Manipulations Episode #1

Well, I stated in the last post that I would probably start posting some random stuff here and there so here it is. It has been a couple weeks since I posted last, but I am gonna try to post at least once a week. Hell, maybe I will make a regular Sunday article. We'll play this one by ear and if it goes ok maybe I can keep up with it.

Competitive 40K?

So, there has been quite an uproar the last couple of weeks over what competitive 40K players feel GW is doing with their game. If I still ran regular tournaments I could easily see how it might be an issue. Dataslates. strongholds, super heavies, allies, and all that is out there is a nightmare for tournament organizers. It really has little to do with those fellas and a lot to do with the people who show for those events.

If you don't know maybe you should understand something about people who take it on themselves to run not only tournaments but any type of event. Regardless of how it may look on the outside the desire to run events comes mainly from the desire for others to have an enjoyable experience. Some may be about ego and the more successful ones can make some money at it, but at the root of it is running an enjoyable event.

Having said that, if they feel the players won't enjoy the game many will strive to strike a balance that can neutralize a problem. I was quite like that when I first started. Things I got complaints about or seem overpowering were often comped out or forced to deal with scenarios that weighed heavily against them. I learned a while ago that all you end up doing in those situation is creating something else that is off and it becomes a never ending battle. More recently I have been pretty much will to allow what ever is in the book to fly. Balance comes from the option for everyone to use the same stuff.

How do I feel about the current game. I like it. What follows may explain why.

Play What You Want!

Those thoughts lead me into my newest mantra, Play What You Want! I was one of those people who was always looking for my favorite game. Part of that was the downfall of Rackham's Confrontation, the other part was I had the wrong idea of what I was looking for. Probably about a year or two ago I came to the realization that most of the time it wasn't as much the game I was playing but how I was playing it. With that in mind I started paring down the minis I had and focused on the games I actually liked, and played them with the people I actually enjoyed playing against.

That change was a problem at the FLGS for a while because folks often looked to me to see what was being played. Not because I was the cool kid or the one in the know but I was the one running events and they knew I ran the game I was playing. Between the change in philosophy and a lack of time at the store due to the birth of my son I stopped running events and stopped being the area of focus for the guys who came there. That led to a bit of a drift of players until others stepped up to take over.

Me now, I play what I want to play and encourage others to do the same. That means I have zero problem with where 40K is at this time. Played with people you like in a way you both want to play the game is at one of  its best point in a long time. Yeah there are going to be some ridiculous stuff, but if that is a problem for you then you probably are not playing the right person. If the players you play games against do not recognize you are unhappy with that model, unit, combo, whatever then maybe they are the wrong ones to play. I do know one thing, right now we have some of the best models, with the best options, played on some of the best tables, holding some of the best looking scenery I have seen. Painted or unpainted if that does not get your blood pumping, not sure what to tell you.

RPGs Are Methadone to A TableTop Gamer!

I started my gaming history with DnD. Probably a common theme among the older mini gamers. DnD led me to the game store, which exposed me to mini gaming, and that is that. For a good part of my 24 years of mini gaming I have always had a RPG game going on the side. The last 6 or so years that has not been the case. I have been a mini gamer and that is it. Sure I would get the occasional game started that would last a few sessions but they would always fizzle and die.

Recently I had a friend move back in town. He was one of my "RPG" friends, and one of the first things we talked about when he got back into town was a RPG group. Flash forward 18 months and I have a group that is doing pretty well. The sessions can get sporadic as real life gets in the way (as tends to happen when you are adults with families instead of tweeners with loads of free time), but we manage to make some good progress.

Over that same amount of time I had the birth of my son that caused me to evaluate the need to spend the majority of my Friday nights at the local store. I found it easier to make time for rollplaying at the dining table for 3 or 4 hours and harder to cut out a solid chunk on a Friday to go to the store. The longer I did that the more I realized the local store was less about the game and more about the social interaction with the gamers. Since I was getting that from my RP group it was not as necessary to go to the store.

Where am I now?

If you have been watching this blog you will know that recently our RP group wrapped up a Gurps Fallout game I was running. Getting burned out on GMing I asked and received an offer from one of the others to run a game. Now we are starting a sci-fi Savage Worlds game set in a setting scratch built by Gauthic. It looks promising and I can't wait to see where it goes.

Being a painter I felt the need to paint a mini for my character and have been moving along slowly on it. I should get some time over Christmas to progress and if I do I will be sure and update you all here.

TLDR

Well, if you made it this far I applaud you. In the future I will try to keep it  short but I just had a lot on my mind. Thanks as always for reading.