BCB Boise - 2011
I'm back. It's been over four months since I posted last, mostly because right before PAX Prime I blew out my back - bad. The good news is that four months (and a string of Cortisone injections) later, I seem to be getting back on my feet. More importantly, I'm able to sit long enough to paint a model or play a game of Warmachine. I must have a little trollblood running in my veins - if nothing else, I'm hard to kill. But enough of my hardships - let's get on with things you might actually want to read about - this is, after all, still a blog about steam, iron, and little metal men.
We just wrapped up our local Breast Cancer Brawl event, and it was a great time as usual. We did a little different format this year, as many of our locals have a strong dislike for the "pay-to-cheat" format. We wanted to still raise money, but we wanted to find a way to keep the actual game (mostly) pure. Our PG Dicewraith came up with a completely different format - it was basically an Iron Arena-style open play event, where you earned points for each game played, each new player played, each new faction played, each caster you used, etc. It was a great format, as it let people set their own schedule, it encouraged experimentation, and kept things social and fun, which really fits that mood of event.
To raise money, there were certain scenario tables you could pay to play on, you could buy the use of league models from any of the previous leagues, you could buy special rules (like lady models are tough, or advanced deploy for certain models, etc). We definitely mixed it up, but the one thing we stayed away from was paying to force re-rolls, as that is the one mechanic that everyone seems to hate.
Also, because less money was being spent trying to win games, more money was available to go the the auction of some really beautiful models that some of locals (and non-locals) volunteered to paint. We had many models go for $50, some as high as $150, and an amazing Storm Strider modification by Faultie that had an actual pink plamsa ball in place of the normal lighting generator. I ended up walking away with that one, for a sum landed me both the largest donor award and long conversation with my wife on how much money is okay to spend on toy soldiers. I'd do it again - that thing is awesome!
One of our scenario tables was a scratch-built Grind board built by Brotherscott that ended up sucking me in for the last half of the day. I ended up starting my own little grind league on that table in the afternoon, and we had an complete blast. The way it was scored, each Grind goal scored gave you tournament points, but killing the caster gave you none, so you had no motivation to end the game early. My grind team was made up of Xerxis, a Bronzeback, a Gladiator, a Rhinodon and Savage, and they ended up being pretty effective with all those open fists, slams and chain attacks. (Although in hindsight, I would drop the Rhino and the Savage, and take another Gladiator and a Krea to use it's paralytic aura on defense.) It ended up being a ridiculous amount of fun, and with a little tuning on the rules, I can see running a Grindball league as a great diversion.
I ended up taking the tournament title, which had less to do with any skill and more to do with 12 hours of straight gaming and all of the tournament points I racked up playing Grind. I scored a couple of coins as well as a special pink Morghoul card from PP. The Fiona I painted for the auction sold for $50, and I came home with a killer Storm Strider and a beautiful Runewood painted by my good friend Schmitty. Best of all, we raised a few thousand dollars to help support our local "mobile mammography" truck, which is a critical service in a rural state like Idaho. At least when my wife asked me how I could spend so much in one day, I could look her in the eyes and say with a straight face, "I did it for the boobies."
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| Fiona the Pink |
To raise money, there were certain scenario tables you could pay to play on, you could buy the use of league models from any of the previous leagues, you could buy special rules (like lady models are tough, or advanced deploy for certain models, etc). We definitely mixed it up, but the one thing we stayed away from was paying to force re-rolls, as that is the one mechanic that everyone seems to hate.
 |
| The amazing Storm Strider with an actual pink lightning generator |
One of our scenario tables was a scratch-built Grind board built by Brotherscott that ended up sucking me in for the last half of the day. I ended up starting my own little grind league on that table in the afternoon, and we had an complete blast. The way it was scored, each Grind goal scored gave you tournament points, but killing the caster gave you none, so you had no motivation to end the game early. My grind team was made up of Xerxis, a Bronzeback, a Gladiator, a Rhinodon and Savage, and they ended up being pretty effective with all those open fists, slams and chain attacks. (Although in hindsight, I would drop the Rhino and the Savage, and take another Gladiator and a Krea to use it's paralytic aura on defense.) It ended up being a ridiculous amount of fun, and with a little tuning on the rules, I can see running a Grindball league as a great diversion.
 |
| My Grindball Gladitors press the offense against Baldur and his constructs! |
I ended up taking the tournament title, which had less to do with any skill and more to do with 12 hours of straight gaming and all of the tournament points I racked up playing Grind. I scored a couple of coins as well as a special pink Morghoul card from PP. The Fiona I painted for the auction sold for $50, and I came home with a killer Storm Strider and a beautiful Runewood painted by my good friend Schmitty. Best of all, we raised a few thousand dollars to help support our local "mobile mammography" truck, which is a critical service in a rural state like Idaho. At least when my wife asked me how I could spend so much in one day, I could look her in the eyes and say with a straight face, "I did it for the boobies."
Labels: Hordes, miniatures, Skorne, wargaming, Warmachine
