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?

Happy Christmas to ME

Hello people,

Not a lot of hobby love going on recently outside of my traditional Xmas present to myself which this year was one of Micro Art's particularly excellent battlements for Infinity. A couple of the guys at the club have the District 5 versions so I went for the Wharehouse version for a bit of variety and I felt it fitted my scenery set better.

It's a bit more blue-grey than I expected though the buildings it on it fine and I'm sure I can darken my bases if I really feel the need. I've got a league game on Tuesday so it'll get a run out then, so to speak.

Meanwhile I need to get back to Rob's Tohaa. I've made a bit of progress and I really want to pick up those Geckos as guilt free as possible. Spirit of the season and all that :)

The Sprit of the Season

Yesterday myself and Nigel squeezed in a final day out flying casual down inWoking.

I pulled another respectable 3 and 2 with a vaguely experimental triple Black Sun Ace toting Crack Shot with TLT / Bossk Palob. It was fun to fly but really needed to win the opening engagement. Dropping Palob, who was generally priority target, would give me a pair of feedback Zs to run as blockers but no Palob. First world problems ;(

The event itself was very welcoming and we'll run with tea, coffee, pastries and faction themed cake available :) Prize support was impressive with complementary Xmas target locks from Cog O Two and a couple of prize kits from I Buy Wargames.

During the lunchbreak we dropped into I Buy, mainly as I needed to restock some paints at which point I my my regular impulse purchases of a few more Army Painter brushes and also a copy of Tabletop Gaming.

I can't lie I've wanted, yearned for even, a good toys magazine for many years and endured many substitutes and false false dawns. Even with the rose tints on I can see the difficulties to produce a viable publication in the virtual age but that doesn't stop other hobbies.

First impressions are very good. It's a high quality weighty perfect bind production with a modern, professional look throughout. I'd compare it, favourably, to Edge in that it's clearly aimed for the grown up geek. All the expected bases are covered, though a quick flick reveals the content of this particular issue to be more Fantasy and Sci Fi than Historical.

It's rather inspired me to read every last word and do a proper review, rare indeed! Meanwhile if you see it about I'd suggest it's well worth a fiver to have a look yourself, I'm already tempted to subscribe!

Happy days ;)

By Your Command

Hello people.

Tuesday night down at Enfield Gamers Phil ran a couple of us through the Battlestar Galactica board game, so cue a trademark impressionistic review ;]

Boardgamegeek.com says;

Battlestar Galactica: The Board Game is an exciting game of mistrust, intrigue, and the struggle for survival. Based on the epic and widely-acclaimed Sci Fi Channel series,

Battlestar Galactica: The Board Game puts players in the role of one of ten of their favorite characters from the show. Each playable character has their own abilities and weaknesses, and must all work together in order for humanity to have any hope of survival. However, one or more players in every game secretly side with the Cylons. Players must attempt to expose the traitor while fuel shortages, food contaminations, and political unrest threatens to tear the fleet apart.

After the Cylon attack on the Colonies, the battered remnants of the human race are on the run, constantly searching for the next signpost on the road to Earth. They face the threat of Cylon attack from without, and treachery and crisis from within. Humanity must work together if they are to have any hope of survival…but how can they, when any of them may, in fact, be a Cylon agent?

Battlestar Galactica: The Board Game is a semi-cooperative game for 3-6 players ages 10 and up that can be played in 2-3 hours. Players choose from pilots, political leaders, military leaders, or engineers to crew Galactica. They are also dealt a loyalty card at the start of the game to determine if they are a human or Cylon along with an assortment of skill cards based on their characters abilities. Players then can move and take actions either on Galactica, on Colonial 1, or in a Viper. They need to collect skill cards, fend off Cylon ships, and keep Galactica and the fleet jumping. Each turn also brings a Crisis Card, various tasks that players must overcome. Players need to play matching skill cards to fend off the problems; skill cards that don't match hinder the players success.

Fate could be working against the crew, or there could be a traitorous Cylon! As players get closer and closer towards reaching their Earth, another round of loyalty cards are passed out and more Cylons may turn up. If players can keep their up their food stores, fuel levels, ship morale, and population, and they can keep Galactica in one piece long enough to make it to Earth, the Humans win the game. But if the Cylon players reveal themselves at the right moment and bring down Galactica, the Humans have lost.

I'm a huge Galactica fan and had heard good things about the game but in honesty found things a little bit slow to start off with. That was probably because there just three of us, the minimum number required, and we were obviously learning our way. Once things picked up the subtleties of the game came through as different characters archetypes have access to different resources.

I was Cylon from the outset and it became quite a fine balancing act to not be too obvious about it. I did rather give myself away at one point at which point the sub-game of bluff and deceit kicked in fully additional another dimension entirely which with more players would become far stronger.

All in all a good game I'd happily play again. Good stuff ;)

Red or Dead

Well what do you know? Two posts in two days and for once not a card in sight ;)

This time it's PROPER wargames as I've finished off a few more of my Nomads, this time the Corregidor Alguaciles box set adding an HMG, Sniper, Missile Launcher and Grenade Launcher to the ranks. As a tooled up linked team of five they can, potentially, deal out some serious firepower.

I even got a game in Tuesday night as part of Enfield Gamers league campaign. These guys got left in the case, with thier whiff of fresh varnish they'd die horribly, as I tried out a linked team of five smoke grenade toting Jaguars and the Gecko mini-TAG as a step up from my regular Mobile Brigada.

Both did rather well, the Jaguars securing the Armoury objective, under cover of smoke, while the Gecko formed a mobile reserve shooting up a Haqq TAG that wandered into the open to evicerate my Intruder Sniper. In short, with some compliant dice, it all went swimmingly well and the Haqq were in retreat during thier final turn to take the game comprehensively.

We still got a few bits wrong but half the point of the league is to get in enough regular games to actually improve. That's been an objective for a while now ;)

So another 8 Painting Points on the sheet and I'm on a bit of a roll. Rob's Tohaa haven't been getting any love so I've set myself the target of having them all done by the time I go back to work after the New Year. Still no the greatest photos, these are from my phone which are a vast improvement on the tablet so I'll have to get the proper kit out soonish.

I work better under a bit of pressure :)

Life on the NET # 7

So it was the Gaurdians of Tyr Netrunner team championship on Saturday which was once again something of a step into the unknown and a huge learning experience.

 

As a headline I went 4-4 with two wins as Corp, both by killing the Runner, and two as Runner, one of which was timed, as in I was ahead when the round finished. I learnt plenty on both sides of the fence and was far happier playing a more focused Kitt Runner rather than a scattergun Criminal.

 

Once again my lessons were split between timing issues, what to do when for maximum effect, as well as facing new IDs and deck builds. A few times with Kitt I installed key programs to be used next turn only to realise that I'd just given my strategy away and my opponent a turn to prepare.

 

All but one of my opponents were helpful enough to answer my questions and explain what they were doing along the way. My final opponent had been to World's this year and continued to play in that vein. Fair enough, a lesson in itself as he crushed my Run, but all the more satisfying when I Scorched him into the floor 

 

As with the X-Wing championship the team format gave the day a less full on feel, at least at our end of the tables, and was just as fun as any other Gaurdians event. So another alternate art card, a few more possible deck tweaks and a bunch more games under my belt. Happy days :)

 

The day also brought my tourney / event to a close for the year. It'll be nice to play casual for a while, on all fronts, though I've already got plenty booked in for the new year!

Life on the NET # 6

So, Saturday is the Gaurdians of Tyr Netrunner team championship.

 

Deck lists are in. I've gone with a super-scorch NBN Making News and as a last minute change a Shaper Kitt-Paintbrush runner that I've played six games with so far.

 

As I'm just realising the true depths of my ignorance, especially as a Runner, the event should be an "intensive learning experience". Hopefully the bruising won't be too bad ;)

 

A lot of this is down to the fact that I'm currently seeing the game very laterally. I've been struggling for economy on both fronts recently so I've trimmed some non core strategy cards for more one off payouts. What I've played against a few times in the last couple of weeks are decks that generate economy off the back of their core Modus Operandi. These are often resources that trigger from other installs.

 

Even I can work out that this is far more efficient but due to lack of knowledge and experience don't know what works with what best and how.....if that makes sense?

 

For now I'm going to dumb down a touch while I learn better decision making. Kitt is already doing better for me as I have one core strategy that I've done my best to enhance rather than my Criminal decks that have had a lot of run options which have simply ended up confusing my thinking.

 

KISS to the MAX ;)

Life on the NET # 5

Hola!

So, myself Rich and Alex headed over to Leisure Games on Sunday for our next step up in Netrunner tournament play. LG have a monthly tourney capped at 20 players so we were expecting something of an increase but still a pretty laid back event......except they were the first in London to pick up a Winter prize kit which stretched the field to 26 and brought out the virtual knives!

As such people were wheeling out the Big-Bad decks and running thier A games with four rounds ratcheting upto five.

In honesty the vast majority of my opponents were very cool and more than happy to explain things to me as and when I asked. More than once I was also let off a minor timing gaff or two which was greatly appreciated.

Having read through some deck analysis of Worlds I was aware that my chosen IDs, NBN Making News and Criminal Silhouette, were entirely unrepresented and caused some comment on the day. Over four rounds I went 3-5, having gone into the 4th round 3-3, somehow I was 2-0 after round 1, which I was feeling very proud of. The field followed the current meta with lots of Kate, Anarch Virus decks, heavy HB and fast breeder NBN.

Up until round four I'd felt pretty much up with the pace, most of the time, though it was a fair bit of effort. In that I played a couple of anarch Virus decks which were a new experience for me but I could work out what they were doing. Running mainly against Haas-Bioroid I made a few mistakes a couple of times over but the main struggle was putting together a cognet strategy. Just slowing myself down and talking myself throyugh the board state really helped.

Round Four I came pretty unstuck against Pre-Paid Kate and then NBN Near Earth Hub. My opponent obviously had a lot of experience and knew what he was doing. I really didn't have a clue what he was doing! He played along at a good pace and I just got lost. He probably could have helped me out a bit more but then he didn't have to, not that it was too likely to change the result!

Against Kate it took a long time for the Agendas to come out and by then he was so well set, and had even reset his deck, he could run me with relative impunity.  All day my NBN deck fought me with a consistently lumpy draw, rarely giving me what I wanted as I needed it but those are the breaks. Against Near Earth Hub he set up his many, many servers and then blasted out the Agendas with frightening ease. 3-3 to 3-5 in 55 minutes!

In retrospect I let myself get blinded by science a bit. I should have slowed down and asked a lot more questions. I felt like I got the bums rush a bit and as such didn't really learn a lot from the game which was disappointing and slightly soured an otherwise enjoyable day.

Clinging onto the lower places and having made plans elsewhere we took our leave before the final round. I really felt the mental effort I'd exerted throughout the day which was a big learn all by itself.

The main lesson for the day was that I just need to play more games outside of my local meta. It's all well and good reading about current meta decks but seeing them in play is very different. That probably means taking a bit of a kicking for a while but as long as I take the time to learn what's going on, asking questions, and work through what I can do about it it's all good. The team championship in a fortnight will be a massive "opportunity".

While I'm doing that I'm going to continue to concentrate on my main IDs and decks, tweaking them as I go. To that end I'd like to concentrate them a touch more, maximise thier strengths and see how that goes. As such a second core set will be a necessity........ A NECESSITY ;]

MEDIC!!

Evening all,

Just a quick one as I've actually managed to get enough time with the brushes to get the Doc, Engineer and their Zondbot helpers  buttoned. They're pretty basic figures in honesty so nothing too complicated. 5 Painting Points for the lot which is a bonus but better to be getting back in the habit.

These guys will deploy tomorrow night. Hopefully the very fresh varnish doesn't have too much of an effect ;)

EDIT: I've just realised how awful these photos are! Re-shoots ASAP!

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 ;)

Seeing RED

Hello people. Yes, getting back into the habit now.

Yesterday was another trip up to Milton Keynes for the final round of Gaurdians of Tyr's X-Wing 2015 calendar.

I took the Khiraz / Scyk list again, primarily as further playtesting, and was once again pleasently surprised to go 3-2 for tenth place :) I've now firmly established that formation flying and firepower is the way to go. Using a slow roll up one board edge I look to disrupt my opponent's formation and try and force the engagement on my terms. Patience is key and when did look to force things, to establish what the list can't do, recovery was difficult. Lesson learned!

One of these was the first game, which was always going to be a vicious joust as my opponent also had three PS2 Khiraz. I deviated from the target priority I knew I should have chosen and paid dearly for it. One way dice didn't help but they had just been varnished the night before.

Prize support was excellent as always but I'm particularly pleased with my little Death Star tin that from now on will contain my Stress and Crit tokens :)

On that note I've also finished up a TIE Advanced and a pair of Punishers. Fora bit of variety I've gone for a reversed scheme that will also feature for my TIE FOs, especially as I now own a full dozen of the little buggers.

All together that's another 12 Painting Points. I noticed the other day that I'm on for a very lean year in that regard. I think that's more because of my shift in gaming over the last year, not only towards X-Wing and now Netrunner but also because I spend more time playing. I felt kind of sad but Infinity is going to be my main painting outlet and has only really been around since the summer. I want to clock up some more points but it's time, I need to make better use of it ;)

For a further seemless segway I fully intentionally picked up a can of white spray yesterday. You can see it on the right next to my impulse purchases 😲

The store, Wargames Workshop has added a merchandise and comics section which were far too good to pass up. I could have been far far worse but resisted the Boba Fett shoulder bag and the more obvious Star Wars bobble heads.

I'd been tempted to pick up an Imperial Assault bantha rider for some time and I'm a long time Battlestar freak from my very early years. With this kind of stuff I often prefer the more niche stuff that you have to know about to understand. Slight geek snobbery I admit.

I'm also a part time comics geek. I've had a 2000AD subscription for many years now a days have a few trade paperback lines that I pick up regularly. I'm a big fan of the British scene so the pre Watchman mini series was always going to be leaving the store with me. Another blog topic is forming from the mists.........

And there we are all caught up! It's another busy geek week on the cards, plenty of Netrunner, but I'm setting an Infinity painting target of the Doctor and Engineer.

Little steps!

Dance Card

Would you look at that I've actually added a new page! Nothing too stunning, a showcase page for my current gaming.

The last batch Tuesday night's at Enfield Gamers I've been playing through  the first three rounds of the club's Infinity campaign during I have insisted on making a bunch of school boy errors where I should have known better. My dice have also been pretty terrible early doors at which point I've found myself fighting from the back foot. Having said that against both Jon and Rob I've somehow come back to clinch last turn draws. Last night it was snatched by the last dice rolled, much to Rob's chagrin.

In honesty most of my mistakes came from not playing in a while and as such failing to pay attention properly. I must get back to regular games and as such that's kind of the point. X-Wing is my main game and will remain so for quite some time. I've invested a lot of time, effort and even international travel but got so much more back from it.

Infinity gives me the long term hobby project that I need, as well as being the Sci-Fi skirmish that I've spent so many years looking for. Netrunner adds an extra element of quick turnaround, low hobby impact gaming. It's far more than a filler game but it can do that if it needs to.

With three different bases covered I can see that being a template for the forseeable. Even within that triumvirate I'll need to juggle priorities. There's been a lot of competitive X-Wing recently but as I blogged recently it'll be far more casual until the New Year now. Infinity got some hobby love with Thunderdome but there are plenty of minis to get across the painting table with a few ships to break things up. The club campaign will get me fortnightly games at worst but I want to keep that up at the least.

With another local event day in a couple of weeks and a Team Tournament at the end of month Netrunner needs to be prioritised for current table time though I'm happy to take the slower learning curve there. As such I'm not going to be looking elsewhere for a while. I'll be tempted I'm sure and other games will rotate in and out such as SAGA and Dreadball. The magpie effect is notorious amongst gamers but the bases covered as they are it will be interesting to see how I hold out.

Pretty good so far ;)

Crossing the Streams

Hello people,

Just a quick one. After a long week at work I made the ,as minute decision to head up to Lost Ark today with Alex for some casual Pew Pew action. A dozen of us turned out for four rounds. Other than one TLT spam and a Hilbots everyone was playing nicely and I took the opportunity to run something a bit different in 3 Khiraz, 2 Mangler Skyc aka 20 Second Squadron.

I've run it a couple of times and wanted to try the tactic of hugging a board edge to draw in my opponent before turning in on them to choose engagement. I also wanted to keep them all together as much as possible to maximise firepower and use their 5 K-Turns.

In short it, and I, performed better than I expected taking four strong wins to place second. The loss was against Super Poe Swarm which went undefeated when my otherwise hot dice went cold and I made the mistake of chasing Poe. Otherwise I flew well, especially against the TLT spam which was rather pleasing.

For my prize I chose a Netrunner Data Pack, The Universe of Tomorrow, as I'm pretty happy with the list. The Khiraz, not sure of the plural, have been undercoated and promoted to the head of the painting queue.

Result 😊

Life on the NET # 4

Evening all,

Myself, Rich and Alex took our first step into the Netrunner tournament scene with an 11 man event down at Wayland Games yesterday. Unfortunately we all played each other and Alex caught a bye which limited our exposure to other players and decks somewhat.

For myself I had no expectations over getting in a decent block of games to assess my play and current decks. I'm fairly happy with my NBN Corp but far less so as a Runner wirth Gabe. Overall I impressed myself winning half my games, three with NBN and one with Gabe. Taking into account Strength of Schedule I ended up playing 7th overall with Rich 8th and Alex 6th.

Prize wise I came away with an alternate art Pop Up Window, participation prize, and a Criminal art box, as the TO had plenty of spares ;) More importantly I felt like I'd been competitive throughout with a bit of confidence in my NBN and a list of tweets for Gabe which have since been made. I also have a much better understanding of competition play. In my second round I first played as Runner against Jinteki Replicating Perfection. It was a challenge but I made a game of it, so much so that it ate up 60 of the 70 minute round which made the return set a totally different game which I was unlucky to loose. Big lesson on tourney technique!

All in all an excellent day out with a good relaxed atmosphere soon to be repeated :)

Permission to Land

Hello people,

Shock, horror yet more X-Wing on Sunday  but this time with something of a twist.

Event supremos Gaurdians of Tyr ran the inaugural UK Team Championship. Enfield Gamers entered a team amongst a field of thirty two teams.

The format was as follows;
- each team consists of three players each flying one of Rebel, Imperial and Scum
- each team submits lists prior to the event, pre published
- each list is upto 100 points forming a team total points cost
- each round is drawn team vs team via standard Swiss rules
- individual match ups are picked by team initiative i.e. the team with initiative picks first match up
- best of two wins the round with MoV scored as standard across the whole team.

The event sold out incredibly quickly with team tactics from builds, initiative bids and match ups being hotly debated. Some teams went to great lengths with spreadsheets of preferred match-ups and full on strategy sessions.

Not so Enfield Gamers Splinter Squadron. As experienced tournament players we were aware of the meta lists and looked to cover the options with flexible lists we each new well. For us that was Scum TLTs, Soontir swarm and BBXX with T-70s.

I was a bit bothered that the event was going to be hyper competitive but the team element had quite the opposite effect with a very chilled, fly casual feel about the day. The Gaurdians of Tyr boys also did an excellent job of running such a large event and expect to double the field next year.

Another concern was that my dice had been so hot Thursday night that they had almost set the table alight. As such I had the commen superstition that my dice would argue with me on Sunday......and so it proved! Personally I had four of my five games decided within 10 points for two wins, a draw and two losses. I'm happy that I flew well but my evade dice especially were poor all day. More to the point I had five good games.

Thankfully my team mates did better for Enfield Gamers' Splinter Squadron to place 4th of 32, just 20 MoV from 3rd. A good day out by anyone's measure. Another concern had been my recent feelings of burnout. It's been a commen conversation between a few of us recently. As such Soontir's Interceptor will be parked in the hanger for a refurb while I Fly Casual for a while.....

Taking out the Trash

Yes, been a little while,

Yada yada, real life busy, X-Wing etc ;)

Getting back to Geek-life I recently built and painted what turned to be the pack of two dumpsters from Warsenal. A couple of transfers and plenty of weathering has turned them out rather nicely for another  couple of Painting Points

For what you'd imagine to be fairly simple pieces there was actually quite a bit of construction involved. I'd expected them to be solid lumps of foam, or similar, but actually came as laser cut MDF. Both pro and con as I was expecting one rather than two quickly followed by discovering that there were no hard copy instructions. Instead Warsenal have construction videos on thier website.

I appreciate that just about everybody has the internet these days but it does feel like an oversight especially when those videos are brief and entirely devoid of text or commentary. It was literally various pieces laid out explosion style, plenty of PVA and a pair of hands. I found myself watching the whole thing through to get the gist and then stop-starting my way along.

PVA is a major requirement as very few of the pieces interlock. For a set this simple that's not too much of an issue but for anything building sized you might end up needing a third or fourth hand. You may also end up with drip marks and / or air gaps which for a dumpster is fine........

By comparison the Micro Art pieces come with clear well laid out instructions. All of the pieces are designed to interlock, some better than others, with PVA being optional rather than a necessity. All of my buildings went together without any PVA followed by the odd dab of superglue here and there as necessary. All in all a very nicely designed snug fit was easily achieved.

I would however recommended a spray sealant, even just hairspray, to provide a final bond and also to prevent the MDF soaking up huge quantities of primer.

In honesty the dumpsters went together fine and I'm very happy with them but I'd honestly be a bit wary of picking up any of Warsenal's bigger kits without having got a decent amount of feedback from people with more experience of them. Just saying!

On a vaguely related note I've realised that the extra pages on the blog haven't been updated in quite sometime to the point where they're no longer representative of what I'm upto these days. As such they will come down to be completely updated in the near future.

Watch this space!

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 ;)

Enter the THUNDERDOME!!

As previously threatened I took a bunch of shots last night as myself and Jon got in our first game of Infinity for a few weeks prior to the club's upcoming campaign.

I could take dozens of close up shots but I've been much more bothered by the overall feel rather than individual pieces. Keeping the District 5 buildings fairly bland has worked nicely against the busier AT-43 tiles and card pieces. Similarly I'm pleased that the construction vehicles have done the same but with a co-ordinating splash of JCB orange.

So, 36 Painting Points on the board but more pleasing is a major project completed. The occasional extra piece may be added but I need to concentrate on figures for the forseeable.

Life on the NET # 3

Hello people,

Following some rather shady corporate refinancing I've somehow picked up some more cards. Not the most unexpected newsflash I admit!

One of my Luke Skywalker promo cards went on eBay just as the Honour and Profit deluxe expansion went on sale just about everywhere so that was self financing. I also did some research on Netrunner DB based on some popular NBN decks and worked out the most useful expansions for the lists I was looking to emulate. Knowledge is power so they say though with next month's budget already at a deficit I going to need some serious spin to stay on message. Just as well I've picked NBN as my primary Corp deck for the forseeable :)

I think the point here is that though you CAN play straight from the Core Set you're really going to want to expand past that point pretty quickly. So far I've "invested" £55 on cards, £15 on a mat and about another £30 on art sleeves. So that's £100 as a "realistic" entry point which gives me plenty to be going on (3 Runner and 4 Corp decks of various flavour) with and is still favourably comparable to many other games / systems.

At the end of it I have an NBN deck with a few variants to play with. I've also slapped together a Gabe criminal deck which is gut rather than research but I'll find out soon enough.  Myself and Rich have a beginners tourney at the beginning of October which gives a nice aiming point. There's also a team tournament run by Gaurdians of Tyr at the end of October which will need some cannon fodder.

I really just need to play some games and will be getting more involved at Dark Sphere on a Thursday night once the current X-Wing glut recedes a touch.

Meanwhile Thunderdome is now entirely completed, bar the dumpster which turned up at the weekend and proved to be laser cut MDF, and will be hitting the table at Enfield Gamers tonight. Plenty of photos shall be taken of the 36, sorely needed, Painting Points worth of lovely, lovely scenery. Now I just need to get back to the figures.......

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?

The week off - Thunderdome prt 3

Hello people,

My apologies as I'm sure you've been waiting on the edge of your sears with baited breath.....

THUNDERDOME AWAITS! TWO FORCES ENTER, ONE FORCE LEAVES!!

Thunderdome is most definitely 90% completed. Everything on the schedule is just about done. Only a cacked can of varnish has prevented me from finishing things off and that will definitely done tomorrow. The buildings, vehicles and all of the detail pieces were finished by early afternoon Friday ahead of schedule. Some of the weathering is a bit severe at the moment but varnish will bring it down a touch at which point a second round may occur. Gloss varnish also needs to be applied to windows and displays but otherwise all good. Very pleased thank you oh so much!

So in short no Painting Points just yet but a horde are upon the horizon. Once everything is 100% I'll put up shots of the whole table set. Meanwhile, without further provarication;