indytims

A good number of folks meet at WOW, not far from Guardian Games. I've been there once myself to play Blood Bowl. Not sure who/how many play Xwing there, though. Hopefully some of those fellas will pipe up here soon. :)

What part of the PNW do you live in? If you're near Vancouver, WA, I've seen people playing at Dice Age Games, as well as Mythic Realms in Salmon Creek. I am pretty sure in Portland you could probably get a game at Guardian Games, Red Castle, the Portland Game Store, as well as some more that I am not familiar with.

Veteran myself, and I've thanked a bunch of other vets the past few days, including my grandfather, my dad, my brother, my brother-in-law, a bunch of co-workers, and EVERY solider current and past. Thank you!

I rarely buy anything 'new' from GW anymore. I stopped buying their paints completely awhile ago, and anything GW I need I get 2nd hand or on ebay for drastically reduced prices. I don't particularly care to 'support' GW $-wise, and I don't feel I am betraying my LGS - if I didn't get this stuff at severe discount, I wouldn't be buying it at all anyway, and I support my LGS by buying other things. PLENTY of other things. LOL And now, some 26 years later, there are just too many other choices to play out there, many of them superior to GW's current product. That combined with pricing themselves out of my wallet, and they simply don't get my $ anymore. But I'm just one dude with one wallet that the wife lets me use now and then. :) Plenty of us know your pain, ChaosGerbil. It's totally normal. :) -Tim

Rudra's comments are pretty spot on for the group i am in as well. We do a lot of gabbing on casual nights so games have gone longer than 2 hours, and some of us (coughcough) are kinda slow anyway. :) I think most of the folks i play with regularly prefer 300pt games, i enjoy them too, but have a little more fun around 200, but thats just me. I definitely recommend starting small like the others have said... 100-125 makes for a good starting point.

People still buy gw paints? :)

I also had fun sammy! Dont let my comments make you think otherwise! :)

Hiyas! As many will say, 'buy what you think looks cool and go from there', but it seems like you've already got that line of thinking down pat. ;) Faction choice really comes down to aesthetics and play-style. Each faction does seem to offer a variety of play-styles, though, and without a little experience on the table, it might take you a little time to find out which one really works best for you. That being said, you seem leaning toward USARF so far, and ain't nothin' wrong with that! Each faction has it's overall army list that is fully available for free online, just like the rules. You won't 'miss' anything by not having a solid book (even though the book is very, very high quality and worth the $, in my opinion). The overall list is everything in the faction, typically called 'vanilla'. Then within each faction, you have 'sub factions' called Sectorials, which focuse on a specific theme/group. For Ariadna, those would be USARF (US), Merovingian (Frenchies), Kazaks (Russians) and Caledonia (Scotts). Sectorials drastically cut down what is available for use, but then going with one of them grants you other benefits like higher availability of certain models, the use of fireteams, etc. If you go with Ariadna, you won't typically be 'forced' to play with any of the figs you don't want to, so if you don't want to play Frenchies, you should never have to buy them. Not having TAGs is not a serious drawback - Ariadna does just fine without them. ;) As for Remotes, Ariadna may not have the selection that the other factions have, but the ones they can take are pretty decent. The rules are heavy. No joke. For the uninitiated it can look daunting. I know for me it came across that way when I started. I found a solid group, though, who 'trained' me with a handful of various games AND an Escalation league. I mixed that with studious reading of the rules, and now I know just enough to be dangerous. ;) Of course, in a game where you might have 3-20 figures, a large chunk of the special rules won't apply to you at any given time, and the basic mechanics are fairly streamlined. If you play some of the intro scenarios from Icestorm or the USARF boxed-set, I think you'll get those down pretty quickly. It really is the special rules that add enormous complexity to the game. To be honest, I've yet to hear any arguments/rules-lawyering in the league nights or the tournament I've been apart of. Maybe I am just lucky so far. I am sure it happens (as it might in any game where rules must be interpreted), but really with the group in Portland I seriously doubt you'll have much of that, if any. Same goes if you're on the other side of the river up here with us Vancouver folk. I've felt nothing but awesome chemistry since hooking up with them. The USARF boxed-set is a great buy IF you plan on playing USARF. :) Icestorm is great because it gives you two separate factions to start working with - if Nomads or Pan-O appeal to you at all. I personally love the PlastCraft stuff and own a bunch of it. It's not quite as sturdy as MDF is, but sturdy enough if you aren't abusing it. They offer a small selection of 'pre colored' stuff, too, which I think looks great (and one of the main reasons I bought it). There are many options for terrain out there, and more popping up every month it seems. Feel free to check out: https://waywardwarcor.wordpress.com/2014/07/13/where-to-buy-your-infinity-terrain/ And that's not even a 'complete' listing. :) Just my 2 coppers, though. Welcome to the game! :) -Tim

My comments about the scenarios... 1 - Volcanic - I think this one was a bit too much. Roll a d6 for each unit not on 'safe ground', and on a 4+, each model in the unit takes a STR 5 hit. I am pretty sure that did more damage to my opponent than I did, and I know probably half my losses were because of it. It was really brutal. And the 'safe ground' was Dangerous Terrain, and that didn't help much either. LOL. The idea of 'dangerous' ground is pretty neat, but not at a 50/50 shot I think. My suggestion: Roll a d6 for each unit, but they are affected only on a 6. Then do the damage roll, etc. 2 - Defend the Artifact - This one was extra brutal because the two sides basically started 6" apart. That means whoever won initiative would have a pretty sizable advantage for charges, etc, and that's exactly how it played out. Like Volanic, I loved the idea, but still think both sides should start at least 18" apart. Or maybe give everyone on the attacking side "Infiltration". 3 - Bombing Run - This one was the opposite of the other two - it had zero effect on our game. Since the blast marker starts on the edge of the table, you have about a 50% chance it's going to scatter off the table anyway. I'd suggest having the template start in the -center- of the board section that you roll... at least then it has a little bit more of a chance to scatter somewhere more dangerous. ;) I loved the idea of home-made scenarios, Sam, and give you total props for designing your own. I have ZERO complaints, but am just posting my own thoughts and observations. Obviously others might have loved them, and of course there are plenty of scenarios I didn't get to try. :) Just my 2 coppers, -Tim

Great event Sam, thank you for organizing it, arranging the tables, match-ups, etc. I had a great time and greatly enjoyed all three of the games I played - even the beatdown I received in the first game. :) Met some new folks and was able to put faces to some on this forum. A great time all-around, Sam - Thank you! -Tim

I love how Homer Simpson photo-bombed your pic. :)

The Last Witch Hunter - 5/10 I really, really, really wanted to like this movie, and as it's supposed to be an opening to a possible new franchise for Vin Diesel, I had high hopes - but those pretty much came crashing down. Decent FX, but there didn't seem to be much chemistry between any of the characters really, except maybe Vin Diesel and Michael Cain. The action sequences were sparse and short, and while I wasn't looking for start-to-finish-carnage, it just left me wanting a lot -more-. There was one 'shocker', which I definitely enjoyed, which kept this one from dropping below a 5. But overall, a 5 is 'average', and that's where this movie sat, for me. My wife gave it a 6, because she thinks Vin Diesel is hot. -Tim

CAN NOT WAIT. (sigh)

If I was anywhere near you Nato, I would. I love carpooling to tournaments, been doing it since 1989 in many parts of the country. Tons of fun chatting about games and getting to know other gamers! But I live just a few miles from the store, so I can't help much. I hope someone else from up that way can! Good luck! -Tim

Been there myself (more than once), and I definitely agree with those others who posted before. It burns at first, especially since it's harder for us to accept change as we age (usually). But you seem to have a good mental grasp of the situation, understanding that it's best for all involved, and you're putting the kids first. My condolences, but best wishes to you and your kids! :)

I will wager 4 bars of gold-pressed latinum that we will be done closer to 7! :)

Yep, those options would likely be 'last resort' type things, but does afford you a couple more places to try at least. :) Good luck!

ODD+Spitfire=Canofwhoopass.

You might also give Dice Age a call, as well. Same side of the river, in between I-5 and I-205 and not too difficult to get to. Same caveats as above. (360) 772-8967

Skull, You might give Mythic Realms a try, as well. It's in Salmon Creek (Northside Vancouver, WA) with easy access to I-5 and I-205. I know they are running a 40K Extra Life event on Saturday. Not sure what their hours or space availability is, but it might be worth a call? (360) 797-5739 Good luck sir!

Yeah, SAM! It's spelled, "B-E-T-R-A-Y-E-R"! :)

"Too soon!" LOL!

Easy! I'll help! Start by forgetting Knights, Tau, and Ravenguard. TADAAAAA! Problem solved! :P -Tim

Wow, thanks for the info Don! I think I'll give it a go and try it on some spare MDF scraps. Always worried about sprays 'soaking' into the wood and warping/bloating it. I suppose it wouldn't cost too much to give it a shot. :) Thanks for the info!!!