Warlord Games Mystery Box

 Once again, I have given into the power of a dark bargain.

This time it was the Warlord Games Mystery Box which enticed me. Though not normally a gambling man, I decided upon the Black Powder era box in the hopes of getting a wide range of figures and oddities to use for pirate games and Turnips and colonials alike. The Black Powder name does cover everything from the early 18th century to the early 20th, after all.

In hindsight, I probably should have expected this. Napoleonics all the way down. Due to the way that Warlord lays out their sprues I do not think using them for Turnip28 would be a good idea, except perhaps for some of the horsemen. I suppose this means that at some point I will be getting into Napoleonics proper. I could resell the kits, and very well might, but the idea of doing some Russian-styled winter bases on the French infantry is growing on me by the day. In terms of value this is pretty incredible, since the starter box already has a unit discount on top of the box discount. This more than halves what I would consider the average price of a historical figure when looked at as a whole. The caveat here is that, unlike the Perry Brothers or Victrix, Warlord Games has their Napoleonic figures as monopose. But for doing rank and file instead of Silver Bayonet Skirmishing or relatively low-count Turnipbashing this is probably reasonable choice.

The company did send me one additional sprue of Peninsular British which I will find a use for someway or another. You can see the monopose nature of Warlord Sprues on display here. I do feel somewhat ungrateful for wanting boxes from completely random and potentially incompatible figure lines instead of the curated and thought-out starter experience I received, but I doubt Warlord was planning for a customer with my extremely eclectic tastes in era. The next time a mystery box is on sale I will try to restrain the bargain hunter in my soul, not due to price or value but simply because I really should try to paint these figures first. All 249 of them, give or take.

This may take some time.

How I Detail Hexmaps

 Innovation from Inspiration, or something along those lines.

Before Kill Team devoured my free hours I had been spending some time on and off with a new style of hexmap creation. Broadly, it follows my previous method, but with layers. Doing this lets me change the map scale in fun ways, like here where I am able to move it from 1-mile hexes to purely 6-mile:

Of course, I did forget to make two separate layers for settlements, so the 1-mile villages are visible on the same scale as the 6-mile towns and cities which does somewhat clutter the intended effect. Experimentation tends to have a few hiccups in the name of progress.

This is what it looks like in GIMP, I really appreciate how easy it is to toggle different layers on and off. The paint bucket is somewhat more finnicky to use however, which is why colour shades vary less or more than what I really wanted. Now, do you see the option for "6mileColor"?

This is a political map! I have moved beyond simply making terrain and into the realm of intrigue and backstabbing. The process to make this level was taken from Skerples' OSR fast mapping technique, but I did not stick too closely since I am working at a different map scale and with some preexisting terrain ideas. The light/heavy forests, medium green and dark green respectively, did come out in interesting shapes as a result of this system. The political scale is smaller than Skerples' version, but I take this to be the result of a more Italy-like fragmentation of city states than a discrepancy. Compared to just working out the borders by feel I think I did enjoy this more, as unexpected results open pathways for fun. It is the sort of thing I would want to run once or twice more on different maps before committing though, to get a feel for any quirks or ways to make it produce consistently interesting results.

The reason that villages and 1-mile detail only dot a small part of the map is because I decided to only detail what I would consider the starting 7 hexes, with the idea that I could expand quickly outwards using the same generation method between sessions. This is not something I have tried before, but the concept does interest me. For that to happen I would first need to wrangle a group, but since I already have an in-person Pathfinder game where I play and am not in the mood to deal with Online gaming that will have to wait for some time. Time which I should use to practice this even more. For one, a river layer would definitely help. And what about a topography viewer like in Dwarf Fortress? Imagine the implications for sightline gameplay! And it certainly would have no effect on my sanity, to detail 1-mile topography across thousands of hexes. None whatsoever.

My First Game: Week of Kill Team

 My first in-person game with real models, to be precise.

Here you can see the hated foe has been spotted. I was quite pleased to be assigned the table with fully painted and custom terrain, since some of the others were unprimed grey plastic. From what I overheard, painting the Gallowdark set is a rather daunting proposition. I certainly would be wary to try. It is not impossible that my opponent and I were given the table because both of our teams were painted while the loaned teams for newcomers were not. Imagining that to be so somewhat justifies the obscene hours put into getting my team readied.

Being severely tired and also focused on not taking too long with my activations, I only took a few pictures. None of them were of pivotal events in the game, save the last. I tried initially to deploy behind cover, but quickly ran several units out to be unceremoniously shot down. In my rush to paint the team I had not actually read the rules aside from those for team composition, but Kill Team proved about the same complexity as Firelock 198X. Granted, that is the only other wargame I have played, but both do rely more heavily on keywords and a quick time-to-kill compared with battle reports and rulebooks from other games I have looked at.

My opponent was playing his second-ever game and had also almost-but-not-quite finished painting his team. He used the popular "slapchop" method, which I think worked quite well for his figures even if I personally prefer to avoid contrast paints. I wish I could have captured some of the melee bouts, as my Sicarians and his Necrons made quite a dynamic scene with their poses amidst the terrain.

After two initial losses on my end, we began trading kills. Necrons are able to revive, while Cyborgized Humans are not, so after a few turns I was whittled down to a single Skitarii. Despite this, I had managed to hold the midpoint for a turn while harassing the sidelines with my Sicarians, so I had a one-point lead. Unfortunately for me, Necron revival tokens count for objective control so after sacrificing my last Sicarian to clear off his deployment objective I found that he still held it if just barely. In the last turn he took the midpoint, bringing our points to equal. He graciously offered a tie, even though he had killed more units overall. I accepted.

Here is a picture of the last Skitarii, who was also the first painted, hunkering down by my deployment objective. The game took about two hours, not counting setup and emergency last-minute purity seal painting in the store. Next time I hope to print out relevant rules and perhaps write down some notes, since Skitarii rangers are able to freely move out of cover with a command point during the strategy phase, fire with a bonus for not moving first during their activation, and then dart back out of sight. Tactics like that were lost on my painting-addled mind. Of special interest for the future is the potential of running Kill Team from my own house for friends who are adverse to miniature spending. The size of the board and amount of terrain needed was certainly nothing to laugh at, but also much more achievable in my mind once viewed in-person.

But, that will require another team to be painted. Perhaps even two. The prospect frightens and excites me in equal measure.

Hunter Clade: Week of Kill Team

Somehow, I thought this series was titled "Weeks of Kill Team"

In this case, the singular proves more apt.

What happened was thus: I received an email inviting me to a "learn to play Kill Team" event, having signed up to some sort of Game Store mailing list years prior when I painted at the store more frequently. The email promised the presence of preready teams to borrow, and I knew for a fact greytide was common at the store, but I still decided instead to build and paint my own. The event would be in three weeks, I could certainly handle the challenge!

The first week was spent on other projects. By the second, I was ready to begin. I decided on the Hunter Clade mainly because I did not want to come up with a suitable scheme for the Fellgore Ravagers, and because I already had enough pieces to build an Admech team lying around. Taking the advice of the internet, I decided to try building in assembly. Previously, I would sometimes paint rifle arms separately, but only by holding them in my fingers. Attaching them to bases here was a great help. Initially I taped the paperclips to the stands after drilling into the assemblies but eventually I moved to glue. Legs and heads were done separately for all of the Ranger figures, but arms would be attached if they did not cover a significant area. Backpacks were done separately after the first, and in the case of figures with power cables the backpacks and arms would be part of a single extremely delicate assembly. The lead Ruststalker was also done in assembly, but the other Ruststalkers were done whole.

The Surveyor was the test case, and took the rest of the week to puzzle out. I did not finish, and do not consider any of the figures actually done yet. They require glowing eyes, and glowing weapons in some cases. Some additional cleanup in places, shading in others, and edge highlights on the cloak edges could certainly not hurt either.

His screen was a pleasure, though I do not think I could replicate it as it was a maddened process of correction against correction.

Connecting the arms and packs of the two figures who had connecting cables was a pain. You can see here a stronger glue was required, and it stained the figure somewhat while still keeping the arms awkwardly offset. I did dryfit repeatedly during assembly, but I think that either the cable shifted or the paint changed something. In the future I will connect the cable only during assembly, as a single power link should be easier to repaint than entire shoulder regions.

The recipe thus far is a three-part Zenithal with black-grey-white, then to paint the red areas with Rhinox Hide, highlight them with Doomnbull Brown, Drybrush with Mephiston Red, then Wash with washified Black Templar/Old Nuln Oil, and then Drybrush again with Mephiston. Pants are Corvus Black, Cables Abbadon, and Wood is Mournfang Brown. All Three of those are washed with Black Templar. The metals are Retributor washed Templar and then Reikland Fleshshade for gold, while the iron is Leadbelcher washed Templar, rehiglighted with Leadbelcher, and then half-washed half-layered with thinned Typhus Corrosion. That last step is hard to describe but perhaps similar to an accelerated oil wash. The optics and special weapons are not done yet and so will be covered later. The base is Astrogranite, I had wanted Astrogranite Debris but picked up the wrong pot by mistake, washed with New Nuln Oil and drybrushed with Celestra Grey. The pipes on some of the bases are sprue bits painted Warplock and washed heavily in a random mix, but I do not recommend them as part of the scheme for the moment.

The poses on the Ruststalkers are a personal ideal to live up to. I suspect I will be using figures like this one as models for my own conversions in the future. Absolutely awe-inspiring. Their scheme is the same as the Rangers, but their armour is Vallejo Scarlet layered normally, washed Templar, and rehighlighted with Scarlet. I was missing more parts from this kit than the Rangers, so I had to improvise with poses on several units and sculpt portions for others.

The unit, affectionately known as "Bonehead", was the most dramatic improvisation, since I have fully run out of Ruststalker gas masks. They are simply too good of a part for conversions. The head is made from a random skull, the lower half of a Sicarian Infiltrator's head, and a Skaven tail. 

I layered some blood effects around the join point for grodiness.

The Princeps was done in assembly, combining the techniques from both types of unit. The head is probably my favorite piece of the whole kit, and that is against some stiff competition.

Doing nine figures in a week was a bad idea. It was not the initial idea, but after losing the first week to another project and spending the second week developing the scheme it is what happened. The scheme was intended to be easy to paint, with lots of drybrushing and washes, but even with that advantage I put at least 30 hours into the project in that last week. By my personal standards that was excessive. Instead of painting smarter I ended up just painting harder, finishing at 3:00 am on the Friday night before the event, and not even properly finishing!

But the results, unfinished as they currently stand, are hardly displeasing at least.

The Second Veruzian War

 Ten years to the day.

Our timeline of events in this chapter is as follows:

EVENT	DATE(REAL)	DATE (ROBERTS)	HISTORY PARALLEL
Holodeck built	December 28th, 2015:	2/5/1866	Oil Production Boom
Rohan annexed	December 30th, 2015:	6/29/1866	Austro-Prussian War
Cold War Alliance Building Superweapon construction	December 31, 2015: Through January 28, 2016:	9/9/1866	Palmerston Forts, Ironclads, Progress!
VE War 2 Start BE-XE-13 VS VE Elves Neutral	January 24th, 2016: (Approximate)	~3/17/1872	Franco-Prussian War
VE War 2 End (PROVISIONAL) VER (Republic form) Founded	February 1st, 2016: (Surrender BE on 31, XE on 1) (Approximate)	~5/23/1873	Russo-Turkish War (1877–1878) Treaty of Berlin (1878)

01-23-2016: View of Xenon Tower

THE VERUZIAN COLD WAR:

The Second Veruzian war was born in the annexation of the Rohan. The people of Rohan were another local population of the island of Veruzia, focused around the middle of the island. They bore a notable resemblance to the Rohan of Tolkien’s world, who themselves were modelled after the pre-Norman Saxons of Britain. While not impossible that a similar German Visigoth-influenced group could have settled Veruzia at some point, it is more likely that the Rohan of Veruzia were closer linguistically to the Morlachs or Vlachs of the Balkans. These were Romanian-speaking peoples living outside of Romania, often in a rural and pastoralist mode of living. This pastoralist lifestyle encouraged a riding culture and martial proficiency similar to that seen by Tolkien’s Rohan, though other aspects remain unlinked. The Rohan could also be connected to the Rohan noble family of Brittany, or improbably linked to the followers of Adam de Rohan. The latter was an Adamite leader of the Hussite wars who preached a variant of Christianity which reportedly encouraged free love, nudity, and a sharing of property. In either case, the Rohan were an officially stateless people living in a rural existence. During the closing days of the First Veruzian War their representatives were offered a place at the negotiating table alongside Veruzia, the Elves, and one of the many Piratecraft iterations of Rome. As an aside, while the many Romes/SPQRs of the server are extremely relevant to later events of Veruzian history, they are not for the First and Second Veruzian wars. It is assumed henceforth that each represents some political variation of Italy.

The annexation of Rohan territory seems to have been largely consensual, as their leaders were given representation in Veruzia and their sparse settlements reinforced with Veruzian defenses. Given the expansion of the Xenon southwords, it is assumed that the Rohan felt threatened and sided with the more urbanly-centralized Veruzians, who themselves would have no issue with maintaining the Rohans’ traditional lifestyle given that their different modes of living precluded any competition for space. Despite this, the growth and reinforcement of Veruzia so soon after the first war raised hackles amongst other powers. But this was not the only cause for alarm.

Vivenheim, with its Elvish foundations and war scars, proved insufficient after the war. It was decided that a new city would be founded, known as Pallivadia. I pronounce it as Pallidavia, in what I can only assume is a regional accent of Veruzia. The city was heavily fortified, including a complex of fortifications dug into the hillside itself. Administration was split between KingRS in the central areas and myself on the outskirts and docks. The city would grow with astonishing speed. By the turn of the 20th century it would even outclass Glasgow in population while nearing Constantinople in density. Migrating Rohirrim of Rohan formed a large contingent of the new city, as well as more waves of Veruzian arrivals from the southern islands. There were many outlying settlements as well, including the central hub of Rohan culture at Dunharrow.

    Much of this rising prosperity can be attributed to technological advancement. WilsonManzer during this time had constructed a reinforced sea-based platform known as the “Holodeck”, which harvested rare resources, perhaps pearls or oil, from the ocean floor. Historically this parallels the sea-based Palmerston forts of the 1860s and the early oil boom of Pennsylvania. Actual offshore oil rigs were still decades out, but in the shallower waters of the coastal Adriatic some form of poulder could potentially be constructed. Coal mines by this point had already reached below the ocean floor when dug from land, for a similar example. Regardless, the Holodeck was a lynchpin of Veruzia's rising prosperity after the first war.

Alongside the Rohan, Veruzia sought diplomatic alliances with the SPQR, who play the part of the Kingdom of Italy, and the Entarian Alliance. The latter was a state which had fought against the 0utlaws as well, being founded with the aid of a former British subject. While not a one-to-one parallel, Greece seems a decent blueprint of the Entarians. Lord Byron is not InventorJohn, but the comparison works in an abstract sense. Veruzia seeking allies from two states directly on its borders, nations which presumably wanted at least some of the land held by Veruzia, might seem odd. It makes sense once the Ottoman and Austrian empires are considered, as both powers would have been greater mutual opponents of all three members of the so-called “Federated Nations Alliance”.

Veruzia was rising again. Faster than before, more advanced, and this time with allies. The unexpected resulted. The Xenon Empire, still playing the role of Austria, asked to join. So too did the 13 Colonies, substituting for America. What was originally a military alliance was shifting into an economic and political block in opposition to the British and Elves, who themselves were only loosely associated at this point compared with the later Entente Cordial. The Xenon however still remained part of the Anglo-Elven “League of Nations”, not the historical organization we know but closer to the Concert of Europe maintained between Britain, the Elves, and the Xenon. Their membership in the FNA was not long however, as they were removed after information about the Entarians was smuggled out to the LoN. These leaked plans set the stage for the final stage of the Veruzian Cold War, the Superweapons arms race.

The Entarians had been producing an “Orbital Bombardment System”, which was in reality a battery of cannons placed at a high mountain altitude designed to fire defensively over incredible ranges into passes and chokepoints. The “Orbital” in the name referred to how the cannons could be rapidly rotated in and out of position on tracks to ensure a steady pace of fire. Despite this, the name and secrecy attached to the project were more than enough to spur the powers of the LoN to action. What separates this arms race from the Dreadnought Rush or the Nuclear race of the 20th century was that no single theme existed, and that few of the projects saw completion. The Entarian system was only half-finished and much less impressive than it seemed, while the dreaded “Elven Bio-Weapon” was in reality a series of munitions and pharmaceutical facilities distributed across several cities. The Elves were the most prolific creators of Superweapons of one sort or another, innovating early flamethrower designs and constructing large artillery platforms in their homeland. These would not see use in the Second Veruzian war, as the Elves did not participate, and would only make a halfhearted effort during the Franco-Prussian war the year before. This resembles the real failure of the Mitrailleuse volley guns France held during that same war. The British meanwhile drew up a plan for “Super Massive Ship”, before scrapping the idea due to cost and technical limitations. Considering the date, it could well have been an attempt at a weaponized version of Brunel’s Great Eastern, which had launched less than a decade before as the world’s largest ship. Only the Xenon actually used a Superweapon in the conflict, that being the infamous Xenon tower. The structure was a monstrous ten story building, built over a decade before the Home Insurance Building would be crowned as the first skyscraper. It rose from a harbour north of Pallidavia, just across the border. Sixty-four cannons peered out from various floors, looming on the horizon of Veruzia’s newborn capital. In basic function it resembled coastal artillery positions constructed throughout the 19th century, but at a scale comparable only to the German Flak towers of the Second World War. This was not defensive, like the system of the Entarians or the Elven fortifications. The Xenon tower was made for one purpose, to bombard the city of Pallidavia. This threat spurred Veruzia to action. Instead of constructing Superweapons the nation worked diplomatically to try and placate the British while founding seven new settlements around Pallidavia, linked with fortification systems and Veruzia’s first railways. Rather than maintaining a strong border as they had tried with the First Veruzian War, now the nation intended to create a ring of defenses around an already heavily fortified core. It had worked before with Vivenheim, it would have to work this time as well.

The Bombardment of Pallidavia

THE SECOND VERUZIAN WAR:

    Veruzia sabotaged itself. The Entarians, who had started the whole arms race with their bombardment system, were removed from the FNA. This was done apparently to expel the more aggressive member of the alliance in an effort to appear less expansionist. It left the bloc with only the SPQR and Veruzia, with the latter handling negotiations. But by this time it was already much too late to try and present the FNA as a commercial partnership instead of a military alliance, and even if the plan had succeeded the Xenon tower was still nearing completion with seven stories finished. The Veruzians had a slim chance of averting war if they managed to calm the British, who could keep the Xenon in check. KingRS took charge of negotiations with the British Prime Minister, CrazyPirate1. In our history, the British PM of the time was Gladstone, who will be important shortly. These last-minute negotiations proved not only insufficient, but actually provided a casus belli to the British after repeated exchanges of threats and insults. In early 1872 the British declared war, followed by the 13 Colonies and the Xenon Empire.

Gladstone’s foreign policy often reflected a preference for democratic systems, as seen with his protests over the German annexation of Alsace-Lorraine without a plebiscite. To this end, the British war goals were to force the abdication of KingRS and establish a Veruzian Republic. The 13 Colonies backed this goal, while the Xenon were lukewarm to the idea and instead only wanted more land and to permanently halt Veruzian expansionism. Considering that the Austrian monarchs themselves were in a fairly precarious situation it is understandable as to why they would not want to set a precedent of removing regional nobility from power. Veruzia meanwhile had no stated war aims, and was never in a strong enough position to decide upon any.

The war began at the top of the Xenon tower. It was not yet complete, but enough guns were in position to begin the bombardment of Pallidavia. The 13 Colonies also bombarded the city from the harbour, although their overall participation in the war was limited. Considering that America did not historically intervene in Europe at all in this decade it makes sense that the only assistance provided would come from a passing ship or perhaps an independent filibuster. Whereas the First Veruzian War was defined by guerilla warfare in greater Veruzia and a prolonged siege of Vivenheim, the Second was, with a single exception, defined by the bombardment of Pallidavia. The Xenon could bring industrial quantities of fire onto the capital, and unlike with Bismarck at Paris a year earlier there was no respite to be granted. The Veruzians had after all, in the eyes of the Xenon, started this conflict by settling the island in the first place. For their part, the British aided in this bombardment and provided ground forces to skirmish around the outer fortifications of Pallidavia and its satellite settlements. But their greatest contribution would be at sea.

The Holodeck was razed by the Royal Navy. This was destruction of a new intensity, where the machinery and structure of the platform itself were fed to a great conflagration before sinking beneath the waves. Before the platform had completely collapsed there was intense fighting both above and below the waves in the many chambers and tunnels of the facility, the Veruzian defenders flushed out before the platform itself was demolished. One member of the Xenon present at the raid, steentje321, would be commended and memorialized in statuary for his actions during this desperate fight. By the end of the battle not a scrap of iron or stone would be left above the surface.

The SPQR did not join in the conflict, seeing which way the wind was blowing and not prepared for another war against the Xenon so soon after 1866. The Elves, likewise shaken by the recent Franco-Prussian War, did nothing to intervene. They did, however, offer sanctuary to Veruzians fleeing the conflict. Whether this was to lay the groundwork for postwar influence or out of pity and guilt for their own war against the Veruzians remains unclear. The SPQR’s abstention left Veruzia alone against two great powers. Pallidavia continued to hold out. The leadership of Veruzia and most of the remaining defenders spent their time in the fortified underground complex they had constructed before the war, listening to the detonations overhead. The inhabitants by this point had either taken up arms to join the defense or left, rendering the city lifeless aside from marching patrols of soldiers and the constant blast of explosions. In the moments between when the tower would fire, nothing at all could be heard.

Pallidavia survived fourteen months of sustained bombardment, taking cover in basements and bunkers while the surface was pounded to dust. In 1873, the Veruzian Empire ceased to exist. KingRS agreed to abdicate, while WilsonManzer took control of the state. No longer an empire, the new Veruzian Republic limped slowly to the negotiating table. Considering the severity of the defeat, the terms were light. All claims to Xenon territory were formally renounced, chunks of the border regions were given to the Xenon, and a neutral zone was established between the two nations to avoid further friction. Vivenheim was occupied and partially demolished by British soldiers during this time, with the resources and manpower going towards the partial reconstruction of Pallidavia. The city would grow in population again, but never prosperity. The old walls would be torn down and instead a vast sprawling settlement would take its place, low and hungry. In time it would be abandoned, but in the immediate period following the end of the Second Veruzian War it stood as a stark reminder of how much had been lost. No more railways would operate, and neither would the Holodeck ever be rebuilt. Previous wars had left Veruzia shattered, it was the curse of the nation, but the Second broke the island of Veruzia in one year what had taken the 0utlaws collective decades to achieve with South Verussi. 

PERSONAL ASIDE:

Piratecraft was not the first time I interacted with other people on the internet. It was, however, the first time I did so like this. Not by sharing resources or making silly jokes, but through conflict and in some instances even in fear of others. My typing style in the following screenshots is rather different than how it is nowadays, and there is an obvious reason behind that. I am not about to claim that being raided on a Minecraft server cost me my youthful innocence, but it did impact me in ways I only appreciated much later. For one, calling it a raid is somewhat underplaying the event. Due to how the siege plugin of the server works, players are required to stay online and alive within claimed land to prevent it from becoming partially destructible. Thusly, whenever an attack was launched we would have to wait for hours at a time underground for the bombardment to dissipate and for the attackers to grow bored or run out of time. I was logging in for afternoon fun and finding myself suddenly embroiled in a conflict for the survival of a nation and people where all I could do was sit and wait for an inevitable defeat by an overwhelming force as all that I had built over so many afternoons of simple fun was put at risk through shot and shell. This is a dramatic description, but subconsciously I was intaking this information. Unlike MMO games or rigid Roleplay servers with an unchanging status quo, Veruzia could have died there, never to be revived. Even though we lost and were changed, the mere act of having avoided that death was something that I felt I had contributed to materially. I was not a player on a stage but a genuine historical figure. This inflated sense of self was probably not helped a few years later when a brief article on the Piratecraft wiki was written about me. Still, a little ego can go a long way. I do not think I would be writing this post if I had not been recognized then. At the same time, there was a sadness to the war as well. New lands had opened on the borders of the world and Pallidavia suddenly felt not only damaged but antiquated and small. Both to get away from future conflict and to explore the new regions of the world I left, remaining a Veruzian but staying outside of the future settlements. I took a few hiatuses on and off but stayed Veruzian through it all. Eventually everyone else was banned or moved on, though I do still see KingRS once or twice a year. Pallidavia was the last time I cohabitated with so many other players on Piratecraft, and now I am standing at the far end of a decade of self-isolation and realizing that I am the last man alive. Well, not exactly, but I am the last self-avowed Veruzian to still play. This is my own fault, I did not work much to grow the crew and when I did I failed to maintain that growth, but few of the new connections I made ever felt like they had before the war. Did I lose something in the conflict or had I just grown out of a phase? It is hard to tell.

Try not to read too much into all of this. The patterns of Piratecraft are limited to one server and not some meta reflection on my whole life up until this point. For the most part, anyways. 

COLOURIZED PHOTOGRAPHS:

12-14-2015: Sunset view of Pallidavia

12-21-2015: Interior of the Holodeck

12-21-2015: Interior of the Holodeck

12-21-2015: Interior of the Holodeck

01-24-2016: Start of Hostilities

01-26-2016: Sheltering in Place Within the Holodeck

01-30-2016: Survey of a Single Day’s Outer Bombardment Damage

    What is next? Uniforms, to be certain. But perhaps after that an exploration of Pallidavian architecture? The state of the Veruzian navy? Maybe even a tour of New Pallidavia. The Great Roman War and the Veruzian Civil War will definitely have to wait for me to recover, though perhaps not for their respective ten year anniversaries.

It is my hope that you have enjoyed this month-long coverage of the Second Veruzian War. Ten years is not so long after all, and yet simultaneously an eternity to look back upon. But until we return to this place, I have only one more thing to leave you with:

Viva Veruzi!