New Games In Hand

Things have been quiet around here on the gaming front. I'm still doing stuff, it just hasn't been the over-the-top game-a-palooza pace that y'all have been accustomed to seeing me do. A cool thing to report on though is a couple of rulebooks I picked this week and last.

First things first is the above copy of Tomorrow's War, and man has this book been highly anticipated! It's the definitive sci-fi standalone in the same vein as the modern cousin, Force on Force. I can't wait to sink my teeth into this one, and there's a lot of sinking to do...it is a mighty tome indeed. I see it's not released for a couple of more weeks yet, so I count myself lucky to have been able to snag an advanced copy.


Next up on the new rules list is 5150 Star Army, and if you've been a reader here you know there have been a lot of 5150 games in the past. Also, readers will note there have been times where getting the rules down consistently has been troublesome for me. Well even after a cursory glance it seems all that and more has been fixed in this new edition. It's not just a new edition, it's a complete overhaul really.

In related news, I will be reviewing these two games in particular, as well as other games and the like over at Santa Cruz Warhammer. In addition to my Barter Bucketing responsibilities at SCWH there's going to be a new feature with me reviewing tabletop games, card games, videogames, movies, whatever that may be gaming related. My first review is up of the Space Marine videogame, and a preview of 5150 Star Army is due in a few days from now. I'll keep the cross-posting to a minimum, and still keep my battle reports here of course.

LEGO Thursday: Mavros Rising, Cruiser

I had mentioned building scales earlier, this one I believe falls solidly into the micro-scale category. It's a cruiser, which means it's pretty much the smallest ship in the fleet that is still capable of independent operations. Serving on a class of cruiser such as this is definitely a high-note in any space naval career.

Aft-comm arrays, observation deck, and thrusters








I was shooting for sleek, deadly, and intimidating


Parting shot...

My Gutshot Con-Game

Hey, that looks official!

I can't really say "I" ran my first game of Gutshot, as last mentioned here. I borrowed all of my buddy Andy's excellent Whitewash City terrain, and my other buddy Chrispy was also on hand to help out with the rules, bring some more terrain (including cool terrain mat), and even cooler action markers. My name was attached to the table though, but of course it wouldn't have even had a chance without my friends pitching in.


There were four players signed up, each person getting two characters. Frankly the game could've handled a whopping ten, but each person would only run one character each. There's a ton of great resources on the official Gutshot page, including a bunch of pre-generated characters ranging from shopkeepers and gamblers to bounty hunters and Texas rangers.


Before the game began we rolled randomly for characters, which yielded a pretty good mix of characters across the board. Skill levels are determined by the target number (TN) of the character. Starting with the lowest skilled TN's, players got to dive into a bin full of LEGO pieces and build their characters. This also yielded a lot of fun results, and got the players invested right off the bat into the game.


Every turn each character gets three actions, but these actions are random each turn (names drawn out of a hat). This makes for a very fun game 'cause you know you'll get your three actions each turn, you just don't know when!


Another thing I like about the Gutshot rules is that you don't play unless your character has a name and if that name isn't suitably "cowboy/western" it doesn't count! In case you were wondering, "the Man with no Name" also counts as a name.


Ammo is tracked in game, and if you're empty you're going to waste valuable actions later on down the road reloading. But why reload when there's perfectly good (and loaded!) weapons just laying around for the taking! Oh, and you can "fan" your revolvers too, so expect to run empty quite a bit.


As all good western tales should go, the final actions of the game were decided on in the center of the town, probably at high noon to boot. Interestingly enough, the solid TN characters like the Texas Ranger had good longevity, but it came down to a low-skilled townsfolk running around shooting everyone at point-blank with a shotgun that won the day.


Sure, you could do slips of paper, but this is a cowboy game! We used spent .45 Long Colt cartridges to track character actions, drawn out of a small bag. Drawing these out of a cowboy hat would be even cooler, maybe next time.

All in all, I love Gutshot. It plays fast and loose but guarantees a good time had by all. The rules are great for long term play and offer plenty of details, as much as you want. They can also be played simple, like we did here, making it a great pick-up or low-prep game.

I've never run a con game before and I was pretty nervous leading into it, but once people started building their figures and having fun, I started having fun as well and forgot all about my nervousness. I would definitely run this game again if given the chance.

Three Rivers Con

Earlier this month there was a local, one-day gaming convention called Three Rivers Con. It seemed like a pretty cool event, and in an effort to get outside my box, I went. I was surprised, I didn't know what to expect really, but all in all it was a good day. I met some good folks, played some good games...what more could you ask for?


First off, I wasn't just a con-gamer, I was a con-game runner! That's right, the practice session of Gutshot last time was just a warm-up for this. Needless to say, I think it was a success, I've got another post dedicated just for this game, so I'll be moving on.


There's an area club that I didn't know we had that centers around boardgames. Lots and lots of boardgames. They were the core of the con it seemed, and the table you see here had a nice flyer saying if you were interested in learning a game, just ask.


I was interested, especially in the new Dungeons and Dragons games. Around the corner is the new Legend of Drizzt version, and being a fan of the fiction I figured I'd pick it up. Of course a test drive was in order so I was able to snag a game of the Wrath of Ashardalon. How was it? Good stuff, it was definitely fun enough to start saving my shekles for October.


There was also a Zombpocalypse presentation, which was entertaining. Now I realize the Zombpocalypse is just around the corner and definitely no joke, but this tongue-in-cheek "how to" was still pretty fun.

The presentation also included a "survival grab bag" demonstration


I haven't played Battletech since the late eighties, but there's was a lot of it going down here. In fact, it seemed that was all that was being played for a good eight hours straight.


There was a paint-and-take demonstration as well (which I'm told is so hot right now). This proved to be a very popular spot and it stayed full most of the time. I was blown away by the sheer amount of quality paints, brushes, and the rest available to use. Also, for those new at it, there was plenty of help and assistance from some very knowledgeable "staffers".


Hetero-gaming lifemate Andy and I had the first ever "45 Minute Iron-Painter" paint off. The minis take 'em table had an absolute hoard of great figs, not leftover junk, but good stuff. There was a matched pair of survivor figs that formed the basis of the challenge, of course it was a good natured challenge and when awesome survivor figs like this free on the line, everyone comes out a winner. So which one do you prefer? The right or the left one?


There was a table full of silent auction goods, most of it roleplaying books and a good deal of boardgames. Being a huge boardgaming crowd I was surprised to see a complete Battle for Macragge box there. I was even more surprised to see no bids on it. I'm happy to say I picked this one up for a mere ten bucks, all I really wanted was the crashed spaceship to use as terrain, the ten marines, twenty-odd 'nids, and what-not was all a bonus.


This is Trio de Rio, I just made that up. I've also just declared him the official mascot of Three Rivers Con. There was a talented, young crochet chica there making these little critters. In a few hours she was able to crank this little feller out. I gave her my info and offer for a potential commission for a Cthulhu crocheted critters. Holidays are right around the corner and those would make for some awesome, mythos-themed gifts.

Three Rivers Con? Good stuff. Fun? Yup. Repeat? Probably!

LEGO Thursday: Terra Explorer Repaints

I wouldn't call repaints are the 'holy grail' of LEGO building, but they are kind of like the Sasquatch. People have seen them, but they're kind of elusive and rare. Basically a repaint is what it sounds like, taking a design and changing the colors. The trick is, if you're doing your own design, you don't have instructions so you not only have to build it the exact same way from memory, but you have to get it right. And in a different color. Oh, and you also have to have all the right pieces to pull it off. In different colors. I loved my Terra-X from the previous week so much that shortly after I built it I set out to do some repaints.


The jalopy, ad-hoc, mix-and-matched Terra-X


Blacktron crewed white Terra-X


Classic Space red Terra-X


Classic Space blue Terra-X






All four repaints with the original thrown in for good measure

The Cult is Coming...

Stuffed Veggie Flautas

Here's a very quick, and very tasty dish I whipped up last week. I've gone easy on the ingredients and steps below because I was improvising along the way as it is, and you should too. Here you go, Mik's Stuffed Veggie Flautas, enjoy:

Stuffed Veggie Flautas:

1. Make some mashed potatoes, I like to add shredded pepper jack cheese, sour cream, and/or cream cheese. For this batch I used all three, set aside for later.
2. Get your favorite peppers and veggies from your garden (or the store). For this batch I used all my own garden goods; jalapeño, poblano, green peppers, and some hot banana peppers.
3. Cut these into thin strips and sauté with a little olive oil and some fresh garlic, set aside for later.
4. Get a couple of avocados (if you like them, but who doesn't?) and slice up into strips.
5. Get some oil warming up in a large skillet, I used six cups (which is a lot) of canola oil.

Now you're going to put it all together:

1. Get some small flour tortillas, six or eight inch diameter.
2. Get your assembly line ready with all of the above fixins.
3. Take a tortilla and spread a not-too thick, not-too thin layer of the mashed potatoes as a base.
4. Next take some strips of the sauteed veggies and lay them in a line in the middle of the tortilla.
5. Finally lay in a slice or two of the avocado.

Now it's time to cook them:

1. Fold in the edges of the tortilla fist and foremost.
2. Next, roll your tortilla tightly, like a fine cigar, the tighter the better.
3. Keep it held together with toothpicks.
4. Lay them in the heated canola oil, you're frying them, they'll cook fast so keep an eye on them, maybe a minute or two per side.

That's it, they're not the healthiest since they're fired, but you could fool yourself and say the veggies are in fact healthy. Serve up like mine in the photo at the top of this post and if you want to be really cool, slice them in the middle with a diagonal cut like the restaurants do. I garnished mine with some cheese, more avocados (because I can't get enough), and enchilada sauce. Cook these up for your next gaming session and impress your buddies. The smaller the tortillas the bigger batch they will make, which is more finger food for you and your friends.

Mutant Squash Attacks House

A few weeks ago I posted on these wacky giant squash(es?) that have been out of control. Well it's officially reached new heights of zaniness. As you can see here a good quarter of my deck is now covered with the creeping, squash-birthing vine.


You also have to remember that the squash plant itself is ten plus feet below the deck, down in the garden itself! From far below you can also see one of the body-snatching pods, I mean squash, growing to epic proportions. It's hard to believe this is all coming from a stalk no bigger than about an inch in diameter.


This is one of the ones growing on top of the deck. I don't even have to go down the stairs to harvest them, they've come to me! I've used both my foot and my dog for scale points of reference.

That's about all I've got in the garden department, although I did plant a few "fall crops" for the first time, but more on those later.

LEGO Thursday: Terra Explorer

When I set out to make the Terra-X Rover I wanted something non-combative, basically a science and survey vehicle and with variable modes of locomotion. When I lifted my head off the table after an all-nighter of bricking it up, wiped the drool off my mouth, and plucked the random 2x2 off my forehead I saw this creation in front of me.


It rolls! For speed on those smooth surfaces


It walks! For those uneven and rocky surfaces


It flies, err, hovers! For traversing bodies of liquid


It takes a crew of two to fully man the Terra-X


Closeup of the rear workstation and sensor array


Adjustable controls allow the pilot to sit or stand


View from the ground


Modular science suite and array systems


The wheels may look small, but there's six of them!