Miniature Wargames of The Sword of Damocles

Games that I play now:

Warhammer 40,000

Warhammer Fantasy Battles

Lord of the Rings - Skirmish

Battle Fleet Gothic

Necromunda

Games that I'm starting as we speak:

Flames of War

Warmachine

It should be an interesting ride starting new games. Strange new worlds with strange new templates and bases.

Role Playing Games of The Sword of Damocles

Of course it is impossible to play even more than one role playing game actively at any one time, at least for me it is but here are role playing games that I may or may not play in the near future.

Dark Heresy

Rogue Trader

Death Watch

4th ed. Dungeons and Dragons

Call of Cthulhu

Crisis Era: Demon Apocalypse (A personal home brew RP system and setting)

I'm thinking of putting my system up here and seeing if anyone is interested as it's also the game that I'm lost likely to play for now.

Boardgames of The Sword of Damocles

The ever expanding list of boardgames that I play. Oh my Fantasy Flight, though I have a few other company's products. Here is the list on order of how often I play lately:

Chaos in the Old World

Arkham Horror

Settlers of Catan

Space Hulk

Zombies

Tannhauser

Aye Dark Overlord!

Expect reviews of old ones and new ones as I get the time.

Bio and Mission Statement

I started tabletop gaming fifteen years ago with Warhammer 40,000 2nd edition and after all of these years and about three times as many game systems learned I'm 26. I've played and in some cases still play every game that Games Workshop has put out during those 15 years and basically for 95% of that time I only played Games Workshop games for my miniature strategy game experience. I started my gaming life in an LGS and after a brief break from everything during college I returned to gaming by working at a Games Workshop hobby center and had a renaissance where I started painting seriously and made a lot of friends. After working at Games Workshop I moved to Japan for a year but my gaming didn't slow down and I made more friends and learned what gaming is like in the land of the rising sun. Coming back from Japan wasn't a smooth transition work wise and I got stuck as a commission painter for a few years until I now where I work odd jobs and commission paint for fun.

I'm a very active tabletop gamer and hobbyist and if I convert every commission and personal hobby project that I do, anyone who follows this blog will get to enjoy a lot of pictures and maybe a good amount of tutorials. In my quest to figure out better ways for me to enjoy gaming I've branched out quite a bit and have begun to play games from non GW licenses and quite a few boardgames. I want to share my knowledge and accomplishments in gaming with the world, hopefully they want to see and hear it.

Why The Name?

For those of you who are unfamiliar with the story of the Sword of Damocles it tells of a courtier of the King Dionysus the II who is allowed to sit at the king's seat for a day. Damocles enjoys the opulence and luxury of the position until he realizes that above the king's seat is a sword hanging above his head held by a thin thread. Damocles immediately gives up the seat when he realizes what dangers lie with the benefits of power.

Now at times my sentiment might follow this idea of the encapsuled dangers of responsibility and standing but most of the time I'll be stretching the concept to the constant feeling of dread that has come upon me lately, I feel it hanging above me ready to cut the fun out of how I'm used to enjoying the hobby. Games Workshop gaming has been a nearly all encompassing body of my gaming life for the last 15 years but along with all of this time comes certain affectations and an every increasing hatred of change. After 15 years something has snapped in me and the games that I loved just don't seem the same anymore which has put me quite soundly into a depression.

Other reasons that I chose the name: I'm a huge Rocky Horror Picture Show fan and The Sword of Damocles is a pretty good part; the Damocles Gulf Crusade is the inception of the Tau which has brought some interesting things in discussions of 40k background; and Squad Damocles is the featured unit in Brothers of the Snake by Dan Abnett, which started me on my Iron Snakes Space Marine army.

Don't tune me out here though because if you are taking the time to read hobby blogs then you are obviously currently very much into gaming and that means you are enjoying yourself and don't want to listen to a cantankerous internet troll talking about how the game that you still love isn't what it should be. I'm not starting this blog to complain, I'm starting this blog to work out my issues and begin enjoying the overall hobby again. My malaise is not a petty thing cooked up by someone with a casual interest in the hobby, I am very serious about all aspects that we as gamers enjoy and it is the amount of time that I like to spend in our little niche that has me very lost as I suddenly came to realize that I wasn't sure how to enjoy the games anymore.

The point of the blog will be to type the monkey off of my back and try to explain to you and myself what that monkey is.