Gailbraithe

Game: Song of Blades and Heroes Rules: $15 for the rulebook on Amazon, or $8 for the pdf at Ganesha Games website. Time: 30 mins - 2 hours, depending on army size Models: Any fantasy models in any scale; designed to be model neutral. Why you should play Song of Blades and Heroes: 1) Nominee for the 2008 Origins Award for “Best Miniature Rules” 2) Use a simple web app to custom build units around the miniatures you want to use. 3) Incredibly simple rules still allow for complex strategy and diverse armies. 4) Excellent for pick-up games. 5) Has numerous expansions that add campaign play and other options.

Goddamn Eli, you really do play everything.

Spinespur There are some beings so evil, so vile and so horrific that even Hell itself is not sufficient punishment. For these, the worst of the worst, there is Spinespur -- a city that exists entirely within a pocket dimension, where no one ever really dies, and history's most vile sociopaths and ax killers are given free reign to terrorize each other. But something is wrong with Spinespur, and the city keeps growing -- growing by pulling bits and pieces of the real world into itself, and sometimes dragging the innocent in as well. War rages across the city has different evil factions vie for control, and the rare faction of heroes fights to simply survive another night. The factions include Carinvale, a collection of perverts and sex fiends lead by the disturbing Mr. Jingles; the cannibalistic farmhands of Slaughterhouse, who control the countryside; the dark mysticism of the Church of Hate lead by the Anti-Pope; the Redeemers, reformed killers striving to rise above their ignoble origins, and the Men of G.O.D. who use powerful Angelic technology in a desperate campaign to protect the innocents trapped in this hellish realm. Rules: The rules are very accessible, while also being robust and offer an amazing range of options despite their fundamental simplicity . The game uses a "blood die" mechanic where one rolls 3d6 to hit with 2 dice of one color and 1 die of an alternate color, and the alternate die also doubles as your damage roll. The models are well-balanced against each other with a range of options and abilities that make for interesting play. I'd compare it to Infinity -- it doesn't have a reaction system, but models have lots of skills that work a lot like Infinity skills. Models: 5-8 per side. Many proxies available though the actual minis for the game are largely reasonably priced. Some characters in the main rulebook don't have models yet and must be proxied. Average Length of Game: 1 - 1.5 hours for a typical skirmish. Why you should play Spinespur: 1) The rules are mind-blowingly good. Easy to understand and clearly written, yet very powerful with lots of options. You can kill other models and take their weapons! Terrain actually matters! 2) I have models for all the factions and will happily run a demo game for you. If you like the game, it's pretty easy to get started: $25 for the rulebook, plus 8 models at an average of $9/model, so less than $100. 3) Games play quickly and you can generally get 2 or 3 games in a single night. 4) As a Horror themed skirmish game, Spinespur draws heavily on 80's slasher flicks and horror comedies and has an very offbeat and different feel from your typical fantasy and sci-fi. Spinespur tends to be comically gory, and is sometimes flat-out immature, but nobody says you have to play the clown rapist... CHEERS!

This evening the players were Hannewig, Rutger, Shaz-ri-Zonni, Ulfgar and new player Loren as Sihyaa al-Ni. In the city of Quado, High Inquistor Corvo calls on the wizard Sihyaa al-Ni. Sihyaa had once been a rising star in the ranks of the Magisterium, the ancient guild of wizards who reject the dark arts and have sworn to use magic only in service of the people, but had been forced to resign from the organization when he violated the local tower's inner sanctum and used an ancient tome of darkest sorcery to summon a daemon, a terrible violation of the guild's laws. Most within the guild were ready to forgive him -- he had performed the spell only because the daemon, a plague daemon, had transformed itself into a contagion that threaten to kill all within Quado's walls, and could only be captured by first summoning it. The daemon had already laid low the guild's leaders, and so Sihyaa could not get the proper permission, but had acted under the direct authority of Corvo. Sadly, none of these extenuating circumstances could save Sihyaa when random lottery placed his bitter rival Kandi Nari in charge of his trial. Nari had used the opportunity to rid himself once and for all of the more talented and better liked Sihyaa, and though all had protested the trial's outcome, Sihyaa was stripped of his position within the Magisterium. Now Sihyaa found himself at odd ends, a guild magician with no guild. Inquisitor Corvo, who feels responsible for Siyhaa's fall from grace, offered the wizard an opportunity to earn some coin and support himself. Corvo's spies have been tracking a rogue sorcerer, Saidi Yarim, for several years. Yarim was an apprentice training at the Magisterium's college at the same time Sihyaa was completing his own apprenticeship and had made his mark by doing groundbreaking research in Dream Magic, but was expelled from the Magisterium under a cloud of suspicion when several women at the university were assaulted in eerily similar nightmares. Yarim had avoided running afoul of any of the Magisterium's laws since then, but the Inquisition had kept tabs on him anyways. The sorcerer made several trips into the Horns of Hran, and though Corvo's agents had not followed him into the wilderness, it seemed likely he was exploring Kharhat Pol. In the last year Yarim had relocated to Magath and had been making inquiries about house Bijan. Now Dame Lan has launched a seemingly insane expedition to the ancient fortress and Yarim has disappeared. Corvo fears the two are connected and that Yarim has discovered the rumored vault of the wizard Jafa Lan, and he wants Sihyaa to travel to Kharhat Pol and discover if Yarim is behind Dame Lan's sudden desire to return to Kharhat Pol. Using a spell to enchant a carpet, Sihyaa began the long flight to the Horns of Hran. Meanwhile after seeing Gus Greenshale safely on his way, the Bijan Expedition continued on towards Kharhat Pol, only to discover that a section of the road had collapsed and was impassable. Captain Bury suggested the Expedition turn back for Magath, but Dame Lan insisted they continue forward -- even if it necessitated building a new bridge. Bury gave up the argument and sent Ulfgar and four of the House Guard back down into the valley to brave the crystalwings and harvest trees, while the remainder of the Expedition returned to the safety of the ruined inn they had taken shelter in the night before. Sihyaa came across Ulfgar and the Guards and introduced himself, explaining his mission. Ulfgar agreed to take Sihyaa back to meet the rest of the group. As they made the trek up out of the valley, Sihyaa scans the warriors with his magic sight and realizes one of the Guards, Saeed, has been affected by mind-altering magic. What Ulfgar didn't know was that the camp was under attack! Five Aarakocra warriors -- parrot-like birdmen -- announce their displeasure at discovering humans in the high mountain valley by dropping an 40 kg rock from several hundred meters in the air directly onto Manjoon, one of the House Guards. Seconds later the warriors fly through camp hurling nets over half the group before peppering the rest with light javelins. Rutger, Captain Bury and the House Guard Saroush managed to return fire with their crossbows, with Saroush even sending one of the creatures tumbling to its death, but the Aarakocra had no interest in standing and fighting, and as soon as they ran out of javelins they fled off into the sky. In the aftermath, Captain Bury demanded the expedition return to Magath, but Dame Lan was adamant that they could overcome this new challenge as well, and an argument broke out amongst the expedition with everyone taking a side. When Ulfgar returned with a wizard in tow, the argument was decided for pressing on. With the assistance of Sihyaa's magic, the expedition was able to reach Kharhat Pol by midday of the next day. KHARHAT POL Reaching the fortress requires crossing a broad parade ground, and the party can see dozens of aarakocra circling the highest tower of Kharhat Pol. Sihyaa shrouds the party with an invisibility spell and begins making the crossing, but the spell fades before they've reached the halfway point. Sihyaa is able to recast the spell, but the aarakocra have spotted them and the skies fill with hundreds of the birdmen. The party races for the fortress but the wagon transporting the Lan noblewomen breaks an axle and its wheel is sent careening off. Sihyaa's spell runs out as they are still unloading the noble ladies, and there is no time to cast it again -- with hundreds of aarakocra circling above they can only run as javelins pour from the sky like rain. Two of the guardsmen, Balthazar and Sha'Trevar, fall under the assault, but the rest of the expedition is able to reach the safety of the gates of Kharhat Pol. Seconds after the expedition enters the fortress, the aarakocra break off their attack. One of the guardsmen, Casper, seizes a lever and causes a massive iron gate to fall -- almost crushing Hannewig and killing his horse. Meanwhile two more of the guardsmen, Saeed and Bahram, seize hold of Captain Bury and slit his throat. As the confused survivors try to make sense of the sudden betrayal they realize they are not alone, as standing at the far end of the courtyard is a strange bald man dressed in regaly finery with emerald green skin. He is a gens magica, or magically created life, of the Galvanic Magen variety, and the expedition has run straight into his trap. Hannewig, Rutger, Shaz-ri, Sihyaa and Ulfgar are awarded 2 experience points.

Already in my backpack, booyah!

Game goes from 6 pm to 10 pm, though we typically wrap up around 9:30.

This is my favorite CGP Grey video. Warning: It's kind of terrifying:

Sure thing! I will have your character ready for you.

They're copyrighted and can't be digitally reproduced and distributed legally, even if out of print. Sadly the law does not have a "But I can't buy it legally!" exception.

I was looking around the net for stuff to go with this game, and I found some cool s#!t: Stan Johnson Miniatures makes a whole line of Road Warrior inspired models in 20mm scale. Their line includes drivers, passengers firing out windows, and a nice cheap set of bikes kitted out with guns. Elhiem Figures makes post-apocalyptic survivors. No drivers or gunners, but plenty of post-apocalyptic guys and gals. Sgts' Mess has goodies for mechanicals with buckets of realistic guns and other gear for modifying your Hot Wheels. Rebel Minis has a Post Apocalyptic Gang in 15mm scale, so a little small, but at $11 for 21 models, this could be a cheap way to make large mobs of pedestrians. I also ordered a few 1:64 scale vehicles to build my own fleet, and while I was Amazon I picked up two big rigs -- one with a water/fuel tank, another transporting a massive power generator. I will happily give these to Sherbert to paint up for use in scenarios. I also picked up a few "special" minis and a rather famous car for a very unique scenario I thought up... (one clue: this car has to go 88 miles per hour....)

Okay!

Is your BiL going to be down this week? Because if he is, I'll bring Infinity, and if he's not, I'll bring KoW.

I'm looking to play a game of Kings of War. I've got 2000 points of Twilight Kin ready to go. But I might have agreed to play Nathon's brother-in-law a game of Infinity. Nathon?

So I decided to do some lazy internet research. So we've got Ladybaby, posted above, who are universally agreed to be cashing in on the success of the band that seems to have started it all, Babymetal: And then there's Fruitpochette, who apparently get accused of riding Babymetal's coattails but actually formed before Babymetal broke big: Fruitpochette is somehow related to Hime Kyun Fruit Can (wtf is up with that name?): But that's barely metal, and I checked out a few of the other songs and this sing seems to be their most metal song. Okay, and then there is Death Rabbits, which is apparently three ten year old Idol singers and...a...Nazi Stormtrooper of Death? I don't know what the f*ck is going on here but it's hilarious: That stormtrooper dude is in all of their videos, so he's like an actual member of the band. Again, hilarious. Never stop being you, Japan. Then we have Band-Maid, which is definitely someone's fetish: Bit more hard rock than heavy metal though. If you go down that rabbit hole, you'll find a lot of bands like Destrose: But at that point you're really getting away from J-Pop as an influence. I mean that's basically just four Japanese chicks shredding. At any rate, I suspect we'll see more bands like Babymetal in the future. Pretty much every article I read

This evening the players were Hannewig, Rutger, Shaz-ri-Zonni, and Ulfgar. In years past, when Kharhat Pol still stood and the armies of Hran patrolled the passes of the Horns of Hran, no travelers were allowed on the Southern Road which winds through the lowlands of the Horns of Hran during the month long festival of Mystarana. For it was during Mystarana, at the height of summer, when the crystalwings began their molt. Looking for all the world like giant dragonflies, a crystalwing is a fourteen foot long monstrosity with chitin so thick it repels sword and arrow, infused with powerful antimagic properties. In its larval stage it lives as a nymph in the rivers that run along the valley floor, crawling out of the water and up large trees or scaling cliffs to find a place where it can shed its skin and emerge as an adult crystalwing -- a voracious and hungry crystalwing. It's been decades since an army patrolled the area and no one remains to close the road for the Bijan Expedition. The expedition continues on after their encounter in Farnot, entering into the lowland valley and discovering that the valley has swallowed the road. When the wagons get stuck at a collapsed bridge, the expedition leader -- Captain Adand Bury -- sends Shaz-ri ahead to find a path, with Hannewig, Ulfgar and Rutger as back-up. The Lady Fatima Lan insists on riding along with the group, not willing to sit idly while the Bijan House Guard dissemble the wagon and ferry it across the small gorge the collapsed bridge once spanned. As they range ahead of the wagon, the party comes across numerous shed husks of molted crystalwings. Rutger falls behind the group, finding it difficult to control his horse in the rough terrain. Fatima gives him some tips, then suggests they stop to water the mounts. Fatima spots a deer on the far side of the river and moments later a crystalwings swoops out of the sky and snatches the deer up, flying off with it while Fatima watches in amazement. Fortunately Rutger sees the crystalwing nymph lurking in the river, and snatches Fatima out of the way before the creature can make a meal of her -- taking a brutal hit himself. The rest of the party, alerted by Fatima's screams, rushes to assist and the nymph quickly falls under their hail of attacks. The next day the party reaches the intersection of the old Southern Road and the Emperor's Road, which is carved into the side of the rising mountains. As they begin the arduous climb over the peaks the party hears cries of distress ahead of them. Captain Bury orders the PCs to stay with the wagons, but they rush ahead and discovered a dwarf in dire distress. A crystalwing is trying to snatch up his mule, and the animal has backed away in terror -- which has sent the wagon its pulling off the road. The dwarf, Gus Greenshale, struggles to keep the teetering wagon from falling while futilely trying to drive away the crystalwing. The PCs race to his rescue, with Shaz-ri driving the creature off with his arrows while Ulfgar and Rutger drag the wagon back onto the road. The crystalwing slashes in for another attack and mortally wounds Rutger, only to be brained senseless by a blow from Ulfgar and sent plummeting into the canyon below. The grateful Greenshales repays the party's kindness by handing over his last bottle of a magical wine from Plandail that cures all wounds, and Rutger is able to heal back his terrible injury. The expedition continues travelling with Greenshale until they come to the ruins of a long abandoned inn where the parties settle down for the night. After making camp, Rutger and the guards teach Hannewig and Ulfgar how to play Hrani poker, but it's Gus who takes everyone's money. In the morning Gus gives Rutger and Ulfgar each an ancient gold coin taken from the horde of one of the Dragon Lords, telling them to give the coin to the dwarves who live in the dwarven enclave of Quado and they'll receive a proper award. Hannewig and Ulfgar receive 1 experience and Gambling (Hrani Poker) 11- Rutger receives 1 experience and Riding 10- Shar-ri-Zonni receives 2 experience points

Awesome!

I'm going to be there. I want to play Infinity or Netrunner, but I'd be down to play Saga or something else.

...yeah, I'm not even going to try to top that.

I need a really clean version of the logo, preferably in .png or .tiff format. And a sunny day.

Cool, thanks Jim. I'll have to sit down and see what I can field.

Why isn't there an army list for the Twilight Kin? Dammit, I already have a Dark Elf army.

I'd like someone to teach me how to play this game.

I have two banners with nothing printed on them that I had made for a project I abandoned. Both are 3' x 2', and hang from a bar with a brass chain. One is purple, the other is red. I could silkscreen the warhamster logo in black on the red one, that'd look pretty sweet.

This evening the players were Hannewig, Rutger, Shaz-ri-Zonni, and Ulfgar. Early in the morning of Ometasomer Ometa Waterdai 355,​ the Bijan Expedition left Magath heading north and east for the Horns of Hran. The first few days of uneventful travel took them through farmland kept pacified by patrols from the city, with the party bonding with the Bijan House Guards they'll be fighting alongside over a night of drinking and five-finger filet. They travel with the merchant Maatu al-Gha, who does business with a few villages that lie beyond the patrols. On the fourth day, they arrive in the village of Farnot, a tiny hamlet home to a few dozen families. Desperately poor and far outside the influence of the city, Farnot is the last trace of civilization before the vast wilderness of the Horns. The party gathers in Farnot's sole unnamed pub for dinner, and Shaz-ri senses something ominous in the air. Rutger, noting Shaz's alarm, scans the crowd and finds a familiar face hiding amongst them. A year back, Rutger had helped expose a would-be revolutionary who had been stirring foment in Magath. His name was Sadi Beni, and he'd been exiled from the Free Cities for his crimes. Sadi spotted Rutger noticing him and ducked out through the back of the pub. Rutger followed after him, but lost him amongst the thicket of buildings and shadows of night. After alerting the rest of the party, Rutger and Shaz informed Captain Adand Bury of Beni's presence in the town and the Captain posted guards to keep watch through the night. The following morning several women from the village brought the expedition breakfast, and though Shaz-ri once again detected something ominous in the air, they ate the meal and set off on the road, eager to leave Farnot behind them. However, Sadi Beni had hatched a plan as soon as he saw the expedition, a plan to kidnap the two noblewomen they guarded and raise a ransom for them. Had Rutger followed him successfully, he would have seen Beni hed into the forest to gather red ettercap sorrels. Early in the morning he'd given the toxic mushrooms to one of the village women to mix in with a breakfast for the expedition, while he and dozen half of the younger men of the village headed out on the north road to prepare an ambush. As the morning turned to midday, the expedition found themselves overcome with terrible stomach aches and cramps. By noon the Bijan House Guard were barely capable of remaining in their saddles, and the party wasn't doing much better. Then, as they came over a rise, they saw the ambush and their fears were confirmed. Sadi Beni had organized a dozen and half of the farmers into a makeshift revolutionary army, and by dumping water onto the road had turned into a muddy quagmire. Shaz-ri's warning stopped the wagons from rolling into the trap, but the poorly trained peasant farmers attacked anyways. With the Bijan guards unable to act, it was up to the party to save the day. Rutger and Ulfgar -- both fighting against nausea -- promptly fell off their horses, while Hannewig's attempt to charge the onrushing farmers managed only to drive his lance into a tree, dismounting him. A pitched battle followed, as the sick heroes found themselves fighting both the deleterious effects of the mushrooms and the poorly trained would-be revolutionaries. It was only when Ulfgar drew his axe and hewed two of the peasants in twain with a single mighty blow that the Revolutionary Army of Farnot realized they were outmatched, poison or no, and was thus routed - a decision made all the easier when Rutger got hold of Sadi Beni. The fool really believed himself a general up to the last, and Rutger was forced to end his life. With the farmers in full retreat, the party was able to navigate around the quagmire and continue on their way. They made camp for the night, and in the morning set out again and catch their first glimpse of the Horns of Hran. Hannewig, Rutger Shaz-ri-Zonni and Ulfgar are awarded 1 experience point and Gambling (Five-Finger Filet) 11-.