Monday, August 30, 2010

Grab Bag

-Warning: language-

1- I really and truly love reading BatReps (most specifically 40K, but WM too). They are almost always fun and informative. I learn a great deal about deployment (which absolutely confounds me), seizing initiative, HQ/troop selection, approach choices and rationale as well as overall tactics. BatReps are in many ways the best kind of education- most of them have pictures to describe the action, which helps me immensely.

Most writers are fantastic and fair. They describe their failures just as well as their wins. Many of them have great senses of humor with commentary like "Here's where the other guy's forces made Swiss cheese of my army" or "I actually had a chance until my dice decided to be traitors". Others are a bit more serious with excellent insights such as "in hindsight, separating my forces and sending half to advance on [X model] was a dumb move" or "Wow, could I have deployed in a more terrible fashion?".

There are a couple guys whose BatReps I read that are less than fair. One guy wins a lot, which apparently inflated his ego. His writeups are all glorious washes of his greatness and descriptions of how awesome his list and tactics are. His descriptions are great, but very inflated. There's another guy that has a pretty standard win/loss ratio, but his reports are always more than a little lopsided. His opponents are always dumb (but lucky, if they win) and when forced to partner with someone, his partners are morons that he has to prop up in some way. His reports are full of condescension and rationalizing, and his dickwashing never fails to make everyone else around him look idiotic.

So why do I read these guys? Well, the first guy wins a lot. I DO learn a lot from his approach and his explanations of tactics, even if they are douchy. The second guy is somewhat local, which makes me feel sort of obligated to read his comments, and in addition, he's a GREAT writer. If he was less of a turd, I would thoroughly enjoy his writeups. I don't know that there's any way to un-jerk-ify these guys, so I'll keep reading them, knowing I'll have to scrub the layer of slime off my brain when I am done.

2-- I had an awesome out of game session with my WOD ST recently, talking about motivations, directions, options and ideas for Eile. It was probably one of the single best head-to-heads I've had with a  GM type in YEARS.

3--- I envision Eile as a less moral Neil Caffrey.

4---- I'm trying to come up with a chicken dinner for Saturday's WOD potluck.

5----- Still working on Diamond. What do you do when you love the shell of a character but the inside is empty?

Friday, August 27, 2010

I am in love...

I was browsing around at my FLGS and reading various Codex books for 40K when I happened across Black Templars.

Um... wow.

Not only are they gorgeous to look at, but they fit my playstyle as well. Fast, in your face, close quarters, no fear, no psyker, just balls to the wall kick ass.

It looks to me like I can just buy Space Marines and paint them up to their colors and then use the BT Codex for the most part. I might have to spring for an HQ model or two, but it doesn't LOOK like there's anything special or different about them that I need to worry about.

Pipe up if I'm wrong.

I think I hear my wallet whimpering.

Thursday, August 26, 2010

Poll- Include Motivations or Not

I'm working on my WOD game report from last Saturday. I'm finding that what happened is pretty short & sweet. Personally, I find the WHY a lot more interesting than the WHAT in this case.

So tell me: Should I include Eile's motivations/rationale for her actions, or just leave it a mystery?

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

On the Table: Mexi-Marines

So, uh, I don't play 40K right now. I love the game and have a great amount of respect for all my pals that do, but I'm not playing. The biggest reason is all that math- but the second reason is picking an army. I personally think Eldar are absolutely beautiful and love the hell out of them. However, I know that they are a "finesse" army and well... I play like a brick. A BIG brick. (Plus, there's the painting. I'm still pretty crappy at details.) So, they are out of contention, at least for now.

So I don't play- but I paint. I'm currently on conscription for my husband (the Dude) and his never-ending list of unpainted crap. At the moment I have 30 Space Marines, a 5 man assault squad and a 5 man Terminator squad on the table, awaiting their paint job.

It'll be a long job- they came primed black and he wants a Mexican-flag army. (Seriously!) So white primer first, then most likely white paint, then the green and red. Gold chest eagles are on the order form as well.

I was discussing this paint scheme with my son and one of his friends, and we were joking around about the standards for this chapter. Stuff like- Assault Squads get +6 movement past the deployment zone and/or no dangerous terrain rules apply. Other goofy rule ideas included Favored Enemy: [IG], and Rhinos could transport 30 dudes across the board.

I'm trying to find a Barbie or smaller scale Sombrero to put on the Sergeant. One of the Marines was a test for some orange primer the Dude found- I'm thinking of making him the "Quince Marine" and sticking a skirt on him.

Once I get one done, I'll post a pic. Right now they look like grey butt.

Monday, August 23, 2010

Character Development Concepts & Concerns

I was emailing back and forth with K, a player in the WOD game. We were discussing whether Saturday's game was fun, and I made the following observation:

I keep being surprised by serendipitous events that turn out for the best possible situation. Eile has turned out to be a lesson in flexibility and adaptation, which is interesting. There are moments of fun for sure. However, I have experience to spend, which has made me really consider the major themes/angles I want to pursue with her. At least one of them is NOT fun for me personally as a player, but makes sense for her and is probably her strongest element. I really do like a challenge but I don't know that I expected to face this element so quickly in game play.

Yes, she got to interact with TK- they had a very intense encounter that was the start of something that could get even more intense (and very possibly complicated) as time goes on.



As mentioned previously, Eile is a Beast Seeming with a custom Kith. My ST allowed me to take the Culturally specific Kith from Winter Masques- Coyote. She's intended to be a grifter, a con artist, a trickster, and a constantly adapting free spirit who uses her environment to her advantage.

The themes I am considering for Eile are, in order of importance/prominence:

1) Change/Adaptation (Contracts of Smoke as a primary, and Contracts of Beasts & Talons secondary. Several other possibilities for additional contracts or abilities)


2) Beauty/Appearance (Ties in nicely with Change/Adaptation- Contracts of  Smoke and Vainglory with Court Contracts also very good possibilities)


3) Fate/Chance (Contracts of Hearth as well as a couple other abilities, including a token or two)

The fact that I'm being faced with a difficult topic (change) so quickly after I started playing her is a testament to gameplay, the ST and luck/chance.  It's a little humbling to think how well the elements that put her in her current situation mesh so cohesively with the elements that make her core.


I'm personally struggling with how  frequently this character will require adaptation and change. It's a demanding concept for me that I work hard at in my normal life, so putting a tough concept into my escapism is a true challenge. I do believe I can handle it, but I am on my toes to do it right and not just pay lip service to it.

The Dude Gun

We have 7 mages in our WOD game- pretty much one of every flavor. WL, the Mind Mage, has a special ability/spell referred to as The Dude Gun.

It's a completely mental attack- he rolls against a primary characteristic using his Gnosis+Mind, and if he hits, the ability does 1 bash. He's got something like 6 dice against a characteristic, so he almost never misses.

The special effect is that he holds his forefinger and middle finger together, with his thumb up in a classic "gun" pose and mutters his word of power, which is "Dude".

It has been used pretty rarely until this past Saturday (game report to come later); when it was utilized pretty effectively against several spirits. A point came where the entire group involved in the combat (all but 2 of the players present) was quietly chanting "Dude Gun, Dude Gun, Dude Gun" hoping he'd use it to knock off the last spirit.

Just a momentary glimpse into our game.