Mortimer's Cross - sort of

After all the crazy-ness of Comic-Con, I guess I needed the comfort of a good game of historicals. I dug my most favorite-est Medieval rules, Flower of Chivalry, and ran the War of the Roses battle of Mortimer's Cross.

Edward (York) is trying to keep Lancastrian forces from uniting and heads them off at the River Lugg at the town of Mortimer's Cross. More people showed up than planned (Hey, look, its Roger!) and I had to add some fictional troops from what figs I had left. Thus, in the pics you'll see some mythical pikemen.

Lancastrian forces cross the river

Yorkist forces started to the west of the river, Lancastrians to the east. Victory points for holding the town, and even more holding the bridge.

The battle was a close one (as usual). Highlights included a lowly band of archers holding out against three heavier units (including pikemen) until the end. In the end, it was a marginal Yorkist victory. Huzzah!

I've had these boys for 20+ years. They have seen many battles.

My brave little archers

EXTRA: Here's the Battle Lust dial I made to keep track of Orders and Battle Lust

Back from Comic-Con

From San Diego's 72 degree no humidity to Missouri's 100+ and 95% humidity. Yeah!
How do I describe the complete insanity that is Comic-Con? Mardi Gras, Vegas, and superheroes all in one? Nah. Getting hit in the face with a board for 4 days? Closer. 130,000 people (larger than my city) in a very confined space. You can only take it in short spurts. And, no matter what anyone says, its not about comics anymore, and its gotten way to big. It spills out into the streets now.
I go mainly to see fellow artists and buy books and t-shirts and toys. That's why it was such a joy to hang out across from the convention center at the Trickster show. A FREE show by artists within a really great space, with all the sushi and whisky you can afford while chatting with and even drawing with some of the best comic artists around. One of the highlights for me was seeing Tom Murello, guitarist for Rage Against the Machine do a one man show at Trickster for 50 fans.
Bought some great stuff. Got a signed copy of Dr. Grortborts Contrapulatronis Dingus Directory from the WETA guys. Almost picked up a deathray, but wasn't sure how the FAA would handle it.
Got some awesome t-shirts from the 7.62mm Design guys. And some action figures.
Don't know if I'll go back anytime soon. A bit too much. There's really a 1-10 ratio there. For every cool thing, there are 10 crappy things.

Look! A centaur!

Off to San Diego Comic Con

Leaving tomorrow for the biggest Geekfest around. Hopefully I'll have pics next week, or if I get around to, as I go.

My costume from Halloween a couple years back

Super Thursday

Being in the middle of a week long heat advisory, I thought it appropriate to do a desert themed game. In previous issues, Emperor Ape had stolen the sarcophagus of the Black Pharaoh. So after he was able to build his Simian Ray that turned most of the Earth's population into monkeys. The few remaining heroes, led by Doc Titan have surmised the link between the two. Emperor Ape used the strange black material the pharaoh's tomb was made of to fuel his ray. A few deposits of the substance still pepper the area the tomb was discovered. Now our heroes race to grab some more of this X-matter to undo the effects of the Simian Ray.
From the start, our Heroes got ponded. As soon as A.J.A.X. took to the air, he was blasted out of the sky by Killshot and his henchmen.

Killshot did this most of the game. Gunning down heroes.

Behemoth super-leaped to the tomb and grabbed some x-matter before the heroes could react, while Eggsterminator scrambled the brains of several of the heroes.

Eggsterminator stalks the ruins in search of prey

AJAX, Mr Wonderful, the Crimson Cowl and Herakles approach the ruins

 Mr. Wonderful and Herakles tried valiantly to stem the villainous tide, but to no avail.
Hero Sandwich managed to escape with one measelly scrap of x-matter. Hope that's enough?

Mechagor uses a statue as a super-club

Behemoth and Herakles square off. An equal match

Next issue: Assault on Emperor Ape's Satellite!

Behemoth is an homage to one of my favorites from Villains and Vigilantes. I hope to some day recreate all my heroes and villains from this 80s RPG into SS2.

Thursday GASLIGHT

I decided to take a break from play testing and do an old favorite, GASLIGHT. I dusted off the contraptions, through down some terrain, and put the Germans on the defensive for once.

French forces approach.

Germans wait

The Empress's Own Elite Lady Hussars defend the town

Regulars and Zouaves move forward protected by armor

Professor Nightshade's "klanks" have trouble with the stream

Only two lonely French regulars make it across the river

GASLIgHT is always fun, and this was no exception. I should have given the Anglo-French attacking forces more troops, as this was a defensive game. But, oh well.

Does SciFi always mean Science Fiction?

It seems these days SciFi is always hard science. What about the old days where it blur the line with Fantasy? I'm thinking planets and swords stuff like the John Carter series. Look at this Frazetta painting for what I mean:

Or a bit of my childhood with He-Man:

I think this is an untapped area for RPGing and wargaming.
Currently I know of Sorcery and Super Science, a post apoc RPG, but that's it.
Lasers and Swords? Magic and Robots. C-mon!
Looks like I'll be grafting some blasters on to some ancients soon.

Blasters and Bulkheads playtest 2

The strong willed daughter of the High Priestess of the Solarian Sisterhood, a matriarchal warrior cult, has been kidnapped by the evil Krool. The High Priestess has dispatched a strike force to get her back.
That was the set up for last Thursday's game of Blasters and Bulkheads. The Krool forces were allowed to set up first, being the defenders. They had 5 warriors and a warbot.

Solarian Strike force set up

Krool encampment

The "Good Guys" , as the attackers got a little more firepower with 6 warriors and a vehicle carrying missiles and heavy blasters.

The Deathball stares down his target

The Krool decided to position their heavy gunner on a watch tower, where he proceeded to drop lead on the oncoming  strike team. But, it was actually the smaller Krool (space goblins) that pounded the good guys.
One warrior in particular, planted himself behind an outhouse, and was able to not only take down 3 attackers, but survive fire from the "Deathball" for most of the game. It was only when the Kroll finally became outflanked that the attackers in the last round, were able to knab the girl.

A well fought game. Some issues came up, but I have corresponded to Scott about. This is why you playtest!