The Story So Far...
About a week ago, someone in the Warmachine FB group suggested that I do a "year end review" sort of post; something to recap the journey Donna & I have been on since diving into WMH back in July. So much has changed in the last 6 months & we're both excited for what the future holds.
* Playing Protectorate vs Skorne on New Years Day 2022 *
Donna & I have been avid gamers for quite a few year years. When we became empty-nesters, we discovered modern board games & they became our primary form of entertainment & a big part of dedicated time for the 2 of us spending time together away from Jiu-Jitsu. I even became a Euro board game designer & have had 2 games published by publishers around the world such as Spielworxx, Stronghold Games, & other localized language reprints in China.
Unfortunately, the board game "community" became something neither of us wanted any part of anymore. Nothing involving Donna or myself, no one attacking us or anything like that, but seeing ridiculous drama dominate social media as designers, reviewers, publishers, fans, you name it...argued, went after each other with (faux) angry mobs, etc. It wasn't even a thing of "this political side" vs "that political side" as people who aligned on those fronts were at each other's throats. My only guess is that the isolation & stress of covid, quarantines, & the unknown to come brought out the worst in some.
That's not to say the entirety of that community is bad, but just that for about 6 months in late 2020 / early 2021, it seemed like hate, drama, & negativity took over and drove me to leave Twitter & lose all passion for board games.
We played ZERO games at all for several months & it was really getting to me. We have 250+ board games in our house & looking at them just depressed me. Back in June, Donna & I saw an ad on Instagram for "Privateer Press Mystery Boxes". That's when everything changed.
About 10-12 years earlier, I saw some Warmachine minis in a comic book store and was instantly blown away. At the time, both of our kids were in high school & we were both not yet established where we wanted in our careers. Long-story-short, we couldn't afford even a starter box for a single faction...but over the years, I've thought back on those minis. There was just something about it that pushed so many buttons for me: minis, robots, fantastical creatures, steam punk technology.
We talked about that ad for a day or so. I was flooded with memories of the excitement when I first saw those minis in the comic store.
With my birthday coming up in July, Donna ordered a mystery box for each of us. I dove into the web & started eating up everything I could read / learn about Warmachine / Hordes. I found the old how-to-play videos on YouTube from PP and watched them a dozen times while waiting for the mystery boxes to come in.
Opening The First Box / Picking Our Starting Factions
When we opened our first couple of mystery boxes, we found Skorne & Protectorate of Menoth. Having had my eye on Protectorate since we first ordered them, I was really excited to see what we'd gotten. I let Donna choose which faction she wanted of the 2 & of course, she chose Protectorate. I was happy to play Skorne, happy to just be able to play the game, but being so new to the game & war gaming in general, we thought it would be better to learn how one system works, get a handle on the basic game play, & then move on to the other.
So, we opted to go with Warmachine / Focus and save Hordes / Fury for later. That meant another trip out of town to that same old comic store we'd seen the game at years before. It's about an hour away, but well worth the drive since we found they had a table full of Cryx that they were selling for 50% off. I had ZERO interest in Cryx...until I saw a Defiler. Those quirky little bone jacks caught my eye. We picked up enough stuff to get me a battlegroup, a couple solos, & one unit.
Donna was running Severius1 with an Indictor, Revenger, & Vigilant. My battlegroup was Deneghra2 with a Slayer, Stalker, & a pair of Defilers.
We used plastic painting pyramids as terrain pieces just to have something else on the table.
We were clueless, but we were having a ton of fun. No clue how many basic rules we screwed up in that first game, but it let us get a simple intro into the phases of the game, how focus worked, etc
I continued to build & paint models over the next month. By the middle of September, we each had at least one unit and a few solos painted up. We also started learning how to play scenarios; using plain white paper cut-outs for our zones, some wood scraps from my shop to be walls, & some small boxes glued together to be a building. I also sculpted a simple rubble pile out of clay.
Going from being in the dumps with no gaming to discovering Warmachine, it was like getting a new lease on my gaming life. In my excitement, I started writing long FB posts & someone (I believe AJ from Servant of Nyrro) suggested that I start a blog for batreps.
That was something I never considered. I am just a dude having fun exploring a game I love, learning some painting & crafting stuff along the way, & never thought about "creating content".
But I love the game, I like to write, & it seemed that at least a handful of people were enjoying my write-ups. So, I started up "Steam & Sorcery" to have an outlet of expression for it.
One thing led to another & I got inspired to do video batreps. On top of studying painting & sculpting, I got knee deep into learning about lighting, filming, editing, and all the other things I'd need to do it. I put aside a little money each pay day to pick up another piece of equipment that I'd need to eventually get it done.
I also started investing in making or buying improvements to our gaming area; including buying a couple of 48" x 48" gaming mats and a new plywood table topper to play on. We were also gifted some wonderful zone mats from Pete & Fiona McCann.
If I were going to make batreps, both written & video, I wanted them to look as good as possible. I also started investing more time in making & painting better versions of our simple terrain pieces.
A Whole New World Of Crafting / Art
I try to create something every day. Even if it's just one brush stroke. I want to push myself, learn something, add something positive to the world, & just create in some way or another every day. I had no idea just how many avenues for this WMH would open up for me.
Some of them by accident...
As I was putting together the first set of models, Protectorate Exemplar Bastions, I managed to drop one of the heads & have no clue where it went. I think one of my cats might have batted it somewhere in the time between when I dropped it & when I got my light to search for it.
Whatever the case, it was gone & I needed to figure something out.
I panicked for a bit & then I got an idea. I grabbed some epoxy putty & started trying to sculpt a replacement. That one incidence of necessity has opened me up to a love for learning to sculpt.
On top of that, I dove into watching every YouTube video I could find to learn about miniature painting. From the start, I was blown away by the idea of NMM, but was too scared to try it. Not so much worried about messing up, but I wanted to get things painted quickly so that we could finally start playing the game.
Eventually, I finished sculpting that head and when it came time to paint the Bastions, I decided to try dip my toes into NMM, at least a little bit, by painting their halberd blades using only "regular" white, black, gray, & blue paint.
I have no desire to paint for "show" and only paint for Donna & I to have minis to play, but it's fun to challenge myself. These NMM halberds are far from perfect, but they were a nice ice breaker into the technique and I think they're at least passable on the table top in-game. So, I'm happy with it.
Our original boulder was a scrap piece of foam from one of our storage boxes. I sculpted a better version using rigid foam & spackling. Some quick dry brushing & it was table ready.
Our simple wooden scrap walls got an upgrade to stone walls. I sculpted the stones with epoxy putty & then painted them up; playing around with Jose David's method of progressive glazes to give them some rich tones & a wide mix of colors.
Our original simple box building got an upgrade with popsicle sticks & a new paint job. I also made another building using foamcore, popsicle sticks, & some spackling to give a stucco texture to the outside walls.
We also added another obstruction that was originally just an offcut piece of PVC pipe. Once again, popsicle sticks & paint to the rescue: a stone tower was born.
Our simple flags were originally a piece of scrap fabric glued to a skewer stuck in blue-tack on a 40mm base. I sculpted a small set of flags "waving in the wind" to replace them.
This was one of my favorite projects so far. I really wanted the challenge of getting a wavy flag sculpt using epoxy putty. I had to roll it flat on a ziploc bag & let it set for about 45 minutes. Then, I formed some wire "saw horses" to drape it over so that it could finish curing in the shape I wanted.
When I posted it on FB, several people offered helpful tips on easier ways to make flags; which was appreciated, but to me, it was specifically about "can I make this with putty?". I like specific challenges & trying to push my creativity. So, the simplest way is rarely the way I choose. Not that I want it to be difficult, but I want to learn something new through the process.
Where We Are Now & Where We're Headed
About 2 months into the game, we discovered Brawlmachine. The game time length, amount of models to manage, & overall scope of the game at that size is perfect for us. We were also finding ourselves getting interested in trying other factions.
Along with the Skorne mystery box we'd gotten, we ordered a few more mystery boxes & scoured for used models on FB. The majority of it is still waiting to be built / painted, but what we have to play in the future is:
Me
Built / Painted: Cryx & Skorne
Waiting to be built: Legion of Everblight, Trollbloods, Mercs (Rhulic), & Mercs (Talion / Pirates)
Donna
Built / Painted: Protectorate & Circle Orboros (primed, being painted this month)
Waiting to be built: Trollbloods, Grymkin, Mercs (Llaelese), & Minions (Farrow)
It's safe to say we're hooked at this point.
From a game play standpoint, we still get in 2 games a week on Tuesdays & Saturdays. We also have a few friends who are interested in learning the game. We're hoping to be able to teach them some time in the next few months and start to build a WarmaHordes community in our little home town.
From a content standpoint, I want to continue to do 2 batreps per month. For the near future, those will both be written. Eventually, I'd like to replace 1 of those written batreps with a video, while keeping the 2nd one written.
In order to learn how to record & edit videos, I'm making a series of short videos beforehand. The Warjax Games Clubs crew was talking about confusion around power attacks a while back & that inspired me to make a series of short videos covering them.
I have the head-butt video finished & am working on the slam & trample videos next, finishing up with throws. I plan to post the first video in the coming weeks after I get the 2nd one finished. I want to have 1 "in the tank" waiting for the next release date before I publish the first. That way, I'll have a bit of a buffer as far as time is concerned if my schedule gets busy / delayed.
Here's a short sample of what they will look like; bear in mind the short action section of this video only has low background music on purpose. The head butt video has audio narration; as well as the future batrep videos will have the same narration over the video. This is just to give you an idea of the quality I'm trying to work towards as far as the animations, music, & video quality.
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