We're not in Adelaide any more...

You know, a lot has changed since 2013, those dark days when my gaming life appeared to end and most of the rest of it to be unraveling.  Back then, a new boss at work (not like The Who said, this one was worse, way worse), midlife crises, and lots of other stuff going on led to some difficult times.  Thank goodness I discovered ice hockey, running and fitness generally.  And then they offered reasonable redundancy packages at work and then me and the missus found a nice little cottage in a small country town a couple hours north of Adelaide, and ... and ... and ... and I'm sure you get the picture.

Now, all these years later as the gamer in me re-emerges, I realise that this ol' blog's title probably doesn't really reflect reality anymore.  I could change the title, I could start a new blog, I could do lots of things.  But I reckon I'll leave it as it is and just keep going from where I left off.  Tipping my hat to my own legacy, I suppose.

So what does 2019 hold in store.  Well projects in various stages of gestation include finding some opponents to play Here I Stand - Wars of the Reformation (GMT games), getting together some saxons and arthurian britons and vikings and having a go with Dux Bellorum, and getting in a game or two of Stratego - Waterloo.

Oh, and getting the library organised.  I've just finished insulating a big shed out the back which is now lined with book cases, of which one shelf is stacked with games books and a couple crates of rules and scenarios and a few more crates of board games, and a few boxes of figures and scenery, etc etc etc.

We'll see how we go.

Long time gone - time to Go

Ice Hockey stole my life for a few years which really put a dent into my time budget.  Sadly, gaming suffered most out of the 'other things' in life (eg. family, work, gaming).  First to go were board games.  Next, online games dropped in frequency and then almost out of the equation (limited to World of Tanks).  And then I took a redundancy and moved to the country so everything got packed and stacked in boxes and still pretty well remains there (not sure if you'd call my present state one of semi-retirement or not, but I sure have kept busy).  And before you know it, the years have rolled by (take note, young ones).

There was the odd game in the past few years, but very few.  So few, I can recall them!

Condotierre - against the nephews, winning two out of three.
Settlers - against the nephews, winning none, losing two.
Ticket to Ride - against the daughter and grandson, miracle victory as the cards fell my way.

And, recently, Go.  This one has really taken my attention for a couple of months now, playing or studying it for a minimum of an hour a day.  I use an online go site and it has started refreshing my mind back into the gamer's mindset.  Very enjoyable, and a great relief for someone who is hours away from all known gaming opponents!

But, my gaming related interests have continued.  History, and anglo-saxon / viking / early norman periods in particular.  And rules get looked at.  And armies get planned in the spare moments while chopping wood etc.

And I've even had a look at Alcazia again.

And thus it continues...

S & T

At loose ends one lunch time in the city I wondered into a newsagent's that I hadn't been inside before to scan their 'hobby' section of magazines. Imagine my surprise when I found a copy of 'Strategy and Tactics' for sale! I haven't seen this magazine for decades (!) and, when I last did, it always seemed to be more S&M than gaming fun, what with its concentration on the design, backstory and rules of the hardcore game which was contained in every bimonthly addition. Never-the-less, and realising that I've allegedly 'grown up' a bit in the intervening years, I purchased it. It was edition #270 from Sept/Oct this year, featuring analysis of the American Revolution and the game of that name.

I must say, I was a little disappointed. Firstly, no game. I know, I knew that before I purchased it, but it was still disappointing. And secondly, I felt the articles were less 'meaty' than my memory was telling me the old ones used to be. Larger font, more pictures, dumber diagrams, more filler, less content. Still a good read, but ... well ... disappointing.

It can't have been too bad, however, because when the next edition came in the following week, I bought that too (this one, looking at the Second Battle of Kharkov)! Edition #272 is going to be about the Battle of Lepanto (might give it a miss) but the following one will feature a game called 'Reischwer'. Which, of course, I am already excited about. I might even order the game itself...

Anyways...

Imagine my further surprise this morning when I'm visiting Miltary Hobbies for my bi-annual visit and, while I'm there, the storekeeper pulls out some newly arrived bundles totaling about a hundred copies of old S&T's and plonks them on the counter to show an old customer of his. Unable to help myself, I mosey on over and browse through. These were all old editions, complete with game maps and pieces (still unpressed). Gold!

Restraining myself, I ended up choosing #120 from July 1988 (the 'Nicaragua!' edition, the whole magazine being dedicated to the game, analysis and design notes for the game and background articles examining later 20th century Latin American revolutions) and #156 from December 1992 (concentrating on the Russo-Polish War of 1920 and 'White Eagle Eastward', the included game). At $10 each I considered them a bargain, and nearly got another but had blown my budget rather badly already. Might need to make a return visit!

I'll have a closer look at my purchases and report back here as to whether the inclusion of the games was as wonderful an idea as I thought at the time, and whether the content of the magazines themselves was indeed more substantial than the modern day equivalents.

RIP Anne

I have just heard that Anne McGafferey passed on on Monday. She was 85 years old. I've read a few of the Pern series, been intrigued by the world she created, read a few of her other books. One of the great women of sf/fantasy.

Model expo = models

This morning I took a break from playing World of Tanks to take Lizardking and the lads to the SA Plastic Modellers' Associations' annual expo. We got there about 11:30 and spent maybe an hour and a half on site (a large school hall in the heart of Adelaide). There seemed to be lot more viewers present as we left than when we arrived, and the vast empty table spaces between displayed models were filling up. So, we might have missed some of the treasures but we managed to savour what we saw without the disadvantage of crowds jostling us or anxious model owners snapping back against the tide of people.

Instead, we had a cool hour or so checking out the various display categories, and about half an hour at various of the stalls selecting our own wares to purchase.

My favorite individual model was a Dragon T34-85 (1:35), followed closely by a 1:72 Pfalz monoplane. Most impressive exhibition in my mind were the ships of Task Force 72, including a 3m long (!) work in progress of the HMS Hood and a 2m long jap sub. Besides being impressive scratch built models, these were WORKING ships, full R/C and working turrets, etc. The subs even submersed. The nice man said that the group meet at the boat lake in Bonython Park in the parklands, the last Sunday afternoon of each month, so I might head down there next Month (or even tomorrow, but they might have their ships all at the expo so I'll have to think about that one).

So, what goodies did we leave with? Lad #2 decided on a glossy book of American Supercars, and a three pack of 1:72 personnel transport models (Ketengrad, Kubelwagen and Jeep). Lad #1 settled on a 1:72 medieval bombard and crew, together with a 'Sheriff of Nottingham' 1:72 infantry pack. The Lizardking went for a Dragon (?) M4A3E8. And me? A Maquette 1:35 T34-85 and a Dragon kit of four 1:35 german infantry with their ambush equipment. Maybe I have some vague idea of streetfight diorama? I've never built a 1:35 kit before, nor have I constructed human figures before , so when I finally get both time and space to get to work on them I'm sure it'll be quite an adventure.

Needless to say, a good day was had by all. For me now, it's back to the grind of World of Tanks.

Civilised

Played a game of Civilisation (the old AH classic) on Saturday. Five players and about six hours to get through to the end of the late bronze age. It was all very civilised, with only a bit of narkiness between North Africa and Italy late in the bronze age as the Italian began to feel put upon. Which, considering the african owned all the desert from Carthage to the Great Western Desert as well as Southern Italy, Sicily and Minorca, they might have been justified in feeling.

I played Crete, and had a nice comfortable little space on my own islands and well as the greek mainland city sites, where I managed to avoid any conflict except to keep the poor Balkans as my buffer against the Thracians and their western Illyrian neighbors as they spread south from the breadbasket of Europa.

Thrace grabbed prime agricultural land early and was beginning to take the pelopynese islands, as well as balancing trade, income, urbanisation, and cultural development nicely for a rush towards the iron age when the player had to depart for other activities (a zombie walk, of all things). Lucky for the rest of us, as Thrace might otherwise have become a cultural powerhouse.

Poor Illyria had a player who hadn't played for ten years (though he had previously won as North Africa, no mean achievement) and so got left behind in the development stakes, despite all the prime agricultural land he held. He does however wish to play again sometime within the next ten years (haha), so this will be a space to watch.

North Africa won on points, with Crete a fairly close second. All in all, played under the verandah with kids playing around our feet on a beautiful spring day, a great way to have some fun.

Sorry to be away for so long. I've been reading my usual blog roll when I can, but not much else. Will fill you in soon (it's gaming related) ...

Gaming atm (rave)

My gaming life at the moment, in terms of time spent playing, is primarily Renaissance Kingdoms (where have recently been summoned to travel to advise the King in Girvan while the world stumbles towards a state of generalised war), followed by a couple email games of East Front (where I am in both cases the german defender trying to hold back a russian post-kursk armoured armada), and the occasional excursion into the Yugoslavian partisan campaign in Art of War.

Of course, I am also reading various of my fellow gamebloggers and admiring their work in the real world (ironic, isn't it?), be it miniatures, boardgames, role playing, technical, after actions reports, cartooning, film criticism, or just general good natured bullshitting (some of us are very good at that). And that is very much a part of gaming these days.

I missed the Adelaide Con, I only remembered after the event (Sorry fellas!). At the time I would have been there, however, I was at a old book store in the Barossa Valley, where I picked up Arthur Machen's "Tales of Horror and the Supernatural", Panther, 1963. Apparently it's quite rare, I haven't seen it before. Paid a fortune for it as it's a first edition (do I sound like a CoC antiquinarian?), but sure am looking forward to reading the seven or so short stories within (no rush, will take in small pieces to make it last).

Even though the Con had a lot of CoC games happening, it seems I can't be tooooo disappointed...

Taking on the system...

Chaotic Good was always my favorite alignment in D&D terms, maybe because it most closely aligns with my personal reality. How could I resist this picture, and how could I refuse to share it once I had succumbed?

Some alternate recreational gaming links

Alternate - My Alcazian project continues to develop. I am presently narratively developing the history and political structure underlying the conflict. I hope to 'officially' launch the new site at some time this weekend (having finally got some 'spare' time this week), though the link is already in existence.

Recreational - this link to youtube shows the Battle of Viborg Castle, a bunch of russian medieval recreationists at war. They are pretty extreme at times. It certainly gave me a clearer idea of mass medieval combat. Originally linked by the (soon to be closed) blog at Battles in Miniature.

Gaming - I came across this interview while reading The Excessive Gamer (another interesting blog, especially if you are into Warhammer, GW, etc). The interview article is with the founders (?) of Games Workshop and an interesting exposition on design, psychology of adolenscents, the history of gaming, running a business. It is 27 pages long but worth the effort.

Here's a couple favorite quotes:

JS: Something I found out only just a couple of months ago, a funny wargaming fact, is that Wilkinson’s, the big Woolworth-like store, has a stipulation in their buying department that their pan-scourers have to be made in a mid-green, because “wargamers make hedges out of them, you know!” The fact is that they’ve got to be made in a colour anyway, so make them in green. Isn’t that amazing? - John Stallard

RP: Your sense of overview is very poor as a teenager, but your sense for detail is fantastically precise. That’s something that people sometimes forget, and even today, when I’m writing rules ... - Rick Priestly

Not that I've ever even played Warhammer, mind you ...

Bookcases and hidden treasures

I recently acquired a bunch of bookcases from the one 'Borders' store in Adelaide, now defunct. Getting them home was quite an adventure, but that's a tale for another day. Besides picking up some much needed bookshelves I can't say I'm overly happy about another bookshop going down the tube (though I never saw a wargaming book in there, they did have an 'indoor games' section of about two or three shelves). And, of course, one has to feel sorry for the staff. But there's a bit of karma involved here, because I remember when Borders opened here and a whole swag of bookshops closed in the following year or two.

Of relevance is the fact that with all these bookshelves I should be able to pack most if not all of my unshelved books onto shelves, freeing up a bit of room for other more important things. High on the list of which are the reintroduction of my modeling rolltop desk thingy to a place where it can be used, and maybe even the setting up of at least one of my wargaming 'half tables' for my first game of miniatures in nearly five years (wow how time flies). Or a game of Squad Leader.

Of some interest is that when I dismantled my old planks on milk crates sets of shelving I had a chance to look inside the milk crates, where my almost mint set of AD&D books has been hiding for almost a couple of decades. They still have that smell. Mmmmm.

RIPs

Frank Frazetta (artist).
Ronnie James Dio (musician).

Frazetta helped frame the visual side of fantasy RP, Dio provided the soundtrack of many a game in the golden age. For this, they are part of our (or my, at least) history. Thanks to Big Lee and Grognardia for the links.

Gamers Unite

How lucky are we here in Adelaide when in the usualy drum roll of politicians heading to our state election there's a wee political party of GAMERS who are standing for election as GAMERS?! Funniest thing, they're getting more votes than predicted. For me, the way these fairly smart lads and lassies are directing their preferences isn't too far from the way I would do, and the closest to my view of things of all the parties, so is actually easyish for this little gamer to give them a tick.

I mean, seriously, if the Attorney General in your state said that he felt more under threat from gamers than from bikers, wouldn't you want to vote for them?

If you're interested, here's prbly the most complete blurb I've yet found with these guys explaining what they're about. By the way, their preferences (determined after the interview) went green.

Seriously weird. If it wasn't real I'd say you'd be joking!

End of political hacking, I'll let you know the results of the vote down the track when they roll in but will revert to my more usual apolitical self for future posts.

Happy gaming.

The Dog Days

Happy xmas (to those of you who celebrate it)! Believe it or not, amongst other gifts I received was a game - Settlers of Catan. I know it's been around awhile and that many of the regular readers of this blog will have played it, but I haven't and am sure looking forward to it. Though the boardgame we are planning to play sometime in the next week and a half (when the world here stops for summer dogdays* holiday) is a six or seven player game of the old Avalon Hill classic, "Civilisation". That'll take about 12 hours to play. Is pretty cool how can usually get folk together to play it once or twice a year.

A few days before xmas i got myself a 'little something,' one of those computer game magazines which has a game disk with it, "Age of Conan". It sounds like a megagame, and suffers from a lot of the commercialisations that come with these things, but I was grew up reading the original Conan stories and can't resist having a look at the world of Hyboria for thirty days before the free period of this online game expires. With holidays in front of me, hopefully I'll be able to advance enough to travel a bit and have a look around. Who knows, I might even like it?!

* The dog days is a term from the roman era referring to the sliding number of days after the solistice to correct the calander each year (I think). I use it to describe the null days between xmas and new year.

Sign of Life

For some reason, this post is the one that draws the second greatest number of googling visitors to my blog. At time I originally wrote this I wasn't around a lot, I am around a lot more these days. If you want to see what I'm up to more recently, click on 'Adelaide Gamer' above and leave a comment on the most recent post.

Postscript: I have left the large number of junk comments on this post as it is probably something in them which is drawing the visits (or perhaps it's the post title). Also, it's a reminder to me of the spam plague that can strike a site without notice.

[Above comments were posted 12 June, 2011]

Month and a half since I last posted here, and that was only a 'sign of life' post, like this one. Obviously things are going on distracting me from this place. Rather disconcerting since I was doing so well. Probably lost most if not all of my regular visitors. Can't see things changing here for a little while, so will have to content myself with sign-of-life posts like this one for a little while yet. Still, it's a long run project so I'll just get through this bad patch and hopefully be able to move forward again. Until then, if I'm patient with myself, will you be?

Cyberspy Warning

I have had an interest in the anthropology of online worlds since I discovered them. Besides the study of the play, I am interested in the 'leakage' between realworld and online cultures. (as may be slightly obvious in my passage through RK). Seems I'm not the only one so interested.

Besides the marketeers and the hucksters, there's another breed I'm at least as interested in, the soldiers and the spies. If you look at this page and surf the links you'll find plenty of interesting stuff if you're interested in it.

The one that grabbed me is this tendentious piece of CIA work, written it seems sometime in 2007. They really don't seem to get it.

And what has this to do with gaming? You'll see that the corporations and the spymasters are trawling with their scientist friends the online worlds of social networks, games, and the hazy territory in between. The assumptions behind their analyses will soon, if it doesn't already, affect your realworld opportunities and experiences. All because you won't know about it doesn't mean it won't be happening.

Makes me sound like a paranoid Call of Cthulhu player!

In the Dog Days

Xmas 2008 has been and gone and we're now in the period between xmas and New year. The romans used to call these the 'Dog Days' and, at different times in their history, held the Saturnalia festival through them. I use them to think a bit about what has been and what is to come.

Miniatures - very little activity on this front. I have accumulated a number of 1/32 figurines of Napoleonic French to paint up, have started some but my painting room keeps being used as a spare bedroom (heresy!) whenever the urge hits, so have stalled. Similarly with the He 123 model. As for the miniatures wargaming, a distant memory waiting to come to life again!

Comp Games - Updated my versions of East Front and Operational Art of War. Played a small series of EF games v friend via email. Lost a week of my July Holidays to playing 'Great Invasions' - if I can find the time this holiday I'll be getting back to the dark ages for at least some of the time...

IL2 Flight Sim - Have accumulated only a few dozen hours flight experience this year, mainly in the form of chase scenarios to sharpen up my own skills while waiting for the time and energy to get back into the online arena.

Blogging - This blog has suffered also this year, with only a couple dozen posts on it - and a lot of them seems to be focused on the one aspect of my present gaming life (online MMORPG). On the other hand, my favorite bloggers in the gamesphere keep going from strength to strength and have kept me going when I wonder what it's all for. Keep it up guys!

MMPORG - Continue to immerse self in Renaissance Kingdoms. Becoming reasonably skilled at the modes of online organsiation and communication which this game relies upon. Have thrived in the RP aspects of the game, even having my 'home RP' being nominated for Kingdom wide awards (a great privilege). Clan Leader, General of the local Regiment, Advisor to the Steward of Scotland, local celebrity, peace keeper, traveller. My online persona keeps me busy! Meanwhile, on the other side of the planet, my aztec peasant in the Tribal Nations continues to grow strong in his pursuit of fishing and bean farming and will soon be strong enough to tour ancient mexico.

So - it's been a good year for MMORPG for me, but the other aspects have suffered. Due to domestic issues, for example, have hardly touched a 'traditional game'. As 2009 creeps over the horizon, I wonder what will be next in the evolution of this little gamer.

Happy yuletide to you and yours, and a safe new year! May your dice continue to roll above the odds!

Tale of the bung VDU

I have been out of action with the computer I use for blogging (and gaming [gulp]) for about 24 hr because the widescreen monitor crapped out on us and it took about that long to get replacement in place. Needless to say, no retailer selling faulty merchandise stood much of a chance against the 'Lead Negotiator'.

It's a minorly interesting tale in itself, that of the bung vdu.

I had finally managed to have about three hours free with no likelihood of interuption on sunday evening. I sat down and got onto hyperlobby before chosing my poison. The screen seemed to ratchet up in brightness. I didn't think anything of it. Then it did it again. About a minute later it went blank. Not good.

Like the well trained geek-illiterati--but-knows-it that I am, I checked all the connections, checked with other users of the machine whether they'd changed settings or had any anomalies. They hadn't, and all the connections were okay. Puzzled I switched screen off, then on again. Clear picture - no problems. My eyes no doubt gleamed with the light of hope.

Alas! About two minutes later, the brighten, brighten, blank out phenomena repeated itself. This time I go to our older computer, access the manual etc on the disk that came with the vdu. No answers there. I check forums online. No luck there. I'm not impressed.

I switch the monitor off and on again. Again, the screen goes active for a couple minutes. Goes blank. Hope begins to sink. I idly sit there switching things off and on again, booting and rebooting, disconnecting and connecting, until all hope is dead.

Now is time to see whether problem is with screen or computer. Maybe it's the legendary 'driver' that all geeks refer to when things break down. I put the suspect vdu onto our older computer. The screen goes blank. It is definitely the screen which is the cause of my sadness.

Now we have had it replaced. The resident geek where I work (like, manage computer systems of hundreds of users across the state type geek) was highly puzzled. As were those at the store where we bought the screen (some 'computer wharehouse/recycle store' near corner Payneham Rd and Steven Tce, if you know Adelaide). To their credit, they replaced it with another. I note that this screen, while having same model number, had different but similar packaging, user booklet, chords. Wonder why?

Anyway, I'm happier now.

Off to the games shop

I love my wife! For weeks now she's been nagging me to go and check out a gameshop she's found about 10 min from home. So, on Thursday night, we hopped on the O-bahn (bus that runs on tracks through Adelaide's Linear Park along the Torrens River Valley) and 8 min later walked into the store.

This was just a recce mission, so I checked out the games there. Heaps of Eurogames, which I've been reading about a while now on Jerusalem Gamer and Games to Go. I checked out about a dozen or so of them before we left. Perhaps luckily, they didn't have Carcassone there or I would have probably got it then (having heard a lot of it and knowing it's a good introductory game). I say "luckily", because I wasn't familiar with the others that were there and so wasn't keen to buy any without running them through Board Game Geek to check out user reviews.

The one's that most intrigued me - Puerto Rico and Amon Ra. They seem to come up trumps on BGG, with Puerto Rico in particular coming up trumps as Number 1.

If they have it still, we'll be going off in a few minutes to get Puerto Rico. Can't wait to try it out!

PS - last night I finally managed to stalk down an opponent in a full realism flightsim, and then engage and outwit him in the dogfight (I was Kittyhawk and he was zero), sending him flaming to the seas beneath. Stalked a couple others, but they were better dogfighters and ended up getting me - though I did get some shots on target. Improvement continues!

Modelers are everywhere

I was making myself a cuppa at work a couple afternoons ago and started chatting with fellow from another area who was wandering past. Within a minute I knew he was a scale modeller who was relatively keen (I recalled having spotted some aircraft pictures at his worksite once and drew the obvious conclusions). I told him of my recent trip to model shop (still haven't got a model plane kit, but will soon). Before long we were trading stories and advice snippets.

Next morning I find a printout of the home page of the South Australian Plastic Modellers Association (SAPMA) where I work. So I snuck into his area yesterday and left a photocopy of the pamphlet I grabbed from the Greenock Air Museum on my recent visit.

Modelers are everwhere.

Whilst driving across the hills today I came across a - Aviation Museum!

.

Well, yesterday's 'tomorrow' brought a lovely day today! Got up feeling the best I've felt for a couple weeks (been fighting a headcold), and it was a nice sunny winters day. So I went for a drive in the country, up to the town of Riverton in the 'midnorth', back through the Barossa Valley. (Click here for a photo taken near where I was today (It was a lot greener today than is shown in the link)). We had some friends over home for tea in the evening. A really nice kind of day. And, as a bonus, there were a couple of things that occurred that had to do with my gaming gene.

Firstly, I was taking a dirt track 'shortcut' between two highways across a ridge of hills when I came across an aviation museum! Fascinating, the guy lives just north of the town of Greenock, renovates and models planes. Everything from 1400 scale models (most being 1:72 scale) through displayed engines (such as a merlin, and an anson), numerous cockpit assemblies, a couple of aircraft in various degrees of renovation (of which a De Haviland Mosquito was probably most impressive), a complete Vampire jet trainer - and, outside, a Canberra bomber and mocked up P51D mustang. As you might imagine, I was fascinated.

Secondly, four of us played a game of Guillotine after tea tonight. The couple who visited aren't gamers, but took to the spirit of this simple but entertaining card game. The women won after three days of headchopping, the difference between them and their men basically being that they'd taken the king and marie antoinett's heads (one each). The goal is, obviously, to collect the most valuable heads over three rounds/'days'. Vive la revolucion!

I got photos of both the aviation museum and the cardgame, will post sometime soon.

For now, I'm off for a latenight flight over russia!