Heroes and other stuff too

I got an email this morning from Dave Millward, the designer of the original Heroes RPG, which is something of a Holy Grail for old school collectors and any old school gamer should just want to check it out. Anyway, I digress, I got this email from him because I was one of the people that tracked him down and begged/badgered him into doing a reprint, or a print on demand, or just photocopying his set for me to see, or something. He decided that wasn't good enough and was pretty happy that his low print run game from 1978 was so fondly remembered, so he is doing a new-ish version with an increased page count, and more, and expanded tables. Some rewritten. Heres a link to the new website for a truly old school game, support it and he promises expansions; and a picture of the pretty new cover for the new book- slated for a September release.

I also got this miniature in the mail yesterday, but was busy and didn't get a chance to blog. I didn't have much else to say anyway, so it would have just been a boring EBay picture of a miniature still in it's packaging. I wanted to check out the Celtos line, I had bid on a bunch of them, but got sniped at the end and only got the one guy. Which made him pricey (for me) because of shipping, I rarely buy just one miniature because of my frugal nature. I did win three others from a different seller, but they haven't even shipped yet.

Lastly, my Emerald Empire character, Akodo Kotaro made level 210. I am not really sure why the game is still running when Facebook told us they would shut down the app in early June, but I have played the hell out of it trying to complete old story lines and make levels, just to see how tough I can get before the game is gone.

Another in a line of busy days...

I actually was too busy today to have too much gaming related to report other than what I got in the mail and what have been reading. I am nearly finished with "The Mongoliad", although it is only book one and I have already pre-ordered book two. I have been working a lot behind the scenes on my alt-Rome and Alt-Egypt areas in my Garnia World campaign, with my collaborators. Well, mostly I have been trying to bounce ideas off of them and getting a lot of "Yep, sure, that sounds cool.", when I was hoping for a little more thought provoking discussion. But, it's been mostly via email, so I guess I should have expected less.

I got home too late to take John to his 4th edition game too. He wasn't happy, but he took it well. I am definitely playing something here on Saturday, with whoever shows up, so that'll be good.

Anyway, here's my mail-

My wife insisted on this, and made me buy it on Father's Day. I told her if she's making me buy expensive miniatures from overseas it's put up or shut up time. She paints like a pro when she wants to, it's getting her to do it that's the killer; but she has a soft spot for animals and the cart put it over the top.

These guys I found on EBay, they're from the same line and I am sneaking them into her queue. Dead men are always useful as casualty markers for wargames, and I have several sets of ancients rules; plus they make for good encounter dressing in D&D games. I actually have more from this line yet to come.

This I was informed was worth it for the pictures alone, especially at the scandalously low price I got it for. It has clearly been sitting on a store shelf since it was printed, it's brand new.

This I only include to show my interest in reading actual histories and my studliness as a shopper, brand new $4.00 including shipping.

Dungeons And Dragons: Book of Vile Darkness Trailer

I am going to go out on limb here and assume that they are basing this on 3rd or 4th edition between the straps and buckles leathery S&M look and the unfamiliar spells, but the fight choreography wasn't bad, and they sexed it up some. Maybe it won't suck and it will usher in a new wave of good fantasy films, and bad ones that we will grow to love- like "Hawk the Slayer".



Anyway, I had no games this weekend, my back is still out. I have gotten a lot of thinking, research and actual writing done on my Garnia World campaign, and done a fair bit of reading; mostly about the Chinese, whose culture and history I am weak on, and the Mongols, who I am strong on, but I have a specific area that needed more study. For fun I am still reading "The Mongoliad".

I had a busy day today...

...But mostly it was spent working on my other blog and trying to decide what stuff to auction off on EBay. Check out my "20 Questions about the Mistlands" post on my other blog (button to the right) and let me know what you think of this unique area of my campaign world. I also had a Doctors appointment, and was prescribed a medication that my insurance company refuses to pay for, which is becoming all too common lately. I went back to my doctors office and got samples the drug company rep left them.

I also, of course got a bunch of stuff in the mail from EBay, almost all Star Fleet Battles universe stuff-

The non-SFB universe stuff is a copy of Heritage Models "Star Trek - Adventure Gaming in the Final Frontier". I knew they must have made all those miniatures for a reason, it's copyright 1978 though. The other two books are "Starfleet Academy Training Command- Line Officer Requirements" Volume 2 and Supplement. Pity Volume 1 didn't make it into the set. They are copyrighted to 1987 D. Schmidt, and there is an ad in the middle of the supplement to order more Star Trek and other sci-fi stuff from "New Eye Studio", lots of blueprints for ships, and some more Starfleet guides, a catalog for their Battlestar Galactica, Space:1999, Star Wars and Dr. Who stuff.

Of the SFB universe stuff I got a few doubles in there, but one of them was the Prime Directive rulebook, and if we ever play an extra will be handy. One was Carrier War for F&E, but this one is still in the shrink wrap, so I think I'll be able to resell it pretty easy. The last was a Captain's Log, that should resell easy enough too.

Heat makes for a short post today

It's in the 90s here again today so my computer sounds like a jet engine. I just wanted to let everyone see what I got in the mail today-

Yes "Tomoe Gozen" FINALLY arrived, if it had made it here two days ago I'd have started reading it instead of "The Mongoliad", not that I am not enjoying my current reading.

I also got these guys-

I like that the package is literally printed 25/28mm Ancients and then hand written in Celts/Germans 10.00; like the people at Navigator Miniatures couldn't quite decide. The scale is definitely 28mm, but true 28mm, not "heroic"; and a good look at them makes me think way more Celt than German, maybe I'll make them Belgae. Caesar described them as both Celt, well Gaulish actually, and German.

I am also thinking about listing some of my old school stuff that I have doubles of on EBay, all of it is used, mostly in fairly good to pretty darned good condition for it's age. Do you all think it'll be worth my effort, or is it just collectors who want pristine stuff when it comes to modules and supplements and such?

Forcibly being drawn back on task

I have several projects running at any given time, any regular reader of my blog knows that by now. I think it's obvious from my reading list lately that I have been mostly working on my Oriental Adventures project, but also my Garnia World project has taken a lot of my time too. You can read about Garnia World on my "Other Blog" to the right; it actually incorporates the Oriental Adventures thing too.

A week or so ago I found a couple of really excellent deals on EBay. Most of that stuff came in the mail today.

This is a Bushido Clan Warband for the Hundred Kingdoms miniature battle game from Black Orc Games. Bad paint job, and two of them are mounted on flying bases for a more Wuxia feel, but they didn't alter the models in any way to make them look right or balance. I can fix all this though.

Yes, I bought another cheap copy of the 1st edition Legend of the Five Rings RPG rules. I read a recent comparison review that said it was better than the 2nd edition and I have tons of stuff for the 1st edition.

I also got these two modules, one came the other day, but I think I forgot to post it's picture. Now I have that entire series, I am destined to GM it.

The first six Archers.

The other six Archers.

The first six Infantry.

The other six Infantry.

These were the real deal though- an entire, small Crab army and the paint jobs and basing are pretty damned sweet. Two of the heroes are unfinished, but the entire bunch only cost me $26.00+ 6.25 shipping.

Now I have been looking into converting the L5R RPG roll and keep system for at least the OA section of my Garnia world, it seems so simple and I hear it is the only game system in the world that satisfies both Hack and Slashers AND real hard core Role Players; like the kids in the theater department at SUNY Oswego. I might be able to draw them away from White Wolf.

So anyway, here I was spending the last day or two looking into finishing/remaking a Jacobite rebellion miniature battles game that I started work on when I was in high school, then this flood of Asian themed RPG and wargame material hits me from the mailbox.

I finished "Lords of Grass and Thunder", and found it to be rather good. Each of the books set in that fantasy Asia of Curt Benjamin wrote seem to get better, and it left obvious loose ends for a sequel, but it was published in 2005, so I am not going to hold my breath.

I started "The Mongoliad". Good so far.

Oh yeah, this came in the mail the other day too. I don't know how I forgot to mention it.

So when did FRPG Dwarves all become Scots?

Obviously, not all of them are, but enough that it is starting to really annoy me. I am not an anti-Dwarf racist or anything, but when I was looking for Scottish Highlander miniatures on EBay today I found these guys-

Apparently they are for a game called Dwarf Wars, and only one of the factions is Highlander Dwarves, but it got me to thinking. Dwarves aren't part of Scottish Highland folklore, not D&D type Dwarves anyway. D&D type Dwarves come straight from Norse and other Germanic sources via Tolkien's works, and I rather prefer them to stay more Nordic; or at least be the short bearded guy in the party that is otherwise indistinguishable from the rest of the party in dress and weapons, maybe preferring the axe, or the crossbow.

Now I understand there is a miniature battle game put out by Fantasy Flight Games, their stuff is usually top notch, right? This one, called Battlelore, is a fantasy version of the Hundred Years War, where you get to hire Dwarf and Goblin mercenaries, or so the box says, I haven't played it.

Their Scottish Wars Expansion pretty much makes the case that all the Scots are Dwarves.

So does the Dwarven Battalion Expansion.

I think I remember reading something in a TSR novel set in the Forgotten Realms back in the early 1990s with some Scottish Dwarves too, but I can't remember which one, if it ever really happened at all.

Then I remembered Games Workshop and their Warhammer Fantasy RPG and the ginger, Mohawk sporting Dwarves there, so I did an image search and found this-

A definite Scottish look to him. I might not mind this; although I have a buddy that's of Irish extraction an only 5'8" and he has to deal with Leprechaun jokes constantly from another friend of ours who is lucky she's a woman, because he's kind of a bad-ass; but I might not mind Scottish Highlanders being associated with Dwarves if I wasn't 6'6" tall. I know it's stupid of me to take this as a personal affront, but I kind of do anyway. Even my little brother is 6'3". My sister is 5'9".

I Don't Know if it's the Bad Back or Father's Day

I found a pretty cool looking 28mm horse and cart while I was checking stuff out on EBay yesterday, propped in front of my computer. I took a screen shot and sent it to Mona, because that's the sort of miniature she likes, and she said via an email from the other room, and I quote "on the subject of the Celtic cart....yes. I must possess the tiny cart. All are powerless in the presence of its tiny charm."; I quickly sent her an email back that it was nice and all, but it was a British import, and it was still made from metal, so it was too pricey for my cheap-ass bargain hunting ways. She insisted that I find the tiny Celtic cart and purchase it as cheaply as possible, but NOW. As it turned out as cheap as possible was on the Warlord Games website, where they offered a suspiciously low rate of shipping to the US, but had a minimum order of $15.00. So I dug around on the Celts section of the site and added the cheapest stuff I could find to my cart, then proceeded to check out to see if it was true; by now my wife was sitting next to me waiting in anticipation. As it turned out, it was true, so then she told me to go ahead and complete that transaction, because she liked the miniatures I had picked out AND then go back in and order her the Celtic Cart. Yes, my normally frugal wife, who is always suspicious when I get large packages full of miniatures here, where usually I paid more for the shipping than the miniatures themselves ORDERED me to buy over $40.00 worth of brand new miniatures. Here's a picture of the Horse and Cart, I'll save the others as a surprise for when they arrive.

I also found a picture of a pizza that looks like the Necronomicon from the Evil Dead movies.

That's all for today, bad back or no, I still have to go see my dad today.