No, I'm Not Going to Pay to Be Your Beta Tester

I buy games.

I have five hundred and sixty two games on Steam for an account that is about three years old, and I'm looking forward to the coming Spring Sale and using this money burning a hole in my pocket. I have somewhere in the neighborhood of 150 Playstation 2 games, fifty or so Wii games, and about a hundred games each for N-64 and Dreamcast from my console era. Though I vastly prefer PC and the cloud these days, I could probably dig up two or three hundred games on disk if I went spelunking through storage boxes (and the casualties of various moves were magically restored).  I have the disposable income of a Gen Xer approaching middle age, and I like games. I know full well that if I added up the retail price I spent on all these games, I would be looking at several years' salary.

I don't say this to brag. I'm not trying to prove my gaming street cred. I also don't say it to establish some "#sorrynotsorry" faux patheticness. ("Look what a looser I am spending so much on the hobby I love! It's so unlike those other inexpensive hobbies like skydiving and ballroom dancing.") I say it to establish one simple fact:

I buy games.

So don't tell me I'm not your audience. I am. I buy your DLC without a gumtoothed complaint that in the old days "a game was a game was a game." Before a certain tiny human came along, I had time to enjoy Gametap and spend money to indulge my gaming nostalgia. I keep subscriptions active for MMORPG's I don't get to play more than an hour or two a month. Hell, I'll even spend the price of a latte every couple of days on your Freemium game if it's currently holding my interest. If you're on the up and up, I'm basically one of the people putting your kids through college.

But you have not kept it on the up and up.

There's a particularly odious trend exploding in the video games industry right now, and when you're scratching your heads wondering what went so very, very wrong when your sales tank, and no one will by games until they're a year old and the bugs are shaken out, I hope you look back and take into account that you basically turned conning your customers into a business model.

Quit fucking releasing games that aren't done.

It's bad enough that we get bullshit like the Assassin's Creed Unity launch, which was so bad it's being compared to E.T. for Atari–arguably the worst video game EVER.

But perhaps your worst move is to attempt to charge your customers for doing your beta testing instead of hiring a proper team or at LEAST giving your customers a free game to do your work for you. Making players fork over money so they can fill out bug reports to an increasingly irritated and overworked dev team. Forcing your players to do the grunt work of interacting with a team that's getting more and more frustrated and demanding more and more detail in how to trigger bugs because they see each one as a personal affront.

This little shit goblin of a move goes by the charming euphemism "Early Access" but like "pre-enjoyed vehicles"and "depopulating areas" this use of delightful sobriquets is no more than sticking a still steaming turd into a box with a bow. Frankly, you are being "economical with the truth."

And I'm going to say this last part as someone who often hits "publish" a little too soon when I'm blogging and ends up going back and fixing typos and grammar errors. When I actually care about something, I want it to go out to the world looking good. Have some fucking pride in what you're putting your name on. The video game industry is insanely competitive and most studios are one flop away from bankruptcy. A company that has no artistic integrity and no pride in its final product will get chewed up and spat out by being penny wise and pound foolish.

I'm telling you this as someone who buys games. As someone who will not buy your game when I hear it had glitches or you did an "early release" to get your customers to do your Q.A. work for you (and pay to do so). As someone who will then avoid your future releases and be dubious about your company from then on (unless glowing reviews flow like water from a pitcher in a Middle Earth elven kingdom scene). As someone who got the message loud and clear that a few dollars at the front end means more to you than giving your customers a good experience. As someone who increasingly waits on new releases (even though $60.00 is not too much if I love a game) because of exactly this shit.

Releasing undone games won't just lose you one gamer's wallet love. There's a reason E.T. was cited as causing an INDUSTRY WIDE CRASH. It's like anti-branding. You're dragging your reputation through the mud and making your customers that much more gunshy–not just about your games but all games in general. It's a few dollars up front that costs you in the long run.

I buy games.

But if you keep releasing games that aren't done, I won't be buying yours.

Chris Brecheen is a writer and English Professor and gamer. In addition to the time he spends on the Ace of Geeks, he runs a daily blog about writing called, shockingly, Writing About Writing.

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Watch a Man Speedrun Ocarina of Time...Blindfolded

I hope you all kept up with this year's Awesome Games Done Quick. The week-long, 24 hour event brings speedrunners from around the world together to accomplish things that no one's ever done before, for your entertainment and for charity. This year, they raised 1.3 million dollars for the Prevent Cancer Foundation.

Last night, the second to last stream was one of the most impressive I've ever seen. A runner known as Runnerguy2489 spent an hour and a half running the masterpiece known as The Ocarina of Time...blindfolded. It's insane to watch - Runnerguy knows where he is pretty much at all times, just based on the games music and sound fx, and his own muscle memory. He pulls off tricks that would make most speedrunners tremble, and does it without his eyes. Hit the jump to watch the full run, and be amazed yourself.

The Best Everything of 2014

This is it, folks. The last day of 2014. A day when we sit back and reflect on all of the awesome things we saw and did this year. We hope it was as awesome for you as it was for us, and thanks for tuning in each and every day to the Ace of Geeks. We couldn't be doing this without you, and we appreciate every since one of you guys. Next year, look for brand new content, new shows, more articles, and more coverage of conventions around the world. But for now, let's look back and reflect on the best of this year. Here, by popular vote, are our staff's picks for the best of 2014:

Telltale Games and Mojang Announce Minecraft: Story Mode

Earlier this morning, Mojang released a pretty funny little interactive web app called "Info Quest II." Those who played through it were rewarded with a special announcement: Mojang and Telltale Games (The Walking Dead, Tales from the Borderlands, Wolf Among Us) are partnering up to make a Telltale-style adventure game set inside the Minecraft universe.

Telltale is well known for playing well in other people's properties (see all of the games I listed above), although their games recently have been very...adult in nature. It seems like they'd be a poor fit for a Minecraft game, until you take into account their point and click adventures from years ago. Anyone who's played the new Sam and Max games or their Strongbad game can see they'll have no trouble adapting to the more family friendly Minecraft. And the game should still be very funny. The only real question is how they'll find a story in a world that is designed to be a blank canvas.

We know only one thing for sure. It won't involve Steve.

Poor Steve.

Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare Review

Gamers who play first person shooters are always looking for the next big thing. That game changer, that alters how shooters are made. Bay Area company Sledgehammer Games may just have that in their brand new installment of Call of Duty. Why is it special though? Is this reviewer just perpetuating internet hype, or is there something to this latest installment of the storied Activision Franchise. Based on my time with the game, I can say that Sledgehammer Games has the pedigree of a great design company, as well as the wisdom to innovate and borrow from other games to make the one of the best first person shooters out on the market.

Sledgehammer Games' Roots

 Sledgehammer games was started by Glen Schofield and Michael Condrey. They are veteran developers who left Electronic Arts developer Visceral Games, after starting the Dead Space franchise, to start their own company. Their first work as a new company was to co-develop Modern Warfare 3 with Infinity Ward. If anyone reading this has played those games, then you will know that those are some solid bona fides. If you’ve been living under a rock and never played either Dead Space or Modern Warfare 3, I suggest you start educating yourself. They were both seriously great games. Either way, Sledgehammer’s owners made a killer and down right deviously scary horror/shooter for EA and their new company cut its teeth on a previous Call of Duty game. They were ready to develop this one on their own.

Multiplayer; its what really matters right?

Since Valve launched Counter Strike, multiplayer has become the driving force of shooters.  Since then, new games have to evolve to survive. Whether it was increasing the number of players on a map, adding vehicles, or a slew of other options multiplayer can be what makes or breaks a game. We saw that with Mass Effect 3, who’s multiplayer mode felt like an almost complete part of the game. It was a survival mode instead of team deathmatch; admittedly it tied into the story portion of the game to drive players towards it. Previous COD titles have had varying structures of multiplayer design. Whether it's adding on new modes or adding new options for custom classes; Activision's developers have always tried to add new things.

Instead of going for something new, Sledgehammer borrowed from aspects from a variety of titles and perfected them. Players who played Call of Duty Black Ops II will enjoy a return to a familiar mechanic: the fully customizable load out system pioneered by Treyarch. Here players can alter their guns through attachments, equip exo suit abilities, change perks, alter their killstreaks, and add Wild Card perks. Unlike Ghosts and Black Ops I, there is no money or coin system that earns new guns or attachment faster, so players will have to be patient and level up to get new guns. New to the game are Exo abilities. Exo abilities are specific perks that have a battery life. Once activated the battery drains and does not recharge. The Exo abilities allow you to do very Crisis-like things, like run faster, or cloak.

Another borrowed mechanic that is “new” to COD is the Supply Drop. This is not like the killstreak reward, but rather a post match reward that unlocks new rare items. Those familiar with Mass Effect 3 multiplayer will remember either spending hard cash or grinding out in game currency to purchase supply drops for new guns, buffs, or new playable characters. In Advanced Warfare players earn them by leveling up or by completing challenges. They contain random items that vary from a free in game reward like a supply drop, different cosmetic clothing or armors, to rare varieties of base weapons earned in the game by leveling up. The values are denoted by colors: Enlisted (green), Professional (blue), and Elite (orange). Slegdehammer has also reintroduced the competitive ranked modes from Black Ops, for those players who either play professionally or want a greater challenge than offered in public matches. There is a survival mode that plays similar to Halo ODST's Firefight mode, but allows players to choose between 3 Exo frames ( light, heavy, or specialist) each with its own available weapons, as well as benefits and drawbacks. Finally, Zombie mode will also return to the game at an undisclosed time as DLC. 

Story: It's Important, and in this case, worthwhile!

For the competitive player who enjoys first person shooters, story mode is an afterthought. In the case of Advanced Warfare, Sledgehammer added a gimmick that may just drive players to play through their story to earn a competitive edge against their friends and opponents.

Before the gimmick, let it be said the narrative for Advanced Warfare brings new emotional currents to the well known COD story. There is a formula to COD stories: Exposition, Act One, Conflict/Betrayal, Act Two, Climax, Resolution, and finally a cut scene set up for next game. I won't be revealing the story in this article, but play the campaign, its worth it for the story alone. I will say that what the writers at Sledgehammer Games injected emotional life into their shooter that is rarely seen outside of a role playing game. The writing team encourages, nay drives, players to emotionally connect not only with the character they are playing, but with the villain as well. The writers inject real emotions to each glimpse of joy, frustration, or sorrow that occurs in the game.

The gimmick added by the game developers is tied into the Exo Suit upgrade systems. Throughout the campaign, players are encouraged to complete challenges: getting a certain number of kills per level, headshots, grenade kills, and the ever present "collect the intel." As each level of the challenge is completed, an upgrade point for the Exo Suit is earned. Players can upgrade their suits to get better passive better response from their suit. Upgrades range from increased reload speed, to threat detection, to sprint duration. There are 2 upgrade levels, with level one costing one point, and level two costing two points. As upgrade levels are maxed out, players will unlock multiplayer supply drops earning players a potential edge to online combat.

Design for the sake of art and brilliant mechanics

Call of Duty hasn't always been the best looking game. Granted, the franchise has stayed abreast of industry standards but rarely can I say that the game was beautiful in the same way Skyrim or Mass Effect 3 were beautiful. That being said, the artists and creators at Sledgehammer Games have made a beautiful looking game. Game levels have depth of field, and beautiful texturing that grab the eye. The cut scenes are film quality with principal character faces and bodies are completely motion captured. The dialogue helps bring emotion to the campaign as well as creating a stage for Kevin Spacey to run wild with acting chops worthy of Calculon! Looking at this game is a feast for the eyes. One can tell that the developers took time and care making this game.

The game mechanics for this game feel like a return to Modern Warfare 3, with bits of Black Ops and other games tossed in. The speed of multiplayer is reminiscent of that game. Players are not being slaughtered left and right but now players need to think in new directions. The Exo suit allows players not only to boost jump but to dodge quickly on the ground as well as in mid air. Possibly borrowed from Titanfall, this dodge ability feels smoother and more practiced in its new home. Players now can reach new heights in their attempts to find sniper hideouts, as well as new avenues for escape to dodge incoming fire. Exo abilities grant players timed bonuses to make them tougher, faster, quiet, or nearly invisible. This grants each player with new avenues for strategy to deal death upon their opponents. These new tools breath fresh life into Call of Duty while retaining the core values that have made the IP great.

Play it all

When it comes down to it, this new addition to the Call of Duty family is a great game made by a company that cares about quality. They borrowed and adapted aspects and mechanics from previous games to bring new life to a multiplayer franchise that had started to feel stale, as seen in Call of Duty: Ghosts. The return of the ranked competitive playlists will surely make competitive gamers happy and content in an arena designed for professional tournaments. For myself however, what made this game great was the story. A story of a man tired of the failure of governments who takes a step too far. Like the Greek tragedies of old hubris brings the downfall of a man who reached to far, and the player is the deus ex machina that resolves the imbalance. A great cast led by Kevin Spacey dives into a story that touches our current problems and provides a cautionary tale of loss, sorrow, righteous anger, and ultimately the futility of attempting to end violence with violence. Sledgehammer Games has released a classic that has set a new benchmark for the Call of Duty franchise as well as shooters as a whole.

On Cheating, Honor, and Competition

Mike posted about me the other day.  It went something like this:

Seth.  Hey Seth.  Seth.  Seth, hey Seth.  Seth.  Write something.  Hey Seth, hey, write something.  Write something, Seth.  Write it.  Write something.  Seth.  Thanks. (write something).

Or at least that's what I got out of it.  Unfortunately, I didn't really know what to write about.  The tournament scene for miniature wargaming is winding down in this area, and most of you tune in for those pictures.  I'd covered most of the cons that went on, and the few that I had been to did not have large scale competitions.  None of you had any good ideas, so I was sitting around until my friend Dan tossed this little gem into my lap:

"Hey, did you hear about the Feast of Blades tournament in Denver?"

Google Search.  Read read read.  ooooooOOOOOOOoooooohhhh.

Apparently the champion of the tournament was accused of cheating, and immediately disqualified himself.  The allegation came from another person, who had found one of his dice under the table and saw that the die was not fair.  The champion made a public statement where he apologizes for the mistake.  He chose to disqualify himself and bow out of the tournament, declining his prize, trophy, and recognition.  Words like "honorable" and "do the right thing" and "honest mistake" were used to describe the situation.  Huh.  Ok, we'll come back to that later.

Game On! SF Foundry: Geek Mecca

Something nerdy is happening on Tuesday and Thursday nights in San Francisco's trendy SOMA district. At the intersection of 10th and Folsom, the Folsom Street Foundry is a relatively new, astoundingly popular bar that caters to San Francisco's burgeoning population of geeky twenty and thirty-somethings.

Early on a Thursday night

On any given Tuesday or Thursday night, the vast remodeled factory fills to the brim with people playing everything from Beer Pong to Magic: The Gathering. Every type of gamer that can be catered to in a social setting has been. Tournaments, emulators, food, booze and board games are all provided for a $5 entry fee.

The Legend of Korra Video Game? Not great...

It is with a heavy heart and great remorse that I am here today to report that the new Legend of Korra video game is a bit of a flop.

Run awaaaaaay

While at work I read that reviews of the game had given it some of their lowest scores of the year. But I mean - come on. Platinum Games doing a Legend of Korra title?  I had to put those articles aside tonight, and I knew I was just going to have to play it myself.

I...don't want to say the reports were mistaken, but they definitely aren't too far off.  This was particularly disappointing, given that the development company—Platinum Games—had released several critically acclaimed games such as Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance and Vanquish.

Extra Life 2014 Live Stream Marathon!

The Ace of Geeks is proud to, for the second year in a row, be hosting a 24 hour live stream event for Extra Life. Extra Life is an organization that, through the magic of gaming, raises money for Children's Hospitals around the country. Just like last year, we're going to be raising money for the Children's Hospital and Research Center in Oakland - they received $300k in donations last year, but we're looking to try and blast that number out of the water. Want to join us? Want more details? Check out this lovely video, and then hit the jump for the full schedule and a live feed of our Twitch stream!

Don't Call Me a Gamer. Not Anymore.

 My very first article for this site was an article about me thinking about quitting video games. It took too much time out of my life to continue to justify playing them and taking me away from my other creative endeavors. That was pretty naive, it turns out, as video games have still been a big part of my life, although in a much more time manageable sense. Video games are my reward for a hard days work now, rather than a source of procrastination. I even just bought myself a shiny new Xbox One to compliment my gaming PC. I have been and continue to be a Gamer.

That is, until I caught up with the Zoe Quinn situation. I mostly ignore the Internet, as the Internet rarely has anything useful to say about anything, (Says a blogger on the internet - Ed) but this story stuck with me for a variety of reasons and I'm let me tell you, I no longer want to be labeled as a Gamer. I don't want to be called that, because now that means I am a heinous, misogynistic bigot. The Gamer community has tarnished itself to the point that I no longer want to be a part of it.

Let me make this clear; I don't know Zoe Quinn. I've never met Zoe Quinn, and I will never meet Zoe Quinn. I don't give a fuck who she's fucked and neither should you. She could have done everything she is being accused of doing, and it still wouldn't matter because it is NONE OF OUR BUSINESS. To watch what the Gamer community has done to this poor woman is a disgrace that I just can't be a part of.

What's hilarious about this whole situation is the Gamer community is desperate to be taken seriously. They want E-Sports on ESPN and games recognized as a serious art form. They want Games to stop being blamed for mass shootings and violence and perceived as a useful pasttime. They want to be known as a welcoming global community that embraces everyone. Hell, anyone can be a "Gamer". And then you all pull this shit and "anyone" means white, heterosexual male? How can you, as a community, be taken seriously when you attack women with such hatred and disgust that even someone in ISIS would be uncomfortable.

That's right, I compared Gamers to ISIS. I'm not overracting, or going for Fox News worthy hyperbole, you are all seriously that misguided and abusive. The only explanation can be that you all hate women with such a passion that the comparison to Islamic Extremism is not only justified, but easy to make. And I'll say this about 4chan that a friend of mine said best, if 4chan were a geographic location military action would have to be considered for the evil that dwells there would be to horrific to let continue. Congrats, 4chan, you are the equivalent to a third world brutal dictatorship, and the only group of people on the planet that would be proud of that. Also, I'm not afraid of you, but you only seem to prey on women so I guess I don't really have anything to be afraid of.

So I'm walking away from this "community" and I'm ashamed that I ever was a part of it. Gamer, to me, now has such a negative connotation to it that I'd like to be as far away from that as possible. I'm still going to play video games, but to me, a Gamer is now a certain type of person, mysogynistic and vile. Terrence Howard has this great moment in Crash and although its not a great movie, his quote as stuck with me and although the situation in which it was uttered in the film has far more weight to it, it's fitting for this situation. "You embarass me, and you embarrass yourself."

Kyle Johanessen is not a gamer.

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Grandparents Got Game!

*When I started this article. I had the idea that I was going to make it about skills, levels and PVP ranks. Yes, some of the grandparents I talked to are PVP-ranked. But as I talked with them, I found a bigger story - a story about family bonding. I decided to share that instead. After all, toons can be re-rolled, but you can't re-roll a family member. (Unless you're playing the Sims. -Ed)

I play MMO's with my grandson, who's going to be 5 years old soon. He loves running around trashing mobs and collecting loot. He doesn't quite have the patience yet to finish a quest, but we're working on that. His parents let him play The Last of Us, (WHAT?! -Ed) and he does pretty well - except when he hits a point that he has to actually complete a task or quest in order to progress. Whenever he comes over to my house, the first thing he says to me is "Hi Grandma! I missed you! Can we play teams now?? PLEASE???" So we play some XBox games - Marvel vs. Capcom 3 usually to start, and we then eventually end up going to the computer room and playing Guild Wars 2 or Neverwinter. He wants to play Diablo 3 with me but I don't have it. Then he tries to be helpful.  "Aww. Let's go get it! I know where it lives - it stays at the store!"

Necromancy at the Bay Area Open 2014

Spoiler Warning: These guys win.

The first time I ever heard about Warhammer 40,000 was when my neighbor Corby came over and saw my brother and I playing Weapons & Warriors. He said it looked similar, and we thought that was cool, so he tried to teach us. We tried to get into it, but he wisely warned us not to. The cost of this particular wargame is little much for a 10 year old. We loved looking at the pictures, and my first memories of this game are pictures in a magazine and extrapolations from our imaginations. 16 years later, the hobby has changed significantly, and my understanding for the game, the lore, and the hobby have developed. The magic, the possibility, that wild, unfounded extrapolation born of inspired imagination is mostly dead. I say “mostly,” because after last Sunday, I will never say “dead” again. Well, except that I will, but I’m reminiscing here, cut me some slack.

Cut him some slack too, it's not easy being green.

I started playing Warhammer 40k when I was about 14. My friend got a bunch of models from his dad, and I bought some with my allowance, and we tried to figure out how to play. We went down to the local comic book shop on Saturdays and bit ankles until people took pity on us and let us join in. We met nerds for all walks of life, all ages, genres, and stereotypes. Goths, bikers, teachers, bouncers, software developers, insurance agents, we all had something in common and it brought us together once a week. I was raised by my parents every morning and evening, by my teachers 5 days a week, and by the foul mouthed, uncouth, irreverent, tough loving nerds of DNA cards and comics one day out of seven.

What's shaking in the Largest Warhammer Fantasy GT on the West Coast

Saturday and Sunday of the July 19th and 20th weekend saw a great deal of violence in San Francisco at Fort Mason. Blood was shed, brave warriors fell, and cries of great beasts were heard throughout the land. You did well to avoid this conflict if you are 28 mm high and made of plastic, resin or pewter. However, if you are closer to 6 feet, flesh and blood, and interested in the game of Warhammer Fantasy Battles, you may have missed the Quake City Rumble.

I’ve written about this game before, so skip this paragraph if you know what’s going on. For those of you new to my column, Warhammer Fantasy is a tabletop miniature game played by two or more players. Each player selects an race and builds a force from the rules governing that race. Armed with tape measures and a fist full of dice, they do battle by moving their models over a battlefield, resolving cannon shot and monsters breathing fire by comparing their die rolls to unit statistics and charts. Armies are comprised of several different sorts of troop types: Characters, the great leaders, mages and fighters that command units; Infantry, the grunt troops that slog into battle on their own two feet; Cavalry, units that ride into the fight atop all manner of mounts; Flyers, units that are able to travel great distances over the heads of their foes; Monsters, including monstrous infantry or monstrous cavalry, whose presence alone can make troops turn tail and flee; and War Machines, engines of destruction that lob great stones, or launch spears through the air. Each unit has a point cost and an availability, so for this tournament, players put together 2500 points worth of models and deploy them on the battlefield. Games last for 6 turns, and the winner is typically the one who destroys the most stuff. At least, I assume that’s true, since I wrote it last time, and no one called me out on it.

"Yeah, that guy's right!"

The Quake City Rumble (QCR) is one of the big names of Grand Tournaments in the country, and organized by the gaming club Leadership 2. You might recognize this name from a host of finalist lists around the country. These guys get around, and place highly pretty much everywhere they go. They also have one of the snazziest websites that I have I seen for a gaming club.  By the way, the name is a play on the Leadership stat from Warhammer. A Leadership score of 2 is the lowest in the game. For a bunch of guys that make goblins look disciplined, they sure know how to put a tournament together.

A Grand Tournament is a minimum of 2 days, 5 rounds, but they usually run extra days with events before or after so people who come in from out of town get a few more games. The Quake City Rumble is no exception. I talked to Jared and Rex, members of the Low Comp Crew, who played a team tournament Friday night against their rivals, Bizarro Hammer. LCC went 1 for 4 in that match up, and continued the friendly rivalry between their two clubs. These sort of competitions build friendships and bring together people from different areas to see new armies they haven’t played against before. LCC pulled no punches laying the blame on each other on Sunday when I spoke to them about it. Wherever gaming goes, good old fashion shit talking is never far behind.

The primary reason they are called the Low Comp Crew

That was one of the motivations of the players that I talked to: you go to a tournament, meet other like minded people, and play against people that you haven’t seen in a while. In the first round of the tournament, no one has any standing or score, so (in theory) everyone is on an equal footing. QCR is set up to allow you to request a specific opponent for the first match, in what is called a Grudge Match. Some players request friends from other clubs, people they played against in the past, or someone new they might not get a chance to play against. I also heard talk of last round grudge matches. These keep things interesting for people who have taken enough losses to knock them out of the race for prizes, and would like to play a game against a friend, or another interesting army. Maybe you played 3 games against Elves, and you can’t stand to face another pointy eared bowman, you can request to play empire with cannons, or daemons with 100% fear causing models. Ok, maybe I’m not selling it, but you get the idea.

I got a chance to talk to Mike Hengl, the tournament organizer of QCR for the past 4 years. Along with Ivan Jen, Josh Frick and Jeff Suess, Hengl rents out building D at Fort Mason. They bring in dozens of tables, game boards filled with terrain, a concessions stand, and two or three kegs of beer. If you were one of the lucky first 60 people to early register, you are given a commemorative pint glass and a bracelet that entitles you to all the beer that you can drink until the kegs run dry. Ages 21 or older, void where prohibited, please drink responsibly, alcohol may inhibit your ability to make sound tactical decision and in some cases handle models safely. In case there is any question about the nature of this pre-registration policy, it has a really convenient title: FREE BEER.

He wants some Free Beer.

Hengl said that they received 107 sign-ups this year, and that this is pretty typical for them. Over the course of the 5 years he has run it, they have stayed steady at 90-100 people. Their limit is 112, so they shoot for a fairly precise target. After a few cancellations and withdrawals, they had final scores for 99 people. What makes QCR so big is the draw of people from across the country. Leadership 2 has a rivalry going with Hangover Heroes of Texas, a club that runs The Alamo GT in San Antonio, Texas. HHoT sent a contingent of 8 armies out to try to take the trophies of LD2. Hengl said they had gamers from South Carolina, Wisconsin, and in past years Alaska. One of the downsides to having this many people, Hengl said, is that they can’t run a 40k tournament at the same time. They have some players that mainly play 40k but dust off their Fantasy models once a year to play QCR. They would need another set of organizers, and another location. The only other one that would work is three times as large, a little too spacious for a start up tournament.

Like SAWS Challenge and the other North American Indy GT’s, QCR has no escalation or official participation to other tournaments. These are all done for the love of the game, bragging rights, and a handful of prizes given out to the winners. Hengl does talk to the organizers of SAWS, West Coast GT, and other GT’s to coordinate a few details, like tournament rule interpretations, and composition scores. He says that he wants to keep a diverse tournament environment for players. While QCR has comp score awarded by the decision of judges, SAWS Challenge uses an objective scoring sheet that players score on their own. Other tournaments say play what you want, as long as it is legal. For QCR, they back this score up by sending the “Best General” award to the player with the highest combined Battle Score and Comp Score.

Prize support from the manufacturer, Games Workshop, is non-existent. Endgame of Oakland helps out with prizes as a portion of their sponsorship of the event, and some of the registration money goes to paying for prizes, while other prizes are donated by people who want to see the tournament continue. This is one of the primary reasons that GT’s like QCR continue: people want to play Warhammer Fantasy as a community, not as a strictly competitive sport. To that end, QCR is considering a paint requirement in the future. Hengl is tossing it back and forth: on one hand you don’t want to invite a club from 2 states over and have them turn up and play against a bare plastic army. On the other hand, there are players he knows that started their first tournament with half unpainted models, and are now serious contender for the painting awards.

I talked to some of the players about their experience in Warhammer Fantasy and in the tournament scene. Jared Briscoe of the Low Comp Crew says that the number of people playing stays about the same. New people will show up, older people will leave, but the game lives on. He noticed more and more people are coming in from further away. Hengl mentioned this as an attraction for a lot of players: QCR is one of the few tournaments set in the middle of a tourist city. Fort Mason is a national park, and if you step outside the venue, you are deep in the heart of San Francisco. West Coast GT is an hour out of Los Angeles. SAWS Challenge is a 20 minutes drive from downtown Sacramento. A tournament set up in the middle of a city with an over the top nightlife is a draw for a lot of players.

Jen Starling came up from Orange County with Club Capri. When I spoke to her at the end of the 4th round, she was 3 and 1, and looking for a good fifth game. Her Daemons of Chaos list is called Attack of the Poop Monsters, and thoroughly disgusting to look upon. I asked her about the game and the tournament scene, and not surprisingly, she enjoys it. She used to play Warhammer 40k until a few years ago when the game became more competitive. She noticed a very different attitude between the 40k and Fantasy players, and didn’t really like the spirit of the game any more. She’s been playing Fantasy for 4 years now, and performing decently at it: 38th of 99 in QCR, 54th of 100 at Waaaghpaca in Wisconsin (yes, that is a real tournament, and no, it is not easy to find if you have never seen it spelled before), 54th of 68 at the Alamo GT in San Antonia, Texas, and 16th of 54 at the West Coast GT, local to her in Southern California.

Hengl is hitting up a bunch of these tournaments as well. Crossroads GT in New York had 102 players, Lone Wolf if Dallas Texas had 82, SAWS Challenge had 60 players, and Bragging Rights Team Tournament had 72 (18 teams of 4). There are also a ton of smaller 3 round tournaments all over the country, to numerous to name. If you want see one covered on Ace of Geeks, let us know.

Seth Oakley is an educator and Returned Peace Corps Volunteer who lives in Daly City, CA. He loves costuming, analog gaming and role playing games. He got this job in a bar after making poor life choices and has to work through 93 more articles before Mike will give him his soul back. If you would like to see the complete album of photos taken, tell Mike in the comment box. I took 60 photos, so a gallery or slideshow would be cool, right guys? Right? (Please also leave a note telling Mike how to DO that on Blogspot. - Ed)

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The Super Blood Bowl, er, wait, The Blood Super Bowl, hmm, no….. by Seth Oakley

On Thursday, my friend Tau Kid messages me and tells me that the championship game of the Seaside Blood Bowl League is this afternoon at 4, and if I want to cover it for the Ace of Geeks podcast and blog, I should show up. His name isn’t actually Tau Kid, it’s Steven, but I’ve called him that for as long as I have known him, and I don’t feel like giving up traditions today. I show up at Anime Imports, the shop where the game is to be held (and hereafter known as Anime Imports Stadium), and there are about a dozen screaming fans there to watch the match. By “screaming fans,” I mean “stereotypical nerds,” and by “watch the match,” I mean “ignore Blood Bowl and play Magic.” Oh well. Steven, Lee, and Efren are crowded around a Blood Bowl mat and the game is about to begin.

Blood Bowl is a game created by Games Workshop and then handled off to Specialist Games. It would have died when Specialist Games folded, but the fans picked up the banner and now maintain a "Living Rule Book" that is shared among players. I think "Undead Rule Book" would be a little more appropriate, considering that they are essentially playing with the corpse of a previous rules set, but that’s not for me to decide. Now the rules are maintained by an organization called NAF World Headquarters. In the original rules, NAF stood for Nuffle Amorical Football, the fictional organization that controlled the fictional league. If you think that this is a parody of “North American Football,” you might be right. It is a game produced by Brits that exaggerates the violence and mayhem of Football as Americans know it.

Doesn't look THAT exaggerated. -Ed

The game is played by 2 humans that control a set of models which represent players in the game. The teams available come from the Warhammer Fantasy setting, so you will see elves, facing off against dwarves, orcs and goblins, ogres and minotaurs, skeletons and zombies, and more. NAF is constantly approving additional teams. Furthermore, there are a number of miniature lines that sell a variety of fantastical football miniatures. These include gnomes in mechs, platypus sportsmen, and dwarves with beer helmets. Players also convert and sculpt a lot of their own miniatures, since there are so few models compared to other games by the same company. With only 18 or so models to assemble and paint, many players have more than one team.

League play starts off by the human “hiring” a team of players and playing games with the same list. Injuries, upgrades and even deaths are tracked as the seasons progress. Rosters change as teams win games and get more money to hire new players, or retire older players that don’t help them out. All of these are tracked on the league website, seaside.bloodbowlleague.com. This league has a round robin format: each player is scheduled to play another and given two weeks to find time for a game. The results are then reported to the league managers and recorded for the next round. Once everyone has played everyone else, the top two teams are given byes, the next four put in the playoffs to determine who will make it to the semis. The top two teams of the playoffs then play in single elimination tournament with the two who received byes earlier.

First place is given the top prize, a full 18 model team, purchased with the proceeds from the entry fees collected at the start. Steven said there were 11 teams this season, which is on the high end for them. Typically they have 8 to 12 teams, and it takes about 5 months to run an entire season. They had 2 “Challenges” so far, smaller events with 3 or 4 teams. Registration for season 5 is coming up, so if you are interested, head on over to their website.

The game I watched was simple enough to understand in observation, but the moves and maneuvers made by the players definitely had a hidden logic to them. The championship match was between Efren and his Rage City Brawlers, a Chaos team, against Lee and his Rotland Reapers, an Undead team. The Reapers started off with the ball and proceeded to run it up the field to score. There was a lot of pushing and shoving from both teams, rolling of dice and moving of models. Finally a hole in the defense opened up and the Ghoul ball carrier went for it. Efren brought up one of his half beast, half man defenders to hit him, knocked to ball out, and we all watched as it bounced over the pitch. Off the back of minotaurs, over the thick skull of zombies, past the mummy line man, the ball knocked its way around the pitch (moving randomly on the determination of a die roll), until it landed in open space. All the while, players are still beating on each other, pushing each other around, and tossing the opposing side into the stands. That last part is especially rough, since the fans are so blood frenzied that they can do more damage to a player than some of the players.

And that is the spirit of blood bowl. What looks on the surface to be a silly parody of a game we know, made by people an ocean away who are ridiculing it for being exceptionally violent, is actually a strategic game where the bouncing of a ball make the difference between victory and defeat. Beneath the “beer and pretzels” facade is 10 games of team planning, player acquisition, injury management, blood, sweat, tears, and lot more blood. Humans keep careful records of the game progress, who injured who, what skills that guy has, and when they should use the re-rolls that are purchased at the beginning of the game. If one of your players is a wild animal, who knows what he is going to do next round? Do you rely on him to make an important tackle, or do you draw resources from somewhere else in case he doesn’t listen? These sorts of questions show on the faces of the coaches as they puzzle out their next move, and consider their options. Don’t let the goofy looking cheerleaders or the medic model with a bone saw in one hand and oversized syringe in the other fool you: this is still a thinking man’s game.

The community in the US is not that large, Steven says. They have a league of 8 to 12 regulars. They have contact with the Freebooters Alliance Blood Bowl League, a southern California league. There's also the West Coast Quake, a Blood Bowl Tournament with 6 rounds. Last year they had 16 participants in Pasadena, California. These numbers seem low compared those seen at Warhammer Fantasy or Warmachine/Hordes games, and Steven admits they are. While there is a competitive aspect to the game, he sees the social draw in it too. When life or work or family get in the way of this, the game falls to the side, and other social activities take its place. In Europe, however, the scene is booming. In 2011, the Dutch Bloodbowl Community hosted a “World Cup” which brought in 478 teams. After 3 days and 9 rounds each, an Englishman took home the trophy. Steven says that 50 or 60 team leagues are not uncommon in Europe. Maybe that’s because we can play actual football here.

Seth Oakley is an educator and Returned Peace Corps Volunteer who lives in Daly City, CA. He loves costuming, analog gaming and role playing games. He got this job in a bar after making poor life choices and has to work through 94 more articles before Mike will give him his soul back. If there is an event you would like to see covered, let him know.

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