Still not dead

Hi,

I am, slowly, digging out from the Month of Hell, and aside from some kind of viral relay between the kids, life is slowly returning to semi-normal levels of busy-ness.  This was the first morning in several weeks I didn't wake up feeling like a zombie, so I figured it was time for a little catch-up.

Painting's been almost at a standstill, but there's been at least a little geek activity.  The Cub and I got in a game of 40k last weekend, I've been tweaking my MtG Commander decks with the new cards from Khans of Tarkir / Fate reforged, and I even got out one night to play Magic, getting in both a Commander game and playing in a draft for the first time.

The game I played with Cub was 1000 points.  He went unbound, with a mix of assault marines, tacticals, devastators, and his redeemer.  I went infantry heavy, lots of shootas, tankbustas, and sluggas.  It was a bit of a learning experience for him, as he sent his units in piecemeal and found out the hard way what happens when you deploy a shooting unit like Devs in a spot where their line of sight is blocked. That said, it was a fun game, with some rather cinematic moments (notably the challenge between his Librarian and my Warboss), and he's learning how to take defeat, like victory, with some grace.

Orks face off against Marines.  His Devs are behind the "terrain" top right.

The Orks surge forward, overwhelming the lone tac squad, and risking death by Redeemer flamer.

Cub drop-strikes his assault marines, and the orks pile in.

The tanbustas that make it past the Redeemer's flame templates charge in.  2 Powerklaws make short work of the tank.  Net turn, the Librarian and Warboss will face off.

With the new MtG releases, I've been durdling away with my commander decks.  My zombies have gone through the biggest change, as I swapped out Commanders, and am now running them as Red-Black with Tymaret the Murder King at the helm.  I've made a few swaps to the plants deck too, and was delighted when I was able to trade in some cards I picked up at the draft for a Nyssa, Worldwaker, a card I'd not normally be able to justify buying.  I even got to try her out in the one game I played, and she was both crazy fun, and a nice thematic addition.

I really enjoyed the draft.  It was at one of the local geek shops here in Halifax, Games People Play, and both the staff and the regulars made a new guy feel welcome. I did pretty well, considering, going 1-1-1 over three rounds, and in addition to the cards I swapped for Nyssa. picked up some other usable cards as well.  The selection process involved in drafting, with the constant need to evaluate signals and the process of selecting cards that work together, on the fly, is both challenging and fun.  I don't know how often I'll get to do it, but I definitely want to do it again.

That's pretty much all she wrote.  The Cub has been asking to go down to the GW to play, so we might get that in this weekend, weather and health permitting.  I'm hoping to get some painting in this week, as I've been getting the itch.  Posting will likely continue to be a little sporadic, but there's life left in the blog yet.

FMB