Okay,
I have been playing GW games for some ten years now but over the past year or so work and sleep have taken up most of my time. Now that things are some what back to normal I want to jump back in to gaming with both feet to make up for lost time. I am either going to go back to GW and start new armies or I am going try EE games. I am leaning towards EE but I just need a little push and I have a few concerns about EE games:
1) Finding players in South West PA.
2) Future support and growth of Warzone and Chronopia.
3) Getting gaming friends to give EE a try.
I left GW long ago when Warzone 1st ed came out but let me try to help. I heartily recommend Warzone and Chronopia. I think the factions and the storyline are cohesive and make sense whereas the GW products seem to go off on tangents to support whatever the current production team thinks is cool. Excelsior creates units that support and advance the storyline. The games are also much better balanced. Now on to your specific concerns
1) Finding players in South West PA.- Hopefully our Player Locator will be put on this forum soon. It was a great tool for finding people in your area to play. The home of EE is in Philly and there are several players in the West PA/East OH area if I recall. Give a shout out and I'm sure someone will answer the call. If nothing else I'll meet you in Columbus, OH and play - We'll have to take a break for Italian food and cheesecake though.
Napoli Villa is a major Midwest Crusader hangout during Origins
2) Future support and growth of Warzone and Chronopia.- Excelsior has had problems but I and everyone else here has stuck with them thru some hard times. That, in my opinion speaks volumes about the support of the games and their growth potential. Some people will tell you Excelsior can't cut it but I know the people and work as a Crusader (Excelsior version of an Outrider) and I truly believe that these are the greatest games on the market.
3) Getting gaming friends to give EE a try.- Getting them to try the first game might be a tad difficult but once they try the game and see the alternate activation system in action they will love it and you'll be playing all the time. That is probably the thing people like best about the game. Coupled with the excellent storyline, and balanced units the alternate activation is the heart of a great gaming experience. If you get them to try it once, they will play.