Trying to look back at 2019 is pointless for me as I have great difficulty pointing out all the good from the bad, so instead, I'll use this to focus on what I want to work on in 2020 in the hope that I can achieve some of it, so lets go.
Miniatures:
So cutting back on the whole 'big armies' thing this year. It seems that due to the current situation, trying to build and paint so many miniatures is just not possible at this point in time. As such, my focus will be on smaller projects, mostly based around Skirmish games. This includes expanding on Warcry, completing my Daemon Kill-team, an Escher Necromunder crew, finishing that Skaven/Goblin Blood Bowl team along with adding some more to Malifaux, Burrows & Badgers and finally Moonstone.
I'll probably look at adding more scenery too so I can have enough stuff to run games with however games with me.
Moving:
Yes, at some point this year I really want to move into a place of my own. For those who don't know, I have been lodging with an old school friend for some time now in a Unit. While it was meant to be temporary, the rental market has made getting housing all but impossible. As such, much of my stuff is cramped up or boxed up and there isn't the kind of room to work on projects (which only adds to my lack of motivation).
While there are some new options for me in this regards, there is no guarantee that I can find a place suitable for one with the mental health conditions that I have. Still, must try to keep positive about this.
Puppet Project/VFX Project:
The main goal out off all things, this one has by far been the roughest by far to deal with. Limited space to work and trying to find solutions to all the problems associated with such an endeavor has still left me stuck in a sort of planning phase. While I do have some materials and a tone of various tutorial videos, nothing has really moved forward.
This year I hope to change all that and get progress moving again. Recent videos have also shown me that you can still achieve the basics even in limited space and while I doubt I'll get much more done where I currently live, should I find myself in a place of my own then I'll have the space to really get the ball rolling. This is one of those things I really want to achieve in getting base completion done this year, so will have a little more focus on it later in the year.
Animated Reflections:
So behind on this one. I've really been questioning the format of these short look backs as they still feel too much like a full on review instead of a nostalgic reminder of past shows/movies I watched over the years. I do expect to get back into it soon (I've watch a number of animation show Youtube reviewers, so I am trying to motivate myself to get back into this one too).
Blog:
Which finally brings us to this site/blog itself. It is still woefully in need of a serious update and some better content. I plan on trying to add more to it in the future, but am still trying to figure out what to talk about. Maybe I'll do some actual reviews or perhaps talk about current things that are happening, but I want to steer clear of a lot of negative things (we all have strong opinions and sometimes mine my slip the gaps of this rule) and ultimately just want to talk about things that I feel comfortable talking about or that I enjoy talking about.
Again, what that will be is still unknown, but then 2020 is still very much an unknown year to us all, so let's see where it takes up.
Till next time.
Saturday, 25 January 2020
Sunday, 12 January 2020
2020 - Still Here
Just a quick update, 2020 is here and so am I.
Last few months have been bad (holidays + mental illness = no good), but I'll probably do a post on plans for the year and all that.
Should be out sometime during this month.
Last few months have been bad (holidays + mental illness = no good), but I'll probably do a post on plans for the year and all that.
Should be out sometime during this month.
Saturday, 26 October 2019
My Thoughts on Cities of Sigmar Battletome
So I know I should have done a short review on this book by now, but I don't think I can review this one in the format that I normally do. I feel that the best way I can look at this book is through a more 'thought's on' type format.
So what do I think of this book? Well, to me this book is Games-Workshop's ultimate compromise. What do I mean by this? Well, GW has been wanting to remove a lot of the Old World miniatures, but in doing so would result in a massive consume backlash from more classic Warhammer players. As such, they picked a bunch of miniatures from each of the now classified 'Order' factions and put them together into a single Battletome. So how bad was the shafting?
Empire:
Kept most of what was left of their range, though lost their engineer character, the horse mounted General, Warrior Priests and their War Alter and more confusing, Witch Hunters. I say the last one is confusing as even in the many cities, Witch Hunters are still prominent (so I can only hope that somewhere down the road they get brought back as part of a Warcry Warband or something similar).
Dwarfs:
Your old battleline units are gone (so no more Warriors, Handgunners or Quarrelers). You also lost the Unforged (the old Slayers), but also your artillery too. Yep, beyond the Gyrocopters and Gyrobombers, everything else is gone so you'll be relying on manlings for most of your ranged firepower. It seams they are going for a more armoured and elite style for the Dispossessed now, which still works in their favour, though not all the warscroll changers are positive.
Dark Elves:
Probably the faction that suffered the least out of all these as far as model losses go, most of their range is still there (minus the Daughters of Khaine of course). They still have that Dark Elf feel to them, with the only exception being that Assassins and Dark Riders are more akin to Sigmar's dagger then being more traditional Dark Elf like.
High Elves:
The ones that got screwed the most. Unless you played a lot of Phoenix Guard, not much else survived this. All things related to the Phoenix Temple (their hero who is the only High Elf hero, the guard and the birds) are in here, but beyond them, the Shadow Warriors were the only other unit to come out of this (and that appears to be because they are made using the same box set as the Sisters of the Watch) and are now under the Shadowblades keyword instead of Swifthawk Agents (which when you think about their playstyle, makes more sense. Maybe my brother was right to abandoned the High Elves with the end of the Old World.
Wood Elves:
The Wanderers lost a few more units, but secured enough to keep then quite viable. Like the High Elves, they also suffered a big hit to their heroes. They now are limited to a Nomad Prince. Not great, but still could have been a lot worse.
So yeah, there were a few casualties that I really do question as to why, but at least we still got to keep most of what we have. I would say that this is my biggest annoyance with this book, the second being the cities themselves. I'm not saying the cities are bad, far from it, but it is the lack of Realms that annoys me. There are suppose to be cities over all the Mortal Realms, yet only two Realms are represented, Ghyran and Aqshy. Both have three cities each, with the seventh being the twin city, which can choose which Realm of the two they are apart of. The problem lies not only with limited representation and creativity (White Dwarf had been pumping out articles on giving your armies a theme from a particular Mortal Realm, so most couldn't take advantage of this now), but this also meant that if you were using a Realms Artifacts of Power, then you can now only pick the items from the Realm of your city. With only two Realms available, it really limits what you can do with those creative option.
The book is also designed to encourage you to incorporate Stormcast into your army, with one in every four units allowing you to take a Stormcast unit. While not mandatory, I'm not going to be adding them no matter what. Some cities have extra options like this, with Tempest's Eye allowing you one in every four units being a Kharadron Overloards unit and the Living City letting you have one in every four units being Sylvaneth (so yes you could have a more classic Wood Elf like army with Wanderers and Sylvaneth units). These units replace their main faction keyword with that of Cities of Sigmar, so they benefit from all the same rules as that city (which is good).
There are no Endless Spells or Terrain, but I think this was a great move as I find having to rely on faction Terrain to be annoying and this faction has a better focus on the Malign Sorcery Endless Spells. On top of that, if those Endless Spells have the ability to be empowered, then they count as the Empowered versions, regardless of the Realm they fight in. The cherry on top is that each City has three spells of it's own, with Hollowheart having six spells, with these spells themed more in line with their respective city. This means that there are a decent number of magic options out there and with the Battlemages, you can theme your magic around your playstyle.
If your the kind of player who prefers their General on foot then riding a massive mount, this book has you covered with a bodyguard unit (as long as he is a 6 wound or less model, which most are). Between 5 - 20 one wound models, your General (as long as he is standing next to them) can pass on a wound to that unit on a 4+. Even better, if another hero on foot of 6 wound or less is also close to the General, he can be the army advisor and give a command point on a 4+ each hero phase, which makes this really feel like an actual army.
The Cities themselves have unique themes and styles. The Living City mentioned earlier is about things like wound restoration and ambushes, while Hollowheart is dedicated to magic and spells. Anvilgard feels very much like old style Dark Elves, while the Greywater Fastness is very reminiscent of the artillery city of Nuln. As such, there are seven cities with unique rules, spells, items and abilities, so there is enough there to find a particular playstyle you like and work your way around that.
I still possess many of my old Empire models from back when I was doing the Army painting challenge with my brother, so I have enough to start rebuilding a new army (too bad the models already re-based are no longer usable and are not in this book). I had thought of using the Living City rules for this new army, but after some discussion with my local store, it was pointed out that I do have a lot of Battlemages and I do like to use magic, so it was suggested that I go with Hallowheart instead. As such, I will be designing my own city and lore, but will use the Hallowheart rules (so more like an expedition from that city has reclaimed a lost city and set up there, which is why that use those rules).
Like I said earlier, this review is different, mostly cause I just don't know how to feel about it. On one hand, it's great to get better rules to use for these troops then the standard Order rules, but on the other hand I wonder if the cost was worth it. I feel we lost a few important things and didn't get nothing new to replace them (I mean the artwork for Greywater has humans manning a giant cannon, yet the book has only two artillery pieces and the unique dwarf ones are now gone, so not much of a black powder city is it).
I guess well have to see if this book gets expanded on in the future. I know White Dwarf brings out rules for a new Stormcast chamber every now and then, so why not one for a City, perhaps in a different Realm with some unique rules to match. Something to re-look at in a few months time maybe.
Sorry this wasn't the best. Perhaps I'll come back at some later point and rework it.
So what do I think of this book? Well, to me this book is Games-Workshop's ultimate compromise. What do I mean by this? Well, GW has been wanting to remove a lot of the Old World miniatures, but in doing so would result in a massive consume backlash from more classic Warhammer players. As such, they picked a bunch of miniatures from each of the now classified 'Order' factions and put them together into a single Battletome. So how bad was the shafting?
Empire:
Kept most of what was left of their range, though lost their engineer character, the horse mounted General, Warrior Priests and their War Alter and more confusing, Witch Hunters. I say the last one is confusing as even in the many cities, Witch Hunters are still prominent (so I can only hope that somewhere down the road they get brought back as part of a Warcry Warband or something similar).
Dwarfs:
Your old battleline units are gone (so no more Warriors, Handgunners or Quarrelers). You also lost the Unforged (the old Slayers), but also your artillery too. Yep, beyond the Gyrocopters and Gyrobombers, everything else is gone so you'll be relying on manlings for most of your ranged firepower. It seams they are going for a more armoured and elite style for the Dispossessed now, which still works in their favour, though not all the warscroll changers are positive.
Dark Elves:
Probably the faction that suffered the least out of all these as far as model losses go, most of their range is still there (minus the Daughters of Khaine of course). They still have that Dark Elf feel to them, with the only exception being that Assassins and Dark Riders are more akin to Sigmar's dagger then being more traditional Dark Elf like.
High Elves:
The ones that got screwed the most. Unless you played a lot of Phoenix Guard, not much else survived this. All things related to the Phoenix Temple (their hero who is the only High Elf hero, the guard and the birds) are in here, but beyond them, the Shadow Warriors were the only other unit to come out of this (and that appears to be because they are made using the same box set as the Sisters of the Watch) and are now under the Shadowblades keyword instead of Swifthawk Agents (which when you think about their playstyle, makes more sense. Maybe my brother was right to abandoned the High Elves with the end of the Old World.
Wood Elves:
The Wanderers lost a few more units, but secured enough to keep then quite viable. Like the High Elves, they also suffered a big hit to their heroes. They now are limited to a Nomad Prince. Not great, but still could have been a lot worse.
So yeah, there were a few casualties that I really do question as to why, but at least we still got to keep most of what we have. I would say that this is my biggest annoyance with this book, the second being the cities themselves. I'm not saying the cities are bad, far from it, but it is the lack of Realms that annoys me. There are suppose to be cities over all the Mortal Realms, yet only two Realms are represented, Ghyran and Aqshy. Both have three cities each, with the seventh being the twin city, which can choose which Realm of the two they are apart of. The problem lies not only with limited representation and creativity (White Dwarf had been pumping out articles on giving your armies a theme from a particular Mortal Realm, so most couldn't take advantage of this now), but this also meant that if you were using a Realms Artifacts of Power, then you can now only pick the items from the Realm of your city. With only two Realms available, it really limits what you can do with those creative option.
The book is also designed to encourage you to incorporate Stormcast into your army, with one in every four units allowing you to take a Stormcast unit. While not mandatory, I'm not going to be adding them no matter what. Some cities have extra options like this, with Tempest's Eye allowing you one in every four units being a Kharadron Overloards unit and the Living City letting you have one in every four units being Sylvaneth (so yes you could have a more classic Wood Elf like army with Wanderers and Sylvaneth units). These units replace their main faction keyword with that of Cities of Sigmar, so they benefit from all the same rules as that city (which is good).
There are no Endless Spells or Terrain, but I think this was a great move as I find having to rely on faction Terrain to be annoying and this faction has a better focus on the Malign Sorcery Endless Spells. On top of that, if those Endless Spells have the ability to be empowered, then they count as the Empowered versions, regardless of the Realm they fight in. The cherry on top is that each City has three spells of it's own, with Hollowheart having six spells, with these spells themed more in line with their respective city. This means that there are a decent number of magic options out there and with the Battlemages, you can theme your magic around your playstyle.
If your the kind of player who prefers their General on foot then riding a massive mount, this book has you covered with a bodyguard unit (as long as he is a 6 wound or less model, which most are). Between 5 - 20 one wound models, your General (as long as he is standing next to them) can pass on a wound to that unit on a 4+. Even better, if another hero on foot of 6 wound or less is also close to the General, he can be the army advisor and give a command point on a 4+ each hero phase, which makes this really feel like an actual army.
The Cities themselves have unique themes and styles. The Living City mentioned earlier is about things like wound restoration and ambushes, while Hollowheart is dedicated to magic and spells. Anvilgard feels very much like old style Dark Elves, while the Greywater Fastness is very reminiscent of the artillery city of Nuln. As such, there are seven cities with unique rules, spells, items and abilities, so there is enough there to find a particular playstyle you like and work your way around that.
I still possess many of my old Empire models from back when I was doing the Army painting challenge with my brother, so I have enough to start rebuilding a new army (too bad the models already re-based are no longer usable and are not in this book). I had thought of using the Living City rules for this new army, but after some discussion with my local store, it was pointed out that I do have a lot of Battlemages and I do like to use magic, so it was suggested that I go with Hallowheart instead. As such, I will be designing my own city and lore, but will use the Hallowheart rules (so more like an expedition from that city has reclaimed a lost city and set up there, which is why that use those rules).
Like I said earlier, this review is different, mostly cause I just don't know how to feel about it. On one hand, it's great to get better rules to use for these troops then the standard Order rules, but on the other hand I wonder if the cost was worth it. I feel we lost a few important things and didn't get nothing new to replace them (I mean the artwork for Greywater has humans manning a giant cannon, yet the book has only two artillery pieces and the unique dwarf ones are now gone, so not much of a black powder city is it).
I guess well have to see if this book gets expanded on in the future. I know White Dwarf brings out rules for a new Stormcast chamber every now and then, so why not one for a City, perhaps in a different Realm with some unique rules to match. Something to re-look at in a few months time maybe.
Sorry this wasn't the best. Perhaps I'll come back at some later point and rework it.
Monday, 30 September 2019
More Thoughts on Warcry + Expansion
So now that I've had a few more games under my belt, along with my most recent one being a Coalition of Death game, I'd figure I should talk some more about it.
Most of the games I've play have been with my Gloomspite Gits, with me changing them around each game to test out new combinations, though I did have one game using the Legions of Nagash in which ended with a run around until my opponent finally ended my last Shield member. I've fought mostly the Corvus Cabal, though I have fought against Stormcast, Sisters of Khaine and Flesh-Eater Courts. My thoughts all the factions I've played/vs so far on them are:
Legions of Nagash:
Necromancer is good, but being your only leader option and being a caster makes him vulnerable to being targeted first. Doesn't help when he's in a mission when the only friendly models near him are also ones that need to remain alive and so draining them of health becomes a serious problem. Grave Guard are alright, but it's the Cursed Weapon ability that can really help them out in combat, as it adds 1 to damage from hits and critical hits and is a double ability. Any other ability requires you either be within 6" of the leader or can only come from the leader himself, which is why he is such a massive target. The cheaper skeleton warriors are alright, but tend to die just as easily.
Apart from the Necromancer, the other major problem is speed as (apart from the Necromancer) everyone has a move of 3". Not great, particularly if you get the twist card that subtracts one from movement at which point you'll probably find yourself debating if you need to waste doubles on movement based abilities over damage based ones.
Gloomspite Gits:
Kinda spoiled for choice with options, though most will prove to be difficult to manage. You have three options for your leader (Boingrot Bounder, Squig Hopper or Standard Git) and both Boingrot Bounders and Squig Hoppers have the flying ability, though Cave Squigs don't. However, these units are also kind of expensive and can die easily if your not smart with them. That said, they hit hard and should you have a high triple for Boing! Boing! Boing! or a quad for Sneaky Stab, they can really stack up that damage.
Smaller gits tend to be weak, with Netters and Squig Herders being cheap and weak and only kept in for left over points or abilities (which I feel are just not as good as other ability options), but you can have a good number of Stabba's and Shoota's in a git crew. Obviously, you want many of the stabba models near each other to benefit from the Backstabbing Mob ability on a double so you can dish out some stronger hits, while shootas work better with the Onslaught universal ability on a double (as it is a straight out extra attack, turning your 2 shots per action into 3 shots per action, unless it's changed in future FAQ's).
Sum up, Squig based models are good, but expensive while Gits tend to be weaker but cheaper. Now I just need to figure out what combination works best.
Sisters of Khaine:
Fast and powerful in their attacking, though weak against a few blows. With the right dice, they can really dish out pain in bursts, but have very little to save them from counter-attacks. In the game we played, most of my LoN skelly crew ended up removing most of my opponents sisters, with only two snake ladies remaining in the game. My fault against them was with their speed as they were able to close in and silence my Necromancer early on (thus removing both his damage and his resurrection abilities), while in the latter half of the game being able to avoid loosing their last Shield member through pure movement alone (my crew could not keep up with her, while my own last Shield member was chased down and killed by the melee snake lady). Speed 3 Skeleton/Grave Guard are no match for speed 7 snake elves.
Stormcast:
A mixed bag as they tend to have good strength, toughness and wounds, though they appear to be expensive as the one I fought against didn't have a whole lot of models. Not that it mattered as it seems the mission to kill his Shield (a Gryph-hound and his Leader), proved to be more difficult then I expected. The twist of everyone having +1 Toughness worked more for me then it did for him, but most of my Gloomspite were still hitting on 5's, so trying to grind him. That and I completely underestimated just how powerful those Gryph-hounds could be against my boys.
I would later team up with Ironjaws to verse both the Stormcast and Corvus Cabal in the Coalition of Death game and learned that they are way more limited in tighter terrain and that Ironjaws can beat the snot out of just about anything.
Flesh-Eater Courts:
Big guys or little guys, that seems to be the option when fighting them. The big guys tend to have a nice stat line with their big winged boss having a hefty amount of wounds. I learned too little - too late that when fighting these guys just how hard they hit and that my Boingrot Bounders didn't stand much of a chance (though a Cave Squig double-team did take out one of the large brutes). I learned that when fighting them that they tend to have the big guys deal the brute force damage charge, with the little ghouls being used either as support or to take objectives.
I look forward to the day when I can have a re-match so I can see how much I've improved since that first game.
Corvus Cabal:
Staying up high and striking downwards seems to be their main strategy, though they can move through or over terrain with equal speed if given a chance. The Shrike Talon in particular (those guys with wings and stilts) are deadly if they can swoop in to attack from up high. That said, my opponent had two of these guys and it didn't come without cost. Being a more expensive model for the crew, his force was limited to 6 models, so when it came to collecting treasures or holding objectives, it proved a bit more harder. The second is that striking by themselves against a group of enemies can almost lead to certain death against harder hitting units. Needless to say, the battle against the Ironjaws he fought did not last long.
I'm still working on the best list to fight him with, as he tends to focus on my Squig models first as they pose the biggest threat to him. Perhaps I should try an all Git crew instead? But moving on to other thoughts.
Coalition of Death:
Man was this both an exercise in having a both a fun and frustrating game. Given my own health issues, I had some trouble not letting everything overwhelm me, but in the end it was a mostly fun game. As mentioned earlier, the Coalition of the Greenskins (My Gloomspite allied with Ironjaws) meant that I got a few extra points, so I upgraded my boss to a Boingrot Bouncer Boss, which would prove to be my Git of the Match. We were up against the combined might of Stormcast and Corvus Cabal.
Coalition of Death has two boards placed side by side and our game was four players in two teams squaring off to fight for victory. You count only your own crew as friendly, but do not count your ally as an enemy (so basically, you can't benefit from their abilities and they can't benefit from yours, so as to balance it out), but both opponent crews do count as enemies (so abilities that target enemy models count both opponent crews as being enemy models). What makes this more interesting is that beyond the fact that the team that looses priority roll gets to set up the terrain in what ever way they want, is that each battle round you roll on two charts and those two results are the way you score victory points in that battle round, rolling new ones in the next battle round. This is by far the most intense part in the game it seems, as suddenly you realise that your opponent just happens to be on the highest terrain piece at the start of that turn and moving him off it to claim it for yourself would prove difficult now that it is suddenly a means to score points, or how you run your Hammer models in one turn in an attempt to kill a Shield model for that rounds victory point, only to fail and take damage back, then find out on the next turn that it is the Hammer models that are worth the points and now they are vulnerable in combat.
Honestly, it involves some sneaking discussions with your ally and hoping you opponent isn't paying too much attention so that you can make the most of a battle round. I was lucky to have such a great ally who, while taking the game more serious in one sense, was also having fun on the other hand. It was quite clear that by the end of turn 2 that things weren't going well and by turn 3 we were needing a real play. I was lucky that my opponent forgot about by Hammers and went to secure our starting zone, but in a stroke of luck, my Quad allowed my Boss to get into combat with a basic Corvus member and kill him, which not only took out a Hammer, but tied the number of enemy models in the starting zone objective (The bird crew kept hiding out of view or attack range due to them standing on the trees, which we all agreed that they could do in the game, though it did go against us so that felt satisfying). Despite it being a draw at the end of turn 3, it was already getting late so we called it there, even though you are meant to keep going until one side officially wins.
Turns out having the dusk twist effect didn't make much difference to our shooting when you have such dense terrain, but still was a great game. If you have a Warcry community or just a bunch of friends that you want to get into a single game at once, then definitely give this option a go.
Monsters and Mercenaries - The Warcry Expansion:
So now lets talk about the recent expansion to the game, Monsters & Mercenaries. Much like the expansions for 40k's Kill Team game, this was hit with mixed views and it is easy to see why. Monsters are powerful units that can devastate weaker models with ease, while some Mercenaries are more powerful then most units out there and cost similar points. It can also throw some people off enjoying the game this way too, so I suggest a few options if you do plan on using it:
1. Don't add Monsters or Mercenaries until your crew have completed at least one campaign.
The reason for this is that by this point, you and your opponents are already becoming quite powerful and this is the next step up. As far as the Chaotic Beasts and Thrall options from the book are concerned, I'm fine for them to be in a starting game, but feel your crew has to at least prove itself by completing one campaign in order for them to advance to bigger things. I have some suggestions if you do want to use the rules in 2 & 3 below.
2. You can still fight Monsters
Fighting a Monster as a one off mission just to test your crew or for a story purpose is fine, but just don't allow them to hire the monster if it's early on. If you do want to add monsters at some point, have it that after a set number of games that crew can hire the monster as by this time it has recovered and is now properly tamed. Personally, I'd still stick with my first one of not adding them in the first campaign, but let the warbands fight them if they want to see how they fair.
3. Mercenaries are one-off story combats
Have the option for a mercenary to join the crew for a single story battle as you have two rivals wanting to best the other and have dragged two warbands in as pawns for their victory. It makes sense for two powerful foes to suddenly drag a lesser group into battle with promises of riches and glory, knowing that many wont survive the conflict. It makes a good story mission early on until your warband has become powerful and well-known that mercenaries want to join you in your quest for glory and power.
4. The Campaign missions are fine to use.
As with my comments on letting the Chaotic Beasts in both as Beasts and as Thralls, the campaigns in the book should also be allowed for people to pick from as some people might not like the campaign stories they have or feel the rewards are not fitting of their crew. I do like the idea of either picking Honour (a sort of lighter option and grants an Exalted Command Trait) or Glory (a more darker option and grants an Artifact of Power). These ones do require two sets of different warcry game terrain sets (the starter set and one other from each terrain set released), but most players should be fine with running with whatever they have (after all, the game is meant to be fun and not everyone is loaded with cash).
That said, if people do not want to use this book or just use it for the campaigns, then that's fine and I can totally understand why. Shaking up your crews with monsters or heroes can really limit option or strategies and depending on your opponent, make the game a lot less fun to play.
Overall
In the end, Warcry is by far the best thing to come out of GW recently and one of the few things that still keep me tethered to the Warhammer franchise. I have enjoyed it and who knows, maybe at some point I might work my way up to Path to Glory or even a normal Age of Sigmar game, but for now Warcry keeps my gaming itch satisfied for the moment and I hope to keep playing it for some time.
Most of the games I've play have been with my Gloomspite Gits, with me changing them around each game to test out new combinations, though I did have one game using the Legions of Nagash in which ended with a run around until my opponent finally ended my last Shield member. I've fought mostly the Corvus Cabal, though I have fought against Stormcast, Sisters of Khaine and Flesh-Eater Courts. My thoughts all the factions I've played/vs so far on them are:
Legions of Nagash:
Necromancer is good, but being your only leader option and being a caster makes him vulnerable to being targeted first. Doesn't help when he's in a mission when the only friendly models near him are also ones that need to remain alive and so draining them of health becomes a serious problem. Grave Guard are alright, but it's the Cursed Weapon ability that can really help them out in combat, as it adds 1 to damage from hits and critical hits and is a double ability. Any other ability requires you either be within 6" of the leader or can only come from the leader himself, which is why he is such a massive target. The cheaper skeleton warriors are alright, but tend to die just as easily.
Apart from the Necromancer, the other major problem is speed as (apart from the Necromancer) everyone has a move of 3". Not great, particularly if you get the twist card that subtracts one from movement at which point you'll probably find yourself debating if you need to waste doubles on movement based abilities over damage based ones.
Gloomspite Gits:
Kinda spoiled for choice with options, though most will prove to be difficult to manage. You have three options for your leader (Boingrot Bounder, Squig Hopper or Standard Git) and both Boingrot Bounders and Squig Hoppers have the flying ability, though Cave Squigs don't. However, these units are also kind of expensive and can die easily if your not smart with them. That said, they hit hard and should you have a high triple for Boing! Boing! Boing! or a quad for Sneaky Stab, they can really stack up that damage.
Smaller gits tend to be weak, with Netters and Squig Herders being cheap and weak and only kept in for left over points or abilities (which I feel are just not as good as other ability options), but you can have a good number of Stabba's and Shoota's in a git crew. Obviously, you want many of the stabba models near each other to benefit from the Backstabbing Mob ability on a double so you can dish out some stronger hits, while shootas work better with the Onslaught universal ability on a double (as it is a straight out extra attack, turning your 2 shots per action into 3 shots per action, unless it's changed in future FAQ's).
Sum up, Squig based models are good, but expensive while Gits tend to be weaker but cheaper. Now I just need to figure out what combination works best.
Sisters of Khaine:
Fast and powerful in their attacking, though weak against a few blows. With the right dice, they can really dish out pain in bursts, but have very little to save them from counter-attacks. In the game we played, most of my LoN skelly crew ended up removing most of my opponents sisters, with only two snake ladies remaining in the game. My fault against them was with their speed as they were able to close in and silence my Necromancer early on (thus removing both his damage and his resurrection abilities), while in the latter half of the game being able to avoid loosing their last Shield member through pure movement alone (my crew could not keep up with her, while my own last Shield member was chased down and killed by the melee snake lady). Speed 3 Skeleton/Grave Guard are no match for speed 7 snake elves.
Stormcast:
A mixed bag as they tend to have good strength, toughness and wounds, though they appear to be expensive as the one I fought against didn't have a whole lot of models. Not that it mattered as it seems the mission to kill his Shield (a Gryph-hound and his Leader), proved to be more difficult then I expected. The twist of everyone having +1 Toughness worked more for me then it did for him, but most of my Gloomspite were still hitting on 5's, so trying to grind him. That and I completely underestimated just how powerful those Gryph-hounds could be against my boys.
I would later team up with Ironjaws to verse both the Stormcast and Corvus Cabal in the Coalition of Death game and learned that they are way more limited in tighter terrain and that Ironjaws can beat the snot out of just about anything.
Flesh-Eater Courts:
Big guys or little guys, that seems to be the option when fighting them. The big guys tend to have a nice stat line with their big winged boss having a hefty amount of wounds. I learned too little - too late that when fighting these guys just how hard they hit and that my Boingrot Bounders didn't stand much of a chance (though a Cave Squig double-team did take out one of the large brutes). I learned that when fighting them that they tend to have the big guys deal the brute force damage charge, with the little ghouls being used either as support or to take objectives.
I look forward to the day when I can have a re-match so I can see how much I've improved since that first game.
Corvus Cabal:
Staying up high and striking downwards seems to be their main strategy, though they can move through or over terrain with equal speed if given a chance. The Shrike Talon in particular (those guys with wings and stilts) are deadly if they can swoop in to attack from up high. That said, my opponent had two of these guys and it didn't come without cost. Being a more expensive model for the crew, his force was limited to 6 models, so when it came to collecting treasures or holding objectives, it proved a bit more harder. The second is that striking by themselves against a group of enemies can almost lead to certain death against harder hitting units. Needless to say, the battle against the Ironjaws he fought did not last long.
I'm still working on the best list to fight him with, as he tends to focus on my Squig models first as they pose the biggest threat to him. Perhaps I should try an all Git crew instead? But moving on to other thoughts.
Coalition of Death:
Man was this both an exercise in having a both a fun and frustrating game. Given my own health issues, I had some trouble not letting everything overwhelm me, but in the end it was a mostly fun game. As mentioned earlier, the Coalition of the Greenskins (My Gloomspite allied with Ironjaws) meant that I got a few extra points, so I upgraded my boss to a Boingrot Bouncer Boss, which would prove to be my Git of the Match. We were up against the combined might of Stormcast and Corvus Cabal.
Coalition of Death has two boards placed side by side and our game was four players in two teams squaring off to fight for victory. You count only your own crew as friendly, but do not count your ally as an enemy (so basically, you can't benefit from their abilities and they can't benefit from yours, so as to balance it out), but both opponent crews do count as enemies (so abilities that target enemy models count both opponent crews as being enemy models). What makes this more interesting is that beyond the fact that the team that looses priority roll gets to set up the terrain in what ever way they want, is that each battle round you roll on two charts and those two results are the way you score victory points in that battle round, rolling new ones in the next battle round. This is by far the most intense part in the game it seems, as suddenly you realise that your opponent just happens to be on the highest terrain piece at the start of that turn and moving him off it to claim it for yourself would prove difficult now that it is suddenly a means to score points, or how you run your Hammer models in one turn in an attempt to kill a Shield model for that rounds victory point, only to fail and take damage back, then find out on the next turn that it is the Hammer models that are worth the points and now they are vulnerable in combat.
Honestly, it involves some sneaking discussions with your ally and hoping you opponent isn't paying too much attention so that you can make the most of a battle round. I was lucky to have such a great ally who, while taking the game more serious in one sense, was also having fun on the other hand. It was quite clear that by the end of turn 2 that things weren't going well and by turn 3 we were needing a real play. I was lucky that my opponent forgot about by Hammers and went to secure our starting zone, but in a stroke of luck, my Quad allowed my Boss to get into combat with a basic Corvus member and kill him, which not only took out a Hammer, but tied the number of enemy models in the starting zone objective (The bird crew kept hiding out of view or attack range due to them standing on the trees, which we all agreed that they could do in the game, though it did go against us so that felt satisfying). Despite it being a draw at the end of turn 3, it was already getting late so we called it there, even though you are meant to keep going until one side officially wins.
Turns out having the dusk twist effect didn't make much difference to our shooting when you have such dense terrain, but still was a great game. If you have a Warcry community or just a bunch of friends that you want to get into a single game at once, then definitely give this option a go.
Monsters and Mercenaries - The Warcry Expansion:
So now lets talk about the recent expansion to the game, Monsters & Mercenaries. Much like the expansions for 40k's Kill Team game, this was hit with mixed views and it is easy to see why. Monsters are powerful units that can devastate weaker models with ease, while some Mercenaries are more powerful then most units out there and cost similar points. It can also throw some people off enjoying the game this way too, so I suggest a few options if you do plan on using it:
1. Don't add Monsters or Mercenaries until your crew have completed at least one campaign.
The reason for this is that by this point, you and your opponents are already becoming quite powerful and this is the next step up. As far as the Chaotic Beasts and Thrall options from the book are concerned, I'm fine for them to be in a starting game, but feel your crew has to at least prove itself by completing one campaign in order for them to advance to bigger things. I have some suggestions if you do want to use the rules in 2 & 3 below.
2. You can still fight Monsters
Fighting a Monster as a one off mission just to test your crew or for a story purpose is fine, but just don't allow them to hire the monster if it's early on. If you do want to add monsters at some point, have it that after a set number of games that crew can hire the monster as by this time it has recovered and is now properly tamed. Personally, I'd still stick with my first one of not adding them in the first campaign, but let the warbands fight them if they want to see how they fair.
3. Mercenaries are one-off story combats
Have the option for a mercenary to join the crew for a single story battle as you have two rivals wanting to best the other and have dragged two warbands in as pawns for their victory. It makes sense for two powerful foes to suddenly drag a lesser group into battle with promises of riches and glory, knowing that many wont survive the conflict. It makes a good story mission early on until your warband has become powerful and well-known that mercenaries want to join you in your quest for glory and power.
4. The Campaign missions are fine to use.
As with my comments on letting the Chaotic Beasts in both as Beasts and as Thralls, the campaigns in the book should also be allowed for people to pick from as some people might not like the campaign stories they have or feel the rewards are not fitting of their crew. I do like the idea of either picking Honour (a sort of lighter option and grants an Exalted Command Trait) or Glory (a more darker option and grants an Artifact of Power). These ones do require two sets of different warcry game terrain sets (the starter set and one other from each terrain set released), but most players should be fine with running with whatever they have (after all, the game is meant to be fun and not everyone is loaded with cash).
That said, if people do not want to use this book or just use it for the campaigns, then that's fine and I can totally understand why. Shaking up your crews with monsters or heroes can really limit option or strategies and depending on your opponent, make the game a lot less fun to play.
Overall
In the end, Warcry is by far the best thing to come out of GW recently and one of the few things that still keep me tethered to the Warhammer franchise. I have enjoyed it and who knows, maybe at some point I might work my way up to Path to Glory or even a normal Age of Sigmar game, but for now Warcry keeps my gaming itch satisfied for the moment and I hope to keep playing it for some time.
Tuesday, 27 August 2019
Puppet Inspirations Part 1
So growing up there were a number of shows with puppets in them which have helped inspire me to look to puppets to bring characters to life (animation is my number one, but I can't draw, let alone animate). As such, I thought I talk about a number of them that have contributed to this, so think of this as something like my Animated Reflections series, but about puppets....and in mini form.
Note that yes, while Jim Henson and his company have created a variety of shows that have been influential for me (The Dark Crystal is my favourite movie of all time after all), they really need a part all to themselves and I wanted to talk about some others before I go into that. I'll talk about them in another part so look out for that one. I do feel a little limited in talking about these in such short segments, so perhaps sometime down the road I can look into them in a bit more depth. We'll see. So let's get started with my first one.
1. Mr. Squiggle
So here's a real classic from my childhood. Mr. Squiggle (the man from the moon) was a delightful character who would travel from the moon to join a human cast member of the series to make pictures from squiggles that would be sent in to him. These squiggles would be enlarged onto card which was placed on the character Blackboard, a rather grumpy character who always insisted that they 'hurry up', which Mr. Squiggle would draw on to make pictures. He had a habit of loosing concentration and going off on space walks, which the human assistant had to bring him back down to earth and get him focused again.
Other characters included Gus the snail (who's shell seemed to change depending on the series) and Bill the steam shovel, who appeared to blow smoke (was actually a powder) when he had a jolly good laugh. These characters were more side characters to the main cast, but more often had some small storyline in the episode in which they appeared.
We recently celebrated the 60th anniversary of Mr. Squiggle, but sadly it seems that many kids have no idea who he is or why he is such an icon in Australia. For me, this was a brilliant and creative show, with family friendly characters that was a joy to watch. Thanks to the internet, you can still find a number of episodes over the various series online here and there, so go check them out.
2. The Ferals
The Ferals are an interesting bunch of characters. There original show (The Ferals) was about four characters, Rattus the Rat, Modigliana the Cat, Derryn the Dog and Mixy the Rabbit. The group were advertised as a messed up bunch of feral animals and characters like Rattus and Modigliana could be quite brutal & violent to each other (in the comedic sense of hitting each other with objects, but recovering quite quickly) would be some what concerning and yes, some parents were concerned, but somehow it really seamed to work.
Kind of like a cross between a kids show and a bogan comedy, the Ferals were a big thing on the ABC back in the mid 90's and looking back at it now, I wonder what the real reason was that ultimately sent them into obscurity. While the original show had human actors in it, their spin-off show called Feral TV was more puppet based and worked well with its idea of a pirated TV station and having various parodies of actual shows on it. After that they just seemed to fade away, with Mixy being the face of the new ABC Kids channel for a period of time while Modigliana was co-host with a human for the educational show Creature Features (a show about animals).
I think what brought them back up for me more recently was a show called Throwback which featured Tina Matthews, the person who made the puppets and looking at their designs, they are quite detailed and a real inspiration for pushing the creation of my own characters in puppet format. After watching it I felt that this path may be the right one to be on.
3. Agro
The Ferals may have tried pushing the envelope, but Agro would cross the line. While much of his on-air performances for children's television was obviously edited, much of the non-edited stuff is now out on the internet for all to see. He was a rather naughty (making a number of adult jokes, usually involving sexual innuendos) and self-aware puppet (would make the occasional comment about puppet related things, like his hands or the hand up him). He was a real comedian about things and would often annoy and infuriate his female co-host. It also probably doesn't help that the this he said and did would most likely be slammed today as more harassment then anything funny.
Once again, time takes away from a character like that and his popularity has waned as the years have gone one. I hear his puppeteer and voice actor, Jamie Dunn, has moved on to other things and Agro these days makes a rare appearance now and then. Like most things on this list, we would like to see his return, but also like all things on this list, that is probably never going to happen.
4. The New Adventures of Blinky Bill
So here's an old one from my childhood. Blinky Bill has always been an Australian icon, but has gone through a few variations in the visual media over the years. This one in the 80's had Blinky and friends as puppets with human actors playing various roles. It's hard to talk about this show as only a few episodes can be found online these days and sadly, thanks to former actor Robert Hughes being convicted of sex offenses, the show will most likely never get released in any format.
It was still a good show (I really enjoyed the characters of Mrs Magpie and Angelina Wallaby) and from the few I have seen they were very enjoyable to watch. Iwould like to see some sort of re-release in the future, though I understand that it would be difficult seeing a children's show featuring a sex offender in it.
I really do hate people who's horrid actions spoil a good thing.
5. Bambaloo
This one was a morning show on Channel 7 that, despite being an Adult be this point in my life, I actually enjoyed watching. I can't tell if it was the puppets or the story lines that I found interesting, though having little sisters I found tended to get me interested in all manner of children's television shows, so who knows. Was more surprised to find out that, when researching this show, that it was apparently created by Yoram Gross and the Jim Henson Company. What a surprise there.
The show featured Angela Kelly as the host character Sam, who lived in a tree house (The Bambaloo Tree) with her dog Fidget, a fish called Jet and a bird named Portia. They are shown to be the main cast of the show, but the real stars are the two mice called Jinx and Gypsy, who would commentate and interact with things, but remained hidden from the group. In fact, they really only interacted with one human, a man called Jake (played by Andre Eikmeier) who would make something each episode with the mice nicking his food just after. At one episode (Leaky Tap), Sam and Jake interact with each other for the first time, which makes me wonder just what would have happened if the show had continued on for a few more seasons. Would there have been more human interaction or was it just for one episode? Maybe they did and I just never knew.
Sadly, information for this show is somewhat scarce (and my memory is shoddy these days), but I do hope I can find more to learn about it cause it seemed to be a perfect balance of activities for a children's television and the kind of stories one could tell in it. That or I may be thinking far to hard for this one.
6. Lamb Chop's Play-Along
Growing up, this was a name you knew by heart in primary school and it was due to one thing, one song...
A creation of the late and great Sheri Lewis, Lamb Chop and her friends was a morning series addiction with short stories and skits, along with jokes and songs, you knew who they were and you loved them. The ending credits song was a piece that would be repeatedly sung over and over with the lyrics:
This is the song that doesn't end
Yes it goes on and on my friend
Some people started singing it not knowing what it was
And they'll continue singing it forever just because
(Repeat)
It was damn catchy and you knew that once you started you couldn't stop (didn't help that the song itself started small and just built up, making seem to get more catchy as it kept going). Because of this, we all found ourselves drawn to this show. Looking into the work of Sheri Lewis and Lamb Chop now, you can see they did all manner of shows and even adult content was not out of the question, though it was still rather clean (especially if you compare it to say, Agro). Sheri brought a smile to us all and at times the way she would interacted with Lamb Chop you would swear that the puppet was almost real. Strangest part is, given how simple and some what limited the puppet designs were, Sheri really brought them to life with the way their faces moved as they talked and her interactions with them. You can see why people are still endeared with Lamb Chop even to this day.
7. The Sooty Show
My memories of Sooty and friends were from the Matthew Corbett era and to me, this was the best period in the Sooty history.
The Sooty Show was a family favourite in the 80's and I can remember enjoying the antics of Sooty and Sweep, usually at the expense of Matthew. Looking back at it now, it was rather amazing how you can make a non-speaking hand puppet so interesting and exciting to watch. What I found out later in life was that at one point in Sooty's career, people were outraged because apparently Sooty and Soo were boyfriend/girlfriend and were living together in the same house, which was somehow offensive to people. Boy, times have changed haven't they.
I can see why some people feel that a show with puppets has to have at least one human to interact with, as shows like this can have its puppet only segments, but much of the comedy needs a human for it to work (mostly cause the human is the victim in this case), but also to be the voice between the puppet and the audience and to bring in the moral message home so everyone can understand. The show seems to have a mix between antics and fun, but also a family feel, which can really appeal to certain audiences.
The show had both indoor and outdoor segments, but I really like how they created smaller sections to act as bedrooms and bathrooms for the puppets. It really did feel like this human person had modified his own house to accommodate for the needs of these smaller characters and it's something I can really appreciate, both from a creative and a narrative point of view. The Corbett family really worked hard to bring Sooty and his friends to life and it is something I just love.
So I think that will do it for now. Now doubt I will do another one of these soon as there are still so many shows to talk about and I only have so much in me to talk about them. Hopefully some of these will spark a little nostalgia in you and make you go back and watch them or perhaps you might find yourself interested in looking some of these up just to see what the heck I'm rambling on about. What ever reason, go watch them and be inspired.
Till next time...
Note that yes, while Jim Henson and his company have created a variety of shows that have been influential for me (The Dark Crystal is my favourite movie of all time after all), they really need a part all to themselves and I wanted to talk about some others before I go into that. I'll talk about them in another part so look out for that one. I do feel a little limited in talking about these in such short segments, so perhaps sometime down the road I can look into them in a bit more depth. We'll see. So let's get started with my first one.
1. Mr. Squiggle
Image Via Wikipedia
So here's a real classic from my childhood. Mr. Squiggle (the man from the moon) was a delightful character who would travel from the moon to join a human cast member of the series to make pictures from squiggles that would be sent in to him. These squiggles would be enlarged onto card which was placed on the character Blackboard, a rather grumpy character who always insisted that they 'hurry up', which Mr. Squiggle would draw on to make pictures. He had a habit of loosing concentration and going off on space walks, which the human assistant had to bring him back down to earth and get him focused again.
Other characters included Gus the snail (who's shell seemed to change depending on the series) and Bill the steam shovel, who appeared to blow smoke (was actually a powder) when he had a jolly good laugh. These characters were more side characters to the main cast, but more often had some small storyline in the episode in which they appeared.
We recently celebrated the 60th anniversary of Mr. Squiggle, but sadly it seems that many kids have no idea who he is or why he is such an icon in Australia. For me, this was a brilliant and creative show, with family friendly characters that was a joy to watch. Thanks to the internet, you can still find a number of episodes over the various series online here and there, so go check them out.
2. The Ferals
Image Via BuzzFeed
The Ferals are an interesting bunch of characters. There original show (The Ferals) was about four characters, Rattus the Rat, Modigliana the Cat, Derryn the Dog and Mixy the Rabbit. The group were advertised as a messed up bunch of feral animals and characters like Rattus and Modigliana could be quite brutal & violent to each other (in the comedic sense of hitting each other with objects, but recovering quite quickly) would be some what concerning and yes, some parents were concerned, but somehow it really seamed to work.
Kind of like a cross between a kids show and a bogan comedy, the Ferals were a big thing on the ABC back in the mid 90's and looking back at it now, I wonder what the real reason was that ultimately sent them into obscurity. While the original show had human actors in it, their spin-off show called Feral TV was more puppet based and worked well with its idea of a pirated TV station and having various parodies of actual shows on it. After that they just seemed to fade away, with Mixy being the face of the new ABC Kids channel for a period of time while Modigliana was co-host with a human for the educational show Creature Features (a show about animals).
I think what brought them back up for me more recently was a show called Throwback which featured Tina Matthews, the person who made the puppets and looking at their designs, they are quite detailed and a real inspiration for pushing the creation of my own characters in puppet format. After watching it I felt that this path may be the right one to be on.
3. Agro
Image Via Courier Mail
The Ferals may have tried pushing the envelope, but Agro would cross the line. While much of his on-air performances for children's television was obviously edited, much of the non-edited stuff is now out on the internet for all to see. He was a rather naughty (making a number of adult jokes, usually involving sexual innuendos) and self-aware puppet (would make the occasional comment about puppet related things, like his hands or the hand up him). He was a real comedian about things and would often annoy and infuriate his female co-host. It also probably doesn't help that the this he said and did would most likely be slammed today as more harassment then anything funny.
Once again, time takes away from a character like that and his popularity has waned as the years have gone one. I hear his puppeteer and voice actor, Jamie Dunn, has moved on to other things and Agro these days makes a rare appearance now and then. Like most things on this list, we would like to see his return, but also like all things on this list, that is probably never going to happen.
4. The New Adventures of Blinky Bill
B&W Cast Photo from the Blinky Bill Puppet Series Facebook Page
So here's an old one from my childhood. Blinky Bill has always been an Australian icon, but has gone through a few variations in the visual media over the years. This one in the 80's had Blinky and friends as puppets with human actors playing various roles. It's hard to talk about this show as only a few episodes can be found online these days and sadly, thanks to former actor Robert Hughes being convicted of sex offenses, the show will most likely never get released in any format.
It was still a good show (I really enjoyed the characters of Mrs Magpie and Angelina Wallaby) and from the few I have seen they were very enjoyable to watch. Iwould like to see some sort of re-release in the future, though I understand that it would be difficult seeing a children's show featuring a sex offender in it.
I really do hate people who's horrid actions spoil a good thing.
5. Bambaloo
Image Via beIN.net
This one was a morning show on Channel 7 that, despite being an Adult be this point in my life, I actually enjoyed watching. I can't tell if it was the puppets or the story lines that I found interesting, though having little sisters I found tended to get me interested in all manner of children's television shows, so who knows. Was more surprised to find out that, when researching this show, that it was apparently created by Yoram Gross and the Jim Henson Company. What a surprise there.
The show featured Angela Kelly as the host character Sam, who lived in a tree house (The Bambaloo Tree) with her dog Fidget, a fish called Jet and a bird named Portia. They are shown to be the main cast of the show, but the real stars are the two mice called Jinx and Gypsy, who would commentate and interact with things, but remained hidden from the group. In fact, they really only interacted with one human, a man called Jake (played by Andre Eikmeier) who would make something each episode with the mice nicking his food just after. At one episode (Leaky Tap), Sam and Jake interact with each other for the first time, which makes me wonder just what would have happened if the show had continued on for a few more seasons. Would there have been more human interaction or was it just for one episode? Maybe they did and I just never knew.
Sadly, information for this show is somewhat scarce (and my memory is shoddy these days), but I do hope I can find more to learn about it cause it seemed to be a perfect balance of activities for a children's television and the kind of stories one could tell in it. That or I may be thinking far to hard for this one.
6. Lamb Chop's Play-Along
Image Via Reddit
Growing up, this was a name you knew by heart in primary school and it was due to one thing, one song...
A creation of the late and great Sheri Lewis, Lamb Chop and her friends was a morning series addiction with short stories and skits, along with jokes and songs, you knew who they were and you loved them. The ending credits song was a piece that would be repeatedly sung over and over with the lyrics:
This is the song that doesn't end
Yes it goes on and on my friend
Some people started singing it not knowing what it was
And they'll continue singing it forever just because
(Repeat)
It was damn catchy and you knew that once you started you couldn't stop (didn't help that the song itself started small and just built up, making seem to get more catchy as it kept going). Because of this, we all found ourselves drawn to this show. Looking into the work of Sheri Lewis and Lamb Chop now, you can see they did all manner of shows and even adult content was not out of the question, though it was still rather clean (especially if you compare it to say, Agro). Sheri brought a smile to us all and at times the way she would interacted with Lamb Chop you would swear that the puppet was almost real. Strangest part is, given how simple and some what limited the puppet designs were, Sheri really brought them to life with the way their faces moved as they talked and her interactions with them. You can see why people are still endeared with Lamb Chop even to this day.
7. The Sooty Show
Image Via The Telegraph
My memories of Sooty and friends were from the Matthew Corbett era and to me, this was the best period in the Sooty history.
The Sooty Show was a family favourite in the 80's and I can remember enjoying the antics of Sooty and Sweep, usually at the expense of Matthew. Looking back at it now, it was rather amazing how you can make a non-speaking hand puppet so interesting and exciting to watch. What I found out later in life was that at one point in Sooty's career, people were outraged because apparently Sooty and Soo were boyfriend/girlfriend and were living together in the same house, which was somehow offensive to people. Boy, times have changed haven't they.
I can see why some people feel that a show with puppets has to have at least one human to interact with, as shows like this can have its puppet only segments, but much of the comedy needs a human for it to work (mostly cause the human is the victim in this case), but also to be the voice between the puppet and the audience and to bring in the moral message home so everyone can understand. The show seems to have a mix between antics and fun, but also a family feel, which can really appeal to certain audiences.
The show had both indoor and outdoor segments, but I really like how they created smaller sections to act as bedrooms and bathrooms for the puppets. It really did feel like this human person had modified his own house to accommodate for the needs of these smaller characters and it's something I can really appreciate, both from a creative and a narrative point of view. The Corbett family really worked hard to bring Sooty and his friends to life and it is something I just love.
So I think that will do it for now. Now doubt I will do another one of these soon as there are still so many shows to talk about and I only have so much in me to talk about them. Hopefully some of these will spark a little nostalgia in you and make you go back and watch them or perhaps you might find yourself interested in looking some of these up just to see what the heck I'm rambling on about. What ever reason, go watch them and be inspired.
Till next time...
Monday, 26 August 2019
Creating a Burrows & Badgers Warband: Part 2 - Painting and Expanding the Crew
So the last time I was still fleshing out ideas in Part 1, but now I have expanded further with the models. Converted and painted up, the crew has been put together and the characters own lore advanced. Photos are still of mixed quality, they are still look close to what they actually look like.
So the crew from first to last is:
- Brianna
Warband leader and tank.
- Ghost
Second in command and stealth runner (despite being an Albino Squirrel).
- Ginnette
Brianna's sister and crew alchemist.
- Miranda
Main spellcaster of the Warband.
- Gurumarra
Crew support and objective runner.
- Emrick
Stealth archer.
As a campaign goes on, so does a Warband expand and new members join to help in the Warband's ever growing story. As the crew hails from a tiny hidden village right next to a riverbank, I wanted more animals that are more related to such locations.
These beasts are the new recruits for my crew. From first to last we have:
- Marcello
Master ranger of the local forests, Marcello joins up to deal more effectively with the beasts that threaten his land. Marcello would help entice other Otters to the village and to help support the local defenses.
- Barnard
An ex-knight who became disillusioned with his fellow Knights and so took his family far from away to a more peaceful life. However, his former comrades did not approve of this and went to hunt him down. With the aid of the Riverbank Warband's help, they were sent packing, but knowing they'd be back, Barnard joined up to help secure their homes from any future intrusions.
- Conner
The first bird to join the Warband, Conner is an upbeat Kingfisher bird who is your average defender who offers the Warband a fast paced response fighter who can support his fellow beasts with his speed as a warrior. He also loves to whistle.
So yeah, the crew has expanded visually. I might also eventually add Bartholomew as a Bat Assassin as he is the partner of Miranda, but given he has a more political and strategical role in the village, he might work well as a sort of NPC/objective character for special narrative missions. The next part will look more into expanding the characters lore wise and finalize the crew setup. Hopefully that should be done within the next month or so, so keep an eye out for that soon (I know this one is rather short compared to part 1, but I'll try to make it up in part 3).
So the crew from first to last is:
- Brianna
Warband leader and tank.
- Ghost
Second in command and stealth runner (despite being an Albino Squirrel).
- Ginnette
Brianna's sister and crew alchemist.
- Miranda
Main spellcaster of the Warband.
- Gurumarra
Crew support and objective runner.
- Emrick
Stealth archer.
As a campaign goes on, so does a Warband expand and new members join to help in the Warband's ever growing story. As the crew hails from a tiny hidden village right next to a riverbank, I wanted more animals that are more related to such locations.
These beasts are the new recruits for my crew. From first to last we have:
- Marcello
Master ranger of the local forests, Marcello joins up to deal more effectively with the beasts that threaten his land. Marcello would help entice other Otters to the village and to help support the local defenses.
- Barnard
An ex-knight who became disillusioned with his fellow Knights and so took his family far from away to a more peaceful life. However, his former comrades did not approve of this and went to hunt him down. With the aid of the Riverbank Warband's help, they were sent packing, but knowing they'd be back, Barnard joined up to help secure their homes from any future intrusions.
- Conner
The first bird to join the Warband, Conner is an upbeat Kingfisher bird who is your average defender who offers the Warband a fast paced response fighter who can support his fellow beasts with his speed as a warrior. He also loves to whistle.
So yeah, the crew has expanded visually. I might also eventually add Bartholomew as a Bat Assassin as he is the partner of Miranda, but given he has a more political and strategical role in the village, he might work well as a sort of NPC/objective character for special narrative missions. The next part will look more into expanding the characters lore wise and finalize the crew setup. Hopefully that should be done within the next month or so, so keep an eye out for that soon (I know this one is rather short compared to part 1, but I'll try to make it up in part 3).
A Slightly better shot of Ghost and his Hooked hand
Sunday, 25 August 2019
Puppet Problems
So when going through the process of making a puppet, I've seemed to have found one of the major hurdles that seems to be a problem in Australia and that is gaining access to the materials I need to make them. By materials, the main ones I am referring to are that of the Foam and the Fleece. It seems foam of a 0.5 inch size is unavailable here, as is things like Antone fleece. Now with the fleece I can try to find alternatives, but the foam is harder to do. Not only that, but the replacement materials might not be as effective. Unfortunately, I am unable to know for sure as I still need foam and fleece to test them out.
I do have things like Polar fleece and some threat to practice sewing and as soon as I can figure out which option to use in the design process, I can get around to making a clay base to use in making the foam pattern.
Hopefully I'll be able to start some updates or a series in regard to this journey, but this is still in an idea stage, so nothing is set in stone yet.
I do have things like Polar fleece and some threat to practice sewing and as soon as I can figure out which option to use in the design process, I can get around to making a clay base to use in making the foam pattern.
Hopefully I'll be able to start some updates or a series in regard to this journey, but this is still in an idea stage, so nothing is set in stone yet.
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