I am not actually talking about those game-sessions that last forever, but instead about games that have a long life with me.
My Swingulairity - which will now undergo a nomenclature change to Mercurialality - ensures that I have to follow a good many games lest I get bored entirely with this "gaming" phenom that routinely eats up large portions of my life. However since I am blessed/cursed with Mercurialality (nee Swingulairity) I can instead shift my focus from one game to the next and simply be completely cash-poor potentially forever.
There are, however, some issues with this. There are games that shine bright but fade fast (VOID? VOR?). There are games that never really make an impact (Heavy Gear and Clan War, despite some heavy investment in both). And then there are evergreen games like Warhammer.
Even though I am gearing up for Hordes and D&D Miniatures at Gen Con (and possibly Rezolution, who knows? Mercurialality!) I spent some time this weekend talking Warhammer with Collett. Collett loves Warhammer like it were his own child, and it's probably the only child he will ever have. Despite the fact that I only play it a few times per year at best, the Warhammer world and its armies keep me coming back year after year.
So as a result of talking with Collett and getting the Warhammer juices flowing (altogether now: ewwww!) I sat down and looked over my armies.
I presently have:
Painted:
2k of Chaos Warriors (Nurgle Themed)
2k of Beastmen
1500 points of Ogre Kingdoms (mostly painted)
2k of Tomb Kings
2k of Empire (although honestly I haven't compared it to the new Empire army book; that number might be way off)
Unpainted:
1k of Dwarves (largely two sets of stuff from the Battle for Skull Pass box)
1k of Dark Elves
Around the end of '06/start of '07 Collett and I planned for a Warhammer campaign, my Tomb Kings versus his Orcs. We played the 1st battle for this campaign as a megabattle up at the Arena. The planned campaign itself never happened due to Collett leaving his employment in Columbia (5 minutes from me) and now working in Rockville. Nevertheless we are talking about playing on June 9th, and perhaps getting in two of the planned Campaign scenarios. Could be fun.
Tuesday, May 29, 2007
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
When lost, just build a house. Then you're home!
I hate losing stuff.
With a collection as...well, large as mine, it's impossible to track with 100% accuracy. I never know where everything is, all the time. I'm happy to loan out books. Given my pathetic reliance on other painters, I know I have portions of my collections - often entire armies - scattered around in the hands of others.
Despite all of this, when I can't find something, it drives me CRAZY. And that's a mighty short trip.
The only upside to this insanity is that it does push me to better organize things. So I spent some time cleaning up my shelving, reordering books, trying to both to improve things for the future as well as find the damn books I'm missing.
They are still missing, of course..... %@%$%#$%%^$%^
With a collection as...well, large as mine, it's impossible to track with 100% accuracy. I never know where everything is, all the time. I'm happy to loan out books. Given my pathetic reliance on other painters, I know I have portions of my collections - often entire armies - scattered around in the hands of others.
Despite all of this, when I can't find something, it drives me CRAZY. And that's a mighty short trip.
The only upside to this insanity is that it does push me to better organize things. So I spent some time cleaning up my shelving, reordering books, trying to both to improve things for the future as well as find the damn books I'm missing.
They are still missing, of course..... %@%$%#$%%^$%^
Wednesday, May 09, 2007
Play the damn game!
This stems from a number of conversations I've had over the past few days.
A lot of the Disorderlies gaming mindset is very "event" driven. We need external motivational factors to get us pointed in a direction. Like Conte said to me the other day, "Well, we're not called the Disorderlies for nothing."
Tournaments, megabattles, storyline events - all of these things are, in fact, great motivators for the group to get armies painted, line up times and places and generally get our largely lazy asses focused for a goal, and that's all very noble in the cause of actually getting together to play.
However...
I think to some degree this mindset has hurt us as much as it has helped. Yes, while a stated goal has helped us wrangle together the largely chaotic and fractured schedules we all keep, it also means that some people feel compelled now only to move for an event.
Basically, if it's not big and showy and flashy, it isn't really enough to capture their attention.
Over the past few months, I've actually been very good about getting regular games in. Despite all of the other things going on in my world, we successfully ran the D&D "Unhallowed" league, I've played several games of 40k, we were having semi-frequent Hordes games, and had a long-discussed Warmachine/Hordes scenario battle.
In short, I've done a lot of gaming.
I really think a lot of the onus of this has been simple: I want to game. I know I'm fickle, and I jump from army to army and game to game faster than some members of the Disorderlies change their undergarments, but you know what? I'm fine with that. I don't give a damn what somewhat else's opinion on the matter is.
So I've scheduled whatever I want to play and for the most part I've stuck to that. The DDM League ran four weeks, interrupted once for me going to play Horrorclix, but beyond that it stuck. It was only four players, but in the end, it would have still worked with only two.
One opponent and me is all I need for a game. Yes, I imagine I would get bored playing the same person forever. So far, that hasn't been an issue, and I don't imagine it will. But I don't need an event to pique my interest. I don't need to give myself the headache of wrangling as much of the Disorderlies as I get together just for me to have a good time - in fact, honestly, wrangling the Disorderlies is about an unfun as I can think of. We are busy, disparate people, and it's too damn much like herding malevolent cats on crack sometimes.
That might be an oxymoron. But it works.
A lot of the Disorderlies gaming mindset is very "event" driven. We need external motivational factors to get us pointed in a direction. Like Conte said to me the other day, "Well, we're not called the Disorderlies for nothing."
Tournaments, megabattles, storyline events - all of these things are, in fact, great motivators for the group to get armies painted, line up times and places and generally get our largely lazy asses focused for a goal, and that's all very noble in the cause of actually getting together to play.
However...
I think to some degree this mindset has hurt us as much as it has helped. Yes, while a stated goal has helped us wrangle together the largely chaotic and fractured schedules we all keep, it also means that some people feel compelled now only to move for an event.
Basically, if it's not big and showy and flashy, it isn't really enough to capture their attention.
Over the past few months, I've actually been very good about getting regular games in. Despite all of the other things going on in my world, we successfully ran the D&D "Unhallowed" league, I've played several games of 40k, we were having semi-frequent Hordes games, and had a long-discussed Warmachine/Hordes scenario battle.
In short, I've done a lot of gaming.
I really think a lot of the onus of this has been simple: I want to game. I know I'm fickle, and I jump from army to army and game to game faster than some members of the Disorderlies change their undergarments, but you know what? I'm fine with that. I don't give a damn what somewhat else's opinion on the matter is.
So I've scheduled whatever I want to play and for the most part I've stuck to that. The DDM League ran four weeks, interrupted once for me going to play Horrorclix, but beyond that it stuck. It was only four players, but in the end, it would have still worked with only two.
One opponent and me is all I need for a game. Yes, I imagine I would get bored playing the same person forever. So far, that hasn't been an issue, and I don't imagine it will. But I don't need an event to pique my interest. I don't need to give myself the headache of wrangling as much of the Disorderlies as I get together just for me to have a good time - in fact, honestly, wrangling the Disorderlies is about an unfun as I can think of. We are busy, disparate people, and it's too damn much like herding malevolent cats on crack sometimes.
That might be an oxymoron. But it works.
Friday, May 04, 2007
The Lull
Those folks who have gamed in my company for extended periods - which is most of the people I game with, and, I suspect, the vast majority of readers of this silly blog - know that I am extremely fickle in regards to all things gaming.
Fickle, perhaps, isn't even a strong enough word. Perhaps there ought to be a new word created explicitly for use in describing the rapid - nay, almost wildly swinging - wax and wane of my interest in an army, or a game, or even the whole hobby of gaming itself.
Let's call it Swingulairity.
Let's post a few examples of Swingulairity so that the people at home understand this phenomenon.
APRIL 2007 - Disorderlies run a small yet well-enjoyed DDM League. For (five?) weeks we come, play with our mostly-sealed DDM warbands and enjoy the system and the challenges. Rob prepares for a DDM Qualifier Tourney on May 19th.
MAY 2007 - Swingulairity strikes and Rob questions his attendance at the DDM Qualifier Tourney. Instead he's smitten with 40k...which he hasn't played in the past two months or so.
WINTER 2006 - Discussions of how we are going to dominate at Hordes at Gen Con abound. Rob is torn between taking Circle of Oroboros and Legion of Everblight as his weapon of choice.
MAY 2007 - Swingulairity strikes and Rob's interest in Hordes is at its lowest ebb. Why is he even going to Gen Con, anyway?
I'm sure that this post, if read by any Disorderlies of note (and I can think of four offhand who are waiting to rip me to shreds) will generate all sorts of useful commentary, including:
[name redacted] Rob, you're a freaking moron.
and!
[name withheld] We really should just kill you and take your stuff.
With "friends" like these, I really think I should have better life insurance.
Fickle, perhaps, isn't even a strong enough word. Perhaps there ought to be a new word created explicitly for use in describing the rapid - nay, almost wildly swinging - wax and wane of my interest in an army, or a game, or even the whole hobby of gaming itself.
Let's call it Swingulairity.
Let's post a few examples of Swingulairity so that the people at home understand this phenomenon.
APRIL 2007 - Disorderlies run a small yet well-enjoyed DDM League. For (five?) weeks we come, play with our mostly-sealed DDM warbands and enjoy the system and the challenges. Rob prepares for a DDM Qualifier Tourney on May 19th.
MAY 2007 - Swingulairity strikes and Rob questions his attendance at the DDM Qualifier Tourney. Instead he's smitten with 40k...which he hasn't played in the past two months or so.
WINTER 2006 - Discussions of how we are going to dominate at Hordes at Gen Con abound. Rob is torn between taking Circle of Oroboros and Legion of Everblight as his weapon of choice.
MAY 2007 - Swingulairity strikes and Rob's interest in Hordes is at its lowest ebb. Why is he even going to Gen Con, anyway?
I'm sure that this post, if read by any Disorderlies of note (and I can think of four offhand who are waiting to rip me to shreds) will generate all sorts of useful commentary, including:
[name redacted] Rob, you're a freaking moron.
and!
[name withheld] We really should just kill you and take your stuff.
With "friends" like these, I really think I should have better life insurance.
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