Playoff Preview

There's nothing like playoff hockey! Although the Comets and Thistles failed to qualify for this year's tournament, the second-year Bearcats will be making their first playoff appearance. The previous expansion team, the Millionaires, won the Creighton Cup in just their second season. Will lightning strike twice with the Cats? Let's find out! Below are the matchups for the best-of-five opening round.

Victorias (1st) vs. Millionaires (4th)

The Vics' 13 wins and +26 goal differential were both the best in history. Their offense (3.25 goals per game) and defense (1.95 goals against per game) were tops in the league. Can anything stop this squad from a steamrolling to a threepeat? Here's one troubling stat: 2-2-0. That was the Vics' record against their first-round opponent, the Millies. Against everyone else, they went 11-2-3, so why the .500 record versus a team that finished 7-8-5 on the season with a -7 differential? Maybe it was bad luck, but this was the dance partner the Vics absolutely didn't want. Even so, I'm picking the Vics to win this playoff series in four games.

Bearcats (2nd) vs. Bulldogs (3rd)

Goaltender Hap Holmes and rookie phenom Joe Malone led the plucky Bearcats to a surprise second-place finish. The Bulldogs, meanwhile, got solid contributions from up and down their balanced lineup. The teams had similar goal differentials (+7 for the Cats, +5 for the Dogs) and their season series was pretty close, going 2-1-1 for the Cats. A Bulldogs win would be a mild upset, but the team has really been coming together in recent weeks, so perhaps this veteran Dogs squad is peaking at the right time. I'm concerned enough by their dead-last penalty kill (68%), however, to call this one for the Cats in five.

Conquest of Nerath

Conquest of Nerath is a board game based on 4e D&D. When it was first released, many years ago, I didn't feel that I could justify the expense. This year, however, as I was looking for cool board game ideas for Nathaniel for Christmas, I got to thinking about Nerath again and figured it would be very much to his liking, as it's a D&D product but also heavily influenced by Axis & Allies, which is probably his all-time favorite board game. I managed to get a copy of Nerath on eBay for a reasonable price, and today we got set up for our first game.

Axis & Allies in a D&D setting really is the best way to describe this game. Oh, and freakin' awesome is probably another way. I mean, just look at that map and all those delightful units! In addition to typical military units like infantry, ships, and siege engines, there are skeletons, elementals, golems, and, of course, dragons! We haven't rolled a single die yet, but we had tons of fun setting up our empires this afternoon. Nathaniel will be playing as the human and dwarven alliance of Nerath (gray pieces in the upper-left) and will be teamed with Matthew as the Vailin alliance of elves and humans (yellow pieces in the lower-right). I'll be controlling the two evil factions, the undead Karkoth (black pieces in the upper-right) and the monstrous Iron Circle (red pieces in the lower-left). 

In addition to the large-scale battles between opposing armies, the game has a dungeon-exploring component, too, as certain types of units can delve into famous dungeons of D&D's history (Temple of Elemental Evil, Tomb of Horrors, etc.) and claim powerful treasures to aid their faction. It will be interesting to weigh the risks and benefits of dungeon exploration, as the heroes who venture out in search of treasure are, naturally, unavailable to help out on the battlefield. 

Can't wait go get started!

Record Setters

Always a bridesmaid! Star forward Newsy Lalonde of the Victorias has just completed his third season of play, and, for the third year in a row, he's likely to finish runner-up in the Forward MVP race. Back in Season 6, his first campaign, he established rookie records of 12 goals 25 points and finished runner-up to  18-goal-scorer Gord Roberts for Forward MVP. Last year, Lalonde set single-season records of 19 goals and 37 points, and yet still lost the MVP trophy to Comets forward Blair Russell, who had 17 goals and 31 points but dominated at both ends of the ice as an elite defensive forward (his +12 was tops among all forwards) as well as an offensive threat. This year, Lalonde has continued to excel with 14 goals and 31 points, but once again he's been overshadowed. Frank McGee eclipsed Lalonde's goal-scoring record with a stunning 21, while Lalonde's teammate Cyclone Taylor racked up a new single-season mark of 41 points. And what's more, Lalonde lost one of his rookie records, as well, when Bearcats freshman Joe Malone tallied 14 goals. I guess Lalonde will just need to find solace in his Season 6 Rookie of the Year award, his Season 7 Scoring Title, his Season 7 Playoff MVP trophy, and the back-to-back Creighton Cups that the Vics won in his first two years -- and, when it's all said and done, a third straight title this year?

McGee Magic

No one in my historical hockey league will ever catch Cyclone Taylor for most career points. Taylor entered Season 8 with 195, a whopping 40 points more than second-place Gord Roberts. He's the Gretzky of this league. 

Taylor's point totals are beefed up by the prodigious number of assists he amasses by dishing passes to his talented Victorias teammates. When it comes solely to goals, however, it's a different story. The goal-scoring king is not Taylor, but that one-eyed wonder, Frank McGee. Coming into this season, McGee had scored a career total of 86, ahead of Taylor (77), Roberts (75), and Thistles winger Alf Smith (69). A strong season by any of those challengers could put that player within striking distance of McGee.

Yeah, not so much! Although Taylor, Roberts, and Smith are having solid campaigns, they're all trailing a rejuvenated McGee, who just became the first player in league history to score 20 goals in a season. The previous record for most goals in a single season was 19, set just last year by young superstar Newsy Lalonde. Before that, Roberts had scored 18 in Season 6, and McGee had first set the bar at 18 in Season 2. McGee still has one game remaining on the schedule, so we'll see if he can get to 21 or beyond.

Dreams Do Come True!

Cavill. Warhammer. Let's do this!

Seriously, what a ride! This dyed-in-the-wool Snyderbrony was feeling on top of the world when Henry Cavill showed up as Superman in the post-credits scene in Black Adam. Would that brief scene presage a return to Snyder's vision of an epic, mythological superhero multiverse? A rejection of Warner's cowardly and ham-fisted attempts to copy Disney's cookie-cutter Marvel flicks? Turns out, not so much. Cavill's cameo was his last time wearing the cape. The new creative regime at Warner is rebooting the DC cinematic universe with new actors, so Cavill is out. 

We were just talking about what might be next for our family's favorite actor (Bond, perhaps?!) when the news dropped that Cavill had found his next big project: Warhammer! In partnership with Amazon, Cavill is going to produce and star in a Warhammer series. I can't even say how many times the boys and I have chatted about which character in the Warhammer universe we'd love to see Cavill play. The Emperor of Mankind? Horus? Guilliman? Eisenhorn? Gaunt? Can't he play more than one?!

What's Next?

The boys are inching closer to the end of our Tales of the Ternion superhero campaign. Well, not the end, but the climax of the current story arc. This campaign has really exceeded my wildest expectations, and it's been an absolute joy to weave together all those old modern-setting Front Porch campaigns from the '90s into something like a single narrative that fits neatly within this multiverse. I have a follow-up campaign planned out that will take place during the same timeframe and involve some of the same characters, but that game requires our 3D terrain, and, well, we all know that I haven't made too much progress in painting it!

So, what's next? Matthew asked me yesterday what's on tap for after we finish this phase of Tales. For the first time in a long time, I don't have the next thing lined up. I anticipate we'll wrap this storyline around Christmastime, so I'll get a bit of a breather as the boys and I devote our time toward some of their awesome gaming-related gifts. But what is the next campaign? I have to admit that I'm not terribly motivated to cook up another long-term adventure in either the fantasy or sci-fi settings of the Shattered Realm universe and would much rather get the boys into the Druid Cycle, but they know little about that setting and don't seem especially eager to dive in at this point. I get it -- the Shattered Realm stuff is what they know and love. 

Meanwhile, I've been buying and painting Doctor Who Exterminate! miniatures as that wargame line nears the end of its lifespan. I'm looking forward to playing out some cool "what if?" battles, like Cybermen vs. Ice Warriors, or a Time War conflict of Gallifreyans vs. Daleks. But hey, since I've got all these great minis, why not use them for a roleplaying campaign too? Dare I try my hand at a Doctor Who storyline? It feels almost like sacrilege for me to approach that setting, but I would dearly love to get the boys interested in the Whoniverse. So, I'll put on my thinking cap (a fez, of course) and see what ideas start to grow...

Rounding the Final Bend

Each team has now played 15 of their 20 games, so we're entering the home stretch! Our playoff qualifiers will most likely be the Victorias, Bearcats, Millionaires, and Bulldogs (in that order), with the Comets and Thistles probably missing out on the dance. Can anyone stop the Vics (12-2-3 and a staggering +23 goal differential) from claiming their third straight Creighton Cup and fifth overall?

We also have some fascinating races for individual awards, headlined by a Rookie of the Year battle between the Cats' Joe Malone and the Millies' Harry Cameron. For most of the season, I've assumed left winger Malone (9 G, 8 A, +4) would claim the prize, but Cameron (5 G, 13 A, +5) is now leading in total points and plus/minus, and, as a defenseman, his offensive totals are even more impressive. I'm glad we'll get to see both of these dynamic rookies in the playoffs, perhaps in a first-round matchup!

More Playtest Content!

The third playtest packet for One D&D is now available here!