The Turning Wheel

So Thursday last week I dropped down to the Post Office early doors to pick up my great big package of Armada.

Whilst I was in town I had a bumble about, picked up a latte and strolled into WHSmith looking for potential new reading material. As is the custom I had a browse through Wargames Illustrated and Miniature Wargames, primarily as a blast from the pass.

Back in the day (10-15 years ago) I was an avid reader always looking for the next period / theatre / scale from skirmish to Grand Armee, literally at the time, in our triumvirate gaming group.

What struck me was how much my hobby has changed since that time. I later realised that it was actually I and my circumstances that had changed and that my hobby had simply morphed in my own image. I'm sure this must be a common misconception? Back then I worked for Gee-Dub and in hindsight more than likely pursued historical gaming as a diversion from the day job, along with alternatives such as Warmachine and Hordes. That is after all the purpose of a hobby?

Moving on, employment and otherwise, in time has seen me gravitate back to my first love of sci-fi / fantasy but without without ever returning to the "scene of the crime". As with so many of us there's a LOT of games that I've played before I arrived at my "Triple Shot" that has worked pretty well for the last little while.

These days I have a couple of golden rules that seem to have pretty much written themselves;

1. Is it Fun? As simple as "do I enjoy playing it", as complex as does it have a depth of mechanic and strategy to keep me engaged and keep me coming back for more.

2. Would I go to a competitive event? By this I don't mean win but hold my own, learn etc in a positive manner. Infinity struggled for me on this front. Once you reduce your gaming circle for safety I think that's writing on the wall time.

3. Hobby, Hobby, Hobby? I'm a hobbyist before being a gamer. Can I customise through modeling, painting etc? Netrunner is an anomaly here outside of deck construction and sleeves but it's huge meta is variation in itself and playing straight out if the pack is a major strength.

It's been an interesting transformation, in hindsight. I was never much of a card gamer. A bit of Magic a long time back and then Warhammer Invasion, which I've still got, as a replacement for Fantasy. Now I can't seem myself ever not playing Netrunner and the new Cthulu Mythos card game from FFG is hugely tempting.

As a result of my gaming shift I have less opportunity for modelling and painting I do spend a lot more time actually playing games. I still find projects for myself but army painting hasn't happened in quite sometime. The introduction of a lot more boardgames has compounded this also. I kind of miss it but not badly.

Anyway I've rambled enough for now ;) Onwards and upwards?

Event Horizon # 4

So the end of a long week off. Tradition dictates a wrap-up post.

The last couple of days I've played a few games with Rich who also took me SUP-ping, stand up paddling Monday morning. We'd played a couple of games of Halo on Friday. I got a bit more into it and won both of our very close games. I'd quite happily play it again. After SUP it was Duck, Duck, Go which was pretty much all I could, or wanted, to handle. Fantastic game!

It's been a good week off,  playing plenty of games and eventually getting round to some painting on the last day. It's kind of been the point to not have a specific project this time round and recharge the gaming battery a bit. A hackneyed phrase but the change has been as good as a rest and I'm keen to get stuck into Armada. Rich kindly donated me a bunch of ships so I've got plenty to be getting on with.

Deciding to go full broadside I've blacked in the bases, including all the card piece edges, and got basecoats on the Imperial capitol ships. I have plans to use tiger stripe and dazzle camo schemes on them. I see them as a very rag-tag outer rim force. Ill crowbar Thrawn in there somewhere, somehow.

Its good to have a positive focus back and by indulging myself elsewhere I've reminded myself why I'm playing the games I do. X-Wing will always be there but Netrunner and Armada will be my focus for a while.

The triumvirate system is still working for me, just need a touch of readjustment :)

Event Horizon #3

Hello again.

So Wednesday I headed down to Warboar in Bromley for a day's gaming with a long time mate, Alan, and also to pick up some FFG prize kits for club events. We had a good chat about all sorts, including our time working together for the big Gee-Dub, but fairly obviously plenty of hobby.

Fairly spontaneously I prevaricated as to my recent gaming woes and came to the conclusion that my self-imposed "Rule of Three" probably hadn't helped in some ways.  All this whilst Alan set up Rebellion along with sage nodding and occasional supportive throat noises. It occurred that most gamers are notorious magpies leaping from one game / system to another, often hoarding multiple half completed projects in protective coatings of dust. I had dared to challenge my hard gained affliction and fallen foul of my own good intentions.......

Maybe nothing quite so drastic but variety is the spice of life and with so many, MANY, quality offerings out there its a good release to dabble on a regular basis as much to remind yourself why your staple games are so. Even better if you can try before you don't buy through mates, clubs or board games cafes such as Warboar / Paradice.

My considered review of Rebellion is that it's a good game, FFG after all and I rather enjoyed trolling around as the Imperial fleet crushing the Rebellion wherever I found them. After forcing and winning a major engagement I did eventually locate the Rebel base on Ryloth, but not before leaving Coruscating open to a Rebel terror cell. Forced into a last desperate assault my favourable all game dice failed me and the Rebellion triumphed.

I'd definitely play again but I'm unlikely to ever part with cash for the privilege as I don't have to. Shared resources amongst a group of gaming buddies is a given. I'm off to do the same today with Rich. It's the lack of variation that hasn't helped my, first world, gaming issues and this week is dealing with that nicely.

I also picked up my Armada package from the Post Office yesterday and fairly obviously supplemented at Warboar whilst I was there, rude not to. As such the weekend will feature a bit of overtime in the shipyards for a potential deployment at the club on Tuesday.

Brace yourselves ; )

Event Horizon #2

I'm back!

Only fair that you might thought otherwise as I've hardly been overly active on here over the past couple of months. As I've mentioned recently X-Wing has found a natural dip for me since Yavin. Infact gaming as a whole has, for various reasons.

Going back to Nationals the point of reporting by photo was to try and concentrate on the whole weekend as an experience rather than on the X-Wing Nationals. Which such an event the road-trip, early morning fry ups, nights out and your gaming buddies are all a big part of it.

For the weekend the drive up was hard work and then I realised that there was no trade show, my misunderstanding. We then discovered that the side events that looked so good on paper had tiered prizes, making the good stuff very difficult to win.

For Nationals I was running my triple Imp Ace list, that I had a dozen games with. I was flying competitively casual as usual;
Round 1: was a dual ordnance K-Wing hard counter that I'd not seen before. Just lost this one but a great opponent who I chatted with all weekend.
Round 2: was triple X-Wing that I flew to beat despite mediocre dice. My opponent was less than fun.
Round 3: was dual ordnance K-Wing again. I lost hard inside 30 minutes. Nice guy though.
Round 4: was Ryad / Crack Swarm. Fantastic guy. I flew poorly for most of the game but somehow got away with it.
Round 5: was against guy I'd played previously and has been my worst opponent ever. He plays mind games, I wasn't in the mood and the dice finished me off.
Round 6: was against an 11 year old with dual Decimators. Neither of us had any fun.

I got a bit grumpy after round 3, got it back together for round 4, lost it for 5 and got perspective back to finish 3-3. It was a weird event with 120 odd players and a top 32. I got, unusually, grumpy knowing that I'd missed the cut by round 3. I was wondering why I was staying two nights in Birmingham for a regional sized event that could easily be on my doorstep. What brought the weekend back for me was my friends within the X-Wing community and the determination to make the most of the weekend.

In honesty I wasn't alone in such thoughts as many players I know well voiced familiar feelings. Jumpmasters and Palp Aces dominated proceedings once again. I've waxed on about how it's hard to find a "casual" event these days. One guy I know well has declared that he may no longer attend major events. Hyperbole and first world problems I know but it's still an issue and its not gking away.

For me I've realised that I've struggled to enjoy my gaming recently. X-Wing has become very competitive and I've been falling out of love with Infinity. It's been pick up games as and when recently without too much purpose, which explains my lack of activity on here.

The solution is simple, make the change;
1. Trade Infinity in for Armada. It's a move I've been contemplating for a while. Playing a game and a half over the weekend simply triggered a decision already made. Facebook buy & sell groups have done the necessary.
2. Prioritise Netrunner. Make Wednesday nights at Secret Weapon a regular thing and play as much as possible. Enjoy regaining ground on the learning curve.
3. Fly Casual. X-Wing still maintains it's place but fly some different stuff, plenty of Scum. Maybe right off the competitive scene for the rest of the year or until the appetite returns.

Right now it's Armada to re-spark the figures, on and off the paint station, with Netrunner to compliment and X-Wing to fill in the gaps. A different perspective and something new to blog about :)

That's the Kicker!

Hello people,

As I've banged on about previously I try and strictly limit my Hobby these days in the names of efficiency and effectiveness, which at times seems to be contrary to the point but does actually reap positive effects the vast majority of the time.

Fairly obviously this hasn't always been the case and despite various purges of recent years I still, as we all do, own a pile of games and figures that might have hit the table once or twice before being relegated to the eponymous Lead Mountain (of Shame).

KickStarter has been a regular temptation for many. Having dallied I have successfully weaned myself away from this Pagan of False Promise preferring instead to hold to the Old World notion of paying and actual shop for actual product. Heresy I know!

One of my previous "investments" was Heroquest 25 run by GameZone, originally on KickStarter only to move to a similar Spanish platform after various IP issues. I followed and laid out just over £100 for the full monty. 16 months later I've just received another e-mail from the Spanish platform,  who have been excellent, as a result of a vote regarding how to take the woefully delayed project forward. In short GameZone are going to asked to submit to a full audit of the project as they haven't been overly forthcoming recently.

Like Monday's cat I, and many other backers, have been "Hanging on in there" with few options to do anything else. Imagine then my multiply mixed feelings when GW announced the re-release / reimagining of Hero Quest........



Yes there is a strong element of sour grapes here. As I've previously blogged I've moved away from GW as much, if not more, than they've moved away from me. I feel that they deserve praise for making the kind of seismic changes that they have, whether you agree with then or not. The recent move to nostalgic big box releases is sensible business, especially as entry level product.

That in itself is rather besides the point. I backed Game zone as an alternative to GW and as a hark back to my "golden age" of gaming. Hindsight is a wonderful thing :)

So, another lesson or two driven home which is just as well with Blood Bowl and Adeptus Titanicus on the horizon. I never had Titanicus as a kid so surely that one's allowed ;)

Hmm, back to X-Wing :)

It's only a GAME.....

.....so put up a real good fight!

A touch of deja vu on this one, on several fronts, as I'm tapping this one on the train to a casual Netrunner Day Job event at Loading Bar in Stratford. As previously promised to myself I've put together a fluffy Edward Kim deck and tweaked my Argus build to include some traps as I really enjoyed playing them last week at the Half Draft.

Despite being advertised as super casual I have my doubts that it will be though having discovered on Friday that most of the London scene are at another Day Job event in Brighton I feel far more relaxed.I'm not really looking to be overly competitive today, just get some games with different stuff, but I'd far prefer to be at least able to hold my own.

It's been a bit of a theme for me recently. It's my first X-Wing Regional next Sunday and it's kind of crept up on me to the point that I'm still debating what list to take. With Triple Jumpmaster dominating the meta there's several builds I just don't feel I can take. That in itself is an interesting reaction to me to the point that I'm close to just taking whatever I fancy getting some time with and view it as a day out playing games for the sake of it.

Being firmly ensconced in the competitive X-Wing scene that's a different tack from my play last year which was predominantly geared towards preparing for major events. 24th and 10th at UK and Scandenavian Nationals was the result, which I'm pretty proud of. This year so far has been about rounding out my play with different builds and ships. I impressed myself with Oicunn / Soontir recently and have enjoyed learning to fly the Phantom.

 

It's been really nice to take a step back a touch though at the same time looking to improve my play in a more indirect manner. Working my way up the Netrunner learning curve has been a similar experience, ditto Infinity, so why not keep on keeping on, especially as Ive been having a lot of fun doing so?

I suppose the honest answer is that of expectation, mainly that which I put upon myself, and my percived reputation within those gaming communities. I'd like to think that I'm known as a good player who will give a good game on a number of levels. Being part of a high end gaming group can magnify that at times.

Additionally, prize kit supported FFG Organised Play events are so prevalent now that they are the norm to the point of having become an expectation. If you want to run an event you need to have prizes. Having alt art cards and tokens don't create an arms race of Wizkids proportions but it's still there.

There have been a few store credit X-Wing events waving some fairly large amounts about. Some reports are that it's kept more casual gamers away, expecting an invasion of the WAAC pack. I feel that I can see both sides of it, most top end guys don't need the extra motivation, which kind of cuts both ways. I've recently heard of an event offering £1'000 cash which seems to be the antithesis of the reason I play games. For me personally it makes me feel uneasy about attending such an event, more from the point of the organisers motives rather than that of the players.

So, currently I'm on the train home and needn't have worried at all. The afternoon was pretty much a club night. We weren't charged the advertised entry fee but still got an alt art Political Operative, scarily apt.  The rest of the prize kit didn't come out and we organised ourselves with pick up games and plenty of teaching going on.

For myself Mr Kim did better than I thought he might whilst Argus needs a bit more focus. Even better I got to know a few more guys an locate a couple of regular groups.

To be honest that's the best result I could have had. Well pleased :)

The Other Side of the Fence

Hello people,

With the UK X-Wing community exploding over the inferred effect of Intentional Draws on competitive play and the "Fly Casual" Name and Shame backlash I felt somewhat inspired to muse upon the following.

In the past three weeks I've TO'd two events at Enfield Gamers. We ran X-Wing for 18 and last weekend 8 for Netrunner. Both were pretty casual events, as intended, though both featured FFG winter prize kits with a few extras added into the prize pool. I enjoyed organising and running both events and it was nice to get a different view of "competitive play".

So as much I've previously gone on about my outlook as a player I thought I should cover the other side of the coin. I'm going to cover two related strands; the event itself and the role of the TO.

With the ever growing popularity of X-Wing it's not difficult to find yourself an event most, or every, weekend. Many are are regularly run by groups / shops that now have an established reputation and quite often thier own player base and meta. Gaurdians of Tyr run a series of events throughout the year as a championship. Other are more one off and as such are often a touch more casual.

The Hobby attracts different people for different reasons and events / tournaments give the opportunity to realise those intentions. Myself I specifically differentiate between events and tournaments. They may coincide but they don't have to, at least for me. X-Wing is my stronger game and I attended four Store Champs this year with differing intentions. A couple I took my stronger lists too, others I took new lists to give them a good work out.

Back at my point I feel that an event is there to facilitate the differing intentions of those attending within a theme, i.e. having fun playing X-Wing. How each player achieves that is up to them, though preferably without impinging on other players too negatively.

As an aside an event can also promote The Hobby, the game itself, the store or club associated to it etc.

As such I feel that the role of the TO is to facilitate all of that not just to kerp score, enforce rules and make judgements. I also took on the role of compere / host as it's all part of the day out for people and hopefully builds the club's reputation. 

For both events the last thing I wanted was a Bye. As such I didn't play X-Wing but did with Netrunner to keep numbers even. I've attended a couple of events when the TO has fully competed, on one occasion CREATING a Bye, and another time coming first to take home the top prize. Hard not to go home with a sour taste as a paying player in those situations.

Today I was back as a player for a Netrunner Half Draft event. Pretty casual, great venue, prizes for all and plenty of games. What's not to like?

Happy Days :)

Recharging the Cycle

Hello people,

Bit of a rest for you all as I haven't had too much of value, actual or imagined, to say recently. With the completion of any decent sized project, rare as that is, there is often something of a resultant void to traverse. In my case there has been a period of post Nomad procrastination though I am now in the process of sorting myself out.

I have however been getting plenty of gaming in. This weekend is only the second since the New Year when I won't be gracing any event with my presence. No bad thing either way in multiple contexts.

So, given that I utilise this blog to motivate and organise myself strap yourself in for a Spring State of Gaming Address;

X-WING:

Wave 8 has finally dropped at which point I've been fairly reserved with one each of  Jumpmaster, Mist Hunter and TIE Advanced Prototype. They've joined the repaint queue but I'll finish up the Gozanti and TIE Fos first because I should really.

Gaming wise I've been doing rather well with duel ship builds recently, a perceived weakness of mine, and continued up the Phantom learning curve. All very pleasing :) With a mini break in the tourney schedule I've got a few Scum lists I want to get some table time with.

INFINITY:

Between Corvus Belli's Flamestrike campaign an Campaign Paradiso at the club I've been getting more games recently. I'm still making mistakes and want to make better use if Hacking and Camo. In the same way as with X-Wing I may just need to put in the effort to read up a bit more; rules, forums, bat-reps and keep up with the games.

Over the Bank Holiday I picked up and put together a couple of pieces of scenery, a Troll Trader Fire Station with Rooftop Accessories and a Warmill Alpha Lander.

 

I've had a Troll Trader piece before, the apartment block, and though they're toward the budget end of the spectrum they scrub up pretty well. The fire station comes with open windows and I was hoping to leave them open to use the internal floors. Unfortunately the rather basic box construction made this nigh on impossible. There is no middle floor and very little designed connection between the boxes meating that they don join flushly. So instead it was a seal up and fill job which is a bit of a shame as it's a nice big piece. Lessons learnt, you get what you pay for.

As you might expect it's quite the opposite with the Alpha Lander. It's designed to go together like a dream with full interior detail and even a swinging door. For £15 I think it's an absolute steal. I'll definitely be taking a closer look at the rest of thier range.

The paint jobs are about halfway there and will make or break both pieces so I'll be putting in the necessary time and effort. The obvious Ghostbusters temptation may be far too much to resist :)

NETRUNNER:

This is the one game that I haven't played until a cube draft Thursday night just gone. I've put together another couple of decks and basically I just need to find some more games. There's an East London scene on a Wednesday night that I've been meaning to get to for some time now, just need to make it happen.

So, slightly scary as it is I've actually been trying to get organised with a paint queue and a pile of fleet, army, deck lists worked and printed out. I'm also keen to start booking up the next batch of events, a couple a month should suffice :)

Time to just get on with it really; )

Byes Don't Count

Hello people,

Now I'm not religious, stay with me, more vaguely spiritual in a karmic sort of way. The reason mention this is because it's a fitting segway from my last post about being up in the nosebleeds.

Yesterday a bunch if us headed down to Warboar / Paradice for what was my fourth and final X-Wing Store Champs. Determined to fly casual I took a Bossk Boba list;

Bossk: Predator, Mangler Cannon, Tactician, Outlaw Tech, Engine Upgrade
Boba: Vet Instincts, Autoblaster, Engine Upgrade, Inertial Dampners

That Boba build I've flown a lot and has done well for me, Bossk is very new. In short I flew like a bit of a muppet for the first two games and then dice finished me off. Round 3 I collected the bye,.....which was somewhat chastening.

It did however give me the chance to think about what I was doing wrong and watch another Boba / Slaver game. In short I needed to be more aggressive setting up the joust with Boba and snipe with Bossk....so I did.

Round 4 I lost again but very closely. Round 5 I finally pulled a tight win, 100-75, against a great guy who had played a total of 9 games before ours. Round 6 was 100-75 again against an opponent as experienced as myself.

So technically I went 3-3 again, though this time at the bottom of the MoV tree rather than at the top, but as far as I'm concerned Byes Don't Count ;) The irony, however,was not lost on me. On the journey home, with obligatory post event analysis, it was actually quite funny.

I don't fly two ship builds and it's something I wanted to work on. I learnt a lot in that respect and also about this build. Bossk is a beast late game but Boba is just unlikely to ever get there. It needs work. On both counts it's working happy to put in.

The main point however, again, is expectation related. Some days it won't go your way for a lot of reasons. The key is how you deal with it.

It's only a game......right? ;)

Welcome to Nosebleed City

Hello people,

Last weekend was another double event with Gaurdians of Tyr's X-Wing Store Champs on the Saturday and a Netrunner Winter Kit at Dark Sphere on the Sunday. The week off immediately afterwards is not entirely unconnected :)

Saturday I ran Vader Crack Swarm and felt the "click" that I'd been waiting for to really connect with it. I started on the top tables and stayed thier all day.

My brain finally meshed with the list as I realised the need to control the first engagement and fly the necessary approach to get it. In short after four rounds I was 3-1 up with very strong MoV, the loss genuinely due to horrific green dice.

As such expectation of making the top 8 cut reared it's unwelcome head with 2 rounds to go. I didn't feel pressure but suddenly it was a possibility.

Game 5 was against an Imperial Aces / Palp list that went on to final victory, the top 8 was stuffed full of them. A mis-set dial on approach knocked me off plan and I failed to recover sufficiently. Still a fairly close loss.

Going into the final game I knew I had to get a big win to progress. I also knew it would be the same for my opponent. Thankfully I was paired up with a good guy I've played a few times before so I knew it would be a decent game whatever the result. In the end a minor mistake on approach allowed dice to decide things against me. No complaints.

My opponent went through in 8th while I suddenly ended up 3-3. It really does get that tight up at the nosebleeds and it's a reminder that at that level the hours spent honing your list and play can make all the difference to tip things in your favour, assuming that's your thing...

Sunday I headed down to Dark Sphere for a Netrunner Winter Kit. I was surprised that there were only 12 of us until I was reminded that Leisure Games had run thier Store Champs on Sat. Oh and it was Mother's Day!

As such there weren't too many of the top end faces about but I pulled one of them in the first round. We'd played the Saturday before and split, both winning as Corp, and it was the same story again. He ran Jinteki Replicating Perfection and it's a match up I struggle with. A bit more learning required.

Moving on I got the rub of the playmat a few times and somehow won both ways rounds 2 and 3 to find myself on 10 Prestige. That was already my best result ever but suddenly I was in a final round shootout.

This turned some heads and once again invited expectation, mainly that I was going to get utterly hosed, but the potential was there and dealing with that is important. I've since found out that my opponent, who smashed me at our first event, is ranked 5th in the UK which I'm glad I didn't know at the time. That didn't stop him getting the lowdown on my decks from my first opponent who looked rather flustered went I overheard him doing so.

They didn't need to worry as his Noise / Virus deck steamed into my slow start and never took its boot from my neck. Against his Near Earth Hub / Astro deck I did at least play enough of a game to make him sweat, I rather enjoyed that ;), until he took the game to go undefeated for the day.

He was running two very strong decks and obviously had plenty of experience with them. We kind of chatted about the strength of NEH and how to counter. "I don't really know" was his main response. A couple of days later I realised that the mill effect of a Noise / Viral deck would cause it trouble....

In the end I finished 3rd and won myself an Anarch deckbox, which was hugely pleasing and something that will hold a special significance to me as a symbol of how far I've come on in the game, in the manner that I wanted to. 

For me, that's what it's all about. The vitory pizza was particularly tasty :)

Filthy, Filthy??

Hello people,


Last Saturday I spent the day down at Paradice Cafe / Warboar in Bromley. Now this is nothing new, in almost any respect, as I'm something of a dedicated regular to the X-Wing and Netrunner tournament scene. It's also an excellent geek venue and Nigel was playing in thier Armada store championship.


What was different was that I was meeting an old mate to catch up with each other. We're old gaming buddies from many, many years back having worked at GW together a previous lifetime.


We spent all day playing Netrunner, aka Filthy Cards, trying out decks for a set of upcoming events but it was more the setting to the day rather than the day itself. It was a good reminder of the social side of the hobby that can sometimes get overrun in the rush for the top tables at any given event.
It is after a major part of why I play the games I play, the community and the individuals within it. As I'm sure I've mentioned before I'm pretty anti WAAC whilst still wanting to play good, challenging games against good, challenging opponents. To my mind there's a fine line involved as much as it's each to their own.


The problem is that people often don't leave each to their own and WAAC but it's nature can easily stomp over good old fashioned fun as its louder due to its general insecurities. Having said that I can't resist an internal fist pump when WAAC comes a cropper and find's itself having a bad day of things ;)


In short it was a very good day out and doubly nice not to be keeping score of wins. That will come tomorrow as myself and Alex head up to Northampton for Gaurdian's Netrunner Store Champs. A 25% win ratio remains the target :)

Expect the Unexpected

Hello people,

So last weekend was the first couple of events of the New Gaming Year with X-Wing down at Warboar followed by Netrunner at Dark Sphere.

Saturday I was running a Scum Kath, twin TLT Y-Wing list that I'd been wanting to try out for a while. Going 3-2 I pulled 9th of 35 which is my benchmark these days. Of my losses one was stolen from me at the last while I flew particularly poorly for the other.

Sunday I had far lower expectations amongst a field of 90 for 6 rounds of Netrunner. My nominal target was 4 wins, from a possible 12, at which point the 1 I came away with was far less disappointing than you might have thought.

After any event it's always post analysis on the way home and last weekend it was no different. What was a tangent was a discussion about expectation.

As I've previously mentioned, without trying to boast, I've played an awful lot of X-Wing with a lot of very good players which has in turn helped me to become a very good player. I expect to be able to take an untested list to any event and win the majority of my games.

The point discussed was does a higher level of expectation negatively impact your enjoyment of a day's gaming? If you don't live up to your own expectations then there is that possibility. Is that also the slippery slope into the Win At All Costs brigade?

As I've blogged before I'm very anti WAAC but at the same time I want to be competitive and play competitive games. As bad as it might be to say I don't enjoy easy wins as much as hard fought wins. These days with X-Wing there are plenty of lists I won't run because I feel that I won't be competitive. I'm often looking for something a bit left field that can still hold its own and with decent flying capitalise on its left field nature to do better than maybe it should. That's my thing!

Thinking it through I also think that expectation comes from an informed point of view. With Netrunner I've still got an awful lot to learn about pretty much everything. My gameplay is coming on nicely but my knowledge of the meta and how certain decks, cards, archetypes etc interact needs a lot of polishing. As my level of knowledge / experience is  relatively low does it follow that my expectations follow suit?

Wandering home on Saturday I was looking at little tweaks in tactics rather than list. Wandering home on Sunday I was looking at a lot more. I was looking at where and why my decks had struggled. My NBN didn't win because I never had the kill option and couldn't keep Runners out for long enough. Kitt struggled once multiple ICE went up on R&D and scoring servers. As a result I'm looking to run some different archetypes and really looking forward to doing so.

At the end of the weekend I'm really enjoying being at different ends of the spectrum for each game and isn't that what really matters? ;)

The Road to LEAD MOUNTAIN......

.....is not so much paved with good intentions as much as it is childish glee and greed bent in all angles to somehow reach adult justification.

As it kind of fits the season, though I'd be banging on no matter the date, I shall explain;

Some many months ago a few of us were dabbling with some Pulp gaming, lead mainly by Jon who directed our gazes to various manufactures including Pulp Figures who have a number of very fine offerings. I then discovered that as something of a side project PF's main man, Bob Murch, was also working on some particularly lovely woodland Indians for the Huron / Iroquois war.

I drooled over these figures during many a lunch break as I'm a sucker for AWI and the Black Powder skirmish thing. The Last Mohican has to be a Top 10 film for me. They're also really nice, lovingly crafted figures. Having previously read a bit around the subject I found myself a copy of Orenda on Bob's suggestion and enjoyed it thoroughly.

I've dabbled with the period previously on a number of occasions, most recently as my St Peytersburg project being a Sleepy Hollow village to range through any historical genre I fancied. Scenery was built, many figures were based and base-coated, some figures were even painted. Musket and Tomahawk was purchased and played. Mordheim was ported across to provide Zombies vs Redcoats. STUFF happened....until it didn't anymore as the unholy trinity of time, money and opponents, aka reality, confined everything into a variety of storage boxes.

So imagine my delight when I discovered that those figures had been developed into Flint and Feather as part of Crucible Crush. All of a sudden it's a package deal of figures and rules all wrapped up in a starter box set. These days, to me, easy access into a genre / period is a big deal. Old school demanded that you do all the legwork yourself and to an extant you got a greater sense of accomplishment, assuming you actually got there. More and more these days entry point boxed sets are coming onto the market.

When I worked for Gee-Dub I did pretty well from the maxim; "Sell the Hobby not the Product" because once you're into the hobby you sell yourself the product.  For myself, and I'm sure many others, it's more about limiting myself and despite the commen sense in that I often rail against it despite the shadow of the mountain over my shoulder.

Kind of half the point isn't it?

M-Athlete

Hello people.

 

Fair warning this is a musings type post. Might be best to source a beverage :)

 

Last Saturday I attended yet another X-Wing event. This one was an inter-club challenge representing the 186. It was a good day out up at Wargames Workshop in Milton Keynes. Including five 75 minute games, travel and breaks it was a 14 hour day. By game 5 I was flagging, same as everyone else, and was triumphantly exhausted during prize giving. No complaints though, quite the opposite :)

 

As a regular tourney player it's something that I'm used to and have learned a few survival techniques. I'm also very familiar with the inside of a gym and run a couple of 10Ks a week. The parallels are all there to be drawn.

 

For a tourney I'll make sure I get in a decent breakfast, often scrambled egg and bacon on toast. I've learned to snack small between games, peanut butter roll or fruit, and try to drink a bottle of water per game, especially as rooms full of gamers warm up rather quickly. I limit my lunch as I used to play poorly first game back otherwise, Circadian rhythem has an effect apparently. So hydration and regular snacking (non sugar to avoid rush and crash), the parralels begin to form.

 

Then, as I was contemplating this post I found this article on the Beeb about the physical effect of sustained mental effort. The article specifically looks at bridge, poker and chess but the same principles applying to any competitive gaming. The important word there is competive because primarily we all play games for fun and escapsim from real life. Competitive gaming offers a different edge to things, something I've rambled on about before an exacts a different toll.

 

With physical training repitition is key to build skill, endurance and stamina. Mental training, in the form of competitive gaming, follows the same mantra. I was interested in the article's claims that chess grand masters can burn 5000+ calories. The stereotypical gamer is either in need of feeding up or a pathalogical salad dodger, though I don't think the stereotype holds these days.

 

Another parrallel is the need for rest days / periods. With a decent number of events and competitions recently I'm beginning to feel the burn. As a release Thursday nights at Dark Sphere I've been playing much more casually. In a couple of weeks there's the Gaurdians of Tyr Team Touranament and I know a lot of people have been getting in plenty of table time for it. It's going to be an excellent day out but afterward I'm going to notch things back a touch. Tomorrow its Warboar in Bromley which many of us are using as an extended practice day.

 

With competitive X-Wing, there's more than one kind of STRESS but at the end of the day its all about the Pew-Pew ;)

From out of Nowhere

Hello people,

Just a quick one. I dropped in on some friends Sunday one of whom is similary geeky, though far more a console gamer than tabletop, and I had a quick flick through his recently purchased copy of SFX.

Much to my surprise the inside front cover was a double page GW advert for Age of Sigmar. Interesting as seemingly yet another major departure for Gee Dubya. I'm guessing that cost some serious shekels.

Flicking through the reviews there was a third page column review entitled "Not your daddy's Warhammer" with a 4 star, from 5, rating. Excuse the blurry shot but I was somewhat taken aback. Hardly an in-depth review and a continuation of the fast, fun, furious bandwagon but a big score none the less. Surely not SFX's normal content I'm guessing that cost some seriously serious shekels!

Sliding by the website there's minimal visibility on the front page for 40K, or anything that isn't Stormcast in honesty.

GW are really going for it at the short-term expense of anything else it would seem. That in itself causes me further confusion about the end-game, other than the 1000 copy limited edition Stormcast Battle-Tome that is. Are things that bad for GW or conversely so much better that they've finally taken the more corporate road.

Meanwhile Grimdark seems to have finally brought down the Old World. For me that's a shame but that's because that's what I grew up with it. I movbed on some years ago and it seem WHFB has finally done the same. If only GW had put so much effort in back then eh?

Top Gun

Hello people,

 

Fair warning this is not just another musings post but also one in which I seemingly big myself up, so pay attention and acknowledge my awesomeness!! ;)

 

Returning from the X-Wing Scandinavian Nationals it has finally sunk in that I'm pretty good at this game and would consider myself an elite player. Without taking an acknowledged meta list and rolling average dice across the event I managed 10th, which is a very good result, predominantly through knowing my list and how to fly it pretty damn well.

 

I've rarely been a high end competitor with most of the games I've played over the years but this one's different. Even though it might not seem it from this post I'm generally far too modest to claim such status when it's appeared. This time it's different ;)

 

I do genuinely mean "appeared" because it was never an intention it just kind of happened though in retrospect I can see why.

 

As with any game I went through the three main steps;
1. Learn the mechanics
2. Learn the faction / army
3. Learn the opposing factions / armies

 

Sounds simple but with each step comes various levels of skill and expertise, deeper levels of understanding.

 

Learning the mechanics isn't just moving figures and rolling dice. At the top end it's also about scenery placement / interaction, deployment, opening moves as much as end game. Neglect the former and your less likely to be about for the latter.

Similarly learning statlines is merely the starting point for a greater appreciation of the synergies between troop choices and how they can combine to form an overarching plan and strategy. It's also as much about pre-empting your opponent as about planning your own manouvres.

As mentioned above this has been an almost accidental process for me and began by playing in a tourney at Dark Sphere. Realising just how close it was to work I started to turn up on a Thursday night. As much as anything that left Tuesdays at Enfield Gamers free for other stuff rather than near constant X-Wing.

 

 There are some very good players at Dark Sphere, predominantly 186 Squadron, and by playing and chatting with those guys on a weekly basis my own game came on in leaps and bounds. It was part osmosis but also that people took the time to discuss builds and tactics with me. From there I developed my own style which is all important as you'll fly best what suits you best.

 

Elite players and elite play groups can often attract bad press. Sometimes it's justified, most times it isn't. Being a very good player and being a WAAC (win at all costs) aren't the same thing. Sometimes they coincide but plenty of WAAC players aren't top players and even fewer are part of an elite play group for that very reason i.e. the inability to play nicely with others.

 

Getting to know the 186 guys they'll give you a hard game but not a hard time. The two are often confused and misinterpreted. I was invited to join after the UK Nationals and was very pleased to do so. It had as much to do with who I am and how I behave rather than how well I push plastic toys around a star mat.

 

Since that time I've experienced various negative comments and reactions to being a member of 186 but they've been outweighed by the positive. There are plenty of other similar groups about (Misfits / Vanguard) and they're all good guys. It's an undoubted truth that once you play at a high level you want those high end games, they're simply far more enjoyable.

 

Tournaments are one way to get that, another is to give newer players a leg up to the same level. The best way to do that is by giving them your best game....without being a dick about it and then chatting things through if they want to. 186 Squadron did that for me and now I'm more than happy to do the same, it's paying it on which us only right.

 

Others don't see or understand that. They see group like 186 in a tournament setting and don't see the rest. When they bitch they can sometimes get a, totally understandable, reaction.

For myself I'm proud to be a part of 186 Squadron and what it actually represents and will defend that to all comers.

 

Meanwhile I played Infinity Tuesday night as part of a club challenge between Enfield Gamers and Dark Sphere's Infinity guys. Jonny is obviously a very good player. Have gave me a good high end game but wasn't a dick about it.

Whilst gaving me a kicking across the table he explained what he was doing and helped me by talking through various tactical options. Whilst winning fairly easily he gave me some good ideas for what I'd do differently in terms of list, deployment and tactics. He didn't have to do that, he could easily have just crushed me, and my spirit, but made the choice not to. Elite player vs WAAC arsehole. Next time we play I hope I can return the favour and give him a more challenging game, we'll both enjoy it far more.

Awesomeness!! ;)

Age of.......Confusion

Hello people,

Brace yourself it's another meandering musings post.

So, as I don't live under a rock I've been watching the community reaction to Age of Sigmar. On the face of it its been pretty polarised with plenty of RAGE to go with the usual froth.

For me it's been more a case of confusion and resultant caution. I'll explain ;)

In honesty I simply don't understand where GW is going with this one. It's been just over 10 years since I left them so I'm sure I'm well out of the loop but I just don't get it. As much as I'm well out of the GW hobby I feel they've made some positive moves going weekly with White Dwarf, End of Times and the Skittari. As much as the demise of Fantasy has been rumoured for sometime I never expected this.....whatever it is!

A set of free to download quick-play mini-skirmish rules without a points system and whacky rules is a HUGE departure from the GW norm. It's almost like they're trying to out Mantic Mantic. Add in the Stormborn as a blatant link into 30/40K and is it really that simple? The most obvious answer is often the most likely and in hindsight I can see the progression with Fantasy Apocalypse, monstrous creatures and arcane scenery. It's almost like it's a return to Realms of Chaos / Lost and the Damned style gaming, almost, and you've got to go back a long way for that.

There's plenty of "opinion" out there but Tabletop Gaming News recently put up an unboxing review that covers all the bases, pardon the pun, without becoming hysterical.

In honesty I understand the RAGE with the apparent total about face after the move to bigger and bigger blocks of rank and file. Given GW's track record of abandoning previous editions and spin offs, Specialist Games anyone?, I feel that I can understand the angst. I'm sure plenty of people will play on with whatever edition they like but it has to come with the knowledge that GW WILL leave them behind. If it were me, which it isn't (thankfully), I'd be more than a bit narked feeling that my investment in the game has just been utterly scrapped for something far far less.....

I'm sure that there's got to be more to come from AoS, you'd damn well hope so, but I've always felt that the Fantasy community regarded themselves a cut above 40K, as a proper wargames, and I doubt they like feeling like they're being dragged down. Lets not even mention the idea of rebasing your whole army :/

For myself I've got enough LOTR orcs to put a force on the table and give it a go. In truth I'm kind of scared to.......I might just like it!  ;)

I shall be watching with quiet(ish) interest........

Rawhide!

Hello people,

Yes it's been a little while so here's one of those end of the week scatter gun round-up posts hopefully with a bit more content than the same old, same old.

This weekend I DIDN'T play X-Wing at all. There was Dave T's Attack Wing event up at Lost Ark today but I was running a 10K around central London. It was rather chilly!

I did play a couple of games of X-Wing at Enfield Gamers on Tuesday in preparation for Dark Sphere this Saturday coming. I ran a chubby swarm of Howlrunner, 4 Academys and two Saber Interceptors as I've promised myself to not run a Decimator three events in a row. In honesty I expect a bit of kicking but also to hone my dogfighting abilities. 

I'm going to call this Project Dunkirk, the miracle of the small ships, as I find it difficult to see past Decimators at the moment. Also the big ship meta seems to play into the hands of swarms.

On Tuesday I list to Dave, as per usual, running a K - turn heavy strategy whilst as failing to identify Cracken as Target 1. I varied my tactics against James, a good tourney player, and his BBHHH list to good effect. The Interceptors manoeuvrability was a bonus late game, as I'd expected. I did also get get the rub of the dice after the usual rough end from Dave.

Meanwhile Project Lambda is ready to hit the tabletop as the second shuttle's repaint is now complete. I'm currently thinking Vader in one with a Fleet Officer in the other. Further upgrades and support is option to various options. Meanwhile I'll be claiming another 4 Painting Points.

To complement Project Dunkirk I've recently picked up two TIE Bombers which I hope to give a run out tomorrow night. It'll keep the plastic crack itch at bay for a while.

On that note Wave 2 of my Dreadball Extreme KS turned up over the weekend, though my motivation to play hasn't quite come with it. I also paid postage and confirmed my delivery details for my HeroQuest 25th pledge......far more like it :)

Anyway, Lambda 232 is a touch newer, cleaner and well loved compared to ST-321 but still in the service of a Splinter Squadron, a rogue group of former Imperial pilots who somehow survived the batttle of Yavin and decided to go "independant". Life on the fringes is hard......

Meta Matters

This is something that had been brewing for a while and is a matter that's very close to my geeky heart. The following is a bit of rant, one born of frustration, but, hopefully, a positive one.

I'm a gamer, I enjoy playing games. I like to win but don't mind if I loose as long as I was able to compete....nicely. Journey not destination. I find it difficult to enjoy playing a game where I've beaten by rules or list. Dice are a different matter. I find it even harder to enjoy a game without any social interaction. 

I want to put out a decent list that works but I'm fluff over cheese. Cheese sticks in my craw and power gaming goads me. I avoid it where I can and deal with it when I can't. It's my / our choice where, when and to a lesser extent who I / we play.

I play for fun, mine and my opponent's, and have been lucky enough to meet many similarly minded geeks. I've enjoyed the vast majority of tournaments but prefer "events". I don't feel the need to explain the difference. Those who this is for already understand, those that don't.....won't.

OP play has been ruining STAW for me along with many others. The virtual cyber knashing, whinging, moaning and posturing has reach a crescendo of the lazy minority on both sides of the debate.

As previously mentioned Dave T has had a positive reaction to his similar experience and I'm very grateful to him. I'll be attending his STAW events at Lost Ark HERE, HERE and HERE. Others have also taken control of this issue for themselves and good on you all. In my view it's the positive response to a negative situation not allowing the minority to overpower the majority.

Following his example I'm putting together a low level STAW escalation campaign. There's already a like minded core ready to play and plenty more out there. I've put it on a tab for your, hopefully positive, feedback.

To steal a tag-line; this is for the players.

I don't tweet but; #MetaMatters #MyMeta

What next?

So,....

With the recent X-Wing repaints snuggled in thier recently acquired KR case I've reached something of a hobby crossroads as I decide "What next?"

It's fair to say that X-Wing is spooling up big time for me and is likely to be my main focus for some time to come. However I'm happy to leave my wishlist for Santa while I wait for Scum & Villainy, which may be a while! So as much as I have a current projects list at the top right of this blog it seems fitting to get back to them and not just for the sake of completion!

Indulging in a rare pre-order of Farcry 4 I'm sure Amazon originally advertised delivery today, and was going to be a major focus of the weekend, but now it's Tuesday. Not the end of the world really,  even if I am sulking slightly!

So back to the WIP tray I go and it occurs that this should be the opportunity to sort out the shoulder patch transfers for the Commandos. I also need to finish the pin markers and sort out some smoke templates. For further housekeeping there's some SAGA  Fatigue markers and more entertainingly the Cave Troll to finish off.

In summary it's that post project blues syndrome with the expectation of Dreadball, Heroquest and my ravening X-Wing crack habit (I can be honest about it at least!). To keep the jitters at bay I've been researching and playing around with a number of Firespray lists finding some useful threads HERE, HERE and HERE.

With the KR case I actually had to really work out what trays I wanted rather than get strong armed into an uncustomisable "custom set". For those who might find it useful the fighter trays (XW3) are great, and half case depth, as well as the lesser known dials tray (N2H), half case depth, which are far more flexible for anyone with even basic scissor skills.