Star Wars News

Within the last week I haves discovered a lot of Star Wars related news. This news ranges from new merchandise to special events being held near where I live here in Florida.

First we have the new line of Hasbro action figures. In a move to make the line seem fresh, Hasbro has decided to launch a game system called that “Galactic battle game” that can be played with the new waves of action figures. Each new figure will come with a stat card and a dice to play this new game. This is a neat idea but I’m not sure that it would make me buy anymore figures than I normally would (right now about one figure a month). In fact, after looking at the first two waves I’m not even sure that I would get any of these because all of the figures in the first two waves look like simple repackaging.

The next new merchandise line that I discovered is Disney’s Star Wars Vinylmation Vinyl Dolls. Looks like Disney will be releasing several vinyl doll collectibles late this summer from Vinylmation. The website VinylNation.net has additional information and some great photos of what the characters will look like. Unfortunately, this series of toys will be blind purchase.

Finally, apparently this summer Orlando is the center of the Star Wars universe. Celebration V be taking place at the Orange County Convention Center, Disney’s Hollywood Studio is hosting its’ annual fan boy extravaganza known as Star Wars Weekends, and finally on August 14 Disney will hold an afterhours party called the “Last Tour to Endor”. I’m most excited about this event since Disney usually puts on expellant afterhours parties. After more than a decade of interstellar travel, Disney Parks’ Star Tours attraction is powering down to make way for its reimagining in 2011 and Last Tour to Endor party offers fans the opportunity to attend an out of-this-world, first-of-its-kind decommissioning party before Star Tours launches its final flights. Fans and families attending Last Tour to Endor at the Walt Disney World Resort can enjoy a one-of-a-kind entertainment experience – including specially-themed intergalactic party zones, Star Wars shows, a Death Star Disco and much more. The evening will culminate with a Star Wars fireworks spectacular.

Saturday Gameing

My family took a trip to my wives father’s house today and luckily I got in some unexpected gaming in with a few of my brother-in-laws. I had brought over a few board games (Zooloretto, Blokus, and Pandemic) thinking that I could rope some of the younger kids into playing, instead I ended up playing with two of the guys closer to my age (Chris and Mike).

First we played one of my new favorite games, Pandemic. We lost the first game within about eight minutes when Asia became overrun with all of the red disease cubes. At this point I looked at the guys and said, “Well there are three ways to lose and only one way to win”. Chris looked at me and responded,”Set it up again. We have to play this game again.” Not to many times that you lose a game this quickly and people want to play again. The next game we just barely won. One more time around the table and we would have ran out of cards in the draw deck, and thus lost. The guys wanted to play again but we needed to clear the table for dinner.

After dinner we decided to try out Blokus. I had brought this game along to try it out with some of the younger people there. Well, they all were busy doing their own things so it ended up being Chris, Mike, and me playing again. We played this game twice and I won twice. I have to say that the guys didn’t seem to like this game as much.

Voltron: Defender of the Universe

Monsterpocalypse is one of my favorite games of all time. The only thing that I truly dislike about it is the random starters and boosters that the game is packaged in. I stand by my original belief that this game would have been improved if it would have used non random boosters (you see what you get). Well this summer Privateer Press is addressing this issue by introducing the Voltron, Defender of the Universe battle miniatures game. Instead of random packaging this new standalone game will come with a preset group of miniatures taken from the Voltron universe. The game will cost right around $50 and will containe the following items:

1 Voltron figure

5 Voltron Lion figures

5 Voltron force Galaxy Garrison Cruiser figures

1 Lo-Tron figure

1 Lotor's Command Ship figure

4 Robeast figures

5 Lo-Tron Skull Ship figures

4 health tracking tokens

4 dice tracking tokens

24 dice

1 double-sided game mat

1 full color rulebook

Not only will this game use the basic Monsterpocalypse rules but it will also be fully compatible with the rest of the Monsterpocalypse line. Last year this game would have been an instant purchase for me but right now I’m being a little more discriminatory on how I spend my hobby dollars. Privateer Press has started posting previews of the game’s miniatures and that is pushing me towards picking this game up (So I can yell “Form Blazing Sword”!). If you would like to know more about this game go look at http://privateerpress.com/voltron

January’s game….Pandemic

The first game that I chose to try out this year was Pandemic. In this game players randomly take on one of five specific roles of specialists at the CDC. Each of these roles can do unique special actions during the game. The team’s mission is to prevent a worldwide pandemic outbreak, treating hotspots while researching cures for each of the four plagues before they get out of hand. The players can lose several ways but can only win by finding cures to all four of the plagues.

Pandemic is a cooperative board game that is published by z-man games. In a cooperative game the players work together as a team against the game itself. The whole cooperative game concept was new to my gaming group but people quickly became very found of it. Pandemic can be played with 2 to 4 players and generally takes right around an hour to play (although we did play one game that we lost within 10 minutes). The components found within the box are about what you would expect of a “euro-game” (simple yet durable). The board is nice and thick, the card stock is average and frankly wooden cubes are wooden cubes. The rulebook is short (only eight pages) but is very well written and full of practical game examples. The game mechanics are relatively straight forward and includes a card mechanic that can make the game either easier or harder. Very quickly smart players will realize that this game is all about resource management (mainly cards and actions) and team work.

The first people that tried this new game out with me were my cousins Buddy and Alex. We played the game twice and won both times (granted we just barely won and played the game on the easiest level but a win is a win). They both liked the game but said that they preferred more competitive combat centered games (not surprising since they both usually play Axis & Allies or a version of Risk).

Next I broke out Pandemic at my weekly gaming group. We promptly lost the first three games played and just barely won on the fourth try. All of the guys really like this game and I discovered a lot more about the game from this session than the previous one. First, the Medic is the most important role in the game. The three games that someone played the medic we won the three that no one played the medic we lost. That pattern has since changed but we still believe that the Medic is almost essential for a winning strategy. Secondly, we discovered that playing the game on hard is a completely different world from easy. We still play the game on hard because it is more interesting (on easy we win most every time now). Finally, this game can be very intense. Almost every game near the end you can feel the tension as you and your teammates try to pull out a win.

Pandemic has become a mainstay in the local gaming group for several reasons:

1. This game plays very fast with most session lasting for less than an hour, making it a perfect game to play when someone has to run an errand or before everyone has arrived.

2. It’s an easy straightforward game that everyone likes. It is actually one of the few games that peoples non-gamer girlfriends will play.

3. Frankly, the game itself comes in a small compact box that easily transports. If I don’t want to bring a lot of stuff to game night I can still find room for this game most of the time.

4. It’s nice to have a game that the whole group can work together instead of competing against each other. Don’t get me wrong, the guys enjoy games that we beat the crap out of each other but this game is a nice change of pace.

Wow, over a year? time to catch up

Well to start I cannot believe that it has been a year since I have posted anything here. Not sure where that time went but, I guess it is time to catch up. Back in January I decided that I wanted to try a new game every month this year. The decision was made after noticing that my Monday night gaming group had basically only played either Magic the Gathering or D&D 4^th edition for most of 2009. Now I had to set up a few simple rules for this endeavor.

1. The Game can be picked from any genre of game but I will be paying particular attention to boardgames.

2. It must be a game that I have never tried before.

3. The game will get reviewed on my BLOG (a bit behind on this one but I hope to catch up quickly)

4. I must play the game at least 3 times before I review it.

So far this year I have played a new game each month and even replayed it at least two times after the first game. Unfortunately, I have completely ignored the rule about writing about it. My goal now is to catch up as quickly as possible. The list of games for this year so far is as follows:

January – Pandemic

February – Cutthroat Caverns

March – Power Grid

April – Malifaux

The cast of characters

Sorry that it has taken so long for me to get back on track here but hopefully I’ll be writing up the D&D campaign summary notes today. First I wanted to write a character background summary and post it. Some of the backgrounds are more fleshed out than others but hopefully that will change the more we play.

• Rochor (Played by John) - Rochor is a young goliath warden that has been forced out of his ancestral home by a large tribe of Giants, led by the infamous Troog Ironclub. This tribe killed or enslaved Rochor’s whole clan and made the goliath’s caverns their new lair. Rochor only escaped this fate because he was out hunting at the time of the invasion. When he returned from hunting he found that there was nothing he could do to save his home from the giants. He tried to rescue his enslaved clansmen but failed. The only item that he could even salvage from his home was the “Oath Stone”. This polished piece of marble was used by the goliath clan to seal every marriage, was sworn on at coming of age ceremony, and presided in a place of honor during funerals. The Oath Stone is Rochors most precious possession and he carries it in his backpack wherever he goes. After wondering aimlessly for several years the young goliath eventually settled down in the small village of Miners Haven. He was made a deputy by the town’s sheriff, Tolin Goldenhammer. The old dwarf had taken the youth under his wing and trained him to be his replacement. After a year Tolin felt that Rochor was ready, so the long beard left the mainly human village of Miners Haven for his clan’s home in the nearby mountains. Rochor is now the new sheriff of Miners Haven.
• Labya Vagee (played by Gil) - Labya Vagee is a deva cleric of Sehanine Moonbow. Like most of her kind she has lived and died many times before and this body is only her current form of existence. Labya has long worshiped the goddess Sehanine but it is only in her most recent incarnation that she decided to become a cleric. The memories of the many atrocities preformed during her most recent lives forced the “young” deva into a life of serving others and spreading joy. She traveled from town to town for several years ministering to the needy and spreading joy wherever she went. Eventually she met a young gruff goliath named Rachor that had lost everything that he had held dear. The two became fast friends and Labya settled down (at least for now) in the town that he was a deputy in. After Rochor became sheriff of the small village he convinced Labya to become one of his deputies and the two now serve as protectors of the small village of Miners Haven.
• Reva Tallfellow (played by Tim) - Reva Tallfellow is the closest thing that the small village of Miners Haven has to a criminal underground. For several generations his family has run a small time operation that buys and sells items that cannot be found in most lawful establishments. An old secondhand store serves as a thin cover for the operation. It is a very transparent cover because it is well known that Reva is the only fence within 200 or 300 miles. Unfortunately, the territory around the town is sparsely populated so Reve is often struggling to keep his operation in “business”. The halfling rogue does have an understanding however with the local law enforcement. He will not steal from the locals but the caravans and miners that come through town are free game as long as he does not get caught. If he his caught a jail cell awaits him until the traveler leaves town. In exchange for the sheriff’s leniency Reva has to help with any problems that arise where his particular skill set will help solve the problem.
• Rhyme Tallfellow ("Jack" John) - Rhyme Tallfellow is Reva’s cousin. Rhyme comes from a famous family of bards that have long been known as the muses of Vesta (Vesta is the largest city on the frontier). Young Rhyme never really fit in with the rest of the family because he had no interest in the arts or music. In truth, Rhyme actually hates music and he especially hates minstrels. He was almost kicked out of his home by his father when he first enrolled in the local magic school but his mother prevented this. Eventually Rhyme became a fully fledged wizard and he left Vesta on his own accord to live with Reva in Miners Haven. It seems that Reva isn’t particularly happy about his cousin living with him but family is family after all.

That's what I have right now. I still need more information from Nate and Ricky on their caracters to flesh them out. Nate is a Dwarf Shaman (old man of mountain) and Ricky is a dragonborn Warlord (the other deputy).

Back after a busy week

I believe that it was the nine hour D&D game on Monday that has thrown off the rest of my week. The game was fun but it really did play havoc with the rest of my week. I have spent the rest off the week catching up on school work and wondering what happened to my free time. I did find some time to read most of the new Mk II Warmachine rules and even got one game in (I still haven’t got to reading the new terrain rules). I’m not going to go into details about the new rule set right now but I will say that it still feels like Warmachine. Luckily, this does not feel like a GW update that effectively voids your collection or greatly changes the basic rules or even the feel of the game for that matter.

I hope to catch up with updating over the weekend and next week. I plan on posting several updates on the D&D campaign as well as a more in-depth look into Warmachine Mk II.

Almost there....

We are less than a week away from getting to see the second edition of Warmachine, known as WARMACHINE Mk II, for the first time. Privateer Press has set up a website for people to download the new rules and to leave the company feedback on the new system of rules. The website is fieldtest.privateerpress.com. The PDF that will be found their will contain the basic rules and statistics for all of the models in the game. In one week we can all start playing with the new rules and begin to actually make informed opinions about the new edition. It’s a shame that we will have to wait for eight months before we get to see the Hordes rules and armies. This is especially true for me because I’ve really loved my Hordes armies lately.

Games Workshop strikes again

I would like to premise this BLOG entry by stating that I am not a Privateer Press fanboy. In fact, I prefer the fluff and models produced by Games Workshop; it’s just too bad that the Company’s attitude and business practices stink (3 editions of 40k in eight years comes to mind). I guess their arrogance comes from to many years on top with very little competition. To a great extent it was this arrogance that forced me away from GW, no matter how much I liked their models (and all of their games besides the new 40k editions). When it came time for me to get back into miniature wargaming I looked else where to fill the gap left by the GW line of games. To a great extent, GW actually forced me into the waiting arms of Privateer Press. Like I said before, I prefer the look of GW miniatures but Privateer’s business model is very customer friendly and their games play much smoother than their GW counterparts.

Anyway, the whole point in this BLOG entry is really to talk about GW’s latest slap in the face to its fan base. I’ve discussed in a previous entry how much I liked the web-comic Turn Signals on a Land Raider (http://tsoalr.com/ ). This strip is an obvious parody of wargaming and of 40k in general. The creator of the strip wanted to publish a compilation of his first 500 or so strips, thus he tried to get permission from GW to publish the book. GW’s response was as follows:

“So, in the case of TSOALR we’ve been very happy to let you put your web comics up as a bit of fun. However, we can’t let you make money off of what you’re doing because of the legal precedent it could set. So, I’m afraid there’s just no way for us to allow you to sell TSOALR prints. I’m sorry to be the bearer of bad news. It’s not that we don’t like what you do, it’s just that for various commercial reasons we’re unable to grant you permission to make commercial gain from what is, ultimately, selling GW-owned imagery.”

In other words GW is fine if you pimp their product for them but you should get nothing for you work. I would understand if TSOALR was actually breaking copy right law but it would actually be protected as a parody. The author could likely legally publish the compilation but in all likelihood he would have an expensive legal battle on his hand. Because of GW’s response TSOALR will soon end. I do not know if the website will soon come down as well, so I suggest if you want to check out this very entertaining comic you go check it out now at http://tsoalr.com/.

Squirrel Genocide

I told you squirrels are evil. This is really why we see all of those dead squirrels in the middle of the road. (as seen on http://starwarsblog.starwars.com/ )

My weekend

This weekend just hasn’t gone as planed at all. Originally I had planned on getting a lot of painting done (the Gatormen Posse, Squad of Mannikins, Alten Ashley, and the GW hill) but here we are with the weekend almost over and I’ve only dry brushed one Gatorman (at least Jen did get a good base coat on the hill). Keep in mind it’s not like I’ve had a bad weekend, I just didn’t get any of my painting done.


Base Coat on the Hill

Saturday morning was spent playing games with my son. We mainly played video games (Guitar Hero World Tour, Battle Front, and Age of Empires with my father) but we did get in one board game, Battleball. This game is a very simple game that simulates a futuristic version of football. At http://www.boardgamegeek.com/ the game’s background is described as “Global football has moved beyond the restrictive rules of the US Football League. Physical enhancements have made the sport more intense and more deadly. Players have developed distinctive skills to overpower enemy players. Some are fast. Some are strong. All are out to eliminate their opponents.”



Like I said the mechanics of this game are extremely simple but my son loves it. Each game piece’s base color corresponds with the color of a dice that you roll to move and tackle. Each player takes turns moving one guy and trying to score a TD (or just trying to knock the other team of the field). First person to score twice wins. Every time I play this game I really want to play Blood Bowl (especially when you consider Battleball is just a watered down version of Blood Bowl). Unfortunately, my Blood Bowl game is in the very back of the closet of doom (i.e. the closet that is filled up to the roof with my family’s stuff). Anyway, during the first half of the game I knocked the boy’s whole team off the field and scored. After that the dice gods abandoned me. He quickly scored two Touchdowns without much effort.

Today I got ready to paint and then I decided (of course) that I would rather play a game of Hordes. After getting to Decks and Duels, the local shop, it was decided to play a large Circle versus Legion game (1500 points per side). Gilbert and I each fielded 750 points (I had to borrow some of his models) of Circle and John and Kristina each filled 750 points of Legion (Two fracking epic Thagroshs). It was a fun close game (even if the first three of our turns consisted of mowing down the 15 shredders that our opponents fielded... who fields that many little warbeast). Gil’s whole army except for his warlock was wiped out (partly because I was out of position) but then we got an assassination run off on John’s Thagrosh (now forever to be known as Goulash). That left almost all of my force plus Gil’s warlock against Kristina’s Thagrosh, a Shredder, and a Carnivean. So that’s now three straight wins for me with Baldur. Still undefeated Baby!!! What I really learned from this game is that Sentry Stone & Mannikins are absolutely awesome (especially against other Hordes armies).

A short Circle update

My Circle army is coming along well. I’ve finished painting Baldur, a Woldwyrd, a Woldwarden, an unit of Shifting Stones, and a Sentry Stone with a full compliment of Mannikins. I also have a painted up a unit of Bog Trogs. I am now working on a unit of Gatormen and another Sentry Stone with a full compliment of Mannikins. I plan on buying another Woldwyrd and Krueger in the near future. No pictures as of yet (I forgot my camera when we gamed tonight) but I hope to add some soon (I personally think the army is turning out great).

So far I’ve won both of the two 500 point games that I’ve played. My first game was against Nate. He was playing a Darius list that was running 3 heavy jacks. I assassinated his caster on the third turn by using Mannikins to make forest and then useing Baldur’s Forest Walker ability to smack down Darius. Tonight I played John and his new Legion Thagrosh list. I assassinated Thagrosh on turn two. This occurred more because John messed up than any great skill on my part. He left Thagrosh with no focus on him and I shot him with a Woldwyrd and the finished him with a spell cast from the Woldwarden (it helped that I rolled really well).

D&D campaign overview

I’ve been putting a lot of thought into getting ready to continue our local D&D campaign. Unfortunately, I’m not sure that this is really a “continuation” because our last session about five months ago ended with a total party kill. I’m considering it a continuation because the new story line is going to deal with the repercussions of the failed mission. I came up with the idea for this setting to make it easier to use the large miniature collection that I have without having to think out to much why something was there.

In my D&D world I’ve taken the concept of “many points of light. Fighting off the darkness” and of portals leading to different plains to a new level. This world contains many portals that lead to different worlds altogether. These portals can be opened from either side but only sealed shut from the side that the PCs inhabit. Many of the inhabitants of this world grew tired of their world serving as a cosmic battle ground for other worlds and as a result a great crusade was fought to destroy or close most of these portals result long ago. Unfortunately, since the fall of the great Dragonborn Empire over six hundred years ago there has been no organized effort making sure that these portals remain close. As a result many of these portals are becoming active once more.

In the last adventures one of the PCs were on a holy quest to make sure that one of these portals remain closed. On they way to close the portal the PCs encountered missionaries from Protectorate of Menoth (had come through a portal but the PCs didn’t know that), killed off a tribe of Kobolds, and rescued some badly needed supplies for a small village. Unfortunately once the group entered the Dungeon the real trouble began. The first two or three encounters were relatively easy but then the party decided to make camp in a room with only one way in and one way out. Then at night they were attacked by a mob of hobgoblins that wiped out all but two party members (that’s 4 dead characters). These two guys only survived because they made a run for it while the Paladin held off the hobgoblins for 5 or so rounds.

So these two guys go back to town and round up a new party (along with some NPC help). This group made it all the way to the portal room but the group was pretty beat up by the time they reached there (keep in mind the party knew that they were up against a time limit before the portal was opened). They tried to stop the ritual but the party was too beat up and did not have enough time to accomplish their goal. Once the ritual was complete, the portal opened and an army of rat-men (yes Skaven) marched through. As the last of the players died he was able to collapse the exit to the dungeon (slowing the rat-men down but not stopping them). So that was 6 more dead characters for a total of 12 over about 5 sessions (I had killed two earlier).

Now the new game is going to pick up a few weeks after the last one ended so Skaven will slowly start to show up in great numbers. I guess we’ll just have to see what happens.

POW! GW, right to the moon!

I would say that it is pretty common knowledge that I’ll take a sucker punch at Games Workshop whenever given an opportunity, so here’s a good one. Games Workshop has gone out of control with raising prices. Not only does a White Dwarf yearly subscription now officially cost you over a hundred dollars but now they are raising prices on stuff before it even hits the shelves. When the company announced the new Valkyrie model for the imperial guard many people were very excited, but then I saw the price of fifty dollars. Aaaa, 50 bucks for a transport (a cool looking transport but still a transport). Well, over the weekend the pre-order price on the official website was changed from $50 to $58. I really like this model but that price seems really steep (keep in mind when I first started playing Rhinos cost under $20). My guess would be someone realized that this would be a popular model so they decided that the company should squeeze a few more bucks out of people (Isn’t an Imperial guard army expensive enough). I think the Bell of Lost Souls website put it best when they said, “Is a price increase that occurs before the product ships really a price increase? Its almost a "one hand clapping" type of question...”

Number 9

And number nine is….Risk. I really don’t have all that much to say about this game. Risk is the classic game of world domination. I almost didn’t put this game on my list but I’ve simply spent too many hours playing the many versions of this game to not place it here. This game also comes in many different “flavors” (from original to several different Star Wars versions) that each add a few rules to make the game more interesting. I would go into more about the different versions but my buddy Derek has already covered that in his BLOG, http://cardboardcarnage.blogspot.com/. I’ll just state that the classic trilogy Star Wars and RISK Godstorm are my favorite versions. I’ve actually come to dislike the original version of Risk because the last ten or so games of Original Risk that I have played have all played out about the same way.

If someone has played only one conquest board game in all likelihood it is this one (probably because Risk is the grand-daddy of today’s territorial conquest games).
Here is one game that I know I can get a game in without having to explain the rules to people (and then listen to them whine if I forget something…read the fracking rules yourself then). I should have more to say about the next game on my list but like I said I really don’t have much to say about this game.

Number 10

As a general rule I do no longer enjoy the whole collectable game thing. In fact, it has been several years since I’ve even been willing to look at a new collectible game. I had no intention of playing Monsterpocalypse (especially when you consider the fact that I do not even like giant monsters) but after seeing the game in action I knew that it would soon find a place in my gaming room, even if the game is sold in blind packaging. It had been a long time since I had played a game that people would yell and cheer as we knocked down buildings by throwing giant monsters through them.

Monsterpocalypse has some of the most innovative mechanics that you will ever find in any CMG. The game is simple enough that you can easily teach almost anyone but deep enough to keep the attention of a more experienced gamer. The way that dice flow from your monster pool to the unit pool is very elegant and works as a balancing mechanic between the powerful monster and the small units. I also like the fact that the game is balanced enough that you really don’t have army building. You simply pick out a monster, grab some units and play. I even like all of the factions except for one, the Shadowsun Syndicate, and I really hate them (so of course I keep getting them in boosters). There are 6 different factions in Monsterpocalypse, each of them based on or stolen from various cult references.

Martian Menace - H.G. Wells War of the Worlds type invaders
Planet Eaters - your basic Japanese space aliens from anime
G.U.A.R.D - Towering Mechs that remind me of Power Rangers
Terrasaurs - Godzilla, in all different shapes and sizes
Lords of Cthul - I shouldn't have to tell you. This one speaks for itself!
Shadowsun Syndicate - Futuristic powered up Ninja's we reckon

Monsterpocalypse is a bit new to make this list but the game is just so great. My ten year old son really likes this game and I have even been able to get some people to play it that don’t generally play miniature games. Playing a game of this is a wonderful way to kill an hour or two and I’ve had a lot of fun with it.

top 10 Introduction

It was suggested by one of my friends that I write a top ten list that includes my favorite games of all time. After putting some thought into it I now have a list that I’m pretty happy with. There is one game that I really wanted to put on the list but just couldn’t. That game is 40K. It was the first miniature game that I ever played and I truly loved this game back in when I first started playing it in 2nd edition (great fluff, wonderful miniatures, and good game mechanics). Unfortunately over the years Games Workshop has destroyed this game for me. When the company came out with 3rd edition, the game changed from a game about strategy and tactics to a game so simple that a six year old could learn how to play it. It also hasn’t helped my opinion of the game system that a new edition comes out every three or four years. I even built a Space Marine army for my son and an Orc army for me in 5th edition but after three games I kept finding myself just wanting to play something else (almost anything else actually but Warmachine kept really coming to mind). I still love the models and fluff but no matter how much I try to like the game I just can’t. It is strange that even though I don’t really want play this game anymore I still want to buy models for it (I think it’s a disease). Well, I’ll start on the main list tomorrow.

Stepping up to DM again

I have been thinking about running a few sessions of 4th edition D&D for the guys while we wait for Wizards of the Coast to get their act together and release the online gaming table. While I’ve been thinking of what adventure to run, I’ve also been reminiscing about previous D&D games.

One game in particular keeps coming to mind. It was a third edition game and I was running an old second edition Forgotten Realms module, Storm Riders. In the beginning of this module the PCs are suppose to flee from a horde of barbarians (think Mongols) and then meet a woman that serves as the adventure hook for the whole module. First I almost had to kill the party to get them to run away from the 100,000 barbarians (we can take them was actually said at one point). Then when the mystery woman saved the party by forming a bridge made of smoke over a chasm the group’s barbarian almost killed her (I hit her in the head with my sword). The bridge then disappeared with one of the PCs still on it (some lucky rolls saved him from certain death). This introduction went so badly that I should have known that this game was just not going end well. The next three hours were spent role-playing through many diplomatic encounters until will finally reached the next combat encounter. This series of combat encounters took place in a monster infested monastery. Unfortunately the party’s lawful good monk noticed that the thief kept stealing from the monastery’s treasures. When the monk ordered the thief to put back his ill-gotten gains a combat erupted within the party. When the dust settled, 4 of the six party members were dead. The only surviving party members belonged to the two players who had been smart enough to leave the monastery when the fighting began. At this point I looked at my friend Derek and told him that he was DMing from now on.

Hopefully these few sessions that I’m about to run will end better.

Podcast Now

I listen to a lot of podcast. This is mainly because I spend about 25 hours a week in my car. It has been over six months since my last post about podcast so it is time for an update. First, Podhammer is gone (as stated in my previous post). It is unfortunate and Jeff will be missed. I have also quit listing to This week in wargaming, mainly because of it changing from a round table discussion program to a pure news format. The podcast is very informative but it’s a little on the dry side and reports on many fringe gaming systems. This podcast might be a good listen for a large store owner but not for me.

In my opinion The d6 generation is still the best podcast out there. It is funny, entertaining, and informative. They guys just celebrated their one year anniversary and I’m looking forward to another great year. The D&D podcast has been hit and miss for me. The Penny Arcade episodes are great! Not only have they been entertaining but they have pointed out some things that I have been playing wrong in 4E (temporary hit points can go over your max and minions just need to take any damage to be destroyed). Most of the other podcast episodes are product previews or reviews. These episodes can be useful but they usually find their way down to the bottom of my play list (right next to that ESPN podcast from 3 months ago). Next is the 40k radio podcast. This is not my favorite podcast by any means (mainly because I no longer play 40K). I imagine that it is almost required listening for any serious 40k player but the guys make it a good listen even for someone like me that doesn’t play the game any longer.

If you still feel the need to listing in on the Australian GW scene (and I do) then Worlds End Radio is for you. This is a relatively new podcast on all things Games Workshop. I especially like the fact that they sometimes focus on games other than the big two (40k and Fantasy). Now for the two podcast that concern themselves with the Iron Kingdoms. First, Fell Calls! This podcast is the granddaddy of the podcasting community and is still going strong. I have to admit that I have been listing to each new episode the day that it is released. They have been spot on lately (possibly rejuvenated with the two new books within the last nine months) and I cannot wait to hear their reactions to MRKII. Finally there is the Iron Agenda. These guys have a lot of good ideas but they are simply not as good as the podtrulls. I would recommend listening to the Iron Agenda if you have the time to listen to both of the Iron Kingdom podcast, but otherwise stick with Fell Calls.

Podhammer, you will be missed

Last weekend I found out that one of the best wargaming podcast, podhammer, is “on indefinite hiatus”. Many people online are speculating that this is the end of the podhammer podcast. I will truly miss it. Not only was it quality entertainment but it helped me get a much needed Fantasy Warhammer fix (since I currently have no opponents to play with without driving 90 minutes or so). If you haven’t listened to this podcast it is still available on i-tunes and at podhammer.net (start listening around episode 4 or so because the sound quality before that is pretty bad).