Neoscream's Log: February 2014

Friday, 28 February 2014

Gaming with Neoscream: 28th February 2014

Welcome to “Gaming with Neoscream”. This is my weekly gaming post for miniature games, RPGs, some card games and computer games. And what a whooper of a post we have this week.

I have been working on rearranging the labels on my blog. I will try to go into more detail on the changes I am doing in the next "Neoscream's Life" post, but here are a couple of changes that will affect the "Gaming with Neoscream" post. The new label "Mantic" will replace DreadBall, Deadzone and Mars Attacks. The new label "Crooked Dice Games" will replace 7TV, 7th Voyage, 7ombie TV and B7MG. The label "Warmachine" is being replaced by the new label "Privateer Press". And the new label "RPGs" will be replacing Interface Zero, Mekton, OVA and DnD (as well as Final Fantasy stuff being added when I remember). The changes to labels has meant that the Gaming has better the Anime label as the most used label.

Gaming News

First off is the Mantic news. The DreadBall Xtreme KickStarter has started last Friday and made it’s enisle goal of $100,000 in 39 minutes. They have teamed up with Bitmap Brothers for some Speedball 2 specials. The key levels (which all include digital copy of the rules) are Hatred (just a team for $25), Fury (just the starter box set for $75), Rage (the Starter set, the KickStarter Exclusive Ardia Shi’lek sponsor figure and stretch goals for it for $100), Rampage (The Starter set, the KickStarter Exclusive Ardia Shi’lek sponsor figure, Players Manual with four extra sponsors, Xtreme Xpansions and stretch goals for it for $150) and Frenzy (The Starter set, the KickStarter Exclusive Ardia Shi’lek sponsor figure, Players Manual with four extra sponsors, Xtreme Xpansions and stretch goals for it for $375). There is also Uproar which is basically Rampage plus the original DreadBall boxset which is highly recommended for those who do not own the original. The content of the starter was when the KickStarter started was: Two sponsor figures, eight Convict figures, eight Asterian Kalyshi figures, five Free Agents (two Zees, two Robots and an Yndij), twenty-four standard clear hex bases, four Strike Posts, Scenery Crates, Roster Pad, card counters, a deck of cards, eighteen dice, rulebook and a 2’ x 2’ deluxe pitch.

The goals it manage to unlock in its first week were: The game was funded; an extra team box of Convicts and an extra team box of Asterian Kalyshis were added to Rage, Rampage and Frenzy level; four new Free Agents (all weird aliens) were added to the starter box; the twenty-four standard clear hex bases in then starter were replaced with twelve clear red hex bases and twelve clear blue hex bases; the Convict MVP Brickbat Vognar was added to Rage, Rampage and Frenzy level; the Giant Chovar Psychozoan was added to Xtreme Xpansions (meaning backs of Rampage and Frenzy level will get it); two prone figures were added to Convict and Asterian team box sets as well as two of each to the starter; the Asterian MVP Kailasa was added to Rage, Rampage and Frenzy level; the Plague Mutants Team whick two will be included in Frenzy level; all Rage and Rampage level backers will get an additional team box of their chose (with a second being a future stretch goal); an Enhanced Digital Rules just like what the original DreadBall is getting was added to Rage, Rampage and Frenzy level; MVP Asylum was added to Rage, Rampage and Frenzy level; new sculpts for two new Asterian Kalyshi Strikers, one Convict Sticker and one Convict Jack (this will be added to the team sets and starter set strait away, no booster pack like the original DreadBall); Acrylic Counters was added to Frenzy level; an extra set of the original five Free Agents was added to Rage, Rampage and Frenzy level; the Plague MVP Deadman Davitz added to Rage, Rampage and Frenzy level; the Speedball 2 MVP Hector Weiss was added to Frenzy level; Speedball 2HD for $9 (10% less) as an add on; a digital Short Story Compilation added to every level; and all the public DreadBall stuff have been added as add-ons.

Robotech RPG Tactics bases, counters and template

Stretch goal that were still going as I post this were: the Mechanites Robot Team which two will be included in Frenzy level at $350k; and Season 4 DreadBall book at $360k (PDF added to Rage and Rampage level and Physical copy added to Frenzy level).

I am hoping to see some other colours done for the bases like clear green, a Speedball 2 team and a Cyborg team. I also would like to see a MVP based on Alita from Battle Angel Alita and a Sponsor based of Vince McMahon, but I do not see that happening sadly.

Oh Beasts of War had an exclusive on a future team, a Crystal elemental race and the figures are meant to be made out of clear plastic. We are also meant to be getting Brokkrs and Sphyr teams in the future too, the Brokkrs were revealed back at the last Mantic Open Day (I am shocked that they are not part of the first wave of teams as they have been sculpted) and the Sphyr were revealed in the drawing in the KickStarter video.

Next is the HeroClix news. This week there was previews of: Helspont, Daxamite and Mon-El from DC Superman and the Legion of Super-Heroes; Gaia The Dragon Champion from Yu-Gi-Oh Series One; and Mystique from Marvel X-Men Days of Future Past.

Now for the Warlord Games news. In Judge Dredd greens of the Cadet on a Lawmaster were revealed on the KickStarter page.

Also Bolt Action rules for Dad’s Army and Amphibious Assaults were posted on the Warlord Games website.

Next is the Journey: Wrath of Demons news. The Fortune Spinner has been reworked with a spinning mechanism instead of being physical span by the players.

Now for the Privateer Press news. The War Roon app has had some major changes done to it. Making it more user friendly (if you know the changes) and much more better with themed forces.

We also got images of Goreshade Lord of Ruin Cryx Epic Cavalry Warcaster and Lord General Coleman Stryker Cygnar Epic Cavalry Warcaster.

Next is the RoboTech RPG Tactics news. They have revealed photos of the generic bases in 25mm, 40mm, 50mm and 60 mm, as well as counters and blast template.

Now for the Cool Mini Or Not news. First off Zombicide. All the limited edition (apart from two that were apart of the Wrath of Kings KickStarter and the two unreleased games night figures) are now in the gallery with their cards (apart from Audrey who still does not have her cards).

With Arcadia Quest I found out that there is a KickStarter for it. So far they have: Funded the game; a pack of 30 plastic gold coins were added to the Guildmaster level (there is only one level unless you count the early bird version) and 100 as an add-ons; the Kickstarter Exclusive Hero Montoya was added to the Guildmaster level; a pack of 20 plastic wound counters were added to the Guildmaster level and 60 as an add-ons; the Kickstarter Exclusive Hero Koba was added to the Guildmaster level; a pack of special Guild Dice were added to the Guildmaster level and as add-ons; a pack of standard Dice for the game were added as an add-ons; and the Hero Nibbles was added as an add-ons.

Stretch goal that were still going as I post this were: the Kickstarter exclusive hero Hitch added to the Guildmaster level at $200k; a pack of 16 plastic Guild Tokens at $225k; and the Kickstarter exclusive hero Viktor added to the Guildmaster level at $250k (fixed that error, sorry about that).

Lastly there is the Elven Adventurers Box Set KickStarter news. They have revealed the greens of three more figures: Troll Mage, Undead Elf and Necromancer Elf.

Past Events

Due to sickness on my side Heroclix was cancelled this week. So the Scenario is pushed back to next week.

Future Events

These are local gaming events in Milton Keynes I know of, Guardians of Tyr events at Wargames Workshop Northampton and other events I plan on going to or want to advertise.

· On Mondays at Wargames Workshop MK is Wargaming night.

· On Tuesdays at Wargames Workshop MK it is Card games night (or is it just Magic the Gathering).

· On Thursdays York House in Stony Stratford is open from Wargamers and Boardgamers.

· On Fridays at Wargames Workshop MK it is Friday Night Magic.

· On Saturday the 1^st of March, Guardians of Tyr will be running a Star Wars X-Wing tournament at Wargames Workshop MK.

· On Monday the 3^rd of March at Wargames Workshop MK, Guardians of Tyr will be running the first week of their Warhammer 40,000 Kill Team League. This will be running every Monday throughout March.

· On Thursday the 6^th of March, there is HeroClix at York House in Stony Stratford. The scenario will be “Four is the Magic Number”. Details of the scenario are below.

· On Friday the 7^th of March, Guardians of Tyr will be running a High Command tournament at Wargames Workshop MK.

· On Saturday the 15^th of March, Guardians of Tyr will be running a Steam Roller Warmachine/Hoards tournament at Wargames Workshop MK.

· Saturday the 5^th April will be International TableTop Day.

· On Saturday the 5^th of April, Guardians of Tyr will be running a DreadBall tournament at Wargames Workshop MK.

· Saturday the 12^th of April will be Salute 2014 at London Excel. This year's theme is the D-Day Landings.

· On Sunday the 13^th of April, Guardians of Tyr will be running a Steam Roller Warmachine/Hoards tournament at Wargames Workshop Northampton.

· On Friday the 18^th of April there will be a Bolt Action tournament at Wargames Workshop MK.

· On Saturday the 19^th of April, Guardians of Tyr will be running a Warhammer 40,000 tournament at Wargames Workshop MK.

Wargames Workshop MK has a £2 gaming fee or £4 with a pack of Magic the Gathering cards unless it is a paid tournament run by Guardians of Tyr (not including it is High Command). Weekday events normally start “playing” at 7PM.

For rules for Guardians of Tyr tournaments and leagues as well as information on pre booking your place in tournament. Pre booking is highly recommended so they know how many people are coming. So please go to their website which there is a link to it under my links section which are located on the right hand side of this blog.

York House has a £3 on the day gaming fee and a £5 fee for a year’s membership. However the first day is free and they only take yearly membership fee at the start of the year. The Hall officially opens at 7PM, but normally people start arrived 15 to 20 minutes early.

HeroClix Scenario “Four is the Magic Number”: 400 point. Must be Named Themed and must have four figures (no more, no less).

Painting and Converting

This week I have doing a Reb’s Heavy Weapon Team, another Human Rebs, two Yndij Rebs, a Reb Drone, a Grogan Reb, two Zee Rebs, two Loka Ice Prawn and a Loka Knight (Horse).

This week's figures front view

This week's figures rear view

This week's Deadzone figures

This week's Loka figures

Next week should be doing at least the Zombie version of Derek and both Human and Zombie versions of Elsa and Neema.

Until next time, Keep Rolling.

Tuesday, 25 February 2014

Neoscream's Life: 17th to 23rd February 2014

AMX-006 Gaza-D (Mobile Armour mode)

Welcome to the Neoscream's Life post. This is a weekly post of some of the things I have done during last week and news on the great Geek Goddess, AJ Lee.

“Life”

On Tuesday after work I popped down the city centre to get a long needed haircut and a couple of bits. Sadly I had to then pop into Kingston as I could not pick up a can of black spray paint for Games Workshop as they are closed on Mondays and Tuesdays.

Oh there are things I do not tend to list on the "Watched, Listen and Read" section due to watching them in an odd order (dam TV channels) or not knowing what episode it was. One of these show is Power Rangers. I try to keep up to date with it, but I have not seen every episode there is. I know from online that Power Rangers an American show that uses scenes and costumes from the Japanese Sentai shows (Rangers, Zords and monsters) which has been going on much longer than Power Rangers has (by over ten years). Two years ago I started watching Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger, due to it being the 35 anniversary of Sentai and the fact I wanted to see a Sentai show before it is turned into a Power Rangers show (OK in did watch this first episode of Engine Sentai Go-onger before watching Power Rangers RPM). Why am talking about this you my be asking. I just watched the first episode of Power Rangers Super Mega Force on YouTube. Normally I wait until I see it on TV, but being the first episode and the fact I have seen the Sentai version, I decided to watch this one episode on YouTube. Wow this seemed like a chopped together piece of crap. Questions from Mega Force was still never answered, in fact they added one extra. Jake asked Gosei why he is green instead of black now. Gosei reply "There is a simple reason" and they cut off to another seen. It just felt treble to me. Maybe it is because I seen the Sentai version before the Power Ranger one? Maybe it is? Maybe it is just me? Who knows? I will still watch it on TV at a later date, but only to see all the return Rangers of the past return, especially Tommy Oliver (Jason David Frank).

Following the Power Rangers theme here is a
picture of the GREATEST Diva ever next to the
GREATEST Power Rangers ever

“AJ Lee (and WWE)”

Sadly there was no AJ this week. In fact it has been VERY dead on the diva front as we only got Summer Rain and Emma supporting their men or dancing off. But on personal news I have now added NXT to the Sky box auto-recorder.

Like normal Elimination Chamber results will be done in next week’s post.

“Watch, Listen and Read”

Monday

WLR: Nothing.

Tuesday

Brought: A Transformers Decepticon Belt and a can of black undercoat.

Wednesday

Watched: This week’s episode of WWE Raw, a bit of last week’s episode of BBC’s Click, episode 1 of Power Rangers Super Mega Force and (rewatched) episode 1 of Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger (to compare).

Thursday

WLR: Nothing.

Friday

Watched: Beasts of War Designer’s Studio: West Wind Productions and Beasts of War Deadzone Terrain: Mega Build.

KickStarter: I backed DreadBall Xtreme.

Saturday

Watched: This week’s episode of WWE Smackdown and this week’s episode of Beasts of War Weekenders.

Sunday

Watched: The rest of last week’s episode of BBC’s Click, this week’s episode of BBC’s Click and this week’s episode of Beasts of War Weekenders XLBS.

eBay: Won the Cygnar Warcaster Kara Sloane and the Heroclix Marvel The Invincible Iron Man figure Bethany Cabe.

Until next time, Keep Rolling.

Friday, 21 February 2014

Gaming with Neoscream: 21st February 2014

Enforcer Pathfinder Sniper On Infiltrator Bike

Welcome to “Gaming with Neoscream”. This is my weekly gaming post for miniature games, RPGs, some card games and computer games. And what a whooper of a post we have this week.

Gaming News

First off is a bit of very bad news. On Monday it was confirmed that Campaign, a yearly Milton Keynes Wargaming that has been for over 13 years will not be happening this year. Normally I would redirect you to their website for the deals, however due to the fact that this was a major local gaming news, I decided to post what they about it:

“It is with great regret that Milton Keynes Wargames Society must announce that Campaign 14 will not be taking place. After an initial warning in early November and confirmation in mid January, thecentre:mk management have decided that Campaign in not compatible with the type of event they wish to see staged within Middleton Hall in the future.

Enforcer Pathfinder Sniper

We have been unable to source a suitable alternative venue within Milton Keynes for 2014. We continue to search for a venue which may allow Campaign to return in 2015.

I am sure that we all share a great sadness that Middleton Hall is no longer available to us. We would much prefer to continue to promoting our hobby to as great an audience as possible.”

Let us hope they can find a new place for next year. This has passed me off with thecentre:mk. The event was one of their biggest and long running events which brought people in from outside Milton Keynes. I will admit numbers had been dropping, but this was due to the number of stores dropping due to the lack of security thecentre:MK was providing.

Sadly I cannot remember names or places, but Campaign is not the only Gaming convention in the UK that is having these types of problems. It does mean that their will be no selling or buying at Bring and Buy for me this year as I cannot use Salute as they cancelled their Bring and Buy this year. Dam it.

Brains

Now for the Mantic news. On the Deadzone side of thing, they have revealed more CAD pictures of the Enforcer Pathfinder Sniper both on and off the Infiltrator Bike as well as a picture of a painted Zombie.

The Dreadball Extreme KickStarter will be starting from 1PM today. Let us see how much chaos it will cause.

Next is the HeroClix news. This week there was previews of: Validus from DC Superman and the Legion of Super-Heroes; Blade Knight from Yu-Gi-Oh Series One; and Wolverine from Marvel X-Men Days of Future Past.

Now for the Privateer Press news. Next Wednesday will see the release of the Convergence Warcaster Unit Iron Mother Directrix with Exponent Servitors, the Circle Light Warbeast Gorax, the Minion Farrow Heavy Warbeast War Hog, the Warmachine High Command expansion set “Into the Breach”, Retribution of Scyrah Myrmidon Wreck Markers and Convergence of Cyriss Vector Wreck Markers.

Also the first volume of Iron Kingdoms Excursions is out on PDF and Kindle. This is part of a series of six volumes, each volume will contain three stories from the world of the Iron Kingdoms (Warmachine). There is be a new volume each month.

Next is the RoboTech RPG Tactics news. Due to the Chinese New Year, they did not have anything new to show off this week. Instead they showed of a CAD parts breakdown for Regult.

Now for the Cool Mini Or Not news. There was a new mission posted called “Team Tesla” for Zombicide.

Also they are releasing a new adventure board game in the same style of Super Dungeon Explore called, Arcadia Quest. In it, up to four players each have control of a guild of three heroes. They must face off against each other and the various monsters of the game as they explore the ancient city of Arcadia through a series of branching campaign scenarios. I am liking the sound of this game. Oddly it is not being done by Soda Pop Miniatures.

Next is the Journey: Wrath of Demons news. They posted images of the art for the Profile Sheets and attack ranges for all the miniatures that are not part of the core game.

Now for the Kingdom Death news. There is not really much news, but there might hopefully be an update on the KickStarter next week.

Now for the Warlord Games news. With Bolt Action there are now online rules for famous characters of the Pacific Theatre. Also Judge Dredd also got some online rules for the shamed Judges Glass and Quincy.

Next is the Elven Adventurers Box Set KickStarter news. More greens were revealed this week. This time of three pixies, the downed elf, the swan, the Marker and the Grand Marshall on Foot.

Lastly for the Interface Zero news. Sadly the test copy of the physical turn out to be terrible, so they have to try to fix the ton of issues it has.

Past Events

On Saturday I went to the first of this year's DreadBall tournaments at Wargames Workshop MK. An event that might have been cancelled last week at only three or four people had booked in, but luckily the numbers increased to ten. Please people, pre-book your place in tournaments as the event runners need to know how many people will come. It is no good for you to say that your coming. Well anyway back to the tournament. After trying them out against Rob Taylor a couple of weeks ago I decided to try out my Season Two Corporation team, The Battle Angels. Like the last DreadBall tournament we had at Wargames Workshop MK last year, this will be ran like a league, but with 20mc spending money at the start. With my 20mc I brought a coach and a card. This left 2mc in my stash. I name all but the guard after female characters from Battle Angel Alita with the number six Jack being Alita herself. The guard I jokingly decided to call Kaitlyn as I was using my AJ Lee Coach figure as the coach.

I my first game I was up against Leon. He was using a Nameless team. It was a close game, but I won by four points. Oh and Alita killed one of his players. Wow. I spent ten of the 11mc I earned from the game on a second guard which left me with 3mc in my stash. I decided to call this guard Tamina due to the AJ link again. Sadly none of my players went up a Rank.

In my second game I was up against the only Judwan player in the tournament, Rich (not my friend Richard). This was a very bloody. Alita killed another player and Tamina killed one and sent two out for three turns. I won the match with one points. With the 9mc I earned and one of the three I had in the stash I brought a second card. Also three of my players went up a rank. These were Alita, Tamina and the number one striker called Noia Defarge. Noia got the skill Roll, Alita got the skill Slide and Tamina got a +1 to her Strength stat.

My third game was against Rob Taylor. He was use a Nameless team. As he had a bad first game, his rating was was lower than mine and two spear mc he bid on and won "F"ing Buzzcut. This won him the game and killed four of my players. Luckily none of my main three were killed, just the other two Strickers and two Jacks. OK it did not help that he also had too many players on the field (and I later found out he was cheating, or at least getting the Sucker Punch rules wrong). I manage to replace all, but one of the Jacks with the mc I had stashed and earned. (While I was writing this up I realised I forgot I should have 5mc in my stash at the end from selling the dead body of the Jack.) Oh and my striker Noia went up another rank as well, gaining a +1 to her Skill stat.

After the first three rounds, the top four players move on to the semi-finals of the tournament while the rest continued with the league. Sadly due to the loss to Rob Taylor, I did not qualify for the semi-finals.

On the four game I was up against Rob Cornell. He was using a Forge Fathers team. Sadly due to bad luck with the ball (even with a 3+ Skill Stricker) and the Forge Fathers high strength I lost by a landslide. I earned only six credits from the game. I could of brought an extra dice, but decided to save the mc for MVP backing as I thought my last opponent might have been a higher rating. Kaitlyn also went up a rank and gains the skill Stretch. (If I had remembered about the 5cm I would have brought a replacement Jack for the one I lost in the third round and had 2mc left in the stash.)

My last round opponent was Rob Farley. Yes that is right, yet another Robert. He was using a Teraton team. This ended up being a blood bath, due to the 3+ Strength and the fact you cannot slam or steal from them from behind. Sadly Tamina was killed this match due to so terrible rolls. If things continued I would try to bring her back as she was just one experience off to becoming a rank three. Rob Farley won the match.

Over all I sadly ended up at seventh place. Oddly, the person I beat in the first round, Leon, won the tournament. Well that life.

I decided to see what my team may had looked like after the fifth match. Please note that the dice rolls were done at home as I am writing this and on different dice than want I used in the tournament. I earned 7mc in the match giving me a grand total of 13mc (or 9mc if I had remembered to recycle the Jack I lost in round three). It would cost me 16mc (d6 + 10) for a standard revive for Tamina, so I would have to go for a Cryorevision revive which is 4mc and it ended up fatal. So I have 9mc left and no more Tamina. I would have use that remaining mc on replaced the Jack I lost in round three (or just had 5mc in my stash). Well that is life.

On Thursday HeroClix was back on as my A+ course was over. The Scenario this week was “Relic Wars”. You can find it is the HeroClix Scenarios page at the top of the blog, just under the logo. The standard local players turned up: me, Darren S, Adrian and Michael. We almost had a fifth player this week, however he sadly could not get a babysitter for the night.

In the first round I was up against Michael who was using an X-Men themed team. I managed to win the game with only losing Wolverine. Also Adrian won against Darren S.

In the second round I was up against Adrian who was not using a themed team due to the numbers of figures he had. I sadly got white washed in this game. Also Darren S won against Michael.

In the third and final round I was up against Darren S who was using a Thunderbolts themed team. Like normal I lost against Darren S, but did give his team a nasty beat down. Also Adrian won against Michael.

Over all Adrian won the game with an over powered Ms. Marvel. Sadly it showed that the hammers from Marvel Fear Itself are over powered for their point value due to the +2 attack they give.

For those who are wanting to know, the other games happening at York House were Warhammer Fantasy, Star Wars X-Wing, Flames of War and DBM.

Future Events

These are local gaming events in Milton Keynes I know of, Guardians of Tyr events at Wargames Workshop Northampton and other events I plan on going to or want to advertise.

· On Mondays at Wargames Workshop MK is Wargaming night.

· On Tuesdays at Wargames Workshop MK it is Card games night (or is it just Magic the Gathering).

· On Thursdays York House in Stony Stratford is open from Wargamers and Boardgamers.

· On Fridays at Wargames Workshop MK it is Boardgames night and Friday Night Magic.

· On Thursday the 27^th of February, there is HeroClix at York House in Stony Stratford. The scenario will be “Four is the Magic Number”. Details of the scenario are below.

· On Saturday the 1^st of March, Guardians of Tyr will be running a Star Wars X-Wing tournament at Wargames Workshop MK.

· Every Monday in March at Wargames Workshop MK, Guardians of Tyr will be running a Warhammer 40,000 Kill Team League.