short. simple. straws.

when it comes to games, i'm a sucker for ones that take high level concepts and create rules that are simple, easy to learn, and are fun (though not necessarily accurate).

i recently came across this blog entry where a father and daughter create their own miniature wargame. the article is geekily endearing and gives me hope for future generations.

check it out at: http://darrellhardy.com/archives/straw-wars

straws image property of nanley (credit or ask permission, bitches!)

so you say you want a revolution...

over at bell of lost souls, duke (of duke's inferno) has posted this:

the dogma of the wargamer:

1. as a wargamer, i am not owned by one company alone.
2. as a wargamer, i am loyal to excellence in rules sets that encourage balance and fair play. (either in tournaments or in casual play).
3. as a wargamer, i am loyal to excellence in miniature manufacturing.
4. as a wargamer, i am loyal to companies that are fair in pricing.
5. as a wargamer, i am loyal to companies that are accessible and provide me with timely information.
6. as a wargamer, i am loyal to companies that value me as a customer, not a commodity
7. in return, these companies will receive my financial support

and i got a similar feel from an article over at frontline gamer challenging the belief that gw games are the only games in town.

which makes me wonder if we're at the cusp of a new age in miniature wargames. gw recently released an early earnings statement that looks encouraging for them (financially speaking, at least), but locally i've noticed a lot of players moving into other game systems (primarily warmachine/hordes).

i've done it myself, having started warmachine about two years ago, and flames of war this spring. i haven't purchased a toy soldier from games workshop in well over three years.

there seems to be a prevailing attitude that "we will not be your good little consumer anymore", and that makes me hopeful. i see the emerging and increasing popularity of such games as warmachine/hordes, infinity, dust tactics and warfare, dystopian wars, malifaux, and hail caesar! as a great thing. competition is always good for the consumer, and if a particular game system sees a loss in market share then it must improvise, adapt, and overcome (through writing better rules, producing better models, reevaluating pricing structures, etc.) or be left behind.

this is our time. these are our games.


"la liberté guidant le peuple" by eugene delacroix
tinnaman square protest image by jeff widener of the associated press

"brick". it's not just the name of a character from "anchorman".

first, space marine players got this:

then they got this:

now they're getting this:

which has the same aerodynamic properties as this:

and really reminds me of this:

yo joe. 

thunderhawk image property of forgeworld

stormraven image property of games workshop

stormtalon drawing image courtesy of beastsofwar.com

stormtalon wd images courtesy of eldargal on the BOLS forums.

thunderhawk hurr image property of xenite (credit or ask permission, bitches!)

skyhawk image is taken from yojoe.com and is probably originally property of hasbro

 

the answer is " sheer awesomeness".

what do you get when you take three former games workshop employees, give 'em the opportunity to build out their ideal game space, and drop it into the same space where the gw headquarters battle bunker used to be?

good luck, tom, terry, and dan!

little mens in progress

lately i've been swinging back and forth between flames of war and warmachine. after returning from adepticon, i've been on a pretty big warmachine kick. as you can see below, khador has gotten some love...

my goal is to get these man-o-wars finished, based and sealed by this thursday night to roll into battle at chicagoland games. i'll post some finished pics later this week with the other khador stuff i've finished. 

sharp-eyed readers may notice a bit of variation on the green. the sergeant's armor is the final green color for the unit (less a bit of shading and highlights). i'm still basecoating the green on the rest of the squad.

as always feedback is welcome and appreciated. 

well, that was fun - adepticon 2012 recap

this adepticon was the tenth time that gamers in chicagoland had gotten together for one of the biggest gaming celebrations, and it was one helluva anniversary! if you're familiar with adepticon, the photo below will seem old hat. if you've never been, well, this is just the 40k tourney and vendor room

bigger than ever, it pretty much dominated the entire lombard westin hotel from entrance to exit (several arriving wedding parties looked suitably miffed). warhammer 40k, and warhammer were represented by some of the largest tournaments, but other companies like privateer press, battlefront, forge world, wyrd, mantic, armorcast, chessex, and cool mini or not had great booths and were chatting up hobbyists all weekend long.

for all you privateer press fans, here's a couple of peeks at a pair of khadoran colossals taking on a couple of trollblood mountain kings:

more pics coming soon!