Dungeons and Dragons Session - Hellenika Campaign - Sometimes I think I do to much Rogue-ishness

The performer comes out on stage and plays. Food and drink are good. The clientelle appears wealthy (merchants). The party sees one of the people Gal spied upon (a corpulent fellow with many women). Iridinae recognizes him from her past - the queen's father. This arouses the party's suspicions as to what he is doing here.

After hearing about the curse from other patrons, Tesla asks what is the nature of the curse. No one can agree on what it is. The party returns to the inn of the Golden Sunbeam. The night passes uneventfully.

Morning arrives.

Kerin announces that we have a message from Fred (via sending) telling us to "Keep him there. Tell him to go on to the king and ask him for..." Relnik says he was coming down to set up diplomatic relations with Hellenika. Kerin sends a response indicating that he ran out of words.

The party heads over to the inn of the Brilliant Bard.

The waitstaff there takes the party to Arion's office. After a few minutes, he comes in. Arion asks further of about the gate that they know will be forming in the Inn. The party tells him what they know. Arion suggests a deal.

Arion tells the story. He had been part of an adventuring group until he was cursed and forced them to be separated. Arion starts getting vague. He talks about a contest that they had cheated on, hence the curse. It becomes apparent that the curse is preventing him from performing (which makes it difficult for him to rely the story).

With assistance from Tesla the story becomes apparent...

After the war with Aphryggia, Callisto had bragged that she and Arion were superior to the twin gods in skill. The gods (in human form) challenged them to a contest. However, Callisto bribed the judges. The gods found out and they were cursed.

Arion is unable to perform and is lame. Further, he can only operate during the day
Callisto is only able to hunt and appears to be undead. Further, she can only operate during the night.

To break the curse, the group must bring the two together, so that he can serenade her while holding her horn (which can control undead).

He asks the party to bring them together.

The party agrees to help. They decide to find her first before facing the Aries worshiper.

Arion provides Kerin with a comb with which she can attempt to scry for Callisto.

The party splits up.

Tesla attempts to find information regarding "bad hunting". A young urchin approaches him saying that someone at the "Priapic Stallion" wants to speak with him. While wary, Tesla follows. He is led to a corner booth where a young man is sitting. The young man identifies himself as "Valnos" and that he needs assistance from the "Rogue who does not hide." It quickly becomes apparent that this person is not who he seems. Tesla finally recognizes him as the King's Companion. Stephanos asks him to break into the castle and leave a note. Tesla tells him he will render a decision tomorrow.

Meanwhile, Iridinae takes Woof-Woof out to the countryside for running and hunting. Irinidae returns to the city and purchases a small piglet for the sacrifice for entering the city. As she enters a man runs up and offers to wipe down her horse. She recognizes a cloth that he has (similar to what she has) and asks him where it came from. He says he had it for a long time.

Meanwhile Meanwhile, Kerin goes to procure the font and holy water for the divination to find Callisto. As she leaves the temple district, she sees Pirithuous going to the temple of Aries. She casts clairvoyance to attempt to determine what he is doing. She 'sees' that he walks into the temple which is appropriately decorated as a temple to Aries. He walks up to a cleric of Aries who is talking to someone. Pirithuous shoves the civilian off to the side. The civilian and Pirithuous each draw weapons. The cleric yells and gesticulates. Pirithuous relaxes and the civilian is cowed and leaves. The cleric and Pirithuous talk to each other. They move into another room as the spell ends.

Meanwhile Meanwhile Meanwhile, Gal changes into a hawk and flies out to scout the Northeast area where they believe Callisto is. She flies over a wooded area with a thick canopy. She notices there is much less game that she'd normally expect in this area. There are definitely areas where a large pack has come through trampling brush. Gal attempts to follow the trail. She concludes the pack is three dozen strong. There is also signs of hoof prints. She follows the trail to a hilly area. It appears that the pack has entered a cave. She returns.

The party gathers back at the Inn and shares information.

The party enjoys dinner at the Golden Sunbeam and formulates plans.

Dungeon and Dragons session - Hellenika Campaign - MASSIVE UPDATE!

CATCHING UP!
Boxo returned the party to Hellenika, dropping them off behind the Inn of the Brilliant Bard in Pytho. There they encountered a cat which Tesla dispeled, returning Relnic to his natural form. He explained how Fred sent him to be an ambassador to Hellenika soon after Fred returned to reality, but he was captured by Allyrians, turned into a cat, infected with a plague, and released in Hellenika to start the great plague. He at one point briefly became human again but soon transformed back. The party took rooms at the nearby Inn of the Golden Sunbeam. They discovered a note in Woof-Woof’s collar leading them to the former inn’s stables where they found their horses, Kerin’s gold from Lendor, and pink armor for Gal from her “grandfather.”

The next day the party split up to investigate the town. Gal investigated the Inn of the Brilliant Bard as a cat and discovered closed-off upstairs rooms, one with strange smells. As a snake, he laid in wait and saw prostitutes and later a man come out of the other room. Kerin and Relnic bought clothes and discovered at the Temple of Athena that Tesla was wanted for heresy. Tesla discovered the same when he paid his magic item fee at the Mage Guild. Iridinae visited the Temple of Artemis and learned that the King’s Companion Stephanos is missing. She also found out that a couple of embassies have been sent to the Land of Fred but haven’t been heard from. At lunch the party observed a rude, evil customer named Pirithoos who is a regular at the Golden Sunbeam.

Kerin tried to scan the strange room at the Brilliant Bard but failed. She sent a message to Fred that Relnic had been found. Gal followed Pirithoos around town, leaving him at the Temple of Ares. Gal returned to the Brilliant Bard as a rat and warped the wood to the door to peer in. She sensed creatures inside but as she was investigating she heard someone coming up the stairs and so darted into the room where she ran into something.

Meanwhile, the party was back at the inn of the Golden Sunbeam while gal was in rat form and running into a creature under the bed as someone was coming up the stairs.

In fact, a few of these small creatures (who appeared to be humanoid) were in the room, and chased Gal out with cries of "Dinner!". Gal managed to escape and return to the Inn to meet with the party and relay the story.

At this point, a man comes in and starts talking to talks to a man working on some bookkeeping.

Kerin casts claireaudience. The man and the bookkeeper are having a discussion about a complaint of a "rat infestation". The other person apparently works at the Brilliant Bard and is named "Arion". The guest who complained is "Well connected" and "secretive". The 'special guest' took out the room a couple months ago and has the room paid up a year in advance. He does not permit any entry into the room, not even for cleaning. Apparently, the guest is rude to the guests and has an "uncle" who lives on the premise.

Arion walks by the table and "falls". Gal manages to catch him. Arion recognizes the party as "Adventurers" and invites the party to dinner at the inn of the Brilliant Bard. He is surprised that the group assents as the Inn of the Brilliant Bard has a bad reputation amongst clergy, and clergy will not dine there.

After he leaves, the party discusses about what the "humanoids" Gal encountered were. They decide to go to a temple of Apollo for information on what it was. A woman at the temple of Apollo helps and after some research Gal determines that the critter was a "Redcap".

They return to the Golden Sunbeam inn when Kerin casts divinations on the Pirithoos. She notes that she has magic items, but doesn't get a great more detail.

That afternoon, the party investigates why the Inn of the Brilliant Bard has a bad reputation. We find out that the "Twin Gods" cursed it. (Apollo and Artemis) cursed him and his sister as they were angered at them (Arion and Callisto).

The party buys clothes for the dinner, and then heads out dinner.

Arion comes out to greet them and invites them to sit near the stage. Arion concludes that they are from another plane.

Arion reveals that he and his sister "erred" and the deities "corrected" them.

The party tells Arion about the Aries worshipper. Arion reveals that he does not recognize the race of Gal. (Gal is in human form). The party tells Arion about the plot of Garm. Arion leaves.

Happy Monday!

The one bit of gaming news - Check out "Unhallowed Metropolis". VERY interesting RPG Setting.

From the site:

Unhallowed Metropolis is a dark horror fable written and created by Jason Soles and Nicole Vega. Inspired by the works of Edgar Allen Poe, Robert Louis Stevenson, and Nikola Tesla and painstakingly researched by the authors, the game is steeped heavily in Victorian history and science to provide a rich role-playing experience. A Dark World - Set two hundred years in a terrifying London, after the advent of the Zombie Plague, it has taken decades for the survivors to learn to fight back, to retake what they had lost. Recalling the golden age that had come before, the Neo-Victorians set out to rebuild their shattered world. Despite the heavy cost in human life, their cities were reclaimed one by one until only the sepulchers, or plague-cities, remained under death's dominion. Though the survivors had succeeded constructing a new world on the bones of the old, it is a world rife with terrors undreamt of.

On to other matters,
This was very good.


AND, I hiked Enchanted Rock this weekend. I made it to the summit.

Dungeons and Dragons session - Hellenika Campaign - or not

Yes, I'm behind on it, I thought I'd have a chance to catch up, but I didn't. Work got busy, so it will take a bit to get back on it.

I'll let you know...

Dungeons and Dragons session - Hellenika Campaign - COMING SOON

I got an audio file of the last session which I've not transcribed yet. I will post it and tonight's session in the same post, probably in the next day or two. Watch this for an update!

Its over.

So, in honor of this special day and the woman who made it possible, I have a little song.



It's available on THIS ALBUM - Buy it.

On a lighter note with regard to this...

I want to thank all of my friends. I could not have gotten through this without all of you wishing me well and checking up on me.

My Little Pony

I recently went to a local Ford dealership...



Personally, I disagree with Jeremy's classification...it IS "Super-Cool"...



After all, you can do some amazing things with it...



But he DOES complain a lot about American cars anyway. At least they get the idea that there is a bit of form over function about a vehicle this beautiful.



Now, sure this is just the potential and they don't usually come this way from the dealership...but there is a lot of blacktop in Texas, and some of us keep our cars for a LONG time.

I've wanted a Mustang since I was 14.

40k Map campaign update

Well, due to complete idiocy on my part, I missed the Saturday game. I've added the next session to my calendar so that I don't make the same mistake.

That being said, I needed to come up with names for my various leaders thus far.

And so, the Anger Sharks leaders ARE...

1. Punch Rockgroin
2. Fridge Largemeat
3. Slab Squatthrust
4. Butch Deadlift

Each is a Blood Angels Chaplain with Jetpack.

HA!

You are The Joker

The Clown Prince of Crime. You are a brilliant mastermind but are criminally insane. You love to joke around while accomplishing the task at hand.

Click here to take the Supervillain Personality Quiz

Good mood today!

I'm in an incredibly good mood today. Between Oyster Bake on Saturday and Jitterbug last night I'm feeling like rockin!



A good night sleep last night didn't hurt either.

Oyster Bake

On Saturday, a bunch of us in the 2nd gaming group went down to San Antonio for "Oyster Bake". I'd never been to this before, but I had a blast. We sat near the country stage. I'm not as interested in country music, but the acts here were decent. Of course, this being called "Oyster Bake", I got a bucket of baked oysters. I'd never eaten oysters that way before, which included breaking open the shells. There were also funnel cakes, fried oysters, various meats on stick, corn, and chocolate covered strawberries. I ended up just eating funnel cakes and fried oysters other than the baked, but I thoroughly enjoyed those.

We are already planning to go again next year and making even a bigger trip of it.

Dungeon and Dragons session - Hellenika Campaign - Laptops don't work without power

Abbreviated notes from Friday since I didn't have the power cord to my laptop, and the battery doesn't last long.

The party identified magic items. They were taken to nice rooms and were allowed to recover. Boxo came and spoke with the party and explained that this entire "time caper" starting (as far as Boxo was concerned) with Boxo coming to retrieve their bodies was a plot by the council to help preserve Lendor and acquire Fred who will eventually become Lendor's replacement. He also described what his sentence was: being stripped of his powers and banished across time. The party realized that it would be in the past so that they would eventually meet him in the guise of "Timeos".

The party was brought before the council one more time and was made some offers. Gal was offered the position of Castallan (the previous one was exiled to the dwarven lands). She declined the offer. Then the entire party was offered the position of "field agents" for the council. However, they decided that they wanted to have nothing to do with the council and declined. The party then discussed where Boxo would take them.

Session ends.

So many games, so little time...

This post is going to meander a bit. However, I need to collect my thoughts, and I'm only comfortable talking about it when the whole world wide web is reading. :)

First of all, Steampunk Star Wars: THE RPG.

Those who have followed me, know that currently I'm involved in:
1. A Wednesday RPG group
2. A Friday Night RPG group
3. A 40k map campaign every other Sunday
4. Dance classes: East Coast Swing, West Coast Swing, Lindy Hop, and Two Step.

Of these, the Wednesday night D&D game is likely to become my turn, so the Hellenika updates will stop, and there will be Kalamar updates. Furthermore, I was looking at starting to run a Buffy the Vampire Slayer campaign for the Friday night group, although there is interest in this steampunk Star Wars idea.

This doesn't include: painting minis, social dancing, Warmachine, movies, going out to eat, reading, watching TV (hey, it's important!) and sleeping.

Things I want to do:
1. Babylon 5 game
2. Star Wars: Saga Edition game
3. UT Kendo classes

This is new territory for me. Its rather funny that with the crap going on in my life at the moment, I've been able to really connect and reconnect with friends and make new friends. However, I worry that I am running the risk of over-committing. I don't want anyone to feel like I'm brushing them off and hurting their feelings, as that is most assuredly not the case. Sadly, this means I will need to make some hard decisions and figure out what I can and cannot commit to.

I think I may be forced to leave the Bab 5 and Star Wars games back burnered for the time being and hope that my friends in those areas understand (and yes, I know they are reading this).

Oh, and "Ethereal Council", your Grey Knights are going DOWN! The corpses of my troops will stick to your shoes and you will be unable to move.....uhm....waitaminute.

40k Map Campaign

The Anger Sharks are participating in a map campaign.

Information on the first combats can be seen HERE.

In short, The Anger Sharks defeated a 250pt Combat patrol of Chaos Space Marines. I was a little worried, since I didn't have any tank killing troops and I was facing a Rhino. However, Krak grenades made short work of the thing.

Dungeon and Dragons session - Hellenika Campaign - The Battle in the Panopticon

Gal listens as the council grills Boxo. It very quickly becomes obvious that the trial is a farce and the council has already made up their minds. This continues for about a half hour. The party is summoned into the chamber. The Castellan again reminds the party of the rules to 'be civil'.

In the chambers, the 5 members of the council are sitting in their places much as they were previously. The party relays the story to date. When complete, the Castellan brings the party out of the chamber and are left in an anti-chamber.

The party is attacked. Two armoured female orcs move in to attack. Kerin leads off with a soundlance as the orcs cut into Tesla. Melee ensues as Tesla attempts to charm one of the orcs. Iridinae is struck by something unseen during the combat.

Kerin pulls out her brightly shining orb revealing a humanoid shadow in the corner. Gal turns into one of the "spider men" they'd fought on monster isle and fired webbing at the amazon orc. She becomes entangled in spider webbing.

Tesla casts a targeted dispel on the shadow (yay, a natural 17) but to no avail. The shadow swipes at Iridinae draining 3 points of strength. There is more muttering from next to Iridinae, but not from the shadow creature. Melee continues with Tesla then shooting a scorching ray at the amazon orc, burning off her webs. Iridinae is further drained of strength.

Gal soaks MASSIVE damage from an unseen assailant. Kerin attempts to turn the shadow, but it does not seem to have any effect. Gal manages to step back and heal herself using the wand. Tesla fires the scorching ray at the shadow and it is incredible weakened. The shadow flees through the wall. Gal is badly hit and shifts into an Ogre form. Tesla zaps the amazon orc, killing her. The shadow returns and attacks Kerin draining some of her strength.

Gal is hit by the invisible assailant, but her new form she shrugs off the damage. Kerin casts spiritual weapon which attacks the shadow causing it to dissipate. The unseen attacker screams in rage. Iridinae swings at the attacker but misses. Gal swings repeatedly and chops at the invisible attacker with her dagger. Tesla casts mage armour on Gal. Gal is hit rather hard. Kerin orders her spiritual weapon to attack the unseen assailant and heals Gal with an empowered cure spell.

Tesla casts voice of the dragon and using the suggestion effect, orders the invisible attack to "Become Visible". The female Castellan APPEARS and attempts to use a scroll. A critical hit from Gal causes the spell to fizzle. The spiritual weapon crits the Castellan as well. The female Castellan falls.

The party enters the chamber with the body of the Castellan. Boxo has just received his punishment. After a short argument with the council, the heroes suggest the council look at the timeline. They quickly discover that the Castellan(s) have indeed been plotting with each other and that the party was attacked.

The council apologizes for the inhospitality and asks where they would want to go. They are offered a place to stay in the meantime. They excuse themselves from the council chamber. They close the doors and loot the bodies.

Session ends...

Dungeon and Dragons session - Hellenika Campaign - The Hand of Fear

Sorry this posting is late – I zoned out.

The party continued to discuss how to prevent their past selves from killing Oromos. Boxo enlightens the group to the difficulties in the plan with regard to temporal mechanics. They decide to go back and put one of their souls into Oromos to prevent his attacking the group. Boxo says he will need a day or so to regain his strength. The party goes back to the palace and luxuriates in rooms.

Fred comes to them and talks with them. He tells them that he has some books that have information on vampires and that he is giving them a feast that evening. Kerin starts reading "The Adventures of Buffy the Vampire Slayer by Joss Whedon as told by Fred Jones". Tesla starts reading a book called "Sanford and Son". Gal examines some plant life to see if there are any ill effects of the "non-light".

That evening Fred throws a wonderful, lavish feast. The party retires for the evening.

That morning they are given a good breakfast. After meeting up with Boxo, the party prepares to go. Boxo tells them that the "time lag" will hit the outer dome and cancel it out, returning Fred-land to the normal "stream of events".

Kerin (having the highest Will save) is chosen to inhabit Oromos and control him.

Boxo takes the party into the time stream…



As they travel back they encounter “turbulence” which indicated where the time stream was altered. Boxo indicates this is the location and sends Kerin’s “soul” into Oromos. She encountered some difficulty with a desire for blood, but encounters the “past” instance of the party where she tells them to wait and do nothing.

The past party assents and is picked up by the past Boxo that dropped them off at that time.

The Boxo of the present brings Kerin of the present back and the party returns to Atlan. A much irritated Castellan (we realize it's the male version) greets them. The party finds they have been given permission to remain and provide evidence during the trial.

The Castellan escorts Boxo to the chambers for the trial and Gal leans up against the door to listen.

Session ends as I start to fall asleep...

Muppets!

I've always been fond of the Muppets. This is a blooper reel that is well worth it.


Here is some general info on the muppets.

Dungeon and Dragons session - Hellenika Campaign - Steak Burrito and Margaritas

We went out to dinner and then identified magic items.

Dungeon and Dragons session - Hellenika Campaign - If only we had an Orb of Thesulah

The magical time freezing field continues to move outward. Tesla estimates that it will hit the outer edge of the dome in about a month. The party moves in and starts removing magic items from the wizard. Aside from normal magical items, he has a rod and an amulet that "hurts to look at" via detect magic.

The party also looks through his notes finding a myriad of notes regarding time theory. Gal continues to look for "secret storage". She finds a loose stone under one of the tables and when she slides it aside and something tries to bite her hand. There is a small weasel who appears to be the wizards familiar. Iridinae managed to calm the critter down.

Gal attempts to talk to the weasel. However, she quickly realizes that she cannot do it even though she is a druid. Iridinae takes the weasel, Kerin takes the wizard to the drunk tank, Gal takes Boxo to a medical ward, and Tesla takes the magic items.

Boxo wakes up and the party discusses the situation and brings Boxo up to speed on the situation. As part of the discussion, it is revealed that Gal's real name is Lendnel, and she was born "out of time". Boxo reveals that he arrived early in the party's home plane in order to find the party after they'd "messed up". He was nursed back to health by "Gloriana" who became Gal's mother. Boxo is Gal's father. This was when the Faerunian gods threatened Boxo. He left Gal with the elves after draining the infant Gal of chronal energy and traveled forward in time.

Boxo offers to take Gal back to "where-ever she wants to go" and not bother her with the "trial nonsense". Boxo says that the crystal contains a threat that the Castallan will have the party killed if they return.

During the discussion, Tesla gives the box that Stiggo's gave him to Boxo and tells him to open it. (This was the box with the note "When you realize you've made the biggest mistake in your life open this box") - it is a music box (King of Pain).

The party thinks about how to "re-ensoul" Oromos.

Dungeon and Dragons session - Hellenika Campaign - Otto's Irresistible Profanity.

Fred shows the amazing inventions that the city has: 'hot air balloons' and 'cell phones'. Suddenly a call of "Watch out below" as a large flower pot falls down toward a young girl. Fred gestures and the flower pot stops in mid air. Fred explains that everyone has some chronal energy but that his seems to be slightly stronger.

The party arrives as the area where Boxo is imprisoned. They see that there are a great many things that have been thrown into the time field. Gal touches the field with the crystal and freezes with Kerin in time. Everything within the field starts moving and the wizard starts to cast. Bearded Devils appear and start attacking. Gal and Kerin unfreeze and Iridinae freezes as the devils start attacking. Kerin casts silence on the wizard. Tesla moves forward into the stasis. The devils and the wizard press their attack and Kerin drops. Tesla unfreezes and attempts to cast a charm on the wizard and fails, cursing.

Gal attempts to throw the crystal at the globe where Boxo is imprisoned, but misses. Iridinae moves up and gets hit repeatedly by the demons. Iridinae goes defensive. Tesla casts dispel and the devils vanish.

The wizard continues to cast and then realizes that the spell didn't go off and curses. Gal heals Kerin who continues to take damage, cursing. The brilliant and handsome Tesla casts obscuring mist allowing Kerin to heal herself.

After Kerin has healed herself, Tesla dispels the obscuring mist to see that Iridinae has frozen and the wizard is looking at the crystal that Gal tossed. Gal uses the dispel crystal that Lendor had given her which removes all negative magical effects. Iridinae leaps in to grapple. Tesla moves forward and casts a dispel at the wizard but it is dispelled (it appears the wizard had a ring of counterspelling with a dispel in it). The wizard attempts to cast but the spell fizzle and he curses again.

Gal attempts to get the crystal from the wizard but fails with a curse. Tesla attempts to dispel again and a number of spells drop. Kerin casts Righteous Wrath of the Faithful. Gal manages to get the crystal away from the wizard and moves toward the sphere with Boxo. Iridinae continues to grapple.

Gal touches the crystal to the globe containing Boxo and the globe dispels. The wizard again curses as Iridinae continues to grapple. Another dispel from Tesla fails to bring down any more spells (@#$%^&*!!!!). Kerin casts but fails to defeat the wizard's spell resistance. Iridinae enjoys grappling.

Gal heals Boxo, but he doesn't wake up. The wizard finally slumps. The party ties up the wizard.

Session ends.

A metaphysical reboot

Yes, there has been a reason that posting has been erratic in the past month or so. I don't know if posting will ever go back to normal, but then again, that remains to be seen.

With my life encountering an 'unrecoverable error' causing it to be shut down, I find myself needing to redefine myself to an extent. So bearing this in mind, I believe I need to find other things to do than just sitting at home or gaming, as fun as that is. I did have a hell of a lot of fun in the Warmachine tournament yesterday.

What shall I do? Well, I have a few things in mind

Dance: A friend of mine gave me dance lessons for two for Christmas. Well, I have custody of that gift cert, so I think I'm going to give that a shot. People who know me know I have almost no physical coordination and this may be a good choice. I've wanted to try swing dancing (after all, Benny Goodman IS dance music!). For that matter, salsa and two-step would be decent to learn as well. Finally, of course, I could use the exercise.

Kendo: Ever since I saw a certain little sci-fi movie in 1978, I've wanted to know how to fight with a sword. There is also a certain appeal to hitting someone with a bamboo stick. Again, we have the whole exercise thing here. There is a place I can do that locally.

There will probably be other things that will come up. I find a number of things in my life got away from me in the past, for better or worse, and now I wonder, what do I do?

Gary Gygax RIP

I just found out that the father of Dungeons and Dragons and cofounder of TSR, Gary Gygax has died.

News Link


*Update*
Wizards of the Coast Tribute

CNN Link

Another political post...

The Butcher of Khador

I played a couple rounds of Warmachine on Saturday. I'd picked up the update deck for Khador (to ensure I had recent stats for my army) and decided to give "The Butcher" a try. I have that model kicking around in the hold somewhere, but can locate it. I decided since I have the card, I'd proxy and give him a try.

Wow...just...wow.

There is discussion that I may have made a mistake on the rules for him, but I've yet to be cited a page disputing it. Using his feat and spells, I was able to orchestrate my army to neutralize my opponent rather quickly with a MASSIVE amount of damage. He has a feat where for 1 round, I can add a die to my damage for everyone in his control area. Then I cast a spell that doubled his strength. Combine that with a charge and WOW.

The hard part was trying to get my troops set up for the battle. Certain armies I'll do better than others. The drawback to the Butcher is that while he can defend HIMSELF, I can't easily extend that defense to my Warjacks like I can with Vlad and Sorscha.

ANYWAY, he's pretty badass.

Happy Birthday to...

(In no particular order)
Benecio Del Toro - actor
Sunset Thomas - porn star
Falco - Rock me Amedeus
Tony Iommi - Guitar player for Black Sabbath
Justine Bateman - Actress
Francine - Wrestler
Seal - Singer
Smokey Robinson - Singer
Jeff Daniels - Actor
Amy Tan - wrote Joy Luck Club

me

Dungeon and Dragons session - Hellenika Campaign - 'Stick up her ass!?!?!'

The party returned to the port of Lisbona. They did some buying and selling of wares before turning to the issue at hand - rescuing Boxo from the time bubble. We also got horses. (Tesla's War Pony is named "Phil").

The party "jumps".

And are suddenly granted the sensation of slamming into a brick wall. When they open their eyes, they discover that they are surrounded by armed men. They look around to see that there is a "void" around Konoa. The armed men indicate it has a radius of approximately 1000 miles.

After some research we realize that this is a dome. Experiments show that there is some weird differential of some type. The soldiers indicate that they'd sent one in for a few moments who came back aged 50 years older. Tests demonstrate that the time is flowing faster in the bubble than outside.

Kerin rides off and finds a forest which the dome has cleared through.

The party goes to talk to Jubal. The crystal demonstrates that he is "charged" with chronal energy. Much to the party's surprise, he knows what Chronal energy is. He tells the party that the people on the other side of the bubble (including the King). Jubal further tells the party that the "King Fred" had sent him back to wait for them.

Fred told Jubal to "Come on in, the water's fine. He's waiting for you."

"Don't linger in the area of the barrier." Jubal tells of the time when the Chronal sliders came in and created this "barrier". The party decides to head in the next day.

After a good night sleep, the party saddles up and heads in.

The area inside the bubble, the land continues, but there is no sun. The party sees a smaller house with a chimney with smoke. They approach.

Apparently, the party is famous. The people at the outpost quickly pull out a description of the party. "The priestess with the stick up her ass, the girly elf, the girl that looks like she was beaten with an ugly stick, and the smoking hot chick."

Using a teleportation circle, the party transports into a small locked room. Tesla unlocked the door using the wand of knock that his brilliant forethought told him to purchase in Lisbona. The party is greeted by a much dismayed guard who apparently has never seen horses.

Ten minutes later, the guard returns with a couple other people. He takes the party to see the king. The castle contains many interesting wonders like "moving stairs".

The King is indeed Fred, who only seems to have aged about 6 years. In fact, it's been approximately 100 years. The party heads to where Boxo has been imprisoned all this time.

Session ends.

Technical Difficulties

There is nothing like coming home to a system that is No-Post due to HDD controller failure. Yes, I have backups, but I'd still like to get a more recent backup. Things I can definitely say are helpful...

• Disk Imaging Software (Acronis, Ghost)
• Knoppix

So this morning, we are clearing off space to put a secondary drive into primary service while the offending HDD is in the freezer in hopes of JUST ONE MORE BOOT.

*sigh*

Guitar Rising

The crew of the Pequod is not know for it's console gaming chops.

I bought a PS2 a while back for Dance Dance Revolution and not much else. Even that ends up being somewhat "meh" after a while. However, there is a NEW game on the horizon that has grabbed my attention. If I knew the console this was for, I'd preemptively buy it.

Guitar Rising...

GuitarRising
by jakeparks

I've worked at trying to get better at guitar. I enjoyed playing but I always ran into the limitation of the limits of my manual dexterity. I was usually OK at finding the note I wanted...but just some of the manual gyrations were a bit tricky.

Now, admittedly, this game is likely to have some flaws for the person using it as a "springboard". The other half of learning modern guitar is learning ear training and transcription.

That being said, I applaud the makers of this and I am planning on giving it a heavy look when it comes out.

Official site
Gizmodo article about it

One more song

As bad as all of this is...it will be all right.



Comments are enabled for this post.

However, I am not going to discuss the events of the past 6 days. I'd ask that the talk-backers who are in the know not discuss them either. I'd like to keep my personal life, personal.



P.S. Hear more about this song.

afk

I am not at my keyboard right now.

Don't ask...

Miscellaneous

I didn't get much gaming this weekend as real-life needs (work and house cleaning) took up my time. However, the weather got nice enough to base coat some models and I did get a single Warmachine game. I broke out the new Khador troops and faced up against the forces of Menoth. Our points were rather close and I needed to proxy a couple models, but I think I did rather well, despite the inevitable loss.

The core of my army is:

• Sorscha
• Juggernaut
  
• Destroyer
• Marauder (proxied)
• Greylord Ternion
• Manhunter (proxied - I left mine at home)

476 - pts

My opponent fielded

• Harbinger of Menoth (10 focus?!?!?!)
• Guardian
• Reckoner
• Exemplar Vengers
• Holy Zealots (I think)

480-ish points

Lessons Learned:

• The Guardians Knockback was TERRIBLE. My Manhunter was insta killed by my Destroyer getting knocked back.
  
• The Harbinger has WAY a lotta focus.
• Greylords are worth every point.
• Need to start really thinking about special stuff Jacks can do (most of us are newbies, and so we aren't doing much on that score). That would have dealt with the KB.
  

I'm getting some tips from the Privateer Press forums and using that to tailor what I buy and how I use it. In some ways, I get as many answers as there are people, but asking for "How do I use what you suggest" really has helped give me some clear advice.

Work is taking me out of town this week, so I probably won't post again until this weekend at the earliest.

In the meantime, Play like you got a pair!

Dungeon and Dragons session - Hellenika Campaign - Castallan or Castallana?

Kerin had recruited the captain and was returning to the council chamber. They returned to find Iridinae arming herself. Kerin came to the conclusion that perhaps putting on armor might be a prudent course of action. The party asked the servants if they could see the Castallan's office.

Before the servants could help, the Castallan appeared and asked to parley. He asked if the servants could be dismissed. The party conceded and the servants left after placing "caps" on every other one of the lights (as they were closing down the chamber). The Castallan indicated that the Council was out-of-touch and divorced from the reality in which they live. The Castallan further said that he believed the island was in potential peril (as troops were marching across the mainland) and desired to have a force that could defend the island. He said that the reason that he used the disenfranchised women of the community for his troops was to empower them and give them a more meaningful life. He imported meat to feed them so that they would have a diet more conducive to training than the predominantly vegetarian diet of the Atlantians. He'd felt that the party was a threat and that is why he'd ordered the giant to attack us.

The Castallan suggested that he'd be willing to provide evidence that the party was lying and that they would be able to leave and free Boxo. The party, however, did not wish to be placed in a position of 'lying' to the party. Kerin suggested that if the party simply corrected the timeline, none of this would have ever happened. The Castallan said that it wasn't that simple and that the party has a "bubble of temporal grace" that permits things to work that should (Kerin gets spells). A discussion ensued regarding the best course of action.

Gal argued philosophy with the Castallan.

After asking about Glargophage, Kerin started messing with her armor (subtly casting detect magic after she noticed that the Castallan was not repositioning his glasses constantly as he was known to do). At this point, the Castallan revealed a great secret. It turns out that the Castallan the party was speaking to was not the same Castallan that had presented them to the council previously. The Castallan had a sister (who the party was then speaking to) that was the 'brain' of the two of them. The Castallan had teleported away to speak to his sister to ask for help as he was in over his head. She donned this disguise and returned to speak to the party.

Gal suggested that there must be another option that would save face for everyone. The Castallan's sister suggested that a plausible story would be that the giant cast an illusion that caused the party to see 'the soldiers.' Kerin further suggested that should only be part of the story and that perhaps the Castallan had a confuse spell cast on him by the giant. Gal suggested that the Giant, as 'punishment', be placed on the mainland.

With the story in place, the Castallan left.

A few minutes later, the Castallan returned and the counsel appeared. Kerin delivered the story to the counsel. The Castallan corroborated the story. The counsel accepted this story and provided the party with a crystal that would allow them to free Boxo from the "time bubble" in which he was trapped. The counsel insisted that the party return for further questioning when Boxo stands trial.

They are dismissed.

*DING* level up.

Session ends.

Avoiding Snow

The 350 point Khador warband has been assembled!

• Kommander Sorscha - 71 Pts
• Destroyer - 126 Pts
• Juggernaut - 105 Pts
• Greylord Ternion - 43 Pts

Total Army Cost: 345

Sadly, it has ONLY been assembled. As soon as I finished assembling these troops, local temperatures dropped and started hovering in the 30s this week with 80%-90% humidity. This means that even going to the garage to prime, it is so cold and humid that I won't be able to get a decent base coat with the spray paint (hence the title of this missive).

Someone pointed out to me that I could use a paint on base coat. I thought about this but decided that I'd much rather wait to spray paint since I get a much more even coat when I do that. Also, I really don't want to go through the hassle of trying to get paint on bare pewter with a brush.

On happier news, I was able to fix the Chaplain. My Space Marine Chaplain figure had his crozius snap off. I've tried to fix it before, but the fix never seemed that strong. In playing with my Dremel, I've tried pinning it. I need to touch up the paint around it, but I have high hopes that it will stick.

Pravda Khador

As previously mentioned, my Warmachine experience with the Cryx faction hasn't panned out. I like the game, but my playstyle is not the "debuff it to death" that is Cryx. So, I picked up the Khador starter box from Ninja Pirate. Now that work is a bit more in the reactive mode, I'm starting to assemble.



Yesterday, I opened up the box and washed the minis. For those of you who aren't aware, when buying any type of model, it is usually a good idea to wash the model off before painting. Models are coated with a substance that allows them to be more easily released from their molds. I've noticed especially with Warmachine, that the models have a slight oily quality. My Necromunda and Mordheim figures had a similar film on them.

After washing, I started inspecting them to look for problems. Unlike my Cryx box, these models had a large amount of flash on them that needed to be removed. Usually, I'd break out the file and exacto and go to town. This time, I decided to give my new dremel a spin (groan). Flash came off incredibly fast and with minimal effort. If you choose to try this at home, I'd recommend proceeding with caution as it immediately became obvious that I could screw up the figs. Thankfully, I didn't.

Next, I start looking at assembling these steam-powered, magically controlled robots. The instructions lacked a couple details, but thankfully, BrushTralls comes to the rescue. I'm probably not going to do the red primer as they use, but instead go with my flat black Krylon followed by red basecoats.

I love the colour red. It will be nice finally doing some red models, even though I've heard it's tricky to do.

A Short Break

Work overloads me
No Warhammer this weekend
Short break is needed...

It was 30 years ago today...

Exactly 30 years ago, the greatest moment in the history of televised entertainment was broadcast.



William Shatner sings Elton John and Bernie Taupin's "Rocket Man" at the 1978 Science Fiction Awards show. Shatner is introduced by Taupin.

Play like you got a pair

If you've been reading, you know that I've dipped a toe into the world of Warmachine. I try not to pigeonhole myself if I can help it, hence I've no intention of giving up my Anger Sharks, Eldar, nor Brettonnian.

So far, I played two games, one versus Clay and one vs Chris. Yesterday was my second game.

My first game (against Clay) strongly mimiced my first attempt at 40k. Wiped off of the table, didn't get anything accomplished. So, I reread some details and looked at what I have in an attempt to figure out how to play them. Reading the Privateer Press Forums doesn't hurt either. Here is what I've figured out that I need to utilize.

1. All of my bonejacks have arc nodes.
2. The Skarlock Thrall can cast 1 spell of 3 power or less every round for free.
3. Denegra has some uber debuff spells: Grippling Grasp, Scourge, and Parasite.

The Bonejacks can get up where I need fairly quick. I needed to run them up and cast through one of them. Skarlock can toss out Crippling Grasp, Ghost Walk, Parasite, and Venom for free. Of course, Venom is a rather cruddy spell.

My second game (against Chris) went MUCH better. I sent my jacks up to engage and protected my casters. Denegra started casting through the arc nodes, but sadly, Cryx just doesn't have very good Warjacks compared to other groups. As someone said on the forum, you can't spell "Cryx" without "Cry".

Well, I did some more looking, and since my Warmachine investment is low, I may switch over to Khador. They are a more attractive army and have really mean jacks. It looks like it may fit my normal playstyle better. We shall see.

I'd recommend giving this game a look. After a few more sessions, I'll give a real review on it, but I can say that the people I know who have tried it, found it much more enjoyable than 40k. It holds appeal for as it's smaller amounts of troops (which I do enjoy).

My Spirit Host came in!!!!!

On Friday, while gearing up to play Cyberpunk*, I discovered that my Spirit Host came in!

For the record, WAAAAY back when I started making friends in Austin, I was playing in a Vampire: The Masquerade campaign. During the final battle of that campaign, one of the players brought some minis to use as the bad guys. I later found out that these were "Eldar", and I now know were called "Fire Dragons".

In an unrelated turn of events, I decided that 40k looked like it would be a fun game to start playing. I (like most others) started with the Space Marines that came in the big box. But then, at my first game, I glanced over and saw what (to my mind) were some of the most elegant models I'd ever seen - Wraithlords and Wraithguard. Again, I found out that these were Eldar. At that point, I decided that while I had a fair amount of Space Marines (and my limited money at the time prohibited me from getting a second army) that I wanted to have an Eldar army.

Well, as previously indicated, that day has come. I've started collecting Eldar. The first box that came in was the Spirit Host containing:

• Three Eldar Warlocks
• Five Eldar Wraithguard
• Two Eldar Wraithlords

Falling back on my success painting my Chaplain, I decided that I'll be painting these as Ulthwae, since it is the same colour scheme. While I've also ordered the Aspect Wave and the Cloudstrike force, I suspect these won't see TOO much action as Ulthwae is very depleted of Aspect Warriors. These will merely serve as a foundation. The next goal will be a boatload of Guardians.

Dungeon and Dragons session - Hellenika Campaign - just one more day!

After reading the previous session notes, I, the writer, realized that I haven't been focusing on my grammar. This is probably due to the fact that I am tired when I write these (not being a night person and entering these notes DURING the session). I sincerely hope that the readers of this text will be forgiving when verb tense changes and sentence fragments are encountered.

Aaaaaaannnnnnyyyyywwwwwaaaaayyyyyy......

The heroes realize at this point they only have an hour left before the time is up. Gal takes point and they hurry. During our travel, Tanaqa'l recommended to Tesla that he use his charm spells on the spider creatures. Kerin and Gal cast Neutralize poison on all the party members (except for poor Woof-Woof). Tanaqa'l asked Gal if "she'd reconsider" to which Gal replied "There is no way I'm going to spend the rest of my life on this island".

The heroes reached the edge of the forest. Gal checked the ground for any signs of the creatures and decided that this was not a place for an ambush. After a few minutes, Iridinae noticed that the area is suddenly devoid of birds. Tesla immediately cast fly on all the members of the party and the heroes prepare. They continue and encounter a massive amount of webbing. Gal lit her torch and Kerin cast Darkfire on herself. Iridinae sees a "bundle" of web that appeared to be a small humanoid wrapped up in webbing.

Suddenly, webbing shot out, missing the party. Battle ensued. Tesla cast charm at a spiderman as 2 spiders scuttled toward our heroes. Gal and Kerin each attacked a spider. The spiderman calls off the spider. With a "Sorry little elf", Tanaqa'l hits Tesla with his club. Kerin cast obscuring mist, and Tesla moved away...into a web. The remainder of the party focused on dealing with Tanaqa'l who "did not want to be alone". With Woof-woof's help, Tesla managed to break free just as the charmed spiderman came down out of the trees. Tesla asked him for the green gem.

As the battle raged in the mist, Gal cast Body of the Sun while Kerin kept the Darkfire touch attacks. The party managed to defeat Tanaqa'l and get the green gemstone. Gal touches the crystals and we appear before the Castallan.

The Castallan offers to take the party before the council. They first ask to be given the chance to clean up before they meet the council. He brings them to their rooms informing us that we are to be civil before the council and that normally women would not speak to the council. Obviously, this is an exception.

In time, they are brought before the council who is very condescending. Gal and Kerin plead to the council for the life of Boxo and the wishes of Lendor in the correction of the timeline. The council concedes to give us something to free Boxo and bring him back here to stand trial for corrupting the time stream.

However, it quickly became apparent that the council of time lords (all of whom are very old and bordering on senile it would seem) had no knowledge of the state of the island, the "harem of the castallan", and the meat shipments. The Castallan tried to give "false evidence" against us (very poorly). The council asked that Glargofage be summoned, only to discover that he had gone missing.

Next they sent the Castallan, accompanied by Kerin to "find a new crystal with more information". The Castallan took Kerin outside and promptly vanished. Kerin returned to the council chamber and the heroes learned that Glargofage's remains were found on the island drained of blood. After checking, the council discovered that the Castallan and his staff were nowhere to be found.

The council vanished to confer. Kerin made her way to the docks to find the captain for assistance. She made contact and convinced him to come and assist. Meanwhile, back in the council chamber, the servants from the rooms arrived bringing equipment because they had heard there was a "crisis". Gal advised them to return and let them know if there was any sounds of trouble and fighting.

Session ended.

A Quickie!

Buried in work and not Feeling well. Two crappy things made worse by each other. Haven't gotten in any 40k nor RPGing in the new year yet at all.

*bleh*

I've been playing City of Heroes/City of Villains again but no really heavy challenges there. I think I've finally gotten out of the burnout that had plagued me for that game.

In lieu of meaningful content, I leave you with this...

The Election

Slight departure here from usual fluff...

I'm not big on discussing politics. There are many reasons for this.

1. You will be interrupted while making an important point causing your argument to be missed - "The problem with that approach to education..." "VOUCHERS WORK!". Thank you, I think perhaps you should respect me enough to listen to my point.
   
2. Your assertion will be interpreted in such a way as to be different than what you mean - "I think there should be serious discussion regarding universal healthcare." "Socialized medicine sucks." I wasn't talking about socialized medicine.
   
3. Evidence will be offered to refute a claim that is anecdotal and/or completely without detail to allow a critical analysis - "No they tried that in this one district I think in Nevada and it failed completely."
   
4. All news organizations boil information down to a "soundbite" so that a complex question cannot be meaningfully answered by the candidates. "This is an important issue that necessarily needs careful consideration. I intend to take a strong stance on this."
5. Blatantly untrue information being passed as fact. "Barach Obama is a Muslim"....uhm, no he isn't. From what I can tell, he never was (I was taken in by this, even though it didn't matter to me).
   

As one of my friends put it...
"I know yer opponent molests children, smells bad and assassinates nuns, what I want to know is how are you going to end the war in Iraq with honour, fight terrorism, end global warming, balance the budget, reduce the national debt and reduce the bureaucracy's footprint without pixie dust or a magic wand?"

The thing traditional media doesn't realize is that people are only as stupid as they are permitted to be. This is the only way that we are going to move away from the candidates which are nothing more than the "Giant Douche" and the "Turd Sandwich".

I've heard tell that the internet can change that, I want to know where this info is....I'd like to hear fact and not an uninformed analyst's opinion, the candidate's opinion. (That's right, Mr. Limbaugh and Mr. Moore, I don't care what you think - you are both assholes.)

OK, back to the fluff....

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Although, it really looks like they dropped the ball on this one.



Here is an in depth analysis of the events of 2007 - Link

Here is Bill Maher's Dickheads of the Year.

22

The Film Crew: Hollywood After Dark - Review

"Rue McClanahan stripping!"

Yes, really.

I'm not kidding.

The Film Crew is a current movie riffing project by former MST3k alumni Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy, and Bill Corbett. The first movie out of the gate they "riffed" was this one (which I got for Christmas). The premise of the host segments is that the three of them have been hired by billionaire "Mr. Honcho" to make sure that all movies in existence have commentaries. No bots and no silhouette theater seats.

Well, in true MST style, this movie is skin-peelingly painful and incredibly bleak. There seems to be several semi-related plot elements, but not really a cohesive plot. For those who know me, this is exactly what I look for in a bad movie. (Yes, I can tell the difference between good and bad movies, it just doesn't have much bearing on whether or not I like it). There is a fair amount of titillating semi-nudity (if you've seen Ed Wood's 'nudie' flicks, you know what to expect). Rue is the hot and sexy female star of the film. I have nothing against Rue, but I think that they should have picked a different hair stylist/makeup artist for her. She had too much of a "Barbara Bush" look for this film (and sadly, we didn't even get to see her breasts).

But, that isn't why you watch this movie. You watch it for the commentary. The commentary is funny after it gets going. I got the impression at the beginning that they were trying to get back into the groove of riffing (or perhaps it was just me). However, it was rather solid and had a number of moments where I laughed out loud (you have to watch it if you want to hear the quips). Much to my surprise, there were MST3k style host segments. Spot on and funny.

I did feel that this could seamlessly be placed in an MST3k marathon, and people would enjoy it. With the voices in question, I could almost close my eyes and imagine that the lines by Bill and Kevin were spoken by Crow and Tom. My only criticism is that while I know they are trying to keep costs down, I think they could use one or two more writers so they have a few more "riffs" to work with when picking out jokes to use. However, this criticism is minor considering the quality of production and that it's a funny as it is. It's only $15 from Amazon, check it out.

The Film Crew: Hollywood After Dark at Amazon
The Film Crew Online

My Name is Bruce

"Bruce Campbell is the greatest actor of his generation!"



Internet Movie Database Link.

1337 1007 w00t

What did the fat guy give you this year?

Apparently I was a VERY good person this year.

• A DREMEL!
• Stevie Ray Vaughan - Solos, Sessions & Encores
• The Film Crew - Hollywood After Dark
• A Red Sweater
• An Art Book
• Socks (gotta have socks!)
• and much much more!

What choice items made their way into YOUR stocking? Leave a comment and tell me!

Merry X-Mas

The Sci Fi Sounds Quiz

	I received 85 credits on The Sci Fi Sounds Quiz How much of a Sci-Fi geek are you?
Guess the Sci-Fi Movie Sounds hereCanon powershot

Fantasy and 40000 Armies in the works

The Anger Sharks
Well, I think the Space Marine Army is more or less set in stone. I'll probably look at nerfing it a bit as I get better, but for now it's a good list that most of the people I know think is a good power level.

Lordship of ???????
Those who've chatted with me enough know that I'm working on a Bretonnian Army for Warhammer Fantasy Battles. I'm looking forward to a new game that provides a change of pace. The army I'm building is (in theory) rather nasty. However, I'm actually planning for an army that accurately reflects how Bretonnians WOULD fight. Medieval armies would have conscripted archers and sent off the Knights. If it's too much? Probably a work in a few more bowmen and a trebuchet.

• Lord on Warhorse
• Paladin Standard Bearer
• Damsel of the Lady on Warhorse
• Damsel of the Lady
• 8 Knights Errant
• 8 Knights Errant
• 8 Knights of the Realm
• 8 Knights of the Realm
• 8 Knights of the Realm
• 3 Pegasus Knights
• 6 Grail Knights
• 16 Peasant Bowmen

This ends up being 2248 points. If I need an even 2k, I can drop one of the units of Knights and trim a couple bowmen. The models are almost all collected, I'm just needing to meet up with someone and get the last few things I need. The models I have are almost completely assembled, I just need a few more Knights of the Realm and a unit of Grail Knights, which I plan to buy from Clay. Then I can start painting the bright colours.

The New Army - ELDAR
And so, I've decided to start building another 40k army. Chris is building a Tau Army, and so I think it's probably a good time. As nice as the Space Marines are playing, they just aren't....pretty. I want an army that looks elegant and I can make gorgeous. And so, despite all of the flack I'm getting whenever I say it, I'm looking to build an Eldar army. The Craftworld will be Ulthwe as this colour-scheme worked so well on my Chaplain.

I'm thinking that the best approach will be to create two army lists.

1. The fun list that really shows off how pretty the army can be. Furthermore, this list will reflect the fact that most of Ulthwe's Aspect Warriors have been killed off due to wars. So, there will be Wraithguard and Wraithlords and a fair amount of Guardians (the weaker infantry).

2. The 'competitive' list. If you know Eldar, you know what this list looks like.

So, what is on my shopping list? Thankfully the Apocalypse Boxes will provide a good foundation:

1. A mess of Eldar Guardians
   
2. Eldar Aspect Assault Wave
3. Eldar Spirit Host
4. Eldar Cloudstrike Squadron
   

This should start me with a nice variety of stuff that I can enjoy painting and assembling.

And no, I'm NOT taking Eldrad, I think he's too nasty unless you are doing a pure Guardian mob. Plus, local groups generally don't allow him.

What's after all this? Who knows? It will probably be back to Fantasy (assuming I like it - I haven't actually played it yet) and picking....hrm....Dark Elves? Lizardmen?

Warhammer Podcasts

During the day, I listen to podcasts while I work on MANY different subjects. Today, a podcast showed up that I'd like to recommend. Remember that you do not need an iPod NOR iTunes to listen to podcasts. In fact, if you do not have an iPod, I recommend the software Miro to listen and download them with.

Anyway,

Podhammer is a Warhammer Fantasy Podcast. It is extremely well done and worth a listen. The host is Australian and will cover many topics related to "The Hobby". The most recent one addresses painting tournament armies which I think applies to 40k as well.

The other one I listen to is The Drop Pod Cast. This one is more of an ensemble of Canadian Hosts that covers general Games Workshop news along with info about various video games based on the GW IP. Its not bad, but it's not as good as Podhammer.

Both are available at the Miniatures Wargame Union website.

50 Cent Video

Not game related, but...

If 50 Cent's stuff was more like this regularly, I'd probably enjoy hip-hop more.




Hip-Hop? That sounds like something a rabbit would listen to...

The Ninja Pirate Tournament on 12-16-07

While my game in 40k has been nicely improving, the tourney yesterday was one of my poorer showings.

Round 1:
Cricket is a Tyranid player who hangs out at Ninja Pirate (I've not mentioned it before, but kids today, at least the ones who hang out at NP, have somewhat nonsensical nicknames - The S.S. Pequod considers this BADASS! Kudos to the leaders of tomorrow!) Aaaanyway, as of this weekend, he has gone to Space Marines. He relies very heavily on tactical squads, a las cannon predator, and a Vindicator. I'm actually glad he's doing this, because I finally get a regular "shooty" army that I can run against to practice.

I drew him on round one.

He took turn one and was able to really neuter my forces before I could develop them. I couldn't get my Baals placed correctly, I couldn't get my squads up close enough, and I couldn't easily wrap my head around the scenario. He did very well and walked away with a crushing victory.

What did I learn? I don't think I can rely on deeps striking squads behind the gunlines to kill them.

Round 2:
A 'Bigger' bug list played by Adam. You can see pictures here. I REALLY hated this scenario. It called for the Escalation rules, which means "Infantry only". I run a 100% Jump army with vehicles. So, starting out, I had nothing on the table. ZIP, Zero. I won initiative so I was able to slow him down a round and my 3 Baals came in on Round 2. As we can see with this pic, I did rather well mowing down genestealers.



However, the scenario's secondary objective ended up turning this from a draw into a crushing victory because he'd had a large number of big bugs in the center of the table.

Adam was a hoot to play with as his bugs moved away like Curly, "Woo-Woo-Woo-Woo!"

Round 3:
The advantage of doing poorly, is that I get to play against Chris (just teasing you Chris!!!!). While he is also a Blood Angels player, he is a fun guy to play against. This was a much more straight forward scenario than previous ones. However, I was able to get my Baals where they could be best used first and take out his veteran squad which made my life a great deal easier. Had I realized that there was also an Honor guard, I'd've turned and took that next. However, despite this error, I still managed to take both main objectives and deny him the third objective. This gave me a Victorious Slaughter.

Chapter Master of The Anger Sharks

Firstly, Mike posted the battle results! Read it here.

To come up with the name of the Chapter Master of "The Anger Sharks", I've decided to turn to one of the best lists of names I could.



If you have a suggestion for the name of the General of "The Anger Sharks", please post in the comments.

Extra points are given on what makes me laugh the most.

Death to the Bugs!

On Saturday, I was hanging out at Ninja Pirate with "THE ANGER SHARKS!" hoping to get a game in. Around 8pm, in walks Mike. We decided to go ahead and have a 2000 point game. Mike is an excellent player; he has won first place at every tournament I've seen him play at. He is also a nice guy. I'd played against him twice before and both times I had been killed off of the table by round 3 (here and here). Needless to say, I was expecting a similar showing. He fielded his Tyranid Force which was a version similar to the 1500 point version I'd fought before. I made a quick tweak to throw in a 3rd Baal Pred instead of the Vindicator (a change I'm likely going to permanently make). And so, the battle began.

The Baals performed wonderfully, wiping out a squad of genestealers every round. This meant I didn't have to engage them in close combat where they would have eaten my troops for lunch (literally, since genestealers do that). They each managed to hang on until round 6 when all 3 were finally destroyed. The speeders also did well, managing to wear the shooty bugs down to less than half strength. Also, as in our last battle, Death Company came in and ate a couple of big bugs. Sadly, the Chaplain didn't make it past the first round of close combat. I'll let Mike record the details of the battle, as he will no doubt do it far more eloquently than I.

I did make a couple mistakes in on my side though. It turns out that there were two cases where I forgot to shoot before my squads assaulted the big bugs. This was a major failure in my tactics as it meant that I didn't get plasma pistol and meltagun shots off which would have nicely finished a couple of the big bugs a round quicker.

The short of it is we managed to have a more or less equal amount of points on the table by the end of the battle. We each had about 200 points or so left of the table. The DIFFERENCE was that I managed to truck my speeder deep into his deployment zone in the last round of the game (we were playing cleanse). This thousand point boost was just enough to eek me into the "Crushing Victory" range.

Yes, a "Crushing Victory" against one of the best players I know. O_O

A Name for my Space Marine army

After playing against Chris yesterday at Ninja Pirate, Cliff made a comment that has given a name to my Space Marine Chapter. I've been trying to come up with a name for them for some time, but to no avail....

But now...I present...

THE ANGER SHARKS

Yes, really...

The Savage Worlds of Soloman Kane

On Friday night, I was up at the Ninja Pirate and I decided to hop into a game of "The Savage World of Solomon Kane". This is a RPG based upon the Solomon Kane works of Robert Howard. It uses the "Savage Worlds" system.

I've not read the Solomon Kane books. Indeed, I was not even aware of their existence before hearing about this game. The premise of the adventure was that our group was on a journey to the New World (it is 1600) and 'weird stuff' happens. To the GM's credit, this felt like a pulp adventure as I might read in an Edgar Rice Burroughs book (most are not aware that I adore the John Carter series). The scenario was a high action mystery as one would expect of the genre. Kudos to you, Cliff!

As mentioned previously, this game uses Pinnacle Entertainment's Savage Worlds system. This is a game I've heard about quite a bit on Fear the Boot as it is Luke's favored system. It is a rather rules light system that is designed more around fast action and simplicity. The base mechanic is simply rolling a die, and trying to meet a set difficulty number. "Which die?" you ask. All of them. Your character's stats can be any of the common types of dice used in an RPG. For example, Magdalena's stats run thus

Agility - D8
Smarts - D8
Spirit - D6
Strength - D4
Vigor - D4

So, if I need to make a strength check, I'd roll a 4-sided die and try to make the target. If I need to make an Agility check, I'd roll an 8-sided die. The system even has a "critical hit" concept. If you roll the maximum on a specific die, like an 8 on a D8, you reroll and add that value to the original roll.

You also have a concept called "Bennies" that allows you to increase your chance for success. You get 3 Bennies each session. I didn't quite catch how that mechanic worked in practice and I've not read the rules yet, my apologies, dear reader.

Character creation took about 15 minutes and I had enough of the rules to be rolling in about 5 minutes. Yes, it's that simple. However, this simplicity really seemed to work to the games advantage. I'd imagine that it would be very easy to prepare a game for this system since it lends itself to allows the GM to come up with stats off of the top of his head.

I really like the Savage Worlds system. Those players who prefer a crunchier system will not like it as much, but if you prefer a system which permits you to get started in minutes and focus more on the adventure than the NPCs/Monsters, this may be the system for you. It certainly lends itself to the pulp/adventure genre.

Check it out, you might like it.

It's beautifully hideous!

I finished my Slayer and various Bonejacks.

OH MY GOODNESS!

I went a little heavy on the Bonejacks, so much so that the rust obscures the colours. However, they look like "exquisite corpses". The Slayer Warjack though. I did a lighter coat on him. He is now the most beautiful model I've ever painted. Under bright lights, you can see the differentiation of colors. The rust effect has the most wonderfully organic quality. I'll need to touch him up a bit, but he is so wonderfully dirty and gross. As soon as I can get a good picture, I'll post it.

The rust method is worth a try.

Painting Status Part 3

I got the two solos and I've started painting my initial box in earnest.

After reading the Brushthrall method, I decided that the colours were too brights for Cryx. However, there are some other interesting things I've found.

I am going to be going with the Brushthrall method for the glowing green vents. However, I ran across a couple of interesting articles that I'm trying out: a Games Workshop Article on Battle Damage and Weathering and this article on creating rust effects.

So, I picked up a Gale Force 9 drill and *GASP* damaged my figures. I've started with the Defilers and the Deathrippers figuring that there would be no big loss if those turn out terrible. I'm going to paint those first as experiments to see if these experiments work out.

I'll be in touch.

Painting Status Part 2

As mentioned previously, local Warhammer players are starting up a Warmachine league. I decided to hop on board this one, and give it a go. I decided to start with the Cryx faction since one of their Warcasters is a hottie.

As of yesterday, I finished assembling and base coating the minis from the initial box and now I'm trying to decide how to do them. I'm thinking that I'll use the Faction Box in 10 Days : Cryx method over at BrushTralls as an exercise. I want these figs to really shine, since I've been doing my Space Marines with the "how fast can I get them to the table" method.

I was dismayed that the initial faction box was missing a couple parts for one of my Bonejacks, so in the short term I picked up a Bonejack blister and shot off an email to Privateer Press. Within 8 hours, they responded with an apology and asked for my address so that they could send me replacement parts. Now THAT is customer service! With me, [i]sometimes[/i] making a bad situation right makes more of an impression than always getting it right, because it shows that the company really does care about it's customers.

So far I have the basic Cryx Battlegroup, a couple extra defilers, and Pirate Queen Skarre (after all, she has a "Great Rack" - read the rules for more). How will I expand the group you ask?

• Pistol Wraith


• Skarlock Thrall


• A few more Deathripper


• A Satyxis Raiders Unit, or two


• A few big Helljacks

My thought is to do a themed army of big bots and mean women. Cryx allows this and seems to follow the tactics of hitting fast and hard, which is my playstyle in most games (40k, D&D, City of Heroes). If I can blitzkrieg in a game, I'm a happy camper.

Painting Status

Since I've finally settled on an army list, I can work on getting everything painted and ready. This includes flocking the bases and sealing the mini.

So far:

On the Completed "pile", I have

• 1 Chaplain
  
• 10 Veteran Assault Marines
  
• 6 Regular Assault Marines
  

Currently I'm getting together the following models

• 4 Regular Assault Marines
  
• 10 Legion of the Damned Marines - (I use them for Death Company) Just needs touch up and flocking, really.
  
• 1 Speeder (Just needs to be brought into my colour scheme)
  
• 1 Librarian (painted, but hideous, may strip and redo)
  

Started (Half-assed paint job so I don't feel guilty about fielding them):

• 10 Assault Marines
  
• 1 Vindicator
  

Assembled

• 1 Baal Predator
  
• 1 Speeder
  

Unassembled

1 Baal Predator - I'm currently using a regular pred as a proxy.

40000 Things to Remember

We all know, I'm still a newer Warhammer 40k player, having only started seriously pursuing it in August. When I've asked other players they've indicated that I need to lose a LOT of games before I can expect to become a more dangerous player (on the order of hundreds of games).

If you are trying to get better at playing Warhammer 40,000, I've found that it is best to scan and reread the rules on a regular basis. The fact is, the rules are SO complex that you cannot get everything the first time (or even second time) reading.

For example, over the weekend I found a little tidbit that I could kick myself for missing, as it could have meant fewer losses on my part.

Warhammer 40k Rulebook - Page 31

Melta Weapons
Melta weapons are devastating short ranged 'heat rays'. Melta weapons roll an extra D6 when rolling to penetrate vehicles' Armour Value at half range or under. See the Vehicles rules later for more details on armour penetration.

I use meltaguns a great deal in my army because they are strong and reliable even though they require a close range (12" - 24"). This means my speeders and veteran assault squad are even nastier than I first thought. Now, I wonder if I can shave 5 points off of my list to fit in a second meltagun on my Assault Squad. The extra punch may be worth it. After all, even if I need to use the veteran assault squad as a close combat squad, the meltas automatically wounding upon hitting AND the powerfists in the group certain won't make it lack for anti-personnel power.

Sealing painted miniatures

Now that I've decided on colours with which to shade on my figs, I'm finally starting to finish my Stormtrooper Space Marines. However, I've been dismayed that even with 2-3 layers of matte varnish, I could not get a seal that would not scratch. You know how it is, sometimes you are playing, and you drop a fig, or one tips over and slides and whammo - paint needs a touch up. If you prefer pewter, as I do, the problem is even worse. Well, I decided to try something a little stronger so I don't need to keep touching up figs. Perhaps I'm unusually hard on my figs, but still....

Now, I'm sure that we all know about the "Minwax dip" method of shading painting. While similar, this is not what we are doing.

It occurred to me that there is polyurethane sealant that does NOT have any type of shading, but is almost completely transparent. As an experiment, I picked up a small can of Minwax Polyurethane Clear Gloss varnish. This is the finish you put on that should not change the colour of what you are finishing.

I dipped one of my troopers into the goo, shook off the excess and left it for 3 hours. Then I added two coats of GW Matte Varnish.

What I end up with is a very SOLID finish. The matte sealant kills any glossiness and I have a very tough finish. Furthermore, the shading that I painted is still visible and looks just as good.

Now, be warned, I've found a minor issue with it. There is the slightest of yellow tints to this. For non-white colours, you likely will not notice this, but I recommend a "sacrifice" to be sure that the army isn't going to be ruined.

Just thought I'd share.

A Victorious Slaughter

As most people know, I'm one of the worst Warhammer 40k players in Austin. I'm extremely good at City of Heroes and I'm mediocre at playing World of Warcraft. But for Warhammer 40000, I'm LOUSY. Well, I've been playing it a great deal recently and I think some of my efforts have finally been rewarded. On Saturday, I played against the "Imperial Lancers" (also a Blood Angels variant) run by a buddy of mine, named Chris. I managed to Score a solid victory on him in a friendly cleanse mission. Afterward, I headed to Ethereal Council's homeworld for a 2k pointer against the Tau. While I lost very badly, he gave me a few pointers which helped a bit in my thinking of strategies in future.

Today, was the Ninja Pirate Tournament. There were an insufficient amount of tables, so I ended up getting what is called a "By" which is when you need to sit out a round. I missed the 2nd round. So, the first round was getting badly pummeled against the Tyranid Hordes commanded by bullymike. We had a great deal of fun (even though I had to remove a tank in round one which I accidentally deployed). I'll let him provide a full accounting of our action, since he will no doubt have a more detailed account than I could provide. I got to put a couple of the things I'd learned from The Ethereal Council into action which didn't help a great deal, but certain permitted me a slightly greater control of the situation than I expected.

The third round presented me with a situation that flatly STUNNED me. I got a Victorious Slaughter against the Forces of Chaos run by a friend of mine. The game ended in round 3 when I finished destroying the last thing on the table. I killed off all 1497 points of his army, while he killed a grand total of 100 points of mine. Now, to be sure, he is NOT a bad player. He is also a very FUN player and a regular up at Ninja Pirate.

Another local 40k player has talked a bunch of us Ninja Pirate players into giving Warmachine a shot. I figured, what the hell, and so I'm starting to look into it. I figure I'll play the Cryx as they look rather distinctive, especially Skarre the Pirate Queen.

Eldar

If you are reading this then you either know nothing about Warhammer 40,000 OR you know far more than I do. I use the blog as a sounding board for myself and my learning of various gaming things (as you can see in my early posts about the Statesman Task Force in City of Heroes - I was ahead of the curve there, in 40k I'm still behind the curve). I'm going to talk a bit about 40k in such a way that is probably only appealing to me. Its my blog, deal with it.

Anyway, I've started studying Codex: Eldar so that I have a better idea what to expect when I face them in Warhammer 40k. My initial observations indicate that they will give me fits in combat.

I play my Space Marines with the Blood Angels Codex. It lets me use a lot of assault marines and lets me get up close - I've found that I like being in close combat in most games I play. Most Eldar seem to have the same or higher initiative than I do on average. Furthermore, their "Weapon Skill (close combat attack to hit) are the same or higher than mine. Their strength is lower though, so they will be more likely to hit, but less likely to hurt. Eldar saves seem to be all over the board, but I know there are a lot of invulnerable saves.

Ah, the joys of Space Marines...

For the most part, I try to stick to a static list because its just easier that way. However, if I play in a campaign in the future, I have an idea how I need to focus my forces. While maximizing on shooting would be better, but it doesn't fit "Blood Angels" style of play. Those who know me, I'm much of a "style over substance" type of person. I'm all about making jokes and having fun.

Now the HARD part will be dealing with Eldar tanks. Any quick scan of 40k boards reveal that Eldar tanks to be built to be almost unkillable. So, I need to develop some tactics to deal with this situation with the troops I have.

Next - the Chaos Codex.

Dungeon and Dragons session - Hellenika Campaign - Crystal Critter Cadre part 2

We estimated that we were on the island for 8 hours so far and were heading toward the stone lizards. We agreed that a wand of healing would be useful, but...oh well. We realized we were getting hungry. We ate the rations that Gal had stowed away as we progressed.

The land turned to sandy dunes and after running across a few animals that had been turned to stone, Tesla sent his owl Amp up to scout. He located a 'large lizard' which the party progressed toward. Gal scored a critical hit, Kerin hit, and the Giant hit. The basilisk died before it could strike back.

We make camp.

The next morning we set out for the lightning lizards. We make our way to a hilly area where we believe that one is to be. Gal shifted into cat form to scout and encountered a "huge" blue lizard with many legs. Tesla immediately charmed the creature only to have a second one appear and attempt to eat him. However, even as combat began, the creature placed Tesla on it's back. This allowed it to attempt to eat Kerin. Tanaqu'el plucked Tesla off of the beasts back and steps away. Kerin cast Balor Nimbus on herself, causing her to emit flames from her body which immediately killed.

The battle having ended, Tesla asked the charmed one for the indigo crystal. It responded "anything for a brethren" and brought it to the group. The group proceeded to the trash leech.

We find the trash leech's lair; a cave full of smelly garbage. We dispatched it.

Dungeon and Dragons session - Hellenika Campaign - The Enemy Within

Dinner that night is served. We rest. When the morning rolls around, breakfast is served. The Castellan arrives bringing our equipment. The Castellan transports us to the island (via his crystal) and we start off trying to find the crystal critter cadre.

We make our way to the mountains on monster island to the area where the giant (a stone giant) seems to live. We barely managed to defeat the giant (Tanaqa'l), with Gal almost dying even though she shapeshifted into giant from. We talked with the giant afterward who seemed to be ambivalent about helping us. Tanaqa'l observes that he'd be willing to help, but he wanted a mate (because it gets lonely) and points out that being freed would be better than having to listen to the Castellan who gives him his "marching orders."

Thanaqa'l said that he got leftovers from "the Castellan's secret" in the cave. Gal shifted into a panther and stealthily crept into the cavern. Gal discovered a small army of female orcs doing battledrills (who, unlike the Time Lords - are not vegetarian, but carnivorous). In return for the giant's assistance, we offered to help him and Tesla gave him his Lion of Wonderous power.

We proceeded to where the "Land Shark" lived. With little warning, the shark (Bulette) erupted from the ground. Gal responded by throwing herself (she was in her normal half-orc form) into the Bulette's mouth. As the battle began, Gal shifted into Stone giant size and started attacking (hence the title of this missive). We made short work of the critter.

We proceeded to where the Ettins were. We found them beating something that was dead. Buff spells were cast, and Tesla gave the crystal cat to Tanaqa'l. This provided a great burst of speed to Tanaqa'l who ran up with the rest of the group to start fighting.

We defeated the Ettins.

Session ended.