Top 10 Magic Items of the Movies

The next installment of the Top 10 is Magic Items.  In the last two lists I looked at Magic Users: that's great for them, but what about the rest of us shmucks who don't have a magic attuned bone in our bodies?

Luckily for us, the movies present us with the magical equivalent of Q's latest gadgets.

So dig into the bag of holding and see what you pull out!  Time for:

First up: define our terms.

A magic item is an artifact or item, some physical object that someone can use to do something magical.
Not science: a garage door opener is an item you hold in your hand that appears to levitate a door, but it isn't magic.  I'm placing value based on amount and versatility of the power and effect the item would give someone, ideally: anyone. Some magic items only work for one specific person, and that's a pretty lousy item, assuming (which is likely) you are not that person.  Remember the Sword in the Stone? Great if you're the intended special dude but it's just a tease for anyone else...

Joe: "What do you have there?"
Bill: "A magic sword."
Joe: "Cool!  What's it do?"
Bill: "Not sure.  I think it's supposed to make me king, or give me power, or something."
Joe: "You haven't tried it?"
Bill: "No, I can't get it out of it's packaging."
Joe: "Oh, one of those plastic clam-shells? I hate those, I can never get it open. You tried biting it?"
Bill: "No, I mean it's stuck in this rock unless you're the right person."
Joe: "Dude... bummer... so it's just like a big rock on a stick"

So, yeah: Sword in the Stone isn't making the list, which I had reminded to me isn't the same as Excalibur: correct, but the sword lobbed by the watery tart has only one user too, and if only one person can use an item that's going to weigh against it in my assessment.

Another consideration with these things: The Fine Print: what are the downsides to using the item?
Also, the items have to be from a movie I have seen, or I can't rate it.  So on we go!

#10: The Glaive

I am pretty sure this was magic.. was it ever explained?  A fantasy medieval planet overlorded by a giant alien in a giant alien spaceship-become-dark castle. But this guy never cut his fingers off catching that thing so I have to think it's magic.  Ninja magic laser beam throwing staroomerang.  I was 14 when I saw Krull and wanted this thing soooo bad.  Good thing I didn't get it or no car tires in the neighborhood would have been safe. It's more flash than function though, I mean really... short of puncturing tires what are you going to do with this if the alien overlord never shows up to dominate your planet?

#9: The Sampo

From the tales of the Kalevala to the screen of MST3K via Soviet film making, brings us The Sampo.
The Day the Earth Froze (see full video at the end) remains one of my favorite MST3K episodes.  A tale of how Mel Brooks and C.Everett Koop conspired to hoard the means of production for their own personal selfish gain and plunge the rest of the world into eternal winter.  Now I see why it was interesting to the Soviet film industry, that's some good propaganda. The Sampo is an item, the delicate nature of which appears to require repeated rythmic hammer blows to create, and then you're left with an item which will make a never ending supply of grain, salt & gold. I am unclear if there is just one 'ON' switch and you're stuck with 30 metric tons of salt in addition to the gold you were after.  Still, could solve the world's hunger problems (who's doesn't love salty bread?) if you can keep it out of the hands of greedy witches. But don't take my word for it, watch the movie below!

#8: Brass Teapot

From the film of the same name, a quirky take on an old standard: the item that will make you rich.
This one is refreshing for a questionably cursed item in that it makes no secrets about it's harmful side effect, it's right there in the operating instructions: to make it work, it needs pain.  Have the teapot & stub your toe? Pop! it makes money.  Break your arm?  Pop-pop! Even more money! In a race between humanity's greed and capacity to inflict harm, this is a match made in heaven.. or someplace else.

But I have to think they just were not thinking creatively enough. Granted they had some creative ideas:

So I get to 'punish' you and we get free magic money? Thank you Teapot.

But why not just take the teapot where there is unchecked suffering already and just let the teapot crank out the money?  Then use the money to help fix those problems. Oh! Haha Teapot, got you! Of course, doesn't mean you have to tell your female companion about that, seeing how she's already in that black outfit and all.

#7: The One Ring

The One Ring: not #1. And for good reason. This might be the highest prized item for Sauron, but the rest of us lose a lot more than we gain.  Extended life is great, I wouldn't mind being a spry one hundred and eleventy year old someday. And the invisibility is a nice touch no doubt about it.  But the whole corrupting you into a wraith if you don't get rid of it, and the high addiction factor brings it down quite a bit.  So FDA warning label reads: may bring on wraithdom.  If it could be mass produced it'd probably be marketed as a dietary aid.  The only reason it isn't lower on the list is you could still do a lot with it, it's got huge historical significance, and the competition isn't very fierce if you're not greedy or have an unquenchable desire for salt.

#6: Magic Mirror

This one is much more valuable within-story than it would be for us.  We do have Google afterall, so a lot of this is covered already.  But this is like NSA level Google. You get to know everything, even what people are thinking.  Get creative, you could get some good uses out of that.  Probably not enough to justify a multi-trillion budget and losing what little trust and confidence might still remain of your people.. or you could just use it to ask if you're still pretty enough.  Your call.

#5: Dagger of Time

Time Travel is always high on people's wish list.  This one is pretty limited, but does seem to help keep you alive, so that's a bonus.  Makes a Prince of Persia a more impressive fighter than a Jedi Knight, so there has to be something to it.  And the blade is so small compared to a light saber. Guess size doesn't matter.  Not if you can control time.

#4: Tablet of Ahkmenrah

Make every night a Night at the Museum: and bring it out into the world.  When I was a kid I was sure my toys came alive at night and played, moved around.  A lot of kids do.  Guess our toys don't like us much since they won't do this when we're awake.  Well screw them, use this tablet to make them and every other inanimate object you want come to life and do what you want!  I am the puppet master! Oh, wrong movie. But what untapped potential. Disaster relief? Make animated statues go in and rescue people. Hostage negotiations? An army of plastic ants ought to do the trick. Plus I want to see the Statue of Liberty wrestle the Eiffel Tower! Pay Per View! And if things ever get really bad, just animate the world's mannequins and unleash your army and take over the world until you set things straight.

#3: Tesla's Machine from Prestige

I know, I know... Tesla: science.  But come on, this is clearly more magic than science.
Spoiler Alert: Ready?  If not, skip to the next or go down and watch the Sampo movie.

OK: it's not a transporter, it's a copy machine.

This is one of David Bowie's cooler ideas.  I mean Tesla's idea. Not the band Tesla, goodgod not the band.
Bowie makes this awesome magic machine and it's just wasted.

Word to the wise Tesla: don't trust Gollum around your magic items!

This thing has such amazing untapped potential.  Think about what you could do if you could copy anything. Not only is it a licence to print money, but that's got limited benefit with inflation, but think of all the good you could do!  78 people on the waiting list for a heart but you only have 1 donated?  Not anymore! Schools need computers or smart phones? Crank em out and no need to force Chinese workers to live in the factory dreaming of a suicide retirement.

Now if it would just play the B-side of Low while turned on this would really be a magical device.

#2: The Horn Resounding

It's not going to make you rich, and probably won't save the world (though it might).  But the Horn Resounding can open up a way to travel to the realm of the Gods.  I assume it could also travel to other destinations? Maybe it depends on what note you blow. Inter-dimensional travel?  Oh I can't resist that.  Every generation has wondered what if anything is beyond death, and with this magic item you get to go and find out, without having to die! I'm not sure what it says that every Viking on the ship was unable to blow the horn, but they all transported to a magic realm when the only woman on board saddled up to blow the big horn... yeah, maybe this is like one of those Roreshak tests.

It's an awesome magic item.  Much better than the other 'magic item' in Erik the Viking...

Erik's 'invisibility cloak' which was actually more of a rag on his head than a cloak, and also more of a does-not-turn-you-invisible-rag, instead encourages you to dance around and make a fool out of yourself. 

#1: The Map

With this map you have everything you need to set out on your career as a Time Bandit. 

Speaking as someone who has been well-bitten by the travel bug, this would be Awesome. 

A map that gives you all the secret backdoors to the shoddily-made universe.  

Travel through time!  Future or Past, change events, explore, learn, or as one bandit put it "get stinking filthy rich". So much to know! I wants it. Is this actually a magic item?  Hmmm... not certain.  Probably?  But the doors are magic and this is the key to understanding the doors, so it's all wrapped up in the same magic item concept.  Oh, and did I mention you not only get to travel through time but you get to travel to other versions of reality.. lands of myths and legends! I was sold already, but no question now. 

Downside: The Devil is after you for the map.  OK, that's bad, but still totally worth it. 

........................

So that's my list, what's yours?

Agree with me?  Disagree?  Have other items in mind? 

For your Friday enjoyment.. get yourself a Sampo!

MST3K Says: 

"If you know what a Sampo is, write it on a piece of paper, 

throw it away and try not to think about it.

You'll be glad you did."

Music to fax yourself by:

On the Nature of Natural Magic

So I've been miserable sick for going on 48 hours, so don't have a lot of minis progress to show you.

Hopefully that state won't last too long.  We'll see.

But I have noticed that the fever-addled brain is a very creative and productive brain.
Maybe it is making up for the fact that your body refuses to do anything but drain & ache.
But I think it may more likely be that this sick-misery-fever-head pounding is similar to what shamanic traditions have always understood: bring the body close to death & the brain in an altered state and you get some fun results. So you'll have to tell me if this idea I'll present is fun stuff or if it's the kind of odd weirdness that makes sense in a dream and nonsense when you wake up.  Speaking of, my illness-enhanced dream last night was awesome.. I was searching on hands & knees in a backyard garden and found a trail of snail-sized sauropods, looking like micro brontosaurs with spiky snail shells on their back, and their flesh was like that of slugs & snails.  Too cool.  Back on track..

I've mentioned I like to write game rules, and I've been working on rules for skirmish games that should work in any genre and I've been working on rules for 15mm element based unit warfare.  I hoped to come up with a magic system that would work in both, even though they use a different mechanic.  I think I have.

The Compass of Magic

So this is for the basic Magic System for miniatures combat.  It is aiming to be Beer & Pretzel with Interesting Options: a balance between simple & not overpowered and characterful.

I play tested a fantasy skirmish game recently which I liked a lot.  But the magic system was very simple. Fine for what it is, but I want something with more options.  However, something like the magic in Warhammer is too powerful and too much variety for the more simple games I want to make.  Plus there is no way it could work in a skirmish game, considering the power output of some spells. So I want balance but I also want something with flavor.

There will be other magic traditions added later, but to start with I will focus just on Natural Magic, which would be the basic magic and the other magic traditions as options.

Natural Magic dates back to the oldest shamanic roots of the prehistoric times. Sometimes this is called 'elemental magic' of the four elements, but this is an over-simplification as you will see.

Natural Magic is divided into 10 aspects of nature: 4 Major Aspects and 6 Minor Aspects, though in truth none are more powerful than another, but the Major Aspects pull the focus of those who use magic so that they are unable to stray far from the Major Aspect of Magic which guides them.

The Major Aspects of Magic are associated with the four cardinal directions:

Air: North

Fire: East

Earth: South

Water: West

Between Air and Fire there is Sand Magic

Between Fire and Earth there is Lava Magic

Between Earth and Water there is Mud Magic

Between Water and Air there is Ice Magic

Across the four polar opposites there are also adjacent intersectional magics:

At the intersection of Air and Earth there is Lightning Magic

At the intersection of Fire and Water there is Steam Magic

The intersectional magics while powerful can be extremely difficult and dangerous for the wielder.

There are many paths to walk for those who follow magic. Generally speaking, wielders of magic come in three power tiers. Some focus in one aspect of magic, others seek a wider breadth of knowledge.

In game terms, you can think of this as a level 1, 2 or 3 level magic caster.

Every magic caster of Natural Magic is centered in one of the ten Aspects of Magic.

A level 1 caster has but one option:

Initiate of (Aspect) : The Caster has 1 level 1 spell in their chosen aspect.

A level 2 caster has a few options:

Adept of (Aspect): The caster has 1 level 2 spell in their chosen aspect.

Scholar of (Aspect): The caster has 2 level 1 spell in their chosen aspect.

Journeyman of (Aspect and Aspect): The caster has 1 level 1 spell in their chosen aspect and 1 adjacent aspect.

A level 3 caster has many options:

Summoner of (Aspect)*: The caster has 1 level 3 spell of their chosen aspect.

* The exception is a level 3 caster of Steam is called an Artificer.

Grande Scholar of (Aspect): The caster has 1 level 2 and 1 level 1 spell in their chosen aspect.

Grande Adept of (Aspect): The caster has 3 level 1 spells in the chosen aspect

Grande Transmuter of (Aspect and Aspect): The caster has 2 level 1 spells in their chosen aspect and 1 level 1 spell in an adjacent aspect.

Rogue Adept of (Aspect, Aspect and Aspect): The caster has 3 level 1 spells in three different but adjacent aspects.

When given titles, the first Aspect listed will always be the primary chosen aspect which if the caster is more powerful in one aspect than another, it will be in their primary aspect.

It must be noted that if choosing the path of the Rogue Adept the chosen Aspects must be adjacent Aspects but not include more than One Major Aspect, for the Cardinal Aspects are too diametrically opposed to be mastered by a mortal.

Examples:

A level 1 caster might be an Initiate of Fire or an Initiate of Ice

A level 2 caster might be an Adept of Air or a Scholar of Lava, or a Journeyman of Mud and Water.

A level 3 caster might be a Summoner of Water, or a Summoner of Lightning .. or

A level 3 caster might be a Grande Scholar of Ice .. or

A level 3 caster might be a Grande Adept of Fire ...or

A level 3 caster might be a Grande Transmuter of Steam and Fire ...or

A level 3 caster might be a Rogue Adept of Fire, Sand and Lava or Rogue Adept of Air, Lightning and Sand

but he could not be a Rogue Adept of Earth, Mud and Water because this includes two Major Aspects.

...................................

As you can see, a level 1 caster will always have 1 spell, a level 2 may have 2 level 1 spells or only 1 of a higher level, and a level 3 caster may have 3 (level 1), 2 (a level 2 & level1) or 1 (level 3)spell.

Spells: 

I have started compiling a spell list for each aspect.

Each Aspect will have 3 level 1 spells, 1 level 2 spell and 1 level 3 spell.  

The level 3 spell is always a summoning of an elemental, except in the case of Steam, which is a repair ability for a construct which the caster starts the game with. 

Examples of Spells: 

AIR

L1. Gust: target is slowed by 2” and has missile fire ranges halved.

L1. Guiding wind: target friendly may re-roll failed missile fire

L1. Protecting Breeze: Any successful missile hit against the caster must be re-rolled.

L2. Tornado: target is moved d6” in random direction.

L3. Summon Air Elemental

When the Elemental is not summoned the Summoner has +1 to all stats and a bonus to dispell

FIRE

L1. Flametongue: Target's melee weapon damage is increased by 2.

L1. Gout of Flame: 6” range: missile attack +2

L1. Firestrike: 12” range: missle attack +1

L2. Rain of Fire: target friendly missile fire does double damage.

L3. Summon Elemental

When the Elemental is not summoned the Summoner has +1 to all stats and a bonus to dispell 

..............................

What do you think? 

Have any ideas for spells?  

I'd love to hear them.  I have almost 2/3 of the list full, but I may not keep them all. 

There will also be a counter-spell ability, which will have modifiers for level and for direct opposite caster aspects: casters of Fire versus Water have an easier time canceling each other's power than say, a caster of Ice versus Water. 

See the long odd stuff you get when all I can physically manage is typing instead of painting?

And as long as we're talking about the elements... like Earth, Wind & Fire, this is too fun to pass up...

Enjoy!

Comedy Central

The Abydon Despoilers : Khemri Blood Bowl Team

The latest team to join The Hall of Fame, where all the past Blood Bowl teams reside..

The Abydon Despoilers.

This isn't my team, unfortunately. It is a commissioned project.
I am quite happy with the result and it has me looking forward to painting my own Khemri team.
There is just something very pleasing to me about the theme, colors and style of the Egyptian Undead.

Khemri is one of the most challenging teams in Blood Bowl.  They probably rank there with Vampires and the Stunty teams for playability.  No players with better than Agility 2 is a big sign that this is a hard team to play: even the ball carriers are only agility 2, which on most teams means you'd not even consider giving them the ball.  The team does have access to four mummies... hard to turn your nose up at four strength 5 players, but they start with no useful skills and suffer from 'decay' which means they get 2 injuries for every one they receive: ouch.

I'm in the camp that believe the Khemri deserve a revision.  Probably not the four Mighty Blow Mummies they had before, but maybe giving the Throw-ra's Agility 3, and Agility Access skills on standard rolls might be in order too.  Blitz-ra's should go down in cost to 80k, there is just no reason they should cost the same as wights when their agility is so poor in comparison.  And remove the Decay skill from Mummies and I think the team would still be challenging, but a more fair construction.

In the meantime, let's take a look at the team!
The whole team is from the Egyptain Undead line from Willy Miniatures, except for the tokens which is a shield from GW Khemri and scratch built scarab beads.

The Mummies

Other than theme, this is probably the most compelling reason to play Khemri: four strength 5 players!

These are very large miniatures.  They're serious hulks.

The Blitz-Ras and Throw-Ras: the workhorses of the team.

Skeletons: the fodder of the team.

Willy Minis really outdid themselves: i love these sculpts.

A set of Tokens: I believe every team should have their own themed tokens.

A team can't complain about having some Star Players to draw on either!

Hack Enslash: A chainsaw is a cheap and devastating inducement. 

Ramtut III: A strength 6 break-tackling, mighty blow Mummy!  Bringing the hurt.

Setekh: Strength 4 block, break tackle, strip-ball: very handy defensive player.

Ramtut is an especially large Mummy... he's nearly the size of an Ogre or Troll, and in fact is bigger than my 2nd edition Orc team's Troll! 

Now that is a frightening looking line up!

You can see how Ramtut towers over the already very large Mummy miniatures. 

To give him the impression of greater age I gave him a darker skin tone and wrappings more moldering and dark. To lighten it back up a bit and make him stand out more I also added polished ivory to his turquoise ornamentation. 

And now the whole team together (click for larger): 

The Abydon Despoilers

I tried, but I can't resist...

Enjoy!

The Ingolstadt Immortals : My Latest Blood Bowl Team: Undead/Necromantic Orcs!

Victorc Frankenstein was a dok of notable potential.  His father, a famous dok of the badlands, and wealthy beyond reason, for he withdrew many more teef than other doks, could see that young Victorc could become a dok of even greater skill and fame than himself.  So of course he decided to kill his son.

Victorc was no fool.  He escaped in the night with a large bag of toolz and a hefty bag of teef and set out to the city of Ingolstadt to enroll in the University.  The University dean was a Vampire of exceptional power and skill: a master of unlife. The University had students from many powerful families, mostly from Naggaroth and the less reputable families of the Empire. They had never had an Orc enroll before, as Orcs don't read.

But Victorc was not about to let something like that get in his way.  When the advanced anatomy class met the next night, the class found Victorc already there, along with a dark elf noble,who had voiced strong criticism of Victorc being granted admission.  The elf voiced no such concerns now however, as his mouth was missing, being sewn over with his own skin and a skaven's arm sewn beneath one of his own, apparently all working fine.  Victorc was admitted to the University.

In his second year Victorc tried out for the University Blood Bowl team.  He was an accomplished thrower and enjoyed having control over the plays, directing the flow of the team.  He worked long into the night perfecting the skills of necromancy and after graduation recruited orcs and goblins from the local marauding tribes to form a Blood Bowl team, The Ingolstadt Invaders, for the regional league.

Unfortunately, Victorc found that orcs & goblins, generally speaking, are frustratingly stupid and stubborn.  Worse still, they expected to get paid, whether they won or not!  Mid-season he held a celebratory feast for the team, where he poisoned them all. In the week that followed he used his medical knowledge and sorcery to rebuild his team, more befitting his grand design.

He changed the team name to The Ingolstadt Immortals, tore up the now unneeded player contracts and set about to make his fortune.

.........................

Victorc Frankenstein gloats before a match

The Ingolstadt Immortals (+1 orc tooth for knowing why that city) may look a bit like an Orc team, but they are a combo team that can be either Undead or Necromantic.  Those teams share a lot of players, but have some differences.  Undead have 2 mummies where Necro has 2 flesh golems.  Undead can have 4 ghouls, Necro only 2.  Undead linechumps can be zombies or skeletons, Necro are only zombies, and Necromantic can have 2 werewolves and Undead can not have any. 

Let's see the team:

The coach, Victorc Frankenstein.  I will use this as my turn marker. 

Cheerleader (lost an arm from vigorous cheering) will be used for score marker, and graves as re-rolls.

The Wights: skeletal orcs.

Mummies / Flesh Golems.  

I won't mind using these as mummies: easily big enough for Strength 5, even bigger than Willy Mummies!

Ghouls: Ghostly Goblins.

Werewolves: Why should it always be humans turning into wolves? Why not Orcs?

Zombies: Reanimated Goblins. 

The nice thing about zombie goblins: stronger than mortal goblins! The bad thing: all that decaying flesh prevents them from their spry dodging. But, they don't need to be fed or paid! 

Skeletons: Zombie Goblins past their prime can have their remaining flesh boiled away.

They're a little easier to damage this way, but they pick up more speed without the dead weight.

A friend of Victorc, the Orc Vampire, Count Luthorc Von Drakenborc sometimes plays for the team.

It's always nice to have a likely star player to make a team feel more 'complete'.

The team: click for larger

The Ingolstadt Immortals

The team will now join The Hall of Fame (tab at the top of the blog) and get me 2 teams closer to my goal of having all 24 teams! 

Undead are considered one of the better teams in Blood Bowl, and Necromantic have a lot of flexibility of play style, so I'm sure I'll enjoy them.  I wasn't that excited about the theme of Undead until I thought of the undead orc concept.. orcs are always fun theme. 

Thanks for looking!

Enjoy!

Blood Bowl Apothecary: A Conversion & Stock Up On Apples!

All Blood Bowl teams other than the undead ones, can hire apothecaries.
Apothecaries have a chance of healing an injured player in the course of the game, which can be very useful.
Then again, the doctor's efforts may be lethal, and you simply fall back on the lesser injury.

Many teams in a tournament have the dilemma of choosing between hiring an apothecary and an extra lineman.  That can be a tough call. One the one hand, an extra lineman is a guaranteed extra body to take the field.  But on the other hand, if the apothecary roll is good, or if (50% chance) the injury was only a basic 'badly hurt' the apothecary can bring a much more skilled and important player back to play.

My own feeling is I'd usually prefer the apothecary, if I do have expensive skilled players, especially those with low armor.  Plus, if you've had no need for his services for injuries and it's late in the game, likely the last drive, you can use him on a knocked out result, and leave the player just stunned on the pitch, ready to play again after a turn on the ground: very valuable.

Here is an apothecary I converted for a client's project. I really wish this miniature was sold individually, I'd buy a bunch and convert a lot of these!  This is a doctor I'd be very unhappy to see preparing to operate on me!  I'd eat an apple tree to keep this doctor away.

He started life as a Gnoblar Trapper.  But he's traded his big mallet in,after having completed his correspondence courses in anatomy and home surgery. And by 'completed his courses' I mean he opened the box of surgical tools and headed out to the stadium to look for a job! 

This is going to be a very fun team. Stay tuned for more.

Enjoy!

Chaos Cup 2013 Wrap-Up": Awards, Final Thoughts & Looking Forward

It is amazing how much happens in just a few days at something like this.
Conventions & Tournaments are great experiences.  Not that leagues and normal club gaming isn't good, but these are like vacations. They drop little marker stones along the past.

The Chaos Cup

The winner doesn't actually get to take this home, but they do get to lay their grubby mits on it and hold it over their head for a photo, and eventually there will be some kind of engraving plaque I heard, for the names of those who have won it.  

Maybe me someday?  

Not going to hold my breath waiting for the skill...

still, the world can be his who can roll strings of 6's.. but again... I won't hold my breath. 

................................

One last play I saw in the last game. I went to go see how Dan was doing, and was treated to one of the most impressive almost-brilliant plays I've ever seen. 

Dan's Chaos Dwarves were playing Steve's, from the podcast Both Down, Lizardmen. 

The game was a tie and it was the last turn of the game. 

Steve Dodges with his Kroxigor (a big lumbering lizard with the agility of a Redwood) who doesn't have Break Tackle, he has Pro (a 4+ re-roll once per turn). Makes his dodge! Goes to pick up the ball (also nearly impossible for this creature) and snags the ball!  He runs, but he's 2 spaces away from scoring... so he Goes For It... makes it!  Goes For It to score... rolls a 1! Fail! Rolls for Pro... fails it: Kroxigor falls on his face in the end zone: game ends in a tie.  

Wow, that was some amazing skill from the Kroxigor, only let down by the easiest roll he had to make at the end.  I was rooting for that Krox, it would have been glorious. 

..............................

The hall of the event was great.  It didn't get hot, there was plenty of room and it didn't get too noisy. 

Not pictured in the above, directly behind the field of view was Impact Miniatures.
Tom had a large store set up both days which was awesome.  It gave it the feeling of a convention, and also meant you could pick up some items free of tax & shipping.  I got some more Apes.. one can never have too many apes... and a cool laser cut standing scoreboard, and a felt Street Bowl pitch.  Very cool.

The entries for the painting contests are just starting to come in.  There were a lot of great entries, and again, it was very cool to actually have a painting contest: another aspect that made it feel like a convention instead of just a tournament.

Here was a fun entry.  This is Chaos (pronounced "Chaz"),the mascot of the Chaos Cup in Slannesh style.
Chaos changes each year for the theme, and here (s)he is looking a lot like a Daemonette.  If you turn the mini around you'd find tucked between it's legs evidence of the original gender.

So who won the whole thing?

David Granberg, of Sweden earned the honor of hoisting the cup.

He had an Undead team, which I heard had one or two Mighty Blow, Piling On Wights. Ouch!

Interestingly, 4 of the top 5 teams were Undead!  The other being Dark Elves.
The top Wood Elf position was at #11 which surprised me, they're usually close to the very top at tournaments too.

There were a lot of awards given out, and with all of the raffle prizes, this meant a lot of goodies got doled out, which is always nice.

My friend Dan who I conspired with to go to Chaos Cup won Most Traveled from the US, beating me out by about 100 miles.

But I didn't go away empty handed.

I entered all three of the painting contest categories.

For Sideline Miniature, I entered my Frog Coach:

For Single Player Miniature, I entered my Dwarf Boar-rider, the "Norse Dwarf Deathroller"

(click to enlarge)

For Team I entered my Gators.

(I need to take a new picture of the team to include the Albino Alligator Star Player)

Best Sideline Miniature went to me, for my Frog Coach

Best Single Player Miniature went to me, for my Dwarf Boar Rider

Best Team went to Matthew for his Slann Team (see my report for Game Five)

and they had a final category, "Judges' Best of Show" award which was given to me for my Gator Team.

I was pretty blown away by all of that and very happy.
And Matthew's win was very well deserved for his lovely frogs.

So I got to pack 3 trophies to take home:

The trophies also came with some free minis, which I always appreciate!

.............................

Thanks to everyone who had a hand in running Chaos Cup.  It was a really good & well-run tournament. 

So that was Chaos Cup for me, done and dusted.

But if anything, it has got me even more excited about playing more Blood Bowl! 

Next year's theme is Tzeench, the god of change & magic & avians. 

If I go, will I make a new team again, chaos of some type themed for Tzeench this time? 

Of will I do something else.. I have so many teams I'm excited about, waiting for paint.  

I did really enjoy playing the Psychedelic Furs, even though they were not a very competitive team, so I don't know.  

But I have about 10 months to think on it.. 

The next tournament for me on the horizon is likely West Coast Quake, in Los Angeles, in January.  

Hope you enjoyed the reports, thanks for reading!

Enjoy!