Gailbraithe

How many points for Warlands?

Well that's three then, plus me. Maybe we can also do a multiplayer game of Warlands?

I think Jim is responding to my last post. Jim, I don't recognize any of these handles. How many of these folks are still active members of the club?

How many of you guys have a Bloodbowl team? Painted or not. I know Jim has a High Elf and Chaos Dwarf teams, and Kasey has the Undead team I gave him. I've got Dark Elves painted and Amazons waiting for paint.

I'm going to be playtesting DinoProof, and it calls for 4 players. So I need three other people. Looks like the game will probably take less than 2 hours, so I can bring another game as well. Warlands? Infinity? Frostgrave?

Almost ready...

Correct. GM is taking a much needed break.

Okay, but I need an hour to squeeze in a demo of Song of Blades and Heroes for Joey before he leaves for Scandanorweigia.

This evening the players were Hannewig, Mite, Rutger, Sihyaa al-Ni and Ulfgar. Having escaped Kargar's death maze, the party spent some time exploring more of the fortress and encountering more of the ruffians operating the machinery of destruction. They slayed the ruffians, but heard Kârgar and Yarim approaching from the central stairwell. Mite attempted to close the door between the party and the pair with a gentle telekinetic push, but slammed it shut so hard that everyone in the fortress heard it. Kârgar investigated while Yarim activated his invisibility spell and hid in the entryway to the hall. Deciding survival was the better part of valor, the party ran -- though Casper, the Bijan House Guard who had slain his commander and best friend while under the influence of Yarim's spells, turned to charge the magen. It ended poorly for him. Hannewig, by far the fastest of the party, ran for the exit, taking the long way around - unaware that Yarim was guarding it. Fortunately Hannewig's finely honed instincts alerted him to the invisible wizard's presence before he ran into him, and he raised his sword -- catching Yarim in the vitals and opening him up to his belly with a single blow. As the wizard fell, Kârgar broke off his attack on the rest of the party, rushing back to Yarim. Once he'd confirmed the wizard was dead, he declared his conflict with the party over and negiotiated a truce - handing over the Lady Lan and showing the party the location of Jafa Lan's vault. At the vault, the party was confronted with another problem -- Fatima Lan refused to believe that her father, and thus herself, were the result of an illicit affair of her grandmother and refused to open the vault. Rutger was able to convince her that she would never be able to rest until she learned the truth, and so Fatima approached the door, insistent it would not open for her - but it did. Inside they discovered a treasure trove of magical research, much of which was so dangerous that Sihyaa was forced to play cat-herder to keep anyone in the party from killing themselves. Knowing the party wouldn't accept simply relocking the vault and leaving its contents alone, he picked out a half dozen magical items that his companions could use, a collection of potions, as well as a dozen books on magic for his own library. The party also gathered every single object that was gold and not cursed with magic, netting themselves a small fortune. As a final parting gift, Kârgar spoke with the leader of the Aaracokra and bought the party 24 hours to leave the fortress unmolested, and so they loaded their treasure onto Sihyaa's enchanted carpet and returned to Magath. Upon returning to Magath, the party found the situation in the city much changed. Following the party's success against the Lachrymose Society, several of the Great Houses were left scrambling to hold their position, and Lord Arih Lan of House Bijan was able to pass through new laws reauthorizing the creation of a City Guard directly accountable to the Mayor's office, and by the time the party returns the first of the new Greyshields were on the street, imposing in their grey on grey uniforms. The Lord Mayor is in desperate need of men he can trust to lead his new Guard, and taps Rutger to serve as a Captain of the Guard. This leaves the future of the party in doubt, as Ulfgar and Hannewig have no interest in joining the Guard. Decisions are made for them when Rollo Torgenson tracks down Ulfgar, approaching under a peace oath. He brings news from Jaegerland of Ulfgar's father, who has fallen ill and is not expected to survive the winter. Rollo tells Ulfgar that a ship is leaving Magath in the morning for the Jaegerland, the last ship expected to sail north before the winter ice chokes off the sea. Meanwhile, the Lady Seeta Zadi invites Hannewig deeper into her conspiracy, and reveals to him her long term plan to eliminate her father and seize control of House Yak-Ilat. She wants Hannewig at her side when she makes her move, but she needs him to be...better, and towards that end she sends him off with the assassin Adin Amir to train in the secret arts of the Black Lotus Assassins. Shaz-ri-Zonni, deciding he's had enough of Hrani society, returns to the Shem, while Sihyaa al-Ni decides to invest some of his fortune into a tower in Magath and set up shop as a sage and freelance wizard. Hannewig, Mite, Rutger, Sihyaa al-Ni and Ulfgar receive 3 experience points. Rutger receives Perk: Local Police Powers. Sihyaa al-Ni receives perk Base: Cozy Little Tower

I already have a copy of Cartoon Action Hour, and I have this miniature: And you better believe I assembled him with the Cobra Commander head. Basically I'm way ahead of the curve on this one. ...wait, does this mean I'm finally hip?

Just something that looks good at 28mm scale. These are the size he uses: EDIT: I just went ahead and bought some. On Amazon you can get 72 x 2.5" Dinos for $9 -- and that includes free shipping. So need to rob your kids, and this way I can glue them to bases.

Okay, I'll buy a couple tubes of cheapo dinosaurs off Amazon and print up copies of the rules.

One of the guys on Lead Adventure just sent me demo rules for his game DinoProof. The premise is basically that Jurassic Park has taken over most of the world, and you play a Slayer - part reality show contestant, part professional hunter -- and air-drop into a location full of dinosaurs, where you try to rack up a higher kill count than the other players. It looks really silly and fun. Anyone want to give it a shot?

Oh, that's a shame.

How about 5:30, and we do a straight kill mission. The rolled objectives will complicate things enough, and the scenarios can be really tricky to keep track of their special rules.

Sure. Let's do 200 points, and we'll bug the [big bad swear word] out of Nathon when we get stuck.

I'm down for some Frostgrave, and I'd like to get in some Warlands or Infinity.

This evening the players were Hannewig, Mite, Rutger, Shaz-ri-Zonni, Sihyaa al-Ni and Ulfgar. Having been trapped outside the fortress, Hannewig was forced to find an alternate entrance. His meager climbing skills were put to the test, but after a half-dozen falls and some bruised bones he managed to climb through a window 15 meters off the ground. Inside the fortress he found dusty and long abandoned quarters for the soldiers who once lived there. Several of the rooms he investigated were stuffed with construction supplies, Soon he discovered a room full of machinery with a pair of horses attached to a wheel, guarded by a single bandit, whom he quickly dispatched after learning the man was one of a dozen ruffians . Meanwhile inside the fortress, the rest of the expedition had reached the next room in their path deeper into the fortress. A pair of obvious spiked sliding walls protected the keys, with several obvious pressure plates. However the party was confounded when nothing they did would activate the walls, and they were able to easily take the key -- not knowing that Hannewig was moving above them and had killed the operator who was supposed to set the machines in motion. Hannewig continued deeper into the fortress and found himself following behind Saidi Yarim and Kârgar, carrying Dame Laina Lan. He overhears enough of their conversation to learn they are holding a mysterious prisoner in the highest tower, and that the true purpose of the maze is to break Fatima Lan's spirit, though Hannewig doesn't learn the reason they want Fatima's spirit broken. Hannewig is forced to stop following the pair when they pass through a chamber guarded by four ruffians from the gang. Hannewig circled back but could find no other route, so he decided to take out the guards -- they proved to be poor fighters. Meanwhile the rest of the expedition find themselves in a strange room. The door opened into a caged-off area of a much larger chamber, which has three more doors. A bell-shaped contraption with a door sits inside the cage. Inscribed on the bell is "Safe Passage For One," and opening the door reveals a velvet lined interior and bench seat. The contraption is bracketed onto a steel rail that leads out of the caged-off area via a swinging gate. Opening the gate also causes a door at the far end of the room to open, and its clear that some sort of monster is lurking behind the door. After some deliberation, the party agrees that Fatima should get inside the device and they'll try to move it along the rail to the exit. As they drag the heavy throne into the larger chamber, the monsters come pouring out -- four grells! Grells are massive floating brains with beaks and jellyfish-like tentacles that deliver a paralytic shock. The grells prove to be little challenge to the party and are soon dispatched. Hannewig continues upstairs, almost catching up with Yarim and his servant, but they exit the stairwell on the sixth floor, and he continues all the way to the 11th floor, where much to his surprise he discovers Mite! Mite has been held prisoner, his powers suppressed by a drugged incense, by Yarim for the last two weeks. The day after the raid on the Lachrymose Society, Mite had been attacked by assassin just as the other party members had. Afterwards he tried to find the rest of the party, and eventually tracked Hannewig to House Bijan where he chanced to cross path with Yarim. Yarim had recognized Mite's altered nature immediately, and attacked Mite, somehow overwhelming him. Mite had woken in the tower, and the drugged smoke had kept him to insensate to act. Once Hannewig gets him free from the smoke, Mite quickly returns to form and finds his powers restored. Together they return downstairs, testing more doors. They open a door into a massive chamber full of strange machinery just as the rest of the expedition enters the same chamber a floor down. Ulfgar tosses up a rope and the party is together once again. Mite, Rutger, Shaz-ri-Zonni, Sihyaa al-Ni and Ulfgar. receive +1 Sight PER Checks and 1 experience points. Hannewig receives +2 Climbing and +2 Lockpicking

So Eli and I played a game and I'm a bit underwhelmed. The game play was just okay -- I'm really not a fan of how hitting and damage is resolved, it's very swingy and its far too easy to kill models for the low model count of the game. The bigger issue I had is that without a handicapping method, or a very structured playoff system, as a campaign game its basically unplayable. Eli only had three games on me, and his warband was so much more effective than mine that it made the game feel completely unfair and lopsided. I was so outclassed that I ended feeling the only strategy I could engage in was to grab the two closest treasure, flee the board, and surrender the game to Eli. Except my apprentice died (he was knocked unconcious and rolled a 2 on his survival test, so dead dead), I didn't get enough treasure (only 2) to buy a new one, while Eli got 4 treasures and killed a giant worm for 100XP. So I tore up my warband and threw it away because going into a new game I would be at a 70 Gold disadvantage against a new warband, but my likely next opponent would be...Eli. So instead of facing him with his +300 Gold, +3 Levels advantage, I'd be facing him with a +570 Gold, +5 Levels advantage. Even creating a new warband, I would still be at a greater disadvantage than the first game. And this advantage will only continue to grow, especially if Eli is able to get in more games than me -- and given that this is Eli were talking about, he will. Without some way of addressing this imbalance, I just don't see this game as viable. If there are only two other players (say Jim and Eli), and they play more regularly than I do, then the only thing this game has to offer is the chance to get curbstomped by an ever more ridiculous margin as time goes by, which is a strong incentive to simply never play in the first place.

Let's just play after.

Sure! I'll proxy some minis for my warband.

This is what my warband looks like, I think I'd like to get in a game next week (depending on when my minis show up): The Cult of the Ebon Eye Xantharxes - Wizard (Summoner) Xyrzak - Apprentice Darklighter (Treasure Hunter) Ironmark (Marksman) Nimblejack (Thief) Slipshadow (Thief) Swiftfoot (Thief) Backbiter (Thug) Cutthroat (Thug) Legbreaker (Thug)

Yeah, that was what I was thinking.

1/64th is supposedly the scale that Hot Wheels and Matchbox cars use, but since both are kids toys there is some serious variation in scaling -- scale is basically "to fit on the blistercard." So your standard cars tend to be 1/64, your bigger trucks lean more towards 1/72, and your smaller cars and bikes can be as big as 1/48.

If you don't find anyone to play with tomorrow I will definitely play a game next week. Though I barely understand the rules, so fair warning.