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.