Growing-Up Geek

My son is almost 3. My wife and I are expecting another boy this summer.

Needless to say, having a child is an unparalleled life-changing event. There are numerous blogs, articles, and self-help books that are designed to help a dad cope with everything from his wife’s kaleidoscope of emotional/hormonal fluctuations, to the social challenges that a newborn can impose, but I have found one topic to be quite lacking in all of this rhetoric:

What happens to my hobbies when the baby’s born?

As a hard core geek with an awe inspiring collection of boardgames, video games, and miniatures, I was unsure exactly what fatherhood held in store. I imagined beating my forehead against my tear-stained keyboard as the vultures on craigslist & eBay scooped up my lifetime of treasures so I could afford more hypo-allergenic baby wipes and Teletubby videos.

As a new father, like all other aspects of your life, your geek life must also change.

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Tags: Babies, Children, Gaming, Geek Parenting, Growing Up Geek, Parents

Getting Ready – Part II

You can find my previous Tournament Play articles here: Getting Ready and Reverse Calculations

Go Do It. This is probably the most important part. Don’t shy away from tournaments. We all want to get better at the game but one day in a tournament is like 2 months of casual gaming. You learn so much more, so quickly. Just go participate and have fun. Absorb as much as you can. It will help you so much.

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Tags: Hordes, Privateer Press, Tournament, Tournament Preparations, Warmachine

This isn’t a proper article. It’s just a glimpse in to my mind (quite a scary thought actually) on how I like to do things and maybe to give you some ideas.

I may have mentioned it earlier but it´s very important to me that I can get my terrain stuff quickly on the table and even quicker off the table (and when I speak about table I mean kitchen table). This has lead to the situation that our wardrobe has been full of stuff that I have been quickly “repositioned” after terrain sessions. I even found some green-stuff in the pocket of my suit at my friends wedding!

So when the year 2011 was reaching it´s end I promised to my wife that I would organize my stuff. I already had my terrain tools in a neat briefcase so I decided to follow that track.

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Tags: Hobby Gear, Miniatures, Organization, Paints, Storage, Terrain

Support the fight against breast cancer!

This is your chance to become the proud owner of a high-quality display miniature painted by an award-winning painter, and support breast cancer treatment and research at the same time. I am auctioning Thyra, Flame of Sorrow, painted to a high display standard. 100% of the proceeds will be donated to charity through eBay Giving Works, to support Susan G. Komen for the Cure.

AUCTION LINK

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Tags: Althai, Auction, Breast Cancer, Cancer, Charity Auction, Fundraising, Menoth, Thyra

In an effort to give our readers what they want, we at Hand Cannon have made the choice to allow our readers to ask for exactly what they want! The writers and editors of Hand Cannon Online are opening up the floodgates to you, our loyal readers.

If there is anything you would like to see a particular author cover, or any question that you would like answered, now is the time to ask it.

Feel free to email your questions to Geist, or post them in the comments section in this article. We aim to please, and offer our readers exactly what they want, and we will do our best to provide that for you.

Some examples:

• You would like to see a particular technique for a tutorial.
• You would like to see specific terrain.
• More Battle Reports from Omnus, or any of the other Hand Cannon Crew.
• Game and Events Coverage.
• What tools we use for hobbies, and painting.
• Specific Product Reviews.
• Alternate Game System(s) Coverage.

This is also your chance to be pro-active, and ask questions you’d like us to answer….as long as it’s not too personal! You can even ask a specific writer to cover a subject of their expertise as well. You may be as specific as you like.

The readers and editors on the site will do our best to suffer to your demands, good readers. So, let the dogs of war loose upon us!

Tags: Answers, Ask the Authors, Hand Cannon Online, Q & A, Questions

Haven’t been to a Warmahordes tournament yet?

Have you been to events but would like to improve the experience?

Let me see if I can help.

Mark your front arcs. I can’t stress how helpful this is. Even if you don’t attend tournaments, this can still improve your casual play. The heart of this game is still to have fun. The worst way to derail a game, is to argue about front arcs and free strikes. Just mark your bases and spend more time enjoying the game. I went with a simple trollblood highlight for the back arc and morrow white for the front arc so the base colors blend with the colors painted on the flock.

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Tags: Hordes, Privateer Press, Tournament, Tournament Preparations, Warmachine

Breaking the Format is a new Warmachine & Hordes podcast hosted by Jason flanzer in conjunction with Matt O. and Zafar Tejani.

In their first episode they cover Wrath, Diecon, and some keys to list construction. They also go over their favorite models from every faction, how Zafar and Matt took different routes to more Hardcore Tournament victories, and even more!

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Tags: Breaking The Format, Diecon, Hardcore, Hordes, Privateer Press, Warmachine, Wrath

Hand Cannon Online is looking to add some more people to our crew of writers.

Have you ever wanted to write about gaming or your hobby and have your ideas heard but didn’t know where to start? or maybe you’ve been discouraged because you cant keep up a steady release of content all on your own? Well then it is quite likely that there could be a place for you here at Hand Cannon.

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Tags: Authors, Contributors, Dystopian wars, Gaming, Hand Cannon, Hordes, Malifaux, MERCS, Super Dungeon Explore, Warmachine, Writers

When I last left you I was 2-1 with three more games to go. Here’s the continuation of my tournament report.

Game 4

The last game of the day fell against Sascha ‘Oger’ Seethaler with Cygnar in the Overrun scenario. He had eHaley and pNemo available. Since I had already used my ‘gator stuff in the three previous games I had to go with the bacon brigade for the rest of the games which left me with Lord Carver and Arkadius. I was a little too afraid of risking facing eHaley with Arkadius so I went with Lord Carver. Sascha went with pNemo to my great relief.

His List

• Commander Adept Nemo (*6pts)

• Ol’ Rowdy (9pts)
• Thunderhead (12pts)
• Squire (2pts)

My List

• Lord Carver (*6pts)

• War Hog (8pts)
• War Hog (8pts)
• War Hog (8pts)

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Once again the time had come to pack my trusty Feldherr full of angry mans and battle it out with some of Europe’s finest. My destination was Ludwigsburg, located in southern Germany, and the Coin of Evil – 666 tournament. I’ve already covered some of the backstory behind the name and the format of the tournament here, so check it out if you haven’t already.

On my arrival I saw the trophy on display. This thing is massive, with a solid piece of marble as its base.

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