B is for Boo-lay - or something like that

So I’m at B. Already some of these things are irritating me; why were some of these creatures statted out as monsters?
Seriously ....... Badger,Baluchitherium, Barracuda, Beaver ..... just no need. Also the writing is completely random, I quote from the Bear listing

“The grizzly bear is a brown bear of very aggressive disposition. Black bears are usually not aggressive, brown bears are,  and cave bears are quite aggressive. “. What? The description really should have been “its a bear, you know, a bear”.

And why do Beavers have treasure- By the book they could actually have magical items!!

Boar and Buffalo - see Bear above.

Blink dogs are a classic, lawful good and a great companion for the ranger in your life. (Again, where does it keep its treasure?)

Black pudding - now I like black pudding on general principles but I’ve just never been a fan of slimes and oozes - looking at the stats though a couple of these could quite easily devastate a party / drop off the ceiling and there you go 3d8 damage a round and destroying your armour in short order. A DM could really go to town with one of these if he rules that a PC is envelopes and could take damage from his allies as they try and destroy the thing.

Brownie - dull faerie-kin, and I always thought they were evil because of the artwork.

Brain Mole -psionics, need I say more. Just a creature for that particular arms race between players and DM when they discover psionics are a thing.

Bugbear - essentially  a big old goblin but the 50% chance of surprise was new to me.

Bull - yep it’s a big cow.

And so to the real meat and drink here, the Bulette and the Beholder. I will save the wonderful Beholder for another time but the Bulette needs comment.

It’s pronounced Boo-lay I hear in many places but it doesn’t say that here. I’ll go to google and try and find out why, perhaps you could do it for me and leave a comment because I really might not get round to it. The 3 separate AC listings - AFAIK AD&D didn’t really go for variables like this on a big scale, perhaps I just missed that in the rules, but looking at it I’m sure my players would have gone for the eyes!! ( oh and beware the eight foot leap which can give it 4 3-18 attacks- bloody hell I would have him bouncing around like he was on a pogo stick if I was running him🙂. )

So that was B - some dead wood but some great fun as well

The Bulette and the Brownie, which looks like the more evil bugger?

And this just needs showing - Saxon Angel - a mini painter who’s work makes me think I should just cut my hands off😀

A is for Axe Beak - among other things

So my first foray into my beloved Monster Manual, with the letter A.
I have read through the stars and descriptions of all of the monsters, 6 beasts covering two pages and frankly not an auspicious start. Normally in creature codex type books you might expect some colour, flavour or even perhaps an adventure hook or two. This part of the MM will leave you disappointed I’m afraid; from the aerial servant to the Axe Beak via Ankhegs,ants and apes.
The Aerial Servant is quite a tough beast but seemingly has a habit of going mad-perhaps because it’s an air elemental type with no fly move, the poor bugger just mooches along rather than swooping through the air like it might in its home plan.
As for Ants and Apes; frankly I’ve got nothing, I honestly don’t even know why they bothered to stat them out- and why do either of these beasts have treasure? Gems for ants and the potential for magic items for the Carniverous Ape - utter nonsense (or old school d&d at its best if you prefer).
And on to the Axe Beak. .....all I can say Pitt the poor adventurer killed by an ostrich on steroids. Looking at the numbers (HD and attacks) these fellas could do some damage to a second or third level party, if I could be bothered I would play out the combat (Might do this in future if I get a bit more time.

So that’s it, the start of the worlds first monster book, I feel I may have wasted my time a bit - never mind B will surely B better!!

Until next time, look at this chap and tremble with fear

Fresh start - with added monsters

After a long hiatus I am going to try and reboot this blog again - I need to get some kind of proper hobby in my life even if it is just posting about the nonsense I like.

In an attempt to force myself to post regular content I have decided to go through the AD&D first edition Monster Manual from a-z; I haven’t really decided on a format yet but imagine it will be kind of a mini review/let’s read - nothing new but the world needs to hear a 49 year old sad sacks take on a book that is 41 years old and in no way relevant.

Just to tease you here is the book - it’s definitely not my original but it is a GW soft back version and thus a collectors piece. (If you are a collector like me that is - I’m sure more of my views on game collecting will come out as time goes on)

I

It’s not pretty but it’s mine!

Next post, the Letter A - to include the axe beak, and why not

All the best

Carl

Wargames Books - All the Basics are Here?

I've just taken delivery of an auction lot that I won online. The description was pretty vague and the photos were equally poor. The auction house difinitely did the seller a dis-service as I got them for a song (In fact shipping was over twice as much as the final auction cost!)
I took a bit of a punt on this, hoping that I could make a bit of a profit on reselling it and I think I did all right.
Included were a load of random wargames mags, including lots of Plastic Warriors, White Dwarfs and a whole heap of Del Prado Osprey stuff.

What really got me though were the wargames books - see the photos attached. All of the good stuff is here, Featherstone and all his jolly friends

 This is quite literally an old school starter set of required reading. Copies of the books that I borrowed from the library all those years ago.

Sadly they are all getting sold - that was the point after all - but its still great to have a little peruse - this stuff is absolutely timeless.


Until the next time

Carl

40K - You don't know what you're doing

Well, who would have thought it? My son and I actually played a game (of sorts) of 40K.

In all fairness  we were making it up as we went along a bit but we tried hard and we both enjoyed it well enough.  All the figures and  terrain are his but maybe this will give me impetus to paint those orks I have in a carry case. Really please to actu ally game, need more of this in my life.

(For the record I came across creditable second!)

First post of the new year and I haven't got a great deal to say, so just a brief stream of consciousness to get things going.

Part 1


I recently purchased a copy of Fr16 The Shining South from ebay which is a great item, just so you know. At the moment I am slowly but surely rebuying all of the Forgotten Realms items that I once owned and foolishly sold. I brought this for a fairly acceptable amount and when it arrived it turned out to be a softback reprint. This was my bad -the  auction clearly stated that it was a new reprint, I just hadn't read the description properly. The moral of this story is to pay attention - I have no issue with the seller and left positive feedback, after all he had done nothing wrong. However the same seller got a little bit of flak on a forum that I frequent which I felt was unfair. Without going into too many details why I generally don't use forums as much any more just because people are idiots - your thoughts??!!

Part 2

On KODT. Check out the Kickstarter and it's creator Ken Whitman for the Live Action videos.
Hours of endless fun for all the family and a great example of why kickstarter is potentially a bloody disaster!!

Part 3

I still haven't painted any of my miniatures - definitely this year, definitely.

Part 4

Looking for some new podcasts to listen too so any recommendations gratefully received.
(BTW please listen to the Grognard Files and the Smart Party, can't recommend either one enough.)

Part 5

There is no part 5.


Keep on gaming, or not if you're me!

Take Care

Carl