This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot, by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission
Hahahahaa, another great entry. I just love these comics. This starts out exactly how I would react to Groo being on a demolition crew. I just laughed my head off.
One interesting thing I found in this comic was that the lettering for the comic is done by a guy named Stan Sakai. I know that name. You’ll know that name too. If you read tomorrow’s post 😉
★★★✬☆
From Bookstooge.blog
Groo destroys a building, sets a royal dog free and then when the dog follows him, tries to eat it. It remains loyal to Groo and when Groo falls into some quicksand, the dog gets some villagers to rescue Groo. They recognize Groo and begin shoving him even quicker into the quicksand. Royal Soldiers track them all down and take the dog back. A random villager accidentally saves Groo. Groo sees a reward poster for the dog, attacks the royal palace and takes the dog for the reward, not realizing who the true owners are.
The Eternal Lowlander, Bookstooge MacLeod, realized that most of the “sheep” of his flock were dumb as stumps and wouldn’t understand a word he uttered. Which could be a problem as he had vast swathes of wisdom to impart. Thus the Lowlander, in his pursuit of the Championing, decided that some “splainin to do” was necessary. You all might not be named Lucy, but take these drops of wisdoms and cherish them.
Today, we shall be going over the Player Play Area, it’s various parts, phases and phrases used and some general “This is what it all means” kind o’splainin. That way, when I talk about things in future posts, there is at least a 10% chance you’ll know what I’m saying 😉
The most important part of the PPA (player play area) is your Hero and their Alter-ego. Both of these are on one card and you can flip between them once per turn. The next most important part of the ppa is the deck. From it you draw your hand, draw cards in general and use in a variety of ways.
The game is played in a series of Rounds, which consists of a Hero Phase and a Villain Phase. Today’s post will just be about the Hero Phase. During the Hero Phase, you can perform the following
Change Form – flip your hero to alter-ego, or your alter-ego to hero. You can only do this once per round.
Play an “Ally”, “Upgrade” or “Support” card. You can do this as many times as you have resources in your hand to pay for them.
Use your alter-ego’s Recovery Ability, or your hero’s Attack or Thwart ability. You must exhaust your hero/alterego to do this (turn it sidewise. it can no longer “do stuff” until it becomes un-exhausted)
Use an “Ally” to attack the Villain or thwart their Scheme. The same “exhaust” action occurs for allies as for your hero.
Trigger an “Action” ability on a card in the ppa.
Once you have finished all of these steps, you declare you are done and complete the following steps
Discard any number of cards in your hand (or discard down to your hand size if you drew a bunch of cards during the turn)
Draw up to your hand size (as stated on the bottom left of the Hero/Alter-ego card)
Un-exhaust all your cards
It is now the villain’s turn and we’ll be going over that next week, in this same format. I realize this is pretty much just an explanation of some of the rules, but the terms used are ones I’ll be using whenever I do more Playening posts. Hopefully it will enhance your understanding of the posts, if not your enjoyment. If it doesn’t, don’t worry. I’ll just send War Machine after you to put you out of your misery.
This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission
Title: Convergence Series: Galaxy’s Edge #13 Author: Jason Anspach & Nick Cole Rating: 3 of 5 Stars Genre: Military SF Pages: 311 Words: 107K
This really felt like a straight up Military-SF story rather than a space opera. I don’t WANT to read that. I want the Star Wars that might have been, and I am not getting that. At all.
This is what happens when you place authors as people on pedestals. They without fail will let you down. I am becoming very disillusioned with this duo and I don’t know whether to continue to see if they turn things around, or if they just go down the path they’ve apparently set out on. I DO NOT WANT MILITARY SPECIAL OPS STORIES. They have enough other series to do that in. Give me that sweet, sweet space opera.
I know I will finish this series but I question if I will read anything else by them. Which is too bad, because they are talented writers and they “could” be telling some enthralling stories.
★★★☆☆
From Galaxysedge.fandom.com
ALLIES AND ENEMIES GROW THEIR FORCES…
As the galaxy marches headlong toward the greatest threat to peace since the Savage Wars, the flames are lit in the most unlikely of places.
Trapped inside a Savage mini hulk, Prisma faces a future where little is as she expected it would be, and a past that is even more troubling than she knew. Aboard a Cybar ship, Andien Broxin fights for her life with the most unlikely of allies at her side. And on the Kimbrin home world, Masters joins a Legion Special Operations Group tasked with checking a resurgent MCR… only to find himself embroiled in the flashpoint that will again plunge the galaxy into war.
Goth Sullus has fallen. Tyrus Rechs is a memory. But those who are enemies of both men are now set to step forth and reveal themselves on the galactic stage—unless the Republic, and the Legion, can answer the call to sacrifice.
This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission
Title: Conan the Hunter Series: Conan the Barbarian #18 Author: Sean Moore Rating: 2.5 of 5 Stars Genre: Fantasy Pages: 197 Words: 81K
This was pathetic, just sad. It wasn’t a Conan story, it was a Forgotten Realms fantasy story with the warrior figure renamed to be Conan. Plus, the author was a young computer programmer. He’s dead now, so he’ll never get better.
This had gods and demons directly interacting with Conan. Not only that, but Conan being helpless in the face of it all. That’s the thing that Howard, the author of the original Conan stories, made sure to emphasize, Conan had an indomitable will that nothing could conquer or thwart. Plus, there is no good magic and there are no good gods. They are all evil, despicable shadow beings that are best left in the dust of ruins and history.
This really was just a generic fantasy story in a Conan wrapper. It was the Mona Lisa, only to find that she had 6 fingers because it was AI generated and not the real thing. It was a delicious pepperoni pizza, only to find out on the first bite it was just gravel glued to a paper plate. I could go on but I won’t.
The only good thing about this story is that it is the only Conan story by Moore that I have access too. Apparently he wrote two more, but thankfully the decision whether to read them or not has been taken out of my hand. Boo yah for the good guys!
(that makes zero sense you know. But I write a lot of things that don’t particularly make sense and nobody seems to mind. So really, it is your fault. I hope that makes you happy)
★★✬☆☆
From Wikipedia
After facing a sewer monster, Conan is enlisted against a demon sorceress’s conspiracy in restoring the wealth of her ancient race. In their struggle against Valtresca and Azora, the Cimmerian and his allies Salvorus, Kailash the hillman, and a young priest, Madesus, encounter numerous traps and divine intervention in an adventure culminating in a ruined temple with legions of gargoyles and the resurrection of the horrific villain Skauraul.
" My eyes open with a burst of stars; magic drips from my fingertips. Flora spreads quick and far; the mighty waves slow down to gentle drips. Grass blooms with every sweep of my feet; my dance quells the raging heat . I rise at dawn, and the Earth smiles. Wherever I go, they call me Spring's Delight. " ~Shruti Pandey 2024
Last year, I had done some online work for Miss Ross. In exchange, she gave me access to a sketchbook and my choice of several drawings. You’ve seen these ones already:
I had seen this one and it really struck me as the Essence of Spring, but considering it was the dead of winter, it wasn’t the right time for it. But now it is May. The trees are leafing out. The sun is shining (when it’s not raining 🙂 ). The black flies are swarming, hahahaa. So I decided it was time. I wanted this to be a bit different, so I sent a sample to Shruti and asked her to compose a poem based on her impressions of the drawing. I was very pleased with the results. I like spring time a lot. I enjoy seeing the color coming back, the sun shining strongly, the warmth returning. While it is not my favorite season, I think it is the one I need the most.
Can you believe it, two poetry posts in a month? I feel very accomplished, like I’m a Real Blogger™️ now 😀 Next thing you know, I’ll be wearing a little black beret, sipping a teen weeny cup of over priced coffee at some cafe and writing in my journal about how terrible life is and the misery of existence itself. How wonderful. It must be spring time!
This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission
Title: Toyman Series: Dumarest #3 Author: EC Tubb Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars Genre: SF Pages: 158 Words: 46K
I am thoroughly enjoying these adventures of Earl Dumarest. He’s a man’s man with just the right amount of bravado and nonchalance balanced with a caring side that comes out at the oddest times. In this adventure, he comes to the planet Toy, can’t immediately pay his way off the planet and thus is drafted into a game where the corporate owners of Toy bet stock options on the outcomes of battles. The Toyman, the leader with the most stock, is a megamaniacal murderer who wants to be the supreme leader. He’s being helped by the Cyclans and Earl gets caught up between the factions.
In one scene, he has to fight a cage full of spiders, each the size of a basketball or larger. With his bare hands. There was some major pulp action going on! It was great.
Also on the plus side, there was no woman for Dumarest to get involved in. There is the sister of the Toyman, and she controls the next largest chunk of stock, but she’s in love with one of the other leaders and her brother uses that against her.
The whole point of Dumarest coming to this world was to ask the Super Computer about Earth. But of course, the Cyclan’s plot destroys the ONE part of the machine that had that info. Dumarest does learn that Earth is also called Terra, so he got one crumb. One measly crumb. But as I pointed out in the previous review, Dumarest getting back to Earth doesn’t make sense, so it has really lost its meaning to me.
The covers. Man, there were some weeeeeeeird ones. I chose this one because it showed the least amount of nakedness. One has Dumarest in a plastic codpiece with giant plastic shoulder pads wielding a sword while another has a naked mutant lady with flippers and wings in a giant tank with Dumarest looking on. Neither were covers I wanted to showcase, so you ended up with this monstrosity. I have zero idea what it is supposed to represent, but I figure it some artists drugged out idea of Dumarest and the world of Toy.
★★★✬☆
From the Publisher
Space-wanderer Earl Dumarest is on the planet Toy to consult the giant computer which may contain information on the whereabouts of Earth, his lost home-world. But soon he realises Toy is a place that gives away nothing for free. Before Dumarest can gain the information he needs, he must take part in the Toy Games – must fight like a tin soldier in a vast nursery. And there is nothing playful about the Games on Toy. The pain is real enough; the wounds, the blood – and death.
