I'm Back Baby.... Errr, Again.

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.

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.

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!)

Right, that's enough of that.

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.

I've also been on a bit of a buying splurge too; a ton of games have been added to the pile lately, notably:

• 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.
  
  
  
• Star Trek Attack Wing.  Right, here's the issue.  I already play and love 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!
  
  
  
• 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.
  
  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!)

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.)

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.

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!

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!

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.

Secret Santa!

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!

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.

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!

January 2014 so far... and boobs

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.

Analogue Painting Challenge

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.

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.

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.

Gaming

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!

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 Tie-Bomber (meh, ok) and the Moldy Crow (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.

Finally, I managed to finally run a game of Iron & Oak at the club.  Adam and I played one of the 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 ACW outing it 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!

Writing

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.

Reading

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!

Bowels

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!

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!)

Vamonos!

Along with another forty nine, slightly barmy bloggers, I've signed up for The Fourth Annual Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge  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.

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.

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:

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 excuse opportunity to pick up the Dead Man's Hand rulebook while I'm there, maybe some extra figures too...

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 hate taking pictures, something set up, ready to use will save a lot of headaches in the coming months.

Best of luck to everyone entering.  Best get preppin'

100 Followers

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.

On a related note, Loki has just picked up his 200th follower and is marking the occasion by giving away a nice looking Saga figure.

A to Z Blogger Book Survey

This has been floating around a few different blogs lately, saw it on Lead Warrior, who saw it over at Glue in the Carpet who saw it. . . and so on and on.  I quite enjoy these wee quizzes and I enjoy reading other peoples lists even more.  No real logic behind that, but this one is for the avid readers out there.

Just fyi, I mainly read history, fantasy and sci-fi nowadays; years of reading serious literature has left me feeling entitled enough now to only read stuff I genuinely enjoy!

Author you've read the most books from:

A rather boring answer.  Both in terms of words and books, it would have to be Dickens.

Best sequel ever:

Not sure about best sequel ever, but Raymond E Feist's Silverthorn is one of the best second books I've ever read.

Currently reading:

The Plantagenets by Dan Jones

The Civil War: A Narrative by Shelby Foote

Drink of choice whilst reading:

Reading in the bath?  A crisp, cold beer, something European preferably.

Around the house? A cup of tea, steeped for two minutes and a sploosh of milk.

E-reader or physical book:

Physical books still.  You can't scribble on an E-reader, fold the pages over, fall asleep and drool on them.  Plus there's no proper smell.  I managed recently to finish an audiobook for the first time, so, that barrier crossed, in time I may succumb to an e-reader too.

Fictional character you would probably have dated in high school:

Err, as a teen Tess Durbeyfield, later Anna Karenina and most recently, Fire (from the eponymous Kristin Cashore book)

Glad you gave this book a chance:

The first Discworld book, The Colour of Magic by Terry Pratchett.  I was a very late convert to Pratchett, he seemed a bit too twee for my tastes.  Also, lots of people told my I just HAD to read them, so, obviously, I avoided them for years.  However, once I'd read the first one, I kind of understood what people saw in Pratchett; British wit and humour, irreverence, farce, biting-BITING dialogue.  Glad to have given it a go, although I'm reading them very slowly in case of burnout!

Hidden book gem:

The Painted Man by Peter V Brett.  When I started reading, I thought it was a shallow, teen fantasy novel. However, it turned out to be one of the best modern fantasy novels I've read in recent years.  The fact it is easy to read disguises how skilfully the characters, world and plot have been put together.  The series is onto the third book now, the second was excellent, but I'm delaying reading the third until I'm ready (I've a funny feeling about one of my favourite characters in the next book.)

Important moment in your book life:

Reading The History of the World by J M Roberts as a teenager.  We had next to no history taught at my school.  In summary, we were told: the Romans were in Britain, Anne Frank complained a lot, people in London during the Blitz somehow won the second world war.  J M Robert's books single handedly changed that.

Just finished:

Ice Forged by Gail Z Martin.  God this one was drivel.

Kind of book you won't read:

Biographies and any self-help, pop-psychology based nonsense.  Also, anything by Dan Brown.

Longest book you've read:

Couldn't really say specifically.  Three of the longest are surely War and Peace, The Count of Monte Cristo and The Reality Dysfunction by Peter F Hamilton.

Major book hangover because of  disappointing endings:

First off, an ending should never ruin a book for you.  If the last few pages leave you feeling unsatisfied, think instead of how you enjoyed the days and weeks of reading to get there instead.

So the ending to the Night Angel trilogy by Brent Weeks didn't ruin the series, but it wasn't really that satisfying.  Minor spoiler alert:  there's an essentially immortal character (well two actually) who tells the reader what happens to the rest of the cast after the last book ends. It was so Hollywood, it was horrible. However, until then, the series was outstanding, I can still quote bits from it!

Number of bookcases you own:

I left all my furniture behind with my ex when I moved back home this year, so technically, none. Most of my books are boxed up in the loft.  At the last count (in 2005,) I was sitting at a nudge over two and a half thousand books.

One book you've read multiple times:

Agatha Christie (allegedly) said "Reading a book once is like taking a dog to the theatre." I try to read the majority of my books at least twice.  A notable read?  Dune, must had read it through a dozen times or more.

Preferred place to read:

My sadly departed comfy leather chair (still traumatized by its loss,) the Duthie Park in Aberdeen (on a very sunny day of course) or the bath.

Quote that inspires you/gives you all the feels from a book you've read:

I was going to go all serious and take the literary high ground with my teenager book, The Great Gatsby "here was a new generation. . . grown up to find all Gods dead, all wars fought, all faiths in man shaken."  But instead, I'll have to go with "Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn."

Reading regret:

I can't think of anything serious or trivial for this one.  Can't say I've ever regretted reading or not reading a book.  Gun to the head, I'd have preferred to avoid any of the Song of Ice and Fire sequels.  The first book was immense though.

Series you started and need to finish:

The Godless World trilogy by Brian Ruckley.  Read the first two, but need to get to the third. Not because it's a struggle to read or they're poorly read though; it's an outstanding series of books.  So good in fact, that I'm holding off reading it until I'm in the mood for a really good book.  This is something I do a lot, so many mediocre series out there, when I find one I like, I try and prolong the satisfaction as much as possible.

Three of your all-time favourite books:

Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas

The Player of Games by Iain M Banks

Damn, can't commit to a third, I'll just say War of the Worlds by HG Wells (poor ending though, see above.)

Unapologetic fanboy for:

Hmmm, wouldn'y say I'm a fanboy for anything other than Star Wars and Star Trek.  That said, I've read some rubbish Star Wars books and thought they were great.

Very excited for this release:

Again, nothing I'm really looking forward to.  I'd have to say the Republic of Thieves by Scott Lynch, mainly because it's been so long in coming out.  More cautious than excited though, the second book in the Locke Lamora series was entertaining, but had some serious flaws. This one had better be better.

Worst bookish habit:

Not lending books out.  I'm a bit of a hoarder, but I do try and give out books when I can.

X marks the spot - Start at the top left of your bookshelf and pick the 27th book:

No bookshelves at the moment, but I have a few arranged in stacks on the floor.  Starting at the top left and working down: The Crusades Through Arab Eyes by Amin Maalouf.

Your latest book purchase:

The Black Prism by Brent Weeks.  It's been a while since I finished his last book, so time for the next one.  It's got a lot to live up to, so it had better be good.  If not, I'll be writing smack about him on the internet.

Zzz snatcher book (the last book that kept you up waaay too late:)

One of my bad habits, I stay up far too late reading.  The last notable book to keep me up properly was In the Shadow of the Sword by Tom Holland, good, but not great.

So that was my A-Z.  I'd love to see more bloggers put up their lists and link back to whose they have seen.  For ease, here are the 26 questions all together:

Author you've read the most books from:

Best sequel ever:

Currently reading:

Drink of choice whilst reading:

E-reader or physical book:

Fictional character you would probably have dated in high school:

Glad you gave this book a chance:

Hidden book gem:

Important moment in your book life:

Just finished:

Kind of book you won't read:

Longest book you've read:

Major book hangover because of  disappointing endings:

Number of bookcases you own:

One book you've read multiple times:

Preferred place to read:

Quote that inspires you/gives you all the feels from a book you've read:

Reading regret:

Series you started and need to finish:

Three of your all-time favourite books:

Unapologetic fanboy for:

Very excited for this release:

Worst bookish habit:

X marks the spot - Start at the top left of your bookshelf and pick the 27th book:

Your latest book purchase:

Zzz snatcher book (the last book that kept you up waaay too late:)

Some Shout-Outs and Some Thanks!

First things first, where the hell did the first half of October go?  I'd swear it should only be the fifth or sixth today, not the sixteenth.

Anyway, I wanted to promote a couple bloggers who are running prize draws  Carl over at Hitting on a Double 1 has a bunch of WW2 books up for grabs to celebrate 25K hits on his blog.  By the same token, Jonathan at Palouse Wargaming Journal is marking his blog's anniversary by giving away a variety bundle of earlier books.  Make sure you head over and check out each blog.

Next up I'd like to thank Ian (or more accurately, Ian's wife) at The Blog With No Name for running a Blogger's secret santa this year.  I now know who I'm getting a gift for, although I've no idea what to get them yet!  I'm looking forward to seeing who gets what later on in the year.

Lastly, big thanks to Jody over at Frontline Gamer for hooking me up with the a couple new games; Dwarf Kings Hold and Green Menace by Mantic Games.  Jody is moving shorty to another country and, in an extremely generous move, is offering a lot of games to "good homes" rather than put them into storage.  Jody and I started blogging at roughly the same time as each other and his blog has been a constant inspiration to me.  Best of luck on the move fella.

I love dungeon crawl games, but most of those I own are pretty meaty affairs taking quite a while to set up and play (Descent 2nd and the D&D adventure games in particular.) These Mantic games are a real scoop to pick up, nice and light rules and, best of all, the miniatures have already been assembled and the cards have already been punched out.  Result.

Thanks to all these bloggers, keep up the good work everyone!

Wooot! I Am The Weiner!

Big props to Tamsin over at Wargaming Girl for, this week, running a prize draw in honour of 100,000 views on her blog.  And thanks to that prize draw, I've won a wee spending spree at Ground Zero Games.  Cheers again, Tamsin!

The only thing for me to decide is what to actually get.  I used GZG almost exclusively for my light infantry sci-fi force and these guys can always use some more support options.  Alternatively, they do have some alien opponents (again from GZG) who could do with filling their ranks out a bit.  The final option is, of course, more spaceships.  Choices choices!