tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23735759607610163222024-03-13T13:30:02.426-05:00The Hopeless GamerThe Hopeless Gamerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10641907554710405444noreply@blogger.comBlogger703125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2373575960761016322.post-6396579128038385732020-12-11T10:38:00.005-06:002020-12-11T10:39:31.774-06:00NEW BLOG ALERT<p> So I'm not sure anyone will be reading this, but I have returned to the world of blogging, this time on a different platform and with a gaming focus much more specifically on one topic - Old School Revival (OSR) gaming.</p><p>It's called OS Armory, and it can be found here - <a href="https://osarmory.com/">https://osarmory.com/ </a></p><p>Check it out if you like, take a look at radically amateurish art, and hopefully find a fun magic item or two you can use in your next game. </p>The Hopeless Gamerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10641907554710405444noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2373575960761016322.post-47403514128217432782015-08-11T19:48:00.000-05:002015-08-11T19:48:08.467-05:00Gencon Follow-up: My First Time in the Iron Arena!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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If you were following a bit of my run up to Gencon posts, you might have noticed that within the last year I've really gotten back into Warmachine with my brother. Luckily for me, I had pretty much hung on to almost all of my minis from the Mark I version of the rules, including Cygnar, Trollbloods, and Mercs (mostly dwarves). Of course that didn't stop me from picking up a small force of Retribution (elves) as well, but that's more of a digression at this point.<br />
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We decided that we were going to try to play in the Iron Arena this year at Gencon. We had spent the last year playing between a half and full dozen games against each other trying to brush up on the rules, and we were having a TON of fun with it. Lots and lots.<br />
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Let me go over the format real quick, but Iron Arena is a unique way to play the game. Basically you purchase a ticket for the entire day (or days - 2 in our case). You report to the Privateer Press area and register yourself and what state/country your from. This part is important and you'll see in a bit why.<br />
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Then you play pick up games pretty much the whole day with other Iron Arena contenders! You can play any faction, any size game, any number of players, whatever your heart's desire.<br />
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For each game you play, for every hour, you can report the results, and you end up gaining skulls. You can earn skulls for playing 50 point games (the tournament standard), a fully-painted army, for playing on a scenario table, for playing someone from a different state or country from you, for playing an army composed of forces specifically designed for your warcaster/warlock (known as a "tier list" which basically grants special rules for your army on the condition that you limit the units you can build your army with), and several more things.<br />
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You can then spend your skulls on items like art prints, dice, measuring templates, and in the most skull-intensive items, "extreme" alternate sculpts of big models. It's a pretty great selection.<br />
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So the strategy here is two-fold. Obviously you want to play a fun list because all these games are for-fun. The other half though is to figure out how to maximize your skull income. That leads into the prep work for the con!<br />
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<a name='more'></a>I've never been a big hobbyist when it comes to minis games, but something just clicked for me recently, and I've really taken to the painting/modeling aspect of the game. I decided that I would stick with just Cygnar and would play an entirely painted army. I couldn't make tier for my warcasters as I didn't own the right combination of figures, but everything was painted!<br />
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So I ended up only playing two games on both Friday and Saturday, but you know what? I was pretty psyched about that. I didn't win a single game, although three of the four were very close, and I feel like I picked up a lot of good basic information about playing the game. I'd love to play more games in general, but unfortunately the nearest game store to me is 45 minutes away and they don't stock Privateer Press products, but again I digress.<br />
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My first game was actually against my brother's army, but this time was different because it was on a table to match the awesomeness of our fully-painted armies!<br />
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Here's a view of our table after we got set up. I was trying a new army (relatively) because I thought why not? It was against the Gamer bro, so if I lose, I lose, no sweat. It was a fun game where we were playing for three objectives, and we didn't learn until after the game that we had been playing objectives wrong for going on several months now. Never too late to learn how to play the game you've sunk hundreds of dollars and hours painting on!<br />
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You can see in the picture above that things got heated! I was playing an army with lots of warjacks (basically robots telepathically controlled by my army's warcaster) with just a bit of support from some heavy cavalry. Against me was an infantry-heavy army of pseudo-fantasy Soviets! I lost on scenario points, and again, afterward we learned that we had no idea what we were doing in the scenario. Next time fantasy Soviets. Next time.<br />
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The second game on Friday was on a different scenario table, and this one was going to be awesome! I was playing a nice guy who was playing a Retribution of Scyrah (elves) army, which I was really excited about because I love the faction.<br />
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In the middle of the table was a big lighthouse, and the scenario took place at night time. Each turn, the active player rolled to see which quarter of the table actually had light. Every other quarter was in darkness, and you couldn't see anyone more than 5 inches away. It was a ton of fun, He was playing mostly a melee army like myself, which meant we were going to get into a scrum real quick.<br />
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In every game I played, I used a full unit of five stormlances a.k.a. heavy cavalry. They were REALLY fun to play. They were incredibly fast, and I often used my first turn literally re-positioning them across the other side of the field to deal with a threat and didn't feel like I was wasting any time at all with them. I ended up losing this game because my warcaster blew himself up. This isn't a general rule or possibility. My guy (Lord Commander Stryker) has an ability where he can boost his own damage output in exchange for taking damage, both determined randomly. He got a little ambitious and killed himself while attempting to kill the enemy warcaster, losing me the game. Ton of fun though.<br />
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My first game on Saturday was also on a scenario table, but this time was against Trolls! My opponent was playing a special tier army called "Runes of War", and if you're familiar with the game, you know this is one of the top-tier tournament lists in the game. My opponent explained that he was going to play in an actual tournament but changed his mind at the last minute.<br />
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Take a look at that train above here. The scenario had me as the defender of the train, which turned out to be terrible for my infantry-heavy army I decided to play in this game. Really in retrospect I should have played the same army from the first scenario, but this was the army I had played the most and wanted a chance to get some more games in it.<br />
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This turned out to be a big mistake as my army got crazy bunched up because I had no room to deploy in the first place. I don't know if it would have made a difference against Runes of War, but I would have felt like I had more options, I think. Regardless it would have been rough.<br />
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It definitely put me in a sour mood, but eventually I got into my fourth and final game, and that was a different story altogether!<br />
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I was playing my first game on a general table against a player with a Protectorate of Menoth (holy knights/zealots/FIRE faction). It was also my first game ever with a figure on a huge base, and he was playing two!<br />
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Take a look at his army set up and guess which ones were the big ones (hint, they're the huge center pieces). I was a little nervous playing against Menoth as that was the Gamer bro's faction in Mark I when we played before, and I could never beat him with my boys in blue.<br />
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I knew his army was all about the fire with area of effects carpet bombing and sprays, all of them causing fire on my guys even if they didn't initially do enough damage to kill them. I again was playing my Lord Commander Stryker army with tons of infantry. Not necessarily a happy combination as infantry burn real good.<br />
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The game was probably the most fun game I played all weekend. My opponent was a seasoned press ganger (the volunteers that run their games and recruit new players), so he was just kind of bumming it in the Iron Arena to see if his army would be good for tournaments. He also explained that he had not lost with the army yet. In a way, that's a nice relief of pressure.<br />
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The game actually went pretty well for me. Again my cavalry were heavy hitters, and my sword knights, usually pretty squishy infantry, held up surprisingly well against the holy flamethrowers my opponent deployed.<br />
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I had taken out about half his army and still had some killing power, so I decided to go all-in to kill his COLOSSAL warjack with Stryker, my warcaster. He went all out and killed the thing in one turn. It was fantastic. Stryker went down to his own warcaster, but it actually got a little close for him, which was good enough for me.<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">Final Thoughts</span></b></div>
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As a first time in the Iron Arena, I was very happy with the games I got in. Time flew by at Gencon on both days almost too fast, and with only two games each day, that definitely surprised me. I'll have to do some thinking again next year to see if I just want to outright devote a single day to the Iron Arena and try to get in 3+ games in one day or spread it out again. I can pros and cons to both, but I'm definitely going to be fighting in it again next year.</div>
<br />The Hopeless Gamerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10641907554710405444noreply@blogger.com72tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2373575960761016322.post-90114613667450002832015-08-08T13:17:00.000-05:002015-08-08T13:17:10.120-05:00Gencon 2015 - Here are the games I played!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I thought as part of my Gencon 2015 recap it'd be fun for me to write (and hopefully you to read) a review of what games I played. I tried to take pictures of every game I played and in almost every way succeeded!<br />
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For the purpose of this post I'm leaving out London Dread which I wrote about in its own post. I'm also going to leave out a summary of the Warmachine games I got to play as I'm saving those for a future post about playing Warmachine at a convention like Gencon.<br />
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Those two disclaimers aside, here's what I played!<br />
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The first game (and not in order of what I played, just the first game I'm writing about) wasn't actually quite a game yet. Look to the right of this text right now. See that face on that little box? Those adorable GIGANTIC kitty eyes? All the folded up little boxy kitties on the table in front of it? This was my game that I most wanted to learn more about.<br />
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<b>Kitty Tower</b> doesn't have a lot of info out about it. It was at the IDW Games booth, and the only info that had to share was that the game is hopefully coming out next year with full rules. For now, it was as simple a game as could be - just stack a bunch of kitties! I played against my brother and sister to see who would get to the seventh kitty stacked. I'd like to think my experience with my own two kitties (who are notoriously difficult to stack in real life) gave me the experience I needed to win. At this point I'm hoping to get a lot more info about the game, but stacking cats? You had me at hello.<br />
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Next up is my brief <b>Fantasy Flight Games</b> demo notes. First up is the second edition of <b>Battlelore</b>. We got to play a quick introductory level where I played some imperial guys, and my brother had the chance to play a soon-to-be-released undead army.<br />
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We'd played Battlelore first edition a LONG time ago and have since played a fair bit of Memoir '44 and a tiny bit of Battles of Westeros, which are all based on the same game engine. I generally find it to be a fun, light, strategy game. I know my brother had fun too, but he thought the undead army was a bit lacking in power compared to my imperials. I'm inclined to agree. Their spear men had a fun press-your-luck mechanic where the unit gets stronger the more members of that are dead. We found it just made them pretty fragile. It's still a fun game, but I think there's a lot of competition out there for its spot.<br />
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Next up was a chance to demo <b>Star Wars: Imperial Assault</b>. Like many of FFG's games, they took a game system, in this case Descent Second Edition, and adapted it to work with one of their big properties (arguably the biggest property of them all) - Star Wars.<br />
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Imperial Assault is not a brand new game, but only my big brother out of the three of us who demoed the game had a chance to play it before. I'd played Descent First Ed and was excited to get a chance to try out Imperial Assault.<br />
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IA is an intimidating game. Not because of the mechanics, which are actually quite simple and straight-forward, but because of the investment. Like Descent, IA is a bit of an expansion treadmill. There are TONS of small one-off and big box expansions out and planned to come out.<br />
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I liked the scenario we played. I played a Wookie with a vibroaxe and actually didn't pull off a single attack for the whole game. All the shooters got to the enemies before I could really do anything because I grabbed the chest at the beginning of the game. I imagine the scenario was much shorter than normal, and I still had fun sitting with people, but I'm honestly not surprised a non-Jedi melee character didn't do a lot. Unlike a fantasy setting like Descent, this is a game full of guns. Not sure how to solve this problem, Maybe one of the countless expansions would give a melee character a better chance. The good news on this one is that if you know Descent, you'll know how to play IA. Perhaps the Star Wars paint job on top of those rules is enough for you to own both games. I'm not entirely convinced.<br />
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I also got a chance to play a game of the new <b>Games of Thrones the Card Game LCG</b> from FFG. I played a lot of aGoT back in the day when it was a CCG and tried to get into the LCG when it converted, but the game lost me. I liked the things I read about the second edition and thought it might be my chance to jump back in as I'm a big fan of the LCG format.<br />
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We played Stark versus Baratheon (me), and I got trounced. The game is not any better than before in my opinion. I had no agency as I quickly got crushed by the Starks. The worst part about this game is the death spiral. Both players play to get 15 power first, and you can do things like attack with intrigue or military characters. The third type of challenge is power, and you steal those directly from your opponent. Any time I could sneak by and earn a power from the power pool, I was just potentially feeding my opponent. It needs a MASSIVE overhaul as the game's design is still based entirely on an almost 15 year-old game engine. I can't complain too much though, at least I save money on not impulse buying it at Gencon.<br />
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Heading away from FFG we eventually found our way to White Wizard Games, known better for their game Star Realms. I only just started to play Star Realms, and quite enjoy it. It's a deck building game that plays like a quicker version of Ascension with much more player interaction as you directly attack your opponent's resources.<br />
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They were demoing and releasing a brand new game, <b>Cthulhu Realms</b>, at Gencon. I didn't actually get a chance to play it myself, but I watched my brother and sister play, and I was very impressed.<br />
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If you know how Star Realms plays, Cthulhu Realms is very similar. It plays with a couple more layers of complexity that we thought really added to the game overall.<br />
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They limited the number of factions, first off, so you're more likely to build up combos, which if you're familiar with deck builders at all, you'll know that can speed up games and make for much bigger plays much earlier in the game. For a game like Cthulhu Realms with its goofy take on the Lovecraft Mythos and really fun, playful art style to go along with it, that can only be a good thing.<br />
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Another nice aspect of the game is that, unlike Star Realms, it plays up to four players right out of the box. We did play a game with three of us afterward, and I've got mixed feelings on it. I like that there are distinct card pools to purchase from between each player (meaning there's always at least one card pool you <i>can't</i> purchase from on the table but the other two players can).<br />
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I don't like how you attacked all enemies. I wish you could pick and choose who you attacked. It just kind of played like a two player game that took an extra turn to get to you, and so you got attacked twice instead of just once before it got to be your turn again. I wish there was more interaction. I'd love the chance for players to trade out cards from other pools, or like I said there to be some kind of targetting action. I think this one will play virtually the same at 2, 3, or 4 players, but it definitely feels like it's still meant for 2 players for the quickest, most enjoyable game.<br />
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And last for the new games was <b>Adventure Time Love Letter</b> from AEG!<br />
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My little sister and her husband are BIG time Adventure Time fans and fans of Love Letter. We've played about three different versions of Love Letter at this point. The game is fun. If you're into board games, you've probably heard about how well it plays. It's all true. It's super quick to play a few rounds. The rules are just as tried and true as ever.<br />
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I didn't feel like the Adventure Time theme added a bunch to the core game, but it's definitely fun to look at. My favorite version of Love Letter still to date is Batman as it adds a fun "hunt the villain" aspect of to the game that I enjoyed in the few rounds of it that I played.<br />
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If you're a fan of Adventure Time, don't own Love Letter yet, or are a HUGE fan of Love Letter and want to own every copy, you can't really go wrong with this version of the game.<br />
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And last but not least was a board game I picked up from the Coolstuff Inc. Ding and Dent section.<br />
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<b>Cube Quest</b> was a game that I had my eye on for quite a while, but given its simplicity, I couldn't quite justify paying full price. Because I got a copy with a tiny little dent on the cover, I picked it up for $17.00! I've played about three games total of this little dexterity-based dice-based wargame, and I already feel like I got my money's worth.<br />
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The game is <i>very</i> simple. You each have a king die that you place into your side's castle, anywhere you like as long as it at least touches the castle. You then have a set "army" of specific dice. For our games we played the starter armies, but there are different types of warriors - grunts and strikers are what we used, but there are several more types. Each dice type has a point cost just like a mini in a wargame, and there are army building rules that come along with the game.<br />
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You put your dice on your side of the board (which is actually just two playmats like the kind you'd get for Magic the Gathering games). Again, anywhere you want as long as it's on your mat.<br />
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Then you take turns flicking the dice at each other, trying to knock the other player's king off the board! Anytime a die gets knocked of the board, the unit dies. Each die has sides with the portrait of the character and just the silhouette. If the silhouette side ends face up on your opponent's side, your opponent gets to roll it. If it lands portrait up, you get to take it back and put in your castle. If it's silhouette side up, it's killed.<br />
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That's it! The rules are very simple, but the dice change the rules just like special rules for specific units and figures in miniatures games. It's a lot of fun and goofy. Just make sure to count your dice at the end of your game!<br />
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So that's it for board and card games at Gencon for me. I spent most of the day on Thursday demoing and playing different games, and really liked the schedule. It's by far the best day to demo games as the crowd isn't too big like it is on Friday and Saturday, and the people aren't exhausted by Sunday.<br />
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My next post is a big Warmachine post, just to warn you!The Hopeless Gamerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10641907554710405444noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2373575960761016322.post-59017044969457054712015-08-06T18:08:00.001-05:002015-08-06T18:08:42.340-05:00Gencon Impressions: London Dread<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I survived Gencon (mostly) again once more this year. It was a great time, albeit a little different than normal since we were staying in a different hotel from years past and the Hopeless Wife couldn't attend. I've also heard murmurings that they set once more a brand new attendance record. For my two cents, it was definitely crowded at times, but Indy continues to adapt and offer new experiences for the ever-expanding crowds.<br />
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For my first post-Gecon post I wanted to focus on the game that excited us most coming away from the show. On Thursday my brother and sister, along with yours truly, got a chance to sit down for a full introduction session of a brand new game called <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/178134/london-dread">London Dread</a> by Plotmaker Games. To be honest, there's not a whole lot of information out there other than it's a Danish game and what I took away from playing it at Gencon.<br />
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First off, the game is a lot of fun from a first play-through. It's 100% cooperative. We played with four people, but apparently it plays 2 to 4. I imagine solo play is definitely possible, but there's a timing mechanism that makes that a TON of information for one player to handle.<br />
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You're playing a group of investigators in Victorian London. There a number of scenarios, and in our scenario we were trying to hunt down a killer by dealing with different locations and plot events. It feels very much like a role-playing game set up. I'm not sure how the replay would work on this, but given that the locations are randomly assigned challenges, there puzzle possibilities are really, really high.<br />
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The game is played over three phases. First, and most terrifying is a 12 minute planning phase timed by a recording with some neat narration about the story. It's a lot like Space Alert or for you older gamers, Omega Virus. During this time you're working with the other players to plan out exactly where your character is moving through out the investigation. Once the 12 minutes is up, each character is locked into the movements and locations.<br />
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This matters because each character, as you might expect, has a unique set of icons/skills. Each location is randomly assigned challenges, and in this 12 minutes you have the option of turning as many of the location cards face up to plan where your character is going. This was that perfect kind of stress that really drives you rather than paralyzes you, at least that was the case with us. It was frenetic, it was chaotic, and it's a TON of fun.<br />
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Next is the phase where you go through the clock and each character contributes to the location challenges. This is not timed and is generally a huge relief after the first phase. There is a press-your-luck quality to this phase. When you beat a location, that card goes on a pile of cards that players can then draw and discard from for a one-time boost on a later challenge. If you don't beat the location, it stays and adds to the threat level. If you reach a certain threat level, you're done, and the goal of the game is to reduce your threat down to zero to win. How do you do that? That's the next phase.<br />
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After the day is complete, for our scenario, we had to try to stop an evil cult from performing a ritual. This is the third phase, and each character has a chance to reduce threat through over-coming challenges specific to the ritual.<br />
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And that's it! Well of course that's not totally it. There's a lot more, and I think the game presents a very healthy balance between player agency and the randomness of the icons and challenges encountered. We ended up losing our game, but it was still very fun, and it was very difficult to tell we were for sure going to lose until right up to the end. It was close.<br />
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I'm very much looking forward to the release of this game, especially because both my sister and brother are even more excited than I am, so I probably won't have to buy my own copy! One thing that surprised me was how well this game, with it's A/V aspect and a lot going on, demoed really well in the convention hall. The guy running the game did a great job, and the flavor and production value, even as a prototype, were extremely high. Keep a look out for this one!The Hopeless Gamerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10641907554710405444noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2373575960761016322.post-42949626630785508722015-07-29T17:40:00.000-05:002015-07-29T17:40:11.169-05:00Gencon Day Minus One!So we made it to Indy and got all our event tickets and auction items entered in record time! It's been a great start for us this year, and I'm already full from our first real Con meal at the Ram.<br />
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I'm sitting in my hotel room right now doing the normal Wednesday night routine of looking through the convention catalog to see what's new this year. Honestly, not a lot is.<br />
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But that is not a bad thing. I've been coming to Gencon for over 15 years, and really one thing I've discovered is that it's a bit of a homecoming each year. I'm very comfortable knowing what to expect from the experience, and there is something really nice about that.<br />
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I'm already anticipating some of my favorite annual events like the first walk through the exhibitors hall, an annual game of Dread and Call of Cthulhu, and the Saturday night charity auction.<br />
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At the same time, I'm very excited for a brand new experience this year. I've finally got a painted Warmachine army and am really looking forward to getting trounced and learning how to be better by playing in the Iron Arena.<br />
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It should be a great couple days!The Hopeless Gamerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10641907554710405444noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2373575960761016322.post-37531888643490626252015-07-22T20:08:00.000-05:002015-07-22T20:08:00.371-05:00Gencon in one week!I can't believe we're only one week away from Gencon. Thank God though, right? I've been frantically trying to paint up a 50 point Cygnar army for the Iron Arena on Friday and Saturday. This will be my first time playing Warmachine at Gencon in over ten years. I've been doing a lot of studying of the rules and have played some practice games with the Hopeless Brother, but I genuinely believe we're both ill-prepared. Aw well. It's a casual format, and I look forward to being schooled in the rules so I can actually learn some of the more nuanced rules.<br />
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Of course I'm excited for other things as well this year, but for the first time since she started going, the Hopeless Wife will not be joining us. It's going to be a big adjustment as she was my travel buddy as well, and so I don't really know what to expect this year. At the same time, while I'm excited to see lots of new things, I don't really have anything specific in mind that I'm hunting after.<br />
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I think I'm in a place where I'm just kind of a little out of the loop and thus open to discovering some new stuff. I don't know what I'm looking for, which in a way is a weird place for me to be. I've been into Warmachine/The Iron Kingdoms very heavily for about the last half year. I'm working on writing my own RPG, and I've had scant chance to actually play board games since last Gencon.<br />
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So where does that leave me? Well, I want to play some demos. One thing I'm actually wanting to try in specific is the second edition of the Game of Thrones LCG. The original CCG is was got me into card games, but they lost me with the LCG release since it really focused on multiplayer versus head-to-head. I'm hoping the new edition gives fun play to the "joust" format as it's known.<br />
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What else? I think I'd like to find a new RPG to read, something I've never heard of but with light rules and exciting setting. Something that grabs me right away with its originality. I don't know what that looks like, but I'll know it when I see it.<br />
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I do have a few RPG's I'l be playing as well, which I'm really looking forward to, including a game of Friday night Dread. Nothing better. Of course there's the Gencon Auction as well. That's a perennial favorite.<br />
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What are you excited for?The Hopeless Gamerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10641907554710405444noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2373575960761016322.post-48866539572367892672015-07-11T12:34:00.001-05:002015-07-11T12:51:20.121-05:00Preparing for War! Basic Miniature Basing.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Hey fellow hopeless readers! Long-time no see. I realized I've been doing a lot of gaming stuff and not talking about it, which is of course a waste of perfectly good blogging material.<br />
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I haven't been doing nearly as much role playing in recent times simply because I've been away from my group since moving and don't have a bunch of possibilities locally. That being said, I've rerouted my gaming fuel into design and have been working on a few different games for a while. Maybe one day I'll finish one. Maybe.<br />
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In other news, I've gotten back into Warmachine big time, which was a game that I basically grew into a gamer with when I was younger. I've always loved the lore of the game and thought it would be great to play a Role Playing game in. Recently I ran the intro adventure from the Iron Kingdoms Unleashed Adventure Kit. I highly recommend it as everyone had a good time regardless of their familiarity with the setting.<br />
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I've also always wanted to be a good player. I've been doing a lot of research and following on general strategies nowadays. I'm not good, but I'm learning, and having a lot of fun doing it.<br />
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One thing I've always been terrible at and generally assumed I just had no skills in was painting miniatures. Lately the Hopeless Wife has given me some tips and tricks, and I've really taken to painting. Like to the point where I actually have some pieces I'm proud of and paint a bit each day. It's actually quite addicting.<br />
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One of my favorite parts of painting miniatures is getting the bases complete at the end. Each time I've done it it feels like it really ties the thing together. In Warmachine, every model generally has a front and back arc, so as you see the photos below you'll notice the bases are all colored.<br />
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I thought it might be useful for those of you who want to get into this part of the hobby to see just how crazy easy it is to do a simple, good-looking (in my opinion) base.<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">Step 1: Getting your materials together.</span></b><br />
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I go for a basic gravel/grass kind of terrain for my bases at the moment, and for that, you don't need much in the ways of materials.<br />
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Here's what you need:<br />
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<ul>
<li><b>Mod Podge </b>- basically Elmer's glue that you can pour out, available anywhere hobby stuff is.</li>
<li><b>A Small Paper Plate</b> - or something you don't mind glue drying on. You're going to pour a little bit of the Mod Podge onto this as your pallet, so to speak. </li>
<li><b>A wide bowl</b> - you're going to pour your basing material in there, so it helps to have enough room to maneuver the miniature.</li>
<li><b>An old paint brush</b> - one you can have some control with but don't mind ruining.</li>
<li><b>Basing Material</b> - for my stuff, I use <b>Woodland Scenics Blended Turf</b> (the green stuff) and <b>Medium Ballast</b> (the brown stuff) because I got it cheap from the Gencon Auction store. I believe this is actually a model train brand, so it shouldn't be too hard to find this stuff or something similar. There are tons of options out there for this ingredient. </li>
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You'll of course need miniatures, which I have a picture of the four I did this morning at the top of this post! Pour a puddle of Hod Podge onto the plate, and you're ready for step 2!<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">Step 2: Painting the base with glue.</span></b></div>
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For most of this demonstration I'll be using the model <a href="http://privateerpress.com/warmachine/gallery/mercenaries/solos/gorman-di-wulfe-rogue-alchemist">Gorman Di Wulfe</a>, a mad alchemist kind of a character who works as a mercenary solo (lone wolf (har har har)) for my main faction, Cygnar. </div>
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Once I had my Mod Podge poured, I was ready to start painting the empty base. With Privateer Press miniatures you have a circular base with a bit of a lip on the top, so it makes basing really easy to do as the basing materials are kind of corralled with a defined border.</div>
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I was pretty liberal with the MP because it dries very nicely and is easy to get excess liquid off with a quick swipe of the finger. You want to make sure you use enough because this is what's going to keep your flocking material stuck to the base. Goop that stuff on, but be careful not to get too much on the feet or other low parts of the model itself. Again, if you do, it's pretty much no sweat. Just wipe it off!<br />
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Looking at the picture, I probably could have done some more in some of the less-covered spots, but it turned out well, so you can see the amount in the two pictures is pretty sufficient.<br />
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<b><u><span style="font-size: large;">Step 3: Dip in Flock!</span></u></b><br />
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Now that you have your bonding agent, you're ready to dip your model's base into the bowl with the flocking material. I started with the brown, thicker Medium Ballast as I knew this would be my base flocking. It looks a lot like gravel and is probably good enough on its own if you're truly in a hurry and don't want to to anything more.<br />
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In the picture above I placed Gorman into the bowl before painting his base with the MP so you can see roughly how much I pour out. You're going to pour out much more than you need because you want to get a good pile of the stuff.<br />
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Once you have the MP on the base, place your mini in the flock. Bury the base, and whish him around a couple times letting the flock pour over the front and back. If you painted the MP right in the last step, it'll look like below when you pull him out.<br />
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You can see that it looks mesy and is uneven. You're going to want to just brush off (using a different brush from your MP brush or your finger) the extra bits covering the base or lower parts of the mini. It's easy and comes off quickly. You'll want to tap the bottom of the base or basically anywhere you can to get all the loose stuff off the base, but don't be too rough. Some of the stuff that will end up sticking still needs time to dry, so give it just a light tap all over.<br />
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Remember how you're going to use more than you need? Good news is you can just pour the excess stuff carefully back into the rest of it. I've found doing this a couple times that the left over flock isn't gross or tacky at all from this process and won't gum up the rest of it.<br />
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Now your model should look like below. It's certainly a good start, and like I said you can't go wrong with even this basic look to make the model really pop off the base. Of course I have a gap in the flocking you can see in Goman's base where black shows through. If I were just doing the one layer, I'd probably want to do something about it. Lucky for me I'm doing the second, which should allow me to cover that up like it was never there.<br />
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You could easily do some dry brushing or other basic painting techniques to make even this basic flocking a little more interesting, but for me, I like to go on to the next step, which is totally optional, but I think you'll agree adds a lot of life to the ground beneath my models.<br />
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<b><u><span style="font-size: large;">Step 4 - Optional: Dip in Flock Again!</span></u></b><br />
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I chose to go for a second round of flocking using the Blended Turf to add to the basing as a second layer, just not over the whole base. This stuff is like a fine powder and is a great contrast from the brown, rocky Medium Ballast. If the Medium Ballast is gravel, Blended Turf is grass or moss.<br />
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You're going to follow the same basic steps as above, but instead of painting the whole base with MP you pick specific areas. Basically just picking spots where you'd like to seem some contrast. Again, don't be afraid to glob it on as it will catch more Blended Turf and also act as a decent sealer for the Medium Ballast below it.<br />
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So dip that in the bowl of Blended Turf, knock off the excess, and make sure your base and mini are clear except for where you want the green powder to be. That's pretty much it! You can see the picture below for the difference the Blended Turf makes. The model on the left is just Medium Ballast while the model on the right has both.</div>
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I like it! The whole process doesn't take too long at all. I would recommend saving up several minis to do all at once to save time on pouring materials as well as on the Mod Podge itself. No matter how much you pour, it'll probably be too much, so might as well use as much as you can on as many models as you can at one time.</div>
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Below you can see some of the other models I did all at the same time.</div>
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Hopefully you found this helpful! I'm telling you, there's a lot of satisfaction in this hobby, and if you start slow, even if you really, really doubt your own abilities, you can pick it up if you give yourself a real shot at it. I started by painting a unit of ten <a href="https://privateerpress.com/warmachine/gallery/cygnar/units/sword-knights">sword knights</a>, and now I'm not turning back. </div>
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Let me know what you thought of this post. It's my first time doing a tutorial, and the first time I've felt ever really doing a hobby post for miniature painting. It was a lot of fun as an article, and I'm looking forward to doing more in the future!</div>
The Hopeless Gamerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10641907554710405444noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2373575960761016322.post-40246753213259945852014-08-21T12:03:00.001-05:002014-08-21T12:03:46.630-05:00Select Painting Competition Models from Gencon 2014<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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The Gamer Wife is a big fan of painting miniatures. It helps that she's a much better painter than myself, but we both appreciate a pretty mini. She likes her some speed painting as well, and if you're a hobbyist when it comes to miniatures, Gencon has a wonderful area with tons to do, including the fun paint-and-take where the group gives you a mini to keep and you can use all the supplies you might need to make it pretty!<br />
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I decided to take some photos again this year of the competition miniatures. Check out the photos below!<br />
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<br />The Hopeless Gamerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10641907554710405444noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2373575960761016322.post-54023647345798656892014-08-19T18:06:00.001-05:002014-08-19T18:06:40.396-05:00Gencon 2014 FFG Booth<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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We here at Hopeless Games are long time Fantasy Flight Games fans. They always steal the show at Gencon, and a big part of that is their skill at saving up some big announcements and then pacing themselves in the lead up to Gencon and, most importantly, their Friday afternoon In-Flight Report seminar where they get to the nitty gritty and first announce something big, usually their biggest game of the year.<br />
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Two years ago we got the Edge of the Empire beta rules announcement, and notoriously, everyone in attendance at the seminar got a copy. Last year we got some new games, but they gave us a disclaimer right at the beginning of the seminar not to get our hopes up for free stuff, but at least we got the announcement of the Age of Rebellion beta being releases (the second of their three-game Star Wars RPG series that all share the same mechanics but emphasize different kinds of Star Wars stories).<br />
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Anyhow, in the lead up to this Gencon we got two big announcements. Both made me really excited at first word and then when I dug a bit deeper, sadly found out the games wouldn't be for me. Great for some, but not for me. Keep reading after the jump for more info and tons of photos!<br />
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First was the X-Com board game based on the recent reboot of the video game series, X-Com: Enemy Unknown. It focuses on the macro world-wide play versus the scenario, tactical level, which was strike number one. Strike number two (and three, and well, the whole ball game for this gamer) was that it requires an App to run the enemy AI in the board game. There's lot of reasons this could be a bad thing, and I don't want to dwell on them. Instead you get pictures of the game from FFG's booth, because it still looks like a neat game!<br />
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We also got an announcement for a game I dreamed of since I was a kid: Star Wars Armada. X-Wing has been the most successful money maker for FFG, and that's certainly saying something. Expand out and you control star destroyers and Mon Cal cruisers along with squads of Tie Fighters and X-Wings versus the dog fights of X-Wing miniature game.<br />
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Ender's Game was the first book that really did something for me and inspired my love of sci-fi still to this day. A game where I could control a fleet of huge ships in Star Wars? Sold! Then I got to the product page, and it starts at $100. That's just the starter, because you can be sure we're going to get a million expansion ships to buy. Too rich for my blood by far. Again, not a problem for everyone, but a serious let down. I was ready to drop $60 on the starter, but the game ended up being too rich for my blood.<br />
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And finally, the big announcement during the Inf-Flight Report? Why it's Star Wars related of course! A part of me is still happy the FFG got the Star Wars license and that Star Wars is still getting tabletop games even though the license was dumped by Wizards of the Coast. The rest of me is sad that I can't afford any of the games.<br />
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Enter Star Wars: Imperial Assault where Star Wars meets Descent! Can't lose. Still, the $100 price tag for the basic box again has me crying in my Star Wars PJ's as I try to cry myself to sleep in my Star Wars sheets. Of course the license is expensive, and of course it's not getting any cheaper to produce high-end hobbyist board games like FFG does. I know this is reality, but it also prices a lot of games right out of the hands of a lot of board game and Star Wars fan alike. That's life, but it's still disappointing. For now, I'll just have to admire the pictures I took at the booth.<br />
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<br />The Hopeless Gamerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10641907554710405444noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2373575960761016322.post-8647397162565329032014-08-18T07:42:00.001-05:002014-08-18T07:45:03.810-05:00Gencon 2014 Privateer Press Booth<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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So in my last post I talked a bit bout how Warmachine is synonymous for Gencon with me, and that it's been the focus of more cons than not in my life. I'm not a competitive player and can't see myself ever getting into that mindset, but I have a really great time reading the fiction, thinking about painting different color schemes, and playing casual games with my brother.<br />
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As always, the Privateer Press booth at Gencon is one of the busiest every year with a wave of pre-release items available for purchase. The lines are always crazy as people clamor to get the hot new figures, and lucky for us, this was a Hordes year of releases. We'll probably eventually wander back into playing some Hordes, at least me with a good 35 points+ of Trollbloods from years back, but for now we're sticking with Warmachine.<br />
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Below you can find some of the models that were on displays at Privateer's booth, both studio models and some models for the P3 painting competition.<br />
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The Hopeless Gamerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10641907554710405444noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2373575960761016322.post-92034996624576859902014-08-09T13:43:00.002-05:002014-08-18T07:43:46.915-05:00Gencon Means War(machine)!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Wow has it been a while since I posted anything to The Hopeless Gamer, and for that I'm sorry. I decided enough was enough, and in anticipation of going to Gencon next week, it was time to get back into things.<br />
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I notoriously take a long time to get excited for Gencon every year. This will by my 14th Gencon in a row/ever, and finally, just a few days before setting off from Iowa to drive to Indy, the excitement is building up in my quite rapidly.<br />
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A big part of that is that my brother emailed me out of the blue the other day asking if I was interested in getting back into Warmachine for a bit. My first reaction was "absolutely" followed a few hours later, after flipping the house upside down to see what I still had of my Cygnar, Trollblood, and mercenary forces after three moves and years of absence from the game, was "hell yes!"<br />
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Since then, just last week, I have been in a whirlwind of getting myself acquainted with the Mark II rules, which was actually the last book I bought for the game, conveniently. I went to Privateer's site and ordered a bunch of updated character cards, and have been putting together some army lists.<br />
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My brother sold off his Protectorate and random Hordes stuff a few years ago, so he's diving back in fresh, but this time with Khador, and I'm absolutely stoked. I still have my templates, dice, focus markers, measuring tape, the whole deal, even down to my old army transports bag.<br />
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And all this is going to be packed up for Gencon, ironically, not to play in any official capacity, but just to get some gaming in with my brother. Sure we see each other several times of the year and play games, only living two hours apart, but there's just something special about Gencon for getting together with people and playing some good games.<br />
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For the first seven or eight Gencons I attended, it was synonymous with Warmachine and Privateer Press. I've been a loyal Cygnar player (when I was a player at all) the whole time, and I can't be more excited to get back into the game.<br />
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All this coming week I hope to be bringing you posts and lots of pictures from the convention, so be sure to check back from time to time. It's good to be blogging again!The Hopeless Gamerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10641907554710405444noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2373575960761016322.post-82673829374081895642013-11-02T07:49:00.001-05:002013-11-02T07:49:41.810-05:00My Reaction to Ender's Game<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Boy has it been a long time since I posted! I apologize, but life has been taking priority, well, life and my first attempt at completing a novel. It's going well though, and I'm almost done with my first draft, so that's pretty exciting. I have recently started writing periodically for the <a href="http://roleplayerschronicle.com/">Roleplayers Chronicles</a>, and my first review was for the Fate-driven horror steam-punk game The Demolished Ones. You can read my review <a href="http://roleplayerschronicle.com/?p=40343">here </a>(and I encourage you to do so!).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">I'm writing today because one of my absolute favorite books ever was released as a movie yesterday. I had low expectations walking into Ender's Game, but nothing could prepare me for my disappointment after its almost two hours running time. Rather than write a full review, I've written up my own proposal for how I would have rather seen the movie (movies, in my case) been made. I'm generally against what Peter Jackson has done with The Hobbit. The novel doesn't need 9 hours, at least not these 9 hours, but that's beside the point. I think Ender's Game should have been two movies, which you'll see more about below after the jump. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Just a quick warning. There are plenty of spoilers ahead, so if you haven't read the book or seen the movie yet, you might want to hold back on reading my thoughts on the movie. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">After my extreme disappointment yesterday morning walking out of Ender's Game, I'm not sure anything could have fixed the mess Gavin Hood created.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">That being said, I think we can all agree that the story was incredibly rushed. We only got a few battles in the Battleroom, which really desperately needed more fleshing out. The lake scene was way too short. Locke and Demosthenes were completely cut out, the political dynamics which drive most of the motivations and actions of the characters in the books were no where to be seen, and Peter was a non-entity for the most part.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">These are all flaws that could have easily been fixed given double the run time - two 2-hour long movies would have been amazing and given the actors time to grow older between them to show an actual progression of time.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">The proposal is a simple, if not obvious one. The first movie is titled <b>Ender's Game: Battle School</b> and the second one is called <b>Ender's Game: Command School</b>.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">The cut off point to end <i>Battle School</i> is immediately following the lake scene. You have more time to do more battles in the battleroom, actually showing Ender's rise not only as a commander of an army but as the leader he is born to be. You can spend a bit more time in the fantasy game showing just how much Peter influences Ender's thinking, and the first movie ends with an Empire Strikes Back down note of Ender killing another boy, giving up in the battle against two armies, and Valentine convincing him to do the one thing he absolutely does not want to do.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><i>Command School</i> begins with the flight to Eros and a quick recap of Ender's relationship with his siblings as we get the sidestory of Locke and Demosthenes as well as the politics back on Earth. This sets up the political struggle immediately following the end of the third invasion and the destruction of the Formics' homeworld.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">We now have enough time to show the aftermath of the battle, Ender's isolation, and eventual exiling with Valentine. We get some real hope as humanity begins colonizing former Formic worlds. We can even get a <i>Speaker for the Dead</i> section at the end, although if you want sequels, we can leave off the Hegemon part for later and just do the queen for now.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">I'm not saying the problems would be fixed, but it would have at least been a much more fulfilling story. The upside is that both movies would have their own sets of spectacular space fighting when you separate the battles in the battleroom from the battles in the simulator (which were the best things about the movie anyway). You get more of the best stuff while also fleshing out the characters, which was sorely needed in the movie version.</span></div>
The Hopeless Gamerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10641907554710405444noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2373575960761016322.post-49429666536604669852013-08-24T10:30:00.000-05:002013-08-24T18:14:56.806-05:00Gencon Report: The Saturday Night Charity Auction<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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The single event we look forward to the most every year since the Gamer Wife has joined us for Gencon is the Saturday night charity auction. The Gencon auction runs for most of the day Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. All items are brought in by attendees of the convention, and it's certainly possible to make a good chunk of change by selling items through the auction.<br />
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Friday night is the big collector's auction. We had an epic game of Call of Cthulhu Friday night this year, so we couldn't make it, but we never schedule anything for the charity auction. This year was no different.<br />
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While the charity section, which is the final section of the auction, was a little lighter this year (we were done before midnight! pssh!), it still was a great experience. The auction staff and other volunteers work to gather some amazing original art, including the player mats which you can see throughout this post.<br />
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Apart from the player mats, huge art prints and signed novels are donated from many out in the artists' alley or vendors' hall. Numerous companies also donate brand new games still shrink-wrapped or premiering at the show.<br />
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These items always go for well above retail because the crowd at the auction is one of the best groups to be around in the entire convention. That's really what it boils down to. People are throwing money at each year's charity (which this year was <a href="http://www.bbbsnei.org/site/c.ckLRI4NOIhJ2G/b.7498045/k.EF66/Home_Page.htm">Big Brothers and Big Sisters of Northeast Indiana</a>).<br />
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If you're at all into the old school revolution, this is the crowd for you. Of course the Friday night collector's auction is full of a huge number of rare modules, items, collections, etc. of really interesting D&D and TSR stuff, it definitely bleeds over into the charity auction as well.<br />
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And that brings us to our two auctioneers. For the last several years the final two auctioneers have been amazing and are fonts of role-playing and TSR history. They are so because they lived it. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Kask">Tim Kask</a>,who was Gary Gygax's first employee and created the famed Dragon Magazine and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Mentzer">Frank Mentzer</a>,who also worked for TSR in the 80's and founded the RPGA, are amazing and entertaining. They're incredibly passionate about the hobby even after all these years, and hearing these two guys who are so responsible for what goes on across the hall and through out the rest of the convention is it's own trip. Come to give to charity, stay for the chatting between these two living legends and genuinely nice guys.<br />
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There's a lot to say about the charity auction, but you need to experience it for yourself. It's an unsung hero of Gencon every year, but we love it. I will add that this year we didn't have any dice bags with original art up for sale, which is too bad, but can be incredibly difficult to arrange for all the artists. <a href="http://gencondicebags.tumblr.com/">Here's a pretty decent sampling</a> I've found of dice bags of years past. <br />
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On the other hand, the unique play mat you can see to the left there contains a sketch from every Magic: The Gathering artist they had at the convention. A truly unique item that you couldn't get anywhere else. If you're at all curious about the auction, I highly recommend popping in Saturday night next year.The Hopeless Gamerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10641907554710405444noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2373575960761016322.post-40606625491342682812013-08-19T13:51:00.001-05:002013-08-19T13:52:55.858-05:00Gencon Report: Fantasy Flight Games<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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This year was one of the best Gencons the Gamer Wife and I have had for a long time. We played three 4-hour RPG sessions that were all satisfying in their own way, demoed some games, found some new games to love together, and picked up some amazing deals. We weren't planning on getting much this year, but this really felt like the year of the bargain, so we ended up getting more stuff than we have in the past but still not spending all of our budget. Not a bad deal!<br />
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Today though, I wanted to share what I learned about and saw at both the Fantasy Flight Games (FFG) booth and in-flight report seminar I attended Friday afternoon. It was the first year I actually attended the seminar, and the room was packed. I felt a little bad for FFG because I think a lot of people were anticipating something BIG and FREE after last year's seminar where Stormtroopers flooded the room and they gave each attendee a free copy of the beta rules for their brand new Star Wars rpg Edge of the Empire.<br />
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Still, the seminar was fantastic, and I found the first half hour or so the most interesting. We got some business-side stuff right from the horse's mouth. It turns out that FFG had their best year (by a long shot!) this past year with the release of Edge of the Empire, Star Wars X-Wing, and Netrunner. They showed a graph of their profits since the inception of the company, and the leap from 2011 to 2012 was larger than the rest, but 2012 to 2013 was probably twice as big. It was really miraculous.<br />
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They didn't (couldn't?) have a bigger announcement this year for new product than the announcement last year with the Star Wars RPG line, but we did get to see some cool new stuff.<br />
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I think the show stopper of the seminar was the announcement of the first two frigate class ships for X-Wing: the rebel transport and the Tantive IV blockade runner. You'll be able to see more below. These ships are going to be huge, expensive, and probably sell out time and again. The rebel transport is going to sell for $60.00 and come with an alternate paint-job X-Wing and the pilot card for Porkins(!) while the Tantive IV is going to sell for $90.00. They also announced two new play formats for X-Wing: special rules that account for the size/movement/point cost of these huge ships and scenario-based play that will likely see unequal point costs and objectives for win conditions.<br />
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Overall, FFG seems to have their heads on straight with the X-Wing line. They did say that they originally estimated how much product the market could handle and then doubled and tripled the estimate which still resulted in the supply shortages we're seeing today. The game's a beast. The scale of the frigate ships aren't going to be perfect. They stated that the ships Falcon size and smaller and going to continue to be to scale with anything bigger being a best fit or "feels right" scale that is also manageable to sell as a product.<br />
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Another big announcement that hit FFG's front page right before Gencon was the reveal of Battlelore 2nd Edition. It's been a long time since I've played any Battlelore, but the new edition looks to be quite the change. On a surface level, one large change was the setting. It's now firmly based in the Descent/Runebound IP that FFG has cultivated over the years. There's no more banners, and they want to give a higher level of uniqueness to each unit (not sure exactly what this means). Check out the photos below for both BattleLore and the new lieutenant packs FFG will be releasing for Descent.<br />
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Another exciting announcement was the reveal of Eldritch Horror. During the seminar it was explained that Eldritch Horror is not a replacement for Arkham Horror but rather a sister product. It spans the world instead of the small (but busy!) town of Arkham. The game should play similiarly to Arkham Horror but is reported to have been tweaked to take into account all the lessons they've learned making Arkham. I expect many, many expansions to this thing in the future.</div>
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And finally, as a big Lord of the Rings LCG fan, I was most excited to see the announcement of the next expansion/cycle of releases for the game after we leave the treachery at the white city behind. It promises to be a Saruman/Rohan heavy cycle, which I'm particularly excited for since Rohan was the first trait that got some real love and was really fun to play around with since the base set/cycle. </div>
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I did take some pictures of some of the other new releases including the Print-On-Demand (POD) class reference card packs they're releasing for Edge of the Empire, the new Wiz-War expansion they'll be releasing, and the re-release packaging for Blue Moon, and older card game which they are putting out as a complete experience in a single box. It looks pretty nifty too.</div>
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The Hopeless Gamerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10641907554710405444noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2373575960761016322.post-78212484918961476062013-08-15T11:31:00.001-05:002013-08-15T11:31:57.674-05:00Thursday Morning Gencon Rush!<p dir="ltr">This morning was probably the biggest cried to get into the vendor hall in my 13 years of attending Gencon.</p>
<p dir="ltr">It was a mass of people and heat, and toy can see the crowd in the attached pictures.</p>
<p dir="ltr">So far the Con has been great if not busier than ever before. We are very impressed with the Will Call line which seemed to move just as fast as people joined it.</p>
<p dir="ltr">In now standing in line at event registration to pick up some generic tickets for some games-on-demand which seems like the perfect time to write a blog post. Gencon originally inspired the creation of this blog, and every year it reinvigorates me to want to write more.</p>
<p dir="ltr">More to come in the future.</p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi87AiOGhqG8ZgeYXZdcYT7_-nuGrOeEyuNC66OTHdcDe2dcXITZJWQ62yUOnLV-kE3DCIx1ZfndmdZ0sXwfWeTQnvhxjDeOs4zlR5xEWKqUKkKgySAeCFwTcEmSfdfb5WteWeo1H1yRgY/s1600/IMG_20130815_095058.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"> <img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi87AiOGhqG8ZgeYXZdcYT7_-nuGrOeEyuNC66OTHdcDe2dcXITZJWQ62yUOnLV-kE3DCIx1ZfndmdZ0sXwfWeTQnvhxjDeOs4zlR5xEWKqUKkKgySAeCFwTcEmSfdfb5WteWeo1H1yRgY/s640/IMG_20130815_095058.jpg"> </a> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjS_Q_54TEV74TdIw5XA0zMrDUoSJjdQvLJn2CFWCEdkMUl6lfjARuiHw0F5sfhqce3fDFTEGszuDkHfrHnmN8i_CbTWwpfgUiFcvCVnfHNZrzzJNjrf9MfX45WPQmKotjPh9ZChgpspIc/s1600/IMG_20130815_095043.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"> <img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjS_Q_54TEV74TdIw5XA0zMrDUoSJjdQvLJn2CFWCEdkMUl6lfjARuiHw0F5sfhqce3fDFTEGszuDkHfrHnmN8i_CbTWwpfgUiFcvCVnfHNZrzzJNjrf9MfX45WPQmKotjPh9ZChgpspIc/s640/IMG_20130815_095043.jpg"> </a> </div>The Hopeless Gamerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10641907554710405444noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2373575960761016322.post-85816665960814897292013-07-04T10:37:00.000-05:002013-07-04T10:37:22.771-05:00Reaper Kickstarter Delivers Part 3! Ridiculously Gigantic Dragon Edition!Welcome to part 3 of my series on the Bones Kickstarter from Reaper Miniatures. We've already looked at what the massive lot of miniatures looks like right out of the box, and last time I posted a series of horrifying, sanity-questioning pictures of the gigantic Cthulhu that we ordered as an add-on.<br />
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Today I wanted to spend some time posting pictures of the monstrous bone dragon Kaladrax. I was not prepared for the size of this thing upon opening it. If you've seen my Cthulhu pictures, you'll know how big he is. Well, Kaladrax is at least twice the size. He's a big bastard, no doubt.<br />
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Just like with Cthulhu I included my stalwart adventures, three other miniatures that were included in the basic Kickstarter level we backed at just to give you an idea of the terrifying size of this guy. He's not a miniature. He very clearly crosses the line to statue. That's pretty cool.<br />
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Anywho, check out the pictures below. They'll do the big guy more justice than I could.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Fresh out of the box! Look at the size of that base!</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our intrepid (foolish?) heroes for scale.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">There's our wizard again having braved climbing that mountain of a base.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">That is my actual human hand holding the body piece. Note how the wing joint connects to the body.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Fully assembled! What a beast! Note: No glue has been used on the guy, yet there he stands.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2PNXNg6N9ZvUO2tQmegQ6uB-LdBa1Jw6WpM_ToBs6EndZ-XsXMxFSj74BE0MAPKMivATSli_NJ-C_HV81GsIDvNWC4YdkMUFiZdP5ZURtPt5g2-I2KgGxZDr9D_hXV0myqd2RqMeB4rg/s1600/IMG_20130630_092225.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2PNXNg6N9ZvUO2tQmegQ6uB-LdBa1Jw6WpM_ToBs6EndZ-XsXMxFSj74BE0MAPKMivATSli_NJ-C_HV81GsIDvNWC4YdkMUFiZdP5ZURtPt5g2-I2KgGxZDr9D_hXV0myqd2RqMeB4rg/s400/IMG_20130630_092225.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I don't think a simple spell is going to take care of this one...</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiY8_5BbvmtpJQye7hlaIS_nhmmZp93SBy_4eJLudMjhU8jtWzX9IR6Le-497z2IlCDveLdTo_RPGPdo1x0ZnmolcJHkvpvEr6VJakuK6n0xKvP3YNiJ4v_R5RAMnqPhVJDFxg90SzR148/s1600/IMG_20130630_092243.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiY8_5BbvmtpJQye7hlaIS_nhmmZp93SBy_4eJLudMjhU8jtWzX9IR6Le-497z2IlCDveLdTo_RPGPdo1x0ZnmolcJHkvpvEr6VJakuK6n0xKvP3YNiJ4v_R5RAMnqPhVJDFxg90SzR148/s400/IMG_20130630_092243.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A wizard's point of view.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6EqRz7JV22JNsEquC285PJtaLSOuy8gmN3wC_yq7Qwr68BZXAJsDs8BboVFgQfmxWvIt14oeK2_sicS-MGeb5B_aGvrCfPC29PRr_xVNHF2mOrX_vbc91U1nl-aiRwlZE-FRciO_idus/s1600/IMG_20130630_092321.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6EqRz7JV22JNsEquC285PJtaLSOuy8gmN3wC_yq7Qwr68BZXAJsDs8BboVFgQfmxWvIt14oeK2_sicS-MGeb5B_aGvrCfPC29PRr_xVNHF2mOrX_vbc91U1nl-aiRwlZE-FRciO_idus/s400/IMG_20130630_092321.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">How did the paladin sneak up on ole Kal? Well, time to start exorcising the dragon.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcleN3tiWBMg7Ta81Oc_moWNNMJrkZ3Dj92JYBJslgjO2buICZTWj4V_bDKzW-AGG5jP64OIezA2t00mYbOEXK4MksyZ-iy1e7oWb62PuBM58eIf6m4V5QQr5yIoFqDKgLM90GpxM4358/s1600/IMG_20130630_092346.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcleN3tiWBMg7Ta81Oc_moWNNMJrkZ3Dj92JYBJslgjO2buICZTWj4V_bDKzW-AGG5jP64OIezA2t00mYbOEXK4MksyZ-iy1e7oWb62PuBM58eIf6m4V5QQr5yIoFqDKgLM90GpxM4358/s400/IMG_20130630_092346.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Looks like the fighter's going to eat some spiked tail. Better luck next time! (Look at the face on that base!).</td></tr>
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<br />The Hopeless Gamerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10641907554710405444noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2373575960761016322.post-27095085551837589602013-07-02T17:15:00.001-05:002013-07-02T17:15:59.490-05:00Reaper Kickstarter Delivers Part 2! Giant Cthulhu!The Gamer Wife and I took some time this weekend to tear open our Bones Kickstarter care package which arrived late last week. Over the next couple of posts, starting with today, I'll be throwing up some huge picture posts to share with you all.<br />
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Today I'll be focusing on the gigantic Cthulhu we ordered as an add-on to our backer level for the Kickstarter. If you've been reading my blog for any amount of time, you can probably guess that we're pretty huge Cthulhu fans, specifically the Call of Cthulhu RPG. Granted, it doesn't use minis, but I figured it couldn't hurt to have a giant, imposing dead, but dreaming monster at the table for those games we play.<br />
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Enjoy the pictures after the break!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEie9imXorORBmmwFezOoVuDAg74VDQlK364mldmvnYXd2gXSOX7QyhvubC4ZAW9kaRrhIk_xHzRcRETn1drlvqBds_sW_LRxSYKLQWqPVeX1Gg1eZLs-CxgImULtO6FTZJUHyHs75lMvP0/s1600/IMG_20130630_092701.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEie9imXorORBmmwFezOoVuDAg74VDQlK364mldmvnYXd2gXSOX7QyhvubC4ZAW9kaRrhIk_xHzRcRETn1drlvqBds_sW_LRxSYKLQWqPVeX1Gg1eZLs-CxgImULtO6FTZJUHyHs75lMvP0/s400/IMG_20130630_092701.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cthulhu in pieces out of the box!</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipIc6tnQJDTi5-lSNVNhANDiDwaQ8X2617I7j3fftzj4e2oQkIdh9vMizry6DnAehTPLyF9yXHD3MNbfSEnXXrCa7o40z28RJhAOON0b9fo_eBLshEOJ3Cabp56j27mt5Jn9db7h9YPiE/s1600/IMG_20130630_092712.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipIc6tnQJDTi5-lSNVNhANDiDwaQ8X2617I7j3fftzj4e2oQkIdh9vMizry6DnAehTPLyF9yXHD3MNbfSEnXXrCa7o40z28RJhAOON0b9fo_eBLshEOJ3Cabp56j27mt5Jn9db7h9YPiE/s400/IMG_20130630_092712.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Alternative View of the pieces - one head, one tail, one massive body, two arms, two wings, and a neat base!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixMro-B6mPly6dT0SOciEpR3SapQBdcjaoA-7-QXI9_TIMV7R6w-sM6a0oemRUrT53bwI__FfVlZbVsH3uJjj8vJ8t2kWfdWH1_CjBLm0w1CuyA5HaVbrMCDagK6wNq8WRYTRl_704tqE/s1600/IMG_20130630_092728.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixMro-B6mPly6dT0SOciEpR3SapQBdcjaoA-7-QXI9_TIMV7R6w-sM6a0oemRUrT53bwI__FfVlZbVsH3uJjj8vJ8t2kWfdWH1_CjBLm0w1CuyA5HaVbrMCDagK6wNq8WRYTRl_704tqE/s400/IMG_20130630_092728.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Some sample mini's of normal size from the Bones Kickstarter for scale.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiE4sMvGipCO8womtlFUxCscNrfuQkJ6bFdO7dgJ7sh7dwwpjSeLUlpVnh297nv8qnJedCdkHoXC79s_e_3xNqD3fSq0QSdPTFg3rv6oAXdc7GnyfwjrEQXJhWKTnPk1JJ3Jb-e9zTsi2A/s1600/IMG_20130630_092830.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiE4sMvGipCO8womtlFUxCscNrfuQkJ6bFdO7dgJ7sh7dwwpjSeLUlpVnh297nv8qnJedCdkHoXC79s_e_3xNqD3fSq0QSdPTFg3rv6oAXdc7GnyfwjrEQXJhWKTnPk1JJ3Jb-e9zTsi2A/s400/IMG_20130630_092830.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Close-up of the wizard - hope he has an elder sign or two on that scroll!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipBvHIrH-rKtbFnNZQczV_Bz8mhirY0Onn5zuTUPNQ8Lo0AbsZiMvBij3t1SziYGbzOz1XJKz_V20ZQp4o-ICcNwFds88GwZE7gpFJsweTgrgD_L0vfec2aeRQlVQ7vaLm1LxwktRcbzA/s1600/IMG_20130630_092934.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipBvHIrH-rKtbFnNZQczV_Bz8mhirY0Onn5zuTUPNQ8Lo0AbsZiMvBij3t1SziYGbzOz1XJKz_V20ZQp4o-ICcNwFds88GwZE7gpFJsweTgrgD_L0vfec2aeRQlVQ7vaLm1LxwktRcbzA/s400/IMG_20130630_092934.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Details on the base. Now that you read it, make a San check. </td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjghKliWCiBb84mMCWgRLBXdl0LNSxKn1Om8I557YqshBgZn4HduyAuFi8Po3pBwtfNi_ojIHjkZ2bw2fOh3ddn7c_Z0lNVLR65zr8qe6KIvLnQVL5aqag-P8kUem8-JU1um2OhF_1TvXM/s1600/IMG_20130630_092945.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjghKliWCiBb84mMCWgRLBXdl0LNSxKn1Om8I557YqshBgZn4HduyAuFi8Po3pBwtfNi_ojIHjkZ2bw2fOh3ddn7c_Z0lNVLR65zr8qe6KIvLnQVL5aqag-P8kUem8-JU1um2OhF_1TvXM/s400/IMG_20130630_092945.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Some detail on the head. It's a little blurry, but the white plastic can be difficult to capture the detail of.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7b-BGu-HXyrOZWrjeFqNWnjJZSrui8ItNG4GZLsqs4jTePZ0DsvaQDt9UUgpYGcEn5TUJoZnnKh3o3F0LmyDx7C6uuSKR9BC5LaXnU7oy_EmIx0PNV0N-DkQ2gchcDnkznH1T9haj6D0/s1600/IMG_20130630_093001.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7b-BGu-HXyrOZWrjeFqNWnjJZSrui8ItNG4GZLsqs4jTePZ0DsvaQDt9UUgpYGcEn5TUJoZnnKh3o3F0LmyDx7C6uuSKR9BC5LaXnU7oy_EmIx0PNV0N-DkQ2gchcDnkznH1T9haj6D0/s400/IMG_20130630_093001.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Super creepy tendrils on this mollusk of mollusks.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjn05mGF5oCK8suBj7oRGLqNiH5-kV4BCeXYj_5LWu0dqFdaaOlEVjg6Cmosk5GvHazzNEq7MvqkuncZjDEEVJbs29U8vyLJk_nlpdI91L4k71-RKKqZk5q84XjR58V0fr-6OgYmBMJA18/s1600/IMG_20130630_093116.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjn05mGF5oCK8suBj7oRGLqNiH5-kV4BCeXYj_5LWu0dqFdaaOlEVjg6Cmosk5GvHazzNEq7MvqkuncZjDEEVJbs29U8vyLJk_nlpdI91L4k71-RKKqZk5q84XjR58V0fr-6OgYmBMJA18/s400/IMG_20130630_093116.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I have assembled that which should not have been assembled!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXCt1dn5Plljnxt2uq9D1Pdwa8sY3VKZpha7VNn8CWpl5J9hjRguM4juAxanA_uy6APFdcJhjDpePyFIVOLhbTk4gqNcTAbD8eCS7ocWp9lpUehGLpeFQlt5bkrM5pjXEBepkPz2adgtU/s1600/IMG_20130630_093217.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXCt1dn5Plljnxt2uq9D1Pdwa8sY3VKZpha7VNn8CWpl5J9hjRguM4juAxanA_uy6APFdcJhjDpePyFIVOLhbTk4gqNcTAbD8eCS7ocWp9lpUehGLpeFQlt5bkrM5pjXEBepkPz2adgtU/s400/IMG_20130630_093217.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Another picture for scale. Note that Cthulhu is put together without using any glue here. With some basic gluing, he should be rock-solid.</td></tr>
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<br />The Hopeless Gamerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10641907554710405444noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2373575960761016322.post-36171261138948440742013-06-28T12:42:00.001-05:002013-06-28T12:42:43.463-05:00Reaper Kickstarter Delivers!The Gamer Wife and I were extremely excited yesterday to receive our Reaper Miniatures Kickstarter care package in the mail. The box was nice and huge as we backed at the Vampire level and purchased a couple of the larger mini's (and that's a loose term for those big guys - more on this later though).<br />
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I snapped some pictures last night opening up the box, and while we knew from a quantitative perspective just how many miniatures we were receiving, both of our jaws dropped as soon as we popped open the Vampire level box to see how many were packed inside.<br />
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As you can see below, this is an obscene amount of miniatures. Reaper did not disappoint. We didn't have time yesterday to start popping each individual mini open, but I'm so excited to just lay them all out on our table and see them all together.<br />
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I'll probably be posting some more pictures in the next week or so as we begin to unpack our Kickstarter reward. I will say for now that I like the feel of the plastic used. It's different than other plastic miniatures I've held in that it has a little bit more give. They're some where between Games Workshop's plastics and the plastics WOTC used for their D&D and Star Wars miniatures lines, tending more toward Games Workshop's plastics.<br />
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Enough with the speakin'! I'll let the photos do the talking.<br />
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<br />The Hopeless Gamerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10641907554710405444noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2373575960761016322.post-28647160076798272512013-06-12T19:15:00.001-05:002013-06-12T19:15:47.048-05:00Metal Gear Solid<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I apologize in advance for this almost-entirely video game related post. I try to avoid blogging about video games, but this has been burning in the back of my brain and I had to get it out.<br />
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I've had a long-time obsession with Metal Gear Solid. The original MGS on the original Playstation was the first video game that really made me love video gaming in general. It had a modern story full of crazy characters and amazing twists that gave you the impression that there was a <i>gigantic </i>amount of secrets to be plundered hiding just under the surface.<br />
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I played through MGS2 when it came out on the PS2, and as much as I loved it still, with its better graphics and evolved game play, I had a hard time adjusting to both the tonal shift in a much much more complex story and the addition of playing Raiden instead of Snake through most of the game. I still loved it, like I said, but it doesn't hold that same place in my heart.<br />
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I tried playing MGS3: Snake Eater at the time it was released. I was a bit skeptical of playing MGS in a jungle, but we were back to full-time Snake (which I wouldn't realize until years later was actually the original Snake that the one we love from MGS1 and 2 was originally cloned from), and I was ready to jump back in. I was immediately intimidated. The game play was challenging, and I felt like I would be dead in the water just trying to get past the first guard without my little map to guide me through the level.<br />
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I had to give up on MGS for a while, and it was a dark age for me. Sure I still played and loved tons of video games over the years, but nothing captured me quite like the original MGS.<br />
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Fast forward to a couple years ago when we get our PS3 and I find out I can download the original MGS and play it straight on the PS3. Sure the graphics have aged, but the story was just as engaging, and I couldn't wait to play to the finish.<br />
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More recently I picked up the HD collection of MGS2 and 3 for my Vita, and I think I found my all-time favorite video game in MGS3. It hit everything just right. I had heard for years that MGS3 was the best both from real-life friends and on the internet, but I hadn't experienced it for myself. Now I'm looking to get the big <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Metal-Gear-Solid-Collection-Playstation-3/dp/B00CTKHXFO/ref=sr_1_1?s=videogames&ie=UTF8&qid=1371081850&sr=1-1&keywords=metal+gear+solid">Legacy Edition</a> soon that will allow me to play the entire saga right on my PS3. I can't wait.<br />
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So what's with this Konami commercial of a blog post anyway? I just wanted to give some context, and would love to hear other people's experience with the series, when I say that Metal Gear Solid 5 looks like a massive leap in story-telling and, just from the director's cut of the trailer alone, is something you'll want to be emulating for your tabletop games.<br />
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Watch it below. It's a red band trailer, so probably <b>NSFW</b>, and it does have some pretty intense scene.<br />
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Seriously, Hideo Kojima, the writer/director of the franchise, is really going to be pushing some boundaries and looking at some really ugly questions. This looks to essentially be the "Episode III" of the series (or at least what we all hoped Episode III would depict) in that it shows one of the series' main antagonist finally make his fall and make some poor decisions that put him into the position of not being that great a guy to be around. I can't wait for this game.The Hopeless Gamerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10641907554710405444noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2373575960761016322.post-4806425842734641962013-03-29T15:04:00.001-05:002013-03-29T15:04:56.810-05:00The Easter Bunny brought me Science Fiction!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Thank you Easter Bunny! And no, I'm not trying to relive my high school years with Nausicaa and now Gundam. Why do you ask? The gundam book is incredibly adorable though. So happy it's gotten a state-side release.The Hopeless Gamerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10641907554710405444noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2373575960761016322.post-88531446716434640642013-03-21T19:42:00.000-05:002013-03-21T19:42:45.768-05:00A Missing Setting: World War I<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I've recently made my way through the 1,000+ page collection of the <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Nausica%C3%A4-Valley-Wind-Box-Set/dp/1421550644/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1363912520&sr=8-2&keywords=nausicaa">Nausicaa of The Valley of the Wind</a> Manga and have been blown away. It's good, and by the end reminded me of the Lord of the Rings in its scale and depth. If you've read anything here, you'll know that I don't throw that compliment around lightly.<br />
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Another property I love is <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Valkyria-Chronicles-Playstation-3/dp/B0016C3260/ref=sr_1_1?s=videogames&ie=UTF8&qid=1363912703&sr=1-1&keywords=valkyria+chronicles">Valkyria Chronicles</a>. It was heavily influenced in its look by Nausicaa, and that's one of the reasons I love it so much. I don't usually buy art books or design books, but I couldn't pass up the <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Valkyria-Chronicles-Design-Archive-Sega/dp/1926778162/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1363912673&sr=1-2&keywords=valkyria+chronicles">technical manual</a> for Valkyria Chronicles.<br />
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Why am I talking about these things? It's made me realize that I love the dirty, grimy trench-ridden setting of alternative World War I settings. The technology is still primitive, air force isn't so much of a factor, and cavalry still plays a role. Tanks are primitive but exist, and everything has a post-steampunk, traditional Victorian steampunk of course, feel to it.<br />
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We're missing out! I can't think of a single game setting that focuses on World War I level tech. Everything is either too primitive, putting it squarely in that steampunk camp, or too advanced putting it into World War II territory. I don't even need a game that is based on our own era of World War I. I'm just asking for something like the aesthetic.<br />
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Hell, just give me a Valkyria Chronicles RPG, and I'll call it a day. It already has classes all ready to go!The Hopeless Gamerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10641907554710405444noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2373575960761016322.post-27374541643412813652013-03-14T18:03:00.003-05:002013-03-14T18:03:32.624-05:00The TGIF Club - something a little off topic, but I hope awesome.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Hello everyone! I recently had an idea strike me for a new online viewing club. There're tons of great movie watching clubs online, and one of the best things of watching TV shows as they air is to participate in the social media discussion of that week's episode.<br />
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The problem is that I don't have cable and don't see things until, at earliest, a week after they air. This does not make for a fun time.<br />
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What I do have is Netflix Instant Watch, and I love it. I wanted to get a group together to watch specific shows, so I came up with an idea. I created <a href="http://www.reddit.com/r/TGIFClub/">the TGIF Club</a>. Here's the info I posted earlier this week:<br />
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<em>TGIF is the name of an American family-friendly prime time television programming block on the ABC network. The name comes from the initials of the popular phrase "Thank God It's Friday". However, the stars of the lineup touted the acronym as meaning "Thank Goodness It's Funny." In its first two runs, it was often compared with its Thursday night counterpart Must See TV on NBC.</em> <strong><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TGIF_(ABC" style="color: #336699; text-decoration: none;">From Wikipedia</a></strong></div>
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I have a goal. I want to build a community around enjoying the best, funniest sitcoms Netflix Instant Watch has to offer on a weekly basis. Every Friday night, this community watches the same single episode from four classic sitcoms and then comes here to discuss the night and each episode.</div>
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That's it. To join in you just need to watch some of the best TV ever made and come here to tell us what you think!</div>
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<strong>There are two simple rules.</strong></div>
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<strong>1. No jumping ahead!</strong> You watch one episode of each series each week. Can't wait to see how a very special two-part episode of Cheers plays out? Too bad. When these shows aired originally, the audience had to wait a week or more to get the next episode. In this (awesome) day and age of instant watch and blowing throw entire tv show seasons in a single weekend, we often miss the excitement of having to have patience for the next episode. This subreddit is built on the idea that this patience and anticipation is worth living with.</div>
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<strong>2. No spoiling!</strong> Given the very nature of what we're trying to do here, these shows may be well-known by many and are usually completed series. There's not much secrecy enshrouding these episodes and classic tv shows. Some big plot swings may be well known or big exciting/notorious episodes are upcoming ("How come he don't want me man?"), but don't blow it for people watching through the series for the first time.</div>
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That's it. The is just a big experiment, and I'm not sure yet how shows will be determined. I might pick the first four shows for the initial run through, but as shows wrap up, we'll need replacements. If we get a good community, I'd be happy to open nominations and put it to a vote.</div>
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We're trying to get a ton of members, and we're starting week one of watching our initial run of shows next Friday, 3/22. Head over to <a href="http://www.reddit.com/r/TGIFClub/">this link </a>and subscribe to the subreddit. You may need to create an account on reddit, which you should! Do it!</div>
The Hopeless Gamerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10641907554710405444noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2373575960761016322.post-70086651278922424092013-02-07T17:16:00.000-06:002013-02-07T17:16:09.983-06:00Kickstarter Delivers! Dungeon World Edition.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUlHdVpfbyyQvq5aK2xIlrx_8gvpF2LRlB0frMvBysSQFmtcnqYZ7t1n4HXtXnta5AReF3Yj1evyVvqpMSnNJmnr7kgtmkvdINuVqF6OAFALVvU0bt2dXALocJm8C924tWvkL-qHtScsQ/s1600/IMG_20130207_162159.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUlHdVpfbyyQvq5aK2xIlrx_8gvpF2LRlB0frMvBysSQFmtcnqYZ7t1n4HXtXnta5AReF3Yj1evyVvqpMSnNJmnr7kgtmkvdINuVqF6OAFALVvU0bt2dXALocJm8C924tWvkL-qHtScsQ/s320/IMG_20130207_162159.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
I was super excited to see a package come in the mail for me today. People <a href="http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?674342-(Dungeon-World)-I-got-my-backer-s-box!">have been reporting recently</a> that they're receiving their hardcover, softcover, t-shirts, extra books whatever for Dungeon World recently, and me, completely out of the loop, had no idea! So, I was not only excited, but quite surprised when I got my softcover and little backer-exclusive books in the mail today.<br />
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I've already <a href="http://www.thehopelessgamer.blogspot.com/search/label/Dungeon%20World">been talking</a> about Dungeon World quite a bit. I had a heckuva time running an introduction session for my friends last month and am still looking forward to the next opportunity to run it.<br />
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I don't have time today to write up a review of the book, but I did take some pictures of what I got, so check those out below. I will say that the book feels nice and meaty, which shouldn't be a surprise if you've seen the pdf.<br />
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It reminds me, in a purely physical sense, of the original publishing of Spirit of the Century. It's pretty much the same size, and the smaller pages really help (at least for me) to get excited to read the book all over again.<br />
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The three little booklets that I got with my softcover are, simply put, adorable. I can't wait to read them, and if Dungeon World itself is portable, the booklets are down-right convenient. They're about the size of a large wallet, and if one were so inclined, could very, very easily fit in the back pocket of your jeans. It has me intrigued to think about micro RPG's that could be printed in this size and sold for just a couple of books. A fun idea, but definitely a diversion.<br />
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Seriously, publishers? Take a look at these tiny supplements. I love them, although I'm not sure how I'm going to store them at this point. The covers are a thicker stock then they may look in the picture, and they feel astoundingly sturdy. They have the feel of a tiny indie comic you can get in larger comic shops in bigger cities or at cons.<br />
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As has happened in the past, Dungeon World's got me excited to blog again. There's something about it that energizes me. I'm very excited for Fate Core, another recent Kickstarter I backed, but for some reason it's DW that makes me want to write. I hope to have more in the future, and hopefully anyone still waiting for their DW stuff will get it soon!The Hopeless Gamerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10641907554710405444noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2373575960761016322.post-30802749191605851642012-12-12T18:41:00.003-06:002012-12-12T18:41:55.631-06:00The Mirror Monarchy - Playing Dungeon World Play-by-Post!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Dungeon World's got me going and energized to run games, that's for certain. We're going to do some character creation this Saturday with my normal group, which has me excited. I couldn't wait though, and decided to recruit for my first game running a play-by-post style adventure. I recruited on Reddit but decided to use the play-by-post forums on RPG.net since it seemed easier than trying to create (and moderate) a special subreddit for the game.<br />
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<a href="http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?667179-OOC-The-Mirror-Monarchy-A-Dungeon-World-Game">Here's the link</a> to the first thread. It's an OOC (Out Of Character) thread since we've only just started character generation, but I'm pretty excited to see how it works. I've only ever played a very little bit of PBP before, and never ran one, but I feel like Dungeon World might be a good match to try it out.<br />
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So far it's been pretty fun coming up with how to do character gen online. I'm doing my best to teach the game as we go through the steps since only one of my players has read/is familiar with DW. I've got players of all different levels of experience with role playing, but the consensus seems to be a lot of experience with D&D 3.5. I've never played 3.5 (only Star Wars Saga Edition and D&D 4th), but I think I got the jist enough of how to explain DW in comparison to it. I like DW as it's a light system with very little to actually keep track of (which is especially good since keeping track of lots of things feels more difficult in a game where I never see or hear my players.<br />
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I've decided to run the game in roughly the <a href="http://thehopelessgamer.blogspot.com/2012/12/worldsong-dungeon-world-setting.html">same setting</a> as my game with my in-real-life friends. I've always, always, ALWAYS wanted to run more than one group through the same campaign world through different adventures, letting the two parties' efforts impact the world. This is even more interesting in DW where the players have such a big hand in building the setting.<br />
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Here's my thought: both groups are going to have an impact and establish aspects of the world, but what happens when two conflicting facts are established? I'm playing with the idea of having nothing set in stone until it's actually proven or shown for a group. What happens when the established fact conflicts with a setting aspect of the other group?<br />
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It means the non-established/proven fact may simply be a belief of most people of the setting that's not actually true, or alternatively, depending on how integral the false fact is, maybe it's changed over time and isn't true? These are the kinds of things that make me excited to run these games.The Hopeless Gamerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10641907554710405444noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2373575960761016322.post-39464207737621760202012-12-08T11:27:00.001-06:002012-12-08T11:27:31.095-06:00A New LookYes, this is still the Hopeless Gamer from before, but I felt I really needed to update the blog. It felt too busy to look at, and quite frankly I felt like the page took too long to load. Everything that was here before is still here now, just a little more streamlined and less distracting. I hope you like it, but don't be surprised in the next few weeks if it changes again. I'm trying to find what works best for me. So we'll see how this thing goes.The Hopeless Gamerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10641907554710405444noreply@blogger.com0