"Hordes is Risk Management, where Warmachine is Resource Management."

I cringe every time I hear that.

The analogy comes from the fixed amount of focus generated by a warcaster as opposed to the way that forcing and leeching works for warlocks and their beasts.  Unfortunately, it breaks down completely when you actually consider the implications of the labels.

Hordes is Risk Management

The risk involved in Hordes centers around the manipulation of fury between the warcaster and the warbeast.  If he does not manage this resource effectively, his army won't perform optimally.  In fact, in some cases it can lead to the army self-destructing if it frenzies at inopportune times.

Warmachine is Resource Management

Focus is a resource that a warcaster uses to power his jacks, but it is a resource he can only distribute in the beginning of his turn.  The warmachine player has to allocate that focus by playing the odds of him being able to achieve his goal for each model/unit for the round as his plan plays out.  This is risky, because if he mis-allocates focus, misjudges probability, or doesn't get the rolls he needs to execute all of his plan, then he will not get the most out of his resource for the turn.

What it boils down to is that both focus and fury are resources that must be managed efficiently or you run the risk of putting yourself at a tactical disadvantage.  This is true of both games.  So while the statement "Hordes is Risk Management, where Warmachine is Resource Management." is catchy, I don't think it's accurate enough to use when describing the two games.

On some level all of us gamers are geeks, nerds, dorks, or whatever label you want to use.  We're normal folks that if our hobbies became known could become subject to criticisms from our peers.  Geek Pride has been on the rise the last few years but there's still a social stigma that forces many gamers to keep their status to themselves.

One would think that this sort of prejudice - either real or imagined - would encourage all of us gamers to band together regardless of the flavor of our geekdom but that doesn't seem to be the case.  I can't count the number of times I've seen criticisms of a game choice leveled as an insult to fellow gamers, or the number of times that the impersonal criticism of a specific game was taken personally by players of that game.

It's not surprising that this behavior is most prevalent online where anonymity can cause people to forget they're talking to fellow human beings but I've also seen it in person.  There it degrades into a personal snarkfest just as quickly as a forum discussion online and is no less demeaning.

While I was searching for how to describe this behavior I came across the Social Identity Theory that was put forth to describe "intergroup discrimination."  In short, this theory consists of four simple elements (courtesy of wikipedia but emphasis mine):

• Categorization: We often put others (and ourselves) into categories. Labeling someone a Muslim, a Turk, or a soccer player are ways of saying other things about these people.
• Identification: We also associate with certain groups, which serves to bolster our self-esteem.
• Comparison: We compare our groups with other groups, seeing a favorable bias toward the group to which we belong.
• Psychological Distinctiveness: We desire our identity to be both distinct from and positively compared with other groups.

Even in my own limited experience I've seen situations which exemplify this type of behavior.  Some Magic players have complained about Yu-Gu-Oh players.  Some World of Darkness players have dismissed Dungeons and Dragons players as "not real roleplayers."  Some Star Wars fans have criticized Star Trek aficionados as "too obsessive."

I can say from experience it's hard to avoid applying categories and thus assuming things about a person based on those categories.  Labeling is a very easy trap to fall into if you're not careful, and we've all done it.  I've also had negative stereotypes directed towards me just because I was a part of certain groups, and it's not a pleasant experience.

I think it's important for us gamers to keep two things in mind:

• Our behavior is going to reflect on our peers
• We shouldn't make assumptions about a group of people based on one person's actions, and vice-versa

Really when you think about it, this just boils down to the goldern rule.  "Treat others as you want to be treated."  Don't make judgements of others that you wouldn't want to be made about you.  Sometimes the simplest rules can be hard to follow.  Nobody's perfect but we should still try to be good representatives of the collective gaming community.

The army I want to play for Hardcore still needs a fair bit of work, either touching up old models or finishing new ones.  Right now I think I'm happy with about half the pieces for the army but time's quickly running out.  And if I really want the army I envisioned in the beginning that means one more big project in the last month before DieCon 09.  I really want to try it but I look at how much time I'm going to have and wonder if it's really possible.  I know, I know... that's not very detailed.  I'm really trying to get the whole project done as a relative surprise so I can reveal it with full-army pictures here after the Con.  You'll just have to bear with me in the meantime.

On top of that I still have the miniatures that will be given away as part of the Privateer Press Weekend that I need to complete.  I ran into a similar problem last time I did commission work - after a while it just gets harder and harder to stay motivated to paint something I'm not going to be keeping while my own unpainted models start piling up.  I made a commitment though and I'm not backing down, but it means pushing through the burnout.

I guess this is my biggest hurdle with miniature painting.  Typically I enjoy it very much because it's a casual hobby - I paint whatever I want at my own pace.  If burnout strikes on my own models I can just set them aside and take a breather.  Then when I get interested again I can come back to the piece in question and work on it some more.

But commitments come with deadlines and deadlines mean not stopping just because I'm tired of working on something.  If time gets short (like it is now) painting on a schedule can start to feel less like a hobby and more like work and that's why I do it.

Still though like I said I made commitments to people and I intend to keep them.  I'm going to keep pushing through to DieCon and finish off everything I can between now and then.  It won't be the most fun I've had painting but I'm determined to complete the commission to my usual standards.

After that I'll probably put the brushes away for a while to recharge.  Maybe I'll take that time to catch up on my online miniature gallery.  Either way it will be disappointing because I already have a backlog of miniatures I want to get painted for my own armies (in addition to some figures I just want to paint for fun) but they're for my own collection and they're not going anywhere.  It will be far more satisfying to wait until I can enjoy the painting process again.

In the meantime... time to buckle down and get to work!

Baroness is a well behaved tailless calico who spends most of the day curled up either in her bed upstairs or on my fiancee's lap while she reads or watches TV. Puck is the anti-Baroness, who has made it his mission in life to cause whatever grief he can. Any bags of chips left unattended for longer than 30 seconds will be opened and scattered across the kitchen floor when you return. If the garbage disposal doesn't mince absolutely every bit of food we put down in it, Puck will jump in the sink and try to get food out of the drain. On more than one occasion Puck has knocked a full pan of chili cheese dip - bubbling hot hot mind you - off the stove and onto the kitchen floor. I guess he needed some dip for the chips or something.

Still that didn't compare to his antics yesterday.

This week the group had decided to hit Smokin' Al's for some barbecue before the group made their first excursion into the ruins of Parlainth. Puck loves barbecue. Not that that's different than any other food but the smells quickly drew him downstairs to the gaming table we were eating at.

To let everyone eat in peace, I decided to lock him into the other side of the basement where his litter box was. My fiancee took her barbecue upstairs to watch the Cards game, leaving the rest of us downstairs to talk gaming.

Before long we started to hear some thumping of some sorts above us. I dismissed it right away - I figured my fiancee was either getting something to drink or otherwise moving around in the living room which was right over where I was sitting.

I no sooner dismiss the noise as being my fiancee when one of the drop ceiling tiles in my basement tumbles to the ground, being ridden by a very scared cat. I don't know who was more surprised - the mischievous feline or the gamers who just got an surprise visit from ceiling cat. I do know that Puck recovered first, kicking up some pieces of fiberglass from the panel as he bolted for the stairs up to the first floor.

See, Puck knows when he does something he's not supposed to do - getting into foodstuffs or climbing onto the kitchen counters, for instance. He also knows he's safe as long as we don't catch him. And Puck just got caught.

As usual Puck led me on a merry little chase before I was able to corner him and lock him in the upstairs bathroom so we could be in peace. But before long his pathetic meows - you'd think he'd been shot or something - started to echo into the basement. Let me tell you it was the loveliest gaming soundtrack imaginable.

best.cat.evar.

sigh.

The Fully Painted 2006 movement was started by the members of the Brushthralls - a group of fans who promote miniature painting with an emphasis on Privateer Press products. Let's make this clear first: The Brushthralls are an asset to the Privateer Press community and their website is a great resource for miniature painters. The goal they set with their movement is lofty one, and I'm not about to begrudge someone for attempting. But in the thread where they announced Fully Painted 2006 there were posts from other community members referring to playing as unpainted miniatures as somehow substandard, as if those that played but didn't paint were lesser individuals and were unworthy of playing against them.

I love painting. I would even go so far as to say it's one of my passions. If I was forced to rank my hobbies, I'd say I'm a roleplayer first, miniature painter second, and wargamer third. That said I have to take issue with the attitude that if I place an unpainted miniature on the table then I'm somehow less of a player.

I'll be honest; I'm not what you would call a fast miniature painter. I go slowly, take my time, and I try to do the best I can within reason. I might not go through a dozen layers of highlights on a basic unit, but there are still a few layers of shading and highlighting on each one. I could speed through a unit to get it on the table then redo it later, but the old adage holds true here: "If you can't find time do to it right, when are you going to find time to do it over?"  I have enough unpainted pewter queued up that adding painted pewter to the queue and expecting it to get done is simply unrealistic. So if I have to field an unpainted unit because it hasn't reached the top of my queue yet, I will. I don't paint to be able to field a painted army. I paint to have fun. I also play miniature wargames to have fun. Although closely related, these are ultimately two distinct hobbies. Wargaming is a great gateway to introduce people to the hobby of miniature painting, but you don't march them through the gateway at gunpoint.

Sure, there are companies out there like Games Workshop who require painted figures to play. And I can understand their desire to sell their painting products, but what are they really doing with their requirements? A Games Workshop figure has to be painted in at least three colors before it can be fielded in a sanctioned event. Does this promote truly promote the hobby of miniature painting? It may motivate some people, but those who really don't want to paint are simply going to spray paint their figures one color, paint the shoulder pads a second and slap some paint on their weapons for a third. So what it comes down to is that people who want to paint will go through the trouble anyway, and people that don't will work around the rule. In the end the so-called "painting requirements" wind up as just one more hoop a non-painter needs to get around in order to play. In fact for me the painting requirements are one of the biggest turn offs of Games Workshop games. I don't want to be able to wait the time it takes me to paint an army to be able to play it.

For the most part, games like Warmachine are wargames, not painting games. People who buy miniatures, slap them together, and play with them without ever touching a brush are just as valid participants in the hobby as anyone else. Looking down on them because they simply choose to favor one of the two possible hobbies that can spring from the game is snobbish and elitist. I won't argue that a fully painted game is prettier. But I much rather play a game that's fun, one that goes back and forth, one which either side can win at either time until the final round when both people go "Woah, that was cool," shake hands, and re-deploy for a rematch.

I'll agree that painted miniatures look nice on the table, but how is that mandatory? Simply because they look nice? What about terrain, then? Sorry, your piece of blue felt is insufficient. You have to have a pond crafted of resin and stained to the appearance of bog water vs fresh water and stagnant vs. flowing as appropriate! That green piece of cloth isn't going to do it, either. I need to see a stand with at least 6 trees to count that as a forest, mister! Where does it end? What about those dice? I don't think so, son! That's not pretty enough; they're not your faction's colors!

Some players may just be slow painters like myself; some players may just choose not to paint their miniatures because they don't want to. I've seen other players tell the non-painters they aren't fully participating in the hobby because they're not painting. To those players I ask, who are you to judge how someone else spends their time on their hobbies?

"I'm sorry, little Jimmy. If you haven't beaten that latest video game by now, you're just not trying. Your legos have to wait, Mister!"

Really, isn't that sort of attitude silly? When it comes down to a completely voluntary hobby, why does anyone feel they have the right to judge how much time someone else is willing to devote to it? I'd understand if it was something important like... oh, I don't know... heart surgery? If someone cracks open my chest I want to be pretty darn sure they take all the time that's necessary to put everything back where they found it, but painting is just a hobby.

"But if you're not going to paint your miniatures, why even buy them in the first place?"

Some people might not realize it, but there are plenty of reasons for the non-painter to purchase miniatures. Perhaps they like the models. Perhaps they just want to support the company that makes a game they enjoy. Maybe they're collectors. Maybe they want the stat cards that come in the blisters. Maybe they're just compulsive. Ultimately I don't know exactly what motivates every non-painter, but what's important is that it's not my place to judge them.

The point is, the why doesn't matter. I'll appreciate painted miniatures when I see them, both if they're done well and as an appreciation of the time and effort that goes into doing them. But I'll accept anyone who wants to play bare metal for whatever reason as equal participants in the hobby, too. It's their choice, not mine. You don't have to paint to play.