Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Oddest thing heard on last business trip

Not game related, but it just came back to me in a flash.  While in the men’s room at Regan National Airport

Male Traveler 1 Have you ever wondered what those urinal cakes taste like?

Male Traveler 2 New or used?

Male Traveler 1 New.  Used would be gross.

All I could think of was  Gross?  Really?  Wow.

Ill update last weeks D&D game soon, but I just remembered this (while in the restroom here) and had to share.

jp

Does not eat cake in the bathroom

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

WARMACHINE Mk II rules and cards are online!

http://privateerpress.com/company/mkii-rules-and-model-info-available-for-pdf-download

A few ways folks could look at this. The dark side (cue Vader breathing) would tell you that they are 'hurting' in sales and it is a gimmick to get folks to be interested in the game. There may be some validity to that, but I don't think it is the primary motivation from Privateer Press.

My view is that putting the rules out there, complete, but not in the most optimal viewing format, gives people the a great chance to look at the rules and get excited. My guess is that they will only loose about 1-5% of sales from folks that are too cheap to buy the books as many of the loyal players will still want a nice, full color, bounded, heavy graphics version for themselves. I think this moves give Privateer a great way to connect with their fan base.

On the flip side, they have thrown out the lawyers on the stat cards. I see the fear here on their part, but to be honest, if nobody is selling them, then it shouldn't impact sales too badly. I don't think the lawyers need to get involved honestly as long as the IP is not being sold.

Love these IP discussions? I would recommend reading techdirt. They have a great writer that covers modern media issues as they relate to privacy and intellectual property. Good reading that is usually on my list every day.

More gaming news after my trip!

jp
Magnus with Snipe is Cool!

Saturday, September 19, 2009

Father of all updates

Lets see... Since my last blog, much gaming had transpired or at least a fair amount.

On Tuesday the normal Warmachine crowd meet at The Game Shoppe to play a few games. To be honest it has been over a week and I can't remembered what I played! Must be getting old.

On Thursday, I went over to Steve and Rob's with Space Hulk in tow. Steve and I decided that we would try to go through the 12 scenarios over time, each of us playing one side. I had a bit of an advantage since I have played the first scenario already with JC and it helped. In Suicide Mission, the Marines have to get the Heavy Flamer to the control room and torch it. No easy task as the Genestealer player has tons of tokens to flood the board. I was able to pull off the mission, but I blame the fact that it was Steve's first game. On the reverse side, I was able to swarm the Marines with the Genestealers, preventing them from the objective.

On Friday, the Directorate had a 'Patriot Day' bike ride event. I did a 25 mile bike ride with my back side protesting furiously. Afterwards I hit the Shoppe and picked up my Italian Army for the Flames of War Africa Mid-War Slow Grow (FoWAMWSG). I spent the next few hours quickly putting together enough guys to get a 're-learn' game in that evening. Paul kicked off the league and I got a game at 600 points against Kyle's American Airborne. I did pretty well, but his 6 pounders made mince meat of my (pseudo-) armor. Kyle took the game, but by a 4-3 victory.

Saturday I ran a WARMACHINE Steamroller tournament at the Shoppe. We had 10 folks show, thanks to Lincoln bringing down three and a new guy coming from Columbus! It was well done and everyone seemed to have a good time. Mike L. took overall with a nasty pirate list. Chris' trollbloods took second. Alex from Lincoln took best painted, as always, and Greg took best sportsman since his tie with Adam and the new guy Nick placed him higher up in the standings. I was suppose to head over to Steve and Rob's for some D&D, but I was beat from all the activity and called and gave my regrets and headed home.

On Sunday, I spent the vast majority of the day cleaning the house as The Other Half was returning and I wanted the place to look nice. I did some priming of my Italians and the Space Hulk figures as well.

Tuesday I didn't get to hit the Shoppe as I was in Baltimore for work, just returning on Thursday night. No gaming other then Spider Solitaire. :)

Friday, I got to play golf. Hadn't done that in about three years and it shows. Luckily it was Best Ball and we used my shots about once every 15... I can live with those odds.

That brings us all current to today. I spent some time painting the Italians. Working on the Motciclisti Platoon with the Alce Motorcycles as well as the HQ AB41's. It looks like I'll have to play Steve, Paul, and Eric for the slow grow first cut. I'll post the lists and how the painting is going soon. Also the Battle Foam for Space Hulk showed up in the mail. They are nice, but looks like I am missing a slight cut on the Sargent with the Power sword. He is a bit of tight fight, but the others are OK. I may have to custom hack a bit of the foam.

jp
Catching up!

Baaaad Booooy

OK.

I'm Bad.

I haven't posted anything in weeks! I ought to be sent to Blogger Hell and burned alive. I get it.

I'll get a better update tonight or Sunday. Still trying to get back in the grove following the last business trip.

jp
Whatcha gonna do?

Monday, September 7, 2009

Sunday Family Gaming

With the Sister and her boyfriend in town we got a lot of board game action in for the night. We played at least four hands of Race for the Galaxy as my sister worked out the finer mechanics. She picked it up pretty well giving a good show at the end of the night. She had the development building <6> and was laying down new developments for a cost of 2 with all her bonuses. That combined with the bonus tiles she ended with 50 while my VP burn strategy got me 51... Close!

We also played a few games of Pandemic which we won the first one on 'easy', lost the second on 'Normal' and won the third on 'Normal'. Those were good, but you could tell folks were getting agitated with having to think three or four turns a head.

We grilled for dinner, lots of veggies from the Farmer's Market plus I had chicken and I cooked them some nice steaks. I had some beets, which I haven't had since I was little, and they weren't too bad. Might have to try again.

I did spend some time in the evening putting together the Space Hulk pieces. Wow... Very nice set. I also ordered the "Space Corridor Game Foam Set" from battlefoam.com. Lots of great pieces. I tried to play the first mission solo (Playing both Marines and Stealers) and it was interesting mechanics. Pretty straight forward and should be interesting with another player. More to follow!

Today is the last day for the visit and they fly back to their homes and I'm back to work.

jp
Sleepy

Sunday, September 6, 2009

A saturday afternoon

With my Sister and JC in town, we spent some time tootling around. We hit the Farmer's Market for some fresh veggies for Sunday, hit D-Rocks to check out some guitars as JC is a long time player, and then finally the Game Shoppe.

At the Shoppe I joined the Flames of War slow grow league and decided on creating an Italian force for my British to fight. I used by discount to get my HQ, some combat platoons, a few weapons platoon and some divisional support. A bit more the first level of 600 points, but I was using the discount so I wanted to make sure I got enough to get started.

I also picked up my copy of Space Hulk. The contents look great and I can't wait to start putting the pieces together.

After dinner at Espana, we went back to the house and played a few rounds of Apples to Apples. Good times were had by all and we laughed at all the funny word combos. My Sis almost wet herself from a really bad knock knock joke failure.

Off to bed know, more to follow...

jp
Who's there? Orange

Friday, September 4, 2009

I'll get you next Bill!

Quick Tuesday recap for me. Turn one... I move Magnus the Warlord forward. Chris moves eMadrak forard. Turn Two I move Magnus the Warlord forward and pop feat. eMadrak moves forward (out of feat) and chucks two power 20 axes at Mag's head. Mag's dies. Very sad. Well played Chris, but you suck. :)

On Thursday, I had Norm, Danyelle, Bill, A.J., and the Elder over for dinner and Race for the Galaxy. I was running late from work so the Elder and I made a quick stop for groceries and then headed home to cook, luckily most of the gang was running late too. (Defective Gamer Genes again!). I made a turkey roast cooked in teriyaki sauce. What I didn't know is that Bill has a really bad allergy to Sesame seeds and the teriyaki is loaded with sesame seed oil. Bill ended up in the ER, Norm dropped him off and came back. We played a five hand RftG with Norm winning with a military strategy and the Eldest having a strong second with about three six development cards. Bill called and had his meds to take care of his 'Save vs. Death' and Norm went out to get him.

Game two was a six handed game. The newest player (his game two), AJ did a great job of playing some good cards, couldn't say really what his strategy was, but he and Danyelle ended up tied for VP and he won on cards. Then, like any good victor, A.J. had to blow out to get back home to Sioux City.

Game three we went through the new combat rules, but it never came up in the game. Bill won with the Galactic Builder. That with the Interstellar Bank he was pulling in two cards every Dev phase and dropping 6 point cards for 2 or 3 alot. Easy victory.

At around 1130 or so My Sis and her boyfriend made it over so we rapped up the games and sat around and BS'ed for a while. They took off and I ended up cleaning the kitchen until about 1ish.

It was a good night, except for almost killing Bill.

jp
Curse you Bill, I'll get you next time!