02 March 2008

Today was a pretty laid-back day. We took the dogs to the dog park and threw the ball for Annie for a while. Buddy ran around and met all the other dogs and people. We left a little earlier than we wanted to, as there were a lot of really aggressive dogs there today running in a pack. They beat up someone's Lab while we were there and we didn't really want any of that. No blood was drawn, but they kept knocking it over and swarming it. If the owners of the Lab hadn't waded in and stopped it I think it was on the way to becoming a dogfight. I tried to think of a good way to work Michael Vick into this story, but I'm not feeling very witty today.

After the dog park we gave the dogs a bath, as they were filthy. That's always an experience. I don't know why but every time Buddy gets done with his bath he runs full-tilt around the house for about thirty minutes. I don't know if he's trying to run away from the clean feeling or what, but it's fun to watch.

My copy of Battlegames #11 came in today, so I'll probably sit down and read that tonight before bed. The super-secret subscription offer doesn't really strike me as irresistible, especially at a cost of around $140 for two years. That's a pretty penny for me and none of the free gift offers are extremely appealing to me, so I'll probably pass on it and either continue buying individual issues or spring for a one-year subscription. They've got the subscription deal listed on their website for anyone who wants to check it out for themselves.

I went through all 11 of my Lord of the Rings 500-points lists and figured out every box and blister pack I'd need to buy to build those forces. It's a fairly large number, about the same price as a 3000-point Warhammer army. I may cut a couple of armies from my list, as nearly half of the total cost is tied up in 3 of the armies. They are the forces without many plastic figures. After looking at the numbers, I may stop at 500 points for each army. I'd really like to build them all up to 1000 points, but maybe I'll go for 500 and see what happens. I'm relatively close to having all the figures I need for Dwarves, Easterlings, and Moria. I only need about $40 in figures to have all I need for those. The Wood Elf list is very cheap, as I've already got a Legolas and the troops are almost exclusively plastic figures. I'm not sure what I want to do yet, but I guess I could start with painting the figures I've already got.

I guess that's about all I have to write about tonight. Not an extremely exciting post, but that's how it goes.

Oh, actually I've got one more thing to talk about. I cruised by the Wizards of the Coast website yesterday and read their little D & D 4th Edition document. The new edition sounds really cool, even though I will more than likely never play the game, much like the 15 or so sourcebooks I've got for the 3.5 Edition of the game. From what I can tell, they simplified everything so that there's a lot less flipping through books studying the rules, leaving more time for playing. I'm a fan of simplification, so the idea appeals to me. The online subscription component is a little off-putting, but I guess it would be akin to subscribing to an MMO, as the virtual tabletop allows you to group up and play with people who may not be located anywhere in your immediate vicinity. As I understand it, you also get access to two online magazines as part of the subscription. The value of the subscription seems to hinge on how often you actually get to play the game. If you could find a good group and play a game every week it'd be a decent value, especially if you don't have much of a local scene to participate in.

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