(Kickstarter) Britannia and Beyond by Golden Goblin Press

Golden Goblin Press has returned to Cthulhu Invictus with their latest Kickstarter, Britannia and Beyond. 

There Are Some That Call it.... Improv

Forty-five years ago today, Monty Python and the Holy Grail premiered in Los Angeles.

I snagged this off of Pinterest quite some time ago, and I've never been able to confirm nor deny it, but Tim the Enchanter originally having an over-complicated name and John Cleese just going improv fits the feel of the movie perfectly.

And it's a different direction to take of Pi Day...

(Still A-) Live from Cold Wars

No, I'm not livestreaming from Cold Wars, but I'm having a hoot of a time....

The new Osprey books are getting a bit too particular though...

Off to Cold Wars!

Coronavirus be damned!  I've probably exposed myself enough at the market.  The older, sicker generation has canceled, but I'm intent on having a good time, catch up on the months-long deficit of games, and pick up only a few items. 

Dexy's Midnight Gamers (or Cold Wars Pre-Gaming)

I was still debating when to leave for Cold Wars today. Volunteering in the Games in Education program has netted me a few perks at the Wyndham (formerly HOST), and with my wife leaving for a week for a training course next month, I'm tempted to take some extra time off.   

Then the rest of my crew have been pulled back into real life, thanks to the COVID-19 (administrative reasons, not infection-related).  

I'll go down tomorrow morning, and enjoy the pre-con chaos before the storm.  We'll all be there Thursday night for a "fun" joust and a Tactica game afterwards before focusing on Games in Education all day Friday.  Heck, I'm 50/50 about staying through most of Saturday.

My shopping list is quite rudimentary, as a lot of the stuff I snagged at Fall-In! hasn't been worked on yet! 

• Badger Games - Mirlton old Grenadier line - In the style of Field of Dreams, if they bring Dragomen, I will buy them.
• Windsword - Can't beat some Mushrooms and Egyptian stuff.
• Reaper - I've got a bit of a list left for Bones and metal figures.  
• Wally's Basement/Flea Market - Deals on "stuff" Legions of Steel, Warzone, Gnomes, etc... I still haven't worked on any of the cool zombie deals I snagged at Fall-In, but I'll still be looking.
• Brigade Games - A couple more Post-Apoc figures.... but the gnomes still beckon to me....

Lost Dispatches of Feraso #67 - Hearth and Hydincall

19th of Tridec 1047 - Hearth, Duchy of Ferrand
The month of Tridec in Crosdes is simply full of mud.  The thaw has occurred and the rains have come.  The rains are not torrential, but they are of a cold, unrelenting assault of dampness through every crevasse imaginable.  And with no sun to dry the countryside, the roads have turned into a brown quagmire.    No trade is being conducted across this land right now, and the only other travelers I encountered were some ingenious woodsmen using converted snowshoes to stay above the mud.

I'll need to stay in Hearth a few days to let the weather turn more favorable.  I'll keep my head down and Optmar Hestir will get extra care in the stables for the great effort he put forth getting me here with zero complaint.

...

30th of Tridec 1047 - Hydincall, capital of the Kingdom of Crosdes.
The extended stay in Hearth to warm my soul, dry out the trade routes, and make a plan was a wise choice.  With that time, I enjoyed life as a random stranger with just enough money, but not too much to attract attention.

With warmer weather and sunnier skies, I made great time to visit Hydincall, the capital of Crosedes and the seat for the great Church of Akana.

Feraso City has always been my benchmark of civilization, of grandeur.  It is a vast metropolis with numerous ages of architecture and dozens, if not hundreds of remarkable buildings and monuments.

Hydincall is not as big, not as old, or as varied, but I can describe the capital with one word I never did for the capital of Ras-Prythax: Vibrant.    The colors are bolder, the citizens friendlier and off-puttingly frenetic.  The Archbishop of Hydincall has vast holdings of the church inside the city's walls, filled with temples and lyceums, museums and poor houses for all the world to see.  And even under the shadowy megalith of the Church, shrines and temples of even the pettiest or most distant gods can be discovered just down the street.  The Crosedean Military and their Knights of Crosedes are not respected or feared in this town.  They are, I daresay, loved by the populace.

And even with those two potential factions inside the walls, there is room for the Hydincall Lyceum, a school of wizardry! 

Yet, all this civilized talk and action within Crosedes has allowed one primitive activity to keep the rest of the population satiated with some bestial blood.  Hydincall is home to the largest collesium in the world, and unlike the one in Ispatlia, it still hosts gladiatorial combats.

The fact that Crosedes' capital hosts the heart of teaching of Akana, the home of the 'world' gladiator championships, and the most reputable arcane university between Senzar, Feraso City and Lygresse, I'm certain to find some part of the kingdom satisfactory to my needs.

Next:  #68 - The Free Town of Omsjik

Why Do I Even Try to Hobby?

Mere days from Cold Wars, and I'm extremely grateful that I have absolutely nothing prepare.   As I wrote up my final basketball rant of the season this past week, I expected Maja to play two games in a local (yet remote) tournament, and with my wife going to see the US Women's Soccer National Team play in New Jersey, I might get a Sunday for some gaming.  

Last Sunday I got the call from the 3/4 Girls Division champs, the Sixers.  No, he wasn't rubbing in our loss, but rather an interesting proposition.  He had decided to play most of his players in a local tournament the next weekend, but had a few kids back out at the last second, would Millie like to play?

The other cancellations and replacements didn't turn it into an all-star team, rather it looked like my nightmare as a coach through the playoffs.  Three Sixers, two from the 3rd place Warriors, and Millie were going to play together, against unknown foes.  Sounded like an adventure to me!

Fast forward to Saturday, my wife took Millie to the one side of the county, I took Maja to her team's tournament on the other side.    Maja's team played flat-footed and lost both games, but we discovered they still had to play on Sunday.  Michelle, Millie, and two more of the "Comet Crushers" came back triumphant after a 28-1 trouncing, a victory so dominating that the referees called a phantom shooting foul, moved the foul line to halfway to the basket, and allow three before they made one.  

Sunday, my wife worked and then need to leave for her road trip, so I got Maja a ride to her game (alas another loss) and I took Millie back for the next rounds of her tournament.

It was simply the most sensational youth basketball I've ever witnessed. I've watched the New York State 3/4 Girls put up 50 in a half during an AAU tournament last year, but this was much more fluid, much more natural.  The defense didn't allow a girl past the half-court line for most of the 1st quarter, every girl was passing around, moving around, and taking shots.  I'm not saying that they were flawless, but for a team with only one true practice together, I have never seen a better operating team. 

Halftime, and our coach was resting the better players for extended periods.

A 24-3 win was enough to sweep the division and earn us a tidy trophy (although the kids got nothing... the coach is pondering sharing it for a week at a time for each girl, like the Stanley Cup.)

There's nothing on the docket tournament-wise for this team, but with AAU teams imploding all around, I calculated it would be $120-$150 a kid to get registered in AAU and play in three local tournaments.  Time may tell is the Crushers will rise again.

But with all that running around, my prospects to game turned bleak, especially after I discovered that Maja's Armies in a Box from Historicon were buried in her closet and nearly unretrievable.   We persevered, but there was no time to run the zombie game I wanted to try with her (that I've been trying since October to run. 

One thing I have managed to accomplish is my Project 350.   Project was a notion from long ago that I should keep draft ideas on my blog and scheduled posts down to a combined 350.  This hasn't worked for a while (I've actually been hovering just under 500 for weeks, just 360 are drafts)  I decided to take a different approach to the hoarded posts:  just work on those 60 extra drafts and work my way down to close to 300.  I've moved half of the projects I'll never get down this year into the next, and with an easy twenty being Actual Play projects, I say there's a chance at least part of it might succeed.