This has been something of a bitter sweet week. Once again I’ve not had to do much in the way of travel so I’ve managed to get some gaming in, I’ve managed to get some hobby in and I’ve managed to catch up on Game of Thrones. So that all falls under the Sweet but then the bitter is linked to a kick starter but I’ll come back to that later.
First of all me and Pete managed to carry on with our game this week and my efforts in the intervening week to figure out how to make use of the French didn’t really pay off. We probably spent too much time drinking tea and talking, if that’s possible so we didn’t get the game finished but the writing is on the cards I think. I did manage to sink a few of Pete’s ships but he sank an equal number of mine. The big difference is that his remaining ships have no damage and nearly all of mine are carrying damage of some sort, which has a big impact when it comes to dishing out damage. So I think that unless I start rolling a fantastic number of six’s I’m going to get a tubing. But I may still be able to gang up on one of his big ships and take that with me.
It’s been interesting as most forces seem to have an area they excel in along with ships that really stand out as being key units to take. Obviously this is the first game with have both played with the French on the table but it’s hard to see how to make the best use of them. Which may well make them a lot of fun to play with whilst trying to figure them out. One ship that seems to stand out thou is the Cherbourg Class Battle Cruiser. If you can get it in close enough it seems to really pack a punch, it is also very fast for its size so could also be good on the flanks. Screening it behind some Dieppe Class Cruisers would take some of the heat away from it allowing to slip out once in range to let loose with its heat lances. I’d really like to pick up another but that may be hard given current circumstances, but more on that later. We’ve no game next week but will pick it up, and probably end it in a fortnight.
On the hobby front I’ve been having a play with some Empire of the Rising sun models. As I’ve mentioned before I really like how Pete did his so this I my take on his paint scheme. Not quite identical but its close. Although my approach to getting this colour has been very different to Pete’s. Mainly because I didn’t know how he had achieved his colour scheme until after I had done mine. I went with a thin turquoise over a metallic base and Pete used a blue wash, so not that different really. Anyway I’m really happy with these and I’m sure Pete will forgive me. Plus it means we can have bigger games were me and Pete can gang up on some unsuspecting foe. Once I get the rest of the models I have completed.
Now we get onto the bitter part for this week, and it wouldn’t be a proper waffle without this. I got an e-mail on Friday night saying that Spartan Games had ceased trading. But what did that actually mean for me. Well this is where we get into the perils of Kick Starter because I had backed the Dystopian Wars 2.5 expansion and now that the company is no longer trading the chances of anything being delivered are very small. I say very small as they had already started to ship some of the pledges so there is an outside possibility that something will arrive but I’m not going to hold my breath. Now ever since I first backed a Kickstarter I have been aware that I’m investing it the company to deliver a project, not buying a product which is important to remember. If the company doesn’t deliver you are in a very different position to where you are if you buy a product and the company doesn’t deliver. Backing a Kickstarter isn’t covered by a lot of the consumer protections you normally get. So there can be great rewards but the risks are higher. So my golden rule is that I have to be prepared to lose the money I’ve put in if it doesn’t deliver. If I can’t afford that then I won’t back the project. Don’t get me wrong it hurts when things like this happen but I can still pay the bills so can chalk it down to experience.
So what are the impacts of something like this? My initial thoughts were that the company that produces a game I really like has gone under and I can’t see anyone else picking this up. That means no more really cool models and no new rules. I can and will continue to play with what I have but there is now no room for growth. But over the week I’ve been thinking about the wider implications here. I’ve lost some money in the event but there are real people at the other side of this and they have all lost their jobs so it puts not getting some toys into perspective. For the directors of the company there are implications that will stay with them for years to come and will impact anything they try to do in the future. So I think it’s important to remember this when we all have our little rants about what has happened.
For me there will also be a wider implication when it comes to whether I will back a future project. Spartan were a well-established company who had reached the target for this project and I know people how had received their pledges. They had another project running for another gaming system and it seemed to be following the routine that a lot of established companies now seen follow of using Kickstarter as something of a pre-order system. But now that Spartan have gone, after looking in good health what does this mean for other companies. For me it means I’m likely to go back to only backing new projects from new companies, just as risky but it’s more about giving them a boost to get started. I’ll wait for a proper release from the larger ones and pay a bit more for the end product without incurring the risk.
So with only my existing stock of Dystopian Wars models to work through, and to be fair I do have a few, I’ll be looking for some new inspiration. Which may well be a move back to 40K. I know that may be shock as the new Ork codex isn’t out yet but after looking the Plague Marines in the new Dark Heresy starter set I’m really tempted to give them a go. I do already have a small Death Guard army from way back in 3rd edition so I may look to expand this but I’m more tempted to go for something a bit different. My idea at the moment is mix up pre heresy Death Guard with the new Plague Marines. All painted in the white and green of the original Death Guard but with varying stages of decay on them. I think it will give nice mix to a force and the narrative for the different looks would simply be to do with vagaries of the warp. Makes sense to me at any rate so I’ll just have to see how it pans out.
That’s been quite a text heavy waffle this week so I’m going to call it a day there. Have a good weekend and I’ll catch you all again next week.
