The Game

The WARMACHINE/HORDES (WMH) momentum has picked up in the past few months here in the Philippines. I am indeed glad and proud to be one of the pioneers of the game in this country, but as with any gaming community that's growing, disagreements of varying degrees appear. As if fighting make-believe battles weren't enough. Luckily, said disagreements are very minor.

As I've observed, there are players who prefer laid-back casual gaming, and there are those who prefer tournament-style competitive gaming. The "disagreement" occurs when tourney players insist that the more casual gamers follow the tourney standard; or when casual players drag out the time during their turns in a game (something that tourney players value). Some players stay away from the stressful timed turns in tourney gaming. Some players dislike the scenarios laid out in the rulebooks or the official Steamroller format. Some dislike playing against opponents with unpainted models. But all of these are familiar issues from any miniature wargame.

Don't get me wrong. The said disagreements are not full-blown fights. Some players just do not play against other certain players because of contradicting standards. But for me who can play casual or competitive, that is something I really have a concern for.

Time Limits

Officially printed in WARMACHINE Prime Remix, it says there that 500-point games have a 1-hour time limit (an hour and a half for 750 games, goes for both WARMACHINE and HORDES). In Mang's current tourney setting, 500-point games dictate a 7-minute limit per player turn. In more casual settings, some games last for three hours even for just 500 points in playing an assassination run or objective win.

I do know some players who refuse to play tournaments even before the 7-minute/turn concept. I do know some players who take at least a minimum of 15 minutes even before activating his first model.

In tournament formats, players can always choose to join a tourney or not. But in a casual format, crossing the boundary between standards can be tricky. A player who trained himself to complete everything his army can dish out in 7 minutes will have his patience stretched if he's fighting a casual player. Alternately, a casual player will have fits if a tourney player is prodding him unceasingly to hurry up and finish in just a few minutes.

My suggested solution for casual games: Mutually agree with your opponent whether or not you are playing with time limits before bringing out your models. If your opponent doesn't agree with your suggested time limit, make some sort of compromise. If in total disagreement, just go look for another opponent and respect your opponent's choice.

When playing at my place: I will have a sports timer there so I strongly suggest (if not enforce) an additional 30 minutes over the time limit in the book (1 hour 30 mins for 500-point games, 2 hours for 750-point games).

Additionally, a player should limit his turn to a maximum of 15 minutes. If models are not activated during the end of the time limit, they are considered to have activated but have done nothing (no movement, no action). If a player is resolving a model or unit's activation at the time the limit is called, he should resolve the model/unit's activation and end his turn immediately afterwards.

These resolutions for time limits are the most fair I can come up with for casual gaming.

My suggested solution for tournament gaming:As for tournament gaming, organizers will always have final say in how they run tourneys.

I do suggest a timer for each table, but that would be costly to the organizer. Proactive minutes for players would be more fair, i.e. if it only took you 2 minutes to finish your first turn, your second turn should have 12 minutes, and so on. Maybe later on we can have something like this.

Scenarios/Missions

As many of us have our roots in miniature wargaming from Games Workshop's Warhammer and Warhammer 40,000, it is normal to compare both. There has been significant difficulty by some players in adapting a chosen WARMACHINE or HORDES faction to fight (much less win) in certain scenarios as laid out in official Steamroller scenarios.

In casual gaming, this is alright since most just dust off and fight another day (sometimes another game right afterwards). But in tourneys, it bears a lot of weight since there's money involved. And to some, dropping P250 is easy, but others' pockets aren't as deep.

Some stick to Steamroller scenarios strictly, and frown on custom scenarios. I would understand, as I assume SR scenarios have been playtested and approved to be as balanced as can be by the makers of the game itself. But does it mean playing custom scenarios aren't worth it? I disagree. I do agree with Mang testing out various scenarios during his tournaments. It may be a pocket risk to some, but then again, no one is being forced to join any tourney anyway. Others frown on the official Steamroller scenarios (most notably Killing Fields) for many, many reasons.

My suggested solution for casual games: Same as with time limits, mutually agree with your opponent as to what scenario you'll play. They may be from official tourney scenarios or custom scenarios, or even tweaked tourney scenarios. Just try to have fun while trying your best to win.

We're all used to making a come-on-all-takers list with WFB or 40K, and doing such is a bit more difficult in WMH. In the book, players do should decide what scenario to play first before making a list. It may mean that you'll be carrying a cabinet-load of your minis wherever you go if you're that intent on making such a broad spectrum list though.

When playing at my place: I will have a copy of the rulebooks at home, plus the latest Steamroller tourneys, plus I had the Summer Rampage scenarios bound. I also have No Quarter magazines with special scenarios in them. There will be very little in the way of a lack of scenarios at home.

However, I do suggest playing Summer Rampage scenarios. IMHO they are more balanced.

My suggested solution for tournament gaming:As for tournament gaming, organizers will always have final say in how they run tourneys. Yeah they do.

Tournament Scene

Some think tourneys are the end-all of the game. But since we all live in an imperfect world, there can never be a perfect tournament. Some will complain of venue. Some will complain about entrance fee. Some will complain about time limit usage (or lack thereof). Some will complain about scenarios or special rules. And being in the Philippines where complaining has been raised to the level as art, it's worse.

The game may continue to stick around even without tournaments, but it is the tournaments that spice it up.

To organizers, I suggest switching between formats and attract the different mentalities of players. Mang is already doing this one, considering timed tourneys and casual campaigns. Other people can readily setup their own tourneys with their own standards. I'm sure you won't find it difficult to attract participants since we all wanna help each other out anyway.

To players, I suggest to play tourneys, even the ones you dislike. You may learn a few tricks here and there, plus you break the monotony of your usual casual gaming. AND you may teach yourself to adapt to the community's current tourney scene.

Parting Shots

I guess what I'm trying to say here is that as players of such a small community, we should all practice common courtesy. You cannot have your way all the time, but bottom line of the game is for all players to have fun.

Nobody wants to play with an asshole, and with such a low number of players in the community, a rep of being an asshole spreads quite fast. Sayang naman ang ininvest mo sa pagbili ng miniatures, diba?

Peace ^_^