Dungeons and Dragons: 4th Edition

This weekend saw the release of fourth edition DnD, which is a pretty big deal. I'm excited about it too, I just don't have time (or money) to pick up the excellently priced slipcase set. I'm over being bitter about all the 3.5 edition source books I've collected as well, and I'm actually looking forward to this new edition, even if our next longterm game is something entirely different, ahem. To commemorate the event I've dug up two great clips. The first one above is an audio file that has been around for a very long time done by the Dead Alewives, a comedy troupe. It's a classic, and someone did a great job pairing up the dialog to old clips of the DnD cartoon that was on Saturday mornings in the 80's.

Part two of the first clip, in a way. The people in the video are members of the band My Chemical Romance, but I don't think they actually had anything to do with it. I might add, not a bad band either, I listen to 'em on occasion. Anyway, it's a funny clip too, and builds on the same zaniness from the original with all new material, (it also does a good job to capture the same 'feel') although it's a tad long-winded. It's worth watching though, especially for the DM's rant near the end...and the oddly uncomfortable moment immediately following that. If you're a fan of the original at all, you need to watch this one too.

Get Mugged!

I'm glad I got those Vespids done because the rest of June is going to be busy. There's not going to be a lot of geek time to be had with painting miniatures or what-not, for serious. I thought I'd catalog some of my mugs, krugs, and steins while I had the chance. I'm not an avid collector, I'm not a member of SCI, but I do like the look and feel of a good mug, and when I can find one I try to snatch it up.

Steins have lids, mugs don't, krug are earthenware, you've got salt-glazed, slip gloss, etc; the list goes on and the particulars get incredibly detailed. Just goes to show you can geek out about anything; miniatures, boardgames, pipes, puzzles (ugh), and yes, mug collecting. I'm not going that far, but like I said, I can appreciate a good tankard though, so here's mine. I may not have time to sit down and paint up a squad of [whatever] in the immediate future, but I do have a feeling these will see a lot of action coming up over the next couple o' weeks, heh.


Brauhaus was established one hundred and fifty years ago. They've been around the block a few times, and know a thing or two about brewing. This is a sturdy, salt-glazed mug finished with a slip high gloss. It's half a liter (as marked) which to those metric-challenged folks is about seventeen ounces. A standard 12oz can of your favorite beverage looks absolute dwarfed once poured inside. Circa 1950's.


This is a great little half-liter mug, and it's pretty old to boot. It's been a little tricky to research, since it doesn't have a vintage logo or company name attached to it, but I've tracked down what I could. Fliegerhorst Alhorn is an airbase and they once serviced dirigibles, like the one shown on the mug. By 1915, they had been doing this for some time, about twenty five years. This mug commemorates this achievement. Circa 1915 (making this one of my most vintage mugs by far, just shy of one hundred years old).


I picked up this half liter, salt-glazed mug for five bucks at an outdoor stall at a weekend flea market avery long time ago. It was my first mug I picked up for the sake of nothing more than having a mug. I saw it, it looked nice. I held it, it felt solid. I touched it, it felt right. I smelled it, well, nothing happened in that department, but I've been using it ever since. Moninger, founded in 1856 beats out the Brauhaus boys' founding by two years. After taking this outdoors to shoot these pics I realized the logo has faded quite a bit; NOT dishwasher safe, which is what I've been doing to "old faithful" for years now, argh. Circa 1940's.


No, it's not Ham, the Space Chimp, but Hamm, the beer-bear! I love this big ole mug just because of all the character it has, I just don't use it enough. It's a good-sized mug datin' to 1988. The Hamm brewery operated for about a hundred years out of Minnesota, and later ended up in the hands of Pabst; who, as it turns out, still brews this economically priced beer. Hamm himself has an illustrious advertising history dating back several decades. Here's a vintage commercial for ya:




Now this mug (and the following stein) are kind of mysteries to me. They're old, obviously, but these are decorative, not commercial, so they're almost impossible for a rookie such as myself to pinpoint. The missus and I used to live on a good sized chunk of land (about 96 acres), this mug and the following stein were both found amongst the [junk] in the old farmhouse. This farmhouse is on the historic registry and is over a couple of hundred years old. Now these vessels aren't that old, but I have no idea how new they are either. The newer house we lived was built in the fifties, but it's hard to tell when these were put in storage in the old house.


The second of the 'farmhouse' series, I just dubbed them that, heh. It wouldn't be too hard to figure these out, based on technique and style I'm sure I can narrow these down to a time frame within a decade or so. They are modern-era, for sure, and each one is stamped with "made in Germany", one even looks like it said "western Germany" at one point. These won't blow my 'zeppelin' mug out of the water, date-wise, for sure. I'm guessing 1950's-1960's. For now, they'll just be my 'old' mugs that serve as good reminders of the land we used to live on, good times.


"One of these things is not like the others..."
Here's my Budweiser mug, woohoo. Not much to say here really, it's from Budweiser and it dates to 1992 as part of their "Collector's Series". I don't want to knock it, I love all my mugs equally, it's just that this one is like the odd-man out, haha.


Mainzer Aktien-Bier (MAB) has been around about as long as the rest of the brewers mentioned so far, getting it's start in 1870. This is one monster of a mug. A rather recent addition to the collection, this hefty tankard is stamped as a one liter mug. One liter's not too hard to visualize, it's half of a two-liter, heh, or (again for the metrically impaired) about thirty-four ounces, or close to three cans of your favorite beverage. Salt glazed, circa 1950's.


Last on the ole list, for now. This one is adorned with my "alma mater", but don't let that blazing orange throw ya off, it sports it's German muggery pedigree underneath! This is a very well made mug, not too shabby on the eyes, and plenty comfortable to use as well. Most people opt for a class ring, but that is so not my style! I mean a graduation ring, seriously? I went this route instead, a graduation stein, and every time I use it I can think of all those collegiate shenanigans I just got through. What geek blog doesn't mention their Mom at least once, and since she also gave this to me as a grad present, I'll even give her a cameo pic. Enjoy!

Tau: Vespid Stingwings

Here's some pics of the latest item to come out of the project queue.

I have a Tau army, some might even go as far to say a rather large Tau army on top of that. Although we don't play 40k, well, hardly ever, the models still rock. I've had my eyes on the Vespid auxiliaries for some time, but never got around to buying/painting them until now. A ten dollar coupon in the email from the local hobby shop, and I was good to go. I'd still like to add four more figs to make the unit full-strength, but these critters will do for now.

The Vespids are one of the newer additions to the Tau Empire, and as their wings suggest, are able to fly. In the overall army composition on the tabletop they occupy a fast attack choice on the force organization chart and count as jump infantry. Their neutron blasters comprise a densely focused crystal from their home world housed within a high-tech delivery system engineered by the Tau themselves. The Vespids have taken to their role wholeheartedly of being subjugated into the Greater Good, and they receive a bit more prestige and honor than the other well known alien auxiliaries the Tau employ; the Kroot.


Here is the entire squad; five Vespid Stingwings and the Strain leader in the center.


Rear view of their chitinous wing pods.


At home, sharing shelf real estate with the rest of the army.


I meant to take in-progress shots along the way, but got so engrossed in painting them I kinda forgot. Here they are before final touch-ups and hitting them with clear sealer.

A word about basing: My Tau army is all based with red model railroad ballast. Well, that was so long ago, I don't have it any more, so I had to just do black ballast and paint it red. I hated doing this, and it was incredibly tedious. Some people paint their basing all the time, but if you can avoid it, save yourself the headache and just use the ready-made stuff. I'd like to go back and add some yellow lichen to the bases of the overall army, but that'll wait...


Moments after priming. As with basing, my Tau army was also primed black then drybrushed (mostly). These Vespids would've painted up three times as fast with a white undercoat instead, but the style wouldn't quite fit with the overall feel of the army, so I had to kick it old school with the black undercoat. None of my other Tau are dipped either, so it was killing me to know that I wouldn't be dipping these guys either. Just ignore the Stealth suit guy up there...


Ha! A rare "action shot" of me doing the priming. My 'assistant' was 'helping' and she wanted to take this as I sprayed the group down.


Here they are in their silver-back glory. I must say, the models were kind of a pain to assemble, just because the flash was incredible. Plus, their clawed feet had to be carved out and trimmed down, unless you want your guys to look like they're wearing scuba fins. I love these models though, lots of detail and character, capturing a wildly alien look, yet they still tie in to the overall visual context of the Greater Good.

As mentioned, I will be adding four more figs to the unit, that's why you should always take notes along the way, so the newer additions down the road will match. I'm a bit inspired to do some more 40k now, especially with the new rulebook looming on the horizon. My next unit I've got planned is for some Human Auxiliaries. Not the best unit statwise, but visually and fluff-wise they're a must-have. Basically, as the Tau Empire expands, it takes other races in under their guidance and protection. It does have human allies as well, mostly those colonies abandoned by the Imperium as they lost contested galactic grounds.

There aren't any 'official' models for these allies, which is the appeal. The most popular (and expensive) route I've seen is to take half Firewarrior parts and half Catachan Imperial Guard parts and go from there. I've also considered using Necromunda or Tallarn Desert Raider figs. I think I've finally settled on a design that's unique and kinda embodies all of the above, yet will look suitably rag-tag. Basically it will mix plastics from a lot of sources: Tau, Fantasy Empire, Fantasy Chaos, Catachan IG, and Cadian IG. Next time I can scrounge up forty bucks, I'll put a call in to the War Store, and get to gluing!

Shadows Over Camelot

Well, I'm a bit behind on this one, Andy has already beaten me to it, but here's the photo compliment to his writeup. Shadows Over Camelot, by Days of Wonder is a great game. Andy and I went into it without knowing a thing about it, and it was incredibly easy to pick up and learn on the fly. It's designed for three to seven players, which is nice, having the option to host so many players at once is a plus.

The neat dynamic about the game is that everyone plays cooperatively against the 'board' itself. Each turn the players perform their heroic actions after their compulsory 'evil' turn. You don't have a choice in this, you have a few options each turn, but you must choose some type of dark deed to advance the board's challenges. The more players you have, the faster the challenges escalate. The board itself is cool in that it's not a single board, but smaller boards representing quests that orbit a central board, which is Camelot. There's a 'traitor' element that works into it as well; there's a large percentage chance that one of the players is a traitor and has to slyly influence events to work towards the favor of darkness. If you're too overt, you may get accused, playing your hand at the right moment takes finesse.


You can't have Camelot without Excalibur. Here is the Lady of the Lake quest. If the sword reaches the rocky shore, it is lost to darkness. The knights' task is to get Excalibur to the lush side. In both games we were able to save the sword, but it wasn't easy.


Each of the seven knights in the game are nicely detailed and blur the line between miniature and game piece. Here they are around the round table itself.


It's quite the layout once the action in in full swing.


Here lies the main mechanic of the game, how many white or black swords are accumulated around the table. This ultimately spells success or doom for the players. If the white swords overtake it by game's end, the hero knights win. If the black swords are most numerous, darkness wins, and if there's a traitor in the midst of the knights, they win as well.


The Grail quest, here in the final stages of completion on the side of the knights.


The courtyard was full of sieging catapults, as the knights sallied forth.


In game two, Sir Percival (my character) was randomly chosen as the traitor. In the end, the darkness won, which means I did too I guess, but it was extremely hard to seemingly play the role of the knight while simultaneously forwarding the goals of darkness.

Planet Hulk

Wow. Just plain wow. I can't say enough good things about Planet Hulk. Andy had loaned it to me on a whim and I knew very little about it going into to it. What little I did hear sounded good though, so I thought, "Why not?". By the second page I was hooked, big time.

It's already in trade paperback format, so if you're into comics, or just plain 'in the know', this is all very old hat to you. For those who aren't however...you're in for a real treat, it's worth the price of admission. The extremely short synopsis is that the Hulk is betrayed by a handful of Earth's heroes and exiled to an alien world. If that wasn't bad enough, he ends up on the wrong planet, a planet ruled by the elite headed by a non-forgiving emperor. He is bound as a slave, made into a gladiator, and seen as the prophesied savior by the weak and exploited of the planet. He creates an uprising to go against the regime. In the end, Earth betrays him one last time. The world befits a rich sci-fi setting, with a mix of high technology and feudal minded civics. Fellow gladiator slaves alongside the Hulk hail from the breadth of space and contain an interesting cadre of allies, including one very independently minded Brood.

The writing is top-notch, and although I've just given you the plots to both the original Conan, as well as Gladiator, it is pulled off flawlessly in the comic translation with the big, green machine. What struck me the most is how ordinary the writing made a very extraordinary character such as the Hulk become. Seemingly everyone on the planet was on par with the power level of the Hulk and what was more important than what they could do was how they could do it and interact with one another. There was some great character development, especially with the Hulk himself. The artwork was very reminiscent of one of my all-time faves Larry Stroman, and it did well to capture the alien environment, varied species, and carnage on a grand scale. Again, if I had a rating system, this one would easily score the coveted ten out of ten. The moments in Hulk history where I stood up and took notice were when Dale Keown did the artwork, and the stint that Peter David did as the author. Well this latest endeavor bests these previous efforts and makes this a comic experience truly worthwhile.