Another Month of Gaming (June '21)

 Just another happy springtime month of new solicitations out of Game Trade Magazine from Alliance Distributors.

Issue #256 of Game Trade Magazine can be found at your FLGS or in pdf form here.

ViscountEric's Want List

Steve Jackson Games 
Hex Bases .......................................................... $8.95

It's a stupid purchase, but those are what I wanted if I were to use paper minis/stand-ups AND they have hex bases?   SJG 4954

ViscountEric's Money-Is-No-Object Want List

Nothing

The Imaginary Store List (The Pegleg Gnome)

Acheron Games

Branclonia RPG: Setting Book .......................................... $49.00

Branclonia RPG: Marcaronicon ......................................... $49.00

Branclonia RPG: Condottieros Screen ............................... $19.00

Alderac Entertainment Group

Ten ..................................................... $19.99

Whirling Witchcraft ........................... $39.99

The Army Painter

Gamemaster Matt Sealer ................................................. $12.99

Gamemaster Terrain Primer Desert & Arid Wastes ......... $12.99

Gamemaster Terrain Primer Dungeon & Subterrain ....... $12.99

Gamemaster Terrain Primer Ruins & Cliffs .................... $12.99

Gamemaster Terrain Primer Snow & Tundra .................. $12.99

Gamemaster Terrain Primer Wilderness & Woodland ..... $12.99

Capstone Games

Orleans .............................................. $59.95

Catalyst Games Labs

Battletech: Battle of Tukayyid ........................................... $39.99

Battletech: Campaign Operations (2021) .......................... $39.99

Battletech: Strategic Ops - Advanced Aerospace Rules..... $39.99

Shadowrun RPG: Power Plays ...........................................$39.99

Chessex Manufacturing

Excitement:  New Chessex Battlemats and Megamats in both Black-Grey and Blue-Green colors.

Disappointment: No pricing.

Gale Force Nine

D&D: Tyrants of the Underdark Board Game (Updated) ............... $50.00

Goodman Games

Tales from the Magician's Skull #6 ..................................... $14.99

Greater Than Games

Sentinels of the Multiverse - Definitive Edition .................. $59.95

Iello

Khora .................................................... $54.99

Kobold Press

City of Cats (5e) ................................... $39.99

Southlands: Worldbook HC (5e) .......... $49.99

Southlands: Player's Guide ................... $19.99

Konami Digital Entertainment

Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG: 2021 Tin of Ancient Battles ......................... $19.99

Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG: Cyber Strike Structure Deck Display

Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG: Dawn of Majesty Boosters

Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG: Legendary  Duelists - Synchro Storm Boosters

Looney Labs

Wonderland Fluxx ................................. $16.00

Ludicreations

Operation: Kindergarten ..........................$30.00

So, You've Been Eaten ............................. $35.00

Mantic Entertainment

League of Infamy .................................................... $99.99

Armada: Basilean Dictator ...................................... $29.99

Armada:  Dwarf Dreadnought ................................. $29.99

Armada: Empire of Dust Monolith  ........................ $29.99

Armada:  Orc Ripper Hulk ...................................... $29.99

Terraincrate: Bathroom & Kitchen .......................... $29.99

Terraincrate: Gothic Grounds .................................. $19.99

Terraincrate: Gothic Manor ..................................... $79.99

Terraincrate:  Graveyard ..........................................$29.99

Terraincrate: Servant's Quarters ............................... $29.99 

Modiphius

Fallout RPG Core Rulebook ..................................... $52.00

Fallout RPG New Vegas ........................................... $40.00

Fallout RPG Dice ...................................................... $20.00

Fallout RPG GM's Toolkit ........................................ $30.00

Fallout Wasteland Warfar - Super Mutants .............. $23.00

Five Parsecs from Home Solo RPG ......................... $30.00

Infinity RPG: Combined Army Supplement ............ $22.99

Infinity RPG: Paradiso Planet Book ......................... $22.99

Infinity RPG: Shadow Affairs Campaign ................. $23.99

Infinity RPG: Tohaa Supplement .............................. $22.99

Infinity RPG: War Market - Mercenaries SB ............ $22.99

Rangers of Shadows Deep: Creature Card Deck ....... $21.00

Monte Cook Games

Numenera RPG: Verticles ......................................... $29.99

Ptolus Character Portfolio ..........................................$19.99

Available in Cypher System and 5e

Osprey Games

Sigil & Shadow RPG............................................... $35.00

Undaunted: Reinforcements - Operation Torch Exp ..... $40.00

Paizo Publishing

Pathfinder RPG: AP - Strength of Thousands 2 - Spoken on the Song Wind ..... $24.99

Pathfinder RPG: Bestiary 3 Battle Cards ........................ $59.99

Starfinder RPG: AP - Horizons of the Vast 2 - Serpents in the Cradle ................ $22.99

Starfinder RPG: Flip-Tiles - City Alien Quarter ............... $19.99

Starfinder RPG: Tech Revolution HC ............................... $39.99

Pokemon USA

Pokemon TCG Sword and Shield - Chilling Reign Build and Battle

Q-Workshop

Japanese Dice Set (7) ....................................... $17.00 each

Blue Star Lotus, Cherry Blossom Petals, Deep Night Firefly

Redshift Games

Tacopocalypse .................................................. $11.99

Lawyer Up ........................................................$39.95

Lawyer Up: Godfather ...................................... $15.00

Laywer Up: Witch Trial ....................................$15.00

Merchants of Magick: A Set a Watch Tale ....... $29.95

Skybound Entertainment

Kim Joy's Magic Bakery ................................................... $20.00

Steve Jackson Games

Random Fun Generator ..................................... $19.95

Stonemaier Games

Wingspan: Speckled Eggs ................................................. $20.00

Stronghold Games

Captains of the Gulf ........................................... $69.99

Clever Cubed .......................................................$19.95

Islands in the Mist ............................................... $49.99

Wizards of the Coast

Magic the Gathering CCG: Adventures in the Forgotten Realms

After being with the same company for over twenty years, it finally happens.....

Magic the Gathering CCG: Modern Horizons 2 

Bundle, Collector Booster, Draft Booster, Set Boosters

Wizkids

Adult Green Dragon Premium Figure ....................... $69..99

Gargantuan Tiamat .....................................................$242.00

Rolltop Indigo: Risus For Sale

Over the last week I've noticed a series of tweets from author S. John Ross regarding the potential sale of Risus.  Some were quite succinct, while others hinted at darker undertones.  

Thanks to a recent post on his blog, Rolltop Indigo, there is no impending doom prompting this sale (no more so than this COVID-19 universe has doled out in recent memory).  It's appears to be a well-thought out personal and business decision, and I'm hoping someone with good intentions and a sizable wad of cash can make a more than reasonable offer to him.

(Review) Watching Over Yellowstone

Unlike the regular Historical Wargaming buffs, I eschew studies in the bigger historical periods.  I read enough ACW and WW2 in high school and Napoleonics aren't my thing.  I much prefer the smaller campaigns, the less well-known events that impact society in different ways than the sledgehammer military events:  Lettow-Vorbeck in German East Africa.  The Samoan Civil Wars.  The Battle of Yellowstone.  

For over thirty years, the United States Cavalry were the caretakers and administrators of Yellowstone National Park.    In those early days, the soldiers maintained the park, aided and tried to control the growing tourism to the regions, and dealt illegal poaching and other operations that snuck over the boundary.  It was a different type of assignment compared to any other, stateside, and produced a unique set of challenges to the enlisted men and officers alike. 

In Watching Over Yellowstone, Thomas C Rust does not try to rehash the story, as it is already available.  Rather, he delves deep within the collected letters of enlisted personnel and civilians living near the park, entrusted to the Yellowstone National Park Archives, piecing together the how the men overcame loneliness, remoteness, and far too many opportunities for largely unsupervised shenanigans and hijinks, and far, far worse.    

Using the soldiers' letters personalizes them, and makes the reader seek out more interpretation and empathy as they are charged with desertion, drunkenness, and dereliction of duty. I'm still questioning how much of things were the overwhelming depression and loneliness that being so remorte does to a person, but at the same time, learning how much it took to walk to civilization (with a train station) and board a train, I'm beginning to question the mental sate of the men.  

The book is also chock full of new pictures detailing the Park during the US Cavalry's management.  If I do ever return to my Battle of Yellowstone game, I have considerably more source material for the table than I had before.

Watching Over Yellowstone is definitely worth 4 out of 5 gnomes.

(Painting) Just a Gnoman Ballista by Brigade Games

My massive program turnover at work is still on-going and is taking up most of life right now, throw in the kid's basketball practices, a family demanding I open a pool (without assistance), and a flurry of indirect COVID cases complicating life, I haven't had much time for painting, but I have completed one piece. 

I continue to go back to my lead pile for Gnome Wars and finished just the ballista from the Gnoman Empire Ballista (currently sans crew).

From Brigade Games

I did grab the ballista crew so I could paint up four figures, with the outside motivation to eventually base everything together like a mini-diorama with removable bases.  

Of course, I've come to realize that these dudes have been part of the lead pile for nearly a decade.  I picked them up during their debut at Historicon 2011 in Valley Forge!

With all the new lead I'm adding to the pile, it's nice to remember the years that kicked the addiction back into overdrive. 

I think this ballista and crew will have a fairly basic scheme, although I'm pondering how I'm painting the normal Gnoman Infantry fitting for the protectors of Caesar's Palace in The Eleven Sand Seas of Nevaho.

Next: The Memorial Day Weekend is already turning into something crazy, so I doubt I'll get anything done for May.  I'll avoid just rambling off my normal hopes and dreams and give you a snapshot of what's lined up on my painting bench:

I figure anything with paint on it has a chance of getting ticked off the list in June.  And just in time to possibly finish off a box of Gnomish Space Marines, three more orders of various figures get put at the bottom of the to-do pile.

Project 350: 492 posts (324 drafts/168 scheduled) are hiding behind the scenes in blogger.  It's down  from 494 (327/167).  I do have a whopping FIVE Star Wars Actual Plays to write up, but it's Summertime crunchtime for getting some of my game ideas into motion (thus getting some of these drafts posted and the numbers dropped.  

In less than two months, the topics for #RPGaDay2021 will come out and I love to set up each question before starting the project.  Nothing like knocking the project into the 520 again (for at least a month.).  It's amusing that #RPGaDay and my first bout of poor health made the numbers soar, and I didn't really see any decline until I cleaned house while bed-ridden with my second hospitalization.  We're okay now.  We have to be, my blog list is almost as bed as my lead pile!

(Georic) An Overview from the Georic Gazetteer

 An Overview of Georic

A thorough review of the continent of Talaishia is incomplete without a mention of the world it resides in, as well as the prominent landmasses related to it.

*Senzar: One of three continents that are islands, Senzar is directly off the coast of western Talaishia, and thus heavily influences that part of the region.  Over the centries, the many kingdoms have merged together to form the great Senzar Empire.  A magic cataclysm during the War of the Magi with the Principalities of Emron devastated and sank a good portion of the land, but it still qualifies as a continental landmass.

*Azir: The vast Azirian landmass is definitely the largest on Georic.  It is filled with a vast trove of knowledge and culture of the Parthia, Chi'in, Hi'in and others, yet at the same time is the incubator for some of the most terrifying barbarian hordes on the planet, simply known as the Galmar.

*Afrik: The southern neighbor is separated by the Mare Med, this land is a vast array of nations, ranging from the ancient Empire of Khemmet, to Oasian Kingdoms, to Senzar colonies, to secret jungle empires with rumored untold riches. 

*Vargaard: Located far west, beyond Senzar, little is known of the continent beyond differing magick techniques, and a few Talaishian colonies on its near shore.  

*HyBrase: South of Vargaard is HyBrase a vast jungle land dominated by a vast river basin that's rumored never to end.  Legends coming from the most deranged explorers and skyship captains always refer to the "Hamaz" a race of terrifying women warriors who regularly hunt other native races and east their flesh.

*Lemuria:  What advances is magecraft can be atributed to Senzar, the distant Lemurians are rumored to be the innovators of the most devilish and ghoulish clerical magic known to mortal men... if they are mortal men to begin with.  Lemuria is the second continent surrounded by water, and the smallest, hiding in the middle of the Mare Titannica

*Nagan Wruk: This, the most distant and mysterious of the continents, this island continent holds its secrets, as even the islander of Mare Titanicus rarely venture on its shores.

A Note About the Empire of Feraso
A large number of notations and citations in this guide reference the Ferasean Empire.  This Empire has had many forms, since it's original inception over 1,100 years ago, and has influenced almost every corner of the continent.  Even to this day, there dozens of false pretenders to the throne, in addition to almost every country staking their own claim at legitimacy.  

Overview: 
Despite the far-off and exotic locations, the Talislantan continent and its surroundings present nearly unlimited opportunities for discovery and adventure. Certainly many dangers exist, and xenophobia is rampant amongst all races, but it has shown to be welcoming for those who are willing to make it their home.  

Customs rapidly evolve, change, and their reverse themselves within just a few miles, so it is wise to advise trustworthy travel advice before traveling.  Traveling in groups of trustworthy companions, is wise, unless such a large group attracts larger groups of brigands, hucksters, and camp followers.

Currency: Every nation mints their own coins, but they largely followed the Ferasean standard for gold coins.  This standard allows most coins to be used in other countries, although some exceptions exists.  The "Imperial Standard" in gold is worth 10 silver or 100 copper in most countries.  

Roadways: Thanks to incredible acts of public works the Ferasean Empires, Talaishia is bleessed with a wide network of roads.  Unfortunately the Successor states the fallen empire left behind have been less than stellar with even the most basic of upkeeps to the system.  Expect sudden and repetitive tolling, with no warning through most of the Ras-Prythax and other Ferasean Successors.

Modes of Conveyance: Despite the worries of road maintenance above, most roads are perfectly suitable for foot and horse travel, although many trails are simply not wide enough for other transportation.  

Seas and Waterways: The continent benefits from a vast river network and solid mercantile build-up.  Canals make further travel by boat easier than previous possibilities. 

Skyships:  The most advanced mode of transport, beyond magickal prestidigitation, is the magical dynamo powered skyship.  

Where methods of land and water travel fail, there is always the possibility of obtaining passage on a windship.  Both the magic-users of Senzar and Emron know the secrets of making these devices, which can sail through the air hundreds of feet off of the ground or barely hover off the ground.  These devices are quite prohibitively expensive.  Only the richest and most powerful indvidiuals would have access to, much less ownership of, said vessels.  The Emron-Senzar War of 1135 saw the militarizaiton of the vessels, at the cost of a devastating military budget which further caused the collapse of these two magical powers.  

Does That Make the Green Army Guys Imperial Guard?

This is the odd corner of 40k that I love.  Something that fits more in its Rogue Trader ancestry than today.

Calicodan doesn't seem to have any other contact info beyond his Instagram.

(Star Wars d6) #3 - SPAAAAAACE PIRATES!!!

Our "Heroes"
Ne'vets Aharo - an exotic animal broker, both legal and otherwise
Evus - Twi'lek former mercenary, Ne'vets' armed muscle
Tarrie - Human pilot for the upcoming mission
Frokazza - Wookie co-pilot, mechanic, and unarmed muscle.

Shanghai'ed!

Our heroes, aboard the Imperial Passenger Cruiser Hyrkania,

Have been attacked by pirates!  

Thanks to the muscle mass of a Wookie, 

They've been able to subdue a small handful of the space bandits. 

But when an errant blaster shot knocks out Frokazza,

Things get a little hairy.

Evus and Tarrie dragged the downed Wookie into an airlock/lift.

Ne'vets quickly ran back to the Wookie's room, grabbed his briefcase bowcaster, and in a titanic waste of shots, barges down the corridor, blaster blazing, to distract the pirate riflemen, proceeding to dive into the airlock/elevator.

A quick blast of the airlock's controls bought them some time and they negotiated the central hallway to the medical station.  Tarrie was able to stabilize Frokazza, but the Wookie was still out cold.   More screams and blaster shots could be heard around the ship.  

With all the action occurring in the front of the ship, including the weapons locker, and, if things went south, the escape pods, they moved up the deserted hallway to the front airlock/lift. 

Ne'vets disabled the lift controls, and allowed Evus to manually open one set of doors and sneak down to the huge observation deck.  Screaming passengers continued to be herded toward the front of the ship, forcing the Twi'lek to hide in hallway crevasses.  Once getting a good view of the observation windows, Nevus could see a very beat-up Correlian Cruiser docked with the Hyrkania, possibly from above.  The Twi'lek returned, re-sealed the door and reported his findings."

Tarrie was confused, "Pirates docking with us?  How did they do that with us in Hyperspace?"

Just then, two other doors to the airlock opened with two pirates on each side, very surprised to find the heroes (and a possibly dead Wookie).  

Evus literally leaped into action, catching both of them flat-footed and performing a double clothesline. 

Grabbing their blasters and handing one to Ne'vets, Evus moved towards the opposite side of the ship.  After watching another group of terrified passengers and following pirates dashed down the other hallway, they all could spy the nearby planet out that side's observation windows.

"Don't know what it is, but it definitely shouldn't be a regular stop." 

The lift began to jerk, as someone on another deck was trying to clear Ne'vets' override.  It lurched another time, and the others moved Frokazza up.  The lift continued to move up foot by foot, and before it cleared, our heroes spied something on the other observation deck.  A pirate could be heard, saying that the back end of the Hyrkania was cleared of passengers and they were good to go.  

Further towards the bridge, the sounds of repeating blaster fire, a few muffled screams, and a lot of thuds could be heard.  

Nevus led the charge up the opposite side of the ship, but it was Tarrie who soon took over the lead.  He got to the corner of of the wide-open disembarkation area and spied around to see a ghastly sight.  There were at least two dozen pirates, largely facing the opposite direction.  Three of the pirates were wielding heavy repeating blasters in harnesses and facing the far corridor.  He could make out a handful of bodies, but he was sure that most of the passengers were dead.  

Tarrie stealthily tried to make it to the weapons locker, and if needed, the Hyrkania''s bridge.   Halfway to the locker, he could see that it had been blown open, and most, if not all, of the weapons had already been seized by the pirates.   He turned to head towards the bridge and not two steps in, kicked a piece of debris, which hit the wall with a large *KAR-PLANG*. 

All twenty-some pirates turned around, quite confused.  

Tarrie went into a short monologue about how he lost his blaster, and everybody already took the pistols from the weapons locker, and what's up with that.

*crickets*

Evus had seen enough and with two hold-out blasters in hand, came around the corner and began firing wildly.  That allowed the pirates to turn their attention (and weapons) fire to him, and gave Tarrie a chance to dash down the corridor.  

With their options extremely limited, the trio, still dragging the Wookie, dove into one of the last escape pods, and shut the door.

"Thank you for using Hyrkania's escape pod system.  For the courtesy of the other passengers, the hatch will not lock until we are ready to depart in one minute."

The pirates rounded the corner and began firing. 

Ne'vets quickly went over to the door control panel and expedited the countdown, Tarrie grabbed the seat with some controls, in hopes that he could maneuver the craft, and just when things looked the bleakest.... Frokazza the Wookie woke up, quite startled by his environment.

In seconds, the Pirate's heavy repeater blasters made it near the escape pod, just as Ne'vets overrode the system, jettisoning the escape pod into space!!!

It's unsure what happened next.  Perhaps the heavy gunners breached a panel on the ship, causing instant decompression.  Perhaps it was the Pirate Corvette Blaster Cannons firing at the pod, and damaging the Hyrkania.  Regardless, both ships exploded, and either weapons fire or debris hit the pod, sending it out of control (and knocking out the badly injured Frokazza... again) and sending it hurtling down to the unknown planet below.

Next: Episode #4 - Crash-Landed!

(Review) Dragon Knight Games, Pittston, Pennsylvania - Revisited

Looking back, it's almost two years since I review Dragon Knight Games, in Pittston, PA.  A LOT has happened in that time, but went I'm tasked to bring food home from an establishment two blocks away, I simply had to take look inside to see how they held up.  

Wow.... and I do mean wow in a good way.  

The back area for open gaming is walled off with a doorframe to enter.  The leaves the front, as complimentary as I can, in a near boutique status.  The front is nice, it's inviting, and in a complete 180 of the last 15 years of game store economics, it is chock full of inventory.  

Let's just review some of the same items I covered two years ago:

Location:  A proper storefront on Main St in Downtown Pittston is certainly not a bad location.  There's a large population mere minutes away.  Of course, it's embarrassing that work is only two or three miles away from the shop, but their peculiar "gamer hours" and my schedule limit the time I can swing in.  

Cleanliness:  Now this is a store I could easily recommend to a "Warhammer Mom!"  It's  impeccably clean, well-stocked, and the open gaming area looked spacious and safe for Junior to play in. 

CCGs: I had limited for a full overview, but they had numerous Magic boosters available for sale, and the display cases were chock full of cards.

Miniatures:  The GW crowd was their bread and butter, and they have embraced them whole-heartedly!  I can safely say it's been years since I've seen this many miniatures in a store.  Plus there's a small selection of  D&D/Reaper minis, and a corner where they're selling 3-D printed minis.  

Other Stuff:  I have followed the progress of the store on Facebook, so I was pleased to see some of there promotions and expansions have held up.   Yes, there's the Citadel paint rack, as well as Army Painter  & Primer rack, but they offered other options for primer and sealer as well.  There's a huge display of non-GW/AP brushes as well as a display of actual model railroad scenery at reasonable prices.  A store that offers alternative options to some of the overprice stuff builds loyalty as they attempt to drive costs down.  

I left the store with a few items: 

• Krylon Primer and  Matte Sealer I probably could pick up cheaper at Michael's but I , but it was a pleasure to do so knowing that options were available there. 
• Army Painter Leather paint (the one color paint I don't have and is certainly necessary with what I play).
• ... and a couple packs of the latest Strixhaven School of Mages Magic set.  Cool set, cards remind me of the Wizard School theme deck I built for fun post-Homelands.

The transaction was seamless and the woman behind the counter was pleasant, while still letting me do my shopping.

Even in a COVID world, Dragon Knight Games has made vast improvements on the solid foundation they started with.  I'm happy to upgrade their rating four out of five gnomes in the Gaming with the Gnomies Five-Gnome Rating System.

Dragon Knight Games is at 61 S Main St in Pittston, Pennsylvania.

#RPGaDay2021 is Coming!

Temperatures are just breaking 90, pollen is thick in the air like glitter in my daughters' arts & crafts project, the only thing missing from the early signals of Summer would be a teaser announcement for this years' #RPGaDay.

It is one of my favorite concepts.  Thirty one different RPG questions, and over each day in August, hundreds of gamers discuss their own interpretations and stories.  It may not start for more than two months, but it gives me an opportunity to clear out my own drafts to slot in at least 31 more posts.  

(Kickstarter) The Halfling Food Festival

With each successive (and successful) year celebrating #zinequest, the gaming community has a further explosion of smaller, individual projects that many assumed would be the bread-and-butter of Kickstarter.  

As much as I love the mega-campaigns from the industry's bigger players, fun zines like The Halfling Food Festival by Evil Pigeon Games warm my heart and force me to open my wallet a bit faster.

From the Kickstarter:

This zine gives you everything you need to have your own fully-fledged Halfling Food Festival in your game. You can use it as a fun filler session, a way for your players to spend and make some money, or use some of the suggested plot threads and optional dark secrets to make a whole arc or campaign out of it. Whatever you choose, fill your boots!

Contents include:

• A whole bunch of NPCs along with their stats and stalls
• Rules for selling monster parts for food
• Adventure hooks and plot lead-ins
• Side quests galore
• New potions and magic items
• Tables to create brand new dishes and delicacies on the fly
• New monsters
• A whole set of dark secrets to explore

(Painting) Gnomish Space Marine Lasgun Squad

The kid's crazy AAU schedule, mixed with a critical last week to launch a new system at work should equate to zero time to paint, but I managed some relaxing time at the painting bench.  

I finish my requirement to paint up a pack/squad of troops for my Gnomish Space Marines with a Lasgun Squad, secretly Space Dwarf Rifle Squad from Battle Valor Games.   

SCI-FI 115 Space Dwarf Rifle Squad (5

The lasguns give them a more classic Squat look, but the barrels are long and narrow, and a few are weakened enough that they'll snap off sooner than later.  

I'm happy I ordered them, but it does compound my situation.  I pledged to the Battle Valor 15mm Baggage Trains Kickstarter in order to gain access to the BV back catalog at a substantial discount.  With my backlog on my lead pile, I might focus on more support weapons and the squads with SMGs. 

Average Gnomish Space Marine Lasgun Auxiliary (125pts)

While the Gnomish Space Marines are the bread and butter, there are certain recruits who do not pass muster to join their ranks. Lacking a certain tenaciousness, trainers focus the majority these failed recruits on the range and organize them into lasgun auxiliary detachments.  A weapon with a longer range gives them tremendous advantage, but woe be to the squad that falls within melee of their enemies. 

Shooting: 6 
Fighting:  4
Agility: 4
Hit Points: 20
Speed:  10cm

Slow (-1d6 Move) Iron Skin (+1d4 armor), Light Armor, Laser Rifle 

Next:  Gnome Artillery for the Eleven Sand Seas of Nevaho, Blue Martian Cultists, and the next string of GSM is prepped.  I still have five packs of figures (and possibly three tanks) to finish my initial BV Kickstarter, and then Space Gnomes take a backseat to Pulp Cthulhu, back to Gnomes riding Quads, and finally some Legions of Steel.  I'm still confident that I can fill one of my Chesses cases full of new figures before October. 

Project 350: 494 (327/167) from 494 (326/168) .  With an off-week for basketball, I'm striving for a game and some focus on catching up on my Star Wars Actual Plays. However, I also have tentative live testing of the new system at some point over the weekend before it goes live for the general employees on Monday.  

(Kickstarter) Pulp Alley - Starter Set

Pulp Alley has launched a Kickstarter for not only a Starter Set for their like-titled game, but two new Pulp Alley expansion books and and new miniatures releases!

Directly from the Kickstarter:

The Pulp Alley - Starter Set Box: Includes everything two players need to start their Pulp Alley adventures -- Core Rules Book (softcover), Quick Start Guide, Fortune Deck, Rewards, Scenario Markers, League Cards, Character Figures, Dice, and more! It also includes metal figures and cards for the Dundee Scholars (Lucky Dundee, Elaine, & Milligan) and Minerva's Mercenaries (Minerva, Ramjeet, Ujarak, Kadeem, & Toklo).   Not bad for $85 plus S&H!

Pulp Alley - Characters Book: This expansion book for Pulp Alley includes new abilities, new bursts, hundreds of pre-made characters, and more. These ready-made characters may be used as colleagues, backup, minions, NPCs, denizens and so on. Over 130 pages.

Pulp Alley - China Station Book: This expansion book for Pulp Alley includes 12 thrilling scenarios to play as stand-alone games or as part of an ongoing narrative campaign. Can you survive the wartime intrigue and perils of China Station, and solve the mystery of "code 327". Over 80 pages.

Mandatory AAU Basketball Rant: Week 6

Certain words come out of our mouths during these tournaments.  The words "point differential" were the culprits this weekend. 

We returned to the Philly suburbs for last weekend's tournament.  Unlike the logistical nightmare last time, everyone of our games for both girls (heck almost all of the games for the club's 14+ teams) were played at Competitive Edge in King of Prussia.  Essentially five basketball courts in  a small warehouse building with bathrooms and a snack bar.  Parking could be problematic at times, but a minor quibble compared to 40 minute drives between games.  

So many games in one site meant one could position yourself to cheer on the 5th and 6th grade girls at the same time.  

 Millie:  Despite being worried about opening against the previous champion Comets, they discovered it was a different, and almost as talented team from the same club.  They won a tight game 28-25, continued their dominance of District 1 27-11 and waited to see if the final team in the pool  actually showed for the final Sunday pool game.  They were no-shows for the weekend, so they decided to move up the championship game to the game 3 morning time.  There was a surprise rematch with District 1, and the Clutch proved victorious, 18-6.  

It's a lot easier to win championships when you always make it the championship game.

For some parents, it meant an earlier drive back home, or a chance to do something in the area without coming home too late.  With a second child, that was never an option.

Maja:  The 6th grade team had the misfortune of having five teams in their pool.  This meant that, with a three game play format and no playoff, you could go undefeated in pool play, but a second team you did not play might also go undefeated and it would go down to tie-breaker criteria, the dread Point Differential.

For the uninitiated, Point Differential is just combined margin of victory (loss) for each team.  The stat caps off at 20 (-20) to prevent soul-crushing embarrassing losses for the sake of victory.

Of course, at the end of the Saturday, but the Clutch 6th grade and team, LM Fire, were undefeated.  The Fire had ripped through the lesser teams in the pool, maxing out their +40 point differential in the two games.  Maja's team blew out the one team, but opened with a tough Femcor team and only won by 7.   

That night at the hotel, it was fun with statistics as we tried to explain to parents how we could win all three games, and still not move on to the championship game, thanks to tie-breaker criteria.

Assuming we would defeat our last team by more than 20 (we beat them 41-4 in our last encounter), it would come  down to the Fire playing Femcor.  Our +47 in three games meant if the Fire won by eight or more points, they would advance.   It was possible, and we waited for updates during Millie's championship game.  

After all the hand-wringing and math, it was moot point.  The Femcor team overwhelmed the Fire, and we were the only undefeated team in our pool.

Of course, the other pool was no picnic, in fact, it was a nightmare scenario of teams who had either won championships, or had beaten the 6th grade team earlier in the Spring.  All but one game were hotly contested, but a new team (to us) out of Bensalem emerged from their undefeated pool champ.  

Like their tournaments two weeks ago, shots would not fall, plays seemed methodical,  and Bensalem took advantage of the few good opportunities they had.  Despite keeping them to under twenty points for the first time in the tournament, they fell 17-11. 

Next week is an off-weekend, so outside of a local clinic run by a family friend, I'm hoping both girls get a chance to chill out and ice down some sore points.  Maja's suffering from double plantar fasciitis and is proving to be an unruly patient with ice, rest, and stretching.  

(Star Wars d6) #2 - The Slow Boat to Botajef

Our "Heroes"
Ne'vets Aharo - an exotic animal broker, both legal and otherwise
Evus - Twi'lek former mercenary, Ne'vets' armed muscle
Tarrie - Human pilot for the upcoming mission
Frokazza -Wookie co-pilot, mechanic, and unarmed muscle.

Trying to escape from the thugs of Laroc Niksab (see Episode #1), the running gunfight moved through the local evening market, knocking down tents, tipping over Space Fruit carts, and setting things ablaze.  With the Taris-3 Planetary Police Force coming to intervene, Ne'vets decided it was best to reach the Imperial-governed starport and get off-planet.

On the way, a few more carts were flipped in the way of the thugs.  Evus had the misfortune of grabbing the wrong cart, precious pottery or trinkets went scattering, and he was assaulted by the old lady manning the stand.

Once the doors of the spaceport closed behind them, and they were in Imperial jurisdiction, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.  Ne'vets waved credentials to two stormtroopers who were more concerned about proper paperwork for the Wookie.

The sheer presence of the Wookie was enough to distract the stormtroopers from noticing Frokazza carrying a very-illegal bowcaster.  Ne'vets led them over to a wall shelf to review credentials, giving Frokazza enough time to break down the bowcaster into a piece of luggage the size of a briefcase.

As the next set of doors into the facility let them in and close behind them, the ruckus of thugs and Planetary Police erupted in the streets.

There was one ship left to depart.  Destination: Botajef, through the Imperial Passenger Liner Hyrkania.

"Botajef is far enough away.  I'll take four."

Ne'vets paid for the tickets and weapons checked were checked as secure luggage (save the briefcase bowcaster).

Frokazza was the only one to realize that the Hyrkania took a local route to Botajeff, off the main hyperlanes.  It planned on stopping at every rinky-dink planet with a docking station.  In his conversations with the others, only Ne'vets understood this would take so unbearably long.  The others came to an understanding when they were assigned two-bed cabins to stow any equipment.

Safely on the ship, Tarrie finally asked the big question?  What do we know now?   Botajeff was a star-hub, two hyperlanes intersecting each other, so you could easily catch better transportation to wherever they needed to go.  Ne'vets would make some contacts.

Tarrie went up to the bridge, and with some friendly banter, got access inside. Some of the crew protested, but were quickly quieted by the Captain.

"Why are we we letting him on here?  We don't let baby Jawas on here.  Especially baby Jawas."

He got a quick tour from Captain Reyrod Numel, a semi-retired Imperial Officer, all in front of a backdrop of the hyperspace.

Too many prying eyes prevented Tarrie from dickering around the astrogation system, and by that time, Frokazza finally caught up to Tarrie on the bridge.  The appearance of a Wookie on the bridge cut the visit short.

Evus got some free time from Ne'vets and wandered the common areas.  He grabbed an egg salad sandwich out of the automat replicator.

As soon as everyone gets settled, the Hyrkania pulled out of Hyperspace and made a stop at an orbiting spaceport, dumping a handful of travelers.  A few more people, the "salt of the planet" get on.

Ne'vets finally made some headway with his "legitimate" exotic safari hunters. Abel Norrum, a stylized big game hunter, was actually in this sector, and was scheduled to be on the planet Hijano, one quick jump from Botatjeff.    He was very vague, but there might be opportunity to get out of the sector, and some adventure while they were at it. 

Another stop, and by then, gambling in the common room seemed to be the right activity until it was time to wander back to everyone's rooms.  

Sometime in the middle of the night, Frokazza was awoken to some commotion in the hallway.  He nudged Tarrie awake and looked out the door.  There were two men who didn't seem like passengers, beating one of the obvious passengers with batons.  Blaster shots could be heard in the distance.  With his boots dropped by the doorway, Tarrie immediately started to scuffle with one of the baton-wielding men that was a scrap involving many dodges, parries, and counters.

Frokazza grabbed his foe by the throat and slammed him into the wall, killing him instantly.  

Tarrie's scuffles were not as quick, as the guy immediately saw the fate of his friend and struggled loose, quickly dashing down the hall, and further down a side passage.

At this time, Evus and Ne'vets woke up and popped their heads out of their cabin door.  They spied the elderly couple sharing the cabin between theirs and Tarrie's, wandering in the middle of the hall, waving further down the hall, and ultimately getting gunned down.

When they popped their heads back out, the murderers were gone, so they decided to investigate further.

Another human operative was herding five or six passengers up the nearby side passage. Evus caught him off guard, allowing the passengers the chance to flee.  While Evus did most of the work, Frokazza came in at the end in a fury of blows and finished him off.

Down the side passageway, there were three individuals: one with a baton, the other two with blaster rifles.  Evus was caught flat-footed in the T-intersection with that side passage.  Fortunately,  blaster fire wildly missed.  He picked up a baton lying in the hallway and ran back to Ne'vets and Tarrie.

Blaster fire from every direction echoed through the entire cabins area.  While Aharo's crew were dashing to the front of the ship, others could be heard getting gunned down.  

All the while, Frokazza was stuck behind his friends.  He needed to run back and grab his bowcaster briefcase. from his room.   Snatching that, and quickly ending an encounter with a lone brigand, he dove across a hallway to meet up with his friends, dodging fire each step of the way.  His clumsy attempt at a somersault ended up with him sitting on his rear, unable to defend himself.  The first blaster rifle shot missed, but the second was a deadshot to a man, knocking him out.

It bode poorly for our "heroes"...

GM Notes:  Let the Wookie win, unless you're holding a blaster rifle.  As we continue to get warmed up, the first step was to work out some melee combat with some unskilled pirates with generic stats.  It was intended to be easy, but throw a Wookie in the mix, things are decidedly not fair.   

Also not fair is a clumsy Wookie trying to roll to avoid fire.  Perhaps "hiding" against the wall and drawing one of the scumbags with rifles should have been his tactics, but it is session #2.  Give them all time, even if Frokazza was fleeting.

Next: Episode #3 - SPAAAAAAAAACE PIRATES!

The Archaeological Reconstruction of My Gaming Record

One of the big things I did after the dead-stop phase of the pandemic last year was drop off my old hard drive at the local computer place to try to recover whatever they could.  I had them start on my Hackmaster GM Toolkit Folder, and those files were successfully recovered.  

The guy promised to keep working on recovering anything, but the drive was near dead when I got what I got, so I've officially written it off.  

There was a lot of miscellaneous crap that would make me wax nostaglic, but the loss  of the drive saddens me on two accounts. 

#1 - Five Eight seasons of my solitaire Dice Baseball Federal League that were never printed to hardcopy.  My 1995-2008 seasons have a proud spot on my bookshelf.  I guess the storyline ends with Boston finally winning the pennant and before they surmounted the mighty Washington Senators as the next dynasty.  Washington becomes a basement dweller with a move to Brooklyn and Baltimore relocates back to Providence, but Atlantic City never goes to Hartford... plus the league expansion of 2016 might have been the breaking point... if the kids hadn't taken away my free time.  

#2 - My Gaming Record.  Crammed on the right sidebar of this blogs is a lot of crazy data.  Figures painted, games purchased, want lists, but one of the craziest thing is the ten plus years of my gaming data.  

Under each year is each game I've played followed by two number (*/*).  The first number is the number of times I've played the game (sessions when it comes to games like Magic), the second is the number of times I gamemastered, moderated, or was teaching someone how to play.  Playing Settlers of Catan?  That's a 1/0.  Teaching Magic to some kids at the store?  1/1.   Running D&D for the group?  0/1.

Here's the scary fact, the 2009 to present on the blog is miniscule.  I had my entire gaming history recorded...

... since 1990

... on that blasted hard drive. 

It survived years of hand writing, more years of floppy disks holding word processor data, then PC floppies, and finally that old computer.  

With hours of waiting in between training sessions and testing sessions at work, I did a little historical research  and digital archaeological digging to reconstruct my gaming record.  I'm never going to recover the minutiae of how many games of Legions of Steel I ran for people back in, but  I could compile when I ran games.  

Those that know my weird gaming calendar know that this is complicated by the Fall con season, so I've done my best to put things into perspective.  

What's posted below is by no means complete.  Just while writing this out, I realized two glaring omissions:  a TORG game circa 2003, a Midnight Massacre game of Fire and Fury pre-kids,  and my entire 90's run of Talislanta.  

Here's hoping my Google Drive survives until I can finagle a hard copy of this.

Learning How to Paint - Nostalgia

Recently, I've been trying to expand my podcast catalog.  One that I'm still on the fence on is Trapped Under Plastic, a painting pocast on two guys who focus on GW models, but a variety of techniques.  The episodes are waaay too long (80-90 minutes), and the content can be broken down into thirds (1) douche-y rambling (2) mindless meandering (3) really solid content.  

Guys, keep your topic focused and cut your time in half, and I'd put this above Ken and Robin Talk About Stuff on my podcast listening pyramid.

Season 2 Episode 16 (see below for their Youtube channel), they discuss painting resources that *gasp* are not on Youtube.  While not exhaustive, it was a great list for the casual or mid-range hobbyist, I heartily recommend the episode, even including a well-deserved rant on B&H 

That got me thinking about my influence for painting.  Honestly, it's not a very long list. 

The biggest influence to improve my painting has been the "Gnome King" himself, Jim Stanton.  I don't always do every step of his "How to Paint a 2-Footer" class from HMGS cons, but when I do, the figures come out great.  For someone who is a great painter (and has friends who are even more phenomenal), the focus on the three-foot is an efficient process to make figures visually appealing on the tabletop (from at least, you guessed it, two foot away).   

My original painting guide appears to be lost in history.  I can't find anything on the internet that resembles what's stuck in my brain.  I believe I picked up a simple four-page Ral-Partha brochure for free from Hobby Hangout in the early 90's.  It may or may not have used a Battlemech to keep it simpler, but the process only included four steps.

1. Base Coat

2. Wash (Diluted Black was recommended until one became "proficient" in it.)

3. Drybrush (Definitely stressing an older used brush.

4. Detail

About as basic as one can get with some cheap brushes and a few jars of Ral-Partha paints, it was the perfect guide for me to complete my Rifleman, Blackjack, and Charger in Skye Ranger colors.  

The free Ral Partha brochure was far less detailed than this one.

I'm disappointed that my introduction to painting may have suffered the Mandela Effect.  It wasn't the painted mechs inside the Battletech Compendium, it wasn't any oversimplified 'Eavy Metal pages.  Perhaps it was an insert from the Battlesystem boxed set?  We may never know.

Camouflage is Unnecessary in the 41st Millennium

Seriously, that's why I painted up four of my snipers in legit camo, then painted two "40k Style" where guys could see those snipers easily... from space. 

(Painting) Egyptian Terrain and Jar-Jar's Cousin's Former Roommate

We got hit with 3 inches of rain on Tuesday night, even with double pumps, the ground is too... squishy to properly drain the water.  

While I'm systemically going through at least three projects on the bench, the only thing I've gotten off finish were a few random out of production Egyptian pieces from the Sands of Egypt line from Windsword.Accesories

The other items I finished was a random WotC Gungan.  I don't remember how I procured this guy, probably some clearance or flea market, but he's officially off the lead pile.

Gungan Scout WOC 40066

Pondering Gamma World - I don't list pdfs on my gaming purchases list, but I did grab the 4th Edition Gamma World rules for $9.99 off of DriveThruRPG.   ZineQuest products made me look at playing a game for the girls.  

Next:  Blue Martians, Gnomish Space Marines, and one more individual figure would finish up my goals for May, but that's easier said than done.  

Project 350: 494 (326/168)from 498 (327/171).  Some soul-draining drafts are finally getting completed and will see the light of day shortly.  I'm still behind on Star Wars Actual Plays, and balancing paint time versus writing time is proving problematic (Let's not even talk about gaming time). 

Let's Play! - PLANET 28 by Mammoth Miniatures

The Guerrilla Miniature Games Youtube channel made an episode to look at Planet 28: 

  

(Kickstarter) Magical Kitties Level Up! by Atlas Games

 Magical Kitties Save the Day is the RPG where you are a magical kitty, and you help your human and save the day!  

Atlas Games is back with more arcane feline goodness for the whole family with Magical Kitties Level Up! now on Kickstarter.

This Kickstarter starts as a reprint of the Deluxe Edition of Magical Kitties Save the Day, the new Power Up! sourcebook featuring more powers & epic-level adventures, Fantastica, a new hometown filled with fairytales and magic, and the Series Workbook Pack, including the new Our Hometown Workbook and four My Kitty Workbooks to bring your story to life!

Seagulls (Stop it Now!)

 Although my cruise week has been reschedule, no use wasting a perfectly good post. 

For those not getting the reference, take a few moments and enjoy.

An Ode to Maja, on this, her Twelfth Birthday

Oh my goodness, how did my daughter Maja already reach her last birthday before her teens?

Even with a "Date Night" with my wife, she demanded Pappas Pizza and the comic book shop, two staples of when Mepcaon was in Scranton.

My wife has always joked that Maja was a great "starter baby," who didn't prepare us at all for the lovable playful chaos which is her younger sister, Millie.  For all our worries of a little girl who could keep to herself, she's blossomed into a social butterfly (when she wants to) with numerous interests that she doesn't always share with all of her friends.  

For God's  sake, she developed and interest in Manga, then anime.  And not the normal fantasy/sci-fi stuff that gamers gravitate towards.  It's the sports stuff!  She even tortured my wife with going to see Demon Slayer on their Mother-Daughter date night!

Sure, the pandemic has hastened her steps into moody teenager hood.  She's quite self-sufficient to stay in her room all day, only venturing out for food or the bathroom, but her grades are good, and no red flags pop up when we occasionally check up on things, so she's just a normal kid during COVID.  

On a positive, she's still into "American" comics.  (Reminder: I need to pull down my old comics for her read.  They might end up back in the box in better shape than when I gave them to her.)  Gaming-wise, she's hit that "edgy" zone, which can either go into rules lawyering, all Chaotic evil parties, or to be like her Dad, and if you lose, make their opponent pay for it.

I did teach her Chess this year, and between that and her odd love of musical theatre, I will ensure that she'll be considered the eclectic one.  Nothing wrong with that at all.

Of course, the one thing that offsets that is her athletic streak.  She's made her school's junior high team for this Summer, is looking into Volleyball, and in the most selfish proud Papa moment, she told me that she'd like to learn how to hurdle, and knows that Dad knows stuff about it.  I never asked for any extra support than what my parents gave me, and I was fine, but with our household, the sky's the limit for what she can accomplish, no matter what she wants to do.

(Star Wars d6) #1 - That Damn Laroc Sniksab

Our "Heroes"
Ne'vets Aharo - an exotic animal broker, both legal and otherwise
Evum - Twi'lek former mercenary, Ne'vets' armed muscle
Tarrie - Human pilot for the upcoming mission
Frozzack - Wookie co-pilot, mechanic, and unarmed muscle.

The mission was simple, meet with previous client Laroc Sniksab to discuss obtaining a Diluthian Drop Bear. Definitely not legal, but full discussion of compensation. Ne'vets' team would be responsible for getting one directly, rather than use one the big game hunters or other connections everyone had.  The meeting was on the planet Telos, an urban, but still backwater planet.  Telos was under Galactic Empire control, but day-to-day functions were relegated to the Planetary Authority, which easily tolerated illegal activities without prying Imperial oversight.

A Diluthian Drop Bear

Ne'vets arranged to arrive by passenger ship with his crew.  The rendezvous with an illicit cargo would use a  freighter, but for business purposes, Aharo preferred the leisure and protection of Imperial passenger ships, especially since this route was beset with pirates.

Ne'vets set up the meeting for a back room at a public place, standard operating procedure for these meetings.  What wasn't standard was Laroc arriving before them.  They had brought seven others to oversee the negotiations.

The whole meeting was a double-cross. Laroc's men had weapons pointed the moment the door shut, leaving Aharo's group flat-footed.  Despite delivering on the goods from the last transaction, a Gungan Baby Kraken, Laroc was not satisfied and demanded a partial refund, namely the large number of credits they were carrying for future transactions, and leaving them on this backwater planet.

Laroc's men did not anticipate Evus getting the jump on them. Two of the escorts were dead from blaster rifle fire before anyone could hit the dirt.

Tarrie grabbed a pitcher of water on the table and splashed the others with a quick, "No refunds, no returns," grabbing hold of Ne'vets and the Wookie and ran out of the room into a more public place.

It turned into a running gun fight through the streets as the crew desperately searched for a safe spot to lay low. Laroc's men kept within sight, even running through a crowded market. Neither side worried about civilians as they fired wildly at each other.

Evus and Tarrie's shots only succeeded at knocking down tents, removing cover for their escape.

With signs of the planetary police force coming to intervene (probably paid off by Laroc) Ne'vets made a fateful realization that the safest place was the Imperial-run spaceport and a cruiser off-planet.. and the spaceport (and the last ship out for the night) closed in mere minutes....

GM Notes: Wildly shooting into a market isn't a good thing for the force-sensitive, or anyone else really.  And awaaaaay we go!

Next: #2 - Going Off-World