The Protectorate Battlebox

I set up this blog almost two months ago and just now I'm getting around to posting pics of my primary faction, Protectorate of Menoth. I'm going to start with the obvious, the battlebox. I bought the battlebox at GenCon last year. I plan on talking about my painting process within the next few articles so for now we'll just say that I take a while.



I finished my first model, the Revenger, sometime in September. I used mostly the P3s that I bought at the Privateer booth with some supplemental metallics I already owned. This was my first experience with what I now know are the infamous P3 metallics. I get home and my pot of Rhulic Gold was a goopy mess.



I just wasn't that impressed with the Revenger, the colors, the paint job, none of it. By the time I got to Kreoss I had made some adjustments to the scheme. The off-white came across as more of a white that I built up from tans and the wine red of the studio scheme had turned more of a typical red. I'm not really big on the bronze/gold family of metallic colors so I opted to paint the armor a golden yellow. I felt better about the actual painting for Kreoss than I did the previous model. But I still didn't care for the colors.



At this point I painted a couple of unit leaders and a solo which I will get to in another article. Then the MKII field test of Hordes came out and I bought a bunch of Trollbloods stuff and put most of it together. It was probably another six weeks before I painted another model.


When I finally got back around to painting it was time for the Repenter. I had given it plenty of thought and I really wanted to ditch those warm browns that I was using for the armor. I also wanted to try and get a colder feel out of the white. I switched the browns to grays, started building up to white from gray, instead of tans. I also decided to make more use of chrome metallics. I began using different shades of red than I had been previously which gives it more of a maroonish red feel than a proper red. I also highlighted the red with a very thin application of Citadel's Warlock Purple which gives the red tones a colder feel. It's more obvious in person than it is in the pic.



There really isn't much to say about the Crusader. I just ported over the techniques and colors I had used for the Repenter and called it a day.








I ended the battlebox on a much higher note than I had started with. A friend of mine had purchased a Crusader, Repenter, and Revenger (and a handful of Choir blisters) in a bargain bin at the FLGS back in Utah. I was able to pick those up from him in trade so I'll get the Revenger right next time. Add to that the new Kreoss sculpt and I'll have a pretty consistent and much better looking battlebox set. It should come in handy for that day when I apply to be a PG.

Our first official Warmachine MKII game day (and other miscellanea)

Well the holidays are well over and it's been over a month since I've posted. I haven't been able to dedicate much of my time over the last few weeks to Warmachine anyhow, so there wouldn't have been anything worth reporting.

I did sell my copy of the World of Warcraft boardgame to a fellow member of the Fear the Boot forum community. It was with that money that I ordered some models online. I got eFeora, Daughters, Bastions, a Redeemer, an Avatar, and a Khador scrap marker onto which I'm going to mount my Avatar so it doesn't seem so puny.

I finally got around to finishing my Protectorate battlebox. It took me several months to really settle on a color scheme I was into. I wish I could have figured that out *before* I already has several models painted. So my Revenger was the first prototype for my scheme. Kreoss, a few unit leaders, and a solo are done in a scheme that I had more or less settled for. And then I found my stride with the Repenter and Crusader. I should get pictures up soon.

I have an extra Revenger still in its packaging that I will paint up in the new scheme as I will do with the new pKreoss sculpt. I want my battlebox to be consistent in the event I ever apply for Press Gangership.

The last thing I want to post about is the recent Warmachine game day we had at our local game store. As I've lamented in previous posts, there isn't much of a Warmachine/Hordes community in my area. As it turns out there were a few people just waiting for MKII to be released. I'm not going to say that yesterday's game day went gangbusters or anything, but there was some improvement. One of our objectives with scheduling the game day just a bit over a week after MKII's release was to get some synergy going and try to create a bit of a buzz. We were hoping to get the attention of those who had played and were still interested but were just waiting to see if there was going to be some kind of local support for MKII.

We had three people show up who either had never come to a Warmachine game day before, or hadn't been to one in a year or more. I do have to qualify that by saying that two of those three weren't able to stay very long and didn't come to play. They came to see what we were up to. Not only that one of them said that his teenage sons (also players) already had plans that day, but are otherwise available. They also said that they have been working on some of their friends to play.

The other guy did come to play and with only three of us there to play WM, we played my first three-way game. It was a Cryx vs. Cygnar vs. Menoth assassination game that I decidedly did not win. I really didn't care though.

Needless to say that it was a day that presented a lot of potential. My idea for the long term is still that visibility is key to bringing new blood in. That kind of visibility is going to require the converted to get out there and be seen. Now that we can establish a small list of active players I think that we can get the kind of visibility we are looking for. And if nothing else we were able to see a few more current players get together and play the game, and if that's all that comes out of this, if that becomes the status quo...I'll be happy with that too.

Obstacles to Attracting New Players

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.

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.

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.

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.