Nothing all to Deep

These last few weeks since NOVA have been killer. I’ve not had the motivation, opportunity or drive to really get into a whole lot of gaming, and I think its creating an even further slump that continues to drive downward.

What I have done, I’ve not really been doing in detail, so I’m just going to rattle over some high-view stuff on what I’ve been up to, and what I am considering doing.

Warmachine/Hordes:

I’ve been able to pick up the last of my Fist of Halaak list on Bartertown for some unneeded models I had lying around, and am ready to put them on the table. Sadly, I won’t be completely ready until after Christmas, but that means that I can concentrate on playing a few different Cryx lists until then. I’m really interested in getting about a dozen or so games in with Goreshade I, Sturgis II, and Goreshade III. I know that Goreshade I isn’t considered competitive, and I am not trying to make him really be competitive. What I hope to do is to make an anti-Circle/Anti-Hordes list that I can bank on not being killed top of turn 2. Sturgis II I just have to get some table top time with. I bought him, and built him, might as well toss him on the table. He, too, is not a competitive choice, but sometimes being uncompetitive happens by not being as good as others, not by not being good enough yourself. Goreshade III I know everyone is rocking these days as an alternative or pairing to Lich II, but I’ve yet to have him hit the board. Soon, Soon.

Painting:

I’ve not picked up a brush since before NOVA, and It really makes me sad, especially with a commission staring me in the face. Thankfully, he doesn’t need it all to soon, but I’d still like to get it to him sooner rather than later. I really think that not painting the Cephalyx in time beat me up. I’m not sure why, though. It was an arbitrary limit I had set on myself, nothing more. But, having not played any games and not been able to really engage the community, I’m way out of touch. Being in touch with a community really drives me to paint, I’ve found. Its a way to feel like your in the community almost continuously.

Podcasts:

Something I’ve picked up recently to keep me focused at work is the Podcast community.  I now endlessly listen to podcasts from all over the place trying to just keep my mind from wandering. Its been a great boon, and I’ve really enjoyed almost every one I listen to. Among my favorites are Muse on Minis, L2Wargame, Enter the Crucible, and Overload Online. Look em up, its worth the time.

MTG:

I am eagerly awaiting the possibility of drafting from time to time. The new set looks awesome and has really cool flavor to it. I’ve been a fan of enemy pairs in MTG for a while now, and seeing the enemy triads come out to play is just extremely exciting.

More that that, though, I am excitedly making a new EDH deck. I went searching for a good, solid Land Destruction deck on the internet, and instead encountered how all Land Destruction is terrible. I get it, I really do. Playing against land destruction is ensuring that you don’t get to play the game, unless your mono-colored. This got me thinking about what I wanted to do with LD, and why I wanted to do it.

Land is a resource everyone has to use. Creatures, spells, enchantments, artifacts, they all have the ability to not be in a deck. Land, on the other hand, almost assuredly will exist. This, to me, is a vulnerability to be exploited. What can I do with the land that exploits it the most? It turns out, destroying your land so that you can’t play is often not enough. I need to be able to create a swift end to the game once I start destroying land, because no one likes pretend MTG. Drawing every turn, hoping you get a land and then knowing that I’ll blow it up is just the pits.

What I want to do, now, is exploit the vulnerability of land in a new and different way. I want to use that land as leverage to kill the opponents and leave me alive.

This means I am considering some fairly strange cards, Including Dingus Egg, Dingus Staff, Kormus Bell, Liability, Burning Sands, Killing Wave and Cleansing.  One of my favorite Blue Moon Combos is Roiling Terrain + Radiate, while I have a Delaying Shield. most of the time, its unlikely to really happen, but man if it does it will be glorious.

This new thought, of using Land Destruction to finish the game instead of using it to stall a game out, means that I can really build a deck that lets me play some fun effects while also playing with LD. I’ll be able to put in big creatures, flashy spells, and some cool enchantments and artifacts. I’m really looking forward to making this deck into something thats both fun to play against, because I’m not slowing the game down, and that wins with Land Destruction, because its fun.

Video Games:

I continue to stumble around in Dark Souls II. I’m not good at this game. Seriously. But I really enjoy it about 70% of the time, and that is good enough for me. I’ve made it past the blockage I’d encountered, and have slain the Old Iron King and the Royal Rat Authority and now am trying to fight a giant spider fiend. Its not going well. Overall, the game is fun, grindy, hard and completely worth it. I feel that the developer is getting the best of me, but that is alright – I’ll beat him in the end.

I’m also a fan of Warmachine Tactics. I’ve not really played it a whole lot, but from what I have, Its going to be a game I really enjoy the single player mode in once I get a chance to buy it, sit down, and go through the paces more.

Dungeons and Dragons.

I am gearing up for a campaign in the Kilbaran part of the continent – A post collapse Romanesque civilization – something I’ve yet to do in the nearly 20 years of playing the game. I am considering fast forwarding the setting about 15 years, but I want to think about it some more. I’ll be kicking it off in November, though, so I will have to be ready.

I’m taking a different tack on the adventure this time, as well. Many times a campaign slowly materializes around a common goal that the characters are slowly brought to realize after they have spent some insane amount of time in the wood together, risking their necks in adventure after adventure for no reason. This game, though, I am looking to start them out as part of a hired adventuring group. Obsidian Vault Reclaimers have hired them to do their dirty work, and send them on adventures together to try and make a little profit of of their hides before they die. I have a ton of cool adventure ideas that can take them to level 20 in this newfangled 5e D&D. I am really looking forward to it, and have started creating some maps and placing monsters so that I can really be ready for them when the time comes.

One of the things I very much enjoy doing with my world is making sure that the players have a direct, visible, strong impact on the world I’m constantly changing. To this end, I’ve had players

• Become King
• Become a God
• Become the Small Council of a City
• Unleash an Imprisoned god
• Slay a god
• Create a civilization
• Define a city

This really creates player buy in, especially the next time they play, because they know that they are going to change to face of the world. Its been really fun and a great experience, and I look forward to seeing how they approach Kilbar. The land is a tangled web of city-states each trying to assert dominance and power over the others, all the while being invaded on 2 sides, raided by pirates, and suffering raids from the outlying islands off the coast.

its sure to be a blast, and I can’t wait.