Magic 2011 Booster Draft Tournament!

Well, we did it again yesterday.  No, I don't mean get fall-down drunk and crawl under the table (even if we had that covered).  I mean another Magic: The Gathering booster draft!  This time things went a little faster,  as everyone has had a lot more experience with the basic set, as we used Magic 2011 as our draft box.

Banter around the draft table was a little more subdued, but everything went great as we drew our battle plans and took the spells we wanted.  I was a little surprised only one other person drafted black, and as it turned out we both crafted killer decks.  Looking around the table it became apparent that several people were drafting white, and it turned out there were more than a couple of dual (green or blue) white decks that hit the board.

Only one three pack winner this time - myself, The Bone!  Not that I had a right to win, as I got staggeringly drunk as the night wore on.  Skim won a pack, marking his first match win at a tournament here at the Wargate!  It's going to be a blast going forward, and everyone has made it clear that Magic drafts are one of their favorite features of the club.  We plan on hosting Mirrodin Besieged in the next few weeks, but later this week our local game store, The Cave, will be hosting a Mirrodin Besieged booster draft this Friday.  Anyone who wishes to attend the draft tournament Friday night should check with those awesome guys down there.  We hope to see you at the draft at The Cave, where you can get some draft experience before you head into the Wargate for our next tournament!

Lastly, I don't remember a lot about what happened at Pathfinder - but I remember casting both my heal spells and stabilizing Greg.  Of course, he got to -6 hp before I realized what was happening and moved the 3 squares to save him.  It wasn't too much longer after that, I ceased functioning and found someplace dark (under the table).

Well, I only had the two spells anyways.

Willkommen zu Wissenland!

     It's time to begin a new campaign here at the Wargate!  On February 1st, we begin Willkommen zu Wissenland!, a Warhammer Warbands campaign.  The rules for the campaign have gone up on the Warhammer Fantasy page, so you can check those out when you get a chance.  I wanted to take the opportunity to explain some of the design decisions made during the planning of this new campaign.

     First of all, you might notice that the campaign has almost three times as many games in it as the last campaign.  I've chosen to go the long form this time for several reasons.  First, we've got a lot of new players. Second, it's still a relatively new ruleset for a lot of us.  Third, it's an escalation campaign.  Fourth, we have more players than our last campaign.  A lot of the games will be really fast, especially at first.  As the warbands grow larger, it will take longer to do your games, but not too long as the cap is 1000 points.  

     One of the great reasons to take the long form is so new units can be added to the armies as we go along, and we'll no doubt feature a few of these here on the Wargate.  I wanted to allow a little more time to get into the game and our armies.  We'll be building a lot of the background which we'll be using in the Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, just like we use the Mardannon Sector for Warhammer 40,000.

     The campaign's time limit is set.  It will run from February 1st to June 1st, so we have four months to get in all our battles.  At the end of that time, or if we finish all the battles before then, the campaign is over and the player with the highest point value wins the campaign!  We'll see what happens if someone manages to tie.  Who knows what sort of treasure the victors will uncover as they reap the spoils of victory in Wissenland!

     I have to apologize for the slow rate of posts these days, but I'm going to try to keep up a rather demanding posting schedule, even if I always miss my deadlines!  Make sure to leave us some comments if you have something to say about the new campaign, or if you just want to talk smack on your opponents!

Green World Ruins!

So I've been slacking off this week as far as the blog goes, I have a few articles that are a few days late.  That's ok, since we'll be picking up Pathfinder this weekend anyways.  However, we've not been lax over at the Wargate, and we've gotten so much stuff together that we've had to add another bookshelf to the game room!

I'd like to take advantage of this lull in activity to talk about our Green World: Ruins terrain set!  We've had these for quite some time, and they've pretty much been the staple of the "Forbidden Planet" for as long as we've been in Ada!  

These guys have been around for quite some time, as some of you can well attest to.  A lot of blood has been spilled by many, many warriors over the years, but recently these structures have undergone a bit of a renovation.  Now there is an entirely new piece, and additional details have been added to the bases.

For this iteration, I've added more talus to the flock on each of the bases.  There's more scatter and moss all over, and a few new large stones as well.  The grey ruins are the newest of the four bases, and it looks so good we'll be constructing large amounts of new structures based on the techniques used to paint it, which basically amounted to laying on a light coat of paint onto a darker under coat, then inking all the crevices down and painting up the details.  Easy.

Those bases are from the original sheet of masonite I used to create our first table, back when the club was headquartered in a trailer park.  Don't even get me started on all that, but these guys have stood the test of time and weigh in at over a decade old.  That's respectable, considering the punishment these bases have had throughout their long and dedicated service to the Wargate.

There are a lot of new ruinous terrain boxed sets out there, and we'll be picking up quite a few to build the Brown World with.  Expect to see some interesting takes on the idea of ruins, as we've learned a lot about what can be done since these bases were first constructed.  How about multi level ruins (on hills and mountainous boulders) or perhaps a pool, or recess, or other terrain feature merged with the ruin?  We're going to have to explore a lot of this going forward, so that we have more pieces that are multi-level to break up the monotony of the playing field.  For Brown World, I see this being lots of multi-level ruin bases.

That's all for now, but there will be a flurry of activity here at the Wargate tomorrow.  Pathfinder characters begin in the early afternoon, but you can still make one if you can make it by our normal time.  A second Magic: The Gathering has been proposed, and we'll talk about that during our pre-game meeting.  Happy Game Day, everyone!

Tournament Day in Mirrodin-Town!

Hey Folks!

Sorry for the delay in posting, it's been almost a week!  I've been studying hard, getting the new sections ready to go up.  Today, I'm gonna talk about our first Magic: The Gathering prize draft here at the Wargate, which happened to be an awesome success!  Everyone had loads of fun for several hours, and walked away with something tangible for their efforts!

Everyone knows that I like Magic, but let me explain why.  I think the Draft tournament format is one of the better gaming experiences that one can have, even if you don't play with cards all the time or even have very much experience with Magic.  However, when a new environment comes along, there is a great opportunity for everyone to dive in all at the same level.  Now, we don't do a whole lot of cards over here at the gate, but I think this might become a staple for in-between larger campaigns.  It took the whole day to do the tournament (not because some folk turned up an hour late but hey, that helped) even though we had planned to start Pathfinder that evening.  Everyone turned up and had a great time in slightly different kind of atmosphere than normal here at the Wargate.  Check out everyone in their Sunday best, below!

A booster draft has tons of opportunities for really cool gaming.  Infect decks took the day, even though I managed to draft both Elspeth Tirel AND Venser, the Sojourner during the first pack!  A lot of folk drafted white / blue, so the pickings were slim but we all managed to eke out pretty nasty decks.  Greg and Skim had some bad luck, but for Skim's first time playing Magic since the 1990's I think he did awesome during the tournament!  Better luck for those guys in Mirrodin Besieged, the second part of the new Scars block and our next draft tournament, scheduled for sometime in February.

Here are the winners from the draft!  Here you can see Josh and Shawn holding the banner, with three packs each!  That's right - those two guys won all three of their matches, and they were running Infect!  We had a ton of fun, and look forward to busting through the rest of the multiverse with Booster Drafts, now a staple at the Wargate!

Later this week we'll be posting about D&D Realms, new campaign pages and lots more!  Check back every other day this week, it's gonna be awesome to the head!

Scars of Mirrodin Draft Tournament!

Greetings!  Dave Bone here, and today I've come to tell you about our Magic: The Gathering tournament we'll be hosting for Scars of Mirrodin this weekend at the Wargate!

We've got plenty of strategy gamers here, and a few of us still sling cards around, even if it is mostly on the internet these days!  We've had plenty of time to play around in the new environment, and now we're going to see if any of us have what it takes to make it in a competitive environment.  Draft tournaments are easy to run, fun as all get-out to play in and even better to win at!

It's going to be a fun day with the club, but I want to take a moment and go over a few things just so we have them recorded all official-like.  Nothing too heavy, but we have promised prizes to the winning players so we have to have a tiny bit of interpretable legalese.  Or something.

Anyways, for those of you who've never played in a draft tourney, let me sketch it out for you how it's going to go.  First, we'll open the box and issue each of the 8 players 3 packs of Scars of Mirrodin.  Each player will open the 15 card pack and take 1 card from it, as his top pick.  The remaining 14 cards are passed to the player on the right, who then takes a card from those.  We continue passing the packs to the right, and each player takes one card from it each time until all the cards are picked.  Then we do the next pack (passing to the left), and the next (to the right), until each player has 45 cards (3 packs worth) to select his deck from.

Once all the packs have been drafted, it's time to build a deck.  Now, there's tons of strategy articles out there about drafting and aggressive selection, and I totally encourage you to check out a few articles around the web on such subjects, but I won't be going into that in detail in this article.  Decks will be 40 cards minimum.
Lands are going to be provided by the Wargate, so you'll get to have as many basic lands as you want.  This means that from your set of 45 cards that you drafted, you'll use approximately half of them in your deck.

After decks are built, the games begin!  Each player has been randomly assigned their opponents for each round and a tracker has been placed on the board at the Wargate.  There will be 3 rounds, each with four different matches running simultaneously.

Winning is simple.  The tournament matches will be best 2 of 3 games.  After each match, a marker will be placed by the winners name.  We're going to use a very simple scoring system, so at the end of the tournament you win a pack of Scars of Mirrodin for each match you win.  Simple.

We want to make these drafts a part of the Wargate's curriculum, so give us plenty of feedback on this!  We might start with having a Draft Tournament after each expansion comes out (3 months or so), or it could be a monthly occurrence depending on that feedback, so let us know what you think!

Until then, beware the frakkin' Memnites!!

Dark Heresy: Under A Vast Grey Sky - The Conclusion

The Wargate's Fall Dark Heresy campaign is over!  Yeah I know it's technically Winter, but it ran a few weeks longer than all that.  It was still mostly Fall.

Quite a lot has happened on the world of Lucruzu Prime since our players landed there, a little over two weeks (of game time!) ago.  There were casualties during the course of the mission, but all points were covered and Inquisitor Mandera was pleased!

Below is a breakdown of the game in each of it's ten sessions (adventures!) which gives a synopsis of the challenges given to the servants of the Emperor in their mission to Lucruzu, and how they got through one of the most insidious attempts at subverting the Imperial Creed that Inquisitor Mandera has ever investigated!

1. Distress At Lucruzu - The characters are brought together by various fortunes to serve the Inquisition under Corvus Mandera of the Ordo Hereticus.  Aboard an ancient chartist vessel, the Abyssinia, the player group (the acolytes) survive an attempt on their lives by escaping into a black hold.  There, they encountered hullghasts, but managed to escape back to the upper levels in a safe area.  The guilder who was responsible was executed by Comptroller Bosch, with little exchange of words.
2. The Mission - The acolytes meet a lot of important NPC's, including Admiral Akrezu of the Spanner of Twilights, Hobart Wolkmann of the Mission of the Emperor Ascendant, Liev and Andrei Semetov, as well as their father, Urien Balka Semetov and his niece, Castella Balka.  After thwarting an attempt on Castella's life, the acolytes know something serious is happening here.
3. Death At Tithesgiving - An attempt is made on the Governor's life, leaving him critically injured yet still alive.  Most people think that Andrei was responsible, leading to a gunfight at the tithing grounds and Andrei's escape into the steppe around Domagosch.
4. Band of Basterds - The Inquisitor makes contact and delineates the parameters of the acolyte's missions:  Determine if religious militants are the cause of the unrest is primary, but after the assassination attempt Mandera charges the acolytes with determining the faction responsible for the assassination attempt. The players investigate the tales of the offworlders.  When a meeting with the offworld mercenaries is finally secured, it goes south quickly and a Semetov pogrom seems to land right on top of their position!
5. Band of Basterds, Part 2 - The acolytes continue their investigation into the offworlders, eventually discovering a connection: they seem to be working for Andrei Semetov.  However, it seems that Bob (Band of Basterds) screwed over Alexei, a local pimp and extortionist.  A few of the acolytes accompany Bob into the steppe in their huge rovers, and the other half remain in the city to continue their investigations.
6. The Windswept Steppe - This session was really two different adventures, as the two groups of acolytes never come in so much as vox contact.  One group accompanies Bob to their safehouse in the steppe, where they promise Andrei is waiting.  The safehouse is destroyed, and a Semetov Lander emerges from behind a nearby hill.  The battle is swift, and Bob heads back into town to find their own leader, Captain Basterd.  The other group of acolytes conduct business throughout the city, and encounter some interesting folk at the mission, including a mysterious psyker who warns them that death is coming.  An assassin emerges from the dark and attempts to kill the acolytes at the mission, but he is slain.  Outside, the rioting begins.
7. The Pogrom - Domagosch is in the middle of the violent throes of religious rioting.  Locking onto short range vox waves, the acolytes attempt to reunite and finally find each other at one of Bob's safehouses, which is an underground bunker.  After dealing with Alexei, the players find Andrei Semetov in the safehouse, which was provided by Castella Balka.
8. The Outlaw Torn - Sabotage by the Watchers of Poul in both Bob and Andrei's Honor Guard turn the underground bunker into a madzone.  A few short range firefights and one or two tactical explosives in confined spaces and the acolytes see for the first time the Watchers of Poul's heretical literature, proclaiming a new Emperor coming whose face will Change.
9. The Murderous Truth - Andrei plans to get into the Semetov fortress, and has a plan for dealing with the internal security as well.  The acolytes aid him in his plan and enter the fortress, where they find more evidence of Liev aiding the Watchers of Poul that are proven heretics on his personal data slates. Rabalias Narcia, Cleric of Poul, is revealed to be a loathesome witch, and is slain after a terrible battle. Meanwhile, Murkul the Tech-Priest rests after having new eyes implanted after his original, weak eyes were melted by laser-fire.  An attempt was made on his life by an unknown assassin, but this was thwarted by a few of the other acolytes present at the Medicae Cybernetica.
10. The Steeple of Souls - The players have all they need to bring down Liev and his militant cult.  However, Andrei kills his brother after Liev fires upon the acolytes, though he was badly wounded by the plasma fire.  Inquisitorial stormtroopers flood the fortress, disarming the House Guard and taking everyone into custody, where they were brought before Inquisitor Mandera.

In the end, this is pretty much how it goes:

• The Watchers of Poul isn't heretical in and of itself, it's a certain set of teachings that sometimes inserts itself into the doctrine.  It's believed by the Ordo that this phenomenon is not inherent or limited to this particular sect.
• Urien knew that the Watchers were gaining in popularity, and that an attempt on his life might be made. To this end, he appealed to Castella to ask her lover, Inquisitor Mandera, to investigate the happenings.  Band of Basterds was sent first.
• The Basterds fought against the unjust Semetov Pogroms posing as Ascendant cultists to hide the fact they were from offworld.
• The Semetov Pogroms were used by Liev to target civilian populations that were loyal to the Temple Ascendant.
• As the Watchers gained popular momentum, the population of the Temple Ascendant was lowered.
• Andrei was framed, but ran because he's young and inexperienced.  He also knew about his brothers' doings and feared Rabalias.
• Band of Basterds was ordered to protect Andrei, who (when approached) offered to hire them.  Problem solved.
• Band of Basterds was really serving Mandera the whole time, through his proxy Castella Balka.
• Liev's ultimate goal was to gain control of the other Guild Houses of Lucruzu through his status and Rabalias' religious influence.  And lots of money.

There might be more.  Comments are open, so if you have questions you want answered please do drop a line.  There was tons and tons more of material, I just can't go into everything here.  We have to draw a line somewhere!  However, there should be plenty of healthy discussion for weeks!

That's all for now, but as we speak, the acolytes are now the personal retinue of Inquisitor Mandera, and are accompanying him to Kelphis, in the Incendia Paeniteo subsector.

There, they have put to death many sanctioned Imperial psykers, citing heresy and warpcraft.

And that is the purview of the Ordo Hereticus.

Death In The Delve: Curse of the Alderhalls Final Rankings!

The battle for the Alderhalls is over!

We've spent the past two months in the Delve fighting tooth and nail to find as many pieces of wyrdstone as possible.  The value of this treasure is immense, and many warriors died to procure as much of the sorcerous substance as possible for their masters.  Each warband had a different agenda, and now with the final scores in we can better see what's happening now down there in the deeps of the Khazid...

1. Despoilers of the Blight have defeated all comers in the battle for dominance in the delve!  Everyone is whispering tales of dread mutants and beastmen crawling about in the dark beneath the city, and rightfully fears the darkness!  The Blight Deacon now intends to use his pile of wyrdstone to claim the Alderhalls for the Chaos Gods!  Even now, beastmen gather in masses and enter the dungeons below Khazid Grimaz, and the threat of the orcs seem a distant and irrelevant threat.
2. Von Staufferman's Expedition retreated from the Alderhalls with a good store of warpstone.  A new witch hunter captain is to be appointed in Altdorf, where the expedition will present their superiors with their treasure.  After replenishing their ranks and drumming up a good sized army in Wissenland, they will march to the Khazid to aid their allies in their time of need.
3. The Adherents of the Repeated Mean know that Von Staufferman's Expedition will be leaving the Khazid to head to Altdorf.  Knowing well the road, they begin to tail the witch hunters in hopes of overtaking them in the forests.  After killing the Sigmarites and taking their warpstone, they will continue to hunt for twins in the nearest hamlets of Wissenland...
4. The Pharoah's Mace continue to lurk in the Delve, hunting for wyrdstone and other more esoteric information.  Armaeus is determined to find the Doomforge, and will not be dissuaded by the mortals scurrying about the halls looking for warpstone.  He has plenty of that.
5. Ahuiateteo: The Gods of Excess flit amongst the cracks and crevices of a few passes in the Delve that are abnormally warm.  Additionally, orcs and beastmen around the base of the mountain are having more and more encounters with larger and larger groups of the lizardmen.  What this portends, is unknown.
6. Khazid Grimaz has been undermanned and overwhelmed.  They have almost no presence in the Alderhalls, and most of the progress they had made has been undone.  The Ironbreakers and Thane's Household maintain the upper levels, but almost no effort can be made to make progress either in the Delve or in the mines.  The very existence of the Khazid Grimaz is in question, as armies converge from across the land.

So, Greg won the Mordheim campaign for 2010!  We're ringing in the New Year to the tune of Chaos!

Congratulations to Greg and his Despoilers of the Blight!  The glory of the Alderhalls is theirs!

That's not all, however! Wargate had something special planned for this, and handed out a secret prize for 1st Place today!  The Secret Treasure of the Alderhalls goes to Greg, who gets a new unit for his Warhammer army!  Now his High Elves will be stronger in the upcoming Warhammer Warbands campaign!

We're making a strong commitment to strengthening the gaming community here at the Wargate, and there will be plenty of prizes to come!  Now, our battles will actually serve to make our armies stronger and each campaign will add to our options for tabletop gaming by adding new terrain and units to our community!  

Just remember, tis the season for Chaos in Khazid Grimaz!  Now the Elves are coming!