I was running a game yesterday, we are lucky to have a very large covered deck, however it leaks. When it started to rain I didn't worry too much, normally the drips don't start inside for awhile, at least where I had set up the playing area on a 3 x 9ft board, It was so large it required over half of what I had built to date, including props. Worried that the leaks would move down to where the board was, I decided to finish the round of combat and wrap up the game for the day (we had been playing for 5 hours already). We were about halfway done the round when one of my players pointed to a table where I had set two of my containers of props aside after setting up the board (1: all my bookcases, beds, shelves, any large furniture. 2: Half of my barrels, boxes, crates, little mixed cargo bundles), and the steady drip of water which had apparently been slowly filling the small props box with water, and lightly splattering the large props box. Being plastic... it filled a little >.<. I saved the large prop box... but every small prop that wasn't being used on my table was destroyed, drowned little pink and white and purple boxes floating in a little sea of black death (ink).

Deathtoll:
- 42 small boxfold barrels (Skullcove, Siegeworks)
- 14 cargo bundles (Skullcove, Siegeworks)
- 5 Medium barrels (Skullcove)
- 20 crates various (Skullcove, Siegeworks, P & I)
- 15 chests various (Skullcove, Siegeworks, Maiden, DungeonWorks)
- 1 3D matboard reinforced CWU interior stairs
- 2 Pubs & Inns flat placeable down stairs
- 3 Castles & Keeps flat placeable stairs

Considering the second container was filled with all my large matboard reinforced props and took very light damage I think in this case I got lucky :S .

As for hope , I will be getting a new printer and the continuous ink system soon, I have also picked up Streets and Sewers of Himmelveil, as well as Lost Halls of the Dwarven Kings. As soon as I can print again I'll be back into full production .

Also I would have taken pics of the setup (it was huge) but after the loss of one box of props I ended up taking no chances and quickly pulled the entire setup inside with too much haste to salvage it for pics, though adding a pic of the damaged bits is not impossible

Dude, you are potentially one of the unluckiest people I know! How many more depressing Shatterdragon stories do you have up your sleeves?

LMAO, hmm, I have been lax on the good news, and this isn't depressing, just a very good lesson to everyone that water (and the occasional random drink) are very hazardous to your builds. Store them well and make sure they are safe. Now on to the good news.

I have a beautiful niece named Felicity Rose, she is now 7months and healthy and fine. Strong too, she's been a stander since the day she was born. We have left the bad memories of her father in the past and are moving forward into a happier family future. I am happy to say I havn't been thrown up on yet

While severing my tendon has caused me some pain (surprisingly not alot) and a little restriction (due to splints I've had to wear and the lack of use of my thumb), it has turned out to be a surprising bonus, one I really needed. First, it has given me time to reflect on alot of things, including my current situation, job, lifestyle.
Second, I was building alot of stress, between several failed moves, being screwed over alot, and a general run of not so nice luck, but overall, from work, my coworkers, my job, my pay.
I havn't had a real vacation in ages, and this is something I needed, time away, time to myself, a summer off. Third, I get 90% of my paycheck, and my boss gave me a $2 raise right when I injured myself so I would be able to handle living with no work. This means I have more than eneogh money to enjoy myself.
Third, while I can't play games that require the use of the spacebar lol (not being able to jump gets you killed alot in L4D2), I can type, which means I've had alot of time to work on my books. Even more importantly, I can still build. I have adapted to being stuck in a splint and am back into full building, I have months more of time on my hands, I should be able to give you guys some spectacular setups later on.

The death of the Maiden II has spawned three new Maiden builds (pics soon). And now she has the waterlogged cargo to go with her shipwrecked status lol.
I have also taken the opportunity to look into detail at the damage she suffered. I have to rebuild the upper deck, and modify it but I think I can fix her, she won't be the same ship but she'll be the same size and possibly better.

I have access to a digital camera, as well as my webcam (both the recent pics were taken with the webcam, natural light obviously works better.

I have been asked to take over a local store here, an anime store (specializing in cosplay, accessories, toys, figurines, weapons, collectables) that if the location was moved would create an explosive money boom (this store is badly located atm). While I'm hesitant on just jumping into it, it may turn out to be something I need to try.

My life is doing awesome, with only minor setbacks, the year of the Tiger is defineatly going well for me. It may have all seemed doom and gloom, lol, looking back on my posts I can see why. But I am happy to say it is not.

Glad to hear it Shatter! Its great to know that you're totally covered financially during your recovery. That makes it all worth it in a sick way That's probably the only way I'd catch a break too!

Rest easy and have fun!!!

It sucks that you have had bad luck, but we all do at times. Glad to hear that it is paired with at least an equal amount of good fortune (even if some of it is silver lining). Either way, it sucks that you lost all of those props. At least you will have the time and means to do better than replace them.

My only annoyance about the props box really is that it could have hit the matboard tables box and I'd have felt a little less put out lol. 42 barrels is alot of little boxfolds >.<. Most of my original matboard table modifications are fails, and the chairs are timeconsuming due to their size, there were also unexpected side effects to time, moisture and just general wear. In the end I'm not happy about them. However I have worked out two new ways of reinforcing old props and risers which I think alot of you may like and find useful. I won't go into detail here as I'll be putting up full instructions with pics in the model tips trick section first. Just a hint though. I now use fully cardstock tables and chairs in most cases with little modification, with the black around the legs cut out, and they can still fully support miniatures like my old ones.

As a side note... 88 small barrels did not die in a drowning death, nor did many of my other chests, barrels, crates and similiar since I was using over 2/3rds of them on that board lol. Personally I think it was a very little loss, very annoying but very little. My biggest regret is that I didn't get to take a picture of the setup (which will turn out to be important later when I have to remake it for game ). I was really hoping to show you guys some of what I've been up to.