Speaker for the Dead

So I haven't been painting, what have I been doing?  Reading.  Lots and lot of reading.  I cancelled my World of Warcraft subscription a while back and decided to get back to my real love; books.

So somewhere in the maelstrom of books that I've been churning through I read (re-read) Ender's Game just prior to the movie coming out.  As usual I forgot how awesome the book was, and I was very pleasantly surprised with the movie.

So, the book was good but I had never read the sequel, albeit it's so far removed from the first one it can stand alone no problemo.

I absolutely loved it.  It hit close to home on several counts.  There's an incredibly strong religious theme running throughout, there's an even stronger anthropological component, and of course it's still good ole science fiction.

The bugs, humanity's dire enemy, were wiped out to extinction.  The ramifications of this weren't fully felt until after the war; Humanity, Ender, wiped out an entire civilization.  After colonizing the stars, three thousand years later, humanity finally found their second sentient alien, the 'piggies'.  The Piggies are a primitive, forest-dwelling tribe that were found in the backwoods of a colonized backwater world.  The world being governed by Hispanic Catholic dictate that is now host to an outpost of xenologers (anthropologists who study aliens).

Those are the ingredients, the end result was a nice mixture of philosophy, tension, action, and some smarts to boot.  Is it a sequel to Ender's Game?  Not really, Ender's in it, there's mention of the 'buggers' but the story has moved on (and grown) so much they're not in the same boat really.  Plus, Orson Scott Card ain't no hack, the style of books one and two are completely different too.  If you loved the first book, and who didn't, you may not neccessarily love the second, though I enjoyed this Ender 'sequel' even more than the first.

Kemet; the Boardgame

I was in the draft stages of this one and though I'd get clever and schedule it up. Thinking it'd remain a draft until I was done writing, well, that didn't happen.  Getting warmed back up to blogging means a couple of little rookie mistakes here and there!

What am I talking about tonight?  Kemet, the boardgame!  Frankly it was this review by Shut Up and Sit Down that eventually sold me on it, but I had a very eyebrow-raised eye staring it down just prior to the video.  Sold I was however, and haven't had a bad game yet!

What is it?  An area control, resource manager that's wrapped in an Egyptian theme.  Not just a theme, but you (that would be the BIG human sitting at the table moving around game pieces) are THE Egyptian god.  All of your troops are just fodder and sacrifice for your will.  If the troops ain't dying, you ain't trying.  You can also buy out of a community pool of cool corresponding resources, such as the ability to stargate travel, improve your battle prowess, or even harness big critters to ride around on in battle.  I think the big critters really sold me as well.  Once you get, say, the Sphinx, that's it, there's only one and no one can get one.

There's a great power resource that revolves around your pyramids too; red for battle, white for commerce and religion, and blue for magic.  The resources you draft are only as powerful as your pyramids are.  Of course if you spend all your time upgrading you'll lose the area control battle.  There's a really neat turn/action system too that specifies what you can and can't do, and tracks what you've already done, all very smart-like and efficiently.

It's a bigger box game, and will weigh in at least about fifty bucks, but it's worth it, not for one aspect or another, but as a game to break out now and again or every game night for the next six months.  It's a keeper; cool theme, solid rules, great components...the whole package.  Enjoy!

Dungeon Roll; the Dice Game

If you haven't heard of Dungeon Roll, well, now you have!

Dungeon Roll was another Kickstarter game I backed months ago.  For a mere fifteen bucks however this was a huge no-brainer, and that included shipping.

What is it?  A press-your-luck dice game themed in a dungeon crawl with your active dice representing fighters and thieves, wizards, and the like.  The dice you roll against are the denizens of the depths; undead, oozes, goblins, and of course dragons.

Each 'level' you venture down you're rolling less dice, but of course each lower level of the dungeon where you're rolling less, the bad guys are rolling more.  Go as deep as you dare, before calling it quits and heading to the tavern.  You 'cash in' the level you went furthest as experience and then the turn goes around the table for the next active dungeoneer.  At the end of three rounds tally up the point and score it.  The rules of course are a bit more in-depth than this, but surprisingly not by much.

Is it a deep game?  No, no not at all.  Is it a fun beer and pretzels game, definitely.  Fantastic filler game while waiting for the rest of your friends to show up?  Without a doubt.  A short and quick 'just one more game' before calling it a night?  Yup.

It's still ridiculously cheap looking around, and although you don't get the exclusive Mimic box like what's pictured here, or some of the bonus cards obtained as goal rewards, it's still worth picking up and putting in rotation.

Hegemonic; the Boardgame

A few months back me and 999 friends backed the boardgame Hegemonic on Kickstarter.

At the time I had visions of having all these concurrent sci-fi themed 4x style games, but that's died down just a tad, still got the game though.

Being Kickstarter you always get those teaser extras and stretch goals, in this case neat features like felt bag, metal coins, and the like were fantastic and didn't feel tacked on but add to the game.

We've played it once, a large six player fest while learning the rules along the way, it was good and we all seemed to 'get it' after just a few turns.  I've got to compare it to Eclipse, because they are both in the same vein and give you the same experience; a sprawling space game with so many options to victory, and so much to do getting there.

Eclipse is a great game, Hegemonic is a great game, and sadly they're just similar enough where you don't need both.  Also sadly, Hegemonic might edge out Eclipse in accessibility alone.  It all depends on the group though, if your group loves getting into one game for a while, and learning it inside and out, and making it 'the game' for a while, well Eclipse might be the one for you.

If you're looking for a fun, immersive game that you can break out once in a while and get stuck in quickly, then you'd be leaning to Hegemonic.

I know this is a pretty light 'review' if you can call it that at all.  Hegemonic has great components, is big on production value, and has a rulebook that makes all the concept easy to grasp and explains the rules rather well.  Our gameplay was a lot of fun, and many of the guys were kind of hooked about halfway through, talking about this feature or another that appealed to them while the game was taking place.

Looking around online you can find both Hegemonic and Eclipse at about the same price, which is much, much cheaper than I paid for either game I might add.  You can't go wrong either way, or just get both.  Rock on.

Battlesworn Rules Review

Ganesha Games has good standing here at Mik's Minis, every one of their games has been thoroughly enjoyable, easy to get into, and provides what we're all looking for; getting minis on the table.

Song of Blades and Heroes is no stranger to us, and there's tons of posts on it here.  Love it, great friggin' game.  There's even been some Flying Lead around these parts, just ignore that broken image link.  Now there's a new addition to their rules stable, and unlike the first two mentioned that share many of the same mechanics, Battlesworn; Bid for Victory is completely different in scope and incredibly fresh to boot.

It says 'fantasy' right on the cover, but you can just as easily use it for any genre you want.  Really, you can.  In the rulebook it gives suggestions for zombie survival, alien bug hunters, wild west, historicals, and more.

The best part of the game is that troop types are defined by fourteen archetypes and the rules are inherent within each type (ala another of my faves, Hordes of the Things).

If you have a "shooter" on the table that could be anything you define as a shooter; an elf with a bow, an orc with a spear,  a Colonial Marine with an M41A pulse rifle, a gangster with a tommy gun, you think of it, it's a shooter.  The troop types also include brutes (hit more often), tanks (hard to kill), rogues (hard to hit), and so forth.  There are some spell-casters in there too, but a fireball thrown by a wizard has about the same effect as a Vietnam War-era trooper tossing a frag grenade.  It's all how you interpret your army during creation.

What makes it different though?  It says so on the cover; bidding.  When you start a turn both

sides bid a number from one to six for initiative.  The lowest bid goes with a number of actions equal to their bid.  The initiative loser gets a number of reactions based on the difference between the two rolls.  I bid a 2, and you bid a 4; I get two actions and you get two reactions during my turn.  You won't get any actions this turn, just reactions to what I do.  It's a quick turn, then we bid for initiative again, rinse and repeat.

Combat is in the same fashion, it's all about the bidding.  Say I'm going to hit you with a melee attack.  I bid a number between one and six again, you bid the same.  The lower bid strikes first, and if the higher bid is still standing they get to strike back.  So why not just bid "1" all the time then and always go first.  Because you roll a number of attack dice equal to your bid, and you need 5's and 6's to hit.  If you bid one die, chances are you won't hit.  If you bid six dice to attack with, chances are you'll get some hits, but you'll also roll some 1's in there, and 1's cancel out hits.  Ranged attacks are handle in a similar fashion, with the targeted player bidding for a dodge.

It sounds pretty different so far, right?  It gets better.  No measurements, no ranges.  None.  Now I've played some games with "Line of Sight" movement before, horizon to horizon, but Battlesworn takes it further.  Ranged attacks are not measured in increments, but shots are at "the closest model" be the closest target two inches or two feet away.  Same with spells and pretty much everything else.  Being that ranges are relative and not measured, and movement is done in straight lines until you hit a new terrain type, you can play on any size table you want, with any scale figs you've got.

The first time we played we hadn't even read the rules yet, but within twenty minutes we were knee-deep in the battle and didn't think twice about the rules, end of story.  It is a pretty non-traditional minis game, but you get the hang of it quick enough, and when that light bulb dings, you really get it.

The rules are solid, versatile, and easy to grasp right off the bat.  The best part, the PDF of the rulebook is a mere eight bucks.  Eight bucks!  I could've save you reading this entire post and just written this last paragraph.  Here's the one line review: Battlesworn is great fun and innovative enough to deserve room on the bookshelf regardless of your preferred genre.  Plus, did I mention it's just eight bucks?

Friday Rucht Hour: No Easy Day

So, this book has made the rounds in the media. I have to admit that I was just too curious about the entire event of the hunting Osama Bin Laden to not pick this up.

The book supposedly relates the story of the SEAL team that took out Osama Bin Laden on that fateful mission last year.

Like most books under a ghost author, the novel is a quick read. It offers a detailed look into the life of a Navy SEAL, their training, what it was like to go on mission in Afghanistan, and the psychological make up of those who serve in this elite cadre of soldiers. The latter half of the book is on the planning, training, and finally the execution of the raid on the Abbottabad compound.

The book is well-paced, puts you reasonably into the pants of someone serving in one of the more distinguished divisions of our military. Military enthusiasts and military historians will certainly enjoy it. Especially because it is such a quick read. Not nearly as dense as the latest books on John Adams or George Washington, the book is something that you could finish in a few days or a week. The book goes into the camaraderie the SEALs engage in - from the pranks they play on each other to the continual cracks they make.

The great controversy surrounding the book, of course, is that it supposedly revealed detailed information about the raid that went on in Pakistan. From my completely pedestrian perspective, it seems to me that the book is vague on the exact details of SEAL training. Also, many of the stories about their missions into Afghanistan are broad enough on the specifics that it doesn't seem to be too revealing to me.

However, I was indeed surprised at how much detail was given about how the raid was planned out. The text goes into step-by-step detail on how the strike was planned, how the chain of command operated, and so-on. Does it constitute a security breach? Does it put soldiers in harms way? It's hard to say and probably can be discussed by people far more qualified than me.

As for the raid itself - that event has been already well-documented and retold a thousand times. Nothing revealing in what I read there. It's interesting to me because the mission to get Osama Bin Laden raid reminds me of gunfights in the Old West in that regard - moments of violence whose briefest of moments have been documented with exacting detail.

So - would I recommend it to you guys? Yes, I would, actually. Gimme your thoughts and happy Friday, all!

Dredd 3D: See It, Rookie

 
Dredd 3D, 2012

When [a pair of street judges] goes after a drug lord holed up in [Mega City One]'s most notorious tenement building, they find themselves trapped and forced to fight their way out through brutal gangsters loyal to the kingpin they were trying to [arrest].

That of course is the plot to Dredd 3D, the second film we've been lucky enough to receive of our favorite judge, jury, and executioner.  I'll mention the Stallone version from 1995 just this one time, but you know what, I liked that one as well, just not nearly as much as this new one.  These two Dredd movies, however, couldn't be more different.

I loved this movie, it was brutal, it was straight forward, it was dark and gritty, in a nutshell...it was Judge Dredd.  If you read the comics in the 80's, like sci-fi action in general, read this blog, etc. then chances are you'll see this movie eventually, you don't need my approval.  I will tell you this, it's worth it.  It is also graphic, a real, over-the-top gore fest.  Probably not a date night movie if you're trying to get your love interest into the sci-fi genre for the first time.

The plot isn't even close to being original, and has already been done as recently as last year called The Raid: Redemption.  In fact, the synopsis I opened this post with was actually from The Raid with just a couple of changes (see, I tricked ya!).  But this doesn't stop Dredd from being a kick-in-the-teeth, awesome sci-fi action shoot 'em up steeped in the comic tropes we've learned to love over the last twenty years from this original BA anti-hero.

Karl Urban is a solid fit for the role, and to the filmmaker's credit, he never once takes off his helmet.  There aren't any one-liners or zingers, and every time you cock your head thinking, "But wait, what about the..." they cover it in the film.  No detail is left hanging.  The entire story takes place over the course of a few hours through the middle of the night, and you're thrown right into the action.  Speaking of which, another of my favorite characters from the comic plays an integral part to the film as well, though I won't spoil it for you.  In fact, maybe I've said too much already.  Just let me know what you think.

Oh, and a big ole footnote, as for The Raid, holy cow.  This is another awesome movie you need to see!  I think it may just deserve its own review in a couple of days!  Until next time, lock and load!

Lockout: Movie Review

Lockout, 2012

It has been some time since we've seen a movie reviewed here. Rucht's Cabin in the Woods review was in the spring and my review on The Grey was nine months ago! Well I've watched a lot of movies since then, and many were deserving of a review...but it doesn't matter, on to this one.

I am a big fan of Luc Besson (the Professional, Fifth Element, The Big Blue, and more) so when I heard his name attached to this, I took notice. I'm also a big fan of Guy Pearce (Memento, Ravenous, LA Confidential) and when I saw him as the lead role I especially took notice, since he just doesn't do shoot 'em up sci-fi action flicks.

In the near future the president's attractive and feisty daughter gets taken hostage aboard a space station prison full of 500 of the worst criminals around. It's a bad situation and before they blow up the station, they send in a convicted ex-CIA tough guy looking to clear his name to rescue the girl and save the day.

Yup. That's it, that's the whole movie.

It's not a great movie, it's not even all that good of a movie, but I really got the sense that they weren't taking themselves too seriously at the same time. Seeing Pearce do a wonderful job as pandering action hero really made me think, he wasn't playing a one-liner spouting, dime-a-dozen action star, he was playing a parody of said action star. And in the end, I think he might be the only actor who could've pulled that off. It's subtle, but it's there.

It seems I've really been nit picky about editing in films as of late, and this one does not escape my scrutiny in the slightest. There were a lot of liberties taken that made the overall taste of the movie just feel feel choppy and lack depth. There is a particular pair of prisoners that are the antagonists, and their story is intriguing, but there's just not enough of it fleshed out to go on. The action is what you'd expect, with some consistent if not wholly uninspiring special effects work. There's no deep meaning or hidden message, no 'gotcha' moment in the end, just a straight forward sci-fi shooter. Which got me thinking, it makes a point in the credits to say "Based on an Original Idea by Luc Besson". Really? This whole movie was basically Escape From New York...in space.

It doesn't sound all that great, huh? Maybe so, but I still liked this movie. Guy Pearce alone makes it watchable and though there were a lot of moments that could be improved upon throughout the film, there were enough gems as well to make it worthwhile. Let me know if I steered you in the right, or the wrong, direction. Enjoy!

Friday Rucht Hour: Challenge Accepted

Not long ago (about half an hour ago, actually) I just read Mik's throwing down of the gauntlet. So, here's my taking up of it. Friday Rucht Hour on Friday.

In my earlier post, I showed off some minis and gave a quick and dirty battle report. However, now I'd like to take some time to just showcase the Lair of the Astromancer. We saw it a little bit in the after action report, but I'd like to do a more proper review of it here.

Overall, I was pretty pleased with this product. It is quite pricey, weighing in at 80 dollar and change. Also, it is a Games Workshop product, and there are people who are opposed to buying their products.

The model itself is mainly two large pieces which you glue together. Now, Caveat Emptor, the two pieces of this terrain model did not match up perfectly evenly. More on that below. The top of the tiled roof is in two pieces. The observatory and the tower on which is rests much be assembled as well. If you wish, you can leave the observatory dome off and put on a parapet. Or, like myself, assemble both and switch them out as needed. I haven't assembled the parapet yet.

Pros: 

• The model is basically one very large piece which is quite solid. You can transport it easily by just picking it up with one hand. It won't fall apart on you.
• The terrain piece is fully three-dimensional and meant to be appreciated that way. What I mean by that is there is no "front" to the terrain. As you can see from the pics above, you could place it with the walk way out front or the skull stone out front. It truly is meant to be appreciated from all sides.

Cons:

• It's 83+ dollars. 
• Here's my biggest problem with it. The hard plastic material that it's made from. The plastic mold that came in the box did not match up, leaving a gap in the mountain. I'll have to fill it in with putty. What's more - putting the plastic in boiling water did not seem to make the model bend so that I could get both pieces flush. After all is said and done, I was okay with it, because it's a problem that can be remedied. However, it's definitely a problem some would find egregious. 

Rogue Space RPG Review

I picked up Rogue Space, an independent, sci-fi rpg, a couple of weeks back but wanted to hold off on a review until we actually got it out for a test drive. To quote its summary it "is an easy to learn and flexible Role Playing Game. It requires two six sided dice, two players, paper, pencil, and imagination. A flexible system allows you to create the game you want to play!"

Shortly after our decision to jump into the 'making our own RPG' ocean I began looking for other 'garage level' sci-fi RPGs out there. I didn't have to look far, Christopher Brandon has hit the nail on the head with this one. It's got an old-school RPG feel to it but handles overly complicated tasks such as starship combat with the same simple elegance as is found in the rest of the book.

For an amazingly low eight bucks you get a 64-page "workbook" sized game in black and white. The original artwork within, drawn by the author's wife and seen at the top of this post, is really cool and stylish, and interestingly enough a mix of public domain art within also adds to an overall pulpy sci-fi feel. Examples are given throughout, plenty of tables, GMing advice, sample setting, and more pack those 64 pages full of material.

Reading through character creation it became apparent to me that this is the kind of game that gets you stuck in your adventures right away with little time wasted on the minutia of the character itself. Throughout the book acronyms cleverly spell out sections of rules such as your character's attributes (FASER): fighting, acquiring, scientific, empathy, and repairing. The names pretty much describe what they do and that's the bulk of your character in a nutshell.

I wanted to actually play the game before posting my impressions, and the Minions and I did that very thing. Just as the author intended, the rules form an open sandbox to create your own worlds and adventures. My gameplan here was a simple one; put the game smack in the middle of the Mass Effect universe. With more hours than I care to admit invested in Mass Effect over the last three videogames it's something I can run easily without reinventing the wheel. And with the Rogue Space rules, I can facilitate it all into a seamless package.

I'll post more on converting Mass Effect staples into the Rogue Space system later, such as NPC and adversary stats, and I'll throw in a little on my overall conversion thoughts as well. As for the Rogue Space rules themselves, well you'd be hard pressed to find a better, open-ended sci-fi RPG under ten bucks. I can see this as a quick, low-prep pickup RPG for downtime and one-shots, or alternatively, it has the legs to run for campaign length adventures.

Our first Rogue Space foray can be found here, remember this is explicit material and not safe for work or children. The game itself can be bought here at Lulu, and the official site is here. For a little more thorough review, especially in the mechanics department, you might want to check out A Susurrus in Carcosa. This won't be the last you've heard of Rogue Space here. Until next time, enjoy!

The Cabin in the Woods

So, I belong to a horror movie club. Of all things, this thing started at my church. A bunch of us started going to horror movies together as a group, catching new movies as they have come into town. Interestingly enough, we have ended up going to quite a few of them, because horror movies have seen a complete revitalization in the past few years. It's been a stealth revitalization, too. Almost no one seems to be aware of it. Because when you talk about current horror movies, most people assume that it's dominated now by torture porn.

And yet, besides 2010's Human Centipede and its sequel, there's been very little of that in the theaters for the past three years or so.

The new horror revolution really started back with Paranormal Activity, with a redux of the "found footage" technique made famous with the Blair Witch Project. But what Paranormal Activity did was not to create a sudden rush to make more found footage films, but to show Hollywood that they could make a lot of money on horror movies without spending 100 million dollars. With movie costs going through the roof nowadays, I'm sure more than one head was turned with the idea that a good horror movie could be made with a low budget, but then turn around and make five to ten times its cost.

What would I recommend? Oh, there's a lot. But instead of spamming you with suggestions, I'll recommend the entire Paranormal Activity series, and a little movie called Insidious. Insidious is one of the better haunted house movies I've ever seen, simply because it solves the problem that most haunted house movies have. And that is: "Wow, this house is creepy. Why don't you just leave?" They solve that problem excellently in Insidious.

The Cabin

So that brings us to The Cabin in the Woods. It's clear to me that this movie is another dark herald in the new dawn of the horror flick. If Insidious solves the problem of why-don't-you-just-leave-the-creepy-house, then the Cabin in the Woods solves every problem with every slasher flick or teenage survival horror movie...ever. I cannot go into it more than that, because you have to see it for yourself. Heck, even if you're not a big horror movie person, but have seen that cliched teenage survival horror film that I'm talking about...you owe it to yourself to see this movie.

From the very opening of the movie, you realize that the film is going to be subversive and quirky. And it executes its subversive humor expertly punctuating it with fun scares and genuine, insidiousness.

The movie was produced by Joss Whedon and has some of his signature on it, but definitely in a good way. What struck me the most about this movie is its sense of arch-humor combined with terror. There were many moments in this movie where I was both laughing yet horrified at the same time.

Well, at this point, to say any more would take away some of the magic of the film. Go see it, enjoy it, talk about it with your buddies. It's well worth the experience.

Gunship First Striking

Lots of good, quality components make up the game...

It has been a while since I first mentioned Gunship: First Strike! here on the blog. Frankly, I was hoping for a whole lot of hands-on time with this game and it just never seemed to happen. Gunship wasn't the only neglected thing around these parts, but neglected it became nonetheless. We remedied that last week however and got some time in finally.

With almost a thousand backers on the Gunship Kickstarter project you can guarantee this one has some staying power. Also, since there's only a couple of days left I thought I would post here and let you know if you've been on the fence with this one, that "yes" it is worth picking up.

Shown here, Oz's ship is getting pretty banged up!

It's a space battle, between you and the enemy, a classic "red versus blue". It's not just the one Gunship however, you've got your huge carrier as well as fighter squadrons. The first thing I thought of was how cool it would be to proxy actual starship models into the game. This wouldn't work for the iconic gunship itself for reasons I'll detail below, but it would be awesome to have some fighters out there as well as a huge carrier ship.

The Gunship is your main weapon in this battle, and the template you use on the table is also where you track what types of armament you have on board as well as where your structural damage is. Your wing weapons, which I thought was cool, are not only interchangeable but the wings themselves can be blown off!

The turn boils down to a few elements but picking the right one and the right strategy is a fluid affair that changes all game long. Do you want to make a run on the enemy's carrier? Maybe you intend to thin the ranks out of fighters? Perhaps you've got it in for the enemy gunship and you're on a collision course with it? Lots of options to think of and that's not even taking the enemy's actions into account.


Your fighter squadron strength is determined by how many are still in action. As they take hits, your squads lose their effectiveness. Your fighters can run point defense for your carrier, escort the gunship, go off on their own strafing runs, and more. They're not going to last the entire game however if you're doing your job right. As a note to parity, Oz's fighters were destroyed completely within a turn of my own being destroyed, so balance is definitely there.


The whole point is to take out the enemy carrier. Oz beat me to the punch, destroying mine first but I had his down to just a few [hit] points when mine broke up and burned up in the atmosphere.

Even though it was out first time, the rules were concise and easy to pick up. Sure, we had to look some things up along the way, but these are the kind of things you only need to learn once and then you've "got it". The gameplay itself was fast and fun, alternating initiatives is a nice touch and keeps everyone on their toes. The theme meshes well with the game itself and you do get the sense of being at the helm of a few elements of a massive space force hell-bent on destroying the enemy ships. Overall? It's a fun game, and cool that it's being produced on a 'garage-level' by someone like the rest of us.

Three days left on Kickstarter, check it out, you may find yourself at the helm of your own Gunship before you know it!

EDIT: I didn't mention this, I guess I should have! I plopped down my support for the project and opted for the economical "Hangar Crew" which guarantees a copy of the game. However, since Gunship: First Strike! has really taken off, over half a dozen stretch goals have been "unlocked", so for your entry level order you get the basic game, but you also get A LOT more add-ons under the hood.

Mass Effect Comes to an End

I haven't posted a lot of videogame reviews as of late, but why not some Mass Effect 3 action? Considering all of the 'hooplah' surrounding some aspects of it I felt it aprapos. Also, considering the CEO of Bioware recently asked for this very thing, well now I'm obligated. And I've gotta say, I really applaud them for this. They didn't have to hone up to the public outcries, they could've stuck to their guns and defended their hard work.


First and foremost, you don't play the third game in a series without playing the first two. You can get by with some other titles by doing this but Mass Effect is a story, it's a continuous arc starring you as the main character, building off the decisions you make each game. Admittedly, if you want the whole experience, play the first two, but you can really get by with just playing the second one first, there's a lot of hooks in ME2 that directly play into the third one, plus the second installment may be the best of the series.

And there's the rub. Mass Effect 3 is a good game, it's an awesome game really and has some of the biggest in-game decisions to date. It just doesn't measure up in the end. A lot of the exploration has been simplified, which may not have been everybody's bag but I miss it greatly. The action sequences are awesome, while they're happening, but they're a bit too few. If you get into the complete immersion of the game as I do, for every ten minutes of action you're looking at twenty minutes or more of downtime while you run around doing all the dialogue options with your crew and other NPC's as well as upgrading/fiddling with all of your paper-doll options and weapon enhancements.

If you've done your time in the trenches, imported the same character for the past five years, and want to have one last romp...you'll play this game. Chances are you'll like it quite a bit. As for the "controversies", well take them or leave them. One such quibble is the Prothean DLC content that came out the same day. Same day DLC contents is kind of a slap in the consumers' face, I just plopped down sixty bucks but you want another ten for exclusive content? On the same day? It could've been rolled up into the game if it was that finished in development right?


It's the ending that has prompted the internet firestorm. A lot of really good points have been made and through all the noise there is a clearly thought-out rationale behind the criticisms. It was a very contrived ending with three "choices" but each one is so incredibly similar that it doesn't matter which choice is made. And that's the other issue I take with it, with all the choices and freedoms and options you make as a character over three titles and five years the ending takes none of that into account whatsoever. What was the point of all the great game moments if none of it has any impact in the end. You make this character by your actions, no two "Commander Shepards" are the same, yet a generic ending that doesn't make a lot of sense seems to suffice? No, it was inadequate given everything that preceded it.

When it's all said and done I'd give ME3 a 7/10 stars, ME2 on the other hand I'd give an 8.5/10 stars. Sure it's all opinion, but the second one just felt more solid, was more immersive, and didn't completely disregard every action you've had a hand in since the beginning for a contrived ending.

Gunship Goodness

I've started reading the rules of Gunship: First Strike, and this week Miller and I were hoping to get in a game. One thing led to another, and we ended up trekking off to the mall to take advantage of a sale at one of the game shops (more on that later). We wasted a lot of time there, so we just played a quick game of Tactical Assault: Combat Cards when we got back (also more on that later).

I didn't want to leave Gunship in the lurch though, so I thought I'd share the contents of the game at the very least. I need to also share that as a beta-test version of the game there may be little changes to the final product as well as things such as thicker cardstock or what-have-you. Since these are just pics though, you can't really tell a lot of that stuff and if this is "just" beta-test material, I can't wait to see the final product.


You've got individual card decks for your fleet, and each player will use those as needed. Each player also has placards for the three main components of his fleet; a fighter squadron, the assault carrier, and of course, the gunship itself. The cards themselves cover all kinds of items from weapon and ship upgrades to actions and the like.


Bearing the same name as the game itself, your gunship takes center stage. You can see here you also have two 'wing' pieces in addition to the main hull of the gunship. Your wings can be armed with a large number of weapons, but they can also be blown off entirely. It's all good though, that's why you've brought an assault carrier with you. Dock, repair, re-arm, get back out there to fight. Of course when you go in for repairs and equipment is a trick all by itself, but an aspect of the game that makes figuring out when a lot of fun. You can also see your placard for the massive assault carrier. These are target number one for the enemy. Destroy theirs before yours is destroyed!


You also get a bag of different sided dice, d6's, d8, d12's and a full color rules manual. I'm not a big fan of poring over thick rulebooks and trying to decipher them. Gunship isn't like that at all, the rules aren't super thick and there's plenty of examples given to make any question you may have easy to understand. They strike me as the type of rules that you 'get' fairly easily, but it takes you a while to figure out which strategies are going to work best for you in the long run.

Next time the Gunship breaks orbit here at Mik's Minis I'm hoping it will be in the guise of an actual game report. Follow the BGG link at the top of this post to find out more about the game itself, and for a little more about the game and its creator, Steve Wood, check out this great interview. Until then!

Talking About Them Bones...

So you already know I moonlight from time to time over at the massive Warhammer resource blog, Santa Cruz Warhammer. Mostly it's work on the weekly Barter Bucket, but there's also occasional reviews and the like. I just wrote up a review on some human skeleton and skull packs from Secret Weapon Miniatures (an excellent source for bases, washes, bits, and more) you can check out the review here. Rather than double-dip my review here at Mik's Minis, I thought I'd just give y'all a heads up and a link. Enjoy!

The Grey: Top of the Food Chain?

The Grey (2012)

It has been forever since I've been to a movie, over the summer in fact, but the missus and I made it this weekend. I jokingly said I would credit my sister-in-law for pulling babysitter duty and allowing us to go out, so thanks Corina!

Slim pickings in the movie choices however as we scrolled through them at dinner. Hmm, Underworld? Nah. Red Tails? Maybe, but it's been a while since I played Check Your Six! so probably not. Some George Clooney drama? Nope. Mission Impossible 3 with Tom Thumb? Never saw the first two, but I am a big fan of director Brad Bird. It was based on Liam Neeson's acting alone that put The Grey to the forefront. Well, that and an earlier screen time.

It was a good movie, but not what I expected. It is not an action-adventure romp with a happy ending. It's a dark, slow-paced, beautifully shot movie dealing with survival. Not just survival in the harsh elements, but survival on a human scale, pulling oneself through the worst thrown at you and still clawing to exist rather than succumbing to it.

The premise is a plane full of rough and tumble pipeline workers goes down in the Alaskan/Canadian wilderness. Amidst the wreckage a handful of survivors set out to find civilization. A trek made perilous by the elements, a trek made absolutely fatal by wolves. These are the skinny third generation zoo wolves you've seen, but the primal, alpha kings of the frozen tundra. Humans might have fire and sharp sticks, but home field advantage belongs to the wolves.

This was definitely a tense thriller. You had no idea what was going to happen next and moments of calm were abruptly shattered by brief, but insanely intense, violence. The main character, Neeson, wasn't a show stealer or really all that different from the other (albeit somewhat stereotyped) survivors. They were all in the same mess, and their fates all seemed equally sealed. The Grey wasn't what I was expecting, but I was pleased with what I got.

Tactical Assault: Combat Cards

Saw a post and a blurb on one of my favorite blogs, Tiny Solitary Soldiers, about a game by the same name of the title of this post.

It sounded cool and Spacejacker has never led me astray, so I checked it out at the Tactical Assault Games website. I liked what I saw, in fact something about had me quite taken with it. I plucked down a mere eleven bucks, made some copies, and the rest is what you see here.


The rules, a solid QRS, and two decks of the Combat Cards

Why was I taken with these rules right off the bat? I mean really, there's tons and tons of rules out there, so why these? There was just an intangible quality about them. My curiosity was piqued when I saw solo scenarios and mechanics. Then I had to raise an eyebrow when I saw the game required zero dice. Genre ranges from WWII to modern to near-future, it's up to you and what you've got on hand, so far so good.

It helped that the rulebook itself is free, here's a direct link. Sure, you get what you pay for, but these rules are well laid out, compact, and efficient. They get the job done in a no-frills manner in a simple, to-the-point style that said to me that this game is one of those that will be easy to get the hang of it and get on the tabletop quickly enough without a high learning curve.


After reading the rules, the overall package struck me as the love-child between Piquet and Hordes of the Things; two games that I absolutely adore and could play all the time. In Piquet the fog of war is always in full effect and just because you may want your troops to do something at an opportune moment, it doesn't mean they will. You have to wait on the right cards to come your way, and that's where the dice-less beauty of Combat Cards comes into play as well.

Each side of the conflict utilizes a combat card deck turn in and turn out. Here's a breakdown of a sample card. Playing these cards on your unit is what makes them 'go', be it moving, shooting, close combat, engineering, and more. If you don't have a move card in your hand, then your troops aren't moving that turn.

Other card mechanics including interrupt effects too like over-watch fire. The dice-less part comes into play when "rolling" for damage. When a unit shoots another unit, the top card of your deck is flipped over and you apply the combat result on that card to the target. This is further modified by steps up or down the combat result track depending on things like cover, firepower, and the like.


There's a list of units in the rules, each for a certain point value, and descriptions of what that unit does. There's also examples of what the unit could be, key word being "could". And this is where Combat Cards strikes me as Hordes of the Things, the units themselves are abstract, so really you can use anything you have on hand...or paint up specific units to match, it's up to you.

Scale is up to you as well, either you're throwing down on a skirmish level (one figure is one unit) or on an army level (five tanks is a single unit). A mechanized unit is pretty much anything that is augmented in the movement department, you define it by what you put on the table. In the long run, personally, I think it would be fun to paint up some 15mm sci-fi specifically for use here, putting multiple figures on a base and throwing in some mechs for good measure.

I think I've gone on enough here about the game, hopefully you get the idea! We've got a test battle lined up this week between a couple of 28mm skirmish platoons, so I'll be posting that batrep soon enough. Maybe I'll get in one of those solo games too...

Messiah Bold

He'Brew Messiah Bold, yes, it's the "beer you've been waiting for". No, it's not kosher, I'm pretty sure it's all marketing. Puns aside, and not one to pass up a new beer, no matter its origin, soI tried this one out. Wow, I was very impressed! First of all, it's a dark porter for sure, look at the photo, it's just like a Guinness. Its got a thick head and strong caramel aroma right out of the pour. The taste is just as lovely, strong in the roasted grains department and with a smooth finish. This is a great beer and if you like full, dark beers, I would definitely give He'Brew a shot.

Yo Gamma Gamma

My Christmas present to myself this year was a double-shot of the new Gamma World. Me? I'm a big fan of Gamma World, I always have been, having first played it back in the mid to late eighties. I love the gamma-goodness, the fires not born unto serious post-apocalyptic forays but more fanciful romps through the rubble-strewn world after "the event".


I picked up the core box set and the first expansion, another boxed set known as Famine in Far-Go. Some fans of the game may recognize that name because Famine in Far-Go has made an appearance before. From what I can tell, based on sketchy memory of the original and cursory glance of the new one, they're both in the same vein as well.

As for the boxed sets themselves, I'm a simple guy and I don't need all the doo-dads really, and the boxes come doo-dad-a-plenty. Above is shown all I'm asking for; a couple of rulebooks and some cards. The rulebooks are dense, very dense and in full color with plenty of charts, examples, fluff, and more. They're also digest-sized, which is nice too. Surprisingly, the Far-Go expansion book is almost as big as the core book, with a little over half dedicated to the adventure but the rest being supplemental material.

The cards are a new Gamma concept, and I didn't know exactly how they would work. Having read up on the rules now, the cards seem very cool. You don't have one mutation, one psychic power, or one laser rifle...all of these things are constantly fluctuating. When it's time to roll for initiative, everyone at the table draws a new card. You may have had telekinetic mind blasts when you fought the Croc-Men yesterday, but today you've got wings and you're up against rogue robots. It's a weird concept, but for the setting it works. Technology and 'junk' is everywhere, your equipment is always changing, and mutations are always in a state of flux.


Character creation is also gloriously random, again a weird concept usually for an RPG, but one that works perfectly in this setting. We haven't played yet, so I can't speak too much on gameplay (if at all) so I'll just focus on what all you get in the box(es).

Above are all the counters you get. Lots of counters on card sheets that necessitated the size of the boxes themselves. Too many counters; counters for player characters, counters for monsters, counters for NPC's. I'm sure counters have their place, but we don't use them and I'm not a huge fan of them.


You also get some maps. Who doesn't like maps? It's not a roleplaying game if there's not a map somewhere! Gamma World does come with maps, nice stock, full color, double-sided even. The expansion has some maps in it too. I'm all right with some maps.

Somewhere in a box in the garage I've got all of my old Gamma World modules. I also scored the Thundarr the Barbarian boxed set recently as well. Lots of good, fun source material for a new version of the game that equally looks solid and fun.

Assassin's Creed Revelations and Impressions

By the light of Assassin's Creed Revelations in the foreground I give you my 'old man Ezio' impersonation. That's right, my old and tattered 'lucky' gray hoodie is about as close to "cosplay" as you, my dear friends, will ever see me. Now as for firstborn, she had to get in on the Assassin's Creed dress-up too, here she is sporting the 'royal indigo' print (costs about 2000 gold in one of the shops) and is wielding the sheath to my good tomato-slicing kitchen knife. Even without the beard she makes a far better Ezio than I do!

I played the first Creed game and thought, "Wow, this is pretty cool, a bit repetitive, but pretty darn cool." The action was good, the story pretty neat, and admittedly, the historical details really enhanced it. Then came the sequel, Creed II, and I was blown away, I still contend it's one of the all-time videogames out there. The scope, the depth, the story, the mechanics, I was just blown away, they took everything they learned from the first one and made it better. Then Creed II Brotherhood came out. A sequel? Kind of, just more of a super expansion of Creed II, they added some neat little additions and tried to make a multiplayer out of it too. I liked the extras, more of the gameplay was cool, and overall I'm clicking away, still a happy Assassin's camper.

Now comes Creed Revelations. The makers, Ubisoft, know they have a good thing on their hands. They've perfected and tweaked everything into a well-oiled machine, but in a way that's also the problem. Revelations is more of the same, for better or for worse.

Instead of Italy, you're in Constantinople. The NPC's wear brighter clothes and have different accents, but it's the same game. The story doesn't go to any great lengths to suck you in either and a lot of the facets I enjoy, like buying/upgrading armor/weapons and the like, seems tacked on and doesn't hold any gameplay value.

It's a weird situation, if you played the other Creed titles, and loved them like I did, you're going to like this one too. I enjoyed it, but nothing new was added to my experience. Up until now each title added extras the previous one didn't, extras that added to the overall game. Any extras in Revelations are just kind of there. Like I said, it's a tried and true template, it's hard to go wrong with, but this will probably be my last Creed game unless they really add something new the overall experience the next time around.

As for storyline, well it's a bit convoluted but they do seem to be shooting for some kind of closure, wrapping up any loose ends for either of the main characters from the previous three games, Ezio and Altaîr. There aren't any cliffhangers for those two and you don't get the impression they'll be coming back. Now the other main character, without any spoilers I'll just say Desmond, is definitely poised for a return comeback down the road.

If you're a huge fan of the series, you've probably already picked this one up, if not, I suggest doing so. If you just looking for a great game and not planning to experience the whole Assassin's Creed universe, I would turn to the used aisle and pick up regular ole Assassin's Creed II.