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.