Houseguard Riflemen

Retribution Houseguard Riflemen

Privateer Press put these up on their website not too long ago, the Houseguard Riflemen. Pretty much like everything else to come out for the Retribution, I love these models quite a bit...and I don't play WM or Hordes any more either! I'm not saying these models are going to call me back to the miniatures world of the Iron Kingdoms either, but...

I think I will plop down for these troops "just because". I don't know yet, but I'm pretty sure these will be plastic too, which is good because head-swaps will be a piece of cake. These guys are going to be put into service as sci-fi troops though, none of this "steampunk/arkanika" stuff! With the pointy ear heads too, they'd make for great Eldar Scouts.


My only real complaint here would be the extra pointy cod pieces, but that can be clipped easily enough (ouch!), especially if they're plastic. Just looking at the above fig, you've got great planetary defense trooper, with a sweet energy rifle, and decent carapace armor to boot. I'm thinking they could make great Tau Human Auxiliaries too (with Imperial Guard heads), or stick Tau heads on them and make them straight up Fire Warriors.

The box is listed at $43 bucks, which is very steep for ten troopers, but maybe an online site or local shop will have them discounted. If that's the case I wouldn't mind paying maybe three bucks or for each. Though that is still a tad steep, judging from their look so far, they'll be worth it. I wish I had a shot of the backpacks, they're pretty detailed too.

400th Post!

Silver Drachm, Greece circa 400 BC

Hey, hey, 400 posts here at Mik's Minis, huzzah!

Prey

Prey, 2006

So I'm probably the world's slowest video gamer. I just beat Assassin's Creed over the summer...the sequel comes out in two months. The FIRST Gears of War is still sitting in my queue for crying out loud, the sequel has been out forever. Now, the good news to my slow gaming habits is that I can usually pick up on great games for next to nothing. When I get ready for Gears of War 2 for example, it'll be around $20 bucks, or less.

I was killing time in the video game store the other day, waiting to go to lunch with the missus and I saw this metal-boxed "deluxe" edition on the used rack. I had heard about Prey, a first-person sci-fi shooter that had quite the résumé behind it.


I picked up the "deluxe" Halo 3 a while back, and along with the tin box, it came with an art book, Prey did as well. It's a nifty, little fake leather sketchbook with tons of pages of color and BW art from the game, including a lot of concept sketches and the like.


Some of the art...


Good sci-fi inspiration lies within...


As I pulled out the books it came with I was kinda surprised to see what else was in the box; two nicely detailed 40mm sci-fi minis! I've heard of Prey before, not much, and I didn't know anything about the deluxe edition, and I certainly didn't know it had figs in it!


The figs are sculpted pretty well and there was zero flash on them. They're hefty, sizing in solidly at 40mm, and they've got good detail. The human is your character from the game, a Native American in casual dress, hip-shooting an alien blaster. The bad guy looks to be some kind of bio-mechanical thug with a Geiger-esque head, shouldering some type of energy weapon. Even their bases have deck-plating moulded on.


Random screenshot...


The same type of critter the alien figure is


and the best part of all...

So, I may be a slow gamer, but slow and steady wins the race. I picked up this whole package for six bucks! I haven't even played the game yet, and from what the reviews are saying, it's a fun weekend blaster, offering some innovative tricks and gorgeous visuals, but little else. Even if I only get a few hours of enjoyment out of it, I got the cool art book, and a couple of sweet looking 40mm sci-fi minis too. I'd say that was six bucks well spent!

"Official" Demiurg?

The White Dwarf, err, White Demiurg, click to enlarge

Some of those lucky few people who attended Games Day UK will have seen an exclusive peek at the new White Dwarf subscriber model, so we thought it was only fair to show it to you all as well! Look out in November's White Dwarf and on the web for loads more information about to get your hands on this great model. -From Games Workshop

Thanks to Andy for pointing this one out! As I have stalwartly been collecting all sightings of Squats across the intarweb, I had to include this one of course! Well, it's a Space Dwarf, there is ZERO doubt about that, and it's sculpted and produced by Games Workshop, so it's about as "official" as it gets. It's a "White Dwarf Subscriber Model", which means what? It's just a promo fig, a glimpse of things to come, a teaser? Who knows, my down-to-Earth thought is that it will end up being just a cool one-shot. My flight-of-fancy screams out that it the tip of a massive Demiurg / Squat iceberg heading this way!

Curiously enough, the news item occurs right next to the announcement of a new Tyranid codex headed this way in the new year. The flufficized the fate of the Squats dying out after being eaten by one of the great hive fleets. It would be nice if there was a mini-dex in the back of the 'Nid book allowing you to field forces of 'renegade Squats'. Kind of like the way they include cultists lists in the back of some of the Inquisitorial codices.

Looking at the fig, it's everything GW said they didn't want to do in the first place, a fantasy Dwarf in space. I personally love the idea (obviously). He's got a great flight suit on, including the leather fighter pilot looking headcover, and cool, heavy industrial boots to clomp around in. At his feet is a solid helmet, more than capable for EVA (mining an asteroid, fixing a ship hull, etc.), and in his hand he sports a hefty power hammer, including a rune on its head. He sports a mechadendrite arm on his back, which doesn't look anything like a tech-priest arm, but does the same job nonetheless. Curiously though, he's snagged a space-suited Gretchen in its claw, and not a 'nid critter, which kinda dashes my hopes from earlier.

9 is really just a 6

Shane Acker's 9

This last Saturday I got to see 9, the new animated, sock-puppet, post-apocalyptic action fantasy adventure. 9 was one of those movies I've had on my radar for quite some time, so I'm glad I got to finally go. As you can tell from my title though, it was a tad lacking.

I'm not going to dwell too much on 9, it was a pretty simple movie, and I think a pretty simple review will suffice. Visually, this movie is as beautiful as you may have guessed from just a simple viewing of the trailer. It was simply stunning, the movement of the characters on screen, the scope of the blasted, ruined landscape, and the plethora of minions, all creepy-crawley in their mechanical design were marvelous. The attention to detail was great, and the setting was an alternate history similar to the 1930's, but with the twist of "dark science" thrown into the mix, then blasted by horrible war between man and machines. Isn't that always the case though, you can't trust friggin' machines! The animation was pretty much as good as it gets, and didn't strive to be believable, just fantastic. It was visually beautiful.

But, that's about it. The story was flat, predictable, and simple. The characters, these nine sock puppets, were monotonous and two dimensional in their personality, which was a function of the not-so-complex plot. Because of this though, you really developed nothing, absolutely nothing for any of them. If a crazy, skeleton-machine hybrid chomps one of them in half, so what, there's eight more. Plus there's a convoluted thread of a story unraveling all over the place, no pun intended. You'll be scratching your head, 'til they throw you a bone in the form of a half-baked solution...that you really shouldn't think about too hard.

Maybe I'm too picky, I know many went to 9 and came out in love with it, based mostly on the visuals, sure, but you really can't give too much weight to the story. It's enjoyable, but not deep, and it's incredibly short at just 79 minutes, so it doesn't even really fill you up all that much when it's all said and done. I liked the movie, how it looked and the fantastic world it presented, but I won't be rushing out to see it a second time. I liken it to going out to your favorite Mexican restaurant, intent on a wonderful meal, but only eating the free chips and salsa that come to your table and then leaving; you got to see all the good stuff other people were eating, you got to sit down for friendly service, you got to smell the wonderful food and hear the music full of ambiance, but you left empty and hollow. That's 9.


"Gasp! What, no plot, story?!?!?!"

From the Cutting Room Floor...

Syx-66 and Crash Starslayer

Two characters didn't quite make the roll call for the Star Wars one-shot we played not long ago, Syx-66 the assassin droid, and Crash Starslayer, Jedi adventurer. We had three players at the table, plus a GM, and had anyone else shown up that night, these were just a couple of 'suggestions' I built up beforehand. A force user and android would've been a couple of cool additions to add to the overall composition of the group though...


Crash Starslayer is a Jedi, true, but reckless to a fault. He jumps headfirst into the fray and seldom looks back. He relies on his force talents to pull his arse out of the frying pan time and time again, and were it not for his single-minded pursuit of righteousness, he could become easy prey for recruitment over to the Dark Side. Undisciplined and unconventional, Crash is kept at arm's length by the Rebellion, where he does as much harm as good.


Syx-66 was once a premiere assassin droid, top of the line, and had a spotless service record. Until the day he found himself marooned on a lush jungle moon and cut off from communications. The moon itself was well outside the trade lanes and core worlds, making it most isolated indeed. The years passed Syx-66 by, which soon became decades, and then centuries. He passed the time interacting with the non-sentient animal life on the moon and was able to keep his systems charged through magnetic and solar means. Lifetimes later a salvage crew found Syx-66 in a dormant state and took him off-world. While repairing his body and getting ready to wipe his memory, Syx-66 suddenly came to, stole a shuttle and escaped the salvage ship. Since then it has plied its skills in the bounty hunting trade and hopes to one day find and return to the uncharted moon it had called home for so long.

A Look at Savage Worlds

As promised from my last RPG post, pitting disgruntled Star Wars rebels whooping up on some deserving Imperial scum, here's a little more in-depth look at the rules we used, and not necessarily the game we played itself. Savage Worlds is one of those games that has garnered good reviews and a positive following over the years. A newer edition (Explorer's Edition) has emerged which is said to have fixed some minor issues, tweaked others, and overall fine tuned what was already am award-winning RPG engine.

Savage Worlds is set up as a generic system tailored to meet whatever genre demands the players require. To help it along in defining certain areas to game in, companion rulesets are out there to cover the weird west Deadlands, sci-fi future, weird war two (so hot right now), pirates, and even the New World (among many others). There's a fantasy companion as well. The best part is, the core rules themselves are just $9.99, in full color!


Character creation was incredibly fast and easy. The above, handwritten sheet was for the Star Wars game we did, and took up, maybe, a fourth of the page. It's very self-explanatory, and the fact that different dice are used to represent your skills is easy and intuitive for someone new to the system. The higher your die type, the better you are at that attribute. Using above Krynn Kora as an example, his dexterity is fairly high at d8, and both smarts (intelligence) and spirit are decent enough at d6. As you can see, vigor (overall health) isn't that great at d4. Your die types are bought with points, so there's only so much you can bump up, and the higher one stat becomes, the lower another conversely becomes.

Skills are handled with a points buying system as well, and the skills tie directly into your attributes. With the above example, I took 'gambling' as a skill, which is tied to the attribute smarts (d6). I could go as high as d6 (my attribute) with the gambling skill if I wanted easily enough. I just wanted to have the skill though, not necessarily be great at it, so I just bought it to have it on paper at its lowest value. Using skills untrained altogether is a much tougher prospect to succeed with. If you look at 'shooting', tied in with my dexterity (d8), the skill is higher than the attribute. I was able to buy it up to my max attribute of d8 no problem, but to go beyond that I had to pay double for each level of progression. This system works well to favor skills that are tied in with your natural attribute strengths, but allows flexibility enough to give a character with a low attribute to still have a high skill related to that attribute. Such as the high smarts technician still having a decent fight (agility).

You'll find that you don't quite have enough points to really make your character the exact way you want, so you can pick up hindrances. Hindrances come in two varieties; minor and major. Depending on what you take, you'll get more points to use towards both skills and starting attributes. For me I took two minor ones; "wanted" and "phobia". These were fairly generic, and the rulebook offered many, many hindrances to choose from. There are also benefits called edges you can choose from too, however these cost points, but give neat stuff.

Gameplay proceeds as pretty much any regular RPG, with an exception being in initiative "rolls" which uses a standard deck of cards instead of dice. It was a neat change of pace, but I didn't feel it was necessary. Also you get 'bennies' for each character, we used poker chips. These work in the same manner as action points and/or re-rolls. The rest of the game goes along the same lines, and puts the action squarely in the hands of the players. Because of the intuitive and light nature of the rules, it seems that there should be less prep time on the part of the GM's, with more time spent on story and less on stat crunching. Also, even with brand new players, you can focus on gameplay, and worry less about rules.

I only played the one game (so far) and it was set up as a one-shot adventure as well. Though, having never even seen the Savage Worlds rulebook in person before, I basically didn't miss a beat. Character creation was easy to grasp and make whatever you wanted to, and flexible enough where we had three entirely different characters at the table in short order. The rules didn't feel limiting at all, and I didn't feel like I was constrained by them throughout the game. As my character interacted with the story and made decisions, everything just flowed together and made for an enjoyable and less complicated romp than other systems.

Amulet: Book One

Kazu Kibuishi's Amulet

I'm a regular reader of the webcomic Penny Arcade, if you're not, you should be! Last week they were having a series of guest artists, and one particularly good one, you can see it here, was done by a familiar name, Kazu Kibuishi. I've been sitting on this graphic novel, Amulet, for some time, I just never got around to reading it. After my Penny Arcade wakeup call, I went and dug out Amulet, dusted it off, and read it cover to cover.

As an aside, I love graphic novels, and by extension, collected trade paper backs. You get a whole story arc in one convenient package. Single comic issues are great, but being able to sit back and take in the big picture at once is appealing. Amulet was no exception.


I can't help but draw many parallels between Amulet and the films of one of my favorite creators, Hayao Miyazaki, and no, it's not because they're both Asian. Amulet contains many facets that you would find in a Miyazaki film; a strong and young central protagonist female, whimsical creatures and fantastic flying machines, machinery and technology tempered with a Victorian bent, and of course, giant, transforming walking houses.

The young girl, Em, suffers through a family tragedy early in the beginning. Along with her surviving mother and younger brother they try to heal their emotional wounds and move to the country to the family home belonging to Em's great-grandfather.


They set out to clean and explore their new home and find that great grand dad was something of a eccentric genius with drawing of the unexplained, tomes, and mounted animals of unknown origins on the walls. A strange, shadowy figure watches them from afar. As chance would have it, Em discovers a secret latch that reveals to her a mystical...amulet, which she puts on. That night, they hear a noise from the basement (never a good sign) and go to investigate. Their mother is abducted by a tentacled beast and instantly swallowed whole, she can be seen screaming through portholes in its side. Navin, her brother is also captured, but he is able to wriggle free. As the beast takes flight, the siblings follow suit and give chase.

Below the basement they find a door, a portal, to another world. What is known on the surface world doesn't hold true below, and they find this out by encountering all manner of flora and fauna that is strange and alien to them. The shadowy figure continues to pursue them, and they eventually come to a great house on a hill in the center of a lake. Here is where their adventure really begins, as they meet who lives in the house, and take off on the second leg of their adventure to save their mother and return to their home on the surface.

Amulet is a great read, and goes incredibly fast. The story is obviously a prelude to what promises to be many more to come, but sets everything up nicely as a "chapter one". The artwork is simply fantastic, and would almost make it worthwhile just for the visuals alone. The price point is attractive as well, being just under ten bucks and can be picked up pretty much anywhere. I enjoyed it, and there's a good bet you will too.

Inglorious (Lego Star Wars) Basterds

The Rebels

So one of the more recent members to join our gaming group in the last couple of years, the second Chris (Chrispy) stepped into the shoes of our long-time GM, Rucht, who had the audacity to move out of town. Chrispy "allegedly" likes running games, and for a group in sore need of a GM, voila. So the other day he had an idea, he had just seen Inglorious Basterds, and he happened to be getting some of the nifty Star Wars Legos around the same time...put two and two together, and you've got one heck of a set up for a one-shot RPG! We went with the Savage Worlds rules, which I have always heard good things about, but never had the chance to actually get to play. More on them later, but they lived up to the hype.


Krynn Kora, Kel Dor Bounty Hunter

I really wanted to play a Gand Findsman, but we didn't have the stats, so instead of fudge the stats I opted for another facemask re-breather race, the Kel Dor. If you're playing a Star Wars character, you've got to play a bounty hunter, right? I played him as a hunter who had worked for the Empire, but after his last assignment, instead of a paycheck, the Empire put a bomb in his ship's engine. He managed to escape, just barely, and he tried to collect his payment nonetheless. All he has wanted was to be paid, now it's personal.

I tried to split my skills and stats as best as possible, staying well-rounded, but not being a jack-o-all-trades. I went decent smarts and agility, and favored 'hunter' type skills such as streetwise, piloting, and shooting; and a little repair and tracking too.

I opted for a red flight suit ('cause all cool bounty hunters wear their flight suits everywhere, like Bossk!), and some decent armor too. He wears not only his facial methane re-breather, but a mask as well for extra intimidating power! He wears blast armor and a visored helmet. For weapons he carries a pair of heavy blasters with a holster on each leg, and on a magnetic plate on his rear armor he keeps a blaster carbine tucked away (take your pick, either Halo style or Mass Effect). In a boot he has a vibroblade, and on his belt up front a pair of grenades. I've been using orthodontist rubber bands lately to create bandoleers and such on my minifigs. I find that Brickarms' grenades "clip" perfectly to these rubber bands, and I'm able to stow extra gear and weapons like I have on the left.



Lieux Gherrhig, Duros Assassin

Chri3' character is of the Duros race, mainly because we had Duros stats, and his mini-fig favored their look. The neat thing about Chri3 is that he shows up with his own mini-figs...or is he stepping on toes? Just kidding, haha! I never did catch his background, I just know his character is younger than average and trying to get in on a career that favors his deadly skills. I think he was working for the Empire, and much like my character, they gave him the shaft instead of a paycheck, apt reason for him to join the upstart Rebellion.


Dib Dub, Sullustan Sniper

Andy opted for a Sullustan, and in an unprecedented move, spoke as a Sullustan! That's right, throughout the night, heck, at about 98% of game time, Andy spoke in gibberish. Before the game he remarked how there's always that character in the Star Wars movie that you can't understand on screen, and there's zero subtitles, but everyone else seems to know exactly what they're saying (Chewbacca, R2-D2, Nien Numb...). Of course it was up to us to interpret, which can lead to many humorous situations. To his credit, Andy did begin to pantomime his desires after a while, since you can only 'misinterpret' the alien so much.

Did you know Sullustans, although completely bald, are "fabulous hairdressers"? Neither did we, but according to SW canon they are. Andy worked this into his background, as a former carnival sideshow attraction who performed amazing acts of sharpshooting and daring stunts. His access allowed him to travel the galaxy, entertaining Imperial Dignitaries. If at times, a shot went errant and took one of said dignitaries out...so be it. After a while the Empire caught on and Dib Dub became a wanted man, err, alien on the run.


Chri3 whips up another solid character profile sketch

As I slid my character sheet over to Chri3 in our Dark Heresy game, Andy did likewise this time around. "I want a Sullustan with an Elvis pompadour!", once again, ask and you shall receive. Since Dib Dub is bald, we concluded his hair was a weave.


Massacre at Krayt Ridge!

The Rebellion gave us a ship, an arsenal of weapons, and free reign to go cause as much havoc on the Empire as possible. Of course, if caught we were on our own, without backup or rescue coming...ever. Using our unique skills, we are able to conduct a guerrilla war of terror-filled wetworks. Our first target was an Imperial Moff, holed up on backwater Tattooine with a Twi'lek dancer. It is about a year after the "farm boy blew up the space station", so many Imperials were keeping low profiles, like our Moff target.

Our original plan, okay, my original plan was to capture the dancer, implant explosives in her, then detonate her when she was in close contact with the Moff. We had a 21-b medical droid on board, named 'Rusty', but we didn't know if it was up to a complex procedure like that. Plan B was to attack the night club, car-bomb style, but using an explosive-laden Dewback or Ronto (or both!) instead, park 'em next to the nightclub, and 'splode them.

First we were itching for a fight, and needed to draw some of the Imperial troops away from the city. We were going to find a Sandtrooper patrol and bushwhack them. We also wanted to make it look like an attack by Tusken Raiders, so first we had to find some Raiders to bushwhack. Following their Bantha tracks proved easy and we found a large group of them preparing camp. Dib Dub roared the engine of our rented landspeeder into their midst with wild abandon, smashing many aside. We jumped out and began to efficiently dispatch the rest. Our R5 unit was freaking out at the atrocities it was witnessing.

Once we had enough bodies and weapons to plant at the scene of the next battle, we took off once again, Krynn Kora using his tracking to locate an Imperial patrol.


Massacre at Carbunkle Canyon!

We had time to lay out an ambush, so put the pile of Tusken Raiders in the middle of the patrol route. We also parked our R5 unit there as well. Dib Dub dug in some distance off with his combination Force Pike / sniper rifle, the Duros hid behind some rocks, and my character buried himself under the sand, close to where the bait was laid.


As we had hoped, seeing the pile of Tusken bodies, and a fully functional R5 unit to boot gave the troops enough pause to stop and investigate. On queue the rebels opened fire on them, catching them in a crossfire. Dib Dub's single shot rifle bucked on its bipod and he sent energy bolts into the Sandtroopers' repulsorcraft. He took out the driver in a single shot and hammered away at the others. Lieux Gherrhig emerged from cover, firing his carbine on rapid fire, pinning down those troopers he didn't outright dispatch. Krynn Kora emerged from the sand right next to the craft, drawing both heavy blasters from their holsters and began firing on the troopers. Honestly, dual-shooting wasn't that effective, and Chrispy reminded me that I didn't have to shoot two pistols at once...but where's the fun in that?!?!


Die Imperial scum!

The Sandtroopers had much more bite to them than the Tusken, but it was the righteous might of the Rebellion that prevailed (and our bloodthirsty ruthlessness). We placed the Tusken bodies around the site and created a convincing looking battle that pitted the sand people against the Sandtroopers. All the while our R5 beeped and whooped in surprise and shock, having seen far too much carnage for his sensitive droid feelings. We had to have a "little talk" with the astromech, just to make sure we were all on the same page...and if he dared repeat anything that he saw, we'd slag him and toss him out an airlock.


"Listen here you little pile of bolts..."

The battle we staged worked as more patrols were sent to investigate, and even more sent on wider patrols around the city. A crack team of troopers was even sent out to bring the Tusken to justice. This left the Mos Eisley garrison basically empty, and all the Moff had left to him were a handful of guards when we made our move.

We took two Dewbacks and loaded them down with saddlebags of explosives. Each one was tethered off on adjacent corners of the night club where we knew the dancer to perform and the Moff to frequent. Dib Dub set up on the roof top across the street with his rifle, Lieux lurked in the alley out back, carbine ready, and Krynn Kora waited on the sidewalk across the street with the R5 unit. The Dewbacks erupted simultaneously, sending thundering shockwaves through the streets and lighting up the night sky with columns of flame. The mud brick walls, though reinforced, buckled and collapsed under the explosion.

Sandtroopers and patrons stumbled out the door, deafened and choking with smoke and debris, the former hastily stripping off their helmets to gasp for fresher air. This made Dib Dub's task on the rooftop even easier as he placed his precise shots time and time again. While the walls still crumbled down, Krynn Kora leapt through the hole in the front, pistols drawn and picked off Imperials as he searched for the Moff. Lieux came through the back, doing the same, cutting a path through the panicked with his rapid-firing carbine.

Bloodied and crippled, but still very much alive, the rebels found the Moff and drug him out into the street. Sirens could heard in the background, and panic gripped the streets. Dib Dub joined Krynn and Lieux and the three exacted their own brand of justice then and there, pausing only long enough to drag him to the garrison and string him up on the door. The three rebels, their astromech droid, and a newly found friend made their way through the streets to the docking bay that held their ship as troops descended upon the ruins of the nightclub.

The modified light freighter roared out of the atmosphere, fast enough to avoid the Imperial cordon that was slow to form. Krynn Kora piloted the controls in the cockpit with Lieux riding in the co-pilot's seat. Behind them sat Dib Dub, his fingers drumming on the metallic head of the R5, which involuntarily shook, or beeped, or both at sporadic intervals. The R5 unit was clearly past the edge of his sanity threshold. As they cleared the gravity well of the planet, the form of a scantily clad and curvaceous body entered the cockpit from the rear as the tentacled head of the Twi'lek dancer poked into view. "So, you boys got any food on this boat? I'm starving..." The R5 unit shook once, and let out a long, low whistle.

The Pirate King

Lockwood's cover for Salvatore's latest Drizzt book

Following up the first book of the Transitions trilogy is the latest "king" titled installment, the Pirate King. Drizzt and company are back at it again, romping to and from, scimitars flashing away. Sounds familiar, doesn't it? I don't want to disparage the book, it was actually pretty good, but it is very familiar territory, only the foes change.

The Pirate King felt like it was simplified somewhat, and it also felt it had set out with a very real goal to tie up certain loose ends that had been cropping up over the last few books. It does well, to Salvatore's credit, and by the end of the book, all those little nagging details you've been wondering about for a while are cleaned up.

I was surprised by the amount of time the book lets go by, almost a year, and I was even more surprised by the amount of glossed over space in many of the scenes. Entire books could've been written about some of the side quests mentioned half-heartedly and quickly moved past. For one, and this is no spoiler, Cattie-Brie continues her magical training with the archmage of Silverymoon. A journey to take them "halfway around the world" learning along the way. Literally that was all that's said of it, see ya later Cattie-Brie.

In the beginning of the book, you see most of the hero characters, but soon after the story becomes all about two, and just two; Drizzt and the halfling Regis. This was quite refreshing because there weren't too many characters taking up screen time, and you get a lot more insight and development to the halfling that usual, since he's always dwarfed by the other larger-than-life characters he keeps company with.

The story really only involves the duo because they happen to wander into it, they are heroes, but not the main characters. That role falls on the stalwart Captain Deudormont, who has made appearances in many of the past books. It is a tale of the Captain leading the forces of good to retake the City of Sails, Luskan, from corrupt forces that have exploited their positions of power for too long. The primary adversaries are the wizards belonging to the Arcane Brotherhood led by their Lich master, but there is also complex intrigue as the five pirate high captains who control parts of the city also become involved, manipulating the events along the way. Drizzt and Regis assist Deudormont, but the book really is about him.

I looked up Luskan in my 4e Forgotten Realms Player's Guide, and wow, it's quite the cesspit. I think the book literally said it was "the most miserable place in all of Fåerun". Undead roam the streets, acid rain unleashes mutants on the populace from a floating island. Crime and vice, murder and extortion are the way of life in the streets. A far cry from what Deudormont is trying to achieve. Salvatore does a good job in setting all of this up, these "transitions" from old DnD3.5, to a hundred years later with 4e. You can see the cracks appear, and know ahead of time (thanks to the sourcebook) that Luskan is swirling the drain.

The book isn't out of place, but it feels like it rushed things a tad to squeeze them all in succinctly into a rapidly degrading timeline. 4e's been out for a while, the Spell Plague has ravaged the Realms for sometime, and it feels like these books need to hurry up a catch up with the current fluff. It can't be overly rushed, but some semblance of pace needs to be kept. I feel like that balance isn't quite obtained in this one.

Having said all that, it's not a bad read. There are some very surprising revelations near the end, and the beginning of the books takes care to bring the reader to speed on what's been going on during the downtime. In the middle of the book, Regis and Drizzt take off to attempt to find an old friend lost to the group as well as pay a visit to the place where they first met. I was not a fan of the glaring gaps in the action, and events seemed to be handled too quickly for my taste. I was pleased with all of the characters, both old and new, and their interactions with the surroundings. Drizzt's typical, heavy-handed philosophizing is present, but you get used to it after so many books I guess. Well, there you have it, enjoy!

Inquisitorial Investigation in Iocanthus

Fight in the Streets!

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Encoded data-stream from Acolyte Novus Dorn:
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Master Azoth, I hope this finds you well, praise be to the Emperor. We have landed on Iocanthus after a long and uneventful journey through the immaterium. The town we touched down at seems on the edge of lawlessness, with order barely held in check. Our credentials were questioned and upon revealing that we were of the Inquisition, we were allowed to continue on our way. We made our way through the open market, choked full of caravans and peddlers of wares from all corner of known space. We should make note to return and scrutinize the origin of some such wares and ensure that no vile Xenos technology has made its way there. We were looking for sign of the Interrogator from the retinue of Inquisitor Gislebertus we were meant to rendezvous with when a messenger cherub approached. It bade us to follow to where the Interrogator was waiting, across the town.

Along the way, we were accosted by an insane street-dweller, barely clothed, covered in blue markings, and inanely babbling about the return of dark spirits. Our progress was all but stopped as this incessant being accosted our party relentlessly. Barely putting our hands on the vagrant to move him out of our path, he flailed to the ground, yelling "assault", an obvious setup. Members of a fanatical bent were lying in wait and as soon as the old man hit the ground, they came at us, melee weapons drawn. Not wanting an incident, we proceeded to defend ourselves, until one of our own spotted a firearm on one of the attacker's person. We then had no choice but to resort to lethal force. It was over quickly.

Local security was on the scene in a manner of moments, and they were able to assess that our party had acted within the prescribed limits of self-defense. They had informed us that these vagrants had become quite the thorn in the side of law and order. We were glad we did not have to engage the security team and they let us go while they cleaned up the mess. We continued our winding path through the town to the meeting place.

Our meeting was uneventful, but well received, and after a long meal I returned to my quarters to catch up on some research I was conducting regarding the planet and the nature of the shrine we were to visit. I am told two of our party ventured into the city in the middle of the night to conduct their own investigations, while two others remained in conversation over drink in the commons areas late into the night. The Tech-Priest tends towards solitude.

The next day we set out using a flat-bed ground hauler. The trek through the desert wastes would take some time and we had to be vigilant to raiders and nomads looking for easy prey. Much to the Interrogator's chagrin, he had to do most of the driving due to the lack of any real driving skills on our part. I am told our destination lies ahead just two hours from now. I will send word upon arrival and keep you updated on our progress.

Faithfully Serving Holy Terra,
Acolyte Novus Dorn
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Profile pic of Novus Dorn, Adept Inditor by Chri3

I had mentioned in a previous post that the third Chris (Chri3) of our group can draw, much like the stuff I do, just 'kicked up a notch'. After seeing his profile pic his sketched out rather quickly on his own sheet, I slid my own sheet over and requested one for my character. Being an Adept, I'm not exactly combat-efficient (though in the previous game I was deadly with my Hand Cannon), so I wanted more of a stern, scholarly look. I described myself as dark skinned, bald, with a large beard, oiled into ringlets. Ask and you shall receive.


The team, lead through the streets by a messenger cherub

Here's the Acolyte Team:

Backwater Arbitrator, Nihilius - Brian
Primal World Assassin, Soul-Taker - Oz
Psyker, Haxtes - Chri3
Void-Born Psyker, Cromwell - Mike
Tech-Priest, Metallus - Jon
Adept, Novus Dorn - me

It was very nice to have a full table for this session (well, we were actually missing one, but everyone else was there). We had six players plus Andy as the GM. We tore through about 20,000 empty calories of junk food and drinks, and had a great time. Many of the players were not only new to the Dark Heresy system, but fairly unfamiliar with the 40k universe in general, the fact that they enjoyed so much as well speaks volumes.

Fruits of Fall Labor

I went out the other day, on the first official day of Fall, and still managed to fill a plastic bag full of goodness from my garden. I'll be honest, I've been less than attentive to the patch o' cultivated land out back, but it's still doing pretty well. My cucumber plants went, and went fast. They yielded quite a few cukes, but when their time was up, they went from healthy to dead in less than a week. My cayenne peppers are waning, and there's maybe a handful left to harvest. I was less than impressed with my New Mexico Big Jim peppers, and maybe got a total of twelve peppers when it was all said and done. These were delicious, I liked them quite a bit, but they just weren't plentiful enough. My sweet basil is incredibly off the hook, and we plan on making quite a few batches of pesto sauce with it. I had some okra growing, which I gave all away, I just didn't want to mess with cooking it. In bloom and while growing though, the okra looked incredibly alien, and very beautiful.

That leaves just the jalapeños, tomatoes, and habañeros. The tomatoes have been the garden MVP, and since I planted way too many of them, we've had them coming non-stop. It's been great, especially for slicing on burgers and sandwiches, making salsa out of, and chopping up for tacos and what-not. The habañeros have been great, not very plentiful, but incredibly hot and tasty. Next year I may plant two or three plants, not just the one. A lot of people go for the crazy hot peppers, such as the bhut jolokia, but frankly I find the notion of growing something so ridiculously hot it becomes inedible just silly. Who cares if you can grow it, are you going to put it on nachos? I didn't think so!

In the end, it was the jalapeños that were my favorite, and judging from the above pic, they're still producing quite a bit! The "hallies" have gone in everything; salsa, dips, recipes, burgers, and the like. I planted four plants, and next year I think I may actually plant more. I guess that will be it for the gardening updates on the blog as we all prepare for the onslaught of winter's chill. Around the first of the year I'd like to some major renovating out back, now that I kind of know what I'm doing, and build some more boxes for spring.

The (rest of the) Races of Sarterra

• Asatians
  
• The Darque
• Darque Ones
• Shadovar
  
• Flame Djinnasi
  
  • Thundering Djinnasi
    
• Dragonborn
  • Kobolds
  • Naga
    
• Dwarves
  • Duergar
    
  • Runeforged
    
• Elves
• Fire Djiants
• Gnolls
• Goroloth
  
• Grunnien
  
• Humans
  • Averni
  • Djedetians
    
  • Nguni
  • The Northmen
  • The Plainsmen
  • Yrlanders
• Krolyks
• Acarus
  
• Lizardmen
  
• Nezumi
• Orcs
• Salamanders
• Tieflings
• Tuskgaarde
• Vargr
• Wendigo
• Vampires
• Wraiths

Clash at the Falls

Clash at the Falls!

From the journal of Mourngrym.

I am furthest from my home back in Darquespire than I have ever been in my sixty years. Although I traveled the Darquelands extensively, learning and training, I am now finding myself as the lone Darque in this new region. I have thrown my lot in with the Wardens of Red Keep, with the original party I struck out with being no more, and their deaths being properly avenged I had two choices; either return to my homeland, defeated, or strike out on my own anew.

My skills with stealth and the blade complement the others well and there is genuine camaraderie here. It is early in our career, and we already call a keep (albeit, one on its way to ruin) our home. Now we find ourselves in the mountains, on errand for a dying Dwarf. Well, “errand” may be a strong word, are pursuits in the manner are purely mercenary.

I was surprised at first that this mountain lair was so remote and hidden, yet within only a few days travel from the lowlands. I was wrong thinking it was merely overlooked, as it turns out it is heavily guarded and it is more likely that those who stumble upon it, by chance or design, have met their demise at the end of Duergar polearms and crossbow bolts.

Squaring off against the Ogre

A narrow ledge led to a guarded entrance, manned by three of the twisted dark Dwarves, and a large Ogre, chained and subservient to its dark masters. We approached openly without threatening intent, playing the role of a mercenary band looking for work. Given that our ruse was not that far from truth, we gave the guards pause. I used the reputation of my race’s background to further intimidate the lead guard, bolstered by our stern-looking human cleric, Helkonde. He left to consult with his higher-ups, while we slyly advanced on the remaining guards, using conversation to disarm them.

Sneakin' and Stealthin'

We acted in unison, charging the last few steps between us and the guards and tore into them. They had only moments to fire their ornate crossbows, which were tossed to the ground while they drew wickedly sharp swords. The Ogre’s chain was released and the combat began in earnest. Theidifoe, the gruff Dragonborn, locked in combat with the Ogre, keeping its attacks from others who were less resilient. Helkonde raced forward to the flanked guard, engaging him with divine powers born of his god. I dispatched the remaining guard quickly, and the flame Djinasi kept his distance, utilizing spells of fire and destruction where they were needed most. As the party continued to do well against the guards, I slipped off through the gate, hearing something large closing beyond. I found a hallway and a large portcullis slammed shut within, those within tipped off to our assault. I could see the controls for the large gate beyond the portcullis, but it would be suicide trying to get it open, we need to find another way in. I returned to the party outside, who had wrapped up the combat.

Helkonde left one guard alive, and questioned him about another entrance to the mountain lair, and he directed us to the base of the waterfall, some seventy feet below us. Helkonde let him go, true to his word, but Theidifoe (not understanding the language they spoke) cut down the Duergar where he stood thinking he was escaping. I care not one way or the other, I know letting him go would just allow him to attack us later, but it was a horrible miscommunication nonetheless.

The Rogue kill-steals the Ogre

We made our way around the winding ledge, and across a gap where a bridge once stood. Had we not thought of using ropes as safety lines, we may have lost some in our party when they failed to make the distance leaping across the gap. Ahem. As we made our way down through the mist of the great falls, we came to the bottom of the ledge level with the water. If the Duergar’s words are true, the entrance he spoke of lies behind the falls themselves. We shall see.

Ben Wooten's Duergar Abduction