Breasts are my favorite thing in the world volume 1 - Wakame Konbu

 So, a series I got the first volume from thanks to Noshi during our Eindhoven trip in august.

And the title, well, it has a point... so let's see what this is all about then!

Well, going by the title, it won't be a manga about ping-pong... 

Chiaki has a serious fetish: boobs!  And especially those off Harumi, who is well endowed and helps her to keep her obsession in check by letting Chiaki fondle them every so often.  Chiaki claims she loses all het strength and be good in anything if she doesn't get her daily dose of fondling, and not even for the sake of sexy things, she is just obsessed with them.  But as she is rather small chested herself, she can't resort to, as she calls it, being self-sufficient.

Chiaki is also the most popular girl in school though, the one all the girls have like a crush on, as they want to be like her.  That's why Harumi is from another school, to keep the secret safer.  But she also wants more and more, like a breast sandwich or even have her take her bra off to prevent the markings in her face.  Trading cell numbers with Harumi at last, she decides she actually wants to be a bra, feeling her bare breasts.

 

 

When Harumi skips some meetings, Chiaki starts to unravel in her performances, even trying to fondle herself in the process to unsatisfactory results. Luckily Harumi returns right before her important archery tournament.  But Harumi from her side is wondering wether she is developping feelings of love for Chiaki.

 

Chiaki takes her out for lingerie shopping, insisting on buying it for her out of thanks for all she does. But then they are almost caught when trying on each others bra's by Kana, a first year under Chiaki's wings at school...

Nope, this was not my thing at all.  It had 9 chapters, and nothing happened but some fondling, and the gags weren't even funny.  This is one series I won't get the other volumes for at all.

Star Trek Discovery season 5

 The final season of Discovery is upon us, and to be honest, I don't mind having seen the last of "god like solves it all" Captain Burnham.

Because let's face it, compared to other Trek, the crew is just an ornament most of the time in the series...

 

The USS Discovery is assigned a top secret "Red Directive" mission by the mysterious Dr Kovich to find an 800 year old Romulan research vessel, but before they reach it, couriers Moll and L'ak take something from it.  Pursuing them together with the USS Antares of Cpt Rayner, who has experience hunting them, they learn it is a Romulan puzzle box holding a journal.  The USS Antares accidentally triggers an avalanche, allowing Moll and L'ak to escape.  Kovich reveals to them that the journal belonged to a team of 24th century scientists that holds the key to the Progenitor life creating technology.  Rayner is brought before the tribunal for his actions, and loses his chair, but Burnham offers him a new chance as her new first officer.  Saru is retiring from his post in order to become a Federation ambassador, to be closer to his fiancee T'Rina.  

Book contacts Moll, learning she is actually Malinne, the daughter of his namesake and mentor Cleveland Booker IV, as Burnham and Saru learn the next clue of the puzzle is located on Trill.  As Adira breaks up with Gray while there, they meet Jinaal, a conscience now residing in the host Bix.  Culber offers to temporarily host him, and takes them to the next clue.  Burnham and Book pass the test, but as they leave Moll plants a secret tracker on Adira's uniform.

 

 

This tracker, a time bug, is a left over from the Temporal Wars, causing the Discovery to jump through loops in time, with only Burnham, Rayner and Stamets unaffected.  Future Burnham manages to convince the crew from weeks after she had joined to vessel to help her break the cycle, but this gave Moll and L'ak a headstart on the location of the next clue.  This clue is hidden in an unstable wormhole, and there they find it is on the ISS Enterprise.  The Mirror universe version was brought into our universe to escape the Terran Empire, and they learn that one of the crew actually joined the 24th century scientist team, proving they made it out of the wormhole.  They learn the motivations of the two, but also that L'ak is actually a Breen (the first time we see them unhelmeted), and they look to sell the technology to live a peacefull life together on a colony in the Gamma quadrant.

 

Kovich identifies the five scientists who hid the map pieces, allowing Discovery to discover that the next piece is on Halem'no, hidden in a weather tower which holds off deadly sandstorms.  But in order to retrive it and save Tilly and a local girl named Ravah from being sacrificed, they are forced to break the Prime Directive (with no consequences oddly enough from Starfleet, seems the mission is more important them the ideal), as Moll and an injured L'ak are brought aboard Discovery after being caught.  Culber tries to threat L'ak but is unknown with Breen physiology.  It is revealed that L'ak is the direct descendant of the former Breen emperor, and a card to be played by all the factions vying to take control of the Breen empire now.  He manages to help Moll escape, but dies due to an overdose as a result, Ruhn declaring war on the Federation as a result and taking Moll, who revealed the mission, with him.

 

The next clue is located in the Eternal Gallery and Archive, located in the Badlands.  Burnham is subjected to the test, which forces her to come to terms with her own weaknesses like her fear of failure and loss.  This grants her the piece, but also a valuable insight on how to access the technology.  Discovery gives a copy of the map to Ruhn as negotiated to prevent destroying the archive, but as he plans to break his word, Moll stages a mutiny, killing him and taking control of his Breen faction.  Arriving at the location of the Progenitors technology, a Lagrange point between two black holes, the Breen snatch it away in front of them.  Inside the container is a portal, but Tahal, another Breen contender for the power, is on her way to take over Ruhn's forces.  Saru volunteers to stop her if possible, as Burnham and a team from Discovery secretly board the Breen dreadnought.

 

 

As Discovery is forced to heavily damage the Breen dreadnought, Moll and Burnham enter the portal before it is pulled in space.  It takes them to a higher dimension, and Burnham manages to access the technology, connecting with the consciousness of one of the Progenitors.  She learns it cannot return L'ak to life, but that she is free to use the technology as she sees fit, but decides no-one should have access to this sort of power, releasing the portal into one of the black holes.  Weeks later, at the wedding of Saru and T'rina, she reconfirms her love with Book, and as they accept a new mission from Kovich she learns he is actual Agent Daniels (from Enterprise), who also plans to offer Moll a job.  Years later, Book and Burnham have a son, Leto, who is also a Starfleet captain.  Burnham, now an admiral, takes Discovery for a last mission, restored to it's original 23rd century appearance.  It will travel to a specific location where Zora will have it wait for a long time as part of a new Red Directive mission.  Though how she manages to spore jump the vessel without Stamets, as there is not a single other crewmember aboard, is beyond me...

And so Discovery ends, and while I liked parts of the series as a whole, in the end it is one of the weakest in the Star Trek franchise.  Luckily a new season of Strange New Worlds is on the horizon for some real fix of Star Trek... and as I said at the beginning, the captain was for me the whole weakness of the series, being to omnipotent, the only other input coming from season 3 arrival Book, who wasn't even officially part of the crew.  I do admit, Rayner was a welcome addition to the season, and he actually felt more like a Starfleet captain then Burnham ever did over the 5 years of the series run.

Oh, and 32nd century ships where ugly as hell...

Fafner Dead Aggressor - Right or Left

 Okay, I'm going to drop in heavily: be prepared to be gutwrenched and crying at the dog sequence at the end of the movie!

If you think you can handle it, then go watch this excellent instalment in the Fafner franchise...

Yumi and Ryou are children on Tatsumiya Island, nearing their school graduation.  In the outside world, a strange race called the Festum has come to Earth, and are attacking and destroying all that come in their way.

Ryou, who suffers from a genetic illness, is actually recruited to pilot one of the newest weapons humanity has develloped, the Fafner.  When Yumi finds out, she enlists into the program as well, but the children aren't told about the project to much.  Fearing that the Festum might read the minds of those they capture, they don't want to take any risks in Alvis.

After their basic training, in which they learn the hard way about the crystallisation process side effect, they leave for Plan L, which is to use a submarine part of the island to lure the Festrum away and fight them off.  One by one though, the Fafner and their pilots are falling, when the ship is attacked.  Launching in the last two Fafner's, Yumi and Ryou face them.

The vessel however is besieged and falls even as Soshi is guiding the Mark Zwei to the battle.  As Yumi succumbs to the process in Ryou's arms,  Ryou devices a way of detonating his Fafner, and record a message of their fight to inform those that might find his "legacy".  Months later, a Fafner cockpit is salvaged from the seas and they learn of their fate.

And then comes the dog moment to learn who was in that cockpit...

So, apart from heartwrenching, this prequel to the original series tells a good story of how the Fafner program started.  Their are appearances and roles for some of the main series characters, but the struggle and sacrifices made are really told in great fashion.

Recommended watching for any mecha lover!

Spellcaster issue 4

 Time for another Spellcaster issue, and in this 4th volume we are getting Legendary soldiers in Frostgrave.

So I guess that means special characters going by the cover of the magazine.

Mr McCullough starts of with his editorial, and an explanation that these legendary soldiers are actually troops that have a skill or two, making them slightly better then normal troops, but also some points of view on the other articles in the issue.

And we immediatly jump into the cover story, as these soldiers are only available to certain levels of wizards, as they don't work for a nobody.  A warband can have a maximum of 8, and never more then 1 of the same type.  But if you are famous enough, you can add Bookbounds, Captains, Shadow-walkers and more very specialized types of warriors in your bidding to unlock the ultimate treasures.

Next up, we follow on the Rangifers from issue 3 with a solo scenario for those warbands, Demon Tide.  In this dungeon interior adventure, the band must solve a budding demon gathering... and prevent them from getting loose.

Casting Roll Criticals are rules that didn't make final cut of the rulebook, ad what happens with the spells if you either critically succeed or critically fail your casting roll.  You'd love to have the first, but want to avoid the latter at all costs.  The long list of spells in the game of course make this the longest article in the issue, as the effects are detailed for each and every one of them.

Incinerator is a scenario to be played either solo or in co-op in the Ghost Archipelago setting (which reminds me I need to make a warband of Chaos Dwarf pirates for this game still) where your crew needs to escape a Snake-man temple.

In Fury of the Frost Giants, we get a scenario that has to be played with at least 4 players with wizards of at least level 10.  So as you can imagine, not for the weak!  You are facing a group of giants after all, not some lowely kobolds!

In Frostgrave on Tour, there is a review of a Frostgrave themed trip you can make to Estonia with Geek Nation Tours, staying in an apptly suited castle in the snow.  This actually looks bloody cool (no pun intended) and had I been 15 years younger I might actually have signed up on this!

But that is it for this issue of Spellcaster, which had some fun things to try out in your games, especially the criticals for casting!

Some 3D printed Pillars

 A bit of an inbetween project has been completed today, in the form of some scatter terrain.

Now, I had these pillars already for a long time, but never really gotten round to painting them.

So, with the plans decently in motion for some serious solo gaming next year, I opted to finally do them to serve, well, as scatter terrain but also instead of trees very often.  To that end I based them on grassy underground, to litter them around the tabletop in games of Rangers and the likes.

 

 

And as such, I took my Amsterdam acrylics and my drybrushes, and painted away on them, resulting in 14 nice pillars to be spotted in future games!

 

 

Now to actually work out some scenario's, I can already lift a little tip of the veil, and the first game these will be seen in will be the start of my new Shadow Deep campaign, called "Slavers of Shadow Deep"!

 

On which more info will follow soonishly!

Warhammer Underworlds tournament report: Into the Under-Ekeren II

 Oh my, I actually organised a second Warhammer Underworlds tournament at the Tin Soldiers of Antwerp this year, taking place on saturday 23/11.

The reason?  Because on the one hand, it is great fun to run these small scale events, and it keeps it worth of running a premium account on T3.

On the other hand, I still had a lot of 2024 Underworlds participation tokens left from the june tournament, so instead of tossing them away when the year ran out, I could divide them some more.

Price support was less this time round (and as such, a very low entry fee of only 3 euro to cover my costs basically), due to last time I had a lot of stuff from a lot I bought and used that for the price support as well.  Maybe I should start looking for a store intrested in sponsoring possible 2025 events?  Anyways, the Best Painted force would take along some premium sleeves, while the winner received a sealed The Exiled Dead box. 

But of course, there is also the fact that Underworlds 2.0 is upon us, but I decided to keep the event still at the 1.0 version as a wave-off for a system that was great fun for about 7 years.  Take care Underworlds 1.0, let's see in the future what your successor brings!  

 

Also, thanks to both Peter's for the additional pictures to be used in this little battle report.

But all that being said, 5 players came to fight it out in 4 rounds of Warhammer Underworlds, and this time it was the Nemesis format.  I myself decided to wave out the edition with The Dread Pageant, coupled to the Rimewyrm's Bite deck.  And for this I am trying something new over on my YouTube channel btw, over the coming weeks I'm going to post FULL taped game reports compared to the usual slideshow reports.

 

Thanks also to my club, Tin Soldiers of Antwerp, to provide some additional price support trophies to go along The Exiled Dead for the winner and the Ironsoul sleeves for the Best Painted.

 

 

The participation list:

Peter 1: Lady Harrow's Mournflight with Malevolent Masks

Peter 2: Gnarlspirit Pack with Tooth and Claw

Nico: The Headsman's Curse with Tooth and Claw

Wouter: Xandire's Truthseekers with Daring Delvers

Tomsche: The Dread Pageant with Rimewyrm's Bite

 

That means that the full Belgian "top 3" over on Table Top Tournaments event tracker, or T3 for short, was present, the highest ending one of them in all probability ending the year on the top spot for 2024.

The funny thing is, no-one took one of the latests warbands in the game, and all the warbands where 4-member warbands, so deployment actually became a thing as at times (like me in the game against Xandire) you didn't really wanted to go first in deployment in order to be able to "counter place" your models.

 

Due to the rather low turn out (kind of expected though), I decided to run a League format, everyone playing everyone once, with me taking the last round on bye in order to start preparing the paperwork for the end results.

Round 1

 

In the first round, Nico took the bye, so we had the following match-ups.

 

Peter 2 took on Wouter, resulting in a 15-9 win for the Gnarlspirit Pack.

Peter 1 defeated Tomsche with 19-18, which happened due to the Lady's scoring their Dominion of Death first before I could score my end game objectives, grabbing Peter the win even though I managed to table the banshees.

 

 

Round 2

 

The bye was this time for Peter 2, so the others sat down for their games.

In the second round, Nico took on Peter 1, suffering an 8-20 defeat in a battle of the angry tablelinnen.

 

 

I myself "stole" the game against Wouter, winning 8-11 only after scoring a whopping 8 glory in the final round, not being able to kill something as I aimed for my inspire condition in the full first two rounds.  But a solid end phase of scoring 3 cards of 2 glory (I have 4.5 of them in the deck, one can become 2 glory if my Puncturing Ice Shards did the finishing damage).

 

 

 

Round 3

With Wouter sitting this one out, we first had our lunchbreak, grabbing some sandwiches.  Glass ones for some, but details, as Nico and Peter 1 tried a bit of Embergard.  

 

 

 

 

In the meantime I gathered three judges, people I know spend a lot of time in the hobby and painting.  One came from the The Old World group, one from the 8th Edition big game that was taking place, and one from the Kings of War group having their big battle, to cast their votes on their 1st and 2nd best painted warband.  I always left of course to not be able to influence any decisions or steer any questions as they sat by the models on a one by one basis to not be able to influence each other and cast their votes.

But back to the table, the two Peter's faced off, with Peter 1 taking a 19-10 victory.  Those banshees sure rake in the glory!

I faced Nico, and not to be outdone by Lady Harrow grabbed a 13-20 victory, actually managing to score my full objective deck.

 

 

Round 4

Peter 1 now sitting out the round, it was the round that might decide the whole tournament placing.

Nico and Wouter squared off, with Wouter taking a 16-13 win against the executioner.

 

In the other game, I defeated Peter 2 with 20-12, as my deck really kicked off in the first half of the game resulting in an unsurmountable lead for the spiritwalkers.

 

 

 

Round 5

So, I had the bye now in order to start doing the maths, but could say at the beginning it would have to be very strange for Peter 1 not to be victorious.  If he drew or win, he would be certain, but even if he lost, if he scored 12 glory he would take home victory from Into the Under-Ekeren II, as I stood on 69 glory after 4 games, and he had scored already 58 in three games.  But Wouter's band doesn't bleed glory easily...

Nico and Peter 2 played for the third place, as did Wouter in his game, as they could all end up at three points in the end and scored glory was the agreed decider beforehand for the event.  Nico defeated Peter 2 with 18-10, which would lift him over Peter for one in the ranking.

But how did the other game go?  Wouter was defeated by Peter 1, but as his Xandire's only scored 12 glory against the 16 of the bansees, he wouldn't be able to go over the above players, for which he would needed to have scored at least 18 glory this round.  

 

And the sad face of Peter 1, as he can longboard for the very last time...

And so the dust settled for the event, and it was time for the awards ceremony, the one thing I really hate doing at things that I run... 

First, the painting results:

In shared last place came Wouter and Peter 1, neither of them having received a vote from the jury.  Third place went to Peter 2, who received a single second best vote.  Nico took the silver, receiving a second best and a best of all vote from the judges.  But due to some strange disturbances in the Realms of Chaos, my Dread Pageant actually took the win, receiving 2 best of all and a single second best vote... da frakk???  After Elathain coming third on the Benelux Clash II, is my "Kevin Dallimore style" of heavily contrasting little lines making a resurgence after 20 odd years in a world of blending, airbrushing and non metallic metals?  

 

 

But then we got to the real deal, the result of the tournament itself of course.

In fifth place, Wouter ended with 3 points and 46 scored glory

In fourth place, Peter 2 ended with 3 points and 47 scored glory

Taking bronze, Nico also had 3 points, but his total amassed glory of 52 put him on the podium

Second place was mine, scoring 9 points and a total of, very Slaanesh approved, 69 glory

But the undisputed winner, with a streak of all of his 4 games won and a hefty 74 glory scored, was Peter 1 with his Lady Harrow's Mournflight!  Well done matey!

And so ends our little last huzzaaah for the Underworlds first edition, with a little cosy tournament and now we can start tinkering again for the second edition of the game.

Because in january 2025, it is already the first tournament for the new edition, as we will be gathering in Aalst for "The Mines of Alost", legacy bands allowed in the Rivals format.  And thanks to the votes of my loving community, I am going there with... Garrek's Reavers!

 

 

On the Painting Desk 306: what have I gotten myself into

 No seriously, why did I decide on an infantry based Empire army...

And from Marienburger with all it's flashy colours to boot, this is going to take a serious effort to even get those initial 500 points done...

But, I guess that is part of the reward afterwards in an Escalation League after all, pushing yourself to get as much finished towards the next game as possible, to expand on your army and paint up more again!

So let's have a look how far I've gotten on these initial 44 infantry troops I lined up on my desk past week.

 

Well, first unit will roll out normally the coming weekend, and I hope to finish the Artisan contest entry.  

 

But first, time for a tournament tomorrow...

Chaos Dwarf Blunderbuss unit

 Okay, this is scandalous, I agree.

In a year I labelled The Year of the Chaos Dwarf, it is november and I completed the very first unit for my army expansion.

But a good one it is, with the basis for many more Blunderbusses to be added in the future, these are the first 10 of them.  They also can serve as an excellent detachment to the main force warriors, but I tend to operate my missile troops usually seperate.

The models are 3D printed "Fabelzel" from a variety of printers I used, giving that fantastic old school look.

 

 

Like in previous editions, blunderbusses remain fantastic weapons, unleashing a hail of shots (d3 per rifle in this incarnation of the rules) to create a real killzone in a small area.  

 

I also opted to base them on 20mm squares still, as I will continue using trays for the Old World while still being able to use them in other game systems as a result.

And the sad part is, they will probably be the only "true" regiment I am painting up this year, as I have a variety of skirmish forces (Blood Bowl, Rangers of Shadow Deep, ...) lined up for the final stint of the year... unless I progress very swiftly and tackle the Sneaky Gitz still.

But we brush on for Hashut!

Warhammer Underworlds casual night: now that's a paddlin'

 Time for what will in all probability be the final version 1 gamenoght for me, as december with the holidays and RL issues might become hard to attend.

Or if I do, I'll have to borrow a deck, as mine will be waiting for me under the Christmas tree...

So, preparing the final stint for the final tournament in version 1, and which I'll be running this weekend in the TSA clubhouse, the Dread Pageant got an outing again.  Would they retain their perfect streak today?

In the first game, I faced Wouter and Xandire's Truthseekers, the Stormcast Eternals who apparently have no idea what they are looking for, as the truth they seek is of course bubs, so says Slaanesh.

 

 

Both warbands deployed rather aggressively, so I hoped a quick charge in would give me a good advantage, before the counter on their Daring Delvers ticked to high.

 

 

Slakeslash immediatly managed to wounding Dhoraz for 2 and pushing the hammer wielding giant back.

 

 

Vasillac did the same, but now on Luxa Stormrider, and with both electing to wound themselves the needed 6 wounds where on the table, inspiring the Dread Pageant in their second activation of the first round, nice kick off if you ask me.

Hadzu and Glisette teamed up, taking down the 3 damage smacking Dhoraz and removing a big threat as a result.  Certainly Slaanesh will be pleased by how well this is going.

But then Hadzu (traditionally) already bits the dust, I'm still figuring out his actual use bar doing a quick ping to get that inspired counter running early...

This allowed the Truthseekers to do some nice scoring though, and after the first round it was 3-5 to the benefit of the Stormcast Eternals.

Glisette was taken down by Xandire at the start of the second round, as Vasillac misses her in return (well, she crit defended, but details).  

 

 

Using his Thunderstomp, he does manage to take the last wound away from Luxa Stormrider.  But little Taros remained on a single wound, and that would come back to haunt me.

As the bird flew in, unaffected by the lethal hexes projected around Vasillac, and picked down the leader with a double crit and a succes in it's attack, the grieveous knocking off the last wound.

This left only Slakeslash facing Xandire and her companion, with a 5-12 lead now on the table for the Truthseekers.

Taros was taken down by an Engulfing Swallow, and Xandire wounded leaving her on a single wound.

But as I kept fishing for the Right Bait, it came to late, as Slakslash had missed his 4 dice attack against the Stormcast.  And getting it in my third of four activations, I wouldn't be able to reach her anymore.  I tried for the more objectives goal, but Xandire placed herself on one to, denying me the glory.

As a result, a close 11-13 defeat that could have swung around had I gotten the power card one turn earlier, but alas.  Still, Slaanesh smiles satisfied as many wounds and pain was spread around.

For the second game, I knew I was in trouble.  Tzeentch had send forth his champion Ephilim and his Pandemonium of changers, and this remains a top level warband, coupled to Seismic Shock.

The warbands deployed, and then we went in the whole pre-turn shenannigans the Tzeentchian demons pull off first.

Hadzu caused the first wound on Kindlefinger, before he was pulled towards the demons and magicked down.

Vasillac then advanced, piercing Flamespooler for two wounds, as I needed to kill it in order to prevent Ephilim inspiring for the second round, and put the needed wounds on the table for my inspiration.  But knowing the ping and the 2 damage ranged attacks around, I didn't opt to wound myself.

Glisette and Slakeslash advanced, managing all the opposing demons to be missed. Spawnmaw snuck up behind Slakeslash, taking a huge bite out of the beast in return.

As a result, there was a 3-5 lead for the Pandemonium on the board.  Vasillac was on the counter by warpflame, but an upgrade saved him from dying at the beginning of the next round luckily.

Starting round 2, Glisette scythed around, taking down Kindlefinger but missing Spawnmaw.  

But an inspired Ephilim began working his magic, and as Vasillac managed to take down Flamespool, the wizard was out for the hunt.

He took down Slakeslash with his magics, putting the pressure on the Pageant.

Vasillac moved on an objective to score the leader on an objective card, but this triggered a ploy taking off his last wound instead, ouch.  I'm switching this card out by the way, it's to unreliable to score.  Same probably with Hadzu's upgrade for a second shot, he is more dead in round 1 then not anyways, for the tournament this weekend.

This meant only Glisette was up against Ephilim, who was still unwounded, Spawnmaw and Apo'trax, with a score of 6-11 on the board.

 

 

Glisette managed to finish off Spawnmaw, as Apo'trax is wounded by a ploy.  This meant I needed to be able to hit Ephilim for a double wound, as he immediatly heals one,  to be able to score all the 2 glory end phases in my hand.

But sadly, she doesn't manage to keep up her defences with the magic barrage, and she falls to Ephilim's sorcerous ways.

This resulted in a hefty 7-14 defeat as such for the Pageant, and Tzeentch claiming the top spot in the pantheon for now.  But revenge will be dealt out saturday, rest assured!

So, both games lost, not the best of evenings as a result, but heck, we'll see how we do at the final tournament saturday as the wave off of the first edition.  Check back after the weekend to see what the Pageant managed to pull off still in the final event of the first edition!