Tuesday and Wednesday Game Reports

This Tuesday we continued our Lord of the Rings miniatures battle that began last week. While I may do up a comic styled battle report sometime in the future, I will summarize the basics here: Starfury and I met on one flank, he with Faramir and forces from Minas Tirith, me playing Gothmog and Mordor Orcs. MagicDrew had Gimli, Merry, Pippin, and a mixed force of Elves, Dwarves, and Hobbits. Facing him was 9IN with Lurtz and White Hand Uruk Hai. On the other flank was Missme with Boromir and more Minas Tirith troops against Pico with a mixed force of Moria Goblins and Haradrim. Pico pretty much smashed through Missme, Starfury stomped me, and 9IN got into a solid battle in the center, capturing the artifact, but just barely pushing Magicdrew out.

I think 4 of us enjoyed the game, but MagicDrew and Missme seemed less thrilled. Maybe the size of the game (400 points a player) was a bit too big for them. They tend to be strategy game novices as is. MagicDrew seemed to be overthinking most of his moves (something he does a LOT) and Missme just seemed irritated and frustrated with the game as a whole. This is rather disappointing to me given how much I like the game and how much I have spent on it recently, even if it was at 50% off. Their frustration has made me all but stop buying pieces for the game, though I really do want more, even if its just a couple of the "big" pieces.

Next time I try the game with them (provided they let me run it again), I will give them 200 point armies to battle with, and maybe even just make it 400 points per side and have players take certain units as opposed to a whole force.

The game was called for time, though the non frustrated folks had a good hour plus to kill. Since I had my Magic decks floating around and they are relatively balanced to each other (give and take), we played some Magic and had a pretty good time. No power decks, no sub 6 turn win decks, nothing that can go infinite. Since Pico's hours are changing this was his last day in the Tuesday group so it was good for him to leave on an up note with a game everybody playing was having fun.

Wednesday had myself demoing Warhammer 40K for Starfury at Sarge's. 1000 points of Chaos Space Marines per side. I got some mostly painted Iron Warriors for a buck a figure so I had extra troops letting me build some nice simple introductory forces without too much complexity to them. The fight went pretty well overall, with a bit of give and take, though Starfury took me out with 2 units surviving to the end. It would have been 3, but his commander unit, Typhus, managed to roll a 1 for his Daemon Weapon attacks 3 turns in a row, killing him. My Khorne lord was lost to a Demolisher cannon shot, and his Terminators deep striking behind my Havoc squad, wiping them out and making multiple 5+ invulnerable saves. We followed it up with some more Magic, with some of my decks getting some actual compliments from the players at how devious and amusing they are. It is also leading to Starfury getting a decent sized Necron army for a great price.

Next Tuesday is an up in the air game, and Wednesday or Thursday is some gaming with Pico, and possibly 9IN and Starfury depending on times and work availability.

Tuesday and Wednesday Game Reports

This is another of my 2 in 1 reports.
My game reports, being the mostly boring E/N post equivalent are the unimportant part of this blog that from time to time the odd bit of wisdom is imparted from. This will be one of those sorts. Except without pictures.

Tuesday was the start of the big Lord of the Rings game. It is going well overall, even if my force, Orcs lead by Gothmog are mostly getting their asses handed to them by Starfury's army, Faramir and his Gondor fighters. I am taking pictures for when the whole battle is concluded and it will be one big comic styled report. The other 2/3rds of the battlefield are mostly a big giant scrum around the objective as Lurtz tries to swat some pesky Hobbits, and Boromir's troops can't kill anything at all.

Gameplay wise LotR is impressing the hell out of me. Actual tactics is the order of the day, not what kind of badass army list you made and you got to go first this turn type of shenanigans.

I just need Missme! to listen when I explain the rules of the game is all. Actually, that's my bit of wisdom contained in these otherwise mostly pointless reports. IF THE RULES PERSON IS TELLING YOU THE RULES OF THE GAME, PLEASE LISTEN TO HIM OR HER AND ASK YOUR QUESTIONS AT THE END. (Or at least stop talking and wait for a pause before you ask said question!)

I could only imagine what sort of terror would come in trying to explain Federation Commander or Squad Leader...

Wednesday was a surprisingly purchase free day at Sarge's, since I have made other buys elsewhere and my LotR getting mania needs a week or two break. I am the only one really getting this stuff, so its not like I have to hurry. This week's 40K mayhem involved 1500 point forces of Chaos (me!) and the Sisters of Battle up against Orks and Chaos. My side lost, mostly due to some bad deployment and not inconsiderable amounts of horrid rolling. The deployment was the biggest one though. My main assault unit, an 8 strong Berzerker unit with Typhus running alongside was at the far flank. Nothing else was there. The other side is where the BIG fights were, and the Orks and Chaos Marines broke the Sisters entirely too easily. The center was bloody, but our side took it. It just wasn't enough and as mentioned, my main striking force were too far away from everything, though they did get to shoot a couple plasma pistols into a few enemy models. If I was gonna cover a flank, I should have used the smaller Rhino transported Berzerker squad who could have got somewhere fast and not been a big easily slammed target by multiple weapons once my Vindicator was taken out. Typhus and 8 guys could have held off better than 6, and said 6 could have shored things up.

I really need more Rhinos for my foot troops.

Tuesday Game Reports and Other Strangeness..

Tuesday morning I had medical related things to take care of that has been messing me up with worry for a few weeks now. Afterwards I was semi useful so after 5 or so hours of broken sleep thanks to AT&T calling with some BS nonsense they were selling (I had my phone on in the bedroom for once so my friends could call so we could do something and I might hear it.), so I went with everyone else to Starfury's to play Rock Band, or in my case, watch, make the odd comment, and write up an army list for Wednesday's 40K game.

And it was good I did, as when I get to that battle report, it was a double header!

But the reason there is so little for this blog this week is due to the aforementioned medical thing, the worry about doing said thing, and what I have spent most of today doing.

Preparing for the Lord of the Rings miniatures battle Tuesday. More of my miniatures have come in from the mail, netting me more 2nd age Elven Archers & Bowmen and 6 Dwarven Khazad Guard. Sarge's netted me 4 Hobbit Militia, the veteran versions of Merry and Pippin, 12 Hobbit Archers, and Farmer Maggot with his dogs. Today has so far been all about assembling and priming many of these new recruits, and properly typing up and printing out all 3 Good force army lists, with explanations of their special skills and gear. (And life stuff, but this blog isn't about my life unless it pertains to gaming. I want to keep it that way.)

I've also acquired some cheap RPG products which will be arriving soon. (Cheap is all I can really manage right now.) Classic Traveller, the legendary hard Sci Fi RPG, and Palladium's new Robotech Shadow Chronicles game.

I may talk about them when I actually get the books and have some time to read through them.

Now I want a freaking break and just want to play some damned videogames without the sword of doom hanging over my head. This leaves Monday to base a ton of figures, and type up all 3 Evil army lists. I might not get all the basing done, but the army list write ups will be all but required. Then maybe next week I can show the amazing 40K fights I engaged in Wednesday with a nice comic strip style, and talk about the chaotic scheduling changes soon to affect my little game group just as we closed on a maxed out size group.

Lord of the Rings Miniatures Battle Preview!

I told yall I have been doing some work on it!

The battlefield is set up, the deployment zones are finalized, and 5 out of the 6 armies are assembled, with the forces of evil already set up. Goblins and Haradrim on the left flank, the Fighting Uruk Hai in the center, and the foul Orcs of Mordor on the right.

Who will stand against them?

Faramir and Boromir each lead a force from Minas Tirith, but the last army has yet to answer the call to valour.

Will it be Gimli and Legolas leading a mixed group of Elves, Dwarves, and Hobbits? Will more men of Gondor answer the call? Will Eowyn and the Riders of Rohan answer the call?

That remains to be seen..

Tuesday and Wednesday Game Reports

Tuesday with Missme unavailable we switched to a 1 shot game. 5 people here.. what to play? An old classic this group has always wanted to play, but for whatever reason we never got to play.

AXIS AND ALLIES (2nd edition, Milton Bradley version.)

Myself and 9 Iron Nuke drew Japan and Germany out of the random pile, with Pico getting the UK, Magicdrew getting the USA, and the only other A&A veteran Starfury getting Russia. We used the balancing rule of Russia can't attack Germany on turn 1, but otherwise played it as written. (One of these days I need to DL and print the newer versions of the rules.) Overall it was a quick reread of certain rule sections, but otherwise we played through with little trouble.

It ended a good 3-4 hours later with Germany haven falling, and Japan's last ditch attempt to save Germany by taking the Russian capital failing due to some amazingly bad die rolls.

A&A still holds up fantastically. Its a very good game. We strategized and planned. Cool stuff happened. Overall it was a good time, though as usual we seemed to take the game ENTIRELY too seriously, something our group sometimes does to our detriment. A little competition is good, but too much sucks the fun out. We never got to that point, but we were seriously overthinking our strategies and actions.

Wednesday was another Sarge's trip. Warhammer 40K game report first. 4 players. 1500 points. 3 way startup, Tau vs Ork vs Witch Hunters, with Space Marines coming in on turn 2 via drop pods. My Tau got beat up, mostly due to some mediocre dice rolling. Well, that and the unstoppable Nobz mob lead by Mad Doc Grotsnik. 5+ Invulnerable saves, 4+ normal armor save, 4+ Feel No Pain. And there were a good TWENTY of them. I did some serious damage to that unit with my Hammerheads, but not enough. But nobody else could possibly hurt them. The Witch Hunters mostly assaulted the Orks, with a few things sent my way. Its the Drop Pod Space Marines that really made things a mess. They were a MASSIVE spoiler to everyone. None of us could really get a proper battle line going. It wasn't just a 2 front war. It was an ALL front war. A very interesting game to be sure. Was called for time, which flew by. It probably should have been a team game, but one player showed up just as we set up our last few units, so it was the best way to fit him in.

Purchases today involved 30 bucks for the Ork player's 2 remaining Chaos tanks. A fully painted classic Vindicator, and a base colored Predator Anhiliator. From no Chaos tanks since 1998, to 3 and maybe 4 if 9 Iron Nuke finds the Rhino he doesn't need within a month 10 years later.

The LOTR Miniatures front involved me getting the final 2 books Sarge's had. Best of White Dwarf Two Towers, and Best of White Dwarf Return of the King. The Two Towers book is mostly useful for scenarios, and little else. Its 128 pages, but much of it is pictures, battle reports, and other useless White Dwarf fluff. At the time of publish it would have been hugely useful with a big Fellowship of the Ring era FAQ, extra charts, and such. Now the rules clarifications are 3 rules revisions old, and battle reports in a paid for book is.. stupid. Its also got a couple minigames which look pretty dumb overall. The Return of the King book is half the size, has the few units from the previous book in it, and tons more, though most are ones you need to convert yourself. I'd recommend getting it if possible. I'll probably talk more about these books when I go into the LOTR minis game in depth sometime soon. For miniatures I grabbed 2 Avenger Bolt Throwers, a Goblin Drum, and 3 Fountain Court Guards.

With all my expansion books most everything in the buy 1 get 1 tub is usable now, except I can only get a little at a time.
Next week will be my final game prep purchases, most likely 2 packs of Hobbit Archers, 1 pack of Hobbit Militia, and the veteran Merry and Pippin models. After that I can generally just buy what I might like to own as opposed to building for a big game.

I have already begun serious preparation for the LOTR Minis training game too. The battlefield has been carefully set up and markers have been arrayed to show deployment zones. I decided to drop each player's army to 400 over my initial thought of 500 each. I will be reintroducing myself to the game, and Pico is the only one of our group to have played it before. Why make things complicated? Each army is mostly simple for this first game. No complicated heroes like the Ringwraiths or Frodo, and everything I tried to pick are relatively simple for this fight. It will be easier when I write up each player's army list. 5 of the 6 armies have been designed, leaving the final good force for next week. With my paperwork listing what I have and their points, building the forces was a snap. I should even have some of the forces set up by next week. They won't all be painted, but as I have mentioned, I hate painting, so what little I do is what little I do!

Wednesday Game Report

Well, the report will be quick. My 1500 Eldar vs Orks and Space Marines as a 3 way fight. My Eldar rolled horribly for EVERYTHING. Terrible hit, terrible wound, terrible armor saves, terrible morale checks. It was so awful I conceded after 2 or 3 turns, and the Space Marines ended up winning with a single surviving Terminator megasquad.

On the upside, the buy 1 get one on LotR minis got me 6 more Minas Tirith Citadel Guard soldiers, and 2 more sourcebooks, Ruin of Arnor, & Shadow and Flame. Some of the units in S&F are also in Arnor, but most are unique to both and very few repeated in the Mines of Moria rulesbook, though there are some.

(More info on LotR sourceboks whenever I do a thread totally devoted to the game.)

I also got the deal of the year on Tau minis from the Ork player. For 20 bucks I got a Devilfish, Skyray with Hammerhead parts (interchangable), 36 Fire Warriors, the Tau Empire Codex, and plenty of Gun Drones.

My Tau army is digustingly HUGE now.

While my actual cash expenditure overall is around 250-275 dollars, I just calculated buying all the stuff I have individually and its approaching 700 dollars. Ebay, and good deals saved me an insane amount of money. (Clever conversions and unit appropriations helped too!) And now I have almost everything for Tau I could possibly want or need.

3 Crisis Suits, all with 2 Shield Drones
3 Hammerhead Gunships, 1 with Skyray parts
3 Piranhas
3 Devilfish Transports
3 Broadside Battlesuits, commander with 2 Gun Drones
2 3 man Stealth Armor teams
12 Kroot Carnivores
70 Fire Warriors (6 being Tank model commander conversions.)
8 Autonomous Gun Drones
2 Tau Empire Codexes
Original Tau Codex

If we count the Crisis and Broadside suits as vehicles I have 15 vehicles I can place in my army, though no more than 14 of them legally. (3 Broadsides count as 1 Heavy Support choice. Each Hammerhead or Skyray counts as 1. )

I burned the afternoon (for me anyhow!) oil, and this is what I have for my Tau and their points values. With luck all my math was right!

HQ:
Shas’o w/ 2Link Plasma Rifle, Shield Generator, Bonding Knife & Stimulant Injector. 140 points
Bodyguard 1 w/ 2Link Missile Pod, Target Array (+1BS), & Iridium Armor (2+ Armor). 83 points
Bodyguard 2 w/ 2Link Missile Pod, Target Array (+1BS), & Failsafe Detonator. 78 points
Options: Up to 6 Shield Drones & Hardwired Drone Controllers (0pts) at 15 points each. 90 points max.

Elite:
2 3 man Stealth Teams w/ Shas’vre upgrade w Fusion Blaster, Markerlight, Bonding Knife. All members w/ Target Array (+1BS). Regular troopers w/ Burst Cannons. Each squad: 177 points.

Fast Attack:
1-3 Piranha Skimmers w/ Fusion Blaster & Targeting Array (+1BS). 70 points. 210 points max.

Gun Drone Squad w/ 2Link Pulse Carbine. 48 points per 4 unit squad, 96 points for 8 unit squad max.

Heavy Support:
1 Broadside Battlesuit w/ Shas’vre Upgrade, Bonding Knife, & Targeting Array(+1BS). 95 points
Options: Up to 2 Gun Drones & Hardwired Drone Controller (0pts) at 10 points each. 20 points max.
2 Broadside Battlesuits. 70 points each. 140 points max.

1-3 Hammerhead Gunships w/ Smart Missile System, Sensor Spines, & Seeker Missile. 130 points each.
Main Gun: Railgun at 50 points each, Ion Cannon at 15 points each.
Each tank is 180 or 145 points total.

1 Skyray Gunship (replaces 1 Hammerhead) w/ Smart Missile System, Sensor Spines, 6 Seeker Missiles, 2 Networked Markerlights, & Target Lock. 155 points.

Troops:
6 Fire Warrior Squads w/ Shas’ui w/ Markerlight, & Bonding Knife. All w/ Photon & EMP Grenades & Pulse Rifles. 109 points per 6 man squad, 14 points per extra trooper. 193 points per full 12 man squad. (1 squad can only reach 10 men at 165 points.)

1-3 Devilfish Transports w/ Burst Cannon, 2 Gun Drones, Sensor Spines, Targeting Array (+1BS), & Seeker Missile. 105 points.

Kroot Carnivore Squad w/Kroot Rifle. 70 points per 10 man squad, 7 points per extra trooper. 84 points per full 12 man squad. If Shaper is bought, +1 per Kroot for 6+ armor.

Maximum Army points: 3568

THREE THOUSAND FIVE HUNDRED AND SIXTY EIGHT POINTS TOTAL.

Wow.
That's a big Twinkie!

The last 2 days I have spent a good many hours putting unassembled models new and old from the Tau line together, and spraypainting all the models to go into my army color scheme which is loosely based off the Mospeada segment of Robotech. A few bases flocked up too. Flocked bases do SO MUCH for miniatures, even simply painted ones.

The Scenario for my Lord of the Rings Miniatures Battle

Here is a post listing the special rules for the battle my players will be engaging in. Perhaps some of you out there will make use of it as well.

Lord of the Rings Megabattle: The Lost Artifact

In a battle that might not have ever happened or could have happened if the War of the Ring went differently, a forgotten artifact from the dark times of Morgoth’s assault on Middle Earth has been spotted by all forces in a ruined shrine in a forgotten clearing in a forgotten wood. Sauron’s forces have located it, and the Rangers of the North have passed on this information to the good peoples of Middle Earth who move to intercept it....

The setup: Each side is intended to be played by 3 players each, though more or less can be taken with a little tweaking. On the left and right side of each flank, those commanders’ forces have a 24” by 12” deployment zone coming from their respective table edge. Directly in the center of each table side the center player has a 24” by 12” deployment zone.

In the center of the table put a well, crypt, or similar type of terrain, roughly no larger than a 2” size. (The well scenery from Mines of Moria is the intended item to use. We will call the objective the well from here on out.) Put a set of ruins or walls that only allow entrance from each side preventing the table edge deployment zones from seeing the well. The ruins should give 4-6” of open area from the well.

Put out more terrain in equal amounts everywhere else on the field.

Evil gets priority on the first turn.

Army selection: While it is HIGHLY recommended to build equal forces based on Legions of Middle Earth force selection rules, each side merely has to be from the Good or Evil sides. (Having 1 commander with Moria forces, 1 as Mordor, and 1 as Isengard for example, would be ideal, though if miniature selections are limited, just make sure each player just has the proper points percentages and is using the Good or Evil figures depending on what side they are playing on.)

Usual Legions of Middle Earth points and percentage rules stay in effect. No more than 50% heroes, no more than 33% ranged combat units. (Throwing weapons do not count as ranged combat units for our purposes.)

Victory Objectives: Victory is gained by a side getting the objective from the well. This is done by having a normal figure based figure touching the center Well with no enemy model getting within their zone of control for however many turns it takes to find the artifact, then run it off their table edge and that model’s deployment zone.

Special Rules: Reinforcements: Each player may nominate 1 on foot non mounted figure troop type they have at least 8 or more models of that costs 10 points or less. Once they have lost 8 of these models in play, at the end of the next turn’s Movement Phase (meaning after Courage Tests and all movement has occured) these models are placed on that player’s deployment zone table edge.

Capturing the Artifact: As mentioned, an on foot model needs to be touching the Well and have no enemy models within their zone of control, or touching the Well. At the start of the Fight Phase, roll a D6 for each model touching the Well. On a 6, the Artifact is found. Put a marker on that model to note they have it. If they are killed in close combat, the killing model captures the Artifact. If they are killed by shooting, the artifact may be picked up by any model who is touching the Artifact at the start of the Fight Phase and no enemy models are within their zone of control they automatically pick it up.

Edit: This isnt in the scenario as to make it fit on a single page, but the question of getting the Artifact out of the Well faster by using Might Points is something I re-remembered. I would say this should be dependent on the time allotted to the game. For my group it most likely will be a 2 week battle, especially since everyone will be learning the rules, 2 of us only having played it once before. So for us, it cannot be modified. A 6 and a 6 ONLY on the roll gets it. Also, only a normal infantry base figure can ever pick up and move the Artifact off their respective table edge deployment zone. (By having enough movement to walk off their edge.)

Tuesday and Wednesday Game Reports

Well, Tuesday our Gary Gygax tribute was mostly an intraparty combat in the Caves of Chaos, made responsible by beer. Bud Light in the fancy aluminum St Patrick's Day bottles! We then played Rock Band at Starfury's. A little disappointing, but it was amusing too.

Wednesday was a tad more productive:

Another battle report. It was a 3 turn Apocalypse game against some younger guys who were decent enough blokes but a little on the Warhamms side as it were which sort of reduced the fun and made the game not go to its completion.

But it will be explained in the report. To save on amount of images, time to post, and because it looks nifty, I am back to my comic strip style. Should be easier to read. Most folks seem to like the battle reports done like this and its honestly easier than just posting the pictures and making captions. Man I love Comic Life Deluxe! Not to mention I am almost out of pictures on my Flickr account. While 25 bucks a year isn't a bad deal, I am not quite sure if I want to pay it or not...





To elaborate on the Tau - Ork trade: Guy who is moving to Colorado for a while to get out of Connecticut (can't blame him) has decided his only 2 armies are gonna be Ultramarines and Ork. I play Tau, Chaos, Eldar, Tyranid, and Ork. I got a bunch of 2nd edition Gretchin I never really used. (And under the new rules I need more Runtherds to use em all.) I got some other Grots that were nicely painted and were conversions from a 6th edition Warhammer Fantasy Night Goblins set. And now I want nothing but Night Goblin Grots. I need more Tau, so 40 Grots and 20 bucks got me 1 more Crisis Suit, 3 Broadside Battlesuits, and 3 of the Stealth Team suits. He threw in 12 Kroots gratis. I'll be getting all his Fire Warriors and a bunch of drones for 20 bones this weekend at the 24 hour gaming night which none of my friends will probably show up for. :(

I also continued to take advantage of Sarge's Comics' sales, getting 6 Trinity sourcebooks for a buck a pop. In LOTR minis, I got 6 Gondor White Tower Archers, and the second two sourcebooks they released. The Siege of Gondor, and the Battle for Pelennor Fields. While a few of the units in the book are either revised or just the same in the Mines of Moria rulesbook, quite a few of them are not, giving me the rules for more heroes and units, some of which were in those lovely piles of buy one get one free. (Much of Pelennor Fields was overwritten for the recently released Harad supplement, but I don't want to spend a lot of LOTR Minis so I mostly stick to sales and clearance deals.) There are also plenty of scenarios in the books, a fair amount of fluff, and lots of scenery building instructions. Given that Pico wants to do some massive castle siege battles, should my medical stuff turn out ok, I should be making use of quite a bit of it. They had 3 more books in the clearance pile I might get, though given the buy one get one deal, one will have to be passed on, probably the Best of White Dwarf compilation.

Given our game delay this week, I have more time to prepare for the big LOTR Minis game, which has now been shunted into April, giving me a little extra time. My good forces troops selection is rather small, so I am heavily focusing on that at least up to the game.

New Stuff and Tuesday Game Night Update.

WITH BONUS RPG PHILOSOPHY!

Tomorrow I will post pictures and the like for the TWO 40K battles that I played in today, but this post will be a general update of.. stuff.

New Goodies!
My Ogre Miniatures and Car Wars order from SJGames came in today, giving me 3 more of the AADA Road Atlas books, bringing me up to 23 US states (and not US states in the game fiction..) where cars can war and shoot each other.

For some upcoming LOTR Miniatures goodness, I took advantage of 50% off to grab a box each of Mordor Orcs and Men of Harad, and a command blister for both of them. For the next few weeks I will get a few more, mostly focusing on the good forces since my horde of evil is rather large now. Close to 150 evil models. Its insane how reasonably priced LOTR minis are to GW's other lines. 24 single pose plastics for 25 bucks MSRP is a DAMNED FINE DEAL. The metals are a bit up there, but I guess 12 bucks for 2 metal command figures isn't too bad, and at half off its quite reasonable. For what I wanted from the clearance blisters there was quite a few Rohan and Gondor elite troops, and a little mail order should finish up them nicely. They had a nice selection of the sourcebooks and some neat metal box sets I might grab over the next few weeks or months too. Half off the metal Balrog or Sauron? Siege weapons? Sweet! Of course evil seems to have more of what I really want, but the forces of good are so hero heavy as to make up for it in some degree. (One of these days I will post on how LOTR is really an underrated game system. Its really quite excellent and many of its rules ought to be in WH Fantasy and 40K.)

More of the 1 dollar RPG books. I have another run or 2 to do on them, but I am getting some fair stuff I would have never bought for MSRP. 3 Last Unicorn Games Star Trek RPG books I picked up for Pico, GURPS Castle Falkenstein and the same's Ottoman Empire sourcebook, the X Crawl GM Screen & Adventure Module, and Robot Warriors by Hero Games for me. They had a ton of White Wolf's Trinity sourcebooks for a buck so they should be mine next week, mostly bringing what I found interesting in the buck a book section to a close.

So now I have a ton to read, a ton to assemble (and never get around to painting!), and a ton of money saved. 188 dollars of stuff. For 42 bucks. ROCK.

The game room is coming along nicely as well. The table setup is pretty good now, though more things need putting away in the next few weeks for more space and player convenience. The room has the potential to fit 10 people around the table, though 8 or 9 is probably as far as it can go comfort wise. At 10 it would be VERY cramped, and anything beyond that is pretty much a total no go. If we ever get enough people for that to matter we can worry about it then I suppose.

Tuesday's game day was a solid performer. More Hero Quest. To keep myself from getting cranky over the game I half paid attention, half based up some Ogre and LOTR minis. Not caring as much and the adventures getting easier as we level up made for a much better time overall. Pico is still taking the game a bit too serious as it is his first experience GMing, but I am sure he will learn to stop worrying and learn to love player whining sooner or later! :) (Yes he does read this. No, don't worry about it. Its a kids' game! Screw up, have fun, and don't worry about it dude!) He has begun learning the important GM skill of difficulty modifying on the fly, and our last mission wasn't a cakewalk compared to what it should be as written. Honestly Heroquest works best as some stress free childish fun. Unless the dice are really bad or the players do some really stupid things they should win most missions without too much damage.

Its actually something most of these dungeon boardgames seem to have issues with. They are either so hard as to be an unfun everyone dies suckfest, or they are pathetically easy if played as written. I've seen it with Doom and Space Crusade, and all the reports on Warhammer Quest and Descent seem to be the same as well.

I guess its better to be on the light, fun, and easy side than player abuse. The infamous AD&D adventure "The Tomb of Horrors" is always there if we need a PLAYERS MUST DIE LIKE SCUM BWAHAHA!! experience. And Paranoia, though Paranoia also encourages the players to hose each other over too for extra body count fun. (We really need to play that game someday...)

(As an aside, heavy character death is probably the reason D&D and RPGs have a bad rep. Tons of people played them in the 70 and 80s, with visions of being Aragorn, Elric, Conan, or whatever other scifi and fantasy hero you can think of. Then their dudes got killed in the first or second combat they entered, or ran into some deathtrap they had little to no chance of surviving. Most probably left right then, considering the game a bit of suck. Its sort of understandable.)

But he is getting the hang of it, and things will improve as he relaxes and gets into it. I really am interested in seeing what he can put together for his planned Savage Worlds Deep Space Nine game.

GMing is a skillset one really can't learn except on the job. Mistakes WILL happen. The trick is to never make the same mistake more than once. Everything a GM does right or wrong should be a learning experience to make their next session all that much better. As long as the players aren't a bunch of knuckleheads (and luckily my group are there as much to socialize and hang out as we are to game.. there is a reason our old 40K games always had the official unofficial Bullsh!^%ing Phase after all..) it can be a good time.

And THAT is what it is all about, really.

Having a good time!