When life brings you lemondade...

 

  As I sit here and try to come up with something to blog about, I realize that I'm just under a truckload of stress suddenly.  And this isn't the bad kind of stress- it's the sudden craziness of real life and all.  Since this is a blog about my gaming hobby, I'll only touch on that real-life stuff for a minute (I promise).  More importantly is the gaming stuff that I'm trying to keep up with.  Let me explain:

  The business I work for is a small one that is expanding at a warp-speed rate.  Luckily, my bosses are all very intelligent and are keeping this going smoothly, even if it's before we technically planned for it.  One of our competitors is consolidating their area and is offering a portion of their clients to us for their own transition.  Then we have the 'Fair season', meaning that the business is at every event on every weekend to promote ourselves.  Add to that new equipment, new employees, and new policies and you can see how time isn't as available as it used to be.

  We got a call from our property company noting that the owner is selling and presenting some opportunities that we weren't prepared for.  Much time is being spent on phone calls and planning so we don't end up playing 40k behind our cardboard box in the alley.  On the plus side, I may be able to build out my hobby room of my dreams here soon!

  Finally, my son (and regular gaming partner these days) is enjoying a long-term relationship and joining significant social activities.  While I'm away at work enjoying the oppressive summer sun, he's dressing up as the Joker and going to local comic-cons to show off his newfound love of cosplay (and impressing his girlfriend).  His time for gaming in the grimdark is also lacking but he's having a blast otherwise.  

  Now I get back to the hobby!  First- I've joined another Pathfinder campaign.  The last one saw me using a Rogue that fit the Inuyasha combat archetype (tons of acrobatics) but fell victim to every magical trap in every dungeon we entered.  This time, I'm playing a Paladin (a GOOD one!) with the accent of Sean Connery and the need to protect everyone he's around.  My dice are still unfriendly (I'm not the DM, which appears to be the trigger for which side of the die it stops on) but at least I'm not putting the rest of the party at risk with rusted lock-picking tools anymore.

  The TTRPG things seems to be a theme right now as I also received more very recently.  It started with my buddy paying me for helping him with his business in books- almost the entire set of Exalted 2nd edition!  I've played in this world a couple of times before, normally as a human trying to survive in this world of mini-dieties as the role-playing opportunities are more fun.  My buddy is also a RPG gamer and we hope, some sunny day, to be able to play together.  If it's not D&D, it may be Exalted.

  Keeping the theme, another buddy sent me some overstock that he had in his collection.  The box randomly arrived at my door and I called him to find out what and why.  He forced me to open the box and, getting over my SE7EN suspicions, I found almost the entire set of Legend of Five Rings 2nd edition RPG!  The game system is awesome, using the d10 pool mechanic, and the setting is awesome as it's fantasy but set in the samurai time-period.  I've played in the system before and dug it.  The game also reminds me that I need to get back to the Test of Honour stuff we both have...

  Now we're to the miniatures and GW wheelhouse.  I realize that I've fallen behind on the Underhive stuff (or, more specifically, the Ash Wastes).  The Book of the Outlands and giant cargo-hauler have been released and I forgot all about them.  Of course, I also haven't built the models from the box anyway, so I'm really behind.  And now there's some Goliath bikes coming out!?!  They are amazing and remind me to get back to that world.  

  Out of the GW complex- it turns out that Hasbro has released the Frozen Horror expansion for Heroquest and I didn't see it until I watched a couple of unboxing videos for it.  I love miniatures, role-playing, and fantasy and this game is where it all really came together and started.  I refuse to fall behind on that one!  I need to dig through the Amazon.com to find one at some point.

  When life drives a truckload of lemons up your driveway, you need to figure out the best lemonade recipe.  When life brings you a truckload of lemonade, you just start sipping and enjoying the summer days.  In all of this craziness, I need to find my lawn chair...

  Hopefully I'll have a batrep or hobby post soon.  In the meantime, I'm living vicariously through you, the readers.  Let me know what you're doing in the comments below or just commiserate on the fun of your real life.  In the meantime, Happy Hobbying!

Happy Independence Day!

   If you live in the USA, then you know that today is our celebration of independence from the British crown.  The date is almost completely arbitrary as it doesn't exactly match up with the signing of the Declaration or the Constitution (or Articles, for that matter), but it's close enough to count.  In today's modern era, it really just means a day to grill outdoors, drink tons of alcohol (as is the case for most American holidays), and watch awesome fireworks in the evening.  Freedom!

  It's too hot for fireworks this year.  The potential for wildfires and accidents is too high and the show has been cancelled or postponed.  But it's not too hot for grilling!  We have the plans for ribs, burgers and dogs, and even cheesecake and other deserts!  I played two games of 40k this weekend and now get to glut on some barbecued meats...  one of the best holidays evar!

  This takes me to a little story from my past life in the service of the Emprah.  It was July 4th, two-thousand something, and we were required to have our shops open on the holiday.  The idea was that we could capitalize on everyone being off-work and bored.  That idea rarely panned out as people liked to... play outdoors on those summer holidays and cuddle indoors for the others, but I was a good marine and did my job.  Because, of course, this holiday was about American independence from the British, I felt comfortable, nay- obligated!, to hang the American flag.  Little did I realize that our British overlord named "Tom" would be on this side of the pond and popping into shops.  My shop was part of the densest region and was the top in its class for the nation, so it was getting a visit.  Without my knowledge.

  There we- and by "we", I mean myself in my black armour, I think at least one of my poor red-shirts,  and about a half-dozen gamers just gathered lazily at the corner of one of the tables.  Our discussion likely wasn't gamer-related nor would lead to any sales, so that probably didn't help.  But we were enjoying ourselves and I had a few new silver pieces in the till, so I didn't feel the danger coming on.  Suddenly, the door swings open and my boss and the overlord himself come strolling on into the shop.  Brainwashed to immediately react with a greeting and assessment, the horror took a moment to actualize.  "Welcome in!  What can I help... you... " I trailed off as I realized that our little group from which my greeting emanated was perfectly framed by the giant American flag.  I realized this from the look of barely-controlled disdain on Tom's face.  That British stoicism isn't always successful.

  I gave little mind to it as I'm a looooooong seasoned veteran, my boss is an actual military veteran, and this day has a meaning to us on this side of the pond.  It may have taken a moment, but I processed through the situation and continued on with my programmed engagement.  The situation was mostly ackward because I just didn't have a group of gamers to bring that energy to my shop- instead I had the handful of loiterers and lonelies that gave me a couple sales and expected some friendship for a moment (which I was happy to give).  This meant guiding my boss and the overlord through a suddenly suppressed shop with little happening and nothing but a giant American flag, spitting in the face of he-who-signs-our-paychecks, and my fellow nerds to fill space.  They were there for about ten minutes.  We resumed our irrelevant fun after ten minutes.  Freedom!

  For those celebrating- be safe and have a great time!  American holidays are just excuses for food and fun.  For those elsewhere and not having an arbitrary day of celebrations on this particular calendar date- be safe and have a great day!  

  Well, that's my excuse of a posting for the week.  Once I have an actual idea or make the mistake of falling into another GW trap (Horus Heresy is sitting there on the shelf at my game store just calling my name...), then I'll post with some substance.  But for now, back to seasoning some meat and remembering the point...

Is it hobby season yet?

   I don't know if anyone else has noticed, but GW has been busy lately.  Of course, being an acolyte of the Emprah for so long, feel the need to keep up.  If this were a race, GW just got drafted as a receiver and I got an offer to man the phones.  I've fallen a bit behind...

  I only note this because I have the pressure from a couple of different angles.  My son cannot be more geeked for the new core game and my main hobby buddy is deep in the parsing and analyzing of all the new rules, points, and evolutions that have been released.

  First, the Horus Heresy:  NO!  When I managed the stores in Philly and Jersey, we were already flirting with the idea with events and house rules (that aren't dissimilar to the real game later, coincidentally).  I own ten pounds in weight of pewter Mk 6 marines from Rogue Trader as well as certain old vehicles produced before the time of computers and resin.  I've read most of the novels and steeped myself so far in that universe that I still call today's Chapters "Legions".  I very much dig the universe, but I have two things that will keep me from it:

    First, I don't want to return to the 'old style' of the rules.  I'm very happy not having to remember the WS and Wound tables (not that it was a problem), trace arcs for vehicle facings, and argue over base contact for templates.  I don't miss the old days and very much enjoy the modern iteration of the game.  I don't like the constant adjustments, but that's a discussion for further down.  I like simple and fun and I did not think 7th edition was either.

    More importantly- 

MONEY!

  I'm not poor, but this hobby definitely requires money that I don't have.  I already own almost every unit for every army in 40k, the same for Necromunda, Underworlds, and even Middle Earth SBG!  I have nine editions of books, dice, and play aids stashed or in use.  There's much more, but I don't have the time or interest in boring you (the reader).  As a core game, this Horus Heresy will have books for days, new miniatures kits produced every month for years, and support that sucks up every one of those free dollars.  I've made the mistake of owning everything, meaning that anything new has to be bought just to keep up.  I don't want to add to that cycle an more!

  But damn! do I want that game...

  Secondly- GW has dumped all over my precious 40k!!!  If you read that in a negative connotation, settle down.  They literally spent last week doing a data-dump to update the game.  First came the new points values for everything, then came the balance datasheet to adjust the rules, and finally the newest Chapter Approved dropped on Saturday.  With all these documents, GW changed the game significantly and it impacted me directly.

  (Here's where I'm being a petty baby:)  I had the perfect Eldar army list.  It included everything that I wanted and was very effective on the tabletop.  Most of the models were even painted!  But then the points values came out and made my army list too expensive with every unit getting a points increase.  Then the balance datasheet came out and changed the way a couple of my units were meant to act and made some decisions harder.  Finally, the new Chapter Approved ripped away the starting CP and adapted the secondary objectives and missions so there's more to have to consider.  All of this means I can't figure out an Eldar list now!  This even has me building old-school Shining Spears for a bike-force, but I just can't seem to settle on anything now.  Thanks, GW.

  I also want to take a moment to shout out to all those in the community that DEMAND more attention to the game from GW.  They want constant points-adjustments, tweaks to rules, and even nerf-bat olympics against every new army that comes out.  Because balance or something.  I got into this game as a social activity to share my tactics and modeling hobbies with people.  I dropped out of law school because researching isn't something I wanted to be forced to do.  Now GW is giving these people what they want and I'm stuck spending more time researching than playing.  How dare you?  Please remember this next time you claim that GW doesn't listen to the community and makes unbalanced rules due to incompetence.  

  Well, that's my rant for the week.  It was a busy week in the world of GW and I was definitely paying attention enough to finally have something to say.  Now back to trying to figure out these Eldar...

Battle for the Hive Mind

  First- I know I haven't posted in two weeks.  The only excuse I have is that my family went on vacation and I took the opportunity to spend more time at work.  The business is growing very quickly and that has led to some late nights for me (and the big wigs for sure!).  Well, the family is back and I'm reduced to normal activities, so I suddenly have time again!

  Okay, with that out of the way, let's talk about our favorite game.  The new Tyranid codex was released and has spent the last few weeks at the top of nearly every tournament in the nation.  The army is really powerful, undercosted, and terribly confusing from the layers and layers of special rules and conditions.  While a veteran player may understand it all, it takes a Matrix-minded person to really conquer the ins-and-outs of this force.  My son is neither a veteran or tournie-bro, so he has fallen prey to this confusion.

  This battle took place weeks ago, but I got too busy.  In this case, I'll just include some pics and wax memories at the end... 

  Our armies set up and with the secondary objectives.  I've noted that the secondary for Tyranids are pretty bad.  I played with my Eldar and that army is a close 2nd as far as power level compared to the xenos, but with better objectives and less layers of rules to remember.

  Warp Spiders are rude with their blast weapons that demolish any horde of infantry in front of them.

  For the first time in half-a-dozen games, I actually remembered to use my Banshees.  They definitely did a number to the Genestealers.  Unfortunately, the Broodlord was having none of it and invited all his buddies in to finish off the Exarch.  Her dodginess definitely helped, but it wasn't enough with so many claws coming from so many directions.  

  By the end of the second round, the Eldar had successfully cleared half the battlefield and watched in amusement as the surviving monsters stomped forward to do some damage.   

  The concerted assaults all ended and, when the dust cleared, the 'nids had very little left and the Eldar had lost about half their forces.  But it wouldn't be enough as the pointy-ears controlled almost the whole field and stared down a Maleceptor and a couple gribblies.  

  With a resounding victory in three rounds, it was obvious that my son didn't have a strong grasp of his army and all the special rules.  Here's where things get fun.

  This last weekend, I actually read the book and used his army against his Dark Angel space marines.  This gave me the chance to show him some of the rules he wasn't using.  The first and most important was the Psychic Imperative effect.  Regardless of going first or second, the Tyranids get to choose a special effect and apply it to anyone within 6" of a synapse creature.  The Zoanthrope imperative is the best as it gives all bugs a 5+ invulnerable save (4+ if you're a synapse that doesn't already have it built in).  This would make the army very survivable, even against the world-ending firepower of the Eldar technologies.

  The other special rule that he wasn't sure of was the Synaptic Link range thing.  The ability to 'chain' psychic powers and leader effects is huge and can really impact the battle, as long as you remember to keep all your synapse creatures within 12" of each other and 6" of all the little units.  Suddenly, (unlike space marine aura bubbles), you can buff units all the way across the table and really pick-and-choose where your tactical focus is.  This is a huge and abusive rule that sets the Tyranids apart from everyone else.

  The last rule that he wasn't sure of was how to use the Maleceptor.  The blogosphere has deemed this the most broken model in the whole army and even leaked a 50-pt. increase in cost to try to balance him out.  Why?  Because the monster has the ability to wipe an entire marine unit from the boards with just mortal wounds!  Its psychic powers (and the imperative that allows him to cast and action at the same time) can be very oppresive and the model is not squishy, meaning that it will be around for some time to oppress the enemy with his brain(s).

  Now we have to play a game where he uses the Tyranids with this new understanding of how to use them.  That scares me as my victories have been based on facing a half-power army.  I'm excited to see the results.

  Thanks for keeping up even when I don't.  Happy Gaming!