When I was a young boy, my parents told me there were no such thing as ghosts. Growing up I really believed that. That's pretty crazy, right? Now we know ghosts are quite real and many famous trainers specialize in training the ghost-type Pokémon. It was Professor Oak and Elite Agatha who first speculated the existence of the ghost-type and it was because of their theories and the strange happenings going on at Pokémon Tower that they sent me, and Blue before me, to investigate and uncover the truth. I don't know what Blue endured within the tower before I got to Lavender Town, but I know he realized the prototype Silph Scope was absolutely necessary to see just what was really going on inside. I didn't know what I'd find inside, but I was confident that it wasn't going to be ghosts. They weren't real.
Professor Oak had sent me some urgent messages that I picked up at the Pokémon Center in Lavender. They sounded quite desperate. Apparently some of the other field research teams that he had dispatched to the tower had met with disaster. They had all abandoned the project. The rumors around town that whatever was going on inside the tower had involved Team Rocket somehow which I'm sure prompted Blue to take action in Celadon. It also explained why the Silph Scope was found among their stolen experimental devices in their headquarters.
"The tower is closed to the public until further notice," the attendant at the front counter told me as I entered the site. "Mr. Fuji is quite adamant that no one else be allowed to enter until a thorough investigation has been conducted."
"I was sent by Professor Oak," I stammered, hoping it would give me enough credibility to proceed.
"So were most of the others," she replied. "They didn't last very long inside. Neither did those Team Rocket members who forced their way in soon after. The tower is too dangerous right now."
"How so?" I asked. I knew the tower was used as a memorial for Pokémon that had passed on, but all the chatter around town of ghosts lurking in the darkness just seemed ridiculous to me. Ghosts weren't real.
"There was a team from Saffron City that went in about a week ago. Not a single one of them has come back. I personally won't even set foot on the first step up those stairs," she said motioning to the large winding stairway that worked its way up the floors of the tower. "Just forget about it and go home. I'm sorry if you lost a Pokémon dear to you, but it's just not safe up there."
She wasn't going to budge on the issue, but as far as I knew the tower was an open building day and night. There was no front gate, no locked doors, nothing to bar entry once this attendant had gone home for the night. Professor Oak's researchers had failed. Team Rocket had fled. Blue certainly wasn't inclined to come back after whatever happened to him. Not to mention a team of investigators from Saffron City had disappeared inside not too long ago. I needed to know what was going on inside and I was the only one with a Silph Scope that Blue assured me was necessary. So I waited patiently discreetly down the street from the path winding up to the Pokémon Tower and waited for night to fall.
As I had surmised, the tower was completely unguarded at night. The troubling rumors and the fact that it was a Pokémon graveyard probably kept most of the townsfolk far from the tower at night. I was the only one dumb enough to set foot inside after dark, and as soon as I stepped off the stairs my heart was racing. Even though it was early May and summer was just around the corner, the air was chilled. Even so, I was sweating up a storm as I crossed the first floor towards the next set of stairs leading up to the third floor.
The tower was dimly lit. Small candles burned on the memorials that were left for lost Pokémon, but there was no other light source. There were windows along the edges of the tower, but for some reason the moonlight was not making its way inside. As I passed by the memorials, I wondered, who had lit these candles if no one was allowed up here? I convinced myself that it must have been the team from Saffron City that were still lingering in the tower for whatever reason. I tried not to ask myself how they had survived for a week without access to food or water. Certainly they must have brought enough supplies. Right?
As my nerves began to falter, I popped the Silph Scope down over my eyes and glanced around. I was hoping they'd allow me to see better in the darkness, but sadly they did not. Everything looked normal through the lenses of the Silph Scope. Still, I wouldn't take them off now that they were on. They brought me some small amount of comfort and that was enough to get me to take those steps up to the next floor. It made me feel safe at first, but that began to dwindle with every passing moment spent in the tower.
Every passing step up across the floors of the tower and I felt a huge weight on my stomach pressing down and making me feel ill. I began to grow more and more terrified, jumping at every shadow flickering in the candle light. Eventually I felt like I was moving at a snail's pace as I made my way up the flights of stairs and across each new floor. It was deathly silent in here. Aside from the lit candles, that I hoped were being maintained by the Saffron crew, there was no sign or sound of anyone else inside. I felt tremendously alone.
It wasn't until the third floor that I realized I wasn't alone. I tossed out Dustin's Poké Ball and he was instantly on alert. I don't know what spooked him, but it didn't reassure me much. Still, I was glad to have the company as Dustin pressed forward one step ahead of me. Thanks to knowing the useless Pokémon move "Flash" Dustin's eyes managed to illuminate the darkness just a bit better than the candles, but a gloom still clung to the place.
I was certain we were being watched and Dustin seemed to agree. His eyes darted from corner to corner, lighting them up like a flashlight. As we progressed he would often stop and jerk his head around to peer into the corners behind us, as certain as I felt that there was something there. Neither his psychic prowess or my Silph Scope revealed anything, though. Whatever was lurking out there was quick to elude us and by the fifth floor, I think Dustin was making me more nervous than comforted with his erratic scanning of every dank nook and cranny of the tower.
Stepping off the stairs to the sixth floor, I could hear faint laughter or perhaps weeping coming from the final floor above us. It froze Dustin and I in our tracks. I saw him tilt his head as he reached out to probe with his mind. I envied him a little, but he didn't seem reassured much by whatever his psychic scan revealed. The noises from above confirmed that we were not alone and that disturbed both of us. The hairs on my neck were standing on end and my entire skin was covered in goosebumps by this point. I could see my breath in front of my face in the dim candle light, even though it really shouldn't have been that cold. Every instinct in my body told me to run back down the tower and out into the safety of the moonlit night, but I'd come too far. I'd faced down Team Rocket just two days ago and I wasn't about to let some laughing or weeping creature scare me away from this tower.
I almost wish it had, though. What awaited above in the darkness haunts me still. I've never seen anything like it before or since. As Dustin and I crossed the threshold of the seventh and final floor of the tower, we found ourselves surrounded by bodies - human bodies. They were strewn about the room like rag dolls that had been tossed aside, draped up against the walls and memorials, unmoving in the flickering candle light. The laughter, and I was confident it was laughter now, seemed to be coming from all around us. I couldn't tell if it was coming from one of the bodies on strewn across the floor or not. It wasn't until I looked at Dustin, who was staring intently up at the ceiling, that my stomach dropped and I slowly followed his gaze upward.
"Have you come to play?" A young woman was clutching the ceiling like some kind of spider or lizard, crouched on all fours, but staring down at us from across the room. Her face and neck were contorted in ways that didn't look natural or comfortable and her mouth was in a wide, sneering grin. "My other dolls are broken now, and this one will soon be useless, too." The voice was seething, but held a hint of laughter.
The girl dropped from the ceiling like a rock, but managed to contort herself in midair like a cat to land soundly on her bare feet and the palms of her hands. I could see she was wearing what remained of a very tattered dress, or perhaps tattered red hakama of a shrine maiden. Her wiry black hair fell around her face like a frame, but her grin did not change from the mocking crescent moon she held when we first saw her on the ceiling. "Answer me!" She insisted.
"I'm not here to play," I shouted back. I don't know where the words came from because I was trembling with intense fear.
"You never had a choice!" she screamed and rushed forward at insane speed. Fortunately Dustin raised his right hand, a pendulum forever swinging in his left and the girl was thrown backwards across the room, slamming harshly into the wall. It was then that I saw it through the Silph Scope. It wasn't the girl that Dustin had attacked, but something inside her. A dark purple mass was attached to the girl and I could see the grin fade from her mouth as it began to coalesce behind her.
"Help me," she gasped in a strained, but normal sounding human voice.
"Dustin! Hit it again!" Dustin took a step forward with his palm extended and I could feel a shock wave of his Confusion psychic attack blast whatever creature had hold of this young woman. This time she was freed entirely and her body fell to the floor in a heap. What remained was a round, dark purple Pokémon with large eyes with red sclera surrounding little black pupils. It held that same sickly wide grin that was splashed horrifically across the girls face. I was looking at a ghost - a ghost Pokémon which until recently had only been theorized.
It looked at me and Dustin with some disbelief behind its twisted grin. It apparently didn't expect to be pushed out like that. Dustin protectively stood between me and the creature. Before my eyes, two more creatures materialized out of apparently thin air. One of them a gaseous purple and black ball with eyes and a mouth, the other a floating purple apparition with two detached purple hands floating in front of it. I was all but locked up in terror at this point, but Dustin and I both knew that I was in danger.
Dustin sized up the opponents squarely. His gaze passed from one to the other. Finally I urged him to action. He hypnotized the gaseous orb which the Pokédex would come to identify as Gastly and it slowly drifted down to the floor in sleep. I quickly tossed out a Poké Ball to capture it if I could and get it off the battlefield. I didn't have time to see if it was successful as the apparition with disembodied hands lunged forward with a gigantic tongue rolling out of its gaping maw. It looked as though it were going to lick Dustin, but he was having none of it. Confusion absolutely decimated the apparition later identified as Haunter. It left only the original creature, the leader of this mischievous trio, staring coldly at us across the room.
Dustin and the Gengar appeared to be having some kind of intense staring contest and for a moment I wondered if they were engaged in some kind of psychic battle. It was unfortunately too late that I realized this ghost Pokémon was using one of my beloved techniques against us! Dustin was sound asleep and this creature was somehow feasting on his dreams and gaining strength. How could I have been so stupid? I fumbled for Dustin's ball to withdraw him and protect him, but before I could, a faint sound came trickling in from somewhere. It was the soft sound of a flute.
I didn't have time to be puzzled by this because Dustin was instantly awake and taking action. He leaned forward to send a final blast of Confusion at the Gengar which squealed in pain and then suddenly vanished into the night. The candles flared up dramatically, enveloping the whole room in bright light before returning to a normal, healthy glow. The gloom that had been hanging around this place had been lifted. I saw the faint blinking light of my Poké Ball and knew I had captured that one gaseous orb. I took a deep breath and felt like a huge weight had been lifted. I'd forgotten completely about the faint flute music.
"Are you all right?" I asked rushing over to the young woman who had been tossed backwards by Dustin's psychic attack.
"I am now," she said in an exhausted tone. "Thank you."
I didn't really know what to say. Dustin had done most of the work. I had been practically frozen in fear. I helped the woman to her feet. She looked around at the other bodies. She frowned.
"They are alive," she said. I wasn't sure how she knew what I was asking in my head. "I can sense them breathing, dreaming. They are just weak. That Pokémon was playing with us like toys and draining our energy. We might not have made it much longer if you hadn't shown up." Her voice was raspy and quiet.
"Stay here with your friends," I said. "I'll go get help."
"No need!" came a loud voice from the stairway. Dustin, the girl and I all snapped our heads in his direction, surprised by the announcement. Standing at the stairs, we saw an old, bald man in a kimono beside an old woman in a purple and white dress leaning heavily on a cane. The man looked genuinely ecstatic while the woman had a dark grin spread across her face. "We saw you come in armed with that scope there and knew we had to follow. I'd been waiting for Agatha here for days to help me investigate the tower and it appears her predictions were correct. There were ghost-type Pokémon in here!"
"May I?" she asked, pointing at the Poké Ball that now held Spectre the Gastly. I handed it to her. I'd like to reiterate, I had no idea who I was talking to at the time. As a newcomer to Kanto, I didn't realize I was in the presence of two well known authorities on Pokémon in the region, one of them a member of the Elite Four. All I knew was I was exhausted from this ordeal and they were here to help. It had been a long night. In my exhaustion, I never even noticed the flute clutched in the old man's hands.
Current Team:
Attacks in Blue are recently learned.
Current Team:
Bill's Storage: Kiwi (Pidgeotto), Vesper (Zubat), Spectre (Gastly)
Old Man Daycare: Charlie (Pidgey)
Saturday, March 28, 2020
Assassins Creed 3 Blackbox
Minimum System Requirements
Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo E6700 2.66GHz / AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 6000+Graphics: AMD Radeon HD 3870 or NVIDIA GeForce 8600 GT 512MB GDDR3RAM: 2 GB RAM
Recommended System Requirements
Processor: Intel Core 2 Quad Q6400 2.13GHz / AMD Phenom 9550 Quad-CoreGraphics: AMD Radeon HD 5770 512MB or NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260RAM: 4 GB RAM
Download The Game Here
Eye On Kickstarter #80
You can also see my full Kickstarter Profile to see what I've backed or my old Eye on Kickstarter page that was too unwieldy to maintain. Also, check out the 2019 Kickstarter Boardgame Projects geeklist over on Board Game Geek for a list of all the tabletop games of the year.
So, without further ado, here are the projects I'm currently watching as of the fourth Friday of January, 2020:
HIGHLIGHTED CAMPAIGN
School of Sorcery
by Dr. Finn's Games - 2 DAYS LEFT!
Collect magical items and build friendships to increase your influence at the School of Sorcery. This quick-paced strategic game for 2 players is a newly revised and updated version of Dr Finn's popular Institute for Magical Arts, successfully Kickstarted in 2015.
During the game, players compete to win magical items and characters at different locations. Each round has 5 Phases:
PHASE I: Collect Crystals - Collect 5 crystals
PHASE II: Cast Crystals - Using your dice roll, send crystals to desired locations
PHASE III: Use Portal - Using the portal, secretly send crystals to a new location
PHASE IV: Activate Powers - Activate the powers of your permanent cards
PHASE V: Evaluate Locations - Award sorcery cards at the locations
Features:
Simultaneous Decision-Making: Little downtime
Dice Mitigation: Multiple options for every dice roll
Unique Card Powers: Increases replayability
Fantastic Art and Colorful Graphics: nice to look at
Quality Components: shiny gems, punchboard player boards and locations, wooden tokens, high quality cardstock
School of Sorcery
by Dr. Finn's Games - 2 DAYS LEFT!
- Steve Finn has a reputation for designing amazing filler games, and, having played a number of them, I have to say the reputation is well deserved. His games are always fast, light, engaging, and interesting. School of Sorcery is his latest Kickstarter for an update to an older game of his (2015's Institute for Magical Arts) with new artwork and refined mechanics. Go ahead and grab this, I'm sure you won't be disappointed! And hurry, this was a 2 week campaign, so there's only a few hours left!
Collect magical items and build friendships to increase your influence at the School of Sorcery. This quick-paced strategic game for 2 players is a newly revised and updated version of Dr Finn's popular Institute for Magical Arts, successfully Kickstarted in 2015.
During the game, players compete to win magical items and characters at different locations. Each round has 5 Phases:
PHASE I: Collect Crystals - Collect 5 crystals
PHASE II: Cast Crystals - Using your dice roll, send crystals to desired locations
PHASE III: Use Portal - Using the portal, secretly send crystals to a new location
PHASE IV: Activate Powers - Activate the powers of your permanent cards
PHASE V: Evaluate Locations - Award sorcery cards at the locations
Features:
Simultaneous Decision-Making: Little downtime
Dice Mitigation: Multiple options for every dice roll
Unique Card Powers: Increases replayability
Fantastic Art and Colorful Graphics: nice to look at
Quality Components: shiny gems, punchboard player boards and locations, wooden tokens, high quality cardstock
Pacific Rails
by Vesuvius Media
by Vesuvius Media
- Pacific Rails is a train game with a theme that I really find interesting. It's about the construction of the Transcontinental Railroad, which I also coincidentally made a game about (see The Overland Route), though it's just a small 2-player, 18-card game. Pacific Rails looks like a fun, historical tile game and I'd love to give it a try someday.
Return to Dark Tower
by Restoration Games
by Restoration Games
- Restoration Games has been breathing new life into classic games from decades ago. Last year's hit for them was a reboot of Fireball Island and now they're back with a completely reworked and modernized version of the classic Dark Tower. In this new iteration they've improved the gameplay, updated the art and graphics, blended the physical gameplay with an innovative app, and engineered an amazing tower that actually works in conjunction with the app via bluetooth. I just wish it wasn't so darn expensive! Still probably cheaper than getting your hands on a good copy of the original though...
Jurassic Parts
by 25th Century Games
by 25th Century Games
- I love puzzle and area control games and Jurassic Parts looks like a great one. Not because of the dinosaur theme, which is great, but because of the interesting area control puzzle aspect of it. As you use chisels to section off pieces of map you'll get rewarded based on how much you helped with sectioning off the map. The more you help the more fossils you'll get, so there's a really interesting area control battle along with a puzzle as you try to figure out how to best section out the play area so you can build the most complete skeletons.
Migration Mars
by Enhance Games
by Enhance Games
- I've mentioned before that I'm a sucker for a great space themed game, especially with roots in actual science. Migration Mars is about the race to build a sustainable human colony on Mars and it looks incredible. From the amazing buildings to the clean graphics, this is a game I'd love to get to the table.
Citadel Deck Block
by Quiver Time
by Quiver Time
- Back in 2016 I reviewed the Quiver Gaming Case and thought it was outstanding. I still use it to this day to store and carry my Star Realms, Epic, and some other card games. Now the team is back with a deck box that is just as, or maybe even more incredible. The quality on Quiver Time's products is amazing and the engineering that has gone into the Citadel has resulted in an ingenious product. If you're looking for a high quality deck box, here's your answer!
Monday, March 23, 2020
Low Stock Alert - Cha'alt
All the recent reviews, such as this one and that one, Pundit's one... plus Oh Yeah! and Nic Cage helped sell a lot of hardcover copies of Cha'alt.
Local RPG stores have started carrying Cha'alt, as well, which is fantastic!
Additionally, the PDF just went ELECTRUM (!!!) the other day on DriveThruRPG.
However, the best news ever is that an eccentric (sorry, hoss, but you're only a short step from crazy) gaming collector just bought up 500 copies of Cha'alt so he can sit on them for 10 years and sell them for double the retail price on ebay, as I have no plans for a 2nd printing of Cha'alt (too many new projects I want to pursue). Dirty pool? Maybe, but I'm a proud capitalist, so whatever.
After squirreling away the books I owe Cha'alt: Fuchsia Malaise kickstarter folks, that means I have precisely 297 luxury hardcover Cha'alt volumes left to sell. Low stock alert, indeed!
You can send me $ via paypal at Venger.Satanis@yahoo.com
It's $60 per book (shipping included if you live within the USA). Otherwise, the shipping is $30 per book. Sorry, no discounts on multiple copies...
Also, if you buy the hardcover, you get the PDF for FREE!!! If you already purchased the PDF, then you get a $10 discount on the hardcover.
Big thanks to everyone who's supported me and Cha'alt and all my Great Work. Love you, folks!
VS
p.s. If you're looking for a minimalist O5R (OSR + 5e) rule-set for D&D noobs and novices, then look no further than Crimson Dragon Slayer.
Friday, March 20, 2020
Celebrating The 30Th Birthday Of Simon Jarrett
Today, the 16th of July 2018, Simon Jarrett would have turned 30. He never quite made it, the proposed treatment for his brain damage proving ineffective.
And yet he did. A Simon Jarrett made it to the ARK, facing eternity among the stars. Another(s), infinity below the sea, at least as long as the batteries last. But he didn't just live, he left a legacy. His scan, for a generation of programmers to use. The ARK, preserving humanity until the Sun burns out.
And you.
Simon lives on in every fanart, every mixtape and cosplay. He gets a different story in a fanfic, be it finding a cure, finding love, sometimes dying, yet still living on through those moments. You have taken him well beyond 4.0, and for that we are thankful.
As a small celebration we have collected 30 of some our favourite fan works of Simon, one for each year since his birth. In all honesty 30 is an arbitary number, a cutoff point to keep this post from being far too long. We love each and every one of your fan creations, as well as mods, meta commentary and even just coming together as a community.
From us, and from Simon: thank you!
PS. If you want to see more fan creations from SOMA, Amnesia games and Penumbra, we have an official Tumblr blog where we have collected your works from Tumblr, Twitter, Instagram and Deviantart. The blog updates daily! (We might not have found your work, so please tag us on social media, or send us a message!)
Cosplay and art by Zerachielamora
Zerachieamora is one of the top creators in our community, having done cosplays of all our protagonists, as well as having time to run ask blogs and make art. Their stuff always has top-notch detail and creativity. We certainly hope our next protagonist will be cool enough to inspire them to make another cosplay!
You can also find Zerachielamora on Twitter, Instagram and Deviantart.
Okay, okay, almost done with the praise! Just one more thing we loved:
Art by Sketchinfun
Sketchinisfun has made a lot of awesome contributions to the fandom, such as Tiny Catherine, but this animation has to be our favourite - everyone knows just how much dedication that requires!
We also can't help but appreciate their take on Simon and Catherine's voice actors' coping mechanisms (which we cannot officially endorse):
http://sketchinfun.com/post/132159275532/felt-like-drawing-some-silly-screen-cap-redraws-of
Art by lumipaiio
Art by lumipaiio
Lumipaiio's forté is drawing incredibly dynamic Simons and Catherines. Just look at him go! It is so hard to pick a favourite!
Lumipaiio have also drawn an incredible concept called Leggy Catherine, among other things.
Plushie by DonutTyphoon
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| https://www.deviantart.com/donuttyphoon/art/Simon-Jarrett-Plush-634126774 |
Animation by Rabbitintheheadlights
Rabbitintheheadlights is asking the right questions. Note how we don't have mirrors in the early game?
Art by Bardicles
Bardicles draws the cutest little Simons, and keeps us entertained with their short comics!
Art by Shaidis
One of our favourite levels deserves some love, and Shaidis delivers! This piece is beautiful, and it is no wonder it shows up whenever you search for SOMA fanart.
Art by Rennerei
Is it a screenshot? Nope, just Rennerei working their magic!
This pick might be biased as our community manager has followed Rennerei since the early TBFP/Motorcity/TF2 days. It is truly inspiring to work on something, and then receive fanart from someone you admire.
You can also find Maren on Twitter and Instagram.
Pixel art by Adam Joe Pajor
Simon Jarrett— Adam *Joe* Pajor (@JoeJoePajor) March 21, 2016
Fixed a few things...#pixelart #SOMA #gamedev @frictionalgames pic.twitter.com/z6HMCbTTQN
Adam has done various cool pixel art pieces from SOMA, as well as Amnesia, which you should definitely check out in their Frictional tag on Tumblr.
You can also find Adam on Facebook!
Art by Dospeh
Doseph has made an incredible set of all our major protagonists that you can find in their Frictional Games tag. The detail, atmosphere and claustrophobia in the works is astonishing.
You can also follow them on Instagram.
Art by Fayren
Fayren does amazing original work, but it is an honour that they took time to create fanart for us.
They has also made another piece of SOMA fanart that we have up on our wall in the Malmö office.
You can also follow Fayren on Twitter.
Art by Mcfudgie
Sick.
We're serious developers, but not too serious to enjoy some light-hearted wall punching! This is what any of us would do, isn't it?
Art by KylieRusek
Watch out, Simon, you're glitching out! Looking at your hands won't help you escape this nightmare.
You can find more art by KylieRusek on Twitter and Instagram.
Art by Wachtelspinat
These are some good, chunky boys - thank you Wachtelspinat! Knowing Simon, he would probably own that hoodie.
Cosplay by that-handmaid
The creatures at Pathos-II might be terrifying, but that carpet is even more so! But this Simon is braving it like a champ.
Art by Blenderweasel
Simon is an obviously unreliable narrator. He could have been a Roomba the whole time for all we know!
Cosplay by Essi.cosplay
Ess and her brother did an amazing job on the diving suit, down to the glowing eyes, WAU-infested trousers and even an Omnitool! And Simon eating pizza with a kawaii Reaper is the crossover we didn't know we wanted, but have now been enlightened.
Doll by Sadunacc
Sadunacc has created a lot of lovely fanarts, including some more beautiful Leggy Catherines. But this doll is so unique we had to share it - just look at it! A pocket-sized Simon!
Art by Piranyeaah
It is always cool to see artists' work progress - and for this work you can also see the progression shots! Piranyeaah did a lovely job capturing Simon's confusion.
Art by Snuffysbox
They are friends! They are on an adventure! And nothing bad will happen!
If you're Simon and I'm Simon... then are there also other Simons, possibly disguised as Roombas? Let's not think about that, and instead think about how nice it is to see all of them together.
Animation by Articlerotten
This is the smallest walk cycle of all time. And it's adorable.
Art by Talondoodle
Is this a Simon, or is this a squirrel? He sits silly, but we still love him.
Art by starchild_hiroto
If this won't make them get along, then nothing will.
Cosplay by Steampoweredwerehog
Inspiring people to push their limits and make something awesome is great! Steampoweredwerehog - if you're reading this, we'd love to see the final cosplay!
Art by S.paceheart
These were the good times! Glad to have them captured in a picture, forever in a state of ":D".
Animation by Cprartsalot
You can find all the SOMA pieces by Cprartsalot in their SOMA tag! But if we had to pick our favourite, it would be this one.
Minecraft skin by IcarianPrince
Just look at that Minecraft boy go! Just don't stay underwater for too long, we can't guarantee this skin will make you into an actual diver.
Art by TigerSpuds
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| https://www.deviantart.com/tigerspuds/art/SOMA-Ending-The-ARK-572975126 |
And to end things off, we present this piece of art. We can let Simon have a happy ending. At least for this one day.
Thursday, March 19, 2020
ASOIAF: A Song Of Ice And Fire Intro
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| This is my new jam. |
After a few weeks of hard research, reading over the free rules and looking at all the minis available to me, I started getting really interested. Now, I would say that I'm fairly frugal and really like to do my research before getting into a game and I took my damn sweet time with this one. As a competitive tournament player, I wanted a game that had enough depth to keep me engaged but at the same time, had super clean rules with longevity in both creative design space and strong game balance. The last thing I wanted to do is throw money at a game that won't play well. I was never the player who got in the game for the hobby side of things, it's all about the game and the rules. Besides, the game was designed by a familiar name being Eric M. Lang and while I didn't really know Michael Shinall, any designer who has his own tactics podcast gets a thumbs-up from me. I am a big fan of designers who play their own game competitively and actively teach the community to be better players.
Honestly, when I first took a look at the game, I was afraid that the game will not have enough options. I mean, the game came out with Starks vs. Lannisers in the middle of the War of Five Kings but when getting the core set, you pretty much only have these as your first two full-fledged armies. Now, that's not saying that there's not more available now, but having played games like Warhammer Fantasy and 40K growing up, I'm sure as hell spoiled for choices. So many factions and armies to choose from I felt like I had near unlimited options when it comes to choosing units out of a codex or army book. Now, this is completely different when it comes to competitive list building, but the general gist is that players that grew up with GW as an option are definitely spoiled for choices. Even with Privateer Press games, you knew you had a lot of factions to play if you liked variety because it suited a lot of different playstyles. This was my biggest worry jumping in the game but the more I studied, the more I realized that what they currently have in the game is more than enough to get started. In fact, seeing how there are only 2 factions in the game right now, an epic crap ton of design space and a billion other things not released yet, the game can only grow larger with more factions and greater complexity. That makes a competitive player like me very excited. They just came out with Night's Watch and Free Folk, and they will definitely shake up the meta and take gameplay to the next level.
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| I might have gone pretty hard with my first purchase. |
To get you guys pumped, let me throw out some highlights that really got me into the game. I've been playing it pretty religiously, having played around 20 or so games since I got the game like 2 weeks ago. Yes, I've been going that hard. In fact, I would say one of the biggest draws in the games is that games take about 1 hour or 1.5 depending on the points size and experience of the players. Each of these talking points below will probably get their own article in due time, but these are the highlights that stand out for me.
Here's what I fucking love about the game:
- I love the fact that the rules are some of the cleanest rules I have ever seen. It's almost like the game was designed with tournament play in mind in that there are very little questions I had out of the initial rules package. The game seems like a perfect blend of complexity and speed with tight-wording and streamlined mechanics seen from other minis games. The rules package itself is very lightweight and comes with all the nitty-gritty you need to get in and start playing.
- Speaking of speed, I just love that the game puts movement trays back on the table and the units are ready to play. I can get a package from Amazon to actively playing with that unit on the table in 5 minutes. The minis are hard plastic, has great detail on them, and come with a movement tray for all the units to fit snuggly into.
- The game uses alternate player activations with plenty of play and counterplay (via rules, tactics card, tactics board..etc) that allows for active engagement with the other player in all phases of the game. I absolutely love games that go back and forth because it not only keeps players focused, but it generally leads to more even games where choices feel more meaningful because you have a chance to respond next activation. It's not like you're just sitting there watching all your units get shot off the table.
- The rules are light, but the game is very deep: Activation order matters, the amount of drops you have matter (deployment and activation), the commander you choose matters, the control of the tactics board matters, your tactics cards and the order you play them matters, your list composition matters, the game mode and mission objectives matters, everything matters. Part of what makes a good game great is how much the player influences the outcome of the game. Looking back at all the games played so far, I can zero in on particular situations where if I did something different, I would have won. This is important for me as a competitive player because less ambiguity means a more direct route to improving.
- The tactics board by itself is a complete mini-game inside the existing game. This really deserves its own section, but let's just say that NCUs count as activations and how you interact with the tactics board influences the units on the board, the tactics cards in your hand, and how you play the game as a whole. It's absolutely awesome how it's so tightly integrated into the game mechanics while still making a ton of sense from a flavor and fluff perspective. When Cersei Lannister is playing her games at court, your units really feel that on the battlefield.
- There is so growth potential in the game that I can't fully wrap my head around it right now. Right now, we have Lannisters, Starks, Neutral (with House Bolton units!), Free Folk, and Night's Watch. There's a good amount of unit variety already but that's without most of the other major Houses in there as well. Where is Baratheon, Tyrell or Greyjoys? What about Daenerys and her dragons? Can we even fit Dragons in a 40 point game? Is there going to be an epic game format or the possibility to ally different houses with another outside of faction + neutral units? The possibilities are near endless.
- You can take 2 lists into a tournament event as long as they're from the same faction. This has got me super excited because you essentially have a backup list to play to a specific matchup or game mode to maximize your chances on winning.
 |
| More armies to come! |
Before getting into the game too much, let me just say that I'm planning a series of articles that go much more in-depth with list building, faction overviews, and competitive play. There is a lot to talk about for this game and I want to take the time to write my out my journey with you. I'll probably cover the Stark and Lannister overview next before going more into list construction. Stay tuned!
Pledge Update - I Need A 12 Step Program...
Well, it's about a third of the way through the year and I am not doing too badly on the Pledge for this year.
What the heck is "The Pledge" you ask? It's a promise to do my best to paint more minis than I actually receive in a year. I usually don't do very well at it. This year has been pretty good so far, especially in the matter of terrain pieces.
But that is about to take a MAJOR hit. You see, about 18 months ago I backed this little Kickstarter for Reaper Bones. And, um, well... I have a couple of hundred or so minis that are going to arrive any time now. Those pieces are not yet figured into the Pledge Count - I only count things that I actually receive in to my hands in a year.
This will be arriving:
CORE SET
- Infantry: 113
- Monsters: 15
- Vehicles: 1
- Terrain: 34
LOST VALLEY EXPANSION
- Infantry: 24
- Monsters: 10
- Vehicles: 0
- Terrain: 2
EXTRAS:
- Snake Cultists (Infantry): 6
- Ape Attack (Infantry?): 3
- Hill Giants (Monsters): 2
- King of the Jungle (Monster): 1
- Frost Giant Raiders (Monsters): 3
That's a total haul of 146 "Infantry," 31 Monsters, 36 pieces of Terrain, and one Vehicle (a pig-drawn pumpkin cart). Some I will probably try to resell, as I am not interested in all of it. But even so, that's a LOT of minis. And they really don't work much for most of my wargaming needs. THey do help with a lot of RPG needs though.
And I really wish I had bought more, honestly. The Fire Giant Huntsman, Hill Giant Hunter and Dire Lion, Blacktooth Terror, Mossbeard Treeman, and the Darkreach Expansion...
I may have a problem. Is there a 12 Step Program for this?
Episode 18: Threes Company Is Live!
Episode 18: Threes Company is live!
https://soundcloud.com/user-989538417/episode-18-threes-company
We talk with John Siewenie of Picoarmor about small scale gaming.
The Veteran Wargamer is brought to you by King's Hobbies and Games.
https://www.kingshobbiesandgames.com/
Special Artizan Service Miniatures
https://www.facebook.com/Special-Artizan-Service-Miniatures-1791793644366746/
Picoarmor links:
http://Picoarmor.com
Twitter @socialpicoarmor
https://www.facebook.com/picoarmor/
Other companies we mentioned:
Oddzial Osmy
https://www.facebook.com/oddzial.osmy/
Blitzkrieg Commander
Cold War Commander
Future War Commander
http://www.blitzkrieg-commander.com/
GHQ
http://www.ghqmodels.com/
Soviet Army FMs
https://fas.org/irp/doddir/army/fm100-2-1.pdf
https://fas.org/irp/doddir/army/fm100-2-2.pdf
https://fas.org/irp/doddir/army/fm100-2-3.pdf
Central Front
https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgamefamily/4255/central-front-series
Panzer Korps
https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/16323/panzer-korps
Advanced Squad Leader
http://www.multimanpublishing.com/Products/tabid/58/CategoryID/4/Default.aspx
Panzer Blitz
https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/2238/panzerblitz
Rock-Con
https://www.facebook.com/groups/93980714283/
Kingmaker
https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/987/kingmaker
Winter War
http://www.winterwar.org/
Diplomacy
https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/483/diplomacy
I Ain't Been Shot, Mum
http://toofatlardies.co.uk/product-category/i-ain%C2%92t-been-shot-mum/
Team Yankee (Battlefront)
http://www.team-yankee.com/
Baccus 6mm
https://www.baccus6mm.com/
Games Plus
http://www.games-plus.com/
Historicon
http://hmgs.site-ym.com/?page=HconHome
Aepticon
http://www.adepticon.org/
Team Yankee (Audible)
https://www.audible.com/pd/Fiction/Team-Yankee-Audiobook/B01LXT7NLS
Red Storm Rising (Audible)
https://www.audible.com/pd/Mysteries-Thrillers/Red-Storm-Rising-Audiobook/B004D5K3LE?qid=1496350535&sr=1-1
Music courtesy bensound.com. Recorded with zencastr.com. Edited with Audacity. Make your town beautiful; get a haircut.
https://soundcloud.com/user-989538417/episode-18-threes-company
We talk with John Siewenie of Picoarmor about small scale gaming.
The Veteran Wargamer is brought to you by King's Hobbies and Games.
https://www.kingshobbiesandgames.com/
Special Artizan Service Miniatures
https://www.facebook.com/Special-Artizan-Service-Miniatures-1791793644366746/
Picoarmor links:
http://Picoarmor.com
Twitter @socialpicoarmor
https://www.facebook.com/picoarmor/
Other companies we mentioned:
Oddzial Osmy
https://www.facebook.com/oddzial.osmy/
Blitzkrieg Commander
Cold War Commander
Future War Commander
http://www.blitzkrieg-commander.com/
GHQ
http://www.ghqmodels.com/
Soviet Army FMs
https://fas.org/irp/doddir/army/fm100-2-1.pdf
https://fas.org/irp/doddir/army/fm100-2-2.pdf
https://fas.org/irp/doddir/army/fm100-2-3.pdf
Central Front
https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgamefamily/4255/central-front-series
Panzer Korps
https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/16323/panzer-korps
Advanced Squad Leader
http://www.multimanpublishing.com/Products/tabid/58/CategoryID/4/Default.aspx
Panzer Blitz
https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/2238/panzerblitz
Rock-Con
https://www.facebook.com/groups/93980714283/
Kingmaker
https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/987/kingmaker
Winter War
http://www.winterwar.org/
Diplomacy
https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/483/diplomacy
I Ain't Been Shot, Mum
http://toofatlardies.co.uk/product-category/i-ain%C2%92t-been-shot-mum/
Team Yankee (Battlefront)
http://www.team-yankee.com/
Baccus 6mm
https://www.baccus6mm.com/
Games Plus
http://www.games-plus.com/
Historicon
http://hmgs.site-ym.com/?page=HconHome
Aepticon
http://www.adepticon.org/
Team Yankee (Audible)
https://www.audible.com/pd/Fiction/Team-Yankee-Audiobook/B01LXT7NLS
Red Storm Rising (Audible)
https://www.audible.com/pd/Mysteries-Thrillers/Red-Storm-Rising-Audiobook/B004D5K3LE?qid=1496350535&sr=1-1
Music courtesy bensound.com. Recorded with zencastr.com. Edited with Audacity. Make your town beautiful; get a haircut.
Monday, March 16, 2020
My Memory Of Us: A Polish Video Game About The Ghettos
My Memory of Us is a game developed by Juggler Games and soon to be published by IMGN.PRO, both of them Polish companies.
The game is set in a fantasy version of WWII, where two kids who are best friends are separated when an evil king (with robots) comes to power. They impose harsh restrictions on one of the kids (the girl) forcing them to wear certain clothing, mocking them, and creating dangerous situations. They only want to play together, and only by working together can the kids reveal their true power.
The game uses cute graphics against black and white dystopian steampunk backdrops of ghettos, garbage, and barbed wire. The story is narrated by Patrick Stewart.
I'm happy that they are not directly using Holocaust imagery, since this tends to end up in the hands of Nazis who enjoy watching Jews lose the game (like they enjoy watching Holocaust movies and rooting for the bad guys).
I don't know exactly how the story plays out. It might be an apologetic for Poland: the main characters are obviously the bad German regime and the two kids, Polish and Jewish, who work together and are both victims. Or it might not. You could gloss over that and simply enjoy the game. Apparently, the game was inspired by the real lives of some of the developers.
HT: Engadget via Boing Boing
The game is set in a fantasy version of WWII, where two kids who are best friends are separated when an evil king (with robots) comes to power. They impose harsh restrictions on one of the kids (the girl) forcing them to wear certain clothing, mocking them, and creating dangerous situations. They only want to play together, and only by working together can the kids reveal their true power.
The game uses cute graphics against black and white dystopian steampunk backdrops of ghettos, garbage, and barbed wire. The story is narrated by Patrick Stewart.
I'm happy that they are not directly using Holocaust imagery, since this tends to end up in the hands of Nazis who enjoy watching Jews lose the game (like they enjoy watching Holocaust movies and rooting for the bad guys).
I don't know exactly how the story plays out. It might be an apologetic for Poland: the main characters are obviously the bad German regime and the two kids, Polish and Jewish, who work together and are both victims. Or it might not. You could gloss over that and simply enjoy the game. Apparently, the game was inspired by the real lives of some of the developers.
HT: Engadget via Boing Boing
Sunday, March 15, 2020
Trollblood Hooch Hauler Model Review
The Hooch Hauler. Personally for me this is a tale of woe and triumph.
Saturday night I returned to my project, this time armed with a healthy pour of some fine Canadian rye whiskey.
To my surprise I was able to push through another three hours of pinning, cleaning, and gluing and was able to complete the model.
Suffice it to say this thing is HUGE! I wanted to see if I could possibly get it even temporarily into the foam for my other 120mm based models and did a group shot for size comparison.
I was incredibly excited by the CID rules, and when I saw the rules stayed as is and we saw the final render I was ready to buy this model day 1.
Then the price hit and while I wasn't expecting to pay so much, I did because I love Trolls and the rules seem like they have a lot of synergy and makes a neat package that slots into almost any caster in the faction. Luckily I had just about the cost of the Hauler left over from selling some of my old GW models and while I expected that to go further in financing new hobby purchases, I took the plunge day 1.
And then the agonizing wait began.
Then finally it arrived....and sat in my house for two weeks in its box.
Basically work was pushing me into a lot of overtime and we had a lot going on with the family that by the time I got my daughters in bed at night (the only time I can dedicate to actually building a model), I was so exhausted that I didn't have the will to start building what is literally the largest and most complex model Privateer Press has ever produced.
This weekend I finally dedicated the time to build it, and it was an adventure.
Friday night I started assembly with a porter at my side. I figured some alcohol would be thematic and help me get through this monster of a model.
I'm not kidding when I say this model is a monster. The modelers at PP did an utterly incredible job so that when it came to where the injection points for the molds on the various pieces went, every single part had the extra flash in places where you would not see it once the model was assembled.
Clearly there was a lot of thought put into the design in terms of model assembly goes. This was absolutely necessary actually, because when it came to extra flash/resin on parts of the model there is an absolute ton of it.
This is what my work area looked like when I called it quits later Friday night, and that's with a good round of initial cleaning already wiped away!
Saturday night I returned to my project, this time armed with a healthy pour of some fine Canadian rye whiskey.
To my surprise I was able to push through another three hours of pinning, cleaning, and gluing and was able to complete the model.
Suffice it to say this thing is HUGE! I wanted to see if I could possibly get it even temporarily into the foam for my other 120mm based models and did a group shot for size comparison.
Model Quality
The quality on the Hooch Hauler is frankly outstanding. I'm not sure if it's because it's a small production run done as part of the new Black Anchor Heavy Industries (ie. produced in house at PP in Washington), or if it's because this is the first production run using the molds - but the details are really good.
The parts of the model you'll see are really well detailed and...absolutely clean, there weren't any mold lines to remove whatsoever. As stated there was a lot of flash and resin to chop off with clippers and a fresh exacto blade, but none of it impacts the model in a aesthetic way. The mold designers at PP deserve a lot of credit, they really did their homework with this.
Assembly
This thing was a monster to get through, very intimidating at over 40 pieces and some parts that definitely want pinning.
That said, I pin a lot of my models because I want to ensure they hold up, but I had to do far less of that with this than I initially thought I would. The designers here really did a fantastic job with almost all of it so that things generally fit together in a tab-in-slot kind of way that didn't necessitate pinning. And they fit! So often things don't line up easily, or you have to pin anyway - but everything came together shockingly well for a model of this size and complexity.
That said there are some pieces where I paused to wonder if it was a necessary trade off or an intense pathological hatred that drove part of the assembly. The drivers seat was definitely a challenge, I ended up pinning into the cushion the driver sits on and then pinning that deeply into the barrel. And then there are the torches at the top. They have a pretty deep slot/tab design, but the bases of them weren't big enough to be able to drill into to attempt to pin them in. What's worse is that they're a necessity so that you can put in the cloth between them, which then serves as the mount/glue point for the troll up top jumping on the catapult to launch the primary gun.
To PP's credit however that part went together far easier than I thought it would. I was anticipating a lot of greenstuff to hold that cloth in place - but it was surprisingly easy. The troll also glued on shockingly well onto the cloth so it went very quickly to get the last bits assembled.
Finally the instructions were very detailed, probably because they had to be for a model like this, but it was greatly appreciated. Overall when I was assembling it, I was generally impressed by how much thought went into making the assembly as easy as it could be for a model this complex.
If this is what Black Anchor Heavy Industries is going to produce quality wise, then they've really hit it out of the park on that front. You certainly have to pay a pretty penny for this model, but the quality you're getting is spot on.
Other Factors
I am hoping that Battle Foam will quickly have a foam tray designed for this model, but it's going to have to be as tall as the Gargantuan foam trays as you can tell from the last picture. If one isn't coming soon I'll probably create something myself for it using some plasticard and foam. Transporting it is going to be a bit nerve wracking until then.
While I think the model is gorgeous, part of me kind of wishes it was a bit more modest. It's huge, and it's detailed, and it's complicated - which is all built into why it's so incredibly expensive. This definitely feels like a project that PP turned over to their artists and just let them push themselves as far as they could go. It's definitely an achievement in terms of design and production, but it comes with such a high cost.
While that sounds awesome, as an engineer I've been around long enough to know the value of having a project manager come in and say "this is great, but you might want to tone it back some to keep costs down."
No one did that at Privateer Press when it came to the Hooch Hauler. They stopped at "it's great" and decided to take a risk selling it as the premium product it is.
Gaming
I should get my first games with the Hauler this week. As it is a Hooch Hauler + Northkin Raiders + Full Krielstone + CA is 45 points, which in Storm of the North is 2 free solos and 15 points away from maximizing your free points allotment. In fact it does the same thing in Kriel Company, once the Hauler is officially added to that theme - but KC is such a terrible theme because of the limitation on "ranged only beasts" that I generally don't want to go down that route list wise. This is a shame because it's the only other theme we have to play our first Battle Engine in, but as it is, I'm not sure what I can get in there to make it work.
I'm very intrigued to play the list with Grissel1 using the package above plus some Long Riders, a Mauler, and a Brawler. Calamity and her fell calls would work very well with the Raiders gun wise or the old yo-yo'ing Long Riders. Beyond that, I think there's a place for this in either Grim, though I'm struggling to pick out exactly what I want in each of those lists.
Conclusions
The Hooch Hauler is definitely worth it if you care about model quality and aesthetics, though the price point is way higher than what I expected to pay for a single model in WMHD. You definitely get your money's worth in the final product, the only thing is questioning whether or not the model should have been made to this size and complexity.
As a product it feels like PP has taken a big risk here. I hope they do well because I love what the company is doing, but I guess we will see if this kind of product is successful for them.