Rick the Grumpy Gnome

I am…. Ronin.

I was looking into the new PC game Starfield before it came out. While looking through the backgrounds I did not immediately see one for military veterans but I did see one for a background called “Ronin”. Not really what I was looking for but it made me think. Am I Ronin?

I have been a soldier, I have been a cop. I have served the US and UK governments. But now… I am neither fish nor fowl as some might say. I am still a warrior but I am masterless. My honor is intact but I no longer have the bonds of service.

Sometimes this causes me to feel as if I am adrift at sea.

Lost.

However, for some reason I find it comforting to know that my situation is not so unique, since the Japanese have a word for it.

As for Starfield, it looks like I will not be rejoining the PC gaming community. Despite the temptation of another experience like the 1000+ hours I put into Fallout 4…. my research of the game has led me to believe I am better off putting the time and money I would need to spend on it into analog tabletop wargaming instead.

So with some of the money that might have gone for a new PC I instead decided to change my decision regarding the Maladum Kickstarter from Battle Systems.

I had originally decided not to back the KS as Mrs. GG is not a big fan of the cardstock terrain for fantasy gaming and we already have plenty of game systems to scratch our fantasy itch. But when I saw a second chance to pledge via Gamefound (with a sizable discount compared to retail) I was again tempted as the miniatures are very cool looking (and I like a good deal!).

https://gamefound.com/en/projects/battle-systems/maladum-dungeons-of-enveron

What finally convinced me was watching videos of the game development and Colin at Battle Systems saying that he has plans to have a crossover of Maladrum with Core Space in the future.

And I really love Core Space!

I just wish I had more free time to play. One day Little GG will be old enough to play and I look forward to family gaming nights.

It will be nice to chat with Colin of Battle Systems tomorrow at Spiel in Essen. I can let him know face to face how he convinced me to change my mind about Maladum.

https://www.spiel-essen.de/en/

This year I will try to do a better job of getting more photographs of the convention. Warlord Games, Dwarven Forge, Micro Arts Studio, Titan Forge, Mantic, Archon Studio and Only-Games (My Mini Factory’s physical Prints shop) are other stalls I also plan to stop at. Hopefully this year I will not get so carried away talking to folks that I forget to take photos. 

For the curious, my cancelled project clearout continues…

https://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=141836.0

… with even more to be added in the future!

I did manage to trade some cancelled project items for some Games Workshop figures that should work nicely in Core Space/Stargrave/Five Parsecs from Home.

I already had some Kroot that I have not put together yet but the Kill Team set should have lots of tasty spare bits to help add even more character to the basic Kroot warriors.

As for the Tau, I am undecided on what color scheme to go with but so far the original Tau tan and the new white GW Studio paint schemes both appeal.

Speaking of Games Workshp….. in other news, I convinced Mrs. GG to watch Chaos Rising with me….

… I was reminded why the current take on Warhammer Fantasy often puts me off. Grimdark is just too depressing for me.

We also watched Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore….

… which was alright. Mrs. GG is more into the world of Harry Potter than I am but Frostgrave has gotten me increasingly into narratives with high fantasy magic. Some scary critters in this movie but yet again the director does not seem to understand that less is more. I went from creepy unease to sensory overload entirely too quickly. Too much on the screen at once, to loud, too fast and too outrageous so my suspension of disbelief evaporated.

We also finished the second season of Good Omens.

Which was pretty good up until the final episode which was a bit… disappointingly bittersweet. Some clever writing and interesting characters. Sarcasm and satire galore. Overly sweet at times where it felt like it was trying too hard. But excellent acting from the two main protagonists for sure.

And we finished season one of Ahsoka.

I think it is worth mentioning that Mrs. GG and I have only seen a few episodes of Clone Wars and Rebels, so we may be missing a lot with Ahsoka. At first we really liked it but then as it went on it started to lose us. Too many plot holes. Too much style over substance. I realized that I liked it not because it was great like Season 1 of the Mandalorian and Andor but because it was not terrible like Kenobi and the Book of Boba Fett. And the season finale of Ahsoka was definitely underwhelming.

For me the most interesting character was Baylan Skoll, played by Ray Stevenson (Titus Pullo in the TV series Rome). This loss is a great tragedy and I really wish he had gotten a lot more roles during his career.

As always I look forward to reading your comments!

34 comments

  1. An interesting comparison with Ronin, and if you feel you relate to it, then that’s not a problem.
    It’s funny how a change in what we think we may want to invest in (both time and money) can reveal some interesting things.
    Nice swap for the Kill Teams you’ve had your eye on, as for colours on the Tau, go with what you like and enjoy painting, will be interested to see if there are any options in the box, especially with the new plug in style of models that GW tend to use.
    I really liked Ahsoka, but have seen all of Clone Wars, and Rebels, which could be the difference.

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    • I have not seen Clone Wars or Rebels, but have really enjoyed watching Ahsoka. We’ll be watching the last two episodes this weekend. It might help that I’m watching this alongside my daughter and having a strong female lead is important to her.

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      • I didn’t like some of the other actors. I also don’t know enough about the back story (Clone Wars, etc.) to know what’s missing. Overall I really enjoyed it and wondering where they go from here.
        I was also really impressed with the sword play, having taken Kendo I recognized a lot of the stances and strikes.

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      • Her two sword style was interesting. A bit of a mix of theatrics and kenjutsu, very fun to watch. Her short battle with Anakin was also nice. The Baylan vs Ashoka battles were well done and I liked that they had an antagonist that she couldn’t beat. His character is intriguing and I’m wondering what he is up to.

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      • The news broke today, that all the live action Filoni story arcs will be culminating in a movie, involving Thrawn, pretty sure a lot of the cartoon arcs will get concluded in it as well.

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      • Ah, that makes sense. There was such a build-up, that shifting to a movie would be pretty logical. Though I can’t say there have been many TV to movie transitions that I actually enjoyed. Hopefully they pull it off well.

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      • Very true. It’s funny to see TV shows do it better than movies now. Maybe it’s just the setting, but I’ve enjoyed Mandalorian way more than the last two Star Wars movies. My worry is that sometimes when they make that jump, it doesn’t work as well. Something about the way they direct actors on the small screen vs the big screen. At least Rosario has experience in both.

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      • The writing in the last several Star Wars movies have been atrocious. Star Wars is at it’s best as pulp but it still requires good writing to make good pulp. The advantage of TV is time. You can take time to build a world as well as tell a story.

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  2. Firstly, congrats of some more success with your cleanout. That is a much-needed effort by many of us, and my progress has been somewhat stalled recently. (Have to keep making room for the new stuff…)

    Yeah, Ronin seems to fit your situation pretty well.

    Fantastic Beasts = Good popcorn movie for me. Using the mythos of the world, but a very different setting and dynamic, which was good, but as with many of the movies in that series just a little too many bailouts by the script at times.

    Good Omens is a fun series and the actors and whole premise are very good. My wife especially liked the flashback scenes to ancient times and how some of those old biblical stories were handled. Very clever adaption for the modern audience.

    Our most recent great viewing experience was OnePiece on Netflix. While not specifically a OnePiece fan, my wife does read a lot of Manga, we own a number of Anime series DVD’s (noteably Deathnote). OnePiece does take a little bit (if you have not read the series or watched the anime before) to get the vibe of the story, but once you do and realize that over the top is normal (almost like Batman villians in Gotham were) it is a fun trip. We decided to not binge but only watch one epsisode a night so it took over a week to digest, but in the end we are looking forward to the next season.

    Peter (aka Zenako)

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    • Thanks for taking the time to comment here mate!

      We tried One Piece but the first episode just did not grab us. Too many other things to choose from and never enough time.

      DF has really thrown my financial plans into a tizzy thanks to the news of the reserve release with some key sets we are after.

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    • Like the Tau, is hard to decide on what choose which color scheme to go with. But unlike the Tau I feel like the Kroot could have individuals with different color schemes. I want my Tau to be uniform. I also think the Kroot will be more fun to paint overall.

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  4. Interesting thoughts on your similarity to the faction. I hadn’t thought of how not having a ‘Master’ or working for an agency, might make one feel lost. Most of my life I’ve wished I could just be left alone. Unfortunately we’re typically at the mercy of those above us making poor decisions and having to follow along despite logic. Yes, there are the occasional good leaders, but those seem to be few and far between. Then again, I’m not retired yet and that might certainly change my outlook.

    I actually built a new PC, so I could play Starfield. I knew I wanted it when I first heard that they were working on a SciFi. I’ve been wanting a SciFi game that allows you to fly around, go mining, smuggling, bounty-hunting, whatever path you wanted to choose even before they released Skyrim. I really like the worlds that Bethesda makes, so this sounded just about perfect. Maybe it would be worthwhile to post a review on my site, including my own likes and dislikes (spoiler: more likes than dislikes).
    I totally understand the balancing act though. I don’t like to spend too much time watching TV or playing computer/video games. When I think of the time I spent doing that versus how many minis I could have painted (or other stuff I could have done), it seems like a waste. I guess right now it’s ok, because I have friends playing the game and we talk about the stuff we find which is pretty cool.

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    • I was always regarded as a bit of a loose cannon in the organizations I served in. Questioning things and being outspoken. I too found good leaders to be few and far between. So in that sense I am glad to be done with them. But it was not until I was out for quite some time did I realize just how conditioned to serve I was. Like an unnoticed background noise turned off that it took years to realize was once there but is now gone.

      Starfield has an amazing hard sci-fi NASA-Punk aesthetic like the Expanse. I love that. But I think the typical Todd Howard hype hurt Starfield for me as he helped me set my expectations too high. I think console limitations held the game design back as well. But I am happy that it did not suffer a Fallout 76, Cyberpunk 2077 or Mass Effect: Andromeda launch and that so many people are enjoying it. It should only get better. I would definitely like to read your review.

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      • Interesting, was it like you were always waiting for something to happen or maybe missing having a mission or purpose?
        Thanks GG, I’ll see what I can write-up. I try to steer clear of social media, reviews, etc. so that I can form my own opinions. Which is also my worry in writing something up, as I’m probably going to rehash things that people have already said much better than I.

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      • Hard to say. Perhaps jus bring part of something bigger than myself. Feeling like I was contributing, making a difference.

        As for sharing your views, you opinion is as valid as anyone else’s and we can all learn from each other.

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  5. You’re really spoiling us with two updates in rapid succession. Its great to see! I think you probably made the right call on Starfield. It sounds like a good but not great game and with how many games get made, you don’t have to settle for good these days. It is not cheap buying a new computer to play it either.

    For what its worth, I agree with Mrs. GG on cardboard terrain. I just don’t find it immersive enough and I don’t see myself ever using it. I look forward to seeing you paint up some more GW stuff in the future as well.

    That is interesting to hear on Ahsoka. I’ve heard good things and I’ve heard some not so great things about it. I’m so terribly far behind on everything Disney is pumping out that I’d be surprised if I watch it. I don’t think the show was made for me, if you know what I mean. I strongly agree on Ray Stevenson. He never got the respect or top billing he deserved and its sad he’s no longer with us. Throughout his career, he did a lot with very little at times and that is to be commended.

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    • The expense, of both time and money, is daunting when I consider returning to pc gaming. Stellaris keeps calling still though…

      Cardstock can work for me as a decent substitute, especially considering the time saved.

      It is difficult to keep up with everything. Mrs. GG and I recently discussed Firefly, bemoaning the fact there was no second season and that we are tempted to go back and rewatch season one but there are still so many other shows to watch that we have not yet seen or finished.

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  7. Masterless? To quote Seinfeld, you are “Master of Your Domain” 😁 Jokes aside, you are just entering another stage of your life, one shouldn’t feel lost but blazing a new trail. Enough psycho babble.

    The thing I like about GW sets are the extra items on their sprues, I have found I can take some items and add a third dimension to the cardboard walls of battlesystems, especially with their vehicle or scenery sets.

    I am enjoying Black Knight, definitely a dystopian future. Watched Zom 100 (the live action, not the anime), a silly but entertaining Japanese zombie movie with a new twist of where to survive.

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    • Good point on product I proving Battle Systems cardstock terrain with plastic accessory bits. The Fallout Battle Systems card stock Red Rocket terrain works well with the resin accessories it comes with.

      I will have a look for Zom 100. Japanese and Korean zombie movies/tv series really have a different feel from “Western Hollywood”.

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  8. You strike me more as master of your own destiny than ronin! 🙂 Some good projects going on there and quite a lot of films and stuff getting watched! I don’t think I’m too critical of films and series I watch as long as I enjoy them – I’m now onto the last series of Voyager and think there’s only been one episode that was a bit meh by my standards!

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    • I am critical but hopefully in a good way. Constructive criticism done out of love for the art. I do not enjoy tearing things down just for the sake of it. And I am not just trying to yuck someone‘s yum.However, I am something of a wannabe storyteller who wishes he had gotten into making movies/tv shows after taking a cinematography class in high school.

      When I watch a show I like, I am curious as to why I like it. What makes the story work, why are the characters and setting compelling, what suspends my disbelief and keeps my immersion from being broken.

      I certainly found Voyager much better than many other vocal critics of the show.

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      • Good that you can look at things with a critical eye but still appreciate the good things! Very rarely I find with minis, tanks etc. I can see one that someone has done an excellent job of painting, and I can recognise that, but I just won’t like it for whatever reason!

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