The Von Show - DEAD AIR

Evenin' all.

I have a confession to make. Much like fellow HoPist and righteous dude SinSynn, I've had a bit of a week of it. I've been away from base, and my mind has been occupied with Things That Aren't Blogging, and the long and the short of it is that it was 5.30 UK time before I even remembered that I hadn't planned, scripted, recorded, edited or posted the Show this week. And when I did sit down to record, I realised that I had nothing useful to say about the topic that was suggesting itself to me.

I have no idea how to deal with problem players because... well, because I don't play games with wankers. I play games with reasonable adults who can tell each other what's going wrong with their happy fun make-pretend time. If I do end up with a wanker in the group, nature will take its course, the group will implode in four or fewer sessions, and the people who can play nicely together and want to will go off and sort out their own game. And on the rare occasions that the wanker in the group is me, I'm big enough to own it, apologise for it, and either put myself in check or leave the game.

All well and good, but it doesn't make for an interesting, informative or long column.

Anyway, it's too dark for my webcam to get any sort of decent image recorded, the cat's howling the house down because it's ten minutes to feeding time, and I'm in a bad mood because if there's one thing I hate, it's flaking out, being caught between doing a bad job or no job at all, and having no-one to blame but myself for the case of affairs.

But nobody wants to hear me grumbling about how I fail at life a bit this week, SO! Here's the deal. For one week only, I'm going to break the First Rule of RPG Club. Tell me about your games, your characters, the awesome times you're having at the gaming table. Fill this dead air with your blistering white-hot enthusiasm, and make me feel better for leaving my spare keys in the hands of Mr. Cock-Up.

In the meantime, I'm going to feed the cat, and spend the night making Vampire NPCs. Feh.

The Weekly Top X - Verily, Ye Olden Tymes Doth Previale!

Hello everyone and welcome to another Weekly Top X chock full of snazzy information and only a slight bit of turpitude!  We had a training session which, I feel, should significantly cut down on all the wickedness and wrong doing that was going on.  I also made everyone shave their Snidely Whiplash mustaches as well.  That shit was getting seriously out of hand.

Everyone looked like Jack Lemmon from the Great Race.

Anyway, for Today's Top X, I thought I'd go aaaaall the way back to the first post that could be considered a New Member Monday and see where some of our longest standing members are today.

Gaming on a Budget: Battlefront is Brilliant

Yeah, that title is a bold statement.  It's also a true statement.  While this series has always focused on the consumer side of things, I'm actually going to put my education to work ('bout damn time) and get a little discussion going about one of the best moves I've seen from a company in a long long time. 

Do you own a copy of Flames of War 2nd ed?  Really, well go to your FLGS ASAP, throw around some more acronyms, and get a free copy of the new 3rd edition rules! 

3rd edition FoW- not hard to get.  Also, anybody else notice that this plane took out a train?

Okay, so yes this obviously will save you, the consumer, money on keeping up to date with the latest rules set since you'll be out exactly nothing on the "purchase" of the new book, but that would make for a short Gaming on a Budget article- and I'm not letting you off the hook that easily.  That article would actually pretty much end here, but instead will continue after the jump in a slightly different direction.

Actual (bad) pics of SinSynn's FoW Stuffs

Hey, folks, SinSynn here.

Sorry my post is late, but a lil' sumpthin' came up, and I wasn't able to spend my usual time at the keyboard.
In lieu of like, an actual post, I've got some (pretty bad) pics for you.
Sigh.
Listen, I tried for days to make this work properly, and take actual decent pics for youse guys.
Obviously it didn't work out as well as I'd like, and for now you're stuck looking at these.
Sorry 'bout that.

*Da Tigers*

HoPpy Holidays!

Well hell, you didn't think your guy and gal pals here at HoP Headquarters would forget a few holidays, did you?  No, of course you didn't, and of course we didn't.

honestly feared the worst, but the search for 'President Pancakes' turned out to be pretty tame in Google Image

So we've got a hell of a holiday extravaganza to celebrate today what with it being Pancake Day in the UK, Fat Tuesday other places, and Post-Presidents Day in the US.

In honor of these holidays and more, please listen to some holiday themed music after the jump.

The Rumour Trap.

Rumours are something we come to expect in the world of Warhammer.

Every potential new release comes with the usual selection of information from various sources. From the guy with 'inside' information, to the 'play-testers' who were using a version five years old with the odd bullshit wish-lister thrown into the mix we're given piles of information to sift through and most of it has one single factor in common.

It's complete bollocks.

New Member Monday - The Schweet Taste of Victory

What's up ya'll!   The all year hootenanny that is the House of Paincakes continues!

Before I get to the fine, disease free bloggers who joined us this week, I just wanted to give a quick shout out to Kirby and his wild success with 3++ con!  Thins seemed to go pretty swimmingly and there's a ton of great post over on his blog.

But as we all know, a tournament isn't truly successful until there's enough e-drama to fill the pages of a four volume leather bound collectors edition limited print run.  So let me get this ball rolling:

STAND IN only scored 11.389 battle points.  Strictly an approximation since we would need that fourth decimal place to be sure.  Anyway, as we all know, battle points are the only true measure of a man.  For this reason, STAND IN is a most likely a CHUD.  He probably cheated too.  That guy should be banned from Australia.

[Musings of a Game Store Owner] Intelligent Design: Emotional Connection

That thrill. That incredible rush. That incredible sensation all over - my shin tightening, and my breath catching. all just from looking - I was terrified to touch, but couldn't wait to get my hands all over ---

My first RPG and my true love

While CB has made them all fancy, I adore Napoleonics something fierce

I love "Planes on Sticks", also known as Blue Max 

The emotional connection a game sparks in us almost always has the single-most important impact in decision making we face as consumers. If a game has any hold on you at all emotionally, be ready to cry a lot as your wallet opens almost involuntarily to purchase the newest edition, latest release or even worse, the "collector's edition".

I'm not the only one that feels this way. All of us, at some level, have a game that hits us "below the belt" and makes us feel quivery and somewhat intoxicated. I talked to a lot of folks, and all of them had a memory of "that love".

Here are some comments from people around the web: