Gaming Year in Review 2023-24

I've always tracked my gaming progress like the US Federal fiscal calendar (October through September). Don't ask why, it's always been like that, I'm not going to change now.

This year, I threw a bunch of stuff against the wall to see if anything would stick.  On occasion, some of it actually stuck.

The Blog:  
The Top Ten Blog Posts Over the Past Twelve Months

1. (Review) The Games Keep - West Chester 
2. Historicon 2024:  Most Excellent and Most Triumphant (Conventions)
3. Fall-In 2023 AAR (Conventions)
4. Vote for Eric Jacobson for HMGS Board of Directors (HMGS)
5. (Gamma World) #29 - Dr Helianthus 
6. Attack of the Inflatable Zombie Pirates (Fistful of Lead)
7. Cold Wars Has Risen... and Descended Into Hell (HMGS)
8. Popular Old Posts from History (General Blogging)
9. Historicon 2024 PEL Event List is Up (Conventions) 
10. #RPGaDay - Day 23 - Peerless Player

I don't have the full details, but the review of the Games Keep in West Chester has consistently gotten hits, and not a random flurry of hits from Singapore, either.

And the Cold Wars post, put up the last week of the gaming year, struck a nerve with some people.

The Gamma World episode is actually the "dream sequence" of the Fistful of Lead Wasteland Warriors game Mike Lung runs at HMGS cons with the De Facto Explorers as a playable war party.   *Spoilers* there's another "dream sequence" coming up sometime in the next year. 

One Million Views!  -   Sure, there were a lot of bots along the ways (specific shoutouts to Italy, Singapore, and the Ukraine), but hitting a million hits on the blog is an easily recognizable event.  Here's hoping the next million involve fewer AI, but  I doubt it. 

#RPGaDay2024 - The uptick in traffic was heartening, as well as my realization that older #RPGaDay posts were seeing natural (non-bot) traffic as well.  I nicknamed this year's prompts as the "Martin Luther #RPGaDay" because so many of them were leaving me asking, "What does this mean?"  In the end I found some new friends, read a few new blogs, and gained some new followers.  I don't do it for the clicks, or least I shouldn't expect an upswing in traffic.  Surprisingly, in the last 11 years of doing this community engagement, only two of the 350+ posts have ever cracked my top 20 posts for any year.  This year two made it in the Top 20, one of those in the Top 10!, 

Swiss Engineers Annual Easter Egg Hunt

#RPGBlogCarnival: After being intrigued by the Blog Carnival at the end of the last gaming year, and still getting my article out two weeks past the end of month due date, the topics for the last 12 months have been uninspiring to me.  Chalk it up to me not being the demographic. 

Planet 28 - "Immovable Force"

#ZineQuest/#ZineMonth -  ZineQuest returning to February, hopefully for good, but I honestly did not pledge for anything.  I did promote 18 separate campaigns, but nothing struck my fancy.  Then, of course, Kickstarter changed it's formatting/address for its images and every post with a shared image came up null.  I'm still a little salty about that.

"Sikh and Destroy"

Project 350:  Despite using up a lot of stock gnome art, things still crept up, but not as bad as the 514 (323/191) from 472 (314/158) might demonstrate.  *Spoilers* I have most of January 2025's Character Creation Challenge already outlined for each day, and 13 of them are already in scheduled to post.  

Gamma World: Gamma World 4th Edition has been a rousing success, even if play has been uneven at time. The 43 sessions this year was barely under the best years for Star Wars d6 (45) and more than our original online D&D game (41).  The De Facto Explorers search beyond the comfortable boundaries of Riverbend has netted some interesting conundrums. 

 

We've spent a LOT of time downriver in the KIA Academy.  The mixture of Ivory Tower learning and gritty street-level (or sub-level) play has been contradictory at times, but we've dropped a few bombshells in recent weeks,.  My Gamma World isn't exactly what it looks like in the rule book. 

TRIUMPHS:

Curbing the Spending Spree: I was at maximum capacity to start this past year, and I did pledge to reduce purchases, or at least purge.  Well, the purge didn't happen (except with Magic cards), and by large, the additions I acquired were largely dirt cheap, if not free

Kicking the Kickstarter Habit: I have more notes under my usual Kickstarter review, but I went from seven Kickstarters with physical rewards to two (TMNT and d6 2nd Edition), and I may have kicked my habit of crowdsourced PDFs.  The aforementioned image sharing issue, as well as its continued evolution into products that aren't in my wheelhouse has also helped things.

PELAs are awesome/Screw the PELAs:  Both at Fall-In! and Historicon, my daughter Maja and I both had the honor of being judges for the HMGS PELA (Pour Encourager Les Autres) Awards.  Judging multiple sessions has exposed us to some old stereotypes, some innovative games, and the realization that, most of the time, the judges do get it right. 

The being said, my situation of "always the bridesmaid, never the bride" stung considerably more this past year, as the only Stout Gnome to not earn a PELA, I ran some of my best games this past year, and saw the judges walk by... once. 

Fistful of Lead/Gnome Wars:  Dire Wolves

CATASTROPHES:

The Unproductive Long Vacation:  I was let go of my job in the middle of 2023. Between PTO I never used and a quite attractive severance, I got to relax and be the Uber for my kids they needed.  By winter, though, looking for a job was imperative and it took FOREVER.  Even if people aren't moving around positions like post-COVID, they are passively looking in the job market, flooding positions they have tepid interest in.  When I did get interviews, important pieces of information had been omitted from the job posting, like part-time, or $12/hour for work that regularly paid $18-20.  I was about to break down and do long-shift overnight warehouse work when an intriguing job offer came up.   For the first time in two decades, I'm out of insurance and learning a new industry and it is fun.

All through that time, however, I got minimal gaming done.  Seriously, even with the prospect of solo games and a twenty foot move from gaming shelves to tables, the backlog of figures I want to paint, and games I want to run is real.  

No Cold Wars!: First COVID, then the lack of Convention Directors, then the abortive move to Ocean City left Cold Wars in limbo.  It was allegedly back... in Gettysburg... in February of 2025, but then the organizers realized that nothing had change to the con site since we left in 2004.  

#CharacterCreationChallenge - I was all set to do a fun, theme-filled Challenge in January, then I simply lost the will to do it mid-month.  I've already scheduled a few for the 2025 edition after I got some motivation.

Gnome and Away:  I may have been a bit soon(er) to create a Gnome War scenario based on the Oklahoma land rush.  There was limited game material to be inspired by/outright steal, and those that I did find created an outright boring game.  

Reaper "One Piece at a Time" - The concept of grabbing the lowest number SKU for Reaper Bones at my FLGS, painting it up, and moving on to the next highest was created as something fun to do and support my FLGS.  Two packs in and a set of skeletons later, it lost all its luster.  I may bring back a version of it with all the Bones figures I picked up at the fleas market at Historicon, but we shall see.  

Pulp Season 4/Gulluvia/GSM:  Most of the projects saw zero headway.  

GENERAL MUCKERY:

Basketball:  A new Varsity head coach had a good honeymoon year.  Maja's spot on the depth chart guaranteed her infinite playing time... at JV... as the center.  Millie's running the Freshman team as a 7th grader and looks to dominate again this year. 

The AAU train looks to be coming to an end for both of them, at least these particular locomotives.  The program did recruit a number of girls in Maja's division to put them over the top and dominate a quasi-prestigious showcase league.  However, they've failed at recruiting any size in Millie's division and despite all the talent, you can only go so far with junior high guards who haven't hit a considerable growth spurt yet.  

There is one last basketball rant for the year, and it's huge, but I'm letting that one possibly evolve....  It's BIG, but for now, it's the midst of volleyball season, and the girls are enjoying the change of pace. 

FALL-IN! - Fall-In started on a sour note, with needing to attend a memorial service for one of the other parents with the AAU team, but I did manage to kidnap Maja for the weekend.  The high point of the weekend was 30+ local homeschooled kids from the Lancaster area descending upon HMGS Next Gen for a morning of gnomes, medieval sieges, squig hopping, and more!  Maja and I learned how to be PELA judges and I took home a decent haul (Half of which I've either played with or starting painting!)  More can be read about that here.

MEPACON -  I made it to Mepcaon Fall 2023, got to connect with some folks, made witty banter in the back of the room while the game auction generate positively ludicrous bids for items, and enjoyed  another con in the Lehigh Valley.   I didn't make the spring con, but HMGS made an appearance. Their November con doesn't interfere with basketball or Fall-In! this year, so here's hoping...

Historicon 2024! - The best Historicon in a long time, even with the absence of Jim "the Gnome King" Stanton.  I ran the traditional Gnome Wars games and the Joust in his place, played in a great Fistful of Lead scenario, and got lots of time to hang out with Maja, who may become a permanent awards judge, the way things are looking.  

Historicon with "True Historical Gnomes"

Magic Arena - I will admit that I was happy I was no longer investing in MtG Pauper when I downloaded Magic: Arena and started playing.   Despite limited communication, there were plenty on anonymous players that, due to play style, I could picture as the neckbeard, unwashed, drooping sweatpants masses. I'm pretty certain I have no desire to play face-to-face Magic ever again, but I also can barely tolerate those who play online.  Online calculations allow for crazy, effect/counter/token resolution bookkeeping that I only want to scratch the surface of.  To put it into Magic Grognard terms, the modern version of Control/Stasis/Millstone seems to require balance and skill, and a little luck.  White Weenie, however, when growing creatures and ridiculous life gain, is more annoying than a deck full of Lightning Bolts and Plague Rats.

I will admit my Electrostatic Infantry/Venerated Rotpriest/Rotisserie Elemental Red/Green Deck brought back some memories of my Type I Kird Ape Deck, with a lot more variants.  

Kickstarter Status:   I'll be honest, the reign of Kickstarter is over, and my wallet is happy for it.  As companies divest themselves from the Kickstarter crowdsourcing product, I'm simply not following them to the new platform they wish to use.  I'm sure it's financially wiser to avoid Kickstarter's fees, but as a slightly rabid casual user, I feel no need to switch when it works for me. 

KS: Caves of Refuge - ARRIVED!

KS: Cthulhu Wars Cataclysm - I still don't think this will ever show up.

KS:  d6 System, 2nd Edition  - February 2025 - PDF only

KS: Macrocosm Chaos Space Dwarves - Wave 3 - ARRIVED!

KS: Mote of Madness - ARRIVED!

KS: New Dark Age: Death of Magic - ARRIVED!

KS: People In Prison - ARRIVED!

KS: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Other Strangeness RPG  - Spring 2025

KS: Trouble with Gnolls  - I think this link got lost in the ether...

KS: Village of Omelette - I haven't gotten a link for the second time from this company. Never again.

The pettiest thing which confirmed the end of the Age of Kickstarter for me was a reformatting of their pages this year.  Historically, I love to write up posts about the Kickstarters which catch my eye, or perhaps a company/designer I've had a good experience for.  Instead of filling up my pic storage with screenshots from the campaign, I tended to link the url to the image directly from the campaign.  

Sometime in May, Kickstarter reformatted all the addresses, so that that all the urls I currently have are coming up null/no image.   Given that most of my 832 posts over 15 years the have "Kickstarter" as a tag are formatted like that, I have no desire to correct them all.  If I'm going to be slighted in life, it might as well be over something as petty as this...

Painting - Not only did I paint more figures this year than in the past two, I touched up/refurbished almost 200 existing figures, mainly gnomes.  

77001 Skeletal Spearmen from my Reaper Bones "One Piece at a Time"

My party of Inflatable Zombie Pirates

RAFM Deep Ones, or the "Boloto Rusalki"

An Old Couch

Discount Bunker

2023-24 Gaming with the Gnomies Awards

Best Kickstarter: Macrocosm Chaos Space Dwarves - Wave 3 

Worst Kickstarter:  Cthulhu Wars Cataclysm - I'm retiring this one from consideration.  After over a decade of Kickstarters, this might be the first one I've pledged for physical rewards and they haven't arrived.   

Best Game:  HMGS Next Gen - Homeschool Gnomes from Fall-In!

Best RPG Purchase:  Game Master's Book of Random Encounters

Best Minis:  Star Wars d6 West End Bulk Lot from Wally's Basement

Best Other Purchase:   For the Queen

Next: My Plans for 2024-25

Another Month of New Gaming (October 2024)

 Issue #296 of Game Trade Magazine can be found at your FLGS, or online in PDF form here.

ViscountEric's Want List







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




The Imaginary Store List (The Pegleg Gnome)

Arcane Wonders

Buffet Boss .......................................... $29.99

Archon Studios

Dragons & Lasers - Expansion Set - Warlock Altar .... $27.00

Dragons & Lasers - Miniatures - Demonic Tree .......... $20.00

Dragons & Lasers - Miniatures - Detailed Bases ......... $34.00

Dragons & Lasers - Miniatures - Fantasy Miniatures ... $59.00

Dragons & Lasers - Miniatures - Woodland Dwellers .. $59.00

Dragons & Lasers - Miniatures - Ygrid ......................... $20.00

Dragons & Lasers - Starter Set - Land of the Giants ..... $69.00

Dragons & Lasers - Starter Set - Swamps of Doom ...... $69.00

Ares Games

Altay Dawn of Civilization ..........................................  $44.90

Arkus Games

Shelfie Stacker .............................................................. $40.00

Storm Raiders ............................................................... $75.00

Bandai Co.

Dragon Ball Super Fusion World TCG:  Set 5 Boosters

Dragon Ball Super Masters TCG:  Zenaki Set 10 Boosters

Bright Eye Games

Sumo The Card Game .................................................... $15.00

The Plot Thickens: Adventure Edition ........................... $25.00

Tokkuri Taking ................................................................ $15.00

Catalyst Game Labs

Battletech: Force Manual Davion .................................. $39.99

Battletech: Mercenaries Paint Set .................................. $89.99

Battletech: Forcepak - Second Star  League Assault Lance ........... $39.99

Battletech: Hot Spots - Hinterlands ................................ $39.99

Battletech: Universe (Standard Ed) ................................ $49.99

Battletech: Ilkhan's Eyes Only......................................... $49.99

Shadowrun  RPG:  6th Ed - Smooth Operations ............ $49.99

Crowd Games

En Route ........................................... $35.00

Darrington Press

Queen by Midnight - Quarter Past .............................. $39.99

Fanroll

D&D Dice Sets Beholder Resin................................$24.99

D&D Dice Sets Liquid Core .................................... $79.99

Fryx Games

Castle Builder ..........................................................$30.00

Iello

King of Tokyo: Duel ............................................... $24.99

Kobold Press

Tales of the Valiant RPG - Monster Vault (Pocket Edition) ..... $24.99

Tales of the Valiant RPG - Players Guide (Pocket Edition) ..... $24.99

Konami Digital Entertainment

Yu-Gi-Oh!  TCG:  Crossover Breakers Boosters 

Leyline Press

Foundations RPG ................................................ $25.00

Horse Girl RPG ................................................... $20.00

Salvage Union RPG ............................................ $45.00

False Flag (Salvage Union) ................................. $32.00

Rainmaker (Salvage Union) ................................ $32.00

We Were Here First (Salvage Union) ................. $32.00

Looney Labs

Fluxx: Solo Playmat ........................................... $20.00

Paizo Publishing

Pathfinder RPG:  AP - Triumph of the Tusk Part 3 - Destroyer's Doom ..... $29.99

Pathfinder RPG:  Flip-Mat Coastline .................... $19.99

Wise Wizard Games

Sherlock Solitaire .................................................. $9.95

Wizards of the Coast

Magic the Gathering: Foundations

Beginner Box, Bundles, Collector Boosters, Jumpstart Boosters, Play Boosters, Starter Collection

Wizkids

D&D Onslaught - Great Giant Games Scenario ............. $24.99

D&D: Classic Collection:  Monsters S-T ........................ $79.99

D&D: Gamelings:  Red Dragon ....................................... $ 9.99

D&D: Gamelings: Iconic Monsters .................................. $14.99

D&D Nolzur's Marvelous Unpainted Miniatures .............. $4.49 to $14.99

Marvel Heroclix: 400 - Cap's Kooky Quartet .................... $34.99

Marvel Heroclix: 400 - Warriors of Wakanda .................... $34.99

Marvel Heroclix: Iconix- Cupid Deadpool and Cable ...... $24.99

Marvel Heroclix: Smash and Destroy Play at Home ......... $24.99

Marvel Heroclix: Smash and Destroy Retail Chase Booster .... $49.99

Pathfinder Battles:  Wrath of the Wild - Booster Brick

Pathfinder Dice Conquest ................... $19.99

Wizkids Deep Cuts Stone Lion ........... $ 8.99

Wizkids Deep Cuts  Zombie Grizzly Bear ...... $8.99

Marvel Heroclix:  Smash and Destroy Booster Brick

Halloween-Themed Wargaming Accessories

I haven't really been actively looking for a lot a cheap gaming items at stores this year, particularly with the backlog of stuff I already own.  

Outside of the classic black plastic spiders that are always available in multiple sizes, I did uncover two packs of "Mummy Army" at a singular Dollar General in Berwick, Pennsylvania.    I may already own some of these from previous years, although I focused on my Inflatable Zombie Lawn Pirates.

They're a bit cartoony, and under 54mm for green army guys, but an attack of the Inflatable Mummy Army with modern 25/28's is certainly a possibility.

(Edit:  I lied.  Last night I did make a slow, wandering into Dollar Tree, and there wasn't much.  Now, I did grab a few packs of small trees perfect for the Christmas game I have up my sleeve, plus an O-Scale sized "Santa's Mailbox", but for Halloween the only thing I saw the piqued my interest were the traditional plastic spider rings.

This years varieties replace the body with a plastic gemstone, perfect for some sort of fun game.

(Painting) Auxiliary Horseman of the Apocalypse

One last figure to get off the painting workbench before my October-September gaming year wraps up and I change my some of my focus.  

This is a random figure I got with a pile of lead long ago.  He came with another skeletal rider that was finished, so it felt proper to finish him up enough to find a spot of both of them in the fantasy case.  

I'm assuming its one of the skeletal cavalry for Warhammer, back when UNDEAD was just a thing, or better yet, just Warhammer was a thing.  

(Edit:  After pictures, the figure was the victim of an unstable light on the painting table.  It didn't survive a two-foot fall.  There are few items I've painted over the years as freakin' fragile as Games Workshop).  

Next in the Queue:  A whole new year, and a whole reorganization of projects. I'll present them officially on October 1st, like I do every year.  Gnomes, Gnomish Space Marines, Transnitrians, and Pulp Figures.

Project 350:  Holding steady with 516 (323 draft/193 scheduled) compared to 516 (319  /197).  There's maybe.  I've got half of October already written up, and a quarter of November and December filled.

Cold Wars Has Risen... and Descended Straight Into Hell

It has become part of my knowledge that the HMGS Board of Directors have foolishly approved Cold Wars 2025  to be at the Eisenhower Hotel and Conference Center (the Ike), Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.

While there is a strong new element to the board whose primary goal was to push for a Cold Wars for 2025,  to place it at the Ike isn’t just a mistake. It is negligence.

Most regular attendees of HMGS convention focus on the vulnerable Lancaster Host,  now the Wyndham.  For years, we complained about the poor plumbing or HVAC, black mold, and a litany of other issues the facility. We worked through the renovation and ultimately, despite some continued failings the Wyndham resort is certainly adequate for our smaller conventions.

Imagine that the renovations never took place, and you would get the current state of the Ike   Actually, that would be an insult to the old Host.

Let’s be fair I believe the last Fall-In that I attended was either 2001 or 2004 and it normally was my least favorite convention simply because it was that location.  The logistics were poor. The facilities were beyond poor.  

Now, let’s fast-forward 20 years at the same location.  If there have been any repairs improvements or renovations, they have perfectly aged into the faulty site.  

Add to that recent reviews in the last six months that include the words bedbugs and mold, you actually have a site worse than  the pre-renovation Host.  God knows the owners of the host always fought tooth and nail against HMGS, but the ultimately could provide adequate service to the bulk of the attendees.  The Ike Just needs a bulldozer to put it out of its misery.

Years ago, when the kids were young, we drove down to Florida to experience a full week of Disney.   Our plan to leave early the last day and get a hotel in North Carolina.  The day turned into a three-quarter day at Animal Kingdom and a desperate search around Savannah for a hotel at the late hours just so we could rest and make the rest of the trip next day.   Needless to say the Days Inn or Best Western, I can’t remember the name was a hellhole straight out of a horror movie.   Roving packs of vagrants, grass that hadn’t been cut all summer, an empty pool with dead animals in it, and a room that was used to film “What not to do a hotel room “as well as “How not to do housekeeping after a crime scene”  I think we all got the bare minimum of sleep that night, Surprisingly, the adjacent Denney’s next-door was phenomenal the following morning.

In conversation this week with the kids' mom (now my ex-wife)  I brought up fallen and cold wars for this year,   I showed her some of the reviews from multiple sites along with pictures.   I do believe the proper quote of “What sort of morons thought this was a good idea?” came out of her mouth.   We still don’t agree on much nowadays, but when we both agree on the status of the Ike as a convention site, HMGS  is in trouble.  

=====

On a similar rant, I did manage to submit events for Fall-In! through Tabletop Events.   Once I got nudged in the right direction, registration was cake and the events both Maja and I are running are in, and appear to be approved under Next Gen. 

I am waiting with bated breath for the events to be published and registration.  Well, there are some of the proponents of Tabletop Events that claim they’ve used it for what honestly are relatively small cons, I do refer to my local con, MEPACON, Who has use the website multiple times a year for at least five years.

Say what you will about the Preliminary Event List (PEL), or the common lack of not knowing how many players are registered for your games as a game master, as a player/normal registrant, the game listings are an organizational nightmare that doesn’t tell me anything about the events being run. Hoping that all the glitches to get this started up, translates into a smooth and unique experience for the future attendees, a very vocal handful that wanted to register since August. 

(Gamma World) This is Not a Test #50 - The Stone Pavilion, Part One

Our heroes, the De Facto Explorers,  have arrived at the KIA Academy, looking for information regarding the great Stone Horse of Destruction...

================= 

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

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

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

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

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

================= 

The Explorers left the Toard Jakey done a road more traveled by.  The scouts got their bearing, determining the road leads upriver, although far from the river itself.  

The normal forest opened up on the left side into a clearing, with a few small trees, and a stone pavilion. 

Working up the faint stone walkway from the road, both Squiggles and Pete detected two shimmering lines, one stretch across the second step, the second between the two columns at the top of the steps.  The two scouts did their best stealthy attempt to get a closer look.  

Pete was focused on the glistening strands, assuming it may be some form of a tripwire or definite trap. Squiggles noticed some form of movement near the distant tree line.  There was definitely someone watching.  Squiggles tapped Pete on the shoulder and the weasel and furry worm scurried off the old path to return to their friends.  

Squiggles borrowed Sonny's spyglass, and Pete whipped out his binoculars for a better look.  Amongst the trees 75 meters away was some sort of movement, most of the time they could each detect heads moving.  

Pete swung behind them, and swore he could see movement on the woods behind as well.

As Pete tried to tap Squiggles on the shoulder to alert him of the movement behind, but the appearance of a three-foot long arrow embedded in the ditch they were hiding against.  

Sonny was carefully paging through one of his Toard Jakey book when he heard the loud thud in the ground.

"What was that?" Sonny asked.

"A giant arrow, they're getting hostile."  Pete replied.

"How many?"  

"More than a dozen..."

"And the pavilion is the only cover?"

"It's booby-trapped."

"Then let's un-booby-trap it!"   With that, Sonny peeled off in the cart towards the steps of the pavilion.  Lathar hopped on No-Name and followed the cart., then dismounted and found some cover behind some stone ruins to his left.  Squiggles and Pete scurried over to an embankment on the left side of the clearing to get a better vantage point.  They could sense something moving deep within the tree line towards the road.  

Lathar readied his rifle, "Let me know when I can start shooting."

"Hold on!"  Sonny, who had not seen any of the movement in the trees (A Sense of 5 will do that), got off of the cart and moved towards the woods towards the left "Hey, this doesn't have to leave to violence.  We can leave if you want, we're reasonable people here."

A group of odd-looking blue-skinned humans emerged from the woods to the left, most armed with bows, the others still spotted movement beyond them in the woods.  

No, the ears are as long, or pointy, but in a world where you rely on AI, I'm happy these guys are dressed.

Sonny tried to talk to them, but it seemed the group was initially friendly but could not communicate with them.  When there seemed to be an impasse, Sonny looked over to Pete, "Pete can you use for telep..."

"Wait, let me try to communicate with him, Lathar spoke out."  He rushed over, doffed his shirt, and began making outrageous gestures, including touching some of the females.    This seemed to upset the blue-skinned folk, and the yelled in obvious protest.  Lathar persisted, and a larger person in the back row moved forward.  He was armed with a large backpack of technology connected to a hose he was holding.  Lathar stepped towards the man with his hands outstretched, but the blue-skinned man fired anyway. 

Lathar was caught up in a blinding blast of energy that poured out of the hose's nozzles.  Everyone from both sides dove for cover.

For a moment, the Explorers thought their friend had been vaporized, but his steaming body on the ground emerged from the dissipating steam and smoke.

Lathar stands up, looking at both sides confused... he looked a bit different.

GM Notes:  Showing the picture of the pavilion led us down a 15 minutes side discussion about the old Eric and the Gazebo story.  I've already used a version of that joke in my Hackmaster campaign, so this time it was just a proper "ambush."

In a perfect moment in the game, Pete's player stopped moving, fearing everyone was in no-man's land between two warring factions.  If I had only thought of that first, things could be much much worse.  GM rule:  the players will propose far worse scenarios for them than anything I could think of. 

And thanks to the wonders of online gaming, we rolled a d10,034 to make some critical decisions in this session.  

Next: #51 - The Stone Pavilion, Part 2

Game Day!

 

(Review) Cloud City Games - Lehigh Valley Mall - Whitehall, Pennsylvania

My weekends are back to being overfilled, with volleyball and running down to handle my mother's yardwork, plus a shed project.  

Adding to my boggle is that I-80, a large chunk of drive to the ancestral manse, has been a parking lot recently, adding to my aggravation.  

Checking traffic before embarking, I saw the five mile back-up once again, and decided to hop on the turnpike.  Jumping off at Allentown, and experiencing a slow-down, I felt it was as good a time as any to stop and check out the flagship store of Cloud City Games in the Lehigh Valley Mall. 

Flagship is a bit of a misnomer.  This location was the first mall store for them (which originally in the nearby Emmaus/Macungie are).  In all honesty, this is the format that worked for them at this location, and has translated well to their Palmer Park Mall and Stroud Mall locations. 

CCGS:  By just following the stores on social media, it sounds like this location goes through the most collectible card game packs and singles.  The reason for all those tables.  A good supply of Magic/Pokemon/Yu-Gi-Oh! singles, with a good number of folks crowding the display cases looking at cards.  An increasing selection of graded cards too. 

RPG:  A great selection of 5e, Pathfinder, Paizo, but their Indy RPG section should be a pride and joy.  A much richer and developed selection than Palmer and Stroudsburg (with price tags on everything!)  A copy of For the Queen was in this section and became an instant purchase, even if it's very Indy, but not usually in the RPG section.  

Minis:  GW racks, GW paints, and a large selection of the D&D mins/Wizkids licensed stuff.  They also have a full rack of Monument Hobbies paints.

Not deducting points for a whole library of Black Library, or whatever they call GW Fiction nowadays.

Events:  I walked in between a Yu-Gi-Oh! tournament and a Magic pre-release, with a full schedule for the rest of the week, all structured within mall hours..  

Staff:  Employees were friendly, if slightly overwhelmed by the bodies at the counter.  

Comics:  They are a comics and games store, after all.  A great rack of new releases, and enough older and graded material to attract attention, and hopefully, sales.  

Other stuff:  Some light video games and poster sales.  I didn't see a matching display of Squishables like Stroudsburg.

As the original mall location, I see now why the other locations had good reviews.  Outside of being in the area, I don't see a reason to venture to this site again, as things are transferable between locations.  Like its satellite locations, Cloud City Games in the Lehigh Valley Mall earns four out of five gnomes.

Cloud City Games is located at 257 Lehigh Valley Mall, Whitehall, PA 18052.  It's open 10-8 during the week, 10-9 Friday and Saturday, and 12-6 on Sundays. 

(Fistful of Gnomes) Dire Wolves

Most gnome historians who focus on the 2nd California-Deseret War only focus on the battles.  Few cover the logistical nightmares the evolved after both sides self-sabotaged their rail lines.  Thousands were lost or stranded throughout the Western Nevada Terrirtory.  

The men under the command of Mormon Sergeant John Hyrum Taylor were particularly hardened, both in war, but also within their hearts.  Taylor was but a young teen volunteer during the 1st War, so the incompetence and lack of support made him long for peacetime, and a discharge from service.  His men, a motely collection of the faithful throughout the Theocratic Kingdom were not too far behind.  Weeks without proper food, and days with insufficient water had left them salty, and ready to stray from God.

Rising over a ridge, the troopers viewed a small river down below, meagerly supporting a farm.  Private Isiah Thompson became excited. 

"I'm home!"  Ike said.  

Indeed it was the family farm Ike grew up on, but among his fellow soldiers, it was his death sentence.  The youngest of the seven, he would speak non-stop about any subject, just to keep from listening to silence.  All throughout the campaign, he had mentioned his family farm, and rumors that, during the 1st War, his uncles had buried some heretical California gold on the premises.  He had gone so in-depth that he detailed possible locations.  

While shelter and hospitality sounded like a welcome respite.  Sergeant Taylor and the older veterans strayed to stray from the Lord.  The gold would be theirs, and Ike, nor anyone else in family, were going to stop them.  

As they reached the farm near dusk, Ike was concerned. The family farm was empty.  Their was no sign of any gnomes, and the inside of the farm house marked chores in the middle of being down.  They appeared to leave in a hurry. 

The Sergeant decided it was best to rest for the night, scrounge up some food, and replenish their water.  

In the middle of the night, they were awoken by the sound of a gnome screaming.  A quick policing determined that Ike was the trooper performing guard duty, and their was no sign of him.

There was, however, multiple howls bellowed across the night sky.

"Those aren't coyotes," Sergeant Taylor spoke with resignation.  "Those are Desert Wolves.  I pray to God Private Ike went quickly."

There was a change of plans.  Murdering Ike and his family for the gold was no longer necessary.  Fighting off the wolves, finding the gold, and heading west into California to start new lives was the new plan. 

The Mormons 

Set-up:  In teams of two, each facing a direction 

(Northeast)

Sgt Taylor  (Shoot 10, Close Combat 8) Rifle, Knife  - Deadeye, Encouraging, Cool-Headed

Private Samuel "Sam" Gardner

(South)

Private Benjamin "Ben" Hale

Private Nathaniel "Nate" Jensen

(West)

Private Elijah "Eli" Porter

Private Ezekiel "Zeke" Harris

All Privates are Shooting 8 (Deadeye +1 to shoot),    Close Combest 6, with Bayonets for +1 wound rolls.   

Objective:  5 points for finding the treasure and moving it off a table edge (closest preferred).  1 point for each gnome alive when that happens.    The gnomes may spend one action while touching the marker.  Roll 1d6.  On a 6, the gold is revealed.  And +1 cumulatively for each marker past the first searched. 

Desert Wolves (Most Dire, Indeed!)

Close Combat d10, Speed 8, Ignore Shock results.

Objective: Kill! Kill! Kill!  Two points for each gnome rendered out of action.

The now-abandoned Thompson homestead. The gems represent the alleged hidey-holes.

Round One:  One wolf came sprinting out the early morning fog from the south, neither  Ben nor Nate could hit the beast, much less kill it.  

As the rest of the pack emerged from the multiple directions, Sgt Taylor was happy he paired with the most senior Private, Sam Gardner.   Sam fell one particular large beast with but a single shot.  

Sgt Taylor decided the best defense was scouring the farm for gold, and while Sam was scouring the fields for the next wolf, the NCO hopped the fence looking for the closest alleged cache.  

Private Sam spies another wolf, and Sgt Taylor is nowhere to be seen

Over on the west side of the farm, Privates Eli and Zeke could hear the snarls  Smith hopped the fence and went out to search for the treasure. 

Eli:  "Cover me, I'm checking out the treasure."  

It was close enough that he reached the spot, uncovered the old box, opening the lid, his eyes grew wide, just before a wolf leapt out from the crops.  Eli's was only knocked down, but his weapon went flying, crashing into a rock, the stock shattering.  He was close enough to the spot bring his hands together is greed over the Mormon. Something was in that cubby just then another wolf silently leaps out of the field, knocking him down, sending his weapon flying and crashing against the rocks. 

Private Eli is in trouble. Prone (-1), in shock (-1) and weaponless (-1)

Round Two

Acting on pure instinct, Private Eli spun to his feet, throwing haymakers at a very confused wolf.  Private Zeke sat behind the fence in disbelief.    The wolf bides its time and quickly Eli is knocked back onto the ground, gushing blood, searching for a stick, a rock, anything to defend himself against the beast.  

A second wolf bursts from the fields onto Ben and Nate from the south.    The original wolf kills Nate in close combat, while Ben wounds the new creature.  

Sergeant comes up empty handed in the suspected cache, and assuming Sam has everything well in hand, works around the supply shed only to see Zeke stare down a completely different wolf. 

It should be noted that Sam, who "had everything in hand" pulled the trigger to his weapon with a resounding *CLICK* and hastily retreated towards the other troopers.

Round Three

Private Eli's lifeforce is extinguished with a savagery from the wolf that no man could resist.   It's maw covered with blood, the wolf begins moving towards it's next victim:  Sergeant Taylor

Sergeant Taylor sneered at the man-killer "Not today, Devil." and with a single shot, fell the wolf.  He then casually walked up to the scrum between another wolf and Zeke, and sliced at that beast with his knife.  

In the south, Private Ben withstood the attack of the wolf with his trusty bayonet, then spying a gargantuan version of its brethren, aimed cautiously, to only realize that, he too was out of ammo. 

Sheer panic in front of the barn

Round Four:  Sergeant raised his knife to the sky and plunged it between the wolf's ribs, killing it.

Sergeant John Hyrum Taylor - Mormon Badass

Private Ben had managed to reload his weapon seconds before the new, monstrous wolf knocked him down, shredding his arm.  

Back at the shed, Sergeant Taylor was bout to order Private Zeke to hop the fence, check the treasure cache, and high-tail it away from there, but an unseen force hit them from behind.  

The "man-killer" that Taylor had labelled wasn't dead, merely wounded, and it recovered enough to no only attack Zeke and the Sergeant but hurt them both. 

Blindside attack a la Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka

Private Sam also managed to reload, but was soon meeting the inevitable same fate as Private Ben.

Round Five:  The wolves finally dispatched Same and Ben, reveling in the feast of their flesh.  

Back at the shed, the wolf easily murdered Private Zeke, but left an open position for prone Sergeant Taylor to crawl over and stab the beast, killing it.  The wolf's body landed on Taylor, trapping him underneath.  

Round Six and Beyond:  Sergeant Taylor lay underneath the carcass of the wolf.  All the noises left on the farm were not human.  His survival instinct raging, He carefully extracted himself from under his furry shelter.  If he only got over the fence, he might have enough energy to escape the wolves and their pre-occupied feast.  Alas, he had gotten his body up onto the fence, straddling the beam, when one of the other wolves was alerted to the movement and charged 

RIP Sergeant Taylor.  Only God knows your transgressions this day.

Game Notes:  Fun Fact: I gave the Mormon sergeant the base stats for an officer.   Had I given him the actual modern NCO stat block, his trait of Determined "Ignore all shock and wounds in close combat"  would have been even more devastating.  

This scenario is an interpretation of the Flintloque scenario, Dead Birds Don't Lie by Tony Harwood. It was originally published for Orcs in the Webbe on All Hallow's Eve, the 31st October, 2016.

Rules are Fistful of Lead by Wiley Games.  Figures are Gnome Wars by Brigade Games, with a mixture of Games Workshop and Ral Partha wolves. 

I used wolves because (surprise surprise) I actually don't own any of the Znombies   I do plan on reusing the scenario and proper zombies for a later game.