Middle of the Second Period

I'm hustling a bit to get through Season 9 of my historical hockey league before our summer plans, so the games are coming fast and furious. At the halfway point of the season, the Victorias, Thistles, Millionaires, and Bulldogs are in playoff position, while the Comets and Bearcats are on the outside looking in. As is often the case, the Vics occupy the top spot in the standings, and their +12 goal differential suggests they're for real, whereas the second-place Thistles (only a single point behind them) are just breaking even, so we might see some regression from this year's surprise contender. Speaking of surprises, the Bearcats have taken a big step backwards in their third season of play, but they're tracking toward a historically good penalty-kill percentage (currently north of 95%!). 

For the individual awards, two races are really standing out. Looking at Forward MVP, all the buzz is on the starboard side. Three-time runner-up Newsy Lalonde (10 G, 6 A, +3) got off to a hot start, but he has some tough competition coming from his own locker room; the Vics' captain and second-line right wing, Hobey Baker (9 G, 7 A, +9), is playing a phenomenal 200-foot game this year. Meanwhile, Bulldogs right wing Tommy Dunderdale (9 G, 5 A, +3) is lurking in the background, ready to pounce if the two Vics begin to falter. Turning to Defenseman MVP, in a down year (relatively speaking) for perennial winner Cyclone Taylor, Hod Stuart (2 G, 9 A, +8) of the Thistles and Si Griffis (3 G, 8 A, +7) of the Bulldogs are neck-and-neck for frontrunner status. 

The second half of the season begins tonight!

Raiders Rule!

The Cylon starship, that is, not the football team.

The boys and I have played a few skirmishes in Battlestar Galactica: Starship Battles and the player controlling the Cylon Raider(s) has won every time. Granted, we haven't added in all the optional and advanced rules yet, but it's tough out there for Colonial Viper jockeys right now!

Which Team Reigns Supreme?

I've been solo-playing a lot of sports games over the past couple of years, so I thought it might be interesting to take a broader look across the three leagues -- baseball, hockey, and football -- to see how all the teams have fared. Who are the lordly Yankees or Canadiens of my fantasy leagues, and who are the title-starved Mariners or Senators?

In the table below, I've listed the teams in order of championships won. Each entry also includes the sport, the number of seasons the team has existed, and the number of seasons the league has existed (the latter two numbers are different only if a given franchise is an expansion team).

 

Team	Sport	Titles	Team Seasons	League Seasons
Haymakers	Baseball	5	9	9
Victorias	Hockey	4	8	8
Reavers	Football	2	3	3
Bulldogs	Hockey	2	8	8
Blue Legs	Baseball	2	9	9
Giants	Football	1	3	3
Millionaires	Hockey	1	5	8
Resolutes	Baseball	1	5	9
Comets	Hockey	1	8	8
Canaries	Baseball	1	9	9
Champions	Football	0	1	3
Grasshuggers	Football	0	2	3
Bearcats	Hockey	0	2	8
Avengers	Football	0	3	3
Thistles	Hockey	0	8	8

Where we have ties -- for example, with all the teams that each have won a single championship -- the tiebreaker is a lower number of team seasons. A team that has achieved a certain level of success in fewer seasons is more dominant than one that had more opportunities to do so but failed. 

Some good news, at least, for the lowly Thistles: As of this writing, in Season 9 of my hockey league, they're in first place. Could this be the year they rise out of the basement?

"Set Condition 1 throughout the ship! Launch the alert fighters!"

Recently the four of us finished watching all ten seasons of Friends, and it sparked a conversation about acclaimed television programs that either had a pitch-perfect ending (like Friends) or a complete dumpster fire (like Seinfeld). Of course, one man's trash is another man's treasure -- defending the final episode of Game of Thrones is absolutely a hill I'll die on! -- but in this conversation, Amy and I both agreed that our favorite final episode is from the modern Battlestar Galactica. The boys weren't familiar with BSG, so I provided a little context and then, before I knew it, I was ordering the complete series on Blu-ray. 

It's been a pleasure to revisit this top-notch program, and as soon as I saw the boys starting to design Vipers and Raiders in their 3D-modeling software, I figured it was time to check out the BSG gaming scene. I recalled a semi-cooperative game in which players try to figure out who among them are secretly Cylons (Battlestar Galactica: The Board Game), but I lamented that there was never any sort of miniatures-based game along the lines of Star Wars X-Wing. That would've been super cool! So I ran a quick search to see if I could track down a copy of the aforementioned board game, when I suddenly realized that, yes, Virginia, there is a Battlestar Galactica miniatures game! And it looks frakkin' awesome! Battlestar Galactica: Starship Battles seems to have come and gone without my notice and is no longer being manufactured. Fortunately, there are still plenty of copies of the core set and the various ship expansions floating around. Can't wait to check it out!

FCBD '23

Heads up! Today is Free Comic Book Day, y'all!

Hockey Season 9 Preview

Next up in my sporting rotation is Season 9 of my pre-NHL Hall of Fame hockey players. Last year, the Bulldogs upset the favored Victorias to claim their second Creighton Cup. Other highlights of the season included the Comets' Frank McGee scoring a record 21 goals, Joe Malone turning heads as a rookie, and (thanks in part to Malone) the Bearcats improving from 2-11-7 to 8-4-8. 

What's on tap for Season 9? Rookie Didier Pitre may have the best shot this side of McGee, but can he help the dysfunctional Thistles get back to the playoffs? Will the Bearcats continue to improve in their third campaign and make a deep playoff run? And will the Comets shake things up after a lost season of inexplicable injuries?

Dungeons Pop -- Final Two Weeks

The Dungeons Pop Kickstarter has two more weeks to go. Some great stretch goals still within reach!

Season 9 Awards

Another baseball season in the books! Here are the awards for our Season 9 stars...

Position Player MVP: Buck Ewing, Canaries

There was no hands-down favorite this year, as a lot of players put up fine but not necessarily great seasons. Second baseman Bid McPhee of the Haymakers had a very strong showing, but ultimately it came down to a pair of Canaries teammates: catcher Buck Ewing and first baseman Roger Connor. While Connor led the league in home runs and (surprisingly) was the best defensive first baseman, he also lost a chunk of time to injuries. Ewing, meanwhile, played in every contest, provided flawless defense at a crucial position, and tied for second in the league in home runs. 

Pitcher MVP: Pud Galvin, Canaries

Another very close call! Galvin and the Blue Legs' Al Spalding were the only serious candidates this year. Galvin edged Spalding for the league's best ERA (2.75 to 2.85), while leading the Canaries to the biggest single-season turnaround in league history. 

Playoff MVP: Cap Anson, Haymakers

There was no clear-cut winner for this award, either. Cy Young, Mickey Welch, Roger Bresnahan, Pud Galvin, and Billy Hamilton all had big moments, but power-hitting first baseman Anson was the constant who delivered consistent results over the entire series and led all players in total bases.

Season 9 Championship

With Pud Galvin starting for the Canaries and Cy Young for the visiting Haymakers, I expected Game 1 to be a pitcher's duel. It wasn't. Although Young became the first pitcher in league history to hit a playoff home run, he also gave up nine runs in a slugfest that ended 9-6 for the home team. 

Hoping to take a two-game series lead, the Canaries started Addie Joss in Game 2 for his first-ever playoff appearance. The Haymakers nickel-and-dimed him for four runs, which was more than enough for Mickey Welch. With pinpoint control of his breaking pitches, Welch induced harmless popups and soft grounders. One after another, the Canaries flailed helplessly at his diving pitches. Three, six, nine, twelve, fifteen, eighteen in a row! Welch carried a perfect game into the eighth inning. However, after retiring the first twenty-one batters, he issued a leadoff walk to Honus Wagner and, two batters later, a single to Hugh Duffy. The perfect game and no-hitter were gone, but the shutout was still intact. I sent Welch out for the ninth to finish his work, but he promptly departed the game with a season-ending injury. To go from a possible perfect game to a devastating injury in a matter of moments was a truly stunning turn of events. Amos Rusie came in throwing triple-digit heat to secure the 4-0 shutout win and even the series, but the loss of Welch was a gut-punch to the Haymakers.

Now at home for the next two games, the Haymakers handed the ball back to Young, while the Canaries countered with Galvin. Game 3 gave us the pitcher's duel we'd been waiting for. Young and Galvin traded zeroes until Sam Thompson's run-scoring single gave the Haymakers a slim 1-0 lead in the sixth. It was all Young would need. The proud old warhorse pitched a complete-game shutout after being humiliated in Game 1. After that nail-biting 1-0 victory, the Haymakers now led the best-of-five series two games to one. The Canaries, meanwhile, had been shut out in back to back games after scoring scoring nine runs in the series opener. My thoughts turned at once to the Season 6 championship series in which the Blue Legs were on the verge of a title but then were shut out in consecutive games by the Resolutes' Christy Mathewson and John Clarkson. 

With their season on the line, the Canaries started Joss in Game 4. The Haymakers, without Welch, were forced to start swingman Happy Jack Chesbro. On paper, it was a big mismatch in favor of the Canaries. When the dice hit the table, however, it was another story. The Haymakers came at Joss with hard contact in the early innings and led 4-0 before the Canaries finally managed to end their drought with a run in the fourth -- a span of twenty-three scoreless innings going back to Game 1. They would tack on a few more, as Chesbro was in and out of trouble all night, although he never surrendered the lead. With the Haymakers up 8-5 going into the top of the ninth, they turned to closer Amos Rusie to lock down the game and the series. Pinch hitter Charley Comiskey popped up for the first out. Speedy leadoff man Billy Hamilton, who had been running amok on the bases all series, promptly lashed a single. I agonized over whether to send him. If the next batter were to hit into a double play, the series would be over, and Hamilton is the fastest man in the league, so, yeah, I sent him. Star catcher Roger Bresnahan threw a perfect strike to second and Hamilton was out by a country mile. Two outs! Next up, Ed Delahanty singled, bringing Roger Connor -- a strong candidate for this year's Position Player MVP -- to the plate. Rusie unleashed the heater, Connor could not square up to it. A lazy pop fly to Bobby Wallace at short ended the game. 

So the Haymakers are champions for the fifth time in nine seasons. I'm actually rather disappointed. Although I typically don't root for specific teams, I had hoped that the Canaries could cash in on their turnaround season and claim the title they deserved, but alas, it was not meant to be. Maybe next year!

Birds Taking Flight

The Canaries are the feel-good story of the year in Season 9 of my historical baseball league. They've gone from worst to first with a vengeance, improving from last year's .292 winning percentage to a league-leading .625. That's a huge jump! I can't say I'm entirely surprised, however, because bad luck contributed a lot to that ugly .292 figure; their Pythagorean winning percentage was much higher, at .464. Even so, vaulting over the rest of the league to secure first place was a major feat for a team that hadn't had a winning record since claiming their only title way back in Season 4. With the league's best runs scored per game (4.46) and runs allowed per game (3.29), and a run differential that was third-highest in league history (+28), the Canaries are a clear favorite to win the championship. 

Standing in their way are the second-place Haymakers, the New York Yankees of this league, who overtook a fading Resolutes squad to reach the title series for the seventh time in nine seasons. The Haymakers' second-half surge was the product of great pitching from Cy Young and Mickey Welch, but their championship hopes took a hit when catcher Roger Bresnahan was injured in the regular-season finale. Without their star backstop for at least the first game of this best-of-five series, the Haymakers will be at a disadvantage offensively and defensively. My prediction is a Canaries triumph in four games.

Dungeons Pop

In my never-ending search for RPG and wargaming terrain, I love the idea of using 3D terrain, but there are a lot of complicating factors -- cost, storage space, time and effort for painting, etc. -- that make it tough to implement 3D on a large scale. To date, I haven't found a great solution that addresses all of those considerations...until, maybe, now? There's a new Kickstarter called Dungeons Pop, and it offers full-color 3D terrain at an affordable price and requiring very little storage space. How do they pull it off? Well, it's basically like a pop-up book! I'm backing this project not only to get the products shown on the page, but in the hope that the creators eventually branch out into other genres, like sci-fi and modern urban settings. Keep an eye on these folks!

It Was Okay!

Matthew, Nathaniel, two of my local buddies, and I all took in a screening of the new D&D movie yesterday. It was okay! I actually enjoyed it less than I thought I would, but I still enjoyed it. It was a fun, Marvel-esque romp with some genuinely good humor, and -- this is no small feat -- managed to be accessible to those who aren't D&D aficionados but still had plenty of Easter Eggs for those who are steeped in the lore of the Forgotten Realms. My favorite bit was a couple of quick cameos of the six plucky kids from the D&D cartoon of yesteryear. I guess I would have preferred a whole movie about them!

Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves

It seems like we've been waiting forever for this moment! The new D&D movie opens today, and although it won't have Tom Baker playing the king of the elves, I feel quite confident that it will be a super fun D&D romp. The boys and I will be there at our local theater to laugh and cheer all the way through!

Opening Day (The Real One)

Ah, there's something satisfying about watching baseball on Opening Day while also playing my Strat-O-Matic baseball league. Huzzah for the return of (real-life) baseball! 

Let's go Yankees!

Middle of the Fifth!

I've been playing through ball games fast and furious lately, and already I'm at the halfway point of Season 9. The Resolutes, Haymakers, and defending champion Blue Legs are all treading water, but the Canaries have shaken out of their years-long slumber to lead the pack at 8-4 with a solid +15 run differential. After finishing below .500 for the past four seasons, they're vying to make playoffs for first time since they won their only championship back in Season 4. One of the key contributors to their success is pitcher Pud Galvin; although he's a former Playoff MVP, he's typically been more of a #2 starter than a true ace. This year, he's sporting a 1.76 ERA and a perfect 5-0 record through five starts. He's got the inside track for Pitcher MVP, but he'll need to watch out for Blue Legs hurler Al Spalding, building on last year's career renaissance with a matching 1.76 ERA (albeit with a middling 3-3 record due to lack of run support). Both men will try to best the single-season ERA mark of 1.61, set by Mickey Welch of the Haymakers in Season 4.

Shazam!

Superhero fans, don't miss Shazam! Fury of the Gods, which premieres today!

The Walking Dead RPG

The official RPG for The Walking Dead funded on Kickstarter in just eight minutes this morning, and I'm pleased to say that I was one of the backers who jumped in right when the project launched. I'll be using this system (the same ruleset as the Alien RPG) for my upcoming post-apocalyptic campaign. (Even Amy is going to play in that one!) With a delivery date of November, I now have plenty of time to finish painting all those 3D buildings I've printed. Oh, wait, now it sounds like the preliminary digital rulebook will be available next month...

Opening Day

From Blitz Bowl straight to baseball! Now I'm on to Season 9 of my nineteenth-century Strat-O-Matic baseball league. Last season, the Blue Legs ended their title drought with a dominant series win over their chief rivals, the Resolutes. Tonight, the Legs hosted the Haymakers on Opening Day, with a marquee pitching matchup featuring reigning Pitcher MVP Cy Young against Tim Keefe, who just won the Playoff MVP award for leading the Legs to victory in his first campaign with that team after many years as the Canaries' ace. Young got the better of Keefe in this contest, as the Haymakers eked out a 3-2 victory over the defending champions. Can't wait to see how this season plays out!

Hey Look, a Dungeons & Dragons Toy...

About the only thing keeping me from sinking hundreds of dollars into this line is that the figures are six-inch scale and I have nothing else that big. 

Reavers Repeat!

The Season 3 Sigmar Cup goes to the Reavers! 

The title game opened with slow, cautious play on both sides. The Reavers managed to keep the ball away from the Avengers and claim points here and there on challenge cards. With leads of 5-2 and 6-3, the defending champs looked for an opportunity to deliver a knockout blow in the second half. A fumble by their thrower, however, led to a wild series of plays, by which the agile Avengers got the ball into the hands of their speedy catcher, who sprinted for the end zone and a potential game-tying touchdown. To make it, he needed a 5 or 6 on a d6 roll, but despite a card allowing him a reroll, the best he could muster was a 4. As such, he ended just shy of the goal line, where a Reaver lineman pounded him into the turf. From there, the Reavers looked to run down the clock. Both teams claimed a few more challenge points, and the final score ended up 11-7. With back-to-back titles, the Reavers have now staked their claim to a mini-dynasty. Can they make it a threepeat in Season 4?

Undead Turned

With the regular season at an end, it's time for the Blitz Bowl Season 3 playoffs! Who's in and who's out?

The Reavers claimed their third straight first-place finish, but it was only on the basis of tiebreakers over the Avengers: Both teams had identical points and wins, but the Reavers won the season series 2-1-1. As such, they earned a bye into the championship game, while the Avengers settled for second place and would host the third-place Champions. The unlucky Giants, with the league's second-fewest wins despite the second-best point differential, just missed the cut, as did the Grasshuggers, who got hot way too late after a winless first half of the season.

In the wild-card game, the Avengers jumped out to a quick start. The fleet-footed elves racked up five points on challenge cards while the plodding undead struggled to impose their usual brand of physical punishment. The unequivocal highlight of the game came when an Avenger lineman, backed up into his own end zone, hurled a long pass to the catcher, who then sprinted to the Champions' end zone for the touchdown. It was the longest touchdown play in league history. The Champions managed to pick up a single point on their next turn, but the game ended shortly thereafter due to the ten-point mercy rule. With an 11-1 victory, the Avengers notched the most dominant postseason win we've yet seen in this Blitz Bowl league. Next they'll face the Reavers in the championship game...

Uh Oh

Okay...okay...don't panic, duder. Just because you discovered this doesn't mean you have to buy anything...

Let's Get a Pet!

Sorry, kids, I meant in D&D. The latest round of One D&D playtest materials are available (here), and they focus on the druid and paladin classes. I was pleased to see new rules for Find Familiar and Find Steed; anyone who loves pets in D&D will love these updates to make your familiar and paladin mounts way more useful!

Spoiler Alert!

We're at the three-quarter mark of the Blitz Bowl season, and the red-hot Champions -- an expansion team consisting of various types of cadaverous undead -- have moved into first place at 7-5-1. Perhaps the biggest story, though, is the Grasshoppers' stunning turnaround. Those plucky halflings started the season 0-8-1, but have now won four in row -- they've beaten all four of the teams in front of them! It may be too late for them to make a playoff run, but at the very least, they can play the role of spoiler for the last quarter of the season.

Home Field Advantage

Nathaniel got the highly regarded Game of Thrones board game for Christmas, and we recently gave it a whirl. First of all, the game is great. It mixes politics, combat, resource management, intrigue, and all the sorts of stuff you'd want to see in a true GoT experience. 

A Game of Thrones: The Board Game (the official title) is designed for three to six players, so with Matthew unavailable to join us, we each played two of the great houses -- he took Baratheon and Greyjoy, and I established an (unlikely!) alliance of Stark and Lannister. Why those four families and not, say, Martell or Tyrell? The number of players determines which houses are available and which are, essentially, NPCs that players can conquer. Therein lies the game's greatest flaw. Team Baratheon gets a huge home-field advantage in a three- or four-player game. While I was battling the Greyjoys with both of my factions, Nathaniel had Baratheon calmly marching across the southern portion of Westeros, gobbling up territories before I could get anyone down there to oppose him. For future reference, we'll have to make it clear to Matthew, Amy, and anyone else who joins us that Baratheon has the easiest path to victory, so it's important to team up against them early in the game!

Return to IWD

With Amy and Matthew at a swim meet this past weekend, Nathaniel and I were on our own. We did a bit of modeling, but he was keen on some D&D video game action, so we played a bit of the classic '90s Chronicles of Mystara games on our Xbox. He was looking for something more, so I suggested we check out the renowned Baldur's Gate or Icewind Dale series; after I described both in detail, he opted for Icewind Dale, so we picked up the Enhanced Edition on Steam and jumped into some old-school second-edition character creation! Nathaniel created three heroes based on some of his favorite characters of past campaigns, and I contributed three of my own -- including a new incarnation of my all-time favorite character from my first-ever IWD play-through. We're still early in the game, but he's loving it so far, and I'm glad to be able to share this experience with him!

Halftime!

I've blitzed my way to the halfway point of Season 3 of my Blitz Bowl league. The Reavers, defending champs, are tops at 4-1-3, with a league-best point differential (+27), offense (11.13 points per game), and defense (7.75 points allowed per game). About the only thing they're not leading the league in is touchdowns, as the run-and-gun Avengers rank first in that stat. The Avengers are also in second place at 4-2-2, followed by the Giants (3-1-4). If the playoffs started today, those would be the teams. The expansion Champions are holding their own at 4-4-0 and will likely threaten the clubs above them for a playoff spot. The only team that is basically out of the running is the second-year Grasshuggers, who are limping along at an abysmal 0-7-1 thanks to a league-worst offense and defense.

Dear Diary...

Today, for the first time ever, one of my kids knew an obscure bit of superhero lore that I did not. Nathaniel brought up a character called Dogwelder (yes, that's right) and when I said that I had never heard of such a character and it could not possibly be from DC or Marvel, Nathaniel showed me that Dogwelder is indeed a superhero from DC. Still have no idea how he knew it, but he knew it!

ARE YOU READY FOR SOME FOOTBAAAAAAL?!?!?

Yes. Yes I am.

Season 3 of my Blitz Bowl league commences this weekend with the human Reavers defending their Season 2 title against the dwarf Giants, the elf Avengers, the halfling Grasshuggers, and the brand-new Champions, a team made up of various types of undead. With five franchises now in the league, each team will play a total of 16 regular-season games (up from 12 in Season 2 and 8 in Season 1). In a change from the past two seasons, we'll add a Wild Card round to the playoffs. The first-place team will get a bye into the championship game, and then the second- and third-place teams will have a play-in game to see who joins them. Will we see the Reavers and Giants battle in the title game for the third season in a row, or will another team crash the party?

Season 8 Awards

Time to put my hockey stuff away and get ready for some Blitz Bowl football. But first, the awards! The lowly Thistles and the middling Millionaires failed to claim any individual trophies, but the other four teams are represented in the list below.

Scoring Champion: Cyclone Taylor, D, Victorias
Taylor set a single-season record with 41 points (12 goals, 29 assists) and beat runner-up Frank McGee by eight points to claim yet another scoring title. There's just no stopping the greatest player in league history.

Forward MVP: Frank McGee, LW, Comets
McGee, the league's all-time leader in goals scored, broke Newsy Lalonde's record of 19 goals in a season (set just last year) with 21. The one-eyed wonder had 33 total points to lead all forwards, although Lalonde was right behind him with 31 and had a much better plus-minus (+9 vs. McGee's -5). I really agonized over which star should get this trophy, but at the end of the day, a forward's job is to score goals, and this year McGee bested Lalonde in that category 21 to 14. McGee now has three Forward MVPs, moving him into a tie with the Bulldogs' Gord Roberts for the most of any forward.

Defenseman MVP: Cyclone Taylor, Victorias

Taylor really is the best in the business, as evinced by his sixth Defenseman MVP trophy in eight seasons. Not only did he rack up a record 41 points, he led the league in plus-minus at +16, which was six better than any other defenseman. A rejuvenated Graham Drinkwater of the Bearcats and Taylor's steady teammate Phat Wilson also received consideration, but how do you not give this award to Taylor? We might as well name the award after him.

Goaltender MVP: Hap Holmes, Bearcats

Holmes dueled runner-up Bowse Hutton of the Vics all season, and while Hutton had a slightly better goals-against average (1.95 vs. Holmes's 2.00), Holmes, more importantly, led all goalies in save percentage with .936 vs. Hutton's .931. Needless to say, this was a very close call, but Holmes got bonus points for pulling his mediocre Bearcats team all the way from dead last to second place.

Rookie of the Year: Joe Malone, LW, Bearcats

Speaking of that mediocre Bearcats team, Malone certainly did his share, as well, to get the Cats into the playoffs. Phantom Joe scored a new rookie record of 14 goals, and his 24 points put him sixth overall in the league in scoring. I see great things ahead for Malone, who will likely challenge for Scoring Championships and Forward MVPs in the years to come.

Playoff MVP: Tommy Dunderdale, RW, Bulldogs

Gord Roberts led the league in playoff goals with eight, but his series-ending injury robbed him of the opportunity to add a Playoff MVP to his sizable collection of trophies. Instead, his teammate and linemate Tommy Dunderdale claims this award, as Dunderdale led the league in playoff points (6 goals, 8 assists), and scored some clutch goals in both series, most notably the pivotal overtime goal in Game 3 of the Dogs' first-round matchup against the Bearcats.

Victorias Dethroned!

The dynasty is over! There will be no threepeat for the Victorias! In the Creighton Cup Finals for Season 8, the Bulldogs upset the Vics to claim their second title in franchise history. 

In Game 1 of this best-of-five series, the Bulldogs scratched and clawed their way to a gritty 3-2 triumph on the road. The Vics needed a road win of their own to knot the series at a game apiece, but that didn't happen. Star winger Tommy Dunderdale scored twice -- on the game's first two shots on goal, no less -- to set the tone for a 5-2 Bulldogs win. The defending champs came home in Game 3 needing a win to stay alive. They got some good fortune in the second period when the Dogs' best player, Gord Roberts, took a nasty spill and departed; he was soon ruled out for a potential Game 4, as well. Regulation ended with the game tied at two. In overtime, hotheaded superstar Newsy Lalonde took a bad penalty; while the Vics' fans held their breath, Lalonde's teammates killed the penalty without allowing a single shot. There was no better way for Lalonde to show his appreciation than to snap home the game-winning goal! Thanks to Lalonde's overtime heroics, the Vics had an opportunity to keep the series going. The Bulldogs hosted Game 4, without Roberts, and sought to claim the cup on home ice. The contest was tied at two in the third when the Dogs' top-line center, Bruce Stuart, flung the puck on goal from long range; in game terms, the shot had only a 5% chance of eluding goaltender Bowse Hutton, but the d20 roll landed on a "1", meaning that Stuart had scored a miraculous goal. The Vics threw everything they had at Paddy Moran in the closing moments, but Moran held the line and, at the final buzzer, the Bulldogs celebrated their Creighton Cup championship!

Cup Finals!

We'll finish up a record-setting Season 8 with another showdown for the Creighton Cup! 

In the first round of the playoffs, the Victorias/Millionaires matchup featured the best goaltending of any playoff series in league history. In Game 1, Bowse Hutton led the Vics to a 3-0 shutout, but Riley Hern returned the favor by blanking the Vics 1-0 in Game 2. The defending champs stormed back to win the next two games by scores of 3-2 and 2-1 to claim the series, but Millies netminder Hern may well have exorcised his playoff demons despite the losses, as he put up incredible numbers: a 2.00 goals-against average and .944 save percentage. Hutton, meanwhile, jumps to the front of the line for Playoff MVP with a 1.00 GAA and .962 save percentage.

The other series featured the second-year Bearcats in their inaugural postseason appearance against the grizzled veterans of the Bulldogs. Although the Bearcats were favored and opened the series at home, they were stunned by the Dogs in Game 1 by a 5-3 margin. The Cats rallied from two goals down to win the second game 3-2, and took the lead three times in Game 3 only for the Dogs to tie it up and then finally win 4-3 in overtime on a goal by Tommy Dunderdale. In Game 4, with their backs against the wall, the Cats folded as the Bulldogs thumped them 4-0, with Paddy Moran notching a shutout victory. 

So, for the fourth time in eight seasons, the dance card for the finals will be Victorias against Bulldogs -- the absolute best rivalry in this league. The Vics are in search of their third consecutive title (and fifth overall!), but their first-round performance against the Millies was not exactly overwhelming. Moreover, reliable left winger Marty Walsh will miss the first game of the championship series with an injury, depleting the Vics' firepower. The Dogs, meanwhile, have firepower to spare, with a league-leading 15 goals in the first round. Gord Roberts (5 goals, 2 assists) and Tommy Dunderdale (3 goals, 4 assists) are pacing the circuit in playoff points. 

Will it be a threepeat for the Vics, or will their dynasty end here?

OGL Update

Wizards of the Coast is in the process of rolling out seismic changes to their Open Game License (OGL), and it's been the biggest story in gaming over the last few days. Now WotC has come out with some revisions to those controversial changes. You can find their statement here. It's, well, it's not really that much of an improvement over the initial draft that was leaked.

Near Year, New Games!

Lots of great game stuff on tap for us here in early 2023. I need to challenge the boys to a rematch of Conquest of Nerath after they crushed my evil empires last week, and Nathaniel and I are both itching to get started with the Game of Thrones board game (although the real question is whether we can get Amy and Matthew interested). Both boys got lots of Warhammer stuff for Christmas (the new Astra Militarum boxed set for Matthew and the Warhammer: The Horus Heresy core set for Nathaniel) that still needs to be put together. On the RPG front, I'm almost ready to get the boys into a full-scale Doctor Who campaign using the Doctor Who Exterminate! wargame miniatures and a hodgepodge of other minis and maps. On top of all that, my niece and nephew are interested in joining us for some D&D, so I'll be creating a new campaign set in the Druid Cycle world. I guess I really won't have time to finish panting all those 3D-printed buildings...

Happy New Year!

Lots of great game-related stuff to look forward to in 2023! Tops on my list is the D&D movie! Time to start counting down the days to the March 31 release! 

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!

Monday TARDIS Blues

Grandfather Nurgle was the guest of honor at our Thanksgiving this year (henceforth it will be known as "That Pancake Thanksgiving"), and he continued to share his blessings on my birthday. Since we weren't in any shape to continue our Tales of the Ternion superhero campaign, I tried to get some painting done. As I'm still trying to avoid tackling the growing pile (it's now a full shelf) of 3D-printed buildings, I made some progress on my Doctor Who Exterminate! miniatures, finishing up my unit of UNIT infantry. I got to work on the TARDIS and thought I could knock it out quickly. Hey, it's only two colors, right? Well, even with careful drybrushing to get the tiny raised lettering of "Police Box" and "Public Call", I managed to screw up the "Public Call" on one side really badly. I could strip off all the paint and start the whole model over from scratch, but I also have to acknowledge that my my kids and I are the only ones who will ever see this stuff and it doesn't have to be perfect. Heck, the boys have been playing a multi-battle campaign with the Necrons against all of our other factions and half the models they're using are half-finished, just undercoated, or not even painted at all! They're having fun, and that's what matters at the end of the day. I need to learn that lesson, because I was still grumbling about the janky TARDIS lettering on my way to work this morning. Going through all the emails I missed over the long weekend, I saw that my team had chipped in to get me a Games Workshop gift certificate for my birthday. I'm going to spend it on something fun that the boys and I can all enjoy together, and not worry so much if it's painted to a "parade ready" (or even "battle ready") standard. 

(That sounded convincing, right?)

Midseason Report

With Season 8 now at the halfway point, I'm checking in on how various storylines are unfolding. It's been quite an interesting campaign so far!

I'm not surprised to find the Victories in first place at 7-1-2 with a league-leading +13 goal differential. However, I've been stunned by the one-eighty turnaround of the Bearcats, who have clawed their way to second place at 5-1-4; they're also coming by those points honestly, as their differential is a solid +7. How does a team that won two out of twenty games in its inaugural season improve so quickly? Mostly by using different -- by which I mean better -- players! Last year's trade-deadline acquisition Scotty Davidson (6 G, 7 A, +5), rookie star Joe Malone (6 G, 6 A, +5), and offseason pickup Graham Drinkwater (4 G 3 A, +7) are leading the charge. 

I can't go throwing around goal and assist totals without mentioning the scoring race. I expected the Vics' Newsy Lalonde to run roughshod over the league en route to a second storing title and potentially a first Forward MVP trophy, but the third-year superstar has been overshadowed by one of the league's golden oldies, One-Eye Frank McGee. McGee is the league's all-time leader in goals scored and a two-time Forward MVP, but the second of those trophies came way back in Season 3. McGee has been a good but not great contributor to the Comets' offense in recent seasons, and I thought his best days were behind him. Not so! With eleven goals in ten games (no one else has more than seven), McGee is delivering a vintage performance. If he wants more hardware, he'll have competition from teammates George Richardson and Dick Irvin, the aforementioned Lalonde and Davidson, along with the Bulldogs' Tommy Dunderdale and the Millionaires' Duke Keats, but I'm really enjoying McGee's resurgence. 

Time Is Not On My Side

It turns out that I'm late to the party with Doctor Who Exterminate! The Miniatures Game, as the line is being cancelled at the end of the year due to the BBC electing not to renew Warlord's license to produce Who games. Yikes! Fortunately, I'm not too late, and although my copy of the core game has yet to arrive, I've already placed an order for ALL THEIR ICE WARRIORS. Well, maybe not all, but enough to put a nice little army together. They have a couple of promotional offers going on now, so I'll take advantage of the deals before the line is formally retired. I have my eye on a couple of Doctor and companion sets as well...

Doctor Who Exterminate! The Miniatures Game

I've nearly completed painting the free Warhammer Age of Sigmar set that came as a result of our Warhammer+ membership and, of course, I'm still dreading the massive array of 3D-printed buildings I have yet to tackle. (At least I've been smart enough not to print any more buildings!) 

How else can I procrastinate? Why not invest in an entirely new wargame and paint all of those miniatures first?! Done! 

I just ordered a copy of  the rather awkwardly titled Doctor Who Exterminate! The Miniatures Game from Warlord Games. The starter set has plastic Daleks and Cybermen, but the rest of the line appears to be pewter. I'd prefer plastic, but I'm very keen on staging some cool Whoniverse battles, so if the minis need to be metal, fair enough. I don't know anything about the game stats and how the individual factions play, but I will most likely look to field a strike team of my beloved Ice Warriors. Maybe a team-up between those stolid Martians and Earth's plucky UNIT troopers against a massive Dalek invasion? 

Cats on the Prowl!

Last season, the expansion Bearcats went 2-11-7. Rookie of the Year goaltender Hap Holmes showed flashes of brilliance, but two wins in twenty games is...well...two wins in twenty games. Late in their inaugural campaign, the Cats traded for power forward Scotty Davidson and then in the offseason they  swapped captain Billy Gilmour for offensive defenseman Graham Drinkwater. They also used the first overall pick to draft "Phantom" Joe Malone, a rookie winger with unlimited potential. With an improved roster, the Cats looked to take a step forward in their second campaign.

A step? More like a pounce! The Cats surpassed their year-one win total after precisely three games and now sit in sole possession of first place at 3-0-2 at the one-quarter mark of the season. How are they doing it? Their offense (2.80 goals per game) and power play (a league-worst 17.65%) are modest improvements over last season, but the real reason is goal prevention, where their 1.60 goals allowed per game and 87.50% penalty kill are both ranked second in the league. A much-improved Holmes has a lot to do with that. 

Are they truly the league's best team? I don't think they'll be in first place at the end of the regular season, but I definitely see them making the playoffs. And with Holmes playing at such an elite level, who knows? Maybe they run the table and follow in the footsteps of the previous expansion team, the Millionaires, who won the Creighton Cup in just their second season of play.

So...many...buildings...

We've made a lot of 28mm-scale buildings with our 3D printer. A lot. The intent is to use all this 3D terrain for modern-setting campaigns in the Front Porch multiverse. For example, our Tales of the Ternion superhero campaign currently uses flat maps, but it's just crying out for a more dynamic environment to host all the larger-than-life action of characters who can scale walls, leap over buildings, hurl vehicles down the street, etc. I'm also knee-deep in narrative for a spinoff campaign that involves a zombie outbreak in a sleepy little town. With scores of zombie minis from Zombicide, the vast array of 3D buildings we've printed, and custom hero minis from Hero Forge, it's going to have absolutely blockbuster visuals! 

There's only one problem: I have to paint all this stuff!

Looking at the gargantuan pile of gray plastic in the corner of our game room actually fills me with anxiety. First-world problems, I know, but I'm kind of freaking out about how long it's going to take to paint these buildings. I'm also looking for any excuse to put it off, so various other paint projects keep moving to the head of the line. Just yesterday, in fact, I received the latest free mini that comes with my Warhammer+ subscription; it's a chaos sorcerer (with a bevy of cute-yet-evil little familiars!) for Warhammer Age of Sigmar, but I'll repurpose it for our Shattered Realm D&D campaign. After that? Well, do I have any other unpainted models besides the buildings...?

Phantom Joe

I'm now underway with another season of historical hockey, and each of the six teams has played one game apiece. Last night featured the Millionaires visiting the Bearcats. As an expansion team last year, the Bearcats went 2-11-7, and one of the few bright spots was securing the first overall pick in the entry draft. They used that selection to nab left wing Joe Malone, a phenomenal offensive talent. Malone struggled for much of his debut, however, and the Millionaires led the Cats 2-0 after two periods. Rookie defenseman Harry Cameron led the way for the Millies with a goal and an assist, stealing Malone's thunder. In the third, two goals in thirty seconds lifted the Cats into a 2-2 tie, and it looked like the game would end in a draw. Then, in the closing seconds, Harry Trihey's slick pass found Malone in the slot, and the rookie snapped the puck past new Millies goaltender Riley Hern to give the hometown Bearcats a stunning come-from-behind win. Phantom Joe, as he was called in real life, had just appeared out of nowhere to record the winning tally after over 59 minutes of frustration. I'm excited to watch his (and Cameron's) rookie season unfold!

Lego D&D

Check this out! D&D as a Lego Ideas set!!!

Six Questions

I have a new team -- the undead! -- lined up for my next season of Blitz Bowl, but I have to admit that I'm longing to get back on the ice. I'm leaning toward bumping Blitz for Season 8 of my historical Strat-O-Matic hockey league. Below are six burning questions, one for each team!

• Bearcats: With top-ranked rookie Joe Malone and perhaps some better luck for promising goaltender Hap Holmes, can the Bearcats contend for a playoff spot in their second season of play?
• Bulldogs: Goaltender Paddy Moran carried this team and covered up a lot of poor play by the guys in front of him. Can Gord Roberts, Bruce Stuart, Frank Patrick, and all the underperforming Dogs return to form?
• Comets: After a first-place finish and career years from Forward MVP Blair Russell and Defenseman MVP Mike Grant, can the Comets rebound from their playoff collapse and dethrone the Vics?
• Millionaires: Can new netminder Riley Hern, a two-time Goaltender MVP, help the Millies recover from a league-worst -20 goal differential and 3.30 goals against per game? 
• Thistles: Will trading for former Playoff MVP Hugh Lehman (their third goaltender in eight seasons) help the Thistles end their curse and win their first-ever Creighton Cup?
• Victorias: After winning titles in Seasons 6 and 7, will the lordly Vics pull off a threepeat behind superstars Cyclone Taylor and Newsy Lalonde?

Expert Classes

Another batch of One D&D playtest rules dropped today! Hot takes incoming!

• Semantics: These rules focus on three character classes -- the Bard, Ranger, and Rogue. These three vagabonds now belong to a group called Experts. We've seen the term "expert" in recent years as part of the nifty Sidekick rules. Here, the Experts are billed as polymaths who are good at a variety of things and have aspects of other classes. Pardon my pedantry, but isn't that kind of the opposite of what "expert" means? To me, the Fighter is an "expert" because he does one thing really well. He's an expert at fighting. The Bard, in contrast, is a jack-of-all trades but not an expert at any of them. Anyway, semantics aside, we're seeing a bit more 4e influence here with classes grouped into four categories (Expert, Mage, Priest, and Warrior) arranged around party roles.
• Inspiration: Bards now use their Inspiration die to add to a failed d20 roll (a minor but crucial change to the previous rule where the recipient of the die had to add it before learning the success or failure of the roll) and can now use the die to provide minor healing. That's cool, but it appears that the Bard's healing capabilities were nerfed in other ways, such as the removal of direct access to the uber-handy Cure Wounds spell.
• More semantics: The doc includes references to Cantrips and 0-Level spells. They're the same thing, I assume?
• Ranger: The Ranger has always been problematic in 5e, and Wizards has been tinkering with this class a lot over the years. I saw a beefed-up Hunter's Mark to provide for consistent (though minor) extra damage. There was also a super fun update to the now-14th-level Superior Hunter's Defense, which is now like Uncanny Dodge but then redirects the other half of the damage to another creature (other than the attacker) within 5 feet of the Ranger. Full disclosure: Some of the Ranger updates I saw may already be canon, as I haven't kept up fully with the latest 5e rulebooks. 
• Rogue: Did they really need any tweaks? I was pretty stunned to see the 13th-level Subtle Strikes class ability, which provides advantage on attack rolls against any creature within 5 feet of a non-incapacitated ally of the Rogue. Yikes! Broken!!
• Rules Updates: There are lots and lots of small or not-so-small rules changes. Shortswords are now simple weapons, the Long Rest now restores all lost Hit Dice (not half). I don't have strong opinions about any given rule change, but as they start to pile up, One D&D is feeling more and more like a new edition and not just a refresh of 5e...