Pre-GenCon - the calm before the storm

Well, Tomorrow evening I depart for GenCon, will be staying the night in central PA, and then our group will depart for Indianpolis Wednesday morning. We'll make our annual stop off in Columbus, Ohio to visit with my friend jason's sister (who has lived there many years) and eat Hound Dog's Pizza (Pizza for the People!) Sooo.. for the fourth time since I left Columbus, I will be there and availble for a quick visit if anyone wants to show up...considering no one ever showed up the past three years!... buncha jerks :) Anyway.. we are usually there between 5-7. After the pizza, we head out and usually get to Indianapolis sometime around 10 PM. After that its mainly, check in time and relax a bit.. sometimes we have walked over to the convention center.. opens up Wednesday night sometimes for some early gaming..

This year I am prepared.. I have actually made a little list of stuff I want to investigate/demo/try-out/explore while I am here.... not necessarily purchase... but there are numerous things I'd like to learn about. (of course, I'll buy some things.. it is GenCon after-all.)

Here's my list (in no particular order): (some of these companies/things might not even be at the Con... but if they are gonna be anywhere.. GenCon would be it.)

Dark Platypus Studios - they make tokens and battle-mats, and cheap 3D dungeon walls. I have read some cool things about their stuff... their battle mats are magnetic...

Ninja Magic - They are making (may be finished, don't know) a game called "With Hostile Intent" which is a tabletop war game with space ships. Heard good things... interested to see what the models look like and how it plays.

Wells Expiditions - Arcane Legions. This is a new game hitting the wargaming scene... there is a lot of buzz around it. The preliminary info did not impress me, but gonna check it out in person.

Spartan Games - Uncharted Seas. Fantasy naval war game.. resin and metal models that look cool.. wanna see how it plays..

Rio Grand Games - Dominion. This is a card game (and also a board game I think) Again.. heard good things... supposed to be pretty awesome... and not a money sink-hole like most card games.

Dwarven Forge - oh my... I have drooled over this amazing dungeon terrain every year I have went to the Con... this may be the year that I actually buy some... maybe...

Otherworld Miniatures - They make really cool miniatures based on the classic versions of D&D monsters.. pig-nosed orcs, dog-faced kobolds, and really awesome gelationous cubes!

Campaign Cartographer - Earthynn needs maps... this could be the program I need to make them..

Privateer Press - no brainer, the Retribution of Scryah book comes out... and they are also supposed to be making a big announcement on Friday. The announcement revolves around Warmachine, and they said there are "special guests"... the current rumors are: novels? videogame?

Infnity - Second Edition of the core rulebook is out.. and I want to pick up a few new models.

Other than "the list"... we are playing in a 2-man Warmachine Team Tournament. Heading back into the True Dungeon (cannot wait!)... trying out the Battlestar Galactica Board Game (supposed to be awesome)... going to the movies to see District 9... going to watch the RiffTrax version of Plan 9 From Outer Space... and we are going to start our Earthynn campaign! (finally my little world will come alive!)... oh, and I will probably buy some new dice...

See ya at the Con!

Thoughts on some recent gaming headlines...

So the gamer-verse has been busy this past week or so... pretty much three big "things" happened.  The "dust" has settled on these things now.. but let me stir it up and give my thoughts on the matters at hand.

- Dave Arneson passed away this week from cancer.  Dave was one of the two men who created Dungeons and Dragons.  Mr. Arneson is often credited as the one behind the concept  of a campaign setting.. and his original setting, Blackmoor, pretty much became the inspiration for everything that came afterwords.  Gary Gygax (who passed away last year) often gets most of the notoriety, but Dave Arneson had his hand in the pot as well.  (The two were known to have had a very Simon and Garfunkel-esque break up and later reunification).  The two of them should be proud of the legacy they leave behind.. and the untold thousands of people who their game has inspired and entertained over the 30+ years its been around.   Order of the Stick did a nice tribute to him in their latest comic - which you can read here.

Mr. Gygax is responsible for GenCon (the event around which my entire geek year revolves) and since the 3rd GenCon all those years ago, has run a campaign every year at the convention. 2009 will be the first year he misses out.  They truly made quite a difference in many peoples lives.  Mine included.  I didn't get my start in hobby gaming with Dungeons and Dragons, but without D&D there simply would be no hobby gaming industry at all.  When you trim away all the fat from the other games.. they are all D&D at heart... and speaking of D&D...*frustrated sigh*

-Wizards of the Coast has decided to stop with PDF distribution of all of their properties and pulled them from all online retailers.. Paizo Publishing (a large distributor of such PDFs) explained it in their email newsletter:

Wizards of the Coast has notified us that we may no longer sell or distribute their PDF products. Accordingly, after April 6 at 11:59 PM Pacific time, Wizards of the Coast PDFs will no longer be available for purchase on paizo.com; after noon on April 7, you will no longer be able to download Wizards of the Coast PDFs that you have already purchased, so please make sure you have downloaded all purchased PDFs by that time.

Then the very next day, they put all of their other (non-WotC) PDFs on sale online, thus demonstrating the importance of this market that Wizards of the Coast has so dramatically and suddenly pulled out of.

We at Paizo Publishing understand how important PDFs have become to most roleplaying gamers. We know that PDFs allow you to easily carry around a large library of books on your laptop, PDA, or cell phone. We know that PDFs are great for searching for that piece of obscure information. We know that PDFs are a great way to keep out-of-print products available. And we know that PDFs provide a great way to check out new products.

Heres my opinion.  They say it is to protect their properties from piracy.  And that is fine.  I don't steal their books, I buy them, and so do a lot of other people (even though they are over priced - discussion for a later time).  But yes, this is the modern Internet age, the go-go 90's gave way to the Social-Media 2000's, and a lot of people distribute material online illegally.  It is perfectly understandable that WotC would want to protect themselves from losing money over pirated books, PDFs being freely distributed online, etc.;  since they are a company, and the purpose of a company/business is to make money. (very similar to the way music and TV companies try and protect their works from the torrent sites) The problem is that the measures they are taking;  pulling PDFs from retailers and filing lawsuits against a few people they believe are pirating their stuff... is going to do nothing.  OK, I take that back, it will do something... it will piss people off.  The people who purchase their PDFs legally... will now be upset they can no longer do so for no fault of their own.  And, there are quite a number of other companies that do distribute PDFs (Paizo offers PDF versions of ALL their publications) that will see an increase in sales (sales of 3rd party non-WotC PDFs).  There is no way realistic way to prevent piracy... data is too easily distributed.  So what to do?

The answer is to embrace it and give people compelling reasons to buy your online materials.  The D&D Insider is a start.. but is woefully lacking in its "promised" features.. which again.. drives people away to other online gaming sources.  My own gaming group is an example.  We are creating a new 4th Edition D&D  game world in which to play; however, our group is fragmented and scattered all over the sate of PA and we rarely get to gather for gaming sessions.  We have been investigating options for playing via the Internet.  Alas, Wizards of the Coast still has not released their D&D Game Table.  So, if we choose to go this route for some of our gaming sessions, we will be forced to use third party software, with fan-made 4e rule sets.  Missed opportunity Wizards of the Coast.  Missed opportunity.

The PDF fiasco also ties into another issue... one not wholly in the tabletop role-playing world...that being the decline of print media.  The fact that magazines like Electronic Gaming Monthly went under, when it was considered the Bible of videogame publications and was the #1 videogame magazine for 15+ years,  proves that no one is safe...the Internet is pushing many paper publications to, in the very least, offer some sort of online component lest they seem outright archaic.  (Dragon and Dungeon magazines are another prime example, in the genre even) Its a very slippery slope...  I don't have a very business-slanted mind so I am not very good at making the proper arguments... but hopefully you can glean my meaning from that rabble above... in other news...

- The Field Test for Warmachine MkII was released this week.  And holy cow did it cause an uproar!  The important thing to consider... this is a field test for the new rules that does not release until January 2010.   Privateer Press is announcing the rules change in advance of release and letting people download all the new rules, and play them, and give feedback to the company.  In their own words:

The WARMACHINE Mk II field test is a chance for WARMACHINE players and Privateer Press to work together to make WARMACHINE Mk II the best game possible. We have worked on streamlining the rules and abilities to provide the smoothest play possible without sacrificing the essential gameplay and feel of the WARMACHINE we all know. Mk II is also our chance to reexamine models in terms of their game balance, the number of special rules, and their original role on the table. All the changes you will see are the result of countless hours of discussion, playtesting, and more playtesting. The WARMACHINE Mk II you will see in this field test is very close to the finished product. This field test is about tightening the nuts and bolts, oiling the squeaks, and putting the new WARMACHINE through its paces.

Very few companies would do such a thing, and it proves, once again, how much Privateer Press thinks of its customers.  The Privateer Press Forums literally exploded with negative minded assholes who made comments that were completely unfounded and just downright rude. (not surprising considering its the Internet).  Anywho... the new rules have me very excited.  The main purpose of the Mk II rules is to streamline and speed up the game.  Warmachine was getting to the point where some models simply had paragraphs of special rules... some of which rarely came into play on the gaming table.  This made it very difficult to know at any given time what a particular model was able to do, and difficult to learn.  The last expansion, Legends, was a prime example of this with models and units completely bloated with special abilities and rules... Were these rules/abilities well thought out? Yes.  Were they cool and did they provide a great deal of fluff and flavor to the game? Absolutely.  But at some point, something has to give... with the new rules they have gone back and completely re-evaluated all of the old models, every single model in the game (which is a great many), and re-balanced them.  A great deal of these crazy abilities hit the cutting room floor.  Do the models still retain their flavor?  Yes.  But its more subtle at times.  The important thing is the gameplay is much better.  

They also changed some of the core rules of the game. (something that , despite a lot of the negativity) has been very well received.  They redid the Command/Fleeing rules, the Unit Formation rules, they cleaned up the Line of Sight rules, they did a massive change/overhaul of the army point - army building rules, and they changed some core rules dealing with warjacks (arguably the focus of the entire game line) and made them far more compelling to use on the battlefield. (thus fixing some of the old infantry-machine arguments, aka, people complaining there was no reason to use warjacks because troopers were so much better)  All of the new rule changes are positive and for the better.  So where does the negativity stem from?

All the whining, bitching, trolling and complaining stems from people who feel their faction has been "nerfed".   "Wahhh!  Model A used to due XYZ and now it sux!"  At times I feel actually a bit embarrassed to say these are my fellow gamers.  People cry over the loss of power, over the loss of all of the cool things their models used to be able to do... without looking at the game as a whole.   All of the models were rebalanced.  Everyone lost abilities, everyone had some models get less powerful while others got more powerful.  Its called balance.  There were plenty of models that never got played by anyone.. because they simply were not quite as good as others.. why take Unit A when Unit B is so much more effective?  In Mk II they gave compelling reasons to play all the units/models... Its not quite perfect.. but that's why they are doing this Field Test.  They are letting their players help them figure it out and discover any huge imbalances and rules problems.  People are going on and on about how they purchased all these models and now Privateer Press rendered them useless.  Saying that Privateer Press "ripped them off"  It is completely ridiculous.  This company has done nothing but listen to its fan base since day one.  I will say it again.. the fact that they are even doing this Field Test alone demonstrates their commitment to their fans and customers.  They very easily could have simply released the new rules without going through all of this.  They are committed to making this the best game they possibly can, and I believe they are very closer to achieving their goal. (this coming from someone who loved their games already)  Jason Soles, the lead game designer at Privateer Press even came into the forums to try and talk some sense into people.. (the PP guys very often post in their forums, from everything to tactics, painting and fluff questions: another awesome example of how they are engaged with their customers) he came in with this post..

"There seems to be a lot of people solidifying their positions on changes to the rules with half conceived notions of the way this game plays. Before settling into your position and espousing what passes for "conventional wisdom", I urge you to read carefully, play, and think. A lot of stuff changed and some stuff may yet change again. If you want to have any impact on those changes, you need to appear calm, collected, and informed...

...The same can be applied to "loss of flavor" discussions. If you have something to say, use your words and construct informed feedback. Try and articulate your position. Let us know that you think X model lost something vital in the transition to Mk II that was important to you. Let us know you feel it could be returned with a minimum effect on the complexity of the game while substantially increasing your enjoyment of a model. I will not promise that the change will be made, but we will take you seriously and consider your point."

Update: Less then a week after the Field Test documents released, they have already provided an updated file.. making changes that were caught/suggested/discussed by the players.  Proof that this Test is doing what its supposed to and that they are listening to what people are saying.

The arguments I'm seeing in the forums are extremely reminiscent of the arguments that sprang up when Dungeons and Dragons went from 3.5 to 4e.  Eerily similar... people complaining that the game is being "dumbed down" and made "boring" simply because it is simpler... well, Warmachine MkII certainly is not what I would call a "simple" game.. nor would I call D&D 4e simple... the point is, you spend less time looking up rules and more time playing the game and having fun.   I loved that many of the Warmachine models had lots of interesting rules...(and they still have interesting rules); however, the supreme glut of powers/abilities was getting to be too much and the power creep needed to be reset.  The game now starts from a clean slate.   There will never be a better time to start playing Warmachine than MkII in 2010... and those of us that have been playing since 2001 have seen the game evolve in extraordinary ways from a company that really cares about their products and their customers.

This blog...

...is no longer a lie...I do indeed own a light saber... 

in other news...

Wil Wheaton, besides writing an excellent blog, writes an article at Suicide Girls dot Com called "Geek in Review".. and this week's article is all about DnD 4th Edition.  Really great read.

(be warned, that site is known for naked girls, if you don't like naked girls... don't go (NSFW).. though that particular area is usually OK)

http://suicidegirls.com/news/geek/23470/

some of my favorite bits from the article below...

"This is a game that is fun. It helps you imagine."

"(Speaking of WoW, I wonder if WoW is, for some gamers, "the other woman," threatening to split the party with a siren's call that's taking potential players out of our world and never giving them back...could that be why so many hobby gamers hate it so much? And if so, wouldn't it make more sense to hate on CCGs, which sucked away RPG players ten years before anyone knew what Warcraft was? Hey, as long as I'm kicking over anthills today, I'm going to make sure I stomp on as many as I can.)"

Star Wars : The Old Republic (MMO)

The announcement of the game I have been waiting sooooo long for was made today.

http://www.swtor.com/

BioWare Reveals Star Wars: The Old Republic

Rumors finally come true as BioWare outlines ambitious project.

By Steve Watts, 10/21/2008

 
(Check out more screens for Star Wars: The Old Republic in our screenshot gallery.)

After months of rumors and leaks, BioWare has revealed its anticipated MMORPG set in the Star Wars universe, titled Star Wars: The Old Republic, reports GameSpot. The company has set up an official site, and we're watching the BioWare presentation for more details, but here's what we have so far.

So far, BioWare has been vague on a possible launch date, and the game is announced for PC only. They aren't ruling out the possibility of a console port, though, with EA vice president Greg Zeschuk commenting that "the PC version is all we've talked about so far." There will be an open beta "at some point."

The new game takes place 300 years after the other two Knights of the Old Republic games. The Jedi and Sith are still at war, and players can choose which side of the conflict to ally themselves with: the Galactic Republic or the Sith Empire. But the story is leaving open for some moral ambiguity on both sides. "There's a lot more people than Sith and Jedi in the Empire and Republic, so one of the things that became important to us is that we separate the idea of faction and good and evil," said head writer Daniel Erickson. In this game, being a member of one faction doesn't mean you're restricted to only doing good or evil things. IGN also reports that the story will be enhanced by companion characters, who will follow your main hero to help in battle and comment on your decisions.

Erickson also wants to make the Sith a more sympathetic villain in this game, explaining that they're an entire culture banished by the Jedi. "These are actual people. They have to have a legitimate point of view. You have to believe when you're playing that the things you're doing make sense and be proud of where you are." He promises that this will give each mission a special context, rather than the standard grinding found particularly in the early stages of most other MMORPGs.

The two factions will consist of various classes, each of which will have its own branching storyline based on the ethical choices BioWare is famous for. We know of Jedi and Sith classes so far, but others such as Elite Troopers or Assassin Droids are said to be possibilities as well. In this game, though, BioWare wants to make players responsible for their choices rather than letting them turn back the clock with a save point.

As for settings, the game promises "dozens" of worlds well-known by the Star Wars fans, like Coruscant, Tython, and Korriban. Some planets will be strongholds of the Sith Empire or Galactic Republic, while others will be battlegrounds.

Finally, the new title won't be replacing Star Wars Galaxies, which is promised to see continued support.

We'll keep you updated as we learn more on this hotly anticipated game. 

The Reading List

I have really fallen behind in my reading of late... at one point I promised myself I would dedicate more time to reading.. but I have failed at it. So I thought I'd make this list of books that are on "the pile" to be read soon.  Then I saw this post on Wil Wheaton's blog today.. and he had the perfect quote from Neal Stephenson:

"If you choose to read a book today, it's not like a hundred years ago, when that was your only option. Today, when you read a book, you're making a conscious decision not to play a video game, not to surf the web, not to watch a movie, not to turn on the TV. It does require a certain discipline to make that decision.…"

I also spend a good amount of time listening to audiobooks, so I will include them as well.  Mostly for me, audiobooks are a way to re-live a book I have already read, so they are not as much of a priority as reading new stuff.  These are in no particular order...

Star Wars : Allegiance by Timothy Zahn

Star Wars: Outbound Flight by Timothy Zahn

I have been slowly working my way into the Expanded Universe... Zahn is easily the best of the authors writing in there...(he is also pretty much responisble for starting it all...)

Star Wars: Republic Commando Triple Zero by Karen Traviss

Star Wars: Republic Commando Hard Contact by Karen Traviss

This would be the second best Expanded Universe author...gritty war stories from the Clone Wars told from the point of view of the Clone Troopers.  Very respected and recommened books in the Star Wars Community.

The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

Everything this man writes is worth reading... and I have a signed copy of this book just waiting to be read. 

The Dark Tower 1: The Gunslinger by Stephen King

Never been a King fan... but a friend of mine recoommnded this series heavily.. so I am gonna give it a try.

Armegeddon's Children by Terry Brooks

The Elves of Cintra by Terry Brooks

The Gypsy Morph by Terry Brooks

Brook's new series The Genesis of Shanarra, which links two of his previous series together.. I have always enjoyed Brook's work.. just haven't dove into these yet..

Infinity Rulebook: 2nd Edition by CorvusBelli

Still working on learning this game... and this version of the rules just came out...  Its a really cool game.. with awesome miniatures... here is one of those very miniatures painted by the master of miniature painting, Mike McVey.  The fluff behind the miniatures and armies is one of my favorite parts of miniature games.. so I am looking forward to reading this.

Listening to.......

The Black Unicorn by Terry Brooks

I love the Landover series, and hadn't read it in ages.. next fall is a new book in thsi series, so I am gonna get caught up via audio..

Wizard's First Rule by Terry Goodkind

Ever since I started reading about the upcoming TV show I have wanted to go back and read the books.. but audio seems like a good way to go about it... then I can paint miniatures at the same time. :)

Clerical adventures

So adapting to a first level cleric took some time... only three 1st level spells?  really?  That's it?  I also am playing my character as a budding swordsman, so I spent a feat on the Scimitar prof., though he seemed to miss a lot... gotta love level one characters!

our group consists of a Rogue (kind of a jerk personality wise, and very much a thief), a Barbarian (very direct and straightforward), a Gnome Sorcerer (an interesting fellow) and me (cleric). We have another joining us next time (probably a fighter).

The story started with us arriving in the town of Sandpoint.  A big festival was underway to celebrate the building of  anew cathedral (the old one burned down 5 years ago)... the festivities were underway, leading up to the consecration of the cathedral at sundown.  But before that happened... goblins! Goblins are exceedingly cool in Pathfinder, they chant and sing while they attack, and are at times quite amusing.  :)  (and they are drawn by Wayne Reynolds)

We fought off one wave of goblins, but heard more singing further into town... we headed off to find the rest of the goblins.. these goblins were lighting things on fire.. and after another battle, we were then directed by some townsfolk toward another band of the little fiends... it was cool because they were each individual encounters, with slightly different situations, and strung one after the other, no time for rest in between.. which really added to the urgency of the situation... the last group had a goblin riding a "goblin dog," a nasty critter, and they had an aristocratic gentleman trapped..  our Gnome cast Sleep, sending a couple Goblins and the aristocrat to slumber land.. and we fought off the rest.. however the goblin dog took a bite out of me and dropping me to -4 hit points... I made my stabilize check (first try!) and after the goblins were subdued they drug me to the cathedral.  Long story short -- it turns out the goblins were only a distraction, and while we were running around the town feeding the chaos.. another group of goblins were digging up a grave from the cemetery.. they unearthed a priest who had died in the old cathedral fire.. why?  we don't know.  In the middle of meeting with the head cleric of the new cathedral, investigating the grave robbing, meeting the aristocrat for lunch (he wanted to thank us for saving him, and invite us to go hunting with him) we later ran into someone who asked us to investigate the disappearance of her employer, a local tavern owner.. this led us into the local glass works (run by the missing woman's family... in which we encountered another group of goblins, this time led by a half-elf.. who manged to pick at us from across the room with his bow...(and if it wasn't for my expert healing our gnome would have bit it) but we managed to subdue him, and our Barbarian almost cut him in half.. luckily we stabilized him for questioning... and this is where we called it quits for the evening.

A good time was had by all.. I can see it will take us some time to really "gel" as a group, but it looks like it will be a fun campaign.  :)

Yarr!

Happy Talk Like a Pirate Day!  Avast me harties!  and shoven offen the mizmast!  Ahoy! or.. something.. yarr...

Yeah, thats enough of that...

But keepng in theme...  This company makes awesome miniatures.. Freebooter Miniatures.

I am going to be buying a bunch of their models to use in a new Warmachne army I am assembling.. (yes, its a pirate army) Using Fiona the Black as the warcaster from the Pirates of the Broken Coast expansion.  I am using different brands of models (some form Freebooter, Black Scorpion, and maybe some Reaper and Dark Sword minis) because its going to be an all female army.. with lots of interesting charatcers... and there are not enough females in Privateer's own mini line.  It will be a fun project... one I am looking forward to painting.   If I can procure a digital camera, I plan on documentig the assembly and painting progress of the whole army right here on this blog... maybe I can just borrow a camera every other weekend or so from someone.  Anyways, I have the army list planned out, its just a matter of procuring all the models (and shelling out the cash for them is the hard part), but it should be a really slick looking (and hopefully fun to play) army when its all said and done...an all female, evil, estrogen-laden, army of pirates! Put that in yer Crow's Nest and smoke it!  Me matey! Yarr! Walk the plizen plank! YoHo!

GEN CON 2008

Well, GenCon 2008 has come and gone. A good time was had by all. Went there with our usual group plus 2 guests. Dave (Dork), Jason (Jerk), Mike (Moron), Rob (Reject), Karl (Karl), and Andres and Josh (two friends of Jason's, Andres is from Chile):)
Here's my day by day wrap-up...

__Wednesday__
Wednesday was travel day... we left central Pennsylvania late morning, and drove allll day. Made a stop in Columbus Ohio (my old stomping ground) for some yummy Hound Dogs Pizza (Pizza for the People!)... we also stopped there to visit our friend Jason's sister.. but you know.. the pizza is good. Then we set back off to Indy! Got there around 11:30PM.. walked around a bit after checking into the hotel, and hit the sack.

__Thursday__
Day one of the Con! We got up and headed over to the convention center and got in line for the exhibit hall to open. then, as is normal for us, we went right to the Privateer Press booth and got in line for the release of Warmachine:Legends! The line was... well... long. Don't believe me? Check out this from Table Top Gaming News:
(You can even see ME standing there in line, just as the camera begins to spin around. Stop it at 0:06)



Its a great expansion to the game.. and their booth was packed to capacity all weekend. Its great to see the company getting so much success since I got in on the ground floor. I had ordered the Khador started pack online before they even released their first book. It was a great game then, and is a fantastic game now. The usual GenCon cosplay was in effect, and these two lovely ladies made for quite the sight, dressed as two members of the Witch Coven of Garlghast (Cryx warcasters)
They also were running demos of their new CMG (collectible miniatures game) Monsterpocalypse. I'm not really into CMG's... but it looked cool. And they were running their painting competition as normal, and had on display an amazing diorama.. again, thanks to Table Top Gaming News for the footage:



After that we had a game scheduled. It was clled Conquest of the Star Lords.. a strategic board game. I have wanted to find a good space battle board game for awhile now, but haven't really found one I liked. This one was OK, but not great. It was still fun to play though. After that we had some dinner, and then headed over to the mini's hall for some Warmachine/Hordes of our own. I had a really epic battle against Dave's Trollblood army using my Morvahna the Autumnblade led Circle Orboros army in which I barely irked out a victory. (a complex web of spells and one lone Tharn Wolf Rider managed to get me the win...) We played until the un-told hour of 4 AM... and then arose for Day 2...

__Friday__
Day 2 was our busy day...we played a new minis game called AE-WWII. Its basically a alternate reality World War 2 game.. where occult ideas are taken to the extreme.. there were psychic troopers, monkey men, and robots fighting alongside or against some American GI's and para-troopers.... it had some cool minis.. and some interesting mechanics.. but overall it didn't excite me too much. I'm not much of a historical mini's guy.. even if it is alt-history...I played on the Allied side, and we managed to win the primary objective, but failed our secondary one. Was a good time none the less. A solid game, just not my cup of tea.

Later we played another new miniatures game called Pulp City.. a game of super heroes.. this one also had a cool game mechanic and nice miniatures, but the demo we played in had way too many people (16) who were all crowded around a small gaming table. The game, and several of the characters were pretty cool, but the demo soured my opinion of it. I played a superhero called Androida, who was a cyborg with super speed. Some of the miniatures were neat, others were just OK. The coolest thing about it was the rules allowed you to do just about anything.. throw cars, scale tall buildings.. that sort of thing. The super heroes they had for the game didn't impress me, its too bad the game doesn't have a create-your-own-hero feature...but I supposed that's not possible to do with a miniatures game (they would then need a sculpt your own miniature feature I guess)...


After that we rushed over to the movie theater to watch Star Wars:The Clone Wars! I had pre-bought our tickets on-line, but it wasn't very crowded. And I have to say, I really enjoyed it! It was action packed from start to finish, it had some cool characters (including Assaj Ventress (one of my favorite Star Wars characters) and some parts that were very funny. :) A very good film if you just want to go and have fun. And a great addition to the Star Wars mythos if you are a Star Wars fan like myself. And I loved the animation... a really cool style, and great execution... It really has me looking forward to the animated series starting this October...

After the movie it was getting late.. but this is GenCon! So we went back to the mini's hall and played some more Warmachine/Hordes until 3 Am...

__Saturday__
Saturday we had no games planned, so this was our day to scour the exhibit hall and spend some money. This was also the day the wore our t-shirt as is our GenCon tradition. s (Dork, Jerk, Moron, Reject, Karl) We received lots of great compliments on the shirts, and even had several people ask to take our picture. I had already spent a chink of money getting my Privateer Press stuff, the new Legends book, and some new models that just came out or were on pre-release. So there wasn't alot of stuff I was looking for.. however; as always, I grabbed a few things...

Went to Paizo's booth and grabbed our copy of the sequel to The Gamers, called The Gamers:Dorkness Rising. We had all been waiting for the sequel to come out for years.. and its quite funny, and has much higher production values than the first, lol. :) Here is the trailer... I also picked up a sweet t-shirt at some other random booth (it makes me smile even thinking about it..)

And then, un-planned, I bought into a brand new miniatures game. I wasn't intending to start this game at GenCon, but Jason had been talking to me about it for a while.. its called Infinity (their site is cool, check it out). Its a sci-fi game.. best described as the creators describe it...

Infinity is a game with 28mm high metal miniatures that simulates combat and special operations in a science fiction environment with Manga aesthetics. Infinity miniatures are characterized by the high quality and detail of their modeling, the dynamism of their postures, and their futuristic aesthetic.

The miniatures are really nice looking, and the gameplay is fast and intricate.. and the model count for each army is quite low (10 for a large army) so the cost is kept down.. I choose the Yu Jing army (see the minis here), the "asian" faction... I am planning on painting them in a cool anime-style, bright colors, pink hair, etc.. I am looking forward to the painting and the playing, since it will give me a very different style to paint (apart from steam-punk fantasy style I paint for Warmachine/Hordes). I have been wanting a real "hardcore" sci-fi miniatures game for some time now, and I have found it. :)

One of the more exiciting moments of this day was meeting Chewbacca (Peter Mayhew)! He was ther signing autographs all throughout the convention. A really nice guy, and he's HUGE, in the picture he is sitting down and he is almost as tall as me :)

And of course, Saturday evening we squeezed in some more Warmachine/Hordes playing... though we went back to the hotel earlier than before... Dave, Mike and I didn't want to go to bed, since going to sleep would bring the end of GenCon 2008 that much sooner... so we just went down to the hotel lobby to hang out and talk. Thats the best part of GenCon: spending time with my friends.

__Sunday__
Day 4 dawned.. and we had our only role-playing game of the Con to go to. It was a sesssion of Mutants and Masterminds. This is a super hero rpg using a modified D20 system. Its really a stand out porduct all around, if you want a sgood super heor game, this is it. Our game went OK, it was fun. the DM that ran it was not the best, the story wasn't superb, but we still had fun playing. I was playing a charatcer with Time Control abilites, whilst others had such powers similar to Sabertooth, some shadow walking abilites, a very Captain American type characters, ad some others... the heroes in general were not well put togetehr, I'd rather just make my own.. but it was nice to try out the system.

Then we headied back into the exhibit hall to pick up a few more things, take in some more of the atmosphere... and then we packed up and headed home. We stopped in Central, PA for the night (where Rob and Dave live) and Dave and I decided to stay up and watch the Gamers DVD. I didn't get all the way through it, got too tired.. and a loose bat flying around Dave's house got kind of distracting, and we had to cower in fear as it flew past us.. eventually we got the door open and it mae its way outside.. those a freaky little animals... but the next morning I we resumed out trek and got home around Noon monday....

All in all... a very good vacation, a very good Con, a very good time with my friends, and I look forward to it next year. :)

Video Battle Reports!!

My friend Mike and I had some battles of ye old Warmachine the other day (actually Hordes, but same difference) And this is our first attempt at Video Battle Reports. A cool idea... we will embellish on the idea as time goes on and try some other things with the video...



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Listening to: Dungeons & Dragons - Episode 1: Penny Arcade
via FoxyTunes