T.V. time out

Gonna take a moment out of painting and such to talk about my other favorite thing to do. No, not that. Get your head out of the gutter. I'm talking about TV.

I recently just started watching "Game of Thrones" (yes I'm a little behind, but I'm poor and can't afford HBO) and I have to agree with everything I've heard about the show. It is absolutely gold. My wife and I both love it. I kinda wish now though, that I hadn't always approached it with the attitude that I would never see it, and so I never really stayed away from the copious amounts of info that are on the interwebs. As such, I know just about every major plot point that's going to happen in the seasons coming up. The fact that I know all that and STILL want to see it says a lot for the show.

In other TV news, the new Doctor Who series 8 started last Saturday and was it ever a doozey. This is the first episode for Peter Capaldi taking over the reins from Matt Smith. It was altogether frantic and very confusing and that was exactly the point. We're suppose to be in the companions shoes in a way and in this episode we're made to feel the same way she is and to almost the same degree, the way the Doctor is feeling. This regeneration seems more breaking to him than the others. It takes him longer to pull himself together (I'm still not sure he's together by the end) than I've seen before. I'm not sure where this season is going to take us but I get the feeling it will involve war of some sort. There were several over the top references to how his new face seems angry, furious (especially his eyebrows) and more frowney. Since you can't really discount anything said in a Moffet run episode, my guess is this Doctor is going to have to go to several dark places and he's going to need those qualities over time. I'm really looking forward to this new season.

Lastly on the TV front it's football season again! Hoping against hope that my Cowboys can do something with this season, but I doubt it. Their defense is even more sub-par than it was last year and the still have Tony Romo at QB. Until we can fix those two major issues "Americas Team" is just gonna struggle. We've been there before and come back from it, I'm sure we can do it again. Even if it is a terrible year though, we can always rest on the fact that we've won more superbowls than the Chicago Bears.

Warhammer League Update

Nearing the end of the current (and my last) Warhammer 40k league. We're 6 weeks in and have played 750, 1000, and 1250 point levels so far with only the 1500 games left to go. So far I'm doing very well, although I think it has more to do with the fact that I'm bringing a Wraithknight and a wraithlord in low level games. It's a very dick thing to do considering there is little that can do anything to them at those point levels. The firepower the knight can bring is just stupid and I've had a couple of games now where it cleared half the board alone. Add into that the wave serpents and other tricks and things I'm doing and it really feels unfair. I've only had two games where I didn't score at least two of the three objectives and I've had 4 games that have been total sweeps. Again, I'm not trying to brag here or in anyway try to imply I'm some awesome player that can't be beat. This is just a testament to how well written the Eldar codex is. With 2 weeks left I'm at 64 points. That sounds like a lot to me, but I don't know how far ahead I am at this point. I'm hoping to end my warhammer run on a high note, but that gets me thinking. Is running an overpowered list that just seems to remove armies a high note or is it just low brow dirty fighting? Never had to struggle with that much since the Eldar have always been kind of a middle of the road army and I've always just played them for fun. Now, they seem to be over the top and it just isn't that much fun anymore. Even in my last game I should have lost terribly, but by the sheer amount of options I can pack into a list, I turned a sure loss into a tabling for my opponent.

So I guess what I'm saying, is that I'm bored. I put an army out, and if the dice tilt even slightly my way, I come out on top. That's no longer fun for me. So, I'm going to finish out the league and then be done with 40k. Hopefully I can get a few games of Warmachine in before the girls get here, otherwise, I'll play when I get the chance. Good bye 40k and thanks for the memories.

40k and the Future of My Wargaming

In my last post I talk about the recent changes to the Warhammer 40k 7th edition. I didn't, however, talk about it's changes on me. It seems I've kind of hit a saturation point with the game. I'm not really buying more models (sorry Gopher Dave) and I'm not really interested in painting the models I have. So where does that leave me? Well, I've started exploring other game systems. In particular Privateer Press Warmachine.

There have been several people try to get me to start this game as an alternative to 40k for a while now and it seems I'm finally ready. I've chosen my starting army The Convergence of Cyriss. Supposedly a very hard army to start learning the game with. That doesn't really bother me though. I started Eldar in 40k 4th edition and they were hardly the push button army they are today. Then, you had to support every piece of the army or you lost. This Warmachine army seems very similar to that. So, yeah, I'm going to be stepping away from 40k, slowly. This is by no means a quick transition. I have to first sell off my beloved Space Wolves (I will NEVER get rid of my Eldar) to start buying a new army. Then it will take some time to get the new models painted and ready to play.

Of course, none of this matters compared to the life changing event I have coming up this year. This fall, my beautiful wife will be giving birth to twin daughters. Yup. That's right, twins. She is gonna need all the help I can give and so, I'll be giving up the world of gaming totally for a while seeing how there are way more important things to focus on.

As for this blog, well, I'm going to keep trying to update things. Updates on the Warmachine painting, the games of 7th ed 40k that I get to play and other things like that. Not to fear though, I won't turn this into a parenting blog lol.

Dreams given form

I started this post a few months ago, just now getting around to posting it.

I'm baaaaaack!

The low hum of a massive server system can be heard throughout the complex. A lone figure enters and begins systematically turning on the fluorescent over head lights adding their slight buzz to that of the servers. Heavy foot steps echo down the long hall. "Been a while" he thinks to himself. "nothing's been moved at all I see, those locks held up well." Walking at a brisk pace he makes left and right turns deeper into the complex, dust flying with each foot step. He stops when he reaches the door marked "Control Room", takes out his key and unlocks the door. Light spills in the previously dark room. There, covered in dust, sits the object he seeks. The monitor, keyboard and mouse he once used to speak to thousands. Smirking he announces to the darkness. "I'm back!"

Giving Thanks

Just wanted to take a moment from gaming on this Thanksgiving day and offer my thanks for everything I have. Too often in this world we look over what we have looking only at what we want, lord knows I'm guilty of that. In light of that I would like to say "Thanks" to my family who give unconditionally, my friends who are always there for me, and God for all that He has given me. Hope you all have a happy Thanksgiving. 

An unexpected, unwanted, but possibly needed break

Figured I'd put an update out here. Due to some personal crap, I'm going to have to take some time away from playing 40K at the Gopher. Hopefully I'll be back in a couple of months once I get everything straightened out and back to normal. When this first came up I was pissed. I hate missing Monday night game and seeing my friends. The more I thought about it though, maybe the break will be good for me. It'll give me time to finish up some painting so I'll have new pretties for the field when I return (and be that much less dependent on pchappel for his figs. Thanks for that by the way) and maybe some of the burnout will have gone away. As it stands I started a new army to get out of the one army funk I've been in and give the game new life. It did this but not as much as I had hoped. So my friends, I'll see you on the other side of this mess. Not to worry though, with all these now free Monday's I'll have more time to paint and that means more painting posts.

I just don't get it

First let me get a couple things out of the way. 1) I'm a really mellow gamer, and person in general. It takes a lot to piss me off, I may get down and kinda sour every now and then, but never really pissed, that takes a rare breed. 2) I love the local group I play with. Almost without exception they are casual gamers that like to have a good time and they are awesome friends, my adopted brothers and sisters.
Now that's out of the way, you'll notice up there I said almost. There are a few players that make my blood just boil quicker than water on the sun. And in all 3 cases it's come down to one action. Cheating. I don't get it. Not even a little bit. What makes a person reach over and decide to do something they KNOW is outside the rules? I don't play that way, the majority of the people I've ever played in any format at any store don't play that way. So what, if anything makes these people so, I don't even know what word to use, overcompettitive maybe, that they have to break the rules to win. To me cheating is the ultimate way of saying you disrespect the person you're playing against and in some small way, disrespecting the system you're playing as well (although I'm sure we've all wanted to disrespect Games Workshop in some fashion at some point, just don't do it on the table). Maybe it's just my nature that keeps me from going "ohhhh I get it, that's why they do it" I'm not a real compettive guy. I like to win, everyone does, it's the being ok with losing that I think these people have trouble with. But even if I wanted to win so badly I couldn't stand it, I couldn't reach over and try to get that extra quarter inch out of that movement, or move my tape so that it's off my base when measuring for a charge, or not taking dangerous terrain checks hoping my opponent isn't paying attention. To me that cheapens the win, it's not worth it anymore, it'll always stay in the back of my head that I did something wrong to get that win. I suppose I should feel honored that I'm so good that they felt compelled to cheat against me that it was their last ditch response to win, but I know that's not true. Most of the people I see cheating do it against everyone, if they're winning or not. It's just something defective in them that makes them think it's ok. Now, I want to be clear here, I'm talking about straight up breaking of the rules cheating, not little things that, while disrespectful, don't harm the game. Stuff like rolling your dice behind terrain so your opponent can't see them. I can't call that straight up cheating, but it does make it look like you've got something to hide. I can tell this rant is starting to lose focus so I'll just end with this. Don't be a dick. Have enough respect for yourself and your fellow players to not do that shit. After all it's just a game and if you lose sight of that, maybe you should stop playing.

Music Review: Seether - "Holding Onto Strings Better Left to Fray"

Just picked up the new Seether album off of iTunes. I love this band and have since their first album "Disclaimer". It was a good, solid rock album that tore stuff up and when it did slow down it was really good and melodic. This album is nothing like that. I started off liking it, the first couple of songs were in the same vein as "Disclaimer" heavy, driven and smooth, then the album just nose dives like a plane with no engines. It just degenerates into a soft repetitive mess. It becomes hard to tell when one song ends and the other begins, it's just depressing really. I usually judge an album by how many songs I have to skip on the CD. I have many, including "Disclaimer" that I can listen to all the way through. By the time I got to the seventh song of sixteen I was skipping like a mad man. There are a couple of bright spots on the album though. "Fur Cue", "No Resolution", and "Effigy" (an iTunes bonus track) are all great tracks that go back to what the band was all about. "Country Song" is surprisingly good despite it's different feel and if they had decided to do a few more with that kind of melody I wouldn't have minded a bit. Over all this album is the second worse album they've put out. Nothing beats "Karma and Effect" for shittiness and this doesn't even hold a candle to "Finding Beauty in Negative Spaces" or even in the same galaxy as "Disclaimer". I give it a 2.5 out of 5 mainly just out of the hopes that the next one will be better and they're on a good album, shitty album, good album, shitty album, good album pattern.

The First Saturday of May

Every year something awesome happens on the first Saturday of May. Every year at Churchill Downs, they run the Kentucky Derby. For those of you that don't know the derby is the first part of 3 of one of the hardest championships to win. A horse must be perfect to win all three races and join the ranks of Triple Crown winners like Secretariat. But that's only part of why I love that day. This is the 137th running of the Derby and this will be the 32nd one I've watched. I've had the privilege of watching 28 of them with one of the greatest, most influential  people in my life, my grandpa. With the exception of three races when I just could not get home (and even then we talked on the phone while watching the race) I've watched every one in the same house in the same place with the same man, and I wouldn't have it any other way. Now granted, I don't remember some of the first ones I've seen, but the ones I do remember have made indelible marks on my memory that I will cherish till the day I die. I don't know how many I'll have left to see with Pa but I know that I'll be making them count even more till then, cause after he's gone the race will never be the same. 

I'm still here

I know, I know. The whole purpose of a blog is to post stuff and I will be, I just haven't had any material to put up. My painting has slowed to a halt due to no budget and I've been having trouble getting back into writing for World of Darkness. Things are coming it's just taking a while.

The Slow Grind of Time

Made a trip back to my southern Illinois home this weekend to see the family and got kind of a shock. When I grew up down here I got to listen to one of the best rock stations I've ever heard on the radio period. I've always listened to it every trip back down here even though I have satellite radio in the car, I still switch over to Rock 105.1 WTAO. Till this trip. I haven't been as vigilant listening as I first was and when I turned the station on, I didn't hear Godsmack, Metallica, or Slipknot blasting the speakers. No, what I heard instead was top 40 pop music. You know Lady Gaga and the like. I was sick, one of my favorite stations of all time, a bastion of hard rock had fallen. I don't know what happened, if they sold to a new company or just decided to change formats, but the effect was still the same. I'm starting to believe the phrase "you can't go home again" time just keeps marching along and changing everything in it's wake.

Kickin' It Old School

Got to play one of my all time favorite miniatures games of all time this past Saturday at the Gopher. Battletech. If you're unfamiliar, Battletech (btech for short) is a game where you try to kill your opponent with a giant robot. Try to find one un-fun thing about that statement, I dare you. I've been playing it off and on for about the last 15 or so years and have yet to see a game where I didn't have a blast. Hell, one game I even had two. But in all my years I've yet to see btech do one major thing, catch on to the masses. As much as I try to preach it's funness (hehe I made up a word) I'm only one man. I've chatted with players all over the nation and all I can ever find are small maybe 5-6 member strong pockets of resistance, and they are strung out over quite a bit of distance. So why, if it's so much fun, doesn't it catch on. Couple reasons mainly. One, competitiveness. As much as I may not like to admit it, a competitive game brings more people. Like I said, I've talked to people all over the place, played with people all over the place, and not one of them plays this game to compete. It's a fun game, just for fun, and at the end of the night if you didn't have fun, then you probably were in the bathroom when the one guys mech fell over, critted it's self and blew off the leg of the other guys mech, trust me it was hilarious.  It's a win/lose for me, I love playing games just for fun, but on the other hand it's the competitive players that drive games. You look at games like 40k, Warmachine, Hordes, Warhammer Fantasy, they are all games that have a very competitive base to them. You can play them for fun, but the WAAC players will always be there ready to crush your "just because" list. Second reason: Speed. Btech ain't fast period. The four games I named above, all can be played in a relatively short amount of time say around 2 hours. Btech, you're lucky to get 3 rounds done in 2 hours. I've played games as long as 36 hours (though that game we had been drinking heavily and were using WAY too many mechs and vehicles). The game I played last night started at 6 roughly and I had to call time at 1030. We had only 6 mechs (3 per side) so I consider that one a quick game. If it had been allowed to continue it could have gone on probably another 2 hours, so you're looking at 6 and a half hours for a SMALL game. I've been to cons where there are only two btech games scheduled per day because that's all you're gonna get. This is the real killer. When you're looking at taking as much time for one game as an entire 40k TOURNAMENT it represents a large investment of time for anyone but the most die hard for the game. Kind of a side note to the time issue is the rules set. Nearly everything you can think of in the game is in the book. Want to kick a mech underwater? There's a rule for that. Want to know what happens if your mech skids into another one accidentily? There's a rule for that. The main rulebook for btech is nearly the same length as the 40k rulebook, but when you take out the fluff, the btech book has nearly double the rules, and all those rules take time to look up and that's one of the reasons it takes so long to get through a game. Another reason it takes so long, is because after you do something cool in the game you must spend at least 20 minutes talking and laughing about it like it had been years since it happened instead of minutes. It's a rule, look it up. I think it's in one of the FAQ's. So then with all of these problems, why do I still love it so much? Were you not paying attention at the beginning? It's giant robots shooting lasers at each other! And I'll continue to support it and try to drag as many others into the madness with me. Ok, this went on a little longer than I wanted it too so I'm making a separate post for the actual game. 

Status update

Ok, I've got to apologize. I haven't been neglecting you guys on purpose. I still owe you a new character profile and vol 1 of "Tales of the Imperium" from just last week. I've just been really busy at work, I'm workin' my tail off, litteraly it's gone (TMI?) and that just makes me really tired and lazy. Factor in that I've had to make two trips into town here lately and I just haven't had a whole lotta time. So stay with me guys and I'll get the content to ya.