tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-85815660844742920052024-03-13T10:03:35.099+00:00Too Much Free TimeVladdd309http://www.blogger.com/profile/00638331803401829636noreply@blogger.comBlogger251125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8581566084474292005.post-52617309891664584432014-07-17T22:21:00.001+01:002014-07-17T22:21:27.031+01:00D&D Fifth Ed. Starter Box<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Another package waiting for me today when I arrived home from work; the D&D fifth edition starter box. A bit of an impulse buy when I ordered it, but as it cost me just over a tenner, it won't break the bank.</span> </div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Initial impressions are that it's pretty standard fare; two A4 books, a 32 page rule book and 64 page adventure book, five pre-generated character sheets, one blank character sheet and, of course, a wee bag of funny sided dice! The books are of decent quality; I do like the new art style they've taken and the dice are, well, dice. The character sheets are just printed on cartridge paper, but as people are bound to copy them first, that's no big loss.<br /><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I haven't played D&D in a loooong time, so haven't the foggiest how the rules have changed, still seems pretty straight forward though. There's a murmur going around our gaming group that we'll try and run the introductory adventure as a one off, so I'm holding off opening the adventure book for the moment! Getting a roleplaying session in was one of my gaming resolutions this year, so fingers crossed we'll sort something out.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">To be honest, I'm a little underwhelmed by the starter box, but I suspect that's because I have the Star Wars: Edge of Empire starter box, which has a) a lot more stuff in it and b) is a more polished starter product, in the sense that there's a clear logic to what to read first, what to do next and where to go to get more info (such as a second adventure from their website.) This box is a very simple "here's your character, off you go" kind of affair. Having said all that, the SW box retails at close to double the price of this one, so it's not an entirely fair comparison.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Happy enough with the box, not sure if I'll pick up any of the hardback rulebooks or not though, time will tell.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Also, why did they change this D&D to plain "fifth edition?" D&D Next was such a better name!</span></div>
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Vladdd309http://www.blogger.com/profile/00638331803401829636noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8581566084474292005.post-59866585064343537622014-06-03T00:21:00.000+01:002014-06-03T00:21:48.104+01:00Some Brief Star Wars Nostalgia!<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Recently, I've been on a bit of a Star Wars kick, what with rewatching the movies, Droids, Ewoks (yes I know it was terrible,) the X-Wing tournament and the Star Wars card game. Flicking through YouTube, I came across this:<br /><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Now I can't even contemplate how much cash I dropped into this arcade machine when I was a kid (for you infants out there, arcade machines were how you played computer games before you had a computer in the house!)<br /><br /></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFjWVM_WFv2GjrMQV2aN7L_2gFGylfNctP7sTfG16qByHOLARn4DgqvKu3wc7p4I8wximAu2aAGWlvXYs7du78BuZIV7Ck3u1wW0k_GD5hv4J5j3b_cTba0OukGBi8olb5Rn6TzK7uMdc/s1600/SW_Arcade.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFjWVM_WFv2GjrMQV2aN7L_2gFGylfNctP7sTfG16qByHOLARn4DgqvKu3wc7p4I8wximAu2aAGWlvXYs7du78BuZIV7Ck3u1wW0k_GD5hv4J5j3b_cTba0OukGBi8olb5Rn6TzK7uMdc/s1600/SW_Arcade.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I'll admit, it doesn't stand up well to the test of time, but this was cutting edge back in 1985! The arcade machine actually quoted the movie with a voice, not text - at the time, this was ground breaking! My favourite quote from Jedi? "Han will get that shield down, we gotta five him more time!" I think this video is actually using an emulator or similar, as back in the day the game was a lot less forgiving!<br /><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This afternoon I spent a bit of time going through the photos from the X-Wing tournament and I'll hopefully get a couple posts in later in the week. Until then...</span></div>
Vladdd309http://www.blogger.com/profile/00638331803401829636noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8581566084474292005.post-83402800286928755882014-05-29T14:21:00.000+01:002014-05-29T14:21:43.642+01:00Assault at Imdaar Alpha<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhD4nuJDHrV9inLXBx06Aqfs50g79aZPXjHVGw0ruQ0F0xNadpHzuHm2hsZ4EMFncviyWi61Uw4epZnQQcEwqZ-eqNngoF8jc01tuUKhc7gmH5oTPL2U5qr7VmdqZrq_sYDcKD7WXLImsQ/s1600/logo-SWX01.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhD4nuJDHrV9inLXBx06Aqfs50g79aZPXjHVGw0ruQ0F0xNadpHzuHm2hsZ4EMFncviyWi61Uw4epZnQQcEwqZ-eqNngoF8jc01tuUKhc7gmH5oTPL2U5qr7VmdqZrq_sYDcKD7WXLImsQ/s1600/logo-SWX01.png" height="129" width="320" /></a><br /><br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This weekend I'm off visiting a friend, Gaz, in Edinburgh. As far as we've arranged, the agenda consists of lots of junk food, beers and games. Looking forward to getting away from the 'Deen for a while and relaxing for a couple days.<br /> </span></div>
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<a href="http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/ffg_content/x-wing/news/events/assault-at-imdaar-alpha/wave-4-prerelease-event-kit.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/ffg_content/x-wing/news/events/assault-at-imdaar-alpha/wave-4-prerelease-event-kit.png" height="228" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On Saturday we've both signed up an X-Wing tournament at the Games Hub (which I've been to, but can't remember where it actually is.) The tournament is part of the <a href="http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_news.asp?eidn=4685"><span style="color: red;">Assault at Imdaar Alpha</span></a> event FFG are running to promote the next wave of releases for the game. Hopefully we'll get a chance to break out my <a href="http://justtoomuchfreetime.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/two-new-babies.html"><span style="color: red;">Tantive IV</span></a> at some point too.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxJVMqHd-lie2V10G4deQpPwQxC0FiOJT9Q-G2vwPIuoQBvkjxCfPyCxaSFBDwotiJ-Be0CP3OIlotfRgXrq1zgJsKKnwFRNduiO1jsn-miMz_wDu8WMJnHLC2ziD5S8K6zeA7FfVAP7A/s1600/Tantive_IV+%252810%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxJVMqHd-lie2V10G4deQpPwQxC0FiOJT9Q-G2vwPIuoQBvkjxCfPyCxaSFBDwotiJ-Be0CP3OIlotfRgXrq1zgJsKKnwFRNduiO1jsn-miMz_wDu8WMJnHLC2ziD5S8K6zeA7FfVAP7A/s1600/Tantive_IV+%252810%2529.jpg" height="320" width="279" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Tournaments aren't really high on the list of reasons why I game, the last one I went to was over two years ago, but they are a nice distraction and a good opportunity to get some games in against new people. I've still not decided on what kind of squadron to field there, but I'm leaning towards a Moldy Crow/twin B-Wing list; it looks competitive, not too cheesy and kind of fun. I'll try and take some pictures, but they'll just be with the phone as I've apparently lost my camera!</span></div>
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Vladdd309http://www.blogger.com/profile/00638331803401829636noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8581566084474292005.post-59267520451276224932014-05-25T23:39:00.000+01:002014-05-25T23:39:14.700+01:00Two New Babies<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">First off, a big congrats to my regular gaming buddy Adam and his wife on the birth of their new baby errr... no name yet, lets just say little baby B! Very happy for all four of them, their cat counts as a person doesn't she, even if it means less gaming in the next few months (Me? Selfish? Never!)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Speaking of new arrivals, here's my latest addition:<br /><br /></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1AKRLcRwp4vekl0paK7YOdMz8zEIHTOyUphg80Xa_2uyjBjQaQoUGDfyd6iEKbgENiWlt7aoSuBqhxp1NwCLDXesMf5e6nYv2FlCMvCS9RIxLpHn39eaXlobsfhyvs0kVTrAyHWehQ-M/s1600/Tantive_IV+(10).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1AKRLcRwp4vekl0paK7YOdMz8zEIHTOyUphg80Xa_2uyjBjQaQoUGDfyd6iEKbgENiWlt7aoSuBqhxp1NwCLDXesMf5e6nYv2FlCMvCS9RIxLpHn39eaXlobsfhyvs0kVTrAyHWehQ-M/s1600/Tantive_IV+(10).jpg" height="320" width="279" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">About the same size as and tons more fun than a tiny wee pooping machine (only joking!)<br /><br /></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2yoZDnfwhSQvtYw-IePu0AHXuRqUU0nc4U3u9VgXJYoUxP8K2b67b7W8km18Vb0djjaKKwQbFsiri1fph1mEF_JmMxR8XnAbCbVxXdB0oY3BOFI4DEYKgUh1TsXuUQJ54nuu74yct8SA/s1600/Tantive_IV+(9).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2yoZDnfwhSQvtYw-IePu0AHXuRqUU0nc4U3u9VgXJYoUxP8K2b67b7W8km18Vb0djjaKKwQbFsiri1fph1mEF_JmMxR8XnAbCbVxXdB0oY3BOFI4DEYKgUh1TsXuUQJ54nuu74yct8SA/s1600/Tantive_IV+(9).jpg" height="214" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Rebel CR90 Corvette "Tantive IV" for X-Wing. Most famous for the opening scene in A New Hope, the Tantive IV is in all three films, most notably getting swarmed by TIE Interceptors in Jedi.<br /><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It's an absoutely lovely mode, the paint job is on par with most of the recent X-Wing releases i.e. excellent for a pre-paint. There's some lovely detailing work and it has a the usual weathered feel to it. I can't deny being delighted by the fact the gun turrets swivel! </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrprHV6HZvSfrzyGvVI5X5Iepxbuy4FH3pBx6vyvg24PP_XJrlKft2O5R-hWHa3t63y4mB1ETZvv_8fe6E_AUntT7nbh52Tv5UlmdB0Exxuw5a7Glz_3JP_63jL8KwNPd9_3gqXTuCGKA/s1600/Tantive_IV+(5).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrprHV6HZvSfrzyGvVI5X5Iepxbuy4FH3pBx6vyvg24PP_XJrlKft2O5R-hWHa3t63y4mB1ETZvv_8fe6E_AUntT7nbh52Tv5UlmdB0Exxuw5a7Glz_3JP_63jL8KwNPd9_3gqXTuCGKA/s1600/Tantive_IV+(5).jpg" height="234" width="320" /></a><br /><br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I haven't even had a chance to look at the rules yet, something about energy and multiple attacks and destroying any other ship whose base you touch. Nice! There is a mini-campaign booklet in the box, which is a suitable addition. In Epic Play (the X-Wing rules where you can actually use this ship) the minimum points level is 300, a lot of points, but the scenario book pits you against a relatively small number of enemy ships, decent enough given the RRP of the Tantive IV!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I'm away visiting a friend in Auld Reekie next weekend; a fair bit of gaming should be involved and this guy is certainly the first thing I'll be packing!</span></div>
Vladdd309http://www.blogger.com/profile/00638331803401829636noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8581566084474292005.post-82361646870181942302014-05-23T23:27:00.000+01:002014-05-23T23:37:46.318+01:00I'm Back Baby.... Errr, Again.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />Well, I guess that's long enough without posting on here. To get the touchy feely stuff out of the way, life has simply been a little too stressful the last couple months to keep my normal routine, not just for blogging, but for a fair few other things.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The quick version is that I legally agreed to buy a house with my Mrs last year, but a few days after that she decided she didn't want to stay together any longer. We couldn't get out of the house buy and neither of us wanted to live in the house on our own, so it was a very awkward and stressful twelve months. Thankfully, March saw a lot of potential buyers view the place, we eventually managed to agreed a sale and it went through towards the end of April.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For the last couple weeks I've been enjoying the modest luxury of not worrying about the place (every time there was a strong wind, I was certain the tree in the garden would blow down through and go through the kitchen window!) Still, the whole experience was pretty rough; lost a lot of money, had to leave my felis catus behind and it took a long time to come to terms with starting again at my age, but, thankfully, I think I've managed to get past that point now. While I'm talking about this, I'd like to throw out a quick thanks to all my internet friends on the blogoshpere and elsewhere for their support (even if they didn't necessarily know they were offering it!)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Right, that's enough of that.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Managed a reasonable amount of gaming lately, obviously not enough though. Played some FoG with the guys at the club; still an enjoyable game, but doesn't really grab me anymore. Scott at the club also ran a Romans vs Britons game using a new (to me) ruleset, the name of which escapes me. A lot of fun, plus the fact that Scott doesn't run small games made it an enjoyable evening. I also tried the Star Wars LCG by FFG, looks like a game with a lot of depth, but I'm waiting to find a regular opponent before I drop much cash on it.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I've also been on a bit of a buying splurge too; a ton of games have been added to the pile lately, notably:</span></div>
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<li style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sentinels of the Multiverse. This is a fixed deck, co-op cardgame which sees a group of superheroes joining forces to fight an evil supervillain. The game itself is phenomenally simple, the rule book contains almost no rules, rather it just goes over the turn sequence and clarifies exactly what the different terms used mean. Instead, all the actions and abilities in the game are on the various hero, villain and environment cards; the game can be taught in literally less than five minutes. Sentinels is also supremely replayable, I have the base game and one expansion and have yet to play the same combination of heroes, villains and environments twice. Lastly, the game doesn't use any existing IP; instead all the characters are original creations and it's very enjoyable reading the humorous fluff for each one. My favorite hero so far is Fanatic, a crusading angel smiting her enemies, while the most entertaining villain is Baron Blade, a mad scientist determined to crash the moon into Earth! An outstanding game.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<li style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Star Trek Attack Wing. Right, here's the issue. I already play and <i>love </i>X-Wing. ST:AW is essentially the same game... with worse models... and poorer quality cards... and with some fairly broken combinations. So, what's the appeal? It's STAR TREK BABY! Yeah, I'm a fan boy, so even though the whole experience is less satisfying than X-Wing, it's still Klingons against the Dominion and that's just full of win. I just received the first Borg ship in the mail today (Borg Sphere 4270) and, ooooh, tiny nerdgasm, Borg Cutting Beam, Seven of Nine, Regenerate, what's not to love!<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Malifaux Second Edition. A blast from the past this one, I was playing Malifaux not long after it's original release a few years ago. A very thinky skirmish game, but also a lot of fun. Sadly, the game suffered from far too many errors, erratas and updates and I ended up bailing on an otherwise fine game. The last game I played involved us using the original rulebook, the errata, the faq, the new rules sheet and the pdf of the updated cards, simply too much faff to enjoy the game.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />I'm glad to say that M2E is a much better set of rules than the original, cleaner explanations of the key mechanics, less clutter and much better presentation. It's also been an excuse to pick up a couple of the new plastic Crew boxes LadyJ and Ramos and get some modelling in (I will get some painting done soon, I swear!)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I'm still pretty addicted to Android Netrunner, the most rewarding game I play with any regularity, but we're really struggling to get any kind of community together in Aberdeen. Online, I use OCTGN whenever I can, so if anyone out there plays A:NR and uses OCTGN, feel free to get in touch (my username is Vladdd309.)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Been churning through the books recently too; I've adapted to reading three books at once now, based on what format (physical book, audiobook and Kindle,) compared to two (one factual and fiction.) I listen to an audiobook on the commute, read the kindle in the house and a regular book everywhere else, especially the bath. Currently reading the original Foundation trilogy by Asimov, forgotten just how good it is. Expect a few Two Minute Reviews to follow soon.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It's that time of year again, the IPL is back (coom on the Kings XI!) as well as the Giro. A few more weeks and I can start pretending again that I like tennis, then it's the Tour and the golf. Not enough hours in the week!<br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: justify;">Lastly, on a complete impulse, I bought a PS Vita in March. I'm a Xbox fan, but haven't been able to either use the 360 I have much nor pick up the new console. My laptop isn't up to playing a game so the Vita has been a godsend. Notably, Killzone Mercenary has just been eating up the dead hour between ten and eleven at night and Wipeout is just as great as it was back in 1994!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Anyway, thanks to those of you have stuck around to read all this. I'll try not to leave it so long until the next post! S.</span></div>
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Vladdd309http://www.blogger.com/profile/00638331803401829636noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8581566084474292005.post-33876246498287681602014-02-23T19:19:00.000+00:002014-02-23T19:19:30.984+00:00Dreadball Xtreme<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Well, the Dreadball Xtreme Kickstarter has been live for a couple days now and has already garnered a smack-ton of cash. Your truly and Mr B have jointly signed up to it, at a fairly hefty, but not ridiculous, level.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">At the moment I'm reasonable happy with what's on offer, but, given the previous projects Mantic have launched this way, I'm expecting to see a lot more value added over the next three weeks. Given how much we've collectivly dropped on the original Dreadball, it still's still a good deal so far.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Very little information is available about the actual gameplay, but the core seems to be the same as the original Dreadball game. Dreadball was easily the best (miniatures) game I properly invested in last year and is one of those games that I would play without resevation.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">One of the notable decisions Mantic have made is to move away from their heavy plastic (rastic?) figures to preassembled plastic miniatures. If there's one thing that frustrated me about Deadzone, Dreadball and some of their other figure ranges, it's cleaning those hideous mouldlines and glueing the pieces together. I've had Deadzone for a week now and have suffered through assembling a whole seven figures! Hopefully this new material will be easier to work with.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The big draw for me so far is the customisable board; appropriate given that DB:X isn't played in a traditional arena, but in back streets, warehouses and prisons. I'm also anticipating what new teams or races Mantic add into the mix.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Three weeks to go with eleven updates so far, looking forward to seeing what the final package will be. Check out the Kickstarter <span style="color: red;"><a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1744629938/dreadball-xtreme">here.</a></span></span></div>
Vladdd309http://www.blogger.com/profile/00638331803401829636noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8581566084474292005.post-49827653628007637282014-02-18T19:17:00.001+00:002014-02-18T19:17:26.478+00:00What's in this box then?<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After an interminable three hour meeting at work, I was really looking forward to this when I got home last night.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So what's in it then? Well, it's my huge, extravagant and completely unnecessary Christmas splurge gift to myself; a big pile of Deadzone goodness.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ok, justification time. We can use the scenery for at least two games other than Deadzone itself. I've only heard good things about the gameplay; plus it plays on a two foot square area, meeting the whole "game in a box thing" I've got going on at the moment. Lastly, I wanted to drop some cash on myself, rather than solicitor bills and property management companies. Job done.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">By my count, that's 51 figures (with two still to come) added to the lead pile, twenty two sprues of scenery, plenty resin and plastic tokens and a whole new game to explore. Everything I'll every need to pick up... well, until the next wave of releases in March!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I read the core rules this morning and everything looks pretty straightforward to far. Deadzone ticks most of the boxes I look for; simple enough core rules, plenty of options and special rules, a nice dice rolling mechanic and plenty of player options, both in choosing your strike force and on the table. Consider me happy!</span></div>
Vladdd309http://www.blogger.com/profile/00638331803401829636noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8581566084474292005.post-77690121233027291212014-02-16T22:29:00.001+00:002014-02-16T22:29:43.649+00:00Updates and some eBay whoring<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Going to have to rename this blog "Not Enough Free Time"</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Quickly:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">First the boring stuff. Despite being told that my workload (and hence hours) would be greatly reduced over February and March, work is still hectic. My assistant is pregnant too, which isn't helping (I know pregnancy isn't the same thing as being ill, but in either case, she's absolutely bugger all use at the moment!) Coupled with the fact that my sporadic insomnia is running rampant, I'm really not getting much done. Seriously, when my head hits the pillow I instantly burst into wide awake mode; put me on the couch at 7pm with a full belly and I'm out like a light!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Managed to get a couple games in this month though. Another big game of 5150: Fighter Command last week and a big session of the Lord of the Rings card game at the weekend. Plenty of photos from both 5150 games to come, I just need to get round to fiddling with them first. A quick preview above.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Lord of the Rings day was an interesting occasion. My mate Adam fancied another go so we built a couple decks and rattled through some Khazad-dûm quests. Adam, who admittedly is a much more experienced card gamer than I, then promptly ruined my theory that the game is too hard by trouncing the first four quests. He sees combos and synergies in cards that I simply don't, so much so, that I think I was just there for the fun of it; he could have easily beaten some of the quests on his own. A real eye opener!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Work continues on the 10mm ECW stuff and some figures for the Analogue Painting Challenge bonus round this weekend, but not terribly quick work. There are a few guys at the club painting up some ECW forces for some FoG:R gaming, with every major force represented. Frustratingly, the thorny issue of basing has reared it's ugly head again. We eventually agreed normal FoG bases (20mm x 40mm for infantry,) but apparently they're too big with only five figures per base, so some are advocating going back to 15x40mm (the original plan.) However, plenty of us have already bought bases, or even have some completed bases, so the discussion isn't going too smoothly. I'm sticking with the big bases though, I'm of the thought "if you're going small, go big" when it comes to scale, so I want my pike bases bristling with pointy bits and my muskets looking deadly. At least I'll always outnumber the enemy?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Lastly, I'm offloading some wargaming odds and sods, mainly WW2 Soviets from Warlord Games. I'm still not 100% sold on Bolt Action as a game, having sat in on a couple games at the club, it just doesn't really do anything for me. In any case, certainly not at 28mm. Maybe 15mm and in a different theatre might help, but, no, these guys are going. My eBay page is <a href="http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/vladdd309/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_ipg=&_from="><span style="color: red;">here,</span></a> but if any bloggers out there want to make me an offer, drop me an email.</span></div>
Vladdd309http://www.blogger.com/profile/00638331803401829636noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8581566084474292005.post-39302781617029217052014-02-10T22:40:00.001+00:002014-02-10T22:43:12.425+00:00Two Minute Review - Neuromancer<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwtGjP-wlMZ1atmokMTXHbVEOKUq5WpR7vZnuEqDgHUiqkYEYcFpnBUeCuqlqnQ_6-exCZ4D5TJoxUguxSrKvxWAY3caqHCU5OphT1rU80PHwI06be1BYj6YOpMXkK7XlT7R2NybgdhQc/s1600/Neuromancer2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwtGjP-wlMZ1atmokMTXHbVEOKUq5WpR7vZnuEqDgHUiqkYEYcFpnBUeCuqlqnQ_6-exCZ4D5TJoxUguxSrKvxWAY3caqHCU5OphT1rU80PHwI06be1BYj6YOpMXkK7XlT7R2NybgdhQc/s1600/Neuromancer2.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Every now and then you come across a book and you ask yourself "why have I not read this before?" This most recently happened to me when I finally settled down to read William Gibson's Neuromancer. I had certainly heard of the book before hand, but had no idea of how influential it has been; Neuromancer is full of the original source material for many other cyberpunk settings. Case in point, Neuromancer coined the term "Matrix" in the sense of a digital reality. Quite simply, one of the best books I've ever read.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />At it's heart, Neuromancer is a character and setting driven heist novel. The plot itself is fairly derivative (except for the object of the heist,) but the real energy of the book comes from the parade of characters you're introduced to and the eclectic series of locations we travel through.<br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We start off in the Chiba City, Japan, where we meet Case, a damaged former computer hacker. From there Neuromancer takes us around the world and then into a couple of off world locations, New Zion and Freeside. The cast of characters grows quickly; Molly Millions, a razorgirl, turns up to protect Case, Armitage, apparently the mastermind of the con, slowly reveals what exactly he's planning, Dixie Flatline is a digital reconstruction of a dead hacker. All very engaging and wonderfully written. Gibson also paces the book perfectly, drip feeding information and plot development to begin with, before escalating the tempo as the team struggle to complete their mission.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Neuromancer is full of memorable scenes, Zions elders, a blank Armitage in his hotel room, Case jacking into Molly's nervous system, Riviera's holographic show, Wintermute trying to talk to Case, too many to relate here. What should be emphasised is the depth of the world Gibson creates, just </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">how </i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">cyberpunk everything is. Not only the vibrant, neon urban areas; Gibson treats cyberspace the same way, he doesn't try to describe the indescribable, but instead relates the rush, the freedom, the danger involved in hacking. Neuromancer is one of the most immersive books I've come across.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />I feel I should also mention the narrator of the audiobook I listened to, Jeff Harding, because he was simply excellent. This was the first audiobook where the quality of the voice acting was a noticeable positive. Each character has their own accent and is consistent throughout; Armitage has a booming boardroom voice, the Finn has a gritty Irish growl while Maelcum has a languid Caribbean drawl. The editing is handled very well too, to the point where the different voices flow seamlessly from one another.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />Any negatives to report? Well, Neuromancer does feature my least favourite plot device, namely one of the main characters is poisoned at some point to ensure their commitment to the scheme. I hate that mechanic, but at least here it isn't too intrusive to the plot. Other that that, not much. The narrator does take a little adjusting to when you start to listen; he has that peculiar American accent that dips down at the end of a sentence, making everything he says sound sarcastic. After half an hour, though, I'd forgotten all about it.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Lastly, something I noticed about listening to this as an audiobook. Neuromancer is a short book, the kind of book I suspect I would have blasted through in a weekend. By listening to it instead, and considering I listen to books either commuting or while out walking, I was able to string Neuromancer out to well over a week. This really helped me enjoy the book; not only did it give me a lot of time to think about what was actually happening, but the anticipation of what would happen next kept me hooked.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Outstanding.</span></div>
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Vladdd309http://www.blogger.com/profile/00638331803401829636noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8581566084474292005.post-82537117617323304412014-01-30T00:00:00.000+00:002014-01-30T00:25:17.061+00:00Club Bring and Buy Night<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">At last years AGM, someone at the club (I forget who) brought up the idea of having a "bring and buy" night each year, to help move some unused lead and plastic between the different club members. So we held it this week; lots of emails flying around with people hawking their various wares.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg785pH7Lg-NLUGOQE1IeWOL8CL06FNvhA-HYc4EqwpVpwa0uVmeADUiVXBYhpeiVAOuwDnHHHMySUYPY-UACoNvXSXOts1s2JaNLLhXdu7BFiLoTKaNkeV23b7GbjopdiwuJfv2z9z1FY/s1600/BNB_Loot.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg785pH7Lg-NLUGOQE1IeWOL8CL06FNvhA-HYc4EqwpVpwa0uVmeADUiVXBYhpeiVAOuwDnHHHMySUYPY-UACoNvXSXOts1s2JaNLLhXdu7BFiLoTKaNkeV23b7GbjopdiwuJfv2z9z1FY/s1600/BNB_Loot.jpg" height="241" width="320" /></a><br /><span style="font-size: x-small;">A nice haul (especially for the price - £0!) Cheers Adam.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I wasn't prepared enough to get rid of anything (still in the acquiring miniatures frame of mind,) but there was a nice enough turn out. Most members arranged trades or sales privately, but quite a few people brought along stuff simply to see if anyone else fancied them. Adam moved on a fair few things "When am I going to get round to painting these?" Lots of books and magazines, plastic minis on frames and plenty of plain lead lying around, seemed like a success for the first outing.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Me? Well I picked up a couple books, as well as Adam's redundant Khador miniatures for Warmachine. I also snagged from Ken some spare bows for some miscellaneous dark age figures and a handy dead Norman knight for the next Painting Challenge weekend.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So it was a simple enough event and I wouldn't be surprised if we hold another one in the summer. It was also nice to see something agreed at an AGM actually take place for once, certainly against expectations!</span></div>
Vladdd309http://www.blogger.com/profile/00638331803401829636noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8581566084474292005.post-33092486359728216412014-01-28T21:06:00.000+00:002014-01-28T21:06:00.024+00:00Secret Santa!<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A few days ago, my (replacement) secret santa present arrived, a Perry Miniatures Medieval Cottage! A big thank you to whoever it was who sent it!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A great addition to my growing terrain pile, the kit consists of the cottage itself and some fencing along with some kind of hutch or chicken coop. I think I'll end up using the fencing to make a field or some other kind of linear obstacle for Saga.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The cottage itself doesn't fit in too well with the time period for Saga, so I've been brainstorming an alternative use for it. At the moment I'm thinking of kitbashing some steampunk or fantasy gubbins to it, for use in something like Malifaux or HoMachine etc. Who knows what it'll end up as! Thanks again!</span></div>
Vladdd309http://www.blogger.com/profile/00638331803401829636noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8581566084474292005.post-28851508756303553312014-01-27T20:44:00.003+00:002014-01-27T20:55:43.713+00:00January 2014 so far... and boobs<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Time to draw from the biiiig book of excuses i.e. I've not posted at all or finished painting anything in the last week or so. To be honest, I've simply not been in the mood to sit down and write anything recently. On top of that, I work in retail and have just finished the busiest period in our year; Christmas, sale and stocktake. However, now that's past, my workload is a lot smaller for the next few weeks, I'm hoping to get back into the swing of things. Anyway, here's how January 2014 has shaped up so far.</span></div>
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<b><u><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Analogue Painting Challenge</span></u></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Well, I missed one of my personal goals and didn't submit anything for the vehicle bonus round, thereby squandering another 75 points. Two GZG mechs have been painted up, but the putty for the bases hadn't finished setting in time to get them primed and painted.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I'm still plugging away at my 10mm ECW stuff though, managing to pick up the brush most days, if only for a colour or two at a time. At the risk of being accused of sandbagging, I think there'll be a fairly hefty entry once I get round to basing them.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This week, I'm aiming to paint up my next two bonus entries (heroes and casualties) and ***ahem*** base the first of the ECW infantry units. Well. . . that's the plan anyway.</span></div>
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<b><u><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Gaming</span></u></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I've been back on a card game kick this month. About a dozen games each of Android: Netrunner and the Lord of the Rings (both by FFG) have been keeping me pretty busy. Oddly enough, I now seem to be getting worse at A:NR (five games on Saturday, all loses!) but still absolutely love both games. I introduced LotR to Adam at the club, but made the mistake of playing an easy quest so I don't think he saw much challenge in the game. He's hinted that he would try it again though, so we'll try something more difficult and see if his opinion changes!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I also had another friend, Gaz, visiting for a couple days earlier this month. About six more games of LotR (we won one) and a load of X-Wing, coupled with some beers and junk food made for a very enjoyable time. Since we last played, Gaz dropped a lot of cash on X-Wing, so we had the full range of ships to choose from. I tried out my two latest purchases; the <a href="http://justtoomuchfreetime.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/new-x-wing-ship-tie-bomber.html"><span style="color: red;">Tie-Bomber</span></a> (meh, ok) and the <a href="http://justtoomuchfreetime.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/another-new-x-wing-ship-moldy-crow.html"><span style="color: red;">Moldy Crow</span></a> (immense!) Still an outstanding game, but I'm not sure yet if I'll pick up either of the two large ships FFG are about to release, the freighter and the frigate. Maybe.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Finally, I managed to finally run a game of Iron & Oak at the club. Adam and I played one of <i>the </i>set pieces of the American Civil War, Hampton Roads. Adam took the Confederates (shock) with the Ironclad Virginia, while I had the plucky Monitor on the Union side. Much like our last <a href="http://justtoomuchfreetime.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/november-gaming-house-divided.html"><span style="color: red;">ACW outing</span></a><span style="color: black;"> i</span>t was a hideous (and ahistorical) loss to the Union! An enjoyable game though, looking forward to trying one of the larger scenarios sometime soon. This week, we're going to try out the 1863 scenario from A House Divided. Putting my foot down this time though, I'll be the Confederates and see if I can pull out a win for a change!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">One of my goals for 2014 is to run more miniature games at the club (or elsewhere for that matter.) The first one I'm planning is a naval Punic Wars game. Frustratingly though, I'm struggling to find a suitable set of rules. They're either too simple (Fleets of Battle) or too involved (Naumachiae) or just not fun (Salamis ad Actium.) To fix that, I've started putting together my own set of rules based, obviously, on ripping off mechanics I like from other games! I haven't done this in a few years, but it's very rewarding so far. Assuming the enthusiasm doesn't wane, I'd like to get a game in around the end of March, start of April, but we'll see.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I've ploughed through three books so far this month. Nothing unusual in that, except for the fact that none of them were actually print books. Two audio books and a digital book on my kindle. All of them great, so expect some two minute reviews soon, but this whole no-physical-book is taking some getting used to!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For the first time since 2001, I took a sick day off from work! I had a takeaway meal one night, seeing as I couldn't be bothered to cook anything. A couple hours later, it started coming out of one end, a few hours later still, out the other! No permanent damage, but this really wiped me out for a few days! Helped me lose some of that festive weight though, just not from the right places!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So that's been my 2014 so far. Busy, but with not much to show for it! Reading that back, there's a lot of "I" in there, so I'll sign off with what is becoming a common sight in the blogging community, hot chicks with guns! (I'm blaming you, Loki, Fran and Ray!)</span></div>
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Vladdd309http://www.blogger.com/profile/00638331803401829636noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8581566084474292005.post-26077931878303159122014-01-06T21:14:00.000+00:002014-01-06T21:14:04.163+00:00Challenge Update<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Well, I'm glad to see that I wasn't the only one who, over the festive season, completely lost track of the days of the week! Suddenly it was the fourth of January and I had to quickly paint some D&D boardgame bad guys for the second theme weekend! To avoid a repeat, I've had an hour or so today to quickly base and prime my entry for the 19th January. I'll like to get them finished with a couple days to spare, in order to take some pictures in daylight this time (I've only been free in the evenings, so it's been harsh lights and camera flash all the way.)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Other than the theme weekends, I've been painting up some 10mm ECW infantry. Some guys at the club have been talking playing some small Field of Glory: Renaissance games in, but no one seems to have got very far. Perhaps seeing some finished figures could spur some of them on!</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The idea with going with 10mm figures, is that it's more affordable than 15mm (by a good margin) and that they are quicker to paint too. It's not gone to plan so far though; firstly I'm cramming ten figures to a 20x40mm base and, secondly, I can't get out of the habit of base, wash, layer and highlight when painting - and it takes a bloomin' age to do! For the second unit of infantry, I'll try a simpler colour scheme and see if I can speed things up!</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A night off painting tomorrow, as the club is back on. I've a couple card games arranged, the obligatory Android: Netrunner savaging (although, I have won a few times recently,) and then a intro game for a friend to the Lord of the Rings card game. Both games by Fantasy Flight Games and both absolutely fantastic. Good times.</span></div>
Vladdd309http://www.blogger.com/profile/00638331803401829636noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8581566084474292005.post-15709869870461055982013-12-31T20:39:00.000+00:002013-12-31T20:39:53.497+00:00So long 2013, Fuck You!Apologies for the F-Drop in the title, I know not everyone will appreciate it, but that's the only way to sum up how this year has gone.<br />
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2013 started pretty poorly and steadily got worse, levelling off at pretty crap in November. Frankly I'm glad to see the back of this year, but I'm tentatively looking forward to next year, hopefully get some better news in the first few months.<br />
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Also a quick thanks to my friends and family, the guys at the club and all my internet friends for helping me out over the last twelve months!<br />
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Have a great new year everyone.Vladdd309http://www.blogger.com/profile/00638331803401829636noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8581566084474292005.post-40667505571779594172013-12-30T23:22:00.001+00:002013-12-30T23:22:56.532+00:00Kindle Purchases<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ok, it turn's out that Sunday evening wasn't a good night for some painting; rather it was for sleeping a few hours on the couch! Still, off for a few days now, so I'm bound to get something done.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">One thing I've discovered about the Kindle: not only is it great for reading books and wargames rules, it's also really easy to spend money on! I've picked up a couple books this weekend, notably:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I would have probably picked up the whole Osprey Legends series at some point, but these two were 99p and 49p respectively, bargain. Admittedly, I'm still getting accustomed to not having the physical book, but reading is surprisingly comfortable. The Thor book in particular has thrown up a number of things I wasn't familiar with. Great artwork throughout too!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Arthur book less so, but I did study Arthurian literature (mainly Thomas Malory and Sir Gwain and the Green Night) for a semester at university, so am a bit more familiar with those legends than the Norse.</span></div>
Vladdd309http://www.blogger.com/profile/00638331803401829636noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8581566084474292005.post-9589510677723193322013-12-28T23:18:00.000+00:002013-12-28T23:18:04.843+00:00Xmas Update<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Well I hope everyone enjoyed their Christmas (or at least the day off work!) I was certainly glad of the day off, my first in a wee while, and managed to lounge around in the sack until eleven or so. Stirred into motion by the smell of bacon, it was soon time to exchange gifts.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: justify;">The old man really pulled a surprise by picking me up a Kindle. I've been wanting to replace the tablet pc (which the ex has, I got the laptop) since the summer and this is a fits the bill perfectly. Aside from ebooks, which I'm not particularly sold on anyway, it's great for surfing the net whilst chilling in bed or on the couch. It plays my music and audiobooks too, which I'm getting used to, and is fantastic for reading wargame rules and pdfs.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Other than that, I was given a new Osprey book, Jackson's Valley Campaign and the latest Scott Lynch book, Republic of Thieves.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On a whim, I ordered a Christmas Crazy Box 2013 from Mantic Games. It's essentially a lucky dip box with a random assortment of miniatures from their various ranges. My box included two Dreadball MVP players, including the only giant figure I don't own, some elves, three ogres, ten human spearmen, five space Dwarves with heavy weapons, two space Orx with heavy weapons, two wonderfully weird Deadzone figures and a random playing piece figures (no idea what it actually is.)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I'm happy enough with the purchase, in terms of RRP, it's great value. Of most immediate use, are the Dreadball giant and the Ogres. The elves and spearmen should also see some use, probably in a skirmish game or an RPG. The rest are all nice enough, the Dwarves (Forgefathers?) in particular are much nicer than the website photos suggest, and should see some paint on them at some point. The Crazy Box is still on sale, so it's a nice purchase if you fancy some random fantasy/sci-fi miniatures.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Earlier in the year, I joined the Blogger Secret Santa that was going around. Sadly, my present hasn't turned up yet (boo-hoo I know,) but that wasn't solely why I joined. I'll keep faith in the blogging community, and the Royal Mail, that something will turn up in the next few days!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In terms of the Painting Challenge, the last week or so was a bit of a bust! Just far too busy with work and the occasional social functions i.e. nights in the pub, to get time to pick up the brush. Today though, I managed to prep the next few entries and, after days of terrible weather, get some spray priming done. Sunday night feels like a good time to get some painting in, doesn't it?</span></div>
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Vladdd309http://www.blogger.com/profile/00638331803401829636noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8581566084474292005.post-57601703596738906452013-12-25T09:39:00.000+00:002013-12-25T09:39:21.890+00:00Merry Christmas<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8zVqDiHbSHlf-jMR0IFPMF1kQUHe1AEBfwrYEX6ebdUjRw6xSe3z37lh7p8TiQIXwyZbvRYaf5TqIf0x1jTUHhizDTdDthyUYbanxQ3QQFp6cwwQlgxPhVxL1730pr9dO1JnnIS1So8A/s1600/Sophie+Howard+Xmas.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="243" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8zVqDiHbSHlf-jMR0IFPMF1kQUHe1AEBfwrYEX6ebdUjRw6xSe3z37lh7p8TiQIXwyZbvRYaf5TqIf0x1jTUHhizDTdDthyUYbanxQ3QQFp6cwwQlgxPhVxL1730pr9dO1JnnIS1So8A/s320/Sophie+Howard+Xmas.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Just wanted to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas. I hope everyone is getting what and to do what the want today!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I've just finished a nine day run of busy days at work, so, at 9:30 in the morning, I'm still lounging in bed. Can't see myself getting up soon either! Until next time, enjoy the obligatory Sophie Howard & friends boob pic!</span></div>
Vladdd309http://www.blogger.com/profile/00638331803401829636noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8581566084474292005.post-44287102399747063422013-12-18T11:54:00.000+00:002013-12-18T11:54:16.043+00:0010mm Roman Command stand<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgp_9vD4MdxeSKWvQjJKh8ZoKYcb3cjuadGZ4uakBNPN0Jpdhc9gsjxb15N-55X62kn_IdpA6eNwmLfACsyTCJ5hDJ3WrrRCkhg13vcSqDnIekLfQ25T1CKSYDn2ri6_2c9c5nC9FPGlLI/s1600/Roman+Command+15+Dec+(3).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="275" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgp_9vD4MdxeSKWvQjJKh8ZoKYcb3cjuadGZ4uakBNPN0Jpdhc9gsjxb15N-55X62kn_IdpA6eNwmLfACsyTCJ5hDJ3WrrRCkhg13vcSqDnIekLfQ25T1CKSYDn2ri6_2c9c5nC9FPGlLI/s320/Roman+Command+15+Dec+(3).jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Here's my first entry into the Analogue Painting Challenge; a 10mm Republican Rome command stand. Figures are from the Pendraken cavalry pack, nice enough sculpts, but the rest of the pack are all one pose figures - one of my pet hates!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: justify;">I want to avoid the whole sea-of-red look for my Romans, so tried using green as the main colour and will probably keep it as the main colour for the legionnaires. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: justify;">These guys have sat glued to the base since the last year, so it was somewhat apt that I started this year's challenge with them. 4 points done! Chuffed with that.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sadly after day two, I'm already a bit behind schedule! My scheduled day off on Monday went a bit pear-shaped and I ended up working a long shift. Work and the club on Tuesday meant no activity at all. I managed to get some brushwork in this morning, but am going to have to push Thursday and Friday nights to get the theme weekend entry completed on time. Still, there's plenty of time left, isn't there?</span></div>
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Vladdd309http://www.blogger.com/profile/00638331803401829636noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8581566084474292005.post-89289375596317625082013-12-15T21:30:00.000+00:002013-12-15T21:30:00.421+00:00One down, many, MANY more to go!<div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Well, that's me off the mark, one base of figures painted. Having written that, it sounds more impressive than it actually is! I'll have to wait for daylight tomorrow to take pictures, but otherwise I'm happy enough with the days work. In some fortunate timing, it was my first day off in over a week today, coinciding nicely with the start of the </span><a href="http://analogue-hobbies.blogspot.ca/" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: red;">Analogue Painting Challenge.</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> As a result, I was able to take a few hours to set up my desk how I like, look out some favourite pots of paint and generally gear myself up for the next few weeks.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Like many other participants, I haven't painted anything in the last few weeks, so today was a chance to brush off the cobwebs. A few thought occurred to me while painting away:</span></div>
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<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: justify;">More light! After lunch, the natural light on my desk dropped off dramatically. I'll need to dig out a couple lamps for afternoon/evening painting, maybe swap out to using daylight bulbs too.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Painting itself is reassuringly satisfying.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My home-made wet palette is a godsend, particularly useful for correcting mistakes, by keeping original paints usable hours after a first coat.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Listening material is essential to keeping your brain occupied during the more mundane tasks. Football earlier in the day and the latest <a href="http://www.thed6generation.com/"><span style="color: red;">D6 Generation</span></a> episode in the afternoon.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My points target suddenly seems a long way away!</span></li>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Another day off tomorrow, so the plan is to finish up another group of figures by the evening. If I manage that I won't feel too guilty about not painting Tuesday while I go to the final club night of the year.</span></div>
Vladdd309http://www.blogger.com/profile/00638331803401829636noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8581566084474292005.post-35820021977555141722013-12-15T00:11:00.002+00:002013-12-15T00:11:50.891+00:00Everyone finished prepping yet?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgK5cJ4ZTmqclZGj1qUkk8fqie8wCNEtmNtjuyo3OlB5DoDHdWqt8QGdeHzezl1Wu-DlEo6QuyNW2Utm0RkD0_Jsmwlg3DSOB36QtMFitS8wA-Lnkypgndc70gx1RdIiP2afwkdEN_QKxg/s1600/Painting_Challenge_2013.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgK5cJ4ZTmqclZGj1qUkk8fqie8wCNEtmNtjuyo3OlB5DoDHdWqt8QGdeHzezl1Wu-DlEo6QuyNW2Utm0RkD0_Jsmwlg3DSOB36QtMFitS8wA-Lnkypgndc70gx1RdIiP2afwkdEN_QKxg/s1600/Painting_Challenge_2013.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Only a few hour now until the </span><a href="http://analogue-hobbies.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/lets-go-fourth-annual-analogue-hobbies.html" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: red;">Analogue Painting Challenge 2014</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> kicks in. As plenty of other Bloggers have documented, December has been busy with modelling figures, prepping bases and arguing about exactly what constitutes priming a miniature!</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieldj31AsFsr3iTqHPx36_sQOFpOc3fYxzJ1Flbu_CUwa4b4Bg9m5rduWsb52PaH4eZ00tz8HDw1qzs9b7VMMaxALZiqEtOmVN2j_U2oSMZfu13hSqI4JnR4q_ZWctyFCz03MI0JnXNsY/s1600/Challenge_prep.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="219" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieldj31AsFsr3iTqHPx36_sQOFpOc3fYxzJ1Flbu_CUwa4b4Bg9m5rduWsb52PaH4eZ00tz8HDw1qzs9b7VMMaxALZiqEtOmVN2j_U2oSMZfu13hSqI4JnR4q_ZWctyFCz03MI0JnXNsY/s320/Challenge_prep.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Dreadball figures aplenty!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Although not as much as I'd have liked, I've prepared a few weeks worth of figures; some Dreadball teams, the remainder of my Saga vikings, some 15mm sci-fi reinforcements and a few figures for the lucrative bonus theme weekends.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLG9RnQzHg1b-1XbdGTj00JWICmPBdZhqZU5hm7qS8J1iFu2v9vGLpMEDT5OLo-P2cnhaBD8VU-VGvFGzeMftopTlcrWksyuARtWkCgEupDRdRFPdhAU0pvq-3tPti6VRXxmh7-hPWnIc/s1600/Challenge_prep+(2).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLG9RnQzHg1b-1XbdGTj00JWICmPBdZhqZU5hm7qS8J1iFu2v9vGLpMEDT5OLo-P2cnhaBD8VU-VGvFGzeMftopTlcrWksyuARtWkCgEupDRdRFPdhAU0pvq-3tPti6VRXxmh7-hPWnIc/s320/Challenge_prep+(2).jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">My Viking army. Doesn't look like that much work, does it?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It'll be interesting, keeping an eye out to see how everyone starts off the challenge. I work in retail so this is the busiest time of our year, but I have some painting time scheduled, including tomorrow as a day off. first goal; to get off the mark. Best of luck to everyone participating and for those not, I hope it'll be interesting to read about!</span>Vladdd309http://www.blogger.com/profile/00638331803401829636noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8581566084474292005.post-8730204237041366562013-12-11T23:51:00.000+00:002013-12-11T23:51:13.356+00:00November Gaming: A House Divided<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Not a huge amount of gaming happened in November; real life and whatnot. I did manage a couple of games in at the club though, the first of which was A House Divided, a board game by Frank Chadwick. I can't remember the current publisher, but this is apparently the fourth edition of the game.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGEgVFgvuYXq8vsYw0nWNKyD8iOtaSaUFTIXQuur4e0GFWd8SXBTPLqL82LePukNR19rZpLNtP5s-7IKBSDVDhnDqfMWYxr18qs3sCxLefnS24UezdAWj8CuvqZB0XQ5VSNBS8wB5LfhQ/s1600/AHD+Box.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="222" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGEgVFgvuYXq8vsYw0nWNKyD8iOtaSaUFTIXQuur4e0GFWd8SXBTPLqL82LePukNR19rZpLNtP5s-7IKBSDVDhnDqfMWYxr18qs3sCxLefnS24UezdAWj8CuvqZB0XQ5VSNBS8wB5LfhQ/s320/AHD+Box.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: justify;">AHD is a strategic wargame, re-fighting the American Civil War in it's entirety (and beyond if you prefer.) The game board consists of a network of strategic locations, either cities, towns or forts, with a web of roads, rivers and railway lines connecting them. The game plays out in month long spring summer turns and two month autumn winter turns.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpn84UucKEypY33QSk9WqqLaBAHkCR-l6wp7DQSfw-W2e1xxWyOtypSV7BuPmL2uy7EOZ6QcMFjqG1N54BCiBARApJ8JwYSOsK0gZesrZER5EiJTN4fyKLrydtruUcqd4-OSesCgHCi1c/s1600/AHD+(5).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="281" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpn84UucKEypY33QSk9WqqLaBAHkCR-l6wp7DQSfw-W2e1xxWyOtypSV7BuPmL2uy7EOZ6QcMFjqG1N54BCiBARApJ8JwYSOsK0gZesrZER5EiJTN4fyKLrydtruUcqd4-OSesCgHCi1c/s320/AHD+(5).jpg" width="320" /></a><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">April 1862, look at all those blue tokens, must be going well for the Union.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Each turn, a player has a specific amount of activations he can make, moving or entrenching units, initiating battles and so on. The movement mechanics are nice and simple, reflecting the importance of rail and river travel (particularly for the Union player in the latter case.) The fact you can't move a whole lot of units in one turn, unless they are all stacked together as an army, means you can't redeploy strategically very quickly; you have to plan what you're going to do and build towards that carefully.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Combat is an extremely straightforward affair, purely dice based, with two hits needed to eliminate a token. There are still a number of tactical options for each side, with options to reinforce or retreat from the combat or to entrench a position. After each successful combat, the victor can promote one of his units to a higher quality, from militia to veteran or from veteran to crack. A slight niggle here is that for each battle, you pick all the involved units off the board and line them up separately, this kind of grated on me for a while, but I can't think of a better way it could be implemented.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwSmnD9et9seT_4BluztAwIbHyKI7LZ31SOM56PXdYq_0Q_C7KzKBJZ6pFj7V2v-t6h2HNJnvmIyEC-oihKvR6kwC7EUnewNjNQF23AkZ2PC8irFPl6oduXcSx07ZfKLBM1BkWj0sKBDk/s1600/AHD+(2).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwSmnD9et9seT_4BluztAwIbHyKI7LZ31SOM56PXdYq_0Q_C7KzKBJZ6pFj7V2v-t6h2HNJnvmIyEC-oihKvR6kwC7EUnewNjNQF23AkZ2PC8irFPl6oduXcSx07ZfKLBM1BkWj0sKBDk/s320/AHD+(2).jpg" width="320" /></a><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The sideboard, tokens and battle area. Exciting stuff!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The token count has been very specifically balanced to reflect the disparity in manpower between the two sides. As a result the Confederate player has to be aggressive to promote his units to a higher quality, thereby making the lower quality token available for recruitment. On the other hand, the Union player automatically drafts new militia units every April, in addition to those he can recruit during the year.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Play alternates between the two players for the five years of the war until one side emerges victorious. The Union win by either capturing Richmond or enough other bases to force a win (actually I think I'm forgetting one here.) The Confederacy win by either capturing Washington or by simply avoiding defeat until May 1865.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We chose to play one of the year scenarios, as time was a bit limited, opting for 1862. Deployment was fixed with heavy concentrations around Washington and Richmond, the Union holding Kentucky and with a small force entrenched in Fort Monroe. Victory and defeat for this scenario is calculated in the difference between the maximum possible army sizes for each side, calculated by the number of large cities each side controls - essentially this means "how much ground can the confederates take?" Alternatively, if either side lost their capital, the game would be over too.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiN0Fyt3MGpIIy6yepo38BRQR5h8cQTM17QQinkky7te_S8Gvkqy9W8uCpNyQ-zXga_BVIBBRinikxwGiSMUzoJ2sC9bKN1sgWEiK6KeP96uWlQxYXCJvJ-m99QSoX-UyaItbpZYXlinuc/s1600/AHD+(4).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="276" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiN0Fyt3MGpIIy6yepo38BRQR5h8cQTM17QQinkky7te_S8Gvkqy9W8uCpNyQ-zXga_BVIBBRinikxwGiSMUzoJ2sC9bKN1sgWEiK6KeP96uWlQxYXCJvJ-m99QSoX-UyaItbpZYXlinuc/s320/AHD+(4).jpg" width="320" /></a><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">For some reason, I took a picture of the rulebook too.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I took the role as the Union commander, keeping my capital swarming with troops while simultaneously building up forces for a naval expedition down the coast (Will it worked for McClellan, didn't it?) For the hell of it, we also had a push down from Kentucky against what looked like weak opposition.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Adam had the Confederate command and played a much more cagey game in the early turns. All the Confederate militia tokens were on the map, so the only way they could recruit new troops was to promote some milita to veterans, freeing up the militia tokens for the recruitment phase. Adam did this by harrassing some of my isolated units and forming up to resist my Western push.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My push soon turned into a rout. With no choice to retreat in the face of much better troops than my own, I launched the naval expedition, taking a couple towns, but not doing nearly enough to avoid the complete defeat I suffered. This continued the fine tradition I have at the club of introducing new games and then losing heavily at them.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqAG-rhTv5CLVV9ZsoEFXBwAz8xhchCByvgefJND6urNyJYbn72uCTXehgWvxSPhtRY3mVsszkL-z0W_wKCd2Ifx8Yz9MJEo4KdSwz7zNl_boC8TZj5D4GtlX50SS_hfOP-CFjqaWFShM/s1600/AHD.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="284" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqAG-rhTv5CLVV9ZsoEFXBwAz8xhchCByvgefJND6urNyJYbn72uCTXehgWvxSPhtRY3mVsszkL-z0W_wKCd2Ifx8Yz9MJEo4KdSwz7zNl_boC8TZj5D4GtlX50SS_hfOP-CFjqaWFShM/s320/AHD.jpg" width="320" /></a><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">March 1863. Errr, how did that happen? And where the fuck have all my guys gone!?!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The box comes with two sets of rules, basic and advanced rules. The former, beyond learning the basic mechanics really have no depth to them. The advanced set are a little more meaty, but not complex at all (particularly by the standards of a GMT game.) The second half of the advanced rules section cover the optional rules players can choose to use (in part or all of them, there are about twenty five or so to select.) I'm not a big fan of this kind of choice in a game, it makes me think the designers couldn't decide what to include, so put everything in and make the players decide.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As AHD is in it's fourth edition, I think this is a nice nod to the previous incarnations of the game and, with a handy chart to help you, picking what rules you want is pretty straightforward. There is a huge amount to choose from; I won't go into them all, but some of my favourites are the draft riots 1863,naval assaults and the Grant/Lee rules. Additionally, there are rules for hypothetical situations like a Confederate navy or European recognition of the Confederacy and subsequent military aid.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I have to say I think A House Divided is an outstanding game. Well balanced and atmospheric, it was also really fun, despite my horrendous loss. The year we played took about ninety minutes, although with some fannying about going on; we're both keen to arrange an afternoon or evening where we can play the whole war through to a finish. A final point, this game cost me a tenner, from IGUK earlier this year. The price was heavily reduced, but this is easily the best value purchase I've made all year. Recommended.</span></div>
Vladdd309http://www.blogger.com/profile/00638331803401829636noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8581566084474292005.post-79327022082265328402013-12-04T11:32:00.000+00:002013-12-04T11:32:01.536+00:00G3 Games Day<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.g3gamers.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/g3logoblack.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.g3gamers.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/g3logoblack.png" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Last weekend, a friend and I had a trip down to Glasgow to attend a Glasgow Games Group gaming event; the Spencer Warner Memorial Gaming Day. The G3 event commemorates a founder member of the group and lets those who knew him (and those, like me, who didn't) get together for some gaming, for some laughs and to raise some cash for charity.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There was a fair turnout with around ten tables on the go, as well as a huge bring and buy section (I later learned that this was mostly Spencer's collection they are selling off for charity - Man he had a lot of stuff!) I took some pictures, apologies to all the participants, I didn't get names:</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihmRMU0BcIKlryAaLKZ-W6ZOfXpBP67odwlL4HnR3-_nFlSNgrAZfr-9WbO9nAdbvI_li2m9zsFZENAawL244YaW9zNt9K2XO978u6xXUYhnpil3RD5whMyzmEcb_HTRPxE09hiuxzLLk/s1600/G3+(6).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="226" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihmRMU0BcIKlryAaLKZ-W6ZOfXpBP67odwlL4HnR3-_nFlSNgrAZfr-9WbO9nAdbvI_li2m9zsFZENAawL244YaW9zNt9K2XO978u6xXUYhnpil3RD5whMyzmEcb_HTRPxE09hiuxzLLk/s320/G3+(6).jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The view from the door.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbvXLLB7X_v497hGIxGub3d5vXO6EK_BfIR0S87xBPICG2j7OsAA3h_0kZLqCxRgWsF9j3XzpafQrokZUow81dlFsTT7tppTGsP19ce8boeEiUyM6cjCdE_5LyQBqSVOJxbemsGQzXVuc/s1600/G3+(2).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbvXLLB7X_v497hGIxGub3d5vXO6EK_BfIR0S87xBPICG2j7OsAA3h_0kZLqCxRgWsF9j3XzpafQrokZUow81dlFsTT7tppTGsP19ce8boeEiUyM6cjCdE_5LyQBqSVOJxbemsGQzXVuc/s320/G3+(2).jpg" width="289" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A well balanced looking Flames of War table.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXzXh37Y8hyphenhyphenOQQ66Bb5WHb-LRWo5zvFexkr7JP-MfFUz16IC6Fd632x_1b9YpoV1DnVQGu6imiTXNXfHaZpmoHx7HHsxTBZfshyphenhyphen2-Lli18ohlK9yMtNstD85CE-noUfx6ou4uW_uWaphA/s1600/G3+(4).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="301" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXzXh37Y8hyphenhyphenOQQ66Bb5WHb-LRWo5zvFexkr7JP-MfFUz16IC6Fd632x_1b9YpoV1DnVQGu6imiTXNXfHaZpmoHx7HHsxTBZfshyphenhyphen2-Lli18ohlK9yMtNstD85CE-noUfx6ou4uW_uWaphA/s320/G3+(4).jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">One of two Apocalypse Warhammer 40K games. These tables were packed with figures.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A huge Battletech game using Hawk Wargames' terrain set. I think this was the quick play version of the rules (Alpha Strike?) as it seemed to be playing very quickly for BT.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Our first game, Blood Bowl Team Manager. A much better game with three people rather than two. Four players would be better still.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The second 40K game. Someone came over to us from this table for a blether - Apparently his army had been reduced to just three figures!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In addition to these, there were games of Saga, Chain of Command, Dystopian Wars and a couple miscellaneous games I couldn't see properly. My loot from the day was pretty satisfying:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Cold War Commander - because I don't have enough projects and scales going on.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Imperium supplement for Crusader - for completness, the only one I don't have.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Gear Krieg - a complete impulse buy.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Khador paint set from PP - great price</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Thragosh the Messiah for Horders - again, a bargain.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We'd also stopped earlier at Static Games in the city centre where I picked up the latest booster for Android Netrunner and an adventure pack for the Lord of the Rings card game.</span></div>
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<br />Vladdd309http://www.blogger.com/profile/00638331803401829636noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8581566084474292005.post-64671784420504672442013-11-27T12:14:00.000+00:002013-11-27T12:14:20.210+00:00Two Minute Review - The Civil War: A Narrative by Shelby Foote<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Civil War: A Narrative - Part One Fort Sumter to Perryville</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Two minutes hardly seems like enough time to get started on this one. For a change, I picked this up as an audiobook. Very slowly, I'm becoming accustomed to the format, remembering to make an effort to listen along to the recording and to avoid letting my attention wandering. It's taken a lot of getting used to, particularly with this book; it clocks in at just over thirty seven hours.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Shelby Foote, apart from his literary works, is probably best known for his appearances on Ken Burn's Civil War documentary series. He had a wonderful voice and a unique way of thinking about the Civil War, particularly his habit of speaking as if it was still ongoing. This first volume of three, covers the build up to and the first two years of the war.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I'm at a bit of a loss as to describe the work. Foote certainly gives you an account, mainly chronological, of the conflict, but it's a meandering, seamless narrative where events flow into one another. Although a chapter might start on the western front, about whatever problems Bragg is facing, the chapter could wander off to talk about the Southern press or Lincoln's personal life or the naval blockade. Yet the narrative always, in hindsight, has a logic and structure that keeps you hooked in. Throughout, I was never metaphorically lost wherever the author went.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The way the battles, particularly Antietam, unfold are inspired; there are no big announcements that one of the war's set pieces is coming up. Instead, we follow the two armies as they march along, choose their positions and skirmish. Soon you're being told about the fierce fighting and you can't quite exactly recall when battle started. Somehow, this seems very fitting for the subject matter.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What struck me was how well characterised the main personalities are. Partly this comes from the author's own opinion on certain figures, but also from the frequent quotations from letters and diaries etc. A case in point is McClellan, whose letters are quoted extensively. Reading (or listening) along, you feel frustrated at his inability to do anything, then feel his excitement as battle draws near and, ultimately, you feel sorry for him as he is quietly removed from command. Perhaps it is due to the fact I was being read to, but I haven't had that reaction to any other book on the American Civil War.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">At this point in any review, you're supposed to point out any criticisms you have of a work. After racking my brain for a while, I can honestly say I have none. Pushed hard, I'd say that TCW wouldn't be suitable as an introduction to the conflict. Due to the authors sojourns and detours, without at least an existing idea of the structure of the war, a new reader could get a little lost along the way. Access to a selection of suitable maps is a huge help.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sadly, the recording I listened to was not narrated by the author himself. The style of writing and the turn of phrase used (particularly the quotations from dispatches and letters) would have been wonderful to hear in the author's particular southern accent. The narrator used does a satisfactory enough job, but he's a touch too fifties newsreader in tone for my tastes.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Quite frankly I can't recommend this book highly enough. From Grant's preferred expletives to the Beauregard's choice of dress uniform, if you like your history with plenty of character you won't be disappointed. A bit of a pause will be required before listening to volume two, looking ahead, it clocks in at over forty seven hours!</span></div>
Vladdd309http://www.blogger.com/profile/00638331803401829636noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8581566084474292005.post-14691405334409168222013-11-18T18:54:00.000+00:002013-11-18T19:56:37.731+00:00Vamonos!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjy950TcNbd9_aQiBAWnbmDj8H-d9URIe2FDQByVfP3Z_0o6P3gNP1Slssk1QKytKAgSnKaS0WxkUEyNXyjvzn5wTWD_v9XOPhP3l8cyqd2fjNkuJ7Q7i9cio7ivLbbYkkKs4mXfd8GlMQ/s1600/Painting_Challenge_2013.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjy950TcNbd9_aQiBAWnbmDj8H-d9URIe2FDQByVfP3Z_0o6P3gNP1Slssk1QKytKAgSnKaS0WxkUEyNXyjvzn5wTWD_v9XOPhP3l8cyqd2fjNkuJ7Q7i9cio7ivLbbYkkKs4mXfd8GlMQ/s1600/Painting_Challenge_2013.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Along with another forty nine, slightly barmy bloggers, I've signed up for <span style="color: red;"><a href="http://analogue-hobbies.blogspot.com.au/2013/11/lets-go-fourth-annual-analogue-hobbies.html"><span style="color: red;">The Fourth Annual Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge</span></a> </span>Curt very kindly offered previous entrants the chance to sign up for the challenge last week and I'm stoked that I had managed to get a place on board.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Curt has introduced two big changes this year; by allowing non-historical figures in the challenge for the first time and by introducing themed bonus rounds. The diversity and quality of last years challenge was immense, widening the field can only be a good thing! I've already picked out some figures for the first bonus round; non-combatants.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The entrance fee this year is to provide Curt with "a single 28mm figure that is inspired by a Sam Peckinpah film." I use the term "fee" loosely as Curt actually donates cash to a local charity for each figure he receives. For the third painting challenge, we were asked to paint up a 28mm Samurai figure for him, my entry was this guy:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There are definitely no cowboy or similar figures in my lead pile, so looks like I'll have to hit the 'Bay to find something appropriate. Of course, that sounds like the perfect <strike>excuse</strike> opportunity to pick up the Dead Man's Hand rulebook while I'm there, maybe some extra figures too...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The challenge is points based, awarded for each painted figure based mainly on scale and how generous Curt is feeling! Although he puts up a league table, the only competition is with yourself. In fact, the most enjoyable aspect from last year was how supportive the participants were. I'm going to aim for the same points tally I set for last year, 1000 points. It's ambitious, very ambitious, but it's probably what I need to kick my painting mojo into action again.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Although the challenge last year started well enough for me, my progress never recovered from a string of bad news that began last new year (enough about that though, I've adopted a no-whining policy from now on!) This year, I think I'll be able to plan a lot more and learn some lessons from last year.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The first big task for the next few weeks is to prep everything that might possibly be entered. Last year, I totally misjudged this and was still sanding, filing and basing long after I should have picked up the paintbrush.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Next up is some sort of schedule of what to paint and by when. Having a list and some deadlines written down should help me stay on track and keep the motivation levels up.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Lastly, I need to find an easy(ish) and effective way of taking pictures of figures. At the moment, the pics I take are either washed out from too much light or are tinged from the coloured lightbulbs in the house. Add into the fact I </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">hate </i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">taking pictures, something set up, ready to use will save a lot of headaches in the coming months.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Best of luck to everyone entering. Best get preppin'</span></div>
Vladdd309http://www.blogger.com/profile/00638331803401829636noreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8581566084474292005.post-61354483396393687152013-10-30T11:22:00.001+00:002013-10-30T11:22:50.319+00:00100 Followers<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnMmouUjL0cCHKnhgX4sYqVP9CRkIQyfC2ldegr6ya5HlGxMu-tFwZTwer6_luB-CCijrtA_8I-Npz728jRE7PtIN3w92V_U3RjkiOPh8to9IAw5Xo_oQmH9J1MvAkcSxa6MugDKz0gQo/s1600/ducks-in-a-row-21.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="190" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnMmouUjL0cCHKnhgX4sYqVP9CRkIQyfC2ldegr6ya5HlGxMu-tFwZTwer6_luB-CCijrtA_8I-Npz728jRE7PtIN3w92V_U3RjkiOPh8to9IAw5Xo_oQmH9J1MvAkcSxa6MugDKz0gQo/s320/ducks-in-a-row-21.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Just a quick thank you to all the readers of Too Much Free Time. I just noticed that the blog has accumulated it's 100th follower! So thanks to everyone who stops by to read my bletherings and bigger thanks to everyone who makes the effort to comment and share. I haven't done anything the last few months to encourage and attract new readers, so it's very rewarding to see that people still take an interest.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On a related note, <a href="http://napoleonicwargamingadventures.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/lokis-200-followers-competition.html"><span style="color: red;">Loki</span></a> has just picked up his 200th follower and is marking the occasion by giving away a nice looking Saga figure.</span></div>
Vladdd309http://www.blogger.com/profile/00638331803401829636noreply@blogger.com6