The Eternal Warriors

Welcome to Episode 35! Today’s episode is about the challenge of good sportsmanship; that is, how to not be a total Biff. Be sure to send your own fun sportsmanship stories to thebaron at theeternalwarriors.com . If they’re any good, I may just share one or two on the air!

Enjoy!

Episode 35

This guest article is courtesy of Dezzo on the other side of the world.

Hi all, Dezzo here.

Most of you probably know me mainly as a Warhammer 40,000 player / hobbyist. I did get my feet wet with Warhammer Fantasy and Warmachine. I have since left WHFB and WM and moved on to other things. (I am just kind of saying this to show that I am not a stranger to other TTMG systems…)

Just a fortnight ago, I decided to pick up Malifaux.

Why?

Well retrospectively, there were several factors that pushed me into it.

1)       Uh… Games Workshop price hikes.

2)       Games Workshop Trade Embargo to the Southern Hemisphere (I live in South East Asia).

3)       I need some sort of distraction from Warhammer 40k.

4)       Malifaux miniatures are cool.

5)       Malifaux’s low start up cost. (I only spent US$50 and could start playing “full-sized’ games).

6)       Diceless system. (None of that dice falling off the table or cocked dice bullshit).

7)       Game is played on 3 feet x 3 feet (you could play almost anywhere).

8)       Low model count system. (a 25 “point” game requires only 5 – 6 models, take about travelling light).

Okay… probably the factors aren’t that “several”…

The Malifaux community started up quickly. The initial shipment of Malifaux stock that was at our (only) LFG disappeared within a week (leaving the one Mcmourning box which stayed there until a restock came about 1.5 weeks later).

All of the Malifaux players are also WH40k players, some of the Warmachine/Horde players also joined us. The rules are easy to learn, however I found out later that the game mechanics take a longer time to master.

A kind donation by a friend to us was a 3 x 3 PVC board (which he cut from his old bathroom door) which we sprayed with a textured paint. This board is extremely useful as we didn’t need to rely on the store’s 6 x 4 tables to play. We could just move the 3 x 3 board to the painting tables (since most of the Malifaux players are also the painting table painters…)

Terrain was easy to sort out. The game doesn’t need lots of big pieces, we gathered some Warmachine terrain and some of the smaller GW terrain (stuff like barriers), shipping containers (kitbashed) and even aquarium plants.

I chose the Arcanists faction and Rasputina as my main (and currently, only) Master. I like the ice/snow/Russian theme (no coincidence that I chose Sorscha as my Warmachine warcaster). Her boxset included a Ice Golem (tank) and 3 Gamins (fodder). This boxset is pretty good and got me learning the game quickly (primarily because the minions have limited special abilities).

After my first few games, I expanded my crew to include Silent One (a mini master in her own right), Cerberus (beatstick) and a December Acolyte (sniper-scout). I have yet to spend much time on them but my first few games with them were positive (even though I loss all games).

A friend volunteered to be part of the Malifaux “Henchman” program so we can start holding demos, tournaments or leagues. We are scheduled to have a small (1 master / 1 crew list (no sideboard), 12 players) tournament next month, which would be followed by a league (number of games to be decided).

The popularity of the game has surprised many of the skeptics at the store. Of course it remains to be seen if the popularity of the system holds out. One thing is for sure though… almost every day, there would at least be a game of Malifaux being played at the LGS.

For the moment, all of us are enjoying Malifaux. We have made plans to do some investment in Terraclips in the coming months and some of the guys have taken up to dissecting the various factions / masters to figure out tacticas (which is difficult, given the variety of Encounters and variations of Strategies and Schemes you can end up with).

In segment 1, you will be treated to the short version of what we’ve done along with some Black Library news and Privateer Press news.

In segment 2, we’re all about Chaos Daemons.

For segment 3, we’re all about GW’s recent move to raise prices, control the flow of its merchandise and other stupidity.

We thank you for listening and hope you don’t raid your child’s college fund.

Click here to L I S T E N !!!

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this post are C Swizzy’s and his alone. They do not reflect the views of TEW in it’s entirety. 

That’s right, I’m not going to BUYcott GW as we have in the past with Planetstrike. As it turns out the term Buycott is the exact opposite of Boycott, as in buying goods from a company in order to show your support. So I would recommend everyone to get their terminology straight…

Now that I got that little PSA out of the way, let’s get down to business. GW, unsurprisingly, announced another price hike that goes into effect at the end of May. Yup, it’s that time of year again. You can almost set your watch to it.  Here’s the best link I could find that has a list of the price increases http://www.3sdgames.com/iumaddog/?cat=5. Props to these guys for the info. On average we’re looking at a 22% increase.

There is also a list of the new Citadel Finecast prices. For those who don’t know, the Finecast stuff is the resin replacement for the old school metal models we all loved or hated. Shockingly enough, they upped the prices on these as well and rumor has it they are direct order only.

On top of all of this “good news” GW decided to screw over the whole southern hemisphere by putting an embargo on retailers selling and shipping GW product down there. I have already heard the rantings from the Aussies and a certain someone in Asia is already planning to make one last bulk purchase before this goes into effect. It appears that GW is trying their hardest to exploit the conversion rate of foreign currencies. This is such a great way to treat your customers….

So let’s get this straight. A few months ago GW stated that their sales were down. What’s the best way to increase sales? Apparently it’s by increasing prices, again….

I seriously have had enough. I’m done. My Astral Claws project is on hold, if not axed all together. I’ll probably make a squad or two from bits I have but that might be it. I hope (but doubt at the same time) that when my Templars get a new book, I’ll be able to use my old BT stuff, but then again look at the Grey Knights book. A lot of the old figs the old school GK players had can’t really be used as much as they were in the past.

I hereby vow that I will NEVER buy from a GW store again. I am officially boycotting GW but there are stipulations. I will still continue to support Black Library as much as humanly possible and I will leave open the option of dabbling in some Forgeworld from time to time.

Now I know some of you will say that Privateer Press isn’t that much cheaper and you might be right to some extent. I still believe that it’s a better bargain because of the support that PP delivers and due to a lower model count, you can get away without buying as much in order to get into Warmachine/Hordes. I still believe you can get a decent 25 point army for right around $100. Malifaux and most of the games put out by Spartan can be started up for just under $100 and this includes a decent sized tournament ready army, not just a beginner army.

I’ve just had enough of GW’s oppression and I’m going to let my wallet do the talking from here on out. I know I’m not the only one who will be doing this, and if you feel as I do, I encourage you to do the same. E Bay is always an option if you just can’t pry yourself away from 40K or Fantasy.

I made a prediciton last year that GW will go under in 5 years. We’re one year in and I think they’re making excellent progress. I even made a wager with Carl from the Independent Characters about this. So Carl, you better start getting sized up for that Sister of Battle costume! LOL