New acquisitions since the WoWpocalypse

One of the things I'd been doing in this space was running down my new game acquisitions.  While I was obsessively playing the WoW, I still managed to pick up a handful of new things -- I just didn't write about them.  That lapse has been a thorn in the side of my sense of order, a thorn whose pricking I will suffer no longer!

First, a quick thought on "collecting," since this is, plain and simple, a post describing my collection.  I actually don't think of myself as a "collector," really, but:  the facts are the facts.  I buy a lot of games that, on some level, I know I probably won't actually play (or at least, play much).  I derive pleasure from the actual owning of the things, apart from and in addition to the pleasure that comes from their use.  I guess that's a pretty reasonable definition of "collector," whether I like it or not.  So there.  I guess I'm a collector, but a half-assed collector, to be sure.

Anyway:  here, in no particular order, are the things that I've picked up but not mentioned previously.

World at War:  Eisenbach Gap.  The Cold War era is a little under represented in my collection (there's that word again!) and that's a little surprising to me.  It's the era during which I grew up, and I find the potential military conflicts of the age absolutely fascinating.  Accordingly, WaW is a title I've always intended to pick up at some point.  I finally put in a request for it as one of the two games I asked for at Christmas.  The game covers a fictional invasion of the West by the USSR in the mid-80's. It's a tactical-level game, but at 1 counter = 1 platoon (rather than 1 counter = 1 vehicle).  It has had a lot of positive buzz, and I definitely see the appeal -- it's a very nice looking game, among other things.  It hasn't exactly grabbed me yet, though.  I've been through the rules pretty thoroughly, and they could be tighter, frankly.  Still, I'm looking forward to getting into this.

Fields of Fire. This was my other (gaming) Christmas present.  Its reputation is that it is a highly complex, highly innovative solitaire infantry/tactical game.  It spans three eras, WWII, Korea, and Vietnam.  It also has the reputation of having an extremely difficult-to-grasp rule book.  I've done little more than take the shrink off this one at this point.  I'm not going to dig into it until I am in the mood for a major project.

Lock 'n Load:  Band of Heroes.  (Note well:  not "Lock and Load," lordy no; one presumes that wouldn't be "keepin' it real."  Or whatever.  And I would love to have sat in on the production meeting wherein it was decided that the omission of the "a" in "and" was worthy of denoting with an apostrophe, but the "d"--well, the "d" can just hit the damned road.)  I got a used copy of this game in a BGG math trade.  I gave up my copy of the WWII version of Wings of War--a game which I'd also gotten in a math trade.  (Hello, my name is Greywing, and I have a problem.)  I apparently have embarked upon a mission to own every WWII tactical board game except Advanced Squad Leader, and this acquisition fits into that plan (?) nicely.  Nothing really to say about this one beyond that; I've done barely more than open the box.

Patton's Best.  This is another game I got second-hand in a BGG math trade.  I traded away my copy of the Dungeons & Dragons 4th edition Player's Handbook for it.  (Have I mentioned that I wasn't crazy about 4E?) It's a solitaire game that I've sort of been looking for for a while now.  I really like the look of this one -- it's a detailed simulation of the experiences of a tank crew in WWII Europe, down to the level that each individual crew member is represented.  I have every intention of learning this one in the near term.  This was an excellent trade for me, which broke a streak of less-than-great luck.  My copy is complete and in really good shape for a game first published over 20 years ago.

Midway.  I won an auction for this one for a pretty low price (under $20 including shipping).  I bid on this as kind of a lark, actually.  I thought I'd take a flyer on trying to get one of the real classics of the genre, and it worked out.  This is, right now, definitely in the "have it just to have it" category, but who knows?  I might actually set it up at some point, since the subject matter is the most interesting (to me) single battle in history.  Read Shattered Sword!

So, there you go.  I've got one order in right now, for the deluxe reprint of Twilight Stuggle, and after that -- scout's honor! -- I'm cutting back on new purchases.  Seriously.  The goal for the year is to get my Warmachine on.  Beyond that, I need to seriously cut into the my number of owned-but-unplayed games, and cut down on the new acquisitions!

WoWpocalypse: the Final Chapter (again)

Account canceled.  Le sigh.

Thieving monkeys

We kicked off a new Pathfinder campaign at the Monkey Den last night.  Joe is GMing the Council of Thieves adventure path.  This is our second attempt at an adventure path -- we started Rise of the Runelords a year or so ago, but decided to give that up in favor of Pathfinder Society.

I am playing somewhat against type and running a rogue in this campaign.  I say "against type" because I'm generally a game mechanics kind of guy (I'm a wargamer, after all) but I'm going to try to approach this as more of a role playing experience.  My character is an actor, and thinks of himself as such (rather than as a "rogue" or an "adventurer").  His highest stat is Charisma, and I'm planning on keeping all of his social skills (especially Bluff!) maxed out, even if I have to skimp on the thievery.  (I'll keep Perception and Disable Device maxed though.)  Again, this will be a new experience for me, so we'll see.

Our first session went pretty well, I thought.  We spent the majority of it fleeing through Westcrown's elaborate sewer system with a pack of Hell Knights on our tails.  We had a nice mix of RP (pre-sewer fleeing) and combat, so that was good. Joe has really outdone himself in one regard:  all of the combat action took place on elaborate 3D terrain that he bought from WorldWorks Games and assembled for this campaign.  I'm a huge eye candy fan, I admit it, so that kind of thing really adds to my enjoyment.

Despite what I said above about focusing on the RP rather than mechanics aspect of my character, I was delighted by the fact that I had a great night in combat.  I have a bit of a reputation for runs of less than stellar luck with a d20, let's just say.  Last night it was really clicking though.  It seemed like I was dropping a badguy on practically every turn.  Here's hoping that trend continues.

Speed kills

I ran six miles this morning.  Just under 58 and a half minutes.  And that has nothing whatsoever to do with gaming or this blog, but I'm extremely proud of it and wanted to write it down.

Back on topic.  My FLGS hosted a Flames of War "speed tournament" yesterday, and I took my trusty Russians.  The rules were straightforward.  The players each brought a fixed 600-point list (at least an HQ and one combat platoon; no tanks with top armour of 2) and the idea was to get in as many games as possible.  All scenarios were modified Free For Alls (only one objective on each side, half-width tables).  Wins were worth 3 points, draws 2, and losses 1.  There was also a scoring bonus for having a high winning percentage.

I put my list together relatively quickly.  I went with:

• HQ:  T-34/85 (with cupola);
• Combat platoon:  Tankovy company (5 x T-34/85, 4 x T-34/76);
• Weapons platoon:  Motorised mortar company (3 stands of light mortars).

That comes to 600 points exactly.  It's close to the simplest possible 600-point list I can put together, given my current roster of painted models.  I considered and discarded a couple of other options before settling on the list above:

• The simplest possible thing I could have done would have been to drop the mortars and add the tenth tank to the tank company (and give them cupolas).  More tanks = good, so I gave this very serious consideration.  In the end, though, I thought that the mortars would turn out to be worth the  one tank.  I figured they might have a shot of knocking out an AT gun or two.  Plus, I really like having a template thrower when possible, for psychological reasons if nothing else.
• Alternatively, I could have dropped the mortars, changed up the tank company composition a bit, and added tankodesantniki.  Now, I love tank riders.  Thematically, they're one of my favorite elements of the game, and I run them a lot -- even though I'm not entirely convinced that (a) they are worth it and/or (b) that I'm doing it right.  In the end, I decided to leave them home yesterday, in part because I didn't relish the thought of explaining their rules over and over all day.

There was a pretty good turnout, with twelve guys showing up.  Over a fairly grueling 6.5 hours, I got six games in, and went four up and two down.  That put me right in the middle of the pack in the final standings, which was, frankly, a little disappointing.  Here's a brief rundown of my games, first the W's then the L's.

WIN vs. German tanks.  Andrew had a platoon of Pz IVs and an 88.  This was the first game of the day for both of us, and frankly, I may not have been completely awake.  Totally static tank fight on desert board.  I stood and shot, he stood and shot, and in the end I gave worse than I got.  My mortars knocked out the 88(!), so they justified their place in the list right off the bat.  I'm pretty sure Andrew would have played me differently if we'd had a re-match, but, as it happened, I was happy to kick the day off with a victory.

WIN vs.  US tanks.  We played this one on a heavily forested board with a road running across it.  Scott had five Shermans and an infantry platoon.  He played very aggressively and tried to get his tanks in my face -- which I was more than happy to see:  I stood still and blasted him.  Scott finished second overall in the tournament, so I am proud to have won this one.

WIN vs. US armored rifles.  Back to the desert for this one, but on a different board with more hills and a wadi.  Aaron brought five (-ish?) Stuarts and a huge infantry platoon.  He tried to do an objective rush with the tanks, but five Stewies vs. ten T-34s is not going to be a winning proposition.  After his tanks were gone, I turned my guns on his infantry, and I have never ever seen such bad luck on save rolls.  He couldn't buy a roll over a 2.

WIN vs. German Fallschirmjagers.  This turned out to be my last game of the day, on another hilly, forested board.  Jordan (whom I had not met before and who was a super nice guy to play against) brought a couple of FJ platoons supported by two StuGs.  He played hyper-aggressively, stormtroopering his StuGs around the woods on my right flank and toward my objective.  Much like I said above, two StuGs vs. 10 T-34s is practically hopeless.  After they were gone, he got pinned down while trying to assault my tanks, and that was that.

LOSS vs. Russian tanks.  Clint's list wasn't quite a mirror image of mine.  He built it on T-34s, but brought fewer than I did.  He spent the rest of his points on tank destroyers and some light AT guns.  This was another very static slugfest, and, honestly, I had a chance here, but I couldn't pull it out.  On what turned out to be my last turn, I failed two morale checks to re-mount bailed-out tanks (failing re-rolls on both) and I had a feeling that was going to end up being the ballgame.  Clint is a very strong player (and a super guy) and I've never beaten him (0-3).

LOSS vs. German engineers.  This game was a real eye-opener for me.  Boone fielded a platoon of engineers and 4 big AT guns (not 88s, though).  I thought I was in great shape when I killed two guns and their platoon commander and he failed the ensuing platoon morale check.  He decided to use his CO for a re-roll (which I absolutely would have done too), and he failed that too.  So, not only were his guns gone, his company commander had run off with him.  Now, it's just a matter of me mopping up, right?

Well, not so fast, my friend (to quote a great American).  He had a bunch (3? 4?) of flamethrowers, which he had definitely told me while we were setting up, yet somehow I had completely (and I mean completely) failed to process.  So I moved my tanks up closer to the woods to start machinegunning his infantry, which I did ineffectively (dug-in, gone to ground veterans in the woods -- a tough nut to crack).  Next turn, he jumps all over me with the FTs, bailing three of the five tanks I had left at that point.  Then in the assault step, the defensive fire from the remaining two wasn't enough to stop his pioneers from assaulting and, of course, they roflstomped me.

I've never had my head handed to me by infantry like that before.  Not coincidentally, it was also my first experience with massed flamethrowers.  I'd be perfectly happy for it to be my last, too.


I could have played better -- a lot better -- in some of my games, for sure.  But, when all was said and done, I had a pretty good time and won more than I lost.  I'll take that pretty much every time.

You may call me ... master

Pathfinder Society at the Monkey Den last night.  In a bit of a changeup, I DMed.  Now that's something I don't want to make a habit of.  I enjoy it, I guess, but it really takes a lot of work.  I spend way more time prepping for stuff like this than I probably should, but that's the way I'm wired.

The scenario was Voice in the Void -- a return to the oft-troubled Blakros Museum.  We had a good time, I guess.  Nobody died, the mission was a success, and all characters finished their faction missions.  So, from that standpoint, it was all good.  The only real downside was that it took us forever to get through the scenario.  It was after midnight when we wrapped up, and this was even though I  really made an effort to move things along smartly.  (Granted, there was a pizza break in there, but still.)  I'm pretty shot today.

As to the scenario itself:  I wasn't that crazy about it, to be honest.  No spoilers or anything, but I didn't feel the story it told made much sense.  Still, I'm looking forward to the next session, and playing rather than running it.

Top goal for 2010

That package I mentioned expecting in my last post?  My shiny new hardback copy of Warmachine Prime Mk II.  It showed up Friday afternoon, and oh how we loves it.

I've mentioned before that I'm a fan of the Warmachine game, but I've never gotten too far into it for a variety of reasons.  First, I kind of set it aside in order to focus on getting my Flames of War army done (or close to it, anyway).  Then, when I learned that a second edition was in the works, I decided to wait for that.

Now that it's out, I'm extremely excited about it.  The book itself is absolutely top-notch (as was the Mk I version).  From an aesthetic and production values standpoint, I believe that it is as good as the hobby has ever produced.

So, after a lot of thought, I've decided that this is the game I'm going to focus on this year.  I want to get my Khador force finished, and at least get a good start on a Protectorate of Menoth army (I got the starter box on Friday too).  Most important, I want to get some games in, and I'm definitely going to try to get into some local organized play.

Not dead yet!

So, every so often, I have a relapse.

I am speaking, in this instance, of my weakness for MMORPGs generally and World of Warcraft specifically.  There is something in the nature of these games that grabs me right at the core of my psyche.

So, anyway, very shortly after my last post back in November, I re-activated my WoW account, which had been dormant for almost exactly a year at the time.  Picked a particular character, a mid-30's Tauren Hunter, and started playing him.  And playing.  And playing.   Got him up to 70 (my level cap, since I don't own the latest expansion) and kept playing and playing and playing.

It is absolutely no exaggeration to say that immediately after restarting my account, all I wanted to do was play WoW.  That's the way these games work on me.  When I'm playing them, they consume literally every second of my leisure time -- I don't want to do anything else.  (I haven't picked up a paintbrush, for example, since I finished my last batch of tanks.)  I certainly don't want to write blog posts.

But, then Christmas came, and you know how that goes.  I had to scale back my playing considerably due to all the holiday-related shenanigans.  Plus, I was out of town (and thus, completely cold turkey) for a few days.  And here's the funny thing about the way these games work on me:  when I'm playing, all I want to do is play; but when I can't play all the time, don't really want to play at all.  If you follow me.

So, bottom line:  Christmas kind of killed it for me.  I've barely played since the out-of-town trip I mentioned and I'm completely cool with that.  I've turned a big part of my attention back to "real" games.  There are a couple of things coming up that I'm really excited about (including, especially, a UPS package that's scheduled to arrive today!), and I plan to write more about them soon.  Onward!