(Kickstarter) One-Page Bulge by Lombardy Studios

Lombardy Studios has launched a Kickstarter to do much more than reprint Steve Jackson's wargame of effective simplicity One-Page Bulge. 

For the 80th Anniversary of the Battle of the Bulge, Lombardy Studios will make a full fledged boxed set.

One-Page Bulge  will be a solitaire and 2-player wargame that includes state-of-the-art graphics and the high-quality components that Steve and Dana's fans have come to expect. Sample art, video back story discussions with Steve and Dana, and more will be posted before and during the Kickstarter campaign.

The Call of Cthulhu Encore Humble Bundle

 Apparently Chaosium has delved into the Humble Bundle again with the Call of Cthulhu Encore bundle.

For the next two weeks, $25 for 26 PDFs that would normally go for $400+ sounds like a pretty good deal.  Plus, proceeds from this campaign go to the World Wildlife Fund

(Backerkit) Ars Magica 5th Edition Definitive by Atlas Games

Atlas Games was launched their first crowdfunding campaign through Backerkit, blasting through the base goal for the Ars Magica Definitive Edition in mere minutes! 

What's Ars Magic? Let the campaign explain it best....

Ars Magica is a troupe-style, storytelling game. Players take the role of not only powerful magi, but also the companions and grogs who serve them. Each of these characters contributes to the communal “covenant” where they all live, and to the story itself.

Players work together to tell the story of their covenant. This tale can span decades or centuries of game time. It might be heroic, tragic, or both in turn. The covenant could influence the fate of their small corner of the world, or alter the history of all Mythic Europe.

The Definitive Edition is a comprehensive collection of the current 5th edition rules, so all current books and supplements are compatible!  

The Definitive Edition physical rewards includes the Core Rulebook, Reference Book, and a Storyguide Screen, all in a beautiful slipcover.   $39.99 for the PDF, $149.99 for the physical slipcover plus PDF.

(Painting) Gnomish Space Marine Dreadnought III

And with this, I believe I'm finished painting all my Dollar Tree "Dreadnought" for the Gnomish Space Marines.

The Automated Drone P-131 from the Final Faction toy line is long our of the toy rotation, but with the various accessory packs, they could serve a variety of support function.  This one is a stock model, with plenty of firepower, even if it suffered a barrage of light arms fire where more than a few things hit true. 

With that, all "Gnomish Space Marine Dreadnoughts" are painted, three active duty, and one garish rogue operator.  The GSM also has two mobile artillery platforms, three Hlutr Halftrack Tanks, one flyer, and let us not forget, the tiny armored personnel carrier for the beleaguered Chimneysweeps.  

The current line of Final Faction toys are too generic action figure for use in smaller scale wargaming.  Too stiff, too upright. The robot, labeled a "Med Droid" is so stiff it belongs a stand-in for The Day the Earth Stood Still.    

Besides the Mecha and the Artillery platform, the only toy from the line I'd like to see return are the Khan Perimeter Defense Crawlers, which I painted up to look like dollar store genestealers. 

There's a few more vehicles to add to the GSM Arsenal, one more Hlutr halftrack tank, a few dollar store traditional modern tanks, and a ridiculously oversized 4WD vehicle for the Chimneysweeps.  I also have and untold number of bikers, hover bikes, and grav-attack vehicles, but I think some actual troops are required first....

In the Queue: Death Planet Iota Terrain  and some special Gnome Wars projects for Fall-In, coming way too fast.

Project 350: Despite all the October build-up, I've crept up to  513 (325/188) from 510 (323/187).  In past years, I'm normally knee deep in work, but with the new job, I've managed to clean up the backlog of drafts.   No matter how I space things, projects get delayed/pushed back and the months are filled with projects and ideas I don't have time for.  Like an accordion, I need to review and stretch out those posts, to  a reasonable amount for 2026, and organize the future projects.   Everything's color coded, everything's so pretty.  Now I just need to play some games and paint some minis! 

🧙‍♂️(Georic Gazetteer) The Dark Kingdoms of Vlachia

Bargle the Infamous' Alleged Castle

Dark Kingdoms of Vlachia

Pantheon: Ferasean

Ruler: King Satu Cagares (former dominion in the Thacarian Mountains).
Capital: Amatay (Formerly Fort Doom/Formerly Shelley Harbor)

Other cities: Halag, Richemulot, Borca, Kartakkass
Language: Vlach

Flag/Emblem:  Black Bat on a Field of Gold

Coinage:  Vlachian, although surrounding currencies are accepted 1:1.

Persons of Note: Durbar of Clan Steel Mountains, the Dukes of Keening, Darkon, Vechor

Intrigues: Multiple ongoing
Alliances: Miolsic, Hermetus
Hostilities: Marakeikos, Stronghome
Demi-Humans: Half-Orcs and Half Ogres.  A scattering of dwarves in the Thacarian Mountains
Magic Items: The Prism of Eight Rays, The Seeking Dart are known royal treasures. Each of the separate lords are known to have quite substantial collections.

Thumbnail Sketch: The worst kept secret for all but the most naive travelers is Vlachia's ruling class being predominantly Vampires, with an odd werewolf or other entity beyond the natural.  Traveling alone or without a sizable entourage is widely discourage, mostly foolhardy.  And if the threat of vampire lords descending upon your weary traveling bones isn't discouraging enough.  Their fervent human supporters make up the "Cult of Ghouls" to support the vampire lords in any capacity they can. 

For years a human was elected King of all the dominions, most recently "King" Ludwig von Hendricks, the Black Eagle. Von Hendricks and his court wizard, Bargle the Infamous, gave wide berth to the Vamprie Lords, and focused on a campaign of terror against the halflings of Stronghome. King Ludwig was kidnapped by Halflings in 1134, but escaped and has been rumored to be residing in Milosic ever since. Bargle the Infamous had been working for the Baron of Vadevicszy through the civil war. His whereabouts are currently unknown, although he does have the entire Duchy’s treasury in his  possession. The Lords of the Realm chose one of their own, Satu Cagares as King in 1139 who promptly used his magic and followers to destroyed the Halfling fleet blockading the former Shelley Harbor.

Vlachia has always been in open conflict with Marakeikos, and it wasn't until the the kidnapping of King Valens and the subsequent civil war that Marakeikan forces made inroads into the vampire kingdoms, seizing and permanently annexing territory adjacent to Vadevicsny.  Travel in this particular region is not for the faint of heart, but for an entirely different and more mundane reason.

Points of Interest:

The Crowned Beast of Stone - In the depths of a boreal forest west of the immortal city of Richemulot and north of the Marakeikan Barony of Teleorman can be found a statue of some great beast crowned with a rusting iron band whose spiked ends, now snapped off into jagged spears, suggested gems or valuable crystals once ran astride the crown. The weed-choked creature now stares forlornly into the stream which begins life as spring whose waters pour from its open mouth and which rushes by its front paws before disappearing in the thick forest and eventually emptying into the great swamp and mire to the north of Richemulot. 

The wizards and alchemists of the region have set traps and guards within the forest, paid druids to charm creatures and enchant plants, illusionists to hide the spring, necromancers to set guards that neither sleep nor rest nor tell tales, as well as magicians and witches cast dire spells to protect this source of so many of their potions, solutions and balms.

Mentions of Vlachia in the Blogs:

Lost Dispatches of Feraso #40:  Mentions the the western border of Vlachia borders the Duchy of Vrianos in Ras-Prythax.

Lost Dispatches of Feraso #51: The Tower of Enerk and Vlachian human adventurer named Viesbustus

Lost Dispatches of Feraso #54:  Safe travel across Vlachia in a large group.

Burning Trogs Rule! #5: Cecelia Darkspruce travels through Vlachia to arrive in Marakeikos.

Burning Trogs Rule #17  Mentions of troubles along the border with Marakeikos

Burning Trogs Rule #18: The Trogs spend a day in Amatay before getting waylayed by the Slavers of Roark.

Burning Trogs Rule! #22: The Redrock Cohort clears out some dungeons along the border.

Burning Trogs Rule! #33: Mentions of the conflict between Stronghome and Vlachia in 1135.  The kidnapping of King Ludwig.

Burning Trogs Rule! #37:  Cecelia Darkspruce travels across Vlachia, only moving during the day.  

Burning Trogs Rule! #38:  Descriptions of the dark woods, Lawlessness along the border.

Burning Trogs Rule! #45:  The start of the Marakeikan Civil War. Bargle's attempted communiques with the kidnapped King Ludwig.

Burning Trogs Rule! #50:  Marakeikan troops disappearing en mase in Vlachia.

Burning Trogs Rule! #51: The death of Count Vlad'Neer of Morosvia by the Terval Sit and the Burning Trogs

Burning Trogs Rule #52:  Chaos traveling Vlachia in the aftermath of the Master's surrender. 

Burning Trogs Redux #0.3:  Cecelia Darkspruce named Baroness of Teleorman in 1148. 

Burning Trogs Redux #2:  Clarkos Metropoulos, veteran of the Black Eagle War.  

Georic Gazetteer: The Almond Coast: Mention of Prince Morteos Woszlany, formerly of Vlachia, now a lesser Prince of Emron.

(Gnome Wars) The Great Snail

This past Historicon, my Saturday night Gnome Wars game had an unexpected visitor: a D&D flail snail that a player had purchased at the flea market and I could find no good reason not to allow it on the table.  I made up some rules on the fly, and, as I planned, it proved more of a distraction to players than a game breaker.

Going through some ancient Gnome Wars correspondence with friend of the blog, Award-Winning-GM Mike Lung, I discovered he proposed giant snail rules way back in 2011!  

Great Snail (Wild or Unmanned)

• Moves Slow:  6" 
• Moves Randomly unless guided by gnome, guide gnome can also encourage the snail to use its acid spitting attack.
• Moves over any obstacle without penalty, except salt or fire.
• Hard to Kill: Only legal 6's with light arms wound the creature.  Heavier weaponry, treat as a tank.
• Wounds: 4 (Tank results supersede wounds)
• Weapon:  Acid Spitting  12" artillery, 3" diameter template
• Leaves a slime trail behind, effect lasts 3 turns.  Roll d8 for each gnome crossing, on a 1-3, the gnome slips and falls. Each roll to get up, the difficulty goes up by 1 (1-4 fails on first attempt, 1-5 on second, and so on.)  Gnomes that can't mathematically succeed are removed from the table. 

(Gamma World) This is Not a Test #52 - The Stone Pavilion, Part Three

Our heroes, the De Facto Explorers,  are exploring outside the KIA Academy, and have uncovered a new race, a weapon of alchemical destruction, and a certain Stone Horse of Destruction that's back to flesh.

================= 

Sneaky Pete: A mutated weasel scout.  Pete's telepathy and night vision take a backseat when he whips out his electrical powers.  

Sonny Helianthus: a sentient sunflower artifact examiner with trusted Restorationist ties. Knowledgeable,  but not a good one with device repairs or upgrades.

Slitheran Wurmtail (aka Squiggles): a mutated earthworm scout, in impromptu power armor, looking for trouble, and finding it often.  Previously "gave birth" to a litter of sentient earthworm babies, but recently has been subject to genetic testing and developed super-human strength, a more human body, and a thick coat of shaggy white hair.

Lathar Bracken: A pure-strain human from River Bend.  He's got the muscle, the face, and a mount for most encounters.  Lathar's trusty beast of burden, No Name, travels wherever he does.  No Name has recently been fitted for a artillery device of the Ancients that chucks spears further than any human.  Looking for trouble in all the right places.  Former jousting champion of Fair-Town and has been awarded... a peacock he has named Chambray.  He's recently been struck by a weapon by a strange race of people and transformed into... something else.

RHA-9: A lab assistant piece of "Living Metal" that seems to have befriended the group... for now!  Currently getting repairs done by the Restorationists.

================= 

With the aid of the Toard Jakey Children's Alchemical Laser, the great Stone Horse of Destruction had been transformed back to.. Charlie, half-man, half-horse.  Similar to Lathar, he was in a state of confusion, but the current state where even his human torso was covered in horse-hide, He was regaining his faculties. 

Pete tried to run over to calm the transformed mutant, perhaps to use his telepathic powers to calm him, but No Name had come running around a tree and stunted at the man-horse.  It took Pete all his telepathic power just to chase No-Name away far enough so Charlie wouldn't bolt.  

A concerned No-Name

Pete tried to calm the man-horse, but the moment he spoke again, he was aware of a speech impediment that he apparently did not have previously.  "What happened?  Why do I talk funny?  What happened? What's wrong with my mouth?"

Pete tried to calm him, "Hey friend, we're friendly, but you've been through an awful lot, We're going to help you!

"Why can't I speak? What's wrong with me?

"We're going to explain to you, but you've been through something terrible to your body, and we're going to get you back to your friend and friends.  You're Charlie right?"

"Yeth, but do I have the same issues as those two over there.  One is a green man and the other's a talking flower."

Pete realized Charlie was pointing to Lathar and Sonny,  "The green man still suffers like you did."

"What about the furry worm?  That's an abomination!"

"Can argue with that, Charlie..."

Sonny walked around the e-cart that had been transformed to terracotta clay towards Lathar to see what had become to his friend.  Lathar had transformed into some shiny green mineral, or precious stone.  Squiggles had questions, "Are you like that inside and out. Do you need to eat?  Do you poop?"

Sonny attempted to allay Green Lathar's fears.  He was still greatly confused but recognized the happy flower.   With his task completed, he planted into the ground and attempted to decipher the instruction manual for the Children's Alchemical Laser.  

Pete searched the remaining blue men bodies that hadn't been vaporized in the blast.  The had a few rare and random coins on them, and some hardy longbows.  Pete did detach a number and clasps, emblems, and insignias.   He then went back to the pavilion to investigate that shimmering lines that looked like obvious traps.  He climbed over the pavilion side to find himself inside the stone structure to see the the supports for the roof.    Pete did detect each line had holes drilled into the rock, and the shimmering abated the closer you got.    Pete called Squiggles over to have a look...

"Just watch out for the booby traps."

"What booby traaaaaa......."

The furry worm stumbled towards the steps.     Pete pulled him away until he was out of harm's way.  Squiggles' right leg, below where his knee would be, sat on the steps, completely cut out clean and cauterized. 

Squiggles cried out, "That's supposed to be attached!!!"   

Sonny went through the inventory of drugs and such on RHA-9.   He ordered RHA to apply anesthesia, which knocked  the worm out.  Sonny then applied a med-kit to Squiggles.  It didn't reattached a leg, but it did make him get out of shock.

RHA-9 with the anesthesia,

Pete, "Doesn't he regenerate his limbs?"

Sonny, "I've never seen him do it in all our years."

Between Squiggles' accident and two confused individuals, Sonny wanted everyone out of the clearing and heading back to KIA Academy proper ASAP.  They strapped Squiggles (and his leg) securely on top of No Name and headed out.    Pete searched for traps and ambushes, while Sonny tried to fill in Charlie on what happened.

"I got hit by children's ray gun?  I've been destroying parts of town for no reason?  Are my wife and kids okay?"

Sonny, "Yes,  that's our best guess.  And we talked to your family, they're physically fine, just worried."

"Do I still have my job?"

"I don't know...."

Going over a small ridge, the source of some smoke became quite prominent... the RUINS of the Toard Jakey!  

RIP Toard Jakey

Pete was much more concerned about the set of giant tracks moving around the now-ruins, akin to RHA-9's treads but much much larger.   Even more concerning was the tracks coming and going came KIA Academy lands.  The group walked along the edges of the road to be less conspicuous.  

Charlie was certainly coming to his senses, even if everything was calibrated.  He identified the tracks for a construction vehicle,  uses for digging, building and destroying.

Sonny actually asked for directions from local homesteaders to exactly where the White Hand was located in, and the locals surprisingly complied.  

At the White, there was great interest to the group as they walked up  They did have enough domars to afford to reattach Squiggles' leg.  This procedure took many hours, and the rest managed to get some much needed sleep.  Both Lathar and Charlie began acting more "normal" than they had before.   The White Hand attendants, did do a complimentary once over for the two transformed creatures.  Charlie seemed to be reconstituted into flesh, but even the human parts were covered with horse hide... including his tongue!

Without further testing, they believed Lathar was all mineral, with working organs made of a malleable version of the material.   They diagnosed both as suffering from cases of "Izagone." or "unwilling transformation" 

With all the extra-time, Sonny found a plot of land outside, sunk in his roots, and continued to work on the instruction manual for CAL (Children's Alchemical Laser).   Sonny realized there were significant issues between the instructions and the physical equipment.  The CAL in the book had eight basic settings, with a white pull-string randomizer.  A keyboard was used to for color codes.

The physical CAL Sonny was looking at had a dial with over 200 settings, along with a much more complicated keyboard.  Everything sample instruction in the book focuses on a button for "bubble gum" that does not exist on their device.

The surgery was a success, although Squiggles took hours longer than normal to recover from the anesthesia.  Outside of a large shaven band below with knee with a straight line scar around his leg.

Charlie:  "Can I go home finally?"

GM Notes: During an aside, we calculated that semi-precious Lathar would be worth $32,000,000 domars.  They will not be selling him off for parts... for now.

The description of  fancier White Hand facility at KIA was interpreted as a Post-Apocalyptic Apple Store.  They weren't far off.

Next: #53 -