Back in the Game, maybe

I’ve been away from this place for such a long time I’d almost forgotten about it.  I’m sure anyone out there gave up on it ages ago.  Regardless I thought I’d come back here with some comments and a brief update.

It’s not like I’ve been anywhere or done anything exciting.  Sadly several different elements of ‘real life’ occurred and are still occurring.  The result of which reduced my free time, my available hobby budget and more than anything my desire to play games.  Details are unimportant but the overall effect was my absence from anything hobby related for a long time.

In fact it was my accidental discovery of a local hobby ‘bring and buy’ event this coming weekend that has even made me consider the hobby again.  In truth I could do with some cash and so I started boxing up some of the masses of stuff I have and will never use.  Somewhere during this process I realised how much I miss the good side of gaming.  I miss the time spent throwing dice and having a laugh with people whilst we participate in a shared game of nonsense.  What I don’t miss is the politics, elitism and commercialism that was partly the reason I just stopped turning up to different places.  There was also far too much self imposed stress around keeping up with the current trends and mountains of unpainted things and unfinished projects.  There are still a few game systems that I’ve not consigned to the ‘bring & buy’ pile that I just didn’t want to part with yet.

What I cant shake is the fact that gaming used to be fun.  Is there a way for me to get that back without being dragged into all the negatives that were also present?  How many of those negative factors were in part or in whole down to me?  Does gaming deserve one last chance or am I better just walking away for good?

The very fact that I’m bothering to type here means that, at some level, I want to give it another go.  The only way I can think of doing it that makes any real sense is this:

Pick a system out of those that I have decided not to part with.  It needs to have no investment required for me to just play a few games.  It needs to be quick to play as I still don’t have a great deal of free time.

I need to take far better control of my expectations.  The one and only thing that should drive me is enjoyment from playing the game.  I need to find ways to sidestep or ignore the more negative parts or the hobby and hobby people that I might encounter.

I’ve still not made up my mind one way or another but I do promise to check back here once I do.

Another new project!

I know what you are thinking, I do.  If you took all the new hobby projects I ever started and divided them by those that I’ve completed you would be sat there staring at a ‘division by zero’ error.

Given this consistent and abysmal success rate I can see no other option that starting another project.  I can try and tell you that it’s really just an extension to an existing project but you’re not falling for that either are you?

Some time ago I started a Slaves to Darkness Age of Sigmar army.  In the last few days I’ve managed to source a large number of Khorne mortal followers so yet again I’m promising myself that I’ll have a fully painted army of these guys soon.  I know that you don’t believe me and that’s OK because I’m not sure I believe myself.  I’m holding onto the single thought that this time will be different.  Simply because I’m going to try a whole new approach to the project.

All previous projects have had at their foundation the idea that I want to eventually end up with a well painted army that looked great when I used it.  All previous projects have stalled because after spending weeks on a single model I’ve lost the enthusiasm to do it all again on the other 5/10/20 similar models in that unit.

This time folks it’s going to be different.  This time I’m going to take a unit at a time and complete them to a minimum standard so that they can be put on the table ‘painted’.  To start with that will be as simple as having a neat base colour on each part of the model.  Then as time permits I will go back and add shading, highlighting and extra touches to those units that perform well.  Sure for a long time the army will look pretty poor in comparison to other peoples.  Maybe at the end of all this I’ll get my well painted army and maybe I wont but if it means that I actually use the force and it’s not always just bare plastic then that is a plus.

So, having planted yet another stake in the ground and drawn another line in the sand let us see what happens this time…….

MTG – A blast from the past

I’ve played a lot of Magic the Gathering in the past and Tuesday night I had a few games against my local store owner for a bit of fun.  I don’t have much of a card collection left so I threw together a Modern format deck from what I had left.  It’s not ideal but the games were the important part not the results.

I actually had a lot of fun playing although perhaps not enough to entice me back into what is one of the most expensive games out there to stay current with.  Far too much investment in new cards is required which is a shame as it’s actually one of the best games around.

I think I’ll keep this deck together just in case I get a few more games in the future.

Deck

4 x Goblin Bushwacker
4 x Legion Loyalist
4 x Foundry Street Denizen
2 x Mogg War Marshal
4 x Warren Instigator
4 x Goblin Piledriver
2 x Goblin Rabblemaster
4 x Goblin Chieftain
1 x Krenk Mob Boss

4 x Lightning Bolt
4 x Goblin Grenade
3 x Dismember

4 x Bloodstained Mire
2 x Verdant Catacombs
2 x Blood Crypt
2 x Cavern of Souls
10 x Mountain

It actually played quite well despite not being very well tested but then I have no idea of the current meta.  For those in the know I played against Soul Sisters which is perhaps not the best of matchups for goblins.

What I really should be doing is testing for my Infinity tournament in 45 odd days not playing Magic!

Work started…..

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Not a fantastic phone picture (hand shake is my enemy) but work has started on the model I’m going to use for the store comp.  It’s the free one that came with White Dwarf when it was re-launched back into a magazine from the marketing pamphlet that it had become.  I picked it because I’ve always had problems with flesh tones so let’s see if I can fix that at the same time.

I must say that GW stuff is what I really like to paint.  I think that is more to do with the fact that the scale creep keeps making the figures larger and as my eyesight deteriorates with age and my hands get less steady I need all the help I can get.  My new love of Infinity has given me some superb sculpts but they are so small (proper scale) I’m going to struggle painting them!

The king is dead, long live the king….

It’s been a long time since my last update here and quite a few things have happened. Not least of which was the Hawk Wargames kickstarter for Dropfleet Commander. I’m not going to dwell on it here because, quite frankly, it still winds me up. All I will say is that I’ve sold off or given away everything related to Hawk and if they were the only games producer on the planet I’d give up playing rather than give them another penny of my money or minute of my time. The whole thing soured my love for the hobby and I drifted for quite a while not really settling on a new system or having any motivation to paint.

See, told you it still winds me up! Let’s move on.

The good news, for me at least, is that I’m starting to get back into the groove and I’ve found a system that I think can solve my desire to play tournaments. That system is Infinity. I’m enjoying playing it despite not actually winning a game yet and whilst it is reasonably complex that doesn’t put me off. I don’t think it is for everyone but if you get the chance to try it then give it a go. I took part in the local league recently (didn’t win a game) but I enjoyed it and the the local players have been great at helping me out and getting me started. I’ve signed up for my first tournament which, at the time of writing, is 46 days away so hopefully I can get some practice games in before then. Maybe even win a game at some point! Would be nice.

I’m also going to try picking up the paintbrush again due to my local shop having a single minature painting competition. Not sure how I’ll do in that but if it’s nothing more than motivation to get painting again it will be worth the time and effort. Those AoS Chaos I started painting before have got no furhter than what you saw here which is a real shame. I really like the look of the new Kharadron for GW and whilst I shouldn’t be buying them I know what I’m like for ‘new stuff’.

So the new plan for the blog is just to give me somewhere to share my painting and tournament preparation. I really will try this time to do more updates even if they don’t have too much content.

A little bit of progress

I made another attempt to get to the shop using public transport this week.  It was far more successful in that it took 95 minutes from leaving work to arriving at the shop.  I mean it’s still not exactly convenient but in reality it’s about 40 minutes more than  when I used to drive.  I actually don’t think the elapsed time will get any shorter as it was a pretty clear run given it’s during rush hour traffic.  So it’s about as long as I want to spend getting to the place but possible when the option is not playing at all.

I also bought one of the small Games Workshop cases to help protect my figures.  It’s small enough to be put into a backpack and large enough to take enough figures for a skirmish game and X-Wing which is great.

So having got the logistics out of the way I did manage two ‘starter box’ games of Warmachine.  I lost a reasonably close game against legion and got assassinated by a warpwolf when playing against Circle.  There is so much I either forgot from when I played MK II or didn’t know because I never played a warmachine faction it wasn’t funny.  Add to that I had no idea what my Retribution jacks were good at or how to play them and the results are not a surprise.  I did have a lot of fun playing however and I’m looking forward to getting more games in.

I even  managed a bit of painting as well.

RetCaster

The picture is a bit dark and in all honesty I’m not very happy with the result but at least I have started painting my figures.

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

As promised here is a quick update on my new way of playing toy soldiers.
The Good
My Warmachine opponent had to cancel at the last minute which sometimes happens but because I had taken an X-Wing list as well I was able to get a game in. So score points for taking multiple systems with me in my new gaming pack.
The Bad
Whilst the gaming pack is a good idea I need to spend some time refining it I think. The more times I use it the more obvious it will be what should and should not be in there and also how much I can reasonably take. My X-Wing stuff can handle a bit of rough treatment in un-padded compartments of plastic boxes but my Retribution Warmachine models certainly can’t. I also need, in the case of X-Wing, to take more than one list. I had packed a pretty aggressive list and whilst playing it felt like my list was too ‘tournamenty’ for the list my opponent played. It was a reasonably close game and I (and hopefully he) enjoyed it but in the end Soontir just did Soontir things and was the only ship alive at the end of the game. Completely undamaged. It shouldn’t be beyond my ability to pack a couple of lists or at least a couple of alternatives based on a single list.
The Ugly
It takes me roughly 20 minutes to get to the main bus station on the way home from work. In theory it should take me around 45 minutes to get from the main bus station to the shop. In reality, thanks to rush hour traffic and the need for the bus to use the most congested roads it took 2 hours and 10 minutes from leaving work to arriving at the shop. Yep, over 2 hours. This might not have been helped by it being by far the nicest day of the year so far with people trying to get home to enjoy that sunshine but we will see. As much as I like playing toy soldiers I’m not willing to sit on a bus for 2 hours just to get to the venue. In fact, according to Google I should be able to actually walk from work to the shop in 2 hours!

Trial Run

Well tonight is my first trial run of gaming straight after work relying on the local bus service to get me there.  I have thrown together a small backpack of ‘games stuff’ which I think will become the basis of whatever I take in the future.  The idea is to have a couple of things with me to increase the chance of a pick-up game but still be able to carry it all about without needing a baggage train or huge logistical supply line.

I’ve got a 100 point X-Wing list plus all the tokens and cards needed to play.  I used to take all my stuff and be able to throw a list together at the time but that is a little luxury I can’t really afford now.  The down side is that my list may well end up mismatched as it’s the Inquisitor, Countess Ryad and Soontir Fell with all the expected upgrades.  It’s probably a bit much for anyone taking a ‘fun’ list and wanting a game.

I have the Warmachine MK III starter box for the Retribution of Scyrah.  This is essentially 4 models plus the necessary counters dice and tokens.  I’m hoping to start playing a bit now that MK III has arrived and for the moment I don’t need to carry a lot of models around.  I’m not sure how viable this will be in the future when looking at 75 point lists however.  Also the models need a bit more protection than the X-Wing ones which is something I’ll have to worry about soon.  I mean, like most gamers, I have a few hard plastic and one large aluminium case for figures but they are all too big to take to work and carry around on public transport!

I have also brought my last surviving Magic the Gathering deck.  This takes up almost no space which is a huge advantages however I’m actually very unlikely to get a game with it because it’s a ‘Legacy’ format deck and I’m not sure my local players play that format.  I certainly don’t want to get back into the other formats of ‘Modern’ or ‘Standard’ so it might end up being a bit pointless.

Two systems that simply don’t lend themselves to this sort of approach are Dropzone Commander and Age of Sigmar.  They just take up too much space and Dropzone takes too long to play.  I’m not sure what I will do about that.  The AOS stuff I will continue to paint even if I never (or almost never) use it.  The Dropzone I may just mothball for the future.  I don’t think it’s worth anything second hand and hopefully something will happen to the game to spark my interest again.  I personally feel it’s gone very stale and static and it’s just not something I want to play at the moment.

In the next installment you will find out how viable this approach to gaming is for me…..