Infinity factions Haiku's

I've been asked to produce a Haiku about my favourite faction, so I've set about trying to write a suitable Haiku for every Infinity faction I hope you enjoy them:

Aleph

Achilles it made
Posthuman Saviour brave
Aleph we all praise


Ariadna

Through worm hole they went
Lost from our gaze they flourished
They fight to be free


Combined Army

Sinister alien Force
Made Paradiso a grave
divided we'll fall


Haqq Islam

Holy Mohammed
Enlightened science they make
Silently they war


Nomads

Shunned banished in space
Wandering D N A Change
Three homes have evolved


Pan Oceana

Powerful they be
Rich decadent and depraved
Technology crutch


Yu Jing

Glorious Yu Jing
None match our warriors blades
Honour is our way


So which one do you guys all like best? I honestly can't decide. I think that technically they're all haiku as they all meet the 5-7-5 syllable rule for the three lines. However I'm not a literary master so if I'm wrong please correct me. I'm liking Aleph, Haqq Islam and Yu Jing. There's a pole now live on the Official Infinity Forums. Peace out!

My 100th Blog!!!

I only just realised that I've been sitting on 99 blog posts for nearly 24 hours. Its somewhat surprising when I look back at it all that I've actually managed to write as many articles as I have in such a short space of time it really is... admittedly most of them have been me rambling on about random crap and making little or no sense at all. However I think there are a few gems in there that I'm proud of and here's a list of those that you lot seemed to find interesting for those who are new to my blog:

Winning streaks, lady luck and the Dice Faeries
Dungeon Crawlers Approved by Girls: Part 1 (do read parts 2 and 3 as well)
Internet Army lists: Death of Originality?
Are you in an abusive relationship?
Infinity the best game there's ever been? Part 1 (again please read parts 2 and 3 if you get the time)

I have to admit though that none of those articles are actually my most viewed article; no that particular accolade belongs to my wonky Gandalf blog, which I think will live on in infamy for ever more (death threats now up to 4 and counting by the way). Thankfully though the above articles are rapidly catching that particular hobbying low point up at a rapid rate of knots!!! If people are wandering by the way, it is that particular episode that is the main reason this Blog avoids Games Workshop topics like a Nurgle induced plague, for the most part.

So which articles do I most like? Well I think the series of 5 articles on Game Balance are a particular favourite as is the recent article on Beer and Pretzels Games. However its the reviews I'm most proud of because so many shop owners and hobbyists have told me they find them useful and interesting to read. The article which says the most about me as a hobbyist however is the series of articles I wrote about playing Dungeons & Dragons with two female acquaintances, my other Half Dr Brainiac and a good friend Geology Girl, because that's what I'm about, trying to bring the hobby to new people or showing experienced hobbyists new games and experiences, all while having fun!!!

Infinity Calculator

Hi all just a brief heads up for all you Infinity fans out there. BlckKnght over on Official Infinity Forums has come up with a really nifty little probability calculator for face to face rolls. Its not perfect granted, but its a start and a pretty darn good one too. Check it out here:

Infinity Calculator

No doubt BlckKnght (aka Steven Barker) will be improving on it so if you have suggestion, hints or just want to praise his efforts, head on over to the Official Forums and pass on your comments. Peace out!

Building an Infinity army (plus how not to do it)

This article is an expansion on an article I sent into the HoP Idol contest, there I went over the 250 word limit for describing my 'Achilles Paradiso Aggression Force' army list, but I felt it was an important opportunity to give their readership a heads up on how to build an Infinity Army. I felt it was also too good an opportunity to pass up for promoting a different game to what many are used to, i.e. Infinity as opposed to 40k and HoMacine. Lets be honest creating your first Infinity army list can be quite a daunting prospect for new Infinity players, hell many veterans I know still struggle at times. The guys over at the Official Infinity Forums will almost certainly offer invaluable friendly advice as they always do, but it can't hurt to have a few quick pointers and general rules to follow when building a force:

HoP Idol voting now open!!!

Yep that's right, voting on the International House of Paincakes Idol competition is now open, see here:

HoP Idol Week 1 Recap

Its only week 1 and there are hopefully going to be many more weeks for my good self to come. Obviously I'd love for you all to head on over to the website and vote for me, but honestly the competition was pretty darn tough and there were some really great entries. First up was my entry:

Golden Age of Gaming (Frontline Gamer)

It was a typical positive outlook article from me, almost a rallying cry if you will to other gamers out there to realise just how good we have it right now because I really think we do have it good. Hopefully those of you who have been brave enough to read my blog over the last few months will have got that from how I've enthusiastically written about my hobby and my love for all things gaming.

Second was Von, a blogger I personally have a lot of time for...

Just a quick heads up

This is going to be short. I read an interesting article over at the blog Warp Signal the other day by James S. I say interesting because its what me and my friends, The Cursed, Hobby Killer, Chaos Space Marine and many others besides have picked on GW and to a lesser extent PP games for over the last few years, scale. You should give it a read:

http://warpsignal.wordpress.com/2011/08/15/scale-in-wargames/

Peace out!

I have more board games!!!

OK so I said I'd try and get back to writing about wargames on my blog, but for whatever reason I keep having these chuffing board games turn up to my house. So which games have turned up now?

Yeah my collection of stuff is getting bigger...

Dust Tactics

The world looks fun and the miniatures aren't too shabby.

Yep I wrote about it a few weeks back, and no I didn't plump for the revised box set but the big huge one as the picture shows. I was always very interested in getting into the Dust games simply because I love the alternative WWII vibe created by Paolo Parente... well in fact I just love alternative history stuff period, and the walkers looked absolutely ace. With the added news that the Dust Warfare rules would be coming out later this year it was pretty much a done deal for me. The idea of having two game systems I can use those lovely miniatures in just sealed the deal totally for me. I'm aware I've got the 'old' rules, what with the new revised core rules coming out later this year but I honestly wanted to grab the game and try the original mix first so I can give a proper comparison of the changes for you guys... see that's how much I care!!!

Just what the hell is a beer and pretzels game?

 Are these becoming essential gaming accessories?

I'm sure there are many more important questions in life that require an answer, or warrant the attention of inquiring minds way more than 'what is a beer and pretzels game?' However, the puzzle of what actually makes a game a so called 'beer and pretzels game' has started to bug the hell out of me recently. Because of late I'm being told every game out there is pretty much a sodding 'beer and pretzels game', by design it's how they're meant to be played. The implication of which is quite startling... You're all alcoholics!!!

So why has this phrase started to bug me? Well you see it never used to bug me at all, it actually wormed its way into usage in my gaming circle probably about 15 years ago now. It was brought in by an American acquaintance. This friend assures me the phrase comes from the U S of A and originated from the time honoured tradition of grown men sitting in front of TVs together getting drunk and eating snack food, while screaming at whatever sporting event happened to be on. Or playing poker! I'm going to say I buy this explanation of the phrase mostly because the phrase was used pretty much exclusively by American's around the time. However, Wikipedia seems to think its something else entirely here have a look at their beer and pretzels games page. As we all know Wikipedia is never wrong.

I took the phrase to mean a game played with friends that wasn't taken seriously, a fun night if you will. Not necessarily that's all a game was designed for, but that you could play any game for fun in this way if you liked. Now in our gaming group that normally meant board games where if we'd failed something we were forced to take a shot of some good foresaken spirit as 'punishment'. A  time honoured tradition in these parts once again introduced by my American friend. God I love American culture. We did also though partake of some 'beer and pretzel' wargaming. Now this meant playing a wargame in a silly way.

What sort of gamer are you?

Right this was my entry into the House of Paincakes Idol competition so I didn't really want to post it here for a while just in case I got through and stole their thunder. Luckily its up now so I'm posting it on my blog. I'll be returning to this theme over the next few weeks but I think its important not to take this all too seriously. Its just an exercise in getting you thinking about your hobby, as a psychologist I'm not dumb enough to think you can fit people into such nice neat compartments so its just an aid to some introspection.

I've often thought of myself in a certain 'type' of gamer. We all think of ourselves in a certain way... probably far nicer than what our opponents think of us!!! This is going to be a personal blog about you; I'm not going to be chatting about what sort of gamer I am. I'm giving you a matrix and I want you to be honest about it... and then hand them out to your opponents and see what they think!!! That's right, get them to rank you - you might be surprised to see what people think of you as a hobbyist.

 

Open and Print

Frontline Gamer Matrix explained

Painter or Gamer - This axis is about which part of the hobby you enjoy the most. There are those who only like the gaming, and just slop paint on their mini's and play lots of games. Then there are those of us for whom painting and modelling our forces the best we can is the main thing we like, and gaming is just an excuse to flaunt our undeniable painting talents to the world.


Competitor or Socialite - It should be self explanatory, do you play games to win, choosing the beardiest armies, bending the rules to their limits... hell maybe even breaking them!!! Or do you play to have a laugh with your mates, meet new people, socialise?

What does it all mean?

Well everything and nothing to be brutally honest. I wrote this article to get us all thinking about what we want out of wargaming. Our hobby is somewhat unique insofar that it takes two to tango (possibly more depending on the game) and because of this we not only have to make sure we're getting what we want out of it but the guy or gal across the table is too. Wargaming is strangely competitive and co-operative - maybe codependent - at the same time.  Knowing what you want  is important to your enjoyment, and sometimes I wander whether we really think about this enough.

Just as important is knowing what your opponent wants. If they're a competitive gamer who likes to be challenged they won't thank you for turning up with your quirky themed army that is as beautifully painted as it is ineffectual!!! Maybe you can get away with that occasionally, but you'll need to try and challenge them at some point - and all you seal clubbers out there, don't take the uber army and game face to every tabletop you place an army on!!! Sometimes your opponents are out for fun and don't want to take things too seriously. Mix things up a bit and try some different builds out, you'll learn just as much about effective tactics from an unoptimised list as you would your 'killa list'. I'm not saying compromise what you want from the hobby, but do a bit of giving rather than taking. I'm honestly not trying to make this sound homoerotic, its just coming out that way. oh there I go again!!! Peace out!

Review: Dystopian Wars Covenant of Antarctica Fleet

Right this is the fifth bloody Dystopian Wars fleet that I now own and I swear to God almighty it'll be the last one... until the next one. Thing is when I read the background to Dystopian Wars I just knew I was going to end up buying the CoA because of the fluff. I mean what's not to like? I nation of rational scientists with kick ass weaponry and an elite military force, so many boxes and so much ticking. I was sold before I'd even seen the concept art, so luckily for me the ships don't look half bad!!! I won't be discussing effectiveness in the game during this review because I feel that's best left to people on internet message boards who can decide if they're overpowered or not.

Product description

Like all the previous Dystopian Wars fleet boxes I have purchased this box came with all the counters and cards you need to get the fleet out on the Battlefield or should that be the battlesea? Oh hell who knows, as always they require a steady hand and a pair of scissors to cut out. Unlike the other box sets though this one came with a little rules booklet for the Covenant forces as they aren't in the main rulebook, there is some nice background fluff in it as well. Like the other boxes the components are mainly resin with a few metal pieces namely the two flyers and unlike the other boxed sets most all of the turrets etc are in resin rather than metal. The box contains 1 Battleship, 3 Cruisers, 9 Frigates, 10 Tiny Flyer tokens and two metal flyers plus their acrylic stands, there is also an acrylic hull outline for the battleship when its submerged.

Oh crap!!!

Yeah I stole your image!!!

I entered the House of Paincakes Idol competition a few weeks back because it looked like they were struggling to get the numbers up with some 'begging' posts. So me being a good Samaritan decided to help the guys out and chuck an entry in, not expecting to get picked, you know because my blog is crap. Well that's the last time I ever do a good deed because they only went and picked me. Clearly the guys over at HoP either have very low standards or just don't know what they're doing... I guess I should fit right in then because I too am clueless...

So now I've landed myself with extra bloody work, yep I have the added task of writing more chuffing articles, and the worst thing is, as those of you who know me will know I have a pretty ruthless competitive streak. If I'm in it, I'm in it to win it, so I'll be taking it quite seriously I guess. Damn my male ego, it always sets me up for a fall!!! What this does mean as well is that I've now given myself a platform with which to fail and now that failure will come with added public humiliation and ridicule. Fanbloodytastic!!!

I'm going to give myself a very simple target, nothing too fancy or ambitious, because ambition just leads to painful crushing despair and misery I find. In short I don't want to be the first person ejected from the competition!!! At least that way anything beyond that is a bonus. Is that setting my sights too low? Possibly but hey you've all read my blog and well... it could do with improvement!!! Still I expect all of you to vote for me, multiple times if you can, unless of course you too have been shortlisted for the competition in which case genuinely good luck. Peace out!

EotBS Work in Progress shots

Right one of the reasons I started blogging was to force myself to bloody paint some miniatures. However the fates conspired against me and I've been thrust me onto the scrap heap of society as one of the great unwashed and unemployed. Now this might seem like a good thing hobby wise, insofar that I would have more time to get some painting done wouldn't it? Ironically not! No I've spent the last two months sorting various crap things out and quite frankly my search for gainful employment has kinda become a 24/7 task... its grim out there if you're looking for a job. Seriously I've suffered more rejection than a ginger Jahovah's Witnesses going door to door trying to spread the word.

However recently I have been able to slosh a bit of paint on some miniatures with my airbrushes, I've started my Sorylian Fleet for Firestorm Armada and I'm writing up a detailed painting guide for them as I go along and I'll probably do something similar for what I'm about to show you, which is my Empire of the Blazing Sun Dystopian Wars fleet. I was in two minds as to whether I should paint my Kingdom of Britannia ships first or these Japs. I went for the Japs in the end as I just love the steam train vibe of them. Rather than going for the usual green theme many EotBS fleets seem to have I decided to go for a more traditional naval grey but with white dazzle for Arctic operations.

Here are some of my frigates, I'm quite pleased with them

Can any game system ever truly be balanced? Part 5

The imperfections of communication and Language

Well it might not seem like the most obvious of things to talk about in article based around game balance but it is nevertheless an important part of the inherent inconsistencies that exist within all game systems. You see the point of language is to communicate the thoughts and ideas of one person or a group of people to another person or group, and here's the rub... the message as read, or heard and interpreted by those that receive it can be different from what the sender initially intended and, more importantly for a wargame, the message can be interpreted differently by every single person who is a recipient of the message. A very clever chap called J.A. Austin actually managed to come up with an equation for miscommunication in an article entitled 'How to do things with words' in 1962, an interesting read if you're a nerd like me, otherwise stay clear. However Austin also noted later that some people can 'intentionally' misinterpret communication too their own benefit. Yep I'm taking about errata, FAQ's and those delightful individuals we all like to refer to as rules lawyers.

So while I might say the topic of this article is language its not entirely true. No its more about the extent to which we as gamers go in bending, twisting and outright cheating when 'interpreting' the rules. Have you ever had such a heated debate about game rules that you've not been able to finish a game? Have you both been so perplexed by a situation that neither person knows how to resolve a rules conundrum? Has an argument ever made you so angry you shouted at your opponent to 'fuck the shut up'? Well two of the 3 have happened to me, while the third I witnessed, during a game of 8th Edition Fantasy, I watched two gamers get so enraged by the awful wording of a rule that one of them got so tongue tied that they screwed their lines up badly and invented a humorous retort.

You see though I once didn't complete a game of Battletech with a friend because we just could not agree on a way forward. Both of our arguments at the time seemed incredibly plausible and neither would back down, I offered a dice roll but my opponent said no way, he was adamant about being 100% right and wouldn't trust that to fate. Turns out after an FAQ neither of us were right. This episode though very early on in my gaming life emphasised to me how a badly worded rule could lead to huge imbalances in games but also open the door for us gamers to abuse the rules. Sadly though its a thing that's here to stay. Sure games designers can make things easier by using clear and consistent language and to be fair they normally do. Visual aids such as diagrams etc. can also be a great help, but the thing that no game designer can ever do is actually govern the way their rules are received and interpreted by all the brains of the great unwashed masses (that's us gamers if my language is a bit too colourful).

Huzzah!!! A Good Hell Dorado Rulebook.

Firstly I have to say a HUGE big thank you to the guys at the Maelstrom for sorting my water damage Hell Dorado Rulebook out so professionally and quickly. You see if you read my blog yesterday you'll have seen I finally got my copy of the English Hell Dorado Rulebook. However my joy was short lived as the Hell Dorado 'curse' had struck my book down with a severe case of water damage *shakes first at Hell Dorado curse*. This possibly made me the saddest panda on earth. Even sadder than the looters having to return stuff to the Games Workshop!

However two things I need to clear up:

1. Despite the book looking perfectly OK in my picture, I assure you it was very badly damaged and at points impossible to read. So I'm not being a 'big cry baby' and a 'whinger'. I'll post some images to prove it!!!
2. No, the irony of me having some Naval based miniatures in the shape of my dystopian Wars stuff turn up undamaged by water hadn't escaped my notice and no it wasn't funny at the time, but now I have my new rulebook it has raised a wry smile.

So onto the evidence for you all:

On the right we have the new rulebook, on the left however...

I almost died today!!!

No but seriously the post women turned up with a package in her hand, nothing unusual in that. What was slightly more unusual was that it wasn't a package of nail varnish or shoes for the missus. So what could this strange rulebook shaped package be I thought. Surely not? It can't be! It is!!! Yep I've got the lesser spotted incredibly rare English Edition Hell Dorado rulebook from Cipher Studios. The shock to my heart nearly did for me. To say its been a long wait is an understatement of the highest order, I've been waiting for it since 2008 when the game was Asmodee's responsibility. While it felt good to finally have it in hand, there was a huge kick in the teeth waiting for me when I tried to open the damn thing.

Although it might not look like it here, the book is actually seriously quite badly damaged. You see there have been rumours flying around the interweb that there was a flood at a warehouse in Chicago where the Hell Dorado books and indeed the latest copy of Privateer Presses No Quarter magazine were being held. Some people poo pooed the idea, but I thought it sounded infinitely plausible. Turns out my Hell Dorado rulebook is just yet more proof of that very fact. You see the pages in the book were stuck together and while carefully trying to tweeze them apart a few tore and well, its a mess. This book should never have left that warehouse, the UK distributor should never have pushed it onto the shops and the shop in question probably shouldn't have sent it onto me!!!

Can any game system ever truly be balanced? Part 4

The mission objective

Ah yes the objective!!! We've all seen war films with maps and arrows and large 'X's' on them to denote what the various objectives and targets the protagonists have to achieve. You see in war its never just a simple case of obliterate your opponent and you win. Nope its normally go here, claim this, or storm that. We too as gamers like to see this sort of 'mission' in our wargames to provide a tactical element to proceedings and also add a bit of story and narrative to spice things up and an element of entertainment to our games. As I've said before we're a demanding bunch of consumers us wargamers.

I have played so many games and different game systems that to be brutally honest I've lost count and I've more than likely forgotten a fair few games systems along the way. Not all have had missions or objectives as part of their core, or indeed as part of the entire range of rules. While others have had the mission objectives as a core feature of their systems and right at the heart of what happens on the board. I'm not going to say there is a right or wrong approach to missions in wargames because like many of the different elements that go up to make wargames its a case of finding the right fit for each individual game.

Can any game system ever truly be balanced? Part 3

The battlefield

You see many of us rarely have to think about it, I'm sure a lot of you will turn up to your local gaming store or club to play your 1 or 2 wargames a week, and be limited to the scenery they have out for display purposes or to hand. In short you're highly likely to be playing on pretty much the same sort of battlefield every time if you do this. However scenery or terrain, and there is a difference as a really good little article by Quirkworthy (Jake Thornton) points out, is vitally important to the playing of any game, if it wasn't why have rules for it and why place it on the board in the first place?

This picture contains 15 Way Watchers, 5 Oniwabans and a goat!!!

Most people just chuck the old scenery down onto the table and have done with it. There might be some discussion about the rotation of a building or the precise placement of some woods, but mostly people don't care and just want to put their toy soldiers down and roll some dice. However scenery is a HUGE part of any game you'll ever play. I remember a discussion I had when I was about 13 with a store manager of a Games Workshop and a friend of mine about Man O War. We'd come to the conclusion you see that High Elves were far too powerful, well they would be, I was the one commanding them and I'm awesome.

 Commander Obvious was 'concerned' there was only one bridge

Thing is this manager couldn't understand it, he'd genuinely had no problems with High Elves and neither had a few regulars. We got down to list building and nope that wasn't the issue. Were we playing the rules right? Yes turned out we'd got them spot on. So are we both equally good gamers? Although my huge ego would say no I'm just simply awesome, the fact is in other game systems we were quite evenly matched. Then another staff member said 'how big is the board you're playing on and how much scenery do you use?' well I'd never really considered it until then... but the reality was we were using way too much scenery because my faster and more maneuverable ships were at a huge advantage amongst the myriad of islands we were using. In short the scenery and 'terrain of play' had loaded the games in my favour.

Can any game system ever truly be balanced? Part 2

Choice and the points systems

Ah yes choice, freedom, liberty. All good things yes? Well yes of course they are but for a games designer, choice becomes a necessary evil. You see choice of what force, faction or even side you take actually can sometimes be used as a tool to try and mitigate those natural imbalances that occur in rule systems... and they also add a further imbalance to be controlled. As I commented in the first part of this article into the theory of game balance we want our wargames to be an abstract representation of war with all its imbalances and brutal imperfections in a fair and controlled manor... and we'd like to pick sides. Not too demanding are we?

Lets be honest would anyone play the wargame where all sides are the same? It might be OK for chess or checkers or their ilk, but in a wargame we don't all want to be Dark Elves, Daemons or Vampire Counts do we? Oh right yeah, bad examples, what I'm trying to hint at is that people want an army that suits them. Some will want a defensive shooty army others a highly aggressive horde army and some might like small elite armies full of specialist troops designed to deal death in specific ways. So how do pretty much all wargames deal with our demanding and unreasonable ways? Points systems!

It is not perfect by any means but it is the best tool and system available to games designers for attempting to maintain balance and for that reason it is also extensively used. However again its far from perfect. Take Warmachine and Hordes as a prime example. In the first edition of both games units were pointed and costed in the 'hundreds', this allows for a greater degree of subtle variance than things pointed in the 'tens' which is what the second editon of both games uses. For instance in the old system Warjack A might have cost 132 points and Warjack B 145. In the new system Warjack A might now cost 13 points while Warjack B might cost 15 points. The disparity between the two units as a proportion has gone up but the relative effectiveness hasn't changed. Obviously the later disparity might be a fairer representation of each units true ability. However where do you stop? Should things be pointed in the millions or billions even? As ever its a judgement call and like all judgement calls its not going to be perfect.

Can any game system ever truly be balanced? Part 1

Maintaining balance can be difficult!!!

This is a philosophical debate that I have had many times over the years with many friends, passers by and random strangers you meet gaming. Sure it's not as high brow as maybe the 'meaning of life' or some of the more fundamental debates that have taxed and entertained some of the greatest minds humanity has produced... but it's just as perplexing. However before I start rambling nonsense I think it's best if I first define the debate so as not to confuse or leave myself open to wandering off all over the place.

By 'game system' I mean the core rule set that governs the mechanics of any given game and the various choices or factions you have within that rule set. So for something like Warmachine I'd say the game system is the core rulebook, the individual faction books and now Wrath. For now I'll leave out Hordes and or the factions contained within that rule set. By balance I mean that the core rules don't favour one certain type of tactic or gamer and treat all stratagems as equally valid and that the choices between armies are balanced and that certain missions etc. don't favour one side over another.

For now I will leave out the individual choices that can be taken within factions as that would just blow this topic wide open, and I fear it might be too big to tackle within my lifetime already. I want to be clear though that this isn't going to talk specifically about certain games and whether or not they are or aren't balanced, it's more an abstract piece so I'm not out to make any individual points about any given system although I might use examples from systems to illustrate a point, if you get my meaning.

Hmmm the force is strong with this one!

Yep one of the worst kept secrets in gaming was finally let slip out of the bag yesterday by Fantasy Flight Games. Yep they've got the Star Wars license and I bet we're about to see a veritable smörgåsbord of juicy Star Wars gaming goodness from the chaps and chapesses over at Fantasy Flight Games. You can read how totally 'pumped' and 'psyched' and many other American-English adjectives they are right here FFG Star Wars announcement. Pretty cool hey? I mean I'm what I like to call a 'Broad Spectrum Geek' (its a thing, or it soon will be if you all start using it!!!), and that means I geek out on everything from computer games, to toy soldiers and from comic books to Star Wars and anything in between.

So you see when two of my geeky worlds collide normally I'm instantly overwhelmed with geeky joy at the possibilities of two of my geeky loves coming together in an awesome combination of total awesomeness... and then a 'nerdgasm' ensues. After the nerdgasm though comes the doubt, you see HeroClix should totally tick my nerd / geek boxes. I should be 'all up in their junk' as our transatlantic cousins are want to say. Yet I think they're fucking dire lumps of turd covered in shitty paint jobs. Then there are those comic book hero films and lets be clear about this, for every Dark Knight there are 10 Dare Devil's, Electra's or Green Lanterns (fuck you Ryan Reynolds, fuck you!!!). I'd fucking punch Ryan Reynolds in his stupid fucking face, the prick even managed to screw his relationship with Scarlett Johansson up, what a total douche!

So the pitfalls are many and varied in such unions. Yet Fantasy Flight Games seem willing to brave such risky unions, perhaps because they love the excitement and danger of it all, or perhaps its because no matter what, they'll make oodles of cash anyway!!! However they do seem more capable than most at not screwing such unions up! Their Game of Thrones products are of the very highest quality and have not pissed fans off at all, ditto their Arkham Horror products and H.P. Lovecraft fans. I also think their Battlestar Galactica board game is a must for fans of the TV show and they've actually managed to make engaging and fun games out of the licenses for both JRR Tolkien's Hobbit and Lord of the Rings, unlike some company I could mention. Talking of which, they're also able to make lots of cash and great games out of Games Workshops very own IP, something the Games Workshop themselves struggle with at times. Their Warhammer Fantasy and 40k RPGs are getting ever more popular as are their board games like Chaos in the Old World, Horus Heresy and their Games Workshop based card games, like Blood Bowl Team Manager are also successful...

Confessions of a faction whore!!!

Those of you who read the Infinity forums (I'm SirAngry on those forums and most others) will know I have a rather terrible secret... I'm a down right dirty little faction whore!!! For those of you not in the know I'll explain further. I'm a magpie when it comes to... well almost everything. If its new or different I have to have it, its so bad at times I've seriously considered the possibility that I have a mental illness. Thing is its the same illness that appears to affect geeks and nerds of all ages. If it wasn't manga or comic books it was toy soldiers, if it wasn't toy soldiers its limited edition computer games... so on and so forth. I blame evolution and my innate urges to hoard useless crap!!!

However my terrible affliction does tend to manifest itself worst in my love of toy soldiers. As evidence though that I am not alone please take a look at this thread I started on the Infinity forum:

evidence for the defence

So are you a faction whore? Its pretty clear that yes I am a faction whore, I am indeed it would seem, far too much gamer for just the one faction!!! I can't help myself, I've always struggled to decide which factions to take in pretty much every wargame I've ever played and I think it'll be like this forever more with me.