Game Night VI - Unexpected Country

Hey all!

So the title is sort of a lie, I have no idea how many game nights I've had this summer break.  However, the rest of the title is true.

We are fast approaching Tabletop Tuesday, where usually I'd be chomping at the bit to get some Warhammer Fantasy in, or grudgingly dragging my Chaos Space Marines out for the umpteenth time this year.  But last Tuesday, I started down a different path.  No models, just meeples.  No charts and tables comparing ballistic skills and range bands, or anything of the sort.  It was a small box of cards, a couple dozen train meeples, and some sports.  I left with a box full of Lovecraftian Horror, and a keen desire to get more meeples and more small boxes full of tokens and cards.

So what do I bring this week?  Should I pack up the old Citadel Case full of Stormvermin and Screaming Bells?  Should I dust off some Helldrakes and Demolisher cannons?  Maybe make way for the meeples?  

I am in a crunch.  This coming Friday, I will be hosting a Mansions of Madness game at my house, so I know that I don't have to drag that down to the shop.  And I know for a fact that I will be loading up my Dreadball stuff before I roll out for the shop.  So that leaves the choice still of several game systems, ranging from Firestorm Armada to Power Grid.  I know for a fact that I will most likely pick up a copy of Merchants of Venus, Diplomacy, or Twighlight Struggle - maybe to play at the store right then.  

I'm sorry that this blog has drifted away from the bad reviews about cheap games - hopefully I'll be able to sit down and really write up a review for a few games after this weeks Tabletop Tuesday, atleast for Dreadball, Gloom, and Ticket to Ride.  

Until then, happy gaming.

A Different Breed of Game

Hey all!

Sorry bout the drought of posts the past few weeks, I've been on vacation in the Northeastern part of the country.  As such I've come woefully unprepared for this blog post, but I have some ideas as to what I'd like to write about.

First things first - some GW talk.  

The new 40k Orks are freaking awesome.  And I'm really looking forward to digging into the Space Wolves vs. Orks campaign.  Might have to paint up some vanilla marines and wolf them out in fact... 

Aside from that, I purchased Triumph and Treachery finally.  CANNOT WAIT TO PLAY THAT.  Looks amazing. I've slowly been painting more Rats, this time in the form of some Nightrunners.

However, most of my time lately has been spent exploring new options...

I am a college student.  Most of my friends are college students.  We are all nerds.  We like playing with toys and games, and want more people to play with us.  

Miniature wargames are awesome.  They are expensive and time consuming - both things that college students seem to be lacking (crazy right?).  

Where am I going with this?  Well, it's the sad truth that wargames - especially the awesome sauce that is GW - is just too much for most college people to afford.  I myself have started to wonder if paying $60 for awesome models is truly acceptable for myself and my budgets.  Don't get me wrong, I absolutely adore GW stuff.  My Skaven are my favorite models period.  But it's just getting overwhelming.

As an aside, playing GW games and wargames in general is becoming harder and harder to accommodate as well - work schedules, family time, girlfriend time, and veg time - all of these compete and usually win out over hobby time.  Our group goes to a game store every Tuesday in an attempt to get some gaming in.  

This Tuesday we made a point to try and have a game night with no wargames... And it was an absolute success.  We played a card game called Gloom - where players attempt to cause as much hilarious misfortune to their characters before killing them off with morbidly funny cards.  Add in a little story telling, and boom: laughs for hours.

Great game!  

After Gloom, we cracked out a game of Ticket to Ride.  While this is a great game for beginners and as a fun simple game to play - for veteran wargamers and rpg players?  The game was fun, but not everything they were hoping for.  

Finally, I introduced the guys to Dreadball.  You may recall that some of my earliest posts were about starting dreadball.  That never happened.  I had the box set, but we never attempted to play because of the omnipresence of 40k.  So finally, we found another group at the store who ONLY plays Dreadball, and my god did we have a great time....

Veermyn and Corporation go at each other in Sudden Death!

Finally painted up my Orx team.

My Veermyn get their faces stomped in by Nameless on their 4th turn.  Ouch.

I have fallen totally in love with this system.  It's so fast and so easy that it just is a more enjoyable game then a lot of systems out there.  I've order the Veermyn team, and have finished painting up the box set.  Next week I'll get a couple more games in, but then it's back to classes the following week.  Summer has kinda flown by this year.  

After playing a few games of Dreadball, I went ahead and picked up Mansions of Madness to give a go.  Really looking forward to playing that one!  I'll post lots of pictures when we do, as I'm sure people are curious to see how it goes...

That's all I got for now folks, see you next time!