Note :

Note :

Saturday, March 28, 2020

Blue Dwarf Group

The wood and white have now been finished up and I started in on the blue on the dwarves. This is going to be a long one, I think. There's a lot of small areas that I'll need to be careful on. After that it's leathers, flesh and hair. Fourish weeks left before Fall In, still hoping to make it.

Warmaster Dwarves Warmaster Dwarf Command Warmaster Warrior Butts Warmaster Dwarf Thunderers Warmaster Dwarf Anvil of Doom (+2)

People Behind The Meeples - Episode 208: Mallory Shepherd

Welcome to People Behind the Meeples, a series of interviews with indie game designers.  Here you'll find out more than you ever wanted to know about the people who make the best games that you may or may not have heard of before.  If you'd like to be featured, head over to http://gjjgames.blogspot.com/p/game-designer-interview-questionnaire.html and fill out the questionnaire! You can find all the interviews here: People Behind the Meeples. Support me on Patreon!


Name:Mallory Shepherd
Email:Contact@cleverfoxconsultants.com
Location:Dallas, TX
Day Job:I have a consulting company for marketing and project management. Clever Fox Consultants. I help people complete their projects on time and on budget and also do marketing for their products! And manage crowdfunding campaigns/product photography, etc.
Designing:Less than six months.
Webpage:Cleverfoxconsultants.com
BGG:LittleBug627
Twitter:@LittleBug627
Instagram:@TheMeeplesMadeMeDoIt
Find my games at:Nowhere yet!
Today's Interview is with:

Mallory Shepherd
Interviewed on: 8/20/2019

This week's interview is with Dallas designer, Mallory Shepherd. Mallory has been a part of the board game industry for a while now, doing project management, marketing, and helping with crowdfunding through her company, Clever Fox Consultants. Recently she's turned to the design side of board games and I'm excited to see what kinds of games she creates! Read on to learn more about Mallory and her projects!

Some Basics
Tell me a bit about yourself.

How long have you been designing tabletop games?
Less than six months.

Why did you start designing tabletop games?
I've been involved in the industry as a playtester and with marketing/project management for several years, and I finally made the jump over into designing. I made the jump because there were games with themes I wanted to play that didn't exist. And I was honestly inspired a lot by Elizabeth Hargrave.

What game or games are you currently working on?
Currently unnamed game involving libraries.

Have you designed any games that have been published?
Not yet, but I've done playtesting and marketing on a lot of published games! Most recently Unmatched and Lanterns Dice.

What is your day job?
I have a consulting company for marketing and project management. Clever Fox Consultants. I help people complete their projects on time and on budget and also do marketing for their products! And manage crowdfunding campaigns/product photography, etc.

Your Gaming Tastes
My readers would like to know more about you as a gamer.

Where do you prefer to play games?
I love all types, but party games and games with mostly luck are my least favorite. I equally love Ameritrash and Euro games.

Who do you normally game with?
I have a game group and then a few friends that we play a lot of two player modes on.

If you were to invite a few friends together for game night tonight, what games would you play?
Whatever one of us just got fulfilled off of Kickstarter. I just got the expansion for Inis so maybe that.

And what snacks would you eat?
I'm lucky, my friend usually makes something in her air fryer or bakes things for us. When I'm hosting we usually have delivery of some kind and chips/some kind of dry snack around the games. And cheese. Always cheese.

Do you like to have music playing while you play games? If so, what kind?
Sometimes we play mood music based on the theme of the game.

What's your favorite FLGS?
Madness Comics and Games

What is your current favorite game? Least favorite that you still enjoy? Worst game you ever played?
Favorite: I'm on a Champions of Midgard kick because I'm excited to get my Kickstarter copy of Reavers. Least: Smash Up. It's on my shelf and I don't want to get rid of it, but it doesn't make it to the table at all anymore. Worst: Do prototypes count? Hmmm a published game I really didn't care for is a Fantastic Beasts Dice game. It's basically co-op Yahtzee and there just wasn't any substance to it.

What is your favorite game mechanic? How about your least favorite?
Favorite: this one is hard. I like a lot of different mechanics. But if I had to pick, I'd say deck building. I really love deck builders and the thrill you get when you can get that perfect turn off. Least: PLAYER ELIMINATION. I hate it and it needs to go.

What's your favorite game that you just can't ever seem to get to the table?
I tend to get a lot of games to the table, but I haven't played Dead of Winter for a long time because it's hard to get people to commit to a game that takes a bit more to teach and play.

What styles of games do you play?
I like to play Board Games, Card Games, Miniatures Games, RPG Games, Video Games

Do you design different styles of games than what you play?
I like to design Board Games, RPG Games

OK, here's a pretty polarizing game. Do you like and play Cards Against Humanity?
No

You as a Designer
OK, now the bit that sets you apart from the typical gamer. Let's find out about you as a game designer.

When you design games, do you come up with a theme first and build the mechanics around that? Or do you come up with mechanics and then add a theme? Or something else?
I'm a theme first person and let the mechanics evolve from there into what feels natural and makes sense for the theme.

Have you ever entered or won a game design competition?
Haven't entered one yet!

Do you have a current favorite game designer or idol?
I'm sure he's a lot of people's but Jamey Stegmaier. He puts a lot of thought into his games and takes risks and I admire him for that.

Where or when or how do you get your inspiration or come up with your best ideas?
From all over. First, I pick themes that I love and am passionate about. You have to be if you are going to be researching things about it. I get a lot of inspiration while I'm doing research on the theme too. A lot of mechanics make sense from learning about the theme. Another place I get inspiration from is playing a lot of games. I mean A LOT of games. Of all different types. And third, I listen. I listen to my game group when we are playing a game and someone says "man I wish I could do this in this game." And I also get a lot of inspiration from playtesting other people's games. You have those "aha!" moments when you see a mechanic and realize if you tweaked it a bit it would work really well in your game.

How do you go about playtesting your games?
I'm part of a design group and we playtest for each other. I also get my friends involved. Then after that I ask my friends to find friends and so on.

Do you like to work alone or as part of a team? Co-designers, artists, etc.?
Both!

What do you feel is your biggest challenge as a game designer?
Killing your baby. I think that's the hardest thing for any designer to do. Apart from that, it's knowing when your game is ready to be pitched or to go on Kickstarter. There is always a "I could make this better" and knowing when to stop can be hard for me.

If you could design a game within any IP, what would it be?
Harry Potter. I'm a giant Potterhead.

What do you wish someone had told you a long time ago about designing games?
Just do it. Just get out there and start making one. There are no bad ideas at the start. I sat on the sidelines for so long testing games and wishing I knew how to make one before I realized they don't have any more idea what they are doing than I do in the beginning. I'd have started designing a long time ago if someone had told me to just start making a notecard prototype with all your weird ideas and it's fine if it's bad. That's where we all start.

What advice would you like to share about designing games?
Pick themes/mechanics you care about and wish existed. You will spend a lot of time with them. It's also better to start making a simple prototype right off the bat than trying to plan it all out on paper first.

Would you like to tell my readers what games you're working on and how far along they are?
Games that are in the early stages of development and beta testing are: Library Game

Are you a member of any Facebook or other design groups? (Game Maker's Lab, Card and Board Game Developers Guild, etc.)
Dallas Design Group

And the oddly personal, but harmless stuff…
OK, enough of the game stuff, let's find out what really makes you tick! These are the questions that I'm sure are on everyone's minds!

Star Trek or Star Wars? Coke or Pepsi? VHS or Betamax?
Star Wars, Dr Pepper, and I had to google what a Betamax was.

What hobbies do you have besides tabletop games?
There are other hobbies? JK, I really enjoy reading and listening to podcasts. And geeking out over fandoms. I also like photography.

What is something you learned in the last week?
I'm teaching myself how to edit video so a lot of video things.

Favorite type of music? Books? Movies?
I don't have a favorite type of music, but I love sci-fi/fantasy/post apocalyptic books and movies.

What was the last book you read?
Tiny But Mighty. It's a book written by a kitten advocate and rescuer. She's really reminded me that even one person doing small things can make a difference.

Do you play any musical instruments?
No, I wish I did but don't have the time to practice.

Tell us something about yourself that you think might surprise people.
I don't like ketchup, mustard, or mayo.

Tell us about something crazy that you once did.
I touched a Monet painting in Paris. The actual painting. Pretty sure you can get arrested for that.

Biggest accident that turned out awesome?
I kind of accidentally adopted my cat. She was just supposed to stay for the weekend and it's been two and a half years now. She's my constant companion and is pretty awesome.

Who is your idol?
Ruth Bader Ginsburg. She's done so much for equality in the United States and didn't let anything stop her in a time it was unheard of for a woman to be a lawyer.

What would you do if you had a time machine?
I'd treat it more like a time turner and do over certain little mistakes. And maybe go to the future. I'd be tempted to go to the past but be terrified of the butterfly effect. I'd love to solve some historical mysteries though!

Are you an extrovert or introvert?
Ambivert. It's a thing, look it up!

If you could be any superhero, which one would you be?
Captain Marvel. She's strong, has a lot of powers, and can fly through outer space! How cool is that?

Have any pets?
An awesome cat. Her name is Kat.

When the next asteroid hits Earth, causing the Yellowstone caldera to explode, California to fall into the ocean, the sea levels to rise, and the next ice age to set in, what current games or other pastimes do you think (or hope) will survive into the next era of human civilization? What do you hope is underneath that asteroid to be wiped out of the human consciousness forever?
I'd hope for Star Realms to survive. Imagine an Ice Age people playing a game with spaceships. I'd be okay if Cards Against Humanity was never played again. (Sorry, not sorry.)

If you'd like to send a shout out to anyone, anyone at all, here's your chance (I can't guarantee they'll read this though):
Lindsey Rosenthal, for getting me into the design group I'm part of. They really pushed me to start making my ideas into reality.

Just a Bit More
Thanks for answering all my crazy questions! Is there anything else you'd like to tell my readers?

Be kind to people.

And...

I really like cheese.




Thank you for reading this People Behind the Meeples indie game designer interview! You can find all the interviews here: People Behind the Meeples and if you'd like to be featured yourself, you can fill out the questionnaire here: http://gjjgames.blogspot.com/p/game-designer-interview-questionnaire.html

Did you like this interview?  Please show your support: Support me on Patreon! Or click the heart at Board Game Links , like GJJ Games on Facebook , or follow on Twitter .  And be sure to check out my games on  Tabletop Generation.

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Monday, March 23, 2020

Percy Bysshe Shelley's "Poetical Essay" Belongs In The Public Domain



Image assumed to be in the Public Domain


The following is a tragic tale about how valuable work of literature was rediscovered, and then undiscovered. This loss for the arts was not due purely to negligence or accident, but to a selfish violation to the memory of Percy Bysshe Shelley. Even if you don't read Shelley, you should, at the very least, be profoundly perturbed by the ways in which the wealthy claim exclusive ownership over our cultural history. Shelley was a victim of avaricious entitlement.



In 2010, The Guardian reported a finding the rocked the literary world. Daisy Hay, a Cambridge graduate, was snooping through the library, as most graduates do, and came across an old manuscript. It turns out that these writings were the unpublished memoirs of one Claire Clairmont, Byron's former lover and a friend of Percy Bysshe Shelley. In these memoirs, she described these two poets in no genial terms, calling them "monsters of lying, meanness, cruelty and treachery." Clairmont, who was at that point a Catholic, branded Byron and Shelley as worshipers of "free love", who ruined the lives of women. Clairmont had personal experience with this ruination, and good reason to be sour. Soon after getting her pregnant with Allegra (who died at age eight), Byron abandoned Clairmont, presumably because he was married to another woman at the time. For this, she labelled him, "a human tyger [sic] slaking his thirst for inflicting pain upon defenceless women" (Alberge).

The writings have proved to be a boon to historians and biographers everywhere, and has helped to increase our understanding of the relationship between Clairmont and the Shelley's. Imagine, however, if Hay decided to sell Clairmont's memoirs to the highest bidder with the new owner refusing to allow anyone else to read the memoirs except himself. Such an action would be rightfully denounced as a greedy theft of history, a selfish attempt to claim personal rights to our global cultural heritage. Distasteful though it may be to entertain such callous contempt for the ever fragile past, it isn't beyond the depravity of some human beings to do so. Daisy Hay was not such an entity. Quaritch Rare Books & Manuscripts, it appears, is.

Of course, when Quaritch sold the recently discovered "Poetical Essay" by Percy Bysshe Shelley, they may have assumed that the owner would be generous enough to share Shelley's words with the public. Though if so, then it would've certainly been little trouble to ask. They were careless, however, in hastily selling off the "Poetical Essay" to the one with the fattest wallet. Quaritch knew how valuable this piece of Shelley's was, (or at least they should have) yet they felt no responsibility to alert local historians? Shameful. I don't have to tell you the exact amount of money paid to Quaritch for selling the "Poetical Essay", except that it weighed about the same as the silver coins paid to Judas Iscariot.

The news of the "Poetical Essay's" rediscovery was the toast of The Guardian in 2006,

"The revelation in today's Times Literary Supplement that an early poem by the great Percy Bysshe Shelley has come to light, and is in the possession of a London bookseller, will cause even more excitement than most. This is a wonderful discovery: few Shelley scholars ever believed the poem, Poetical Essay, would resurface and some even doubted its existence. It is a fantastic chance to learn more about the political and poetic development of the young Shelley," (O'Brien).

However, four years later, the same year, mind you, that Daisy Hay found Clairmont's memoirs, the "Poetical Essay" had vanished once more from the public eye. Michael Rosen noted that the poem in it's entirety was never made available, the reason being that only three people had read it: owner at Quaritch, the person who bought the poem, and some lucky professor by the name of Henry R Woudhuysen. The new owner, apparently, isn't interested in letting any of us peasants read his new treasure. More odd to Rosen, though, was the lack of outrage over the whole scandal, "we were approaching the fourth anniversary of the rediscovery of Shelley's "Poetical Essay" and that we, the public, were no nearer to reading it." (The Guardian) Rosen succinctly expresses his anger well in this paragraph,

"First of all, I would like the poem to be available to read by anyone who is interested. I believe that should have happened the moment it was rediscovered. Secondly, I want to know why Professor Woudhuysen was given the right to look at the poem, but no one else was. Thirdly, I want to know why this situation doesn't seem to bother anyone in the great republic of letters, least of all that guardian of literary precision and exactitude, the TLS. Isn't it an outrage, that a long dead, great writer's work can be hidden away in its owner's drawer?"

Rosen is completely correct here, "Owning manuscripts is one thing: owning the contents is quite another." Copyright laws back him up, too. In general, works fall into public domain 70 years after the death of the creator. This has recently been stalled in the United States by corporations such as Disney, but that's a discussion for another time. What matters, for the moment, is that Shelley's "Poetical Essay" was written in 1811, well past due any claims to copyright. Thus, the "Poetical Essay" is in the public domain, meaning: it belongs to us, the public. We, collectively, have a right to the contents of Shelley's essay, and it is illegal, let me repeat, illegal for the current owner to claim otherwise. There should be a manhunt for this shrewd, elitist coward, I want a subpoena for his arrest. Quaritch should be, at the very least, fined for their blatant carelessness with such a historical artifact. Their hands aren't clean in this affair. They are complicit, in every sense of the word.

So just what was Shelley's "Poetical Essay" all about? It is an anti-militarist piece, written in defense of Peter Finnerty, a critic of Britian's suppression of an Irish revolt, who was later imprisoned for speaking out. Paul O'Brien gave the poem background upon its discovery,

"But his first and defining political campaign was about Irish religious and political freedom - and it is here where the discovery of Poetical Essay is most relevant. Shelley published it in support of Peter Finnerty, the Irish journalist jailed for libelling Viscount Castlereagh, the Anglo-Irish politician who was sent to Ireland in 1797 to crush the United Irishmen rebelling against British rule. Castlereagh's brutality made him the most hated man in Ireland. Shelley was a professed admirer of the United Irishmen, and the events and personalities of the 1798 rebellion were crucial to his political and intellectual development. His abiding hatred for Castlereagh was venomously expressed in the Mask of Anarchy:

"I met murder on the way -
He had a mask like Castlereagh -
Very smooth he looked, yet grim;
Seven bloodhounds followed him

"Finnerty was the editor of the Dublin newspaper the Press and a man of great courage. He was indicted for an article which denounced the actions of Castlereagh, found guilty of sedition, imprisoned for two years and sentenced to stand for an hour in the pillory in Green Street in Dublin. Shelley, then a young undergraduate at Oxford University, was eager to show support for Finnerty. He placed an advertisement in the Oxford Herald announcing the new work, a Poetical Essay, "for assisting to maintain in prison Mr Peter Finnerty", for sale "price two shillings" (The Guardian).

This showed great courage on Shelley's part (though his relations with women may be another matter), and made me think of another great poet who wrote on behalf of Irish suffering, William Butler Yeats. A fragment of Shelley's "Poetical Essay" has made its way into public. It's sharp and rhythmic, certainly, but what I want is meat, when we've been fed only the bone. Regardless, take it away, Shelley.

"Millions to fight compell'd, to fight or die
In mangled heaps on War's red altar lie . . .
When legal murders swell the lists of pride;
When glory's views the titled idiot guide.
* * *
Man must assert his native rights, must say
We take from Monarchs' hand the granted sway;
Oppressive law no more shall power retain,
Peace, love, and concord, once shall rule again,
And heal the anguish of a suffering world;
Then, then shall things which now confusedly hurled,
Seem Chaos, be resolved to order's sway,
And error's night be turned to virtue's day."


Bibliography

Alberge, Dalya. "Byron's lover takes revenge from beyond the grave." The Guardian, March 27, 2010. Web. http://www.theguardian.com/books/2010/mar/28/byron-and-shelley-were-monsters

O'Brien, Paul. "Prophet of the revolution." The Guardian, July 14, 2006. Web. http://www.theguardian.com/books/2006/jul/14/poetry.comment

Rosen, Michael. "Owning manuscripts is one thing: owning the contents is quite another." The Guardian, July 23, 2010. Web. http://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2010/jul/23/owning-manuscripts-owning-contents

Friday, March 20, 2020

2018-2019: A Playtesting Retrospective

Back in late 2017 I started formally tracking my weekly playtest sessions in a google doc. One up-side of this is that I can go back now and review what was played each week, by whom, and what aspect I was looking to test that day. It's also interesting to see how much time we dedicated to each game, or how much time passed in between playtests of a game.

I'd like to use this post as a sort of retrospective on the last two years (or 28 months) of playtesting. Let's take a little trip down memory lane...

2017

Late August 2017 was the first session I'd logged, and that day we were evaluating 3 games I'd brought home from GenCon for TMG: Margrave, by Stan Kordonskiy, which turned into Old West Empresario, Rolled West, by Daniel Newman, and Embark, by Philip duBarry. Not only did we end up signing each of these, but all three are on store shelves now!

In September of that year we continued evaluating games: Pixel Factory was a neat one, but ultimately TMG did not sign it. Back to Earth was also neat, and we did sign it, but due to unrelated circumstances we ended up releasing it later. Railways is a game by some British designer friends of mine, and I liked it, but it needed some work. We did suggest the new title: Railblazers. My understanding is that at this point it has improved greatly, but the main mechanism which I was interested in (like the Mancala-rondel in Crusaders) has changed completely.

October saw us switch gears a bit. We spent a lot of time playing my games: Eminent Domain Origins (a Terra Prime reboot) and Eminent Domain: Chaos Theory (a dice game version of EmDo -- I should add those to the BGG database). This went on into November as well.

December was spent almost entirely on a dozen games of Embark, which had been signed by that point. I also see a lone play of Eminent Domain Origins at about Christmas time.

2018

We started off the new year with 2 more games of EDO, but then spent the rest of January, February, March, and half of April playing about 3 dozen (!) games of Old West Empresario, working on game balance and player powers. The only other playtests in those months were a few games of Harvest to test some potential expansion characters (unfortunately, we never did do an expansion to Harvest).

Late April through mid-May we tested the Crusaders: Divine Influence expansion, which was in pretty good shape to begin with, but we hammered out a few details. That one has now been printed, and is about to ship from the manufacturer in China and should be out later this year.

My son was born at the end of May, and my playtest sessions went on  hiatus. The only other testing that happened in 2018 was at Rincon -- Michael was in town and we played a game of Deities & Demigods (now Olympus on the Serengeti), and several games of Imminent Domain (now Sails & Sorcery, but that title might not be final either), which is the game Michael designed based on the deck learning of Eminent Domain and the area control of El Grande.

2019

After an extended hiatus, I finally got back to regular playtest sessions in February of 2019, and we spent that first month back playing Eminent Domain Origins some more, fine tuning some last details.

March was spent on Emperor's Choice. TMG is doing a Deluxified version of that game, and we developed a 2 player variant which went over well with Richard Ham of Rahdo Runs Through, who famously only plays games with his wife.

April and May were dedicated almost entirely to developing Sails & Sorcery, changing up the format so it would play better, but keeping the core ideas of the game.

June was spent working on a new design of mine, Apotheosis. We iterated through several big changes as we quickly honed in on what worked and what didn't.

We started out July with a quick couple tests of a 5/6 player expansion to Crusaders. This worked out well, and we've got art done, but this won't come out until October. Then it was back to Sails & Sorcery through August. Most of the game was pretty solid by that point, but we were trying to fix this one niggling dynamic that just didn't work right.

We switched gears again and spent September and half of October playing Alter Ego, my co-operative deck learning game. We played quite a few games considering that one of my main testers doesn't like co-op games!

We ended October and spent most of November working on expansion content for Pioneer Days that we got from the designers.

We revisited Alter Ego once in November and once in December, and spent the rest of December testing Eminent Domain: Chaos Theory, and another one of my games: Riders of the Pony Express. Riders was in pretty good shape, but was a bit fiddly. We fixed a couple of small issues, and brainstormed how to remove some of the process a little bit.

In addition, we played a few non-playtest games including Tapestry (which did not go over well), In the Year of the Dragon (my favorite Feld game), and we tested a game for one of my playtesters (we actually did this a couple of other times, but I hadn't recorded those). Also, I took my players out for an annual Playtester Appreciation Day to see the new Star Wars movie (we saw Solo last year, and Episode VIII the year before that) -- only one of them could make it though.

Finally, we capped off the year reviving my oldest game design that was any good: All For One! I initially got involved in that co-design 17 years ago, and it had been so long since the last playtest (2012?) that I didn't try any changes, we played straight from the rulebook. It was great to revive this old classic, and we started off 2020 with some significant changes to All For One, which worked well and felt great!

Thursday, March 19, 2020

Data Science From Scratch, 2Nd Edition - IT eBooks

Data Science from Scratch, 2nd Edition

Captain Con And Reflections On Convergence

I just got back from Captain Con yesterday and it was an absolute blast. I haven't been to a convention for about 4 years, and I was extremely excited to get back to one.  This was my first Captain Con and I had only heard good things from my friends who've been going the past few years.

It definitely lived up to the hype and was exactly the kind of con I'm comfortable attending - not too big or too small.  It was mainly a Warmachine convention with roughly about 100 players attending, though there was a sizable (over 32 players!) Guild Ball event run by the Liberty Guild Ball group that plays at Showcase Comics in Media PA.  There was also a AoS tournament but that only had 8 players, where as Monsterpocalypse pulled in 16 players.

Add in role playing, demos, and everything else and we're looking at about 200 people which is just the right size in my view.



What to play?

All of the people I traveled/roomed with were all in on Guild Ball and I was completely hyped for Warmachine.  I was set to play in Champions on Friday for WM, and since I didn't get on a team for the New England Team Tournament and was scheduled to play Guild Ball on Saturday.  I put my name in for the waiting list and managed to get on a team with some great guys from Montreal and got to play Warmachine all weekend.

On one hand I was a little sad to only play a single Guild Ball game against a friend in a pickup game, but on the other I was just completely hyped to play WM.

The Beatings Will Continue Until Morale Improves

Ironically I'm still hyped to play WM and Convergence, despite the fact that I lost nearly all of my games. The first take away from this is that I need more experience. My old habits and experience from when I was playing more regularly don't hold up, and the rust didn't just shake off. I haven't been able to get more than 2-3 games a month the past three months because of work/family and it showed really hard in my play at the con. I am far more out of practice than I realized.

There were a few games where I could have easily won had I remembered to spawn a servitor off my Axiom to contest scenario, or didn't rush through a turn after a phone call from my kids because my clock was low and I failed to position my shield guards properly - but even where I didn't really have fun (I got bottom of turn 1 assassinated by Sloan where he basically had to go for it otherwise he'd have a hard time on attrition), I learned WTF I should do in that game properly.

Nearly every time I've played Orion before this weekend it was into a melee list, never into a gun list and so I wasn't properly prepared.  On the plus side, the guy who got me is someone I've listened to on podcasts quite a bit and when he heard I had lost one of my casino dice, he ended up giving me some of his that were the same color. Super nice guy and shout out to Dan Riker and the Battle Driven folks.

So I took a bunch of beatings, but morale is improving. I ran the following lists:

Champions

Convergence Army - 75 / 75 points
[Theme] Clockwork Legions

[Lucant 1] Father Lucant, the Divinity Architect [+28]
 - Corollary [6]
 - Diffuser [6]
 - Diffuser [6]
 - Galvanizer [5]
 - Galvanizer [5]
Enigma Foundry [0(4)]
Enigma Foundry [0(4)]
Enigma Foundry [0(4)]
Enigma Foundry [4]
Frustum Locus [4]
Clockwork Angels [5]
Obstructors (max) [11]
Obstructors (max) [11]
Reciprocators (max) [18]
Reductors (min) [8]
 - Transverse Enumerator [3]
Reductors (min) [8]
 - Transverse Enumerator [3]

Theme: Destruction Initiative
4 / 4 Free Cards     75 / 75 Army

Iron Mother Directrix & Exponent Servitors - WJ: +27
-    Iron Mother Directrix & Exponent Servitors Cont.
-    Corollary - PC: 6
-    Prime Axiom - PC: 38 (Battlegroup Points Used: 27)
-    Mitigator - PC: 7
-    Mitigator - PC: 7

Transfinite Emergence Projector - PC: 19
-    Permutation Servitors
Transfinite Emergence Projector - PC: 19
-    Permutation Servitors

Algorithmic Dispersion Optifex - PC: 2
Elimination Servitors - 3 Elimination Servitors: 0
Elimination Servitors - 3 Elimination Servitors: 0
Elimination Servitors - 3 Elimination Servitors: 0
Attunement Servitors - 3 Attunement Servitors: 0

Optifex Directive - Leader & 2 Grunts: 4

New England Team Tournament

Theme: Clockwork Legions
2 / 2 Free Cards     75 / 75 Army

Father Lucant, The Divinity Architect - WJ: +28
-    Corollary - PC: 6 (Battlegroup Points Used: 6)
-    Conservator - PC: 12 (Battlegroup Points Used: 12)
-    Inverter - PC: 15 (Battlegroup Points Used: 10)
-    Diffuser - PC: 6
-    Conservator - PC: 12

Enigma Foundry - PC: 0
Enigma Foundry - PC: 0
Enigma Foundry - PC: 4
Enigma Foundry - PC: 4

Obstructors - Leader & 9 Grunts: 11
Obstructors - Leader & 9 Grunts: 11
Reciprocators - Leader & 4 Grunts: 18
Optifex Directive - Leader & 2 Grunts: 4


Theme: Destruction Initiative
4 / 4 Free Cards     75 / 75 Army

Eminent Configurator Orion - WJ: +28
-    Corollary - PC: 6 (Battlegroup Points Used: 6)
-    Assimilator - PC: 16 (Battlegroup Points Used: 16)
-    Assimilator - PC: 16 (Battlegroup Points Used: 6)
-    Assimilator - PC: 16
-    Assimilator - PC: 16
-    Cipher - PC: 16
-    Diffuser - PC: 6
-    Galvanizer - PC: 5

Attunement Servitors - 3 Attunement Servitors: 0
Elimination Servitors - 3 Elimination Servitors: 0
Elimination Servitors - 3 Elimination Servitors: 0
Elimination Servitors - 3 Elimination Servitors: 0
Algorithmic Dispersion Optifex - PC: 2


Optifex Directive - Leader & 2 Grunts: 4

List Reflections

The Lucant list I played in Champions was given to me by a better known player, and I piloted it rather poorly. I had much better success with my own version of the Lucant list that I played in the Team Tournament, though that very well could be because I'm more familiar with that kind of Lucant CL build rather than the no-heavies version. 

I don't know how much I like the no-heavy version of Lucant in CL, in fact after the weekend I'm more inclined to try and run less infnatry and more heavies.  I doubt this has anything to do with the list itself power wise vs. how I prefer to play. 

I think I want a max of 20 Obstructors and then take either Reciprocators or Eradicators as a center unit, and then fill the list out with more heavies. Reason being that taking a ton of small based units gets hard to cover them sufficiently with Enigma Foundries when you have to spread out due to scenario or the center piece of terrain forcing a split in your forces/Foundries.

I had already learned that I need a Diffuser in my lists which worked great, and a CL list with 3 heavies + Diffuser and a skimpier selection of troops may be enough to push it over the edge. Sadly the troops don't seem to do too much and since they're with Lucant, a canny opponent can use terrain to shield their heavies. When I lost with Lucant it was due to simply missing a way an opponent could land an assassination, or just dropping him into the wrong matchup (Siege 1). 

Conservators in Lucant print money and threat far with the Diffuser and have native pathfinder. At ARM20, they're hard to shoot down under decel and they almost always can be positioned to where they'll get Righteous Vengeance triggered in a CL list.  I'm debating just running 3 Conservators + Diffuser and Corollary in my Battle group and trying to make the list work. There's definitely a lot of room to experiment.

Iron Mother's list is solid and performed well and I simply need some more practice to get a bit better experienced.  It also hurts when you're dice off 6 for an Backlash assassination and so you boost damage, only to roll 17 on the dice and leave the jack with not enough boxes left for the backlash to work.  Also I should probably write "SPAWN YOUR SERVITORS" on my hand before the game starts. There's also the mistake of getting way ahead on attrition and camping 0 focus, forgetting Vlad2 can get rid of the cloud blocking LOS to her and getting her assassinated. 

Orion also has legs and I just need more practice playing him into a shooting opponent rather than a melee one. I think either he or Lucant CL is the best drop into Tharn. I actually dodged Circle all weekend, but I suppose being in the losers bracket most of the time will do that. 

Going Forward

Because I'll be doing a lot of work travel on the other side of the country later this year, this was likely my only con for 2019.  I hope to make it to more local Steam Rollers and to get in at least two Scrum leagues before I start travelling heavily. As much as I want to be competitive, I really feel a calling towards playing Aurora and Syntherion as something fun to play. I honestly hate not having Pathfinder in my infantry lists and I'm wondering if there's not some fun tech with Ciphers with Aurora. From a competitive standpoint I'm thinking about spending more time playing Locke who looks both fun and competitive.

The key take away for me is that I'm staying set on playing Convergence this year. Legion and Trolls are appealing, but I'm enjoying painting the rest of my Convergence army and I just want to stick with them since I feel like there's a lot for me to explore and learn. 

Mouslings!

   These are some Reaper Bones figures I bought just because I like them. The paint jobs aren't really anything fancy, but they work.




Sunday, March 15, 2020

PUBG Mobile 0.12.0 Update

What's next after PUBG mobile 0.11.5 update? Yeah, it's 0.12.0 update! This update will also bring some new guns, new features, new attachments, and many new features. So let us have a look at those features.

1. MP5K (Gun) :

           MP5K is a new SMG gun coming to PUBG mobile 0.12.0 update. This gun will be available only on Vikendi map and will replace Vector from Vikendi map. This gun will require 9mm ammo. The MP5K is highly versatile with single, burst and full auto firing options. It can support all attachment types. View the video to know more about it.


Pubg new update
MP5K 

2. Skorpion (Gun) :

          It is a full-auto weapon pistol that works on 9mm ammo. Its capacity can be increased from default 20 rounds to 40 rounds using a standard extended magazine. It can be switched from single fire to full auto. The only disadvantage is that it has lower per bullet damage than other pistols. If you want to use this weapon, you have to wait for PUBG mobile 0.12.0 update.


Pubg new update
Skorpion

3. Competitive mode will be re-added:

         This mode was once available in PUBG but later it was removed. Now on public demand, they are bringing it back on PUBG mobile 0.12.0 update. Those players who don't know what it is or recently started players, let me explain it to you. So basically, it is an arcade mode where there are no bots i.e. all the players are real. 
         The minus point of this mode is that it takes 10 minutes or more, depending on the number of players, to load. This mode is perfect for those who hate bots or for pro players who want only real players to kill.


Pubg new update
Competitive mode


4. Canted sight (attachment) :

        It is a secondary attachment that allows the player to quickly switch between the 1x Canted sight and the other scope used. It is already launched in PUBG PC, Xbox and PS4. To know more about Canted sight you can visit my post about it
                 It was planned to release in PUBG 0.11.5 update but later it was postponed to PUBG mobile 0.12.0 update


Pubg new update
Canted Sight


5. Death Cam (feature) :

          Death Cam is a new feature coming to PUBG mobile   0.12.0 update. If you are playing the game and suddenly someone kills you then this Cam will allow you to view the scene i.e. after your death you can use the feature to know exactly who killed you, what gun the opponent used and other information. The main reason behind the adding of this feature is that many players were reporting the presence of hackers in the game. So PUBG added this feature to know whether there was a real hacker or not.


Pubg new update
Death Cam


6. Bug tracking system :

       Lagging is the worst enemy for online players. PUBG Corp. understands it and is trying its best to remove lagging as much as possible. 
    For this, PUBG is installing a software called Bug tracking system. This software will scan the game, detect any bug present in the game and will report it to the PUBG developers. The PUBG developers can, then work on that bug and remove it. This is just a concept for now but we hope to find it in the PUBG mobile 0.12.0 update.
  
7. More chats are added : 

    If you are bored with existing chats like "Help!", " I got supplies!" etc. then in the PUBG mobile 0.12.0 update you will be able to add some more chats in both male and female voices. And you can irritate your friends as like I do with my friends. 

pubg mobile update
Chats in PUBG

8. The White Eagle : 

       You will be able to have the White Eagle as your companion in the PUBG mobile 0.12.0 update. The Eagle will follow wherever you go. 

pubg mobile update
The White Eagle


9. Scope colors :

       The PUBG mobile 0.12.0 update will let you change the color and shape of the pointer of a gun. People who were bored red color can change it to several colors including white, sky, pink, black and others.

pubg mobile update
Scope colors

Release date:

        There is no officially confirmed release date for PUBG mobile 0.12.0 update, but the expected date, as of my prediction, is 20-25 April 2019. I repeat again this is my prediction and not officially confirmed. Once the date is officially confirmed, the date will be posted on our facebook page. So please like our page to get future updates.

Enough reading! Now it's your time to tell me your opinion about these updates. The comment section is below.