leaving for Gencon tomorrow

Full pictures of the army at some point in the future, but here's the basics of my Critical Mass Kaamados army for Gencon. We're doing demos at early o'clock Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. As you may have noticed by my lack of blogging, the whole Dropship Horizon challenge was a complete bust, but at least we played a few games and everything is painted now?

(And man, in these pics, those bases on the left really don't match the bases on the right. It's not as jarring in person, I promise.)

Also packing my barely-past-primed Bushido (for two days of the Dojo plus the tourney) and my at-least-they-are-assembled Doctrine for the intro Relic Knights tourney. I don't expect to, you know, win any of these, but I intend to have a great time playing. The story of my life.

Hitting the road in about ten hours. Time to start packing? 

what's in the box?

So here I am, merrily painting away my figs for Gencon, when what fabled gift appears on my doorstep?

Not the distraction I needed, but the distraction I deserved.

Past self bought me a bunch of Relic Knights: pretty much everything for Doctrine and Speed Circuit, a handful of Darkspace figs, and a couple other odds and ends.

Orange cat included for scale. Also, because he's a cat, and I was doing something that he wasn't involved in on the floor. After this pic, he went and sat in the empty shipping box.

Now to put all that away, and completely ignore it until after Gencon painting is done. Minus the handful of figs I need to put together... for Gencon. Because I signed up for the tourney for a game I haven't played before. Because sure.

In which I don't play Mercs, but name-drop Team Rocket

The plan was to meet up with the guys, learn a new game, and then sneak in a game of Mercs. One of the joys of using public transportation is that, well, sometimes plans just don't happen. A non-showing bus made me late to the store and put me in a bit of a mood. Tried to make the best of it, though. (Maurice covers the Mercs gaming here.)

Apparently this book is pretty rare...

I did get to see Relic Knights in action, though. As noted elsewhere, the guys ran some demos of this at Gencon, and had already been discussing the hot hot Kickstarter campaign. I was initially resistant. I mean, I have a lot of other games I don't have time for, and the models are, well, a little cheesecakey. Thematic for anime, sure. But still.

The game itself is fun and fast-paced. I was pleased with the diceless measure (and the cards aren't just for replacing the dice.) You can download the beta rules here if you'd like to learn more.The setting is heavily into the anime, and they aren't subtle about hiding their influences. (Like, it makes Anima Tactics look subtle.) And even on a cursory read there's some interesting ideas in the backstory, so, that's enough to get my attention. Not taking itself seriously makes the pinup models a little easier to accept, too. Add in a giant four-armed space pirate chef cat, and you got yourself a deal.

I'm leaning towards Doctrine (frikkin' Sailor Moon!) and Speed Circuit (seriously entertaining. And I am considering Team Rocket uniforms.) And probably Pirates, because again, giant four-armed space pirate chef cat.

So if you like the look, the Kickstarter is a great deal, and looks to be really moving into high gear. But brother, let me tell you. It's going to be hard waiting on all these great Kickstarter deals is going to be painful. Delves will be soon-ish, but next spring for the Reaper mega-deal and Relic Knights. Patience is a virtue. Luckily I have, you know, all my other games to keep me distracted.

One bad mother.

So Mercs isn't forgotten. Hopefully will get the details done on the rest of my figs over the weekend so we can get that game in soon.


Unrelated, but speaking of Delves - check out this tutorial on cavern terrain. So pretty.