Tim

Re: A Thread for Random Videos
 
The truth about those chain e-mails.
http://www.softlab.ece.ntua.gr/%7Esivann/pub/swf/may02-smilepop-soapbox4.swf

Re: "Neat" Pictures
 
The Air Force plane may be an F-16, or an FA-18 Superhornet..
 
Another link to info about the P-40 : http://www.wpafb.af.mil/museum/research/p40.htm
 
EDIT::Using the links provided it has to be a Superhornet. An F-16 only has one tail.

Re: Longest Running Thread EVER
 

Just saw your post. I should be able to whip up something shortly. BTW, the sorting is your responsibility from within HD.

Re: Musings on Random Musings
 
good job.
 
You must spread rep around, yada yada

Re: City of Heroes - Online Hero Game
 
apparently if you type in "/COV 1" while in the tailor you can access all the villian peices in COH.

Re: Quote of the Week from my gaming group...
 
Well most Super fights are nothing but abuse on both parties.

Yes, I'm almost serious. Some of you may know Bruce McCall, an artist who appeared in many many magazines over the last 40 or so years. He makes some wonderfully whimsical pieces and I thought I'd share a few with you. Specifically, these would be of tremendous aid to anyone doing a Pulp/Anime style of game with large monstrous ridiculous vehicles.
 
I'll put each pic/description in it's own post, as otherwise, this will be one long sucker, and if it hoses halfway through, I don't want to have to retype it all again.
 
Okay, away we go.
 
The Caproni-Maroni C2 "Scud", sometimes called "The Instant Reversing Fighter" was a design anomaly. The sleek pusher/puller prop design was fast and strangely manueverable with the addition of the centerline ailerons. But its main claim to fame was the ability to reverse thrust at a moments notice (comparitively) and zoom off in another direction entirely. The designers did not wish to ruin the lines of their creation with any unsightly guns, so this unique ability proved more useful than might be thought.
 

Re: Answers & Questions
 

Q: So if we cross the wires we should get a spark, and then we'll be able to .... what are you staring at?
 
A: They are trying to run.

Re: A Thread for Random Musings
 
Objects in the beer-veiw mirror may be uglier than they appear.

Re: Superhero Images
 
Here are some new character images I recently uploaded to the WestGuard site (I've not yet written descriptions for them all):
 
http://www.westguard.org/index.php?title=Cryotron
http://www.westguard.org/index.php?title=Idea_Men
http://www.westguard.org/index.php?title=Nuvo
http://www.westguard.org/index.php?title=Ganyeka
http://www.westguard.org/index.php?title=Nightveil
http://www.westguard.org/index.php?title=Grimknight
 
I also wrote installation instructions for the software that made them:
 
http://www.rpglibrary.org/jump.php?id=367

Re: Quote of the Week from my gaming group...
 
"Okay, that's it...we're going to need a bigger dragon."
 
 
-----
 
 
"Hey...just because I haven't died, then been brought back by some kind of lizard shaman and gotten superpowers as a result, doesn't mean my life isn't complicated!"
 
 
-----
 
 
"Okay, I'm going to change forms to Hathor, wearing a FedEx uniform...as no FedEx uniform has ever been worn before!"
 
 
-----
 
"And thus the main guns of the battleship Missouri are used to shoot down a mosquito."
 
(referring to Hathor turning the full force of her attentions on a mere mortal.)
 
 
-----
 
 
Dr. Anomaly's sister, Rebecca: "Come in and sit down, Solomon...or should I say, 'Dr. Anomaly'?"
 
Dr. Anomaly: (stunned silence, followed by) "How...when...how long have you known? How did you find out?"
 
Rebecca: "I've only known for a few minutes; I never had cause to probe your mind before, and never suspected my brother was more than the flake the popular press thinks he is. In hindsight, of course, it should have been obvious."
 
Dr. Anomaly: "Waitaminute...my sister is a metanormal? Rebecca, when did this happen?!?"
 
 
-----
 
 
Rebecca: "Honestly, Solomon, at this point, I think we should move any further discussion to my laboratory/HQ." (She flips a concealed switch and a bookcase slides aside, revealing a hidden staircase leading downward. A faint hum of some kind of esoteric power generator can be heard from below.)
 
Kathleen: "Solomon, why doesn't our base have a secret laboratory like this?"
 
Solomon: "Do you have any idea how difficult it is to try and remodel an indestructible, invulnerable building?"

Re: Quote of the Week from my gaming group...
 
Set Up: The player characters have manaed to catch Mentalla and Durak, and have successfully transported them to Stronghold. This week, with a partial group, we role played a Eurostar Recruitment Drive as Fiacho plans to free his comrades.
 
Fiacho: My mind is ablaze, sparking with flashes of thought spiraling into a towering crescendo of creative alternatives!
Space Cowboy (played by M): Gol dammit Mr. Fiacho, you use your tongue prettier than a twenty dollar whore!
---
Fiacho (addressing the gathered mob of third string super villains): You, my fine friends, are the very scum of evil! You are that which has risen to the top! You are terrorists, cut throats, mercenaries, murderers, bounty hunters, mugs, pugs, thugs, vipers, snipers, con men, perverts, pederasts, muggers, freedom fighters, hackers, horse thieves, bull dykes, ***-kickers, ****-kickers and Scientologists!
---
Fiacho: Gentlemen, to Evil!
 

The players performed a raid on the HQ of the Sydney Harbour Patrol, Sydney's premier Super Team, in order to obtain computer codes needed for Fiacho's scheme. Ilya Mourometz (played by M) and Ephemra (NPC) created a distraction by raiding the Powerhouse Museum while Cold Mary (played by SatinKitty) broke into the Harbour Patrol HQ and hacked their computers
 
Illa Mourometz (M), is at the bottom of a long flight of steps, surrounded by more than a dozen full baby carriages that he has saved as Ephemra sent them down the stairs, one after the next - "Stop pushing babies!"
--
 
Harrier and Brigade of the Sydney Harbour Patrol arive on the scene
 
Brigade - Oy! He's stealing babies!
 
They attack the huge, costumed Illya, ignoring the plain clothed Ephemra.

Illya Mourometz (M) - And people say Illya is dumb.
--
 
Cold Mary (SatinKitty) is caught red handed by Walkabout as she finishes copying the last of the data she needs. Walkabout succeeds at performing a Cover maneuver.
 
Walkabout - Hold it right there, little girl. Stand up slowly and step away from the computer.
 
Cold Mary (SatinKitty) - Didn't you get the memo? About the Virus? (Makes Seduction and Persuasion rolls, criticals the Seduction roll)
 
Walkabout - What virus? (breaks Cover)
 
Cold Mary - (Attacks).
 
---

Illya Mourometz, after being captured, is given a perfect opportunity to escape.
 
Illya Mourometz (M) - I break the chains! (rolls very well, breaks the chains in two phases).
 
GM - Good. You hear an alarm sound, but there's no one here at the moment. Now what do you do?
 
Illya - I sulk!
 
GM - Don't you want to escape?
 
Illya - No! [The heroes] locked me up, after I saved all those babies!? Fiacho partners me with that ***** Ephemra? I sit right down in my cell, cross my legs and sulk. Let them fight their own battles.
 
GM - OK.
 
Illya - Maybe I'll just get 500 hours of community service.

Re: A Thread for Random Videos
 
Crazy Frog
 
ding ding.

Re: Storn's Art & Characters thread.
 
its not great i'm not really happy with the colour i think the skin tone could be adjusted a little its a bit to yellow and the eyes where basically just cut out and then extended a little with transform but not to bad for 5 minutes work
link to the image

Re: Storn's Art & Characters thread.
 
I have a feeling that these next two commissions will not generate as much feedback as the scantily dressed Glamour. Something about underclothed superheroines... just don't get it! (re: sarcasm).
 
These two are for patron Death Tribble.
 

 

Re: Musings on Random Musings
 

Dude, he just hasn't shaved in a couple of weeks.

Re: Longest Running Thread EVER
 
Sven and Ole walk into a pet shop near Brainerd. They
head to the bird section and Sven says to Ole, "Dat's
dem."
The owner comes over and asks if he can help them.
"Yah sure! , ve'll take four of dem dere little budgies in dat cage up dere," says Sven.
The owner puts the budgies in a paper bag. Ole and
Sven pay for the birds, leave the shop, get into
Sven's pick-up, and drive to the top of some big
cliffs near Brainerd Lake. At the cliffs, Sven looks
down at the 1000 foot drop and says, "Dis looks like a
grand place."
He takes two birds out of the bag, puts them on his
shoulders and jumps off the cliff. Ole watches as
Sven falls all the way to the bottom, killing himself dead.
Looking down at the remains of his best pal, Ole
shakes his head and says, "By yumpin' yiminy, dis
budgie jumping is too dangerous for me."
 
VAIT!!! Dere's MORE!
 
Moments later Knute arrives up at the cliffs. He's
been to the pet shop, too, and walks up to the edge of
the cliff carrying another paper bag in one hand and
a shotgun in the other.
"Hey, Ole. Vatch dis," Knute says. He takes a parrot
from the bag and throws himself over the edge of the
cliff. Ole watches as half way down, Knute takes the
gun and blasts the parrot. Knute continues to
plummet down and down until he hits the bottom and
breaks every bone in his body.
Ole shakes his head and says, "And I'm never trying
dat parrotshooting either."
 
BUT VAIT!!! Dere's MORE, you betcha!!
 
Ole is just getting over the shock of losing two
friends when Lars appears. He's also been to the pet
shop and is carrying a paper bag, out of which he
pulls a chicken. Larson grasps the chicken by the
legs, holds it over his head, and hurls himself off
the cliff and disappears down and down until he hits a
rock and breaks his spine. Once more Ole shakes his
head and laments, "First der was Sven with his
budgie jumping, den Knute parrotshooting, and now
Larson hengliding."

Re: Longest Running Thread EVER
 
history-believe it or not
 
The following excerpts are actual answers given on history tests and in Sunday school quizzes by children between 5th and 6th grade ages in Ohio. They were collected over a period of three years by two teachers. Read carefully for grammar, misplaced modifiers, and of course, spelling! Kids should rule the world, as it would be a laugh a minute for us adults and therefore no time to war or argue.
 
-------------------------------------------------------------
 
Ancient Egypt was old. It was inhabited by gypsies and mummies who all wrote in hydraulics. They lived in the Sarah Dessert. The climate Of the Sarah is such that all the inhabitants have to live elsewhere.
 
-------------------------------------------------------------
 
Moses led the Hebrew slaves to the Red Sea where they made unleavened bread, which is bread made without any ingredients. Moses went up on Mount Cyanide to get the ten commandos. He died before he ever reached Canada but the commandos made it .
 
-------------------------------------------------------------
 
Solomon had three hundred wives and seven hundred porcupines. He was an actual hysterical figure as well as being in the bible. It sounds Like he was sort of busy too.
 
------------------------------------------------------------
 
The Greeks were a highly sculptured people, and without them we wouldn't have history. The Greeks also had myths. A myth is a young female moth.
 
-------------------------------------------------------------
 
Socrates was a famous old Greek teacher who went around giving people advice. They killed him. He later died from an overdose of wedlock . Which is apparently poisonous. After his death, his career suffered a Dramatic decline.
 
-------------------------------------------------------------
In the first Olympic games, Greeks ran races, jumped, hurled biscuits, and threw the java. The games were messier then than they show on TV now.
 
-------------------------------------------------------------------
 
Julius Caesar extinguished himself on the battlefields of Gaul. The Ides of March murdered him because they thought he was going to be made king. Dying, he gasped out "Same to you, Brutus."
 
-------------------------------------------------------------
 
Joan of Arc was burnt to a steak and was canonized by Bernard Shaw for reasons I don't really understand. The English and French still have problems.
 
-------------------------------------------------------------
 
Queen Elizabeth was the "Virgin Queen," As a queen she was a success. When she exposed herself before her troops they all shouted "hurrah!" and that was the end of the fighting for a long while.
 
-------------------------------------------------------------
 
It was an age of great inventions and discoveries. Gutenberg invented removable type and the Bible. Another important invention was the circulation of blood.
 
-------------------------------------------------------------
 
Sir Walter Raleigh is a historical figure because he invented Cigarettes and started smoking.
 
-------------------------------------------------------------
 
Sir Francis Drake circumcised the world with a 100 foot clipper which was very dangerous to all his men.
 
-------------------------------------------------------------
 
The greatest writer of the Renaissance was William Shakespeare. He was born in the year 1564, supposedly on his birthday. He never made much money and is famous only because of his plays. He wrote tragedies, comedies, and hysterectomies, all in Islamic pentameter.
 
-------------------------------------------------------------
 
Writing at the same time as Shakespeare was Miguel Cervantes. He Wrote Donkey Hote. The next great author was John Milton. Milton wrote Paradise Lost. Since then no one ever found it.
 
-------------------------------------------------------------
 
Delegates from the original 13 states formed the Contented Congress. Thomas Jefferson, a Virgin, and Benjamin Franklin were two singers of the Declaration of Independence. Franklin discovered electricity by Rubbing two cats backward and also declared, "A horse divided against itself cannot stand." He was a naturalist for sure. Franklin died in 1790 and is still dead.
 
-------------------------------------------------------------
 
Abraham Lincoln became America's greatest Precedent. Lincoln's Mother died in infancy, and he was born in a log cabin which he built with his own hands. Abraham Lincoln freed the slaves by signing the Emasculation Proclamation.
 
_________________________________________________________________
 
On the night of April 14, 1865, Lincoln went to the theater and got Shot in his seat by one of the actors in a moving picture show. They believe the assinator was John Wilkes Booth, a supposingly insane actor. This ruined Booth's career
 
-------------------------------------------------------------
 
Johann Bach wrote a great many musical compositions and had a large number of children. In between he practiced on an old spinster which he kept up in his attic. Bach died from 1750 to the present. Bach was the most famous composer in the world and so was Handel. Handel was half German, half Italian, and half English. He was very large.
 
-------------------------------------------------------------
 
Bethoven wrote music even though he was deaf. He was so deaf that he wrote loud music and became the father of rock and roll. He took long walks in the forest even when everyone was calling for him. Beethoven expired in 1827 and later died for this.
 
-------------------------------------------------------------
 
The nineteenth century was a time of a great many thoughts and inventions. People stopped reproducing by hand and started reproducing by machine. The invention of the steamboat caused a network of rivers to spring up.
 
-------------------------------------------------------------
 
Cyrus McCormick invented the McCormick raper, which did the work of a hundred men.
 
-------------------------------------------------------------
 
Louis Pasteur discovered a cure for rabbits but I don't know why.
 
-----------------------------------------------------
 
Charles Darwin was a naturalist. He wrote the Organ of the Species. It was very long people got upset about it and had trials to see if it was really true. He sort of said God's days were not just 24 hours but without watches who knew anyhow? I don't get it.
 
-------------------------------------------------------------
 
Madman Curie discovered radio. She was the first woman to do what she did. Other women have become scientists since her but they didn't get to find radios because they were already taken.
 
-------------------------------------------------------------
 
Karl Marx was one of the Marx Brothers. The other three were in the movies. Karl made speeches and started revolutions. Someone in the family had to have a job, I guess

Re: Quote of the Week from my gaming group...
 
Somewhat HERO-System-specific humor:
 
WITCH HAZEL: "Shasta, if you get Knocked Out while you're in your tree-form, I don't know how I'll be able to carry you off the ship."
 
SHASTA: "If I get Knocked Out, I revert to my humanoid form. It's not a Persistent Vegetative State."

Re: A Thread for Random Musings
 
Happy President's Day!
Today, since I am not working, I've been going over Aaron Allston's Random superhero generator from Champions, and puting it into Hero Designer. But I can't leave well enough alone. I love the generator but still tweaked it. I'm just starting secondary powers and have altered just about everything. Checklist Hero Set is going down. I've just decided it's way too broke to leave. I've tried to keep the point totals the same but I will be altering it. No more senses in Multipowers And I've added a few power sets, blew up the attribute sets and separated them into initial and secondary 100 pts and 25 pts. Because I likes more categories. I also plan on expanding it in other ways. I liked it because when all was said and done you had a 350 pt character. I'm adding Experience or Power Adders so that you can create 350, 500, 750, and 1000 pts characters. There needs to be more Disadvantate Sets...this is fun. A good thing to do on a day off. *happily hums to himself while transcribing and fiddling*
 
Thanks to Dan Simon for this wonderful toy, this Hero Designer.

Re: Longest Running Thread EVER
 
history-believe it or not
 
The following excerpts are actual answers given on history tests and in Sunday school quizzes by children between 5th and 6th grade ages in Ohio. They were collected over a period of three years by two teachers. Read carefully for grammar, misplaced modifiers, and of course, spelling! Kids should rule the world, as it would be a laugh a minute for us adults and therefore no time to war or argue.
 
-------------------------------------------------------------
 
Ancient Egypt was old. It was inhabited by gypsies and mummies who all wrote in hydraulics. They lived in the Sarah Dessert. The climate Of the Sarah is such that all the inhabitants have to live elsewhere.
 
-------------------------------------------------------------
 
Moses led the Hebrew slaves to the Red Sea where they made unleavened bread, which is bread made without any ingredients. Moses went up on Mount Cyanide to get the ten commandos. He died before he ever reached Canada but the commandos made it .
 
-------------------------------------------------------------
 
Solomon had three hundred wives and seven hundred porcupines. He was an actual hysterical figure as well as being in the bible. It sounds Like he was sort of busy too.
 
------------------------------------------------------------
 
The Greeks were a highly sculptured people, and without them we wouldn't have history. The Greeks also had myths. A myth is a young female moth.
 
-------------------------------------------------------------
 
Socrates was a famous old Greek teacher who went around giving people advice. They killed him. He later died from an overdose of wedlock . Which is apparently poisonous. After his death, his career suffered a Dramatic decline.
 
-------------------------------------------------------------
In the first Olympic games, Greeks ran races, jumped, hurled biscuits, and threw the java. The games were messier then than they show on TV now.
 
-------------------------------------------------------------------
 
Julius Caesar extinguished himself on the battlefields of Gaul. The Ides of March murdered him because they thought he was going to be made king. Dying, he gasped out "Same to you, Brutus."
 
-------------------------------------------------------------
 
Joan of Arc was burnt to a steak and was canonized by Bernard Shaw for reasons I don't really understand. The English and French still have problems.
 
-------------------------------------------------------------
 
Queen Elizabeth was the "Virgin Queen," As a queen she was a success. When she exposed herself before her troops they all shouted "hurrah!" and that was the end of the fighting for a long while.
 
-------------------------------------------------------------
 
It was an age of great inventions and discoveries. Gutenberg invented removable type and the Bible. Another important invention was the circulation of blood.
 
-------------------------------------------------------------
 
Sir Walter Raleigh is a historical figure because he invented Cigarettes and started smoking.
 
-------------------------------------------------------------
 
Sir Francis Drake circumcised the world with a 100 foot clipper which was very dangerous to all his men.
 
-------------------------------------------------------------
 
The greatest writer of the Renaissance was William Shakespeare. He was born in the year 1564, supposedly on his birthday. He never made much money and is famous only because of his plays. He wrote tragedies, comedies, and hysterectomies, all in Islamic pentameter.
 
-------------------------------------------------------------
 
Writing at the same time as Shakespeare was Miguel Cervantes. He Wrote Donkey Hote. The next great author was John Milton. Milton wrote Paradise Lost. Since then no one ever found it.
 
-------------------------------------------------------------
 
Delegates from the original 13 states formed the Contented Congress. Thomas Jefferson, a Virgin, and Benjamin Franklin were two singers of the Declaration of Independence. Franklin discovered electricity by Rubbing two cats backward and also declared, "A horse divided against itself cannot stand." He was a naturalist for sure. Franklin died in 1790 and is still dead.
 
-------------------------------------------------------------
 
Abraham Lincoln became America's greatest Precedent. Lincoln's Mother died in infancy, and he was born in a log cabin which he built with his own hands. Abraham Lincoln freed the slaves by signing the Emasculation Proclamation.
 
_________________________________________________________________
 
On the night of April 14, 1865, Lincoln went to the theater and got Shot in his seat by one of the actors in a moving picture show. They believe the assinator was John Wilkes Booth, a supposingly insane actor. This ruined Booth's career
 
-------------------------------------------------------------
 
Johann Bach wrote a great many musical compositions and had a large number of children. In between he practiced on an old spinster which he kept up in his attic. Bach died from 1750 to the present. Bach was the most famous composer in the world and so was Handel. Handel was half German, half Italian, and half English. He was very large.
 
-------------------------------------------------------------
 
Bethoven wrote music even though he was deaf. He was so deaf that he wrote loud music and became the father of rock and roll. He took long walks in the forest even when everyone was calling for him. Beethoven expired in 1827 and later died for this.
 
-------------------------------------------------------------
 
The nineteenth century was a time of a great many thoughts and inventions. People stopped reproducing by hand and started reproducing by machine. The invention of the steamboat caused a network of rivers to spring up.
 
-------------------------------------------------------------
 
Cyrus McCormick invented the McCormick raper, which did the work of a hundred men.
 
-------------------------------------------------------------
 
Louis Pasteur discovered a cure for rabbits but I don't know why.
 
-----------------------------------------------------
 
Charles Darwin was a naturalist. He wrote the Organ of the Species. It was very long people got upset about it and had trials to see if it was really true. He sort of said God's days were not just 24 hours but without watches who knew anyhow? I don't get it.
 
-------------------------------------------------------------
 
Madman Curie discovered radio. She was the first woman to do what she did. Other women have become scientists since her but they didn't get to find radios because they were already taken.
 
-------------------------------------------------------------
 
Karl Marx was one of the Marx Brothers. The other three were in the movies. Karl made speeches and started revolutions. Someone in the family had to have a job, I guess

Re: City of Heroes - Online Hero Game
 
Thanks. I am intrigued, though all my villains are on Protector at the moment, and I don't think I have the sourcebook detailing Eurostar.

Re: NGD Scenes from a Hat
 
One time in BANNED camp I met Champsguy, Trencher, Skaramine and Worldmaker. Not that I like to blow my own trumpet.

Re: Supers With Pictures: Fun For All
 
Not a super... but I finally finished it....
 
GEPANZERTER GEHENDER TRÄGER
LÄUFER
(Runner)
 

[b]Val CHA Cost Notes[/b] 4 SIZE 20 2.5" x 1.25"; -4" KB; -2 DCV 49 STR 19 Lift 22 tons; 9 1/2d6 HTH Damage 12 DEX 6 OCV: 4/DCV: 4 10 BODY 0 11 DEF 27 2 SPD 0 Phases: 6, 12 [b]Total Characteristics Cost: 72 Movement:[/b] Ground: 16"/32" Swimming: 0"/0" [b]Cost Abilities and Equipment Propulsion Systems[/b] 4 [b]Two-Legged Walker:[/b] Extra Limbs (2 legs); Limited Manipulation (-1/4) 20 [b]Two-Legged Walking Military Vehicle:[/b] Ground Movement +10" (16" total); 1 Continuing Fuel Charge (easily-obtained fuel; 6 hours; -0) -2 [b]Ground Vehicle:[/b] Swimming -2" [b]Tactical Systems[/b] 57 [b]105 mm leFH18 Light Field Howitzer:[/b] RKA 3 1/d6, Explosion (+1/2), Increased STUN Multiplier (+1/4) Indirect (can be arced over some obstacles; +1/4), Increased Maximum Range (2,000"; +1/4), 30 Charges (+1/4); OIF Bulky (-1), Limited Arc Of Fire (forward 60 degrees; -1/2), Real Weapon (-1/4) plus +1 OCV, +3 RMod; OIF Bulky (-1) 53 [b]20 mm MG 151/20 Cannon:[/b] RKA 3d6+1, Autofire (5 shots; +1/2), Increased STUN Multiplier (+1/4), 250 Charges (+1); OIF Bulky (-1), Limited Arc Of Fire (forward 60 degrees; -1/2), Real Weapon (-1/4) plus +2 RMod; OIF Bulky (-1) 5 [b]20 mm MG 151/20 Cannon:[/b] Another 20 mm Cannon (total of 2) 52 [b]7.92 mm MG 34 Machine-Gun:[/b] RKA 2d6+1, Autofire (5 shots; +1/2), Increased Stun Multiplier (+1/4), 1,000 Charges (+1); OIF Bulky (-1), Real Weapon (-1/4) plus +2 OCV, +3 RMod; OIF Bulky (-1) 4 [b]Heavy:[/b] Knockback Resistance -4" (-8" total) [b]Operation Systems[/b] 4 [b]Radio:[/b] Radio Perception/Transmission (Radio Group); OIF Bulky (-1), Affected As Hearing Group As Well As Radio Group (-1/4) [b]197 Total Abilities and Equipment Cost 269 Total Vehicle Cost Value Disadvantages[/b] 25 Distinctive Features: Nazi Germany Wehrmacht Armored Walker (NC, Extreme) 25 [b]Total Disadvantage Points 49 Total Cost (244/5)[/b]
 
Description:
While the Bewegliche Festung (Mobile Fortress) served to appease Hitler's vanity, the much smaller, and much more mobile Läufer was far more popular among the infantry, who liked having close-in artillery support capable of traversing almost any terrain. Designed and built by the Nazi "mad" scientist Dr. Clausenhausen, the Läufer was a bipedal armored combat machine, designed to accompany infantry, snipe at enemy armor, and generally serve as a all-terrain self-propelled gun.
 
The Läufer was used on both fronts, and was especially popular in the thick forests of Russian and the broken farmlands of France. Although not especially well armored, its size and shape made the vehicle easy to hide, and the Allies often found them tucked into barns, factories, deep ditches, thick stands of trees, and the like. As the howitzer was of limited use against enemy armor, the Läufer was usually used to shell troops in the open or soft vehicle targets -- such as jeeps and trucks. The 20 mm cannon was often used to help spot targets for the howitzer, and tracer rounds were a common load. The MG 34, on the other hand, was meant for close defense and as an antiaircraft weapon.
 
Although several hundred Läufer were made, they had little overall impact on the course of the war. While fine anti-infantry weapons, their high silhouette and thin armor made them walking (literally) targets for Allied tank gunners and ground-attack pilots. Also, as the war progressed, and parts became scarce, many Läufer were simply abandoned upon experiencing a mechanical failure, although a few were made into semi-fixed artillery platforms.
 
As a curious side note, there is an account of a Läufer successfully destroying an American BGP Mark 1 "Pistol-Packing Pete" in what is thought to be the first clash of armored combat walkers.
 
A Gepanzerter Gehender Träger Läufer has a squat blocky body mounted on two short legs. The howitzer is set to the right of the pilot, with the twin 20 mm cannon mounted to a fixed wing on the far right of the vehicle. The primary access hatch is behind the howitzer, while the vehicle's engine is directly behind the driver's compartment. It is roughly 12' tall, 10' long, and 8' wide. It weighs 20 tons, has a top speed of 26 miles per hour, and a crew of three (driver, gunner, loader).
 

Re: Storn's Art & Characters thread.
 

 
As they would say on FIREFLY ... Shiney!
 
PDS