New Guy? Crusade of Fire!? Space Stations!

Hi there everyone! I'm Matt, part of the Weekend Warriors crew, and I thought I'd introduce myself real quick before I jump into the Nitty Gritty Terrain Blog that is to follow.

I started up in hobbies when I was but a wee lad, when my dad became part owner of a little place called the New Fiction House in Homewood Illinois. This was way back in the nineties, and I immediately fell in love with almost every system out there. I started with Warhammer 40k and Necromunda, back in the heady days of happiness that were 2nd and 3rd edition. I went on to play almost every game that was made back then, Gorka Morka, Gothic, Inquisitor, BattleTech, Ogre, Warzone. You name it I at least tried it! I even dabble in the wonderful world of RPGs. But enough of those fond memories, I am now a happily married man expecting his first child, and newly thrust back into the wide world of the Grim Dark Future. I've started my own Space Marine Chapter, The Emperor's Musketeers, and play the 313th Cadian Imperial Guard as well. So look for me in some upcoming battle-reports when the forces of the Imperium are called upon to destroy the Xenos and Heretic Plagues of our galaxy!

Along those lines, here at our friendly local gaming store, ShieldBreakers, we're getting ready to start up a Crusade of Fire campaign at the end of February. My friend and myself were immediately fired up for this, tournaments are great and all, but the fluff, storyline, and grand competition is where our bread and butter is for happiness! However, we noticed something...we don't have a space station! How are we supposed to recreate an epic battle far above the planets in outer space if we don't even have any space rocks and buildings!? We'd never done it before, but how hard can it be!?

So we have decided to take it upon ourselves to create this wonderful set piece. Our materials are relatively simple and cheap.
2 - Hardfoam sheets of insulation.You can find it in most Hardware stores, around $20-$30 a sheet.

The Foam! We went with 2" thick Sheets.

1 - Tube of PVA Glue
1 - Dremel
1 - Human Being equipped with the following
      1 - Hack Saw
      1 - File
      1 - Sandpaper or Sanding block
      1 - Box Cutter or similar cutting tool.
      1 - Electrically Heated cutting Wire (Not actually needed but quite nice to do the end pieces quick)

We started by putting our glue down on the back side of one sheet, and then stacked them together. As this was our first time doing this we then proceeded to try and shape after about 30 minutes of drying. This was a mistake, as we were suddenly reshifting things together after cutting. So we settled on putting down our traceries for future cutting.

Stacked and Glued

Our Mistake, if you look you can see the edges are a little off.

Moving on, and learning that PVA Glue takes forever to set, (some two hours later, pieces were still shifting) we decided to weigh all of this down and try again in another couple of hours.

We are very hi-tech when it comes to weights.

We then came back and started our rough cuts, for scale and playability we've opted for 2 - 12" Rocks, 2 - 8' rocks, and 1 - 15" rock. One of our 12" rocks will become a scratchbuilt landing pad, and the other rocks will house the various buildings and defenses of the space station.

The first 12" rock got cut a smidge to small by an overzealous cutter.

4" deep foam, we don't want models falling too far!

From there it was basically a lot random whacks at the rocks with the cutters and the sanding paper to make our defined edges. Our next steps are to use the Dremel and carve out some good deep gouges, and round off some chasm edges to make these islands in space look a little more worn.

The pre-finished, rough product!

This is in a friend's basement (I don't have one) and the wife won't let me take over the garage. The next update on this project should be in about a week! We're hoping to have it all banged up and painted by the end of next week, that way we can start in on our buildings! Hope this inspires some of you! Til next time, remember to aim for the eye stalks, that's where the daemons are weakest! - Weekend Warrior Matt

What's in the Box?! - Triumph & Treachery

In the premiere episode of the Weekend Warriors "What's in the Box?!" CJ & Nate review the recent Warhammer Fantasy Expansion Triumph & Treachery

Triumph & Treachery is a Warhammer supplement which features rules for playing three, four, or even five player games of Warhammer Fantasy.  It's a totally new way to play, allowing you and your friends to bribe you enemies, hire mercenaries to bolster your armies and carry out all manner of underhand tactics.  Anything goes in the quest to win the war!

This 96-page, full-color, hardback book includes:

-A history of the underhand tactics employed by devious generals to defeat multiple opponents.
-Full rules for playing multiplayer games of Warhammer Fantasy.
-Three new Triumph & Treachery scenarios.
-Three historical scenarios featuring the background to the battle; an overview of each army; scenario rules; and an order of battle showcasing the miniatures on each side.
-A showcase of expertly painted Citadel miniatures.

Also included is a deck of 36 beautifully illustrated Treachery cards that allow you to employ all sorts of nefarious bribes and ploys in your games.  There are also five player turn cards.

As well as this there is a drawstring bag containing victory tokens.  These provide a handy method of keeping track of each player's victory points throughout the game (and can be used for other things, such as bribing an opponent or hiring mercenaries.)

All of this is presented in a slipcase to keep the book, cards, and victory tokens together.

You will need a copy of the Warhammer rulebook and relevant army books in order to use the contents of this book.

To order, visit your friendly local gaming store!

-Weekend Warriors CJ & Nate

Teach Your Kids to Game Week

So this weekend that epic cold front that is pushing across the United States skirted us here in Colorado.  I was pretty much snowed in for much of the weekend, so I spent some time getting caught up on much needed Magic: the Gathering card organization.  For those of you who don't know I currently live with a pair of good friends and their young sons to help them out as their father has been unemployed for awhile now.  While I had several piles of cards all over the coffee table, their oldest son and his two friends from down the street who were spending the weekend via sleepover expressed interest in the game.  Fortunately I had a few sample decks that a friend had given me specifically for the reason to teach people how to play.  With the weather outside being so frightful I pulled them all out, let each one pick a color, and dove into the basics of the game.

They all definitely had a great time, and have mentioned they all want to get into the game so I'll probably bring them down to Shieldbreakers with their parents in the next few weeks, but it got me thinking.  Being such an avid casual gamer and not personally being a fan of the tournament scene, I wondered how we continue to get people into the hobby.  I looked at what ages our favorite tabletop systems are recommended for, how and when people were introduced to various systems or how they have or plan to do so with their own little ones.  I reflected on what brought me to the industry, how each game progressed to giving the next a try, and pondered when is a good time to introduce people to various games.  After all, the boys this weekend were between 8 to 12, and while I know officially Magic is supposed to be for ages 13 and up, I also know for a fact I was only 12 myself when I started to play.

For me it all started at the end of sixth grade.  I received my first 60 card starter deck at the end of the year when I "graduated" to middle school.  I acquired the cards from a friend at school, but aside from admiring the art work it pretty much sat on my shelf for most of the rest of the year.  That is, until that fall when I began social studies with our teacher Sacha Gerrish.  Every Thursday afternoon he would run a game club for students to help keep such young impressionable minds away from those things that can start to creep into our lives at that tender age.  Foremost were Warhammer as well as, low and behold, Magic.  I discovered several other classmates of mine met up there every week and begged my mother to let me join them.  I quickly was snatching a booster pack every week with my allowance and played every lunch with my friends at our own little table in the cafeteria.  This was also when I started playing Warhammer 40,000 myself, enjoying the hobby aspect of building up my Dark Angels.

By the time I was in high school my tabletop gaming had dwindled as I became fascinated with music, cars and women.  However, I was soon drawn in to tabletop games again when I joined the United States Army and spent my first year stationed in Seoul, South Korea.  Others in the barracks began teaching me roleplaying games, mainly through West End Games Star Wars as well as Wizards of the Coast Dungeons & Dragons.  I began to play my first video games like Neverwinter Nights and Diablo II.  Then, late one weekend while drinking in the barracks, my battle buddy pulled out his Magic collection.  Immediately I called home to ask my mother to find and mail my old cards, which by the end of the tour my battle kindly donated his entire collection to.  By the time I was stateside at my next duty station in Fort Lewis, Washington, I was again hooked.  Being in the Pugent Sound didn't help either, as I spent nearly all my free time at Wizards of the Coast or Games Workshop stores.  And so I have stayed active in all things tabletop gaming ever since.

Where does that bring me today?  Well, for starters, I already spend a lot of time in Colorado trying to introduce people to tabletop games they may not be familiar with.  I run the weekly Pathfinder Society scenarios every Thursday at Shieldbreakers, as well as their weekly boardgame days on Sundays.  I even own a company that specifically builds affordable custom gaming and hobby furniture as you all know.  The thing is, most of this time I've been either introducing adults to these games, or broadening their awareness of other systems.  Until this weekend, I had never had the privilege of introducing youngsters to the hobby.  Truth be told, I found it to be a very rewarding change.  I now look forward to other opportunities to bring middle and high school teenagers into the hobby.  One of the reasons I've personally avoided most tournaments is that I see a lot of "win at all cost" individuals which, frankly, turn off a lot of people my own age from wanting to play new systems.  Young adults on the other hand appear to still have that innocence of just wanting to learn the game without having to bash everyone's teeth in.  This is refreshing, and something I believe I am going to continue to pursue into the next year.

In essence, it's almost like a new year's resolution.  To openly and proudly share my favorite tabletop hobbies with all ages.  I both encourage and challenge each of you to do the same.  Let's make the first full week of each year "Teach Your Kids to Game Week" then lets spread the word on what we've introduced the next generation of gamer to.  Either comment below or message us at WeekendWarriors@KreatorHobbies.com with how you introduced the hobby with someone you loved.  Furthermore, Happy New Year to you and may you have a fun filled year of gaming yourselves!

-Weekend Warrior CJ