(Gamma World) This is Not a Test #30 - Coffins for Hissers

 Our heroes, the De Facto Explorers, assisting the Hissers of Notex with the sky falling....

================= 

Sneaky Pete: A mutated weasel scout.  Pete's telepathy and night vision take a backseat when he whips out his electrical powers.  Recovering from his injuries from the Glow near Ulmin.

Sonny Helianthus: a sentient sunflower artifact examiner with trusted Restorationist ties. 

Slitheran Wurmtail (aka Squiggles): a mutated earthworm scout, in impromptu power armor, looking for trouble, and finding it often.  Recently "gave birth" to a litter of sentient earthworm babies.

Lathar Bracken: A pure-strain human from River Bend.  He's got the muscle, the face, and a mount for most encounters.  Lathar's trusty beast of burden, No Name, travels wherever he does. Looking for trouble in all the right places.  Recent jousting champion of Fair-Town and has been awarded... a peacock he has named Chambray.

================

With a full night's sleep, a belly full of grub, the De Facto Explorers met up with the Hisser elders.  The general consensus of the villagers was that they were prepared to leave if things continued from yesterday.  Yesterday had been the first attack that killed someone, and unless the party had a solution, there was no way to defend against the falling objects.   The Explorers encouraged the Hissers to evacuate the area short-term.  Hopefully in a few days, things would be remedied, if no sooner.

As the villagers began packing their worldly possessions, the Explorers re-entered the facility entrance.  They were still debating which direction they would take when they still wandered into the stairwell.  It was another five minutes of rather loud debating for a marching order going down the concrete steps. 

One flight of steps down and the concrete changed to all-metal steps, about three-quarters the width, with only superficial rust.   Four more flights of the metal stairs, and the group found themselves on solid ground.  A quick look saw dozens of plastic containers, each about as big as one man could carry.  scattered to and fro.  Some were still stacked atop each other, while others were tossed about.  

With Sonny holding a torch, Lathar went through all of the bins, finding all of them empty.  Pete insisted that they seemed like great inventions to lug stuff around.  Added that they were stackable, they took two stacks of three and hauled them back up to just inside the main door.  

"So long as we don't end up selling these as Hisser coffins, I think they'll work out fine," was all Squiggles could say as he climbed the steps with one bin.  

"Don't forget the lids," was all Sonny could add to the discussion.

Completing that task, Pete suggested taking the main hallway before heading back up.  

Working down the hallway, the sunlight from the outside door gave way to darkness, which Lathar's lantern took over.  

There were no other doors until the end of the hallway,  two silver doors were side-by-side, with a panel of some sort.  In front of it was a human skeleton, in some greenish uniform.  Outside a green access card, snapped in half, and a crumpled-up white coat of some sort underneath, there were no other clues.  

The doors opened with just a touch of the panel, opening one of the magic lifts, similar to the ones they used at Level A.  The green key card did not work, as expected, but the orange card they had allowed them to select "1, 2, or 3" on the panel inside the lift.  

Pressing 3, the doors shut and the lift moved upwards.  The doors opened on a new floor.  It was dark, with open, and two signs on the walls in front of them.   The sign on the right hand an arrow pointing to the right and "SCIENCE" above it.  The sing on the left had an arrow pointing left and "MEDICAL" above that.  

As they turned towards in the direction of Medical, they were alarmed by the carnage just outside their view.  Bodies in uniform were strewn across the floor, and the burn marks on the walls, probably from weapons fire.  It appeared that there should have been bodies and blaster marks in front of the elevator, but someone/thing cleaned them up.  

The Explorer searched the bodies, but found a lot of empty energy cells, plenty of spent bullet casings, a full syringe of some sort of liquid, three casters for an office chair, and a single grenade.  The grenade was in a skeleton's hand that let it go when the body was rolled over, a stream of a white cloud sprayed out of the grenade, quickly filling up the hallway.  

The mutant animals and Lathar immediately began to choke, their eyes water, and vision completely obscured.  Sonny was less effected, but still felt a burning sensation over his body and was disoriented.  They scrambled for the doors, but they all appeared luck.  Sonny tried the orange card to access the rooms.  The rest of the group stumbled back to the elevator, and despite traveling back down with a good dose of the smoke, they made it back down to the main level.  Squiggles stumbled over the crates as they emerged out the entrance and back into much-needed fresh air. 

Beyond the humans/animals emitting every type of bodily fluid/secretion out of every orifice, Sonny's leaves were covered in brown pit-marks.  

No one was checking on them, so they regrouped, ate lunch, and decided to explore the unsearched level 2... but SMART.

When the doors opened on level 2, it was a somewhere between the immaculateness of the lift area on level 3, and the carnage of bodies around the corner.   They walked around the floor, counting doors and making note of three of them.  One was damaged.  One had a ticking sound behind it.  One had reinforced window and human eye-height... and a familiar mess hall on the other side...

Next: #31 - Lathar Gets His Green Card

Events Submitted for Historicon 2024

The Preliminary Event List for Historicon 2024 isn't coming out until May 21st, but I have received confirmation that the following events have been approved for the Stout Gnomes:

#1 Big Truffle in a Little Village

Gnome Wars 

7-10pm Thursday

GM: Eric Jacobson

In the early days of the Wishing Well War, the only thing between the German Gnome war machine and the subjugation of all Gnome-Kind were small town militias... and a few friends. Any player bringing a painted 320 point unit from Brigade Games Gnomes at War line do not need to pre-register. No one under 12 without a playing adult.

#2 Return to the Forbidden City

Fistful of Lead - Wasteland Warriors

1-5pm Friday

GM:  Mike Lung

For generations, the City of Ancients has been feared and taboo. No one would go near the place because those who did quickly sickened and died horrible deaths. But recently, a few foolhardy souls have gone there and survived. They have brought back tales of ancient wonders and incredible treasures waiting there for the taking. Are you willing to lead your brave band into this devastated post-apocalyptic city to gain fabulous riches and fame?

#3 The Joust! 8-10pm Friday

To Cry a Joust!

8-10pm Friday

GM: Eric Jacobson

Hear ye, hear ye! All are invited to participate in the grand return of the Joust at Fall-In! Rules taught. Quick, east, fun, and prizes. No one under 10 without a playing adult.

#4 Big Truffle in a Little Village 7-10pm Saturday

Gnome Wars

7-10pm Saturday

GM: Eric JacobsonIn the early days of the Wishing Well War, the only thing between the German Gnome war machine and the subjugation of all Gnome-Kind were small town militias... and a few friends. Any player bringing a painted 320 point unit from Brigade Games Gnomes at War line do not need to pre-register. No one under 12 without a playing adult.

 

The one notable absence from the event list is the Gnome King himself, Jim Station.  Rumor has it he'll be researching Greek gnomes while on vacation, but regardless, he won't be there, so there are fewer events listed for the Stout Gnomes under the HMGS Next Gen banner.  

Details aren't finalized yet, but the gnome village will see some additional action in a "games by demand"  setting.  I'm assuming I'll run Gnome Wars in a more Mordheim setting, small squads, different objectives, players can drop in and drop out at will.  More to come!

Another Month of New Gaming (May 2024)

Issue #291 of Game Trade Magazine can be found at you FLGS, on in PDF file available here. 

ViscountEric's Gaming Want List

Nothing!

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

9th Level Games

Kobolds Ate My Baby - The Orange Book ...................... $24.99

ViscountEric's Imaginary Store List (The Pegleg Gnome)

25th Century Games

Mojo ............................................................ $14.99

Tasso Banana ............................................... $19.99

8 Bit Brush Design

Loco Luchas ................................................. $19.99

Alderac Entertainment Group

Let's Go to Japan ........................................... $49.99

The Army Painter

Warpaints Fanatic: Most Wanted Paint Set ................. $99.99

Bandai

Digimon TCG: Digimon Liberator Boosters

Digimon TCG: Fable Waltz Starters

Digimon TCG: Guardian Vortex Starters

Dragon Ball Super Masters TCG Zenkai Set 09 Boosters

Sand Land Tactical Card Battle: Starters

Cubicle 7

A Life Well Lived (5e) ................................... $39.99

Warhammer AoS Soulbound - Ulfenkarn - City at the Edge of Death ........ $49.99

Dyce Games

First to Worst .................................................. $24.99

Eagle-Gryphon Games

For Sale: Travel Edition ................................. $17.99

A Bard's Day Night ........................................ $25.99

Crunch Time ................................................... $24.99

I'm the Boss!  2023 Edition ............................ $39.99

Incan Gold: New Edition ................................ $29.95

Envy Born Games

Confusing Lands ............................................. $14.95

Exalted Funeral Press

Arkos: An Adventure for Troika ..................... $25.00

The Forest Primordia: An Adventure for Troika ............ $22.00

Knives Out! Mork Borg Supplement ............................. $15.00

Old School Essentials: Adventure Anthology 1 ............. $20.00

Old School Essentials: Adventure Anthology 2 ............. $20.00

Free League Publishing

Twilight: 2000 RPG - The Black Madonna ...................... $39.99

Twilight: 2000 RPG - Hostile Waters ............................... $39.99

Goodman Games

DCC: The Protectorate of Junulane .................................. $20.00

DCC: The Scales of Hyper -Visor God ............................ $74.99

Tales from the Smoking Wyrm #008 ................................ $20.00

Key Card Games

Monsters of Loch Lomond ................................................ $19.95

Kobold Press

Campaign Builder: Castles & Crowns (HC) ..................... $49.99

Campaign Builder: Castles & Crowns Map Folio (HC) ... $49.99

Map Tiles: Villages ............................................................ $24.99

Konami Digital Entertainment

Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG: Battles of Legend - Terminal Revenge Boosters

Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG: The Infinite Forbidden Boosters

Looney Labs

Looney Oracle ................................. $20.00

Maestro Media Ventures

Hello Kitty: Day at the Park ..............$30.00

Smurfs' Hidden Village ......................$40.00

Mantic Entertainment

Worms: The Board Game .................. $50.00

Modiphius 

Achtung! Cthulhu 2d20 Starter Edition ............... $37.00

Achtung! Cthulhu 2d20: Unexplored ................... $43.00

Battlespace RPG ................................................... $45.00

Dune RPG: Fall of the Imperium .......................... $52.00

Dune RPG: Desert Planet Adventure Compendium Vol 1 .......... $42.00

Star Trek Adventures RPG: The Federation-Klingon War Tactical Campaign .... $45.00

Monte Cook Games

Cypher System RPG: Adventures in the Cypher System (HC) .................. $39.99

Paizo Publishing 

Pathfinder RPG: AP - Curtain Call 1 - Stage Fright ...................... $29.99

Pathfinder RPG:  Flip-Mat - Village Assault .................................. $19.99

Pathfinder RPG: Pathfinder Player Core 2 ..................................... $59.99

Pathfinder RPG: Prey for Death ..................................................... $44.99

Starfinder RPG: Flip- Mat Multi-Pack - 2nd Edition Playtest ....... $29.99

Starfinder RPG: Playtest Adventure - A Cosmic Birthday ............. $24.99

Starfinder RPG: 2nd Edition Playtest Book ................................... $47.99

I'm not saying that Paizo is a cult, but getting folks to pay over $100 for the playtest material cries out cult like behavior.  This feels like Taylor Swift charging for an album that still needs editing and mixing.

Random House 

Marvel Multiverse RPG: Deadpool Role-Plays the Marvel Universe One-Shot ........ $9.99

Marvel Multiverse RPG: X-Men Expansion .................................... $49.99

Right Wrong Games

Tiger Banana Pancake ............................................ $15.00

Rio Grande Games

Dominion 2nd Edition: Cornucopia & Guilds Expansion .............. $44.95

Scorpion Masque

Monster Chase ......................................................... $14.99

Steve Jackson Games

Car Wars: Companion .............................................. $29.95

Wizards of the Coast

Magic the Gathering: Assassin's Creed Beyond 

Boosters, Bundles, Collector Boosters,and Starters

Magic the Gathering: Bloomburrow 

Boosters, Bundles, Collector Boosters,and Starters

Magic the Gathering: Modern Horizons 3

Boosters, Bundles, Collector Boosters, Gift Edition, Commander Decks

Wizkids

D&D: 50th Anniversary  7" Scale Actions Figure:  Srongheart ............... $29.99

D&D: 50th Anniversary 13" Sacred Statue Plush .................................... $34.99

D&D Onslaught: Scenario Kit: Grasp of the Mind Flayer ...................... $24.99

D&D Onslaught: Tendrils of the Lichen Lich Starter Set ........................ $9.99

D&D: IotR: Gargantuan Bahumat ....................................... $399.99

D&D: IotR: Miska the Wolf Spider .................................... $ 49.99

D&D: IotR: Spiderdragon ................................................... $ 39.99

D&D: IotR:Vecna Eve of Ruins Booster Brick

D&D: Iconix: Eye of the Beholder .................................... $24.99

DC Heroclix: Starter Set 2025 ........................................... $39.99

Marvel Heroclix: Black Panther Booster Brick

Marvel Heroclix: Black Panther Play at Home Kit ................ $24.00

Marvel Heroclix: Black Panther Release Day Kit .................. $26.00

Marvel Heroclix: Deadpool Weapon X Jeff's Pizza Party ...... $19.99

Marvel Heroclix: Deadpool and Hit-Monkey Heist Pack ....... $19.99

Marvel Heroclix: Iconix: First Appearance Spider-Man ........ $24.99

Marvel Heroclix: Starter Set 2025 .......................................... $39.99

Wizkids Encounter in a Box: Cult of the Spider .................... $29.99

HMGS Does Mepacon April 19-21, 2024

 I may not have been able to attend Mepacon again this year, thanks to some sports obligations, but I was pleasantly pleased to discover that the Historical Miniatures Gaming Society (HMGS) was quite prominent there, running events all weekend.

Indochina

Frostgrave

Wings of Glory

Indochina

Tripods and Triplanes

World of Tanks

(Risus) Be Prepared for a Talent Show

 Our weekly Gamma World game continues to go strong.  As episode 28 dropped last Tuesday, I have another 32 weekly write-ups in the can.  We left off at a good break point earlier this month to allow a player a few weeks off to deal with this odd thing called "real-life."

In his absence, I finally completed my "COVID Trilogy", or better yet, perhaps I should call in the Coffee Shop Trilogy.

Still a point of controversy all these years, COVID killed over a million Americans and millions worldwide.  But few remember the bravery and sacrifice of some of the true heroes of the front-lines:  grocery store employees when toilet paper was stowed away, baking hit an all-time high, and people wore the most outrageous get-ups to either protect themselves, or fight the new world order authoritarian regime, whatever was the by-line of the week.  

Mike Pnevmonus was one of those heroes.  A dirty, hairy, and fat Greek butcher in the meat department of a Giant Foods in Pennsylvania.  He though he had seen it all before, the shortages, the runs on the store, etc.  and by the end of it, he hung up his bloody apron and traveled the country, trying to find a place to settle down in peace.  

He ended up in Bloomington, Minnesota, and thanks to his odd penchant for olive slacks, took a job as a cashier at the Boy Scouts of America Superstore in the Mall of America

The Boy Scouts of America Superstore, Imagined by NightCafe

Working alongside him was Hoyce McGurgle, a 20-year emo-kid who had survived the COVID nightmare with his teenage apathy.  A steady stream of poor reviews let him wander the countryside, the final destination: The Boy Scout Store.  

The best thing about visiting the Boy Scout Store in the Mall of America?  A possibly infinite supply of the photography merit badge. 

The biggest problem with the store?  They were almost completely out of any scarves.  At least that's where all the complaints were coming from all week.

Shawn was a regular at the mall.  When he wasn't accumulating 30,00 steps before lunch, he was the resident expert at every store, or so he told them.  Allegedly he had been a Boy Scout as a lad, and had a broad memory of the finest BSA minutiae.  Occasionally he was even helpful, so the the fellas thought it best to keep him around. 

It was a beautiful day at the Mall of America.  It was just the way Minnesota was.

Hoyce and Mike raised the gates to the store and wandered to their spot around the registers.  Shawn, fresh from his 4-mile mall walk, came in.

"Hey guys, what's new?"

"Photography badges."

"You guys had them yesterday?" 

"We got a new shipment of them yesterday."

"What about the Excalibur pocket knife I ordered for month ago."

"What about the ones we have in the case?"

"Those don't have the dentist drillbit.  The Excalibur has the dentist drillbit."

"Why do you need a dentist drillbit?"

"To complete my dentist drillbit?"

"You're 85 years old!"

Even the apathetic Hoyce noticed that there were an unusual number of people shopping on a Thursday morning.  He girded his loins for the overwhelming act of Scan--> Pay --> Next!

As the typical Scout Mom brought up the last Webelos scarf in the state of Minnesota.  Hoyce scanned the item, the mother inserted the credit card... and the terminal kept clocking, absolutely no progress.

Mike peered over to Hoyce's machine, "Run the card again, and if it's still not working, punch in the numbers."

Hoyce, "It's not connecting at all"

Mike, "Then the internet is down.  Sorry folks, we're going to have to go to cash only."

Hoyce: "The wi-fi is working, I'm on my phone right now."

Shawn:  We can build an amateur radio with all the parts you have in stock.  

While the chaos of the cash-only economy descended upon the store, Shawn stared out at a number of mall employees set up an entire stage, complete with lights and rigging.  Shawn has obtained his lights and rigging merit badge and begins to assist the employees, who simply know better than to tell Shawn no.

Shawn completes the lights up top, when he hears the words, "Good, we're almost done.  Talent Show starts in 15 minutes."

Shawn: Talent Show?  Who's talent?

Employee: It's just the weekly national talent show at the mall.  We placed a Sudoku Store at the old location of the stage, so this is going to do today...

Shawn:  Can I participate?

Employee:  Sure!  It's a $50,000 cash prize... in tens.

Mike's getting frustrating handling cash.  The POS system does not like people using the No Sale button to open the register, so cash is simply stacked on the register.

Hoyce has decided to simply force the customers to round up for charity,...

As the tiny talented kids in adorable costumes show up for the talent show, UPS showed up with yet another delivery.  

Mike opened the box and revealed the long out-of-stock Mall Talent Show merit badge.  Of course half of the last 22 years of Boy Scouts waiting on an eternally back-ordered merit badge were coming to the mall to get one, and the other half wanted to sign up to the talent show show they would qualify for the badge... then purchase it. 

... and it was still cash-only.

Shawn:  "These skits are going to be terrible"

Morty, the manager, finally emerged from his office in the stockroom of the store, coffee in hand.

Mike: "Waitaminute, we've had a manager here the whole time?"

Morty was surprisingly quick to call the credit card company, but hung up with worry.  "We have a problem.  Since the BSA is bankrupt, the credit card fees haven't been paid.  We need to fundraise to pay off our bill, so let's assemble a skit for the talent show and win the $50,000.  I'm going to get another cup of coffee at the other end of the mall."

Hoyce: "Whatever, I'm on the clock."

Mike handled some of the more obstinate Boy Scout moms, Shawn thought up a classic Shawn idea.

"Hey, they closed that Sears down a week before they even opened the mall, but I bet the old credit card slides are there."

Hoyce: "I think we'd still have to pay our credit card bills."

Shawn: "Sure, but you can still take the slips and process them tomorrow."

Hoyce:  "Great idea, let me go get one."  And like that, Hoyce wandered away from his registered and walked down to Sears.  

Mike was flabbergasted, and Shawn was trying to convince Mike to sing Spice Girls for the talent show.  

Hoyce was surprisingly adept at breaking into the Sears storefront,   It was also a shock just how many of the old "knuckle buster" credit slides and large level carbon slip presses were on the counter in the jewelry department.  

Realizing that the larger imprinter could be swung as a weapon, Hoyce almost broke a smile and said, "Cool" before returning to the store.  

Back at the store, Shawn jumped behind the register to try to help Mike.   While Hoyce was apathetic, he had most of the prices memorized through no effort of his own.  Shawn did too, but at 1965 prices.

With the full fury of the talent show dance moms, Boy Scouts, other folks looking to win $50,000, and Peculiar Sal, Minnesota's favorite parody artist.  

Hoyce dropped his machines through the glass counter, and took a 15-minute break.   Morty decided not to question Hoyce's actions, as the manger returned with his coffee, and officially signed up the group for the talent show under "Musical Act".

As the talent show started, that corner of the mall fell into a weird time warp as each act seemed like an eternity, yet hundreds of acts were getting on stage within the mall's regular hours of operation.  

Once the store employees were called, everyone dropped everything to walk behind the stage, abandoning everything.  Morty has brought out a set of four velour Boy Scout jumpsuits from out of the backroom.  

The Boy Scout store sat behind the stage, watching "Eugene the Magician" dressed as Gandalf, began doing illusion and hypnotism.    Eugene talents were limited but his own major talent was summoning the actual zombies in the Mall of America (who could tell the difference from regular shoppers).  Sometimes a random zombie would get distracted and attack a dance mom, but most headed straight towards the stage.  

Everyone was entranced by the zombie horde, except Mike, who eyed a straight path back through the store and out the backdoor.  

Shawn pulled out his Zune and tried to lure the back end of the zombie horde to a new location with some success.  

Mike and Hoyce fought through the crowd to return to the store.  They grabbed the stacks of cash off the register, and dashed through the back store room, through the back door, into the hallway.  

Shawn successfully led his zombie horde to Hickory Farms and Doris' never-ending free samples.  Except that the first Hickory Farms he reach wasn't a storefront, it was the classic kiosk in the middle of the mall.  Lucky for Shawn, the zombies organized themselves into an infinite line, Getting free samples from Doris until she fell from exhaustion.  

Shawn didn't like Doris anyway.  

The zombies finally reached Eugene and knocked him over onto the stage.  In a classic scene, it looked like the zombie descended upon him and began pulling his entrails out.  In reality, they had simply hit his stash of never-ending scarves for his act.  Boy Scout neckscarves,  The horde of Boy Scout and Boy Scout adjacent attendees, waiting on the back-ordered neckwear attacked the stage and fought the zombies for the cloth. 

Fast Forward two years, 2026

Coastal village, somewhere in Eastern Europe. 

Another year, another pandemic.  But the country couldn't afford the fancy medicines of COVID-25 and 26.   They relied on other methods for social distancing.

At a quaint little cafe,  a large Greek man spied his socially responsible friend with a super-model on each arm, Hoyce, walking down the street, and toasted for their good fortune.  

This completes a ridiculous trilogy of COVID-adjacent adventures.  Bigg Melons  and the Great Hall of COVidiots were run in the first months of the pandemic, and I never got to us the street cafe picture above.  It's only really related by the use of Coffee Shop, and the appearance of Shawn in all three.

(Gamma World) This is Not a Test #29 - Dr Helianthus and the Return to the Lost City

Sonny felt an odd sensation.  The mutant sunflower involuntarily jerked its head up.  It took him a few seconds to reorient himself.  He was still firmly rooted in the ground, inside a group tent with a photosynthetic amplifier on top.  The journey through the Glow Zone had been trying for his team, but after a quick rest, they were all ready to finish their mission.  

Dr Sonny Helianthus -  Scientist, Researcher, Sunflower of Action

He had assembled a top notch team of PLANT operators. The Plant Liberation Army of a New Tomorrow didn't hate animal-kind, but animal kind was getting in the way of everyone's improvement.  

That would stop today.  One way, or another.  

Stick, his trusted scout and hand-to-hand expert, returned to camp.  "Doc, the device was right where you said it was, surrounded by a ton of living metal."

Stick

"Stick, I have something up my sleeve for that."

"Is that why you where a human lab coat, Doc?"

"That... and other reasons, my friend. Go tell Venus and the others it's go-time."

The scout left to tell the others:  Stump, a tree with artillery-sized projectile capability.  Twig I and Twig II, the big guys friends (children) but very capable plants.  And Venus, the true intelligence in the party, even if she was dumb enough to get involved with Sonny for some extra-curricular activities.  

Venus

Sonny's team, about to dash across the City of Eternal Flame

The device across town supposed to fix alot of the glow zone issues, and bring back plant life.  That would help everyone.  Sonny had spent years pouring over an operator's manual someone had found years ago, and even more time sending teams to find if any of these machines still existed.

His biggest problem know was the device's location:  The City of Eternal Flame was a no-go site deep with the Glow Zone.  Fires constantly raged throughout the city, fueled by something that even kept the adjacent lake aflame.  The glow counts were normally in the Instant Death category on the Ancients' instruments, but one week out of the year, the winds changed and pushed enough material off into the lake to make the counts drop to Deathly Stupid.  If they were quick enough, they could complete the mission and get out of their with only lingering complications, or, if they were lucky, a new mutation.

The problem was, most other groups were aware of the weather patterns, and it was a prime week for scavengers, restorationists, and power hungry groups to prowl the ruined streets, looking for artifacts, and dealing with any resistance in very murderous ways.  

The PLANT Operators spread out.  Sonny had given them orders to secure buildings quickly, and scavenge even faster.    The Twigs quickly uncovered a lost stash of electronics from another group.

Venus moved over towards an old industrial facility.  They were always good for more practical items, and the elevated position would give them better intel about what was coming at them.  

A single shot rang out through the town.  Everyone froze in their tracks and crouched down.  A second shot rang out.  Venus was already dead before she fell onto the platform below her, a victim of a scavenger sniper.  

Where Venus fell.  Scavengers unleashed toxic mutants from the tanks, so there was some karma.

The orders quickly changed from Secure/Scavenge/Move On to "Go, go, go!"    Sonny appeared to wipe a tear (?) from his face with his sleeve, then proceeded to run forward.   The others followed.  

Those two shots appeared to bring the City of Eternal Flame back from the dead.  Weapons fire from every direction could be heard, and off in the distance, something was flying in the air.

The PLANT operators was shocked to find Sonny sprinting across a wide open street, then feared the worst when a mutant, six-legged reindeer came charging right him.  

They were even more shocked when the sunflower jumped on the creature's back and they rode towards the device.  

Sonny wasn't prepared for the loss of the love of his life, but he did call in favors from his old crew, the De Facto Explorers.

Another group emerged from the rubble, a motley group with a mutant weasel, a mutant ram, a mutant earthworm, and a some sort of human barbarian, blasting away at multiple packs of monstrous animals.  Sonny's old crew still had connections to the Restorationists, but years of working with the sunflower built up a number of favors he cashed in for today.  The reindeer was a stagon named No Name,  a loyal mount for the human in the group, Lathar the Mighty.  

(L to R) Front Row:  Sneaky Pete,  Squiggles
Back Row: Lathar the Mighty, Ramsay, No-Name.

The De Facto Explorers dispatched some wolves and turned their attention to distracting the living metal guarding it.  With an opening, Sonny leapt off of No-Name and slid right towards the device.    With the sound of slugthrower fire and chicken clucks coming from the east, Sonny activated the device and once it was engaged, jumped back on No Name and headed back to his fellow PLANT Operators.

With a boom the device began to work, terraforming the City of Eternal Flames.  Where there had been desolation, huge growths began to sprout out of the reclaimed soil.  

For the members of PLANT this seemed divine, but the terraforming rapidly exceeded anything Sonny had pulled from the manual.  Plant growth grew exponentially, vines covered everything, including passive humans, until succumbing to an even heartier plant growth.    What could have been a paradise for all races turned into primaeval jungle only the most dangerous beasts could survive in.  Most of the exploring gangs survived with only their lives. 

New lifeforms began emerging from the soil.  Sentient lifeforms

The City of Eternal Flame had turned into the City of Eternal Flowers.

Sonny felt an odd sensation.  The mutant sunflower involuntarily jerked it's head up.  It took him a few seconds to reorient himself.  He was still firmly rooted in the ground, inside a group tent, just outside the walls of the Hisser village of Notex.  A noise appeared to have awoken him in the middle of the night.

But.... mutated plants don't sleep, much less dream, do they?

GM: Welcome to a proper place to put in the Fistful of Lead: Wasteland Warriors game I played in, and Mike Lung ran at Historicon 2023.  Mike was nice not only have myself, but "Gnome King" and fellow Gamma World player Jim play in the session.  I ran Sonny's plant commandos, while Jim statted out the other characters from the campaign to play in the miniatures game.  

Next: #30 - Coffins for Hissers

Mandatory AAU Basketball Spring 2024 Rant - Weekend #2 - The Birthday Hullabaloo

 This whole separate tournament locations for Maja and Millie is for the birds!  Although I'm getting far less wear and tear on my car.  

This past weekend, I got to take Millie (13u) to the Scranton Slamfest, while Maja's mother got the honor of fighting thousands upon thousands of people at the Live at the Nook even in Spooky Nook (Lancaster, PA). 

It was also my birthday this weekend, so while Maja went down to Lancaster right after school for a 6:10pm game Friday, I watched over Millie, and Millie's Friday was going to be baking a lot of cupcakes, whether she like it or not.  

My Official Birthday Sticker for the Weekend. 

Millie (7th Grade/13U)  

The unfortunate news for Millie's team was that they were missing arguably their two best players, who decided to suit up for different teams that were attending the same Live at the Nook event as Maja.  This left them four regulars and three girls new to AAU.  The good news was the pool was tiny, composing of a Scranton AAU team, and the girls own 13U- B team.

For the first Saturday game against Scranton, the team adapted to this new concept call share the ball equally and play with high energy.  The first few minutes were close, but they eventually pulled away with a 15-point win.  

The second game against the 13U-B team started rough.  Down by 4 and only shooting 9%, the girls rallied back under the center, Londyn's 25 point, 15 rebound performance to win 47-30.   My high point?  Millie playing such lockdown defense that multiple players went to the bench in tears.  

My low point?  The referees.  It's been an ongoing issue, and with the excuse of "if we don't use these refes, we won't have games,"  I'd rather not have games.  

Some of the zebras are good, but one assigned to Scranton High School on Saturday had no right overseeing a family Tiddlely-Wink tournament, much less an AAU game.  When everyone in the building, family, players, coaches, and his replacement cringe at over a dozen horrible calls, from missing blatant elbows while staring at the action 10 foot away, to calling fouls on perfect screens and making no-calls on moving shoulder block screens that didn't level girls, but physical moved the girl in the direction the other player was still moving, like a football block, it was simply horrible.

The worse call wasn't even during Millie's games, but one in between, where down 19-16, the player shooting the 3-point shot to tie was legitimately fouled and the foul called.  However it was waved off because this inept ref blew an inadvertent whistle for no good reason, killing the play and giving the winning team the ball to burn off the last seconds.  (I got this directly from the ref who called the foul, whom I'm on good terms with).  

While I was quite please with Millie's performance (Opponent crying and a 6 point 6 assist game) the most amusing part of the day came at dinner.  Millie agreed to Buffalo Wild Wings  and ordered her usual:  10 Wings, all-flats, extra-crispy Mild, Order of Fries with side of Mild Sauce, Shirley Temple.  

Once the food arrive, I happily engaged with my burger, until the waitress came back.  She asked Millie if she wanted water, and I thought her tone was a bit odd.  Millie immediately said yes, though, and within seconds I saw her melt down and nearly spontaneously combust 

It seems the waitress put in for WILD sauce on the wings (one of the three hottest they have) and Millie housed six of them before realizing something was amiss.   Some water, some milk and four replacement mild wings later, and she had a fun story to tell. 

With the two wins Sunday, Millie's team won the most important prize of all, a chance to sleep in rather than play the 8am play-in game for the title.  

Credit to the 13U-B team, they won their 8am game for the right to the rematch and balled their hearts out.   It was Londyn again, asking for permanent residence at the foul line for the last two minutes and giving the team a 50-47 and the championship.    After championship t-shirts and cupcakes were distributed, it was onwards and just over two hours to reach Spooky Nook for Maja's last game of the weekend.  

I'm the statistician for Maja's 15U team, do Friday night, Millie and I huddled around the laptop to watch them play the SI Liberty, the older team of the same program that gave Millie's teams fits in week one.  This batch didn't disappoint, as they hit SIX three-pointers in a row (11 overall), to keep things close, but Maja's Clutch won out 58-55.

Saturday morning, Maja played just before Millie was supposed to go to a shout around warm-up, I was hoping to do stats for most of, but not all of the game, but the family recording the games for us encountered horrible wi-fi.  It took me over 40 minutes to watch the first 10 minutes of actual play, and when we arrived at the CYC for the shout-around, I changed again, and the recording only lasted 17 minutes of actual play before failing.  It's a little sad that there's little to no wifi in student rec center (but the University Gymnasium, where the second game was, had it in spades.)

Still 61-40 and 44-23 wins were impressive, even if I needed to construct stats for the first game, thanks to no parent or player remembering who even scored. 

Sunday, the goal was to get down with an hour to spare and meet up with my sister and brother-in-law to watch Maja's last game, and conduct a dinner, much requested gifts for my birthday.    We actually met, grabbed some light fare from concessions and talked, only to discover (a) the game started 30 minutes early and no one told us and (b) the inept scoreboard operator used a running clock (not in the rules) for the entire first half before being called out on it by the refs.  

Even with poor scorekeeping, the inevitable happened, a 40-34 win that wasn't as close as the final scored suggests.  

I somehow traded kids with their mom, and Maja accompanied me to the birthday soiree at a decent at best local chain of pub restaurants.  

The random gift my sister got me this year?  A Slayer cooler!  .  

I don't know if I want to use it for lunch, or get a job transporting blood or transplant organs.  

The drive home in the waning daylight was difficult, and I did spend some time back at the house while dropping off Maja before heading home.  I got my final gift there:  Kids on Bikes: Strange Adventures Volume 1.  

50 Years of Viscount Eric

 

The Mike Lung Gallery #90 - Homemade Gemrocks for Stalagbite

In his e-mails to me promoting the Stalagbite! Kickstarter, friend of the blog, Mike, sent me these little tidbits, and they might be more glorious than the Kickstarter itself.  

Inspired by a trip Disneyworld awhile back, Mike rode Snow White's Mine Train ride and noticed the barrels full of gems and other items.  Upon return home, he made rocks encrusted with gems for use in the original version of Stalagbite!  

The gems on the rocks were colored rhinestones.  

(Gamma World) This is Not a Test #28 - Shrapnel From the Ancients

 Our heroes, the De Facto Explorers, assisting the Hissers of Notex with the sky falling....

================= 

Sneaky Pete: A mutated weasel scout.  Pete's telepathy and night vision take a backseat when he whips out his electrical powers.  Recovering from his injuries from the Glow near Ulmin.

Sonny Helianthus: a sentient sunflower artifact examiner with trusted Restorationist ties. 

Slitheran Wurmtail (aka Squiggles): a mutated earthworm scout, in impromptu power armor, looking for trouble, and finding it often.  Recently "gave birth" to a litter of sentient earthworm babies.

Lathar Bracken: A pure-strain human from River Bend.  He's got the muscle, the face, and a mount for most encounters.  Lathar's trusty beast of burden, No Name, travels wherever he does. Looking for trouble in all the right places.  Recent jousting champion of Fair-Town and has been awarded... a peacock he has named Chambray.

Ramsay Kallax:  Mutated Ram from the far-off KIA Academy with a predilection for ancient treasures... and the occasional head-butt. 

================

After leaving the safety of Notex's walls, they figured out how a pistol of the Ancients worked, at the expense of Squiggle's face.  Stabilizing the earthworm, they saw five objects streaking down from somewhere in the heavens.  Each object had a flaming head and a smokey tail, and all five appeared to be headed a towards the village, the mesa, and the dish that serves nothing.

One thing the crew did confirm: they molten objects weren't falling off of the odd dish atop the mesa.  They came from much, much higher.  

They had already moved out of their test clearing and closer to the tree line once Squiggles was stabilized.  Seeing the objects careening to Gamma World the moved further in and tried to find additional shelter in ditches, beside fallen logs, all while Lathar tried to wrangle No-Name, while Pete was giving the beasts telepathic calming, telepathic suggestions.

Sonny dove on Squiggles as the first objects impacted.  There were no explosions, but as they peaked out amongst the trees towards Notex, they could see flames and smoke coming over the walls.  There were other dust clouds around the mesa.  

Our heroes ran back to help the village, only to find a water brigade well in hand, taking care of a burning building that had suffered one of the objects crashing into it.    A portion of the fence appears to have been hit and knocked down as well, that object cratered in one of the community gardens.  

Peter tried to coordinate further assistance, but the Hissers brushed him aside.   The injured had already been rescued and wounds being tended to.  From a cursory glance through the hivemind thought, no one had scene anything fall.  

Pete then tried to seek out the Hisser Elder, Goral, and repeated their question how they could help.  

"We have everything under control.  We needed to find a few missing folk."

Peter was confused, "Who would do this to you?"

"The sky, silly mammal!  They've always come from the sky.  Finish the promise you came to enforce!  The other elders think you going into the rock has obviously made things worse.  Just stop this." and with that he slithered to check 

Goral the Elder, Ready for anything...

Sonny gently moved passed the chaos of the burning building and went over to investigate the crater in the gardens.  While the remains of what fell were still quite hot and steaming, the mutant sunflower's card of the ancients that detected the glow, only detected a very minor increase in the area, nothing more than they already walked through to get there.   

Sonny was perplexed.  Everything they had assumed about the "sky is falling" was wrong.  He relied on his other prior experience:  reading the flimsy catalogs of the Ancients he had acquired back in Fair-Town.  He had read through most of one before turning his collection over to Justinian and the Restorationists.  It was largely militaristic pure-strain militia working along the shoreline of the "ocean", even a few in vehicles that could go underwater.  But very little mentioned anything from the sky, and he was completely confused about something called "Lichtenstein Flash."

"There was one news article about some flying metal vessels fighting in the sky, shooting cannons like giant versions of the pistols they had just tested.  There was some sort of damaged Ancients facility in the background.    One side were a rebellion run by brothers, the other side, OHTORI, held possession of the Murder Base.   The only line I remember was 'ZERO HOUR IS NEAR!    If this is related to that, then we need to search further and see if we can stop it launching attacks.'"

Returning to the crash site in the garden, they investigated the melted orb in the crater.  It looked the same as the others they had located.  Some of them did notice pieces of super-thin shiny material getting kicked up and blown away by the light breeze.  Sonny grabbed one with his fronds, it was indeed metal, and crumpled within the slightest adjustment, only to be pulled pack with some effort.  There was no writing on any of the pieces they hunted down.  The sunflower fold the pieces into quarters and tucked them away between the pieces of writing paper he had brough along.  

Pete was not enthused, "Okay, we have to go back in.  My bigger question is who gets to wield the new gun?"

Sonny was taken aback, "That will take a bit, since I need to train you guys.  I also want to get it intact, so we can go back and fix up the broken one with more parts."

"Agreed, as the best shot, I should probably use it."

"Squiggles is an equal shot, an after that accident, needs additional help, although Squiggles might not want anything to do with it."

"I do NOT!" was all Squiggles could yell out. 

The Hisser healers were busy dealing with their own kind, and with the discovery of two bodies in the building, funeral rituals were put forth.  Our heroes set up camp just outside the walls and let the natives be.    

GM Notes: Boy's Life, August 1986, inside front cover.

NEXT: #29 - Dr Helianthus and the Return to the Lost City

(Kickstarter) STALAGBITE! The Dwarven Quest for Gold and Glory by Midlam Miniatures

 It's a little late notice, as the Kickstarter has less than a day, but Friend of the Blog and fellow Gnomie Mike Lung loves the original version STALAGBITE! The Dwarven Quest for Gold and Glory from 2012 with laser cut components, so a new edition with all Midlam Miniatures metal figures seems like a jolly good investment. 

The game is for 1-6 players, where each player take on a role of a Dwarf, hunting for gold and glory in the caverns, beset by hazards, vicious creatures, and goblins. 

(Kickstarter) 28mm Fantasy Dwarves Second Slaying! by Macrocosm

I personally love Macrocosm Space Dwarves line, but did you know they have an extensive fantasy line, in a consistent sculpting style?

28mm Fantasy Dwarves Second Slaying! is an expansion on their Fantasy Dwarves.  Big, sturdy, and suitable on a table  with another British miniature company.  

My only drawback with Macrocosm is the UK shipping, but they also seem to be the one company I get everything from fast.  

(Kickstarter) Savage Battlelords - Reprint Campaign by 23rd Century Productions

If I wanted an episode of "You know grinds my gears"  it's smaller companies running multiple Kickstarters for multiple printings, or worse yet, multiple editions when they hold print runs close to the vest and they print barely over Kickstarter demand and have no capital for a 2nd printing.

The  Savage Battlelords - Reprint Campaign by 23rd Century Productions is not one of these.  As the Kickstarter states, the Carnage Companion (CC) and Alliance Setting Guide (ASG) are getting a 2nd printing regardless of whether this Kickstarter succeeds, but the crowdsourcing allows pledges to get these book under retail.  The initial Core Rulebook for Battlelords of the 23rd Century for Savage Worlds is also available to order, and a 2nd printing is planned, but the publisher expects to provide 1st printing books during fulfillment.  

HMGS GAME DAY AT WEST POINT Saturday April 20, 2024

 Why is all the fun stuff happening my birthday weekend, and I'm already double booked with family functions?

The Historical Miniature Gaming Society (HMGS) ConOps proudly presents HMGS GAME DAY AT WEST POINT, Saturday, April 20, 2024 at The Thayer Hotel in West Point, NY

FREE Admission for all HMGS members

FREE Admission for all newly paid HMGS members

FREE Admission for all West Point Cadets and Faculty

FREE Parking at the West Point Visitors Center

FREE Walk-Up Games sponsored by the following:

• West Point Cadet Wargaming Club
• HMGS Next Gen
• New York Wargamers Association
• Connecticut Game Club
• Carnage and Glory
• Other Open Gaming tables and Family Friendly Games will be available.

FREE West Point Museum Tour
FREE West Point Visitors Center Tour
FREE Stony Point Battlefield and Museum Tour  

Guided Bus Tours of West Point through www.westpointtours.com

Photos with a WW2 Sherman Tank

Lunch at Patton's Tavern

Happy Hour at Thayer Hotel Rooftop Zulu Lounge

Dinner at MacArthur's Restaurant

Sunday Brunch at MacArthur's Restaurant

Additional Off Site Food Options:
Benny Haven's
McDonald's

Available Hotels:
The Thayer Hotel   www.thethayerhotel.com
West Point Motel www.thewestpointmotel.com
Holiday Inn Express at West Point-Fort Montgomery  www.ihg.com

For further information, please contact Frank Luberti, HMGS Convention Operations at conops@hmgs.org

(Gamma World) This is Not a Test #27 - Avoid Artifact Catastrophe

 Our heroes, the De Facto Explorers, assisting the Hissers of Notex with the sky falling....

================= 

Sneaky Pete: A mutated weasel scout.  Pete's telepathy and night vision take a backseat when he whips out his electrical powers.  Recovering from his injuries from the Glow near Ulmin.

Sonny Helianthus: a sentient sunflower artifact examiner with trusted Restorationist ties. 

Slitheran Wurmtail (aka Squiggles): a mutated earthworm scout, in impromptu power armor, looking for trouble, and finding it often.  Recently "gave birth" to a litter of sentient earthworm babies.

Lathar Bracken: A pure-strain human from River Bend.  He's got the muscle, the face, and a mount for most encounters.  Lathar's trusty beast of burden, No Name, travels wherever he does. Looking for trouble in all the right places.  Recent jousting champion of Fair-Town and has been awarded... a peacock he has named Chambray.

Ramsay Kallax:  Mutated Ram from the far-off KIA Academy with a predilection for ancient treasures... and the occasional head-butt. 

================

Our heroes exited the secret facility of the Ancients, a bit worse for wear for some.   The sight of sunshine and fresh air were a welcome sight, although their return was quick unexpected by the nearby Hissers.

"We're good? It's fixed already? Wow!" one of the Hisser remarked telepathically. 

"Absolutely not," Sonny quickly retorted.  "We need to regroup.  Do you have any healers in town?"

"Follow me..."

Lathar had a particular greyish tone to his skin. 

"Hey Squiggles," Sonny leaned over to his earthworm friend, "Humans don't change colors if we keep them out of sunlight, do they?"

"They certainly do not!"

"Then I hope they can help Grey-thar..."

They came to the healers hut and the two went through a series of homeopathic remedies and procedures without much success. 

"It appears we'll need to transfer healthy blood into you."   Small knives came out and the Hissers cut their arms, along with Lathar and Pete's, and put them together.  

While they wait for the ritual to end, Pete gave them a positive outcome of their search, despite their mysterious ailments and injuries.  

Pete was the only one who noticed the Hisser helping Lathar was quickly turning grey, it disconnected from the transfusion and emitted a eerie, wailing noise before dropping dead.  This caused quite a commotion  and confusion among the assistants.   Looking over, Lathar was energized, but  still slightly grey.   Pete's healer shuffled over, but maintained contact for that transfusion.  He was not turning grey, but Pete didn't share that symptom.  

Immediately the elders called another meeting with our heroes.  Accusations and questions and fear dominated the meeting.  Sonny did his best to allay any fears, but the sudden unknown death of a healer was far more worrisome than items falling from the sky.    

The Elders ordered them outside the walls in tents, with supplies.  There were not to make additional contact, except with better news.  

Lathar asked for additional troops to help the, which excited the ire of elders even more.  

"We barely have enough to guard the village, protect from raiders, and keep the peace.   If we could do it ourselves, we would not have begged for help like some worthless primitives."

Those same guards escorted the heroes outside the walls, until they were ready to re-enter the complex.  

After setting up the tents and eating, our heroes decided to experiment with the artifacts they recovered from the complex.  

They wandered closer to the stream they had followed up from the Hisser River.    Upon finding a clearing, they made a makeshift table with some fallen trees and a stump and began analyzing their finds.

With Lathar over his shoulder, Sonny couldn't venture much from the artifact knife they had recovered.  

Lathar took the knife from the sunflower, insistent that a knife was more than just a knife.    He walked away, fumbling about with the item.  At some point, he dropped the knife.  The blade fell out of the hilt and what looked to be a power cell rolled onto the grass as well.  He quickly put all the parts together without earning the suspicion of his teammates, but as he reinserted the blade, he heard a a resounding *THWANG* and the blade fell completely into to hilt.  

He walked back over and handed it to Sonny, "It's more than just a knife."

Realizing the pieces were lose and catching the blade with his fronds as it fell out  ("That was a poor idea!") Sonny walked away.  Upon further inspection, the hilt had dozen of tiny screws, although there was no explanation what exactly they were holding together on the hilt. 

"I'll need some time back in my lab in River Bend to investigate this further." and Sonny tucked it away in his pack.

Turning to the oversized pistol, Sonny realized to device was complete to function, although it appeared to be missing pieces which might have been accessories, or simply cosmetic.  

Plugging the power cell in, the weapon hummed for a moment and went silent.  After messing with the weapon, small lights came on.   Whatever the missing cosmetic items were apparently explained what the yellow and green buttons did, and he picked the wrong time to pull the trigger.

A burst of light shot out of the barrel and hit a large boulder 100 foot away.   The boulder split open, behind it the smoking body of Squiggles.  

"SQUIGGLES!  My oldest friend!"  Everyone ran over to the earthworm.  

Squiggles was alive although the deflected blast of the weapon hit him square in the face. 

Sonny flipped the small switch he realized was a safety or power switch.  "He'll live, although I don't think the healer will want to talk to him after today."

Squiggles laughed, got to his feet, and slugged the sunflower.  He fell backwards and was caught by Lathar, who lifted them up in his arms.

"Please, Lathar.... Don't drop me."

Realizing their best course of action was to go back to camp and rest up, they cleaned up their site, but Pete caught something out of the corner.  Up in the sky were five streaking objects, heading toward the large mesa... and the Hisser village.

A Problem, Times Five

Next: #28 - Shrapnel From the Ancients

Mandatory AAU Basketball Spring 2024 Rant - Weekend #1

We're back at this crap again.  

In this day and age where we're not supposed to criticize kids, I'll start off by saying I didn't expect two kids in AAU this spring.  

Millie (13U) I expected.  Despite participating in junior high track and field, her first love is basketball, and all but one of her teammates are returning for the 7th grade team.  They're definitely short on height, but they should remain competitive with 2/3 of the teams.  

Maja (15U) I expected to take some time off.  Varsity time didn't end well, I expected a month off of rest, focus on running and rehab through track and field and possibly a good enough time to qualify for the regional meet.  Off-season varsity stuff would start up again May, with possibly three games a week over the summer.  

One weekend, I checked on her location via the phone, just to see if spending the afternoon with both girls was a possibility.  Lo' and behold, Maja was at the local CYC... at tryouts.  It appeared that Maja and five other girls from the Varsity roster were trying out, and their was a good chance her coach from Freshmen ball (and last spring's AAU season) was returning.  Despite my protests, the rest of the family was running with it... not realizing just how complicated things were going to be.

Biggest problem?  Completely different schedules.  Millie had five tournaments from April through May.  Maja had eight tournaments from April through July.  Only two times were both teams at the same site on the same weekend, and three times there were conflicts (one in Lancaster, one in Scranton).  Let's also add a ninth tournament for Maja this past weekend in Scranton, while Millie's crew is in South Jersey!   Divide and conquer seems to be the way to go, although Maja is already realizing her planned social life is plummeting due to weeknight practices and late night weekend games.  She was invited to two musicals with friends, and could attend neither.  Considering her position on the AAU team is about the same on Varsity (8th-10th on a a 10-girl roster). I simply hope she doesn't get hurt....

.... and that's what I get for typing this part up on Friday before the first tournament. 

Millie was supposed to kick off her season with a tournament in Jersey, but it was dropped on everyone that the Varsity and JV teams would play a local showcase in Scranton.  Divide and conquer started early, with me handling Maja's transportation, and my ex taking Millie duties since they already had a hotael and plans.  

Saturday, Scranton:  Maja's team lost two at-grade players, one of our trusted point guards, and a power forward who just went crazy good during her Freshman year of school.  Also remove two girls who were playing up a grade, and there was some room.  

Their replacements were... adequate, to say the least.  

• Ella, a 6'2" center to compliment our existing 6'1" classmate of Maja's  She's spent the last three years on a depleted school team, forced to do everything.  
• Sophia and Julianna, two girls from the "hated" Hazleton freshmen.  The team already welcomed their Hazleton teammate Mariah last season, and she was a blessing to have.  Hopefully lightning strikes thrice.
• Norah, Maja's school teammate with super-energy decided to improve her game, and earned a spot of JV "A", much to the chagrin of some of the parents of the "B" team players. 

For the random weird person playing at home, the JV team consists of five girls (including Maja) come from the same school, add the three Hazleton girls, the tall prep school player, and one extra lady from a competitive school, and it's a pretty damn good team.  In fact, our 6th freshmen player at the school is tearing it up for the elite Scranton AAU program, so it should be a fun year... and the next three.

We've also turned a corner where the 8am Saturday games seem to have disappeared, replaced with sleeping in and dinnertime and evening games.  

The first team was from Central/South Jersey, and actually had two girls who contributed to their school's state title run.  For a first game, Maja's team broke themselves, in slowly, creating a 23-20 halftime lead, despite missing every single 3-pt attempt.  

For the second half, they only took (and missed) two more threes, focused on play calling and annihilated the other team 48-29.   Maja was used sparingly, still pulled down five rebounds.  There was definitely a disparity between the 5+1 starters and four of the girls with playing time (3 of the 4 are Maja's teammates), but their old Freshmen coach is the AAU coach, so we trust the system.  

We closed out the building with a late-night game, against a team we had trouble with (and won) during one of our national tournament trips to Atlantic City.  

Spoilers:  After talking with the parents, they sent the 15U "C" team three hours.   32-11 halftime lead, and with Maja and the other three bench players with significant 2nd halftime, they extended the lead further for 20+ point win.   Maja with 6 points, 5 more rebounds, a block, and NO TURNOVERS.

The reward for a late-night win?  A trip to Waffle House, and a chance to sleep in for a 2:30pm game Sunday.

Saturday, New Jersey: In a pattern over the last three years, we lost ANOTHER center, and added a handful of girls who will take the entire season to acclimate and develop.  However, their play style is fast and aggressive, with a 72-21 rout that wasn't even that close for their first game.  

And that's when Millie went down the first time.  

Her left ankle buckled on some play and she went down.  Already up by thirty, she got it iced and wrapped and went out to the second game of the day, where she was used sparingly in another 30-point rout.   

Somehow Maja survived the first day, but Millie was packed in ice like trans-pacific seafood delivery that evening.  

Sunday, Scranton:  Some evening research confirmed that the 15U team had already played their best teams for the weekend.  There were good teams on site at 15U, but they had already qualified for, and were playing against, the teams in the tournament organizers showcase circuit.  Maja's team was on a "qualifier" tier against other programs who wanted to be part of the showcase.  However, none of these programs seemed to bring their "A" teams to qualify the program.  

Maja's first team for Sunday afternoon where the "Runnin' Rebs" a team that gave them problems over the years.  Everyone expected a hearty battle, until parents started admitting that it was the first year most of the girls had played AAU, and the first year in the program for as well.  Again, after some research, another "C" team was confirmed, with their A and B teams playing in different tournaments around Philadelphia.    58-31 and it wasn't that close.  Maja with another 5 points, 3 rebounds, and now adding two assists and a steal... and NO TURNOVERS.

The final game was against the weakest team in the pool, program out of Baltimore with some talented girls, but certainly not the experience together to withstand the assault they were NOT expecting.  

When Maja's coach finally called off the dogs, it was 29-1... with all the subs in.  With no mercy rules to put into effect, the 62-17 final was being gentle.  Only two girls (two of the new ones) made it into double figures, and everyone else scored multiple times.   Maja:  Another 5 points, 3 rebounds, 4 assists to make her teammates look good, and another block.  

Most importantly, she's not only having fun, the entire team is having fun, cheering, hooting and hollering, supporting each other.   It was a fun tournament to watch.... and one of the parents was smart enough to not only set up a Facebook group for parents, but also post livestreams of all the games, so Maja's mom didn't miss anything in Jersey.

Sunday, New Jersey:  Four years of AAU and Millie's team finally found a good team in their age group out of Staten Island... twice.  For 4th-6th grade, the Staten Island teams couldn't even be considered road bumps.  In the three or four games these programs have played them, Millie's team may have given up 10 points COMBINED, including a 40-0 shutout in 4th grade where Millie made the winning shot off the opening jumping ball, while on her knees.

The Staten Island Liberty are not one of those teams.  With the championship game guaranteed by tie-breaker, Millie's team fought a war against the Liberty in the last pool game.  Mille and her bum ankle held up most of the game, keeping with two or four points, while she focused on a girl who was trying her best Caitlyn Clark impression... and thankfully failing.    Unfortunately, another tweak, and Millie staggered over to the bench in tears with two minutes left in the second, half.  The girl got some space and got hot, and they lost by 6.

The championship was against the same Liberty, and after a few more hours of ice, some motrin, and a new wrap, Millie toughed her way through a 49-41 loss.  

The events in Jersey have always been considered sub-par in the way of competition and officiating, so it was nice to see two good programs go at it.    I couldn't gauge the Jersey officials, since I was there, but the Scranton official got a solid B-/C+.  However, if you complained about the Iowa/UConn officials "deciding the game,"  you would have had an education on how that really happens with some of the other tournament games.  Collecting $150-200 for a long afternoon seemed to be their number one priority, rather than caring about the action on the court.  I know Maja's team is heading to Spooky Nook in two weeks, so I'll have to gird my loins to deal with those refs and scorekeepers, who are far worse.  

I dropped off Maja at home and checked on Millie, forcing her to ice and elevate and give things time.    It looked like a good 2nd degree sprain (I've had a 3rd degree sprain once and this is bad but not this bad.  IF she listens, she might be ready off the bench in a few weeks, and full action for the last three tourneys.  

A Millie POV of a tired Dad reading her the riot act about resting.