Another of my heroes gone.

Nightmare on Elm Street

Last House on the Left

The Hills Have Eyes

Shocker

Cursed
Swamp Thing
Serpent and the Rainbow

Deadly Friend

People Under the Stairs

Thank you. 

Really? $1120! $983!

Really insane scenery at insane prices! 

Who buys this? 

Really, what normal player buys this?

Plus there are spin-off sets that range from $700+ to $500+ as well.
Who buys all this?

Malifaux boars for Hordes

Quick comparison.

The boars I bought from the Malifaux people have all been assembled now. They are a damn good fit to the official razor boars.

Well they lack the head armor, but that’s fine. They are just a force of angry pig beasts so do they really need a helmet? The tucks and poses get the point across just fine.

It looks like I need to get them and Midas done sooner rather than later now. I think sixteen points of lesser warbeasts should be alright. Right?

Manistee National Forest area

This past weekend we travelled up to act as ultra-marathon support crew. Why anyone would volunteer to run 50+ miles is beyond my rational thought capacity. We were there to make sure they didn’t die on the trail or in the cabin after they finished the race (they did and it only took a little over 12 hours).

As they ran, my lady friend and yours truly decided to hit the local trails as were in the scenic bits of Michigan in and around the Manistee National Forest. I had never been to Michigan so I had no damn idea what the hiking was going to be like.

We covered ten miles of trails, ate a pretty good (albeit quasi-sketchy looking) mom and pop diner with great lemon and coconut cream pie, and explored the local color  between checking in the runners at the halfway point and collecting them at the end of the race.

The first item of interest was the ground. It was sandy. Like really sandy. I know we were close to Lake Michigan, but I had no idea the ground would be that soft and basically just dirty sand. It was wyrd.

A ton of moss and ferns covered the forest floor in these parks. Different than back home and a cool look.

Next was the utter lack of noise. The two trails we hiked were almost silent. The lack of animal noises and even chirpy birds was strange. Besides a few bits of banter we usually walk quiet in the hope of seeing some living breathing nature. It was strange to see and hear the absence of it. Sure there were a smattering of woodpeckers, a lone black squirrel, a trio of deer and a lone inch worm; we saw nothing ad hear even less. The lack of sound was really strange, but maybe that is common…..or the forest is haunted!

Here is that clearing that the adventuring party always seems to stumble upon. Thankfully, there were no goblins or ogres.

Fear the Walking Dead?



Last night was the premier of Fear the Walking Dead.

I was (and am still a bit) on the fence about this show. The title isn’t really stellar. Norman Reedus isn’t even in the show. I mean do we need another zombie show on AMC?

After last night I say yes. Yes we do!

The general premise is the whole here are two families, with issues, and The Walking Dead zombie outbreak is in it’s infancy. Alright I’m sort of on board. Well once the show starts rolling the seeds of what I refer to as “the fall” are sown. I love me some zombie stuff. However, I have discovered over the last few years, that I really like “the fall” when it comes to zombie stories.

“The fall” is the deterioration of the system the breaking of society, the anarchy that ensues and the fall of human society. That is where I have found I like my zombie stories to take place.

Now I know that the survival side post outbreak is good for gore and morality tales, but it plays out the same a lot of the time. You get; the survivalist nut jobs, the small time crooks turned kingpins, the cannibals, the tragic personal stories, the fallen heroes, the self-sacrifice, the rapey stuff, the kill crazy gangs, the lone wolf survivor, a religious zealot, random acts of crazy stuff, the safe haven that isn’t what it appears to be and on and on and on. We have all seen these, well if you watch or read a lot of zombie culture.

Overseer ready for over seeing

Well look at this! I have finished painting a model.

How can I not love the Iron Lich Overseer? This guy is a Quintesson for Cryx.

“Excuse me! This model only has three faces so it is not true Quintesson. Plus, it is not based in the Transformer universe.” …snort, chortle snort.

Shut up interweb! I know this!

Our newest bit of home decor

Thank Esty for this and my lady friend for thinking this was the most appropriate of the geek signs available. 

I can not really disagree with this one bit.

Quick 5th and gaming- the new normal?

Since the return from Gen Con our home has been a frenzy of gaming. My lady loves the Shadows of Brimstone and can't seem to get enough of it. Her son has come down with a case of D&D fever. This leaves me in a very strange position. I have two people that are loving gaming at the same time and want to play them multiple times weekly. It is a very advantageous position to be in for sure.

Brimstone nights are simple since the missions are all written. It is just the setup and tear down that requires any time. The games are usually an hour and change now that we are becoming super familiar with the rule set.

The 5th D&D is where it is really at though. I have been running two three games a week for the two of these game starved people. Well game starve for now.

I hadn't run or played D&D in months. Damn I missed it!

Weekly schlock and....drek!

The 80’s was a glorious time! Wasn’t it? Along with superb action movies it also gave us some great science movies: Back to the Future, Altered States, Real Genius, Weird Science…ummm….Space Camp..hmmm…Dreamscape…D.A.R.Y.L…..Short Circuit?....Zapped!? Well there were a few good science movies during the 80’s and some that fell short.

My Science Project came out the same year as Weird Science and Real Genius, but seems to have been forgotten. That was until I had a vague memory of it and sought it out for review. By vague memory I mean, “ Hey does anyone remember a movie with a dinosaur in a high school?”

The film opens with a U.F.O. crashing and the military deciding to hide it. I’m not sure if this was supposed to be the whole Roswell scenario, but that is what it basically was.

This guy.....

Then it jumps to present day (1980 something). Here we are thrust into a high school where the cool car guy, Michael (every school had/has that guy), is getting dumped. He is also going to fail science unless he aces his  upcoming science project. Oh yeah, his science teacher is Dennis Hopper. The now single Michael and the year book nerdy girl, he takes pity on, head out on a date to the local military junk yard? Whatever. While there Mike falls into some underground room and discovers a lightning orb (like totally from Spencers in the mall) wedged inside not a toaster oven. He nabs it to turn in as his science project. WHAT?! This leads, of course, to Dennis Hopper messing with the machine and discovering that not only does it absorb energy  but it also opens a time warp. This leads to the local high school filling up strange architecture, lots of fog, Roman gladiators, the Viet Cong, a T-Rex and some future techno mutant guys. Mike, his buddy from Brooklyn , Vince ( played by Fisher Stevens! ) ,the nerdy year book girl and some other guy; have to shut down the time warp space ship lightning ball toaster oven.

...made this for science class?

I know it sounds really awesome, but man oh man was this movie bad!

80's nerds. They were in everything weren't they.

Shadows of Brimstone review

Alright, the year is 1869. The American West if rife with opportunity for money making, shenanigans, prospecting, lawlessness, cattle ranchin’ and general bad assery. Now it seems that in the town of Brimstone the miners there have uncovered some fancy purple stones, Darkstone (not to be confused with Warpstone as that is green, but fundamentally the same). These stones have all manner of useful properties. This of course leads to further mining and the inevitable digging too far and discovering a whole mess of monsters. Even worse is that creatures from beyond are drawn to this darkstone as well. Now it is up to an intrepid band of persons of local color to delve into the mine to fend off said monsters. Heck they cn even dive into other realms to look for adventure there. Well that or go exploring for shiny magic expensive rocks. Either way they’ll need to gear up and gird their loins to face the encroaching darkness that is….The Shadows of Brimstone!

Shadows o’ Brimstone is a miniature based co-op quasi-rpg for 1-4 players. Yes playing by/with your self is an option, as it always is! You pick a character and are encouraged to use them over numerous games to acquire money, gear and XP. It is comprised of a lot of components (cards, tables, minis, map tiles) and a descent amount of rules. When opened it looks daunting. However, the core rules are simple and it doesn’t take much to get into and through the first scenario.

Did not expect all this had to be assembled. No big deal for me!

Assembly Required

If you are looking to dive into a game right out of the gate, realize that won’t be happening. Why? Well the models that come with the game have to be removed from sprues and assembled. This was no big deal in our home, but it might pose a problem for non-miniature gamers. If you are buying Shadows of brimstone then buy super glue as well! REPEAT BUY SUPER GLUE! There is a healthy amount of cardboard tiles and token removal as well. Plan on unboxing for an hour or more (depending on how you deal with miniature assembly) prior to even looking at the rules.

STUFF STUFF STUFF!

We bought Shadows of Brimstone: Swamps of Death. This is the complete boxed set. There was also Shadows of Brimstone: City of the Ancients big box set. Plus there was the Caverns of Cynder Expansion. The big boxes are similar core games, but have different  characters and other worlds to explore. We chose Swamps of Death as swamps are so much cooler than frozen lost cities. We passed on the expansion as we were not sure about extra purchases and this is a bit of an investment for a game at $100. We did splurge on a box of extra monsters, the swamp slugs. They looked proper cool!

 

This isn't even all the bits! There are all the map tiles as well!

I’m guessing if there is enough buzz and sales then there will be options to buy the alternate characters and monsters right?

One more. For old times sake.

If this is the end of Motley Crue then let it be an end worth remembering!  

July 2014 we went to see the final tour of Motley Crue (review here for refresher)

A couple months ago we heard they were going to be in our area again. Without hesitation we grabbed a couple of tickets to see one last show with our (collectively) favorite hair metal band.

Saturday he hopped In the car and sped up to the Rosemont….I mean the All State Arena.

Once again Alice Cooper opened for them and he is still fantastic to see. Plus the guillotine gag is always a good time!

Once Motley Crue hit the stage it was go time, for one last time! They played almost the exact same set. Which was fine, well except for the horrible Saints o’ L.A. and Motherfucker o’ the Year songs. They could have replaced those two with literally any other songs.  WAIT! Any other song except Bad Boy Boogie. That is unforgivable bad too!

Gen Con 2015 closing thoughts

Final thoughts from Gen Con 2015.

Games Workshop had a small kiosk here too. However, it was only to display some of the new Non Warhammer fantasy yet Warhammer fantasy models. That was it. Well it was a presence, but was it really? If Age o’ Sigmar is the future then get more than just a fun display out there to see. Seriously? If that is all you are going to do why bother? Was this better than no presence? Well, where they were situated and what they had to see….well I think yes it was. A shame since they don’t do the Games Day stuff anymore. Right? Or do they? Hell, I don’t know. Still why not get your ass to convention with 50K plus people? You know some of whom might , at the worst , impulse buy your products.

Wyrd, the company that makes the Malifaux miniature game,  has some great ideas, art work and a crazy game world. They also have all their models in display. They have intricate display tables. They peaked my and especially my lady friend’s interest. However, they display all their models assembled and un painted. They have demo tables with unpainted models. When they run a demo it is only a sample turn between two model in melee combat.

What the Hell?

Paint your models! They might look outstanding, but they are bare plastic. You want to really wow the consumer have them painted to show how cool they will look painted.

If you run a demo, then run a demo. Don’t do a half ass job! Go small and get a full game or multiple turns done for people. One melee combat round tells me nothing about the rest of the game.

Sure I spent some money there, but it wasn’t for their game, but then again they don’t care. It was a sale. Whateves.

Hey, there is River Tam!

Gen Con costumes: final pictures from 2015

A minor sampling of the costumes that we saw over two days. There was some awesome stuff and some head scrathcers as well.

By far my favorite of the convention! I hate me some ewoks and this scout trooper had his fill of them as well!

Gen Con convention floor/misc stuff pics

Well it isn't a trip here without a few trips through the vendor hall and miniature gaming halls.

The "Nerd Herd" amassing outside the vendor hall Saturday. Two years ago we were at the front to race to get to a booth first. Never again!

The annual balloon sculpture. This year an octopus? 

Away we go. More pictures!

Gen Con pics-Privateer Press stuff

As these are my new addiction I spent a little more time looking at the Privateer Press booth and watching some of the Iron Arena/Gauntlet games.

LOOK PICTURES!

Their diorama was insane!

Trolls ambushing Khador!

Gen Con 2015- miniatures

A photo dump of some of the miniature painting competition entries.

Who is the cutest Cthulhu ever? You are!

Gen Con 2015 the loot!

Gen Con 2015 is over and we returned with more loot than expected. Strange how I went expecting to buy nothing and we come home with all this!

Another icon gone. Miss you Hot Rod!

Damn it, another icon is gone.

Rowdy Roddy piper has passed to the great beyond.

His crowing moment and a favorite for all time!

Of all the Piper's Pit episodes, this is the one I'll always remember!

I loved him. Others hate him. He was just so much fun during those classic wrasslin' years! 

Plus he was Scottish, had the kilt, played Scotland the brave and was a fantastic villain!

Off to go watch They Live and not weep when watching that fight scene with David Keith.