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!!