Torchlight: Toth Ranger Class

The Rangers of Toth are a small part the military of the Kingdom of Wessa.  Tasked with patrolling the northern part of Wessa known as the Borderlands of Toth.  Toth is a rugged wilderland area, where human settlements are few and far between, but dangers abound everywhere. 



Race: Human only

Primary Weapons: Short or Long Bow, Short sword, Dagger

• Note: Rangers prefer the short or long bow over a crossbow, as crossbows are heavy, noisy and slow to reload. 

Preferred Armor: Leather, but has been known to wear chain.

Abilities

Agile Fighter (Combat 2) - gain a +1 to defense that applies to when wearing chain or lighter armor.

Alertness (Subterfuge 3) - Ability to detect danger.  -1 to be surprised (ie, need a 9 or higher on a surprise roll)

Backstab (subterfuge 1) - This is the same as the common skill, and all normal rules for backstab apply.  However, rangers get the bonus for ranged attacks, as well, until the target is aware that it is being fired upon.

Climber - Rangers get a +1 to Climb Walls ability.

Runner - Rangers get a base movements of 1 die higher than Racial movements.  This applies only when the ranger is outdoors.

Stalker (Subterfuge 1) Rangers get a +1 to hide in shadows and move silently in outdoor rural settings (ie, not in dungeons or cities).

Survival - The ability to live off the land, hunt and forage.  The check may be modified by the GM due to the terrain being either plentiful or harsh.

Track - +1 to any tracking skills made in natural terrain (ie, not towns or cities).  This would include caves, but not dungeons or fortresses.  GM discretion when it comes to ruins.

Bow Mastery (combat 3) - +1 to attack rolls when using a bow.

Disadvantages

1. Rangers will always roll 1 rank lower for all open locks, pick pockets and listen at door skills. This means that a Ranger can't pick locks until his subterfuge rank is at least robber level.

2. Rangers require an additional 10% experience points to gain a level.

Torchlight Character Sheet

I put together a character sheet for Torchlight.  I didn't care much for the ones from New Realms Publishing. This isn't perfect, but it's a sight better than what was available. Here it is as JPG files for a quick view.  The PDF link is just below the second image.

The PDF file can be found here.

Torchlight: Cleric

Cleric Class

Clerics are not technically magic users, but are similar in their mechanics. Clerics use the following rank chart: 

Clerics also use Power Points, the same as magicians. Instead of learning spells, They learn Blessings.

Clerics magic rating will always be 0, and they can never have a subterfuge rank higher than 4. They are not theives – picking pockets and hiding in shadows are generally not things that a cleric would do.

Blessings

Clerics must choose Open Vessel as a skill, which is similar to the Cast Spells skill. Open Vessel allows the cleric the ability to be granted Blessings. Once a Cleric has Open Vessel, he/she immediately gains one first level Blessing (character's choice).

A Cleric's casting level dictates what level of Blessing the character can know and use. IE, a first level cleric can only know and cast Blessings that are from the first level list. A third level cleric can know and use Blessings of level 3 or lower.

Since Blessings are not technically spells, a cleric does not need Transcend Armor. A cleric can wear armor like any non magic using character, and must still choose Advanced Armor to allow for the heavier armors to be worn.

Granting Blessings

Blessings can be granted by being taught or from a scroll. Locating a person to teach a new Blessing costs 100 gold for a first level Blessing, 300 for a second level Blessing, 600 for a third level Blessing, and 1000 for s fourth level Blessing. Once paid, the blessing is automatically learned.

Learning a Blessing from a scroll is done between adventures. The character must have Scroll Lore as a skill to learn Blessing from a scroll. The character then rolls a d12 and adds their casting level. If the roll beats a 6, the character has learned the Blessing. Whether the learning succeeded or not, the Blessing fades from the scroll and cannot be relearned.

Casting Blessing

Blessings can be cast from either one's own knowledge of the Blessing, or directly from a scroll. Casting a Blessing (either from knowledge or scroll) cost 1 power point. If casting from a scroll, the Blessing disappears from the scroll and cannot be used again, or learned.

Blessings

Level 1

1. Cure Light Wounds instantly heals 1d4 hit points of damage per casting level. Example, a level 3 cleric can heald 3d4 points of damage.

2. Detect Evil, for 6 turns after it’s cast, identifies evilly enchanted objects, or individuals with evil intent, within 120’. Merely harmful objects, like vials of poison or spiked pits, are not detected.

3. Detect Magic reveals for a short time the presence of magical effects on nearby things.

4. Light illuminates less brightly than daylight a 30’ circle around the cleric for 12 turns.

5. Protection from Evil bars magic creatures from approaching the cleric for 12 turns, during which the cleric makes saving throws from attacks at one rank higher.

6. Purify Food and Drink makes spoiled or poisoned food and beverages (enough to serve twelve people) safe to consume.

7. Bless gives a target(s) +1 to hit and +1 morale for 6 turns, although the target(s) must not be engaged in combat at the time of casting.

8. Speak with Animals lets the cleric communicate with any animal within 30’ for a period of 6 turns. The animal will not attack the cleric’s party, and may help them.

Level 2

1. Create Water produces a day’s worth of drinkable water for a dozen men and their mounts.

2. Continual Light lights as brightly as daylight a 240’ diameter circle around the cleric, and lasts until dispelled.

3. Cure Disease cures one target of any disease, magical or otherwise.

4. Locate Object gives the cleric a sense of the direction (though not distance) of a known (in terms of color, size, shape, etc.) object, if that object is within range -60’ plus cleric level 10’(not casting level).

5. Revive allows the cleric to bring back a person who has died within the hour. The person who is revived is given 1 hit point, and is considered unconcious.

Level 3

1. Cure Serious Wounds instantly heals 1d8 hit points of damage per casting level. For example a level 3 cleric can heal 3d8 points of damage.

2. Neutralize Poison stops further damage by poison to one individual,but can not revive the dead.

3, Protection from Evil 10’ Radius works like protection from evil, but extends around the caster 10’ in all directions and lasts for 12 turns. In addition, all evil creatures make saving throws at one rank lower.

4. Hold Person completely controls 1 living humanoid within 120’ for 6 turns plus a number of turns equal to the cleric’s casting level. Target suffers a -2 penalty to save versus Magic Spell.

Level 4

1. Commune lets the cleric ask his deity one question, and get an answer. Clerics only commune with their deity once per week. Rarely, the referee may allow more frequent communication or

more questions per casting.

2. Dispel Evil, if successful, ends evil effects within 30’, except permanent evil enchantments like those on magic items. The cleric must roll a 9 or higher on a basic check.

3. Raise Dead brings to life one man, elf, halfling, or dwarf touched by the

cleric, if the target died less than a day ago, plus 4 days for each of the cleric’s levels (not casting level) beyond 4. For example, a Cleric of 6^th level could restore life to a person who has died within 25 days (1 day automatic, 4 days for level 1, 4 days for level 2, 4 days for level 3, etc, until 6^th level is reached.)

Torchlight Character Creation

Part 1. Choose your Race

Human
Size: Medium
Special Abilities: humans begin with one additional skill.
Disadvantages: None
Base Body Points: 1d8
Base Luck Points: 1d4+1
Experience Point Adjustment: None

Dwarf
Size: Medium
Special Abilities:

Saves: Dwarves add 1 to the die roll when making saves against magic and poison.

Dark Vision: Dwarves have Dark vision, which enables a dwarf to see up to 60' in total, non-magical, darkness and up to 120' in dim light. In conditions equal to the light shed by a torch or brighter, dark vision has no effect.

Expert Miners: Dwarves can determine depth and direction underground, age and origin of construction, and the stability of an area. Each action requires a turn with an average  difficulty of 5.

Goblin Fighter: Dwarves add 1 to melee attack rolls when fighting goblins, hobgoblins and bugbears.

Giant Fighter: Dwarves add 1 to their defense when battling ogres, trolls, giants and similar creatures.

Disadvantages:
Stature: Dwarves cannot wield great swords, long bows and pole arms.

Base Body Points: 1d8
Base Luck Points: 1d3
Experience Point Adjustment: Dwarves require an additional 10% experience points to gain a level.

Elves
Size: Medium
Special Abilities:

Vision: Elves can see in the dimmest light as if it were a sunny afternoon. In the total absence of light, however, their night vision provides no benefit.
     
Searching: Elves add 1 to their die roll when searching for secret doors.

Heightened Senses: Elves add 2 to all see and hear checks.

Saves: Elves add 2 to saves against sleep and charm affects.

Movement: When in no or light armor elves add 2 to all move silently and surprise rolls.

Swords and Bows: Elves add 1 to their attack rolls when wielding short swords, swords, short bows and long bows.

Disadvantages: None
Base Body Points: 1d6
Base Luck Points: 1d4
Experience Point Adjustment: Elves require an additional 10% experience points to gain a level.

Halflings
Size: Small
Special Abilities:

Defense: Halflings add 2 to their defense when attacked by creatures of Large size or greater.

Hiding: Halflings add 2 to all Hide rolls.

Saves: Halflings add 2 to all saves against mind-affecting magic.

Aim: Halflings add 1 to attack rolls with slings and thrown weapons.

Disadvantages: Halflings can only use Small and Medium weapons, but cannot use short bows or spears. However, Medium weapons are considered 2 handed.

Base Body Points: 1d6
Base Luck Points: 1d6
Experience Point Adjustment: None

Part 2. Choose your Training

Assign 1 rank to a single category of your Choice.

Combat is your character’s skill at fighting in hand-to-hand combat and hitting targets with ranged attacks.

Magic is the character’s ability to cast magic spells.

Subterfuge is a character’s ability to perform a variety of tasks, including Climb Walls, Disarm Traps, Find Traps, Hide in Shadows, Listen at Doors, Move Silently, Open Locks, Pick Pockets and Search. The following table lists the difficulty to succeed for each action. Some actions can be attempted by any character. Disarming traps, opening locks and picking pockets require separate skills, however, and each is described in the skill section.

Part 3. Choose your Skills

Pick 3 skills for your Character (remember, humans get 4 skills to start).  If a skill has requirements, they will be listed in parentheses.

Advanced Armor
All characters are able to wear basic armor, which includes leather and studded leather. Advanced Armor allows a character to wear all armor and use shields.

Advanced Weapons (Combat 1)
All characters can use basic weapons. Advanced Weapons allows a character to use all weapons which they are able to physically wield.

Ambush (Subterfuge 1)
Whenever your character attacks a surprised target, add 1, plus 1 per title after Footpad, to the character’s attack roll.

Arcane Lore
Arcane Lore is a character’s knowledge of magic, including spells, objects and locations. A success roll will identify the subject. High rolls will provide additional information.

Backstab (Subterfuge 1)
When attacking a target unaware and from behind with a hand weapon, your character inflicts double base damage.

Cast Spells (Magic 1)
The character gains the ability to cast magic spells. When this skill is selected the character gains one realm of magic for free. See the points section for details.

Charge (Combat 1)
To charge the character must move at lease fifteen feet in a straight line and make a melee attack at the end of the move. If the attack hits, the attack will inflict an additional two points of damage.

Demon Lore
Demon Lore is a character’s knowledge of dark, otherworldly beings. A success roll will identify the subject. High rolls will provide additional information.

Disarm Traps (Subterfuge 1)
Your character is capable of disarming traps with the proper tools. If only impromptu tools are available, the difficulty is increased by 2.

Dodge Blow (Combat 2)
Once per turn, rather than move, a character can attempt to dodge an attack. To dodge, the player rolls 1d12. If the roll is higher than the attack roll, the character dodges the attack. The decision can be made after the GM announces the attack hits, but before damage is calculated. The die roll should not be revealed until the decision to dodge is made.

Favored Weapon (Combat 3)
The player selects one type of weapons, such as sword or long bow. The character is +1 on attacks when using that weapon.

First Aid
First Aid is used to stabilize a dying character, leaving them alive but unconscious at 0 Body Points.

History
History is a character’s knowledge of historical events, including people, places and events of historical significance.

Item Lore (Arcane Lore, Magic 4)
Item Lore allows a character to identify a magical object. Higher rolls may reveal additional properties.

Marksman (Combat 4)
Your character is exceptionally accurate with ranged attacks, capable of placing shots in spots that will do the most damage. When making a ranged attack, if the attack roll is 9+ and hits, the attack does +1 damage.

Mighty Blow (Combat 4)
Your character is capable of delivering powerful blows in melee combat. If the attack roll is 9+ and hits, the attack does +1 damage.

Open Locks (Subterfuge 1)
Your character is capable of picking a lock with the proper tools. If only impromptu tools are available, the difficulty is increased by 2.

Pick Pockets (Subterfuge 1)
Your character is capable of removing an item from another being’s person without being noticed. If the character fails by three or more, the character is caught in the act.

Scroll Lore (Magic 1)
Scroll Lore is a character’s ability to use magical scrolls of the same realms the character has skills in. A character can cast a spell from a scroll, attempt to learn a spell from a scroll or copy a spell from a scroll into a tome. All three actions cause the spell to vanish from the scroll.

Second Weapon (Combat 5)
Normally when a character wield two weapons, the second weapon must be one size smaller than the character’s size. Characters with the Second Weapon skill can use any weapon as a second weapon provided the weapon can be wielded with one hand.

Set vs Charge (Combat 1)
With Set vs Charge your character can brace a weapon, such as a spear, to receive a charge. If a character who has set vs charge is charged, the character attacks just before the charging enemy does. If the attack hits, the base damage is doubled.

Transcend Armor (Magic 1)
Normally a character cannot cast magic spells while wearing armor. Transcend Armor allows a character to cast magic spells while wearing armor.

Two Weapons (Combat 4)
Normally when a character wields a weapon in each hand, the first, primary, weapon attacks at -2. The second weapon attacks at -3. With the Two Weapons skill, the penalties are reduced to -1 and -2, respectively.

Undead Lore
Undead Lore is a character’s knowledge of the undead, such as ghouls, wraiths and vampires. A success roll will identify the subject. High rolls will provide additional information.

Step 4. Determine Points
Roll the character’s Base Body and Base Luck points and note the results. If you roll a 1 you may take half the maximum value of the die or re-roll. If you choose to re-roll, however, you must accept the result of the second roll, even if you roll another 1. These are your character’s “zero” level
points. Since your character begins at first level, next you’ll determine your character first level points. To determine your character’s first level points choose from the following.

a) 1d8 Body Points
b) 1d6 Body Points, 1d4 Power Points
c) 1d6 Body Points, +1 Luck Points
d) 1d4 Body Points, 1d6 Power Points

The rule of rolling a 1 applies to these die rolls as well. You character begins with 50 experience points to account for previous experience and training.

Step 5. Select Spells
If you are running a magic user, talk to me.  There's ton of spells. When your character learns Cast Spells, the character also gains a realm of magic. Additional realms of magic can be selected as a skill choice. Whenever a character gains a realm of magic, including the first time, the character also learns the first spell in that realm’s list.

Here's the list of realms, and each realm has around 4 to 6 spells.

Step 6. Buy your Gear

Starting Wealth
A character begins with a set of normal clothing, a dagger, a pouch of coins and little else that would be of use in an adventuring life. Fortunately before the game begins you have the opportunity to do a little shopping for your character. To find out how many gold coins are in that pouch, roll 3d6 and multiply the total by 10. The result is the number of gold coins your character has to go shopping with. Make the most of it.

The Monetary System
There are five different coins commonly used in the worlds of Torchlight, copper, silver, electrum, gold and platinum. There are ten copper coins to the silver, ten silver to the gold, 2 electrum to the gold and 5 gold to the platinum.

Armor
Armor can help protect your character from physical (slashing, piercing and crushing) damage. All armor has an armor value. Whenever your character takes physical damage, roll a number of d6 equal to the armor value of any armor the character is wearing. Each 5 or 6 rolled blocks one point of damage.

The Armor Table
Armor - the type of armor
Cost - the cost in Gold Coins
AV - the armor value of the armor
B - basic armor
A - advanced armor
H - heavy armor, roll next lowest Move die

Weapons
Weapon - The name of the weapon.
Type - S slashing, P is piercing and C is crushing.
Cost - The cost in gold coins.
DM - The damage modifier of the weapon
Notes: See below the Weapons Table

Weapon Notes:
L - The weapon is a Large weapon.
M - The weapon is a Medium weapon.
S - The weapon is a Small weapon.
t - The weapon is a Tiny weapon.
T - The weapon can be thrown.
2H - The weapon requires two hands to wield.
R - Reach, the weapon can strike an enemy up to ten feet away.
RL - The weapon takes an action to reload.
SvC - The weapon can be set against charge.
+1 A - +1 on Attack roll on the first round and any round you are winning.
C - crush, +1 Damage on an attack roll of 11+.
F - fumble, loose next action on an attack roll of 2 or less.
A - Advanced Weapon

Other Gear

Part 7.  Name your Character

Give your character a name. And then we can finish up any extra little details like Saves together.

Character Development.

As your character adventures, the character will learn and improve. This is measured in experience points. At the end of each adventure, the GM will award each character a number of experience points based on what the characters did during the game. Write the experience points down on
your character sheet and keep a running total. When your character accumulates enough experience points, the character advances to the next highest level. See the Experience Table for details.

When your character gains a level choose one of the following:
a) 1d8 Body Points
b) 1d6 Body Points, +1d4 Power Points
c) 1d6 Body Points, +1 Luck Point
d) 1d4 Body Points, +1d6 Power Points

In addition, the character improves one training category by 1 rank. At 3rd level, and every three levels thereafter, the character gains 1 skill.

That's pretty much it for character creation.  As for rules, it's pretty basic.  Essentially, all rolls, from skills to attacks, are made using a d12 vs a difficulty.  Role higher than the difficulty, you succeed. And in the case of combat, the higher the roll, the more damage you do.

Battle Books: Shi

Today's Analysis:

Shi is really a stand up brawler. If you just stand there and try to duke it out with her, you are most likely going to fail and fail miserably. She's a quick character and very hard to hit, and she's very good at using her weapon, the Naginata.

But Naginata is also her weakness. Should Shi become disarmed, she would need to quickly recover that weapon to stand any chance of surviving combat. But, as I said, she's quick and can easily recover her weapon. Also, she needs to avoid taking any critical hits because just one crit can severely weaken her.

She is incredibly adept at hitting with her weapon. This is why most player should refuse to duke it out with her. Her power strikes will cause heavy damage when she hits, but it's her thrusts that will literally whittle you down as she will hit you more often with these.

As for non-weapon attacks, go with her kicks. They may not cause the most damage, but she's good at lining them up. Avoid using desperate swing, as she just can't hit for squat with it.

Shi is incredibly deadly with the smaller lightweight fighters, but she needs to be very careful with the powerhouses that can easily cause her critical damage. The last thing Shi needs is to have her weapon broken, and even when she can't do "red" or "blue", she will find it hard to fight back.

Over all, I think Shi is best suited for those that have played the game for some time. When she has her weapon, she hits often, so that makes her an easy character to play. But when she loses attacks or, heaven forbid, her weapon, she become very difficult. But no matter what, she's tough.

Battle Books: Wolverine

Today's analysis:

My first attempt at playing Wolverine was a dismal failure. I lost both fights with him quickly and was really annoyed that he wasn't a better fighter. This was my mistake. He's actually a very strong fighter, but he's got serious flaws (not in game mechanics or printing, but as a character in general).

The first thing I noticed as I started to delve a bit deeper, was that he doesn't have a whole lot of strong moves (character flaw #1). But what he lacks in moves he makes up for in bonuses. Many attacks get bonuses on their own above what he gets for his modifier. He also gets bonuses for attacks when he gets hit, and some of these bonuses are big.

Another thing he excels at is causing critical hits. Many of his attacks tell you to go to another page and apply the new page crit hits on your opponent. This can be devastating to other fighters.

He's generally not so good at escaping or defensive moves (character flaw #2), and when he's hit, he's stuck in berserk mode (character flaw #3), which limits your choices of attacks. However, he gets 3 defensive moves in which he can heal, so run in for the attack, then back out and let the healing factor do it's job.

Wolverine MUST avoid crit hits at all cost (character flaw #4). He's already severely limited to roughly 5 really strong attacks, and these are all red and blue. If he loses the ability to use these colors, it's going to be much harder to hit opponents and he's going to get seriously beat up.

Overall, Wolverine is one bad dude. Use his bonuses to your advantage, and keep him healing up. I would think Wolverine is a much more advance character, suited to those that play the game more often.

Battle Books: Witchblade

Ah, here we go again. I don't post often, but every once in a while, I manage to get something up here. Today's post is about Battlebooks.

I actually started sitting down and mapping out the books. I've got quite a few, so it's taking time and the results may change as I continue to do this tedious work. While I'm not going to give everything away that I've discovered, I will give out some basic info so that people can get a general idea of what each character is good or bad at. Of course, if I gave everything away, I won't have the upperhand against those that I play against. :P

Today's analysis:

Surprisingly, for a character that has a gun, she's a damn good close up fighter. Her jabs and punches are pretty strong. Her skills are pretty decent as well, especially Blade of Fury.

Her boxing skills are better than her gunmanship, but if you manage to hit with Precision Shot, then you'll want to fire off another shot again, as she will get a bonus to her Pistol attacks. If she ever manages to lose her pistol, I'm not sure it's worth the effort to pick it up as she's got other effective attacks (namely Jabs, Punches, and Skills).

Because she's a light weight character, it's very difficult for her to get critical hits against powerhouses like Thor or Thing. However, Witchblade is nimble and hard to hit for any great amount of damage by other lightweight characters. And if you can avoid the big blows from the powerhouse characters, she can be quite hard to hit for a critical.

When a critical IS scored on her, nothing could be worse for her than forcing her to do no red or blue moves for the rest of combat. When one of these colors is taken away, she's severely handicapped, take them both, and she's in real trouble.

If she's taking heavy hits, her best option is to escape and regain some life back. Her other defensive moves aren't as strong, which is why I don't think it's worth it to pick up her gun if she drops it.

All in all, she's a pretty tough, if basic, fighter. In my opinion, she's a good character for those that are new to the game.

Cookie Fu!

I'm pretty happy. I got some new Cookie Fu dice! I went in on an order with 4 other guys, and we all got some nice dice and some tasty cookies. If you don't know about Cookie Fu, the link is there on the right.

So, I got some new dice and some new fighter moves. I decided that I'm going to play a fighter in the clan of the Chocolate Ox. He's brutal, and he has been tainted by the evil of Bok Choy (which is denoted by a special black die).

I do hope the league will start again, because I feel that with the new dice and new rules, I can do much better than the last league. Of course I came in dead last, during the last season of the league, so I can't go any where else but up, right?

Here's my fighter:

name: Bai Sun
Clan: Chocolate Ox
Moves:

• Basic - Cacao Kapow: 1 Strike. If Foe has an even number of HP, +1 strike.

• Expert - Oxtail Flail: 2 Strikes. For each strike unblocked, +1 strike.

• Master - Sugary Nerve Strike: 3 strikes. If all strikes are not blocked, opponent is -1 fu dice next turn.

Bai Sun grew up one of the strongest in his village. He was the ultimate bully toward the smaller, weaker children. His parents, fearing he would turn to a life of evil and crime, pleaded for the Chocolate Ox clan to take him in and help him control his emotions and calm him down.

He excelled in the physical demands of the clan martial arts training, but had trouble with the philosophical aspects of the training. Compassion seemed to elude him, as in his mind, it was win at all costs. He never showed mercy to his sparring partners, and was constantly scolded by his mentors.

While in the market one day, heatedly discussing the merits of winning with another clan student, a man dressed in black approached Bai Sun and asked him to join him for tea. Having had enough of the current debate, Bai Sun agreed.

The man, called Hei Chuan, agreed with Bai Sun that winning was indeed very important. And while mercy should not be shown to an enemy, he did reveal that the mind must be as mentally tough as a fighters fists and body.

It was this meeting that began Bai Sun's walk down a different path. It was clear that Bai Sun was tainted by the evil of Bok Choy.

Shadowrun: Duels

Wow! It's been forever since I've posted anything. Literally, it has been a full year! oh man....I'm bad. And to my one reader (you know who you are, Alger), I apologize.

So, my new current "miniatures" game is the Shadowrun: Duels. Now, this game isn't technically a mini game, simply because the figures are 6 inch action toys that are fully posable and each comes on it's own base. The base opens up, and the bottom half become a cup to hold dice and a ruler, that is special to each one.

The biggest problem with this game, is creating terrain for it. When building a wall piece, it has to be about 9 to 10 inches tall. Crazy! But, I'm just the guy to go about trying to put together some terrain for the game.

Here's some photos that I've put together of a game that a friend and I played on my dining room table. Notice that the walls are pizza boxes and are not completed. I have since changed that. :) I give you Team Rolf vs Team Zhen :

(midgame: Team Zhen is getting creamed cause

of that durn sniper up on the balcony)

(midgame - Team Rolf downloading the data, while Team Zhen

is actually pinned down by sniper fire)

(End of game - a Team Rolf member taken care of and laying on the ground.

Team Zhen now has to chase down the Team Rolf thief, who gets away.)

Overall, the Shadowrun:Duels game is a great deal of fun. The terrain and the scenario stuff really help this game shine! I'd like to get a game of 4 players going (two teams each with two players), but I don't know where I'm going to get the table space. This game really is very big.

Battle Cattle

Battle Cattle is a great game of cow to cow combat. It's totally amusing and udderly fun to play. The rules are simple to learn and the book is only like 60 pages. I've had this game for years. I used to play it in the States with my game friends there. We always had a ball with this game. It's been almost 15 years since I played this.


I'm currently re-reading the rules and on the lookout for some plastic cows. Until I find some plastic cows, I'll probably make some cardstock standees to use for now. Cow pictures are easily found on the net. If I could just get my hands on these, it would be ever so much better. :)


Of course the problem is they don't make the metal figs anymore for this game. Which, in my opinion, just blows.


If you don't have this on your shelf, at least get a copy in pdf from here: Battle Cattle. You'll also want a hex map, and some plastic cows. :)

But hay..er..hey...if mini cow combat isn't your thing, check out the card game. :)


While the card game is amusing and fun to play, it doesn't have the same impact as the mini game. However, one cool thing about it is this: it's completely compatible with the Car Wars card game. Cars with guns, cows with guns...what's not to like?

Nothing New Yet

Well, it's been a while since I last posted. I've honestly not had a lot of time to get any work done on my Monster Island units. The flying tank is still a work in progress. And I still have no idea how I'm going to make a laser cannon. I'll come up with something eventually.

The worst part about all this, is I'm spending so much time putting together pieces of a game that I'm not sure when I'm going to get to play...if ever. :( I have played it online using Gametable. I have to say, if you don't have game table, you might seriously want to look into downloading it. I've used it to play Monster Island with friends from all over. It's nice when you can get old friends from one country to play games with your new friends in another country.

Well, here's a nice link from a Monster Island fan: Fan Site. Looks like he's put in a lot of work into his game as well.

Anyhoo, that's all for now.

More Army Units

So, I finished up a few more army units for Monster Island. There's 2 Armored Personnel Carriers, 2 Mobile Artillery units, and 1 Flatbed truck (for haulin' troops and cannons.

Here's some pics. Forgive the crappy phone pics, it was all I had at the time.

2 APCs, 2 Mobile Artillery, 1 Flatbed




And here's all the units together.

The army so far

While not terribly hard to make, they do require a bit of patience, which I don't have much of. I've got a flying tank put together and in the process of painting. I've attempted 2 different versions of a laser cannon, but wasn't happy with either and scrapped them. I have the vision of it in my head, it's just a matter of figuring out how to do it on such a small scale.

I'm also currently trying to figure out how to put the troops together. I did find this, which is all paper soldiers. They're very small, but I think they will work. Now to get my printer working, which has decided that it just doesn't want to print. *sigh* The things I deal with for the sake of a hobby...

Cardstock Buildings

I'm always on the lookout for decent terrain for Monster Island. I usually go for cardstock terrain, cause it's relatively cheap to print and I can make as many of the terrain items as I need. So, while poking around the net one day, I came across this site that has a lot of cardstock building plans. You can click the picture to see the site as well.

Here's what the buildings look like. Ignore the stupid
"hill", it's already been tossed in the garbage.

I'm not sure who spent all the hard work in designing them, but a huge thanks goes out to this person. The buildings look decent for Monster Island, are the perfect size and generally make the game look great when laid out on the table. Again, thanks to the person making them!

Monster Island: Latest Addiction

So, I've had this game for a while. I've only played it a couple of times, but it's a fun little Kaiju (giant monster) tabletop miniature (war?)game. If you are a fan of Godzilla (Gojira), then this game is a must!

I've got the following books: Monster Island, Escape from Monster Island, and Invasion of Monster Island. While Monster Island is enjoyable in it's own right, Escape from Monster Island makes the game even better. Why? Because in Escape from Monster Island, the monsters get to ravage cities and fight human armies. Then it really does feel like the Gojira movies!

Anyhoo, the game is only a book. You have to find your own monsters and military units. Although there are cardstock cutout standees, it's more fun to have the 3 dimensional aspect of minis to round out the game.

With that said, the monsters themselves are relatively easy to find. Any toy monsters around 2 to 3 inches will work great. The military units are more troublesome to find.

So, I thought I'd just build some. And here's the result:

The first wave of the military getting ready
for action


Mobile Atillery and Towable Artillery
getting ready to shoot a Kaiju
on top of a building


Kaiju trying to hide amongst the buildings
and a tank taking aim


Parking is never an issue, when
your ride looks like this

All it takes is 1)time, 2)scraps of foamcore, 3)bunch of BBQ sticks/toothpicks, 4)gobs of glue, 5) little paint, 6)lot of bloody patience!

So far, I've got 1 fighter chopper, 1 transport chopper, 4 tanks, 1 personnel carrier, 3 towable artillery cannons, 2 jeeps, and 1 mobile rocket launcher.

In the middle of construction are: 2 armored personnel carriers, 2 mobile cannons (basically trucks with big gun on the back), 1 flatbed truck (to haul around people and cannons), and one 1950's super flying tank (it's Gojira type science, remember?).

On the planning table: 2 1950's style laser cannon, 2 more attack choppers (redoing them, cause I ain't happy with the first one), 2 transport choppers (same thing here), gobs of little soldiers, gobs of civilians, 2 firetrucks, 2 police cruisers, 1 nuclear plant, 1 chemical plant, 1 oil refinery.

After I typed this, and read it back to myself, I'm like...great googley moogley, what am I thinking???

Zhen