Downer's Grove/Chicago, IL Fair Game Warmachine Nights starting soon

[johnnyspys]

We missed you a lot pumpkin...hopefully you were tied up, drinking beer, and playing naked warmachine while watching the Blackshawks beat the Rangers....:-)
Fun night but we had less people there....hopefully the flu is not spreading around like it is at my university....tons of people sick.

[Sycak]

Came up for the first time last night and played my first game of Warmachine ever. Thanks to Tom for the great run down/tutorial of the game. Seems like a great group of people can't wait to head up there next week!

[johnnyspys]

Glad you had fun...Tom is a great guy, and we have a lot of great guys in the league. Win or loose it is a great time to be had...except playing Menoth they smell like limburger.

[mostholycerebus]

Also, since there was no record keeping going on, I won all 8, no 12 games I played...

[Snipafist]

Glad you had fun...Tom is a great guy, and we have a lot of great guys in the league. Win or loose it is a great time to be had...except playing Menoth they smell like limburger.

Man, all this whining about Protectorate, I tells ya. They're rough for newbies because you need to peel through the synergy chains or else they're gonna hit you hard and tell you what you can and can't do, but I assure you, the Protectorate's quite mortal. And (usually) slow - I'd argue slower than Khador in most cases. I do understand the denial can be frustrating - it's expected that the other guy is trying to kill you, but telling you what you can and can't do is just rude. I'm sure as the league as a whole gains experience, I (we? I think I saw one other guy running Protectorate) will be getting my (our?) come-uppins soon enough. And then I'm sure we'll all move on to the global Warmachine obsession of whining about Cryx .

On a constructive note, though, I'm happy to provide any generalized advice about how to deal with Protectorate if anyone has any questions.

[ObsidianXIII]

My folks live in that neck of the woods. I might bring my Khador down next time I visit them. How much WM goes on outside of Thursdays and what times (including Thursdays) would I be able to find WM/H players?

Also, are there any restrictons on playing at all, like no WM/H on 40k night or something? It might be a pretty nice intermediate place to meet for a game with one of my buddies.

[johnnyspys]

Magic nights...forget about coming the store is packed. (see calendar). If you are looking for a pickup game...plan in advance and make sure you have an opponent lined up. In my experience the game is still new to the store so just showing up for a game will likely net you zero. If you are looking for pickup games and you live in Chicago (Please tell me you are not one of those people who puts Chicago in your location but you live in Plainfield ) Dice Dojo is your best bet for pickup games...they have a ton of players there. On Thursdays if you are not in the league you probably won't find anyone willing to play because people are looking for league games in order to gain points. I am in the league and it is hard to get anyone to play bigger games because they want to play as many fast small games as possible in order to reap the massive points reward.

[Snipafist]

My folks live in that neck of the woods. I might bring my Khador down next time I visit them. How much WM goes on outside of Thursdays and what times (including Thursdays) would I be able to find WM/H players?

Also, are there any restrictons on playing at all, like no WM/H on 40k night or something? It might be a pretty nice intermediate place to meet for a game with one of my buddies.

Generally, on a given gaming night, other gamers need to make room for the assigned night. There are no Warhammer products sold or played at Fair Game (partially because GW's independent store policies are atrocious and partially because there's the GW regional HQ about 5 miles to the north, I gather), just Warmachine. I'm looking to eventually get some Dystopian Wars going on at some point, but I haven't a clue when that would be.

[johnnyspys]

Generally, on a given gaming night, other gamers need to make room for the assigned night. There are no Warhammer products sold or played at Fair Game (partially because GW's independent store policies are atrocious and partially because there's the GW regional HQ about 5 miles to the north, I gather), just Warmachine. I'm looking to eventually get some Dystopian Wars going on at some point, but I haven't a clue when that would be.

Now if I could only get people to play Legends of the Old West minis or Field of Glory I would be super happy. I would be interested in learning Dystopian Wars or even Malifaux but I am nervous about starting a new minis game without a critical base....aka my joys with Arcane Legions and that base that died in two seconds.

[Snipafist]

Dystopian Wars is pretty dang cheap to pick up, which is what attracted my in-house group to it (well, that and Fair Game stocks the starters, and Josh and Eric want to get a group running eventually). The rules are fairly simple, but the rulebook itself is not doing the ruleset any favors. Once we start getting something rolling, I'm sure we'll post something, and hopefully by that point the new rulebook and some of the new factions will be out. I've had fun playing it though. Kinda reminds me of Battlefleet Gothic and Warmachine had a weird baby with HUGE swings in what can be expected from a dice roll (the basic mechanic is you're looking to get X successes to do something, and 6s count as 2 successes AND give another dice roll until you stop rolling 6s, therefore even "throwaway" attacks have the odd chance of pulling off something spectacular).

[johnnyspys]

yeah i heard the jaded podcast review and even through they ripped the rulebook they loved the game. Didnt the new edition of the rules fix somethings?

[Snipafist]

There's a whole bunch of errata on the website that has the upside of clearing some things up and simplifying some needlessly complex things, but the downside of making it extremely difficult to figure out what rules actually still work and which ones don't. I ended up sitting down and writing out my own "living rule book" so I could keep everything straight. Once that was done, it's been fairly simple.

[langbenj]

Was thinking about stopping in tomorrow night and joining the shenanigans. What point level is the league at and how long do you guys have left. I've got some Circle I need a good excuse to paint (like adepticon isn't enough pressure)

[Snipafist]

We're at 25 tomorrow. The next two weeks are 35.

[Sycak]

Cant wait, I will be there tomorrow to actually start playing in the league. After playing the practice game with Menoth last week, I think I am liking the Khador better at this point. Having to order some things to keep up with the points though.

Think there will be anyone that could loan me some Winterguard Infantry for the nite? If not I will just have to play short this week.

[Snipafist]

Most of our Khador guys are also newbies, so I'm uncertain if there will be any minis to spare. I'm sure someone would be happy to play a lower-points game with you should you request it. Alternatively, if you have any other infantry models (or hell, even the right sized bases and some means of distinguishing forward arc and unit leader(s)), you could always proxy, provided your opponent was okay with it.

Also I'm not so sure I understand your first paragraph. Did you play a game as Khador vs Menoth and that got you better acclimated to Khador or did you play AS Protectorate (i.e. you bought the two player starter box) and decided you didn't like it as much as Khador? If it's the latter, it seems you'll also have company. Lots of guys seem to have bought the two-player starter box and preferred Khador to Protectorate. As a Protectorate player, this makes me feel somewhat rejected . Nobody wants to be seen with me at the big dance. Is it because my religiously conservative parents homeschooled me and because I compulsively torture heretics? I thought people liked the sulfur and brimstone cologne I picked up! Is it because I always win at Menoth May I?

...

[Sycak]

Snipa,

I have the two player box set. I got an intro game from Tom last week with my Menoth against his Cryx. After doing some reading I think the Khador are a better fit, at least starting out with the game. I do like the Menoth and plan to build on to the box one day.

[langbenj]

What time do people usually show up? I'm between jobs at the moment and kind of have an open schedule

[Snipafist]

I believe it starts around 5, but it starts picking up around 6. It usually runs till 9 to 10 or so.

[MarioLopez]

Are people making it out tonight? The weather is looking pretty gnarly.

[langbenj]

Are people making it out tonight? The weather is looking pretty gnarly.

I was looking forward to it but they're forcasting 3.6 inches of snow starting at 6:00. I'll have to drop by next week.

[Sycak]

I'll be up there around 530 or so.

[langbenj]

Snow stopped over here so it looks like I'm going to head out after all.

[mostholycerebus]

Eh, I skipped. By the time I realized the snow forecast was over blown, I was already mentally committed to laying on the couch and watching Burn Notice all night. Next week.

[langbenj]

Had a great time playing everyone. If anyone wants to play any time during the day during the week I'd probably be up for it.

[Sycak]

Had a great time, thanks to Tristan and Ben for the great games tonight. Went 1-1 on the night so it was a good start I think.

Hopefully next week I will have a full allotment of points to play with.

Who do I need to talk to for a league player number?

[Snipafist]

Had a great time, thanks to Tristan and Ben for the great games tonight. Went 1-1 on the night so it was a good start I think.

Hopefully next week I will have a full allotment of points to play with.

Who do I need to talk to for a league player number?

Our local press ganger is Jeremy. He stopped by briefly around 6PM yesterday to drop off paperwork. He's had real life obligations lately.

[langbenj]

Our local press ganger is Jeremy. He stopped by briefly around 6PM yesterday to drop off paperwork. He's had real life obligations lately.

Jeremy's good people. Real life gets in the way of toy soldiers sometimes

[Zombied00d]

I will be on hand for next week. Plus: paint checks and ribbons next week!

[Snipafist]

I'm actually going to be getting some painting points! Holy crap! At this rate, I've finished up a Redeemer and a Vigilant, and I should have eFeora and 2 choir boys (I finished up the minimum unit months ago, but the other 2 sat around unpainted, which I think means they're 1 point for league score?) done, perhaps more. It's been a delightfully lazy Saturday. Anybody else made any progress on painting?

[johnnyspys]

Felix stopped by yesterday (a local friendly press ganger) and dropped off ten hills, 20 trenches, and 10 linear obstacles (giant stones) so we will have plenty of terrain for games from now on. I have woods and buildings so we should be good to go if we finish the league with a tournament.

[langbenj]

I'm actually going to be getting some painting points! Holy crap! At this rate, I've finished up a Redeemer and a Vigilant, and I should have eFeora and 2 choir boys (I finished up the minimum unit months ago, but the other 2 sat around unpainted, which I think means they're 1 point for league score?) done, perhaps more. It's been a delightfully lazy Saturday. Anybody else made any progress on painting?

This:


Is what I'm working on right now. There are advantages to being unemployed!

[Snipafist]

This:
Is what I'm working on right now. There are advantages to being unemployed!

Impressive! I am torn as to whether or not I should say I envy you. I've often thought that a solid 2 or so weeks of free time would be more than sufficient for me to catch up on all my painting, but when exactly would that ever happen?

Also: do I spy two minimum units of wolf riders and a unit of bloodtrackers? Oh you squirrely skirmishing little sneak. Well done, sir. When I go Circle, that's definitely more my style. I love Protectorate to death, but I every so often wonder what it would be like to actually have Pathfinder (on more than one unit) or Stealth (on more than one character solo) or competent skirmishers, all of which the Circle has in spades.

[mostholycerebus]

Anybody else made any progress on painting?

No, I did two solos and a jack, then didn't like how the Jack scheme turned out, so shelved my whole armys color scheme. Took me a week to decide what I wanted, then had to order the paint, which I will pick up Thursday. Oh well, I'd rather play with minis I like than get paint points I guess.

[Snipafist]

No, I did two solos and a jack, then didn't like how the Jack scheme turned out, so shelved my whole armys color scheme. Took me a week to decide what I wanted, then had to order the paint, which I will pick up Thursday. Oh well, I'd rather play with minis I like than get paint points I guess.

Ah, you're using non-Vallejo paints? I've been pretty happy with the Vallejos, and Fair Game has a big rack of them that I've been slowly drawing from. If you plan on mixing/watering down paints, I'd recommend them. If you like using paint straight from the pot, then yeah, you'll probably need to order out for yours.

[langbenj]

1 full unit of wolfriders and a full unit of bloodtrackers/nuala. The extra wolf is moraig. Circle is very fun. All kinds of shenanigans

Impressive! I am torn as to whether or not I should say I envy you. I've often thought that a solid 2 or so weeks of free time would be more than sufficient for me to catch up on all my painting, but when exactly would that ever happen?

Also: do I spy two minimum units of wolf riders and a unit of bloodtrackers? Oh you squirrely skirmishing little sneak. Well done, sir. When I go Circle, that's definitely more my style. I love Protectorate to death, but I every so often wonder what it would be like to actually have Pathfinder (on more than one unit) or Stealth (on more than one character solo) or competent skirmishers, all of which the Circle has in spades.

[mostholycerebus]

Ah, you're using non-Vallejo paints? I've been pretty happy with the Vallejos, and Fair Game has a big rack of them that I've been slowly drawing from. If you plan on mixing/watering down paints, I'd recommend them. If you like using paint straight from the pot, then yeah, you'll probably need to order out for yours.

Mainly valejos and citadel metallics. Didnt have the shade im looking for in Game Color though.

[Snipafist]

Mainly valejos and citadel metallics. Didnt have the shade im looking for in Game Color though.

Aha, makes sense. I've found the Vallejo metallics to be pretty decent, although I've heard bad things about the Privateer metallics. They're tough "colors" to get right.

[johnnyspys]

Privateer Metallics are amazing and I get the best results from using them...many complements...they just look right. However, there are three things that you need to do to make them usable. Number one: thinner, I use a ton...the paint is very thick...very thick, and at times even chunky. 2: Flow control helps because it can be very tacky 3: a stir stick to help stir to the proper consistency. Maybe a 4th thing would be another container. I literally get 2 1/2 pots of paint out of one P3 pot. This is very similar to my old Reaper paints...extremely thick and need to be watered down. Once you get the consistency you like, it goes onto the miniature in a smooth fashion, with excellent coverage and the proper amount of grit that sticks to the mini. Some of the more unusual colors look amazing.

Snipafist, after viewing your painting skills you definitely have enough talent and knowledge from listening to your use of mattes, gesso, and other advanced techniques that I think you could make them work for you. I like them much better than Vallejo's metallics that are just a bit too dark for me and the speciality metallic paints they carry often dry don't look metallic.

[langbenj]

So whos planning on coming out tonight? What time are people planning on being there.