Reasons for “Living”: New! Meat!
August 21, 2008
It’s been a good week: starting off with session two of our DnD game and culminating in one of those “what the hell have I gotten myself into” moments as detailed below.
- Played a bit of the TF2 Heavy update last night, sampling Arena mode and the new payload map. The former I’m very meh about, but the latter is fantastically fun and surprising complex despite the original description of Badwater Basin. Lots of vertical space, challenging choke points and it flows well. Ended up with two of the Heavy achievements (Iron Curtain and Heavy Industry) with the help of a pair of good engies. Oh, and for those who used the unlocker for the achievements and unlocks: you people suck the fun out of anything good.
- I have many reasons to criticize Games Workshop (a post unto itself), but their 40k fluff and quality of design is unmatched in the industry. I was thinking of getting back into painting minis after a decade and a half, and decided to go a different route (see below), but the more I see of Dawn of War II the more I want to play it. Tyranids are in and they look fantastic. I suck at RTS games but have loved Relic since Homeworld. This plus 40k will probably result in a PC upgrade in the new year. Oh, and it’s coming via Steam as well!
- Looks like EA/Activision/Red Octane/Harmonix/The Rand Corporation/whoever have buried the hatchet and have agreed to allow all fake plastic instruments to work with everyone else’s fake plastic instrument games. They’ve even gone to lengths to make the software detect different peripheral configurations and adapt gameplay to it. If I were a betting man, I’d wager that Microsoft demanded that everyone get along, as cross-game compatibility is in everyone’s best interest, especially if your interest is in boatloads of filthy lucre. Kudos to Harmonix (as usual) for stating that they don’t agree with the trend of signing bands to exclusivity deals.
- My “what the hell have I done” moment came with the realization that I was (re)starting another, potentially very expensive, nerd hobby: miniatures collecting and painting. After much internal debate, I settled on Privateer Press’ Warmachine over GW’s Warhammer 40K, partly for aesthetic reasons, but also for financial ones. I have no idea how long it’s going to paint my Cygnar and Khador Battlegroups, much less where or with whom I’m going to play Warmachine but, in for a penny, in for a pound, as they say. If anything, it may get me out of the house a couple of Sundays a month to go play casually or in a league, such as at this place. Small steps first: have to paint the dudes I have first and then think about bolstering their ranks to the 500 and 1000 point army mark.
Written by kingmob | Filed under: Reasons for "Living" |
My “what the hell have I done” moment came with the realization that I was (re)starting another, potentially very expensive, nerd hobby: miniatures collecting and painting. After much internal debate, I settled on Privateer Press’ Warmachine over GW’s Warhammer 40K
Um…serendipity? I wasn’t expecting to read that…but I um…just set my mind on doing the same thing. Joyce has allowed me the ability to purchase a number of figs. I had settled on WH40K because I really enjoy the background “fluff”. That is terrifying that both of us have decided to start the same hobby within a few weeks of each other. I like the Warmachine aesthetic too, played the RPG with Matt R a few times and the Warjack figs are definitely cheaper and you need less of them to field an army.
As to Dawn of War II I have all of the games, and have been playing them over the last month. If interested I can make them available.
For a price!! Just kidding.
Oops - meant I have all of Dawn of War - not Dawn of War II - my bad