Apathy of the New Releases (Oct '17)

ViscountEric's Want List
WizKids
Wardlings Painted Minis .............................................................................. $6.99 each

They just announced the Wardlings around GenCon.  Looks like we're waiting until early next year for them.

ViscountEric's Money-Is-No-Object Want List
Arc Dream Publishing
Delta Green RPG:  Kali Ghati Adventure ....................................................... $19.99

Mantic Entertainment
Warpath: Arbiter Intercepter .......................................................................... $49.99
Warpath: Enforcer Accuser Interceptor ......................................................... $39.99
Warpath: Forge Father Drakkar APC ............................................................ $29.99
Warpath: Forge Father Sturnhammer Battle Tank ......................................... $39.99

Sanguine Productions
Madcap:  Screwball Cartoon Role-Play ........................................................ $39.95

My Imaginary Store (aka The Pegleg Gnome) List
AAW Games
Pathfinder RPG:  Into the Wintery Grave: Wrath of the Jotunn ....................... $42.95

Alderac Entertainment Group
Junta: Las Cartas ............................................................................................... $19.95

Arcane Wonders
Critical Mass ..................................................................................................... $29.99

Avalanche Press
Panzer Grenadier:  La Campagne de Tunise ..................................................... $24.99
Panzer Grenadier:  Land Cruisers ..................................................................... $24.99

Catalyst Game Labs
Shadowrun RPG: Forbidden Arcana ................................................................. $49.99

Chaosium
Call of Cthulhu - Reign of Terror ..................................................................... $34.95
Khan of Khans .................................................................................................. $24.95

CMON
Song of Ice & Fire: Tabletop Minis Game:  Starter Set .................................... $149.99

Cubicle 7
D&D RPG:  Adventures in Middle Earth - Mirkwood Campaign .................... $39.99
The One Ring RPG:  The Laughter of Dragons ................................................ $39.99
Giftmas at Dungeon Abbey ............................................................................... $12.99

Exploding Kittens
Bears vs Babies
Core Edition and NSFW Expansion Pack

Fantasy Flight Games
Civilization: A New Dawn ................................................................................. $49.95
Fallout: The Board Game ................................................................................... $59.95
Legacy of Dragonholt ......................................................................................... $59.95
Star Wars Imperial Assault: Skirmish Maps Nal Hutta Swamps .......................  PI
Star Wars: Legion - Core Set .............................................................................. $89.95

Twilight Imperium 4th Edition ........................................................................... $149.95

FASA 
1879 RPG:  Big Trouble in Little Soho - The Akkadian Connection Bk 1 ........ $14.99

Fat Goblin Games
Pathfinder RPG:  8 Bit Adventures - The Legend of Heroes ..............................  $15.95
Vs Stranger Stuff: Season 2 .................................................................................  $19.95

Flying Buffalo
Tunnels & Trolls:  Adventurers Compendium......................................................  $11.95

Gale Force Nine
Firefly Adventures:  Brigands and Browncoats ..................................................... $50.00
Star Trek Ascendancy Ship Packs (12) ............................................................... $10.00 each
Romulan, Cardassian, Federation, Klingon, Ferengi

Games Workshop
Chaos Space Marine Codex (HC) ......................................................................... $40.00
Grey Knights Codex (HC) .................................................................................... $40.00
Age of Sigmar:  Generals Handbook 2017 ........................................................... $35.00
Warhammer Underworlds:  Shadespire ................................................................ $69.99

GMT Games
At Any Cost: Metz 1870 ....................................................................................... $50.00
Coin: Pendragon - The Fall of Roman Britain ...................................................... $59.00

Goodman Games
Age of Cthulhu: Treasure Chest ........................................................................... $35.00
Dungeon Crawl Classics: 2017 Halloween Module - Shadow Under Devil's Reef $9.99
Dungeon Crawl Classics #94:  Neon Knight ........................................................ $9.99
Dungeon Crawl Classics #95:  Enter the Dragon ................................................. $9.99
Mutant Crawl Classics #7 Reliquary of the Ancients .......................................... $9.99
Gen Con 2017 Program Guide ............................................................................. $19.99
Original Adventures Reincarnated #1:  Into the Borderlands .............................. $39.99

Hammerdog Games
The Dread House RPG: HC ......................................................................... $49.95

John Wick Presents'
7th Sea RPG: 2nd Edition - The New World ................................................ $39.99

Just Insert Imagination
Savage Worlds RPG:  Winter Eternal Adventure Guide - Vol 1 ................... $24.99

Kobold Press
Eldritch Lairs ................................................................................................. $24.99
Pathfinder and 5e Versions
Fifth Edition: Prepared 2 - Tombs and Doors................................................. $19.99
Fifth Edition: Wrath of the River King .......................................................... $24.99

Konami Digital Entertainment
Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG: Circuit Break Special Edition Box Display
Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG: Cyberse Link Structure Decks
Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG: Spirit Warriors Boosters

Koplow GAmes
Dice Bag:  Leather Dice Pouch - Small ........................................................... $ 4.50

Modiphius
Mutant Chronicles RPG:  Dark Eden Campaign ............................................. $25.00
Space 1889 Ubiquity Dice Set ......................................................................... $14.99

Mongoose Publishing
Traveller RPG:  The Pirates of Drinax ............................................................ $99.99

Onyx Path Publishing
Pugmire RPG ..................................................................................................  $49.99

Pazio Publishing
Pathfinder Adv Card Game: Hunter Class Deck ............................................  $19.99
Pathfinder RPG:  AP - Ruins of Azlant Part 5 - Tower of the Drowned Dead . $24.99
Pathfinder RPG:  Campaign Setting - Taldor - The First Empire .................. $22.99
Pathfinder RPG:  Map Pack: Frozen Sites ..................................................... $14.99
Pathfinder RPG:  Player Companion - Potions & Poisons ..................... $14.99
Starfinder RPG:  AP - Dead Suns Part 3- Splintered Worlds ........................  $22.99
Starfinder RPG: Flip-Mat - Starship .............................................................. $14.99

Pinnacle Entertainment Group
Savage Worlds RPG:  Weird War I - Collector's Box Set ..............................$79.99

Pokemon USA
Pokemon TCG: 2017 World Champion Deck Display
Pokemon TCG: Sun & Moon  Crimson Invasion

Ravendesk
Herald: Lovecraft & Tesla The Tabletop RPG ............................................... $39.99

Rogue Games
Colonial Gothic RPG:  The Journey to Norumbega ...................................... $19.99

Schwalb Entertainment
Shadow of the Demon Lord: Death in Freeport ............................................. $19.99
Shadow of the Demon Lord: Freeport Companion ........................................ $27.99
Shadow of the Demon Lord: Madness in Freeport ........................................  $21.99
Shadow of the Demon Lord: Terror in Freeport ............................................  $19.99

Steve Jackson Games
Munchkin Apocalypse: (Peralta Edition) ....................................................... $29.95
Munchkin Apocalypse 2:  Sheep Impact (Peralta Edition) ............................. $19.95
Munchkin Hidden Treasures Bonus ................................................................ $19.95
Munchkin Shakespeare: Flowerspeare Pawns ................................................  $ 6.95
Munchkin Shakespeare: Spykespeare Pawns .................................................. $ 6.95
Munchkin Wonderland .................................................................................... $29.95
OGRE: Miniatures Set 1 ................................................................................. $39.95

Stronghold Games
Bottle Imp ...................................................................................................... $19.95

Troll Lord Games
Castles & Crusades RPG:  Player's Handbook 7th Printing, Alt Cover Art.. $29.99
5th Edition Adventures:  A11 - The Wasting Way ......................................... $ 9.99

Wizards of the Coast
Axis & Allies Anniversary Edition ................................................................ $100.00
D&D RPG: Xanathar's Guide to Everything ................................................. $  49.95
Betrayal at Baldur's Gate Board Game .......................................................... $  50.00
Magic The Gather CCG:  Rivals of Ixalan

Wizkids
D&D Nolzur's Marvelous Miniatures ......................................................... $4.99-29.99
25 different SKUs
Pathfinder Deep Cut Minis ........................................................................... $4.99-$24.99
14 different SKUs
Wizkids Deep Cuts Unpainted Minis ........................................................... $4.99 ea.
9 different SKUs

Z-Man Games
Cardcassonne: Expansion 4 - The Tower ...................................................... $19.99
Pandemic: Legacy Season 2 .......................................................................... $79.99
Black and Yellow Editions
Through the Desert ........................................................................................ $44.99

(Kickstarter) 28mm Classic Movies Pulp Miniatures

Chris Abbey at Sally 4th has launched their third Kickstarter, 28mm pulp miniatures covering classic movies.  This first wave looks fairly similar to those of the characters from Casablanca, but you didn't hear it from me.

Higher tiers include accessories and well as everyone's favorite North African Nightclub, Rick's Place.  

Wargaming Poll, Five Years Revisited

I found this on one of the secondary blogs that I follow. Being as there are few wargaming questionnaires on Facebook, I shall answer it here. (Now that this is five years old, I've decided to revisit it. The original answers from five years ago are in italics at the end of the new answer.

1. Favorite Wargaming period and why?  Colonials   (Last:  Colonials)

2. Next period, money no object?  Medieval - Vikings in particular.  (Last: Pre-Dreadnought Naval)

3. Favorite 5 films?  The Natural, PCU, Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure, My Big Fat Greek Wedding, Spider-Man, Field of Dreams, Gladiator   (Last:  No Change)

4. Favorite 5 TV series? I'll go of all-time, since I can't list five current ones: Herman's Head, The Big Bang Theory, In Living Color, This is Us, and The Flash
(Last: Herman's Head, How I Met your Mother, The Big Bang Theory, In Living Color, and Wipeout)

5. Favourite book and author?TR: The Last Romantic, by H W Brands, but my favorite author is Anton Chekhov.  (Last: No Change)

6. Greatest General?  Lettow-Vorbeck  (Last: Patton)

7. Favourite Wargames rules?  Mordheim. Gasp, I know, GW rules, but in that setting and campaign rules, it allows for workable game inbalance. Can't handle the Rat Ogre? Get your troops out of the way and live to fight another day.  (Last: Mordheim)

8. Favorite Sport and team(s)?  Still Baseball...New York Yankees... Wife is now a rabid Pittsburgh Penguins fan and stalks(Last: Baseball/Yankees)

9. If you had a only use once time machine, when and where would you go? 1900 New York City. Just enough culture shock. For a ten dollar gold coin, I would even eat some potted chicken, which was neither in a pot, nor chicken. I'm keeping the gold coin when I go back to the future.   (Last: No Change)

10. Last meal on Death Row?Kjottbollar, Lingonberries, Gruss-Gruss, Limpa, Green Bean Casserole, Jello, and one cup of Glogg.  (Last: No Change)

11. Fantasy relationship and why?  The wife has her "list" but I never did... must be happy or something.  (Last: No change, except my wife's list didn't include hockey players)

(Answers to questions 12-19 have not changed at all)
12. If your life were a movie, who would play you? Robert Downey Jr as Kirk Lazarus as Lincoln Osiris playing me. 

13. Favorite Comic Superhero?Captain Marvel (aka Shazam!)  

14. Favourite Military quote?
‘The object of war is not to die for your country but to make the other guy die for his.’ (George C Patton)

15. Historical destination to visit?I've never been big into visiting historical destinations, but if I need to do research for my game, I'll say Samoa. It would be very, very tough...

16. Biggest Wargaming regret?
Not getting into Rogue Trader (and only Rogue Trader). Not completely cleaning out Imagination Workshop when they closed. Selling off all my Legions of Steel.


17. Favorite Fantasy job?Running a gaming/comic shop that could turn a profit without selling meth.

18. Favorite Song Top 5?One (Metallica), Sing Sing Sing (Benny Goodman Carnegie Hall 1938), Sabotage (Beastie Boys), Cult of Personality (Living Colour), Carmen Burina.

19. Favorite Wargaming Moment?Running Legions of Steel at Origins '95. Running a kickass scenario when one of the players says, "This is an awesome scenario, did you design it/?" I explained that we took it directly out of The Tech Factory. "Oh," said the player, "I publish The Tech Factory."

Small World.

20. The miserable Git question, what upsets you?  Ignorant people.  I'm of the belief that we are all stupid at one time or another.   Those individual moments shouldn't tarnish one's opinion of that person or a group that they are part of.  That being said, there are those people who are just so woefully ignorant that they should be categorized as an invertebrate, but they are the individuals that propagate negative stereotypes. 

(Last: People who think that no one can hate anything/anyone except those who hate other things. I'm one of the most prejudicial people I know, yet you would barely notice in most environments. Start ranting about any group... ANY group, and your standing with me drops dramatically, you just won't know about it. And that is why I don't do a political blog.

...and if we're playing a game, let's just play the damn game. Bad enough I get to hear hack analysis on the latest geek phenomena, I don't care about what you think about civil rights, the economy, international relations, or the fact that Wendy's won't serve tomatoes unless requested until I after I've destroyed your artillery position. And even then, I don't care.)

(Kickstarter) Battlelords of the 23rd Century 7th Edition

Another die-hard bunch of fans of the crunchy sci-fi RPG, Battlelords of the 23rd Century have joined forces to launch a Kickstarter for the 7th Edition of the rules.

Adding more races to core character options, and the eternal mission to edit and clean up a lovingly crunchy system seem to be priorities.

The pdf is available for $25 and the monster of a main book is $50 with S&H tacked on via the backerkit.

Terraforming Mars: The RPG

While we're just getting our traditional Sunday RPG session converted to online play, the Monday night 5e game on Roll20 is going swell.  My elf barbarian, Falgor, has reached 2nd level, and is ready to cleave into a new character this past Monday night, after we wasted the last session in PvP mode.

But that session never materialized.  Jeff, our GM, gave us notice that he was bailing a little more than an hour before start, so Nate, Steve, and myself completed the second half of my Terraforming Mars RPG, using Risus.

Setting:  Mars 2048
Early Colonizers have only partial successes in terraforming Mars.  With fertilizer, soil has produced bumper yields, water has been extracted from beneath the surface, but protective greenhouse tenting is still required to protect the plants from radiation and the sudden high winds.

Excavation of a new agriculture plot has netted a strange discovery: a piece of curved steel with what appears to be hundreds of tiny rivets.  A team of geologists are dispatched to clear that corner of the site while your team continues the mission.

Over four hours of online play, botantist Beth Bowers, techs Newman Ramirez and "Burps" Ramirez (no relation), and "Project Liaison" Rick Vogel investigated the strange site, drove the colony manager insane, and infiltrated a plot about "Red Power."   In the end, a mysterious source of oxygen was rapidly filling the atmosphere, and only Liaison Vogel was saved to tell the tale.

Not a bad playtest of a scenario given that a) Steve and Nate can undermine the best ideas (including attempting to seduce a hostile in the middle of combat) and b) the scenario idea started with the phrase "Nazi-infused Martian DNA."   Probably a random statement from Ken and Robin Talk About Stuff that caught my interest, but time has buried that memory.

Still, with some touch-ups, I have a decent convention event.  

Ballad of the Pigeon God #24 (Talislanta) Rescue from Kroxour

3rd of Ardan, 151 N.A. Pleasure House of Duane Alberhold, Cymril

After speaking to Kannex again Rolf and Norm found they needed to get yet another item, and with the rest of the party not schedule to return yet, the duo was all they had.

Both Norm and the very disgruntled Rolf  took equs to a shrine two days out in search of some glowing ball.

5th of Ardan, 151 N.A.  The Tomb, Cymril
Once they found an access point to the tomb, they went inside to find a simple square room with two large sarcophagi of obvious royalty in the center, and each wall lined with the armor of ancient knights.  One wall had an dusty treasure chest, opened to reveal gems and gold, while the opposite side was a glowing orb.

Norm:  "I told Rolf not to touch it, but for the first time ever he seemed greedy and picked it up. When he did so, the armor all came back to life.  We tried to fight them but it didn't work.  Rolf put back the treasure and a voice echoed in the tomb.  For the first time, I have heard Dwarven in this strange room.  It said "leave the treasure" so I said "OK!" grabbed the orb and ran out.  We escaped no problem and got back to the brothel. "

12th of Ardan, 151 N.A. The Pleasure House of Duane Alberhold, Cymril
Seven days later and there was still no sign of the Ashe and the others.  Norm was spending his nights on the roof staring into the stars as if he was waiting for someone.  Rolf had become sullen and withdrawn, even forgetting to train with thoughts on his mind.  Sometime on the twelfth, he left the brothel and didn't appear to be coming back.

19th of Ardan, 151 N.A.  Office of Abn Qua, Moneychanger, City of Cymril
With still no sign of his friends, Norm became inpatient, grabbed Darius, who had just returned from a drunken bender after finding out he was the father of Babette's child, and rode into the city of Cymril to hunt down Abn Qua, the Kasmirin patron of the party's expedition. Grilling Qua on the fate of the party, the dwarf demanded a skyship of some sort, stabled his pony, Mytomek, and bought supplies.

20th of Ardan, 151 N.A.  City of Cymril
Abn Qua came through with a small windskiff, which Norm quickly boarded, pulled down his goggles, and cast off, Darius needing to jump aboard to follow the dwarf.

25th of Ardan, 151 N.A. The Citadel of Kroxour
Norm sailed around the stronghold numerous times.  He eventually found the windship that transported the party on the jagged rocks below, smashed from a great height.  He scaled down from the skiff and searched the wreckage, finding nothing.

Finally, Darius was able to spy a group of people huddling around a tiny fire.  Upon closer examination, they found the missing party, or at least what was left of them.  They had acquired some treasure, shoved up against the corner of the gully they were in, but they were changed.  Ashe's hair was stark white and he was mumbling.  Babette was still pregnant, but gnawing on a strangely human looking leg bone.  Kane was further down the gully, digging into the ground with something that looked like parts of his plate mail.  He stood up, dropped the shoulder piece he was using, and with a heavy sigh said, "Norm, Thank the Gods.  Where's Rolf."

Norm: "Where's Rolf???  Where's Alexi?"

Glancing over to Babette chewing the bone, Kane could only sigh again, "Alexi is dead."

Darius keeled over and vomited.

Norm and Darius got the entire party and the treasure onto a very overburdened wind skiff and headed home.

32nd of Jhang, 151 N.A. The Pleasure House of Duane Alberhold, Cymril
Two months after rescuing his compatriots, Norm still focused all his energy on taking care of his friends.  Ashe and Kane were finally acting normal, and Babette was given bed rest and hearty diet (without bones).  No one spoke of Alexi at all... and as the days passed Darius, the father of Babette's child, began appearing less regularly, until one day, he just disappeared entirely.

A huge, hulking man with a bald head and elaborate tattoos running down from his forehead to left arm stepped up on the porch of the brothel.

Rolf had finally returned home.

DM Notes:  Another quick (and extremely easy) mission for the party, then a little exposition on what happened to our heroes.  As I mentioned in previous episodes, we don't have any documentation as to Kroxour's Citadel outside of a few vague memories.  

In the later days of the party's stay in Talislanta, Rolf travelled back to the Kingdom of Taz to live and study with the Thralls.  I've retconned that trip to occur a little earlier, which allows Norm to yearn for the stars, and rescue his friends from their encounter with cross-dimensional elder gods. As none of the Kroxour party would appear in latter sessions, their bouts of madness and abandonment could be treated better than the "Oh, you completed the mission and just sat around until you were able to get home."

There are no notes about Darius after the party left for Kroxour.   Your pregnant beloved gnawing on the bones of Alexi might be enough to make the Sarista gypsy become scarce.  

Sorry, Alexi, zero notes mentioning you after Kroxour.  It was time for more closure.  Rest in Peace.

Next - #25 - The RAVANT!

Talk Like a Pirate Day 2017