2015: not a bang, but a whimper?

Starting an Otherworld warband. I've had these Reaper Lizardman partially painted for like ten years.

Yeah, this. I have started and discarded many posts in the past few months, even before Zomtober. I've played Guild Ball a handful of times (and even fully painted my team) and played in a day-long tourney for it to boot. That's... been about all the minis gaming I have done recently. (Started playing Pandemic Legacy with the family as well, on the board gaming side.) (And of course Team Fortress 2, my long-term video game vice.)

So I have about no excuse as to why I couldn't get posts back to the regular here. For a while I told myself that I was sick of putting up pics of my half-painted figs, figuring it wasn't interesting to anyone else either. And the holiday season is always busy, so gaming always suffers this time of year, naturally. But honestly, I have just been feeling uninspired. Haven't picked up a paint brush since I finished the Guild Ball team about a month back.

I'm still reading gaming blogs and Facebook groups? And perusing various rulebooks on the daily commute (Otherworld, Frostgrave, etc.) So I am still emotionally invested. And enjoy it! Just haven't had the drive to get anything finished up to post here to my liking. (Insert 'performance anxiety' joke here.)

Frostgrave Sandtomb!

No, this isn't a walking-away letter. I am looking forward to having the energy to get back into gaming projects, and yes, spamming it all up here. I'm working on getting everything together to give Otherworld a real try; I think it could be a good substitute for a regular D&D evening. Maurice and I did a run-through of Frostgrave not too long ago, and I think we're going to give it another as well. (It's really caught on online.) And finally, finally, giving the Batman game a go.

But the topic has been on my mind these days. I am old, well, I feel old. And I have been gaming for a couple decades now. The past few years, I have been more attracted to broader rulesets that could play multiple genres/settings, or something close to that. Rather than more focused games that will go out of style in a year or less. Because I have a library full of those rules, and an army or two I bought for each. I never catch up with really learning the rules of the season, never really master the latest ruleset, and never get things fully painted. So my alternative is figuring out a ruleset or three I can really work with, use various figures for, and most importantly, get the locals to enjoy enough to play it with me on the regular. That's my working treatise going into 2016. And a happy new year to all of you out there in gaming-land.

Zomtober '15, week 4: the fourth horseman

My name is death, and the end is here...

The finale! Zombicide season three introduced the skinner zombies, emaciated and tough as nails and all creepy-like. This charmed caught my eye as soon as I opened the box.

I wanted to keep the skin tones pale and go for an old and faded look to the whole scheme. Definitely an end-times affair.

Team height comparison

The Zomtober graduating class of 2015

Thanks to all the great words of encouragement out there! I honestly do look forward to Zomtober, and it always helps kick my gaming juices right where it counts. Next month I hope to get my Guild Ball team fully table-ready, so I don't feel like a loser posting pics of half-painted toys all the time.

Zomtober '15, week 3: scaley!

One of the staples of the modern zombie genre is mutant zombies, undead affected in such a way that gives them a different look or powers. The Zombicide expansion Prison Outbreak featured berserker zombies, undead affected by reasons unknown to have scaly plates that give them some degree of armor from ranged weapons. Their jaws also get a little chisled, as it were. And whatever occurred happened near a prison, meaning the berserker zeds are all prisoners and prison guards (which gives the minis a nice unified theme.)

The only way I find mold lines is well after priming.

I painted the prison uniform orange to match my Arkham escaped convicts, because why not.

Not much time to chat today, this weekend's packed. But had to check in here first!

The story so far.

He's not overly tall...

Zomtober '15, week 2: Parker and his trusty machete

"I dunno what the hell's in there, but it's weird and pissed off, whatever it is."

This week's entry could be a companion piece to last week's Santa Zed, but honestly, it's just another fig I've been putting off for a while, and this was the week to get it done. Parker is a zombie survivor, from Hasslefree.

I've seen pics online of folks painting him like Kenny from South Park, but I took more inspiration from John Carpenter's The Thing an Han Solo in his Hoth gear.

Look, a better pic of Santa Zed.

And he is tiny. Like, 22mm from feet to the top of the hood. Which works great for me. I loved Crooked Dice's St. Searle's 'savage schoolgirls' line, which I've supplemented with other armed children from vaious manufacturers. Parker is a natural fit, even if a little warmly dressed for it. I doubt many zombies will bite through that parka, though!

Slightly better job with the lighting this week. This was done outside, however, which also makes it rather weather-and-time dependent.

The lighting came out all weird with this one, but it was too good a height comparison to let it go. So I tried to edit it up in gimp, and... made it worse to the point that I couldn't un-blue it in the right way. But still! (And man, there's no better way to find every little missed detail than take some nice digital pics and edit them up. Every tiny error just shines right through.) (Thank heavens I am not a perfectionist.) (As you may have guessed.)

Zomtober '15, week 1: a nightmare before Zed-mas

It's the most wonderful time of the year - Zomtober! Third year in a row for me, and always a welcome reminder to get things painted.

For my first entry, I confess I'd been looking forward to painting the Zombicide season three VIP, Santa Zed! Also the first fig I've fully painted at my new place.

It's also the first fig I've taken pictures of at the new house, so as you can tell I need to figure out my ad-hoc lighting setup a little better. But still. Happy Zombtober all!

Obligatory comparison shot with Crooked Dice all-star Misty.

Player roles in Guild Ball (by Maurice)

Hey there, sports fans.

I hope you’re excited for a little digression on player roles in Guild Ball (from Steamforged Games).

Team selection is a critical part of Guild Ball. Each team has a selection of players from their guild to accompany their Captain and Mascot, as well as a handful of options to hire out from the Union. Although each player has a suggested position on their card roughly in line with traditional soccer positions (striker, winger, midfielder, back, etc.), these classifications only go so far once the game starts and the ball, knives and blood start flying about. In order to help assess and respond to a rapidly changing game in the middle of play, I feel it can help to remember a little bit more detail about how each player’s actual skillset can help you follow your path to victory (be it 3 goals, 6 take-outs, or somewhere in between).

What follows is a list of notional categories that you might consider when thinking about a players. Using maybe 2-3 categories to describe each option you have at hand, alongside other data, can help you create a more balanced or focused squad. Let’s take a look:

• Scorer - this player excels at putting the ball on goal; this doesn’t always mean a high kick statistic and range, but it usually does. Movement traits like Shadow-Like help as well.
• Ball Retrieval/Control - this player has the tools to go retrieve and/or hold the ball, whether it’s a fast speed, low-playbook tackle, close control, or a high defense.
• Momentum Generation - This player probably has a decent TAC and a reliable/desirable momentum-generating result on the first column of their playbook. They will give you a good return on your influence investment in the form of valuable momentum.
• Damage - This player has good damage values and a high TAC, or a play like Scything Blow. Certain players may do extra damage against characters that are knocked down or suffering conditions.
• Area Denial/Control - These types try to influence where the opponents want to go on the pitch. All players exert some amount of area control, but these players in particular have access to AOE abilities or push/pull plays.
• Momentum Denial - Another aspect of a high defense and certain character plays is that of momentum denial. Reducing the opponent’s access to momentum can make your damage stick and reduce their ability to score and move.
• Heal/Cleanse - These players keep your other players on the board, either by healing them or removing their conditions easily.
• Buff - These players hand out beneficial boosts to your team, whether it be additional TAC and damage, influence or move.
• Debuff - Conversely, some players are great at reducing the enemy’s capabilities to move, shoot or harm you.
• Influence - This player has a very good influence generation/demand ratio, or has other abilities to make efficient use of influence, freeing it up for use by other players.
• Activation Control - One of this player’s best abilities is to control the activation order of the opponent or increase your number of activations.

I’m sure there are more roles you can come up with that I’ve missed. One that comes to mind is that of the Tank: a player able to soak up large amounts of attacks/damage and occupy the opponent. This role has a weird place in Guild Ball, as many of the ‘heavies,’ with their massive health bars, can actually be very vulnerable due to their low defense.

There are many, many, many synergies between players that will drastically alter a player’s role from that when they’re alone. This is also just a theoretical framework to help you frame how you want to use your team at the start of the match and as play develops; any number of other factors can influence how a player should be used at a given moment, and each player could likely be described by five or more of these roles. Each player likely has 1 or 2 primary roles that they perform best in a vacuum, however.

Here’s an example of how I might describe a lineup you could see:

Fishermen

• Shark - Shark fills Scoring and Momentum Generation roles for this team, in addition to his other benefits.
• Salt - Ball Controller with his high defense and “Where’d they go” and can buff certain teammates.
• Angel - She’s going to be Scoring and Retrieving the Ball from opposing players.
• Jac - His pushes make him a great Area Control player, and he’s also pretty Influence efficient on many turns.
• Siren - She provides further Area Control with Lure and Seduced, while being one of the better Ball Retrievers in the game.
• Fangtooth - In this lineup, the big guy is here to further the emphasis on Area Control via Unmasking and Foul Odor, while his easy access to Knockdown makes him important for Debuffing (neutralizing) key opponents.

This lineup is obviously missing a ton of damage, like most Fishermen teams, but has a lot of ways to get the opponent to where it wants them to be, while retaining a good amount of scoring.

Anyways, I hope you’ve enjoyed this article and will take a crack at thinking about your teams in this manner. I’d really appreciate any thoughts, comments and criticisms below.

Stay salty,

Maurice

interregnum: the mid-move edition

My Guild Ball proxies until I have time to finish the actual models.

My year of no gaming moves along apace.

Well, it’s not no-gaming. There have been occasional spells of the New Hotness (earlier this year, Wrath of Kings and Dark Age.) Also, some exciting new finds (currently, Guild Ball.) And even new treasures on the near horizon (This is Not a Test and the second edition of 7tv.)

But between those spells, it’s been some long gaps, for various reasons. For one reason or another, I’ve missed multiple games, and had to pull out of pretty much every attempt to hit a convention or major gaming event so far this year. NOVA Open is looking unlikely for anything more than a day trip (see below) and Fall-In is the same weekend as my birthday, so I have to pick and choose what to do there.

The biggest hit from the past month and change was a surprise move. We rent, and our landlord chose to terminate our lease (with more than enough warning) so he could do something else with the house. As soon as we heard that, I started packing up my entire gaming collection, which has given me plenty of time to think and mull things over, while I pack up figs I haven’t touched in years.

The past few years has been a lot of throwing in with the New Hotness. I always advocate playing what your local crew plays, because that’s the best way to find games. And I am just as guilty of buying into the new thing for my playgroup (the golden age of Kickstarters has also been a contributing factor here. I can resist anything except temptation.) But I am starting to think that’s not what I need.

More Guild-Ball-by-proxied goodness.

Y’see, I am bad at learning rules. Like, not great at all. Half my games feature my ever-patient playgroup re-explaining some game to me and reminding me how things work.Even when I go to tourneys, the first thing I do when I sit down at the table is let my opponent know that if I get something wrong, I’m not cheating, I just have a crap memory. I’m there to play a bunch of games, not use my rules-knowing to seize the brass ring.

I think what I need in my life more is a 28mm skirmish game or two per genre/setting that I like. Post apocalyptic, steampunk, supers, zombies, etc. Categories like fantasy and scifi need to be broken down to something more specific (like, say, dungeoncrawl.) The eye should be on games that are great for using whatever fig you have in your collection (hello, Frostgrave) and not one with a really limited scope (damn your great figs, Wrath of Kings.)

Games that can be reading adapted to other settings are just value added (see also: 7tv and even IHMN, which can also do Old West and even pirates.)

So yeah. A lot of time to think means a lot of rambling on such matters. So here we are, surrounded by cardboard boxes and figuring out on what to focus my limited efforts.

(And, no, not everything is tragic. My local crew has been great about inviting me out to game, even when they know time is tight, and offered to help with the move and all. And even though the next place will be more or less temporary on the way to a more permanent residence, more gaming will be on the horizon soon. Still, good to get these things off my chest and in writing, if for no other reason than to remind myself later when the next must-have Kickstarter deal rolls in.) 

Side note for those who have stuck with me so far: No one in my playgroup is really into the idea of Age of Sigmar, but we've had discussions on the topic, since it became a topic for debate on the Facebooks. And this article is a great read that really mirrors my gaming mindset these days. As well as my love of Marvel, and Adventure Time, and Lego, and etc. It's a great read, highly recommended.

Guild Ball - First Thoughts (by Maurice)

So, when I've found time between work, family and other stuff for gaming, I've been slowly sneaking into Guild Ball, from Steamforged Games. Guild Ball is a Medieval Football skirmish game, in which teams of players representing various mercantile guilds battle it out on the pitch to settle differences between their employers and generally keep the different city-states from going to war with one another. 

I really enjoyed Blood Bowl earlier in my gaming career, and have always been on the lookout for new sports games. I skipped the original Guild Ball kickstarter, as although I loved the art, I wasn't huge on the idea of having weapons in my sports game as a normal thing (in addition to a shortage of $$ at the time.) Well, I finally read the rules and realized my mistake. One quick group order later, and I had my much adored Fishermen on bases and ready to stab some punks with spearguns...and also score goals... mostly score goals.

I've gotten a bit of game action in with them now, and the game is excellent. It offers a lot of dynamism and action, with a good dose of problem solving.

Almost every activation can feel like one of those set-piece puzzles from a No Quarter or old White Dwarf where you try to gin up the best solution to a situation. It does this without generating analysis paralysis or slowing the game down as well, which is really clever.

Basically, each turn you and your opponent alternate activating your players until they've all gone once. Players are assigned influence (action points) to start the turn, which they spend to attack, sprint, pass, etc. 

As you do things, you'll generate momentum points, which you need to do things like trigger heroic plays, exercise effective teamwork, heal mid-turn, and most importantly: shoot the ball at the goal.

Each player has a set of plays that they can carry out, as well as a little damage chart that they use when attacking. You roll a pool of dice for every action and try to score a number of successes. The damage chart for attacks lets you know whether you can hurt or knock down your target, dodge or push them, or trigger a character play, depending on how successful your attack was.

Games are played to some combination of goals (4 points) and KOs (2 points) equaling 12 points. This allows the game to have a reasonable length while not favoring scoring teams over killing teams, or vice versa.

If you want to learn more about the game, I recommend Guild Ball Tonight, an excellent podcast focused just on this game.

Anyways, we're looking forward to getting more games in. Hopefully Scorpio will have some thoughts soon after his Union get in a game or two. 

Here are some photos of my completed Jac and in-progress Kraken and Greyscales.

Dumpster diving* and catching up

Not the hero we deserved but the hero we needed. 

Be warned: this is a bit rambling. Feel free to scroll down to the pictures of dumpsters, if that's what brought you to the door.

At some point in the past couple months I have started feeling bad about writing up yet another battle report with unpainted figures. Yes, I know it's not a big deal, but I'm just envisioning reading my blog with all these black-and-white pics and how that'd only point out the other flaws in my work, like how I have become real shoddy about taking good notes about how games go.

But! This will past. I am painting up new Pulp City, and am one breakthrough away from getting a good color scheme down for my Wrath of Kings Hadross. Wrath of Kings has been the game of the spring so far (in fact the gents from my group are about to head to Origins to the big dance there.) While I will sing the praises of the assembly side of the Wrath of Kings figs, I confess they're a bit intimidating for a mediocre painter like myself to get done swiftly. But anyways.

(Somewhere on the backburner there's a post brewing about learning Hadross tactics. They're rock hard, but surprisingly tricky to get rolling.)

Enough about my shortcomings. I've also been busy this spring getting lots and lots of Kickstarter pledges arriving. It's beautiful. Many Zombicide figs waiting in the queue, many Wolsung figs getting assembled, and just this week, my pledge for urban terrain from Impudent Mortal arrived on the doorstep.

One of the pieces I picked up to enhance Pulp City and Batman games are the dumpsters. And being a gamer for... a long while now, I have picked up many odds and ends over the years for uses both theoretical and practical. It's only in the past couple years that I took stock of the various terrain bits I had picked up hither and yon, and formulating plans for actual terrain layouts (we typically play at the local store, or someone else's house. I don't have a dedicated gaming room here.)

So I realized I had a bunch of these things from various manufacturers over the years, and decided to toss up a couple comparison shots for scale, so people know what they're looking for.

(The models were chosen because they were [mostly] painted, and representative of their lines. I had other painted Batman figs, but I figured most players would own the Arkham henchmen, due to their usefulness.)

Checkmate Agent (Crossover), Heroclix Dumpster, Arkham escapee (Knight Models)

A blast from the past, the tried and true Heroclix had a lot of useful pieces over the years, and my only regret with the ancient terrain packs was that I did not pick up more. It's the smallest of my lot, but also the only one that came fully painted. Looks to me like something outside a restaurant, more of a trashcan with dreams of grandeur.

Reaper Bones zombie, large Armorcast bin, Supreme Zed (Pulp City)

Mr. Hyde (Heroclix Hulk), smaller Armorcast bin, Reaper Bones zombie

These two are, I believe, out-of-production Armorcast bins. Searching online tells me they might be out-of-production Ainsty, but there's some confusion. Regardless. They are solid chunks of resin, and look great. perfect for near the construction site.

Checkmate Agent, Reaper Bones Dumpster, Supreme Zed

I nabbed one of the Bones dumpsters on a whim, and was not disappointed. Unlike the rubbery material of the other figs, this is hard smooth plastic. Which is BRIGHT WHITE and a pain to photograph. The lid opens up (shown farther down) and while maybe a little big, not really noticeably so, and IMHO would definitely work with the Knight Model figs. 

Checkmate Agent, small Impudent Mortal dumpster, Zombicide zombie

When I signed on for the Impudent Mortal kickstarter, I was looking forward to their stuff, but I have to admit, it's more impressive in person. Please note none of the dumpsters from them are fully assembled. They were put together right out of the bag, no instructions, no trimming. A breeze.

The small dumpster above even has a couple details I didn't put on yet, like the door for the side hatch. 

Arkham escapee, Impudent Mortal bin rear view

A little less in scale for the Knight Models figs, but really, not a big deal.

Supreme Zed, large Impudent Mortal dumpster, Checkmate Agent

And here's the large Impudent Mortal bin. The doors in front can be put open or closed. Hefty! It's the extra bits like the vertical supports that really make them shine. Also notice the slats on the bottom.

And the ridiculous group shot. The Checkmate Agent just barely doesn't fit inside the small Impudent Mortal bin, whereas the larger one fits even 30mm bases comfortably. The Bones product is rather roomy as well.

So, hope that was useful-ish. Any tips for later comparison shot entries?

Drax, not Drax, Drax

And finally, an in-joke for a handful of people.


* Full credit to Maurice for coming up with the 'dumpster diving' title, which I really should have thought of first.

The Dark Age of the Wrath of Kings

If I ever post black-and-white shots, it's because I'm rolling with unpainted minis.

Been a hectic month and change since Cold Wars, but I did manage to get in a couple solid evenings of gaming. A few weeks back, we started out with getting going with Dark Age, and concluding with a lovely skirmish-level game of Wrath of Kings. These two are the games of the hour with the posse.

Sadly, paintjobs aren't there yet, but we're getting started. On the other table, the first game of the night featured the watery forces of Hadross versus the piggy armies of Teknes. (If you haven't read up on the backstory, it's pretty neat. Check out the faction overviews here.)

Marc's Kukulkani are rather fierce, on the other hand.

My first game of the night was running through some Dark Age versus Mark. He's an actual champ at the game, an even has a model of his own in the game. So while the savage beating I took wasn't unexpected, it was highly informative.

The Kukulkani aren't just easy to misspell, they're also an interesting combination of heavy hitters and fearsome magic. My Outcasts struggled to even get any hits in. I did manage to get a better sense of my strengths and weaknesses, however, which is something that's easy to do on paper/internet forums, but that pales in comparison to real-world experience.

We were running 350 point armies, in preparation for an upcoming tournament. I had designed my army more towards running through secondary objectives, which left me a little short on the hitting power.

The tagline for the night: "Mistakes were made."

My second game of Dark Age featured a fight against Aaron's amusingly warped Dragyri. He was trying out running no less than three Death's Devices, which are as hardcore as they sound. Equally fun was the wall of slaves that runs in front of them. Again, I didn't get much accomplished, but I learned a little more about my future tactics fighting such juggernauts.

The two statues at the bottom of the pic are Crooked Dice Argonauts, here used as objective markers for my Motivation.

Now on to Wrath of Kings. Game three of the evening showcased my Hadross versus Maurice's Teknes. 

My motivation (think scenario, but just for your troops) was 'Land Grab,' which required me to get into his side of the board and bust up some objective to show him who's boss in this town/village/etc. Speed isn't Hadross's strength (taxi-crabs aside) but he started the day with many more troops than me, so I knew it'd be wading through his battle lines no matter how I cut it.

Slimy Sevridans slip forward.

The Teknes motivation was 'Capture the Prisoner,' and he selected Iron Eyes as his target. I deployed her a bit... ambitiously, I confess, and she dropped fast. From then forward, I was trying to catch up the pigs spiriting her unconscious body back to their side of the board. That is a tough one to fight back against.

My MVP was easily the Orsund Cavalier, who took up position in the middle of the battlefield and spent the rest of the day beating to death anything that came within reach of his massive tentacles.

Three games. And we could have easily done four! Admittedly, they were small games of Dark Age, but the system is brutally fast. And Wrath of Kings is simply a breeze. We're loving the system, here's hoping we don't wear it out too soon. I'll need to get a more detailed batrep up for this game, because the mechanics are a treat.