You see, I'm a Games Workshop disciple through-and-through. I even served in the Emprah's armies for a long time and learned many things. My teeth were cut on Dungeons & Dragons and I still know more about that game (and have more books) than many of the subjects I have degrees in. If you even deign to mention Star Trek in my presence, I have to mindfully keep quiet as I can drone on and on about the technical specifications of the Sabre-class frigate to those that didn't even remember that the first Enterprise's captain was named Pike. My nerd and gamer knowledge runs deep and wide. So I may not be as open to the kinds of things that my wife likes (she certainly isn't a fan of much of mine, and who could blame her?), yet she got me. All my skull-faced Chaplain wielding a Holy Avenger on the bridge of the Excelsior expectations were met in one simple Kickstarter.
While she gleefully gabbed on and on about how much she thought this was awesome, I was absorbed in soaking up all the details from their page. I needed to know where this game came from and what it was about and what it included and how it was played and who was making it and all of that fun 'due diligence'. Because when my attention is grabbed, I begin to nerd out...
It isn't new. This game is based on a card game that was released years back. Collection of it and both expansions are available on eBay and Amazon and one my competitive buddies was really into it (and Spartacus) for a while. But I'm not totally geeked about card games, despite my extensive collection and a rather unbeatable Fire deck in Pokemon. So this new version had to be different from that for me to get really excited. And it was. This Kickstarter included so many beautiful models that I started drooling. My wife continued to eagerly point out each of the models she really liked and all I could do was drool...
I fell into it. We could afford it (which is rare, especially in the GW world) and the models were the right scale to use in D&D (a huge requirement for me). Before long, she's whipping out the credit card and ordering me to order it. I didn't put up a fight. I didn't even really know what was going on as I was still in complete shock that there was this game for which I was easily drawn. My overly critical and sometimes irrationally stubborn gamer nerd self was almost instantly seduced because of great models and a bubbling-over wife. We pledged. It arrived. We haven't yet received everything as we're still missing the so-called 'stretch goals' (that's additional items promoted to entice more people to pledge money to the project) and RPG for it (that's right, this company even produced a role-playing game for it!), but we got the core game and all of the expansions. Below are the pictures and I can say that it was worth the wait. The wife's selling pitch was spot on and the year's wait wasn't too long. In fact, this game seems to be so amazing that supporters who haven't received theirs yet are throwing fits online! And it's worth that too. I don't know if the game will ever be available for retail, but I'm happy to have it for sure. I'm very proud of the wife.
We received all that goodness on Wednesday and we've already played six games of it. The rules are very simple (despite the way some of the backers get confused about some rules) and there are scenarios by the loads to be able to battle. The boards are of fantastic quality and even the cardboard terrain adds that 'environment' to the game that keeps me in the miniatures world. I should note that I do also have the plastic tree and column terrain set, but we're focused on the core set right now and the cardboard stuff doesn't suck (I actually think the cardboard trees will work better for my D&D games that the normal models!).
My wife isn't usually willing to play my games because they're "too complicated". She'll dabble with role-playing, but she's more crafty than gamer. But she learned the rules for this game easily and enjoys playing it so much that we've conquered that beginner scenario and already started drafting. Let's talk about that...
So my nerd runs so deep that my Lone Star love of football even sees me competing in Fantasy Football every year. That's right, I can even make the most 'jock' thing an obsession if it's turned into a game, and anything stolen from that is aces to me. So to have a game where you 'draft' your forces of miniatures to battle just possessed me. I mean, WOW! So if I want to play with a different force or prevent my opponent from getting that powerful one, I use my turn to make that selection. With the risk, of course, of not getting my favorite pieces because my opponent did the same to me! With all the other coolness of simple rules and beautiful, tangible elements, now the game includes one of my favorite aspects of another obsession? Oh yes.
To get all this (and the rest that's still coming), we spent much monies. There was definitely some budgetary considerations that were made. Especially considering that GW was releasing 40k 8th this year and some of my other hobbies were definitely demanding attention as well. Normally , I'm the one that's spending way too much on these nerdy games, but this time it wasn't me. It wasn't one of my games that soaked up those dollars this time. For once I can say that it was the wife. She was the cause of this expenditure. She did it! And I'm so proud...
