[  Mood: Happy ]
Game night the second was a smaller scale affair, split between playing various versions of SJGames Munchkin and HorrorClix. We started with Munchkin Cthluhu ( http://www.sjgames.com/munchkin/munchkincthulhu/ ).

Munchkin Cthulhu (MC from here on out) plays a bit differently than its cousins, mostly due to the cultist mechanic. For this reason I don’t think it would integrate with the rest of the series as well as the other sets. For one thing there is a definite lack of early game co-operation like you see in the other incarnations of Munchkin. Instead it is pretty brutal from the outset and lends itself to some pretty gleefully cut-throat play. Because of the cult mechanic most games tended towards everyone being converted to cultists thus ending the game and awarding it to the toughest cult member.

After the sanity blasting horror we decided to move on to carnage. We hadn’t had a chance to use any of the Alien set in actual HorrorClix play so my friend got his down from the shelf and we had a quick 100 point game to help us remember the rules. One thing was obvious pretty much from the outset, nobody wanted to use sub-plot cards.

The three armies consisted of two aliens, one predator and one vampire enforcer and my mighty team of a gray alien and his radioactive zombie minion. (I wanted to put some of my The Lab expansion dudes to work) We decided to use the AvP pyramid map but to not use the random doors on it because we wanted a quick game. At first it looked like the Aliens would dominate, they had some nasty, nasty powers at the outset.

Naturally they came after my team.

Suprisingly they proved to be somewhat paper tigers, the zombies’ 1 click to adjacent radiation damage mixed with the Grey’s ability to cause action tokens (thus essentially freezing creatures in place) proved to be a suprisingly effective strategy against the aliens. We took down one and seriously hurt the other.

Meanwhile the ignored for the most part Predator and vampire surrounded our fight, The Predator dropped the other alien and my zombie while the vamp took out my grey but took a little ‘probing’ itself before the grey dropped. The true menace in that fight turned out obviously to be the Predator. Those guys are hellaciously tough for the point value and have a hardcore dial.

For round two we decided to break out the Alien Queen and see what was up. One player took over the Alien Queen, two aliens and a drone while I got to break out part of my Hellboy box set in the form of the man himself Hellboy. The rest of the team consisted again of my lil grey alien buddy and an asylum ghost. My friend’s army consisted of a wolf pack; three dog soldiers and the massive Direwerewolf (unique and tough as hell).

We took out the queen’s punk henchmen with ease (again, the Aliens themselves are tough for about three rounds then go down like chumps) and were ready for the queen. I had gotten bottlenecked on one side of the map though and the queen went for the wolves. They put up a fight but the queen’s four (you heard me right FOUR) clix of damage quickly took them out of the game. The big wolf did about seven clix of damage to big mama before falling to vicious acid and claws.

So my crew was left alone at one side of the map with AQ looking right at us. We took out one of her egg sacks before she ran up and squished the grey into fruit pulp. She then turned on the spirit and dispatched him with ease. Hellboy put up a pretty serious fight (he was pumped from saving three victims, each a bonus to his damage, I was doing five a pop) doing ten points to AQ before getting smoked by the three actions a round she was able to take.

We discovered that AQ has 27 clix before dropping.

Twenty Seven.

Just let that sink in. We had hardly hurt her really. Obviously we are going to have to come up with some different strategy for her in the future.

After that we played a few rounds of Munchkin Fantasy and called it a night.

Next game night, assuming we have the population (as you could tell it was a bit of a small group) I want to do some more Arkham Horror. Craig keeps threatening to run some more Year of the Zombie as well. All I have to say to that is, my boy Frank Santiago says "Bring it."

What can I say? The trailer made me laugh.

http://www.areyousuperbad.com/

There is a post on the main board about Zealot. I was never a part of that, but I’ve been on and off on the Delta Green Mailing List since forver. Several of the Revolutionaries have been members of it since the start like I was.

It made me think, I’ve been inter acting with Shane and Superdave for quite some time (which reminds me, sorry I was kind of dickish to you Shane about Wild Talents, I was in kind of a crap mood that week. Ask Fergie @ Chaosium about how annoyed I got with a late order. I get cantankerous and Scottish when I spend money. I should just appoligize in advance). But it trips me out to think how long the DGML has been going on in one form or another.

Almost 10 years now? Close to? And it makes me think of all the personal changes that must have gone on in the lives of the list members. Marriages, divorces, children getting older and moving on into adulthood. All the various gears and wheels of life spinning on along. I’ve certainly had my life shifted up, down, forwards and backwards in that time.

Yet every so often I go back to the list, hop on and read what is new. Regardless of random life. My cthulhu and delta green love causes me to wander back there. And it tends to be the same folks raising different devils out of familiar circles.

It is comforting in a dark and evil sort of way.

[  Mood: Amused ]
The team was assembled at Chez Gates, i.e. my friend’s basement equipped with huge game table and minifridge stocked with much, much beer. I had recently quit smoking and was gnawing on nicotene gum, otherwise all was well.

We started with TCI’s ZombieTown ( http://www.twilightcreationsinc.com/zombietown/ ). None of the local crew had played it, but we were aided by KC representative Corey, who had. It is a fun area and resouce aquisition game that reminded me of TCI’s other game Zombies!!! but with a finite timeline and the ability to attack the other players. The first game went in fits and starts, mostly because we were learning the rules. The second game was much more brutal with me and Corey being at war because of proxemics and Craig and Mitch being at war because, through a use of cards I tossed them at each other knowing they would fight. Meanwhile, Sherman holed up in one house and much like Fort Apache, the Bronx, created an unbreachable stronghold. He left only occasionally to stomp zombies and raid the house next to him that I had abandoned in my warfare with my other neighbor Corey. Sherman went on to win. I hate him.

The lessons here; don’t get greedy and save the combativeness for the end game. The over all verdict from the crew was that it is a good, very replayable game. We are still learning the strategies and I forsee it being played again in the future.

We next moved on to Fantasy Flight’s Arkham Horror. ( http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/arkhamhorror.html ). We just played the core game with out any of the expansions. After ZombieTown it took a few reminders to the crew that this was a COOPERATIVE game and we weren’t out to shaft each other. Once that sunk in there was some pretty serious team work. Considering our Great Old One for the evening was Azathoth the need for this was pretty obvious. It is a complicated game, no way around it and we hosed a few rules (monster types specifically) but for the most part we got it right and played honestly.

Arkham Horror is a blast, no way around it. Playing co-operative in a board game is an unusual treat. Add in the mythos and I, for one, am in love. We had some tense moments, like when ‘The Stars Are Right’ card was in play and an Avatar of Nyarlthotep was prowling the streets was making travel difficult. But a lucky card draw and a selfless sacrifice of an ally (Ashcan Pete misses you Duke ole buddy!) led us to eventual victory, even with big daddy A two doom counters away from waking and half of the town closed because of terror.

One phrase; sorcerous, deputized, truck driving nun.

Arkham Horror is a blast, but be ready for it, the set up and take down of the game is VERY time consuming. Plus, the game itself is a pretty serious time sink. And we were only playing the CORE game with out either of the two expansions. It isn’t a board game for the faint of heart.

After AH we lost a couple of soldiers, Corey headed back to the bright lights and big city, Mitch headed for his matress at home. We had a new trooper though, Mike, who was seriously into Munchkin ( http://www.sjgames.com/munchkin/game/ ). More beers were opened (more nicgum chewed) and we fired up Super Munchkin.

Fun mechanics, a very fast playing speed and elements of co-operate vs. screw your neighbor. It wasn’t working for Craig, but I have kind of a fondness for SJGames so I liked it. Round one went quick and we were on to round two. Doing Fantasy Munchkin. I have to say I liked the fantasy version more than supers. (You had to play the race card didn’t you? Stupid Halfling) I see myself probably going out and buying at least fantasy and cthulhu munchkin.

After that the crew departed and I and the host went to an offsite location to have a couple of shots and analyze Game Night 1. I would say overall a success. I had a very good time with both Arkham Horror and ZombieTown, and look forward to playing them both again.

Next on the menu, When Darkness Comes ( http://www.twilightcreationsinc.com/wdc/ ) and Pirate’s Cove ( http://www.piratescovegame.com/ ) Yar!

I went back and did some re-reading recently. I remembered exactly why I loved Edgar Rice Burroughs for example. re-read some Howard after reading "Blood & Thunder" to remember why I loved it as well.

The pulps always had something for me, I remember reading the Gibson ‘The Shadow’ novels as a kid (my dad had collected them as well as Burroughs’ 1st edition Ace paperbacks, I still have all of them). The pulp area felt both harrowing and harmless. You KNEW the hero would win after all, but oh, the peril.

In my mind and in my heart I still hold a place for that terror, that wasn’t so terrifying. The damsel in distress, the crudely formed and often kind of racially stereotyped villans (No racist here, but those green grazongians were jerks). It was an easier and sure, sure, more simple minded time.

Don’t get me wrong, I love gritty, in your face fiction. Back in the day I was a serious devotee of the splatterpunk and cyberpunk writing movements. But in my heart were Lovecraft, Gibson, Howard and early Robert Bloch.

I love the fact now that NOBODY dismisses the early pulp writers. There was a time in the early 80’s and before that they were regarded as the hacks which, ok maybe a little, they were. But they pioneered ideas. They went places that few before had thought about and took those places and their residents kicking, yelling and bleeding and showed them to people who probably hadn’t even looked in that direction before.

I know they changed my dad’s world, and through him, they changed mine.

Thanks guys.

I don’t really understand the weird zombie obsession I have. It has one on for DECADES. I’m not some new zombie adopter. I was a goth-tinged punk rocker back in the mid 80’s watching ‘Return of the Living Dead’ (best sound track ever) and grooving on the zombies then.

This new love ‘o zombies makes me feel odd. Feel, I’ve ALWAYS been here. You guys just showed up? I love you and welcome to the undead train, I hopped on it back in 1982.

And there were those on it much earlier.

Maybe I should quit complaining, just say "grab a brain, get on and ride!"

[  Currently: Listening to Lacuna Coil ]
Watching the most soapy of soapy episodes of Smallville ever it reminded me of why the team up of Batman and Superman works. Kal-El just doesn’t quite get us, Bruce Wayne understands us way too well. There is an odd psychological balance there.

That is why I sort of look forward to a Justice League movie, to see that paring of yin/yang. Compare messianic Superman Returns to the gutterfighting, bitter war of Batman Begins. Obviously characters from two different ends of the spectruum, but with a common thread. Trying to do right by people.

But these swing to extremes, the Dark Knight series (1 and 2) speak volumes about this. Superman is perverted by the system, Batman is forced to take him down to defend the values that at one time Supes himself would have held dear. But there have been more then a few series where Supes had to seek Batman when he crossed the line and went to ground.

We still rooted for Batman though, didn’t we? He’s human and can have broken limbs.

While they get seperated, I would argue that these two characters are fairly indetachable in modern psyche. Our shining warrior for truth and justice, our dark thirst for revenge at all costs. Both are viable archetypes and should both be at war and sometimes fighting side by side.

So, poor Supes, left with out the council of all to human Bruce Wayne spirals into melodrama. Things understood by, but alien to the Bat-Noir.

I was hoping they might use Ollie Queen as a humanizing force on Kal-El, but they played him suprisingly close to type. And rightly so, Green Arrow was always about saving the WHOLE WORLD. He was the classic neo-socialist. Green Arrow fought the battles in the street because he thought they echoed larger social injusticies.

Bruce Wayne never felt that way. Every fight in the street was a personal affront to him.

The only DC hero that could have replaced Bruce Wayne as a humanizing factor on Smallville would be The Question, and he was always a bit too weird of a DC hero to use indescriminately among the striaghts.

Kansas crept out of its’ deep thaw with the usual flip flop. Still, it is nice to be outside in ambient warm air.

I’m fixin’ to go home and tear apart the brick (many, many packs) of HorrorClix The Lab expansion figures I just bought. Much fun will be had.

In comics news:

I got issue 2 of the Dark Tower comic. If anything it is superior to issue 1. The art work is nothing short of fantastic. If you are a Stephen King fan you better be reading this, because it is capturing everything that was good about the Dark Tower series of books.

The Walking Dead continues on it’s gruesome and merry way. There are a few characters I am getting tired of and a few that re-affirm how kick ass that I think they are. Any long time reader will know which is which.

I picked up Fall of Cthulhu #0.

It is pretty damn amazing. Again fantastic art, evocative of theme. But another telling of Alhazred?

People need to realize Donald Tyson pretty much created a definative Alhazred and all others need to step off.

Still I am interested enough to add it to my pull list.

I picked up the Dark Pharoh expansion to Arkham Horror. It is over priced for what it is, essentially two new decks of cards. (At $20) It looks to add some fun to the game but the price seems a bit out of line.

Oh and I bought a bottle of fantastic thai hot sauce…but that is neither here nor there.

Well, my buddy got his HorrorClix Alien Queen. It was suitably gross and looks like it would cause complete havok in an HC game. We’ll have to give it a spin.

Speaking of giving a spin, I unpacked Arkham Horror and gave it a look over. It is a very solid and well put together game. Fantasy Flight really does have their board game vibe down. I hear the expansions calling my name. Mostly in the trilling proto-pipes of the shoggoths. One cool thing, the game can be played solo, down side the board is too damn big for my small table in my apartment.

*sigh*

I am slowly being swayed towards buying an XBox 360, mostly because Dead Rising is such a complete blast of a game. I’ve been playing it over at a friends and it is wildly addicting. Heap on the fact that I am a badass with a lead pipe or a baseball bat..I’ll probably pick one up, espescially if Call of Cthulhu, Dark Corners of the Earth is backwards compatable.

But when will I find time to play World of Warcraft? I don’t want to let my boy Mccracken stagnate over on the Nazgrel server…

So much to do…so much to do…

So pre-pictures of the HorrorClix Alien Queen have come out and I have to admit it looks nifty. With gross egg sac and all. In a fun little bit of innovation it is actually a two part figure. After the egg sac takes enough damage mama alien pops out on her own base with her own dial to run around and cause havok. Considering that the lab set has some suitable colonial marines type figures me and the game nerds have been talking about some space hulk and abandoned mining facility types of scenarios.

Game over man, game over!

On the Cthulhu front I’ve decided, after literally years of looking at and thinking about buying, dipping my toe in the world of the monograph. Some of the bound stuff I had read in pieces on the web (specifically the End Times stuff) and thought it was interesting enough to look for a more polished version of same. So I order some and am thinking of ordering more (Cthulhu Invictus has caught my eye). I’ll report back after I have a look at the stuff I’ve ordered.

In TV land:

The newest episode of the Dresden Files has given me a little hope for the series. It was a very, very loose adaptation of ‘Fool Moon’ but had a lot more of the feel of the books then the previous two episodes. Murphy actually showed some emotion, Bob had a fun scene while also showing that he is WAY more amoral then Harry and hot almost werewolf chicks. Victory all around.

LOST has been a bit underwhelming in its return. The Desmond episode was fun and had a nice twist ending but still something feels…off. I’m not sure what and I really hope the rest of the season picks up.

Jericho comes back this week, and CBS had a very nice season catch up clip show last week that did a good job of bring up all the plot points (and where there were a lot of them) of the first half of the season. Now 11 more new episodes in a row. I for one am really looking forward to it. What is going on with Hawkins?

Battlestar Galactica is still mired in soap opera land and seems to not know how to get out of it. I hope the trial of Baltar injects some more kick assery into this midseason slump.

All I know is that until Dexter comes back for its second season there will be a little empty place in my heart.

Comics.

I picked up the first issue of The Dark Tower and I have to say I am really happy with it. The art is fantastic and they are doing something I didn’t expect, telling the story of the gunslinger in chronological order. They begin in Gilead-that-was with the testing of the young Roland and the betrayal of his mother. It goes forward from there to Mejis and the big coffin hunters. I really look forward to seeing where this goes.