Warmachine Arrives at the Gate!

The time has come to throw open the Wargate and step through to a new world of battle and strife!  A new realm waits for us to conquer it - Immoren, the land of the Iron Kingdoms!  Yes folks - it's time to fire up those cortexes and link with your steel minions of doom to bring fire and death to your enemies!

For the last several months, we've had an initiative here at the Wargate to muster armies for more miniature games - new games to campaign in and collect models for!  Warmachine (sans Hordes) is the first of the games that the club has embraced to actually make it to a realized campaign, and to top it off it's the first of the Schedule 2 campaign games!  That's right - Warmachine will be played alongside Warhammer 40,000 during the summertime!

Warmachine (and it's brother in arms, Hordes) is published by a company known as Privateer Press.  Through great persistence and excellence of their product, they have brought Warmachine to a place where it is on the roster of the most high end war games clubs, and the Wargate is proud to join the battle in Immoren!


Warmachine is in it's second edition, called Prime Mk II, and Privateer Press is poised to drop more support on the game in the form of an expansion coming this summer and a steady stream of new models!  In addition, they have recently updated the sculpts of several popular sets, and the new sculpts are nothing short of awesome.  Add that to the fact that a great many of the models in the range are resin, the list of reasons to enjoy this great game add up to one sum: awesome.

I'm sorry sir, but you can't park here.

I know a lot of you are recalcitrant to start a new collection, what with so many other projects going on.  There are many reasons to go ahead and take the dive, and I'll take this opportunity to go over a few of them. 

The number one reason is that it's being played!  We have the material to play, and also the will - so it's a fact that the game is here to stay!  Warmachine will have the full support of the club, including prizes for campaign winners and a spot here on the blog.  It's one of the realms the Wargate leads to - since you're all enterprising dimensional warlords, you may as well make your bid for power there as well!

Another good reason is that the forces required are much smaller in scale than some other wargames, which require many, many models to field a comfortable size force.  You can't even really compare collecting a Warmachine force with say, an Warhammer army, simply because if you collected as many models for Warmachine as you need for a 750pt Warhammer army (generally at least 30, more likely 50 or more) - well lets just say most entry level are between five and nine models.  Some of those are large, but no single piece is going to cost you as much as many units for other games, capping out around $35 USD.

For the Wargate, Skim was quick to pledge his generalship to the Protectorate of Menoth!  Captain Video jumped ahead and formed a Cryx army before any of the rest of us had assembled our troops!  Dirty Greg will be marshaling the forces of the Mercenary Drake MacBain, and presumably he's not after Mendoza.

For myself, Cygnar.  I'm totally going to defend the civilization of the Iron Kingdoms with huge guns and extreme prejudice.  We start the campaign on the 1st!  Stay tuned for more info on the rules we'll be using!

On Sunday, dinner will be served by the Smith, who has slated Hot Wings as being on the menu!  Come early for battle, and be there around 5pm for dinner!  See you on Game Day!

The Smith's Palladium Log, Part Deux

The Smith is keeping a good log of the Palladium adventures, and is taking advantage of our blogspace here on the interweb!  He sent me a new passage to keep everyone updated on the happenings in the Dalelands!

Smith here with a word about this weeks Palladium FRPG!

We had a great time and everyone seems to be doing great playing in character and stopping any threats present in the dales. We all enjoyed food, drink and a great evening of high adventure.

This week our party made their way through Mistledale and the Dun Hills to arrive at a ruined temple to Tempus. The party found a dwarven town called Glen. The dwarves seemed happy to see travellers and treated the party well. They were bogged down at the crossroads by Senli, (a Druegar Mercenary Warrior) and his companion Thaum, a Drow Thief. It appears the enemy has placed a price on our heroes heads.

On the way to Battledale they found carnage at the temple of Chautea the Grainmother. A Zhentarim Palladin named Orskeli was intent on stealing the temples prize Chocobos. The party defeated Orskeli and rescued the Chocobos. The group was able to find their way through the wilderness and the Dun Hills of Battledale. After seeing the temple in ruins at the hands of the WarKingz the party felt obligated to make a large donation to improve the temple and it's defenses.

Next week our adventurers hop a ferry to Scarsdale and hopes bring some relief with a new batch of antidotes courtesy of Randal Morn. Thank you to everyone involved with my adventure. I feel more and more rust breaking off this old GM. I will be making barbacoa tacos next week and hope everyone can make it for another adventure in the Forgotten Realms.

Barbacoa Tacos???  Sounds awesome - all the other dinners have been!  Come early Sunday if you have games to fight in Wissenland, as the Spring campaign will be over on June 1st!

Dinner Time!

Greetings from the nether!

Today I'd like to talk about an important part of Schedule 1 games these days - I'm talking about the Wargate's Sunday dinners!

It's become apparent that during an all day gaming event like we have every Sunday leaves many a gamer haggard after about six or so hours - a little over halfway into the entire ordeal.  Add to that the fact that players that get here for the main event usually do so right before dinner time.  What that adds up to is a whole slew of hungry wargamers.

Pizza delivery has been our best friend the last few years, as we have several options in the town where we live.  We have traditionally put a huge pile in the center of the table for those who will pitch in to help buy dinner.  Usually, this is about $5 a person, and frankly I'm astonished at how much money we collectively spent on pizza delivery.

Why?  Pizza delivery.  It's delivered, man.

Just as pizza is easy to get (we can do it without talking to a living being), the bottom line is that we can't handle the red pie every week.  Enough pizza.  In recent weeks, we have been taking a collective leaning away from pizza delivery for dinner every Sunday.

No one wants to venture downtown for food, but we did have a few taco nights where an agent ventured forth to a taco place (again, several options) and returned bearing huge loads of lifesaving texmex.  However, it quickly became evident that catering in-house would be a better option than take-out every weekend.

We've had grilled hot dogs and chicken wings!  On the semi-annual Feast of Krampus, we gorged on bratwurst in a Germanic style cuisine.  We tried several things, but were unable to conceive of a system that would help support what we needed - dinner every Sunday.  As things wore on, dinner preparations became sporadic and random.

Eventually, we'd end up ordering pizza even amidst calls to figure out a different plan.  Get a party sub.  Many nights I was commanded to do something about it and help us get the food where we wanted it, when we wanted it!

Big Matt's a professional caterer and has surprised us by showing up with huge loads of awesome grub!  Recently, however, the Smith has been insisting on preparing an awesome dinner for every session of his game!  He and his wife have painstakingly prepared vast feasts for the warriors of the 'gate, which brings me to my point.

Give forth the clank!

While I hate asking anyone to contribute money, in this case I think it's less that I'm asking for contributions and more that I think we can put all that pizza money to better use and we would all be happier for it.  I think that the dinner time provided at the Wargate has been a fantastic addition to the gaming, providing a break from the game and a refreshing and invigorating repast when those of us who have been fighting all day really need it.

Moreover, many times in the past we have called for action like this.  I'm not going to say how much Smith's been spending on those dinners, but those of you who've taken a bite can tell that there was time and effort involved.  While no one asked for the money, I think it's just right that we not only reimburse him - but encourage this sort of thing all around!

So, we're going to start a catering fund.  Every week, we'll put the cash we normally spend on dinner to the week's caterer - for now that's the Smith!  Dinner will be prepared in advance by the Wargate (the Treasury has enough to cover plenty of incidentals) way more often going forward - we might even have to hire our own cook!

Many thanks to the Smith and family for their fantastic dinners!  Know that you've kept the armies going at the Wargate for a couple of delicious weeks now and we all appreciate it very much!

That's totally worth the money we squander on pizza!

No Text / No Game

Howdy folks!

In recent months,  I've been involved in some serious discussions over at the RPGsite and other forums around the web centering on what became a philosophic debate on intent.  More specifically, I am of the view that preparation affects RPG gaming in a positive way.  I was very surprised at how many gamers do not share this view, but I thought I would address how this debate has affected the Wargate specifically.

Over the last year, we've had several GM's run games for us.  Most of those games went fantastic throughout their 10+ week run, and as a result we've even extended the main run for most RPG's to 16+ weeks since the addition of the schedule 2 games.

However, not every game went so well.  During a few games club morale dipped pretty low, and some players were rather put out and resolved not to play in certain games.  It was felt that a lot of what was happening in the game was being made up on the spot, and was easily recognizable as being drawn out of thin air.  While I believe that being able to ad-lib is one of the best talents a GM can possess, the biggest source of this was the fact that GM's were simply not writing their scenarios.

Each session became an ad-hoc group talk session with a random combat thrown in, and as time wore on this got worse.  This led to some pretty weird places, and made group members uncomfortable in more than one situation.  Random events - for no reason - that were made up on the spot - often for a silly reason.  A random chain of events with very little rhyme or reason does not a campaign make.

Before anyone attacks me with "you can't tell me what to do" or "I can run an ad-lib game by the seat of my pants that will knock your socks off" - let me tell you that you are invariably wrong.  You will have made some notes at one point and you will have brought notes to the game for that session.  Even the vilest turds on the RPGsite agree to that.

We've had a lot of experience with gaming here at the ol' Wargate - I'm not even going to go into it.  Lets just say - you have a passel of wargamers who double as rules lawyers here, not your run of the mill FLGS club.  You'd better be well versed in the rules (because there's more than one of those floating around, guaranteed) and you'd better be well planned in terms of scenario - if you intend on running a game for these hounds of hell.

So, in an effort to curb the ad-lib and encourage thought out campaigns and adventures, the Wargate enacted a rule last month.

No Text / No Game

• In order to run a game during Schedule 1 or Schedule 2 game nights as GM for an RPG, the GM must have prepared notes for that session/campaign.

Pretty simple, eh?  Well, it has been a sensitive subject, and I feel that the counterpoint is without merit.

Now, I want to be clear that this isn't a final haranguing by the Bone to those Wargate GM's who feel this applies(d) to them.  We've went through that already.  As soon as this rule was enacted, this problem absolutely stopped at the Wargate.  Everyone's game immediately picked up, and we've been having a blast since.

No longer did players feel as if they were being circumvented or aided by the fickle whim of the GM alone.  This is an important thing for us here at the Wargate, where we are gamists - not dramatists.  It makes everything feel more authentic if the encounter / scenario has great pacing and we don't have to look up systems for every thing about the adventure that isn't standard.

So, the rule about the notes.  However, it's not as if we check every time.

The Word Police want to see your papers.

I'd like to take a moment to thank everyone for putting in the time to prepare, it's really had a noticeable effect and made the games a lot more enjoyable for everyone here at the Wargate.

So I'll sign off with this - make your notes, people.  Don't show up saying it's all in your head, because that way lie madness (or at least some anger and resentment over you not taking the time to prepare for the evening).  Even sandboxes need notes - it's sort of a commitment to the game at hand.

And the Palladium Rages on...

Howdy folks!  Mr. Smith is back again to tell us how he felt about his first real session as GM here at the Wargate!  There was plenty of mystery, action, adventure and even a giant chicken.  Needless to say, with a lineup like that you know we had plenty of great fun!

The first adventure in the Dalelands was a great experience. Our heroes cut through the challenges that lay before them like a ripe melon. The port town of Scarsdale was befallen by a great sickness that has claimed many lives. The party tracked a group of thieves carrying the antidote that was waylayed by the fearsome WarKings orc tribe.

Mango Jones got major props for playing in character, using good judgement, and providing much needed food and entertainment for the party. (Mango Jones is a Pirate from the Sea of Fallen Stars.)

Francis used his knowledge of poisons to incapacitate several enemies without killing them and used quick thinking to help the party. (Black Frank is an Assassin from Daggerdale.)

Sir Borstch proved his knighthood and calvary skills by slaying several enemies in one charge on his mighty chocobo. (Sir Borscht is a Chocobo Knight from Daggerdale.  That's right.  Chocobo.)

Verigo used magic to help the party avoid the notorious Skull King that terrorizes the Dales and his deductive reasoning and insight was great to have.  (Verigo is a mysterious Wizard from the Dales who has fought with the men of Daggerdale before.)

Sigmund showed heroic levels of bravery in the battle with the Orc Shaman and his use of skills and marksmanship aided throughout the adventure. (Sigmund the Longbowman is a stalwart soldier of Daggerdale.)

Mcnutt surprised everyone by incorporating fire magic with martial arts to have devestating effects on the enemies. (McNutt (not to be confused with BigNutt McNutt is a traveling Warlock with a spear.)

Bob was crucial to saving Martino's soul as well as closing the rift making total success of the mission possible and cooking the fine racoons Mango snared. (BoB E. Light, or Dr. Light, is a Psy-Healer traveling with the party.)

Unfortunately the WarKingz destroyed the antidotes before the party could track them down.

Mango returns to Castle Daggerdale to speak with Randal Morn about getting another shipment of antidotes. The rest of the party prepares for the trip to Scarsdale. They hope to meet up with Mango's shipmates Blackfeet and Sir Gregory and try to bring some healing to this dwindling population.

Join us Sunday May 15th for our next adventure. Sticking with the mexican food theme I will be making beef burritos.

This is Smith and I hope everyone can make it and join us for high adventure and a great feast!

Fantastic coverage of the ongoing game!  You better know I'll be right on top of that pan of burritos...I got so fat from the last Mr. Smith dinner I had to roll everywhere the next day. 


Be sure to check out the Palladium Megaverse page for a Brief Guide to the Dales!  See you Sunday!

Infinity Watch Tactical Squads!

Howdy folks!

Today we have a few nice pics of one the Mardannon Sector's resident Astartes Chapters - The Infinity Watch!  Captain Video has been painting these guys for a while, so we thought we'd show you more of his great looking army!

Tactical Squad Alpha-1

Tactical Squad Alpha-2

These guys were painted with gold metallics, then detailed before adding Quickshade Strong Tone.  The result is a dimmed gold that still looks clean and burnished.  The bases were created with by adding sand to the base, then painting over the sand first in black then in dark earth tones.

Tactical Squad Bravo-1

Tactical Squad Bravo-2

Overall the effect is very nice.  You can probably expect to see this army in action again during the Summer Warhammer 40,000 campaign, but Captain Video hasn't revealed exactly what force he'll be commanding yet.  One thing is for certain - the Imperium will need plenty of help to stem the green tide that is rising!

On another note, if you haven't signed up for the Wargate's Summer campaign, Brave New Waaagh!!, then make sure to sign up this Thursday or Sunday so we can get you a spot on the roster!!  Don't be afraid - everyone has to be hacked to pieces by orks at some point in their life.