I don't tend to get a lot of mail. Usually I check my mailbox once a week. A week and a half ago, Laura and I were sent an oversized catalog that filled up our mailbox, and the post office immediately put a hold on our mail until we went to pick it up. So the day after we found out, Laura and I went to the post office and picked up our mail. I went back to the mailbox to pick up last week's mail, and it turns out there mail is still on hold. So I called the post office 1-800 number and spent about five minutes trying to navigate their menu of options. I ended up with the phone trying to get me to deliver a package, which was clearly not my intention. I tried to get back to the main menu, and it hung up on me. So I called back and tried some different options. A couple of minutes later, I was talking to a real person. I told him the situation and he told me I had to talk to the post office. I asked him who I was talking to and he said I had to talk to a different post office. He got me the phone number for my post office and I called them. By this point, it was 5:55. The post office closed at 6:00, according to the website. Nobody answered. They said they closed at 5:30
So now I'm stuck without getting mail still, and I need to get over to the post office (which, strangely, is the one ten minutes from my house rather than the one two minutes from my house) sometime during the work day in order to stand back in line and tell them again to take the hold off my mail box. Very frustrating...
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
How To Be Unemployed With Style
Here's a story I just couldn't help but pass on. I can see some HR Professional thinking this is a great idea. In 2006, Northwest Airlines laid off thousands of ground workers. To make things go over a little better, they offered a handy guidebook called "101 Ways to Save Money." It includes such gems as "Don't be shy about pulling something you like out of the trash" and "Take long walks in the woods as a low-cost dating alternative." Don't worry. Your blind date won't think you're a serial killer.
And Strangely the World Did Not End
The first protons collided in the Large Hadron Collider today, and despite the worries of many, we did not create a black hole that would suck the world into nothingness. They hit each other at a record energy of seven trillion electron volts. I can't even conceive of that kind of voltage. What would that power?
Regardless, great news for the physicists. This event marks the start of the LHC's research program. As CERN Director General Rolf Heuer says, "It's a great day to be a particle physicist."
Regardless, great news for the physicists. This event marks the start of the LHC's research program. As CERN Director General Rolf Heuer says, "It's a great day to be a particle physicist."
FSA Test Game
Dan and I got in part of a game of FSA last night again. We were testing some of the rules for one of the new scenarios for the campaign that's starting up in a few days, and wanted to iron out any kinks before we launched.
In this particular scenario, one fleet was coming out of hyperspace and attacking a planet. However, they came out of hyperspace too close to the planet and the shield generators on the planet were able to activate, cloaking the planet in a massive defensive structure. Four satellites orbit the planet that will need to be destroyed before the assaulting marines in the transport vessels can land. On the flip side, the defending forces can drive off the attackers by destroying all the transports before the shields are dropped. So in the 1,000 point game we played, I had to destroy four shield generators before Dan destroyed my eight transports.
This was Dan's first 1,000 point game, which is another reason he wanted to try it. I had played several over the course of the last league, so I was pretty set on how they worked, but Dan wanted to get a little experience behind him. Meanwhile, I wanted a chance to try out my new escort class ships, to see how they'd work. I ended up dropping three Frigates from my usual fleet to pick up five Escorts. So I had:
Battleship
-3 Escorts
Battleship
-2 Escorts
6 Cruisers (split in two groups of 3)
9 Frigates (split in three groups of 3)
8 Transports (split in two groups of 3 and one of 2)
He was trying out an idea of a massive boarding assault, so he had only one battleship on his side, but a completely decked-out carrier.
Battleship
Carrier (with 8 Assault Boats)
8 Cruisers (split in two groups of 4)
8 Frigates (split in two groups of 4)
Additionally, he had two gun drones and a whole slew of mines in the middle of the field as his planetary defenses.
The beginning deployment worked out like this. He had one of his groups of cruisers held in reserve as part of the rules of the mission, but they managed to come on at the beginning of the second turn, so they barely missed anything. The yellow ball on the left was a sun - if I got too close to it, I ran the risk of destroying my ships. I had two asteroid pockets on either side which offered me cover for my transports, but also funneled my ships directly into the mine field. The orange ball on the right was a moon, and the planet was in the back center (I painted continents on it - it looks fun now!). The two Malifaux Sorrows just to the right of the planet were Dan's gun drones, and the three paint tubs were three more transports on my side.
In the opening moves, we mostly just moved forward, though my battleships were able to detonate a couple of early mines without taking damage and get a few shots off on one of his groups of cruisers, crippling two of them.
His response was harsh. Coming around with his new group of cruisers, he blasted at one of my flanking squadrons of cruisers, destroying one of them and playing a debris card to have the wreckage slam into the other two ships, causing some more damage. That, combined with the mines, left that squadron in a bit of hurt.
I was able to pick off his frigates, though, dropping one entire squadron, trying to keep his fastest ships from being able to reach my carriers at any time soon. With a Sorylian squadron of frigates and a battleship in front of me, I had a choice: go after the planet with my battleships or try to do a bit more damage to him. Checking my range (why don't more games allow premeasuring... is it really that much of a sin?), I decided that I wouldn't be able to get a strong enough blast off at the planet yet. Besides, that would leave his battleship at full health in front of mine, and that's not a way I wanted to go.
I lined up two shots on him, one from each battleship. The first I played a card to give me four additional dice to the attack, so I ended up rolling 20 dice on him. I was able to critical hit the battleship and knock out its turning for one round. The second one lined up and blasted, critical hitting again. This time I rolled double-ones for the critical, causing four more damage to his hull. This stacked up 6 damage on his battleship in a round of shooting and put it a couple solid hits from dead. Meanwhile, my escorts swarmed forward and shot down three of his four frigates in the lead.
At this point, we called the game. Brian had arrived and Dan and Brian had never been able to play a game, so I helped them set up a fight. In all, Dan and I found a few things that needed to be changed. The asteroid fields in the back meant he had no shots on the transports all game, which was hard to deal with. Additionally, we realized partway through the mission that under the rules as written, he could have deployed almost in my deployment zone, 6" away from the transports, and started blasting them before I was even in range of the planet.
So I'm back to make a few adjustments to the rules document. Glad we got the test in now and the issues were discovered before the campaign started. Got a couple days left...
In this particular scenario, one fleet was coming out of hyperspace and attacking a planet. However, they came out of hyperspace too close to the planet and the shield generators on the planet were able to activate, cloaking the planet in a massive defensive structure. Four satellites orbit the planet that will need to be destroyed before the assaulting marines in the transport vessels can land. On the flip side, the defending forces can drive off the attackers by destroying all the transports before the shields are dropped. So in the 1,000 point game we played, I had to destroy four shield generators before Dan destroyed my eight transports.
This was Dan's first 1,000 point game, which is another reason he wanted to try it. I had played several over the course of the last league, so I was pretty set on how they worked, but Dan wanted to get a little experience behind him. Meanwhile, I wanted a chance to try out my new escort class ships, to see how they'd work. I ended up dropping three Frigates from my usual fleet to pick up five Escorts. So I had:
Battleship
-3 Escorts
Battleship
-2 Escorts
6 Cruisers (split in two groups of 3)
9 Frigates (split in three groups of 3)
8 Transports (split in two groups of 3 and one of 2)
He was trying out an idea of a massive boarding assault, so he had only one battleship on his side, but a completely decked-out carrier.
Battleship
Carrier (with 8 Assault Boats)
8 Cruisers (split in two groups of 4)
8 Frigates (split in two groups of 4)
Additionally, he had two gun drones and a whole slew of mines in the middle of the field as his planetary defenses.
The beginning deployment worked out like this. He had one of his groups of cruisers held in reserve as part of the rules of the mission, but they managed to come on at the beginning of the second turn, so they barely missed anything. The yellow ball on the left was a sun - if I got too close to it, I ran the risk of destroying my ships. I had two asteroid pockets on either side which offered me cover for my transports, but also funneled my ships directly into the mine field. The orange ball on the right was a moon, and the planet was in the back center (I painted continents on it - it looks fun now!). The two Malifaux Sorrows just to the right of the planet were Dan's gun drones, and the three paint tubs were three more transports on my side.
In the opening moves, we mostly just moved forward, though my battleships were able to detonate a couple of early mines without taking damage and get a few shots off on one of his groups of cruisers, crippling two of them.
His response was harsh. Coming around with his new group of cruisers, he blasted at one of my flanking squadrons of cruisers, destroying one of them and playing a debris card to have the wreckage slam into the other two ships, causing some more damage. That, combined with the mines, left that squadron in a bit of hurt.
I was able to pick off his frigates, though, dropping one entire squadron, trying to keep his fastest ships from being able to reach my carriers at any time soon. With a Sorylian squadron of frigates and a battleship in front of me, I had a choice: go after the planet with my battleships or try to do a bit more damage to him. Checking my range (why don't more games allow premeasuring... is it really that much of a sin?), I decided that I wouldn't be able to get a strong enough blast off at the planet yet. Besides, that would leave his battleship at full health in front of mine, and that's not a way I wanted to go.
I lined up two shots on him, one from each battleship. The first I played a card to give me four additional dice to the attack, so I ended up rolling 20 dice on him. I was able to critical hit the battleship and knock out its turning for one round. The second one lined up and blasted, critical hitting again. This time I rolled double-ones for the critical, causing four more damage to his hull. This stacked up 6 damage on his battleship in a round of shooting and put it a couple solid hits from dead. Meanwhile, my escorts swarmed forward and shot down three of his four frigates in the lead.
At this point, we called the game. Brian had arrived and Dan and Brian had never been able to play a game, so I helped them set up a fight. In all, Dan and I found a few things that needed to be changed. The asteroid fields in the back meant he had no shots on the transports all game, which was hard to deal with. Additionally, we realized partway through the mission that under the rules as written, he could have deployed almost in my deployment zone, 6" away from the transports, and started blasting them before I was even in range of the planet.
So I'm back to make a few adjustments to the rules document. Glad we got the test in now and the issues were discovered before the campaign started. Got a couple days left...
Monday, March 29, 2010
A Decade Too Late?
Ten years after it was set to film, we finally have someone apologizing for the tragedy that is Battlefield Earth. Writer J.D. Shapiro, who blames a large portion of the writing on an overactive libido, even went so far as to say he wish he'd used his pen name, Sir Nick Knack, but sadly he had been paid too much to attach a false name to it.In all fairness, I cannot rip on the movie too much, as I spared myself from seeing it at any point. I admit I've had a morbid curiosity from time to time, the same morbid curiosity that led me to watch Jack Frost (no, not the Michael Keaton version), but I'll draw the line at any point the writer says
The only time I saw the movie was at the premiere, which was one too many times.
Percy Harvin & the Olympians... er... Jackson, Maybe
Every time I try to remember the name of this movie, the first thing that jumps in my head is Percy Harvin. But no, that's not right. To make sure I state it once correctly, here it is:
Percy Harvin & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief
Crap. Still couldn't do it.
Anywho, Laura, Anne, Tony and I went out to see this one last night. We were going to see Repo Man, but we got finished with dinner a full hour before we expected (actually, it was right when I expected, but I thought the movie was an hour earlier). So rather than wait around for an hour, we jumped in to see this one instead.
Overall, I was happy with it. I was more impressed with it than I thought I would be. Though this is not to say it was a great movie. It was a fun movie, though, and worth the viewing if you're not looking for something deep or dark or anything like that.
Brief plot: Percy is the son of Poseidon. He can hold his breath a long time. He likes water. Soon, he finds out just who his absent father is. Why? Zeus's lightning has been stolen! And Zeus blames Poseidon for it, saying his son must have done the deed at his behalf. Poseidon has 14 days to set things straight.
Soon everyone is after Percy, figuring that he stole the lightning bolt. Only Percy didn't steal it. So someone else must have. But it's still on Percy's shoulders to save the day.
He heads to a school of likewise demigods that train with their talents and in the journey loses his mother to Hades. Percy could care less about the lightning bolt and instead decides he's going to save his mother. What are the possible odds that these two plots could ever intersect???
Anywho, I won't spoil any more. Overall, a lot of fun. Predictable in many parts, but that didn't bother me. I didn't come in looking to see a massive well-constructed plot. I have other movies for that. I just came in wanting to see a fun, Sky-High-type high school action with mythology elements and modern elements mixed in. For that, it was worth it.
But be warned, Brandon Jackson (who plays Grover) starts to border on Marlon Wayans Dungeons and Dragons level annoyance. He doesn't quite reach it, but he's making a run for it. Despite that, I still enjoyed the flick.
And I couldn't stop thinking about running a game of Scion after I saw it.
Percy Harvin & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief
Crap. Still couldn't do it.
Anywho, Laura, Anne, Tony and I went out to see this one last night. We were going to see Repo Man, but we got finished with dinner a full hour before we expected (actually, it was right when I expected, but I thought the movie was an hour earlier). So rather than wait around for an hour, we jumped in to see this one instead.
Overall, I was happy with it. I was more impressed with it than I thought I would be. Though this is not to say it was a great movie. It was a fun movie, though, and worth the viewing if you're not looking for something deep or dark or anything like that.
Brief plot: Percy is the son of Poseidon. He can hold his breath a long time. He likes water. Soon, he finds out just who his absent father is. Why? Zeus's lightning has been stolen! And Zeus blames Poseidon for it, saying his son must have done the deed at his behalf. Poseidon has 14 days to set things straight.
Soon everyone is after Percy, figuring that he stole the lightning bolt. Only Percy didn't steal it. So someone else must have. But it's still on Percy's shoulders to save the day.
He heads to a school of likewise demigods that train with their talents and in the journey loses his mother to Hades. Percy could care less about the lightning bolt and instead decides he's going to save his mother. What are the possible odds that these two plots could ever intersect???
Anywho, I won't spoil any more. Overall, a lot of fun. Predictable in many parts, but that didn't bother me. I didn't come in looking to see a massive well-constructed plot. I have other movies for that. I just came in wanting to see a fun, Sky-High-type high school action with mythology elements and modern elements mixed in. For that, it was worth it.
But be warned, Brandon Jackson (who plays Grover) starts to border on Marlon Wayans Dungeons and Dragons level annoyance. He doesn't quite reach it, but he's making a run for it. Despite that, I still enjoyed the flick.
And I couldn't stop thinking about running a game of Scion after I saw it.
Awesome Match - Zoraida and Seamus
Yesterday, Dan and I got in a 30 stone game on the streets of Ashvale Crossing. We've been playing a bit of FSA of late, so Dan wanted to switch back to Malifaux for a try. He's working on writing up a Malifaux campaign, so I think this should help get his creative juices flowing too.
We set up our gangs and flipped for our mission. I had:
Zoraida +6 stones
1x Mature Nephilim
1x Convict Gunslinger
1x Terror Tot
2x Salads (the Sorrows were standing in for them since they're not on bases yet)
He had:
Seamus +8 stones
1x Belle
1x Sybelle
2x Punk Zombie
1x NecroPunk
1x Spirit Totem Thingy
We flipped for objectives and I had assassinate, he had treasure hunt. We decided that one of my unbased Salads was a Deep One coming out of the well. Seamus wanted to collect it and see if he could do nasty undead-like things with it (not the same things he does with his Belles).
For secondary objectives, I took Bodyguard and I kept Hold Out hidden from him. He took Army of the Dead and Bodyguard, both revealed.
My plan was simple: get the treasure, keep it from him, and force him to come to me so I could kill him with my maneuverability. I wanted to fight in the center of the map because as long as I was there, he wasn't going to reach my deployment zone. Seamus is notoriously difficult to kill (the hardest in the game, I think) so pulling assassinate was tough for me. But I figured I could probably pull it off - I had killed him before. All I needed was a Mature Nephilim and a little luck.
I bugged out to the treasure first, getting Zoraida turning into a crow and on top of the well, ready to grab the Salad next turn. The rest of my army rushed the central well.
The next turn, he won initiative and his NecroPunk, fast little bugger, leapt his way to the well and snagged the Salad climbing out of the well. He sneared at Zoraida, but the Old Hag looked deep in his dead eyes and said, "Give me the Salad." The NecroPunk shook his head the first time, but the second time, he obeyed the witch, handing it over, and she stepped down off the well, treasure in hand.
My Mature Nephilim then flew up on top of the well and mauled the poor confused NecroPunk, collecting its blood (well, what little was left). Behind him, the Terror Tot ran up in glee, and the mature Nephilim gave the thing the rest of the blood. The Tot drank deep and immediately used it to fuel a massive transformation. Soon the tiny thing was a Younger Nephilim, ready to go to battle.
Meanwhile, Seamus and the undead made their way patiently. I had the treasure, true, but he knew I couldn't flee him. Wanting to Assassinate the mass murderer, I had to come in close.
Next round, a group of undead charged in from around a different side of the tavern. Seamus had split them up and my forces were engaged in a sprawling melee. Poor Zoraida faced down two Zombie Punks. Her Voodoo Doll and the Younger Nephilim came in to help, but it took the Convict Gunslinger to really shore up the area.
Or so I thought. One of the Punk Zombies unleashed a flury of blades and the Convict Gunslinger fell quickly. Fortunately, between him, the Younger Nephilim and the Voodoo Doll, both Zombie Punks were not long for this world. Poison slowly cursed their veins. The bad side, though, was that these Punks were persistant. Even after death (again, I guess, since they're undead already), they would use their last to strike once more. Zoraida couldn't allow herself to be threatened by that, so she unleashed an unearthly howl and everything, friend and foe, moved away from her, leaving her unthreatened for the moment.
Meanwhile, my Salads prepared to carve a way for my Mature Nephilim. They swarmed the spirit totem and killed him, but Seamus cast a spell at the Mature Nephilim making him unable to apprach near undead. The large beast instead flew behind a building to make sure that couldn't happen again. With his ability to take to the sky, he'd be able to reach Seamus without worry.
The Salads, however, were cut off from their major support and soon fell to Seamus and Sybelle. By that time, however, the Mature Nephilim was able to charge in. He missed his first round of attacks, but winning initiative the next round meant he could drop Seamus from full to one life left. Ouch! But that Seamus had a trick up his sleeve. Knowing if he did any damage to the Mature Nephilim, the thing's black, acidic blood would kill him, he instead went for a clean kill. He made three attacks, and on all three attacks was able to cheat a high crows card, all three times triggering Slit the Jugular. I was able to stop the first two, but the third one sent my poor Nephilim to the grave and gained Seamus two life back. To add insult to injury, he made a new Belle to help him out. Things were not looking good.
Recognizing my best shot, Zoraida dropped the Salad, turned into a raven, and flew right next to Seamus. The mass murderer was nearly dead, maybe she could finish the job.
The next turn, Zoraida went first and dropped Seamus back down to one life and poisoned him. As soon as the murderer activated, the poison would take effect and he would die. But Dan again came up with a clever plan. Rather than trying to kill Zoraida, which was not a guarentee, he had Sybelle go after the Belle next to her. Killing the wretched creature in a few hits, Seamus gained two more life and brought himself up to three. He activated, dropped back to one from the poison, and then attacked Zoraida. I was still wealthy in soulstones, having used very few, and he was dry in holding off the massive assault from the Mature Nephilim, so I was able to keep him back. Finally, on the last turn, Zoraida attacked and killed Seamus while keeping Sybelle at bay. My only other model, a Younger Nephilim, was holding Dan's only other model, a Belle, in combat. Evidently, though, his plan was to use her to hold me in combat too, so we both succeeded in that particular goal.
A real nailbiter of a game, and a lot of fun. Both of us felt confident we'd win and sure we'd lose at various points. Swung back and forth, and just a lot of fun all around.
Though I still hate Seamus and his inability to be killed except by acts of God.
We set up our gangs and flipped for our mission. I had:
Zoraida +6 stones
1x Mature Nephilim
1x Convict Gunslinger
1x Terror Tot
2x Salads (the Sorrows were standing in for them since they're not on bases yet)
He had:
Seamus +8 stones
1x Belle
1x Sybelle
2x Punk Zombie
1x NecroPunk
1x Spirit Totem Thingy
We flipped for objectives and I had assassinate, he had treasure hunt. We decided that one of my unbased Salads was a Deep One coming out of the well. Seamus wanted to collect it and see if he could do nasty undead-like things with it (not the same things he does with his Belles).
For secondary objectives, I took Bodyguard and I kept Hold Out hidden from him. He took Army of the Dead and Bodyguard, both revealed.
My plan was simple: get the treasure, keep it from him, and force him to come to me so I could kill him with my maneuverability. I wanted to fight in the center of the map because as long as I was there, he wasn't going to reach my deployment zone. Seamus is notoriously difficult to kill (the hardest in the game, I think) so pulling assassinate was tough for me. But I figured I could probably pull it off - I had killed him before. All I needed was a Mature Nephilim and a little luck.
I bugged out to the treasure first, getting Zoraida turning into a crow and on top of the well, ready to grab the Salad next turn. The rest of my army rushed the central well.
The next turn, he won initiative and his NecroPunk, fast little bugger, leapt his way to the well and snagged the Salad climbing out of the well. He sneared at Zoraida, but the Old Hag looked deep in his dead eyes and said, "Give me the Salad." The NecroPunk shook his head the first time, but the second time, he obeyed the witch, handing it over, and she stepped down off the well, treasure in hand.
My Mature Nephilim then flew up on top of the well and mauled the poor confused NecroPunk, collecting its blood (well, what little was left). Behind him, the Terror Tot ran up in glee, and the mature Nephilim gave the thing the rest of the blood. The Tot drank deep and immediately used it to fuel a massive transformation. Soon the tiny thing was a Younger Nephilim, ready to go to battle.
Meanwhile, Seamus and the undead made their way patiently. I had the treasure, true, but he knew I couldn't flee him. Wanting to Assassinate the mass murderer, I had to come in close.
Next round, a group of undead charged in from around a different side of the tavern. Seamus had split them up and my forces were engaged in a sprawling melee. Poor Zoraida faced down two Zombie Punks. Her Voodoo Doll and the Younger Nephilim came in to help, but it took the Convict Gunslinger to really shore up the area.
Or so I thought. One of the Punk Zombies unleashed a flury of blades and the Convict Gunslinger fell quickly. Fortunately, between him, the Younger Nephilim and the Voodoo Doll, both Zombie Punks were not long for this world. Poison slowly cursed their veins. The bad side, though, was that these Punks were persistant. Even after death (again, I guess, since they're undead already), they would use their last to strike once more. Zoraida couldn't allow herself to be threatened by that, so she unleashed an unearthly howl and everything, friend and foe, moved away from her, leaving her unthreatened for the moment.
Meanwhile, my Salads prepared to carve a way for my Mature Nephilim. They swarmed the spirit totem and killed him, but Seamus cast a spell at the Mature Nephilim making him unable to apprach near undead. The large beast instead flew behind a building to make sure that couldn't happen again. With his ability to take to the sky, he'd be able to reach Seamus without worry.
The Salads, however, were cut off from their major support and soon fell to Seamus and Sybelle. By that time, however, the Mature Nephilim was able to charge in. He missed his first round of attacks, but winning initiative the next round meant he could drop Seamus from full to one life left. Ouch! But that Seamus had a trick up his sleeve. Knowing if he did any damage to the Mature Nephilim, the thing's black, acidic blood would kill him, he instead went for a clean kill. He made three attacks, and on all three attacks was able to cheat a high crows card, all three times triggering Slit the Jugular. I was able to stop the first two, but the third one sent my poor Nephilim to the grave and gained Seamus two life back. To add insult to injury, he made a new Belle to help him out. Things were not looking good.
Recognizing my best shot, Zoraida dropped the Salad, turned into a raven, and flew right next to Seamus. The mass murderer was nearly dead, maybe she could finish the job.
The next turn, Zoraida went first and dropped Seamus back down to one life and poisoned him. As soon as the murderer activated, the poison would take effect and he would die. But Dan again came up with a clever plan. Rather than trying to kill Zoraida, which was not a guarentee, he had Sybelle go after the Belle next to her. Killing the wretched creature in a few hits, Seamus gained two more life and brought himself up to three. He activated, dropped back to one from the poison, and then attacked Zoraida. I was still wealthy in soulstones, having used very few, and he was dry in holding off the massive assault from the Mature Nephilim, so I was able to keep him back. Finally, on the last turn, Zoraida attacked and killed Seamus while keeping Sybelle at bay. My only other model, a Younger Nephilim, was holding Dan's only other model, a Belle, in combat. Evidently, though, his plan was to use her to hold me in combat too, so we both succeeded in that particular goal.
A real nailbiter of a game, and a lot of fun. Both of us felt confident we'd win and sure we'd lose at various points. Swung back and forth, and just a lot of fun all around.
Though I still hate Seamus and his inability to be killed except by acts of God.
Painted Escorts
Well, Dan came through. More evidence that the whole hand-writing thing should really take off.
Laura was wonderful enough to get my escorts painted already. Since my two battleships were blue and red for colors, I decided to paint the escort colors to match them.
I'm still a little mixed on how I feel about the new unit types. They latch on to one of your large or massive ships at the beginning and activate at the same time as them. Generally speaking, they're entirely there for defense. Only the Aquan and Dindrenzi ships have much in the way of combat ability with the Aquans having mines and the Dindrenzi having small guns. For the rest of them, they're a boost to point defense, etc. They're cheap enough that, generally, that's still good enough. They have the added bonus of being able to use their point defense against boarding actions on the main ship. I'm going to have to test them a couple games to see if they're worth it. The nice thing I can pull in three of them for less than the cost of two frigates, so I'm not breaking the bank just to get them.
Laura was wonderful enough to get my escorts painted already. Since my two battleships were blue and red for colors, I decided to paint the escort colors to match them.
I'm still a little mixed on how I feel about the new unit types. They latch on to one of your large or massive ships at the beginning and activate at the same time as them. Generally speaking, they're entirely there for defense. Only the Aquan and Dindrenzi ships have much in the way of combat ability with the Aquans having mines and the Dindrenzi having small guns. For the rest of them, they're a boost to point defense, etc. They're cheap enough that, generally, that's still good enough. They have the added bonus of being able to use their point defense against boarding actions on the main ship. I'm going to have to test them a couple games to see if they're worth it. The nice thing I can pull in three of them for less than the cost of two frigates, so I'm not breaking the bank just to get them.
Friday, March 26, 2010
A Better Way to Learn Your ABCs
Lots of folks seem to be having kids these days. I guess it's just getting to that time in our lives. Since you're all getting to that teaching stage, might I suggest a new way to teach the alphabet to the little ones? Just check out how absolutely awesome this alphabet is. "A" isn't just for "apple" anymore. Now it's for "Aztecs in Atomic Armour Attacking Anomalous Amphibians!" Huzzah!Illustrations and all by Neill Cameron.
Well That's Handy
Dan ordered some escort ships for his fleet. I also tacked on an order of them for my fleet. So now he's got them. And he's had them for a while, but he keeps forgetting to bring them to me.
But he's got a plan. And he sent me a picture of it to prove that the plan is in motion.
Not enough people write on their hands anymore. I think it should make a come back. Usually I write on my hand - there's a spot between my pointer finger and thumb that I usually use as my message board whenever I have something I want to remember. It's pretty easy to spot out of the corner of my eye, so it's a constant reminder. Many a thing in my life have been remembered because I wrote on my hand.
Now hopefully this will remind Dan to bring me my escort ships. Not sure I'm completely confident, though. Once he was supposed to bring me something (a movie, maybe) and he put it on top of his miniatures case in the morning so he wouldn't forget. Only when he got ready to go, he picked up the movie off his case, put it down elsewhere, and walked out the door with his case.
But this time he can redeem himself. And soon I'll have escort ships....
But he's got a plan. And he sent me a picture of it to prove that the plan is in motion.
Not enough people write on their hands anymore. I think it should make a come back. Usually I write on my hand - there's a spot between my pointer finger and thumb that I usually use as my message board whenever I have something I want to remember. It's pretty easy to spot out of the corner of my eye, so it's a constant reminder. Many a thing in my life have been remembered because I wrote on my hand.
Now hopefully this will remind Dan to bring me my escort ships. Not sure I'm completely confident, though. Once he was supposed to bring me something (a movie, maybe) and he put it on top of his miniatures case in the morning so he wouldn't forget. Only when he got ready to go, he picked up the movie off his case, put it down elsewhere, and walked out the door with his case.
But this time he can redeem himself. And soon I'll have escort ships....
FSA Testing
We've put the original Firestorm Armada campaign on hold as we do two things: test a couple more of the missions (since we've found some problems with a few of them), and get ready to start again with a fresher version. To that end, last night I ended up getting in a test game of the Convoy mission against Brian. We both took 500 points and started up. He had two transports he had to get across the board while I had my fleet scattered around the system as contact points. As he drew closer, they would reveal and my ships would start going after him.
First turn, he picks the spot on the board his fleet will come rushing in from and immediately finds a group of Cruisers and Frigates in the waiting.
His initial barrages take my frigates and cruisers down a bit, but I'm able to drop one of his frigate squadrons down by a bit, and as his group of cruisers came in for the kill, they triggered a torpedo drone that slammed into the side of one of his cruisers, igniting a fire. His repair crews were quick, though, and fixed the hull just as my battleship came about and launched a massive barrage into its side, knocking out the point defense systems.
His battleship rolled onto the table, devastating my advance group, and he sent his frigates out to scout the nearby area and find out what ships might be lurking in the wings. Behind a planet, he discovered a massive swarm of assault boats waiting around to spring an ambush. Having been detected, all 18 of them pushed around the planet towards his group of cruisers and managed to board two of his ships, keeping both of them fighting against the boarders and leaving his ships at less strength.
My final group of frigates came on to the table, blasting through a few of his advance frigates and coming up close on his battleship, preparing for the transports to make their appearance.
As the transports came on in the midst of a massive field of carnage, they buckled back towards the Aquan battleship to gain some cover against the flying torpedoes. The Dindrenzi battleship pulled in close and unleashed its massive rail gun into one of the transports, finishing it off from the minor damage it had received from a few frigates.
Another round of firefights left my smaller craft pretty much devastated, but with my battleship and a squadron of Frigates joining the battle, there was no way for him to protect his second transport. We called the game there.
Overall the test was pretty good. We came up with a few adjustments we felt were necessary to settle things a little better. Instead of the convoying force rolling randomly to see which side they came on, we determined it would be better to have them be able to pick the side. That way they could set up terrain to give themselves some cover along the way. That kind of support would serve well to help protect the transports.
During the course of our discussion, Brian and I started debating the value of shields. I claimed that attacking with nine dice against a ship with one shield was the same as attacking with eight dice, since both the shield dice and the attack dice have the same chances of success. He claimed the shields were, in fact, only half of an attack die, because they only had a 50/50 shot of stopping a hit. To which I responded that a single attack die has only a 50/50 shot of scoring a hit. The argument went back and forth. Excluding the oddity of sixes (which both attack and shield dice have), we said there was an average of 4.5 damage out of nine dice. Then he came up with an awesome point: the shield dice would only stop .5 hits of that! Which means there would be 4 hits! At which point he exclaimed, "Yes, exactly, four hits, which is what you get on average with 8 dice! Win!" I looked at him puzzled, and he said, "Wait, what side of the argument am I on?" When it dawned on him that he had just beaten his own argument, he had a particular gesture for me.
A note to others: always argue with Brian when he's three beers in and you're right. It's a lot of fun.
First turn, he picks the spot on the board his fleet will come rushing in from and immediately finds a group of Cruisers and Frigates in the waiting.
His initial barrages take my frigates and cruisers down a bit, but I'm able to drop one of his frigate squadrons down by a bit, and as his group of cruisers came in for the kill, they triggered a torpedo drone that slammed into the side of one of his cruisers, igniting a fire. His repair crews were quick, though, and fixed the hull just as my battleship came about and launched a massive barrage into its side, knocking out the point defense systems.
His battleship rolled onto the table, devastating my advance group, and he sent his frigates out to scout the nearby area and find out what ships might be lurking in the wings. Behind a planet, he discovered a massive swarm of assault boats waiting around to spring an ambush. Having been detected, all 18 of them pushed around the planet towards his group of cruisers and managed to board two of his ships, keeping both of them fighting against the boarders and leaving his ships at less strength.
My final group of frigates came on to the table, blasting through a few of his advance frigates and coming up close on his battleship, preparing for the transports to make their appearance.
As the transports came on in the midst of a massive field of carnage, they buckled back towards the Aquan battleship to gain some cover against the flying torpedoes. The Dindrenzi battleship pulled in close and unleashed its massive rail gun into one of the transports, finishing it off from the minor damage it had received from a few frigates.
Another round of firefights left my smaller craft pretty much devastated, but with my battleship and a squadron of Frigates joining the battle, there was no way for him to protect his second transport. We called the game there.
Overall the test was pretty good. We came up with a few adjustments we felt were necessary to settle things a little better. Instead of the convoying force rolling randomly to see which side they came on, we determined it would be better to have them be able to pick the side. That way they could set up terrain to give themselves some cover along the way. That kind of support would serve well to help protect the transports.
During the course of our discussion, Brian and I started debating the value of shields. I claimed that attacking with nine dice against a ship with one shield was the same as attacking with eight dice, since both the shield dice and the attack dice have the same chances of success. He claimed the shields were, in fact, only half of an attack die, because they only had a 50/50 shot of stopping a hit. To which I responded that a single attack die has only a 50/50 shot of scoring a hit. The argument went back and forth. Excluding the oddity of sixes (which both attack and shield dice have), we said there was an average of 4.5 damage out of nine dice. Then he came up with an awesome point: the shield dice would only stop .5 hits of that! Which means there would be 4 hits! At which point he exclaimed, "Yes, exactly, four hits, which is what you get on average with 8 dice! Win!" I looked at him puzzled, and he said, "Wait, what side of the argument am I on?" When it dawned on him that he had just beaten his own argument, he had a particular gesture for me.
A note to others: always argue with Brian when he's three beers in and you're right. It's a lot of fun.
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Tax Dollars At Work
It's been high on everyone's worries, I'm sure. I know it's been high on my list of concerns. Fortunately, in the midst of everything going on in the world, the Transportation Security Administration is giving everyone a very clear understanding of how they will determine if your helper monkey is going to be a threat during air travel. Now we know that service monkeys will be brought through metal detectors on a leash, and that our FSA Security Officers have been trained not to handle your monkey.
FSA Civilian Ships
Yesterday my new ships came in from the Warstore. Well, not all of them. There's still a carrier on backorder, but my civilian ships came in. A lot of the missions we're playing require transports and the like, and these ships will fit that role pretty solidly.
First, we've got two of these luxury liners.
I've got one of these fuel tankers available. It's the biggest of the civilian ships.
There are two of these carriers, but I only had a base for one of them (because I used the second base on a different ship from a different line). Once I get another base, I'll be able to set up a second one of these.
And finally, here's the carrier from a different line (Babylon 5, I think). I ended up borrowing an FSA base for this ship so I could have more of a variety available to me.
Here are all five ships together. Looking forward to getting them painted up and fielded.
First, we've got two of these luxury liners.
I've got one of these fuel tankers available. It's the biggest of the civilian ships.
There are two of these carriers, but I only had a base for one of them (because I used the second base on a different ship from a different line). Once I get another base, I'll be able to set up a second one of these.
And finally, here's the carrier from a different line (Babylon 5, I think). I ended up borrowing an FSA base for this ship so I could have more of a variety available to me.
Here are all five ships together. Looking forward to getting them painted up and fielded.
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Don't Wander Too Close to Neptune
Evidently, Neptune is a pretty hungry planet and has a shortage of moral codes. Scientists have long wondered why Neptune and Uranus, so similar in size and position in the solar system, are of such drastically different temperatures. Neptune, it seems, runs hot. Evidently, Neptune may have swallowed up a nearby planet and stolen its moon to boot! He's like the bully on the block. Jupiter's got to step up and get a handle on things out there.
Artos Viros, Monastic Knight, Marshall of Ragadorn
Last night I was chatting with Dan, Laura and Josh at my place, and we ended up talking about the old Rembaldi play-by-email game that ran so long ago. Good times were had by all. Dan and I excitedly told Josh about the Seven, the battle with Mourne at the Tree of Shim Shea, the revelation that Mindbane inhabited the body of a Dragon, much to the surprise of the other Seven as well. We talked about Rembaldi's prophecies, the release of the stone prisons, and, of course, the death of Artos Viros. Most people I talk to about the game remember that particular moment as one of the best in the game. I figured it'd be fitting to repost that particular entry.
To set the stage, Artos Viros (a character played by Adam) was an old man, formerly a paladin of the Monastic Knights. During a rebellion, the heir to the kingdom was entrusted to his care. He fled into the night just before the army was betrayed and defeated. Everyone assumed the heir had died, and the empire fractured into several kingdoms. Artos raised the heir as his son and when the time was right, let him know who he was. He left it to his son to decide whether he would attempt to unite the kingdoms or live his life as he wished. For Artos, it was time to retire and live in peace.
Later, of course, things did not go as he had hoped. Orcs invaded and Artos found himself defending one of the Golden Cities, Ragadorn, against the advance. The orcs won the day but the battle for the city continued within the streets. Artos, who had been named a Marshall of Ragadorn, a protector of the city, led one of the many small groups to fight against the orcs and make them pay for the ground they gained.
Several men, including Carencious Mite, betrayed the city and essentially turned it over to the orcs. Artos Viros and Carencious Mite had a lengthy history, and both hated the other.
Artos and his men decided to stage a jailbreak and try to release the prisoners the orcs had taken. During the battle, Artos found an honorable and powerful orc, Dier'dakk, who sided with him, wishing to expunge the dishonored poison of Carencious Mite. As the jailbreak continued, Artos Viros spotted Carencious Mite and took off after him. Dier'dakk followed. But the passageway was too narrow for an armored orc to pass through, so Dier'dakk had to find another way around while Artos chased Mite and eventually confronted him in a room. And that's where we are...
~~~
Artos stepped back, finding room to breathe for himself. Carencious Mite was a good swordsman, there was no doubt of that. But Dier'Dakk was a far better fighter than either Mite or Artos. The old man just needed to delay Mite long enough for Dier'Dakk to arrive and finish this.
Carencious Mite slashed down at Artos again. The old knight didn't have the strength left in him to step aside. He barely raised the shield in time. The reverberations of the sword jolted through his arm. Mite raised his sword and hacked again, and again! Artos stumbled backwards under the force, trying to will his own sword arm
to press an attack… anything to stop Mite's own advance! Finally, under another swing, the shield straps gave under the stress and the metal plate fell useless to the floor. Artos stumbled backwards and slammed against the wall. A fire burned through his arm and it refused to allow him to raise his sword against Mite.
"Now this is how I always imagined the end to come," Mite said as he stepped forward with a wicked grin. "Ragadorn's hopeless defense rests on the shoulders of one old man. What was the old saying of Ragadorn's Marshalls? `Not While We Live'?" He chuckled. "Well, don't worry, old man. It won't be."
Artos only partially listened to Mite's words. His eyes kept looking tired towards the door that he knew any moment Dier'Dakk would come through. Mite had his back to the door now. If the orc came through, Mite would be prone to the attack. He'd be cut in two, and Mite's attacks would stop.
But the door still didn't open.
Mite set his stance for a final strike, one that would end Artos. The old man summoned his strength and lunged forward, weaponless, kicking hard against the wall behind him. He caught Mite square in the chest with his shoulder and knocked the young general back a few steps. Mite dropped his sword, but held on to his knife.
Re-energized, Artos swung his own sword. Now with the advantage of reach, perhaps he could take Mite down himself! The traitor jumped back, but not fast enough. The sword opened a red line across his unarmored chest. Mite hissed in anger and stumbled back. Artos pressed the attack, slashing again, but Mite had recovered his own sword. Mite deflected Artos' swing with his knife, then lunged forward with speed and precision.
It didn't hurt, at first. Artos looked up at Mite, mere inches from his own face, then down at the sword, sheathed in his own chest. Artos dropped his sword, his hand weakened, and stumbled backwards to the ground.
Mite put his hand to his own chest and pulled it away, revealing blood. "You got one good cut in, old man. I'll give you that. Bought yourself a slow death, though." Mite walked over Artos' prone body, took the sword still in the old man's chest, and pulled it out. Artos grunted, but would not give Mite the satisfaction of a scream. He doubted he could if he wanted to.
On his back, his eyes began to wander. Mite was standing over him, talking, but the words were not reaching his ears. What was he talking about? Another of his speeches, no doubt, about how he was the better. His eyes wandered to the walls. What room was he in? On the far wall was raised the Ankh of the One God. His symbol, and the strength of the Monastic Knights. Afar was an altar raised on a platform. A tear started to form in the corner of Artos' eyes. On the ceiling was a mural of a clouded sky with a single break in the clouds. A bright light, a pure light, shone through, blinding him. Here, in a church of the One God, a good man lay on his back, his life bleeding out of him. And an evil man stood in triumph. Artos looked towards the door, panic in his eyes. It was still closed.
Artos summoned his strength, what little there was, but the light above him infused his body with feeling. He pushed himself back to his feet, somehow, kicking strong up with his legs and rushing directly towards his enemy. Mite, not expecting any action from the man with a hole in his body, was caught square in the chest. The two went sprawling to the floor, both swords out of reach.
"Some life left to you after all," Mite bit. He kicked Artos from the ground, knocking the old man on his back, then jumped on top of him. `The knife,' Artos' thoughts screamed to him. `Where's the knife!' Mite held it firmly in his right hand, currently set against Artos' left arm. Twisting, the two crashed on the ground, Artos under Carencious Mite. Mite tried to take the knife up under Artos' armpit, where his armor afforded no protection. Artos stuck both his hands against his enemy, pushing back with all his might.
On most days, Carencious Mite was a stronger man, but not this day. Not in this room. Not with the One God watching over Artos. Slowly, the blade turned from Artos' direction towards Mite. The blade moved, ever so slowly, towards Mite's chest. His eyes widened as he saw he was losing the contest.
He pulled his head back and smashed his forehead against Artos' face. Artos felt his nose break, and his cheek crack. Blood filled his mouth, but he did not release. A second smash and the bone around his eye shattered. A third, and he swallowed teeth, but still he did not let up.
Mite felt the knife prick his skin. As if it could help, he pulled his body in as odd a contortion as he could, pulling away from the knife as much as his bones would allow. It did no good. The knife touched skin again, and then he felt the agonizing pain of the small wound slowly widening as the knife drove deeper and deeper into his skin. Artos, with the care and precision of a gemcarver, twisted the blade slightly, one direction, then the other. Artos' arms began to shake as his wounds were catching up to him, but Mite was fairing just as bad. Blood poured out of Mite's heart onto Artos' chest. Mite's elbows buckled under the strain and the knife plunged deep into his the traitor's body. Mite's eyes widened as Artos pulled the knife out and thrust it into his heart again. A spit of blood erupted from Mite's mouth. Artos pushed Mite's body off him with the last of his strength.
The Monastic Knight, Marshall of Ragadorn, felt his life flowing out of him. He could not stand anymore. Could not feel his legs. Or his arms. A tear formed in his one good eye, and the light from the One God finally called Artos home.
…Artos FINIS…
To set the stage, Artos Viros (a character played by Adam) was an old man, formerly a paladin of the Monastic Knights. During a rebellion, the heir to the kingdom was entrusted to his care. He fled into the night just before the army was betrayed and defeated. Everyone assumed the heir had died, and the empire fractured into several kingdoms. Artos raised the heir as his son and when the time was right, let him know who he was. He left it to his son to decide whether he would attempt to unite the kingdoms or live his life as he wished. For Artos, it was time to retire and live in peace.
Later, of course, things did not go as he had hoped. Orcs invaded and Artos found himself defending one of the Golden Cities, Ragadorn, against the advance. The orcs won the day but the battle for the city continued within the streets. Artos, who had been named a Marshall of Ragadorn, a protector of the city, led one of the many small groups to fight against the orcs and make them pay for the ground they gained.
Several men, including Carencious Mite, betrayed the city and essentially turned it over to the orcs. Artos Viros and Carencious Mite had a lengthy history, and both hated the other.
Artos and his men decided to stage a jailbreak and try to release the prisoners the orcs had taken. During the battle, Artos found an honorable and powerful orc, Dier'dakk, who sided with him, wishing to expunge the dishonored poison of Carencious Mite. As the jailbreak continued, Artos Viros spotted Carencious Mite and took off after him. Dier'dakk followed. But the passageway was too narrow for an armored orc to pass through, so Dier'dakk had to find another way around while Artos chased Mite and eventually confronted him in a room. And that's where we are...
~~~
Artos stepped back, finding room to breathe for himself. Carencious Mite was a good swordsman, there was no doubt of that. But Dier'Dakk was a far better fighter than either Mite or Artos. The old man just needed to delay Mite long enough for Dier'Dakk to arrive and finish this.
Carencious Mite slashed down at Artos again. The old knight didn't have the strength left in him to step aside. He barely raised the shield in time. The reverberations of the sword jolted through his arm. Mite raised his sword and hacked again, and again! Artos stumbled backwards under the force, trying to will his own sword arm
to press an attack… anything to stop Mite's own advance! Finally, under another swing, the shield straps gave under the stress and the metal plate fell useless to the floor. Artos stumbled backwards and slammed against the wall. A fire burned through his arm and it refused to allow him to raise his sword against Mite.
"Now this is how I always imagined the end to come," Mite said as he stepped forward with a wicked grin. "Ragadorn's hopeless defense rests on the shoulders of one old man. What was the old saying of Ragadorn's Marshalls? `Not While We Live'?" He chuckled. "Well, don't worry, old man. It won't be."
Artos only partially listened to Mite's words. His eyes kept looking tired towards the door that he knew any moment Dier'Dakk would come through. Mite had his back to the door now. If the orc came through, Mite would be prone to the attack. He'd be cut in two, and Mite's attacks would stop.
But the door still didn't open.
Mite set his stance for a final strike, one that would end Artos. The old man summoned his strength and lunged forward, weaponless, kicking hard against the wall behind him. He caught Mite square in the chest with his shoulder and knocked the young general back a few steps. Mite dropped his sword, but held on to his knife.
Re-energized, Artos swung his own sword. Now with the advantage of reach, perhaps he could take Mite down himself! The traitor jumped back, but not fast enough. The sword opened a red line across his unarmored chest. Mite hissed in anger and stumbled back. Artos pressed the attack, slashing again, but Mite had recovered his own sword. Mite deflected Artos' swing with his knife, then lunged forward with speed and precision.
It didn't hurt, at first. Artos looked up at Mite, mere inches from his own face, then down at the sword, sheathed in his own chest. Artos dropped his sword, his hand weakened, and stumbled backwards to the ground.
Mite put his hand to his own chest and pulled it away, revealing blood. "You got one good cut in, old man. I'll give you that. Bought yourself a slow death, though." Mite walked over Artos' prone body, took the sword still in the old man's chest, and pulled it out. Artos grunted, but would not give Mite the satisfaction of a scream. He doubted he could if he wanted to.
On his back, his eyes began to wander. Mite was standing over him, talking, but the words were not reaching his ears. What was he talking about? Another of his speeches, no doubt, about how he was the better. His eyes wandered to the walls. What room was he in? On the far wall was raised the Ankh of the One God. His symbol, and the strength of the Monastic Knights. Afar was an altar raised on a platform. A tear started to form in the corner of Artos' eyes. On the ceiling was a mural of a clouded sky with a single break in the clouds. A bright light, a pure light, shone through, blinding him. Here, in a church of the One God, a good man lay on his back, his life bleeding out of him. And an evil man stood in triumph. Artos looked towards the door, panic in his eyes. It was still closed.
Artos summoned his strength, what little there was, but the light above him infused his body with feeling. He pushed himself back to his feet, somehow, kicking strong up with his legs and rushing directly towards his enemy. Mite, not expecting any action from the man with a hole in his body, was caught square in the chest. The two went sprawling to the floor, both swords out of reach.
"Some life left to you after all," Mite bit. He kicked Artos from the ground, knocking the old man on his back, then jumped on top of him. `The knife,' Artos' thoughts screamed to him. `Where's the knife!' Mite held it firmly in his right hand, currently set against Artos' left arm. Twisting, the two crashed on the ground, Artos under Carencious Mite. Mite tried to take the knife up under Artos' armpit, where his armor afforded no protection. Artos stuck both his hands against his enemy, pushing back with all his might.
On most days, Carencious Mite was a stronger man, but not this day. Not in this room. Not with the One God watching over Artos. Slowly, the blade turned from Artos' direction towards Mite. The blade moved, ever so slowly, towards Mite's chest. His eyes widened as he saw he was losing the contest.
He pulled his head back and smashed his forehead against Artos' face. Artos felt his nose break, and his cheek crack. Blood filled his mouth, but he did not release. A second smash and the bone around his eye shattered. A third, and he swallowed teeth, but still he did not let up.
Mite felt the knife prick his skin. As if it could help, he pulled his body in as odd a contortion as he could, pulling away from the knife as much as his bones would allow. It did no good. The knife touched skin again, and then he felt the agonizing pain of the small wound slowly widening as the knife drove deeper and deeper into his skin. Artos, with the care and precision of a gemcarver, twisted the blade slightly, one direction, then the other. Artos' arms began to shake as his wounds were catching up to him, but Mite was fairing just as bad. Blood poured out of Mite's heart onto Artos' chest. Mite's elbows buckled under the strain and the knife plunged deep into his the traitor's body. Mite's eyes widened as Artos pulled the knife out and thrust it into his heart again. A spit of blood erupted from Mite's mouth. Artos pushed Mite's body off him with the last of his strength.
The Monastic Knight, Marshall of Ragadorn, felt his life flowing out of him. He could not stand anymore. Could not feel his legs. Or his arms. A tear formed in his one good eye, and the light from the One God finally called Artos home.
…Artos FINIS…
Monday, March 22, 2010
Brent Lynch, Artist Extraordinaire
Those who have been in our house have seen our two prints of the man and woman in the cigar bar. For the longest time, Laura and I really had no idea who the artist was, but Laura finally found out today: Brent Lynch.
We've taken a look through some of his other works and man, it'd be fun to have a lot of prints of his work around the house. Just take a look:
Candy
Laura is wonderful enough to paint my models for me. The current project is the Malifaux peeps. The first one was the Convict Gunslinger, aka Mr. T (you can catch a picture of him here). The next get special treatment was Candy, the psycho girl. I wanted her to look innocent - I don't like how the official one looks absolutely evil. She is supposed to be one of the Woes of Innocence, and I wanted her to look the part.
Laura looked over the model and decided she wanted to create a look similar to Alice of the Disney's Alice in Wonderland. Blue dress with white lace, blond hair, etc. Take a look.
Notice the blood on the scissors that Candy's carrying. Looking at her front-on, she looks pretty innocent, but turn her and look at what she's got behind her back and the terror is revealed! Mwah hah hah hah hah...!
Laura looked over the model and decided she wanted to create a look similar to Alice of the Disney's Alice in Wonderland. Blue dress with white lace, blond hair, etc. Take a look.
Notice the blood on the scissors that Candy's carrying. Looking at her front-on, she looks pretty innocent, but turn her and look at what she's got behind her back and the terror is revealed! Mwah hah hah hah hah...!
Interior Decorating
I've been trying to figure out how to go about doing the interior of the buildings I have for Ashvale Crossing. Laura was saying how wallpaper was a big thing during the time period, but I didn't want to go out and buy actual wallpaper to line the buildings with. The images would be too large, for one thing, and I wanted everything to look a little different.
My next idea was to go online, find pictures of wallpaper, tile it and shrink it in a paint program, and then print it all out. This came into the difficulty of getting a color printer hooked up and finding the right styles.
So for weeks, I've done nothing. This past weekend, Laura and I ended up at a crafts store, and I was looking over the scrapbooking paper. And there was some that was perfect! I bought a bunch of different ones and brought them home. Lined them up on the walls, cut out the pieces I needed, made a glue/water solution and pasted them up. Once that was done, I set in the wooden plank floors, and they're looking even better now. Next step is to get them painted so I can add in the second floors for some of them. But still, I'm pleased with how they're coming out. Take a look.
My next idea was to go online, find pictures of wallpaper, tile it and shrink it in a paint program, and then print it all out. This came into the difficulty of getting a color printer hooked up and finding the right styles.
So for weeks, I've done nothing. This past weekend, Laura and I ended up at a crafts store, and I was looking over the scrapbooking paper. And there was some that was perfect! I bought a bunch of different ones and brought them home. Lined them up on the walls, cut out the pieces I needed, made a glue/water solution and pasted them up. Once that was done, I set in the wooden plank floors, and they're looking even better now. Next step is to get them painted so I can add in the second floors for some of them. But still, I'm pleased with how they're coming out. Take a look.
Sorylians Take the Station
Dan and I got a game of FSA in over the weekend. We rolled up our missions and Dan was attacking a space station, trying to recover several data packages that the listening post had intercepted regarding my Dindrenzi fleet. I rushed a defense to try to stop him, but being farther from my lines, I was short on my points. Dan came in with 700 and I came in with 620, ready to fight.
He had to board the space station in the middle of the table, keep his ship that launched the boarding assault nearby for a turn while the marines recovered the data and returned, and then get out of there with the data. If he destroyed the listening post after that, he received bonus points. Meanwhile, I had to stop him cold.
I had rolled for my system defenses - I got 2d6 x10 points to spend. Knowing how amazingly the torpedo pods faired against me when Brian used them, and knowing that I wanted to convince other people they needed to be reduced in power, I took as many of them as I could. They ended up being even more powerful than they had been against me, even though I only got to purchase three sets of pods. Each pod came with 1d6+3 torpedoes. I rolled a six, five and four, bringing in 24 torpedoes. I set them essentially at the station so that as soon as his ships came within 12" of the station, they could start firing.
His first ships to make the approach were his five frigates. I sent a single torpedo at each one and destroyed three of the frigates straight out. At that point, we decided they were too powerful. Dan said they should be at most a d3+3 torpedoes, so I dropped 9 torpedoes off my listing, leaving me with 10 left.
I moved up all my ships, taking a few shots here and there as he moved his cruisers up. I immediately launched all 10 of my remaining torpedoes at his cruisers. I destroyed two of his four and put some damage on the rest of them. So without even considering what my ships had fired, the torpedo pods were already able to swing the tide by 240 points. Meanwhile, my ships were entirely intact as Dan was firing on the space station, reducing its defenses instead.
He brought his carrier forward and launched his assault boats onto the station, easily overpowering its crew. He had to keep his ships nearby for a turn as they returned to the assault boats.
My ships gave him no break, though, as we cut around the space station and picked off his cruisers and frigates, leaving him with a battleship and carrier left. I started pounding on the carrier. Dan took the opportunity to prepare the ship for hyperspace. Normally, I leave ships alone when that happens, but I realized that Dan had the opportunity to move his assault boats back onto the carrier and flee with it before I had a chance to react if I left the carrier around, so I destroyed it.
Dan's assault boats returned to his battleship instead as the battleship continued its attack on the station. With its last shot, he destroyed the station and prepared his ship for hyperspace.
With my fleet surrounding him, he punched the astrogation computer and his battleship, the sole survivor of the Sorylian fleet, escaped. In a final tally of points, the damage I had done to his fleet pushed the victory in my favor.
Dan was understandably upset after the game - the torpedo pods alone won me the game. All I needed to do after they fired was clean up the mission. We've since talked to Brian and Jay about it, and it looks like we'll be taking a good look over all the missions and coming out with a version 2 of the campaign and using what we've done so far as a test run. Ryan may be joining us, giving us a new five-player campaign soon. Looking forward to it!
He had to board the space station in the middle of the table, keep his ship that launched the boarding assault nearby for a turn while the marines recovered the data and returned, and then get out of there with the data. If he destroyed the listening post after that, he received bonus points. Meanwhile, I had to stop him cold.
I had rolled for my system defenses - I got 2d6 x10 points to spend. Knowing how amazingly the torpedo pods faired against me when Brian used them, and knowing that I wanted to convince other people they needed to be reduced in power, I took as many of them as I could. They ended up being even more powerful than they had been against me, even though I only got to purchase three sets of pods. Each pod came with 1d6+3 torpedoes. I rolled a six, five and four, bringing in 24 torpedoes. I set them essentially at the station so that as soon as his ships came within 12" of the station, they could start firing.
His first ships to make the approach were his five frigates. I sent a single torpedo at each one and destroyed three of the frigates straight out. At that point, we decided they were too powerful. Dan said they should be at most a d3+3 torpedoes, so I dropped 9 torpedoes off my listing, leaving me with 10 left.
I moved up all my ships, taking a few shots here and there as he moved his cruisers up. I immediately launched all 10 of my remaining torpedoes at his cruisers. I destroyed two of his four and put some damage on the rest of them. So without even considering what my ships had fired, the torpedo pods were already able to swing the tide by 240 points. Meanwhile, my ships were entirely intact as Dan was firing on the space station, reducing its defenses instead.
He brought his carrier forward and launched his assault boats onto the station, easily overpowering its crew. He had to keep his ships nearby for a turn as they returned to the assault boats.
My ships gave him no break, though, as we cut around the space station and picked off his cruisers and frigates, leaving him with a battleship and carrier left. I started pounding on the carrier. Dan took the opportunity to prepare the ship for hyperspace. Normally, I leave ships alone when that happens, but I realized that Dan had the opportunity to move his assault boats back onto the carrier and flee with it before I had a chance to react if I left the carrier around, so I destroyed it.
Dan's assault boats returned to his battleship instead as the battleship continued its attack on the station. With its last shot, he destroyed the station and prepared his ship for hyperspace.
With my fleet surrounding him, he punched the astrogation computer and his battleship, the sole survivor of the Sorylian fleet, escaped. In a final tally of points, the damage I had done to his fleet pushed the victory in my favor.
Dan was understandably upset after the game - the torpedo pods alone won me the game. All I needed to do after they fired was clean up the mission. We've since talked to Brian and Jay about it, and it looks like we'll be taking a good look over all the missions and coming out with a version 2 of the campaign and using what we've done so far as a test run. Ryan may be joining us, giving us a new five-player campaign soon. Looking forward to it!
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