Post-Apocalypse GURPS

Alright, new update on the GURPS gaming with my sons. The two Wolf brothers are still exploring the Camden County Mall, and have made their way about a third of the way through it. They have searched through Radio Shack, and Camper's Outlet, and a variety of other stores. They were attacked by multiple swarms of rats at the Dogs and Such, which required them to spend the better part of three weeks recuperating, thanks to the infection one contracted and the crippling damage to the leg of the younger brother. though still limping, he is slowly improving...

Today they explored another couple of stores, including Appliance Alley. In the backroom of the Appliance Alley they found a skeleton in a store smock, its leg smashed and trapped under a dishwasher. The smock had a nametag: Earl. Once they distrubed the skeletal remains, the temperature of the room dropped from a chilly 50 degrees down to just above freezing. A glowing image, an apparition of a man with a huge 'stache grew up out of the remains and spoke to them. Dakota was startled, but recovered easily. Victor, on the other hand, was quite frightened by the ghostly apparition. Earl said this:

"My name is Earl. I had a list of tasks that I had to complete in my lifetime. A list of all the bad things I did to people. Karma punished me for those bad things, and I had to make it right for all of them. But I died. Now I am stuck here, until I can present my list to Karma, or I can never rest. And if I can't rest, neither will you. When I died, I had several friends with me, and my brother. Maybe one of them took the list. Bring me the list, or I'll haunt you forever."

So now they have a quest to complete beyond just looting the mall, which is only going so-so anyway.

Guess what show we have been watching a lot of lately? Man, that Catalina can change my towels any day.

Toys from Historicon, Part 1

Hoo boy, this is a long list. I thought I would present it so that folks who have never been to a Historicon could see what all is available for sale there. Naturally, there is more stuff, too, like hot wire foam cutters, tons of terrain options, books, videos, t-shirts... you name it. But this is what I bought for myself:

Tokens/Markers (all from Litko):

• Charge token (red) x10
• Routed token (red) x10
• Mini wound marker x10
• Micro fire marker x10
• Chicken tokens x5 (freebie)
• WTF token (freebie)
• Epic Fail token (freebie)

Bases (trying some things out, plus stocking up a bit):

• 1 pint box of misc. 3mm thick MDF bases from GF9 ($10 for about 120)
• 1 pkg 20mm square metal bases from Wargames Accessories
• 25 Small FOW plywood bases (3mm) by Litko
• 1 pkg FOW compatible bases with beveled lip for labeling (BA109) Battlefield Accessories

6mm Sci-fi (for Battletech and just, well, because...)

• 5x Utility APCs (Scotia)
• 5x Large Grav APCs (Scotia)
• 48x Battle armor troopers (Scotia)
• 5x Tracked Ammunition Carriers (Future Wars by CMD)
• 5x Police Van (CMD)
• 2x AV72 Attack VTOL (CMD)
• 3x GEV, Pan-Euro Lights, I think (Ogre)

6mm Colonial/VSF (for bigger scale battles, all by Heroics and Ros)

• FPW Prussian Artillery, 1 battery's worth
• FPW Prussian Gun Teams (limbers), 2 battery worth
• FPW Jaegers advancing, 2 battalions worth
• FPW Prussian Uhlans, 1-2 regiments
• FPW Prussian Line Marching, 2 battalions
• Colonial Mahdist Spearmen (to be Martians), 2 Battalions
• Colonial Mahdist Ansar Infantry (Martians), 2 Battalions
• Colonial Mahdist Artillery (Martians), at least 1 battery, maybe 2
• 4x WWI Fokker E.III "Eindecker" airplane
• 2 each: MkIV tank, Renault FT-17, St. Charmond WWI tanks

25mm VSF:

• Eureka Minis' Stukasaurus x3
• Eureka Minis' Feldgendarme w/ raptors
• Empress Minis Zulu War British, infantry x8
• Empress Minis Zulu Brits, ensigns x4
• Empress minis Zulu British 7 pdr gun (aiming crew) x1
• Parroom Station: Skyrunners Scudder with racing team (on order) x1
• Parroom Station: Masked Minions with Diabolical Weapon x5
• Parroom Station: City Dweller Martian Artillery Crew
• Games Workshop: 8 Saurus with spears (old, metal, one is Temple Guard)
• Reaper Dark Heaven line Mushroom Men (2 in the pack, need 4 more packs)

15mm VSF:

• Blue Moon Manufacturing's Twanax Horde x6 (1 pkg, need at least one more - painting them as plant men/swamp monsters for Venus's mad genius Doctor Vardu)
• Blue Moon's Fereen on Goranax x2 (1 pkg)
• Chariot Miniatures lizardman on pterosaur (LIZ4) x1 - may want more of these...
• 3x Battletech 'clickies' for war walkers: Uller, Firestarter and Mining Mech Mk II MOD

2mm VSF (Sky Galleons of Mars/Aeronef):

• 1x Zeppelin (LZ41)
• 2x "Skylord" kites
• 2x "Whisperdeath" kites
• 2x "Hullcutter" screw galley
• 2x "Skyrunner" screw galley
• 3x "Endtime" screw galley
• 2x an unknown model screw galley, very small.
• 1x "Smallbird"
• 1x IJN Mikasa armed transport
• 1x Large Merchant kite
• 1x USS Ranger
• 10x Litko 1" hex flying bases with pegs of varying heights. (need more, and bigger ones)

Terrain:

• 16 pieces resin stockade by Acheson Creations
• 3x GW forcewall pylons (from Assault on Black Rock - I want more if you have any...)
• 2x Cthulhu statuettes (maybe 25mm?)
• 1 steam engine (25mm, or HUGE 15mm)
• 6mm Hedges
• 6mm walls (TimeCast)
• 6mm railroad track (Les batiments, bought at I-94 Enterprises)
• 15mm ACW tents (x6) by JR Miniatures

Misc:

• 3x 1/144(?) WW2 puzzle planes (2 Pfeils and a Japanese pusher prop)
• 25mm "Not" TARDIS by MBA
• A few random bits for the bit box.
• The free swag I mentioned before

I also have a list of stuff I bought for other people who couldn't go. I'll mention that in another post. Some of this stuff is going to be 'surplus to the needs of the service' as they say, and will be Game it Forward-ed in the near-ish future.

I hope my wife doesn't read this...

Historicon Swag Report

   I am dividing the posts on Historicon between this blog and Victoria's Boys in Red so that I don't bog down either one too badly and so that I get a a little more cross-pollination. Bear with me.

   This post is about the free "swag bag" goodies given out this year. I bought a ton of stuff (well, about 20 lbs, actually), so the purchases will be dealt with in seperate, more organized posts.

  The contents of the bag:

• A CD-Rom game disk for a MMO game: "World of Tanks"
• A bonus card to get an extra tank (M3 Sherman) in the MMO
• A plastic tank (1/144, I think), a Tiger I think, but the package was labeled in Japanese so I don't know for sure.
• A sprue of Perry's plastic 1812-1815 dismounted dragoons (2 figures)
• A sprue of 13 Warlord Games "Pike and Shotte" infantry.
• A copy of the Civil War Times magazine, (Oct '09)

  Not a bad haul, really. though I don't need the figures. They will be offered up soon on Gmae it Forward. You know the drill: First come, First Served. Just be sure to use them!

   More to come!

Heading to Historicon...

I'll be attending North America's big historical minis convention this weekend. There was a lot of doubt about if I was going to be able to attend this year, but... by putting off my kid's braces and ignoring the dog's vet needs (just kidding!) I can manage to attend! Not with a huge load of spending money, sadly, but hey, at least I'll get to play!

I will be taking my mini along as well, and the digital camera, so look for updates while I am there (assuming I can get a wi-fi connection). If anyone has photo requests, please send them to me and I will see what I can do. I know sometimes I hesitate to buy a mini because I have never seen it - I'll try to hook you up with a photo or two if I can!

Very excited about this trip, as I will be going alone for the first time. That means no one to keep an eye on for a change. I love my boys, but it can restrict your gaming schedule and shopping when they are along.

It may also be the last time I attend for some years. We are trying to save up for a big vacation in 2012 (as in, London, baby!) so justifying the $1K it costs me to go will be tough. My wife thinks I am nuts to spend that kind of money on a hobby, but then I refer her to the neighbors who deer hunt, fish, etc. Do you have any idea how much that costs these days? $1K for a rifle on a lease, easy. Plus corn, stands, feeders, etc. And fishing? Sheesh, a boat!?! Just storing one of those for a year would pay for this trip, much less the payments on it... And if she still gets up about the cost, I point out how much her trips to the nail salon run per month and multiply it by 12... You get the picture!

Well, gotta get packing! I only have 46 hours until my plane leaves!

GURPS! Excuse me!

I always thougt the name of Steve Jackson Games's Generic Universal Roleplaying System (aka GURPS)sounded like a rude noise one might make after eating a rather large meal. But the system itself has always sort of appealed to me, for some reason. Maybe it was early conditioning: I bought Man-to-Man, the GURPS combat system on the day it was released, ahead of the remainder of the game. I was 13.

A friend of mine and I toyed with GURPS off and on for years. I collected books, then shelved them, then got back to it, then sold some on eBay, then bought some back on eBay... you know the way that works, I am sure. Recently, I brought it back out. The reason: my sons. They wanted to play a post-apocalyptic game. I didn't want to do anything as gritty as most of those games are with my 14 and 11 year olds. So I decided a generic system might work well. GURPS, here we come!

So far, they have made characters. They are brothers, and the storyline we built (all three of us) for them is pretty great. I'll share it with you in another post, if you are interested. We have played out one short combat and escape scene, and they have found themselves in some sort of shopping center, buried in a landslide and thus, fairly well preserved in the hundred plus years since the Great Dying Time.

Its been fun, but yet another example of the Scattergun approach...