Haterz an Fanbois FTW. LOL!!!!!!1 B-)

You can tell if a person is racist, they generally start their sentences with ‘I’m not a racist, but…’ before saying something racist.  It was this thought that stopped me from starting this post with ‘I’m not a GW hater, but…’.

I would like to make it clear that I’m not a GW hater (or a racist for that matter); I love loads of their games including the 8^th edition of Warhammer Fantasy, I’ve been buying GW products for years, I paint their miniatures using their paints and I play their games in my spare time.  I’ve joined a club where I can play GW games with other GW fans, I’ve even spent three years of my life writing a blog mostly dedicated to playing GW games.  To me GW is one of the best games companies out there and I even divert my journeys up and down the country to pop into Warhammer World on occasion.  I am not a GW hater. 

This brings me neatly onto Dreadfleet, and why I’m not going to buy it.

 

In case you weren’t aware, Dreadfleet is the new GW boxed, standalone, limited edition game, recently made available for preorder.  There has been a lot of love and hate on the internet about this, but one thing that is clear is that people are buying it.  I’m not going to, for a number of reasons, but the main one is:

I haven’t seen any reviews of it

Sure, there are videos out there, lots of pics of the components, even promises of gameplay descriptions.  But no independent reviews.  To me this means that I am being asked to part with my money for a game that could turn out to be rubbish.  I’m pretty sure it wont be rubbish, but why should I buy it when I could spend the same amount of money on a boardgame that has got rave reviews?  If I had £70 to spare (which I don’t) and I had lots of gaming time going free (I don’t) then I’d look at some of the following instead (all available for £70 or less each; all text and photos from BoardGameGeek):

Mansions of Madness: Horrific monsters and spectral presences lurk in manors, crypts, schools, monasteries, and derelict buildings near Arkham, Massachusetts. Some spin dark conspiracies while others wait for hapless victims to devour or drive insane. It’s up to a handful of brave investigators to explore these cursed places and uncover the truth about the living nightmares within.

 

Horus Heresy: In the Horus Heresy board game, the most legendary battle in the history of the Warhammer 40,000 universe unfolds across the razed plains of Terra and in the frozen orbit above. Deadly fighting ranges from the Emperor’s golden Inner Palace to Horus’s flagship, the Vengeful Spirit.  Taking the side of traitor or loyalist, two players control either fearless Space Marine legions or deviant Chaos Space Marines, mighty Titans, Imperial Armies both loyal and traitorous, and a fearsome array of other units, including the Emperor and Horus themselves.

Tide of Iron: (see my review here) Tide of Iron is a game of World War II tactical conflict for two to four players. The components in this base game allow players to simulate the dramatic struggle that took place between American and German forces in Northern Europe during the years 1944 and 1945.

Descent: Journeys in the Dark: Descent: Journeys in the Dark is a semi-cooperative game in which two to five players will take on the antagonistic roles of heroes and Overlord. Up to four players will choose characters with a wide assortment of skills and innate abilities to be the heroes who will explore dungeons in search of treasure and adventure. One player will take on the role of the Overlord and will control the dungeon's many traps, puzzles, and monsters.

Of course when Dreadfleet gets released, it may get the greatest reviews ever, turn out to be one of the best boardgames of all time and I’ll have missed my chance because it sold out.  But I’m not prepared to bet £70 on that happening.

Happy Gaming

Fraud, Babies, Excuses and Crowd-Sourcing

It’s all been a bit quiet on the gaming front recently. I was going to have a terrific article going into more detail about planning terrain, but it’s a little too dull and rambling at the moment. I’ll probably have to edit, re-write, and maybe completely ignore it before the end. Instead, I was planning to get on with actually building the terrain. Unfortunately, my bank account was targeted for fraud (didn’t lose anything, but my card was blocked) so my bits and materials order has been put on hold while I wait for a new card to come through. While this does prevent gaming-related expenditure, I’m aware that a certain minimum amount of expense is necessary in certain circumstances. Hence – no building, no blog post. Also, as this post isn’t going to be too interesting (it is mainly a list of excuses, but there is a point near the end) I won’t count it as my monthly quota of blogging and I’ll try to make it up in June when things get back on track.

On the actual playing side, I’ve been unable to get in a proper long game for a while as a work deadline looms up (seventeen and a half hours overtime last weekend, whee), and home life gets slightly more hectic as we are expecting a baby any minute now (due date is less than two weeks now). And being nine months pregnant isn’t easy on a person, so I’ve picked up extra household tasks, and reduced my gaming time.

The aforementioned conferences are interrupting my weekly RPG session (we’re English and Scottish heretic hunters in a slightly homebrew RuneQuest game set in the 15^th Century with demons and magic, chasing down French leper monks for the ampulet of anointing oil used to crown the French kings, if anyone is interested) – probably the first one I’ve missed – and last week’s was off as the GM and half of the players were in Italy at a medieval re-enactment event. I did manage to salvage that one with a game of Talisman with other non-combatants, which was surprisingly easy to remember the rules for and a lot shorter than some previous games – I thank Lady Luck for that one, as my wife’s Dwarf picked up a Talisman early in the first couple of turns, and my Wizard managed to engage in psychic combat and steal it (then grab an axe and sail off to the end, out of reach of retaliation).

Now that all of that’s off my chest, I’ll get to the point of the post. In trying to get parts for my Necromunda scenery, I’ve gone to all of my normal ‘small plastic parts’ web stores, and even visited Antics in Bristol to get a better look at things. It occurred to me after reading Shadowbadger’s blog (recommended to me by @Bjoyhoy on Twitter) that everyone has a different set of go-to shops to get their hobby materials from. Where does everyone get their materials from? I’m not thinking of models themselves, but the plasticard, thin rod, tubes and chain that can be used for conversions and the like. Also, I’m not after the cheapest, just a range so that prices can be compared – an expensive shop may have a great deal on one thing or an exclusive item that’s perfect for a particular project.

What I hope to do is to create a list of these shops in a separate post that we can keep updated as we find new shops and sources, to save raw Googling (with Bing), to be a reference to hobbyists like ourselves. Suggestions in the comments below, and thank you very much!

Building a Talos in a Week - Day Three

Okay, it's not perfect, but time is pressing!  Here's my Talos at the end of Day Three.  I'm planning to paint the greenstuff on the head and back as beaten bronze (to cover my terrible sculpting skills).

Tomorrow will be priming and basecoating.  And perhaps a bit of panic re-sculpting...

Party Time!

Comic taken without even asking from http://nedroid.com/

 Okay, this has got a little bit out of hand.  I'm a gamer yelling at the other gamers to spend less money on gaming and I seem to have accrued a few followers.  As I write this, the blog has 179 followers and there's a distinct possibility that in the next few weeks it could pass 200.  If (I'm too much of a pessimist to say 'when') I do pass the 200 followers mark, I propose that we have some sort of celebration, probably involving me giving some prizes away or whatever, maybe a competition, maybe lots of little prizes? 

My question to you is, what the hell shall we do?  Any ideas?

How to blog (not very well)

As regular readers know, I like to relax in the evenings and read a few emails.  When I’m not helping out Nigerian Finance ministers or confirming my HSBC bank details (I don’t even have an account with HSBC, but they seem happy to accept my credit card details nonetheless), I like to respond to my fan mail. 

Recently, I found the delightful blog ‘Ninjabread’ hosted by Curis and sent him a note to express my admiration for his efforts (especially this stunning ultramarines comic) and to ask him to ‘plug my blog’ which is internet speak for blagging some free advertising (not to be confused with ‘icing the log’ which I would not ask Curis for). 



Anyway, Curis reciprocated and sent his own electronic note of admiration for this very blog.  So what was he most impressed by?  The hints and tips for money saving?  The wonderful photographs?  The witty insights into the world of gaming? No.  What he admired most was my follower count and wanted to know how I'd managed to dupe so many people.  Bastard.

But anyway, my reply was as follows and I thought any fellow bloggers or self promoters may find it interesting...

My blog has been running for over two years now and the number of followers has grown steadily.  The main method I use is shameless self promotion, posting in various forums ('fora' if you're a pedant) everytime that I post on the blog.

The main site I post on is 'The Miniatures Page' which is where most of my hits come from.  Speaking of which, I use a 'Site Meter' tool on my blog to record the number of hits that I receive and where they come from, so that I can focus on the sites that work.  I've managed to piss off a few people with this method though, as I use their lovingly curated forums to advertise my shoddy blog.  I even managed to get thrown off one message board, though I can't remember which one it was.

Apart from that, the only other method I can think of is following other people's blog, as they often follow you in return.

So those were my tips, I hope you find them useful.  And don’t forget that you can ascribe any success that Curis may have in the future to my mentorship.  I made you Curis, I MADE YOU!

Happy Gaming

To all the Ultramarines Fanboys...

If you got a haircut and it turned out looking terrible, would you go back for more?  Would you think,’He's a rubbish barber, I’ll go back so he can get some more practice?’.  If you went to a restaurant got terrible food, in small portions and they overcharged you, would you think ‘They must need my money to improve service so I’ll go again’? 

I hope the answer to all these questions is ‘No’.  If you get overcharged for poor service, you don’t go back for more and you certainly don’t go around shouting down anyone who says differently.  Which brings me onto the subject of the ‘Ultramarines’ movie, which is overpriced shit.  I think internet etiquette requires me to put ‘IMHO’ or something, but I’m going to go out on a limb here and state this as a fact, rather than an opinion.  It. Is. Overpriced. Shit.  Anyway, I’m not angry with the film or the various individuals involved, what I’m angry about is the chumps out there praising the film that they’ve just paid the best part of £30 to watch.

Don’t think that by buying it you’ll encourage GW to make ‘more and better’ films, you won’t.  I’m going to say this once more, then go off and kick the cat; IF YOU BUY A POOR QUALITY OVERPRICED PRODUCT, THE COMPANY WILL CONTINUE TO MAKE POOR QUALITY OVERPRICED PRODUCTS.

Thank you for your time.

The Appy Gamer

Since starting this blog I’ve received a lot of emails, and I often busy myself in the evenings learning about products that promise to ‘Boost You’re Manhood’ or ‘Make sure she pleasure EVRY time!!!’.  Sometimes though, I like to relax and read an email relating to gaming.  One such message came to me last week from Thomas who has started a Frugal Gaming blog.  As well as adopting a ‘buy one, paint one’ approach (this is the ‘Wax on, wax off’ mantra of the Frugal Gamer) Thomas has also installed an app on his smartphone to track his spending.
 

Like many of you out there, I use an excel spreadsheet to keep track of my finances (with general entries such as ‘rent’, ‘cat food’ and ‘bike maintenance’) and have now extended this to include my monthly gaming purchasing (remember that I’m planning to only spend £20 a month on gaming) so the idea of an app on my phone intrigued me.  Thomas recommended Daily Expense Manager by Tech Ahead for the Android OS.  After a little bit of internetting I found a similar app for the iPhone (or iPad, if you’re a real hipster) and I’ve started using it myself.

These apps are free and will help you track what you’re spending (often helpful, frequently scary) which can only be a good thing.  I’m going to give it a try for the next couple of months and see how I get on.  Why not try it too and let me know the results?

You may notice that I’ve gone over my budget this month, but hey, rules were meant to be broken.

 

Happy Gaming.

A New Year of Frugal Gaming

Hello all and welcome to a new year of Frugal Gaming.  For those of you new to this blog, the aim is to reduce your spending on gaming products while simultaneously playing more games and improving the quality of games played.  I (and my small but select team of Frugal contributors) aim to help you achieve this by giving you hints and tips on money saving projects, reviewing products to make sure you’re getting the best value for your gaming money and generally giving you something else to read on the internet to prevent you straying onto ebay when bored at work.

This site has been running for two years now and we’re still growing so have a look around using the search box  on the right hand side of the page, the tag cloud at the bottom of the page or the tabs at the top of the page. and remember you can always get in touch with me by sending me an email.

Last year was a pretty good year for me and this year I want to do more of the same, my ideas for the forthcoming twelve months are as follows:

More Painting: I’ve got a lot of unpainted figures at the moment. My Orc and Goblin army for Warhammer is nearing completion and I’ve just started painting all the Dark Eldar for 40k that I’ve had stuck in boxes for ages.  In addition, I’ve also got a lot of undead to paint up, but more about that next week.  I plan to not buy any more for these armies until the units I already have are fully painted.  No more unpainted models on the table!

More Organising:  At the moment my painting desk looks like a refugee camp with a large number of unconnected projects on the go, I’d like to focus more on each project and finish one before I begin another, perhaps only having two models or units in the go at once, rather than the ten or so that I have at the moment.  If anyone has any tips on setting up a painting rota, I’d love to hear it.

More Gaming: I’ve been playing a lot over the past year, but I’d like to get more gaming done!  I’m considering going along to some of the local gaming gaming clubs, (work and my hectic social life permitting) to get the best out of my newly painted figures.

More Learning: As I say I’ve been playing a lot, but I’d like to get better, I’m planning to get a  notebook to keep a brief run down of each of the games that I play so I can learn from my mistakes and understand how a battle can turn on a few key moves.

Less Spending: I’m not quite sure how much I spent on gaming last year, but this year I’m going to set a budget and stick to it. I think £20 a month would be a reasonable figure, and I can always bring in more from selling my old bits and pieces on ebay if I have a big purchase I’d like to make.  I’m not sure how it’ll go but it’s worth a try!

So those are my aims for the year.  What have you got planned?  Drop me a line and let me know, all the best for the new year.

Happy gaming

Dave

How Not to Blog...

Hello all!  You may have noticed that I've been slacking recently, leaving all the posting on this site to Pete, Arabian Knight (I'm still not convinced that's his real name) and Von.  Well, this is in no way due to a lack of interest, in fact it's the opposite!  The reason I've not been blogging about building, painting and gaming is that I've actually been building, painting and gaming.  What with this and what I like to call 'real' life (i.e. all the boring stuff), it's been a while since I've found the time to sit down and write about how wonderful I am...

Ahem, anyway what this means is that I have a heck of a lot to write up, so expect to see it soon on this very blog.  In the meantime, here's a peek at my workbench.

And here's something funny, see you soon!

It's time to get started...

Hi everyone, and welcome to a new Year of Frugal Gaming, I hope you're enjoying the posts from Pete and Von, I'm really pleased to have them on board and I'm interested to see how their Frugal Years unfold. If you fancy spending less and gaming more, then take up your own Year of Frugal Gaming. All you need to do is commit to watching your spending on gaming items by concentrating on good quality essentials that you know will get used, combine this with a dedication to playing more games and you're on your way. Hey, you only need to keep it up for 12 months, how hard can it be? If you're really keen, post a comment on the site or send me an email (to thefrugalgamer(at)gmail.com), I'm always looking for more contributors so drop me a line and I can give you posting rights on the blog if you fancy!

Anyway, back to reality, I'm afraid that my own year is not off to the best of starts. On the plus side, I haven't spent any money on gaming products so far, though this has to be balanced against the fact that I've not actually done any gaming this year, yikes! I think I need to get off my bum and arrange some gaming evenings, this might inspire me to get the paints out as well and get a bit of gaming momentum.

Speaking of which; this week I went to visit Von and drop him off some flock for his game board (see previous post) and picked up a boar chariot from him to go with my (yet to be started) Goblin army project. I'm got plenty of night goblins, a giant and various other units, I've even got the Army book, but I've still to get it all sorted out. Let's not even mention my Dark Eldar force for 4ok, though I did manage to pick up lovely metal tool box to keep it in (a mere £2!), my plan is to add magnets to the bases of the figs so that I can carry them around without them falling all over the place (or paying a fortune for a GW case).
As a gaming related aside, I've even started looking forward to this Christmas. One of my intentions this year is to make all the Christmas presents I'm giving, the first one I want to get started on is a piece of gaming scenery for my son (don't worry, he doesn't read this blog!) I've seen an awesome bit of terrain I intend to take inspiration from over at Doctor Merkury's Lab, a fantastic site which is well worth checking out. I hope he doesn't mind me stealing his photo!
And finally... I've now added a search box to the blog so you don't have to trawl through all the articles to find what you want. I've also added Facebook and Twitter functions so that you can post the latest blog entry to your Facebook page. Try it out, spread the word and let me know how you get on!

Happy Gaming

Von's Frugal Year: Month The First

So, it's been a month: how's that Frugal thing goin'?

Financially: I've been very very good, staying under my £50 limit with a £45 trip to Clifton Road Games in Exeter to pick up some Warmachine minis. The financial side of the mission is going to have to tighten up a little bit, though (told you I'm not really rich): the WoW fees are going to start coming out of that fifty quid, and it really has to be seen as an upper limit, not a target.

Emotionally: I made it through the Hordes field test and didn't shout at anyone or get upset about any of it (certainly there are things that disappoint me, but I'm maintaining a state of cheerful indifference - it's still basically a decent game). I am having a bit of Gamer Angst now that the redraft of the rules has come out; I definitely want to do a Hordes force at some stage (next year, in all likelihood, once the new core rules are set in stone and actually out), but I'm not sure which. Got it down to two, and have a year to think about it.

Temporally: Okay, the last week's sort of broken this one a bit. I've had three days off work plus the weekend following a wee operation on my foot, and since I couldn't move about much at first I did spend a lot of time (about, ooh, four hours a day) playing WoW and quite a lot of time (again, about four hours a day) painting miniatures. It's not really being Frugal with my time, although I hope it's defensible (especially since I didn't really have a Christmas holiday this year and badly needed a few days R&R).


Looking forward, then: I've been shockingly lax on the whole finishing-the-battlefield-thing, so I think that's going to be next month's big hobby project. Much of the Nerd Money for the month will be going on one of those Scenery Painting Packs that Games Workshop makes; sure, it's £25, but it's a one-stop shop (better for time) and I won't have to buy tons more stuff than I need (which might end up happening if I pop down the hill to the builder's merchants and buy my paint from there). If I can shop around one afternoon and find all the stuff in that pack, in the quantities I need it, for less than £25, I'll skip it, but it looks like a reasonable investment in the here and now.

EDITED TO ADD: this is appallingly poor reasoning on my part. Anything purchased from a gaming company's hobby products line will come with a massive markup and it's a rare product indeed that's actually worth that (Citadel inks, and... umm... actually, that's about all I can think of). I should know better, in fact I usually do know better; it's been years since I bought so much as a GW brush. What I wrote this morning is a shame and embarrassment to the Frugal Mission. It is staying there so that I, and you, can learn from my mistakes.

In the interests of staying under budget, I'll try and stay off the new miniatures for the month - actual gaming time will probably be spent actually playing Dark Heresy, since I bought it last year and have yet to do much more than drool over it and have Shiny roll up his character. Maybe I'll write something about Frugal Roleplaying down the line (it's not as easy as it looks, you know), or maybe not. I already have a list of stuff I could bend your ears about, after all.

Further adventures in the Grim Darkness of the Far Future will naturally be chronicled over here, and with a bit of luck I'll be back in a couple of weeks with some sort of terrain progress. Bet you can't wait. Von out.