Buying more shit is also easy.  It’s like I’ve been bellied up to an all-you-can-eat pewter and resin buffet for the better part of 3 years and only now is the final chocolate wafer threatening to end me.  The colossals are my figurative chocolate wafer of doom.

It would appear that I’ll have 3 of these things to buy after July while still planning on getting the Trollkin Battle Wagon this month.  Looking at the sagging  Shame Shelf ™, I’ve realized I need an intervention.

Last year at this time I was very productive, cranking out finished Troll models with the combined motivators of the slow grow league and SA oaths.  This year I have no such motivation, so I have to invent a new one with the overall goals of first reducing my backlog and then slowing the rate of acquisition.  It was pretty simple:

For every point value in models (and this works across all of my games) that I wish to purchase, I will need to complete twice that many points in painted models.  So, if I really want a Wagon, I’ll need to paint 18 points worth of backlogged stuff.  Based on the information on Colossals, I’ll have to paint upwards of 40 points of models to justify purchasing one.  So, with all of those 120 mm based models I want, my total completion requirement will be ~140 points.

I start tonight.

DICE is running an official Only in Battlefield video contest, collecting pure, distilled BF nuttiness.  After a couple of games on Sunday, I started to wonder if I shouldn’t start capturing some of my matches…

• On Caspian Border, RU side, I flew my Flanker a little too close to the US spawn and got lit up by the LAV-AA.  Bailing out of my burning plane, I just happened to be right above the antenna point, currently controlled by the US.  I hoped to land on one of the higher platforms, but missed, instead drifting to one about mid way up the tower.  To my surprise, I landed right behind an enemy recon and his spawn beacon.  Taking them both out, I proceeded to clear rocky area around the point with my M16 RDS (hard to do at that range), and then parachuted down to capture the point.
• On Wake Island, RU side, I found myself defending the Beach point first as an Engineer and then as Assault.  The point was hotly contested, a slightly damaged Viper raining down death.  As it pulled away and flew low along the coast to break locks, I blind-fired an RPG at it’s retreating tail.  The Viper slewed back into the rocket’s trajectory at the last second, killing pilot and gunner.
• In the same match, at the same point, a competent Venom pilot was circling the Beach, shredding people on the ground and dropping troops to capture.  On the first pass I pumped an M320 round into the cabin, killing a gunner, and as soon as I reloaded, fired another into it’s guts, netting a triple kill.  The Venom flipped into the water and one lone survivor swam from the wreck.  I made sure he didn’t make it to shore.
• Again, same match (!), a daring F-35 pilot hovered over the RU landing field, tearing stuff up with his guns.  Unbelievably, I was able to pump a grenade into his cockpit, killing him and destroying the jet.

After a while, all Battlefield matches begin to feel predictable.  However, it’s moments like these that remind me why I’ve loved this series for close to a decade.

I’d say that 2011 was a good year.  Everyone in the Gow clan is healthy and (generally) happy, I got a new job with a substantial pay increase, and our overall financial situation improved drastically after adjusting our lifestyle.  But, of course, this blog isn’t about all that real life stuff.  No, no, no: there’s nerding to talk about.

Things with 3 in the Title

The bloom is most certainly not off the rose for 2011’s BF3, but my approach to the game has changed.  Other than a couple of the BoK assignments that I need to complete, I’ve unlocked pretty much everything and can swap around my class role and strategy at will.  So, I’m focusing on achieving the 5 service star (500 kills) mastery tags for each weapon in the game.  Yes, it will take a while, but it’s fun to run with a new gun and learn it inside and out before I retire it.  BF3 is having to learn to share time with The Old Republic (which doesn’t have 3 in the title, but can technically be considered KoToR 3).  More on that in a future post.

The coming March are two additional, very important #3s: Max Payne 3 and Mass Effect 3.  The former is one of my favourite bullet opera style game series ever and the latter caps my favourite “rpg” of the last few years.  As long as MP3 captures the same mood and pacing of the originals, and ME3 concludes the trilogy in an appropriately epic manner, I’ll be more than satisfied.

But, but… the Little Mens!  What of Them?

I closed out 2011 by wining the year-ending league, finally getting a 2nd coin for my cabinet after too long an interval.  The credit scored me Boomhowler and Co., who I’m learning to make good use of.

I’ve decided that 2012 will be the year of the underdog, the downtrodden and the greedy.  Cygnar’s going to be shelved for a while in favour of Mercenaries and Trollbloods.  The reasons are many (which I’ll probably explain in a future State of Warmahordes post), but generally, they haven’t seen as much time on the table as the Swans.  Don’t get me wrong, I still love the blue and gold, but until the Wrath ‘jacks come out there’s something… lacking with them.

Over the holiday break, I was able to glut myself on vidja games, but it’s time to return to the painting table.  I’ve got so much primed, it shouldn’t be too hard to find something to work on, even if my pace can’t match the output I achieved in 2011 with the slow grow league and oathing.  A solo here, a ‘jack there; eventually my cabinet will start to fill up again.

The Dueling Grounds scene has gotten a shot in the arm with a bunch of new (and returning) players bolstering our Thursday nights.  Consequently, our meta has changed significantly with new perspectives and tactics showing up.  It’s very similar to last year’s slow grow league when we topped out (very temporarily, sadly) at 22 players.  We’re not at those levels yet, but if the first 2012 Shattered Grounds league is well advertised (hint, hint Pressganger Brian) we could achieve a solid player base to carry through the year.

The Fate of the Tabletop

Our little group of aging nerds has been playing D&D 4E since near the release of this edition.  I gave up DMing due to a lack of time and handed it over to Stu.  He’s doing a great job and I imagine it’s difficult to maintain the thread of the plot when we play so infrequently.  However, upon hearing that Wizards (Hasbro) is about to take 4E (or, more specifically, the Essentials version of 4E) back behind the shed and kill it off in favour of a pseudo-crowdsourced 5th edition only four years into it’s life, I’ma  little disillusioned as to whether the franchise can be saved.

I get the impression that this is beyond mere beta-testing and more akin to focus-gouping.  Any sane mind knows that this doesn’t work too well if you want quality in the TV or movie realm, and I can’t imagine this being too successful with the inherent divisiveness of RPGers to begin with.  I, for instance, was disappointed with the underwhelming nature of DnD’s web tools, yet I acknowledge that they’re critical for any future PnP game’s success.  I paid absolutely no attention to the Essentials revisions of 4E, and was disappointed that they abandoned support for their niche worlds (Eberron and Dark Sun) in favour of returning time and time again to the (IMHO) tired Forgetten Realms setting.  If the publisher isn’t interested in developing and evolving their worlds via narrative, I tend to lose interest quickly.  Forward momentum is important to me becasue I have more time to read the game fluff than to actually play.

So, what’s the alternative?  There’s always Pathfinder, the D20 “3.75″ ruleset which, rumour has it, is now outselling DnD, but I’d rather get in on the ground floor of a setting I’m already familiar with.  The new Iron Kingdom RPG, set in the same world as Warmahordes with proprietary system, looks like a good candidate.  I’m thinking a mercenary based game with focus on the Khadoran occupation of Llael…

SW:TOR has it’s hooks in me.

Disclaimer: this review only covers my experience playing one character to 16th level during the early access period.

Graphics and Presentation

I’ll preface this section by mentioning that I just built a gaming-spec PC 2 months ago, so things run very smoothly.  This is, of course, aided by the fact that the game’s streamlined (I’m resisting the term “cartoony”) style isn’t very demanding.  On High settings, I’m pleased with the relative lack of texture pop-in, long draw distances and shadowing.  Areas are cohesive in their design and vastly impressive when they need to be.  The approach to the massive  Dark Temple on Dromund Kass, for example, is awe-inspiring due to it’s looming bulk, backlit by the world’s ever-present lightning storms.

Character designs, either PCs or NPCs, are generally distinguishable from one another even though there aren’t very many different body types to choose from. Skin colouration and often ridiculous facial hair choices (muttonchops are everywhere) easily differentiate characters.  As I’ve gotten beyond the starting worlds now, the diversity of outfits is getting really interesting.  I haven’t seen anyone with quite the same look as my guy.  I just need to get a picture of his new, dumb looking helmet…

The greatest improvement I’ve seen is the fact that every quest, every major plot point and multi-player instance is voice-acted.  Add in the standard 2-3 available response wheel like in every Bioware game, and you have an very immerse experience.

UI

No complaints here.  Perhaps it just needs a little more freedom to customize.  I also feel limited in my available ability quickslots, but perhaps I don’t really need all of them all the time.  Anyone who’s spent anytime in an MMO will adapt to the scheme pretty well I think.  I think I’ll prefer using something like Skype to co-ordinate group play instead of the chat.  Just showing my age.

Story and Background

1.  Metaplot

The Old Republic is set 300 years after the events in Bioware’s now-classic Knights of the Old Republic.  The galaxy is (once again) in turmoil thanks to the usual enmity between the Sith and the Republic.  A treaty has created an uneasy detente between the two factions not unlike the Cold War: all out war has ceased (for now) and the sides have retreated (somewhat) to plan their next move.  Conflict exists on a smaller scale, but the stakes are still very high.

2.  Theme

Bioware has done an excellent job of adapting TOR to the overall plot of the Old Republic era.  I’ve always preferred this timeframe to the “modern” setting.  It seems to take all the good world-building stuff that Lucas did and leave out his terrible, terrible writing.  There’s even callbacks to KOTOR: one notable set of quests on Dromund Kass involves a Revanite cult.  A certain important piece of KOTOR lore turns up here as well…

Again, like in KOTOR, the game plays around with the dark/light dichotomy.  Even within the Sith there are different schools of philosophy fighting for dominance during a time of great instability.  This makes for a variety of quest types that never start to feel old.

3.  Character

Ultimately, TOR is about YOUR character.  Sure, everyone choosing the same class gets the same story, but with 8 classes and slots to fill up, it still feels like it was made just for you.  My Mercenary, Acheron, is going dark side, and has already done some horrible things in the name of credits, while at the same time maintaining a good relationship with his companion, Mako.  She’s not the cold-blooded murderer Acheron is, but I envision he’s simply paying lip service to her becasue she’s useful, not becasue he actually has any sympathy for her or her dead mentor.

Gameplay

Over the years, MMOs have gotten away from the useless timesinks of their early days: harsh death penalties, repetitive crafting, slow travel and excessive recovery downtime.  I swear, 75% of the time I spent with my EQ monk was spent sitting and meditating, recovering from my most recent (read: every) near death encounter.  Downtime happens in TOR, but certain game mechanics make it far less arduous.

1.  Combat

Fighting is smooth and engaging.  I’m not playing the most complex character and have little experience grouping, but combat flows well and deaths happen rarely unless you’re not paying attention to what the game is telling you (yes, there is a difference between elite and non-elite enemies of the same level - found that out the hard way).

2.  Companions

They do the crafting and (most) of the resource gathering for you.  Everyone can craft now without spending time “out of the world” (as it were) staring at a crafting screen.  They can be outfitted like PCs and carry their weight in combat.  They have personalities and plotlines.  There is no downside to them that I can see so far.

3.  Grouping

Again, I’ve only done this once, but the Black Talon flashpoint is great intro to group dynamics.  The instances feel like special “episodes” of content outside of group quest lines, little nuggets of metaplot intruding on your “single-player” experience.  The grouping interface is intuitive and speedy, again reducing downtime.  Mind you, this is probably better done with people you know, like everything else in life.

Is SW:TOR worth it?  I’d say, at this point, yes.  I’ve yet to experience much in the way of space combat, more flashpoints, PvP or raiding, but if the game is able to maintain the same quality as the first chapter of my character’s experience, I’ll b e in for the long haul.

Here’s the primary reason.

No other game draws me in like the Battlefield series.  Even when I have a really bad round, I always come running back like a beaten puppy.  Not to say I have bad rounds that often; my stats are the best I’ve ever had since BF1942.   With the Back to Karkand expansion dropping on the 13th, even more time will be sacrificed on the alter of Rush and Conquest.

Add to that Skyrim.  On top of that, add the inbound Old Republic MMO dropping on the 20th (or sooner).  Oh, and I got into the Tribes: Ascend beta yesterday.  I don’t think I’ve videogamed this much and painted so little in the 3 years I’ve been Warmahordsing.

I felt the painting urge last night.  Hopefully that bodes well for the future.

A week in and I feel it has many of the hallmarks of the previous games of the series, one which I’ve been playing consistently for almost a decade.  It remains to be seen, however, if some of the game play changes will engender the longevity of this instalment.

Want to join the most awesomest platoon in the entire world.  If you’re playing it on PC (and, honestly, why would you ever play a BF game on console?), apply here and tell me where you saw the link!

Here’s a fun retrospective on the history of the series.  So many good memories.

From Warmachine

From Warmachine

From Warmachine

By the time I got down to the crew I was ready to throw in the towel.  However, not only does it look amazing on the table and in my cabinet, it does exactly what it’s supposed to do on the tabletop.  Of course, it was destroyed early in the game, but not before frying a ton on Kayazy, Doom Reavers and support solos. eHaley’s Storm Bringers theme list is amazing, even at tier 3.

I’m taking a Warmahordes break and painting up some of my long neglected Malifaux models.  Since Twisting Fates came out, introducing the amazing Avatar rules, I’m concentrating on Sonia Criid and a pack of Witchlings, with an eye towards justifying the purchase of Sonia’s Avatar of Conflagration.  They’re coming along quickly, so I might actually have them done in week or so, if I can tear myself away from the BF3 beta.

So… FAST!

We got tired of being overcharged for our home Bell line, considering we got more use out of our cellphones.  Our 5meg max DSL line (which, although great through Teksavvy) never lived up to it’s maximum speeds.  Reliable, yes, but sluggish, and not suitable for the ever increasing size of downloadable media.  So, we took the plunge, killed off our home line and subscribed to the DSL 25 service over a dry-loop from Teksavvy.

Shock of shocks, the installer came and did his thing, and it worked out of the box.  Oh, and how it works!  My jaw dropped when I ran a speedtest and25Mbps popped up.

This is what the internet should be.  This is what we paid (via taxes) for when it comes to internet infrastructure.  The better ping was an added bones, and will pay off handsomely in 5 weeks or so…

Also so FAST… and SMOOTH!

On top of this, I sacrificed my anniversary, birthday and Xmas presents on the altar of a PC upgrade.  It simply had to be done.  Usually, I build my PCs, but this time, to save myself the aggravation and terror-sweats of fiddling with delicate computer innards, I went through NCIX.  I picked out my parts, did some research, got a price match, and for only $50 had them assemble it for me.  They shipped it out and it worked right out of the box.  I only had to install the video card (they suggested it be shipped separately to avoid damage).  I highly recommend them for anyone looking for new system but wants to save some time on the build process.

The rough specs: Intel i5 quadcore, Nvidia 560 TI superclocked video card, 8 GB RAM, 1 TB drive and a Cooler Master case (they even upgraded me to the blue glowey intake fan).

Running Bad Company 2 on this is like night and day.  It’s so smooth and detailed that it’s genuinely improved my game.  This bodes well.

Deus Ex: Human Revolution

In honour of the coming of the PC, I bought DE:HR to put it through it’s paces.  The original Deus Ex has become one of those legendary games, fondly remembered as having both excellent, free-roaming RPG elements and an involving story and atmosphere.  HR is just like the original, it hits all the same (and right) gameplay notes that pulled me in more than a decade ago.  It’s a long, involving, single-player campaign that I can really sink my teeth into.  Very nourishing.

The Fan  Expo Team / Theme Tournament Experience

Overall, it was a good experience.  Sure, Team Avalanche got it’s shit pushed in, but I got to play games against entirely new opponents from across Southern Ontario (and beyond).  I am sad that I couldn’t do Masters (my chance may come next year).  The armies on display were absolutely gorgeous and the atmosphere was upbeat and positive.  here’s a few shots from the Tourney and around the convention floor:

Prizes!  None of them to be ours!  Not even the apple…

From Fan Expo 2011

Team Avalanche assembled. I’m quite proud of the display board, even if it was all for naught.

From Fan Expo 2011

Team Heaven and Hell (I believe). Amazing work, and I’m dying to know where they got the little tombs.

From Fan Expo 2011

In my opinion, the best kind of cosplay is obscure cosplay. The woman in the centre really caught my eye (I honestly didn’t even register her friends until I looked at the photo afterwards). She’s dressed as General Kala from the 1980 Flash Gordon movie.

From Fan Expo 2011

The talented and very personable Jill Thompson. I’ve been enjoying her work since The Invisibles and Sandman, and now the kids are enjoying her Scary Godmother and Magic Trixie books and videos.

From Fan Expo 2011

Real Life Events and Semi-Related Hobby Stuff

It’s that time of year again: birthdays galore, helping the girl-child with homework and carrying on with the various responsibilities of family life.  As such, hobby output has slowed.  I have finished the command trench, and have made great… um… strides with the Storm Strider.  I pledge to have it done by my next trip to Dueling Grounds on the 29th (this I vow!).

I have, however, come to a couple of sobering realizations.  First, things are only going to get busier from here on out.  Second, I may need a car, which, of course, necessitates learning how to drive.  I’ve been very vocal in my belief that it’s possible to do everything one needs to do in Toronto using transit, biking or just plain walking.  However, as much as I hate to admit it, the GTA sprawl offers more than just those areas easily reachable along my home / work / FLGS axis.  I still balk at the expense of owning and driving a car, but it will become a necessity as the kids want to take on more extra-curricular activities.  Maybe this is my true midlife crisis coming to fore.  I don’t want a fancy car, but I want a fuel-efficient, inexpensive and overall easy way of getting around.  Farther around, I should say, than where I go now.

The nerdy side benefit is that I could now venture farther afield in my gaming pursuits, perhaps even switching up my “home” FLGS.  There’s one straight up the road from me in Markham that would take 20 minutes to drive to, but an hour to reach by transit.  that’s similar to what I do now travelling across the entire city to game at DG, except that driving there wouldn’t be much better.

So, I think I’ll have to give up may resistance to such the polluting, wasteful, archaic internal combustion engine conveyance (seeing as a true electric car still isn’t on the market).  I’m already looking into getting my learner’s permit and checking out driving schools in the area.  Giving up on 25 years worth of opinionated resistance is hard.  Perhaps we’ll get one of those Volvos that the Hingston family is so fond of.

On another front, it appears that after 7 years of owning our scruffy little house we will finally have the entire abode to ourselves.  Careful fiscal management (HAH!) and a vacated basement apartment means that we’ll gain a bedroom (for Mel and I) and, after some work, a much larger family room.  The kids will have their own rooms (which will hopefully reduce some of the sibling rivalry squabbling that’s doing my head in), and I’ll have the space to set up an honest to goodness collapsible gaming table.  I don’t want to become a basement gamer per se (the whole point of Warmachine was to get me out of the house), but it’ll be a good alternative when life gets busy).

Robots!… er Rebots….

My Aleph force came together nicely, even though i the better part of a day to assemble them.  The Dakini Tacbots have separate arm vanes and shin-pads for crissakes.

From Infinity

Here’s my test model Asura rocking the Heather Hudson look.  Some touch-ups still required.

From Infinity

From Infinity

Why Can’t I Fit This Thing Together?

Answer: because the Storm Strider has too many left legs and not enough right legs.  And it was all going so well…  So much for getting it done for play in September.  However, I did get the Storm Tower and Blaize assembled, and began work on this thing:

From Warmachine

This is a command trench for the Wrath release event.  Unfortunately, I can’t make it to the one at the Hobby Kingdom in Burlington next weekend, but I’m hoping that I can go to a tentative one at Heroes World in September.  Next steps here are to add some wood filler to muddy up the trench floor and pack in around the stakes.  Even if I don’t use it, I’ll still have a nice piece of terrain that I didn’t have previously.  I’m realy starting to enjoy this new aspect of my hobby.

After returning to my beloved Cygnar for the past couple of months (and doing pretty damn well with them), it’s time to get serious.  Team Tournament serious.  August will be dedicated to getting back into the swing of playing Trollbloods in the run up to Fan Expo.

For those who don’t know, the Team Tournament at Fan Expo (detailed here) is a rather unique format.  Alternating turns between players, not teams, changes the dynamic of how Warmahordes is usually played quite dramatically.  It’s much harder to assist your teammate in setting up effective synergies while your opponents have, in some cases, two turns to react.  Non-faction buffs are limited in effeciveness for one half of the team.  We’ll have to choose very carefully who takes the lead depending on opposition, scenario, terrain etc.  I look forward to the challenge.

I’ll be running the following:

This is very similar to the Slow Grow list I ran earlier in the year, but upgrades the EBDT for Mulg and removes support solos that, frankly, didn’t bring that much to the table.  I will miss the whelps, but hope that Mulg’s natural resiliency, backed up by the Stone, will see him through.  This is a Runes of War Tier 3 list, so the Runeshapers are cheaper and I get the benefit of initial fury placed on the Stone and a free stone wall.  I don’t want to spoil my partner Rob’s list just yet, but he’s running an Absylonia Theme that adds a layer of speed, precision and added denial to the team.

So, why themes?  Well, it’s part of the tourney rules actually.  For the first time in my recollection this event will have a soft scores attached.  Fully painted, theme, overall theme and a nice display board are all considered.  To that end, as I hunger for a trophy / prize money, I’ve been hard at work:

From Warmachine

From Warmachine

From Warmachine

From Warmachine

From Warmachine

From Warmachine

From Warmachine

Save for the bizarre bleed through of pen markings into the snow which need to be addressed, the board is complete.  I’ve never worked on a terrain project like this before, but I’m really, really pleased with it.  I’ve got the urge to make more for home use, and feel much more confident in my skills.  I can’t wait to see what it looks like with Rob’s models on there as well.

Stomp, Stomp, ZAAAAPPPPP

How could I say no to this:

From Warmachine

I had intended to start focusing on my many other neglected games, but this thing is just too awesome to let languish.  So, although I’m not oathing it, I hope to have it done for play in September.  That and the Storm Tower, which are components of the awesome eHaley theme list found in the new No Quarter (although I can’t find the actual magazine anywhere in downtown TO.