I have been away doing all sorts of fun and exciting things. Actually not. The highlight of the last two weeks was the painting "jag" I got into right before I departed. Now I am back and hope to get back into the swing of painting and playing.
Since I have nothing exciting to report and no cool pictures of anything interesting, I dug up two animated shorts. The first up is Zombie Smith's Quar video (http://www.vimeo.com/20259569) which I found to be quite well done. Zombie Smith (http://www.zombiesmith.com/pages/quar-fluff/) has an interesting collection of figures. Foremost is the Quar range covering a massive civil war between the same named species. Elements of the war are very World War One. The figures are represented in both 15mm and 28mm. Two Hour Wargame's 5150 covers the race and it's FREE (http://www.angelfire.com/az3/twohourwargames/files/IllegalAliensComplete.pdf). Zombie Smith also has or will have a set of dedicated rules.
The next animated short is Birchbark Heroes (http://www.wizards.com/dnd/Media.aspx). A spoof of the party killer dungeon of old known as Tomb of Horrors. I found it interesting to watch. I recall reading this dungeon many years ago when I played 1st edition D&D and AD&D anal the while knowing the module was unplayable...yet like all horror-like things, it lurks on.
With all of my traveling, ditch digging and the like, I had time to think. I had no internet except for my phone, so I tended to surf and explore sites with readable content versus flashy images. One site I settled on was Wizards of the Coast as D&D still holds a place in my heart. I originally went there hoping to find out about D&D figures and Star Wars figures (both lines sadly discontinued). I also hoped that they would be making Gamma World figures as the game was just re-released. I like their figures and find they repaint very well. I have scads and scads of the rank and file. Much of my Star Wars collection paid for itself by my willingness to sell off the extra Darth Vaders, Luke's and R2D2-s (how many do you need?). I also got a pile of the D&D figures almost free by selling off the named characters to finance the bulk. The only problem is organizing the myriads. My son and I did the same thing with Halo and HorrorClix.
Well, it seems Wizards has had some success in pushing out 4th edition D&D beyond the usual gaming crowd. It also seems they have realized that RPG's are hard to play if you have other things in your life. So they have created 4eD&D Encounters where you go to a store every Wednesday and play for 90 minutes. I signed up for a session on Wednesday afternoon. I was going to arrive back in NY near a store and go straight from the airport. Nope. Traffic on the way to the airport and Jetblue's rigidity did me for that (they refused to check me in 29 minutes before the flight departed)...anyway, that's another story. If this Encounter thing sounds good to you, log on to the Wizard's Game finder (http://ww2.wizards.com/StoreAndEventLocator/) and make sure you modify the to include Encounters Finder (http://www.wizards.com/dnd/Event.aspx?x=dnd/4new/event/dndencounters). Oh, and if Avalon Hill games are more your speed, the Wizards Game finder searches for locations that play those...
I got home to some mini-disasters that had to be fixed or repaired. Now my free time is devoted to the basement and bathroom renovations. Yup, two at a time. Both are nearing completion. Next week will be a better post.
Boardgames, Card games and Role Playing Games Played:
Tunnels and Trolls--yup. good old T&T is still around. It seems they are on version 7.5 which comes with adventures, markers, maps, etc. Right before I went away, I was opening a box from the move (yes, I still have unopened boxes 1 1/2 years later). Well, I found my T&T stuff. I have played this off and on since it came out in 1977. In my little pile of T&T stuff are some compact solo adventures, rules and all the size of a paperback book. I tossed one and some dice into my pack. One afternoon, I found myself inexplicably free, so I dug out my first level fighter Thrudd (not a very imaginative name but he matched the stats for him when I rolled him up). Well, the adventure I played was Sword for Hire. Blue Frog Tavern is in the book also. naturally, Thrudd went off and hired himself out to map a dungeon under a wizard's tower. I survived and prospered. In the end I split my treasure with a Rock Demon (he helped me several times) and refused to give back a magic dagger and 10% of my treasure to the bilking Wizard who hired me. The treasure and the dagger were supposed to be mine for the service rendered. I did survive the blast (barely) and the wizard went away. Oh, and I have no hair and green skin due to a curse (Charisma Two fro the next six months). Now to play the next adventure: Blue Frog Tavern.
Terrain:
My Hotz Mats are missing...I never had problems with them before but this time it looks like I may have to come up with another mat for a Cold Wars game...stay tuned.
Projects:
South American Wars of Liberation: Warmodeling says that my Mountain Guns are tied up in customs. I am running out of time to paint them for a convention game. I bought the one the US supplier had and ordered the rest from Spain in early December! Warmodeling has always been fast...
Painting and Painters:
Here's what I completed, based and varnished right before I went away:
Twelve Star Trek engineers.
Six Star Trek Marines in away gear.
One Star Trek Marine in light gear
Four GW Void Field Generators
One Large Robot (I think it is a Mage Knight figure rebased and painted)
Two Cthulu-esque creatures manufacturer unknown.
Unfortunately no photos as my battery is still in shipping limbo...perhaps it's hanging out with my Mountain Guns.
BLOGS:
Doctor Merkury's Lab (http://doctormerkury.blogspot.com/2011/02/back-of-beyond-where-heroes-dare.html) had a great AOR of a Where Heroes' Dare game. I played this last year. If you see it a a convention, play it. The scenario is great!
Din Of Battle continues to narrate a Boxer Rebellion campaign (http://dinofbattle.blogspot.com/2011/02/boxer-campaign-battle-of-fusuchow-part.html). I am inspired by their Chinese village. Many of the buildings arte quite good. There are a few anachronistic items, but hey! The effect is great. When my basement renovation is complete, this might be the sort of thing I start working on...in 15mm. As for 28mm, I have my eyes open looking for a few good skirmish buildings.
Lord Ashram's House of War has a great 15mm Old West game set up (http://lordashramshouseofwar.blogspot.com/2011/02/ton-of-great-eye-candy-terrain-old-west.html).
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