NO! IT'S NOT TRUE....THAT'S IMPOSSIBLE!!!

"I felt a great disturbance in the Force, as if millions of voices suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced."


IT'S NOT REALLY HAPPENING. IT'S STILL 1977. PUT IT BACK IN THE BOX.


SSSSHH. [rocks back and forth] SSSSHHHH.

VICTORY at my FLGS: Pulp sci-fi returns!

So about month or so ago I started pestering my friendly local game store, The Source: Comics and Games to pick up X-plorers. To be fair, it was seemingly pre-destined to arrive there since they were already receiving shipments from the same distributor that Brave Halfling (the publisher) uses.

So while the game was on it's way, they didn't really have any retro-lookin' pulpy, science fiction minis to go with it, save for--literally a handfull--of Reaper minis that look like everything else TOO MODERN.

So I bugged them and bugged them and bugged them and bugged them and bugged them and bugged them bugged them and bugged them and professed my undying love and fandom and bugged them and bugged them and bugged and bugged them and sent them flowers and bugged them and bugged them and bugged them and....sent an email to the owner....aaaaaand...

LO and behold they set up an account with Hydra Miniatures so ANYONE in the Twin Cities (ostensibly running a retro-flavored sci-fi campaign) can pick up some of these bad boys (and girls.... and robots....and aliens....):

I've LONG pined for these guys to be available from a local retailer. So this is a really a dream come true in a sense. 

Now that there's more than one flavor of sci-fi mini available locally (as opposed to the hordes of Reaper minis taking over the walls at every game store in the area) this points to a very real possibility of me organizing an X-plorers campaign at the Source, hopefully before the end of the year.

Heck, I might even pick up a copy of War Rocket, their sci-fi spaceship combat game to supe-up the starship battles in X-plorers (which are quite light, quick, and easy, but don't include rules for things like ramming enemies, like WR does). 

If you live in the area and want these babies, check out Hydra's site and then give the Source a call and order. It'd be GREAT if they saw the potential behind this kind of game and started stocking the shelves with them!

P.S. All copies of X-plorers had sold out last week when I was there, but I'm told more are on the way. If that $12.95 is burning a hole in your space suit, order one direct from Brave Halfling.

All images are from Hydra Miniatures website. Show them some love and buy thousands of dollars of tiny space fleets and space Valkyries and live long and prosper!

COMING SOON: Insect brains in robots!

Holy F#$%! This is insane and yet REALLY happening: researchers are working on putting honey bee brains into robotic insect bodies! How long before some madman puts his own brain into a giant robotic exoskeleton? Does nobody think these things through?

Apparently they did, in fact, as the purpose is a bit more altruistic. From io9:

The researchers hope a robotic insect could supplement or replace the shrinking population of honey bees that pollinate essential plant life.

Now, while this might sound like some kind of outlandish futurist joke, there are some serious players — and money — involved. Called the "Green Brain Project," it was recently given £1 million (USD $1,614,700) by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), as well as hardware donations from the NVIDIA corporation.

and...

The Green Brain Project could further our understanding of both artificial intelligence and the neuroscientific underpinnings of animal cognition. But also, along with the National Science Foundation-funded Robobees project (led by Harvard University), the advent of an artificial pollinator could provide a solution (either temporarily or permanently) to the problem of dwindling honey bee populations — an organism that's currently dealing with the devastating effects of colony collapse disorder. In fact, the artificial honey bee may be the first of many robots we introduce into the environment to make up for the current era of widespread extinctions.

BUT STILL. How long until we're fighting off GIANT SPACE HORNETS?

OUR LASERS ARE VASTLY UNDERPOWERED FOR THIS KIND OF THREAT!

Full article.

AN ILL-CONCEIVED, SPACEY NEW SPACE OPERA IDEA

IN A FAR CORNER OF THE PASTICHE-VERSE (B-GRADE AND EXPLOITATION MOVIES OF THE 60s, 70s, AND 80s...AND ANYTHING STARRING THE HOFF, PLUS COMIC BOOKS, AND OTHER JUNK THAT CAN BE SQUISHED INTO A NEW X-PLORERS SETTING) COMES A BATTLE FOR THE FRONTIER BEYOND INSANITY AND QUESTIONABLE TASTE...

STARRING: NICODEMUS HASSELFURY, EXPELLED SPACE RANGER AND CAD...

COL. ZYGG ZAYNE, CRASHED TEST PILOT, TURNED STARBARIAN OF AXTERNIA,...

AGENT BIKINI BARBARELLI EXPERT IN EXTRASOLAR ESPIONAGE....

ST. VAL HELLYEAH, WARRIOR OF THE FIRST WARP...

AND SPECIAL APPEARANCE BY SONNY CHIBA, AS HIMSELF!

TOGETHER THEY FIGHT FOR FREEDOM AGAINST THE MERCILESS DRUKHAR EMPIRE, LED BY...

KABUKI VADER!

...AND HIS ARMY OF DEMON GLANDROIDS WITH THEIR BURNING BILE BLASTERS!

...BLOODTHRISTY DRUKHAR DOOM SQUADS WITH THEIR INSCRUTO-RAYS!

...AND CRIMINALS OF THE COSMOS, SUCH AS.. 

THIS PAIR OF OMICRON CLASS ASSASSIN ROBOTS, THE BORON BROTHERS...

BEMA, SPACE YETI...

....AND LADY OF THE LASERSNIPER GUILD, ARCTURA LUX!

--NOT TO MENTION A CAST OF ANTISOCIAL ALIEN TYPES:

SPACE RAIDING WARGONS!

KOMODU KHAN AND HIS ARMY OF HUNGRY REPTARNS!

A BATTALION OF XOMBOID NECRON-O-TRONS!

 x 1,000,000,000+

...VALCONI BIRDMEN ABOARD THEIR "FLOCK" OF SPACE RAPTORS!

...AND THE MOST TERRIFYINGLY TENTACULAR OF ALL--MENACING MEDUZHANS!

THESE FAR-OUT, SPACEY ADVENTURES TAKE PLACE IN... 

A GLOBULAR CLUSTER, PARTIALLY POLLUTED WITH BREATHABLE ATMOSPHERES...

...INFESTED WITH NESTS OF GIANT SPACE HORNETS....

...AND TELEPORTING SPACE FORTRESSES!!!

CAN YOU DIG IT?

MORE TO COME!

While the images are just placeholders, I've permission from X-plorers publisher, Brave Halfling to use the game's rules and stats and intend to publish a supplement, using the names and descriptions above. You may use them in your games, but may not use them for profit. Copyright is claimed.