Status markers

Slow day at work. Started working on status markers. Here's an example :

Command bunker and watch tower constructed

Picked these up from Generation X, as mentioned in the previous post. These are printed on card stock and cost me $2.50 for these two buildings, plus two barracks that I haven't built yet. I think they turned out well for paper cut-outs, and I intend to flesh them out a little more with paint.

Warmachine - Beginnings and battle report - Cryx vs. Protectorate

Matt and I set a date for our first game of Warmachine for last night (1/13/2011). I'm playing the Cryx faction and had my initial battlegroup box (Deneghra, two Deathrippers, a Defiler and a Slayer) as well as Lich Lord Asphyxious. (Thanks hoto!)

Matt was going with the Protectorate, and had a number of extra units he won through EBay auctions. Not to be outdone, I wanted some extra units too, in case he wanted to bring in his extra units. I went to Generation X in Hurst (quickly becoming my favorite gaming store) and rummaged through their half price minis. I came out with a handful of minis I intended to mod (and did : post and pictures to follow) and was able to field Captain Rengrave, the Revenant Crew of the Atramentous and a Cephalyx Slaver and Drudge Mind Slaves. I also bought some card stock cutouts (buildings and "props") but didn't have time to put them together. My battlegroup was also headless and limbless because I didn't put them together.

I bought some planks and had them cut into 2' x 4' sections and the grass mat from Hobby Lobby and we had our battlefield. I made some "hills", but they were labeled "grass burritos" because that's exactly what they looked like. I'm still honing my terrain making skills. I grabbed some rocks and we threw other miscellaneous items on the mat for cover and were ready to begin.

On to the battle...

We both elected to go with our battlegroup box units only.

As this was our first game (and my first mini game) I just went for it. I ran my Defiler unit up and attempted a sludge attack, which failed. The real point was to move in the Defiler to use it's Arc Node ability to cast Influence. I'd already moved when I realized my mistake : Influence doesn't work on 'jacks or warcasters. Oops.

I charged my melee units in to attack. My Defiler and Slayer were set on fire by his Repenter while they engaged his Crusader. My Deathrippers engaged the Repenter and Revenger. It more or less stayed like this the remainder of the match. I crippled his Crusader, but barely touched his other two 'jacks. Eventually, his warcaster Kreoss charged into the battle using his Menoth's Wrath feat and destroyed my Slayer and the smaller bonejacks followed shortly after. With only Deneghra left, I charged Kreoss and activated the Withering. She hit Kreoss hard, leaving him with one health point. Matt conceded. (For the uninitiated, if the warcaster dies, the 'jacks become inert).

It was a blast and I look forward to finishing some more terrain features and bringing more of my units into play.

Wish I'd taken pictures.

Battle field!

Hobby Lobby had a coupon for 40% off any one item, so I went and bought a battlefield for our 'jacks to fight on.

Dusting off the ol' blog...

Got a lot of stuff going on, thought I'd dust off the blog and post some more. This will be the home of all my projects, my Cryx (Warmachine) conquests, and general geeky stuff, with the occasional personal spat.

So, real quick catch up...

My son was born in November - welcome to the world Maximilian Sebastian Poynter!

Next, I was pulled back into court in December by the ex. I couldn't afford my attorney anyway, so I dropped her. It was scary, and I prepared the best I could. Fortunately, the original orders were over turned and I got everything I asked for without asking for it. I'll be divorced by June 23rd!

Out With the New, In With the Old

Starcraft 2 is fucked. There is no other way to put it. I feel the game is a complete let down. Granted, it's in beta right now, but so much needs to change by it's July release, I just don't see how they can fix it. I'm not going to go into details... any of the popular forums explain it enough.

So, to get my gaming fix, I'm kicking it old school. So... here are the reviews for the games I've finished this past week.


MEGA MAN 3

Classic Mega Man game play, with the introduction of Rush and Protoman. Rush is Mega Man's robotic companion that can provide additional support such as a spring to jump to higher spaces (Rush Coil), a jet to fly around the screen (Rush Jet), or a submersible to move freely in water (Rush Marine). Protoman occasionally appears to fight you, although I'm never really sure why. His character origin is somewhat explained in the end credits.

If you like the Mega Man series, can't go wrong here. Which leads me to...



MEGA MAN 4

More Mega Man. The main villian this time around is a Dr. Cossack and eight more robots. Rush is here again, but his Rush Jet is gimped. It only allows you to fly in a straight line from his point of set up. There is a new addition in Eddie (aka "Fliptop") who periodically appears and tosses a power up of some kind your way. Protoman is absent for the most part.

Again, typical Mega Man action, if that's your bag.





NINJA GAIDEN

I'm playing all these games on an NES emulator. That said, I don't think this game can be completed without "save state". This game hates you. This game hates your family. This game hates itself. I had to save and restore my way through the entire game and don't feel any cheaper for doing so because it is so damn difficult.

You're a ninja and you're out to find out who killed your father. You're pulled into a conspiracy involving the CIA, demon statuettes that look like xenomorphs from Aliens and an evil wizard named Jaquio. All of them want to kill you. And they will, again and again and again.

Still a cool game just for what Tecmo did with the cutscenes on the NES, so if you couldn't cut it on the original console, maybe you can now that you can save it anywhere you want. And you will.

Movie Review - The Human Centipede

If you haven't heard anything about this movie, here it is in a nutshell : Some crazy German doctor is obsessed with sewing animals and humans together in threes : ass to mouth. Yeah. I don't know either.

Pretty cookie-cutter set up starts us off. A couple of American girls visiting Europe break down in the woods and happen on Herr Doktor's house. He drugs them and we get right down to sewing these two in said manner to the "lead segment", a poor Japanese fellow who doesn't speak English.

So that's the movie. It gets right to it, with no explanation why the doctor has this obsession with sewing living creatures together this way. There's a small amount devoted to escape attempts, and the end when the doctor is discovered by police, but, for the most part, it's the doctor and his creation spending quality time together.

The controversy from the movie comes from the manner in which the people are sewn together and how... business... is taken care of. Aside from one scene (and nothing is shown, it's the implied thought) there isn't much more to cringe at. Well, other than the idea of having your mouth sewn to someone's anus.

The whole thing is completely ludicrous, of course. The saving factor of the movie was Dieter Laser (Dr. Heiter). The guy is just frigging weird. I'm talking above his weird fetish, the guy is just plain creepy. We walks around in TF2 medic garb and aviators most of the movie and there are long shots of him just making weird faces.

Anyway, I'm sure it's destined to become a cult hit, and it's watchable, but I think that The Human Centipede doesn't live up to the controversy.