Malifaux and Competitive Play

Back into Competitive Gaming

So I have been getting back into playing Malifaux which as been my favorite 'competitive' tabletop wargame. I find it has the best experience from a strategic and thematic perspective. This weekend (1/20/24) is a local ranked event and I am so excited! We have visitors coming from both OKC and KC to play with us. 

I will take as many notes as I can about the event and my specific games. The current event can be seen on Longshanks: New Years Tavern Stack Malifaux • Longshanks event 12467

Soldiers and Weirdos

I will be playing the Outcasts. I have reduced down what I own due to not having enough time to play it all. I even sold off many of my outcast masters. I will likely do my own writeups on each crew I own in the current competitive season (GG4), but for now my options for the tournament are the following keywords:

• Freikorps - An adaptive crew led by Von Schill, good into scrappy scenarios but struggles this GG as it has low volume of AP and interact capabilities.
  
• Tormented - A debilitating crew led by Jack Daw, I play this crew for 'kicks and giggles' but apparently, they are well suited to this Gaining Grounds. I will have to play with them more to find out where they excel.
• Obliteration - A very slippery crew led by Tara, this is the all-star crew for Outcasts this season as their speed and ability to not only control the opponent but Tara's ability to score points helps put them as a top pick in many scenarios.
• Barbaros - Not a traditional crew, this is led by the Henchman Barbaros who brings in the Nephilim keyword and the Returned keyword. This creates a unique mix of models with the Outcast versatiles and upgrades making a very mobile crew with tons of lethality, good healing, and cheap options for scoring the more interact scoring strats and schemes.
  

I will be posting about painting these crews or updating them. In addition, I will try to go into my own strategy dives about each with discussion. 

This merely starts my steps into my miniature gaming and hobby so stay tuned for more!

2024 and Gaming for Me

 

Well, 2023 came and went and my blogging is pretty much non-existent. That changes now! At least that is a new resolution I am having for myself..

Here in 2024 I have some goals for myself and my hobbies. And what better way to start then to just go through them all! 

1. Blog Regularly - No one really is going to be reading these blogs unless it is a random individual here and there. This is for my own sanity and determination to have some discipline in my gaming. I will blog about everything from painting minis, playing wargames, running or playing TTRPGs, and anything else my hobbies bring! I need to determine frequency but I will start with this post.
   
2. Paint Models - I have a LOT of models I need to paint. I need to have at least one miniature painted per week. I have multiple games to pull from so I have no lack of options.
   
3. Play More Competitively With Malifaux - We have had a new community spring up around Malifaux and it is exciting as a large factor is due to a prominent member of the wider community moved here. It is encouraging to see more people play and I want to really sharpen my skills and grow as a player. This includes attending tournaments locally and abroad! Family and work will limit this, but I will make the effort.
   
4. Make Game Reports - I used to enjoy making game report and I am going to attempt to do this more often for casual games.
5. Read/Listen to Books - I used to be an avid reader and I have not gotten into some god books in ages. This will play a part in a later resolution. I am starting with some fantasy books, but I also have goals to read some self-help books.
   
6. Sharpen My GM Skills - I want to dive into getting better as a GM. This will include a blogging series I will name something clever later. This will mean the following: I need to read more books, both for content and for skills; I need to run more games, including ones shots, short series, and maybe long-term campaigns; I will need to play more often!
7. Find My Favorite Games - I used to think I knew what my favorite roleplaying games and game styles were, but I honestly have learned I need to revisit this and find the games that I not only want to run but the ones I want to play. This will require both running and playing more often.
8. Play Some Single Player Video Games - I have done a good job in ceasing to just buy each cool game that comes along as I have not been playing them. My goal is not only to play them but to finish them. I will likely write up my thoughts on each afterwards.
9. Other Various TTRPG Content - I have loved getting more into TTRPGs and I will be doing a variety of projects related including things!
   

There are a lot of things going on but I am determined to get this discipline down! Here's to a new year!

RPG Deep Dive: Bunkers & Badasses

 The RPG Deep Dive

I am now starting up a new series on a particular Discord community. I am taking non-mainstream TTRPG games and taking four sessions to learn and explore them. The community on the discord is jumping in with me and we are doing the following:

• Session 1: Lore and character creation
• Session 2: Combat and game mechanics
• Session 3: Session zero (prep for the one-shot)
• Session 4: One-shot led by me usually

The purpose of this is to allow me to actually play the many TTRPG games I have collected (and continue collecting). It also allows the community to try out games they otherwise would never have heard of. 

Bunkers & Badasses

The first TTRPG for this series is Bunkers & Badasses! This is the rpg that was inspired by the videogame Borderlands, and the DLC "Tiny Tina's Assault on Dragon Keep." The lore is super fluid as it is a parody of fantasy TTRPGs allowing you to create pretty much whatever experience you want.. as long as you include guns! It brings in all the crazy antics of the Borderlands with a fun fantasy spin.

For the first session, we just went through the lore (not much there) and did some fun character creation. We had 2 other people including myself, and we went through creating characters using the tables in the book. Normally the players have some choice over backgrounds, but since I was the only one with the book we did pure dice rolls. Each had a different character and class which was fun to show off. You can watch/listen to the recording here: 

Note!! I am a novice when it comes to recording so the video is almost no help when following along. Feel free to listen more than you watch. I hope to have a better result next time.

That was the first dive into Bunkers & Badasses! I am excited for what the future will bring with this series so stay tuned!