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 :)

Event Horizon # 1

Hello people,

I've got a week off work which is traditionally a time when I set a project and inflict it upon you as a form of personal motivation. This week is no different in respect that there's a project, it is different in respect of the goals and back story to it.

A couple of weekends ago I, and many others, went up to Birmingham NIA for FFG's Nationals competitions. That was X-Wing for me and might also have been Netrunner if it hadn't been on the same day. In short the weekend was rather an anti climax for me in some ways, far better in others, which in turn sets the background to this week off. It's also finalised a number of hobby decisions that were pretty much making themselves along the way.

I did actually attempt to blog from Birmingham but Blogger App wasn't playing ball. It turned out that the event wasn't what I'd hoped it might be, for a number of reasons, and also inspired me to blog / report predominantly in pictures rather than words;

The slightly esoteric point here was that despite dissapoint on the tables it became far more about making the most of the weekend. For a couple of hours on Saturday I became rather grumpy for a number of reasons but sorted myself out before ruining my, or anyone else's weekend.

More about that later, I have redemptive stuff to go and do ;)

Competition Time?

Hello people,

Once again it's been a bit quiet on the gaming front. A bit of life getting in the way,as it does, but also a natural lull as I've taken a bit of a natural break from competitive gaming. It's been somewhat necessary, with my Bolt Action Commandos recycled to a new home while I've been at it.

X-Wing has been my pick up game of choice with a touch of Netrunner as and when. Weekend events have neither been a want or need recently though I now feel happy to venture back out onto the circuit.

With Netrunner I need to go back to basics AGAIN whilst with X-Wing I've "allowed" Nationals to sneak up on me in the same way as Yavin. It's been that kind of year and will probably stay the same way.

I'm once again going to use a major National event to re-launch my gaming, rather than the other way around. As for lists it'll either be Imperial triple aces "Disco Inferno" aka the sensible choice, or Scum double Scout / Zuckuss "Feel the Zuck" which I've flown twice......but rather fancy.

On that note I have got all of the above painted up. Vader was done sometime ago but the rest are recent. I've gone for an alternative metallic scheme for Inqy and something a bit in between for Vessery. Zuckuss and the Scouts have been a labour of love for a while. Well pleased :)

Moving neatly on that's a dozen Painting Points that I need to claim. Mojo has stayed intact, it just needs a bit of a kickstart. Roll on Nats!!