Blood Bowl match report: Only Fangs versus The Harrowing Legion

 Third match in the league, and this is some serious opposition, as I'm facing the Necromantic Undead of The Harrowing Legion this game.

 

High armour, good all round stats, regeneration over the whole line... only securing the ball isn't their thing, but who needs that if you are a solid wall of dead guys.  And Bedsheets!  He brought bedsheets, and if my ladies like frolicking in one thing, it's bedsheets!

 

And so we started by rolling some favours of Nuffle, granting me 2 Stiletto's and one of his Zombies ending up with -1 MA due to greasy cleats.  We did lose 10k from our treasury though as our accountant misplaced some orders for posters.

 

As both teams set up, Only Fangs being on the receiving end, some dodgy pregame snacks reduced the stats on both Cat Coxx as well as on Dummyproof the Flesh Golem.  And under a light breeze, the game was off for some hopefully decent results against the League leader!

 

For a long time, the game went up and down, and nothing bar some KO's happened, as neither side managed to force an opening in each others lines.  Which with my Claws was very, very frustrating, for some reason against Bjorn I can't seem to roll any higher then a 7 on the AV rolls.  It happened today, and it happened past season in both games against his Amazons as well.  He seems to radiate some kind of aura preventing dice to fall a certain way...

 

Though he did score an early casualty, as Stained Bedsheet initially seemed to kill Savien DeMonia, only to have the apothecary rush to her aid.  As a result, she did suffer some dislocated fingers and a ruined nailpolish.  This means that not only will she suffer from -1 AG (not to dramatic, as she is one of the intended "combat" Beastly Women), but also to miss next game as she needs a new manicure!

 

Sabrina Sabok then went in like a madwoman, and smashed rockhard into Dummyproof, and while bowling herself over in doing so injured the Flesh Golem.  He failed his regeneration and suffered a Niggling Injury as a result.  One of our reporters got to learn afterwards that he even was fired from the team for failing so early in the game!

 

But the pressure of the horrors kept mounting up, not aided by above mentioned failure to break his armour, and soon the Werewolf William was through the lines, the best efforts of my team making it unable to catch up to him unfortunatly.

 

And he duly scored the 0-1 for the Harrowing Legion, though the good news was that my KO'd ladies all woke up from their little beauty nap!

 

 

In the following drive, we tried to pick up the ball and break out, but nothing happened and the referee blew for the half time as we failed to reach his endlines.

 

The second half started, as both teams had been cheered on by the fans, and more midline rummaging began.

 

And it soon became a very, very frustating affair for the ladies.  Intend on folding the linnen, the mighty Chaos Warrioresses all kept being turned off by just how dirty the opposing bedlinnen was.  There was no way they would lay that down and make a movie on top of it.

 

This resulting refusal (I failed no less then Foul Appearances in a row at this point, AND the Minotaur started raging for two turns in a row to add insult to injury) gave him free play as my team was tied up on the flank.

 

Stained Bedsheet profitted from this confusion as a result, badly hurting Raven Black as she tried to get through his lines.

 

In an effort to create some last minute decent play,  Katty West rushed into the bunched sidelines, picked up the ball and threw a long bomb to the other side, which wasn't caught initially.  But the ball bounced right back in the hands off Cat Coxx.

 

Unfortunatly, he managed to still reach her and push her over, causing us to loose the ball and the final chances of an equalizer as a result. 

 

Katty West was "thanked" for her daring play by being badly injured by Foul Bedsheet, but the game was winding down as the only chance we had left was to dodge in, throw an impossible pass to Sabrina Sabok and hope she would make the rushes.

 

But as yet another double skulls block (the 4th this game versus none on the opposing side) happened to make some room, this plan never came round and the game ended in a 0-1 defeat.

 

So, we lost, and it was frustrating!  We failed to pass the armour regularly (some stunned results and a KO is about the best we managed after the early turn injury), and losing a quarter of the game of failing Foul Appearances in a row really ruined the chances to try and break out for the equalizer.  But all in all, even though we barely scored any SPP's this game compared to the ocean of points from earlier games (that one casualty and that is it), we came out relatively unscathed.

 

So yeah, Sabien DeMonia has -1 AG and won't be present next game, but that is about it of side effects we suffered this game, so we are still in an okay spot.

 

Most Viewed Pornstar

 

For surviving her near-dead experience, and the fans cheering her so hard on to hold in there, Sabien DeMonia, even though barely having been on the field, was the MVP of the game.  Of course, all those camera angles and replays does help in upping the ratings, and when she will be back, she will now also have Block to go alongside her Claws!

 

I also bought a third re-roll post game, as the miss next game of Sabien kept the team rating down a little for the next game.  Which will be either against the Skaven should I not need to fill in at my Spearhead event, or in three weeks against yet more undead in the form of the Shambling Undead team The Graveyard Bullies and their two mummies...

 

But even after this "non game" of advancements, we are still in 4th place in the League rankings, having played one or two games less then those immediatly around me.  This means we are still in a good solid position, and with now 13 points on the counter, I am still on route to the estimated 35 points I expect that will be needed to be sure of qualification.  

 

A 15th team has signed up in the form of a Chaos Dwarf team yesterday, so that means some points adjustments to the prospect might be needed, but we'll see where we are after let's say 7-8 games or the middle of the road...

 

 

 

 

MASK season 2

 I never got to watch this second season of the fantastic MASK cartoon, as it never was aired overhere back then.

 

But thanks to the magic of YouTube, I finally caught up in the swansong of this saturday morning cartoon and toyline.

 

Now don't get me wrong, as a kid, and even now still as a collector, MASK has always been my second favorite toyline, the honour of first being held for StarCom.  But where the first season and the whole take on the series was a world of MASK agents trying to stop the evil VENOM organisation from crimes, the second season went to... the races.  Who ever decided on that?

 

On the other hand, I always loved the Razorback toy, reminds me to find one to update my slowly yellowing one I guess.

 

Now, in a cartoon and toy infused market, this new angle wasn't a success, and it resulted in a short series of only a dozen episodes.  But the toys that came out with them where as great as the first line, though felt less "military" to compete with GI Joe, and Transformers had really cornered the market by this point on transformation gimmicks.  But they where still better then the Split Seconds series that came after this, of which not even cartoons where ever made to tell the story of the toys.

 

And it is odd they used the intro music still from the first season and line, meaning you don't see anything of that during the season...  

 

 The story of the season is that they participate in a demolition derby, which doesn't have any rules.  Other episodes include confrontations for trade rights and the likes, and it still forms in a rough way the same sort of stories as the first series... but the race gimmick just detracts from it to be honest.

 

What has been kept though is the little "morale lesson" at the end of the episodes, like not taking a bath with your radio and the likes, or leaving stuff cluttering around in order to prevent accidents.

 

Was it a good series?  Actually, yeah, though I might be biased considering my love for the franchise ever since I was a wee little bloke.  But does it stand up to the original series?  Not by a long shot, though it does leave a bit of a curiosity taste of "what if" the final toyline series had also been animated... 

 

 

Wizards of the Lost Kingdom

 Before "that" trilogy by Peter Jackson, fantasy movies where a rather obscure thing.

 

But in the 80s, Sword and Sorcery was a genre all in itself, with a lot of movies reaching cult status like Ladyhawke, Highlander, Conan, Krull, ...

 

So drawing from that huge library of movies, I spend a lazy sunday afternoon to have a look at the argentinian - american production Wizards of the Lost Kingdom.  And the intro alone promised everything that is great in those times: cheesy narration, a Sword of Power and a Ring of Magic, the former lost, as King Tyler rules a kingdom, Axeholme, where wizard used to fight wizard and warrior fought warrior before he installed peace.

 

The pacing is incredible in this movie though, within the first 20 minutes the kingdom is overthrown, Simon, son of the king's sorcerer ran in the wild and met the legendary hero, lost the ring, found the sword... and learned advanced magic.  And of course, expect all the 80s special effects, with "drawn" spells, animatronics and guys in big white furry suits.

 

But actually, the movie is enjoyable, even though on the short side with an hour and 15 minutes runtime, and this probably also explains the high speed pacing.  But it is that sort of innocent adventure movie, of a young kid finding tutelage of an experienced warrior, and through their adventures learns the needed skills to defeat the evil wizard and free his kingdom.

 

So yeah, if you are in for a dose of campy 80s fantasy, make sure to give the movie a look.  And yes, the score music sounds VERY familiar, giving a serious, and I mean borderedge used, Wrath of Khan feel...

 

But judge that for yourself! 

Creamerie season 1

 Roight, time for something odd that I watched...

 

This is a black comedy web series, made in New Zealand.

 

In this 6 episode season, the world has no more men.  They all died to an unknown virus, and now the women rule the world through Welness, an organisation that runs a balot for the surviving sperm.  And then three friends, Alex, Jaime and Pip, find a man in their stables of the dairyfarm.

 

Now, this series then goes to trying to get him, Bobby, out to a safe place, which of course throws the lives of the women totally on it's head.  Blinded by ambition, one betrays them, and they are caught by Lane, the head guru of the cult like Welness.  And no, no-one convinces me it is not like that already in those wellness spa's today.  And then they discover it is all a plot, orchestrated by Jaime's ex-husband, to capture and masturbate men like cows for their seed...

 

The series ends on a cliffhanger for the second season, and to be honest, while not the greatest of things I ever watched, it is so intriguing that I know I'll have a look at that as well pretty soon.  Just because, it is a refreshening weird thing...

 

And a warning to all men! 

The Haul Report 430: more Efteling pins!

 Let's kick it off with some nice stuff for my Efteling collection: more pins!

 

Because every year, they release a year pin, and this time it's the frog king.

 

I also got this series of three, which was out of stock when we where there last summer, so that is another nice addition to the collection. 

 

And sometimes, you can find some very nice stuff for a good price on Vinted... I paid 10 euro for these 3 Micromaster Transformers, including the one I really wanted for this year, Tote (the red van).  The plane, Hot House, is from one of the playsets, missing his wing decals, but it will help in chasing down the playset alone and save serious money.

 

Some other finds through Vinted is the LaserRAT I wanted to replace, and it came with the figure (sadly minus visor) of the... M6 Railgunner.

 

So what else to do... then pick up a Railgunner from Vinted as well, one of the vehicles I missed anyways back in the days.  It misses one of the panels on the gunnery tower, but for 25 euro with working power deploy I'm not complaining.

 

It doesn't happen often anymore, but I actually found a very good condition vintage figure for my own personal collection at Kringwinkel, and it only knocked me back... 50 cents! 

 

Another toy came all the way from Las Vegas through eBay.  I was searching for the Playmates Star Trek Innerspace Ferengi Marauder, and this seller offered it together with the Cardassian Galor.  He gave a nice discount offer that would compensate for taxes and all, so I bit the bullet and had it shipped my way.  The Galor though probably will end up in my trade pile.

 

But that is not all, as even more toys found their way to my collection this period, with this Wraptile mini playset from the Mighty Max toyline. 

 

Of course, I also did some wargame shopping, as the Commerative Figure that came out the last day of january was a Dawi'Zharr, so I immediatly went there to get it by buying my SH tournament price support. 

 

My Secret Santa, due to circumstances called Lucie and Celeste, Thorin's freshborne nieces, arrived a bit later understandably, but this will be a nice addition to the army collection. 

 

So that was a very solid haul to start the year with in the first weeks, and hopefully many more cool thingies will be coming soon! 

Masters of the Universe: Revolution

 I have the powerrrr!!!!!

 

It must have been decades since that phrase was yelled on the school playground...

 

And then I discovered that Netflix did a new short series on Masters of the Universe, as I found the 5 episode long Revolution series on it.  Which is a follow-up to Revelation, and of course that wasn't available in my area, so I'll search for that online in the future somewhere.

 

So this means I didn't know who died and why, and Skeletor has changed into a semi-cyborg by the tech of Hordak.  Because it is a battle of magic versus technology on Eternia in this series.  Skeletor takes the throne, as he returned to his old guise of Keldor, an identity he didn't remember.  But soon his plan springs, bringing the people of Eternia under his sway as he aims to overthrow Hordak as well.  

 

The heroes in the meantime try of course to stop them, with Evil Lyn losing that first part of her name as she helps Adam and Teela to find ancient mystic powers to break the curse, and this all results in Adam and Teela "getting the power of Grayskull" and changing into a sort of "super saiyan form".  With Teela getting tiger shaped armour instead of battlecat, so she now really became He-Man's pussy...

 

The series is well animated and has a very strong voice cast, of course with Mark Hamill as Skeletor but also Gates McFadden (dr Crusher), Melissa Benoist (Supergirl), Lena Headey (Game of Thrones) and other big names tossed in there.  The fact you "know" their voices makes you bind easier with the characters, as they somehow feel familiar that way, if you know what I mean.

 

It ends with a possible opening for a third series, but for me, let's go and see as I said if I can find that first one, well, first... 

Versailles season 3

 Versailles is a fantastic series, with awesome visuals and strong acting performances.

 

Yet somehow, the thrid season always slipped backwards on my to watch list...

 

But no more, I started the year with binging through the 10 episode long final season of the rise of Louis XIV, le Roi Soleil.

 

This final season builds further on the shisms that have been growing over the course of the first seasons, the political machinations, the shifting of alliances and the brothers becoming more and more opposed to each other.  In his ever glowing delusions of grandeur, Louis first starts imposing draconic measures on the defeated Leopold I of the Holy Roman Empire, instigating the distrust of the church.  This results in the Vatican taking action, going as far as threatening to excommunicate him should he not become a puppet to their will.

 

In order to do so, they have the one trump card that Philippe had accidentally discovered.  A prisoner in an Iron Mask.  Ever since the time of Louis XIV this prisoner has been an urban myth and the many writers and historians have made their own theories about who this was.  An italian envoy (the most likely theory imho), the twin or older brother and rightful heir of the throne of France (the most often used one in stories and movies ever since Alexander Dumas used this in his Musketeer tales), and so much more.  In this series, it turns out to be the real father of Louis and Philippe, after they first chased an actual unknown brother of them, but who had died as an infant.  Members of the court had been in the loop on this, but they convince their father to take poison in the end, widening the chism between the brothers even further, but securing the throne and robbing the church of their possible hold over France.

 

The queen also died, making Louis having to look for another wife, and he falls for the charms of Francoise d'Abignee, a marquise that spend time as a prostitute, then turned devote christian and wow his heart.  But her fanatiscism causes Louis to prosecute all protestants in Paris, causing the people to revolt against him.  But when he invokes a ritual of Thaumaturgy to come closer to the people, he survives an assassination attempt thanks to his brother.

 

It was a good season for sure, and yes, the debauchery of the first seasons continues as chastity was not one of Louis's christian virtues he went by, even though he has convinced him he is the only true man of God put on Earth, and conquers the surrounding countries as such in name of the Lord.  George Blagden stars again as the king, but for me Alexander Vlahos (Philippe) and Evan Williams (the chevalier of Lorraine) remain by far the strongest performers for the series, especially the transformation they go through over the series from pompous dandy's.  One becomes a believer of freedom, the other a fighter for the protestant rights respectively. 

 

It is these deep character arcs that make Versailles such a strong series, not only the visual marvel that it is, and definitely worth checking out have you not done so over the years. 

My Dress-up Darling volume 10 - Shinichi Fukuda

 Well, manga (and basically, reading) has been on a low level the past 3/4th of a year, due to, well, things.

 

But we are picking up the pace again, and the first volume I read this year is the 10th book of My Dress-up Darling, because what better way to start again then a dose of Marin, right?

 

Her gentleness, hidden geekiness for the school beauty, kindness and affection for Gojo are just so enjoyable for some light reading during the busy night shifts.  And in this volume, we learn that not everyone in the group likes each other as much as it appears.  But never the less, they decide on doing a group cosplay of a game called Coffin, and they set out to make it a fun experience.  

 

During a movie night, trainservices go down and Gojo spends the night over at Marin.  She panic's as she fears and hopes it will finally happen between them, but Gojo, being the gentleman that he is, doesn't pick up on the signals, and he takes care of her.  But Marin decides that once their current project is over, she will finally ask him out and confess she likes him far more then just as a friend!  In the meantime, Gojo learns from Akira how to make props, while Juju will be cosplaying Black Lobelia by suprise with the support of her team...

 

It is a strange series, it keeps having you hooked, yet barely anything happens in this slice-of-life manga about cosplaying fans.  And still, it is enjoyable, and definitly worth to keep reading.

 

Even though I'm going into the final 5 volumes now, so it might be completely done by the end of the year... but it has been a great fun ride then nevertheless!