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.