Green Eyed Monster

So.....this;

I'm sure there aren't too many of US out there that haven't noticed this one creeping out into the light. Reaction has been mixed, as you might expect. Mine has been many shades of Green.

Initially I was suspiciously dismissive given my incredibly JADED (do you see what I did there?) veiw of GW over the last 10 year. I tried to be positive about the re-launched White Dwarf but I just couldn't manage it. It simply couldn't outweigh my contempt for the rules and gameplay becoming a race to the lowest commen demoniator of cash for WAAC at the expense of all the canon that enthralled me for so many years.

BREATH OUT.........

As I've mentioned before, GW and I parted many years ago on what I thought were mutual grounds. We'd both moved on to different places in our lives that no longer worked for each other. I play other, better, more grown up and efficient games that suit where I am and what I want from my hobby. GW has churned through any number of wide eyed acolytes during that time and become a proper, grown up company doing things that proper grown up companies do.

But now they've gone and announced the return of what so many of us loved best. Space Hulk now seems like even more of a tease than it became the second time around. I no longer have the time, money, effort for any of their offerings and then they go and pony it up to somebody else so many years after I, and mnay others, mourned it's passing. I'll admit it, I'm JEALOUS!!

How dare they sully my formative gaming years with Space Marine flyers, retarded Centurions and the moronic Lord of Skulls. Cracked open a bunker full of long forgotten STC data-slates did you? How dare they trample the second edition copy of WHFB that I pored all over as a kid, building it up to the ludicrous heights of End of Times with arcane scenery, bound monsters and stupidly huge kits only to smash it into pieces for Age of Sigmar.

And now you're going to pimp out my last ounces of nostalgia by re-launching my beloved Specialist Games as re-imagined boxed games that will a shadow of thier former selves at three times the price just so you can prop up your beleagured profit margins!!

Oddleg mad! Oddleg ANGRY!!! ODDLEG SMASHHHH!!!!!

BREATH OUT...........

An over-dramatisation to be sure, obviously..., but part of me is quite annoyed though I'm sure I don't really have the right to be. I really hope this to be the announcement that I, and so many others, want it to be but I really don't think I is.

As they say be careful what you wish for, but then is this something that I'm wishing for anymore? Possibly not ;)

To little to late?

Hello people,

What follows is an unashamed rant post. These are my opinions and I accept and stand by them.  I generally dont do tbis but on this occasion I need to vent, hopefully in a constructive manner. I'm not whinging, as much as it might seem like it and if it does then fair enough.

Thursday after work I headed down to Dark Sphere for some X-Wing. There's currently a well themed campaign going on and I've taken the chance to run some different lists to see how they work. If you get the chance then I heartily recommend getting involved.

Running Kavil I played a couple of games losing both, one closely, the other not at all closely. I still had fun and tested some ideas.

Coming home I found the third and final wave of my Dreadball Extreme Kingdom Kickstarter on the doorstep. Surely this should be a joyous moment of nerdgasm, tearing open the box to inhale aue'de fresh plesin. Not so much :/

What I actually did was open the box in disgust and dig out the contents so that I could snear at them! I then stacked the box in the Kickstarter section of my toys bookcase, which now measures at least three feet in height :(

I'm sure many of you are asking "why the rage hate Steve?". Some of you may remember that I've loved this game and previously credited it with rejuvenating my hobby a couple of years ago. That's right, I've have playing many, many games in both leagues and tournaments, much as I do X-Wing now.

Even as I became disenchanted with Mantic and their well documented crack addict employment of Kickstarter I kept my love of the game telling myself I saw the distinction between Mantic, Jake and the Dreadball community.

When the Extreme Kickstarter came up I told myself that I wasn't going to pledge but pick stuff up as and when it was released. The KS deals haven't always worked out as the best option , all of those "free" bonus figures never are and it's not as if figure quality has improved along the way.

HOWEVER.....when I saw the fluff and ideas involved I  couldn't stop so went in with a sweet spot £150 Frenzy pledge......LAST MARCH!!

Since then the only other project that's treated me as poorly is Heroes of Normandie and they're just two French blokes rather than a miniatures company with enough professional clout to pull down Mars Attack. However you look at it that's a major success for them but at what expense and to whom?
To me putting up a mission control simply isn't enough. Keeping backers informed is laudable but it's verged on the point of taking the piss.

In honesty I also backed Heroquest 25 which is also late and not saying a lot but I'm happy to wait given my fondness for the product and, again, they're not a big figures company dividing opinion within the community. Fair and objective? No, but that's my perogative. I'm sure Mantic don't care about my rantings, or anyone else's but that's their perogative.

As with any Kickstarter I had a choice and spent my money. After that you're locked in for the ride. Mantic have got my money but didn't get my time which I've since spent on X-Wing and Infinity. As such I no longer have the time or inclination for Dreadball or Mantic. In honesty I'd be tempted to Ebay it all but who'd take it off me? By the nature of events the market is now instantly saturated.

At the end of the day I'm more annoyed at myself than anyone else. I knew better but let myself get sucked in anyway. I've backed other KS projects, mainly graphic novels, which have been well run by decent people and delivered what they promised. Dreadball Extreme has undoubtedly been my worst ever KS experience by a mile. As a result I simply don't trust any other Toys KS and I won't back them. By the time that deliver I doubt I'll have the time or interest any more :(

Here endeth the rant, it's been very cathartic and more about myself than trying to influence others. By making the public statement I'm far more likely to hold to my convictions.

On a related note I turned 40 yesterday, ful membership of the Grumpy Old Man Club confirmed :)

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

GW Anonymous

My name's (EX-COMMUNICATUS) and I'm an ex GW employee.

For those in the know I managed GW Enfield from about 2000 to 2004. If I wanted to be glib I'd say something like "but I feel much better now" but that would be doing a disservice to too much and too many. Like many others I genuinely enjoyed the vast majority of my time within the Evil Empire with many great memories of customers, colleagues  and carnage across the gaming tables.

For me I decided to move on when I realised that to be better at my job I had to separate my time in the store from my hobby, which was the very thing that had got me in their in the first place. In the past ten years I've moved on without GW whilst GW has, quite rightfully, moved on without me. Neither of us should feel bad or spill any tears. I've got a far better hobby now and I do feel much better thank you ;)

As these pages attest the GW hobby isn't my thing anymore, for many reasons, but as many recovered addicts do I still feel the itch at times and keep an eye on the old girls progress through the warp. I still drop into a store every now and then and am fairly religious as far as paint and brushes are concerned. They're just a bit too much in my blood, possibly literally, and the colour wheels too ingrained into my psyche. (I'm also partially colour blind but have learnt GW shades to the nth degree)

The last month has been a bit seismic with profit warnings, the death of White Dwarf (fat, bloated and gouty) the sidelining of Finecast (thank the Ominissiah) and a multitude of corporate restructurings. There has, as always, been a great deal of gnashing, wailing and doomsaying from the (virtual) hobby masses, as might be their right but at the end of the millennium it's all just toy soldiers.....really, it is! 

For me it'll never happen again, the price in time as well as money is far too high for a set of games with a meta that I barely even recognise, let alone want to be a part of. The figures still do the job, all too well, and I regularly devour others blog entries that prove oh so tempting.

But then I read an article about the lastest Taumon, Tau with Daemon allies, tearing up the tourney scene and I let it go. New STC constructs are "discovered" according to the accountant rather than the artificer.


It seems to be what it's all about these days, even Fantasy is all Monstrous Creatures and Arcane Fulcrums from what I can tell. Every army has to have an entry for everything and even if it doesn't just borrow someone else's!

Generally I'm pretty live and let live and think a lot of hobbyists should get over themselves. You DO have a choice, you DO have the ability to vote with your feet. Kickstarters and the myriad of smaller games producers are taking chunks out of GW with high quality product on every level. I subscribe to the view that GW itself has indirectly stimulated this growth in high quality alternatives. They have to be to get people's money because that's what they expect these days, what a lot them were brought up on.

With the death of White Dwarf even as an agnostic doubter I'd rather see GW they something new than just more of the same. For that they do actually deserve some credit (not as painful as I thought!). The latest issue with the Imperial Knights is the best one yet, though it does kind of bat for both sides of my personal row with myself ;)

For me what I can't hack is the disembowelment of the ethos, mentality and background that I grew up with and cut my teeth on. I'm obviously getting a bit long in the fang because GW can do what they like with their IP, what I don't like is them fecking about with mine!

I DO realise how that probably comes across and YES and somewhat old-school with this one but I'm far from the only ranter here. A good mate and fellow escapee posted this recently and I couldn't agree more;

Was playing Bolt Action the other day, using US 101st, and they are proper elite troopers. Got me thinking, and talking to my opponents, about 40K and why I hate it so much. Forget about the company, and the crap they pull: the game is......just bland. My 'elite' space wolves die by the bucket loads. Over the years I have massacred whole legions of Chaos Space Marines. The fluff has ZERO relevance anymore. Look at Deadzone. It's like 3 pages of colour text. And it works. the game IS about a Deadzone containment. 40k? It's just a line battle where the winner has the most AP1 weapons. All the background fluff, and i DO still love it, gets it's coat and leaves once the game starts.

The thing that REALLY gets me is that the current state of affairs wasn't always so, or at least not how I remember it. It just feels so horrifically unnecessary. But then at least some of that could be me?! Just this month I've pledged $50 to the Pulp City KS, because a good mate I trust says its good and the figures are awesome, and $150 to Dreadball Extreme because it's a cool twist on a game that I already know that I'll be playing for years.

Thank you very much for listening, RANT OVER. I don't think anyone WANTS to see GW go down (I can't be learning a new set of paints!) I just don't want the hobby of my youth to curl up and die :/

Monsters of Mantic

Evening all,

Another instalment of this weeks gaming down at Enfield Gamers which was all very much Mantic-tastic.

First up was another helping of Dreadball. With luck a number of us should be at the Mantic Day for Dreadball in Nottingham this Saturday, all dependant on reliable transport, i.e. Rich's rather sick car behaving. Sometime ago myself and Shado, aka other Rich, were awarded joint first at a Dreadball National qualifier and need to play off.

With a bonus 20MC I took Corp with an extra Gaurd and Coaching Dice whilst Shado took Sirens with an extra Gaurd and Card, a build he views as Corp with Run Interference. A more "competitive" game than I've played recently I went for the tactic of locking down the 3/4 zone with three Gaurds and, as the away team, flooding the midfield with three Strikers.

On a mild tangent I've never seen myself as an overly competitive type and read this the other day which struck a chord.

Back at the game Shado had real trouble shifting my backline and had to settle for 1/2 pointers while I had an open run for 3/4s. Shado's luck was pretty poor all game while I picked up plenty of useful cards and quickly stormed to 5 nil after four rushes.

Just as I was poised to take the game my own dice intervened and with a few sharp plays traded each way Shado clawed his way back into the game. Missing a number of 4 pointers I tried as hard as I could to snatch defeat but eventually ran out with a 1 point win...phew!

 Second helping was a quick run out of Deadzone with Rich. Taking Plague I merrily ate Rich's four Enforcers with my two Alphas whilst my other lads watched on for zero casualties. Didn't seem a massively balanced scenario but for an alpha set of rules everything worked and was slick enough if a little basic. Definitely happy to play further developed versions.

Have to admit that I've watched the Kickstarter somewhat warily. Many have commented on the KS phenomenon and its various issues including myself and I don't intend to rehash. Having said that I found it scary how many fellow geeks have thrown so much cash at an unknown product so quickly. I've read the blurb, watched the vid and read a number of Quickworthy posts. Now I've played a game and feel interestedly neutral about it.

However,...pause to roll sleeves and prepare wagging finger....

Apparently Deadzone is a sci-fi skirmish game. In my opinion it's a sci-fi board-game and at the moment a fairly vanilla one. A board-game on an oversized chess board in fact, sound familiar? Jake's posts allude to this but I do feel that Mantic, I do wish to make the distinction, themselves could have been more up front about this.

The vid tells is that Mantic have a reputation for delivering high quality Kickstarters. I feel that statement is questionable and that many feel similarly. Mantic probably have a reputation for delivering Kickstarters with shed loads of, apparently, free stuff. Again I wish to make the distinction.

I do feel I understand that the persuasive thread that Kickstarters allow Mantic, and others, to develop and deliver more product far quicker than they otherwise would.

I just get the feeling that the whole situation is becoming disturbingly disingenuous. I ended up having a bit of a rant Tuesday night. Why does anyone need she- loads of bonus figures and scenery add-ons, many that they'll pay cold hard cash for, for a two by two game of battle-chess? You wanna sell a butt-load of super cool 40K urban battlefields better and cheaper than GW then all power whilst priming the pump for your own sci-fi wargame then all power to you but can you just come out and do that please?

This is just my opinion and I can make my choices just as everyone else can. I have a very good mate who works for Mantic who I have no wish to offend. I can hardly throw mud as an ex GW manager of 6 years service. Dreadball has breathed new life into my personal hobby and I LOVE it.

However I do feel that the whole KS thing could get out of hand and that Mantic, along with others, are beginning to rip the absolute arse out of it. Us geeks seem to be getting KS blind / addicted and some could be taking advatage of that. Not asking for anyone to agree with me and i'll happily be proved wrong but I needed to get that off my chest.

Each to their own and I wish Mantic every success. I like an awful lot of their product but this one, or the manner in which it is being presented, is currently somehow leaving a bitter taste in my mouth and I find that disappointing. It's not going to stop me attending on Saturday if I can and if I'm a hypocrite for that then so be it. As I keep on saying each to their own.

Happy gaming to one and all :)

Meine Leibling?

Hello again, apologies for my lack of attention to you all. Life stuff happened. Meanwhile I have at least continued browsing the blog-o-sphere and noticed the recent spate of posts regarding the Leibster awards.

First off I assumed that they were another brand of pass it on, slap on the back to your mates self appreciation society type of thing.

Does that sound bitter at all? It's just that I've noticed these types of things before and had mixed feelings feeling that they relate to the filler or re-blogging posts that I've mentioned before.

If it is bitterness is it because I've never got one? Should I or anyone care?
Not trying to rain on anyone's parade as it always nice to be appreciated, especially when deserved.

Best Army / Best Sporstman awards are a very good thing. Does the virtual nature of what it's about change pr diminish anything?

A bit like a chain e-mail someone hands out the first piece of candy and extols the virtue of doing the same for 5 of your blogging compatriots.
Found some interesting blogs this way as well as some mates rates back slapping.

But I digress, mainly because I was wrong! Reading a bit further the Liebster is "awarded" for bigging up other blogs with a lower hit rate, though preferably not as a minimal effort re-blog of course :)

Suddenly it occurs that isn't this what a blog roll does, in a very basic way?

Anyway back at A point I've decided to try and make myself take a positive spin on the whole thing (as well as try and motivate myself to post a bit more). What I'm going to do is put out a bi-weekly post featuring two blogs that I follow and tell you why I do so. Not a review or critique just what I get from them to keep on tuning in. I'd like to provide a different slant :)

Meanwhile the Dreadball Kickstarter and Hobbit release seem to be popular subjects of comment. Don't really feel the need to comment other than "I understand but it is only TOYS!" and "Holy Crap that's a scary pricing structure for figures that most of your market already has in very near proxy form!".

Hopefully see you soon :)

Don't get me started?!

Browsing around TGN the other morning I noticed that Warlord have released a starter set for Bolt Action Assault On Normandy. Rulebook, dice, 20 yank and fritz PBI a piece plus and a ruined farmhouse to do battle over. £60 for a tidy little boxed package.

A good idea I've often wondered why more manufacturers haven't taken the same path, all seems very no-brainer, or is it a case of how they might be following?

Is this the slippery slope..........

.........to this and all that comes with it?

I'm, hopefully, quite obviously referring to GW and their particular business model and practices. Controversial as it might be I don't think anyone could deny that they've raised / dragged up standards and expectations across the hobby. I spent 6 years with them 5 as a store manager so I'd like to think that my opinion holds some validity but feel free to disagree :)

Full colour perfect bind rulebooks and supplements replete with fluff and hobby sections. High quality multi-part plastic regiment sets and terrain pieces, many good to go from the box. Stores that are actual hobby centres with painting and gaming facilities and the customer service to back it up.

None of this was invented by the big Gee Dub but like or loathe they certainly refined it.

Turning tack I'm going to chanter on about two companies that I got in on the ground floor with Privateer Press and Battlefront.

When both appeared they were a breath of fresh air to the jaded GW bred gamer, or at least for me and many I gamed with. Both felt like they benefited from NOT being GW and a little bit cult even. Both had good the necessary good product but seemed able to present a less corporate and far more personal appeal. It felt GOOD to spend your monthly hobby fix money with them and like you were finally bucking the GW system like you always wanted to but could never quite manage.

But I digress from my intended point...... :)

These guys and their games found justified success and their business grew. They also grew up in all sorts of ways an necessarily to.

Full colour perfect bind rulebooks and supplements replete with fluff and hobby sections. High quality multi-part plastic regiment sets and terrain pieces, many good to go from the box. Stores that are actual hobby centres with painting and gaming facilities and the customer service to back it up.

Sound familiar? Yeah maybe :)
Good thing all round? Your choice.

I'm well gone from 40K and Fantasy for many reasons we all know too well and I'm not going to repeat here. In time I also dropped away from Warmachine, Hordes and Flames of War pretty much for the same reasons. Recently looking back at all three the initial investment cost and  then ongoing maintenance cost seemed to be similarly scary.

So my eventual point revolves around the GW business model whatever whoever might think of it warts and all. For the smaller wargames company NOT being GW seems  to look attractive to many including your potential customers. The success that this might bring would seem to bring you back towards said business model whatever whoever might think of that particular course good, bad or indifferent.

For myself I've experienced myself falling away from companies and products that I've enjoyed and wanted to succeed as a potential result and outcome of that very success.

My ACTUAL point is does anyone, including said wargames companies, feel that treading the path towards the GW business model HAS to lead to lead to a fixed point? Is it a "price" that companies and their companies are happy to pay?

Hmmmm........

Grrrrrrr......

Not so much a musing as a rant though one with, hopefully, a purpose as a try out for a new line of post as part of the whole enforced hobby break thing. A view from the sidelines if you will.

Nothing wrong with a rant as long as it has a point to make. I've read quite a few that I've enjoyed greatly and have made me have a good think.

So today's subject is re-blogging. Some time ago I chatted on about competitive blogging having noticed a number of offenders afflicting various blog groups / rings etc.

Recently I've noticed the phenomenon of re-blogging as a single post as in a post that's a link to someone else's post. Originally I was unimpressed seeing such an act as hijacking someone's time, effort and insight. All in all a further mutant strain of the filler post.

My ire has been liberally fuelled by the fact that I've regularly scrolled through TGNs blog roll to find the original two down from the re-blog. Grrrrr.....

Being a quizzical / sucker sort of a chap I've still continued to follow through on a few of said posts that had caught my eye. I have to admit that I've stumbled upon a few posts and blogs that I was rather pleased to find and seen my watch-list grow such as THIS ONE!!

So hypocrite or convert? Feel free to let me know :)

To me it seems, as ever with the blog- o-sphere a matter of quality and repetition. By this I mean primarily on the part of the re-blogger.

Do they offer their own quality product? Do they need to if the link leads you to the end of a rainbow?

How does the original poster feel about the whole thing? Is this a form of flattery or battery?
I've been linked to a couple of times and been quite chuffed :)

What's the motivation? Share the love or pad the profile out a bit?

Does anyone (else) care??.............