(Scenery/Terrain) Killer Cacti of Death Planet Iota

Sometimes you have a pile of projects a mile long, but when something quirky comes along and jumps to the front of the queue.  

After seeing Skinflint Games post about Alien Cactii reminiscent of an early 90s 40k table, and seeing some of the projects that are "almost done" on the table, it made sense to knock these out.  

I'd have them done sooner, but there apparently was a regional shortage of Styrofoam balls and toothpicks, so much that I couldn't make them an impulse buy at a hobby/craft shops on the way home from work, or even swinging by a shopping center after a tournament.   

After finally obtaining these silly things (and now having enough for an entire forest(?) if I dreamt of it) the only thing that slowed me down was layering.  Enough Citron Green to soak the balls, enough time to let the glue gun do its magic, and enough time for the Forest Green wash to soak into the nooks and crannies. 

But ViscountEric, it's Styrofoam.  Shouldn't it melt using spray sealant?

The multiple layers of paint protected the spheres, but where there was pitting is where I splashed the orange wash in the holes. 

Still, for a Planet 28 campaign that's on a multiversal nexus, where everything/one gets dumped and it's survival of the fittest, the cacti are a necessary edition.  How I actually use them is a different story.

Next Up:  Figures befitting Killer Cacti

Project 350: Big day, as we drop to 456 (298/158) from 458 (300/158).  A lot of the scheduled drafts are self-sustaining.  A post RPG Actual Play posts Tuesday, and more material needs to be written up from our Monday game.   And I'm sure I'll get some interesting posts for future Easters and April Fool's Days.  There is still a glut of material to do/play in my drafts, and since I should have the kids this weekend, I plan on visiting my mother for her birthday, and spending the rest of the time playing some games.  Some test Pulp Alley perhaps, maybe some Formula D/Ticket to Ride, and perhaps a delve into Gamma World?  

2023 Mid-Year Review

 My gaming year runs October - September, so the end of March is time for a mid-year review.

• Work, Work, Divorce, Divorce, Work, Basketball, Basketball, Cold, Work:  A new position at work, and a new career direction ought to be celebrated, especially the flexibility provided by it to handle all the crazy basketball the kids do.  Except, all of that was dampered by the mutual separation of my wife and I, the stress of me finding a place and moving out during the busiest season for work.. and the holidays.  It was so much, I actually stepped away from helping run the local basketball rec league... and came back under protest to handle the playoffs.
• Gamma World:  103 episodes of Star Wars d6 are completed and written up, and we're going through the growing pains of Gamma World 4th Edition.  Even allowing Renaissance tech has created a lot of meta-gaming, but I'll continue to press forward, and encourage them to move east on the map.  Monday nights continue to be the high point of my week.  
• You guys like what?  Let's be honest.  Folks love miniature game AARs more than RPG actual plays, at least in blog form, I haven't provided them much of that reading material.  I will point out that out of the Top Ten list from last year, only three remained in the top 10 at the end of the year, so things are always changing.

1. Fall-In 2022! (Conventions)
2. Cold Wars 2023 AAR (Conventions)
3. The Bachelor Gaming Lifestyle (General Blogging)
4. (Planet 28) Battle for the Tractor of Ukrainius (Planet 28)
5. (Planet 28) Incident at Colgar Station 6 (Planet 28)
6. Lehicon 7 with Twenty-Six Years of Hindsight (Conventions)
7. Gaming with the Gnomies New Hotness (General Blogging)
8. (Star Wars) #63 - Inside the Spyder (Star Wars d6)
9. Gnome Wines and Mad Elf (Gnome Art)
10. (Star Wars) #61 - A Team in High Demand (Star Wars d6)

Conventions:   Fall-In!, Mepacon, and Cold Wars have created the solace to my soul.  Here's hoping Historicon and spring Mepacon do more of the same. 

Checking off my Gaming Plans from the start of the year:

1. Unofficial Painting Guide to Gnome America Update - Hard to do when the Swiss troops you'd base your painting around are out of stock at Brigade Games.  Units just starting appearing back in stock at Cold Wars, but this has been a process to watch unfold.  

2. Gnomish Space Marines - Planet 28 Second Edition did arrive, but I'll continue to run through the impromptu campaign using the 1e pamphlets, for now.  Almost everything on the painting bench now is related to that game. 

3. Star Wars Life Day Game - Never went off, so I might reserve it in a "Life Day in July" sense.  

4. Star Wars Kurabanda of the Old Republic -  The one shot had more of a Jackass feel to it than Jedi awesomeness, so  I posted some comments about it and left it at that *COMPLETE, FOR NOW*

5. Pulp Season 4 - Getting the Season 4 "Made for TV Movie" has not been on the top of my to-do list and it should!  I try not to play/post stuff specifically for views, but the Pulp games before best overall and launching into Pulp Alley should be a a great influencer for traffic.

6. Zombies - Outside the appearance of some in the HMGS Gnome Wars game, and some Post-Apoc discussion by the boys, definitely need to revisit this.

Checklist for the Second Half of the Year

5. Gaming with the kids

4. Painting with the kids

3. Season 4 of the Pulp Game... someday

2. Expanding the Gamma World campaign

1. Moving through the Lead Pile backlog

Federal League 1920: The Prequel I May Actually Have Needed

With everything else going on, the craziest idea I've had is not restarting my Dice Baseball campaign... from the very beginning.  

Early on for the blog, I expressed my love for Dice Baseball, and even admitted that I ran my Federal League for 22 years, right up until the birth of my first daughter.   The old desktop didn't survive its time in the garage, and although I recovered a lot of RPG material when the hard drive was salvaged, the 2009-2016 seasons I did not have hard copies of just could not be retrieved.  A bit despondent over that loss, I shoved everything back onto the shelf in their binders and longed for a way to restart thing.  

It took the freaky snowstorms in March to ponder things, but akin to that show Yellowstone, I'm doing a prequel!

My Federal League always started after the failure of the original Federal League, so to build out teams for a new league was a cinch.  After years of worn out notebooks, dated word processers, and MS Works for the last storage, I have doomed Google Drive now, as everything will be stored in an online folder.  I even have a binder full of inexpensive loose-leaf to maintain all scoresheets.  

And, to avoid flooding the Gnomes with America's pastime, I started up a new blog: Federal League 1920.  Expanding things to eight teams, but maintaining 50-game seasons is gong to be chaotic, so I might as well write up very short recaps (sometimes in old-timey newspaper speak, other times), and help keep myself alert of other trends and issues each team is facing. 

(Star Wars d6) #83 - An Honest Day's Work

The Crew of the Pretio in This Week's Episode 

Ne'vets Aharo - an exotic animal broker, both legal and otherwise, majority owner in the Pretio.

Duk'k - Sipsk'ud Bounty Hunter, recently rescued by the crew. Offering his services in order to get off this barely existing hunk of mud. His warning shots are dead center mass kill shots.

"Sid" - A peculiar woman who has shown to be a better pilot than the previous one. Possible Imperial ties, but a far better shot.

 
Latorna Savvn - Rebellion pilot and saboteur, trying to lay low from the Empire after a series and destructive attacks.

Evus - Twi'lek male, former slave, then former associate of Ne'vets, who has found his way back to the Pretio but caught back up in the nonsense of the Pretio

Contact-High Delivery

Needing to keep a low profile while still

In the company of hunted Rebel Saboteur

Latorna Savvn, the crew of the Pretio have 

decided to find some work going to

The Outer Rim, and far away from glaring

Imperial eyes.

As luck would have it, 

They found a simple job

From their old colleagues, 

the Vargr of the Tuktaar Empire. 

Transport a full shipment of the highly 

Addictive Highleaf to Tatooine, and the 

Palace of one particular, Jabba the Hutt...

Bright and early the next morning, the crew of the Pretio flew out of Mos Eisley and headed towards Jabba's Palace.   Sid landed just outside the "service entrance."  

There was no sign of activity around the entrance, so Sid jumped out of her pilot's chair and ran to the cargo hold to prepare the crates of Highleaf for delivery.  By the time the first collection were together and she lowered the cargo lift to the surface, she was just as surprised at the five Gamorrean guards who had since wandered out and were inspecting the undercarriage of the ship.

The guards grunted at Sid, gesturing wildly and pointing spears.  They were just as confused as Sid's blank expression on her face.  Luckily, Ne'vets had noticed the Gamorreans and safely jumped down to meet them.  Duk'k quickly followed suit, using his jet pack at the last second to cushion the fall and allow for a dramatic entrance. 

The guards were quite impressed with the bounty hunter's entrance and turned all attention to Duk'k.  

"That was quite impressive, but what's your business here?"

"We're supposed to deliver this here, according to Bornn Gnott."

"Okay, stay here..."  and with that, three of the guards turned and walked into the entrance.

Latorna and Evus finally walked down the main ramp to engage in small talk with the rest.  Meanwhile, Sid went back up the lift to bring down the rest of the shipment.  

A few minutes later, the Gamorreans re-appeared give the signal to go for everyone to make the deliver.    It took a few trips down the long hallway to a designated delivery spot.  They passed a number of various starfighters using the entrance as a hanger.  Latorna did not see any that particularly worried her, given her bounty status.  Finding her status safe for now, she turned to more pressing matters. 

"Is there a place here where a girl can get a drink?"

"Once the deal is done."

As that finished the stacking the last crates everyone could here the loud, echoing sound of stone grinding on stone.  Do one besides the party stopped their work, a few of them shaking their heads.  A large primal roar of beast could be heard, followed by the screams of a sentient being, then the sound of grinding stone, then finally silence.

"Should we be concerned?  Who was that?'

The Gammorreans scoffed at Duk'k and stared at Latorna, "Probably someone who came in for a drink."

Ne'vets' ears perked up and his eyes went wide open.  He hadn't heard the Lesser Dathomirian Rancor since they had been stuck on the Dathomirian moon of Volturnas.

"Huh, I still want to transport one of those.  Heck, I'd just like to turn a profit by selling one!"

Duk'k was confused, "What exactly did we hear?"

"A rancor."

"A rancor?  Let's.. get a drink somewhere else."

"Nonsense, they're actually quite docile."

A pale Twi'lek descended from a nearby staircase, escorted by a quite obese Gamorrean and a Jawa.

"Jabba appreciates the timeliness of the delivery, especially since his pet's appetite has been already satiated for the day. "

The Twi'lek continued, "If you are as satisfied with your delivery as I am, let us go upstairs to give you payment and have that drink you talk of.  You may stay as long as you wish."

The Twi'lek led the crew up the stairs and into Jabba's throne, and left, to retrieve payment.  The Gamorrean and Jawa stayed within arm's reach.  Off in the corner was a lone Gamorrean keyboard player playing smooth jizz.  

The Gamorrean and Jawa spoke in the loudest whisper in the corner.

"That's a lot of kriffin' drugs!  They won't miss a little bit, would they," the Jawa hopped with excitement.  

The Gamorrean was less enthused, "I guess if we can guard it, you can take a little."

The crew ordered their drinks and wander amongst the various trophies within the throne room.  Numerous being were huddled within the shadows of the room, but none dared to interact with the new visitors.

Eventually the pale Twi'lek and a Vargr emerge with sufficient payment for the Highleaf.   The Vargr was more pleased than the Twi'lek.

"Good to see Bonn's crew found a competent alternative.  If you have any contact info, we'd be happy to get back in touch for any other inventory transfers."

Duk'k took a step back, "Thank you, but I think this was a one-off venture."

The crew returned to the Pretio and left Tatooine.  

While R2's calculations, and ship positioning for the jump to hyperspace, Duk'k and Latorna sat in the lounge, Latorna waiting on a space Salisbury steak dinner. 

"Hey, Duk'k?  How do you set up a bounty?"

"Whad'ya mean, Latorna?  Who are you interested in putting a bounty out for?"

"Tarrie.  That's why I was checking out Jabba's trophy room, just to see if he reached Tatooine."

"Was he in trouble with the Hutts?  Cause.... there's a significant distance between Naboo and there."

"Well, I can submit one, how much are you willing to put up?"

"I've got 4,000 credits, heck I'll even take info on him."

With that, Ne'vets divided the spoils of the drug run, and a casual jump was plotted.

Destination: Anywhere but Tatooine.

GM Notes:  While Duk'k set up a bounty for Tarrie, he glanced over to the rest of the group.  The usual crew continued to be clean, but Latorna's long-standing, massive bounty had shrunk to a barely respectable 15K.

Next: #84 - Jungle Interlude

Mandatory AAU Basketball Spring 2023 Rant - Weekend #1

 While I thought there would be a reprieve from the utter craziness of AAU this Spring, the world done turned itself upside down.  Instead six weeks of travel and stress, Millie's team is doing a hybrid tournament schedule, so we have NINE weekends blocked off between March and July, with only three where both Maja and Millie's teams play the same weekend.  Fun o' fun!

This weekend was a trip down to King of Prussia outside Philly for the Mid-Atlantic Showdown.  

PRO: It's the shortest drive, actually closer to the facility than the Valley Forge was for Cold Wars.  

CON: The schedule is so vague, you think your child's Saturday games are at the King of Prussia site, but in fact it's a far off site that's thirty minutes further away, without the Philly traffic.  I was none too pleased, and thanks to an early start, missed the first half of the first game.  

Thankfully, I didn't miss anything remarkable.  Despite being a much smaller team, and missing a ton of easy shots, they were up 15-6 at halftime.  And cruised to a 34-22 victory.  

Height has always plagued the team, and with the departure of Millie's school teammate, Jordan, to an elite sponsored team out of NYC, everyone anticipated some problems.  With the second game, those troubles were reborn with a six-foot 12 year old girl, that could easily pass for a few years old.  No one complained, so Millie's team went forward and routed them. 39-21.  

Sunday was a bit of a gauntlet with a 9am pool play game, an 11am play-in game  (they were already guaranteed in). followed hopefully by a 12:30pm championship.    Pool play was the smallest team they played all weekend so a 41-7 drubbing was expected.  Everyone prepped to play the 5th grade team of the super-tall player's organization and play a very rough around the edges local team that might give them trouble in the championship game.  As luck would have it, the team easily beat the 5th graders, and the thuggish local team got beat by the 6-foot girl's team.    

In the championship game, they jumped out to a 13-2 lead, and didn't know whether to go for the jugular and get the running clock going early, or mix it up with the bench players.    They won 36-22, nevering reached mercy (although the scoreboard let a whole lot of extra time come off during the second half.)  

I will say this: After years of top-notch guards cluttering things up, we have 5-star player who dominates the score sheet, a 4-star talent, and the rest of the girls are ready to rip peoples' heads off, dive for balls, and do whatever is necessary to win.  The best part is the team passing has never been ready, and generated as many points as the individual stars. 

Meanwhile Maja spent a relaxing weekend recording the games for the program and babysitting some of the younger kids so the parents could watch the games in peace and quiet.  

I did get to visit the Complete Strategist on Saturday, snagging up new race tracks for Formula D, and a Mutant Crawl Classics module.  I am disappointed that their decent Rifts collection didn't have the book I needed.  Guess I need to venture onto eBay...

Speaking of eBay, these guys appeared on my doorstep early this weekend (of course on the cheap).

Giant P.S. The big news that rippled through the organization was Maja and Millie's school district posting the Girl's Basketball Varsity Coach position.  It's not surprising, but also wasn't inevitable this season.  Either the coach decided he had enough with obnoxious parents, or those parents got to the Athletic Director/School Board.  While I am certain my kids will eventually get playing time under any coach, the lack of familiarity a new regime is a concern.  While it could be like every school board and already have a candidate in their back pocket, we discovered a number of uber-qualified folks that have already applied, and a short stack of others who were submitting paperwork.  Guess the regular basketball rant never truly ends. 

(Kickstarter) Battletech: Mercenaries by Catalyst Game Labs

 Battletech: Mercenaries introduces more than 50 reimagined designed, going beyond Mechs to include armor, support vehicles, VTOLs and even a new aerospace fighter.

Beyond the dozen figures that come in the box, the campaign is offering currently a dozen new boxed sets of lances/stars of mechs, plus a host of other material, new fiction, and gadgets, trinkets, and other shiny objects that Battletech players love.

(Planet 28) Waiting to Extract

 My foray into campaign play using the 1st Edition of Planet 28, before cracking open the 2nd Edition hardcover, was supposed to be light-hearted, and barely interconnected.  However, after the incident at Colgar Station 6, and some random rolls, things got serious mighty quick.  

Captain Nate, owner/operator of the Placidity, had been injured during a quick shootout with Blue Martians, and as the crew headed back towards the ship, the injury appeared to be far worse than first feared.  None of the med supplies they packed were working, and he was slowing the entire group down.  Finding some ruins, the sent the ship mechanic, Jewel, to run batch to the ship and extract them from their location.  While it may seem odd that Alan the pilot wasn't sent, he was considered the Captain's best friend, and his motivation had kept the injured man going far longer than others would.

The Placidity  (827)  Objective: Evade capture/death for 8 turns.  

Captain Nate 

Agility: 2, Fighting 5, Shooting 6, Move 7cm, HP: 20

Persuade, Inspire, Pilot

LasPistol (d8, 25cm), No Armor (1d4-1)

Currently -4 to his agility and -3cm to his movement due to a serious leg injury. Numbers are adjusted on the stats.

Gina - 1st Mate

Agility 6 , Fighting 6, Shoting 7, 

Gunslinger

Shipsweeper (1d12+6, 30cm, Knockback, Explosive, Reload)

Alan - Pilot

Agility 8, Fighting 4, Shooting 4, Move 10cm, HP 20

Inspiring, Pilot

No Armor (1d4-1)

Adam -Merc

Agility 6, Fighting 5, Shooting 7 Move 10cm, HP 20

Gunslinger, Sniper

Hvy Rifle (d12+6, 40cm, 2-handed, -2 to opponents armor)

The Crew of the Placidity

What they did not know was that the Chimneysweeps, the Gnomish Planetary Defense Force, had been embarrassed by everyone else during the skirmish, and put out a sizable bounty on both the Placidity crew and the Blue Martians.  

The Blue Martians had long vanished into the wilderness or a nearby city, but the a trio of the best bounty hunters on the planet decided to team out and split the take.

The Bounty Hunters Guilde (776)  Objective: Capture members of the crew (base to base contact) before the end of turn 8.  

Donnie Riddlebottom - Retiree (213)
Fighting: 6
Shooting: 7
Agility: 4    Speed: 10cm
Hit Points: 20
Traits/Abilities: Brawler, Loot
Equipment: Explosive Laser Pistol (1d8, Range 20, Characters within 5cm of any character hit by weapons takes d6 damage), Light Armor (Royal Order of Space Winnebagos Vest)

Jhorka - Pelegian Sapper (Retired) (330)

Fighting:  8

Shooting: 7

Agility:   5

Speed:  10cm

Hit Points:  20 

Traits/Abilities:    Fear, Gunslinger, Throw, Persuade, Sabotage

Equipment: Heavy Pistol (1d10+2, Range 25) Heavy Armor (1d12+6, -1 Agility already applied)

"Gary"  Garindan Bounty Hunter (233)

Fighting: 5

Shooting: 7

Agility:  6

Speed: 10cm 

Hit Points:  20 

Traits/Abilities: Sniper, Coward, "Shore Footed", Climber 

Equipment:  Scoped Heavy Rifle (1d12+6, Range 60, Knock Back, -2 to opp's armor value), Light Armor (1d8)

The Bounty Hunter's Guilde:  Donnie, Jhorka, and Gary

The crew were held out in some ruined buildings.  The Bounty caught up shortly thereafter.  

Turn 1-2:  Jhorka and Donnie attempted to work the limited cover to assault the position Adam (and by turn 2 Gina) were hiding in.   Adam's heavy laser rifle has a step below a support weapons, yet he could penetrate the Pelegian's armor.  

That person wasn't in the window a second ago...

Turn 3-4:  A firefight between Jhorka and Adam proceeded, with Adam's cover taking most of the damage, but him still taking some superficial wounds.   Donnie attempted to use that distraction to dash behind the ruins, but Gina was peeping out the window and a blast of the "Shipsweeper" didn't hit the bounty hunter, but it did question his life choices.

Turn 5-6: Adam confirmed Donnie's missteps, as he turned to shoot him out in the open.  Two shots knocked the bounty hunter down, and he quickly scrambled out of way (and out of the game).  

Meanwhile, Captain Nate stayed under cover, ready to support the other ruins if they had become overrun.  Alan continued to inspire the Captain to help at a moment's notice.  "Jewel will have the ship here in a jiffy.  Just make sure you don't get me killed, please!  You can do it!"

I pictured the badly wounded Captain, leaning up against the wall, laser pistol pointed towards the unknown enemy coming closer, a la Tom Hanks in the end of Saving Private Ryan.  Except there were no P-51s to be angels on their shoulders, but there was a bounty hunter sniper off in the distance.

Long range weaponry in Planet 28 can be nasty...

Two shots hit the Captain, his body flying against the wall, knocking some of the bricks down.  His body crumpled to the ground.  Alan grabbed his captain and pulled him back over the wall. 

Adam changing targets was enough of an adjustment for Jhorka to get a better shot.  Two massive barrages of fire struck the mercenary.  Although he was still alive, he had had quite enough and scrambled towards safety, anywhere else but there. 

Shooting shot after shot at a heavily armored bounty hunter with no effect was just too much for Adam the merc.

Turn 7-8: Both Gina and Alan knew that they were in far worse shape against the sniper at range, but it was doubtful they were wearing a tin can thicker the Jhorka, so both made a mad dash towards the firing position. 

Two crew members try to go after the unarmored bounty hunter.

Gary the sniper hit Gina running across the open.  The shot was not as devastating as either that hit the Captain, but the force of the blow knocked her back half the distance she had already sprinted.  With Jhorka catching up, Gina determined it was in her best interests to run back, and perhaps defend whatever crew was left behind the ruins, namely the Captain.

Alan dashed around the corner and confronted the sniper, but came up short (he needed to use all his actions to reach and could not engage in melee.

Alan reaches the bounty hunter...

Seeing the flailing human running at him, Gary simply took steps back and fired two shots from the hip.  One missed....

...just for him to get blown away and point blank range.

The other hit, stopping the pilot in his tracks.  

Seconds later, an old transport ship emerged over a nearby hill.  The defensive weaponry usually wasn't effective in ship-to-ship combat, but even the erratic firing throughout the area was enough for Jhorka to take heed and retreat.  

Game Notes:  As I continue to expand my use of rules, the despite the much higher curve for "military" hardware, the tougher armor might was well make them spit balls.  Mind you, Adam's Heavy laser rifle (essentially a support weapon) was the same roll as Jhorka's heavy armor, but he never got close wounding him (Even before the extra d6 from cover.  Just because a bounty hunter wants to be well-protected doesn't make them idiots tactically.)  The scary thing is there's a level of armor above heavy (powered) that's simply ridiculous.  For 40k considerations, Space Marine armor is heavy, Terminators have powered armor.  As I explore the Space Hulk implications of using Derelict with Legions of Steel minis, the Paladin PBA is probably medium armor, with the close combat and Behemoth troops getting upgraded to heavy.

I statted out Gary's sniper rifle two years ago, and it emulates what I wanted it to do.  Against lightly armored opponents, it was simply devastating, and should have been even worse!  I forgot to use Adam and Gary's special ability Sniper (This character may re-roll any failed skill rolls when shooting).  Adam was hitting but not penetrating armor.  Gary had a number of misses late in the game which certainly would have changed the narrative.  In the end, I'll keep the scoped heavy rifle on Gary, but next time I'll add the Reload trait to the weapon.  With Sniper and Reload, the weapon effectiveness against soft targets should remain the same. 

I also realized while referencing the rules that Alan's Inspiring ability is +1 to all friendlies skill checks within 10cm.  I was referencing the Inspiring Zeal skill which focuses a +1d10 skill bonus for figure within line of sight.  Considering the only reason I didn't have him fetch that ship was that ability (and I couldn't find Jewel's card.) I'll chalk to up to a live-and-learn lesson.

Campaign Results:  While I haven't read the 2nd Edition cover-to-cover I was relieved to see the campaign rules have the tiniest adjustment.  In the 1st Edition and revised pdf, character rewards start with a period, so I originally assumed (with question) that tenths of points were awarded (0.5 for every enemy killed, 0.1 for surviving.)   The second edition has replaced that period with a proper and distinct bullet point, so I'll need to make some adjustments from the prior game.  It makes much more sense, but the older material it emulates was never completely fair or logical either.  I just figured they wanted folks who levelled up to be bad-asses.

Injuries:

Captain Nate survived, but now must roll 1d20 for break tests.  He has one more game at Agility 2 until the leg heals up, the 7cm movement is permanent. 

Gary's hip shot was meant to maim, not kill.  Alan has a shattered leg, only -2 to agility, but for 4 games.  His reduced 7cm movement means he and Captain Nate can take slow walks together in between games.  

Rewards:  The Crew of the Placidity simply needed to have someone alive to pick-up after 8 turns. They earn the 10 points, which is probably the belated reward they got for obtaining and transmitting the biological data in the previous scenario.    The bounty hunters failed to kill or capture any figures.  

With my revised interpretation (Thank you bullet points), Gary terrorized the table with 15xp, enough to afford him a nice set of medium armor under those clothes, just in case someone does get close to him.)

Despite not hurting Jhorka, all of Adam's successful shots result in 1xp each, so he's on his way for something.

(Kickstarter) Exit, Pursued by a Bear

 Zines fill those much-needed niches in ways that $60 hardcovers could not possibly be used. 

Exhibit A:  Exit, Pursued by a Bear six different ways to recreate the legendary story of a cocaine-ingested black bear.  

Definitely a fun "bear-and-pretzels" game.

(Painting) One Colorado Elf

Alright, it's a High Elf, but there's multiple meanings that fit for a High Elf. 

Here's my 45 minutes of zen at Hobby University at Cold Wars.  A little touch-up and basing later, and I have no idea what I'm going to do with them, although Brutal Quest is on the horizon for Q3 of my gaming year. 

I'll openly admit a roller coaster of highs and lows over the winter, culminating in a post-con funk last week.  Hopefully I'm pulling out of that, as Tuesday, I successfully had a half-day in the office and half-day at home, ran some errands at lunch/my commute, and ended the evening in a spot I haven't been a long time:  Painting at my bench while listening to a Georgetown University Wargaming Society webninar on Wargaming at West Point. Sure, immediately after the event I needed to run stuff to my daughter's basketball practice (She left under the seats while she was hanging out on Saturday), but it was a lovely and productive night.

Next: I am getting paint to figures, just not fast enough. Next week will be a veritable explosion of figures and terrain. to get me over my 2019 numbers and more than halfway to my 2020.   Blue Martians, and Chaos Space Gnomes and some impromptu scenery still clog up the table 

Project 350:  Down to 458 (300/158) from 463 (302/161)  Prepping for a few weeks of gaming extravaganzas for Easter and my birthday, so barring a sudden backlog in Gamma World Actual Plays, we can finally break 300 drafts and stay below it until the #RPGaDay list comes out in July.

Another Month of Gaming Releases (April '23)

Issue #278 of Game Trade Magazine can be found at your Friendly Local Game Store (FLGS) or in pdf form online here.

ViscountEric's Gaming Want Last

Arc Dream Publishing 

Delta Green: Presence ................  $19.99

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

25th Century Games 

Fika .................... $14.99

River Horse

Jim Henson's Fraggle Rock: The Card Game ........... $20.00

Steve Jackson Games

Rolle the Deck! ................................ $9.95

The Imaginary Store List (The Pegleg Gnome)

25th Century Games

Velonimo ........................................... $19.99

Acheron GAmes

Inferno RPG: Dantes Guide to Hell Players Guide (5e) .......... $45.00

Inferno RPG: Divina Commedia Artbook ............................... $35.00

Inferno RPG: Virgilios Untold Tales GM Guide  (5e) ............. $45.00

Inferno RPG: Guides Screen (5e) ............................................ $15.00

The Army Painter

Speedpaint: Mega-Set 2.0 .................................................... $199.99

Bandai Co.

One Piece TCG: Gift Box 2023 

One Piece TCG: Kingdoms of Intrigue Boosters

One Piece TCG: Monkey D. Luffy Starters

Catalyst Game Labs

Battletech: Paint Starter ........................................................ $44.99

Shadowrun RPG: Astral Ways .............................................. $49.99

Shadowrun RPG: Program Deck .......................................... $14.99

Shadowrun RPG: Rogues Lineup ......................................... $14.99

Evil Genius Gaming

Kong Skull Island .......................................... $24.99

Pacific Rim .................................................... $24.99

Evil Hat Productions

Apocalypse Keys RPG HC ............................ $50.00

Fanroll

Mini Polyhedral Dice (2 pack, 7 dice per pack) .... $9.99

Resin Polyhedral Dice Set (7) ................................ $9.99

A mystery pull of dice for more than they would go loose at most FLGS?  Somehow I support this function as an impulse buy at the register.  

Free League Publishing

Mork Borg: Ikhon ........................................ $24.99

Inside Up Games

Earth ........................................................... $50.00

Konami Digital Entertainment

Yu-Gi-Oh! Egyptian God Unlimited Decks

Yu-Gi-Oh! Wild Survivors Boosters

Legendary Games 

Faerie Bestiary (5e)  .................................... $59.99

Deluxe Edition is $79.99

The Dragon's Hoard #26 (5e) ..................... $12.99

Loke Battle Mats 

Big Book of  Battle Mats Revised ............... $26.99

Giant Book of Battle Mats Revised ............. $46.99

Mongoose Publishing

Traveller RPG 2300 AD: Project Bayern Boxed Set ...... $99.99

Traveller RPG: Central Supply Catalog Update 2023 .... $49.99

Traveller RPG: JTAS #7 .............................. $24.99

Traveller RPG: JTAS #8 .............................. $24.99

Monte Cook Games

Path of the Planesbreaker ............................. $54.99

Path of the Planesbreaker: Planar Character Options (5e) .... $29.99

Onyx Path Publishing 

Scion RPG: Dragon .................................... $55.00

Scion RPG: Masks of the Mythos .............. $55.00

Paizo Publishing

Pathfinder RPG: AP - The Worst of All Possible World Part 3 - The Destiny War ..... $26.99

Pathfinder RPG: Flip Mat Darklands Danger Multi-Pack ........ $26.99

Pathfinder RPG: Lost Omens - Highhelm HC .......................... $44.99

Special Edition $64.99

Pokemon USA

Pokemon: Scarlet and Violet Base Set

Booster, Bundles, Build & Battle Boxes, and a host of other varieties which will not arrive on time, and will be a sliver of the quantity ordered.

River Horse

Jim Henson's Fraggle Rock the Card Game ............................. $25.00

Steve Jackson Games

Caligula ......................... $24.95

Designed by Steve, we have the Roman Senate making laws – if you disobey – you must drink! Or you can make up your own laws. And drink. It’s a drinking game for ages 21 and up. Scheduled to ship in June 2023.

Greedquest .....................$29.95

Stronghold Games

Terraforming Mars: Ares Expedition: Discovery Expansion ................ $24.99

Terraforming Mars: Ares Expedition: Foundations Expansion ............. $24.99

Ultra Pro International 

I don't mention the items from Ultra Pro usually, because prices are not listed.  I try not to list items that the retailer loses a significant chunk of their wholesale discount, but if you have customers who like a little Youtube show called Critical Role,  Ultra-Pro will be releasing a deck sleeves, playmats, RPG folios, and Leatherette accessories with the characters and symbols of the show.

Wizkids

D&D: Dungeons Scawlers - Heroes of Waterdeep .................... $29.99

D&D: Classic Collection - Monsters G-J .................................. $89.99

D&D Icons:  Adult Lunar Dragon ............................................. $99.99

D&D Icons: Demon Lords Graz'zt Fraz Urb'luu, and Kostchtchie .... $69.99

D&D Icons: Undead Army: Zombies ......................................... $49.99

Marvel Heroclix: Avengers 60th Anniversary Booster Brick 

Marvel Heroclix: Avengers 60th Anniversary Dice & Token Pack ... $14.99

Marvel Heroclix: Avengers 60th Anniversary Play at Home Kit ....... $19.99

Captain America, Hulk, and Iron Man Options

Marvel Heroclix: Iconix Captive Hearts Wolverine ........................... $19.99

Marvel Heroclix: Iconix Thanos Snap! ............................................... $19.99

(Star Wars d6) #82 - The Tatooine Express

The Crew of the Pretio in This Week's Episode 

Ne'vets Aharo - an exotic animal broker, both legal and otherwise, majority owner in the Pretio.

Duk'k - Sipsk'ud Bounty Hunter, recently rescued by the crew. Offering his services in order to get off this barely existing hunk of mud. His warning shots are dead center mass kill shots.

"Sid" - A peculiar woman who has shown to be a better pilot than the previous one. Possible Imperial ties, but a far better shot.

 
Latorna Savvn - Rebellion pilot and saboteur, trying to lay low from the Empire after a series and destructive attacks.

Evus - Twi'lek male, former slave, then former associate of Ne'vets, who has found his way back to the Pretio but caught back up in the nonsense of the Pretio

Stay-Away-cation

After delivering a missing child back to his 

Imperial Oligarch father, the crew of the Pretio had 

An unfortunate incident involving a bounty

Far too hot for the effort. 

Unfortunately, a running gun battle in a popular

Orbiting diner has alerted Imperial authorities

Of the whereabouts of current ship passenger, 

Mission assistant, and rebel saboteur and

Mass murderer, one Latorna Savvn.

Still mourning the loss of their previous pilot

(And Latorna's younger brother) Tarrie Prolek, 

The crew has decided against turning the 

Rebel in to collect the substantial reward.

In other words, it's time to leave for the Outer Rim

And hopefully turn a profit doing so....

Despite their failure in capturing the bounty, it was felt best to return to the resort on Hosnian Prime for a few more days, lay low, and have Ne'vets review his messages and requests, and if they came up empty, a few inquiries with merchants and brokers, for either cargo, or a mission as far away from the Empire as possible. 

It wasn't even two days later for the Imperial troops to sweep through the planet, and come up empty-handed.  With the transports already leaving orbit, it was deemed wise to return to the resort lounge .  It was a few drinks too many for Latorna to open up to various other resort guests about details about her shipyard bombing that were no public knowledge. 

"Whoever did that probably didn't do it all in one day.  There were over 267 reported break-ins and trespassing investigations done over the previous two years.  It's probably shoddy security." 

The Imperial News Network was full of mid-rim mentions of skirmishes with Rebel forces and travel advisories, so a further trip seemed to be in order.  

Day 3:  Duk'k came down for breakfast to see Ne'vets already poolside, crunching numbers on datapads.

"Hey Duk'k.  No good messages, just some space notary admin stuff I can do remotely.  Any change on Latorna?"

The Sipsk'ud sighed, "No change, she's still at 75,000 credits to turn in.  Also, still no bounties on us unless you want me to dig deeper on the Black Sun offers.  There's got to be one or two left on us, we killed too many of their guys."

"Okay, if we can find a location to lay low, we do have that Imperial offer to do some scientific work."

"You didn't mention that one either Ne'vets, huh,   Let's haul some quick cargo to get out of here and we can re-evaluate from there."

Day 4: Ne'vets left the crew to their own devices at the resort, and took the Piscopo into town to look at job offers.  

• More corporate intrigue, this time involving asteroid mining colonies?  Hard pass.
• Transporting GC-96B (a legal pharmaceutical) to help with an outbreak on Sumarin? Legal pills, delivery already established were pros.  The fact that the drugs were used to treat a highly infectious disease?  A big con to make them move on...
• Delivering a half-dozen Wolfe's Blackstreak Wolves to a Tibanna merchant on Bespin.   Animals were their specialty, but the pay for live carnivores that Ne'vets disputed their potential to be domesticated.  The price offered to a probably licensed animal broker was a near insult.  Plus, things went weird last time they visited Bespin.

Ne'vets finally fell upon a Vagr, a canine race subservient to the Tuktaar Empire.  Despite the disgusting culinary habits of their bosses/masters, Ne'vets struck up a conversation with lone smuggler, a Grenstov Krexilhven.

Grenstov Krexilhven

Grenstov happened to be transporting a shipment of !xug'k!" and had run into mechanical problems with his ship and could not complete delivery.  

Ne'vets was familiar with the odd sounding product by its Galactic Basic name:  Highleaf, a highly addictive hallucinatory plant.  The pay was adequate, and the destination far enough away to not attract high-profile Imperials. The contact for delivery was to a Snivvian named Bornn Gnott at the Mos Eisley Cantina on Tatooine.  They would direct the final destination.

Ne'vets shook hands, confirmed a location for transfer, and gathered the crew to further discuss the plans.  

"We said no drug runs when we visited Tuktaar.  Why the change of heart?"  Duk'k asked.

"The credits should be good, Tatooine is far enough away, and I think Tarrie might have right." was all Ne'vets could muster.  No one else argued any point.  

The rendezvous for the cargo and the trip to Tatooine went off without any incident whatsover.

Entering the atmosphere, Sid was relieved to find some help with space control to find the starport.  

As the Pretio landed onto the spot, she turned to an oblivious Ne'vets,  "Hey, I don't like this at all."

Emerging from the corridors was a garrison of Stormtroopers, lining the walls.  Sid fumbled the coms to the correct channel.  "Ghtroc 720, prepare to be boarded!"

Ne'vets mind was racing.  Stormtroopers were expected on Tatooine, but this many troops for a routine inspection? ... on an outer rim world?  Definitely, not coincidence, and probably a set-up, whether by the Vagr or a competitor, he wasn't quite sure.

For Duk'k, there was a more pressing concern.  The vast amount of illegal Highleaf was stacked inside and around the Piscopo. He instructed Sid to delay dropping the ramp so he had a few more moments to mix it in with the normal equipment.  Hopefully the grenade dispensers would attract more attention than random packages of drugs.  

After Sid successfully performed an hydraulic adjustment on the ramp, the lone Imperial officer, a Lieutenant, walked up to the ramp and was greeted by Ne'vets.  

"I'm Lieutenant Lavlin, state your business."

"Ne'vets Aharo, visiting a friend."

"Visiting a friend? On Tatooine?  With a Ghtroc and the price of fuel nowadays?  Unlikely story...  You have two holds on this vessel, what are you carrying."

"You'll find a ship in one, and a speeder in the other"

"A ship in the hold?  Let's start there."  

The immediately moved to the cargo bay with the Something Awesome in it.  Ne'vets prodded the officer.

"Are you normally inspecting ships that come through Mos Eisley?  It's a first for me."

"Yes, there's been an upswell in big-ticket black market items recently, not your usual smuggler fare.  Gotta keep your 'friend' safe from the ne'er do wells," and with that the Lieutenant gave a quick wink to Ne'vets.    "Where's the paperwork on this Q-Ship?  It's legal, but highly unusual."

Ne'vets pulled an arm around the officer, "Let's go into my office and review everything I have on file." 

Ne'vets took him into his office, full of leather covered datapads and rich mahogany shelves framing the trophies.  

"Here's our flight logs for the last month.  We're simple import/exporters with a specialty in exotic animals.  Zero animals on this flight." 

After twenty minutes, Ne'vets had distracted the officer with legitimate paperwork that was in order, that he escorted him back down the ramp, satisfied with what he saw.  No inspection of the second cargo bay was conducted, although Ne'vets did get a full description of the new Imperial garrison established in Anchorhead.  Lieutenant Lavlin dispatched the Stormtroopers with a hand gesture.  Soon thereafter, Ne'vets and Duk'k disembarked  and followed the Stormtroopers general direction until they reached the Mos Eisley Cantina.   An undue amount of attention was given to the duo from the inhabitants, who expected a far different outcome with the meeting with the Imperials.

Once in the cantina, they quickly found a rushed and distract Bornn, awaiting multiple black market shipments.  

"I've got seventeen shipments coming in today, without any more Imperial heat."

Bornn Gnott - Snivvian Black Market Broker

The Snivvian throws about 600 credits at the pair, "Congrats, you're the first delivery...  My boss wants to be part of the Highleaf market, this should be a start.  Hold onto it overnight and once both suns have risen, fly it over to Jabba's Palace for the rest.  Don't use the front doors if you want to live."

GM Notes:   Many good quotes from the session, but tonight's ward goes to Hoyce, "How well concealed is our vast amount of illegal drugs?"

Next: #83 - The Service Entrance to Jabba's Palace.

Mandatory Basketball Rant - Winter 2022-23 - Week 15

I really thought the winter season was over, I really did.   Then one final tournament appeared out of nowhere and Millie's Freeland team would make one last charge into the abyss before AAU.  

The tournament was boys and girls, grades 4-6.  We're quite familiar with the gym it was held (Maja's played basketball and volleyball there a couple times, but we were surprised that a) the games would be run across the court b) one court had a marked 3-point line, the other did not and c) there was a third gym at the school, with proper markings but about 6 rows of seating in the stands.  

While I don't have Freeland's record against the host, Berwick's team during the Winter season, Millie's school team beat them twice by a combined 76-7 score.  I believe that they retooled since the season ended and their players I remembered did get better. Without a three point line, the girls had trouble gauging their shots and went 1-for-12 to start the game and actually were down 8-2 halfway through the 1st half.  Eventually shots started falling, while other girls turned to driving to the basket, but Berwick's  center kept paced, rebounding anything that came her way, and having an uncanny knack for putbacks that most varsity teams have trouble with.    

The other game was a complete rout, so it came down to a game against Dallas that was an inevitable win, followed by another game against Berwick.  And it was when one of the extra players went of.  

The Freeland team, outside its superstar guest stars this season, is a top-ranked guard, a forward who fouls as hard as she flops, and three local girls with limited time.  But on Sunday, one of the girls, Nadira, went from a solid rebounder and a below average shooter to a a white, short, female Dennis Rodman.  The Sunday morning game she dominated everything that remotely came her way, so against Berwick in the afternoon, she split her time defending against the big girl on the team and the second- biggest girl equally.  The video is sketchy, but I tally 18 rebounds and 6 pounds,  while their bigs were limited to 6 points in a 45-12 rout.  The best news /worst news?  She's only a 5th grader, so she has more time to get better.  

Oh yeah, I had a kid playing in the games, too!  Millie was as sound and relaxed, like she always is around these girls,  She made every type of shot save a dunk and a half-court shot, while scoring double digits against Dallas, and she initiated most of the passing to the three "regular" girls, who got plenty of scoring opportunities and did not back down. 

I could finally take a breather and relax, but we also found out that Millie's AAU team will split away from the normal program tournament schedule for three different weekends.  With the exceptions of Palm Sunday weekend,  Easter Sunday Weekend, and one weekend in May, the next two months of weekends  are completely full.... STARTING NEXT WEEKEND!  WEEE!

Millie got to do tip-off for the finals.  Always fun.

And if that wasn't enough, Maja's basketball banquet was Sunday night!  After a month off, it was nice to see everyone again, celebrate every teams' successes, and grant a proper farewell to the graduating Seniors.  Varsity had a lackluster year that was short on personnel.  Junior Varsity played slightly better, and actually won games with only only five players.  The Junior High girls got mad props for their unexpected success under a first-year and first-time coach, but the majority of the accolades belonged to Maja's Freshmen team.  Her coach, who had also been an assistant coach for Varsity, took extra time to speak to every girl he's coached.  I mean, when the fun exercise to start the banquet was girls randomly getting questions out of plastic eggs, and the Freshmen player who pulled "What was your favorite game?"  and she mentioned the game they LOST, the coach just took that and ran with it. 

I'm trying to be the 8th grade parent to recognize and announce that next year's Freshmen (Class of 2027) will take over Varsity, even with the chaos and regime change that this year's Freshmen (Class of 2026) caused (Recap: Two additional Seniors didn't make it to the banquet because they quit after Christmas... all of the issues caused by the vastly superior play of the '26 Freshmen.) 

The scary thing is, the only girls who might be able to stop the onslaught of the Class of 2026 across the region, is the Class of 2027. May God have mercy on our souls. 

Happy Spring 2023!

New WotC D&D Survey

 After all the brouhaha over at Wizards of the Coast, they've released another survey for one and all to take:  

WotC Survey Here!

I realize I haven't been their demographic since the late 90's, but it's amazing how much product they have released for 5th Edition... and how I only own four official or licensed products.  

I also realize that 5th Edition is definitely at a glut of stagnant product.  In the last ten years of 5e, they have produced at least 40 HARDCOVERS for rules, supplements or collected adventures.  That's $2,000.  My math might be a little fuzzy, and inflation is a bitch but that's four times the cost of the 2nd Edition core books (using Monstrous Manual rather than the binder), all twenty Complete Handbooks, and all 5 (4?) DM Sourcebooks.   It's not even apples and oranges in comparison, but I know I didn't own most of those books for 2nd Edition, so it makes sense I don't own a large 5e collection, regardless.

Cold Wars 2023 Gnome-Related Action

As I wrote in my full Cold Wars AAR,  with the Western table, the gnomes took a bit of a backseat to the host of anthropomorphic cowboy minis available from a host of companies.  

Hog Hollow

With most games having each player running only 4-6 figures, the Gnome Wars rules were put aside for Fistful of Lead Western Rules.  Fistful does adhere to the Gnome Wars philosophy of "You should know most of the rules by the end of the third turn."

A lot of the game was searching houses for the missing payroll, an ill-timed encounter with killer cacti, and everyone fighting off the Sheriff. 

This member of the Hog Hollow Boys did not know how to load his weapon.  Every attack resulted in an out of ammo result, including after spending an entire turn reloading.  He was hiding and reloading, as his fellow gang members were getting gunned down.

The cavalry finally arrived after it was all too late, perhaps because they were missing a vital accessory that makes them cavalry.

We broke out more gnomes for the other games over the weekend.  My Imperial Republican Guard of California filled in nicely for Mexican Federales, and by request, the Mormons made another appearance. 

The true villains of games 2 and 3 were the Germans... something about going to the telegraphic office, and some person named Zimmerman.  They never got around to it, as the German officer angered the sheriff instantly, and he was force to steal a stage coach.

He left his men to fend off the infamous "Three Lone Rangers", but a row of Germans with aimed rifles are superior to gnomes that want to quick draw.

In the third game, the Mexican locals needed to evict the Germans, who had claimed their village as a fort.  

 

The final event for the table "Just Not the Slowest," was run using Gnome Wars and the full catalog of figures.

The town of Hogs Hollow wanted a military parade, and invited all nationalities to attend. 

Including a mistaken invitation to the Cult of Urinitas, and you know what those guys did to the fountain...

It's been awhile since a full-scale Znombie Incursion occurred, and without the help of the Jackalope herd, all may have been lost!

Znombies and Skeletons?  Come on!

The Skeleton Warriors of Hog Hollow assault the Sikh tank

The Scots escorting a tanker truck to the train station.  They claim that it was "milk" but I highly doubt it.