Editorial: Shifting the Metagame

This article has been on my mind for some time now.  If you have not already seen it, I recommend familiarizing yourself with the concept of 'Imperfect Balance', which is mentioned in the video found here.  This video has been a big topic of conversation in the miniatures gaming community because there is a certain sci-fi miniatures game which is notorious for its balance issues and the very vocal fanbase which complains about it.  Today I want to use this topic as a point of difference between certain miniatures games and the design strategy outlined by this idea of 'Imperfect Balance'.

Editorial: Pleasing the Fanbase

Something really interesting has been happening in the month of March.  For those of you who are not aware, Mass Effect 3 was one of the most anticipated video game releases for a long time.  The Mass Effect triology has grabbed the fans by the heart and led them along a winding path of decision-making and plot to create what I believe to be the defining science fiction epic of the last 100 years.  Mass Effect 3, the conclusion to the trilogy, however, has garnered much more ire from the fans of the game than both of the other games combined, and this disgruntled response is due to the ending of the game. 

I do need to add: I have not played the game yet, I have only played the demo and for various reasons that I will not go into now, I have not purchased Mass Effect 3 yet and so I'm only vaguely aware of what the ending of the game actually looks like.  What I do want to write about, however, is a response to this:
To Mass Effect 3 players, from Dr. Ray Muzyka, co-founder of BioWare

Editorial: The Ten Things Every Game Needs

Recently I read two great articles by Mark Rosewater.  Mark Rosewater is the lead game designer for Magic: The Gathering, and naturally has some great insights into what makes a great game.  M:TG has been one of the most successful games out there and clearly reigns as king among card games, second only to poker.  Since the game has many years of success - and is lots of fun - I really took his articles on Ten Things Every Game Needs (Part 1 and Part 2) to heart and thought it applied also to miniatures games out there that I have played.  I figured I would share his ten points summarized here, with how I think they apply to Warmachine/Hordes.

Editiorial: Being "Competitive"

"I never really played sports when I was younger because I'm not really a competitive person."

EXTREME!!!

I have said that line on many occasions and I now believe that there are many flawed assumptions in such a statement.  Yes, it's certainly true that I never really played sports, not even baseball, soccer, football (aside from a brief exploratory period in high school), nor any other kind of sport.  When I was young I never really had the drive to try any of these activities and my parents never had me try because of that.  In hindsight, I find that a little strange considering that they always encouraged me to try new things, but I digress.