Thursday, March 31, 2011

Sucker Punch




So I was expecting a turn off my brain action flick with hot chicks killing things. I got that for about 1/4 of this crap stain of a movie. The rest was some moron trying to make a compelling story about abused Women. See helping out an abused Woman is a story anyone can get behind, unless your a total douche. But this wasn't even really that. It was watch Women fail... My Fiance was more angry then I was after this one, I was mostly amused. either way this movie sucks, dont see it.

If you must see it, I will say that the action scenes are amazing. There are like 4-5 fight scenes and they are awesome. There just aren't enough of them. Too much of the movie is about advancing the "plot" I use the word plot loosely, because its convoluted, unclear, and poorly written. I think they could have done themselves a favor and made this movie better by not having Dialogue...

Also John Hamm was in it... he's awesome.

For those of you who know me, This was worse then Transformers 2... thats saying a lot.

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Back to the paints

Lately I seem to have been on a lazy kick. Well more specifically I had Dragon Age 2 and that was about 10x more fun than painting. Now I have mass effect which is about 8x more fun then painting. But I was still able to pull myself away from the game long enough to get Ryle painted up for my Levi Crew. Im pleased. He looks fantastic and I hit him with the blue I used for my Guild Crew in case I want to throw him in with Perdita (Not Likely he can't alpha strike) Check him out:



I had orginally tried to do a video with my new web-cam so I could show off a 360 rotation of him, but the resolution of my Web Cam is pretty poor so none of the detail work came through. Maybe one day i'll post up a video.

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Its kind of a funny story



Ellen and I invited Eric and Tanya over for a movie night and decided to pop in our current Netflix movie. We had literally just recieved "Its kind of a funny story" and I was excited to watch it.

To set it up Ellen and I have been on a TV show kick with our netflix. The past 4-6 months have been shows and we haven't had a movie come in for a while. We finished season 1 of White Collar and realized that our DVD would be a Movie. So we looked over the que added a few more movies and on a whim I added this one and bumped it up to number 1. So pretty much we had 0 expectations going in.




Basic plot revolves around Craig, a Kid who has just too much pressure in his life. He goes to a prestigous High School, is trying to get accepted to a prestigious summer academy, good college, and eventually be a CEO or President. He is in love with his Best Friend's Girl Friend, and his father is pressuring him to be better, smarter, etc. Adding all that up he feels suicidal and accidentally checks himself into a psych ward.

Once there he meets some really great charcters. Zach Galifianakis is probably the best of the charcters. He really takes Craig under his wing and kind of teaches him that there is more to life then what he sees. There is also the hot girl Noelle, and a slew of other Characters who all have their own quirks. Its really a brilliant cast.

The movie was pretty amazing. Great characters, a good lesson, and a bit of a love story. I would highly recomend it to pretty much anyone. I would say its one of the best movies I've seen in a while.

Monday, March 28, 2011

Dragon Age II



I will try and not put spoilers in here, but In case I do, consider this a warning.

So I finished Dragon Age 2 this past weekend and I gotta say it delivered on my expectations. Which were pretty high. It was fun, very different from Origins and Awakenings, and had a fantastic story to it.

The biggest change from Origins to 2 is the combat system. It is a more fluid system and is designed I think more for the Console gamer then the PC. I never played the PC version of Dragon Age, but I heard it pauses in combat so you can make your moves. The only thing I wish they had kept from Origins to 2 is the Auto attack button. In the final fight I was facing and enemy with a ton of HP and I was smashint my X button until my thumb was tired.

Also the graphics see a remarkable improvement. The characters look much more real, and the women much hotter and boobier.

The Supporting Characters in 2 are as good as the cast of Origins. There are less playable characters, but they are far superior to the crew of Awakenings. Even Anders, who was in awakenings, is better. The only beef with character interactions is that the game seems to want you to be gay. Now from what I hear the entire party except the Dwarf and your siblings will hook up with you regardless of Sex, but good god! I also remeber there was an Elf Guy in whore house who has a quest marker, ITS NOT A QUEST. its gay sex, luckily I was able to cancel the scene well before anything happened. Still it was disturbing.

Through out the game a lot of the older cast will make Cameos so if you played the first 2 and liked them, its a nice touch to see a lot of the old cast return and say hi.

Anyways, Im looking forward to giving it another go at some point. I am gonna play through Mass Effect 2 first. Then I will either get Home Front or play through DA2 again.

Thursday, March 24, 2011

Paul




So last night Ellen and I went out to the movies to see Paul. Its the latest in the Simon Pegg / Nick Frost line of films. If you liked Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz, then Paul should be right up your alley. If you haven't seen any of the above movies go see them. If you dislike any of the above movies, then I hate you.

Each time Pegg and Frost do a movie they pick a style or genre and make it their own. The gruesome horror, the slasher/action movie, and now a sci fi geeky alien flim. It has a ton of hilarious moments. Plenty of old school references and a fantastic cast, with Seth Rogan as Paul and Jason Batemen, Jane Lynch, Bill Hader, Christen Wiig, and a suprise appearance at the end. Im not gonna give anything away, but go see it. The theatre was dead last night, I think there were like 8-10 people there.

Monday, March 21, 2011

Brief Tournament report 3-19


I played in a 35 stone Malifaux tourament this past weekend. Im gonna be honest I was really tired all day Saturday and then when Mason got blown out I kinda had a rage black out. Net result is that I don't really remember all that much of what happened at the tourney. So... I'm gonna keep this short and sweet.




Round 1
Seamus and a bunch of hard to kill models vs Zorida and a bunch of speedy models.

He started quick by flinging Killjoy at me. As soon as KJ popped up I sent my Hanged to cut his HP down and prevent him from healing for the rest of the game. KJ then reeled in Bette and killed her with a lot of attacks. Seamus then popped off the fatso with his Pistol. From there the game was pretty much well in hand. His Slurids were taken out as they came in via Seamus and Bette. He did pull a pretty awesome move having Zorida obey Bette to bury herself on the last turn. Our game went WAY too long we played 2-3 extra turns. I ended up winning solidly, like 7-3.



Round 2
Kirai and co. vs Hamelin and his shennanigans
Hamelin is broken as written. Even with an imposed Nerf Hameling activated 8 times by turn 2. Now he was playing this ability wrong which ended up costing me a lot, but whatever. I ended up losing 7-5.




Round 3
Nicodem and pretty much the same dude Seamus ran vs Raspy and her ice buddies.
This was the best gmae all day. It didn't hurt that I wiped my opponent out, but he was a blast to play against. I have never had a person on the table next to me complain that he can't hear what his opponent is saying because we are laughing too loud. Great game. Also the hanged was a MONSTER. He cut Raspy, the Ice Golem, and Gamin's life in half, and then killed said gamin with his range attack. I won 8-1 in a pretty big slaughter.


(Resuing a pic? lazy ass!)

Round 4
Seamus and same as rd 1 vs Pandora and her crew of cheating hookers.
I was pretty far ahead in the standings at this point vp wise, so I was determined to just get my schemes and not worry about anything else. That was probably a really big mistake since thats exactly what happened. I lost 8-4. It really didn't help that every time pandora cast a spell she did so with a high crow so my entire crew spent the game running away. It was a pretty lame game and against a really lame jerk.

quick edit: The game was against Mike and really was a fun game. I'm just a douche.

So in the end, I won. It was a really fun time. and I ended up trading my prize, which was a boxset of my choice for Mike's Marcus crew, which is fully painted, and means I don't have to paint my own now! good times.




A few thoughts on the Format, which people will be playing at Adepticon. first 4 rounds for 8 players makes pretty much no sense. I ended up facing the Ringer in round 4. Shared stake a claim is assholish to end a tournament on. there are points for 1 person in that mission. Really skewed the standins in my eyes. Hamelin is a tool and the adepticon rules are nerfing the wrong problem. And my final thoughts are, I'm great!

Overal MVP of the Day was The Hanged. this wasn't my initial thought. But he cut down, Killjoy, an Ice Golem, Rasputina, an Ice Gamin, and was instrumental in me getting my Kill protege against Pandora. he was a beast!

Friday, March 18, 2011

Video Games

Now I have to say I consider Video Games to be one of the lowest form of Gaming. Its not that I dislike them in any way, but in my years as a gamer I have come to the realization that there are stereo-typical gamers for each Genre. And In my experiences the worst of these Stereo-Types are found either in Video Games or Card Games. And often they are the same people. This sums up how I feel I think



That being said I LOVE video games. I was addicted to EQ for years before I finally kicked the habit... I may have timed it end very coincidentally with the day WOW released. Which I then became addicted to. But after a while, and several different MMO's, Guild Wars, Star Wars Galaxies, City of Heroes/Villains, Warhammer Online, and maybe 1 or 2 more that just weren't memorable I have decided that I only really want to play Console Games that have a finite ending to them. I just don't have the free time to play an MMO and honestly I didn't really like how much time I had invested in them.

Anyways enough of that. Point is I've been buying games 1 at a time and playing them in my brief windows of free time each day. My current game of choice is Dragon Age II. I really love this series. And i'm hoping they keep going with the franchise, its a lot of fun to see how the entire world shapes up.

Once I finish it (Or maybe beat it 2-3 times) I will start looking for a new game. here are a few I have my eyes on.




Mass Effect 2. This isn't a new game, but its new to the PS3. Same developers as Dragon Age, and a similar style of game. Its set in the future and you control Colonel Shepard and kill aliens. Sounds fantastic




Homefront. This one is a first person shooter set in the year 2027. The U.S has been invaded by a joint evil Asian nation. And pretty much beaten. You take control of a band of rebels fighting guerilla style for their freedom. Very Red Dawn.




Infamous. Your a guy who was in a disaster and afterwards you get electrical powers. You have to say the world or city or what ever, and along they way you make decisions for good or evil. And your reputation and how people percieve you is all dependant on how you make those choices.

Monday, March 14, 2011

Yeah I'm pretty much Awesome all the time

So I've had this nagging little voice in the back of my head that tells me I should try to play Archanists in my next Malifaux tournament. I've done really well thus far and I think I need a new challenge. With that in mind, I've been painting them up and I think that while Im not at my best with them yet I should be able to compete pretty well in the... uhhh





So... Yeah im playing Ressers.

Friday, March 11, 2011

Silent Ones

I finished up the pair of Silent Ones yesterday. I think I have a shot at reaching my goal of a painted Archanist crew by the 19th. We'll see how far I can go with it. Also I've decided that since Im going to be painting them anyways My Coryphee Duet will be my Malifools Month 7 paint contest entry.

Thursday, March 10, 2011

The Lovely Cassandra

In an effort to make my Archanists more desirable to play with Im going to try and paint as many of them as I can before next saturday. I got started last nigt with Cassandra. I felt a Blond wearing Black and Red would look good. Turns out I was right.



In order to get all my stuff painted for the Tournament I will need to Paint:

1 Colette
3 Mechanical Doves
2 Coryphee
2 Performers
2 Mannequins
2 Silent Ones
1 Electrical Creation

Monday, March 7, 2011

Arcanists


Variety is the spice of live, or at least thats the expression. And for me at as far as gaming is concerned I would say its true. I have been playing Ressers pretty much exclusively for the past several months. Keep in mind that in my book Leviticus is a Resser master. They just misprinted his rulebook entry or something. I own a few other Factions, such as a single Guild crew, The Ortegas, who I play sparingly. And a small Arcanist force. I picked up Rasputina for Ellen since she liked her hat and the Hoarcats which work well with Raspy. I later picked up Ramos for myself, wanting a new challenge to work with. And a Challenge he is. I haven't won too many games with the old man. But they have been relegated to the back burner as I master the ressers I own. I have always been pretty good with McMourning, I have proven I'm pretty damn good with Kirai, winning damn near all the games I play with her. Even Nicodem the Master I used to refuse to play is now in my top tier. I am on a 5-1 streak with the old man, my sole loss coming against an opponent who used questionable tactics. Point is I have a good grasp on my Ressers. Seamus could use some work, but I still feel comfortable with him. Its usually at this point that Gamer ADD kicks in and I want a new challenge. Hence, the Arcanists!



I'm starting with Raspy since I've owned her the longest. She's the Ice witch who can really do a ton of damage to your opponents models. Her best abilites are her Ice Pillars, which creates a blocking terrain to give you cover and force your opponet where you want them. And the damage spell December's Curse. December's Curse can do massive damage and she can cast it over and over again so long as she gets a Mask in her casting total. Its her most reliable way to kill off your opponents models. She is a really heavy hitter and works well with the new release, Silent Ones, who can act as a mirror for her to cast her spells through, thus keeping her further out of harms way. Hoarcats, since they can do heavy damage and work very well with little or no support. And then usually people take a heavy hitter, such as an Ice Golem, Joss, or A Saber Tooth Cerberus. The first two can really take a beating, and the Ceberus is really quick and good at hiding from a beating. All three can do a decent chunk of damage. Rasputina's biggest weakness is speed. Crews that can engage her too quickly give her trouble becasue she really needs to keep them at bay and blast them as much as possible.



On to the next master I bought, Ramos. The old man is a much like his female counter-part a spell blaster. He also has the ability to summon Mechanical Spiders. Ramos likes to let his spiders and his good buddy Joss do the heavy hitting while he picks things off with his long range magic blasts. he has a lot of tricks up his sleeve that can do auto damage. I need to pratice with him more though because I dont really know much else about him. At the moment the biggest weakness is Me. I don't know how to play him right and that usually means he's not doing enough each game. Im gonna practice with him a bit in the coming weeks and see if I can get better.



Ms. Du Bois is the Queen of tricks in Malifaux. her ability to whip her crew all around the Board is uncanny. And every one of her girls has a nasty trick up her sleeve. I've only faced her 3 times and player her 1 time. But I think I have the hang of her abilities. She works well with a lot of Show Girls since a lot of her abilities key off them. She also really likes having a few of her totems, the Mechanical Doves flying around for support. Colette's Strongest spell is Disapearing Act. Its not a sure thing, but if you manage to trigger the 3 Tome ability you one shot kill any non-master in the Game, AND make it into a new Mannequin. Colette never heads to battle with out Cassandra, her body-guard, friend, and Hotty Companion. Cassandra can be a nightmare for some crews. She is hard to hit, VERY fast, and hits pretty hard. Colette also likes bringing her Show Girls to the party with their Mannequins. Colette I think will have a hard time dealing with very heavy hitting armies. They can generally get by her tricks and force her to start burning her soul stones.




The last Arcanist master is Marcus. He is a very strong master in my eyes and is often under-rated. But I don't own him, and Im not sure I plan to buy him. He requires you use Beasts from every faction and I just don't think I want to buy Neverborn beasts to play him.


So thats my brief run down of the Arcanist Faction. Im hoping to get a solid handle on them in the near future so i can start using them as an alternative faction to compete with in Tournaments.