So it's been a few weeks since I've made a blog entry. It's the holidays, what can you do? Since this blog is ostensibly about our efforts in trying to build a local WM/H community, this entry is going to mostly be my thoughts on where we are and maybe some reasons why. No strategies and painting in this entry.
Anubys and I have been unable to get another demo/game day scheduled due to the seasonal business on both our parts. I did, however play a game with my cousin who had not yet tried Warmachine or Hordes. He's interested enough to start buying his own models once he settles on a faction. He and I have gamed together alot over the years. I wasn't sure if he was interested in the modeling aspect of the game, turns out that's not an issue for him. It seems to be for most people, though.
For those who find modeling to be a major obstruction for them to play I think I'm going to start suggesting that they play WM. The inorganic, manufactured design of jacks is far easier to glue together than are the living, organic bodies of beasts. At least that has been my experience. Ultimately, though, I've found several people who are turned off by the price. I know (and I can assume if you are reading this that you do too) that relative to the "other" major wargame that uses similar materials that WM/H is a more cost-friendly game than is GW. Maybe not always on a model to model comparison, but factoring in what is considered as "standard" pointed army you don't *have* to spend nearly as much as GW will lead you to believe (but c'mon, new models are so much fun).
When you compare a minis wargame to any board game, even a top-dollar board game like Fantasy Flight's "Starcraft", which retails for $90, it's not always an easy sell. Ninety bucks gets you a complete game for up to six people (for the record my wife knows not how much I spent on Starcraft OR WM/H). Don't get me wrong. I'm not complaining about how much WM costs, at least not any more than I will the cost of anything else these days. But it's a reality I'm facing the more I approach people I thought were "gamers", but am beginning to realize that they are now people who sometimes game. I don't and will never blame them. Sometimes life just does that to people.
Hopefully we will have another game day in January. MkII will hopefully be out officially by then. I'd really like to be able to tout a shiny new edition at that time. Right now my objective is still to attract the disparate occasional players and get out there and play like we all have a pair. When the 40K guys see us claiming victory by chucking our opponents casters/locks over cliffs they'll know we aren't screwing around.
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
My Trollbloods Gallery
My affinity for painting started back in 1996 but I never made it a hobby until earlier this year. I would bring the minis out as well as the crafting paints I got from Wal-Mart every few years and dabble. I really started making an effort to improve my painting skill about a month before I took up MW/H.
Here is my Trollblood warpack. I don't have anything else from this faction painted up yet. I took up Protectorate after picking them up at GenCon earlier this year. I figured with MkII being the new iteration of the system I was better off just taking up my Warmachine army earlier. But now that the field test of HMkII is out, I'm going back to my kriel.
My plan is to one day strip Madrak and redo him. I was very frustrated at the time I was painting him and didn't have the patience to do his detail justice. It functions fine enough as it is for gaming, but it drives me nuts knowing I didn't really even try.
The rest of the trolls were actually done prior to Madrak. I'm posting them in the order I painted them so you can see the "progression". The Impalers were primed white, which prompted me to prime the Axer black. I was much more pleased with how that turned out.
I'll post my Protectorate stuff next. I haven't finished the battlebox yet, but I've painted some unit leaders and solos.
Here is my Trollblood warpack. I don't have anything else from this faction painted up yet. I took up Protectorate after picking them up at GenCon earlier this year. I figured with MkII being the new iteration of the system I was better off just taking up my Warmachine army earlier. But now that the field test of HMkII is out, I'm going back to my kriel.
My plan is to one day strip Madrak and redo him. I was very frustrated at the time I was painting him and didn't have the patience to do his detail justice. It functions fine enough as it is for gaming, but it drives me nuts knowing I didn't really even try.
The rest of the trolls were actually done prior to Madrak. I'm posting them in the order I painted them so you can see the "progression". The Impalers were primed white, which prompted me to prime the Axer black. I was much more pleased with how that turned out.
I'll post my Protectorate stuff next. I haven't finished the battlebox yet, but I've painted some unit leaders and solos.
Monday, November 23, 2009
Building a Local Warmachine Community
There is no real Warmachine community where I live. And it sucks. I would love to play against different people, make new friends, and participate in leagues or tournaments. I get along very well with the local Press Ganger, and we play when we can (adult schedules and all). Having never been part of an organized gaming community, I find myself wanting more and more to be part of something like that. Sure, I could find myself back in the caressing, torturous arms of Magic: The Gathering or the cold indifference of Games Workshop. With either of those I could have my organized play tomorrow. But...well, I'm not rich.
Earlier this year I was contacted by a reasonably local Press Ganger (Anubys on the PP forums) who had found my post looking for local players. Since then we've played several games and talked alot about how to try and get a community going. Our local game store has three full racks of Warmachine/Hordes. Someone has to be buying it!
Well, this last weekend Anubys ran a demo/game day at the store we normally meet at. We played a 50 point MkII game while in the corner there was some huge 6-7 player 40K scenario going on. It was an odd phenomenon. Several of the 40K players found themselves wandering over to our table while others where taking their turns. And while none of them actually played the demo, they were pretty interested in what was going on at our table. It seemed like none of them had actually seen WM being played before. In some of those cases it was sheer curiosity, but not all. There where sparks of genuine interest.
A bit later three guys came up to the table, eyes wide. They seemed really surprised at the fact that we were playing WM. They all had models of some quantity at home, from the starter boxes to more full collections. We had begun to find the people who play the game!
Emails where exchanged and all of that. And that's good. But I think what we discovered is that it's not enough to stock the game. It's not even enough to like the game. You have to be out there with it. It really is an "if you build it they will come" scenario. But you have to build it in their backyard, not yours.
They key, from now on, is going to be visibility. Anubys and I might very well become "Anubys and I +3" very soon. And the more space we take up while they are playing...whatever it is they play, the harder it is going to be to ignore WM. And once they get that first taste...the game will take care of the rest.
And it helps that Privateer Press isn't cold and indifferent.
As things develop I hope to update this blog and talk about the strategies we come up with to try and get the game out there. I'll also talk about what works, what doesn't, and why I think we get the results we get. Hopefully someone, or a couple of someones out there can take something away from this and can use the info in building a local WM community where they live.
Earlier this year I was contacted by a reasonably local Press Ganger (Anubys on the PP forums) who had found my post looking for local players. Since then we've played several games and talked alot about how to try and get a community going. Our local game store has three full racks of Warmachine/Hordes. Someone has to be buying it!
Well, this last weekend Anubys ran a demo/game day at the store we normally meet at. We played a 50 point MkII game while in the corner there was some huge 6-7 player 40K scenario going on. It was an odd phenomenon. Several of the 40K players found themselves wandering over to our table while others where taking their turns. And while none of them actually played the demo, they were pretty interested in what was going on at our table. It seemed like none of them had actually seen WM being played before. In some of those cases it was sheer curiosity, but not all. There where sparks of genuine interest.
A bit later three guys came up to the table, eyes wide. They seemed really surprised at the fact that we were playing WM. They all had models of some quantity at home, from the starter boxes to more full collections. We had begun to find the people who play the game!
Emails where exchanged and all of that. And that's good. But I think what we discovered is that it's not enough to stock the game. It's not even enough to like the game. You have to be out there with it. It really is an "if you build it they will come" scenario. But you have to build it in their backyard, not yours.
They key, from now on, is going to be visibility. Anubys and I might very well become "Anubys and I +3" very soon. And the more space we take up while they are playing...whatever it is they play, the harder it is going to be to ignore WM. And once they get that first taste...the game will take care of the rest.
And it helps that Privateer Press isn't cold and indifferent.
As things develop I hope to update this blog and talk about the strategies we come up with to try and get the game out there. I'll also talk about what works, what doesn't, and why I think we get the results we get. Hopefully someone, or a couple of someones out there can take something away from this and can use the info in building a local WM community where they live.
Welcome to the Invasion
Hello and thank you for taking a minute to read the first post of my new blog; Invasion: IK. I'm a pretty new player to the Warmachine/Hordes world. A friend and I bought our first Hordes models back in February of 2007. We played once or twice proxying in some D&D Minis before life kind of took us away from the game.
Earlier this year (2009) I found myself needing to fill my free time with a hobby that wasn't World of Warcraft. I also was wanted to get involved in some kind of regular group or community gaming activity. I knew that 40K was huge at a local game store and found myself researching that game and playing a demo or two. In late May I realized that I just couldn't justify the financial requirements that 40K makes just to field a standard sized army, let alone a good one. After remembering those Hordes models in my basement I gave up on the idea of playing 40K and began searching for local WM/H players. All I really found was a Press Ganger who lived 40 or so miles away. Fortunately for us, the local game store that actively stocks WM/H is about halfway between the two of us.
Since then I switched my focus from that Trollblood warpack to developing my Protectorate collection. I have so much that I want from all kinds of factions, but for now Menoth is my primary and with the Hordes MkII info being released I may take another look at my trolls.
Outside of painting and gaming, I want to also focus on community building with the blog. There is yet to be a coherent WM community in my local area. With the proper release of MkII looming just past the horizon, my new friend and I are looking to bring the few occasional players some encouragement in coming together and forming a community. We are also hoping to make some inroads with some of the local GW players as well as bring in those who might have never played any tabletop wargames before.
This will be my first hand account of the Invasion.
Earlier this year (2009) I found myself needing to fill my free time with a hobby that wasn't World of Warcraft. I also was wanted to get involved in some kind of regular group or community gaming activity. I knew that 40K was huge at a local game store and found myself researching that game and playing a demo or two. In late May I realized that I just couldn't justify the financial requirements that 40K makes just to field a standard sized army, let alone a good one. After remembering those Hordes models in my basement I gave up on the idea of playing 40K and began searching for local WM/H players. All I really found was a Press Ganger who lived 40 or so miles away. Fortunately for us, the local game store that actively stocks WM/H is about halfway between the two of us.
Since then I switched my focus from that Trollblood warpack to developing my Protectorate collection. I have so much that I want from all kinds of factions, but for now Menoth is my primary and with the Hordes MkII info being released I may take another look at my trolls.
Outside of painting and gaming, I want to also focus on community building with the blog. There is yet to be a coherent WM community in my local area. With the proper release of MkII looming just past the horizon, my new friend and I are looking to bring the few occasional players some encouragement in coming together and forming a community. We are also hoping to make some inroads with some of the local GW players as well as bring in those who might have never played any tabletop wargames before.
This will be my first hand account of the Invasion.
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