These ponies from Impact miniatures I painted years ago (2015). They are the pirate, the druid, and the witch. They stayed in my "to post" folder for five years! Now they come to light. I think many of them have been damage from a drop in the years since.
It has been a while since I read a modern comic. Most of them I find lacking in any kind of story. So when I went to a local comic book shop on one of their big sale day. We picked up a couple of modern trade books really cheap.
I let the book lie on my shelf for a few months (I received it for Christmas!) before I came back to it. I was reading a different book at the time and wanted to read a comic to change the pace.
This book took me by surprise in that it merges all of Marvel's universes into one and presented a coherent and engaging story. With humanity mutated and the world shifted, the many threads flow together into a story that drew me in, despite myself. I wanted to hate it, but could not. Although for a while, the story seemed to simply not go anywhere and meander, the link were tied up together neatly into an interesting reveal.
It was interesting to see some characters re-imagined: Captain Britain as King Britain, Colossus as the leader of Russia, Peter Parker as an older cop was interesting, and it was cool to see Gargoyle and a blinded Watcher.
Lady Thor was an eye-roll because that's just a stupid idea and the girl-Spider-man I didn't care for.
The art is top-notch, even for something that goes across a few artists. There were no awful artists. Some parts are quite wordy but it did not detract from my reading experience.
As a final rating... I would give it a 3.5/5 which rounds out to a 4/5. Seems a little high but I can live with that number. I liked it enough that I put volume 2 on my Xmas list for 2020.
A few years back, I painted these Reaper lions. Great miniatures. Highly versatile and well-sculpted.
Years ago, I created a small miniature games called Moritari Te Salutamus, which is still available on DriveThruRpg as a Pay-What-You-Want product. I have been meaning to revive and add an expansion for it. Those lions would be ideal for this.
This could be a fun game to play as a family, and add the rules for Christians I had on the back burner for over seven years.
The Dead, from the Widower's Wood expansion. I painted them with a red color, to give them a unifying look. They came out pretty good. When everything was painted and I put them together, I could not stop thinking about them being the forces of Barovia. The risen, dead forces of Barovia.
The first picture is of the skeletons, the second of skeleton knights, and the third of a skeletal swarm.
The season finale... The moment when we expect to learn a lot of new things and tie together the odd threads of the season.
So... The Master returns. And the Cybermen. And Rusty. And the forgettable NPCs. And the massive crew of companions. And this old guy they met at the end of the previous episode.
I expected this old guy to have an interesting story or tweak, or plot hook that would change the situation and surprise the Doctor in some way. Something that would make you go hmm with the reveal they were heading to Gallifrey... But as usual this season, no. Forgettable, useless, meaningless people. I care more about the red shirt who died in that episode of Original Star Trek than any of them.
No... I like the companions. I'd like 'em more if they were not always there all at the same time. These guys are cool.
This episode was just the worse of all. All the good will the series gained in the previous episode turned stupid within the first five minutes. The Doctor forcing the mobs of NPCs to stay behind and face the Cybermen "because".
The Master killed all the Time Lords and destroyed Gallifrey. (Wow! WTF!)
Then the Cyberlords idea was just stupid. (eye roll)
Then the "death particle" idea was telegraphed, stupid, and just plain unimaginative. (eyes blinked, then closed.)
And the re-imagination of the Timelord history was terrible. This "Doctor is immortal" and "the Time Lords all descend from Doctor DNA" made me say out loud "BOVINE SCATOLOGY! WHAT A LOAD OF CROCK" of course, with more French Canadian color wherein most of what can be seen in a church was named. Repeatedly. Julie even said "If it is that stupid, why are you still watching?" (this made me angry)
But the biggest eye roll was when the unnamed NPC came in at the last minute and sacrificed himself for the Doctor. Convenient. Unimaginative and o-so boring. (Colorful French Canadian curses thrown at the TV)
I thought that guy may be some forgotten time lord or something. Nope, just another red shirt NPC there to save the Doctor. Her sacrifice was the one thing I thought would'a made sense. But no... Again, cheapening anything with meaning, like the gay astronaut's husband's sacrifice. Cheap.
I expected the Doctor to be ready to die and have Jack Harkness show up and save her against her will. That would have been something to make my eyes open, sit at the edge of my seat and go "Woah, what just happen?" But like almost every time this season, the answer is no.
Then right at the end when all the crew returns to Earth and the Doctor is alone in the Tardis, the Judoon appear. IN THE TARDIS and take her away to a jail cell "somewhere". Now that is just crap and stupid. The Tardis should be inviolable, not breachable by random, minor aliens.
Still putting the Doctor in jail made me smile. "Maybe she's gone and we can have a good Doctor," I thought wishfully. But I am wrong, she'll be back.
So for the rating. This was full of stupid from start to finish. Not only the stupid but the wasted opportunity. And if I did not commit to writing a review for each episode, I would NOT have written this one. 1/5. I'm not re-watching this again.
A new race for the Player's Guide to Akhamet: the vulture-headed Nefru.
For a sneak peek of the art, and the full racial write-up. join the FOE Patreon for a LOT of material like these guys, preview art, and new race write-ups.
With the summer arriving, now is time to get more serious about completing these products I've been working on for the past year. Little by little. Refining the content. Until all that is left is material I would like to see in such a book.
I tried to balance the fluff with the crunch and for a 64 page book, fluff is 34, crunch 30.
I am not quite fully done with the content as I am waiting for some art from Irene and Tristan (I piece each). I just wanted to put it through the approval process and get it ready asap.
The front cover is by Blehc, something she did for me over a year ago! It is awesome to start having a small collection of Akhamet books!
Makes it feel... Real!
Want more previews? I post them on the FOE Patreon. Full write-ups of the races and more!
With the ending of "Haunting", I was again excited about a story that continued the plot line with the Cybermen. Final part of the mid-season Marathon...
Intro with a voice over... Yawn.
Then the Doctor and the companions again meet more people they will travel with. The new forgettable NPCs explain they are escapees trying to escape the Cybermen and they have no weapons (of course). One element that made me smile is that the Doctor and companion set up anti-Cybermen weapons that are based on classic episode such as their allergy to gold.
The Cybermen led by the rusted one from "Haunting" is back and he attacks the trash heap with two others. I would've expected the Cybermen to move in with overwhelming numbers: why send three when a hundred will do the job?
The weapons/defenses are completely useless, are swept away in a second - took more time to set them up and explain them than to rid of them. Again, like the rest of the season, instead of taking some time to give us a reason to care/learn about the red shirt NPCs, we go right into action. So when the NPCs die, I just couldn't care. This would've been a good opportunity to give them a personality, a reason for survival, and skills. Have the defenses force out the Cybermen while the crew interacts with the NPCs instead of the predictable deaths.
Then we have a convoluted plot where the crew travels to a place where they can reach safety with the NPCs. We're not really sure WHY this would send them to safety or even what it is. I'm fine to sit through because I expect this to be a lead-in to the finale.
Eventually the Doctor reaches the boundary where some dude shows her it leads to Gallifrey. Immediate mixed feelings.
- There are three active Cybermen but two shuttles... Why? Oh yeah! To give the Doctor a way to escape.
- A number of events happen I do not quite get: why did the Rusty One saw the Cybermen when they should obey their leader. This is something I expect will lead to a lot of speculation. Is Rusty a Cyberman made with non-human stock? Like a Time Lord?
- The Irish side plot is clearly a set-up which I hope we will know where this leads later (in the next episode).
- The appearance of the Master at the end did not fill me with joy, I groaned. Just feels like more people sharing the screen and crowding the screen even more.
In all, this episode is one that sets up the season's climax and about as many subplots happen as an episode of early Game of Thrones. So I asked myself, "How do you rate your enjoyment?" and I settled on a 3. I expected more but the issues did not detract from my enjoyment.
Would I re-watch? Maybe (not a definite no).
Rating: 3/5
Excellent news everyone!
WE ARE GOING BACK TO DUBLIN!
Sept 11, 2002 was the last day I woke up as a resident of Dublin. It marked the end of my time in Europe and the return to Canada.
I remember showing up at the Air Canada counter with a bunch of boxes expecting to pay a few hundred Euros/dollars and trying to get a discount - which I got by the way. It was the only time I was ever able to take the four seats in the center of the plane and sleep. Oh it was grandiose!
Not only were we leaving good friends behind but a lifetime of memories too. A few little shamrocks on our hearts!
Oh! And a team to root for in European football (soccer).
Well that's really just for me. Julie doesn't care.
There is great news on the horizon. In the middle of the current corona virus hysteria, our family is experiencing a big change: we are going back to Dublin.
Okay, okay, I'll admit the title was total click-bait. Julie and I just bought a new house here in Tennessee. On Dublin Court!
The new house will be a big step for us. For the first time, the girls will have their own bedroom. The past few years, them sharing a room caused more and more tensions. I mean teenage girls need their space and their own things.
For Actionman, he gets a bigger room but it will also means that all his toys (Legos mostly) will be going in his room. He's getting closer to his teenage years too and the last of my hair.
I am very excited to move into what Julie does not want me to call the Tennessee Gaming Center.
One of the exciting things about it is that the new house can be seen from the old one. And with schools being out, I have a trio of movers to help getting things to the house. They can move their own stuff.
So, we are indeed moving to Dublin!
With the current wave of isolation, things suck.
However, I happen to know many great people. Not just my family, but as a gamer... Many of you know that I am on the French-speaking Youtube channel JDRD30 for the RPGS: Les Larmes Des Dragons DM'd by my good buddy Francois-L (who lives a stone throw from where I was born!).
One of the announcements made was of the CyberConv, a French-speaking online mini-convention that ran day and night, helped by the fact that the attendees were in both France and Québec.
And me, in Tennessee.
I had not planned to play anything ahead of time but I seeing how I had nothing to do, I decided to risk getting on. I hoped around a little bit: there were many rooms and tables going on.
I got to play two games: one was for a simplified Legend of the Five Rings game that was interesting. The simplification was to determine if you were good (roll 8k4) or not (roll 3k2). I played an Isawa magistrate (Phoenix clan) who overly interested in pleasing people. I never played a Phoenix before and had a good time.
Then later in the weekend, I played in a special adventure were we took on the roles of Space-Time agent (similar to the source material of alerian). I took my friend Sebastien's seat (who is also part of the RPGS gang).
I played an adrenaline junkie who lost his legs - he now has cyber-legs - while filming extreme videos. We were sent to an empty world where some mobsters had set up base. The party included an elf archer, a murderous bounty hunter, and a CAREBEAR.
You read that right... a tenderheart bear.
With a sniper rifle!
...
I wondered seriously where this was going. At the height of the game, we were rolling into the villains' base with me driving one super-hover-dimensional-hopping-bike and held the other with my bionic legs, using the bike as a battering ram and making crazy stunts. The others were mowing down the mob. It turned out to be a blast! I laughed so hard.
After that, I was done and moved on to other things. It was fun and different. The French accent remains as melodic and pleasant as ever to my French Canadian ear.
I definitely plan to attend the next one. I will look for more games from those GMs who ran for me this time around.
Un gros merci.
The Greek Setting (WIP called: Olympias) is (very) slowly taking shape. In fact, some of it will have something of a backdoor pilot at Gencon during the Multi-table events.
The Fauns are one of the non-human races that will be in there. I will post the early details of the race on the FOE Patreon shortly.
For years, I used different miniatures to represent the cleric of War from Rhym and the warlock from Saggakar. But I did not like either of them. When I received my latest lot of Reaper Bones, I marked those two minis to replace the ones I had.
Both are tiefling or related to tieflings, so I took them together!
Cleaning up the ancient articles, I found these guys from WAY back in 2017! They belong to my good friend Will. These guys were some of the final ones I did for him.
Oddly enough, I never took him up on his offer to actually TRY the game. One day, but not THESE days of quarantine and isolation!
Blast from the past!
Khemites are humans, descendants of the goddess Khem and the most numerous race in Akhamet. These models are a mix of Akhameti with foreign visitors...
The blonde guy will be the Prince Diogenes mini. Everyone's favorite foreign Prince! He is, after all, the son of a god!
