I got back from Comicpalooza last night after 12 hours of flying, waiting to fly, going through Customs, eating bad, overpriced airport food, etc. All of which was - in combination with the same process on Thursday in the opposite direction - completely and utterly worth it! I had a blast! Seeing the other Skirmishers again, or in several cases, meeting them for the first time, was great. We worked like maniacs from the time I got there on Thursday afternoon until I left Sunday morning. We played pretty hard too, and/or both at the same time - whether it was running and playing games at the Skirmisher Games Pavillion or elsewhere; or keeping everybody happy, lubricated and below 100 decibels at the Skirmisher Party on Saturday night. If you were in the Southwestern US at the time and did not hear us, you weren't listening.

Of course, other Skirmishers were working and playing long before I showed up, and, in fact, are still doing so now.

Which brings me to my next point.

Next time I decide to fly long distances to a game/comic convention, I am going to make sure I get the dates right before I book my flight. Partly because I am from Canada, and our May holiday is the week before, but mostly because of the dumb, I booked a return flight on Sunday, thinking that I would lose out on the last few hours fo the Con, but get home at some reasonable hour, not realizing that Comicpalooza had two full days of programming left that I was going to miss.

Had. I. Only. Known. I could be there still - gaming, running games, hanging out with, and working with, some very fine people.

Also drinking.

But I am home in my hall in frosty Winnipeg [OK, its 20 Celcius/ 70 Fahrenheit as I write this, but winter is coming] enjoying my family again. So I will do what I can as any good skirmisher will, lurking in the woods, fighting on in advance of the main force who are still on the ground in Houston.

Although I helped with Skirnisher's headline act at the Con - Little Orc Wars [a roughly 1000 sq. foot battle using live-fire mini-catapults to resolve much of its conflict and based on H.G. Well, 'Little Wars'] the main part of my contribution to the Skirmisher Game Pavilion was preparing for, and running, Saga of the Wyrm's Son, a set of scenarios set in fantasy viking Scandinavia, using the Chevauchee rules that Skirmisher publishes:

http://www.rpgnow.com/product/58039/Chevauchee-Rules-for-Battles-with-Medieval-Miniatures

If you have been reading past posts about my prep you know some of what went on to get ready [if you haven't, go ahead and look at the last several of my posts so you know what I am talking about. I'll wait].

Now that you are back, if you are intrigued enough that you would like to see the finished product, you can read the rules, setting, characters, magic and scenarios that I developed in the current issue [#6] of d-Infinity magazine, in print, and available as pdf at:

http://www.rpgnow.com/product/130127/dInfinity-Volume-6-The-Mythos

I am happy to say that the sessions I ran went very well. The prep was worthwhile. Between the quick play sheet and cards I developed, we had all the relevant information for each character and what to do with them at hand, without the need to consult a rulebook during actual play. In the 8 or 10 games that I ran, we actually never referred to the rulebook. Which is a testament to the Chevauchee ruleset - I was able to distil what I needed to the point where it ran fast and fun with just the cards in hand, and me to provide interpretation or explanation. People were appreciative of the miniatures, many of which were my own sculpts [Available through my own Baelor Miniatures or Armorcast - links below], and of the viking hall that provided the centerpiece of much of the action. In future posts, I plan on doing a tutorial on making your own long hall  much like the one in the photo [in 28mm; if you want a full sized one, I cannot help you - and I'm not sure if you should be helped]. But if you have always wanted to be a 28 mm tall viking, I can set you up - check back to this space.

The photo is a shot from the first of the two linked scenarios that make up Saga of the Wyrm's Son - in which brigands are interrupted amid their successful raid of an isolated long hall. Chaos ensues. You can see the long hall and an outbuilding, next to a stream in the center of a little valley filled with copses of forest or gorse. Incidentally, I also made the forest stands for this game, and they pack flat, which was a key design component since I knew I was going to have to get all of this, the figures, and a few changes of clothes and a toothbrush to and from Houston by plane. I might do another tutorial on their construction.

For those who have flown with miniatures and/or terrain before - and you can tell who they because they are probably the ones shaking theirs heads at my folly right now for even trying - everything made it there and back with only one plastic shield coming loose from a post on the long hall. I call that a win, especially since I had to put all the terrain in my checked baggage and surrender it to the tender mercies of the airline baggage trolls.

In the photo, which I admit, could have been better shot, you can also see the back of the quick-play sheet  [very informative, I know], and few of the play cards. Which, at this juncture I will plug. I made them using an online application that lets you enter your text on a selection of cards, then export them to pdf for printing. I have used it for a number of things before, like action cards ala Savage Worlds for other games or setting. it worked very nicely for me here. You can go there yourself and make your own cards too:

http://www.godeckyourself.com/home.seam

You can also store your cards there, even make them available to others by going public. I may do that in future for the Saga of the Wyrm's Son cards, once I have an official okey-dokey from Skirmisher HQ.

OK. Enough about me. Let's talk about you. Here are those links I promised you earlier, so you can go and get yourself some viking minis and monsters, send my kids to college, feed the imaginary bulldog I mentioned, etc.

Where I sell my own work direct to you:

http://www.armorcast.com/webstore/miniatures/baelor

Where some of my other work, that I have sold to Armorcast, resides, awaiting purchase by you:

http://www.armorcast.com/webstore/miniatures/lance-laser/historicals

There are more figures in this vein to come, so check back if you like what you see. if you have any questions or comments, post them below. I would be happy to hear from you.

Last, but certainly not least, are links to Little Wars and Little Orc Wars, both also from Skimisher publishing, the source of many good things. They are available in print, just like d-Infinity Magazine, right from Skirmisher, or as pdfs from Drivethru:

http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/55589/HG-Wells-Little-Wars

http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/27947/HG-Wells-Little-Orc-Wars?it=1

Now Go, Game. Have Fun. And come back later when either of us have more to say.