Animation Round up Week 15

Animation round up is here now as it’s the first one some of the airing dates may be a ,little spread out and not be a proper week but we can sort the out when I catch up and speed up production of these.

Edit I half finished this before going away for holiday and only after I got back managed to finish this so its way later then it was meant to be.

Lets start with the shows this week:

Guardians of the Galaxy season 1 episode 16 We Are the World Tree March 27th.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles season 4 episode 10 Trans-Dimensional Turtles. March 27th

My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic season 6 Episodes 1+2 “The Crystalling” parts one and two. March 26^th

So that’s what were working with so far and I know a lot of people will have just said sod it I’m not hanging around for any Pony crap and while I understand please try to not let any preconceptions scare you off.

So to go easy on you lets begin with Guardians of the Galaxy or GoG for short.

It’s a mixed series which I have usually enjoyed but often seems to lose it self and wanders down annoying cartoon stereo-type filler crap. (baseball and cowboy episodes urgh) But this week it continues and possible ends the second arc of the series so far.

The first arc being the breadcrumb trail for the Cosmic Seed which was dragged on too long hence the annoying filler crap. And the second arc in the Spartax arc where the group s based in the Spartax empire with Peter being part of the royal family.

The episode is focused on the group (minis Peter) being banished from Spartax and a heist to enter Asgard and steal the Cosmic Seed. This is a nice pay off to Peter’s and the crews interactions with Emperor J’son (Peters father) and the over all politics between the galaxies superpowers namely Thor’s distrust of Spartax.

If this is the end of the second arc I am hopeful that the producers have learnt when to not drag something on too long and are ready to keep a meaningful pace to the overall story and are building up to a good ending for the season.

Next is The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles or Tmnt for short.

Ah pure fan service of the best kind. While technically a filler or breather episode it’s going to be high up on people best episode of the season list and it’s easy to see why.

Like a fair number of the fanbase my first experience of Tmnt was the 80’s cartoon and films. And this brought back all the memories of that series and how different it was.

Like Turtles Forever a 25^th anniversary film this episode features three different incarnations of the Turtles the 2012 version the 1987 cartoon and very briefly the 1984 mirage Comic version.

Sadly no 2003 turtles but I believe there is some legal issues with syndication which prevented them from joining in. And honestly I feel it was for the best, as much as seeing all the Turtles together would be great in a single episode there is just not enough time. I mean the original 1984 comic turtles are hardly in it at all and most of the focus is on the interaction of the 1987 and 2012 versions.

This works as they have the most in common and the 1987 Turtles are given equal amounts of mockery for their childish antics and moments of badassness.

The episode also features some great character interactions between the 2012 turtles and Master Splinter (who is currently dead in the Turtles timeline but not in the current one due to time travel and oh look I’ve gone cross eyed.) Which had been build and hinted at with Leo’s obsession/coping mechanic of visiting hologram splinter too much. And the very quick flash of Leo imagining Shredder stabbing Splinter again really well done.

The only question this episode leaves me with is this.

Are the 1987 turtles dead now? Did Tiger-claw kill them on his way back from their dimension?

And finally the pony discussion.

I was very mixed with the ending of the last session. Mostly over Starlight Glimmer. The session opening deals with part of my original problem with her. Mainly that she was so infrequent and by now the role of Anti Twilight Sparkle/ Evil Twilight Sparkle is over used. ( with The Great and Powerful Trixie and sunset Shimmer both already for fill that role and having a redemption arc.) That she would just be mostly forgotten after her redemption.

This is not so as she has almost become a 6^th ranger to the main cast or so it seems with how much screen time and development she got these two episodes.

That said I still dislike how she was somehow powerful and smart enough to counter everything Twilight could throw at her. Yet now seems weaker then when she was first shown.

I am coming around to her but she still feels like a poor man’s Sunset Shimmer.

Everything else worked great. Spike being a mentor and confidant to Starlight was wonderful, showing his own growth. Using the Crystal Empire was a great choice as that is where he shines the most. And helps Starlight not be too involved in the mane 6’s interactions but still in the core cast.

The Alicorn baby was predictable but fun non the less and the babies having uncontrollable powers idea was planted with the Cupcake twins so it worked well.

No song was an interesting choice as most session openings have some but it feel any songs would have just gotten in the way and eaten up time and development that was better served as it was.

The reunion between Starlight and Sunburst was again predictable but again nice and the flash backs showing that Sunburst had the knowledge but Starlight actually had much more power and once shown what to do could easily do much more then Sunburst could. This showed why sunburst went to unicorn school and not starlight. It also worked well in explaining some of how Starlight could do half the stuff she did last session. (with her modifying an already existing spell meaning she can’t or doesn’t have the confidence to do something new but can take what is already there and add to it)

More of that and I will warm up to Starlight more.

The other characters were given enough to do to be interesting but not enough to be epically note worthy. They all got a moment to shine so I don’t feel they were wasted but it really was a Starlight episode.

If the rest of the session plays out like I hope it should be a great one. The only problems I can see is if they either over play Starlight which detracts from the rest of the mane 6. Or they underutilise Starlight and she is only involved in the beginning and end like last session which as I said is a waste and makes the character cheap.

Sluggaz week 1

Tomb kings Ushabti my first set for painting. (I will try to include some photos with this post to show you my very piss poor work.) I’m going for a golden look on the armour. A leather look on the skirts with  obsidian black for the skin and a metallic/ stony look for the weapons. As you can see early days so far.

Out of all the old (while I was in college, thats UK college so USA high school) Tomb kings units I loved the look of the Ushabti the most. Giant statues of the Nehekharn pantheon (read ancient Egyptian gods0) that are infused with the soul of a great warrior and come to life once more , hefting massive blades to crush those that intrude in the sacred home land.

And I believe Games Workshop agreed with me as when I started looking at Warhammer stuff again the Tomb kings army list has suddenly become full of giant constructs and the like.

Necropolis Knights are undead riding Giant snake statues that can bury under ground and surprise attack with massive spears and venomous bites

Sepulchral Stalkers are monstrous hybrid statues with a snake tail and a horrific humanoid body and head that again can bury underground and have a medusa like stare attack.

And of course the Daddy of the Tomb kings Constructs the Warsphinx / Necrosphinx which are almost the same model but with the Warsphinx having a carriage on its back so it can take people on its back to wreck stuff up and the Necrosphinx being able to fly and having a more humanoid (think centaur like) cheats and head, oh and massive claw blades of death.

All These units look fantastic and I wants them all but sadly they also cost a lot and I haven’t even played a game yet. So for now I just have the Four Ushabti at my disposable to paint and hopefully play with.

On a side note for playing with them I have heard that with all the new units the Ushabti have become somewhat obsolete which is a great shame.

But part of what is suppose to be the beauty of the new Age of Sigmar is how as both side agree to what they bring before hand and a focus on scenario play instead of the standard pitched battle means that everything can be made to be worthwhile to bring.

Now for my even more of a nerd out, my story behind my unit.

In the plane of death where my undead lord resides ever looking for the souls of those from his lost kingdom (more like a province as before death he was a minor noble) he was too bold and became badly damaged. Realising he needed something to protect him while recuperating he ordered the building of Four mighty statues. One for each of the old gods he had heard about from his own undead teacher. These he had placed at the four corners of his private tomb to stand over him as his soul left his broken body.

While in this disembodied state he noticed an incursion by the filthy Skavin, horrid Rat-men that in his life he had battled again and again. Unable to enter his body he enter the nearest thing available the statue of the jackal God and in a rage charged the cowardly Rat-men who fled.

Pleased with this imposing body and new knowledge he ordered many more to be constructed and turned his thoughts to other uses of this ability.

I have a fun AoS (Age of Sigmar) army idea which is interiorly made of Tomb kings constructs. With Two units of 5 Melee Ushabti with another unit of 5 long ranged Ushabti ( Ushabti that carry massive siege bows instead of melee weapons). One unit of 3 Sepulchral Stalkers , one unit of 3 Tomb Scorpions and as the army general a Bone Giant.

That is a 99 wound army list with no magic users and no characters which would mean that a lot of the units special abilities wouldn’t come into play such as the bone giant getting a second round of attacks if near a Nercotect or the Ushabti getting to re-roll 1s while again near a Necrotect. And again the tomb Scorpions ability to ignore magical wounds if again Near a Necrotect.

Most disadvantage of all is the fact that any mage would have the ability to magical summon more of each unit to the battle field such as if a unit loses a model the mage would have a chance of summoning another (lore wise the fallen unit just reassembles it self like the unstoppable horde of death they are meant to be) into the unit.

I could also make a much small army of two units of 3 melee Ushabti one unit of 3 long ranged Ushabti. One Tomb Scorpion and one Liche priest and one Nercotect. Thats 51 points with a magic caster and the Necrotect to use the Constructs special abilities.

New Year New Plan

Welcome one and all to my new year new plan line up.

While trying to not be a horrible lazy person I am going on a quest.

A quest to become awesome and possibly the ultimate life form. Now I don’t want to give anyone else too many tips as I don’t want the competition. So steps 20018 to 20067 involve blogging (trust me on this, I know it sounds weird)

So what will I be blogging about and how will I manage to keep at it instead of posting once in a blue moon?

Well I am creating a schedule and a list of subjects I will post about.

Well here are the blogs

An animation round of of the past week/ fortnight. Where I give my impressions of the shows I’ve watched and any theorys I have as to what will happen next. Will also have much fanboying.

My Fitness journey. Where I talk about the exercises I’ve done in the past week/ fortnight, my weight and diet and my general well being in relation to me physically.

My video game ongoing stories. Such as a fallout 3 play-though and x-com enemy unknown/within. Also possibly original xcom if I am feeling like punishing myself.

Sluggaz gaming sessions with photos. The Sluggaz are a tabletop gaming group that meets up weekly how ever I have so far been unable to actually go due to my work so this won’t be a full fixture for a while (currently at best I could make the group 1 out for 4 weeks. 2 if I felt like being very tired at work and taking my figures into work with me. I might be able to just talk about my armies and painting (I am very terrible at painting )

Geeky Reviews, where I take a random thing and try to do a review on it. Be it a book or film or program. I will try to keep the subjects separate from my animation round up. So I might just pick a random thing from Netflix or if I have a back log of a show (such as I am, currently nearly half a season behind in MLP FIM) I might do a review of several episodes, Steven Bombs would be perfect of this but I am currently up to date on that wonderful show.

I have several other ideas for blog posts but they wouldn’t be frequent enough to include here for now.

Hogwarts Houses

Hello I’m here to solidify my status as a complete and total nerd. I’m going to ramble on about something I like to do when I’m bored and have no internet to entertain me. Sort fictional characters into the fictional Hogwarts houses.
Now let’s be clear as much as I like the Harry Potter books they do a piss poor job of showing what the different houses are meant to represent. The Pottermore spin off does a much better job. So I’ll quickly (when ever I say that I know I’m lying and its going to take several paragraphs) run over the differences and how I view the houses.
In the books the houses are pretty much. Gryffindor the hero house, Slytherin the villan house. Ravenclaw the smarty house and Hufflepuff the other/loser house. I hate to say it but that is really how they are represented in the books. Almost all the order of Phoenix are Gryffindor, almost all death eaters are Slytherin. I know she tries to change it up a bit in the later books but by that point it is too late for the token good Slytherin and token evil Gryffindor to make much of a difference on how the houses are viewed.

Now the Pottermore houses are much better as none are truly good or bad but just have different view points and priorities. Such as Slytherin aren’t evil any more but their focus and their center is on themselves. Now this shows up a lot in self preservation which is often seen as bad but it’s actually a sensible thing to do in most circumstances. After all how can you help others if you yourself are in trouble? This focus on self is also means they are inclined to go down the ends justify the means route.The flip side is that if they care about you there is nothing they wont do to help you.

Gryffindor is all about doing what they think is right and being more than ready the fight for what they think is right, which isn’t always what is correct and in many cases can just be bullying. They have a headstrong nature and look before they leap. They are the kind of people that would see something happen like a fight and get involved, but as they don’t stop to think are just as likely to help who ever started the fight then they are to stop them.

Ravenclaw is more about the joy of discovery and self improvement rather then just being smart arses. instead of being condescending and always wanting to prove their superiority Pottermore Ravenclaws are much more likely to simple not engage if they feel it’s pointless to do so. The prime example would be if you knew you would be unable to change a persons mind on a subject, a Ravenclaw would simply not bother and just leave as soon as possible.

And Hufflepuff, what a glorious change they made to you. From the dumb house (really the first thing you hear about them is Hagrid saying that it’s full of dumbasses) to my own personal house and favourite. The Pottermoore Hufflepuff is about loyalty and kindness and generosity (half of the elements of friendship right their) they are focused on helping others and not being dicks. But the important thing to remember is that nice isn’t dumb and good isn’t soft. If they need to and only if they need to they can be the most vicious people ever. Complete papa wolf/mama bear territory.

Some examples of how I view the houses in different situations.

You find a locked door you need to get past. A Ravenclaw finds the key, a Gryffindor kicks the door down, a Slytherin picks the lock and a Hufflepuff knocks the door. All are very valid solutions and none are better then the other since you are not given enough context. Such as if you were in danger then kicking the door down is probably the best way unless you need to be quite or to leave no trace of your presence.

You are in a building and find a fire, you  also know there are other people inside what is the first thing you do?  A Gryffindor would try to fight the fire, A Slytherin would escape quickly , A Ravenclaw would set off the fire alarm and a Hufflepuff would guide people out. Again this there is no right answer as you don’t know how bad the fire is. a very dangerous fire would mean if you didn’t get out ASAP you would succumb to the smoke and need helping. or if it’s a very small fire putting it out quickly would stop it from harming anyone.

The point I’m trying to make here is that none of them are the correct or superior house/ mindset. They all have strengths and weaknesses and a mix of them in a group working together would be far far better then a group of a single house.

And because that was a lot longer then I had hoped for I’ll do the sorting of fictional characters in another Blog post.

Journal 02/04/2015

Hello one and all. I have been terrible in my quest to keep this blog flowing. It’s not that I don’t have stuff I wish to talk about. Hello you will see from the recent spree of Risk posts that I have been busy writing away. I do in fact have a good/ reasonable excuse this time. I currently have been doing a lot of over time. So much that I’ve been working six-day weeks. On top of that I have a lot been doing my online course work and you can see where all my free time has gone.

However that said I have still been lax in my duties especially my gym plan which has fallen apart completely. Sadly this sorry state of affairs will probably continue until early April where I shall have hopefully finished all the over time, completed my online course and have a couple of days holiday to get my stuff sorted.

Talking about exercise I did go for a pleasant run with my wife. Normally I hate running with a passion but lately ive found myself to quite enjoy it. This has led me to a dilemma. My year subscription to my local gym is nearly up and will turn into a monthly rolling contract. Since I haven’t used the gym much I could cancel my memberships and save £40 a month, relying on running and the free weights I have at home. Or do I refocus myself self on the gym and try to force myself to go?

So that has been what I’ve been up to but what am I planing on doing next? Well once my online course is completed I am going to restart driving lessons. What has happened the last few times I’ve tried to learn to drive is that I’ve gotten close to finishing them and have started to do practice tests. But then I run out of money either due to lose of job or moving house etc. This time I have been slightly smarter, I have found a company that does some reasonable deals on bulk buys and have saved up enough (and been given lots of birthday money towards) to get these and will hopefully see me through until I pass. Sadly I do need to buy some new glasses first as my old pair managed to get destroyed when I was messing about with a foam roller and managed to fling it onto the poor glasses which didn’t stand a chance.

I am planing to post another journal next week so by then I should have set most of my plans into motion. I have also just installed the WordPress app on my phone and managed to write most of this while at work which means I should be able to produce more blog post like this in the future.

Enclave of the Bear Overview

The genetically enhanced fraction. Everyone is a superhuman, strong enough to ripe off the doors of a tank, tough enough to withstand bullet fire, amassing vision and hearing. But enhancement of the mind are only found in women. The men have regressed, losing their intelligence and are guided by the women.
They started off as a survivalist group that discarded technology and believed that mankind needed to be in balance with nature as intended. They were a very minor fraction until a group of geneticists fled to them from a hate mob. In return for protection and agreeing to only use the base level technology needed, they gave the Enclave the genetic engineering techniques to make them stronger and better able to survive without technology. How ever something went wrong (or as some outside the fraction believe, terribly right) and the Men became stronger but also dumber while the women were perfect and now have a strange control over the men. (pheromones or psychic we don’t know) Now with the female as their leaders the group rapidly expanded and grew to control a large area.
The Enclave is control by three groups. The Assembles who are the decision makers. The Ngen who control the genetic modifications and research. And the Valkyries who run the army and security.
The Assembles are governed by the eldest and most experienced women who form as assembly to discuss the important matters. Every village will have a regular assembly to report on problems and share information. The most senior member will be part of the nearest town or city’s assembly and so on up to the world assembly. The members of the world assembly are responsible for the whole fraction and their word is law to any below them.
The Ngen who are in control of all the genetic modifications and research into new modifications. To become a member of the Ngen they must forgo their pack (which is the equivalent of giving up all your worldly possessions) and dedicate them selves to serving the Enclave. They are also the healers, and the ones that raised the men from birth.
The Valkyries who are the military and security of the Enclave. Split into three main divisions they are. The forward hunters who are on the frontier of Enclave lands and are the offensive arm of the military. The Den Guards who protect Enclave lands from invaders and maintain order in times of peace. and the hidden blades who deal with spy work such as finding treason and acting outside of enclave lands.
The Enclaves technology is a mix of highly sophisticated computers and gene sequencers with the very low tech horses and clubs. The reason for this bazaar mixture is the necessity of the high tech for the genetic engineering the Enclave relies on and fact that the majority of the population would simply be unable to use anything more complex then the simplest of tools.
The Enclave consists of two almost completely different worlds. The world of the men and the world of the women. The women with their unnatural control over the men are the unquestioned leaders of the Enclave. While the men are viewed as little more then servants or dogs.
The men live in packs with a single female as their pack leader or Alpha, very large packs may have several young females who serve as Betas before getting their own pack. Once they are on solid food the men are taken away and placed into a nursery where they are raised until they are old and strong enough to be sorted into a pack which they will spend the rest of their lives. Once in a pack they will serve their Alpha and form a strong attachment to them and will obey any command from them. The men have no possessions other then what is given to them in order to complete the work given to them. During the down time between work the men will drink and fight and sing together. While a hard life with no control the men’s simplistic minds are happy a content.
The Females once old enough to choose whether to have their own pack or join the Ngen are free to live how they please as long as they do not break the few laws the enclave has in place and complete the tasks set to them by their superiors. Such as they may treat their pack how ever they wish as long as their pack is healthy and controlled enough to work. Some females will live among their pack and view them like treasured pets, while others maintain a distance and raise their pack like work beasts or cattle.
Their is no formal marriage or state made significance for relationships. If two females wish to live together they can. How ever when it comes to men they are viewed little more then property of their female Alpha. They have no rights and will obey their Alphas commands. It can be viewed that the control the females have over the men causes the men to be in a state of love for them. It is a common practice for the Ngen who do not have their own packs to trade favours or resources for renting males for the night.
While they don’t have an official religion as such they have an Earth mother style philosophy. With the focuses on how the natural world provides for them and how adaptation and symbiosis provides strength and safety. Naturally they also emphasise the important and dominance of females as well. For the women of the Enclave it is viewed as just a philosophy and as examples of how to live, while for the men it is much more literal as they believe in an actual Earth Mother.
The Army’s main focus is on infantry, with a specialisation on melee combat. Due to the genetic enhancements the Enclave has the strongest and toughest warriors. But due to the males low intelligence and the view that they are expendable the men are mostly used to charge the enemy on foot and close into the close combat where they excel. Other then the Bear Kin, males which have been chosen from an early age to be warriors and are given special training on using fire arms and have a genetically enhanced bear mount for battle. The Valkyries them selves are the commanders and leaders on and off the battle field. As they are just as strong and resilient as the men they can fight and are the most dangerous warriors on any battle field. With the special forces roles beings units of these enhanced warrior women given the best weapons and armour they are , while few in number, able to cripple the enemy forces and achieve victory for the Enclave.
The Enclave greatest goal is to create their version of the ideal being the matriarch. A near goddess like being and what they believe is humans destiny. To this end the Ngen tirelessly research new methods of genetic manipulation and seek out new and varied genetic material.

Risk Legacy Fraction Starter powers.

Now for the Fraction powers. I’m not sure on how the designer thought you should make the decision. Whether it’s meant to be a sudden spur of the moment do it right now kind of thing or if your meant to take your time and try to strategize a bit more. Although knowing the theme of choice it probably doesn’t matter as long as everyone gets the same chance.
For my own fraction that game Khan Industries I could either
*at the start of my turn place one troop into a territory that has a HQ or
*When drawing a territory card place one troop into that territory.
This seem to be the weakest decision as I honestly can’t see why you would choose the second option. In this game I got three Territory cards so I would have gotten three Extra troops. But I could have easily been like Lexicon who didn’t get a single Territory card (she got population cards instead) which means I would have had no extra troops. Where is I had the First Bonus my HQ would have been much better defended and I could possibly have defended myself from Lexicon’s and Karjl’s invasions.
The other Fractions have better choices to make. Such as The Enclave of the Bears Powers
*The defender subtracts 1 from their Lower defence dice on your first attack of you turn. OR
*if your attack roll is a natural three of a kind. And you kill at least one defended you win that territory and remove all defending troops.
Both of these are useful with the first being a small constant bonus while the second would be a rare occurrence but when ever it did happen. Man that would be so epic and you would never know when it would happen so any battle even if it was going poorly could suddenly turn around and hand you victory.
Die Mechaniker’s again have two useful powers.
*Your starting HQ is always treated as Fortified when you defend it (plus one to both defence die)
*When you roll two natural 6s on a defence roll that territory can’t be attacked the rest of that turn.
And again one constantly useful power, the fortification of the HQ (as everyone will be gunning for the HQ’s) will always be a nice safety net. And one rare but powerful and awesome ability. The randomly immune to attack territory would be so cool to happen, especially if it would decide the fate of the game.
Imperial Balkania has two interesting but not very dynamic powers.
*when recruiting troops round up instead of down for population
*draw a resource card when you expand into 4+ territory even if you didn’t conquer a territory.
Now at first the second power doesn’t seem very good compared to the first but on further study (the internet) I found out that it can mean you will always have at least one resource card on your first turn and possibly a second on your second turn.(especially as our games with only four players means there is more space) that is before anyone else even has a chance to attack and would make you half way to your first Red Star or bonus troops. If your very lucky and start far away from everyone else.(such as Karjl in the Americas) you could even get a third resource card for doing practically nothing. Of course if your opponents knew this they would try to stop you but this would mean they couldn’t focus on their on plans. Either way they are both useful if not as direct or forceful some of the others.
And lastly the Saharan Republic.
*you can make your maneuver at any point during your turn
*you can make your maneuver between any two territory’s you control, even if they are not connected.
These both play into the Saharan Republic being all about fast attack and quickly moving around. I am honestly not sure on which I like more. The first seems like I would use it more. Being able to react to other players quicker. Such as taking advantage of someone’s new-found weakness or moving troops to defend against an oncoming attack. But the other power could also be really useful but is more situational. Normally you can only move troops along a path of controlled territory. So If one country in a chain is taken from you, your forces can easily get trapped and once cut off get whittled down. But with that ability you could still send troops over the counter attack or if you were making a mad dash for someone’s HQ keep going.
So it will be interesting to see how it goes. As I said before I want to think of this as not My game but Our game and I don’t want to make people choose what I want instead of what they want to do.
Thank you for reading this and I hope it wasn’t too boring. I will be writing a Story companion for this game. But I liked doing this as well. It felt like making a Battle Report from the White Dwarf and I may try and find some old copies and adapt their style for my next after game reports.

Risk Legacy Game 0

So as I stated else where I had played a practice game of Risk Legacy before doing a real game where we start to use the stickers and making permanent changes to the game. This was for all the players to get to grips with the new mechanics involved in Risk Legacy and would let us make more informed choices when it came to the real games.

So what happened is my friends read out the Intro I had made and posted on here and read out the draft versions of the Fraction overviews I had made (at the time I had just made the Die Mechaniker’s, Imperial Balkania and Conclave of the Bears overviews) and I was deeply embarrassed and downed my beer before they had finished but they did seem to enjoy what I had written and they each chose a fraction I had made a history for.

So the players choose and it went down like this .
Fi-lion was the Conclave of the Bear the genetically modified super humans riding war bears.
Kjarl was Die Mechaniker’s the cybernetic power armoured warriors with big lascannons.
Lexicon was the Imperial Balkania the natural humans who focus on perfection and have shiny tanks.(who are also coloured purple which is why she choose them)
and I the GeekyEnglishman choose Khan Industries the corporation that uses Zerg tactics and have Mechs!
We didn’t have a fifth member so no one played as the Saharan Republic who are nomads focusing on swift hit and run tactics with dune buggies.
The fact we don’t have a permanent 5th player is of slight concern to me as I fear one Fraction will just never get used or that with out them the board will be too open but I think it will balance it self out. I do hope that people will switch around fractions so none of them become overpowered but we shall see. An important part of this is that it is a group work. I shouldn’t think of it as My game but our game as I don’t want to try and dictate what the other players choose.

Anyway we used the first home rule I found on-line which is instead of going in a circle of player A choosing fraction and then player B etc until it comes around for player A to choose where to go on the board. We went in a circle for choosing fraction and then went back the other way for placement. Which means who ever chooses the fraction first last choice of placement. So who ever chooses fraction last gets first placement. I think this system will stop anyone from getting an unfair head start early on in the game.

Fi-lion chose fraction last so she went first and placed herself in Japan. A fairly defensible spot in Asia with two exits a good place to spread out from. Lexicon went next and started in Madagascar. Again a fairly defensible location in Africa and as it’s Africa it’s a great location to invade everywhere else from.It is also moderately easy to get the continent bonus from. Kjarl went with Argentina (boo!!) in South america again defensible with only two pathways to invade. And again South america is a good place to quickly get the continent bonus as it’s only four countries and has only two ways in or out. As everyone had practically chosen a continent to start in I had two main options of either starting in Europe or North America. Logically going to Australasian would have meant I would be boxed in and having to go through Fi-lion to get anywhere and would have left Kjarl with all of North and South America uncontested and Lexicon with a straight path to Europe. Which would have meant they would be fairly unstoppable (other then each other). So I did what any Englishman would do and went for my Homeland of Great Britain. Now unlike the others I wasn’t very defensible with four different pathways to get to me. Also Europe is very easy to invade with lots of boarders between Asia and again with Africa and even one sneaky way from North America. How ever Great Britain is better then most of Europe with at least one buffer country between it and the other continents.

The main difference so far between normal Risk and Risk Legacy is that in this version you choose one country as your home base. Putting a HQ piece on that country which is worth a Red Star.(more on them later) and then all your starting troops on this location. This leaves most of the board empty at the start and means the first few turns is just expansion. Where as in normal Risk you each take turns claiming a country and putting a solider on it or randomly assign country’s. This makes the first few turns a completely blood bath as you take advantage of your opponents weaknesses.

Anyway now we had placed our troops we all started to spread out. I think everyone was unsure as how bold to be so they went slowly only expanding a few countries. As I was last when I saw everyone going slow I thought sod it and spread out as far and fast as I could taking control of all of Europe and spreading to Greenland in North America on my first go. This got me the first continent bonus of the game which is a nice 5 troops for Europe and would stop Kjarl getting North America bonus as well. Well Fi-lion was still holding back and slowly spreading across Asia while Lexicon who in every thing is pretty much out for blood followed my lead and swept across Africa. Kjarl also rapidly climbed up South America and entered North America stopping to reinforce Brazil the only crossing point between Kjarl’s South America and Lexicon’s Africa.

Now on my second turn (don’t worry anyone still reading I won’t go over every single turn but the first few are needed to make everything else clearer) I could feel everyone coming for me on all sides. I got a massive amount of troops because of my continent bonus and my rapid expansion so I knew I needed some defence but I also saw a open set of land in North America that if I didn’t take the Kjarl would. So I soared up for forces on the Western front between me and Fi-lion’s Asia and sent a couple down towards Lexicon Africa while the rest went across North America and bumped into Kjarl forces. I was unwilling to attack at this point but knew first blood was soon to be split.

Now we had all started to close into each other with three of use getting continent bonuses and poor Fi-lion not she was at a distinct disadvantage as Lexicon had gone into Asia preventing her from getting Asia massive bonus and she was paranoid about me attacking the long way round from Alaska so she played defensively and didn’t expand. Lexicon managed to contain her blood lust and started piling her troops ready to invade my Southern Europe territory’s while also preparing for some fighting with Kjarl’s Brazil. Like wise Kjarl prepared to attack me from the southern USA lands. But so far there was still no fighting.

As it was my turn again I asked myself. What would any Noble British leader do in a time of peace? And the answer was simple. Fight EVERYONE! But I restrained myself believing that Fi-lion and Lexicon had only put their troops on our border to deter me from attack and as long as I left my side well manned they would leave me alone so I could attack Kjarl. Big mistake but that will come later. I had had enough and attacked Kjarl’s forces in North America and was promptly spanked, and boy was I spanked hard. Clearly Khan Industries cheap solders were as rubbish as they sounded and all my lands in North America were suddenly very poorly defended. In a last desperate bid I tried to attack Lexicon’s North Africa. My cunning plan to weaken it so Kjarl might invade Africa instead of my lands. It did not work and instead I just weakened myself and gave Lexicon a reason (not that she needs one) to attack me.

At this point ill explain the other main change from Normal Risk. Here you win by collecting Red Star tokens. They can be gathered by handing in four of any kind of Card.(you earn a card by conquering Territories) And for every HQ you control it counts as having a Red Star. As this is the first game we started with a Red Star token already. So As long as you control your HQ you only need to collect two more. So invading someone else HQ is high on the list of things to do.

Fi-lion again stayed out of the fighting and I think to her mistake didn’t expand down into Australasia. In fact that area was untouched the entire game and would have gotten her an extra 3 or 4 troops each turn helping her to keep up with the rest of us in reinforcements. Lexicon on the other hand had no such qualms and promptly crushed my South Europe defences. This left my home land completely exposed as I had put all my forces out on the perimeter of my lands believing that even if someone got through they wouldn’t have enough troops to make it very far before my turn and I could counter attack. I was wrong, so very very wrong and I lost half of Europe and my homeland making Lexicon the leader and only a few cards away from victory. She also just for fun started to strut her stuff in Asia and attacked Fi-lion but was very successful.
Now Kjarl was too far away to attack her directly  as the North Africa-Brazil crossing was still heavily manned. Instead he went through what was left of my forces in North America and tried to take Great Britain from Lexicon who at this point would win on her next turn. My forces barely held on and Kjarl managed to attack Great Britain but were too weak from fighting me to be able to defeat her.
So now it was all down the Fi-lion. If she couldn’t pull something out of the bag we were all done for and the victory would go to Lexicon. And hell yer Fi-lion went on a murder death rampage. Smashing through Lexicon’s Asian line and cutting straight through to her HQ on Madagascar. With her HQ gone Lexicon didn’t have enough Red Stars to win this turn and all she could do was try and reclaim her lost territory’s. With Lexicon’s forces in disarray and mine still weak from earlier Kjarl found that he also had enough cards to claim a Red Star token and if he could control another HQ he would win. So Kjarl mustered everything he had for one mad dash to Great Britain. My few remaining forces put up a brave fight (for once all game they had been pretty rubbish) and they very nearly halted Kjarl at Iceland but it was not to be and he crushed Lexicon’s remaining forces. Securing my old HQ for himself and winning the game.

All in all it was a close game which several times could have gone very differently. But Kjarl deserved the victory. I highly recommend playing a practice game if you ever start a Risk Legacy campaign, even if you are already familiar with the normal Risk Rules enough have changed and the fear of making a bad decision so early in a campaign is strong. Especially one of the first things you would do is choose between two fraction powers. The other is thrown away permanently.

Journal. 06/03/2015

Hello again it’s been a while since I did a journal/update and as I haven’t posted anything for a little while I thought that now would be a goodish time.
So what have I been up-to? well the usual boring things like work and stuff like that. But I also did the much more enjoyable activity of Risk Legacy, or at least a warm up game of Risk Legacy where we used the rules for the game but didn’t make any permanent changes to the bored or the cards. I hope to do a full write up later. I have also been steaming ahead on Avatar the Last Airbender with my wife. going so fast in fact that we are on the second book already. I have been writing notes while watching and should still be able to write my reviews but clearly they won’t be in synch with my viewings.
Now here comes the other thing I want to talk about. Depression. over the past few days I’ve started to wonder if I am actually depressed. I had two days off work with the flat to myself and I had planned to use them to start and finish an assessment I have for an on-line course I’m doing. I needed to get them done and I wanted to. But I just couldn’t. At the same time I knew my work would call me to ask me to do extra but I just couldn’t bring myself to face answering the phone. I bring eat nearly a days worth of calories and hardly noticed it.
With all of this together along with my feelings of deep emptiness and I relied that I had felt like this every so often for years. Some times for weeks at a time I would just be completely unable to function properly. So i decided to look into it properly and see what the official symptoms are.
Well, Emptiness. defiantly check. Tired very much check. over eating/comfort eating I do a lot. Unable to focus and Unable to do what I need to do I can also check off. Also the crying was a bit of a hint too.
The more I learnt the better picture of what happens to me I got. My general cycle goes a little something like this. I start off Normal and happy, active and energetic. Then I start to become more tired and grouchy, withdrawn and looking inwards. I start to feel empty and my mind wanders onto bad thoughts. thoughts of my failures and flaws, thoughts of every time I screwed up or looked like an idiot. I become unable to enjoy my usual geeky stuff and end up eating crap like a whole cake by myself and it doesn’t even do anything. I will realise how I acting decide I’m “just being stupid” and wait until I’m alone and make myself cry. Music Is great for this although I for some reason don’t cry to sad music but to hopeful music instead. I will once that’s out of my system slap myself (figuratively) and make myself do something productive. which will help me to focus and I start to drag myself into something i like and then I move closer and close to being “normal” again
Well as you can guess from what I’ve said before I had a very strong bout recently which has helped me focus on it. But also recently my wife talked about how she gets fulfilment from several different things, like her exercise and academic training she does. This made me wonder about what I get fulfilment from and I realised that I just don’t have much fulfilment. I have a great wife and close friends. but other then that. I don’t feel much. This blog has helped. Creating something and have others (even if it is only a few) appreciate it has helped. Although While we were playing our practice game of risk legacy my friends read out what I had written for far. Such as the blog post of the world history for my Risk game and the first 3 fraction overviews which I had finished yet.(interestingly as only four of use were playing everyone chose a fraction with a history I had written) God that was mortifying having my writing which was still very much in the draft stage read out in-front of people. Thankfully they all enjoyed it and managed to understand what most of my spelling mistakes meant.
So how have I managed to cope and not really notice what it was until now? Well thankfully since it only happens in waves and when ever I’m not in a bad phase I feel fine and am able to undo any damage I’ve done. Such as I am fairly active so I go back to my normal body weight quickly , and any work I’ve not done I can do a massive cram session to catch up. My panic at realising how far behind I’ve gotten helps especially with house work. Although I do wonder if it wasn’t for this if I would have progressed more in my career(or actually have a career instead of just plodding along) since I don’t stand out. Either positively or negativity.
My other main copying mechanism is the ability to cry. I know a lot oh people think it’s weak or sissy to cry but fuck those people. While I would be horrified to cry in-front of others I believe it’s completely natural and even healthy to cry. While I am fairly proud of the “stiff upper lip” stereotype and firmly believe that having the ability to suppress emotions is useful and I employ it a lot. It is only a peremptory measure, you use it during danger or when showing weakness is unacceptable. That’s when you store and bottle up your emotions. And when that moment has passed you release them. Otherwise its just like carrying poison around with you inside.

So what now?
Well this part was originally going to be different. Firstly during the writing of this I slipped out of my current depression phase. It was an interesting experience as I was completely focused on analysing my feelings so I was aware of it. It honestly felt like a dark heavy blanket was being gently lifted off me. I could feel every second that I was becoming myself again. I could feel my energy and enthusiasm return and I left this blog post mid sentience to properly watch Avatar Last Airbender with my wife. So now I feel my usual awesome self.
The other main thing to happen which kinda felt appropriate is that my Wife told me how she had gone to the doctors and been signed off work with depression. I won’t go into her details but my plan to get her to proof read this post as my way of telling her about my depression was scraped and we sat and talked for a bit. I’m going to read the books she’s been given and see how they help. But that is why this post which was going to go up on the 26/02/2015 has been delayed.
My main plans for now, other then more research is to keep my awareness of my feelings high and try to spot what triggers it and to be more aware of how I am. And when I feel myself going into a bad phase to let people know.

Risk Legacy World History

“For how long this state of War and misery Has lasted we can not know. So much of our history is lost. We do not even know the names of some of the countries that were at the start of the war but we do know how it came to an end.” Speech by Chairwoman Cassanda of Khan Industries on the eve of entering the wormhole.
In the not too distant future mankind has achieved many miraculous things. The most notable is advanced genetic enhancements and modifications, and cybernetic modifications.
At first experimentation into these fields was closely controlled with government safeguards in place to prevent them from falling into the wrong hands and to insure the highest morals were used. The hope for these were to improve peoples lives and help create a better world for all. New limbs for those who had lost them, immunity from disease and abundant food for all.
But as the advancements came faster and faster the ability to keep them from the wrong hands became harder and harder and movements opposed to the technology it self began.
The true horrors started when terrorists and vicious dictators somehow go a hold of the technology. How we can not say for sure but many suspect greedy corporations. Others hackers. But what we know for sure it that once the technology was out in the public domain there was no stopping what happened next.
With super powered terrorists causing mayhem and dictators cybernetically upgrading their soldiers The first Great War of the Future age began. With massive parts of the Middle East, Africa and South America experiencing first hand the full impact of the new technology in war fare. The war was vicious and bloody,  especially for the civilians trapped between the tyrants forces and the invading armies. Thousands of refugees fled the land or hid in the wilderness. Many more were forced into warlords forces and became living weapons.Eventually the cities were emptied and any resemblance of order. Even the cruel order of a tyrannical regime, disappeared leaving only the bloodshed.Victory came to the Allied forces but at a terrible cost in lives and resources. All the nations became suspicious of each other and an arms race for the new technology began. Old Friendships evaporated and new grudges arose.With the heightened tensions of a true world war 3 braking out the populous panicked and movements that started during what became known as The Tyrant Wars became powerful forces.

There were those that believed in maintaining the “purity of the human form” treating anyone with enhancements or modifications as less then human.
There were those that believed in transcending humans physical frailty ether through genetic enhancements or cybernetic modifications whether people wanted them or not.
Others such as big businesses wanted to use it all for their own purpose.
Such powerful and more often then not violent groups caused their governments to crack down on them helping the cycle of violence and chaos further
In the end these unstable elements and the inability for the nations to unify together caused the 3rd World War. This war was not only between the worlds nations but also civil wars inside them as well. As the oppressed group declared open warfare on any that didn’t join them.
With total anarchy many people went with whom ever would except them and offer them protection. These poor souls fed the more extreme fractions and often became little more then slaves in a cult.
As the War carried on and the nations resorted to using everything they had at their disposal including nuclear weaponry a small group of scientist from all around the world joined up and in secret devised a way to end the War and save the world.
The Eden project as their hopes and after countless years they succeeded. Sending an invitation to representatives of all the world fractions they managed to broker a cease-fire while they explained their plan.
They had discovered a way to create stable worm holes to other dimensions and they had found a near infinite universes that contained Earths that had not been ruined by humans. Earths that had in fact not evolved humans or sentient life forms at all but were perfect Edens.
The plan was for every fractions to move to their own Earth leaving the Scientist group as the only ones on Earth prime. They would maintain the worm holes and repair the damage done to earth prime while acting as intermediaries to the other fractions.
How ever the fractions were too distrustful and instead a compromise was made. To see if the worlds would be habitable and that the worm holes could be maintained. The first few worlds would be populated by an expedition from several different fractions. (five per world was the final agreement)they would explore and live in the new world for a couple of years and if everything worked out then they would move the entirety of their forces to a new world.
“We are part of one of these expeditions. The Enclave of the Bear. The Imperial Balkania, The Saharan Republic , Die Mechaniker and Khan Industries. We travel to this new World together. This new world symbolising a new start for all of us. A new hope for redemption from the sins of the past. And the beginning of a new age of peace” Chairwoman Cassanda of The Khan Industries on the eve of entering the wormhole. Six months before she declared War.