Home again, home again...

Hey folks,

Thanks to the those that have been sending positive vibes and/or well wishes. It is always nice to know folks care!

Here is the latest. On Friday, my hemoglobin dropped down to 7.7, which is bad. The Doc thought most of it was dilution since the IV was pumping in massive liquids into my system. By 4 pm it was up to 9.2, which is better, but still a bit low. I snuck out of the transfusion, which is good, but the Doc couldn't find the source of the bleeding, which is bad.

After four test, two with nasty probes, and an arm that looks like a heroin addict's, the Doc decided that not much else we can do at this time. So he sent me home with instructions to go to the ER if it gets bad again. Modern medicine at its finest!

Friday night The Other Half got me home OK, took it easy and crashed pretty early. Saturday we finished putting the house back, with me not lifting anything over 25 lbs, just in case, but I was pretty light headed from time to time, especially if I bent over. Sunday, today, I am feeling better, not as light headed and the old BM wasn't bloody... Which, is a good thing, except I'll have to go back to work. :)

On gaming news, I am really, really bummed that I got sick because I missed the War of the Ring tournament down at the Shoppe. They only had three show up, which is a bummer. If I could have made it then we would have at least had a full round robin.

Tonight The Other Half and I played Rummicube and listened to Pandora. It was nice to sit around the table and have some blues guitar followed by symphonic metal. A nice evening. The Other Half took the evening 2-1.

On my other down time, I've been working on the super secret "Space Attack!" rule set and bouncing them off Steve. I think the general mechanics are in place, need to start looking at the Espionage and Research Cards next. If anyone is interested in a little open source development on this project (Read, Proof Read, Development, Art, Blabber, What Ever), let me know and I'll add you to distro. Doing it all in google docs at the moment, so you will need a google account I think.

That is about it, big update, not a lot of exciting news. Garage Sale next Friday. I know Rob is running a big Mega Battle for Flames of War on Saturday so no D&D. I'm hoping to put a marker on the table for the evening of the 11th. We can hope! :)

jp

Jiggity Jig

Balin Vs. Lurtz at 2000 Points

Balin looked across the field at the evil that had entered the valley. Not just Orcs, but dreaded Uhrk-Hai and leading them was Lurtz. The scouting party had given him an idea on the lay of the land. A formation of four companies of Warg riders were on each flank; Uhrk-Hai Crossbows were lurking behind the trees on the hill to the far left; a band of six companies of Orks with two handed weapons; A Phalanx of four companies of Uhrk-Hai Pikes; Bezerkers; A Uhrk-Hai warband with hand weapons and shields, led by Lurtz; Mauhur's Marauders behind the other wood cropping on the right; a company of Sappers; and finally another four companies of Warg riders. A war host if one ever existed.

But Balin was not without support. He had brought all he could muster to meet the encroachment. Two companies of Clansmen armed with short bows held the far left flank, guarding the two Ballistas on the neighboring hill. Hilik, Thane's son, a might Dwarf Champion if one ever existed positioned himself next to two companies of Vault Wardens. Clansmen held the center in two companies. Gandalf, his old friend, fought with Dysik's Shields and Balin with Gavik's Axes. Rangers, with Bows mounted the second hill, three companies, prepared to rain arrows down on their foes. Finally, on the line was a Great Eagle that had come with Gandalf. Somewhere in the woods to the far right, his brothers from Ered Luin, with young Gimli in their midst lurked in the woods preparing to surprise the dreaded foul beasts.

The Uhrik-Hai advanced rapidly with most nearly running across the field as quickly as they muster. The Crossbows entered the left most wood and took up defensive positions. Nearly every unit had a dreaded shaman. Where Lurtz had found them, Balin did not know, but he was not happy with the bolts of fire and the shield breakers that came towards his force. Balin ordered careful advances having the Vault Wardens and Hilik clear a path for the Ballista crews to fire. Gandalf summed up his sorcery and transfixed the Pikemen. He saw through his peripheral that the Great Eagle moved to get a flank on the Wargs closest to him. As soon as forces were in place the arrows flew. The scouts did enough damage to the Wargs to drive them back, but unfortunately it also gave up the flank for the Eagle. The clansmen bows took a single Warg and the Ballista tossed stone into the Phalanx as planned. Finally the Eagle swooped in on the Wargs, taking three of the beasts out, but was overwhelmed by a lucky shot that brought the noble beast down.
Balin challenged Lurtz, who answered the call, then ordered his forces forward and gave the signal for Gimli and the Ered Luin Rangers to surprise their foes. Gandalf's formation also advanced to get close to the Phalanx and Transfixed them in place to ensure they would not charge. Again Hilik and the Wardens advanced to towards the Isenguard Orcs. The clansmen bows advanced towards the Wargs, blocking their advance around the tight space between the edge of the vale and the small lake. Lurtz found his warband with enemies in the front and rear and recalled the Berserkers and Mauhur's Marauders to cover against Gimili's force. The right flank Wargs moved into a clean flank on the poor Ranger Bowmen... It wasn't going to be pretty for them.

With a mighty Baruk Hazad! Gimli threw himself into Lurtz warband as his Ered Luin Rangers tossed their throwing axes before they were flanked on both sides by Berserkers and Marauders. The Ranger bows let loose to try and thin out Lurtz Warband and both Ballista's missed their targets. Gimli charged Lurtz's warband from behind, but was countered on his flanks and Balin himself charged Lurtz to conduct his heroic dual to no avail as he and Lurtz exchanged blows to no satisfaction. Gandalf's force charged the Phalanx to only conduct minimal damage. Balin's formation did great damage to Lurtz's force, but both Gimili and the Ranger Bows were decimated by the flanks. Oddly enough the Clansmen Bows charge on the Wargs won and carried the day.

The lines have met and the blood continued to flow. As units dropped across the field it was clear to Balin that his right flank was going to crumble with Wargs in his rear, so he made a hasty move to Ganalfs forces that continued to pound on Phalanx. Lurtz as well made his move to join the Marauders as his unit began to fall. The clansmen bows finished the Wargs and advanced up the field. The King's Champion, Halik, and the Vault Wardens were finally charged by the Orcs, but armor held and damage was inflicted. They Orcs fell back and were in disarray, allowing the Dwarves to continue to press into their numbers, wittling down the huge formation. With the new lines focused on the center of the vale, the vile Isenguard forces began their sweep to the left. Both the Orcs and Phalanx finally fell, but they had done their job as the fighting forces were soon too weak to fight. Even, Halik fell, as the crossbows found their range and took him down.

-- Break Break--

Heath and I played a great game at 2000 points. Heath won by 13-10, but it was fun with lots of carnage. I am really pleased with a few new additions, but I need to get a better feel for them in the game. Specifically the Ered Luin with Gimli I think are just a sneaky combo. So far it is still a gimmick as it hasn't been 100% successful on each deployment. I think I am launching them a turn too early, allowing Heath to get folks on them on the same turn. The Great Eagle can be a beast in combat, but I don't think it should be on its own, as it needs more things to be easier targets to suck up the wounds.

jp
Baruk Hazad!

Stern! Why he is nothing but...

Didn't do much today.  Weather was bad out and we really didn't get much accomplished except groceries.

I did play four solo games of Race for the Galaxy.  I wish there was an on-line version I could tap into.  I went 3-1 which is pretty good for me.  Here is a quick look at how it broke up:

• Game one was Doom World vs. Robot's Damaged Alien Factory.  I won 29 to 24 using a VP build, which is usually pretty dangerous aganist the robot as it can usually out produce you. 
• Game two was New Sparta vs. Epsilon Erandi.  Robot won 31 to 20.  I tried to beat the robot at getting planets out, but didn't have any thing to back up the scores.
• Game three was Speratist Colony vs. New Sparta.  I won this game 41 to 39 using the military build strategy and New Galactic Order to get VP for military.
• Game four was Anchient Race vs. Epsilon Erandi.  I took this one as well 46 to 33 with a strong Alien and New Galactic Order sweep.
  

New updates on the totals can be found here at the link.

I also spent sometime painting my War of the Rings while having Heavy Metal on in the background.  I hadn't seen it in years and it was pretty cheesy.  It seems many of my long time 'favoraties' are a bit cheesy now that time has passed.  Funny how that works.  

The unit that I am working on is my favoriate unit for the WotR Dwarves, the Ered Luin Rangers, and they are all but done.  The unit is finished and I'm touching up the command section with some details as they were conversions from other plastics.  The painting isn't great, but it will do for tabletop.  I'll post a pics later.  What makes Ered Luin Rangers so good?  Ambush and Master Pathfinder.  They can get on the other side, behind the lines.  I'm thinking of adding Gimli to the mix so I can 'Toss the Dwarf' as well as throw axes before the charge!

jp
a low-down, double-dealing, backstabbing, larcenous perverted worm!

Hodpoge of suff...

A few quick things to set the day in motion.

Friday, the Other Half and I went to Sushi Japan for dinner. That in and of itself is nothing new, but given that I am on my Farewell Tour (more on this later) we took the opportunity to sit at the bar and let Chef Zac make what he wanted. Zac did a great job. I had some collar and Red Snapper which was great. The Other Half even liked the Poke and the Salmon Lomi Lomi which is saying something. We spent about two hours at the bar, I had a nice tall Kirin Ichiban that was quite yummy.

I watched 'They Live' after thinking about it last month. I was doing laundry while watching it, trying to get some of the Sunday chores done and all. Roddy Piper doesn't do a real great job as actor, does he? Keith David, as Frank, does a good job. The alley fight scene was great. I had forgotten that Meg Foster was in this. Here eyes are just freaky wrong to me, to the point of being spooky and distracting. I think she is scarier then Carnys, honest. The movie was fun and mindless, but John Carpenter's execution is just pretty blah. The story potential is great and I wouldn't be surprised to see this hit the remake marry-go-round. As with all good geekiness, check out these two videos. :)



Cripple Fight!


Finally, I got a note back from The Original Hot Carl. Seems WM Weekend will be in mid October and TBD on the whole integrate with another convention thing. On a side note, Carl is working on establishing a website dedicated to War of the Rings. it is called Epic Strike. It is very much a work in progress at this point, but he hopes to have a forum and blog like action to help grow the community to a great game.

jp
Put on the glasses!

Saturday Gaming: Schism & War of the Ring

Greetings,

Saturday saw a huge chunk of gaming happen for me. I ran the Schism event for the Metamorphosis release and played Heath a game of War of the Rings. It was a long day of gaming, having to show at the Shoppe at 0930 to set up the Schism event and then playing Heath at 1800, but then the longest day of gaming is better then the shortest day of working! :)

Hordes Schism was a pretty fun event. It is a great break from the standard tournament setting that WM or Hordes follows as their isn't a set number of rounds and you continually fight game after game. We played from 1030 to 1630 with no lunch break. Most folks got about 5-7 games in which is all good. It is also the type of event you actually want an odd number of players as it makes it quicker to get someone on an open table once a game ends. Since we had an even number of players, I got to play ringer as the odd man out. I played Cygnar with the following two lists:

One:

• Commander Coleman Stryker w/ Squire, Lancer, Ol' Rowdy
• Stormsmith
• Arcane Tempest Gun Mages w/ Arcane Tempest Gun Mage Officer w/ Hunter

Two:

• Captain Victoria Haley w/ Squire, Lancer, Centurion
• Stormsmith
• Arcane Tempest Gun Mages w/ > Arcane Tempest Gun Mage Officer
• 8 Sword Knights w/ Sword Knight Officer & Standard Bearer
  

Of the two lists, I had much better success with the Haley list. The ATGM load on Stryker is just too heavy point wise with no real counter charge backup.

Each game played after the first has a defender and attacker with flags on the field that have to be protected/taken depending on what side of the table you are on. Primary objective is to have the most wins as Defender. Secondary objective is to capture or defend the most flags, have Warjacks/Warbeast survive, and paint a non-warcaster character. The tricky part of the Primary objective is that Defenders suffer "depletion" which saps away the strength of the army as you keep winning, making it extra hard to stay on game after game. The winners were as follows:

• Smitty: Champion with four wins as defender. He wins by one extra win in the defender spot.
• Sam from Lincoln: Flag Man! Captured nearly all the flags for every game except one, while winning three games as defender. No easy task.
  
• Rich 'Constructs Rock' W.: Since the rules state that you don't count 'wild' in the survivor category and Constructs never go wild, even when the Warlock is killed, Rich racked up the points.
• Joe 'Only guy with a mostly painted army' P.: The painting competition was for a non-warcaster, character model. Three guys had something that qualified. Joe's looked the best.

After the event Heath and I played a 1500 point game of War of the Rings. I got destroyed... To a Dwarf. The VP count wasn't even pretty being 12 to 3. Heath showed no mercy and played a solid strategic game that even overcame two failed charges in the second turn.
Here is my list:

• Dwarf Warrior w/ HW & Shield - 2 Companies
• Dwarf Warrior w/ Great Weapons - 2 Companies
• Dwarf Ranger w/ Bows - 3 Companies
• Vault Wardens - 3 Companies
• Ered Luin Rangers - 2 Companies
• King's Champion - Monster
• Balin, Lord of Moria - Epic Hero
• Gandalf the Grey

I set up the VW in the middle with both warriors on either side to provide flank protection. The Rangers w/ bows took a hill to shoot down things. The King's Champion was on my right flank and the Ered Luin Rangers were ambushing in a building also on the right. Heath set up from my left to right: Warg Riders, Huri-Ki Warriors, Crossbow Orcs, Pike Huri-Ki, Legendary Scout unit, Bezerkers, and Sappers.

I let Heath have priority first so I could see how he moved out and to let him get closer for my Magic actions. We both pretty much moved forward with the Warg Riders coming quick around the end. The Sappers occupied the building on the right in a hope to avoid fire to deliver their deadly cargo.

Heath and I both used alot more magic this go around. He found a good strategy to make my expensive Vault Wardens all but useless. In the end my big advantage in Defense was negated by Shield Breaker and Re-roll spells. Very painful. Things that did go well for me was eliminating the Scout Unit with a combination of magic and heroic charge, the Monster Charge from the King's Champion, and conducting an Heroic Duel with a unit Captain of the Pike Orcs. Things that didn't go well was counter magic and the lack of mobility. As much as I like the VW, I think I'll have to cut them down to one or two stands at 1500 and add more core units or an Eagle. For a 2000 game, I am thinking an Eagle is a must for the mobility and extra monster action.

That is all I got for tonight. They Live finally made it through the Netflix queue so I'll be watching that tomorrow in the morning and I'll post about dinner from Friday night that the Other Half and I had... It was very Yummy!

jp
Mobility, Bah!

War of the Ring is Here! War of the Ring is Here!

After working a twelve hour day yesterday in service to the country (fourteen if you count the travel and gym time (Yes I went to the gym... I hurt... Another story...)) and a getting a big presentation done for work at noon, I choose to sneak out early to go pick up my copy of War of the Ring.

Not a full review, but a quick note that I'll be reading this for a bit of time. 328 pages of material will take some time to digest. It has a table of contents and an Index which are both welcome from the last GW book I purchased, going on four years now I guess. Some things I am looking forward to getting into more detail is the Fortunes and Fates as well as getting a better understanding of the Heroes actions and how to pull them off.

I also found out that the Dwarves get a Monster! King's Champion! He is pricey at 175, but gets a Fight of 8 and 3 attacks plus his own Might. Add in 'For the King' and he could get 6 attacks on his own w/ a charge while attacking first and having Very Hard to Kill. Mmmmm...

I'll post more as I digest!

jp
"Axes of the Dwarves! The Dwarves are upon you!"

Battles update

On Saturday I went to the Shoppe to play a few games. Planned on a bit of Warmachine as well as a game of War of the Ring with Heath in the evening.

I was the odd man out for WM to start, but Dan L. showed up late and we played a 350 MM/TC. I played Cygnar with Haley, Lancer, Hunter and Cent. Dan played Circle with Baulder, Woldwarden, Woldwyrd, and Warp Wolf. I was going good, having taken out the Wyrd with the hunter and using Temporal Barrier effectively to kill the Warp Wolf with the Cent. What I forgot was Baulder's combo to place a wood and jump. I placed Haley too close and it all aligned good for Haley to get crushed by Baulder's big stone sword.

Game two we played a 2v2. Mike and I played Cygnar with Striker (w/ Squire), Haley, Sword Knights x2 (one w/ UA), min Trencher, min Long Gunner, Alyanna and Holt, Jr. Cent with UA of SK, Lancer and Cent with Haley, Striker with Lancer and Hunter. We played against Doug and Adam that had Skorn. They played Makeda & Xerxis, 3 Cyclops, Titan Cannoneer, Ancestral Guardian,
Extoller, Void Spirit x2, Cataphract Arcuarii, Cetrati x2, Ferox, and Praetorian Swordsmen.

Mike and I loaded the righ flank heavy with the Sword Knights and most of the 'Jacks. Trencher, Long Gunners, and A&H took the left flank. Adam and Doug focused the big Cetrati forces in the middle with the Ferox on our left. The plan for Mike and I was to snipe the long gunners for 7" and have them ping all day long. Didn't happen. The Ferox ran up to engage the trenchers then leaped over the next turn to eat the long gunners. Holt stood his ground versus the Ferox, even if his 'Job' died. On the right flank the sword knights swooped in to roll up the flank. Striker Earthquaked the two ends of the Cetratie that ususally clipped the Titam if not Xerxis too. That with Temple Barrier and enough reach 'Jacks the two SK units did a pretty good job of sweeping the right. In the end we called the game with a 1/2 dead titan and Makeda left and two mostly full SK units + 'Jacks swooping in. It was a solid game.

Afterwards, Heath and I played a 1500 point game of War of the Ring. My Dwarf List was 3 companies of Warriors w/ Hand weapons & Shield, 3 companies of Warriors w/ Great weapons, 2 company of archers, 3 company of Rangers w/ bow upgrade, 2 companies of the Elite Rangers w/ throwing weapons, a Ballista, Gandalf and Balin. Heath had Warg Riders, 2 unit of Hurki Troopers, 1 big block of Pikeman, a specialty scout unit, a Troll, 2 companies of crossbowmen, Sappers, and Bezerkers.

My Lines - Ambushes on the left of this picture, but off screen, hiding in woods.

Heath's Lines

One of the cool aspects of this game is that things die... In droves... Heath had some great luck running getting a '6' on a lot of his magic test that usually gave him far better results then my own. More pics can be found here. I did several errors in placement. I should have had my Vault Wardens in the middle, so the flanks were protected. As I had them it allowed the unit of scouts to get through the woods and eliminate their big 10 Defense. Magic is another new point we added. I could get zero luck on the damn rolls. When you cast a spell, a roll of a '1' means it failed, end of magic. I must have gotten six ones. When I did get the magic combo off I wanted, it was pretty cool, but I think I got it only once in the last minutes of the game.

In the end I had my 3 companies of Rangers with bows left. Heath had his crossbowmen and a small unit of Hurki that Lurtz zipped too to get out of range.

Solid game, can't wait for the book so I can actually read through the rules better.

jp
To the bridge of Khazad-dum!

War of the Ring Pt I

Greetings,

I went down to the shoppe on Sunday afternoon. I was suppose to play Shoppie Paul a game of the new Games Workshop's War of the Ring game, but alas he did not show. I did watch a game between Heath and Jeffy-Jeffy. Heath is running Uruk-hai and Jeff is running Dwarves like I am.

It was good to watch a game and see how some of the mechanics worked out. Heath and Jeff played for eight rounds, then packed up for food, leaving poor sad jp to sit all alone. Their was much sadness. :( However, Little John borrowed Heath's Uruk-hai, and he and I played a 1000 point game. My list consisted of:

• Balin
• 2 companies of Warriors w/ Great Weapons, Banner, Hornblower, Capt, and Shield Bearer (Common)
• 2 companies of Warriors w/ Hand Weapon & Shield (HW&S), Banner, Hornblower, Capt, and Shield Bearer (Common)
• 2 companies of Archers w/ bows & Shield Bearer (Point Filler) (Common)
• 2 companies of Scouts w/ hand weapon, thrown axes, and Capt (Common)
• 3 companies of Vault Warden w/ Tower shields and Pig Stickers (Pikes :) (rare)
• 1 company of Ballista (rare)

You must have one common formation (group of like companies) for each rare formation + your total number of rare companies must not exceed your number of common companies.

Common Formations: 4 -- Rare Formations: 2
Common Companies: 8 -- Rare Companies 4

So all is right in the world.

I placed Balin with the great weapon company and had him lead the efforts with the Vault Warden on his right flank. The Rangers went far left and Archers far right. HW&S stayed center to defend the Ballista.

Observations from the game:

• Lots of kooky special rules, and that is OK. It was a ton of fun. The Uruk-hai had a berzerker unit that could beat themselves up and Sappers that explode when reduced to 50%. I need more time with my list to see mine, but they are there.
• Vault Warden are great, but could really use a hero, which they can't have by rule.
• Bigger formations are helpful to keep you General alive
• The combats are quick. Calculating the dice took some practice, but a single roll to determine a dead guy is way quicker then other games (hence why you need bigger formations)
• At 1K we had quite a bit of stuff on the table. 1500 and 2K are just going to fill a 4x6 to the brim
• Neither player had magic on the field. Low end shamans are 100 points so I expect we will see more at higher games.
• More heroes equals more Might. Might allows you to modify die rolls and do the heroic and epic special powers. More Might is Good.
  
• More games are needed... Not to mention getting my grubby hands on the book when it is released!

All my assembled miniatures is just about 1K. I'll most likely add another company of warriors to both the HW&S and Great Weapons to make the beefier. I'll also take either Gandalf or the Great Eagle with the other coming in at 2K.

I still have plenty of plastic dwarves left. I used the basic warrior set to make my Vault Wardens. I'll post a pic when I get it painted, but I was happy with the way it turned out. Besides it would have cost me $120 for a full formation vice the ~$37 using the plastic kits! They don't have enough armor and the shield isn't quite long enough, but, in the end, it will suffice. I'm doing the same thing with the Shield Bearer, using an old WFB Empire shield for them to make them different.

I'm not sure when I'll get a second game in... Not looking good on the horizon for ANY gaming to be honest. Stupid business trips and the like getting in the way of the important things in life like gaming! Bah!

jp
And I don't like these dark birds, they look like spies of evil.

One Week, One Scolding

Adam, a true gentlemen if ever one existed or at least he fakes it pretty well, let it be known in a PM that he didn't want me to stop posting. I thought, gee, I just posted... Last week. Doh!

Game News First (After all, you must have priorities!)

On Saturday the intrepid adventures took on the rest of the Gnolls and the associated tasks. The other rooms were a mix of traps and creatures that made the encounters very interesting. The Mirror Pillared room was an odd one as 1/2 the characters got trapped in the mirror and it took nearly the full encounter to figure out how to get them out. That left the halfling rouge, and the two Dragonborns to finish off the exploding skeletons. The other combo room consisted of a large blood pool with demons that loved being in blood along with a pair of statues that whipped the snot out of everything they hit. The party collected all the artifacts and triggered the glyphs, which triggered the green dragon and a bunch of other traps... But it opened the door to the inner sanctum as well. A very draining fight left the party low on powers, but they needed to press on versus the Gnoll priest. They caught him in mid ritual (funny how that happens all the time), but couldn't stop him from killing the last two sacrifices and rededicated the temple to Yeenoghu. In the end we got five encounters for the evening and that was some solid playing. Lots of Fun. I won't be able to hit it again until April it looks like due to work and home, but hopefully early April.

Tuesday was the last of the league play for Warmachine. I got a game in with Erik at 750. I ran Haley w/ Sword Knights, Precursors, Thorn, GMA+Maj+Hunt, and a few other things. He ran Karchev with six jacks and some mechanics. I got some good turns off, but just had too many activations and was able to keep him at bay to win by scenario. Also played two games of Pandemic with Becky, Mike and new Guy Alex (who from this point forward is no longer the new guy). Those were fun. I truly like that game.

Wednesday the Eldest and I played some games. I guilted her into not going out every night and we played Pandemic at easy and won, but lost at medium twice. I think she liked it. We then played Race for the Galaxy. I won that one by a good 10 vp. I got a lucky draw on some alien tech + the 6 point Dev card for aliens and it really all added up.

Next gaming 'may' be on Sunday. I may try to sneak down to the Shoppe for a few hours and try a learning game of War of the Rings. I've got to get The Other Half OK with that first. (Wish me luck!)

On the home front, the Eldest made it back on Saturday Night late and promptly went out with her friends. She's looking for a new job, trying the usual suspects for Omaha... OTC/Omaha Steaks/Your Call Center Here... No bites yet, but hopefully soon.

Saturday The Other Half and I are going to try and hit the Joslyn since we missed it on V-Day. Then some very good Belgium beer and food at Darios Brasserie. If you haven't tried some of the Trappist ales before... mmmm... It's yummy!

I guess that should get me off the hook with Adam. I'll update on Sunday if I get a chance to go play.

jp
I have been put on notice

A whole week... Wow...

What can I say... I'm behind the curve yet again. :) So let me catch you up on the happenings this week.

Thursday I got to sneak out for some Paint Night action at Casa Rob&Steve. Paint night is a bit of a stretch. Steve was basing his Italians for Flames of War and I put together Epic Cain for a 750 point Warmachine Tournament on the Saturday. After that 'painting' I twisted arms to play Race for the Galaxy. Steve, Paul, Eric and Rob all seemed to enjoy the game and I may be able to talk them into it again in the future.

As stated the Warmachine tournament was down at the Shoppe. James volunteered to run the event for me, which was great, so I could play. I played my new Epic Cain list with Sword Knights and GMA. Fun list, bad player. I could have one the first round by scenario, but I got greedy and went for Caster Kill. That allowed Epic Gorshade to return the favor. Game two, I put Cain WAY too out front that led him to get squished by halberds led by Ashlyn. Final game was versus Skarre and I didn't even come close as she put the hurt down on old Cain with a roll of 17 on the first Skarre Bomb... jp not do so good as a player, but he did have fun.

On another note, I did find out that Tyler from Lincoln picked up his colors and will be running WM out in that area. His first event is on the 21st of March and I'm working to see if that is something I'll be able to swing or not.

After the tournament, I had to stick and run a MonPoc event. I think that will be the last time I double dip as it makes for a way too long day. The event went fine, hodgepodge of items thrown in for support.

On Tuesday, I got to have some B-Day cake complements of Ms. Becky. I also went all in for the 'War of the Ring' picking up several plastic box sets and movement trays using my discount. I spent some time with the preview rule book and I must say, I like the system. Becky, Heath, Mike and I finished off the night with two games of Pandemic. We lost both games... I blame Becky as she drew at least six of the eight epidemic cards that showed up!

Tomorrow night Steve, Becky, Heath, and I are off to the Watchman after a quick stop at Hooters for dinner. I am very excited, despite the middle of the road average over at Rotten Tomatoes. I'll post my review on Friday as I'm taking the day of after being up until 3am!

That is about it for tonight, I'll let you know Friday my thoughts on the Movie.

jp
Giddy as a School Girl

She's a Brick House...

Wow... Bad blogger not posting in over a week! Not a lot new in the gaming front. I was in sunny Dallas last week, spent Saturday at a bad demo day, and stayed home on Sunday. On Tuesday I got to start up the Call to Arms league for WM/HD. I got a 750 games against Jame's Brick Troll army and a 500 point game against Chris' Brick Troll army.

Short Version: A specialty shooting force of Cygnar versus a brick army, just don't cut it.

Ultra Short Version: Ouch!

I tried the Gun Mage Adept Unit w/ the Dude and a Hunter being marshaled in both lists. For those playing along with the home game, that is 90+27+88 = 205 points on the table. A heavy investment at 500, let alone 750. I need to refine their use, but I like the combo of the armor piercing Hunter firing twice with ricochet. Versus James, I just couldn't get the damage rolls to mount to a hill of beans, and versus Chris I misjudged the drunken Ogre's ability to engage the hunter on the first turn. It was all down hill from their.

On the D&D front, we plan to meet up on Sunday about 1300. Looking to have a good time and eat into the adventure some. Since our normal night is Saturday is Valentine's day this year, I opted for the change.

The 'Other Half' and I are, pending weather, going to the Durham Museum for the Chocolate Display, then head over to the Joslyn Art Museum to see the Art of the American West Collection. It is actually a pretty cool idea for V-Day as it gets out of the house and going around town and seeing something we normally don't do. Most likely grab lunch out too. I'll try to remember to pick up some flowers on Friday on the way home to seal the deal.

I've got a 750 tournament at the Shoppe on the 28th, followed by MonPoc "I Chomp NY" release. Hooker mentioned he might want to run the 750, which would give me the chance to play... I'll have to get a commitment out of him for that.

One last game item, many posts around the inter tubes about the War of the Ring. The one link I saw from someone that has play tested it said it is closer to Warmaster then Warhammer. Big battles in about 1.5 hours. The Warmaster system used a command and control, where a general gives orders to formations to move, charge, shoot, attack, etc. If a unit fails an order, then it just sits. If a leader fails an order, your 'movement' is done and you got to combats. Great system and I am hoping the WofR will follow most of the ideas. The game releases in April... I might get sucked into another big battle game. Dang!

I would up date you on my resolutions, but lets just say, they are not going so well. Oh well.

jp
Breaker of Oaths