Gaming Notes: Moto Grand Prix #3

Moto Grand Prix

I got to play in a six player game of Moto Grand Prix the other day. It was quite exciting! Each of us had two bikes in the race.


The entire first lap the bikes continued to bunch up, not flatten out into a long drafting line. The track set up may have had much to do with this as it had several brutal corner exchanges. Over the course of the race there were several cases where the leaders found themselves coming out of a 3 or 2 corner with a five, six or seven on the dice. Zoom! Zoom! Zoom! Welcome to fourth place!

I could never seen to get ahead. I always hung around third or fourth place and that's where I finished despite grinding my engine down six times (the maximum).

The race featured a large number of burnouts with only one player, Jarred, finishing with both of his bikes!

In a highly competitive race, Kevin was the victor, Sam came in second, and I took third. Although in points, Jarred was the overall victor because his "team" finished both of his bikes.

Gaming Notes: King of Tokyo #6

King of Tokyo

King of Tokyo is quickly becoming one of my favorite games. It is easy to learn, the gameplay is fast and fun, and the game offers many strategies for success.


That being said, Sam completely destroyed five other guys tonight.

He played it brilliantly. Through several rounds he ducked in and out of Tokyo, strategically dealing damage to the four players not in Tokyo and then ducking out at the first sign of retaliation.

I could see exactly what he was doing but I found I was always in the same place as Sam, thus unable to do damage to him.

In one round Sam dealt a massive amount of damage, taking out FOUR other players at the same time. From there, it was just cleanup for him to wipe the final player out of the game. Well played, Sam. Well played.

Gaming Notes: DnD 5.0 Playtest #2

In our second session playtesting Dungeons and Dragons "Next" I was the Dungeon Master! As I prepared, I was really impressed with how the module was laid out. Monsters aren't static anymore - they move naturally and react to what the heroes do. I tried to warn them. I really did.

The goblin army

The party continued into the caverns and quickly dispatched three goblins before they could raise an alarm. Job well done and we were off to a good start!

The rogue scouted down the hallway, hearing the loud, loud noises of many, many goblins (as I described it several times). So, they decided to build a barricade from the table, benches, etc. in the room and post the heads of the 3 goblins on spears in the hallway. They then waited for the goblins to show up which they eventually did. When a few goblins came around the corner (not expecting anything) and saw what they party had done, they let out a war cry and charged. The three goblins were again easily defeated. I described many, many agitated goblin sounds coming from down the corridor. The party waited for them in ambush on top of the barricade they had built (not behind it, on top of it). Seeing 6 dead goblins at the party's feet, the hallway filled with goblins that started launching arrows. The party retreated with the sorcerer wisely setting the barricade on fire with burning hands (this probably saved the entire party).

The party ran outside and up the hill into a small forested area about 100 feet from the cave entrance. The rogue hung back for 20 minutes until he heard that the goblins had doused the fire and were in pursuit again. He then rejoined the party to witness the head goblin and a score of goblins emerge from the cave. The head goblin broke the goblins into small search parties to find the adventurers.

Of course, the party was eventually spotted. They quickly dispatched the first four goblins but not before they sent out a war cry alerting the others. The second group of four goblins arrived and fired arrows, awaiting reinforcements from their leader. The party killed these four but were soon forced to flee again as the goblin leader ascended the hill with 12 goblins in tow.

The party was chased out of the canyon and then most of the goblins returned home realizing that they weren't going to catch them.

After traveling for hours, the party decided to return to the canyon area. They approached on the oppose bank and set up camp 1250 feet away from the canyon, over the ridge. The rogue snuck down and observed various creatures coming and going in night raiding parties so he has a pretty good idea about which caves house which creatures.

Meanwhile, on the cleric's watch he rolled a 20 and clearly heard 3 bugbears approaching hundreds of feet away (unaware that the party was even there). They tried to hide instead of move out of the path of the bugbears but the fighter was spotted and the combat ensued. The cleric cast light so he could see, alerting other monsters to their presence (which probably saved the party, actually). Both the sorcerer and fighter went down with the fighter coming withing 2 hit points of dying. The cleric got the killing blow in when a group of approaching orcs (attracted by the light) scared off the remaining bugbear giving the cleric an "opportunity attack." The rogue returned from his recon mission and he picked up his unconscious teammates (after stabilizing the fighter) with the help of the cleric and traveled over a mile West to set up camp.

After 10 hours (it was mid-day the following day) the party was rested and fully healed. I awarded experience and everyone leveled up.

Gaming Notes: DnD 5.0 Playtest #1

DnD "Next" - no wonder they need so many playtesters...

I'm so pumped! Finally, Wizards of the Coast got everything sorted out with the downloads to the playtesting materials for 5.0 and, since then, has released several updates. My gaming group decided to participate in the playtest and boy have I been impressed so far!

The character creation process is simple and straightforward. I created a warlock. In the party we also had two clerics, a sorcerer, a dwarven fighter, and a elven rogue. The DM decided to run the Caves of Chaos adventure as it was released for 5.0 playtesting. This group had played this adventure in 2nd edition so we were very familiar with it.

We started out at a town, hearing rumors of monsters attacking nearby caravans. People and valuables have gone missing and the town wanted us to check it out, promising 100 gp reward if we could stop the attacks.

So, we set off toward the source of the disturbance. My warlock, having the skill of geographical knowledge, lead the party successfully to the Caves of Chaos in a few days time.

We were starring at a sparsely vegetated canyon or valley with several cave entrances along its slopped surface. Being lazy, we decided to take the nearest one.

Well, we had just stepped in the door when we ran into a band of goblins. We joined the battle but a couple of them scurried away, only to return with reinforcements! Yikes! Our thief went down in the combat but we were victorious, sending the few remaining goblins scurrying away in fear.

We did a little healing and resting and then were rudely interrupted by a ogre coming down the hallway! Uh-oh! This large creature looked like he was gunning for us! It took all of our combined efforts but we eventually laid the monster low.

Overall, I was very impressed with how smooth the combats went. We had somewhere around 20 total combatants engaged in combat at the same time but rounds went very quickly.

So far, I'm REALLY impressed with 5th edition! I can't wait to play more!

Gaming Notes: Run Out the Guns!

Run Out the Guns!

I recently got to play the RPG Run Out the Guns!. The system it uses can be described as Rolemaster lite.

I played a Stewart. The character generation system is random so, while my original concept was to have a emotionally scarred veteran trying to keep his head down and not attract any attention working as a cook, that didn't turn out and instead my background was a poacher and seaman.

The adventure was already underway when I joined. Wisely, I'm sure, in a prior adventure the party had set sail, captured a ship that had just left the same port, and then brought back that ship to the very same port it had just left from.

Well, of course, this attracted attention from the local authorities. We quickly spun a story that we had found the ship deserted and were bringing it back... to turn over to the authorities, of course. Once the authorities weren't quite satisfied with our story but were willing to let it go if we don't a job for them. We quickly agreed and received a commission to hunt and destroy Dutch ships.

With a narrow escape, we set out on the town. Now, one of the things in Run Out the Guns! is that, if you've been at sea for a certain amount of time, you HAVE to make rolls on vice tables. It could be drinking, gambling, whatever. And rolling better doesn't guarantee a better result - for example, if you've TOO good at gambling, people could think you've cheated and you could end up in a big fight.

Well, let's just say that the game master doesn't really need to write too much of an adventure because your vice rolls alone give him plenty of fuel for the fire. Half the party ended up in jail (again), some of us ended up violating the rules of the ship, others ended up blindly hungover, but I actually won a fair amount of money gambling and walked away no worse for the wear.

After we all recovered from our various states, we limped out of port with our papers in hand, eager to capture some Dutch vessels.

I missed the final installment of this game, but based on their prior experiences I'm SURE it went really, really well. *wink*

Gaming Notes: LEGO Robo Champ

The other day I had the occasion to play the LEGO Robo Champ game with my son, Georgie (my niece), and Caleb (my nephew).

The game concept is simple: You start with the torso of a robot and yo collect robot parts by rolling a die. The game plays up to three players (Georgie was on my "team.") and you collect, trade, and steal not only your parts but also the parts from the other players.

The game is extremely simple and luck plays a very large factor in determining the winner. Still, the decisions of the players as to what parts to take, trade, or steal do make a huge difference in the outcome.

My strategy was to get as many of my pieces as possible while ignoring the other players. Caleb was trying to block the other players by getting their pieces. I got pretty lucky on the dice rolling and I quickly got most of my pieces. My final roll allowed me to trade one of the other robot pieces to Caleb for my last robot part I needed to win.

Sweet victory for Georgie and I (over an 8 year old and a 5 year old)!

After we got the game assembled it was really quick to play - I'd say 15 minutes total.

While it's not the first game I'd pull of the shelf to play with buddies, for kids it is a fast and fun game with interesting robot parts to assemble. Plus, LEGO provides several alternate rules so the game doesn't become quite so monotonous.

Gaming Notes: Kittens in a Blender

Add caption

Awhile ago, I gave a first look at the new card game, Kittens in a Blender. What an odd concept for a game. You're trying to save your kittens while destroying your opponents' cats. To me, it seemed like a "concept game" that would fall flat when you actually tried to play it.


Well, recently, I got the chance to play it with my friend Sam. I was surprised - it is actually a very fun game.

First, it's easy to set up and, surprisingly, even the top and the bottom of the box is used during game play! The cards are well designed. But the absolute best are the kittens themselves. They're brilliantly illustrated and each one is given a all-too-cute name that makes you want to destroy and/or protect them such as Ham Sandwich and Scratches.

Throughout the game, you place kittens in one of three locations, move kittens around, or blend kittens up. There are other actions cards as well. I was surprised how much strategy there was in deciding when you put your kittens or your opponents kittens into play and when to move them.

I ended up winning. In the end, Sam unwisely switched hands with me when his entire hand was Blend cards.  I giddily blended his entire mewing clowder of cats.

Milkshake, anyone?

Gaming Notes: Only War RPG

Only War is the newest entry in the Warhammer 40K RPG library.

At the recent Free RPG Day at Comic Store West I got to play Only War. Only War is the newest RPG entry into the Warhammer 40K universe.

A group of eight players including Sean, James, Talon, Martin and myself all played grunts in a game run by Sam.

The mission was simple: We're on a moon and we're sent to secure a crater that is currently being controlled by the orcs. Simple, that is, until we get the word that the entire crater is going to be "glassed" and we have mere hours to get out or we're dead.

Our communication equipment was damaged in the battle to take over a fortress so we were left with only our wits and our feet. As you'll see, our wits weren't of much benefit.

The first thing we did was kill our wounded. They were only going to slow us down and we wanted their end to be merciful.

We then set off. We soon found a damaged air transport. I was good with fixing technical things so I took an hour and repaired the craft. "Getting out of here is going to be easy!" we said. So we all loaded up and then someone said, "Wait... who can fly?" None of us could. And THAT'S when we realized that one of our injured comrades was the only one with the ability to fly. Oops.

So, having wasted an hour, we set off on foot. Let's just say it was a comedy of errors. Along the way, we killed a commanding officer, caused a riot, and broke every rule of military discipline.

Finally, we made it to a border town where we thought we could get transport. One of my teammates made a contact and arranged for a shady deal to get out of there. Of course, it was a trap. At that point, the rift in the team split wide open and players attacked players. Let's just say it was ugly but more importantly it was a complete waste of time.

After we regained our military composure, we set off again, killing the driver of a truck and taking control of the vessel. "We're free!" we thought again. Only to realize that we had killed the only person capable of driving the vehicle. Again. D'Oh!

So, we continued on our way, encountering heavy orc resistance along the way. Eventually, against all odds, we made it to the safety zone.

And that's when it came across the communicator - the kill zone had been extended. Our currently location was once again due to be glassed...

Gaming Notes: Marvel Super Hero Squad TCG #4

As my son and I continued to play the Marvel Super Hero Squad TCG, I thought one interesting match up would be the Iron Man starter deck versus the Avengers starter deck because the Avengers starter deck relies so heavily upon Iron Man.

I played as the Avengers, my son played as Iron Man. I thought this would be a slam duck for my son considering that the Iron Man deck has tons of gray cards but the Avengers deck only has three gray blocks.

Well, somehow I managed to win. I kept his keepers off the table and rolled with the punches otherwise. Thunderous Impact and Huge Breakthrough sealed the deal for me. Victory for the Avengers!

So, once again, my son and I have a tied record. When he turns six I think I'll never get another chance to win a game again.

        

Gaming Notes: Marvel Super Hero Sqaud TCG #3

I promise I won't report on EVERY card game I play but I'm still giving each of the introductory decks a test run and I wanted to let you know how they fared for me.

The record between my five year old son and I stands at .500 a piece. For our next encounter, we decided to test the Iron Man intro deck against the Spider-Man intro deck. I played Iron Man and my son played Spidey.

I thought I would have an easy win to be honest. After all, the Spidey deck is almost all level one cards for very little damage. But my son managed to figure out some brutal combos and left me in the dust. One such combo was One-Two Punch, Yoink, and then Web Slinger.

     

He really took advantage of the keepers he was able to get down as well.

Also in my son's favor was the fact that the power was at three FOREVER. So my son was playing card after card but I could play almost nothing at all. By the time the power started moving, I was already hopelessly behind.

Game over - my son beat me again! As if it wasn't bad enough the first two times this time it was with a wimpy level one deck!

Gaming Notes: Marvel Super Hero Squad TCG #2

My savior card!

Vowing revenge for my earlier losses, my son and I decided to rematch with two more 30 card intro decks. What's better than to recreate the battle between the Hulk and Wolverine from the awesome Hulk VS Wolverine DVD?


The first game I played the Wolverine deck and my son played the Hulk deck. It was looking like another easy victory for him at first. Once again he jumped out to a huge early lead. Then the power level was raised so I could play Savage Leap. I learned how powerful this card is. The ability to bypass the hand and go directly to the deck means the attack is much more likely to succeed. Well, I played two of these and then the finishing move was The Best at What I Do. Wolverine (and I) finally win!

The power boost on a card like this
is absolutely enormous.

The second game we played the same decks but I played the Hulk. I thought the Hulk deck was actually the better deck so I was surprised by my victory. This time, the battle was pretty well balanced the entire time. We traded blows and blocks alike. What put me over the top was that I was holding the card Stronger Than I Thought... until the power hit 7. Once it did, I unleashed these things, doing massive damage and winning the game. The green onslaught of this deck is simply tough to fight against.

So our record stands even - my son has won two games and so have I.

You just know there's going to be plenty of more games to report on...

Gaming Notes: Marvel Super Hero Squad TCG #1

The killing card -
"WE WIN!" on the wall is just for the sake of irony.

I'll admit it - the first two times I played the Marvel Super Hero Squad TCG I was beaten by my five year old son. And I wasn't holding back at all either. There he is, SHOWING ME HIS HAND because he simply doesn't know any better and I couldn't beat him.

Here's the details.

We were playing with the two 30 card decks that come with the Two-Player Intro Pack (we didn't add any to make them legal 40 card decks). The theme is Avengers VS X-Men. I played the X-Men, my son played the Avengers.

The first game, I started out holding my own. I even got a few good hits in. Then, my son just simply started wailing away at me with big attacks once the power got to 4 or 5. He wore down my defenses by causing me to use up my hand to block his attacks. The killing blows came with the Captain America cards, Stars and Stripes. He played two of them and I just simply didn't have the blocks to stop him.

Follow this with Huge Breakthrough
and perhaps your father will weep openly as well.

The second time we played, I was determined to take him down. How embarrassing to lose to a five year old, right? Well, my son came blazing out of the gate, perhaps inspired by his earlier victory. He took a commanding lead early with cards like Colossal Assistance. I tried to claw my way back into the game and I did a pretty good job. Actually, this game came down to one card - that's how many my son had left when he beat me. It was close, but a loss is a loss.

I'd be upset if I wasn't so busy being proud. I can't wait to play more MSHS TCG. I'm sure I'll win one eventually.

As for the decks themselves, I think it's fair to say that the Avengers deck is superior to the X-Men deck.

Gaming Notes: Catan Junior #2

This picture actually shows the pieces played incorrectly, I believe...

After defeating my wife in Catan Junior, I felt capable of taking on my five year old and three year old in addition to my wife.

I was impressed with my five year old son's initial strategies. He seemed very away of the power of the Coco Tiles and bought them up quickly. At first, it looked like it was going to be an easy win for him. And, in case you don't know this about me, I don't play soft.

He even cut me off on one half of the board, limiting my growth potential!

Still, I struggled on. I had quite a few resource in front of me and I learned a lesson about smart trading.

See, one of the brilliant things about this game is the trading system. It's not player to player - there are five markets, each of which hold one commodity. When all five markets have the same commodity, they clear and one of each commodity is put out instead.

Well, I had a ton of goats but not much else. So I kept trading in and buying Coco Tiles. Each Coco tile allowed me to get more resources so in one turn I seriously bought four Coco Tiles. This was enough to evict my son from Pirate's Cove. I then purchased a few quick Pirate's Lairs and won the game.

Is to wrong to feel so good having outwitted a five year old?

Trust me, there will be more Catan Junior played at my house. I think my son is running a statistical analysis as we speak so he can beat me next time. Game on, boy. Game on.

Gaming Notes: Catan Junior #1

Catan Junior

Mayfair has released another new Catan game - Catan Junior. This one is obviously designed for little kids... but will mom and dad like it? 

I got this game for my son who just turned five. The first time I played, however, was just his mother and I. After all, I've got to figure out how to beat him before I play him!

You collect resources and buy things just like in the regular Catan games. One of the things you can buy is a Coco tile (Coco is the parrot who "helps you"). What my wife discovered early on is that Coco Tiles are incredibly powerful. She had three sitting in front of her before I had purchased any! 

In fact, she was one point away from victory before I caught on. I quickly purchased a bunch of Coco Tiles for myself, setting her back a point by tying her and kicking her off the pirate island. 

This is where my brilliance comes into play. I could have purchased a pirate's lair and gotten within one point of victory but INSTEAD I purchased a Coco Tile. This allowed me to place a pirate's lair on the pirate island, earning a victory point AND the Coco Tile allowed me to build my final pirate's lair, winning me the game.

What great fun. I can't wait to play with the kids.

Walk the plank, lady! The sharks be hungry! Arrr!

Gaming Notes: Marvel Heroic Roleplaying #4

I am an alien. I am an alien. I know this to be true. I've just got to keep telling myself this. I am not human - I am an alien.

The Imperial Guard

The reason for this mental exercise in self-assertion is due to some strange events recently. See, I remember being an alien. I had powers. I was the eyes of the Imperial Guard of the Shi'ar. They had stationed me on Earth to monitor and report on the activities of the Earthlings since far too often their problems have erupted to threaten the universe itself. To that end, I set aside my true name of Kae-Len and assumed the guise of a mild-mannered reporter for the Daily Bugle, Kizza Cant.

I find these Earth people peculiar in their ways. But in my short time on Earth I have also grown fond of them. It's easy to see how they shake the cosmos - never in all my travels have I seen another specials that rivals their ability to create and power to destroy. Because of this affinity, I seek to protect these powerful yet frail creatures from unwittingly bringing harm upon themselves. To protect my disguise as a human and so they don't learn that I'm an alien recon officer, I have constructed a superhuman identity. Looking on the electronic information access system, I discovered that when humans want to hide their personhood they often come up with a screen name such as Fata1ity. Well, my screen name is $tr@ng3r. I thought it fitting because I'm a $tr@ng3r in a strange land (as they say.) I have clothing to conceal my identity and everything.

Human

For example, earlier today I found myself in an institution of finance without any knowledge of how I had arrived there. I recognized five other people in the room with me but didn't know how I recognized them.

Suddenly, humans with cloth on their faces and pointing metal cylinders at the occupants of the financial institution loudly barged in and demanded that everyone lay down on the floor. Seeing that the surface was unpadded and not feeling sleepy, I began to question the humans as to their motives so I could better understand them. However, they insisted that I assume a horizontal position so I complied.


No sooner had I lain down than one of the humans I recognized grew massively tall and started causing violence. Quickly the other four beings (I call them beings because they were not all human) I recognized also joined in the pandemonium. Loud booms rang out, beings sustained injuries, and general mayhem ensued. I wanted to restore tranquility but I didn't want to reveal my secret identity (I saw many observation devices in the place of money). I began questioning those involved in the mix-up. Apparently, my barrage of questions was disorienting to the humans with the cloth over their faces because they seemed to show signs of emotional stress from them.

After a short while, most of the aggressively violent humans were subdued except those that had locked themselves behind a big, metal heavy door. The others I recognized seemed to want to open the door. When they did, however, something very strange happened. The entire room disappeared in a flash.

They're coming to take me away...

We awoke lying in beds in a white room. We stood and exited the room. None of us had any powers. I was having trouble with my mental recall of the past. Humans in long white coats greeted us and said that memory loss and disorientation were normal side-effects of the serum.

Something is not right. I'm an alien with powers. I'm the eyes of the Shi'ar Empire's Imperial Guard. I'm a Screen Name Hero. I'm The $tr@ng3r. Could that have all been a lie? Could that have all been something my mind made up? Could I be a human after all?

I hope to discover the answers to those questions very soon.

Gaming Notes: Marvel Heroic RPG #3

At Comic Store West's last Free Heroic RPG Day, I got to run the Marvel Heroic RPG. Everyone playing had never played except for myself. I ran two sessions.

Spidey, Daredevil, and Cage

The second session had the following participants:

Eric played Luke Cage
Martin played Spider-Man
Sean played Daredevil
Jim played Captain America

Purple Man

I started them out inside the Raft high security prison. Murdock (Dardevil) was on his way to interview the Sentry, his client. Murdock brought Luke Cage with him as a hired muscle in case trouble broke out so he wouldn't have to reveal his secret identity in this highly monitored environment and he also brought alone Parker (Spider-Man) as a photographer. Cap was assigned as their SHIELD escort.

Sentry

Of course, an explosion rocks the prison, the lights glow bright and then everything goes black. I threw everything but the kitchen sink at them right off the bat to really up the ante for the second session. So, one at at time, I had villain after villain pile on- Zzaxxx, Graviton, Count Nefaria, Purple Man, Living Laser, and the Grey Gargoyle. The heroes rose to the occasions, defeating each of them in turn (except Graviton, who fled and escaped once he wasn't engaged in combat). The purple man successfully controlled several party members which made things even more difficult for the remaining heroes.


The heroes then made their way to the Sentry. Daredevil reasoned with him and convinced him to rejoin society. Only, I don't suppose they anticipated how he was going to do it. He grabbed the nearest bad guy by the throat and then slammed upward through all eight stories of the Raft, causing a massive collapse.

The heroes then made their way up several levels. They started noticing something odd - the prison was completely deserted. No bodies, no SHIELD agents, no prisoners. Then they saw the blood trails. It appears that something or someone was killing indiscriminately and dragging the bodies up to the next level.

When the heroes arrived at the next level, they discovered... well, complete Carnage. Carnage, Vermin, Typhoid Mary, Tiger Shark and Razor Fist had gone on a killing spree, murdering anyone, villain or hero, they encountered. Vermin munched on the dead while Carnage arranged their limbs to spell "HELP ME!" as some sick joke. Seeing the heroes, Carnage drooled, "Play time!"

Carnag

The heroes were in for a struggle to save their very lives. Carnage was playing for keeps and I really threw everything at them, burning dice from the Doom Pool left and right. Eventually, of course, the heroes were triumphant but they were sorely tested.

Bruised and battered, they made their way to the surface, only to encounter a large mob of powerless villains trying to break into the Raft's weapon's locker. The weary heroes bravely waded into the mob and beat them back.

Finally, they made their way to the surface and were greeted by swarms of SHIELD agents surrounding the island. Using their resources, they discovered that there was something fishy going on at a SHIELD outpost in the Savage Land. The heroes resolved to stick together until they discovered what was truly going on.

Gaming Notes: Marvel Heroic RPG #2

At Comic Store West's recent Free Heroic RPG Day, I ran two session of the Marvel Heroic RPG "Breakout" adventure. This is the first.

The participants were:

David played Luke Cage
Craig played Spider-Man

Graviton

Eric played Captain America
Marlin played Wolverine
James played Daredevil
Talen played Iron Man

All of the heroes were at the Raft for various reasons when a huge explosion shuts down the power. Separated, the heroes encounter villains. Iron Man is devastated by an initial attack from Graviton. Count Nefaria, Zzzax, and a few other villains keep the other heroes occupied. The group comes together when Iron Man flees from Graviton, allowing him to escape.

Vermin

The heroes proceed to the Sentry. At first, they have a great deal of difficulty convincing him to rejoin society. Eventually, the heroes persistence pays off and the Sentry bolts through the ceiling, causing a collapse behind him.

The heroes are left to fend for themselves and slowly grind their way up through the levels until they reach the top of the Raft prison.

As they go up a few levels, they see that the walls have literally been painted with blood. The entire floor is deserted - except for Carnage, Tiger Shark, Vermin, and Razor Fist who are lording over a pile of SHIELD agents and inmates alike.


The heroes throw themselves into battle against this group of psychopaths. They sustain some heavy blows but, in the end, emerge victorious.

Continuing on their way up, they encounter an enraged mob of depowered heroes trying to break into the Raft's armory. Cap starts flinging his shield everywhere, Iron Man fires off his Uni-Beam, Luke Cage picks up a inmate and uses him as a battering ram, and Spidey is swinging from the rafters, kicking inmates out of his way. In no time, they have the mob subdued and dispersed.

Quinjet

Reaching the surface, they are greeted by a swarm of SHIELD agents who enter the Raft to "contain" the situation that's already been contained. Iron Man manged to get the backup generators up and running while Luke Cage uses his experience as an ex-con to get some information about what the heck is going on at the Raft. Cage learns that there's something funny going on in the Savage Land and that it involves Sauron, the mutant villain who Elektro rescued from the Raft.


The heroes jump into one of Tony Stark's private Quinjets and fly off to the Savage Land to get to the bottom of the matter...

Gaming Notes: Magic: The Gathering



Nature Vs Nature???

I recently had a chance to show a 10 year old how to play Magic: the Gathering for the first time. He had two beginner mono-green decks that were identical (he had bought two beginner prebuild decks). "This should be interesting," I said to myself.



I started out basic - explaining the card set up, different types of cards, and the basic turn. The kid caught on pretty quickly. 

We started and I got off to a quick start because I had some low-cost creatures while the kid had some more expensive ones in his hand. I kinda felt bad hitting the kid for 2 every turn but that's how you learn how to play the game, I suppose.

Well, I kinda held back a little bit to let the kid get back into the game. I ended up needlessly sacrificing a regenerating creature and that allowed the kids' forces to overrun my own. 

In the end, the kid won. He was very excited about his new Magic cards and asked me where he could buy more. I felt pretty good about myself. Bringing up future generations of gamers, one at a time. 

Gaming Notes: Gammarauders

The other night I got to play the old TSR game, Gammarauders with four other guys.

Gammarauders

Eugene played Elvin
Ken played Cruz
Steve play Kizaro
Sam play Blip
and I played Scav, the Vulturian with the dice rolling help of my four year old son.

I can't say I got off to a good start. I boldly walked away from my fortress with a massive force, leaving a small contingent behind for defense. My fortress got trashed by Blip and Cruz right away, leaving me without a means to generate new troops. In seeking revenge, Cruz destroyed the rest of my troops!

I REALLY wanted revenge now so I hung around his base until it was undefended, then rushed in to crush it!

I wandered the board gathering energy pods before returning to rebuild my base and cash in the energy pods for tons of troops.

Then Cruz, Blip, and I decided to join forces to destroy Eugene who had a massive army and tons of energy pods. Eugene had unwisely gotten greedy and tried to cross the water to zone 7, leaving his home undefended.

Scav the Vulturian

So I had two fortresses destroyed and I only needed one more for victory. The problem was that so did Blip and Cruz! The game stalled for a long time with everyone coming to everyone else's aid in defense so they wouldn't get their third victory.

Finally, I figured out how to break the stalemate. I wandered in the direction of Kizaro's already destroyed base. On my combat turn I then rebuilt the base with a card and attacked it from range with a special weapon! Since the fortress was undefended and nobody else expected the attack it was an easy win!

Scav the Vulturian, stood over the slain bodies and crushed fortresses of his opponents in victory!

Gaming Notes: Blokus #2

After my first taste of victory and having come so close to using all of my pieces, I wanted another try so I played my brother-in-law (Mike), Caleb my nephew, and my mother again. Since I trounced them the first game, surely I can do it again, right?

Blokus board game

This time I started by cutting a diagonal across the board. I did that until my mother and Mike conspired to cut me off so I doubled back toward Caleb. From my first game I got the idea of how to block so I threw in some good blocks along the way, effectively eliminating Caleb and Mike from the game. I all came down to my mother and I.

She was more cutthroat than I thought she could be. She viciously cut me off, leaving me to pick through the wreckage of the board in search for victory. Meanwhile, she easily sailed through the vast empty space she somehow had reserved for herself.

It looked like it was going to be a close finish when Caleb said, "Grandma, I see where you can use a bunch of pieces!" and proceeded to show her a path where she could infiltrate the area I had thought out of her reach. So, although it took two of them to do it, they did defeat me. Drat!