Impossible Dream Challenge

Ok, so Privateer Press's Will Schick has proposed the IMPOSSIBLE DREAM challenge - 100 points of models painted in 4 weeks in November. That's pretty ridiculous, but it's some pretty damn good motivation. I have so many Trollbloods that need painting, and I think having a time table for it makes the impossible seem feasible, especially now that the move is done.

Here are the models that need painting, as well as their point costs, to my knowledge:

Impossible Dream Challenge

• Gunbjorn +5

• Calandra +5

• Slag Troll -6

• Dire Troll Bomber -10

• Troll Impaler -5

• Krielstone Bearer and Stone Scribes (6) -3

  • Stone Scribe Elder -1

• Trollkin Champions (5) -10

• Scattergunners (6) -5

• Pyg Bushwackers (10) -8

• Pyg Burrowers (6) -4

• Fennblades (10) -8

Number of Models: 49

Days in November: 30

Models painted each day: 1.63

Points to be painted: 50 (after adding in Warlock points)

Some of these are partially painted, and some have been partially painted for months or even years. Regardless, this is a chance to make my force complete. There are certain models, like the Scatter gunners, where I actually have 8 (good ol' Mark I holdovers), and I'd like to buy 2 more and then paint all 10. Likewise, I'd like to get the Trollkin Scouts, another Thumper Crew, another Winter Troll, and plenty of other models that I simply don't have money for right now. If I paint up the majority of my Trolls, then I will feel not only less bad buying more models, but also more motivated to do things like complete some of the Tier Lists I'm very close to (Especially Gunbjorn's, Calandra's, and Borka's) with a few more models, which I can paint up when I get them and then have a largely completed and painted force. I'll also be free to do things like repaint my Mauler and some of my other stuff that simply hasn't held up to my more recent paint jobs as well as some other things.

Plus, then Jackie will give me less crap about all my unpainted models. And I gotta be honest - she's been a pretty huge motivation to paint. I'd like to have the kind of ability to run a fully painted army when I put models on the table that she has. I'm not sure I'll ever be as hard-lined about it as she is, but being able to play a fully painted 35 points in Hardcore at SoCal Smackdown was absolutely thrilling.

It's not even kind of 100 points, but it's far more important for me than an arbitrary army size. It may be an impossible dream, but it's one I'm going to try for.

That Old Pub Idea

Heh, I gotta say, an idea like this future pub is really tenacious. I've been thinking about it a lot, and getting some good ideas from people I talk to. This is mainly just for writing some of them down.

Drink Specials

- Stuff with cool names

-- "It comes in Pints?!"

- Wide selection of beers/drinks

- Home-brewed beers

Specialty Nights

- Pirate Night

-- Discounted drinks for talking/dressing like a pirate

- Fright Night

-- Cheesy old horror films

-- Zombie/monster themed drinks

- Star Wars Night

- Mostly just an excuse to have a cantina band

- Lady's Night

-- Costume contests

-- Dancers

-- Impressions?

- Game Night

-- Magic cards

-- Board games

-- RPGs

-- Specials for coming in costume/character

Contests

- Eating Contests

-- Pie eating

-- Wing eating

-- Hot dog eating

- Drinking contests

-- Oktoberfest style

-- Fastest downing of a pint

-- Holding up the beer mug?

Important Features

- Atmosphere

-- Needs to be relaxing, more than anything

-- A place for people to hang out, not to get smashed and yell at a TV/each other

-- Fun, casual

-- Nerdy/Geeky

- Drink Selection

-- Lots of beers

-- Soda fountain

-- Specialty drinks

-- Drink specials

-- Non-alcoholic drink specials (So the DD doesn't feel entirely left out)

- Food selection

-- Actively promoted, especially in conjunction with drinks

-- Relatively cheap

-- Hobbit style - 1st breakfast special, second breakfast special, first lunch special, etc

-- Themed foods

-- Also traditional bar foods (wings, etc)

- Few or no TVs

-- Maybe no TVs at all

-- Projector in the ceiling with pull-down screen

-- Or maybe just 1 TV

-- Possible video game nights?

-- Not focussed on sports

-- Trying to not have bros

- Stage

-- Small, but enough for a band

-- Live music should be important, even if only on weekends or something

-- Also used for contests

-- Big enough for a long table, at least

The Name

- Not entirely sure yet

-- Probably have "Tavern" in it

-- Maybe "Inn"

Anyway, these are just some ideas I've had, and other people have added to. The main idea is to make a place I would want to go to and hang out, and hopefully it'll attract more like-minded people. It might flop horribly, but it'll be years before I am able to bring enough capital and experience together to actually be able to make this a reality. So many people have told me how awesome it sounds, I'm hoping that with a little help from my friends building a fanbase, as well as some luck, and especially a good location (Right now it's seeming that it'll be either New York, Seattle, or SoCal) it could work.

I suppose in time I'll reach critical mass of ideas and it'll start planning itself. I'm not there yet, but hopefully some day all the little bits of thinking along the way will pay off and I'll have a great, detailed idea that just needs implementation.

Mostly I think I just want a drink special called "It comes in Pints?!"

My Future as a Gamer

So I've seem the future, and it's expensive.

As a History Major, I can reasonably say that war simulations have always been a particular fancy of mine. They come in all shapes and sizes, but the chance to match wits with another commander and do battle always has great appeal to me. Especially when it is a simulation of historical events. Especially when it involves World War I.

WWI has always been very interesting to me, and in my humble opinion there are not enough attempts to capture it in modern media, especially not when compared with the absolute glut of World War II boardgames, tabletop games, video games, movies, and who knows what else. So then, to find a game like Home Before The Leaves Fall is a Godsend. It's everything I want out of a game trying to simulate the entire Western Front at once, and I cannot express how badly I want to own it and play it. It gives me a brief glimpse into a future when I have the kind of disposable income to actually spring for a $250 board game and then the time to spend a Saturday (or series of Saturdays) fighting over France.

Which brings me to the next part of this: in this glimpse into the future, I also own a house (or at least live in one), and have room to put an Emissary Gaming table in the dining room. I would love so much to have that be a part of my life, and as I think about it I realize that it's not just that. The Geek Chic style has always appealed to me, and some day I'd like to have a house all decked out with it. Tables that conceal boardgames, clocks that are just patterns of lights, cupboards with his and hers coffee mugs (at least as far as the battle lines are drawn between me and Jackie), and even nerdtastic shower curtains are all part of the dream, even if it takes me a lifetime to accomplish it.

So maybe some day I'll get the financial freedom to actually buy a house and begin populating it with things that are awesome. Until then, I suppose I can just drool with envy at a dining room table that becomes a gameboard.

Great News Everybody!

Man, SoCal Smackdown was so awesome. I played in every single Warmachine tournament they had, and am only now starting to recover. It was a hell of a weekend, and I'm so freakin' stoked about the fun I had and the new friends I met.

I also discovered a new game at SoCal Smackdown (much to Jackie's chagrin), called Rezolution. It's a pretty cool little Sci-Fi cyberpunk miniatures game, about on the scale of Malifaux in terms of models on the table. I really liked the minis, and in talking with the creator of it he gave me a rulebook for it and a couple freebies. Well, after that I was pretty much forced to buy a box set.

I've already painted 2.5 of the 6 miniatures that came with it, and I'm really blown away by it. Not only do I think I've done an excellent job painting them, but they're just really cool little models. I got some CSO Peacekeepers, and am in the process of painting them up into little cyberpunk commandos, something of a cross between the colonial marines from Aliens and the Clone Commandos from the Clone Wars cartoon (the Genndy Tartakovsky one) and Republic Commando.

This would all mostly just be for fun, since no one plays the game that I know of, but the rules actually lend itself well to an idea I've been throwing around - a campaign-driven, miniatures based RPG-ish game played one scenario at a time. I talked with Patrick from Brookhurst and he said he's into it, and we'll probably get a couple others in on it too. It'll probably play out similar to a tabletop version of SWAT Aftermath or Alien Swarm, and if so that's exactly what I'm looking for - badass dudes in armor with guns, working as a team against an NPC foe, all with a slight narrative bent and a very cinematic feel.

If I can accomplish this, it'll be spectacular.

Prospective Campaign Idea

Had an interesting idea for the weekly game night at Brookhurst. Inspired by the campaign in the back of Escalation, and the type of fun battles brought on by Summer Rampage, I thought I'd try my hand at making one that could be an ongoing casual campaign that people could play weekly at Brookhurst. The rules are a little wonky right now, and I'm trying to iron out certain balance issues, but I think it's on the right track.

BLOOD IN THE SAND

A campaign for Warmachine and Hordes

Campaign Rules:

Army Composition: Each faction initially creates two 25 point army lists. Neither list can share character models. Tier lists are allowed. These lists represent a “pool” of models in the army, which can be expanded over the course of the campaign, but which may not be used in every battle.

Battle Sizes: Both players must be able to field the amount of points necessary for the battle taking place, not counting attrition losses. This may mean that one or both players have models that will go unused, so that they meet a lower point level necessary for the battle.

Campaign Map Army Movement: On a player’s turn, they get to move one of their armies into one adjacent territories. If there is no enemy army in the territory, and no enemy army intercepts them, the army takes control of the territory for their faction.

- If there is an enemy army in the territory, they must fight to resolve control of the territory. If the aggressor wins, the defender must withdraw to an adjacent friendly territory in any direction so that it is not occupying the conquered territory. If this is not possible, it must withdraw to an adjacent territory that does not have an enemy army on it.

- If the defender wins, the aggressor remains in the territory it previously occupied and does not advance.

Interception: If an army attempts to move into a territory adjacent to an enemy army, the enemy army has the option to intercept them. They rush to the site to try and vanquish the invaders, but in doing so suffer -1 to their starting roll for the battle.

Strategic Sites: There are various areas of the battlefield that have strategic importance to one or more factions. If the site is in a faction’s controlled territory, they gain the benefit. Site bonuses are cumulative, unless noted otherwise.

- Graveyard: Every time a faction recruits undead models/units before a battle, it gains a free army point, which can be spent on one undead model/unit.

- Farmland: Every time a faction recruits living models/units before a battle, it gains a free army point, which can be spent on one living model/unit.

- Mercenary Camp: Every time a faction recruits Mercenary models/units before a battle, it gains a free army point, which can be spent on one Mercenary model/unit.

- Minion Village: Every time a faction recruits Minion models/units before a battle, it gains a free army point, which can be spent on one Minion model/unit.

Reinforcements: At the end of every battle, both sides get army points to build up their armies. This number is based on a number of circumstances from the battle.

- The victor of the battle gets d6 army points, and the loser gets d3.

- Each side gets +1 army points for every unit killed (all members of the unit must have been killed, and remain off the table).

- Each side gets +1 army points for each warjack or warbeast destroyed (this does not count warjacks that would have gone inert if their controlling warcaster if killed. The warjack has to be completely destroyed, with all its damage boxes filled, reducing it to a wreck marker).

- If there was a scenario objective that was achieved, the side that achieved it receives +1 army points.

Each side can spend army points before a battle to replenish forces lost in battle, or to increase the size of their army, up to the maximum point level allotted for that battle. If the battle is taking place in territory controlled by the faction, they can spend their points on faction models, or Merce nary or Minion models. If the battle takes place in any Neutral or enemy territory, they can only spend their points on Mercenary or Minion models and units.

Attrition: After each battle, the winner is forced to press his advantage, which may lead to stretched supply lines and difficulty replenishing lost troops and repairing warjacks or healing warbeasts before the next battle. This is represented in several ways:

- Every time an army that was victorious in its last battle fights another battle, the army suffers attrition. This is cumulative until the army loses.

- When a unit ends the game with half the models or less that it started the game with (rounded up), it starts the next battle with one less grunt. For example: A unit with 5 models suffers attrition if it loses 3 out of its 5 models.

o When a

unit loses

all the models in the unit, it starts the next game with two fewer grunts.

- When a warjack or warbeast is destroyed, it starts the next game with the first box in each column or spiral marked.

I'm thinking it might just be easier to say it's a 35 point campaign and do away with all the army purchasing stuff, but that was sort of the appeal to me - that if an army was fighting out of its controlled lands, it needed to hire mercenaries to fill in the gaps in the army, while on the defensive it has more loyal soldiers to pull from. I'll pitch it Thursday night and see how it goes, I guess.

SoCal Smackdown

All right, well SoCal Smackdown is happening, which is to say a convention close enough to home that I won't actually need to pay for a room there. Woot woot! It's cheap, it's a 4-day convention, and it's the West Coast qualifier for the Privateer Press Invitational! I'll be there with bells on. Cryxian...death bells? Something like that.

Minecraft

So I discovered a new game (by which I mean Robby discovered it and showed it to me) called Minecraft. It's a pretty freakin' rad concept for a game - specifically, that you are in a world that is 100% destructible, and also 100% constructible by you. In essence it's like Ultimate Legos on your computer. The entire world is broken up into cube blocks of different types - dirt blocks, stone blocks, sand blocks, etc - and you can break them and place them. In "creative mode" it's totally free form, and you can break and place as much as you like, but in survival mode you have to break blocks to put them in your inventory, where you can then place them again.

The game is currently in pre-release alpha form on the website, and you can pre-order the game for 9.95 Euro (about $12), which I did. I know that whenever this game is released, I'm going to love it, but more instantly gratifying is the fact that by pre-ordering you get access to the latest and greatest development mode he's got going, which is clipping along on its way to beta-testing phase. There's a crafting system, and increasingly complex tool system that requires you to build up your base and gain access to resources of varying sorts, a dynamic lighting system, and other cool things like doors, ladders, and other things to help you build a better zombie-proof base.

Oh, that's right, I almost forgot. It has zombies. The whole point of all the work you do to build a base and create defenses is so that you can survive monster attacks. Monsters only spawn in the dark, which means generally only underground and at night, and zombies and skeletons burst into flames when the sun hits them, so you find yourself with a scenario where you need to build defensive fortifications to survive day to day and night to night with unrelenting waves of baddies out for your flesh, all in a sandbox world where you build your own walls, shovels, pickaxes, swords, armor, and everything else. You can farm, raise animals, mine, and generally be exactly as sedentary or nomadic as you feel like.

Yeah, this game is going to be awesome. And it isn't even in beta yet.