(Painting) Russian Train Crew by Brigade Games

Now that #RPGaDay2024 is over, we're back with our regular programming, at least until my October to September end-of-year wrap up at the end of the month.  

In one of those mini-miracles, something I picked up at Historicon is already painted up!

This is a Russian Train Crew from Brigade Games

I gotta get back to the tiny eyes, although these guys have obviously seen some shit. 

These guys are obviously allies of the mythical Alexander Mikoyan, the rogue Soviet agent keeping the Motherland safe.  These three, the "Temnye Relsy Okkultizma" are frontline scouts on the war against against inhuman creatures.  They scour the trains, looking for relics and nefarious folk, all in the propped up authority from Moscow.

And going through my "Zombie" case of minis, I remembered that the Armed Jews from Battle Valor should probably get a place in the lore, as allies, enemies, or both. 

I don't foresee myself painting up the Chinese Henchmen I also got from Brigade anytime soon, but I can at least say I have some Asian Pulp figures.

Next in the Queue:   28mm sci-fi, 1/285th sci-fi, and fantasy round out the items I'm trying to clear off the painting bench until my next year's projects change everything. 

Project 350:   This project, with the goal to keep my blog drafts and scheduled blog posts behind the scenes at 350 or fewer is, of course, horribly backlogged.  The blog is currently at 516 (319 drafts /197 scheduled posts) significantly up from 506 (327/179) after Historicon, when the project goes on hiatus due to all the posts for #RPGaDay.    I'm not too worried by the uptick remaining in scheduled posts.  The next week's worth of posts are already ready to go, a number of the Georic Gazetteer entries are complete, plus a few more future holiday posts.   While I probably won't clean off my notes until the end of the month, I think we're making some significant progress working through some of these drafts/ideas/etc.

And, for my own future reference, the posts I already have in the can, waiting to be released over the next five months: 

Rest of September 12

October                 10

November              8

December              8

January                 16

(Fistful of Gnomes) Abbey Road

At this point of the war Lt Langveiler expected to be sitting in some warm, quaint Swiss gnome home, nibbling on chocolate and picking out which timepieces to send back to his family.  No one had anticipated the Swiss to defend so well against the modern weaponry of the Germans, much less begin a counterattack that had sent them scrambling.   Now, the field-promoted gnome had rain pouring off his hat as he stood with his surviving men in the ruins of an old church.  The standing remains offered a short respite from the cold rain, but it was much too unstable to stay under it for long.  

Wiping the water off of his face only added more water, but he couldn't ruminate on his situation.  Private had been assigned guard duty on the other side of the old brigade, and when he came running back over the bridge, his only report has "Swiss Rangers, 10, I think they saw me."

The men were roused from whatever primitive shelter they could make.  

Surrender was always an option, but they needed to put up a fighting effort, the old laws dictated it. 

Forces: 

Remnants of the German 27th (Die Leinenkugels) 

1 Sergeant (Lt Langweiler) 

5 Riflemen

Fight with Honor:  The Germans will surrender if wounded.  They can declare this prior to a wound recovery roll.  If an out of action result is rolled, the figure is assumed captured/surrendered.   Results of Out of Action during combat are treated as kills.   Two point per figure surrendering/captured.  The Swiss aren't the only nationality that can tunnel in a pinch.   

Flee with Honor:   The Germans already know that there's a large Swiss unit beyond the abbey.  The only chance to fight another day is to cross the bridge.  Three points per figure that get over the bridge and is alive at the end of the game. 

Kill with Honor:  One point for each Swiss out of action at the end of the game. 

The Swiss National Park Rangers

1 Officer (Capt Fishgeruch)

1 NCO (Sgt Richard)

8 Riflemen (with close combat hatchets)

Eliminate Threat:  Two points for each German killed or captured.

Do Not Underestimate the Sneakiness:   The Swiss lose one point for each escaping German

The Swiss Rangers pull up to the Abbey. 

Turn One:  The Swiss swore they saw a lone German trooper running through the countryside, so Capt Fishgeruch sent an advance to carefully creep up the stone arch to see if anyone was waiting for them. 

The precaution was in vain as a single shot range out from across the river, and everyone but the scout saw Ranger Meier's head turn into red mist.  

"Sniper!!!!"

Headshot!

Ranger Baumann, behind Meier was in the German Rifleman's sight, he pulled the trigger, and just heard a *click*  

"Goddamn rain..." 

The other Germans huddled over to the sniper, finding the right line of sight for the advancing Rangers, but nothing was as effective.  

The Swiss found cover at the base of the bridge, and prepared for an all out charge. 

Turn Two:  The Swiss though they had the upper hand, but it would take longer to storm the wall than they initially thought.  One Swiss used the wall of the bridge as cover and fired down on the German position, to no effect.  A German bullet dropped him to the cobblestone, wounded.  Another Swiss tried to draw fire from around the base of the bridge, but it just gave the sniper enough time to clear his weapon, reload shoot him in the head.  Another Swiss on the bridge dropped dead. 

Meanwhile Private Meier, how had held a good cross-fire position across the road from the abbey, must have been inspired by the sniper, and took it upon himself to find a new position to pick off Swiss early. 

Turn Three:  Captain Fishgeruch grabbed Sergeant Richard by the shoulder, "The pension plan for the Park Rangers isn't all that great anyway, let's go!"  The duo charged passed a opening within their men.  Captain Fishgeruch reached the wall first, punching one of the German rifleman in the face with the pommel of his sword, before slicing the supposed sniper below the neck with his sword, dropping him.  The Sergeant followed quickly after, but there no witnesses to whether he was shot or beaten in hand to hand.  Nevertheless, his lifeless body adorned the other side of the wall. 

The Germans were quickly realizing that those early shots may have convinced the Swiss of a "Take No Prisoners" approach to the engagement. 

Turn Four:  When when point blank shot grazed the Captain, he wisely dove face-first in the mud on the other side of the wall to feign death (re; he earned a shock token). 

With the remaining rifleman pinned or bleeding near the bridge, Park Ranger Schneider pulled out his trusty hatchet and dove over the wall.   The two Germans broke his momentum, pushing him back, but not before they both were on the ground, quite dead.

Pondering an escape route, Lt Langweiler pulled out his pistol and fired upon Schneider, wounding him.  For a moment, it appeared that the officer could possibly dashed across the road and support the pinned Schneider in the trees, possibly pushing through the remaining resistance and to freedom.  

Turn Five:  Park Ranger Schneider got better real quick (a well timed Queen of Hearts for initiative, removing the wound and allowing him to act).  Leaving his firearm in the mud, Schnieder dove at the officer.  The German proved to have more mettle than Schneider expected, and soon the two were locked in lethal hand-to-hand fighting (a tie for the close-combat roll!)

Meanwhile, Captain Fishgeruch recovered himself from the mud, and dove over to the last German rifleman, plunging his sword into his chest. 

Lt Langweiler had one final trick up his sleeve ... or a few inches away from his.   He managed to grab his pistol from a puddle, but as he turned it to shoot Schneider, the Ranger turn it into the officer's body as the gun went off.

A wounded and bleeding Langweiler let out a sigh of relief, "I surrender... if I don't bleed out first."

Breaking down the victory conditions, it was a brutal 12-6 Swiss win.    From the first roll, the dice had bloodlust, forgetting about wounds and going right to "out of actions."  Only one death was the result of a recovery roll!  There was no mercy, which was the harsh reality the Germans discovered as their war machine effectively eliminated any of the old, honorable ways the that gnomes had fought with before.  

All the blue tokens represent out of action, all but one on the initial wound roll!

Rolling on the basic campaign chart in the core rulebook, the merely wounded Swiss Rifleman would miss the next engagement but return fine.  Sergeant Richard and Lt Langweiler both suffered greatly from their wounds.  Richard would never be the same again, and was eventually relegated to a training company.  Langweiler would be in no shape for an escape attempt, and would be never see combat again... if he survived captivity. 

Rules are Fistful of Lead by Wiley Games.  Figures are Gnome Wars by Brigade Games.

This scenario was based off of  Flintloque scenario Sharke's Abbey on Orcs in the Webbe.

(Review) Cloud City Games - Stroud Mall - Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania

In the beginning of the summer, my daughter had an AAU tournament in the Poconos.  It was a good Saturday for the team, and we grabbed Texas Roadhouse and wandered into the Stroud Mall, PA 611, outside of Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania.  

The main reason for our wanderings was the recent opening of the latest location of Cloud City Games.   I've been a fan of visiting the Cloud City Games - Palmer Park Mall location, when I visit my mother, so I was hoping that methodology and system translated well to another storefront (their third).

It did not disapoint. 

While not a mirror copy of Palmer Park (which isn't a copy of their flagship Lehigh Valley Mall location).  The color is there, the set-up is there, the stock is similar. and growing every week.  

The biggest difference?  The gaming area is bigger and far more spacious than just about any mall/shopping center based store.  

Later in the summer, I returned to the location, after scheduling an appointment to sell off some of my Magic cards.   It was one of the longest hours of my life, but I was treated friendly and professionally and given more than a fair rate for the cards they wanted.  I got to wander the store a lot in that time, and the inventory had grown considerably.  

CCGS:  The reason for all those tables.  A good supply of Magic/Pokemon/Yu-Gi-Oh! singles.  Lots of packs, although somebody was unhappy they didn't have the particular boosters for one set, didn't have two full boxes to sell, and he didn't get some additional discount.   I don't miss entitled customers, although I have my hands full with entitled business owners at work.  

RPG:  A great selection of 5e, Pathfinder, Paizo, but the heart of  Cloud City's role-playing section, to me, are the multitudes of Indy and zine-based games.   I'd like to see more price tags on these guys, as they naturally vary greatly in price for the same sized pamphlet, but it's a great start for growing an immense and diverse selection.

Minis:  GW racks, GW paints, and a large selection of the D&D mins/Wizkids licensed stuff.  Like Palmer Park, they did add a rack of Monument Hobbies paints.

Events: Two D&D nights, Magic Modern and Commander nights, Star Wars Unlimited and a free Yu-Gi-Oh! league with prize support?    Given the strict mall hours, that's more than enough.

Staff: Again, wildly friendly and professional, even dealing with the idiot Magic customer.  

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:  Always a wide assortment of crap this old guy doesn't get, although I'm vaguely familiar with the vast assortment of Squishables. 

I haven't given the Palmer Park location a new review since they moved into their new digs (and the longer I wait, the less nostalgic bias I might have, although I doubt it).  If the old location warranted a four gnome rating, then the Stroud Mall location earns four out of five gnomes as well...

The Cloud City Games Stroud Mall location is located at 344 Stroud Mall Rd Suite 136, Stroudsburg, PA 18360. They're open 12-8 Monday-Saturday, and 12-6 Sundays. 

(Gamma World) This is Not a Test #48 - Zephyr Stormcaller

 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.

================= 

Having been corralled by drones and speakers onto the center of a roundabout, our heroes hoped that real help would arrive and get them to the talking folks in the boxes who actually knew something about Charlie Onyxhoof.  Little did they know, one of them was just out of reach.  

Squiggles was first to spot a person in the air, 200 foot up.  It appeared to be some type of mutant bird, but as the furry worm hailed it, it swept down onto the roundabout with precision.  He looked less like a mutant bird, and more like a mutant human with wings.  

"Ah, non-citizens and a roundabout.  Makes total sense"

Sonny walked towards the man, "And you are?"

Pete answered "That's Zephyr Stormcaller, from the box!"

Zephyr confirmed it himself, "That's right, traffic and weather all the time.  What are you guys doing in this part of the Academy?  You guys lost?"

Zephyr Stormcaller

Sonny:  "We were curious about ol' Charlie Horse"

"Who?"

"The horse fellow that's wrecking the joint."

Zephyr moved his hand towards his mouth, "Do we know a Charlie Horse?...   Oh yeah....  I took some aerials of the devastation.  That's performing very well on the west side of the Academy.  Lots of horse lovers there."

Sonny stepped back to whisper to Squiggles, "I'm only getting every fourth word from this guy. You?"

"No better..."

Sonny turned to Zephyr:  "So this Charlie... his family swears up and down that it's not him.  We were hired by Station Petro to get to the bottom of things, so anything you have would be greatly appreciated."

Zephyr thought for a moment. "If it gets you off this roundabout so I don't have to report every five minutes until help comes, I'll help you out a little."   The explorers obliged and with a few presses of buttons on his wrist armor, the drones were called off, construction signs popped up from the road.  To stop traffic and allow them to get off the roundabout and follow the still-flying human.  

He led them to a non-descript bar off of a side access road, and everyone went inside.  

Zephyr took off his helmet and goggles, revealing a human face with short black, spikey hair.

"So the commissioners hired you to find out about Charlie?"

Sonny concurred, "Yes, or some functionary beneath them."

Zephyr was impressed, "Ok, you know the world functionary, you're the one I need to talk to, plant.  Have the functionaries seen the rocky horse thing."  

"They worked alongside him before his disappearance, and alleged transformation."  Sonny added.

It takes a bit, but Zephyr uses his wrist computers to generate a 3-D hologram of the scene of devastation.  There was no sign of a destructive horse, but the path of destruction was evident. 

"We only got this, which is why we're not leading with story."

Sonny poked his fronds through the hologram, "This is fascinating, what is this."

Zephyr tried to explain the concept of cameras, holograms, and the weirdly sounded "tape delay." The most the ground got out of his descriptions was that the local interviews by the authorities were wildly unreliable.  

Sonny: "Still, the family believes it's not him."

Zephyr: "Now all the witnesses are unreliable, but everyone describes the attacking creature as a big, stone horse.  The Charlie fellow is missing. I am adding two and three together to make five....'

Sonny:  "So where are all the attacks going on?"

"When it attacks, it's far side of the Academy borders, near Station Petro, but never attacking the station.  Might be a reason for that." 

The sunflower and the flying dude calibrated speaking devices to reach out to Zephyr if they find anything interesting.   Sonny tried to buy updated versions, but Zephyr dissuaded him, "Probably can't afford it,  those guys to use Domars, my vociferous dandelion.

Following Zephyr's advice, they headed off to the scene of the latest attack... and beyond.  

The group went out to the latest scene of devastation.  Much of the damage had already been fixed, but the trail matches that of a horse.... or a No Name.   The locals did not want to talk to them about much.  They do mention a giant horse, a stone horse, an angry horse. 

The trail continued down the road with less devastating damage.  The tracks were beginning to peter out, when the group fell upon a free standing structure.  There were no tracks going inside, but everyone but Squiggles thought it was a good idea to go inside.  

"But what if there's living metal with killer lights coming out of it's eyes...."

Lathar answered, "Let's find out."

GM Notes: It's always good when you explain the interior of the bar is all wood-paneling, and one of your players immediately thinks of my wedding reception, at the aptly named Fred's Lobster Garden.  Fred's has retooled as Fred's Woodshed, a strip bar.

Needless to say, if we ever come upon a Mutant Lobster named Fred, this is where the inspiration came from.

Next: #49 - The Toard Jakey

Another Month of New Gaming (September 2024)

Issue #295 of Game Trade Magazine is available at your FLGS or online in pdf form here.

ViscountEric's Want List

Nothing. Surprise, Surprise.

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

Catalyst Game Labs

Shadowrun RPG:  1st Edition Reprint HC ............$49.99

Keeping a nostalgic reprint at fifty bucks?   Proper and right!

Electi Studio

Eternol:  15mm Sci-Fi Warfare Across the Void Horizon .................... $18.99

The Imaginary Store List (The Pegleg Gnome)

Aces Game

Sweet Cherry Pie vs Evil RPG: Core Rulebook .................... $19.99

Sweet Cherry Pie vs Evil RPG: Adventure Cookbook .......... $12.99

Sweet Cherry Pie vs Evil RPG: Gummy Landing ................. $15.99

VHS RPG:  Deadbreak ............................ $29.99

VHS RPG:  Remnants ............................. $29.99

VHS RPG:  Trashbag ............................... $29.99

Arcane Tinmen

Dragon Shields: Playmat - 25th Anniversary  ....................... $24.99

Arcane Wonders

Floresta ............................................... $59.99

Kraftwagen: Age of Engineering ........ $59.99

Video Game Champion ....................... $59.99

Archon Studio

The good folk at Archon seem to make plastic Pathfinder RPG terrain, a la Dwarven Forge, and their "Dungeons and Lasers" line is nice plastic starship, sci-fi corridors.   I'm more tempted to drop $50 on box entirely of small pieces of building ruin versus a $60 set of minis, but I'm not the demographic.

Wolfenstein: The Board Game ........... $120.00

Wolfenstein: Old Blood Expansion .... $ 60.00

Wolfenstein: 3D Terrain Kit ............... $110.00

Ares Games

Aeterna ........................... $64.90

Diluvium ......................... $45.00

The Army Painter

Gamemater: Wandering Monsters Paint Set ............. $49.99

Bandai Co.

Digimon TCG: Chain of Liberation Boosters

One Piece TCG (OP-10) Boosters

Bandai Namco Toys

I believe I made mention last month of Bandai/Namco's appearance in the catalog with a host of toys, puzzles, and licensed products for their brands.  

Twenty dollar Godzilla figures.  There's a freakin' display of these coming into the imaginary store.  Worst case, I'm selling one to every wargamer for their 40K/Warmachine/Blood Bowl game vs Godzilla. 

Blind Visionary Publications

Tales from the Smoking Wyrm #001 .................... $20.00

Tales from the Smoking Wyrm #002 .................... $20.00

Tales from the Smoking Wyrm #009 .................... $20.00  

Brotherwise Games

Mistborn DBG ............................ $44.95

Catalyst Game Labs

Shadowrun RPG:  6th Edition - Final Bets ........... $49.99

Battletech: Mercenaries Boxed Set ............ $74.99

Battletech: Legends II .................... $50.00

Battletech: Map Pack - Savannahs . $30.00

Battletech: Map Pack - Cities ......... $30.00

Battletech: Mercenaries Forcepack - Battlefield Support - Assault & Cav .... $40.00

Battletech: Mercenaries Forcepack - Battlefield Support - Recon & Hunter . $40.00

Battletech: Mercenaries Forcepack - Battlefield Support - Battle & Fire ...... $40.00

Battletech: Mercenaries Forcepack - Clan Cav Star ....................................... $35.00

Battletech: Mercenaries Forcepack - Inner Sphere Battle Armor Platoon ...... $30.00

Battletech: Mercenaries Forcepack - Inner Sphere Recon  ............................. $30.00

Battletech: Mercenaries Forcepack - Inner Sphere Security ........................... $30.00

Battletech: Mercenaries Forcepack - Somerset Strikers ................................. $35.00

Battletech: Salvage Box - Battlefield Support

Battletech: Salvage Box - Mercenaries 

Battletech: Salvage Box- Visigoth 

Battletech Tech Readout - Recognition Guide Vol 2 - IClan .......................... $39.99

Chaosium

Basic Roleplayng - Gamemaster Pack .................................. $24.99

Call of Cthulhu - No Time to Scream ................................... $29.99

Call of Cthulhu - Order of the Stone ....................................  $42.99

Runequest RPG: Lands of Runequest - Dragon Pass ........... $44.99

Chessex Manufacturing

Chessex promotion this month is for a number of their "Mega-Hedral" dice sets.  How "Mega" are the dice? 

Traditional polyhedral dice sets are 16mm...  Mega-Hedral ore a whopping 20mm .  25% bigger doesn't justify a decent dice set for $22.98!

Cubicle 7

Warhammer 40K- Wrath & Glory - Threat Assessment - Daemons and Hertics .... $39.99

Draco Studios

War for Chicken Island 2nd Edition ............................. $69.99

DV Giochi

Until Proven Guilty .................................... $16.99

Electi Studio

Jair's Home (MCC)  .................................... $24.99

Free League Publishing

Dragonbane RPG:  Path to Glory ............... $39.99

Fryx Games

Kingdom Legacy: Feudal Kingdom ........... $16.00

Galakta

Snails ............................................................ $39.99

Gamelyn Games

Tiny Epic Cthulhu ........................................ $30.00

Tiny Epic Cthulhu Cult of Chaos Expan...... $15.00

Tiny Epic Cthulhu 4-pack player mats ........ $25.00

Tiny Epic Cthulhu 9 pack Extra Dice .......... $15.00

Tiny Epic Cthulhu Game Mat ...................... $30.00

Goodman Games

Blood and Thunder: The Ultimate Book of Mighty Deeds (DCC)  ......... $24.99

Tome of Adventure Vol 4:  Purple Planet Ltd Edit (DCC) ....................... $69.99

Keymaster Games

Park: Roll & Hike ...................................... $24.99

Konami Digital Entertainment

Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG:  Quarter Century Bonanza Boosters

Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG  Speed Duel Battle City Finals Box .......................... $29.99

Legendary Games

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

Black Flag RPG: Beasts of Legend - Construct Codex ............... $12.99

Black Flag RPG: Mythos Monsters ............................................. $19.99

The Dragon's Hoard (5e)  #41 ...................................................... $12.99

The Dragon's Hoard (5e)  #42 ...................................................... $12.99

Loke

Add on Scenery for RPG Maps Ruins ......................................... $12.99

GM Screen Terrain & Random Encounters ................................. $20.00

Little Book of Batt Mats:  Destinations & Curiosities ................. $12.99

Lone Colossus

Wyrmlings: All Ages TTRPG ..................................................... $39.99

MacGuffin & Co

Ker-splat!  RPG ............................................................ $20.00

Odd Jobs RPG:  Micro Settings .................................... $47.00

Upriver, Downriver RPG............................................... $40.00

Mantic Entertainment

Fantasy Advent Calendar: Bar Room Brawl ................... $40.00

Sci-Fi Advent Calendar: Deep Space Pest Control ......... $40.00

Mind's Vision 

The Legacy of the Cthulhu RPG:  Before the End. ......... $14.95

Modiphius .

Acthung! Cthulhu 2d20 - D-Day the Darkest Day..... $50.00

Star Trek Adventures 2nd Edition - Core Rulebook .. $60.00

Star Trek Adventures - Game Toolkit ........................ $42.00

Mongoose Publishing

Paranoia RPG: Mandatory Fun ....................................... $19.99

Traveller RPG: The Fifth Frontier War - Flashpoints ..... $49.99

Traveller RPG: The Trailing Frontier ..............................$59.99

Traveller RPG: This is Free Trader Beowulf - A System History of Traveller .... $59.99

Traveller RPG: Ship Operator's Manual ......................... $49.99

Osprey Games

The Silver Bayonet: Italy - The Shades of Calabria .......... $25.00

Paizo Publishing

Pathfinder Fiction - Godsrain HC .................................... $29.99

Pathfinder RPG: Flip-Mat - Occult Dungeon .................. $19.99

Pathfinder RPG: Divine Spell Cards ................................ $27.99

Pathfinder RPG: Focus Spell Cards ..................................$27.99

Pathfinder RPG: Occult Spell Cards .................................$32.99

Pathfinder RPG: Lost Omens - Divine Mysteries ............. $7.99

Starfinder RPG:  Flip-Mat Multi-Pack - Planetary Terrain .... $29.99

Pinnacle Entertainment Group

Deadlands Classic: 20th Anniversary Ed - 2nd Printing .... $69.99

Pokemon USA

Pokemon TCG: Scarlet & Violet - Stellar Crown Booster 

Pokemon TCG: Scarlet & Violet - Stellar Crown Elite Trainer Box

Purple Sorceror

DCC Purple Planet Adventure - Wrath of the Orb-Men!  .  $9.99

Pwork Wargames

Altar of the Dead Gods Skirmish Game Rulebook .......... $26.99

Steve Jackson Games

Munchkin: Dead & Deader Expansion ........................... $11.95

Stronghold Games

Terraforming Mars:  Utopia & Cimmeria Expansion ..... $24.99

Wizards of the Coast

Magic the Gathering CCG:  Duskmourn - House of Horror

Bundles, Collector Boosters, Commander Decks, Nightmare Bundles, and Play Boosters

Wizards with Laser Rifles

Silam No 1 The Spike of Dosku (DCC) ......................... $15.00

Wizkids

DC Forever ....................$49.99

DC Heroclix: Iconix - The Sandman .......... $24.99

D&D Icons of the Realms Set 34

Marvel Heroclix: Collectors Trove Booster Brick

Marvel Heroclix: Collectors Trove Play at Home Kit (Nebula and Gamora)  ... $24.99

Marvel Heroclix: Spiderverse Booster Brick

Marvel Heroclix: Spiderverse Play at Home Kit ............. $24.99

The Passing of Steve Boegemann

Very sad news from HMGS this week, as member of the HMGS Board of Director (and Treasurer at last note) Steve Boegemann passed away on August 21st. 

I have two observations from interacting with Steve.  First, for a Board member, he had open ears to listen to any input, a thick enough skin to handle the criticism, warranted or not, and the acumen to help HMGS get out of the COVID years and grow in a stable and responsible manner.  

Secondly, Steve was the Awards Manager for all the HMGS shows.  He was responsible for all the volunteer event judges and the distribution of the PELAs and larger awards.  He originally recruited not only myself, but my teenage daughter, Maja to be judges during the last Fall-In!    It was a great insight for me as a GM how the Awards Program was supposed to work, Maja absolutely fell in love judging and was part of the panels for three different time slots at Historicon.  Steve was nothing but appreciative for our help, and very supportive of Maja engaging her role of judge with seriousness and enthusiasm.    In fact, I had just finished an email conversation with Steve regarding a future blog post about the PELAs about two weeks ago,.  He had offered his phone number to talk about an further ideas I had, and I'm disappointed I couldn't find some time to make that call.  

#RPGaDay2024 - A Recap

I labelled #RPGaDay2024  "Catechism RPGaDay" early on.   Like Martin Luther's Catechisms, I looked at each prompt for many days and said out loud, "What does this mean?"  I was relieved that when the Nerd's RPG Variety Podcast did a massive sit-down with multiple guests to do the entire month, there were a number of prompts where a good deal of the panel asked the same question.    

Sometimes the basic questions we've gotten over the last decade are unexciting, but it suits a overall need this project provides to the community at large

Even in my "old-guy-yells-at-cloud" phase, I recognize the greater utility of a prompt like Day 13 "RPG with an Evocative Environment" versus a (probable) retelling of "Longest RPG Session You Ever Played" from the list a decade earlier.  

Likewise, for those folks who incessantly wanted something more akin to alternative prompts, well good for you!  Honestly, some of the regular prompts weren't doing for me some days, and it took a little extra brainpower to use the back-up list.  While fun, the answers to the alternative prompts that I read didn't inspire me.  I hope they did for you.  To each their own.  Thanks for participating.

Twitter still lives, regardless of what letter of the alphabet it identifies with nowadays.  Threads can get just as scary as Twitter, and quite literally has one follower that uses it, and Mammoth has two authors I like and zero traffic.  

The newest addition to my social media: Bluesky.  I've been trying to figure out Robin Laws' new social media "bsky" on Ken and Robin Talk About Stuff for weeks now, and let me tell you, he chose wisely.  The pinning function of RPGaDay was pretty sweet, and the participants on there are all the old faces from previous RPGaDay, and a fresh and diverse crew to supplement them. 

As I updated my numbers from previous years' RPGaDays, I made the stunning realization that I not only put my blogging maintenance programs on hiatus for August, but I also didn't post any Actual Plays in previous years.  I would push back my Gamma World episodes further, but current episodes we played this past week are already posting into next May, so let's not push episodes back even further.  

And the numbers are in.

I'm a sad little stat guy, so I do track my views for #RPGaDay year-over-year.  Give that any earlier year is updated to reflect to the present-day view count, it's been a great month sharing stories with one another.   And even if I could explain the 25% average growth in views from 2023 to 2024 for all years of my posts, even moving half of that for bots, 5-15% growth overall for the other years is impressive.  

Thanks again to all the organizers and all those folks who help them out.  Of course I'll participate in 2025, but I won't press them using 2016 prompts from ten years ago.  Those questions would make Martin Luther scratch his head. 

While some of my favorite posts sadly didn't get much traffic, the busiest post of the month if I can’t hear it, there is no way start was Day 2 "Most Often Played RPG" and Day 23 "Peerless Player".  For all the folks that need to design a new artifact, or develop a new race, or design mechanics for split-pea soup in Powered by the Apocalypse games, sometimes us gamers want to hear what each other is doing, whether its D&D, or Mothership, or Mage.  

Gamers didn't want to hear about my character, but they did want to hear about what I've played a lot of, and they were interested in my player who hasn't played a lot of anything.  This environment is the perfect time to do so.

Barring any usuals surprises, I'll be back to daily community sharing with the #CharacterCreationChallenge in January.