Episode 600

Read the comic here.

Longtime readers may wonder why the Minnesota Wash and Fox settled in isn't the one in the Cola-Zombie universe.

Simple answer: Brick World (the Cola-Zombie universe introduced back in Episode One) doesn't have a Minnesota. Ergo, they settled somewhere else.

Longer answer: At that point Wash and Fox had quit the strip, so they'd be living outside of that universe.

Episode 599

Read the comic here.

Out of town at the moment - strip will be integrated with the normal page flow late today.

Comic is now posted normally.

Episode 598

Read the comic here.

Episode 597

Read the comic here.

With today's strip we're back to a normal m-f schedule for Brick House.

Advent Madness: VS Day 25 - Part 3

Advent Madness Day Twenty Five - Part Thee - The FINAL EPISODE

VERSUS

The final of three Christmas-Day rounds.

As agreed to at the beginning of the game, the final turn begins with a die roll to see who will get to act first. To Player A's mounting horror, Player B wins the roll.

Santa is already in Player B's control (in the hands of her Jester HERO), but she's trapped in Player A's Staging Area - a great distance from the center of the table.

Remember: Whichever side of the center line Santa occupies at the end of this turn will determine the winner.

Player B sees an opening to end things quickly - she tries a HEROic Teleport with Santa back to her own Staging Area!

Player A uses her ZOMBIE HERO to mentally disrupt the teleport sequence - adding one die in opposition to Player B's teleport roll. She needn't have worried - Player A flubs her roll with a 1 - the final FEAT result is 1-6 - Not only did the Jester's teleport go wrong, but he lost his grip on Santa in the process!

Player A decides on the endpoint of the Jester's teleport - the unused Staging Area 2 on her side of the table. The Jester is effectively out of the game!

Player B has one last chance - The Knight moves to Santa ----

Worker: "Does it look like they're making out to you?"

AHEM. Player B declares that she's going to have her HERO Knight THROW Santa across the center line. It's an insane move - and just right for the climax of the Advent Wars.

Players A and B agree on a ratio of die-roll to inches of movement - and Player B picks up the dice...

---AND WITH A HEROIC EFFORT THROWS SANTA ACROSS THE TABLE!

There's nothing Player A can do. Her HERO has already used his FEAT for this turn. All of her forces are back in her Staging area. No one can reach Santa, much less get him back across the center line.

"I guess that's it, then."


PLAYER B: THE VICTOR

And there you have it. Twenty seven rounds of mayhem brought to you by LEGO's Advent Calendars and Reasonably Clever. I'd like to thank Players A and B for their willingness to drive over to my house and be photographed playing such a silly game.

If the rumors are true and there's both Pirate and CITY Advent calendars in 2009 maybe I can have them both back for a rematch...

The Stinger After the Credits

Advent Madness: VS Day 25 - Part 2

Advent Madness Day Twenty Five - Part Two

VERSUS

The second of three Christmas-Day rounds.

As the turn opens, Player B's HERO Knight has Santa in his grip - but he's deep within Player A's territory. And it's Player A's turn to act.

Player A, now at a 0-2 HERO disadvantage, tries a HEROic REVIVE on the sadly Mutilated Dead Zombie HERO. The roll fails 2-3. Player B, however, decides to let the Zombie revive anyway - but with the penalty of NO ARMS.

Player A uses her Movement Phase to adjust the positions of Emo-boy, Train/Construction Man, and the Crook.

The Crook and Worker combine their attack on the Jester - who falls to a roll of 13-25.

Player A also combines the attacks of Emo-Boy, Siege Cat, the Chef, and Grissom to take out that pesky HERO Knight. The roll of 22-11 means he's down yet again! Santa is blown clear again and staggers about until Emo-boy loads him onto the red cart.

It's a bad starting position for Player B - can she recover?

Player B begins her turn by trying a HEROic REVIVE on her Jester. A super impressive roll of 20-1 later he's back in the KAOS KART and ready to take action! He jets over to the fallen Knight...

Who ALSO tries a HEROic REVIVE. A roll of 4-3 and he's back in the action as well.

The Archery Cart tries a combined range attack with the White Skeleton - it's close, but Emo-Boy loses on a roll of 12-11! Santa Bounces free yet again!

The Jester is ready and scoops up Santa!

The Mind-Controlled Snoball-Gal uses a Grate-Smash on the Jet-grill on the HERO Knight - but it fails 14-18.

One round to go. And Player B has the ball.

Advent Madness: VS Day 25 - Part 1

Advent Madness Day Twenty Five - Part One

VERSUS

The first of three Christmas-Day rounds. The final battle between Castle and CITY for the FATE OF THE WORLD.

(Well, okay, really just the glory of having control of Santa Claus - but that's still pretty darn cool.)

As the turn opens, Player B has Santa loaded on her Maid's Hover Board - and is ready to jet towards the center line...and victory.

Player A wastes no time in stopping that attempt cold. Combined fire from The Snow-Mech, Grissom, Chef, Emo-Boy and Siege Cat take down both the Maid and her Board with a roll of devastating roll of 37-11. Santa is again thrown clear - landing Dazed and Confused amongst the loose bricks of Player A's Staging Area.

Sadly, none of Player A's forces are in range to pick up Santa, so she ends her turn.

Player B begins with a HEROic DASH to reclaim Santa. The roll succeeds!

Meanwhile the Jester moves up in the KAOS KART. The Archery Cart is already in range of the Snow-Mech however...

...and a combined attack roll from the Siege Arrow and White Skeleton Archer earn a 20-6 Knockout Blow.

The Snow-Mech is melted - and his hat joins the lineup of the fallen.

The Martian Commander, too far away to hit anyone with his lone remaining spear - decides to try a HEROic MIND CONTROL of the Snowball Girl. An 8-5 roll means he has gained control of her as a ZOMBIE!

The Alien-controlled Jet-Grill moves up and tries a Grill-Slam on the Knight - but it fails, 14-18.

With only two rounds left Player A seems to have a slight edge - even if Santa remains in Player B's direct control. It's a long way to the center of the table...

The next round will be posted at noon! See you then!

Holiday Episode

Read the comic here.

Merry Christmas to all my readers - may today be happy for you, no matter how you choose to celebrate it. Heck, have a happy day even if you'd rather not celebrate. Everyone could use a happy day once in a while.

Brick House picks back up tomorrow.

Advent Madness: VS Day 24

Advent Madness Day Twenty Four

VERSUS

If you haven't already, you'll want to check out the CITY and Castle daily reveals to see what forces our Players will be deploying today...

Turn 24 - the final found of reinforcements from the Advent Calendars. Player A pulls her tenth min-figure from her box - along with its Snowman Sidekick.

Continuing her trademark re-evaluation of the parts, however, that friendly Snowman becomes a formidable SNOW-MECH - armed with ranged attack Spear Gun and close-combat broom. The Snowball-Gal immediately replaced the fallen Aquaman on the Jet-Grill.

Player A was starting this turn at a disadvantage - Player B had just managed to wrest Santa Claus from her grasp. Could she stop Player B's escape?

Player A decides to forgo her movement phase - her vehicles and figures all have their targets in range. She starts off by launching a mass-attack at the Bomber Bucket's piloting Troll.

It's a massive roll - and the Troll falls with a roll of 23-10! More than enough to remove the Troll - and the excess damage carries over to the Bomber Bucket....and it's payload of BOMBS.

With a mighty KA-WHAM the bombs ignite - vaporizing the Troll. But what of Santa?!?

Luckily for both Players, Santa was merely flung from the exploding Bomber Bucket - and sent smashing into Player A's defensive wall! That had to hurt! For the remainder of the game Santa will be treated as "unconcious".

Last turn, Player B used her White Skeleton's turn to rebuild the Archery Cart. This turn Player A launches a small attack from the Snowmobile's Train-Construction Driver at the Skeleton. The attack fails to land by a roll of 3-16.

The Martian Commander, however, has better luck with his dice and finally regains consciousness. He'll be ready to take a part in the final Christmas Day rounds.

As agreed at the begining of the Advent War, Player B's ninth and final minifigure also gets the "HERO" status attached to it. Here we see the Jester emerging from his plastic cacoon.

And here he is taking command of Player B's Kaos Kart. His first action is to try a HEROic Feat and use the Kaos Kart's Chaos Gems to teleport over to the unconcious Santa.

Unfortunately, the dice aren't with Player B and the teleport goes awry! It's up to Player A to decide where the failed teleport ends up...

..and she chooses to leave him right by the Alien Commander. Too bad the Commander used this turn returning to life - he'll have to wait for next round to attack the Jester.

Player B now moves to "Plan B" - the Wench moves up on her Hoverboard and wedges Santa up against the Chaos Gem engine. This will slow down her movement rate to just 5" - but Player B has still regained control of Santa.

Player B finishes her turn by moving up her HERO knight and Skeleton to try and cover the Maid's retreat.

There are just three turns left - and no more reinforcements. Those final three turns will be posted tomorrow at 2:00 am, Noon, and 4:00 pm Eastern Standard Time.

Can Player B make it all the way past the centerline with Santa in tow? Will Player A regain control?

All that matters is which side of the table Santa is on at the end of turn 25-C.

It's going to be a hell of a fight.

Episode 596

Read the comic here.

I'm soooo glad to be done with the Advent items. There were some great things to come out of this year's run...stuff that's sure to make 2009 much more entertaining. But, wow, does December take a lot out of me.

Time for a drink...and it looks like Ian has that covered for me over in The Adventures of the S-Team...

Advent Madness: CITY Day 24

Advent Madness Day Twenty Four

CITY
(Open the Doors Here)

Snowball Girl and Snowman

You know, LEGO didn't do too bad with the CITY Advent this year. Sure there were a few repeat sub-themes, and there were days where the mini-models made no sense at all - but, looking back at the calendar as a whole... It was a fun trip.

And this trip comes to an end with Day 24 - a final self-contained sub-theme to keep everyone happy and busy while they eye the rectangular boxes under the tree and hope they contain more LEGO sets.

This year Santa is again strangely absent - in his place is a wintery duo of a Snowman and mini-figure. Maybe she's the snowman's sculptor. Maybe she's a random passer-by. All I know for sure is that the extra parts that don't go directly into the Snowman's construction leaves me wondering if the LEGO designers didn't end the calendar with some juvenile humor about snowballs.

As far as Snowmen go, this is an interesting take on their construction. It's certainly recognizable - while somehow remaining extremely abstract in form. The tophat and broom give the Snowman instant credibility - despite the fact that he has no face.

The accompanying mini-figure is pretty unimpressive - standard hair, head, torso and legs. An overall is probably not the best outfit for playing in snow, but I guess the designers had their reasons.

Leaked set information for 2009 suggests that this time next year we'll be wrapping up the 2009 CITY Advent. Will it improve on the 2008 release? Or will we spend the Holidays weeping for lost opportunities?

Tell you what. You show up again to read about the Advent next year - and I'll take the time to write about it. Deal?

Advent Madness: CASTLE Day 24

Advent Madness Day Twenty Four

CASTLE
(Open the Doors Here)

Jester

Here we are - the grand finale of the Castle Advent Calendar. The final door hides a new mini-figure - an awesome addition to any Castle Collection - The Jester.

I can't claim to be surprised to get this guy - he's figured prominently on the front of the Castle Advent box after all.

When news of this set was first leaked back in January it was a tossup which figure would generate more excitement - the Wench or the Jester. (No one really noticed the new Witch over in the corner - mostly due to the leaked image being too low-res to make out any details.)

Later in 2008 we would see the Jester hat turn up as part of the Batman line - recolored to Black and Red for Harley Quinn. But the blue-and-red version would remain a Castle Advent exclusive - along with an all new "Big Grin" face that wasn't shown on the box front!

Since today completes the Castle Advent, I wanted to close with a few observations about the calendar as a whole. While I regularly whine about the repetition of the CITY calendar, I'm sure I'd be equally grumpy if I were to see a Castle-only offering year after year. There's only so much you can do with one theme in the scope of an Advent run - you might get away with two years, but after that you're going to be sucking fumes, and the calendar will suffer for it.

But, fresh out of the gate, this calendar had just about everything you could want. New figures with unique and hard to find parts. A few interesting Mini-Models. Solid sub-themes. Sure, it had a few days where you couldn't help but feel cheated - but those days just helped the truly awesome kits stand out that much more.

From the news that's already leaked for the 2009 Advent Season it doesn't look like we'll have to worry about what a second year of Castle would look like. From what we've seen it isn't being developed.

But...there is word of an alternate to the ever-present CITY option. Just a rumor at this stage...but still....

Advent Pirates.

See you next year, Matey!

Advent Madness: VS Day 23

Advent Madness Day Twenty Three

VERSUS

If you haven't already, you'll want to check out the CITY and Castle daily reveals to see what forces our Players will be deploying today...

Player A was glad to add yet another vehicle to her armada - and luckily the Train/Construction worker was on hand to pilot it. Meanwhile, the cat climbs quietly back onto the Missile Launcher, effectively negating Player B's attack last round.

Player A also moves the Crook and Grissom mins slightly - but not enough to justify their own photo.

The action begins as Player A uses a combined shot from the Worker and Emo's Siege Weapon against the Witch. The dice are with Player A as the round starts - a 22-5 smashing victory!

The cart is destroyed - and the Witch melts away as if she were in Oz. What a world!

Player A's remaining forces open fire in unison on Player B's HERO Knight - but the dice turn on Player A and the Knight Survives 15-20.

Player B, meanwhile, has been busy creating her ultimate vehicle - the KAOS KART. It's a treasure chest powered by Chaos Gems and filled with bombs to chuck at foes. Too bad she's once again trapped without a pilot as her forces are all across the table attacking Player A's forces.

Here's a closeup of the KAOS KART. Note the jets on the chest's lid. Assuming she can get a pilot for it, this vehicle will have the max movement rate of 15"/turn.

Player B completes her movement phase - her forces have closed in on the Jet-Grill that protects Santa and are ready to combine their ranged attacks...

It's a 21-9 Knock out! Aquaman in Decapitated! The Jet-Grill's protective grill is blown open...

...And that means the Troll can scoop up Santa! Player B has regained control of Saint Nick! But can Player B get him back to her side of the table before the end of the game?

There are just four turns left - one more reinforcement round on the 24th - then three turns on the 25th to decide Santa's final fate.

Trust me: It's going to be a wild ride.

Episode 595

Read the comic here.

Boy, I'd have to be a real Scrooge to kill off a major character over the next couple of days, wouldn't I?

Episode 594

Read the comic here.

This strip suffers a bit from Mother Tango's lack of expression options - she's meant to be just as worried as Mary Sue is. Her feelings are clearer next episode, which should publish at the regular time. (Getting me back on schedule!)

Advent Madness: CITY Day 23

Advent Madness Day Twenty Three

CITY
(Open the Doors Here)

Snowmobile!

Okay, I know I'm a grumpy, grumpy guy when it comes to the CITY advent calendar. But I have to admit, LEGO is doing a decent job of bringing this year's effort to a close. Here on day 23 we have the end of the last two-day "Snow Guy" theme - and it's a pretty nice mini-model of a snow mobile.

True, there's nothing too challenging about the construction, but it looks good. And that, my friends, the key to a nice advent door. A model all ages can complete, but that you don't feel bad about pushing along the floor making Bruummm-Brummm motor-noises.

If I had to find a gripe I guess I could talk about how this is actually a sled - there's no motor or drive system apparent. But I didn't notice that until after I started in on the sound effects, so I'm going to ignore the whole issue.

Historically, the 24th door on the CITY Advent has held a fairly elaborate set. How much Holiday Spirit will LEGO be able to pack into that final baggie of parts? Enough to win me over so that I'll buy next years CITY advent?

I'm looking forward to finding out!

Advent Madness: CASTLE Day 23

Advent Madness Day Twenty Three

CASTLE
(Open the Doors Here)

Treasure Chest with Gems and Spider

We're down to the wire. Those of you who looked at the front of the box for the Castle Advent know there's one awesome mini-figure to go...and he didn't show up on the 23rd. So today's set is just a final place holder - and a finish to the Troll Sub-Theme.

As far as "finishes" go, it's not too bad. The treasure chest and loot fit the theme, as does the spider. On the downside there's no actual building to be done with today's items. These are just bits of set dressing and accessories to make the rest of the theme a bit more extravagant.

Heh. I suppose if I were to receive a chest of Gems for Christmas I'd be pretty happy about it. So let's call it a base hit and turn our eyes back to the Advent Calendar...to await tomorrow's big surprise.

Advent Madness: VS Day 22

Advent Madness Day Twenty Two

VERSUS

If you haven't already, you'll want to check out the CITY and Castle daily reveals to see what forces our Players will be deploying today...

For some reason everyone decided to call Player A's new Mini-figure "Emo Boy". I have the name here in my notes several times - but for the life of me I can't remember why we started calling him that. Maybe the hat?

Anyway, Emo Boy was quickly deployed as the pilot of the "Red Cart" vehicle Player A had assembled over the past couple of turns. He added another ranged Siege Weapon and a possible hand-to-hand attack to Player A's defensive line.

As you may recall, last turn Player B combined her attacks and shattered Player A's Ice Cream Girl to individual pieces. This turn Player A returns the compliment by getting rid of the pilot of the Archery Cart - a massive 35-3 Knock Out Blow that takes out not only the Black Skeleton, but also the Archery Cart!

Player B spends a bit of time figuring out the build for her day's model - it's not as tricky as the Palette Jack Player A abandoned a few turns ago, but it's not easy either.

The idea of adding a catapult to her forces is enough to keep Player B focused, though. Soon enough she's added it to her Staging Area - hoping that the snake can fire it off should Player A storm her castle.

Player B's forces continue their charge towards Player A's stronghold - and the Prize that is Santa Claus. The Bomb Bucket is close enough to launch a bomb at Grissom - but he easily defends 6-11.

The Mining Cart is quick enough to zip around the side of Player A's forces to enter the Staging Area! Choosing her target wisely, Player B unleashes some Force Lightning against the cat!

The roll is close - but a 3-1 victory sends the cat flying, and down to only 8 lives left.

Meanwhile, the Alien Commander struggles once again to rise up. Once again, he fails with a roll of 1-3. He's out until turn 24 - talk about waiting until the very last minute....

Episode 593

Read the comic here.

Today's Humor is a bit of a LEGO Meta joke. Despite the hoards of Trolls released by LEGO in 2008, every single one of them has the same face. Now, a sad part of racism is the statement "[whatever group] all look alike to me!" LEGO has made it true for the Trolls.

I know there's at least one new Troll face on the way in 2009 - the Female Shaman. Here's hoping the rank-and-file also get some individuality.

Oh. I should point out this cool gallery of Troll-alternates using existing LEGO faces. I've had several of these on hand for use with Scotch, but the opportunity hasn't arisen yet.

Advent Madness: CITY Day 22

Advent Madness Day Twenty Two

CITY
(Open the Doors Here)

Mountain Climber

As we enter the final days of the CITY Advent we see the welcome return of Winter-Themed figures. I'll admit it's a very Northern Hemisphere-Centric view, but, darn it, I expect to see some Snow and Ice as part of my Christmas Festivities.

Today's Mini-figure does seem decked out for cold weather - a nice knit hat, winter-y white backpack and warm sweater. And Ice Picks. Two of them.

None of the parts are particularly rare - even the white backpack has appeared in Star Wars and Mars Mission sets - but the combo is nicely assembled.

This should be a short-lived theme - one mini-model on the 23rd with a new "final theme" on the 24th. Are the ice picks a hint? Maybe we'll see an ice wall or something for him to climb. It'd be an interesting tie-in to the Sports theme. Well, whatever it is, I just hope it's something cool and different.

C'mon LEGO...we're all counting on you...

Advent Madness: CASTLE Day 22

Advent Madness Day Twenty Two

CASTLE
(Open the Doors Here)

Holiday Catapult

Who says that Trolls can't have holiday spirit? Just take a look at today's festive sub-model! Sure, you'd expect a Troll mini-figure to come with some sort of weapon of war - but note how it's been decorated in festive Holiday Red and Green! Why, it even comes with what I take to be a representation of a fragile glass Christmas Tree ornament as ordnance.

I didn't think there'd be much room for Holiday Themes in a Castle Advent - but LEGO has surprised me yet again. :)

Episode 592

Read the comic here.

Yes, I'm running a bit behind on the strip. I'll be caught up soon.

Advent Madness: VS Day 21

Advent Madness Day Twenty One

VERSUS

If you haven't already, you'll want to check out the CITY and Castle daily reveals to see what forces our Players will be deploying today...

Player A had an immediate idea of how to apply today's parts to her growing army. Having grown fond of the two-dice-of-damage of her Jet-Grill's Siege Engine Slam, she parts together...

...A missile launcher. "Manned" by her cat, Player A's staging area just became a bit more dangerous. Certainly more dangerous than if she had taken the Advent Box's suggestion and treated today's model as refreshing Soda for her troops.

Player A moves Santa behind her barricade and re-organizes her other troop's defensive positions to fend off the coming storm of Player B's forces.

Ice-Cream Girl arrives on her Jet-Cart. The assembled troops seems to say "Come Get Some."

Meanwhile, Player B adds a Troll Warrior to her forces. With the return of the Wench to the Staging Area this turn, she suddenly has a surplus of pilots for her Bomber Bucket (constructed last turn.) Her solution?

Create a hoverboard for the Wench. And be sure she picks up some extra weapons while she can.

At the beginning of her Movement Turn, Player B is ready to send some potent reinforcements chasing after her first wave of troops, who all move forward a bit in an action I neglected to photograph. (Whoops.)

The Hover Board has a movement rate of 10" from the Chaos Gem motor at the rear.

The Bomber Bucket has a maxed-out movement rate of 15" with the dual-gem motors and extra flaming spikes. Player A, however, is unwilling to let Player B use the movement sticks as a ramp and let the Bomber Bucket get a couple of extra inches due to "a cool jump."

It should be noted at this point Players A and B are both a bit annoyed at the survival of some mini-figues despite entire regiments firing on them in unison. We check the rules and find out that there's a rule to cover this that we'd been ignoring. A player can, if they desire, combine attacks from multiple sources to overcome high armor ratings. This, of course, is terrible news for Ice-Cream Girl.

Last turn Player A had a series of super lucky rolls that kept Ice Cream Girl alive despite all of Player B's forces taking a shot at her. This round they all open fire again - but this time in unison. The combined roll of 27-16 scatters Ice Cream Girl to the wind.

Sure, that sounds like bad news for Player A - but remember - she has her troops well deployed and can use that same "combined fire" rule herself.


I have a feeling she'll be doing just that in her next turn...

Advent Madness: CITY Day 21

Advent Madness Day Twenty One

CITY
(Open the Doors Here)

Pallet of Bottles

You know, for a mini-theme this one has been pretty interesting. The Train/Construction Worker who started things off was kind of bland (if mysterious in job description) but the mini-models have been original and fun.

Today's supplement of a pallet of bottles is simple in its construction, but still easily recognizable. The transparent-black cones will be easy to reuse in post-Advent creations and there a bunch of them, always a plus.

Looking at all three sets together you get an image of someone actually doing something. This man has bottles - and he needs to put them somewhere else. And he has just the tool to do it.

I love it when a plan comes together like that.

Advent Madness: CASTLE Day 21

Advent Madness Day Twenty one

CASTLE
(Open the Doors Here)

Grumpy the Troll

So, new theme. That's cool. We're back to the forces of evil with a Troll figure.

You know, why are tolls always evil? Maybe they're just misguided. Or, you know, culturally different.

What? Yes, I suppose their wanting to split open our skulls and feast on the delicious innards may have something to do with the "Evil" label.

And, yeah, that whole "rape and pillage" thing. Yes. he comes with a giant copper sword, all knicked and notched from heavy use chopping up babies.

Just trying to give these guys a break. You know, it being Christmas time and all.

No?

Oh well.

Advent Madness: VS Day 20

Advent Madness Day Twenty

VERSUS

If you haven't already, you'll want to check out the CITY and Castle daily reveals to see what forces our Players will be deploying today...

Player A is once again faced with a "what the heck" gift. Peering at the tiny picture of the completed model on the back of the door flap she wisely decided to skip the "as seen on the box" model and go directly to "creative fusion".

"Maybe I can make it into another cart or something."

Soon enough - she does just that. Another vehicle joins the Player A Armada.

In a move called "circling the wagons" Player A uses her movement phase to hide Santa behind her defensive line. She's determined to make Player B's life as tough as possible for the next few turns.

Maybe if Player B cleaned her room more often her Mom (Player A) would have given her a break. (This has been a paid announcement from Player A.)

To complete her turn, Player A races Ice Cream Girl back towards base.

Player B was a bit daunted by all the tiny bricks in today's model. "I'm not building a stupid table!" she cries - and takes a page from Player A's playbook and begins to create her own vehicles using the new parts.

"Yeeeeeessss. Chaos Gem POWER!"

Sadly, there's no one home at Player B's Staging Area and her brand new Bomber Bucket must stay put this round.

Player B's forces are on the move - and Ice Cream Girl is trapped in the midst of them!

Despite the massive forces arrayed against her, the Ice Cream Girl survives with increasingly impressive rolls of 6-9, 2-9, 4-20 and 3-24! Carrying that shield for extra armor really paid off.

Player B's Wench, meanwhile, is sprinting back to base.

The Martian Commander tries again to wake up with a HEROic Feat, and once again fails with a 1-4 roll. He's out until at least round 22 now. If the Aliens have any more impact on this game, it'll be in the final rounds.

Advent Madness: CITY Day 20

Advent Madness Day Twenty

CITY
(Open the Doors Here)

Palette Jack with extra bits

I've spent far too much time wandering around stock rooms - today's mini-model was an easy one for me to recognize. It's a palette jack - here's a video of one in action.

As far as mini-models go, I'm happy with this one. It's not a common item, but it's well rendered and has some non-standard construction to it. (The light-clip plates as wheels is a particularly nice touch.)

Now, what this has to do with Construction...or Trains....or the Construction of Trains...I have no idea. This sub-theme is still taking shape, I guess.

Advent Madness: CASTLE Day 20

Advent Madness Day Twenty

CASTLE
(Open the Doors Here)

Table, Stool, turkey dinner and glasses. And some wood.

Continuing the Maid/Serving Wench theme we get a much more satisfying mini-model than yesterday's vegetable crisper.

Today we have a fairly elaborate mini-table, a stool, golden plate and goblet (with spare goblet for a friend) and a couple of extra pieces. You know, in case a table leg breaks or something.

Is this a possible cross-time/space link with the CITY advent? Perhaps the Man-Eating-Turkey from Day 1 over there just left the Castle environment....nah. That'd never work. The turkey leg is still here. Maybe he came by and dropped it off, as it got cold and stale?

Maybe so.




...Maybe so.

Advent Madness: VS Day 19

Advent Madness Day Nineteen

VERSUS

If you haven't already, you'll want to check out the CITY and Castle daily reveals to see what forces our Players will be deploying today...

As we enter the home stretch, Player A adds yet another mini-figure into her army.

Since Mr. Orange didn't arrive with a weapon of his own, he picks up a stick from the debris littering Player A's Staging Area as a makeshift bat (or maybe spear.)

Seeing an opening, Ice Cream Girl is moved to the abandoned Jet-Cart.

The remainder of Player A's forces spread out to try and stop Player B's forces as they chase after Santa.

Speaking of Santa, the Jet-Grill makes a hasty departure from the center of the playing field. Luckily Aquaman is still manning the suplemental oar, keeping the Grill with a 10" movement range despite the extra passenger weight.

Player A's turn ends with Ice-Cream Gal re-claiming the Jet-Cart.

Player B has to make due to with a barrel and some fruit for her parts re-supply.

She decides to add the new ingredients into the snake soup she had boiling back in her Staging Area.

Player B begins her main turn by trying a HEROic Revive on her HERO Knight. (Knocked out at the end of last turn)

She's in luck! The dice are with her and the HERO is back on his feet.

The maid heads for Player A's forces. Meanwhile, the Witch gets back into the Mine Cart.

The Archery Team follows the Jet-Grill's path and chases them behind the Stasis Cell.

Player B has her bat attack the one remaining Martian: Blue Squid Alien. Sadly, it flubs the attack with a 5-6 roll.

The Blue Squid Alien counter attacks and with a roll of 3-2 knocks the bat from the sky! Unfortuanatly for him, though, this sets off the bat's bomb! The resulting 15-5 explosion kills both the Alien AND the hapless bat! Tragic!

Things are starting to look Grim for Player B - but there's still several turns to go...and the tables are turning so fast they might as well be mounted on a record player.

Episode 591

Read the comic here.

A full year of Mary Sue's life summed up in three panels - and I covered today's Advent item, too.

I know most of you have a love/hate (or just hate/hate) relationship with Mary Sue - personally I think that's great. It's nice to know you guys actually care about these characters enough to really dislike one of them. For those of you who are missing other cast members - don't fret. There are a lot of familiar faces slated to appear in early 2009.

Speaking of love/hate:
I've recently submitted Brick House to the comic review site Is It Funny Today. It's an interesting spin on the standard rankings site as it lets visitors rate a comic on a daily basis. I'm listed in the "Story Comic" section (with the more accurate question "Is it GOOD today?"). If you get a moment, please go by and register your opinion on the strip.

Advent Madness: CITY Day 19

Advent Madness DayNineteen

CITY
(Open the Doors Here)

Train/Construction Worker

Did you see the Aliens 3? Remember when the alien bred with the dog to create some sort of dog/alien hybrid? Apparently something like that is happening today as we have what appears to be a typical Construction Worker - but his insignia brands him as part of the train-sub-theme.

Clearly he is evil incarnate, just waiting to destroy the other CITY minifigures and drink from their severed heads.

Or not.

Advent Madness: CASTLE Day 19

Advent Madness Day Nineteen

CASTLE
(Open the Doors Here)

Basket, Apple, Carrot and extra stalk

Considering the generally high-quality of the Mini-models in the Castle Advent so far, today's swag is a bit of a letdown. It must have been a very rough year for produce - the only items in the bushel are a solitary apple, a carrot, and an extra bit of greens. Hardly a feast by any standards.

I like the LEGO carrots, but they were designed for the Belville theme. As such, they're woefully out of scale for the standard mini-figure. I mean, scaling up to human size these carrots would be nearly 3' long...not counting the stems. While carrots do get that big, it's hardly the common version. Recently LEGO has cast the base of the Carrot in brown and used it as a torch in the Indiana Jones sets. It's a much better use, in my opinion.

Eh. It could always be worse.

Advent Madness: VS Day 18

Advent Madness Day Eighteen

VERSUS

If you haven't already, you'll want to check out the CITY and Castle daily reveals to see what forces our Players will be deploying today...

Player A's round opens with her new Criminal taking stock of the bricks in the Staging Area.

Ultimately, though, Player A opts to have him man the ramparts for a better view of the battlefield.

Player A's forces are on the move - circling around behind the breached stasis chamber, the Jet-Grill and Ice-Cream Girl flank the Martian Commander and his captive, Santa.

Meanwhile the Chef moves up and grabs a discarded spear in his free hand.

Grissom grabs a frying pan for close range attacks (and for use as a makeshift shield) and heads out at well.

Attack time! The Jet-Grill uses its Siege Engine Grill Smash move on the Martian Commander. A roll of 11-8 squashes the leader and frees Santa from the alien's control!

Quickly capitalizing on her victory, Player A loads Santa onto the Jet-Grill.

Player A also has Ice-Cream girl toss her spear at the Black Skeleton- it's a 7-13 miss.

Player B assembles her Wench...

And discards her broom in favor of some more meaty weapons. Sure, they all do the same damage, but the look much cooler.

Out on the battlefield, Player B's Witch hops out of the broken Mining Cart and spends a turn repairing it. The Bat (equipped with Bat-Bomb) moves closer to the Blue Squid Alien, but is still out of range this turn.

The Wench moves out.

The archers move into hand-to-hand range with the Jet-Cart. Player B has decided to use her ranged weapons as bludgeons to gain an extra die of damage.

That extra die does no good, though - the dice are now favoring Player A's Aquaman defends himself repeatedly with rolls of 9-11, 6-11, and 10-10.

The Dwarf takes a swing at the Blue Squid Alien - but Player B is just not having a good turn. The attack fails 6-7.

The Martian forces, though down to an unconscious Leader and one lone Blue Squid solider, still have an impact on the game. Taking a mighty swing, the Blue Squid Alien smashes the Dwarf for a massive 15-10 Knock-Out! The Dwarf is hit so hard, in fact, that he's knocked clean out of his beard!

Oh, the humiliation!

Unfortunately for the Martians this is the only bit of good news this turn. Attempting a HEROic Feat, the Martian Commander tries to revive - only to fail massively 1-7. This knockback is bad enough to force him into a coma for another turn - it'll be Day 20 before he can try and revive again.

And who knows what could happen in the meantime...?

Episode 590

Read the comic here.

You asked for her return, so here she is.

Advent Madness: CITY Day 18

Advent Madness Day Eighteen

CITY
(Open the Doors Here)

A Crook!

Now THIS was a shock. I opened today's door and thought I had made a big mistake. No, I had opened door number 18. And the Picture matched the mini-set behind the door. And it did fit the "Mug Shot" Police sub-theme.

But...a second mini-figure as part of a theme? This is a big break with tradition for CITY!

(Admittedly, the 2008 Castle Advent had a similar surprise with two skeletons in its Bonehouse sub-theme - but we'd pretty much established that the CITY and the Castle are two very different beasts.)

Now, as awesome as it is to have another minifigure to add to the Advent Army, I'd be untrue to my inner Grumpus not point out that we've seen this particular dude before - in 2005 he arrived on Day 6 carrying a saw. Perhaps we was up for parole this year.

Why does he come with two sets of handcuffs? Who knows? Who cares? It's a cool accessory that I don't mind having a duplicate of.

Looking ahead we have some new questions to ponder. Was this truly day three of the Cop sub-theme? Is this rather a strange bridge into an all-new Criminal 3-day-crime spree? Or another 2-day "micro theme"?

The waiting...it burnses and hurtses us.

Advent Madness: CASTLE Day 18

Advent Madness Day Eighteen

CASTLE
(Open the Doors Here)

Maid and Rat

You know, when the first images of the Castle Advent Calendar leaked to the net back in January, this was the figure that I couldn't wait to get my hands on. An update to the long-neglected Pirate Corset torso - a new printed dress leg block - a rare face and a swanky long-hair headpiece. So many good things, all in one Mini-figure.

And now she's mine. ALL MINE. Well, she belongs to me and everyone else who managed to score a Castle Advent, I suppose...

I'm curious to see where LEGO heads off with our Maid as the head of a new sub-theme. Will we have three (or four?) days of scrubbing and cleaning? Is the rat some sort of strange clue?

Tune in tomorrow, I guess...

Advent Madness: VS Day 17

Advent Madness Day seventeen

VERSUS

If you haven't already, you'll want to check out the CITY and Castle daily reveals to see what forces our Players will be deploying today...

Player A is less than impressed with this turns new mini-model. "What the heck is this supposed to be? The picture on the box sure doesn't help."

"I guess it's a 'work in progress'." she shrugs, and adds the model to her Staging Area. "Maybe I can make a vehicle out of it later."

In the movement phase, Player A sends her chef jetting forward - just in time to watch as both Ice-Cream Girl and the Jet-Grill reach Santa!

Ice Cream Girl wastes no time in attacking Player B's HERO knight - but it's a swing and a miss as the HERO's massive armor foils her roll 6-17.

The Jet-Grill (piloted by Aquaman) takes a turn with a Siege-Engine level Grill Smash Attack - but this too faces an epic fail with a roll of 8-34.

Player B's crystal ball doesn't make much of an impression, but her Video-Game infused imagination latches on to the LEGO Gems, identifying them as "Chaos Crystals." And who are we to argue?

The ball (and gems) are dumped in Player B's staging area for now - she has bigger plans for this turn.

First, she begins to drag Santa away from the center of the battlefield. It's slow going as the HERO has to drag Santa along without the help of a vehicle or even wheelbarrow.

Meanwhile, the Mining Cart zooms into the fray and her bat (not shown) flaps a bit closer to the action.

Taking aim at Ice Cream Girl, Team Archery opens fire!
The Crossbow-on-Wheels misses 5-19!
The Black Skeleton fires and misses 2-32!
The White Skeleton fires and misses 9-15!
In desperation the Witch fires her force lighting at Ice Cream Girl - but the dice are decidedly in Player A's camp this turn and the attack fails 5-9.

The Martian Commander tries a HEROIC FEAT of a mind blast against Player B's HERO Knight - but falls just short with a 4-5 roll.

The Blue Squid Alien, however, breaks the Defensive Block with a 6-damage attack on the Mining Cart! This smashes up the front wheels a great deal, rendering the cart overloaded and thus motionless!

Sensing a possible turn in the tides, the Alien Commander moves up and takes a swing at the HERO Knight. The dice turn and bite Player B on the butt - a 18-10 victory! The Aliens have reclaimed Santa!

...ButPlayer A is closing in....

Episode 589

Read the comic here.

No, don't ask me what those 1x1 round dots in front of the desk are meant to represent. I don't know. And you don't want to know.

Advent Madness: CITY Day 17

Advent Madness Day Seventeen

CITY
(Open the Doors Here)

Mug Shot Station

Okay, I cribbed the name of today's mini-model from Brickshelf. I had to, because I had no idea what this combination was meant to represent. Oh, I could recognize the spotlight, and the chair was a no-brainer...but how did they work together? The parts were spaced wrong for some sort of prison wall spotlight station - had I misread the spotlight and it was acutally some sort of futuristic cannon?

Apparently not.

I'm still not sure if the criminal is supposed to sit in the chair or if the cop is.

Maybe tomorrows mini-model will give us the much needed clue to complete the scene. After all, the ice-creme subtheme took a couple of days to solidify...

Advent Madness: CASTLE Day 17

Advent Madness Day Seventeen

CASTLE
(Open the Doors Here)

Crystal Ball with extra Gem

Today's mini-set adds yet another decorative element to the Witch's Workshop sub-theme that we've been exploring for the past few days.

The design of this model is very standard - it's nearly identical to the 2008 Wizard Impulse set (sadly, not a US release either.) except that the yellow 1x1 cone used to give the crystal some color was replaced with a yellow gem. The result isn't nearly as nice, but I think the gems have a bit more play value, so I'll call it a slight improvement.

This four day theme had me wondering, though - why can't LEGO produce an Advent set that lets all the days work together to create one big scene? Playmobil has been doing that for years with great success - and LEGO does show some unity on the box art for their Advent Calendars already.

Maybe this theme will continue into an unheard of fifth day. I doubt it, but stranger things have happened so far this year.

Advent Madness: VS Day 16

Advent Madness Day sixteen

VERSUS

If you haven't already, you'll want to check out the CITY and Castle daily reveals to see what forces our Players will be deploying today...

Player A is a big CSI fan, so naturally her new Mini-figure is quickly named "Grissom." She declares that he comes equipped with a "Laser Camera" for ranged attacks.

The Chef picks up the Aqua-Jet and moves out!

Grissom stays at base to organize things!

The Jet-Grill moves out to attack!

Grissom does a good job of cleaning up, no?

Meanwhile, Player A's Once-And-Future-Zombie ties his one remaining hand at the Stasis Cell - no good - it's too tough for him! (14-22)

Ice-Cream-Girl also reaches the cell, and tries prying things open with her spear! It's a good plan, and the dice support her with a 15-7 Victory! Santa's Cell is now open!

Player B can't be bothered with organizing her base - she's got place to go and Santas to Capture!

To that end, Player B starts her movement phase by sending out the cart with the Witch and Dwarf.

Player B also adjusts the locations of her Archery Forces.

Player B's Knight Hero drops his shield (on order to have a free hand) and GRABS SANTA!

Pressing her advantage, her Black Bowman opens up against the ZOMBIE HERO! It's no good - the attack fails 3-8.

Switching targets, her White Bowman tries a shot at the Ice Cream Girl. This, too, fails with a roll of 2-9.

Fed up, Player B takes aim on the Zombie Hero again with her Crossbow-on-Wheels Siege Engine.

A roll of 10-4 sends Player A's hopes and dreams smashing to the ground like a cheap martini glass! Her ZOMBIE HERO is once again sent into the land of no-participation.

The Martian Forces try valiantly to recapture their prize - Blue Squid Alien moves up to the Knight HERO and tries to grab Santa! But the Knight's Grip is too strong, and the attempt fails, 2-5!

It's not over for the Aliens yet, though - with a final throw of the dice, the Alien Commander revives with a roll of 5-2!

Can Player B escape with her prize before the Aliens can regroup? And what of Ice Cream Girl? Stay tuned....

Episode 588

Read the comic here.

Whiskey vents a bit of my frustration today. It'll be okay, though - the advent storyline is a pretty solid thread through the rest of the month.

Advent Madness: CITY Day 16

Advent Madness Day Sixteen

CITY
(Open the Doors Here)

Policeman with Deluxe camera and extra lens
(Or a glass. You make the call.)

Officer Grumpypants (City Advent 2005, Day 4 and 2006, Day 16) returns. This time in a new hat and carrying a camera.

I don't have a lot to say about this one. Changing a hat and accessory is really a sad level of effort when you're trying to make a sub-theme seem new and interesting.

Oh well. Maybe I can spin it as "continuity". That those who get a LEGO Advent Calendar every year know that friendly Officer Grumpypants will be in there somewhere to keep everyone safe.

Anyone buy that?

Advent Madness: CASTLE Day 16

Advent Madness Day Sixteen

CASTLE
(Open the Doors Here)

Shelving with potions, bat, and extra stuff.

Day sixteen of the Castle Advent, day three of the Witch sub-theme. Yesterday's cauldron fit in well with the theme - today's set is a little more iffy. When it comes to bookcases, it looks like this one was purchased at a discount store- it doesn't fit together very well. Oh, it looks okay from a distance...but get closer and you see that it's not very functional.

On the other hand, the parts that comprise the set are pretty useful in the post-Advent building world, so I'll forgive the shoddy construction for now.

In addition to the shelving LEGO gives us a bunch of transparent bricks to make up bottles and potions and whatnot. I'm a big fan of transparent bricks in general, so no complains there.

The final item in today's mini-set is a bat - and it's the bat that really helps this door have any link to the Witch sub-theme. Combine today's loot with yesterday's set and you have the start of a nice little workshop for our Evil Heroine. I say "start" because I'm not sure if we're done with this theme yet. The Dwarf got four days - perhaps our Witch will, too.

Advent Madness: VS Day 15

Advent Madness Day Fifteen

VERSUS

If you haven't already, you'll want to check out the CITY and Castle daily reveals to see what forces our Players will be deploying today...

More parts arrive to clutter Player A's staging area. Assuming she ever catches a break, perhaps she can hide Santa among the mess...

Player A's Jet-Grill completes its rescue mission and returns the Fireman's corpse to base.

Back at base, the Chef dons protective footgear, Aquaman dons a flak-vest, and the fireman is dumped to the ground.

Ice-Cream-Girl, meanwhile has returned to Santa's cell. She attempts to knock open one of the force-field doors, but fails. (7-10)

Another HEROic FEAT for Player A's Zombie Hero - he's back to life again (4-1), but the ravages of combat mean he's down an arm.

Meanwhile, Player B starts some snake soup with her new pieces.

Player B's movement phase means the cart finally returns to the Staging area - the witch climbs aboard!

The Blue Squid Martian continues to vex Player B's forces - her second knight closes and attempts to slice his way to victory! The Martian is ready, though, and defends with a matching roll of 8-8.

The Blue Martian takes his turn to attack - and a roll of 16-15 sends t
he second Knight's head rolling as well.

Player B's White Skeleton opens fire again on the Yellow Squid Martian - and fails 7-13!
Finally, though, Player B's Crossbow-on-Wheels rolls some good numbers and takes out the Yellow Alien 13-11.

Player B's Knight HERO takes a swing at Santa's Cell....

..and knocks one of the force field doors loose! Santa is still in Stasis until that second door is opened- but he can see daylight for the first time since his capture!

The Alien commander tries yet again to wake up - and again flubs his roll 12-5. Unless his one remaining troop of the Blue Squid Alien can take out that Knightly HERO next turn - Santa is sure to be freed!

Episode 587

Read the comic here.

Whiskey's lack of impulse control is a primary reason he's never held a steady job.

Advent Madness: CITY Day 15

Advent Madness Day Fifteen

CITY
(Open the Doors Here)

Underwater Scooter with extra pin, arm, and light

I'll say this for the 2008 CITY Advent Calendar - some of the sub-sets have been pretty cool. Today's offering qualifies for the "cool" tag - this little robotic rover fits well with the Diver/Coast Guard theme and is pretty nifty in it's own right.

While the parts that make up the model aren't rare or even difficult to find, they're put together in a useful way. The final result has a polished feel to it. The robotic arms suggest play opportunities - perhaps this little guy is more "Robot" than "Scooter" - more of a sidekick to our Aquaman than a mere mode of transportation.

Anyway, a nice close to the sub-theme.

Advent Madness: CASTLE Day 15

Advent Madness Day Fifteen

CASTLE
(Open the Doors Here)

Witch's Cauldron, fire, snake, and extra dots

Well, back from the edge of the unique and rare to the commonplace. Still -as far as accessory sub-sets go, giving our witch a bubbling cauldron makes good sense, so I can't complain too loudly.

The design on the fire beneath the cauldron isn't too bad - it's a trifle fragile which is odd for a LEGO-designed creation. But it does look nice without relying on the standard "flame" piece.

The snake is nothing special, but does tie in well with the theme.

So now it's back to waiting - we're sure to get another Witch-themed item tomorrow. Will it be worthy of the mini-figure? Will it be so bad that the average for this theme will crash and burn like the Hindenburg?

I guess we'll know soon enough...

Advent Madness: VS Day 14

Advent Madness Day Fourteen

VERSUS

If you haven't already, you'll want to check out the CITY and Castle daily reveals to see what forces our Players will be deploying today...

In Player A's staging area, fortifications are taking shape. If she can get Santa back to her base, this wall could slow down Player B's forces long enough to ensure a victory...or so Player A hopes.

Movement this round included Player A's Jet-Grill heading back to base with the Fireman's corpse strapped to the back. The Ice-Cream-Girl hurries alongside for support.

Player A's HERO attempts a HEROic Feat to once again return to active duty. The tied die roll of 1-1 indicates only Marginal Success - Player A's HERO is back...but as a faceless ZOMBIE!

One may ask - with no nose, how does this zombie smell? The answer: TERRIBLE!

Player B's latest Mini-figure is ready to dish out damage from her force-lightning. Too bad she's all the way back at the Staging Area...

Player A mocks Player B's wimpy fortifications.

Player B sends her mine cart racing back to pick up the Witch.

Player B makes small changes to her force's lineup near the Cell - and begins to attack! Her archery team takes aim at the Yellow Squid Martian...

The Crossbow-On-Wheels fires...and Misses! (5-5)
The Black Skeleton Fires...and Misses! (5-6)
The White Skeleton Fires...apparently at the sky! (1-7)

The Yellow Squid Martian taunts the archers!

Player B decides a HERO to HERO battle might have better luck! Her Knight moves into range...and attacks Player A's ZOMBIE HERO

Player A just can't catch a break! Her HERO is downed YET AGAIN with a roll of 25-to-21!!

The Alien Commander tries to regain consciousness - but fails his roll 2-7. Still out cold, he can do little to protect Santa's Stasis Cell from Player B next turn! Could this mean freedom for Santa??

Episode 586

Read the comic here.

Have I mentioned yet that I really like this Minifigure?

Advent Madness: CITY Day 14

Advent Madness Day Fourteen

CITY
(Open the Doors Here)

Life Vest, Flippers, Buoy with flag

Day two of the Coast Guard sub-theme gives us some nice accessories for the diver from Day Thirteen.

The life vest probably isn't as useful for the figure as the flippers - but at least it's in-theme.

The buoy is three parts just waiting for the post-advent building season to begin. The blue flag has only shown up in one other set - Aqua Raiders 2007's Angler Ambush. Having only one flag limits the building fun a little, but, eh, you take what you can from a sub-theme door with only six parts - and that's counting each flipper individually...

Advent Madness: CASTLE Day 14

Advent Madness Day Fourteen

CASTLE
(Open the Doors Here)

The Most Glorious Mini-Figure Ever

Oh, Castle Advent, how you play with my heart. Yesterday you gave me a box and a frog and called it "good". Today, you give me an exclusive figure that is all the shades of awesome mixed together.

One of the few joys that I've found in the CITY advent over the years has been the release of rare or newly-recolored parts. The mini-figures have always been "stock" though - sure, the parts might have been combined in a new way, but there was never a new paint job, never anything truly original in the mix.

Today - Day Fourteen of the Castle Advent - we get something new. This witch figure may share a face with another late-2008 release (Claw-Dette from the retailer-exclusive Volcano Base Agents set.) She may have a common black witch's hat. And maybe her accessory of force-lightning showed up earlier this year. But her outfit is all new - and made of pure win.

Female LEGO mini-figures are few and far between - and all too often they're cast in the role of "hapless victim" or "princess." Not so our fiesty Witch. She's clearly the adversarial type - and although her dress may have a poorly-sewn patch on it, you know that's because she's too busy kicking some heroic BUTT to get to the tailor.

Heck, I'm even looking forward to seeing what sort of support-sets she gets in the next couple of days.

Oh, LEGO, why didn't you make this the mass-release Calendar this year? You would have sold SOOOOO many of them...

Advent Madness: VS Day 13

Advent Madness Day Thirteen

VERSUS

If you haven't already, you'll want to check out the CITY and Castle daily reveals to see what forces our Players will be deploying today...

Player A uses Aquaman's presence at her Staging Area to try and revamp her fortress walls.

Meanwhile, things are getting a bit nutty out on the main battlefield.

Player A moves her forces up. The Jet-Grill races to the long-neglected fireman's corpse to bring it back to base (for possible revival by the HERO when he gets a free moment). The HERO and the Ice-Cream-Girl both move up to attack Santa's Stasis Cell.

The HERO, with a mighty Jump-Smash feat, Cracks off the Cell's lock with a roll of 17-3.

The Martian Commander, seeing this, stabs down with his spear! He has the High Ground! And a better roll (6-4)! The HERO is DOWN AGAIN!

Player B is not overly impressed with her day's loot and impales her frog on a spear.

Player B's forces continue to dash into the melee. Wisely, she stops her ranged forces just at the edge of their effective range.

Using her Crossbow-on-wheels Siege Engine, Player B takes aim at the Martian Leader and topples him with a roll of 12-7! This knocks him from his perch and onto the tabletop.

Player B's uses the Crossbow on her Black Skeleton to take a shot at the Yellow Squid Martian - who manages to defend with a tie of 4-4.

Santa's cage is now unlocked, but the force fields remain to be breached! With Player A's HERO killed for a second time, can she rally and save Christmas? Or is this the beginning of a Castle sweep? Only time will tell...

Episode 585

Read the comic here.

Maybe it is just a frog. You never know.

Advent Madness: CITY Day 13

Advent Madness Day Thirteen

CITY
(Open the Doors Here)

Aquaman with diving helmet, spear gun, and spare goggles.

(Today's photo is a bit off in the color department - the mini-figure's legs, arms and helmet are the standard LEGO blue, not some odd neon shade.)

Day Thirteen opens a new sub-theme for the CITY calendar - the Coast Guard. I have to admit, I like this little guy. In 2008 LEGO made the decision to change the torso colors on their Cost Guardians from orange-with-yellow-highlights to a yellow base. The color contrast with the blue legs and helmet is pretty striking, and helps breathe some new life into a sub-theme that's reaching the end of it's useful life.

Sadly, the figure's face is the standard "man with well defined cheekbones" making him a clone of roughly 1/4th of the LEGO figures currently in production. It's an easy flaw to overlook, however, since it's well hidden behind a helmet with the "diving goggles" accessory.

The figure's weapon - a spear gun - is cast in black - a good choice as the often-used yellow would have looked silly next to the revised torso colors.

We can expect two more days of Coast Guard themed subsets if the CITY Advent holds true to the established schedule. As the Coast Guard are rather regiment-oriented fellows, I doubt we'll see much deviation...

Advent Madness: CASTLE Day 13

Advent Madness Day Thirteen

CASTLE
(Open the Doors Here)

The Most Glorious Mini-Figure Ever

Well, as nice as the Dwarf theme was, it was time for it to come to an end. Sure, the mini-mountain was nice, and the cart was both fun and functional, but it's time to move on to a new theme - a theme that promises excitement and love, as the Castle Advent Calendar has been known to do.

So let's take a close look at today's mini-figure....and....

...

Oh no.

WHAT THE?

A box, shovel, spear, and FROG?

That's a bit of a shocker.



...I guess I'll write about this stuff then.

Um.

It's a box. And a shovel that you can put in the box. Along with a spear you can also put in the box.

And a frog to watch over the box.

The End.

Delay in updates

Hey everyone -

Player A and Player B were over this evening to complete their game of Advent Wars - the game took a bit longer to complete than I thought, and as a result I'm running behind in getting the updates posted. I should have things back on track by Sunday at the latest.

So don't panic - the stuff is on the way.

Advent Madness: VS Day 12

Advent Madness Day Twelve

VERSUS

If you haven't already, you'll want to check out the CITY and Castle daily reveals to see what forces our Players will be deploying today...

Player A begins her round by ignoring the LEGO-suggested assembly instructions and adding her new pieces directly to her fortifications.

The Jet-Grill is loaded up with pie-ammo and heads out into the battlefield.

Also in Player A's movement phase, the revived Ice Cream Girl and Heroic Man Eating Turkey move up towards the Alien Stronghold.

Player A's HERO attacks! With a 12-8 victory on the dice, he sends the Orange Squid Martian into the soothing realms of unconsciousness!

Meanwhile, Player B gloats at the easy addition of a vehicle to her forces.

She loads the Dwarf into the cart and sends him speeding out into the field.

Also in the movement phase, her HERO Knight moves in to attack the Red Squid Martian. The battle is quick and decisive - the Knight slaughtering the Alien with a roll of 27-to-4!

The Martian forces are, of course, a bit bothered by all this gore. They send the Blue Squid Martian roaring across the table to intercept Player B's HERO. The HERO's massive armor bonus keeps him from harm, however, with an impressive defensive victory roll of 4-27.

Both players are now in striking distance of Santa - it can't be long now!

Episode 584

Read the comic here.

Sadly, today's strip isn't a joke. Really.

Advent Madness: CITY Day 12

Advent Madness Day Twelve

CITY
(Open the Doors Here)

Ninja-Break oven

Completing the Chef-theme is yet another take on his oven. We saw another version of this back on Day 23 of 2005 - and a much nicer version at that, sadly.

Even pretending it's a Ninja Accessory of some sort isn't helping today.

Oh well. It'll make for an interesting mini-challenge to try and build something cool out of ONLY these parts. Interesting...or maddening...

Advent Madness: CASTLE Day 12

Advent Madness Day Twelve

CASTLE
(Open the Doors Here)

Mine Cart with extra wheel and jumper brick

Day Twelve brings us Day Three of the Dwaven Miner Sub-Theme - a rolling mining cart.

A ten part set (twelve with the extras), this mini-model is another small victory for the Castle Advent. The construction is fairly simple, yet teaches young builders the essentials of using a jumper brick to create an easy-to-separate surface. (The box of the cart separates from the wheeled base.) The CITY advent tried to show a similar construction trick, but inexplicably broke the model up over two days.

This should conclude the Dwarf-run - let's hope LEGO keeps the momentum going with a strong set tomorrow!

Advent Madness: VS Day 11

Advent Madness Day Ten

VERSUS

If you haven't already, you'll want to check out the CITY and Castle daily reveals to see what forces our Players will be deploying today...

For once, Player A is happy with the day's construction as suggested by LEGO - there's nothing wrong with PIE after all. Particularly when you just added a giant catapult to the front of a vehicle. The comedy gold is just waiting to be mined.

For the Movement Phase the Jet-Grill doubled back to base and the HERO resumed his advance towards Player B's forces.

And here we see the Chef and Cat loading up the Jet-Grill with the new ammunition. Note the enhanced super-pie-a-la-mode at the rear. (With bonus MIRV Ice Cream Scoops)

Player B added her new mini-mountain to the Staging area.

The extra flame from the beacon was added to a safety cone from Day 2's armor stand to create a hand-held flamethrower for the Dwarf. Not quite a Jet-Grill, but not too bad.

Player B's Movement turn consisted of moving her Arrow-Cart up and into blasting range...

...where, with a 10-2 roll, it blasted the heck out of the Red-Squid Martian!

The Martian Commander immediately tried a HEROIC FEAT to mentally bring the Red Martian back to life...

Despite Player B's opposing roll the Leader succeeded in reviving his cannon fodder!

But the battle for Santa has clearly been joined...

Episode 583

Read the comic here.

My Dwarf talks a bit like a pirate. I was going to make him Canadian...but that's really the Order Of the Stick's bag.

I had forgotten what a challenge it is to incorporate a new item every day. I've been trying to mix up spotlighting things with just incorporating them into the strip in minor ways. Luckily the calendar is pretty mini-figure heavy - it's a lot easier to write a conversation with a bit player than make a bit of rock seem interesting for one day.

Advent Madness: CITY Day 11

Advent Madness Day Eleven

CITY
(Open the Doors Here)

Ninja Tarts with Extra Tartlet

The Cunning Ninja-Cook from Day Ten has prepared some deliciously deadly treats. Sure, they may look like nothing more than four red 1x1 dots on a tan disc - but they're really a killing-cuisine, a tart-of-death! Toss one of these at your foe and watch them crumble like a cookie!

At least, that's how I'm choosing to see today's items. It sure sounds like more fun than "a table with two pies and an extra red dot."

In previous CITY Advents, the Chef was cooking up some distinctly non-holiday Pizzas. It's nice to see LEGO at least making a token effort to fit this sub-theme into the larger Christmas mold - even if you have to guess exactly what it is the Chef is making.

My suggestion? Next year when the Chef-Theme rolls around again, have him making cookies. Put a sticker on a 2x2 tile if you have to, but give him some easily identifiable themed items. It probably won't happen, though. My guess is next year we'll see him baking the french-bread piece that's been around for years.

Advent Madness: CASTLE Day 11

Advent Madness Day Eleven

CASTLE
(Open the Doors Here)

Rock formation with torch and gold crystal. With bonus extra flame.

I think it's safe to call this a "Dwarven Sub-Theme" now - today's mini-set fits too well with the ideas of mining and rock-work for anything else.

For a six (seven with the bonus repeat flame) piece set this isn't too bad. The two angular bricks aren't very common, and are both pretty useful in post-Advent constructions. The flame and torch base, while common, are still nice parts with plenty of re-use in them. And you just have to love the gold-toned crystal.

We should see more Dwarven goodness tomorrow - unless we get something completely expected. So far with the CASTLE advent I'm not sure which is more probable...

Advent Madness: VS Day 10

Advent Madness Day Ten

VERSUS

If you haven't already, you'll want to check out the CITY and Castle daily reveals to see what forces our Players will be deploying today...

Player A and Chef complete their enhancements of the Jet-Grill. The catapult has been added to the front of the craft. The chef's Oar adds an extra propulsion source to the craft, allowing it to both carry the second character (the cat) as well as adding another 5" of movement, giving this Jet-Grill a range of 10" per turn.

Player A wastes no time to move the Jet-Grill to the battleground. It reaches the downed Ice Cream Girl just as the hero does.

At this time Player A decides to try a HEROIC FEAT. Using the mystic Turkey Leg of Power - her HERO rolls one die to see if he can bring Ice Cream Girl back to life!

Player B rolls a single die against Player A's, attempting to thwart the revival. Unfortunately for Player B, the end result is 5-1 in favor of the resurrection! Ice Cream Girl is back in the game!

The Martian Commander is pissed at this turn of events, and chucks his last spear at Player A's Hero. It's one die of damage against the HERO's two dice of armor. For a moment it looks as if Player A's bad luck has continued, but the final result is 4-5 in favor of the HERO. He lives to do something next turn!

Meanwhile, Player B's troops are once again on the move. The white skeleton decides to rejoin the other hand-to-hand fighters as they prepare to charge the Stasis Cell. Behind their cover, the Rolling Arrow-Cart moves up into firing range. Unfortunately the Arrow-Cart is just out of range of the nearest Martian, and must wait until next turn to start anything.

I can hardly wait!

Episode 582

Read the comic here.

I have to say, I really like the pose I got out of Whiskey in the fourth panel. He looks a lot more "real" there than I usually manage.

Advent Madness: CITY Day 10

Advent Madness Day Ten

CITY
(Open the Doors Here)

Chef with Oar

With our "Fireman and Cat" triumvirate safely completed, Day Ten features the beginning of yet another new sub-theme for the CITY advent calendar. Sadly, it's a theme we've seen again and again in the Advent universe- that of the chef.

I spent many long minutes staring at today's figure, hoping to see something new in the plain white legs, standard chef's hat and torso, and bland smile. I looked to the strangely nautical oar for possible inspiration.

And then I realized: This Chef is actually a NINJA.

Yes, LEGO tried to slip one by us by using a clever disguise, but this man is clearly a master of dozens of Eastern fighting forms, a silent killer who slips away like a surprisingly nimble flan.

I'm sure of it.

Advent Madness: CASTLE Day 10

Advent Madness Day Ten

CASTLE
(Open the Doors Here)

Dwarf with Pickaxe

Day ten turns out to be the dawn of a new theme - or at the very least an excuse for a new Mini-figure to join the Castle Advent ranks. Say "Howdy" to Mr. Dwarf.

The dwarves entered the Castle universe last year as a retailer exclusive - and in 2008 they earned a few mainstream sets of their own. They feature all new beard pieces, swanky new helmets, and sadly non-articulated legs.

Removing the beard and helm from today's figure shows that underneath the swarthy exterior beats the heart of a short, yet otherwise standard, Knight of the Realm. From a parts standpoint, while the head and torso are quite common, the short brown legs have been in demand for a long time now - mostly due to their use in Yoda and Ewok minis.

Now we know from their debut that LEGO has some nice Dwarf-themed creations that could show up as mini-sets. We'll probably be seeing at least two of them in the days to come. But I think hoping for the full Seven Dwarves would be too much even for this fairy tale.

Advent Madness: VS Day 9

Advent Madness Day Nine

VERSUS

If you haven't already, you'll want to check out the CITY and Castle daily reveals to see what forces our Players will be deploying today...

...but before we get to that, Player A's cat has completed a build in the Staging Area that it started last turn. (Since a cat isn't a full-sized mini-figure, the players decided that while it could indeed build with the bricks in the staging area, it would take the full turn to do so.)

The end result is this rather elegant Jet-Grill Cart. The cat hops aboard - ready to head out into the battle field.

Things change, however when Player A opens her Door and finds the ladder accessory. Of course she doesn't see it as a ladder, but rather a working catapult. The cat dismounts the Jet-Grill as further modifications are suddenly needed.

Declining to move her two surviving Minifigures this round, Player A decides to launch a ranged attack with the Ice Cream Lance on her female figure. (Shot above is from Turn 5) Her target? The Blue Alien who slaughtered her Fireman last turn.

A ranged attack has one die of damage - the defending Martian has two dice of armor. The ice-cream on a stick fails with a roll of 3 to 9.

Meanwhile, Player B has completed building her day's worth of reinforcements. The "Crossbow on Wheels" counts as a vehicle, so the Black Skeleton (who returned to base at the end of last turn) climbs aboard. The CoW also counts as a Siege Weapon - ready to deal two dice of damage with a range of 10".

Player B completes her turn by moving her forces around a bit - the two knights charge Santa's Stasis Cell while the White Skeleton falls back to swap out his mace for ranged weapons.

The Martian Commander makes the final attack of the round. Annoyed at the Ice-Cream-On-A-Stick attack, he throws a spear at the Ice Cream Girl. Ice Cream Girl has three dice of armor (2 +1 for her shield) and the Martian has only one die of damage. It seems a harmless game of catch....until Player A's bad luck with the dice results in a mere total of six!

The Martian Commander rolls - and gets a SIX! This means an additional die of damage is added - this time the die comes up a ONE. Still - it's enough...just enough.

The Ice Cream Girl is downed - 7 to 6.

Things look quite grim for Player A! Can she rally? Will her Cat-navigated Jet-Grill somehow turn the tide? Stay tuned....

Episode 581

Read the comic here.

It takes a lot to render Whiskey speechless, but this guy manages it quite well.

Advent Madness: CITY Day 9

Advent Madness Day Nine

CITY
(Open the Doors Here)

Ladder

Okay, yesterday people thought I was being too harsh on LEGO's efforts - that the "cat in the tree" mini-set deserved a super-happy review instead of the luke-warm one it received.

Maybe so.

But I defy anyone to find the silver lining in today's three parts. A 2x4 green plate. A standard black hinge plate. And a black grate.

Oh, sure, combined with the previous two days you have a nice little diorama of a fireman saving a kitten from a rough fall. It's a touching Hallmark Moment.

But evaluated on its own merits?

Today's set SUCKS.

Let's hope tomorrow starts off a new theme - and that the new theme has a bit of flair.

Advent Madness: CASTLE Day 9

Advent Madness Day Nine

CASTLE
(Open the Doors Here)

Crossbow on Wheels

So...is this part of a theme or not? Yesterday's archery set is carried forward somewhat in the projectile-nature of today's set, and it does seem like something the Knight from Day 7 could use. But I'm not sure I could put a good name to this sub-theme. Pointy things?

If you look at yesterday's set as target practice, then today's set is an answer for those mini-figures who just need a bigger gun to waste the target. Well, sort of. If you look, you'll notice the actual "weapon" part of today's set is the same crossbow that the Black Skeleton came with. (Just in cast in sliver, not brown.)

As far as mini-sets go, I'm pretty happy with this one. While the part count is still pretty low (seven pieces in total) the parts themselves are pretty nifty.

And considering how weapons-heavy the Castle Advent has been so far, it's probably a good idea they gave us a cart to move all that armament around...

The question now is what will lurk behind tomorrow's door. Will this be a return to the 3-day-themes with a new mini-figure...or will we get another Knightly sub-model?

Gosh - it almost feels like a countdown or something...

Advent Madness: VS Day 8

Advent Madness Day Seven

VERSUS

If you haven't already, you'll want to check out the CITY and Castle daily reveals to see what forces our Players will be deploying today...

Player A began her turn by looking over the various leftovers from previous days - and wondering how much work on building the cat could get done before the next turn. (The players decided that the cat could indeed build, but it would take the full turn to complete any changes.)

Player A sent her Rocket Cart speeding towards Santa's Cell. Too bad the Aliens were on the lookout...

Back away, Hu-Man!

The Alien Leader throws a spear! Per the QuikWars rules, this gives him a 10" range with a single die of damage. The fireman has three dice of armor (2 +1 for his helmet). The dice are rolled...

The Aliens roll 4, the Fireman defends with 9 - NO DAMAGE!

The thrown spear is left on the table for someone else to, perhaps, pick up and use later.

But there's more combat to be resolved! The fireman attacks the Blue-Squid wielding Martian!
The fireman's Fry Pan gives him two dice of attack power - matching the Martian's two dice of armor to protect him!

The dice roll - The Alien rolls a SIX and two for defense - allowing a bonus roll! The final total is 4-10 in favor of the Martian - NO DAMAGE.

The Blue Martian makes his counter attack on the Fireman - And this time the Dice turn and bite Player A firmly on the hand. In a 11 -6 victory, the FIREMAN IS SMASHED!

To show the extent of damage, the fireman's arm is removed and left to rot. Completing his turn, the Blue Martian climbs aboard the captured Jet Board.

Meanwhile, Player B is having a tough time assembling her daily swag. The picture on the box isn't very clear...and frankly, she's more interested in the bow and arrow accessories anyway.

"....Stupid LEGOs."

Player B ends her turn by moving the Black Skeleton back towards base to take advantage of the new weapons.

Next turn promises to be quite exciting - the Martians are riled up now, and Player A's cat has spent the turn working on something special....

Episode 580

Read the comic here.

And for those of you who've never cracked a comic book: Captain America's Shield

Advent Madness: CITY Day 8

Advent Madness Day Eight

CITY
(Open the Doors Here)

Kitten up a Tree

Well, this is a bit of departure from the CITY sets we've seen in the past. Sure, we're still doing a "Fireman" sub-theme, but this time it's a Pleasantville version where the fire department just waits for a call about a cat up a tree.

As far as trees go, this is a bit iffy - three fronds stuck to a rectangular pole. It's a bit more creative than the one-piece trees LEGO also produces, but to me it looks a bit too cubist. Maybe it's supposed to be a subtle slam against people who buy plastic Christmas trees over the real pine-scented deal. I doubt it, though.

The cat is also a disappointment - last year's Belville Advent also had a cat behind door eight - but that cat had printed features. Once again, LEGO's cost cutting shows through.

Still, I have to give them points for an original twist on a very tired sub-theme. When I saw the fireman yesterday, this set was pretty far down my list of expected follow-ups.

Advent Madness: CASTLE Day 8

Advent Madness Day Eight

CASTLE
(Open the Doors Here)

Archery Set

Another figure-ehancing set today - we now have the option of changing our second Knight into an Archer. Behind Door Eight was a snappy little target, a quiver of arrows, and a bow.

The target is a simple, yet effective design. It almost makes up for the seriously low part count behind today's door - a whopping six pieces - and that's counting the base and top of the hinge as distinct elements.

Eh, it's still more fun that most of the CITY doors have been so far.

Advent Madness: VS Day 7

Advent Madness Day Seven

VERSUS

If you haven't already, you'll want to check out the CITY and Castle daily reveals to see what forces our Players will be deploying today...

Rocket Cart!

Player A wasted no time in upgrading her vehicle design from yesterday once Day 7's Fireman minifig was in the Staging Area. Using the QuikWars rules, a vehicle gets 5" of movement per Propulsion System - by adding Jets to the back she's increased the movement from 5" to 10".

She's also armed the fireman with a frying pan. There was a few moments where she tried developing a flame-throwing phone, but it was quickly dropped as not as silly as the frying pan.

The Staging Area of Misfit Bricks

The remaining bricks were left haphazardly around Player A's Staging Area.

Zoom!

For her movement phase, Player A advanced her sled (complete with Fireman) to her font line.

We Are Family!

Player B was pleased with her door, of course. One more mini-figure to crush her opposition with!

She immediately rushed the new recruit out to the front lines.

Meanwhile, just 8" or so away from Player B's forces, the Martians stand by to repel invaders...

Episode 579

Read the comic here.

Yes, the head on this mini-figure should have been on the head of the fellow from Day 1. No, it's not a sign the calendar is going wonky this year. At least, not yet.

Advent Madness: CITY Day 7

Advent Madness Day Seven

CITY
(Open the Doors Here)

Fireman with Hand-Radio

Shocker. A three-day sub-theme completes, and now we find ourselves facing a new mini-figure introducing (we can only assume) yet another sub-theme. Or, as is the case here, a re-hash of a sub-theme.

Sure, fire fighters are cool - but every year we have a visit from virtually the same guy. Heck, it hasn't even been that long - he was behind door #1 in 2007. And in 2006 our Fireman was behind door 22 - with, may I add, much cooler accessories. The only thing that really changes from year to year is the figure's face. And it's always a common one, like today's stubbly-smirk.

But you never know. The mini-sets so far have been a pleasant departure from past adventures. Maybe Sparky here will be taking part in something unexpected as well.

Advent Madness: CASTLE Day 7

Advent Madness Day Seven

CASTLE
(Open the Doors Here)

Knight with two Swords

Another mini-figure! LEGO certainly has weighted the play-value towards the front of their Castle Advent Calendar - making a 4/7 ratio of figures to doors. Amazing.

Of course, there is some balance to this. I'm sure we'll be returning to "two days of stuff following a fig" with today's Knight-2 sub-theme. But still - a Skeleton Theme with two monsters? Unexpected!

Okay. Back to today's swag.

Our second knight comes with possibly the coolest single-piece helmet in the castle line. He's got a cheeky Han Solo grin on his face, standard Knight torso and legs, and two swords. Of coruse, the box only shows him with one...the second is surely just an extra part from LEGO. But what kid is going to leave it behind when you could just as easily create the Sexy Sentry shown here?

I'm sure he'd stay and chat, but our first knight is being double teamed by Skeletons and could use a bit of backup. Ta-ta!

Advent Madness: VS Day 6

Advent Madness Day Six

VERSUS

If you haven't already, you'll want to check out the CITY and Castle daily reveals to see what forces our Players will be deploying today...

Looks better as a pile of pieces.

Turn six of the Advent Wars opened with Player A's initial disgust at the day's offerings. But then...
"Wait...are those wheels??? I can make something!"

And make something she did. "It's a Scooter."

Player A wanted to enhance the vehicle with items from her stockpile, but it was decided that she could only use the parts from that turn's door unless there was a minifigure in the Staging Area "to do the building."

Speaking of Player A's troops, movement for this turn had Ice Cream Spartan move up to join Man Eating Turkey - providing a unified front on the way to Player B's area.

Mine is an even eviler laugh.

Player B, meanwhile, was delighted to add yet another mini-figure to her forces. Adding the discarded helmet from Day 1, her new Black Skeleton Warrior is ready for battle. Note the double-length Crossbow arm making use of the extra arm piece provided by LEGO.

For her movement phase Player B sent her White Skeleton forward to meet up with her HERO Knight. They're still a good foot or more away from Santa (and further still from Player A), but the battle lines are clearly shaping up...

Episode 578

Read the comic here.

Poor Donut. "Voice of Reason" is never going be a useful role in this strip.

Advent Madness: CITY Day 6

Advent Madness Day Six

CITY
(Open the Doors Here)

Ice Cream Cart? Maybe? With extra wheels, glass, and red tile.

If yesterday's sub-theme door left you with an Ice-Cream headache, get ready for a double dose behind today's door.

I'm guessing this is an Ice Cream cart. It has wheels. The picture shows the glass of ice cream sitting on it. There's a handle of sorts for a figure to push it around.

The mysterious red and blue brick combo offer no hints. The smooth "this ice cream is going to slide right off" surface of the cart remains enigmatic. The extra pieces sit an mock us quietly.

I don't like today's door. Can you tell?


Still, tomorrow should be a new theme - maybe this one will have mini-models that actually look like something.

-----
Edited to Add:

As several readers have pointed out to me, I missed an obvious connection - the items from Day 5 and Day 6 combine to form a somewhat more realistic ice-cream cart.

Well, What do you know!

That LEGO decided to stretch this out over two days seems...sad. There aren't *that* many parts involved in the final model...and the Calendar itself wasn't exactly cheap.

And, just because I'm feeling snarky, there's a problem with the playability of the model, too:

Oooh! I see ice cream!


Too bad there's no way at all I could reach it!

Anyway, thanks for those of you who wrote and commented about the combination step. I'll be on the lookout for this sort of thing for the rest of the calendar.

Advent Madness: CASTLE Day 6

Advent Madness Day Six

CASTLE
(Open the Doors Here)

Black Skeleton Warrior with Crossbow and Extra Arm

What th'?? The Castle Advent takes an unexpected turn today with a second mini-figure in the three-day Skeleton Theme. This time it's a black version of the warrior - a Yang to Wednesday's Ying, if you will.

Once again LEGO has provided an extra arm for the fellow - it's a bit strange, but those arms make great decorative parts on their own so I'm not complaining. The crossbow is "standard issue" brown - I would have preferred a dark-grey or silver to better match this fellow's coloration, but eh, it's a minor quibble.

The real question now is: Is this really Day Three of the Skeleton sub-theme....or is it Day One of a new Black Skeleton Sub-Theme?

I guess we'll find out tomorrow. In the meantime, it's a good thing that our Knight figure is fully armored - he's about to get double teamed!

Advent Madness: VS Day 5

Advent Madness Day Five

VERSUS

"What IS this?"

As noted elsewhere in Advent Madness, today's CITY door is a bit of a stretch to identify. Player A, never one to be confined by convention or the suggested assembly instructions immediately ditched the "Ice Cream Stand" fiasco in favor of trying to match the weapon upgrades the Castle Advent has been giving Player B.

"This! Is! ICE CREAM!"

In moments the ill-designed stand was transformed into a shield and State-Fair worthy "Ice Cream On A Stick". The remaining parts were placed in the staging area with the Grill - awaiting inspiration as to new uses.

Move 'em OUT!

Player A's Movement Phase had her HERO (Man Eating Turkey) advance another 5" or so towards Player B's base while her Ice Cream Spartan moved out behind him.

Mine is an evil laugh.

Meanwhile, Player B was enjoying another gleeful day of upgrading her forces. The Castle Advent gift was a set of weapons for yesterday's Skeleton Warrior - and although dual-weilding weapons doesn't add any attack value to her figures, it sure ups their coolness factor.

It's a FORT.

The problem, however, is that her Skeleton had already left the base, and her HERO Knight was already fully equipped. Sticking today's loot onto the Gate from Day 2 was as innovative as Player B could be today.

Switcher!

For her movement phase, Player B reversed her plans from yesterday. Her Skeleton warrior headed back home while her HERO Knight sallied forth.

Still - the forces are closing on one another...and Santa. And the Martians have yet to get involved.

Be here tomorrow! Same Advent-Time, same Advent-Channel!

Scheduling Update

It was pointed out to me that by having the comic appear at midnight it was wrecking (at the very least) the reveal of the Castle Advent daily door.

To fix that, I've swapped the Comic and Brick House publish times.

Midnight: CASTLE Advent Publishes
Six AM - CITY Advent Publishes
Noon - Brick House Comic Publishes
Four PM - VS Advent Publishes

All that goes into effect tomorrow. Remember, while the Advent Calendars are in play, Reasonably Clever gets updates every single day.

Advent Madness: CASTLE Day 5

Advent Madness Day Five

CASTLE
(Open the Doors Here)

Weapons Rack with Blade, Shield and Pole Arm

Another day, another image lifted from Bricklink due to my misplacing my set. Whoops.

Day Five of Castle continues the outfitting of the Skeleton Warrior from Day 4. There's a shield for added armor and two nasty weapon alternates for him (her?) to enjoy.

There's no getting around the slow start that Advent Calendars suffer from - if you're starting from scratch each year it'll take a while before you have enough parts to really enjoy yourself. The Castle Advent, however, is doing a pretty good job of keeping me interested and keeping the mini-figures busy with things to do to each other. Even if "things" means massive amounts of violence.

I guess if we wanted "happy playtime" we should have petitioned for another Belville calendar....

Advent Madness: CITY Day 5

Advent Madness Day Five

CITY
(Open the Doors Here)

Ice Cream Stand and extra yellow dot.

Okay, I just typed out the description for today's item, but I have to wonder - if someone had just walked up to me on the street and handed me this model to identify...would I have had a clue as to what I was looking at?

I mean, turn sideways and it's a microscale space freighter with a heat shield.

Or maybe just a random assemblage of parts.

Well, whatever it is, it's minimalist. And at least there are some fun and useful parts in there for re-use.

Episode 577

Read the comic here.

Just in case you were wondering, YES, there's an episode every day until Christmas. So tune in tomorrow for more Brick House goodness.

Advent Madness: VS Day 4

Advent Madness Day Four

VERSUS

Day Four. After spending three turns just glaring at each other across my Dinner Table, Players A and B have both decided to venture forth to begin the process of beating the crap out of each other...and, oh yeah, maybe to rescue Santa as well.

You wait right here.

Player A decides to leave her new Ice-Cream wielding Gal in her Staging Area to build with the parts she's expecting over the next few turns.

I'm outta here!

Meanwhile, her HERO, Man Eating Turkey, takes his first 5" step from the safety of the Staging Area. He's headed directly for Player B's Staging Area.

(To keep things simple we used a 2x16 plates to estimate a 5" length. No, it's not exact, but it was fair, as both players used the same measure.)

Awww YEAH.

Meanwhile, Player B is thrilled to add an evil Skeleton to her forces. But this is no normal Skeleton...

The LONG ARM of EVIL

Thanks to the extra arm included with today's parts this Skelleton has an extra long reach that has nothing to do with the length of chain on the weapon.

Move 'em out!

Player B decides to leave her HERO at home base to defend things while sending out her new minion towards Santa's Stasis Cell.

Two players - two very different strategies. And soon - they'll meet on the battlefield. After all - it's only a few feet wide.

Advent Madness: CASTLE Day 4

Advent Madness Day Four

CASTLE
(Open the Doors Here)

White Skeleton with Mace and Extra Arm

After three days of Knightly Goodness the Castle Advent gives it's followers something special - an evil monster to fight! Sure, it's not very "Christmas-sy", but it sure is CASTLE-y!

Admittedly, there's nothing overly special about the figure - it's been a staple of the new Castle line since it's inception in 2007. But I still love those crazy red eyes and upgraded joints. (It's a big improvement from the "Floppy Bones" of the classic Skeleton design.)

If the pattern holds, there'll be two more days of Skeleton themed accessories. I'm looking forward to seeing if by the 6th we have a fully upgraded warrior to do battle with the armored knight.

Advent Madness: CITY Day 4

Advent Madness Day Four

CITY
(Open the Doors Here)

Woman with Ice Cream

Looks like CITY Advent will, once again, be following the tried-and-true Minifigure/2 days of releated theme pattern. Yesterday closed off the Turkey Arc, today starts Dessert.

As far as Mini-figures go, "Woman" isn't overy special. The Sailboat T-Shirt has been around s1ince 1994 - and was part of the 2005 CITY Advent (Day 18, Man with Radio). The legs are standard blue, the ponytail standard black. Even the face is familiar, being around since 2004.

Her accessory is a bit questionable as well. It's ice cream - but not in a cup, cone, or glass. It's...hand held. That's GOT to be messy.

Episode 576

Read the comic here.

I know, I know. I go to all this trouble to introduce Mother Tango, then send her off to the sidelines. Trust me, she has a big role to play, and soon.

Advent Madness: VS Day 3

Advent Madness Day Three

VERSUS

 When last we left the Advent Wars both Players had added their Day 2 swag to their Staging Areas with their HERO figures. Both were waiting for Day 3 and the final round of thematic swag to outfit their figures before venturing out to do battle. 

Well, that was a waste of time.

Player A's turn is pretty much a wash - the craptastic "Table with mug and frying pan" daily prize was examined - the pieces listlessly pushed about like unwanted lima beans on a dinner plate. 

At some point the HERO's flaming turkey leg went back to "just" a turkey leg when the flame brick fell out. Oh well.

Will Player B have better luck?

HA HA HA - You will SUFFER!

Player B was much happier with her daily dose of fun. Having gone over the basic combat rules of QuikWars, she knows that each extra piece of armor makes her HERO that much tougher. 

I AM IRON MAN.

Adding the shield from Day 2's arch, her HERO now has four dice worth of Armor (helm, chest, shield, and one die of "everyone is a little bit tough")  She opted to keep the spear over the sword for better reach. Player B is through being nice.

And it's only turn three!

Things are about to get exciting - as both players wanted to go over the movement rules for use next turn. 

Advent Madness: CASTLE Day 3

Advent Madness Day Three

CASTLE
(Open the Doors Here)

Armor Strand with helm, armor and sword

The Mini-Figure is the sales draw for any set. You know it, I know it, LEGO knows it. 

Take a look at some of the more expensive sets that sell themselves based on their "Exclusive Minifigure Content" like the Death Star Playset if you doubt me. 

That's why today's Castle Advent Door makes me smile. It takes the mini-figure from Day 1 and makes it...extra special.  It changes a simple knight into an armored battle waggon. The only real complaint I have it that they didn't include a plume for the helmet. 

But you can't have everything...at least not this early in the month.

Advent Madness: CITY Day 3

Advent Madness Day Three

CITY
(Open the Doors Here)

Table with Fry Pan and Mug

Okay, yesterday I was kind of excited about how the CITY calendar was shaping up this year. The mini-figure wasn't too bad and the first accessory mini-set was fairly creative.

And then came day three.

Four pieces.

A 1x2 brick. A 2x3 plate. A mug. And a frying pan.

I weep for the children on the world who woke up this morning, looking forward to the fun and excitement hidden behind "Door Number Three".

Episode 575

Read the comic here.

A shocking confession: The knight figure here has the wrong head. This head is from the 2nd Knight figure to emerge from the calendar...they must have gotten mixed up in my part box just prior to photography.

Oh well.

Advent Madness: VS Day 2

Advent Madness Day Two

VERSUS

When we last left our players, they had just set out their first mini-figures. Since they knew they'd be getting stuff for those figures to use behind today's doors, they didn't do a whole lot more.

Before the round began, each hero was placed on a red 2x4 plate to help keep them upright, as well as to remind everyone who the HERO figures are. The remaining figures will use brown plates as stands. 

Arch Nemesis

Player B didn't have much to do with her set - after assembling things to match the drawing on the box, she simply set the arch around her HERO and waited for more goodies tomorrow.

This looked a lot better on the box.

Player A, meanwhile, was working on a slightly more complex build. The fact that LEGO had included extra pieces wasn't helping the assembly process any. 

Put another Leg on the Barbie!

Eventually, however, her HERO was introduced to his giant grill. Then...inspiration strikes. Noticing the extra flame part from today's kit, Player A makes a modification to the HERO's weapon.

GREASE FIRE!

With a bit of creativity, the hand-to-hand club of the Turkey Leg is now a ranged attack Grease Fire weapon!  AND a club. That's quick (and reasonably violent!) thinking!

Sadly, neither Player was interested in moving out of their Staging Areas quite yet - perhaps things will liven up more tomorrow as more parts are added into the mix. 

Advent Madness: CASTLE Day 2

Advent Madness Day Two

CASTLE
(Open the Doors Here)

Arch with Shield and Flag

First off, I lifted today's image from Bricklink. Sorry about that - I thought I brought the arch with me to DC to photograph, but it somehow escaped my part bin. 

Secondly, I'm kind of glad I didn't have to bother photographing this set. It's way boring.

Sure, the gold flag is nice. And the shield is useful for yesterday's mini-figure. But as a mini-set....eh. Not a lot of play value.  Unless you're into really minimalist castles. Then you might be happy.

Advent Madness: CITY Day 2

Advent Madness Day Two

CITY
(Open the Doors Here)

Grill 

Day two in the CITY - and, predictably, the mini-set is part of a thematic package with the Mini-figure from day one. The mystery of the Turkey Leg is solved - it's the lead in to the "Cooking on the Grill" theme. Not as holiday-ish as I had hoped.

Still, this is a fairly creative mini-set, and a new sub-theme and design for the CITY Advent universe.  The extra parts of the third top hinge and second flame are always fun to discover. 

I'll give today three out of five stars - a better than average effort from LEGO today.

Episode 574

Read the comic here.

Whiskey is channelling Cartman here.

Scheduling

Wow. I didn't realize until this morning now much content was going to hit at midnight.  It's a giant wall of text.

I think I'm going to schedule the publication times a bit different - to keep people coming back and to give them something to read throughout the day. Since Reasonably Clever enjoys a pretty international audience, I'll just time things like this:

(All times EST - Eastern Standard)

Midnight(or thereabouts): Brick House Comic Publishes
Six AM - CITY Advent Publishes
Noon - CASTLE Advent Publishes
Four PM - VS Advent Publishes

I'll try that for a week, then tweak if necessary.
Thoughts?

Advent Madness: CITY Day 1

Advent Madness Day One

CITY
(Open the Doors Here)

Day 1 - Man with Turkey Leg

Here we go again...once more LEGO has decided to spotlight their CITY theme with an Advent Calendar. I can't say I was overly excited to plunk down the cash for it. (I was much more geeked about the non-US release of a Castle Themed Advent) 

Opening the first door I knew I'd find a mini-figure; would it have any holiday theme this year? 

Shockingly, it appears so! Despite the fact that my local shopping centers started putting up their Christmas decorations in late October, for me the Christmas season officially starts right after Thanksgiving.  And this little figure is still munching on leftovers. 

Sure, it's a thin tie to the holidays, but I've learned to take what I can get from these CITY advents. 

Anyway, the figure isn't anything special - a standard torso, face, hairpiece and somewhat-hard-to-find brown legs. The Turkey leg fits into the figure's hand, but don't jostle it too much or it'll pop out and shoot across the room. 

I guess that'd be an "action feature". 

Yeah, I'm reaching. It's only day one and already I'm burnt out on the CITY theme. Maybe things will be brighter tomorrow.

Advent Madness: CASTLE Day 1

Advent Madness Day One

CASTLE
(Open the Doors Here)

Day 1 - Solider with Spear

For those of you in North America wondering "Where the heck did you get the Castle Advent Calendar? All I could find was the CITY one!",  there were a few ways to get your hands on the "Cool Kids" version of the Advent. You could bug an overseas friend, spend a bundle on eBay, or have been reading the Reasonably Clever Blog a few months ago when I shared the news of a way to get the sets direct from LEGO using a secret code.  Personally, I used two of those methods - I begged for overseas help prior to learning about the shop@home option. 

Anyway, welcome to the CASTLE version of the Advent Countdown. 

Behind Day One's Door we find a mini-figure. This isn't too shocking - every LEGO Advent Calendar in the past that featured Minis has started with one behind the first door. 

This figure doesn't offer many surprises - it's a standard Knight variation - a silver helmet, standard face, standard knightly torso and black/bley legs. The silver spear accessory is also pretty common. A good play value and a clear welcome to the Castle Theme, but that's about it. 

Let's hope tomorrow's door will spruce things up a bit.

Advent Madness: VS Day 1

Advent Madness Day One

VERSUS

If you haven't already taken a look at the revised Advent Calendar Wars page, you might want to do so now. It introduces Player A and Player B, as well as going over the setup and rules for our little contest...

DAY ONE:

And so it begins. Player A, having graciously given the rights to the Castle theme to Player B won the right to go first. 

Player A opens her first door

As expected, the first door of the CITY calendar yielded a mini-figure. This chicken-wielding fellow is Player A's HERO. (Double damage and a chance at a stupendous feat per turn)

Lacking any other real options, she places him in the Player A STAGING AREA (the small square at the rear edge of her side of the table)

The Lonely Hero

Player B was eager to start her turn as well. Here she is tearing into her Calendar. (So much for MIB collectibility!)

Gimmie!

The Day One Knight Figure becomes Player B's first HERO. (The last figure to emerge will also be a hero, per our rules adjustments. See the Advent Wars page for details.)

Again, with no other real options, the hero goes into the STAGING AREA to await...tomorrow!

Bring it on!

Sure, it's a slow start, but you have to expect that. If you find it comforting, imagine that the two mini-figures shouted threats at each other across the battlefield. 

Episode 573

Read the comic here.

I doubt I really need to explain this, but here's a link to the "other" TSA.

 To be fair, I've never had a problem in my interaction with TSA agents. (Although there are plenty of horror stories to go around.) I just object to idiotic rules and restictions based on a culture of fear.  But I'm wacky like that.