A post to the fallen partisan..

...and why Silvio Berlusconi should not see Australia as his out.

You're in for an effing surprise if you think you can pull your stunts off here!

Bella Ciao...the quintessential anti-Berlusconi song

This is what I used to do for a living.....

Can you walk? Can you count? Really?? Then there is your enemy.

Even from Australia, I hate what you are, what you represent, how you broadcast my nation.

A drug is a drug is a drug. A cancer is a cancer is a cancer is cancer..

Do NOT move to Australia. I met you once on the second floor of the Striscia office.

Here in Oz you'd be fair game.

Fuck you, you Fascist racist Northerner cunt who got on a boat as a singer and stepped off recycling Mob money to build Milano 2 and Milano 3 Fininvest and Publitalia 80 and Mediaset. Millions of lives down the drain for your gain.
FUCK YOU!

Er partisan nunne tiene di morir..

Now and forever, the only good Berlusconi is a dead Berlusconi!

20th Century Battlefields BBC series

Today I spent the day watching these.

Highly recommended.

WWI Western Front

Midway

Stalingrad

Vietnam

The Falklands War

Middle East

Korea

The Gulf War

Spare a thought to the memory of all the civilians and soldiers of all armies who have fallen in these senseless conflicts....and enjoy!

Three move Dreadball Match (and a LOT of luck!) and a little ACW you-know-what...

To the three people the world over who follow my blog,
tonight Mike came around and a great gaming evening was had.
We opened proceedings with a pair of beers and a chat prior to starting the Avengers' second outing in this pre-season league.
And boy did the lads deliver!

The Hyacinth Avengers faced off against an unknown Corporation training team and won the match first Rush.

 A swift and deadly 4-pointer was scored almost immediately through some clever maneuvering and use of cards....oh and luck kind of helped, too!
Immediately upon the ball being put back into action another stroll and pass and it was all over.
7-0 first round. But that was the training exercise....

In response to DreadBall Tom's remarks on the quality of Mantic's white dice I have to intercede and point out "Man maketh thyne owne lucke". Even as the home team I was rolling so many sixes it was beyond both of us the match could have ended any way but how it did!

 In the second match things got much bloodier much more quickly.

 A shortage of players on the Corporation Team's side as the Avengers put players in the nanolabs by the boatload

 Our first official Melbourne XIII League KIA - a Corporation team Guard fails FOUR armor saves and is retired to the recycling morgue.

Again the Avengers bring a victory home...but it's due to their own skill as well as Mantic's "thought-to-be" loaded dice. They're not. Unless I'm rolling them apparently!

Mike was kind enough to hang about and run through a matched - play both sides to consider the game a complete one - play of Richard Borg's BattleCry.

 We played Pea Ridge as a matched game and Mike won the first game 6-4. An historically correct outcome as the Confederates do win the battle of Pea Ridge on March 7th, 1862.

However on replay the card/dice/[enter gaming noun] Gods smiled on the Union and they took the victory home 7-3. So as a matched game, your truly changed history to prove the Union CAN win even battles stacked heavily against them. That and it was Mike's first game.

Thanks for reading,  I'm seriously contemplating painting my BC boardgame up though after reading this. Very inspirational and I think the game would lend itself well to a group of friends coming together on a sunny afternoon with a carton and painting away to get it all done in one day.

Thanks for popping by to spend a few moments in my company via the intrawebs.
Time for meds and bed for me, have a safe weekend!
Steven

Goodbye 2012 - MK style!

Greetings and or salutations, my two solitary readers out there in the interwebs
:)
So being new to the Melbourne based Monday Knights gaming group this year was the first time I attended General Potus' legendary birthday/early NYE celebrations at his abode.
I almost missed this as was having complications with both my teeth, back and shoulder (gotta love them pain killers!) but managed to somehow garner up the right spirit to attend. Catching public transport and knowing I could drink to numb the various aches without fear of having to drive after was what I think got me over the line, but onto the celebrations:

 No lack of fun people, food, drinks, and some dooche in the background (not in the photo, just annoyingly in the background throughout the day!) trying to play guitar - ie yours truly.

 Birthday boy Phil and a very fat me (man I can't believe how fat I've gotten...this time last year I had a sixpack!!!)

 Susi indulges in a little Skulling (no rudeness here guys...keep it clean!)

 Talking about keeping it clean.....

 "I can see you see meeee!!!!"

 Viking Susi and Phil's good mate

 Again with Django the Australian Aereonef (a Brigade Models game) 2012 Champion

 Shadow and Tyler

 Tyler's done for now (ie the skull is out of vodka maybe?)

 Nope, he's just DONE!

 The gang playing one of Joe Dodgy's awesome card games - think this was Illuminati, available on his online store

 Ed unimpressed with Wal's performance?

 The day saw several games of Areonef being played as part of the Aussie Championships

 Kind of....sour?

 Aeronef in progress

 Admiral Karsten plots his enemy's demise

 Family and friends

A great day, I'd like to imagine, was had indeed by all. And in conclusion, the one to bind them all

After dropping Tyler off home to shower before heading back out, Susi and I went home to lie down and watch the fireworks on tv as my back was killing me by this stage, others I know went to paint the town red, and hopefully everyone else had a safe and happy New Year's Night!

A little Kings of War Progress

These have been in my shed since I stopped painting following my accident, but slowly I'll be getting back round to them

 My General on Winged Beast (in case the miniature was not self explanatory enough!)

 First Troop of Scouts

 Pistoliers prepare to be based and painted

 First Troop of Polearms done

 The undercoated and painted so far

 First Regiment of Cavaliers

 More Pistoliers take their place

A great dinner to finish off a good day.

Dreadball comes to Melbourne

For the few and far between who've not heard of Mantic, their latest release is a violent sci-fi sports game called Dreadball which, having now played five games - is AWESOME!

And for so many reasons, too
  

 Forge Fathers undercoated and ready to be painted after fixing to their bases

 My pal Ben helps out doing some inking on the Corporation team

 Whoever designed the Dreadball box made the cards iffy to get to so I built this silly mdf structure to lift the cards up just that tad they don't crease or bend trying to wring them out.

 Card protectors should come with ALL games that have cards I think

 First finished miniature - the trophy! (undercoat black, spraypaint gold, black ink, gold highlights)

Avengers WIP

 I gots me GOLDEN BALLS!

 The Hyacinth Avengers begin to take shape

 Trophy, ref, balls and first team all based and varnished for their first outing

Commentator - "Welcome sports fans! Yes you, of all races, ages, species and varieties, who've come to join us in the opening of this season's pre-season match-up rounds. You know you wanted it, you know you needed it, and Quimby Enterprises is glad to announce Melbourne is firmly set to establish its own League in this glorious sports year to come!"

Fan crowd - "Yeeeeay! Hissss!! Gragragrak!! [sounds not comprehensible by nanotranslator by strange alien fans]!! Waaaarrghhh!!!"

Commentator - "As the pre-season opens in Melbourne XIII's iconic St Phillips Stadium, we see the Hyacinth Avengers Corporation team take the field in a pair of pre-season practice matches against the up-and-coming Forge Fathers of Doomwaaaaaaaaaark!
The first match sees the Corporation slammed, literally, from nanohab to sinbin by their stunty cousins. Many brave moves on either side, truth be told, couple dodgy moves the Eye in the Sky didn't fail to see - though we wonder if someone maybe spraypainted over the eyes of the refbot as she missed a few funnies herself - wink wink! - but on the Corporation went to defeat the Fathers 6-0 after many a daring pitchlong run! Scoring not one but two roars from the Fans with free screams and shouts from their Coach. The Avengers seemed impossible to get off the field by slamming - they fell but that armour just kept on keeping them safe! And the inability of their smaller adversaries to stumble over continued to threaten hexes all over the board. Wait...wait....we hear word now - just live! - that the Forge Fathers striker has been FIRED! after failing to make a single Strike out of six attempts - even from one point only hexes!
What a shame for the Fathers, the way they just couldn't get those Strikes in!!"

Fan crowd - "Yeeeeay! Hissss!! Gragragrak!! [sounds not comprehensible by nanotranslator by strange alien fans]!! Waaaarrghhh!!!"

Commentator - "Here we have the Avengers coach - let's see if we can get an interview?!

HA Coach - "Who the f**** - oh it's you, commentator guy. Sorry about the last game, things got out of hand... 


WHO ARE THE HYACINTH'S AVENGERS?

The origin of our team? 
Well we're told Hyacinth is a Greek myth of olde where she and Apollo (the Sun god) are playing with a frisbee (kind of like a dreadball, but flat - think...frisbee! Or squashed DreadBall) and the god of wind (can he blow 300mph?!?!) Zephyr gets iffy that she likes Apollo better than her so blows a gush of wind at a frisbee that hits the tart in the head and bang down she goes dead. 
Hades comes along and says in typical Monty Python style "bring out yer dead! Yeah....her............chuck on the cart!" but Apollo instead tells the Hades to go stick it, starts a war with Zephyr (because Roman and Greek gods are always at war, and it's usually over women or money - much like today come think of it!) keeps her body and makes the beautiful purple flower Hyacinth out of her."

Commentator - "Right...well...thanks for that. More information than we needed but thank you! GOOD LUCK with you next game!
The second game was between a second corporation team and another FF team and the game was IMMENSELY different!

Fan crowd - "Yeeeeay! Hissss!! Gragragrak!! [sounds not comprehensible by nanotranslator by strange alien fans]!! Waaaarrghhh!!!"


Commentator - The score wasn't, the game ending on the 11th rush in a 7-0 to the Corporation, but the dynamics of the game, pre-season coaches trying out new tactics and strategies and synergies and...well...blood and money - it was all very so different. Forge Fathers striking, Jacks being used as Jacks, much more in-your-face-play-action by this set - and a lot less work for the nanohabs and nanodocs! - and much more maneuvering and blocking and threatening hexes. Less event or fan driven action than the first match, much more centre-pitch and tangle and strategic. How many facets to our sport!
What a strange and wonderful game this Dreadball of ours!
May your strikers run as fast as the wind, and your MVPs never fail to make a bang!
From Melbourne XIII
Until our next pre-season, await some still shots of the action when our crew from the EYECORP friendly Co-Prosperity Public Record Acceptability Institute have gone over the footage for all to admire!

Stay tuned for a message from our MAAAAAAAAAANY SPONSORS!!!!!!!!!!"

 Mike and Tom, my first fellow Coaches

 A game in progress, this I think was mine vs Tom at the very opening moves

 Partway through the game I'm running out of manpower - fast! But the scoreboard isn't looking too bad..

 Tom and Ben's game

 My first and deal-breaking 4 pointer (yeeeeaahhhh!!!)

 We copped a lot of violence, both sides, in both games.

Another shot of the Hyacinth's Avengers post their first win!

So....views on the game?
It's simple. But it's not easy. It's basically three dice plus minus a bunch of mods vs fixed teamplayer values (Guard, Striker, Jack)
Guard can't pick up the ball but is generally much better at running up and bashing into opposing players
Striker is supposed to be more fragile (mine went down but kept making them armor rolls!) and focuses on dashing, throwing, passing, scoring
Jack (of all trades) excels at nothing but correctly positioned (say in front of your own 1 and 2 point hexes where he's still IN the game, far enough upfield to be brought into the action, but mostly to deter the opponent from easy 2 point Strikes) they were very interesting to play.
Very tactically deep, but not in a head scratching way. Due to the nature of the sport, it's more "do I bash first or run or...."
With only five (potentially more but say five) actions per Rush (turn in DB) and six players in the field each of which can only be activated twice tops (unless you use special cards you can buy instead of activating), there's a lot of pre-planning involved to set a Strike up. And even then, there's no guarantees at all of success (ask Tom...)


The Ref is a lot of fun, the ball scattering mechanic can be annoying if the ball scatters a lot (which it seemed to in one of our games) and the cards really add replayability (hands up who wants a handful of Fan Support Coaching Dice!) and flavour (fan favourites, sticky pitches, players being booed off game, blood splattering the floor making it slippery, the Ref having a girl's moment...all epic laugh opportunities)
I can see this will be a staple game for some time.

Thanks for popping by!

Now onto get more figs painted in this scorching 41 degree day (they'll dry in an instant!)