Cha'alt: Fuchsia Malaise

Yesssss!  It's out.  GET IT HERE.

This isn't the tippy-top final version, mind you.  But it's farther along than a beta.  The bookmarks, hyperlinks, and index is coming soon.  Also, I'll be spotting and fixing typos over the next couple weeks.

What's in it?  So much, dude.  So much.  225 pages of the awesomeness you've gotten to know from Cha'alt.  Some of that page count is previously released PDFs, such as OSR Like A Fucking Boss.  That'll be in the fancy hardcover edition coming out this fall, so I wanted to include it in the PDF, as well.  Everything in one place for convenience. 

It took me almost a year to create Cha'alt: Fuchsia Malaise.  It's jam-packed with gameable content.  Some stuff you're probably expecting... the rest out of left-field.

I'm hoping to get some promotional boost from DriveThru, that's why it's ridiculously priced at $5.  If you'd like to help out, blog about it, mention it on social media, or maybe write a review. 

Thanks,

VS

Troops On Parade - 28Mm ECW Royalist

There is something very cathartic above setting a gaming collection out on the table for inspection. It's something I have reet enjoyed since starting this feature a few years back. Is it the joy of seeing the collection all together on the table or looking at the mass ranks with a sense of achievement, I don't know, but I do know that most of my fellow gamers will "get it".

As is becoming the norm at YG I have done a Yarkshire TV special on the Utubes to accompany the post (link above), for those that prefer static photos and text see below. For rules we play a homebrew  modified version of Forlorn Hope.

All the figures are metal, this was before the days of cheap plastic soldiers, all the bases have a reassuringly weighty feel.

Starting on the right of the Army we have Prince Rupert (with his dog) and his group of Cavalry. These figures are all from Perrys bar the command which are Bicorne.

Over on the left I have my other wing of Cavalry, these are made up of Bicorne miniatures with a single unit of Renegade horse. At the head of the line is the Kings Mounted Lifeguard.

Another view of the left wing of Cavalry

The Infantry in the middle are all from Renegade, I can't remember the exact details but I bought a load of them in one go during a deal they were running.

Those of you familiar with the period will recognise the flags of the units on show, rather than go for a specific army in terms of location and year I have picked and chosen from a number, with units from the Oxford Army and the Armies in Cheshire most prominent. Front rank here right to left as viewed are Talbots, Lifeguard and Ruperts.

The Lifeguard was a particular joy with the extra flags. Forlorn Hope is a 33:1 scale (in terms of men to models) game so my units are between 16 and 30 figures strong but generally 20 or 24. We have found that units are just not viable with less than 16 figures.

You can see from the bases that this is pre grass tufts days, some units in the Army have the original versions of tufts. We used to buy packs of coloured bristles from Railway Modelling shops, clump them up and glue one end, wait for them to dry and chop the top off. It was very slow and I have up on it, maybe 4 or 5 units in the Army have them.

My favourite unit in the Army is this little 16 figure Chester Milita Regiment with its own made up flag "Forward for God and Cheshire" it implores.

The personality figures are all Bicorne, here we have Sir Jacob Astley Commander of Foote.

Prince Rupert of the Rhine, Commander of Horse.

The main man himself King Charles, with Royal Standard carried by Sir Edmund Verney, odd figure, whatever I do the flag won't come off 🤔

The guns are mostly Old Glory with a couple of Perrys Figures, I do seem to have bought rather a lot.

In between the guns are a number of individually based figures from Wargames Foundry which cover a number of functions, Forlorn Hope, Engineers, Rappers and Snipers.

I love an army with lots of flags, it's not quite the Italian Wars but it's not far off. Most annoyingly after packing all the figs away I realised I forgot to put out my two units of Dragoons (mounted and dismounted) as well as my single unit of Cuirass 😣

Hopefully you have enjoyed that bit of fun, hopefully in a few weeks tine we will be back gaming.

Birth By S.T. Gulik, Book Review

 

Max lives in a world where the absurd is an everyday occurrence. It is a matter of how he reacts to the events affect his life, and his likelihood to stay alive. Max's world isn't much different from ours; it is only a matter of time from our now and his then.

Chakra Kong Part 1: Birth, or The Exquisite Sound of One Hand Falling Off a Turnip Truck (2^nd edition) by S.T. Gulik is a look at our future through the lens of the absurd. I was given an advanced review copy by the author for review purposes.

Plot

In the future, the world progresses down the path of becoming stranger, odder, and more absurd. The division of society is greater. The threat of crime is greater. The threat of living is greater. The world has zombies living side by side with people who have been mutated by the acts of man and the acts of God. There are intelligent mutants living in the sewers (Iiites). People forced out of regular society because they look different and are stronger. And, there are the Riot Nrrds who are battling the Iiites with their intelligence and advanced degrees. Because they have come to understand, the Iiites are in more control of the world than normal people understand and want to care about.

In the middle of the chaos is Max, one of the masses who doesn't want to know and doesn't care. He is a guy who just wants to live his life by making enough money, having enough to drink, get high, and have sex. Unfortunately, for Max, he keeps getting thrust into the middle of the war between the Iiites and the Riot Nrrds.

Max is given the choice, at different times from both sides, to work for a particular side or die. He decides it is better to live another day. The middle is where he ends up, again and again, as he strives to keep himself in a place of relative safety. But he learns more about what his life is about.

Max has a destiny. He learns about his destiny from his spirit llama, by help from the mystics, who were introduced to by Jengists, who Max was directed to by the Night Noodles. With this greater knowledge, Max brings the first part of the war against the Iiite military arm to an end. Then with his arm wrapped around his Iiite girlfriend, he walks off to prepare for the next phase of the war after they get reacquainted.

Style

S.T. Gulik likes to write absurd stories. Birthis a prime example. Max's story happens in the future with many references to our current time and our past to anchor his absurd world with the absurd happenings people deal with today. Gulik just dials everything up a few notches to take it over-the-top.

Because of the extreme difference of our future society, Gulik starts out his book with some description of our future times. He gives the structure of society and some history of what is to come before we meet Max. At the end of the book, additional entries are available to reference and read more about a number of the elements he introduces.

Max for most of the story is a reactionary character. He would rather just be allowed to go home and live his life by getting drunk and high, but his destiny has other plans for him. Time and again he finds himself in a position where his decisions are limited to a point of basically having no option if he wants to continue living. Life and events are thrust upon him. This brings a number of other characters into Max's life he would not have met otherwise.

Most of the story is told through Max's perspective; however, readers are given insights to events by other characters. All of these combine together to show just how the world is out of control and rising to greater levels of absurdity.

Overall

You're never quite sure what to expect with the start of each chapter. Max's life is like a pinball machine, with him as one of the balls in a multi-ball game, there are a lot of things happening. It is a crazy life and a crazy world he is navigating as he heads into the bumpers and drop targets. But the exit gates are closed and Max keeps getting batted back up into the workings of the game.

There are many references, puns, and insights pulled from our present and past. Max's world, though different in many ways, is strongly grounded in our present. This is not a book to be looking for heavy meaning, but you might find some connection to the crazy stuff happening in your own life.

This is not a book for young readers. The themes, descriptions, and events are for the mature. This is a society where sex, drugs, and murder are everyday events. There is a constant threat of terrorism and war that is seen more as an inconvenience than a real danger. We see a world where there are few lasting consequences to the people living in it.

I recommend Birth to readers who are looking for the absurd and the outlandish.

About the Author (from the book)

S.T. Gulik is a magical cockroach.

He started life as a common wood roach in 1681, living in a small castle outside Dublin. One day, a human alchemist blew himself up while trying to brew the elixir of life. S.T. survived the blast, but he fumes cursed him with self-awareness and immortality. A lot has happened in three-hundred-thirty-five years. Everyone he knew and loved has died. Vampire movies make him cry.

On the upside, he's had countless adventures and learned many things. He worked for the goddess of chaos for one-hundred-twenty-three years. About thirty years ago, she turned him human and disappeared, which is fine because humans are smart and likable.

Oh, and he writes absurdist fiction. That's important. Gotta mention that.

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Recent Painting/Basing

Just some recently finished bits and pieces.

3x Panzer IVs with various gun options.

Plastic, Battlefront Miniatures

Fiat Cr.32 "Chirri" for the Nationalists in Spanish Civil War

1:100 by Minairons

It's a cool piece but a little fiddly to put together.

Goblin Pyros for Pathfinder

Reaper Bones

The Storm Is Everywhere

Stewards is how I describe our relationship to the gaming subculture. The days of stores as taste makers are long behind us, although you can leverage and channel interest through events and demos. I felt this strongly selling role playing game during the holidays.

We certainly sold our share of gaming books, but with the slower, wiser, release cycle of 5E, there are a tremendous number of players who just don't need any books, most of the time. The sheer number of these new customers and the slow book release schedule meant dice and miniature sales have been stratospheric in the trade. You couldn't have enough of either in 2019. Customers have money and they want to spend it and it will be with you, or increasingly, elsewhere. This season I could feel the Etsyfication of the hobby.

There have always been low volume makers of stuff for gaming, but players are now tied into an omnichannel environment, where games are bought and played and talked about virtually everywhere. We are just one channel and perhaps not their primary. I know game trade buyers at distribution and they do their best to follow trends, but there are just too many makers and Kickstarter projects to keep up with and not enough budget to follow every line. 

We have customers that have gravitated away from our sales channel nearly entirely, as well as those who live and play the games we sell without knowing or caring we exist. It's not that they have better options (selection and price), like in the past, but they have different options. Their experiences and purchased products only have vague overlap. My store is full of customers three nights a week, and if I could just read their mind, tap into their other channels. 

I had holiday customers arrive with a list of titles with little resemblance to my reality, as if they were stringing random words together. There is not a strong understanding amongst casual consumers that these channels don't merge at the end point of brick and mortar retail. When that light bulb goes off, we'll find ourselves marginalized, if we haven't been already. Who wants to shop where they sell half of what you're interested in, when there's a source with 100%? If you have the budget and the knowledge, attempting to get in on the action of another channel is a wise move, although you'll never really tap the potential of the other channels. You don't need to be all channels but you don't want to be the worst channel. You don't need to outrun the bear, just outrun your buddy.

Breaking out of our channel requires budget, insight and being on trend. As I get older, I am often not on trend, such as my mystification as to why people watch hours of gaming when they can just do it. I understand why people watch professional sports, but gaming seems more accessible, especially when there's always hours of research and prep for a D&D game. I mentioned this on my personal page and have been educated, so you don't need to explain it to me. I get that there's evolved mastery of the game on display, rather than a scripted farce, which is what I see because I'm so very far from personal mastery of the game. I'm more in the Colvillian camp of slight deviations from the baseline.

The new D&D book, Explorer's Guide to Wildemount, is a web series tie in by Matt Mercer, of Critical Roll. Even Wizards of the Coast has no choice but to get on trend, to figure out what players want, and of course, they are omnichannel oriented, including deep discounting on Amazon. The grognards like me shake our fists, demanding a reboot of Planescape, much like how the grognard retailer in me shakes my first about those deep discount Amazon D&D sales. 

But Wizard's knows to follow the trends, to tie into the energy in the room, to play the channels. My employees weren't even alive when Planescape was published, which is true of most customers. Maybe ride the channel while the riding is good? Critical Role is right now, at the subcultural forefront, with 758K subscribers with dozens of videos with over a million views. 

These problems are opportunities, don't let me depress you. These are problems you want to have, the catching of raindrops in a thimble during a hurricane. The mass marketization of the game trade is really an omnichannel endeavor, as the mass market is mostly dead. Hobby game stores are closing in droves, as they're unable to catch enough water in their thimbles. The smart ones, the larger ones for the most part, are making larger thimbles, sometimes creating their own literal channels. We saw the clouds and knew the storm was coming, but we were wrong about its origin. The storm is everywhere. 

From Deedle and Thread