Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Commitment Issues

I glared at her from across the room. She sat there quietly, as she always did. Nothing about her had changed. Same clothes, same hair, same skills. Heck, I'm pretty sure she hadn't even gained any weight. But I just couldn't stand to look at her anymore.

Maybe I'm the one who's changed. When we started out, I had no idea what I was doing, and she was safe. I never worried about surprises, and it was nice. For a time. But now I've outgrown her, and I'm ready to move on.


















Sorscha, we need to talk.

When it comes to gaming, I'm terrible about sticking with one thing. When I played World of Warcraft, I played almost every class to maximum level. Unfortunately, only two of them saw the end-game raids.

When I quit Magic years ago, I had at least 10 decks sitting in my box, and only one of them was in danger of being competitive.

I quit playing YuGiOh because the deck I spent countless hours testing and fine-tuning came in the top 3 in local tournaments too often, and it bored me. 

It's not an issue of commitment. My biggest problem is that I want to be good at everything a game has to offer. In Magic, there are hundreds of themes to build. Many are terrible, but I love the idea of building and testing them out until they function properly. Of course once that happens the deck is tucked away while I start again with a new deck.

And now in Warmachine, I feel like I've run my course with my current army. I don't win with them consistently (especially lately), but I think that's because I did so well in the beginning that I never got to experience the struggle of figuring out my army. My favorite part of any game is that incremental increase in skill and knowledge, and I wasn't prepared for doing well from the start. I've tasted enough victories with them that I no longer push myself to improve.

Don't get me wrong, I love Khador; I've even learned to love their goofy hats that were almost a deal-breaker when I was first choosing an army.

Take off that stupid hat!

















But for nearly a year, they've been my only option. Obviously my intro was hyperbole, but the core idea rings true: I'm just not as excited to fight for the Motherland as I once was. At this point, as with YuGiOh,  I'd just stop playing the game because I don't want to invest any more in to the game.

Unfortunately, I love Warmachine! It was my introduction into wargaming, it's the army I played while making friends, and those models are responsible for awakening the ravenous painter I never knew existed. Because of that, I can't just stop playing (although I sort of have already), but the idea of fielding a sea of red isn't appealing.

So I found myself doing what I did a year ago: I dug through the Privateer Press forums and looked at armies. With some experience under my belt, it was easier to understand the pros and cons of each army, but it felt just as difficult as the first time because I knew exactly what I was looking at, and it's easy to find a good thing about any army!

Thinking back over all the times I saw a model and said "oooh, I'd love to paint that!" or seeing a model in action and loving what it does, my options started narrowing pretty quickly. An army's lore needs to interest me too. But as I've learned with my Orks, sometimes an army's story isn't enough, so that wasn't a driving factor.

So after spending too much time looking at models, gameplay, and lore, I think I've found an army that will take me on the next part of my journey:



I don't plan on getting any Circle of Orboros any time soon. I think we have this as a "house army" in our game room so I can take it for a spin and try before I buy. But for now, it's just nice to know that I can look forward to a new batch of Privateer Press models that I don't need to paint red.

And before people grow concerned about my marriage, don't worry. This expensive character flaw only applies to things that aren't integral to my life. Besides, can anyone ever be too good at being married?

See you tomorrow!

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