Well that was fun!
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| Yes, this a Dire Troll Mauler being moved by a crane so he can jump on a Galleon...Templecon was THAT crazy! |
From crazy 4-hours long Warmachine team games to an Unleashed demo and seeing a painted Sacral Vault (painted by my friend Paul), I've been quite spoiled in this beginning of 2015...And that's not even factoring in all the clam chowder!
While I'll probably be talking about my experience at Templecon on the Geeks of the North Podcast (I think it will be episode 12 at this point), there's still a couple of things I'd like to talk about from Templecon, in no particular order:
1. Pulp City Kickstarter:
Devon was at Templecon and the Pulp City crew had given the chance to those backers attending to send them an e-mail in order to get a part of their stock earlier. To which I posted a comment on facebook saying ''great idea!'' and never sent an e-mail. My friend Antoine did though.
By the end of the con, my friend Paul and myself decided to get a demo of the game to see how good it is and learn it.
I must say I was pleasantly surprised. While my ''Skirmish'' game at the moment is Malifaux, Pulp City brings enough interesting ideas to not be downright ignored (although I do try to avoid doing that).
First idea I liked: the ''Action Mechanic'': each Supreme (Pulp City's super-heroes) has a number (AP+) which represents the number of action points he brings into a team's action pool and another number (AP) which represent the maximum action points this hero can use from the pool.
So, why is this so cool? Well, for example this means a Supreme could bring less actions than he can use...you have then a super-powerful Supreme that is dependant on the rest of his team's well-being in order to be able to use his maximum action points. It'll also mean that another Supreme won't be playing to its full capacity.
It gets even cooler when you play Pulp City and realize that Supremes can choose to do whatever they feel like doing during their turn, if they don't use their full maximum allotment of action points and there 's still some left in the pool, well, you can chose to reactivate later on during the turn and make some more actions.
Add to that an interesting idea with the ''powerup dice'' mechanic and modifiers and you have a gameplay where your miniatures don't feel like Warmachine Warcasters, they don't feel like Malifaux Masters, they truly feel like Supremes!
I must say the Pulp City design team did a truly beautiful game! It stands out by its originality from its competitors and I now cannot wait for the rest of my Kickstarter stuff to come in.
Here are a couple of shots from the book and my Vilains starter I got. Backers from the Kickstarter: you will probably be very happy with this game!
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| Nice pictures, paper is of good quality. |
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| Grimms! |
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| Sneak peak at the Monster Chapter! |
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| Its happening! |
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| The stuff inside: Quick Rules/Cheat-Sheet + Supreme miniatures and their associated cards. |
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| Cheat-sheet |
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| The Supremes Vilains in all their glory! |
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| Nuke 2nd edition |
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| Aurelius, a crazed golden alchemist! |
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| Anansi (aka: evil Spiderwoman!) |
Now I'll have to paint these bad boys (pun intended) and I'm sure I'll have a ton of fun with them!
2. Dropzone Commander Tournament
When my boss (Dan from Gamers' Vault) announced it, I was so surprised that I instinctively told him I would have nothing to do with it.
Fast-forward a couple weeks later and here I am, playing in the Dropzone Commander Tournament at Templecon and hoping I can win that Resistance Starter so I can start that game.
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| Dan's army vs Paul's. |
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| From Left to Right: Myself, Paul, Patrick (winner of the tournament, congrats!) and Dan. |
On a note: I was quite disappointed with the Warstore not having brought any small games at Templecon...Well Gamers' Vault will probably have a booth next year to bring all those indie games that need to be discovered!
3. Iggy's
Fish and chips, homemade soda and white clam chowder...I think it didn't go past 14$US, probably one of our cheapest yet best meal we enjoyed on our trip.
4. Keynote:
I made sure we'd be in the front so you could see us on the Keynote videos of the crowd.
Hey it's my first Templecon so I have to put myself in your face and enjoy the most of it.
Bonus points if you can spot my friend Simon in the crowd (I think you can also see José).
More on the Keynote: I was disappointed. It was short, new Colossals is an interesting thing yes...but for Kits that cost 130++ $CAN I expect something more than a weapon-swap. I understand that it is a matter of costs but nonetheless they look barely different.
Hopefully the Hordes ones are way less disappointing...(please give the ''Avalanche King'', the Northern Mountain Kings Hoarluk went to recruit, a different pose: two gargantuans with their fists high in the air would be ridiculous!)
Other than the aesthetic of the new Colossals, I must say it will bring something different to the meta and that it is a good thing: it will increase the chances of facing Colossals as people find some that fit their playstyle where the previous ones didn't...
A very good move despite not being an impressive one.
5. Unleashed:
Dan, José, myself and two random strangers were amongst the first to give a try to Iron Kingdoms Unleashed as we snatched a box of the RPG starter kit and decided to give it a go one night during the con.
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| The Unleashed ''Pygmy Chieftain'' painted by yours truly! |
For the bad guys...well in order to make a 60$USD kit with tons of miniatures you have to cut somewhere...so all the farrows are just weapon-swaps versions of models that exist already (Rorsh, Targ) or simply the models without any modification whatsoever. I'm fine with that as, after all, they are supposed to be farrows and the warmachine models represent that exactly.
Where IKRPG: Unleashed gets better, is by its gameplay: for example, one of the two guys playing with us (Ben I think) was playing a Bog Trog Bone Grinder and he could craft tons of talismans, spyglasses made of emptied bones and eyes of our enemies, magic compass made with a skull and flesh, etc...
Another example of the great feel/setting: José was playing a Gatorman and, while his character was awesome in combat, we had to feed him every four hours or he'd start getting maluses (or losing control?)
While I didn't jump into the IKRPG, I could definitely see a book of Unleashed on my shelves...or gaming table with my buddies!
6.Iron Arena, Painting New Stuff, Templecon
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| Low Tide is about to see a fight like never before! |
Iron Arena was fun, I got to try scenarios like ''Low Tide'' and the ''Mines'' while getting my first game of Thunderdome under my belt and proving that eGrissel kicks some serious serious ashes when it comes to warcasters and warlocks.
I kept losing points because I had one solo or my warlock unpainted while the rest of my army was fully painted. Tips to would-be Templecon-goers: paint your models! Especially key pieces like a 'Trollkin Runebearer' or your warlocks!
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| Trollkin Sorcerer, can't you be painted so I can make the points?! |
Painting with Paul was, as usual, extremely fun and not really Templecon-ish but its more what we painted (me: the Pygmy from Unleashed, him: the Sacral Vault!!!) that made it special.
My overall thoughts on Templecon?
I would definitely go back next year! Although this time I'll try to have my Trolls fully painted so I don't lose points stupidly in the Iron Arena and I'll also register for some Warmachine tournaments to show them who's the boss! (eGrissel, that is)
Of course, all this is if I'm not working behing a Gamers' Vault booth selling Pulp City, Dropzone Commander and all the games that are not Warmachine or 40k and that you should give a try.
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At this point I probably said too much already. All I wanted to do was to talk a little about the Pulp City Kickstarter, especially since I got the chance of getting a bit of my stuff earlier, and quickly talk about the Dropzone tournament but... I lost control and started telling the whole thing and now will be left with nothing to discuss on the Podcast. I do have a blog to take care of you know.
Of course you know, you are reading it, thanks for that!
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