Buh-bye now

The actual construction of the new templates is pretty rudimentary. The template itself is sized at 4" x .75", so I cut the required shape out of a piece of balsa wood I had left over from an old terrain project. A simple cut-out would have been more than sufficient as a template, but I went online and found a fire texture that I resized and printed out to glue to the template. Making a template "pretty" is hardly necessary but the most convenient templates and game aids are those that are immediately recognizable for what they are at only  a glance.

4" x .75" Wall of Fire template

Just like the tokens that I create, I used UHU glue on the templates, since it doesn't warp thin surfaces when applied like PVA glue will. But first I took a sharpie and edged the wood black to make it look more finished. You can do this after applying the label but then you run the risk of marking over it. Edging the template first means you can afford to be a little sloppy.

After that dries, I apply the glue thin enough and make sure the edges are covered (so the paper won't peel up) and then apply the printout, making sure to affix it evenly.

Old & new wall size comparison

I only applied the fire to one side of the wall templates. I could have done both just so I didn't have to bother with flipping the template if I grabbed the wrong side, but if I ever play a faction that has access to the other wall spells - like Searforge - I'll place their wall on the reverse side for convenience.

Character generation was slow at first while everyone wrapped their head about the phases and aspects that FATE uses, but before long we had a fairly diverse group of planeswalkers who, for the most part, had a united enemy and had met each other in their travels-at least in passing.

Ada

Ada's original conception was that of a construct capable of aiding its master in research and ritual.  She quickly became indispensable to his experiments, able to observe and record all that transpired while his concentration was elsewhere.

Many years after her creation, Ada was given sentience when a powerful spell cast by her master inadvertently bound a being of primordial magic within her shell.  The reaction not only destroyed the ritual but also flung Ada from the plane, sending her careening through the Blind Eternities for the first time.

Concept of Magic: Flow of Aether

Although all but incapable of creating sorcerous effects on their own, Ada's nature is uniquely suited to enhancing (or diminishing) others' abilities to cast spells.  She also has enough knowledge of the principles of magic to duplicate or dispel arcane energies.  Her summons of choice are constructs fashioned from raw mana, as opposed to simulacrum of actual living things.

Gaeleth

Gaeleth hails from a plane of high ideals which views itself as the model of civilization.  As a judge and arbiter, it was Gaeleth's responsibility to punish those unable to abide by its laws.  She excelled in that role, so much so that when her superiors detected the unignited planeswalker spark within her, they immediately began training her on how to unlock its potential.

Since then it has been Gaeleth's duty to wander the multiverse and bestow her justice upon those whom require it.  Sometimes is it through quiet consultation, other times it is by her burning wrath.  No matter the methods necessary, her justice will be done.

Concept of Magic: Lux Eterna

Gaeleth leads light to calm, defend, and heal those whom need her protection.  When her commanding presence or a calm word fails to disarm a situation, Gaeleth can summon forth angelic soldiers to dispense justice on her behalf.

Grrrk

For most of his early life, Grrrk personified the title of 'minion.'  He never had the desire or motivation to lead on his own, so dutifully followed whomever had the power to protect him.  He was a miner and a tunnelguide for his warren until his powers manifested.

After a short (and fatally unsuccessful) attempt at using his powers to lead a small group of his fellow goblins, Grrrk has fallen back to his original nature, shrugging off responsibility and hiding guilt by having someone else make the difficult decisions.

Concept of Magic: Seismic Might

At tiny Grrrk's will, mountains shake.  His magic is that of the earth itself; bending, breaking, and shaping stone to do his bidding.  He is even able to infuse the earth with elemental sentience, creating servitors to assist him.

Nika

As the only sentient entity in the plane called Eden, what could be called Nika's childhood was unique, to say the least.  Her education came through the experience of living at one with the wilderness around her.  She didn't realize that her ability to influence the living network of the forest was a form of magic until a planeswalker, an explorer named Kolorghu, came to her sphere.

Kolorghu's good nature and Nika's inquisitiveness were a natural match, and while he explored her plane, she traveled with him, learning about what it meant to be a planeswalker.  Some time later when Kolorghu left Eden, Nika decided to journey with him and see what else was out there.  The two have since parted ways, but Nika's undying curiosity has survived.  She continues to seek new experiences, new things, and new places.

Concept of Magic: Biotic Gestalt

Nika's magic draws upon the complex network of organisms in the wild, coaxing it to produce the desired effect.  Whether it's shaping plants to her will or summoning swarms of tiny creatures, Nika is able to insinuate her will into an ecosystem and influence it from within.

Torvolis

Torvolis was born into a nomadic tribe, where he reluctantly followed his father's footsteps to train as once of the tribe's hunters.  His father, the tribe's chief hunter, would leave big shoes for this son to fill, and Torvolis was no where near skilled enough to do so.  His true skill didn't manifest until otherworldly demons attacked his people and his spark ignited catastrophically, creating tornado-strength winds when he tried to defend the tribe.

Instead of being thankful, the survivors exiled Torvolis from their land for practicing witchcraft.  Shocked and angry, he did them one better and planeswalked away.

Concept of Magic: The Windswept Plains

Torvolis' magic is that of the great winds that swept across the plains where he grew up.  When in need of aid, he calls upon creatures native to his homeland; from the birds over head to the beasts that roam the land.

There were two more characters made, but their players missed the first actual play session and I'll introduce them in when I talk about our first game.  I'm giving all of the players some time to tweak their concepts if they don't like how their characters turned out and I want to give them the same opportunity before I write up the results.

Vice Scrutator Vindictus

The biggest change I've picked up on is how I layer cloth.  In the past I've started with the darkest shadow color and slowly worked up from there layer by layer.  But recently I've switched to basecoating with my mid-tone and shading down from that in thin coats, falling back to wet blending occasionally just to smooth out some of the larger surfaces.

Vindictus in particular only took a few days for me to do, and for me that's faster than it usually would. If it weren't for the filigree around the armor plates, I expect it would've gone even faster.

I've also spent some time on a reaper figure lately, using this technique primarily on her cloak. A lot of the rest of her is quick-work, but all in all, she'll make a good RPG figure once complete.

Reaper Miniatures #2834 Deladrin, Female Assassin

I'm still refining the techniques, but for now I'm satisfied with how the figures are turning out. Soon I'll be moving on from my recent string of Protectorate pieces to try out the wintery blues of my Legion. Between that and a few side pieces I'm working on, I should have ample opportunity to perfect the new technique.

Sure, that card game has its mana-powered magic, but it's made for a turn-based card game and can be considered slower and less fluid than I'd like for our campaign.  I still had two questions to answer before I could design my magic system: how exactly does one gain and spend Mana, and does summoning pull a preexisting creature to the summoner, or does it create a simulacrum.  To answer these I decided to ask WotC directly... so to speak

I'm a recovering Dragonlance fan and I haven't read any game fiction in years, but I decided to dip back into the pool and pick up Zendikar: In the Teeth of Akoum, the most recent MtG novel.  Overall the experience was about as expected - the story was pretty slow and none of the main characters were really likable - but I was able to get what I was looking for out of the book and have decided how to handle the three main aspects I had questions about.

Mana Pools/Use

I knew early on that I didn't want to make magic a multi-part process, where a character has to access mana somehow for each separate spell.  So when one of the main characters in Teeth described needing to rest to replenish her mana for more intricate sorceries, I found basis to apply a pool-type mechanic into the game where mana is stored and used over time until time is spent replenishing a supply.  Right now I'm leaning towards adding a stress track to be consumed through spell use.  If the character exceeds the track, they would start suffering Consequences that could make spellcasting and/or recovering mana more difficult.

The only outstanding issue is how close  I want to match the game.  My preferences would be to have a single stress track for all mana, but it would make more "in world" sense to have each color of magic be its own track.   In order to make a multi-color mage less enticing, I'm probably going to have to penalize all of a character's pools if they have more than one - perhaps rationalize it along the lines of that the body can only contain so much mana at a time.

Summoning

I was worried at first about summoning in general, mainly because I wanted to keep it simple and without moral issues.  I didn't want players to worry about pulling guardsmen from their families at night and getting them killed, or effectively causing a breed of animals to go extinct by their efforts.  Sure, there are many possible story elements that could accompany those issues but they aren't issues I want the game to be about.

Instead I'm going to go with how I interpreted how summoning worked in the novel, and have planeswalkers craft mana into facsimiles of what they're summoning.  Instead of pulling a Lion or a Vampire or a Merman from somewhere, the summoner uses their magic to create a manifestation of the idea of the creature type in question.

Planeswalking

This one is where I'm really going to have to diverge from the source material.  In Teeth, mention is made of the ability to planeswalk at any time.  And although a reason is given during the expedition that takes place in the book isn't done using magic flight, there's no rationale as to why the characters couldn't planeswalk to another plane, then planeswalk back where they wanted to go.

I don't want planewalking to be the get-out-of-jail free card, nor do I want it to be the solution to every problem, escape from every danger, or the like.  I want the characters' journey to be part of the game, and giving them the ability to sidestep that or simply bypass entire planes at will is counter to how I want the game to run.

So instead I'm going to restrict planewalking to be along set connections between the planes.  Characters will not be able to go wherever they want simply at will - they will have to travel across some planes to get to others, and will have to find specific places of power to actually planeswalk.  I already have some explanations for the restricted travel in mind, but like so much else in the campaign it's going to be adjusted according to the background the players create for their characters.

With the so-called metaphysics of spellcraft set, the only thing that's left is the actual system design.  Spirit of the Century is flexible enough I should be able to create a few plug-in systems for what I want with little difficulty.  I already have some rough ideas sketched out; I'll be posting the details as I get them nailed down.

Unless something else comes up, I'll be starting this campaign when our current one ends some time in October, when that game's gamemaster moves away.  That leaves me with plenty of time to make sure everything's finalized, but with none of the players having any experience with FATE I want to make sure that I have plenty of resources and cheatsheets ready so the game isn't slowed down by the new system.

The change of pace has helped me keep productive, but the subject matter isn't really helping the problem I mentioned previously of not pushing my skill.  It seems like a lot of my RPG figures tend to get rush jobs - especially the plastic ones.  But at least it's still painting; I'm building momentum.

The first couple miniatures are the Unit Attachment for the Blighted Swordsmen of the Legion of Everblight.  They've been sitting on my desk in an almost-complete state for ages but I finally got back to working on them the other day.  I'm down to the last few final details and I'll be able to seal them.

The black-robed figure is a speed paint job for an RPG character.  It's an old plastic Games Workshop wizard figure I got years ago.  He's pretty basic (and way too rosy cheeked at the moment) but makes a good pompous little wizard.

The last figure is one that I've actually painted before, but I've gone back and rebased.  I'm thinking on starting to do this on more of my figures as I get time.  Since their tabs are already glued into the base it's just a quick series of tasks:

1. Paint watered-down PVA glue on the base
2. Dip the base in sand
3. Paint watered-down glue over sand
4. Paint
5. Seal
6. Add static grass

It's something that should be easily done while I'm waiting for other other figures to dry, and will help make some of my older figures look more 'finished'.   They never see table time other than in role-playing games where it doesn't really matter, but I'll be happier with them.

I spent a few evenings with Hulu on the laptop near my painting desk working on the models' armor and made some decent progress.  I'm still working on some more detailed shading at the moment, but I'm going back and forth between wanting to take the time to do some really detailed shading and getting burnt out working on them.

This has me thinking - I wonder if army painting is causing my abilities to stagnate.  It seems like there's less motivation to push my skill to the next step when in the back of my head I can always fall back to "Well, this just has to look as good as the rest of my models."  Might be time to shake things up a bit.

Wayne's character "in the belly of the beast"

I think that this is primarily due to the resilience of plastic. Dropping (or even just knocking over) a pewter figure can result in damage.  Beast case scenario, that means a weapon or arm has to be bent back into place, but worst case scenario it means something snapping off that needs pinning and replacing... in multiple places.  And that's not to mention the repainting necessary.

In contrast, plastic figures have a resilience that lets them take a fall better. The relative elasticity of the medium, combined with the model's lighter weight, means an accident with a plastic miniature is far less catastrophic than its metal counterpart.

I've also found that people are far more careful with my painted metal figures than my plastic ones - painted or otherwise.  I do appreciate the care that they show, but then being a little more liberal with them can lead to interesting uses at the game table.

My druid climbs to save him

The pictures shown here are an example  from one of our recent sessions.  In the combat shown, a large monster formed from an animated bridge (yes, as weird as it sounds) had "swallowed" one character.  Instead of simply using another figure to represent the beast, we built the monster here out of wooden blocks, complete with a space in the middle for the trapped character.

If we had been using metal figures, I'm not sure anyone would have thought to do this.  If someone bumped the table and knocked the block monster over, it could damage metal figures.  Likewise, metal figures perched either inside or on the hip (as I did with mine as it climbed the construct) could be dislodged and tumble to the table.

I know I spray seal the bejebus out of my figures, and for the most part I'll take those risk with my figures.  But most other people I game with don't, even if I tell them it's ok.  When we're role-playing we want to concentrate on the game, not (over)protecting miniatures.  Plastic figures - both pre-painted and not - just seem more convenient in that regard.

• Uploaded new miniatures:
  • Hierarch Severius, Protectorate Epic Warcaster
  • Reaper Stern Kestrelmen
  • Reaper Valdarynn, Arch Mage
  • Confrontation Mercenary Assassin
• Update to the generated RSS feed to better integrate with feed readers.

I also have to clean up a few models and finish assembling my Exemplar Errant Seneschals in case I want to use them later in the weekend.  They definitely won't be painted for Hardcore but I might toss 'em in another list to give them a go in one of the other formats.

Despite being behind, I'm looking forward to the event.  Last two years have been fantastic, and this year promises to be no exception.

Base WIPs

The most difficult aspect of working with the concrete patch is that in order to attach models, you have to clip the pewter tab from the base of the figure, give it a quick filing, and pin it to the base.  I've always preferred that method anyway, so it's no big deal. But if you're used to just gluing and slotting the figure, then switching to concrete patch is going to involve some extra steps.

Usually I'll glue the pin to the miniature and drill a hole on the base, cover the base in concrete patch, and before it sets, press the miniature down where it'll ultimately stand, and remove it.  Once the concrete patch dries, the indentions left by the miniatures feet will cup them in place securely.

If you want add accessories to a base - things like small rocks, gears, or the like - the patch itself will hold them in place if you press them in before it dries.  For the most part this has been all I'll need to do, but occasionally if a piece is loose I'll pop it up after the patch dries and glue it back down into the same divot, making it very secure.  For tiny rocks made from cork I'll just put a drop of glue over it while attached, and that is usually sufficient. I prefer superglue over craft glue for these steps.

As for painting my bases, I picked up a recipe for craft colors a few years ago that I use for all of my bases.  I can't remember the source anymore, but the combination works great.  One note though, before going into painting - make sure you have an extra old brush.  Drybrushing over concrete patch will ruin a brush like nothing else.

I use craft paints for my bases because frankly there's no point in wasting expensive model paints on them.  Once they're thinned slightly, they dry brush on adequately for any base and are far cheaper than higher quality alternatives.  I purchased a set of 2oz. bottles of paints over two years go just for basing and I still have plenty left.

Basing Paint Range

The recipe is pretty basic.  Just lay down a solid layer of Burnt Umber (or Dark Burnt Umber) and drybrush with successive layers of:

• Brown Oxide
• Autmn Brown
• Golden Brown
• Maple Sugar

If I feel I need a final layer of highlights, I'll add a little Satin Cream to the Maple Sugar for just the lightest of dustings.

You could easily get away with buying less bottles of paint and mixing up midtones, but I don't think it's worth the time.  Each bottle is less than $1 US, so for $5 you can buy enough shades to be able to work straight from the bottle - no wasting time mixing midtones or trying to match previous results.

After you paint the bare earth, you can add flocking and/or paint whatever additional accessories you're adding to your base.  It's nothing fancy, but it gets the job done.

But as I mentioned in my Backburst post, a few months ago my Saturday group and I started playing Magic to pass the time until everyone arrived for the weekly role-playing session.  If you're like me, you've heard of the $500 decks and the craziness that goes into playing in tournaments, but that's not what we're looking to do. With just our modest collections we've put together a few decks each, which has been enough to provide a great side game to play casually and socialize over.

It's been somewhat surprising to see how much fun the group is having just playing casually. A few members were a little leery at first, but when no one tries to win through strength of wallet it's a good time. Unlike our role-playing, where there's a story going on at the table that banter could interrupt, Magic can be an even more social experience for us since we can talk over the game with no ill effect.

Since there's almost always more of two of us ready to play, we've tried a number of formats. Standard multiplayer is a bit to long and random, but we've had a lot of fun running alternate formats, specifically Two-Headed Giant (or Three-Headed if we have 6 players) and Emperor. Emperor in particular has been a ton of fun even when you're the first one out (aka drink fetcher ).

Considering I've heard Warmachine and Hordes described as the Magic: the Gathering of miniatures games, it shouldn't be a surprise that I'm enjoying the deckbuilding and combo-based gameplay. My current favorite deck is my White/Green Ally deck, which could be thought of as the Protectorate of Menoth deck with it's cheap cards that build crazy synergies.

That and the fact that opponents seem to hate playing against it, which is why I tend to play my other two decks more. We're just playing to have fun, I'm not looking to bash any heads in so I'm happy just to play whatever and socialize with my friends.

I'm not going to say Magic is a game that everyone must play, but I am a little surprised how much fun we're getting out of it. For the cost of a pair role-playing books (or a light jack and a small-based unit) we've got a great side game for our group; it's hard to complain about that.

Samples, Pre- and Post-assembly

Now that the Forces of Warmachine: Protectorate of Menoth book has been released I finally sat down between applying coats of primer to some miniatures to put together some tokens for my Protectorate force.  I still had my set from MkI but enough abilities were renamed for me to decide to redesign a new set instead of using Youngwolf7's design.

I did a little editing to the graphic used on the Privateer Press gallery page to create the background for my tokens, and added some text layers to create what's pictured above.  I used .75" cubes or .75" faux scrabble tiles I picked up at the local craft store to give the tokens some width and heft.  They can usually be found in the woodworking and scrapbooking departments respectively.  Mosaic tiles are another option, but those are concave and/or have an irregular surface, making these better surfaces for gluing.

Since I started this post talking about the issues I have with the PP and GF9's offerings, I suppose I should go into a little more detail on what I think makes good tokens.

Ease of Handling

I mentioned the materials I used to add some width to my tokens.  One of the biggest complaints I heard against the first generation of Privateer Press's hordes toeksn were the odd conical-shuriken-style fury counters, and the paper-thin spell tokens weren't much better.  GF9's were marginally better, but I heard complaints from some of the local players about those designs as well.

Readability/Recognition

Whoa boy, this one is a biggie, and one I think I'm going to be disagreed with about.  When I put a token down on the table, I and any opponent that see it should be able to immediately know what it represents.  If there's any confusion or wondering what a token represents, it defeats the purpose of using tokens in the first place.

This is the biggest reason I am not a fan of the new PP and GF9 tokens.  Since they have a fixed set of symbols on them, every player uses them to represent different spells and effects, even for the same caster.  For most casters, their spells don't even have appropriate matching symbols.

GF9's first generation of tokens were much better.  Each caster had their own set, with tokens for all of their spells.  The down side was that they used small tokens and tiny fonts, making them almost unreadable at a distance and almost as poorly designed as the symbol-based sets.

Size and Footprint

Tokens need to take up as little space as possible and still be able to convey whatever they are representing.  The original GF9 tokens tried to accomplish this but wound up using a design for their spell effects that were too small to be readable.  Their second attempt keeps the small design, but doesn't need the real estate to just display a symbol.

Then there's GF9's Warclaws.  I don't know what to say - these are perhaps the silliest, most unwieldy, and ultimately worst Warmachine/Hordes token design to date.  I don't really know how to describe how silly these tokens are.  They pretty much compile all that has been bad about the previous iterations into one nice steamy pile for what I assume is some sort of convenience in obtaining maximum crap at once.

So far the .75" square surface area has been plenty for me to write out the name of any of the spell effects necessary for either of my forces.  It's readable from a distance on the tabletop and does what it needs to without being obtrusive.

Cost

Here's the final one, and the kicker.  If someone's biggest concern is putting the least amount of work into picking up something that will work for them, a set of Warcogs or Warclaws are around $12 from GF9.  They're not pretty, they're not the best designs in the world, but since you can re-use the tokens for any warcaster, it's a single expenditure and you've got what you need.

For me, an hour of assembly time and about $5 has purchased all the tokens I'm ever going to need.  When future books come out, it will take about 5 minutes to update my set with no additional monetary cost.  For a little bit more work and less monetary cost, I get what is in my opinion a superior product.

During one of our games a player mentioned that he thought a role-playing game set in a heavily Magic-inspired setting would be a lot of fun, but that playing beings like planeswalkers didn't seem like it would work. He was surprised when I replied that not only did I think it would work fine, I had done it before.

I'm not about to usurp the Earthdawn game we have running - I enjoy it too much. But with the interested around the table it seems like it might be time to break out my Manaburst notes and look at making some revisions.  I've already started getting ideas on how to improve over our first attempt.

The first change that I'm going to have to make is stepping away from the visual/narrative Everway-style task resolution system to something more traditional.  Judging by my last attempt and knowing the members of this group, I think that a system with a little more structure would go a long way to making the game play smoother.

To that end I'm leaning towards using FATE as the core mechanic this time around.  It has a more rigid structure than Everway but there's still enough of a narrative aspect to let players maintain a high fantasy feel through descriptive actions.  FATE has the structure I want for this game, but it using it will create three problems I'm going to need to work through to make the system fit Magic's cosmology.

The Colors of Mana & Associated Symbolism

1. 5-Color Magic

The problem of 5-color magic is twofold. First and foremost, Spirit of the Century (and Diaspora as well) really don't have complex magic systems. A MtG-style magic system wasn't necessary for either system for obvious reasons so wasn't created. That means a design from the ground up. I'll definitely be begging, borrowing, and stealing as I go but one way or another I'm going to have to add a system to the basic FATE rules.

The second issue is one of distinctness. In a non-MtG style game, a magic system could be simplified by letting players perform Maneuvers using a magic skill to apply Aspects to their target or perform a task. In fact this could work for Manaburst as well, but a completely open magic system would create a situation like this:

DM: Each of you arrive at a separate corner of the island. In front of you is a locked and barred wooden door. Behind each door is a passage to the underground chamber you all want to be the first to find. What do you do?

White Mage: It's the will of the heavens that I reach the chamber first. Divine Mandate will open them for me!

Blue Mage: Probe the locking mechanism with divinations to discern their inner workings and ultimately undo them!

Black Mage: Rot the door from its hinges in a sickly haze!

Red Mage: Blow the door apart with a fireball!

Green Mage: Summon a rampaging beast to batter the door down for me!

It's easy to look at the other four replies and think "Cool, everyone can show off their own flavor of magic!" And that could work just fine, but in my opinion there's an associated shortcoming.   I feel that each color of magic should be distinct in at least some of its effects. A Red Mage should just be able to do things that a Blue Mage just can't.   Otherwise color just becomes a flavorful descriptor.    That may work fine from a narrative aspect, but if anyone is in the party is a mage, there's the potential for players to feel frustrated by not being able to stand out in what they can do.

I want every mage to be distinct; to feel like they offer something to the group that the others do not. I'm tempted to go so far as to make characters choose a specialization or theme within each color they have to stick with.  They could purchase additional specializations (within the same or different color), but that would cost them more of a yet undefined character-build resource.  That would also allow multiple mages of the same color to remain distinctness as well. Example specialties might include:

• Purity of Light (White) - Restoration and cleansing effects and angelic creatures
• Dissonance of Thought (Blue) - Mental effects and illusory creatures
• Evershifting Tides (Blue) - Misdirection effects and aquatic creatures
• Stench of the Grave (Black) - Fear and decay effects and undead creatures
• Unholy Pact (Black) - Corruption and/or otherworldly effects and abyssal creatures

2. Color-Influenced Attributes

This one is a biggie. The original Manbrust rule turned each of the colors of magic into an attribute and derrived skills from those. That worked fine for that game, but after looking at the skill pyramid in FATE and how it ties to everything else, I'm going to have to take a different approach for this game.

My first thought was just to make a separate mana-pyramid in addition to the regular skill pyramid, but that just gives the players more skills and will promote multi-color mages. I want that to be possible, but as the exception instead of the norm.  It also adds complexity to the system I don't think it needs.

My second thought - and what I'm leaning towards at the moment - is to have each color of magic be a separate skill which they have to fit on their skill tree. I might even break each color into summoning and sorcery for more variance in aptitudes. My only regret is losing the way Manaburst ties every stat to a mana color, but in the long run I think this will be easier to manage.

That leaves stunts though. How to I handle those, or do I just remove them completely? I might use them as the gateway - a character needs a stunt for each flavor/specialization (see above) they intend to use.

I'm not sure I like that though. The names I've started coming up for for specializations sound like Aspects to me. I'd like to be able to make them into Aspects, but I don't think that's mechanically a good idea. If you have to have a specific Aspect to perform a certain spell, you shouldn't automatically be able to tag that same Aspect for a bonus. That pushes me back towards Stunts as the "gateway" to spellcasting, but I'm going to see what other systems I can find online.

3. Incorporating MtG Cards?

I'm not sure if this is going to make it into the final version, but I'm tempted to see if we can find a way to work MtG cards into the mechanic at some point.  In the original Manaburst, they were the random aspect of task resolution, but the Fudge dice are going to do that here.  I might give a player a +1 to any roll to cast a spell they have a card that represents it, or summon a creature they have a card they can represent it visually.

I can really appreciate this visual aspect, but I'm worried about it overshadowing the game; either constraining players to only think of what is in their card collections, or even penalizing those who only have a small number of cards.  That's definitely something I want to avoid, which might mean I drop this concept before all's said and done.

The TL;DR?

One of my biggest challenges is going to make sure there's some of the flavor from the card game maintained, but it can't overwhelm the role-playing aspect.  Looks like I've got a lot of work ahead of me.

Hierophant WIP

I have a few lists I'm tossing around to play, but I haven't even really settled on if I'm playing the Protectorate or Legion.  The Legion models I'd want to use are already painted, but there's still a few key Protectorate ones - like the Hierophant and Covenant - that I needed to get to.

It's been a while since I last picked up the brush; maybe even a couple months.  Painting has always been an enjoyable hobby for me, but lately it's always seemed like there's something else I rather do with my free time.  Still there aren't many chances to play in a Hardcore event, so it's time to buckle down and get to work.

After assembling and priming my Hierophant and Convenant, I spent a day trying to see if I could make some progress on the former.  I tried a method similar to how the Forces of Warmachine: Protectorate book talked about doing their reds.  I use a little different color so I had to switch up my shading colors but in general the technique is still the same.  I still need some tweaking but overall it's coming allright.

Working all the metallics reminded me how much I hate painting them.  I always look at each miniature as I paint it and think "I'll just bother learning how to paint metallics on the next figure" and rush through it, but I always put it off to the proverbial next time.

Still plenty of work to do, but right now my biggest sticking point is what color to paint the trim on his jacket-ish clothing.  It's the white stripe in this picture - maybe I'll mimic that and make it the same color as his lower robe.

And that's not to mention the Covenant, which has little more than a basecoat on it.  That's a lot of work for me to do in the coming month with as slow as I paint, but here's to trying.  Just gotta try not to get distracted by my other hobbies.  :)

Mordheim's strength has always been the aspect of play where yoru warband gains experience and suffers injuries as you continue to play it. Unfortunately the customizability and organic warband evolution was tempered by a clunky system and obtuse rulebook. So we decided to give Coreheim a try.

Half of the players had played Mordheim before, but for most of them it was the first time assembling the warband of their choice. We went with a team game over a free-for-all to speed things along, so we had the Undead, Posessed, and Night Goblins against Reiklanders, Witch Hunters, and Skaven in a straight-up brawl. After the forces closed, both sides started suffering attrition fairly quickly.

The Reiklanders who held the center of their lines were the first to fail a rout check after their leader fell to the Undead warband's vampire. Soon the Witch Hunters - who had flanked my Possessed that had come up the middle to help the Undead with the Rieklanders - caused enough damage that my band failed their command check as well, followed quickly by the Skaven and Night Goblins. The Undead and Witch Hunters started grinding down to start forcing rout checks and in the end the Witch Hunters failed first, giving the Undead force's allegiance side the victory.

Overall it was a fun night of gaming. Our first stab at the Coreheim rules went well enough to try them again in the future. None of us play Warhammer, so the move towards a slightly more War of the Ring-based rule system hasn't been a problem for us. That said, one of my biggest problems overall was the slowness of models in Mordheim compared to the long missile ranges. While Coreheim shrunk missile ranges somewhat, they also shortened movement, something we'll likely undo when we play again.

The Coreheim ruleset did have some downsides, like the movement reduction listed above.  In addition some of the short articles the Corheim web site do not come off very mature.  I don't want to be too harsh, but the authors are doing themselves a disservice with those documents.

Even so, there's still some interesting concepts in Corheim that I think we'll be able to tweak into something that works better for us.  Mordheim's a now-and-then game for us though, so it might be a while before we can put theory into practice again.

A few initial attempts at hills (and Niska's Skyplex on TV)

I've been painting models for years now but I hadn't really spent any time on the terrain side of the hobby - there's always been terrain to play on locally and I preferred painting models to fabricating scenery.

Sites like TerraGenesis have taught me the basics of terrain making but I didn't have any real hands on experience.  But over the course of a few nights with a hot wire foam cutter I put together some basic hills.  Nothing major - and still in need of some greenery - but after I was happy with the results I decided to move up to something else I've been wanting to build for a while now.

Taking a step back, when I said I hadn't really built any terrain that wasn't entirely true.  I have put together a few pieces of paper terrain, as well as the cardstock terrain that came in the Mordheim boxed set that I picked up years ago.  There was also a few pieces of styrofoam I mangled with a box cutter and dubbed "ruins" - although they only qualified in the most picasso-inspired definition of the word.  Abstract art aside, the ruins worked fairly well but their lightweight nature meant an errant gesture at the gaming table would send the entire city of Mordheim skittering across the tabletop.

Mordheim Ruins

In order to add some weight and stability to my Mordheim buildings - especially the flimsy manor house - I wanted to base all of the buildings on something solid.  I always told myself I'd do it later but after putting it off for longer than I care to admit, I finally broke down and tried my hand at putting together some terra firma for my buildings.

Unfortunately after a few years of rough treatment I lost some of the buildings' the plastic accessories - mostly window sills and doorways.  I figure I could work on replacements for those later (gee, that sounds familiar) so I started with making everything stable on the tabletop first.

Mordheim Manor

Overall I'm happy enough with my first attempts, even though they're not near done yet.  The buildings are rock solid, but as you can see from the pictures here the ruins of Mordheim have been kept remarkably clean by the courteous warbands and undead hordes scouring them for precious wyrdstone.

So yes, the ground is mostly bare dirt at the moment.  For the most part that was because I wanted to test out my mix of colors for drybrushing but I'm going to be going back with some plantlife (sickly looking if possible) and other accessories like crates, barrels, and larger rubble piles to try and make the ruins look more... well... ruined.  Between that, painting up the craftstick-fashioned wood, and replacing the missing bits, I expect everything to be done roughly Fall of 2016.

It's a start, though.  Now that I've gotten a little more practice I'll hopefully be more interested in building my own pieces from scratch.

Exemplar Errant Seneschal

I was expecting to see the Exemplar Errant UA in the new No Quarter, but not a new synergy solo for the unit.  Granting Hunter to Errants, as well as having both Hunter and Pathfinder himself, really makes him feel like a Strider Deathstalker type model... but clad in white heavy armor?

Don't get me wrong, I think this guy has some very nice rules that can be especially difficult for an opponent in scenario play.  He can sit just out-of-sight behind/in forests and take pot shots, and since he can sacrifice Errants when he dies, stay in an area far longer than a single 5-wound solo would normally be able to.

In the likely event that the Errant UA grants them Pathfinder,  the unit is going to start feeling a lot like Reeves of Orboros.  My only real concern there is that it doesn't match the aesthetics of this model IMO.  Maybe it's just me, but having them dodge through the woods like that doesn't mesh with the plate armor.  If they had lighter armor sculpted on them, sure...

In the end though, that doesn't really matter.  I think that the addition of Hunter means even fewer effects that are going to work against the unit's effective RAT 6.  No concealment or cover, and already no spell-granted buffs because of Blessed.

But unlike most ranged troops that you engage to shut down, MAT 7 is a big threat, and their P+S 9 Weapon Master swords toss out an average damage roll of 19 (23 on the charge).  They're not going to kill many heavies that way but if their UA grants Assault (or even Assault & Battery!) they're going to pair up a pretty significant attack with their current strength in an attrition game.

But like most groups, we've come up with a few tweaks to the system to make it better fit with what we want out of our game.  The biggest is that we've decided to try a slight re-working to how strain is handled.

The concept of strain is that it is a key balancing feature to the game - there are a vast number of talents, skills, and maneuvers which include a strain cost to use them.  The disconnect for many members of my group is that this is basically taking hit point damage any time they want to do something.

Two of my fellow players and I sat down one night after our gaming session to discuss the strain mechanic and it's effect on game play.  We tossed around a few ideas before finally settling on a proposed solution that we've decided to adopt on a trial basis: adding wind to each character and creature, as defined below:

Wind

• Wind Threshold is a character's Toughness Step plus Durability Rank (if any).
• Any time a character suffers Strain, they may instead take an equal amount of Wind.
• Any Wind taken over a character's Wind Threshold is converted back to Strain.
• Once per combat, a character may spend an action to make a Toughness Test.  Reduce their accumulated Wind by the amount rolled.
• All Wind points are removed when a character has a chance to catch their breath.  This usually takes place at the end of any given scene and outside of any strenuous activity (such as combat).  The Gamemaster has final say on when Wind is renewed.

This definitely increases a character's all around power, especially adepts.  But after discussion its impact with my group, we believe that the effect of the increased power on the game is actually beneficial.

In essence, Wind lets players do more cool things. In my opinion this is one of the top priorities in a game - make the players feel like they're being heroic.  Wind makes that easier to do awesome physical things without hampering anyone's ability to do interesting social things -- win-win.

One of the biggest concerns a player has when considering a strain-causing talent is that there are a number of feats in Earthdawn you can do if only if you're free of damage - like increase talents or heal wounds.  Since Wind is easy to refresh, it helps alleviate this concern.  You don't have to forgo using an ability like Tracking just because you're out of recovery tests or are planning on raising a talent later.

We were worried at first about intolerably drawing out combat, but so far it seems that Wind has actually sped combat up.  It gives martial disciplines like the Warrior the opportunity to unleash their bigger combat talents more freely, magicians the freedom to be more liberal with Willforce, and other characters the ability to use Avoid Blow and other combat options more often.  More fancy maneuvers means more offensive output, which means quicker and more deadly combat on both sides since npcs and creatures have Wind as well.

On top of this freedom, Wind helps Strain make sense for many of our players.  Some of our group has had problems with the idea of basically hurting yourself to do even mundane things.  The example usually brought up was the Evidence Analysis talent/skill, which required a character to take damage to get to ask Sherlock Holmes-style questions about a scene.  From a balance standpoint it makes sense - there's a cost necessary to balance the ability, but "cutting yourself" just didn't feel right.

So far Wind has had the desired effect on our game, and we've been happy with its introduction.  We'll be keeping an eye on its impact on the game and tweaking the rules as needed, but for now it appears we've found a solution that improves our game.

Keep the Ferrule Clean

Anatomy of a Brush

The ferrule of the brush is where the bristles are glued together and held to the handle.  If paint is allowed to work its way up into this area of the brush and dry, it will start pushing bristles outward and causing the tip to start losing its shape.  It's best not to dunk a brush completely in your paint when loading it up for this reason.  Overloading a brush makes it harder to control the paint to begin with, but by keeping the paint limited to the tip of the brush you'll also help keep the ferrule clean.

Clean & Condition your Brushes

Once every so often you should clean and use use brush soap (I use this) to help keep your brushes in shape.  I use the soap to clean the bristles, then reshape the brushes, coat them in the conditioning soap, and let them sit overnight to condition.  This process will help remove any paint from between bristles and even the occasional bit that escapes up into the ferrule as well as replace some of the oils in natural bristle brushes.

Keep the Bristles Shaped

Detail work requires a steady hand and a sharp brush.  While the former can only be developed by practice, the later can be quickly lost if you don't take care of your brush.  In addition to the tips above, make sure you don't abuse your brush when painting with it.  Specifically, stippling or stabbing at a miniature with a brush is going to be a good way to ruin the tip.  Drybrushing is really hard on brushes as well.  That's why most painters keep old brushes around to do their drybrushing with.  I'll occasionally run a brush perpendicular to a surface to do something like highlighting the edge of an armored plate, but for the most part make sure you're painting by dragging the bristles along the surface without torquing them in an odd direction.

Don't Drown Your Brush

When you store your brushes, store them either with horizontally or vertically with the bristles in the air.  Never store brushes tip down.  Likewise, don't leave a brush to soak in water or cleaner bristles down either - this will mash the tip and if you leave it in long enough, start to dissolve the glue in the ferrule.

Brush Caps aren't Trash

Most decent quality brushes you'll buy will come with plastic sleeves that slip over the bristles.  Don't throw these away - they do a great job protecting a brush during storage or transport.  If a brush is covered with one of these caps, the bristles won't bend or become misshapen as it bounces around in a drawer, bag, or wherever you're keeping your supplies.  Even if you use a pretty safe storage device where accidents aren't likely, it's better to be safe than sorry.

Those are a few of the things I've picked up the past few years.  If anyone has any other tips for painters regarding brush care and/or use, please share!

Exemplar Errant UA

That's right; I'm doing it.  Even after the last two disappointing Protectorate previews I'm going to talk about my hopes for the upcoming Exemplar Errant Officer and Standard Bearer.  Errant themselves are solid, and if the Temple Flameguard are any precedent their UA will boost them into the realm of teh win.

In Mk I, Errant were known for their outrageous point costs but now a Protectorate only pays a whopping 5 points for a minimum unit or 8 for a max.  For that point cost you can field an efficient jack-of-all-trades unit with at least one ability to help them fill any roll on the table:

• Melee: MAT 7, P+S 9 Weaponmaster means an average damage roll of 19 (23 on the charge).  That's enough to kill even most unbuffed Shield Wall troops.
• Ranged: Although their RNG is only average, RAT 6 is very respectable and Blessed means their crossbows will be able ignore most non-terrain defensive buffs.
• Attrition/Speed bump: ARM 16 is respectable and helps survivability against Shield Wall troops.  Bond of Life means you can keep that one important model alive until the end of the unit.

So what do they need a UA for?  To answer that you have to look at the rest of the Protectorate army, where you'll see the Errants' weakness is that there are units that can serve most roles better.

• Melee: All Exemplar sport the same MAT as the Errant and hit even harder.
• Ranged: Idrians sport better range with better RAT & POW once you factor in Combined Ranged Attack and Prey.  The Protectorate also has a glut of AOE options.
• Attrition/Speed bump: Temple Flameguard are cheaper, faster, and have a slightly better defense.  Zealots as well.

Errant UA Bare Metal

With the Protectorate's cheap warjacks and fantastic support pieces space for units and solos tends to be at a premium.  I can't afford much redundancy, meaning my unit choices have to be able to pull a lot of weight compared to the points I spend on them.  If I take Errant I'm doing one of two things: purchasing an all-purpose unit because it's all I can fit in, or banking they can fill a role "well enough" (comparatively) and hoping to get lucky enough to get some mileage out of their flexibility.

As much as I like Errants I find myself taking TFG+UA far more often if I need a speed bump because I can use their SPD 6 and Reach to run and tie up an opponent and fire off Iron Zeal (and usually Tough from Rupert) to keep them alive for a round.  Bastions have seen play as heavy hitters lately just because of their reach higher-damage weaponmaster attacks.  Redeemers and Vanquishers play the ranged role because of the Choir.

Therein lies my hope for the UA: to make the Errant equal to the top dogs in one of the above categories so that they can better compete with table-time.  For example while SPD 6 Flameguard that advance in Shield Wall may very well be giving up the charge, SPD 5 Errant with an ability like Defensive Line could move forward while firing to help thin out potential attackers before hand and still sport sufficient melee abilities to cause casualties once engaged.  Or just run 10" at ARM 18 - outracing the TFG in Shield Wall by 4" but lacking Reach to tie up models.

I could rattle off the abilities I hope that the Errant will pick up, but the short of it is they're just one or two rules shy of fighting for space in my lists.  Between flexibility and the aesthetics of the Knight Exemplar, the UA could very well turn them into my favorite unit.  But then again, now that I jinxed it...

Before I started using the S7's, I was pretty rough with my brushes.  I was guilty of all of the brush sins, including things like stabbing at models sometimes with the brush and letting paint get into the ferrule regularly.  While this wasn't a big deal when I was spending a buck a brush, I knew I had to change my habits with the new brushes, but doing so would slow me down.  Lets face it - when you're base coating, dry brushing, or otherwise just trying to lay paint down quickly, doing things right takes more time.

That's when I started going to the bargain brushes at my local art store.  They're nowhere near the quality of S7's, but they have one distinct advantage: the el cheapo factor.  For a few bucks I could pick up a couple flats for drybrushing and a few rounds for base coating work (especially for my bases; concrete patch chews up brushes quick!).

W&N S7s (left) and the throw-a-ways (right)

When it comes to layering and detail work, I stick with my good brushes, but if I'm throwing down the first layers - like the black undercoat and Boltgun base coat for metals - I can go to one of my workhorse brushes (as long as they still have a decent tip) to get the job done fast.  And when I finally mutilate them past usefulness, I don't have to feel bad about only needing to drop a couple bucks for replacements.

Rhoven & Honor Guard

First up is Rhoven and the Honor Guard.  I posted some initial WIPs of the Honor Guard a while back and since then I've made some pretty good progress.  The Honor Guards have actually been sitting mostly done for a little while now while I worked on Rhoven himself.

I'm most happy with the lower portion of Rhoven's robes so far, but there's still some work that needs to be done.  I'm going to repaint the stole for starters; the highlights were pretty borked when I did them the first time.  That and some more general cleanup work should make him ready for sealing.

Blighted Swordsman UA

Next up is my Blighted Swordsman unit attachment, which isn't near as complete as Rhoven and the Honor Guard.  I've spent a fair amount of time trying to clean up their leather armor and make it really pop but I'm really happy with the skin tones on these two.

The release of MkII has pushed these guys away from the table a little bit compared to some of the other options in the Legion army.  I've been known to paint models only to have them never see the table again - we'll see if that happens again with these guys.

Reaper 60001: Valeros, Iconic Human Fighter

After the Swordsman UA is Valeros, Iconic Fighter, from Reaper Miniatures' new Pathfinder line.  I wasn't as happy with this model once I got it assembled as I was when I saw it at first, though it makes a good representation for my character in my current Earthdawn game.

I'm still trying to clean up the mouth a little bit so it looks better, but overall he turned out fairly well.  I think I'm going to need to weight the back of the base if I can - the leaning pose makes him want to tip over sometimes if I'm not careful.  I'll be using enough sealant on him to stand up to roleplaying use though so he should be fine.

Dark Elf Corsairs

Whenever we have to hold off on a roleplaying session, my Sunday gaming group usually plays board games to occupy the time slot.  Recently we've turned to Mordheim, which has been a lot of fun.  Back in '01 I started painting a Dark Elf warband but never finished my Corsairs here.  Even though I'm running Reiklanders this time, I decided to get my Dark Elves finished so I could field them as a cohesive force, even if it was standing in for another army.

I'm going the speed-over-quality route to try and get them to the tabletop (they're still being worked on).  It's also an attempt to rely heavily on the Games Workshop washes (Badab Black and Delvin Mud) to see if they can speed things along.  So far those two washes haven't been anything special, but they do save me time in mixing my own so I feel like they've been worth it thus far.

Dwarf Warriors

Last up is another GW sampling from my Mordheim days.  A friend of mine left his plastic dwarf boxed set with me when he left the game.  They have been sitting around for a while now and I finally decided to paint up a collection of them with different weapons for use in various roleplaying or miniature games.

The dwarves painted here are only a sample - there are three of each weapon combinations and a few "officer" types all done in a similar paint scheme.  I went muted for the color scheme on these guys, and it seemed to turn out ok.  The beards, though were a fun shortcut.  I basecoated all of them (except those that would be black) with Reaper Master Series Bleached Bone and then used washes to tint and shade them the desired color.  It was a nice time-saving technique for tabletop-quality dorfs.

Complete schedule and details are available on our site,  or keep up to date by following us on Twitter. See all the fun-filled convention activities and preregister at the DieCon home page. Registration for DieCon X is only $26.00 until April 15th. After that, registration increases to $31.00 – still an amazing bargain. Online payments will be accepted via PayPal. Those particpating in Hardcore will have an additional 5 dollar fee which goes towards a personalized 2010 Official Hardcore dogtag. Remember to select "PP Hardcore" under the list of Saturday events to reserve your spot today and enter your requested personalization at that time. Our schedule is listed below…

Friday June 4th

2:00 PM - Iron Agenda Presents: Battle for Steelwater Rails: The Iron Agenda podcast will kick off our first day with a specially designed event. This 35pt Warmachine and Hordes event features one of the most iconic steam creations: Trains! Custom scenarios created by the Iron Agenda podcast will have players throwing down while being part of an overall story about the railways of the Iron Kingdoms.

20 Point Mangled Metal/Tooth and Claw Hardcore (immediately following the above): Our 20 point mangled metal and tooth and claw hardcore will take place after the completion of the Iron Agenda’s Train event. Our first day of Privateer Weekend 3 finishes off with just the casters, their beasts, and jacks. Warcasters and warlocks will direct their jacks and beasts against each other in flesh ripping, metal sundering action. One list per participant is allowed. Each turn will be 3 minutes and games will last only 30 minutes so you gotta be quick. Remember, this is a mangled metal/tooth and claw event so not only does assassination win the game but eliminating all the jacks or beasts does too. Also remember, this is Hardcore so all models must be painted and based. Will the machinations of men win out? Or will the unbridled fury of beasts reign supreme? Prizes TBA.

Saturday June 5th

9:00am - Official Mark II Hardcore: This is the big one, boys and girls. This is the pinnacle of Warmachine and Hordes gaming. It is a rare honor that Privateer Weekend attendees will have to compete in the first official Mark II Hardcore event. Bring your best 50 point Warmachine or Hordes list and throw down with the best of the best. Each player is allowed a single 50 point Warmachine or Hordes list and the army must be fully painted and based to participate. All games are timed. If time runs out, put down your dice and let your opponent rip into you. In order to survive in this intense combat you had better not only know your army but your opponent’s army as well. However, with a unique intense format also come unique prizes. There is a 5 dollar fee to participate in Hardcore which goes to a dog tag for each participant. All participants who preregister for Hardcore will receive a special personalized dog tag for playing in the event. Official rules and prizes for Hardcore will be forth coming but get your 50 points painted up now. You will not want to miss out on this once in a life opportunity.

9:00 am - 75 points Steamroller 2010: This will run concurrent with Mark II Hardcore. Hardcore not your thing? Then how about a grueling 75 point Steamroller 2010? This event will feature both Hordes and Warmachine factions in a standard Steamroller 2010 scenarios. The official rules for steamroller 2010 can be found here. Prizes to be announced.

35 point random caster event (immediately following the above): This event will follow the Mark II Hardcore and 75 point Steamroller 2010 events. Are you the master of your faction? Can you win with any caster? Time to prove it then, buttercup. Bring a single 35 point list that does not include a caster’s warjack or warbeast points and 6 caster choices for your faction. In addition to a printed list a player needs to have each of their 6 caster choices listed on a sheet of paper numbered 1 thru 6. At the beginning of each round, the tournament organizer will roll a die 6 to determine which caster will be used for that round. Scenarios will be taken from the Steamroller 2010. Retribution players are allowed to duplicate 1 warcaster choice in their list to fill it out to 6 spots. Mercenary list are allowed to duplicate warcasters to fill out their 6 spots but they must use each available warcaster for a contract at least once. Prizes to be announced.

Capt Saultydog's Trivia Challenge: All day Saturday. Know what the prefered food is for a Gorax in heat? Know how many hull boxes a Cyclone has? Then you might be ready to partake in the Captain's trivia challenge. Particpants are welcome to pick up a trivia packet at the beginning of the day and complete over the course of the day. All entries must be turned in by 9 pm that night. So, do you know more about the Iron Kingdoms than Captain Saultydog? Prizes to be announced.

Sunday June 6th

9:00 am - 50 point Steamroller 2010 and Warmachine Weekend Qualifier: One last chance to play in a steamroller event before the weekend concludes. This event will feature both Hordes and Warmachine factions in standard Steamroller 2010 scenarios. This 2010 steamroller has an added twist. The winner of this event will receive a free pass to Warmachine Weekend and automatically be qualified for their invitational event. Other prizes to be announced. The official steamroller 2010 rules can be found here.

9:00 am - 25-35-50 point Escalation event: Want to do something a bit different than a standard Steamroller event? The escalation tournament is designed to test players by making their casters excel in various army lists. Each player designs three lists from a single faction. The first list is a 25 point Mangled Metal or Tooth and Claw list. The second list is 35 points and is built off the first list. However, the second list may add troops and solos in addition to more jacks and beasts. The 3rd list increases the point total to 50 points and is constructed off the second list with additional troops, jacks, and beasts. The 25 point list will be played in round 1, the 35 point list in round 2, and the 50 point list in round 3 and on. Take note, you can only ever add onto a list, never take away. For instance, a player can start with a 6 man unit and increase it later to 10 but the converse is not true. Prizes to be announced.

Weekend Long Events

Painting competitions: Warmachine and Hordes is not just about pushing little figures over a table.  This year we’re honoring the hobby by adding painting competitions to our repertoire. Players will have the chance to submit minatures for the painting competitions starting at 2 pm on Friday June 4th through 10 am Sunday June 6th. Judging will be done on each category on Sunday June 6th and prizes will be handed out at the final ceremony.

Catergories are
a.) Best painted warcaster/warlock
b.) Best painted warjack/warbeast
c.) Best painted unit
d.) Best painted battle group
e.) Best conversion
f.) Best diorama

Capt. Saultydog’s Brainteasers: At various tournaments, participants will have the opportunity to win door prizes based off their Iron Kingdoms trivia knowledge. People currently participating in an event that has one of Capt. Saulty’s Brainteasers may submit their answer anytime during the tournament. At the end of each tournament, Capt. Saulty will draw answers and the first correct answer will be awarded the door prize for that event. Prizes to be announced.

Tide of War: During the course of Privateer Weekend, participants will have the chance to earn Tide of War points to compete for the Privateer Weekend Champion award. War points are awarded based on the size of the game played and whether or not the player was victorious. These games include both tournament games and friendly games played outside the tournament scene, but yet on the Diecon premises. A player does not need to play the same faction each game unless he/she is in a tournament. Games may range between 20 and 100 points. A player may not play the same opponent back to back. When the game is not a tournament game, both participants are responsible for notifying judges before the game begins, where it is being played, and the outcome of that game. If the players do not notify a judge, then the game will not be counted. So what goes to our overall War Champion? Well, we're keeping that hush, hush for now but the prize is absolutely huge. Let’s just say it will be something large and fully playable.

Hopefully the list of unique and exciting events has piqued your interest into attending Privateer Weekend 3 at Diecon X. Please check out http://privateerweekend.gamestlouis.com or http://www.diecon.com for more information or PM PG D.Vader or PG AslainKheog. For hotel information check here for special rates. Hope to see you there!

* 35 participants are need for Hardcore. If this number is not met, a Steamroller 2010 50 point event will be ran in it’s place.

Now then, it's been a couple months since I mentioned looking forward to playing Borderlands, so I thought I should post a follow-up. I played the game pretty intensely for a while, running through two playthroughs on my first character, a Siren, once as a Soldier, and a little as the other two classes. Most of my gameplay was single player but I got in quite a few multiplayer sessions with a couple of my friends that were a blast.

From skag hunting to fighting off the denizens of the Eridian Promontory, the game as a whole was extremely fun. It wasn't without its issues but unfortunately that seems to be standard for PC games nowadays. Regardless of some of the minor issues, I got more than my money's worth on Pandora.

For starters the mission-based system lets you hop in and out of the game for shorter sessions and still feel like you were accomplishing something. It also meant a fairly steady influx of quest XP so you never really felt like you were stagnant. Between the short quests and the fact that enemies respawned, you were always able to just go out throw lead around whenever you felt like it.

The ability to rearrange your character's skills and the ease of doing so (it just costs money, which is plentiful) really let you play around with customizing your character as you go. There was more than one occasion where I'd find a weapon or class mod that suited a certain playstyle so would just re-spec and switch over whenever I wanted.

It's hard to find a Borderlands forum where people aren't complaining about the end of the game. I admit it's the weakest point of the story, but Borderlands isn't about telling some grand epic, it's about giving you a gun to go shoot things and take their stuff. It's unabashedly a bullet-driven character-building engine, and in that regards it succeeds at its goals.

The biggest problem with Borderlands on the PC out-of-the-box was its multiplayer capabilities. It uses GameSpy as its multiplayer client, which caused all sorts of headaches for my friends and me. I heard many players using third party VPN-like products to get multiplayer working, but proper port forwarding fixed our issues, though it was still a hassle that we shouldn't have had to go through.

The first two DLCs for Borderlands were released a little while back, and there's where you start to see the problems with the game - or more likely the publishing company. The PC version was delayed for some time (as were patches for the base game) and when it was finally released, it included SecuROM. In fact, the latest Borderlands patch on Steam actually installed the Borderlands SecuROM files on your computer whether you wanted it or not, it just left them inactive until you added the expansion pack.

That was pretty much the end of Borderlands for my friends and me.  With other games being released that we wanted to play, we didn't really see the need to mess with SecuROM.  SecuROM itself isn't a dealbreaker for me, but there are so many other options out there at the moment that I don't have to mess with it to be entertained.  It was the last straw for the two gamers I usually played online with though.  After struggling with their multiplayer connectivity issues SecuROM was enough for them to bail completely.

According to Steam I've logged over 100 hours of Borderlands, and I've enjoyed every minute of it.  The game isn't complex and the story isn't deep, but it's just fun.  My only concern is that Gearbox seems to be looking to continue released DLC for it and if they want to succeed, they're going to need to make sure that they can ditch the SecuROM that's been convincing players not to continue to buy their products.

The cover is a draft of a flier that was put together for the first Privateer Weekend at DieCon 8.  I have a similar one featuring Lylyth that I'll use when I do something similar for my Legion cards.

In a few days I'll finally have my hands on my MkII version of my Protectorate cards. Even if I'm not completely happy with the layout and design of the cards, they'll still be better than playing off of the printouts that we've been using since the MkII pdf was released.