Return to Gaming

The Plague and the Comeback

Greetings after multiple years of inactivity! Talk about a wild ride. New kid, job change, a worldwide plague forcing people to avoid in person gaming and activities.... no big deal...

TTRPGs and My Addiction to Books

Anyways.. so there have been a lot of things going on and gaming fell to the side as a focus and priority. Thankfully things have continued to change, just this time for the better! I have rediscovered my love for gaming, but it has taken a turn more towards ttrpgs. I am now unofficially collecting a wide variety of systems and setting to the point i would normally not have time nor resources to play/run them all. But I have found a solution to this problem!

Recently I have discovered a cool online ttrpg community at the Adventure Syndicate on Discord (link in the side panel). They run a variety of games periodically including ones-shots and short series. I have already run one game there playtesting my own setting (will discuss later). I am now going to be running a series of event called "RPG Deep Dive." The whole point with this is to take 4 sessions to dive into non-mainstream games and settings. This gives me the chance to explore and run all my games and it gives others the chance to check out materials and games they normally wouldn't have. Come join the community!

This comes to my next RPG endeavor: my custom settings. I have been working on two separate settings over the last couple years. One space opera and one fantasy, these two setting have been passion projects of mine as I pulled influences from my favorite inspirational sources. I will be doing features on each setting discussing them in more detail.

As I collect more ttrpgs and expand my own settings, I will be doing more and more ttrpg related content.

A Departure from Wargames

I have taken large amount of my wargame collection and sold it to reduce clutter. I owned more systems and armies than I could afford time or resources to paint & play. I struggled spreading myself too thin and was unable to truly enjoy the hobby or have satisfaction with the games. I would play one game a month of a system, then bounce to another, then another. This meant I couldn't actually gain any skill leading to much frustration. I also started to see that I had an insurmountable number of miniatures I would never take the time to paint. By reducing what I owned I was able to make my painting que much smaller and more appealing to paint.

I haven't given up playing miniature wargames, but I almost never play army scale anymore and really only play two skirmish scale games. This change has shaped a couple rules I follow when considering starting a new game:

1. Is there a community already in my local area? I no longer have the time to focus on starting a new game community. If no community already exists, I will not play.
2. Is it a high model count game? I do not have time to paint hundreds of models anymore. My patience is low, and I enjoy painting very specific models now. If it needs me to have more than 20-30 models, I will not play.
3. Is it more fun than what I play already? When playing games, I have two areas I organize them into: competitive and casual. Competitive are games I seek to play and own what is most optimal. I seek to have a high level of play and that challenge drives me. Casual games I play with the intent to enjoy narrative or "theme" more than what is considered optimal. These are games I will play how I want even if that way has a lower chance to win. If a new game is not as enjoyable as the game I currently have for that purpose (casual or competitive), then I will not play.

This is all under the understanding that I have limited time as is, I am getting pickier with my time expenditure, and I have several real-life things happening that are priority.

Hobby Expansion

I have purchased a resin 3d printer and have begun to expand on several RPG enhancing hobbies like wax seals and even fountain pen calligraphy. Multiple projects will mean I will have multiple things to share as I learn and expand my hobbies! At this point even my kids are wanting to get involved!

This does mean I have slowly stopped playing as many videogames. I will be putting a much high emphasis on tabletop games and the adjacent hobbies.

Exciting Future

I am excited for what is coming as gaming and other hobbies are explored! This has been a great way for me to find new communities and friends and I am looking forward to creating more blog content!

Malifaux 3rd Edition

The time has come! Malifaux 3rd edition has fallen upon us and I may have fallen off the deep end...

This game has for a very long time been my favorite tabletop wargame to play. It mixes themes I love with a dynamic world and captivating story. Mix in gorgeous models and a skirmish game unique in this current market of games and you get a game that is highly approachable by players of all skill levels.

Now there have been a lot of game reviews my favorite so far being from Third Floor Wars, but I will be giving an overview of my own game experiences playing certain masters and crews and playing against others. Since I primarily play the Outcast faction, most of my write-ups will be focused there but I will be including general strategies as well as my impressions of my opponent's factions and crews.

I will also being trying to document my games and giving my general thoughts on strategy. Hope you enjoy the things to come!

Christmas Time & New Toys

Merry Christmas time everyone!

So the season of giving is upon us as I shudder... I usually earn the Grinch awards every year. This year I am enjoy the holidays with me wife and two kids so it isn't so bad. My games however are proving difficult to make time for with all the busy things to do. But My goal to get more consistent and regular is still here!

So the topic of today's blog is a game I am getting back into.. a 3rd time.. Warhammer: Age of Sigmar! I originally played the game back in the rank-and-file days of Fantasy as Skaven and Tomb Kings, selling my Tomb Kings after they discontinued the line. I played Sylvaneth for a small time but barely player then got rid of them. I bought the book for the Idoneth Deepkin upon release but never bought and model... until now.. I have officially expanded into the game with two of the battleforce boxes, an Akhelian Leviadon, a Soulrender, and this guy (WIP):

My Akhelian King! Currently a WIP but I will cover my painting with him in another article. Here I wanted to delve into my current list with the army.

Alliance: Order
Allegiance: Idoneth Deepkin
Realm: Aqshi (Fire)
Enclave: Feuthan

Akhelian King with spear (Armor of Cythai artifact)
Tidecaster (gerneral) with Tideof Fear spell (Kraken Tooth artifact)
Tidecaster with Arcane Corrasion spell
Ishraran Soulrender

2x Akhellian Allopex with Harpoons
2x 10-man units of Namarti Reavers
1x 10-man unit of Namarti Thralls
2x 3-man units of Ishlaen Guard with full command
1x Akhelian Leviadon
Akhelian Corps Battalion 

Alsright so this is a bit of a combined force. The tactic is ideally go second, then having switched the Tides of Battle, run forward firing with our ranged units and charging with with out mele turn one. This is possible since Fuethan changes the Ebb Tide to Flow Tide. I am thinking about trying out the Tidecaller instead of the additional Tidecaster, but I dont own one yet. I only have a single 2000 point game under my belt so far but continuing to test it out! The list decimated the dwarves I faced, but neither of us are seasoned players so that may have been a reason. 

Here soon I will be posting about the Akhelian King, likely after he is finished. Before that will be a post showing of my proud work on the Guild Ball Hunter's team. 

Stay tuned for more!