Map of NW Talomir WIP

Just wanted to share a map I've been working on between chores today. It is the setting of THW's Talomir in what has been referred to as Norwes.

It includes Mirholme, Tereken, Capalan, Altengard, Malohad, Valkae, half of Ekra, most of Seniira, part of the Tropilium Imperium, and tiny snippets of Sortium.

I'm not totally happy with how it's going, but it does have some character. Mostly the edges of the terrain are too uniform. I've used a combination of techniques, but primarily following those set forth by RobA of the Cartographers Guild. Notable additions are the "Ice cap" to cover unknown area and the ridge between the forest and desert in the Malohad peninsula.

Hope you like it. Any critiques appreciated.

Next will be to highlight the countries and provinces.

The Glorious Winner is...

Nicholas Caldwell

***Google friend connect is being annoying right now and I can't seem to contact you, I'll try your blog and hopefully you will check here. Just drop me an email with your choice and your particulars and I'll get the ball rolling to get it to you.*** (Hmm no contact on the blog either.)

So we started with a list of the entrants ordered by their posting of comments to the prize drawing as follows:

1. Chuck
2. Dan
3. Martian Banshee
4. Ding Duck
5. Ray Rousell
6. Mathyoo
7. Rodger
8. The Angry Lurker
9. Tim
10. Nicholas Caldwell
11. Lee Hadley

I had hoped for a simple die roll, but there is never an 11 sided die around when you need one. I have been using the Dice Bag app for my android phone a bit and thought I could make an 11 sided die but “no dice” as they say.

One solution would be to make a random number generator using excel (I actually use Open Office Calc, but more or less same difference). The Old Dessauer had a nice post on it here. But I didn't want to do that.

So I decided, why not make another Inspiration Pad file to randomly return the winner? Why do that and not just write the names on paper and put them in a hat? I have no idea, I guess because I can. These are the kinds of things that get that look from the wife. You know, the “I can't believe I'm still married to such a dork” look. To which I reply, mostly in my own mind “Yeah, but I'm King of the dorks baby!”

So I hope the rest of you aren't too disappointed. I must say it feels kind of nice to do something for a fellow gamer.

Cheers.

Another Post Apocalypse err.. Post

So Ricardo's post over at Fantalonia got me thinking about Post Apocalyptic games again. He basically was reviewing 15mm.co.uk rules for the USE ME system. His review focused on it's differences with the Ganesha Games title Mutants & Death Ray Guns (MDRG) which is a homage to TSR's Gamma World. Back in the day we (meaning my gaming group, not the royal we) played a fair amount of Gamma World and no game was complete without some kind of Dethmöbeel^TM (ie a big vehicle with armor and Guns all over it).

Image from: http://www.waynesbooks.com/GammaWorld.html

For what USE ME: PA was all about I thought that this post on DropshipHorizon was a little more illustrative. I'm tempted to buy it, but perhaps I need to play one of the other five rule sets I own and haven't played first.

Other titles that are in development are Ganesha Games Apocalypticum, you can see some playtests and some cool PA vehicle models at ChicagoSkirmish Wargames. It looks cool but it appears that combat is not deadly enough, yet.

Two Hour Wargames also has After the Horsemen in development and the Yahoo group has some files on playing Fallout with the old Chain Reaction 2.0 rules. (What's that? Some one should update that to CRFV?) [As a side note you can download the Chain Reaction Final Version and Chain Reaction Swordplay Final version for free at the Two Hour Wargames store.]

And in my search for “Post Apocalyptic Rules” I found this site http://www.darkshire.net/jhkim/rpg/freerpgs/bykeyword/postapocalyptic.html with a bunch of interesting looking free rpg alternatives to Gamma World.

Also if you like John Carter, THW has just put out a free add on for gaming the Warlord of Mars on their blog here.

And today is the last day to put your name on the list here to win a free THW ruleset.

Blogging Tips

I saw this link on Col. Shofer's blog and decided to start following the blog of said link. It seems mostly  intuitive, but it doesn't hurt to read up on advice. I have to say that there is a certain amount of gratification in stat numbers, but what I really want is to learn things and perhaps share information that is useful to others in the process.

So I'll be reading and attempting to use the "Blogging Tips" from their posts. So far I've tried, and failed, to get listed on http://blogs.tabletopgamingnews.com/ and http://figoblogotheque.blogspot.com/. Currently I think that The Angry Lurker and Don't Throw a One are the two sites that have directed the most traffic to me and my generic Age of Blood map is still the most popular. So a combination of cross linking and having something that people actually want seems to help. And having a prize give away seems to help as well.

And now to welcome new followers:

Titivillus of The Gaming Magpie sounds interesting and I hope he(?) will post about some of the things he mentions ie " 6mm sci-fi armies for Epic:40k/Armageddon and 15mm forces for 5150:Star Army. If you were to look closely at my painting table, though, you would also find some 28mm fantasy for Songs of Blades and Heroes and 15mm Napoleonics for Song of Drums and Shakos and (eventually) Sharp Practice."


Ding Duck, no blog listed but looking to expand from NUTS! to FNG.


Nicholas Caldwell a fellow theoretical gamer and writer of Colony13 where he show cases his sci fi figures and AAR's.


Mathyoo, no blog, but he seems to be following a lot of good Zombie blogs.


vinniecp of Vinnie's World (it's not linked in your Google friend profile) which has some great models and personal family history about British WW1 tanks. Thanks for the follow back Vinnie.


Jim Marzullo aka Martian Banshee, whose name seems familiar. If you have a blog please let me know. Jim appears to be following a couple of other blogs that are THW themed.


theelcharles who doesn't seem to have a blog either. I'm now guessing that this is the same as Chuck with the St. Louis Blues logo avatar.


So a hearty welcome to all and I hope that at some point you are enlightened and or entertained by this blog.

I'm giving it away!

Flush from my recent win and inspired to "pay it forward" in kind like Big Lee, I too will be offering a prize. That is a rule set from Two Hour Games. So have a look around the website and see what suits your fancy.

The rules, since we need to have some groundwork, are:

1. Be a follower of the blog (shameless self promotion)
2. Leave a comment on this post to put your name in the drawing.
3. I will randomly divine the winner on the morning of March 10th (my time) and contact said winner for their particulars.

The winner can choose any of the THW titles, but I'm hoping it's NUTS!

Ray and Fran at work? Or is this the Rejects secret "handshake"?

And since I'm in the biz I find this series of videos hysterical:

Disclaimer: No groins were actually harmed in the making of this post.

There can be only...

I won!!!!

Ray over at Don't Throw a One had recently made the purchase of a rule set he already had so he was kind enough to raffle it off.

Blatantly lifted from Don't Throw a One

I have to say I'm very happy as I love Lord of the Rings, like most of us who cut our teeth on AD&D, and would probably have never bought it for myself.

Now, following in the footsteps of Big Lee here, I feel the need to pay it forward. I'll have to think hard on it however. Being the compulsive hoarder that I am, they tell me admitting it is the first step in recovery, I'm not sure what I could offer that would be desirable. My initial thoughts are either a map commission or maybe a THW ruleset since I am something of an evangelist for them.

Any thoughts?

And a big thanks again to Ray for his generosity.

Truly amazing 6mm sculpts!

I don't need to start another scale, but I saw this post by Kasper of WarmasterDK.

These microworld 6mm are rediculously detailed. As many reviewers have stated "better than some 10 and 15mm sculpts".

Dwarf Command, linked from Microworld Games site.

And here's a video of some painted up.

That is all.