A look at a forgotten Minion model

As I sit cleaning flash off a model I stop to look and think about what I am about to start, a forgotten model.

A model that was passed upon during MKII.

A model that is still over looked in MKIII.

The Boneswarm.  A light warbeast that is a moving pile of bones. A great looking model for a gatorman bokur or a farrow bone grinding warlock.

Let us have a quick look at what a few of the stats of this pile of bones turned warbeast between editions.

War for Planet o' Apes

I may be in the minority, but I love me some Planet of Ape movies! Sure anything after the original doesn’t hold up well at all.

However, I really have enjoyed these new reboots of the series. Sure there are moments of beyond silly and holy unbelievable, but they are movies about intelligent apes. The premise itself is silly and unbelievable.

War for the Planet of the Apes.

A fifteen year plus time lapse has occurred after Rise of the Planet of the Apes, the human race ( at least in the U.S. ) is wrecked thanks to a human civil war and Simian Flu. Caesar and his band of not monkeys is hiding and trying to survive while being hunted by……a military organization called Alpha Omega. They are out to track down and kill the remaining apes led by Caesar (or do they have another nefarious scheme). Caesar wants to broker peace, but the evil human Colonel Woody Harrelson is having none of it. After a personal attack on him and his, Caesar sends his ape buddies away to greener pastures and leaves to seek bloody revenge on Colonel Woody Harrelson. This looks to lead to an  inevitable showdown that will decide if ape or man will rule what remains of the planet ( or does it ).

Right out the door this film is pretty heavy. A lot of emotion is beat over your head with the plight of Caesar. They really want you to feel for him and his ape buddies. Then they dump the emotional issues of Colonel Woody Harrelson on you and although he is the bad guy, you are made to feel sorry for him. Then there are the apes that have turned to help the humans hunt Caesar and you are supposed to feel sorry for them since their world was turned upside down with this war as well. Then there are all the regular apes just wanting to live free and you are made to feel for them with their horrible situation too. It is all pretty heavy.

Thankfully there is Steve Zahn. He voices an ape that escaped from a zoo and is living like a hermit in an abandoned ski resort. He is never named, but refers to himself as “bad ape.” He is not stupid, but is definitely dimmer than the apes we have seen in the previous two movies. This character also adds a bit to the story as he is the first ape from outside Caesar’s band that can talk, make fire, ride a horse and all that jazz. Plus he wear a stocking cap (with a pom-pom) and a vest when they travel in the mountains. That is just a big pile of win in my book! The broken speech and mannerisms of this guy give the film a bit of humor that is surprisingly alright. He keeps this movie from being too overly dark and heavy.

Summer reading program.

The step daughter has here summer reading program going.

I thought I read along with her.

This has been bit of summer reading I have finished so far.

Spider-Man Homecoming

Alright I was a little late on seeing Spider-Man Homecoming. If still you haven’t seen it and want my opinion, here it is….

Go see Spider-Man Homecoming!

If you are a fan of Marvel movies you have gone already.

If you are a fan of Spider-Man, you have gone already

If you want a fun and lighter comic book hero to get behind, then go see Spider-Man Homecoming.

Quick plot run down…..

After Avengers #1 We get One Adrian Tomes, here a common working salvage/demo contractor, cleaning up New York city. Well until the Feds roll in and shut down his operation. Of course he is distraught, and also happens to still have some Chitauri tech in his dump trucks.

The we jump to a bit of video of the adventures of Peter Parker from Civil War post his meeting with Tony Stark and thru the battle at the airport.

Now the big adventures are over and Peter is returned home to live a normal life. However, that is not what Peter craves.

Peter has embraced Spider-Man more than ever and desperately wants the attention of Tony Stark and the Avengers. His normal day to day is nothing but a distraction as he tries to constantly prove himself a worthy hero.

Eventually he gets that chance as one Adrian Toomes and his band of cronies are making high tech weapons from the alien tech they squirreled. Now there is a giant flying robot birdman to battle and Peter sees this as his chance to impress Tony Stark and become an Avenger.

Well that and juggle a girl, school, friends and the typical comic book teenage life.

Alright why is this Spider-Man better than the previous films?

Damn.

As I sat there playing Diablo III the wife came in looking sad and told me George Romero has passed.

I stopped to look at the screen and the fact I am playing a necromancer controlling a undead horde was not wasted on me.

One little film when I was a lad, Night of the Living Dead, warped my mind. It pulled me in and I've been a fan of the undead and horror ever since.

Throw in Creep Show (The Crate still bothers me), The Crazies, Dawn, Day and Land of the Dead too. Then look to all the people in art, film media, pop culture and video games he influenced too.

Big loss. Sad day.

My summer finally has meaning!

Dragon flying over an army of horse Klingons?

How can anyone not love this?

The final first part of the new season of Game o' Thrones tonight!

Finally something good this summer!

Fishman with spear cannon? Yes please!

Bog Trog Trawler is all done.    

It is hard for me to not want a fish man with a spear cannon in my army.

Plus he is wearing a cloak of sown together skin and faces.

A double win right there!

Notice the gap between the head and the head tentacle running down his back?

Yeah that is what happens when your dry fit parts separately and then don't check again when you glue them together.

Kind of pissed about it, but am not going to try and pull it all apart to fix it either.

D&D post game 7-1-17.....the last bit of......

....with several small changes due to party level, time and various other shenanigans!

The party decided since they were still within the Forge of Fury/ Halls of Durgeddin that they would do some more reconnoitering and clean-up. They had, for the most part discovered the forge and foundry that they were hired to find. They discovered that the duergar and drow (or duergar hired by drow) were inhabiting the halls and trying to learn the secrets of the magical forge. They found out why the halls and forge were lost by the dwarven forces too. It seems they knew everything that was going on, except what was on the floor above them and where did that pesky ladder on the edge of the small rocky cliff lead.

They opted to hit the fancy elevator and head back up one level to check out what was there. Well they found some chained doors with comically large locks, a small stone bridge and a path into the darkness.

Well of course they had to check the chained doors first. The rouge easily popped the lock and they entered…..a large room full of rotting foodstuffs, beverages and various bits of everyday life equipment. The paladin decided to investigate one of the barrels near him and as he opened it, he was overwhelmed by the appearance and smell of dead trout. He began to wretch uncontrollably. The rouge promptly walked out to check the other lock and avoid the smell coming from the room and the paladin.

The party moved through the room and continued to search and take in the aroma of rotting food and filth. Strange that there would be food here after all this time. Why was it here? Who was it for? Why was it left to rot? Is that a hand on the floor? Whose blood boot is that?

As the party searched and pondered a large rubber eye stalk rose from a pile of broken crates and barrels. It scanned the room and noticed a mage that looked especially tasty. The creature burst forth from its pile of food and filth and lashed out and grabbing hold of the oblivious mage. The rest of the party turned to see a giant fanged maw creature advancing on them, an otyugh.

After he was initially grabbed the mage was able to teleport a small distance away and escape the hungry garbage monster. The monk, paladin and barbarian launched into an attack. The barb repositioned to keep away and add some lightning and shatter spell damage. After a few turns the otyugh was laid to waste with only a few bumps and bruises on the party. They dusted off and gave the area a good exploration. All they found was that this creature was being used as a possible garbage disposal or it had wandered into this giant larder to feed and the duergar locked it in for their own safety.

The second locked door was popped open and the rooms beyond were explored. They found a lot of old shoddy mining equipment and nothing else.  They continued on through the area.

July 4th!

Truer words have never been spoken.

Enjoy a day of whatever and then pretty explosions at night.