Seduced By The Dark Side

As a casual card game player and video game enthusiast, I enjoy card games that mix fantasy with rules you can easily grasp or that are simple enough to just pick up and start playing.  I never really thought of trying a Fantasy Flight Game until going to a living card game (LCG) night to explore my interests in the game since I had noticed it sitting on the shelf.  It was easy for me to get into Star Wars The Card Game since I am a Star Wars fan and have been hoping to play a collectable card game that uses all of my favorite characters.  After learning to play the game I had to grab a copy for myself and make one of two choices; join the Rebel Alliance in the fight against the Dark Side, or enlist with the Galactic Empire to crush the rebels and restore order to the galaxy.  As most Star Wars fans will tell you it is useless to resist the absolute power of the Dark Side of the Force!  My choice was to learn from the Dark Side and deploy some of my favorite characters from the Sith and Imperial Navy.  Units like:  Darth Vader, Grand Moff Tarkin, Emperor Palpatine, and Vader’s TIE Fighter are at my disposal and  all of the units are extremely powerful.  I am very pleased with this game and encourage Star Wars fans and card game fans alike to pick it up and choose your destiny.

-Kurt Phillippo

2013: The Year I Cure Alt-itis

Alt-itis

Commonly witnesses in the online gaming community, symptoms of alt-itis usually include the creation of multiple "alternate" characters in an online game.  Alt-itis (sometimes referred to by sufferers as "altoholism") occurs more frequently in games that provide large numbers of customization options, tempting a player to create a new character to see what odd combinations of skills, abilities and appearances he or she can discover.

I've known for a while that I suffer from alt-itis.  In every online game I've ever played, I usually don't hit the level cap because I'm too busy trying out other classes or races.  When it comes to miniatures game, the same thing happens.  Back when I played 40k, I had every single army, and almost every unit/character/vehicle/whatever for them too.  I started to break myself of the habit of "gotta have them all" when I sold off my 10,000 point Eldar army to pay for GenCon one year.

Painting and Modeling: Using Army Painter Quick Shade

Before anyone starts to think this blog is only about Warmachine & Hordes, I thought I would bring back a panting guide I wrote up a little more than a year ago.

Almost anyone who likes playing miniatures games knows how frustrating it can be finding time to paint.  You want to bring good looking minis to the table, but you know that time is at a premium.

I had recently traded some stuff on Bartertown (www.bartertown.com) for a relatively large Ogre Kingdoms army for Warhammer Fantasy.  Most of the stuff I got was primered or unpainted so I thought I would sit down and try to quickly paint up a force that I wouldn't mind setting up on the table.

In doing so, I decided I'd try to use some of the Army Painter Quick Shade that I bought.  I'm not trying to push their product or anything, but I thought I would give a demo of what kind of results I got.  This is going to be a lot of pictures, so I apologize in advance if you're bandwidth starved.

I hope the pictures are good enough so that people who are interested can tell what I'm doing.  The miniature that I'm using is just an Ogre Bull with a handgun from one of the cavalry sprues.  The other closed-fist hand is just a normal hand with the sword carved off.  I'm trying to use him as a Maneater (even though he's not really customized to any extent).

I'll also preface this by saving I am not a "good" painter.  I've painted some miniatures I'm proud of in the past, but I don't have the patience to do anything more than tabletop quality in large quantities.  My painting environment is terrible.  I'm constantly distracted and I'm one of those people who paints out of the paint pot instead of using a palette (more specifically painting out of the lid after dropping in a drop or two of water to thin it out).  If I get 90-95% of the mold lines off I'm happy.  I don't drill out gun barrels, etc.

If you're a painter like me or even if you're just curious what the Quick Shade or "dip" method can do, read on.

Analysis: Lylyth, Reckoning of Everblight

"What is there beyond devotion, beyond strength, beyond even fear?  Only swift death brought by silent blades and falling arrows."

R'hyas, Sigil of Everblight

Well... thank you R'hyas for that less than inspiration introduction quote for Lylyth3.  Let's hope the rest of what makes up Legion's next caster is better than this emo pseudo-poetry.  Spoiler Alert: It is.

Think Santa's sleigh, but more spiky

In this episode of Analysis, we're going to look at the third iteration of Lylyth and what makes her so unique compared to her past versions.

Tactics: The Illustrated Molik Missile

Greetings and welcome to the first issue of Tactics, a section where we look into (obviously) the tactics of some aspect of play for various games.  In this case, I'm sticking to what I know and bringing you an illustrated guide to the Molik Missile for Skorne in Hordes.

A while back, I typed up the guide to the Molik Missile on battlecollege.  I certainly didn't invent the Molik Missile, which is essentially just using various methods for getting one of the hardest hitting warbeasts in the game up the field as quickly as possible.  I rarely use it when I play because it is relatively easy to counter if you're prepared.

Nonetheless, I thought it would be nice to re-visit what I wrote up and illustrate it using the awesome VASSAL program and the Warmachine/Hordes module.

CincyCon 2013 - What to expect.

CincyCon is a small, fun, local gaming convention. The kind of convention you go to meet gamers in your area, discover stores in your area, talk to gaming developers and most importantly play new games and some old favorites. I started volunteering at CincyCon their first year on accident. I showed up early and decided to help move some stuff, then I helped pack it up and out. That was four years ago and I have helped in one way or another since. Every year CincyCon has gotten bigger and better. And with COGS running some demos it is sure to be great.

CincyCon is going to have tournaments for games like: Flames of War, Games Workshop games and a lot of homebrew or historical miniatures games. There is a Saturday steamroller tournament for Warmahordes but the details are foggy and if all else fails, there can be a mini tournament saturday to quench your competitive thirst. Other interesting things are a massive quantity of roleplaying games, the flea market and pickup and demo games spread out through the convention.

Demo games are what COGS are bringing you and your friends. We will have copies of family friendly favorites such as: Pentago, Gobblet, Seven Card Samurai, Repello and Smash Up. Looking for something more complex that you can play at a table with your buds? How about: Game of Thrones boardgame, Lords of Waterdeep. Settlers of Catan, or & wonders. Sometimes you want to keep it competitive and stick with the cardgames. We will have Android: Netrunner, A Game of Thrones LCG and Starwars LCG. All these games are handpicked by the people that love games and playing them. If you play a game you love, we can go over some local stores that carry/promote the game so you can get all the games in you want.
www.cincycon.org
See you next week!

-Ryan

eHaley and the Escalation League: What Went Wrong

In the escalation league that we are running at Art of War (www.aowcincy.com) it hasn't been a great season for me.  Currently, I'm 0-and-7.  Since I played 3 games in week one (at 15-points), it's actually worse: I'm 0-and-8.

So what happened?  Was I playing a bad caster?  Absolutely not.  I'm playing Epic Haley, known to be one of the best casters in the game.  Am I playing a bad list?  Potentially.  I'll get into that later.  Am I a bad player?  The jury is out on this one.

So let's get into the list, the analysis, and where I fell apart...

Battle Report: eHexy versus eHaley

In this episode of Battle Report, we're displaying the talents of two warcasters who are at or near the top of their respective factions.  Epic Haley really needs no introduction.  She's not just one of the best casters in Cygnar, she's one of the best casters in the game.  With the arrival of the Stormwall, she became even better.  She's got one of the best spell lists in the game, her feat is amazing on so many levels, and she has enough Focus to do whatever she wants, whenever she wants.

Epic Hexeris (Lord Arbiter Hexeris) is more recent, having come on the scene in HORDES: Domination.  Skorne players were almost universally pleased with the epic version of Sexy Hexy.  Solid spell list (including such favorites as Black Spot and Ashen Veil) along with a feat that works extremely well against other Hordes opponents, eHexy can take a lot of options and make them work.

We'll be running this report using the extremely useful VASSAL program.  You can click any picture to make it larger.

Analysis: Mortitheurge Willbreaker

Masters of the powers of death and agony, the mortitheurges known as willbreakers can influence the mind of an enemy soldier as easily as they can control the great beasts of the skorne war host. A soldier who faces a willbreaker knows the roiling fear of uncertainty, that his own weapons might be turned against his friends and allies or he might be forced to lay down arms and placidly accept the blows of the enemy. Few things can terrify a warrior more than the stark realization that his fate is not his own.
Say hello to the latest solo joining the ranks of the Skorne: the Mortitheurge Willbreaker.  

In this episode of Analysis, we're going to be looking at what makes this guy such a big deal for everyone's favorite empire.

Cincinnati Organized Gaming Society

Welcome to the COGS blog.  COGS stands for the Cincinnati Organized Gaming Society.  Located (obviously) in Cincinnati, OH, we are a small group of dedicated people who want to bring people together with their love of games and gaming.