Season 8 Awards

Time to wrap up Season 8 with the individual awards!

Position Player MVP: Nap Lajoie, Blue Legs
It was a crowded field, but this year's MVP is Nap Lajoie, who was the all-around best position player. He tied with George Davis for the league lead in homers (four) and was at or near top of many offensive categories along with Fred Clarke of the Resolutes, Roger Connor of the Canaries, and Cap Anson of the Haymakers. What gave Lajoie the edge was defense; as a second baseman, Lajoie provided significant value with his glove, in contrast to the aforementioned sluggers. Ironically, Lajoie was only league-average at his position, but it was also the best season ever for second baseman defense, and in a different campaign his defensive metrics might have led the league.

Pitcher MVP: Cy Young, Haymakers
Last year, the Haymakers' Amos Rusie became the first reliever to win this award; in all honesty, he could easily have won it this year too. In the best season we've ever had for relief pitchers, Joe McGinnity of the Resolutes and Vic Willis of the Blue Legs joined Rusie in a trio of absolutely dominant bullpen stars. The MVP award, however, goes to the pitcher who provided far and away the most total value. Cy Young pitched a league-high 92 innings over 11 starts, posting a 7-1 record and a 2.05 ERA that was more than a run better than any other starter. The icing on the cake was that he also pitched the first no-hitter in league history (on Opening Day!) and became just the third pitcher to hit a home run. 

Playoff MVP: Tim Keefe, Blue Legs
Nap Lajoie drove in a lot of runs and Mike "King" Kelly was phenomenal at the plate as well as behind it, but the unequivocal MVP of this series was starting pitcher Tim Keefe. The Legs paid a steep price to pry this ace away from the Canaries, but he delivered in every way -- especially in the championship series. Keefe went 2-0 with a 1.59 ERA in 17 innings pitched to help the Blue Legs end their curse.

Creighton Cup Finals, Game 3

I won't bury the lede: The Blue Legs are cursed no more! Here's how it went down...

For Game 3, the series shifted to the Resolutes' park. Down two games to none, their backs were to the wall. In a rematch of Game 1, they sent Christy Mathewson to face Tim Keefe.

This time, it was the Legs who scored first. Keeler led off the game with a single and promptly stole second. He later scored on King Kelly's two-out single. 

It was clear that Keefe wouldn't need much run support. He cruised through the first three innings, retiring the first nine batters in order. Pete Hill drew a leadoff walk in the bottom of the fourth, but Kelly threw him out on an attempted steal. Kelly would throw Hill out again in the sixth, and throughout the series was actually better at nabbing would-be base thieves than his more accomplished rival, Connie Mack.

In the top of the sixth, Dan Brouthers, Kelly, and Sam Crawford hit three consecutive singles, giving the Legs a vital insurance run. They got another one in the seventh, when shortstop Monte Ward drew a walk and made it to second on Keefe's sacrifice. A two-out single from Nap Lajoie brought Ward home to make it 3-0. 

As the end of their championship hopes drew nearer, the Resolutes continued to battle. Fred Clarke led off the bottom of the seventh with a double. He scored several batters later on a single by pinch-hitter Jim O'Rourke to cut the deficit to two. 

Joe McGinnity took over for Mathewson in the eighth. With his team down 3-1, he was tasked with holding the line and preventing any further damage. The veteran closer threw two innings of scoreless relief to do his part. His teammates, however, were unable to mount a comeback. 

Keefe cruised through the eighth and then turned the ball over to Vic Willis. It was the star reliever's first appearance in the series, and he was shaky. A single to Clarke and a walk to Grant put two runners on with nobody out. Now with the winning run at the plate, the Resolutes sought to deliver the knockout blow. John McGraw popped out, however, and then Mack bounced a lazy grounder to short. Ward to Lajoie to Brouthers for a 6-4-3 double play. Game over, curse over. The Blue Legs are champions once more!

Creighton Cup Finals, Game 2

In Game 2, the Blue Legs put the ball into the hands of veteran Al Spalding, whose breakout season moved him past longtime ace Old Hoss Radbourn on the team's depth chart. The Resolutes countered with curveball specialist (and power hitter!) John Clarkson.

Both pitchers were sharp, generating groundball outs and preventing hard contact. The game was scoreless until the top of the third, when John McGraw singled, narrowly stole second, and scored on Pete Hill's single. Once again, the Resolutes struck first, but once again the Blue Legs would respond quickly.

In the bottom of the frame, Spalding smacked a single to help his own cause. With one on and two out, Nap Lajoie drove in the home team's first run -- for the second straight game -- with a booming triple. Dan Brouthers then plated Lajoie with a single, giving the Legs a 2-1 lead.

The Blue Legs would add to their advantage in the fifth. Following a leadoff triple from Willie Keeler, Nap Lajoie lofted a sacrifice fly to make it 3-1. Spalding was cruising, and the home fans were getting louder with every harmless grounder he induced. 

One of those grounders, however, almost came back to haunt them. With one out in the sixth, sure-handed third baseman Jimmy Collins somehow muffed a Pete Hill chopper, giving the Resolutes a rare baserunner. The speedy Hill attempted to swipe second, but Mike "King" Kelly made a perfect throw to eliminate the threat.

It was still 3-1 in the top of the eighth. After Connie Mack singled with two outs, the desperate Resolutes lifted Clarkson for pinch hitter Jim O'Rourke, who popped out to end the inning. Now hard-throwing southpaw Rube Waddell would be tasked with shutting down the Legs in the bottom of the eighth. 

Waddell didn't miss many bats, so the Legs soon had opportunities to score. With men on first and second but two outs, the Legs opted to pinch hit for Spalding. The veteran had done his duty, tossing eight innings of one-run ball. Pinch hitter Frank Chance dug in and looked to extend his team's lead. He scorched Waddell's offering right up the middle to bring home another run. 

With a 4-1 edge in the ninth, the Legs had a decision to make. Now that Spalding was out, would they bring in regular closer Vic Willis, or that proud warrior, Old Hoss Radbourn? Radbourn had lost his last three starts against the Resolutes, including a 19-4 drubbing that has gone down in infamy as the most lopsided game in league history. Well, I do have a bit of a flair for drama, so of course I brought in Radbourn! This guy had a chip on his shoulder and wanted revenge. But...would he get it?

Facing the top of the order, Radbourn needed just three outs to secure the win. Hill grounded out, but the next batter, Hughie Jennings, hit a rocket to center field. Sam Crawford got a late jump and could only curse under his breath as the ball sailed over his head. Jennings had a standup double, and the Resolutes had at least a modicum of hope. Radbourn struck out Elmer Flick with ruthless efficiency, bringing up the visitors' best power hitter, first baseman Jake Beckley. The defending Position Player MVP, Beckley was looking to drive one over the right-field fence. Instead, he hit a lazy popup into the glove of Lajoie. For one night, at least, Radbourn had exorcised his demons.

Game 2 thus ended a 4-1 triumph for the Blue Legs. They now travel to the Resolutes' park needing just one win to claim the championship.

Creighton Cup Finals, Game 1

Playoff baseball! Does it get any better than this?! (Ask me again if the Yankees manage to win a ring this year...)

The Blue Legs hosted the Resolutes for Game 1 of the best-of-five Season 8 championship series. The story tonight was all about pitching. The Legs handed the ball to new ace Tim Keefe, acquired during the offseason for just this very purpose: to pitch this team to a championship and end their seven-year title drought. Opposing Keefe was Christy Mathewson, starting for the Resolutes in place of the injured John Clarkson. 

Keefe struck out Pete Hill to open the game, eliciting a hearty cheer from the Legs' long-suffering fans. The crowd fell silent a moment later, however, when Hughie Jennings drove one to the gap and hustled to third for a triple. He scored on Elmer Flick's sacrifice fly to give the visitors a 1-0 lead.

In the bottom of the first, Wee Willie Keeler led off with a single. Would he test the arm of Connie Mack, the league's best defensive catcher? Hell yes! Keeler swiped second and scurried home on Nap Lajoie's ensuing single. Keeler and Lajoie have been the Legs' one-two punch this season, so it wasn't surprising to see them manufacture their team's first run. 

After both teams drew blood in the opening frame, Keefe and Mathewson settled in for an old-fashioned pitcher's duel. Both men are classic strikeout pitchers, mixing velocity and movement to generate plenty of swings and misses. Mathewson in particular was masterful, complementing his heater with a maddening screwball that toyed with the Legs' hitters inning after inning.

We didn't see another run until the bottom of the eighth, when the Legs started to catch up to Mathewson's offerings. With two on and two out, Sam Crawford and Jimmy Collins hit back-to-back run-scoring singles to make it 3-1 for the home team. 

The Resolutes had one more chance in the top of the ninth. Although the Legs had closer Vic Willis ready to roll, Keefe came out to finish what he started. The visitors made him work for it. Frank Grant tripled to lead off, and then promptly came home on John McGraw's groundout. Down to the their last two outs and trailing by a run, the Resolutes sent Mack and pinch hitter Jim O'Rourke to the plate, but neither could reach base. The game ended 3-2 for the Blue Legs, who are now two wins away from breaking their championship curse!

Championship Preview

We now bid farewell to the Haymakers and the Canaries, as our finalists for the Season 8 Creighton Cup will be the first-place Blue Legs and the second-place Resolutes. Storylines abound!

Legacy

The Blue Legs are suffering through the longest championship drought in the league; they won the inaugural Creighton Cup in Season 1, but haven't tasted the champagne of victory ever since, despite reaching the finals three more times before this year. The Resolutes, meanwhile, claimed their first title in Season 6 and have now reached the finals in three consecutive seasons; they're hoping to forge a dynasty and dethrone the Haymakers as the league's premiere franchise.

Rivalry

First of all, we've got a rematch of the epic Season 6 championship series. As chronicled on this blog in earlier posts, the Legs were leading two games to one in the best-of-five series, and then Christy Mathewson and John Clarkson tossed back-to-back shutouts -- eighteen straight scoreless innings! -- to lead the Resolutes to the championship. This season, the Resolutes humiliated the Blue Legs again with a 19-4 drubbing that ranks as the most lopsided victory in eight seasons of play. The Legs will be looking to avenge both of these historic failures here in the Season 8 finals.

Injuries

The Blue Legs lost more man-games to injury than any team in league history. At one point around midseason, it got so bad that backup shortstop Joe Tinker played left field because the Legs only had two healthy outfielders on their roster. The Resolutes were relatively healthy all year, except for speedy slugger Elmer Flick, who lost time to two separate injuries. Late in the season, key pitchers went down on both sides. Blue Legs hurler Al Spalding, tied for second in the league in wins this season, won't be available until Game 2, nor will the Resolutes' co-ace Clarkson. 

Offense & Defense

Before the season, the Legs traded for elite pitcher Tim Keefe, who quickly became their number-one starter. Even so, the team still finished last in runs allowed (3.92) and their porous defense was only marginally better than the perennially fielding-challenged Haymakers. What allowed the Blue Legs to claim first place was a league-leading 4.29 runs scored per game. As for the Resolutes, they ranked second in runs scored, second in runs allowed, and second in team defense -- no wonder they finished in second place!

Game 1 coming up this weekend!

The Long Road to Victory

I don't think I've ever actually finished a game of Axis & Allies. Here at our house, we've certainly started quite a few, and we've played the shorter D-Day version to completion, but getting all the way to the end of a full game of Axis & Allies is no small feat. Over the past couple of months, Nathaniel has been chipping away at a solo game in which he played both sides. Yesterday, he mounted one final assault on Japan that ended the game in favor of the Allies. After admiring his work for a bit, he cleaned up the board and immediately set up the D-Day version!

Warhammer Cafe

Today we crossed an item off my bucket list by taking the Warner Bros. studio tour in Burbank. I'm a lifelong, dyed-in-the-wool WB fan, so this place is the center of the entertainment universe as far as I'm concerned. After a very enjoyable day at the studio, we headed to nearby Monrovia to visit the one-of-a-kind Warhammer Cafe. 

It's a cool place! They have more inventory than a typical Games Workshop store, as well as some other nifty Warhammer stuff. The cafe menu is a bit limited, but we very much enjoyed our drinks and cookies. Highly recommended if you're ever passing through that area!

Space Race

Our first Catan Starfarers game was quite a space race, with all three of us staying within a few victory points of each other. I pulled ahead toward the end and came within a point of winning, which led Matthew to focus his efforts on spoiling my relationship with one of the four alien species. As Matthew tried to win by forging friendships with aliens, and I pivoted to building colonies, we both kind of lost track of Nathaniel, who quietly put himself in a position to terraform an ice world and build a colony, which gave him enough victory points to claim the win!

Catan Starfarers

Matthew got Catan Starfarers for his birthday and our fledgling empires (I'm red, Matthew is white, and Nathaniel is blue) are just now beginning to push beyond our core systems (at the bottom of the photo) into the vast reaches space! Loving it so far!

Three-Way Tie

With a few days off from work, I'm making my way quickly through baseball games. Now at the midpoint of Season 8, the Canaries remain in the cellar at 3-9, but the other three teams -- the Blue Legs, Haymakers, and Resolutes -- are all tied for first place at 7-5. Most likely, two of these three teams will meet in the best-of-five Creighton Cup championship series. Which ones? All three are flawed. The Haymakers have a shoddy defense and their pitchers (aside from Cy Young and Amos Rusie) have been prone to meltdowns, the Resolutes are benefiting from the whims of good fortune (a .583 record but a run differential that suggests they should have a.489 winning percentage), and the Blue Legs are suffering through the worst stretch of injuries I've ever seen in a Strat-O-Matic season. With newly acquired ace Tim Keefe pitching like it's Season 2 again, the Blue Legs are perhaps the favorites, but will injuries completely derail their chances before the season's end?

Birds Grounded

Let's take a quick look at eight ballplayers:

• Billy Hamilton (rf)
• Ed Delahanty (lf)
• Roger Connor (1b)
• Honus Wagner (ss)
• George Davis (3b)
• Hugh Duffy (cf)
• Buck Ewing (c)
• George Wright (2b)

It's practically a "Who's Who" of nineteenth-century superstars. It's also the starting lineup of my Strat-O-Matic Canaries team, which is floating in the toilet with a 1-7 record and league-worst -8 run differential. Their offense (if you can call it that) is averaging 2.25 runs per game, which, despite the addition of the walk-happy Hamilton, is down significantly from last year's meager offering (2.88). These guys were no-hit on Opening Day and were shut out again last night. Although it's true that offense is down league-wide this season, and we're still talking about a very small sample size, I'm stunned by just how terribly the Canaries have hit. Even with some positive regression, I think the Canaries are in too deep of a hole to make a playoff run this season. Perhaps their luck will change in Season 9...

Survey Says

I've logged my feedback on the first round of One D&D playtest materials. Here's to many more!

YOUNG NO-HITS CANARIES!

It was a festive atmosphere in...well...whatever city the Haymakers play in. (In real life, it was Troy, New York.) On a sunny afternoon, the league's most successful franchise unfurled their fourth Creighton Cup banner to the polite applause of a fanbase that has become accustomed to winning. After the ceremony, the Haymakers took the field to face the new-look Canaries. Cy Young assumed his customary perch on the mound, making his eighth consecutive Opening Day start.

Young was sharp right from the first pitch. The Canaries, including new leadoff man and on-base machine Billy Hamilton, just couldn't barrel up to the veteran's heater. Young sent the visitors down in order in the first and again in the second. His teammates tagged Canaries starter Addie Joss for a run in the bottom of the second on a double by Deacon White, but Joss was otherwise nearly as masterful as Young. Joss was, indeed, the reason the Canaries had shipped longtime ace Tim Keefe to the Blue Legs in exchange for Hamilton, and the third-year hurler did everything in his power to reward the Canaries' confidence in him. 

Sadly for Joss, Young was on another level. He dispatched the Canaries again in the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth. The league's all-time winningest pitcher was perfect through six full innings. Then came a very eventful seventh.

Billy Hamilton is truly the toughest out in the circuit. He drew a leadoff walk in the top of the inning, ending Young's bid for a perfect game. The no-no was still intact, but a rattled Young then promptly walked Hugh Duffy. Two on and nobody out, but a double play and a popout retired the side.

The score remained 1-0 for the home team in the bottom of the frame. With second baseman Bid McPhee on second and only one out, Young came to the plate. The modern play would be to bunt in that situation, but this is the nineteenth century, damn it, and these pitcher swing the bat! Young went up there to try to help his own cause, but he came up lame running to first in a failed attempt to beat out a grounder. A hush fell over the Haymakers' faithful as their star pitcher winced in pain. With some help from Dr. Dee Twenty (injuries in Strat-O-Matic are resolved by a die roll), Young remained in the game. The next batter, Joe Kelley, hit a ringing double to bring home McPhee, making it 2-0.

The score, however, was almost irrelevant. The question remained: Could Young toss the first no-hitter in league history? He needed six more outs, and the team would not take any chances with their defense. They pulled iron-gloved Jesse Burkett from left, shifted Kelley into Burkett's spot, and inserted plus-plus defender Ned Hanlon in center. Young hardly needed help from his outfielders, though, as the Canaries struggled to make solid contact. He breezed through the top of the eighth, and after his teammates were retired in order, he came out for the ninth inning and a date with destiny.

Due up were the eight, nine, and one spots in the lineup. George Wright grounded out meekly. One down, two to go. Joss, batting ninth, was replaced by pinch hitter Wilbert Robinson, who met the same fate as Wright. Down to their final out, the Canaries had the best-possible candidate to break up the no-no: Billy Hamilton. A weak grounder to shortstop Bobby Wallace was best Hamilton could offer. 

For Young, it was a piece of history. In this league or otherwise, I've never had a pitcher throw a no-hitter in Strat-O-Matic. In fact, I never thought I'd see one. What a way to start the season!

Opening Day

Plaaaaay ball! It's Opening Day for the eighth season of my nineteenth-century Strat-O-Matic baseball league. The Haymakers host the Canaries and the Resolutes host the Blue Legs. 

Last year, the Haymakers won the Creighton Cup, their fourth title in the seven-season history of this league. Will their dominance continue? Will the blockbuster offseason trade between the Canaries and Blue Legs help get either of these teams get back on track? Will the Resolutes reach the championship series for a third consecutive year? I can't wait to find out the answers to all these questions and more!

The Sigmar Cup: Season 2

The Reavers went out and took care of business in the Season 2 Sigmar Cup championship, defeating the reigning champion Giants by a 12-6 score and avenging their overtime loss to these same Giants in the Season 1 title match. Although the Giants opened the game with a relentless physical attack, the Reavers found their footing and matched the dwarves point for point. Gradually, the Reavers pushed the Giants back to midfield and injured enough dwarven players to open up the space they needed to leverage their superior speed. The turning point came about midway through the match when the Reavers' blitzer and catcher double-teamed a lone dwarven lineman, bringing him down and allowing the catcher to scoop up a loose ball and run it into the end zone for the game's only touchdown. The Giants came back strong, but the Reavers' blitzer shrugged off several punishing hits to deny the dwarves some key points on challenge cards in the closing minutes, and time expired before the Giants could close the gap on their human foes.

Now that Season 2 is in the books, I'll turn back to Strat-O-Matic for a while. Perhaps when I'm ready to return to Blitz Bowl, I'll add a fifth team. Skaven? Undead? Goblins?

Sigmar Cup: Season 2 Preview

In the first season of my Blitz Bowl league, the Giants upset the first-place Reavers with an overtime victory in the championship game. This season, the Reavers came back with a vengeance and dominated the league with a record of 8-2-2 and a whopping +41 point differential. Anything less that a title will be a huge failure for this Reavers team. So, can they seal the deal at last? Let's take a look at the numbers!

Aside from the debut of the halfling Grasshuggers team, the key storyline from this season has been the enormous drop in touchdowns as teams have scored (and prevented their opponents from scoring) by focusing on challenge cards instead of the end zone. Teams scored 1.46 touchdowns per game last year, while this time around it was just 0.69. The first-place Reavers suffered the steepest decline, from 1.63 to 0.75.

The Reavers, however, were very effective at adapting their offense to this new style. They scored a league-best 11.17 points per game, down just slightly from last season. Their success in Season 2, however, was driven largely by what they did on the other side of the ball; the Reavers allowed a miniscule 7.75 points per game -- tops in the league and nearly three full points per game better than last year's squad. 

Once again, it will be Reavers against Giants for the Sigmar Cup. With the Reavers boasting the league's best offense and best defense, do the Giants -- the defending champions -- have a prayer? They did finish with the second-best offense and defense, and they were also the only team to pose a serious challenge to the Reavers, who went 2-2-0 against the Giants compared to 6-0-2 against the rest of the league. The Giants will bring their punishing, physical game yet again in our Season 2 Sigmar Cup, but I think the Reavers are just too good to blow it twice in a row.

Races & Backgrounds

Over my lunch hour, I blitzed through the first playtest document -- rules that cover races and backgrounds, as well as feats and other content that plugs into the two aforementioned topics -- and I have some hot takes!

• In One D&D, a new character's ability score increases are determined by the character's background choice, not their race. Interesting! Class is the single most important decision in the character creation process, and players often consider only races that provide bonuses to the most important ability scores for that class. That's why we get so many dwarf clerics and elf wizards. However, is this change just going to repeat the same problem and drive players toward particular backgrounds instead of races? If you want to play a fighter, example, why wouldn't you choose the soldier background to get the +2 Strength and +1 Constitution? Maybe it's not an issue, because...
• There are simple and clear rules for creating and customizing backgrounds. I absolutely love these background rules, and I foresee so many campaign-specific options for really cool backgrounds that give players exactly what they want from a stat perspective but also fit neatly into the story. These backgrounds are also very well balanced. In classic 5e, some background benefits were way more useful than others. Now all backgrounds grant a feat. If I'm creating my own unique background, I can select the ability score improvements and the feat (among other, fluffier choices) that work best for my chosen character class and character concept. But hang on, might those background-related feats be a sign that D&D is sliding back into some bad habits?
• Any time feats come up, I get worried. Earlier editions of D&D (and Pathfinder) got bogged down in a "feat tax" that railroaded players into taking specific feats in order to keep pace with other players and (in particular for 4e) with monsters that scaled up aggressively as the players leveled up. If you didn't want that 30th-level kobold to kill you, you really needed to ensure you had every bonus you could possibly scrape together. I really liked that feats in classic 5e were optional, but that does not appear to be the case anymore with One. I'll be keeping a very close eye on feats throughout this playtest.
• What else did I notice? Well, there's a lot more use of the Inspiration mechanic. (Inspiration is so incidental to classic 5e that I feel a definition is necessary here: Inspiration is a single-use benefit that allows a player to gain advantage on a d20 roll.) In One, we'll see Inspiration pop up in all sorts of interesting places, most notably on rolls of natural 20. That's right, if you roll a 20 on any check (sorry, "test" -- I see they've upgraded to the trendier lingo), you get Inspiration!
• Although we only have rules for races and backgrounds at this point, I'm seeing a major uptick in features that you can use a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus and then require a long rest to recharge. In comparison, I see way fewer features that recharge on a short rest. For my beloved fighter, I'll be eager to see whether Action Surge and Second Wind still recharge on a short rest, or if they get revised to this proficiency-based model. 
• Last but not least, Primal magic returns! I'm suddenly having 4e flashbacks, but hey, maybe we'll end up with a One D&D shaman class?!

Here Comes One D&D

Well, at least it isn't an entirely new edition, but it's definitely a bigger change than I was hoping for. In any case, I'm grateful for the opportunity to playtest and provide feedback. 

Okay, One D&D, let's do this!

Trades That Shaped the League

Before getting started with my next hockey campaign, I thought it might be interesting to look back on the past seven seasons and reflect on trades that have fundamentally altered the course of this league.

Prior to Season 1: Thistles trade Gord Roberts (LW) to Bulldogs for Jack Ruttan (LW/C)

I conducted a brief tournament prior to the start of Season 1 so that I could learn the rules of Strat-O-Matic hockey and tweak the rosters for balance. For those brief few games, Gord Roberts, arguably the second-best player in league history after Cyclone Taylor, was a Thistle. I didn't see his potential; what I saw was a (seemingly) low shooting percentage, less positional flexibility, and a greater likelihood to take penalties. So when I swapped Roberts and Ruttan, I didn't realize it would end up being the most lopsided trade imaginable. How lopsided? Ruttan has managed to get into 40 regular-season games and has collected nine measly goals (and only two before this most recent season); Roberts, meanwhile, has suited up for every one of his team's 104 regular-season games and has scored 75 goals, the third-most ever.

Season 1: Bulldogs trade Alf Smith (RW) to Thistles for Ernie Russell (RW)

It didn't take me long to realize my mistake with Roberts. Alf Smith was a similar player, and I was sure I had badly underestimated his potential, as well. To make it up to the Thistles for the loss of Roberts, I had the Bulldogs trade Smith to the Thistles for Ernie Russell. To justify the trade in narrative terms, I noted that Smith had started the season out stone-cold. While this trade wasn't quite as lopsided as the notorious Roberts/Ruttan swap -- Smith has scored 69 goals in 104 games, whereas Russell has 28 in 81 -- it does make me wonder how everything would have turned out if Roberts had stayed on the Thistles and Smith had stayed on the Bulldogs!

Season 2: Bulldogs trade George Richardson (RW/LW/C) to Comets for Scotty Davidson (RW)

Richardson was a spare part on the Bulldogs but has blossomed into a star with the Comets, and now holds the captaincy. I certainly didn't anticipate his rise to prominence when I made this trade in Season 2. That year, Richardson finished twenty-fourth in the league in total points, but in Season 3, his first full season with the Comets, he jumped all the way to eighth. He's remained a top-tier player ever since (finishing tenth, eleventh, twelfth, and seventh over the past four seasons). Davidson, meanwhile, was a useful player for the Bulldogs until he was shipped to the expansion Bearcats midway through Season 7.

After Season 2: Thistles trade Tommy Dunderdale (C/RW) and Paddy Moran (G) to Bulldogs for Riley Hern (G) and Harvey Pulford (D)

Although the Roberts/Ruttan trade was the most lopsided, I'd have to say that this trade would rank as the most impactful overall. Dunderdale was coming off of a down year, but still had MVP-caliber talent. The Dogs put him on a line with Bruce Stuart and Gord Roberts, and the rest is history; that trio has become the most dominant line in the league. For the Thistles, the centerpiece of the deal was Hern, who's won two Goaltender MVP trophies in the five seasons since that trade. Clearly, both teams benefited from the exchange; the Dogs, however, ultimately came out on top. While Pulford was little more than a throw-in who played just a dozen games for the Thistles, Moran has performed very well in goal for the Bulldogs, and even won the Playoff MVP trophy in Season 4 and Goaltender MVP in Season 7. The Thistles, meanwhile, are still seeking their first title, and Hern has been the worst playoff goaltender of all time, with a horrific 3-11 record and .877 save percentage.

Season 4: Millionaires trade Fred Whitcroft (RW/D) to Thistles for Harry Westwick (C/RW)

When the Millies joined the league for Season 4, they had zero natural centers on their roster. They made do as best they could until they were able to flip Fred Whitcroft to the Thistles for Harry Westwick, a center who was playing out of position at right wing because the Thistles were already loaded up the middle. Westwick made an immediate impact for the Millies, and was even better in Season 5 when he finished tenth in the league in total points and helped the Millies win the Creighton Cup in just their second year of existence. 

It's no coincidence that the Victorias are nowhere to be found on this list. In order to keep things interesting and to make all the franchises feel unique, I've adopted a "franchise philosophy" that governs how I handle personnel decisions (drafts, trades, etc.) and in-game tactics (matchups, line combinations, etc.). In terms of personnel decisions, I've set the Vics up to be extremely conservative, hanging on to their players (even when it's slightly disadvantageous to do so) and making only minor, "safe" trades. Seems like that approach has worked out pretty well for them so far!

The Most Dangerous Game

We made a quick trip to see Amy's parents this weekend, and her sister's family was also in town for a visit. Matthew and Nathaniel are enjoying the opportunity to spend time with their cousin Daniel. We introduced Daniel to Betrayal at House on the Hill, and our first game was a brief adventure in which the characters started out attending an open house for an old mansion that was for sale. It turned out that Matthew's Shopkeeper Lady was a Russian spy and already owned the property, and was using the open house as a pretense for capturing subjects for her bizarre experiments. She quickly imprisoned the rest of us in a basement of horrors, where we had to battle Cold War-era zombies. Some lucky tile placement, however, allowed us to escape unscathed.

My brother-in-law Ben, Daniel's father, joined us for a much longer second game. This time, we had all received mysterious invitations to a gathering at the house, only to realize that my character, Sports Gal, had sent the invitations and was preparing to hunt the others for sport, a la "The Most Dangerous Game", all the while filming the carnage to create a TV show. As I had Sports Gal roam the halls with her trusty crossbow, the others fled to pursue their own secret objectives. As I later learned, they could win by rewriting the script of the show, but it required succeeding on a series of knowledge checks. Nathaniel's Brainy Kid and Ben's Doctor Guy set up shop in a semi-secure location to pen a new ending to the show, while Matthew's Shopkeeper Lady and Daniel's Dude Bro kept my character busy. Virtually all the heroes were grievously injured, but they managed to create a new ending and kill Sports Gal -- thereby securing a lucrative TV contract of their own!

Touchdowns Down

Absence makes the heart grow fonder, and I'm already looking forward to another Strat-O-Matic campaign. In the meantime, I'm in the early stages of Season 2 of my Blitz Bowl football league. After the Giants (dwarves) were a surprise winner in Season 1, the Avengers (elves), Reavers (humans), and expansion Grasshuggers (halflings) are all looking to dethrone the champs!

How's it going so far? The Reavers (3-0-1) have once again claimed their spot atop the standings, but the first-year Grasshuggers (3-1-0) are right on their spiked heels. The halflings are a fun team to play, full of nifty free actions that give them tons of tactical flexibility. The other key narrative this year is that scoring is down. Here at the one-third mark of the season -- alert! small sample size! alert! -- teams are scoring 9.88 points per game, compared to 11.04 points per game in Season 1. That's a drop of more than a full point per game, but it's nothing compared to the absolute plunge in touchdowns per game. (Reminder: Blitz Bowl touchdowns are worth three points.) Last year, teams found the end zone 1.46 times per game, whereas this season it's a paltry 0.56. Yowzers! 

It is indeed a small sample size, but I think this trend will hold. As I'm learning this game, I'm seeing the importance of those one- and two-point challenge cards; I'm planning ahead to set up easy points, but also, crucially, looking for ways to deny the other team from claiming cards on their next turn. Essentially, I'm slowing the game down and learning how to win through defense rather than high-octane offense. For example, one standout contest from Season 1 was a 20-19 triumph for the Avengers in which they and the Reavers combined for six touchdowns; at one point, the teams traded touchdowns on four consecutive turns. Contrast that shootout with a game from this season in which the Grasshuggers defeated the Giants 10-6; not only did neither team score a touchdown, but the halflings won the game despite never moving the ball past midfield. To the (fictional) spectators in the Mortal Realms, football probably seems a lot more boring now!

Mirror Monsters and Ghost Sharks

Betrayal at House on the Hill is one of my all-time favorite board games. As you explore the mysterious house, you have to work with your fellow adventurers to overcome obstacles and acquire useful items -- but all the while knowing that someone in the group will eventually betray you. It's great that Bob found that shotgun, but do we really want him to have all the weapons...?

When Hasbro announced a third edition for the game, I placed my preorder immediately. This morning the game showed up on our doorstep, and the timing was perfect. Matthew and Amy are in Fresno this weekend for Junior Olympics (side note: Matthew is crushing it!), so Nathaniel and I had a perfect opportunity to dive into the game, learn all the new rules, and play the hell out of it.

One of the simplest but most effective additions is the characters' motivation for being in the house in the first place. In earlier editions, the characters have no reason for being there until the "haunt" is triggered and the game switches from cooperative to one-against-all as the traitor seeks to defeat his or her former allies. In this edition, players select a backstory (e.g., they're a team of paranormal investigators, they're searching for a friend who disappeared in the house, etc.), and that backstory determines the possible haunts. My only criticism thus far is that the haunts seem to trigger sooner than in the previous edition, but some might consider that a feature and not a defect.

Nathaniel and I played the game twice today, each time controlling two characters apiece. In the first game, my Sports Gal quickly got sucked into an alternate universe through a haunted mirror while evil mirror monsters chased the other characters around the house, nearly driving my Doctor Guy insane on their very first onslaught. Sports Gal was able to provide cryptic clues from her mirrorverse prison, allowing Nathaniel's Brainy Kid to bring her home and banish the monsters. For our second try, we kept the same characters. Sports Gal again triggered the haunt, this time dying instantly when a ghostly shark devoured her as a magical water-spouting idol threatened to flood the entire house. As the water cascaded down from the second story, the other characters searched for explosives and then rallied in the basement, where Nathaniel's Dude Bro stuffed our makeshift bomb into the shark's mouth and obliterated it. Two missions, two wins! Next time, though, I may opt to leave Sports Gal at home...

D&D Trailer

I am very, very excited...

Hot Stove Action!

As a league, my nineteenth-century baseball teams scored an average of 3.69 runs per game during our most recent season. How is it, then, that the Canaries -- a team with Hugh Duffy, Ed Delahanty, Roger Connor, and Honus Wagner at the top of its batting order -- could manage only a measly 2.88? I'm sure luck played an outsized role, but as I looked back over the past several seasons, the Canaries have consistently scored well below the league average. 

Heading into Season 8, they needed to make a change. With pitching as their only real asset, the Canaries put starters Tim Keefe, Kid Nichols, and Addie Joss on the trading block to see what sort of match they could make with a team that had surplus offense but was in the market for pitching. Enter the Blue Legs, a perennially high-scoring team with serious run-prevention issues. The Legs could offer outfielder and leadoff man Billy Hamilton, owner the highest on-base percentage in the entire league. Fundamentally, this trade ended up being Keefe for Hamilton, but I needed to throw in a couple of other players to ensure each team had the right number of pitchers and position players; as such, Tommy McCarthy went to the Blue Legs for his second tour with that franchise, and, likewise, veteran pitcher Pud Galvin returned to the Canaries, with whom he was a Playoff MVP way back in Season 4. 

So, at the end of the day, we've got ourselves a blockbuster trade in an otherwise quiet Hot Stove season prior to Season 8. It's hard to imagine Tim Keefe pitching for anyone other than the Canaries -- he's been their Opening Day starter for seven straight seasons -- but the team has spent the last three years below the .500 mark, and perhaps this trade will help get them sorted out.

And when the Canaries take the field for their Season 8 debut against the Haymakers, it won't be Keefe throwing the first pitch, but rather third-year phenom Addie Joss taking over as the staff ace.

The Sigmar Cup

Tonight I completed the brief first season of my Blitz Bowl league. Although I've been playing all the games myself, Matthew and Nathaniel really got into it, asking about the game results as if these were actual sporting events! Matthew was rooting for the elves all week long and Nathaniel (not surprisingly) was a dwarf booster, so there was precious little love for the humies. 

As I mentioned in the previous post, the title match for our first-ever Sigmar Cup would feature the first-place human Reavers against the second-place dwarf Giants. The Reavers won the coin toss and took possession of the ball, scoring three early points on Challenge cards and keeping the ball away from their foes. After the dwarves botched several attempts to break through the human line, the Reaver thrower lofted a pass to his catcher, who sprinted into the end zone for the game's first touchdown. As Blitz Bowl touchdowns are worth three points, the score was now 6-0 for the Reavers before the Giants had even touched the ball.

Game over? Hardly! The stolid dwarves dug in and began to chip away at their opponents' lead. One exciting highlight came midway through the match when the dwarf troll slayer bulldozed his way into the end zone for his team's only touchdown. Both squads picked up a few more points on Challenge cards, and it was 10-8 in favor of the Reavers late in the game. The Giants scored two late points to draw even, and then, on the very first turn of overtime, earned a single Challenge point that the Reavers could not match on their own turn. And thus the game ended with a score of 11-10. The Giants have won the first Sigmar Cup!

Doctors and Daleks

Yeah, I'm gonna be all over this...

Blitz Bowl Season 1

I'm playing a quick three-team Blitz Bowl league this week during my time off. Each of the three teams -- the human Reavers, the duardin (dwarf) Giants, and the aelf (elf) Avengers -- play the others four times, for a total of eight games apiece. Then the top two teams meet in a single winner-take-all championship game.

Tonight I wrapped up the regular season, and although the Avengers started off with a bang, they finished at 2-4-2 and failed to qualify for the championship. The Giants (3-3-2) came in second, so they will meet the first-place Reavers (3-1-4) for the title. It should be a great game, with the defense-minded Giants (a league-best 9.75 points allowed per game) going up against the high-scoring Reavers (tops in the circuit with 11.88 points scored per game). I'll do a full write-up this weekend for the championship match. After that, I'll start preparing for a much longer Season 2, in which I'll introduce a fourth team -- the halfling Grasshuggers!

Super Cars

The National Automobile Museum in Reno is one of my very favorite museums. The last time we took the boys there, they probably weren't old enough to appreciate it. 

As we toured the exhibits today, I treated my family to an impromptu retrospective on my beloved Elmira's many connections to automotive history, from the Philion quadricycle to American LaFrance fire engines to the Brothers Bodine. Here's a shot of their American LaFrance engine, manufacturing in good old Elmira, New York!

They also had one of the old Adam West-era Batmobiles on display, which Matthew was excited to see after getting into a lot of Batman video games lately. 

The reason for this post, however, is a connection to our Tales of the Ternion campaign. I nearly walked right past this beautiful Lincoln-Zephyr...

It then dawned on me that it was the favored vehicle of Ian "I'm missing a finger!" Silverstone, the British used-car salesman who has factored in numerous Front Porch campaigns set during the middle part of the twentieth century. The boys learned about Silverstone recently in our Tales superhero campaign as they've been working to unravel a decades-long conspiracy that links together all of my modern-setting campaigns.

Victory in Ulfenkarn!

As I predicted, there was considerable deliberation about how to mount our assault. Ultimately, we agreed to take out the initial guardians first, then split up to destroy the four phylacteries that protected the undead soul of Radukar. The vampire-lord would spawn as soon as the first phylactery was destroyed, so we needed weaken him by eliminating these magical vessels as quickly as possible. 

The subordinate vampires and undead ogres were no match for our party's prowess, so we moved into position for a near-simultaneous phylactery smashing. Nathaniel's sturdy dwarf and my nimble swordfighter moved toward the two phylacteries in Radukar's throne room, while Matthew's musket-wielding monster hunter and his stalwart priestess each headed for a phylactery in one of the adjoining wings. (The game requires you to take four heroes on each adventure, so we rotate among a couple of supporting heroes, of whom the priestess is probably the most effective.)

The destruction of the phylacteries went off almost without a hitch, and we were lucky to have Radukar spawn in front of Nathaniel's dwarf, as he was the tank of the party. The unexpected appearance of another undead ogre put the poor dwarf between two powerful foes, but I managed to move my swordfighter into position for a flurry of attacks that took down the vampire-lord and ended the game!

Here's a shot of the final scene, with the two heroes who were in the throne room for that final turn.

Since Nathaniel had been the one to open the mysterious envelope when we completed Blackstone Fortress, this time Matthew got the honor.

What secrets were contained therein? I won't give away any spoilers, but the ending was not altogether positive for the city of Ulfenkarn and its champions. The fight against evil will continue, but for now, we'll put Cursed City aside to focus on other things. It was a great game, perhaps not the novel and wildly fun experience we had with Blackstone, but the character development and legacy mechanics in Cursed City were rather more sophisticated than in its earlier cousin. The boys and I would love to see a new edition of Blackstone that incorporates all the great stuff that Cursed introduced. In any case, they're both magnificent games and we absolutely got our money's worth out of them!

Into the Ebon Citadel!

Over the past few months, other games have gotten in the way of our finishing Cursed City, but now that I've got a nice little week of vacation, I was determined that we were going to complete this game just as we vanquished its spiritual predecessor, Blackstone Fortress. Over the weekend, we did one final mission to level up a couple of our secondary characters and prepare us for our final assault on the Ebon Citadel, home to Radukar the Wolf, vampire-lord of Ulfenkarn. 

Here's a couple pics of the Ebon Citadel map, including (at the top) the throne room of Radukar!

It's hard to see the individual minis, but Radukar himself is not present. He'll show up once we start to cause trouble. In the meantime, we'll have to deal with his undead ogre and vampire minions. 

If we prevail, we'll be able to open the mysterious sealed envelope that was included in the box. As with Blackstone, it no doubt wraps up this first storyline, provides some sort of final reward for the party, and hints at adventures to come.

The attack on Radular's lair begins today, but we'll probably spend a couple of hours arguing over how to approach the mission before we actually get started. That's half the fun! Wish us luck!

Season 7 Awards

Before undertaking the tedious task of updating career stats for all the players, I'll wrap up Season 7 with the individual awards!

Scoring Champion: Newsy Lalonde, RW, Victorias

With 19 goals and 18 assists, Lalonde's 37 regular-season points were three more than teammate Cyclone Taylor's total. In just his second season, Lalonde has established himself as the league's premiere offensive player. (Offensive in more ways than one, because his 32 penalty minutes were just four shy of the league lead!)

Forward MVP: Blair Russell, LW, Comets

A star player in earlier seasons, Russell had been pretty quiet over the last couple of years before breaking out with 17 goals (second in the league). That number, combined with his +12 rating (third in the league but first among forwards), tell the story of his superlative two-way game. 

Defenseman MVP: Mike Grant, Comets

Grant suffered an injury early in the first game of the season and missed the next couple of contests. When he came back, he came back with a vengeance. Grant racked up 30 points and posted a +13 rating (second only to teammate and fellow blueliner Lester Patrick at +22), cementing his place in the holy trinity of defensemen alongside fellow trophy winners Cyclone Taylor (five times) and Hod Stuart (once).

Goaltender MVP: Paddy Moran, Bulldogs

Moran paced the circuit with a 2.40 goals-against average and .921 save percentage, almost single-handedly dragging his underperforming team into the postseason. To earn this award, Moran had to outduel four-time winner Bowse Hutton, although Hutton and the Victorias got the last laugh in the playoffs. 

Rookie of the Year: Hap Holmes, G, Bearcats

Holmes edged Thistles winger Jack Darragh to become the first goaltender to win this award. On a first-year team that won only two of its twenty games, Holmes was one of the few bright spots. His .913 save percentage looks exceptional, but it was actually just a few ticks above league average (.910) because expansion diluted the talent pool, resulting in a banner year for netminders. Even so, Holmes was arguably the Cats' best player, and I see nothing but greatness ahead of him.

Playoff MVP: Newsy Lalonde, RW, Victorias

Cyclone Taylor had one more point and a substantially better plus/minus, and Bowse Hutton put up an eye-popping .941 save percentage, but this year's Playoff MVP goes to their teammate Lalonde, who scored a record 9 goals in this postseason, when no one else had more than 5. Though twice injured during the Vics' championship run, Lalonde was a warrior who instilled absolute terror in foes every time he touched the puck.

The City Is Growing!

I haven't posted much about our 3D printer since those earlier warehouse pics because we've been troubleshooting some bed adhesion issues. Now we're using a raft with each print and it's working out very well. Construction of our city continues apace!

Above is a free model that Corvus Games Terrain allows you to download from their site. Why not include a game shop in our town?!

I love this model because it's so versatile. It's a modular design, so you can print and stack as many stories as you like. I'm going to use the same files to create a three-story building next. As you can see, there's an empty rectangular space just above the door and street-level windows; this area is for gluing one of the many signs that were included among the files, so I'll glue different signs onto this building and its future three-story cousin. Plus, the building has internal floors, so you have lots of opportunities for interior play as well!  

And now my favorite: the pizza parlor! I might re-print the roof to try to get better resolution on the letters and numbers on the sign, but for now it's fine. We also have quite a backlog of stuff to print, as Matthew and I went on a bit of a shopping spree on Corvus this morning, purchasing files for more city shops, an industrial building, and a military base. 

Just please don't ask me about how these are going to get painted...

Creighton Cup Finals

Season 7 came to a close with the presentation of the Creighton Cup! And on Canada Day, no less!

Stumbling into Game 1 of the Finals, the discombobulated Comets were no match for the businesslike Victorias and their star winger, Newsy Lalonde. Shrugging off a chorus of boos and taunts from the Comets' hometown faithful, Lalonde recorded his first playoff hat trick and led the Victorias to a 4-1 triumph. The Comets managed to eke out a 3-2 road win in Game 2, setting the stage for one of the wildest and sloppiest playoff contests I've seen in this league. In Game 3, a Joe Hall penalty in the opening minute gave the Vics an early power play. Blair Russell, however, scored a shorthanded goal to stake the Comets to the lead, only for (who else?) Lalonde to tally on the power play mere seconds later. Both teams had scored on their very first shot on goal! Lots of penalties and lots of goals ensued, with the Victorias emerging as 5-2 winners. Remarkably, the road team had won all three games, a trend the Victorias hoped to break as they headed home for Game 4 with the chance to wrap up the franchise's latest title.

Game 4 was at once epic and anticlimactic. Lalonde beat Percy LeSueur just moments into the opening frame, and captain Hobey Baker doubled the Vics' lead around the midpoint. The score remained unchanged until the Comets' George Richardson notched a goal in the closing moments of the second, setting up a final period in which the Comets would need to throw everything they had at netminder Bowse Hutton to get the equalizer. The visitors got an early break when Newsy Lalonde went down with an injury and did not return, but they struggled to get quality chances throughout the third. A late score by Dubbie Bowie restored the Vics' two-goal advantage, and that was that. Riding a 45-save masterpiece from Hutton, the Vics cruised to a 3-1 win and claimed yet another Creighton Cup. 

They deserved it, too. The Victorias went 6-2 in this postseason run, leading all playoff teams with 3.50 goals per game, 1.88 goals against per game, and a +13 goal differential. Check out the special teams: 31.82% on the power play and a mind-boggling 95.24% penalty kill. 

That level of dominance has earned them their fourth title in seven years. They won back-to-back cups in Seasons 1 and 2, then went through a bit of a dry spell, and now have championships in Seasons 6 and 7. Is this the beginning of a new -- or, should I say, "Newsy" -- dynasty? Only time will tell!

Grudge Match

I picked up the wood elves set for Blitz Bowl (technically, it's for Blood Bowl, but the two games use the same miniatures) to see how a pass-focused team plays in comparison to the versatile humans and the run-based dwarves. In today's game, Matthew elected to play the elves, and Nathaniel claimed the dwarves. Although Matthew scored a pretty touchdown in the early going, the dwarves soon caught up and began to grind out points on challenge cards. The game ended with a 14-8 triumph for the dwarves, and in observing the action I learned a great deal that I'll be able to apply to my league once I get through my hockey playoffs.

First Round Report!

The first round is in the books!

As I predicted, the second-place Victorias defeated the third-place Bulldogs in four games. The Dogs were lucky to win the one game that they did, as their entire team -- aside, perhaps, from Gord Roberts -- really underperformed. The Vics, meanwhile, paced all first-round playoff teams with 3.50 goals per game, 2.00 goals against, and a power play that clicked at a robust 30%. Billy McGimsie, Cyclone Taylor, and Hobey Baker led the team with seven points apiece. 

The other matchup was rather more complicated. The Comets cruised to victories in the first two games, needing just one more triumph to reach the finals. The Thistles, their backs to the wall and without injured star Alf Smith, gutted out a gritty 3-2 road win in Game 3. In Game 4, on home ice, they beat Comets netminder Percy LeSueur on their first two shots on goal and never looked back, tying the series with a 5-4 win. The Comets were now on the brink of the greatest playoff collapse in league history. In the do-or-die Game 5, former Playoff MVP Mike Grant gave the Comets an early lead, but the Thistles simply did not quit. Top center Dan Bain was a real thistle in the Comets' side, and his nine points (5 G, 4 A) in five games led all players in the first round. However, third-period goals by Dick Irvin and Grant (again) put the game out of reach, and the Comets hung on for a 5-3 victory and a date with the Vics in the Creighton Cup Finals. 

What to expect in the best-of-five championship? The Comets have a playoff-best 92.86% penalty kill to help neutralize the Vics' elite power play, but otherwise they're a bit of a mess right now and the defending titlists look superior in just about every respect. The biggest disparity, I think, is in goal; Bowse Hutton is locked in, whereas LeSueur started hot but has turned back into a pumpkin over the last three games. On the positive side, rookie winger Shorty Green, a healthy scratch for the first three games, scored in both Game 4 and Game 5, so he'll get another look in the finals. In any case, the Comets will likely need all the help they can get; they may have finished the regular season in first place (and thus will have home-ice advantage), but all that is ancient history now, so I'm picking the Victorias to win in five games.

Free RPG Day Is Today!

It's Free RPG Day! Hope it's a good one!

Free RPG Day 2022

Free RPG Day is coming up on Saturday! It's been quite a few years since I've been able to attend one, but I always had a great time.

Touchdown!

Is it just me, or does it seem like every NFL game reaches a point in the fourth quarter after which defenses evaporate and the teams keep trading scores until the clock runs out? Nathaniel and I got to experience that phenomenon today in our first-ever game of Blitz Bowl. 

I've been waiting for the latest edition of this slimmed-down version of Games Workshop's celebrated Blood Bowl to be released, but with Amy and Matthew enjoying the gifts of Grandfather Nurgle, today seemed as good a day as any to drive up to our semi-local Barnes & Noble and pick up a copy of the soon-to-be-obsolete current edition. This boxed set includes models for humans and dwarves, but also game stats for all the other factions. I'll see if I can pick up the models for another team or two and create my own solo-play league, like with my historical Strat-O-Matic stuff. 

First, of course, I needed to learn how to play the game. Nathaniel and I worked our way through the "drills" that teach the basics of the rules, and then we jumped into our first match. He opted for the fleet-footed humans, leaving me the slow but solid dwarves. I jumped out to an early 6-0 lead after completing some objective cards (one or two points each) and scoring the game's first touchdown (three points). Nathaniel fought his way back and we were running neck-and-neck as time (measured by the deck of objective cards) was running out. Nathaniel pulled into the lead at 12-10. On my penultimate turn, one of my lumbering linemen managed to pick up the ball at midfield and went rumbling, bumbling, stumbling toward the end zone. Nathaniel deployed his forces for a goal-line stand, but, on my last turn, this surprisingly balletic bruiser managed to spin away from the defenders and leap into the end zone. I scored three for the touchdown and another point for completing an objective, so that put me in front 14-12. Nathaniel had just one last turn and needed a touchdown to win or two points' worth of objectives to tie. With half my team off the pitch due to injury, there was a lot of open space for the ol' two-minute drill. Nathaniel managed to run the ball, hand off to another player, and then run again into the end zone on the very last action of his final turn. With that buzzer-beater, the humans came out on top by a 15-14 margin!

Playoff Preview

Our 3D printer has been running virtually non-stop. Based on our experience thus far, I think it's going to be fantastic for printing terrain and buildings, but less so for printing minis. We've now printed four of the generic trooper dudes from my earlier post, and two of them are essentially unusable because the printer somehow messed up the rifle and/or the right arm. 

Anyway, back to hockey! It's playoff time for my historical guys, and Season 7 is the first to feature two full rounds of best-of-five play. Sadly, the Millionaires and the expansion Bearcats are heading home, but the other four teams now have their opening-round playoff assignments.

Comets (1st) vs. Thistles (4th)

It was a magical season for the Comets (11-3-6) and many of their players, four of whom finished in the top ten in points: Blair Russell (third), Mike Grant (fourth), Frank Foyston (fifth), and captain George Richardson (seventh). Behind this elite quartet, the league's all-time goals-scored leader, Frank McGee, notched a dozen tallies. If the team has a weakness, however, it's on the penalty kill. The Comets finished dead last with 70.37%. Their first-round opponent, the Thistles, had an uneven year. They were the only playoff team to finish below .500 (6-8-6) and with a negative goal differential (-5). On the positive side, Alf Smith came alive in the second half and finished with 14 goals and rookie Jack Darragh chipped in 10 of his own. 

Prediction: Comets in four.

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

The Vics had the league's best goal differential (+19) and absolutely dominated on special teams, pacing the circuit in both power play (24.62%) and penalty kill (92.16% -- the best percentage in league history). They weren't as strong at five-on-five, but stars Newsy Lalonde and Cyclone Taylor finished first and second, respectively, in the scoring race. The Bulldogs, meanwhile, were carried by veteran netminder Paddy Moran, the odds-on favorite to win his first Goaltender MVP trophy after backstopping the team to a league-low 2.40 goals against per game. His fine work covered for down years (relatively speaking) by Gord Roberts and the Dogs' other stars. Journeyman winger Jack Ruttan, a trade deadline acquisition, exceeded expectations by scoring five goals in eight games to close out the regular season.

Prediction: Victorias in four.

First 3D Building!

Behold, our first 3D-printed building! This warehouse features double doors that actually slide open and a removable roof to allow access to the interior. 

Matthew has already claimed it as his hero's lair in our Tales of the Ternion campaign! Next up, we'll be printing a pizza shop. It's not Picnic Pizza, but it will have to suffice!

Hot Off the Presses!

The image isn't great, but Matthew has made a successful test run of our first custom-designed Hero Forge mini that we've printed on our own 3D printer. 

We took what we learned from the Hero Forge sample mini and created a more streamlined figure that requires fewer supports and has fewer skinny appendages that would easily break. I can quickly shave off the stringy filament residue and have this mini ready for painting in no time, in stark contrast to the hour it took me to carve the previous mini out of her plastic scaffolding and then re-assemble her broken parts. 

This generic helmeted trooper will work great for our futuristic Shattered Realm campaigns as well as our current Tales of the Ternion superhero game!

First Mini!

Hero Forge has a couple of sample models that you can download for free and test out on your own 3D printer. Here's our first attempt...

When we loaded the model in our slicer software -- I know, so cyberpunk, right!? -- we saw immediately that in order for the printer to properly build all the stuff that sticks out from the torso, the slicer would need to add extra "support" plastic. The arms, the book, the torch, the sword hilt, the pony tail -- all of it was encased in a kind of plastic scaffolding. This poor adventurer came out looking like she was trapped in some sort of fiendish magical prison.

With my trusty Games Workshop tools, I set about clipping and scraping away the plastic supports as well as the stringy residue left by the printer. In the process, several appendages came off. I glued them all back on, but the whole process was very tedious and, as you can see in the photographs, there's still a fair amount of that leftover filament that I have yet to remove.

For future minis, we'll probably use Hero Forge to design something a lot simpler. It will need to be a straight up-and-down pose with a weapon resting against the shoulder rather than extending perpendicular to the torso. We'll also opt for a closed helmet rather than a face, as the resolution of the printer doesn't seem to support significant facial detail. 

More experiments to come!

Villains of Gotham Beware!

Matthew's first official print job is complete! 

Now, where are all the 28mm minis he promised me?!

Now the real fun begins...

Little plastic dogs are all well and good, but now it's time to get down to business. Here's the start of Matthew's first creation...

The Printer Prints!

And now the 3D printer prints! We were on the phone tonight troubleshooting with my software engineer brother-in-law, and he suggested loading the sample printable files onto a different micro SD card to rule out a faulty card. Nathaniel had another such micro SD, so we tried using that one in the 3D printer -- and it worked! We ended up with a cute little dog that Nathaniel has already claimed. Next up: Matthew is going to design a simple but usable miniature -- something we can bring right into our Tales of the Ternion superhero campaign -- and purchase the STL file so that we can try printing it at home!

Tales of the Ternion

The 3D printer has been something of a bust. Although all the mechanical components are fine -- the motors work as expected and the extruder heats the filament properly -- the printer essentially freezes whenever we initiate a print job. I'm thinking it must be a firmware issue, so I hope the manufacturer's tech support folks can walk us through a potential fix. Otherwise, back to Amazon it goes! 

The boys are pretty disappointed, but the blow was softened a bit by the start of our long-anticipated superhero campaign, Tales of the Ternion. Drawing upon characters and themes from all of my past modern-setting campaigns (superhero and otherwise), I've concocted a fiendishly complex web of mysteries and conspiracies for the boys to unravel. After just a few sessions (rather, "issues"), they're knee-deep in cryptic clues and feeling proud that they've been able to answer a few questions. I think we need to finish up Cursed City before we get too deep in this campaign, but it's been a fun treat over this long weekend!

Our Latest Rabbit Hole

After exhaustive research by their top engineer (Matthew) and with the backing of a wealthy investor (Nathaniel), my kids have purchased a 3D printer. Now they'll be able to print miniatures (with an assist from Hero Forge) for minions, troopers, civilians, and other background characters in our roleplaying games, as well as 3D terrain for our wargames. I'll be sure to share photos of their creations once we receive the printer and get it up and running!

Deadline Deal

The trade deadline has come and gone, and, as I anticipated, the thin talent pool that we're experiencing during this expansion season has resulted in very limited player movement. Just about every team went out and kicked some tires, but there just weren't a lot of great options out there. I always try to be objective and make the best-possible decision for every team, so if a transaction doesn't benefit both clubs, I won't make it. 

As it turned out, just one deal went down. The Bulldogs flipped winger Scotty Davidson to the Bearcats for fellow forward Jack Ruttan. This deal made sense for a lot of reasons. First, the Bulldogs currently sit in third place, just a point behind our co-leaders, the Comets and the Victorias. The Dogs are just about a lock to make the playoffs, but Davidson's frequent penalties (he's second in the league in PIM) are costing his team points in the standings. It's been so bad lately that I've had to bench Davidson in the third period in close games to avoid meltdowns. If the Dogs want to make a deep run in the playoffs, they can't give offensively-oriented teams like the Comets and Vics even more power-play chances. Davidson is just too much of a risk for them. His production is way down this year, as well (12 games, 3 G, 2 A, -6). Coming back to the Dogs is Ruttan, who has played in only six games but still has nearly the same production (2 G, 1 A, -1); moreover, in terms of Strat-O-Matic game stats, Ruttan is in the lowest penalty bracket, whereas Davidson is in the bracket is most likely to trigger a penalty. Why would the Bearcats want Davidson? Well, in this situation they have the opportunity to buy low on a solid player who is vastly superior to internal options like Fred Scanlan and Rusty Crawford. Davidson is an elite skater, and the Cats are the slowest team in the league by far. He also brings a great deal of offensive upside, so a bit of positive regression will provide some dividends for his new team. He'll take more than his share of boneheaded penalties, but the Cats need talent and they're not in contention for a playoff spot this year. Davidson gives them a useful everyday player for next year, or someone they can trade back to an offense-starved contender if need be.

Today Is Free Comic Book Day!

Mosey on over to your friendly local comic book store for some free stuff! You can read all about the FCBD offerings here.

FCBD 2022

Heads up that this Saturday is Free Comic Book Day!

A Plucky Challenger!

We've just rolled -- or, rather, skated -- past the midpoint of Season 7, with all sorts of fun storylines shaping up in this first campaign with a full six-team league. One of those storylines is the sheer dominance of second-year forward Newsy Lalonde of the Victorias. With 12 goals and 7 assists in just 11 games, Lalonde ought to be cruising toward the scoring title and the Forward MVP trophy.

Except, he isn't.

There's another player with 12 goals and 7 assists in 11 games played, but also a league-leading +13 plus/minus rating (compared to Lalonde's pedestrian +1). One might reasonably guess three-time MVP Gord Roberts to be that other player, but Roberts, despite having a fine campaign, is all the way back at tenth in the league in total points as of today. No, Lalonde's plucky challenger is Comets left winger Blair Russell. 

The Comets are loaded with offensive talent, starting with two-time MVP Frank McGee, the league's all-time leader in goals scored. They've also got Dick Irvin, Frank Foyston, and George Richardson, plus high-scoring defenseman Mike Grant, and yet Russell has more goals and points than any of these luminaries. What gives? Well, Russell was a bit of a minor star in earlier seasons, finishing sixth in the scoring race in Season 2 and fifth in Season 3. Since then, Russell hasn't even sniffed the top ten, or even the top twenty. This year, he's on a brand-new line, skating with crafty winger-turned-center Foyston and either Shorty Green or defenseman-turned-forward Joe Hall on the right wing. Their stellar play has propelled the Comets to (currently) second place behind the lordly Vics. 

I can't wait to see if Russell outduels Lalonde by the season's end, or if another challenger emerges to steal their thunder!