Time is Immaterial

I don't know if I'm just really piss-poor at consistent updates, or if I'm saving up experiences and photos to make bigger blog posts. Like, I guess it would be sensible to piecemeal out this content and make smaller, more consistent posts... But nah.

So it's been a couple of months, and while I haven't gotten to play a ton of games, it's still been packed full of activities for me.

Super out of sequence (since this happened literally yesterday), but I'm going to start off on a high note:

Gaius Pallidus from Arena Rex's Legio XIII faction. That is a 40mm base (he's a tall fella).

"Da Powdah" strikes again, impressing me EVEN MORE with its myriad of uses, and has allowed me to accidentally create one of my favorite paint jobs of a human figure ever. And I mean "accidentally" quite literally. I was working on my NOVA models, knocking out both the basing of some Word Bearers and the finishing touches to some Guild Ball Miners using a custom mix of pigment powdah, when I had an epiphany about the Arena Rex models. I've always really loved them, and after assembling them and priming them white, I only went so far as to apply very diluted glazes to make the details pop and just kinda left it at that. I don't know if the models simply intimidated me, or if there was a particular look I was going for... doesn't matter. But last night I thought, "I wonder what this powdah would do to these figures, because I'm essentially doing the same thing applying it to these sculpted bases."

And now here I am, rethinking my entire painting process altogether when it comes to this hobby in general.

Moving on!

While I'm thinking about painting and techniques and all that, let's talk about Contrast.

The colors, Duke... the colors!

 So I'll just start off by saying the hype for this product, while directed at the consumer base with a different reasoning than what is pertinent to me (they advertise it as a way to paint armies quickly), was honestly well deserved. I paint primarily using washes and glazes over a light basecoat, building shadows and texture, and for that purpose these are a phenomenal product. Honestly the biggest struggle I have with them is that they cover a little too well (!!!) and I'm still playing with dilution and methods of application where I can kind of wipe off the high points to lessen the intensity of the Contrast paints' opacity. Overall I'm really enjoying using these.

Some examples:

Zombicide Black Plague figure, painted using the "Gryph-Hound Orange", "Plaguebearer Flesh", and "Skeleton Horde" Contrast paints. 

Zombicide Black Plague figure, painted using the same "Gryph-Hound Orange", "Plaguebearer Flesh", and "Skeleton Horde" Contrast paints, just in a different pattern and with a touch of Vallejo Red dabbed on the front while the Contrast was still wet so that it would dilute and spread. 

A Warmachine Precursor Knight, airbrushed with the Vallejo Metallic Gold, and then a single coat of "Iyanden Yellow" Contrast applied to the metal armor plates. Best gold color I've ever achieved with 5% of the effort I used to use on my Retribution figures using layering.

A Warmachine Stormblade figure, airbrushed with Vallejo Metallic Steel, then a single coat of "Iyanden Yellow" followed by a single coat of "Militarum Green" Contrast paints. Still not 100% sure about the result, though. It looks good, objectively, I'm just not sure it's my style.

Why yes, those were in fact pictures of Warmachine miniatures. 

So moving on, let's talk WARMACHINE HYPE!

As has been mentioned many times here, my roots in this hobby come from playing friendly games of Warmachine into the wee hours of the morning somewhere around 15 years ago. And finally, FINALLY, the story for the game and its future have come back around to being important (more than just the latest rules arguments or theme lists or whatever other bullshit the new gamers like) and they are releasing a campaign expansion alongside the Infernals faction to move the story forward.

This, needless to say, has gotten me excited.

So I went and played in a local "event" (I guess we'll call it that, small as it was) with my buddy Wargamer Ramblings. 

Game 1: Played against young lad Richard's Legion, which apparently had a theme and a list composition common to these modern events. I dunno. I took Cygnar with a Morrowan "theme" (aka story) and was wrong.

Game 1: Here's an action shot of me successfully combating the strong Legionmans yet simultaneously losing because of objective zone rules about what counts and what doesn't? I honestly don't know. This isn't the game I used to play.

Game 2 (of 2, told you it was a small event): Played Wargamer Ramblings' Crucible Guard in the loser's bracket. Same scenario as before.

Game 2: Shot right before things started getting really ugly. The next turn or so would see the entirety of the Precursor Knights die, the colossal to be wiped out by some angry dwarves, and his jet packers to get messed up by some Gun Mages. Essentially my left flank and his left flank simultaneously crumpled, but he came out the victor in the struggle for the middle...

Game 2: ...UNTIL HE DIDN'T BECAUSE EPIC CAINE GETS THE ASSASSINATION!  IT WAS ALL A PLOY.  THE ARMY IS EXPENDABLE!  IT'S ALL ABOUT THAT CASTER KILL BABY!

So, if you couldn't tell from the commentary on the pictures... I'm not super crazy about what Warmachine has become in the more recent years. The Warmachine I used to play, mind you we're talking basement Warmachine with a small group of people, had 3-d terrain, with some scenarios rarely filtering in, and we were very interested in the who's and why's of the characters and the world itself. Granted, these fond memories of mine end somewhere around 8 years ago when that well dried up, but they're damn strong and frankly make this modern version of things pretty unplayable to me.

And now, we have a further complication:

Thanks to the local gaming store getting rid of their stock, and the genuine interest of my son, he has bought himself into the realms of Caen. (OMG EXCITED DAD RIGHT HUR!!1!11!1!!!)

After some talking to old friends (namely the friends I began playing the game with) and discussing the myriad of changes to the game system that we don't like (which can, and likely will, be the subject of an entire blog post), we're going back in time to the harried days of MKI. A harsher game, but one we always had more fun with because of friggin' everything in the game being dangerous, it's what we've decided to have a bit of a renaissance with and what I'll be teaching to my son. 

"But wait! What about the many many models released after MKI? Like, for example, the entire faction your son has picked?" you-probably-aren't-but-I'm-going-to-imagine-you-are asking yourself.

So yes, this is going to take a bit of work on my end. Namely figuring out the original formulas for model point costs, so that I can retrofit things into it. But dammit, I'm determined now. I may actually do it. Largely because that would also enable me to retrofit any of the new Oblivion campaign model releases/updates. Which basically all excite me QUITE A BIT.

Look at that gorgeous artwork, those super cool Morrowan Precursors battling the forces of evil to literally save the souls of humanity. 

The artwork for the amazing Morrowan Archon.

SO COOL!

Wait a Menite one, too!?

Oh... oh no. This could get expensive.

IS THAT A THAMARITE ARCHON THAT WORKS IN TANDEM WITH ITS REVERSE TWIN MORROWAN ARCHON TO BATTLE THE FORCES OF THE ABYSS? 

...there are 8 Archons in total. This one is the Void Archon, which shows obvious connections between the Skorne and the Retribution of Scyrah, as well as the Convergence of Cyriss. This is very exciting, from a fan of the game itself AND a fan of the narrative.

And finally, the thing that actually has me the most excited... Cygnar Morrowan heavy infantry. This has been the top of my wishlist for more than a decade. I honestly can barely believe it's going to happen. So, so excited for this.

Privateer Press has fostered Warmachine into a game I'm not crazy about playing in its current form (which may largely just be because of the community that plays it) but damn if they aren't making some super cool stuff for it. And, they teased something entirely new for next year!

Is the logo very good? Nah, not really. But in a way that makes it kind of amazing at the same time. 

Rather than make this blog like 4-5 more subjects long, I'll cut it off right here with an update on NOVA prep. 

At this point, my 30k Zone Mortalis stuff is at least all assembled, with it roughly 50-55% painted.

The Guild Ball team is done with the exception of the goal marker.

Haven't even started the Aristeia! or Infinity models. Feeling a little nervous here.

My customized Centurion.

Back shot.

Normal squad with their converted heads.

The full list. Not a ton of models, but I'm taking my time and enjoying the effort of painting them.

First finished regular marine. Just need to put the black around the base edge.

Group shot while working on the bases.

First completed Gal Vorbak model! Might still go back and make his shoulder pad black, but I haven't decided yet.

Back shot.

And finally the Miners' Tank Girl herself, plus the Moley Mole:

And now, back to serious business.

DAKKA DAKKA DAKKA! (Me on the deck of the U.S.S. North Carolina)

The OmniGamer

It's become something of a joke, both that I make about myself and by friends that know me well enough, that I tend to spread myself a little thin when it comes to my gaming choices.  In the typical banter among friends that one can experience at the game store or on Facebook, there has been an interesting question posited in my direction multiple times in recent weeks:

"Is there a game you don't play/have models for?"

Well, yeah.  I mean, of course there is.  We tabletop gamers live in a time of plenty, where there are more games and lines of miniatures available than any sane person could even hope to be a participate in.  But I'll be damned if some of us don't try!

Actually, ironically, my wife and I were recently discussing personality traits and characteristics as defined by a book in our collection.  In this particular version, it uses the ennaagram types (9 total), and, as you might expect, we were reading it together and trying to classify each other. To make a long story short, everyone has a combination of different traits, but my main one is Number #7: The Enthusiast.  While there is a "good/healthy loop"  and a "bad/unhealthy loop" for each one, the basic idea for the Enthusiast is "a fear of being deprived or missing out" with the defining keyword being "Anticipation", which is definitely a simple explanation of my internal struggles.  I actually, legitimately stress myself out over my miniatures.  I need to assemble this, or I need to paint those to have them ready to use, or I need to acquire these to complete this list, etc., etc.  I'm never a person who "finishes" an army, nor am I one that can be content with a paint job on an army past a couple of years.  I'm hoping that now my painting skills have plateaued enough to prevent this, but who knows?  I'm clearly a crazy person. :P 

Primarily I'm writing this post to catalog/list my sickness, with the hopes that in looking at it in a compiled format I can tempt/shame myself to makes some cuts and lessen the stress I place on myself with my toy collection.  A wise friend told me yesterday, "The more games I get into, the less of each I get to play."  It's something I've known for quite some time, but having it verbalized back at me sparked in my mind the curious thought of how I must look to other people.

Pathetic?  Spoiled?  I honestly don't know, but I do care.  

When I stop to think about it, though, how can I actually be passionate about all of it?  Why do I feel like I need to belong to or claim every different game? 

GAMES:

Warmachine:

This is my oldest game, and the genesis of my sickness.  Faction creep saw me build, paint, and play every single faction available at least once from the span of 2003 to 2011.  This is also the game that began my unfortunate backlog.  Once upon a time, I bought a model, assembled it, painted it, and played with it.  At some point I began trading on Bartertown, and I would get thrills by trading up, acquiring armies that had been nerfed or were at a downswing in popularity and then saving them for their inevitable swing back into high demand, acquiring more and more each time.  I actually haven't even played this game in a few years, having become disenchanted with the tournament mindset the game sets out to achieve.

Currently I'm sitting on a brand new Convergence army, waiting for the right inspiration to get to work on it.  A handful of other things are around from over the years (I always kept at least one model from each army I traded or sold off), but I don't really have any usable armies anymore that are assembled and ready to play.

Age of Sigmar:

Never being a Warhammer kid, I only got into Warhammer Fantasy in more recent years after reconnecting with a good friend who played it as his game of choice.  I built a small Ogre (now Ogor) army but only ever used it once or twice, and have since acquired too much of this stuff for any sane person that hasn't really even played it.  Age of Sigmar itself is very exciting to me, though, and I love pretty much everything about it.  This is one that I am very anxious to get a force together and play.  

STILL the coolest piece of art I've ever seen for a miniatures game

Warhammer 30k/40k:

Word Bearers with Mechanicum, some Dark Eldar, and Blood Angels.  Largely picked up stuff because everyone seems to play this, but the power gaming that tends to be the norm around here is definitely a turn off and honestly intimidating.  It's also one that seems empowered by peoples' negativity, and that gets old immediately for me.

Beyond the Gates of Antares:

My new favorite game to play, for sure.  My Boromites are my current favorite miniatures I own, and are spread across my workbench in various stages of assembled and painting this very moment.  I also have the two-player starter (Concord and Ghar) but I've not done anything with it yet besides put the rulebook and templates to good use.  This game isn't going away anytime soon for me.

Boromites are cooler than whatever faction it is that you like

Infinity:

This game... I don't know.  I really love it, I think.  This game suffers, for me, from being very complicated.  There are a lot of details to remember for this game, even just in what you can and cannot do, and it requires a lot of focus.  As evidenced here, I'm spread too thin to be any good at it!  It's only so much fun, both for me and for my potential opponent, if I'm sitting there trying to figure out how to do things for the whole game.  The models and the background are phenomenal, though.  Currently sitting on sizeable forces for both Aleph and Haqqislam, and a bit of Ariadna as well.  I have struggled with trying to make myself get rid of some of it but I can never make myself do it!

Dark Age:

This game is like a sickness, for me.  I really love it.  This game has maybe my favorite story/background of any miniatures game that I play, and it has amazing models all-round.  It's doubly difficult for me to rid myself of any of it because I'm a Legion member for the company produces it (CMON), and they pay for the time I spend demoing or running tournaments or whatever with more toys!  I have... well, I have a lot of it.  Stacks.  Boxes.  Wanna play some Dark Age?

Outcasts gunna wreck ya

Wrath of Kings:

What a damned cool game this is.  Also made by CMON, this is a more army-sized fantasy combat game where Dark Age is the sci-fi skirmish.  I Kickstarted this one, and actually have a nearly-fully-painted army of Nasier, as well as a work-in-progress Teknes army.  I will hopefully be playing a lot more of this game, I'm just waiting for the hype cycle to come back around on it and have my friends want to it play it again.  This kinda replaced Warmachine for me for a time, as it feels similarly sized on the tabletop.

"Fall of Oni's Bane"

Marvel Universe Miniatures Game:

Made by Knight Models, the game itself is a little goofy but the models are the 12 year-old comic nerd that lives in my heart's dream.  We've actually been playing this a bit, with intent to play more soon.  

My most recent project: Mr. Magnet Man

Batman Miniatures Game:

The other side of the coin to the Marvel game, but with much less super powers and more tactical decision making.  I'm sure we'll get back to it, but Marvel has taken its place.

Pulp City:

A unique super hero miniatures game, I picked up some of the models and the rulebook in a kickstarter.  Still haven't managed to play it, but we likely will really soon to see how the rules differ from the Marvel game.  If they're much better (which they kinda look like they will be), we'll use the Marvel miniatures and characters and mix them into this game's ruleset.

Relic Knights:

Kickstarted this, and actually managed to get rid of a lot of it because no one else was really interested.  I kept my stuff for the Paladin faction and the Speed Circuit faction, and would love to actually have a reason to assemble and paint and play it.  Maybe someday.  ;)

GorkaMorka:

After a short-lived stint of a local revival of this game last year, my work schedule got in the way of us maintaining it and it kind of died. I'm still itching to get back to work on my Diggas because the modeling aspect of this silly game is just so much fun.  Check out some previous blogs for my crazy vehicles.

Just... mayhem.

Arena Rex:

I really should just buckle down and paint my stuff for this beautiful game.  A couple of good friends are all about it, but I've just never managed to latch on to it.

Judge Dredd:

I love Judge Dredd as a character and a comic book.  I have some of the models and the rulebook, but I've never gotten to play it.  That kinda sums it up. 

Bushido:

Models look awesome, I love samurai/Japanese culture stuff, and the game is a small commitment in terms of it being skirmish with a handful of models for each side.  I picked up a few models for two different factions and the rulebook on a whim in a clearance sale, but I've still not gotten to actually play it.  Really want to, though.

Guild Ball:

I only have a simple starter box for the Alchemists, but I am extremely curious about this game.  It seems like it might be amazing.  And I'm not even a sports guy. :/ Unfortunately the only other person locally who's invested *also* picked up Alchemists, and way more of them than I have, so I need to find a new faction.  Maybe Union?  (See how this addiction works?  SEE!?)

Lord of the Rings / The Hobbit:

I'm a fantasy nerd.  Can't be helped.  I enjoy collecting these as much as anything else, so they're really in the list on a technicality.  I'm hoping to play it with my sons at some point when they're a little older though, as the ruleset is pretty simple.  Plus GW is bringing it back as just the "Middle Earth Strategy Battle Game" so I'm glad I've kept it all!  

Wasteman:

I've written past blogs about it, but I picked this up largely out of the inspiration it gave me in its creation.  The brainchild of a single man (all rules, art, sculpting, etc.) the game is super goofy and 80's, which I just love, so I bought into the kickstarter.  Actually haven't really gotten to play in any significant way yet, as only one person I know cared enough to also pick it up.  Very much a small, "indie" game.

I'm not even sure the little punk pig on the hood has rules, but he's my favorite of the ones I've painted so far!

MERCS:

Tiny little skirmish game that I've not gotten to play since it originally released years ago, but that might change soon.  At least it's fully painted!

Deep Wars:

Underwater setting skirmish game that we picked up starters for at Adepticon a few years ago, but only played a couple of times.  I like to think we'll go back to it because the models are gorgeous and the ruleset is really unique, but there are just so many other things to play.
 

 X-Wing:

I'm included this here because, as a part of my sickness, I don't want to play with any models that I didn't paint myself.  That means I repaint all of these things.  I'm a glutton for punishment.  I do love playing it, though, even if I hate the tournament mindset that a lot of people have about it.

Confetti Squadron, fall in!

Star Trek Attack Wing:

Star Trek version of X-Wing that I totally like better than X-Wing.  Yeah, I said it.  I like Star Wars more than Trek, overall, but I think the ruleset for this style of game is more fun with the way Attack Wing implements it.  Worth a note that I'm a faction purist, though, and only play all Federation ships.  I'm not a fan of the aspect in the ruleset where you can combine any ships from any faction incurring various points penalties, allowing some crazy combos which is how the tournament gamers play.  

Star Wars Armada:

Have the first wave of stuff from release, and have played it a handful of times.  It's definitely very good, but I'm just not sure that it can keep my interest.

Firestorm Armada:

I have a fleet of Terran ships that I've gotten to play once or twice, and this is basically the space fleet game I wanted.  It suffers a similar problem to Infinity, though, in its just a tad too complicated to be casual about it.  It needs some study.

*DUN DUUUN DUNNNNNNNN*

Firestorm Planetstrike:

Sitting in the boxes, one friend and I picked up starters on the cheap during a clearance sale with idyllic dreams of playing out fleet battles with Armada and simultaneous ground battle with Planetstrike, but we've never managed to make it happen.

Dreadball:

Man, screw Mantic.  Fooled me into kickstarting this game, acquired too many teams because of how they flooded the free stuff into the pledges, and then they ran the value of it in the ground and released ridiculous additions to the rules in multiple new kickstarter campaigns, outdating everything before I even got a chance to use it.  The base game itself is pretty fun, but damn did Mantic just trash it.  Plus the models kinda sucked. They even just did a Dreadball 2.0 kickstarter in the last week or so!  Never again, Mantic.  Never again.

Wild West Exodus:

Sigh.  I am remiss to even list this game, because I kind of don't want to give it any more attention for someone new.  Long story made very short, I kickstarted this game and got very involved with it, both in the sense of it taking over my hobby time and in my involvement with the community.  Turned out the owner was a horrific piece of shit.  I will never give that company another dime.  Unfortunately, the game is fun (if sloppy) and the models are really cool.  So... yeah.

Picture of the models I painted one time for a painting contest, won anonymously, then lost when they found out it was me.  Joy.

Konflict '47 (Bolt Action):

Just getting into this one, and currently waiting on the British starter box to release.  Some cool people are going to play it and I've grown to trust Warlord games, so why not? Plus I'll get to use that box of British Bolt Action soldiers I bought but then never did anything with! ;)


So I guess that kinda sums it up, aside from the random one-offs or boutique lines of miniatures that are just for collecting or proxying into a game, or board games filled with miniatures (Zombicide, Super Dungeon Explore, Myth, etc.).  I'm not sure if this has proven therapeutic, honestly.  Even just sitting here typing it I've been coming up with mental excuses to not let any of it go.

There is another aspect to this, though.  Have you ever heard of misery shopping?  It's basically the idea of being unhappy or frustrated or stressed, and then buying new things to make yourself feel better for a brief time.  There are times where my job has me very stressed, and I know I've scoured eBay or Bartertown for cheap deals on more than one occasion as a result.  It kinda feels like cheating on a diet at the time, because you know you shouldn't, that you probably won't be happy later about it... but you do it anyway.

Maybe I should just work on self control?