SoL Rnd 1: Dark(seid) City vs Horse Conjurer

Looking over the the Gamblin’ Circle, the most popular division has been Rose, and the overwhelming majority of pundits seem to think that
Dark(seid) City is the deck to beat. Lots of pumpage, a reasonable degree of consistency, it’s looking to be a combat juggernaut of a deck… but you know, it’s amazing how pretty much any deck can crumble like a house of cards to a bad draw…

For this matchup, I took the reins for the Darkseid’s Elite/Brotherhood combo, while the Eponymous Pablo glared at me across the table with his Shadowpact/Horsemen of Apocalypse concoction. The raw manliness of his beard alone countered the initial confidence the community had in Flashback81’s deck, and as we rolled the dice for initiative I could feel a cold chill creeping slowly up my spine.

Winning the dice roll (a rarity in the Gdaycave, I assure you - normally I’m intimately familiar with the sides of my dice with but a single pip), I opted to take odds…

SoL Rnd 1: Looney Bin vs Pate de FOE-IGras

Looney Bin (Spud) vs. Pâté de FOES IG-ras (Pablo)
(write-up by Spud)

Spud wins the roll and takes odds.

Turn 1, both players pass with no recruit.

Turn 2, Pablo brings out IQ. Spud plays Tally Man and passes. Pablo goes into Tally Man with a Chain Lightning (fearing a Smiles on the return attack) for an early 4 damage.

On 3, Spud recruits Julia Carpenter, and Pablo counters with Time Trapper behind IQ. Spud doesn’t have the pump to put Tally Man into IQ and then Smiles the Trapper, so he takes the easy route– Julia into IQ, flipping a team-up to exhaust IQ, and playing Smiles, Everyone! from hand to exhaust Trapper and KO IQ. Tally man can’t hurt the exhausted Trapper, so it’s on to 4.

Pablo’s 4 is the preferred Felix Faust, but Spud counters with DCX Hush, eliciting a groan from Pablo. Not wanting to risk Felix into Hush (and wisely, because Spud is holding a Nasty Surprise), Felix goes into Julia, and Trapper follows by diving into Tally Man. On his init, Spud runs Hush through Time Trapper. Seeing that his “make the opponent search, discard, and burn” combo is about to be shut down, Pablo plays two Secret Files and a Call In A Favor to burn Spud for 6; both players fix their curve up to 7. Trapper stuns and KOs, and it’s off to turn 5.

The worst part about Summer of Love

is knowing that I’m knee-deep in assembling decks, playing matches, loading cards into MWS for those games that we just can’t play live…

… and thus my regular posting schedule goes all out of whack. I can’t be the only one who’s realised that I completely missed doing a new caption contest thus Thursday just gone.

On the plus side, Summer of Love seems to has not only garnered for itself teasers on the #1 VS System podcast on the entirety of teh interwebs, The Ring Has Chosen, but it’s even managed to eke a post out of one of my favourite VS personalities, Aaron Mead, over at It’s A VS Life.

Is Aaron right about his deck’s potential to win it all? It’s fighting in a pretty tough bracket, including popular favourites such as Flashback81’s Dark(seid) City, HomerJ’s “Hi Everybody!” “Hi Dr Spectrum!”, and of course, Baldman’s Shake ‘n Bake…

This could very well be your last chance to get a bid in over at the gamblin’ circle for you free chance to win an entire freakin’ set of MUN…

I’ll also take this moment to tip my hat and say thank you to everyone who’s made a pick for Summer of Love’s Prom over at VSRealms. Only one deck can give us our prom king and queen, and Jackson352’s certainly shown himself to be a man of discerning tastes when choosing his preferred royal prom couple. I’m not saying he stands much of a chance, I’m just saying the dude’s a class act

Lost Hemisphere’s Summer Of Love entries can be found here
The full bracket, including decklists, can be found here
The general discussion thread can be found here

Warmachine: What?

Taking a quick breather before I dive headfirst into Summer Of Love games, I’ve been thoroughly enjoying painting this week, while geeking out and watching episode after episode of the new Dr Who series (thank you local library, who just happened to have Season Two on DVD).

I’ve been working some more on my Searforge Commission collection for Warmachine. It’s slow going because, well, I keep putting the brush down to watch more Dr Who… it’s a curse, I know, but sometimes geek interests collide, and we just have to make the best of an overly geeky situation.

Ogrun Bokur, work in progress

Aside from taking this opportunity to show you the current work in progress, my Ogrun Bokur (trans: Ogre Bodyguard), I thought I’d give a quick explanation of Warmachine and its feral counterpart, Hordes.

The game is set in the fictional world of Immoren. Here, mankind struggles and fights within itself over contested borders and ideological conflicts, while at the same time it is beset by armies of species that were here long before the age of man. Don’t misunderstand though, mankind is hardly the victim here, and is responsible for more than its fair share of bloodletting.

DCU Preview: Amazons & Cyclopes

You may have noticed a little online shindig that’s been going on recently, some little blathering about a fan-made set called DC Universe, kinda something to help fill in the gap since the negotiations for the next official DC set haven’t yet stabilised… if you haven’t, take a bo-peep over here.

Today, Lost Hemisphere gets to give you a little peek at not one, but two location-based army cards for the forces of Themyscira: Amazons, and Cyclopes.

Thursday 13 #24: Doing the rounds

I remember way back in the dim dark recesses of Lost History (two dozen T13’s ago, to be precise!) how exciting it was to be part of the Blog Boom, riding the wave as the blogosphere exploded with VS content. It seemed like every man and his dog was starting a VS System related blog, and it was a wonder to behold…

… but as with all things, gravity took hold, and what went up slowed to a brief stop, and then tipped from its apogee and started sliding. Damn you and your laws, Newton!

What I’m referring to is the sad number of VS blogs that just dried up. The writers stopped posting. Enthusiasm flared, burn down the matchstick, and then died as it singed the fingers.

This week’s T13, I want to tip my hat at those of us still in the game - a nod, if you will, to 13 blogs that have shoved through the doldrums and gone on to provide a continual stream of VS-related niftiness.

Fellow VS bloggers, in no particular order, this one’s for you. No images this week, cos I’m a lazy sod with a lot to do tonight

Hobby League: The best laid plans

… of mice and men… yadda yadda something or other.

We had built a bunch of decks and were planning on getting stuck into some of the Summer Of Love games tonight along with a Coming Of Galactus run, but our plans were disrupted by…

NEW PLAYERS!

Reinforcing my opinion that we need Legend-style decks similar to the WoW starters to help get new players into the game, two lads picked up Hobby Kingdom’s last Hellboy EC, took a deck each, and threw down.

Summer of Love: Calla Lily Division

The final quadrant of the Summer of Love bracket has been revealed!

• Claw Society (SecSoc/Weapon X by Kamiza) vs. Adamantium Skrullmate (Checkmate/Skrulls by KansasHoops)
• Hitler’s Wristwatch (Thule/Kang by Stubarnes) vs. Box Full of Evil (BPRD/Legionnaires by Jaxxin)The
• Looney Bin (Arkham/Alpha Flight by Captain Spud) vs. Pâté de FOES IG-ras (Injustice Gang/Future Foes by Flashback81)
• /r/ moar cards (Infinity Watch/Negative Zone by Soshi Kenpachi) vs. CrimeWatch (Underworld/Crime Lords by Majestic)

This is a really fun division– it has the BPRD squaring off against the Thule Society, but even more entertaining: Claw Society and Adamantium Skrullmate, two decks we paired up before we had any decklists, are both Wolverine legend decks attempting to exploit different versions of the Short Stack to maul their opponent’s face. That is going to be one seriously brutal match to watch.

Note that with the last division up, the Prom choices have now opened up, as has the Gamblin’ Circle. Head over and start making your picks!

Summer of Love: The Prom

Ah, the prom. The glory of neo-debutantes and social climbers, the bane of geeks and nerds. Is there any other place where worlds collide with such… oh, I don’t know the word, but it’s certainly such.

And now, with the Summer of Love rolling out, it’s time for everyone to cast their votes. Couples are filing in, gossip is circling through the social cliques - which couple are going to take the crown as the 2008 Summer of Love Prom King & Queen?

To make your picks for Prom King & Queen, or to see more details on this particular contest, click here.

Lost Hemisphere’s Summer Of Love entries can be found here
The full bracket, including decklists, can be found here
The general discussion thread can be found here

In other news, now we know where they trained…

Summer of Love: Carnation Division Revealed

Another day, another quadrant of the Summer of Love bracket revealed to our (*cough*) Legions of adoring fans.

Pfft. Shut up. We totally have legions.

• Crisis Knights (Crisis/MK by Baldman) vs. Wild & Sticky (Wild Pack/Spider-Friends by TDB)
• Mask of Steel (Doom/Team Supes by CaptainComet) vs. The Revenge of Tony Danza from his Tapdance Extravaganza (Fearsome 5/Outsiders by OnyxWeapon)
• New Birds (New Gods/Birds of Prey by Runaway) vs. Titans United (Teen Titans/United Front by HomerJ)
• Rebellion in New Jersey (Defenders/Manhunters by Gdaybloke) vs. Green ‘Rine (Green Lantern/X-Men by CarlosTheDwarf)

Stay tuned tomorrow for the unveiling of the final bracket and the beginning of the betting!