Friends and Fumes and Games at Tiny House...

This past weekend, 6 friends gathered together for a convocation of games, food, and flatulence! Yes. It was yet another Guys' Weekend! Gather 'round and hear a tale of great deeds and even greater games. 

The Dramatis Pretentious:

StormBringer: Host and least flatulent of us all.

magehammer: Yours truly and Games Master extraordinaire!

IMStuds: The Organizer 

Beowulf: Trickster and tormentor of IMStuds.

Mage: Rocket Scientist and expulsion specialist.

Ga'oin Shaftshooter: The young vagabond world traveler, student of StormBringer.

After all arrived and Chipotle had been consumed, we sat down to the game table, and another epic game of Nuclear Risk ensued. 

The game was chock full of earth-shattering and astounding turns of events. Some highlights included poor Ga'oin going out after only making a single die roll. See the pics below for a visual history of said events.

My trying to nuke something and actually accomplishing my goal by taking about half of all Beowulf's forces by blowing up Kamchatka!

The most significant event of all, though, was, of course, us allowing IMStuds to finally win a game of Risk before he moves to Southern climes. You are most welcome and happy birthday. 

You will never win again.

The victor?

After Risk, we played a quick game of one of the newest additions to my game collection: Martian Dice. 

Despite my barely comprehensible rules explanation, we managed to play a game. StormBringer won as he does a lot in games dealing with dice. 

The next day after a tasty brunch at Panera, we endeavored to play a multiplayer game of Fear and Faith. The scenario I designed can be found here . I was especially excited because it was the first time I got to take my new Wounded City battle mat from Zuzzy miniatures for a spin. Those mats are amazing!

Though the game took a bit longer than I would have liked and a bit of down time between turns that resulted in a lot of ADD-style behavior, the story of the game played out in a tense and exciting fashion. 

Many of the team members on both sides succumbed to the roaming zombies and became zombies themselves. Beowulf managed to escape with the medical supplies and military-grade weapons found in the wreckage of the helicopter. After which he promptly blew himself and some zombies up with a grenade. So goes life during the zombie apocalypse...

 The battlefield is set...

 Bring on the zombies...

 The teams turn on each other to grab the precious supplies from the downed helicopter...

Beowulf grabs the cases and makes his way off the field of battle, semi-victorious...

In the afternoon, we turned to the gaming climax of the weekend, Summoner Wars. My current favorite game was a big hit with the guys. Over a dozen games were played by all. I was psyched to give the Master Set an extensive workout and try some new factions, and this weekend was a perfect opportunity to do so. The Benders are now my favorite faction. What an incredible game! 

We capped off the weekend with two more relaxing games of Martian Dice.

Miscellany: 

During the Fear and Faith game, IMStuds began a script to the movie he wanted to film this weekend. I became the script doctor and was relieved by Ga'oin. The film never did get filmed, but that's what next year will be for, though, sadly, IMStuds may have to phone in his performance...literally. 

Sunday morning we participated in our annual Bob Evans meal of celebration as we all parted ways, happy to be heading home, but already thinking of next year.

Conclusion:

Overall, another awesome Guys Weekend in the books. Thank you to Mr. and Mrs. StormBringer for their hospitality. On behalf of all your guests, we would like to apologize for the stench. 

Until next year, good gamers, play Summoner Wars as much as you can and roll a d6!

Through the Space Portal: A Flying Lead Session Report

Max and I played co-op using the SPD-T1 Rescue on ET-XL5 scenario. Maximan and I each played two of the team members trying to retrieve alien tech that the G'Ori had captured. The alien forces were attempting to make their way to a transporter that would take them back to their orbital ship. In the end, the SPD team killed the alien leader, captured the tech and made their way back through the Star Portal with only one man wounded. Score one for the Earthlings! Fun, fun, fun!

 The SPD-T1 force is ready to come through the Star Portal onto ET-XL5.

 The G'Ori troop is approaching their transport area.

 Bird's eye view of the battle vista.

 The G'Ori advance, grunts first.

 The SPD Team moves into position, Major Monroe and Dr. Levand go to cover the G'Ori transport nexus while Col. Dalling, and Sgt. Drell provide cover fire.

 The Colonel and Drell take some fire and are shaken up a bit but are successful in their mission to provide a distraction.

 Major Monroe is successful in shaking up the G'Ori leader and his second in command.

 While the Major moves in to finish what he started, Dr. Levand has taken advantage of the Major's work and grabbed the alien tech from the clutches of the wounded leader. He high tails it for the Star Portal.

 The G'Ori second in command recovers and makes one last attempt at stopping the Earthlings from foiling their plot. 

 The Major sacrifices himself to allow the good Dr. to escape. 

Colonel Dalling, however, does not leave anyone behind. He went back for his second in command and brought him back to the Star Portal while Sgt. Drell guarded the Star Portal. 


The team was successful in their mission and suffered only minor wounds. Hopefully, they will have a bit of time to recover before they are called to perform their duty on yet another alien planet.

Thanks for reading and until next time, may the Earth be free from alien invasion...

SurfMonkey Hits The Battlefield And We Play The Masters

At our monthly game night, SurfMonkey had his first experience with SoBH. He played the evil warband Max designed, led by hobgoblins with a bugbear, frogfolk, two human skeletons and an orc skeleton, hobgoblin warcaster, and dire weasel.

I played my Hendra's Heroes with the role of Hendra played by Escaron the Red.

We played the All out Battle scenario twice. I was defender the first time, and Surfmonkey the second.

The first game found him quickly route and defeated. The second skirmish, however, was tense and back and forth. For a while there, it looked like I might lose after his skeletons made short work of my dwarven contingent. In the end, however, my troops pervailed! What a great game!

The First Skirmish...

The second skirmish...

Then we broke out the Master Set. I chose the Benders vs. SurfMonkey's Shadow Elves. Very cool factions, both. In that game, I won fairly handily, stealing his troops and closing in on his summoner.

The second game, I chose the Mountain Vargaths while he played the Deep Dwarves. The Deep Dwarves were cool with magic. The Vargaths are powerful scrappers. This game was closer, but it was the Mountain Vargath's who won the day. Summoner slaying summoner.

Until next month, faithful reader, enjoy your time gaming!

Flying Lead Star Wars: The Clones Strike Back

Max's droid squad vs. my clone squad. My clones fared much better this time. I even used the Medic! Rules toward the end of the battle.

The skirmish is in pics below.

For those who care about such things, the battle mat is from Zuzzy Miniatures: Verdant Fields line. The minis are all Wizards of the Coast pre-painted Star Wars line, and the terrain is cobbled from spare parts and plastic army men play sets. The colorful rocks are from my younger son's Imaginext Dinosaur line.

Enjoy the battle!

 The Separatist forces advance...

 The Republic defenders dig in and brace themselves for the droid onslaught. 

 The opening salvos drop many on both sides. 

 The Commander of the clones sends his reserve troops to bolster the front line. 

 The clones begin to gain some ground. 

 The super battle droid makes his way into the fray. 

 The Commander flies to the bunkers roof with his jet pack and fells the advancing super battle droid with a well-aimed shot. 

 The Commander returns to cover and rallies his troops. 

 They advance and the Commander finishes another super battle droid. 

 Medic! In a down moment of the the battle, the clones manage to enter the bunker and tend to their wounded. 

A commando droid had been making its way toward the clones and in an ill-fated attempt, attacked the clones. The Republic forces returned fire and ended the droid's assault. 

What an intense game experience! At first, I didn't think my clones were going to fare well, but with some good die rolls and superior tactics, they prevailed. Sorry, Max. Better luck next time. Fun, fun, fun!