To Edmonton!

The Teenage Visigoth is pleased to announce he will at last be going to MAYDAY in Edmonton this year.  For the last 9 years MAYDAY has been going on and after much procrastination and my schedule-challenged lifestyle I will be attending.

Edmonton

Alright, alright, that picture is my obligatory Calgary-Edmonton joke. For those not knowledgeable or uncaring in Alberta cultural politics, the Edmonton-Calgary rivalry long standing  and frankly getting a little old. Unless you actually care about pro-sports (which I do not...).

The city we all need to mock is Red Deer.

Red Deer, Alberta, Canada.

I am happy to be also putting on game! I will be running 'Death in the Dust', a G.A.S.L.I.G.H.T. adventure for four intrepid souls.  Details are fuzzy right now, but it will involve shenanigans in the Sudan. Maybe dinosaurs.

GASLIGHT players.

Love the Edmonton gamer crew. Excellent chaps all and hope to have a blast with them.

Also I will be attending the DBA games, I've got to maintain my badass rep and bring some glorious Trey Corbies armies for sale.

-TV

Listening to: Old Blondie bootlegs from '77.
Drinking: Very Dark Coffee and lots of it.

What I Think I Do.

Me and Grand Moff Van Helsing 

roll the same way.

 

-TV

Dingos ate my Apology.

An Apology.

The Teenage Visigoth realizes that his statements in his blog post 'I WAS A TEENAGE SPACEMARINE' can be construed as misleading and hurtful to Dingo-kind and by extension, all Antipodean life forms.

 

The Teenage Visigoth categorically states:

'dingo jizz is in and of itself no more or less objectionable than other forms of jizz'.   

The Dingo exists quite successfully in one of the most alien,  harshest and lethal environments in our solar system. 
As such it is worthy of our respect and admiration.

It has also been subjected to unreasonable slander and accusations of serial baby eating by malicious media misreports. 

Based on empirical evidence, Dingo eaten babies are less common than babies consumed by other Australian flora and fauna. 

We at I Was A Teenage Visigoth salute the Dingo and offer again our abject apologies for our careless statement. 

I WAS A TEENAGE SPACEMARINE

newsflash from the clash!

Games Workshop is still a fetid pile of cancerous dingo jizz. 

Come out from under your pile of painting for a second.

For those who have not been on top of Games Workshop's pathetic efforts to trademark 'space marine' here's the skinny via the Beeb. Not content with producing overpriced, over-hyped junk, the tosspots at GW figure the term 'Space Marine' (in caps? alloneword? tm'ed?) is theirs alone.

Recent victim: author M.C.A. Hogarth. The writer's blog offers an interesting POV of this conflict.
Apparently  'Spots the Space Marine' the author's original sci-fi e-book was a clear and present danger the intellectual property of the Games Workshop company.

                   =            

(if you follow the logic of GW's argument...)

In the dark future, there is only lawsuits... 
This is my favourite version of the meme, but there are so many.

Now Amazon (from whom you can get the e-book) has re-listed Spots the Space Marine after initially pulling it at GW's petulant insistence.
Originally after GW's protest Amazon went down faster than... (insert your own nasty metaphor) and pulled the e-book.  But now after some head-scratching, magic 8 ball consulting and several re-assuring back-rubs from their lawyers, Amazon has finally done the right thing and re-listed Hogarth's e-book.

Victory? Yes, but the war will continue to be waged. 

Some of us remember the TSR Trademark Wars (TSR? Who? #wherearetheynow?). TSR, having published the First Fantasy Role Playing Game convinced themselves it gave them the right to have the only game in town, or at the very least decide who gets to be in the club. Their sue-happy trademarkitis was so acute that it gave rise to the urban legend of them trying to trademark Nazi as part of the Indiana Jones RGP. 
 
So while all of us with a brain can bemoan the litigious culture that spawns such action, we can rest assured this will not be the last attempt by Games Workshop, a creatively bankrupt company whose hegemonic business ethics demand it continues with this strategy and programme of appropriation and control.

There are much more erudite discussions as to how the term space marine arrived as trope in our geekly lives so I'll kill no more electrons on it here.

I will however state my allegiance to the primacy of the literary creative process.  No game or miniature company must ever be allowed to threaten freedom of thought and expression. 

Whew,  now let's build the barricade and raise the red flag.

As you guess I'm no GW fan-boy. So it really makes no difference for me to pledge not to buy their overpriced crud again. That sort of financial boycott action will impinge little to none on their bulgy-bulgy pocketbooks. The odd paint-pot and Lord of the Rings set really don't average out to much in GW economics.

I'm pretty sure my own hobby modalities are unique as yours, my reader.
Me? I obsesses over DBA, a game I've played since the onset and it has worked itself into my DNA. I fetishize Old School D&D and play Tunnels and Trolls. I fight plastic army men against dollar store dinosaurs and zombie Romans.

In short, I am claiming no imaginary high ground, I'm in no position to suggest anyone walk away from their GW habit. If that is something you take pleasure in, go for it. 

However if ethical consumerism is a part of your life in non-hobby real-life theaters I suggest it worth considering how you spend your hobby money. Voting with your dollars is a reasonable and effective act.

Certainly more reasonable than my first strategy involving sucker-punching random GW staff in their crotch. (Sure, pick on the minions...)
Whilst satisfactory, it would lead to some ...complications...  Let's face it if I'm going to jail for crotch-punching I'd rather it be for groin-busting certain Heads of State or possibly that pest Spiderman.


 
So as a non-violent, non-coercive, act I'm sending a fine little bit of love to EFF.
(by that I mean $)
If you agree with my rambling, I'd ask you do the same.

(If you don't agree, please write me emails defending GW. Be sure to include lots of profanity so I can share it later.)

-TV 

Listening: Drone Zone on SOMA FW...love those guys.

Drinking: Cheap Aussie Shiraz...again.

NB: I've issued an apology to Dingo-kind

High Society.

I am rather pleased.

My issue of Slingshot, The Journal of the Society of Ancients has just arrived.
Yes.

Membership was awarded to me this fall when Clan Toho and I slew all comers and won the Alberta Open DBA Championship. Did you miss out on the epicosity of that struggle? Go here.

'In the meantime and between times' as Mr Ed Whelan used to say, I have been awaiting my Slingshot.

Stuff on Huns, Teutonics and something about Moabites...awesome!

Flipping through the package I found the wonderful phrase 'Family members receive all the benefits of Society membership except Slingshot'. When I told the Hippy of the amazing boon that just landed in her lap she picked up the issue and flipped it open to random page. 'Hearing you go on about the stuff you read like...Etruscans....will be benefit enough'.

What a woman. See why I love her?  

And yeah, SoA membership offers nice discounts from different manufacturers and such, it's pretty cool. All sorts of gooby goodness for folks like us.

-TV

Ignorant Armies Clashing

Some DBA action and pictures to enthrall and entertain for a few mo's.

I had the joy of cracking a few games off with Mark Wall. He's re-located Magna Calgaria, which is Edmontograd's loss (sorry denizens of EDBAG he's one of us now) and truly our gain.

We played two games in which I matched his Later Crusaders (cracking paint job BTW) with my Sicilians and Cilician Armenians. Sicilians and Cilicians...you'd think I do that sort of thing on purpose...

First game saw the indefatigable Cilician Armenians face down the ravenous slobs of the Crusader Kingdoms. I painted the Ar-meanie-ans up for Paul Hannah's last tourney in these parts, Skulls of Tamerlane at FallCon a few years back.

 I love my Cilician list. 1xKnG, 2xKn's, 4xSp, 2xAux, 3xPs. Good mobility and firepower, and a decent record against all comers.

Tonight however was a game changer. I started off quite well, zapping two units of Mark's and proceeding to roll up his flank. Then (see pic below) everything went screwy.

6,6,6,6,6,6,6,6,6,6 and 6. 

Those were not mine. Game ended is a slaughter: 6-2.

We go to Brother Anselm, currently held aloft by infinite Angels for the eye-in-the-sky view.

So I hauled out my trusty Sicilians. These guys have a record of mightiness as would be expected of towering German Knights, valiant Muslim Guards and Sicilian cut-throats, 

I out-manouvered and out-feinted Mark. But he sucked me into the situation below in which my Kn General is stuck in double overlap. If I won, I would have killed two of his units, including his General.

Instead:
6,6,6,6,6,6,6,6,6,6 and 6.

Suck quarrels Hospitallers!

I know those 8Cb look pretty deadly. They even have a praying monk asking for God's thumbs up. But we know what that will often get ya...carnage, lots of it, with you on the pointy end. Game over.

I know I made these last two battle seem like I'm a tactical mastermind whose wickedly cunning plans are forever foiled by the ineptitude of his underlings whose failures are expressed in a series of 1's and 2's.
THIS IS TRUE
However it does take away from Mark's nice guy 'who me' guile. Oh yes...he has that and a pocket full of luck.

As I've said before, it's not that he gets into these weird situations, it's that he gets out of them.

Please drop into Mark's blog for more pix and a less biased recount. (his camera is better too, nice looking pics.)

So, let's look at a couple of other games...one of which I actually win.

Lykian Marines! Ooo-Rah! Semper Fi! Do or Die!

I've not a had a chance to profile one of my latest armies, the Lykians. Hell, I don't remember the number but it's in Book I near the end. Don't make me go all ENTP all over your pencil-ass neck.

I'll profile them later. Needless to say they were inspired by the same Paul Hannah on a Fanaticus thread. Many years back, back when DBA was COOL, I posted as Spanikopites and people didn't post shit about me on Facebook that was hurtsome and mostly wrong.

I threw down with Evil Neil, who is always trying to get me roleplaying. He's excited to get me to play Call of Cthulhu. I have yet to tell him that I've been playing CoC since Year 0 and summoned the King in Yellow in the boys locker room in Grade 11. Lots of detention that week. 

So brought out his Late Academic Persians, whilst not legit enemies of the brave Lykian freedom fighters, still pretty close as Lykia was a sort of dependency/bitch of the Persians until Alex the Goon 'rescued' them.

This was a fun, quick deadly game. I snarfed his chop-suey chariot of doom with a forlorn hope of psiloi.   

What is Persian for Banzai Charge?

Situation looking good? See below.

'Sir, Persian horse have broken through and over-run our flanks, game over man!'

As you see from the pix, after that my speedy attack swung into full tempo, only to be stymied by the (inevitable) breakthrough of the Persian horseboys on my flank. So aside from a chance to kill his General (who proved his mettle and steamrolled my unit) the rampaging Persians brought this he game to an end.

Neil, I will avenge myself upon you 

and your stylish army!

Next up was Dangerous Don Ray fielding his Ptolemaic Army of Doom. A classic Successor army consisting of a block of Pikes and then one each of every other unit in the rulebook including a few I didn't know existed. 

The following pictures are presented in sequence and without comment. I won by playing mean and dirty. I fought a twitchy, double dealing battle. I grabbed his camp, called his phalangites naughty names and won. I guess I'm too nice and should be EVIL more often.

Sick and wrong! Lykian flower-pot heads put an end to Don's elephant powered weapon of mass destruction.

Pawn sacrifice: some must die so others live. Lykian Aux face a Knight general in the open.

Perturbed by psiloi, Ptolemaic pikers pounce.

Set and match Ptolemy. Stay out of Lykia!

Let's get it! Don trembles as the Lykians rush his undefended camp.

Thank-you for reading. 

These where 4 affirming games. 

Happy painting and games!

-TV

Art Corner: Painting tables at the Sentry Box.

Listening to: Bach Cello Suites.

Drinkin' Cheap Aussie Shiraz.

G.A.S.L.I.G.H.T. page added. Now with 75% more dinosaurs!

Due to overwhelming requests from many readers (thanks to both of them) I have built a page specifically devoted to G.A.S.L.I.G.H.T. adventures and figures.

I've organized them under the awesome* universe me and the pre-Teen Visigoth created. We basically asked what conditions need to exist so we can have Englishmen eaten by Carnosaurs?**

We proudly introduce: The Neo-Cretacious Age. 

So is it just an excuse to play with 1/72nd plastic soldiers and dollar-store dinos?

Yes. Yes it is.

-TV

*Awesome in the sense the background material was scribbled on a falafel wrapper. 

** We will ensure that all nationalities and ethnicities are represented and properly maimed and eaten.

Listening: Paul Simon (again). Coffee house needs more music choices...
Drinking: Darjeeling. Baby. 

It's the Obligatory Recap Post! 2012=meh.

I've been pretty busy, but not in the miniature department.

Been keeping an eye on the resurgence of militarism in Bavaria

Actually, I've been spending a lot of time in the mountains. The snow keeps falling and the back country beckons.

What I look like when not hunched over my desk abusing solvents.

I'll give a quick series of thoughts regarding 2012 as I don't have any cool mini pics ready (some more GASLIGHT pics coming. Some in which Englishmen are devoured by Dinosaurs!)

2012

THE GOOD: Getting back into GASLIGHT and doing it with the Pre-TeenVisigoth. It's been a blast.  It's been good to reestablish my love of 20mm/1/72nd plastic guys as well. Been chopping and swapping like Herr Doktor Frankenstein.

THE BAD: Commissions are not for me. Once when my time was less wibbly wobbly, I could devote time to them. Now, things are different. I'll find a new revenue stream.

THE UGLY: Downsizing. You know what I mean. Get rid of stuff. Mad the hard calls.

-TV