A year in the trenches

Gencon 2009... after the show.

Oct. 16 marks my 1-year anniversary as a member of the Press Gang. It will remain a bittersweet day for me because shortly after finding out I had been accepted into the gang, I received word my grandfather died.

The email from Biggie proved a great comfort to me that day. I was going to be able to officially run events for my favorite game, hang out in the PG forum and do… cool stuff.

Looking through my Purple Tourney Notebook o Doom, I ran two events before I was “official.” In the past 12 months, I’ve run 10 events, not including a ton of Monsterpocalypse stuff. Some tourneys have been small, some large, some better than others. From what I can tell, folks are having a good time and they’re still playing the game, which are the most important things. I’m fortunate to have an awesome store to operate out of and a great group of players.

From my standpoint as a PG, the past 12 months have been gamer geek heaven. In February, I was able to attend Templecon in Providence, RI. As my first convention, Templecon will always have a special place in my heart. That’s where I met Kevin and Biggie and had my first meeting with Devilsquid, Tamwulf and CptCaine — PGs who became my friends and running partners at future shows.

I didn’t play many games, but that wasn’t the point. I was traveling across the country to be at a convention with 56 hours of Warmachine and be surrounded by folks who love the game. It was great, and I can’t wait until Templecon 2010.

Fast-forward to May and the Privateer Press Invitational, an event that is highly anticipated by the Gang. This was our shot to visit the Mothership, our chance to meet the folks who make the game we love. And it didn’t disappoint. More friendships formed, bombing down the road in the Walkaway Insurance Van… the stuff of legend. From a gaming standpoint, Theater of War Live was insane. It was my first time meeting Chris Walton, Michael “Scrappers” Faciane, PPS_Jack, Matt and DC.

At this point, I figured I was done with cons for the year. I knew PAX was in September, and figured that would be doable. Then I got the opportunity to go to Gencon. So of course I went! Even though there was tons of stuff to see, I had plenty of fun working the Privateer booth and running events with Kevin. I got the chance to talk at length with Doug Seacat and Chris and Mike. I got to see Ron Kruzie paint up close and work with PPS_Dave, PPS_Ed and PPS_Jack. I was able to hang out with Simon during some of the tournaments, and he gave me a cool messenger bag. Of course, there was more wreaking havoc with CptCaine and Devilsquid and the insanity of painting models for Tamwulf’s Retribution army for Hardcore. It was a hectic show, but well worth the trip. Breaking down the booth with no A/C was a little rough, but it was a lot of fun. Of course, the real fun was the dinner afterward.

With about two weeks to recover, it was time to hit the road with Dicewraith and attack PAX. While Gencon is older, PAX is nuttier. So many people, so many gamer geeks and the Privateer booth was in an awesome spot where those folks walked by everyday. Another long, hectic weekend, but this time there was a great deal more rum consumed, Rock Band (with me buzzed enough to sing!) and more Retribution. There was also a great deal of hilarity with Dave, Mike and DC, plus dinner with Biggie and then dinner with the gang after tear-down.

I know there’s a lot of name dropping in this post; that’s not the intent. Part of what makes me so passionate about promoting Privateer’s games is knowing the people who make those games. I’ve mentioned it before, but it bears repeating. When I can tell a player, “DC said this about model X,” that carries more weight than reading something on the forums. Or if I can say, “Scrappers is fantastic, I beat the guy who made the game, ” they might be interested where they weren’t before. The thing I love about Privateer Press is how hard they work and the fact they make time for their players. Really, all anyone needs to do is write an email and chances are, you’ll get a response — you don’t need to be a PG. Hell, you can call if you want; you will talk to someone who can answer your questions, just ask. And believe me, asking goes a long way.

Every time I look at the Breast Cancer Brawl: Boise artwork, I’m blown away. It’s a stunning piece of work that Chris Walton has donated to my event that will be on our shirts, for starters. This whole thing came about through a few PMs on the forums, some discussions at Gencon, and then some followup PMs. I didn’t meet Chris until the Invitational in May. I certainly didn’t expect him to stay late at work a few weeks ago to make a logo for the event, but that’s what he did. In all honesty, my feelings wouldn’t have been hurt if he said “no” because those guys are super busy. But he didn’t, and in eight days, I’ll show off the art and you’ll be able to see why I’m so excited about it.

I’m very fortunate to be where I am right now. I’ve made some lifelong friends and met the people responsible for the game that’s been my hobby for the past 4 years. I’ve traveled to places I never would have considered visiting, I’ve met cool people and done some crazy things. If my second year as a PG is even a quarter as fun as my first, I’ll be a very happy ‘Ferret.

Thanks for indulging me on this one. I’ve been thinking about this a lot and figured this was as good a time as any to write about it. Chances are, I’ll be scarce for the next week or so.

~ Jen

BCB: Boise update

Breast Cancer Brawl: Boise is rapidly approaching. The added wrinkle to all of this is that the LGS is also hosting an ‘Ard Boyz semi-final due to some issues with communication. But we’re gonna make it work — BCB gets the gaming area at the store, the WHFB guys get one of the vacant store fronts. We’ve got room for 20 tables, which means a maximum of 40 (forty!!) Warmachine/Hordes players!

The good news is, I’ll have help running tourney ops (thanks, Scott!). I’m dragging the Powerbook with me and I’ll be running the tourney software we used at Gencon (thanks, Shav!). That will make my life a lot easier. The other good news is we’ve received two donations already and my players sound like they’re ready to open their wallets for the cause. Shirts are at the printer’s, and Project: Rabid Wombat is under way. Just a few more  details to finish with that. I’ve got to find a few more things to include in the player packets, but some of that is stuff I can do at the last minute.

Prize support has been ordered — we’re getting in the gorgeous Steamroller trophies for the top three finishers. And we’ve also got autographed prints from Matt Wilson for our most generous donors. Khador for the Cure will be ready, and I’ll post pics over at Project: Paint Pink. Cygnus of Awareness will be there too, there’s a pink-themed Circle army and an Ashlynn-led Merc force done up in pink. All will be available for auction locally first; the stuff that doesn’t go to locals will be put on eBay. Stay tuned for details.

No word on if we’ll have visitors from Seattle. I’m hoping we do, but if we don’t, it won’t be the end of the world. It just means I’ll have to mail off thank-you gifts (I’m talking to you, Chris Walton).

On the painting side of things, I’ve been juggling several deadlines and I’ve managed to meet two of them. The first was painting the Retribution “boxed set” which was shown in an earlier post. The other was painting up a model for the PG mini exchange. Here are pics:

Paladin of the Wall

I've gotten pretty good at painting cloaks.

I blame Graham 100 percent for my new inclination to paint armor as … armor. His insistence that I paint his Sword Knight and Stormguard in full plate isn’t a bad thing, and I think it works well on the paladin. In fact, it works well enough with the Menoth White Base/Highlight that I’m seriously considering repainting my Protectorate. After all, three armies done up with gray as a base is a bit much. So we’ll see.

For the record, it was *very* difficult to put this guy in the mail. I really wanted to keep him. That doesn’t happen too often with commissions for me. But this was the fist paladin I’ve actually completed — I own four. Vilmon and his boys will look like this one. Then I’ll decide what to do with the rest of the army.

And now better pics of the Angry Elves™.

Pink-haired, pointy-eared, anime assassin!

Kiki the Chimera

Merv Griffon

Monty Manticore

The whole gang

Retribution boxed set

It took me a little, but I got the Retribution boxed set done.

To clarify, it’s not an actual boxed set, it’s just the models that fit in that level of play. This is a group shot I took real quick. I still need to seal the models and take something with what passes for studio lighting for me.

I like my color scheme, I'm not 100% crazy about my execution of it. I rushed and it shows.

I’d like to add freehand to the Myrmidons eventually. My hands just aren’t steady enough and I have too many models I need to get painted in the next few weeks — namely the Khador. But there’s also the Ultramarines commission, and I still need to make time for Cryx commission stuff.

I need to remember that I can wait to the last minute if it’s a writing project. Not so much with painting…

Quick photo update

I have been slacking, but not *that* much.

In the past 2 weeks, I’ve completed the Death Jack and solidified my Retribution color scheme. Here’s the proof:

Chauncey the Death Jack. Commission, September 2009.

I posed him looking down since he's supposed to be huge. And he's on a metal base.

I'm fairly happy with the way the blending turned out. I'm amazed that I can wet blend — and explain how to do it. Still have a lot of room for improvement.

He's got such narrow hips.

Yeah, guess who’s making a mad dash to finish Angry Elves tomorrow? I’ve got 4 demos with them set for Thursday and I need to email a pic of them all painted up to the Quartermaster so I can get more Retribution goodies. I’ll make sure to post pics of the demos, since that’s something I have yet to do. Such a slacker, like I said.

Oh, in other news, here’s my logo for BCB:

I am debating previewing the T-shirt designs prior to the event. On the one hand, I know they’ll be awesome and I want folks to get the shirts. On the other hand, I know they’ll be awesome and I want to save it. Maybe after I’ve submitted the design to the shirt place…

Then again, I’m not above bribery. I’ll donate the proceeds to charity.

PAX ’09, my first convention

There I was, in Seattle, Washington, when it happened.  Penny Arcade Expo 2009.  I won the right to go by winning the invitational here in Boise, and got really excited to compete.  Before leaving I had decided to run Seaforge in the Workings man tournament on Friday night as a warm up, and Cryx in the Masters because people wanted me to win.   So I will break this down daily.

Thursday

If Gorghadra is at the booth, you must take a picture with him (his feelings are easily hurt).

We roll in to Seattle a few hours earlier than expected, so we get checked in and go on down to the convention center.  Jen and Jason get their badges and we try and get mine.  PPS Dave had just given them over to Smedley and he had to step out for the day, so I needed to get them tomorrow.  Then we all help set up the booth, which was way cool for me, since I got to see how much work goes into it, and I only helped with the last half.  I ended up polishing the display case alongside PPS Jack, and we were so anal retentive that was all we did, and we could have kept going for hours. I also met DC, Ed, Mike, and Will from the staff members, with Rob Stoddard and Rob Hawkins making appearances. Then Jen and I got to hang out with CaptCaine(Ross) and PPS Dave and Daryl (sorry if this is butchered) while we filled our poor empty tummies.  Oh and on the way to food, Jen and I got lost for the first time of the trip, more of these to come.  A small loitering session down at G3 followed the food.  Then we got to go pick up Tamwulf from the airport, whom almost didn’t make it, he found out at 12:30 that he could come to PAX.  Hotel and sleep time.

Friday
Up early and down to the convention center for more badges, Tam gets his in a quick and easy 5 minutes, and we were there super early too, oh well.  The three of us were treated to exhibitors badges so Jen and Tam got ready to work and I  loitered at the con booth, I got my badges and checked out for Working Man’s, found out that it was a 500 point single elimination tourney, no problem, I had the list waiting for it: Gorten, 2 Gunners, 1 Blaster, bokur, gudrun, Thor, 9 Forge Guard, Brun and Lug, came to 500 exactly.  Anyway it launched at 7 p.m., so I had 9 hours to kill.  I bought into Retribution (October releases were there, I got Garryth!), got a few t-shirts, and then wandered into the exhibition hall and damn near passed out from sensory overload.  I have never been to a con of any kind and it was massive, lots of lines, and as I wandered I realized that all of these video games were not even out yet, nor were they coming out in a month of two.

Death Spank — coming to a console near you in 2010ish.

Of the video games, the highlights were Resident Evil 5 for the PC, Blizzard had playable demos of all three releases they had coming, but they had 2 hour waits, and a x-box 360 game called Death Spank, which looks hilarious.  I wandered for hours looking at the stuff on the fourth floor, got some food and then went for Working Man’s tourney (yes I abbreviated it, but I did go wandering around a lot and looking at stuff).

Resident Evil 5... very, very pretty.

Working Man’s, I will go quick overviews cause full blown battle reports would take a ton of space and time.  Oh, scenarios were all just kill the caster.

As we all waited to get started, I talked with a fellow by the name of Dustin, we had a fun time chatting and funnily enough we got paired into the first round together.  He brought, Scorscha (at this I sorta groaned), 2 Destroyers (the one with the bombards) marshaled to a Koldun Lord, 2 mortars, and the Great Bears oh MY!

Gorten put a stop to AOE death and we fought each other back and forth, tooth and claw, killing each others’ dudes constantly.  It came down to Gorten and all of my ‘jacks vs Scorcha and 1 Destroyer.  I figured turns prior, he would spend the rest of the game running from me, but he kept charging at me and fighting me.  We had the old stalemate of high armor (me) vs.  high defense (him) but I cracked his defense first, stood still, gave her both barrels and buried Scorscha dead. Thankfully, Dustin had himself a back up plan if he lost so he enjoyed the rest of the night, I asked him later when I saw him at the Masters, cause he had an invite.

Hotel and pass out time again, it was like midnight when we left.  Oh, I parked at a friend of Jason’s apartment so we had to walk 10 blocks back to the car, and on the way I was surprised to see a 6 ft, 3 in, tranvestite walk out of the bar. The transvestite had a beard, chest hair and fantastic make-up, only in Seattle I guess.

Saturday

You know you want to be one...

Up early again and we went to a diner for breakfast.  Tamwulf navigated and I earned many gold stars for my licesne — Tam would tell me to turn at the intersection we just went past….we was sorta lost again, but we had iPhone and knew how to fix it, so I made several U-turns for breakfast.  Back to convention center and an entire day of loitering for me.  This was the bigger downer of the day for me, my phone died. So I couldn’t communicate with people to find things to do and after a D&D 4.0 Dungeon Delve. Some guy, and whoever he is, will pay if I find him, clocked me in my bad knee, almost knocked me down and added pain to my life, yay.  I also had someone cut in front of me and got the last order for a sketch of a character of your choice from the artist behind Darkstalkers and Street Fighter, and I waited 15 minutes to try and order one, oh well, since Masters was tomorrow, I lost out.

I didn’t feel like walking much and head down to room 201 (the tourney room) waiting for Jen and Tam, but got into another fun conversation with someone in the Invite, and two other fellows that came there.   Jen and Tam come down and we run into Kevin and Biggie of PP fame.  Biggie desperately wants to hang with Jen and Tam (since he sees them so infrequently) but are without car, but I say since we are going to the same places anyway he just has to navigate, and we go party with more people and turn the day around for me. But alas, the leg seizes up and will be fun for the tourney tomorrow.

Sunday, tourney day.
My lists were Coven, Nightmare, 6 arc nodes, 10 Bane kKights, 2 Pistol Wraiths, 6 Bile thralls, Skarlock, and Tartarus.  I also had Goreshade, Nightmare, Deathjack, Deathripper, Skarlock, 2 Pistol Wraiths, Tartarus, 6 Bile Thralls, and 17 Bane Knights, tee hee.

Well i don’t feel like going too far into the battle reports again, but anyway, Round 1 is the same Retribution player I lost to, I take the Witch Coven list, sadly not remembering Kaelyssa has Banishing Ward, so the Coven make the battlegroup do the work for them and we trade hits back and forth.  I start to get the advantage and a Pistol Wraith gets the job done using two Corpse Tokens to boost the hit and then the damage, then my dice roll good and it was over.

Round 2, I pull a Cryx player and I fail to measure my control range before moving and fail to get an arc onto is eAsphyxious, oh I ran the Coven again.  Then my dice crap all over me, letting me roll a 5 on 3 dice to hit, then I do fair the second spell, then I roll a 5 on three dice to damage.  Coven fail me and then a Pistol Wraith goes for broke, I roll great but it would never be enough, ah well, I eat a cav charge and the eat a Spectral Legion charge, I die, I get pretty pissy at this point, mainly cause I hit my already hurting knee again, but I go for coffee with Bobaferret and chill out, realizing I can get 3rd, but Goreshade is coming with me this time.

Round 3, an all-beast army with Kromac is what faces me, and another cool guy, I have tons of fun and so does he, even though he lost in the end.  Onto my chance for 3rd, I realize the guy i faced first in Working Man’s is up for third too and we hope to face each other, but we draw seperate opponents, I am a bit bummed I wanted another awesome game.

Round 4, Circle again. My opponent lets me call for a specific version of Krueger, I ask for eKrueger even thoug his feat helps in the Mosh Pit scenario.  He gives me what I want, and I learn a little bit of playing him.  I get a Bane Knight within 2 inches and charge Goreshade up, getting the knight in my control. Nightmare has 3 focus and preys Krueger.  I think, “this is the game.” I go for Soul Gate, we check the Druids, and I am barely out — then we both see the Woldwyrd, I am a sliver inside, we both stared at that a while, triple checking the measurement, but it was a solid measure, so no Gate.  I try to weather through to the next round, but a Shadowhorn Satyr jumps at me and finishes off Goreshade with its last fury point — and it was barely enough.  Still had fun during the tourney.

I leave realized that Bobaferret and Tamwulf are helping tear down the booth, so instead of sitting there I get let in to help, which apparently was enough to qualify me to go with the entire crew for dinner — I thought i was going to be on my own, and I was fine with it, but I got told by a few people I had to come.  On the way there we had another only in Seattle moment, two girls sitting there talking to a dude.  The girls were okay looking, they were not over sized or anyhting.  And one girl loudly proclaims to the whole street of Seattle, and I quote, “If I had a strap on, I would fuck her in the ass, right now!”  We all walked away laughing to the epic moment of the night.  It was great sitting there, we were all tired, had an awesome waiter and I got to eat some really great food, and enjoy everyone’s company for the last time of the trip.  I would love to be able to sit down with all of them, or play a game with them, or heck work my butt off at a con with them next year.  We will see how the wife feels about that though.

We all pass out for the night for a few hours,  Tamwulf gets a ride to the airport and we all take of to get home, the road home took me a lot longer than I wanted, I needed to see my family, I really missed them, but they would not have had any fun at the con.

All in all it was great to be with a few friends, meet several new awesome people, and have a ton of fun. I haven’t had a solo vacation in 5 years, it was needed.  Oh, and without spreading bad rumors or bad news, I am still healthy and feeling great from the Con, apprantly there was a lot of sickness rolling around, which I seem to have dodged, for my daughter’s sake, I hope I did.

Retribution

Well there has been plenty of Retribution posted, and I jumped in when I was at PAX. Garryth got me excited and then I flipped through the book, but I also faced Retribution at PAX and discovered that they are indeed the new hotness, a new style, and they are BALANCED, I know, but I do feel that they are just fine in the game play.

I thought of a scheme during my days at the con and have managed to get all of my models assembled and half of them primered,  I went with a quick speedy style, so the white is not super smooth but i do like the look.  I also have completed the Griffon, and he is waiting for some flock and sealant, but I need to finish more, which Vyros is almost done.

Something just for fun

Once in a while it is nice to get back into the painting groove and do something for fun, or for an LGS painting contest. The theme for August is “Rhymes with Orange.” Yeah, OK. I have had my eye on the Reaper Skydiver for a while, and along with finishing the Farrow Bone Grinders (Hordes Minions- Privateer Press) recently, I sat down and finished this fairly simple model in a relatively short amount of time.

Just for fun, and to see how fast I can paint.

free fall

better shot of the base

Head on, I think I even got the eyes right...

The base was a lot of fun to do. I had many suggestions from friends and onlookers. Thanks guys… This way seemed the most rational, and having never jumped out of a perfectly good airplane, pure imagination as far as what one would see doing such a thing.

Thanks for checking in-

scott

Bone Grinders….

A few weeks back a fellow gamer, good friend, and very good painter approached me and asked if I would be willing to paint a small unit of Bone Grinders. He said he didn’t want to paint them, and had nothing in his collection painted by yours truly. Nothing special, no hurry, and he would finish the bases. I wanted him to have them by PAX, so I worked on them a little bit at a time over the last week or so.

Not much different between the Leader and the trooper models. I did give two of them orange arm bands to fit the paint scheme of the army they will be fielded in.

They were a lot of fun to paint, and have me considering picking up a unit.

Thanks for checking in-

scott

You say you want some Retribution…

I’ve had a full week with the New Shiny away from Gencon and the hype surrounding the release of the Retribution of Scyrah.

I’ve made no secret of my Retribution leanings in this blog and I’m happy to have been a fairly early supporter of the newest Warmachine faction.

What I didn’t expect was how much I’d love playing the faction and what it would do to my approach to Warmachine.

Theorymachine in a vacuum sucks. Let’s just get that out of the way. When there’s no dice, no opponent, no scenario, you can manipulate just about any combo to fit your needs. I hear there’s been a lot of talk on the forums about the Retribution being “teh borked” and “overpowered.” I’ve also heard a lot of talk about the plastic kits would suck and how awful the Retribution models are.

Well opinions are like assholes, everyone’s got one, and in this space, I really don’t care what the forums say. If I did, I’d be posting there and not on my blog.

Here are a few things to bear in mind about my approach to Warmachine.

1. I’m not a tournament player. I’ll play in a tournament to support the community and maybe win best of faction, but I have no illusions about being the top dog.
2. I play for fun. If I happen to win a game, that’s an added bonus. I like the game, I like the social aspect of it. I play to push some pewter around a table and interact with another human being.
3. I’m not an assassination-style player. It’s more fun for me to play 4-5 rounds and kill a bunch of your stuff rather than killing you in Turn 2.

Having said that, here’s my take on the Retribution after playing three games with the Angry Elves.

The Dodge Viper begs you to drive it fast. Good luck going slow in one of these. I tried. The only thing that slowed me down was being forced to keep it in 2nd.

I wanna go fast!

I’ve been fortunate to get behind the wheel of a Dodge Viper similar to the one in the photo. The car begs you to go fast. Like 70 mph in second gear fast. Some cars are built for speed, others to get you from point A to point B. Warmachine armies are similar — some are designed to win by attrition, others to deliver a precise, surgical strike and take out annoying enemy models.

The Retribution is a lot like driving the Viper, only instead of speeding, the army wants to you kill the enemy warcaster. Badly. Like Turn 2 badly. It’s not that they’re an “easy button” or “point and click” faction, it’s more of them having the right tools for the job.

Here’s the first list I ran with the Retribution:

Kaelyssa
- Chimera
- Gorgon
- Hydra
Dawnguard Invictors (10)
Dawnguard Sentinels (8)
Dawnguard Sentinels (8)
Eiryss, Angel of Retribution
Lady Aiyanna & Master Holt
Narn, Mage Hunter of Ios

I took this against an Ashlynn list with Steelhead Halberdiers, Stannis and Steelie cav. Ashlynn also had four ‘jacks, which was nice to see. This was the game I also discovered my new favorite infantry unit, the Dawnguard Sentinels.

Paint job from Hardcore at Gencon.

The thing I like about the Sentinels the fact they can take a beating and dish one out. Defensive Line gives them ARM 17, and the fact they’re Weapon Masters with Reach just makes me giggle. Seriously, this is what I wish my Sword Knights were like. And yes, they do make me feel like I’m cheating on Cygnar.

One unit took a hit from the Mule (not a crit, thankfully!). The guy directly hit died, the others just laughed.

The best 37 points you can put in your Retribution army.

In terms of the “I wanna kill stuff” aspect of the army, Narn is perfect for this. In two of the three games, he was in my opponent’s deployment zone, threatening their casters on Turn 2. This isn’t something I typically do. I thought it would be fun to try against Ashlynn, just to see if I could do it. Turn 2, there he is, face to face with that Llaelese hooker. Granted, she killed him, but I threw him there as a distraction. Def 15 isn’t anything to sneeze at. His armor is lacking, but hey, I’ll take it given that he has Acrobatics and Stealth.

In game 2 against Asphyxious, I waited a little longer to send Narn in — mostly because he had a Deathripper and some Bane Knights to hold up. Then he skittered in close to Gaspy. It took five swings — and Gaspy’s feat! — to kill Narn. Best 37 points I’ve ever spent. I got Narn in against Caine in my 3rd game, just to force my opponent to use the focus to kill bald headed, pointy-eared bastard. That was focus spent on boosting the hit rather than anything else the drunken Cygaran might have done.

Kaelyssa on her own is worth delivering for the kill. In the game agasint Gaspy, she did the deed on her own — without casting the spell that lets her shoot through buildings! Siphon is pretty amazing and I can’t wait to take her against a Hordes army.

Vyros is one that I’d like to get in melee because he’s such a beatstick. Between the Sentinels and the Invictors, there are some solid options for warcaster delivery.

The current paint scheme. The one I'm really sticking with. Honest.

Pretty balanced

With the troops and solos available in the initial release, it’s pretty easy to build a balanced force. Invictors can shoot the crap outta stuff — POW12 CRA is very, very nice! — and they’re solid in melee (Flank! WTF?). Sentinels have proven their worth, which is why I’m painting them as if they’re wearing plate. ARM 17 is enough to give some ‘jacks pause, and the fact that my two base trooper units have Defensive Line makes me a very happy ferret.

As for the Myrmidons, I’m still trying to get a feel for them. They die pretty easily in Mk I, but I like what I’ve seen so far. They’re still very cool models and one of the reasons why I’m playing Retribution to begin with. I can see delivering the Hydra for assassination in a Kaelyssa list and may have to try it in a future game. The Gorgon is a nice little utility ‘jack and Combo Strike makes me giggle.

Add the character Mage Hunters into the mix and you’ve got several options for assassination runs and a solid delivery system. Which brings us to the next point.

I see dead people

As mentioned earlier, I don’t look for the assassination run early in the game. With the Angry Elves on the board, I start looking for kill lanes and ways to deliver models to the assassination. I don’t usually do this with any of the other factions I play. Maybe it’s because I’ve looked at those armies the wrong way, or I don’t want to play them that way. Regardless of my shortcomings with the other armies, the Retribution has me looking for ways to kill things. So in that sense, they’ve helped me grow as a player in getting me to look at the board in a new way.

The fun thing for me will be finding new and different ways to kill things. I suspect this will grow more challenging when things like the Mage Hunter Strike Team and various UAs come out. Oh, and that Nayl guy. He should be fun.

My First Gencon

Gorghadra. You know you want one.

From a gamer geek stand point, 2009 has been a great year. February marked Templecon, my first gaming convention and that show set the bar for the rest of the year. Fifty-six hours of Warmachine (not that I played that much) and my first opportunity to meet up with folks like CptCaine and Devilsquid and a host of memorable characters. Then came the Invitational in May, where I got to hang out with CptCaine and Devilsquid yet again and add another chapter to our zany adventures.

This time last week, I was recovering from my first full day at Gencon, billed as the Best Four Days in Gaming. I have to admit, for sheer size and scope, it’s hard to disagree. The Indiana Convention Center and surrounding hotels were like a giant LGS, which is a good thing and a bad thing. The good — 24-hour gaming, awesome booths and merchandise and a chance to hang out with old friends and make new ones. The bad — gamer funk, people wearing things they shouldn’t and stuff that frightened me enough where I don’t want to unearth those repressed memories.

We were warned. And we bought a lot of it.

The Heavy Myrmidon kits were in short supply. I'm happy to have snagged my one.

New faction shirts.

I headed to Gencon with a very short to-do list — demo some games for the LGS, work for Privateer Press and hang out with friends. I’m happy to report I was able to complete all of those tasks. Most of my time was spent in the Event Hall assisting PPS_Kevin with tournament ops — as the guy in charge of organized play, he gets to be head judge and adjudicate whatever tournaments are running. I stepped in to help early Friday morning, the day of two Total War tourneys (2000 points), two Steamroller tourneys (750 points) and Day 2 of Masters. Oh, there were two Tour of Duty sessions running, but Polar Bear had those under control.

Anyway, we had five events to juggle. It took a bit, but we worked out a system and eventually got things running smoothly. It was stressful, but the tourney management software we were testing was a huge help (thanks Ben!) and made keeping track of results a lot easier. Once we got the events down to a dull roar, it was time for the PG party, which was great fun, at least until we bought the bar out of Woodchuck (bastards!). When we were done with the party, it was back to the Event Hall to help Tamwulf get ready for Saturday’s Hardcore tourney. He had the crazy ideea of running The Retribution for Hardcore — which he did. My small part in the operation was painting up six Dawnguard Sentinels, which I managed to finish in the wee hours of Saturday. I think we got back to the hotel around 3:30 a.m. I passed out around 4 a.m. and was up just before 7 a.m. to be at the Event Hall by 8.

Tamwulf assembles his new army.

Cap'n Jack signs a Retribution book while Dave goofs off.

Real pirates wear pink!

We had 66 players for Hardcore. And learning from Friday, Kevin got a system in place that helped the day go smoothly. Things were going well until right before the final round, when the fire alarm went off. At the time, we thought some dumbass had pulled it. Later, we found out there was a fire in a kitchen on the second floor. But since the alarm went off, we were forced to evacuate. I had the laptop we were running Hardcore on and we all waited for the all-clear in the muggy Indiana night. Some folks started a game of Red Rover — from the convention center to the hotel across the street — and that provided a bit of entertainment. We got back in and started the final round. I think we got out of there by around 11, I don’t really remember other than that it was a very long day.

Tamwulf before the start of Hardcore.

Sunday was a light day for me. The morning involved doing a demo for Arcane Legions and finishing up some ninja shopping and getting some stuff for myself. Things were OK at the booth and I worked in the Event Hall for Kevin one more time for the Masters and Total War finals. Once those were done, it was time to pack up terrain and tear down the booth. The worst thing about the whole experience was that they turned off the A/C, I guess in the hopes we’d work faster. We got things broken down and packed up with enough time to get cleaned up for dinner.

Dinner was a lot of fun because it was all about the people aspect of these events that I’ve come to enjoy. It was nice to relax with some adult beverages and great food, swapping stories and giving each other shit. It was really one of the more memorable parts of the whole trip.

The 'ferret and the 'bear

CptCaine and Chris.

Ed and the most amazing cartoon evar!

Initially, I wasn’t keen on going to Gencon. I didn’t think there would be enough that I would be interested in. It would have been easy to spend more time wandering the Exhibit Hall and maybe getting in on a D&D session or something like that. But honestly, it was worth the trip to visit with my Press Gang brethern and talk to folks like Doug Seacat, Chris Walton and Ron Kruzie. I’m still amazed at the access we’re afforded to the people who make this “silly little game” we all love. I love that I can talk to Chris about The Retribution or get pointers from Ron on painting. And for the record Doug, the story is great. I love the fact that Warmachine and the Press Gang are responsible for enduring friendships, amazing firsts and great memories. I feel priviledged to be part of this group and I’m thankful for the love and support I’ve gotten through some of my darker days.

So will I be there for Gencon 2010? Wallet willing, you bet. The challenge of topping 2009 will make it worth the trip.

Group shot. Location was our awesome waiter's idea. Seriously, Ben kicked ass!