Bit of a gap since my last visit here, and things have come a long way!
The Necromunda RPG has fallen by the wayside somewhat, although I'm pretty happy with the work I've done on it, and the majority of it was finished. It's just a shame that I never got the finish the campaign the players were involved in, it sort of dried out a couple of sessions from the end!
Oh well, I'm sure we'll come back to it again at some point, it did prove to be a good deal of fun. It also acted as a great gateway drug into a real RPG; Dark Heresy!
I've only ever done one PnP RPG before, the Warhammer RPG, and it was a good laugh, but 40k has always been by biggest love. So with a growing interest in RPGs thanks to my work on the Necromunda RPG, I decided to look into Dark Heresy. A few months on and I've run a good number of sessions and have a goup that ranges between 3 and 6 members. They all seem to be having a good time, and I have only good things to say about the game!
On a seperate note, the Bank Holiday weekend saw me competing in another Backswording tournament (Uffington), and this time I actually won it! Kind of bewildering that I actually pulled it off, and I think I had a large amount of luck on my side through the competition! It was a hell of a lot of fun though, made all the more awesome by the face that the final was fought between my best mate Barrie and myself. A pretty good outcome in my eyes, and I'd have been stoked no matter which of us had won.
Thursday, 3 September 2009
Monday, 20 April 2009
RPG Coming Along Spiffingly!
I've not written anything in a while, so it's about time I mentioned how well the RPG has progressed. We've now had four games in the adventure and the players seem to be having a great time. The rules are pretty much set for now, and pretty stable. I'm still making the occasional modifications due to the odd spelling mistake, or rules mishap. A good sign is the number of people now playing. We have seven taking part (eight including my own character) and they all have their own good and bad points and have been fitting together well as a team.
Still early days in the grand scheme of things for the game, with some fun twists and turns planned for the players to face. Hopefully we'll manage to play it through to the end, and get to really crash test the rules.
Still early days in the grand scheme of things for the game, with some fun twists and turns planned for the players to face. Hopefully we'll manage to play it through to the end, and get to really crash test the rules.
Tuesday, 17 March 2009
Success! ...Mostly!
Well Saturday went rather well. The test worked quite well, with the players enjoying themselves for the most part. The only real exception was one players exception to excess stealth that the other players wanted to use! That's more down to party interaction that the actual gaming rules though.
As for the rules themselves they seemed to hold up quite well. A few things need to be changed to smooth everything out, but I'm pretty happy on the whole. The biggest test will be this Thursday though, when the adventure proper starts, and I'll have six eager gamers to please! It will also see just how well they can handle ranged combat, and working as a team whilst facing it.
Still deciding what my own character shall be, I figure as I'll be GMing most of the time, a support character would be wise, so the players themselves can focus on the action. More pondering is afoot!
As for the rules themselves they seemed to hold up quite well. A few things need to be changed to smooth everything out, but I'm pretty happy on the whole. The biggest test will be this Thursday though, when the adventure proper starts, and I'll have six eager gamers to please! It will also see just how well they can handle ranged combat, and working as a team whilst facing it.
Still deciding what my own character shall be, I figure as I'll be GMing most of the time, a support character would be wise, so the players themselves can focus on the action. More pondering is afoot!
Friday, 13 March 2009
Who am I?
I've also been pondering what character to play as in the RPG once it gets started. I wasn't originally going to be playing one, but a friend has offered to share the GM responsibilities, so I may well get a chace to have some of the fun too!
Currently I'm tempted by a Van Saar House Ganger (They're very good with weapons, but not necessarily the best at using them), or a Wyrd Telekinetic (Psyker who happens to be good at a range of things).
To start with the Van Saar had me, with his rang of friendly support abilities, and big guns I was very tempted. Now though I'm tempted more and more by the Wyrd. Partly because I think there may be a lack of Wyrds in the adventure, and partly just because he looks fun, and can be a good all-rounder.
This is all thanks to the three powers I'm currently considering for the long run: Force Field, Fists of Fury and Hail Storm.
Force Field is a useful power all-round as it allows the Wyrd to save himself, and friends from dammage. You get a 2" radius bubble that is pretty hard for the enemy to crack. Hail Storm is a pretty straight forward ranged power. It can be great (Three strength 6 shots that hit automatically) or it could be cack (a single strength 1 shot), either way it would probably be the first power I would pick as otherwise the Telekinetic wouldn't be doing much at the beginning of the adventure! Plus I'm considering Lucky Aura as a Minor Psychic power, which allows him to re-roll a single dice that effects him each turn. So I may be able to use it to improve the reliability of Hail Storm! Fists of Fury is one I intend to get later, it can turn the Wyrd into a real close combat powerhouse, more than doubleing his strength, and giving him a permanent weaponskill and attacks boost. First I'll get some skills to support that though!
I shall ponder though, should be fun whatever I go for!
Currently I'm tempted by a Van Saar House Ganger (They're very good with weapons, but not necessarily the best at using them), or a Wyrd Telekinetic (Psyker who happens to be good at a range of things).
To start with the Van Saar had me, with his rang of friendly support abilities, and big guns I was very tempted. Now though I'm tempted more and more by the Wyrd. Partly because I think there may be a lack of Wyrds in the adventure, and partly just because he looks fun, and can be a good all-rounder.
This is all thanks to the three powers I'm currently considering for the long run: Force Field, Fists of Fury and Hail Storm.
Force Field is a useful power all-round as it allows the Wyrd to save himself, and friends from dammage. You get a 2" radius bubble that is pretty hard for the enemy to crack. Hail Storm is a pretty straight forward ranged power. It can be great (Three strength 6 shots that hit automatically) or it could be cack (a single strength 1 shot), either way it would probably be the first power I would pick as otherwise the Telekinetic wouldn't be doing much at the beginning of the adventure! Plus I'm considering Lucky Aura as a Minor Psychic power, which allows him to re-roll a single dice that effects him each turn. So I may be able to use it to improve the reliability of Hail Storm! Fists of Fury is one I intend to get later, it can turn the Wyrd into a real close combat powerhouse, more than doubleing his strength, and giving him a permanent weaponskill and attacks boost. First I'll get some skills to support that though!
I shall ponder though, should be fun whatever I go for!
The Wonderful Land of Necromunda
Had a really great round of games last night. The Necromunda campaign is chipping along at a good rate, and everyone seems to be having a good laugh so far. It's got me really optimistic about the RPG, and really excited about getting it started and seein the players reactions.
Not much to tell on my gang front, I had a few games that through a bit of luck have seen my gang rating sky rocket thanks to a large influx of cash from missions, and last night a good quality Mung Vase. So, got myself a couple of extra Juves to help out along with a Clip Harness for my heavy with the heavy stubber, Photo Contacts/Visor for my Plasma Gun wielders, and a Wyrd Pyromaniac for giggles.
The Pyro didn't have the best of luck in his first game last night though, over the course of the game he suffered from Perils of the Warp Twice, the second one of which took him out of the game! So I only managed to get a couple of psychic powers out of him. Still, the powers he did manage to cast pinned an enemy heavy for a turn, and then sent a man out of action.
I'm looking forward to seeing how the Wyrd plays out actually. I think for the most part he'll be running off by himself, possibly with my lowest level Juve as support so he doesn't get stuffed completely. His Melta power is a pretty awesome ability, with a half decent chance of taking out anyone that gets close to him. His other, Throw Voice, is an interestnig little power that enables him to help people get up from pinning if he can see them and they are within 24". So not a bad set of powers really.
Not much to tell on my gang front, I had a few games that through a bit of luck have seen my gang rating sky rocket thanks to a large influx of cash from missions, and last night a good quality Mung Vase. So, got myself a couple of extra Juves to help out along with a Clip Harness for my heavy with the heavy stubber, Photo Contacts/Visor for my Plasma Gun wielders, and a Wyrd Pyromaniac for giggles.
The Pyro didn't have the best of luck in his first game last night though, over the course of the game he suffered from Perils of the Warp Twice, the second one of which took him out of the game! So I only managed to get a couple of psychic powers out of him. Still, the powers he did manage to cast pinned an enemy heavy for a turn, and then sent a man out of action.
I'm looking forward to seeing how the Wyrd plays out actually. I think for the most part he'll be running off by himself, possibly with my lowest level Juve as support so he doesn't get stuffed completely. His Melta power is a pretty awesome ability, with a half decent chance of taking out anyone that gets close to him. His other, Throw Voice, is an interestnig little power that enables him to help people get up from pinning if he can see them and they are within 24". So not a bad set of powers really.
Wednesday, 11 March 2009
Building An RPG
Having a lot of fun developing this RPG "expansion" to Necromunda still. I'm really hoping that it works, and that the players have fun. I think the core mechanics should work well as they're basically Necromunda, but with some extra bells and whistles strapped on.
So, I've added extra actions, altered the leveling process so that it's more in line with an RPG, expanded the rules so that players have a range of character types to choose between and have customization options at the start of a campaign to make their character their own. I've also added some extra weapons and pieces of equipment to give them some more variety outside of the standard game's elements.
The last couple of days have seen me working on an expanded skill set, so that players can get even more character for their creations, and also the first adventure they'll be able to play through. Hopefully that will be played this weekend, and the game will have it's first stress test. No doubt I'll have some real tweaking to do after that game!
So, I've added extra actions, altered the leveling process so that it's more in line with an RPG, expanded the rules so that players have a range of character types to choose between and have customization options at the start of a campaign to make their character their own. I've also added some extra weapons and pieces of equipment to give them some more variety outside of the standard game's elements.
The last couple of days have seen me working on an expanded skill set, so that players can get even more character for their creations, and also the first adventure they'll be able to play through. Hopefully that will be played this weekend, and the game will have it's first stress test. No doubt I'll have some real tweaking to do after that game!
Monday, 9 March 2009
Working away...
Been rather busy the past week or so, mostly with my work on the Necromunda RPG. It's a bit of a pet project of mine, where I'm basicly adapting the Necromunda rules for an RPG environment. Not a lot of changes are being made, mostly just some extra actions the players can take, more choice on skills and leveling changes etc. Hopefully I'll manage the first game this coming weeken, I'll be sure to report on how it goes!
Monday, 16 February 2009
+1 Luck!
Well, Saturday saw a nice game of Necromunda played. I had a good run of luck in that game, and sadly for James he had a bad run!
We used the hazardous conditions for the first time, and ended up with junk and detritus all over the table top, which cased all movement to be halved, pretty much causing both gangs to stick to the gantrys and walkways.
His gangers didn't seem to be able to hit much in the shooting phase, and the restricted movement meant there was only really one path for his more close combat oriented gang to take to get to me. A good bit of luck saw my Plasma Gun armed heavy down his leader, and pin one of his better gangers, whilst also causing his nearby heavy to flee, and the two hit gang members to be knocked from the gantry they were on and down into the refuse below. That single salvo of plasma pretty much caused his gang to collapse on that side.
My gang leader decided to try and cause a bit of trouble in the middle of the table, and took a shotgun blast to the chest that he was able to shrug off (2 wounds), but which did send him flying off the platform his was standing on and fall all the way to the bottom. Miraculously he was unscathed and merely lay at the bottom stunned by the impact.
With many fighters down or in danger of going down James opted to bottle at that stage, leaving me with 5 tasty pieces of loot, that my Guilder Contact teritory was kind enough to turn into even more cash, so the post game sequence really saw me rake in more money than ever before. Predictably the Mung Vase turned out to be utter trash though, as I rolled a 1 meaning it was completely worthless.
As for advances, it wasn't nearly as bad as the last few games have been. Not a great many advances (Thanks to all the small XP levels being soaked up by damned initiative advances!), but a couple were very nice. Bezza, one of my best shooters managed to become an Armourer, which has persuaded me to give him the Hotshot Power Pack that has been sitting in my stash (It's also tempting me to buy the one that my rare trade rolls turned up). And "Buckshot" Billy, probably my best ganger, became a specialist. Something that is especially welcome given that his has a good BS, good I, Crackshot and causes Fear!
So now I'm faced with some decisions on how to organise my special weapons. I'm tempted, thanks to the large cash injection I just received, to buy Mel (My current Plasma Gun Heavy) a sparkly Heavy Stubber, and pass the Plasma Gun onto Billy. However, part of me also wants to save some cash for a nice beefy Heavy Bolter for him!
I think for now I may just give Billy the spare Plasma Gun I have in my stash, and see how the next fight goes. As yet though, I've not fought anyone making use of either the Heavy Stubber or Heavy Bolter, and I could be at a disadvantage once this happens. So I think I'll see how the next fight goes, and once I have a bit of spare cash I'll buy Mell his new Heavy Stubber, as well as a Clip Harness so that he doesn't fall to his death if shot at!
We used the hazardous conditions for the first time, and ended up with junk and detritus all over the table top, which cased all movement to be halved, pretty much causing both gangs to stick to the gantrys and walkways.
His gangers didn't seem to be able to hit much in the shooting phase, and the restricted movement meant there was only really one path for his more close combat oriented gang to take to get to me. A good bit of luck saw my Plasma Gun armed heavy down his leader, and pin one of his better gangers, whilst also causing his nearby heavy to flee, and the two hit gang members to be knocked from the gantry they were on and down into the refuse below. That single salvo of plasma pretty much caused his gang to collapse on that side.
My gang leader decided to try and cause a bit of trouble in the middle of the table, and took a shotgun blast to the chest that he was able to shrug off (2 wounds), but which did send him flying off the platform his was standing on and fall all the way to the bottom. Miraculously he was unscathed and merely lay at the bottom stunned by the impact.
With many fighters down or in danger of going down James opted to bottle at that stage, leaving me with 5 tasty pieces of loot, that my Guilder Contact teritory was kind enough to turn into even more cash, so the post game sequence really saw me rake in more money than ever before. Predictably the Mung Vase turned out to be utter trash though, as I rolled a 1 meaning it was completely worthless.
As for advances, it wasn't nearly as bad as the last few games have been. Not a great many advances (Thanks to all the small XP levels being soaked up by damned initiative advances!), but a couple were very nice. Bezza, one of my best shooters managed to become an Armourer, which has persuaded me to give him the Hotshot Power Pack that has been sitting in my stash (It's also tempting me to buy the one that my rare trade rolls turned up). And "Buckshot" Billy, probably my best ganger, became a specialist. Something that is especially welcome given that his has a good BS, good I, Crackshot and causes Fear!
So now I'm faced with some decisions on how to organise my special weapons. I'm tempted, thanks to the large cash injection I just received, to buy Mel (My current Plasma Gun Heavy) a sparkly Heavy Stubber, and pass the Plasma Gun onto Billy. However, part of me also wants to save some cash for a nice beefy Heavy Bolter for him!
I think for now I may just give Billy the spare Plasma Gun I have in my stash, and see how the next fight goes. As yet though, I've not fought anyone making use of either the Heavy Stubber or Heavy Bolter, and I could be at a disadvantage once this happens. So I think I'll see how the next fight goes, and once I have a bit of spare cash I'll buy Mell his new Heavy Stubber, as well as a Clip Harness so that he doesn't fall to his death if shot at!
Monday, 9 February 2009
Darn It!
No good news for me as far as Necromunda is concerned! I had a couple of good games, one frustrating, and one a lot of fun, and got more junk out of it!
My first game this weekend was Hit and Run, with myself defending. From what I've read the Hit and Run missions aren't particularly balanced, and I think I found that out for myself on Saturday!
I was tasked with using four men to stop 6 from getting from one side of the table to another. I really should have just let him win though, as there was no incentive for me to win at all, past gaining experience by wounding him of course. I feel I shall have to come up with some house rules for the Hit and Run missions, as how they stand currently is a bit daft.
Still, on the whole things were enjoyable, and I actually got some use out of the ridiculous initiative advances my gang has been getting in the Gunfight I played. I had an interesting mix of good and bad luck however.
The Gunfight saw my Autogun/Hand Flamer initiative 5 ganger, and my blind in one eye, and Flamer wielding Heavy face a Delaque Heavy with a flamer, a Ganger with an Autogun and a Juve with Autopistol and knife. My guys held their nerve, and my Hand flamer armed ganger was able to outdraw everyone by miles, with my Heavy and his Juve drawing, and the two other Delaques coming in last. My flamers proved to be very unreliable however. The hand flamer hit two of them, but only wounded and resulted in a flesh wound. Whilst the Heavy only wounded one of the two he hit.
By the time the scrapping was over it ended with my Heavy facing his Juve. He'd passed his bottle check, but I decided to er on the side of caution considering his Juve was pretty good in combat, and despite it not being my turn my Heavy had run out of ammo after his first burst despite being a Weaponsmith!
That was a fun game, but both games saw me rather annoyed at my advances. My gang rating keeps going up as my guys level, but so far I've had very little that actually helps them fight anyone thanks to getting a hell of a lot of initiative boosts. Still, gotta keep hoping for a break sooner or later!
Necromunda is also distracting me from writing this sword guide I'm supposed to be working on, must get focused!
My first game this weekend was Hit and Run, with myself defending. From what I've read the Hit and Run missions aren't particularly balanced, and I think I found that out for myself on Saturday!
I was tasked with using four men to stop 6 from getting from one side of the table to another. I really should have just let him win though, as there was no incentive for me to win at all, past gaining experience by wounding him of course. I feel I shall have to come up with some house rules for the Hit and Run missions, as how they stand currently is a bit daft.
Still, on the whole things were enjoyable, and I actually got some use out of the ridiculous initiative advances my gang has been getting in the Gunfight I played. I had an interesting mix of good and bad luck however.
The Gunfight saw my Autogun/Hand Flamer initiative 5 ganger, and my blind in one eye, and Flamer wielding Heavy face a Delaque Heavy with a flamer, a Ganger with an Autogun and a Juve with Autopistol and knife. My guys held their nerve, and my Hand flamer armed ganger was able to outdraw everyone by miles, with my Heavy and his Juve drawing, and the two other Delaques coming in last. My flamers proved to be very unreliable however. The hand flamer hit two of them, but only wounded and resulted in a flesh wound. Whilst the Heavy only wounded one of the two he hit.
By the time the scrapping was over it ended with my Heavy facing his Juve. He'd passed his bottle check, but I decided to er on the side of caution considering his Juve was pretty good in combat, and despite it not being my turn my Heavy had run out of ammo after his first burst despite being a Weaponsmith!
That was a fun game, but both games saw me rather annoyed at my advances. My gang rating keeps going up as my guys level, but so far I've had very little that actually helps them fight anyone thanks to getting a hell of a lot of initiative boosts. Still, gotta keep hoping for a break sooner or later!
Necromunda is also distracting me from writing this sword guide I'm supposed to be working on, must get focused!
Wednesday, 4 February 2009
Pay Off!
Well that was an interesting game I had last night!
Another ganger died outright, fortunately this time it was just a Juve, and one that had already been reduced to toughness 2 thanks to a chest wound, so not a massive loss. I did manage to rake in a bit of extra cash though, thanks mainly to the Scavengers scenario we were playing, and the aid of my Guild Contact territory enableing me to get a little extra cash from the loot I managed to get.
Annoyingly one of my heavies suffered an eye injury and has had his balistic skill reduced. So I'm now praying for one of the other gangers to gain the Specialist skill so that I can put the Plasmagun in more capable hands!
My Chem Pit teritory really paid off this game too, enableing my most experienced ganger to now cause Fear. A great boost for one of my close-range shotgun specialists. Should make enemy close combat gangers pause for thought before charging him.
It was a fun game though, and really tense in places. Annoyingly there was alot of hiding and going into overwatch though, so I'm going to have to splash some cash on Frag Grenades to help me blow enemy gangers out of hiding in the next few games!
Another ganger died outright, fortunately this time it was just a Juve, and one that had already been reduced to toughness 2 thanks to a chest wound, so not a massive loss. I did manage to rake in a bit of extra cash though, thanks mainly to the Scavengers scenario we were playing, and the aid of my Guild Contact territory enableing me to get a little extra cash from the loot I managed to get.
Annoyingly one of my heavies suffered an eye injury and has had his balistic skill reduced. So I'm now praying for one of the other gangers to gain the Specialist skill so that I can put the Plasmagun in more capable hands!
My Chem Pit teritory really paid off this game too, enableing my most experienced ganger to now cause Fear. A great boost for one of my close-range shotgun specialists. Should make enemy close combat gangers pause for thought before charging him.
It was a fun game though, and really tense in places. Annoyingly there was alot of hiding and going into overwatch though, so I'm going to have to splash some cash on Frag Grenades to help me blow enemy gangers out of hiding in the next few games!
Tuesday, 3 February 2009
Suprising Bonuses
I was mildly suprised today, as I was re-reading some of the Necromunda rules to refamiliarise myself with them, and came accross an interesting property for one of the teritories I own in the campaign. I'd previously missed this for some reason, but my poorest teritory has an unexpected bonus associated with it.
It seems than when you send a ganger to work a Chem Pit he has a 40% chance to ending up horribly scared and as a result causes Fear. For my Van Saar gang, who are primarily based around shooting this is a welcome bonus from what I thought was a really bad set of territories! I'll be sure to have my shotgun armed gangers start working this teritory from now on in an effort to get themselves scared and scare off any enemy gangers who want to tackle them in close combat!
It seems than when you send a ganger to work a Chem Pit he has a 40% chance to ending up horribly scared and as a result causes Fear. For my Van Saar gang, who are primarily based around shooting this is a welcome bonus from what I thought was a really bad set of territories! I'll be sure to have my shotgun armed gangers start working this teritory from now on in an effort to get themselves scared and scare off any enemy gangers who want to tackle them in close combat!
Monday, 2 February 2009
Campaign Opening A Success!
Well Necromunda got off to a cracking start this weekend. I was expecting only 4 people to really get into the campaign, but was happily suprised that we ended up with 7!
The first few games went rather well too, Chris's Escher took a real beating in their (and his) first game in a gunfight, but got their own back in the following game by ambushing the Delaque who had thrashed them earlier. Those two games were really great to watch and cheer each player on.
Mine and Jame's game was a little harsher on both of us, with me loosing one of my gangers early on, and spending a chunk of cash to replace him. My poor starting teritories are going to hinder me somewhat in the long run too. So I reckon I'll look into grabbing a Ratskin scout for my next few games to give me the oportunity to bag some extra teritory.
People are having a few extra games in the week as well. Which is nice as it shows they're really getting into the swing of things, and already people are eager for more games next weekend.
This is promising to be a really enjoyable campaign!
The first few games went rather well too, Chris's Escher took a real beating in their (and his) first game in a gunfight, but got their own back in the following game by ambushing the Delaque who had thrashed them earlier. Those two games were really great to watch and cheer each player on.
Mine and Jame's game was a little harsher on both of us, with me loosing one of my gangers early on, and spending a chunk of cash to replace him. My poor starting teritories are going to hinder me somewhat in the long run too. So I reckon I'll look into grabbing a Ratskin scout for my next few games to give me the oportunity to bag some extra teritory.
People are having a few extra games in the week as well. Which is nice as it shows they're really getting into the swing of things, and already people are eager for more games next weekend.
This is promising to be a really enjoyable campaign!
Thursday, 29 January 2009
Necromunda
It's been a while since I last played this classic old GW game, and with a campaign looming on the horizon I'm really getting in the mood for some gang-on-gang action. It will certainly make a nice change of pace from the 2k 40k games I've played a lot of lately, especially as my gang will likely be no larger than one of the standard 40k units!
Last night saw me rooting around the house trying to dig out all the old Necromunda stuff I could find, and the result was a mixture of some disappointment and some joy. I was a bit let down that I couldn't find my old box of Necromunda bits anywhere. There's no doubt it still exits, but it's likely buried away under god only knows what! I was pretty chuffed that I found a few other bits though, including some old weapon sprues, and a Delaque Lascannon Heavy (Especially good seeing as I don't think he's particularly easy to get hold of these days).
Some more rooting around resulted in me digging out the first two issues of Necromunda Magazine too, so I've got the rules of Treacherous Conditions and a few other gems to hand, as well as the original two Necromunda rulebooks, the card rules summaries (Useful with the newbies we'll be teaching) and of course my box of old terrain!
So, looks like there will be some fun had round mine this weekend! With any luck, thanks to the relative speed of Necromunda games, we may even squeeze several into a single day.
Awesome
Last night saw me rooting around the house trying to dig out all the old Necromunda stuff I could find, and the result was a mixture of some disappointment and some joy. I was a bit let down that I couldn't find my old box of Necromunda bits anywhere. There's no doubt it still exits, but it's likely buried away under god only knows what! I was pretty chuffed that I found a few other bits though, including some old weapon sprues, and a Delaque Lascannon Heavy (Especially good seeing as I don't think he's particularly easy to get hold of these days).
Some more rooting around resulted in me digging out the first two issues of Necromunda Magazine too, so I've got the rules of Treacherous Conditions and a few other gems to hand, as well as the original two Necromunda rulebooks, the card rules summaries (Useful with the newbies we'll be teaching) and of course my box of old terrain!
So, looks like there will be some fun had round mine this weekend! With any luck, thanks to the relative speed of Necromunda games, we may even squeeze several into a single day.
Awesome
Tuesday, 27 January 2009
Bish, Bash, Bosh
Well, what a night! Backsword practice was short tonight, but for good reason. The lesson was cut into by quite a bit as filming was being done. I did get some quality sparing in though, the most enjoyable of which was with my instructor. A lot of fun, and it finished with some enjoyable grappling. I nearly managed to land a close-range thrust to his face, but I foolishly paused, and was rightly floored!
...my mortuary has a few nasty dents in it though as a result, and the knuckle bar has a distinct kink in it! Still, at least it wasn't my fingers!
...my mortuary has a few nasty dents in it though as a result, and the knuckle bar has a distinct kink in it! Still, at least it wasn't my fingers!
Tuesday, 13 January 2009
Local Zombies for Local People
Local Zombies for Local People
I love zombie movies. My brother loves zombie movies. My friends love zombie movies. So watching the Zombie Diaries, which is set in and around very near to where I live was quite an intriguing proposition. The idea is pretty sound, take your standard zombie stuff and have it filmed in a Blair Witch fashion so that you feel more in the action. It didn't quite work for me though. Credit goes to the folks who did a lot of good with what I can only guess was a small budget, but the film just falls a bit flat. The acting in some places is good, but is really forced and unnatural in others. The zombie also never really feel like a threat in this film, which is wierd seeing as some of the cast are killed by them. Anyone who dies to a zombie in this film just seems like so much more of an idiot than in other zombie films I've seen. Another problem is the characters, I didn't really give a monkeys about any of them. None of them apealed to me on any level, which didn't really help me bond with the film sadly.
The really offputting though has to be the setting. At first glance having the zombie film set locally opens it up to the posibility of exploring all the "what if" scenarios zombie movie fans run through their heads. Sadly though, this didn't work for me thanks to them ignoring what I KNEW was local. At one point the cast stop off at a picnic site (Windmill Hill) so that they can overlook a nearby town before heading into it. Problem is that I know for a fact that there is another town mere metres behind them (It's the town they film in later on), and a pub only just out of shot. It's annoying as it had me yelling at the screen for them to be sensible. The same can be said for the small food store they go to, just down the road is are a Morrisons, an Iceland, Argos, all sorts of useful places! And just out of town a little way you've got a Halfords, a Sainsburys and a little further a Tesco!
It's a shame, as the idea of a local zombie film is a pretty interesting one, and could be a lot of fun for local zombie fans to watch, but the way the film ignors the local layout just ruined things for me.
I love zombie movies. My brother loves zombie movies. My friends love zombie movies. So watching the Zombie Diaries, which is set in and around very near to where I live was quite an intriguing proposition. The idea is pretty sound, take your standard zombie stuff and have it filmed in a Blair Witch fashion so that you feel more in the action. It didn't quite work for me though. Credit goes to the folks who did a lot of good with what I can only guess was a small budget, but the film just falls a bit flat. The acting in some places is good, but is really forced and unnatural in others. The zombie also never really feel like a threat in this film, which is wierd seeing as some of the cast are killed by them. Anyone who dies to a zombie in this film just seems like so much more of an idiot than in other zombie films I've seen. Another problem is the characters, I didn't really give a monkeys about any of them. None of them apealed to me on any level, which didn't really help me bond with the film sadly.
The really offputting though has to be the setting. At first glance having the zombie film set locally opens it up to the posibility of exploring all the "what if" scenarios zombie movie fans run through their heads. Sadly though, this didn't work for me thanks to them ignoring what I KNEW was local. At one point the cast stop off at a picnic site (Windmill Hill) so that they can overlook a nearby town before heading into it. Problem is that I know for a fact that there is another town mere metres behind them (It's the town they film in later on), and a pub only just out of shot. It's annoying as it had me yelling at the screen for them to be sensible. The same can be said for the small food store they go to, just down the road is are a Morrisons, an Iceland, Argos, all sorts of useful places! And just out of town a little way you've got a Halfords, a Sainsburys and a little further a Tesco!
It's a shame, as the idea of a local zombie film is a pretty interesting one, and could be a lot of fun for local zombie fans to watch, but the way the film ignors the local layout just ruined things for me.
Monday, 12 January 2009
More Downright Blows
After a bit more research, I've found some easily referenced text for Silver's works, and I've done a search for "down right" and "downright". Here they are:
Paradoxes of Defence:
"Surely, I think a down right fellow, that never came in school, using such skill as nature yielded out of his courage, strength, and agility, with good downright blows and thrust among, as shall best frame in his hands, should put one of these imperfect scholars greatly to his shifts."
"Whereby it grew to a common speech among the countrymen "Bring me to a fencer, I will bring him out of his fence tricks with down right blows. I will make him forget his fence tricks, I will warrant him."
Brief Instructions:
"In this forehand ward keep your distance, & take heed that he deceives you not with the downright blow at your head out of his open fight, for being within distance the swift motion of the hand may deceive your eye, because you know not by which side of your sword his blow will come."
Now, obviously that stuffs my theory of the editor changing the text as there is only one mention of a "downright" blow in Brief Instructions, and no mention of a "down right blow", whilst Paradoxes has both and in rather strange places.
I think the best evidence for the two versions of downright being the same though is the one my instructor gave to me: the first mention of "down right" that Silver makes.
"a down right fellow"
Now presumably Silver wasn't talking about a man that is down and from the right.....unless he meant someone who is depressed and right-wing?
Thank you, and goodnight.
Paradoxes of Defence:
"Surely, I think a down right fellow, that never came in school, using such skill as nature yielded out of his courage, strength, and agility, with good downright blows and thrust among, as shall best frame in his hands, should put one of these imperfect scholars greatly to his shifts."
"Whereby it grew to a common speech among the countrymen "Bring me to a fencer, I will bring him out of his fence tricks with down right blows. I will make him forget his fence tricks, I will warrant him."
Brief Instructions:
"In this forehand ward keep your distance, & take heed that he deceives you not with the downright blow at your head out of his open fight, for being within distance the swift motion of the hand may deceive your eye, because you know not by which side of your sword his blow will come."
Now, obviously that stuffs my theory of the editor changing the text as there is only one mention of a "downright" blow in Brief Instructions, and no mention of a "down right blow", whilst Paradoxes has both and in rather strange places.
I think the best evidence for the two versions of downright being the same though is the one my instructor gave to me: the first mention of "down right" that Silver makes.
"a down right fellow"
Now presumably Silver wasn't talking about a man that is down and from the right.....unless he meant someone who is depressed and right-wing?
Thank you, and goodnight.
New Mortuary Hilt
Maker: Armour ClassPrice: £150
Blade Length: 34"
Total Length: 41"
BOP: 4"
This is my lovely new Mortuary hilted backsword. It's a semi-custom piece from Armour Class in Scotland. So far it's only seen some light use with some very casual loose play, but has held up well with only the smallest amount of damage to the blade, especially when it's compared to the initial damage my cheaper Kasto bastard sword took on it's first use. The weight is just about perfect, although the balance I'm not sure on. It's further up the blade than my other swords, and you can feel the extra weight in the tip, this feels quite nice when swinging the sword though as it aids the swords momentum when swinging. The blueing on the basket, although not constant still has a very nice look to it.
All things considered I'm very happy with the sword, and look forward to really putting it through it's paces in the near future, especially through loose play, but also some drilling for some real impact to see how the blade stands up to it.
Downright Blows
As part of my learning backsword, I've been reading George Silver's work for myself, which is a bit tricky seeing as it's written in what looks like very old English shorthand at a time before the dictionary was invented! It's interesting though, and it's given me a great new respect for my backsword teacher, and helped me understand his reasons for teaching things the way he does.
Something I've seen interpreted differently by other people who have studied Silver's works has been the "down right blow". Some people interpret this as a blow from Open Fight that comes down and from the right. I've even seen evedence for it presented in the form of another source that was translated from another language. In this source a description for a blow coming down and from the right was translated into English as "down right blow". Now my teacher interprets a down right blow, to be a "downright blow", so soemthing that is strong and forcefull. I've agreed with him because it makes sense to me, but I personally always attach a level of doubt to something until I've prooved it for myself.
Well last night I did. I was reading through Silver's Brief Instructions, and came across a section where he mentions facing Open Fight with Variable Fight. In that section he says to be wary when facing Open Fight as you don't know which side of your sword his blows will come from. Pretty definitive to me.
For me thats proof enough, but I do wonder why Silver says both "down right blow" and "downright blow". I've a theory for why this is, but I need to read more to see if it could be true or not.
The thing is, that all through Paradoxes of Defence I think Silver says "down right", and so far in Brief Instructions, the only mention I've found is "downright". I've a feeling that Silver meant "downright" to be the case in both, but that Paradoxes was edited and as this was a time before dictionaries the word "downright" was changed to be printed as "down right". Thats my theory at least, and I've no idea if people at the time would have actually seen a difference between the two. I'd find it odd if he was using two different terms that sound identical when said allowed though, would just cause confusion if it was the case.
I'll be more firm in my resoning if Silver never uses "down right" in his Brief Instructions, and only ever uses "downright". We shall see!
It does make me feel great noticing these things though!
P.S. Got a lovely new sword just after Christmas! I'll be sure to pop a nice review up as soon as I've taken a few pretty pictures.
Something I've seen interpreted differently by other people who have studied Silver's works has been the "down right blow". Some people interpret this as a blow from Open Fight that comes down and from the right. I've even seen evedence for it presented in the form of another source that was translated from another language. In this source a description for a blow coming down and from the right was translated into English as "down right blow". Now my teacher interprets a down right blow, to be a "downright blow", so soemthing that is strong and forcefull. I've agreed with him because it makes sense to me, but I personally always attach a level of doubt to something until I've prooved it for myself.
Well last night I did. I was reading through Silver's Brief Instructions, and came across a section where he mentions facing Open Fight with Variable Fight. In that section he says to be wary when facing Open Fight as you don't know which side of your sword his blows will come from. Pretty definitive to me.
For me thats proof enough, but I do wonder why Silver says both "down right blow" and "downright blow". I've a theory for why this is, but I need to read more to see if it could be true or not.
The thing is, that all through Paradoxes of Defence I think Silver says "down right", and so far in Brief Instructions, the only mention I've found is "downright". I've a feeling that Silver meant "downright" to be the case in both, but that Paradoxes was edited and as this was a time before dictionaries the word "downright" was changed to be printed as "down right". Thats my theory at least, and I've no idea if people at the time would have actually seen a difference between the two. I'd find it odd if he was using two different terms that sound identical when said allowed though, would just cause confusion if it was the case.
I'll be more firm in my resoning if Silver never uses "down right" in his Brief Instructions, and only ever uses "downright". We shall see!
It does make me feel great noticing these things though!
P.S. Got a lovely new sword just after Christmas! I'll be sure to pop a nice review up as soon as I've taken a few pretty pictures.
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