Thinking Outside the Box

We played our month 4 organized play "Dominion War" event at Trilogy Gaming Club  last night. I have to say I was really disappointed to have only two other players in attendance, especially after having to go through all of December without an event due to the holiday break. Needless to say I was looking forward to playing some games of Attack Wing! Lewis and Shane line up their fleets (Romulan and Federation respectively) for the first game. It was a relatively short affair with the two-ship Federation fleet being highly outmaneuvered and outgunned. We opted to play a three player game afterward so as not to leave anyone sitting out for a lengthy stretch and selected one of the scenarios from the rule book. Although "The Chase" was written with each player controlling a single 40-point ship in mind we decided to play 100-point fleets to make it more interesting. Since I had planned to play a Romulan list for the tournament, and I've played Klingons several...

Whew now sorting through the massive box of Deadzone stuff...that was a lot of work. I had gone through the package shortly after I received it in December and organized the various bags into their appropriate factions, but beyond that I hadn't actually checked all the figures and parts. The pictures in this post are largely collected from Mantic 's promotional materials, as I haven't constructed any of my own toys yet. I really wish they've just labeled the damn bags. It would have made things a lots easier for all the Kickstarter supporters. I started off trying to figure out what was default to the core box game, then the extra items I ordered, and finally all of the stuff I got as bonus items for supporting the Kickstarter campaign. After going through the base game I counted up all the parts for my "Enforcers" faction bag. I really like the look of these figures, although the image from Mantic's website shows some expertly painted samples....

December 17th, 1923 From: Carl Selinger, Commanding Field Agent To: Director Silver, Calgary Field Office Director Silver, It has been several months since my last update and I have much to share. Our last outing went badly, very badly. Simply put, Professor Armitage and Dr. McDermott were both killed during our investigation of the stone circle. In our attempt to flee from the area we were captured and held by a man named Hemler. At least, that's what all of his followers referred to him as. The man wears a grey uniform identical to his followers, but atop his head is a gleaming silver mask. To my knowledge, he never speaks. However it seems his minions receive directions from him in some manner while in his presence. I hesitate to suggest telepathy or mind control, but after all I've seen in my work I certainly wouldn't rule it out. While held captive they asked us innumerable questions about our mission, who we work for, what we know about the stone circle. I...

During the summer I went on a trip to PM Hobby, hoping to pick up some Gesso and ended up grabbing these Tamiya 1:48 scale  Panzer Grenadiers on a whim (impulse buying at its finest). There are nine soliders plus three tank crew models in the box, as well as a vehicle driver and a seated officer. I haven't got any vehicles to put them in, but I'm thinking that maybe now I need one! I'll have to take a look at what kind of vehicles are available in the "Vehicles!" expansion for Operation Squad WW2 . One thing that I liked about this box was the instruction sheet. Being a war gamer, most of us get so accustomed to receiving a box or blister container filled with a bunch of random parts and simply being expected to 'figure it out'. I suppose part of that is the manufacturer giving you the freedom to construct the model(s) as you like but for beginners, or lazy people (that'd be me) detailed instructions are great. The casting quality is ok, b...

In the final few weeks of the year my work and personal schedule generally get overloaded. I'm sure that's no different than most of you folks out there. I was smart enough to get my shopping done earlier than usual, which meant everything was wrapped and under the tree by the 15th, which I believe is a new record for me! I generally don't get a lot of gifts at Christmas time, which isn't a bad thing because usually what I do get is pretty awesome. I also tend to buy myself a few things that I know won't show up in my stocking. So here's a recap of the things that showed up as the year rolled to a close. Deadzone A massive box of plastic showed up a few weeks before Christmas. I honestly wasn't expecting something of this magnitude, and when it showed up and was opened I shook my head and wondered why I had thought I needed so much extra scenery. It took quite a while to sort through everything, and I'm pretty sure the only items I'm missing ar...

So a new year begins, and that means lots of folks starting up new year's resolutions: making promises to themselves and others. Most of those people will fail, or give up, or in some cases not even really get started. As for me, I'm not going to bother making grand gestures, plans or set any lofty goals. To me the start of a new year is simply another day wherein I can learn and improve, just like the day before it, and the day after it. Why should I wait for the beginning of a new year to start something that will make me better, fitter, smarter or happier? I should be working towards those things every day, no matter where in the year it lands. And so should you. Do what makes you happy. Improve yourself. Learn something. Do something nice for someone you care about. Or a stranger. Or not. If you waited until the start of a new year to "get started" you've probably missed my point...but Happy New Year anyway.