Top Ten One-Eyed Badasses

   It's been a while since I did a Top Ten, and this one just struck me as odd but fun. Therefore, I present to you all a list of my favorite ten one-eyed tough hombres. And one mujer. I'm also noticing that there is a preponderance of left eye patches. Wonder what that's all about?

10. Comte de Rocheforte

   We start with a classic, Alexander Dumas's Comte de Rocheforte, agent of the Cardinal, who lost his eye to D'Artagnan's father. He's a tough bastard even in all that lace. Which takes a whole 'nother level of badass to pull off.

9. Colonel Clauss von Stauffenberg

  The only way Tom Cruise could make this list would be because he tried to blow up Hitler. He missed, but it is still a badass way to go down. Plus, this guy actually existed (well, sort of).

8. Captain Francesca "Franky" Cook

   The only person on this list who could pull off the leather catsuit uniform look. Yeah, Angelina Jolie is crazy (although it seems to be calming a bit), but she looks badass in this. Plus, the movie is just a lot of pulp action fun.

7. General Chang

   Forget the movie (please - it was awful). This Klingon warmonger had the bloody thing is bolted on. If that doesn't scream "I'm a badass - don't screw with me!" I don't know what does.

6. Odin, the All Father

   Recently portrayed on film by Anthony Hopkins (aka Hannibal Lecter), according to Norse sagas Odin gave up his eye in order to receive wisdom from Mimir's Well. He also hung himself on a tree for nine days. All of that, and he's Thor's daddy. Which is pretty badass.

5. Emilio Largo

   James Bond's adversary in Thunderball. He collects the Golden Grotto shark. The most vicious, the most deadly. He has a badass yacht, complete with underwater lights, a submarine bay, and a breakaway hydrofoil escape pod. Plus, he scored Domino, until Bond came along and swept her away.

4. The Governor

   He's crazy with a capital CRA. But, he lived alone in the zombie-infested wilds of Georgia for the better part of a year after Rick and his friends kicked the crap out of Woodbury's misguided attempt to take the prison. Homicidal, megalomaniacal... he's no Darryl Dixon, but he's still pretty badass.

3. Nick Fury

   That ain't no Sam Jackson - that's the Real Deal. This guy led the Howling Commandos against the Nazis and still looks good 60+ years later. Did he sneak a little of that Super Soldier Serum?

2. Snake Plissken

   Kurt Russell must save the President in the ruins of New York. Even though he doesn't give a *@!# about the President. He's so badass, Chuck Norris would think twice about it. Forget Escape from LA. This was the real Snake Plissken.

1. Rooster Cogburn

"Fill your hands, you son of a bitch!"

   Best character John Wayne ever had. Forget the remake, even though it was closer to the book. This fat old man could serve papers on Snake Plissken.

1. Luftpanzer Regiment GEVs

   I finished up a full squadron of nine Paneuropean GEVs yesterday, took some snaps this morning. And here they are, the 1.Luftpanzer Regiment's Squadron 1. Equipped with the Paneuropean Galahad-class (the Luftpanzer IIIc in Bundeswehr terminology), the 1.Luftpanzer rides into battle at high speed, guns blazing in a glorious death-ride like the hussars of olden days.

All nine, in road column formation.

National flag symbol on the port side.

Modeled crossing a stream. This one is my favorite.

I think I might add a bit of 'spray' coming from the edges of the skirt.

Of course, I screwed up the Paneuro helmet on this one.

Needs a re-paint on that.

A better depiction of the Paneuropean Federation logo.

The unit and Ogre stats are on the rear label.

More Arkham Horror...

   My sons and I took advantage of the unexpected day off from school today and played another game of Arkham Horror. Our second attempt to stop That Which Man Was Not Meant To Know was successful! And the game went much more smoothly this time, with one game under our belt.

   This time around, we went up against the Grand Old Thing Itself, Great Cthulhu! He got close to waking up, too. One bad thing about facing this particular Elder God is that everyone playing has both their primary stats (Stamina and Sanity) reduced by one. I played the Researcher, Greyson was the Private Investigator, and Dane reprised his role as the good Doctor.

   I sealed a gate in the Woods, which turned out to be very helpful in keeping the Great One slumbering. Several more cards were drawn that would have poured forth gates or monsters into the sleepy Massachusetts town had that site not been permanently sealed.

   The game went very well until what looked like the last turn. We had five gates sealed, and only needed one more to save the day. My researcher sat poised to re-emerge from the Great City of Ceanos, seal the gate, and win the game. Then, a minor disaster struck: the Mythos card for the turn before I could emerge from the portal created a new environmental condition: no gates could be sealed while it continued. And if I were to leave the location of the gate, then I would have to go back through the gate all over again before I could seal it. All we could do was to wait, and hope, as Cthulhu crept ever closer to wakefulness...

   Luckily, we finally turned over a new environmental condition when the Ancient One was one turn away from arising. That allowed me to close the gate, seal it permanently, and end the game.

   It's a fun game, but it does take a while, especially with only three players. I'm thinking I might want to get an expansion after one or two more games.

Welcome to the Gun Show!

"UBIQUE"

   With the completion of two more guns, I now have a usable battery of 25-pdrs for my 8th Army forces. Considering how good British guns are, it is inexcusable that I have tarried so long in putting together my forces. The Royal Regiment of Artillery has arrived.

A truck. Not very glamorous.

The guns. Much more exciting.

The camouflage overhead netting is an experiment.

Closeup of the 25-pdr.

And from the rear, showing the ammunition trailer.

The rear of the camouflaged gun.

Note the yellow-painted shells. That indicated HE shells.

Side view of the netted gun.

   Let me know what you think about the netted gun. I can go back and add it to the other guns if it proves popular. Maybe that's a poll for next week/month.

Cold and Bored in Austin, Texas

   The memsahib and I drove up to Austin last night so that she could attend a continuing education seminar for windstorm engineering. Almost ran off the road a couple of times thanks to the ice. Did see three cars in the ditch, but everyone already had help from folks with flashing lights on the roof of their cars/trucks, so we kept on. had to stop and break the ice off of the windshield wipers so we could see to drive. Truly, not fun. This is a big part of the reason I would never consider moving to any Northern state, like, say, Oklahoma, Tennessee, etc. Too cold. North of there is right out.


   So it is cold. And at 0845, there is not much to do. So I am sitting in the hotel lobby business area (Hilton Garden Inn Downtown - not a bad place, but pricey), checking out TMP and blog-griping. I think after 10 or 11 I will go over to The Dragon's Lair, or Half-Price Books, or Great Hall Games (or all three - I have until about 1700).


   Blah blah blah. Thanks for listening. We now return you to our regularly scheduled gaming related stuff.


   Don't forget to vote on the Ogre Poll, if you play.