...

Ok ... two big ideas (big in terms of pulling them off) ... I'm posting this in part to solicit advice from anyone out there who might have done similar activities (or just has a decent idea). First idea involves RPGs, the second 40K. 

I've been toying with the idea of trying to do a linked RPG for a long long time ... its just something that has sounded very cool to me ever since conversation about it came up in one of the late night BS sessions in my old gaming group (probably nearly 10 years ago). I've never been able to pull it off though. Now that I've physically relocated from my old home (Las Vegas) to northern Utah ... and am in the process of re-establishing a gaming group and local gaming club ... conversation about this has come up again. I'm trying to think of ways in which this could be accomplished. 

Originally we talked about having two to four GMs coordinate a story arc that would be shared somehow between all of their groups. The GMs would talk on a weekly/bi-weekly basis (via phone, email, however) and update their games accordingly ... all the while revealing whatever was appropriate to their players. At some point there might even be occasion where players would do cameos in other groups ... or groups might even be able to engage in party vs. party conflict ... whether simply role playing ... or actual combat. We even talked about an ending involving gladiatorial combat, etc. (or just doing that for fun at the conclusion of the story arc ... and doing a little fun awards session, etc.).

I'm resigning myself to the fact that I'd probably have to do this via 4E ... as that is just the big system on the block these days and would be the easiest one to get multiple groups engaged in. Though in my mind  it would perhaps be even more interesting to try this with a sci-fi game of some kind ... Star Wars ... Dark Heresy ... etc.

Ideas? Thoughts? Suggestions?

Ok Second Idea ...

A galaxy spanning Warhammer 40K campaign ...

In a similar fashion to the linked RPG campaign idea in the old epic BS sessions back in Las Vegas ... we talked alot about running some big 40,000 campaigns. We actually pulled off several successful mini-campaigns of between 4 and 6 sessions with anywhere between 4 and 10 players. But it was just games of 40K with an over arching storyline. Almost a round robin tourney if you will. Those were fun and we'll probably do those sorts of things still ... but I'm talking about a huge rolling campaign with a little more grit, and satisfying strategic complexity. We talked about coming up with an RTS style system ... nothing insane ... but a resource based system and doing a full on war that would involve intrigue, deception, resource management, etc. Our old idea was to form between 3 and 5 "teams"  or "factions" of players ... at least two people per team. The big concept here too was ... NO LAME ALLIANCES ... no Nids fighting alongside Necrons just for convienience sake ... no contrived Chaos manipulating Orks ... we wanted to do solid teams that would work with one an other by standard fluff ... again no contrived "well this one time in one short story in issue 82 of White Dwarf ..." type of crap. That is how most crappy store big games go ... and none of us wanted that kind of thing ... again the idea here was optimum fun and engagement for all of the players. We talked about keeping the teams even  ... but we even talked about having larger and smaller teams to emulate a stronger feeling of the 40K universe. For example larger Imperial, Ork, Nid and maybe even Chaos teams might be in order ... smaller Eldar, Dark Eldar, Tau, Necron teams would be in order. 

We talked about running the campaign with a defined duration ... 20 turns or something (a turn representing each team taking their full group of actions ... whatever those might be). We talked about incorporating various GW 40K related games ... Necromunda/Kill Team/etc. BFG and perhaps even Dark Heresy/Rogue Trader/Deathwatch (though the latter two systems didn't exist when we had these conversations). I know there are alot of campaigns out there on the net ... the Badab stuff, etc. etc. We were hoping to do something somewhat sleek and not too overly complex ... yet satisfyingly more than just a series of standard 40K games strung together.

Ideas? Thoughts? Suggestions?

I.M.P.S - Imperial Military Personal Stories

Hey since I'm on an old news Star Wars kick ... I just thought I'd share something that I ... being always woefully behind the times ... just stumbled upon (thanks to real Star Wars fans in the RPG group). Hopefully most of you have seen the Star Wars cops spoof that came out way back in 1997 ... apparently these are some of the same folks who put that out ... but this is on a larger scale with some pretty solid effects, etc. for a fan project. Anyway check these links: IMPS offical site and Youtube.

The Force Unleashed (and Part II)

Ok ... we'll I've been playing The Force Unleashed again this week ... I guess I've been in a Star Wars mood with the upcoming Saga Edition game we have slated to start this coming weekend. Playing it again has made me ask several questions of the entire Star Wars universe. I guess the first time I played it I just played it ... and didn't really dwell on the storyline. First ... some of you out there might not like this ... but I really like this story line. Yes there are a few "huh" moments in the game. Ok and right here I'm going to say this is an old title ... so no "spoiler" alter or anything ... if people wanted to play it they should have by now. Ok back to the "huh" ... there are many minor ones as with any Lucas product ... but that's ok ... I've never had an issue with that. The only major "huh" moments for me were the pulling down of a star destroyer, the star destroyers in the atmosphere of Kashyyyk at the begining of the game ... and then the shear power that Starkiller has. Personally I can overlook all that ... and happily so ... because this story is a good one and the game was FUN. Was it the best ever ... was every level so awesome I attained enlightenment ... no and no ... but for Lucas Arts I'd say this is towards the top (again just IMO here).

 Beyond the game though to me Star Wars, Raiders, etc. has ALWAYS been about a fun romp ... 1930s serial style ... pulpy action (if not literally like with Raiders ... the overall fun adventure) to keep you on the edge of your seat with campy humor on the side to keep the audience laughing and having a good time. I have no idea what happened with episodes I, II, and III ... I won't waste space here on that ... but this game to me is really a return to the fun. Is it as good as the episode IV, V, VI storyline stuff ... lets not even go there ... so subjective and this is a video game vs. classic films ... your opinion there is as good as mine.

My point here is I just really enjoyed this story and to me it brought things together  in a nice way to tie Episode III in with Episode IV ... it did all that and enhanced the Star Wars universe. I guess after the debacle that episodes I-III represent maybe its just that I'm happy to see anything decent come out in the Star Wars universe that doesn't abjectly suck. Anyway I enjoyed playing this game through for the second time and really seriously am looking forward to the second installment ... actually so much so I bought the trade paperback ... that I though was also well done. 

As for the next installment ... I'm wondering how Starkiller is somehow alive again ... prequel? If what I've read online is true ... it might even be a "what if" (Infinities expansion content) plot that never takes place in the cannon universe. I wish the game could possibly look as good as the trailer ... good god ... why can't they just make that a full length film? That was some awesome shit!

Rant O' the week ... the days of yor (and my) 40K!

I miss the days of yor (8 years ago) when there was more discussion online about modeling and painting and debait about the fluff. Now its just page after page of net list o' the month .3 and endless posts intended to incite flames which drive hits *cough* Bell of Lost Shitheads *cough* ... I'm really growing tired of it all.

In 3rd edition a good portion of the GW community had come to the conclusion that ya you can run the flavor of the month list to try to give you an edge but at the end of the day it was all about balance, balance and balance. I AM NOT saying that there wasn't cheese o' rama going on back then (Rhino Rush!) ... but the player attitude seemed to be a little more balanced overall. Maybe its just nostalgia ... I have no statsitcal info ... all I have to go by is my own selective attention. But in talking to many players I know locally and throughout the western US ... they seem to feel this way too. 

I have always liked a slightly competitive aspect that the GW games could take on ... it made for some fun several times a year when you'd get together at the local shop and play against other players. Or if you were lucky enough to be able to make it to a GT somewhere. It was great fun, you'd see really awesomely painted armies (painted by the guy playing it ... not someone in Indonesia or at Blueazzcracktable or Jawasnads.com or whatever). I think the hobby is really in trouble here in the US as its been hijacked by idiot power gamer jerks. The GW games were never about high competition ... they were about enjoyable game play ... investing in an army and being able to enjoy it year after year. Sure you'd add a model here and there every year or so ... but you knew when you bought an army that you could be playing it five years from then ... still able to enjoy it. That is still true IMO (or I'd just ebay off all my old stuff right now) but the attitude of huge numbers of players now is really horribly misguided. They seem to want the GW games to be Magic the Gathering in pewter and plastic ...

More and more people I know are totally rejecting store gaming and I even know a few people who have finally said ... screw GW all together. They've tossed in the towel or moved to WHFB or just dropped minis for the time being. It seems that the only thing people care about anymore is just "what will win at a tourney" ... and all I see is endless "mine is bigger than yours" posing in places like Bell of lost Jerks, etc. The smoke more bowls guys crack me up ... as does the Adeptacan't set. Those guys are all from big clubs ... they use group tactics at tournaments, etc. and its disgraceful and lame. That is not what the GW games are about ... yet from reading their pages, etc. you'd think they were GW insiders at the center of the GW universe. I'm surprised GW puts up with it ... but apparently lazy GW actually caters to them. I have heard out west here of some other similar groups getting thousands of dollars in free stuff from GW (which they plunder for their own armies, etc. .... its supposed to be prize support, etc.). GW really just seems to have abandoned the US (at least the western US) in terms of any kind of official support. What appears to have filled the vacuum is a collection of power gaming assholes who are doing more to destroy the hobby than they are of preserving it. It isn't a hobby to many of them ... hell they are putting out PDFs that you can purchase that will teach you how to "WIN at 40K!" ... woot! They are linking their buddies blue table style paint service! Woot!! They are advertising for whatever net GW rip off ... erm ... spin off ... company of the month will pay them. It is all sleezy and lame and has totally degraded the feel of the GW hobbies in the US. For those who don't remember the "golden" years of the late 90s and early 2000s ... you'll see what I'm saying and scoff and think I'm an idiot who doesn't know what he is talking about ... fine ... if you never experienced a better GW hobby then I would expect nothing less. But for those who were playing back then, those who attended the GTs and the old style gamesdays (BITZ BY THE OUNCE!!) ... really point by point explain how things are better now ... if you feel that way.

As for the endless list ranting and raving to me its simple ... still ... its the same as its always been. First if you are looking to be a competitive player with the GW games ... maybe you should find a real competitive endeavor that actually is designed to test ones mettle ... if your a pencil necked geek who has not an athletic bone in your body ... there is still chess for example.  You get good enough at that and you'll be world famous. Get ranked as a chess player and then I'll be impressed. Or pick up a sport ... even if your not super athletic there is always ... golf ... skeet shooting ... competitive rally racing ... etc. etc. do something you really have to work at and acquire skill to get good at.

GW games are not ultimate tests of intelligence as many would seem to be asserting. They are simple miniature games with some decent depth but by no means are they so difficult to master that people should be thumping their chests acting like big shots when they manage to beat some 15 year old kid somewhere or even if they win at a GT or at some indie club run event (even if its big). For one thing the bigger the event the less accurate the "winners" are ... when you have 100+ players and your just doing a a 5 round tourney ... you can't accurately pick a "winner" ... who has the best painted stuff is highly subjective (and at many tournaments isn't even being considered anymore ... thanks Blue Coffee Table assholes!). Its funny how the big club guys seem to win more often at these events ... you see the BoLZ guys winning at adepticant etc. Hmmm ... wonder why? Its very subjective and the GW GTs were like that too ... you'd see the guys who knew the GW "judges" (usually just a 8 buck an hour store monkey ... who was more concerned about what strip club they'd be going to that night than what was going on with the tourney)

The "competitive" players are just people who play more often than the average player ... not a single 40K "champion" has a judge watching his every game to make sure he doesn't cheat or his opponent doesn't hose himself via a bad rules call, etc. That being the case how can they really be a "champion" ... they aren't ... see mini games require a gentleman's agreement from the get go. You and your opponent have to agree to play honorably against one an other in a fashion akin to a duel. But its even more "honor system" because you don't have a second standing their watching the match to ensure its all according to the rules. Its just you and your opponent. But we all know that it is all to easy for people to cheat if they want to ... you buy some ebay always rolls a six dice and toss those out when you really need to hit ... you do some elastic tape measuring when you need it when your opponent isn't looking ... you take advantage of a player who doesn't know the rules for your army as well as they should by cheating ... and on and on. Its just super easy to cheat. The ultra competitive guys know this and they do it and don't care ... and they win at the GTs and Adepticant etc. I'm not saying every winner of those events is a cheating jerk ... but come on ... a high % of those guys are and we all know it. So ... is that a good group for everyone to aspire to? Well in the days of old ... there weren't as many BoLPG and Jawa's nads and Sheep boyz out there teaching everyone how to be jerks ... but now the internetz seems to be chock full o' douchbags ... when it comes to 40K.

Again all name calling and ranting aside ... in my experience many of the "best" tourney players are simply more aggressive and know when they can cheat and get away with it. I've seen it time and time again form the GT level events to the local store RTT level stuff. Being that these events are not heavily sanctioned and closely monitored its all just for fun ... and that is the spirit in which it should be undertaken ... yet based on how people seem to be viewing it now it seems that huge numbers of players out there are missing the point entirely. Thumping their chests about how awesome they are or their list is ... they are missing the point ... and who cares right? I care because it is a horrible cancer upon the hobby as a whole. If I was a shop owner I'd be stamping that stuff out if I saw it cropping up in my local community. It is bad for business. So many new players out there who are just getting into the hobby turn to the internet for advice on how to play the GW games and how to conduct themselves and they land on the Bell of Lost Powergamers ... and bada bing ... that is how they think the GW games are played.

GW games have shined traditionally because they are reliable, year after year players can enjoy their army. It is NOT Magic the Gathering, it is not a collectible flavor of the month type game ... yet many of the BoLS set seem to be wanting it to morph into that. They endless rant about statistics ... they math chart how some stat line in a unit will give them a .3% advantage ... etc.  ... ya if your going to adeptacant you might need to find that .3% edge that whatever math-hammer combo gives you ... but for normal gamers ... pick something that works for you and give it a chance. Play it over the course of several games, really get a feel for the strategy of the list and then adjust accordingly. That mindset has fallen by the wayside ... the play for the love of the game ... play what you think is fun who cares if you win every game attitude seems to have diminished and been replaced by "BUY MY PDF and you will WIN EVERY GAME! Act now its only 19.99!!" ... GW lets this crap keep going unchecked and they are going to poison the well entirely.

Sad times indeed ... BOOOOO Bell of Lost Idiots! Booooo Way of Saim Jackass! Booooo Jawnadz Z Master Smooth's of the world! You losers are ruining the game for everyone!! I've stopped following BoLZ and any of the other blogs that are similar ... I hate that side of the hobby. For the sake of the actual hobby I hope that GW returns to actually support their own product in the US again ... if not ... I might even be leaving the  GW hobby myself. As painful as that would be ... there are other more pure GAMES out there that are simply that ... something people do just to have fun.

Hopefully sanity prevails and the GW games that many of us have loved for a long, long time ... are preserved in the spirit that they were created.(Names changed in this rant to protect the guilty)

FREE Paper heroes!

Hey just a quick heads up on something that is flying around the blog-o-sphere ... and that is good ole One Monk Miniatures is offering ALL of their paper heroes for FREE ... yup ... FREE!!! For those of you who use paper heroes. I prefer traditional minis ... but sometimes ... for cons ... when I'm going to run a game at someone elses house ... I can see the merit in them. Anyway hit that link and download away ... the creator of the line has freely given his work to us to enjoy! Three cheers for One Monk

United We Stand Divided We Fail ...

My Role Playing Game Pledge of Allegiance

I pledge my best efforts to have fun, to learn the rules to the best of my ability and to not take things that happen in the game personally and bring them out of the game. One game under the Game Master with liberty and justice for all.


Ya ya ... I know ... kinda cheesy. Yet if only every game lived up to that simple rip off of a 108 year old  oath  ... sigh ... if only