Month: April 2015
Comics, the New 52 Captain Atom Volume One Evolution
So, at the minute i just can’t stop myself, I’m flying through my comic collection- the latest is my first New 52 comic and its a hero I know little about (new 52 refreshed the universe so I guess nobody knows about him). Captain Atom volume 1 by J. T. Krul and Freddie Williams II, after a freak accident USAF pilot Nathaniel Adam was supercharged by nuclear energy and can now absorb and control energy as well as interact with his surroundings at a molecular level.
It was a decent read, not an origin story, but clearly early on as he’s still coming to terms with his power and limitations and hasn’t really established his network of ‘friends’ or ‘allies’ yet- though it is mentioned that the Justice League don’t want him. Feared by most who meet him and desired by the military as a nuclear deterrent he hasn’t really got anyone to turn to when things go wrong, though there is a brief interaction with the Flash that didn’t go anywhere- I’d hope that would be taken further in other volumes rather than just being a major hero appearance for the sake of it.
This didn’t excite me as much as the last few Iv read, but it was interesting to see inside the mind of an angry scared superhero who clearly doesn’t know his place in the world.
Plus the last page has a many years later shock ending (again I’d hope that’s expanded on in the future). I won’t be buying volume 2 with any urgency, though if I see it I might be tempted.
@Infinitycrates April Box Opening theme Abilities
So, with my MyGeekBox subscription ending last month and the quality not being consistent I had a hunt around and signed up for a box from Infinity Crates to compare. This months has just arrived and the theme is abilities.
First impression was “oh it’s tiny, that’s disappointing.” However that’s based on the MyGeekBox size I’m used too which often had masses of empty space, as you can see upon opening, it may be tiny but it’s crammed
So I pull everything out and sort through it
The ever popular pop vinyls, this time I got a Mystique- which is at least a common character, some of the previous ones from MGB were a bit obscure.
You may have seen from a previous post I got a doctor who book I an MGB and wasn’t that chuffed, but this is the only not good thing in the box so I can allow for that.
Batman patch, pretty cool. Need to find somewhere to sew it now.
Um ok?
Ah now it makes sense, it’s a laser pen- really handy for my tabletop wargaming.
A Spider-Man magnet. Myles loves Spider-Man so no doubt I won’t see this again.
What an awesome poster (Harry potter aside), this will soon decorate my man cave.
And finally, the tshirt. Now, what attracted me to infinity crates was the option to add interests in order for them to choose an appropriate tshirt for you, and I think they got it right.
As you can see from this summary sheet
Of the three I definitely received my personal favourite- the arrow one would have been acceptable but whites a pain of a colour.
So, overall thoughts- very happy. I’m going to get next months box and see if it maintains the level.
Salute 2015 Photo Dump
so, a load of photos from Salute 2015. Some of these were taken by myself others have been pulled from other uploads
A huge battle of Hoth game. This was really impressive, I’d have liked to have a go but the table was rammed from the start of the day right up until kicking out time. It looked great though
This table won the prize for best game, which was probably fair, I didn’t get a chance to see it played but the board itself was beautiful.
Some Dropzone Commander pieces including the huge transport ship, I was disappointed to miss out on the event exclusive model as it sold out in ten minutes
Mars Attacks from Mantic. Iv played this a couple of times at the club and it’s fun, I really liked the table pieces for this, one foot square tiles of smashed roads.
Terminator Genysis close ups, another game to add to the ‘look into’ list
Lots of historical and military games and displays, they always look good and I really should get my Rorkes Drift set sorted out.
#Kickstarter, Heist by @pairadiceg (ames)
Si, I had another Kickstarter game come through, Heist by Pair a Dice Games
As you can see it was a decent backing amount and a cheap pickup game, here’s what they had to say on the campaign
In Heist, players compete to commit the ultimate art heist. By using special tools to break through top level security systems, players progress towards the big haul. But you have to hurry, as you’ll only have 3 minutes to steal the prize before the security systems fully trigger, and you’re unable to complete your heist.
The game can be played with 2-4 players and takes EXACTLY 3 minutes to complete. Set up begins by randomly laying out a series of rooms that players must progress their pawns through in order to reach the Vault and steal the prized art. Each room has a coordinating color and symbol-coded tool that can be used to bypass the security in that room and move on to the next. But you can use other cards in your thieving arsenal to make vital Hand-Offs, stop your opponents with Security Guards (or pay them off with Bribes), Sabotage your buddies and more!
Since each of your special thieving techniques requires you to do more than just play the cards (as you make alarm sounds, laugh evilly, and shout “Stop!”), this game of stealth will be anything but stealthy.
So after a slight delay (customs holding to endure the sand timer held sand and not an alternate powder it arrived and I immediately opened up.
The box design is nice and simple, and has room for everything. The instructions are straightforward with the other side offering alternate play rules for co-operative play and player numbers outside of the recommended.
lining the cards up for a game I immediately draw the vault which is the target destination so that goes to the back and all is ready.
Two player hands, you’ll see the various designs poking out, including the Mona Lisa card which is required to be played in the vault to win. If the cards drawn aren’t enough the correct ones to get through the next door it will mean discarding cards and hoping to find the appropriate one next time. The three minute time limit of the game reduces the chances for boring digging through a deck as it becomes a desperate race against time to get the correct cards in place.
The expansion included in the kickstarter adds some additional art pieces which change the game dramatically, adding new elements to gameplay.
The only criticism I have with the game is that the kickstarter exclusive alternate art card is slightly larger than the other cards in the deck so it’s easy to see where it is, though once it’s in a hand it’s less noticeable.
I hope to give the game a proper run through this evening and I’ll add my comments then.
Books, The End Times The Curse of Khaine by Gav Thorpe
So, a little against my interest I picked up the next in the run of the Warhammer End Times books- The Curse of Khaine by Gav Thorpe. I was needing a break from Warhammer novels, but my inability to get through the first few pages of another book and the potential (according to rumours) new edition of the Warhammer fantasy rules dropping in about a month I know I need to get through them before too many spoilers crop up.
This one focuses on the Elves, specifically the Witch King Malekith of the Dark Elves who has spent 6000 years getting more and more bitter and angry at not being granted the throne of the High Elf lands of Ulthuan. As the forces of Chaos invade Naggaroth and his generals plot against him he makes the decision to abandon the Dark Elf lands and take back Ulthuan or be destroyed. Summoning every dark elf the invasion is launched.
The book’s written in an interesting way as every time Malekith is confronted by a reminder or individual from his past it enters his memories and we get an insight into key moments of the previous 6000 years- mostly his defeats in Ulthuan, his ego being beaten or his sorceress mother Morathi manipulating him. There’s also a small moment with Malus Darkblade though dependent on how smart Malus really is I was a little annoyed at some spoilers of the final Malus book being hinted at.
Although the memories filled in a lot of gaps and expanded on Malekith as a character they sometimes were too frequent and slowed the pace of the book, this was made more an issue as numerous battles were hinted at with no real expansion- even the (now customary) deaths of important characters were passed over a little too frequently.
I’m now torn between reading the next book in the series or reading to Malus book to discover what happens with regards the spoilers- given I was a bit bored by the previous malus book it has at least raised my interest levels again
Salute 2015 My Haul
so, I’m not long back from Salute 2015 and I’m exhausted, so just a quick one ahead of a proper post later in the week.
We finally have UK stockists of Wild West Exodus by Outlaw Miniatures so I indulged a little
Also getting free gifts
My big spend done I also picked up a few bits and pieces for other systems
Next week expect a close up of what I picked up and thoughts on the day
Life, what am I doing on my iPad? Part four
so, if you’ve read the last few posts part three here you’ll know Iv been looking over the games on my iPad and came to the realisation that far too much of my time is taken up playing silly games.
So what’s the plan? Well actually it’s already done. You’ll see here what’s happened
Everything else is gone, deleted, removed. No more wasting time messing about on silly games. I tried out the ones I couldn’t remember and none made the cut, they just aren’t something I want to waste my time playing.
So why these six?
Blood bowl stays because it’s a game Iv far from mastered and it still has a lot of gameplay left in it for me. I’m still undecided about the new teams but we’ll see about that going forward.
Space Wolf is similar to blood bowl, it’s still far from over and the gameplay is there too. I hope the later game will bring a greater variety of enemies to the levels, or perhaps updates will expand. I’d like to see a dreadnought too.
Tap Titans won out over adventure capitalist and Bitcoin billionaire because it’s just more interactive. Bitcoin has been hinting at a big update for about six months, but until then why bother with a boring game. Adventure capitalist just doesn’t have anything to keep me playing. To be honest the basic tap elememt of tap Titans means it may well go in the future, but it’s quick login and recent updates have added a a few new elements to the game.
Odd socks stays simply due to the addictiveness of it, however I have sworn to avoid sitting for 60 second blocks waiting to send another sock away.
Warhammer quest just about remains on my iPad because I remember having some fun. I’ll be reassessing this in the near future after a play through to see how much playability is left.
Finally ticket to ride is there simply because I bought the board game for my partner for Christmas and we haven’t played yet (Yep mental). As the game player of the house I can’t lose when we eventually get round to it so I need to get some practice in.
So that’s that, a huge clear out and lots of time wasting games gone. Now, of course writing this has meant me spending a lot of time on my iPad, but you can’t win them all
Comics, Injustice Gods Among Us Volume One
So, I went straight from identity crisis onto another DC collection- Injustice; Gods Among Us by Tom Taylor, Jheremy Raapack and Mike S Miller.
It’s funny timing as Iv just recently had a clear out of time wasting games on my iPad and one that I didn’t mention was the Injustice game (which I’d deleted a whils back), I’d enjoyed it but it was a simple two button fighter that just got a little dull over time. I’d been rotating harley Quinn, Wonder Woman, solomon Grundy, the flash and the joker through my team so i was curious to see what the characters were up to in the prequel to the game.
Well the jokers busy, he kills Lois Lane making Superman more than a little angry, he snaps and goes on a crusade against all war and violence with the majority of the superheroes behind him- specifically Wonder Woman who seems to be whispering in his ear and keeping him angry the whole time.
Meanwhile Batman refuses to stand with Superman (further angering him) and Aquaman takes his underwater allies to war against the heroes over a whaling fleet.
It all comes to a head as superman leads heroes to Arkham Asylum to take vengeance on the incarcerated maniacs and Batman and Nightwing stand against him. My comic crush Harley Quinn releases Solomon Grundy who causes mayhem before everything reaches a very dramatic climax.
I enjoyed this one, it maintained the humour id discovered in identity crisis and covered a lot of heroes very well. It was a very quick read- it was fairly clear it was meant as a game tie in as opposed to a stand comic run but it was fun enough that I immediately ordered volume two.
Is baa baa (insert colour here) sheep more offensive than black?
So, the other day Myles came home from nursery singing. It was a nursery rhyme I’m familiar with from my childhood- it’s amazing just how many nursery rhymes I don’t/didn’t know.
Baa baa white sheep,
Have you any wool?
Yes sir, yes sir,
Three bags full,
One for the master, one for the dame
And one for the little boy who lives down the lane.
Wait a minute.
Myles what was that song? He sings it again, this time with a blue sheep.
Seriously? I’d heard the rumours over the years that the use of the word black in the rhyme had been deemed offensive and so would be changed but ignored it as Daily Mail fearmomgering. Apparently I was wrong; a quick google revealed its now considered to be baa baa rainbow sheep with the colour changing from song to song with little importance. Now, on the face of it it isn’t that big a deal, it exposes children to more expression and helps with colours etc etc (plus adds a little variety- a godsend when singing nursery rhymes with children).
Further googling (and a little Wikipedia reading) revealed that the links between the rhyme and slavery are largely imagined by retrospective analysis- the taxation within the wool trade in the 1700s seemingly more likely. This was a revelation to me, I’d always been under the impression that it was a slavery related rhyme (I may have to check some other rhymes of dubious content) but that simply makes the whole idea of changing the word black to alternates.
When the suggestion was that the word black was changed to remove the slavery connotations it was at least suggestive of some consideration by someone somewhere (misguided though it may have been). Having said that, I don’t feel there’s any reason for a black person to be ashamed of slavery (as a white person with no links to slavery that’s probably easy to say). On top of that surely it’s more offensive to pretend it never happene by opening up a full spectrum of colours of sheep- made all the more ridiculous by the fact sheep are white, brown or black (I’m not aware of blue, pink or yellow).
Removing the innacurate slavery links it’s simply a black sheep- it happens to be black. Should the word ‘black’ be removed from everyday usage? No of course it shouldn’t. The rhyme has been around along time (with many evolutions along the way) and when it originated I doubt any thought was put into colour- certainly not bright rainbow colours.
Books, Gotrek and Felix Skavenslayer by William King
So, Iv finished book two of Gotrek and Felix by William King and I was surprised. If you remember way back when I read Trollslayer I was surprised at the use of short stories to make up a full novel and assumed it would switch to a more typical style for Skavenslayer, yet I was wrong. It still used short stories, which initially was an annoyance as I prefer a flowing storyline, but as things progressed there was a much stronger link between the stories than I had found in the first one.
Down on their luck and poor (not for the first or last times) Gotrek and Felix are in Nuln and take a job in the sewers where they encounter the Skaven, as well as a future nemesis Grey Seer Thanquol and his rat ogre Boneripper. Naturally they spoil the plans of the Skaven before leaving the sewers to work as security in a bar.
What follows is a series of short stories linked into an overall Skaven invasion of Nuln, each having a specific plan or focus of the Skaven which the two heroes get tangled up in. I liked the approach, as Iv said it was a surprise and initially an annoyance, but in the end it worked. The only issue I had was that each story felt as though it were introducing a different clan of the Skaven (which in fairness was the point) and the inevitable failure of the plan gave it children’s cartoon feel to the seriousness of events. Whilst the overall focus on various aspects of Skaven society was interesting and the political maneuvring was representative of real life, it felt at times too isolated.
The ending of the book sets Gotrek and Felix back on the road hunting the Dwarfs doom. Given that the title is Daemonslayer then it should be good.
hobbybutterfly 