Alone, but not lonely. A dialogue with the self.

It is a comforting thing to find a piece of literature that conforms closely with ones own particular unique take on the experience that is existence. Doubly so when that perspective is fairly skewed from the perceived societal 'norm'. 'Party of one - The Loner' Manifesto,' by Anneli Rufus, is for me one of these self-assuring books.

I am a loner. I feel no shame in declaring this, and nor should I.

The Loners' Manifesto attempts to explain what exactly this means to those who the book refers to as 'non-loners' (an admittedly divisive and ugly term). Split over 17 chapters ranging in topics including 'Friendship', 'Advertising', 'Childhood' and 'Crime' the author describes our non conformational behaviours, why we do them, how they are often misunderstood, and explains how to (where appropriate) perhaps better facilitate them.

But what does being a loner mean to me? The book uses a turn of phrase that I find particularly apropos: 'We need what others dread, we dread what others need.' This adage refers to the dichotomy of solitude versus social interaction. As a loner I prefer to spend the majority of my available free time by myself. In a world filled with socially inclined extroverts this behaviour is often construed as alien, unthinkable. In today's society the value of ones time is compared proportionately to the amount of other people it is spent with. Time spent in solitude is undesirable, worthless - boring. Nothing of significance can be achieved or gained through isolation.

This is of course entirely untrue. We need only look at writers, artists, scientist and composers to see that solitude can nurture genius. Creative pursuits are avenues through which we are able to channel and share the self - a painting, a novel or a symphony; Products of a solitary mind expressing its intangible inner world in a medium appreciable by an external audience.

The opposite an also be said to be true. Negative lonerism confines the individual to their own inner world, their sanctum shut of and removed entirely from the external. Recluses, hermits. The ageing Howard Hughes comes to mind.

While not all loners are creative types, inhabiting the inner world of our own thoughts seems be a common unifier. It is this contentment with out own company, to not require others that separates us from non-loners. To be alone with ones thoughts is to confront the grand cynicism on the self: the reflected mind inevitably questions itself, evaluates itself, finds itself wanting. External validation is one method of taming this void, escapism into the imagination, a desire for learning and self improvement are others.

To eschew social interaction entirely is not the goal (at least in my case), merely I wish to ration my meetings into meaningful episodes. My friends are incredibly valuable to me - sources of discussion, expression and well, fun. Misanthropy does not automatically accompany lonerism.

Next time you find yourself alone, take the time to evaluate your relationship with the self, for it can be your greatest ally, or an inescapable enemy.

An introduction to Block Casual - Magic: The Gathering

Magic: The Gathering (MTG) is a card game often associated with overly expensive bits of cardboard that have an unsatisfactorily short lifespan, or indeed with cheap bits of cardboard that see even less play after their one use in a draft or sealed format. Block casual was the brain child of my regular gaming group to solve two problems.

 

Firstly, we've all got boxes full of unused commons and uncommons leftover from drafts and sealed decks. These cards form the bulk of a set, but unfortunately never see the light of day and are soon forgotten once that set rotates. A rare few will see constructed play, but the majority will not. MTG sets have so many fun and interesting mechanics that are immediately forgotten once those sets cease being drafted. Block Casual lets you dig out these forgotten cards and give them a new lease of life.

 
Secondly, we wanted a format we could play in a pub/kitchen table/food establishment without fear of destroying anything valuable. We have all envisioned (or experienced) the nightmare scenario of a can of alcoholic beverage toppling over and flowing all over our expensive modern deck. Block casual decks will generally cost around £10 at most - the price of a couple of pints in a central London pub. Playing block casual means you can eat your greasy fried chicken and Doritos without feeling guilty touching your cards. Penny sleeves are still recommended for ease of shuffling though and for a little bit of protection (give your cards some dignity).

So now that you know the goals behind Block Casual, how do you play it?

A Block Casual deck is comprised of cards from any single MTG block (e.g. Theros block, which includes the Theros, Born of the Gods and Journey into Nyx sets) with any number of common cards, up to 12 uncommon cards and no rares or mythic rares.

• Cards must be from a single block
• Up to 12 uncommons
• Any number of common cards
• No rares of mythic rares

Here's an example deck, made using cards from the Theros block:

Block Casual Theros UW Heroic

Uncommons:
4 Battlewise Hoplite
4 Ordeal of Thassa
4 Phalanx Leader

Commons:
4 Lagonna-Band Trailblazer
4 Akroan Skyguard
4 War-Wing Siren
4 Gods Willing
4 Aqueous Form
4 Chosen by Heliod
2 Fate Foretold

13 Plains
9 Island

This deck adheres to the previously outlined construction rules. It uses all 12 available uncommon slots (the rest are commons) and uses only cards from a single block. The deck also counts 60 cards, the minimum required for a legal deck.

So you've built yourself a deck; Does my opponent need to build a deck from the same block? Not necessarily. Block casual can be either played inter-block or intra-block.

Your play group could try and build the best deck they can construct within the confines of a single block and fight it out to see which is best - this is intra-block play.

Players in your play group could instead pick their favourite block to build a deck from, and play them against one another. Want to know how a Return to Ravnica Rakdos Unleash deck would fare against a Mirrodin block Affinity deck? This format gives you the opportunity to find out. This is inter-block play.

Are there any banned cards? Block Causal is using the 'Block Constructed' banned and restricted list as a soft guideline, with cards on those lists undergoing playtesting to see how they work in the Block Casual environment. Cards like Lingering Souls and Intangible Virtue are banned in Innistrad Block Constructed but may or may not end up being banned in Block Casual.

The card(s) currently on the Block Casual ban list are:

• Skullclamp

If the Block Casual format has interested you then best thing you can do is to build a few decks and take them to your local MTG group and give it a go.

More information about the format, including decklists, block reviews and other discussion articles can be found at http://blockcasualmagic.com (currently under construction).

Put your brewing hat on and get building!

Senators - First Playtest

Putting an idea to the test is a scary, daunting prospect. You invest hours of your time into an idea all while the spectre of collapse and failure looms ever present. You won't know if your newly hand crafted chair will work until you sit on it. You won't know if your book is any good until someone reads it.

You don't know if your game works until someone plays it. Even then, it's not even just someone, it needs to be a whole group of people. The wheels can fall off of even the best sounding ideas and concepts once they've been exposed to actual people; Thinking, unpredictable people.

Last week our regular gaming group played the very first iteration of my card game Senators (a placeholder name until a better one comes along). The primary goal of this playtest was to determine whether there was any mileage to the concept; Was there any fun to be had? Can the game actually be played?

I explained to the gang that the version we'd be playing was as basic as it could get; a sponge cake with no flavouring, no icing, no jam and definitely none of those wonderfully colourful sprinkle things.

This is not the cake you'll be eating.

Senators is a game about passing laws. Each player is randomly assigned a 'State Card' which lets them know what their voters like and dislike from an array of 25 different political topics. These topics range from 'Art & Culture' through to 'Religion' and 'Education'.

Each turn the controlling player, the 'Sponsor', randomly selects 5 topics from which they choose 3 to draft a 'bill'. The draft bill is then discussed with the other players: depending on the topics chosen (and their colour) players will either lose or gain voter confidence (the game's currency for winning) according to their 'State Card'.

In addition to this, each player is also issued a secret 'Corporate Card' each turn which, if a vote successfully passes, can generate 'Funding Tokens'. Funding Tokens can be used to bribe other players or make them lose or gain voter confidence.

Once the Sponsor has locked in the bill players vote to pass or reject it, and subsequently work out any gain or loss in funding or voter confidence. Play continues for 10 turns, at which point the player with the highest voter confidence wins.

There are a few more nuances to the rules but the preceding breakdown provides a simplified overview of the game.

So, did it work?

I'm pleased to say that for the most part it did. Play generally proceeded as I expected it would. After a couple of turns the general play procedure had sunk in and interesting things started to occur (which is exactly what I wanted!); Players would pool resources to gang up on a winning player, draft bills that would try to appease as many players as possible and sometimes draft bills that would screw as many players as possible.

What lessons did I take away from the playtest session?

• Turns became stagnant after a while - every turn followed the same cycle: there was no random element. I have already figured out the solution for this - it should make the game more fun and less repetitive whilst also massively increasing the flavour element.
• Spending Funding Tokens should be done at the start of the turn rather than the end. This is especially relevant for the last turn since it alleviates the situation we ran into; The player with the most Funding Tokens could effectively 'buy' the win at the end of the last turn.
• A cap on Funding Tokens may be necessary, or perhaps a penalty for hoarding too much. Currently it is almost nonsensical not to sit on a massive pile of Funding Tokens.
• Change State Cards so that it possible to lose Funding Tokens from them as well as gain them.
• Rework the way in which the colour of a topic affects loss or gain of Voter Confidence. 

With these lessons in mind I am currently working on putting together the second playtest iteration of Senators, ready for another playtest session (ideally with at least one person who wasn't present for this one).

Who said politics was boring?

I Went To - Grand Prix London 2016 (Magic: The Gathering)

Last weekend (7th-9th October) the ExCeL Centre in London Docklands hosted Grand Prix London, one of the largest Magic: The Gathering (Magic) tournaments in the country (main event capacity peaked at 2800 people).

Alongside the three day main event (sealed format using the new set, Kaladesh) were numerous side events covering all sorts of formats, from the typical Standard, Modern and Legacy, to more crazy formats like 'One Box' sealed (in which players use 36 booster packs to build a single deck).

Despite the best efforts of London Transport to prevent me, I spent Saturday afternoon at the GP.

"What format did you play Owen?" I hear you ask. Well my answer to that? I didn't.

"But Owen, you can't go a game tournament and not play any games!" I hear you cry.

Allow me to explain.

I like to play competitive Magic, I don't like to play competitive Magic. That is to say I enjoy playing games of Magic against competent opponents who provide a tactical, thoughtful, exciting game, ideally where both of us are playing with comparable levels of skill. I however do not enjoy playing Magic in a competitive setting. Small scale tournaments with a handful of people is fine; playing in a packed out tournament hall with 2000 plus people is a different matter. Playing a series of games against random opponents over a number of hours is not how I find fulfilment from the game; it is essentially divorced from the aspects of the game I find fun.

I admit this dislike of large scale tournaments likely stems from my very introverted personality: being surrounded by hundreds of people, being forced to interact with said people and experiencing audio-visual overload results in me getting fatigued, tired and grumpy pretty quickly. Enduring extended, repeated interaction with other humans is certainly a skill I'm lacking in.

So what did I do while I was there? I made the trip up to London on Saturday with Rich and met up with Aaron, Elliot and Saf who we're playing in the Modern side event that day. I managed to get a picture of Aaron looking the most intense I've ever seen him:

Playing Merfolk is serious business you know. He later went on to win this game with a double Gut Shot to the face. This pleased him no end.

Rich and I had a wander around the trade stands - the densest concentration of expensive bits of cardboard I've ever seen. It was nice to get a good look at the Kaladesh Masterpiece series in person; It's unlikely I'll ever own one of these Magic 'Ferraris'.

The prize wall had some uncut foil sheets on display - only a few of these are ever made available for public ownership. The gentleman on the stand gave us some interesting factoids regarding the cutting and randomisation process these sheets undergo following their printing.

The art of Magic: The Gathering is in my opinion one of the best aspects of the game, so I would be remiss not to visit the Artist stands. Mark Tedin, one of my favourite Magic artists, was in attendance; We had a little chat with him and I picked up a print of 'Primal Beyond'. One realises how much the cards crop the artwork when compared with the original.

All in all I had a fun afternoon, despite not actually playing any games. The company of good friends and the immersion in some Magic: The Gathering culture is more than enough for me.

Comic Book Comments - August & September 2016

It's time for another bi-monthly comic book round up! Here's what I've read over the last two months. This time we've an odd mix of fairy tales and dystopias.

Empty Zone - Volume One: Conversations with the Dead (Image)

One hundred years in the future Earth is recovering from a long period of blackout caused by massive solar flares. Due to the chaos caused by the death of all electronics, technology has only marginally advanced over the last century.

Corinne is an ex-soldier plagued by regret, bad dreams, nightmares. Afflicted by visions of her fallen comrades, drink and drugs provide a temporary reprieve to her psychological pain. Corinne is a data courier; the only secure way to transfer important data in this future is to do so physically - electronic means are too vulnerable. Her unique nanomachine enhancements afford the ability to transfer data from other 'mules' to herself simply via touch; an ability highly prized by the black market. Corinne's nightmares become all too real when she encounters a mechanically reanimated corpse, seemingly possessed by the soul of one of her former comrades. The ghosts of her dead friends deliver a message to Corinne's data core that turns her onto the path to redemption.

Empty Zone is a gory exploration of guilt in a dark dystopian sci-fi future, cleverly entwined with supernatural themes. The distinct art style helps bring across the bleakness of both the characters and the world (though that is not to say it isn't colourful) while visually emphasising the moments of violence. If you are a fan of Deus Ex, Blade Runner or Cyberpunk in general, this is well worth picking up.


Disenchanted - Volume One (Avatar)

Where do the glamoured go when mankind forgets about them? Goblins, Faeries, Leprechauns, Boggarts, Brownies and Kobolds; all end up in Vermintown. A sprawling, bustling metropolis constructed from cans, bottles, cardboard packets and pipes. Driven from their ancestral homelands by the Vastfolk's (mankind's) relentless expansion into and destruction of forests and woodlands, many fey folk have migrated to Vermintown on promises of an easy life away from the old ways. In the slums of Vermintown the ancient traditional ways of magic have given way to vice, violence, drugs and sleaze.

Stote, newly elected as Wayfinder (community leader) struggles to provide for his two sons, Fig and Tael, following the death of his wife. Born into Vermintown, Fig and Stote have never known life in the outside world, learning about their people's traditions from the elders Tibitha and Noro (who have themselves now become cynical). Stote's troubles can only worsen when Fig is lured away into working for the Spinners gang, the gang responsible for distributing the dangerous new drug 'Whine' onto the streets of Vermintown.

Disenchanted is an interesting re imagining of the fairytale mythos, bringing them into the modern age and successfully mirroring a range of real world issues and themes. Identity, drug abuse, gangs, racism, poverty and family are all explored here. Under the outlandish setting is a story that could just as easily work in a more mundane setting; the magic and fantastic elements simply build on the solid narrative foundation.

As an aside, the setting of Vermintown would make a fantastic Necromunda-esque gang centric wargame. The opportunity to build some terrain out of old bean cans and cola bottles is really quite unique. Playing games between the Vermintown Police and street gangs would be fun to play and would definitely look unique! Sometime in the future I'd like to attempt at turning this setting into a game.



I Hate Fairyland - Volume One: Madly Ever After (Image)

I Hate Fairyland is what you get if you take an axe to Alice in Wonderland. Fairyland is a fantastic realm, full of cuddly creatures, talking stars and colourful landscapes, ruled over by the friendly, caring Queen Cloudia. Fairyland readily accepted a little girl named Gertrude as their guest.

Fairyland wasn't ready for Gertrude.

What started as a simple fun adventure (that should have taken a couple of days at most) to find the magical key that would lead Gertrude back home again has turned into a 27 year long nightmare (both for Gertrude and the inhabitants of Fairyland). Gertrude now murders her way across Fairyland, violently dealing with anything blocking her path towards her goal of finding the key. Queen Cloudia has finally had enough of Gertrude terrorising Fairyland and now desperately seeks an answer to the child's rampage.

Fairyland is a funny, witty and colourful distortion of all the fairy-tale and fantasy tropes we know and love. The visual gags are plentiful and clever, many panels contain humorous background elements or are just so overtly gory as to be funny. The change of Gertrude's guide, Larrigon Wentsworth III (or Larry to his friends), from a bright eyed enthusiastic fairy to a chain smoking depressed wreck is tragically amusing.

If there's one thing I've learnt about Fairyland, it's that you really don't want to be a narrator.


Tokyo Ghost - Volume One: Atomic Garden (Image)

Debbie Decay and Led Dent are Constables (private corporate enforcers) in Los Angeles, 2089. Nano-tech is omnipresent; almost the entire populace is addicted to technology. The 'Net is beamed directly into people's heads: adverts, shows, video games, pornography, even spam is all transmitted through their 'nano-pacs'. Pumped up on mind altering chemicals, many become entirely oblivious to the world around them, forgetting the violence, decay and hedonism surrounding them, lost in an artificial cyber reality.

Debbie, like her father was, is one of the few tech-free individuals - free to see the world for what it really is. Having witnessed her partner Led fall deeper and deeper into tech addiction, she is determined to bring back the man she once knew. When the pair are sent to Tokyo by Mr Flak of FlakPlanet to disable the EMP device shielding the city (to enable the subsequent plunder of its resources) they discover a utopia. Tokyo is overgrown, its inhabitants returned to the old ways of Bushido, living free of technology, respecting the earth rather than exploiting it. Living among this community Led begins to recover his identity, rekindling his relationship with Debbie. Inevitably such a paradise cannot last - the world they left will always catch up with them.

Tokyo Ghost is a poignant allegory to the modern development of 'screen addiction' our society is currently undergoing, if taken to an extreme. Many of us are indeed addicted to our smart phones, computers and tablets, spending hours per day glued to a screen feeding our brains with extraneous garbage. Comparison can be made to the Pixar film 'WALL-E', both share share some similar themes; criticism of capitalism, addiction to and reliance upon technology and the loss of humanity as a result. Both narratives deal with recovering from such addiction and the rediscovery of the outside world.

I just compared a hyper violent dystopian mature science fiction comic to a Pixar movie. You don't get to do that very often!

Resources for Learning - UCI Open Chemistry

Every once in a while I'll stumble across some variety of fantastic learning resource that I feel probably isn't known about as much as it should be. A few days ago I found one such resource - University of California Irvine's (UCI) Open Chemistry project.

The UCI Open Chemistry project is a collection of lecture recordings covering the entirety of a three year undergraduate chemistry course. During my three years studying genetics at university I made the mistake of not recording (at least even the audio) of my lectures. This was a big mistake, as it would been a very helpful study tool leading up to my final exams. It would also be great now (two years on) to be able to go back and retread those lectures. Alas, I learn my lesson. If/when I'm able to return to university to study for a master's degree I won't make the same mistake again.

Chemistry would have been by second choice of course to study at undergraduate level; I think I actually enjoy learning about it more than I do Biology. And now, with this series of videos, I'm able reinforce what I already know and hopefully learn a whole bunch of new stuff, completely for free.
So far I've covered three lectures in Organic Chemistry and thoroughly enjoyed them. I've even found myself taking notes!

So, If you've ever considered learning more about chemistry or want a refresher, I highly recommend you take a look at this series.

Looks like my evening viewing is set for the foreseeable future.

On the Workbench - September 2016

I've been a bit slow on posting this last week (I've gone back to work; cue tiny violin), but I've started a couple of new projects. Here's a quick update on what I've been working on:

Epic 40k Lost and The Damned:

As previously mentioned in 'An Epic Endeavour - Part 2', I wanted to assemble a second army for Epic 40k. I've made a start on my Lost and The Damned (Chaos Cultist Coven) army by purchasing a whole bunch of Beastmen, Big Mutants and Bloodletters.

As you can see I'm only about two thirds done assembling them. These sculpts are all excellent; I'm very much looking forward to getting some paint on them!

15mm scale Greek Mythology:

15mm (1/100) scale is probably my favourite miniature scale; just big enough to have a good amount of detail whilst being small enough to enable manageable large scale battles. Previously I've only played World War 2 in 15mm, using the Flames of War and Bolt Action rules systems, but I've been meaning to find an excuse to explore another time period / genre in the scale. Now I've found that excuse: Greek Mythology!

Sphinx, Manticore and Chimera - 15mm.co.uk

Savage Worlds is an role playing system that I tried out briefly last year (using a Weird Old West setting) that I've wanted to revisit again; I enjoyed the mechanics and flexibility of the rules set. Designed for playing with miniatures, Savage Worlds could easily handle a low magic fantasy setting. The Core rulebook and Fantasy companion book gives me pretty much everything I'll need. 

I put in a small order with 15mm.co.uk to get a small batch of test miniatures to see how big they actually are and to get a feel for the quality of the sculpts. I can safely say I'll be getting a lot more miniatures and terrain in this scale.

Skeleton Spears - 15mm.co.uk

My goal is to mould a setting in the vein of the Ray Harryhausen animated films 'Jason and the Argonauts' and 'Clash of the Titans', as well as take inspiration from video games like Titan Quest and God of War. Perhaps I'll even make myself watch the 2010 remake of Clash of the Titans.

It can't be that bad.

An Epic Endeavour - Part 2

Work continues on the 6mm front; I've assembled and painted nearly 2000 points of Sisters of Battle (Adeptus Ministorum if you want to get fancy). I say nearly because I've yet to purchase some Whirlwinds to stand in for Exorcist tanks. I've yet to learn the game yet, so it's likely I'd jump in at 1500 points to start with anyway. Here's the 2000 list, assembled from the Epic Hive - Adeptus Ministorum army list:

(Almost) 2000 Points

Adepta Sororitas Detachments:

Battle Sisters - Onslaught Miniatures

Mission - 8 Sisters of Battle Units
    - Rhinos (4)
    - Exorcists (2)
    - Palatine 
  

Rhinos - Games Workshop (eBay)

  Mission - 8 Sisters of Battle Units     

    - Rhinos (4)
    - Exorcists (2) 

Repentia - Onslaught Miniatures

 Repentance - 6 Repentia Units 

Seraphim - Onslaught Miniatures

Choir - 6 Seraphim Units
 Choir - 6 Seraphim Units 

Ecclesiastic Detachments:

Fraternis Milita (Imperial Guard) - Defeat in Detail

Militia - 12 Fraternis Militia Units 

Sentinel Squadron - Defeat in Detail

Scout - 4 Militia Sentinel Units 

Imperial Navy Allies:

Avenger Strike Fighters - Defeat in Detail

Avengers - 2 Avenger Strike Fighter Unit

Assembling an army for Epic is a lot like assembling a classic car or other antique contraption; you either have to trawl the second-hand market or find someone who makes compatible components. This translates to spending an inordinate quantity of time browsing eBay (in the hope that those Space Marine Whirlwind tanks will show up, both fairly priced and in reasonable condition) or searching for unofficial 'counts as' proxies from among the manufacturers of 6mm miniatures (sources of which I've used can be found in the picture captions).

Frankly there is nothing 'official' when it comes to playing Epic anymore, either with respect to rules or miniatures, barring the 8mm Adeptus Titanicus reboot from Forge World on the horizon. Intrepid Epic players such as myself must decide from amongst the plethora of variations of the rules which one to play. Do you play Adeptus Titanicus (1st edition, 1988), Space Marine (2nd edition, 1989), Epic 40,000 (3rd edition, 1997) or Epic Armageddon (4th edition, 2003)?*

Thankfully the chaps over at http://www.net-armageddon.org/ have provided the answer: NetEpic Armageddon (NetEA). NetEA is a fan-made update to the Epic Armageddon rules, play tested to tournament worthy levels with all sorts of lovely army lists. Regular updates are still occurring and, best of all, all the documentation is absolutely free.

So what's next on the Epic front? One of two things: Richard gets an army built and painted first, or I get a second army built and painted first. Either way the idea is to eventually play a game of NetEA and ideally produce a battle report.

My choice for a second army? A horde of Lost and The Damned sounds fun.

*Richard is quite capable of breaking out into extended oratory regarding the merits, faults and history of each edition. The phrase 'When I we're a lad...' often precedes these lectures.

First Impressions - Warmachine Mk.3

After spending far too long discussing different types of resin and automobile based anecdotes at our weekly meeting, we decided it was probably a good idea to actually do something. That something turned out to be our first game of Warmachine under the new Mk3 rules.

I cautiously climbed onto the shiny new bicycle; it looked a lot like the old bicycle, sure the handlebars were spaced differently and the wheels we're slightly bigger, but my feet sat on the peddles much more comfortably and some of the scary metallic clunking sounds we're no longer present. Still, you turn the pedals and the bicycle goes just the same as before. Oh, and this one has a shiny new bell that makes the most wonderful sounds.

This is what a new bicycle looks like, right?

OK, enough stupid metaphors.

I'm continuing under the caveat that you the reader has at least some knowledge of Warmachine Mk.2. If not, then please remain in your seat, you've walked into the wrong lecture -  It's too embarrassing to leave half way through and you never know, you might learn something.

Elliot and I put together lists using Privateer Press' War Room app that we're essentially the old Mk.2 Protectorate of Menoth and Convergence of Cyriss starter battlegroups. In old money they would have totalled around 11 points, but under Mk.3 coinage they came to 0 and 1 points respectively.

This not insignificant change in points is due to two factors: an overall percentage increase in models across the game, accompanied by a large increase in each Warcaster's Warjack points pool. My chosen Warcaster Forge Master Syntherion jumped from (+6) Warjack points to (+27)!

I shan't go into too many details of how the game progressed, rather comment on some of the new rules / changes.

'Power Up'. This is a small change with a huge impact. Any Warjack with an active cortex now generates a single point of focus for itself at the start of the turn if within the Warcaster's control area. This frees up a Warcaster's focus pool, especially in the first and second turns. By generating their own focus, Warjacks are able to run by themselves, allowing the Warcaster to cast many more spells (especially upkeeps). In later turns Warjacks suddenly become much more dangerous, that free focus point can translate into boosted / extra / power attacks. This change is excellent. Warjacks are a much scarier opposition than they we're in Mk.2.

I myself was unable to benefit from this change; Convergence Warjacks use their own particular unique method of sharing focus between other Warjacks so they remained almost unchanged since Mk.2 in this respect, except for the removal of the limit on the number of focus that can be shared per activation.

'Pre-Measuring'. Truly the Marmite or wargaming; you either love it or hate it. Warmachine Mk.2 always had a dirty affair with pre-measuring; you could measure your Warcaster's control area at 'any time'. The 'any time' wording would lead to some strange goings on with the tape measure, this change clears any of that up. No more wasted shots because you were 3mm out of range, no more guessing how wide that gap is, no more trigonometry. OK, I don't think anyone actually did that last one but you get the point. Some would argue this change lowers the skill barrier, and maybe it does, but then I never played at the level where such a thing mattered.

'Power Field'. In Mk.2 a Warcaster could 'camp' on their focus pool, any unspent focus points would translate into one point of additional armour. This meant that even a modest (6) focus Warcaster could sit on all six points and gain an additional 6 armour, effectively reducing all incoming attacks by 6 damage. Damage prevented in this way could easily reach upwards of twenty points in one turn.

Mk.3 changes the way the Power Field works. A Warcaster must now spend a focus point to reduce the damage of in incoming attack by 5. The player is now presented with a dichotomy; do I prevent that 4 damage attack, or take 4 damage assuming the next attack will deal more damage? An inherent risk is involved; that next attack might not even hit you! Any change that leads to more interesting choices is a good change.

A number of other little changes were encountered during our game:

Melee weapons now possess their own range stat, with Warjacks generally having a 1" range on their melee attacks (double the 0.5" range in Mk.2). This removes the need for the 'Reach' special rule.

Wreck markers are no longer a thing, bringing Warmachine in line with the behaviour of Hordes' Warbeasts in this respect. While cinematic, I found wrecks would often become an annoyance.

'Rate of Fire' now actually means rate of fire. Your gun says two shots; you get to fire two shots. No need to buy more shots by spending focus. The old Mk.2 rate of fire rules are now included as it's own special rule on certain weapons, called 'Reload'.

Just from dipping my toes in the proverbial Mk.3 pool it looks to be a vast improvement over Mk.2.

Elliot had this to say after the game:

"My summary would be that they have improved on an already rock solid rules set allowing for more fluid learning and smoother running games. I would need more time and games to give a more in depth comment. Also, I want my bloody Trolls and Nelly the Elephants."

I'd say I share this view; we need to play some more (bigger) games to cement our opinions. I however don't want Nelly the Elephants; I want more clockwork robots. Differing tastes you see.

Thanks to Elliot for taking some of the pictures for this post.

Summer Garden Safari - World Photography Day

Today (19/8/16) is World Photography Day, so I reasoned that today would be the appropriate day to compile together the best shots from my little summer project.

The following shots were all taken within the confines of my home garden. Restricting myself to the confines of a single space challenged me to look out for things that we might perhaps otherwise miss.

Take a look and let me know what you think.