Tavern Talk - Rituals

As you may (or more likely may not) know I am a contributor to the Trading Post... or I will be once  I add something to the site. And to make things worse I haven't managed to contribute to any of the "Tavern Talk" articles that have been posted there to date.

Lucky for me a new question just come up! 

Kuffy asks:

"As we all know gamers are creatures of habit.  This extends into the realms of our gaming, whether it be how we treat our dice to how we prepare for a game.  Some place their dice with the 'six' up to "inspire" good luck, while others will not roll the same dice twice in a row.  Some gamers have mascots for their armies - either a specific model or even a cuddly toy.  So the question posed is; what are your gaming rituals?"

Rituals are something I try to avoid in my day to day life. I already have OCD tendencies and I find myself getting stuck in "my ways" very easily when I encourage such things. Having said that... gaming has always been one area of my life where I have allowed myself some small obsessive pleasures, most of which relate to dice:

• Switching out my dice:  I like to have multiple dice available (the same type and design is best) to switch out as needed - typically when a particular dice is "misbehaving" and rolling too low or too high too often.
  
  
• Changing die facings:  This one is very closely related to my first ritual but usually comes before I switch to a different die. When placing my dice on the table I like to turn them so the 1 is not face up and the 6 is showing. Sometimes I will just turn it so the 1 is not facing up and call it a day.
   
• Replacing dice:  If I was honest with myself (and had the disposable income) I would probably buy a new set of D6s every few months or so. As it is now I tend to just rotate through the several sets of different colored dice I have (although I do really want a set of Game Science D6 dice).
   
• Using themed dice: I like the colors of my dice to reflect some attribute of the models I am using or the game setting. I don't like goofy symbols so it has to be the color of the dice or the pips that get this across.
  
  
• Only one color at a time:  The dice I am using have to be the same color unless I have no choice at all. When I played more tabletop RPGs I spent many hours getting together new sets of dice that all matched - D6, D8, D10, D12, D20.

That's probably enough... I don't want to get too carried away detailing my own descent into gaming OCD madness and I think you get the picture. How about you? Are there any particular gaming rituals you preform before/after or during the games you play?

Beer Review - Full Sail Pale Ale

That's it!! I haven't been adding enough beer reviews to the site - mostly because I have a hard time finding "the right post" to include them on. Not anymore! Starting now I will be putting them up as there own separate entries. I'll try to get a new one up each week but I there won't be any hobby information with them. This week we have a "classic" beer from an equally "classic" brewery...

Full Sail Brewing Company - Full Sail Pale Ale

Beer Type: American Pale Ale

Appearance: 12 oz. brown bottle with the tell tale Full Sail label - tan/gold with blue and white lettering. Light amber in color with a thick off-white head and some slight lacing.

Smell: Something grassy and green with some sweetness to it. Can't really smell much hops.

First Drink: Really sweet but not in a cloying way. Initial sweetness gives way to a bit of malt and some banana/citrus flavors.

Mouthfeel: Not as smooth as I normally like, a bit of carbonation gives this a bite.

Last Drink: A little more of the hops comes through at the end and as the beer warms but not nearly as much as I would expect from a Pale Ale.

Drinkability: Easy to drink but not a lot going on here.

Notes: This beer has a pretty loyal following but I doubt I will be going back to this one when I want a pale. Reminds me a bit of the Alaskan Pale Ale I had last year but I liked that one a little more.

Verdict: 3.25 out of 5. Not bad but not outrageously good either. A good pale for those who are afraid of hops perhaps?

Links: Beer Advocate and Full Sail Brewing Company.

Progress Report 11/11/10 - Changing weather.

Sunday's BRAWL was a bust for me and the Nurgland Germs. In classic tournament form I went straight from a win in my first game to a low scoring tie directly to a loss in the championship game on table one. Ended up 5th overall with a 1-1-1 showing. On the plus side I did get a shot of my partially painted models on the BB pitch!

Beast of Nurgle and his babysitting Rotter buddy. 

First match was against a bash heavy Orc team coached by Rusty - the majority of which had Block and Mighty Blow. I managed to sneak in with a TD to win the game and avoided any long lasting casualties. This game was my one and only win for the day. 

Second match was against my up and coming arch-nemesis Thom and his team the Maynooth Gits (the Underworld team that beat my Ogres in the KUBBLII playoffs). It was a hard fought game on both sides, and a lucky turn 8 score from Thom kept the Germs from taking the win.

That put the Germs in a tie for overall points for the day and having to face down coach Beaux and his dirty Cantina Killers - a Chaos Dwarf killing machine. The game strarted off uphill and stayed that way the whole time. The Germs didn't manage to do anything at all. It was a classic case of two teams so unevenly matched the only way the lower value team can win is great luck or star players. I don't have great luck, nor good luck, and star players were not allowed... so a loss was had by all (my players).

The good news is the Germs have skilled up enough to be a pretty decent starting team for KUBBL III which starts next month. All the Nurgle Warriors have Block and two of the Pestigors have Wrestle which makes them excellent in a safety capacity. We'll see what happens...

In the meantime I am still trying to get the team all painted and ready to go. I've been slowed down by work and a puppy but I did manage to apply some water effects to their swampy bases.

This is the first time I have ever used water effects on a miniature and overall I am quite happy with the results. Once I finish adding some small details I will seal the model and get some photos of the finished results. Until then...

Progress Report 11/6/10 - Preparing for a BRAWL.

Due to circumstances beyond my control I no longer have access to quality image editing software. In the meantime I am trying to make due with GiMP... the results have been less than spectacular. 

 

The colors aren't perfect but they are as close as I could manage with my current experience using this program. I've added a few highlights since this picture was taken but overall I consider him pretty much done. Going to be taking him and the rest of the Germs to a small one day "tournament" style event against other KUBBL teams (called the BRAWL). Should prove interesting!

Happy Samhain!

I love October so the 31st has always been a bittersweet day for me. Halloween is my favorite holiday but November has always been a bit of a downer. Lucky for me there is the Celtic holiday of samhain (or samhein - pronounced SAH win)!

Drinking, dressing like dead things, and setting fires has always seemed like a good idea at this time of year. Speaking of drinking and burnt things... how about a nice fall seasonal?

Magic Hat Brewing Company - Odd Notion (Fall 2009)

Beer Type: Belgian Dark Ale

Appearance: 12 oz. brown bottle with a black Magic Hat label and a skeleton on it. Beer is dark! Really dark brown with some red hues and a biege head.

Smell: Lots of burnt stuff. Almost like a barbecue. Dark, roasted, sweet, smells.

First Drink: Just as dark as the smell with a heavy earthy flavor, quickly followed with a sweet malt or chocolate milk flavor.

Mouthfeel: Not as heavy as I would expect from the smell and color. More of a medium body that goes down smooth.


Last Drink: A hint of whiskey now, perhaps some dried fruits, and a lot more smoke. Odd ...

Drinkability: This is a Fall seasonal I am drinking in the Winter and it still tastes amazing. Wow!

Notes: Quite unlike any beer I can name and the flavor is one I will remember. Thanks Magic Hat!!

Verdict: 4.25 out of 5. Too bad this is a one time seasonal brew, I could get used to drinking this.

Links: Beer Advocate and Magic Hat Brewing Company.

Hope you too can enjoy the end of October with a good drink, good company, and safe journeys.

Progress Report 10/29/10 - Crappy ipod pics and stuff.

Ahhh! Spent all last week on the road and not painting models or playing games!! I'd love to show you some of my progress but all I have to take a picture with at the moment is my ipod. Here are the results of that...

That's totally worthwhile right? Surely you can see all the gross and nurgly details on these Blood Bowl Rotters? Please forgive the crapulence and I will try to get some better pictures added soon.

Speaking of Nurgle... I have decided to give the Bultimore Bullies a season off to rest while the Nurgland Germs give KUBBL a much needed dose of infection. I am hoping to use this time to paint the Bullies as I have the majority of the Germs already done (or close to it). I played a game with the Germs against a Vampire team and lost 0-1 on the last turn of the second half. There is a lot more story there but I don't feel like recalling the sad details that led to the loss... just know it was a truly epic game (probably one of the best I have ever played).

Did I ever share the really cool Nurgland Germs team logo I pieced together? Well here it is!

That's all I got for now! Just downloaded the new Blood Bowl Legendary Edition for PC and I hope to have a review of that up here soon. I started a digital version of the Bullies and so far they are 2-1-1 with a starting roster that included 6 Ogres and no rerolls. Pretty awesome!

Progress Report 10/15/10 - Still bowlin'

Blood Bowl still has a firm grip on my tabletop time (which has been rapidly dwindling over the past few weeks) with the completion of the second KUBBL season and my attempts at getting the other person who lives in my house to play it with me. Managed to finish the construction of my Nurgle BB team (the Nurgland Germs) and here is a crummy pic for those into that sort of thing:

The Rotters are just made from VC Zombies while the Pestigors come from the old Beasts of Chaos Ungor/Gor herd box. The Beast of Nurgle is made from Chaos Spawn and greenstuff while the Warriors are converted from the Human models that come in the BB starter box. The hair on the table comes from my hairy dog Udo (and damn if it isn't everywhere).

The Bultimore Bullies finished up their season with a somewhat respectable 3/0/5 (of course one of those wins was a forfeit but who's counting) and falling out of the playoffs in the first round. Oh well. The team is developing nicely and I have started to figure out a few "tactics" that work most of the time so perhaps next season will go better?

In WHFB news... nothing really. Haven't managed to really do anything at all for the next issue of the Bellower nor have I played a game of 8th in a month or more. Hoping to remedy that this weekend as my local gaming store has started up an escalation league that I intend to play in. I am thinking of giving some time to the WoC now and have got a 500pt list in mind that I need to build for. The big problem is finding the time/funds to get the models done which may be my undoing in this and forcing me to go with a VC list instead. One thing is for sure... making a 500pt WoC list that has anything useful in it is quite difficult.

This month is pretty hectic for me but I will try to get some meatier updates posted soon! Heck, I haven't even thought about posting over at the Trading Post and I am supposed to be one of their contributors!!