Gnome Wars at GnomeCon!

For the faithful in The Great Southern Gnome League who don't wish to venture north to Cold Wars, the shall be Gnome Wars at Gnomecon this April 19-21, in Savannah, Georgia.

Friday Evening
Gnome Wars: Polliwoganisian Wars
Both the Allies and Central Powers vie for control of the islands in the Polliwog Archipelago. Which side will be the first to secure a foothold through diplomacy or brute force? Or will the natives be able to resist the invaders from both sides?
GM Name: Brian Robinette and Erin Crouch
Rules: Gnome Wars (Brigade Games)
Players: 12
Time: 4 hours
Notes: PRIZES!! Rules will be taught, Parent/Child teams encouraged, Troops provided, but feel free to bring your own 320 pt unit.


Saturday:
Gnome Wars: Dark Forest Expedition
Deep in the Dark Forest in an ancient fortress lies the ultimate prize of Gnomekind. A flavor enhancer that makes beer more beery, chocolate more chocolaty, makes ANYTHING taste and be better. This fabled substance, Magical Super Goodness (MSG for short), is said to be guarded my mystical creatures of great power. The Central powers and the Allies are both keen to obtain MSG to further the war effort. Which side will win the race for the prize?
GM Name: Erin Crouch and Brian Robinette
Rules: Gnome Wars (Brigade Games)
Players: 12
Time: 4 hours
Notes: PRIZES!! Rules will be taught, Parent/Child teams encouraged, Troops provided, but feel free to bring your own 320 pt unit.

Gnome Wars: Grain Grab
With Winter coming, Kaiser Stark is gathering up his grain harvest for shipment to Wolfenbüttel. The Allies are bent on intercepting this all important shipment and by so doing shortening the war. Can the Central Powers get their harvest safely away?
GM Name: Brian Robinette and Erin Crouch
Rules: Gnome Wars (Brigade Games)
Players: 12
Time: 4 hours
Notes: PRIZES!! Rules will be taught, Parent/Child teams encouraged, Troops provided, but feel free to bring your own 320 pt unit.

www.gnomecon.org for more info

The Cruise of Cthulhu

"Beneath the waves, in R'lyeh, Cthulhu dead lies dreaming. "

As you may have noticed me mention it a time or two, I went on a cruise with my family. Oh the fun of of the and two kids, ages 2 and 3 1/2 on an 7-day cruise out of Baltimore, with stops in Florida and the Bahamas.

First, an observation, then a PSA.

If you are going to go on a cruise out of of Baltimore on Super Bowl and you aren't a) a longtime 49ers fan or b) stupid, you're going to root for the Ravens because, if they had lost, the subsequent rioting on the shop would take out the aforementioned groups first.

Second, if you never have been on a cruise, or haven't been on one for the last 15 years, it might be wise to check the cruiseline's website or perhaps the back of your boarding pass for rules and regulations. Cruise passengers go through similar security as an airport. Sure they are friendlier, but they do follow the cruiseline restrictions, as well as the basic no bombs, guns, knives, and illegal stuff. With all that said the people in front of us in line were stopped a) they allow each person a small lunch cooler 12"x12" to bring on cold soft drinks, water, etc. they brought on two 20"x30" coolers on wheels. Those items were confiscated. Next, you may not bring through security an open container of any kind. In parental speak that means sippy cups out, unopened juice boxes in. These people brought in large water bottles full of iced tea... And vodka. If you need a liter of Long Island Iced Teas to get you through the boarding of the ship, I'd hate to see your drink costs at the end if the cruise.

That all being said, outside of foot races to catch speedy Millie as she ran away from us, a good time was has by all. The kids had there fun, we had ours, and by the time we were off the coast of South Carolina, it warm enough to use the balcony for reading.

After some failures on eBay to acquire a non gaming book or two, I assembled my reading list

Contemptible Little Armies
Day of the Beast
Secrets of New York

I had also downloaded a number of podcasts from Cthulhu on Parade. This group that plays vis Skype.sounds either very familiar with Lovecraft or at least with the classic tropes of CoC. After listening to the first half hour of the first episode, I figured another ten hours should me over on the boat.

A word of warning, the original female player just turns into an annoying escape of air, and the jury is still out on the second female player added during the second session, but it's not looking good.

Tony West is my new personal god.

Luckily, no Deep Ones came up onto the boat, although a few Hybrids definitely booked passage.

I'm still on a boat, but here's a sexy pic

Ghostbusters Live Action Wargaming

I'm definitely on a boat, and not detained by security for being on the no-sail list.

While you wait for my triumphant return, here's a pic to make you jiggle your gaming mind.

Ghostbusters could easily be done in 150mm+ scale. You could make your own or buy some of the Spawn action figures to make more supernatural baddies.

ATKM Releases its 54mm Civil War Range

Per Facebook, TMP, and every other social media site I could find, All the King's Men has announced their line of Civil War figures in 54mm.

Just like their Revolutionary War and War of 1812 lines, this one covers infantry, cav, artillery, mounted generals, irregulars, and disorder markers. Many ACW figures offer separate heads for even more variety.

The majority of the figures were originally made in plastic by Classic Toy Soldiers, which have been licensed for ATKM to make the metal versions.

The variety of poses is the thing that throws me off. The finished product is beautiful, but when I think of 54mm I either think of figures in lockstep formation for AWI/Napoleonic era, or the very limited poses when using Britains. I hate to say it, but these might be TOO nice. Plus, it's the standard $40 for a unit of 12!

http://www.allthekingsmentoysoldiers.com/ for more info.

Mepacon Spring 2013 GM Registration Open

Yesterday, GM registration was opened for Mepacon Spring '13, April 12-14th, at the Ramada Inn in Clark's Summit, PA.

www.mepacon.com

I'll be determining what I'm running over this week, while sipping Mai-Thais on a beach somewhere. I know one session will be Burning Plastic, as I've gotten more requests to run it, and even an apology for not being able to join in for the next game.

Or, I can ask the masses here, what should I run? I'm keeping Gnome Wars and the Gnomish Space Marines off the table for now. It might be nice to run a role playing session. But first, I'll have my new lieutenants plot out a game of polymers in flames.

Russian Women Want Gaming Partners!

Ah, the mid-90's.  The music sucked, the fashion was horrendous, but the gaming was pretty decent.  It was also the swan song of the gaming magazine. 

Yes, yes, there are still print copies of White Dwarf, Wargames Illustrated, Kobold Quarterly, and a few others kicking around, but the mid 90s were the last time somebody could start up a 'zine, put it next to Dragon on the shelf,  and have a chance of breaking even.

If half my purchases were ill-advised back then, the magazines more than made up for them.  Dragon, White Wolf, and Challenge still had non-house material.  Dragon continued to devolve from TSR-centric to TSR-only, White Wolf went into a trendier "Inphobia" line, although there still was a Line Reviewer covering TWERPS in the back *waves*.  Challenge most considered a third rate publication, and in hindsight, I have no idea why so many people thought so.  Ninety percent of the mag was usefull material, even if it had to be tweaked from Dark Conspiracy or Cadillacs and Dinosaurs, and the there were so many many adventures.  Star Wars, Chill, Cthulhu, and the bevy of GDW products graced the pages.

Of course, Steve Jackson had a paper copy of Pyramid Magazine for awhile and that had a mixture of house material, other industry submissions, and a good dose of comedy (Ah Hampire, the Masked Ace Raid for Toon, good times.)

The greatest gaming magazine of the era was Shadis, initially produced by Jolly Blackburn and later on by AEG.  It was an all-encompassing magazine with lots of regular features and columns.  I still have piles of articles overflowing my archives:  The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly (NPCs, usually interconnected), Hook, Link, and Sinker (side treks/stories, some more elaborate than fully printed modules), and, of course, Knights of the Dinner Table in the back of the issue. 

There was a time when role-players were an entirely oversensitive lot who couldn't take.  Heck, who am I kidding, I know too many gamers who are still oversensitive and can't find the humor in KoDT.  I still run into people who claim that KoDT pokes fun at gamers that don't exist, yet go to there Wednesday night game with a max-out character created from 3+ books and proceeds to take advantage of one piece of errata that they abuse in-game, while ignoring all the revisions that could hinder them.

(And let's not even get into wargamers.  Half of those guys couldn't take a joke if you mailed one to them certified mail.  We're passionate about playing pretend, with or without toy soldiers.)

Short, short story, Jolly and AEG had a falling out and Jolly left to self-publish a standalone KoDT comic book.  Ultimately he and Kenzer & Company joined forces to not only publish the comic and develop Hackmaster.

Standard disclaimer I always give.  For the longest time I was a homer for Kenzer & Company. From their early issues of KoDT until Aces & Eights.  I purchased everything short of their Final Days miniature game.  It was grand while it lasted.

I've waxing nostalgic way too long here and completely avoiding the whole purpose of this post.

In one of the early-ish issues of KoDT this appeared:

I believe that this is the greatest piece of gamer parody ever.  Nowadays it would be turned into a meme and have a life of about 48 hours, if that .  Back in the day, this lasted months, and like your Mom on Facebook, people kept believing it was true.. because another friend mentioned it was in KoDT.

I'll be leaving for my cruise to the Bahamas on Sunday, so I doubt anything else will be posted between now and then.  If I find any gaming related stuff, it shall be posted, but until then, enjoy!