Wednesday, November 30, 2011

A note on reviews...

If you've been reading my reviews, you might note that I'm very positive in them. Now, I tend to be a positive person and try to focus on the positive. Now, I'm also reviewing my favorites first...as I get more reviews done, and begin to review things I was let down by, more moderate reviews will be included, for example, the Game Mastery Guide was a bit of a let-down for me. It's good, it just wasn't great. Since it's not as Epic! in my eyes, I'm not as excited to get it reviewed.

I'm working on doing video reviews now, So I will be making a YouTube account specifically for uploading those videos, as the blogspot video uploads tend to have very low quality when viewing them. So I will also be uploading those reviews again.

As we're close to 4000 hits now, we're getting more viewers, what do YOU want to see? Send me an email... epicRPGBlog@gmail.com. Let me know.

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

More on SWTOR

With the extra day BioWare gave us so they could work out more bugs, I was able to explore more of the game, my Smuggler/Gunfighter, recovered her Ship and was able to participate in the space battles, now at her level, there are only 3 available during beta, once you escort an escaping shuttle, the second take you on an assault against a space station, and the last pits you against a souped up fighter, with a heavy escort, designed to make use of your missiles. Now, space combat is pretty scripted at this juncture, you follow a plotted course, with the ability to move enough to target and avoid debris. These mission seem very noobish, and are quite easy, though the XP was nice, got almost an entire level redoing them.

I reached Taris, the site where some of Knights of the Old Republic takes place, rakghouls are everywhere, and there are lots of missions, so while this is a massive theme park, it's gorgeous and pretty fun. Do I want it? Yes....Will I pay to play it for an extended length of time? That remains to be seen...

I need more than a massive railroad with 8 trains, that can take 16 tracks...once you do a class once, I don't see repeatability. I want more mini-games, like Sabaac, and Swoop races. I want more sand box to play in. I want more races to play, the game is currently very human-o-centric, and while there are some alien races, they all look relatively human, even though there are lots of the other alien races present as NPCs. I guess that they want to keep the clothing modeling simple for now...

Let's hope BioWare makes lots of room for expansions, otherwise this could be a real short trip....


Sunday, November 27, 2011

Star Wars The Old Republic Online

So, the NDA has been lifted.

I can talk about it now, Old Republic has always been one of my favorite eras for Star Wars gaming. So this game definitely has appeal for me. I had to recreate my Smuggler, since my other one got caught in an old instance during the last beta. So I haven't gotten very far. Just stepping foot onto Coruscant, and I must say, BioWare did a good job, making it look like the Coruscant from KotOR!!

Game play is fairly simple, but not too simple. Jedi Knights leaping into battle, Sith Inquisitors blasting opponents with Force Lightning and Smugglers blasting opponents from cover. The game feels like Star Wars, it feels like Knights of the Old Republic (One of my favorite PC Games). It also has a single player feel to it. While I haven't gotten a ship yet, due to the level of the missions, I feel the shipboard life will be VERY similar to KotOR.

This looks to be a great game once it's released, though without being able to play the end game, I'm not sure how it will fare in the long run. 

Thursday, November 24, 2011

Happy Thanksgiving 2011

Happy Thanksgiving from Epic The RPG Blog.

I hope everyone is having a great family day, and getting lots of gameplay in. 

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

!!!!!!!!!Pathfinder Online!!!!!!!!!

Oh my goodness!

Paizo just linked this! This excites me way more than Neverwinter Online.


Paizo Publishing, LLC has licensed the MMORPG electronic gaming rights to its smash-hit Pathfinder Roleplaying Game intellectual property to Goblinworks, a Redmond, Washington game developer and publisher that will create Pathfinder Online, a next-generation fantasy sandbox massively multiplayer online game. Founded by Paizo co-owner Lisa Stevens (Pathfinder RPG, Vampire: The Masquerade, Magic: The Gathering), game industry veteran Ryan S. Dancey (Dungeons & Dragons Third Edition, EVE Online), and experienced MMO developer Mark Kalmes (Microsoft, Cryptic Studios, CCP), Goblinworks is an independent company that will work with Paizo Publishing to bring the award-winning world and adventures of the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game to the online gaming market. The process has only just begun, and there is plenty of opportunity for gamers to get in on the ground floor of this exciting new project. Paizo and Goblinworks are committed to solicitin g player feedback about the Pathfinder Online project, and more information can be found at goblinworks.com.


Pathfinder Online will cast players as heroes in a unique online fantasy world filled with sword & sorcery adventures and kingdoms inhabited and controlled by thousands of competing players. Players can explore, develop, adventure, and dominate by playing fighters, rogues, clerics, or any of Pathfinder's many character classes, or they can go beyond the standard options to create nearly any type of character imaginable. Find lairs, ruins, and caverns filled with monstrous creatures and incredible treasure. Build glittering cities of castles and bustling markets. Take to the battlefield with vast armies to seize and hold territory. Players change the world and create new stories as they compete for resources, land, and military might. The possibilities are endless.

"I've been hoping for a chance to work with Lisa and the Paizo team on a Pathfinder project for years, and now that we're joining forces to produce Pathfinder Online, I couldn't be happier or more excited," said Goblinworks CEO Ryan S. Dancey. "My goal is to bring the high-quality experience Paizo has delivered for Pathfinder to the MMO platform, and to give players another fantastic way to experience the world of Golarion."

from the goblinworks frontpage:


About Pathfinder Online

An exciting new era in gaming begins with Pathfinder Online, a cutting-edge Massively Multiplayer Online fantasy roleplaying game currently in development from Goblinworks in partnership with Paizo Publishing!
Pathfinder Online takes place in the world of the award-winning Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, an industry-leading tabletop roleplaying game based on more than a decade of system development. The Pathfinder world includes elements inspired by classic and modern fantasy, from lost cities shrouded in misty jungles to decaying pyramids in deserts of burning sands to a fantastic island metropolis where folk from countless kingdoms live side by side with all manner of exotic creatures. If a player wants to tell a fantasy story, the world of Pathfinder has a place for it. (For more information on the world of Pathfinder and the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, please visit paizo.com/pathfinder.)

Pathfinder Online is a hybrid sandbox/theme park-style MMO roleplaying game where characters explore, develop, and dominate the River Kingdoms, a treacherous no-man's-land of squabbling kingdoms on the edge of wilderness. Players explore, adventure, develop, and dominate their domains by playing fighters, rogues, wizards, or any of Pathfinder's many character types, or they can use the game's archetype system go beyond the standard options to create nearly any sort of character imaginable.
Pathfinder Online's robust trading system puts players in control of the world's economy with player-created items, consumables, fortifications, and settlements. Character-controlled settlements can grow into full-fledged kingdoms that compete for resources as they seek to become the dominant force in the land, raising vast armies to hold their territory against the depredations of monstrous creatures, NPC factions, and other player characters.

Social organizations scale from small parties of a few adventurers to player nations inhabited by thousands. As settlements develop, the surrounding wilderness develops more complex and challenging features, including randomly generated encounters and resources as well as exciting scripted adventures.
The design process for Pathfinder Online has only just begun, and there is plenty of opportunity for gamers to get in on the ground floor of this exciting new project. Paizo and Goblinworks are committed to soliciting player feedback about the Pathfinder Online project, and will track the game's development here at goblinworks.com.

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Great Day!

We had a nice interview and lunch with Matt Rivaldi, he was kind enough to give us a copy of Quao, and Wizzizzle Phonics. Now Wizzizzle phonics is for younger players, to teach them how to read by playing an Uno Style Game. So we will play it, review it and then donate it to a school.

We dropped by At Ease games, and I took photos for the upcoming Store Spotlight. I also set-up an interview with Ron during this Friday's Super Dungeon Explore demo night.

If you're interested in seeing Super Dungeon Explore in action, come to At Ease Games this Friday evening, Ross will be running demos. 

Monday, November 21, 2011

Interview With Matt Rivaldi tomorrow!

Interviewing, San Diego's own Matt Rivaldi of WiggityBang Games tomorrow.

So look forward the the interview being uploaded before next week.

Catching up with a backlog tonight. So here's something interesting:



If you haven't ever heard of Battlelords of the 23rd Century, check out SSDC.com for some spectacular Sci-Fi. With some of the greatest weapons guides of any game, this one is fun. It's a d100 skill-based classless, level-less system. 

Sunday, November 20, 2011

Thanksgiving Week

Well this will be a busy week for almost everyone, Thanksgiving usually is. Whether it's having the kids at home for the week, or just getting ready for Turkey Day, it's going to be hectic, so remember to take time out to relax.

Our favorite ways to relax are games, We'll be playing plenty of games over the Holiday. We played FURT tonight. We're planning on playing the Pathfinder Beginner Box tomorrow. (Sean picked it with some of his Birthday money!!...Schweet.)

We'll  prolly play some Zombie Dice, Munchkin, Kill Doctor Lucky. All the really fun games we have.

Another thing I'm excited about it is testing the new Full WarLands rules. Make some of our own vehicles and tweak some of the other ones using the Mac's Bodyshop vehicle creation rules.

Friday, November 18, 2011

Amazing Resources

From the Yahoo Savage Worlds Group,  I ran across Das Spiel Unker, I'm reading through it's links, and find his PDF on Educational Game Resources, which in turn lead me to Junior General.

So primarily this is a site that uses war gaming to teach history through simulations. Scenarios are included, but there are dozens and dozens of free paper minis.  Also in the paper mini section are pose helper documents, so you can design your own minis using premade poses. (note: since these are all free and made by fans of the site; the quality varies, but for free, I wouldn't complain)

The reason I went to Das Spiel Unker was to check out the "Gun Deck" he created. This is a typical card deck used for Savage Worlds like a normal deck of cards, but on the faces, he has pictures and stats of 50 different rifles and pistols! A must have for any Deadlands Savage Worlds game.

Thursday, November 17, 2011

Board Game Arena!!

OK if you haven't checked out Board Game Arena yet, you really have to check it out.

They have the following games for free to play on the Site:
Stone Age
Dominion
Race for the Galaxy
Can't Stop
Kahuna
Coloretto
Troyes
GoSu
Amyitis
Puerto Rico
Tobago
Haggis
&
Uncle Chestnut Table Gype?? (no idea what that is, I haven't played it yet)

It's really cool, there's an international audience, and plenty of players, of all experience levels. I just started playing Dominion, and man I love it!!!

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Super Dungeon Explore Ships

Looks like Super Dungeon Explore is SHIPPING!!!

If you have the extra cash, snatch it up while you can! It will make a wonderful present for the whole family.

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

WPMS - GAMING CLUB

Today at Gaming Club, they're going to get a double dose of new games...taking Both Super Dungeon Explore AND FraG. I actually need a break from Munchkin...last week with 8 kids playing munchkin was a bit....insane...

Oh well with Super Dungeon Explore and FraG going, there should be plenty for everyone to do...

[Note to self: Don't try to do two new games at one time with Gaming club, even though Sean and Ian were familiar with Frag and SDE, it just didn't work... Note #2, don't let 7 people try to learn SDE at one time, it's not set-up for that...]

Sunday, November 13, 2011

At Ease Games Grand Opening Event!

Epic Entry!
So, we dropped by Ron's new store in Poway, conveniently located at the intersection of Pomerado and Poway Roads...at the corner location of the complex, once we made it there, it was no problem locating the store. 
Carlos sets up for a deadly attack against his space marine foe!
We arrived during the 40k tourney, so the store was quite full. One of the most important aspects of the modern game store is providing a place for the community to gather and play the games. At Ease Games joins Game Empire, Pair-a-Dice, and SD Games and Comics in providing an open and very public gaming area. The store is well stocked, and has display cases for storing armies. 

It's a nice location, and Ron is a great guy, support your local gaming community and check out the new store.

The View from the door, you walk in and you're greeted by miniature and RPG games.

Six 4'x8' tables provide space for up 24 wargamers playing their favorite wargame.

Spartan games at the entrance to the store...nice

Magic cards for sale!!

Board Games

Display Cases, Showing a plethora of Golden Demon awards!



Friday, November 11, 2011

New San Diego Game Store - At Ease Games (Poway)

Ron Kent, who I used to game with at Game Empire during the WarZone days is opening his own store in Poway.

The Grand Opening is this Saturday November 12th.

Check it out, I'll be swinging by on the way to my brother's wedding reception.



AT EASE GAMES
GRAND OPENING! NOV. 12th 

We are your one-stop shop for miniatures, table-top games, role-playing games, Magic the Gathering, unique board games, dice, paints and hobby supplies. We have free in-store gaming; come play on our beautiful miniatures tables. Display your painted armies for free for easy access. Come join us at our Grand Opening!! With a minimum $10 purchase, you will be entered into a drawing for the chance to win one of nine $50 dollar gift certificates – drawings held hourly from 1pm to 9pm. Help us celebrate the hobby and promote the gaming community. We hope to see you here!

Events Schedule

10am-12pm: Miniature Painting Demo. Aaron Lovejoy, winner of 8 Golden Demons, will give a demonstration on how to use pigments, anti-drying agents, weathering techniques, and tips for painters. Participants will receive a $5.00 credit towards their first class.

10am-12 noon: Board Game Demos. Learn to play board games such as Carcassone, Mansions of Madness, and others. Participants will receive a $5.00 credit towards a board game purchase.

1pm-3pm: Warhammer Fantasy Mini Tourney. 400 points -- No lords, no special characters, standard army rules. $300.00 in total store credit prizes awarded for 1st and 2nd place, best painted army, and best sportsman. Sign up now – 24 spots available.

1pm-3pm: Board Game Demos. Learn to play board games such as Settlers of Catan, Wrath of Ashardalon, and others. Participants will receive a $5.00 credit towards a board game purchase.


3pm-5pm: Magic Deck Building and Single Elimination Booster Draft. Sign up now – 24 spots available. Bring your friends –- more players = more prizes!

3pm-5pm: Miniature Demos. Learn to play Infinity, Warmachine, Hordes, Dark Age. Participants will receive a $5.00 credit towards a miniature game purchase.

5pm-7pm: Warhammer 40K Mini Tourney. 400 points – Standard force organization. $300.00 in total store credit prizes awarded for 1st and 2nd place, best painted army, and best sportsman. Sign up now – 24 spots available.

5pm-7pm: Card Game Demos. Learn to play card games such as Lord of the Rings, Game of Thrones, and others. Participants will receive a $5.00 credit towards a card game purchase.

7pm-10pm: Survive the Killer Dungeon. 2 Pathfinder, 2 4E Dungeon and Dragons games. Participants will receive a $5.00 credit towards a role-playing game purchase. Sign up now – 24 spots available.

At Ease Games
12373 Poway Road
Poway, CA 92064 




Thursday, November 10, 2011

Savage Worlds Deluxe

Since I can't afford to grab Savage Worlds Deluxe currently, Here's a link to someone who has been able to grab and review it.

Savage Worlds Deluxe review

The price point on this is a bit steeper than the explorer's edition, at $29.95 for the print version and $20 for PDF.  (I think if Pinnacle followed Paizo's lead on PDFs at $9.95 they'd sell more units.)

It's basically the same game, they just tweaked some of the rules, check it out if you're interested in what's different. I will get it in the future, just not in the budget at this time.


Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Dawn of Worlds - World building exercise

Dawn of Worlds...

What is Dawn of Worlds? It is a free game which is based around cooperative world-building. I first ran across this last year listening to a pod cast (can't remember which one at the moment), but Gnome Stew covers it as well, here.

Over the next few months Epic RPG Blog will be creating a world using these rules. The great thing about creating a world with other people is that it becomes very easy to work off of other people's ideas, perhaps teh creation of a super volcano leads to someone creating a molten race of metal workers. This in turn leads to the creation of a sub-race, dwarves, perhaps, or maybe kobolds? Each race has a pinnacle of achievement they can be known for. After thousands of years, perhaps the race became corrupt, splintered into two races, one good one evil. Who will create the dragons? Civilizations come and go, rise and fall, expand and contract.   Nations are formed, the land changes, Who are the great architects? Who created the finest weapons? All of these questions can be answered through creativity.

We will be incorporating some additional tweaks to the basic rules. The game is free, check it out, create your own worlds...have fun and be creative.

Let's see what happens when ideas collide.



Monday, November 7, 2011

Super Dungeon Explore - The Review

So now that we've played several games all the way through I feel comfortable giving my review.


First Glance: I did a huge first glance with our Unboxing post. 

What you get: You get a lot in this box set. 22 kobolds, 6 wyrms, 8 heroes (+1 large "angry bear" form for the druid.) 2 kobold ogres, which are huge!, and a Dragon, which is a sculptural piece. You also receive 5 spawn points, 2 mimic chests called boo-booty, and 5 chests; around 100 cards and lots of counters. You also get 15 custom dice. You have 5 double sided game boards, which provide lots of different options. The last thing is the Adventure Tracker board, which tracks, loot, power meter, and provides a place for the cards.

A Note about the minis, they are made of plastic which doesn't take super glue very well, so Insta-set should be used. There is some flash, and all the pieces come already removed from their sprues, so for the person who is meticulous in their miniatures will need to do some flash clean-up and some gap fill. I was having issues with the legs of the minis as far as paint due to the scale of them, detail was difficult. I am out of practice though, so that could be part of it.

Main Review: Let's face it, this game is heavily weighted in favor of the heroes, they are heroes after all. The Consul (the game master), have the honor of running the monsters. The premise is this is a video game being played as a board game. Not the first to do it, as FRAG by Steve Jackson Games has been out for a long time, still it is unique, combining a unique gameplay experience with chibi style miniatures [Chibi is a japanese manga style where the head is over-sized with emphasis on the facial features, with characters having toddler proportions.] This is a great game to attract more females into the board game world, and is especially attractive for geek parents young girls.

Hexcast Sorceress, in all her Chibi Glory!


The dice are a unique d6 and an important part of the game, each having a number of stars (*), blanks and a either a potion, heart or combo potion/heart.
Blue Dice have 2 blanks, *, *, **. heart.
Red Dice have 1 blank, *, *, **, ***, potion
Green Dice, the best of the three, have NO blanks, *, **, **, ***, **** and the combo Potion/Heart.






Stats are represented by the dice you roll which applies equally to Monsters and Heroes.
Attack/Armor/Will and Dex.

Attack is used for melee rolls
Armor is obviously always important, as most monster attacks will target armor.
Will is used for Magic and initiative rolls!!
Dex is used for ranged attacks.

Both heroes and monsters have movement (represented by a video game movement pad)
Action Points (represented by a video game button)
Hearts represent life, while each character has unique potions.


The heroes are as follows:
Claw Tribe Barbarian
Deeproot Druid (and his Angry Bear form) Half-Elf
Ember Mage
Glimmerdusk Ranger Elf
Hearthsworn Fighter Dwarf
Hexcast Sorceress
Riftling Rogue Demonkin
Royal Paladin

Each hero has their own unique powers, which makes it interesting, some combos are much more powerful than others. The Ember Mage and Claw Tribe Barbarian are probably the most powerful of the bunch, but they really need to be backed up by a healer.

Gameplay starts with initiative, each side rolling their best Will. The winning side chooses which side activates first. Players can activate a hero, or the Consul can activate 4 skulls worth of monsters. Play proceeds back and forth until all the heroes and monsters have activated. Finally the Consul spawns more monsters. The heroes attempt to destroy the spawn points, once you reach the 16 bit mark, two things happen, the mini-boss spawns and the consul draws a loot card to affect all of his monsters. This can actually be one of the turning points for the consul if he gets certain cards.

There are three levels of play
8 bit: two heroes, 1 mini boss. (1 hour play time)
16 bit: 3 heroes, 1 mini boss, 1 dungeon boss. (1-1 1/2 hour play time)
Super!: 5 heroes, 2 mini bosses, 1 dungeon boss. (2-2 1/2 hour plus play time)

Truthfully, I think I prefer the 16 bit playtime, you get in, get the mini boss spawned, get a dungeon boss out and are done within 2 hours. The game can drag a bit, but I think as we get used to it, it will fly faster.

Family Rating: This can be a great family game, as it's a primarily cooperative game. It's a game that requires the heroes to work in conjunction with each other.

Cost: A Whopping $89.99. Now, you're paying for miniatures, 40 actual miniatures, not including the spawn points, automatically puts some value to that price.

Value: You get a very unique game, with a lot of minis, for an industry standard $90. It's worth it just for the minis.

Rating: Epic! This is a unique game with lots of options, it's good for kids and adults, boys and girls. While some people might not like the chibi style, it makes it endearing and one of a kind. Soda Pop Miniatures bridges the gap between manga and dungeon crawl games in a video game style format.






Sunday, November 6, 2011

Gaming Club (Epic Ian & Epic Sean's 1st Post)

Last year, at our middle school, we decided to create a gaming club. Our dad, Epic prime, suggested we start one, because we were already playing some games with the nerdiest teacher at the school, Mr. Schmid.

We started brainstorming more in depth this year. We first went to one of the principals, and she eventually approved. Now we have club meetings every Tuesday.

On the first meeting of the year, we were really surprised at the turn out of people, and we knew the club was going to go uphill from there. The first games we played were zombie dice and munchkin. Some other people were playing the Dungeons and dragons board game. We mostly play those, but had zombie dice donated by The Fanatical Gamers Society. [Epic Prime edit: This was donated the week before when FGS’s James came to the store and donated a Zombie Dice to the club.]

Last week’s meeting, FGS (Shaun, Gail and Paul). They brought Sword and Skulls, Warmachine (which Epic Sean played), and a Greek game called Pente, which was donated to the Gaming Club. Warmachine is a game of huge steam powered machines of great power, armed with hammers and axes, and warcasters with spells that could devastate cities.


For the next meetings we’re probably not going to have any special guests. Two other games we are going to be playing: Super Dungeon Explore, and Frag. Super Dungeon Explore is an awesome fantasy 8-bit boardgame, with valiant Chibi heroes and not as cute snickering kobolds. Frag is another video game turned board game and is all about killing… and winning.

So far, Gaming club is…EPIC! And hopefully it will stay that way.

Friday, November 4, 2011

Favorite Character

So one of the questions we always ask when we interview is "What is your favorite character."

To me character creation is one of the best parts of gaming. Whether it's in City of Heroes Online, or if it's for a D&D or Pathfinder game, I always try to create something special each and every time.

For example, my Chelish dwarf for Pathfinder Society. This character actually has -slag in his name because he was exiled from his homeland for crimes against his own people, he landed in Cheliax worshiping the Law side of Asmodeus' pantheon. The Kicker to make him interesting, he has Asmodeus' laws tattoed on him, all over him, I actually spent 20gp of his 150gp on tattoes, as part of his character.

I picked up running the Curse of the Crimson Throne campaign because I didn't want my character to just fall into oblivion. Not only was she one of Lamm's Lambs, she had fallen for another who had been slain because of her mistake, and she keeps a war razor as her keepsake from that fallen love....it's very tragic, but powerful, her sense of justice channeled into an Inquisitor of Iomedae.

For our Family group for Pathfinder Society, we're going to run a Sczarni crime family. My character is the ringleader of course, an Oracle. His profession (Crimeboss). So between games he'll be raking in cash from nefarious sources, if he needs to use Knowledge (local) many times he'll be able to substitute his Profession.

I almost never optimize in my games, most times I'll have a 16 after mods in my primary stat, and several 14s. Except in rare instances will I dump stat down to 8, but only if it's in my characters backstory, the only character I've really made a dump stat for is my Chelish Monk, because he's cruel and vindictive, and it shows in his charisma.

My favorite character is all of them, because I put thought into each and every character. I try to breathe some life into them because, it's much easier to play them when you care about them. Now, if a character dies, I won't freak out, but I'll feel a sense of loss, but...it is only a game after all. 

Thursday, November 3, 2011

Thoughts on Miniature Wargaming

   So my first Miniature based wargame was Battletech, I used to love that game. Then I came across other wargames, Car Wars being my next, now I still love Car Wars, though I'm not sure I like the newest version put out by Steve Jackson Games as much as I enjoyed the old version. It seems to be suffering the Beer & Pretzel mentality as well. I remember reading the various convention reports from the cons when they built these massive  arenas and used Matchbox scale cars. I would soon move away from "tick" based games, as I considered them archaic, it's one of the reasons I'm not a big fan of Rifts, once you get to the mecha, you're dealing with like 700 ticks on the main body of lots of big mecha.

   I started playing Warhammer 40k in 1992 or 93, back when there were Vehicle Data Cards, and the wargear cards, when you could customize like crazy. I had a Howling Banshee exarch on a jetbike with a holofield...beautifully modeled. I also got into Warhammer as I moved down to Fresno in 1994. We also got into EPIC while I was there. That still is one of my favorite games I never play these days. We played Necromunda, and Mordheim when they came out. Back in those days I had time to devote to painting minis, since I didn't have kids. After I got out of the Navy, I got into Warzone. I absolutely loved Warzone, with my Cybertronic army, we even played a big campaign down at Game Empire back in 1998. The system was great, while the miniatures were decent.

   Now as far as the newer games, Warmachine and Hordes by Privateer Press has a big presence, especially after people started becoming disenfranchised by Games Workshop's price increases, and the increase in edition publication. Though their miniatures are starting to creep up in price as well. Mantic is providing both Fantasy and Sci-Fi miniature games Kings of War and Warpath.  The boxes of minis are nicely priced 20 miniatures for around $30, this makes for lots of minis for a nice price.

   However now that the boys are of an age where playing Battletech might be fun, let them get into the design aspect of the game, which was also one of the really fun things about Car Wars as well. With the Battletech 25th Anniversary seeing the Intro Box being released with 26 minis for $59.99 by Catalyst Games, it might well be worth a visit to the past. I bet the boys would love to make new mechs, and as always, it would be a great math exercise.

   For those who like to wargame on the cheap, there's always Savage World's Showdown rules, which can be used to play with stand-up paper minis. (this is where I'm headed.) I have always preferred to play more than paint. Also WarLands, by Aberrant,  is fairly cheap as a post-apocalyptic skirmish game, set in 15mm.

EDIT!:  I almost forgot one of my favorite wargames that I recently played...Dystopian Wars. I totally can't wait to be able to afford a couple armies for that game, it's really fun, nothing like a few frigates getting a lucky shot on a capitol ship, then having it's magazine explode. It's a brilliant system. I also wouldn't mind trying out Spartan Games other systems as well.


Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Super Dungeon Explore Painted Figures

Well I've started painting....unfortunately my paints are old, so I had to throw some colors away. Also, my good brush is missing, so the brush I have to work with isn't the greatest.

Here are what I have (though when I see the big pictures the errors are glaring!) I'll get a new brush when I can afford one and touch it up.

Unless any of the paint manufacturers want to donate some of course!! heh.

Not too bad considering I haven't painted a mini in many, many years...

Royal Paladin

 Hexcast Sorceress



Tuesday, November 1, 2011

EpicRPGBlog joins Infrno social RPG site

http://www.infrno.net/users/epicrpgblog

infrno.net

This site is in Beta, we'll have to see where it goes, I'll be available for chat on there sometimes as well.

What is Infrno?