Sleeving & Storing WM/H Stat Cards

Stat cards are a tremendous benefit to the game of warmachine and hordes, allowing quick reference to the entire suite of your models’ rules and abilities, as well as providing a place to track damage done to multi-wound models. They’re definitely an invaluable resource to the game, but as expansion books are published, each faction gets access to more and more models and units. For the player that means more and more cards in their collection to keep track of.

When I first started playing, most locals sleeved their cards individucally and kept them in a deck box. I quickly adopted this method and found a couple products that I really liked – Dragon Shield card sleeves and Ultra Pro deck boxes.  I’ve used this set up for years – it’s quick and dirty but it works.  I never had any problems at all in actual play, but as my army collections started getting bigger, keeping the cards sorted became harder – I started chucking whatever I had played back in the box after each game.  Searching for cards when building armies on the fly started taking longer and longer, so I started looking at alternatives.

Alternatively the Dragon Shield Box will double as a cheap (but less durable) deck box.

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Word of Everblight vs. Spirit of Everblight

The word of the law vs. the spirit of the law.  Whenever people get together to play a game of any type they have to decide where on that spectrum their game play experience will lie.  Most cooperative and/or casual games will lean towards the latter, but most competitive games sit bunched around the former.

Each gamer has their own opinions on the philosophy of game design, and I’m no different.  In my mind, if a game is designed to be played in a competitive format, then it should be designed to abide by the letter of the law.  By designing for the more strict guideline, those who prefer the more casual and/or want to tweak their experience – to make the rules feel more fluffy or appropriate to their own vision of the game – can do so.  Designing from the opposite standpoint results in a game that works for those on the spirit end of the spectrum but will likely negatively affect the word end of the spectrum, as the rules will either fail to accommodate certain interactions or maybe even resolve them in a manner the game designers didn’t desire.

Privateer Press seems to take the word-emphasized view of design, which I certainly appreciate.  Each incarnation of their Steamroller tournament system has had its flaws, but for the most part they design their game and format so that it can be played in a highly competitive venue and not break down to dicing-off rules interpretations.  In the past they’ve even made rulings that seem to go counter to how a rule was meant to be played when it preserved the word of the rule.  For example, the ruling on MkI Vilmon that allowed him to run and still use his Impervious Wall ability.  The rules supported the tactic, so whether or not it was intended it was supported (until the rule was reworded in MkII).

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MkII Hordes Cards’ Improved Aesthetics

The Hordes MkII cards were previewed a while back but now that I have mine in hand I’m noticing something I glossed over before.  The Warmachine MkII cards seemed to receive a negative reaction on the forums, but it looks like PP took some of the feedback and made a change that I much prefer. Spirals aside, … Read more

Wall of Fire, MkII Style

When MkII was released Privateer Press resized the “wall template” used by some spells, making the fold-up cards that came with models like Feora and Gorten obsolete.  Although I liked the fold-up wall for ease of handling, I decided to make a new flat set so models could be placed directly on them if necessary.

Buh-bye now

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Different Strokes: Technique and Painting Speed

Recently I’ve been experimenting with a few of the techniques that the Privateer Press painting staff talk about in their recent books.  It’s taken a while to adapt to a new way of doing things but after getting used to it I’ve been able to increase the speed I can paint a figure pretty significantly. … Read more

Glutton for Punishment

I’ve noted a few things before on my blog: I hate painting Exemplar and I’m suffering from brush burnout.  You’d think I’d pick different a different model type for my newest project.   But alas, I just started my Exemplar Errant Seneschals and Unit Attachment instead.  Sometimes I wonder if something’s seriously wrong with me. … Read more

Hardcore: Down to the Wire

With just a couple days left before Privateer Press Weekend at DieCon X here in St. Louis, I’m still scrambling to finish a few last minute figures before Saturday’s Hardcore event.  Surprise surprise, it’s down to the wire with me scrambling to finish a everything up in time.  It really shouldn’t be a surprise, though. … Read more

Basic Basing

Base WIPs

In a previous post I mentioned that I use concrete patch as a basing material.  It’s an alternative to sand that’s a rock solid way to model dirt to-scale on a base.  It requires a bit more effort than the traditional glue and sand but I think the end result is worth the extra work. The most … Read more