Cherry 2000 Vs. Critters

* = I don’t play Pathfinder, however I keep my eyes on everything that Paizo does because as a company I think they are amazing. This is from their newest Adventure Path which has to do with the lands of the Winter Witches & The Baba Yaga. This particular installment is called ‘Rasputin Must Die!’ and yes it does bring your fantasy characters to our world either during or prior to World War I. This looks utterly and completely amazing. I need to find some WWI style gas masked soldiers now, because this has given me an AMAZING idea. So thank you to Erik Mona and the Paizo crew for never ceasing to expand the game and the genre.

In the giant storm Friday night we lost power. For three days. Yeah that’s right. Three whole days. I could lie and say it wasn’t that difficult, but I won’t. It was awful. Luckily we had each other, lots of ice, and just gutted it out. The lone tree in the backyard dropped a 17 foot branch or so, luckily it didn’t hit anything or anyone, it was however a HUGE pain in the ass to break down. The good news is it has been added to our ever growing wood pile for the fire pit.

The thing is the power outage and the down trees wasn’t even the worst part of that storm. The worst part was driving out in it and being terrified that we were going to die. Cassandra rocked out the driving portion of it, but man driving into a wind so strong where you can’t see the front of your own car as you drive while trees are falling all around you is hair raising. Couple that with the fact we had to manually open the garage door in the middle of this deluge and you have a recipe for disaster. I got extremely lucky. As I was opening the garage side door to get to the actual garage door to open it I was missed by a LARGE falling branch by about a second.

I was fine in the moment, crisis carpentmentalization and all that, but about 12 hours later it set in. I’m still a tiny bit shook up. That could have been disastrous. Not just to me, but if I was down and out in the middle of this mess in the yard with trees falling around us and the car stuck in the driveway, just what the hell would Cassandra do? It’s not like she can pick me up and drag me inside. It was just a horrible situation; I need to find a way to ensure we don’t find ourselves in it again if we can help it.

With the power out sleeping was at a minimum, I think I’ve hit 21 hours in 4 days. All I really want to do is pass out, and honestly I’m a bit wiggy so bear with me as I ramble here today. Hopefully now that things are returning to ‘normal’ I can get my brain and body back on track. Once things get sort of back in their groove I’ll have to post the pictures Cassandra took of all the down limbs in our yard it is quite impressive. Eyes on the prize I suppose, all I really have to do is survive the rest of the day, which might be easier said than done.

Richard Matheson died. I feel weird writing that.

Matheson has written some of my favorite tales; I Am Legend, The Shrinking Man, & Hunted Past Reason. The thing is I think I’ve only scratched the surface of what this man contributed to the world with his writing. I Am Legend is right up there with The Stand & World War Z as one of my all-time favorites. For those reasons and a slew of television and film work Mr. Matheson will be missed.







It was another week, but again we didn’t get a Skull & Shackles preview, instead we were treated with another Undead Horde preview. Again I’m avoiding going over things we’ve already seen that are repaints and instead concentrating on new miniatures.

First up is Lady Ghoul. You know we need more female monsters and I really think Paizo & Wizkids are busting their humps to make this a reality. The picture I have isn’t the clearest, but there is a LOT here to like. First off is the pose, it has a lot of movement as she’s rushing toward you with a claw extended and that nasty long tongue protruding. I also like that it looks like almost a sneer on her face. From this angle you can’t tell much about the flow of the hair or her clothes but if their other miniatures are any indication then I think they’ll have a good sense of movement to them. The paint jog looks suitably drab, but again it’s hard to tell with the picture I’m looking at. Overall I think this is simply another example of this line hitting the mark of filling niches in the pre-painted miniature world, putting out a quality miniature, and staying true to the Pathfinder ‘style’. This one is a MUST BUY for me.

The other new miniature we got a gander at was the Festrog. This thing looks like it is straight out of a piece of Mike Mignola art, and I adore it. The squatted, animal-like pose is perfect. It seems to have a skull faced visage, and bone spikes coming out of its hunched form. Again the picture is a slight let down on giving us a quality look at what we’re getting paint wise, but it’s an undead beastie so I’m sure it isn’t overly complicated. I don’t play Pathfinder so I’m unfamiliar with this monster from a stat block point of view, but conceptually there is a LOT to love. I’m going to have track down its block so I can pillage it for 4E. What I’m trying to say is this one is also a MUST BUY entry.

I thought I had something more to say…Oh I do it’s called…

RANDOM CRAP!

- Radishes gone bad smell TERRIBLE!

- Tonight I have to download Stevie Richards for Diamond Dave and make my third ‘outfit’ for my guy on WWE ’13. Senor Si’ must LIVE!

- On the upside Cassandra DVRed Under The Dome to see if we would dig it. She is the best.

- Friday Night is our first SMACKDOWN. I am beyond excited and I think I’m starting to come up with a roster in my head that will be a lot of fun to play. The big shock will be that I will NOT be drafting my own guy. I think it’ll be more fun to have him on someone else’s.

- Popeye’s Chicken is sort of ‘redunkulous’. In a good way.

- Last night I picked up the Cthulhu Ski Mask that was ordered for me. I was shocked that it was ordered, but thankful. It is super SWANKY and I dig it. $12 BEYOND well spent.

- I’m hankering for a Movie-A-Thon soon. Perhaps a 70’s Monster Movie Bash.

- I’m an episode behind on The Venture Brothers due to the power outage. I am sad.

- The Outlaw Josie dropped by last night and brought us a slab, and I mean SLAB, of Salmon from his latest fishing trip. It was beyond generous. I will be smoking said slab o’ fish. If the last batch we did is any indication it will be delicious.

- D&D 2nd Group got cancelled due to weather. The next session cannot happen fast enough.

- You know what I need? A box set of Lucha Libre movies that’s what.

- I watched RAW last night and few things occurred to me; 1) CM Punk & Paul Heyman’s bromance should never end 2) Daniel Bryan is on the cusp of greatness because he pulled out an amazing match out of the emotional block of wood known as Randy Orton 3) A Diva’s feud with a story, WHAT(?) D) As much as I love the Wyatt Family promos just have them debut already, I’m tired of waiting E) I’m not a PPV guy, but the guys involved in the Money In The Bank ladder match are going to put on a HELL of a show. Couple that with the release of the WWE Presents WCW The Best Of Wargames and I was a happy guy last night.

- I still haven’t gotten my Reaper Bones Kickstarter shipping confirmation, but I love watching the countdown.

- That above statement most likely says something serious about my mental health.

- After talking with my Father-in-law I’m contemplating getting a riding mower. I think it’s mainly so I can mow fast and with a beverage in hand. I think that is some rock solid logic.

- Lords Of Waterdeep taunts me from the gaming shelf.

- I’ve got to get off my ass and do some more research on what it would take to do my own Podcast. I think the main hurdle will be the upfront cost. I think it would be fun to get back into that on a weekly basis.

- Must. Grill. Burgers. This. Week!

- Last night when we went out, prior to having power, to Jet’s Pizza to get some grub we saw two AMAZING things; A) An old lady wearing an Affliction shirt, Cassandra and I wondered if she was Steve Miller’s mom & B) A guy crack his head on a 2 liter pop display because he couldn’t get off his cell phone enough to pay attention to where he was walking. He then proceeded to be a GIGANTIC douche about it. I am always amazed at the utter and complete lack of self-awareness so many of us have. Add into that the plague that is the smart phone and folk’s dependence on it and it’s a recipe for asshattery.

- I really need to get back to painting.

- Aaron Hernandez may not have killed that dude, but guys who didn’t do anything don’t break their cell phones, destroy their home security footage, and pay a company to scrub down their house. Just sayin’.

- The Rifftrax of the Christopher Walken flick McBain is sublime.

And finally I just want to say THANK YOU to everyone who helped and offered help during the last three days. It is amazing to know how many cool folks we know.

“I'm up on the eleventh floor
And I'm watching the cruisers below
He's down on the street
And he's trying hard
to pull sister Flo
My heart's in the basement
My weekend's at an all-time low

'Cause she's hoping to score
So I can't see her
letting him go
Walk out of her heart
Walk out of her mind

She's so swishy in her satin and tat
In her frock coat
and bipperty-bopperty hat
Oh God, I could do better than that

She's an old-time ambassador
Of sweet talking, night walking games
And she's known in the darkest clubs
For pushing ahead of the dames
If she says she can do it
Then she can do it,
she don't make false claims
But she's a Queen,
and such are queens
That your laughter
is sucked in their brains
Now she's leading him on
And she'll lay him right down
But it could have been me
Yes, it could have been me
Why didn't I say,
why didn't I say, no, no, no

So I lay down a while
And I gaze at my hotel wall
Oh the cot is so cold
It don't feel like no bed at all
Yeah I lay down a while
And I look at my hotel wall
But he's down on the street
So I throw both his bags down the hall
And I'm phoning a cab
'Cause my stomach feels small
There's a taste in my mouth
And it's no taste at all

It could have been me
Oh yeah, it could have been me
Why didn't I say,
Why didn't I say, no, no, no”

* = Even Buddy Christ loves Mark Henry.