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.

Two Minute Review - The Plantagenets by Dan Jones

This weekend, I finally finished reading The Plantagenets by Dan Jones.  Man, this one was a struggle.

First off, it should be hard to write a bad book about this period of English history, populated as it is by so many famour figures; The Lionheart, King John, Edward Longshanks, Henry III, Simon de Monteforte, Richard II. Indeed, the author manages to write a competent enough history of the period; this happened, that happened, this is why they happened, nothing spectacular, but simple enough to read through.

The unfortunate problem with The Plantagenets is all to do with the structure and editing used.  Jones has chosen to write a narrative history, so it's very easy to read, no long sentences, next to no dates or direct quotes from sources are used.  Indeed, you are left with a rough picture of what happened rather than a explicit sequence of events.  Nothing wrong with that, but the structure chosen for the books disrupts all efforts to forge a coherent and stable narrative.

In medias res, is a narrative technique as old as literature itself (a story starts in the middle of events, summarises how we arrived there and they plays out the rest of the tale.)  In The Plantagenets, Jones uses this technique to such an extent that it borders on the ridiculous. I would suggest (allowing for my critical viewpoint) that two thirds of the chapters in the book begin this way.  You barely get caught up with events before jumping forward ten or fifteen years.  Now this wouldn't be such a critical problem if there were any length to the chapters, but the book flies by. Some of the chapters here are barely 1200 words in length (that's three and a half pages!)

The Plantagenets struck me as a book simply in need of a good edit.  The author does thank his editor in the preface, but I honestly don't know what she did to earn her pay on this one. First up, the a decent editor would have picked up on the problematic structure before a first draft was completed.  Secondly, some elementary errors really bothered me.  If you're going to abandon dates and simply use years to track events, at least get the years right.  I'm not an expert on Medieval England,  but if you state an event happens in two different years, then I'm going to know something's up! Lastly, and from my point of view, the most frustrating; if you don't know how to use a word properly, just don't use it! Worst example; bode. Just don't.

There might be a decent enough narrative history here, but the author has does all he can to keep it from you.

Incidentally, The Plantagenets fails at my wargamer-history rule, in that, it doesn't even tempt me into wargaming the time period in general or any of the notable battles in particular. Poor.

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:)

Another New X-Wing Ship - The Moldy Crow

A bit of good fortune crossed my path a couple weeks ago, I had a nice little lottery win. Nothing in the quit-work-and-get-some-hookers-and-blow category, but a nice wee three figures.  It was sensible hat time though, so a good chunk went to paying some stuff off and another hefty piece went into my saving account. There was enough leftover to be a little self-indulgent.  I took a mate out for dinner, bought some new togs and, of course, picked up some miniatures for the pile!

I'll keep the first purchase quiet for now, but I'm quite happy with them.  The second was another ship for X-Wing, the HWK-290 Light Freighter.  Similar to the YT-1300/Millennium Falcon and the Firespray-31/Slave-1, the HWK-290 is better know to fans as the Moldy Crow, and for it's pilot Kyle Katarn. Actually, many people won't recognize the HWK at all, as it's the first ship in the X-Wing range not to have been in the movies.  Those of you who played the Dark Forces series on the pc "Do you fear me Jedi?" should be happy at it's release.

Now I think it's fair to say this ship was the least popular of the Wave 3 releases for X-Wing. A lot of people didn't like the model (it's brown after all) and it's stats are hardly that impressive. Still, I thought, it can't be that bad, can it?

Well, no, it's not bad at all, but it's not great either.  Not terribly manoeuvrable, not that resilient,  not even dishing out that much damage.  The HWK-290 is really the first support ship available for the rebel fleet; it's not going to do much on it's own, but with the right options and in with the right mix of ships. . .

The most obvious build is using Kyle Katarn, The Moldy Crow itself, a blaster turret and a recon specialist crew member.  This will pump out Focus tokens for the whole game, two per turn, allow you to give one to nearby ships each turn and also make proper use out of the blaster turret.  If you have a couple ships with Advanced Photon Torpedoes along side, then they can really dish out some damage in one or two turns.

A similar, but less obvious, way to use the HWK is by just using the cheapest pilot, the blaster turret and recon specialist.  This doesn't give any fancy benefits to your other ships, but it makes an excellent finishing ship.   As the turret can fire in any direction, swing this ship safely round the sides or behind several enemy ships, wait to see what survives the attacks from your better pilots, then use the HWK to finish them off. Best of all, this build is fairly cheap at 23 points so you could squeeze in three other ships in a 100 point game.

I'm quite happy with my purchase, despite the fact I actually wanted a B-Wing (they didn't have any left.)  It's not a ship I'd want two of, unlike the awesome Tie Bomber, but I'll certainly try it out the next time we manage to get a game in.

Incidentally, for any X-Wing players out there who don't know about it already, the Unofficial X-Wing Squadron Builder is a great tool for messing around with lists (and avoiding uncomfortable mental arithmetic.)

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!

Look! I Actually Picked Up A Brush

After what seems like weeks of procrastinating (ok it was after weeks of procrastinating) I managed to pick up a paint brush again today.  Originally, the plan was to do some prep work on a couple different projects and get a lot of priming done.  There's some rather wet weather on the way, so I'd like enough figures primed to do me over the winter.  The rain arrived early so forced me to change my mind and out came the paints.

First things first,  I had to spend a good wee while shaking and stirring the neglected tubs and bottles to even the paint out.  Fortunately, my right arm has developed considerable stamina in that motion, so it wasn't a problem.  Without getting all emo-whiny on you, I normally only paint when I'm happy and relaxed;  I haven't been either in a while, so it was quite a surprise how enjoyable the couple hours with the brush were this afternoon.

These are the first eight warriors for a Saga Viking warband that have been kicking around for a few months. Just the base colours so far, I'll add some decoration before the shading and highlighting begins.  As Odin is my witness, I will get this warband painted this year, before this:

Just fyi, for anyone who hasn't finished season one, there's a big spoiler in the trailer.

New X-Wing Ship - The Tie Bomber

So what's better than buying yourself a little geeky something (or Mr Visa buying you something?)  Well it's getting something bought for you!

Cheers then for my mate Adam for picking me up a Tie Bomber for X-Wing! Nice.

Fantasy Flight obviously know their audience; the TIE Bomber is easily the least cool ship from the original films, so they've compensated by making the rules for it terrific.  Cheap and loaded with ordnance seems to be the way to go with it.

The usual FFG bundle of cards and cardboard features.

A nice enough pre-painted model, but, like the rest of the X-Wing range, would benefit from some touch ups or insignia markings. It'll get to the table in a couple of weeks hopefully, up against another new model, the B-Wing.