2007

Looks like another year's about to come to an end. 2006 has been a very good year for me. I've been blessed with many new friends, had many nice games, improved on my painting and achieved some dreams.

Things are looking better at home. At least superficially. I don't know if things will ever be ironed out there, but I hope they do. Years have swept all the anger and hate under the proverbial rug evidently. Well, to them at least. I guess what transpired years ago left an indelible mark on me (yeah it's been a years old grudge), but I have always carried myself with civility around the whole thing. I do wish they don't sell off the house. But I guess I should be looking for alternatives in case they do.

Work is definitely rewarding. That Webby Award the team got inspired me a great deal! All I need to do is wait for the folks to get back to Brisbane and I can settle in back to my work mode ^_^ (Don't get me wrong, I enjoy coming home from work to my folks at home; kinda weird though since I'm known to spend days at a time at the office LOL).

WARMACHINE Philippines has been on a steady growth. I'll be redoing the WMPH ranking for 2007 and making a stand-alone blog for my Khador force. I've got my painting scheme down and will continue to use it for the rest of my future painting. Khador will definitely be my priority, with Trollbloods as a break project ^_^

I'll be playing more 40K and WFB this year. With Hobby Haven and UPCFA as active venues (active for both PP and GW games), I'll be sharpening my dulled Warhammer skills this 2007. I'll be working on some Black Templars side by side with my Necrons. I'll also be doing up my Khorne Daemonic Legion together with my Vampire Counts.

I'll also be studying 3d this year. I've already bought an... *ahem* installer which I'll be installing within the day. Hopefully I can get some tutorials online (Kei will be a definite held here ^_^).

I might be taking up on that World of Warcraft CCG as well. I'll look more into it first though. Arvin demo'ed the game to me yesterday, and I can pick one up easy. The game's pretty straightforward though. But it'll be a real drain on resources. Then again, what hobby isn't, right? I just hope I get a nice hero on that starter I'll pick LOL!

9th Webby Awards Philippines - Best Site for MEDIA

Francine, me, Randy and Amita


The GMANews.TV team


Francine Prieto with the news team gfx guy


I don't know who these other two chicks are, but they're for Globe, and they're pretty hot

I started my professional career as a web developer. That was six years ago. And yeah, I started out with VERY little knowledge about the whole HTML thing. But because of the nudging of a very good friend, Jun Visda, it became an indelible part of my life.

And now after all these long years, jumping from company to company, team to team, I've finally landed my first Webby BEST SITE award!

And yeah, Francine Prieto certainly made the win even more worth the while!

+++

The bands that performed were awesome ~ DNA Rock, Helen and Join The Club! Will be looking out for their CDs soon!

Brass Balls Anyone?

This will be the local WARMACHINE league that I'll be joining this December. Hopefully I can squeeze time for it as I'll be expected to game against 7 different guys with just one list before the year ends.

If the fight is easy, you're not challenging up the ladder!

Reflections of the real world

My younger sister's gonna get married this month. That's why my family came back over here in the Philippines. Kinda like a semi-reunion/wedding celebration/vacation/christmas/new year thingy all in one kablam. My brothers are already staying with me in Tendido. Hopefully we don't make too much of a mess that we can't clean up before mom and dad gets home.

Water's finally fixed. But there's a new leak near the fridge area. Need to fix that, too. Now where are they gonna stay at home? The old queen-sized bed is bloody broken. And my brothers need to share the sala outside. I hope my mom's plan of buying new stuff at home pushes through. Ah well...

Need to move all of my hobby stuff somewhere. I don't think all of that can fit in my lightless room. But I need to take care of that problem before they arrive next week.

I also need to get to painting more. Work's been keeping me hella busy the past few. I plan on playing Arv's Brass Balls league and get back to playing more WFB and 40K regularly as well. I plan on playing more frequently at HH and Fortress, too.

So much to do, so little time.

Dental Hygiene + Good Job

The blog image above has nothing to do with Saw 3 (STILL haven't watched it yet) nor the Pokemon CCG (Collectible Card Game), but it does pertain to a visit to the dentist and Pokemon on GBA (Game Boy Advance).

I've just had a lower molar extracted this week. It's been rotting for months I think LOL so I just had to nip the problem at the root so to speak. Yes, there is a bloody gap where my ill tooth used to be. The prescribed medication seems to be working. I'm doing well with no allergies or pain. Unfortunately, it turns out that I have TWO ill teeth. One was extracted, but the one in front of it seems to be deteriorating as well. I had it pasta'ed up, but the dentist said that I have to be back to have it observed. It can either go permanent pasta or another extraction. I hope it can be solved without pulling out another tooth.

And no, I don't think I wanna post up a pic of my souvenir pulled tooth here.

Having to shack up at home for a couple of days, I contented myself with playing Pokemon FireRed on the GBA my brother, Koi, gave me. Yeah it's as addictive as I expected it to be. And as the pic above hints at, I picked Charmander (so that it'll eventually evolve into Charizard). I also got a Magickarp, which I heard will evolve into a Gyarados.

+++ At this time, I've already played around 9 hours and have succeeded with a Charizard AND a Gyarados! Yeah I am teh nerd :p

+++

It's nice when your work is appreciated. I made an SWF for the news site, and all the guys here liked it. It wasn't my idea though, I just followed what Sir Tatin and Sir Ben told me to do, but they all liked the creative output. Even the high ups in the newsroom liked it, so I heard. Liked it enough to use it on TV later ^_^

Nef

I've always been amazed at how big Warcraft really is. You got the MMORPG, you got your RTS, then there's the RTS-based DOTA, you got your WOW RPG, and there's the WOW board game; heck there's even a WOW CCG!

My brothers Koi and Jei are solid MMORPG players of WOW, but they've never even touched the WOWBG rulebook. So I get awestruck when Koi suddenly points out the specific section of a named location on the board game map. And coining the name of one of the warlords' overlords as Nef.

Nef, as most WOW guys are aware of, is Nefarion. I don't know what he does on the MMORPG but it's a huge dragon, so it must be badass. On the board game, Nef is a real monster that inflicts serious damage during combat, going through armor like the proverbial hot knife through butter.

After a business meeting of sorts with my old high school buds, we decided to give the game a go again yesterday. I played two characters from the Horde - a priest and a hunter. Tiny played a moon elf warrior while Kei played a moon elf druid. I started the game off fairly textbook, tanking both guys and leveling up together. Kei and Tiny were being their usual comical selves, ribbing each other as usual. Until they saw the distinct advantage I had working and planning together. In the end, they worked together, discovered some nice combos with their skills and equipment, and defeated Nef by turn 27. Good times definitely! Will be painting up the hero minis of the WOWBG soon enough, too.

Journal of a Warmachinist: Khador at the Haven

• Burn the Lich!
• Khador at the Haven

Burn the Lich!

"Form a line in front of the mercenaries, bane thralls approaching," bellowed Luka Vavilov. The kovnik clicked his axe cannon closed, a fresh shell in its barrel. He knew what it felt to be in the cleaving end of those Cryxian war axes. He remembered them as he sees their advance towards his line, appearing and disappearing into a darkness that seemed to constantly follow them.

"Tartarus is with them," Eiryss spoke, seemingly with no trace of emotion at all, "attack first or your men will be slaughtered."

Luka suppressed the urge to slap the elf, using such an insubordinate tone. He has always despised the High Kommand's use of mercenaries, but as a true Khadoran, he follows orders without question. The kovnik ignored the mage hunter and saw that his demolition corps line was formed.

The manhunter that came with them bounded behind the demolition corps line as well, Luka assumed he was positioning for a counter-attack. The kovnik also disagreed with fighting with manhunters. They may be Khadoran, too, and loyal to the Motherland, but their lack of discipline did not sit well with Luka. Again, he reminded himself to trust his kommanding officers' judgments.

Personal differences must be put aside for the greater glory of Khador Motherland.

But what he did not understand even more was the inactivity from the Widowmakers positioned behind them. They should have moved to a better firing position. Their sniper rifles would have taken out the ogrun bokur that strode alongside Tartarus. Or the Skarlock that shadowed the Iron Lich. The kovnik drew a quick glance across the battlefield.

He has always been assigned to Prince Vlad or Kommandant Irusk. It was his first time to have been fielded by the enigma, Zevanna Agha. The Old Witch of Khador. Doubts began to swim in Luka's mind. Can she really command a wargroup? Where is she now? She should be in combat with the Lich now, as there is no other way to rout this Cryxian force in front of them.

With an abrupt whir of gears and a hissing gust of steam, the Old Witch's scrapjack leaped across the battlefield with astonishing speed. It was headed for one of the Lich's deathrippers that approached the Khadoran right flank. When the two jacks collided, a sickly green glow surrounded the scrapjack, which quickly spread outwards from it.

Luka has heard countless stories about how the land obeyed the Old Witch. The stories told about the ground bursting with shredding spikes that would tear flesh from bones and armor from warjacks. All doubt that he may have considered dissipated quickly from his mind. The Cryxian advance halted as they found themselves within the grasp of the ensorceled land. Luka imagined that the approaching bane thralls be torn asunder by deadly talons which erupted from the ground, as were told by the stories.

But the axe-wielding thralls advanced not an inch further as they were swept away by the darkness towards their baneful lord.

+++

It was then that Luka felt the presence of the ancient warcaster behind him. He turned and saw her weaving her arcane power in the air, a sickly green glow surrounded her hunched form. The kovnik ignored the smell of burnt flesh and seared metal. His comrades have fallen as the lich unleashed a frightening barrage of arcane magic that brought down his entire demolition corps. The mangled form of the manhunter was thrown at the wreck of the stalker which he recently destroyed.

The destroyer emerged from their left flank. It did not seem to be clumsy and blunt as it usually was. The kovnik knew that the Old Witch extended her influence over the heavily-armored warjack. With a low thunk, it launched one of its deadly bombard shells towards the Iron Lich itself. Even with his man-o-war armor, Luka was deafened by the thunderous boom as the shell hit the Cryxian warcaster.

Eiryss suddenly leaped forward and unleashed one of her crossbow bolts at the thinning smoke. Simultaneous rifle fire signaled that the Widowmakers did the same, not waiting for the Iron Lich to emerge from the shallow crater.

The skarlock clutched at the fallen form of the lich protectively as the smoke finally cleared. The bane lord was already directing a withdrawal as pistol wraiths covered their retreat.

"The battle is ours," the Old Witch commanded the kovnik, she was resting on her withered staff, "see to our komrades. I will try to revive our manhunter."

Luka obeyed unhesitatingly. As there were no more doubts in his mind about the Old Witch of Khador, he felt a growing sense of pride in his heart.

+++

It is done. The Lich has fallen.

Kommander Sorscha Kratikoff felt the Old Witch's words in her head. Clutching Frostfang in her hands, she surveyed the field in search for her adversary, the dwarf warcaster, Gorten Grundback.

As the empress commands, she thought to herself, we must continue our advance. Anything that stands in our path must bow down. Or be crushed without mercy.

Khadoran. It was the voice of Gorten in her mind. Withdraw your forces immediately. We have no quarrel with you.

Bow down, again she thought to herself. Bow down or be crushed without mercy.

[^ TOP]


Khador at the Haven

Yeah that Beckoning ability of Tartarus was an unexpected surprise. My mistake there was not being too close enough to include the bane lord in Zevanna's Field of Talons. Need to work more on positioning with the Old Witch and her Scrapjack.

I also got to play against Zig, the dude who used Drillers and Gorten. Yeah I used Sorscha, although EJ said I shouldn't have. I dunno. I guess it's not in me to underestimate opponents. Zig was relatively new to the hobby, so I heard, but I don't want to play half-hearted against anyone. I will give my best game always, noob or no noob. Besides, if what I did was a morale-crushing win, then I'd have more respect for the guy if he willingly fights me again.

I was sharing some thoughts on Karchev with Chico. Four models is tremendously hard to play with, and I hope the stuff I told him would pay off somehow.

Arvin was also supposed to apply for Press Ganger, but being store staff threw in several complications. So we kinda decided to have Pork as our Press Ganger. I don't think I'd have the time to pressgang. Would have been fun though.

I also think WMPH needs to be active more in Fortress and HH, too. New blood springing up just by seeing us play often. Nice.

Will also be making the posters for the Brass Balls league, kinda like a WM-version of Gladiator that Arvin cooked up. Hope I get those done soon.

[^ TOP]

For the Horde!

My brothers, Koi and Jei, are zealous players of the WOW (World of Warcraft) MMORPG. And on one discussion, I had Koi buy a WOW boardgame, so that he can occupy himself with an unplugged game. Unfortunately, both have little patience with written documentation of rules. And so when they arrived here, I had the responsibility of learning it so that we can play it. Kei was at home yesterday, so it was a perfect chance to playtest it, with Kei being a numbers gamer as well.

And it was awesome! I will definitely play with it when I can, but sure as hell I ain't taking it out of the house.

There are several reviews for the game online so just Google `em.

Howl's Moving Castle

I'm never one for fairy tales. I've long given up on the notion of "happily ever after". But I guess once in a while, I let my guard down. I definitely enjoyed watching Howl's Moving Castle. Yeah it's got fantasy and mush, plus it's got lotsa "what-the-hell-is-that?!?" elements.

From the looks of the art, it's like Nausicaa. The quality of production was top notch! Miscellaneous background animation and character design, all of it contributed to burning the whole image of HMC in my head.

Even more strange that besides the lack of blood, sex or violence, I STILL liked it. Yeah it's safe, you can watch it with your kids or better half, too.

`Tis the season to be... scared sh*tless

• `Tis the season to be... scared sh*tless
• Pork's Birthday Bash at da Shak!
• My Nerd Score

I believe that in one point or another in one's life, we'll experience something unexplainable, something hair-raising, something that one can only attribute to the supernatural. And surprisingly, all that comes out during this time.

I, for one, have a healthy respect to the unseen. We know they're there. And who knows, we might end up like them? And as far as I can remember, the only thing REALLY scary that involved me is watching horror flicks on DVD.

But something did happen last week.

The new GMANews.TV office is now located on the 6th floor of the GMA network building. And unsurprisingly, I still try to stay over. I'm used to sleeping alone at workplaces (it happened in Destiny, it happened in UniGroup, it happened at the frat house, and it happened in Cabrera - I don't think I'm about to change that LOL). Anyway, it was Thursday night. Sir Joe was just finishing up his work, winding down and watching Debate's final episode. I just went back up from the canteen downstairs when Sir Joe decided to leave for home. I was already in the initial motions of DOTA when Sir Joe came back.

The main glass doors that led to this hallway was locked.

That's weird. I just came from passing those doors a while ago! We both went back out and checked the doors. Indeed they were locked (or jammed, but we didn't wanna force it since it was glass and we might end up breaking them). WTF?!? By this time, Sir Joe was already joking about scary stuff while we headed down the fire exit to get some guards to open the doors.

+++ OK it's not enough to scare the crap out of you. But I guess you've never spent the wee hours on a floor all alone.

Besides, when the guard came up to check the doors, one was indeed locked. He said he's the only one in charge of the keys and he didn't lock them. The other door was just "stuck".

Honestly, I think the guy was just high. Or drunk. His eyes were red. And alcohol smell can easily be covered up by someone who's expected NOT to drink during duty, right?

Still, the experience afterwards was scary. The floor was all to yourself. Impossible for someone or something unseen not to share the space with you, right? LOL! Happy halloween, boys and girls ^_^ [top]

Pork's Birthday Bash at da Shak!

I went to da Shak around 5pm earlier. Evidently I was the first one there. It's been weeks (I guess a month already now) since I last saw these guys. I spent weekends at home or with my old LSQC buds. Pork was his usual self despite adding on another year on himself.

Lito arrived shortly later and shared his WFB exploits. It's been months since I last saw this guy, much less played against him. He seems to be doing well with his Tomb Kings. And more so, he seems to be in high spirits with both 40K and WFB. I decided to show my support to the event he's hosting this month by playing this weekend at his Makati office (I hear Obi and Ricky and some other WFB players will play there).

Emp also arrived. I hear he also has his personal exploits the past weeks of gaming inactivity. And like me, he, too, hasn't had his hands on the latest WM shipment. He also mentioned that Fred just got discharged out of the hospital earlier, which is a good thing.

The rest of the boyz dropped in afterwards ~ Obi, Jubay, Beefcake, Garrick ~ while ensuing some serious spaghetti massacre. Good times!

Earlier I got to chat with Koi, Jei and even Trixie. We'll be together very, very soon. Jei'll be bringing the PS2 (less time to paint gaaah!) and I can have people over once we fix up the house.

I also got a nice heads up on my work sked. I'd be on a regular 8am to 5pm, but I can still stay over like what I normally do. Then just file in vacations where I have to be here. I also sneaked in Kage's old sleeping mat, which I'll be using until I save up for an inflatable airbed. I'll also be helping Jaemark store some of his stuff at home.

Jake, Obi and Beefcake also paid me a visit here at the office. Well, at the 711 downstairs though, since I don't think I could've had them come inside. They personally delivered the Superiority rulebook here! That was great of them. Had some small hobby talk, too.

And surprisingly, even if I didn't have enough decent money to get through the weekend, I managed to finish painting my Old Witch of Khador and her Scrapjack ~ which, if I do say so myself, came out pretty good. Maybe I can get pics up soon. I also did some work on my Spriggan: laid down lots of the red on it.

Despite the funky-ass title, this has been a very good start of the week ^_^ Time to pass it forward then. [top]

My Nerd Score

Bloghopped on Yvette's Adventures in TV Land and found one of those tests. I just had to know mine LOL!

And more from Yvette (astig ito LOL!):


[top]

Feel the change

Yeah it's official. The GMA News webteam is now on the 6th floor of the network building. And yeah, it's another wave of changes and adjustments for me.

I tried my first night sleeping here. I dunno if I was all alone on the 6th floor and I couldn't care less. The floors are goddamn cold, and my sleeping mat wasn't moved here along with my other stuff. Maybe I can just sneak in a heavy blanket or something. Using a big cork board to stave off the floor's biting cold was a better alternative than sleeping on chairs, which is just bad for my back.

I got a nifty space beside a wall, and the only one that can basically see my monitor is the guy behind me.

Moving also meant that our access to the servers have to be reset. And lo and behold, any update I had to do yesterday meant that I had to go up to the 12th floor and squat on Jaemark's computer. It was kinda funny how one update turned out because my boss had to channel the corrections through mobile phone while I was on someone else's computer. Hassle sobra but it was worth the bother afterwards.

Ah well, roll with the punches.

Milenyo

Ah yes. One of the most badass storms that hit the Metro. Yeah a lot of people died and more got injured. And a lotta property was trashed. Frankly, to those who whined and still continue to whine, I couldn't care less.

It's true. A lot of the whiners always complain to the government, saying this and that. Again, I don't care.

I have come to a point that I have embraced apathy as a virtue, and have nature decide who's weak and who's strong; and have her thresh out those who aren't cut out to living on this ruthless planet.

I got hit with a lot of bad shit on that last storm, too. But whining won't get me anywhere. Anything broken, have it fixed or fix it yourself. Again, if you have no wil for it, then just be blown away by the storm.

No one can't afford to be naive or to be unprepared. And if circumstances do catch you, deal with it.

If your solution in life is waiting for your goddamn prince charming to come prancing with his pretty horse; or wait for some miracle to drop from the fuckin' sky, then you deserve the misery.

Weekend Gaming Fun

My best weekend to date started off very early in the morning in the office. The boys were running a DOTA session and I happily joined in. To my surprise, they were running on random characters then. I usually play Traxex, a drow ranger with a bow that shoots freezing arrows.

My first game, I had the female elf on the white tiger with a multi-blade glaive. I got some kills in and was pretty much a "bonus stage" player throughout the whole game. I kept dying early in the game because I haven't really played that much DOTA. So I went on with my usual recipe, gatting a small amount of life-gain for my attacks due to an item you can build. I survived and instead of taking on hero-killings, I opted for breaking enemy towers and having our creeps wave on through. Despite that, I ranked #3 on the end results. Not bad for bonus stage hehe.

The second game, I played some strange creature named Darkterror. It was a blue thing with an octopus for a head, or that's the best I can make out of it. This one also sucked at hero-killing. But I kept playing for the heck of it and landed #3 again on the end results. Again, for someone who hasn't been playing DOTA as much as these guys have, #3 isn't bad.

Onto UPCFA for some WARMACHINE action (and yeah, from now on, I'm going to type in WARMACHINE in all caps, because from the article right here, it says "WARMACHINE, a game that rocks so much it has to be written in uppercase!" LOL!) Not much WM players present but it was still a good session.

I playtested my 5-model Trollblood wargroup against Pork and his Ashlynn-led Mercenaries on 500 points worth of Pendulum. The DTMs (Dire Troll Maulers) proved extremely resilient against Pork's offensive, making the trip to come up close and personal even more advantageous for me. Ashlynn was brought down by a Fortune-casted DTM, pounding her with a boosted P+S19 hit. Looks like I'll be assembling and buying DTMs after all LOL!

My second WARMACHINE game was even more memorable. I played Epic Vlad against Fred and a jack-heavy Asphyxious. The scenario was also Pendulum, but when I assassinated his warcaster on the first turn and sent 3 helljacks and 2 bonejacks inert, the game was pretty much mine already. First turn kill, baby. Doesn't get any better than that.

Afterwards, Pork, Jake and Ian even offered to take me to Alvin's place. Saved me some commuting time, too.

Played some Dungeoneer at Alvin's place with Kei and Tiny. Then it was a Forgotten Realms RPG session with Tiny as DM. I dunno. I didn't feel like DMing. I wanted to play instead.

I named my character Marik. He's a Human Male, True Neutral, Cleric with no specific aligned deity. I plan to take on Wizard later on, so down the road, I can be a True Necromancer. I made my background fluff so that he'd be from some undead-infested place in the Realms. Daggerdale suited him pretty well. Then I wanted him to be traumatized, so that he'll take on a personal quest to fight undead. But his beliefs and principles push him to use necromancy to fight the evil caused by necromancy. Tiny was pretty generous to my character, despite the two 18's I rolled (INT and WIS of course). I got a tiny black dragon as familiar, and some weird evil thing that wrapped itself around my body and acted as second skin. Apparently, that was to be my spellbook.

At the end of the session, it turned out that those items were indeed cursed/damned. Bane, the god of murder in the realms did that to us. So of course, we'll be facing off a lot of Bane-aligned enemies down the road. Time to read up and plan out my character then hehe.

And on Sunday, I bought me a brand new 21" flat screen JVC. Got me a new TV na woohoo! TV and an extremely long amount of quality time. Yeah life is good ^_^

+++

From April's Coffee Cups:

1. one book that changed your life?
Sun Tzu's Art of War. Made me paranoid though, but better that than having myself caught with my pants down.

2. one book you have read more than once?
Da Vinci Code. I don't read much but if I should, I should be reading up more on the WM rulebooks.

3. one book you would want on a desert island?
Several volumes of wilderness survival. I'll keep one for reading and use the rest for fire.

4. one book that made you cry?
I'll post it here if that ever occurs LOL!

5. one book that made you laugh?
Pol Medina's Pugad Baboy series. Yeah it has pictures, so what?

6. one book you wish had been written?/one book you wish you had written?
I dunno. I'd read books but I guess I'm not one to aspire writing a literary masterpiece.

7. one book you wish had never been written?
This one got me, too. I don't actively seek out to read books anymore. I stuff up my head with lots other stuff (not only from online reading but also with some books at hand as well).

8. one book you are currently reading?
I'm already flipping through WM PRIME, ESCALATION, APOTHEOSIS, HORDES and lotsa other D&D books now.

9. one book you have been meaning to read?
Dungeons & Dragons Dungeon Master Guide 3.5. Cover to cover. Then the PHB 3.5 and the Monster Manuals.

Well, I'm no bookworm in the right sense of the word. Although I do read, albeit selectively. So since I was tagge by reading her entry, you're tagged, too. Copy/paste said questions and answer them on your blog.

Mauvais rêve

"He was a thin man, father," the boy said, "I don't know but I didn't like him. He's a bad man, father."

The boy went on describing the intruder. A thin man. A gaunt man. Looked like he played in the sand. Soft spoken. Tired eyes. Box cutter in his pocket.

It was one of those feelings when you know the person's gonna do something bad. And he did.

It was stupid though. Should've done something about it. Instead of being fearstruck.

Trollbloods at the Fortress +

Got some WM/H (Warmachine/Hordes) gaming in yesterday and tried out my Hordes wargroup. I had Hoarluk but proxied the four Maulers with warjacks (Look, I got a Dire Troll Mauler Destroyer, a Dire Troll Mauler Devastator, a Dire Troll Mauler Juggernaut and a Dire Troll Mauler Kodiak LOL!).

"Hey, Arv, I got fewer models than your Khador."

Arvin's Khador is infamous for high ARM, severely high damage output and funky movement (such is a feat for Khador). I had to bring down key elements in his wargroup, namely the Juggernaut and his warcaster, the Butcher.

In our game, he rushed in a Devastator in the midst of the Trollbloods wargroup. It was prompty thrown towards the nearby Khadoran Juggernaut by a Dire Troll Mauler with its big meaty fists. The Juggernaut was easily disassembled by another Mauler as it was knocked down by the thrown Devastator.

Another tactic that messed up Arvin's plans was when I casted Vexation on the closest Devastator. I knew Arv was going for the kill, dropping Butcher's Blood Frenzy feat then engaging Hoarluk in base contact with the Dev and opening up with 3d6 POW 18 worth of pain on my warlock. Of course I didn't let that happen. With Vexation on the Dev, I made it activate first. It can still engage my warlock and drop its ROD, but not with Butcher's feat on it hehe.

Victory for Hoarluk of 500 points on Killing Fields scenario.

"OMG, lookit all those guns!"

Emp's Cygnar was geared precisely to put a beat down on a slow-moving, low number model count wargroup like mine. Lots of Long Gunners. 6 inches of Snipe. Double-tapping with +2 for aiming. Gun Mages with pushback capability. I knew I was in a fix for this but I took on the challenge. Yeah, I was basically screwed LOL!

I took to one side of the table, which was a mistake. I should have spread out my forces more. I thought I could make a considerable advance, using the Maulers as a living and moving shield for Hoarluk.

In the end, all Maulers were shot down, and Hoarluk all by himself couldn't prevent Caine from taking Control Points on the scenario.

Loss for Hoarluk of 500 points on Pendulum scenario.

+++

Games were fun, although it might be my last as sked's gonna change again. I guess I can play on workdays after 5pm. Ah well.

+++ Friday and Saturday

Went home around 4pm to dress up for Dillian's party. Rina was supposed to pick me up near GMA since Congo Grill was near the area from there. It was terribly great. I suddenlt felt envious of Rina's BF. Touch hints. Flipping crazy, man. If she's like that, it makes me wonder why all those idiots quit. Stupid. Blissful ignorance anyone?

Christmas Wishlist

BER months officially underway, and Christmas not too far away. I'm now accepting Christmas presents as early as September so don't be shy and send, send, send!

[ ] Greylords Ternion (price range: P750-P800, type: miniatures in blister, location: Fortress, Greenhills)

[ ] Spindle of blank Imation CDs (price range: P700, type: blank CDs for burning files and stuff, location: Any CDR-King branch or outlet)

[ ] Kommander Karchev (price range: P2000, type: miniature in box, location: not yet for sale in Fortress, maybe online)

[ ] Slipknot CD (not bootleg) (price range: P500, type: music/audio CD, location: Any of the good music bars)

[ ] Asia Agcaoili's Sex Guru DVD (price range: P500, type: semi-educational DVD, location: Any of the good music bars)

[ ] Chestnut Ink (price range: P250, type: ink for painting miniatures, location: Neutral Grounds)

More to come (most probably I'm gonna buy these for myself anyway ^_^)

Welcome To Our Neighborhood

I got ripped off of P60. I was in Baclaran last night and stumbled on a whole street filled with bootleg DVDs. Since my TV's still broken and unreplaced, I couldn't watch any of those I might've bought then. I saw the Slipknot Welcome To Our Neighborhood DVD cover and immediately got it. The dude even wanted to fast-hand P5 of change. Un-frickin-believable! And bloody worse, when I got to the office to view it, it turned out to be an Avril Lavigne concert. OMFGWTF!

+++

Painting some Knights Exemplar

The old office Nikon + Dulce's Date

Connie was kind enough to lend it to me, so I tried my hand at it with stuff at home:

A Man-O-War Demolition Corps (MOWDC) Kapitan. Black basecoat by Semco. Face colors used also by Semco (just mixed the right stuff to get the flesh color). I'm out to prove a point with this one.



My messy workdesk and room. Something I've gotta clean up before my brothers come late this year.


Hoarluk Doomshaper, a Trollblood warlock. I tried painting him using flesh colors, but it seems I should paint him green instead...

+++



I've been reading Dulce's very interesting incident on her blog. It seems that Mr. Usher finally spoke up (in his defense heh). IMHO, who in his right mind would pass off a crappy iPod for a limited edition one that he lost?!? WTF? Read more here.

+++

750 points

I've been mulling around the idea of playing 750 points for quite some time now. The result is lots and lots of lists. And I'm enjoying painting my miniatures so I just hope it'll all come together soon (and hopefully finish Les' Menoth, too).

IRUSK - Kommandant Irusk, Destroyer, Spriggan, Greylord Ternion, Iron Fang Pikemen, Man-O-War Demolition Corps (+2 Demolishers), Widowmakers, Winterguard Mortar Crew (x2), Man-O-War Kovnik, Manhunter, Eiryss, Gorman (Still got 10 points free on this one, and you can actually swap Irusk for Sorscha or Vlad).

Let's see if I can make one for epic Vlad or epic Sorscha, too ^_^

Unranked

One of the more memorable games I had that wasn't included in the WMPH ranking was due to the lack of players gaming at that time (we kinda put a requirement that in order to be ranked, there must be at least four players gaming at the same time).

I played an Irusk wargroup against Arvin's Butcher wargroup. Now, we all know how Arvin delivers a shitload of damage when Butcher calls up his Blood Frenzy feat. Couple that with the autohit Rain of Death from a pair of Devastators and you know you're in for a world of pain.

Irusk, on the other hand, has an annoying feat called Undying Loyalty. Any friendly Khadoran warrior model that dies within 14" of the Kommandant gets to stand up and fight again on a roll of 4, 5 or 6 on a D6. The +2 on all attack rolls and Fearless for one round is just added gravy for me when facing Arvin's wargroup.

At a crucial point in a Killing Fields scenario at Fortress, I held up Arvin's warjacks with my MOWDC and popped Irusk's Undying Loyalty. Arvin responded with dropping Blood Frenzy the following turn and opened up his onslaught. For those who do know, 3D6 on POW18 is not bloody amusing.

When one of his Devastators opened up, I think one or two of my MOWDC suffered horrendous damage to send them to the next life (or next game whatever). I rolled for one MOWDC for Undying Loyalty. I succeeded. Nice.

Then came a Driven Juggernaut, bringing down its massive Ice Axe on the surviving MOWDC. Evidently, I needed to roll for Undying Loyalty again. And again I succeeded on THAT MOWDC! Whoyeah!

But the Juggernaut wasn't finished. It still had an open fist to attack the undying MOWDC. Arvin made his rolls and again the loyal MOWDC was brought down. Again I had to roll for Undying Loyalty. And once more, I succeeded! YEAH!

Odds are I shouldn't have made the rolls by this time. And there I was, picking up dice and tossing them back on the table without as much as some funky gimmick or superstition that some players do. So, with the Drive ability on, the Juggernaut was able to attempt another Ice Axe attack. Again, Arvin made his rolls. Again the patriotic MOWDC bit into the ground. And again, I was made to roll for Undying Loyalty. And again, the roll defied the odds and succeeded. Man both of us were flipping!

Arvin decided enough was enough. He moved the other Devastator into Rain of Death position and opened shell. The hardy MOWDC was too far out, and would only get POW 9 but still on 3D6. Expectedly, the damage was far too much to bear, and again the MOWDC Demolisher fell for a fifth time. And as if a divine light was shining on him, again I succeeded my Undying Loyalty roll for him! WAHAHAHAHAHAH!!! Insane I tell you!

On the following turn, that Demolisher was hit by a far off ROD attack again, but the damage Arvin rolled wasn't enough to bring him down.

I won that game, holding on several Control Points. That MOWDC Demolisher survived the entire time. Truly unbelievable!

By my own wargroup's storyline, he should be promoted to Kovnik. And since I'm getting a Drakhun, he'll be that Drakhun ^_^ Is there such a thing as a Drakhun Kovnik?

I don't know what to name him though. Arvin should give him a nice Khadoran name ^_^

+++

Pics of my stuff, courtesy of Fred Escalona.

For the Motherland!

A checklist of sorts for my Warmachine:

+++ WARCASTERS +++

• Butcher of Khardov - Assembled, based and primed. Reprimed November 2006 with Bosny Red. Currently undergoing development. [August 2007] Painted and varnished.
• Kommander Sorscha (starter box version) - Painted late 2005. Due for Prestone bath and repaint.
• Kommander Sorscha (Alternate pose) - WISHLIST!
• Vladimir Tzepesci (original pose) - WISHLIST! (Although I'm not sure if I really want to add him on my wishlist or not. Such a sucky pose)
• Vladimir Tzepesci (Katrina version) - Painted mid 2006. Due for Prestone bath and repaint.
• Kommandant Irusk - Painted early 2006. Gloss-based.
• Kommander Karchev - WISHLIST!
• Old Witch and Scrapjack - Assembled, based and semi-painted. Need more highlights on freehand. Fully-painted and good for gaming. One of the Scrapjack's crows keep falling off due to transport though.
• Epic Sorscha - Assembled, based and semi-painted. Need to pin hands.
• Epic Vlad - Unassembled in blister. Primed.
• Epic Butcher - WISHLIST!

+++ UNITS +++

• Battle Mechaniks - WISHLIST! Need 3 Head Mechaniks and 15 Assistant Mechaniks for max FA! [0/18]
• Iron Fang Pikemen - WISHLIST! Have 1 IFP Sergeant and 5 Pikemen that are assembled, based and primed. Need 1 more IFP Sergeant and 13 Pikemen for max FA! [6/20] IFP and UA reprimed with Bosny Red. Undergoing development.
• Man-O-War Shocktroopers - WISHLIST! Need 4 MOWST Kapitans and 16 Shocktroopers for max FA! [0/20]
• Doom Reavers - WISHLIST! Need the boxed set with 1 Lieutenant and 5 Reavers for max FA! [0/6]
• Widowmakers - Assembled, based. Two models painted, two partially painted. Will give them Khadoran red scheme. Due for Prestone bath and repaint. [4/4]
• Winterguard - WISHLIST! Have the box with 1 Sergeant and 5 Guardsmen unassembled in box. Need 2 more Sergeants and 22 more Guardsmen for max FA! [6/30]
• Greylord Ternion - WISHLIST! Have 1 Koldun and 2 Magziev assembled and painted. Will give them Khadoran red scheme. Due for Prestone bath and repaint. Need 1 more Koldun and 2 more Magziev for max FA! [3/6]
• Iron Fang Unit Attachment - Unassembled and unpainted in box [2/2] Primed with Bosny Red. Undergoing development.
• Kossite Woodsmen - WISHLIST! Need 2 Sergeants and 18 Woodsmen for max FA! [0/20]
• Man-O-War Kovnik - Have 1 partially painted and converted. Must redo to reflect ruling (???). Need 1 more for max FA! [1/2]
• Manhunter - Assembled and painted. Reglued arms. Repaint on eyes and skin needed (???) [1/1]
• Winterguard Mortar Crew - One Gunner fully painted and gloss based (good for gaming). One Gunner and 2 Crewmen need of repaint. [4/4]
• Iron Fang Uhlans - One Kapitan and two Uhlans under development. Need two more Uhlans for max FA!

Note: Must update Superiority models into this list.

My 100

+++ Here's my take at 100

001 - I go for P40 haircuts at my regular barbershop, but I tip whoever's cutting my hair P20.
002 - I abhor beggars. I don't give those people money or anything. I'll only succeed in making them more dependent on charities instead of working themselves.
003 - I can fly in my dreams. I am a very good flyer. In D&D terms, I'm on Maneuverability A.
004 - I like rock music. I'm a fan of the music, and not so much on the band members.
005 - Baggy shorts and a cap on my head is my usual attire.
006 - Some of my office mates call me "Fluffy".
007 - On any console game, I prefer Suikoden and Front Mission over any Final Fantasy.
008 - I had my left ear pierced. But earrings just are not for me so I let those close up.
009 - I started the "trend" to develop the big name shows of GMA primetime (then to others like movies and records) to have Flash. Unfortunately, the only credit I can acquire from that is only through this blog and the source files on backup. Yeah, Encantadia was the one that started it all.
010 - Always comes up with a one-liner that usually elevates to household phrase status. Dont get me started with a sub-list. by Romy Estrella

The original idea for ONE HUNDRED RANDOM THINGS about yourself came from April on her Coffee Cups. Unfortunately, I can't rile my brain for something useful to pimp myself. So, coming from a chat with Romy, I figured I'd rather have people say ONE HUNDRED RANDOM THINGS about me. So, just post a reply here til I get my hundred ^_^

If not too busy, it's too sick

Yeah, this past week has been horribly sluggish. Everyone's sick. Right now, my muscles and joints are in damnable annoying pain. I haven't been updating KB much because I'm putting a lot of effort on side projects and WMPH (which is btw a year old already woohoo! Check out WMPH here).

I've been bloghopping more than updating my own blog. April also moved her blog onto Blogspot. Check out her Coffee Cups blog here. I've also been looking at other strangers' blogs. Sadly, not all are receptive of me and my remarks. So, onto bigger and better things.

WM games are now as exciting as WM painting. If I can I wish I can take a week or two off just so I can play, paint and make terrain. So I guess someone should teach me how Lotto works then LOL!

I also got to finish several side projects. I hope they give me more referrals on a later date. In the same sense, I also managed to design my own business card (finally!). With Nelz' example, I got Emp to print those out on photo paper. Came out pretty nice actually (me happy).

I REALLY need to spend more time at home and clean that place up, too.

Week Thirty-Three: KB

I guess we were too early when we got to UPCFA. The hangar was closed. But it was weird since it was already 1pm then and it was still closed. So off to Hobby Haven we go for our Warmachine gaming. Chico and SJ already put up their solid structure for the mezzanine. They said when it gets done, all tabletop gaming will go there, and computer gaming will cover the whole ground area. Too bad the players there did not seem to be interested in playing against us.

I'll be painting some more once I free up my other projects. Superiority will be coming out soon and I still have my Hordes to look forward to.

+++ Monday
+++ Need to finish PEMSEA so I'll just ignore all the self-righteousness floating all around me. What a fucked up way to start the week. Will go home later to get laundry and do some painting.

+++ Goddammit! Didn't get to go home! Decided to go home tomorrow morning instead.

+++ Finished PEMSEA updates, although I feel there will still be more updates on the way.
+++ Tried PSing Dire Troll Mauler card. Dunno why though.
+++ Drew up a 500-point Khador list using the Old Witch. Maybe I can try this out on Saturday.
+++ Will play 2k WFB using my KDL against Obi's O&G on Saturday. Don't forget to bring the serokskopi of the old O&G army book.
+++ Enjong Yahoo! Launchcast.

+++ 8/16/2006 10:22pm
+++ Did major work on Old Witch. Army list drawn up, too, for 500 points.
+++ Serious fun with hairdryer. Upgraded method of painting ^_^
+++ Brought Dungeoneer. Most probably it's gonna end up with Alvin.
+++ Tried to fit in KDL with Khador. Will need serious planning. Raincheck on WFB on Saturday. Back to regularly scheduled WM programming.
+++ More revisions on PEMSEA. Will finish it all tonight.
+++ Stupid me forgot my ID at home.
+++ Karmic Backstab turns one year old. Woohoo! Small victories ^_^

+++ 8/18/2006 8:34am
+++ Tangena andaming arte, andaming reklamo! Kung mahirap magsulat, e di ilipat mo yung sinusulatan! O kaya iurong mo yung nakaharang! Punyeta!
+++ Tapos na ito mamaya!
+++ Slowass Friday, so I got around to do my 100:

001 I have this thing for balance, so I love my friends and hate them at the same time.
002 I have worked as web developer, graphics artist and Flash developer since I started working.
003 I did not finish college nor do I plan to. I abhor the current education system.
004 I love God but hate his priests.
005 I used to dance in a group. Group got hired to perform for some school project and a friend's debut.
006 The band, Slipknot, taught me many good things, despite their appearances.
007 I used to like the number 7. Now it's just another number to me.
008 Eight symbolizes infinity, so I think this number's cool.
009 In cards, drawing the nines represent very good fortune. Especially the nine of hearts. So I kinda like this number, too.
010 I was an ace student back in the day in a computer lab class where the teacher was a known "terror". Not to me.
011 I hoard weird stuff like a compulsive dragon.
012 I paint and play with miniatures in a pretend wargame.
013 My workdesk is goddamn messy.

+++ to be continued...

The Thirty-first Week

Boyz were in Emp's car after UPCFA session, talking about some TV series:

Kim: Why the hell would I wanna watch that?
Fluffy: Ayus yun, dude. Maraming cute chick dun.
Pork: ANO?!? CUTE JAKE?!?
Kim: Tangena naman Pol e...

Insane laughter follows ^_^ Kung ano man pinagagawa nyo, Pol, ni Jake pag sabay kayong nawawala, gah.. idontwanttoknow!!! AHAHAHAH!!!

+6++

• Major revisions to the PEMSEA project. Hopefully this one pushes through. I already have deductions because I went past the deadline.
• Bought some el cheapo hair blower/dryer from Cubao. It should help me dry up painting time for some projects, especially basecoats.
• Readied my Khorne Daemonic Legion. Need to read up on 7th edition. Juggernauts next on workbench.
• Bought Hoarluk Doomshaper. This is the very first model I took enough effort to drill and pin. And then sculpt up the gaps with epoxy putty. I already did some initial work on his scenic base. Hair blower works like a charm, setting up the Semco black easy.
• Bought Reinholdt. Still unassembled and unpainted. Irusk misses his old pal. Still stumped as to what color scheme to paint him. Awed by Emp's work on his Reinholdt. Freehand patches on an old jacket! Very nice touch!
• Set up my bigger carry case for miniatures. Now I can trasport my WFB and WM minis together ^_^
• Drew up a future Skorne infantry list. I'm sorry I can't help it. It's the red. Makeda (64), Cyclops Savage (62), Titan Cannoneer (115), Acuarii - Primus + 5 Cataphracts (127), Cetrati (64), Cetrati (64) ~ 496 all in all (wallet wincing in pain already LOL). This happens after I complete my Trollbloods though ^_^

More updates soon! Abangan LOL!

+++

Banner gift for Garr:

Weekend Gaming

Steamroller 2. Bloody hard. Bloody fast games, too.

I playtested my planned Trollblood "army", playing it against Fred's Asphyxious in 500 points of Assassins. I wanted to see how those would do against a fast army like Cryx. Surprisingly, Hoarluk's feat proved to be a bane against Asphyxious' feat. I used it when Asphyxious was getting too close for comfort. Fred responded by casting only Shadow Wings and engaging my warlock in combat (taking on 4 damage in the process). With several hefty swings from his Gnarlroot, Hoarluk rendered the lich down.

Even if it was a fluke, I'd still put that 500-point Hordes list together. I'm planning to paint them in a fleshy palette and mar them up with Yakuza-style tattooing. On to Wednesday to meet Raymund and buy his Hoarluk model.

Vlad also proved effective, winning an Assassins against Emp's Long Gunners Caine and a King of the Hill against Pork's Hero-heavy Ashlynn. Vlad was up front, too! No more cowardly tactics for the Dark Prince of Umbrey. Well, not as much as before hweheh! More SR2 games!

+++

Later on, I finally resolved an issue with my D&D gaming group. Technically, they resolved it themselves. It does wonders how I don't need to create conflicts for them since they do it magnificently on their own LOL!

Everyone was "bitin" so to speak, as I ended the session prematurely for them. Despite constant ribbing, I didn't want to ruin the story by just dropping some big boss-level random encounter.

Next week, they'll all experience "the crawl..." BWAAHAHAHAH!!!



+++

Of Warlocks and Honey Mustard Dip
August 2, 2006

I went for a quick snack at the renovated McDonald's in Greenhills. I tried their combo meal - five Nuggets, some Fries and a Coke. Their Honey Mustard sauce was pretty good ^_^ Anyway, I met up with Raymund and bought his Hoarluk Doomshaper. I now have a Hordes warlock. Is this the start to another descent to damnation? Abangan LOL!

+++

I'm goddamn spending too much again. Still no stupid savings. Technically I still have money that I haven't withdrawn from the ATM as of yet. Maybe I should start doing so. I not only bought Hoarluk Doomshaper, but I got me a Reinholdt, too. Irusk better make bloody good use of this little mofo.

There's gotta be a meaning why you wanna introduce me to her? And the best dumbass reply I could come up with was: we have a weird relationship; i treat you like my girlfriend but you're not my girlfriend because basically you have a boyfriend and i have a girlfriend.

As for that other thing that went missing, nah...

m i g h t a s w e l l r a t h e r n o t

Old School, New School

D&D RPG
Tiny, Bey and Kei; we were at Bey's gaming attic playing D&D and Dungeoneer.


D&D RPG
Kei, me and Tiny, with Bey's D&D Miniatures in the foreground. Yeah, we play RPG with miniatures.


D&D RPG
A little downtime. Taking a break from dice chucking.


D&D RPG
The gaming table. Dice everywhere. Dungeon tiles mounted on foamboard. Stats sheet. Holy COX.


D&D RPG
Players Kei, Bey and Tiny concoct a devious plan. DM can only watch LOL!


D&D RPG
BENTEEHHH!!!


Dungeoneer
Dungeoneer game in progress. Me chowing on Chippy LOL! Kaya hindi pumapayat eh!


Dungeoneer
More Dungeoneer action!


Dungeoneer
Close up of the cards and the dungeon.


Dungeoneer
Anytime card, Potion of Rage, and Shrieking Demon Worm


Dungeoneer
Anytime card, Potion of Rage, and Shrieking Demon Worm


Dungeoneer
Pagod na. Pack up na. 5am na!

This was actually taken on the morning of the Warmachine tourney right after I got well from trangkaso LOL! What doesn't kill you...

Kommandant Irusk: Tactical Genius or Blatant Coward?

Another Saturday rolls in and I get to spend some playing time with the rest of WMPH.

From work, I proceeded to Da Shak where I met up with Emp and Pork. After a few musing about the new epic warcasters, we proceeded to UPCFA.

Mark arrived shortly after I partook of a hearty adobo and siomai lunch there. The metal mangling started shortly afterwards as the other warmachinists trickled in ~ Carlos, Arvin, EJ, Jake, Fred, Obi, Jacob, Tads and Joel. Siomai got massacred. Grape juice and COX got consumed. Dice was tossed.

In the course of all the action, I finally succumbed to the call of Hordes. I will make a Hordes wargroup. But, I'll try and not to go competitively crunching lists. So I took a look at Emp's Hordes Primal and off the top of my head, I decided either I go Skorne or Trolls. Skorne was a no brainer for me ~ they were oriental and they were "red" LOL! I was still a bit undecided then. Until I saw the cover. I remembered designing a new banner for WMPH and wanted to put a Hordes element there. The first thing that came to mind was the Dire Troll Mauler. I mean, holy shit, who wouldn't want that?!? I flipped through the pages and saw it's point cost. 111. Not too shabby for what it can do. Good numerology, too LOL! Then I glanced on its Field Allowance. Unlimited. Damn! Max out Dire Trolls and a warlock. The pages got flipped immediately to the three warlocks that Trolls had to offer. Doomshaper. I was owned from that point on. Four Dire Trolls and Doomshaper for 500 points of Hordes brutality. Yeah it'll definitely lose a lot of its games due to predictability, but shit, that'd be four Dire Trolls running down your alley! BWAHAHAHAH!!!

I didn't get to prepare a new wargroup for this weekend as I was swamped with work. Since it played well during the last tourney, I used the same old wargroup I used (which never really left its place where I put it last LOL).

My first game was against Carlos' Menoth. His list was a revision from what he used in the last WM tourney. If I remember right, he has Amon, a Castigator, a Vanquisher, a Revenger, two groups of Choir, two Wracks and a whole mob of Holy Zealots with Monolith Bearer.

Irusk's Inhospitable Ground proved a bit useless to Amon's Mobility, but I kept casting it so that he spends up his FOC. I already managed to tone down his FOC resources by bombarding his two Wracks early in the game. I don't care what others say, I will shoot at Wracks even if they're just 5 points each. In the end, Amon fell to Irusk's brave (and tremendously rare) charge, popping up with a boosted free Onslaught shot and finishing with even more boosted melee attacks. [Irusk won via Amon assassination]

EJ and Jacob were playing the A Game Of Thrones CCG. Of course, I took down the results of their games and will post them on WMPH, too. Under a section which I'll call "The Great Wide Open" *ahem*

When Tads arrived, I decided to put some work on Les' Menoth. This was when Brian, a son of one of the IPMS dudes, came up and started chatting with the group at the table (Me, Tads and Fred). Imagine a six-year old being bombarded by conflicting thoughts on philisophy and morals. But of course I balanced it out (or at least to the best of my ability, I tried), making him remember the importance of not starting fights and not being afraid to stand up when need be. Fred was being inanely hilarious. Tads was silently laughing his gut off. It was here that Fred asked me to paint a big horned skull (a bit from the GW Ork standard bearer) which he'll use as the head of one of his helljacks. Good way to wait til the rains stopped. Good also to help a friend out.

When the rains stopped, we proceeded to Hobby Haven. Amidst the throng of CCG players that time, me and Ronald pushed through with our agreed game of my Khador against his Skorne. I have to admit, as much as I come off as knowing lotsa stuff, I had little to no idea what his wargroup could do. All I did know was the models looked badass LOL! We played Foothold scenario for the game. Despite my horrible rolling for Irusk's feat and the Battle Lusted IFP, I managed to snag the win by holding the objective for four turns with the Superiority Spriggan. [Irusk, with his frustratingly chicken Inhospitable Ground, won!]

Several points to be considered with Hordes ~ when Ronald leaced stuff from his warbeasts, he should not have been able to go beyind his Fury stat. I also messed up a crucial defense, as the Manhunter got charged despite being inside Irusk's IH. But it's all good. Ronald maybe a Hordes noob, but he's been a miniature wargames veteran for several years. It's good to see that he enjoys playing Hordes/Warmachine.

@Emp: Dude, may naiwanan akong clutch bag sa sasakyan mo. Pakidala na lang next time. #-o

Sorry, no battle reports. I was too engaged with my games to write down about mine except for the excerpts above. Next time maybe ^_^

I'm Back!

After days of being laid low by incapacitating trangkaso, your mean old grumpy dragon is back ^_^

Updates done to WMPH: small facelift, redone ranking.

Hoping to get more freelancer work, too, so I can fund my ever-growing but damnably-accursed expensive hobbies.

Bought new Queso CD (because it's Queso), the 2-in-1 by Sugar Hiccup (because they're Sugar Hiccup), and One Dose by Cherry Lou (only for the Manila Girl vid) . All chicks should dance like this ^_^

More updates soon!

If You've Got The METAL, Bring It ON!

I have missed this year's Warhammer Grand Tourneys for WFB and 40K. But being a founding member of Warmachine Philippines, I really couldn't afford to miss it (WMPH's first WARMACHINE tournament). Coming from a stretch of DMing until 5am, I had to try to get some sleep so I can make it on the 10am Pitshop assembly.

Strong rain and a closed shop door granted me some breakfast time, so I had a long-time fave, Pizza Hut's Spaghetti with Meatballs, which establishment was conveniently localted right across Mang's shop. I met Fred there, who was early as well. The unexpected storm held up everyone, so the tourney proper started out around 1PM.

Expecting strong players like EJ, Emp and Joel to show up, I didn't want to hurt my head in trying to metagame and try to make foil lists against what they might field. Irusk and the Spriggan, then just sprinkle everything else. It's da Kommandant and his pet warjack LOL! Well anyway, here's what I brought:

Kommandant Irusk
Spriggan
Winter Guard Mortar Crew (x2)
Man-O-War Kovnik
Iron Fang Pikemen
Widowmakers
Greylord Ternion
Manhunter
Eiryss

Opponents fought:
1 - Mark (Severius Menoth)
2 - Jake (Brisbane Cygnar)
3 - Joel (Goreshade Cryx)
* - Carlos (Amon Ad-Raza Menoth)

+++

Severius, Game One

The table was filled with lots of terrain, which made for mad shooting for my Mortar teams. There were also trees that can be felled as weapons smack in the center of the table, so taking the objective early would be a bit foolish. I tried to draw off his units with my advance deployment troops on my right. On my left, I neutralized his grenade-throwing Zealots by engaging them with IFP, the Kovnik and the Spriggan.

I won with VP on time resolution.

+++

Brisbane, Game Two

Trashtalking galore on this game, albeit from the Cygnar side. Well-placed Mortar shots disabled the Hunter's armor-piercing armament. I then proceeded with some more surgical removal of his Bokur and Ironclad. After a Disruptor bolt from Eiryss, Brisbane was brought down by combined Khadoran arms.

+++

Goreshade, the Final Match

Pendulum against fast Cryx is always hard. Playing against the 40K GT champ makes it harder. With some good results on my dice rolling, I had managed to pacify his right-side attack. Good Mortar shots put some semblance of control on my left. In the last rounds, I was ahead 6VP to his 3VP, and had models on his table half. As a final move, he eliminated the models I had from his table half, going for objective win. With a Nightwretch surrounded by Greylords, he broke from combat (two stupid Ternion missed) and shot at my last Widowmaker on his table half, hooking him the win.

But later that evening, Joel withdrew his win, honestly claiming that the shot should not have been made because the Nightwretch had lost its head where the armament is located. Thus, the win was handed to me. BUT to everyone that was there, and to me personally, because of his noble gesture, Joel was the REAL winner of that tourney.

Amon Ad-Raza

As a closing game after the end of the tourney, Irusk faced off against the High Allegiant. With some strategic engagements, I was able to neuter his synergical tactic a bit. I also managed to bring down his Castigator that was sitting on the objective. In the end, Amon was brought down with Battle Lusted IFP.

+++

PAINT YOUR GODDAMN ARMY!

Certified ASSHOLY: Devolution of a Flamebait

Something long overdue ^_^

GARRBOI (6/28/2006 8:57:52 PM): since when have i been known to sidestep issues and post anonymously? me? anyone who's anyone in the warhammer community knows who i am. and for that matter, knows who the rest of us are. we're the noisiest bunch in the local GW scene. we made things happen in this country's GW community. we're the f'ing heart & soul of RHGC, and the proverbial stick up NG's ass because they can't foist their totalitarian shitte on us and manhandle our hobby like they do so with their card games. now for that matter, everyone who knows who we are also invariably knows what we are NOT. and we are most certainly not cronies, lapdogs and bootlickers of NG. -garr
GARRBOI (6/28/2006 8:57:52 PM): should i post that?
GARRBOI (6/28/2006 8:58:01 PM): magrereply sana ako
SHINK1M (6/28/2006 8:58:14 PM): ikaw
SHINK1M (6/28/2006 8:58:20 PM): pero tumahimik na yan eh
GARRBOI (6/28/2006 8:58:27 PM): will you back me up?
SHINK1M (6/28/2006 8:58:42 PM): He PM'ed me after my last post - Just asking... are you referring to me in your post above? gothhammer was using CAPS and accusing me of something, I think I have the right to defend myself. And I have stated my point clearly.
SHINK1M (6/28/2006 8:59:08 PM): Then I answered this ~ If you feel so strongly that way and believe that gotthammer's post is offensive, then you are entitled to react in whatever way you deemed fit. But to answer your question, yes I directed that statement to you, but take into consideration that it's not meant exclusively for you. That post was meant as a reminder to all of the posters on all of the forums you visit. Don't take it personally as I am trying to help in the diffusal of any potential problem here. As I have reiterated, forums are open to the public. What I say may not come off as good to others, and whenever I post anything, I am aware that some people WILL and MIGHT react to that. And maybe even the same way you reacted to gotthammer's post, or how gotthammer reacted to your post.
SHINK1M (6/28/2006 8:59:15 PM): If you take offense in my post as well, it is your right to do so because that is how you may have understood it. But with this reponse, I have tried to explain my side of the story for you. As much as I want to resolve whatever conflict there is with the people here, where you guys want to take this is up to you.
SHINK1M (6/28/2006 9:03:24 PM): lol pero maangas post mo
SHINK1M (6/28/2006 9:03:41 PM): yung palaaway side ko wants you to post it, pero gulo yun sigurado
GARRBOI (6/28/2006 9:04:16 PM): should i post or not?
GARRBOI (6/28/2006 9:04:16 PM): should i?
SHINK1M (6/28/2006 9:07:37 PM): POST MO! POST MO!!!
SHINK1M (6/28/2006 9:07:38 PM): wag wag wag
SHINK1M (6/28/2006 9:07:41 PM): POST POST POST
SHINK1M (6/28/2006 9:07:43 PM): wag wag wag
GARRBOI (6/28/2006 9:07:59 PM): since when have i been known to sidestep issues and post anonymously? me? anyone who's anyone in the warhammer community knows who i am. and for that matter, knows who the rest of the gang is. we're the noisiest bunch in the local GW scene. we made things happen in this country's GW community. we're the f*cking heart & soul of RHGC. we're the proverbial stick up NG's ass because they can't foist their totalitarian shitte on us, and manhandle our hobby like they do so with their card games. we're the villains because we don't pander to their paranoia-induced hyper-inflated childish sense of self-import. we're the no-good veterans they warn everyone against because we can see through their web of lies and amateur anti-customer monopolist schemes. now for that matter, ever
GARRBOI (6/28/2006 9:07:59 PM): modified
SHINK1M (6/28/2006 9:07:59 PM): Mahirap magsalita pre, emotionally unstable ako ngayon eh LOL
GARRBOI (6/28/2006 9:08:24 PM): now for that matter, everyone who knows who we are also invariably knows what we are NOT. and we are most certainly not cronies, lapdogs and bootlickers of NG. -garr
GARRBOI (6/28/2006 9:09:04 PM): should i post it?
SHINK1M (6/28/2006 9:12:08 PM): That's a BIG stone to throw in a small pond so to speak. You might wanna throw a warning shot to everyone else before doing so. That's the best I can think of now.
SHINK1M (6/28/2006 9:12:22 PM): Mahirap naman we cause ripples and end up for the worse of it later on, diba?
GARRBOI (6/28/2006 9:13:47 PM): hmm
GARRBOI (6/28/2006 9:13:47 PM): you're right
GARRBOI (6/28/2006 9:13:58 PM): so how about i post a simple two word reply? "NG lapdogs "
GARRBOI (6/28/2006 9:14:09 PM): loaded but subject to interpretations
GARRBOI (6/28/2006 9:15:13 PM): NG lapdogs. more annoying than a chihuahua. aren't they cute? -garr
GARRBOI (6/28/2006 9:15:19 PM): how about that reply?
GARRBOI (6/28/2006 9:15:34 PM): may smiley pa, para subject to misinterpretation pa
SHINK1M (6/28/2006 9:15:44 PM): kulang ka sa pulbura noh? Hyper ang aggression mo ngayon eh
GARRBOI (6/28/2006 9:16:24 PM): ano, post ko?
GARRBOI (6/28/2006 9:16:29 PM): pwede pwede pwede?
SHINK1M (6/28/2006 9:16:45 PM): kamote, obvious attack naman yan noh, kahit san anggulo mo tignan yan
GARRBOI (6/28/2006 9:16:59 PM): ok how about i modify
GARRBOI (6/28/2006 9:17:06 PM): NG lapdogs. parang chihuahua. -garr
GARRBOI (6/28/2006 9:17:06 PM): how's that?
SHINK1M (6/28/2006 9:17:16 PM): Ang subtle na hirit would be posting your full name and a smiley
SHINK1M (6/28/2006 9:17:35 PM): Iinom mo muna yan, Garr.
SHINK1M (6/28/2006 9:17:58 PM): I admit, I'm inclined to it though.
SHINK1M (6/28/2006 9:18:05 PM): Gotta save this YM conv
GARRBOI (6/28/2006 9:18:37 PM): o kaya animal sarcasm? "yipyipyip. i can't read anything, all i see are the yippings of NG lapdogs."
GARRBOI (6/28/2006 9:18:43 PM): hmm, nah. away yan
SHINK1M (6/28/2006 9:19:24 PM): Ima return the favor na pinigilan nyo ako pakipagaway dun sa "pakyumo incident" and try to talk you out of this now.
GARRBOI (6/28/2006 9:19:34 PM): how about "awwww, NG lapdoggie. woof woof"
SHINK1M (6/28/2006 9:19:49 PM): If you wanna escalate that, might as well let Lito know first. AT least Lito
GARRBOI (6/28/2006 9:19:55 PM): AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
GARRBOI (6/28/2006 9:20:47 PM): but it's TTW. it's not NG forum or RHGC forum.
GARRBOI (6/28/2006 9:21:08 PM): kumakahol ang NG lapdogs? always remember, karma runs over dogma anyday. -garr
GARRBOI (6/28/2006 9:21:08 PM): ok how about that?
SHINK1M (6/28/2006 9:21:31 PM): Sayo na rin nanggaling, pre - if it's not our turf, we put forward our best applicable behavior. TTW is not our turf, dude.
SHINK1M (6/28/2006 9:21:44 PM): AHAHAHA goddamn ork's on a roll
GARRBOI (6/28/2006 9:22:26 PM): ok ok
GARRBOI (6/28/2006 9:22:26 PM): imma shaddup now
SHINK1M (6/28/2006 9:22:26 PM): Maganda i-post yan sa blog eh... devolution of an angry post LOL
GARRBOI (6/28/2006 9:22:45 PM): i-post mo sa blog mo. oks lang sakin
SHINK1M (6/28/2006 9:22:51 PM): uyeh ayus!
SHINK1M (6/28/2006 9:22:56 PM): I will! AHAHAHAHHA!!
GARRBOI (6/28/2006 9:23:54 PM): damn, i wanna see that blog post. devolution of a flamebait
SHINK1M (6/28/2006 9:24:04 PM): AHAHAHAHAHHAA