The Tail End of Summer

   Another boring summer is heading towards its end. Gen Con has come and gone, and I wasn't there to enjoy it. Hopefully things will be different next year. I've been to the Bristol Renaissance Faire once this year and I'm hoping to go again before the season ends.

  I've backed a few more Kickstarters since my last post. The first one is The Big Conspiracy card game. Others include When the Wolf Comes, Era: Hitman v1.1, Gausahedron, Wasteland Sagas, Cthulhu Mythos Tarot and Crossroads Inn. The Cthulhu Wars: CATaclysm and Cthulhu Wars: The Daemon Sultan Kickstarters are progressing very slowly. According to the latest update, the pieces are being or have been molded. While I was unable to participate in these Kickstarters directly, The Game Steward has backed both projects. Over the past two years or so, I've placed orders with them for items from both of these Kickstarters as well as other Cthulhu Wars expansions. When all these orders arrive, I'll pretty much have everything Cthulhu Wars related. I've acquired an Eradication first player marker for the game recently on eBay.

Chop Suey (Odds & Ends)

   My parents bought a 2022 Subaru Outback and I've taken ownership of their previous vehicle, a 2015 Subaru Forester. The title, plates and insurance have been transferred to the new car. My taxes have been filed. My Wisconsin refund has already been deposited in my account. According to the TaxAct software, I'm due to get $3,405.00 as a federal refund. This is quite a bit higher than what I've received in the past and I can't help but wonder if I've done something wrong when I filled out the tax form. Last year, a program update altered the amount of my refunds after I'd already filed my taxes. This delayed my federal refund considerably. I'm worried this will happen again.

  The Backerkit survey for the GoDice Kickstarter has been filled out and returned. I've added a USB charging unit and collapsible dice tray to my order. If I've read their last update correctly, I should be getting a GoDice D&D dice bag added to my order as a free upgrade because I ordered the D&D dice shells for my GoDice. The dUltimate Kickstarter is now in the sample stage of production. If the samples pass muster, they'll be going into full production soon. The Crit Effect dice set Kickstarter has started up again and I've once again put in a pledge for a set. They've got 21 days to reach their $9,000 goal.

  The Game Steward has been sending me emails to let me know that they're keeping track of my orders. The Kickstarters these orders are based on are slowly nearing completion. Hopefully, my orders will be filled before the end of the year. I'm not sure if I will be adding any other orders to the list.

  I have a host of medical appointments coming up. A recent set of X-rays has revealed that I have bilateral arthritis in both knees. I'm due to see an orthopedist in order to determine a course of action. I've also scheduled an appointment with a cardiologist in regard to atrial fibrillation. I'm also going to see my nephrologist, endocrinologist and ophthalmologist in the near future. My knees are my biggest concern. My job puts a certain amount of stress on my knees, and they get stiff and painful when I stand or walk for extended periods of time. If the orthopedist recommends surgery, I'm going to ask him if it might be time for me to consider retirement. I'm 60 years old and I've had health issues for about 10 years now. I don't know how many good years I have left in me, and I want to enjoy the last part of my life.

Dull Normality

     Things have once again settled into a dull routine. The cycle of work, home, work, home mindlessly marches on. I've seen a few new movies like Venom 2, Matrix: Resurrections, Eternals, Spiderman: No Way Home and Ghostbusters: Afterlife. I've purchased a set of Glow in the Dark Great Old Ones from Noble Knight Games. The set included Azathoth, Hastur, The King in Yellow, Nyarlathotep, Ithaqua, Rhan-Tegoth, Ubbo-Sathla, Tsathoggua, Shub-Niggurath and Yog-Sothoth. Cthulhu was purchased separately. All, except Azathoth, came with loyalty cards and spellbooks. Now the faction Great Old Ones can also be played as Independent Great Old Ones. I haven't heard much about the status of my orders from The Game Steward.

  I'm not sure how well the Farxiga is helping control my diabetes. I should be due to have my a1c checked so I'll get some insight then. Not much else to report health wise. I still have some paperwork to file in regard to my pension. Nothing much has been happening on the Kickstarter front.   

Cthulhu Wars, Kickstarter & eBay

   I've purchased some new items for Cthulhu Wars. An H.P. Lovecraft bust 1st player marker and the Prophetess have been added. My other HPL marker will now be used as the Eidolon in the game. The Loyalty cards for the Eidolon, Prophetess and the 8 unique High Priests have been downloaded from the Petersen Games website and printed. I've purchased a set of 22 3D printed plastic gates for the game as well as completing my set of Colour Out of Space gates. When I downloaded the Omega Master rulebook for Cthulhu Wars, I found that two more gates had been added to the chart, a Glow in the Dark gate and a gate in the color of the Ancients faction.

  These two gates are harder to come by because they were only available as stretch goals for earlier Cthulhu Wars Kickstarters. While there's a possibility that the Ancients gate would be added to the standard gates package if the company decided to make more sets, the Glow in the Dark gate won't be made again. Luckily, I found a seller on eBay that was selling a Glow in the Dark gate and promptly bought it. I messaged said seller and asked if he would be selling an Ancients gate some time in the future. He sent me a link to his auction for said gate and I purchased that gate as well. They're in mail right now and I'm tracking the shipment. When my orders from The Game Steward arrive, I'll have quite the Cthulhu Wars collection. About the only things I don't have at the moment are the alternate game maps like Primeval, Shaggai, the Library of Celeano and Yuggoth.

  The Spiral Dice and Hexacube Kickstarters have encountered delays. The Go Dice Kickstarter has been dealing with a transistor shortage because of the pandemic. I'm currently the high, and only, bidder on a Loot Crate Demogorgon figure on eBay. This thing is sweet. If I win it, I'll have to find a place to display it.

Finally

   My federal refund has finally arrived. It, combined with some money from my Health Savings Account, was used to pay off my bill with Aurora. I no longer own any money to either Aurora or Ascension. To celebrate, I purchased 20 3D printed plastic gates for Cthulhu Wars off of eBay. I've also added the Dreamlands Surface and Underground monster expansions from The Game Steward to my order.

  I've backed a card game called Intel on Kickstarter and plan to back the Orbidice Kickstarter as soon as it starts. Orbidice are spherical dice that have a specially shaped hollow cavity inside. A small metal ball is inside the cavity. The metal ball slows the Orbidice down when you roll it and eventually falls into a pocket of the cavity in order to determine the result of the roll. I want to get a standard 7 Orbidice RPG set plus an Orbidice tower that looks like a curved, circular track with a basin at the bottom. You place the Orbidice in the track and let it roll into the basin. Simple.

  Now that my medical bills are fully paid off, I need to pay down my credit card. I'm getting WAY too close to my limit. I might try to use the two paychecks from the middle of the month to pay it down faster. I won't be going to Gen Con this year. If my finances improve between now and next year, I'll consider going in 2022. 

Second Covid-19 Vaccination received

   I received my second Covid-19 vaccination yesterday. According to the news, a booster shot may be needed in about 12 months and annually thereafter just like the flu. I can live with that as long as it prevents another goddamn pandemic. This shit has been going on for FAR too long. And we have Trump, Fox News, OAN, Newsmax and all the MAGA maggot contards to thank for that. Their brain dead entitled asses helped spread the virus. Some of these idiots like Sarah Palin and Ted Nugent called the pandemic a hoax until reality bitch slapped the taste out of their smug, contard mouths. Of course, Nugent is still pushing anti-vax crap regarding the Covid-19 vaccine. He doesn't want to get it because he doesn't know what's in it. Based on that, he shouldn't be trying anything.

  The Post Office sent the first 4Ocean mask frame order to Charlotte, MI and then proceeded to lose it. What pisses me off is their solution to the problem was to offer an apology and tell me to ask 4Ocean for a refund or to resend the order. In other words, someone other than them eats the cost. Imagine what their answer would be if said lost package cost hundreds of dollars instead of just $25.00. I've reordered the frames. They should be here later today if all goes well.

  My Game Steward Cthulhu Wars order has been added to. I know, in my previous post, that I said that the order had been finalized. Sue me. The following items have been added; Great Old Ones pack 1, Great Old Ones pack 3, Great Old Ones pack 4, Ramsey Campbell Horrors 1, Nodens and Cacodemon. That brings the total cost of the order to $592.79. I'm currently bidding on an eBay auction consisting of more grey alternate acolytes, Brown Jenkins and a group of 8 investigators. I'm hoping to get this relatively cheap. The auction will be over in about 10hrs and 46mins. Someone might try to snipe me out of getting these expansions at the last minute so I've been upping my max bid.

My Game Steward Cthulhu Wars Orders Finalized

   I've placed my last Cthulhu Wars order with The Game Steward tonight. If everything goes as planned, they should start shipping sometime in October. I've been slowly adding to this order for over a year now. Here's the list of everything I've ordered.

  Order 1: 9-11 player neoprene Earth map

  Order 2: Bubastis Faction expansion

  Order 3: Daemon Sultan Faction expansion

  Order 4: Elder Shoggoth expansion, Giant Blind Albino Penguins expansion, Something About Cats box

  Order 5: Tcho-Tcho tribes spellbooks expansion

  Order 6: 6-8 player Earth map, Classic Acolytes and High Priest for Daemon Sultan

  Order 7: Neutral Unit Identifiers for Daemon Sultan, Neutral Unit Identifiers for Bubastis, Neutral Unit Identifiers for the other factions

  Order 8: Daemon Sultan Battle Dice, Gold Cat Battle Dice, 200 Battle Dice set for remaining factions

  Not including shipping, the total cost is $472.85. When all this arrives, I'll have 11 playable factions each with their own set of battle dice and neutral unit identifiers. There will be an extra set of battle dice plus the original 20 dice that came with the base game should anyone's combat dice pool go over 20 dice. Order 4 is entirely composed of neutral units adding to the neutral units I already have. Order 5 adds to the Tcho-Tcho faction with additional spell books. The Bubastis faction doesn't have classic acolytes and is the only faction that doesn't have a high priest.

  I already have the alternate faction acolytes for the 9 factions I currently possess along with 9 alternate grey acolytes for handicapping. There currently aren't any alternate grey acolytes for Daemon Sultan and Bubastis but I have the Unnameable set of 6 grey classic acolytes and a high priest that can be used in that respect. All the factions will have 4 plastic brain cylinders and a dark demon at their disposal. All the factions, except Bubastis, can recruit high priests. Bubastis can't recruit a high priest. If I decide to modify the rules a bit, the grey high priest can then be recruited by Bubastis.

  My Hexacube Kickstarter order is progressing. The latest pictures of the dice look promising. Hopefully, mass production will be starting soon and the wooden boxes meant for the ancient gold dice will have magnetic latches now. I still have to pay for the red pearlescent hexacube set w/ red hexacube red bag.