Another Crowd-funding Plug!

Heya folks,

I just wanted to plug another game related crowd funding project.  I have recently taken up several miniatures games including Force on Force, All Things Zombie and Dux Bellorum.  ATZ has a project up on Indiegogo that is worth checking out.  Linky here:  All Things Zombie - Final Fade Out Minis & More, you can also click on the widget to the left.

Up for grabs are a group of character minis with zombie versions, a butt-load of zombie minis, building decks and the High Rise to Hell supplement.   $100 gets you 60 miniatures and all the other goodies, a pretty good deal if you're looking to get into this game and have no zombie minis (like me). So join up, if they don't reach the 5K goal the project will be cancelled!  I need zombie miniatures so help out if you can!

I will be posting more on my new mini games over the next few months.  I'll do reviews of the above games and probably post some images of miniatures and terrain as I paint and build.

David Macaulay's Castle

I have long had a fascination with castles and it all began with David Macaulay's book Castle which my parents purchased for me at a yard sale many years ago.  David has done a whole series of pen and ink illustrated books that explain how Castles, Pyramids, Roman Cities, Mosques and other historical building were made.  They are fantastic books and if you have not had a chance to check them out you should!

PBS created an hour long special based on the Castle book and I recently purchased a DVD version from Amazon.  I remember I first watched this in Junior High, my friend and I did a presentation on castles in class and had watched this on a clunky old VHS player to learn more about the subject.

The video transfer to DVD is pretty bad, the image is fuzzy and is showing its age. Castle is sixty minutes long and is narrated by the author, he gives a tour of a 13th century Welsh castle describing all of the architectural features and defenses.  This is inter-cut with an animated story of Aberwyvern Castle which shows the construction process, what life was like in the middle ages and the the castle in action defending against Welsh raiders. Its all very wonderfully done and reignited my love of all things medieval.

PBS also turned several of the other Macaulay books into television special, I have not seen the others but intend to seek them out.  If your interested you can pick up Castle the book and video from Amazon, links below!

Castle at Amazon
Castle DVD on Amazon

Dungeons of Dread - Review

Om nom nom nom.

I received my shiny new copy of Dungeons of Dread in the mail yesterday and had a chance to do a cursory flip through the book last night before I went to bed.  I must say I am pretty happy with what I have seen so far, its a really nice compilation of four S-Series AD&D adventures.  For those of you who do not know, Wizards of the Coast is in the process of re-releasing older versions of D&D, they have already released the AD&D Players Handbook, Dungeon Masters Guide, Monster Manual and Unearthed Arcana, all under the moniker of 1st Edition Premium.  They are also going to be releasing the second edition books this way as well.  

I'm happy that the version of D&D that I cut my teeth on is now available for purchase.  I will not be buying these core books as I still have my old dusty and moldy copies.  Hopefully it will give some of the younger generation a chance to experience the origins of D&D.  The books that I am most looking forward to are the adventure modules, I do not own many of the original adventures, so Dungeons of Dread and forthcoming Against the Slave Lords module have me pretty excited!

A-Series, flashy new cover!

Anyway back to my new DoD book.  The cover is fantastic, I love the art and it has a nice texture with a little embossing.  Inside the pages are printed on a nice smooth paper.  There is a forward by Lawrence Schick, a table of contents and then the adventures begin!  The book includes S1: Tomb of Horrors, S2: White Plume Mountain, S3: Expedition to Barrier peaks and S4: The Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth.  All maps are unfortunately included in the main book, there is no separate map-book, which will lead to lots of flipping back and forth.  There may be downloadable maps on Wizards of the Coast site but I have not had a chance to snoop around.  I also have a complaint with the first image in the book, it looks terrible, very fuzzy and out of focus, almost like someone did not know how to run a scanner.  Other than that one piece all of the art looks great, there are some really wonderful black and white images.  

Its a pretty hefty book, four adventures clocking in at 192 pages total.  The reproductions are supposed to be exact, there have been no modifications to the original adventures.  If you do not own these four adventures this is a great buy, I am very pleased with how this has been put together.  I am looking forward to more of the AD&D adventure modules in the future, hopefully we will see a reprint of The Temple of Elemental Evil, one of my all time favorites.

Walking Dead - Game Review

Being a big fan of the Walking Dead on AMC I recently purchased and began playing the Walking Dead game by Telltale Games and I must say I am completely hooked!  I just finished up episode two, the game was created and released in five connected episodes.  So far the story has been gripping and the characters outstanding, they are well rounded and have their own distinct personalities.  Along the way you are asked to make many gut wrenching choices including cutting of a mans leg with an ax to save him and choosing one character over another in life and death situations.  Each episode has five or six major decisions, your choices are compared to all other players of the game at the end of the episode giving you an idea where you fall among other gamers.  For instance "You and 85% of people shot so and so".  Its neat to see how your decisions stack up against the masses.

Overall its a really enjoyable game, one I would highly suggest it.  All five episodes are available on Steam for a total of $25.00, its a really good dead, I mean deal.  Good story, great characters, gripping choices and a very nice comic book style make this one of my favorite recent games!  I you like the Walking Dead, zombies or just good games this one is for you!

Five Steins out of five!

Start your engines!

"We here at Carter & Sons Autowerks have a long standing tradition of hiring and employing only the best people we can find.  We are always on the lookout for new up and coming duelists as new vehicle designs constantly need to be tested and refined.  As it happens we are currently looking for someone new as our most recent hire perished in an unexpected vehicle fire.  It was an act of God really, most definitely not a design flaw...

Today we have two young, hungry duelists looking to prove themselves and looking for a job.  We will be providing them with two of our stock Division 10 cars, the Chainsaw and the Thunder God.  The winner of this combat will be hired on a a Junior Duelist with all of the benefits of that position!  What an amazing opportunity for these young men!

This match will take place in the J. Carter Autoduel Arena, this is our home turf where we build and design all of our vehicles and will be played to "kill", first vehicle knocked out is the looser.  Now we hope that both of our contestants survive to fight another day, but this is a dangerous business and you never know what can happen.  Good luck to you both and may the best man win!"  - Bad Beardo

This will be a two car battle that I will be playing out in VASSAL and posting every few days, I hope you all enjoy!

This has nothing to do with gaming but I had to post it.  Hardcore man, hardcore.

Combat Autowerks has been updated

Title of the post says it all, check out the tab at the top of the page, I have updated the Carter & Sons Combat Autowerks page with a few new designs.  It has been a bit slow going as I have been creating the counters as I go along.

More vehicles to come as well as a VASSAL play by play of some arena combat!