Post by asburygrad on Feb 25, 2008 23:09:48 GMT -5
Like many others, I am worried about the future of the MechWarrior miniatures game. It is easy to post about things we dislike or worry about, and harder to mention some of the positives. Over the five years since I first started playing this game, I have received something greater than the game itself, something which I believe will last beyond this game’s cancellation.
In the summer of 2004, the venue that I was Battlemaster at closed for financial reasons. My friend Travis [guppylips] also lost all the players at his game club, due mainly to retirement. Travis and I continued to meet once per month, as a game club, for over a year.
Spring 2005 brought the news that DragonCon in Atlanta (about four hours away) would host the Unrestricted World Championship. Travis and I joined John [jion] - a friend of ours, regular DragonCon goer, and MechWarrior player - on the three-day trip, and had an amazing time. Upon our return, we convinced a local store to let me start running MechWarrior there, and suddenly we had a venue again! We hoped that we would be able to grow from there.
Unfortunately Travis, John, and myself would remain the only regular players until I moved across the state in summer 2006. Travis and I made plans to try US Nationals at Origins, but my work situation prevented me from going, and Travis couldn’t make it by himself. In the following year and a half, Travis and new Battlemaster John tried to increase interest with some success, but that venue has now closed.
I attempted to start running MechWarrior at a venue in my new town, but only had interest from one person. I moved again in summer 2007, and that venue no longer runs MechWarrior games. However, I helped organize the first Alabama State Championship, held in May last year and very well run by Mike Oakes [moakes].
Around this time, a venue in Huntsville, AL (which has always had strong attendance) was hosting MW games run by a fairly new Battlemaster named Kirk [mccauleyk]. Kirk decided to lead a trip to GenCon ’07 with Travis and another player named Robert [rspencer], and I was able to join up with them in Indianapolis for Solaris Worlds. Travis won the Featherweight Title there.
For the past months since GenCon, we have formed a player-group Clan at the venue in Huntsville, meeting up for four-player battle royals and motivating the other players (8-10 regulars) in their advancement within the Clan.
It has been a strange journey as MechWarrior player and Battlemaster these last five years. I will definitely miss the game if it goes away. But I will never lose the thing that matters the most: the friendships I have made along the way. Travis and John and I have been through very lean MW times together, hanging on to our events when no one else seemed interested. Our friendship goes beyond the game as well; I received a phone call from John about personal matters just the other day.
And I have made more recent friendships as well: Kirk, who began playing the game in 2005 (newbie!) but is the best Battlemaster I’ve witnessed; Robert, who used to be a rival in a Huntsville MechWarrior League for a time in the summer of 2004, but is now also a friend and sounding board; and Mike and Rich, also Battlemasters here in Alabama who became friends during the planning for our State Championship last year.
Remember: MechWarrior is just a game. It is a game that I have spent many, many, many hours on, but still just a game. Appreciate the people around you, the other players. And consider what you will really walk away with when there are no more releases, no more sanctioned events, and no more game. Thanks for reading.
In the summer of 2004, the venue that I was Battlemaster at closed for financial reasons. My friend Travis [guppylips] also lost all the players at his game club, due mainly to retirement. Travis and I continued to meet once per month, as a game club, for over a year.
Spring 2005 brought the news that DragonCon in Atlanta (about four hours away) would host the Unrestricted World Championship. Travis and I joined John [jion] - a friend of ours, regular DragonCon goer, and MechWarrior player - on the three-day trip, and had an amazing time. Upon our return, we convinced a local store to let me start running MechWarrior there, and suddenly we had a venue again! We hoped that we would be able to grow from there.
Unfortunately Travis, John, and myself would remain the only regular players until I moved across the state in summer 2006. Travis and I made plans to try US Nationals at Origins, but my work situation prevented me from going, and Travis couldn’t make it by himself. In the following year and a half, Travis and new Battlemaster John tried to increase interest with some success, but that venue has now closed.
I attempted to start running MechWarrior at a venue in my new town, but only had interest from one person. I moved again in summer 2007, and that venue no longer runs MechWarrior games. However, I helped organize the first Alabama State Championship, held in May last year and very well run by Mike Oakes [moakes].
Around this time, a venue in Huntsville, AL (which has always had strong attendance) was hosting MW games run by a fairly new Battlemaster named Kirk [mccauleyk]. Kirk decided to lead a trip to GenCon ’07 with Travis and another player named Robert [rspencer], and I was able to join up with them in Indianapolis for Solaris Worlds. Travis won the Featherweight Title there.
For the past months since GenCon, we have formed a player-group Clan at the venue in Huntsville, meeting up for four-player battle royals and motivating the other players (8-10 regulars) in their advancement within the Clan.
It has been a strange journey as MechWarrior player and Battlemaster these last five years. I will definitely miss the game if it goes away. But I will never lose the thing that matters the most: the friendships I have made along the way. Travis and John and I have been through very lean MW times together, hanging on to our events when no one else seemed interested. Our friendship goes beyond the game as well; I received a phone call from John about personal matters just the other day.
And I have made more recent friendships as well: Kirk, who began playing the game in 2005 (newbie!) but is the best Battlemaster I’ve witnessed; Robert, who used to be a rival in a Huntsville MechWarrior League for a time in the summer of 2004, but is now also a friend and sounding board; and Mike and Rich, also Battlemasters here in Alabama who became friends during the planning for our State Championship last year.
Remember: MechWarrior is just a game. It is a game that I have spent many, many, many hours on, but still just a game. Appreciate the people around you, the other players. And consider what you will really walk away with when there are no more releases, no more sanctioned events, and no more game. Thanks for reading.
