Okay, so hell has frozen over and GW has dropped a whole slew of their main line product prices. Some of the popular but 1-off purchase pieces have gone up a tad, but in the greater scheme of things, a GW buyer will spend a significant amount less than they used to. Best of all, the prices were dropped right when the Canadian dollar was at it's best and then shortly thereafter it dropped like a stone. why is this good for a store in Canada carrying GW? because it means that Canadian buyers will have to litterally spend close to $500 dollars at a time just to save money by buying at US Trash dealers who's prices have all gone up relative to Canadian buying power. Now this still sucks since every other company that Canadaina LGSes buy from in the states has effectively had a price increase put on them, so you'll see products from companies like Privateer Press, Fantasy Flight Games and even european games with US distributors go up in price.
So what's the Game of the future? Well I think we're being played here since we've all been keen of building huge armies with very expensive models. Now more is less my friends and that means skirmish. I thank the Great gods of Kobol for having bought my 3000pt of space wolves way back when since today I think spending that kind of money is a little foolish. Privateer Press now makes the biggest game I'm willing to invest in since a full army can cost as little as $200CDN. Aside from that I'm going to keep my eye on the likes of Anima Tactics, Infinity, Alkemy and Dark Age.
Anima Tactics is a great game that I got into simply because I thought one of it's models was a very good sculpt. It's a very fast, very intuitive game that uses action points and feel a lot like a game of warmachine with all warcasters (which would be awesome). Playing once character at a time means you don't wait long to be doing something and you can do counters, dodges and interrupts on your opponents turn so there really is no time you should be waiting around doing nothing. If you want to know more about the minis go here, and if you want to download the free starter rules it's in the download subsection of the minis section here. They've also got a very active forum up and running where you can find pictures and rules and mindless conversation about which chick models are the hottest here.
Infinity is a Sci-fi game that I once lamented would probably never exist outside of Europe (btw I'm moving there as soon as I can, just for the gaming communities) and I've been happily proven wrong. I've found a US distributor and I'm bringing in some starter packs and a few choice models. I've seen some of the models live and they really are as beatuifully done as they look on the website. I don't know the game mechanics since I havent played a game, and the Free to download FULL rules simply too complex to understand without playing the game. Still I'm very excited at the Black-Op feel of the game and the fluff and I think I'd buy the minis even if the game sucked. Luckily there seems to be some good battle reports out there and from what I've seen the game doesnt get bogged down in abstract rules situations where the battle is between special rules as opposed to bashin' each other's heads out (I'm looking at you Warhammer Fantasy). Everything you want to know about infinity can be found here.
Now I don't know the first thing about Alkemy other than that the models are Beatifully done and the story line is very origional. I've only started looking at these models and I can't wait to see what else they do. They have free to download Rules for each army and the game itself but I can't for the life of me understand it all without playing it so I'll leave that up to you. I think this game has a lot of potential and we should keep our eyes on it.
I have to be honest with you and say that I don't like the feel or look of Dark Age, since some of the models look poorly done and I can't for the life of me get excited about spikes on leather cat suits or the like. I will give credit where credit is due and say that some of their models go way beyond awesome too. The game seems to have been picking up steam for a long time and they must be doing something right because they're still around. I think you should check them out regardless since you may be into the look of these models even though I'm not (Hey nobody's perfect).
At the end of the day I think that the economic hard times that we will all undoubtedly feel while the world markets correct themselves will mean that we have less time to build paint and play. Since I for one still want to do all those things, it just means I'll want to build less models, paint less grunts, and play faster games.
I say that Skirmish is the Game of the future.
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Games Workshop needs to fix it's prices
Okay, I'm really trying to get the ball rolling at my LGS for 40k and I'm having a hell of a time of it. The GW price gap between the Canadian and the US distributors is actually killing off Canadian GW stores and LGS support for 40k and Fantasy. Very literally I can go to a US online retailer and, if I buy enough to mitigate shipping costs, get GW product at a lower price, as a customer, than I can get it here as a retailer.
This is ridiculous! I get more mileage out of my GW product by showing people how much they'll save by buying Warmachine or AT-43 than by actually selling GW products to people. I don't know how much they're paying the big idiots at GW to see how long they can float their Canadian Customer base, but I hope they change direction soon or people will only be carrying their product because it's recognizeable to newer gamers.
Look, this is going to be a shorter piece than normal because I really can't be more clear with what I'm saying without just repeating myself. Games Workshop has just come out with another edition for 40k and has had a lot of success from the Black Reach box, but they still seem to have their heads stuck in the sand in so far as their ability to keep customers happy. I've been told by my Rep. that instead of dropping Canadian prices, they're going to raise US prices to match.
I remember saying to my friend 3 years ago that it would be impossible for GW to go out of business because they were simply the benchmark for quality models, story telling, and...umm...rules. well not the last one too much but you know what I mean. They very literally have the largest and most intriguing story I've ever read and they're about 20 years ahead of everyone else in the industry when it comes to mold technology and model creation. With these and other edges on the competition I've been flabergasted by their decline. Where is their brand new spirit? where is their completely revamped sales ideology? Why aren't they listening to their customers or taking cues from their competition?
GW can die, and the only one to blame will be their own naval gazing marketing department.
and that can only be bad for the Game.
This is ridiculous! I get more mileage out of my GW product by showing people how much they'll save by buying Warmachine or AT-43 than by actually selling GW products to people. I don't know how much they're paying the big idiots at GW to see how long they can float their Canadian Customer base, but I hope they change direction soon or people will only be carrying their product because it's recognizeable to newer gamers.
Look, this is going to be a shorter piece than normal because I really can't be more clear with what I'm saying without just repeating myself. Games Workshop has just come out with another edition for 40k and has had a lot of success from the Black Reach box, but they still seem to have their heads stuck in the sand in so far as their ability to keep customers happy. I've been told by my Rep. that instead of dropping Canadian prices, they're going to raise US prices to match.
I remember saying to my friend 3 years ago that it would be impossible for GW to go out of business because they were simply the benchmark for quality models, story telling, and...umm...rules. well not the last one too much but you know what I mean. They very literally have the largest and most intriguing story I've ever read and they're about 20 years ahead of everyone else in the industry when it comes to mold technology and model creation. With these and other edges on the competition I've been flabergasted by their decline. Where is their brand new spirit? where is their completely revamped sales ideology? Why aren't they listening to their customers or taking cues from their competition?
GW can die, and the only one to blame will be their own naval gazing marketing department.
and that can only be bad for the Game.
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Can Games Workshop do it?
In order for you to get the full scope of what this entry is about, you have to understand where I come from in regards to GW. I'm sure that there are many different paths to the place I stood a month ago as a card carrying member of the 40k refugee club, but I want to talk about how I got there and why I was "done" with 40k.
It all started with a project that I participated in on the Bolter and Chainsword under the Space Wolf forums. We decided that we wanted a proper FAQ for the space wolves and someone (we couldn't know who) had an in to one of the GW rules writers. We worked for months hashing out what questions we wanted to ask, and what the purpose of those questions were. We had moderators from the B&C help us make sure the wording was open and honest and we worked on it for 2 months with over 500 posts logged. In the end we did get a response which was full of one-word answers to questions we had spent a lot of time crafting. The answers were often yes or no, when we had asked for understanding. The worst part of it was that our guy on the inside felt that we had the wrong attitude and that we had written the questions in an aggressive way.
We had spent a lot of time trying to help GW make our game better by showing them what we needed to play better and I felt let down and dissapointed. I felt like the prevailent attitude was one of not having to be accountable for the decisions that were being made about the game that I loved and that I should be grateful for what we do have instead of wanting to see problems fixed.
Perhaps that makes me a little whiny, but I felt that we had been snubbed and brushed off. I also started noticing that GW had a tendency to make decisions that made very little sense to myself and my (admittedly not the whole world) group of gamers and fellow forum members. After a while the little things that started to bug me, started to bug me a lot and I finally found myself doing a Warmachine demo.
Fast forward to last month and I was still the same person (albeit now i'm managing my own store) feeling the same way about how 5th edition was going in some completely random directions for what seemed like no good reason. That was when I found Allesio Salvatore's pod cast about why he made all the changes he did. Listening to it, I felt like Alessio was actually taking the time to connect with gamers and tell them why they did what they did. I decided to order in a few copies of 5th edition and give them a read.
I have to say that I've had some big surprises since then. I realized that some of my favorite rules from other games (true line of sight, PP set up rules) are in this book. I also really like the rules as a whole. On the other side of things, GW has come out with the assault on black reach box set and it is the single most minis GW has ever sold for such a low price. If you break it down in a 40-40-20 split (marines-orks-rulebook) then you can get a dreadnaught ($55), a tac squad ($40), a termi squad ($50) and a commander ($25) for $25 buckaroos.
I really think that with all these things that GW has done I've been getting really excited about 5th edition. I've even decided to order in a bunch of the new stuff they're putting out and we're going to do a Game Day party to boot.
I hope that GW can get out of their slump and I really beleive that if they continue in the direction of customer service, connecting with their fans in a more personal way and making it cheaper and easier to get into the game, they will continue to be the biggest name in miniature wargaming in the world.
If GW can learn, grow and bite the bullet, then the State of the Game is Good +2
It all started with a project that I participated in on the Bolter and Chainsword under the Space Wolf forums. We decided that we wanted a proper FAQ for the space wolves and someone (we couldn't know who) had an in to one of the GW rules writers. We worked for months hashing out what questions we wanted to ask, and what the purpose of those questions were. We had moderators from the B&C help us make sure the wording was open and honest and we worked on it for 2 months with over 500 posts logged. In the end we did get a response which was full of one-word answers to questions we had spent a lot of time crafting. The answers were often yes or no, when we had asked for understanding. The worst part of it was that our guy on the inside felt that we had the wrong attitude and that we had written the questions in an aggressive way.
We had spent a lot of time trying to help GW make our game better by showing them what we needed to play better and I felt let down and dissapointed. I felt like the prevailent attitude was one of not having to be accountable for the decisions that were being made about the game that I loved and that I should be grateful for what we do have instead of wanting to see problems fixed.
Perhaps that makes me a little whiny, but I felt that we had been snubbed and brushed off. I also started noticing that GW had a tendency to make decisions that made very little sense to myself and my (admittedly not the whole world) group of gamers and fellow forum members. After a while the little things that started to bug me, started to bug me a lot and I finally found myself doing a Warmachine demo.
Fast forward to last month and I was still the same person (albeit now i'm managing my own store) feeling the same way about how 5th edition was going in some completely random directions for what seemed like no good reason. That was when I found Allesio Salvatore's pod cast about why he made all the changes he did. Listening to it, I felt like Alessio was actually taking the time to connect with gamers and tell them why they did what they did. I decided to order in a few copies of 5th edition and give them a read.
I have to say that I've had some big surprises since then. I realized that some of my favorite rules from other games (true line of sight, PP set up rules) are in this book. I also really like the rules as a whole. On the other side of things, GW has come out with the assault on black reach box set and it is the single most minis GW has ever sold for such a low price. If you break it down in a 40-40-20 split (marines-orks-rulebook) then you can get a dreadnaught ($55), a tac squad ($40), a termi squad ($50) and a commander ($25) for $25 buckaroos.
I really think that with all these things that GW has done I've been getting really excited about 5th edition. I've even decided to order in a bunch of the new stuff they're putting out and we're going to do a Game Day party to boot.
I hope that GW can get out of their slump and I really beleive that if they continue in the direction of customer service, connecting with their fans in a more personal way and making it cheaper and easier to get into the game, they will continue to be the biggest name in miniature wargaming in the world.
If GW can learn, grow and bite the bullet, then the State of the Game is Good +2
Friday, July 4, 2008
You can't have it both ways.
I'm going to be a little biased for a moment here and admit that Privateer Press is my favorite miniature manufacturer right now. They are honest about what they are doing and why. They do right by their customers and participate in their own forums a lot more than I would expect them to. I have to be honest here and say that I have not been able to find the kind of quality company behaviour that I find from Privateer Press elsewhere. Rackham writes sloppy rules and even worse FAQ/errata, Games workshop seems to simply create and delete rules, options, whole armies etc based on oracles, star charts, flipping of coins and phrenological deductions in so far as I can tell. My point today is not that these companies are not producing something that deserves your money. I still thoroughly enjoy 40k and AT-43 and I think that both of them are brilliant games.
What I'm talking about is the ridiculous notion that Privateer Press can be called dishonest, manipulative, greedy or the like. You can't have it both ways people, and this is why.
If a company decides to write rules by the seat of their pants and simply fix things along the way as they come up then you have a company like Rackham. R only seems to want to fix problems when people start clawing at their eyes in lamentation. Running around putting out fires is not an environement that is inviting to new players. The actual game writers have gone onto the AT-43 forums many times to re-write, clarify and then re-re-write rules because they didn't see how their decisions would impact the entire system of rules. They seem to be getting a handle on it, and they're making more solid consistent rulings, but it is still very DUI...I mean DIY-ish.
On the other hand, if a company continually changes the core system of their rules, creates and deletes whole army composition elements and re-creates itself every 4 years without any seeming pattern then you have a company like Games Workshop. Every 4-5 years GW comes out with a new rules theory that dictates all the decisions they make for that time. The only pattern that has ever been apparent is that the rules have made handling larger and larger armies easier. Other than that, GW seems content to never fix any of the problems whatever current rule theory they've made has created. It's the exact opposite of Rackham. Where Rackham is almost naked in showing you that they're still figuring out what they're doing while you sit at home with the rule book in your hands, GW tosses you a damn fine piece of work that needs a little fine tuning but refuses to actually do that fine tuning or build on what they've created. Instead they copy paste FAQ's that were written in 1997 for a rule book that's still being played today. After all, why bother with an FAQ when you can just write a brand new rulebook? 5th edition here I come!
So am I saying that these are the dishonest companies? that PP is the only one you can trust? No. I'm saying that these are companies that have bottom lines that are important to them. Privateer Press never said they weren't trying to make money. They just said that they would do it with style and quality. My point is only that Privateer Press is the only company that seems to be able to balance having a plan, with being able to build on the experience they get from implementing that plan. GW refuses to admit when it's wrong, but they make damn fine games. R is sloppy and inconsistent, but they're constantly improving and even though it'll cost us more in rulebooks then it should ever need to, we WILL eventually have a really good COMPLETE rule system from them. In the meantime I think we all need to applaud PPs ability to be solid and reliable without being inflexible and out of touch.
if you guys can get down with that then I'll even be willing to stop praying to Shiva each night that somehow PP will acquire both GW and R so as to save them from their own managements.
Either way, I know that the more successful that Privateer Press becomes, the more its competition will learn from their habits, and that can only be a good thing for the state of the Game.
What I'm talking about is the ridiculous notion that Privateer Press can be called dishonest, manipulative, greedy or the like. You can't have it both ways people, and this is why.
If a company decides to write rules by the seat of their pants and simply fix things along the way as they come up then you have a company like Rackham. R only seems to want to fix problems when people start clawing at their eyes in lamentation. Running around putting out fires is not an environement that is inviting to new players. The actual game writers have gone onto the AT-43 forums many times to re-write, clarify and then re-re-write rules because they didn't see how their decisions would impact the entire system of rules. They seem to be getting a handle on it, and they're making more solid consistent rulings, but it is still very DUI...I mean DIY-ish.
On the other hand, if a company continually changes the core system of their rules, creates and deletes whole army composition elements and re-creates itself every 4 years without any seeming pattern then you have a company like Games Workshop. Every 4-5 years GW comes out with a new rules theory that dictates all the decisions they make for that time. The only pattern that has ever been apparent is that the rules have made handling larger and larger armies easier. Other than that, GW seems content to never fix any of the problems whatever current rule theory they've made has created. It's the exact opposite of Rackham. Where Rackham is almost naked in showing you that they're still figuring out what they're doing while you sit at home with the rule book in your hands, GW tosses you a damn fine piece of work that needs a little fine tuning but refuses to actually do that fine tuning or build on what they've created. Instead they copy paste FAQ's that were written in 1997 for a rule book that's still being played today. After all, why bother with an FAQ when you can just write a brand new rulebook? 5th edition here I come!
So am I saying that these are the dishonest companies? that PP is the only one you can trust? No. I'm saying that these are companies that have bottom lines that are important to them. Privateer Press never said they weren't trying to make money. They just said that they would do it with style and quality. My point is only that Privateer Press is the only company that seems to be able to balance having a plan, with being able to build on the experience they get from implementing that plan. GW refuses to admit when it's wrong, but they make damn fine games. R is sloppy and inconsistent, but they're constantly improving and even though it'll cost us more in rulebooks then it should ever need to, we WILL eventually have a really good COMPLETE rule system from them. In the meantime I think we all need to applaud PPs ability to be solid and reliable without being inflexible and out of touch.
if you guys can get down with that then I'll even be willing to stop praying to Shiva each night that somehow PP will acquire both GW and R so as to save them from their own managements.
Either way, I know that the more successful that Privateer Press becomes, the more its competition will learn from their habits, and that can only be a good thing for the state of the Game.
Monday, June 16, 2008
Warmachine: Losing with style
I've had the opportunity of late to put my money where my mouth is and attempt to lose in such a way that your opponent can enjoy the win. I've lost something like 7 out of the last 9 games of Warmachine and it's not because I can't handle the old witch or ,worse yet, pVlad. In every situation I know I made some mistakes and I know I could have won if I had done X or Y smart trick. The point I want to make today isn't about whether it's important that I could win or not. The point is that I didnt give the games away, they were taken by opponents who saw my mistakes and took advantage of them.
Why is this important to me? For one, I hate to lose and I love to win. I'm a powergamer in the definition of playing powerful units and combinations in such a way that I feel I can win with them. I don't net list, and I always try and come up with my own combinations through trial and error, but I damn well love winning and I'll enjoy giving a devastating beat down as much as I'll enjoy stealing a victory from the grip of an opponent who's beating me down. My point is that you don't deserve to enjoy a win if you're a douche about losing.
This is how it works: if you tell your opponent that you could have won if only you had done X,Y or Z then your telling them that they had nothing to do with their win. Your telling them that you only beat yourself and that if you'd played a different game then nothing they could have done to adapt would have helped. You insult your opponent by doing this. You tell her she should have no pride in her win and that she got lucky to catch a break.
That sucks! So I'm going to put it out there on the webz for all you knoobs to see. If you lose, be the loser you love to beat. That way, when you do put everything together right and you find the kink in your opponents armour, crush their attacks, smite down their defenses, bring righteous poundings to their caster and leave nothing but a brownish smear on the field of battle where once their was a worthy opponent,
you really know you've earned the right to swim around in that win.
Lose well and the Game shall be good.
Why is this important to me? For one, I hate to lose and I love to win. I'm a powergamer in the definition of playing powerful units and combinations in such a way that I feel I can win with them. I don't net list, and I always try and come up with my own combinations through trial and error, but I damn well love winning and I'll enjoy giving a devastating beat down as much as I'll enjoy stealing a victory from the grip of an opponent who's beating me down. My point is that you don't deserve to enjoy a win if you're a douche about losing.
This is how it works: if you tell your opponent that you could have won if only you had done X,Y or Z then your telling them that they had nothing to do with their win. Your telling them that you only beat yourself and that if you'd played a different game then nothing they could have done to adapt would have helped. You insult your opponent by doing this. You tell her she should have no pride in her win and that she got lucky to catch a break.
That sucks! So I'm going to put it out there on the webz for all you knoobs to see. If you lose, be the loser you love to beat. That way, when you do put everything together right and you find the kink in your opponents armour, crush their attacks, smite down their defenses, bring righteous poundings to their caster and leave nothing but a brownish smear on the field of battle where once their was a worthy opponent,
you really know you've earned the right to swim around in that win.
Lose well and the Game shall be good.
Saturday, June 7, 2008
LGSes Support and Consequence
Well it seems that as I become more and more involved in the process of bringing the Game to people I become more and more invested in how the Game continues to sustain itself. Over at Privateer Press' forums there has been some discussion about online stores who do major discounts. I know for a fact that Wizards of the Coast, Games Workshop and Privateer Press all attempt to give extra support to the LGS because they know where their bread and butter comes from. Let's break it down
1.LGSes get new players into the Game selling product
2.LGSes provide a place to meet other gamers and create a community that you want to be in
2.5 LGSes provide the space for creating veterans and life-long customers
3.Life-long customers attract new players by essentially advertising the game in store
3.5 Veterans bring in new customers adding to the community
4.LGSes provide events, terrain, leagues, prizes etc to the community creating excitement and structure to the Game.
5.Veteran gamers drop out and move on to other things, or just stop buying as they are done collecting
Wash-rinse-repeat untill you hit that magic number of new players replacing old players and you have a succesful LGS and a really great place to play.
This system has worked for 30+ years, but is on the verge of melting down in the face of online discounters who hope to make their money the Wal-Mart way. a 10% margin is fine if you're selling 400 times the amount of product. Doing that shouldn't even be that hard if you can tap into customers who are still at step 1-2, and don't have any loyalty to their store. Of course, the other players they're going to snag are the veteran gamers who have bought a full army/game/whatever and now they feel like paying full price doesnt sound that good.
Thus an LGS only has a small window of opportunity to create a real bond with their customers that will have them coming into the store to buy from them instead of shopping around. LGSes can go to their customers and say ,"listen, when you buy from me, you're paying for the terrain, tables, league, prizes and support. that's why it costs more", but unless that customer actually cares about the community that exists at the store it won't matter.
So what do I think of all this? I think that you can't stop progress and you can't close pandora's box once the cat is out of the bag. All corny lines aside, the future of the LGS is going to look different than it is today and I for one plan on building it. I think a different model of gaming store is going to succeed and I think I know what it might look like.
I think it's going to focus on gaming space, a club feel and more gamers coming to one location. I'll keep mum for now, but I don't think the online discounters have it right. Every time they put an LGS out of business they're killing off the very source of customers they live off of. Purely online discounters are parasite businesses that will die off when they've killed the last stores that are susceptible to their predations. For that, I thank them because the Game will be served through the forced evolution of the LGS.
I, for one, say the State of the Game will be better off after these times.
1.LGSes get new players into the Game selling product
2.LGSes provide a place to meet other gamers and create a community that you want to be in
2.5 LGSes provide the space for creating veterans and life-long customers
3.Life-long customers attract new players by essentially advertising the game in store
3.5 Veterans bring in new customers adding to the community
4.LGSes provide events, terrain, leagues, prizes etc to the community creating excitement and structure to the Game.
5.Veteran gamers drop out and move on to other things, or just stop buying as they are done collecting
Wash-rinse-repeat untill you hit that magic number of new players replacing old players and you have a succesful LGS and a really great place to play.
This system has worked for 30+ years, but is on the verge of melting down in the face of online discounters who hope to make their money the Wal-Mart way. a 10% margin is fine if you're selling 400 times the amount of product. Doing that shouldn't even be that hard if you can tap into customers who are still at step 1-2, and don't have any loyalty to their store. Of course, the other players they're going to snag are the veteran gamers who have bought a full army/game/whatever and now they feel like paying full price doesnt sound that good.
Thus an LGS only has a small window of opportunity to create a real bond with their customers that will have them coming into the store to buy from them instead of shopping around. LGSes can go to their customers and say ,"listen, when you buy from me, you're paying for the terrain, tables, league, prizes and support. that's why it costs more", but unless that customer actually cares about the community that exists at the store it won't matter.
So what do I think of all this? I think that you can't stop progress and you can't close pandora's box once the cat is out of the bag. All corny lines aside, the future of the LGS is going to look different than it is today and I for one plan on building it. I think a different model of gaming store is going to succeed and I think I know what it might look like.
I think it's going to focus on gaming space, a club feel and more gamers coming to one location. I'll keep mum for now, but I don't think the online discounters have it right. Every time they put an LGS out of business they're killing off the very source of customers they live off of. Purely online discounters are parasite businesses that will die off when they've killed the last stores that are susceptible to their predations. For that, I thank them because the Game will be served through the forced evolution of the LGS.
I, for one, say the State of the Game will be better off after these times.
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
AT-43
So today I played a huge game of AT-43. As far as the Game is concerned, AT-43 is a healthy and nutritious addition to our hobby. Even though it's pre-painted, I've never seen pre-painted anything that is as nice as these models. It actually looks like most of the models are done by some kind of computer controlled paint machine. Not only that, but the parts that are painted by hand are done rather well and are not too thick, so if you do want to paint over them, you can without a problem. Actually, check out the Rakham forums for just that. Now, I run a game store so I know my opinion is usually biased in saying people should get into new good games, but this one really deserves a go. It's fast paced because you only activate one unit per turn, so you're never waiting longer than 5 minutes before you go again. It's brutal because guns actually do a lot of damage and cover is super important. Most games I find my Red Blok running from cover to cover until they can get into range with their low accuracy weapons. Today's game was no different. A friend and myself kept a full 1/5th of our army in reserve and just trudged across the table under the Therians higher accuracy, high powered guns. We dug in around drop points, while forcing the Therians back on their heels. We took heavy casualties but our line held and when we captured the drop points we brought in our heavy troops the Kollossuses...Kollossusi...Kollossi? It was Hard won, but hugging cover, putting pressure on the right places and forcing them to commit all their heavy guns to one side of the board meant only our Hetman "Urod" was destroyed. The Kossak "KK5" was fine and bullied the other side of the board.
Okay, I'm rambling as well as going into more detail then I need to. The point was that, because shooting is so powerful, the game feels modern. Sci-fi games tend to under-power shooting for game balance purposes, but I really don't see why. Sci-fi means long range weapons that are accurate and deadly. You don't bring a knife to a gun fight and only the most maneuverable units are even given melee weapons in this game.
The tense atmosphere that makes running out in the open suicide, added onto a simple and elegent "ability vs. difficulty" system, coupled further with a proper ranged attack system all make the game feel like a modern sci-fi shooter should. The way Ranges works is unlike other games where a shot at 2 inches is just as hard as a shot at 48 inches, but a shot at 49 inches is impossible. Rackham made it so that as a shot gets further away, in increments of 10cm, the shot gets more and more difficult to make untill it is impossible.
Genius!
On another note, I have to say that this beautiful thing that is AT-43 is held in the arms of people that I can't say I fully trust. With their penchant for rules revisions almost yearly, and their, frankly baffling, rules corrections I just hope that the game can survive their eccentric rules..."je ne sais quoi". Still Rackham is pushing the boundaries and I hope you'll join me in adding AT-43 to our Game.
In AT-43 the state of the Game is good -1.
Okay, I'm rambling as well as going into more detail then I need to. The point was that, because shooting is so powerful, the game feels modern. Sci-fi games tend to under-power shooting for game balance purposes, but I really don't see why. Sci-fi means long range weapons that are accurate and deadly. You don't bring a knife to a gun fight and only the most maneuverable units are even given melee weapons in this game.
The tense atmosphere that makes running out in the open suicide, added onto a simple and elegent "ability vs. difficulty" system, coupled further with a proper ranged attack system all make the game feel like a modern sci-fi shooter should. The way Ranges works is unlike other games where a shot at 2 inches is just as hard as a shot at 48 inches, but a shot at 49 inches is impossible. Rackham made it so that as a shot gets further away, in increments of 10cm, the shot gets more and more difficult to make untill it is impossible.
Genius!
On another note, I have to say that this beautiful thing that is AT-43 is held in the arms of people that I can't say I fully trust. With their penchant for rules revisions almost yearly, and their, frankly baffling, rules corrections I just hope that the game can survive their eccentric rules..."je ne sais quoi". Still Rackham is pushing the boundaries and I hope you'll join me in adding AT-43 to our Game.
In AT-43 the state of the Game is good -1.
Monday, May 26, 2008
Changing with the times
These days it's interesting being my kind of gamer. My kind of gamer is the one who finally accepted the red pill of multiple games. I don't know about or play them all, but man is it a different world once you open your eyes up and say,
"Hey, there are a lot of different ways of doing things out there."
I started with Warhammer 40k and played space wolves because the fellow at my LGS told me that they had the most plastic bits and therefore were the least expensive marines I could buy. I immediately bought two boxes that were not part of a legal starting force. Fast forward 3 years of you knowing exactly what happened (except the part where I was a terror with those wolves), and bham! I finally get bored rolling 60 dice and killing 5-10 models. That was when I took the plunge and tried WARMACHINE. The game was so aggressive I'm convinced I'll get in trouble if I write WARMACHINE in anything but all caps. Woe betide anyone who writes it in itallics, but that's not the point. I was a space wolf player, and if you know one of these fellows, or have played one then you may have noticed that they crave aggression. I do crave aggression. I do love the grind, the crush, the ripped out beatings, and now I finally had a game where I could have a 10 ton robot pick up a warhorse and throw it into a densely packed group of enemy knights.
"Yes sir, may I have another".
And the bug stay with you. I'm always up for learning a new game so long as it looks aggressive and there seems to be ample games to try.
Games Workshop has been waking up from the high it got from '05, and it's got a nasty hangover. Their sales numbers are dipping and they're pretty frantic about getting back on the hog. In the meantime, everyone including your grandma, your wierd sister, and your old french uncle who you thought was dead is getting a major game out there for you to try, and you know what? They're all dead sexy and you should try them all.
Some people have been saying that computer games are finally getting to a point where they make the Game obselete. People have said that the Game is too much work and it's dying.
Personally, I see so much fun and excitement happening in our Game that I can't help but lauph like a giddy little school girl.
Privateer Press is stepping into the CMG arena, and has not relented in the steel toe boot pounding it has been giving to the Game since it started.
Rakham has made entry into the hobby so easy it actually makes Warhammer Fantasy Dwarves cry out in pain, regardless of how bad their rules are written.
I have a total of 5 different games I have to consider bringing into the store, and each one looks like the people who made them actually know the difference between "marketing" and "making your customers hate you for 2 years of record sales".
Right now the state of the Game is good.
"Hey, there are a lot of different ways of doing things out there."
I started with Warhammer 40k and played space wolves because the fellow at my LGS told me that they had the most plastic bits and therefore were the least expensive marines I could buy. I immediately bought two boxes that were not part of a legal starting force. Fast forward 3 years of you knowing exactly what happened (except the part where I was a terror with those wolves), and bham! I finally get bored rolling 60 dice and killing 5-10 models. That was when I took the plunge and tried WARMACHINE. The game was so aggressive I'm convinced I'll get in trouble if I write WARMACHINE in anything but all caps. Woe betide anyone who writes it in itallics, but that's not the point. I was a space wolf player, and if you know one of these fellows, or have played one then you may have noticed that they crave aggression. I do crave aggression. I do love the grind, the crush, the ripped out beatings, and now I finally had a game where I could have a 10 ton robot pick up a warhorse and throw it into a densely packed group of enemy knights.
"Yes sir, may I have another".
And the bug stay with you. I'm always up for learning a new game so long as it looks aggressive and there seems to be ample games to try.
Games Workshop has been waking up from the high it got from '05, and it's got a nasty hangover. Their sales numbers are dipping and they're pretty frantic about getting back on the hog. In the meantime, everyone including your grandma, your wierd sister, and your old french uncle who you thought was dead is getting a major game out there for you to try, and you know what? They're all dead sexy and you should try them all.
Some people have been saying that computer games are finally getting to a point where they make the Game obselete. People have said that the Game is too much work and it's dying.
Personally, I see so much fun and excitement happening in our Game that I can't help but lauph like a giddy little school girl.
Privateer Press is stepping into the CMG arena, and has not relented in the steel toe boot pounding it has been giving to the Game since it started.
Rakham has made entry into the hobby so easy it actually makes Warhammer Fantasy Dwarves cry out in pain, regardless of how bad their rules are written.
I have a total of 5 different games I have to consider bringing into the store, and each one looks like the people who made them actually know the difference between "marketing" and "making your customers hate you for 2 years of record sales".
Right now the state of the Game is good.
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