I Lurv Hobby Nite!!!

Last night was just brilliant! I had intended to paint up the bastion and a couple of other concrete-looking bunkers in the terrain box, but got enticed into an excellent Planetstrike game with Doc before I could even finish unpacking my paints (Doc didn't really have to try too hard in his 'enticement' - I'm easy). And he revealed his brand-new Ork army, with lots of Orky konvershens - including an Ork fortress and bastion.

On the other gaming tables, it was interesting to see Arzmi's new-config Inquisitorial army - much more flexible than the old one, IMHO. Joe's daemons were on the rampage, ploughing through Eldar and mon-keigh alike. Iqbal took on the Inquisition with his Raven Guard - it's always good to see his marines. Faizal's new IG army is progressing along nicely - the brand-new Leman Russ Executioner model he brought is niiice. Khairul's second game was his baptism of fire in Planetstrike - and his defence held my Alaitoc to a standstill.

Jeff brought his Unclean terminators and daemons, all primed in white. I believe the intent was to paint up the Lord in termie armor with base colors, and then give him the dip. But what happened was truly amazing - the termie Lord was painted and dipped, and so was another termie, and a few daemons to boot. On top of that, he also finished basing some of the Catachans from last week. Talk about productive!

I don't know about you, but this dip thing is a true revelation for me. Previously I've only read about it. But now having seen real-life examples - I'm sold. The termie Lord is particularly impressive. Jeff just block-painted base colors over the white undercoat, picking out metal details and cloak, etc. No highlighting, no shading,just flat colors. Then the dip brush came out. And a couple of seconds later - it's completely shaded, and actually gave the effect of highlights too! He's going to actually paint up the highlights for the Lord after the dip is dry, but he'd save a lot of time already. I won't get further into this, go check out his blog - I fully expect him to post pics there.

And Jeff was doing most of this while chatting with Saleem, who also brought some food. In fact, Saleem and I broke fast at the Legio. Redeye was there as well, assembling his brand-new Predator, no doubt from his newly-acquired Astartes armored column. Looking forward to seeing that painted in his chapter's white livery.

Anyways, I ramble. Looking forward to next hobby nite - and actually getting to my bastions :)

The New Legio - a Perspective

My guess is most people are aware that we are changing how we're doing things at Legio. And I really appreciate the positive response that we've been getting from the initial announcement. So let me share my view of why we're doing what we're doing.

Legio Malaysia was created to facilitate a wargames community that will take the hobby to new heights - in Malaysia, and then maybe globally. To my mind, that means bringing together a few people who are absolutely rabid about the wargames hobby, and just want the hobby to grow in terms of quality (modeling, painting, gaming, event standards, etc) and quantity (the easier part - number of people actively engaged in the hobby, number of game systems played, number of events, etc).

So we went ahead and did it. Comfortable and clean wargames venue with lots of tables and space, lots of events (4 tournaments, 3 leagues, 1 painting competition to date, with another tournament and league coming around the corner), t-shirts, dice. When we started Legio, we truly expected a maximum of 8 members or so. At one point, we had 33! Which is fantastic.

However, after more than a year, we were actually not much closer to our goals compared to when we started. While some people did sincerely help, almost everything else was actually done by Jeff and myself. I truly understand that people are busy and have commitments - I have 4 children, a wife, parents, mortgages, loans and stuff, and a corporate sales job with a multinational - so I know what that's like. I also know that for some people, the intent to help was there, but they did not how to engage and deliver the help. I'm not blaming anyone for anything here.

But the fact remains that it got to the point that Jeff and I felt like we were running a cinema - people come, pay their fees, roll some dice, go home. Nothing wrong with just turning up and playing a few games - in fact, that's what should happen most of the time. The more games the better! Roll dice! If you know me, you know I simply love to roll dice. The problem is, there was almost nothing else. Legio was being treated almost like a store, albeit without products. Which is not the way it was ever intended.

The primary reason the old Legio had fees was to gain 'a pound of flesh' - a token of commitment. Trust me, while we do appreciate that the money collected was put to good use to help organize some of the events, it was much less than what the cost of the events actually were. Jeff and I forked out lots of cash for the events, t-shirts, tables, materials, etc - enough to build several (many many) new armies. But here's where we made the biggest mistake. The 'pound of flesh' did not translate into much commitment at all. Instead, it became just a ticket to go play.

The truth is, successful wargames communities always have a core group of people who drive things. I think the old structure of Legio somehow impeded that from happening. Perhaps there was too much formal stratification between the different levels of Legio members. Maybe the wargames club model that works in the UK and the US doesn't work in KL. Whatever the reason, it all feeds into the new way we run Legio.

The goal remains the same. And the strategic requirements are the same - a core group of hobbyists. Only the approach is different. Think of Legio as a private home with an excellent hobby room. Everyone is welcome to bring their armies and models and roll dice, paint, chat or whatever fuels your wargames juices. Being a private home, there's no door charge. But being a private home, you do need to RSVP that you're coming for hobby night. Of course, if you're a member of the family, no RSVP is required. And family members are people who are committed to one another.

Anyways, enough pseudo-philosophizing. See you at Hobby Nite!

Flames of War 1750 Mid War Tournament

The good folks at Imagine Games are running this tournament on Sunday, September 27th at 10:30 AM, with Round 1 starting at 11:00 AM sharp. This tournament allows the new "Mid War Monsters" to be used, so crack out the big guns!

There's a small entry fee of RM10 for this tournament.

This is being held at Toybox, the local retailer for all things Flames of War. For more information about this tournament, or to sign up, please contact Edwin at Imagine Games for the info.

Cheers