Wednesday, April 8, 2015

A relatively "new" direction...

I had meant to post this in December, since that's when all of this transpired. However, life seldom works out the way we plan.

I have been tremendously busy. Busy with rebuilding post-divorce. Busy balancing two jobs and quality time with my children. Busy with self-deconstruction/reconstruction. Because of this, I've had to take a long, hard look at my free time. Am I utilizing my free time to improve myself, and relax? If not, what can I do to fix that? Lately, the local Warmachine/Hordes players have either been meeting later and later at my local store, or have been meeting at a new location far to the south. It's become increasingly difficult to get games in. While I have never been a tournament player, one of my goals had been to regularly compete in local tournaments. Unfortunately, I've had to put this goal aside for a bit. Am I giving up on tabletop gaming? Certainly not. I tell myself this is just a break...a multi-year break, but still a break. Will I return? Yes.

This has given me an opportunity to paint more, since there's no pressure to get a model finished by that week's game. It's also given me time to pursue other interests. One of those has been a resurgence in my love of board-gaming. Meeting with friends for a pint of beer, a game, and some food...this is what I enjoy in life. This is truly relaxing. It's a shame I never had the chance to share this with my ex-wife. Perhaps the next one...or next ones, if I ever adopt Mormonism. This shift in pastimes has also opened up another opportunity for me...card games. Collectible card games. A coworker and I were discussing deck-building games. This conversation eventually led to a discussion about collectible games such as Pokemon and Magic. I mentioned that I used to play Magic, and one of my biggest regrets had been getting rid of my cards. In retrospect, I should have kept them. Sadly, hindsight can be a cruel, cruel mistress.

Whether it was fate, divine intervention, or just the holiday season, Miniature Market had a pre-Christmas sale. Two of the items on sale were the 2015 Magic core fat pack, and the holiday box for Khans of Tarkir. The deal was too good to pass up...



Oh, yes...the master is back!

It's been a while since I've played Magic. In fact, the last full set I had was from Tempest...in 1997. That is a very long time, and many new rules and abilities have come out. Still, having a coworker to play against during lunch should be fun.

Yes, this is sideways.


The fat pack comes with several boosters of the 2015 Core set, some other stuff, and a custom d20. Pretty good deal when it was on sale. In fact, I landed a Planeswalker. Liliana Vess. Overall, it was a solid haul.

The holiday box contained fewer packs, and is really just a fancy card storage box. It hold about three thousand cards, so it'll take me a long time to fill...

For some reason images are being uploaded sideways. I'd take the time to fix it, but no one reads this blog.


...or will it?



UPDATE:

Since taking up Magic again with a coworker, seven other coworkers have gotten back into it. The pool of competition grows deep indeed.