Guest Post

A good buddy of mine is a Canadian ex patriot living in Japan right now and since we gamed together for years a good chunk of our emailed correspondence is Nerd related, the rest is.... well Hockey. Recently he came up with something hilarious so we figured we should post it here. Enjoy.

Pies Iesu domine, dona eis requiem . . . Whack!
In a recent side conversation Mr. Misanthropy and I have been
discussing that other obsession that all us gamers share
(aside from nerding it up). You know it, Mr. Misanthropy knows it, I
know it, and Rich Burlew knows it well (Oots#136 It's Not a Gaming
Session Until Someone Quotes Monty Python). We can all do the
Constitutional Peasant in our sleep or maybe that`s just me.

But have you ever really thought, how well would the Pythons do in a
gaming environment? I think the answer is not very well. Those pasty
Cambridge boys would be chopped into bait faster than you can say Fish
Slapping Dance. But one of their immortal creations would easily
survive and terrorize even the most hardened group of gamers.

So here, for your enjoyment and edification is the Fiendish Vorpal Bunny:


Fiendish Vorpal Bunny
Tiny Magical Beast

Hit Dice: 4D10-4 (18)
Initiative: +5
Speed: 30ft
AC: 18(dexterity, dodge, tiny size)/ touch 18/ flatfooted 12
Base Attack/Grapple: +9/-5
Attack: Bite 1d4-3 (15-20)
Space/Reach: 0/0 ft
Special Attacks: Keen Vorpal Bite, Pounce
Special Qualities:
Damage reduction 10/fire, Low-light vision
Saves:
- Fortitude: +2
- Reflex: +8
- Will: +1
Abilities:
- Strength: 3
- Dexterity: 20
- Constitution: 8
- Intelligence: 3
- Wisdom: 10
- Charisma: 3
Skills: Jump +8, Tumble +8
Feats: Weapon Finesse (Bite), Dodge, Mobility
Environment: Cave of Caer-Banog or cold mountains
Organization: Single
Challenge Rating: 6
Treasure: Rare collectors copy of Monty Python Shooting script
Alignment: Always Neutral

In Combat:
Keen Vorpal Bite: The Fiendish Vorpal Bunny bite is its deadliest
attack. On a successful critical, the bunny`s bite decapitates its
victim with no save possible.
Pounce: On a charge the Fiendish Vorpal Bunny can make two attacks
instead of one.

Love Ellas camera you can actually see the eye patch. That ballast is dry tomorrow and is getting the rocks and the grass it needs to finish them entirely. Then it's on the the Gauls. Somewhat intimidated.

New Command Pics

Ella swung by this weekend and snapped some shots of the nearly completed HQ bases. Sure they still need wee rocks and static grass, but the hard part (painting) is done so I am more than happy. Got a good game in with the D&D group too, likely be blogging about that later this week.

These first two shots are of Maharbal/Subordinate Commander #2.

Son of Worst Pictures Ever !!!!

And here is (apparently) Maharbal. I really need to get a Camera with a Macro lense.

Puck drops in minutes, cheers for now.

Go Canucks Go !!!!

Worst Pictures Ever ?

Here is my likely last attempt to use my Cameraphone for blogging. Thankfully Ella is coming over this weekend and owns an actual camera. But I promised proof none the less, here you can see Mr Barca himself at an early stage in my baseing technique.

Punic HQ complete

Well I just put down the brush on the HQ requirement of my Field of Glory army. I made three bases, which is all I really see myself needing, if I do go for a 4th HQ it will likely come with an allied force.

The first one you have already seen, is a generic Punic commander with appropriate Carthaginian cavalrymen accompanying him. In hindsight this base (and all the others I entered in the painting comp, sigh) has way, way, way too much static grass, but if you account for my clumsiness this problem may resolve itself.

The first of the new ones is a Corvus Belli Numidian Cavalry Command blister painted up to with the commander in Punic skin tone and his attendants representing Numidian veteran cavalrymen. This will be field or troop commander who will likely run the odd flanking maneuver and hopefully pulling off a decent Maharbal impersonation. I figure the subordinate commander is the guy overseeing the reconnaissance missions so he might as well bring the best people for it with him. Bonus part of painting these guys as such is I can paint another blister up entirely as Numidians and use them as an allied HQ, not only would they look distinct enough to avoid confusion they would also save me 5 points. Sweet.

The final base took months, I guess it's my centerpiece and I definitely over thought ever step of the way. Stepping back and putting down the brush was a huge hobby epiphany for me. In all honesty I have been poking at this base since the Comp. And that was before Thanksgiving, Canadian Thanksgiving !!!! (October 11th this year), and I still have to wait for their glue to dry before I even start basing them. For these guys I pulled out all the stops. Top of the line White and Black horses, seasonal and stylish Gallic noblemen as bodyguards and I even greenstuffed up an Eye patch to make the man himself, Hannibal Barca. Or failing that (in situations not specific to the 2nd Punic War) they can easily jump in as another one eyed Punic General, (Regulus? Too soon?) and stand out from the other 2 chaps. The greenstuff was a pain, it but almost worked.

Pictures to come tomorrow when there is better light, but it's after midnight here in Southwest Canada, so good night for now and take care.

2010 Year in Review

So a little over a year in and the often neglected blog is still alive, a fern on the balcony watered weeks apart yet somehow slowly blooming. As the name of this blog implies I didn't at all expect it to last this long, but 13 months later it is still here. Clocking in at 43 posts that's an average of 3.3ish per month, that's a bit more than I even thought I was posting. As a plumber in the service end of the industry, I never know how late I will be working, always start before dawn and often have issues with hand fatigue/injuries that stand in the way of painting and/or more cerebral brain functions, but with my newly founded 3.5 D&D group neither of those attributes will be required so there is likely to be a flood of D&D content once the group gets rolling.

With a years worth of hindsight comes some introspection and here is some of the more positive aspects of blogging and some areas I would like to improve on.

Things to improve on and about this blog:

• More posting.
• More painting.
• More gaming.
• More scenery.
• Going to add some product reviews.

Things that make me love this blog:

• The motivation it proved even though I went until December before I found a gaming group, this is key cause even though I was basically gaming in a vacuum it still was a blast.
• Finding and enjoying other blogs from gamers worldwide.
• The sense of community with other bloggers with similar interests worldwide.
• The hits I get from the oddest places. Hola Columbia !!!

Sure I didn't finish the Carthage army in a year, but I didn't rush it, painted better than I thought I was able and quite surprisingly entered a painting comp !!! Sure I only got a couple of games in and none of them were of even normal size, but I did play some sweet new boardgames and have a new D&D group on the go so all in all it was a good year.

Goals for next year are to keep adding to the Carthage army (maybe some Spanish troops would be in order), and start another army. I have narrowed it down to two choices, a Late Republican Roman army that I may model up as the 9th and 10th legions, or a Middle Republican Roman army as an in period pairing for my burgeoning Carthaginian army. Tough call but all three of the those armies can share a lot of troops (ie: Numidians, Gallic Horse, Spanish), and I can easily see myself having a Roman army from both periods. To be honest I want a Roman Army from almost all periods. Cost and availability may be a the deciding factor.

All in all a great year and an even better start.