The Killer B Hive Vlog 3

Hi. Remember me? I'm back and here is a sparkley new video for you.

Burn the Earth for Minimum Wage

Hey, hey. Life still takes me away from my beloved hobbies however I have been finding some cool videos and been able to read articles from time to time. I'm still waiting on No Quarter 61 which I'm hoping will be loaded with Hordes stuff. At any rate, with the Dawn of the Age of Sigmar and the apparent death of Fantasy, Warhammer players have either rejoiced loudly or lost their shit. Happily enough for myself, I was never super invested in WHFB and could care less either way.

I read through the rules for AoS and it seems like it could be cool to play; I think this is mainly because a lot of the ideas were "borrowed" from other games I like. I could see how it could be good for Warhammer, but mostly I personally feel it isn't the answer GW or WHFB players were looking for. This next video includes a good amount of naughty language and is definitely NOT SAFE FOR WORK.

Now, as much as I agree with many of the points made in the initial rant, I feel that burning your army is a completely stupid thing to do. Despite the fact that it was FUCKING AMAZING to watch and something I was always curious to see, selling your models on ebay or even using Barter Town would be the intelligent choice. 

Thats all I got.

88 Miles per Hour...

I'm back from a long hiatus, maybe. Since my last post I had been tending to my house making the final preparations before my kid was born. That led up to my son actually being born which has now led to the cycle of sleep(ish/baby care)-work-baby care-sleep(isn/baby care). Until he gets a little older and sleeps more consistently, it looks like hobbling is going to be a challenge. I haven't given up hope however; I have a Vlog entry planned and I will see if I can get it in soon. Until then, check out this sweet vid I just watched.

These Thumbs Were Made for Gaming: Darkest Dungeon

After hearing about the game on some podcasts and having my friend, Larry suggest it to me, I finally downloaded Darkest Dungeon. I really don't feel like the game was hyped enough; to be honest, had I known about it when it was on Kickstarter I would have definitely backed it. I'm actually playing this thing full time now and haven't looked at Diablo 3 since I installed it. The art is dark and gritty but vibrant and crisp at the same time which makes for some amazing graphic displays. I was always a sucker for a simple yet catchy art style such as the one used in Castle Crashers. The sound effects, especially the narrator, are great as well. I can't leave it like that; the narrator is fucking awesome. You will hear him throughout your journeys into the dungeon and I don't think a better voice could have been chosen to match the game. You'll see what I mean. ;)

Darkest Dungeon is simple and complex at the same time; the combat system is fairly simple but the management aspects make the game complex. Prior to beginning a quest (going into the dungeon), you choose a team of up to 4 characters from a roster you build and provision them for their journey. Things that are important to grab are food and torches. Unlike many games that feature torches as items, Darkest Dungeon has made the torch as an item super important and you always want them on hand. When you're in a dungeon and you see that torch supply start to run low you will instantly start to shit yourself about it. It is a welcome mechanic.

Light plays a big part in this game. On the top of the screen is a torch meter that keeps track of how bright your light is burning. As the lights get dimmer, your characters will actually become "afraid" and stress out. Some creatures become stronger in the dark as well. Respect the torch!

Combat is simple but effective. Each member has a choice of 4 different abilities in combat and the whole combat system can be manipulated via mouse-clicks or keystrokes. This choice of abilities can be customized when not in a dungeon so you can tailor a character to how you want them to play. I suggest having at least 1-2 members per team who have access to an ability that damages multiple targets. Keeping combat short and sweet is key because healing outside of combat is close to a non-entity unless you are camping.

While in the dungeon, the characters will be subject to becoming stressed from their environment which can lead to having a slight mental breakdown to a full-blown heart attack (yes, your character actually has a heart attack and dies). Stressed characters will develop a temporary stress related ailment when they reach their break point. You will see them become anything from Abusive to Fearful to just downright Irrational. These ailments can be removed through the various stress relieving activities available at the Estate. If a character dies, they are gone forever. Death can be a terrible blow to your character pool, however recovering a character from near heart attack levels of stress can be not only expensive but time consuming.

The game features elements of team management in the form of your Estate. Much like Rogue Legacy's "Tower of Upgrades," Darkest Dungeon features the Estate which has a few buildings that do things like upgrade armor and weapons, reduce the stress level of your characters or allow you to recruit new characters. When a character goes for some stress relief they will be at the very least out of commission for one mission. That being said, relying on a single "A Team" is not a great idea but not putting money into upgrading characters is also bad because progression will be very hard otherwise. Another interesting aspect of this game.

All and all, I am enjoying the shit out of this title and highly suggest it. I can keep typing or you can just get on Steam and download it. I suggest the latter. It's worth the money, just get it.

Turn the Page: Kaiju Storm by Jake Bible

I finally finished the second installment of Jake Bible's Kaiju Winter series. I wasn't blown away by the book like I was the first, however it did leave me wanting for some more. This particular series is set up to be four books total; that being said, this book is more about separate character journies than actual answers to the series big questions. Wanting more from the book isn't a negative either; all the cards haven't been thrown on the table storywise, so my interest is still piqued.

Mr. Bible has stated that he is putting his own twist on the Kaiju genre with these books. Even though twists are sometimes nice, I long for some more traditional-giant-stompy monsters in the series. So far, there have been big monsters but nothing much akin to the bipedal menaces we attribute to the label of "Kaiju." The large threat in this book has been ooze monsters which I always feel are somewhat of a cop out. It's usually like, "the protagonists are then chased by... hmm, what could they be chased by? Argh! My ideas are so loose and gelatinous...I got it! Ooze monsters!"

All in all, I still got some enjoyment from the book and would like to continue the series to find out what happens. I would still suggest the series to anyone who likes the whole idea of modern day Sci-fi World Disasters. Check it out if thats your thing, otherwise I would say you aren't missing too much.

eIrusk vs Calandra

eIrusk
-Behemoth
-War Dog
Kovnik Joe
Iron Fang Kovnik
Max Man O’ War Shocktroopers
Max Man O’ War Demo Corp
Max Winterguard w/ UA
Doomreavers
Max Mechanics w/ UA

Calandra, Evolutionary Elementalism Tier 4
-Mountain King
-Slag Troll
-Slag Troll
-Storm Troll
-Storm Troll
-Pyre Troll
-Trollkin Runebearer
Runeshapers
Runeshapers
Min Stone w/ UA

Warcasters, Warlocks and Feats; Oh My: Stream Pics

Hopefully, you enjoyed some of the various games that I streamed/posted this weekend. I have yet to post the last game Larry and I played yesterday but I believe we worked out most of the kinks with the set up; the camera angle in the next video is much better.

I started out just using my camera(Logitech c615) on a tripod and the normal lights in the room for the first couple of videos. You will see that by the Vlad2 vs Madrak2 game the lighting and camera angle changed. This is what the set up looked like:

I used the lights from my light box setup and my desk light. I did not directly shine them on the table which reduced the shadows to allow seeing each model a little easier. For the next game, I took out a folding table, put the tripod on it to get a higher point of view for better table coverage and put the lights that were on the chairs on it to get closer to my reflective surface(the white ceiling).

I took a couple stills before the game, here they are:

I love the shading on Larry's jacks and MOW. He used Gnarls Green as the shader to contrast against the red which gave him a phenomenal outcome. I'm hoping to see the finished Behemoth soon(hint, hint, Larry).

In essence the new setup created a giant light box! I hope you enjoy the videos.