One Page Rules Part Three: Last Overview?

 It has been a while but I have more fun pages full of pictures and a handful of images covering more info and a couple pictures of play, albeit without a ton of rules detail.

 

 Yes I am using a variety of miniatures and terrain boards from all sorts of companies.  And ideally?  I will do it even moreso in the future!

One Page Rules Part Two: I Guess it is a Blog Thing?

 Yeah.  I guess so.  Ideally I will talk more about rules and stuff and not just a general overview of how things work but right now it is more just how the whole thing is going.

 Hopefully the next part will include talking about the models in the first set I bought, the rules I purchased and got printed, and maybe even a mini battle report?  Who knows?

One Page Rules Part One: Or How I Learned to Go Generic and Love my Minis

 So yes.  I still function more or less.  And I have been working in the miniature building mines.  All thanks to https://www.onepagerules.com/ So let me bring back my comic style because I want to and I feel like it in between whatever games I have been replaying.  (Bloodborne, Battletech 2018, and Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord.)

   As always you can click for bigger pictures if you want. (EDIT:  Original version of these images were simply too large and absolutely sloggy.  While mad crisp nobody needs 20-30 megabyte images.  Have ones roughly 1/3rd the size.)

 

 

 

Well I already have the pictures and ideas for the next installment in the work folder so hopefully sometime soon we can see the depths of my loony current obsession in tabletop gaming.  Or maybe not.  We know how I do.  Or I know how I do by now.  Let's hope we see each other really soon and I don't like get distracted by something like a cookie.

Operation Game Collection Special: White Dwarf Through the Ages 1:Issue 159

It is less than a year before I get into Warhammer 40K properly.  (Ish.  My earliest games were.. kind of stupid with really badly built armies that I hang my head in shame about.  Even if nobody else cared because I still really didn't cheese while everyone else was running around with nothing but Land Raiders, Terminator Squads, and every hero character possible and more proxied weapons than any sane person could keep track of.)  The Fourth Edition of Warhammer Fantasy Battle was less than a year old.  That is where this issue of White Dwarf , Games Workshop's long running gaming magazine who had by this point effectively become a house organ since the issues numbered around the 90s.  (40K Rogue Trader was famously covered around issues 93 and 94.)

In between my fanzine coverage and other projects I will sometimes review an issue of White Dwarf from random eras based on my ownership of them, and which ones I buy to support existing games I own.

(As always I am an overly goody goody wiener.  While I have very little issue with looking for and printing up articles from online and scans I ALWAYS prefer and try to own the legit thing.  To me its the right thing to do.  STUPID, but the right thing.)

This issue I purchased recently for the article on Eldar in Tyranid Attack, a game I own the components for, but not the box or miniatures.  About a year ago for a fair price I got a mostly complete boxed copy of its mostly same componented sister game Advanced Space Crusade so they can be stored together and I am slowly collecting what pieces I want to replace from the sets for whatever reason.  (Like the Space Marine Scouts which are the ugliest and goofiest things ever.  The early 3rd edition era metal scouts, or the plastic ones out nowadays are MUCH nicer in every way.)

While sadly this glorious bit of quality and value is no longer in production and if it was GW would charge an easy 100 dollars plus for it, I can now and then get deals and replace or complete both TA and ASC, and possibly find people interested in playing it where they might not want to play 40K of any edition.  (Mainly because its expensive and most editions suck in some way.)

(As usual Click for Bigger Images)

I think about getting this set for around 40 dollars and I am immediately sent to my happy place.  This place also includes tons of 80s robot toys and old computer games.  

The Five out of Six Tyranid Warriors that came with my copy of Advanced Space Crusade, with my old Tyranid army one in the back left so I can get their paint scheme as close as possible.  As of when I am doing most of this post, a first coat of orange touch up paint has been applied where I made mistakes with the blue paint pen or even the "properly" painted yellow bits.  I need another "Bucktooth" Warrior to complete the set for both games and then the fellow in the back there can go back with his proper 40K army in not being used as the 5th and 6th edition codexes really really suck unless I want to spend a lot of money.  Guess what I don't wish to do?

As always, click the images for larger.  Unlike the previous Inquisitor review, I have gone back to my digital camera with a flash.  Sadly White Dwarf uses shiny paper so sometimes I have to either turn the flash off, or deal with it.  Anyhow, it is supposed to be a review not a form of piracy.  Given how GW is infamous for their litigiousness even fair use is something they hate.  So images with a flash or mostly just whatever lighting is nearby makes it not scans, but photographs for REVIEW AND DISCUSSION.  

So there!  IT IS MARCH 1993.  IT IS TIME FOR KLAX.

The back cover on the left showing the studio Blood Angels up against pretty much all of the available Tyranid models of the time.  Ok.. no Patriarch or Hybrids or Zoats but..  A lot.  The right is the cover, which I think was the 4th edition Dwarf army book cover.

Another of the lovely bright color painted minis in a game play type scene.  Interesting to note at this point 75000 copies of WD were printed.  So if we presume around 10% of the active player base was buying the magazine we have 750k players or so in 93.  I would say that is pretty good.  Funny to see things listed as ads that isn't just the whole magazine as it mostly has been since 2005 or so.

And the news.  GW takes advantage of a bit of US legislation banning lead figurines to go to pewter/white metal type formulas as the entire games industry does.  And everyone shoots prices up on our little metal mans.  On the upside lead is very bad for you and the few lead minis I get I handle with rubber gloves on until they are primed.  GW mentions some independent retailers in the days they planned on hosing the US game shop markets the way they did the Uk.  A little game called Magic basically saved many stores and killed many companies and thus prevented this.  An add for the first half of the 4th ed WHFB Magic expansion is shown.  Buy a 50 dollar game.  Drop another 35-40 for the practically required expansion box.  This was the GW sales design back then.  40k would do the same with Dark Millenium.  Blood Bowl had one.  Gorkamorka and Necromunda had em.  

Man o War.  A well regarded game I never got to play.  GW made a game inspired by it recently that was loathed.  And Spartan Games had Uncharted Seas that is great but they dropped it because reasons.

Next up on the docket is Jervis Johnson's article allowing Eldar to be used in Tyranid Attack.  He has some basic Eldar fluff for people who might not know of the Space Elves, then a force list allowing for Avatars, Guardians of all types, Fire Dragons, Dire Avengers, Howling Banshees, Striking Scorpions, Swooping Hawks, Dark Reapers, Aspect Exarchs, Warlocks, and Farseers to go have some quick n fun fighting in a Tyranid Hive Ship.  

There is a set of item and power cards to cut out and glue together with a bit of user supplied cardboard in between.  And the editors helpfully put a lovely ad for the game in between so it wouldn't cause an article to get ripped up while doing so!

See?  And what VALUE.  6 Tyranid Warriors.  8 Genestealers.  1 Terminator Librarian, 4 Terminators.  10 Scouts including Sergeants and Heavy Weapons.  I got just the game bits from this set for like 5 bucks back in 1995 or so.  I am slowly getting replacement figures so I don't have to raid my army boxes when I hope to play this game.  Getting it's sister game (Advanced Space Crusade) helped with this.

Hopefully I can one day do a full review of Tyrand Attack and test out the two rules expansions from White Dwarf.  (The other one has Dreadnought rules.)

A proper ad page for a Space Wolf Blood Claws squad box is next. 

Then Andy Chambers gives us rules to use Marine and Eldar Scouts in Rogue Trader!

It seems pretty solid.  The Eldar Longrifle isn't as amazing as it is nowadays but it isn't BAD.  S3 when Marines were still T3 (unless you had all the rulesbooks or appropriate WD articles), -1 Armor Save (when Power Armor was usually 4+), and no Save if you roll a 6 to hit.  They would make nice Terminator hunters I think.  10 of em for 170 points means you can wipe out a Termie a turn.  Or 4 squads and basically for the same cost as 5 Terminators you can eliminate them as a genuine threat in a couple of turns.  Even if they have a Cyclone Launcher.  450 points for a Termie Squad without any upgrades.  Versus TWENTY FIVE ELDAR SCOUTS FOR 425!

(Playing MATH HAMMER for a moment: At normal range, 12 Scouts are going to hit a turn.  6 will wound.  At least 1 will roll a 6 to hit ignoring armor.  In general a Terminator will die to this volley every single round.)

OH GOD I WANT TO PLAY ROGUE TRADER 40K NOW.

We have an ad for a 30 pack of plastic WHFB miniatures called Fantasy Fighters.  Five each of six different factions.  It seems a bit strange to do this, but for RPGs or the like it could be ideal.  Or for people building multiple armies or forces with allies.   

Then it is time for the Eavy Metal section where we see lots of lovely new minis all painted up in what would now probably only be 7 out of 10 CMON (Cool Mini or Not) scale.

That Space Wolf Iron Priest is a sweet mini!  I love the GAME IN ACTION Eavy Metal pictures too.  One of the pages has a nice step by step guide for Orc and Goblin painting.  Seven fine pages of "Miniatures Porn".

Rick Priestley himself gives us rules and fluff for Gorfang Rotgut, an Orc Big Boss in WHFB 4th.  He really doesn't like Dwarves.  

Then we have a nice two page spread covering half of the known North American stores selling GW's goods.  Anyone know how many of these places are still open and if they still sell GW?  The first store on the second column (Crazy Egor) is what kind of got me into 40K at all.  Called in an order for Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay book.  I was sent 40K Rogue Trader instead.  Best retailer mistake EVER.  Even if I didn't actually get into the game itself till 94 thereabouts.

Andy Chambers is back with Space Marine 2nd ed (Aka: Epic or Titan Legions) rules for Tzeentch flying and floating units.  I can make use of this as I have some Silver Towers.  No Fire Lord or Doom Wing though.  And I sort of need them to deal with indirect weapon armies.  Which is most of them, especially in the terrible Epic 40K ruleset.  (Maybe not having a couple Wings and Lords is why I hated Epic 40K so much?)

I believe the Doom Wings are now known as Heldrakes .  Though the Hell Talon/Blades from Ripoff... I mean FORGE WORLD yes , might be Doom Wings as well.  Depends on which one spits fire down at stuff more I guess.  The Heldrake also looks more like a silly mechanical birdie like the Fire Lord and Doom Wing models.

We then get an ad for Space Marine as you might expect to pimp out the stuff for the game they just provided a supplement article to, more cutout templates for said Tzeentch fliers (with an ad for a High Elf on a Griffon from Marauder Miniatures which was like an allied minis company with a couple of ex Citadel sculptors running it as to be something irrelevant to keeping in issue), and then we have another game content article!

A complete two level adventure for Advanced Heroquest!  Carl Sargent gives us a whopping TWELVE pages covering a nifty adventure involving the Undead including rules for new monsters and spells.  (Presumably.  I do not own Advanced Heroquest or its expansion though after reading this article I REALLY want to even though I have Heroquest original AND Warhammer Quest!)  

It looks like a fun and challenging adventure that could probably be tweaked and mined for use in most modern RPGs or RPG lite boardgames.  (Like D&D 4th.  Descent.  Warhammer Quest.  Maybe even Heroquest if you are willing to make your own maptiles.)

Within the article and before the next one we get ads for two Warhammer Armies army books (Empire and High Elves), and a US subscription offer.  35 bucks for 12 issues a year and get an embroidered ball cap with either WHFB or Games Workshop on it.  Or 63 for TWO and get a plastic minis case with foam holders for around 50 figures.  Either a 15 dollar value for the cap, or 20 for the case.

That is how you get subscriptions folks!  GIVE US FREE GOODIES.  The one year I subscribed to GW was when they were giving away Gorkamorka boxed games.  Because two sets made for a great foundation for a 40K Ork army.  That I eventually sold to a chubby pothead drunk from Australia.  Who then gave it to someone else.  

The ciiirrrccllleeee oooof  WAAAAGH!!!

Speaking of DA LADZ, Jervis Johnson is back with fluff writer boss Bill King for a WHFB battle report!  SEVENTEEN PAGES of fluff story, army strategies, and battle reporting on a turn by turn basis.  If you couldn't get in a game often (or at all for whatever reason.  AND THIS INCLUDES NOT WASHIN YO ASS!) battle reports were almost like a life line at experiencing a game.

Jervis is running the Orcs and this here is his force, based on what miniatures they had available at the time.  This is what GW people thought a 2000 point WHFB 4th edition army should look like.  Actual PLAYER armies usually had about half as many figures as everyone just loaded up on beefed up heroes and wizards.  And artillery pieces.  Jervis' force is a bit restrained in comparison.

The report goes on with pictures of the game in play (probably reconstructions done by a professional photographer), and the fancy art battle reference pictures that were probably computer generated.  (Anyone know for sure?)  Bill King's hair is.. special.  Also the Orcs won.  So Jervis was victorious.  

The final thirteen pages of our 84 pages including covers issue is the catalog section.  Excellent high quality images of all the models that were either new or something GW wanted to spotlight sell thanks to the issue's articles.  For converters and the like (GW actually sold components and back catalog minis in those days.  It would have been a pain for non UK folks but you could do it!) every single part of the models were listed with a code so you could get exactly the bits you needed.

An example of the catalog action.  Somewhere someone has taken that Empire model and painted it up like Rainbow Dash or Fluttershy from MLP.  I don't know if I find this pathetic or hilarious.  Depends on what miserable neckbeards think or react to it upon seeing it I suppose.  (Even Brony crap beats those ridiculous Marine Scouts.  Man do I hate those Shakespearean fluffy bicep thingies!)

So we have a twenty one year old issue of White Dwarf.  I read the entire thing for this review and to make the 10 bucks or so it cost to ship to me (because lots of Ebay sellers like to rip you off.  This was one of the CHEAPER options!) fully worthwhile.

What did I think?

I LIKED IT.  It provided me with plenty of useful material for games I own and now has me jonesing to own Advanced Heroquest!  While I am no fan of battle reports I am apparently in the minority there.

So my review score?  GOOD.  

I can recommend this issue to fans of the early 90s Games Workshop era!

I will do this again sometime soon.  I am still reading the final issue of Inquisitor and starting the first issue of Citadel Journal I have, but this was a nice break from the fanzines!

My Games Workshop Rogue Trader Era Book Collection: Let Me Show You It.

A little background here:  See I have been taking pictures of my game collection and posting them to Facebook.  Its been video and computer games so far, with also showing off my Blu Ray and CD collection.  I was taking pictures of my Games Workshop and TSR games gone PC today and decided to take some shots of my Rogue Trader era Games Workshop books.  I am gonna add a little bit of commentary under the pictures.  Call it a bit of gamer history if you will.  Also some mockery.  You will understand when we get  to it.  Oh you will understand...

Warhammer 40K Rogue Trader the book that began it all!  See in 91 or so I tried ordering the Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay book over the phone from a store called Crazy Egor's.  It was a weird messaging thing.  So I left my request.  And what did I get that summer when Terminator 2 was out in theaters?  Rogue Trader instead.  But it looked so cool I never complained and just kept it.  I still want to play Rogue Trader rules some day...

The Slaves to Darkness Realms of Chaos book I got from Hogshead Publishing in the UK when somehow they found an old pallet of the books.  

Lost and the Damned I got in 98, trading off an original plastic Land Raider model kit I got for like 20 bucks a few months earlier.  I had glued some big plastic skulls to the front of the treads to cover them but the new owner immediately removed them.  Oh well.  

These three I don't have much to say about.  Compendium and Compilation were collections of rules and army lists from White Dwarf magazine back from when it was actually USEFUL GAMING MATERIAL.  Sadly Rogue Trader was also a confused pile of rules bolted on each other as the style of play people wanted out of 40K and the magazine & designers added in new ideas.  The Battle Manual is basically the rules that would become 2nd edition 40K.

 'Ere We Go was the reason I got an Ebay account in like 99-2000 thereabouts.  To get that book.  Its cool, its funny, its how I like my Orks to be.  And since they aren't any more I sold my Ladz all off.  Freebooters is like another Ork army book.  I am still confused on it.

Sadly I don't have the other two Rogue Trader books I still need.  (Vehicle Manual and First Book of the Astronomican)  I still want them though.

 Warhammer Fantasy 3rd edition was my first experience with Games Workshop.  See in 87-88 I sent away to TSR for their Mail Order Hobby Shop Catalog.  I wanted it primarily to see if I could get those old Endless Quest Choose Your Own Adventure books they did in the early 80s.  Thanks to computer games like Ultima, my friends getting into D&D, and some trouble learning Algebra keeping 13 year old me from using said computer for 3 months or so (plus rather large bruises from a belt..) I caught the hobby games and fantasy bug.  And I saw Warhammer Fantasy Battles in it.  I never bought it, but it was that first bit of knowledge about the Warhams.

Warhammer Armies was bought about a year or so ago as I wanted it to go with the core book I grabbed a year or two back for the same mostly historical interest reasons.  I found some very... interesting things within and I will share two of them with you.

 Are you seeing this allied faction sub army?  ARE YOU SEEING THIS FROM A BOOK COPYRIGHT 1991 IN THE UK?   This would be shameful from 1940 much less 50 years later!  Big lipped Pygmies.  Wow.  Can you get any more racist?  What in the HELL were they thinking?  Of course this book also has a sub army called the Fmir which are a race that can only propagate via raping other humanoid species.  They inform you of this in some detail.   And here we thought garbage like FATAL, Racial Holy War, and Carcosa were an Internet spawned thing.  Douchebag.  Douchebag never changes.  

(I should probably make a joke that this would be the favorite game of the Republican National Party here in the US but I would never stoop so low.  Oh wait they do every day.)

And this fine fellow?  He was like the BOSS OF GAMES WORKSHOP.  Bryan Ansell who turned White Dwarf into a total GW house organ instead of the beloved and respectable hobby games magazine it had been for over a decade.  (When this happened the outgoing staff even managed to tell him to Sod Off in the contents page of their last issue.  It was brilliant.)

Here is the Wikipedia page of this fine mulleted fellow who allowed such "wonderful" armies in this book:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bryan_Ansell

Thanks for joining me down this short trip through Memory Lane.  I might do it again with my other hobby games books.  Or share my videogame collection pictures here with commentary.

"Gaming is a Luxury"

As hobby gamers we have all heard this complaint every single damned time any new product comes out or any old product has a price hike.  (Ok the latter is 90% Games Workshop related but.. you get the point.)

Well over at the Escapist which is primarily an electronic gaming website, that magnificent fat bastard Jim Sterling has basically hit the nail on the head:  http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/jimquisition/5709-Videogames-Are-A-Luxury .

For those too lazy to click (or you just really hate Jim Sterling) he basically sums up that yes games are in fact a luxury, but that anyone who uses that excuse?

Elitist bastard who is probably well off financially.

And the very fact games are a luxury means when money is tight?

GAMES ARE THE FIRST THING TO GO.

This is wisdom.  This is even more pronounced in hobby games as we can generally keep using the products we already own into infinity provided someone will play them with us.  (Or we are happy enough to merely play solitaire if the game supports it.  Or even if it doesn't!)

When Games Workshop charges 50+ US dollars for five one inch tall unassembled, unpainted, and still on the sprue plastic toy soldiers we can comfortably avoid buying them.  We can hunt used ones on ebay much like the used videogame market, except there isn't any of that BS online pass garbage modern videogames are all doing to combat used sales.  We can proxy with cheaper equivalents.

Or.. we can do what so many people do and just QUIT GAMING.

Without a community most people won't buy hobby games.

If people aren't buying games or aren't buying them from brick and mortar shops because that 100 dollar Fantasy Flight megagame is 62 with free shipping online?

Well stores don't have money to stay open.  No open stores?  Most people have no place to be exposed to new games or find new people to play them with.  Meaning even online or ebay purchasers stop buying.  Which leads to companies either going out of business or doing the GW style of raising prices in a futile attempt to keep their income the same which leads to MORE online or used buying which turns the hobby into an ever shrinking toilet bowl as people leave and nobody new comes in.

Outside of the groggiest of grognards (going by the SA usage of the term), I doubt anyone can say bringing in new blood is a bad thing.  In fact to keep gaming alive new customers are essential.  People even in a thriving market will leave for whatever reasons.  (Like a rather amusing joke I heard Youtube retrogame guy Steve Benway say, "I used to play RPGs till I took a vagina to my penis".)

Over the years I have seen so many people look at wide eyed wonder at our miniatures battle games or our RPG games.  Then if the community doesn't run them off, the pricetag on the games DO.

Why do you think Magic keeps thriving in spite of it being a massive money sink?  Its CHEAP to get into, and there is a thriving casual scene with things like booster drafts or sealed deck tourneys, or block play which is both great and god awful all in one!

Even if people leave because like me they see the money sink and decide its not worth it, there is usually new blood to replace us because the initial cost of entry is under 20 bucks!

Now look at something like Warhammer with its 100 or so just for a starter set that won't even remotely be enough to genuinely play the game. 

Then you see Warmachine/Hordes with its vastly smaller model sizes, its design allowing for players to scale up in purchases as they desire but be fun at all levels, and its sub 50 starting price and its no surprise why its doing so well.

So next time you complain about prices and some elitist prick brings out the luxury spiel?  Send em here and set em straight.

Because not only are they wrong, they are helping to kill off gaming.

Wednesday Game Report

This week was another trip to Sarge's Comics for moving around wee toy soldiers and making pew pew noises. At least in a perfect world anyhow.

But I FINALLY got to play Warhammer Fantasy. 1500 points of Night Goblins vs 1500 points of Wood Elves. My poor Goblins, already afraid of nasty Elves and their pointy ears, (Except for Liv Tyler. She makes them feel funny...) had the absolute worst luck. They lost every combat. They failed every morale test. Their spells almost never actually worked. Outside of my Fanatics and the Rock Lobba doing some damage, my whole army basically did nothing and died horribly. When they weren't running the Hell away. It was a fun game, but a bad one for the little green blighters.

For a quick follow up game, we played a 1500 point game of AT-43. Therian vs Therian. I had my usual army, and my opponent had a 2 Storm Golem/2 Strider force. However, fitting Tiamat and the big strider in meant he had no Overseers (officers) in his forces other than Tiamat. I used my Tiamat as bait, and my Goliath squads and my Tiamat managed to take her out, giving me the win.

My playing and pimping helped one player grab the Warhammer Battle for Skull Pass set to go with some Orcs and Gobbos he already got a deal on, and its pushing Starfury who was there observing towards the Dark Elves who just got a new army book and some new models. (22 dollars MSRP for 5 Cold One Cavalry? THAT'S A GOOD DEAL.) I even bought a D&D miniature off of Starfury, cutting down what he owes me for the old car I sold him. I get a nifty Efreet model that looks like the pants wearing little brother of the one on the original AD&D Player's Handbook, and he effectively got his booster pack for half price!

I also grabbed the Operation Damocles campaign book for AT-43. I haven't had time to do much more than skim it, but its got some neat new special rules, the game errata, and a bunch of new scenarios to play.

Of course I now have Changeling the Lost thanks to a Borders 40% off coupon (and I personally blame Jess H, and the Connecticon Changeling LARPers for making me want to buy it. ITS ALL YOUR FAULT!), and a killer ebay deal for some 2nd edition AD&D books too. Quite a bit to read, and all of it purchased at a fine price.

And now with a Warhammer Fantasy player going Orc, I may finally put my Lizardmen together so I can play something different. The Warhammer talk is getting MagicDrew a bit more interested in getting his Vampire Counts all set up too.

I'm such a damned gaming instigator when I get the chance.

Now if only I could get dates this easy!

Tuesday and Wednesday Game Reports Plus a Little Bit More

This previous week was a mixture of limited gaming on Tuesday, and a TON of gaming on Wednesday.

Tuesday was a little Solace on my iMac with Starfury, MagicDrew, and 9IN followed up by some Three Dragon Ante. Solace is basically a medieval version of Axis & Allies, albeit one with no air units and with a vastly improved balance between the two sides. We played it as a free for all, with me winning, taking MagicDrew out with some devastating cavalry unit attacks and running roughshod through an AI player and Starfury. Three Dragon Ante was a pair of games with me getting utterly demolished in the first game, and winning solidly in the next one.

Wednesday was the feast day. A late start, but the trip to Sarge's included myself, 9IN, and Pico, with Starfury meeting us there. A nice game of Necromunda was started up, but called with my Van Saar gang holding a tenuous lead. With it being a holiday week, comics come in a day late. Meaning the store had to close an hour early so the books could be picked up in the morning the next day. We did meet some interested people who might join into the Necromunda games while we were there though.

A dinner run and then it was back to my house for the old ICE Hobbit Adventure Boardgame. Its a rather simple and modestly fun boardgame based heavily around drawing cards to boost your Hobbit or give you monsters and events to deal with where you then try to take out the Dragon who is totally not Smaug. *Snicker* Pico won and I bailed out towards the end game. See there is actual player vs player opposition. But its done with riddle cards. You play a riddle card and the opponent has to have a riddle card with the answer on it. I had one card in my hand. EVERYONE took this to mean it was time to gang up on me and get the victory perks from winning. One of my items, money, or these special amulet type items.

Needless to say, there was no need for me to keep playing. My gaming rules include NOT PICKING ON THE WEAKEST PLAYER, so having this rule broken took what enjoyment I may have had out of the game. Its not cool. Whoever is on the losing end just feels belittled and has almost all their chances of winning removed to boot. While everyone should try to win, there comes a point where it should not happen.

After this was a 3 lap race of Formula De using 1 lap car sheets. It was a fair match, though most of us made some mistakes or hit some bad luck during the race. Pico ended up winning, 9IN came in second, Starfury third, and me fourth. I probably wasn't thinking all that clearly because of the last game and took too many risks. And once things got bad, I had to take more risks. Which meant I tended to screw up more. Usually given be being me I would have been lapped multiple times, but I actually pulled back into second place for a short time so for me that was pretty good. It was an early gearshift rules confusion that hurt me. 9IN read the rules to us as I had forgotten most of them (I waited for ThoughtHammer to get the game back in stock for at least 6 months. We have played it once in the near year I have owned it until now. Yeah.) and forgot to mention there were bad penalties for multiple downshifting. Oh well, its only a game and I learned from it. I can tell I played it MUCH better than the first game oh so many months ago.

Starfury is looking into a store that has more tracks for sale which are getting tough to come by so we might get a nice league going sometime. He also had some car issues and has gotten my old Ford Escort off of me. I now had money for a Warstore order to all but finish what I need for my AT-43 Therian forces, and some extra UNA forces, with the UNAs doing double duty as my Necromunda Van Saar gang, the Raiders of Sherwood. I ordered it Monday. It will arrive on Tuesday. WOAH.

Thanks to Ebay I have gotten a hold of 7 more of the old 2nd edition 40K Ork Stormboyz I need, bringing my mob up to 12. I just love those old WW2 German outfit inspired Orks with Rokkit Packs over the current Mad Max Orks we seem to be stuck with. The big green clown Orks were more fun somehow.

On that note this week is a Tuesday only gaming week unless I decide to schlep down to Sarge's even with the ever increasing gas prices. I've been playing 3 times a week and not doing anything but gaming and Internet. Very few projects are getting done, very few chores are being completed, and my DVR, DVD, and Videogame queue has gotten to the point I don't get much new. (Though with my current Saturday and Sunday no Internet sabbaticals I did FINALLY get through my DVR list and even a DVD disk.) Pico and 9IN are off to a Yankees game this week. This also delays our Warhammer Fantasy game another 7 days giving me more time to at least get all my Gobbos painted up in two colors and with flocked bases. Ok. I have around 50 Gobbos to paint their skin and do their bases so I might not reach my main goal. Painting is such a boring chore! It is a big reason I want AT 43 to do well. No painting, yet no collectible blind buy nonsense. But compared to how many Gobbos I had ready when I called Pico to war I have made MASSIVE inroads. Army built, figures assembled and organized, models assembled and base colors thanks to Krylon Fusion applied. Beats a bunch of unpainted plastics and metals in a bunch of big Ziploc baggies!

Wednesday and Thursday Game Reports

Wednesday was another drive to Sarge's where another 750 point 3 way game happened, this time with massive amount of terrain, and Sisters of Battle and the brand new Daemon World army, Slaaneshi flavored coming out to play. My all infantry plus one deep striking Terminator Sorcerer did horribly, me forgetting to even roll to deep strike the Sorcerer on turn 2. Daemons being able to assault the turn they deep strike meant my all short range forces got blasted at range by the Sisters, and outfought by sheer numbers of attacks and initiative the Daemonettes and their Soulgrinder backup brought to the table. My Sorcerer took out nearly 3 squads of Sisters before we called it for time. The Sisters' Canoness put a serious hurt on the Soulgrinder, removing two of its weapon systems before being overwhelmed by Daemonettes.

At the end of 6 turns I was left with a 1 wound Sorcerer, and the Sisters had 3 of their members in combat with him. The Daemonettes had their commander and a squad or two that were clearly gonna wipe out whoever won our fight.

My suggestions for fighting Daemon World from my early experience? Find area cover and GET INTO IT FAST. Being assaulted out in the open is a virtual death sentence even for good close combat troops like Chaos Marines. In cover you have a chance for them to fail their difficult terrain tests, or at least have the charge be simultaneous. 4-5 attacks on the charge from Initiative 6 models with 4+ invulnerable saves are a scary thing, even at Strength 3 Toughness 3!

Thursday opened up with a Federation Commander game, using one of the scenarios from Briefing 1. 2 Light Cruiser Class ships each. I was running Kzinti, Pico had Federation, and 9IN had Orion, choosing Photon Torpedoes. The scenario had each of us out to kill one player, but not the same one trying to kill us. The Orions hit one of Pico's ships with an Overloaded Photon which basically put it out with one single hit. Follow up phaser and drone fire took it out. Having taken light damage, he moved his ships out to speed with a distance my Kzinti would never catch, though I might have been able to take out the damaged Orion ship if we were willing to play it for 3 hours of boring gameplay. You see, I have a HEALTHY fear of Photon Torpedoes and moved out and about as opposed to coming at the Federation head on, getting a missile spread out there in an attempt to reduce damage taken by them. Thus I was mostly out of the fight outside of minor long range phaser hits on the Feddies, and long range anti drone fire at the Federation drones.

I can heartily recommend Briefing 1 for any Federation Commander player. The amount of new scenarios, ships, and organized information on all currently available ships and scenarios and where to get them is invaluable. Well worth the 13 dollars retail.

We then did a little Rock Band and I managed to nudge Pico into getting out his Dwarves who I then proceeded to inventory and write up a 1500 point army list for him.

3 boxes of Skull Pass pretty much builds a NICE legal 1500 point Dwarf force on its own, and a little more makes for the 2500 point usual.

1 Maxed out Warrior squad. A nearly maxed out Miner Squad. (Missing 1 dude, bombs, and the Drill.) Maxed out Gunner Squad. 3 heroes (Standard Bearer with a 25 point standard. (Josef Bugman model) Thane leader, and clipped off antlers Thane as an Engineer Master for the edification of the 2 Cannons. The Gyrocopter I got for this army as a birthday present LAST year finishes it up.

Some extra gear for his guys, a few extra Dwarves to be Engineers to his cannons, some straws to turn the final cannon into an Organ Gun, his old 6th ed Warrior Boxset as Warrior Longbeards and an EM4 Dwarf plastics set (FIFTY CROSSBOWMAN FOR FIFTEEN BUCKS!), and he can easily rock a 2500 list. Use those Dragon Slayers too.

He had the minis, I built his list for him. He chose some options I gave him obviously. Magic? Bah. MORE CANNONS.

And now I have a LOT of Night Goblins. This weekend I built a 1500 point Goblin list and a seperate 1500 point Orc with minor Gobbo force. And I finally cracked open the wonderful and handy rulesbook. Its ON.

The third rulesbook from our 3 sets bought at a discount went to MagicDrew who is doing Vampire Counts but will probably never have anything built. Maybe if he reads this he WILL GET A MOVE ON ALREADY?!

Outside of one 6th edition 500 point game I haven't played it since the sucktastic Herohammer days. I am looking forwards to sending the Ladz or my Lizzies up against the massive blocks of Stunties.

I have also received some more Car Wars goodies. The original Arena book with the terrifying Boston Arena Starfury has taken us through, 2 more Autoduel Quarterlies with their interesting and helpful information for expanding the game, and an entire solo module, Mean Streets.

Since the one of the two Ebay dealers had free shipping, I also grabbed three SEALED Ghostbusters International RPG modules. Always handy to have more game modules, especially for such a rare game!

New Acquisitions

Just a quick list of recent purchases not mentioned elsewhere!
(Plus it makes me look like I update more for my one reader who pretty much hears all this stuff from me ANYHOW.)

For Christmas my one whopping present that was good (my other present was a small tin of popcorn. Yeah. GOOD GIFT FOR A GUY ON A DIET.) was the Crossbows & Catapults (current edition) Tower Attack set which adds lots more stuff to the excellent main game. I supplemented this with the final small expansion on clearance from Wal Mart for 9 bucks, saving me 5 dollars. I now have the full set and if any of the small sets are left next week on grocery shopping day I will pick up some extras for more components.

Back in the days of the original edition I only had the main set which I played with properly and as a toy all the time. I never got any expansions. Now I have made up for it by owning the entire line. Put bricks on top of each other, line up rubber band powered weaponry, shoot the opposing player's fort! More sets means more bricks, ammunition, terrain, dudes to get hit, and more elaborate fortifications!

One of these days I plan on making a more advanced set of rules for the game as well, something to make it closer to the original US edition where the main goal was not to knock over dudes, but to "capture" the enemy's base.

With help from the local comic shop's 40% off anniversary sale I grabbed 4 boosters of the current World of Warcraft CCG expansion (cuz its like getting one free!) and the lonely Warhammer Battle For Skull Pass set they had sitting under a shelf all alone and unloved. They probably got it for free from Games Workshop trying to get them to carry their full line. (Which hasn't happened. They are pretty much a bastion of Magic the Gathering exclusive retardation with anyone trying to play or promote anything else there getting nothing but dirty looks and rude comments.)

Its my THIRD box of this set, 2 having already been split with Pico, and now this one split miniatures wise between he and I (Dwarves for him, Gobbos for me), and rules for Magic Drew who is beginning his Vampire Counts army.

It effectively cost us 10 dollars a person for the set. Hell, I woulda bought another if they had it in stock. An Extra copy of the rulesbook for myself and even MORE GOBBOS would be handy!

As it is, my Orc and Goblin horde is pretty well complete. Possibly a few more trolls and Night Goblin Fanatics, but otherwise I have a nice big army. Probably too big really... Goblins do NOT cost much in points!

I also got a 20 dollars with shipping steal. The Terminator CCG. Both faction starters and a sealed box of boosters. Its compatible with the Aliens Predator CCG I sadly have little more than the starters for, and its THE TERMINATOR. 26 9 Card boosters and 2 50 card starters isn't a bad deal. I'm not very impressed with the card design or the screengrabs used for most of the card art, but it seems like a pretty fun game.