Wednesday Night Never Winter Nights

We had a full house for Never Winter Nights last night with myself, Jeff, Nick (and Rosie), and Harold all showing up.  We began the evening by my, in effect, costing Jeff $50 by showing him what the new Civilization V game looked like :-)

After this we went onto Kharlindale, the NWN server that we frequent and completed the Cleon Hipparcurus (sp) mission.  We had a great time and fought a bunch of creatures I had not seen before like Bulletts, Manticores, Sea Hags, and in the end Medusa herself.  Everyone leveled up during the evening and we seemed to be getting back into the flow after our recent break.  The party is now between levels 35 and 31 and we have went further along the story quest line than any of our other characters.

Desperate Desperados - ATC Game Review

Our final game for Saturday night was a Wild West game using the third edition Desperados rules.  The game was put on by Homer Bradford and was a blast.  Lissa and I played the Pinkerton agents who were tasked to retrieve a key to a stolen safe from some Mexican banditos.  The infamous Dirt brothers gang were on the other side of town with the same thing on their mind.

Figure 1: Game setup

My two guys separated, Buckskin Bill with the rifle going to a nearby rooftop, with Dick Harvey moving towards the entrance.  My approach was covered by one of the Banditos, Rosa.  As Dick leaned out to take a shot at her she shot the pistol out of his hand.  He went back and borrowed another six-shooter from another Pinkerton and again tried to ease around the corner only to have Rosa yet again shoot the pistol from his hand.  Dick proceeded to make a run for the lower windows, diving inside as Buckskin Bill gutshot poor Rosa.

Figure 2: Dick preparing to approach the Bandito stronghold

Figure 3: Buckskin Bill looking for a good sniper post

Figure 4: Rosa, the Amazing Mexican sniper!

Figure 5: Character sheet showing poor Dick weaponless

Once safely inside, Dick espied an armed Bandito inside and rushed in to grapple with him and take his weapon.  Once Dick managed to pull himself out of his bath he again charged the Bandito to exactly the same effect - back in the drink!

Figure 6: The interior of the bandito stronghold from above

Figure 7: The Bandito calmly tosses Dick across the courtyard and into the fountain

Figure 8: Meanwhile, one of Lissa's agents dispatches a bandito

Figure 9: While the other removes one of the Dirt Brothers from the fray

Figure 10: Midgame overview

Once Dick again found his feet and dried off a bit he discovered that he had assistance with the Bandito.  Another agent had the bandito in a hold.  Dick, who was a bit peeved at being thrown into the wash twice, ran over and placed a well aimed booted into the bandito's cahoonies.  The blow rendered him unconscious.

Figure 11: Dick and another agent stand over the fallen bandito

Figure 12: Taco Bob rides away with the key as Pinkertons and Dirt Brothers give chase

This was a great game and the Desperado system ran very well for a convention game.  I still intend to use Gutshot for our games but Desperado is also a solid, fun system.  After the game I was awarded the player award in large part for the comic relief that my loss of weapons and repeated drenchings brought to the game.  The award was a pewter pin in the shape of the number '140'.  GM Bradford and his local gaming group had 140 of the pins made up and are giving them to folks at cons.  If I ever play in another game ran by their group and am wearing the pin I get a free reroll at one time in the game.  

   

Wednesday Night Magic

 
Harold and Nick (and Rosie) came over for Magic tonight and we were able to play three hands.  Nick continued his winning ways winning the first and third hands.  I won the middle hand, amassing at one point eighty-eight life points thanks to the lovely lady above.  Eventually she was killed but it was far too late for Nick and Harold.  Good, close games mainly.  We also made plans to assist Harold with putting some paint on some Sci-Fi Hirst Arts molds that he has ready to go.

Other Games from Advance the Colors

     As much fun as the games we were able to play were, there were so many great ones that we were unable to play.  We were only even able to take pics of a few of these games.  Chief among the games we missed was Dave Zecchini's fantastic Assault on Vault 51 game using the Mutants and Death Ray Guns.  The game was a featured game and was setup in the registration area.  Jeff and I played the Vault 34 game at last year's ATC with my last trooper turning traitor and dropping "The King" in order to show my new loyalty to the Brotherhood of Steel.  

Game Description from the catalog:
 
     After successfully breaching Vault 34 last year, the Brotherhood of Steel found evidence of an even more highly classified Vault-Tec facility in the heart of the Nevada. Official Vault-Tec databases and U.S. Government records deny it exists, but the Vault 34 files give it a number ... Vault 51. Last year's Fallout 3 inspired apocalyptic mayhem was such a hit, it's back this year! Don powered armor to fight in the assault, or grab a rifle and throw back the defenders.

Figure 1: Vault overview showing lit up power plant

Figure 2: View of setup showing the power plant and a spaceship

Figure 3: Slightly blurry view but a good pic showing Zeke's use of Hirst Arts molds

Figure 4: Medlab

     The other game that most attracted my interest that I was unable to play was John Patrick's Aristotle Down game.  The game was set on Edgar Rice Burroughs' Barsoom. 

Game Description from the catalog:


Mars, 1884:  The H.M.S.S. Aristotle, a British transport expected from Earth, went off course and came down in Syrtis Major.   A relief column from the M.E.F. (Martian Expeditionary Force) has been dispatched. Imperial Red Martian forces are converging.  But what other threats may exist in that forbidding wasteland?

Figure 5: Aristotle Down Overview Shot

Figure 6: The Aristotle herself

Figure 7: Red Martian Airboat

Figure 8: An airship

Figure 9: Great use of native creatures to pull limbers

Figure 10: Mounted Tharks

Figure 11: Red Martian infantry

Figure 12: Red Martian Artillery

Figure 13: Red Martian cavalry

Figure 14: Martian tripod walker and steam tank

     Other games that caught our eyes include: DOUGHBOYS TAKE THE VILLAGE  (WWI Land) by John Wright.



Game Description from the catalog:

WW1 - A company of American Doughboys attempt to take a heavily fortified village from it's German defenders.

Figure 15: Doughboys Assault the Town

Figure 16: The cratered field

Figure 17: Bud in green and Jack in maroon, two military masterminds

THE OLD FRENCH PLANTATION  (Vietnam) by Jim Wonacott.

Game Description from the catalog:

August 1969.  1st Cav units chopper in to clear the old French plantation at Quan Loi.  Of course, the VC and NVA may have something to say about that…

Figure 18: The jungle and rice patties

Figure 19: The plantation itself

 And, IN DEFENSE OF DELPHI  (Ancient Greece(Mythos)) by Tom Oxley.


Game Description from the catalog:

The oracle of Delphi is seeking heroes to take over the duty of guarding the temple. Sacred bands must battle each other as well as obstacles placed by the Gods of Olympus in order to be given the honor.

Figure 20: The Temple of Delphi awaits the heroes in Tom Oxley's "In Defense of Delphi" game.

 
There were many other great games that we either did not see or were in too much of a hurry to get good pics of and are only excluded here because of those reasons.  HMGS-GL GMs consistently put on some of the highest quality games that I have had the privilege to play in.  Thank you all.

Advance the Colors Posts

We made it home from Advance the Colors last night and I have a ton of pictures to post as well as recaps of games and the like to post.  Advance the Colors is the flagship convention for the HMGS-Great Lakes organization of which I am a long time member and ex-member of the board of directors.  I will be posting these over the next week or so and expect to have separate posts for two of the three different games I played in, a general overview of various other games that I saw at the con, and a post about my experience in general and the figures that I picked up.  Advance the Colors is a great little con.  I try to get to this convention every year and am never disappointed.  The best thing about the con is that each year we are able to go up to Springfield and visit with a great group of old friends.  It was awesome to see everyone!  Thank you to John Lawitzke and to everyone else (GMs, staff, other attendees) who made ATC such a great con.

Wednesday Night Never Winter Nights

After a long hiatus due to the demise of Jeff's laptop we had another NWN session.  Harold, Jeff, Nick (and Rosie), and myself loaded up NWN and tried to remember how to play.  We went online to our favorite site, Kharlindale Realms.  We have been working through the story quests for the past year or so.  Harold needed to have his toon finish the Shadow Legion quest so we went there.  The Shadow Legion guys are very tough to hit and the boss guy is VERY hard to hit.  Given that Harold's toon had to be the person to hit the kill blow (not as big a problem as it would seem as his guy was the best attacker) we all dropped away when the boss fell to Near Death and simply healed Harold so he could keep swinging.  In the end we realized that there was no way for Harold to kill the guy along due to his high regeneration and we gave up on getting Harold the quest and Jeff killed the boss. 

Probably the funniest part of the session was when I killed my toon by taking off a necklace.  I had just been raised from the dead and was low on hit points.  We were changing regions and Harold mentioned that we needed to change out our amulets to maximize our armor value.  The amulet I was wearing gave me a constitution boost and when I took it off my hit points fell as I lost the constitution bonus points and crumpled to the ground!

Lucky Scales tie Glove Slap at One to Close out Fun League West Season Five

***Sports Update from the Herpetological News Network [HNN]***

Lizardman Blood Bowl team, Lucky Scales met the Chaos team, Glove Slap, to finish up the Fifth season on Fun League West.

The Scales kicked off to start the game and the ball is taken in the air by Beastman Point'nogor who sprints to the left side of the field behind several blockers as the Chaos line begins its assault on the Lizard line.  This initial push was stymied by the fall of Minotaur Lilikrieg with a Groin strain as he attempted to block Saurus Iztit-qa.  The Slaps continued to make their way up the left sideline as the Scales attempted to corral the beastmen and Chaos Warriors closer to the sideline where they could be introduced to their fans in the stands.  Saurus Kailizh continued what appeared to be some sort of assault on the nether regions of the Slaps as he put Maly Muzzle out of the game with yet another Groin Strain.  The casualties began to mount on the Scales side as well as Skink runner, Tza-oatlilt was sent to visit the doctors.  He was followed shortly after by fellow runner, Iztit-qa.  While this was happening, Skink runner Munditeu-hi charged in, knocking Point'nogors who still had the ball into the crowd, picked up the ball and spurted out of the scrum to pick up the ball and dash towards the end zone and the first score of the game.  Lucky Scales 1 - Glove Slap - 0.  The Scales kicked off to the Slaps in the waning seconds of the half.

The Glove Slaps kicked off to the Scales and the ball was picked up by the hero of the first half, Munditeu-hi who dashed forward to shelter behind a strong lizard wall.  The wall broke down a bit as Goq of Huatl, the Saurus blocker, was put out of the game with broken ribs. The scrum went on for some time until Munditeu-hi was hit and the ball knocked loose.  Beastman Point'nogors picked up the ball and ran towards the end zone followed closely by two lizard defenders.  Munditeu-hi attempted to join them but was tripped up and sent to the doctors box with his friends.  Point'nogors failed as he tried to scoot by for the touchdown and landed on the ground, the ball bouncing free.  Ulalashi dashed in and took the ball back towards mid-field.  Until he too was put down with the ball being recovered by the Slaps who, with time near to expiring, took the ball downfiled, handing off to Chaos Warrior, Drakar Ashyh Paos'y who went in for a score.  The Slaps kicked off to the Scales as time expired and the game ended in a 1-1 tie.

         

              

Wednesday Night Magic

Nick, Harold, and I played three hands of Magic the Gathering last night.  The first match saw Nick and Harold both with difficult draws of either too much mana or not enough and I handily beat them with my Elf deck from the Goblins versus Elves set.  The other hands saw me playing my dreaded Goblin King deck and coming up just short as Nick was able to take me down before I could begin concentrating on him and my white flyer deck against which Nick again outlasted Harold and I and earned the win.  For the night it was John - 1, Nick - 2, Harold - 0.  Another good night for Nick.  Harold was heard to state in true Shawn'ian fashion, that he would win more if everyone did not pick on him.

Week Four Fun League Standings

Chart from http://orcshallconference.wordpress.com/table-fl-west/

Week 1 - 1-2 Loss to Great Green Gloopers (recap)
Week 2 - 1-3 Loss to Trap Snappers (recap)
Week 3 - 0-5 Loss to Woodland Gedwyldungs (recap)
Week 4 - 1-0 Win over Da Burly Gitz (recap)

Lucky Scales Defeat Da Burly Gitz 1-0 in an Offensive Showcase

The Lucky Scales improve their record to 1-3 in this the 5th season of Fun League West.  While the match was a low scoring affair it was full of twists and turns and almost scores.  The Scales kicked off to start the match and succeeded in containing the Gitz advance.  The Scales dislodged the ball around the mid-point of the half and young Uladashi the skink took the ball in for the score.  Regrettably he was later knocked out of the match but he will be back next week.  The Gitz took the ensuing kickoff and set up to attempt the always dramatic lob a gob play but the Scaly defense was too much and there was no attempt.

The second half kickoff came to the scales and they set up a double wall of blockers behind Uladashi.  Uladashi broke for the left sideline but the move came too early for the Sauri to have secured the flank and he was able to contemplate the errors of that action in the doc's box for the rest of the match.  For most of the match the two sides each attempted to secure the ball but none held it for too long until Gugnail, the Gitz thrower, was able to grab the ball from under the feet of two Scalies and lob it down field.  The surprised lineman who caught the ball scurried towards the goal line but as he approached the line he suffered a wardrobe malfunction and fell to the ground.  A Saurus in the area recovered the ball and lobbed a pass to midfield that while not caught did move the ball into much better field position for the Scales.  As the clock slowly wound down, the crowd watched as Gugnail prepared for some last minute heroics, the orc lineman resting in the end zone having managed to struggle to his feet.  Alas, it was not to be as the game ended on the tail of Krokquetli, the Scales' Kroxigor, who sent a Burly Git to the turf to end the match. 

The match was a physical one with the Scales inflicting nine knock downs, four knock outs, and a single injury (by the Saurus Kailizh).  Oatlgor of Pahualaxa who scored two knock downs including a stun and a knock out was named the scales MVP.

Unlucky Scales Fall to Weedy Elves 5-0

The Lucky Scales proved themselves ridiculously unlucky today as they faced off against the Wood Elves of the Woodland Gedwyldungs.  The Scales thought going in that they might be able to put up a good show having recruited the noted Ogre blocker, Morg 'n' Thorg to play for the match.  Morg of course took his appearance fee and did very little with it.  Two of the Scales skinks (Tza-oatilt and Kai of Gold) managed to complete a pass, and Uta of the Moon put an elf out of the game as part of his MVP performance.  The rest of the game consisted of elves hopping around, grabbing the ball from unsuspecting skinks, and dancing in for touchdowns.  In a cruel turn of fate, multiple riots occurred leading the perverse officials to turn the clock back and add extra time to the clock more than once.  Perhaps the only saving grace for the game was that enough money was earned from the gate to hire an additional saurus for the next game.  The phrase better luck next time seems redundant at this point as it is unimaginable how they could perform worse.  Certain slann in the crowd were heard to say that part of the problem might be the coaching of Og the Beautiful.  When asked about this after the game, Og replied, "Og give them gameplan, Og dress them in nice outfits, Og cannot go out and play the game for them as well."

John Adkins’ 2010 Blood Bowl Annotated Webliography

John Adkins’ 2010 Blood Bowl Annotated Webliography

 
Local Links
Kanawha Riflemen Blood Bowl League (KRBBL) - http://www.stuntyleeg.com/
Charcon Forums KRBBL Area - http://www.charcon.org/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=67
John Adkins’ Blog - http://johnandlissasgamingblog.blogspot.com/

Basic Links
Games Workshop’s Blood Bowl Resources Page - http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/co...n=&aId=4800003
This is where you find the Blood Bowl Competition Rules.
Wikipedia Blood Bowl Entry - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_Bowl
The entry in Wikipedia for Blood Bowl is a short but thorough summary of the game and its history.
Midgard Blood Bowl/Blood Bowl Information Center - http://www.midgardbb.com/
This site portends to be the largest Blood Bowl library online. The site includes listings of Blood Bowl articles from White Dwarf, Citadel Journal, and Blood Bowl Magazine as well as links to 1995-2002 rulings from the OBERWALD (Online Blood Bowl Enthusiast’s Reference With Assembled League Doctrines) group. Other sections of the site contain lists of approved and variant teams, an image gallery and a list of official Blood Bowl products and when they were released.
NAF World Headquarters - http://www.thenaf.net/
Talk Fantasy Football Forums - http://www.talkfantasyfootball.org/index.php
Blood Bowl Tactics - http://bbtactics.com/
Exodite’s Blood Bowl Index - http://www.gamehobby.net/subject_ind...lood_bowl.html

Computer Blood Bowl
Cyanide Studios – Makers of the Blood Bowl PC Game - http://www.bloodbowl-game.com/
Cyanide Studio Blood Bowl Forums - http://www.cyanide-studio.com/forumBB/
Fun League Online Blood Bowl League - http://orcshallconference.wordpress.com/about/ Forums - http://funleague.freeforums.org/

Miniatures

Impact Miniatures - http://www.impactminiatures.com/
Impact Miniatures is a gamer ran company (Tom Anders) that produces miniatures to support Blood Bowl as well as similar games such as Elf Ball. In addition to their own range of figures that include an Ice Troll and two Anubi players they offer figures from Heresy (Deathball Ogre), Phil’s Phigs (Imps, Valkyrie, Black Widows, Desert Dogs, Divine Wind, and Gnoll Teams), ZN Games (Ulfhedner), Shadowforge (Friar Apothocary), and RAFM (Reptiliad Team).

Heresy Miniatures - http://www.heresyminiatures.com/
Heresy Miniatures produces a line of figures for their Deathball game that is compatible for use with Blood Bowl. To date they do not have any full teams available. Figures available include Ogres, Minotaurs, Humans, and various Undead.

Shadowforge Miniatures - http://www.shadowforge.com.au/
Shadowforge Miniatures specializes in producing all female miniatures. Shadowforge produces a number of complete teams for Blood Bowl including a Human (Playboy) Bunny team, a Naughty Nun team, an Elf team, a Human team, an Orc team, and a Wicked Elf team. They also produce a number of interesting support figures such as referees, coaches and other support staff, cheerleaders, and TV news crews.

Goblin Forge Miniatures - http://www.goblinforge.com/index.php
French company that produces a small selection of Blood Bowl figures including a goblin referee, a nice human cheerleader, and an ogress carrying a goblin.

Blood Bowl Miniatures - http://www.blood-bowl-miniatures.de/
This is a German website that provides links to images of Blood Bowl compatible miniatures from a number of companies as well as a relatively complete gallery of older GW Blood Bowl miniatures. Use the site map with direct links if you have problems seeing the pictures.

Podcasts
Three Die Block - http://threedieblock.libsyn.com/
This bi-weekly podcast is available via both iTunes and their website. Each episode focuses on a single team where they discuss their preferred build for the team as well as the possible skill progression. Other segments focus on a skill or rules issue.
Tackle Zone Radio - http://shows.lifestylepodnetwork.info/tacklezoneradio/
Tackle Zone Radio is a decent podcast available through iTunes or via the website. New podcasts are posted infrequently.
Zlurpcast - http://zlurpcast.com/
Zlurpcast is a podcast that focuses on the tournament environment. It is available via iTunes or their website.

Other Sites
Aros Blood Bowl League - http://www.arosbb.dk/default.asp
Danish league site that has a very nice website.
C.U.R.B. Blood Bowl League - http://www.curbleague.com/
Blood Bowl league website from the central United States.