The Gilded Reavers Army Blog

[Fingol23]

I have posted a suggestion for your list and from my own experiances with writing I find it is much better to work at your own pace

[Aleraen]

11/16/07

It's been a while since I posted pictures, and while I still haven't quite got the list figured out, I decided to show off the models that comprised the first incarnation of the list I posted. Warning: none of the models shown are finished -- note Dizaun's missing head. But when they are, you'll know about it.


Dizaun sitting on the infamous laptop of exploding death. The scythe was painstakingly shaved down to fit on the staff -- I used the tip of a small pin to carve out part of it. The other hand is a burning skull. Very Gothic. Very nice. It's no longer Morathi with white hair, so I'm for it, and it's closer to the original concept of the Dizaun-on-Pegasus model.


Dizaun and the Core troops, with the 'Wenches' making a half-baked appearance. As the first version of the list didn't have Haspera in it, I used him as the standard bearer instead, but now that he's going to probably be a completely different model, he's being replaced by the regular standard bearer.

That's kind of it for now. Still working on that list! Giving some kudos to Raneth, Fingol23, Mostlyharmless, Elfik, Uriain, and Balthamael for their posts. Thanks for all your input; if you haven't seen any of your changes make it into the amorphous blob that is the Revision thread, don't worry: you'll see it in the next batch.

[Aleraen]

11/19/07

This one goes out to you, Jeff, and the rainbow-colored Spawning Pool your army clawed its way out of.

This entry is so dedicated because of the epic battle I feel obligated to Blog on that he and I engaged in. 2K @ SBB = let's go.

The Gilded Reavers 4.2

Dizaun Cadsane *General*, Level 4 w/Heartstone of Darkness, Tome of Furion, Powerstone, on a Dark Pegasus = 395
Disuan, Level 2 w/Dispel Scroll, Darkstar Cloak on Dark Steed = 187
Haspera, Wand of the Kharaidon, Shield, Lance, Heavy Armor, Sea Dragon Cloak, on a Dark Steed = 138

5 Dark Riders w/Repeater Crossbows, Musician = 127
5 Dark Riders w/Repeater Crossbows, Musician = 127
10 Warriors w/Repeater Crossbows, Shields = 120
15 Corsairs w/Full Command, Warbanner = 200
10 Corsairs = 100

5 Harpies = 65
6 Cold One Knights w/Full Command = 219

War Hydra = 220
Reaper Bolt Thrower = 100

Jeff's Skittle Sacred Spawning of Quetzl

Saurus Oldblood w/Sword of the Hornet, Banehead, etc. on a Carnosaur
Skink Priest w/Level 2, Diadem of Power
Skink Priest w/Level 2, Rod of Storms

20 Saurus Warriors w/Full Command
10? Skinks
10? Skinks
10? Skinks

4 Kroxigors w/Champion

3 Salamander Hunting Packs
3 Salamander Hunting Packs
---------------------------------
About the Lists:
Jeff: We're taking bets on this game. Starting at a dollar.
Bryan: I'm putting down. My money's on you.
'Nough said.
--------------
Here's what the board looked like -- hurray for Paint, but you know, it works fine for us lazy people who forget their cameras. This table -- and Jeff's army -- has a marsh theme.

Deployment Zones are color coded (and should be a little further towards the middle).
---------------
I put my Hydra in that far right pile of difficult (we decided it gave Soft Cover, as it was represented by high marsh grass), along with the Harpies and the Noble. My Corsairs took position just to the right of the hill, and my Knights sat behind it in fear of a Lizardman first turn. My High Sorceress hid with them. To the left of the hill, my Warriors deployed in a long line parallel to the marsh grass in front of them, with the Reaper to their left, my Sorceress behind them. One unit of Dark Riders screened the large block of Corsairs; the other was on the far left of my deployment zone in order to tie up Jeff's Carnosaur general.

Jeff put both units of Salamanders in or behind the woods to the right (my right) of his zone. A unit of Skinks with one Priest hid behind the impassable terrain (the Hanging Tree terrain piece from the NCC mega-battle). In the center of his zone, he stuck his block of Saurus, his unit of Kroxigors stuck snugly between the forest to the right and the Saurus to the left, a single screen of Skinks in front of both units. His general went on the far left, with another unit of Skinks and a Priest going just behind the difficult terrain my Crossbowmen were in front of.
--------------
Jeff won the roll for first turn, and gave it to me.

Turn One - Dark Elves
Deciding to use the range of the Salamanders against him as best I could, I pretty much kept my entire army where it was with some slight exceptions: my Harpies moved up the narrow gap between the board edge and the Hanging Tree, stopping right in front of the Skinks, Haspera close behind. My Kraken dug in right in front of the Tree, pointing himself towards the logical line of advance for the Salamanders -- and pretty much everything else. My Dark Riders blasted ahead, stopping inches in front of the Skink screen, while the other unit circled the tall grass the Skink Priest's retinue was hiding behind, aiming their crossbows at them, Disuan getting around my Warriors to magic some Skinks, with Dizaun cautiously doing the same.

Both casters proceeded to blast the Scouting Skinks with Chillwind, killing a handful and prevening their shooting. Good times.

Shooting went... badly. My Warriors failed to do much of anything against the remaining Skinks, and I believe the Dark Riders had the same luck. My Reaper picked off a pair of Skinks screening the Kroxigors, but beyond that, little happened.

Turn One - Lizardmen

The Skink screen charged my Dark Riders, whom promptly fled, causing the screen to pull away from the Saurus block. The Priest near my Warriors disengaged from the unit while his retinue charged Disuan. With her as close as she was to the board edge, I took it.

Everything moved forward.

His magic phase was as lively as mine, with one exception: he killed my bolt thrower with Creeping Death when I refused to dispel it. Big mistake. He killed a few Harpies with the other Priest. I scrolled a Walking Death on the Skinks in combat with Disuan, refusing to give him an auto-break on my precious Sorceress.

Shooting went better for him. One team of Salamanders put three wounds on my Kraken, while the other failed to wound him at all. The Skinks by the Hanging Tree finished off my Harpies.

Combat went poorly. Disuan killed a Skink, but took a wound herself, resulting in her losing by Outnumbering. She broke -- so much for that scroll -- and ran off the table.

Turn Two - Dark Elves

Rally all! Hurrah! Haspera charges into the Skink Priest and Co. They tried to stand and shoot, but he was too close. The Kraken makes a charge for the Salamanders, who flee.

My Corsairs jimmied themselves a bit more into position, and my Cold One Knights shifted towards the right as I decided that was where all the action was going to happen. My Dark Riders trailed Jeff's Oldblood, deciding to slow-and-shoot him. Dizaun swooped onto the crest of the hill in my deployment zone, surveying the land. In an effort to screen my Corsairs from harm, my Dark Riders rushed up towards the Kroxigor's screen of skinks, and taunted them in suitable fashion.

My magic phase went very well. I used Chillwind to kill Jeff's lone Skink Priest, cast Dominion on his Skink screen (dumb move, in retrospect; all my magic should've been slicing away that Saurus block), and Black Horror'd his Saurus with the aid of the Powerstone, killing six.

Shooting saw my Kraken flame a Skink off a Salamander unit, more useless shooting at the Oldblood and Skink screen, and that's pretty much it.

Combat saw Haspera kill a few Skinks, and coming out victorious and unscathed, but thanks to their cold blood, the Skinks stayed put.

Turn Two - Lizardmen

The Kroxigors charged my Dark Riders, whom fled the scene. Gotta love. His Salamanders and Skinks rallied, much to my chagrin, ready for another round of shooting.

Magic saw the Skink in combat with Haspera peel a wound off him with Steal Soul... and that was it.

Shooting. Both Salamander units poured more shots at my Kraken, and did nothing yet again. Good times. The Skinks near my Warriors picked off two of them.

Combat between the Skinks and Haspera continued, ending in yet another tie (I believe)...

Turn Three - Dark Elves

Much rallying. My Knights failed their Stupidity test and lumbered forward. More charges. The block of 15 Corsairs launch themselves at the Kroxigors, successfuly passing their Fear test and making it in. The Kraken charges the other Salamander unit, which flees. He redirects into the Skink screen, which also flees. He stops dead. I can't remember if I had the option for him to join the Corsair charge -- if he did, he should've. No doubt. But they may have been outside his arc.

Dizaun flew forward, positioning himself between the Saurus block and the Carnosaur, but out of both units' charge arc. The Dark Riders continued to trail the Oldblood. The flanking unit of Corsairs prepared to do what it did best, getting into position to charge regardless of what might happen.

Magic saw me stupidly spare the Saurus block and cast Dominion instead on the Oldblood. I think failed to cast what I felt would be the oh-so-clenching Black Horror on the Saurus. Dumb.

As for shooting, not much to say. More breath weapon/repeater action that killed little or nothing.

Combat saw the end of Haspera. The Skinks rushed past his wounded form to try and bother my Knights in their next turn. Uziel, champion of the Corsair block, was challenged and cut down by the Kroxigor Ancient, but not before doing a fine hit of his own. The Corsairs put another wound on the Kroxigors, and lost two reavers in return. The Kroxigors were beaten, but unbroken as Cold-Blooded yet again showed that it was a crazily broken rule.

Turn Three - Lizardmen

Both fleeing units rally. The Saurus charge into the flank of my Corsairs. Not good.

Magic did little this turn, if I can remember correctly.

Shooting. Surprise surprise, more shooting at the Kraken, killing the 'tentacle' attendants and reducing it to a wound, but another salvo was launched at my ten-man squad of Corsairs, killing six, but they didn't mind.

Combat was brutal. Let us simply say that the Corsairs broke, being chased down by the Kroxigors, scant inches away from the Kraken.

Turn Four - Dark Elves

Oh Dizaun. Someday, you'll stick around when you're asked to make a Leadership check. Away he ran from the awesome presence of the Saurus Oldblood, posing prettily for the Salamander pack. My six remaining Corsairs got into combat far too late, charging the Kroxigors in an effort to save the Kraken.

The Dark Riders continued to chase the Oldblood. The other unit started to come up the other direction, aiming at the Oldblood as well.

No magic, and shooting fizzled into its usual lackluster nothingness despite the sheer volume of attacks being fired into the Oldblood.

The Corsairs were wiped out, not even scraping the Kroxigors.

Turn Four - Lizardmen

The Kroxigors charge the Kraken, and cower in fear as the tentacled beast snaps viciously at them! 6's to hit, dear sir.

The Saurus and the Skinks both snuck closer to the Kraken and Kroxigors.

Not sure about this magic phase. This might have been the one that resulted in a miscast.

Shooting saw Dizaun go down in a literal ball of fire, and the unit of Dark Riders in front of the Oldblood as well.

Combat was somewhat good to the Kraken, resulting in one dead Kroxigor, and a tie.

Turn 5 - Dark Elves

The Cold One Knights charge forward into the side of the Kroxigors, golden armor covered in marsh slime.

The Warriors got into ranks, worried by a possible Skink charge. The remaining Dark Riders continued their game of tag.

No magic. Shooting? What shooting?

Combat was mercifully brief, ending in one dead Kraken and three dead Kroxigors as the Cold One Knights ran them down and slammed into a Salamander unit.

Turn 5 - Lizardmen

No charges.

Magic peeled my Dread Knight out of my Cold One Knights. Owch.

Shooting killed the last unit of Dark Riders and took the unit of Warriors down two more.

Combat resulted again in victory for the Cold One Knights, though my uncanny ability to roll 1s saw two Knights die. They ended their pursuit in the middle of the forest.

Turn 6

In an effort to preserve the unit for VP and contest some quarters, I let the three surviving Cold One Knights sit tight as far into the forest as I could manage. Such was the entirety of my turn.

Jeff ended the game by blasting my knights with both Dark Hand of Death from his Skink Priest and the last unit of Salamanders, showing them a quick and immediate death, leaving only six Warriors still on the board.
--------------------
Things I have learned from this:
- Pick your priorities, regardless of the phase, and stick with them.
- No more leaving things to chance -- be it charges, 'weak' spells, etc. If I have the means to deal with them without endangering more vital parts of my game, I will and should do it. That I let some dumb things happen (Disuan get charged, the bolt thrower get magic'd, the unsupported Corsair charge, etc.) is proof that I'm just a bad general if I play like that. If I need to take more time thinking things out, that's what I need to do.
-------------------
So, on to tweaking the list, maybe. We'll see what happens. If anything, I honestly think I need to play more. Experience would help these stupid errors dissapear for good. Jeff played a great game, and he plays a great list -- I really didn't think the two packs of three Salamanders was that bad; what was bad was the stuff I allowed them to shoot at thanks to poor Ld rolls or poor planning.

Until next time, Jeff. Until next time.

[Jeff!]

It was a truly great game, one of the most I've enjoyed in a long time, and until that sweeping third / fourth turn where things turned real sour for you, an overall very balanced and up-in-the-air struggle for supremacy.

If anyone is curious, I'll throw some more relevant details of my list so people have a better gauge by which to judge the match between our armies.

The recounting Aleraen gave is fairly reliable, only missing a couple details that aren't particularly important.

I think we discussed some army options for you post-match, but like I said, I think you have overall a very strong, competitive army. I thought a second RBT would help give you some redundancy on your heavy-hitting ranged firepower, and you already covered that your static warrior/archer block isn't mobile enough for your army.

I think the best piece of advice is the one you've given yourself: play more games. I'd really like to see you play Tony. I wouldn't mind seeing you play Jose again with your current army, but at the same I don't cause Yaaaay Brettonians, amirite.

I think you'd be able to bring a great game to Timm and his Ogres, I think that would be a great match, and you're both very competent players.

Finally, we could set up a game between you and Jim, but it would have to be planned a week or so in advance, so talk to me about it tomorrow.

I'm not working tomorrow, and I'll be in the shop around 1 if you want another shot. I'll see if I can get Evan to bring in his camera and we can take some pictures and wotnot, which would be keeno.

Anyways, props to you sir, it was a pleasure. Oohhh yeeeaaaaah.

The quick and dirty of my list, for those who care:

I run a Sacred Spawning of Quetzl. I hate having to take Death on my Skink priests, as I much prefer Heavens. However, with almost every unit benefiting from a better save, its pretty durn nice.

Oldblood on Carnosaur. Roar. He never gets anywhere or does anything, preferring to be marched blocked and facing the wrong direction. Every. Single. Time.

Two skink priests. Aleraen had the right magic items down. Each one scouts with a different skink unit of ten strong.

20 Saurus with Full Command, hand weapon and shield. 3+ save in close combat makes these guys pretty rock hard. Both my Oldblood and this unit have the Spawning of Tepok, each one giving me an extra dispell dice. With my priests, I get 6 power and 6 dispel, which I feel is very well rounded and serves me well.

4 Kroxigors with Ancient. Extra attack for 20 points, watch out!

Two units of ten skinks that scout. Javelins and shields, so that with their Quetzl spawning they have a 4+ in CC! Beware!

12 skinks. I'm not a shield for the Saurus and the Kroxigor. I promise.

Finally, two full Salamander Hunting Packs. I wasn't aware that they were generally regarded as cheap by the WHFB community at large until it was way late and my army was designed and painted. They generally rock face, but are also the most horrible rules-abyss of all time, since apparently all rules and no rules apply to them at all time and never.

[Aleraen]

Some rules things we sort of blew over:
- There is no free wheel for chargers as far as I can tell (i.e. Saurus into Corsairs; Cold One Knights into Kroxigors)
- Failing a Fear test when you're trying to charge a Fear-causing unit results in a failed charge, not 6's to hit. (i.e. Kroxigors making kalamari out of my Kraken)

Jeff, you and Jose, man. Cheaters all the way. Again with the whole need for a BRB brain implant...

[Jeff!]

Jose and I played the next day. Came down to 250 points in my favor. It was a crazy match. I had some horrific rolling, with the Saurus' absolutely refusing to pass any armor saves among other things.

I'll show you those rules things next time you come in.

[Mostlyharmless]

jeff, just you wait until you have the opportunity to face me. I might be able to give you a run for your money.

let us know how your game went tonight.

[Dggrj]

The Priest near my Warriors disengaged from the unit while his retinue charged Disuan.

This stood out to me as perhaps another rule blown over - what exactly happened? Sounds like a character left a unit that declared a charge, which is "right out."

[Mostlyharmless]

it was a rule blown over. the priest could charge out of his unit, but he cannot leave his unit while it charges someone else. sounds to me like Jeff needs to read the rulebook again.

[Jeff!]

it was a rule blown over. the priest could charge out of his unit, but he cannot leave his unit while it charges someone else. sounds to me like Jeff needs to read the rulebook again.

Or more like all the people who stand around kibitzing our matches should, y'know, stop standing around and kibitzing our matches.

[Aleraen]

11/25/07

This last week was a fairly good week for the Reavers, and while I have to go turn the W/L/D checker to 0/7/0, I still claim moral high-ground if for no other reason than that I'm not losing nearly as bad. That last loss could easily have been a tie if Lady Luck would stop punching me in the testicles.

On the modeling side of things, I have five Lizardmen Cold Ones sitting in a vat of Simple Green, so my Cold One Knights won't be riding "battle cows" into war, and while they're not going to be as absolutely awesome as the Cold Ones that are on the way out for us, they'll be more themeatic, which means more to me. Sort of. Edit: I also have modular movement trays! Except I have no idea how I'm going to cut them up... So... yeah...

The list is good. I might tweek the Noble's items a little to make him more combat-heavy (the Wand really isn't getting any play), but I am satisfied with it otherwise.

'Sea of Shadows' is at a bit of a hault, but only because this is sort of my final's week, and Thanksgiving and a sick grandmother have made this last week impossible to get any progress done. I'll try and work on it tonight, but if I can't finish it, it's going to have to wait a while.

As a side note for people who want to post in this thread, I would prefer to keep this thread unlocked, so please watch your tone when dealing with each other -- and myself. If it devolves into flaming each other, then I'll ask the mods to close this thread and the Reavers will simply be a project in the low. What I would rather do is show D.net that Seattle is the best city for gaming -- and for Dark Elves -- on the great green Earth, so please, let's play nice.

[Tarbo]

'Sea of Shadows' is at a bit of a hault, but only because this is sort of my final's week, and Thanksgiving and a sick grandmother have made this last week impossible to get any progress done. I'll try and work on it tonight, but if I can't finish it, it's going to have to wait a while.

Write because you feel like it, when you feel like it. You don't want it turning into a chore, now do you?

Seriously, the quality's worth waiting for. (No pressure or anything...)

[Mostlyharmless]

sorry mate. not tryin' to start a fight . . . or am i? I have wanted to play against jeff for a while.

Hey jeff, when I'm back in seattle, we're gonna throw down.

[Jeff!]

Sorry, the internet makes tone difficult to convey. As anyone who has been around me knows, there is no such thing as "Serious Jeff."

My comment was purely meant that whenever I game on at the SBB, it becomes a local spectacle, and we have like, a thousand people gossiping around the table giving us varying interpretations on the rules pretty much all the time.

Which is why every game I play is seemingly played with a new set of rules each time, and I nurture my hard-earned image of "Cheater Jeff."

No hard feelings given or taken, was only poking fun at the peanut gallery.

[Aleraen]

For both of you, I'm sure that your tone was perfectly fine: I just have a low tolerance level. I don't want to neuter you guys, but my internet self lives constantly with the fear of being mod-quashed.

[Aleraen]

11/28/07

Hai Yai~i Fo~orces! Chocolate taste so good.

Had to get that out of my system. So, another update. I'm working on getting the Knights in shape. The Cold Ones are still sitting in Simple Green. Waiting for so long because I lack a tooth-brush (my paint-cleaning tool of choice) that isn't billed to pleasure my mouth, so I'm stuck with sort of waiting for the paint to sluice off until I can muster up my procrastinating behind to go to Safeway and buy a cheap one. Edit: I just took the ones I had basting in the Simple Green out, cleaning 'em off with a tank brush. It was a sinch, and they're so clean! ^_^

As for Sea of Shadows... Ha. Hahaha... Um... let's just say I'm having trouble. No, that's a lie... Really, the biggest problem is I have two final tests tomorrow, so guess what I'm really doing? That's right: playing WarCraft III and listening to 'Gay He-Man - What's Goin' On?' while laughing until soda shoots out my nose.

But I am setting time aside for SoS today. I really want to work on it. I don't know how many of you are familiar with Japanese literature and stylisitc conventions, but SoS -- and Dizaun in particular -- is full of them. No, not the pretty-man-boy thing (though that is definately one), but there are themes such as 'mono no aware' (the capacity to be moved by things) that pop up every once in a while:

Her sapphire eyes met the horizon, a flat line stretching for miles, and knew somewhere in the distance the land of Lumbria waited. The sound of her Black Ark cutting through the sea found her ears, hissing and roiling. Dizaun smiled with sanguine lips. "Ah, sweet Lumbria protests my coming so soon? These waters will be richly filled soon enough, no? This sea will be filled with waves of blood, their white-capped tops frothing with puss, their flotsam of body and bone.”

She had stopped under a beam of natural mid-day sunlight pouring straight down from some high window. It spilled across her face as she stared up at it, breathing new life into the blood drying on her face. He stood below her, a handful of steps away. The beauty of her in that moment – the look of innocent wonderment – forced his eyes from her, and he looked instead over his shoulder, putting his mind on something; anything else.

And there are more, including some that Haspera or Disuan independently have. But it's a huge part of Japanese literature, and it's something that I admit I've done occassionally without knowing when I write, and something that will certainly continue.

Another is miyabi (aristocratic refinement), which Dizaun... somewhat represents. He's actually more in line with the Japanese concept of the 'obsessed mind': consumed by ambition, dreams, some desire, etc. that he loses sight or focus of everything else, but unlike Western tradition (and so unlike 'Macbeth'), can lead the character to good or ill despite the obvious conflicts and sacrifices they must make.

If anything, as I sort of analyze the story thus far, it's starting to become more and more the Druchii 'Tale of the Heike' or 'Tale of Genji'. Very Japanese. And hey, when the subject matter is a militaristic society with a plotting courtier/warrior class ruled over by a warlord whose soldiers use repeater crossbows, naginatas, and wear ashigaru armor, and are desperately trying to stamp out an effete cult of beauty, I find it fitting.

[Mostlyharmless]

good to know you're writing again. I actually enjoy your writing, which is a fairly high compliment coming from me (is fairly selective). Like I said, feel free to use my Khainite as you see fit, he's actually pretty fun.

[Aleraen]

11/30/07

I'm curious -- and this question is targeted somewhat at Jeff -- if someone at the SBB would at all entertain me using the projected army-wide Hatred rule on my Dark Elves.

I ask as I really want to see why everyone is so put off with this "OMG i have to pursue wtf m8!?!?" aspect of it. Personally, I have never played a game where I have not wanted to pursue, and I think just about every aspect of my army would do better (with the exception of the Hydra, until it gets Regeneration).

I think I'm only half-serious about asking right now, considering it's not actually set in stone yet, but we'll see. I come back to the Seattle area this coming weekend (the 7th). Hurrays.

[Jeff!]

I'll gladly play a game against you with it. I'm sure Jose would too. Hell, if you want to throw together a smattering of "possibilities," we'll go over them and frankly, I have no problem playing against you with all of them in effect for funsies.

Don't matta to jeebus.

[Aleraen]

I think the only rules that are going to really effect my army that are somewhat confirmed are Hydra Regeneration and Army-Wide Hatred for all the Dark Elf models (so not the Hydra, but the Beastmasters; the Bolt Thrower crews; Corsairs; Knights, but not the Cold Ones; not the Harpies; Dark Riders but not the Steeds; etc.)

Since I've got no Witch Elves, the possibility of Witch Elf Heroes coming back means nothing. People keep talking about us getting that ridiculous HE force organization, but I think they're high on nitrous oxide. Assassins hiding in units wouldn't do anything for me until we hit 2250, and while I'm tempted to get a Cauldron so I can re-roll everything, I can't not bring Cuddles the Kraken. And there's no word what the new Dark Magic spell list will be.

And dude. The Cold Ones look awesome. They're raising their claws to keep their pimp-hand strong.

[Lordofthenight]

Surely it would affect the Cold Ones and Dark Steeds, as it's psychology, and therefore is transfered onto mounts?

[Aleraen]

Surely it would affect the Cold Ones and Dark Steeds, as it's psychology, and therefore is transfered onto mounts?

I wouldn't be so sure. In our current book, mounts don't benefit from the Hatred of the rider against HE.

[Aleraen]

12/08/07

It seems I always come back to this eventual pit, but this weekend has taken me to a very dark place. I would venture to say I'm not in my right mind anymore, and it's due to some really, really stupid stuff; stuff that I would never have thought would phase me as bad as it is. Because of this, don't expect to hear a lot from me for a while. I might put out a little bit here and there, but I would have to say SoS is on hold again until I can sort this all out. Thanks.

[Aleraen]

12/16/07

*blows dust off his keyboard*

Ah. Much better. So I'm back. After sinking into a pit of despair that I filled temporarily with WoW (I gained six levels! Woo! 49 NE War!), I'm back. Amazing what a bad haircut can do to my mental state.

That's right. My existential funk was created by a bad haircut. Hey, I did mention I'm the basis for Dizaun, right? Vaintacular.

The problem now is I'm still stuck between a rock and a hard place with army progress. I'm trying to figure out how to pay for the full enrollment of a creative writing program, and I want to do it outside the country (i.e. Trinity College, University of Glasgow, etc.), except that in order to be accepted, I need close to $28K for a single year's worth. That's one year out of anywhere between 2-4 years! THAT'S NEAR $125K FOR MY FUTURE EDUCATION! The reason why this affects the Reavers is that the other requirement happens to be a thirty-page portfolio of recent work, and I happen to have precisely nill, unless I count the stuff I'm working on for 'Sea of Shadows'. So, this Wednesday, I have to figure out what the heck I'm doing. And if I'm going to an affordable college instead of the one I'd like to go to, I'd need to have my portfolio done, like, now. Which means no more 'Sea of Shadows' for a month or so (big change, huh? ), and probably no painting between now and then, unless I get nill in the way of games this Tuesday.

Anywho, I am working on the new chapter of 'SoS'. It'll be... interesting, to say the least.

[Aleraen]

12/18/07

Game against Mike's Minotaurs tomorrow. Good times. Results/report posted here.