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Miniatures Adventure => The Great War => Topic started by: Plynkes on 06 April 2008, 07:23:17 PM

Title: The Balloonatics!
Post by: Plynkes on 06 April 2008, 07:23:17 PM
Or

"What I did today instead of finishing off my latest club member."

Being a blow-by-blow account of some balloon-busting escapades for the purposes of demonstrating a game of Wings of War as played by a brace of incompetent nincompoops, to any what ain't seen it:

http://misterplynkes.blogspot.com/

(http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y40/Plynkes/Game309.jpg)

(http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y40/Plynkes/Game311.jpg)
Sorry, lads and lasses. I'll try and get right back onto it tomorrow...
Title: The Balloonatics!
Post by: Operator5 on 06 April 2008, 07:51:04 PM
The Sickleoni family must have moved to Japan after the end of hostilities. I'm sure their pilot offspring would have been great heroes there.

Great report!
Title: The Balloonatics!
Post by: Prof.Witchheimer on 06 April 2008, 07:58:12 PM
still laughing  :lol:

thanks, Dylan, you're the boss of DGRW*  8)









*(Department of Gaming Report Writers)
Title: The Balloonatics!
Post by: muppetman on 06 April 2008, 08:00:46 PM
I love that game!! so much fun to play
Title: The Balloonatics!
Post by: fastolfrus on 06 April 2008, 11:45:25 PM
Corking report there.

That's a rather natty looking playing surface, what's the secret ?
Title: The Balloonatics!
Post by: Helen on 07 April 2008, 03:30:52 AM
Top Show Poly 8)

Helen
Title: The Balloonatics!
Post by: Wirelizard on 07 April 2008, 04:48:38 AM
That playing surface looks like one of Hotz Mats European Field mats (http://www.hotzmats.com/mat_1-euro_field.html) - they do nice mats in a bunch of styles.

(Eric Hotz is also a great guy who lives in the next city over, so to speak, so I figured he needed the shout-out!)
Title: The Balloonatics!
Post by: DFlynSqrl on 07 April 2008, 05:02:27 AM
Great report as always Plynkes.

I actually played Wings of War with my Dad on Sat.  It would appear y'all are much better pilots.  We spent a lot of time flying in bizarre patterns hoping someone might actually get a plane in their sites to fire a shot!
Title: The Balloonatics!
Post by: Vanvlak on 07 April 2008, 07:12:56 AM
Plynkes, that had me rolling on the carpet :lol:  :lol:  :lol:
Say, you need a model of a balloon there....  8)
Title: The Balloonatics!
Post by: Plynkes on 07 April 2008, 09:03:39 AM
DFlynSqrl, I'm not sure we can call ourselves better pilots when two out of three games ended prematurely due to flying into the balloon!  :)  And you'll notice my Albatros was only hit once by my opponent. Yes, I scored a lot of hits on the balloon and did some pretty ineffective strafing, but things that don't move about are quite easy to hit, providing you can avoid flying straight into them.

Yes, the terrain cloth is from Hotz Mats.

Maybe we do need a model balloon, but the cards are quite pretty. One thing I like about this game is the ready-to-play-straight-from-the-boxness of it. I'm not sure I want to get sucked into a grand project of terrain and model making, repainting the planes and all that stuff like some folks do. That would be a good way of making sure the game never gets played again, I fear.
Title: The Balloonatics!
Post by: Driscoles on 07 April 2008, 09:18:17 AM
What a beautiful start into boring monday. Thank you Frank "Plynkes" Luke Balloonbuster  for a great read !

Cheers
Rittmeister von Klugermann
Title: The Balloonatics!
Post by: PeteMurray on 07 April 2008, 12:47:38 PM
That was pretty droll, even by the droll standards of your reports.

No doubt Sickly's hair was in his eyes. If he would cut it, his depth perception and inherent abilities to perceive visual flow* and compute Tau* would be less adversely effected.

*: Don't major in (visual perception) Psychology
Title: The Balloonatics!
Post by: Plynkes on 07 April 2008, 01:38:14 PM
I think he would retort that the length of his hair is irrelevant here. The true reason why he is unable to compute Tau is that he does not own that particular codex.

I'm sure he will happily compute Space Marines, Tyranids or Necrons for you, though.
Title: The Balloonatics!
Post by: PeteMurray on 07 April 2008, 01:56:56 PM
Quote from: "Plynkes"
I think he would retort that the length of his hair is irrelevant here. The true reason why he is unable to compute Tau is that he does not own that particular codex.

I'm sure he will happily compute Space Marines, Tyranids or Necrons for you, though.


Two of those armies have the highest point-cost:figure ratios in the game. Owning these books is consonant with building a minimal-cost but tournament-legal army. My behavioral models indicate that this means he is nearing a point of critical GW fatigue. When this fatigue builds up to critical levels, he will probably undergo some sort of hobby collapse. You will be able to train him fully as your historicals apprentice. Sith style.

"Now go, Darth Sickly, and post your first historicals purchase to Lead Adventure."

"Yes, my master."
Title: The Balloonatics!
Post by: Aaron on 07 April 2008, 03:42:10 PM
Top shelf report. There's nothing better for encouraging the younger set to try historical gaming than a sound thrashing! :wink:

I thoroughly enjoyed the travelogue entries also. When I got to the pic of the "nazi hot dog stand" I completely lost it for about three minutes.
Title: The Balloonatics!
Post by: Mo on 07 April 2008, 03:50:28 PM
In all seriousness, I damned near snorted Honey Bunches of Oats through my nostril this morning when Sickly hit the balloon a second time.

It was a very painful lesson about reading your battle reports over breakfast.

Marc
Title: The Balloonatics!
Post by: Plynkes on 07 April 2008, 04:00:38 PM
The thing that really made it bad (or funny) was that he drew an explosion card both times he hit the damn thing. There's only one of those in that particular damage deck of seventeen cards. Any other day it might have been a good tactic, as you have a reasonable chance of doing more damage to the balloon than to yourself.

And of course we did shuffle them in between games. Some days the gaming gods just hate you.


To be fair on the lad, it is quite an art figuring out just where a particular set of orders will put you. That is the real trick to becoming good at it, the thinking ahead and being able to visualize what each order will do in advance (and you have to put down three movement cards at a time).
Title: The Balloonatics!
Post by: coggon on 07 April 2008, 04:08:06 PM
Excellent and hilarious report as usual.  Please add me to the Monday morning "casualty list" :lol: as I nearly lost the swig of Diet Coke that I had just taken.  And its also a good thing that no one was in the office to hear the laughter emanating from my office.

(Note to self-only read Plynikes reports at home, and do not consume anything prior to reading)
Title: The Balloonatics!
Post by: Mo on 07 April 2008, 04:12:33 PM
It certainly made me want to give the game a try. We play a bit of 'Check Your Six' here, which is a lot of fun. But I've always preferred the bi-planes.

Marc
Title: The Balloonatics!
Post by: Strand on 07 April 2008, 06:00:12 PM
Another excellent report. :o  :love: Plynkes truely has mastered the art of storytelling. I wouldn't even have bothered with writing a sentence for the first two games.
Title: The Balloonatics!
Post by: fastolfrus on 07 April 2008, 10:25:49 PM
Quote from: "Aaron"
Top shelf report.


Does that mean the same at both sides of the Atlantic ?
Title: The Balloonatics!
Post by: Aesthete on 08 April 2008, 07:24:42 AM
Quote from: "fastolfrus"
Quote from: "Aaron"
Top shelf report.


Does that mean the same at both sides of the Atlantic ?


I surmise that "top shelf" roughly equals "outstanding quality".
Title: The Balloonatics!
Post by: JollyBob on 08 April 2008, 09:28:07 AM
Quote from: "Aesthete"
Quote from: "fastolfrus"
Quote from: "Aaron"
Top shelf report.


Does that mean the same at both sides of the Atlantic ?


I surmise that "top shelf" roughly equals "outstanding quality".


Also means (in England, anyway) the top shelf of the Newsagents where the smut and filth is kept out of reach of children.

I'm sure the first version is what was intended.
Title: The Balloonatics!
Post by: Hammers on 08 April 2008, 09:42:37 AM
Quote from: "JollyBob"
Quote from: "Aesthete"
Quote from: "fastolfrus"
Quote from: "Aaron"
Top shelf report.


Does that mean the same at both sides of the Atlantic ?


I surmise that "top shelf" roughly equals "outstanding quality".


Also means (in England, anyway) the top shelf of the Newsagents where the smut and filth is kept out of reach of children.

I'm sure the first version is what was intended.


 :lol: (I will chalk this down as the most entertaining LAF week in a year).
Title: The Balloonatics!
Post by: Plynkes on 08 April 2008, 09:52:15 AM
Yes, Top Shelf implies to a British ear that there was perhaps some kind of Pilots' Wives feature in my report. Sorry to disappoint you but there is not.

The phrase I would use would be Top Drawer. No ambiguity with that one. At least not where I live. No doubt we will soon discover if that means something incredibly funny in Valparaiso, Vienna or Valletta.
Title: The Balloonatics!
Post by: Aaron on 08 April 2008, 02:11:54 PM
Sorry for the confusion. Since you only had one balloon and it was not the type that normally excites I suppose I should indeed have said top drawer. My only defense is that Dolt is my first language.