The Flood: Part Three

Last night I came home and my house smelled bad. I mean real bad. There was a wave of rank-smelling heat that rolled out when I opened the front door. Fortunately most of the smell was kept out of the bedroom, so I headed up there quick and shut the door. Laura came home and we headed over to my folks' place for the evening, watching "O Brother Where Art Thou" and working on the invitations.

This morning, ServPro came back over to take a look at things. First thing: check the temperature in the house. I kid you not - it was 102 degrees in the office. They did some testing in the walls, the boards, and the floor, and found it was dried out, so they shut down those infernal machines and cleared them out of the house. Laura and I immediately opened everything up and started clearing out the heat. It did wonders. Not enough, but it's a start. We also started talking about what to do with our house next. Since everything's upstairs now, we figure when the flooring and walls are repaired, we'll have a painting party (or two) and knock out the whole downstairs at once. Once that's finished, we'll start moving stuff down and put them in three piles: keep, trash, and sell in a yard sale. We might be able to get more money through ebay and half.com, but getting the things out of the house fast is the priority here.

For the clean-up, our next step is to talk to our insurance adjuster tomorrow morning, and to get the drywall all fixed. Never a dull moment.

Oh, I also realized that our tickets to Mary Poppins this weekend were in my desk, and my desk was all boxed up and taken upstairs. I tried looking through a few boxes with no luck, so I called the Kennedy Center and explained the situation. They said, "Sounds like you've got a lot on your mind right now. We'll go ahead and print out new tickets and put them at the box office for you for Saturday." Phew. Crisis averted.

Probability

I have two children, one of whom is a son born on a Tuesday. What is the probability that I have two boys?

If you answered 13/27ths, you'd, evidently, be correct.

It's a bizarre puzzle that stems from the old: Mr. Smith has two children. At least one of them is a boy. What is the probability that both are boys?

One would think the answer is 50/50, since the sex of one child is independent of the sex of the other, but mathematically, that's not the case. Since the boy could either be the younger or the older child, the analysis is a little different. You could have one of the three options:

boy, girl
boy, boy
girl, boy

Which means that only 1/3 options leads to a boy/boy combination.

Take a look at the above article if you're at all interested in math puzzles. It makes for an interesting, if somewhat confusing, read. And makes you wonder what the odds are if someone says, "I have two children. One of them is a hat-wearing, blue-eyed, kazoo-playing, weight-lifting boy who was born in the morning on a Wednesday. What are the odds both my children are boys?"

The Flood: Part Two

I talked to the insurance folks yesterday. Everything's going just fine on that front. I'm trying to be as up-front about what's going on and ask them every time I talk to them what they need from me to make this process go smoothly. I'm hoping that will negate any kind of problems down the line.

We were told to hold off on bringing in a drywall guy until ServPro's done drying out the house and figuring out how much needs to be done to repair. If they need to break down more drywall, we'll need to know that before the drywall people come through to take a look.

ServPro brought a few more blowers to the house. That brings the total count to 18 blowers (we're talking industrial-strength hair dryers that put out about 120 degree air all day long), 3 massive dehumidifiers, and a "spider" power box that will protect against surges and the like.

Naturally with 120+ degree heat being put out downstairs, we've got a pretty roasting house. Last night we ended up at Dan's place for the evening, and when we came home we set up a fan to help the mini AC. It actually was pretty comfortable. I managed to get a full night's sleep, which is helpful. Unfortunately Laura had a rough night of it. Between her allergies to Dan's cats and to the dust and all that's been kicked up in our house from all the work, she's not feeling all that great.

Well, the insurance adjuster comes on Thursday. We'll see how things go then.

Things I Dislike: Deluxe Edition

There are more than a few things I dislike in life. A fatty piece of meat when you're expecting juicy goodness. One of those dexterity puzzles in video games that make you have to re-do them from the beginning if you miss the first jump. A hangover, no matter how well-deserved.

But now I have a new thing to add to that list. I dislike the hoses that go between my water pipes and the washing machine. Why? Let me tell you about my Sunday morning.

Sunday was supposed to go like this: wake up early, head out with Laura for our engagement photo session, Laura would go to class and I would chill out at home for an hour or two, and then we'd head over to her parents' place to tackle a bunch of invitations with Tini and Mike. It wasn't going to be a fantastic, over-the-top day, but it was going to be a dang good one.

Instead, at 7:30 in the morning when Laura walked out to take a shower, she pauses. There was a hissing noise and she couldn't place it. "Mike, what's that noise from downstairs?"

I take a look downstairs and see a massive water stain on the carpet. Laura usually tells this story better, because I went into red-haze mode at this point, but I'll try to piece together what happened.

Evidently I ran down the stairs yelling "F***!" loud enough to startle Laura. I landed on the carpet and water seeped up to the top of my feet. I looked around and threw open the door to the bathroom, where the sound was loudest. A geyser of water about two feet long was shooting out of the wall above and next to the toilet. I was afraid it was the pipes in the wall for the toilet, but when I looked through, I realized it was the aforementioned hose that connects the washing machine to the pipes. For those who know how my house looks, yes, that means the water was shooting out with enough force to cut a hole in the wall between the bathroom and the laundry room.

I ran over and shut off the water to the house, all the while yelling "F! F!" Once the water stopped flowing, I walked back to the front of the house, fell to my knees and screamed as loud as I could. Evidently Laura had never seen me yell like that, because it scared her a bit.



We could have used this guy.

The entire day was shot. I got a vac from Brian, as well as a dehumidifier and a few fans. Called the insurance company, and then the plumber and ServPro. We had to move EVERYTHING from downstairs to upstairs, so now there's no room in any room except my bedroom. Fortunately I had a few people helping out - a heartfelt thanks to Brian, Mary, Laura's mom, Kevin, my mom, Dan, Ellen, and my dad for all coming out throughout the day to lend a hand as they could.

We have some pictures of the devastation. But my computer's no longer hooked up, so I can't show them to you. Sorry about that. I'll have to update it later.

Silent Hill is Real

Okay, so maybe not quite. But head over here and check out these photos. It's a real ghost town that was abandoned after a mining accident. It may not have all the ash falling from the sky, but it certainly is a bit unsettling.

Taste of Reston

Over the weekend, Dan, Ellen and I went to the Taste of Reston at Reston Towne Center. It was a bit of a last-minute idea since my fiance was off in CT this weekend for a bridal shower.

We got there and were met by a pretty nice set-up. They had concerts, and then tents all up and down the main street with food stalls. I took a look at a couple of them and noticed things like, "Soda: 2 Tickets." Clearly we needed tickets. So I found the tent that was selling tickets and we split a pad of 24 tickets three ways.

24 tickets was $20, so almost a dollar a ticket.

We started heading down the tents and quickly realized why they had people paying with tickets. Paying $2 for a 12 oz. can is a bit much, but 2 tickets doesn't seem that bad. Dropping 4 tickets for six pieces of chicken spread over two sticks doesn't seem hefty, but $4 is a bit much for the sub-appetizer.

Frustrated with the prices, we finally found the alcohol tent. I was thirsty, so I was thinking of a glass of white wine, but it was 6 tickets a glass!

We finally found the more reasonable priced-tent down the other end. 2 tickets for two burger sliders, and 1 ticket for a snowcone. That tracked better, and I finished off my tickets there. By the time we finished, I checked my watch and realized we'd only spent an hour there and were already out of tickets. Not exactly the best way to spend some time, I'd say. We checked out and went back to Dan's place to watch a movie in the comfort of air conditioning.

Overall, I was a bit disappointed with the festival. I was hoping for more free samples (the custard place was doing that, and doing it right, I felt - give free samples so people can get "A Taste" of it, and then charge if the people want a whole cup of custard). Sadly, it just wasn't the case. Adding to that, there really was not a lot in the way of entertainment. Granted we did not go around to the carnival out in one of the parking lots, but the only thing for adults was the concert venue. And when we walked out, all we heard was the guy saying, "Check one, check two, check, check, check... hey, hey hey, hey, check, check, one, two, three..." From the time it took us to walk from the Clyde's past the venue, and then out past the M&S Grill, we heard no music... just a guy talking.

Grimm: A First Look

After successfully negotiating running the annual Halloween game this year, I have begun my planning. I finally found an affordable copy of a gaming book I've been looking for over a year now: Grimm, by Fantasy Flight Games.

The game was originally a d20 setting book, but later they ended up creating their own system for it. I haven't read too much of it yet, but I've gotten through a few parts.

First, the premise. You're a kid. Somewhere between a toddler and a teenager. And you've somehow been sucked into the world of Grimm's fairy tales. All the stories you read about as a kid are there. Cinderella's wicked step-sisters. The big bad wolf. Jack's beanstalk. The witch's gingerbread house. All that stuff shows up. And it's all dark and creepy.

Second, the characters. You play a kid with one of seven different archetypes. You've got your popular kids, your bullies, your nerds, your jocks, your normal kids, your outcasts, and your dreamers. Each one gets a base set of stats (Cool, Imagination, Luck, Muscle, and Pluck) and a few playground and study traits to go along with them. Finally, they each get a couple of special bonuses. Your traits are all talked about in terms of grades. You have a 4th grade Cool and a 1st grade Muscle, for example. Saying 'grade' is just more thematic is all - it really means you have 4 ranks of the ability or what have you.

Third, the basic system. I haven't read too much of combat or anything yet, but the basic system is very simple. Let's say you're trying to push open a heavy oak door that's got a piece of furniture on the other side to keep you trapped in. This will be a Muscle check. As the storyteller, I decide it's a 4th Grade difficulty. Your Bully runs up with a 4th grade in his Muscle. You roll a d6. If you get a 2-5, you perform at your grade. If you roll a 1, you drop one grade and reroll, dropping a grade each time you roll a 1. If you roll a 6, you gain one grade and keep gaining a grade each time you roll a 6. So if you have 4th grade Muscle and it's a 4th grade check, you have a 5/6 chance of pushing the door open.

Little twists get thrown in when you start being a little more complicated. There are three ways to adjust things.

Want to pick that lock? Well, you have a paperclip, but the Outcast has some lockpicks. So she gives the lockpicks to you to use. Your grade increases by 1 because of the equipment you have. Equipment and situations can raise or lower your grade.

Want to lift that chest? Well, it'd be easier with two people. Pick your primary person, and he rolls a die for each person in the attempt. If your jock, normal kid and bully all try to lift the box, you roll three dice and keep the best one. Much harder to get that -1 grade now, and much easier to get that +1 grade.

Want to shoot your arrow in the bullseye? Take a few rounds to focus. For each round you focus, the number you need to get a +1 grade decreases by one BUT ONLY FOR THE FIRST ROLL. So if you take three rounds aiming, you'll need a 3+ to increase your grade by one for the first roll. But then when you reroll the die, you need a 6+ again.

See? All in all, pretty simple system. I started reading the combat, but haven't gotten to the fights yet. One thing I like about the game is that it has what are called Dramatic Moments. These are those moments when a villain pops out and gives the massive speech about what he intends to do. During this time, the characters cannot act. So none of the, "My villain pops out. 'So, I see we...'" "I shoot him." "Wait until he's done speaking!" "No, I shoot him now." In all the fairy tales, the villain had the chance to explain parts of the plot before getting railed by the heroes, so he gets that chance here too.

Anywho, moving on to read some more of the book this weekend. Looking forward to it!

Three Reports from Last Week

Last week, Dan and I got three games of Malifaux in. It’s been a little while since I played them, so I’ll try to remember as much as I can. We were both trying out Masters that we did not use much. There may be a tournament coming up soon and Dan wants to try to use two Archanist masters rather than any of his Ressers. The tourney’s supposed to be for newer players, so better to use Masters you’re not quite as good with. Myself, I don’t think I’ll be playing in that particular tournament, though I’ll be there to watch and cheer on. Schedule permitting, of course.

The first game we played was Rasputina against Pandora. He brought in a few beasts and a few ice creations. I took Pandora with the kids, a Doppelganger, and two Sorrows. I really wanted to fit Teddy into the mix too, but it just didn’t work out right. I ended up a stone short.

The game was pretty rough for me. He had a December’s Acolyte nearby. Since he could one-shot my kids, I had to steer clear of him and divert a little more attention his way. I managed to kill off the Acolyte and Rasputina’s Ice Gamon off pretty quick, but then Rasputina got LOS onto something within 4” of Pandora, launched two spells and won the game with blast markers that bypass Pandora’s defenses. Having lost my Doppelganger and Pandora, I decided it wasn’t worth the effort to continue. My army was pretty slow and he had a full field to blast me apart with.

The second game, I kept the same army and he took on Ramos. This game went quite a bit longer as I was trying a Claim Jump and he was trying to pull away a Treasure. I lost Baby Kade early, but was able to take out Joss and Johan, having learned my lesson from my last game. My Sorrows were falling to his onslaught, but I was able to drop 2-3 damage on things with (0) actions before even sending my Self Loathing spell out. I killed off Spider and Spider, but was still having trouble because Ramos was able to re-activate nearly every turn. Finally I blew up Ramos’ totem and Ramos was stuck with a single activation. I cast a spell on him and triggered him to fall back, and at that point it was over. The Doppelganger, Candy and Pandora pelted the poor old man with spells until he fell over.

The third game was an Archanist on Archanist match. I pulled in Marcus with two Waldgeists, two Silurids and the Cerberus cat while he had Rasputina back out. I took an early lead with getting Cerberus onto his Acolyte on the first turn. It was nearly killed, then nearly killed my cat. Finally a Silurid was able to finish off the Acolyte on turn one. Not bad. On turn two, I sent my Cerberus into his and did a fair amount of damage before mine was finished off. One of my Silurids went up to pound on his Ice Gamon but died as a result. He was coming in a little stronger than I had hoped, but I was far faster than his army. I got Marcus to one side of a building Rasputina was on and used Stare Down on all his beasts giving them all a (-) flip when they could see me. Dan cursed and starting maneuvering them in creative ways to keep them out of LOS from Marcus. Marcus went the next turn and turned himself into a fast-moving machine. He rushed around the building the long way, avoiding the terrain Rasputina cast the turn before, and then knocked her life down a bit. She cast a bunch of spells and brought Marcus down to 3 or 4 life, but was tapped out at that point. Marcus killed her off and was able to get to the last couple beasts and finish them off too. In the end, Marcus had 3 life left when he killed the last Ice Gamon. One less and I would have died too.

All in all, good games. I’m really enjoying Malifaux, though I’m starting to get that FSA itch too. I hope the Heavy Cruisers come out soon. I want to get a few of them and get them on the field.

Rembaldi Returns

After a break from March 2009 through June 2010, Rembaldi has made its triumphant return! I'm glad it's back - it's easily my favorite game I've ever run. The sheer amount of work I've put into the world boggles the mind. I've been going back through my notes and remembering just how complicated some of the plots were. There are entire pages in my notebook devoted to plotlines that only got the breifest of mentions in the posts. But who knows if they'll come back front and center sometime further down the road? In one of the recent threads, I reintroduced a character that was first seen in the Prolouge, and was last mentioned back in February 2007.

I've got a great group of characters, a solid core of players, and plenty of story to tell. I have people fighting two defensive battles against the orcs while a third player rushes in with an army to try to break the sieges. I have people betraying each other, trying to figure out how best to bring about a beneficial situation. I have bounty hunters, elven legendary heroes, and basic run-of-the-mill soldiers. And a group of villains ready to strike wherever they get a chance. Looking forward to seeing how it goes.

Clyde's of Reston

Laura and I went by the Reston Towne Center for dinner last night and after wandering around a bit, we went back to a good ol' standby - Clyde's. Other than getting dinner, our main plan was to find a restaurant that we could use the bar as a backdrop for our engagement photo shoot in a few weeks. I was prepared to travel around from restaurant to restaurant asking and getting rejected, but when we talked to the manager at Clyde's, he was all for it! So how about that - my first choice for a bar in Reston Towne Center was just fine. They have a great old-fashioned looking bar. We'll head down there early in the morning (before they open) and get all the pictures we want done. Piece of cake! So if you're ever in Reston and looking for a restaurant to stop in for, hit up Clyde's. They're good people.

Comic: Empire

When I used to work at Quest many a year ago, I had the benefit of working within a five minute drive from the Game Parlor, one of my local gaming stores. About once a week I'd find myself heading out for lunch and I'd pick up a comic or magazine from the Parlor and then hit up the pizza joint just next door and read while I ate.

One such day, I was looking through their lot of comics (they have a very bizarre selection of comics there - I don't know what the rational is behind some of the things they stock) and happened to find one that stuck my eye. I didn't want to read anything that was part of a series or had any connection to anything else, so this one fit my bill pretty well.


Empire was originally put out in 2000 by a new company that folded after only two issues. Eventually, in 2003, DC Comics picked up the title and finished off the mini-series. Despite being part of the DC line, it had no connection whatsoever with the DC Universe.

The premise was pretty simple: what would happen if the greatest super-villain in the world actually succeeded in taking over the world and there were no superheroes left to challenge him? The result is a massive, global empire in which Golgoth, the yellow-headed guy you see on the cover, rules over everything. He has a council of other super-powered people, all of whom are kept in line by a drug he controls called Eucharist that gives them massively-boosted abilities, but it's highly addictive. While the subordinates would not dream of trying to cross Golgoth, they have no real love for each other and constantly try to get a leg up on each other.

Golgoth is never seen out of his armor, and it's revealed pretty early on that he has a daughter and that his wife is dead. Whether that had something to do with his rise to evil-ness is never really discussed. The story isn't about how Golgoth took over the world - it's about what happens now that he has it.

Overall, I was very impressed with the story. There are several twists and turns you don't see coming. Seeing how Golgoth deals with the life he now has is pretty interesting, and getting hints throughout the story that things are actually even worse than you first thought when evil rules everything is just fun. That it's a self-contained story is perfect. There's not a large investment of time or anything to get the whole story. It's one of the better books on my comic shelf, and one that I keep going back to.

Neverborn Done... For Now

And here are the last four models I need painted up for Neverborn, at least for the moment. I now have my entire Neverborn army painted (except for an extra Teddy that I have, but that guy doesn't really need to be painted up quite yet because I've already got one all painted up).

Laura painted up this Baby Kade. Man, that's one evil looking baby!



And these three Chris painted up. We've got Lilith, the crazy evil sword-wielding instrument of death, and one of her Mature and Younger brood.

The Wire: Season One

So in our hunt to find a new television show to watch now that LOST is done, I ended up stumbling upon The Wire. Not sure why it took me so long. Everything I'd ever heard about the show was good. But with LOST finally over, it was time to find a new solid show to take its place.

Man, does The Wire deliver! Laura and I finished up the first season over this past weekend, and the show really does not let up at all. There are some scenes that have humor to them, but it's really dark humor when it shows up at all.

So the premise is this: the show follows the police force in Baltimore as they're trying to take down a huge drug ring. It does a really good job of balancing the cops' side of the story with the drug dealers' side of the story, and follows dozens of characters around. You see how the cops start trying to break in to the ring, then you see how the dealers react to that, sometimes correctly figuring out what the cops are doing and sometimes not, and then see the cops try to pick up what they can after having things change up on them, and on down the line.

And to make it harder, it's not like either side is really tight. You've got cops fighting against cops, some trying to make the case with others trying to make their careers, crooked politicians who are trying to steer attention away from them, and the drug dealers with people trying to steal from them and all. Great stuff from beginning to end. I can't recommend it highly enough, though you've got to be ready for a show that doesn't give you a break.

Just picked up the first episode of Season Two last night. Starts out a bit slower, but Adam says it picks up after 3-4 episodes. I can't wait to see what happens next.

Marcus Goes for a Spin

Yesterday I got my first game in with Marcus. Dan pulled out Ramos so we'd both be trying out something new. The matchup was...

Marcus
- Razorspine
- Cerebus
- 2x Waldgeist
7 Stones

Ramos
- Johan
- Joss
- Brass Arachnid
- Spider x2
6 Stones

He pulled Assassinate and I pulled Slaughter.

Being my first match with Marcus and having never seen him before, I started out the game trying to see just how fast I could make the army. I had heard that they were a speed-centric faction and I wanted to see how well that would do. So while Ramos kept popping out spiders and making swarms, I managed to get Marcus and the Razorspine near the center of the board, one of my Waldgeists along one flank near a forest, and the other Waldgeist and Cerebus along the other flank near another forest.

Turn two I made a pretty big mistake when I activated Marcus first to try to pull out an improbable strike against Joss. I failed to turn Joss into a beast with my first (0) action and instead of using my second to Companion my Razorspine and go for a kill that way, I tooled up Marcus and sent him in to fight one of the spider swarms. I did very little damage to it, and by the time I got my second activation, Joss had killed off my Razorspine and armored up. Damn!

I sent Cerebus charging over into Johan, but failed to kill the jerk and he turned around and pasted my Cerebus. My Waldgeists moved both forests closer to the center of the board, one of them getting a hit on Ramos and giving him Slow and trapping him to the forest, while the other one managed to get a hit on Johan and kill him. Unfortunately his other spider swarm got to my Waldgeist who was holding Ramos in place and paralyzed him.

The next turn, Joss killed the Waldgeist who trapped Ramos but was in turn killed by a massively-beefed up Marcus. My other Waldgeist was able to put his second spider swarm down to 2 or 3 life left, but died from that and the (0) action heals for the spider swarm had it back near full in a couple more turns.

Still, with Johan and Joss out of the way, and a clear line to Ramos, I thought I might have a shot. For two turns I was able to get +2 damage and +2 Defense (and sometimes an additional attack) against Ramos, while also giving him a (-) to all flips against me, but it just wasn't enough. I had Ramos down to 2 life left at one point, but he kept healing and reactivating and Marcus finally fell to the spider swarms.

I learned a lot about how to use my faction then. Waldgeists were awesome - just as I hoped they'd be. A solid choice for six stones. Marcus has a lot of cool tricks, but some of them are very action-intensive and he doesn't have that many actions to go with, so it's usually better to pick either control or attack for the turn and go with it. He's very, VERY fast, being able to get a WK of 8 and then a free charge if he plays right, giving him a nice 24" move if he needs it. Overall, looking forward to Marcus again. Next time I'll have a better idea of what to do.

Dan played a really solid game, mostly focusing around getting additional activations (which he managed four or five times in the game!) and on summoning spiders and spider swarms. With how brutal those swarms can be, I need to find a good way to get rid of them quickly. Devour seems like a solid plan...

New Painted Models

Over the weekend, I got a few more models painted up. I painted up my two Waldgeists, Chris painted up a Mature and Younger Nephilim and Lilith, and Laura painted up Baby Kade and Zoraida. I forgot to take pictures of Baby Kade and the stuff Chris painted up, so I'll have to get them posted up later on down the line, but here are the other three.





I think these guys came out pretty well. They're fairly similar to how Bad Juju was, so I already knew what I wanted to do. I think I did better this time around than I did with Juju.

And here's that ugly Old Hag. I am very impressed with how she came out.

A Few More Things Done

Last night I was going to start working on my Waldgeists when I got home, but it was raining pretty hard, so I couldn't really do much. Instead I went up to my Firestorm Armada stuff and pulled down my dozen fighters. They're pretty small, so they weren't very hard to get painted up. I decided that I'd paint one wing up to be grey like my Dindrenzi and paint one up a bit blue like Brian's Aquans.




After that, I just sat around for a while. Did a little work on Rembaldi, played some computer games, watched some West Wing, and then finally it was dry enough outside that I could start looking around for twigs and stuff for my Waldgeists. I ended up finding what I wanted and based both Waldgeists. They're ready to be based-coated and painted up now.



Looking forward to seeing how they perform on the table. They're as much as a Younger Nephilim, so they've got a lot to stand up to. But they're a bit more survivable. Armor 2 and a (-) flip to all charges and ranged attacks against them while they're completely in the woods. Good deal. Just need to start using forests, I guess.

Some Zombies from Walking Dead

AMC has put up a few pictures of extras in zombie make-up for their upcoming Walking Dead television show. I'm stoked!

Finished Off the Marcus Box

Last night while watching a few episodes of the Wire (awesome show!), I managed to finish off the three-headed tiger-thing. It was a bit of an odd model to paint, and while I was going through it, I was getting more and more frustrated by how it was coming out, but at the end, I dropped the wash over it, and it came out looking decent. Who knew!



So with him finished, I now have the entire Marcus box finished up. Here's the whole gang posing for a group shot.



They're not too bad, I don't think. I mean, they won't win any painting contests, but they still will look decent out on the table.

I went by the Parlor on the way home from work last night (which actually means I went far away from home to go to the Parlor, then turned around and went home) and picked up my Waldgeists. They finally arrived. Also picked up a green and a blue wash. The green one came in handy last night, and I wish I had the blue one for the snake instead of the black wash I used. But now I have it for the next time I need it.

My next project, I think, is to work on the two Waldgeists and my second Teddy. After reading over the Waldgeist rules, I'm pretty excited about giving them a try. They're great with forests, which means I now have two models that excel with certain types of terrain that we rarely use (Waldgeists with forests and Silurids with water), but one day...

Oh, and Chris just finished up the last of my Nephilim earlier this week too (thanks Chris!). So soon I'll have another Mature, Younger and Lilith back in the case.

Snakes On My Painting Table!

Actually, I don't have a painting table. I just use my coffee table. And a couple of circular pieces of wood that I put on my lap. They're pretty easy to work with that way.



Anywho, over the weekend, I painted up my snake for my Marcus box. Not too shabby. Now I've got the three-headed tiger left. Maybe if I get inspired, I'll finish him off tonight too. Then I just need to play a few games with Marcus and figure out what I want to do with him. I figure I just need to get one or two more models (if even that many - I'll have Waldgeists and Silurids already) to fill out a 30 stone list for him. I guess I may need another three-headed cat if I want Myranda to ever shape-shift into one.

Dragon Age: Awakening - Complete

WARNING: Some spoilers about the plot below, I guess. If you don't want to know about it, don't read this post.

On Friday night after I got home from work, I decided that I should try to finish off the Dragon Age: Awakening game. It's been on hold for a couple months as I've been involved with other things. The game wasn't holding up as well as the original one, but it was decent enough and I wanted to see what would happen next.

I picked up where I left off, in the haunted harbor town. I had already conquered the elven forest and the dwarven mines. All three of the locations were pretty interesting - more so than most of the ones from the original Dragon Age, but the characters and their interactions really lacked a lot.

I was able to defeat the last stage and found perhaps the most interesting of all of the new characters: Justice. I ended up in the Fade again, though it was much less annoying than the first game. While there, I found a spirit called Justice who was trying to help a bunch of people from the haunted village who had been trapped. I joined with him and tried to defeat the evil baroness, but she cast a spell sucking everyone out of the Fade and back to the real world, herself included. Justice found himself inhabiting the body of a dead mortal near where we had been sucked into the Fade. He spent a lot of time trying to rectify his situation as "undead" with the fact that he still had longings and wishes from the dead man's memories. I liked him a lot.

There were two dragons to be defeated this time around. I had to turn the game down a notch against the second one (that's the guy at the top of the screen) in order to defeat him. That's okay - I'm not ashamed.

Soon after the haunted village, though, I found myself in the last couple stages. I had to choose whether the city or the keep would fall, and I chose to defend the city, letting my keep collapse under a two-pronged Darkspawn attack. Then we got word of where the Mother (main bad guy) was and went after her. The stage itself took me about 45 minutes to clear, and I was able to beat Mother on the third try. Then the game ended.



Overall, I enjoyed playing, but the game felt very short. It may have been that I took a break between the beginning and the end, but I was able to, after picking it back up, defeat the game in probably 4-5 hours more of playing. I'm interested to see what their next game is going to be, though. I did like the way the story shaped up.