December 2014 Newsletter

Ho Ho Ho.  With two and a half weeks until Christmas, it is time for another update on what is happening with Mantic in SW Ohio.

The escalation league is in its final month.  While I'm a little disappointed in the lack of people actually getting their final builds in on time, I'm hoping that will be tempered by the fun battles to be had over the next four weeks.  One advantage is that the Hobby Shop is now open until 9 pm through Christmas, so we won't be keeping anyone there late just for us!  December is also the chance to get your extra build points in for a display board, wound counters, objective markers or a turn counter (3 pts max).

And to top things off, we have confirmation that our league tournament will be on January 17th!  This 1000 pt Kings of War tournament is open to anyone, even if you didn't participate in the league.  Some come on by in January and get in a few battles to warm you up.  Doors open at 10:00 am, cost is $10, and I hope to have the first game start at 11:00.

Not only are we having the league tournament, but in February (specifically February 21st) we are having the Class of Kings Regional qualifier!  The Clash of Kings tournament is at Adepticon in Chicago on March 19th - this is a chance to win free admission to the tournament.  Chicago held theirs over Thanksgiving weekend - congratulation to Mike Muller on his win.  Since Mike is a pathfinder and is actually going to be helping to run the Clash of Kings (and playing as the ringer if we end up with an odd number of players), he graciously gave his entry to the tournament to 2nd place winner Shannon Shoemaker.  The Ohio qualifier is 1500 pts, with a max of 4 of any unit/size, and allies are allowed (one ally, up to 25% (375 pts)).  Registration starts at 10:00 when The Hobby Shop opens, first game will be at 11:00.  There is a $10 fee for this event.

If you don't do Facebook, then you don't know that there are some great Mantic groups out there.  Mantic Maniacs and the Kings of War US Players groups both have monthly painting challenges, where all you have to do is declare what you will paint in the month (with pictures of the unpainted miniatures) and then pictures of the completed miniatures when they are done before the end of the month.  If you were aware of these, then you may have seen that I did a challenge to paint up a Martian Dreadball team (from Mars Attacks!).  Why?  Because we are starting a Dreadball league at the Hobby Shop in February on Monday nights.  The league will run for February and March, and we will have a final match of Ultimate Dreadball (6 players) to cap it off, and then a Dreadball tournament in April (more details on that to come).

Just in time to get you inspired for the league - the first wave of the Dreadball Xtreme kickstarter is shipping!!!  This is the base game, and should be in all the backers hands before Christmas.  If we can get the Dreadball Season 4 rules in time, then we will allow those teams into the league as well (Asterian Kalyshi, Convicts, Kovossian Mutants and Mechanites).

And if that isn't enough Dreadball to get you interested, by request I am going to be holding a Dreadball tournament at Origins this year!  This will be on Friday afternoon / evening, and should be a lot of fun for everyone!  So you can use the league to learn to play (and get your team painted), then come and show everyone who the Dayton and Origins champions are!

Back to Adepticon - registration opened with a bang - the Clash of Kings almost sold out.  There is a slight mix up right now on Saturday night (the current schedule shows both the mega-battle and the campaign running at the same time).  If you want to get in some Kings of War on Saturday night, then the campaign is the event that is going forward.  We plan to also have something on Friday in conjunction with Geek Nation Tours but that is still in flux.

If you are a Deadzone fan, then December will be the release of the new Forward Strongpoint battlezone - this contains terrain sprues that cannot be found in any other kit!  22 sprues and 5 connector sprues, this is a great way to protect your forces on Nexus Psi from the plague.  Speaking of forces, the Forge Fathers are finally arriving and are also being released this month.  This includes the awesome Urban Iron Ancestor to give the Forge Fathers a walker to go toe-to-toe with the others big mechs in the game.  Lastly, the Martian Dreadball team is being released at the end of the month.  The martians found a portal to an alternate universe, and the ones who crossed over fell in love with Dreadball!  They are cheating little sneaks, bringing weapons onto the pitch, so if you want to cause even more bloodshed in the game (and aren't afraid of the refs seeing your foul) then you can pick them up and blast the other team.

The kickstarter for the Kings of War Second Edition rulebook was very successful, funding not only the new version of the rules, but the start of both an Abyssal army and a Nature army.  Now begins the long wait for things to come out next July!

Make sure to update your calendars, as it is always good to plan ahead for upcoming tournaments and conventions:
1/17/15 - End of League Tournament (1000 pt Kings of War)
2/2/15 - 3/30/15 - Dayton Dreadball League
2/21/15 - Adepticon Regional Championship (1500 pt Kings of War)
3/19/15 - 3/23/15 - Adepticon - (Chicago IL) 1500 pt Kings of War,
12,000 + point big battle, a fun campain event (1000 pts +
500 pt allie force). Plus lots of Deadzone and Dreadball.
3/??/15 - Dayton Dreadball Tournament
4/17/15 - OHCon (Toledo OH) - I'll have more information as I get it.
5/1-3/15 - Cincycon (Cincinnati OH).  Dreadball and Kings of War.  (More to come)
6/5/15 - 6/8/15 - Origins (Columbus OH)
7/30/15 - 8/3/15 - GenCon (Indianapolis IN)

I'm always looking for feedback, so feel free to drop me a line at puggimer@gmail.com .  Keep painting and playing!

Mike Carter
Your Friendly Local Mantic Pathfinder

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