Taking time.

It's very nearly payday and there is a perennial episodic problem that all gamers face.

What the fuck should I buy this month ?

I am loving Guild Ball the baddest, but the transition from Season One to Season Two is maddeningly slow. Fair do's, new releases get spread out over time, but I am hungry for more.

I've kind of shelved my Fishermen for the time being. I love how they play and  I love playing them. They won a Best Painted too, and I'm dead pleased with them. But, I just feel a little like I have fewer options than people playing some of the other Guilds, and I found myself pondering other teams a lot more than the Fishermen. So, following a deplorably unsuccessful podcast survey, I ended up picking up a Brewers team.

I very much like the Brewers. A couple of ball handlers, a couple of violent hooligans, a fat lad and a firebreather. Perfick. They're all painted now, and I'm really happy with them.  I don't think that these guys will win any painting prizes, as they're just a good solid scheme and there's very little about them that is jazzy enough to really capture imaginations. They look nice and they're fun to play, but the next Brewer isn't on deck yet...

I'm putting together my Legion for Smogcon. Well, I'm supposed to be : I happened upon a Cephalyx all in one the other week, and that's really captured my attention. Still, I have a fair bit of legion to get painted, and a wee bit left to buy. But I can get on with the painting while I figure out the faction.

There's always Malifaux.....

I fell out of love with 1.5. I didn't want to, but it was just too chewy to be palatable. I was always sure it would appeal more with slightly less. Like a stripper.

But I had fond memories of the old girl, and there was enough I liked about 1.5 to make me fancy taking 2e out for a drink. So, despite never playing the game I signed myself up to a tournament and off I went with my unpainted Perdita crew to do battle in a game I have never played before.

That's a little lie. My good Lady agreed to a couple of practice games prior to the tournament, just so I could get the rules down. This was good of her and very handy too, and she bullied me in both games.

My total M2E score sheet is an impressively shitty thing : P 5, W 0, D1, L4. But I have rather enjoyed those games, principally I think because I'm really not that arsed about it. The mechanics still have the flavour I liked in 1.5, those duels still feel almost like bullet time. The flavour is still there in the fluff, the setting is still rich and engaging, and I can still fill in the bits between the card flips with narrative in my head.

I am resolved to not pursuing Malifaux too hard. Sam fancys a bit more of a look at it, and has a hankering for Arcanists, and I am quite enjoying rolling Guild around in my head. She will almost certainly not want to head to a tournament, and I'm not sure I have enough time to really invest in a third tournament scene. So, I guess I have a casual game !!

Fuck me, this is it. There is a fine line between love and hate they say, and I rather wonder what is on the other side of the line from 'game'. Job ?

Certainly I am looking forward to playing a game where there is no such thing as prepping for a tournament. Where I am not trying to build lists for any other purpose than I like pushing it's component parts about. I am looking forward to playing a game.

I love Warmachine and Guild Ball, but even if I just want to play something light and casual, others are wanting to test things, to try new lists, to practice.

An old mate apologised to me last week. The week before we had played a game of Warmachine. It was the first time I had put my Legion on the table ( P Absylonia) and I was just keen to see what kind of thing they did. I put them all away after turn 2, when an E Kreoss list just scoured them off the table. I learned nothing, neither did he. I didn't have any fun, and I'm not so sure he did either. So what was the fucking point ?

I played a second game that night. My second game ever with the faction. My second opponent dropped his hard Legion counter list because it was the 'only chance' he had. Only chance for what ? An irrelevant win ?

God knows, I appreciate Legion are a solid faction, and they are one of the factions you need to plan for in a tournament setting. But this is a friends SECOND EVER game with them, fuck your tournament prep.

I won 5-0 on scenario. Mainly because I played hard for scenario and my opponent spunked his feat turn too early and got his order of activations to cock.

It seems like all I do is prep for tournaments, demo or act as a punch bag if someone else wants to get ready for a tournament, regardless of what I want out of a game.

I'm not really sure I am into the whole tournament thing at the moment. I'm not sure how much I care. I love games, I just don't feel like I get to play many at the moment, and honestly life is too hard for me to take on a second job as a dice roller.

I need to have more fun, not more stress. So I guess I need to get myself some rules set out. While I'm pondering those rules, I'm gonna buy my wife a Kaeris box and a Mechanical Rider.

And I'm going to enjoy her setting me on fire.

Its always good to start at the beginning...

...but they didn't have the internet when I was nine years old.

So we'll have to make do with starting here, where I have just deleted an awful lot of blog posts.

I've binned off everything that was previously here because it just wasn't relevant. Not relevant to me, my interests or where I want to be. There was some decent stuff in there, and there was a lot of filler trying to bulk out a brand that never existed.

I never upkept the blog as much as I wanted to, it became a chore because it was all about gaining page views, it became soulless and senseless. But now, we have a product that I am proud of and thrilled to contribute to. The Podcast is something I have always wanted to do since first listening to Boosted Damage one Saturday morning on overtime, and its not always perfect, it's not always hilarious, but it is a labour of love by brothers. My contribution often feels small and cheap, I don't do anything technical or difficult, I add very little insightful or important.

I just dangle my soul out for all to see, and I care very much indeed.

A blogger I read and follow on Twitter, Doc Bungle, has had some chew regarding one of his articles and he has handled it in an entirely mature and appropriate way. But it bugs the fuck out of me. He has created something from a place of love and he shouldn't be made to feel demotivated to continue by anyone else. I am proud of WCWW, but more over I am proud to be a part of a community of creators and contributors, people who take it on themselves to do something to entertain or inform or advise. Christ knows we're not getting paid, and I don't imagine Doc is making bank off his contribution either.

Every time one of us puts something up online, be it a blog post or a batrep, a race report or a painting wip, or a fucking diet update we lay ourselves open to critique and comment and I have no problem with that, but we are not Marks & Spencer selling you a cardigan with a missing button, we're not a disinterested KFC worker shoving chicken into buckets hoping you choke to death on a fucking hotwing, We're at a place of love, dangling our souls out for your entertainment and edification. Our customer services department has no vested interest in rectifying your complaint and you ain't getting a gift voucher for your inconvenience. You don't need to blow smoke up anyones arse, just be cool.

Anyway, all that aside, I am resolved to blog with far more regularity. Fuck page views, fuck content. Just stuff.

Just back from Breast Cancer Brawl 2015. I won best painted pink army, which I was thrilled with and picked up some really nice brushes as a prize, donated by Broken Toad. I did well in the raffle as well, winning a box of Bog Trog ambushers which will fit nicely into a variety of projects for both me and O, and a half dozen WACC dice which are are a little massive to carry around, but will be fun to use in the dojo.

Am all fired up to get some more WM/H in now. New faction to learn for Smogcon in February, lots to do, just need to get games in,                  

Fishermen won best painted team at the Guild cup, which again I was dead chuffed with.  dragged loads of loot away from that event, but more importantly met loads of awesome folks there. Not sure I can make the next Guildball event at the NWGC, but I am sure it'll be an excellent one. Anyway, they're in the cabinet too fir a while, and the Brewers are in the bag for a spell.

We had our first holiday in a very long time, A catalogue of disasters that led to a very lovely time with my very lovely wife, And despite eating nothing but fish and chips and drinking lots of cider and gin, I still lost 4lb that week, taking me to 2st 3lb lighter in about 6 weeks, Still a ways to go to get to where I want to be, but I'm chuffed to bits so far.

9 days off the bike has been hard to recover from, my legs are slow and stiff and heavy, but hopefully I'll be back up to speed really soon. Thinking another stone or so off and I'll be able to get out running a bit as well. Certainly the hope is to be able to run a decent distance by February, so I can jog off the worst excesses of Smogcon,

And I had my first experiences of Malifaux 2nd edition and Dystopian Wars, but those are probably posts for another time.

Stay cool. X