tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-45193198184520686462024-03-13T16:23:11.347-04:00The Back 40KPlaying Games in Indianapolis and the American Midwest.Farmpunkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09622091234212120598noreply@blogger.comBlogger1214125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4519319818452068646.post-30374016431331062522022-02-22T11:05:00.001-05:002022-02-22T11:05:18.507-05:00Getting on Even Footing<p><br /></p><p><i></i></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgTaOqVzKYUJMNi2USFybnljEN4BK09luPCUSMIU7Kfeh6oziVP7fbgqW09NAa4jT1hf6Dgr16uiESgc5lm_Iw5DB3YFHj0SwLiBDgiBmPz_QPHWbTKBI3b82ALtrsk0rheTQy4VIMhQ2-VDtBtdgvwMpzrBhSBOQWdWYrbM0AlB8BmTCPrtsLu0cMT" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="365" data-original-width="364" height="309" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgTaOqVzKYUJMNi2USFybnljEN4BK09luPCUSMIU7Kfeh6oziVP7fbgqW09NAa4jT1hf6Dgr16uiESgc5lm_Iw5DB3YFHj0SwLiBDgiBmPz_QPHWbTKBI3b82ALtrsk0rheTQy4VIMhQ2-VDtBtdgvwMpzrBhSBOQWdWYrbM0AlB8BmTCPrtsLu0cMT=w308-h309" width="308" /></a></i></div><i> by: farmpunk</i><div><i><br /></i></div><div>I got busy, and didn't write about something I'm beyond excited about! Some friends and I started a Game Company. Primarily Role Playing Games. We are planning a few card and board games as well.</div><div>We called ourselves, Even Footing Games.</div><div><span><a name='more'></a></span><i><br /></i></div><div>I wrote about writing for LostLorn, and as I got farther into the project, it was becoming more and more evident that Edge-Lord style games just aren't my cup of tea, and there were going to be ethical questions concerning the representation of things, and groups, in a created setting that would be problematic. </div><div>I left after a confrontation with the founder of LostLorn, and a very bad experience.</div><div><br /></div><div>Several others walked away at the same time, when the Blood Stone Isle Kickstarter ended. A few weeks later, we formed a group to work on an idea that one of the writers on my team at LostLorn was working on in the background:<br />Babies and Broadswords.<br /><p></p><p><i></i></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgeVoeCgEMB2yH3cEM3dCMxcweF2MN0rqHDvrn8Sd88u03mJHgvTxDoEqV52_V4cKjFeW4dhqRl86x-a_N53lvmP23LLzZKE3nJ1Q5Cbg79zUe_bY__xMohZ4KpknWG0V4TLMhhdKYv9Fzw2RwDZCarCnGfmBgQ5PlQk9KOX9XP9ba2zV8q7v8mPXkm=s1240" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="620" data-original-width="1240" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgeVoeCgEMB2yH3cEM3dCMxcweF2MN0rqHDvrn8Sd88u03mJHgvTxDoEqV52_V4cKjFeW4dhqRl86x-a_N53lvmP23LLzZKE3nJ1Q5Cbg79zUe_bY__xMohZ4KpknWG0V4TLMhhdKYv9Fzw2RwDZCarCnGfmBgQ5PlQk9KOX9XP9ba2zV8q7v8mPXkm=w640-h320" width="640" /></a></i></div><i><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><br /></i></div></div>It's been a great adventure to write and publish this! We did go live about a month ago on DriveThruRPG, and Amazon.<br />The book looks great, and we've been doing a lot of promotion, and podcasting!<br />so check us out!</div><div><br /></div><div>https://evenfootinggames.com/</div><div>https://www.drivethrurpg.com/browse/pub/20718/Even-Footing-Games</div><div><br /><br /><p></p></div>Farmpunkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09622091234212120598noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4519319818452068646.post-932948445164279872021-09-06T14:38:00.002-04:002021-09-06T14:39:33.851-04:00It's ALIVE!!!!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9X39_iYqNXpC4ESQpgvF73iOmrTNo42fEo3XDPNd64DxqmQ-a4eZOl0w-kMHnolFZiBVyoeOq04bejB5pNPGKD8bHF3zW0cXNwE2u0wNpUoieAIYMohEsKAMIaoaaC8TKyeOsj-NQ4xI/s1640/BSI+KS.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="624" data-original-width="1640" height="244" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9X39_iYqNXpC4ESQpgvF73iOmrTNo42fEo3XDPNd64DxqmQ-a4eZOl0w-kMHnolFZiBVyoeOq04bejB5pNPGKD8bHF3zW0cXNwE2u0wNpUoieAIYMohEsKAMIaoaaC8TKyeOsj-NQ4xI/w640-h244/BSI+KS.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><p>The kickstarter for Blood Stone Isle went live on Friday. Check it out!</p><span><a name='more'></a></span><p><br /></p><p>I've been watching the start of my friend's KickStarter with baited breath, knowing that in a few months, the TTRPG game system I'm working on will go through a similar process. <br />We're taking notes. <br />take a look at their KS!</p><p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4E96tl8cs8U"></a></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4E96tl8cs8U"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/4E96tl8cs8U" width="480" youtube-src-id="4E96tl8cs8U"></iframe></a></div><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4E96tl8cs8U"><br /><br /></a><p></p><p><a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/reinhagen/the-curse-of-bloodstone-isle">https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/reinhagen/the-curse-of-bloodstone-isle</a></p><p> <br /></p>Farmpunkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09622091234212120598noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4519319818452068646.post-90355722970482321212021-09-01T14:34:00.005-04:002021-09-01T15:02:29.849-04:00It's like Vampire and 5e had a lovechild.<p> </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBPVDHNl0eMOhb2PYt0ynd3CcVntw6sX3-KsEEzMk6FbxXJi_vC1li8N2y-gofu2aYXzFQzy00_Wgsjubc3HTu5HCNCODaAaKDdevjKmH98ociiHOY6lgN9scnobZdKeK0x7b5lGInY-Q/s900/IMG_1792.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="900" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBPVDHNl0eMOhb2PYt0ynd3CcVntw6sX3-KsEEzMk6FbxXJi_vC1li8N2y-gofu2aYXzFQzy00_Wgsjubc3HTu5HCNCODaAaKDdevjKmH98ociiHOY6lgN9scnobZdKeK0x7b5lGInY-Q/w400-h400/IMG_1792.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>I've been working on a game system since April or so with a team of volunteers on a game with Mark Rein-Hagen. Yeah. The Ars Magica and Vampire the Masquerade guy. <span><a name='more'></a></span><div><br /><span></span><div><br /></div><div>It's been a wild ride. I'm leading a team of rules writers (Team Badlander) trying to capture lightning in a bottle, and create a hybrid Stat/Skill based system sort of incorporating horror sanity rules, and Virtues/Vices.<br />So you know how D&D uses stats for the basis of everything, and how VtM used stat/skill = successes for everything, and then had special abilities (discipines) on top that allowed you to do cool stuff? Badlanders is kind of like all of that. rolled into one.<br />I'll share more in the future. We've been writing like crazy and are close to edits / revisions.<p></p><p>So the main project is known as Lostlorn Games.<br /><br /><br />The other team (Team Blood Stone Isle/ Valazar) has been making Settings. Blood Stone Isle is almost ready to Kickstart. Which we're terribly excited, and nervous about. I'll keep you posted more about that as well.<br /><br />We should have a Lostlorn Games Blog started soon, and we'll crosspost some developments.<br /><br />until then, links:</p><p><a href="https://lostlorngames.itch.io/">https://lostlorngames.itch.io/</a></p><p><a href="https://www.patreon.com/lostlorn">https://www.patreon.com/lostlorn</a></p><p>and probably most importantly, take a look at Blood Stone Isle:<br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4AZpeXbXcMMFcULlo8FDl3aYKrzMB9l9rzcAiHMkmdpxJ0nN1cevCvrviOa4rgv3TcIsR_42Wyyagot6SXD4Dm28LKdyEAXxkX_GtBNCibz8cDwdyvRz5n5Oglu6X43hww6N7iFlV-o4/s1024/BSI.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="576" data-original-width="1024" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4AZpeXbXcMMFcULlo8FDl3aYKrzMB9l9rzcAiHMkmdpxJ0nN1cevCvrviOa4rgv3TcIsR_42Wyyagot6SXD4Dm28LKdyEAXxkX_GtBNCibz8cDwdyvRz5n5Oglu6X43hww6N7iFlV-o4/w640-h360/BSI.png" width="640" /></a></div></div><p><br /></p><a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/reinhagen/the-curse-of-bloodstone-isle?ref=clipboard-prelaunch">https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/reinhagen/the-curse-of-bloodstone-isle?ref=clipboard-prelaunch</a><p></p><br /></div></div>Farmpunkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09622091234212120598noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4519319818452068646.post-37164831953167613062018-08-07T14:30:00.003-04:002018-08-07T14:30:55.910-04:00Gencon 2018 Photo Dump: Costumes<i>by SandWyrm</i><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I said "Thank You!", he said "You're WELCOME!" to thunderous applause.</td></tr>
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Here are all of the costumes that I got pictures of as I ran back and forth at Gencon. Enjoy!</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjk0KhHm-nQRMhiJlEYNGXJH0CGmcaBMhd4vhtzfIkmWbyCFmzctQzTSofPSr6DB3m7qx1o8t9-lCrQt5HoAA0AY0pcEj9gX89INIeQMwi7cBfL043tcErDCWnACawPSPpThyphenhyphennwyCklhYnd/s1600/GenCon+Day+Four+24.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjk0KhHm-nQRMhiJlEYNGXJH0CGmcaBMhd4vhtzfIkmWbyCFmzctQzTSofPSr6DB3m7qx1o8t9-lCrQt5HoAA0AY0pcEj9gX89INIeQMwi7cBfL043tcErDCWnACawPSPpThyphenhyphennwyCklhYnd/s640/GenCon+Day+Four+24.jpg" width="512" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuyGqo-CA9OAosk39jOUvTj4GPsXlsN09A2GT0y1anUm4yRcqwm1X2p775mAr_Z_XyMMiWgHmStfI39PgnWyhNaheLw3VPM4fOw9tOyLGJ70lSH_3IgUhWeZDi0Ledv8b_UQmjjvNbXO6I/s1600/GenCon+Day+Four+15.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="512" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuyGqo-CA9OAosk39jOUvTj4GPsXlsN09A2GT0y1anUm4yRcqwm1X2p775mAr_Z_XyMMiWgHmStfI39PgnWyhNaheLw3VPM4fOw9tOyLGJ70lSH_3IgUhWeZDi0Ledv8b_UQmjjvNbXO6I/s640/GenCon+Day+Four+15.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6vqEDCshRYzWnO1jWtCY6YflMbWT-1kWRVjrde_PJCmcCjk554HWx8bDabLqjIz26vB4r8AZ5KOuNbkJNaa5IMIy8Iko-HuOgwkZoZh-9MGtH2LkhGjQy3cWydnJrCkumPSKcaZ8gYFbl/s1600/GenCon+Day+Four+20.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6vqEDCshRYzWnO1jWtCY6YflMbWT-1kWRVjrde_PJCmcCjk554HWx8bDabLqjIz26vB4r8AZ5KOuNbkJNaa5IMIy8Iko-HuOgwkZoZh-9MGtH2LkhGjQy3cWydnJrCkumPSKcaZ8gYFbl/s640/GenCon+Day+Four+20.jpg" width="512" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGt6OZf3HNpHOa3WK7XIs_r3X3ZcEW3sCLEosa34p0EsayLD7iCvO-yqQ77J-vJDugW0rBTP_Wj7prOENaAc3S0YnDxr5c9nwIWBDetW0O5GZNq8A6SeYPH7D099IQ4irkkc3z2sjQfdvD/s1600/GenCon+Day+Four+22.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGt6OZf3HNpHOa3WK7XIs_r3X3ZcEW3sCLEosa34p0EsayLD7iCvO-yqQ77J-vJDugW0rBTP_Wj7prOENaAc3S0YnDxr5c9nwIWBDetW0O5GZNq8A6SeYPH7D099IQ4irkkc3z2sjQfdvD/s640/GenCon+Day+Four+22.jpg" width="512" /></a></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Can I take your picture?"<br />
"Errrrrrr"<br />
Perfect.</td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitiin4OHiBEJzY8YHQTjUTOoRu7W4-AtxdcUiC-fDIIafCX1fEblRXrWG4fjMwHHXcGJzV2LEEgCmucOU9TgFtSph93wvgtcnUwVh38hY7w2lQ3cb2dH3dVHzIYo7g1vPL34FT-GkJyzJz/s1600/GenCon+Day+Four+19.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitiin4OHiBEJzY8YHQTjUTOoRu7W4-AtxdcUiC-fDIIafCX1fEblRXrWG4fjMwHHXcGJzV2LEEgCmucOU9TgFtSph93wvgtcnUwVh38hY7w2lQ3cb2dH3dVHzIYo7g1vPL34FT-GkJyzJz/s640/GenCon+Day+Four+19.jpg" width="512" /></a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6lzXszECA4fCv5-wJrJbPyu7zlvnyl-GHlu6D2pN2tmEPl-Gg7ah1d-xpUp84XOxS3ELbl_C7qxhoZa6whLp9SkaZ5xkGogZLkIoFJ_oA_dSL1hJwfzJ8TADTmhAA_K5HA929KKgpCOIC/s1600/GenCon+Day+Three+06.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6lzXszECA4fCv5-wJrJbPyu7zlvnyl-GHlu6D2pN2tmEPl-Gg7ah1d-xpUp84XOxS3ELbl_C7qxhoZa6whLp9SkaZ5xkGogZLkIoFJ_oA_dSL1hJwfzJ8TADTmhAA_K5HA929KKgpCOIC/s640/GenCon+Day+Three+06.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Kylo Doo?</td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFM683tWJAN_ZJrQGghwstaRoDXXiZVNLnmhl5Vl0oPvIRiKjd9DeYd55kdunPnQFz-FSaUY5kA3CcyM65Q-IGQU_XH4dCtRrV6j0_9yw063CEmbwnVNsXV3NxlJwEvENRkEw9cbz2oCo1/s1600/GenCon+Day+Three+02.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFM683tWJAN_ZJrQGghwstaRoDXXiZVNLnmhl5Vl0oPvIRiKjd9DeYd55kdunPnQFz-FSaUY5kA3CcyM65Q-IGQU_XH4dCtRrV6j0_9yw063CEmbwnVNsXV3NxlJwEvENRkEw9cbz2oCo1/s640/GenCon+Day+Three+02.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbblQmhSvobzUIZhXqLX91jXCMYbD3gym2_Mx4wdM5yvz_n-z7gfn9T8SeAIuLeSdb05_tB_wtbbgbqJ0Kmkd__kIwGcNUgX6wiTp2gTlbyZnMm7HPb7qUSSPTBfFjN_Dvwust87x2ntky/s1600/GenCon+Day+Four+01.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbblQmhSvobzUIZhXqLX91jXCMYbD3gym2_Mx4wdM5yvz_n-z7gfn9T8SeAIuLeSdb05_tB_wtbbgbqJ0Kmkd__kIwGcNUgX6wiTp2gTlbyZnMm7HPb7qUSSPTBfFjN_Dvwust87x2ntky/s640/GenCon+Day+Four+01.jpg" width="432" /></a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicpP4BfduWFJO7-Rhi0PSqrVva9EawiiARcLksZ0YNgna7NQyeZfQOD2Wp5YyjloWdtsX7ikU_FTRrGoKpZcFIjZ-l1EbWpIQpwFTSHyTvB6YpAVk7y4GJ-6tP21po-W76sxmjU_VFuN0R/s1600/GenCon+Day+Four+29.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicpP4BfduWFJO7-Rhi0PSqrVva9EawiiARcLksZ0YNgna7NQyeZfQOD2Wp5YyjloWdtsX7ikU_FTRrGoKpZcFIjZ-l1EbWpIQpwFTSHyTvB6YpAVk7y4GJ-6tP21po-W76sxmjU_VFuN0R/s640/GenCon+Day+Four+29.jpg" width="512" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Are they from Fallout?</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpMsWNqbvnu0AFb_sJ9gfq3V5RTTbX4q_mkUH1oVEErHO7ekbrcRp4E5jMleGcUUUUeslIf2KzFzgCcjvrBc3OTGxmv97tmp9q2kFYnLbgwsQjW7oJ4WmB-wGyNO_1M4ohF7q5RXJf5-BN/s1600/GenCon+Day+Four+21.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpMsWNqbvnu0AFb_sJ9gfq3V5RTTbX4q_mkUH1oVEErHO7ekbrcRp4E5jMleGcUUUUeslIf2KzFzgCcjvrBc3OTGxmv97tmp9q2kFYnLbgwsQjW7oJ4WmB-wGyNO_1M4ohF7q5RXJf5-BN/s640/GenCon+Day+Four+21.jpg" width="512" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">At least he didn't bring the sea-cow. Don't remember seeing Pika-Boo in the movie.</td></tr>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaPIcKBPwBy51Ug3a89qtEsq_YHNglCIQEptFKu5nbKManQccUMOZTpwKiGT-mF4WzsVDJlAxdllUsZY-CUD3LRk_HqmrW1Z_TOI2e4-oO7GL7n55WmgS9Vr7JJ-MpZSVoz47knNbm_oHL/s1600/GenCon+Day+Four+30.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaPIcKBPwBy51Ug3a89qtEsq_YHNglCIQEptFKu5nbKManQccUMOZTpwKiGT-mF4WzsVDJlAxdllUsZY-CUD3LRk_HqmrW1Z_TOI2e4-oO7GL7n55WmgS9Vr7JJ-MpZSVoz47knNbm_oHL/s640/GenCon+Day+Four+30.jpg" width="512" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijLprkUEG9HmoQ7XOaa7GSpwMhYrcI6LFU8XknHVVPAz3EnMO7rP-vKKVjclDamPgLmj23d58vJwgUTKCl7SnaaU0MVgMCCz9CxCuH-z2KE-0IC-4C-HrEiAyIICVVARlcuK7eNVC_dhZ2/s1600/GenCon+Day+Three+07.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijLprkUEG9HmoQ7XOaa7GSpwMhYrcI6LFU8XknHVVPAz3EnMO7rP-vKKVjclDamPgLmj23d58vJwgUTKCl7SnaaU0MVgMCCz9CxCuH-z2KE-0IC-4C-HrEiAyIICVVARlcuK7eNVC_dhZ2/s640/GenCon+Day+Three+07.jpg" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">If one Stormtrooper is good...</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNg_xFvcK8t-EK5rAshtsbVZ9vW6qP-s3AZaojAZRdw607yBzm9LkW-7uD-Lo28H3Afx2bAI2zoq_qyNyZc6i7O-S77kir9F-YfJbGhKuv2h8Gdl_KaHqbaUsxauM4jY9hOFrA4Ccakpho/s1600/GenCon+Day+Four+28.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="512" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNg_xFvcK8t-EK5rAshtsbVZ9vW6qP-s3AZaojAZRdw607yBzm9LkW-7uD-Lo28H3Afx2bAI2zoq_qyNyZc6i7O-S77kir9F-YfJbGhKuv2h8Gdl_KaHqbaUsxauM4jY9hOFrA4Ccakpho/s640/GenCon+Day+Four+28.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">...then four is better? The kid doesn't seem so sure. ;)</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidOX9kKj-QwWn6nuwfPuF-oBC7t_SjxL89pzFiQiXVuNSA74-ZgVwL1jrRNWlJrq3HJpyz__KpMThHBqRg33GF6XBSYm4JHmSwPcvyDiWfeXvapg1kGvjQKNp_kWai9l3eLOXzJr50hyphenhyphen19/s1600/GenCon+Day+Four+27.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidOX9kKj-QwWn6nuwfPuF-oBC7t_SjxL89pzFiQiXVuNSA74-ZgVwL1jrRNWlJrq3HJpyz__KpMThHBqRg33GF6XBSYm4JHmSwPcvyDiWfeXvapg1kGvjQKNp_kWai9l3eLOXzJr50hyphenhyphen19/s640/GenCon+Day+Four+27.jpg" width="512" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Zelda? Pokemon? I have no clue, and that saddens me.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKDPruTtygtBI2kq4bNpuzYpTQfRFpIvsG1re7o8wf6e-ribcTbkCwQ9ANk9bjFKw9JjIAvKnSTnErUF3s_PDAA9KZizXn9ih2usRjIOiohE_t4u1sQrs69BGnyt8LMQuNBxFCiEEUhmzf/s1600/GenCon+Day+Four+18.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKDPruTtygtBI2kq4bNpuzYpTQfRFpIvsG1re7o8wf6e-ribcTbkCwQ9ANk9bjFKw9JjIAvKnSTnErUF3s_PDAA9KZizXn9ih2usRjIOiohE_t4u1sQrs69BGnyt8LMQuNBxFCiEEUhmzf/s640/GenCon+Day+Four+18.jpg" width="512" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My favorites. Though there was an excellent Tony Stark walking around that I didn't get a pic of.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTxIS6NWNcLKkxQkiOsZEyeTc8EZOQ9NJ6g1OdTpO6S_lWiLZfxXjPegx1Qn6xk5uBSJxsfwBydYY-lDP8c-nJ1IrNFouHgZduZk6C0io3uywxuk_LDctQOcxUawK1iBbZ5JLkQz8DBw8K/s1600/GenCon+Day+Four+16.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTxIS6NWNcLKkxQkiOsZEyeTc8EZOQ9NJ6g1OdTpO6S_lWiLZfxXjPegx1Qn6xk5uBSJxsfwBydYY-lDP8c-nJ1IrNFouHgZduZk6C0io3uywxuk_LDctQOcxUawK1iBbZ5JLkQz8DBw8K/s640/GenCon+Day+Four+16.jpg" width="432" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">And here's the Gencon Costume winner! Her (there was a very tall woman inside)<br />
suit does have LED lighting all over it, but they weren't turned on here. Saw her again<br />
later in the costume parade, and the lighting was quite impressive.</td></tr>
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<br />SandWyrmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02334440208172563850noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4519319818452068646.post-22386497776515255592018-08-07T13:51:00.000-04:002018-08-07T13:51:01.375-04:00Gencon 2018 Photo Dump: Venue & Exhibits<i>by SandWyrm</i><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIhuRi-P0XXDDBK2kHu5DGK_oEvlPJVJvtwtAXGjGn2C3_cbsmMSXE4f5RbV9t8uoP6msw9C5gZT-wTdzBeqP36AtnJzs4UGThUmyEnMKgJ47wpc89Ju1X5Go-B28Iw_fsO1OB9_8nTcT7/s1600/GenCon+Day+One+05.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIhuRi-P0XXDDBK2kHu5DGK_oEvlPJVJvtwtAXGjGn2C3_cbsmMSXE4f5RbV9t8uoP6msw9C5gZT-wTdzBeqP36AtnJzs4UGThUmyEnMKgJ47wpc89Ju1X5Go-B28Iw_fsO1OB9_8nTcT7/s640/GenCon+Day+One+05.jpg" width="480" /></a></div>
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I spent much of my time at Gencon this year <a href="https://www.warstrike.org/2018/08/gencon-playtesting-results.html" target="_blank">testing my own game</a>, but I did get some nice pictures of the costumes, products, and other cool things that crossed my path as I ran to and fro.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhL-HFvacGAGtVQhsJUiX2uPMb87L3phL57azQ16TAwXJlVq9LyUckPEGlimd1HMP3RKPCJTj-UDYaknv-US77k2FsJCQj4qo8AMHiYgzLGkmw1bqSrsZk0MBG2YgvKEc7wByNOOQUxXUA2/s1600/GenCon+Day+One+04.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="432" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhL-HFvacGAGtVQhsJUiX2uPMb87L3phL57azQ16TAwXJlVq9LyUckPEGlimd1HMP3RKPCJTj-UDYaknv-US77k2FsJCQj4qo8AMHiYgzLGkmw1bqSrsZk0MBG2YgvKEc7wByNOOQUxXUA2/s640/GenCon+Day+One+04.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Wednesday Evening. Gencon hasn't officially started yet, but the rock bands are out performing for all of the early arrivers.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhx8NUwlVNQwtEvAP1wRB_5hrU-jPvENb9Z7w9Q9JCrpDsomsLcGysLJ5F1iLQBObTcU2iA4MMaBHrt21x8U6NIcbn3gYNYMF7aQ9vwEzpuxH84BBl5HGsPfD4yh-B2VZqhP-Gr5Cqk9gan/s1600/GenCon+Day+One+02.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhx8NUwlVNQwtEvAP1wRB_5hrU-jPvENb9Z7w9Q9JCrpDsomsLcGysLJ5F1iLQBObTcU2iA4MMaBHrt21x8U6NIcbn3gYNYMF7aQ9vwEzpuxH84BBl5HGsPfD4yh-B2VZqhP-Gr5Cqk9gan/s640/GenCon+Day+One+02.jpg" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The main badge line is already doubling back on itself, but my kid and I are around the corner,<br />
waiting in the line for Game Master badges. This one only took 30 minutes to get through.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5VwPCxb-DC7nFSOogOs9pauS10g0oSGUIWCiCuOtHJuhAPuRzfd2ZkZdIWFQrHnYonb0sU8Ij1P_cbpq0SKoPE1DF3J2Ktb9qmLln1UPeKhg3TGl3t3X3e9X8w78T3oQiDy7EhXcWOBaC/s1600/GenCon+Day+One+01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5VwPCxb-DC7nFSOogOs9pauS10g0oSGUIWCiCuOtHJuhAPuRzfd2ZkZdIWFQrHnYonb0sU8Ij1P_cbpq0SKoPE1DF3J2Ktb9qmLln1UPeKhg3TGl3t3X3e9X8w78T3oQiDy7EhXcWOBaC/s640/GenCon+Day+One+01.jpg" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">As we near the front, we notice that Deadpool has sold out to the man. ;)</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhurv2XKYA5O9hEbnyKLkogpOhCWEcdS8wPNrcf8TyrAWkvvTdoVmKCR60ElkEj7fM9bBo6J6ZdyoOj3bmurfu_nGDclzUjty4Se224FIrdofdBIiVOLJV2YPYaSnsTYPGDB-nbgRUg2dXQ/s1600/GenCon+Day+Five+06.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="432" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhurv2XKYA5O9hEbnyKLkogpOhCWEcdS8wPNrcf8TyrAWkvvTdoVmKCR60ElkEj7fM9bBo6J6ZdyoOj3bmurfu_nGDclzUjty4Se224FIrdofdBIiVOLJV2YPYaSnsTYPGDB-nbgRUg2dXQ/s640/GenCon+Day+Five+06.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">WarStrike set up in the First Exposure Playtest Hall (FEPH) on the last day, as we wait for players to be assigned to us. Against the back wall you can see the companies (who paid for most of this) that will be glad to talk to you all day about fabricating your game/book, or launching a Kickstarter where they'll handle all of the logistics. Panda in particular was handing out large boxes full of card/token/miniature examples to every designer in the room.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxj3NS-NghSH-NQMh1FR_-zPGFgiY6BjJeGX3KuQPmWwvEt_oHOoDwA2znEOeUHkSPC2Ymy4z0S6KVIpN4-pWGv05tig-6HqLE2TeQQds7Tpr5_Y2vrCF8njOamsk4lwR40L11ebJzX8XT/s1600/GenCon+Day+Four+02.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="432" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxj3NS-NghSH-NQMh1FR_-zPGFgiY6BjJeGX3KuQPmWwvEt_oHOoDwA2znEOeUHkSPC2Ymy4z0S6KVIpN4-pWGv05tig-6HqLE2TeQQds7Tpr5_Y2vrCF8njOamsk4lwR40L11ebJzX8XT/s640/GenCon+Day+Four+02.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This shot shows the other end of the room. The FEPH is absolutely free to play in BTW. So check it out if you're ever<br />
stuck looking for what to do at Gencon. Most of these companies are showing off their prototypes for card/board/roleplaying games, and their sessions usually only last a bit over an hour once everyone is seated. </td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOBnlLTSopGkbpOiIgDrgOU8LVvO54e8LY-PzZ5EONRRR6hJmuCiP1tryswF40zeedldRVQQSzmZbl6m0JRmcu8ICVgKw0f1y0SZZekEbTrM29O4UELUSoZvfrQN_7pzZ6cAl9-3J42A5F/s1600/GenCon+Day+Three+08.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOBnlLTSopGkbpOiIgDrgOU8LVvO54e8LY-PzZ5EONRRR6hJmuCiP1tryswF40zeedldRVQQSzmZbl6m0JRmcu8ICVgKw0f1y0SZZekEbTrM29O4UELUSoZvfrQN_7pzZ6cAl9-3J42A5F/s640/GenCon+Day+Three+08.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Having pretty much run out of space everywhere else to expand, Gencon actually took over Lucas Oil Stadium and moved a whole bunch of events over there that usually sell all of their tickets. Below, in the bowels of the stadium, were the live action role-players. Up here on the field itself was a mixture of games (including Flames of War) and the family play area. </td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWYp0Zk22HWbwm73RIneUxkwQIBJMJznscG_VM7pX8dyRiH0smSalaENnd4nq-Vj_e5TNbFFwihtXDaOMFaeSu0xOyxxZsi3GvvypT8Jf5l8GWwMbDrsCsVDGolGW-zbhaa3iu25BrPIrL/s1600/GenCon+Day+Three+09.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="432" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWYp0Zk22HWbwm73RIneUxkwQIBJMJznscG_VM7pX8dyRiH0smSalaENnd4nq-Vj_e5TNbFFwihtXDaOMFaeSu0xOyxxZsi3GvvypT8Jf5l8GWwMbDrsCsVDGolGW-zbhaa3iu25BrPIrL/s640/GenCon+Day+Three+09.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">On the downside, this was about as far away from their usual place in the wargaming hall as you could possibly get, and it required a LONG walk to get there. But the upside was that the stadium, being huge and all, was VERY quiet. These guys from Able Kompanie were all playing in normal, conversational voices. Because the ambient crowd noise became lost in the stands. Coming as I was from the FEPH, possibly the noisiest room at Gencon, the silence of the stadium was startling.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihn-02lf1iY5Yz6UEKmWDM_agSuEIA6PGhmGSd3lLR4Quw-wdh1scYwbEhVTRaEFaBvgIfxXdqBRCqM9rUG_ahAeomScilxtgVvxBgis6Ng7YvEdZ0-tGYWS6LS4GVixT7enQygvgglfox/s1600/GenCon+Day+Three+10.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihn-02lf1iY5Yz6UEKmWDM_agSuEIA6PGhmGSd3lLR4Quw-wdh1scYwbEhVTRaEFaBvgIfxXdqBRCqM9rUG_ahAeomScilxtgVvxBgis6Ng7YvEdZ0-tGYWS6LS4GVixT7enQygvgglfox/s640/GenCon+Day+Three+10.jpg" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">On the way back, I noticed these guys playing Gauntlet: Legends. Which was the first video<br />game that I ever worked on. Nice to see that it still has legs 20 years later!</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjCnXIOw3DkZ8KtTO622JNcfa_7csAhLwSWd2lTB9J8FDV5pRr3g21GvuovyDlGnVXvvqzMErubJRSu2s8MgHIoB0VKfmJOBd7sGBUFmVefRIRhcoU9zWttTkgEr_-4QrFkBGOobUF5Vum/s1600/GenCon+Day+Three+03.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjCnXIOw3DkZ8KtTO622JNcfa_7csAhLwSWd2lTB9J8FDV5pRr3g21GvuovyDlGnVXvvqzMErubJRSu2s8MgHIoB0VKfmJOBd7sGBUFmVefRIRhcoU9zWttTkgEr_-4QrFkBGOobUF5Vum/s640/GenCon+Day+Three+03.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Meanwhile... In the vendor hall...</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlS7mVFGp4WDvsMpAAEiOaJTRcNzPMzzGZfKX2wSxO6dJ0He-IgJk3GvQ1i7xUYphUCH8AtX-l7oELg97fUhCeveOOsexApmkqT_gd2Oe_3jkr6PLhHUGVHCmWGoTbu9QhW6GtQbFUE5Z8/s1600/GenCon+Day+Three+04.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlS7mVFGp4WDvsMpAAEiOaJTRcNzPMzzGZfKX2wSxO6dJ0He-IgJk3GvQ1i7xUYphUCH8AtX-l7oELg97fUhCeveOOsexApmkqT_gd2Oe_3jkr6PLhHUGVHCmWGoTbu9QhW6GtQbFUE5Z8/s640/GenCon+Day+Three+04.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Honey! The babysitter is here!"</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkG2jYxzeYwtXGLGDHRioLZ7FBvVqg98iZkrQ4AlJNX1ZEMm5YVAz_2pOQACOjVyyzFpnjnthefDBgOrrIMUbubjooV33JN2Jo2Leypky9VixJKISuYYBMle2n7z-eCVye2Wkq1JSu4gSQ/s1600/GenCon+Day+Three+12.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkG2jYxzeYwtXGLGDHRioLZ7FBvVqg98iZkrQ4AlJNX1ZEMm5YVAz_2pOQACOjVyyzFpnjnthefDBgOrrIMUbubjooV33JN2Jo2Leypky9VixJKISuYYBMle2n7z-eCVye2Wkq1JSu4gSQ/s640/GenCon+Day+Three+12.jpg" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Awe... They're so cute when they're young..."</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhb9onvgklW7Ye2c8X8hqE8Z5dwvyt5l8YKLQ490GN3lOQ9P9JRGbi8S-CSKhVIypYmKGfVXXWRxEmrTEBkqZ5ZaJmtAqLmEld0Mf891ZYM2fL2iei08L-EKmExiPRX0jsHVMPgq9I5rmtk/s1600/GenCon+Day+Three+11.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="432" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhb9onvgklW7Ye2c8X8hqE8Z5dwvyt5l8YKLQ490GN3lOQ9P9JRGbi8S-CSKhVIypYmKGfVXXWRxEmrTEBkqZ5ZaJmtAqLmEld0Mf891ZYM2fL2iei08L-EKmExiPRX0jsHVMPgq9I5rmtk/s640/GenCon+Day+Three+11.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Want.</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhINxajghog-sQlyJyRfdN62bBSSJog44epGudvF1pGmhVdeO45lk07dVoXZlrmAjbqo15erDIKeRlCc7AnT7XpzUe74qBd-q5OzOyTpWkhCN5494X_wJ6398gN0m0LQIKnQOJdr5nTtvWu/s1600/GenCon+Day+Five+08.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: left;"><img border="0" height="432" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhINxajghog-sQlyJyRfdN62bBSSJog44epGudvF1pGmhVdeO45lk07dVoXZlrmAjbqo15erDIKeRlCc7AnT7XpzUe74qBd-q5OzOyTpWkhCN5494X_wJ6398gN0m0LQIKnQOJdr5nTtvWu/s640/GenCon+Day+Five+08.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY!!!"</td></tr>
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</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeaGJyjv464NZnvBWeSN4pcXoYwZEDES0SCYKHp1bYSatSeGFgE4z50QllrD3i0ZDrxkXevHBEukVRxcKiaAdKp-kSkXxS0rvGXL1mW30_sDMMfSZCYGlYs6p2EYXDRPo5tBxYO6VtANUm/s1600/GenCon+Day+Five+09.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="432" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeaGJyjv464NZnvBWeSN4pcXoYwZEDES0SCYKHp1bYSatSeGFgE4z50QllrD3i0ZDrxkXevHBEukVRxcKiaAdKp-kSkXxS0rvGXL1mW30_sDMMfSZCYGlYs6p2EYXDRPo5tBxYO6VtANUm/s640/GenCon+Day+Five+09.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bought one of these. And yes... It's hilarious.</td></tr>
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</div>
SandWyrmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02334440208172563850noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4519319818452068646.post-56679725236682036892018-08-07T12:25:00.000-04:002018-08-07T12:25:37.369-04:00Testing WarStrike At Gencon...<div style="text-align: left;">
<i>by SandWyrm</i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0CbQHVf3SjPXZT8m7rt_UyRvYwIda02EbwXs_GDZaNyXcbzItz1uvpAX-CBk3J-mNaYIjB2ZXl1p0EaJwe29BFcAMHN_Wa9H-mTImZ9uGwMWGHNZquKFfyJ0GqJVUr9bxdFRHov-K6JfD/s1600/GenCon+Day+Two+01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0CbQHVf3SjPXZT8m7rt_UyRvYwIda02EbwXs_GDZaNyXcbzItz1uvpAX-CBk3J-mNaYIjB2ZXl1p0EaJwe29BFcAMHN_Wa9H-mTImZ9uGwMWGHNZquKFfyJ0GqJVUr9bxdFRHov-K6JfD/s640/GenCon+Day+Two+01.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">(Farmpunk wandered over to photo-bomb this picture after a Flames of War tournament)</td></tr>
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<div style="text-align: left;">
Check out my new post over on the <a href="https://www.warstrike.org/2018/08/gencon-playtesting-results.html" target="_blank">WarStrike Blog</a> if you want to see how our game testing went at Gencon. I was very surprised by the results!</div>
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SandWyrmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02334440208172563850noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4519319818452068646.post-61141328599225764712017-06-17T22:31:00.000-04:002017-06-20T14:15:47.021-04:008th Edition Impressions: Core Rules<i>by SandWyrm</i><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiPuJT2RGeptI6HBQsws3cK1J9Znskfqc6effCPaRekg7ylFM_sMHmQU_JdERinfN3Ur1yruIjsVWIoUo4MU00ukyShOZ84ynbrKOkBQfBA0U3phsTRJJE0-VoT6fnW6SCuddoiYJsVvPq/s1600/first+impressions.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="1200" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiPuJT2RGeptI6HBQsws3cK1J9Znskfqc6effCPaRekg7ylFM_sMHmQU_JdERinfN3Ur1yruIjsVWIoUo4MU00ukyShOZ84ynbrKOkBQfBA0U3phsTRJJE0-VoT6fnW6SCuddoiYJsVvPq/s640/first+impressions.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
Since I now have my 8th Edition hardcover in hand, I'm going to start going through it and posting my thoughts on this new version of 40K. What I like, what I don't, and what I just find interesting.<br />
<br />
We'll start with the Introduction and Core Rules.<br />
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<a name='more'></a><div style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="color: #990000;">Much Better Production Quality</span></b></div>
<br />
During 6th and 7th Editions, GW was really cranking out the books as fast as it possibly could. As a result, the quality of the writing and graphic design really suffered. Some of the eBooks, like the one for Kill Team, were almost laughable. Looking like they'd been spit out of Microsoft Word or something.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSbvx4NT6JRncD8cGOQolNoXhljAwFNFzSaMWeBxUAOgszND2dOnjcqpuVDuFuYLQMJQDfh0uWTLcEe-cMdLj8BYgyb0YWQEPJwQr1dKME25yQb6iDhchmhFg0hb7j85aqadiEoeqDoR9p/s1600/LR+Demolisher.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSbvx4NT6JRncD8cGOQolNoXhljAwFNFzSaMWeBxUAOgszND2dOnjcqpuVDuFuYLQMJQDfh0uWTLcEe-cMdLj8BYgyb0YWQEPJwQr1dKME25yQb6iDhchmhFg0hb7j85aqadiEoeqDoR9p/s640/LR+Demolisher.jpg" width="478" /></a></div>
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Not anymore. The graphic design is solid, the illustrations plentiful, and not only are the eBook versions of the army Indexes cheaper than the printed ones, but they are much easier to use thanks to the proper use of iBook glossary entries. Just touch a weapon or other keyword, and the definition pops right up. As opposed to the softcovers, which have to list EVERYTHING out in each entry.<br />
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All you have to do with the iBooks is swipe left or right to skim through the unit entries, and then touch whatever you need to know. Easy! Nice job GW!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAQrRnStqYNGw9vmYG6rMcHjwzDjYlYLkQqy0HdTUDy_0lJTydJ88I7_ZWJi1yvaF_ep7y4pf4Rb6vFWh9J2CYDkSD1PSLefNIOHnkOOhdlStdyoz1qy5hx6KAZeTaMolND7LxOBMzmGdR/s1600/Kill+Team.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="478" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAQrRnStqYNGw9vmYG6rMcHjwzDjYlYLkQqy0HdTUDy_0lJTydJ88I7_ZWJi1yvaF_ep7y4pf4Rb6vFWh9J2CYDkSD1PSLefNIOHnkOOhdlStdyoz1qy5hx6KAZeTaMolND7LxOBMzmGdR/s640/Kill+Team.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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They even cleaned up the digital Kill Team book to be much more professional looking. It's so nice when a company starts taking its product production seriously again. It's like I'm watching Apple start to recover after Steve Jobs returned to the company.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="color: #990000;">Solid Writing</span></b></div>
<br />
Overall, the rules writing is 1000% improved over ALL previous editions. There are some things that I think are missing, and some concepts that I don't think will work the way GW intended them to. But I was (<i>almost)</i> never confused by the wording of a rule, or scratching my head at its meaning. This in itself is a minor miracle.<br />
<br />
About all I can complain about here is the continued use of the silly new "copyrightable" names that GW came up with for all its factions. But I guess we're stuck with them. Now that GW feels "safe" legally, at least they're not wasting management attention on legal BS anymore. That's a plus.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="color: #990000;">Game Breakdown</span></b></div>
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Let's go through the differences in how 8th will play compared to 5th, which was the last 40K edition that I gave a toss about.<br />
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<b><span style="color: #990000;">1) Points Costs</span></b><br />
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Every unit in the game now has a data sheet that defines all of its options and special abilities in one place. This is pretty nice, especially with the digital indexes. Index cards will be coming in each box of miniatures in the future.<br />
<br />
Now... See that "power" number in the upper-left hand corner? That's the "averaged" cost of the unit (min + max options divided by 2 and reduced by some factor) for casual play. It doesn't matter what options you take for this Battle Sisters squad, they will always cost 4 "power". This is fine for casual play, and makes it easy to just throw down some minis for a particular power level. Players I've talked to say 75 points is roughly equal to 1500 or so points in previous editions.<br />
<br />
OK. But what about competitive play?<br />
<br />
The good news? There is a more traditional "points" system available. But the bad news is that it's... well it's a bit of a pain to use.<br />
<br />
An army that's built using one of the force organization charts, and precise point values, is called a "Battle Forged" army. But the points values are not anywhere on the data sheets. Rather, they're in a series of tables in the back of each Index book.<br />
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So Buy a unit... Add up the points for each of its models, weapons, etc. Or build a spreadsheet to do it for you. Is it balanced? Who knows? Supposedly these point values will be updated every year.<br />
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Some of the weapons have a cost of zero, meaning... I guess... that their cost has already been factored into the price of the models or something. I see a LOT of potential for confusion here, and I would NOT want to be the guy at Nova or Adepticon that has to vet everyone's lists before the event.<br />
<br />
Hopefully we'll see a "Battle Forged" app appear soon, or a reliable 3rd party option. I guess GW figures that us competitive types are big boys who can handle this needless level of complexity. Why it all couldn't just be included as a box at the bottom of the unit cards, or a pop-up in the digital Indexes, I don't know.<br />
<br />
Maybe we should count ourselves lucky to have this option at all. Battlefront, after all, took it away from Mid-War games in Flames of War. Where you HAVE to use their version of GW's "Power Levels" instead of a more precise pointing system.<br />
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<b><span style="color: #990000;">2) Keywords</span></b><br />
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These cards do contain an innovative feature: Sets of Faction/Unit keywords that special rules can specifically apply to. It's a nice addition.<br />
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<span style="color: #990000;"><b>3) Movement</b></span><br />
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Every unit has a movement value, and that's how far you can move each model on a "Move" order. An "Advance" order adds a +D6 to this movement, and keeps it from shooting later. Why it wasn't just called "Running" is a mystery to me.<br />
<br />
Terrain does not, by default, affect your movement speed. Moving vertically is measured vertically, and coherency is 2" horizontal, and 6" vertically.<br />
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It's notable that units can "Fall Back" out of combat. Meaning that unless you surround them, your enemy's bubble-wrap units will be able to exit combat and shoot at you again.<i><span style="color: #990000;"> (EDIT: Only if you're a flier.)</span></i><br />
<br />
<b><span style="color: #990000;">4) Psychic Phase</span></b><br />
<br />
I was never a big user of psykers, but this phase seems to be massively toned-down in importance. Any psyker within 24" of a "manifested" power can attempt to block it. Does that mean 24" from the casting Psyker, or 24" inches from whatever the power was cast on? This is one of the few ambiguous wordings that should have been more precisely defined.<br />
<br />
I'm still not a fan of having to roll to cast a power though. Kings of War's "it just works" system was much better, and if there's any rolling to be done, it should be firmly on the dispel side. Perils of the Warp also needs to go. It doesn't really fit in with how the rest of 8th seems to shy away from the traditional LOLsy extreme results for random high/low rolls.<br />
<br />
But hey... Overall it's better than it was.<br />
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<b><span style="color: #990000;">5) Shooting Phase</span></b><br />
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<br />
<strike>There is one HUGE thing missing from this section. How do I determine if a unit is visible? There is no method for this described at all. Cue pre-game negotiations on using true Line of Sight vs. more abstract systems.</strike><br />
<strike><br /></strike>
<i><span style="color: #990000;">(EDIT:) My bad. The rule is there on page 179 under "Choose Targets".</span></i><br />
<br />
The rest of the section is pretty simple. You have a to-hit score on your unit card, and if your target is in cover, you get a one-point penalty.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #990000;"><b>Weapon Types:</b></span><br />
<br />
<b>Assault Weapons</b> – You get to shoot after running.<br />
<b>Heavy Weapons</b> – You have a -1 to shoot after moving (even for vehicles).<br />
<b>Rapid Fire Weapons</b> – Double shots within half range.<br />
<b>Grenades </b>– One model per turn can throw these in a unit.<br />
<b>Pistol </b>– You can fire these at units that you're engaged with in melee. Which is nice.<br />
<br />
There are no templates anymore. So the only real reason to spread out is to keep from getting instantly surrounded in melee. I'm not crazy about this, but at least the alternatives they came up with are fast. Unlike... cough... Antares.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjI0sfCvLZHJ1XVbSMxAm6cKHY1tboEXh-oeItWTjJ5zyhJt65Qb2ZjW7pUPJHgsOVjJ2y5_RJIU6rcglCPrCKxLLnEP6_vXa3yVZwDoztT8b-6bYicXYDn0ahPFX-3EmxYVyhzeYrTOqhe/s1600/toughness.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="1272" height="402" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjI0sfCvLZHJ1XVbSMxAm6cKHY1tboEXh-oeItWTjJ5zyhJt65Qb2ZjW7pUPJHgsOVjJ2y5_RJIU6rcglCPrCKxLLnEP6_vXa3yVZwDoztT8b-6bYicXYDn0ahPFX-3EmxYVyhzeYrTOqhe/s640/toughness.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
Wounding works differently now. There is no chart anymore. If Strength and Toughness are equal, you need a 4+ to wound. If Strength is higher, you need a 3+ (or a 2+ is it's double). If Toughness is higher, you need a 5+ (or a 6+ if it's double). In theory there is no longer any limit at to how high Strength or Toughness can go. This also gives a big boost the the effectiveness of mid-Strength weapons. And yes, lasguns can hurt a tank.<br />
<br />
The garbage AP system of previous editions is gone! (happy dance!) Instead weapons now have armor save modifiers (happy dance!).<br />
<br />
The defending player removes whatever models they like as casualties.<br />
<br />
I really think that there should be some mechanism in place to let the attacker pick 1-2 of the casualties. Melee uses the same system, and so there is no way to pick out models with special weapons, power klaws, leaders, etc. Rolling 2D6 and allowing the attacker a pick for each 5+ would have been a very easy fix.<br />
<br />
<b><span style="color: #990000;">6) Transports</span></b><br />
<br />
There are some important changes to how vehicles, and especially transports work. The biggest is that transports, once they lose all their wounds, only explode on a 6+. And that when they do explode, you roll a die for each model, and each 1+ kills a model chosen by its owning player.<br />
<br />
So... That Chimera full of Guardsmen probably won't blow up, and if it does, the guys inside are just as likely to survive as a Marine was in 5th Edition. Plus, units aren't pinned for being blown out of their transports anymore.<br />
<br />
Hello Chimera-Spam! We missed you so!<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #990000;"><b>7) The Charge Phase</b></span><br />
<br />
Yep. Charging gets its own phase. "Overwatch" is automatic now. Whatever unit(s) you charge get to shoot at their full rate of fire, and hit on 6's.<br />
<br />
I'm not sure that I like that design decision in general, but as a Guard player I'll enjoy the heck out of it. Note that this edition, despite the pistol boost in melee, is not very friendly to assault-centric forces.<br />
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<b><span style="color: #990000;">8) The Fight Phase</span></b><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiobkx4TU9c_mBRfr2WFpEXGu5bloWtj1s1cd4CqOuhfRnycGcaThABHXAY43tSV4qNgXB1dXYx0Lz2QCaX7O16FvHh4VWcJfuoqP2HEegEBAzOMcTxGk71reRbWEM2d7t2w1LZyF6EtCa_/s1600/melee.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="1200" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiobkx4TU9c_mBRfr2WFpEXGu5bloWtj1s1cd4CqOuhfRnycGcaThABHXAY43tSV4qNgXB1dXYx0Lz2QCaX7O16FvHh4VWcJfuoqP2HEegEBAzOMcTxGk71reRbWEM2d7t2w1LZyF6EtCa_/s640/melee.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
This phase gets some very interesting changes.<br />
<br />
First the current player attacks, one at a time, with each of his units that charged.<br />
<br />
Then, the current player picks an already-engaged unit to attack with. The other player then picks one of their units to attack with, and this selection alternates until all engaged units have fought.<br />
<br />
Each unit, when selected to fight, gets to consolidate 3", perform its attacks, and then consolidate another 3".<br />
<br />
I really like this... Except for one very important problem. The defender is still picking all of the killed models. Added together with the results from shooting, this means that there's no way to push-though a combat. Or to fall back from one once you're surrounded. Which, with 6" of movement from 20+ Ork Boyz, you will be. Unless you spread out your defending unit so that they can't be fully surrounded in the same turn that they're charged. But I don't know yet how well that will actually work.<br />
<br />
Even just requiring that models within 1" of the attacking unit be removed first would go a long way towards making combat a more fluid, dynamic affair. As it is now, two blobs (because there are no templates anymore) will rush into each other and just beat one another to a pulp. To me that's not ideal.<br />
<br />
<b><span style="color: #990000;">9) Warlord Traits</span></b><br />
<br />
Thank you GW! There are only 3 of these now, and none of them are clearly superior to the others. Though some armies will prefer certain traits.<br />
<br />
<b><span style="color: #990000;">10) "Only War"</span></b><br />
<br />
With this edition, GW is clearly doing its best to try and accommodate all styles of play. Just how well this works out for them remains to be seen. I have my doubts, but they've at least got the balls to try something new.<br />
<br />
So... We have not one, not two, but three separate mission sections. "Only War" is for the pure casual players. Then there's Narrative Play, which is more like how Flames of War does its missions. With fixed deployments and rules for each scenario. Then there's "Matched Play", in which you roll up a mission and a separate deployment, like in 5th Edition. Except that there are now six missions and six deployments.<br />
<br />
Then, in the Advanced Rules, there are "Tactical Objectives" which seem like a mutation of the extra objective systems used at big tournaments like the NOVA Open. Mike Brandt did just fess up to being on the beta test team. Did you dream this up Mike?<br />
<br />
Anyhow... "Only War" has three scenarios where you place the objectives anyplace you want. The the attacker splits the table in half (how is not precisely specified) and you fight.<br />
<br />
There's a mention in one mission that you really should put a building or something tall in the middle of the table. But there is nothing in any of the 3 tiers of missions that mentions anything about minimum table coverage, ample LoS-blocking terrain, etc.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwXIybSaQlMlKNcjtEVrW_IlaTZDOunIuQzpwGcTyJwjw53k2R8wbL0y7KFjDIRm7K5S7-IBGmRW-yPw-XZx33tckQji1T2pBknT84L2lHWLNp41FChJdS7s_6bRbDPsabmNfmGUx9hKUa/s1600/deployment.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1058" data-original-width="1600" height="422" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwXIybSaQlMlKNcjtEVrW_IlaTZDOunIuQzpwGcTyJwjw53k2R8wbL0y7KFjDIRm7K5S7-IBGmRW-yPw-XZx33tckQji1T2pBknT84L2lHWLNp41FChJdS7s_6bRbDPsabmNfmGUx9hKUa/s640/deployment.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
One of the Narrative Missions – "Ambush at Dhorak Pass" does have a deployment diagram with a lot of buildings on it, but that's it. All of the other diagrams are bare of any scenery.<br />
<br />
Thoughts?<br />
<br />
<br />SandWyrmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02334440208172563850noreply@blogger.com22tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4519319818452068646.post-30170578992004270282017-06-15T23:19:00.000-04:002017-06-15T23:20:43.068-04:00Upcoming Game Demo Day Here In The Indy Area<i>by SandWyrm</i><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLuQ18lHUYZYGdmGROMIOmifqRVNeuR5_v2z-m5WMe_NdJE8kb28EBj-gI11gIdk5eBcgH8Ja5mwNePLhKndWe3dqzFADOnW5Sg453MQ416z1Uh8rnIeh8tIY8PmcvrcxWWc1hMPx5MVOp/s1600/Fishers+Library.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLuQ18lHUYZYGdmGROMIOmifqRVNeuR5_v2z-m5WMe_NdJE8kb28EBj-gI11gIdk5eBcgH8Ja5mwNePLhKndWe3dqzFADOnW5Sg453MQ416z1Uh8rnIeh8tIY8PmcvrcxWWc1hMPx5MVOp/s640/Fishers+Library.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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We've been nicely asked to put up a post about some game demos, including 8th Edition 40K, that will be run locally at the Fishers library, on the north side of Indianapolis, this July.<br />
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<a name='more'></a></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="color: #990000;"><i>"Hello I will be running some demos of 8th edition on July 22nd. I will be hosting a demo day at the Fishers Library. </i> </span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="color: #990000;"><i>There will be other games there at least dark souls, bemused and 40k. Hopefully a few more. </i> </span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="color: #990000;"><i>I was wondering if I could get a post on your blog. Or maybe just tell anyone you might know who lives in the Hamilton County area. I could use a few 40k players to help get my demo down pat. I could probably even include an extra table for pickup 2k games.</i> </span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="color: #990000;"><i> Thanks for reading, hope to hear from you.</i> </span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i><span style="color: #990000;">Jace"</span></i></blockquote>
Here's the location info:<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="450" src="https://www.google.com/maps/embed?pb=!1m18!1m12!1m3!1d48899.32507093761!2d-86.03988674789815!3d40.00380533015761!2m3!1f0!2f0!3f0!3m2!1i1024!2i768!4f13.1!3m3!1m2!1s0x8814b386e7778e37%3A0xded1b2f7bb538f32!2sHamilton+East+Public+Library+-+Fishers!5e0!3m2!1sen!2sus!4v1497582905580" style="border: 0;" width="600"></iframe>
</div>
<br />
Good luck Jace!<br />
<br />SandWyrmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02334440208172563850noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4519319818452068646.post-19506048361416677912017-06-14T22:58:00.000-04:002017-06-15T22:19:11.599-04:00What The... 8th Edition 40K Is Actually... Good?<i>by SandWyrm</i><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgj-RFqp2WlxiaA26JyyhyCTI6RZAFB4mSoaY1I675lsTVfBAg2w57gOfZielE60786JhtYvlzDA2e1D588svDsAg1AJ91dUJjvBAYKoFY8qX9I-TrRK43eJtc093I1Eddo3qdlZ4ttHVw0/s1600/pig+flying.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="1333" height="384" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgj-RFqp2WlxiaA26JyyhyCTI6RZAFB4mSoaY1I675lsTVfBAg2w57gOfZielE60786JhtYvlzDA2e1D588svDsAg1AJ91dUJjvBAYKoFY8qX9I-TrRK43eJtc093I1Eddo3qdlZ4ttHVw0/s640/pig+flying.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
Ok, my head is officially spinning.<br />
<br />
If you've spent ANY time on this blog, you've seen me constantly comparing 40K to Flames of War, as I used to consider the latter to be the gold standard for a well-designed, clearly written ruleset. While I considered 40K (especially the 6th and 7th Editions) to be the opposite.<br />
<br />
But then Battlefront, a few months ago, completely crapped the bed with the 4th Edition of Flames, which I now consider to be all but unplayable. While Games Workshop seems to have completely redesigned 40K into an intelligently streamlined game that's actually a lot of fun to play!<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a>I mean... The 8th Edition 40K preview copies came in to the local store, and the rules read well when I skimmed them. I watched some games between some guys testing out the rules. They were laughing and having fun, like back in the glory days of 5th, except that there weren't any silly rules arguments. Plus they said that just about every choice in the new books (all armies have finally been redesigned together, as in the 3rd Edition release) is useful in some way.<br />
<br />
What? GW actually did this? Holy crap!<br />
<br />
So tonight I cobbled together a couple of squads of Marines and a proxy Predator. I fought a small battle against an old friend who fielded a couple of tactical squads and a Dreadnought. And damned if we didn't have fun playing the game! Damned if every rules change that I learned about didn't make perfect sense! Nowhere did the system bog down into inane time-consuming mechanics. I haven't been this surprised by a 40K Edition since the debut of 5th. And... This is looking to be better than 5th. It's not really an evolution of 40k, so much as a new game that's set in the same universe. Tanks with wounds? How many times have we asked for that?<br />
<br />
I mean the system has some things that I personally would have done a bit differently, but it all seems to fit together into a coherently designed whole. Which means that I can actually see myself playing 40K again. That's awesome!<br />
<br />
So, with fingers crossed, I'll be lining up to buy my 8th Edition starter set this weekend. We'll see how I feel about the game once I can really sit down and study it. But man! I'm jazzed!<br />
<br />SandWyrmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02334440208172563850noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4519319818452068646.post-22688562691051350892017-03-13T12:11:00.000-04:002017-06-14T23:02:24.187-04:003D Printing: Building A Better Miniature Base<i>by SandWyrm</i><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDs66ilCvyP_GUZQjGU6QMdbA5kj07Lq-crOYdhx_443ovDlqdcER1hhESCAO9pU9sKDAcpWO5azcujYHHnaHv5Kvj79ucOV4oimSNe-JY3HJ-BdlyW0J5vSsUDU2OknWF0gtdUQxomGY/s1600/TB40K+-+Building+A+Better+Base+01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDs66ilCvyP_GUZQjGU6QMdbA5kj07Lq-crOYdhx_443ovDlqdcER1hhESCAO9pU9sKDAcpWO5azcujYHHnaHv5Kvj79ucOV4oimSNe-JY3HJ-BdlyW0J5vSsUDU2OknWF0gtdUQxomGY/s640/TB40K+-+Building+A+Better+Base+01.jpg" width="598" /></a></div>
<br />
Games Workshop bases. For better or worse, we're all used to them (or their many copy-cats). But while assembling my large order from <a href="https://anvilindustry.co.uk/" target="_blank">Anvil Industr</a>y to make a copyright-legal army for <a href="http://www.warstrike.org/" target="_blank">WarStrike</a>, I had to decide what kind of bases to use for the figures that didn't come with any.<br />
<br />
And since I've got a nice 3D resin printer... Well, I think I've come up with something much better than the norm.<br />
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<span style="color: #990000;"><b>Custom Sizing</b></span></div>
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The first thing to do was to decide what size of base that I needed. For the Anvil Black Ops sniper model above, the old 25mm GW bases were too small. But the newer 32mm were just too big. So I opted for a custom 30mm base.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBm3RjuKXVekn21OVgopEaFujrFdq1SEcSRlKW4UQqqqA_ez7h8XvL7Q4hETMyshFc25ycbUINaqUo9KfGGXD7rbLVvIznf6om-7TtgQgQqesyVdKo22oXVn7mT1baS8Uy6O0HvrQ_pUk/s1600/TB40K+-+Building+A+Better+Base+02.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBm3RjuKXVekn21OVgopEaFujrFdq1SEcSRlKW4UQqqqA_ez7h8XvL7Q4hETMyshFc25ycbUINaqUo9KfGGXD7rbLVvIznf6om-7TtgQgQqesyVdKo22oXVn7mT1baS8Uy6O0HvrQ_pUk/s640/TB40K+-+Building+A+Better+Base+02.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
I also wanted this base to match the outer look of the GW bases everyone is familiar with, so I sloped the sides. If this model looks a bit thick, it's because I have to add one mm to the up-axis in order for the base to come out at the proper thickness of 3mm on my resin printer.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #990000;"><b>Flat Bottoms</b></span></div>
<br />
On the SLP printer I have, the UV image is projected all at once, so the actual number of models being printed doesn't matter, just the overall height. So I can gang eight 30mm bases onto the print bed and it takes 26 minutes to print them. The same as for printing just one.<br />
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(Pro-Tip: Print the bases upside down, and it's much easier to remove them from the bed.)<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgz2knHFxoLO3lll21-4hVW3NMY8YdcJCx3PMFwbJp-oPZ4OT3_OxAGMhmCet2KxvUFv7HtivPd7agtbjycV_BSlkayUMwivEjh8TauzV-c8520Ja3dcc4YnS6M34JOTwHZ89D9btwNkGE/s1600/TB40K+-+Building+A+Better+Base+03.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="370" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgz2knHFxoLO3lll21-4hVW3NMY8YdcJCx3PMFwbJp-oPZ4OT3_OxAGMhmCet2KxvUFv7HtivPd7agtbjycV_BSlkayUMwivEjh8TauzV-c8520Ja3dcc4YnS6M34JOTwHZ89D9btwNkGE/s640/TB40K+-+Building+A+Better+Base+03.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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Now one key thing here is that I decided to print the bases solid, with flat bottoms. This is good for two reasons. One, it gives more weight to the base. Each of these bases weighs 2.8 grams, while a similarly sized GW plastic base would weigh about 1.4 grams. Given the same weight of model, this means that the solid base would represent a much higher percentage of the model's weight, lowering its center of gravity.<br />
<br />
For this test though, it's kind of a wash, as my resin Anvil sniper is about 2 grams heavier than a similarly sized GW plastic model. But put a plastic model on a heavier resin base and you'd see much more of a difference.<br />
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At the very least, it means that my resin model won't be any more top-heavy than a plastic model with a hollow base would be. And... I did make the base a little wider than it absolutely had to be, giving it more leverage in the tests that will follow.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjMWLzYJt0qCKd6dDwwBwV0_VpvsEM3EjE0jfDqJcIasR46JXZH1uVfYslm32xop1aYMtmGLSo-HCZWpJz4XcwVv_WpEho3W-_4xQmA-kX_rmC0N-bXCYbIJK7C0wbWBZt1xoikPY2gHM/s1600/TB40K+-+Building+A+Better+Base+04.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="384" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjMWLzYJt0qCKd6dDwwBwV0_VpvsEM3EjE0jfDqJcIasR46JXZH1uVfYslm32xop1aYMtmGLSo-HCZWpJz4XcwVv_WpEho3W-_4xQmA-kX_rmC0N-bXCYbIJK7C0wbWBZt1xoikPY2gHM/s640/TB40K+-+Building+A+Better+Base+04.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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But the second reason for the flat bottomed base is that I can glue velvet-textured paper to it. Much like you would see on the bottom of gaming counters, or Gale Force 9 terrain pieces (like the hill below). This VASTLY increases the surface friction of the base.<br />
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So what does this let me do with this model? Let's take a look...<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEge2VYY4bthmn4PexZeUdkosj1qx-7VfrOQNfSm4xXly1p4uyIXDl0n4RX3wWQ3kGh3plkvomas4l4MgYWQdDEsXE_V4S8HtbxU57ZhcV6p_8N8Ybe2EHyR1lvbkbBcV6V4nfrqgkrkCu4/s1600/TB40K+-+Building+A+Better+Base+05.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="450" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEge2VYY4bthmn4PexZeUdkosj1qx-7VfrOQNfSm4xXly1p4uyIXDl0n4RX3wWQ3kGh3plkvomas4l4MgYWQdDEsXE_V4S8HtbxU57ZhcV6p_8N8Ybe2EHyR1lvbkbBcV6V4nfrqgkrkCu4/s640/TB40K+-+Building+A+Better+Base+05.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
Where a miniature on a hollowed-out plastic base would fall over, even on the easiest slopes...<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrBUcP8lvFI5WAi7xer4pBBTHUBfA-MllfAGC5K76VvHBxsl2fBymOylrGpqJijHcPJD9iNtuVJc1WSaVmBmydc4LuFPvaS1l10Nbcc2TttADms3qkdeCeEbhhczpxKOuk0nmpauEDddg/s1600/TB40K+-+Building+A+Better+Base+06.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="450" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrBUcP8lvFI5WAi7xer4pBBTHUBfA-MllfAGC5K76VvHBxsl2fBymOylrGpqJijHcPJD9iNtuVJc1WSaVmBmydc4LuFPvaS1l10Nbcc2TttADms3qkdeCeEbhhczpxKOuk0nmpauEDddg/s640/TB40K+-+Building+A+Better+Base+06.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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My Anvil sniper stays right in place!<br />
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Let's try some more challenging sniper positions...<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3xlpmJAUkXRk3tE7wmvhF3MdAmPA5ZGzsWuyJSQB94TehyqeNvKFiPhwY03ugffEJ5QsUFHYMGWkznVSOZ-M3Sk6FA6vwSvop8mn6PZOkUwCKmEUcVGRH7UDkJ91PphcaNQuv6CnNPME/s1600/TB40K+-+Building+A+Better+Base+08.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="478" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3xlpmJAUkXRk3tE7wmvhF3MdAmPA5ZGzsWuyJSQB94TehyqeNvKFiPhwY03ugffEJ5QsUFHYMGWkznVSOZ-M3Sk6FA6vwSvop8mn6PZOkUwCKmEUcVGRH7UDkJ91PphcaNQuv6CnNPME/s640/TB40K+-+Building+A+Better+Base+08.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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The rounded edge of a home-built hill.<br />
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On the flat part of that same hill, lifted up almost 30º. If the miniature was plastic I could probably have gotten this up to 40º - 45º.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWgKep_hFZpatx2AOSOoAnDqWP607vFiUglviNtL7wz_NLBX4sCdSOnafeCutB9RPXeESSlN3by8FWI9MdAoP7rqRhErazCq80TS_MP2VhlVRaTNFmgNs7uwQIySdPb8sdjnMhF0b9BGA/s1600/TB40K+-+Building+A+Better+Base+07.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="542" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWgKep_hFZpatx2AOSOoAnDqWP607vFiUglviNtL7wz_NLBX4sCdSOnafeCutB9RPXeESSlN3by8FWI9MdAoP7rqRhErazCq80TS_MP2VhlVRaTNFmgNs7uwQIySdPb8sdjnMhF0b9BGA/s640/TB40K+-+Building+A+Better+Base+07.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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On top of some model-unfriendly rubble.<br />
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At an angle against a terrain feature that would have been too wide (but not wide enough) to allow a hollow GW base to lay against it.<br />
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This Generator model, BTW, is from <a href="http://www.printablescenery.com/" target="_blank">Printable Scenery</a>. A company that sells 3D models of buildings for printing. They've got a <a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/printablescenery/time-warp-rampage-castle-europe-and-the-americas" target="_blank">new Kickstarter here</a>, and I WANT those tele-portals! Plus it's only $64 for EVERYTHING on that page (go look, it's a lot). This company kicks ass, and the great thing is that as soon as the Kickstarter funds, most of the models become available immediately. So there's no Palladium-like risk of not getting what you paid for. I've funded two of their Kickstarters with no problems whatsoever.<br />
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This particular Printable Scenery model was printed on my new Lulzbot Taz6. A fused filament printer that has a bed big enough to make the whole thing in one go, instead of in parts. The printing took 19 hours to complete.<br />
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And finally, we have the Anvil sniper sitting on a smooth rock surface atop a pet store terrarium piece that I've been converting into a desert cave shelter. There's no way that any model with a standard base bottom would stay in place here. There just wouldn't be enough friction.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirfA1cr0QgdyvvJKj6isoIHxs8ZwuDahr4JwuBDLkxLDor09hexKnbATGCVHlw7pNKZE0FDmwbWGw_MMoOwD9hZI07je6RjwDFWhkpmfmeuZG0hQ2ce0GeVLYGQvYXjVfcDXJhzrU0PSU/s1600/TB40K+-+Building+A+Better+Base+01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirfA1cr0QgdyvvJKj6isoIHxs8ZwuDahr4JwuBDLkxLDor09hexKnbATGCVHlw7pNKZE0FDmwbWGw_MMoOwD9hZI07je6RjwDFWhkpmfmeuZG0hQ2ce0GeVLYGQvYXjVfcDXJhzrU0PSU/s640/TB40K+-+Building+A+Better+Base+01.jpg" width="598" /></a></div>
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And of course if the surface has any roughness, the model stays in place real well. :)<br />
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Thoughts?<br />
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SandWyrmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02334440208172563850noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4519319818452068646.post-83001294605248607942017-03-13T12:08:00.002-04:002017-03-16T19:40:32.822-04:00A 3D Printing Kickstarter That Deserves More Attention (Updated)<i>by SandWyrm</i><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUvyMsl4svlFvGoPiiBB86MrlXBko2Ffkesw7mjIC43WeGREl67Nw6F0v2N06lw8nUJBpr6wjnFolWB9LMy434znDZxfDhtsCKeyGd0rx5DDk_wiWPzyWzERZ0bqJyq80oNi_Z9oQ9g-Q/s1600/69385ed31e3f47b7c64e8e47c842d3fb_original.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="358" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUvyMsl4svlFvGoPiiBB86MrlXBko2Ffkesw7mjIC43WeGREl67Nw6F0v2N06lw8nUJBpr6wjnFolWB9LMy434znDZxfDhtsCKeyGd0rx5DDk_wiWPzyWzERZ0bqJyq80oNi_Z9oQ9g-Q/s640/69385ed31e3f47b7c64e8e47c842d3fb_original.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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There's a new company in town offering 3D printable scenery, and it's in just the style I like.... SANDY! Oh man do I want these!<br />
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<a name='more'></a>They're a German company called "3D Print Terrain" (catchy, I know). This is <a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/950201293/arabic-north-african-tabletop-terrain-get-printabl?ref=user_menu" target="_blank">their first Kickstarter</a>, and they made the newbie mistake of setting their funding goal way too high. The models are already built and ready to be digitally delivered, so they should have taken a page from Printable Scenery, and set their goal at something like $350. <strike>But once they restart their campaign they should do pretty well with it.</strike> <span style="color: #990000;">They have now restarted their Kickstarter with a much lower goal that's already been met!</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmKlirviMNBTwfrQoveK8YqjSJUZ5CvtG_DmVs69bBmVvto9VlMs9tXxxTUrJS81uupygKgg4Vi6FJ-9zQV-i7PypAMrbXoE3xWY_o0COcgdxL9NvBAsj75vA5_arLx7toY-vE3wkmDdM/s1600/2154b8422df8a14469221f76696cde18_original.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="358" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmKlirviMNBTwfrQoveK8YqjSJUZ5CvtG_DmVs69bBmVvto9VlMs9tXxxTUrJS81uupygKgg4Vi6FJ-9zQV-i7PypAMrbXoE3xWY_o0COcgdxL9NvBAsj75vA5_arLx7toY-vE3wkmDdM/s640/2154b8422df8a14469221f76696cde18_original.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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There's more pictures and a demo video <a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/950201293/arabic-north-african-tabletop-terrain-get-printabl?ref=user_menu" target="_blank">on their Kickstarter page</a>. <span style="color: #990000;">Link updated for re-launch.</span>SandWyrmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02334440208172563850noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4519319818452068646.post-443000318504555632017-03-03T14:10:00.000-05:002017-03-03T14:10:19.814-05:00First Look At My New Anvil Industries & Ramshackle Minis<i>by SandWyrm</i><br />
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In a very unfavorable comparison to the US Postal Service, the Royal Mail managed to deliver my large Anvil Industries miniature order (581 grams) in just one week for £6. While I've recently paid 5 times that to ship about one ounce of 3D printed minis to Belgium, only to have them lost in transit.<br />
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But hey, I've got a bunch of new minis that we have permission to use photographs of in our game! So let's take a look at what Anvil, and another company called Ramshackle Games have sent me.<br />
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<a href="http://www.warstrike.org/2017/03/my-anvil-industries-ramshackle-games-my.html" target="_blank">Read the rest over on the WarStrike blog...</a><br />
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<i><span style="color: #990000;">(I'm cross-posting this article, because it would probably interest quite a few here who still play 40k.)</span></i>SandWyrmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02334440208172563850noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4519319818452068646.post-78991437607259705862017-02-13T18:28:00.001-05:002017-02-13T23:15:01.049-05:00ISIS Are Orks!!!<i>by SandWyrm</i><br />
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If you want some Orky inspiration, you need look no further than some of the crazy vehicles that ISIS has thrown together to conquer the Arab world with. Really? We can't stop these guys?<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">DeathStrike!!!</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">2-Stage Battlewagon?</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Needs More Grots!</td></tr>
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From <a href="http://zeedesertfox.tumblr.com/post/145832421065/theres-way-more-underneath-but-beware-its" target="_blank">ZeeDesertFox tumblr page</a>.SandWyrmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02334440208172563850noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4519319818452068646.post-54212481105401344822016-12-16T22:15:00.000-05:002016-12-16T22:18:45.848-05:00The Force Nods Off<i>by SandWyrm</i><br />
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Just got back from seeing Rogue One tonight, and I'm sad to say that it's not nearly as good as it could have been. While it beats any of the Prequels, I'm having a hard time deciding whether it beats out Return of the Jedi or not. Especially when it progresses so slowly that I was actually imagining a much better ending during the actual ending... never a good sign.<br />
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<a name='more'></a>The script, to put it bluntly, is an unfocused mess that was obviously rushed out too quickly. We spend way too much time jumping back and forth between half a dozen planets, and talking (talking... talking...) to a lot of characters that the movie didn't need in the first place. In fact, the actors have so much dialog to chew through that about 2/3rds of the scenes sound like they're speed-reading from a teleprompter (especially with Erso's Dad). Two of my 3 kids were nodding off half-way through in boredom.<br />
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So many of the characters lack proper emotion, purpose, or logic to their actions. Certain things happen, not because they make any sense, but because they have to in order to move the story along. Other things happen that span multiple planets for no real story reason, except to show off more digital scenery. Oooh! Look! Another Jedi Temple!<br />
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The main villain, Krennic, is a whiny douche who is totally overshadowed by two other side-villains that should have been focused on instead. At least Kylo Ren was good for some emo-rage, and General Hux could throw some spittle around. This guy just wilts between odd moments of frustrated shouting.<br />
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Oh, and if you were expecting some kind of meaningful link between Ersa and Rey, forget it, because that potential was wasted. Even though Ersa was carrying around a certain special item that could have solidly linked her to a pre-RoTJ Luke in a later movie. The film takes the time to show it and talk about it like it's important, but then never really uses it.<br />
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The Empire also needs to find a new data storage vendor, because their data library is ridiculously unusable.<br />
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On the positive side, the robot is really funny, and the battles are pretty, even if they're not terribly logical. Vader's 10 minutes of screen time is worth the price of admission all by itself, and some dead/old characters are nicely brought back in their A New Hope form though CGI, and clever re-use of 1970's footage with new voice-overs.<br />
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So you know... see it... because it's Star Wars. But don't go out of your way to see it early. Think Thor: The Dark World in terms of expectations.<br />
<br />SandWyrmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02334440208172563850noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4519319818452068646.post-13707988901250961442016-12-13T09:46:00.001-05:002016-12-13T09:46:34.208-05:00I Don't Like Playing Games for Fun, Apparently<i>By CaulynDarr</i><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I basically want to destroy you with my brain while pretending to be someone else </td></tr>
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<a href="https://apps.quanticfoundry.com/lab/tabletop/">It's a quick little survey</a>. Interesting discussion fodder if nothing else. Hasn't been much of that going on lately.<br />
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I'm not dead by the way, I just have a one year old...Unknownnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4519319818452068646.post-89406181641139812552016-10-18T13:02:00.000-04:002016-10-18T13:02:23.821-04:00Watch These Guys Build A Working Chain Sword!<i>by SandWyrm</i><br />
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How much does that thing weigh? No wonder they're not swinging it around!<br />
<br />SandWyrmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02334440208172563850noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4519319818452068646.post-36905548073126385462016-08-11T11:40:00.002-04:002016-08-26T22:41:49.022-04:00Oh Yeah... GW's Financials Are Out...<i>by SandWyrm</i><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3g-viw188CmHmGzxHl03-NOQU3iJDjpvgz1TN94jWozlRd0WOOu1tobtRscFHK0uyA0-GvVTm5e6EZrxjLmwOoA3dc9MceiMoylTJAHhXl677BD_mvGEpvo32CwAWscz7aNKOyDtBw35P/s1600/financials.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="427" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3g-viw188CmHmGzxHl03-NOQU3iJDjpvgz1TN94jWozlRd0WOOu1tobtRscFHK0uyA0-GvVTm5e6EZrxjLmwOoA3dc9MceiMoylTJAHhXl677BD_mvGEpvo32CwAWscz7aNKOyDtBw35P/s640/financials.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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With all of my preparations for Gencon, and general busy-ness elsewhere, I completely missed when GW released its financials for the year. If you were expecting any sort of big surprise on the financial end, you'll be disappointed. Sales & profits are down a bit (like each of the last few years), and dividends were cut. So you know... Same old same old. Nothing has changed in the long-term trends. Sales are up a little bit in North America & Asia, and down everywhere else. Royalties are back up (covering some for weak sales), and they've somehow found more operational expenses to cut to slightly increase their Operating Profit. Yawn...<br />
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The most entertaining bits though, as always, are in the chairman's introductions.<br />
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Now, GW was a bit sneaky, and their <a href="http://investor.games-workshop.com/" target="_blank">Investor Relations Page</a> actually has two links to very similar-looking "Annual Reports"; both dated July 25th. But the first link is just a press statement that looks like a full report, while the second is the actual full report with more interesting ramblings from Tom Kirby, GW's current <strike>CEO</strike> Chairman.<br />
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Here's the gist of it (from the actual report):<br />
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<span style="color: #990000;"><b>There's Trouble With The Board</b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #990000;">"The board spent a day recently debating the fact that many proxy votes were cast against it. They were mostly aimed at the remuneration policy (a very fashionable topic these days), the non-executive directors who have served ‘too long’ and, me, the chairman on numerous counts."</span></blockquote>
So some institutional investors have raised concerns that reached the board (and thus had to be addressed), but the board was able to mostly ignore them. Kirby goes on to defend what he thinks defines an effective board looks like, and how they measure their effectiveness.<br />
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<span style="color: #990000;">"We do all these and take every point very seriously. We comply. The line where some will disagree with us is this one: creates a performance culture that drives value creation without exposing the company to excessive risk of value destruction. We do not have LTIPs or any bonus schemes for senior management. We do have payment schemes designed to encourage store managers to sell more, and we have a company wide scheme that allows all employees to share in profitable growth. It rewards ALL employees not just the chosen few. Both schemes are designed to enhance value. LTIPs and bonuses for senior staff are deemed to be necessary by some to encourage value creation, but more, to ensure longevity of staff and help with succession planning. These are not needed at Games Workshop4. <b>Our executive directors both have around 20 years service with the company. Their likely replacements have been here a similar length of time (well over 10 years). And, yes, they will be internal appointments. In fact, we see 10 years as the running-in period.</b> I suspect these schemes are needed in businesses that have an eternal merry-go-round of executives who appear and disappear with monotonous regularity. They are not needed at Games Workshop, and I trust they never will be. Furthermore I believe they are fundamentally self-serving and disastrously value destroying. Nothing leaves a sourer taste in the mouth than executives lining their own pockets and claiming it is for the long term good of the business before moving on to their next golden handshake clutching their golden parachute."</span></blockquote>
That sounds good and all, but what about Tom Kirby and his large stock holdings? Isn't he just waiting to retire with his golden parachute?<br />
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Anyhow, my take-away is that the institutional investors want to see some new blood on the board, and GW is doing its best to avoid any kind of external hire that might upset the status quo of their slow downward spiral into irrelevance. They only want to hire internal people who are so wedded to GW's way of doing things that they haven't jumped ship yet.<br />
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It continues...<br />
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<i><span style="color: #990000;">"An effective board should not necessarily be a comfortable place. Challenge, as well as teamwork, is an essential feature. Diversity in board composition is an important driver of a board’s effectiveness, creating a breadth of perspective among directors, and breaking down a tendency towards ‘group think’.</span></i></blockquote>
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<span style="color: #990000;">We believe we do comply with the intent of this paragraph, whilst acknowledging some may think we do not.</span></blockquote>
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<span style="color: #990000;">We fully agree that ‘group think’ is a bad thing. We fully agree that challenge is an essential ingredient in an effective board, as is teamwork. We do not agree that diversity for its own sake is the answer. We believe that each director must be independent of mind. To imply that someone is not independent minded because of time served or sex or ethnicity or religion or whatever else is false."</span></blockquote>
Now this is an interesting exchange. The institutional investors are asking for more "diversity" on the board. But how is "diversity" defined in their context? Kirby (or his writer) makes a very eloquent statement about how independence of mind is more important than sex/ethnicity/whatever, but is he just dodging a request for more independence in THINKING by re-framing the request in the politically-correct context of only race/sex?<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIujicJ7zP9ap4IgfBKOYIZbqoU3GQhIerPKzwjzKgXUU3cBzdzuCASNxH2guDcaxUS2ppz2pWwFcWT6wtybZJHb0M-XbKKYChTiVbNQwXlfZpa3W2g0N8GFY3tXPTmjy2X5-BsSaHuPE3/s1600/diverse+thinking.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="371" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIujicJ7zP9ap4IgfBKOYIZbqoU3GQhIerPKzwjzKgXUU3cBzdzuCASNxH2guDcaxUS2ppz2pWwFcWT6wtybZJHb0M-XbKKYChTiVbNQwXlfZpa3W2g0N8GFY3tXPTmjy2X5-BsSaHuPE3/s640/diverse+thinking.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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My gut says that the investors want more diversity in thinking, through more outside hires (whoever that might be). That they're sick of GW's very apparent group-think that's fostered by them only having 10-20 year company veterans making decisions. Diversity in THAT context might mean hiring some people from other game companies, other industries, or perhaps some of the the countries they do business in, in order to gain fresh perspectives on what they're doing right, and where they're falling down. To call this an issue of race/sex seems like an artful dodge on Kirby's part. Either that, or he's unable to understand the difference.<br />
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<span style="color: #990000;">"Only independence of mind counts. There are no proxies, no quotas that get around it. Rubbish directors are rubbish directors. The fact that they allow boxes to be ticked on arcane lists doesn’t make them effective. Good, independent minded directors are as hens’ teeth, gold dust. We have six. Including me."</span></blockquote>
So Mr. Kirby... How might this "Independence of Mind", assuming your board has any, present itself? Might it not manifest in changes to how your company operates?<br />
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Wouldn't a board with some fresh perspectives see opportunities where your cloistered group currently sees only threats? Such as with 3rd party garage plastics and 3D printing, which you've decided to fight with legal actions instead of co-opting into new business opportunities?<br />
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Might not a board with an independence of mind see the slow decline of GW as a bad thing, and investigate the benefits of bringing your "high quality" production capabilities to things like well-written game rules and ready-to-play miniatures/terrain and 3D printed bitz that would capture new customers?<br />
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You've pretty much maxed out the quality of your plastic molds, and have achieved levels of detail in your models that are, if anything, starting to be intimidating (rather than inspiring) to your average hobbyist. Can you develop a machine that will assemble and paint a simple mini to a minimum tabletop standard? That would be an evolution in quality that would attract MANY more customers.<br />
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<b><span style="color: #990000;">"The IP Play"</span></b></div>
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<span style="color: #990000;">"Over the years we have been exhorted by some to develop our revenue stream by ‘leveraging’ our IP. Using our great imagery we could do all sorts of lucrative and exciting value-enhancing (i.e. take private and re-float) deals. Actually, what they really mean is: do a movie!</span></blockquote>
Yeah, because Marvel did some movies and they flopped so horribly that... Oh wait, Disney ended up buying them because even the so-so ones are fantastically profitable!<br />
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<span style="color: #990000;">We have never NOT done licensing deals, as you can see from the steady stream of royalties we earn; it’s just that we believe we must do them on our terms and not prostitute the business to any and every deal that comes along. If we do a movie (along with the concomitant abandonment of the toy rights6) it will be on terms that do not compromise our business. It isn’t likely.</span></blockquote>
And how exactly would selling the rights to a movie company to make 40K movies, and earning a nice revenue stream from their productions (as well as more publicity for your games) be a bad thing? You micro-managed that one movie you did on the cheap, and it was garbage.<br />
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<span style="color: #990000;">Long term owners will notice a big increase in royalty income this year. <b>Have we sold out at last?</b> No, it’s just that working closely with the myriad app developers, and being more precise with the terms we offer, we have increased the number of ‘computer’ games in the market."</span></blockquote>
Um...<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4vvEjpGXvCYflCMIlRZJT7rb5d9qpuwiVmaiB8BR_9UyO5IhEwKkKXaI_dvsWqcn4_XRw4Peaz0RinOX-cm0uIJpkQrURN0HoQLHic8nauA-mRVIzFTI_v12IpcKU1Z54Ib4nODBFe113/s1600/Warhammer_40%252C000%253B_Storm_of_Vengeance_gameplay_screenshot.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="358" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4vvEjpGXvCYflCMIlRZJT7rb5d9qpuwiVmaiB8BR_9UyO5IhEwKkKXaI_dvsWqcn4_XRw4Peaz0RinOX-cm0uIJpkQrURN0HoQLHic8nauA-mRVIzFTI_v12IpcKU1Z54Ib4nODBFe113/s640/Warhammer_40%252C000%253B_Storm_of_Vengeance_gameplay_screenshot.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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Ok, maybe that's not fair, since that PoS came out in 2014. But what about this abomination...</div>
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This one was released just yesterday and is already being marked down by Steam.</div>
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But I guess you guys have never actually played a good game like Shadow of Mordor...</div>
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And that's only a very early development trailer. The actual game looked and played much better.</div>
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And then there's Alien:Isolation, which better captures the feel of sci-fi horror that an Eisenhorn game should have. Because I've read the books, and that game that you licensed doesn't feel at all like them. But maybe that's because Dan Abnett was the writer on Alien:Isolation. :)</div>
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Also notice how hard it is to kill enemies in both games (go to the YouTube page for the A:I walkthrough and look at the Android encounters). </div>
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The main character in Shadow of Mordor is pretty powered up in that sample above, and it's still no easy thing to jump into an group of Orks and take them out. You have to block blows, stun a guy, turn around, block a few more hits while getting in a few jabs, and only when your sword is powered up by a chain of hits can you actually dispatch a grunt with a single blow. Otherwise you'll be hacking on them for 5-10 minutes if they don't overwhelm you first by calling in reinforcements.</div>
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So maybe part of increasing your board's mental diversity might include hiring someone with a video game background to ensure that you're making deals with quality studios, and that the final product isn't a PoS? Because while there have been some good 40K/WHFB games over the years, the duds far outnumber the successes. Meaning that unlike a Marvel movie or a licensed Lego game, your audience doesn't automatically trust that they'll get something worth the money they're paying for it.</div>
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<span style="color: #990000;"><b>Strategic Report</b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #990000;">"Games Workshop's ambitions remain clear: to make the best fantasy miniatures in the world and sell them globally at a profit, and it intends doing so forever. This statement includes all the key elements of what we do and why we do it that way. All of our decision making is focussed on the long term success of Games Workshop, not short term gains."</span></blockquote>
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So where is the long-term success? Where is the growth in customers, sales, and profit that at least beats the rate of inflation? Because I'm not seeing it!</div>
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This is not the 1980's and 1990's anymore. Having "The Best" miniatures in the world means having them be both beautiful, and ready to play with out of the package. </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Most gamers would say "Good Enough" to minis like this.</td></tr>
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The whole assembly/painting "hobby" thing is a relic of a time when there were no other options available. It's cool for those who still enjoy it (as I sometimes do), but very few kids coming into gaming in the age of X-Wing are going to even consider buying 50-80 overpriced models that they have to assemble and paint themselves before they can even play the game. They just don't have the same mindset that the 30 and 40 year olds do.</div>
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Hell, I still assemble/paint Flames of War models occasionally (time is precious these days), but I haven't bought a piece of packaged terrain in 5 years that wasn't fully painted and ready to play with out of the box, and I'm 3D printing the rest (automated assembly). Where does that leave your crappy terrain that costs the same but requires hours of labor to enjoy?</div>
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<span style="color: #990000;">"We measure our long term success by seeking a high return on investment. In the short term, we will measure our success on our ability to grow sales whilst maintaining our core business operating profit margin."</span></blockquote>
So where is the growth in sales? Where's the growth in gross profits? You can't keep cutting operating costs to boost your "operating profit margin" forever.<br />
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<span style="color: #990000;">The way we go about implementing this strategy is to recruit the best staff we can by looking for the appropriate attitudes and behaviour each job we do requires and identifying the value that job brings. </span></blockquote>
Instead of seeking people with the qualifications to design and produce the products that your former customers want to buy.<br />
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<span style="color: #990000;">It is also important that everyone we employ has a real desire to learn and has a great attitude to change. </span></blockquote>
Uh huh...<br />
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<span style="color: #990000;">Our Academy offers all of our staff both personal development and management skills training. <b>It is also worth noting it's not what you know at Games Workshop it's how much you contribute to our success that we value.</b>"</span></blockquote>
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So how are people who don't necessarily know anything supposed to contribute to the value of your business? How are people who get-along-at-all-costs supposed to champion the changes you need to make to your business?</div>
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This is exactly the type of insular attitude that your investors are railing against. Maybe next year they'll be mad enough that you can't ignore them (and your customers) anymore.</div>
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SandWyrmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02334440208172563850noreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4519319818452068646.post-44075564532026096022016-08-09T10:49:00.000-04:002016-08-11T13:46:39.011-04:00NuTrek 3 is Good Trek and Suicide Squad is a Bad Movie<i>By CaulynDarr</i><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiObj0UpVieFlPGS5Et0vxr5Gaaf7QAKNS5FJqoTRlAbfhncSuU9MLx5sC9PNm9VvrV6ZjH1y89FoCORTe1FZmQiiwD_aCTeEyr_y6KjNI-luvyPS-jtLta7KpensHxfUiIcSGmXTR-bNmK/s1600/startrekbeyondposter.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiObj0UpVieFlPGS5Et0vxr5Gaaf7QAKNS5FJqoTRlAbfhncSuU9MLx5sC9PNm9VvrV6ZjH1y89FoCORTe1FZmQiiwD_aCTeEyr_y6KjNI-luvyPS-jtLta7KpensHxfUiIcSGmXTR-bNmK/s400/startrekbeyondposter.jpg" width="263" /></a></div>
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Sometimes a movies makes the whole series better, other times it makes everything worse. Some minor spoilers may or may not follow. You have been warned.<br />
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<a name='more'></a><br />
The first trailer for Beyond had me a little worried. When your trailer debuts the same day as the one for Independence Day 2 and the Jeff Goldberg movie looks less silly--let's just say that's a big ol' red flag. The NuTrek track record isn't that great either. The first movie was just OK. Into Darkness was a mess. Things have not been looking good for the reboot series and Star Trek in general--cough-cough-Axanar-cough.<br />
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I had one ember of hope. Simon Pegg was writing the story this time. If you are not familiar with Pegg, he's the actor playing Scotty. He also co-wrote and starred in my all time favorite movie: Hot Fuzz. He's a good writer and an ascendant fanboy. Dropping those hacks Kurtzman and Orci and replacing them with Pegg is the best thing to happen to Star Trek since Ronald Moore was show-runner for Deep Space 9.<br />
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The result is a movie were the story fundamentally works. Characters act logically within the context of the story. Scenes logically flow from one to the next. All the characters are spot on in this movie. Especially Kirk. This is the first time Kirk has really worked as a character in the NuTrek verse. He finally shows some of the competence that explains why anyone would give this guy command of a starship. Even though the Enterprise bites it, it's more the villains competence at play instead of the kind of stupidity Kirk displayed in the previous films. <br />
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There's a motorcycle action sequence in the film and it works! Because the writing made it make sense. I'm sure Justin Lin, the director, had something to do with it too. The big climactic battle at the end could of been corny in the extreme if Pegg and Lin hadn't laid the ground work for it. When the characters are working the plan out on screen, it's coming together in your head at the same time. As a viewer you share in it and you get one of the most memorable Star Trek movie experiences I can think of. Up there with Sulu screaming "Fly her apart then!" or the Enterprise finally getting the coup de grâce against the Reliant.<br />
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The movie feels connected to Star Trek as a whole in ways the previous two films didn't. They may have had references, but they felt artificial. Like the script was written as, "Insert Star Trek reference B-4 here" This one feels like it exists as part of greater Trek universe. It got me so stoked for Trek that I came home and watched some Enterprise. Think about that. <br />
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They even manage to not have any egregious issues with astronomical scale like the previous movies(other than the Federation building their sweet new star-base right next to an uncharted nebula).<br />
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Going to see Star Trek Beyond, that's a good choice. <br />
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Now I get to take out the claws and eviscerate something. You guys may remember I stuck up a little for Batman Vs Superman. I'm not going to do that for Suicide Squad. It is as bad as everybody says. Maybe worse. In fact, there a few things in Suicide Squad that retroactively make BvsS worse.<br />
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The rumor is that Suicide Squad died on the editing room floor. The original dark cut got spliced to a re-shot pop-music filled "funny" cut and we got a hot mess as a result. The movie is sloppy as hell from a story standpoint. Things are explained multiple times for no reason. We get told at least three times that Katana's sword steals souls and her husband is trapped inside of it. Given that it has no relevance to the story, she's only around to shout in Japanese and kill things, and has the least screen time of all the squad members, they could have gotten away with zero explanations on that.<br />
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The whole movie's basically an idiot plot. Viola Davis has to call up the Suicide Squad to fix a problem she created by calling up the Suicide Squad. It's more than kind of a little dumb. I'm also not buying that a major US city can be evacuated, become a war-zone, have a big swirly light show in the sky for several days and have neither the Flash, Batman or Wonder Woman show up. Seriously, the bad guys would of fallen right into Wonder Woman's wheel house, She'd have had that whole thing locked down in a few hours. In a superhero universe you need to explain why Superman(figuratively speaking cause he's 'dead' right now) doesn't solve every problem. <br />
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The movie also really does a number on what world building WB has managed in the DCCU. Like Batman french kissing an unconscious Harley Quinn(could have been CPR, but it looked like it had a little too much tongue for that). Batman fighting Deadshot in front of Deadshot's daughter. Can anyone think of why Batman may not want to take down the worlds best assassin in front of his kid? Some possible tragic event with a gun and parents dying in-front of their child. It's a pretty esoteric part of the Batman lore, so you probably never heard of that trivia. We're pretty lucky the kid's name wasn't Martha--WHY DID YOU SAY THAT NAME!!<br />
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Worst of all the Joker is still alive and active in Gotham. This is a big speed bump, cause one of the only things helping BvsS make any kind of sense for me is I assumed that Batman had killed the Joker and that event caused Batfleck to hang up his cape for ten years. Jared Leto's Joker is such a lame villian that I can't see any reason why MurderBats didn't put his head through a cinder block wall until Puddin' was nothing but literal pudding. Especially when you consider in the DCCU Joker and Harley killing Jason Todd is cannon. There's no way that that this version of Batman sits on his ass for a decade while the murderer of Robin is out having date nights with Harley Quinn.<br />
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I could go on for several pages on what this movie gets wrong. They even mess up Harley and the Joker's relationship. The Joker seems to legitimately love Harley here. The Joker is a psychopath. He only loves adoration, not actual people. Harley is co-dependent and doesn't see how the joker abuses her. This is the central axis of the Joker/Harley relationship. Having them truly love each other is nuts.<br />
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Margret Robbie actually does a pretty good as Harley otherwise. Will Smith does excellent as well, but I think they overuse him. His backstory and narrative tends to drown out everything else. There's little time for Enchantress and Colonel Flag. Which is really bad considering the actual plot has more relevance to them instead of Deadshot. Jered Leto's Joker needs to be tossed in a hole and the hole thrown away. All the other characters are forgettable, wasted, or underutilized. <br />
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Going to see Suicide Squad would be a bad choice.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4519319818452068646.post-20688667709481464982016-07-10T14:16:00.000-04:002016-07-11T01:58:53.321-04:00Oopsie! Posted Those To The Wrong Blog...<i>by SandWyrm</i><br />
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Oh well, I'll let them stay here and link over from the <a href="http://www.warstrike.org/" target="_blank">WarStrike Blog</a>.SandWyrmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02334440208172563850noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4519319818452068646.post-9636730853457922672016-07-10T14:13:00.001-04:002016-07-10T14:17:01.196-04:00Preliminary WarStrike Test Units<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_EIbRNsXprp2AAkeO_t8aBq_ASjIeuv4j9nTLKZA6Jm8E4wBQWmlESErsFqlUqF9yQpTbQn7_ko0n6z3mpqxwQ2CInYhzaIUBwZjdnadgY7iKJwkCYYQ2sZm5jwe_zRVk7fIHRlfoW_8F/s1600/WarStrike+Test+Units.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="414" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_EIbRNsXprp2AAkeO_t8aBq_ASjIeuv4j9nTLKZA6Jm8E4wBQWmlESErsFqlUqF9yQpTbQn7_ko0n6z3mpqxwQ2CInYhzaIUBwZjdnadgY7iKJwkCYYQ2sZm5jwe_zRVk7fIHRlfoW_8F/s640/WarStrike+Test+Units.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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Here's the Fallen/Republic units that I've worked up for testing. There's no points value for balancing yet, and you can pretty much just pick what you want (and even double up if you wish). For our demo game on Saturday each side took 5 units including their officers (those entries have rank insignias in the upper-right).<br />
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<a name='more'></a>The Fallen selection is heavily biased towards running forward and getting into melee, while the Republic LaansGuard are more about combined arms and supporting each other with shooting.<br />
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CaulynDarr will be very happy to know that the Berzerkers not only got into melee, but smashed face against Farmpunk's boys in green and took their objective. Though Farmpunk actually could have won if he'd played it just a bit smarter. Not a bad outcome considering the lack of numeric balancing. :)<br />
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Thoughts?<br />
<br />SandWyrmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02334440208172563850noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4519319818452068646.post-33718896698317541612016-07-10T13:53:00.000-04:002016-07-10T13:53:06.960-04:00New Quick Reference Guide<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjh-qpoeoWcfNbtQuam_wH2lFkAwlSSQomxy6WQ3_v4yKCsQJvqdWFG4jxHEzwtkBUJEh71vzkLdx1_XQDoQi6gnfx-J3oOBSHLgqMGO_G7gpjfrP2x1EXbiIOqPBFK0OrpKL-eYkkhJtfX/s1600/New+WarStrike+Quick+Reference+Guide.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="414" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjh-qpoeoWcfNbtQuam_wH2lFkAwlSSQomxy6WQ3_v4yKCsQJvqdWFG4jxHEzwtkBUJEh71vzkLdx1_XQDoQi6gnfx-J3oOBSHLgqMGO_G7gpjfrP2x1EXbiIOqPBFK0OrpKL-eYkkhJtfX/s640/New+WarStrike+Quick+Reference+Guide.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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It's been a month of craziness, what with Cub Scout camps, a family wedding, and my 3rd Sinus surgery just this past week. But I did get to meet (thanks to Farmpunk) a cool guy named Stephen McCormick who's just moved to Indy, and who's already started a miniature game company with some of his friends from various parts of Indiana and Illinois.<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
They have a Sci-Fi skirmish game called "Seer" that's close to beginning its Kickstarter, and we're in early talks about merging their efforts and ours into a single company with a shared fictional universe between the two games.<br />
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To that end, I needed to run a demo game for one of their designers yesterday at NerdCon in Robinson, IL (I'll be running more in the next few weeks). So I worked up the quick reference sheet above, and some test unit stats that I'll post next.<br />
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Working up this Quick Reference took 2 days, and as I attempted to do a complete overview of the game on just two pages, I found myself making major and minor changes to the game as whole to reduce complexity.<br />
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The high points are:<br />
<ul>
<li>Un-Openable building rules will be eliminated entirely. If you can't put a model inside a building, it's impassible. </li>
<li>Initiative will continue to be tracked with D6's, but we're moving back to using D10's for all tests. Which was prompted by practical concerns over stat comparisons between very low and mid-range numbers. All cover modifiers will remain the same, it's just that impossible rolls become less common.</li>
</ul>
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The demo went very well, BTW, but I'll get into that later.</div>
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Thoughts?</div>
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SandWyrmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02334440208172563850noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4519319818452068646.post-56151896096859266062016-06-23T17:13:00.000-04:002016-06-23T17:19:25.387-04:00CBS & Paramount Finally Release Their Fan-Film Guidelines<i>by SandWyrm</i><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7lViD-3Qtp3XQw0L94DMcJuoO4b9GgSfIU2TyqKuqAD9U81oyxUiQd-F1iDDuH_VQ1G6qnzd5hFBBK3Rt97DzXu6YCII9G8s5hg7O1Ti0eSuuhzSmNwFMT1_xWl15UQ9vBSAnArdvrS4j/s1600/rules.jpg"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7lViD-3Qtp3XQw0L94DMcJuoO4b9GgSfIU2TyqKuqAD9U81oyxUiQd-F1iDDuH_VQ1G6qnzd5hFBBK3Rt97DzXu6YCII9G8s5hg7O1Ti0eSuuhzSmNwFMT1_xWl15UQ9vBSAnArdvrS4j/s400/rules.jpg" /></a></div>
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I have no idea where the Axanar settlement talks are going right now, but CBS and Paramount have collectively released a new set of fan-film guidelines. Many of them are reasonable, some are a bit irksome, and a few are downright awful.<br />
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So I'll just go ahead and list them here, while I snowmobile my comments in. If you want to look at the original page of rules without my comments, <a href="http://www.startrek.com/fan-films" target="_blank">follow this link</a>.</div>
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Anyway, on with the snowmobiling...</div>
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<a name='more'></a><blockquote>
<span style="color: #990000;">CBS and Paramount Pictures are big believers in reasonable fan fiction and fan creativity, and, in particular, want amateur fan filmmakers to showcase their passion for Star Trek. Therefore, CBS and Paramount Pictures will not object to, or take legal action against, Star Trek fan productions that are non-professional and amateur and meet the following guidelines.</span></blockquote>
Ok, sounds good so far. Clear rules are good for everyone.<br />
<blockquote>
<span style="color: #990000;">Guidelines for Avoiding Objections: </span></blockquote>
<blockquote>
<span style="color: #990000;">1) The fan production must be less than 15 minutes for a single self-contained story, or no more than 2 segments, episodes or parts, not to exceed 30 minutes total, with no additional seasons, episodes, parts, sequels or remakes.</span></blockquote>
OK, first, it's hard to tell a story of any real depth in 15 (or 30) minutes. It can be done though.<br />
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But then they're basically saying that you can't make another film after that. At all. Do they really mean to say that, or is this rule just poorly worded?<br />
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If you take the most pessimistic reading of this, it basically kills ALL of the established fan series, and makes it difficult to justify building decent sets at all – as you'd only be able to use them once.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpV5N3XJEegJQlZOU71EYjlVHT4OxzOj_8aSsFkmMQZulYFGS66Nn6KrSAQ0S7QMCjBahe4Mf96bq2XDxB6E_-bXjKu8aQ_SFdWYRQqiPmr1Cy6AZEfy6sYh2MmlKvPjM0R43z6ipWD_OT/s1600/Crossing+The+Line.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="420" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpV5N3XJEegJQlZOU71EYjlVHT4OxzOj_8aSsFkmMQZulYFGS66Nn6KrSAQ0S7QMCjBahe4Mf96bq2XDxB6E_-bXjKu8aQ_SFdWYRQqiPmr1Cy6AZEfy6sYh2MmlKvPjM0R43z6ipWD_OT/s640/Crossing+The+Line.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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Maybe there would be some ways to get around this, such as companies forming to build generic not-quite-Trek sets that could then be rented out to fan productions, which would then only have to add the emblems and little details that would actually make it a "Star Trek" set for the length of the production. Then the decals come off and it's generic Sci-Fi set A once again.<br />
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But then we're back into the legal grey areas that Axanar <strike>wandered</strike> galloped into, and which CBS/P could then change the rules for mid-production.<br />
<blockquote>
<span style="color: #990000;">2) The title of the fan production or any parts cannot include the name “Star Trek.” However, the title must contain a subtitle with the phrase: “A STAR TREK FAN PRODUCTION” in plain typeface. The fan production cannot use the term “official” in either its title or subtitle or in any marketing, promotions or social media for the fan production.</span></blockquote>
This, on the other hand, seems perfectly reasonable.<br />
<blockquote>
<span style="color: #990000;">3) The content in the fan production must be original, not reproductions, recreations or clips from any Star Trek production. If non-Star Trek third party content is used, all necessary permissions for any third party content should be obtained in writing.</span></blockquote>
Again, this seems reasonable. Some of the fan-productions were using old unpublished TOS/Phase 2 Trek scripts, and this would put a stop to that.<br />
<blockquote>
<span style="color: #990000;">4) If the fan production uses commercially-available Star Trek uniforms, accessories, toys and props, these items must be official merchandise and not bootleg items or imitations of such commercially available products.</span></blockquote>
This is a bit restrictive, but maybe not as bad as some people are saying. They're not allowing you to use bought costumes that aren't licensed, which makes certain Trek periods harder to do. But I don't see anything that says you can't make your own costumes and props, or that you can't use donated/lent items that you don't pay anything for.<br />
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I can see ways around this, like separate productions forming cooperatives that make and store their costumes/props so that any of the member productions can use them non-commercially.<br />
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Or somebody makes a bunch of freeware 3D printer files of common props/emblems/etc., and all anyone has to do is print them up. Things will be moving that way eventually anyhow.<br />
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Hell, I'm sure I could find a Star Trek 2/3 Movie-Style Phaser on Thingverse right now...<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrZJ69YuhefkE1eNUcf72HPJsnM02U3Y4GLZ2_od-eFsGPOX0htJO0SSTRuqPvHOKJn9TbvH4gHNCjlCwf5rCU6GsdPHxfcOMYQWILWMRWPdrQGhcfCiWxRL-2jQnMhq50NpAhRAGrOQbo/s1600/IMAG0992_1_preview_featured.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrZJ69YuhefkE1eNUcf72HPJsnM02U3Y4GLZ2_od-eFsGPOX0htJO0SSTRuqPvHOKJn9TbvH4gHNCjlCwf5rCU6GsdPHxfcOMYQWILWMRWPdrQGhcfCiWxRL-2jQnMhq50NpAhRAGrOQbo/s640/IMAG0992_1_preview_featured.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:891337">http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:891337</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Oh look! I did! And it only took 20 seconds!<br />
<blockquote>
<span style="color: #990000;">5) The fan production must be a real “fan” production, i.e., creators, actors and all other participants must be amateurs, cannot be compensated for their services, and cannot be currently or previously employed on any Star Trek series, films, production of DVDs or with any of CBS or Paramount Pictures’ licensees.</span></blockquote>
And here is the big FU to Axanar for going too far.<br />
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But it's also a middle finger to Trek vets who have appeared in, or helped with the production of, quite a few fan flicks other than Axanar. George Takei and Walter Koenig have both reprised their roles in fan-films to great acclaim, and quite a few scripts have been written by former Trek writers.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitBW_6EXNaP762NqwdoQ7fjgN8l1-QegKRvki_9gG7LkdrHbEqUDh6jiBpAnepCgb7de2MEj5MtjEi0l-nq763ET5UYh9o77dGeVfz2FCQ8lJtbonqk0R0cEJJ8GSi1IvuXFE1nVt_isy1/s1600/482151117_1280x720.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitBW_6EXNaP762NqwdoQ7fjgN8l1-QegKRvki_9gG7LkdrHbEqUDh6jiBpAnepCgb7de2MEj5MtjEi0l-nq763ET5UYh9o77dGeVfz2FCQ8lJtbonqk0R0cEJJ8GSi1IvuXFE1nVt_isy1/s640/482151117_1280x720.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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And then there's the simple fact that 80% of all the fan-film space effects have essentially been created by a single guy, who used to work on DS9/Voyager. Banning him from working on fan productions pretty much torpedoes everyone's special effects plans, and likely blacklists him from working in effects at all.<br />
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I could understand productions being forbidden to pay former Trek workers for their services, but forbidding their participation at all really drives a wedge between those workers and the fan productions. Destroying a set of healthy love-of-Trek based pro-fan relationships, and setting a stinky precedent for what actors, writers, and production people are allowed to do on their own time long after their formal relationships with CBS/Paramount have ended.<br />
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Really, all that could have just been added to all new CBS/P contracts instead.<br />
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It's not like Axanar hasn't lost professional actors and crew to what they saw as line-crossing by Peters anyhow. And what do they care if Patrick Stewart or Scott Bakula decide to devote a few afternoons to appearing in a fan film for the sake of a storyline about something they care deeply about? It's only the current Trek actors that they shouldn't want participating in what could be seen as competing products.<br />
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So in short: Dick Move<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSrKXoKXRYWiYfKJRfuwkB3hQDodnOYR9S8rzpY-8yg9RHQ9NFae-KzOmUO8CgZcMlYDhki6ovmVDg4Ljfo2YtqjnYcVp_M72qYby8GxbmMpa82Q-1P11FlLdNsWTdIUoe9w6j0m5l5kCr/s1600/refuse+to+help.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSrKXoKXRYWiYfKJRfuwkB3hQDodnOYR9S8rzpY-8yg9RHQ9NFae-KzOmUO8CgZcMlYDhki6ovmVDg4Ljfo2YtqjnYcVp_M72qYby8GxbmMpa82Q-1P11FlLdNsWTdIUoe9w6j0m5l5kCr/s400/refuse+to+help.jpg" width="256" /></a><br />
This is also where I start shaking my head at all the fan-production in-fighting that happened when Peters tried to form some kind of consensus amongst the fan-film producers on what kind of rules they would like to see established by CBS/P.<br />
<br />
Yeah, Peters might well be a jerk, but Hollywood is full of jerks, and nobody else was stepping up to fill a leadership role that the fan-production community needed in order to secure its interests. Now you all have this. Yeah, maybe it's Peters' fault for kicking the hornet's nest, but you all still lost because you couldn't unite to protect your interests.<br />
<br />
If you don't like the guy that's trying to stand up for you, then stand up yourselves. It didn't have to be Peters. It could have been James Cawley, who AFAIK still has good relations with CBS/P, or anyone else who headed up a production. Instead, you all acted like a bunch of high-schoolers and started flaming each other on Twitter/Facebook and other media, while CBS/P then felt free to release a very restrictive set of rules with no push back or compromises. Yay. You're all a bunch of idiot Starks.<br />
<blockquote>
<span style="color: #990000;">6) The fan production must be non-commercial:</span><br />
<ul>
<li><span style="color: #990000;">CBS and Paramount Pictures do not object to limited fundraising for the creation of a fan production, whether 1 or 2 segments and consistent with these guidelines, so long as the total amount does not exceed $50,000, including all platform fees, and when the $50,000 goal is reached, all fundraising must cease.</span></li>
</ul>
</blockquote>
Given that Kickstarter charges at least 8% for its service, this really means that fan-productions will be limited to a single episode budget of no more than $46,000.<br />
<br />
This is the real gut-punch to the fan-production community, as it will push the quality of fan films back down to the levels seen in the first episodes of Cawley's New Voyages. Which was fine at the time, but the better fan series' are running around $600K for a 45 minute episode currently, and the production values have gotten much better.<br />
<br />
I think a more reasonable level would have been $220K per "episode" (200K after crowdfunding fees). Especially if you take the most restrictive reading of rule #1, and assume that one two-part half-hour story is all you're allowed to do ever.<br />
<br />
We'd still be talking peanuts compared to a TV or movie budget though.<br />
<blockquote>
<ul>
<li><span style="color: #990000;">The fan production must only be exhibited or distributed on a no-charge basis and/or shared via streaming services without generating revenue.</span></li>
</ul>
</blockquote>
And this is quite reasonable.<br />
<br />
Although, if I were CBS, I would be looking for a way to encourage fan-made content for their upcoming streaming service. Maybe with some modest kickbacks or higher budget/time allowances if they want to pick a series up.<br />
<blockquote>
<ul>
<li><span style="color: #990000;">The fan production cannot be distributed in a physical format such as DVD or Blu-ray.</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #990000;">The fan production cannot be used to derive advertising revenue including, but not limited to, through for example, the use of pre or post-roll advertising, click-through advertising banners, that is associated with the fan production.</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #990000;">No unlicensed Star Trek-related or fan production-related merchandise or services can be offered for sale or given away as premiums, perks or rewards or in connection with the fan production fundraising.</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #990000;">The fan production cannot derive revenue by selling or licensing fan-created production sets, props or costumes.</span></li>
</ul>
</blockquote>
This is obviously targeted right at Axanar, but again, it seems reasonable.<br />
<blockquote>
<span style="color: #990000;">7) The fan production must be family friendly and suitable for public presentation. Videos must not include profanity, nudity, obscenity, pornography, depictions of drugs, alcohol, tobacco, or any harmful or illegal activity, or any material that is offensive, fraudulent, defamatory, libelous, disparaging, sexually explicit, threatening, hateful, or any other inappropriate content. The content of the fan production cannot violate any individual’s right of privacy.</span></blockquote>
Ya know, I can think of quite a few times when Trek has used disparaging or offensive (to some) stories/themes/images in the name of social commentary.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhI-2C9RBkExZjm5lVGSnIa3pZnTlm5AS_gKr7M7MWYXpfyaZ-o0M1aMKn_Jq7kJLcahHaicQX59p0kKpQxpZQt62ydpLr7rosq_L6wSWNjmQWS1C3GtiqVFjRHGzVoELBz8xXImqGujM_Y/s1600/images.jpeg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="425" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhI-2C9RBkExZjm5lVGSnIa3pZnTlm5AS_gKr7M7MWYXpfyaZ-o0M1aMKn_Jq7kJLcahHaicQX59p0kKpQxpZQt62ydpLr7rosq_L6wSWNjmQWS1C3GtiqVFjRHGzVoELBz8xXImqGujM_Y/s640/images.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div>
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Like this "obscenity" that caused quite a row back in the more racist 60's.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBfIgeDbwbjTkdDfV4xdWSqjb3dqlcWNs8qqF920yCmvBCgoF-ufE9FbKAXtuV-cYmt3Sn-jcdHcj8M56H8OziH6zfEWwmwYTe6sJ9eDKLqVFff5EuX-dvbg9rZQfq_xmu_hgOLuyylbVf/s1600/Q+sniffing+drugs.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="550" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBfIgeDbwbjTkdDfV4xdWSqjb3dqlcWNs8qqF920yCmvBCgoF-ufE9FbKAXtuV-cYmt3Sn-jcdHcj8M56H8OziH6zfEWwmwYTe6sJ9eDKLqVFff5EuX-dvbg9rZQfq_xmu_hgOLuyylbVf/s640/Q+sniffing+drugs.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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Or Q making a point to Picard in the very first episode of TNG about how humans used to control their soldiers with drugs (very appropriate considering the later drugging of pilots in Gulf War One).<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0cdyRaf_weLK5gX4LZJmUCj_rV4IxcuZEgZyemyTrOSvK1wCnT8LJ2ia660-ZFHCnwhjVsYHzs2_SwXKR3-oScOvwL-UVJAPmohb0kIS7orSXwP2E8jhLdF3wUoVTWclUtx55J_6Wbl8_/s1600/data+smoking.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0cdyRaf_weLK5gX4LZJmUCj_rV4IxcuZEgZyemyTrOSvK1wCnT8LJ2ia660-ZFHCnwhjVsYHzs2_SwXKR3-oScOvwL-UVJAPmohb0kIS7orSXwP2E8jhLdF3wUoVTWclUtx55J_6Wbl8_/s1600/data+smoking.jpg" /></a></div>
Or Data portraying Sherlock Holmes...<br />
<br />
I mean, I see CBS/P's position here. They don't want to have to worry about some group getting mad about something someone put in a fan film, and then be expected to "make it right" during an outcry.<br />
<br />
But this rule cuts off at the legs what it means to make a "Star Trek" production in the first place. Trek was always about pushing boundaries and forcing us to reconsider what we assumed to be true about societal norms.<br />
<br />
In the 60's, it challenged our notions of race, attitudes towards youth, sex, and everything else that people took for granted at the time.<br />
<br />
In present and future, it could well be the vehicle for challenging our notions of "Democracy", or free trade, or nation-building. It could, like Game of Thrones, challenge our more naive notions of heroism and leadership. Or the insanity of allowing elites to break society up into little single-interest groups that fight each other over ideology and language, instead of pursuing policies that benefit everyone equally in the real world we all live in.<br />
<br />
Or even just criticize Trump and Hillary by making them aliens on another planet.<br />
<br />
Put simply, Trek... Real Trek... is about rocking the boat. A safe Trek that offends nobody isn't Trek. Because good Trek stories, whether you agree with their parables or not, are always about questioning that which we take for granted.<br />
<br />
Take everything offensive out of Trek and you just have a mellower version of Star Wars where you're never asked to think about hard questions. Big, flashy, and ultimately forgettable. Hell, even Abrams' new Star Wars with Emo-Ren is more deep and thought-provoking than the last four Trek movies combined.<br />
<br />
This, more than anything else in this list, is what I take offense to as someone who wants to see more fan films. And no, you can't blame Peters for this act of cowardice on CBS/P's part. They could have stuck to normal industry standards and FCC laws as for what is allowed to be shown/said on TV, without requiring that nobody ever be offended by it.<br />
<blockquote>
<span style="color: #990000;">8) The fan production must display the following disclaimer in the on-screen credits of the fan productions and on any marketing material including the fan production website or page hosting the fan production: </span></blockquote>
<blockquote>
<span style="color: #990000;">“Star Trek and all related marks, logos and characters are solely owned by CBS Studios Inc. This fan production is not endorsed by, sponsored by, nor affiliated with CBS, Paramount Pictures, or any other Star Trek franchise, and is a non-commercial fan-made film intended for recreational use. No commercial exhibition or distribution is permitted. No alleged independent rights will be asserted against CBS or Paramount Pictures.” </span></blockquote>
<blockquote>
<span style="color: #990000;">9) Creators of fan productions must not seek to register their works, nor any elements of the works, under copyright or trademark law. </span></blockquote>
<blockquote>
<span style="color: #990000;">10) Fan productions cannot create or imply any association or endorsement by CBS or Paramount Pictures.</span></blockquote>
This is all very reasonable.<br />
<blockquote>
<span style="color: #990000;">CBS and Paramount Pictures reserve the right to revise, revoke and/or withdraw these guidelines at any time in their own discretion. These guidelines are not a license and do not constitute approval or authorization of any fan productions or a waiver of any rights that CBS or Paramount Pictures may have with respect to fan fiction created outside of these guidelines.</span></blockquote>
And here's the final clincher. CBS/P can change the rules at any time, and for any reason.<br />
<br />
What the fan productions should immediately demand (if they can choose a leader) is a licensing system with a formal contract and administrative fee. So that the rules they must follow cannot be changed in the middle of their productions.<br />
<br />
Otherwise, given the constraints of these rules, nearly every production will seek to "stretch" them in some way. Giving rise to the very kind of uncertainty about being sued that these rules are supposed to help avoid.<br />
<br />
Pragmatically, CBS/P should not see this as a cost center, but as a potential revenue stream. How many fan-Trek productions that begin ever finish? I'm betting it's less than 10%. But if every wannabe Trek filmmaker is required to pay an administrative fee *before* beginning production, then the revenue could fully support the staff required to police the terms of the licenses.<br />
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(end of rant)<br />
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SandWyrmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02334440208172563850noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4519319818452068646.post-21386881604662167532016-06-05T12:30:00.000-04:002016-06-05T12:30:27.294-04:00Rock On Hydra! Rock On!<i>by SandWyrm</i><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjGPtImXMvhyphenhyphenR6jFXCSfdXXTP8WuXoSLDC00ZR24gmSWSfA4k8UCB1YPonXOoWxES-UhwTnQSz7TFZFKBWLoaBcTygnuYfOs7anUr96ZDvk2YjDdSTTIjagAcUvPBFio-_TXFS772lF_oo/s1600/Rock+On+Hydra.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjGPtImXMvhyphenhyphenR6jFXCSfdXXTP8WuXoSLDC00ZR24gmSWSfA4k8UCB1YPonXOoWxES-UhwTnQSz7TFZFKBWLoaBcTygnuYfOs7anUr96ZDvk2YjDdSTTIjagAcUvPBFio-_TXFS772lF_oo/s640/Rock+On+Hydra.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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Now I have a 3D Printer.... Ho, Ho, Ho...<br />
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<a name='more'></a>This is the new filament printer that I'll be using to print up terrain models that I either make myself, or <a href="http://www.printablescenery.com/" target="_blank">buy from PrintableScenery.com</a> (the company that's running the <span id="goog_717487345"></span><a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/printablescenery/apocalypse-ruins-modular-gaming-ruins-for-rpg-and" target="_blank">Apocalypse Ruins KickStarter</a><span id="goog_717487346"></span>).<br />
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I bought the LulzBot based on a tip from my friend Dave White, who runs a <a href="http://www.mechazone.com/blog/" target="_blank">3D printed toy company</a>, and it's performing quite well.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_NqlWNOvnAdur63ufTlSmr8wiPc2S1u4s8IUenjO7-KUdAjnhcWnb88GdwiOKeDenv5yImignkss4VkNpdoVkeo_ZXDzYdU_xy4rQS7iQ-xlWaTgv5pwtW_aK2kXsL2FEmEczOl3dMYuj/s1600/Robo+vs+LulzBot.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="350" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_NqlWNOvnAdur63ufTlSmr8wiPc2S1u4s8IUenjO7-KUdAjnhcWnb88GdwiOKeDenv5yImignkss4VkNpdoVkeo_ZXDzYdU_xy4rQS7iQ-xlWaTgv5pwtW_aK2kXsL2FEmEczOl3dMYuj/s640/Robo+vs+LulzBot.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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I'm still in learn-the-thing mode, but it's printing this Printable Scenery <a href="http://www.printablescenery.com/home/129-stalingrad-3dprinted-building.html" target="_blank">Stalingrad building module</a> more than a bit nicer (right) than the Robo3D (left) at the FLGS in terms of surface smoothness.<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSJH0Ci3NFhr9v38y5fyHc_ZUSr53U9fcdCC1OJpjd0_9f05JSW8sICsFwS2GZyxwDnTFWfTt1fha-xXLSBJSn8KlddFBvd6PhNIRJF8SNCdW6O6U9ERXGauiF9_0ubnXRG7gJXhiHveXJ/s1600/stalingrad-3dprinted-building.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSJH0Ci3NFhr9v38y5fyHc_ZUSr53U9fcdCC1OJpjd0_9f05JSW8sICsFwS2GZyxwDnTFWfTt1fha-xXLSBJSn8KlddFBvd6PhNIRJF8SNCdW6O6U9ERXGauiF9_0ubnXRG7gJXhiHveXJ/s400/stalingrad-3dprinted-building.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Just one possible combination of the Stalingrad modules.</td></tr>
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Note that the missing corner and droopy windows of the Robo3D print aren't the fault of the Robo3D, but of a defective STL model that had overlapping geometry and non-printing supports, which had to be fixed by Matt over at Printable Scenery. He was awesome though, and once I pointed out the problems in his model he had it fixed in less than 12 hours. Go Matt!<br />
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My biggest problem in printing terrain though, is going to be the begging of my kids to print other cool stuff instead.<br />
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Right now I'm printing out a 6" tall Ant Man model for them (We'll see how it turns out), and they're begging me to print up a suit of armor for our cat to wear.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/fl2nGpQK1U4" width="640"></iframe></div>
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How can I possibly say no?<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgq4au2QlNln2k7gyfxxBPRpeZ7YjXm4_892D9Z9eVtHj15iNqIBEoXucGBgsfK8klWWWhGHMu9olyCV8MWGjvtUSCs_0QshevMNZCfyxmWx4ViKGptxyDQt2VIHRKMSNtQJKWj4leyT7FQ/s1600/Filament+vs.+Resin.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="404" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgq4au2QlNln2k7gyfxxBPRpeZ7YjXm4_892D9Z9eVtHj15iNqIBEoXucGBgsfK8klWWWhGHMu9olyCV8MWGjvtUSCs_0QshevMNZCfyxmWx4ViKGptxyDQt2VIHRKMSNtQJKWj4leyT7FQ/s640/Filament+vs.+Resin.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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Like I said, I'll be printing scenery with this thing mostly, and maybe the odd pinewood derby car. But the real treat will be when my other 3D printer arrives, because it's a high-resolution DLP resin printer. To the right above is a sample model from a competitor to the MoonRay printer I've ordered. and the MoonRay should be both faster, and capable of a much higher resolution. Note the detailed staircase and spiral ladder inside.<br />
<br />
Anyhow, I'm all-in on this technology now. As I feel that it has finally reached a tipping point in terms of prosumer capabilities.<br />
<br />SandWyrmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02334440208172563850noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4519319818452068646.post-55490260134714446002016-06-01T12:04:00.000-04:002016-06-01T14:31:48.404-04:003D Printing Is About To Hit Mainstream Gaming<i>by SandWyrm</i><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaS7pH455kFo75g3fordtCthXrHlBcRvzh3-WNN1i9eMD8IemI5USf4SBfmu163AY7TyMioA-1IFk9ptUWPIq8L1ntimJOf0WTLMyMiM28vxXDW70FIL1lDcFDD3mCuAKdadNUF2owPo0f/s1600/4918455.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaS7pH455kFo75g3fordtCthXrHlBcRvzh3-WNN1i9eMD8IemI5USf4SBfmu163AY7TyMioA-1IFk9ptUWPIq8L1ntimJOf0WTLMyMiM28vxXDW70FIL1lDcFDD3mCuAKdadNUF2owPo0f/s400/4918455.png" width="397" /></a></div>
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Several weeks ago, I got into a conversation with Hight, the owner of Sinclair Games (our FLGS), about 3D printing. Which included showing him my previous post on the <a href="http://theback40k.blogspot.com/2014/12/3d-printing-is-now-ready-to-compete.html">female ganger minis that I'd bought from Shapeways</a>. He was pretty impressed and wanted to find out more about it.</div>
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Cue a couple of Wednesdays ago, when I walked into the store to see him playing with a brand new filament printer (The Robo 3d above) which cost him around $800 on Amazon. He was downloading terrain models from <a href="http://www.thingiverse.com/">Thingverse</a> and trying to figure out how best to print them. With mixed results, but much enthusiasm. He's fully on board now with the idea of 3D printing replacing traditional metal/resin miniature production. He's just frustrated at the lack of usable models out there. </div>
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But that's getting ready to change in some interesting ways...</div>
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<b><span style="color: #990000;">3D Modular Gaming Terrain</span></b></div>
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This is the first KickStarter I've seen that is only offering digital models for the user to print. Not finished pieces that get shipped to you.</div>
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<iframe frameborder="0" height="360" scrolling="no" src="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/printablescenery/apocalypse-ruins-modular-gaming-ruins-for-rpg-and/widget/video.html" width="640"> </iframe>
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Beasts of War interviewed this guy, so skip ahead to 0:35 to see it in the next video:</div>
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Now, 28mm miniatures still require a high-resolution resin printer to look nice. But terrain is another matter. These buildings are all optimized for printing on a $500-ish filament printer. Plus they're designed to be re-scalable, and can work with both 28mm (40K), or 15mm (Flames of War) with no problem. Six mm (Epic 40K) might be a problem for some of them (but not if you use a Resin Printer).</div>
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Pay attention to the super-low per-piece printing costs he's talking about, and then realize that's in NZ dollars, so the US price would be around 40% lower.</div>
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Also note the thinner-than-resin-cast, but much stronger walls (because they're printed as one structural piece). Notice the details like working doors that are printed right into the model.</div>
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Now imagine your local game shop printing up this terrain and selling it for $10-15 per building. This kind of on-demand terrain is the first major commercial inroad that 3D printing is going to make into the gaming market.</div>
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I've backed it of course. </div>
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For $88 US, the max level is a complete steal. Plus, all he has to deliver to me is digital files to print with. So you have none of the manufacturing risks that have taken down projects like RoboTech RPG Tactics, or the iBox Nano. I'd expect to pay way more than $88 for any half-decent 3D file on a professional 3D site like TurboSquid.</div>
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<span style="color: #990000;"><b>Licensed To Copy</b></span></div>
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If you go back to the Beasts of War video above at 0:28:47, you'll note that one of the miniature products they review comes with an interesting set of options. For an additional price, you can purchase a personal, or a commercial license to copy that miniature as many times as you like.</div>
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While that's a casting license (because that's what makes sense for small minis right now), you're going to see miniatures go the same way as the above KickStarter eventually. Where individual designers sell you the files to print their minis, with either a low-cost personal IP license, or a higher-cost commercial license. Effectively outsourcing all production to other hobbyists/stores.</div>
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The competition that comes from that is going to create a serious downward pressure on miniature prices across the board. The miniature prints will still cost more to make than injection-molded plastic sprues, but there will be no assembly required, and the costs of injection-molded plastics will HAVE to come down to fall in line with the lower overall value that they provide. </div>
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That's gonna squeeze the profit margins of GW, Privateer, and especially Battlefront VERY hard.</div>
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The other big thing is going to be the sheer variety on offer. When talking about the Apocalypse Ruins KickStarter above, the Beasts of War guys noted that one of his stretch goals was a set of Aztec Ruins – something that you would never see mass-produced because it wouldn't appeal to enough people. But it's something that a designer can find a niche for and make money off of when production can be outsourced to your customers.</div>
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SandWyrmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02334440208172563850noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4519319818452068646.post-48693540323495366122016-05-12T19:34:00.000-04:002016-05-12T19:35:22.843-04:00Metal-Jet 3D Printing<i>by SandWyrm</i><br />
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Ran across this one today. Check out the tiny miniatures at the end.<br />
<br />SandWyrmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02334440208172563850noreply@blogger.com2