SHORT STORIES: "Ground Zero, An Immortal Psychopath & Several Centuries of Extensive Genetic Engineering"

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TOP: 23SKDU's awesome custom Raven Wing!

Hi All,

The other day ago I was reminiscing about all the great Stargrunt and Dirtside II games I used to enjoy with my friends in the 1990's and it reminded me of the old Star Grunt listserv and one of the best pieces of short fiction of I've ever read. I scoured the Internet looking for it, E-mailed some friends, and then, in a sudden moment of recall, remembered that my friend Andreas AKA Javelin-98 kept a copy on his site. So, without further ado, enjoy!

"40K vs. Stargrunt!"

"Ground Zero, an Immortal Psychopath and..

Several Centuries of Extensive Genetic Engineering"

By: Tom Sullivan.

Fair warning: The following short story contains some cursing AKA foul language, and lots of it! Under the circumstances, such language use seems not so much inappropriate as it does mandatory.

"Christ," whispered Pugh, "It looks like someone slapped a set of treads onto a dumpster!"

Kemmerman snorted his agreement. "And check out Buck Rogers there! Sticking his big, ugly ol' head outta the hatch, and not even bothering to stick a helmet on it! Think he's got a 'Shoot Me' sign on his back, too?"

"Cut it," snapped the sergeant, "We've got work to do here. Sorenson, have you got a lock yet?"

"Yessir," he replied, his gaze remaining fixed on the Scorpion's display. "Ready when you are, sir."

Nodding, the sergeant tapped at his com unit. "Jessup? You ready?" He nodded again at the reply. "All right then, on my mark...NOW!!"

There was a sudden sharp crack, and the enemy officer’s head vanished, replaced by a rapidly dispersing red mist. This sound was followed a heartbeat later with a loud "Crump!" as the Scorpion rocket penetrated the side of the APC. The vehicle skewed sideways, smoke and flame billowing from the hole in its side, as the second rocket hit, this time impacting at the rear.

TOP: All of 23SKDU's Raven Wing are mounted on...
...custom motor bikes!

The APC exploded with a satisfying roar, scattering pieces of men and metal across the field. "That," Pugh said with feeling, "was abso-fuckin-lutely beautiful. You know that? That's a goddamn piece of art right there, Billy! You should get down there and sign it, you know?"

Sorenson shrugged as he repositioned himself, targeting the second APC. "It's eighty percent inspiration, ten percent perspiration, and one hundred and ten percent detonation, my man."

The APC shuddered, and obligingly lost a tread, as the rocket hit it.

"It's a damned good thing that you can shoot, buddy," Pugh said, "...cause you sure as shit can't add." He shook his head, waving at the men spilling out of the crippled vehicle. "Now look at that! Bright red armor? What are they, color-blind? Or just stupid?"

TOP: Even the regular grunts have custom rides.

"Neither," interrupted the sergeant, "they're arrogant and VERY well armored. Now, shut up and shoot."

"Yessir," Pugh muttered, shouldering his rifle. "Shooting away, sir. Doesn't seem to be doing much good, sir."

"When I want your opinion, Pugh, I'll be sure to tell you what it is, understand? Just keep firing. And Sorenson, wait for my command, dammit!"

The armored men seemed largely indifferent to the rifle fire, only a few even bothering to return it.

Miller shook his head as he sprayed bullets down the hill.

TOP: 23SKDU's Raven Wing Master is an amazing conversion!

"Jesus, what the fuck are they firing? Howitzers? Those are the biggest goddamn rifles I've ever seen!"

Pugh snorted. "Yeah, but do think they can actually hit anything with 'em? Might as well just throw the damned things at us for all the good they're doing!" He yelped, jerking back as a crater was blasted into the ground a foot away from his head.

"Yeah, yeah...fuck you too, Murphy!"

"You know," Pugh noted after a moment, "they really don't seem very happy, sir. In fact," he added, as he changed clips, "they seem downright pissed. Sir."

The sergant ignored him. "Jessup? There's a guy down there with a very big gun. Yeah, the one painted yellow. Eliminate him for me, would you?"

There was a flash, a bang, and one of the men at the bottom of the hill collapsed, a neat little hole visible in the side of his helmet. Pugh made an approving noise. "Very nice, Jessup! You and Sorenson, you're like the... the... Boticellis of the battlefield, you know? Fuckin' artistes, I tell ya!"

“‘Boticellis of the battlefield’, Pugh? What are you on, anyway?”

“It’s called culture, buddy. Give it a try sometime. You’ll like eating with a fork, I just know it!”

"Um, sir?" Miller said, abruptly, "Sir? They appear to be charging, sir. Up the hill, sir."

"Yeah," the sergeant replied with satisfaction, "Yeah, they certainly are, aren't they? The big bastards are nothing if not predictable. Just keep firing, private. Williams, Cook? Be ready."

"My God," Pugh marveled, "the guy in front has a sword! A goddamn sword! What’s in his other pocket, a flint fucking spear?"

They did, he had to admit to himself, certainly LOOK impressive. Each stood at least seven feel tall, and their brilliant red armor made them look even bigger. "Kind of a shame they're such morons," he muttered.

TOP: Great poise on the Raven Wing Master!

Two of the charging men fell, neither making it even halfway up the hill, but the remaining seven kept coming, firing, apparently at random, as they did.

"Now!" the sergeant shouted. "Now, dammit!"

The man in the lead, the one waving the sword, was cut almost in half by the incoming plasma bolt. Those behind him stopped sort, caught in the crossfire as William's and Cook's squads opened fire. Sorenson fired the Scorpion, catching one man squarely in the center of his chest. The result was, while interesting, far from pretty.

The concentrated fire of fifteen men proved sufficient. Almost. Only one man made it to the top of the hill, his armor cracked and pitted with innumerable bullet holes. Moving with remarkable speed for such a large man, he surged forward, grabbing the sergeant by the throat before the rest of the squad could react.

"Now," the man rasped, his voice distorted by his helmet, "you shall die, in the Emperor's...."

*BLAM*

He stopped.

Looked down.

Saw the smoke rising from the barrel of the pistol pressed firmly against his stomach.

And fell, gently, to the ground.

The sergeant stepped back, rubbing gingerly at his throat. "He was a tough bastard, I'll give him that much," he said, hoarsely. He prodded at the corpse with his toe, dislodging the man's helmet with a sudden fierce kick.

"Jesus, what did they do?" asked Pugh, "Shave an ape?" The man's features were grotesquely exaggerated, almost to the point of caricature.

"That," said the sergeant, "is what happens when you combine several centuries of extensive genetic and bionic engineering with being raised from birth to worship an immortal psychopath. Makes you understand the Promixa Covenant, doesn't it?" He sighed. "Stupid goddamned fanatics. They think the entire universe should play by their rules. Well, fuck that. We're gonna show 'em how a war is SUPPOSED to be fought. Space Marines, my ass!" He kicked the corpse again, not gently.

"How do you like life at ground zero, asshole?"

FINIS!
Praise "Bob!"

And, before I forget, here's where you can find the site of Andreas AKA Javelin-98:
http://home.comcast.net/~kudby/

And the photos came from my buddy L-4's buddy: 23SKDU! You can check out a cool photo album of his work here:
http://s9.photobucket.com/albums/a53/23skdu/Ravenwing/

The figures in the photos are all 28mm GW Space Marines on heavily customized bikes.

Have a great Thursday!

Shalom,
Maksim-Smelchak.

Notes regarding photos / pictures / videos: These are not all my images and videos. I am using various images and videos from around the web, mostly from public sources and/or private sources used with permission. I have tried to include only images and videos under public domain, creative commons, or fair use. If I have inadvertently violated any copyrights, please inform me and I will remove your image/s (if it is indeed an infringement).

GAMING NEWS: "Wide, Wide World of Savage Zombies" (Savage Worlds Zombie Game 7-15-2007)

.TOP: We all had a good time playing board games and RPGs!

Hi All,

So, there we were about two weeks ago... E-mailing each other back and forth and wanting to get a new game together. John the "Reapersaurus" wanted to play board games, Anne wanted to be creative with a role-playing game (RPG), Kelley also wanted an RPG, Rob wanted to bring the family, Pat was indifferent, and I just wanted to visit with some of my friends and share a few choice games with them. So, finally we all agreed that most of the adults would play an RPG and the rest would play board games with the kids... So, which RPG do you choose for a group that goes by the name "Cannibal Pygmy Discussion Group?" A zombie game, of course! We talked about playing "All Flesh Must Be Eaten," but eventually "Savage Worlds" won out.

TOP: I brought some 28mm zombie minis, but we didn't need them after all.

So, eventually, Patrick, the creator of Monster Island and head honcho of Firefly Games (link on right sidebar), and our gamemaster (GM), sent us this teaser, a radio short:

It's just another weekday morning. You are on your way to St. Mary's Medical Center in downtown San Francisco, across from Golden Gate Park. You might work or volunteer at the hospital, or you might be visiting a patient. Or perhaps you're meeting a friend who's an employee for coffee, or you have a business appointment of some kind. Or possibly you're scheduled for outpatient testing or rehab therapy.

In any case, at some point in the course of your morning routine - whether it's hitting the snooze button on your clock radio, brushing your teeth, eating breakfast, or driving, walking, or riding the bus to the hospital - you hear the following news report:

"... latest casualties from Iraq. On a lighter note, no one was injured early this morning when a malfunctioning satellite crashed to Earth in the parking lot of a downtown San Francisco bowling alley during an all-night bowl-a-thon. Guess you'd call that a lucky strike!"

"Coming up after the break, today's weather and traffic together..."

And what gaming group doesn't come up with a few house rules:

Cool! I think the one change I will make is to allow bennies to be spent also to gain a 'lucky break,' basically a minor plot twist a la Faery's Tale.

"Hey, that zombie janitor we just killed has the key-card to this door!"

And the cool thing about Savage Worlds is that they offer a free 'Test Drive' PDF if folks want to take a gander at it before playing:
http://www.peginc. com/Games/ Savage%20Worlds/ Downloads/ SW%20Rev/ TestDrive4. pdf

TOP: What else were you expecting to find in the house of a guy nicknamed "Reapersaurus?"

So, next thing I know, we're discussing character creation like crazy, everyone coming with ideas of what kind of character they wanted to play.

Anne's character ideas were particularly "fertile" as is her norm:

I think my character will be an art student attending the Art Institute in SF. She lives with a roommate in those homes that are embedded on a side of hill (only healthy people and mountain goats can get to these places). This roommate recently completed his--uh her transgender
surgery and so she's visiting her roommate who is recuperating from said surgery. In order to make ends meet, she works a few jobs: one at Stacey's Books on Market, and then another as a clerk of the concession counter at the Power Exchange, a club for the "adults only." Her senior project is nearly complete, and was inspired by her second job. Entitled "Spare the Rod, Spoil the Evening," her project is a series of abstract mixed-media pieces that are constructed on canvas with spackle, leather, PVC pipe, licorice and "found" fast food packaging.

She is also interested in performance art that involves physical exertion (...inspired by artists like Matthew Barney), so she will have some strength and agility. One of her pieces involving this medium was purchased for $10,000 USD. It was entitled "Untitled" and involved her mounting a trampoline in front of a wall covered with canvas. She proceeded to paint her hindquarters different colors, bounced backwards, and stamped her colorful cheeks onto the canvas. She broke two ribs in the process. Therefore, her payment for the piece went towards medical care costs. So there ya have it.

Since children are present, we won't go into detail about her second job during game play, but I couldn't pass up the opportunity to develop a colorful San Francisco resident, in addition to lampooning modern art.

And the funny thing is that anyone who's been to Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco has walked by the "Art Institute" that inspired Anne. I'd say "you can't make that stuff up," BUT Anne did! ...and it is San Francisco we're talking about.

TOP: Anne, Rob, Kelley and Pat playing the zombie RPG.

And if you don't think San Francisco is a CRAZY place, please check out this link, appropriately called "Zombie Time" ("The Hall of Shame" is particularly disturbing):
http://www.zombietime.com/

While Rob's ideas came in the form of a cool little short story:

"Oh damn! Another one? Hit the sirens Sara."

"You got it Trevor."

The ambulance's sirens and lights came to life as Trevor romped on the gas pedal and sped off to the scene of the accident just another day in the life of a paramedic.

Arriving at the scene the found two vehicles badly damaged, one wrapped around a tree the other inserted into its passenger door. The emergency personnel were all on scene already trying to get the bodies out. To the right a man in a nice business suit was bent over the body of a woman giving CPR.

"1... 2... 3..." He blew into her mouth. He obviously knew what he was doing, but wasn't a member of the emergency personnel present.

Trevor and Sara jumped out of the ambulance and seeing no other bodies present rushed to the man's side.

"Move out of the way, we'll take it from here." Trevor told the man as he put his hand on his shoulder.

"Do you have a crash kit with you?" The man in the suit asked."Of course," Trevor answered.

"This woman has gone into cardiac arrest and has two broken ribs, and I think her spleen is ruptured. She's barely holding on.""Who are you?" Sara asked.

"1... 2... 3..." He blew into her mouth again before saying, "The name is Doctor Henry Strats. I'm a doctor at St. Mary's Medical Center.""Ok, doctor we've got it from here." Sara responded as she opened the crash kit and moved in to take over.

Dr. Strats stood up and watched as the paramedics went to work, and then looked around if there was anything else that he could do, but there was little for him that wouldn't require him getting in the way.

Soon additional ambulances arrived and the put the woman on a gurney as two others were pulled from the wreckage of the vehicles.

Jogging over to one of the paramedics he asked, "Can I follow you in? St. Mary's is only a half mile from here. I assume that is where you are going?"

"Sorry, you'll need to stay back and drive a safe speed. Don't worry we'll take good care of her." They hit their sirens and lights and sped off leaving the doctor to decide what he wanted to do.

He jumped in his car, put it in drive and sped off toward the hospital.

My character is Dr. Henry Strats. A forty-year-old doctor at St. Mary's.

Our final characters ended up a bit different though:

- Dr. J.C. Valmont, medical resident at St. Mary's played by Kelley W.
- Mr. Kevin Harding, fisherman of the Gorton's Fishsticks type, played by Robert.
- Mz. Fawn Schmichaels, grad student, "performance artist," and "Hippie chick" played by Anne F.
- Captain Maxwell S. Black, U.S. Army helicopter pilot played by Maksim S.
- Pat, the ALMIGHTY GM!

TOP: Alexa was the good-natured dog mascot... and seeker of dropped treats.

And we had a few NPCs connected to the backgrounds of our characters:
- Chief Resident (zombie) at St. Mary's, Doctor Herman Proctor.
- Mechanic "Skippy," formerly of the US Army before zombie-dom hit.
- Sandra, the transgender friend of Fawn, and the first "Zomb-IT" in history.
- Nurse Ginger, a friend of Dr. Valmont.

TOP : Zombie nurses are HOT!

And Pat read us the beginning blurb and away we went:

Zombies! starts out at a hospital in downtown San Francisco. Your PCs are employees, medical staff, public safety workers, or just ordinary people visiting patients or at the hospital for some other reason. The theme, as before, is you are everyday people caught at 'ground zero' of the zombie outbreak, and must struggle to survive and reach a place of (relative) safety. If your PC gets killed, you'll just pull another pre-gen from the pile and be another survivor encountered by the party as soon as it's possible to fit you back in.

We started out in an elevator that stopped somewhere in between the fourth and fifth floors of the hospital. Out first action was to crawl out of the elevator onto the fifth floor where we encountered our first zombie, who took quite a beating from the crew... the zombie was whacked with some broomsticks, pushed around, and eventually succumbed to a few bullets from Captain Black's .45 ACP pistol. At that point, the party raided a nurse's station and custodian's closet for supplies... and discovered that the "guts" skill was particularly valuable as half the party was scared witless by some more zombies. After defeating the zombies and nearly having two of the characters bitten, the party decided to make their way to the roof rather than the first floor and dangerous Emergency Room (...which we believed was chocked full of zombies from a local bowling alley).

TOP: Richard Gere might have been in the ER, which stinks...

Because zombie hamsters really suck!

The party made their way to the stairwell and proceeded upwards... rescuing Nurse Ginger along the way and being viciously attacked (...and slowly attacked, they're zombies after all) by some NPC zombies, Chief Resident Zombie Dr. Proctor, Skippy the ex-mechanic zombie, and the "zomb-IT." I could have taken anything but being bitten by the transgender zombie! That would have been awful... eventually we made it to the roof, defeated a few more zombies miraculously and took an emergency services helicopter to the nearby naval air station... hoping that it was not too infested... YET!

The End. Finis!

TOP: Kellog's Zombie Pops, our sponsor for the evening.
"Tastes just like brains! Jingle, jingle. Buy them NOW!"

It was a good time and we all enjoyed it. The kids and adults who didn't play the RPG, played board games all day and we all munched on a variety of cool appetizers as well as some freshly-baked chocolate chip cookies.

TOP: Jennifer, Michael, John, Jacob & Bethany enjoyed board games.

The board games that were played were:
- Apples to Apples, Jr. Edition
- Coloretto
- Elfenland
- There's a Moose In the House
- Tumblin Dice

We also discussed the upcoming "Weird Al" Yankovic concert coming on September 3rd, which reminded me of "Weird Al's" parody of Thriller: "Nature Trail From Hell."

TOP: Sometimes it's hard to tell San Francisco "normal" from "abnormal."

And many many bad zombie jokes were made:
- Zombie Speed Dating:
- "Nothing like eating and running..."
- "He's so tender and full of brains..."
- "Is that performance art?"
- And the infamous transgender "zomb-IT!"

You can see all of the photos I took from that weekend here:
http://s44.photobucket.com/albums/f23/Maksim-Smelchak/Gaming%202007/Reapersaurus_7-16-2007/

Have a great Friday!

Shalom,
Maksim-Smelchak.

Notes regarding photos / pictures / videos: These are not all my images and videos. I am using various images and videos from around the web, mostly from public sources and/or private sources used with permission. I have tried to include only images and videos under public domain, creative commons, or fair use. If I have inadvertently violated any copyrights, please inform me and I will remove your image/s (if it is indeed an infringement).

GAMING NEWS: "Storming The Beaches of Norse-mandy"

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The undead face off the Beastmen-Norse at the beaches of "Norse-mandy!"

Hi All,

The boring news is that my job has been keeping me very busy... it's been hard to post the last few days. The good news is that Nils and I have been having a good time playing 28mm Warhammer Fantasy Battles (WHFB). The following two linked short stories are his narrative masterpieces of our very enjoyable game. I hope that you enjoy them as well.

Part 1 of the story follows:

"Storming the Beaches of Norse-mandy - The Omens!"

By: Warlord Nils Fahrvegnugen the Raging Rylehmeister.

As the Godi cast the runes on the deck of the largest longship, Torvald Isulfson eagerly looked on. The longship lay just off the shore of the jungle land that would make them all rich. They were so far south, the Winds of Chaos were hardly a breeze here, so Torvald was hoping for any good omen to encourage his army.

Torvald still cursed those traitorous Norsca back at Skeggi. He'd assumed his force would have been welcomed by their distant cousins, but the greedy whelps refused to allow his ships to land. They felt the owned the whole jungle. Well, he'd show them and plunder the jungle's gold right out from under their noses. So, instead of making an easy landing where there should have been welcoming wenches and ale, his army was having to make a mad dash up the beach and into the jungle. His army was used to fighting like that, but Torvald at least had enough sense to realize that a beach landing on a unknown continent would be tougher than the normal fleecing they gave Imperial sheep.

An Ungor-Viking Hird is caught by a mass of skeletons at the rocky passes!

He'd decided to land his army on the only shallow beach near Skeggi in the gentle moonlight. The fact that there were skeletal totems all along the beach made no difference to him. It kind of made it look a little like home. Some peasant's illegitimate son was always sticking a cow or wolf's skull on a stick back in Norsca. Once the army was landed and had defensively drawn out to contest any possible enemies, he'd land the supplies in a small inlet nearby that would have been too hard to defend otherwise. Torvald would ensure the supplies were landed, while one of his sub-chieftains, Valgard Stonecleaver, would lead the army.

Returning his attention to the runes, the Godi's divination said that much that was hidden would be revealed. The army cheered, believing that meant they would find piles of gold and other treasures. But, as Torvald let the blood of the final sacrificial victim flow into the ocean in thanks for a safe journey, he realized this Godi's readings had always been particularly vague and decided to send him along with Stonecleaver to share in whatever vague fate he had foreseen.

And here's Part 2 of the story:

"Storming the Beaches of Norse-mandy - The Battle!"
By: Warlord Nils Fahrvegnugen the Raging Rylehmeister.

They hit the surf running. The longships beached just long enough to disgorge the army and then oarsmen pulled them back into the ocean. The terrain got progressively thick as they pushed in from the shore: first the open beach, then a bunch of undergrowth culminating in light jungle and finally dense, thick jungle of the nearly impenetrable type. Luckily, although thick it was very much like the forests of the crew's native Norsca, so the army would have no problem maneuvering through that morass. But, unlike the forests of Norsca, the heat and humidity were so oppressive that it felt like they had to swim through the air (Game result: Excessive Humidity: -1" movement to Bestigors ). On the other hand, the surprise landings seemed to have worked since he could see vaguely human shapes still trying to form ranks (Game result: Monkey Run: Norse got +1 to the die roll for determining who goes first).

Stonecleaver had positioned himself in the center, leading the unit of Valkyrie (Bestigors) that had the gods had blessed them with. To the right was one of the large Hirds, followed by a small Hird, the Norse Dwarf Mountain Goat Cavalry who were drunk once again (Centigors), and finally a small unit of wolves (chaos hounds). To the left were Musta Krakish, the Werewolf Lord, and his giant Werekin (minotaurs), the other large Hird, and the other unit of Dwarf cavalry.

Stonecleaver prayed to the gods that the solitary longship that left the fleet would have successfully landed the small ambush force further up the beach. He was worried though. Even if the ambushing force showed up, the army's orders were to penetrate as far into the jungle as possible. So once behind the enemy, the ambushers might feel it better to hang back in the dense jungle and not actually come out to reinforce the rest of the Norscans.

Beastmen-Viking ambushers close in on the undead battleline... from behind!

Even though he still couldn't completely make out the enemies, he could see they had finally formed up into four blocks, pretty much equally aligned on his center. The army surged forward with the surf, eager to meet whatever the vile jungle spat out at them. The Werekin got tangled up in the undergrowth and ended up being out of position for most of the battle (I misread the rules and initially thought you could march move through difficult terrain). But, three of the four ambush groups, one small Hird and both units of wolves, successfully navigated the dense jungle and came out behind the enemy. The fourth could be seen wandering up behind the Norscans' own lines.

As the two armies approached each other, Stonecleaver finally realized what they were fighting: skeletons! And four HUGE blocks of skeletons, most of them twice the size of his largest Hirds. Some of the skeletons looked to have been Norscans from Skeggi at one point, based on the tatters of clothes hanging from their bleached bones. The idea of being denied a place Valhalla and instead being forced to fight in this cursed jungle for all eternity froze Valgard and his army in their tracks.

The outer flanking forces were able to continue to maneuver forward, but the Valkyries and both large Hirds stopped dead. Valgard tried to get his warriors to charge, but they stayed put and were surprised by a sudden uncharacteristic burst of speed from the skeletons (Maksim thought the skeletons' charge move was only 4" until someone wandered by and told him it was 8". He then promptly charged me when I thought I'd have another turn to try to charge.). Two of the skeletal blocks rushed forward to crash into the lead Hirds while a third contacted the Dwarves in a bloody meeting along the right flank. All of the Norscans were sent running. Fortunately the skeletons lining up against Stonecleaver and the Valkyries didn't quite reach the Norscans, so they had a moment's reprieve.

And even more fortunately, the Valkyries and the giant werewolves were able to hold the Norscan line while all others around them fled. But, the Dwarves took a unit of wolves with them. Stonecleaver knew this was a crucial moment, so he had the Valkyries call out to the fleeing warriors, reminding them of the prize of Valhalla, and all the fleeing units miraculously rallied, except for a Hird of wolves who fled into the jungle (...not any magic ability, just narrative of almost all the units rallying).

Seeing the danger of being caught standing, Valgard led the Valkyries into the mass of skeletons in front of them. Meanwhile the Godi finally found his land legs and stepped up to help out. Suddenly a flock of otherworldly crows appeared from his fingers and pecked the remaining juicy morsels off of a number of skeletons (I had completely forgotten about the shaman and hadn't even rolled his spell, but got 9 deaths out of 2d6 possible for first shot, and a later shot inflicted eight more "deaths" on the undead unit... before they cut him down.). Unfortunately, the giant werewolves were still fumbling through the undergrowth, and the ambushing wolves were unable to overcome their fear to charge the skeletons in the rear, so the Valkyries went in unsupported.

Valgard valiantly held his own, accepting single combat against the whirling blades of the Blood Dragon Wight Lord, and the Valkyries for the first time inflicted more casualties than the hordes of skeletons, but as to be expected, the weight of the huge block of skeletons overwhelmed the Valkyries and they fled. They received a temporary reprieve since skeletons were unmoved by their victory. But then skeletons were rallied by dark powers and with another burst of speed (a charge), contacted the fleeing Valkyries and destroyed them before they had a chance to rally, tragically cutting down Stonecleaver.

The undead bands slay the Beastmen-Viking leadership!
And drive off the remaining mundanes...

He realized that it was the skeletons in the dark jungle that were "much hidden" in the Godi's readings and they had definitely now been revealed. As the life left Valgard's eyes, he sent one final prayer to the gods, pleading not to be reanimated and thus denied Valhalla. Another block of skeletons caught the Godi out in the open and he went down too. A shudder when through the now leaderless Norscan army. The loss of their leaders sent it into a fury and it charged almost as a whole. The Dwarf cavalry on the left flank charged a block of skeletons and almost completely wiped out their entire first and second ranks. Stunned by this sudden turn of events, the Blood Dragon Thrall did little in return and the Dwarves won their first battle.

Another round of combat saw similar results and finally as the giant werewolves charging their flank, the skeletons fell to pieces along with the undead General, who was believed to have been slain... or was he... or it. While the battle was not fully complete, a strange call floated throughout the jungle (the game store was closing), so the skeletons melted back into the jungle and the shaken and much bloodied Norscans claimed the gruesome battle as a victory. And the beaches near Skeggi faded calmly back into the twilight as Norscan torches moved on.

You can check out all of Nils' posts here at his blog:

http://blackcavalierswargaming.blogspot.com/

To see the battle report from this game (...and more photos), please see this link:
http://6mm-minis.blogspot.com/2007/07/gaming-news-photos-from-28mm-whfb-game.html

To read another short story from a game in this campaign, please see this link:
http://6mm-minis.blogspot.com/2007/06/gaming-news-tale-from-new-world-of.html

To see photos of the 28mm Vampire Counts army being built, please see this link:
http://6mm-minis.blogspot.com/2007/06/gaming-news-28mm-undead-invade-my-work.html

If you'd like to see the rest of the photos from this battle, please follow this link:

http://s44.photobucket.com/albums/f23/Maksim-Smelchak/Gaming%202007/WHFB-Nils_6-30-2007/

And as was previously mentioned, Nils won the game.

Mazel Tov again, Nils!

Have a great Thursday!

Shalom,

Maksim-Smelchak.

Notes regarding photos / pictures / videos: These are not all my images and videos. I am using various images and videos from around the web, mostly from public sources and/or private sources used with permission. I have tried to include only images and videos under public domain, creative commons, or fair use. If I have inadvertently violated any copyrights, please inform me and I will remove your image/s (if it is indeed an infringement).

GAMING NEWS: A Tale From The New World of Lustria!

.A view from the endless jungles and swamps of Lustria.

Hi All,

My latest gaming enjoyment has come from a Warhammer Fantasy Battles (WHFB) / Mordheim / Warhammer Fantasy Skirmish gaming campaign I’ve been playing with guys from the local DodT club… it’s been a blast. And, of course, we’re only about a year late and a few Dollars short since GW ran their Lustria campaign season AT LEAST a year ago, but what the heck! We’re having a good time! One of the little joys from the campaign has been to read some pretty fantastic short fiction written in the form of battle reports from our campaign.

Here’s a gem that I really enjoyed:

“First Blood: A Story From One Of the Empire’s Conquistadors”
By: Mr. Thomas Foss Esquire the Third

Defender of the Realm, Drinker of Fine Beer & Clown-o-phobe.

It was hot - dreadfully hot. It reminded Captain Jan Carlos Flikker of standing next to the Heretic fires with his mother, back in his homeland of Castillia. Now he was wading through jungles and swamps halfway across the world, scouting for an elector count and trying to earn enough gold to get back his commission and form a new regiment of pistoliers. To do that, you curry favor of the Count - and that means gold and weird stone - and lots of it. And everyone knows that both are flowing out of the New World known as Lustria!

“Captain - we have found some ruins!” called out one of his swordsmen.

Flikker’s small but able scout party, like his own bloodline, was a mix of Castillian and Marienburger soldiers. Hire the best swordsmen and the best marksmen, and you get a war band that can deal with most anything.

As the group of ten soldiers fanned out into the clearing, the scouting party could see two temples, one about the size of a house, the other the size of a small church. Between them in the center was a large rectangular stone pool. It actually looked clean enough to be inviting. One of his three marksmen pointed his musket towards the opposite edge of the jungle. Movement - lots of it.

Like a lancer at full gallop, half dozen brightly colored lizards sprang from the jungle and dove into the pool with barely a splash. To both left and right larger lizard creatures, one with a brilliant red fan crest, bounded and skittered towards the warriors, using the jungle’s edge for cover. With professional ease, Flikker ordered his three gunners to shoot the creatures swimming towards them in the pool, the angle of fire was difficult, affecting no hits. The rest of the party fanned out to both sides, pistols, axes and swords ready.

Franz, one of the champions, was hit by an arrow but it glanced off of his armor and only knocked him down. A hail of small arrows erupted from the pool raining down on a gunner that did not make it to cover in time; he fell with an arrow through his throat.

Two large lizards broke out on the right flank and charged the Castillian swordsmen, who managed to hold them off and return blows. Firing his pistol into the pool at the swarm of small lizards who were the cause of the bow fire, Flikker and two of his heroes ran to the aid of the swordsmen, only to be knocked down and stunned by another hail of arrows. At the same time a swordsman ran his blade clean through a big lizard.

Franz, halberd in hand got the attention of the lizards in the pool by standing alone at the edge and taunting them. The small lizards stopped their firing for a moment and looked up at him, giving the marksmen just enough time to draw bead and drop two of them. Blood started mixing with the water.

On the Left flank, held only by an archer and the champion Carl, who was also knocked down by bow fire, came three man-sized lizards - one of them appearing to cast spells. Before they could get too close, Carl fired his pistol dropping one on the ground with a huge hole it it’s chest. A loud bellow rang from the Lizard with the red crest- his throat expanded into a large ball, reminding Flikker of a frog, or that Nurgling that exploded when he shot it, a few campaigns ago. All the lizards heard it too - and just as quickly as they closed in on the war band, they skittered away and into the jungle, leaving one of their own floating in the pool.

Carl helped revive one of his swordsmen who got clobbered by a large stone club. The hand gunner was not so fortunate, having bled out from the neck wound. After securing the perimeter and chastising one of the marksmen for even asking if the lizards were good eating, Flikker sat down, took off his boots and dangled his feet in the water. “Go search the temple, lads. Anything shiny belongs to us!”

It was going to be a long campaign, but after this skirmish the coffers were much fuller. Now to see about replacements - luckily the army has plenty of hand gunners.

And here’s a short and very probably incomplete list of our players with their armies and “action film” names:

The Dagger Brothers
Aron C. – Vampire Counts
“Ritchie Dagger”
Nils – Beast of Chaos
“Harry Dagger”
Thomas F. – Empire
“Perry Dagger”

The Butz Brothers
John R. – Lizardmen
“Seymour Butz”
Peter G. – Wood Elves
“Harry Butz”
Rob B. - Lizardmen
"Lakshmi Butz"

The Other Brothers
John S. – Slann
“Johnny Sunnyside”
Maksim-Smelchak –
Vampire Counts
“Ezer Shtuyot”
(Hebrew for "What rubbish!")
R-Cap - Skaven
“Mike Rotch”

And the story itself was written by none other than the infamous Thomas Foss, one of the proprietors of Flagship Games, one of the most fun game companies around and the creators of Pirates!, Gunfight! and a number of other well-loved gaming rule sets.

You can learn more about Flagship Games here:
http://www.flagshipgames.com/

Have a great Thursday!

Shalom,
Maksim-Smelchak.

P.S.
Hi Rod & Karly!

P.S.S.
I’m going to Rivercats baseball game tonight so I’m excited – my first professional baseball game ever! Peanuts and Cracker Jacks and all that!

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