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.