Audio Noise: Clink! From Earth... With 100 Lasers!

Having listened to the entire run of Decoder Ring Theater (for a second time even!!!) I started looking around for another podcast in the radio play format.  It took me a little bit of digging but I managed to find...

Focus: Various radio play style skits.

Audio Quality: Four and a half clinks.

Content Quality: Four laser fists.

Average Length:Usually about half an hour.

Release Schedule: weekly

Unlike the other podcasts that I've talked about on the Noise, the Thrilling Adventure Hour is an actual Hollywood stage show that also happens to run on iTunes.  If you happen to be in LA on the right day you can even go see the real thing but the rest of us will just have to make due with the podcast.

The show covers several different story lines which all have their own merits but in my opinion Beyond Belief, Spark Nevada, Marshal On Mars, and Captain Laserbeam are the best.  This isn't to say that the other skits that come through are not good but these three are definitely my favorites.  Don't take my word for it though; get over there and check them out yourself!  Until next time...

Workbench: Painting the Yun Qi for Firefly

A while back I took brush and paint to several of the ship pieces from my Firefly board game. Among the pieces I painted were two of the four Firefly transports and though I had planned on painting the remaining two (one of which is the Serenity itself) I just never got around to doing it.

The first two, the Bonnie Mae and the Bonanza, have pretty well defined paint schemes on their displays which made them easy. Serenity is also pretty easy since she is really quite plain looking compared to the others but the last one left me in something of a quandary.

Called the Yun Qi (Chinese for luck) it is depicted as having your basic hull colors with yellow trim which is one of my least favorite colors to paint. I wanted to do something different but wasn't sure what until recently so without further ado, here is the Yun Qi.

Since red is considered to be a lucky color in Chinese culture, it just seemed to make sense to paint the ship red (and it'll make it go fasta, right?). This also makes the yellow accents fit into this scheme much better and for an extra little touch I painted the character for fortune onto the top of the hull.

Overall I'm really happy with how the Yun Qi turned out. It definitely makes a nice addition to my little fleet of Fireflies. Now I just need to paint the Serenity and get the Artful Dodger and I'll be all set... For a little while at least. Until next time...

Audio Noise: Putting A Little Bance In Your Life!

Even though we moved across country just a couple of months ago, we have been lucky enough to have already made some good friends that love gaming as much as we do.  During a chat with one of them a "local" podcast was mentioned so I decided to check them out and am I ever glad that I did.    So glad in fact that I think its time to...

Focus: Boardgames from ancient days of yore (like the 80's)

Audio Quality: Five 10,000 point questions!

Content Quality: Five balloon tardises.

Average Length: About an hour

Release Schedule: bi weekly

A lot of podcast that I've listened to have started out a little on the rough side but not this one.  Right from episode 1 the audio quality and editing, content, chemistry of the hosts, all of it was right out of the park!  But what exactly is it about?

Unlike other board game podcasts Flip The Table focuses on those games that litter the shelves of your local thrift and Goodwill.  You won't find much about the latest and greatest on BGG but you will find plenty about some "classics" like Heartthrob, Trump the Game, and the All My Children board game.

You might think that listening to an hour about a game like this would be almost painful to bear but the guys at Flip The Table make it interesting.  Their banter keeps the mood light and they also don't just focus on the negative aspects of the games.  Instead they look at what how they felt the game design was flawed and even how to make the game better which gives an interesting perspective on game design.

Once they have finished their review, they end the show with the Battle of Wits between the hosts and these are just a blast to listen to.  Whether they are playing the eBay game, the IMDB game or any thing else that they have dreamed up, it is always good for a laugh.  This is definitely a podcast that I recommend you add to you listening cue ASAP.  Until next time...

Workbench: Making Proxy Trenchers

Having lost rather badly with Magnus yet again, I oddly enough find myself more drawn toward playing him. The question is how do I make his force more functional? Looking on the War Room app (very useful app for Warmahordes that I really recommend checking out), I saw that Magnus can use Trenchers or Long Gunners in his Most Wanted theme list. That is all well and good but money is tight right now so how can I get them without breaking the bank?  The answer? Hit the internet!

Originally I thought about using some Confrontation Fusiliers for Long Gunners (which I conveniently already have) but I'd really rather have some Trenchers. A quick search oddly enough led me to blog that read in the past, Wee Blokes.

In several articles, he chronicles his own plight of finding proxies for various Cygnar minis, including the Trenchers!  What made it even better is the fact that his solution is not only extremely cost effective but also very easy to duplicate.

A number of years ago, there was a big box starter made for the miniature game Warzone. This set was actually a heck of a deal as it came with eighty plastic miniatures, forty of each side. What's even better is the fact that you can now buy all the minis from Prince August Miniatures for just over $40.  What makes these figures so useful for this project is the design of the Imperial troops.

Looking like something from the British front lines in WW I, they will work very nicely for some stand in Trenchers as ArabianKnight has shown on his excellent blog (definitely recommend checking it out if you haven't already). Sure they're going to take a little work but as I was able to pick up forty of the Trencher minis on eBay for about $18, I'm looking at saving myself about $95 by going this route. Call me crazy... Well, if I'm not yet I probably will be soon enough, right? Until next time...