How the time does fly...

I can't believe I haven't written since September. Mostly busy with 'real life' stuff added with the collapse of my gaming group made it hard for me to find not only the time but also topics to write about. Let's go over some of the things I usually talk about, shall we?

Wargaming:

Not much going on here, due to lack of time to play. Spinespur is on the shelf until I finish up the last of my queue (which I had hoped to have done before the new stuff arrived...) plus I wanted to make some more terrain to use for the game.
As for Warhammer, I find myself just not motivated to play. Don't get me wrong, I like the game and have fun playing, but I just don't want to play. And when I don't want to play, I don't want to paint. I'll keep chugging along, however, and try to at least finish my Chaos Space Marines before too long. Once I get those guys finished, then it's on to the Imperial Guard... Oh, god, why did I buy so many minis and not paint them? Why, god, why?
Moving on to Malifaux, I've been putting my forces on hold while I waited for the 2e update as well as my Happy Seppuku base stamps (which I will discuss in a little bit here). Now that my stamp has arrived, I hope to get them standing and buy the new book so I can finally get a game in. I'm hearing some really good things about the game so I am very much looking forward to it.

Kickstarter:

Now it's time for a run down of the various Kickstarters I'm waiting on and have received rewards from -

SpineSpur:
Merv just sent out the Street Chum mini-game, so be sure to check your updates. I got mine and my computer refuses to figure out exactly what kind of file it is. I'll try a few more things before I send an email, but if you have any advice, let me know. As for the rest of the rewards, the minis, Merv has said they'll be a little late. That's fine. He's communicating the issues as they happen (books misprinted, screw up in the drafting program, etc) so I was expecting a delay of some kind. I can't hold the mistakes and just general bad luck of others on him. I'm looking forward to my minis and playing some bigger games.

Cyberpunk playing cards:
I got these a while back and they're pretty good. Good art, good quality cards and on-time rewards. These guys know what they're doing. I'm glad I backed the project and look forward for finding an excuse to use them. My only complaint, and it is a small one, is the box doesn't look like it'll take much abuse before it starts to fall apart. Like I said, small complaint.

Base stamps:
Well, again, these guys delivered on time, which is a point for them. I'm not so sure about the base stamp, however. I got the Old World: Flagstone stamp and I'm not 100% impressed. A friend pointed out that things got a bit rushed and they weren't able to spend as much time working on the stamps before they shipped them. The problem with my stamp is some flash and a large crack on the side of the stamp where the letter "R" should be. I can go over the stamp myself and clean up the flash, but the crack worries me about the longevity of the stamp. If I had bought this from them without a Kickstarter, I'd politely ask for a replacement. But since it was Kickstarter, I'm willing to cut them some slack. I'll write up some more about the stamp when I get a chance to work with it.

Tears of a Machine RPG:
Looking forward to getting my PDF and my little card thing. The scheduled release of the product for us backers is this month, but with the holidays going on, I'm guessing it's going to miss it. So long as the creator keeps communicating (which he does okay at), that'll be alright. Once it does it, I think I'm going to try a new semi-regular article trying to be 'journalistic' about RPGs. Something that goes in to the art, the content of the game, the mechanics and just trying to be fair about the thing. After I do that, I'm so going to run a game of it! This will also be a test for future backing of RPGs as I've never done it before this one.

Deck of Legends:
Well, this one has missed delivery date, and I'm not sure what's going on. I've been so busy (and had a problem with my email account), so I could have some gaps in updates. I do know that there have been a few changes with the art as well as a massively delayed stretch goal (which was something from another person, not the creator). But, since the art is fantastic, I'm willing to quietly wait a few extra weeks for a quality product.

Other articles and etc -

I haven't done another Past From The Past because I can't decide if I want to do Teenagers From Outer Space or Cyberpunk 2020. I'll be putting up another poll for you to vote on.

In other news, we found out a while ago that the World of Warcraft TCG went under because of Blizzard. I think it's a damn shame and shame on Blizzard for pulling the plug. I never played WoW but I do have fond memories of the RTS games, as well as knowing several people that got into the card game because of the MMORPG, or went back to it after playing the card game. I don't know what prompted the end of the project, but I wonder about it. I don't know if Blizzard didn't think they were making enough money off of the game (possible) or if they thought that Cryptozoic wasn't able to focus enough of their line as they wanted (again, possible). Either way, I'm bummed and haven't really played since I got the news. Because this is just what I needed: another dead card game to take up room in my place.

As some of you may have noticed, I commented that I had backed the Bones II Kickstarter but never wrote about it. Well, thanks to 'real life' I had to cancel my pledge and deal with some stuff. I could have kept it at $1 and then upped it later, but I didn't want to tempt myself to blow all my money on little plastic men, especially when there are several hundred others that need paint and bases and primer and... Well, you get the point. I'll gladly buy more Bones from Reaper when they get released in addition to the metals I already want. If there's a Bones III, I'll look in to backing that one, too.

There you go, folks. Let me know what you think and for those of you choosing to celebrate the holidays a merry 'Bah Humbug' to you all!

Edit: I'm also thinking about putting out some setting ideas for games up here. If you're interested in those, please leave a comment. I may or may not include rules, that will depend on the legality of doing so.

Friday Night Game: All Flesh Must Be Eaten one-shot

Since my Evil Campaign fell apart for various reasons (player not showing up, character deaths and another player moving out of town for school), my gaming group has started doing one-shot games on Friday nights. This week, Jay started running an All Flesh Must Be Eaten game with three of us playing (including myself).

The Low-Down:
A year ago, the dead began to walk. Unlike zombies in most fiction, these things were fast, smart and hard to put down. The army set up a safe zone, but the area shrank in size because they couldn't hold that much ground. Before long the area was the size of a small town with only a few dozen souls surviving the horrors outside the fence. The military has total control over the remaining survivors, and while they don't live in total squalor, many of them get just enough to get by. The military sends out sanctioned civilian teams to scavenge the surrounding area for supplies, but the teams don't get to keep what they find and they only get to bring back what they're told to get. This has allowed a black market supplied by illegal teams. Our team is one of those teams.

The characters:

Phil, the Vietnam vet (played by me): A tough old son of a bitch, jack-of-all-trades that still has some issues to work out from his time In Country. Phil has survived because of the skills and 'sixth sense' he developed in the jungles of south east Asia. It doesn't hurt that he's a crack shot with a rifle and a fair shot with just about any other kind of gun. He isn't all that great in melee because his targets rarely get that close. Calls the zombies 'Charlies.'

Doc, the guitar playing former paramedic: The character that can patch us up when we take a bullet or a zombie bite, Doc is pretty cautious and also survived due to his own special senses. While not a crack shot or a master brawler, Doc can hold his own in a fight.

Nutjob, the quantum physicist, martial artist, occultist that talks to grass (no, I am not making any of that up, it's all on his character sheet): Nutjob is the melee hitter of the group but isn't exactly all there up stairs. He will engage in conversations with the grass and do the craziest things in combat.

Our adventure begins as we leave the compound via a secret tunnel under the fences and part of the outside world. Halfway down the tunnel, the roof has partially collapsed. We can still fit through the gap, but the tunnel is now exposed to open air and whatever else is out there. Nutjob pokes his head out of the hole and sees one of the compound's guards standing in what once was a suburban backyard, having a smoke. Getting distracted by the grass, Phil tries to pull him back down, only to get kung-fu kicked aside. Eventually, Nutjob remembers what we're suppose to be doing and the three of us keep moving down the tunnel... To find another guard waiting at the end of the tunnel. Phil manages to make enough noise so ever a deaf rock would know he was there. A fight starts as both guards start firing into the tunnel, with Phil blowing the leg off of one of them and Nutjob shattering the arm of another, sending him into shock. The group grabs a few things, including one of the M-16's, an armor vest and a helmet, then hides the bodies.
Even knowing their way back might be blown, the group moves on towards their next objective, a medical clinic that hasn't been hit yet. While moving around the dead town, gunshots and screams ring out from a near-by apartment building. Nutjob runs off to help out, while the weighed down Doc trails behind (guess who took the armor?), with Phil unwilling to abandon the medic. When Nutjob reaches the third floor hallways, he finds two zombies beating on the door of one of the apartments, trying to get in. Nutjob doesn't even hesitate, and starts to fire at the zombies with his .45 handgun. While Phil and Doc keep running to help their... Team member, the zombies close on Nutjob and he goes all Bruce Lee on their undead asses. When the others do arrive, they find Nutjob bleeding from some serious scratches and one of the zombies already down for the count. Unable to risk hitting Nutjob (at least while Doc is watching), Phil tries to draw a bead on the 'Charlie' and tells Nutjob to get down. Of course, the god damn screwball doesn't listen but he does manage to take care of the zombie on his own. While Doc checks out Nutjob, Phil kicks in the door they the zombies were beating on and finds a man fighting for his life against another zombie and another man bleeding from his neck. Unwilling to risk killing or deafening the man, he calls for help and rushes to the wounded man. Nutjob responds to the call, tackling the zombie, while Phil and Doc try to save the wounded man's life. Nutjob kicks the zombie out of the window and then jumps out after it, landing on the top of a car. While Doc keeps working on the bleeding man, Phil takes the men's guns and tells the other survivor to hang tight while they finish stabilizing the wounded man. He finds out that these men are an official scavenging team, and Phil 'suggests' they forget all about them. Meanwhile, Nutjob kicks a door off the car he landed on and finishes the zombie. Once everyone is ready, the team moves on, leaving the other survivors their guns and moving out of the area.
The team arrives at the clinic and has a quick lunch before moving in to the clinic. Phil and Doc both get a sense something is 'wrong' with the clinic, while Nutjob kung-fu's the door open. After a moment, a loud rumbling comes from inside the clinic and an 8' 7" monster of a zombie comes running out of the shattered doors. With pulsing blue veins and tough grey skin, the team manages to keep their bladders under control before the thing charges them. Doc puts a round in the thing's head, blowing out a chunk, while Phil opens fire with his rifle. He puts one in the center of the monster's chest, then as the thing keeps coming, puts the last four rounds in the creature's leg hoping to slow it down. Nutjob, having failed to climb the building, runs up and manages to get on it's shoulders and reaches his hand inside the thing's brains. He starts pulling while it thrashes around, before finally severing the monster's spine with his knife. Carefully, Doc and Phil approach the monster, only to find the thing is still functioning with it's brain missing and the spine severed. Phil reloads his rifle and puts a round in the heart. The beast finally dies and begins to shrink. Nutjob determines that the monster, and the rest of the zombies, are all some kind of Black Magic creations. After searching the clinic, the team finds a room full of gore. Disturbed, but unwilling to leave empty handed, they recover a large amount of supplies. They head out, looking to make it to their dead-drop so they can leave the supplies somewhere safe before heading back to the compound.
As they get close to the drop site, they see a horde of midget zombies milling around a tall building, on the ground and on top of the building. They fall back to a tall building and scale a fire escape to get to the top. As they reach the top, a loud scream is carried on the wind from the horde of sawed-off zombies, picked up by many more voices. When they check the tower, the zombies are gone, but the second story of the building (and perhaps lower) is covered in gore.
Our team takes a deep breath to think....

And that's where we ended the game for the night. After some discussion, we decided to continue the game next week. Stay tuned...

Some New Additions

A very quick update here about the new pages. After giving it some thought, I figured putting up some more pages would help me keep track of my Kickstarters and games I sink money into.

This weekend, I hope to put up another Blast From The Past and next week I should have a pile of painted Bones to show off.