tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-78642074445082404432024-03-13T19:37:03.348-04:00Metal SkirmishChronicling my miniatures gaming lifestylePMMDJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05321813901181591214noreply@blogger.comBlogger146125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7864207444508240443.post-53249151082504151112020-04-25T13:37:00.003-04:002020-04-25T13:37:54.637-04:00LDZA: spring supplies run<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">[Reprinted from <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/1759601664283463/permalink/2623091604601127/">Facebook</a>, which is where most gaming chat is going on these days. In fact, if it were not for it being the place for gaming chat, I likely would have left FB a while ago.]</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Moving into action, to scoop up some much needed supplies from a washed-out road.</i></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />Got in my first solo game of LD:ZA this week. I had rolled up the crew randomly in Chaos Theory back in January, and finally got enough painted up to get on the table.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I rolled three Selfish characters, and two dogs (plus a random Outdoorswoman) so I knew noise would be an issue. But I underestimated how much those triggerhappy fools would complicate matters. The weather started at a heavy rain, limiting line of sight. But once Terry, the merciless leader, got towards the center, he kept firing at the incoming horde, which kept drawing roaming zombies into the back line. I tried to keep the hounds to one side, to limit their noise, but they strayed too close to that board edge as well, which kept them busy keeping other roamers at bay. Manny, Terry's goon sidekick, tried to hold off the new arrivals, but eventually got overwhelmed when he was forced to back into a wreck. Within five turns, discretion turned into the better part of valor, and the crew split up and left different table edges carrying three supplies. Manny made a full recovery... or so it seems.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Manny the Goon is forced back from melee, but directly away, pushing his back against the literal wall.</i></span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Terry, the Merciless Thug leader of the group, eyes the oncoming horde through the rain.</span></i></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The game ran smoothly! Most questions were easy to look up, and while I have a few outstanding issues (are Heavy weapons... just not worth it?) I adore the random character generation for solo games. It not only helps define how they act for solo gaming, but also knowing it's a heroic but self-pitying goon, or a competitive dog, just adds a lot to the story.</span>PMMDJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05321813901181591214noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7864207444508240443.post-10911706373703580032017-02-28T09:15:00.000-05:002017-02-28T09:15:03.723-05:00Pulp City presents: Cro Mag!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-zu_CKz8AHNE/WLSp6yr7SrI/AAAAAAAAECY/BjIYHhw7REwAz2xFTe6-gldUaG0dmvIOgCLcB/s1600/cromag1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-zu_CKz8AHNE/WLSp6yr7SrI/AAAAAAAAECY/BjIYHhw7REwAz2xFTe6-gldUaG0dmvIOgCLcB/s320/cromag1.jpg" width="296" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Painted for the<a href="http://pulp-city.com/"> Pulp City</a> <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/citizens.of.pulp.city/">Facebook group</a> <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/citizens.of.pulp.city/permalink/1241034612648719/">painting challenge</a>! Looks-wise, he's my favorite Powerhouse.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(<span style="font-size: x-small;">And yes, now that I am looking at the pictures, I see all the details I missed/need to spend more time on. LIke the interior of the mouth, and some more on the edges of the fur. But still! Done enough for now!</span>)</span><br />
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<br />PMMDJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05321813901181591214noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7864207444508240443.post-48496308865208426372016-08-26T12:16:00.000-04:002016-08-26T12:16:21.580-04:00picking a faction for the Marvel game<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>This release made it easier by adding a big data point.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I'm moving to a new house in the next couple of weeks, a large endeavor that has kept me from miniatures a lot this summer. So naturally on my daily commute my mind wanders to gaming topics. Aaron has been tempting me (<span style="font-size: x-small;">I'm an easy sell</span>) to try out the new Marvel minis game by <a href="http://knightmodels-store.com/">Knight Models</a>, as I am a fan of <a href="http://metal-skirmish.blogspot.com/search/label/Gotham">the Batman game</a>. Nonetheless, it took me a while to get into the Batman game, just because there wasn't a lot of variety in the initial releases, which has also been a factor here with the mighty Marvel game.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">With only three-ish factions, picking one to focus on first would make getting things table-ready more realistic. (</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Since there's crossover between the good and bad sides with the neutrals.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">) And really, as the game is so new, I think we can safely speculate as to what's coming out... eventually. Having Knight Models spoil us so early with surprises like the Dark Avengers and the Thing gives us some strong material with which to guess.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>Hells to the yeah.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The <b>COSMIC</b> side of things currently has the least number of figs, mostly the Guardians. And really, no bad guys. Adding the Thing and giving Doctor Doom the Cosmic icon leads me to believe they will also have the Fantastic Four and their longtime foes. Armed with that knowledge, I would speculate Cosmic would also get Ronan the Accuser and the Kree, the Silver Surfer, and the Skrulls. And frankly, the possibility of getting to play the Super-Skrull is tempting in and of itself. But who else? Other space types, sure, but even given recent comic book events, that's the smaller group of the three factions we have to pick from. On a farther limb, I would guess the royal court of the Inhumans would fit here as well (<span style="font-size: x-small;">with bonus Lockjaw!</span>), and hey, even more obscure Fantastic baddies like the Red Ghost and his Super-Apes. So, some choices, but I don't see a lot of increase right around this corner.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>When Juggernaut comes out, this crew will be very tempting.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The next faction being the <b>MUTANTS</b> gives us an even more self-contained world, almost entirely the X-men and their various splinter groups facing off against their foes. There's easily a number of less-popular heroes I could work into a team (<span style="font-size: x-small;">Havok, Polaris</span>) considering the depth of their rosters over the decades. And so many of their foes have become their friends at one point or another, so I bet there will be many neutral picks as well. But the Brotherhood has an equally lengthy tenure, and adding in the Marauders, many fun options. Plus Juggernaut! And, dare I hope, Arcade! (<span style="font-size: x-small;">OK, <i>maybe</i> that's just me.</span>) I seem to have an affinity for playing the bad guys, to boot.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Finally, the <b>SUPERHUMANS</b> have the widest scope for growth, IMHO. Right off the bat, Black Widow implies to me that anyone SHIELD-related would fit in, which also gives us their enemies over in Hydra. Spider-man is neither a Mutant nor Cosmic, so we get his friends and his foes, including the long-awaited Sinister Six (<span style="font-size: x-small;">ooh, yesss.</span>) This also implies, to me, that Superhumans will also get the Marvel Knights affiliates like the Punisher, Moon Knight, and Luke Cage and Iron Fist. The surprise introduction of the Dark Avengers also makes it an easy leap to include the Thunderbolts here. And on top of all that, there's also decades-worth of Avenger friends and foes to bring in, from Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch to Taskmaster (<span style="font-size: x-small;">another personal fave</span>) and the Wrecking Crew. My dream pick would be the Squadron Supreme here, and with the Dark Avengers going here, this'd be where they go too.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Personally, I think the Cosmic side will have less attractive choices for me. I <i>could </i>see Dr. Strange getting in there too, but it won't expand that faction much more. The Mutants are perfectly self-contained, and have the most crossover potential (<span style="font-size: x-small;">so, so many of their foes end up joining them at one point or another.</span>) They'll always just come back to the X-Men and their enemies, in the end. Which isn't bad! I would love to run some Brotherhood with some classic Marauders backup. But leading the pack, Superhuman has the largest capacity for growth. It's a wide net to cast over anyone that isn't Cosmic or Mutant, and it covers a pretty wide swath of the Marvel-verse. </span>PMMDJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05321813901181591214noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7864207444508240443.post-81430040702465536842016-05-27T17:05:00.001-04:002016-05-27T17:05:48.162-04:00Zombicide: Black Plague wave 2 is here<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This just showed up on my doorstep. Luckily I happened to be home, because it's certainly warm out here in Maryland today.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Yeah, I bought big. The sculpts are great, and useful for so many games.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But man, with this here and <a href="http://cmon.com/massive-darkness-is-coming/">Massive Darkness</a> starting soon, I really, really need to come up with a better storage solution, before my wife kills me (<span style="font-size: x-small;">and no jury would convict her.</span>) (<span style="font-size: x-small;">She fully supports my gaming habits, but does her best to help me keep my pack rat nature in check. And the gaming area was already overflowing.</span>)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Oh, and it's been a fortnight since the last update. In that time, I think I played all of two games of <a href="https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/177354/frostgrave">Frostgrave</a>, and three games of <a href="http://steamforged.com/guildball">Guild Ball</a> campaign. And kept meaning to post here, but would get a couple paragraphs in before I was boring myself. So, yeah, still struggling with that. But! Gaming! People are talking about <a href="http://metal-skirmish.blogspot.com/search/label/bushido">Bushido</a> again, and we have a standing offer for <a href="http://worldsendpublishing.com/this-is-not-a-test/">This is Not a Test</a> whenever I can starting making it up there. Plus a <a href="http://pulp-city.com/">Pulp City</a> day in the near future. Many opportunities for which I need to make time.</span>PMMDJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05321813901181591214noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7864207444508240443.post-7608258356063468422016-03-23T09:17:00.003-04:002016-03-23T09:19:35.883-04:00<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-xjXY7Jlcb8E/VvDBRxPVaJI/AAAAAAAAClE/oF1FzJqSrcY6Vr9eE2ynkz3vPj1r_cVwA/s1600/tnt.tokens.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="223" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-xjXY7Jlcb8E/VvDBRxPVaJI/AAAAAAAAClE/oF1FzJqSrcY6Vr9eE2ynkz3vPj1r_cVwA/s320/tnt.tokens.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">As noted previously, I am <a href="http://metal-skirmish.blogspot.com/2014/11/i-am-gothams-reckoning.html">spoiled</a> by my generous friends. Today's example is shown above. Aaron made me these fine tokens for our upcoming <a href="http://worldsendpublishing.com/this-is-not-a-test/">This Is Not a Test</a> games. Speaking of which:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/57306923/this-is-not-a-test-post-apocalyptic-skimirsh-ruleb">The kickstarter for This Is Not a Test</a> is in full swing, and has been meeting and exceeding goals at a nice steady clip. No, this isn't one of those kickstarters where you get mountains of stuff. It's a relatively modest affair, but there's a lot to pick up, and you will definitely get your money's worth, while supporting a great game.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Long-time readers will recall the great time I had when I discovered TNT <a href="http://metal-skirmish.blogspot.com/2015/03/cold-wars-2015-report.html">many moons ago</a>, and I have been a fan ever since. Hands down the best post-apocalyptic system, and I have read through many. But the #1 complaint interested players had was, where is the printed rulebook? Hence this fine kickstarter. And it's working great; many people are interested and getting factions started.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">So, yes. Check it out. Sign on. Tell 'em I sent you. The affair wraps on April 7th. You won't regret it.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Oh, and while you're waiting, you can download the demo rules from the files section on the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/905688146148353/">TNT Facebook group</a>, and even download the images for the tokens seen above, to get you ready to duke it out in <a href="http://worldsendpublishing.com/this-is-not-a-test/the-world-of-tnt/">the Capital Deadzone</a>.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>PMMDJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05321813901181591214noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7864207444508240443.post-65379747669822391842016-01-31T12:58:00.002-05:002016-01-31T12:58:17.732-05:00Today's petstore aquarium terrain find<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cwqjb9oWA7o/Vq5J_5vivrI/AAAAAAAACZ0/PNTsYRTTbv4/s1600/petsmart2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="201" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cwqjb9oWA7o/Vq5J_5vivrI/AAAAAAAACZ0/PNTsYRTTbv4/s320/petsmart2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Picked up these two at the local Petsmart today. Both were on sale, from the National Geographic line of aquarium decor. The ruined colosseum wall was about seven bucks, and the statue head was about four. The 28mm fig for scale comparison is from the Mage Knight line, and is on a 28mm base. Perfect for Otherworld, Frostgrave, pulp gaming, fantasy gaming, and more.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(<span style="font-size: x-small;">I also picked up more cat litter while I was there, but y'all don't care about that.</span>)</span><br />
<br />PMMDJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05321813901181591214noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7864207444508240443.post-47547403681243163522016-01-26T09:30:00.000-05:002016-01-26T12:38:45.926-05:00Why I keep losing, and why I am OK with this<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1VDrIpnhKxA/VpdJyt44ddI/AAAAAAAACPU/zFVMufZ8664/s1600/bane.d_20160113_202008.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="206" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1VDrIpnhKxA/VpdJyt44ddI/AAAAAAAACPU/zFVMufZ8664/s320/bane.d_20160113_202008.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">First couple games of 2016 have been us finally trying out the <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/137141/batman-miniature-game">Batman Miniatures Game</a>. So far the game seems decent (<span style="font-size: x-small;">and there's a lot of <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/batman.miniatures.game/">support</a> online</span>) but it's definitely been an uphill struggle getting anything going for me. Like, scoring any victory points. But that's OK!</span><br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Zs0yCG68KUs/VqHlYGX9LjI/AAAAAAAACS0/3GC6LTiBJq0/s1600/IMG_20160113_214116.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Zs0yCG68KUs/VqHlYGX9LjI/AAAAAAAACS0/3GC6LTiBJq0/s320/IMG_20160113_214116.jpg" width="271" /></span></a></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Game one with some creative lamp posts. Deadshot draws a bead on a Black Mask goon.</span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Right away, to try it out I went with figs I already had assembled (<span style="font-size: x-small;">see top pic.</span>) Which I chose by starting with the coolest. Now, from reading up online, I knew this was something of a sub-optimal build. I was using the most expensive model in the game, plus an expensive but fragile support figure to boot. And both had a passel of special rules to learn.</span><br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-bucD-nNsFfY/VqHlYJ8DRCI/AAAAAAAACTI/mOKQ_C7BAWc/s1600/IMG_20160120_195329.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-bucD-nNsFfY/VqHlYJ8DRCI/AAAAAAAACTI/mOKQ_C7BAWc/s320/IMG_20160120_195329.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>Game two with the store's mishmash terrain. Not a lot of batclaw-worthy terrain, but we also didn't bring any batclaws, so...</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">But really, it was more a matter of finally getting figs down on the turf and getting some dice rolling. As always, the first couple games are about me figuring out how the rules work. I can read a set of rules forwards and backwards, but until I play a few games, I won't really <i>*get*</i> them.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">So even hammering through a few terrible losses does teach me how things are supposed to work, and what I should avoid going forward. As is, being snowed in here near Washington DC, I have spent some time assembling and basing more mercenaries and prisoners to bulk up the numbers of my gang. You can do an elite force of high-cost figs in the game, but I don't know the system well enough to run that out of the gate, But I will get there.</span><br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Bha7FA9icv8/VqHlYfzWm7I/AAAAAAAACTQ/XZPd4GIjdi4/s1600/IMG_20160120_203542.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Bha7FA9icv8/VqHlYfzWm7I/AAAAAAAACTQ/XZPd4GIjdi4/s320/IMG_20160120_203542.jpg" width="290" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The year is off to a Batman-ish start then. I will likely get in another game of <a href="http://guildball.com/">Guild Ball</a> before too long. Next up on the agenda is likely trying out <a href="http://www.crooked-dice.co.uk/wp/rules/7tv/otherworld-fantasy-skirmish/">Otherworld</a>, or giving <a href="https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/177354/frostgrave">Frostgrave</a> another go. Thereafter, maybe <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/129038/wolsung-steampunk-skirmish-game">Wolsung</a> or back to <a href="http://www.bushido-thegame.com/">Bushido</a> after a long absence? We shall see.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Trying something new for 2016. On other social media, I am always posting articles from the news other other things that have caught my interest. So let's do that here too.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><u>Interesting links</u>:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">* A good read on <a href="https://blainepardoe.wordpress.com/2016/01/21/case-study-the-demise-of-alien-dungeon-and-all-quiet-on-the-martian-front/">the demise of Alien Dungeon</a> and All Quiet on the Martian Front. I've seen just enough behind the scenes of the gaming industry to see what a Shakespearean mess it is, and this article pulls back the curtain a bit there too.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">* As we've been all Batman here, I've been listening to the <a href="http://spearmintrhinox.podbean.com/">Blood Damage</a> podcast for some interesting overviews of the various factions and other game-related talk. The one on the scenarios is especially nice.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">* I haven't really played RPGs in many a year, but the <a href="http://www.critical-hits.com/blog/category/critical-hits/columns/dungeonomics/">Dungeonomics</a> column is always fascinating.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">* And I am always a slut for zombies, so I will be eyeing Mantic's <a href="https://manticblog.com/2016/01/25/15039/">Walking Dead kickstarter</a> when it drops.</span><br />
<br />PMMDJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05321813901181591214noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7864207444508240443.post-35558327056443288572015-12-31T07:43:00.000-05:002015-12-31T07:43:21.096-05:002015: not a bang, but a whimper?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-aCGPoaNDaAI/VoUdyARTKvI/AAAAAAAACKY/R_G0-C8RtkM/s1600/ms.ow.120915204023.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="203" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-aCGPoaNDaAI/VoUdyARTKvI/AAAAAAAACKY/R_G0-C8RtkM/s320/ms.ow.120915204023.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>Starting an Otherworld warband. I've had these Reaper Lizardman partially painted for like ten years.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Yeah, this. I have started and discarded many posts in the past few months, even before <a href="http://metal-skirmish.blogspot.com/search/label/challenge">Zomtober</a>. I've played <a href="http://guildball.com/">Guild Ball</a> a handful of times (<span style="font-size: x-small;">and even fully painted my team</span>) and played in a day-long tourney for it to boot. That's... been about all the minis gaming I have done recently. (<span style="font-size: x-small;">Started playing <a href="https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/161936/pandemic-legacy">Pandemic Legacy</a> with the family as well, on the board gaming side.</span>) (<span style="font-size: x-small;">And of course <a href="http://www.teamfortress.com/">Team Fortress 2</a>, my long-term video game vice.</span>)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So I have about no excuse as to why I couldn't get posts back to the regular here. For a while I told myself that I was sick of putting up pics of my half-painted figs, figuring it wasn't interesting to anyone else either. And the holiday season is always busy, so gaming always suffers this time of year, naturally. But honestly, I have just been feeling uninspired. Haven't picked up a paint brush since I finished the Guild Ball team about a month back.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I'm still reading gaming blogs and Facebook groups? And perusing various rulebooks on the daily commute (<span style="font-size: x-small;"><a href="http://www.crooked-dice.co.uk/wp/product-category/ofs/">Otherworld</a>, <a href="https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/177354/frostgrave">Frostgrave</a>, etc.</span>) So I am still emotionally invested. And enjoy it! Just haven't had the drive to get anything finished up to post here to my liking. (<span style="font-size: x-small;">Insert 'performance anxiety' joke here.</span>)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i><strike>Frostgrave</strike> Sandtomb!</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">No, this isn't a walking-away letter. I <i>am</i> looking forward to having the energy to get back into gaming projects, and yes, spamming it all up here. I'm working on getting everything together to give Otherworld a real try; I think it could be a good substitute for a regular D&D evening. Maurice and I did a run-through of Frostgrave not too long ago, and I think we're going to give it another as well. (<span style="font-size: x-small;">It's really caught on online.</span>) And finally, finally, giving the Batman game a go.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But the topic has been on my mind these days. I am old, well, I feel old. And I have been gaming for a couple decades now. The past few years, I have been more attracted to broader rulesets that could play multiple genres/settings, or something close to that. Rather than more focused games that will go out of style in a year or less. Because I have a library full of those rules, and an army or two I bought for each. I never catch up with really learning the rules of the season, never really master the latest ruleset, and never get things fully painted. So my alternative is figuring out a ruleset or three I can really work with, use various figures for, and most importantly, get the locals to enjoy enough to play it with me on the regular. That's my working treatise going into 2016. And a happy new year to all of you out there in gaming-land.</span><br />
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PMMDJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05321813901181591214noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7864207444508240443.post-56920884752355954492015-10-25T13:29:00.000-04:002015-10-25T13:29:32.106-04:00Zomtober '15, week 4: the fourth horseman<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-K29XiLRhr9g/Vi0PLd2fEPI/AAAAAAAACCg/zNBpJ4ct40Q/s1600/z.15.4.1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-K29XiLRhr9g/Vi0PLd2fEPI/AAAAAAAACCg/zNBpJ4ct40Q/s320/z.15.4.1.jpg" width="212" /></span></a></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">My name is death, and the end is here...</span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The finale! <a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/coolminiornot/zombicide-season-3/description">Zombicide season three</a> introduced the skinner zombies, emaciated and tough as nails and all creepy-like. This charmed caught my eye as soon as I opened the box.</span><br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-x-BeS25yVJo/Vi0PLV4hHKI/AAAAAAAACCo/Tu6O68Ro7Jc/s1600/z.15.4.2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-x-BeS25yVJo/Vi0PLV4hHKI/AAAAAAAACCo/Tu6O68Ro7Jc/s320/z.15.4.2.jpg" width="220" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I wanted to keep the skin tones pale and go for an old and faded look to the whole scheme. Definitely an end-times affair.</span><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Team height comparison</span></i></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-1iQsF4cOOj8/Vi0PL1UDD8I/AAAAAAAACCs/POqpXcBJ_ps/s1600/z.15.4.4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="160" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-1iQsF4cOOj8/Vi0PL1UDD8I/AAAAAAAACCs/POqpXcBJ_ps/s320/z.15.4.4.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>The Zomtober graduating class of 2015</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Thanks to all the great words of encouragement out there! I honestly do look forward to Zomtober, and it always helps kick my gaming juices right where it counts. Next month I hope to get my Guild Ball team fully table-ready, so I don't feel like a loser posting pics of half-painted toys all the time.</span></div>
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PMMDJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05321813901181591214noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7864207444508240443.post-37111948987127170502015-10-18T12:41:00.002-04:002015-10-21T12:56:04.865-04:00Zomtober '15, week 3: scaley!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-4rBnmGH5QWU/ViPKlq1pV1I/AAAAAAAACBs/qDd6iQ_CauI/s1600/z3.15.picd.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-4rBnmGH5QWU/ViPKlq1pV1I/AAAAAAAACBs/qDd6iQ_CauI/s320/z3.15.picd.jpg" width="241" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">One of the staples of the modern zombie genre is mutant zombies, undead affected in such a way that gives them a different look or powers. The <a href="http://zombicide.com/en/">Zombicide</a> expansion <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/137988/zombicide-season-2-prison-outbreak">Prison Outbreak</a> featured berserker zombies, undead affected by reasons unknown to have scaly plates that give them some degree of armor from ranged weapons. Their jaws also get a little chisled, as it were. And whatever occurred happened near a prison, meaning the berserker zeds are all prisoners and prison guards (<span style="font-size: x-small;">which gives the minis a nice unified theme.</span>)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>The only way I find mold lines is well after priming.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I painted the prison uniform orange to match my <a href="http://www.knightmodels.com/">Arkham</a> escaped convicts, because why not.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Not much time to chat today, this weekend's packed. But had to check in here first!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>The story so far.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>He's not overly tall...</i></span></div>
<br />PMMDJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05321813901181591214noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7864207444508240443.post-62897211224397389382015-10-10T14:32:00.000-04:002015-10-10T14:32:12.558-04:00Zomtober '15, week 2: Parker and his trusty machete<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Nr5Zh9g1GBw/VhlVrvM8ELI/AAAAAAAACAk/_bUr3NDXFnk/s1600/101015131222.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Nr5Zh9g1GBw/VhlVrvM8ELI/AAAAAAAACAk/_bUr3NDXFnk/s320/101015131222.jpg" width="296" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>"I dunno what the hell's in there, but it's weird and pissed off, whatever it is."</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This week's entry could be a companion piece to last week's Santa Zed, but honestly, it's just another fig I've been putting off for a while, and this was the week to get it done. Parker is a zombie survivor, from <a href="http://www.hfminis.co.uk/shop?product=parker~hfa047&category=modern-%26%0D%0Apost%252dapoc~modern-adventurers">Hasslefree</a>.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I've seen pics online of folks painting him like Kenny from South Park, but I took more inspiration from John Carpenter's <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Thing_(1982_film)">The Thing</a> an Han Solo in his <a href="http://nerdist.com/the-dress-strikes-back-what-color-is-han-solos-hoth-jacket/">Hoth gear</a>.</span><br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-CAHWtFrQJS8/VhlVrnLPGEI/AAAAAAAACA8/Hyp9yNW-MRs/s1600/101015131335.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="174" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-CAHWtFrQJS8/VhlVrnLPGEI/AAAAAAAACA8/Hyp9yNW-MRs/s320/101015131335.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Look, a better pic of Santa Zed.</span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And he is tiny. Like, 22mm from feet to the top of the hood. Which works great for me. I loved <a href="http://www.crooked-dice.co.uk/wp/product-category/02-heroes-and-allies/">Crooked Dice</a>'s St. Searle's 'savage schoolgirls' line, which I've supplemented with other armed children from vaious manufacturers. Parker is a natural fit, even if a little warmly dressed for it. I doubt many zombies will bite through that parka, though!</span></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Qgp5usWUYOs/VhlVsM9QTxI/AAAAAAAACBE/XwE0D0QezME/s1600/101015131408.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="165" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Qgp5usWUYOs/VhlVsM9QTxI/AAAAAAAACBE/XwE0D0QezME/s320/101015131408.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Slightly better job with the lighting this week. This was done outside, however, which also makes it rather weather-and-time dependent.</span></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-6t57ttdiTLA/VhlVsdh1WMI/AAAAAAAACBI/M00K9WG7EdU/s1600/101015131445.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="159" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-6t57ttdiTLA/VhlVsdh1WMI/AAAAAAAACBI/M00K9WG7EdU/s320/101015131445.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The lighting came out all weird with this one, but it was too good a height comparison to let it go. So I tried to edit it up in gimp, and... made it worse to the point that I couldn't un-blue it in the right way. But still! (<span style="font-size: x-small;">And man, there's no better way to find every little missed detail than take some nice digital pics and edit them up. Every tiny error just shines right through.</span>) (<span style="font-size: x-small;">Thank heavens I am not a perfectionist.</span>) (<span style="font-size: x-small;">As you may have guessed.</span>)</span></div>
PMMDJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05321813901181591214noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7864207444508240443.post-59298602100526796172015-10-04T17:03:00.002-04:002015-10-04T17:03:52.462-04:00Zomtober '15, week 1: a nightmare before Zed-mas<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-v2R-DOqBxaw/VhGOgHQ6ZsI/AAAAAAAAB_0/MgFq2wOf6vo/s1600/100415162622.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-v2R-DOqBxaw/VhGOgHQ6ZsI/AAAAAAAAB_0/MgFq2wOf6vo/s320/100415162622.jpg" width="299" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It's the most wonderful time of the year - <b>Zomtober</b>! Third year in a row for me, and always a welcome reminder to get things painted.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For my first entry, I confess I'd been looking forward to painting the <a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/coolminiornot/zombicide-season-3/description">Zombicide season three</a> VIP, Santa Zed! Also the first fig I've fully painted at my new place.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It's also the first fig I've taken pictures of at the new house, so as you can tell I need to figure out my ad-hoc lighting setup a little better. But still. Happy Zombtober all!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Obligatory comparison shot with <a href="http://www.crooked-dice.co.uk/wp/">Crooked Dice</a> all-star Misty.</span></div>
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<br />PMMDJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05321813901181591214noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7864207444508240443.post-59856397452351225712015-09-28T08:53:00.000-04:002015-09-28T08:53:32.810-04:00Player roles in Guild Ball (by Maurice)<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-7Ygkj6nAUOE/VgixzIDITvI/AAAAAAAAB_U/iQelIm8n62o/s1600/gb.9.23.15.220856.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="244" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-7Ygkj6nAUOE/VgixzIDITvI/AAAAAAAAB_U/iQelIm8n62o/s320/gb.9.23.15.220856.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I hope you’re excited for a little digression on player roles in <a href="http://guildball.com/">Guild Ball</a> (</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">from <a href="http://steamforged.com/">Steamforged Games</a></span><span style="font-size: 14.6667px;">). </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Team selection is a critical part of Guild Ball. Each team has a selection of players from their guild to accompany their Captain and Mascot, as well as a handful of options to hire out from the Union. Although each player has a suggested position on their card roughly in line with traditional soccer positions (</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">striker, winger, midfielder, back, etc.</span></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">), these classifications only go so far once the game starts and the ball, knives and blood start flying about. In order to help assess and respond to a rapidly changing game in the middle of play, I feel it can help to remember a little bit more detail about how each player’s actual skillset can help you follow your path to victory (</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">be it 3 goals, 6 take-outs, or somewhere in between</span></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">). </span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">What follows is a list of notional categories that you might consider when thinking about a players. Using maybe 2-3 categories to describe each option you have at hand, alongside other data, can help you create a more balanced or focused squad. Let’s take a look:</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Scorer - this player excels at putting the ball on goal; this doesn’t always mean a high kick statistic and range, but it usually does. Movement traits like Shadow-Like help as well.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Ball Retrieval/Control - this player has the tools to go retrieve and/or hold the ball, whether it’s a fast speed, low-playbook tackle, close control, or a high defense. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Momentum Generation - This player probably has a decent TAC and a reliable/desirable momentum-generating result on the first column of their playbook. They will give you a good return on your influence investment in the form of valuable momentum.</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 14.6667px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Damage - This player has good damage values and a high TAC, or a play like Scything Blow. Certain players may do extra damage against characters that are knocked down or suffering conditions.</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 14.6667px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Area Denial/Control - These types try to influence where the opponents want to go on the pitch. All players exert some amount of area control, but these players in particular have access to AOE abilities or push/pull plays.</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 14.6667px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Momentum Denial - Another aspect of a high defense and certain character plays is that of momentum denial. Reducing the opponent’s access to momentum can make your damage stick and reduce their ability to score and move.</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 14.6667px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Heal/Cleanse - These players keep your other players on the board, either by healing them or removing their conditions easily.</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 14.6667px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Buff - These players hand out beneficial boosts to your team, whether it be additional TAC and damage, influence or move.</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 14.6667px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Debuff - Conversely, some players are great at reducing the enemy’s capabilities to move, shoot or harm you.</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 14.6667px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Influence - This player has a very good influence generation/demand ratio, or has other abilities to make efficient use of influence, freeing it up for use by other players.</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 14.6667px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Activation Control - One of this player’s best abilities is to control the activation order of the opponent or increase your number of activations. </span></div>
</li>
</ul>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
</span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I’m sure there are more roles you can come up with that I’ve missed. One that comes to mind is that of the Tank: a player able to soak up large amounts of attacks/damage and occupy the opponent. This role has a weird place in Guild Ball, as many of the ‘heavies,’ with their massive health bars, can actually be very vulnerable due to their low defense.</span></div>
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</span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">There are many, many, many synergies between players that will drastically alter a player’s role from that when they’re alone. This is also just a theoretical framework to help you frame how you want to use your team at the start of the match and as play develops; any number of other factors can influence how a player should be used at a given moment, and each player could likely be described by five or more of these roles. Each player likely has 1 or 2 primary roles that they perform best in a vacuum, however.</span></div>
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</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-vyEPzX8GmY0/VgixzE-KZhI/AAAAAAAAB_g/p8IJrMbbm08/s1600/gb.9.12.15.221355.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="228" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-vyEPzX8GmY0/VgixzE-KZhI/AAAAAAAAB_g/p8IJrMbbm08/s320/gb.9.12.15.221355.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></b>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></b>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Here’s an example of how I might describe a lineup you could see:</span></div>
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</span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Fishermen</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 14.6667px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Shark - Shark fills </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Scoring </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">and </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Momentum Generation</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> roles for this team, in addition to his other benefits.</span></span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 14.6667px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Salt - </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Ball Controller</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> with his high defense and “Where’d they go” and can buff certain teammates.</span></span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 14.6667px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Angel - She’s going to be </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Scoring </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">and </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Retrieving the Ball</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> from opposing players.</span></span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 14.6667px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Jac - His pushes make him a great </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Area Control</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> player, and he’s also pretty </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Influence</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> efficient on many turns.</span></span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 14.6667px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Siren - She provides further </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Area Control</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> with Lure and Seduced, while being one of the better </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Ball Retrievers</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> in the game.</span></span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 14.6667px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Fangtooth - In this lineup, the big guy is here to further the emphasis on </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 14.6667px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Area Control </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 14.6667px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">via Unmasking and Foul Odor, while his easy access to Knockdown makes him important for </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 14.6667px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Debuffing </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 14.6667px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">(</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">neutralizing</span></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 14.6667px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">) key opponents.</span></span></div>
</li>
</ul>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
</span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This lineup is obviously missing a ton of damage, like most Fishermen teams, but has a lot of ways to get the opponent to where it wants them to be, while retaining a good amount of scoring.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
</span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Anyways, I hope you’ve enjoyed this article and will take a crack at thinking about your teams in this manner. I’d really appreciate any thoughts, comments and criticisms below. </span></div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
</span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Stay salty,</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Maurice</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
PMMDJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05321813901181591214noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7864207444508240443.post-51372277494774341182015-08-19T10:08:00.000-04:002015-08-19T10:08:25.921-04:00interregnum: the mid-move edition<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-KK2Fy08lqvg/VdSNNPcf03I/AAAAAAAAB9U/KSilb7K23PQ/s1600/a.080615190519.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="233" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-KK2Fy08lqvg/VdSNNPcf03I/AAAAAAAAB9U/KSilb7K23PQ/s320/a.080615190519.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">My Guild Ball proxies until I have time to finish the actual models.</i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My year of no gaming moves along apace.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
Well, it’s not no-gaming. There have been occasional spells of the New Hotness
(<span style="font-size: x-small;">earlier this year, Wrath of Kings and Dark Age.</span>) Also, some exciting new finds
(<span style="font-size: x-small;">currently, <a href="http://guildball.com/">Guild Ball</a>.</span>) And even new treasures on the near horizon (<span style="font-size: x-small;"><a href="http://worldsendpublishing.com/this-is-not-a-test/the-world-of-tnt/">This is Not a Test</a> and the second edition of <a href="http://www.crooked-dice.co.uk/wp/7tv-2nd-edition/">7tv</a>.</span>)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But between those spells, it’s been some long gaps, for
various reasons. For one reason or another, I’ve missed multiple games, and had
to pull out of pretty much every attempt to hit a convention or major gaming
event so far this year. <a href="http://www.novaopen.com/">NOVA Open</a> is looking unlikely for anything more than a day trip (<span style="font-size: x-small;">see below</span>) and <a href="https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&sqi=2&ved=0CB4QFjAAahUKEwjR5I2B-KPHAhVI1IAKHTDCCgk&url=http%3A%2F%2Fhmgs.site-ym.com%2F%3Fpage%3Dfihome&ei=rnDLVdHVIciogwSwhKtI&usg=AFQjCNG9bi4-yDBn2dTu_Dpk4BOG4bDwFQ&sig2=DEjD9pE5hpF35m85l86pTQ&bvm=bv.99804247,d.cWw">Fall-In</a>
is the same weekend as my birthday, so I have to pick and choose what to do
there.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The biggest hit from the past month and change was a
surprise move. We rent, and our landlord chose to terminate our lease (<span style="font-size: x-small;">with
more than enough warning</span>) so he could do something else with the house. As soon
as we heard that, I started packing up my entire gaming collection, which has
given me plenty of time to think and mull things over, while I pack up figs I
haven’t touched in years.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The past few years has been a lot of throwing in with the
New Hotness. I always advocate playing what your local crew plays, because that’s
the best way to find games. And I am just as guilty of buying into the new thing
for my playgroup (<span style="font-size: x-small;">the golden age of Kickstarters has also been a contributing
factor here. I can resist anything except temptation.</span>) But I am starting to
think that’s not what I need.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Oxf7G4Gd21M/VdSNNDGbkpI/AAAAAAAAB9g/hTPLko5tc7c/s1600/a.070815193812.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Oxf7G4Gd21M/VdSNNDGbkpI/AAAAAAAAB9g/hTPLko5tc7c/s320/a.070815193812.jpg" width="306" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>More Guild-Ball-by-proxied goodness.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Y’see, I am bad at learning rules. Like, not great at
all. Half my games feature my ever-patient playgroup re-explaining some game to
me and reminding me how things work.Even when I go to tourneys, the first thing
I do when I sit down at the table is let my opponent know that if I get
something wrong, I’m not cheating, I just have a crap memory. I’m there to play
a bunch of games, not use my rules-knowing to seize the brass ring.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I think what I need in my life more is a 28mm skirmish game
or two per genre/setting that I like. Post apocalyptic, <a href="http://metal-skirmish.blogspot.com/search/label/vsf">steampunk</a>, supers, <a href="http://metal-skirmish.blogspot.com/search/label/zombies">zombies</a>,
etc. Categories like fantasy and scifi need to be broken down to something more
specific (<span style="font-size: x-small;">like, say, dungeoncrawl.</span>) The eye should be on games that are great
for using whatever fig you have in your collection (<span style="font-size: x-small;">hello, Frostgrave</span>) and not
one with a really limited scope (<span style="font-size: x-small;">damn your great figs, Wrath of Kings.</span>)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Games that can be reading adapted to other settings are
just value added (<span style="font-size: x-small;">see also: 7tv and even IHMN, which can also do Old West and
even pirates.</span>)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So yeah. A lot of time to think means a lot of rambling
on such matters. So here we are, surrounded by cardboard boxes and figuring out
on what to focus my limited efforts.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(<span style="font-size: x-small;">And, no, not everything is tragic. My local crew has
been great about inviting me out to game, even when they know time is tight,
and offered to help with the move and all. And even though the next place will
be more or less temporary on the way to a more permanent residence, more gaming
will be on the horizon soon. Still, good to get these things off my chest and
in writing, if for no other reason than to remind myself later when the next must-have
Kickstarter deal rolls in.</span>) </span><o:p></o:p><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Side note for those who have stuck with me so far: No one in my playgroup is really into the idea of Age of Sigmar, but we've had discussions on the topic, since it became a topic for debate on the Facebooks. And <a href="http://www.lounge.belloflostsouls.net/showthread.php?57931-Games-Workshop-Make-Games-For-Kids">this article</a> is a great read that really mirrors my gaming mindset these days. As well as my love of Marvel, and Adventure Time, and Lego, and etc. It's a great read, highly recommended.</span></div>
PMMDJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05321813901181591214noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7864207444508240443.post-32843617140074829802015-07-08T10:57:00.001-04:002015-07-08T10:57:26.670-04:00Guild Ball - First Thoughts (by Maurice)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-9TLJrjekaYI/VZ05Z7-aw4I/AAAAAAAAB8M/QTeHP9cSDyE/s1600/20150626_222618.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="180" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-9TLJrjekaYI/VZ05Z7-aw4I/AAAAAAAAB8M/QTeHP9cSDyE/s320/20150626_222618.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">So, when I've found time between work, family and other stuff for gaming, I've been slowly sneaking into </span><a href="http://guildball.com/" style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">Guild Ball,</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"> from Steamforged Games. Guild Ball is a Medieval Football skirmish game, in which teams of players representing various mercantile guilds battle it out on the pitch to settle differences between their employers and generally keep the different city-states from going to war with one another. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I really enjoyed Blood Bowl earlier in my gaming career, and have always been on the lookout for new sports games. I skipped the original Guild Ball kickstarter, as although I loved the art, I wasn't huge on the idea of having weapons in my sports game as a normal thing (<span style="font-size: x-small;">in addition to a shortage of $$ at the time.</span>) Well, I finally read the rules and realized my mistake. One quick group order later, and I had my much adored <a href="http://guildball.com/images/portfolio/full/fishermen.jpg" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">Fishermen</a> on bases and ready to stab some punks with spearguns...and also score goals... mostly score goals.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I've gotten a bit of game action in with them now, and the game is excellent. It offers a lot of dynamism and action, with a good dose of problem solving.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Almost every activation can feel like one of those set-piece puzzles from a <i>No Quarter</i> or old <i>White Dwarf</i> where you try to gin up the best solution to a situation. It does this without generating analysis paralysis or slowing the game down as well, which is really clever.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Basically, each turn you and your opponent alternate activating your players until they've all gone once. Players are assigned influence (<span style="font-size: x-small;">action points</span>) to start the turn, which they spend to attack, sprint, pass, etc. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">As you do things, you'll generate momentum points, which you need to do things like trigger heroic plays, exercise effective teamwork, heal mid-turn, and most importantly: shoot the ball at the goal.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Each player has a set of plays that they can carry out, as well as a little damage chart that they use when attacking. You roll a pool of dice for every action and try to score a number of successes. The damage chart for attacks lets you know whether you can hurt or knock down your target, dodge or push them, or trigger a character play, depending on how successful your attack was.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Games are played to some combination of goals (<span style="font-size: x-small;">4 points</span>) and KOs (<span style="font-size: x-small;">2 points</span>) equaling 12 points. This allows the game to have a reasonable length while not favoring scoring teams over killing teams, or vice versa.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">If you want to learn more about the game, I recommend <a href="http://www.guildballtonight.com/gbt/" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">Guild Ball Tonight</a>, an excellent podcast focused just on this game.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Anyways, we're looking forward to getting more games in. Hopefully Scorpio will have some thoughts soon after his <a href="http://store.guildball.com/images/category-headers/union.jpg" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">Union</a> get in a game or two. </span></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Nx950xWKVeo/VZ05ZXzlPqI/AAAAAAAAB8I/19NthgzpqCA/s1600/20150626_222511.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="180" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Nx950xWKVeo/VZ05ZXzlPqI/AAAAAAAAB8I/19NthgzpqCA/s320/20150626_222511.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-m4BR7LbgDW0/VZ05ZWFT5PI/AAAAAAAAB78/4BxYHMLFVBY/s1600/20150626_222522.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="180" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-m4BR7LbgDW0/VZ05ZWFT5PI/AAAAAAAAB78/4BxYHMLFVBY/s320/20150626_222522.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-IY2-d-P5xVw/VZ05ZQRHePI/AAAAAAAAB8Q/QmzC0oLk2fM/s1600/20150626_222442.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="180" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-IY2-d-P5xVw/VZ05ZQRHePI/AAAAAAAAB8Q/QmzC0oLk2fM/s320/20150626_222442.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Here are some photos of my completed <a href="http://the-outpost.co.uk/uploads/images/product-images/GuildBall/SFGBFIS01-008_JAC.jpg" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">Jac</a> and in-progress <a href="http://the-outpost.co.uk/uploads/images/product-images/GuildBall/SFGBFIS01-004_Kraken.jpg" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">Kraken</a> and <a href="http://the-outpost.co.uk/uploads/images/product-images/GuildBall/SFGBFIS01-006_Greyscales.jpg" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">Greyscales</a>.</span></div>
PMMDJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05321813901181591214noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7864207444508240443.post-88196398406415640032015-05-28T12:10:00.001-04:002015-05-28T12:10:48.701-04:00Dumpster diving* and catching up<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-5H2bVAypWIM/VWampumHNKI/AAAAAAAAB6g/vr7AsOXWu1c/s1600/Oscar.ed.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-5H2bVAypWIM/VWampumHNKI/AAAAAAAAB6g/vr7AsOXWu1c/s320/Oscar.ed.jpg" width="285" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: #fcfae7; color: #333333; line-height: 18.2000007629395px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>Not the hero we deserved but the hero we needed. </i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Be warned: this is a bit rambling. Feel free to scroll down to the pictures of dumpsters, if that's what brought you to the door.</span><br />
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At some point in the past couple months I have started feeling bad about writing up yet another battle report with unpainted figures. Yes, I know it's not a big deal, but I'm just envisioning reading my blog with all these black-and-white pics and how that'd only point out the other flaws in my work, like how I have become real shoddy about taking good notes about how games go.</span><br />
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But! This will past. I am painting up new <a href="http://pulp-city.com/">Pulp City</a>, and am one breakthrough away from getting a good color scheme down for my Wrath of Kings Hadross. <a href="http://wrathofkings.com/">Wrath of Kings</a> has been the game of the spring so far (in fact the gents from my group are about to head to Origins to the big dance there.) While I will sing the praises of the assembly side of the Wrath of Kings figs, I confess they're a bit intimidating for a mediocre painter like myself to get done swiftly. But anyways.</span><br />
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(<span style="font-size: x-small;">Somewhere on the backburner there's a post brewing about learning Hadross tactics. They're rock hard, but surprisingly tricky to get rolling.</span>)</span><br />
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Enough about my shortcomings. I've also been busy this spring getting lots and lots of Kickstarter pledges arriving. It's beautiful. Many Zombicide figs waiting in the queue, many Wolsung figs getting assembled, and just this week, my pledge for urban terrain from <a href="https://impudentmortal.com/">Impudent Mortal</a> arrived on the doorstep.</span><br />
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One of the pieces I picked up to enhance Pulp City and Batman games are the dumpsters. And being a gamer for... a long while now, I have picked up many odds and ends over the years for uses both theoretical and practical. It's only in the past couple years that I took stock of the various terrain bits I had picked up hither and yon, and formulating plans for actual terrain layouts (<span style="font-size: x-small;">we typically play at the local store, or someone else's house. I don't have a dedicated gaming room here.</span>)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So I realized I had a bunch of these things from various manufacturers over the years, and decided to toss up a couple comparison shots for scale, so people know what they're looking for.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(<span style="font-size: x-small;">The models were chosen because they were [mostly] painted, and representative of their lines. I had other painted Batman figs, but I figured most players would own the Arkham henchmen, due to their usefulness.</span>)</span><br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-yIpvV4jgAOs/VWal2c7dYtI/AAAAAAAAB5c/K6GY21CTBQ0/s1600/052715234033.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="189" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-yIpvV4jgAOs/VWal2c7dYtI/AAAAAAAAB5c/K6GY21CTBQ0/s320/052715234033.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i><a href="http://metal-skirmish.blogspot.com/2013/08/7tv-checkmate.html">Checkmate</a> Agent (<a href="http://crossoverminiatures.com/">Crossover</a>), Heroclix Dumpster, Arkham escapee (<a href="http://www.knightmodels.com/">Knight Models</a>)</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A blast from the past, the tried and true <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HeroClix">Heroclix</a> had a lot of useful pieces over the years, and my only regret with the ancient terrain packs was that I did not pick up more. It's the smallest of my lot, but also the only one that came fully painted. Looks to me like something outside a restaurant, more of a trashcan with dreams of grandeur.</span><br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-KTdGvgiuwy8/VWal26iU9QI/AAAAAAAAB5s/GYKAAZw-hYo/s1600/052715234312.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="254" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-KTdGvgiuwy8/VWal26iU9QI/AAAAAAAAB5s/GYKAAZw-hYo/s320/052715234312.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>Reaper Bones zombie, large Armorcast bin, Supreme Zed (Pulp City)</i></span></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-jX1lTfmtwJI/VWal3HAu7EI/AAAAAAAAB5o/KWDKcVeDHAc/s1600/052715234408.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="217" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-jX1lTfmtwJI/VWal3HAu7EI/AAAAAAAAB5o/KWDKcVeDHAc/s320/052715234408.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>Mr. Hyde (Heroclix Hulk), smaller Armorcast bin, Reaper Bones zombie</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">These two are, I believe, out-of-production Armorcast bins. Searching online tells me they might be out-of-production Ainsty, but there's some confusion. Regardless. They are solid chunks of resin, and look great. perfect for near the construction site.</span></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Xk97fGZCEyY/VWal2RfaLVI/AAAAAAAAB5Y/-xxsMaJX-5A/s1600/052715234209.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="231" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Xk97fGZCEyY/VWal2RfaLVI/AAAAAAAAB5Y/-xxsMaJX-5A/s320/052715234209.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>Checkmate Agent, Reaper Bones Dumpster, Supreme Zed</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I nabbed one of the Bones dumpsters on a whim, and was not disappointed. Unlike the rubbery material of the other figs, this is hard smooth plastic. Which is BRIGHT WHITE and a pain to photograph. The lid opens up (shown farther down) and while maybe a little big, not really noticeably so, and IMHO would definitely work with the Knight Model figs. </span><br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-t4wULlfwgok/VWal3D4vMZI/AAAAAAAAB6Q/rPjFiJ7umeM/s1600/052715234631.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="248" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-t4wULlfwgok/VWal3D4vMZI/AAAAAAAAB6Q/rPjFiJ7umeM/s320/052715234631.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Checkmate Agent, small Impudent Mortal dumpster, Zombicide zombie</span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When I signed on for the <a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1141913215/impudent-mortals-warehouse-district">Impudent Mortal kickstarter</a>, I was looking forward to their stuff, but I have to admit, it's more impressive in person. Please note none of the dumpsters from them are fully assembled. They were put together right out of the bag, no instructions, no trimming. A breeze.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The small dumpster above even has a couple details I didn't put on yet, like the door for the side hatch. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>Arkham escapee, Impudent Mortal bin rear view</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A little less in scale for the Knight Models figs, but really, not a big deal.</span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Supreme Zed, large Impudent Mortal dumpster, Checkmate Agent</span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And here's the large Impudent Mortal bin. The doors in front can be put open or closed. Hefty! It's the extra bits like the vertical supports that really make them shine. Also notice the slats on the bottom.</span><br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-y0EjV4-DxXU/VWal4nVA8oI/AAAAAAAAB6I/4qjK8fUTkVk/s1600/052715235306.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="189" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-y0EjV4-DxXU/VWal4nVA8oI/AAAAAAAAB6I/4qjK8fUTkVk/s320/052715235306.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And the ridiculous group shot. The Checkmate Agent just barely doesn't fit inside the small Impudent Mortal bin, whereas the larger one fits even 30mm bases comfortably. The Bones product is rather roomy as well.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So, hope that was useful-ish. Any tips for later comparison shot entries?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>Drax, not Drax, Drax</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And finally, an in-joke for a handful of people.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">* Full credit to Maurice for coming up with the 'dumpster diving' title, which I really should have thought of first.</span></span>PMMDJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05321813901181591214noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7864207444508240443.post-13746801747833377802015-04-21T11:30:00.003-04:002015-04-21T11:30:44.546-04:00The Dark Age of the Wrath of Kings<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-lCpfHvJhtMw/VRjhSyNe7JI/AAAAAAAAB3I/tuiSgqU0IgU/s1600/032515200856.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-lCpfHvJhtMw/VRjhSyNe7JI/AAAAAAAAB3I/tuiSgqU0IgU/s1600/032515200856.jpg" height="214" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">If I ever post black-and-white shots, it's because I'm rolling with unpainted minis.</span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Been a hectic month and change since <a href="http://metal-skirmish.blogspot.com/2015/03/cold-wars-2015-report.html">Cold Wars</a>, but I did manage to get in a couple solid evenings of gaming. A few weeks back, we started out with getting going with <a href="http://dark-age.com/">Dark Age</a>, and concluding with a lovely skirmish-level game of <a href="http://wrathofkings.com/">Wrath of Kings</a>. These two are the games of the hour with the posse.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sadly, paintjobs aren't there yet, but we're getting started. On the other table, the first game of the night featured the watery forces of Hadross versus the piggy armies of Teknes. (<span style="font-size: x-small;">If you haven't read up on the backstory, it's pretty neat. Check out the faction overviews <a href="http://wrathofkings.com/ks/overview/">here</a>.</span>)</span><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Marc's Kukulkani are rather fierce, on the other hand.</span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My first game of the night was running through some Dark Age versus Mark. He's an actual champ at the game, an even has <a href="http://dark-age.com/wp-content/gallery/bountyhunters/dag1007.jpg">a model of his own</a> in the game. So while the savage beating I took wasn't unexpected, it was highly informative.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Kukulkani aren't just easy to misspell, they're also an interesting combination of heavy hitters and fearsome magic. My Outcasts struggled to even get any hits in. I did manage to get a better sense of my strengths and weaknesses, however, which is something that's easy to do on paper/internet forums, but that pales in comparison to real-world experience.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We were running 350 point armies, in preparation for an upcoming tournament. I had designed my army more towards running through secondary objectives, which left me a little short on the hitting power.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>The tagline for the night: "Mistakes were made."</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My second game of Dark Age featured a fight against Aaron's amusingly warped Dragyri. He was trying out running no less than three Death's Devices, which are as hardcore as they sound. Equally fun was the wall of slaves that runs in front of them. Again, I didn't get much accomplished, but I learned a little more about my future tactics fighting such juggernauts.</span><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The two statues at the bottom of the pic are Crooked Dice <a href="http://www.crooked-dice.co.uk/wp/product/argonauts/">Argonauts</a>, here used as objective markers for my Motivation.</span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Now on to Wrath of Kings. Game three of the evening showcased my Hadross versus Maurice's Teknes. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My motivation (<span style="font-size: x-small;">think scenario, but just for your troops</span>) was 'Land Grab,' which required me to get into his side of the board and bust up some objective to show him who's boss in this town/village/etc. Speed isn't Hadross's strength (<span style="font-size: x-small;"><a href="http://wrathofkings.com/ks/854/">taxi-crabs</a> aside</span>) but he started the day with many more troops than me, so I knew it'd be wading through his battle lines no matter how I cut it.</span><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Slimy Sevridans slip forward.</span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Teknes motivation was 'Capture the Prisoner,' and he selected Iron Eyes as his target. I deployed her a bit... ambitiously, I confess, and she dropped fast. From then forward, I was trying to catch up the pigs spiriting her unconscious body back to their side of the board. That is a tough one to fight back against.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My MVP was easily the <a href="http://wrathofkings.com/ks/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/HDcavalier_front.jpg">Orsund Cavalier</a>, who took up position in the middle of the battlefield and spent the rest of the day beating to death anything that came within reach of his massive tentacles.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Three games. And we could have easily done four! Admittedly, they were small games of Dark Age, but the system is brutally fast. And Wrath of Kings is simply a breeze. We're loving the system, here's hoping we don't wear it out too soon. I'll need to get a more detailed batrep up for this game, because the mechanics are a treat.</span>PMMDJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05321813901181591214noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7864207444508240443.post-59814566464902951292015-03-31T15:07:00.000-04:002015-03-31T15:07:02.392-04:00Dark Age tourney report (by Maurice)<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 19.7999992370605px;">
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">On the 28th, our friend Aaron ran a <a href="http://www.dark-age.com/" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">Dark Age</a> tournament at <a href="http://gamesandstuffonline.com/" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">Games and Stuff</a> in Glen Burnie. I'll talk a bit about the game, my force and the actual games at the tournament below.</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">DARK AGE</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b>Dark Age is a brutal skirmish game from <a href="http://www.coolminiornot.com/" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">CMON</a> set on a planet abandoned by a collapsing interstellar human civilization, leaving their descendants to deal with aliens, robots, cannibals, monsters and all sorts of other man-made and natural horrors. It's a fun place!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The game has been around for quite some time, and now has a huge range of available troops and forces. There are a ton of viable strategies and it's extremely quick and deadly.</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">THE EVENT</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b>We used small forces for this event and had 9 players (<span style="font-size: x-small;">+ the TO punching bag force</span>) show up.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I took a small team affiliated with St. Luke. The main human culture on the planet follows a group of Saints who represent the people's interests in a tense standoff with the ruling Prevailer Council thugs. Luke's forces tend to be well equipped (<span style="font-size: x-small;">shotguns and smoke grenades!</span>) and armored, but very expensive and fragile if the dice turn on them.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I had <a href="https://www.coolminiornot.com/shop/miniatures/dark-age-games/forsaken/forsaken-zuriel-1.html" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">Zuriel,</a> Luke's armorer, and hybrid medic & shot gun-toting bad ass; an <a href="https://www.coolminiornot.com/shop/miniatures/dark-age-games/forsaken/forsaken-arsenal-2.html" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">Arsenal</a> with a shotgun and grenade launcher; a <a href="https://www.coolminiornot.com/shop/miniatures/dark-age-games/forsaken/forsaken-stinger-3.html" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">Stinger</a> with a spear; two <a href="https://www.coolminiornot.com/shop/miniatures/dark-age-games/forsaken/forsaken-militia-3.html" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">militia </a>members ; and two members of the <a href="https://www.coolminiornot.com/shop/miniatures/dark-age-games/forsaken/forsaken-flock-3.html" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">Flock</a>. The battle plan was to use the last four to screen the first three and let them use their template weapons and powerful spear attacks to clean up the stuff the grunts were engaging.</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">THE GAMES</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b>Round one I faced off against some Brood, hideous mutants that regenerate, even when set on fire. The first scenario was just scored on kill points, so I was glad my opponent had invested a lot in speed over power (<span style="font-size: x-small;">1 <a href="https://www.coolminiornot.com/shop/miniatures/dark-age-games/brood/brood-gazelle-1.html" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">gazelle</a>, 2 <a href="https://www.coolminiornot.com/shop/miniatures/dark-age-games/brood/brood-lashers-2.html" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">lashers </a>and 2 <a href="https://www.coolminiornot.com/shop/miniatures/dark-age-games/brood/brood-hound-2.html" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">broodhounds</a></span>). After a couple rounds of cautious positioning, a broodhound charged in and started the melee. I was able to take out both hounds and the gazelle at the cost of my militia and flock, but the stinger eventually fell as well. The critical moment came when the Arsenal lined up a lasher and his gun malfunctioned, leaving him dying on the ground. However, I was able to get Zuriel to him in time to resuscitate him and the two of them combined to take out the lashers in a very close affair.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">In round two, I was paired against our local Dark Age guru Marc and his Skarrd horde of 2 - hit point <a href="https://www.coolminiornot.com/shop/miniatures/dark-age-games/skarrd/skarrd-buzzblades-1-3.html" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">maniacs</a> (<span style="font-size: x-small;">think Firefly reavers</span>). We had to control a series of points across the board. I lost this during deployment as I sent two of my grunts off to tie down a couple of his figs across the board, leaving my pricey damage dealers under supported against his main force. A couple of unlucky armor rolls later and I was left with nothing on the table. Moral of the story: don't split the party or the cannibals will eat you.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">For game three, I was up against Brood again, but this time a more power focused force (<span style="font-size: x-small;"><a href="https://www.coolminiornot.com/shop/miniatures/dark-age-games/brood/brood-murtros-1.html" target="_blank">Murtros</a>, 2 <a href="https://www.coolminiornot.com/shop/miniatures/dark-age-games/brood/brood-ratchet-2.html" target="_blank">ratchets</a>, broodhound, spray guy</span>). We had to control the center of the board, so this would be a brawl in which positioning was even more important. We both raced for the center, as his picketing hound was quickly put down by the vaulting Stinger. However, the pup slowed me down just enough to enable the rest of the Brood to make it to the middle first. This left me in a tough spot, needing to get models into the objective zone, bit at the cost of support from my other figures. A well-placed acid burst further reduced my numbers. My necessarily piecemeal attack left me unable to put down the regenerating brood, resulting in defeat.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Last up I had to face some Dragyri, the honor - bound original inhabitants of the planet. The enemies were 3 towering <a href="https://www.coolminiornot.com/shop/miniatures/dark-age-games/dragyri/dragyri-deaths-device-of-the-ice-caste-1.html" target="_blank">Death's Devices</a> and 5 <a href="https://www.coolminiornot.com/shop/miniatures/dark-age-games/dragyri/dragyri-slave-spearman-1-6.html" target="_blank">slave caste</a>. In this scenario, a large explosive device sat in the middle of the field, and we needed to push it closer to the opponent's side of the board. Of course, there was a good chance when pushing it that the bomb would blow up in your face. We rapidly advanced, with his slaves moving to tie me up. An early push from a Death's Device put me behind the 8 ball on points, so I had to move quickly to recover. I was able to kill all but the last device, and move the bomb back to the opponent's side and force a draw.</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">THE AFTERMATH</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b>At the end of the day, it was a very fun event. We had a great diversity in forces and a lot of of good players. I felt felt my force was fun, but needed more concentration of squad linkable figures to enable a more effective 'alpha strike,' so to speak. my round two opponent went undefeated on the day and took the event.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Thanks Games and Stuff for hosting!</span><br />
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PMMDJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05321813901181591214noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7864207444508240443.post-34831421977201790972015-03-11T09:05:00.000-04:002015-03-11T23:00:36.959-04:00Cold Wars 2015 report<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">We're going to need a bigger... everything.</span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For <a href="http://hmgs.site-ym.com/?page=CWHome">Cold Wars</a> this year, I figured I would be flying solo, so I opted to make it a one-day affair. Drive up early, sell things at the Wally's Basement flea market, play a couple games, then head home late. I was able to pull it off, but man, I might be getting a little old to do that much more. Was wiped by the end of then night, and the drive home was a challenge. So back to springing for the hotel room next time, methinks.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The con itself was a mixed bag. Well, that's not really true. For <i>me</i>, the con was great. I sold a bunch of toys, which paid for not only my attendance but with some leftover to buy yet more minis. I played in two great games that were a lot of fun and pretty much exactly what I am looking for in a convention game. I chatted with a bunch of cool folks. I bought a bunch of things I wanted. All winners.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But the con itself was, well, suffering. Fresh off the heels of what looks like the last snowstorm of the year here out east, the parking lot was a hell of ice and slush and cars at all angles and the like. Wally's basement was run in a more haphazard fashion. I noticed a distinct lack of a lot of the huge eye candy showcase games, which are always popular. There were empty tables in the game halls, the dealers room, and even in Wally's, which is always packed. I overheard one of the major dealers saying their sales were down by half, and that was towards the end of the day on Saturday. Ouch. I don't think Historicon will suffer as a result, but I wonder what Fall In will look like come later this year.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Anyways. I come to praise Cold Wars, not to bury it. Let's get on with the it.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My first game of the day:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">S-334 - <b>Monster Madness: Hydras, Harpies, & Hellhounds, Oh My!</b></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sat. 3:00 PM, 2 hrs, 8 players</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">GM: Katherine Rockstroh</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Fantasy 28mm, Rules: Homebrew</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You the citizens have demanded it, so the king has decreed it: the THIRD royal monster hunt! The goal: to slay the mightiest monsters ever to terrorize the kingdom. The prize: a new estate & the princess’s hand in marriage. All are welcome to attend; friendly rivalry is encouraged in this fast-paced challenge.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>Young aspiring monster hunters welcome with an accompanying grizzled veteran hunter.</i></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You'll notice that last line above. I entirely missed it when I was signing up. Not a big deal, mind you. As with the <a href="http://metal-skirmish.blogspot.com/2014/11/fall-in-2014-day-one-hunger-games.html">Hunger Games</a> event from last Fall In, I am a-OK gaming with the younger set. I just didn't expect to be sitting down to this one, and, for the most part, being older than any other two or three gamers put together. Even the GMs were in their late teens. (<span style="font-size: x-small;">This was a definite rarity at the HMGS events; I feel like I am on the younger side of the average age of attendees, and I am not young. At all.</span>) No shade though, the GMs ran things wonderfully.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Seated around the table, our teammates were the players opposite us. This allowed the GMs to have each of us activate at the same time, which was pretty ingenious. Essentially, when a model touched a terrain piece, it spawned a monster, which you would get victory points for eliminating. And everyone had a vested interest in either winning the princess's hand in marriage or claiming the monster-infested grounds for their own.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I played Sir Bret, the handsome knight. My teammate was my twin brother, a knight in his own regard. In addition to my footmen, I also had some adoring peasants following me around, who I regularly sent to investigate and root out monsters, which invariably had an appetite for serfs.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Each player had a main character, a second-in-command sort, and a handful of other figs to... not worry about too much. The rules were simple and easy, with color-coded dice (<span style="font-size: x-small;">red, blue, and gold</span>) that were easy for even those math-challenged among us to count swiftly.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The game actually played like a Gauntlet-style video game, in a good way. Monsters were spawned. Easier beasts were quickly dispatched, while more fearsome creatures went on to rampage on their own. You'll notice I said above that you got victory points for <i>eliminating</i> the monsters. This, invariably, lead to rampant killstealing and similar shenanigans. It was glorious. The winner was a young druid who had her army of beasts (<span style="font-size: x-small;">all of which she personally named</span>) romping around the board swooping in for the kills.</span><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The monster decks for each of the spawning area types. Made for smooth an easy management.</span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i> A fearless footman finds a fearsome bulette hiding in the woods.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The majority of the figs were from Warhammer, the Dungeons & Dragons collectible minis line, Reaper Bones, and other iconic high fantasy sorts.</span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Not challenged enough, my serfs also spawn a purple worm behind us. Target-rich environment. </span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The captain of the guard uncovers an umber hulk (or as she deemed it, 'an ugly cockroach..') </span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>Ways to challenge my humble cameraphone: photographing a jabberwock in the fronds.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Again, let me reiterate this game was a lot of fun. I would love to recreate it for the locals, and in a couple years can even get our kids involved. The GMs kept the pace moving, so turns moved along promptly. The victory point count definitely lead to some energetic rivalry. Great times.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Random games I passed while wandering the halls:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I mentioned above there weren't many large showpiece games, but this one definitely caught a lot of attention, recreating <a href="http://ww2today.com/26th-july-1942-sas-raid-hits-the-desert-airfield-at-fuka">a World War II raid</a> on a German airstrip. Apparently Doctor Jones was spotted escorting a mysterious crate off the field midway through the game.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I didn't get any details on this game, but the terrain was definitely evocative.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Another large game spotted was a Wild West game set on the three decks of a paddleboat. A homebrew construction of balsa, dollhouse parts, and other odds and ends the decks could even sit on top of each other for the full effect. Very keen.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My second game of the day:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">S-278 - <b>Just Another Wasteland Mystery</b></span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sat. 8:00 PM, 3 hrs, 6 players</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">GM: Joseph McGuire</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sponsor: <a href="http://worldsendpublishing.com/">World's End Publishing</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">SciFi 28mm, Rules: <a href="http://worldsendpublishing.com/this-is-not-a-test/the-world-of-tnt/">This Is Not a Test</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The small shantytown of Pernicious Hope has gone quiet. Scouts report no movement from within. The town could have been sacked by an unknown attacker or abandoned by its occupants. Rumor suggest that the town’s leader found something interesting out in the wastes, but what is was is unknown. Perhaps this item's presence is tied to the town's fate? Can your warband solve the mystery?</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I had been looking forward to trying out these rules since I first heard about them a while back, and they were the first thing I went for during registration. The rules are due out soon, but I always learn best by trying a game out, and everyone who played in our group was suitably impressed.</span><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"> Many handmade shanties and wrecks of vehicles past.</span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The <a href="http://worldsendpublishing.com/this-is-not-a-test/rules/">rules</a> were pretty straightforward. Activation is a little funny, but once everyone got the hang of it, it was no sweat, even with six of us roughing it out.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(<span style="font-size: x-small;">And of course I botched my initial activation, but I just pretended I meant to do that so I could stay back and watch who does what first. Heh.</span>)</span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">There's a lot of great detail packed into the board, here. </span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I grabbed the Fairfax Tribe, who happen to be featured in <a href="http://worldsendpublishing.com/dispatches-wastes/dispatch-2-give-shelter-battle-report/">this batrep</a>. Amusingly, I found myself sitting next to Joe C. from <a href="http://dragonbaitminis.com/">Dragonbait Miniatures</a>, who I'd met at another con before. (<span style="font-size: x-small;">Side note: they're prepping their next offerings, so keep your eyes open.</span>) He was running Mad Max and some of his cronies.</span><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Sneaking into the ruins near the inimitable Johnny Atomic!</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Large Oak covers the rest of the tribe as they cautiously advance. </span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">An interesting twist turned up on the second round: in addition to investigating the abandoned township, Tall Hat decided the fearsome Rock Worms would be a mighty prize to bring home, if their corpses could be harvested. It was of course perfectly fine to let the other survivors do the dirty work of killing them first, naturally. Tall Hat's no dope.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(<span style="font-size: x-small;">The book will include a bestiary of awful post-apocalyptic creatures to flesh out the world, just the thing to add to scenarios to take them from good to great.</span>)</span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Max and his troubleshooters have a worm problem. </span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Not pictured: on the far end of the board, the Peacekeepers unleashed the grenade launcher to impressive effect, causing everyone else to subtly start spreading out their models, heh.</span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">In the campaign rules, you can loot the corpses of the fallen. Every gamer's dream. </span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>Did I mention how spiff the terrain was? </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">One fo the things I liked about the rules was how they lent themselves to a natural role-playing angle. For example: shooting. You determine which models are shot by your characters for an activation, and only after that do you resolve the shots themselves. So there's no 'take out one guy, move to the next.' If you want to make sure someone stays down, you end up pouring some extra lead into them, just in case they get lucky. But you don't really know if it works until it's too late to do anything else about it. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Along those lines: you declare your actions before resolving them, so if something goes south, you'll be left trying to cover for it.</span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Showdown. </span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Preparing flanking fire. </span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Actual quote: "Who vomits first?" Rock worms are not pleasant dinner company.</span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After the game, we all received a prize of a filthy mutant. Which lead to a brief discussion over the merits of the various filthy mutants. Big win.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If you're interested in the game, you can follow the news on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/TNTGame">the Facebook group</a>, and read up more on <a href="http://worldsendpublishing.com/this-is-not-a-test/">the website</a>.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After that was saying goodbyes, packing up, and hauling myself back to Maryland.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For more Cold Wars reports, check out <a href="http://bucksurdu.com/blog/?p=3706">Mr. Surdu</a>, <a href="https://misternizz.wordpress.com/2015/03/10/cold-wars-2015-the-very-chilly-cold-wars-aar/">Mr. Nizz</a>, and the fine folks at <a href="http://onemoregamingproject.blogspot.com/search/label/Cold%20Wars">HAWKs</a>, who always had a nice crowd in there playing.</span><br />
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PMMDJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05321813901181591214noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7864207444508240443.post-64718119925379740412015-02-20T09:40:00.002-05:002015-02-20T12:57:04.062-05:00Wrath of Kings: assembly in a snap<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Jzotr8UVkDc/VOYiiDzb9LI/AAAAAAAABxs/rhX498-CeWA/s1600/021715211947.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Jzotr8UVkDc/VOYiiDzb9LI/AAAAAAAABxs/rhX498-CeWA/s1600/021715211947.jpg" height="213" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">One day. That's how long it took to assemble the above figs. They're from my <a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/coolminiornot/wrath-of-kings/description">Wrath of Kings</a> kickstarter package. The figs have a great amount of detail, and mine had little to no flash. And I am terrible at assembling, especially things with tiny bits. But these practically assembled themselves.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Looking forward to trying the game out in the near future. Team Hadross!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>PMMDJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05321813901181591214noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7864207444508240443.post-46041048615193154782015-02-08T10:37:00.000-05:002015-02-08T10:37:23.806-05:007ombieTV: Break Down<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">This week on <i><b>Zed Nation</b></i>...</span></div>
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Couple weeks back, the gents expressed interest in <a href="http://www.crooked-dice.co.uk/wp/rules/7ombietv/">7ombieTV</a> (which I have been stumping for a while) so I threw together some models and we sat down to play the first scenario, "Break Down." We'd played a run through of 7tv a while back, so I re-familiarized myself by fixing up a nice playsheet and generating the Co-Stars.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>There and back again </i></span></div>
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The survivors' microbus had run out of gas within sight of their goal: a gas station they new still held the precious fuel they would need to break away from the swarm of undead infesting the area. All they needed to do was run out there, grab the gas, and get back to the vehicle before the zombie horde sinks their teeth into them.</div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ungG5g4DiyA/VNE_IXA6qFI/AAAAAAAABuo/ni83QtWXbqc/s1600/zn1.1.16.15.2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ungG5g4DiyA/VNE_IXA6qFI/AAAAAAAABuo/ni83QtWXbqc/s1600/zn1.1.16.15.2.jpg" height="298" width="320" /></a></div>
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Each player had two Co-Stars (t<span style="font-size: x-small;">he Brain, the Grease Monkey, the Looker, and the Grunt</span>) and two extras (<span style="font-size: x-small;">one was a faithful Dog.</span>) I ran the zombies, more or less on auto-pilot. I snuck in two Leader zombies, but didn't reveal that until it was time for them to use their extra activation abilities. I also brought one zombie dog, to be the nemesis of his canine counterpart. (<span style="font-size: x-small;">Both dogs turned out to be surprisingly effective.</span>) For an extra worry, I made the survivors keep track of who had the car keys. You know, just in case.<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-cT1Rf2nYhwg/VNE_IVgHw5I/AAAAAAAABuc/Of4lTMuwIds/s1600/zn1.1.16.15.3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-cT1Rf2nYhwg/VNE_IVgHw5I/AAAAAAAABuc/Of4lTMuwIds/s1600/zn1.1.16.15.3.jpg" height="242" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>"It has been established that persons who have recently died have been returning to life and committing acts of murder."</i></span></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-28ZaV7gAKzU/VNE_JG_R-hI/AAAAAAAABuw/Kef_RoYdKy4/s1600/zn1.1.16.15.4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-28ZaV7gAKzU/VNE_JG_R-hI/AAAAAAAABuw/Kef_RoYdKy4/s1600/zn1.1.16.15.4.jpg" height="224" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Top of the pic, you see the Zombie Dog racing to give the Brain a taste of what's to come.</i></span></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-YOur8WCJd5c/VNE_JQMQKDI/AAAAAAAABu0/23FCh1ZtZuk/s1600/zn1.1.16.15.5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-YOur8WCJd5c/VNE_JQMQKDI/AAAAAAAABu0/23FCh1ZtZuk/s1600/zn1.1.16.15.5.jpg" height="256" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MqSgYb0sxwk/VNE_JkmIPJI/AAAAAAAABu4/YvKvLDSB85U/s1600/zn1.1.16.15.6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MqSgYb0sxwk/VNE_JkmIPJI/AAAAAAAABu4/YvKvLDSB85U/s1600/zn1.1.16.15.6.jpg" height="242" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ycLFfruF7ac/VNE_J90koxI/AAAAAAAABvA/vHPnpTGLET4/s1600/zn1.1.16.15.7.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ycLFfruF7ac/VNE_J90koxI/AAAAAAAABvA/vHPnpTGLET4/s1600/zn1.1.16.15.7.jpg" height="260" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Top left corner, you'll see what happens when a handful of zombies gets hit with a Molotov event card. Smokin'!</i></span></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Okzm-kqYmBc/VNE_KIodxWI/AAAAAAAABvE/S9IPCfJm6Q4/s1600/zn1.1.16.15.8.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Okzm-kqYmBc/VNE_KIodxWI/AAAAAAAABvE/S9IPCfJm6Q4/s1600/zn1.1.16.15.8.jpg" height="281" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>The Brain runs back with the gas, with a Zombie Dog nipping at his heels. </i></span></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-1pNqlyjo1IU/VNE_KRaCMxI/AAAAAAAABvI/R5Sf-M793gI/s1600/zn1.1.16.15.9.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-1pNqlyjo1IU/VNE_KRaCMxI/AAAAAAAABvI/R5Sf-M793gI/s1600/zn1.1.16.15.9.jpg" height="320" width="200" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-uTapAjd-bsM/VNE_Kfi0bvI/AAAAAAAABvU/yjUcXjhKgJs/s1600/zn1.1.16.15.a.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-uTapAjd-bsM/VNE_Kfi0bvI/AAAAAAAABvU/yjUcXjhKgJs/s1600/zn1.1.16.15.a.jpg" height="320" width="269" /></a></div>
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<i><span style="font-size: x-small;">Civilian down!</span></i></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-f85w-SiMcN4/VNE_KmA8rjI/AAAAAAAABvM/JmDqLUCSbUk/s1600/zn1.1.16.15.b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-f85w-SiMcN4/VNE_KmA8rjI/AAAAAAAABvM/JmDqLUCSbUk/s1600/zn1.1.16.15.b.jpg" height="273" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Living dog > not-so-living dog.</i></span></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-2IOJGldV7jg/VNE_L1BET8I/AAAAAAAABvw/Zh1mQN4vJ4I/s1600/zn1.1.16.15.c.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-2IOJGldV7jg/VNE_L1BET8I/AAAAAAAABvw/Zh1mQN4vJ4I/s1600/zn1.1.16.15.c.jpg" height="320" width="190" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Surrounded, the Brain plays a timely "Walk Like A Zombie" event card, letting him escape the undead predators for a crucial round.</i></span></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-eReftCsCPfA/VNE_LKjjOwI/AAAAAAAABvY/kHkXXYdmRoE/s1600/zn1.1.16.15.d.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-eReftCsCPfA/VNE_LKjjOwI/AAAAAAAABvY/kHkXXYdmRoE/s1600/zn1.1.16.15.d.jpg" height="234" width="320" /></a></div>
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<i><span style="font-size: x-small;">The Grunt (played by <a href="http://www.coolminiornot.com/images/kickstarter-z2/RICK.jpg">Rick</a> from <a href="http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/113924/zombicide">Zombicide</a>, painted by Maurice) faces a grim fate.</span></i></div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kXgYQxnmloY/VNE_LvG166I/AAAAAAAABvs/eXmS-6tmbJ8/s1600/zn1.1.16.15.e.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kXgYQxnmloY/VNE_LvG166I/AAAAAAAABvs/eXmS-6tmbJ8/s1600/zn1.1.16.15.e.jpg" height="242" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>The Grease Monkey swings his axe to free the Brain from a wall of undead. </i></span></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-5nxsBsWTy6s/VNE_LjuBosI/AAAAAAAABvo/pwb8fVB-O-M/s1600/zn1.1.16.15.f.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-5nxsBsWTy6s/VNE_LjuBosI/AAAAAAAABvo/pwb8fVB-O-M/s1600/zn1.1.16.15.f.jpg" height="210" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Working to keep the escape route clear.</i></span></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-hsL_PoGqDY0/VNE_MMlByDI/AAAAAAAABv4/4tTFfti9F9s/s1600/zn1.1.16.15.g.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-hsL_PoGqDY0/VNE_MMlByDI/AAAAAAAABv4/4tTFfti9F9s/s1600/zn1.1.16.15.g.jpg" height="252" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PrlrrtcnhAA/VNE_MD4OK1I/AAAAAAAABv8/KHLh4SP4tWY/s1600/zn1.1.16.15.h.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PrlrrtcnhAA/VNE_MD4OK1I/AAAAAAAABv8/KHLh4SP4tWY/s1600/zn1.1.16.15.h.jpg" height="237" width="320" /></a></div>
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<i><span style="font-size: x-small;">Things are looking grim back at the van. </span></i></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-mFg1ZKU0pUo/VNE_Md3zA4I/AAAAAAAABwA/VGKbpOcfB_Y/s1600/zn1.1.16.15.i.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-mFg1ZKU0pUo/VNE_Md3zA4I/AAAAAAAABwA/VGKbpOcfB_Y/s1600/zn1.1.16.15.i.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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<i><span style="font-size: x-small;">Bloodbath! </span></i></div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7VC9BgQituk/VNE_MhL87sI/AAAAAAAABwI/anfJHCMMhkE/s1600/zn1.1.16.15.j.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7VC9BgQituk/VNE_MhL87sI/AAAAAAAABwI/anfJHCMMhkE/s1600/zn1.1.16.15.j.jpg" height="242" width="320" /></a></div>
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On the ninth turn, the survivors pile into the refueled van and make tracks, securing a solid victory for the living. This time.<br />
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Decently successful game. Some rules questions cropped up (where are those rules from breaking away from melee?) and some mistakes were made in the beginning on both sides, but nothing crucial. The guys seemed to enjoy themselves, which is all that matters, to the point that I am discussing running <a href="http://www.crooked-dice.co.uk/wp/7th-voyage/">7th Voyage</a> in the near future.PMMDJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05321813901181591214noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7864207444508240443.post-17382527777426706052015-01-27T11:27:00.000-05:002015-01-27T11:27:43.699-05:00unexpected surprise!<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-OM_Bmcs3F6E/VMcQljRdjMI/AAAAAAAABtc/LmJ2fB2QtyE/s1600/laurie.sgt.spanner.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-OM_Bmcs3F6E/VMcQljRdjMI/AAAAAAAABtc/LmJ2fB2QtyE/s1600/laurie.sgt.spanner.jpg" height="275" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Just recently, I was picking on Aaron for bailing on the <a href="http://metal-skirmish.blogspot.com/2014/11/in-between-days.html">Bushido challenge</a> from last month. (<span style="font-size: x-small;">This is mainly because Aaron is a great painter, unlike me, and I need to get these things in when I can.</span>) Tragically, I can no longer pick on him about that, because it turns out he chose to skip the challenge to sneak in painting presents for Mo and myself! So outta nowhere, he hands these two <a href="http://www.hfminis.co.uk/">Hasslefree</a> treasures over to me, fully painted.</span><br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1OfpViU0ycQ/VMcQlo-3KRI/AAAAAAAABtg/KXMvzz0T7bY/s1600/laurie2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1OfpViU0ycQ/VMcQlo-3KRI/AAAAAAAABtg/KXMvzz0T7bY/s1600/laurie2.jpg" height="320" width="256" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Knowing my love for the Hunger Games books*, he painted up <a href="http://www.hfminis.co.uk/shop?product=laurie~hfa135&category=miniatures~modern-adventurers">Laurie</a>, including an incredible freehand mockingjay graffiti on the base.</span><br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-odK4Cn4IugM/VMcQlqw0u5I/AAAAAAAABtY/3iZ55pPXCXw/s1600/laurie1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-odK4Cn4IugM/VMcQlqw0u5I/AAAAAAAABtY/3iZ55pPXCXw/s1600/laurie1.jpg" height="320" width="243" /></span></a></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Seriously, fantastic stuff.</span></i></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-B-zoVUWn6ew/VMcQ3Go3E2I/AAAAAAAABt4/hwoz5ggpq-8/s1600/012615160448.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-B-zoVUWn6ew/VMcQ3Go3E2I/AAAAAAAABt4/hwoz5ggpq-8/s1600/012615160448.jpg" height="320" width="231" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Next up was <a href="http://www.hfminis.co.uk/shop?product=sgt.-spanner~hfa092&category=miniatures~modern-adventurers">Sgt. Spanner</a>, painted up faithfully as everyone's favorite, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dr._Horrible%27s_Sing-Along_Blog">Captain Hammer</a>. The pic makes it look more shiny than it is, but yes, the symbol on the chest is freehand as well.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I am spoiled.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">* - I also love the movies, but I love the books slightly more.</span><br />
<br />PMMDJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05321813901181591214noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7864207444508240443.post-18786301254550793172015-01-17T13:00:00.000-05:002015-01-17T13:00:03.532-05:00checking out the Dead Earth<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-MHTVn_P1FEw/VKYwDm3gWEI/AAAAAAAABqU/qHPM4zUieZ0/s1600/atde.New-Venice-Smaller.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-MHTVn_P1FEw/VKYwDm3gWEI/AAAAAAAABqU/qHPM4zUieZ0/s1600/atde.New-Venice-Smaller.jpg" height="215" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Across the Dead Earth</b> first came to my attention when its <a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/chappellm/across-the-dead-earth">Kickstarter</a> was recommended by some of the Facebook regulars. I've been interested in the post-apocalyptic genre for a bit, and the descriptions seemed to fit the bill: close to modern near future, low model count, skirmish, ability to make your own group, etc. I picked up the PDF of the rules, and I have to admit, it's intriguing. The luminaries at <a href="http://www.beastsofwar.com/across-the-dead-earth/">Beasts of War</a> have been bandying it around as well, and the game is building a nice little community of players as well. The link for the Facebook group is <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/567639646714237/">here</a>.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />And those fine chaps at Dead Earth Games have made the first PDF newsletter/magazine thingy available for free online. <i>The Rough Guide to the Dead Earth</i> is thirty-one pages of a window into the setting, detailing a new gang, an interesting scenario and batrep, and more.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Download it now by following the link below:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.deadearth.co.uk/?p=1265" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">http://www.deadearth.co.uk/?p=<wbr></wbr>1265</a><a href="http://www.deadearth.co.uk/?page_id=939" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank"></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I haven't actually picked up a gang yet (<span style="font-size: x-small;">although I have plenty of figs around the house I could use in a pinch</span>) but the upcoming <a href="http://www.deadearth.co.uk/?p=319">Murder of Crows</a> sounds right up my alley. Hope to find time to try it out with the locals before too long. The game is set in the UK, but the first expansion book will be covering the United States (<span style="font-size: x-small;">titled 'From Sea to Poisoned Sea,' which is simply a great name.</span>) It will also reportedly bring in the Sollus, certain shambling types who are the scourge of the survivors of the Last War. </span></div>
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PMMDJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05321813901181591214noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7864207444508240443.post-63279763723319882592015-01-06T11:43:00.000-05:002015-01-06T11:43:14.489-05:00Silvermoon challenged (by Maurice)<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Happy new year. If you'll recall, I was hoping to <a href="http://metal-skirmish.blogspot.com/2014/11/silvermoon-challenge-by-maurice.html" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">get 50 rice done</a> by the start of 2015 for Bushido. Let's see how I did!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">As it turns out, I only made it half way. I finished Fitiauma (<span style="font-size: x-small;">9 rice</span>), Sukuratchi (<span style="font-size: x-small;">5 rice</span>), a Kyoaku-Han Crossbowman (<span style="font-size: x-small;">5 Rice</span>), and Nomi & Sukoshi Kani (<span style="font-size: x-small;">3 rice a piece</span>), giving me 25 total. I'm pretty pleased with how they turned out. I've still got a few minor finishing touches to add, but these are playable for the time being. I definitely want to add some tattoos, but we'll get there. I'm excited to get the rest of the batch done early this year and get some more games in. Happy gaming in 2015!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><u></u>Here are some individual shots: </span></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ZmQ4KYl5Azo/VKsGnffM_-I/AAAAAAAABsE/kc7wIyBO0zA/s1600/20150104_203213.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ZmQ4KYl5Azo/VKsGnffM_-I/AAAAAAAABsE/kc7wIyBO0zA/s1600/20150104_203213.jpg" height="180" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Han Crossbow/Wasupu</i></span></span></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-2F2F31H21t4/VKsGpZkv-wI/AAAAAAAABsg/tmgGLfO0jOE/s1600/20150104_203315.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-2F2F31H21t4/VKsGpZkv-wI/AAAAAAAABsg/tmgGLfO0jOE/s1600/20150104_203315.jpg" height="180" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Sukuratchi</i></span></span></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-GZc6ICHaxGE/VKsGnYiJhiI/AAAAAAAABsA/7oQ9CLGuyv4/s1600/20150104_203243.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-GZc6ICHaxGE/VKsGnYiJhiI/AAAAAAAABsA/7oQ9CLGuyv4/s1600/20150104_203243.jpg" height="180" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Sukoshi Kani</i></span></span></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-0LEuRJY4tec/VKsGo8oOOLI/AAAAAAAABsU/Pz2oV0KAe0o/s1600/20150104_203305.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-0LEuRJY4tec/VKsGo8oOOLI/AAAAAAAABsU/Pz2oV0KAe0o/s1600/20150104_203305.jpg" height="180" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Nomi</i></span></span></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-KKB3tWzy3ic/VKsGnbwRhUI/AAAAAAAABr8/yHB3PJ4YG1Y/s1600/20150104_203254.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-KKB3tWzy3ic/VKsGnbwRhUI/AAAAAAAABr8/yHB3PJ4YG1Y/s1600/20150104_203254.jpg" height="180" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Fitauma</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">If I find the courage, I may try to do some tattoos on Fitiauma like these:</span></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-XgVVUHo1RaA/VKsFTj-OsnI/AAAAAAAABrE/fl9dBnR53Xc/s1600/bh6.conceptart.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-XgVVUHo1RaA/VKsFTj-OsnI/AAAAAAAABrE/fl9dBnR53Xc/s1600/bh6.conceptart.jpg" height="166" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">From the Big Hero 6 concept art.</span></i></div>
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PMMDJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05321813901181591214noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7864207444508240443.post-82960856065575736092015-01-02T09:15:00.000-05:002015-01-02T09:15:06.031-05:00ambition for the new year<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-rvNiSkVwAbM/VKahsocd1cI/AAAAAAAABqk/ZrN84wpyAy0/s1600/goodbadugly.shootout.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-rvNiSkVwAbM/VKahsocd1cI/AAAAAAAABqk/ZrN84wpyAy0/s1600/goodbadugly.shootout.jpg" height="225" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><u>Games I want to play more of in 2015, alphabetically</u>:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">* 7tv/7ombieTV/7th Voyage</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">* Bushido</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">* IHMN</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">* Pulp City</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><u>Games I want to try out in 2015, alphabetically</u>:</span><br />
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* Batman</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">* Dark Age</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">* Relic Knights</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">* Wolsung</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">* Wrath of Kings</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I never have enough time to game, much less prep and paint all the miniatures and terrain I want to for said games (<span style="font-size: x-small;">or even for all the minis I buy, whoops.</span>) So I try to plan for games I am playing, and games I want to play (<span style="font-size: x-small;">and games the crew wants to play.</span>) Prepping for the future is always a crap shoot, but luckily you'll notice some distinct overlap with the settings and themes of the above games.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><u>Side note</u>: looking at the big list of games I have (<span style="font-size: x-small;">don't ask</span>) and figs I've obtained (<span style="font-size: x-small;">really, it's embarrassingly long, don't ask</span>) one weird thing I have seen is that I really don't play a lot of fantasy games. Like, at all. Steampunk, yes, but that's not the same. Bushido is fantasy, but falls into that nebulous and poorly-named Oriental/Far East genre. You'd think with fantasy being such a stable of gaming, I'd have something swords-and-sorcery as a go-to selection, but nope. </span></div>
PMMDJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05321813901181591214noreply@blogger.com6