First game of WWX, and some thoughts thereon

So, I finally got the chance to play a couple of small, $500 games of Wild West Exodus last night.  We had a couple of things we were concerned about, most notably true LOS.  Yes, WWX uses true LOS, which is a departure from many other games, which treat miniatures as occupying a cylindrical space the diameter of their base and extending a certain distance upwards.  WWX does not do that; it harks back to the "If you can see it, you can shoot it" rule.

Overall, it worked fairly well, but neither of us were being jerks about it.  In a tournament, however, I suspect that things would be very different.  And that brings me to my biggest criticism of WWX - it is not, and probably never will be, a game suited to tournament play.

That's not entirely a bad thing.  WWX "suffers" (so to speak) from the same club-level mentality that is the case for WFB and 40k.  Those games work just fine when you are playing with your friends, and you play in the same group from week to week.  But, when you move away from your local circle, and go to a convention, you can very quickly find that, because the rules (and sometimes tournament guidelines) are so "loose," there is a lot of room for interpretation.

By contrast, Warmachine has a very tight ruleset.  There is not much wiggle room, and you are pretty much assured that, whether you play in Chicago, Pittsburgh or Seattle, you are going to be playing under the same conditions and rules for terrain.

It's not a bad thing that WWX is not really a tourney game.  (Yes, they are having one at AdeptiCon.  I am playing in it, but I am expecting a lot of "Well, we can always dice to see who is right about [X]," or possibly a few full-bore, alchohol-fueled arguments.)  It's a fun game to sit down with some friends, have a few drinks, and shoot a lot of varmints full of lead.  It's fun, and I am enjoying it, but as a tournament game, it is going to be lacking.

Oh, and for the record - I lose both games.  The first one badly (very badly), the second I managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory with my usual stellar dice rolls.

Collection digression

I should have some Convergence test pics up later today, but in the meantime. . . .

This is from a facebook discussion, where the original question was asked:

Discussion topic: How do you guys decide it's time to part ways with an army? Have you felt that you have too much stuff, and it would be nice to have less, or use excess stuff to fund another project? How to choose, how to choose? Do you follow any personal guidelines in turning over your forces for something new?

My answer (predictably, as the Army Altaholic) was:

I see those words, but do not understand them. Kidding aside - until I give up on WM/H entirely, I am not giving up any of my armies. I've done it before, and then a mere 6 months later, decided that I wanted to play [X] again, and had to start from scratch. (I have pared down my GW stuff, but I keep some in reserve, in case of a move, since it is slightly easier to find a GW game and WM/H)

 A bit later, I clarified, because someone asked how I decided which GW armies to pare down:

For GW - for 40k, I kept Marines, Orks and (b/c they came in the last set) Chaos. All three are staples, don't change so much that my figs won't be any good, and all should stick around with edition changes. For WFB, I have Skaven and Orcs for the same reason, and though I don't now that Ogres will stay in future editions, it's a small model count army, so if I ever start painting them again, it's easy to finish, and a nice change from the other horde armies.

 The consensus was that, in general, you should get rid of an army either when you know that you are unlikely to ever play that army again in the future, or when you divest yourself of a game system entirely.  For example, when I got rid of my Chronopia stuff last year, I got rid of all of it.  Everything that I could find, all in one fell swoop.  It is possible that I have a rulebook or something still floating around, or perhaps an odd figure that I missed, but I tried to get all of it.  I might do the same thing with another game or two that I have - ones that I have not played in over a decade, and am unlikely to ever play again, since they pretty much require an already-existing group of players.

I have toyed with the idea of getting rid of a couple of Malifaux crews - ones that I did not paint, and have thought about stripping.  I'd be trading them for different crews - essentially, an army swap.  I do that from time to time, but mainly at the battlebox level - once I have a certain critical mass invested in an army, it becomes a lot less likely to go.


Comments from any of my (irregular) readers?

AdeptiCon, part III - the car ride home

Driving out of Chicago was much better than the drive in.  For starters, while I was sleep-deprived, the rain was not coming down in buckets - and I had an ample supply of caffeine.  But it is a fair drive, some three hours or so, and rather than listen to the radio, we talked about the weekend, Warmachine, etc.

The first, and most important, thing, is that we all decided to come back to AdeptiCon next year.  We had lots of fun, and played a lot of games.  Next year, however, we plan on staying on-site - the half-mile drive was just long enough to be annoying, and we'd like to avoid that.  Plus, we'll be bringing some fermented grain products of our own.

Second, we talked about the possibility of entering the team tourney.  We have another player who may be coming next year, which would give us possibly two teams, and so we had a discussion on the possible display boards, the team composition, why we should have custom made shirts - the whole nine yards.  (Among them - a Cryx/Legion team board could be a ghost pirate ship towing either a dead whale, with Legion beasts feasting on it, or a blighted whale, with spikes and carapace growths.  Either sound fun.)

Lastly, we talked about why I lose so often.  Part of it is dice - people who have watched me stare in awe (or horror) at successive strings of snake-eyes, or events where my average 2d6 roll is 5.  I know that it is a poor craftsman who blames his tools, so while dice is indeed a part of it, I rarely plan my turns on the basis of anything beyond "I need 5s to hit, and do dice minus 4, so I should be able to kill this solo with 3 attacks."  I presume that I will have sub-average dice, and try to plan accordingly.

No, the real problem, I think, it is that somehow, when I took the black and became a press ganger, I decided that I was supposed to lose.  Not just at demos, but pretty much every game.  I know my units reasonably well, but I seem to avoid doing some of the synergies that move my game from meh to decent..  I don't practice a list, or play nearly as many games as I need to, and I tend to flit from army to army, ostensibly to give people practice playing against as many different things as possible.  In other words, I am trying to help make my meta better, but it means that I lose a lot, and in such a way that it does not actually make me a better player.  I need to stop taking a back seat on the open play days, and allowing others to play (when there is an odd number) instead of claiming a table for myself.

Now, being aware of the problem and fixing it are two different matters.  I'm going to goof off for the next couple of months, painting whatever I feel like (for the 5-pt/month challenge), and playing whatever I feel like.  And then, once I have the Convergence book in my hands, I am going to look at it, and at all the armies, and settle on something.  I have to play some eMorghoul games for that challenge, but I am going to pick something in July and concentrate on it until AdeptiCon next year.  I won't get in 10,000 hours, but I plan on doing a lot better next year than I did this year.

Anoter day, another 1-1 record

Got in two games down at Games Plus today.  I got there a little later than I had originally planned, so there were already plenty of games in progress when I showed up.  Nonetheless, by standing around and talking to people, I managed to rustle up a couple of games.

First game was against Trolls - Grim Angus, Impaler, EBDT, Mauler, Janissa, full Nyss, Bone Grinders, Croak Hunter.  Swamp Pit kept me safe from the shooting, and I managed to take out some things on my feat turn.  His return stroke wasn't enough, and the gators chewed through his beasts.  The Nyss were still alive at the end of the game, but that was about it.

Second game was against Legion - eVayl, Ravagore, Scythean, Angelius, stew pot, swordsmen.  It's good to get Legion jammed down your throat from time to time - otherwise, you forget how fast and maneuverable that they can be.  I did not do nearly so well this game - I took out most of his swordsmen (though he trampelled a few), but not much else, and Barnabas died on eVayl's feat turn.

I was happy with both games - I'd probably have rather used Farrow against Legion (unless it is Lylyth), but I wanted to try out my new Swamp Horror.  It did okay - better in the first game than in the second.  It's a fun beast, but holy $%(*$& is it slow!

Win some, lose some

Got in two small games with Maelok today. Won the first against a legion list (eThag, Typhon, some shredders), mainly because the shredders were in the way of Typhon and eThag, and I used feat to get past them to the crunchy warlock center. Could have gone the other way though.

Lost the second against a Xerxis Skorne list. Bronzeback, Gladiator, min paingivers and the beatstick. It wasn't even close. I almost managed to eke out a victory - I had Xerxis down quite a bit, he had no fury, but I had to resort to slamming one of my gatormen into him to try and finish him off. When it didn't work (and, frankly, it was a long shot at best), I was done. It was a go big or go home attempt, and I got spanked for it.

Good games, both of them. I think Barnabas is still my favorite gator, but once the boneswarm and the witch doctors are out, Barnabas might have to take a back seat.

Next week, I think I will take my pigs. Sturm and Drang need some testing too.

Gaming and pragmatism

So, on a semi-regular basis, I have been making the trek to a FLGS on Thursdays. Thursdays is generally their Warhammer night, and I am trying to get people to consider adding Warmachine or Hordes to their game rotation. As a practical matter, this means that my Thursdays will probably be spent playing 40k or WFB and making small talk about other systems for the better part of half a year, while also trying to drum up people for Saturdays (which is our designated WM slot.)

FWIW - the store owner is fine with me coming in to play on Thursdays, in part because I do buy paints, brushes, etc, even if I have not been buying WFB or 40k stuff. But, since my GW stuff is a little lacking, I'll probably wind up buying some Skaven or Orks in the next few months, just because I happen to be playing 40k on a Thursday night instead of WM.

40k may not be my game of choice, but I will probably get more people to add WM if I am seen playing both games as well.