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?